Sunday, June 29, 2008

Wild Roses



I've always liked the SU! Wild Roses stamp set. It's so beautiful and can be used for so many different occasions and I'm sad that it's retiring. Two Step Stampin' Sets always looks great, you just can't mess them up and this card is one of those cards. The layers aren't placed perfectly but somehow they actually look better that way. The colors are just stamped off 1 time for the lighter shade and then full strength for the darker outline, and 1 stamped the Rose 3 times and cut it out twice making each subsequent layer smaller. I love how clean and elegant it looks! The funny thing about this card is that I imagined it in my mind as soon as I saw the DSP in the Ginger Blossoms pack and just KNEW at some point I would make it with the Wild Roses set. Here we are 4 months after I imagined it, it's finally down on paper. Better late than never!
Here's a closeup of how the Rose looks from a side view. You can see a little better how the 3 layers actually look. I used Dimensionals to really make the flower stand out.
Recipe: Stamp Sets: Wild Roses, Hugs and Wishes; CS: River Rock, Basic Gray, Very Vanilla; Ink: Groovy Guava, River Rock, Basic Gray; Accessories; Photo Corner Punch, Silver Mini Brads, Gray Taffeta Ribbon, Paper Piercing tool and Template.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Is Today Wednesday??






Today is Wednesday, right? O.K., O.K., I know I'm a day behind, but I have a really good excuse. I was gone from 8am until 8:30pm, only coming home long enough to make dinner and then head out the door again. Then I was busy placing orders until about 10pm because my Stamp Club ordering deadline was yesterday. By the time I got done I was beat and couldn't wait to sit down and relax for a few minutes and I completely forgot about my post.






I've got both my 2 page Got Sketch scrapbook layout AND the card from my folds class to post, so at least I'm sharing lots (even if it is a day late!). This card was a favorite, so I decided to post this one. We made a total of 6 cards and I'll share them one at a time. This was made with the Flowers for You paper, and the Priceless Stamp Set. It uses Beate's Tutorial . Loved using the Build a Brad's....they really made a difference in how the card looked.


I added the scalloped circle to the back of the brad to hide the prongs and really love how it looks. Everyone's card ended up looking different because they all used a different piece of the paper from the DSP package. We had such a great time, and I just love it when people come over to stamp.


The only thing that I wish I did different is to use the WIDE grosgrain instead of the thin. I think it would have fit the card a bit better.



This scrapbook page is from my Got Sketch 101 Class. I just LOVE IT. My son made his First Communion over Memorial Day weekend and I had so many pictures that I thought I would need to do a mini album to fit them all in a scrapbook. Valerie Salmon to the rescue! She designed a page that has an awesome element that allows you to put up to 9 photos on this layout (I only used 8 because I wanted a 5x7 photo of Hunter on the main page). Want to know how to make this page? Sign up for the Got Sketch 101 class and you can do it too! I would share the recipe, but it's copyrighted so you have to take the class to see it!!!! I used a retired Stampin' Up! Simply Scrappin' kit and retired holiday paper from the SU! Holiday Mini from last fall. The letters were cut with my Cuttlebug.
Happy Stampin'!
Judy

Monday, June 23, 2008

Watch for new posts on Wednesday!!

Things have been CRAZY around here lately! The boys are winding down their baseball season with tournaments this week. Not to mention the fact that all of the kids started swimming lessons and Avery has 2 dance classes. AND on top of the kids activities I've been getting things ready for my Fabulous Folds class that is tomorrow!! I've been a stampin' fool for the last 3 days and have some great projects for all the ladies that are headed over here tomorrow. I'll post one of the cards after the class so you can see all of the fun that we have at Stamp Camp....maybe even some pictures of the stampers if they'll let me :)

All of this to say that I have no new project to post today! BTW, my Got Sketch 101 class is still going on and I've got to play catch up on sketches 5 and 6. I did finish a 2 page layout that I'll post on Wednesday with my Stamp Camp card. Still loving the class! If you haven't done so, you can still sign up and get all of the 'assignments'. It's only $21 and it's well worth the cost!! Click on the Got Sketch blinkie on the 2 previous posts and start Scrappin'!

Check back on Wednesday, and in the meantime.......

Happy Stampin'!

Judy

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Be Inspired Challenge #18



Beate's blog has amazing challenges, but this is the first one that I loved so much that I just had to do it. Having a Martha Stewart item was sure to peak my interest....I just love Martha! Everything that her company produces is so simple and beautiful that I wish that I could have my home decorated by her 'people'.
This cake absolutely took my breath away! Can you imagine a summer outdoor wedding with this for your cake? It has so many of my favorite things... cherries, ric rac, vines and flowers, who wouldn't be inspired by this?

