Fun & Fast Notes

Hello everyone in blogging land! I am so sorry that it has been a while since I posted! I really want to post something new everyday and I fell a little short last week. I have started back to work (after ten years) as a 5th grade teacher. I am also helping out the coach with volleyball. And last week I had to be at school by 7 a.m. to start practice! YIKES! I know that I will have to get up that early for school but I was not prepared for that!! Anyway, we start school on Wednesday and so my posting will probably be happening in the afternoons/evenings. I will do my best to stay on top of things.

Here is a card that I just think is so sweet. This set, Fun & Fast Notes, was a set that demonstrators received for FREE at convention. We had the opportunity to take a class about watercoloring and we used this set in that class to learn all the different ways to watercolor. I wasn't sure if I liked this set but the more I use it the more I like it! It is a very easy set to watercolor! Not too much to the stamps so it is quick and easy!! When I mounted my stamps, I cut off the words on the bottom of each stamp and mounted the words to the side of the wood block. That way I could use just the image if I wanted! For this card I inked up the word thanks... with my marker for the outside and then, after cleaning the stamp, I inked up the ...I needed that. for the inside. The other thing I want to point out is that there is a small rhinestone brad in the middle of the flower. Just to give it some "bling"! Have a great week!!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Fun & Fast Notes; Cardstock- Wild Wasabi, Sky Blue, Confetti White, Rose Red prints designer paper; Ink- Black StazOn, Sky Blue, Rose Red, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi; Accessories- Rhinestone brads, blender pens, Wild Wasabi double stitched ribbon, dimensionals

From The Heart

I found this layout on another blog that I was skimming through one day (sorry I can't remember who). What caught my eye was the way the ribbon was done. Kind of non-traditional! I am always looking out for things like that! The other card had different colors and the card size was different but everything else is pretty much the same.

A couple of things about the card- One is that the stamp set does not come with leaves for the flowers. What you do is stamp the flower once for coloring and then stamp it on a green piece for the leaves. Then cut it out by cutting the extra "doodles" off. If you look real close at some of the flower petals and just cut the outside doodle part off you are left with a leaf! Isn't that clever? The flower is popped up with dimensionals. The second thing is the ribbon. I just punched a hole next to the first and last word of my greeting. Then I took my Kraft taffeta ribbon and poked it through from the top of the first word and brought it up through the second hole (last word) and wrapped it around to the back and brought it back up through the first hole. No tying need!! So clever! Well, it's different anyway! Enjoy the weekend!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Doodle This, Holidays & Wishes; Cardstock- Kraft, Rose Red, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Rose Red prints designer paper; Ink- So Saffron marker, Black StazOn; Accessories- dimensionals, Kraft taffeta ribbon, 1/8" hole punch

Wonderful!

This card design was one I copied from the new Fall/Winter Collection. It is 0n page 59 at the bottom. Check it out! I don't have the Pretties Kit (which is next on my list) so I substituted the flower from Looks Like Spring. I added the brads and tucked the greeting behind the flower. The flower is also popped up. The flower in the catalog is green which really bugs some people (right, Becky?). So, I changed it to Bordering Blue. I think I like the "pop" of color a little better anyway. I also didn't have any Artichoke buttons so I just used my Spring Bouquet flower punch and punched a flower center and put a brad in it! I think that a button would be really cute, though. The Artichoke piece is stamped with the Fine Lace background stamp which gives it some real elegance! Then I just pierced down the edge of the Artichoke. Enjoy!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Looks Like Spring, Warm Words, Fine Lace background; Cardstock- River Rock, Always Artichoke, Whisper White; Ink- Bordering Blue, Always Artichoke; Accessories- brads, sponge, crafter's tool kit, dimensionals

Friend

This is the last card that we did for make-n-takes at convention. Now I am going to have to come up with samples of my own! Uh oh!! I better get busy! I did get some new stamps from the beautiful new Holiday mini which will debut next month! But I had better focus!!

This card uses the new Happiness background stamp. The stamp has a lot of different sections on it and you can use it as one whole background or, like on this card, you can use sections of it to make it look like you had a bunch of different stamps! I am anxious to have some time to play with this stamp as it has TONS of possibilities! The flower is a chipboard flower and we took a sponge dauber and craft ink and sponged the ink on the chipboard. It is layered onto a metal edged tag. For the tag, we stamped one of the stamps from Think Happy Thoughts onto the back of the tag. Then we followed the dots on the stamp and pierced each dot so when you turn it over you have evenly spaced holes! Clever!! I just love the colors and it really went together pretty easily. Enjoy!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Fundamental Phrases, Think Happy Thoughts, Happiness background stamp; Cardstock- Kraft, Soft Sky, So Saffron, Whisper White, Wild Wasabi; Ink- Chocolate Chip, Real Red, VersaMark; Accessories- On Board Blossoms & Basics, Jersey ribbon originals, So Saffron button, metal edged tag, dimensionals, Crafter's Tool Kit, sponge dauber

Super Cute and Quick!

This is a 6 x 3 card that we did for a make-n-take. It will fit nicely in the open end envelopes that we sell. I don't usually make these cards (mine are always the standard) but I think that I might have to start! It's a nice size and something different! This card is so super easy!! Remember that yesterday I told you about the Build-A-Flower accents and elements tin? Well this card uses more from that tin! And another great thing... The flower is punched!! So you punch the flower with our new five petal flower punch and then you find a five petal flower from the accents and elements and stick it on top! Then we took a little label from the tin and stamped Hello! The flower has one of our new rhinestone brads and is popped up for dimension. The scalloped edge is made by removing the guide from the corner rounder and punching straight on. If you need more explanation on that please let me know. We glued some of our Cutie Pie designer paper on the inside so it would peek out and you are done! Very quick and easy and so super cute!!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Fundamental Phrases; Cardstock- Rose Red, So Saffron, Cutie Pie designer paper; Ink- Wild Wasabi; Accessories- Fairy Tale ribbon originals, Build-A-Flower accents and elements, ice circle rhinestone brads, 5-petal flower punch, corner rounder

Cards Tin

Hello bloggers! Hope you all had a great weekend! I have come down with a cold so I am still trying to shake that. But stamping and scrapbooking always makes me feel better!!

