Babies Galore!

Seems like everyone is either pregnant right now or just had a baby. I was looking on Ebay and found this Studio G set I'd been wanting for awhile. Love this cute little baby face! Too bad I didn't find this set when Michael's had it in their dollar spot--I had to pay a little bit more than a dollar : ). Totally worth it though. I love these little images!

This one's for a friend that just had a little girl:

This one is for a friend that just had TWIN girls:
Everything is SU except the card base and matching ribbon (PTI). And, of course, the stamp. I gave their faces some color by rubbing in some pastels with a sponge. I colored in the words with my blender pens and ink.

June Card Class

I don't know about all of you, but I have a lot of pregnant friends--some of them are even expecting twins! It's gotten me in a "baby card" kind of mood. I like creating things that are a little unusual. Isn't it fun to give someone a card that is different from all the others? Well, these acetate cards are fun to make and also fun to give. Ya gotta love acetate! (These are really cut from overhead transparency sheets!)You can write on the white layer within the card. Here is what the cards look like closed:
I cut all of the cardstock and paper for you, you just get to do the fun parts--stamping and punching! Here are the details:


DATE: June 20th


TIME: 1:00 (this is a daytime slot and you are welcome to bring your children)
7:00 (the evening slot for those who need a little time out)

PLACE: My home


COST: $2.00 per card--you let me know if you want boy or girl or a combo


I will be offering $5 off any order of $25 or more to those who attend the class. No purchase necessary to take the class! Here are the specials for the month:

E-Scape Bundle:
Description Page Number Price
Circle of Friendship stamp set p. 143 $17.95
Love Notes assortment p. 167 $8.95
Rose Red Classic Stampin' Pad p. 165 $5.25
Very Vanilla 5/8" grosgrain ribbon p. 191 $7.95

Total (non-bundled) $40.10
eScape Bundle price $30.00
With your $5 coupon from me, you could get this whole bundle for $25.00!


Fresh Cuts Promotion:


When you purchase the brand new, die-cut Fresh Cuts stamp set, add on the coordinating Fresh-Cut Notes* for only $5!



Just let me know this week if you would like to attend!

Trying out Papertrey

I spend a bit of time each day browsing blogs and posts over on Splitcoast because I really love seeing everyone's creations. I have really enjoyed a lot of the things I've seen using Papertrey Ink's stamps, so I decided to try out some. I babysat for a friend a couple of days during May--so I had some "fun" money to spend. The first sets I bought were "Mixed Messages" and "Boxes, Bags, and Tags". I had a lot of fun! The first thing I made was this Birthday card:Then, as I was browsing blogs, I came across this tutorial on my friend Dannie's blog. I decided to expand on the look of the card I had made and create a whole set.
Then I made a notecard holder like the one in the tutorial to hold the cards and envelopes:

Here is the notecard holder closed. One thing I learned was that this holder really works better with cards that do not have a lot of embellishment. It gets overstuffed with a lot of ribbon and whatnot. Mine worked out ok, but it was pretty full!

Bee Happy! Summer's Here!

Summer is officially here, can you believe it? I don't know about you, but here the summer weather has been sloooow in coming. My kids are finally out of school and it seems like the weather has taken notice. Today was actually quite warm. Good thing, too. My two oldest kids started swim lessons today and I was a little concerned that the weather may not cooperate. It was their first time and they were a little nervous but they both loved it.

Maybe this heat will bring on the strawberries and tomatoes out in my garden! I can hardly wait!

Being an SU demonstrator, I usually spend my hobby funds on SU supplies (they really are fabulous!) but I just couldn't pass up this bee stamp from Stampendous Stamps. It is part of their "Bee Happy" line of stamps. Too cute! I stamped the image in Basic Black ink and then used my Blender Pens to color it in with So Saffron and Blue Bayou. I punched him out with my 1 3/8" circle punch and backed it with a Certainly Celery scalloped circle. The flower was cut from my original stamped image. I used my Basic Black Stampin' Write marker to extend the stem and then popped the flower up on a dimensional. I used some Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the image and the So Saffron brads. I also paper peirced around the Soft Sky layer. This one was fun to give away!

