As soon as I saw this box on Sam Donald’s blog (a fellow demo from the UK), I knew that I wanted to make it! Sam is a whiz at creating boxes. This one is so unique with all of its faceted sides – I love it!
I wanted to make the box in Coastal Cabana (did you know that this gorgeous color is retiring soon??) but you need to start with a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock and unfortunately I didn’t have it in that size. So, I used Crumb Cake and decorated it using the stamp set Flowering Flourishes and Coastal Cabana ink. For the top of the box I used a Sale-a-bration freebie, Sheer Perfection Designer Vellum Stack, a pack of beautiful 6 x 6 vellum. I punched two butterflies with the Elegant Butterfly punch and colored one with my Stampin’ Write marker. I used glue dots to adhere them together and finished them with rhinestones.
I shredded some Crumb Cake cardstock (I cut very fine slivers of the paper with my paper cutter) and put it inside the box along with an EOS lip balm (which matches Coastal Cabana so perfectly)! I use lip balm a lot and love this brand! I’m sure once I get my hands on some new flavors, there will be more projects using them!
FREE with a $50 order during Sale-a-bration – ends March 31, 2015
If you’d like to make your own box, here’s a link to Sam’s tutorial! All of the products I used can be found below. Click on any pictures and you’ll be taken to my Stampin’ Up! online store!
Yesterday I shared this card and today I have a video that will show you how I easily placed the tulips on my paper. As I mentioned yesterday, I used Memento Ink but if you are going to watercolor, I suggest Staz-On (I’ve listed both in my product list). I know my videos will get better as I keep doing them. Please be patient with me. 🙂 If you have any questions about the video, don’t hesitate to ask!
Product List – Click on any product below to be taken to my Stampin’ Up! online store.
I’m always excited for Spring. I love the warming weather and the beautiful flowers that start popping up. My husband is an airline pilot and has traveled all over the world. About ten years ago, on a trip to Amsterdam, he brought home some tulip bulbs that we planted in a flower bed. Every year about this time they pop out of the ground and we thoroughly love it when they make their appearance. They don’t last long but we look forward to seeing beautiful tulips each Spring.
Now that Spring is officially here, I thought it would be a perfect time to use my Love is Kindness stamp! You’ll have to look below in the Product List to see the full stamp as I’ve only used a small portion of it on my card. I inked up the tulips with Memento ink but I would recommend Staz-On if you are going to do any kind of watercoloring. I accidentally used Memento ink and my card turned out ok but there’s always the risk of the black ink smearing. You CAN use Whisper White instead of watercolor paper when watercoloring, which I did, but you need to be very, very careful that you use a light touch or else the paper will start pilling. I colored with my stamp pads by tapping the color onto one of my clear blocks and then picking up the color with the Aqua Painter. I didn’t want excess water on my card so I was careful not to squeeze the Aqua Painter. (I could have emptied it but I didn’t want to waste the water while we are in the middle of a drought here in California). I tried using a blender pen but the Aqua Painter glided so nicely over my paper.
I punched out three flowers from the Itty Bitty Accents punch pack and then used my sponge dauber and Rose Red ink pad to add some color around the edges. I used Candy Dots in the center of each one.
Tomorrow I’ll have a video showing you how I was able to place my tulips exactly where I wanted them plus there will be new Weekly Deals!
Have a great day!
Sale-a-bration is winding down! Now’s the time to stock up on those items that you grab for all the time such as Whisper White and Very Vanilla cardstock and adhesive, so that you can receive free product! Click here if you would like to head over to my SU! online store!
Product List- Click on any item and you’ll be taken to my Stampin’ Up! online store
Is it just me or is it hard to believe that Easter is almost here??!! Time is just flying by!
When my daughters were growing up, they LOVED Cadbury eggs. I can’t pass them in the grocery store without thinking about my girls!
I was doing some Spring Cleaning the other day and came across a cello bag with Halloween candy (yes, the candy was still in there) and a cute topper. Since I haven’t made a topper in a while, I thought it would be perfect for the Cadbury eggs with a few Hershey eggs thrown in.
I used one of the cute little chicks from the set For Peeps’ Sake. The stamp has a row of three chicks but I only wanted the middle one, so I put some tape over the other two before I inked up the stamp. It’s very important to remove the tape before you stamp onto your Whisper White card stock (ask me how I know). My sentiment comes from this same set. I punched out my chick with the 2-3/8″ Scallop Circle punch and then used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to place the sentiment exactly where I wanted it. If you aren’t sure what a Stamp-a-ma-jig is or how to use it, you can watch a video I made two years ago by clicking here. I think this was my very first video. I’m a bit ( a lot) embarrassed by it but what the heck, gotta start somewhere, right?
Using my dauber, I sponged around the scallop circle and the flowers with Daffodil Delight. I think the topper would have been cute had it been embossed but I ALWAYS do that so I decided to just leave it plain. I have to admit, I love an embossed piece of paper.
