Dreams du Jour Photo Album

Happy Birthday to Jessica! Inside are four clear envelopes with pictures of her and her prize sheep. This is a quick little photo book that I made to celebrate her birthday. New In Colors, Pacific Point and Tangerine. If you start with 21/2" square and punch the new long punch on all four sides you get this really neat frame!! There is a butterfly done with the toothpaste technique, but this scan doesn't show it well. Stem Sayings for the greeting, a couple of jumbo brads, ribbon and that is it!! A clever way to show a few special pictures and a nice little keepsake for whoever receives it! Mary Kay called yesterday and is overjoyed with the new catalog which she has gotten at Convention.............maybe mine will be here soon!!

Laura is Quilting again!!!

And one of my favorite patterns was Ohio Star! I found this pattern on Craftdoc's blog and it is a quick quilt........no stitching. I used Berry Bliss and Pomegranate as you can see and doesn't it look like Grandma's print material? I used to do a lot of quilting and think sometimes I'll get into it again, but this was enough to satisfy that thought. Just a bit of double stitched ribbon and a hardware buckle finished the job. I think it could use a small piece of pomegranate cardstock on the bottom with some words and I may do that when it is time to mail it to someone, but other than that, it is a quick card to make when you need one in a hurry. Thanks for stopping by.

Sympathy card

Just love using the pieces from the notecards that will be in the new catalog! Unfortunately I seem to need sympathy cards way too often.........just lost my knitting friend last week very suddenly. I hate to make sympathy cards ahead of time, but seems I am always have to make one. This is Rose Red, Soft Sky, Black and White cardstock, using the "push-outs" from the Fresh Cuts Sneak Peak special we had in June. I punched the Soft Sky large ovals to position behind the white petals, added a felt flower and a gold brad for the center. Just a small chunk of Soft Sky ribbon and the sympathy words from Close as a Memory. So glad that set is not retiring! You won't be seeing much more of this year's In Colors on this blog, my stash is down to little tiny pieces now, almost ready to pack them up and put them away. I will have the pads to sell if anyone wants them, I have already sold the inkers! They were wonderful colors, but can't wait to really get into the new ones! They are gorgeous too.

Tapestry

This is one of the techniques we did this month called Tapestry.........You need craft ink, glossy cardstock, and embossing powder. We started by sponging the three colors of craft ink, Old Olive, Ruby Red and Pumpkin Pie on the cardstock, then stamp on top of it with the black craft ink. If you turn your stamp just a hair you get the white effect around the flowers. Then cover it with clear emboss, heat and set. We used the Boho Background stamp set and mounted our sample on Pumpkin Pie cardstock. I'm not sure I reminded everyone to bring their technique made into a card next month and whoever has the card voted the best, gets $5 off their class fee! Pass the word!

Tunnel Card

We had such fun one day with this card that we had cased from somebody's blog. I'm sorry I don't know whose it was, but it was quite a while ago Debbie and I saw this and Debbie figured out a pattern that she sent to me. Then one day my grand-kids were here and got all excited about the card...........sure enough, they wanted to make one! This is the one that Emma made and isn't it cute? We used the 6 x 6 Print Pack that was the level 1 Hostess set this year for the designer paper and the Zoofari stamp set, markers to color her chickens and the rest is history! We had a fun day. Yesterday was the Technique Class here at my house and I'll do some cards with the techniques to show you soon, but just a hint, the toothpaste one was a hit...........I think!

Heard from the Heart

OK.........here is Pirourette Pink! Again I used the Riding Hood Red with it and lots of the long scallop punch on both the Bella Rose designer paper and the red. Of course I used the scallop circle punch and the 13/8" circle one too. The butterfly is from the new Dreams du Jour stamp set you all will be able to order in August! Also the words are from the new Heard from the Heart set. I really like those new words! Last night was such fun making the Explosion Albums. Sandi even got the pictures arranged in hers and it looked marvelous......they make a wonderful gift. Many ordered paper and much to my surprise, (a-duh) quite a bit of the retiring paper is on special at 25% off! So those who order the paper right now are paying $7.46 for a whole package of designer paper that usually sells for $9.95!!! Go to www.stampinup.com and check out the Retiring Accessory list and pay attention to the things that have an asterisk! It is a great time to stock up on the beautiful designer papers! Give me a call and I'll order them right away for you. I'm not sure how long the papers will be in stock!

Dreams du Jour

Some more new In Colors! You really can't see the Pirouette Pink very well in the scan, but it is really nice. Very delicate and nice to work with, especially goes well with the new Riding Hood Red. Designer paper is the new one called Bella Rose, and yes it has lots of roses! But I did use the new long scallop punch and know that is going to be a big hit with everyone. I colored the flower in Dreams du Jour with a blender pen and the inks that are new, except the leaves are my favorite Garden Green. Oh boy, the new colors are really growing on me............this looks like such a busy week around here. Tonight is the Explosion Class at my studio and Wednesday morning we resume the Technique Classes as well as Thursday evening here in my home. Still room for more in those classes, so hope to hear from you.