Baby Acetate Card

For my upline's next stamping meeting she has challenged us to make a card with bling. I always wanted to create an acetate card, so I incorporated both ideas into this card. I have also seen this color combination around and wanted to try it (Groovy Guava, Certainly Celery, So Saffron, and Pretty in Pink). I really like the results, and it's alway so fun to try something new!As far as the bling goes, it is hard to see in the picture, but there is glitter all around the "baby" label from "Lovely Labels". I covered what was showing of the pink in Crystal Effects and then put Dazzling Diamonds glitter on it. I think acetate itself has a kind of "bling" of it's own. The swirls were put on the acetate using white StazOn. I was a dork and used my Stamp-a-Majig to place the image and now I can't get the StazOn off of the Stamp-a-Majig sheet--duh! To hide any adhesive used, you sandwich the acetate between your main layer and it's matt. So, for example, the So Saffron layer is on the front of the acetate, the small groovy guava layer is right on the other side of the acetate. Here is a picture of the inside of the card:

I made some extras so I could keep some to use myself--people are always having babies!

I'm back!

I seem to have taken a little break from my stamp blog--but I'm back! The other day I was Blog hopping and came across a new favorite, thINK spot. I love her creations! I was totally inspired by these cards. So rich and beautiful. Makes me totally want the Baroque Motifs set! I realized that I could create a similar look on a smaller scale with the Priceless set that I own, so I went to town!I love how they turned out! I'm really going to miss the "In Colors" when they retire. I've always been drawn to them and finally purchased some of the cardstock with my last order. I followed Marelle's instructions pretty closely, just tweeked it a little to fit the supplies I own.

I started with 3x3 card bases using the In Colors Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi, and Blue Bayou. I topped that with some River Rock CS and created a scalloped edge with my corner rounder. I stamped the Priceless Swirl in Wild Wasabi and then used my Stamp-a-Majig to shadow stamp it using Versamark ink. Marelle used River Rock ink to do her shadow effect, but I don't have that color--the Versamark worked like a charm and I'll definitely be using this technique again! I stamped the Priceless flowers in coordinating ink colors and used my Basic Black Stampin' Write marker to put black dots in the middle of the small ones. Oh, I forgot to mention that I sponged the edges of the River Rock layer in Close to Cocoa.

I used my Crop-a-Dile to put an eyelet in the centers of the larger flowers and then I did a little "faux bling" trick that I learned on Marelle's site. I stuck a piece of paper behind the eyelet and filled it with Crystal Effects. It looks pretty cool! After they dried I stuck them on with dimensionals. I added sentiments from Short & Sweet and Holiday Blitz using Close to Cocoa ink.

I wanted to create a cute little bag to keep them in, so I made this one out of River Rock CS, Porcelain Prints DSP, Wild Wasabi ribbon, and jumbo eyelets (love those!)

"Made for a Man" Class

I got the "All Holidays" stamp set today and decided that with Father's Day coming up, it was time to do a class with a more masculine feel. That kind of thing is usually hard for me, but I found an incredible card to copy. It was designed by a stamper named Lorri Heiling--you can see the original post on her blog here. It looks just like a wallet! Here is my version (very similar to hers, of course) And, before you go thinking I sewed on this, I used a technique called faux stitching. Pierce a few holes, connect with gel pen, and voila!

I'll show you the inside in a minute. I thought these would also be good for graduates or men's birthdays, so you could do the front like this instead to adapt it:

And here is the inside. You could put gift cards, money, a note, school pictures, etc. in the little pockets. Too cool!

Here is the second card that will be available at the class. I love these jumbo brads by Stampin' Up. And with my new Crop-a-Dile, they are soooo easy to put on. This card is made using the Western Sky Designer Series Paper--it has a nice masculine, western feel to it. I designed it to be a birthday card, but you could always stamp a different sentiment on it (you can choose at the class).

Here are the details:

DATE: May 30th, Friday, at 7:00 (can't make it then? Just let me know!)

COST: Men's Billfold $3.50, Birthday card $2.00 (You choose which card and how many you would like to make.

Please RSVP so that I can be sure to have enough supplies on hand. Once again, I will also offer a $5 discount on any order of $25 or more to those that participate in the class.