FLower Garden Embossing

Beautiful, isn't it?

It's made using the new embossing folder from the Summer mini - WHICH - by the way, will be LIVE tomorrow, May 1st!

Lots of good stuff in there. I've been sharing some of the papers, but not many of the stamps and other goodies. But I will - keep coming back!

Back to the card above (here's an instant replay)

The flower image was made using the Flower Garden embossing folder (Item 123113 $7.95).

We colored on the folder's inside image and then ran it thru Mr. Big.

Neato technique! NO???


Stampin' Up! has announced that IMAGE IN THE MINI-CATALOG IS REVERSED from the actual image.

If you could look closely at this image, you'd notice that the DE-bossed side is up, instead to the EM-bossed side, in order for the flowers to be facing the right, as shown in the catalog.

We also ran the front of the card through the Polka dot folder before adhering the embossed, layered image on top of it. The we added a piece of Poppy Parade ribbon to do finish it off.

This project was shared by Rosalie at my last team meeting.

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We often do Shoe box swaps at my Team Meetings, for a number of reasons.

1) Everyone has a chance to figure out how to put it together when they make it themselves.

When we just swap cards, it sometimes takes a bit to figure out how it was put together - sometimes, we have to tear it apart to figure out how to put it together! hee hee

2) Gives us all a chance to chatter!

What goes better with stamping, than chatter (well, OK, maybe chocolate!)... And we get to catch up with each other's lives, which makes us a closer social group.

3) It's easier on the Hostess (that'd be me!) LOL

I always try to have new technique, card lay-out, or some little project for everyone to do. Most times these days, the techniques are old ones brought back around, but that's OK.

Some of the demonstrators are new and may not know them. Some of us have forgotten about them til reminded.

Gives everyone something new or recycled to play with for a while!

But every once in a while, I want a break -- so we do Shoebox swaps.

I think everyone tries to incorporate at least one new product into each of their cards, so it'a win/win - we get to play with the toys without having to invest the money! hee hee

And I'm always surprised (and very pleased) at the variety of ideas that comes out of this group!


Here's Susan's card


She used the Dotted Scallop ribbon punch (Item 119275 $15.95) and the Beyond the Garden DSP (Item 122342 $10.95), along with the jar of flowers from On the Grow.

(Clever idea to place it off to the left. Most times, people place it off to the right...)

And then she used the new Triple Layer Blossom Bouquet punch (Item 122464 $16.95) to make the flowers, using the same DSP.

She used an Aqua painter and markers (colored on one of our clear blocks - cleans up real slick!) to color images.

Hope you saw something that inspired you here today. Thanks for stopping by - come back again soon!

That Darned Cat!

Can you believe it?

That darned cat is STILL after that danged lizard that he brought into my house about a week ago.

The other day he was adamant he was going to get the danged thing. He kept poking around the third shelf of the bookcase.

He fussed with it for about half an hour.

And he was able to do this



Yes, I know the photo's turned sideways!

Guess I forgot to turn it while it was in IPhoto, and didn't realize it til now. And I don't know how to fix it here...

So, turn your head a little - you'll get the idea!

Anyway, Melie pulled this book out of the shelf while trying to get that danged lizard.

He also strewed that pink folder's worth of paper work all over the floor.

And see this banner that USED to be on the front of the book case?




The one that says "Thankful"?

Yep, it ended up on the floor, as well.

And then the other day I heard the creaking of the bookcase (yes, I was playing on my farms again!) and decided I should go investigate what was going on...

And where was Melie?

ON THE TOP SHELF OF THE BOOKCASE!

How he ever climbed up there is beyond me, but he IS my climber cat...

The unfortunate part of it all was that I didn't have my camera with me, and if I'd left to come back and get it, Melie would have been gone...

There WERE a lot of hats hanging on the edge of the book case.

He managed to knock most of them down while exploring for the danged lizard.

I just left them there for a day, cuz I was afraid the danged lizard was under one of them.

But, finally, yesterday, I picked them all up and put them somewhere else.

I also removed the vase that used to be on the top shelf of that bookcase.

It cost me a lot of money many years ago, and, frankly, I didn't want Melie to knock it off and break it.

There's still one more hat on that shelf that apparently he hasn't figured out how to move just yet. But he will.

