Super Simple Valentine's Card

Well, it's two days till V-day...are you prepared?  My son is SO excited about his Valentine's party at pre-school...he's been counting down for two weeks already!  We've got his Valentines all made for his classmates and he's decided which red shirt he is going to wear.  Honestly, he's more excited about this than he was for Christmas!  Ah to be four-and-a-half again!
Today's card is a quick and easy one I created quite a while back.  The best part is that I stamped it all in two easy steps, thanks to the ability to mount multiple clear-mount stamps on the same block.  Have a look...

Simple Valentine featuring the P.S. I Love You Stamp Set

Told you it was simple!  I stamped all of the basic gray images at once by mounting them all on a single block and then stamped the two different red images individually.  Talk about quick and easy!  All that stamping took less than two minutes!  I then added a few little accents with the red glimmer paper and some little silver mini brads.  The whole thing is mounted with dimensionals on a cardbase that I ran through my perfect polka dots embossing folder.  So quick and easy, but still effective.
Hope your weekend is going well...and that you find some time to stamp!

Fur-ever Love

TGIF!!  What a week this has been!  The first week of a  new semester at school is  always hectic and this one has  been no different.  I'm left with almost no voice and am completely exhausted.  My bathtub is calling my name, but first I wanted to show you this cute card I designed for my techniques class last night. 

Cute Valentine's Card featuring the Friends Furever and P.S. I Love You Stamp sets.

  This card may look simple, but it sure took us a while to make last night!  Starting with the background, we sponged layers of ink from the  lightest to darkest shade on whisper white cardstock.  The colours we used were pretty in pink, real red and cherry cobbler.  Then we "inked" our circle stamp with bleach and stamped randomly all over.  The ink instantly disappeared revealing the white cardstock underneath.  Then we stamped with real red ink using the line-art heart image.  The result was the sort of whimsical DSP-looking background.  We then set to watercolouring the focal image using watercolour crayons and blender pens.  I really love using the crayons to colour and need to do more of it!  For the sentiment, we used a portion of one of the sentiments from P.S. I Love You for the "Love You" and part of one of the sentiments from Furever Friends for the "fur-ever" part.  The result was a cute sentiment, perfectly suited to this card. 
This is going to be my son's Valentine for my parents...they'll love it!
Now I'm off to that bath I mentioned...have a great weekend everyone!

X-O-Lent Treats

Today's post is a Valentine's treat holder I designed for my monthly techniques group that meets tomorrow night.  It uses the bleaching technique...have a look:

Valentine's treat holder featuring the P.S. I Love You stamp set

Top view

Now that I've told you this uses the bleaching technique, I realize that you can't see much of the bleaching in this photo!  You can make out parts of a two bleached hearts along the left side of the label.  To create this project I stamped two different heart images using bleach instead of ink on real red cardstock and then heat set it with my heat tool.  I then stamped the circle of hearts and another line-art heart using real red and cherry cobbler ink respectively.  The result is  a collage effect that gives interest to the plain cardstock.  To add further interest, I ran the whole die cut through my crimper after I stamped it but before I folded the score lines.  I then assembled the box and added the die cut labels and little red bow.  I filled a small cello bag (item 103104) with red and white jelly beans, tied off the top with some baker's twine and added a little tag.  This little bundle of treats will find its way to someone special next Tuesday.  As my son says...only 6 more sleeps till Valentine's Day!

Another Sale-a-bration Make-n-Take

Yesterday I showed the first of the two make-n-takes the guests at my Sale-a-bration Open House made on Saturday.  Today I have the second card for you.  My goal in creating this card was to show that the fabulous Everyday Enchantment DSP is SUPER versatile.  It is obviously perfect for gorgeously feminine and vintage looks; however I wanted to demonstrate that it can also be used for more masculine designs as well.  Have a look and you'll see what I mean:

Card using the Sprinkled Expressions, Extreme Elements and Good Grid stamp sets.

Inside view with sentiment from the Workshop Words stamp set.

Whaddya think?  Not so girlie, huh?  I love the more geometric patterns in this paper as much as the floral prints.  This card is perfect for just about anyone...including the men in your life.  The sentiment on the inside is from a stamp set we received at convention last summer called Workshop Words.  It is a great set for us demonstrators as it has all sorts of sentiments we frequently use like "thanks for your order" and "thanks for being such a great hostess".  This one is to congratulate team members on their achievements...which is how I will be using this card in the future!  As for the colour scheme on this card, I drew it from the paper itself:  pool party, lucky limeade, poppy parade and soft suede.
I hope this example shows all those of you who are "not into the vintage thing" that this year's SAB DSP is super versatile and has something for everyone.

A Sale-a-Bration Open House

Yesterday I held my annual Sale-a-bration Open House.  It was a great success and think all who attended had a good time.  We had games, prizes, special offers and, of course, make-n-takes!  Here is one of the cards my guests made...

Simple any-occasion card using the Elementary Elegance SAB stamp set.

Now, I thought it only appropriate that we make projects that feature SAB products for this event, so I designed my make-n-takes to use LOTS of stuff that is available for FREE during Sale-a-bration.  This card uses the Everyday Elegance DSP, the Elementary Elegance stamp set, poppy parade cardstock and the Everyday Enchantment ribbon and brads.  I don't think I could have gotten more SAB product on this card if I tried!  I kept the layout simple but did get to use my Simply Scored to add the detail along the left side and my Mat Pack and Piercer to add the detail in the upper right. My guests seemed to enjoy this simple project and everyone who attended made one.
Now, I need to take care of a little business...I must announce the winner of my door prize draw!  My impartial judge (my 4-year-old) drew the winner last night after everyone had left.  And the winner is...

