Sunflower Stamping!

Bella Rose Stationery Set

So here's yesterday's post - I just now got my pictures taken! Hmm... that means I still have nothing to post for Wednesday. Oh well! Many of you will recognize this set as a class project made by the very talented Andrea Walford. Andrea originally made this with last year's Afternoon Tea DSP, which I made and posted earlier. Today's is made with some beautiful Bella Rose paper for a friend to give to her Mom for Christmas. Here are a few pictures:

I just love this stationery holder. It's a really great gift to give, and can't wait to get it in the mail to my friend! I cannot share the dimensions or instructions, as it is a purchased kit. But I hope you enjoy the photos and that you get plenty of your own ideas. And I certainly hope you are making at least some of your gifts this year!

Take care!

Frosty Day DSP & Hedgies!

Oh, how I wish they had never retired the Hedgehogs!! I saw these in my Christmas collection and just had to get them out and dust them off. And just to pair the old with the new, I used Frosty Day DSP. Here's the result:

 

I started out to make a card for this week's SCS layout of the week, but decided I didn't like the other vertical stripe that was supposed to be added, so it's no longer this week's layout. I'm still feeling a bit, well, let's say just not-so-good, so I'm just gonna leave you with this, and its recipe.

Recipe -

Stamp sets: Holiday Hedgehogs *retired*

Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Frosty Day DSP

Inks: Basic Brown

Accessories: 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" punches, Blender Pen, striped grosgrain ribbon - Bashful Blue

I hope you're inspired!

A Kiwi Cardinal Christmas

Hello everyone! I think I'm back from the dead finally! I just had a bad cold, but it was a miserable one! I stamped yesterday's card and today's, and it's the first stamping I've done in a very long time! At least it seems like a very long time to me - I'm used to stamping every day!

So here's my card for you, using a set I haven't used much yet, and have not used this particular stamp at all yet:

 

The branch on my card is mistletoe, so the berries should really be whitish, but in the interest of time, I just made them green. :-) I wanted to make a Kiwi Kiss-colored card for Christmas, and this one ended up being monochromatic. All it is, is a base of Kiwi Kiss, with a Whisper White layer on top of that, and some Bella Rose DSP on top of that! The mistletoe and the sentiment are from the Cardinal Christmas stamp set, both stamped onto Whisper White. (The sentiment is stamped with Basic Grey) All I did after that was to add the button and ribbon, and it was done!

That's the best I can do for you today, until I'm a little more recovered than I am. At least I can keep my hands out of the tissue box for more than two minutes now! Take care and see you tomorrow!

My Holiday Collection Penguin!

I will add more to this post later... it was all I could do just to get the card made! I am feeling better, though - finally!

 

More soon!

Peaceful Wishes Again This Year

Here is a sweet card I CASEd for my "Quick Cards" Class this month. I found it here, and just love its simplicity, colors, and the splashy red bow.

 

Don't ya just love it?! I used Always Artichoke for the base cardstock, with Confetti Cream as the card front. All I did was to stamp the pine needles multiple times on the side of the card front, making sure one of them stuck out far enough to "hang" the pinecone on. Then I stamped the pinecone in Chocolate Chip, and the sentiment in Real Red. Next, tie a bow in Red Gingham ribbon, and attach it to the top of the pinecone with a mini glue dot. That's it! A very simple and very quick card that can easily be mass-produced!

Hope you enjoy and that it solves your "how do I make a bunch of Christmas cards that actually look good" dilemma!

Crazy For Cupcakes - yum yum!

I'm posting an unfinished card for you tonight, so you can tell me how to embellish it! Well, truth be told, I'm hungry and tired, and I'm going to bed before I venture into the kitchen and eat too much!

My BIG SISTER'S birthday is coming up in early December, so I took a stab at a birthday card for her. Of course I had to use the cupcakes!! And of course again, I had to use my new Nestabilities. This time, I decided to make the cupcakes chocolate, because my family is an m&m's family. See, my Dad worked for m&m's most of my growing up years, and all 6 of us kids have first names that start with 'm'. So this one's for Maureen!

 

I'm thinking of using the Level I hostess set 'Occasions Collection' for the embellishment. I'm thinking about using the 'Happy Birthday' sentiment, then punching it with the word window punch - if it fits - and hanging it from the central medallion like a tag. Not sure, though. I thought a pink bow would look cute, but couldn't make it work quite right. Maybe I'm just too tired.

Let me know your thoughts! Back tomorrow... I'll post the finished card whenever it's finished! It'll definitely be by early December so I can get it in the mail on time!

A Winter Post Holiday Collection Card!

I just finished up a Christmas card with -- to quote a song -- "two of my fav-o-rite things": the Winter Post stamp set and Ski Slope Designer Series Paper. Aaaaaaah. I just love them. I also really like the Holiday Collection stamp set, don't get me wrong, but I'm not in love with it. I admit to my affair with Winter Post and Ski Slope. I thought I'd never get over my breakup with Soft Sky last August, but these two definitely have me saying, "Soft Sky WHO??". And I've got the ultimate revenge: I'm TWO-TIMING Soft Sky! Sweet.

 

Well, this may be plain to you, but I just don't like distracting from my Ski Slope DSP! OK, really it's just that it's after midnight, and I'm trying to hurry and get to bed! So, having said that, I'll give you the recipe and head off to la-la land! Nitey night!

Recipe -

Stamp Sets: Holiday Collection, Winter Post

Cardstock: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Ski Slope DSP

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red

Accessories: 5/8" Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, Nestabilites oval die (shhhhhh - don't tell on me!! I'm a loyal Stampin' Up! Demonstrator!)

Ski Slope DSP Background on a Baja Breeze Christmas Card

For your viewing pleasure:

 

(shhhh! It's my first Nestabilities card!)

I think I love monochromatic cards just a little too much. Sorry if they bore you! For this one, I wanted to use a set from last year - actually, from the last Sellabration: 'So Many Scallops'. The other from last year is the little 'JOY' tag from the 'Perfect Presentation' set. I really just layered a bunch of scallops around the stamped image as a focal point, but then it still needed something, hence the hanging joy tag.

Here's the recipe:

Stamp Sets: So Many Scallops, 'Perfect Presentation

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Ski Slope DSP

Ink: Baja Breeze

Accessories: Scallop punch, Nestabilities circle and scalloped circle dies, Baja Breeze double-stitched ribbon

 

Country Living's Holiday Collection Stamp Set

Today's card is my submission for this week's SCS challenge #202. I like the way it turned out!

 

Both the large and the small snowflakes as well as the sentiment are from the Country Living Ornament Kit. The stamp set is called 'A Holiday Collection'. This is the first card I've made with this set, and I love, love love the way the snowflakes look done up with glitter! And I don't think I need to tell you how I feel about Ski Slope DSP and that cool brown felt ribbon! Yummy!

Here's the recipe:

Stamp Sets: A Holiday Collection (Available through Stampin' Up! in conjunction with Country Living Magazine as an ornament kit, which is very neat!)

Inks: Chocolate Chip, Versamark

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Ski Slope DSP

Accessories: Heat & Stick Powder, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter,Alpine Originals Brown Felt Ribbon

BTW - the 3 squares at the bottom are too large to have used the punches, so I just cut them to size (1-1/2")

Hope you like and that you are headed off to your stamp room or stamp place or stamp corner to stamp your heart out. Enjoy!

Home for Christmas (in November!)

Here's the next of my uncomplicated cards for my upcoming Christmas card classes. See, I'm trying to create some cards that don't require too many steps or supplies for mass production in classes.

You must know - right up front - that I've cheated. Yes, I've cheated on Stampin' Up!. There. I said it. This past weekend, I actually bought a Martha Stewart punch for a specific purpose (reindeer antlers for my tags class), and I've gone and used it on this card. I feel so cheap. I'm going to have to place a super huge order with SU! to try to overcome my guilt. Yeah, that's it! I'll do it!

OK, here it is; don't say I didn't warn you...

 

See it? It's the little evergreen branches on the ribbon. Let's just pretend it's not there, and it'll just be our little secret. Oh, the shame of it all.

Anyway, the background cardstock is Cuttlebugged with Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, then the ribbon is attached to the back of the white embossed piece. Next, I stamped the image in Riding Hood Red, and mounted it on Always Artichoke cardstock. The sentiment's adhered at the top, and the infamous branches are held on with mini glue dots, then further held in place with a Build-a-Brad. The Build-a-Brad's got Riding Hood Red cardstock in it, that was punched out with the 1/2" punch.  

The sentiment on the inside is stamped in red onto Whisper White cardstock.
Sorry the picture's fuzzy :-)

That's it! Hope you enjoyed it and got some inspiration of your own!

A Holiday Collection To You and Yours

Say what? What kind of title is that?

The 'Holiday Collection' is the stamp set that comes with the new Country Living Magazine ornament and gift tag kit that's available this month through Stampin' Up! and Country Living Magazine. And 'To You and Yours' is a serene, peaceful wintery set in the current SU! catalog. Pair the two, and you get "A HOLIDAY COLLECTION TO YOU & YOURS"!

