Finally Friday & A Window with a View!!

Hello all!!!  Sorry for being a little late today, but I am sooo excited about leaving for convention on Monday, that my days are all running together this week!  The card I have for you today I created for an Inspiration challenge on LateNight Stampers.  And I my card won!!

I'll start with the Bashful Blue background layer. I attempted to try a technique which uses mesh bagging to create the texture. I had a piece from utensils I bought and just found it today while cleaning!! Anyway, I say attempted because it didn't turn out like I thought it would. I used my brayer, a sponge, the ink pad and then a sponge dauber and just kind of rubbed it over the mesh. The effect on here is fine, but I would have liked it slightly more detailed. I did use Bashful Blue ink.

The main image panel was created using Pacific Point, Bashful Blue and Whisper White. My thought/idea was to give the look of looking out of a window, but necessarily from an inside view. Make sense? Not sure I quite achieved that look, but I do love how this card turned out.

The grass was stamped on Whisper White in Wild Wasabi a couple of times, to create depth. I then sponged Bashful Blue over, with a scalloped oval, to create sky and clouds. The sun was actually a "boo-boo", but it turned out ok. The window frame was created by punching four 1 1/4" squares and running it through the Lattice Square eb folder.

The cone flowers were colored with markers and stamped onto Whisper White. I used Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight and Chocolate Chip. LOVE that we now have markers to go with former/new In Colors!!! I then cut them out and popped them up with dimensionals. To create even more depth I purposely curved the stems out some and curled up some of the petals. I then wove them through the linen thread, which is wound around the bottom.

My sentiment is stamped with the new Perfect Punches set, using the Round Tab image and the saying is from Teeny Tiny Wishes. Both of these are done with Pacific Point ink.

The butterflies are cut from the Beautiful Wings embosslit in Pacific Point and Wild Wasabi. The entire main image panel is popped up with more dimensionals. To finish this off I used my distressor tool on the Pacific Point and Whisper White panel. Reminds me of looking at a scene on the beach.

The inside was done with the leftover butterflies, stamped some more grass and layered Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi dsp and Whisper White together.

Happy Stamping!!!  And to all my UDI friends who will be at convention - I can't wait to see you!!!

