I am finally back at my computer after having been gone for two weeks.  I definitely missed writing my blog posts live, but enjoyed reading comments and e-mails about my vacation projects while I was away.

     This blog post was originally part of a Blog Tour for the group, VC Rocks with the theme, Have a Heart!  Among activities on the VC Rocks blog are weekly challenges.  And this week's challenge was a doozie.  A doodling doozie!  We were to make a project that included doodling.  Well, then someone mentioned "zentangling."  Huh?  But, oh my, when I started googling zentangling (try saying that fast 10 times!) I discovered this fun doodling for myself!  And I got carried away!

     And this card is just full of it!  I won't bore you with all the details about the machinations through which I went as I tried to figure out how I was going to put the zentangling together with the Blog Tour theme, which is Hearts.  But I finally settled on the Stampin' Up! Stamp Set, Sweetheart, which is retiring at the end of this month (sob!).  That nice open heart shape was just perfect for some beginner zentangling/doodling.  Here's how I set about filling up my heart shapes.

     Starting at the top and moving clockwise, I first divided the heart into 4 quadrants.  I originally thought I'd do different zentangles in each quadrant, but finally decided on something that linked all the quadrants together.  So the second step was to draw lines and curves that followed the lines and curves of the heart shape.  Once I did that, and moving on to the 3rd shape, I crosshatched all of the original lines.  Finally, I colored in the square shapes that had been formed in a fairly repetitive pattern.  It's the repetitive part that's the jewel of this technique!  First of all, I said to myself (repeatedly!), "This is hand-drawn; there are no mistakes."  Then I just let myself relax and color the squares.  Time just flew by and I was in a "zone."  Comfort zone?  Yes, finally!

     Now about those colors.  I used three of the new In Colors that Stampin' Up! will be featuring in the new catalog:  the darker red color with which I stamped the hearts and drew the lines is called Raspberry Ripple; the lighter red color is Primrose Petals; and the green color is Gumball Green. I used the new colors' Stampin' Write Markers to fill in the squares.  I also used Gumball Green and Raspberry Ripple card stock for the project, both of them as mats for the main stamped layer, and the Raspberry Ripple for the card base.  The very lightest pink color in the doodle squares is Pretty in Pink, a current core color in the Stampin' Up! collection.

     And the pearls?  As you can see in my sketch, I drew a dark line with the Raspberry Ripple to separate the quadrants of the hearts.  When I was finished with the card, I decided that I did not like the effect.  So out came my supply of Basic Pearls to cover the lines. Over the top?  Maybe.  But I love the overall effect of the square center of the heart pattern formed by the pearls!

     If you'd like to try this stamped layout, here's one hint for getting those four hearts aligned pretty perfectly.  Use a pencil to make four dots in the center of your stamped layer.  Two of the dots should be centered 1/4" apart on the (imaginary or lightly drawn) horizontal line, and two of the dots should be centered 1/4" apart on the (same deal) vertical line.  Then, using your Stamp-a-ma-jig, stamp each heart so that the bottom dot of the heart is stamped over one of the pencilled dots.

     Here's the full card layout to help you complete your project if you'd like to try it out!

     It's time for another SUO Challenges project- actually we're a bit late because I'm just now returning from my travels and I'm the one who sends the final SUO Challenge blog post on its way!    

     Thankfully, I prepared my project for this week's challenge before I left! 

     On the other hand, I was limited in the Designer Series Papers I could use before I left because I'd not had the opportunity to see – let along order! – any of the new papers that you'll be seeing in a just a few weeks in the new 2012-2013 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog!  I was limited to the other sneak peek preview paper we had available, Summer Smooches.  Yes, this delightful Lucky Limeade Paper is part of the Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper.  I've been so "in love with" the papers with the graphic colors that I've ignored this sheet.  Until this project came along.