Here's mine in Ballet Blue:

 

*ALERT!*  *ALERT!* *NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!!!*

Avert your eyes if you are as picky as I am about things being JUST SO, then PLEASE DO NOT LOOK AT THE CROOKED GREETING AT THE TOP OF THE CARD!! I DO apologize; I don't know what I was doing. And I don't know what I was thinking, just letting it slide and using it anyway! Geez. I think the reason it's crooked (here comes an excuse... wait for it; yep: here it is) is because I only inked up the top part of the stamp, and left the "peace joy love" off. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

So I finally got to use my chunky glitter, and it is definitely chunky! It's like very thick snow, or maybe even an ice storm. My favorite ribbon is the 5/8" grosgrain, so I chose a color to stamp with that had coordinating ribbon. I adhered it with the Tombow glue, which made it thick and more dimensional than finer glitter.

I'd like to thank the creative person whose card I sorta CASEd; I think it was Mercedes, who put the greeting below the picture of the house in the punched oval. I love the look.

Here's the recipe -

Stamp Sets: To You & Yours, Holiday Collection

Cardstock: Ballet Blue, Whisper White

Ink: Ballet Blue

Accessories:  Ballet Blue 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, Stampin' Glitter Chunky Essentials, sponge, Tombow Glue, medium oval punch, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder

Hope you enjoy!

To You & Yours New Christmas Set

Before posting today's card, I just want to tell you that I will post the winner of my mini giveaway later today, along with the directions for yesterday's cards & magazine card holder.

I tried my new set tonight for the first time. It's called 'To You & Yours', and it's got two images and 4 different sentiments. I made a quick card with it, so I kept it simple. A little too simple, I think! Anyway, here it is:

 

The dove is so wispy and graceful that it was just crying out for glitter!

 

I'm not sure if brown is much of a Christmasy color, but I wanted the card to be subdued. In keeping with that, I stamped off the dove before stamping the image I used (in Chocoate Chip), as well as the sentiment. The glitter was added by drawing the lines with my 2-way glue pen, then dousing it in Dazzling Diamonds. YES - I USED GLITTER ON A CARD AGAIN!! And speaking of which, I got somee of the chunky glitter in an order yesterday, and it looks so gorgeous in the jar that I can't wait to use it! I wish I'd had it for Halloween, because the black is really neat looking. The red is gorgeous! The reason I got it was for the clear, which looks very snow-like to me.

Let me know if the brown is all wrong for a holiday card; Also, is it too "wedding-y"?? I'm curious to know if I just have weird taste!

Here's the recipe - 

Stamp Sets: To You & Yours

Ink: Chocolate Chip 

Cardstock: Very Vanilla

Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, 2-way Glue Pen, Large and medium oval punches, 5/8" Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, hemp twine, sponge, Cuttlebug embossing folders: Swiss Dots & Textile Texture 

Season of Friendship Cards and Magazine Holder

Boy, I'm in the doghouse for posting this so late, aren't I?!! Well, hopefully it won't disappoint!

Here's my magazine holder and cards made with my new Season of Friendship set:

 

Cute, huh? I adapted a mini magazine holder to regular 4-1/4 x 5-1/2" cards. I made a couple of cards to go inside, CASEing a few from online... sorry, I can't remember from where at the moment. (I'm in such a hurry to get this thing posted finally!) The magazine holder would look really cute with the bottom covered in DSP, then more on the cards to match. However, I was trying to keep these cards and the holder simple and with fewer supplies because it's for one of my Christmas classes.

 

I stamped the envelopes to make this more "gifty" (!) and because they will be seen while in the holder. I'll probably offer my stampers the option to make this quick-and-easy version, or one with two of each cards. They are pretty stamping-intensive, simply because you have to ink, cleanup, then re-ink with other colors quite frequently, due to all the leaves on the cards, holder and the envelopes.

I think it's  a reallly neat, colorful - and simple - project. Once I figured out the dimensions of the holder, it was really simple to put everything together. I'll come back and add the dimensions and instructions for the holder tomorrow; first, I've got to make some adjustments to this one, as it was the first try, and therefore not perfect! I'll also add instructions for the cards (which, by the way, are landscape, which doesn't seem to show up in the picture.)

Hope you like!

OK - here we go with the particulars I promised:

Recipe -

Stamp sets: Season of Friendship, Level I hostess set Best Yet

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun

Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Whisper White

Accessories: Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Riding Hood Red, & Baja Breeze striped grosgrain ribbon, hemp twine, Whisper White medium envelopes, Circle punches: 3/4", 1", 1- 1-3/8", 1-3/4"; magazine holder template

You know what? I'll never get through a how-to without visual aids.It would be like trying to teach someone how to tie their shoes without being able to show them.

For a tutorial with pictures, click here.

Ski Slope DSP and Oversize Snowflake

Remember the Oversize Snowflake set? I still don't understand why it was so short-lived, because it is so great. And I found it's even greater when you add GLITTER!!!

So here's my winter card for you today:

 

If you're a regular, you may have noticed that I don't use glitter much. I've always had an aversion to glittery carpets, hands, face, clothes, etc., so I just don't use it even if my card would look much better with it. Well, I've broken out the glitter a few times the past week, and I've now decided that it's really not so bad after all! For this card, I used my Heat and Stick powder to adhere the glitter, and it really holds the glitter on nicely.

So, to make this card, I first layered Baja Breeze cardstock onto the Chocolate Chip card base, and added the Ski Slope DSP. Next I stamped the snowflake onto Whisper White cardstock using Versamark ink, and sprinkled the Heat and Stick powder onto it. After tapping off the excess just as you do with embossing powder, I used the heat gun to heat the powder just until it melted a bit. Be careful not to overheat it. Working quickly, I then sprinkled on the glitter and tapped off the extra. Here's where the messy part comes in: when you use your heat gun to set the Heat and Stick, you will find that you blow glitter everywhere. Don't worry, though, as plenty will remain on your card. Now heat it just enough to "set" the Heat & Stick to hold the glitter onto the card. I used the same process with the "Winter Wishes" sentiment below the snowflake.

I wanted to see through the snowflake to the DSP, so I took my paper snips and cut out most of the detail. Notice that I left the parts in the very center. That's because I was afraid I'd ruin it by trying to poke a hole through and cutting in those tiny areas. Next I took a pretty Baja Breeze Small Felt Flurry Snowflake and stuck it in the big empty spot that was left on the card!

That's it! Hope this is a nice break from all the Halloween stuff I've been posting lately! I may have one more Halloween card, but since Halloween's so close now, that may be it!

Enjoy! Go stamp!

Tableau of Terror in the Mother of all Halloween Cards!

I AM SO EXCITED TO SHOW YOU THIS HALLOWEEN CARD!!

Remember when I posted my black embossed Halloween cards and I told you that I was trying to outdo my friend Jeanne's really neat Halloween cards? I had wanted to post a few of her cards to show you, but I couldn't find them. Well, I ran across them yesterday, hiding in one of my bins of Christmas stamps (go figure), and I decided to attempt to duplicate her cool spidery, spooky door card. I changed up the inside because I thought the Tableau of Terror "ghouls" would be perfect for mine. I'm sure Jeanne would have done the same thing, had the set been out when she made hers! Besides, she had cute pumpkins inside hers, and I didn't have that set! :-)

So here is my masterpiece! (Just go with me on this; I'm just LOVING it!)

 

Even if you don't think so, just tell me you love it!!

Jeanne's original card had this purple door on a black background with black embossed spiders all over it. Then she very cleverly added some white spider web-looking stuff that just added to the creepiness perfectly. I tried to recreate her creaky old door by stamping it first with the Sanded background stamp in Lovely Lilac, then the old Crackled or whatever-it-was-called B/G stamp in Basic Grey. I used Hodgepodge Hardware for the hinges, door handle, and door knocker. And I hope it looks like a door knocker; not real sure about that.     

Anyway, I just think the colors and the black embossing look great! I cut the window with my Craft Knife, through the purple, green, and black base card layers, so you could see the zombies through the peephole. The green Galore layer has direct-to-paper ink on it to help raise the creepiness factor.

The inside is just the Tableau of Terror motley crew, trick-or-treating at the door. I colored them on watercolor paper with a Blender Pen and stamp pad lids. The white "Happy Halloween" is from the Chills & Thrills Rub-ons.

 

The teeny little 'Happy Halloween' here at the bottom is from a retired label set that has a black cat arching his back above the words. It's made for the Round Tab punch, so after I punched it out, I cut off the cat part. (That was before I realized I still had some white Thrills & Chills rub-ons left!)

Well, OK, it's not the most beautiful, spooky Halloween card EVER, but it's pretty cool! :-) Thanks Jeanne, for the inspiration! I hope I did your card justice!

Here's the recipe -

Stamp Sets: Tableau of Terror, Best Fiends, Crackled & Sanded Background stamps

Cardstock: Basic Black, Lovely Lilac, Green Galore, Only Orange, watercolor paper, Going Grey, Basic Grey, Sahara Sand

Ink: Basic Balck, Lovely Lilac, Green Galore, Basic Grey, Versamark

Accessories: Black embossing powder, Hobby Blade, *retired Hodgepodge Hardware*, Black Hemp Twine, Vintage Brads, little red shiny iron-on thingies, Photo Corner Punch, Chills & Thrills Rub-Ons, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals, Blender Pen, Markers:  Lovely Lilac, Green Galore, Only Orange,Real Red, Close to Cocoa, Yoyo Yellow

Hope you're inspired! Only a few more days to make your Halloween stuff!