 

~~~Ann~~~

Scrapbooking with Selene

Good Wednesday morning! Today's projects come from the enormously talented Selene Kempton.

I did a spring scrapfest for my customers with SAB products and lots and lots of punches.

My customers made 8 pages for $35.

It uses:
Stamps: polka dot punches.
Ink: Versamark, certainly celery, so saffron , bashful blue, sahara sand.
Paper certainly celery, so saffron , bashful blue, sahara sand, SAB DSP.
Accessories: Lots and lots of punches, and the SAB ribbon.

All pages were stamped with versamark and one stamp from the polka dot punches as a background. I used www.pagemaps.com to help get started with sketches for some of the layouts. Becky Fleck is da bomb.

Thanks for sharing, Selene! I may just break out some of my half-done books and get some pages completed!

Until next week...

Happy Stampin'!

Elizabeth

Gift ideas!

Good Wednesday morning! Today's projects come to us from Courtney Carpenter of Kansas.

This wine box can be used for many things...holidays, friends, house-warming party, etc.

Stamps: (Hostess Level 2 )A Little Something.

Ink:choc. chip, brocade blue.

Paper:Candy Lane designer paper, choc. chip paper, pink pirouette, whisper white, and brocade blue. Access:brocade blue ribbon, silver cording, pewter jumbo eyelets.

The other project I created was a post-it note holder with pencil. Super easy and fast! No stamping required.

Paper:Candy Lane designer paper, choc. chip, pink pirouette. Access:scallop punch, glue pen, dazzling diamonds, dimensional, heart to heart punch. Ribbon: whisper white taffeta.

Aren't they just the cutest? I love them! Thanks for sharing, Courtney!

Until next week...

Happy Stampin'!

Elizabeth

Wacky Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday! Today's projects come to us from Alicia Tomicich-Wiley.


Bookmark
Ink-Chocolate Chip Classic
Paper-Pink Pirouette CS, Pumpkin Pie CS, Sweet Always DSP
Accessories-On Board Something Seasonal, Flower Fusion Too, 1 1/4" Pink Pirouette Grosgrain Ribbon, Silver Brad, Trio Flower Punch, Tombow Multi Purpose Adhesive, Pop-Up Glue Dot, Sponge Dauber



Calendar
Stamp Set-Simple Serif Mini Alphabet
Ink-Chocolate Chip Classic
Paper-Sweet Always DSP, Chocolate Chip CS, Pink Pirouette CS, Naturals White CS
Accessories-Coaster, Chocolate Chip Grosgrain ribbon, Soft Subtles brads, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Tombow Multi Purpose Adhesive, Paper Snips, Sanding Block, Sticky Strip, uni-ball Signo Gel Pen, printed calendar.


Thanks for sharing, Alicia.

See you next week!

Happy Stampin'!
Elizabeth

Wacky Wednesday!

Today's projects come from Kristine Memmott. They are perfect for Valentine's Day which is right around the corner! Don't forget...the Love You Much bundle is available until January 31st! Don't miss out on the savings!

Stamps: Love You Much
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red DSP, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, Key Tag Punch, Corner Rounder Punch

Stamps: Love You Much
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, Candy Cane DSP, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, Scallop Edge Punch, Three Heart Punch, Word Window Punch, Mat Pack and Paper Piercer, Silver Brads

Thanks for visiting today! I'll see you back here again next Wednesday!

Happy Stampin'!

Elizabeth

It's the 1st Wednesday of 2009!

Happy 2009 from Florida!

I am so excited! Stampin' Up!'s Leadership Conference starts today in Orlando! I hope my UDI sisters who are attending have a ball! I know they will enjoy the weather. Aside from some rain today, it's supposed to be sunny and in the 70s every day! I will be joining them on Saturday for Regionals! Yay! (I hope one of them will let me drool over the new catalog! LOL)

Today's projects are from another UDI sister in Florida, Adriana Benitez.

Take it away, Adriana!




















The layout is from splitcoast's weekly layout challenge (SC206). The first card is very basic making it a good choice for a stamp-a-stack or beginner stamper. The second one is good for a SAS also, but has a couple more steps with the additional use of the ticket corner punch and some grosgrain ribbon.

For both cards, the card base is creamy caramel cs. I've rubbed barely banana ink (direct to paper) on the edges - it doesn't really show in the photo but adds some interest to the card IRL. Other paper used is our Autumn Vine DSP (gonna miss this paper!), Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Baja Breeze, and Naturals White. Creamy Caramel ink was used for mr. monkey and the heart, chocolate chip for the main images and sentiment. I love the coffee cups on the 2nd card (this is one hostess set I will not be giving up!) so I'll be making up a bunch of these cards for my private use. I always look forward to a good cup of coffee with a friend so this card is very "me". lol.

Hope you enjoy these cards :)

Thanks for sharing with us, Adriana!

Until next week,
Happy Stampin'!
Elizabeth

Wacky Wednesday!

Hello! Happy Wednesday! Today's projects come from Carol Marbach. She is a demo in Michigan. I bet it's really cold there! ;) I had the pleasure of meeting Carol and spending some time with her at the SU! Convention in SLC just a few months ago. She is a wonderful person, and I can't wait to see her again!

This is Carol and me in SLC! Carol is the blonde.

All Carol's projects are made with one stamp set...Puns from the Past!

Here's what Carol had to say!

When I first saw the Puns, I fell in love with the set. It brought back memories of my gramma, mom and dad, as well as me, and what I grew up with. There is not one of the eight images that I haven't either seen or used myself. What’s not to smile about this set.

