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Dimensional Fun!

Aloha, all!

     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!

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Just Two More Weeks for the Occasions Mini!

Aloha, all!

     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!

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Congratulations, Michelle Laycock!

Aloha, all!

     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.

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Hello Spring!

Aloha, all!

     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!

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Got Green?

Aloha, all!

     Yes, here I am today with another "green"challenge!  This time the challenge is for the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge blog!  Before I chat about my card, please know that entry into this challenge is for EVERYONE who makes cards using Stampin' Up! products only.  And they don't have to be current Stampin' Up! products.  Lots of my own customers have dozens and dozens of Stampin' Up! stamp sets and embellishments and inks and papers and….   Well, you get the picture.  And you may well be one of those people with a stash that goes back years!  So make up a card or scrap page or other project, and enter it in the challenge.  The one thing you do have to have is a place to post it on the web.  If you don't have a blog or other website, Split Coast Stampers is a great place to post a picture of your project.  You don't even have to pay a subscription fee if you choose not to.  Any questions about this, just send me an e-mail.

     You might remember from the last card I posted that I said I would show off both of the Pear Pizzazz prints from the Twitterpated Designer Series Paper.  For Sunday's card, I used the paper with the floral-type print, and today I'm using that again along with the plaid-type print from the Designer Series Paper set. 

     As you might have been able to figure out by now, everything (but one!) on this card is either Whisper White or Pear Pizzazz!  The one product that is not is the Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine that's holding the greeting tag.  But there's so much white in the Baker's Twine that it's really hard to tell that it's not Pear Pizzazz.

     The stamp set that I used for this card is Got Treats.  I keep forgetting I have that stamp set and I hope Stampin' Up! doesn't retire it this year because I totally forgot to use it for the winter holidays this year!  But I'll give this particular stamp some use in the next two weeks!

     And this time – for the first time in months! – I have a sketch for you!  I've been CASEing cards so much lately, that it's a treat for me to have my own design to sketch out!  But before I post that, you have to know that, once again, I tied my card together with a ribbon from Stampin' Up!'s fabulous ribbon collection – and of course it's Pear Pizzazz Stitched–Poly Ribbon!  I think I'll be using this color a lot in the next two weeks, too!

     Here's the sketch – it's a fun and simple one, and I'm sure you'll enjoy using it!

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A Bright and Colorful ‘Happy Birthday’!

Aloha, all!

     I spent most of last week working on projects that really needed to have subtle colors for them to feel right to me.  So, this week when it was time for the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge biweekly project, I decided that I just had to have some bright primary colors to work with!  And one of the newest stamp sets – in the Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog – gave me just the canvas on which to work with those bright colors!

     Does this wake you up when you look at it!  For sure "Celebrate" is definitely the word that comes to mind with all those wonderful Birthday Party images that are in the stamp, Packed for Birthday.  My favorite image is the Pinata and I started off coloring her in and then used the same colors to color in all the rest of the images.

     Can you tell that I couldn't make up my mind what color should be in the background?  So I just put them all together and used the Patterns Designer Series Papers in Real, Red, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise, and Pumpkin Pie.  Oh, there is a bit of Garden Green and Pacific Point in the stamp colors.  But you can only put so many papers in the background of a card, no matter how colorful you want it to be!

     As most of you know, I really like tying up my greeting cards with a bit of ribbon to finish them off.  But, again, I couldn't decide on which color to use.  So I pulled out a bunch and wrapped them all around the card and used the Real Red 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon to tie the bunch together.  I didn't let any of the ribbon go to waste as I used the trimmings to accent the card when I took its picture!

     So finally I'm feeling like I'm over whatever it was that laid me up most of the month of February, and this card made me feel even perkier!  Even if you don't feel the need to be perked up by something as bright as I made, we'd still like to have you join in the challenge over at the SU Only Challenges Blog!  All you have to do is make a card, park it in a gallery online somewhere, and link it to the SUO Challenge Blog with the link tool at the end of the blog post.  I'd love to see some more of my regular readers join us!

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Thank You!

Aloha, all!

     And thank you all for your patience with my slow response to comments and e-mails over the last week and a half.  I'm a bit better today and even managed to make a card in my craft room!  I didn't have the energy to clean the craft room up before I did, so now I have an even bigger job!  But I finally feel up to it.  In fact, by the time you read this, I should be back with everything put away or thrown away and I'll be working on my last project for the Create With Connie and Mary Occasions Edition!  I'm so sorry I'm not able to share these project with you because I think they're among the best I've ever done.  But you have to be a subscriber to get to them. 

