Cropadile Refresher

Last week's 3D demo challenge was calendar bookmarks. Some genius on SCS came up with these little calendars and was able to fit 5 on a page! I decided to stamp over each month with the little flower from Fresh Cuts, and I used the new In Colors. 2008 is on one side and 2009 is on the other. The white piece is 7 1/2 X either 2 1/8 or 2 1/16 depending on the piece. The Kraft cardstock is 8 1/2 X 2 1/2, so I got 4 of those from one sheet. I used the scallop border punch on the corners. Got that from Andrea Walford's blog. I used the Cropadile to punch the hole at the top and set the eyelet. (See photos below) Then I added 12 inches of Kraft taffeta ribbon in place of a tassel. I'll be giving these to all of my regular customers along with their new catalog. Hopefully, they will be shipping any day now (*fingers crossed*)!
Here is the Cropadile. The big part in the middle is the eyelet setter. Notice that the left side says "top" and has a little picture of an eyelet on it to show you which way the eyelet goes. The right side says "base"; it is the part that rolls back the flanges on the eyelet. The black cubes in the center are adjustable for different sizes of eyelets as well as for snaps. I saved the backing from my package so I have the reference for the different settings. The things on either side down by the handles are hole punches. One is 1/8" (for regular eyelets) and one is 3/16" (for jumbo eyelets). They are labeled with the size, and each one has an adjustable guide. In this photo, they are both set at 1/2". This is great when you want to line up a row of holes or when you are using it for dry embossing.
When you squeeze the handles together, it sets an eyelet as well as punches holes on both sides. This baby can punch through tin and CDs!
Tip of the day: When setting a jumbo eyelet, I squeeze the handles twice. The first time, it rolls the flanges partway down like in the above photo.
When I squeeze the second time, it rolls the flanges down more. You can give it a really good squeeze for this one. (Sorry for the blurry photo!)
If you have any Cropadile questions, please comment or e-mail me!
Happy stamping!

Retiring Accessories list

Here is the retiring accessories list. It's long! Some surprises to me: metallic art pencils, pure color pencils, mulberry paper, stipple brushes, and eyelet combos. At first I thought maybe they were going to reconfigure the eyelets, but they said no accessories are being reconfigured. Wow! Brushed copper cardstock is also retiring, so if you liked my faux tooled leather card, get the copper cardstock now!!
I'll update the list each night with what is gone, so keep checking back!