Baby ~ this card just screamed “well loved.” It’s a treasure of a time when a child was born. A beloved memory from the past. As I sat there “aging” my card I literally said out loud: “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” I achieved the look I wanted but had to wonder about my sanity for making this card from scratch and destroying it. :$

I used pink pirouette cards stock and 1 ¼” ribbon, chocolate chip cs, 5/8” ribbon and ink and creamy caramel cs and ink. The caramel was used to age the card with smudges of chocolate chip here and there. If I drank coffee I would have dripped a few spots on it also. I scrunched up the ribbon (which bounced back immediately), roughed up the edges and “instant age.” (The torn corner piece I kept inside the card. I just couldn’t throw it away.)

Sew ~ a bit more contemporary twist on this card. Selene got me hooked on using gray as a dominate color instead of an accent. J The sewing machine is embossed on the urban garden dsp and then I build the layers from there. The large gray cs also has the sanded background on it. A gray taffeta bow finishes it off.

Grateful ~ is my quirky card. I punched a scrap with the scallop edge punch for a template. I then dry embossed the “ridges” and smudged Night of Navy ink on them to mirror the cutting edges of the grater. Whisper White, Night of Navy, Barely Banana and Kiwi Kiss make up this card.

Sorry ~ When I first saw the Ski Slope DSP, all I could think of was the 70’s. Mind you, the names have been changed, but they are darn close to the real thing. Guess that’s why it’s call “Retro.”

Making this card made me smile because I used to use one of these erasers in typing class in high school. (A computer??? I’m scratching my head.)

Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss and Apricot Appeal helped me to make this card. As we know, hind site is 20/20. That’s why I kept this card so simple. The only stamping on it is the one image (embossed), and everything else is just layered cs and ribbon. Compared to today, the 70’s were simple. Though we were coming out of the Vietnam War, things were not as turbulent as they are today for teenagers.

Perk ~ Riding Hood Red and Bella Rose DSP created this simple card. The second image from the left is embossed.

Camera ~ Balance came to mind for the camera card. I framed the camera with a chipboard frame and added the “U” in the opposite corner. The “picture perfect” is framed with our styled silver hardware. The silver brads in the lower left corner balance the sentiment also. “Picture Perfect U.”

Fan ~ I wanted to duplicate the fan blades by using the small oval punch, bending the long sides up and down and then sponging to add dimension. The fan is stamped on Shimmer White cs and punched with the square scallop punch, as is the opening.

Type ~ Elegant Eggplant and Always Artichoke finished out the

Puns collection. I stamped little hearts from “Short and Sweet” on the textured card stock and then embossed the typewriter on the artichoke and finished off with a clip from our new “clips assortment” and added eggplant and black grosgrain ribbon.

Thanks for sharing your cards and your memories, Carol!

See you all next Wednesday!

Happy Stampin'!

*~Elizabeth~*

Fabulous Fall Projects

Happy Wednesday!

These 2 cards were also submitted by Kristine Memmott. She is a demonstrator in Utah. I bet she gets her boxes from Stampin' Up! super fast! I am so jealous! ;)






Stamps: Upsy Daisy. Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White. Ink: More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip. Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, 1/4" white grosgrain ribbon, 1 1/4" circle punch, sponges, brayer and a post-it note for masking.

Stamps: Season of Friendship, Polka Dot Background. Paper: Riding Hood Red, More Mustard, Whisper White. Ink: Riding Hood Red, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip and Baja Breeze. Accessories - Chocolate Chip Double Stitched Ribbon, Dimensionals.

Enjoy! See you here next Wednesday!

Stampin' Hugs!

~*Elizabeth*~

It's Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday! Can you believe that it's the holiday season already? I know my neighborhood Wal-Mart has had Christmas decorations out since the beginning of October, but now it really is the holiday season! LOL Thanksgiving (in the US) is just 3 weeks away! You know what that means! Christmas is just 7 weeks away! Have you started your shopping yet? LOL

Here are 2 ideas to add fun to your tree.

Supplies(all SU!): Square Ornament: Stamps- Deer Friends (Level 2 hostess). Paper- Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke, Always Artichoke Patterns DSP (Level 1 hostess). Ink- Chocolate Chip, Real Red. Accessories- On Board Essentials, Very Vanilla taffeta, crop-a-dile. Misc.- lightweight coaster.

Round Ornament: Stamps- Merry & Bright. Paper- Shimmery White, Bashful Blue. Ink- Jet Black Stazon, Bashful Blue, Almost Amethyst, Pumpkin Pie. Accessories- Wrought Iron punch (retired), Whisper White taffeta, Crop-a-dile, Coluzzle, Big Shot, Scallop Circle die.

Thanks for visiting!

Happy Stamping!

~*Elizabeth*~

Another Haunting Wednesday

Today's projects come to us from Alicia Tomicich-Wiley of Missouri. Here's what she has to say!



Since Halloween has never been a big holiday for me, I don't have stamp sets for it. This year, since I had a club and knew I should do something for the holiday, I created the projects without any stamping, and personally, I really like them. My club members loved them. These have been inspired by various cards and projects I've seen circulating recently.





Mummy Card
Paper--Creamy Caramel, Confetti Cream, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink--Creamy Caramel
Accessories--1" Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, White Gel Pen, Sponge








