June Stamp Club Projects

This month for our Stamper's club, I showed the ladies the Cracked Glass technique, and also how to use a wheel. I have to admit, since I've been so busy lately (wedding invites, vacation, moving), I shamelessly CASED both of our projects! Who am I kidding? I love to CASE! Most of the time though, I change at least a few things about the card if not most of it. These two cards however, are just about Exactly the same as the ones I CASED. Thanks ladies for the ideas and inspiration! :)

The first card we did is from Terri over at http://www.stampinterri.typepad.com/. Check out her blog - she has awesome ideas! She's also my up-upline! When I saw this card, I just knew it was the perfect one for me to demonstrate at my next club. I wanted to do the Cracked Glass technique, and also wanted to use some of our designer papers, as well as use up my Cool Caribbean cardstock. This card allowed me to do all 3! I think the only thing that is different from Terri's card is that I used Old Olive cardstock instead of True Thyme. See Terri's card here. This technique is very cool; and I don't mean that just because you need to put it in the freezer! ;) (SO corny; I know!) The ladies had a great time making this one. The supplies you need are: Glassy Glaze Ultrathick Embossing Enamel (UTEE), a heat gun, and Versamark. Stamp your image on cardstock, and apply Versamark over your image. Sprinkle UTEE liberally over the entire image, then heat. The directions say to apply 3 times, but check it after 2 times; if it's nice and thick, don't worry about doing it again. The UTEE is used up fast, so if you have a larger group, think about buying 2 jars, and use 2 layers instead of 3 (just make sure you instruct them to make the layers thick). Then just put your piece in the freezer for about 10 minutes and then bend the paper, "snapping" it, and creating the cracked look. Here is a closeup of the Cracked Glass:

Hopefully you can see the lines across the image; click on the picture for a larger view. To make the lines stand out more, apply the same colored ink (I used Cool Caribbean ink) over the glaze, then wipe off. The ink will seep into the cracks, making them a bit darker. You can also use a different color of ink, like a light brown, and it will make your image look more "vintage".

The second card we did, I found on Splitcoast, from Kris (parkerquilter). Click here for her card. I loved how she watercolored the jellyfish and used Crystal Effects on his head, so I had to do that too! :) This card was a great opportunity to showcase the Wheel Guide, and also the grid paper. Not many of my members use wheels very often, so I wanted to show them how to do it properly, and make them more comfortable with the technique. I'm just so sad they retired Fishy Friends, so I had to use it one last time!

I Won CANDY!!!!

Look a these beautiful things I won from http://inkerdoodles.blogspot.com/! I entered a few weeks ago in her blog candy contest, and I actually won! I don't win a lot of things, so this blew me away when I saw MY name was picked. Actually I won a $10 gift certificate to Jacksonbelle Embellishments, then off I went shopping! Both pages are double sided, and I LOVE how everything co-ordinates - even the Primas! These are the first primas I've ever owned, and I'm very excited to use them. I love Primas; I think they're SO beautiful - I just hope they don't become one more of those things I hoard! I will put myself to work using them, just as soon as we finish moving to the new house. Did I mention I am moving? Not far, just from one end of the city to the other. A bigger house though, and most importantly - a room dedicated to my stamping! YAY!!! It's been taking up the spare bedroom for a long time now, and has started migrating into my husband's "man room" - which he has not been pleased about! So, it was one of the key things we looked for when house shopping. I can't wait to get in there! I am now looking for storage solutions for all my supplies, and would love to hear/see how you organize your stamping rooms. I would like to buy some kind of wall unit or something to hold all my paper and supplies, and also maybe showcase some extra special projects. Any ideas?

Anyway, check out Jacksonbelle Embellishments; they've got TONNES of stuff to drool over - I had such a hard time picking out just $10 worth of stuff! I must have spent over an hour online just at their store. Have fun!

A Vacation Well Needed

I'm back! Wow, what a vacation! We started with landing in Toronto at about 2:30 Saturday afternoon, then were whisked away to the Toronto Zoo so my little Kaitlyn didn't go too stir-crazy. After the zoo we went to Peterborough to stay with my cousin and her family. Sunday morning, my husband and I got up and (leaving Kate with my cousin) we went into Toronto to see the Hockey Hall of Fame and the CN Tower. It was so nice to spend a day with my husband, just the two of us. He LOVED the HHF, and the CN Tower is always amazing.

