Nakaba's Suntanned Piggy!

I found this adorable little suntanned piggy on Nakaba Rager's website, and had to Case it, and then share it with you. I made a few paper color changes such as .. I used Midnight Muse and she used Island Indigo, and Close to Coca for her sunglasses instead of Soft Sude.  I also used the ribbon punch instead of the framelit for the umbrella's ruffle. This is a fun punch art card that is great if you need to 'create' in the midst of interruption... there are lots of small, quick steps that you can complete as you pass by your crafting space, and then go put in a load of laundry! :) Enjoy your day as much as this little piggy seems to be enjoying hers!

Here is the info from Nakaba's Website, or you can go to her page at: http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/naki/blog?directBlogUrl=%2Fblog%2F2100429%2Fentry%2Fjune_27_2012

Stamp set: Button Buddies, Spooky Bingo Bits


Paper: Whisper White, Midnight Muse, Pool Party, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Close to Cocoa, Early Espresso, Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper

Ink: Crumb Cake, Real Red

Tool: 2-1/2" and 1/2" Circle, Owl Builder, Boho Blossoms, Jewelry Tag Punches, Fancy Fan Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, and Ribbon punch

Matchbook Giftcard Holders

The Tour de France is over, and congrats to Brad Wiggins for the win!  Now, at the Sports Mall where I teach Spinning, we've been having our own Tour Ride.  We have taken roll for all riders and incorporated the profiles from the Tour as the ride for that day's spin class.   John Harley was our male winner and rode all 23 rides! Penny McNair was our female winner with 19 rides.  Taylor Optical gave away a $200 gift certificate for a pair of oakley sunglasses - woohoo!  Each rider earned a ticket in our drawing for each day they rode, up to 10 rides.  Why am I telling you all of this?  Well, I made Giftcard Holders for our three top winners:

The green holder is a direct case from Convention 2 years ago.  The Primrose Petals is combined with Not Quite Navy ribbon and stamped 'just for you' sentimment from the Just Believe stamp set.  The Daffodil Delight holder is paid with Night of Navy and Cherry Cobbler for the coloring.  The bike is from a retired set, but perfect for my spinning crew!  Here is the inside:

This was very fun and quick to do!  The matchbook is 31/2 inches by 12 inches.  Score at 5.25 and 10.5".  Crease with a bonefolder.  At the flapless end, use the Word Window punch to make the slot.  You want to punch no more than 1 inch into the matchbook.  Then, using papersnips, cut  the short flap diagonally about 1.25" IN from each side to the outside edge of the flap.  This will make the flap fit into the slot.  Staple the ribbon to the center of the outside of the flap twice and tie a simple knot.  Attach a little jewel tag punch with some linen thread or twine.  Using versamark or same color ink, stamp the image of your choice tothe outside cover and a sentiment.  I attached a 3" by 5" cellophone bag with snail adhesive to the inside so it can hold anything from a gift card to money to treats, and becomes re-usable!  I hope you will try this simple little holder and dress up your small gifts.  Thanks for looking!

Stampin' Up! Convention 2012 was amazing!

I AM.... inspired, motivated, exhausted and filled with creative ideas after attending Convention this year!
So many announcements were made, too! Chelsea and I had a blast in the break out classes, but one of my favorites was Shannon West's I Am Having Fun!  And, along that line, with all the swaps I made, this one for my Facebook Group, All Things Stampin' Up!, is probably my favorite:

For one thing... this is not a CASE!  That's rather miraculous because I'm SUCH a caser.. :)  I love this Patio Party DSP, and actually found that I like Summer Starfruit in this color combination.  I used lots of framelits here from the Bitty Banner set and the Label Framelits.  Now, I am a BIG fan of embossing folders, but this new Fanfare folder is my absolute new Go To folder!  It can be used for literally any occasion, from Baby to Masculine!  I actually used the negative side for this particular card.  I used blender pens and a multitude of colors for the cute little Ark image, Two by Two.  It's an ala carte stamp in the new catalog this year.  Leave me a comment if you have any questions on this card, and I'd love suggestions as to what stamp set, technique or color combo YOU would like to see me use on my next post!  CHALLENGE ME!  I'm up for it!  Thanks for stopping by!



Take Care Owl Friends

Happy Summer to you!  I've been busy getting my swaps ready for SU Convention.  What a busy time, especially with the new Catalog AND Occasions Mini just coming out.  So much to see - and BUY!  heehee!  I signed up for a technique swap and chose emboss resist and brayering as my techniques.  I thought it would be fun to demonstrate how to put a scene together.  I learned how to do this from Michelle Zindorf who is an AMAZING artist and stamper!  BEST art class I ever went to!  You can google her name and check out her tutorials - they're amazing.  :)

Anywhooo..... I chose to have some fun with the new Take Care set from SU. It has a branch in it that I thought could also be used as a tree.  Here is how it turned out:

Here is the actual Take Care stamp set: 

The little owls are stamped, cut out and popped up on dimensionals.  I have included a tutorial that illustrates how to put a scene together here:  Tutorial for Take Care Owl Friends  I had fun making all 16 of these, and hope you'll find your own CASE of this fun little project!  More to come soon!