Click here to place a Stampin’ Up! order. Every $50 (before shipping/tax) purchase entitles you to a free Sale-a-bration product. $100 = 2 Free products . . . . .
On Monday I shared the invitation I made for my sister’s wedding. For the day of their wedding I wanted to make them a card. I thought it would be fun to give them the same card as their invitation except change out their first names to their official married name! I hope they liked it!
Thanks for stopping by today!
Product List – Click on any of the items below to visit my Stampin’ Up! online store.
Since Blendabilities are no longer available as a Sale-a-bration item (and have been discontinued from the catalog), Stampin’ Up! has added more products that you can earn for free with a $50 order! Click here to see the flyer as a PDF.
Last week I shared several items I had made for Erin’s Baby Sprinke with My Digital Studio (MDS). It was announced this morning that as of May 31, 2015, MDS will be discontinued. For those of you that use MDS, be sure to check the digital download offerings and purchase the ones that you would like before they go away. The program can still be purchased until May 31st but after that date any MDS products as well as the Stampin’ Up! professional print service will no longer be available.
The Weekly Deals are here! These prices are good until March 23rd or while supplies last. Click on any picture below and you’ll be taken to my SU! online store.
If you’ve followed my blog for some time you know that I am not always consistent with my blog posts. When I retired almost three years ago from being a full time elementary school teacher, I thought that I would have oodles of time to do EVERYTHING, including posting to my blog seven days a week! What was I thinking???!!!! If anything, life has become even busier!! Three months after retiring, my first grandchild, Audrey, was born. And in a few short weeks, my grandson will be born!!!! As with any major life changes (in my case, retiring and grandchildren), you have to figure out your new direction in life. You have to find balance and decide what’s most important to you.
I love being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator. I love seeing the excitement when my stamping friends come over and we create. I love when those same friends text or email me cards/projects that they’ve made with their SU! products. I love sharing on my blog and especially love when my blog followers reach out and tell me that they love something they’ve seen on my blog or that they’ve recreated one of my projects.
I also LOVE spending time with my family. Being retired has allowed me the freedom to spend more time with family and that has been absolutely wonderful! Trying to find the balance between spending time with my loved ones and my Stampin’ Up! business has been tricky. Both are important to me but as I am sure you would agree, family is always at the top of the list.
I would love to be in my craft room daily but at this point in my life, it doesn’t always happen. When I babysit my two year old granddaughter, I am bone tired at the end of the day. Now I know why you have children when you are young! Ha ha! I wouldn’t give up spending time with Audrey for anything.
I recently heard a successful blogger mention how important it is to post to your blog consistently. Okay, this isn’t new information to me. But, then she said, it can be as often as you want, as long as it IS consistent. The light bulb went off. I thought about it and tried to think what I could do consistently and the schedule below was born! I am sure there will be weeks when I can share more, but I will consistently post on the days noted below. This will give me the flexibility I need to juggle my crazy life these days!!
Monday – post a card/project
Tuesday – post the Weekly Deals any other important info
Thursday – post a card/project
Saturday – post a card/project
For several years now I’ve also had some ideas for offering an online stamp club. I’ll be able to work on this idea with my new schedule in place!
Thanks so much for reading this far! Since I’ve spoken so much about my family, I’d like to end this post with pictures of my loved ones. I’ll be back later with the Weekly Deals!
Audrey
My oldest daughter, Jenny
My youngest daughter, Erin, and my grandson (she is also Audrey’s mom)
My husband, Mark – our 35th anniversary is coming up in August!
On Saturday I attended my sister’s wedding! Lisa is now Mrs. Nelson which is funny because Nelson is our maiden name! Both my mom and my sister are Mrs. Nelson! That doesn’t happen often! It was a lovely ceremony and my sister looked beautiful. We are very happy to have Dan in our family!
My dad passed away six years ago and he was greatly missed at this family gathering. My mom did a wonderful job walking my sister down the aisle. My daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter (Erin, Tyler and Audrey) were unable to attend the wedding as they live out of town and Erin is pregnant, due next month. They were very missed!!
When Lisa and Dad became engaged, she asked me if I would make their wedding invitations. It took many months to decide what design we wanted and which colors to use. Dan always gives Lisa beautiful flowers so we tried to make a photograph of a rose he had given her as the focal point of the invitation but we just couldn’t make it work.
We then went in a different direction and Lisa decided that she would like to use gold paper. So, I checked the Stampin’ Up! catalog and found beautiful gold satin ribbon and gold paper. This was a shock to me as I have gone through our catalog from cover to cover (more times than I can tell you) and had no idea we had these two products! The Brushed Gold Cardstock is tucked away in the catalog on page 193 in the far bottom right corner, if you want to take a look (along with several other specialty papers)!
