I Love Experiments

I discovered this cool technique on SUDSOL by Nola Burkhard. It is so neat that I just had to try it, even if it is 2:30 a.m.! Anyway, it's very easy to do. You stamp a solid image stamp in the lightest of 3 coordinating colors, then you slide the inkpad along the stamp sideways to make the lines. You have to huff to moisten the ink before you stamp on the CS. I'm not fully awake, so this is the best I could come up with right now. I will definitely be playing with this some more.

Another thing I did tonight was mix Stampin' Pastels into Sculpey clay. I got an almost perfect Rose Red and Garden Green. At first I tried adding re-inkers to it--what a MESS! It became an ooey gooey blob that stuck to my fingers. I didn't wear gloves so I had re-inker all over my hands. It looked like I had been dying Easter Eggs all over again : ) Anyway, the Pastels work a lot better. I bought some molds of leaves and flowers and plan to use them on a card once I get them baked. I hope the colors don't change in the oven. 

Oh, on another front, I have a scrapbook class scheduled in May at Hobby Lobby. I'm so excited and I hope I get a good turn out. We're going to make a 20 page 6 X 6 album from a Simply Scrappin' set from last year. I thought about using the new set in the Summer Mini, but I'm only charging $15 for the class and that set is $21.95 so I would be going in the hole. It sure is a gorgeous set though and I'm going to order it for myself.

Until next time..... 

The Easter Parade

I've seen so many cute Easter items but I haven't seen an Easter Bonnet. I've been thinking about making this for a few days, but just haven't had the time until tonight. It's 3:20 a.m. and I'm ready to hit the sack, but I wanted to get this posted. I will try to get a tutorial up sometime tomorrow. I'm happy with the way the bonnet turned out. It took me a while to decide which flowers to use. I made several different types and finally chose these. I don't know what their called--maybe the Alison flower : ) Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Check back tomorrow evening and hopefully the tutorial will be posted. Happy Easter! Remember it's the incredible Resurrection of our Lord Jesus rising from the dead that we celebrate--to give us hope for eternity.

Flower Fancy Vintage

I made this card today. My goal is to make at least 6 different cards using this set to show the versatility of Stampin' Up! stamp sets. I have 3 others that I've made. I think I like this one the best so far. I have another that is an Easter card that I made at my upline's house last month. It's very pretty too, so maybe I like it better. It's hard to decide sometimes!
I used Baja Breeze, Soft Suede and Crumb Cake CS. I stamped the image with Soft Suede and colored in the leaves and flower with matching markers. I used Perfect Pearls as accents. They don't show up well in this scan--DH scaned it on his printer because mine is out of ink. I guess he didn't get it positioned the right way to get the pearls at their best advantage.
Something sad. A pair of wrens built a nest above our front door a few weeks ago. Mike found an egg shell on the ground this morning. Then, this afternoon, he discovered 3 tiny baby birds on the ground. They were only about an inch long. Two of them died from the fall but one was still moving so he put it back in the nest. I hope it survives. When she made the nest I was worried that this would happen. The poor little things didn't stand much of a chance in that location. It's so sad when something like this happens, it makes me want to cry.
I am meeting with a fellow demo next week to get my blog set up the way I want. I made a nice banner in MDS and also the side bars, but I don't know how to put them onto Blogger. She is really good with computers, so I hope to get everything set up just the way I want in a few short hours with her. She only charges $10.00 per hour. I think that's a great price. Next time you stop by perhaps it will be up and running.

Correction for Party Purse Instructions

On the 1" strip you should score it 1/4" from each edge, not 1/2". Sorry for the error.

Party Purse Tutorial

I made this last night. It can be used as a small gift or table favor. I'd been thinking about it for a few days and finally took the plunge. I'm happy with the result. This is my first tutorial so PLEASE tell me the truth about what I need to do to improve it for next time. Thanks for stopping by.                                                                    

                                                                              

 

Supplies:  CS Pretty in Pink (4 3/4" X 11" and 1" X 9"),

Basic Black (3 1/2" square), Whisper White (3 1/2" square)

DSP- 3 3/8" circle                    5th Avenue Floral Stamp Set
16" Organza ribbon                  16" black eyelet ribbon
Perfect  Pearls                          Watercolor Wonder Crayons
Sticky Strip                              Stampin' Dimensionals
Aqua Painter                            Coluzzle or Circle Scissor Plus
Heat Gun                                  Embossing Powder
Snail Adhesive                          Big Shot 
Scallop Circle die                     3" Circle die
Circles, Scallop #2 die              Paper Snips                          

First I cut a piece of Pretty in Pink CS 4 3/4" X 11". I scored it at 5 1/4, 5 1/2 & 5 3/4.

 










Next I made an accordian fold




 
 
 
 

After folding the score lines, I lined up the folded edge onto the Scallop Circle Die. I had 6 scallops uncovered. This gives a bottom to the piece. Then I ran it through the Big Shot. You can just barely see the die lines here.






 
 
 

  

This is what it looks like after being cut. Snip off the little scallops on the bottom--in between the large scallops.
By the way, YOU aren't going crazy--I used two different colors of CS while I was making this tutorial! I don't know why the grid paper looks purple in this shot??
 
 
 
 

 

 

 Next, I cut a 3" circle with the 3" die in Basic Black and used my Coluzzle to cut a 3 3/8 circle from Springtime Vintage DSP. Sorry this picture doesn't show the DSP very well. You can use the Circle Scissor Plus to cut this if you don't have a Coluzze. They retired a few years ago,

Stamp the large rose from 5th Avenue Floral onto the Whisper White using Versamark ink.

 

Sprinkle with the NEW Melon Mambo embossing powder. It will be available on May 1st from the Summer Mini catalog.

