Long time, no see!

Did you think I'd abandoned you?  It has been almost a week since my last post...and what a craaaazy week it has been!  Not much time for stamping...or blogging!  Hopefully this week will be a little calmer!
On Saturday we attended my nephew's third birthday party.  He is a big fan of Toopy and Binoo, so I decided to try creating a punch art Toopy for his birthday card.  Here is what I came up with:

Punch Art Toopy birthday card with sentiments from Yippee Skippee, Just Sayin' and Remembering Your Birthday.

I wasn't too sure I had him right, but both my son (still a Toopy fan at 7!) and my nephew recognized Toopy, I figured I must have done alright.  For those of you wanting to try to recreate him, here is a list of the punches I used...all are from Stampin' Up!:

• Head - 2" circle in Sahara Sand
• Snout - 1-3/8" circle and Small oval (the current one) in Sahara Sand
• Nose - 3/4" circle in Basic Black
• Ears - Large Oval in Sahara Sand
• Inside of Ears - Small oval (the retired one) in Blushing Bride
• Mouth - Large Oval in Sahara Sand
• Inside of mouth - Small oval (the retired one) in Basic Black
• Tongue - Small oval (the retired one), trimmed in Blushing Bride
• Eyes - 1" Circle in Whisper White
• Pupils - Smallest circles from the Owl Builder punch in Basic Black
• Eyebrows - hand-cut in Basic Black
• Neck - Large Oval in Sahra Sand
• Body - 2-1/2" Circle in Sahara Sand
• Shirt - 2-1/2" circle, trimmed, in striped DSP (you can use whatever pack you have...just as long as it is striped...Toopy always wears striped shirts!)
• Sleeve - Small Oval (the retired one) in same DSP as shirt
• Arm - Word Window in Sahara Sand
• Hand - Petite Petals punch in Sahara Sand, trim off two petals, keeping three for the hand

 The key with any punch art is to sponged all of the pieces.  I sponged all of the Sahara Sand pieces in Sahara Sand ink, as I did the 1" circles for the eyes.  The Blushing Bride pieces for the insides of the ears are sponged in Blushing Bride ink.  The pink on the snout and tongue is Melon Mambo ink.  I added the little dots with the Project Life Journalling pen.  The black nose is sponged lightly in Whisper White craft ink.

The rest of the card is pretty straightforward.  I die cut a bunch of word bubbles using the Word Bubbles framelits, using sentiments from several different sets to create a little rhyme for the front of the card:  "Yippee Skippe, Woohoo, A Birthday wish that's just for you."  I thought it sounded like something Toopy might say!

The birthday boy quite liked it...well as much as a three-year-old cares about the card when it is attached to a present...lol!

Some Gold for the Girls

Yesterday I showed you a Man-card that featured the oh-so-trendy use of gold.  Today its the ladies' turn!  Here is a project I designed using the Gold Soiree specialty DSP:

Birthday card featuring the Endless Birthday Wishes stamp set and Gold Soiree DSP.

This is another simple design that I featured at last month's card buffet.  The background DSP is from the Gold Soiree specialty pack.  Every sheet in that package has metallic gold accents on it!  The focal image, from the Endless Birthday Wishes stamp set,  is stamped in Calypso Coral ink.  I added a brush stroke from the Work of Art set in Crisp Cantaloupe  to add some colour to the cake.  I coloured some rhinestones with the darkest shade of my Daffodil Delight Blendabilities...they look almost gold...and added them to the flames on the candles.  I die cut the starburst circle using the Starburst Framelits. 

The sentiment, also from the Endless Birthday Wishes stamp set, is heat embossed in gold on gold foil paper.  I love the look of that and will definitely be using that idea again!  I added a little green button from my stash along with some Calypso Coral baker's twine. 

On the inside of the card I added a little strip of DSP and the sentiment from the Endless Birthday Wishes set.  That, along with the Endless Wishes set for Christmas, is fast-becoming my go-to set for sentiments!  If you don't already own those two you should!

Tap Tap Gold!

If you've been following my blog for any length of time you'll know I actually like making Man-cards.  I enjoy getting grungy and distressing my masculine projects. When I was planning last month's card buffet I needed a Man-card that wouldn't take too long to make.  It needed to be simple, yet suitably grungy.  This is what I came up with:

Masculine birthday card featuring the Tap, Tap, Tap, Gorgeous Grunge and Endless Birthday Wishes stamp sets.

While this one may look a bit involved, it really comes together quickly.  I started by stamping the spatter image from Gorgeous Grunge on a piece on Typeset DSP using Metallic Gold Encore ink.  I adhered that to a Real Red mat and then adhered the mat to a card base in Basic Black.  The black panel behind the focal image is embossed using the Alphabet Press TIEF.  The Real Red panel behind the focal image is stamped using the border image from the Tap, Tap, Tap set using Metallic Gold ink.

 The focal image, from the Tap, Tap, Tap set, is heat embossed in gold on Basic Black card stock.  I die cut the image using the Circles Collection Framelits.  The sentiment on the paper in the typewriter is from the Endless Birthday Wishes stamp set...it fits perfectly on the page...I have to admit I did a little happy dance when I discovered that!  I added a little bit of gold Baker's twine with a mini library clip (retired) for just a little bit of (manly) embellishment.

Inside view with sentiment from the Feeling Sentimental (retired) set.

On the inside I stamped the sentiment from the Feeling Sentimental set, which was from Sale-a-bration a couple of years ago.  I added a few more spatters in gold and the border stamp in black.