And I'm sure that danged lizard (AKA an alligator lizard) is hiding underneath it.

Should be quite a show when that happens!

Oh - and you'll be able to hear me screaming all the way back to the East Coast - guaranteed!

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon!

Paper Flowers

The other day I filled my little ink pots with 3 drops of 6 colors each. I used Daffodil Delight, Peach Parfait, Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose, Cherry Cobbler, and Cajun Craze.

I had decided I wanted to play with this new set, Flower Fest, using the Floating Re-inkers technique.

This is the technique where you emboss your images, spritz with water and, using your Aqua painter and ink from re-inkers, drop color on top of the water and it just FLOATS around to create the most awesome color variations.

Well, I learned something new, doing this the other night.

It doesn't work well on Confetti card stock.

The embossing part worked beautifully on the Confetti CS. But the Floating re-inkers technique? Not so much.

The card stock absorbed the ink immediately.

The Whisper White and Very Vanilla card stocks have a coating on them that allows the ink to stay on the surface - and THAT'S what makes the Floating re-inker technique work.

Anyway, back to my Ink Pots.

I played with the Floating Re-inker technique, and when I saw that wasn't working very well, moved on to dying the Paper Daisies we carry in the big catalog (Item 119243 $6.96).

To dye these, I got a couple of the containers our brads come in and moved those 3 drops of ink into the containers, along with a few spritzes of water.

I mixed the ink into the water and then started dropping the paper flowers into the containers.

These guys absorb the color almost instantly!

I had made two colors - Daffodil Delight and Cherry Cobbler. So I dropped one each of the four different sizes of paper flowers into each container, one at a time. After they looked like they'd absorbed as much as they could, I CAREFULLY pulled them out and set them to dry on a paper towel.

These will tend to tear when they're this wet, so you need to treat them gently. I also let them dry sitting on the ends of their petals (I inverted them with the petals down). When they were dry, they had more personality and didn't tend to sit so tightly together when I installed the brad that holds them together.

The large flower posed a small problem - it's bigger than the container. And since I'd done the smaller flowers first, there also wasn't much liquid left in the container.

So, I put the middle of the flower at the bottom of the container and let the ink/water combo be drawn up to the end of the flower's petals.

I rolled the ink/water around, letting the petals absorb the liquid however they wanted to. This meant the flower didn't dye consistently, but sure gave each petal a lot more character! Almost like Mother Nature does! Hee hee

I got some very interesting variations!

Wanna see?



First, here are the paper flowers as you receive them. All are white, all are made from paper.

You can use them as you receive them, or...


You can do this!





Or this!



If you look closely, you'll see I've just alternated colors between the two flowers. And look at the largest one - see all the color variations?

I've layered all four sizes and they're being held together with gold brads.

After I put these together (I made three), they were just crying out to be made into a card...

So I did!

Wanna see?


This was fun to create!

And, just to finish the story I started at the beginning, I was able to color a LOT of images with just those 3 drops of inks!

I'm so frugal (I squeak!) I just cannot throw away even those small amounts of ink! LOL So, I sometimes come up with some very creative ideas of how to use them...

Just a reminder - you'll only be able to order from the Occasions mini for another couple days! Yep, it ends on April 30, 2011.

So, take one last tour through that wonderful little catalog and make sure you've already gotten everything you want/need!

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon!

Clan of the Cave Bear

Ok, so who among you has read "The Earth Children" series by Jean Auel?

Clan of the Cave Bear
Valley of Horses
The Mammoth Hunters
The Plains of Passage
The Shelters of Stone


AWESOME series!

It's about a pre-historic woman, Ayla, who lives during the Ice Ages. She's a human, but her family is killed in an earthquake, and she's adopted by a group of people called Flatheads.

These people are thought of as animals, but they aren't - they're human - just maybe one link in the chain shy of humans as we know them. Maybe Neanderthal's, but that's never stated.

She grows up with the Flatheads, who call her, Ayla's, people "the Others". They know of them but avoid them.

Ayla doesn't think like the Flatheads - they're born with much intuition. But Ayla has reasoning on her side, and proceeds to learn a lot of things on her own.

ANYWAYYYYYYYY......

The reason I'm bringing this up is because, FINALLY, after about 10 years, we're getting the final book in the series. It's called The Painted Caves, and I finally got my hands on it!