Use the heat gun to heat the embossing powder until it is shiny. Let it cool a few minutes before you touch it. Otherwise, it will smear and ruin your image.

Color the embossed image with Watercolor Wonder Crayons by rubbing the crayons on the image and then spreading the color with the Aqua Painter. (or use Copic Markers) Cut out the roses when you're finished coloring.

Put the colored rose onto the Basic Black circle using Stampin' Dimensionals and set aside for now.

 Take the 1" X 9" strip of Pretty in Pink and score it on the 9"side 1/4" from each edge. Then score it every 3" on the 1" side. Place Sticky Strip on all edges and in center space. That will be the bottom of the purse.

Adhere the center portion to the inside bottom of the scallop die cut. Leave the rest of the Sticky Strip alone for now.

Put the rose and black circle onto the DSP and adhere to the front scallop. Add the Perfect Pearls to each individual scallop as shown.
 


 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 Now it's time to put the box section together. Take the covering off the Sticky Strip on the edges of one side and secure to Scallop. Attach the bottom piece first, then the two sides. Be sure the sides are straight. Repeat for other side of box.

                               

                                                             

Take the Organdy ribbon and apply Sticky Strip or other strong adhesive on the center portion, running the entire length of the ribbon.

Attach black eyelet ribbon to center of Organdy ribbon as shown.

It helps to hold the Organdy ribbon down tightly with your thumb and forefinger :)

 Put 4 1/2" of Sticky Strip on each end of ribbon.  Attach the ribbon to the box starting at the bottom with about 1 1/2" (center of bottom). Continue around the corner and up to the top on one side.  

Continue to attach on other side of box, finishing at the bottom where you started. If it isn't flush at the bottom, adjust so that it will stand up. Put some weight inside to help steady it.

 

Here is the finished Party Purse. I put some Hershey nuggets inside, but there is room for several different types of candies or small gifts. I hope you have enjoyed this. I plan to do more tutorials in the future so please stop by again. I don't know why the actual post has so much space between the pictures. On the "New Post" page everything lined up nicely. Oh well, maybe I'll figure it out one of these days. Bye for now.                                                    





Sunny, Happy Days

The days have been so beautiful, even though the temps have been higher than normal. I just love looking out into our big back yard and seeing everything turning green and blooming. My purple Irises are gorgeous this year. I really should take a picture. We've had several fires in our area over the last month because the ground is so dry. When the winds are strong they blow the embers all over the place. About 3 weeks ago the fires were less than 1/4 mile away. We had to pack up the van with all the important things and be ready to  evacuate. Several people lost their homes, it is very sad but thankfully no lives were lost. On Thursday there were more fires, but they were north of us and the winds were blowing them away from us. I'm praying for rain to come soon and drench the scorched earth.

I made this card with the Bliss stamp set from the Sale-a-Brations catalog. It is expired now, so the stamps are no longer available. I love the set and am sad to see it go. Sets in the mini catalogs are only available for a short time, so you need to contact me before the end date of the special to get these BEAUTIFUL stamps. I did a pre-order for the Summer mini which you can order from beginning on May 1st. The stamps in this set are GREAT! Some are fun for summer while others are beautiful. And the hostess sets are to die for. Oh, by the way, Stampin' Up! is changing the hostess rewards program. Beginning July 1 instead of earning hostess sets for your workshop, you will earn Hostess dollars to use on anything in the catalog. A workshop with sales of $150.00 will get you $25.00 in benefits along with the gifts I give my hostesses. Contact me to schedule a FUN stamping workshop SOON!

So Happy Spring is Here!

I love spring. It's my favorite time of year. I love to see the trees budding and the flowers blooming. The gloom of winter is gone and the days are bright and balmy. For some reason I associate spring with pastel colors. It must be the incredible array of flower colors during this time.

Here is a card I made recently using Circle Circus and Party Hearty. It was easy to do but a little time consuming. I used the inlaid embossing technique. I'm very happy with the way this one turned out.

1.) First I stamped circles from Circle Circus on So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Marina Mist and Pink       

     Pirouette with the coresponding ink colors.

2.) Then I punched them out using my circle punches.

3.) I glued them onto Basic Black CS and ran it through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice embossing  

    folder.

4.) I stamped the "b is for birthday" image using the marker technique on 1 7/8 X 2 Whisper White.  

     Sponged the edges with Daffodil Delight. Then I used the corner rounder on opposite corners.

5.) I cut a slightly larger piece of Marina Mist and rounded two opposite corners of it to match the stamped  
     piece
6.) I attached the Marina Mist piece and then ran Certainly Celery 1/4" ribbon across the card and tied  
     another piece on the far side for a knot.
7.) I used Stampin' Dimensionals on the Whisper White and placed it over the Marina Mist piece.
8.) The entire piece was then attached to a Whisper White card.

Today early bird registration began for the Stampin' Up! Convention in July. I signed up this morning. I'm so excited about going to convention. I haven't been since 2008. That was my first one. It is so much fun and I learn so much about making my business better for my customers. We also learn new techniques and collect ideas from other demonstators.
I will be leaving on July 10 to participate in the events the Late Night Stampers HERE group hosts. Mike will leave home on the 15th to meet my in Salt Lake City. After Convention ends, we will drive to Yellowstone National Park and spend a few days enjoying the scenery there. After that we will go to Rapid City, South Dakota (MT Rushmore) and then home. I've always wanted to see the geyers at Yellowstone. I'm sure it will be a great trip. Our son is staying home to take care of the mutts. He starts a new job with Dell computers next month and will still be in training when we leave.

Hope you are enjoying beautiful weather. Please visit again.
Happy Spring Everyone!