Live Your Dream

Isn't it an exciting time of year at Stampin' Up!? Sale-A-Bration is in full swing and in just a few days you can order from the Occasions Mini Collection too. During the Sale-A-Bration promotion, you can earn free stamp sets not offered at any other time just by making a purchase, hosting a workshop or becoming a demonstrator. There are five sets to choose from and, new this year, you can also choose a limited edition pack of rub-ons. This "Thanks" card was made using Live Your Dream which is one of the stamp sets offered in the Occasions Mini Collection. You can view the Occasions Mini catalog here and place an order from it beginning March 1. And, for every $50 of merchandise you order, you can pick a free set from the Sale-A-Bration collection. Also used for this project is the new Afternoon Tea Designer Series Paper which nicely complements the Live Your Dream set. Afternoon Tea features a soft Victorian style in the 2007/2008 In Colors: Wild Wasabi, Soft Sky, Groovy Guava and Classic Chocolate Chip-this year's new black. And, yes, the close up shot is showing off the new Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware which is even more gorgeous IRL. The Styled Silver hardware includes five different label holders and five different jumbo brads each with a different etched design. I don't know if I will actually use any of the etched brads; they may be an item that I will have to hoard. ;-} You understand. Right? All in all you receive 100 pieces of hardware and 100 matching silver brads in the new Styled Silver collection. The label holders can be used with your small oval punch, round punch, square punch, and designer label punch. Yes, I'm crazy for Stampin' Up! punches. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am concentrating on building my collection of birthday cards. I thought this card would work nicely for a birthday, thank you, get well or just to say hello. The flowers are the focal image in the Live Your Dream set. I used blender pens and re-inkers to color directly on the rubber in Wild Wasabi & Soft Sky. I then barely outlined the flowers with Blue Bayou to give the flowers the variegated look. I tied off the card with Wild Wasabi Double-Stitched Ribbon which is held in place with two small notches I made using the Horizontal Slot Punch. As I said, I am crazy for Stampin' Up! punches since they are such great tools for stamping & scrapbooking. Use punches to add a bit of detail like the notches or a scalloped card edge using a corner rounder. This finishing touches are what make your hand-crafted project truly a special one.

Thank you for visiting & happy stampin'! EdieB

Birthday Hugs & Wishes

I'm finding myself very short of birthday cards. Who would think that I could possibly run out of birthday cards when I spend most of my free time stamping? So, my goal for the next week is to work on some new birthday card designs. Since it is cold & snowy here in Erie, PA, and the weekend forecast shows much of the same, I should have plenty of time to relax and stamp!

This is a cute card that would be perfect for one of your best girlfriends. The ribbons are a fun and easy added embellishment to make your hand-crafted greeting that much more special.

It is also a fun project to make, but then again, what stamping project isn't fun? To make this card, I used the Year After Year stamp set. This versatile set of eight stamps provides you with an image for every holiday or celebration throughout the year. The hand-sketched style of artwork also makes for an easy stamped image. You can simply ink and stamp, as I did, or you can choose to color with markers, water color crayons, or ink & water color brush. The greeting is from the Hugs & Wishes set. These two sets would be a perfect combination for the beginner stamper's first purchase too.

I actually chose the ribbons from my stash before I chose the cardstock colors. I decided on Close to Cocoa, Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie and Very Vanilla Cardstock to compliment the Pumpkin Pie & Close to Cocoa grosgrain ribbons and Mellow Moss gingham ribbon. It sounds funky but I think it works.

I stamped the Taken with Teal mat with the Canvas BG and Taken with Teal classic ink to give the layer added texture. I used Pumpkin Pie and Taken with Teal Stampin' Write markers to apply ink direct to the flower stamp and then used a blender pen with Wild Wasabi ink refill to add the green for the flower stem. You actually have a marker in every color when you use liquid or refill ink and a blender pen. Very handy. Two gold brads in the corner completes my birthday card.

I hope you like it. Thanks for visiting and happy stampin'! EdieB

Jen B Guest Stamper

Anyone will tell you that the best thing about being part of Stampin' Up! is the friendships you grow. The picture to the left is from the Stampin' Up! Convention in Denver last summer. From the left are my roomates, Kim W (CraftDoc), Jennifer B (JenB) & then me :o- And the silly picture below is just one of many, many self-portraits taken that week. Jen is an expert at self-portraits. She set us up and click - perfect pics of stampers at their best & sometimes their worst which is what makes it so fun. LOL We had a great time together; Kim & Jen were awesome roommates. I am hoping we can do it all again this year! These ladies are not only fun friends, but they are very talented stampers and paper crafters. Kim literally knows every technique in the book, and she actually wrote the book. You will find her upload of technique instructions on SCS and her blog here. Which brings me to the introduction of my Guest Stamper today, JenB. Jen first emailed me when she saw a post of mine on SCS and my location listed as Erie, PA. Jen is from the nearby town of Waterford, about 30 minutes from my house. We chatted by email and decided that we would go to our first Stampin' Up! convention together. It was the greatest experience going with Jennifer. I can't tell you how exciting it was for us to be at our first convention. Stampin' Up! does it up in style and provides constant entertainment and information. You leave convention with your head swimming and you can't wait to get home to try all of the new techniques & ideas the SU team shares with you. So, since then Jen & I have been great friends and she keeps me up-to-date with all the latest punch art & folds. The cards shown here are just a sampling of Jen's handi-work. Isn't this just the most beautiful Dahlia Fold you ever saw? Again, the Berry Bliss paper scores and the Cerise is stunning, bright & fresh. Now Cerise is the one Designer Series Paper offered by Stampin' Up! that I really had no interest in buying. It just is not my style. I feel the Really Red is over-powering in this paper. Well, now that I have seen what Jen did with it, I HAVE to have it. LOL Has that every happened to you? ;-) If you would like to try your hand at the Dahlia fold technique, find the instructions here. Thanks for visiting my blog and a big thanks to Jen for sharing her beautiful cards. EdieB

