Another Sneak Peak!

Hello. I have made a couple of cards from another upcoming stamp set from the Stampin Up Occasions Mini Catalog which begins on April 1st. This stamp set is called Forest Friends. Here is a photo of the whole set. Please remember that it is copyrighted by Stampin Up.


Is this too cute or what?
Ok, here are a couple of cards made with it.








I went a wee bit overboard with the scallops, but what the heck! This would make a very cute baby card, Easter card, thinking of you, etc..... I am completely in love with this little bunny. I think it looks like Thumper, and the deer in the set reminds me of Bambi. Anyhoo, the bunnies are stamped on Stampin Up Very Vanilla card stock, punched with a circle punch, mounted on some soft subtles punched with the SU scallop circle punch, and then each scallop is punched with a 1/6" circle punch. The three scallop circles are Bashful Blue, Lavender Lace, and Pretty in Pink. The ink is the same colors in SU Classic Inks. The scallop edges were all punched with the Stampin Up Scallop Edge punch.








For this one, I cutout a Top Note Die with Stampin Up Very Vanilla card stock. I am loving these die-cuts Stampin Up sells now, they have so many uses. I distressed the edges a little bit with a sponge and some SU Close to Cocoa Classic Ink. Next, I stamped the tree. Wow, was that tricky! I used SU Craft ink, as it doesn't dry up near as fast. I used a very small paint brush and dabbed the brush onto the ink pad, then colored the stamp with it. Using Garden Green on the leaves, and Close to Cocoa on the trunk and branches. I found this to be a bit tedious. But I love the end result. I guess this can also be achieved by coloring the stamp with SU markers and then breathing heavy on it to re-moisten the ink, or by spritzing it with water. I am not good at either of these methods, I must confess. Anyhoo, the bunny was stamped in Close to Cocoa, then again on a scrap piece of card stock. Then I cut it out and popped it up with some foam dimensionals. I did a very ditsy mess-up with the sentiment, and had to cover the mistake by stamping the sentiment again with Garden Green on a piece of scallop circle punched Certainly Celery card stock, and popped up on dimensionals. I distressed the scallop circle with Close to Cocoa as well. The last touch was to add a little ribbon with a green rhinestone brad (all Stampin Up), and round all four corners of the Certainly Celery card base. Just to recap, all materials and tools used to make these cards are from Stampin Up. Any questions, drop me an email. If you want to order this completely adorable set, let me know, or go to the Stampin Up Website and place and order. Just remember to use my name under the demonstrator space. See ya again soon, and have a great week. Blessings, Lisa

Butterflies Sneak Peek

Hello. I am back again with another sneak peek card from an upcoming stamp set from Stampin Up's next mini catalog which begins on April 1st! For this card, I went clean and simple. Only a couple of butterflies and a sentiment from the set "Great Friend".

First I stamped the butterflies on the white card base, then I stamped them again on some vellum card stock with Stampin Up Craft Ink, and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder. Next, I cut out the vellum butterflies, bent them a little at their centers, glued them on with crystal effects, added a few sticky gems for their bodies, then heat embossed the sentiment with craft ink and clear embossing powder. Finally, I rounded all four corners of the card base.
The most time consuming thing was cutting out the butterflies, and even that only took a few minutes each.
I hope you like it!

Blessings, Lisa






Supplies Used: Stampin Up Whisper White card stock, SU vellum card stock, SU Lavender Lace, and Elegant Eggplant Craft Ink, SU Clear embossing powder, SU 3/16" corner rounder punch, clear sticky gems from Archiver's.

Shirley and Marcy

Hello. Happy Thursday! The week is almost over. I have a card to share for later, but I have some other things that I must get done first, so this cute little story will have to do until then. Trust me, you will love it.


A mom was concerned about her kindergarten son walking to school. He didn't want his mother to walk with him. She wanted to give him the feeling that he had some independence but yet know that he was safe. So she had an idea of how to handle it. She asked a neighbor if she would
please follow him to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, so he probably wouldn't notice her. She said that since she was up early with her toddler anyway, it would be a good way for them to get some exercise as well, so she agreed. The next school day, the neighbor and her little girl set out following behind Timmy as he walked to school with another neighbor girl he knew. She did this for the whole week.