109200 Accents & Elements Build A Flower GONE
110718 Accents & Elements Lucky Star
110719 Accents & Elements Messenger
103158 Acrylic Graph & Grid
108638 Card Stock 12 X 12 In Color
108642 Card Stock 8-1/2 X 11 Blue Bayou
108643 Card Stock 8-1/2 X 11 Groovy Guava
108637 Card Stock 8-1/2 X 11 In Color
108640 Card Stock 8-1/2 X 11 River Rock
108639 Card Stock 8-1/2 X 11 Soft Sky
108641 Card Stock 8-1/2 X 11 Wild Wasabi GONE
108644 Card Stock 8-1/2 X 11 Purely Pomegranate GONE
103975 Card Stock Brushed Copper GONE
108694 Card Stock Textured 12 X 12 In Color
107312 Cards & Envelopes Gift Whisper White
107292 Cards & Envelopes Greeting Whisper White
109116 Notes & Envelopes Long Notes
109118 Notes & Envelopes Love Notes
109117 Notes & Envelopes Pocket Notes* GONE
110729 Notes & Envelopes Scallop Notes
109119 Notes & Envelopes Gift Notes
109018 Classic Stampin' Ink Blue Bayou GONE
109019 Classic Stampin' Ink Groovy Guava
109017 Classic Stampin' Ink Purely Pomegranate GONE
109016 Classic Stampin' Ink River Rock GONE
109015 Classic Stampin' Ink Soft Sky
109020 Classic Stampin' Ink Wild Wasabi GONE
109013 Classic Stampin' Pad Blue Bayou
109012 Classic Stampin' Pad Groovy Guava
109011Classic Stampin' Pad Purely Pomegranate
109010 Classic Stampin' Pad River Rock
109009 Classic Stampin' Pad Soft Sky
109014 Classic Stampin' Pad Wild Wasabi
110751 Designer Series Paper Azure*
110749 Designer Series Paper Berry Bliss
109154 Designer Series Paper Cutie Pie
110699 Designer Series Paper East Coast Prep* GONE
109160 Designer Series Paper Fall Flowers GONE
109159 Designer Series Paper Flowers For You*
110697 Designer Series Paper Ginger Blossom
110479 Designer Series Paper Jersey Shore*
109151Designer Series Paper Le Jardin
110748 Designer Series Paper Notebook*
110750 Designer Series Paper Olive Press
109153 Designer Series Paper Porcelain Prints* GONE
109175 Designer Series Paper Prints Almost Amethyst* GONE
109177 Designer Series Paper Prints Always Artichoke
110696 Designer Series Paper Prints Bali Breeze
109173 Designer Series Paper Prints Blue Bayou
109174 Designer Series Paper Prints Brilliant Blue
109178 Designer Series Paper Prints Certainly Celery
109169 Designer Series Paper Prints Close to Cocoa* GONE
109168 Designer Series Paper Prints Groovy Guava* GONE
109171 Designer Series Paper Prints Lovely Lilac
109172 Designer Series Paper Prints More Mustard
109176 Designer Series Paper Prints Old Olive
109170 Designer Series Paper Prints Pumpkin Pie GONE
109164 Designer Series Paper Prints River Rock*
109167 Designer Series Paper Prints Rose Red
109166 Designer Series Paper Prints So Saffron
109165 Designer Series Paper Prints Soft Sky
109163 Designer Series Paper Prints Tempting Turquoise GONE
110698 Designer Series Paper Prints Spring Break
110273 Designer Series Paper Prints Spring Fling*
110271 Designer Series Paper Prints Spring Silhouettes
110272 Designer Series Paper Prints Western Sky
107299 Envelope Confetti Cream Medium
105320 Eyelets Basic
100375 Eyelets Bold Brights
100381 Eyelets Earth Elements
107233 Eyelets Fresh Favorites I
107234 Eyelets Fresh Favorites II
105316 Eyelets Rich Regals
100378 Eyelets Soft Subtles GONE
105515 Hodgepodge Hardware Pewter GONE
105531 Hodgepodge Hardware Antique Brass GONE
105532 Hodgepodge Hardware Aged Copper GONE
101120 Metallic Art Pencils
107307 On Board Accents
109181 On Board Blossoms & Basic
109179 On Board Ginormous Pieces
107306 On Board Simon Lower
102678 Paper Mulberry White GONE
109227 Punch Box Three For You
102686Punch Handheld Rectangle
100271 Pure Color Pencils
109060 Ribbon Double-Stitched Blue Bayou GONE
109063 Ribbon Double-Stitched Groovy Guava GONE
109061 Ribbon Double-Stitched Purely Pomegranate GONE
109062 Ribbon Double-Stitched River Rock*
109059 Ribbon Double-Stitched Soft Sky GONE
109058 Ribbon Double-Stitched Wild Wasabi GONE
109189 Ribbon Originals Beachfront*
109187 Ribbon Originals District*
109188 Ribbon Originals Fairy Tale
109185 Ribbon Originals Jersey*
109184 Ribbon Originals Sherbert
109186 Ribbon Originals Theater
110716 Ribbon Striped Grosgrain Wild Wasabi*
110281 Rub-Ons Cherished Memories* GONE
110284 Rub-Ons Eastern Elegance*
110285 Rub-Ons Urban West*
110557 Simply Scrappin' Boho Blend
109610 Simply Scrappin' Confetti
110572 Simply Scrappin' Crew Kids Boy
110567 Simply Scrappin' Crew Kids Girl
109597 Simply Scrappin' Home Again
110562 Simply Scrappin' Rose Cottage
109648 Simply Scrappin' Special Delivery Boy
109627 Simply Scrappin' Special Delivery Girl GONE
110587 Simply Scrappin' Summer Days
110577 Simply Scrappin' Tie The Knot
111184 Simply Sent Friendly Notes
109228 Simply Sent Simple Delights GONE
109229 Simply Sent Three Thoughts GONE
106662Stampin'Around Wheel Daisy Field
107561Stampin'Around Wheel Garden Annuals
109681Stampin'Around Wheel Good Dog
109678Stampin'Around Wheel Kisses
107482Stampin'Around Wheel Lily Pad
109680Stampin'Around Wheel Meow
109677Stampin'Around Wheel Mistletoe GONE
106610Jumbo Stampin' Around Wheel Basics Outline
107467Jumbo Stampin' Around Wheel Birthday
109571Jumbo Stampin' Around Wheel Dilly Dally Baby
109570Jumbo Stampin' Around Wheel Dilly Dally Friends
109569Jumbo Stampin' Around Wheel Dilly Dally Party
108423Jumbo Stampin' Around Wheel Leaves A La Carte GONE
107468Jumbo Stampin' Around Wheel Nature Hike
108980Jumbo Stampin' Around Wheel Petals
107464Jumbo Stampin' Around Wheel Rough Texture GONE
111261Jumbo Stampin' Around Wheel Spunky Spots
109554Stampin' Color Index Labels
109553 Stampin' Color Index Labels (French)
106694 Stampin' Kids Markers
101399 Stipple Brushes GONE
102673 Zig Painty