Scandinavian Season & Ski Slope Designer Series Paper

Wow - it's already Friday!! See, that's what you say when you're looking for a job; but when you've got a job, you say, "wow - it's finally Friday!" But I digress...

     

Here's my card for today! I won't bore you with my usual ramblings about how much I love the Ski Slope DSP, so today I'll rave about the Scandinavian Season stamp set. Isn't it just the neatest thing?!

For this card, I heat embossed the tree image with clear detailed embossing powder. I did that on another card I'd made using the tree from this set, so I must really like the look! The sentiment is from a retired set of tags sized for punches, that I punched out with the 1" circle punch. I think the rest is fairly obvious or self-explanatory, so I'll just leave you with this beautiful card!

Have a wonderful weekend - get out and enjoy the weather if it's still Fall-like in your area! I think it's supposed to rain here my part of GA, so maybe I'll just have to stamp all weekend... yay!

Lovely As a Tree (Believe it or not, it's NOT retired!)

My card for today is an oldie but a goody. And still current, after all these years! My set says 2001, and it's still going strong!

 

 

I hope my trees turned out icy, cold, and wintery looking, because that's what I was aiming for. In fact, I was going to put a "Warmest Wishes" sentiment on it, but I really need a card to send to a friend in Houston, so 'Thinking of You' won out instead!

To make my trees look icy, I started with watercolor paper, and inked up my stamp with Baja Breeze ink. Then I took a tissue and dabbed the ink off the tree trunks and grass, then sponged on some Chocolate Chip in its place. I then took a fine mist water sprayer and sprayed them quite a few times. Since the mist was very fine and I was using watercolor paper, it actually took quite a few spritzes to get the ink to soften and start running. As soon as it did, I blotted the entire image with a tissue, and I ended up with the soft image above.

Next, I used a sponge dauber to add some Versamark ink to the tree tops, sprinkled on Heat and Stick powder, heated it just until it glistened, dumped on some Irridescent Ice glitter, tapped off the excess and heated it again. Whew - that was one run-on sentence! Then I thought there was too much glitter covering my trees, so I brushed off a bunch, and voila! Fourteen easy steps and you're done! :-)

After that, I just layered it onto cardstock & DSP using the two colors used on the trees, Chocolate Chip & Baja Breeze, and jazzed it up a bit.

Recipe -

Stamp Sets: Lovely As a Tree, Sincere Salutations

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, watercolor paper, Urban Garden DSP

Ink: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Versamark

Accessories: Irridescent Ice Glitter, Heat & Stick Powder, sponge dauber, Vintage Brads, 5/8" grosgrain ribbon,Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Dimensionals

Hope you like it - now go forth and COPY!!

Heard From the Heart, Winter Post, & Old Saint Nick Rub-Ons AGAIN!

OK, so better late than never, I'm back with my updated card. (Scroll down & you'll see this card. I posted it earlier, before I'd finished it. This is the finished version.)

Let me just say this: Some things just can't be undone. Unfortunately, there are some things I'd LIKE to un-do, like what I did to my poor card! A picture's worth a thousand words, so here goes:

 

It's different, and I like it, but since I captured before photos, I see how much I like the before better!

 

I do like the crackled skaters - I think they turned out great. I tried to make them look like a gift tag using the rope twine, and I think that's the part I don't like. It's just a bit too overwhelming for the small card. 

 

By the way, the only rub-on I used is the postage stamp. Wish it was a stamp!

So basically, the changes I made were to sponge the edges of the top kraft layer, spritz the card front with the Color Spritzer tool and a Chocolate Chip marker, heat emboss the front of the skaters & crackle it*, and add the brown felt ribbon & the rope twine.

*Directions for the Cracked Glass technique:

1. Cover the entire piece with Versamark ink by applying the pad directly to the cardstock. To do this, place the cardstock on the table, invert your Versamark ink pad and simply dab the pad all over the piece until it's covered in Versamark ink.
    

2. Next, sprinkle on Glassy Glaze embossing powder and heat with heat gun. Be careful, because the heat gun will blow the Glassy Glaze all over because the pieces are so large.

3. Working quickly, repeat this process 2 more times, so that you've got 3 layers of Glassy Glaze built up.

4. Now place your cardstock in the freezer until you are able to crack the embossing like glass upon removal, usually about 5 minutes. By this I mean that you are going to take the finished piece and snap it in different places until you break the glaze and achieve the look you like. If your cardstock bends instead of snapping and cracking, return it to the freezer for a few more minutes. 

Recipe -

Stamp sets: Winter Post, Heard From the Heart

Cardstock: Kraft, Elegant Eggplant

Ink: Basic Brown

Accessories: Alpine Ribbon Originals - brown felt, Wide Striped Grosgrain Ribbon - Riding Hood Red, Rope Twine, Old Saint Nick Rub-Ons (ALL FROM THE HOLIDAY MINI CATALOG!), sponges, Glassy Glaze Clear embossing powder, Chocolate Chip marker, Stampin' Chalks, Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots

Winter Post, Heard From the Heart, & Old Saint Nick Rub-Ons

Happy Wednesday to you!

I'm going to share with you my un-finished card so that I have something to post today!

 

 

 

I'm always trying to throw a card together around midnight, so I'm just too tired to finish this, photograph it, download it, then post it, so here's my half-naked card.

I'll re-post the finished card later today (Wednesday), but I've still got to touch it up a bit. I forgot to distress - well, sponge - the edges of the top layer, and add some details to add just the right UMPH to the card. And now that I see it put together, I wish I'd crackled the skaters. (You know, use glassy glaze to make it cracked glass? I call it "crackled".) BTW: I love that reindeer... I just had to fit him in somewhere, so the inside's as good as anything, right? Later!

Eat, Drink & Be Scary in the House of Haunts!

I've got a couple of 4x4 Halloween cards for you today!
 

 I wanted to use some of my Ghostly Greetings DSP scraps to make a few more little Halloween cards. Since I only used little pieces, most of the base cardstock was going to show. I thought it looked rather plain, so to spice it up, I ran it through my Cuttlebug with my Houndstooth embossing folder.

For the black card, I cut a strip of the cute pumpkins from the DSP, then inked up the Eat, Drink & Be Scary stamp with the black Stampin' Memories Writer so that I could leave out the dotted line around the words. My intent was to have it look like a picture hanging from a picture wire. It's kinda hard to see the houndstooth embossing in the photo, but it looks pretty cool in person.

The orange card is my House of Haunts card. I used Pumpkin Pie cardstock so it would match the DSP and so that I could use the marker to ink up the pumpkin stamp. The pumpkin top is done with the Old Olive marker.

Recipe -

Stamp sets: House of Haunts, Eat, Drink & Be Scary

Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Whisper White, Ghostly Greetings DSP

Ink: Basic Black

Accessories: Pumpkin Pie marker, Old Olive marker, 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" square punches, Designer Label punch, large oval punch, Vintage Brads, black gingham ribbon, pumpkin pie grosgrain striped ribbon, Dimensionals

Hope you enjoyed these!

Ski Slope Designer Series Paper and a Retired Christmas Set (Oh no - not that!)

Well, I hate to do this to you, but I dug out a retired set to use for today's card. Yep. I just don't have enought current holiday sets this year. Now that Stampin' Up! has gone to a 2-catalog-per-year system, they've retired so many sets that I'm coming up short this holiday season. (And oh boy, do I have a lot of retired winter and Christmas sets!!) Anyway, I wanted to use my new Ski Slope DSP again so that I could use the pattern that I really love. So here it is:

The stamp set is from 2005, called Reindeer Print. Wish I hadn't put the large eyelet and rhinestone brad there, but it just needed something, and unfortunately, the "something" I added can't be undone!

Anyway, it's basically just a bunch of layered squares and rectangles. The circles are the only things punched instead of being cut. I used the 1" and 1-1/4" circle punches for those. Everything's SNAILed except for the reindeer and circles, which are popped up with Dimensionals. The Jumbo Eyelet has a Designer rhinestone brad through the center, simply because the hole looked funny to me!

I wish this set had not retired, as I love the style.

This is my second card made with the set and the DSP. The one thing I won't be able to do is to put it into an envelope and mail it, because I made the banner too high to fit into an envelope! 

   

On this one, I punched the front edge of the white cardbase, then added a strip of red cardstock to the inside edge behind it so that the scallops would stand out. At first I thought I liked the reindeer in Baja Breeze better, but now I like it in Riding Hood Red the best!

Recipes -

Stamp Sets: Reindeer Prints *Retired*

Cardstock: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Ski Slope DSP

Inks: Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze

Accessories: Hemp thread, Jumbo Eyelets, Designer Brads, 1" & 1-1/4" circle punches, scallop edge punch, Riding Hood Red striped grosgrain ribbon, Baja Breeze 1" grosgrain ribbon, Dimensionals

Hope you enjoyed my cards today!