Owl Treat Holder
Paper--Creamy Caramel, Whisper White, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie
Ink--Creamy Caramel
Accessories--Stampin' Up! Big Shot, Top Note Bigz Die, 1" Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, 5 Petal Punch, White Gel Pen, Sponge, Bone Folder, Paper Snips, Cello Bag, Candy Corn




Frankenstein Pull Treat--used this tutorial by Beate Johns: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/pull_treats/



Paper--Old Olive, Lovely Lilac, Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink--Basic Black
Accessories--1" Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, White Gel Pen, Sponge, Basic Black Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Paper Snips, Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker, Sticky Strip, Hershey Candy Bar







Thanks so much for sharing your adorable projects with us today, Alicia!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Happy Stampin'!
~*Elizabeth*~

A Pocket full o’ eScape

I must apologise for this late post - I've had networking connection issues and after a stressful phone call with hubby at work we have 'patched' it for now!

Its with great pleasure I share with you a project that Design Diva Becky Roberts created for her eScape project. I sure wish I lived in Idaho so I could go make this set at her event!!

Becky has made this gorgeous little set using the eScape bundle available in USA – now remember each country has their own bundles so check with your demonstrator to see what is available in your area – ask her for the details of a local event for you to go along to and enjoy the 'e'Scape!

Here is the set ... isn't it gorgeous?

For this project you will need

• Rose Red, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla Cardstock
• Circle of Friendship Stamp Set
• Little Pieces Stamp Set
• Wide Vanilla Grosgrain ribbon
• Rose Red Ink Pad
• Brads
• Circle ( 1/2 " 1" and 1 ¼") and Designer Label Punches
  

Cards:

3"x 6" Rose Red cardstock. Score at 3" and ¾". Fold on score lines and cut 1/8" off the flap. It needs to be shortened a bit so it doesn't interfere with the hole in the card. Use the 1 ¼" circle punch to put a hole in the card. (Try to centre it about 3/8" from the edge and the bottom of the card).

Stamp with Rose Red using Little Pieces and use the corner rounder on the top corners. Fold the wide Very Vanilla Grosgrain in half and tie around the pocket card to hold closed.

Insert pieces:

Very Vanilla 2 ½" x 2 9/16
Chocolate Chip 2 5/8" x 2 11/16"

Stamp Very Vanilla piece with Rose Red, stamped off once so it isn't so bright, with Little Pieces. Stamp Circle of Friendship with Rose Red on Very Vanilla and use 1" punch. Stamp again with Basic Black on Rose Red cardstock. Punch out centre with ½" punch and the outside with 1" punch. Fold the ring over and that is the topper for the ribbon on the top of the cards. Attach the centre with a Stampin' Dimensional. I mounted the Circle of Friendship on a 1 ¼" Chocolate Chip circle.

Card Holder:

Rose Red cardstock is 5" x 8". Score spine at 3 ½" and 4 ½". Score flaps up at 1" and 1 ½". Fold on all score lines and decorate as desired.

Thanks Becky for sharing this wonderful project!

Punchy Pig

I love using the SU! punches to make all kinds of creations. Recently I hosted a swap on UDI using punch art. Here is my creation for that swap. I had a lot of fun putting these together, although it did get a little tedious with some parts.

Clouds and Mud Pile-Scallop Punch--Punch out once then flip around and punch again to make it about half the size. Make sure to line up the scallops as much as possible to avoid half scallops.

Sun-1 1/4" Circle Punch; Scallop Punch--Punch once, then rotate and punch again in the middle of the scallops

Fence-Word Window Punch

Pig Body-1 1/4" Circle Punch; 1" Circle Punch

Pig Ears-1/4" Square Punch with a dot of white gel pen in the center

Pig Tail-1/4" Circle Punch with a slice cut out of the center

Pig Eyes-1/4" Circle Punch (cut in half for eyelids), 1/16" Handheld Punch for nostrils and pupils

Pig Feet-Horizontal Punch (cut another one in half for hooves)

I love this little guy!! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Alicia :)

Punch and Judi!

Ok ... so I was at a loss for a title but this post will show a new way with the 5 Petal Flower punch and its brought to us today by 'Judi' Harvey. I am a little excited as we now have this punch in our very new 2008 Idea Book & Catalogue in Australia so I can too get this punch and do this tutorial but it will have to wait until after our Stampin' Up! Convention next week (insert excitement here) in Brisbane, Australia. Here is Judi's introduction ...

Hi Everyone! Leonie asked me to share a little bit about myself. I live in a small town about 15 miles south of Knoxville Tenessee and I have lived in Tenessee since 1974. I grew up in Michigan and moved south with my first husband (he is a TN native). I really feel like I was supposed to be in this part of the country as I love the lifestyle here...not to mention the weather! I am married to a wonderful guy who is my best friend! Jerry and I got married 15 years ago and between us we have 5 children (4 girls and one guy) and 5 grandchildren (3 girls and 2 boys). Jerry supports and encourages me in all I do. I also have a day job where I work for the commercial lending division of a bank. I am the Loan Operations manager (yawn).