A white challenge

If you have ever seen JulieHRR's work on her blog or at SCS, you know that she is all about a simple white card. So that was her Dare to Get Dirty challenge this week. White cards are SO not my style, but I decided to give it a try.
I started with a 4 1/4" square shimmery white card and used the scallop border punch on the side. Then I stamped my image in Basic Gray and colored it with the new In Color Inks and a blender pen. I stamped and colored the butterfly on a scrap, cut it out and adhered it. A simple ribbon finished off the card. I was pretty pleased with it; what do you think? Here is what Julie herself had to say: "I love that you added the delicate butterfly and your color selection is such a PRETTY one! Nicely done, girl!" Whoohoo!!
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Dreams du Jour; Paper: Shimmery white; Ink: Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point; Accessories: scallop border punch, blender pen, Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon

Still Feeling the Monkey Love

I am still loving this monkey! And I think it will be great to make cards for my 2 (soon to be 3!) youngest nephews. This is one of those cards that started out one way and ended up different. Does that ever happen to you? Originally, I was making a card for one of the Dare to Get Dirty challenges. It was a sketch, and the focal image was an oval. Well, I had just seen the coolest scalloped circles made with the Coluzzle and the slit punch on Marilyn's blog, and I thought that would be cool to use on this card. So I got out my Coluzzle and cut an oval using the 3rd cutting line from the center. Then I put the slit punch in through the hole and punched all the way around. (Marilyn has pictures on her blog, so I didn't take pictures of that part.)
You can see in this photo that there is a little gap on the left side. I thought this might happen, so I started on the side of the oval so I could cover it up with a knot. If you look at the finished card, you can see that's exactly what I did, and you would never even know that gap is there! Whoohoo!! The oval on the right is cut using the 5th cutting line out from the center. I tried stamping the monkey on it, but I couldn't get it exactly like I wanted, so I ended up stamping the monkey and then cutting around him with the Coluzzle.
I watercolored the monkey and banana (both stamped with Basic Brown) with my watercolor crayons. Barely Banana was actually too light for the banana skin, so I used So Saffron and added a little More Mustard around the edge. I used Very Vanilla for the banana. The monkey was colored with Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa and Real Red. I used the cutter kit around the oval's edge and hit it with my Close to Cocoa Stampin' Spot.
I used Confetti White for the card base, topped with a Pacific Point layer followed by So Saffron Prints DSP with the banana stamped randomly in Close to Cocoa. I distressed the edges of the DSP just like I did the oval.
So then I hold my beautiful oval up against the card to try to decide what size the other sketch layers should be. That's when I discovered that my oval is WAY too big for the sketch! Well, I'd gone too far to turn back, so I figured out where to put the ribbon, adhered the oval, and punched the sentiment out with the word window punch.
I guess I can't complain because I like how the card came out, but I'm bummed that I didn't do the challenge. There are so many great ones over at SCS, and I just don't see how I will get them done. That's life, I guess!
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Sock Monkey; Paper: Confetti White, Pacific Point, So Saffron Prints DSP; Ink: Basic Brown, Close to Cocoa; Accessories: aquapainter, watercolor wonder crayons, Coluzzle, slit punch, word window punch, Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon, cutter kit

More vellum flowers plus directions!