Monday morning we woke up and headed to Algonquin Park, to a cabin that belongs to my cousin's husband's family. We stayed there for 4 nights, where my daughter learned to fish, and roaster her first marshmallows! My husband even got to experience shaving in the river, which I don't think he even minded that much!

After 4 days of "roughing it", we left the cabin for Jackson' Point, on Lake Simcoe, where my brother's wedding took place. How beautiful! We enjoyed our stay, and even talked about (just talking, mind you - we'd never buy so far from home!) buying a place on the lake. We can dream, right? Anyway, after an awesome wedding reception (one of the best I've been to in a long time!) and catching up with all my family (my brother and I are the only family out west), we zoomed back to good ole Alberta Sunday night. It may sound like a whirlwind trip, but there was much time to relax too. A great trip!

Just wanted to post so you know I'm alive! I'll post again soon, but now I've got to get ready for a stamp club meeting. Life doesn't look like it's slowing down anytime soon! I'm SO thankful for that vacation! :)

And The Winner Is...

I have to say I'm quite pleased with the responses I received for this blog candy! One of the reasons I did this candy offer was to see who was reading my blog, how many regularly, and what your thoughts were on my blog and stamping in general. Well, it turns out that there are more than a few of you who visit very regularly, and I received some nice comments on my most recent wedding card as well as my cards in general. Thank you to everyone who left me a comment; I now have a little extra spring in my step and a pleased little smile on my face! Anyone who needs a little extra sunshine, and some positive thoughts thrown their way, should give away some blog candy! Sure makes a girl feel good about herself! :)

So, the winner of this round of candy is: Claudia F. who said "Congratulations! You have a great blog and I'll be back often." So Claudia, please email me your address, and I'll get that candy out to you right away! If I don't hear from you by Friday morning, it will take a little longer to get it out to you, since I'm going away for a week. But I WILL get it to you! :)

Thanks again everyone!

Fishy Thanks - Shadowbox Technique

While we're in Ontario next week, we'll be staying with my cousin and her family. We're going to her family cabin for 4 nights, which has no electricity, no running water (we pump it in from the river) and only an outhouse for a bathroom. What fun, I say! My husband on the other hand is less than enthusiastic, but then, he's not from a "roughing it" kind of background. Sure he likes to camp for a day or 2, but I think he's a little frightened of what we're getting ourselves into. I've been there before; in fact I took my then 6 month old daughter, and stayed there a whole week with my cousin and her two children (then 2 1/2 and 9 months)! We had a great time, and I expect nothing less this time around. So, to thank her family for being such great hosts, I made them this "Fishy" card. I am in love with the Shadow box card, and have been making them non-stop for a little while (I'll post another from a swap I'm doing soon, and I've also got another one on the blog here). So here's a little tutorial for how to make this card:

Step 1: Cut 2 pieces of cardstock into 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" (regular card size). Then score at 1/2" and 1" on each side. You can do this width-ways (on the 4 1/4" side) or length-ways (on the 5 1/2" side) as shown on this card. Fold along scored lines, so that when put together, your pieces form a "box". I started with some "Naturals White" and Tempting Turquoise cardstock.

Step 2: Cut a circle into the Turquoise cardstock using a Coluzzle. Using a piece of Saran Wrap, dab into turquoise ink pad then apply liberally on front of turquoise cardstock for background.

Step 3:Decorate inside piece of cardstock. Make sure when you place your background, you line it up with the circle you cut in the other piece. I used Fishy Friends here, and then cut out some pieces of Green Galore and Gable Green cardstock to make "seaweed". I punched out 3 little circles for bubbles, and put Crystal effects on each of them. I also waterpainted some turquoise "waves" behind the fish, and added some Dazzling Diamonds on each wave with a 2-way glue pen.

Step 4: Decorate the outside of your card. I cut a piece of Naturals White cardstock and folded it in half, so I would have somewhere to write a note (otherwise, on these cards you need to write on the back). I covered it with a Gable Green piece that I had dabbed Green Galore and T. Turquoise ink with the saran wrap. Then I added my "Thank you So much" tag and the little seahorse (with my attempt at watercoloring - I really need to practice that more!).

