Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Petite Birthday

Happy Tuesday!

I'm currently on a plane on my way home :(  On the bright side I get to see my cat and dog in a few hours :)

Right - last SAB post ...

This card almost didn't see the light of day.  I personally don't like it.  I ALMOST like it ... but it needs something, at least I think it does.  I put it on my display board simply because I had 1 more space to fill.  Turns out everyone liked it best!  So!  Who am I to deny the masses??  It stays ... and gets posted here :)
OK ... it looks a little squashed ... it really is standard size!

I used Very Vanilla and Not Quite Navy cs and ink. The DSP is from one I haven't pulled out for a while but LOVE ... Summer Smooches! It's fairly self explainatory so I'm not even gunna try to tell you about it.  It's 12:12 am and I'm losing all feeling in my butt ... I'm off to move around now.

I hope enjoyed my SAB projects while I was away.  I'mm be back in my craft room soon (well, after I do a few loads of laundry and snuggle my pets!) and will have new projects to show you.  Thanks for checking in.  Have a stampy day!

Tam

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Patterned Occasions Latte Love

Happy Sunday!

I hope yesterday's video posted correctly ... I couldn't seem to get it to play when I typed it ... but hopefully it played when it posted ... I'll check when I'm back from holidays - I really wanted to share it with you!

Right - I've been doing this for 3 hours now and my butt is falling asleep ... so ... next up in my SAB samples:
Any questions?  Oh .. I know .. you are wondering if there is a punch for the little hexagons.  Short answer no.  Run the DSP through the honeycomb folder and then snip them out with your paper snips.  It really is easy and not as fiddly as you would think!  I used the Comfort Cafe DSP and Cajun Craze cs.  The Image is  from Patterned Occasions in Early Espresso.  I like the pearls dotted here and there ... adds a little "somethin'"

Have a stampy day!


Tam

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Where do you get YOUR inspiration from?

Happy Saturday!!!

Today I wanted to share with you a fabulous video made by one of my lovely customers, Monica Lipscombe.   Monica shared it with me and kindly gave me permission to share it with you!  Check this out - it's amazing!  Which leads to my question ... Where do you get YOUR inspiration from???

Thank you so much for sharing your talent with us, Monica!!



Have a stampy day!


Tam

Friday, January 25, 2013

Sycamore Street Pretty Petites Case

Happy Friday!

Yep ... the posts are getting shorter as I'm getting more and more tired *lol*

This next SAB card is one I cased from Tricia Raineri - a fellow demonstrator from VIC, Australia! You can check out her work at www.thespeckledsparrow.blogspot.com.  Here's the card:
Love it!  I made this into a 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" card using Tangerine Tango cs and ink.  Obviously I used the new Petite Curly Label punch and used the SAB Sycamore Street DSP for the patterned paper.  The "THank You" is from the Pretty Petites SAB set.  Great card Tricia!  TFS!

Pop back tomorrow for something different ... a YouTube video made by one of my customers!!!

Have a stampy day!


Tam

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Feeling Sentimental Case

Happy Wednesday!

Another quick post today (as you will recall ... I'm typing this last week ... before I left for vacation ... it's now 11:25 pm ... I'm yawning like crazy, my eyes are burning and my fingers are starting to cramp up from all the typing *lol* ... but I'm determined to post all 7 projects and pull an all-nighter ... heck, I'm almost there - I have to take a shower in a mere 2 hours!!!)  So, without further adeau (is that how you spell it ... don' t know ... don't care ... *lol*)

I can take no credit whatsoever for this card.  For once I actually cased a card 100% as I saw it.  Didn't change a thing.  It's perfect the way it was when the original designer "NYIngrid 01" from Splitcoast Stampers designed it.  Here is her version ... and mine!
It simply uses the Feeling Sentimental stamp set, in Midnight Muse ink and Card Stock.  The DSP is from the new Parkers Patterns DSP (page 20 of the mini - $13.50)

Clean, simple, quick and lovely.

Have a stampy day!

Tam

Monday, January 21, 2013

Bloomin' Marvelous!

Happy Monday!

One more day to go until the big SAB promotion!!

