Another Way to Use Your Big Shot

We made this 3 x 3 card in stamp club this month.  It's a simple little card, but it is just another example of the great things you can do with a Big Shot.  Fold your 3 x 3 card, place it on the edge of the Fancy Favor die, crank it through your Big Shot and presto - a fancy edge.  I traced this edge on the envelope to make the card complete. 

Supplies: Big Shot, Fancy Favor die, For All You Do stamp set, Garden Green, Almost Amethyst ink

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Goldfish Birthday

Only a few more days to shop from the Occasions Mini catalog - it ends April 30. Here is a quick card I made using Something Sweet. It would be super cute with a treat cup and Goldfish crackers, but this option will fit into a flat envelope.

Supplies: Something Sweet and Stem Sayings stamp sets, Summer Sun, Only Orange, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White cardstock, Tempting Turquoise and Only Orange ink, white grosgrain ribbon

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Dahlia Fold Mother's Day Card

Here's another Stamp Club project for this month. The Orchid Opulence card stock will be retiring June 30 but I am so happy to have this current In-Color, Rich Razzleberry, sticking around in the new color collections! I made the dahlia fold with Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper, and topped it off with a half pearl from the Pretties Kit.

Here are the directions to make the dahlia:

1. Punch 9 circles of Designer Series Paper using any size circle punch.

2. Vertically and horizontally fold the circles in half creating 4 quadrants; however, don’t fold all the way up on one fold as this will be visible as the top center of your flower. Unfold the circle.

3. Fold up the bottom right and left corners. Use your previous fold lines as a guide.

4. Flip your piece over and fold the right and left edges to the center.

5. Repeat for each circle. You will need 8 folded circles to make a full dahlia.

6. The ninth circle serves as your dahlia’s base. Simply fold this circle into quadrants as a guide and adhere the eight pieces with the tips meeting in the center to create a beautiful dahlia.

Supplies:  Orchid Opulence, Rich Razzleberry cardstock, Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper, Rich Razzleberry ink, Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots Impressions folder, Eyelet border punch, Pretties Kit

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Cracked Glass

What a fun project!  You apply at least 3 layers of Glassy Glaze Enamel (found on page 188 of your catalog), heating each layer.  When it is cool, you crack it by bending here there and everywhere.  For stamp club, we put it in the freezer for a short time, but letting it sit over night works great too.  There is something about the cracking and popping sound - kind of like popping bubble wrap.  I rubbed Creamy Caramel ink over the top with a sponge to make the cracks stand out just a touch. 

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Cheers to You with Shaving Cream

This card is a Stamp Club project from sometime last year, but I pulled it out since it uses 3 soon to be retired colors - Pixie Pink, Only Orange and Yo-Yo Yellow.  I am sure it was my inspiration for this recent card since it is hanging up in my stamping studio.

To create the shaving cream background, squirt some shaving cream onto a paper plate, dot with reinkers of your choice and place your piece of glossy cardstock on top of it. When you peel it up, you will leave shaving cream on the cardstock. Wipe the excess shaving cream off and you will end up with a background similar to this one. The same shaving cream can create a few backgrounds before you will have to reink or simply replace the shaving cream and start over.

With such a unique background and Crystal Effects on the drink, it is easy to put together a striking card - even with only a small amount of stamping.

Supplies: Cheers to You stamp set, Pixie, Pink, Only Orange, Yo-Yo Yellow cardstock, ink and reinkers, Whisper White and Glossy White cardstock, shaving cream, Crystal Effects, Real Red marker, ticket corner punch



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Lovely Lilac Heartfelt Sympathy

I am truly excited about the Color Renovation. I am looking forward to all of the new color combinations, the brand-new colors and some of my favorite In-Colors returning. But anyone who has attended a few of my events knows I do like Lovely Lilac and Almost Amethyst together. I designed this card for my stamp-a-stack a couple of days before the announcement of the Color Renovation. And being the stocker-upper that I am, I have a couple more packages of these two colors. So you just might be seeing another card with these colors in the next couple of months ;-) I think I am drawn to purple with this particular stamp set because it helps to create a pretty image without a lot of extra distraction. To create the two shades of flowers, I colored directly onto the stamp with markers, stamped the center, huffed on the stamp and restamped the flowers on the side without recoloring. My stamp-a-stack ladies are up for most anything, but since we stamp 3 of each card, that would have had them coloring this stamp 9 times. That's a little much for a Friday night :-)