I even bought it in hardback!

I don't like hardbacks books - too bulky to hold, hard to carry, and much more expensive than paperbacks....

So this past weekend, I immersed myself in the Painted Caves, just like I did the first book in 1980. As a result, I didn't stamp much - hee hee

I've read Clan of the Cave Bear at LEAST 4 times. It was as good the fourth time as it was the first time.

I've read Valley of the Horses a couple of times... It, too, was great on a second reading.

I think I might have gotten into them fairly close to each other and was still "in" the books.

When I read, I go wherever the book takes place. I AM the main character. I live in the time frame. I learn along with the character. And I'm always sad at the end of a good book, cuz I don't want it to be over.

It took quite some time to get books 3, 4, and 5 in the series, as the author suffered some physical ailments that slowed her down. I'm sure she's had the whole story in her head for a very long time. Clan of the Cave Bear was published in 1980, and here it is 2011, and we're finally getting the final book in the series.

I've learned a lot being Ayla over the years.

I'v learned a lot about the Ice Age and the plants and animals that existed then.

Since the people live off the land, there's a lot of information on edible plants and medicinal uses for them - sometimes plants, depending upon which part was used and at what stage the plant is, were used for both.

She taught herself how to hunt, so there's a lot of information about how animals react to things. She studied them for several years before she tried hunting.

I could go on, but you really didn't come here for a book review, did you?

But, if you've read the series (any or all of the books), leave me a comment and let me know what you thought of it! Would love to find another Ayla fan out there!

Well, I don't have any cards that feature any of the things that I just discussed above...


Oh wait~! Yes I do...


How about this card?



It's one that features plants. Quite appropriate, eh?

This was made using the burnished technique I blogged about a while back, but I can't find the entry! If I find it, I'll edit it into this post. If not, I'll try to remember to post the technique...

In the meantime, thanks for stopping by - come back again soon...

Summer Mini Stamp A Thon

Left to right: Susan, Patti, Sam, Natalie

Here's the group that designed the projects for last Saturday's Summer Mini Stamp A Thon.

We're all holding the projects we designed, and I have close ups to share of all of them.

Susan's












Her card was made using the Breast Cancer Research Foundation stamp set that we'll be selling from May 1st thru August 31st.

The name of the set is "Strength & Hope". It is available as a wood mounted set (Item 118100 $17.95) clear mounted ( Item 123660 $13.95) or as a digital stamp brush set! (Item 124475 $9.95). The digital set includes DSP and other images you can use for cards, letters, whatever.

For each set purchased (wood, clear, or digital) $2.00 will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Patti's
















Patti used the "Beyond The Garden" DSP (Item 122342 $10.95) on Wild Wasabi CS. She added trim of Melon Mambo and Whisper White.

She embossed the two flowers from the "Fabulous Florets" set (Item 123025 $23.95 - wood) with the NEW Melon Mambo EMBOSSING POWDER (Item 123223 $4.75).

And the focal point? She took some of those cute little pompoms from the Occasions mini and used them for the centers of the flowers! And if you want them and don't have them, be sure to order them before April 30th!

Cute card!

Natalie's



This is a gift card holder made with a toilet paper holder, flattened and decorated with a 6x6 piece of DSP from the current Level I Hostess gift DSP - In Color. You get 60 sheets with a variety of patterns in the 5 new In Colors. Awesome deal!

She ran a piece of Blushing Bride 1/2" poly-stitched ribbon thru it to hold it all together.

And finally, mine, which I've already shown you in depth here.



And I mustn't forget the attendees! Here are a few pix of the gals who joined us for our Stamp A Thon...














Thanks, ladies, for joining us!

And thank you for stopping by - come back soon!

And the Flowers Have It...

Here's another 6x6 mini scrapbook I made as a sample for the Stamp A Thon last Saturday.

Or, as I call them, Event Books.

This one was made using the Beyond the Garden DSP (Item 122342 $10.95) from the upcoming Summer Mini-catalog.

I love this DSP!

If you're a flower person, so will you... The colors used in this paper are awesome - Wild Wasabi, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, and Tangerine Tango.

It's BRIGHT!