As the two walked and chatted, kicking stones and twigs, Timmy's little friend noticed the same lady was following them as she seemed to do every day all week. Finally she said to Timmy,
'Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week? Do you know her?' Timmy nonchalantly replied, 'Yeah, I know who she is.' The little girl said, 'Well, who is she?'
'That's just Shirley Goodnest,' Timmy replied, 'and her daughter Marcy.'
'Shirley Goodnest? Who the heck is she and why is she following us? '

'Well,' Timmy explained, 'every night my Mom makes me say the 23rd Psalm with my prayers, 'cuz she worries about me so much. And in the Psalm, it says, 'Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow me all the days of my life', so I guess I'll just have to get used to it!' The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift
His countenance upon you, and give you peace. May Shirley Goodnest and Marcy be with you today and always.

Bunnies, Bunnies, Bunnies

Hello. Well, You know how I love the Martha Stewart bunny punches! No, I still haven't found the bunny border punch! Urgh! But, I remembered that I had this cute little sitting bunny punch from MS, so I decided to play with it. Here is what I came up with:



Oooo, sorry for the photo quality. I have got to get my handmade card photo studio put together. Please forgive me!

Anyhoo........ I punched out the bunnies from DCWV textured/pearl card stock and put them on Stampin Up Whisper White card stock circles that I punched. Then I adhered those to some squares that I cut out of the Stampin Up Sale-a-bration 2009 Designer Paper. Next I placed the squares onto a SU Bashful Blue card stock base. The sentiment is from the retired SU "Bunny Hugs" stamp set and is stamped in Basic Black Classic ink. The gemstones are from Hero Arts, and that sums it all up. Pretty darn simple Easter card. Have a great evening, I gotta run and get my brownies out of the oven.

Blessings, Lisa

Hello Bunny!

Check out this absolutely adorable bunny that I used on a card. She is part of a stamp set that I bought from The Greeting Farm online stamp store. Their stamps are all rubber cling mounted stamps sold in a sheet. So, you have to cut them out, then they stick over and over onto an acrylic block just like clear stamps, only the durability is far, far better than clear stamps. Their quality is very high just like my favorite stamps from Stampin Up!

Speaking of Stampin Up, they announced this week that they have been cutting costs everywhere that they can during this recession, but have finally decided that they are going to have to lay-off some employees at their offices in Utah! I feel so bad for the employees that will be the chosen ones. I have been there myself and I know how they feel. If you would, please take a moment and say a prayer for all of the home office employees.

Ok, so to cheer us up, look at this totally cute bunny. Is she the cutest bunny you ever saw or what? There were a few other bunnies in the set as well. I will put them on some cards as soon as I can fit them into my stamp schedule.

As usual, all card stock used is from Stampin Up. The half-circle that the bunny is on was made with Stampin Up's large scallop circle big shot die-cut. The bunny is colored with Stampin Up markers, The patterned paper under the circle is from Provocraft, the sticky gems are from Michael's along with the two sparkly brads. the partial flowers under the brads were made with Stampin Up's retired daisy punch. The flower ribbon is unknown; sorry. The border was made with a Martha Stewart Border Punch! STILL SEARCHING FOR THAT MS BUNNY BORDER PUNCH, BY THE WAY! I know, I sound like a broken record. That about sums it up, no complicated technique or anything involved here. However, if you have any questions, always feel free to contact me or leave a comment. Have a great weekend! Blessings, Lisa

Stamping outside my comfort zone! Sneak Peek!

