In Colors Shadowbox Card

Can I tell you how much I LOVE the new "In Colors" from Stampin' UP! ? They're gorgeous! Every one of them; I don't have a favorite. Each one has so much potential, and summons my creativity!
For my July Stamp Club meeting on Friday, I tought my ladies two techniques on one card, using all of the In Colors! I tought them how to do a shadowbox card, which we all know I am in love with making these days. They learned the Saran Wrap background technique, and also how to dye ribbon. I searched SCS for an idea, and found this card by Keurigirl. I liked the layout, and the idea of using a piece of designer paper in the center, so I let her card inspire me! I used the Bud Basics stamp set, and the saying is from the Polka Dots and Paisley set. I decided to do both techniques on one card because the Shadowbox card takes a little longer to make, and I really wanted to teach them how to do one of those! Well, was I ever impressed! One of my ladies brought her 11 year old grand-daughter with her, and she was right in there with the rest of them, her card looking just beautiful at the end! Now there's a girl just Born to make cards! ;)

If you get a chance to make one of these Shadowbox cards, I really recommend trying one! As you can see from the pictures of my other projects, I'm quite addicted to them, and not nearly close to getting over it! TFL! :)

5 Years And Still SO Much In Love

July 5th was our 5th wedding anniversary, and amidst the near-chaos of packing up and cleaning the whole house, we actually took some time to celebrate our special day! My mother-in-law looked after our daughter, and we went to a restaurant called Unheardof, a small, quaint restaurant on White Avenue. You can order two ways at this restaurant: The first way is to order each item you want, like at any other restaurant, and pay the price of each item. The second way is to order a package - a full 5 course meal, and choose one item out of each course menu. Of course we decided on the full 5 courses! And as it was the first Thursday of the month, we also received 3 complimentary glasses of wine with our meal (a promotion they have each month). What an amazing restaurant! The food was delicious, and the service was incredible. It was the perfect place to reminisce about the last 5 years, and dream about what the next 5 (and beyond!) will bring. A beautiful evening!

So here's the card I made for my husband:
I loved the card made by Rascal and posted on Splitcoaststampers. It was perfect for my needs: beautiful, with some nice details, but also quick to make! I even got to use some of the ribbon from the blog candy I won! I love this reverse masking technique, and will use it again often.
My husband loved the card, but of course, while mine was beautiful on the outside, his was (always is!) filled with beautiful sentiments inside. I always have trouble finding the right words to put in a card; I find that I end up writing a novel, and the inside looks very messy and crammed. So this year I opted to use a sentiment from Versalog.com; it was simple, sweet, said exactly what I wanted to say and didn't clutter the inside of my card! Check it out if you're stumped for what to write on the inside of your cards! :)

Practicing Pick A Petal

I had my New Catalog Party on Saturday, and made a couple of cards from the new set "Pick A Petal"; one for a make n' take, the other just because I really wanted to make another one! :)

This one is the make n' take we did. I CASED it from SCS, from "memoriesbybrenda". Here is her card. Since I don't have any of the new In Colors, I used Bashful Blue and Not Quite Navy instead. I really like this card; my favorite color is blue, so it was easy for this card to speak to me. I have to say, the petals took a little practice to get them where I wanted them, but thankfully I got them close enough that most mistakes were covered by the circle in the middle. I loved that I could use these petals directly on the card, and not have to cut them out! Usually when I make a large flower, my first instinct is to cut it out and mount it on dimentionals. What a nice, easy card this was to make!

When I saw this card on SCS by "Kari", I knew I had to make my own version! I also don't own any Kraft cardstock, so I improvised by using Creamy Caramel. Since I didn't have any light blue gingham ribbon, but I do have pink, I opted to make my card with Pretty in Pink accents and paper. I thought about offering this card for a make n' take, but the white craft ink takes a long time to dry (it is the first step in making the flower), and I wanted some cards that were faster to make. I love the sponging around both pieces of Caramel, the little ribbon accent at the top, and the "bling" of the new Fire Circle Rhinestone brad! That was a little harder to use than I had thought; instead of laying nicely like a regular brad, these brads are set higher (it reminds me of a ring setting). Also, as I was deciding which size to use, I unbent the arms intending to try another one. Well, it snapped! So, I thought, instead of using and possibly breaking another of these little beauties, I would make this one work. So, I snipped off the other arm and used Crystal Effects to adhere it flush to the middle of the flower. I also stamped another smaller flower and cut it out, and punched 2 flowers from the Spring Flowers punch, for the middle. This one really Wowed me! :)

SO Spoiled!!! A HUGE Thank You!

I want to thank Tanis over at http://paperprincessatplay.blogspot.com/ for this HUGE blog candy! All the papers, ribbon, flowers and other accessories are SO beautiful; I actually got little butterflies in my stomach when I opened them up, dreaming of all the creations I will make with them! I can't wait until this move is over so I can sit down and really play with all my new things! Thank you Tanis for some truly mouth-watering candy!!! :)

The New Catty Is Here!!!

Just a note to say, "Happy New Catty Day"! I actually got my complimentary copy on Tuesday, and my pre-ordered boxes arrived on Thursday. I had a New Catalog Party yesterday, and gave my stamp group their copies. Everyone was so excited to see the new catty, and at one point, the room was so silent as everyone was turning page after page. You could just see their minds working on a wish list! I showed them mine: 2 - 8 1/2x11 pages so far! There has to be over 50 stamp sets on the list, and SO many of the designer papers! I have to have all of the new In Color products (LOVE them!), and the Crop-A-Dile too!

Anyway, I've been counting down till the day, and here it is! If you go to www.stampinup.com you can now view the new catty on-line! Happy shopping! :)

My 3-D swap for Convention

As if I don't have enough to do in the next few weeks, I have joined not one, but 2 swaps for convention! One is a Wow! card swap, and the other is a 3-D item swap. I need to make 21 of each swap project, so I've got to get cracking!

Today, while my daughter was napping, I sat down and decided what to do for the 3-D swap. This is what I came up with. This little notebook measures 3"x4". I bought the Spiral punch, thinking it would really help me do these in a lot less time, with a lot less trouble. What ended up happening is this: I punched my 3"x4" piece of cardstock with the spiral punch, and it didn't line up! The holes of the notebook are closer together than I can make with the spiral punch. So I spent almost an hour trying to make that punch work for me, and in the end, ended up using a 1/8" circle punch (I don't own a small square punch) and then cutting slits to get the coils in. ARGH!!! Oh well, I figured out that spiral punch will work on a larger notebook (I measured it against another one I have that is about 6"x8"). I then went punch crazy, and decided I wanted to make "spots" out of 1/16" and 1/8" punched out holes for the giraffe. Then I used the 1/4" punch for the "NOTES" letters, and the 1/2" punch for the Celery background. Holy circles!!!

So, it took me 2 and a half hours to make this one, but now that it's done, I think it'll only take me about 20 minutes per notebook. I also want to decorate a pen to go with it, but I haven't been able to find any with clear lids that I can put paper into. I've heard of some beaded pens, so maybe I'll check out how to do those...

By the way, what do you think of the ribbon covering the coils? Too much? I can't decide. My husband says he likes it better this way, but I don't know if I should trust him (isn't that always the way? "Honey, which shirt should I wear?" "The blue one" "I think I'll wear the pink one!") Heehee! :) Tfl!

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!