Autumn Harvest Thanksgiving Card

Happy Tuesday! I've posted a lot of Halloween cards and projects, and a bunch of Christmas cards, but I haven't gotten a lot of Fall or Thanksgiving cards. So, on that note, I give you my Fall leaves/Autumn Harvest pumpkins/Happy T'giving card:

 

 I've really taken a liking to watercoloring lately. I think maybe I'm getting more practice, and that's making me like the results more and more. So the whole card was designed around the watercolored pumpkins, which were masked. That's layered onto some Tangerine Tango cardstock, then onto a piece of Urban Garden DSP. The base cardstock is Kiwi Kiss. Since it's bumped up on Dimensionals, I looped the ribbon around the focal point layer. The 'Happy' and 'Thanksgiving' words are stamped in Black Stazon onto watercolor paper just because I wanted the papers to match. I also like the texture of watercolor paper. The only "oops" on this card is that I wish I'd moved the pumpkins to the left more so that the ribbon didn't hide the little pumpkin on the right side.

I think all the punches and colors are either listed or obvious, so I won't list the ingredients. If you've got questions, just email me or leave a comment!

Hope you're inspired & in the mood for Fall! (Unless you're in Houston where it's still summer, or BILLINGS, MONTANA, where they just had SNOW!!

Mr. Twigster Gets Into a Snowball Fight!

Click here for my Mr. Twigster snowball fight card if it is not pictured below!

I know I'm late posting - what's up with that??! I was late Saturday, early Sunday, then forgot on Monday! I'm about to be fired! I was working on a card last night with Mr. Twigster having a snowball fight with his snowman friends, but didn't finish. Besides, it just wan't good enough to post on its own, so I really need another card or 2 to post along with it. I've got so much going on today that I haven't had the time to get back to Mr. Twigster, so it'll be a bit longer. By tonight, I promise! I don't want you to fire me! :-)

Back soon with new cards! No, really!

Block Party & Winter Post Card

I used a retired stamp set for today's card because I had bought it just before it retired last August and have never used it. "It" is 'Block Party', and I just love it - especially the holiday stamp. I thought it would look good done in Baja Breeze.

 

As you can see, it's a simple card - I seem to like the simple ones! I was going to add something to the front, but nothing looked quite right, so I left it alone. The large snowflake stamp in the background is from Winter Post, and the wording on the inside is from A Cardinal Christmas. I thought the felt flurry on the inside of the card looked pretty neat! :-)

Hope you're inspired... and that you're getting in the mood to make your Christmas cards ahead of the busy season! Stop back for more ideas!

Another Card Using the Beautiful Set 'Winter Post'

I've got a pretty card for you today! It's bright red with that really pretty red striped grosgrain ribbon. I love how Real Red and the red striped grosgrain ribbon go together; they just really show each other off nicely.

 

Hmm... well, I don't think this photo does my pretty card much justice. It really is striking in person. I guess it's because in person you can see the inside and back, which are all red. But I do like the way the embossing in the background looks like snow, don't you? I've told you before how much I love each and every stamp in the Winter Post set. Well, these two are definitely 2 of my favorites. Along with the skating couple, the "Do Not Open..." stamp, and the two postage stamps. Oh - and the "to/from" stamp. Oh, gosh - that's ALL of them. hee hee. Yep - they're ALL my favorites!!

Here are the particulars: The cardstock (Real Red) is cut to a 6-5/8" x 6-3/4" [almost] square, then folded in half so that it's 6-5/8" x 3-3/8". Why the odd size? Because it then fits perfectly into the small open-end envelopes! Next, I cut a piece of Whisper White cardstock to fit the front, and ran it through the Cuttlebug twice, since it was too long to emboss the entire piece in one shot. (After running it through the second time, I had to put the cardstock back into the embossing folder, [lining up the dots, that is] then "pop" out some of the dots that had gotten squished when it went through the Cuttlebug the second time. See, if you look at the bottom of the embossing folders, the design doesn't go all the way to the bottom, so when you turn the cardstock around, that flat bottom area will smoosh the earlier embossing. I hope this makes sense.) 

OK - so after embossing the front piece and adhereing it to the card, I simply cut out 3 Whisper White squares, 1-1/2"x1-1/2". I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to center the snow flakes and the reindeer. At first, I had off-centered the snow flakes, which is an effect I like, but in this case, the squares were too small, and didn't look right. I matted the stamped squares onto more Real Red, then attached them with Dimensionals. Some people might put the ribbon behind the dotted white front piece, which is also nice, but I really do like the striped ribbon against the bright red cardstock!

Lotsa talk, only one picture - somehow that's not quite fair, is it??! Sorry! Hope you enjoyed it anyway!

A Cardinal Christmas

I hope your weekend was a good one! We had absolutely glorious weather here in northeast Georgia! I got some Halloween decorations put up outside - I figured if my neighbor was putting hers up, that I could too! I have a dead tree that I draped in orange lights, so it's a natural spooky tree!

So, have I shown you any cards using 'A Cardinal Christmas' yet? I don't think so, so here's my first.

 

I love Cardinals, so I just had to have this set. I've been trying to watercolor it, but haven't been able to get it done where it's good enough to share. For this one, I colored directly onto the stamp with Real Red and Always Artichoke markers.

The background is a Cuttlebug embossing folder called Holly. I like the simplicity of this card; it's clean and the bright red ribbon just adds the perfect touch. At the last minute, I decided to add "Merry Christmas" at the very bottom. I didn't want to matte it and layer it on top of the holly pattern, because I think too much of the holly is already hidden by the cardinal. So, I stamped it on the smooth part at the bottom, and I think it works perfectly!

Recipe -

Stamp Sets: A Cardinal Christmas *NEW* Item #111760 $23.95

Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Whisper White

Inks: Real Red & Always Artichoke Markers

Accessories: Real Red 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder 'Holly', Dimensionals

I hope I've got you thinking about your Christmas cards for this year! Enjoy!

Another Winter Post with Ski Slope DSP

How about another card for today? It'll make up for not having one Wednesday! I got my inspiration from a beautiful card by the very talented Cindy Lawrence, which you can go see here. I just love the way she showcased how beautiful the new Ski Slope DSP is in her card. I started to case the SU! parts of her card, but used the paper pieces I had, so mine turned out a little different. Then of course, I used Stampin' Up! stamps with mine: Winter Post, which I just LOVE.

 

At first I was going to use the tree stamp from the 'Scandinavian Season' set, but I didn't want to hide that much of the beautiful paper, so I looked for a smaller stamp to use. I colored the couple with a Blender Pen and the ink in the lids of my ink pads. I think I do much better on watercolor paper, but I wanted the paper to be white, which the watercolor paper is not. The phrase is from the Level I hostess set, 'Best Yet'.

That's it - that's the whole card. Just a bunch of layers to show off the DSP, with two tiny little flashes of embellishments.

Recipe -

Stamp Sets: Winter Post *NEW* Item # 111780 $26.95, Level I hostess set 'Best Yet' *Earn yours by placing a $150 order or by hosting a $150 workshop!

Cardstock: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Ski Slope Designer Series Paper *NEW* Item #112994 $9.95

Inks: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze

Accessories: Chocolate Chip 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Brads, Paper Piercing Tools, Dimensionals

Hope you enjoyed my cards today!

SU! Holiday Mini Catalog Sneak Peek: 'Home for Christmas' stamp set

I'm so very excited to show you a card I've made with one of the new Christmas sets coming out in TWO DAYS when the Holiday Mini Catalog arrives!! It uses the set called 'Home for Christmas', and is an old-fashioned picture stamp with 2 phrase stamps.

 

OK - admittedly, I just threw this card together tonight while watching tv, but I like it!

The picture was painted onto watercolor paper using Aqua Painters. Notice the little red shiny things on the garland? Yeah, I decided to spice up the card a bit by using these tiny little... I'm not even sure what to call them, but I bought them for my Halloween cards. (Remember my heat embossed cards from a few days ago? Well, not only do the vampires have bright, shiny eyes, but now I've added red eyes to the spiders on the insides of the cards!)

Anyway, here's a closeup of the red things.

 

And the stamped inside looks like this: 

Recipe -

Stamp Sets: Home for Christmas *COMING OUT ON OCT 1 IN THE HOLIDAY MINI CATALOG

Ink: Basic Brown, Always Artichoke, Real Red, Close to Cocoa, Basic Greay, Going Grey

Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Real Red, Watercolor Paper

Accessories: Real REd 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals, Paper Piercing Tools, little shiny red things that you buy to iron onto clothing (how's that for a description?!)

Hope you've enjoyed this sneak peek! Stop back by on Wednesday to see the Holiday Mini Catalog on my blog!

Spooktacular Heat-Embossed Halloween Cards

Well, since I've posted Halloween projects all week, I just HAD to post one more to close out the week!

I have a friend in Houston who makes the neatest Halloween cards (which I looked all over for to post  here to show you, but they've vanished into thin air), so I wanted to try to make one for her that she will think is neat! Not sure if I've done so, but here's hoping!

