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My Sizzix Big Shot Has a Home!

Aloha, all!

My Sizzix Big Shot finally has permanent home all its own.  It’s been in temporary quarters on this table or that since it arrived on my doorstep right after Convention 2008.  So now every time I work on a card or scrapbook project, I don’t have to think about whether it’s worth it to drag it out from where ever I happened to stash it last.  It’s always at home on a sturdy shelf in my closet, with plenty of room for even the XL dies to go through it with ease.

And they have been going through the Big Shot often!  My current favorite die is the Box #2 die, which I’ve shown off here before.  This being March, though, I’ve been anxious to try out something that looks like a treat box for a St. Patrick’s Day party.  Now you know as well as I that there just aren’t the cute M&Ms and Hershey Kisses in St. Patty’s Day green as there are wonderful reds and pinks for Valentine’s Day and pretty pastels for Easter.  March 17th is just another in-between holiday (and it’s not really even that!).  But M&Ms do come in their "Premium" variety in a green mint.  Oh, those are SOOO delicious.  Unfortunately, the Box #2 die makes such a good, large, box that it holds more than 1/2 a pack of those tasty treats! 

Well, I guess I’m going to have to try out the little Pillow Box die and see how many that will hold.  Hopefully not as much so that I can make lots of treat boxes instead of just a few.

I made the box on the left using standard transparency plastic that you can buy at any office supply store.  But Stampin’ Up! is going to start selling its transparent Window Sheets again, beginning April 1st with the Occasions Mini Catalog.  It will come in both 7 mil and 20 mil thicknesses.  I’ve ordered up a preview of both and will report back here when I get them so you’ll know what to buy for your OWN Sizzix projects.

For the box on the right, I used one of the Stampin’ Up! Background I Sizzix Terturz plates to texturize the Certainly Celery Card stock before I put it through the Sizzix again to cut the Box #2 die.  Both boxes are tied with the Certainly Celery Poly twill ribbon featured in his month’s Sale-A-Bration catalog, and I got them FREE for ordering $50 worth of Stampin’ Up! projects.  You can, too, by just placing your OWN order of $50!  As always, you can order online 24/7, or call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me and I can place your order for you.

The Shamrocks on both boxes were made using Garden Green Card stock and one of the hearts from the Heart to Heart Punch.  To make the smaller of the two, I just placed a Mini Glue Dot in the center of the tag and attached the point of each of the three hearts and one end of the stem to the dot.

If you already have a Sizzix Big Shot, the Box #2 die is really a winner and I’d suggest that this be one of your next purchases!

Happy Stamping!

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Simple Sale-A-Bration Card

Aloha, all!

One of my Yahoo groups, Convention Late Night Stampers, has a challenge every week, and I finally decided to take some time to look at this week’s challenge.  Since I’ve been "collecting" the papers and ribbons from the Sale-A-Bration catalog, that’s naturally where I went for my own inspiration.  I am SO over winter (the days are quite short here in Hawaii during the winter, and I’m ready for more sun!), and the pastel spring-y colors in the Sale-A-Bration bundles really warm me up!

For this card, I chose the Polka Dot Punches stamp set and two of the Delicate Dots Designer Paper designs.  I used card stock of all of the coordinating colors–So Saffron, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery and Sahara Sand, and finished it off with the Certainly Celery Poly-twill ribbon from the Sale-A-Bration ribbon bundle.  I layered all of this on a Very Vanilla card, and it’s ready to go out to a friend with a cheerful note inside!.

Besides the Sale-A-Bration materials, I used two of my favorite Stampin’ Up! accessories – the Scallop Square Punch and one of the texturizing plates from the Sizzix Stampin’ Up! Backgrounds I Texturz set.  I really like the texture in the Sahara Sand layer, and the Scallop Square Punches really set off the stamped design delightfully.

I’m really going to miss Sale-A-Bration when it’s over at the end of the month!  I’ve so enjoyed using all the papers and ribbons, as well as the stamp sets.  As a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, I feel a responsibility to you, my friends and customers, to demonstrate only current Stampin’ Up! products.  So I’m doing that with the Sale-A-Bration sets this month.  If you want any of these great products, that you can use all year long, don’t miss out on this opportunity to get your own papers and ribbons and stamps before they’re gone forever!  This is the month!  And they’re FREE!!

All you have to do to get a FREE stamp set or ribbon bundle or paper bundle is to purchase $50 worth of Stampin’ Up! products.  Whether you order online or I order for you, you get to pick which of the products from the Sale-A-Bration catalog you want!   And this is good for EVERY $50 you spend.  So, if you order $100 of products, you get TWO Sale-A-Bration freebies!  Definitely a good deal.

Have a great weekend–Happy Stamping!  And don’t forget Sale-A-Bration!!

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Dry Embossing Elegance

Aloha, all!

For last night’s Stamp Club meeting, I had been asked to show a simple example of dry embossing.  Stampin’ Up! has lots of great brass embossing templates that coordinate wonderfully both with their stamp sets and their Designer Series Papers.

For last night’s project, I used the stamp set, Eastern Blooms, and the Classy Brass Template, Floral Frenzy, which coordinates will the stamps in the Eastern Blooms set.  I chose the Designer Series Paper bundle from the Sale-A-Bration catalog, which has a couple of designs that coordinate well with the stamps and brass template, and homed in on the Certainly Celery paper with the floral design.

