Tall Snowman Thanks

  I can't believe it's already Friday!  Where has the week gone?  I hope you have have exciting plans for the weekend!  We have some plans but nothing too crazy.  I'm planning on spending some time in the stamp room to finish designing the projects for my January Stamp Club.  Local ladies- I need your RSVPs by Jan. 21 to reserve your spot!

  Today's card is another one I designed for after Christmas thank yous for family and online order thank yous for customers.  I used the Creative Crew January Sketch challenge for the layout.  You can see the challenge sketch here.

   Sorry for the weird photo on this one.  I couldn't seem to get it at the right angle.  I feel like lately my camera hasn't been cooperating with me.  Or most likely user error!

  The base of the card is Bashful Blue.  Then the Wild Wasabi layer that I cut with the new Edgelits dies for the cool scallop edge and then embossed it with the Houndstooth embossing folder.

  The snowman is stamped in Chocolate Chip and then colored with Bashful Blue, Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi and Chocolate Chip markers.  I added Dazzling Details to the scarf polka dots and the band on the hat.

   The sentiment is from Petite Pairs and is punched out and layered with circle punches.  I used a jeweled rhinestone brad on the sentiment since I hardly ever use them and they were just gathering dust.  Why buy something if you're not going to use it right?  There's no point in hoarding stamping supplies!

  Now please don't take this as a desperate plea for more comments but I was wondering if anyone has had trouble lately leaving comments on my blog?  Something isn't quite right and I can't figure out what might have changed.  If you've encountered a problem in the last month please let me know.  I can be contacted by going into "view my complete profile" under my photo at the top of the sidebar and then clicking on "contact me".  I want to be able to answer questions about projects but if people can't even leave the question in the first place that's a problem.  Thanks for your help!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?


Stamps: Snow Much Fun, Petite Pairs

Ink: Bashful Blue, Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip

Paper: Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Whisper White


Accessories: jeweled rhinestone brad, circle punches, scallop Edgelit die, Houndstooth embossing folder, Dazzling Details

Fresh Vintage Clean & Simple Thank You

  I needed yet another thank you card the other day.  It seems that I send more thank you cards than any other...birthday comes in second but definitely thank you is at the top of the list.  I guess that makes me lucky that I have so many things to be thanking people for!

  I wanted to play along with the Splitcoaststampers Clean & Simple (CAS) challenge this week which is to use die cuts.  I choose to use a lot of white along with Lucky Limeade, Concord Crush and Perfect Plum.

  The base is Whisper White, then a layer of Concord Crush.  And it's hard to see but the top layer of Whisper White is actually textured.  The flower image was inked up with markers and then stamped on smooth Whisper White.  I used the Labels Framelit to cut out the image.  It's popped up with dimensionals.

  I used the Beautiful WIngs embosslit to make the butterflies out of Perfect Plum cardstock.  Perfect Plum is the Dynamic Duo for Concord Crush according to my trusty Color Coach.  I popped the butterflies up with little tiny pieces of dimensionals as well.  I added an adhesive rhinestone to each one as well as a row of three next to the sentiment.

  I hope everyone has a great day!  Big day of housework and swimming lessons ahead of me!  Maybe I can squeeze in some stamping somewhere!
Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Fresh Vintage, Just Believe

Ink: Concord Crush, Lucky Limeade

Paper: Whisper White smooth & textured, Concord Crush, Perfect Plum


Accessories: Labels Framelit, adhesive pearls, dimensionals

Chubby Snowman Thanks

Dinner is all prepped and ready to cook, the boys are watching their one show before dinner and I have a few minutes of quiet to post this card I made the other day for the Mojo Monday Challenge 223. 

 I needed a few more thank yous for customer online orders as well as for Christmas so I made a few of these up using a color combination I had written down to try a long time ago....Baja Breeze, Regal Rose and Not Quite Navy. 

  I used up some retired DSP too, the Baja Breeze is from Elegant Soiree from and the Regal Rose is from Sweet Stitches.

   The snowman and sentiment panels are cut with the new Labels Collection Framelits.  I sponged the edges lightly with Baja Breeze.  The snowman is stamped in Stazon and colored with markers. 

   The little embellishments I added are brads, white baker's twine bow and the snowflake punch.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?