Supplies: Close as a Memory stamp set, Old Olive, Lovely Lilac ink, Lovely Lilac, Whisper White, Almost Amethyst cardstock, scallop trim border punch

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Plain and Simple Thank you

When I first created this card, I liked it but was worried it was too plain.  So my go to product is usually ribbon... that didn't look right.  I stamped a background... that looked too unorganized.  I tried stamping a row of circles along the bottom of the card...that was too busy.  So I just left it alone for a day.  When I came back, I decided the simplicity was what I liked most about it.  It could go for most any occasion and with the Mellow Moss cardstock, it could be for a man or a woman.  So my first instinct and attempt turned out to be right, but it never hurts to explore your options ;-)

Supplies:  Circle Circus, Sincere Salutations stamp set, Mellow Moss, Perfect Plum ink, Mellow Moss, Perfect Plum, Very Vanilla cardstock, Paper piercer, mat pack

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Heartfelt Sympathy

I have been on a pretty lucky streak lately. This is a new set I chose when I won a prize from my upline, Meg. Then as a participant in a special Stampin' Up! program, I was randomly chosen and won another one!! So I have a couple new stamp sets, and on top of that, my pre-order for the new mini catalog (coming soon!) just came. So where to start with all of the new, fun stamp sets?!?

We made this Friday and Saturday at my latest Stamp-a-Stack. I offered Thinking of You, Sympathy, and Thank-you cards, but I designed them to be all-occasion. So I think we had some birthday, wedding, congratulations, Mother's Day etc. before the night was over.

Supplies: For All You Do, Close as a Memory stamp set, Rose Red, Garden Green ink, Rose Red, Garden Green, Whisper White cardstock, scallop edge punch, Stampin' dimensional


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Color Renovation

Talk about big news! This week, Stampin' Up! announced a Color Renovation! Starting July 1 we are going to have 4 renovated collections of colors. The 4 new collections will include 5 brand-new colors and some old In-Colors. To make room for this change, some of our current colors will be retiring in June. But the other exciting news is that there will continue to be In-Color collections, but they will stick around for 2 years! So while it is sad to see some of our favorite colors go, there are lots of great new possibilities. And when you look at the new colors, I don't think you will miss some of the old colors quite as much!

The following colors will be retiring June 30.  So stock up on your favorites now!  (They will become "while supplies last" on June 1 when the retiring list comes out). 

Almost Amethyst
Apricot Appeal
Ballet Blue
Barely Banana
Blush Blossom
Bordering Blue
Brilliant Blue
Brocade Blue
Cameo Coral
Close to Cocoa
Creamy Caramel
Gable Green
Glorious Green
Going Gray
Green Galore
Handsome Hunter
Lavender Lace
Lovely Lilac
Mellow Moss
Only Orange
Orchid Opulence
Pale Plum
Pink Passion
Pixie Pink
Really Rust
Ruby Red
Sage Shadow
Summer Sun
Taken with Teal
Yoyo Yellow

I know - it feels like a big list... but wait, here are the former In-Colors that are coming back!!!!!

Baja Breeze
Melon Mambo
Pink Pirouette
Rich Razzleberry
Riding Hood Red
River Rock
Soft Suede
Tangerine Tango
Wild Wasabi

And we will have 5 brand-new colors!

Cajun Craze
Cherry Cobbler
Crumb Cake
Daffodil Delight
Early Espresso
Marina Mist

And these exciting new colors don't even include the 5 new In-Colors for this year! 

Stampin' Up! has worked on this change for two years and will be making it easy to transition into the new color collections without breaking the bank.  I'll have more details later, but it will be possible to purchase just the new colors and there will be replacement color charts and things like that for those of us (*me*) who like things matchy-matchy. 