Sorry this picture is so blurry!

Final Step: Place Sticky Strip along the edges of your card (see picture #1 for placement), then put together for this great card! I must say, I'm pretty happy with it - considering I thought of it all by myself. And I did it in the 2 hours my daughter slept for her nap (which is good - it usually takes me that long to make a regular card if I have to think of it myself!)! :)

Have fun with this technique; if you're like me, you'll be using all sorts of stamps and making tonnes of these cards too!

Who Wants Candy??

Holy Moly! It's only been about 4 hours since I posted about blog candy, and already we're at 2000 hits! I didn't even have time to get the picture up! Well, here it is! This candy includes: 6 - 6x6 pages of designer paper, about 4 yards of ribbon and fancy fibres, a package of gold brads, and a bag of googlie eyes. How's that for celebrating 2000 hits? I'm already thinking about what to give for 5000 and 10,000!

Well, I did say that I'd draw a winner when we got to 2000 hits, but since that happened way faster than I thought (I thought sometime tomorrow!), I will continue the draw until 2:30 pm tomorrow afternoon (mountain time). At that time, I will draw and post the winner! Click here to get to the original post to leave a comment, or scroll down. Yay candy!!!

My First Blog Candy! - 2000 Hits!!!

Wow, my blog is almost at 2000 hits! I've been visiting some blogs lately that have had some great candy posted for all kinds of reasons, and I figure what better reason than because I've reached 2000? Of course, this idea just came to me about 5 minutes ago, and I have no idea what the candy will be - but I DO know it will be good! I will hunt around today to see what kinds of things I will include, and then will post a picture later today. In the meantime, leave a comment here, and I will choose a number once the counter gets to 2000 - I'm thinking that'll be sometime tomorrow. Leave any comment you want; it could be about my blog, about why you love to stamp, what your favorite technique is, what your favorite color combination is, or anything else! :) Good luck!

A Little Silver Saves The Day!

I recieved a few suggestions both here on my blog, and through email, and all were awesome suggestions and would have made really nice cards. In the end, I didn't want to change the whole card if I didn't have to, so I chose only to work on the "mistake" I had made on the first one. So for the correction, I stamped "Congratulations" on white Card stock, THEN cut it down and rounded the corners. After that I cut and rounded an Almost Amethyst piece, and a silver piece. The silver piece I glued right over the whole I had punched through the background, making it so you couldn't see that I had stamped "Congratulations" underneath it (I was worried that when they opened the card they would see it, since it's on white cardstock). Then I glued the white and Amethyst pieces together and mounted them on dimensionals for a little "pop". I also removed the scalloped edged piece and put dimentionals under it as well. There - phew! A lot of agonizing over such a small detail! Now you know why it takes me so long to make 1 little card, and also why I (so many times!) end up casing from SCS.

I'm in the middle of making a "Wow" swap card for Convention, and it is completely my own idea; it's practically killing me! I'm very proud of myself for coming up with it, but I hate how I need to agonize over every little detail. Thank God for my husband being around to bounce ideas off of... even if he really isn't that much help, at least I can voice my problem, and after hearing it out loud I usually can find the answer. I'll post my swap card when it is finished... probably not for a few weeks yet, since I'm waiting for my new punch box to arrive, and then I'm off to Ontario for a week!

Looking for a Solution

I'm making a card for my brother's wedding next week, and this is what I came up with. I made her wedding invitations, and her color was Amethyst, and we also used the French Script, so I thought it would be nice to do a nod to her invites. This card has been a lot tougher to make than I thought! I messed up the scalloped edge in the left corner (I'm new at using the corner rounder punch for scalloping), and just when I thought I had only one more step left, I stamped "Congratulations" in black StayzOn in the lower right corner, on top of the silver French Script. Well, what happened was the StayzOn lifted some of the silver instead of stamping over top! It looked terrible, so I thought maybe I could make a word window and put the Congratulations underneath the Amethyst! Well, I tried it... And this is the result. I'm not at all happy with it, and am thinking I will re-do it tomorrow. The problem is that the "Congratulations doesn't fit into the Word Window punch, even if you lengthen it. I had to widen it on top and bottom too, which is why it ended up looking lop-sided. Anyway, I wanted to ask what you all thought of it, and what I could do to make it better? If I re-did the background, would black Classic ink stick better than the StayzOn? I don't have any Craft black, which I think would work a lot better. Any other ideas on how to "fix" this card? I'd love to hear your opinion, and will post the re-done one tomorrow or Saturday.