But the best part is that the back sides of the DSP are much more muted than the flowery side, so even if you don't want HUGE BRIGHT areas, you can have some as a background which doesn't over power.

I made the flower on the front cover from Pink Pirouette CS and the Fun Flowers die. I spritzed it with water and crumpled it all up and let it dry over night. The next evening I uncrumpled it and put it all together, using a gold brad, which I hid under the two circles that the die punches for you.

Here's the inside of this Event book.



This is going to look lovely for posting photos of your flower garden, isn't it? Or, if you take pix of flowers while you're on vacation (I do!), this would be a lovely venue for showing them off...

The pinkish CS is actually Blushing Bride! This is a color that can change, depending what other colors you've paired it with.

You'll notice I didn't do much decorating on the inside. If indeed I'm going to put flower photos inside, I want those to hold the spotlight, not the DSP. That's supposed to be background, and if I start adding embellishments, it will become the focal point.

The photos should ALWAYS carry the page...

That's why you're scrapping, isn't it?

Hope this little teaser of one of the newest DSP makes you drool just a little, so you'll be chomping at the bit to purchase it, come May 1st!

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon!

Travel Log

The other day I mentioned I was working on a project for an upcoming Stamp A Thon.

Well, this is it!

It's a little memory book, made using some products from the upcoming Summer mini-catalog...

I just got my Summer mini in the mail today, so if you've purchased from me in the past year or so, yours is probably on its way, as well...

If you don't get one in the next couple of days, and you want one, give me a holler - I'll be happy to mail one out to you!

Back to the Travel Log...

Summer is vacation time, right?

So, when you're on vacation, you hope to be doing a little traveling, right?

This is a very quick and easy scrapbook for your vacation photos!

It's a 6x6 scrapbook.

I used 3 pieces of 6" x 12" card stock, then folded them in half.

I punched two holes in the center crease, using my Crop A Dile. I just pushed the Crop A Dile down as far from the top as it would go (probably about an inch) and punched the hole. I did the same thing from the bottom.

Then I took a hair elastic, poked it thru the top hole and put a bamboo skewer I'd cut down to 6" thru the elastic.

I did the same thing on the bottom, snagging the bamboo skewer, and suddenly, my scrapbook isn't going to fall apart!

The bamboo skewer is on the outside of the book, the hair elastic is on the inside, but hooking them together creates the binding.

















I covered the bamboo skewer with scraps of ribbon I keep when trimming bows - you know - those pieces that aren't long enough to use for much of anything else! I keep 'em all, you know! hee hee

Once I'd "bound" the book, I started to decorate the inside.

I used the Travel Log and Open Sea stamp sets from the upcoming mini, as well as the Nautical Expedition DSP.

I selected the piece I wanted for my cover and trimmed it to 5-3/4" x 5-3/4". I like a little bit of the card stock to show around the outside.

For the inside, I took each 6" x 6" piece of DSP and cut it into 3 pieces 2" x 6". Then I just glued one to the outside edge of each page.

And, like the cards I showed you the other day, I stamped images on neutral CS, adhered them to embossed contrasting colors of CS, and pretty much, the Travel Log is done.

Except for the necessary photos, of course.

In this instance, I used Confetti White as my neutral CS - the texture just lends itself to an outdoorsy theme.

This would be PERFECT as a memento of a cruise you've taken. Or, maybe a road trip, although the stamps primarily show ships - maybe your road trip took you to the ocean or a large lake where you sailed?

The color combo is Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy, Basic Gray, and Early Espresso. I added Sahara Sand as my neutral for the book pages. Crumb Cake would probably look good, too.

Here are some of the inside pages...

































For the page on your left, I also used the single stamp, Sail Away.

When I create a scrapbook BEFORE I have the photos to go inside, I try to keep the whole thing pretty simple. After the photos are added, you'll look at the whole thing and know where else you might need to add some additional embellishments to jazz it up.

Well, there you have it - a very quick and easy scrapbook!

Hope you enjoyed this project and are anxious to try one yourself. If you NEED any of the supplies I used on this, let me know! They'll all be available for ordering on May 1st!

I've made a couple more (they really ARE simple to make!) and will show those to you another time.

In the meantime, don't forget - the items from the Occasions mini are only available until April 30th! So, if there's something you need, let me know soon!

Thanks for stopping by - come back again soon!