Stamps: Snow Much Fun, Petite Pairs

Ink: Stazon, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, markers- Not Quite Navy, Regal Rose, Baja Breeze


Paper: Baja Breeze, Sweet Stitches DSP (retired), Elegant Soiree DSP (retired), Whisper White, Not Quite Navy


Accessories: Snowflake punch, brads, baker's twine, dimensionals

Creative Crew Twitterpated Romance

  We had a good lesson in our house yesterday afternoon...every 5 year old boy should know how much toilet paper is "too much".  Ryan came running out of the bathroom with a panic-y look and said, "Mommy, there's something wrong with the potty!!"  Sure enough when I went to look the water was rising close to the edge.  Out came the plunger and a fair amount of plunging ensued.   Once the situation was under control I looked at the "brand new that afternoon because I put it there because you can't trust a house full of boys to do it roll of toilet paper" and sure enough there was enough missing from it that I could definitely notice!  I think Ryan will be much more careful now....at least I hope he will!

  On to the fun stamping stuff!  Here is another one of my Creative Crew projects.  This one was to make a non-traditional card using our newest stamp set.  Now this was a bit of a challenge for me as since I had just received my Occasions Mini pre-order (one of the awesome perks of being a demo is to get to order new stuff a month before the catalog goes live to the public) and had about 5 sets to choose from!  The difficulties of my life right?  I chose the Bordering on Romance set since that's a little different than my usual style and the whole idea of a challenge is to get us out of our ordinary tendencies.

 

  I used a lot of new products on this card besides just the stamp set.  The DSP is Twitterpated, the ribbon the new 1/8" organdy ribbon that will come out for Sale-A-Bration, the die cut is the labels collection for the new Framelits and the detail at the bottom of the card is made with the new Edgelits dies.

 

  I embossed the small flowers on the Basic Gray with Whisper White embossing powder.  Then I embossed the larger flower stamp also in white on Whisper White cardstock.  I cut it out using the Label Framelit and then colored it in with a blender pen and reinkers.  I kept the heavier color to the center of the flowers and worked my way out.  I sponged the edges with Island Indigo and then popped it up on dimensionals the card base.                                          

 Remember, if you'd like to play along with this Splitcoaststampers Creative Crew challenge be sure to add the keyword CCREW112CF when you upload.  We'd love to have you join us!

 Thanks for looking.  May all your toilets stay unclogged today!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Bordering on Romance

Ink: Versamark, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade

Paper: Island Indigo, Whisper White, Basic Gray, Twitterpated DSP

Accessories: Labels Collection Framelits, white EP, Adorning Accents Edgelits, 1/8" Lucky Limeade organdy ribbon, Whisper White satin ribbon

Sweet Gnome Congrats

 I made this card the other day combining the Mojo Monday sketch challenge and the ColourQ color combination.  I can't decide if I like this one or not....I love the sweet little paper pieced gnome but I think there might just be too much other stuff going on.  I also got to play with some new accessories so that was fun.

  The Colour Q challenge was to use Cherry Cobbler, Pear Pizzazz, Cameo Coral (retired) and Cool Caribbean (retired).  I never had any Cool Caribbean and have long since sold the Cameo Coral when it retired so I used the next 2 closest current colors; Pool Party and Calypso Coral.  I've been using those 2 a lot lately so I hope you aren't tired of the same old thing here on Did You Stamp Today?

  The back panel is embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and uses a length of Calypso Coral ruffled ribbon to bring that color to that side of the card which was looking a little bare before.  The banner strip is one of the new Twitterpated designs from the new Occasions Mini catalog.  I added the Congratulations banner and adhered it with a Sale-a-bration (SAB) designer printed brad.  I needed a congrats card but you could easily change it out to a birthday or Valentine's day sentiment.

  The Calypso Coral scallop circle is paper pierced on each scallop and I added a layered heart using the heart from the owl punch and the smallest heart from the Heart to Heart punch.  I added a small rhinestone as well.

  The gnome is stamped in Stazon on watercolor paper.  I paper pieced her hat and dress with Everyday Elegance DSP from the upcoming SAB catalog.  Have I said how much I love every one of the Everyday Elegance designs?  Her hair, skin, the grass and mushroom are all colored in using a blender pen and re-inkers.