When I first started using Stampin Up products, long before I was a demonstrator, there were certain colors that I thought that I disliked. Now, years later, my thoughts are that there are some that I just don't seem comfortable using. I love them all, I just get creative blocks when I put a few of them in front of myself. So, to inspire those of you who feel the same way, and in attempt to shatter these creative blocks, I worked with a color last night that I have never worked with before. I am pleased to say that it worked, and I plan to work with this color again, and again, etc. This color is Stampin Up's Taken with Teal. I started by laying out a piece of Taken with Teal, Going Gray, and Basic Gray. Then, I threw in a piece of Whisper White, and set out a stamp set from the upcoming Occasions Mini Catalog that starts April 1st! Then.....................I just stared at them for what seemed like forever. Then, got frustrated and asked my 9 year old daughter if the colors looked good together. She is my biggest supporter and simply said "Sure mom". Boy did that help! haha. Anyways, here is the card that I finally came up with:


This is one of the new stamp sets that will be in the next Mini Catalog starting April 1st. It is called "Great Friend" I love that Butterfly! Here is a photo of all of the stamps in the set:

























There is also a gorgeous set of Designer paper and rub-ons that coordinate with this set!






First thing I must apologize for the photo quality. I am in a bit of a hurry today, so please forgive me. The card looks so much better in person. Anyhoo, the butterflies were stamped on Vellum card stock with craft ink, then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I then cut them out and bent them a bit to give them some dimension. Then I set them aside for a bit. Next I stamped the background of the card base with some tone-on-tone going gray classic ink. Then, I stamped the fancy label with versamark and classic Basic Gray ink, and heat embossed with clear EP. I did the same with the sentiment except that ink is Taken with Teal. I cut this out as well. Then, I decided to do something with the negative piece left over after cutting out the big scallop circle die-cut. I held it down with one hand and sponged some ink inside of it with the other hand onto some Whisper White card stock. I love the sponge effect, so I will keep this negative scallop circle and use it over and over. This technique also works really well with the Top Note die-cut as well. Next, I punched a scallop double border for the base of my card. Then, mounted my sponged 1/2 scallop onto some Taken with Teal card stock and used my scallop border on that as well. I mounted that piece onto the base, mounted the sentiment with foam dimensionals, mounted the butterflies with Crystal Effects, and last; I added some sticky silver fake pearls to each of the scallops. Oh, the Teal gem at the top of the sentiment box, is a gem that I took out of one of Stampin Up's Gemstone Brads. I mounted it with a dab of Crystal Effects. Here is a close up of the vellum butterflies:




I hope you enjoyed it!

Blessings,

Lisa

Trendy Trees

is the set that inspired me today. I didn't have much spare time to stamp today, so when this really simple idea came to mind, I stamped it out really quick.






I started with a Kraft card stock base, took the spiral dotted tree top stamp and stamped it randomly all over the base of the card with Stampin Up Craft Whisper White ink. Next I Stamped the tree trunk in Stampin Up Craft Close to Cocoa ink. Then I stamped the tree top with Old Olive Craft ink, then took a small sponge dauber and sponged some Craft Garden Green on a few of the leaves in the stamp, then stamped the tree top onto whisper white card stock. I stamped the tree top twice, so that I could cut it out and mount one of them with some foam dimensionals. The ink below the tree, is my Stampin Up Certainly Celery marker. The sentiment is stamped in Garden Green Craft ink and punched out with my Stampin Up Word Window Punch and mounted with foam dimensionals. That about sums it up. Easy Peasy today! I received my shipment of the items that I ordered from the upcoming Occasions Mini Catalog today, so keep checking back as I will be posting some cards made with my new stuff. April 1st is the first day that customer can order from the new mini. Oh and don't forget that March 31st is the absolute last day to order and get free stuff from the Sale-a-bration brochure. Until next time, stay safe and healthy.

Blessings,

Lisa

Bright and Cheery

Cards for a friend, that is what was on my agenda today. I have a friend that had to spend some time in the hospital recently because her sugar levels and bloodpressure were out of control. Unfortunately for her, both her parents are diabetics, and she had gestational diabetes with all 3 of her pregnancies, so it was inevitable she would become a diabetic. However, she had that under control with diet and pills. That disease seems to be unpredicable at times. Where she is getting the high bloodpressure from, they don't know. So, I said alot of prayers for her, and I know she likes handmade cards so I am sending her one with bright colors to brighten her day with. Here are the two versions that I made:


I have no idea who the manufacturer of this stamp is, as it doesn't say on the stamp, and I purchased it years ago at Garden Ridge for $1.00. Great deal, huh? Anyways, the design of it makes me think of stained glass windows, so I stamped it on vellum card stock from Stampin Up with Versamark ink, then heat embossed with black embossing powder. Do not try to heat emboss on regular vellum it is too thin, purchase some vellum card stock to do this! Then, I turned it over and colored the back with my Stampin Up markers. The greeting is from a tub of mini greetings by Hero Arts. I hand drew the polka dots around the greeting. The purple scallop circle that the greeting is on is popped up with dimensionals, the flower is a Prima flower, and the gemstones are from Michael's. The border under the butterflies is one of those new EK Success punches. Yes, I just had to try one, and I love it! That thing punched through my heavy Stampin Up card stock like it was butter! So awesome I am looking for all kinds of excuses to use it.

It is hard to see in the photo, but it is the Scalloped Scallops punch. Click on the photo to zoom in so that you can see the scallops. Me likey the scallops! I am sure my next post will have those awesome scallops in it too.

Now, this yellow version is the one I am mailing to my friend. I am hoping she is not seeing this yet. Anyways, the same method applies here, except the colors and border punch have changed. The border punch is a Martha Stewart Border punch. STILL LOOKING FOR THAT BUNNY BORDER PUNCH; BY THE WAY! Have any of you seen it? They want way too much for it on ebay, if you can find it! They had them at Archiver's, but sold out! Urgh! They only had the goofy ducky one! Bunnies are my favorite Easter character, I gotta have that punch! Yes I know, I am obsessed! Ok, "nuff said". I will give you a complete list of colors used below. Enjoy the Spring weather that has finally arrived and have a great week! Lisa

Supplies Used:
Cardstock ~ Stampin Up Vellum CS, Whisper White, Yoyo Yellow, Tempting Turquoise, Lovely Lilac, Green Galore.
Markers ~ Stampin Up Yoyo Yellow, Tempting Turquoise, Brilliant Blue, Pink Passion, Green Galore, Basic Gray.

A few observations and a card

Hello. Well, thanks to the frequently changing weather here is Cincinnati, Ohio; I am dealing with sinus issues again, and this time it took my voice with it. Thank heavens I still have fingers, so I can talk with them and my keyboard. I was just trying to take it easy today, sitting in my recliner with my sweet little dog, and the television. I thought what the heck, I will watch the news. Ok, I have to wonder about criminals sometimes. Have any of you ever seen that show about stupid criminals. I haven't, but have heard people talk about it. Well, I have one for them today. I am totally not kidding about this either! A man here in great ole southern Ohio, is being charged with burglary.........Well, he showed up for his court appearance in a stolen van! Hello! Give it up and plead guilty, you are going down! I actually feel sorry for him for lacking any intellect and common sense.

On another stupid crime, but in this case the criminal and the system are stupid. A man here was convicted of beating, and burning a lady alive after he knocked her unconscious, thus killing her. He did less than 20 years in prison, and was out living in a halfway house. Get this, he was kicked out of the halfway house for fighting, they did not turn him into his parole officer for this fight, not to mention why the heck was he out on parole anyways? Well, he recently was caught killing again. This time he was arrested for killing a 13 year old girl. He stripped her clothes off, strangled her, and set her on fire. Then was found later on sleeping in some bushes approx. 100 yards away from her body with two of her possessions on him. Duh!!!!!!!!!!! Thank the Lord he is in jail. Now, the Cincinnati police are investigating some other murders here and in Northern Kentucky that fit the same profile and took place since he has been out of prison. Ya think? I don't know if it is my place to judge whether or not capital punishment is the solution, but HELLO... HE SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN RELEASED! How could someone do something so disgustingly sick and be released from prison?

Ok, now that I have voiced my opinion on that one, lets move on to something cheerful like stamping. I wanted to make something with the new stamp set from Stampin Up called "Trendy Trees", and take it with me to my workshop last weekend. I also wanted to keep it simple in appearance and use my micro beads. So, the photo below is what I came up with.

My group of ladies at the workshop were so dazzled by the micro beads that one of them booked a workshop in April so that they could make this card. They couldn't believe it when I told them it was easier than it looks. I love these ladies, they are so good for my self esteem! So, thank you ladies in Hamilton, Ohio; I am looking forward to stamping with you again soon!