Anyway, this was probably one of my favorite projects from convention. I loved them all but I really love this one! This little tin is actually the tin that the accents and elements come in. I know that people have done things like this before but I hadn't. And since we got a in of the Build-A-Flower accents and elements they just had us use that for one of our make-n-takes. Clever! This actually was very easy to do and would make a great class. So, be on the look out for a class. I don't have cards in mine, yet. Wouldn't this be a great gift?

Let me tell you a little bit about this tin. The blue and green flowers come in the Build-A-Flower accents and elements. The flower center does as well but is on a Build-A-Brad. The Build-A-Brads are really interesting. They are bigger than our other brads and you can punch a 1/2" circle from an image or patterned paper and stick it to the top of the brad. Then you put this sticky clear top on and you've got your own custom made brad!! The bad news is that these brads are on back order as they are not meeting quality standards. Hope they get it fixed soon!!

The "C" is our new lower case monogram alphabet. I actually love the lower case more than the upper! It is stamped on our new textured cardstock. Love it! We also spelled out cards onto a label that comes in the accents and elements. As you can tell, you get a LOT of stickers in one of those little tins! I will be showing you even more in the next few days so stay tuned!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Simple Serif mini alphabets, "C" monogram alphabet lower; Cardstock- Chocolate Chip, Wild Wasabi, Blue Bayou prints designer series paper; Ink- Chocolate Chip, Wild Wasabi; Accessories- chocolate chip wide grosgrain, whisper white narrow grosgrain, build-a-flower accents and elements, pewter build-a-brad, pewter hodgepodge hardware, corner rounder, crop-a-dile, dimensionals, crafter's tool kit

WANTED!

As promised, here is the 6 x 6 page that we made at the pajama-rama event. This was made with the Outlaw designer paper and the Wanted stamp set. We also used the Sanded background (love that background stamp). I just wanted to point out the star focal point. This is kind of cool. We punched a circle out of the rust strip (the one that says wanted on it) and the background paper. Then we stamped the star from the set and used the new star punch to punch it out. Then we took the circle punch and punched a circle out of scrap paper and then centered it in the scallop punch and punched that out. Then we used the 1/8" punch and punched holes in each of the scallops. Then you take the punched star and put it on a scrap piece of Outlaw designer paper and put a brad in it and glue it behind the page to cover up your holes! I thought it came out so cute! Don't you think you need the scallop punch now?

Card Recipe: Stamps- Sanded background, Wanted; Cardstock- Outlaw designer paper, Really Rust, Sahara Sand; Ink- Chocolate Chip, Close To Cocoa; Accessories- photo corners punch, scallop punch, star punch, gold brads, circle punches

Pocket Card

This pocket card was one of the easier make-n-take projects that we did at convention. I think that I am really going to like this new Wanted set! Tomorrow I will show a 6 x 6 page that we did with this set. This card uses the new Outlaw designer paper. I just love the colors! You can definitely dress it up to look more elegant or the stamp set can be more masculine. The rust piece fits inside the pocket which is made from a piece of the designer paper. So, you can see both sides of the designer paper - one side is the sage shadow and the other is the stripe. That's what makes our designer paper so great! On the rust card we used the crop-a-dile to emboss circles across the top of the card! I had no idea that you could do that!!! You learn so much at convention! We also used our crop-a-dile to punch the hole and set the jumbo eyelet on the pocket. The crop-a-dile is such a great tool!!! One other thing I want to point out is the new scallop punch. At convention they showed us that many of our stamp sets work so well with our punches. And this is one of them. The "medallion" piece fits exactly into the scallop punch! Hope you all are having a great week!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Wanted, Fundamental Phrases; Cardstock- Naturals Ivory, Really Rust, Outlaw designer paper; Ink- Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, VeraMark; Accessories- Chocolate Chip wide grosgrain, linen thread, pewter jumbo eyelets, corner rounder, crop-a-dile, scallop circle punch, dimensionals

Happy, Happy Happy!!!

Here is a little box that we made at convention. Chipboard is really "hot" right now so Stampin' Up! is really keeping up with the trends by offering quite a variety of chipboard embellishments to use for just about anything! My poor little box got a little mangled on the trip. I tried to make it presentable but I am afraid that it still has some "issues". What I really love about this little box is that the flower and the flower center are really three dimensional! I will try to explain as it might be hard to tell from the photo. We punched a hole in the box itself. Then we took a piece of cardstock with dimensionals and put it behind the hole. Then we stamped and punched out the flower center and stuck that directly to the piece of cardstock behind the hole so it looks like it is "set in". Then we took the chipboard flower and put dimensionals on it to pop it up! There is also a tiny rhinestone brad in the center. The chipboard flower does not have any paper or ink on it. It is what some might call, "raw". But it still looks great! The layers at the bottom of the box use the new Happiness background stamp that is many stamps in one! I can't wait to play with it! Have a great day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Think Happy Thoughts, Happiness background stamp; Cardstock- Chocolate Chip, Confetti White, River Rock, Ruby Red; Ink- River Rock, Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red; Accessories- On Board Blossoms & Basics, Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon, clear rhinestone brad, circle punches, dimensionals