     But what a perfect background for a colorful bunch of flowers!  Oh, yes- the challenge was to make a project with 3-dimensional flowers!  On the other hand, the ribbon I've used for these flowers IS retiring soon!  This is one of the last projects involving retired products that I'm going to be showing off, and I thought I'd try to use up some of the retiring 5/8" Satin Ribbon.  ALL of that ribbon is retiring, and I'm going to be so sad to see it go because it makes beautiful ribbon rosettes.  I did sneak in a product from the 2012 Occasions Mini  - the large pearls. BUT they're still available! I hope that means they'll be in the new catalog. The final product (besides the Pretty in Pink, Real Red, and Bashful Blue Card Stock), is the set of leaves, all punched using the leaves from the Bird Builder Punch.

     I had so much fun making these ribbon rosettes that I made a quick video of how to make them and included it in my last newsletter.  If you're not on my newsletter list and sign up for it in the next week or so, I'll be glad to send you a copy.  I'm going to be making another video soon showing off a box for greeting cards – and I'm hoping to have some new products to show off as well – as I demonstrate it.  That will be something just for my newsletter, too!

    And as I rush off to get packed – two weeks before this posts! – here is a quick sketch for this card layout.  Hmmm.  I'm wondering what I'll be using for envelopes for my 5-1/4" square greeting cards now that the Medium Square Envelopes are retiring?  I may know soon! 

     I hope you're all having as much fun this week as I am now that I'm finally back home and enjoying my craft room again!

     Have you at all paid attention to the fab new online collection of photos of just about everything called, "Pinterest"?  I certainly have, BUT I have to tell you I simply do not have the time to be an active participant in the group.  So you won't find much of me on there.  My time is filled so much with my current online groups, my own paper crafting and classes, and volunteer work not involving stamping (oops – as I write this I'm late for a meeting.  Eeek!!  BRB!).

     And speaking of my online groups, one group for which I've been a Design Team member for quite awhile is the Stampin' Up! Late Night Stampers.  This week the Design Team challenge was to find a card on Pinterest to CASE (Copy And Share with Everyone is my version of the acronym). So I made a quick pass over a few pages of cards (you can do that even if you don't join Pinterest) and picked the one that struck my fancy the most.  Of course it had to be the card of someone who is very active and popular on Split Coast Stampers.  This is another group on which I don't spend nearly enough time, and I'd never run across Jen del Muro because she's not a part of the Stampin' Up! community there.  But she is a fab designer for sure.  What I had to do was copy her card but use only Stampin' Up! products. 

     And that was quite easy, thank you very much (the original from which I copied this is at the end of the blog post).  Since I'm starting to focus on retiring products, as well as on the end of the Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog, I chose the 2010-2012 "In Colors" for my triangles, and the Stamp Set, Loving Thoughts (from the mini catalog) for this card.  So the triangles are Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride, Concord Crush, and Poppy Parade.  I punched the triangles with the Petite Pennants Builder Punch – which makes triangles SO very easy!

     I stamped the "Happiness" sentiment using Concord Crush classic ink on Whisper White card stock and hand cut the notch on the left side.  For the background colors, I used Crumb Cake (formerly "Kraft") and Basic Black Card Stock.  Had I been thinking a bit more clearly, I would have used Concord Crush for the dark background color.  But it was already glued down, and this wasn't a big enough deal to start tearing things apart!  I punched the right corners of the card stock, as well as the basic card, with the Corner Rounder Punch.  As the In Colors didn't have buttons to go with them, I used a Pumpkin Pie Button from the Brights Collection of Buttons.  I finished the card off with a piece of Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine (also from the Occasions Mini!).

     Oh, and the most fun products on this card – and also from the Occasions Mini – are the Adorning Accents Edgelit Die and Adorning Accents Textured Impressions Embossing Folders.  I know most all of us in Stampin' Up! land are really hoping that these products will continue forward into the 2012-2013 Idea Book & Catalog.  Crossing my fingers!

     Here's the card on which this CASE is based.  It really is a great design that Jen del Muro made, and I wish I'd thought of it myself!!

   Today I'm sharing the second card that my class made as part of last week's card box project.