Here is my next SAB card - made with the Bloomin' Marvelous set:
Fun!  Everything on this one comes from the FREE SAB items!  The Bloomin Marvelous stamp set, the Tangerine Tango ribbon and button and the Vine Street embossing folder.  I used Daffodil Delight for the flower and Gumball Green (stamped off once or twice) for the leaves.  Tangerine Tango is the sentiment.  A fun card made with all free product!!

Have a stampy day!


Tam

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Madison Avenue

Happy Saturday!

So!  Are you getting excited??!!  Sale-a-brations starts on Tuesday!!!  Today's post is the first of (6) different cards I made using my new Sale-a-brations items (demonstrators get to earn them ahead of time so we have time to design and show-off our creations)

This one is made using the Madison Avenue Stamp Set.  You can earn this set for free with a $60 purchase ... OR you will get it free as part of a free BUNDLE if you host a party with sales of $525 or more!  Woo Hoo!  Gotta love free stuff!  Here it is:
Ta da!  Love it!  It's funny ... the stamp sets I don't THINK I'll like I end up liking the most!  This was one of the last cards I made ... but it's one of my favorites!  It's not much to look at in the brochure but once you ink that baby up you start to see a lot of possibilities!  This one is a case in point.  It was quick and easy, yet fun and pretty!  I used Real Red, Pumpkin Pie and Tempting Turquoise (thank you very much my beloved Color Coach - probably my most used tool next to my paper cutter!!)  I stamped the large image and punched them out with my 1 1/4" circle punch ... and layered them with 1 3/8" circles in black.  I hand cut a dove tail on Whisper White and stamped the "Hello" from "Lacy & Lovely" (page 99 of the catty - $21.95 clear; $30.95 wood ... this is a great set for the sentiments alone!!)  I then stamped the teeny little image and pinched them out with the Itty Bitty Punch Pack flowery thingy.  I used the new Large Rhinestones on the large image (have you seen them in the Spring catty?  Page 8 - $6.50 ... just know that cards with the large ones do require extra postage to mail!) and small rhinestones on the small images.  I popped the sentiment up on dimensionals.

That's it!  Quick, easy and fun!  Pop back soon for my next SAB card!  Have a stampy day!

Tam

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Oh, Hello!

Happy Thursday!

As you read this I am likely on a beach somewhere in Maui ... trying to remember how to relax!  I may not have the hang of it but I'm sure after a few days away from the computer and all other forms of technology I'll figure it out *lol*.   I'm writing this Tuesday night (2 nights ago) ... I decided I would pull an all-night-er rather than take a 3 hour nap ... so that's what I'm trying to do ... I'm writing up (7) posts that are scheduled for every-other-day while I'm gone.  It SEEMED like a good idea ... at 8:30 pm ... but now that it's 10:46 I'm yawning my head off *lol*  This old gal just doesn't have the staying power she use to have!!!

Right - so here we go.  I will be showing off 7 of the cards I made for my display board for my Appreciation Night last weekend.  I'll start with my favorite.  It's funny how cards "morph".  You start out with one thing in mind and before you know it you have something completely different.  That's what happened to this card.  I started off casing this card designed by fellow demonstrator Mellisa Davies at www.rubberfunatics.blogspot.com (I've been falling in love with a lot of her cards lately and think I have to start stalking her more regularily *lol*)
How is it that I love a card ... then as soon as I start caseing it I immediately change something on it?  Check out how my card ended up!
*lol*  Let's see now ... what exactly is the SAME???  I loved the grey honeycomb base on Melissa's card.  Naturally I changed my base to white and skipped the honeycomb altogether *lol*  I DID use some embossing on my grey, though ... up at the top I used the new Needlepoint Border embossing folder (page 5 of the Spring catty - $9.95).  What else is the same?  I used the new Delicate Details Lace Tape from the Spring catty (page 3 - $11.95 for (2) rolls of (2) different designs).  I LOVE this tape!  It's sticky enough to stay on your card but not so sticky that you can't peel it off the card and move it if you don't like where you put it (which is exactly what I did ... twice!)  What else?  I used the same stamp set "Oh, Hello" (page 4 of the mini - $22.95 clear; $31.95 wood) ... and I did use a dove-tail on the image ... but that's about it *lol*.  Of course I used Melon Mambo ink and whisper white paper.  I just used my paper snips to trim the arrow patterns ... I used the Extra Large Oval punch ($22.95 - page 184 of the main catty) for the sentiment.  The doily along the top is the other lace tape ... I just cut off one of the circles.  I used my Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack punches (page 183 - $22.95) for the Daffodil Delight  and Whisper White flowers.  Those flowers and the lace doily all have a mini silver brad in the middle.  You can't tell from the picture but I used my new Sharpies (I couldn't resist the 24 pack on sale at Costco!!) to color the brads pink and yellow.  Sharpies make me happy :)  Oh!  I also used the new Melon Mambo Striped Organdy Ribbon to finish it off (page 30 of the mini - $13.50)  This is NOT my usual style ... but I LIKE IT!  Thanks Melissa for the inspiration!  I got to make a fun card and used ALL NEW products and stamps on it.  THAT doesn't happen every day!