 

I made 3 cards: one Lovely Lilac, one Green Galore, and one Only orange. The front focal piece is clear-embossed onto black cardstock, so it's not real easy to photograph. The edges of the black cardstock were too severe, so I used a sponge dauber to ink them up with Versmark ink and heat embossed them with lear detail embossed powder.

I used some old, some new Halloween sets, but the focal points are from House of Haunts; the greeting is from Tableau of Terror, and the side images are from last season's Best Fiends. The guys in the frame and the greeting are all embossed with black embossing powder. As for the inside...

 

...I colored the trick-or-treaters with re-inkers and aqua painters, but then decided they were too washed out, so I took a Blender Pen and loaded it by holding it to markers and colored over my painting. Oh - and it's on water color paper. The spidey next to them is also heat embossed with black embossing powder.

 

Although it's not nearly as cool as the cards Jeanne makes for Halloween, it IS kinda spooky looking in person! I'll have to work on it a bit more, and also look again for her cards to post for you. I really want to find the one she made that's a creepy, spooky door with a spider web on it, but I can't remember what was inside. Now it's gonna drive me NUTS until I find it! OOH! I already know what I"m going to do to improve it some: I'm going to tear the bottom front of the card, then ink it up with Versamark, and emboss it as well. That'll give it a bit more of a spooky feel, I think.

Later!

More Halloween Projects Using Autumn Harvest, Eat, Drink & Be Scary (SNEAK PEAK!), and Ghostly Greetings DSP, AND THE CUTEST LITTLE MUMMY TREAT BAG EVER!!!

Here are my second Halloween class projects:

 

Cute, huh?! I fell in love with the box-in-bags when I made some with the Bella Rose DSP, so of course I had to make some with 'Ghostly Greetings' DSP. I used the 2 pumpkins from 'Autumn Harvest' a lot because they are just SO CUTE and SO HAPPY! I gave them the witch's hat from 'Eat, Drink & Be Scary' because I think I saw it on someone's website, but I honestly can't remember now. I know I got the green hatband idea from the picture in the mini catalog! Which reminds me: you'll be able to order this and many more CUTE, CUTE, C-U-T-E sets NEXT WEDNESDAY, OCT 1st!!!!

The stamps I used that are from the new set 'Eat, Drink, & Be Scary' include the tag of the same name on the black skull bag, the witch's hat, the tiny little spider whose web says "happy fright night to you", and also the definition of Halloween on the green card. You can't really tell, but the paper on the cards is a black and grey pinstriped Halloween DSP. It's really cool looking. I sponged the pumpkins on the envelopes just as a finishing touch. As you can see, they're wider than the cards. That's because I made the cards 4x4, but you can still use regular envelopes; they're just a bit wider, but work just fine. I was going to cut them down and use  the Ghostly Greetings DSP as lining, but didn't want my class to be too long. :-)

Now let's talk about my FAVORITE: My MUMMY!!!!!

   

Is he the cutest little guy, OR WHAT??!!! He's out on a few websites, but when I went to trace him back to where I originally found him, I couldn't find him again! I'll look more and edit this post to thank his clever creator. All he is, is a few strips of Whisper White cardstock, distressed with the distressing tool, then sponged with Creamy Caramel ink. Did I say how cute I think he is?? Unbelieveably cute. He'd be adorable as a candy treat holder or a notecard holder. Man, I just love him!

OK - gotta get some sleep! Keep stamping, and let me know if you want directions for my MUMMY!

Ghostly Greetings DSP, Chills & Thrills Rub-ons, Autumn Harvest, Tableau of Terror, House of Haunts, and Eat, Drink & Be Scary... It'sTime to Prepare for Halloween!

Well, it's FINALLY gotten just a little bit cooler here in Northeast Georgia, so I'm ready to start sharing some of my Halloween creations with you! Here are my first three projects:

This year, I got the CUTEST Halloween stuff from Stampin' Up!. Have you seen the new Chills & Thrills rub-ons? They are so great, and I've been using them on all sorts of things! (which of course, I'll be sharing with you...!) As a matter of fact, the little coffin-shaped candy box is decorated with rub-ons only - no stamping!

 

I used the medium oval punch on Whisper White cardstock, then rubbed on the words "Danger: Keep Out". I framed that in black with the Designer Label Punch, then layered that on Kiwi Kiss cardstock punched from the large oval punch. Before I assembled the box, I rubbed on the cauldron and the xoxo skulls. I put the box together with sticky tape, and wrapped the outside with a piece of black gingham ribbon. Cute!

 

This adorable little card is made with my favorite TEXTURED CARDSTOCK. If you haven't tried it yet, you don't know what you're missing! It really gives a professional appearance to your cards and scrapbooks.

The cute little row of pumpkins and the saying, "The littlest pumpkins have the biggest grins" is another rub-on from Chills & Thrills. The cute Tangerine Tango pumpkin was stamped with the Autumn Harvest stamp set. That set is so versatile. You can use it for Fall cards or make it "cutesy" for Halloween. I think it makes the happiest little pumpkins! His hat is from a new set you have not seen yet!! It is called 'Eat, Drink, & Be Scary', and can be found in the upcoming Holiday mini catalog. It contains 5 stamps, one of which is the cool witch's hat, to which I added the Kiwi Kiss band and gold brad. Adorable!

Last, but not least is my Halloween pop-up card.

 

I consider it a first draft that needs a slight do-over. I originally used the orange DSP with bats as the background, but when it fell over and I saw this side, I thought it looked even better with the gravestones. The spider web is on the paper, and I stamped the haunted house from the 'House of Haunts' set. Funny how it ended up looking like the spider web is coming out of the ghost's head!! lol

I looked everywhere for my tiny alphabet stamps so I could stamp R.I.P. on the headstones, but couldn't find them, so I dipped into last year's retired set, 'Spooktacular Greetings'. I used the grave stamp to add the RIP by inking up only that part of the stamp, and leaving the pumkins uninked. Of course, you can see that the gravestones are made with the large and small tag punches. I sponged them with black ink, then did some direct-to-paper to make them look "creepier". Then, as long as I had the retired set out already, I went ahead and used the ghost to coem floating up from behind one of the grave markers.

The green "grass" in the cemetary is a little too barren for me, but in person, the 'Have a Spooktacular Halloween' shows up well. It's from the 'Tableau of Terror' set. That makes, what - FIVE different Halloween stamp sets, a set of rub-ons, AND some Halloween Designer Series Paper?? I just LOVE having a variety to choose from when I'm creating!! :-)

Here's the beautiful Halloween DSP, Ghostly Greetings. It's on page 172 of the catalog, Item #112463, $9.95. It's a great variety of different Halloween "looks". Love it!

More tomorrow - you can start getting ready for Halloween now that I've given you some inspiration!

Kind Thoughts, Punches Three, and All Scallops Stamp Sets

It seemed like a good time to use my favorite new In-Color, Baja Breeze. I've had nothing but Bella Rose DSP and Halloween colors on the brain - which I love, but it was a good time to break away for a day at least!

 

I earned the Level I hostess set Punches Three about a month ago, and have yet to use it, so that's about when I decided that it HAD to be Baja Breeze. (See, if you look close,you'll see it says "True BLUE Friend"haha.) Then I went looking for something that went with the pattern in the background of the stamp, and I found my old friend, Kind Thoughts. I got to use my new square scallop punch, then mounted it in the middle of the background design with Dimensionals. I used the distressing tool to "scuff up" the edges of the Whisper White cardstock, and sponged the edges. I also used the direct-to-paper technique on the Baja Breeze matte the white cardstock's layered onto.

Once I'd decided on the basic layout and had chosen the wide double-stitched ribbon to go at the bottom, it hit me: SCALLOPS! The card was just screaming for scallops. I love to add white scallops with some sort of punched holes or stamping that makes it look a bit like eyelet lace edging. In this case, I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig with my All Scallops set to add the cute blue designs to the scallops. I also used the Scallop Edge Punch to punch the Baja Breeze cardbase that layers over the white scallops, then pierced them to add more detail.

Recipe -

Stamp Sets:


 
Kind Thoughts, page 124 2008 Fall/Winter Catalog

 

All Scallops, page 126

Punches Three - Level I hostess set

Cardstock: Whisper White, Baja Breeze

Ink: Baja Breeze

Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Square Scallop Punch, Distressing Tool, Paper Piercing Tools, Stamp-a-ma-jig, 1" Baja Breeze Double-Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon

Gotta have anything?? Place your order with me by going to www.melinda.stampinup.net and click on 'Order Now' in the upper right corner.

Bella Rose Designer Series Paper

I've got a great card coming for you that uses Bella Rose DSP, and only ONE STAMP! Will post around NOON, so hang on!

OK - so it's a little later than noon. First I had to "touch up" yesterday's post; it's the perfectionist in me. I took my card photos, even cleaned them up a bit in Photoshop, then nearly finished my post, when BOOM (or should I say, "BAM!") - it was GONE. So now I'm back to the beginning.