I made several prototypes for Lisa and she chose the one you see above. It is much prettier in person as you can see the flecks of color in the gold paper and the shiny ribbon. The finished card measures 5″ x 7″. I printed their names for the front on my printer using Whisper White cardstock. I did this on the inside as well with the invitation information.
My Whisper White embossed piece measures 4-1/4″ x 6-1/4″. The one “problem” that I had to figure out with the card was how I was going to emboss this piece since our embossing folders are much smaller. Here’s a picture tutorial to show you how I did it. I’m using a piece of Hello Honey so that it’s easier to see.
1. First I placed a pencil mark where I knew my ribbon would be (you can see it in the far right corner at the bottom of the embossing folder). I then placed my paper inside the folder with the last row of dots aligning with my mark.
2. I turned the paper around and inserted it back into the embossing folder with the piece already embossed sticking out. If you look closely, you can see my pencil mark (it is still on the right hand side).
3. The next step is to run it through the Big Shot with the end not yet embossed, going through the Big Shot. The part already embossed WILL NOT be run through again or else it will be flattened! Roll it through and once you see that you’ve embossed the new part, run it backwards and out again.
4. Here’s the finished piece. You can still see my pencil mark. It is flattened a bit in this area but this is where the ribbon will go and it will be completely hidden. I did this 40 times on Whisper White and after doing it so many times, I was able to do it in such a way that I couldn’t even detect a line. I made the invitations in January so I am out of practice.
If you give this a try, let me know how it goes!
Product List – Click on each item to view at my Stampin’ Up! online store
Happy Friday!! Do you have fun plans for the weekend? My sister is getting married tomorrow!
My last Baby Sprinkle post is the sign I had to welcome our guests. I used My Digital Studio, the same program that I used to make my water bottle labels. I was again able to match the paper I used on the favors but I could print it out on my computer. The Brights Paper Pack that I used for the favors comes with two sheets of 12×12 paper in each pattern. The fact that I could recreate this paper on my computer was a definite plus!
I purchased the digital download, Something For Baby Brush Set, which includes the baby onesie and tie. Everything that comes in the actual stamp set can be purchased in the download. I used Pacific Point, within MDS, to color the onesie and Daffodil Delight for the tie. I love that I was able to use all of the same colors throughout my projects! I printed it on Whisper White cardstock. Once it was printed, I attached it to a piece of 12 x 12 cardstock. So easy!
Have a terrific weekend! I’ll be back on Monday! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Product List – Click on a product below to be taken to my Stampin’ Up! online store
For the past several days I’ve been sharing some of the projects I made for my daughter’s Baby Sprinkle and today I’m sharing a banner. (You can see a close up below). I had originally planned to use the Squares Framelits but instead cut two squares, one out of Pacific Point cardstock and for the smaller one, I used the Brights Designer Series Paper Pack. I did use the Circles Framelits for the white circle. The letters were also cut out with my Big Shot using the Serif Essentials Alphabet. This particular alphabet has retired but in the current Stampin’ Up! catalog, we have the Perfect Print Alphabet Bigz dies which would also work nicely.
I used our 1/8th” Silver Ribbon to string up the banner. If I had to do it again, I probably wouldn’t use ribbon as the letters kept twisting on me. I think something thicker, such as our Thick Baker’s Twine, would work better.
On Friday I’ll share one last project from the Baby Sprinkle. See you then!
I’ve have several things to tell you about today! First, here are the Weekly Deals! These prices are good until Monday, April 16th or while supplies last.
I was very disappointed to wake up this morning to find out that the Blendabilities product line has been discontinued. Last week Stampin’ Up! made the decision to make them temporarily unavailable so that they could address quality issues with the markers. It was recently discovered that when the tip is welded to the barrel, the welding process can leave microscopic holes in the marker tip. This leads to accelerated evaporation of the alcohol in the ink. It doesn’t affect all of the pens but some have been drying up way too quickly. I personally had several pens with that problem but all of the rest are fine.
Stampin’ Up! takes great pride in offering high quality products and once they realized that the manufacturer was unable to correct the problem in a manner that would meet the high quality standards that Stampin’ Up demands, they made the difficult decision to discontinue them.
Due to the unavailability of the Blendabilities in the Sale-a-bration catalog, it is possible that the demand for other products will be higher than SU! anticipated. For that reason, all Sale-a-bration items, with the exception of stamps, will now be available while supplies last. If you’ve had your eye on something, now is the time to place your order! Click here to head over to my Stampin’ Up! online store.
New Stamp Set
The new stamp set, Just Kidding, is available today! Stampin’ Up!’s monthlyphotopolymer stamp set program was originally intended as a test to determine whether or not there was a market for this product. They’ve been very happy with the results so they’re transitioning photopolymer stamps to all of their catalogs. I am very happy about this news!!! The last monthly photopolymer stamp set will be offered today, March 10, and is guaranteed to be available for six months.