That's it for today - come back in a few days to see my next one.  Have a stampy day!

Tam

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Collage Curios Soda Pop Top

Happy Tuesday!!!

I can't ramble on too long today ... I SHOULD be packing!  We leave in 12 hours ... and I don't have anything in a suitcase yet *lol*  Sound familiar??  That's just the way I roll when it comes to packing.  I HATE packing and ALWAYS leave it until the last minute.  I remember when I was heading to Mexico with my BFF many moons ago starting my LAUNDRY for the trip at 2:00 am ... *lol*  I remember REALLY regretting that around 3:00 am *lol*.  I suppose I should start right after this post ... although I still WANT to schedule 4 or 5 projects for while I'm away ... that just may not happen .. but they are GREAT projects ... we'll see ... maybe after I pack :)))

So I for SURE wanted to post THIS project before I go ... it uses some of the new toys from the Srping mini.  I can't take much credit for the card itself ... I cased it from Miechelle Weber, fellow demonstrator.  She has a website:  www.stampinu.wordpress.com  Check out her original card there.

I loved how she used the Collage Curios set (page 24 of the mini - $19.95 clear - $25.95 wood) with the honeycomb embossing folder - brilliant!  I cased her card for my Appreciation Night Make & Take card.  Naturally I forgot to take a picture of it (and am too lazy to go to the basement to do so!) but here is the version I REALLY wanted to show you:
LOVE it!!  (The card we made for the Make and Take used one of the Jumbo Pearls in place of the Soda Pop top and the sentiment was punched out with the Decorative Label punch).  Don't you love this?  The Very Vanilla was run through the honeycomb folder.  I then stamped the wreaths in Old Olive and punched them out with the 1" circle punch.  Next - I stamped the little bumbly bees in Early Espresso and punched them out with the 1/2" circle punch.  I popped the bumblies (hee hee) up with a dimensional.  NOW!  For those Soda Pop Tops.  You can't really tell from THIS picture, but the Soda Pop Top has been squished so it is half the depth of it's original state.  Check this out:

This is a trick I learned a few years ago from fellow demonstrator Trish Miles.  All you have to do is run the piece through the big shot.  Close all the tabs on the platform and run it through:
Ta da!  I then punched out another wreath/bumbly bee combo and attached it with some snail.  Give this a try - it's somewhat satisfying to squish things!

Right - I'm off to the hell that is packing for me and two small people ... who have hauled every skirt and T-shirt they own into my bedroom.  Ugh.  Wish me luck!  If I get a chance I will schedule more projects to post while I'm away ... if not, check back again in early Feb ... I'll have lots of SAB projects to show you.  Until then - have a stampy week - Mahalo!


Tam

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Double Embossing Tutorial

Happy Saturday!!!

