I'm holding an open house!

I've been invited to present Stampin' Up! Products at the Trendy Tulip Boutique this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  I'm very excited to share many of Stampin' Up!s new products and to demonstrate our My Digital Studio software.  I can hardly wait!  Hope you can join me!  More information is available here:

Trendy Tulip Boutique!

Below is just one example of the Notecard Sets I will have on display:

Each set has 3 Birthday Cards and 3 Thank You cards contained in this cute little box!  I have several of these made using all different design paper.  This one uses the new Garden Gala DSP, Pumpkin Pie cardstock and ink, daffodil delight cardstock and the new pear pizzaz poly ribbon.  I heat embossed the sentiment with versamark and clear embossing powder, punched it with our large oval punch and popped it upon dimensionals.  Super easy, demonstrable and very cheery, don't you think?   I will also be displaying the wonderful card swaps I received at Convention.  It's wonderful to receive card swaps that use stamps that I don't have so I can display a wider variety of products.  I love that!  I'm off to prepare for this event.  Hope to see you there, and let me know if you saw this post and I will give away a free card!

Do you know how much I love the Heat Embossing Technique?

It's probably my FAVORITE stamping technique!  I also love the effects of brayering.  I wanted to combine these two techniques in a set of card fronts for swapping at the Stampin' Up! convention.  I went back to some cards I've made in the past, and updated them with new stamps and new colors from the very exciting 2010 - 2011 Stampin' Up Catalog.  Here's what I came up with:

As soon as I saw the Silhouette Sentiments hostess set, I knew I wanted it!  You can get this set FREE when you host a Stampin' Up stamp camp or party.  Leave me a comment if you would like to host a card making class.  I would LOVE to teach you and your friends how to make cards just like this - it's easier than it looks!  The flowers were first stamped with black ink and versamark and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  I then punched a 1 1/4" circle out of a post it note to mask the paper so a sun is created.  I first used daffodil delight and peach parfait with a brayer for the sky.  I sponged cajun craze across the top and down the sides.  The hills were created by tearing the sticky edge of a long post it note in the shape of the hills.  I covered the sky with it, then brayered cajun craze across the bottom.  I finished the bottom by sponging early espresso at the bottom edge.  A white gel pen was used to bright up the centers of some of the flowers.  Yes, white gel pen drys on the top of embossing - go figure.  Markers do not do this, only gel pens.  Cool!  I used my stampamajig (love that thing) to align my sentiment into the sun after removing the post it note mask.  Brads were added and then it was mounted on to Cajun Craze cardstock.  I made six of these in about an hour and a half.  I know, right?  It really goes pretty quick!  Hope you'll try that brayer and heat gun you have stashed in a back drawer and share what you create!  Have a beautiful day!

Sweet Pea Baby!

Marie Shaughnessy originally posted this card on stampinconnection.com.  I loved it just the way she made it, so it really is a direct Case!  There's ALOT of detail here, but oh so much fun and such a cute result:

and the inside:

I embossed, punched, sponged and stamped to my heart's content!  I put in to play the Orchid Opulence and Lovely Lilac with Old Olive and Always Artichoke for anything green.  Blush Blossom was used for the baby face.  Stamps used are the flourish from Baroque Motifs, outside sentiments are from Tiny Tags and the flowers were stamped with Itty Bitty Bits.  The punch is from the Itty Bitty Bits punch set, along with the word window and medium oval punches.  3/4" and 1/2" punches were used for the peas and face, and the leaves were trimmed down from the two-step bird punch.  The flourish was clear embossed and the butterflies are all from the butterfly embosslit.  A white gel pen (Stampin' Up! really does sell the best one I've ever found) was used for all the highlights.  So cute!  Thanks for looking!

From the new catalog.... so fun!

Aren't new toys FUN!?  New colors, stamps, punches and always lots of fresh ideas await you in the new Stampin' Up! catalog!  Remember that many of the new stamps and colors are available for My Digital Studio as well!  Want more information on digital crafts?  Email me!

Below is a rather quick card I made for one of my clients.  Hydrangeas grew in my backyard when I was a child and they bring back many fond memories of good times in that backyard!  My mother showed me how to add colored water to the base of the bush to change the color of the hydrangea, so in her honor, I went with a red hydrangea, just like we used to 'make at home!'  Details are below.  Enjoy, create, and have a fabulous 4th of July weekend!

and for the inside:

Almost all NEW products were used for this card:  My base card is Early Espresso cardstock, layered with Pear Pizzaz that has been dry embossed with the new Vintage Wallpaper folder.  The Cherry Cobbler strip was border punched with the scallop punch.  Early Espresso was used for the main image mat.  Watercolor paper makes the main image mat because it works so well with the blender pens.  I used Cherry Cobbler to stamp the flower and was careful to load ink on only the flower portion of the stamp.  The stem was colored with my Pear Pizzaz marker.  I used a blender pen and just a little extra ink to color the image for more depth.  Cajun Craze marker was used to color the centers of the flowers.  I used my Cherry Cobbler marker to color only two images of the line design and stamp them in opposite corners.  The sentiment and hydrangea are from the new "Because I Care" set.  The sentiment was heat embossed with versamark and clear powder.  The inside used Very Vanilla mats, and the same components as the outside of the card.  I just might make a few more of these! 