Here's my Kiwi Kiss/Bella Rose card for today:

 

It's mainly a lot of detailed cutting with paper snips. *I HIGHLY RECOMMEND STAMPIN' UP!'S PAPER SNIPS - THEY ARE THE BEST!!*  

I cut out multiple pieces of the main rose on the Bells Rose DSP in graduating sizes, then just stacked them with Dimensionals. The rest of the pieces were attached with my Xyron because they were so detailed and fragile. 

The 'Thanks' stamp is a retired one (sorry!) that I punched with the Designer Label Punch (my personal fav!) I added a few rose buds and some leaves, and attached them with Dimensionals on top of some Kiwi Kiss Striped Grosgrain Ribbon.

A few brads line the top where there was an empty spot that just needed SOMETHING.

Isn't the Bella Rose paper just beautiful? To order, please go to my Stampin' Up! website, www.melinda.stampinup.net and click on 'Order Now' in the upper right corner.

Bella Rose Designer Series Paper - page 170 Stampin' Up! 2008 Fall/Winter Catalog

 

I hope you're inspired! Sorry for the late post!

*Edited to add: Actually, the word 'Thanks' in this card is from the 'Live Your Dreams' stamp set. It's the stamp used BEHIND the word that's a retired stamp. Just wanted to clarify!

Inspired By Nature Stamp Set

I AM SO LUCKY!! Look at the beautiful card I got in the mail!

 

This gorgeous masterpiece was made with the new set 'Inspired By Nature' using 2 of the new In-Colors, Pacific Point and Kiwi Kiss. I love the way the top layer of white cardstock is inked up with Pacific Point on all the edges. The different shades of color on the flowers is realistic looking, isn't it? (Be sure to click on the photo to see it better!) Love that silver Hodgepodge Hardware, too!

Thank you so much for the beautiful surprise, Tracy! I love it!

More Scallop Punch-ed Flowers!

I'm crashing after taking allergy meds, so I've got to post quickly before I fall asleep!

Here are my attempts at making my own cute cards using different Bella Rose patterns than were used in yesterday's cards, as well as more scallop punched flowers.

 

     

 

Scallop Punch-ed Flowers

Just a quick post tonight because it's late and I'm tired! I CASEd these 2 adorable cards from Patty's Stamping Spot. One of Patty's downline made the cute gingham card, and Patty made the green polka dot card for her convention swap card.  They are each just so doggone cute!!

 

 

Tomorrow I'll show you my attempts at some scallop punch flower cards made with Bella Rose DSP.

True Friend Stamp Set... for the Third Day in a Row :)

OK - this is it for now, I promise! But I swear, I just love this set! I used the Stampin' Up! color selector to pick colors to put with So Saffron and Tangerine Tango, and came up with Mellow Moss and Rose Red. (You can access the color selector by clicking here.) I just happened to have ribbon in each of those colors, so it worked out nicely. Well, actually I didn't have any ribbon in So Saffron, so instead dyeing some to match, I tried my Apricot Appeal, and it was perfect!

I like the bottom half of the card a lot better than the top - the circle stamp is so cool, and stamped in all different colors, it really looks, well, even cooler. You can sort of see in the photo that I dry embossed dots in between the stamped circles, and in the corners of the bottom white strip. Again, I used the 'Rock n' Roll' technique on the image in the upper right corner. I inked up the stamp with So Saffron, then rolled the edges of the stamp in Rose Red & Tangerine Tango. That's why you can't really pinpoint one color that's used; it just kinda looks like a mish-mash of colors.

I hope my last three posts have given you some good ideas for your True Friend stamp set, or that you realize how much you need to add it to your collection! :-)

Tomorrow I've got some CASEd cards & some original cards all made with Scallop punched flowers with DSP centers... too cute! See you then!

Recipe -

Stamp Sets: True Friend

Cardstock: Tangerine Tango, Mellow Moss, So Saffron, Rose Red, Whisper White

Inks: Tangerine Tango, Mellow Moss, So Saffron, Rose Red

Accessories: 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Punches Plus Classy Brass Template

True Friend Stamp Set & New Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper - Haiku

First, let me just say this: I HAVE LOVED THIS STAMP SET SINCE IT FIRST CAME OUT, AND I AM SO HAPPY TO FINALLY HAVE IT IN MY COLLECTION!!!

OK, I feel better now.I don't know what it is about this style, but I am really drawn to the flowers and designs in this set. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I hope you like it too, because you'll be seeing all the cards I made with it this weekend! You've already gotten one out of the way, because I made it in red, white, and blue for Labor Day and posted it yesterday. Even though I'm not a fan of Pacific Point (the blue in yesterday's card), I think it looked good in the card.

On to today's card. My intent with this card was to make some kind of work of art with the Haiku Designer Series Paper. Hopefully, I achieved that. I mean, I like it! :-)

I really like the green and orange papers in this Haiku pack, but I wanted to use Mellow Moss on the card, so I stayed away from those. This card uses a lot of different stuff, from brads to piercing, to ribbon and embossing. For the stamps, I used two different techniques.

To make the words in different colors, I just inked up the stamp in Tangerine Tango, then wiped off the smaller words with a tissue and colored them in with Chocolate Chip marker. For the flower, I used the "Rock n' Roll" technique. First, I stamped the flower in So Saffron - the lighter ink - then rolled the stamp edges along the Tangerine Tango ink pad to get some orange on the flower tips. I also inked up the stem with Mellow Moss, though I honestly can't remember if I used a stamp pad or a marker to do so! Either way works easily since the stem is so long.

Recipe -

Stamp Sets: True Friend

Cardstock: So Saffron, Tangerine Tango, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Designer Series Paper - Haiku

Inks: So Saffron, Tangerine Tango, Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss

Accessories: Brads, Paper Piercing Tools, Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, markers, Dots Classy Brass Template (for flower center)

Hope you're inspired!

True Friend in Riding Hood Red & Pacific Point New 2008 In Colors

My message for you today for Labor Day in the US is

And my Labor Day card for you in US red, white, & blue :

Can you see the embossing along the top and bottom edges?

Here's hoping you have great weather for family picnics, barbecues, or whatever you do on Labor Day in the US or any other country in the world!

ps - notice the new Riding Hood Red and Pacific Point blue for the holiday?!

I'm Crazy for Cupcakes!!!!

Oh, am I Crazy for Cupcakes!

Have you gotten any of the new cupcake sets yet? I have been waiting and waiting for good cupcake sets, and this year they're finally here!! So far, I've gotten Crazy for Cupcakes, with Simple Birthday Thanks on the way. Here's my card for a college friend's birthday:

I'm so happy that I finally got to make some glittered cupcakes. It's been a real dream of mine... I'm getting all verklempt... I'd like to thank my parents, without whom I would not have been possible... I'd like to thank Stampin' Up! for making this wonderful set... boohoohoo....

OK - I'm alright now. Anyway, I got to combine some of my favorite things on this card: pink with brown, Bella Rose Designer Series Paper, Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, Cuttlebug Dots, LITTLE CHERRIES, and GLITTER!! Oh - and even a little pink felt flower.

I have to confess that I made poor Vanessa wait until after her birthday to receive this, as I was waiting on my order to show up so I could use this stamp set!! Sorry, Vanessa, and hope it was a great birthday, and of course, that you like your card! :-)

Here's the cupcake recipe:

Stamp Sets: Crazy for cupcakes

Cardstock: Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Bella Rose Designer Series Paper

Inks: Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Reiding Hood Red, Black Stazon

Accessories: 5/8" Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, Flower Fusion Too, Vintage Brads, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Dots, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

'Take Three' Stamp Set Triple Play!

OK, I know the stamp set 'Take Three' is not new to the 2008 Stampin; Up! Fall/Winter catalog, but I've always found it cute and very versatile... or should I say, useful. Well, I finally got it with my last order, and I'm loving it! I DEFINITELY recommend acquiring it for your collection! You can dress it up or down, and change it for each season just by changing the colors you use with it.

NOTE TO SELF: OMG!! I just remembered that my second big order from the new catalog is due to arrive TODAY!!! Now I'll be turning my head every minute to check for the UPS man. Too exciting! OK... back to normalcy...

So I thought I'd make a few cards using some of the different sentiments in the set and base them all on the 3 colors that match the new felt flowers in Flower Fusion Too. Have you seen them yet? They are too cute. I've got a closeup photo below which will really give you a feel for what they're like in person.

Here are my 3 cards:

Cute? I thought so! :-)

The first one I made uses just the Take Three set, and uses lots of embellishments. I was going to use a background stamp on the Chocolate Chip cardstock, but I wanted the felt flowers to take center stage, and not have to compete with the background.  

I borrowed the idea in the catalog of stamping the butterflies in different colors, then punching them out with the 1/2" circle punch. That way I could get both blue and pink butterflies in there. LOVE THAT BAJA BREEZE RIBBON!!

Here's a closeup so you can see the felt flowers better:

They really are pretty, and would be great for scrapbooks. And what pretty colors! I just randomly scattered the different shapes, sizes, and colors across the top of the card, and attached them with some vintage brads.

My next card is the pretty Pink Pirouette 'Miss You' card.