Wow.  Have I ever been a waste of make-up today ... and loved it!!!  I did virtually nothing all day today and for the first time in AGES felt truly relaxed!  Yes, I had a lot of days over Christmas where I did nothing but I was only about 80% relaxed ... hanging over me was the Appreciation Night and Open House that I had last night.  Now don't get me wrong ... every year I LOVE hosting a special night for my customers, hostesses and downline ... but it is also a LOT of work and, as usual, I procrastinated on most of it until this week.  Now that the event is over with I have nothing on my calendar until February 1st ... and I can truly relax ... and start thinking about packing for Hawaii.  Oh ... but for the record ... I had a REALLY good time last night.  There was a great mix of new and long-term customers and friends who came, ate, stamped, shopped and checked out all the new items in the Spring catty and SAB brochure.  We did a Make & Take (which I'll post Monday(ish)) and just generally had a nice time, which is exactly what I wanted.  For those of you who came ... and for those of you who couldn't I just want to say a HUGE, heartfelt THANK YOU for your support over the days, weeks, months and/or years.  Each one of you has helped my business grow and it is because of YOU that I get to be a Stay-at-home-Mom and do what I love to do - share my creativity.  I truly never planned, or DREAMED that I would be doing this as a "job" but I do ... and I love it ... and I make money doing it ... and I'm taking my family to Hawaii with that money.  You have helped change my job, and you've helped change ME over the years.   I have learned so much about myself over the last 7 years; I have realized what is important to me and what I am capable of; I have learned to "not sweat the small stuff" and not take things so personally; I have learned how to think beyond what's good for me and truly focus on what is good for others.  You've supported me in so many more ways than just financially - you really have helped me personally and spiritually.  For that I Thank You from the bottom of my heart :)

Right!  Now that I'm all choked up let's move on! I was planning to do a long post tonight ... but I didn't think I'd get all mushy before I even got into my INTENDED post *lol* ... oh well .. I guess it just got longer!!  You didn't really expect a short post from ME did you?  Na - didn't think so!

So ... after I posted my picture for my "Double Embossed" card a few days ago I had a number of people ask for details.  While I lead many of you to Peg Coombes' blog (where I got the inspiration and tutorial from in the first place) I thought I'd post a few more pictures to help mentally understand the technique.  Thanks again, Peg for your post.  Like a I said a few days ago - once I stopped trying to understand the process and just did what you told us to do it worked out fine.  Here is my picture-by-picture tutorial on how to do the technique ... and make the embossing template which you need to do it ... here we go!

Here is what I printed off for my customers for their "Recipe Card" for the Technique:



Double Embossing

First you need to make an embossing die: 

Cut (3) pieces of  DSP cardboard to 6” x 4 ¼”.  
Punch an oval in each piece of cardboard.  
Tape the (3) pieces together.  Template done!  

Next run your cs through the Big Shot.  Make the sandwich as follows: Multipurpose Platform (all tabs closed); your new template; embossing folder with cs inside; cutting pad.  

Next, tape the (3) punched out oval pieces together and tape them to the back of your Designer Frame Oval folder. 

Finally, run your cs through the Big Shot again.  Make the sandwich as follows:  Multipurpose Platform (all tabs closed); Designer Frame Oval and cs (lined up); cutting pad. 


Here it is again ... this time with step-by-step pictures to help with the visual and mental understanding of it:

1.  Cut (3) pieces of  DSP cardboard to 6” x 4 ¼”

2.  Punch an oval in each piece of scrap cardboard.  Now ... what the instructions DON'T say (but I showed in class) is HOW to punch an oval in the cardboard.  You can't just use the Large Oval punch - it won't punch through the thick cardboard.  You also can't run it through the Ovals Die ... as there are (3) ovals on the die and you only want the one.  So .... here is what you need to do:

Take a scrap piece of cardboard (or card stock) and punch out the medium oval from the Ovals Die (now retired!!)
Now take that scrap oval and trace it onto your (3) pieces of 6" x 4 1/4" cardboard you cut earlier:


Now take your exacto knife and cut out the ovals from all (3) pieces of cardboard (FYI - my Dad bought me this exacto knife from Lee Valley Tools - it ROCKS!  Super fine cuts, great precision and control ... I highly recommend it!)

(*lol* ... what's with the fists??  Perhaps I'm a little tense this evening??!!)

Now ...
3.  Tape the (3) pieces together (with snail).  Template done!  

So WHY did we do this?  Essentially what we are doing is replacing one of our cutting pads with the 3-piece template we just created.  If your a mental girl like me you have to understand it to be able to do it on your own and/or teach it to others ... so this is the "why" of it.  So the bottom plate is now our template.  When we run the folder through the Big Shot the pressure of the "sandwich" squeezed the pattern onto the card stock ... but there IS not pressure where we cut the oval out ... so it embossed only where there was pressure.