Here is the card I made for this week's Workshop Wow demo challenge on SCS. We are doing summer re-runs for the next few weeks, and the challenge this week was to use vellum. I first saw this technique on a display board at the Milwaukee Regional, so I have no idea who created that beautiful card.
This works best with line image stamps. I stamped the images onto vellum cardstock with VersaMark ink and embossed with white EP. Then I flipped the vellum over and colored on the back to soften the colors. For this card, I used ink and a blender pen since I don't have In Color markers. The top flower is colored with Pink Pirouette with Riding Hood Red around the edges. The bottom flower is just Riding Hood Red. (I used markers on Wednesday's card.) Then I cut out the flowers. For both cards, I used a rhinestone brad to hold them together and then stuck a Stampin' Dimensional to the back of the brad. That way you don't see the Dimensional. You could also use a button for the center or something else that would cover the adhesive behind it. You might also be able to use a glue dot since the vellum has color on it, but I haven't tried that so I can't guarantee it!
For the rest of the card, I stamped both the flower stem and the sentiment in VersaMark and embossed with white EP. I did the sentiment after I'd adhered the flower so I could get it in the right place. I used the new scallop border punch on the right edge of the Kiwi Kiss cardstock and then added a white scalloped border. For that, I just used a strip of white cardstock longer than the Kiwi Kiss layer, lined up the scallops, adhered it and trimmed off the edges of the white.
I debated about adding some ribbon, but I couldn't figure out where it would go.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Doodle This, Heard from the Heart; Paper: vellum cardstock, whisper white, kiwi kiss, pink pirouette; Ink: VersaMark, Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red; Accessories: white EP, Pretties kit, scallop border punch, blender pen

This is the back side of the vellum after I colored it.
This is the front. The white embossing really makes the colors pop! Notice that it doesn't matter if you color outside the lines because you are going to cut the flowers out. The only areas where it mattered was when I was using a different color on just certain parts like the centers of the flowers on the left.

Happy stamping!

Dare to Get Dirty!

If you are a paid member on SCS, you can take part in this year's Dare to Get Dirty challenges. They are so much fun, plus members of the Dirty Dozen comment on your cards! Last year both Jenn Balcer and JulieHRR commented on the same card, and it was so exciting!
Anyway, Laurie (lauraly on SCS) is a former Dirty Girl, and her challenge on Monday was to use vellum. Well, I had already made these vellum flowers; how great is that? (Come back on Friday for another card using vellum and details on how I made the flowers.) I wanted to use markers on the flowers, and I only have the Bold Brights so that determined the color combo. I don't use these colors anymore, so this was definitely outside my comfort zone! I used the big piece of vellum to soften the Yoyo Yellow cardbase. I thought the Basic Gray would help tone it all down a little.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Enjoy Every Moment, Bud Basics, Sanded; Paper: vellum cardstock, shimmery white, basic gray, orchid opulence, yoyo yellow; Ink: VersaMark, Basic Gray, Orchid Opulence, Yoyo Yellow, Bold Bright markers; Accessories: ticket corner punch, white EP, Basic Gray taffeta ribbon, Ice Circles rhinestone brads
Happy stamping!

For my sister demos Down Under

Today's demonstratable card challenge was to use designer paper. Since my sister demos Down Under are just getting True Friend and the Apple Cider DSP in their holiday mini, I decided to make a card using them. I got this sketch from Jen del Muro at http://www.iheart2stamp.com/. It's so unusual that it caught my attention and I decided to give it a try. TIP OF THE DAY: When you find a sketch or card that you like, copy it into a Word or word processor document and save it to your computer. You'll save a ton of ink and paper!
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: True Friend; Paper: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, River Rock, Apple Cider DSP; Ink: Chocolate Chip classic & craft, River Rock, Really Rust; Accessories: photo corner punch, clear EP, twill tape, Earth Elements buttons, cutter kit
Happy stamping!

25% off some retiring accessories!