Chris Light

Congratulation, Chris!  I will make arrangements to get your prize to you this week.  Wondering what was in Chris's bag of goodies?  Here is a list:

• an On Board Journal
• a package of Fresh Cut note cards
• a roll of satin ribbon
• a package of big designer buttons
• a package of felt flowers
• a glue stick
• a sanding block
• the Packed for Mom a la Carte stamp from the Occasions Mini 

Not a bad haul, huh?  Don't you wish you'd made it to my open house?  If you missed it, don't fret...I'll be holding another BIG event when the new catalogue comes out in June.  Mark Saturday, June 2nd on your calendar...you'll be glad you did!  Now...off to prep for this week's classes!

Elegant Valentine

Happy Groundhog Day!  There was no sun in Cambridge today, so here's to an early spring!  Mind you, we haven't really had winter yet, so I'm not complaining, but an early spring sure would be nice!  I miss my flowers!
Speaking of flowers, today's post is one I designed for my Big Shot club meeting last week.  As I mentioned yesterday, we were focusing on the new Framelits and Edgelits from the Occasions Mini.  It turns out that this card also works for this week's challenge at Pals Paper Arts which is to use any shade of red in your design.  Well, this card certainly fits the bill!  Have a look...

Elegant Valentine for PPA128 using the Fresh Vintage SAB stamp set and sentiment from P.S I Love You

Inside view with sentiment from Word Play

I have to say I really like this card!  The best part of it is that it could easily be changed for just about any occasion (including Christmas!) by simply changing up the sentiment.  Since we are in the season of love I decided to make it a Valentine's card.  Now this one used my Big Shot to the max...I embossed the card base with the Elegant Bouquet folder. I cut AND embossed the label with my Framelits dies (more on that later) and I used my Edgelits and Adorning Accents folder to add the decorative white detail on the front and the inside of the card.  Talk about getting the most from my favourite tool!
Now, I'm sure you're all wondering how the heck I embossed the frame around the label.  SO easy, I tell you!  Here's the sandwich (from bottom up):  multi-purpose platform on tab 1, cutting plate, framelit die with knife side DOWN (against the cutting plate), cardstock, Texturz Silicone rubber, Texturz Impressions pad.  After you run this sandwich through your Big Shot, use the next size larger Framelit to cut out the embossed frame as usual.  Now, if you want to frame a stamped image as I did, you'll need to stamp first and then emboss the frame.  It is a bit tricky getting your stamped image centred when you have to put the cardstock on top of the die...just hold it up to the light and you'll see the stamped image through the cardstock.  Then just be very careful laying it down on the cutting plate.  My club members really liked this slick little trick!  I so love finding new uses for things! 
I don't know if I'll have time to post tomorrow...I have to get ready for my Sale-a-bration Open House on Saturday!  I SO love this time of year!

Gnomeo, Gnomeo...

I absolutely adore the new Gnome, Sweet Gnome set in the Occasions Mini.  Coupled with the Gnomenclature sentiments, it is just too darned cute!  The best of all is that I earned it for free through a demo incentive Stampin' Up was running in the fall!  Today's card is a Valentine I designed for my Big Shot club which met for the first time last week.  Our focus this month was on the new Framelits and Adorning Accents.  Have a look...

Valentine card using the Gnome, Sweet Gnome and Gnomenclature stamp sets

Focal image detail

Inside view

Isn't he the sweetest??  This is actually going to be my hubby's Valentine's card.  We have a bit of a history with garden gnomes from when we were first married.  He will totally get the significance of this card...and hopefully smile! 
Now on with the the nitty gritty details.  To create the frame, I nested two framelits inside eachother and then cut the chocolate chip cardstock.  The result is a perfect frame every time...SO easy!  I popped the frame up with dimensionals, as you can see in the detail photo above.  Then I wanted my little gnome to look like he was stepping out of the frame, so I popped him up with TWO layers of dimensionals...again, you can see that in the photo.  I then added the glimmer heart that I popped up with a single dimensional on the part that overlapped the frame and a glue dot on the part that overlapped the gnome's hand.  This way it has dimension but doesn't look like it is floating above his hand!  The rest of the card is pretty straightforward.  I diecut the little hearts using my Fashionable Hearts embosslit, adhering the larger ones flat and the smaller ones with a trimmed dimensional.  I added some interest at the bottom of the card with the hearts Adorning Accents folder and then wrapped some island indigo baker's twine around it.  The sentiment was hand-cut into a banner and adhered with glue dots.  On the inside, I repeated the embossing along the bottom and added a couple more hearts and the sentiment, which is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.
I have to say I really like this card...and so did my club members!  I can't wait to do more with this adorable stamp set!
On another note, there is exciting news from Stampin' Up!  Starting today and for the entire month of February, SU is offering a FREE 30-day trial of My Digital Studio (MDS) Express, our digital scrapbooking software.  This is a fantastic opportunity to take this fabulous program for a test-drive before investing in purchasing it.  You can access the free download by clicking the SHOP NOW button on my business website.  Download it today and get creating...you have absolutely NOTHING to lose!  Once you've downloaded the software, sign up for my FREE Introduction to My Digital Studio class on Friday, February 17th at 7:00 pm.  Just bring along your laptop with MDS installed and I'll show you the basics of how to navigate this powerful and versatile software.  Click the Upcoming Classes and Events tab at the top of this page for further details.