     As with the first card, the main color is Island Indigo, and the Designer Series Paper is part of the Summer Smooches Suite of Products. 
The floral stamps are from the Stamp Set, Bright Blossoms, also a part of the Summer Smooches Suite.  And, yes, there are two stamps in this image.  The first is the vase with the leaves and the second is the flower.  I inked both stamps up with Stampin' Write Markers (Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, and Tangerine Tango) and aligned them using the Stamp-a-ma-jig, which is a great stamp aligner.  The "just for you" stamp is from the very versatile – and definitely NOT retiring! – Teeny Tiny Wishes.

(Reminder:  Next Monday is the LAST day for you to order the preview of the Summer Smooches paper and other products.  After Monday, you won't l be able to order the products shown here until after the new Idea Book and Catalog is published on June 1st.)

     The layout for this card is also another simple layout, and those squares are made with the 1" Square Punch.  So there's no trying to make 1" cuts all around – very tedious and I never was very successful at it!

    The layout with which I started was a layout provided as a challenge on my online Stampin' Up! Demonstrator group, SUDSOL.  For their sketch challenge, they did not provide the exact measurements; sketch challenges rarely, if ever, do provide exact measurements.  The idea of a challenge is to make a project using the sketch provided as a guide, not to make a project using exact measurements.  The reason I provide measurements is to help you have at least a starting point if you'd like to try it out.

     But when I start a project, I like to have an idea about where I'm going, so I pretty much decide on the measurements up front.  I started with the idea of a 2" square for the stamped layer for this card.  But once I got my image stamped, I decided that I wanted the stamped layer to be just a scosh higher than 2".  So the true sketch for the above card is shown below.  But don't forget that you can alter measurements and still have a fantastic-looking card!  Another change you might want to make is to have that very small layer behind the squares be just a scosh (or a tad, whichever you prefer) larger.

     I hope you have as much fun with this as I did!  And don't hesitate to ask any questions about any of my designs.  I do frequently receive e-mails about my cards, and enjoy responding to all of them!  Or, even better, write a comment below.  I get notified pretty quickly about comments and can respond to them here.  Who knows, maybe someone else has the same comment!!

     As many of you know, last Sunday Stampin' Up announced over 200 stamp sets that will retire when the current Idea Book and Catalog expires at the end of next month!  The good news is that the stamp set that I'm using on today's card will NOT retire!  Hooray for that, as this is one of my favorite sets to color with markers and blender pens!  But the paper that I'm using today WILL retire, so I enjoyed using it and its colors to make a card with a Spring feeling to it!

     Oh, and there's the little issue of a challenge!  Yes, this card is one I made for a Late Night Stampers Yahoo Group's color challenge.  For this one, we were to use Pink, Green, and Yellow.  Now, no one defined what "Pink" meant, so I took some liberties with the use of a pale version of Tangerine Tango, which is not actually a pink – more of a coral.  But if I showed this to any of the men in my life and asked them what color it was, I can guarantee that a majority would say, "Pink"!  My "out" for this is that the Melon Mambo in the center of the flowers really is a "pink." 

     The yellow – Daffodil Delight – and the green – Wild Wasabi – are definitely what the colors are supposed to be!

     The stamp set for today is called Fabulous Florets, and it really is a fabulous stamp set to use!  For this card, I stamped the flower on the left, and then "masked" it before stamping the second flower.  To make the mask, I stamped the flower image on the top of a Post-It note and then very carefully cut it out before attaching it to the top of the first flower.  Then I stamped the second flower.  Then I said to myself, "Self, you'll certainly be masking this flower again, so why not put the mask away in the stamp set's box."  I did that – and laid it right on top of another such mask that I'd made who knows how long ago!  I have got to use my stamp sets more often!

     The paper that I used for the yellow layer as well as the floral layer is Beyond the Garden.  Yes, it has the same images as the stamp set, and you might wonder why Stampin' Up! would retire it and not the stamp set.  One thing that's happened in the past is that we get the same design in a new set of papers but with different colors.  Wouldn't that be great.  Oh, I can hardly wait to see that new catalog!!! 