I found out about Stampin' Up! through my daughter. She lives in Nashville and called me one evening about 5 years ago and asked if I would like to come for a Stampin Up! workshop she was having. I had never heard of this company and was into scrapbooking not stamping. But...being the good mom that I try to be...I accepted and made the 3 hour drive for the workshop. My thoughts about stamping at that time was "Okay, so you spend $10 on one stamp, use it one time...then what do you do with it???" Well, needless to say, a whole new world was opened up to me and I was hooked. I came back home with a $150 order and in about 2 months finally found a Stampin' Up! demo in my area and joined her club. I was a club member for about 2 years and then decided I could do this myself ... so I signed up in July of 2005 (I think much to the chagrin of my demo!).

My favorite part about being a demo is teaching others how to stamp and how to do different techniques and then watching them react the same way I did. They suddenly see a new world open up to them! I encourage all my stampers to use the items they buy by asking them to create cards for my blog. I also try to encourage them to not be afraid to just try something new and that I too throw some things in the trash! It's all a part of learning.

I was invited to join UDI a little over a year ago. I was replying to a thread on Split Coast and Max sent me an email and asked me if I wanted to join. I love UDI and have made several friends through this group (waving to all my buds!). I hope one day to get to meet them all face to face. I find everyone to be encouraging and helpful...not to mention friendly! I just feel so uplifted by all the Divas and there is no negativity here like you find on some other sites. I love being a Diva!

I must say I love introducing Diva's here as I get to know more about many of them. I am very embarrassed to say I didn't know Judi before this introduction but I am finding that you can share many similarities in your life as those on the other side of the globe that share the same passion about Stampin' Up! and stamping. It never ceases to amaze me how this technology can bring so many people together from all over the world.

Judi has provided us with this great tutorial ....

Five Petal Punch Daisy

For this flower you will need ...

• SU Five Petal Flower Punch
• SU Boho Blossoms Punch
• SU Paper Snips
• SU Double Sided Designer Paper
• Tombow Multi Purpose Adhesive
• SU Pretties Kit

1. Punch two flowers from the double sided designer paper

2. Using the paper snips make two small cuts toward the center (don’t cut all the way to the center) leaving two petals on one side and three petals on the other side.

3. Fold the two petal side behind the three petals side lining up the two petals between the three petals. Make sure you fold the flowers to the opposite side so you have two different sides of the paper showing on the front.

4. Put two small dots of glue on the front of one of the flowers and attach it to the underside of the second flower lining up the petals.

It is not necessary to glue the back petals to the front but you may if you want to.

Now your daisy is formed.

For the center punch out one of the small flowers on the Boho Blossom punch and glue to the middle of the daisy and add a brad or half pearl in the center.

Attach to your card any way you would like, I like to attach them with dimensionals.

You can do the center of the flower many different and pretty ways. This flower looks great using SU Prints Designer Series papers but this paper made a bolder statement and showed the double sides better. Have fun playing around with different papers and centers.

Well I hope you like this tutorial and why not post a link to the cards you make int he comments section? We'd love to see them!

I will apologise in advance if the pictures dont line up with the instructions. I was having such a horrid time with blogger and getting them where i wanted them to be.

Have a great Wednesday

Leonie

Into the Scrap pile!

I am sure that if you are anything like me you save every piece of paper and cardstock which are leftovers from a project you have done. Also, if it is anything like mine they are overflowing! I have tried many ways to store and keep these cut offs/scraps but was never happy ... well till now :)

I've been using this system for a while and I find as the scraps are handy to my work area I just need pull a drawer open and there they are! now in saying that I need to work some more with my soft subtle scraps!
It also makes tidying up quick and easy - well it would if i did tidy my table! I have a drawer for each family plus another set of drawers on the shelf above for the patterned papers scraps.

I was at a loss today on what to blog here and I saw some of the girls on UDI talk about storing their paper scraps so I thought I'd share how I store mine and also make a couple of things to show you that you can use those bits left over instead of putting them in the recycling bin or giving them to the kids!

Here are a couple of 4x4 cards I made a while ago using scraps from the Enchante Papers and the Carte Postale Stamp Set. I love these little cards as they are just so quick & easy.

I wanted to make something new for you and thought well I only have one more month left with the Summer Mini here in Australia so I'd use up some of those papers.

Here is a 6x6 layout I whipped up tonite using scraps from the Loves Me papers - yes these too are in the Summer Mini Catalogue so will be gone after 31st March.

I have just used strips of the papers and used the small corner rounder to give them a decorative edge. I've also punched out the circles from the same paper pack and raised them with Stampin Dimensionals.

I quite love this layout but then this little angel is easy to scrap!

Recipe for Love U layout
Stamps: Dream come true, Big Deal Alpha
Papers: Loves Me Designer Series Papers
Ink: Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Stampin Dimensionals, Snail Adhesive, small corner rounder punch