Stampin' Up is releasing its retiring accessories list on July 21st, but they're giving us both a sneak peek and a great deal! Check out this flyer to see some of the accessories that are retiring. For THIS LIST ONLY, they are offering 25% off. This is while supplies last starting on July 21st, so don't delay ordering!

More new stuff

Here is the card I made for this week's Workshop Wow demo challenge. The challenge was to use our newest stamp set. I used the Blurred Vision Watercolor technique on the main image. You stamp the image and then watercolor over it; the ink you stamped with colors in the image, and the lines get a little blurred. This image is from Fresh Cuts and is stamped with Kiwi Kiss. I stamped the butterflies from Dreams Du Jour in Basic Brown and watercolored them with Baja Breeze and Tangerine Tango. (Tip of the day: Let one color dry before you apply the other color so they don't run together.) I cut out the butterflies then dotted on 2 way glue and sprinkled with Dazzling Diamonds. I used a little Mono Multi to adhere them to the main image.
I also stamped the butterflies onto the cardbase with VersaMark.
For the ribbon, I ran some vanilla taffeta over the Tangerine Tango pad, using a sponge dauber on top to press it in. I heat set the ribbon, which crinkled it up a little; it is a cool look! Believe it or not, the Old Olive twill goes perfectly with the Kiwi Kiss!
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Fresh Cuts, Dreams Du Jour; Paper: Confetti White, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango; Ink: VersaMark, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango; Accessories: cutter kit, aquapainter, Dazzling Diamonds, 2 way glue, vanilla taffeta ribbon, Old Olive polytwill ribbon
Happy stamping!

Decor Elements are awesome!

Here is what the Flourishes looks like on my wall. It is so cool!! I love the Chocolate Chip on my pale plum wall. This is the smallest flourish and flower. I have to wait to put the bigger ones around my window because I have stuff up against the walls, so I can't get to it with a stepstool.
This is what the sheet looks like. This one is 15 X 17 1/2. (Sorry you have to see my feet!) The sheet comes rolled up in a cardboard tube to keep it nice. There's also a direction sheet. The other side of the sheet has a grid on it, sort of like Contact paper. (There is an applicator that you purchase separately for only $1.95, but a Pampered Chef pot scraper would work too if you have one of those.) I cut out the flourish and turned it grid side up then scraped the applicator over it to adhere the design to the sticky front sheet.
Here is where I am removing the backing sheet. Like a rub-on, it's easy to stop and scrape again if the vinyl isn't sticking down. In fact, when I was working with the flower, one petal wouldn't adhere to the front sheet, so I just used my fingernail to pull the edge loose from the backing sheet.
Then you stick it to the wall. You only have one shot at this, but you can see through the sheet which helps with placement. I trimmed away the edge on the lower right of the photo because I wanted the edge of the flourish to be right up against the switchplate. I even stuck the edge of the front sheet under the edge of the switchplate.
Once it's on the wall, you use the applicator to scrape over the design to adhere it to the wall. Again, it's easy to stop and scrape again if part of it isn't adhering. Then you press the design down firmly with your fingers to make sure the whole thing is stuck down.
The catalog and directions say not to use it on textured walls. However, I have light texture on my walls, and I had no trouble with them at all.
As soon as I get the others up over my window, I'll post pictures.

Sock monkey!!!

Isn't he adorable??? I just love him! Apparently, you either love or hate him according to polls I've seen on SCS, but how could you hate that cute little monkey?
Anyway, this is an invitation for my friend Kristi. Her son will be turning 3. She has never stamped before so I wanted to create something cute but easy enough for her to make herself. The card is just one quarter sheet of cardstock. This is the front. I colored all of the images with chalk--super simple! I added just a couple of highlights with markers (the top of the hat, the balloon strings and the candle flames on the back).

This is the back. I only used 4 colors of chalk: Close to Cocoa, Real Red, Brilliant Blue, Yoyo Yellow. Tip of the day: Don't forget that an eraser comes with your chalks! This is excellent for cleaning up those areas where you get way outside the lines.

I did all of the stamping with Basic Brown. I cut the white pieces 3 3/4 X 5 1/2 and used the scallop border punch on top and bottom.