All you do is stamp your image, and cut your image to the size that you want it. Then, pour the clear micro beads into those handy trays that we also use in heat embossing. Then you cut a piece the same size from your very tacky double-sided adhesive sheets that Stampin Up now sells in their main catalog. Next, you peel the backing off of one side of the sticky sheet, and apply it to the stamped side of your card stock that you stamped on. Smooth it out to avoid bubbles. Next, peel the other backing off and lay it down in the beads and roll it around until you have the whole image covered. Then, just finish your card. What an interesting look it shows. This technique can be used on more than just stamped images on card stock. It can be used on any of Stampin Up's chipboard, self adhesive die-cuts, or sticky-cuts letters. One of my favorites is to color chipboard with craft ink, or cover it with some DSP and then adhere the micro beads on top of that. Too cool for cards or a scrapbook page. Well, that is all I have to say about that! I will list the supplies/colors used below. Blessings, Lisa

Supplies Used:
Card stock ~ Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Garden Green
Ink ~ Close to Cocoa, Garden Green
Accessories ~ Light Green Sticky Gems from Hero Arts

Easy Card with Pocket Silhouettes Stamp set

Hello. I had a fabulous Stampin Up workshop over the weekend. We all had a super fun afternoon of stamping. I am going to share one of the cards that we made. I do my best to prepare projects that are simple, quick to make, and yet still pretty. My hostess made out like a bandit with it being the Sale-a-bration sales period. Sale-a-bration; by the way ends on March 31st.

The new occasions mini catalog sales period starts on April 1st, and wow did they ever put some cute stamp sets in it. I will post some cards with them, as soon as they get delivered to my doorstep. Ok, on with the card:

Stampin Up's Pocket Silhouettes stamp set, oh how I love it! What we did here was so simple. I punched a 1-1/4" square out of a piece of scrap card stock, held it down onto the card stock (Whisper White) with one hand, and sponged some Stampin Up Classic Bashful Blue ink in the opening with the other hand. Then, we stamped the flower image onto the sponged square with Stampin Up Classic Basic Gray (another one of my favorites) ink. Next we stamped a sentiment in Basic gray ink at the bottom, tied some retired light blue gingham ribbon around the white cardstock, then adhered it to our Bashful Blue card base. All Done!








Using the negative space from paper punches is a great way to make use of something you would have likely thrown away. In the next photo, I used the negative space from Stampin Up's 5-petal flower punch to sponge a cute card background. I just kept moving my template around in random positions and sponging until I achieved the look I wanted.

Until next time..........Happy Stamping!

Another Masculine Card

Hello. Well here is the other masculine card that I promised in a previous post. I got the inspiration for this from a good friend of mine named Lydia. Check out the following link to her card that inspired mine. I just put a little different twist on it.

http://understandblue.blogspot.com/search/label/Stampin%20Up?updated-max=2008-10-16T20%3A20%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=20

Scroll down to view it.

So here is my version. I actually like Lydia's version a wee bit better, but I wanted to play around with it, and this is what I ended up with.


The black plain square kind of covers for you if you don't get the stamped image lined up perfectly. Plus, I don't have any of the Stampin Up Circle punches yet, so I played with squares.


Well, there isn't really much to say about this, it is pretty easy to put together. I did want to mention that I popped up the black and gray squares with some foam dimensionals, which you will be able to see in the close-up photo below.









Until next time, Blessings, Lisa

Elegant Flowers

Hello. Here is that card that I mentioned previously made with the Ornare Piercing template that was a gift from a friend. The image stamped in the middle is from a retired Stampin Up set called "Calming Garden".

First thing I did was to do all of the piercing on some Stampin Up Very Vanilla card stock, and draw the scallops lightly with a pencil (the template was scalloped along its edges). Next I cut out the scalloped edges and distressed then with a little Brown chalk ink from Color Box. Next, I stamped my image with the same chalk ink, and colored it with Stampin Up Markers and a blending pen.