     Oh, and the ribbon – I'm always tying cards up with a bow!  It's Daffodil Delight 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon, and I've had it since last summer's Stampin' Up! Convention.  You'd think after I spent two years bemoaning the fact that Stampin' Up! didn't have enough yellow ribbon that I'd be on my third or fourth spool of this ribbon.  But no; it's still spool number 1. 

     This uses a simple sketch, but I think it's really effective with the multiple mats of the Wild Wasabi!  So I thought I'd share it with you and hope you can use it for something that YOU make!

     It seems like just last week that we greeted the 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog!  But that was back in January, and here we are nearing the end of April and also the end of the Occasions Mini.  Sniff!   And many of us are hoping that some of the stamp sets and embellishments in this mini catalog are carried over into the new 2012-2013 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog.  It's hard to predict, though, as Stampin' Up! introduces its new type of Annual Catalog as well as a new type of Mini Catalog later this summer.

     So the Design Team at the Stampin' Up! Only Challenges blog decided to give one last shout of Hurrah! for this Mini Catalog by sharing some of their favorites products that may only be available for two more weeks!  In my case, while I've considered the stamp set, Apothecary Art, a "favorite," I'm almost ashamed to say that I've been admiring it from afar.  Until yesterday morning, I'd not even broken the rubber out of its pack! 

     But now it's all mounted and ready to use!  Oh, I hope it stays in the new catalog (wish, wish, wish!)   But even if it doesn't, it will remain a favorite.  And I used another favorite Occasions Mini Stamp Set – Loving Thoughts – for a greeting to set off the Apothecary Art stamp.

     Along with these Occasions Mini Stamp sets, I broke out my last few sheets of the Twitterpated Designer Series Paper (the Baja Breeze and Blushing Bride sheets are truly a favorite), some of the Large Basic Pearl Jewels, and a strip of the Riding Hood Red 3/8" Pleated Satin Ribbon.   Oh, and I can't forget the Labels Collection Framelits!!!  Surely they will stay in the catalog (wish, wish, wish!)

     There are a couple of techniques that I used in my design of today's card.  After I'd stamped and colored in the flowers on the Apothecary Art stamp, and then cut it out with the 3rd smallest size of the Labels Collection Framelits, I colored in the white space between the stamp and the cut edge with a Baja Breeze Stampin' Write Marker.  I thought that this helped coordinate the stamped layer with the Baja Breeze Designer Series Paper Sheet.  While I stamped the flower image using Basic Gray Classic Ink, I wanted the edge of the stamp to be a bit darker than the rest.  So I used the small end of my Basic Gray Stampin' Write Marker to trace the edge – but after I colored with the Baja Breeze marker.  I had no idea if there would be any bleeding.  There wasn't, but I didn't want to chance it.

     The green color used in the stamped image is Pear Pizzazz.  Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz are colors that will retire this year from the Idea Book and Catalog, leaving space for more colors to be added as 2012-2014 "In Colors."  Can hardly wait to see what they are!

     I hope that you'll find something that you really love from the Occasions Mini to use on a project this week!  If you're anything like me, look around to see if there's something you bought "way back when" and haven't yet used!  And if there's something you still need from the Occasions Mini, well you have another two weeks to buy it!

     Today I did some work with a sketch challenge from the online group, Stampin' Up! Late Night Stampers.  Lots of history with that group's name, but suffice it to say that the group is made up of stampers who love Stampin' Up! products.  It's not just for demonstrators, either.  So, if you'd love to get some ideas – and share your own! – about using Stampin' Up! products, it's a pretty fun group to which to belong!

     I should show you the sketch first, so you'll know from where I started.  And this is where I stopped, too!  I am so not into blue and orange these days, so I had to get out some color quickly to erase this from my mind!

     The color I chose was Melon Mambo.  And the reason was that I had my Melon Mambo ribbon out because I had considered using it with my last project (cute dragon!).  So I grabbed my Melon Mambo ink and started stamping teacups.