Lately (the past few days) I've been spending some time finding and looking at some other blogs. I'm curious to see that others write about, and I also LOVE to see project samples from fellow stampers. I have found at least a few so far that I have been following every day, making sure not to miss any posts. They are inspiring, informative and fun! Here they are for you to "discover" too!

First, I check Wanda's My Creative Corner every day, sometimes several times a day. Even if she hasn't added a new post since my last visit, I always find something on her site that catches my eye. I have been following her blog for a couple of months now, and am always impressed with her projects as well as her writing style.

Next, I found Allison's Stampin When I Can a few days ago, and it has also become a blog that I religiously check every day. Allison updates her blog frequently, giving us tips on where to find blog candy, techniques, and other neat sites. She also posts some very nice cards!

I have also been checking my up-upline Terri's blog everyday, to see what she's got going on. I'm so glad she's my upline; she's always got neat project ideas and I almost always love what she's come up with. You can find her blog at Stampin Terri.

One more that I have found to be a great inspiration, and lately giving me a good kick in the butt to get my Father's Day projects on the go, is Jen's Life of Stampin'. Right now she has 2 really beautiful Father's Day scrapbook projects that really have me thinking! :) Thanks Jen!

And thanks to all of these bloggers who give me inspiration, great information, and usually a good giggle in there too! You can look for links to these bloggers on the right side of my blog, under "My Favorite Links".

I do also check some others from time to time, and will post them another day. Right now I'm off to pick up my dog at the groomer's, and then it's garage sale time!

New Stampin' Up Colors!!! ... And MORE!!!

Hello all! I'm very excited to introduce to you Stampin' Up!'s newest "In Color" family! I can't wait any longer, so here they are!

Gorgeous, aren't they? And the names are incredible; I hope you can read them on this screen. If you can't, here they are in order from left to right: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi, River Rock, Groovy Guava and Purely Pomegranite. I just love them all! I'm not sure if I love each one as a color on it's own, but as a team, they are perfect together! I can see myself using these A LOT this year!

On top of the new colors, Stampin' Up! has released their Fall/Winter Preview Catalog. Inside are a small taste of what's to come in the new catalog July 1st. Check it out here: http://www.stampinup.com/ca/documents/fallwinterpreview_07CAN.pdf I'm SO excited about all the new things in here - I can't wait to see what ELSE they'll have in the new catty! I've made my list for my pre-buy (as a demonstrator, I am able to buy these items early!), and boy, am I in trouble! I only have what I would call a modest list (I was VERY disciplined), but even at that, it's going to set me back a bit. Oh well, all in the name of creative happiness! ;)

Baby Wipe Technique

Two posts in two days?!!? I must be crazy - or at least have a little more time on my hands than usual! Whatever it is, I'll take it!

I've been on a "Pastelly" kick for quite awhile now. I just love that Bashful Blue, and Certainly Celery too. I also use Apricot Appeal quite a bit. Once in awhile I stray from these, but most of the time you'll see them in some combination with other colors on my cards!

I made this card using the Baby Wipe Technique awhile ago. To do this, all you need is a fresh baby wipe and some reinkers of your color choice. Using 2 or 3 different colors will give you a great effect. First I put a few drops of A. Appeal onto the wipe and dragged it across the A. Appeal cardstock (behind the flower), giving it a "whispy" look (click on the picture to see a close-up of the card). Then, to make the flower I put a few drops each of A. Appeal, C. Celery and Bashful Blue close together, onto a folded baby wipe. I then used it as a stamp pad, stamping the flower from Heartfelt Thanks into the wipe then onto Whisper White cardstock. I finished the card with a strip of Moss Gingham ribbon, and some Soft Subtles brads.

I have to say, I'm quite sad they're retiring the French Script background stamp; but I can't wait to see what they come out with as an alternative! 29 days and counting!!! I'm putting in my pre-order tomorrow, and can't wait to get my hands on those new stamps and accessories! :)