Retiring list!

The retiring list is out, and here it is! For the first time that I can remember, Stampin' Up! is offering a 10% discount on retiring sets! Whoohoo! The discount is only good through December 23, so get out your wish list now.
Update: SU is also offering free shipping on all orders $70 or more also through December 23.

Christmas ornament

Here is the Christmas ornament we made at the workshop last week. It is very easy to make, and because it's flat, you can easily include inside of a Christmas card!
Does it look vaguely familiar? If so, it's because it's very similar to the focal image on my burnished velvet card. As I said previously, I got the idea for that from Taylor VanBruggen at Taylored Expressions. Then I saw that Crystal (blog link on the right) made it into a Christmas ornament. Fabulous idea, Crystal!
I started with a 2 3/4" square of Brushed Gold cardstock. I punched the scallop border punch once (centered) on each side. Next I took 2 squares of Riding Hood Red cardstock, each 2 1/2", and did the same thing. The center comes out, and I attached them on each side of the gold piece. Next I stamped the image from Baroque Motifs twice onto Shimmery White cardstock using VersaMark and embossed with gold EP. I punched them out using the scallop circle punch and layered those on top of the RHR piece. (You could also cut out the image if you want more of the red layer to show.) A piece of gold cord and Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon completes the ornament.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Baroque Motifs; Paper: Shimmery White, Brushed Gold, Riding Hood Red; Ink: VersaMark; Accessories: gold EP, scallop circle punch, 1/16" hole punch, scallop border punch, Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon, gold cord
Tomorrow the retiring stamp set list is posted. Check back here to see it. If you're one of my regular customers, I'll be e-mailing it to you if I have your e-mail address.
Happy stamping!

Two awards!

Kathy gave me an award! Thanks, Kathy! Be sure to check out the gorgeous ornaments on Kathy's blog. If you've got clear glass ornaments at your house, grab your reinkers and glitter and get busy!

I also got an award from Lorien! I "met" Lorien on SCS when she hosted a swap I did, and we have both been in Crystal's swaps together. She was running a Christmas Cardapalooza on her blog earlier, so head over there for great card ideas for the holidays.

According to Lorien's blog, this award means that this blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY- nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming.These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends.They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers.

Thanks, Lorien!

I think most of my blogging sisters have gotten awards already, so if you haven't gotten one, consider yourself awarded and pass it on!

Happy stamping!

Tis the season to give gift cards

Last night, I had a workshop at Louise's house. Louise moved to Two Harbors, so she hasn't stamped with us for a while. We really missed her, so we had the workshop at her place last night. Since we had to drive about 1/2 hour to get there, I decided to keep it simple with 2 fun projects.
This card is a gift card holder. I've seen lots of them around, but not too many of them are standard card size. This one is!
The tree image is stamped using the baby wipe technique. I used a stack of baby wipes as an inkpad and covered it in drops of Old Olive, Real Red and Chocolate Chip. The key is to make sure that all of the drops touch so there are no blank spots when you stamp.

I started with a 12X12 piece of cardstock and cut it down to 5 1/2 x 12. (My cardstock was not quite 12"; it was more like 11 15/16, so measure before the next step to be sure!) Next, I scored at 4 1/4" from each end and then scored in the center. Fold it like a W and then adhere the middle parts together so it looks like the above picture. Don't use adhesive along the center fold line, though, because that's where the slot for the gift card goes.

Next, I marked where the slot would go on that piece that is sticking out in the middle of the card. I centered the gift card and made little pencil marks on each side.

If you click on the picture above to enlarge it, you should be able to see the pencil mark inside the opening for the word window punch. Notice that I only put the cardstock in halfway. It took 3 punches to make the full slot.

Here is what the gift card looks like inside the slot.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Scandinavian Season; Paper: Confetti White, Old Olive, Real Red textured; Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: ticket corner punch, word window punch, Alpine ribbon originals
Happy stamping!

They can't all be fabulous

I thought about not posting this card, but I need to post something and this is what I've got. I guess you can tell by the title and my opening sentence that I'm not in love with this card. I made this for this week's workshop wow. The theme was using ribbon in an unusual way, so I thought we should make ribbon roses. Easy peasy, just do a running stitch along the bottom of the ribbon and gather it up to make a flower. First I tried it with the So Saffron polytwill, and it just didn't work. I think the ribbon is too supple, so it wouldn't hold a good shape. Fortunately, I already had this Regal Rose flower made.
Then I wanted to try color blocking, which is one of the WICKED demo challenges this month. (If you're a demo, get over to SCS and check out Vera's challenges and samples; they are jaw-droppingly awesome!) I used my coluzzle to cut a circle out of the center of the Parisian Summer DSP then I cut the DSP into 4 equal pieces and attached them to Basic Black. It came out okay, I guess, but I think I can do better. I'll have to try it again.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Heard from the Heart, Sanded, Tres Chic; Paper: Pink Pirouette, Basic Black, Parisian Summer DSP; Ink: Basic Black, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette; Accessories: Coluzzle, Regal Rose grosgrain ribbon, So Saffron brad, crafters tool kit, linen thread

Holiday Extravaganza sale!

Stampin' Up! has some amazing bundles on sale! Check out the flyer here and e-mail me to order! They are available until December 1 while supplies last.

Burnished Velvet

Last week's workshop wow was to make a card using burnished velvet. (I'm not sure why it's called burnished velvet because it doesn't use velvet, and I don't think it looks like velvet.) For burnished velvet, you cover sticky strip with glitter and then rub the glitter into the strip. On my card, it's the strip on the right.
I started out with a 4 1/4 X 11 piece of brushed gold cardstock scored at 5 1/2 and put an inch of sticky strip on the end of the card. My idea was to use the scallop edge punch to make the edge scalloped before adding the glitter, but the punch wouldn't go through it. So I cut 1/2 of it off. Then I covered the sticky strip with purple glitter. I covered it with a piece of paper and used my bone folder to burnish (rub) the glitter. (The original directions said to burnish it with your finger; I don't know if that makes a difference or not.)
I decided to add the wow factor by embossing on the burnished velvet strip. I covered the rest of the card front with a scrap and stamped the large swirl from Baroque Motifs onto the strip using VersaMark. Then I re-inked and stamped the same swirl on the card front. I poured gold EP over all of it and heat embossed both images at the same time.
For the medallion, I used a 2 3/4 square of Elegant Eggplant and punched the scallop edge punch on all 4 sides. The shimmery white piece was made the same way using a 2 1/2" square (the center falls out of the square). I got that idea from Taylor VanBruggen at Taylored Expressions. I used my stampamajig to stamp the square image in the center of the shimmery white square using Elegant Eggplant craft ink. I embossed it with Irridescent Ice EP.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Baroque Motifs; Paper: Shimmery White, Brushed Gold, Elegant Eggplant; Ink: VersaMark, Elegant Eggplant craft; Accessories: gold EP, Irridescent Ice EP, sticky strip, fine cosmo glitter, stampamajig, scallop edge punch
Happy stamping!