     And boy did I get carried away with the Melon Mambo!  As you can see, it's everywhere in this card.  It started with the teacups from the stamp set, Tea Shoppe (in the current mini catalog, Occasions Mini), proceeded into the rectangular background and just kept going!  And, yes, I finally did get to that ribbon – the Melon Mambo 1/2 Inch Scallop Dots Ribbon.  In between I punched some vertical scallops with the Scallop Edge Border Punch and also used that punch to form the ends of the little strip on which I stamped today's sentiment (also from the Tea Shoppe stamp set).  The Designer Series Paper that I used for this project came from the Hostess Designer Series Paper Set, Cheerful Treat.  And I think that this card is, indeed, cheerful!

     For the most part, I really like to use more than one color in a project.  But I think that I might like doing some more projects with just one color.  Hmmm.

     But definitely NOT blue or orange!

     As always, I had fun with this project, and I hope you're having fun with whatever you're doing today!  And check out the Stampin' Up! Late Night Stampers Yahoo Group!  It's free – and fun!

     Here it is another Tuesday and time for the biweekly Stampin' Up! Only Challenge on SUOChallenges.com.  But this just isn't any old challenge week.  Nope, it's a week when we on the SUO Challenge Design Team are congratulating one of our own – Michelle Laycock – on reaching her 10th Anniversary as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.

     Congratulations, Michelle!

     And, of course, we were to make a Card of Congratulations for the occasion!  There are going to be lots of opportunities for needing Congratulations cards as the Spring progresses, so we challenge those who like to participate in challenges to make such a card and enter it in the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge this week.  What fun for all of us!

     For my card today, I wanted to use bright and cheery colors.  And I also wanted to try to use up some of the Designer Series Papers I have hoarded since the beginning of the current Stampin' Up! year because I'm going to have one less month to use them this year.  Stampin' Up!s new annual Idea Book and Catalog is going to be starting on June 1st this year instead of July 1st!  So the rush is on!!  The paper that I ended up choosing for this was the Hostess set of Designer Series Papers, Cheerful Treats.  The colors that I used to highlight the Designer Series Papers are Melon Mambo (the bright pink), Concord Crush (the gorgeous grape color – which will retire as an "In Color" with this catalog), and Lucky Limeade (the fab green, which will be staying with us for another year).

     I used two stamp sets for this card.  The strip on the top is from the set that coordinates with the Designer Series Paper and it's called Borderlines.  There are three stamps in this set and each of them is replicated in one color or another on the Designer Series Paper.  The Congratulations greeting is from the set called Curly Cute.  Love all the curls in the five greetings in this set! 

     As is so often the case, I tied this card together with some ribbon, in this case some Concord Crush Stitched Poly Ribbon.  I'm almost out of the ribbon, but was really glad to have enough for Michelle's card!  Oh, and there are some of those twinkly little Basic Rhinestones  top and bottom, too.  Gotta have some glitz for a Congratulations card!

     I also (at long last) have a sketch for this card!  I had to measure the heck out of those strips to make the design work as I had envisioned it when I first started.  But I had a blast making this card for Michelle, and I hope you'll have fun with the sketch making a fun card for a friend or family member of yours!  One thing you might note is that the ribbon covers the bottom of the square on the left and the top of the square on the right.  You could certainly make those squares shorter if you wanted to use a different size ribbon.

     Today I'm welcoming Spring in my role as a member of the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge Design Team!  But I'm also taking a challenge from one of my online Stampin' Up! Demonstrator groups, SUDSOL, to make a card using only those Stampin' Up! products that you can find in the New Demonstrator Starter Kit.  The one big thing that this particular challenge meant to me was that there was to be no use of the Sizzix Big Shot or such fab Stampin' Up! tools as the Simply Scored!  Whoa, that slowed me down a bit!  But then I refocused and realized that this was a challenge to be clean and simple with my design.  Really clean!  No sponges or sponge daubers, either!

     But there were plenty of stamp sets and colors from which to choose!  I chose for my project colors from the Stampin' Up! Subtles Collection of colors and the Stamp Set, Easy Events.  A new demonstrator can choose 4 stamp pads and two Markers.  Oops!  I used 3 markers!  Man, that challenge was harder than I thought!  Well, I'm going to just assume that the new demonstrator who did this project for a workshop already had some Stampin' Up! products in her craft room ; ) .