Click here to download.

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Bubble Wrap Totally Tess

Here is my last bubble wrap card for a few days :-) This one was done with Tempting Turquoise and Gable Green. I inked and applied the colors separately and then got out my Totally Tess stamp set and did some paper piecing. Who better to wear those crazy pants?

Supplies: Totally Tess stamp set, Tempting Turquoise, Gable Green, Whisper White, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip (for her shoes) cardstock, Tempting Turquoise, Gable Green, Basic Black ink, Brayer, bubble wrap


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Bubble Wrap Bee Hive

This bubble wrap card uses the small bubble wrap, but I instantly thought of this stamp set when I learned the bubble wrap technique. (Thanks Rae Anne for loaning it to me :-) Just like the fish card, ink up the bubble side of the bubble wrap and then place your cardstock on top and roll over with a brayer. The more you roll, the less defined the bubbles become. I like them a little blurry, but different cards may require a different touch.


Supplies: Just Buzzin' By stamp set, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard ink, Very Vanilla, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip cardstock, bubble wrap, brayer

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Bubble Wrap Fish

Did you buy the ornament punch (still available as a write in) at Christmastime? Well who knew you could use it for things other than ornaments!?! This fish uses a stamp from Delightful Decorations (no longer available), which I know many of you also bought, but I also made some with a solid color of cardstock. With the five petal punch, you have a fish with no trouble at all. But the coolest thing about this card is the bubble background - at least I think it's the coolest :-) Take a piece of bubble wrap, ink it up by stamping the ink pad directly onto the bubble side. Then place your cardstock on top and roll over it with your brayer. Check back tomorrow for another sample using bubble wrap.

Supplies: Bubble wrap, brayer, ornament punch, five petal punch, 1/2 in circle punch, black journaling marker, Whisper White, Only Orange, Ballet Blue cardstock, Mellow Moss, Only Orange, Ballet Blue ink, Definitely Decorative, Inspired by Nature stamp sets

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Hidden Message Card

At first glance this is just a small, little birthday card....

But when you open it, there is a left side...

and a right side...

And with a pull on the two outside flaps, it reveals an inside section. 

But that's not all...

This center section is hiding a whole new section!

Mine has been handled many times and it is impressive to even the biggest card skeptics!  Directions can be found on Jan Tink's blog.  While this seems daunting, it isn't too hard to put together, and after the first one, they go together pretty easily!  It's been one of my favorite stamp club projects over the years.   

Supplies:  Real Red, Basic Black, So Saffron, Very Vanilla cardstock, Real Red, So Saffron, Basic Black ink, black grosgrain ribbon, Game Night, On Your Birthday stamp sets, Jackpot Designer Series Paper

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Happy Easter

Happy Easter! Here are a couple of the chocolate bunny treat boxes I made this year. These two go to my niece and nephew and include a monogrammed Easter egg and of course a little candy. Something tells me the candy will be the bigger hit. I also made these for my downline and put an egg in each. I left out the Pixy Stixs, hoping they will be more excited about the glitter egg :-)

I used the Fancy Favor die and then punched a 1 3/4 inch circle. I attached a small piece of window sheet with Snail to cover the hole and create a window. Wouldn't some pretty little foil eggs look great shining through?

Supplies: Chocolate Bunny stamp, Chocolate Chip ink, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa cardstock, Big Shot, Fancy Favor die, 1 3/4 in circle punch, white grosgrain ribbon, window sheets


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Sweetest Day Ever Easter Card

I couldn't wait to use this stamp with my scallop circle punch and copy an idea that has been floating around on Easter cards for years. The words come from the Something Sweet stamp set in the current Occasion Mini, and I also used the Sale-a-Bration scallop trim border punch to give it just a little something extra. I made it for a shoebox swap with other demonstrators - talk about fun! Each person prepares all the materials for the card and we just move from table to table creating the cards. At the end of the night, I had a whole stack of new cards.

Supplies: Chocolate Bunny, Something Sweet stamp sets, Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White cardstock, Chocolate Chip ink, scallop border and scallop circle punch

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