     For this card, I used just two colors.  Two colors was the challenge for the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge Team this past week, and I missed that because I was sick.  And it was supposed to be a Valentine, so it's a bit late for that.  But I'm sure that, if you're working on a two-color project this week, we'd love to see it over at SUO Challenges anyway!

     The two colors that I used are Calypso Coral and Island Indigo, both a Stampin' Up! "In Color"" for this year.  Nice combo!  The Island Indigo colored Designer Series Paper is from the "Sweet Shop" Specialty Designer Series Paper set, from this year's Occasions Mini Catalog.

     I made this Z-fold card with the cut out using the Sizzix Movers and Shapers Die from the Punch Windows Die Set.  It's been awhile since I've made one of these, but I thought to use it because I had a customer ask me about this style card this past week.  Fun to make – and so easy with the Sizzix Big Shot!  The stamp is from the set Oval All and I stamped the little butterfly on a scrap of the DSP and cut it out to tie the stamp together with the background.  I forgot to take a photo of the other side – but I made a Calypso Coral butterfly there from stamping on a coordinating piece of the DSP.  Fun little thing to do!

     I always try to tie a card together with some ribbon, and this time I used some Calypso Coral 3/8 Ruffled Ribbon.  It makes such a nice knot or bow.  I kept it to a knot this time to keep the card simple. 

     If you've got a type of card that you'd like me to make, just let me know.  I'm starting to feel like being creative again, and I'm up for suggestions!

     It feels like I'm going to have a better week this week – and I hope you are, too!

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A Favorite?

Aloha, all!

     This week's challenge over at the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge blog is to make a project with my favorite product from the 2012 Stampin' Up! Occasions Mini Catalog.  My FAVORITE?  How do I pick a favorite????

     Well, as you can see by this card, I cheated a bit.  I started out thinking that the Twitterpated Designer Series Paper was my favorite.  But which sheet?  Ah – three of them.  OK, so I took the three, punched them with the 1" Square Punch and made a pieced design.  But that was kind of plain.  So off I went to find the new Labels Collection Sizzix Framelits to cut the pieced section.  Nice!  I also used the same label framelit to cut a piece of Riding Hood Red Card Stock to use as a mat.  Now that should make THIS my favorite, right? 

     Ah, not so quick.  I just had to spruce up the little squares, and what better embellishment to use than the Twitterpated Designer Buttons.  Hmmm.  Maybe that's my favorite.  But then I realized that this card didn't have an appropriate sentiment.  So off I went to find the sentiment from the Loving Thoughts Stamp Set.  Nice!  But what to use to stamp on?  Ah, I went off to yet another favorite, that label stamp in the Take It To Heart Stamp Set!  Another possibility for a favorite.

     But then I realized that the card base of Blushing Bride Card Stock looked much too plain.  Embossing is always in style, and we have that fab new Adorning Accents Embossing Folder with all the hearts on it!  Wow, what a difference that made – times two!  But still too plain in the middle of the card.  Ah – maybe it's the Pleated Satin Ribbon that's my favorite!  It even sits so nicely without having to be tucked under anything when you snip off a piece of the back of a pleat – even better when you use TWO pieces of the ribbon and have them facing in opposite directions behind the central motif!

     Update to answer a question:  When snipping off a piece of the back of the ribbon isn't an option – for example, when that would make the ribbon too short – I cut the ribbon a bit longer than I want it to be.  Then I use my paper snips to cut the thread holding the last pleat in place.  Finally, I tuck the flat piece that I just made under the strip of ribbon, keeping the ribbon the length that I want it, and trimming the piece on the back down to about 1/4."  I adhere the ribbon to the card with Sticky Strip.  In some cases (a project I’m working on right now needed this) I use a mini glue dot to keep that tucked piece in place.

     OK – how many "favorites" is that?  SEVEN!  I give up – I can't name my favorite!  Oh, the shame of it being so indecisive!  I just may have to go make something with Bordering on Romance to get my spirits up.   Hmmm.  Maybe I should have made that……  No; we'll just leave this whole thing where it sits now!

     I hope you're better at figuring out YOUR favorite than I am.  And then go post a link to your card on SUO Challenges!

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Something New!

Aloha, all!

     One of my hobbies used to be painting with watercolors.  I took several years of lessons, but that was ages ago, and I probably have forgotten more about how to use watercolor than I remember.  Nonetheless, I have had the Stampin' Up! Watercolor Wonder Crayons in my craft room since back when you could buy all the colors at once in a big tin (awhile ago!).  And even though I hadn't used them in a long time, when the new Stampin' Up! color families came out in 2010, I went ahead and ordered the updated colors of the crayons.