     Another product that could be used for this card was a punch, and I used the default punch that was on the list – the Cupcake Punch.  I have seen so many people using the frosted part of the cupcake to make clouds, and now I had an opportunity to do it myself.  Woo-hoo!  Before I punched the clouds, though, I used the "hello" stamp that was on one of the stamps in the Easy Events set, though not on the stamp with the flowers.  Each of the 8 stamps in that set has a picture and a greeting.  As there are many times such as these that I want to use an image with the greeting from another stamp, I cut the greetings apart from the images.  If you're using the clear mount stamp set, it's easy to just cut the greeting and mount it on a clear block when you're ready to use it.  For my wood mount stamp set, I mounted each of the greetings on the end of the wood block on which I mounted the image. 

     And I was so glad that ribbon was in the Starter Kit!  Because you know I love to tie my cards all together with a ribbon!  For this card, I chose the Pretty in Pink 5/8" Satin Ribbon.  To get the bow oriented in the direction I wanted, I cut a 5" strip of the ribbon and wrapped it around the top two layers, adhering it on the back with Stampin' Up!'s monoadhesive, SNAIL (yes, it's in the Started Kit!).  Then I cut a longer length of ribbon and tied a bow around the strip of ribbon on the front.  Another nice feature of this way of constructing a bow is that you can slip it up or down on the straight piece until you get it right where you want!

     This was my first project of the week, and it certainly provides a bright beginning for Spring!  I hope your Spring is bright and that you'll have a great week with your own paper crafting!  And if you're in Australia or New Zealand, where this is the first day of Autumn, I certainly hope that you're enjoying cool days and gorgeous colors to brighten your days, too!

     I made this project originally for a blog hop that featured Stampin' Up!'s digital papercrafting product, My Digital Studio.  Even though the blog hop is over, I still enjoy showing off this fun Stampin' Up! product, and hope you enjoy this blog post!

     My project for today is one that I would absolutely never have considered undertaking with paper!  I saw an ad in a magazine that caught my eye in an instant – big bold colors and a graphic design that really appealed to me.  I immediately wanted to try to make a greeting card inspired by the ad.  While I do this a lot, I just could not see myself cutting out all those little strips of paper, let alone lining them up and gluing them to a card without pulling my hair out!

     My Digital Studio to the rescue!  With My Digital Studio, I could start laying out strips of digital paper and resizing them – longer, shorter, wider, thinner – with no trouble – and no wasted paper! 

     I began by opening a blank 12" x 12" page, and making some horizontal digital strips that looked to me like they would be a good approximation of the pattern in the model's shorts.  For this picture, I used Pacific Point, Calypso Coral, Night of Navy, Whisper White, and Peach Parfait.

     The next step was to make the same pattern in vertical strips, and then arrange them all together into a pattern that would be the basis for my diagonal design.  I then "grouped" all the strips together, rotated the group 45 degrees and exported that page to a .jpeg file.

     Working on another page of the My Digital Studio document, I located my new .jpeg picture file (using the browse feature), created a photo box; dragged the diagonal picture into it; and cropped the picture to make a neat square.

     Now that I had the basic design, I made three copies of it and arranged them into the large square that you see in my finished project – and it was just what I wanted for my bright and cheerful Birthday Card!

     There just isn't enough space in one little blog post to make this a full tutorial.  But the great thing about My Digital Studio is that there is a whole online community that is dedicated to helping all of us learn all the ins and outs of this fun – and powerful! – program.  It's called "MyDigitalStudio.net" and is open to anyone who wants to learn more about My Digital Studio and share projects with the rest of the community.  And there's always your own Stampin' Up! Demonstrator who's there to help you, too, especially if he or she is certified in My Digital Studio.

     If you have any questions about My Digital Studio, please let me know!  I've received Stampin' Up!'s certification and I do work with it a lot.  If you've got a puzzle, it will be a lot of fun for me to try to solve it – if I don't know the answer already!