I think it took me all of 5 minutes to decide what I was going to do and gather my supplies. Using the 'wedding' theme I decided to make a card for my brother and his fiancee for their wedding (which isn't until next May, but it never hurts to be prepared!).
I just love the colors together! This was such a simple card to make and it makes me happy just to look at it.
Recipe: Stamp Set: Warm Words; Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Real Red, Whisper White; Ink: Certainly Celery, Real Red; Accessories: Boho Blossoms Punch, Watercolor Vine Wheel, Real Red Grosgrain, Hodgepodge Hardware pewter, Oval Punches - Small and Large, corner rounder, paper piercing tool.
Check out Beate's Blog for more inspiration pieces and get busy creating!
Happy Stampin'!
Judy

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Got Sketch Class Page


I just love having a reason to scrapbook. One thing that taking this class has provided me with is an excuse to get more scrapbooking done..... I think that's the hardest thing about this hobby is actually finding the time to do it. With the sketches that Got Sketch provides us with as a part of the class, you almost feel like it's homework and you make yourself do it. It's the best homework EVER! I can hardly wait to get in my crafting room every day after checking out the sketches, tips and make & takes we're giving. It's hard to judge your own work, but I do think the class is really helping me with balance and proportion on my pages. I know for sure that the inspiration that it provided by all of my on-line classmates has made me so excited to get to work! This page is my take on the 2nd sketch that we were given. Recipe: Creative License Simply Scrappin' Kit (retired), On Board Chipboard Letters, 1 3/8 circle punch, 1 1/4 circle punch, spiral punch.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

I'm going to school!!

Well, scrapbooking school anyway! I signed up for a class at Got Sketch? and I just LOVE IT! Thanks to my friend Michelle J. who passed along the class info and got me to sign up. It's only $21 and Oh! the ideas that I've already gotten and it just started yesterday! The thing that really hooked me with this class is that all of the projects are made with Stampin' Up! products. I hope that this really enhances what I already know about scrapbooking. I see so many amazing scrapbook pages out there and I want my work to be like that too! I know that some people just scrapbook to get the memories down on paper, but for me it's also an artistic outlet and an area of crafting that really gets me excited.
I can't share the sketches with you because they're copyrighted, but they are allowing us to share our personal work with our blog friends. If you want more information on the class click on the Got Sketch Blinkie Below, or if you'd like to see some of Valeries work before signing up, check out her blog. She's an amazing paper artist.
Here' is the first project that I made with one of their 'pre-class' teaser projects. It's a little book that will hold all of the sketches that we get in class. They even gave us a PDF with adorable index cards to print out and paste our sketches to them....these girls have thought of everything! I used a $1 photo album that I had sitting around from the Dollar Store and I removed the plastic cover and to adhere the DSP I used sticky strip. I love how it turned out! The tabs at the top are to oraganize the sketches into the number of photos that they're designed for. Our first sketch had 3 photos on it, so that's filed under 3, etc. I also have a clip that I'm attaching to the front cover to hold the sketches while I'm working on them. So I just pick the sketch, pull it out of it's little protector, and clip it on the front of my standing book so that I don't lose it in the mess that I call my desk! Too Cute! Thanks Valerie!
Sketches are a great way to get ideas for scrapbooking and cardmaking and I encourage you to make a little book of your own to file yours away in. It's nice to have a little inspiration at your fingertips!
This little book was made with ALL Stampin' Up! products (except the tiny numbers...I don't have any little number stamps!). The DSP is retired and I don't remember it's name. Other ingredients are: Olive 5/8 grosgrain, Apricot Appeal CS, Old Olive CS, Passion Pink CS, Very Vanilla CS, Photo Corner Punch, Tab Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Guess what the man in brown brought??


FRESH CUTS!! That's right, I finally got my delivery of this spectacular stamp set and laser cut note cards and am LOVING IT!! I sat down today to do a little stampin' while the kids were playing and I can't believe how many ideas I got from this set! Usually it takes me a while, with a few detours and cards that just aren't balanced and don't work, but not this time. I sat down and right away stamped out this first card within 10 minutes! It helped that I knew that I was going to use the Chocolate Chip and Soft Sky, but other than that I just jumped right in. I happened to have a CardMap printout sitting on my desk (see the PDF archives for March 2008), and VOILA! Two of the cards were made using the CardMaps, but the other two came from my little 'ole head. Oh what fun it is to stamp when the creative juices are flowing and there are no children interupting!

My favorite of the four is this one that used a CardMap, but I'm pretty proud of the way that I interpreted the design. I masked off part of the large square background design to make if fit the card, and the ribbon is threaded through a hole that I punched using the 1/4" hole punch. Very simple, very elegant.