Here is how I stamped the monkey. I wanted to mask for the hat, but I was afraid it would be too hard to stamp the hat first and then the monkey. So I used the mask on the stamp before I inked it up!
Here's how the monkey looks with no head top.
And here he is after I added the hat.

Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Sock Monkey, Hugs and Wishes; Paper: Naturals White, Brilliant Blue; Ink: Basic Brown; Accessories: Stampin' Pastels, scallop border punch

Well, I'd better get stamping, plus I have some Decor Elements to put up on my wall. Check back later in the week for pics!

I got mail!

Sorry for the late post! But look what I got in the mail today. Lori won some blog candy back when I had my last giveaway and sent me this bee-yoo-ti-ful thank you card. She says in the card that she is a new stamper. Well, I'd never know it! You are so talented. Thanks, Lori!
Since I'm playing with new stuff and Daniel is out of town, I hope to be stamping and posting more this week, so stay tuned!

First Sneak Peek Card

I'm a little embarrassed to say that I was so tired last night that I fell asleep on the couch before I mounted a single stamp! But I got my new stuff mounted this morning, and I did make my In Color spots last night.
I played around with the scallop border punch this afternoon. I was trying to make scallop edged squares like Mary Jo Albright did, but I had a lot of trouble getting it to work and finally gave up. I do plan on making the ric rac though. That looks really cool!
I started with a 6" square piece of Baja Breeze scored at 3" to make a 3" X 6" card. I used the scallop border punch on the bottom. There is a grid on the punch, so it is really easy to center your scallops on the card!
I love the butterfly in the new set Dreams Du Jour! I punched out 3 1 1/4" squares and stamped the butterfly in Basic Brown. I colored it in using Riding Hood Red and Baja Breeze and a blender pen. I roughed up the edges with my cutter kit and adhered them to 1 1/2" squares that also have roughed up edges.
For a finishing touch, I added a piece of Chocolate Chip polytwill ribbon. I wrapped it all the way around the card and cut the end into a V. (I saw this on Nichole Heady's blog and loved the look!) I added a Riding Hood Red button from the new Button Bouquet set in the new catalog. Stampin' Up let us order 2 of the buttons and showed us a picture from the rest. They are very cool! I will say, though, that the Baja Breeze buttons we got don't go with the Baja Breeze cardstock IMHO. I'm a little bummed about that, but I will make it work!
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Dreams Du Jour; Paper: Confetti White, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red; Ink: Basic Brown, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red; Accessories: blender pen, 1 1/4" square punch, cutter kit, scallop border punch, Chocolate Chip polytwill ribbon, Button Bouquet
I plan to break out the Sock Monkey tomorrow, so look for more posts coming up this week!
Happy stamping!

Masculine birthday card

I made this birthday card for a co-worker. He has a yellow Lab named Emma. He told me today that he has a photo of Emma as a puppy that looks almost exactly like this! I should have made 2 because my BIL has a birthday next week. D'oh!
Supplies: Stamps: For Father, It's Your Birthday, Flannel Plaid; Paper: Confetti White, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard; Ink: Chocolate Chip, StazOn Black; Accessories: watercolor wonder crayons, ticket corner punch, aquapainter, Making Memories brads (GASP!)

Love these Fresh Cut notes!

Here are the cards I made for this week's Workshop Wow challenge. The challenge is to use the retiring In Colors. I got the color combo from Emily who has been making some gorgeous cards using Soft Sky and Chocolate Chip together!
I got the idea for these cards from the card I made a while back where I masked off the card and just stamped on the petals. I loved that look but wanted something on the card itself. So I decided to take 2 note cards and stamp one in Chocolate Chip (yes, I need to reink my pad, LOL) and one in Soft Sky. Then I punched out the petals and used the 2 way glue pen to attach the Soft Sky petals to the Chocolate Chip card and vice versa. I did the petals one at a time so I could keep the pattern sort of lined up. Before I adhered the petals, I edged them in the same color they were stamped with.

This is how it looked after I glued on the petals. I just put a little dab of glue in the 3 spots where the petal pulled off near the middle. This left a little gap; you can see the light shining through in the top photo.