Next run your cs through the Big Shot.  Make the sandwich as follows: Multipurpose Platform (all tabs closed); your new template; embossing folder with cs inside; cutting pad.  

Note ... this picture is WRONG!  The tabs should be closed ... oops ... see ... even the teacher makes mistakes from time to time ... well, ok ... most classes *lol*

Here is the card stock so far (kind of hard to see, but its embossed everywhere except the oval in the middle):
Next, tape the (3) punched out oval pieces together and tape them to the back of your Designer Frame Oval folder.  (See the oval frames folder in the top right hand corner?  The (3) pieces of cardboard were taped together and then taped ONTO the folder)
Again .. WHY are we taping the ovals to the back of the folder ... I struggled with this for a while but again ... the logic is the same as above just on a smaller scale ... and reverse.  We have again replaced the bottom cutting pad with our (3) pieces of oval cardboard .. we are still applying pressure in our sandwich but this time on a much smaller scale - only the pressure of the small oval will emboss our card stock.  This is what we want!  We only WANT the little oval frame to emboss ... if we had something larger our original pattern (the Vintage Wallpaper) would be flattened and more or less "undone".  We don't want that - we just want the pretty oval frame to emboss our already embossed card stock.  Make sense?  

Finally, run your cs through the Big Shot again.  Make the sandwich as follows:  Multipurpose Platform (all tabs closed); Designer Frame Oval (with the (3) pieces taped on the back) and cs (make sure the oval frame lines up with the "blank" oval space on your card stock!)); cutting pad. 
Embossing done and ready to decorate!

Wa-low!  I hope that makes sense to you.  If not, just do as I say and don't try to understand it ... just like I did with Peg's tutorial.  If you do it enough times it will make sense.  If not - oh well!  You just have to make the template once and then you have it for life!  You can experiment with other shapes as well - see what you can come up with!!

OK - that's it for this girl ... I'm off to bed - woo hoo!  Have a stampy weekend!!!


Tam

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Secret Garden

Happy Tuesday!!

MAN have I missed my craft room!  I wandered down around 6:30 pm last night to make my last Technique Class card and realized it really is my "Happy Place".  I made the card in about 5 minutes ... and I love it!  Since I have class tonight and should be doing about 10 other things I'll get right to it! Check it out!
The new Bundles that SU offer make it so EASY to make a quick, easy but still beautiful card!  I obviously used Whisper White and Basic Black card stock.  I stamped the flowers (from Secret Garden) in Versamark and embossed with black embossing powder.  I then used the Secret Garden Framelits to cut them out (SOOOO much faster and easier than using scissors!).  I also punched out the leaves with the framelits.  I stamped the "Vintage Verses" in black Staz-on.  I popped the flowers up with dimensionals and attached the leaves with my 2-way Glue Pen.  Wa-low!  Quick, easy, beautiful!  What's even better about this card is that it can work with virtually any sentiments - sympathy, birthday, just because, thank you, mothers day.  I plan to go down and make a few more but with the colored embossing powder.

That's it for today!  Have a stampy night!


Tam

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Double Embossing - Patterned Occasions

ok ... I don't know what happened there ... I had to pull my blog up in Google Chrome to get the pics to upload.  WHY???  I've been blogging for a few years now and never had a problem!  I hate when the computer randomly changes things on me ... freaks me out!  Anyway ... here is the post I meant to load yesterday!


Happy Saturday!

Everyone still feeling the holiday cheer?  I'm not.  I'm ready to strangle my children with the stray piece of tinsle that the cat yacked up!  SERIOUSLY!!  HOW do we survive 8 weeks of summer holidays each year???!!!  I am counting down the minutes until the school bell rings Monday morning (36 hours and43 minutes ... or 2,203 minutes if you want to know!!!)