     Yesterday, for the first time since I ordered them, I opened them up.  In fact, when I went to the drawer in which I keep the crayons and the Watercolor Pencils, I was surprised to have to remove the paper from the packaging and then find that there were only 3 or 4 crayons in the boxes I opened!  It took awhile to remember that that's how they came back when we were able just to purchase updates for our collections.  So I think that I'm comfortable with my Stampin' Up! Only Challenge entry for the week!  The challenge was to use a new technique – or one that you've not used in a long while.  Using Watercolor Wonder Crayons with an Aquapainter certainly meets that criterion!

     The stamp set that I used for my card is one that cries out to be watercolored!  It's the set, Bordering on Romance from the Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog, and its line art is perfect for this.  For my stamped image, I combined two of the stamps to make an L-shaped image and then went after the watercolors.  I started the pink flowers with Pretty in Pink and then started adding in a big of Riding Hood Red.  I let the Riding Hood Red bleed into the Pretty in Pink for the start, and then added just a bit more at the centers when the paint had dried.  For the leaves, I laid down a base of Wild Wasabi and then some darker accents with Always Artichoke.  For the blue, I started with Baja Breeze and, just in the larger flowers, accented that color with Night of Navy. 

     It's a lot of fun making card fronts with the new Sizzix Framelits with their wonderful curves and overall shapes!  For this card, I used two of the shapes from the Labels Collection Framelits.  They cut into the Watercolor Paper beautifully – just in case you were wondering!  I accented the card with the larger lable framelit and Riding Hood Red (nice touch to bring out the Riding Hood Red in the coloring). 

     I tied the whole thing together with ribbon (what a surprise), this time Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, and accented that with one of the Trinket Hearts, also from the Occasions Mini Catalog.

     Fun card!  I hope whatever you do with your crafting today, you have just as much fun!  And maybe you can even share a project with the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge Team!

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It’s Time for Thank You Notes!

Aloha, all!

     Aaaaahhhh!  While I do love Christmas, it is SOOO good to have it over and be able to relax a bit.  Actually, I did a lot of relaxing over the weekend.  I put away the last of my Christmas Card making supplies and tools on Friday night, and did not touch a thing related to paper crafting until this morning.  In fact, I was so relaxed about everything that I forgot to give my husband the very special card I'd made for him weeks ago!  If I had gone into the craft room I would have seen it lying there.  But at least I remembered before Christmas Day was over.

     And of course now that Christmas is over, it's time for Thank You notes!  This is also the day for the bi-weekly Stampin' Up! Only Challenge, and this is the card I made for the challenge to make a punch the center of attraction on a project.  I looked at all those fancy punches that Stampin' Up! has been putting out lately, but then decided on a really simple one – the 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Punch. 

     Usually I have an item punched with that as the background for something else.  This time, though, I was inspired by the fan-style design in the new set of paper, EverydayEnchantment Designer Series Paper, that Stampin' Up! will be giving away as part of the 2012 Sale-a-Bration Event, which begins a month from now.  So, since that paper inspired me, I decided to use it, as well as the coordinating Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad Pack.  I thought that the brad with the scallop shape on it was perfect for the center of the punch feature.  To help it stand out a bit more, I used a second punch, the Boho Blossoms Punch, to make the little flower behind the brad.

     The colors in the Designer Series Paper – and the colors of Card Stock that I used to accent it – are Lucky Limeade, Peach Parfait, and Pool Party.  Oh, and Very Vanilla is in there, too!

     To make the Scalloped Punch element, I drew lines on the back of all three colors that I punched out and then snipped along the lines from the indentations to the center point (where the lines all crossed).  To find the center of the Very Vanilla piece, I drew a couple of lines on the back of it, too, and used the Paper Piercer to punch through a pinpoint hole which is there the points of the cut pieces all met.  Once I glued on all the cut pieces, I enlarged the hole to allow the brad to fit through easily.

     The scallop circle in the background is a die-cut image from the Sizzix Scallop Circles #2 die, which I also texturized with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder.

     The Thank You Stamp is also from the Sale-a-Bration catalog – one of the 6 stamps in the Outlined Occasions Stamp Set.  Love those outline-style designs that I can color in!  I wrapped each end of the greeting element with the ribbon from the ribbon pack.  I adhered both the greeting and the punched scallop to the card front with Stampin' Dimensionals to give the card just a bit more, well, dimension!

     I hope you had a lot of fun during your holiday celebrations!  And I hope you'll have as much fun as I'm having now that I'm back in my Craft Room again!

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