Berry Bliss One of A Kind

My favorite new Designer Series Paper is definitely Berry Bliss-well, this week anyway. Look at the colors. They just explode: Purely Pomegranate, Pretty In Pink, Close To Cocoa and Chocolate Chip-sounds and looks yummy.

This card is inspired by so many great designs I've seen blogging and visiting Splitcoast Stampers. To make this card start with a Close to Cocoa card base and layer strips of Berry Bliss Designer Series Paper accented with a slip of knotted Close to Cocoa 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon and adhere to the card base. Stamp the large flower from the One of a Kind set in Purely Pomegranate and the smaller flower trio in Purely Pomegranate and then again in Close to Cocoa. Stamp the sentiment in Close to Cocoa and the single 1/2 inch flower in Purely Pomegranate. Don't worry about cutting out all of these little flowers. Stampin' Up! has a brand new punch which coordinates with One of a Kind-the Boho Blossoms punch. Next punch out the sentiment using the Designer Label punch and layer onto a Purely Pomegranate 1 3/8 inch circle. There is a bit of hand trimming for the large flower, but you can save time by punching in between each point by using the 3/4 inch circle punch as shown here in this picture. For the focal embellishment, I layered the large flower with a Cocoa flower from the Boho Blossoms trio and topped it off with the 1/2 inch flower and the Build-A-Brad. Here is a close up of the Build-A-Brad. Did you know that any 1/2 inch image can be used in the Build-A-Brad? Even better, you can just punch anything out anything with the 1/2 inch punch and make a brad from it. The possibilities are endless.

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stampin'! EdieB

Spring Solitude Catty Case

Did you know the Stampin' Up! Spring~Summer Collection 2008 catalog has over 300 project ideas? It is a great resource for you to exercise your creative skills. You can CASE (Copy And Share Everything) a project exactly or make a few changes to a published project and make it your own style. Stampin' Up! makes it super easy for you to CASE their pictured projects exactly since they list all supplies & colors used for each project under the Index & Supplies section of the catalog. The card that I made using the new hostess Spring Solitude Bundle is shown in the catalog on page 22 with an Old Olive card base. You see that I simply made this card my own by switching out the Old Olive for Groovy Guava and I used Groovy Guava Double Stitched Ribbon tied through a folded 1 3/8 inch circle punch instead of a jumbo brad for the embellishment at the lower right. I have a tip to show you for making the half circle embellishment for your cards and scrapbook pages. To ensure that your circle is folded neatly in half, first score the cardstock using the channel from your paper trimmer as a guide. Then, line up the score line at the middle of the circle and punch. Voila! a perfectly folded half circle-fuss free.

Well, thanks for taking a peek into my stamping world. Happy Stampin'! EdieB

Altered Clipboards

Gracie Mae & I went to Buffalo for a Scrapbooks 'n' Stickers day with Kim Hughes. Kim is the proprietor of Scrapbooks 'n' Stickers. Her website is currently under construction, but I believe it will be live this week so keep checking back. I found Kim Hughes at a Creating Keepsakes Convention two summers ago, when I took one of her 12x12 layout classes. Her designs are fun, fresh and use all the cool new embellishments. She is a distributor for Junkitz and Tim Holtz and her new web site will have Tim doing video projects. I can't wait.

Well, anyway, when I received an email invitation to attend an entire day of scrapbooking with Kim in Buffalo, I did not hesitate; and believe me, she did not disappoint. We did three 12 x 12 layouts using all the latest and greatest scrapbooking stuff; we made cards and an altered clip board; plus, she sent us home with enough stuff to make more cards, a bookmark and a cute door hanger.

One of Kim's signature projects and one of my favorites is making altered clipboards. We made a cute Christmas themed board at her scrapbook day on which I displayed Roscoe's Christmas picture. After making Kim's project, I was inspired to make my own clipboard with Stampin' Up! papers & ribbons. I made one using the new Bali Breeze Double-Sided Designer Series Paper and another one using the new Ginger Blossom papers. The accompanying cards were stamped using the Fabulous Flowers set which is available in the current Stampin' Up! catalog.

To make a clipboard of your own, you need to cut paper strips of several different widths and long enough to just wrap around to the back of the clipboard. You also need to cut several different ribbons, again, long enough to reach around to the back of the clipboard and some shorter lengths to tie through the clip for added fluff.