  Last but not least I used the Stampin' Up! Big Shot adhesive sheets to make my own glitter heart sticker.  I added the adhesive to one side of the Calypso Coral heart so that the Dazzling Diamonds glitter would be evenly applied and I wouldn't have to mess with glue.  All I did was stick a small piece of cardstock to one side of the adhesive sheet, used the Hearts Framelits to cut my heart shape, peel off the backing on the adhesive and then smoosh (yup, that's the technical term!) the sticky heart into the Dazzling Diamonds. 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Gnome Sweet Gnome, Delightful Dozen

Ink: Stazon, Calypso Coral, Pear Pizzazz, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede (for hair and mushroom base)

Paper: Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, watercolor paper, Calypso Coral, Twitterpated DSP, Everyday Elegance DSP

Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds, SU adhesive sheets, ruffled ribbon, Designer Printed brad, Heart to Heart punch, Hearts framelits, Owl punch, rhinestone, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, scalloped circle punch

Slow Snail Belated Birthday

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!  We are enjoy quite the warm spell here in central Virgina.  It was in the 60s today and we enjoyed an awesome walk with my in-laws down in Virginia Beach.  We had 2 very tired little boys on our way home this evening.  There was a lot of snoring coming from the back seat!

  I hope to get some more stamping done tomorrow so for now I'm sharing another Creative Crew project for the January challenges.  The challenge was to use a color combination that we had never used before along with this sketch.

 

So how do you think I did?  I flipped the sketch on its side and stamped the snail as if he's coming onto the main panel. 

  The images are stamped with Stazon on watercolor paper and then colored in with a blender pen and reinkers.  I outlined the gifts and snail with a bit of Sahara Sand for some added detail.  

  I rounded opposite corners, used brads, new 1/8" taffeta ribbon, Crystal Effects on the snail shell, and a banner for the sentiment.  But by far my favorite is the Dazzling Details snail trail wandering around the bottom of the card.  It's no wonder that this snail is late for a birthday!

  Remember if you'd like to play along with this Creative Crew Challenge use a color combination you've never used before with the above sketch and upload it to Splitcoaststampers using the keyword: CCREWDF112.

  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Turtle & Co.

Ink: Stazon, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Sahara Sand

Paper: watercolor paper, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Black

Accessories: Aquapainter, black brads, SAB designer printed brad, 1/8" Calypso Coral organdy ribbon, corner rounder, Dazzling Details

Valentine Enchantment

  Lots of great stuff happening with Stampin' Up! today!  Today is the first day of the new Occasions Mini catalog....soooooo much great stuff in this one, especially for the Big Shot!  If you're one of my local ladies and didn't receive your mini catalog in the mail last month let me know and I'll get one to you.  If you're not local to me check out my sidebar to see the mini.  You definitely want to have this to browse through before we meet for January club.  Believe me your wish list will be a mile long!

  Also, check out Stampin' Up! on Facebook...they are giving away a FREE Digital Download until January 10th.  All you have to do is become a fan of Stampin' Up! on Facebook.  Check out their wall post from yesterday to get the link for the download.  This can be used in My Digital Studio or any other photo editing software.  Try out digital paper crafting today for FREE!  Gotta love free.  Thanks Stampin' Up!

  Today's project is another one I made for the Splitcoaststampers Creative Crew.  We were to use hearts in a new way to us on a Valentine's Day project.  My card isn't the traditional colors for a Valentine's Day but it's a sweet one nonetheless!  The way I used hearts in a new way to me was to punch out the hearts with my Heart to Heart punch and then fold them in half the long way.  I adhered one side of each heart down to form a flower.

  How cute are those flowers??  And the sky's the limit with the size of hearts you use to make your flowers....bigger hearts = bigger flowers!  I want to make a 12 x 12 shadow box heart flower for spring.

  You can see a few new Occasions mini products as well as upcoming Sale-a-bration (SAB) products used on this card.  The Designer Series Paper used on this card is a SAB offering this year.  Let me tell you...I LOVE this paper.  Every single design in the Everyday Enchantment assortment is awesome...I'm having a hard time deciding which side to use!  Guess I'll just have to get another pack!  The stamp used on the card base is also and SAB choice.  It's called Fresh Vintage and works great with the Everyday Enchantment DSP.  I stamped off the floral stamp twice before stamping the cardstock to get the faint image.

  Now check out some of these cool mini products...the big DSP label that the flowers are mounted on...that is made with the new Labels Collection Framelits.  They are awesome.  You get a set of thin dies that nest inside of each other so you have a variety of sizes that all layer together.  You can get this label shape as well as hearts!