The card size is 4 1/4 x 4 1/4, which I picked because that was the size of scrap Soft Sky paper that I found in my stash. All Supplies from Stampin' Up! Recipe: Stamp Set: Fresh Cuts; Cardstock: Soft Sky, Whisper White; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky; Accessories: Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon, Paper Piercing Tool, Paper Piercing Template



This card couldn't have been any easier, and I love the way the the little sprig stamped in Choclate Chip looks like a DSP frame! This is card crafting at it's easiest and really made me think about how sometimes the simplist card makes a big statement. Recipe: Stamp Set: Fresh Cuts; Cardstock: Whisper White; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky; Acessories: DSP Soft Sky Print Patterns, Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon....and that's it!



I've seen so many of these types of cards on Splitcoast, and I thought that they looked like they really took a lot of time to stamp and put together.......I was wrong! Totally easy peasey......I just stamped the large background stamp in the Soft Sky ink after removing the die cut petals, added a Chocolate Chip Flower BEHIND the notecard, put some Soft Sky cardstock behind that, then added the Boho Blossoms mini flower with the brad. The Thank You was stamped last and then the ribbon tied on, and Badda Bing! Recipe: Stamp Set: Fresh Cuts; Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky; Ink: Soft Sky, Choclate Chip; Accessories: Fresh Cuts Notecards, Taffeta Ribbon, 5 Petal Flower Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, Mini Brad From Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardward.



This last card was made with my buttons, my hoarded, barely used because I don't think most projects are worthy of them, buttons. I treat buttons the same way that I do paper....I collect it and deem whether or not a project is worthy of it. I have pieces of paper that I got 8 years ago and I'm still waiting for that perfect project to come along that I feel that I can 'let go' of the piece of paper for. Buttons hold the same sick appeal for me....I've collected them since I was a little kid and I have thousands of them. I am starting to realize though that the more that I use them, the more it gives me an excuse to buy more of them. So, my Stampin' Up! Neutrals buttons were the first victims, and some lucky person will get them on this card! All ingredients are the same as the other cards, with the exception of the buttons, and the scallop edge....for that I used the small corner rounder with the guard removed. Remember that FRESH CUTS are available as a Sneak Peek....$21.95 for the Stamp set, and the die cuts cards are only $5.00 if purchase with the stamps (or $8.95 if purchased by themselves). A super great deal! Remember that if you want to get the Note cards for $5 ($3.95 savings!) you must purchase before June 30th! E-mail me at judes3@sbcglobal.net for more information and to get yours today! Happy Stampin'!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Teacher's Gifts





I always struggle with what gifts to get teachers at the end of the school year. I see so many cute 'survival kits' and clipboards, etc., but I always think that if a teacher has been teaching long enough, they must have a million of those. I always apply the 'what would I like to get' rule to gifts that I buy, and I try to pick things that anyone would like to get. I finally came up with three of my favorite things; icecream (in the form of a Dairy Queen gift card), Grahams chocolates (I've tried a lot of chocolate in my 40 years and Grahams absolutely beats all others), and a candle (warm apple pie scent to go with my apple theme).
The only non-perishable item that I added to this was a pen that each of my children helped make using the micro-bead technique by Sarah Moore on SCS. It fit right in with my theme, and I figure that all women can use a cute pen for their purse! I made a small charm using Shrink Plastic, the apple stamp from Tart and Tangy, Real Red Craft Ink, Black Gingham ribbon, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1/8" circle Punch, and a jump ring. Instead of using the Avery label with images stamped on it like the instructions show, I used a piece of Summer Picnic DSP. To get the DSP to stick to the pen I just covered it in SNAIL and it worked really well. The apples on the paper didn't show up very well once they were covered in beads, but the overall look was still pretty cute. My kids loved rolling the pens in the beads! I couldn't find the RSVP Pens at my local store (and with gas prices the way that they are I certainly wasn't going to drive around looking for them!), so I found these Pilot pens that worked just as well. My daughter liked the one that she made so much that she wanted to keep hers, but because she loved her teacher, she was willing to give it up.

The basket and candle were a great purchase from Wal-Mart, and the Polka Dot Satin Ribbon was a 40% off deal from JoAnn's. I used sticky strip in three different places to adhere the ribbon because I wanted the teachers to be able to remove the ribbon in order to reuse the basket. The band on the candle was made with the Summer Picnic DSP, and of course the cutie apple was from the Tart and Tangy SU! stamp set from the Occasions Mini Catalog. Can I just say how much I LOVE this stamp set? I can't remember the last time I used a stamp set as much as I've used this one. I did Mother's Day gifts with it, thank you notes, planned a stamp camp with it......and the list goes on!


The card was a version of one I made for a Retirement stamp camp last year, and I just replaced the stamp set (a few of you may remember it, it was Black and Olive, and there were flowers stamped from the 'In Full Bloom' set). Easy Peasey!
I'm pretty excited about the way everything turned out....especially since I procrastinated until the point where I seriously considered a handmade card with a gift card. My kids had such great teachers this year that they deserved the extra effort.