Congrats to my Sis!

Can I just say, I'm loving the new colors and this Garden Gala design paper!  Can't wait for it to be available to everyone July 1st!  My sister got the job she wanted teaching 2nd grade and I couldn't be happier for her!  As a gift, I'm giving her the Teacher's Pet stamp set and some classic ink pads and stampin' spots, along with this card:

and here's the inside:

I really like the way it turned out!  Here we go on the details:  I used Daffodil delight as my base card, and the Garden Gala design paper for all printed paper.  Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist and Pear Pizazz were also used as card stock and ink.  I realized later that actually, I think this paper may use Real Red and not Cherry Cobbler, but it still looks ok to me!  Four stamp sets were used:  The new Friends Never Fade was used for the flower.  I colored it with markers first, stamped it, then colored again with a versamark pen and heat embossed it.  Wonderful Favorites was used for the outside greeting, and 'the best is yet to be' is from the Best Yet set.  I didn't have any Pear Pizzaz ribbon - yet... but I will!  I used some miscellaneous ribbon that came close enough until I get the real thing!  There really isn't alot of embellishments on this card - It's pretty simple with lots of layers and color.  Funny, that's how I could describe my sister, colorful with lots of layers! 

A favorite technique - Emboss Resist

Morning Stampers!

I continue to practice my sponging and brayering techniques, and thought I would like to case something of Michelle Zindorf's and adapt her work to some of the new colors and stamps available at Stampin' Up!.  I am loving the Friends Never Fade stamp and the cherry cobbler color especially.  After surfing Michelle's website, I chose this card:

and updated it with Cherry Cobbler, Delightful Daffodil, Crumb Cake and Early Espresso, while using the new Friends Never Fade and Elements of Style Stamp sets:

The flower image was stamped first by coloring the stamp with markers.  I then colored them again with Versamark and embossed them.  After that, I used only versamark to stamp the flourishes around the edge and then embossed those as well.  I covered a 3" square in the middle, and then sponged Early Espresso along the edges, then wiped the ink of the flourishes.  I removed the 3" mask and lightly sponged the center with Crumb Cake.  I then took a ruler and the Early Espresso marker and defined the 3" square on the left and bottom edges to make the center pop a bit.  I used a little trick for the ribbon:  I tied my ribbon around a book first, then cut the ribbon in the back so I could position my bow/knot exactly where I wanted it, and then used snail adhesive to attach it to the back of the card front.  I used the Modern punch and some misc. brads to accent the red in the flowers.   I left some open space above the flowers so I can add a sentiment when I decide what occasion I will eventually choose for this card!  This was a fun card to make!  I'm looking forward to trying something similar with different stamps and colors.  Enjoy!

Masculine Birthday, Medallion Style!

My friend invited me to participate in a card swap. 20 masculine cards, 20 feminine cards, and each participant gets one of each. Sounds easy and fun to me!

These are my masculine cards. The top left corner is stamped in old olive and NOT heat embossed. The other three are heat embossed with versamark only. I played with the old olive design paper pack, and stamped across both vertical and horizontal lines, just to see what I liked better. I think I like the upper right better. Which do you prefer? 

The ribbon, I believe, is Garden Green or Mellow Moss.  I wanted to go all monochrome, but couldn't find my Old Olive ribbon, lol!  The Vintage Labels were also heat embossed with versamark and old olive, and then punched out with the large scallop punched and popped up with dimensionals.  The card front was attached to textured whisper white cardstock, and sponged with Close to Cocoa around the edges. 

This is the last of my week of masculine cards!  Coming up are some feminine graduation cards, simple 3 x 3 thank you notes inspired by Dawn Griffith, and the set of feminine cards for the above referenced card swap.

Happy Stamping!

Happy Graduation from the Summer Mini!

My daughter and several of her friends are graduating from high school this June, so it's a perfect opportunity to use the new Graduation stamps, Go Graduate and Happy Graduation from the new summer mini catalog.
I had a great time masking, embossing, spraying and coloring this card for my sweet girl!

You can make this card too!  Any questions about these techniques, please let me know and I'll blog about them!  Happy Stamping!

Mojo Monday 137 ... My Sample

Here my take on this week's challenge: 

I pulled out some retired design paper from SU, along with the Haiku DP pack I purchase on clearance at SU.  I love the clearance rack!  You can shop at the clearance rack by clicking the "Order Onine 24/7" button to the right >>>>>>>>>>

I used Whisper White in 1 1/2" squares to clear emboss the Hibiscus image twice before brayering Close to Cocoa over each square.  Tip:  When doing the emboss resist technique, be sure to wipe of your embossed image when brayering is complete.  Then, re-heat the image and your image will be shiny again.  Cool!

I embossed the two main images and then colored the double hibiscus with copics.  Another Tip:  A great way to align clear stamps is to lay them out on your paper first, then press your clear block to the stamps.  I can't tell you how long I stuck the stamps to the blocks first, then tried to align them before realizing there was an easier way. 

I'll be looking for your creations from the clearance rack at Stampin' Up!.  Make it a great day!