For this one, I built on the flower theme from the center of the 'miss you' stamp. For the pink flowers on either side of the stamped image, I used the Trio Flower punch that I'd gotten in my last order, and have wanted since it came out!!!  Of course I'm loving it!

A few Chocolate Chip and Pink Pirouette felt flowers with a brad for the center, attached with a mini glue dot, and that's it for this simple card! (Well, except for a few layers and some 5/8" Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon.)

 

My third card is the Baja Breeze 'Friendship' card.

 

I stamped the tumbling flowers by using two stamps from the 'Live Your Dreams' stamp set, as well as by inking up only one of the flowers on the 'friendship' stamp, then stamping them as if they were falling down across the card.

I love, love, LOVE the new Pink Pirouette striped grosgrain ribbon! It's really pretty in person. I used it to mask the layer of white cardstock where I pierced the paper, dry embossed it, and then punched the edge with the new scallop edge punch. It gives it a nice lacey effect. I got to use the new wide paperclip from the clips assortment. I didn't even attach anything with it - just stuck it on there for looks!

I also stamped a blue butterfly and a pink butterfly on their coordinating cardstocks and cut them out. I attached them with one mini glue dot rolled up so that it was skinny or narrow.

I wanted to show you a closeup of the pink butterfly on the top of the card so you could see how I stamped its shadow in blue. It's hard to see in the photo above, but I thought the stamped image on the cardbase might look like a shadow, giving it - the pink butterfly - more depth. Kinda cute... it kinda worked I guess!

Almost forgot the recipes!

Stamp Sets: Take Three, Live Your Dream (flowers on Baja Breeze card)

Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Inks: Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip

Accessories:  *NEW* Flower Fusion Too felt flowers, Vintage Brads, Striped grosgrain ribbon: Pink Pirouette & Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, Flower Trio Punch, *NEW* Clips Assortment, *NEW* Scallop Edge Punch, Dots Classy Brass Template, Paper Piercing Tools, Paper snips, Dimensionals

Beautiful New Eastern Influences Stamp Set from the New 2008 Stampin' Up! Fall/Winter Catalog

I GOT TO PLAY WITH MY NEW STUFF FROM THE NEW CATALOG TODAY - FINALLY!!

...and I didn't know where to start! I found myself trying to use all my new stuff at once, so I limited myself to making a few cards with the new Eastern Influences stamp set. My goal was to make at least 2 cards with the set that had completely different looks to them to show how versatile the set is. I think I succeeded!

I started with a soft, sweet style using Pink Pirouette and Mellow Moss, watercoloring the cherry blossom in the same colors.

I got to use the beautiful new striped grosgrain In Color ribbon in Pink Pirouette. It really matches the cardstock nicely! I wanted the card to be soft like the colors, so I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on Very Vanilla cardstock as a partial background. One of the Heard From the Heart sentiments would fit perfectly underneath, so I used the happiness stamp. It's embossed using Versamark ink and clear embossing powder. I took this picture under the lights at night, so there's a glare... Here's another shot, closer to the sentiment:

Oops - glare's still there. It reads, "wishing you happiness today and always."

Here's card #2. I went for the Japanese theme the set inspired. Well, probably because the Designer paper I had was Haiku! :-)  So, here's my Asian version of Eastern Influences:

Can I say I love it?? I used one of the delicious Chocolate Chip square envelopes that come with the new Carousel Notes, and made the card 5-1/2x5-1/2". The card base is Tangerine Tango, on which a piece of the Haiku DSP was layered. Then I stamped a piece of Kiwi Kiss cardstock with Kiwi Kiss ink.

The flower is stamped with StazOn Black ink onto watercolor paper, then painted with reinkers and Aqua Painters. To give it a little pizzazz, I used a sponge dauber to dab some VersaMark ink on top of the big flower, then used Glassy Glaze embossing powder to emboss it.

Behind the 'Beautiful' stamp on the layered circles is Tangerine Tango cardstock punched with the new large scallop punch. Looks great like this, I think!

Here are the recipes :

Card #1 (pink)

Stamp Sets: Eastern Influences, Heard from the Heart

Cardstock: Mellow Moss, Pink Pirouette, Very Vanilla, watercolor paper

Inks: Mellow Moss, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Stazon Black, Versamark

Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folder, 5/8" striped grosgrain ribbon - pink pirouette, Aqua Painters, Vintage Brads, Clear Embossing Powder, Dimensionals

Card #2 (Tangerine)

Stamp Sets: Eastern Influences

Cardstock: Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, watercolor paper, Haiku Designer Series Paper

Inks: Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Stazon Black, Versamark

Accessories: Aqua Painters, Vintage Brads, Clear Embossing Powder - Glassy Glaze, 5/8" grosgrain ribbon - Chocolate Chip, 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" circle punches, new large oval punch, Dimensionals

Keep stamping!

Beautiful Baby Card in Pink Pirouette!

Hello! Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I did have something cute to post, but I didn't take a picture of it before the sun set, so I just didn't post it. As it turns out, the same thing happened today, so I tried taking some photos under my Ott light, and it worked! So...

...today I'm going to show you the cute baby card I made for my friend Liz in Houston. I looked through the new catalog for the current baby stamp sets I could use, but it seems I don't have any current ones anymore! No problem; I just dipped into my old stash. I did, however, use the new pastel pink In Color, Pink Pirouette.

Cute, huh? I watercolored it with re-inkers on watercolor paper, then layered it on pastel cardstock. I love the words on the inside!

In case you can't read it, it says, "Congratulations to you and your somebunny new!"  Sorry if you think it's cute and want to make one of your own... the stamp set is no longer available. If you live in the North East Georgia area, you're welcome to come use mine! :-)

Tomorrow I'll post some cute stuff I've been working on for an upcoming class. Oh - and the project I made for my New Catalog Open House that I was supposed to photograph for yesterday's post.

Take care and keep stamping!

Stampin' Up! 'Always' & 'Heard From the Heart' Stamp Sets

I've got a simple & sweet card for you today, using the beautiful set, 'Always'. It's the set that's got the great bird with decorative markings on it, but I always seem to end up using the heart. I'd colored the heart a couple weeks ago, but never made a card for it to go on, so today I decided that would end. A big THANK YOU to whoever gave me the FANTASTIC idea of coloring in the heart with markers - I can't remember whose website featured this technique, but as you can see, it turns out beautifully.

At first I was going to mount it on a Handsome Hunter card base, but then I thought it might look clean and crisp on Whisper White with just a hint of color. I think it was the right decision. :)

I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but there is an embossed square around the heart, with rounded corners. Also, I embossed a circle around the only complete red flower inside the heart. I thought that would add a little more visual and textural interest.

Maybe you can tell in the closeup:

Hmm... no, not really!

Oh well, you get the idea! As you can see, I colored directly onto the stamp with 3 different markers: Handsome Hunter, Real Red, and So Saffron. And, with it being a closeup, you can see how tricky it is to color on such a detailed stamp! It looks better on the card than it does in the closeup, so that's all that matters! (Still think it looks OK? Click on the closeup and check out the really BIG closeup!)

I'll post the recipe below. I think it's pretty easy to tell how everything else is done, so I won't write down all the instructions. If you have questions, please ask!

Recipe -

Stamp Sets: Always, Heard From the Heart

Cardstock: Handsome Hunter, Whisper White

Inks: Handsome Hunter, Real Red, So Saffron (markers)    

Accessories: Dots Classy Brass Template, Bold Brights Brads, Real Red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

Hope this inspires you! See you tomorrow with more!

New Stampin' Up! Fall Colors and Designer Series Paper!

Stay tuned... as soon as it's light enough Monday morning to take pictures, I'll post my latest creation. It uses Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, and Red/Pink Pirouette checked DSP from Bella Rose. It's cute cute cute!

See you then!

OK - I'm back with my photo... and here it is:

Cute, huh?
I L-O-V-E the pink and red checked paper in Bella Rose. It's a quick but cute card: a bit of stamping, a few cuts, some SNAILing, some paper piercing, a couple of brads, and it's done!

 I adhered the decorations to the cardfront with Dimensionals to give it some, uh, well, dimension.

Here's the recipe!

Stamp Sets: Live Your Dream

Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Bella Rose DSP

Inks: Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red

Accessories: Old Olive and Rose Red brads, paper piercing template & tools, Dimensionals

Fancy "Wallpapered" Pop-up Card!

I wanted to make something to showcase the new Fall/Winter Designer Series Paper, Bella Rose, but ended up using just 2 of the Chocolate Chip papers for a card, so you don't get to see the rest of the beautiful new colors, including Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, and Pink Pirouette. I did, however, use Pink Pirouette cardstock and ink, so you can at least see that!

I call this a "Wallpapered Pop-up Card", because I "wallpapered" the inside of the card to hide the pop-up mechanism! For wallpaper on this card, I used the tiny polka dot patterned NEW Bella Rose�DSP and ran a piece of Pink Pirouette through the Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots embossing folder.

Want to know how to make one of your own? Here are the instructions in ten (thousand!) words or less:

Let's start by constructing the pop-up part of the card, which I call the pop-up "mechanism". Cut a piece of cardstock approximately 3"x2", and score it crosswise down the middle.