  The center sentiment banner comes from a new set called Take It To Heart.  I just stamped my sentiment in it and then cut it out.  It's great for making a sentiment the highlight on a card.

  The last of the new items are these 8mm adhesive pearls.  You all know how much I love my adhesive pearls and rhinestones so you'll be seeing a lot more of these showing up on my projects in the future!

  If you'd like to play along with the Creative Crew get out those hearts and do something new to you with them and upload them to the Splitcoaststampers Creative Crew gallery by using the keyword for this challenge: CCREW112HF.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Fresh Vintage, Take It To Heart, Delightful Dozen

Ink: Soft Suede

Paper: Pool Party, Everyday Enchantment DSP, Very Vanilla, Calypso Coral


Accessories: Heart to Heart punch, adhesive pearls, Labels Framelits

Happy New Year!!

  So I know New Year's Day was yesterday but I never found a moment to wish you all Happy New Year's!  So HAPPY NEW YEAR my fellow stampers!  Here's wishing you a 2012 that has plenty of stamping time!

  I have some fun news to share to start the year off.  I was chosen to be a member of Splitcoaststampers Creative Crew!  The Creative Crew is a rotating group of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators that are give a new set of awesome challenges every month and we create projects using the challenge guidelines.  It's so fun!  The January gallery is up and running and showcases some awesome talent and cool projects.  I already have a few favorited to try out myself.  I am totally floored to have been chosen to be in this group of super talented ladies.

  Check out these fun challenges for the month of January and play along!

CCREW112CF- My newest stamp set. Use only stamps from a new stamps set on a non-traditional card.

CCREW112DF- Use a color combination that you’ve never used before. Make your card with this color combo using this sketch.
 


CCREW112HF- Valentines Day.  Make a card or a decor item using hearts in a new way to you—something you’ve never done with hearts.

CCREW112SB- a past holiday (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hannukah, Christmas) scrapbook page or decor item. Use your newest dies, texturz plates or embossing folders to create this beauty. Use one or use many big shot items.

  To upload a project to Splitcoaststampers make sure to add the bold challenge keyword in the keyword space so your project gets placed in the correct spot.  Use the challenge keyword to search the gallery to see the other challenge projects or use the keyword CreativeCrew to see all the projects together.  I hope you'll play along with us!

  Now after all this chatter here is my first project of 2012 and my first Creative Crew project.  This is for the CCREW112SB challenge which was to make a scrapbook page or a decor item for a past holiday.  Please excuse the photos...this was a hard one to photograph...all the white and the larger size just wasn't working in my light box so I had to lay it down on the carpet!

  This 12x12 shadow box came together quickly once I had a few minutes to work on it.  I had been wanting to make a Christmas themed shadow box for Christmas I just never found the time, until after Christmas!  At least I have a fun new decoration to look forward to bringing out next year....oops, this year!

  The back layer is a 12x12 piece of textured Very Vanilla.  The next layer is textured Chocolate Chip (I tried Garden Green, Basic Black and a few others but the Chocolate Chip looked best to me) but you could totally customize this to match your other decorations.

   The top square is another piece of textured Very Vanilla.  On this piece I mounted ornaments punched out of smooth Very Vanilla.  All of the ornaments are popped up with dimensionals.  These ornaments are embossed with the soon to be available Adorning Accents embossing folders which are long and skinny giving you more placement options.  I used the scallop embossing folder and then added an adhesive rhinestone to each scallop.

  The Red Glimmer paper ornament is decorated with 3 rows of adhesive rhinestones across the middle.  I also added a baker's twine bow and 2 mini jingle bells.  I placed this one in the lower right hand corner to shake up my "everything must be balanced and even" sensibilities.  And it's a fun pop of color to draw your eye to.  I might try it again and put the red ornament smack in the middle.  I already have plans to make some of these for gifts for Christmas 2012.

  I hope you'll hop on over to Splitcoaststampers to check out all the goodies the Creative Crew has made for January.  Leave them a little comment love and then get out your supplies and play along!

  Happy New Year.  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: none

Ink: none

Paper: Very Vanilla textured & smooth, Chocolate Chip textured, Red Glimmer paper

Accessories: adhesive rhinestones, baker's twine, mini jingle bells, ornament punch, Adorning Accents embossing folders (Available Jan. 4 in the new Occasions Mini Catalog)