Sigh.  I love them dearly ... but I'm sooooo done!  I'd like to say I have only maintained my sanity by escaping to my craft room but I haven't SEEN my craft room in daaaaaays!  I've been busy doing I-don't-KNOW-what ... mainly wandering from room to room looking at the aftermath of Christmas ... and toys ... and fattening food ... and toys ... and laundry ... and toys ... I HAVE now officially managed to go through 95% of EVERY item in my household.  The upstairs is DONE!  I hauled bags and bags and bags of "stuff" out of the play room ... McDonald's toys, candy, brithday loot bag treats ... broken toys - I took BOXES of books, toys and clothes to Good Will ... I've gone through every drawer, closet and bucket - my label maker got a workout and I'm pretty sure my "buying for the sake of buying" days are over!  I've actually been VERY good at not bringing "stuff" into the house.  Even Santa was good with the stockings this year.  He normally brings lots of little toys and dollarstore things ... that just pile up.  This year he brought primarily candy ... which is now 90% gone ... so I don't have to sort through a pile of junk 9 months from now.  Well done Santa!

So!  I guess I HAVE been fairly busy the last 2 or 3 weeks ... and I DID spend a few hours in the craft room last week ... so I'll post what I made :)

I'm in the process of trying to come up with at least one sample for every item in the Sale-a-brations brochure (but so far I only have 1 out of 19 done *lol*) ... as well as quite a few samples with the products from the new Spring Catalogue ... again, 1 down ... LOTS to go!  I'm ALSO trying to come up with projects for my private classes and Technique Class this month.  I decided that the Technique this month will be Double Embossing ... and to kill 2 birds with 1 stone I decided to use new products for the card.  I'm happy to say I succeeded and have two very different looks using the same technique ... just by changing the paper, embossing folder and stamps.

First up is a great way to use the new SAB set "Patterned Occasions":
Cute!I used the Argyle embossing folder for the background and then the Designer Frames folder for the oval in the middle.  The stamp set is the Patterned Occasions from the SAB catty.  The ribbon is from the Spring Mini - Melon Mambo Striped Organdy Ribbon -page 30 - $13.50.  I used my Melon Mambo and Tempting Turquoise markers to color directly on the stamp.  I like it!

There are lots of tutorials on You Tube on how to do the Double Embossing technique and they do a much better job of explaining it than I do.  In fact, here is a link for a good tutorial by the fabulous Dawn Olchefske at www.dostamping.typepad.com ... it uses a simpler method than I used and saves a lot of time ...
I used a tutorial from Peg Coombes - a UK Demonstrator at  http://www.pegcraftalot.com/  (November 19th, 2012 entry).  Check it out ... and check out her cards too - amazing!!!  It's a more complicated technique than Dawns because you have to make your own window template ... but once you have it you have it for life ... so it's a good thing.  Invest 20 minutes into making the template and you're good to go.  I had a bit of trouble following Peg's tutorial mentally ... but if you just do what she tells you to do you'll manage ... or you can come to my Technique Class on Tuesday and I'll show you how *lol*.

I like the cupcake card but thought I'd try another one using the same technique but different stamps and folders.  Here's what I came up with:
I LOVE this one - a little more my style - the vintage feel and soft colors.  Check the cards out side by side:
    
Isn't it amazing just how different they look even though they are the exact same layout and technique?  For the butterfly card I used the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder (page 189 - $9.95) and the Designer Frame oval folder (page 188 - $10.95).  I used Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake paper, ink and Taffeta Ribbon (page 173 - $9.50).  I used the large butterfly punch (page184 - $21.95) and the ALL NEW Bitty Butterfly punch from the Spring Mini (page 13 - $21.95) for the little butterfly.  I added some pearls for the bodies ... I also added a pearl to the knot of the ribbon for a little continuity.  The sentiment is from a new Spring catty set called "Essentials" - page 22 - $8.95 (it's easy to overlook this little set - there are only 2 stamps in it - a Thank You and a Happy Birthday).  For one last little touch I sponged some Crumb Cake ink on the raised parts of the embossed image.  It really adds to the vintage look.

OK!  Right!  Now that I've spent about 2 hours on this post I need to get on with other things ... enjoy the rest of your weekend ... and have a stampy week!


Tam






Grrr ...

Don't you just hate when you spend half an hour writing a blog post and then for reasons unknown the blog won't let you upload pictures??  I have projects to share but somethings is amis and I can't upload my pics!  Stay tuned ... I'm trying ... but soon the computer might end up unexplicable flying out the window *lol*!


Tam