Now use paper snips to�make 2 cuts�across the folded edge up to app. 1/2" from the end so that you end up with a small tab in the center.

Score the tab with your bone folder on both sides.�Pop out the tab so that it�folds in the opposite direction from the original fold you made. You will end up with something that looks like a stairstep, like this: �

To make the "wallpaper" for the insides to cover the pop-up mechanism, choose two papers or cardstock colors, and cut them to the size you'd like. Now you'll want to cut L-shaped cuts into each - in opposite directions for top and bottom. Refer to the photo here:

In my demo, I am using pink for the card bottom and the Chocolate Chip DSP for the top, hence the direction of the L cuts. To make the cuts accurately, fold your pop-up mechanism like you did in the above photo to score it with the bone folder, then draw an L in the desired direction on the front of your wallpaper. I cut mine with paper snips and shaped them up a bit with the Hobby Blade. You'll probably need to play around with the placement of the pop-up mechanism and the cuts for a bit - I know I did! - so that is why I have not attached the mechanism to the card yet.

Once you're satisfied with the way your wallpaper lays on the card, you're ready to attch the mechanism. I just use SNAIL, but your adhesive method of preference is fine. Run your adhesive around the tab on the back of your pop-up mechanism, WITHOUT getting any on the tab itself.

I've found the best way to get the pop-up piece aligned properly is to attach one side first, then partially close the card to allow th second side to attach itself.

Once your pop-up mechanism is attached, your ready to "wallpaper" the inside. Add your 2 wallpaper pieces with SNAIL by hooking the L-shaped cutouts under the tab and securing.

To add your pop-up cutout, it's best to place a Dimensional or 2 directly on the "stairstep" tab rather than on the cutout piece. This way, you can align the bottom of your pop-up cutout with the bottom of the stairstep so that the card closes easily.���

Now simply decorate your card front and insides as you'd like! I chose to decorate the inside bottom, but you can just as easily decorate the top instead, or both for that matter.

�

Hope you enjoy! Please leave any comments or email me with questions if I've confused you!

SU! Boho Backgrounds Version 2 (as promised!)

Remember that I promised another Boho Backgrounds card in my Monday post? I just wasn't completely happy with my Basic Grey Boho card, and thought it needed a shot in the arm. Not that I'm completely  happy with any of my cards - I can always find something I'd like to change even after they're supposedly complete!

Well, I took another stab at my original card, and even though I'm calling it "done", I can still see a few things I'd change! That's either the mark of an artist or the mark of an obnoxious perfectionist.

So here's version 2. This one is similar, but I think I like it better. I used more white embossed cardstock and less grey Boho Background; added some red matte to the grey Boho part; added some black brads - which I think makes it look a lot better by introducing another color to the mix -  then stamped the 'kind thoughts'  on a white background with punched corners. Other than that, it's pretty much the same card - hahahaha!

So here's the side-by-side comparison:

What do you think?  I'd love to hear your opinions! Which one do YOU like better?

Hope to hear from you!

Here's the recipe -

Stamp Sets: Boho Backgrounds - pg 109 item #111072 $15.95; Kind Thoughts - pg 119 item #111095 $25.95

Cardstock: Basic Grey (card base), Whisper White, Real Red

Inks: Basic Grey, Real Red

Accessories: Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder (Cheater! Cheater! I'm tellin'!) Scallop punch, Ticket Corner Punch, 1/8" handheld punch, 1" circle punch, Vintage Brads, Red striped grosgrain ribbon, Dimensionals

 

Sparkly Pink Pirouette Pop-up Card Wannabe!

A Tri-fold Almost, Kinda, Sorta, Coulda-Woulda-Shoulda Pop-up Card

Today I promised a pop-up card that I worked on this weekend out of one of the new In-Colors, Pink Pirouette. As I started to explain yesterday, I would have had it done and posted for today's card, but every time I added something to the card, I would change my mind about how I wanted it to look in the end. I kept starting over with changes, and so it didn't get done until this morning. So...

...as it turns out, it's not a pop-up card after all! It's a tri-fold Bloomin' Beautiful Card, and here it is! (About a hundred pictures of it... prepare yourself.)

...and the inside: 

The tri-fold opens to the watering can sprinkling the flowers with glittery water... In case you couldn't see this very well, I took a lot of pictures at different angles. I wanted to make sure the glitter stood out because I think it looks so cool!

This was the part that was supposed to be the pop-up part, but I liked it better with the watering can just popped up with Dimensionals.

(Notice the backs of the brads are showing. I'm notorious for forgetting to add the brads before I adhere the layers!)

For the water, I used the dashed stamp from the Stamped Exotics stamp set, stamping it with Versamark, then using Heat & Stick powder and Dazzling Diamonds Glitter. I also added more with the 2-way glue pen. And of course it looks much better in person! :-)

 I painted the flowers on the front and inside on watercolor paper. First I stamped them with Black Stazon ink, then painted them with Aqua Painters and ink pads. Everything else on this card is pretty self-explanatory, I think, and the colors & "recipe" is listed just in case.

Recipe -

Stamp Sets: Bloomin' Beautiful, Stamped Exotics

Cardstocks: *NEW* Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, watercolor paper, Basic Grey (watering can), Sahara Sand (words matte)

Inks: Black Stazon, Versamark, Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Apricot Appeal, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Bordering Blue

Accessories: SU! Paper Snips, Corner Punch, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, 2-Way Glue Pen, Heat & Stick Powder, Vintage Brads, 1/16" handheld punch, Dimensionals

Hope you enjoy my work of art!

Keep stamping!

No Pop-up Card Today, Instead Some Boho Backgrounds!

Hope your weekend was a good one! I worked on a pop-up card off and on all weekend, but didn't get it finished in time to post it tonight. Well, I suppose I could have, but everytime I did something to my card, I got a better idea, and kept starting over! It is going to be pretty, though, because the card base is Pirouette Pink, which is such a pretty, light shade of pink. It almost makes Pretty in Pink look like Bubble Gum Pink! I'd show you a sneak peek of it, but it's late and there's not enough light to get a good shot of it. Come back tomorrow!!

So anyway, for now I'll show you another card I made this weekend that I wasn't going to post until I made a second version of it. For some reason, I feel like it needs a shot in the arm to spice it up just a bit. I love the colors: Basic Grey, Real Red, and Whisper White. It's a great combination; very clean and dramatic.

I included a closeup so you get a better view of the embossing. I used both the Punches Plus and the Dots Classy Brass Templates to give the white cardstock at the bottom a sort of "sewn" look, or the look of lace. You can't tell from either picture, but I cut the Basic Grey card front about a quarter of an inch shorter than the back of the card, so that you can see through the holes in the "lace". The background stamp is the main stamp in Boho Backgrounds, and the medallion was stamped once in Real Red and once in Basic Grey, then punched out and put together with Dimensionals. I also punched the whole thing with the scallop punch, then punched another scallop from Real Red cardstock. I layered the medallion on the Real Red scallop, then staggered the scallops so the red would show through. A final touch of Real Red striped grosgrain ribbon - which I LOVE - and voila! It's a card!

Keep checking in this week; I want to take another stab at this card, and you can decide if I really did a better job on the second one or not! Until then, keep stamping!

Another Card that Uses the New Stamp Set 'Happiness Always'

Quick & Simple Today!

I wanted to make a card with cutouts on it using the new 'Happiness Always' set. I just wanted to see how the leaf might look as a cut out item. Although this isn't exactly how I envisioned it initially, I like the way this card turned out. I like the soft colors with the embossed background. Simple 'n cute!

 

 

 

I wanted to show you another closeup of the way this set looks when stamped. The typewritten part looks pretty cool. You can even see it on the butterfly and flower where I only used one color for 2-step stamping. See how the leaf looks textured? Pretty neat looking.

I probably shouldn't show you a closeup on this card... my cutting skills leave a bit to be desired! (That shouldn't surprise me: when I was in Kindergarten, my teacher held up the pink Easter Bunny I'd cut out, and, to the whole class said, "I want you all to do a better job cutting out your Easter Bunnies than this person did." OMG... such horrors to a 6 yr- old! I couldn't help it; I'd gotten a crappy pair of kid-scissors from the scissors caddy! They wouldn't cut, so I had to tear out my bunny! As you can see, my cutting skills never improved.)

 

 

Here's the recipe -

Stamp Sets: *NEW* Happiness Always set, Blooming With Love set

Cardstock: Always Artichoke (card base), Very Vanilla, Mellow Moss (tag back)

Inks: Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Cameo Coral, So Saffron

Accessories: Cuttlebug Script embossing folder (Cheater! Cheater! I'm tellin' !!); lrg & small tag punches; Hodgepodge Hardware (*Get yours while you can!! Pewter is already SOLD OUT!!); Mellow Moss 3/8" grosgrain ribbon; Groovy Guava double-stitched ribbon; Stampin' Up! paper snips*

*THESE SNIPS ARE THE BEST!!! I'd NEVER found a pair of paper snips that cut perfectly in tight areas or to the VERY TIPS, and Stampin' Up!'s DO!! LOVE THEM!

Hope you enjoy & have a great weekend! Stamp something this weekend!