Next I decided to try out my Liquid Pearls that everyone keeps talking about, this is how I got the pearl looking dots around the edges in each of the scallops. After the pearls dried, I sponged the Vanilla background lightly with some Stampin Up Pretty in Pink Classic ink. This is probably hard to see in the photo. Then I mounted the vanilla piece onto some Creamy Caramel card stock. Next I created a bow with some Anna Griffin Satin Ribbon that my friend gave me, and placed a pearl brad in the center of the bow to hold it all together. I will show a photo of how I held the bow and put a hole in it for the brad below. Next I mounted the whole thing onto a piece of Regal Rose card stock with foam dimentionals. Voila, an elegant card to send to mom or any other female at birthday time. When you see a photo of the Ornare template below, you will notice that I did not pierce all of the holes on the template. It is really a matter of what the individual prefers.

Here are what the template, piercing tool and mat look like. I know some of you have probably seen these before, but incase you haven't..........

They come in many different designs, just do a search on the internet under "Ornare" to find some online stores that sell them.

Ok, here is where I am using the piercing tool to assemble my bow, it keeps it all together, and creates a hole for the brad. If you have the old Memory Makers eyelet tool kit, there should already be a piercing tool in there. Once I had the bow as I liked it, I simply pulled it off the tool carefully to keep all of the holes lined up, and inserted the brad. The brad goes all the way through the ribbon base and first two layers of cardstock before the prongs are folded back.

It was at that point when I put the first two layers onto the card base with the foam dimensionals.

Below is another view of how I assembled the bow on the piercing tool.

This is an excellent way to make a bow if you aren't good at tieing them. Sometimes I tie bows well, sometimes I don't.



That about sums it up, if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment to to click on my sidebar email link.

Blessings, Lisa

Easy Sale-a-bration Card

Hello. Sorry for my absence! I have been so busy, it isn't funny. I have got to be the busiest unemployed person in the United States; and believe me there are alot of us right now. Ok, nuff said, time for a quick card. I am going to show you a card that a few of my customers will be making at a workshop this coming Saturday. I have been seeing alot of people over on the Hero Arts Blog, using Kraft card stock as the base of their card, and stamping the background in White ink. Well, I thought it had a really cool look to it, so I gave it a try.
I think we all tend do to alot of stamping on white or vanilla card stock, then layer on colors. So with these cards I was trying to not be afraid to break out of that comfort zone, doing the opposite and stamping with white ink on colors. I also wanted to choose something that could be done relatively quickly, so that the design could be repeated numerous times easily. Using the paper punches and this sale-a-bration stamp set also helps out with speed. If you scroll down, you will see close up photos of each card. If any of my workshop ladies are looking at this, we will be making either the purple or black version of this card. I am too low on Night of Navy card stock to make the
blue version. Sorry. One tip I would like to point out when stamping the background, start in the center of the card base, then stamp the edges. That seemed to give a more even pattern for the background. The ribbon accent was actually made by cutting two pieces, then tieing in a knot. I adhered it by applying snail adhesive to the flat parts of the ribbon and rubbing it down flat until you get to the edges of the card; then just cut off the excess ribbon. The punches used were Stampin Up's Scallop Square, and 5-Petal Flower. Actually, all supplies used on these cards are Stampin Up products. Here is a complete list:

Card stock: Kraft, Elegant Eggplant, Lavender Lace, Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Basic Gray.

Ribbon: 1/4" Grosgrain ~ Eggplant, Navy, Black.

Ink: Craft Whisper White

I love this one in the blue shades! I have got to put Navy card stock on my list to order.

This one was another step out of my comfort zone using black and gray together. I tend not to use those colors very often, especially black. However, I love Basic Gray, and I think the two together are very classy and make great masculine cards. Masculine cards seem to be a bit of a challenge for me.


Visit me again this week, because I have another card that I will be posting this week using only the colors Going Gray, Black, and White. Another great masculine looking card.

Tomorrow, however I have a card ready using some tools that my friend "the papercrafting fairy" (from a previous post) gave me. The tools are Ornare paper piercing template, piercing needle, and piercing mat. I also resurrected an old retired stamp set for this one too.

Blessings, Lisa