Adhere the paper strips to the clipboard with glue stick. My tip for you is to rub the glue stick directly on the clipboard and be very generous about it. Then lay your paper strips onto the glue-coated clipboard and smooth it down so there are no air bubbles. Use mono adhesive to adhere the ribbons. Apply the mono adhesive directly to your ribbon strips and position them at the seams where the papers meet. As I mentioned the papers and ribbons should be long enough to just reach around to the back of the clipboard so that you can then cover all the ends by adhering a piece of cardstock over the back-again with glue stick.

I hope you enjoyed this fun project. Thank you for visiting. EdieB

We Have A Winner!

Roscoe had a really difficult time deciding the blog candy winner. A couple of the New Year's resolutions had him ROFLOL, like Cindy's "My resolution is to use up my huge stash of craft stuff before buying more." This was a recurring theme which had him totally out of control at one point since he knows that the best part of crafting is SHOPPING for craft stuff and, of course, hoarding it. I have taught him well. He was confused by JenMarie's resolution to "Stamp More, Eat Less!" Roscoe gets the Stamp More part, but he will have absolutely nothing to do with the Eat Less. He is a very good eater :O)

Other great resolutions included exercising and learning to shake off the small stuff. Some stampers plan to focus on quality time with friends & family and making time for prayer and Bible study. These are all great resolutions and we wish you the best in maintaining them through the coming year.

Okay, now for the winner, Cheryl from Madison, WI wrote: "My new year's resolution is to donate at least $1000 to the Crohn's and Colits Foundation. Since I'm a SAHM with no income, I will achieve my goal by not buying any craft supplies (except adhesive and page protectors) for an entire year. I did something similar to this a few years ago, and I know that even though it will be hard, I can do it." You can visit Cheryl's blog here where she has a link to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation site. This site offers more information about this terrible disease and you can make a donation to help Cheryl reach her goal. Roscoe & I will help her along by sending her blog candy so she can keep on stampin' and scrappin through her efforts to raise funds. Thanks so much for your entry Cheryl and good luck on achieving your New Year's resolution (please email your snail mail at jim.edie@roadrunner.com).

Thank you everyone for playing and Happy Stampin'! EdieB

A Card & Blog Candy

Looking to the right of my blog page, you will see that I've hit my first one thousand posts. As such and in the true spirit of blogging, I would like to celebrate by sharing a new card project and giving away blog candy. First, the card: This card is a CASE of a sample shown on page 11 of the 2008 Stampin' Up! Spring~Summer Collection. You probably already know that Stampin' Up's Idea Book & Catalogs from years past have won many awards-not only for their collection of great merchandise but also for their jaw dropping project samples. The 2008 Spring-Summer Collection is no different. Each project is better than the one before. I just can't wait to try them all. And, oh boy, my wish list of stamps is longer than, well-you get the idea.

Anyway, this card started out as a CASE of the card on page 11. The base of the card is Old Olive cardstock and it measures 6 1/4 x 3 1/4 inches. I stamped the flowers from A Beautiful Thing in Old Olive on the base card. Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon is wrapped around four matted layers of Purely Pomegranate cardstock and Bali Breeze Designer Series Paper. I used a corner rounder punch with the guard off to make a scallop edge on the bottom most piece of Pomegranate which I think creates a nice framing atop the tiny stamped flowers along the card's bottom edge. The flower embellishments are stamped on Whisper White cardstock in Purely Pomegranate, Pumpkin Pie & Old Olive and then cut out separately, assembled and attached with an Old Olive brad. I know it is tons of hand-cutting, but all of the layers add dimension and texture which keeps your eye moving from element to element. Again, the colors in the Spring~Summer Collection are just dazzling and so refreshing in the middle of a snowy winter.

Now for the blog candy: This blog candy consists of some brand spankin' new rubbah-the recently retired Event Full Hostess Set, a set of 240 scrapbook buttons in a handy storage case, Making Memories Baby Firsts Eyelet Phrases, Imaginations Flower Clips, Heidi Swapp Photo Corners in a handy storage tin, and Pebbles Inc. I Kandee Twine. To win this humble pile of scrappin & stampin good time, please leave a comment sharing with me your New Year's resolution and how you plan to keep it. Roscoe will serve as Blog Candy Judge and will award the aforementioned prize tomorrow afternoon, so tune in then! Thanks so much for stopping by and Happy Stampin'! EdieB