Burrrrrrr It's Finally Winter in Erie, PA

Happy Monday Stampers! It's finally winter in Erie, PA. We have been blessed with abnormally mild temperatures thus far. On Saturday, the arctic air hit. We are now enjoying a balmy 6 degrees with wind chills hitting -20. What do you do when going outside promises frost bite to your exposed areas? :-0 You stamp!

So, this is a picture of the Joy Fold Booklet which I found under the projects area of the Scor-Pal web site. If you would like to see more pictures and where to find the instructions, please visit my stamping sisters at Utah Divas International Blog. When you see the variety of projects being posted every day, you will surely want to add UDI to your favorites. Have a great Monday. Keep warm! EdieB

Happy Heart Day!

After seeing everyone stamp this cute little elephant from Happy Heart Day on Prints Designer Series Papers, I just had to try it for myself. This is was one of those fun stamp sets that can become your best loved set quickly. It is just so fun to see this guy in different colors. Which color do you like best?

And, like Season of Joy from the Holiday mini, Happy Heart Day has everything a stamper could want in a set, the cute focal image, great sentiments, a mini tag, something round to punch out, and a couple of stamps that can be used to make custom backgrounds. So, you're DH would have to agree that Happy Heart Day would be a wise purchase. LOL

Anyway, to make these cards I started off with Soft Sky cardstock cut 4-1/4 x 11 inches and scored in half so the card opens bottom over top. I then layered Prints Designer Series Paper in either Rose Red or River Rock onto Blue Bayou. You will see a scallop border between these layers. To make this border, punch a hole in a scrap of cardstock using the 1-3/8 inch circle punch and then carefully line up the scallop punch around the hole to punch out a scalloped ring. Snip the ring and carefully work the paper with your fingers to straighten it out a bit. Apply adhesive to the edge of the wrong side of the DSP and adhere the scalloped edge to the paper. Nifty and easy trick.

To finish the card, stamp the focal image twice-once on DSP and once on neutral cardstock. Trim the elephant from the DSP and adhere it over top of the elephant on the neutral cardstock. Color in the heart flowers and grass with Stampin' Write Markers and then apply a bit of Crystal Effects to the hearts to give them texture & shine. Finally, stamp and color the flower image and punch it out using the 1 inch circle punch. Layer that onto a 1-1/4 inch circle and then again on a 1-3/8 circle. Adhere the circle layers to the card using Stampin' Dimensionals and finish the look with coordinating Double-Stitched In Color Ribbon.

I hope you enjoy these cards as much as I have sharing them with you. Thank you for visiting & Happy Stampin'! EdieB

My Baroque Valentine

I find myself reaching for Baroque Motifs more and more. The swirls can be elegant or playful. Don't you just love it when you find a set that is this versatile? You can actually rationalize your stamping purchase. LOL Anyway, one of the first sets I ordered from the Stampin' Up! Spring~Summer Collection was Always. I love the way the heart and bird are accented with the intricate flower & ivy pattern; and, of course, I thought it would be a nice complement set to my coveted Baroque Motifs. The base of this card is a half sheet of Pretty In Pink cardstock scored and folded in half. The layers are Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla and Pretty in Pink, but it is important not to assemble the matted layers until you are finished with all of your stamping.
You can see in this close up that the Baroque pattern matches up on the two separate pieces of Very Vanilla even with the Pretty In Pink inbetween. You can do this two ways. Stamp one piece of Very Vanilla with the pattern and then use a hand punch to punch a out a portion; mat it on a colored piece of cardstock covering the holes you made from punching; and then mount the layers lining up the Baroque image. I wanted larger layers, so I actually cut out two separate pieces of Very Vanilla: one 3-3/4 inches x 5 inches; and the other 2 inches x 4 inches. I eyed up the placement of the smaller piece on the larger piece; adhered them together using removable adhesive and then stamped them all at once. Next, I mounted the smaller piece on Pretty In Pink and adhered it to the larger piece which is very easy to line up to the stamped image. To finish my Valentine, I stamped the heart on Vanilla in Pretty In Pink; cut it out and roughed up the edges with my Stampin' Up! Cutter Kit; matted it on Chocolate Chip and adhered it to my card with Stampin' Dimensionals. Accented with Pretty In Pink tafetta ribbon and you have yourself such a pretty Valentine. I love the final result. I think it would be a great card for a Birthday, Anniversary or Wedding too. Again, what a smart purchase I made ;-} Thanks for stopping by my blog! Happy Stampin'! EdieB