As you can see in the picture on the right, I embossed the sprig of flowers on the right side of the top of the card and stamped its stamping cousin on the other side.  I also embossed a flower in each of the scallops that I punched using the Scallop Edge Punch.  While the line of flowers in the brass template doesn’t quite match the scallop edge punch (it was designed well before the scallop edge punch), it was really easy to move the brass just a bit for each emboss.  I finished the card by attached a strip of the Designer Paper on the bottom of the inside of the card and just above the scallops on the front of the card, with some Whisper White Satin Ribbon to "tie it off" nicely.

Note that I did not stamp a greeting on this card.  It’s so versatile that you can use it for just about any occasion.  I just love to write my own message on the inside of a card, and not feel obligated to follow the dictates of a stamped or printed greeting. 

Now that you’ve seen quite a few of the projects that I’ve been doing for my Stamp Club, wouldn’t you like to join the next one?!  I will be starting a new Stamp Club very soon, and would love to have some new members.  It’s not just that I’d love to share previous projects with the new club members.  What I really like is that every one of you has a different idea of what you’d like to learn.  And that helps me be creative in trying to get the best project for each stamp club meeting.

Now’s the time to sign up for a club!!  Call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me for more information.  Have I mentioned that the phone number is an AT&T cell phone number?  Most of you can call that number with your cell phone at no charge!!!  So don’t hesitate to punch in (that’s the 21st century term for "dial") that number!

Happy Stamping!

Robin

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Sizzix Texturz Plates Technique

Aloha, all!

Yesterday I showed off some variations of a baby card (and that baby theme is behind me for now!).  One technique that I used was to texturize the card stock using the Stampin’ Up! Backgrounds I Sizzix Texturz Plates.  While I was doing this, I remembered a recent discussion among some Stampin’ Up! demonstrators about how to make the texture of a Texturz Plate a bit more pronounced.  While the whole purpose of a texture plate is to give just a bit of texture to card stock or Designer Series Paper, some people wanted just a bit MORE texture!   The way to do this is simple:  just moisten the card stock a bit before running it through the Sizzix Big Shot.

Here is a sample of the results that I got when I did just that.  The image on the left was made with dampened paper; that on the right with dry paper.  I think that the difference is very noticeable.

To moisten the paper, I simply used my spray bottle of Stampin’ Mist Spray Cleaner.  Of course, you could just use plain water in a spray bottle.  But the Stampin’ Mist is always right where I can grab it easily.

Later this week, I have another technique using Sizzix embossing tools, this time one of the Embosslit dies.

This afternoon, I’m going to be demonstrating this technique for my stamp club.  If you’d like to join us, you’re more than welcome to come visit with us.  We will have two cards with embossing techniques (dry embossing and Sizzix Embossing) and that darling pop-up card with the bees that I shared with you last week.  But if you can’t make it to that meeting, I’ll be glad to come to your home to demonstrate these techniques for you and your friends!

Just call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me, and I’ll arrange just the right time for you to learn these fun techniques!

Happy Stamping!

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Fun with a Baby Card

Aloha, all!

I saw the cutest card made with punches in this month’s Card Maker magazine, and I just had to try it out using all Stampin’ Up! products.  It’s a baby card, though, and right now there aren’t any new babies in our family (well, Carson’s about 6 months old, but I don’t think that qualifies quite as new!).  I made it anyway, and wouldn’t you know, one of my friends became a grandmother just this week!  So she’ll be able to use the card. (The "recipe for the card is at the end of this post.)

THEN I  started looking at the card and some of my new Stampin’ Up! "toys," and decided to try some variations on the theme. 

Card number 2 has a portrait orientation, and uses larger punches for the rattle (1-3/4", 3/4" and 1").  It also uses two of my new "toys":  The Eyelet Border punch and one of the texture plates from the Sizzix Stampin’ Up! exclusive Stampin’ Up! Backgrounds Terturz Plates.  This time, I used More Mustard with the Sponge Dauber to outline the rattle.

For the 3rd card, I went back to the landscape orientation, and decided not to use ink to highlight the edges of the rattle.  Hmmm.  I think I like the inked edges, don’t you?

So finally, I went back to inking the edge of the rattle, this time with So Saffron ink.  I also used a bit of a technique I recently learned to make the textured dots show up a bit more.

But more about that tomorrow!

Today’s first message is that you can use the same design and make cards that have a completely different "feel" about them.  It’s fun to take a design and play around with it using different tools and embellishments.  I’m thinking a few brads or grommets might make this card "pop" even more!  But I’m also thinking I need to get out of the "baby" design mode, because there just aren’t that many babies in my life right now.

Another message is, as always, that there are wonderful Stampin’ Up! products out there for you to use in your own projects.  Call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me if you’d like a catalog, or to place an order.  And, of course, my website is around 24/7 if you’d like to order online.  Finally, whether you order through me or online, through the end of March, you get a FREE stamp set, ribbon bundle, or pack of double-sides Designer Paper for every $50 in merchandise that you purchase. 

Card Recipe

The "rattle" is made with a 1-3/8" punch for the rattle, and a 1/2" punch and 3/4" punch for the ring (punch card stock with the 1/2" punch, then center the 3/4" punch over the hole made by the 1/2" punch and punch your ring).  A slip of card stock about 3/16" wide makes the handle.  The rattle is So Saffron, edged with some Bashful Blue ink using a sponge dauber, with a bit of Bashful Blue card stock behind it.  The printed paper is Designer Paper from the Sale-A-Bration mini catalog, as is the So Saffron Ribbon.  And don’t forget that you can get the ribbon bundle and the pack of Designer Paper FREE, each when you purchase $50 worth of Stampin’ Up! products–through the end of March!

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