Pretty Amazing

This is the new IN Color called Tangerine Tango!! It is gorgeous..........I admit I wasn't excited about the new In Colors and thought I couldn't live without last year's beautiful ones, but my new ones came and yes they are great! The green reminds me of a lighter Old Olive and it's called Kiwi Kiss, I like the name. That is what I stamped the stems and leaves in. The Chocolate chip is a great color to use with these new ones and will be especially nice for Fall. The words are the pre-order set that we demonstrators can choose from the up-coming catalog called "Heard from the Heart." I always liked the way Wonderful Words so gracefully spread across the card like this one. OK.........I'm happy with the new In Colors and I'm having a ball with the new long scallop punch! I'll have some cards using that to show you soon. My Explosion Album class is scheduled for Monday night at 6:30 at my studio. There is room for a few more if you are interested.....give me a call.

Lovely Labels

My upline Debbie sent me this card a couple of days ago. I just love the color combination of River Rock, black and white. You can't tell from my scan, but she embossed the little writing circle in Black and it really pops. Also the top part of the card is textured cardstock and the black across it is grosgrain ribbon. The bottom of the card is a piece of Ginger Blossom designer paper. This is really elegant! Now I have to order the Lovely Labels set. Yesterday my order with all the new In Colors arrived...........what a treat! I think my favorite is the Pacific Point Blue. I'm still finishing my swaps to send to convention, so I haven't had time to play with my new "toys" yet. That new scallop edge punch is a keeper, I can tell that!

Boho Background

In the true spirit of using up those leftovers, this is Taylor's creation! I think it's pretty good, don't you? She used the strip of designer paper from Bali Breeze, pulled the Taken with Teal color out and put a strip underneath before punching out the scallop and using the Boho Background stamp with a teal brad in the middle. Her card is River Rock and she stamped the words with Not Quite Navy. Oh yes, she used the Boho Background flowers all over the River Rock. I think she did a great job! thanks, Taylor.

Bali Breeze

This is so "Not Me!" I can't believe I made this, but sometimes it is good to make yourself go out on a limb. Yesterday my grandaughter and I cut paper for my upcoming Explosion Album class next week. This morning I decided I would use only pieces of designer paper leftover from our cutting. My upline should be proud of me, she uses these colors all the time! My card is Pomegranite with the Bali Breeze pieces on top. The scallop and background is Tempting Turquoise. A felt flower and a rhinesone brad complete the focus. Words are from Short and Sweet. Thanks for stopping by.

Fabulous Flower

I'm struggling with this card for Convention swap.........no, I'm not going, but I have a good friend who will take my swaps! I want to use this stamp set, but certainly don't want to cut around fifty of these pretty flowers and it was too plain without something in the center! What do you think? I masked the flower and used the green sprigs from Embrace Life. The center is the Boho punch with heat and stick powder and dazzling diamonds, then a gold brad to hold it together. I'm still not sold on the card but time is running out and I need to finish them! I keep thinking it will come to me and I'll be thrilled.............or maybe I'll do the Peony with the chalk technique or maybe I'll run out of time!!! Whatever!

Unfrogettable!!

Last week was such a frustrating time with my computer! I had so much spyware and nothing seemed to work right, but my good friend and man I bought my computer from in Florida seems to have me back on track. It was a busy week with the kids at the County Fair with their animals.........Grandma had to be there a lot to see them win those ribbons!!! Anyway, this is one of the cards we did at Stamp 10 and is a flip-flop card. It looks like the background is two different colors, but it is only Sahara Sand, the scan makes a shadow effect. We used the Coluzzle to make the swing card and on the other side it shows the jumping frog saying "hoppy birthday" We colored with markers and used the Lily Pad wheel on the bottom. Both the set and the wheel will retire very soon!! Glad you stopped by and I hope this posts correctly!!

Wild Rose 2

Ok, maybe it will work today! Here is the card we made at Stamp 10. Great group, great fun. Thank you all for coming and trying the masking and the Stamp a ma Jig!

I'm having so much trouble posting on this blog...........finally gave up yesterday. Will try again this morning. Please bear with me!!

Heartfelt Chalkboard

Here is another card with the same technique as yesterday. I wanted to use a stamp set that is not retired in case I want to use it for a swap at convention. I'm not really happy with this one and do need to get my hands on the Peony set. I think that would really be the cat's meow, don't you? The second part of the two step stamping is not strong enough in this Heartfelt set. Again I used the Floral background and the Regal Rose behind the black......I'll keep trying! Keep watching..........

Wild Rose

Isn't it funny, when a stamp set is about to retire, you really use it like crazy! Roses always remind me of my Mother, though she passed away many years ago, a rose makes me think of her love of them. The technique? Well last night I found yet another box of retired cards from a few years back, and lo and behold there was a card using the Definitely Daisey stamp set......remember that one? I had stamped the thickest stamp with white on black cardstock, rubbed the pastel color with a Q tip, and then stamped the outline with white on top. Pretty neat, huh? For some reason the scan didn't really get all the background on this one. I used Pretty in Pink and stamped the Floral in the same color, then mounted the black on Regal Rose, the same color as the pastel I used. This is really a quick card, but I like it! Thanks for checking in today.