For the Soft Sky card, I used Mono Multi to adhere a felt flower and half pearl to the center, and I tore the edge of the card then added Old Olive around all the card edges. For the Chocolate Chip card, I tied Chocolate Chip ribbon through a ribbon slide and adhered it with Mono Multi. Then I sponged Soft Sky around all 4 edges of the card and stamped "For You" in Chocolate Chip.

Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Floral, Fresh Cuts; Paper: Fresh Cut Notes; Ink: Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive; Accessories: 2 way glue, Mono Multi, Flower Fusion, Pretties kit, Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware, Chocolate Chip polytwill ribbon

I am excited to report that my preorder from the new catalog will be here on Friday, so look for some new colors, stamps and accessories (Can you say "scallop border punch"???) in the next week! Whoohoo!!

Happy stamping!

Stationery Portfolio

This adorable stationery portfolio was this week's 3D challenge. It is made from an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of cardstock and has 2 pockets inside to hold stationery. I used the 3/4" circle punch to make a string closure like you see on envelopes. I think we will be doing this in a future workshop as this would be a great gift filled with handmade cards!
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Enjoy Every Moment; Paper: Naturals White, Groovy Guava; Ink: Groovy Guava, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi; Accessories: ticket corner punch, 3/4" circle punch, silver brads, linen thread
Happy stamping!

My latest swap card

I signed up for a swap on SCS for those not attending convention. Here's what I came up with. It's a CASE of a card I made at my upline, Sandi's. Of course, I changed the colors, and I changed the layout a little. Sandi's card was mounted onto a piece of white CS. I left that layer off. I really love this card, mostly because of the dry embossing. It was really easy to do even without a light box. You just need the Empressor stylus. I just kept lifting up the edge of the cardstock to peek and make sure I was getting all of the design. You can see Sandi's original below.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Priceless; Paper: Whisper White, Pale Plum, Mellow Moss; Ink: Perfect Plum; Accessories: Priceless classy brass template, Empressor stylus, five petal flower punch, Mellow Moss taffeta ribbon, Pretties kit

Check out the new In Colors

Dawn Olchefske must have expedited her preorder because she has already posted swatches of the new In Colors along with comparisons to current SU colors. I can already tell I'm going to LOVE them! Check out her blog here.

Christmas in July

This is the card I made for this week's Workshop Wow challenge, which is to use a retiring stamp set. I decided to use So Much, which I just got at Regional in April and have barely inked. WAAAHH! First of all, let me say that this did NOT start out as a Christmas card. I chose the colors (Real Red and Wild Wasabi) from my striped grosgrain ribbon that I am trying to use while it is still current. I wanted to use the two circle stamps to make a background, and I decided to do the Dazzling Diamond Dust technique. I stamped the dotted circle in Real Red over and over in sort of a pattern and then did the same with the drawn circle with Wild Wasabi. By the time I was done it reminded me of pine needles and holly berries. So I started looking through my stuff for a Christmas-y focal image. After much trial and error, I decided on these red flowers from the just-retired Die-Cut Blooms from the Occasions Mini. (Maybe they'll make it to the new catty though!) By overlapping them and adding So Saffron buttons, I think it looks like a poinsettia.
For the Dazzling Diamond Dust technique, you start with glossy white cardstock. Stamp with classic ink and let dry. Coat the entire piece of cardstock with VersaMark (that's why you have to let it dry first!) and cover with Irridescent Ice EP. Heat set the EP; don't overheat or the glitter will disappear! (Ask me how I know... LOL)
I tied on some striped grosgrain ribbon; I don't know how I tied such a nice knot. It'll probably never happen again! Then I added some photo corners and mounted it to the card base. The flower was attached with Stampin' Dimensionals.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: So Much; Paper: Glossy white, Real Red, Wild Wasabi; Ink: Real Red, Wild Wasabi, VersaMark; Accessories: Irridescent Ice EP, heat tool, photo corner punch, Wild Wasabi striped grosgrain ribbon, Die-cut Blooms, Fresh Favorites II buttons
If you're an SU demonstrator, be sure to check out the awesome new Demonstrator Only gallery at SCS. The fabulous folks there have worked very hard to make it all we've wanted and more!