Now for today's weekly deals...as always, prices are good until Monday at midnight:

	What'S Up Punch Item # 133781 Regular Price: $22.95 Discounted Price: $17.21
	2" Circle Punch Item # 133782 Regular Price: $22.95  Discounted Price: $17.21
	Sweet Treat Embellishment Cups Item # 116802 Regular Price: $3.95 Discounted Price: $2.96
	Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter Item # 133751 Regular Price: $6.25 Discounted Price: $4.69
	Blushing Bride Baker'S Twine Item # 134577 Regular Price: $3.95 Discounted Price: $2.96
	Modern Mosaic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Item # 129984 Regular Price: $9.95 Discounted Price: $7.46
	Hexagon Punch Item # 130919 Regular Price: $21.95 Discounted Price: $16.46
	World Traveler Photobook Template - Digital Download Item # 130066 Regular Price: $19.95 Discounted Price: $11.97

Thankful Leaves for Sunday Stamps

Well happy Sunday morning!  This extremely rare Sunday post is brought to you by my new Design Team position over at Sunday Stamps!  I am thrilled to be working with such a talented group of fellow designers...including one from my very own Tri-City Stampers team!  So, without further ado, here is this week's sketch challenge:

...And here is my project:

Thamk you card featuring the Colour Me Autumn DSP and Autmn Accents Bigz Die.

I decided to substitute the leaves for the tags in the sketch.  I simply love the Fall and all of the warm, rich, earthy tones it brings.  I die cut my leaves, using the Autumn Accents Die, from card stock in colours found in the Colour Me Autumn DSP I used in for the background:  Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze and Mossy Meadow.  Then I embossed each one using a different TIEF:  Woodgrain, Decorative Dots and Zig Zag. 

The little wooden leaf is one of the little Autumn Wooden Elements.  I love these because you can sponge them to add colour and even stamp on them, as I did here.  I used a little greeting from the now-retired Tiny Tags set.  I added some hemp twine I had left in my stash in place of the ribbon in the sketch.  The background layer is a piece of the Kraft cardstock that I embossed using the Honeycomb TIEF...did I mention there's LOTS of texture on this card??  The whole thing is layered on a Mossy Meadow card base.

On the inside of the card I added a few more die cut and embossed leaves, as well as another little wooden accent, this one the negative of the one on the front.

Thanks for stopping by on a Sunday...you'll see more posts from me on Sundays moving forward (that's if I can remember to post them!), as Sunday Stamps has a new challenge ever other Sunday.  Check us out and play along!

Embossed Hot Glue for Christmas

Happy Friday...TGIF!!  The first week of school is done and we are that much closer to June!  It is a scorcher here today and my classroom is, quite literally, like a sauna.  We have no A/C in most of our building and weather like this makes life extremely uncomfortable.  Not much will get accomplished today! 
So, to cool off, let's think about Christmas!  Today I have another project to show you that we will be making at my monthly techniques class next week.  It uses the  Embossed Hot Glue technique...I've taken to using my iPhone to photograph my projects, since I can't get my camera to cooperate.  Not the greatest picture, but better than I've been getting lately with my camera!

Christmas card featuring the Christmas Bliss stamp set and using the Embossed Hot Glue technique.

Cool, huh?  I love the look of this!  It really is easy to do, though I would recommend practicing your hot glue gun teachnique on scrap paper before trying it on DSP or card stock.  It takes a bit of practice to get the bead of glue uniform and to get the shape of the tree.  I actually used my silicone craft mat to practice on...it wasted a couple of glue sticks, but it helped me get a look I am happy with. 

Even with the practice, I did still have a couple of little strings of glue that got embossed.  They aren't terribly noticeable and I camoflaged one with a rhinestone :)
The DSP I used is from the All Is Calm pack...love that stuff!  The colours and patterns are so perfect for Christmas and winter projects.  The sentiment is from the Christmas Bliss photopolymer set, which has lots of great sentiments, both for the front and the inside of your Holiday cards.
I decorated my tree with rhinestones and a glimmer star on the top.

I think my class attendees are going to find this technique as much fun as I do...at least I hope so!  Have a great weekend...be sure to check in on Sunday for my first project as a part of the Sunday Stamps Design Team!

Merry & Bright

Well, we all survived our first day of school, but man am I exhausted!  I'm glad it's only a 4-day week this week!  Today I have another sample from my upcoming Holiday Head-start card buffet using several new products from the Holiday Catalogue:

Christmas card featuring the Good Greetings stamp set.

This project has almost no stamping on it!  The only stamped element is the sentiment from the Good Greetings set, which is the one you can earn for free by hosting a party this fall!  The background is embossed using the On Point TIEF.  I used All is Calm Washi Tape for the stripe across the middle. 

The DSP is from the All Is Calm pack.  I punched the trees using the Tree punch.  The silver tree is punched from Brushed Silver card stock and embossed with the Decorative Dots TIEF.  I added a little glimmer star and some Pool Party baker's twine to complete the look.

On the inside I added another punched DSP tree and glimmer star and stamped the sentiment from the More Merry Messages stamp set (retired) in Pear Pizzazz.

I am having a terrible time lately getting decent photos with my camera.  I think it may be time for a new one!  My apologies for the poor quality images.  Hopefully Christmas will come a little early this year!

Yesterday I was so wrapped up in the first day of school I completely forgot to tell you about this week's Weekly Deals.  Here they are.  As always, prices are good until next Monday at midnight:

Back To School Ensemble - Digital Download Price: $19.95   Sale: $11.97	Buttons & Blossoms Simply Pressed Molds Price: $9.95   Sale: $7.46	Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Ink Refill Price: $3.75   Sale $2.81	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Ink Refill Price: $3.75   Sale: $2.81
Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Ink Refill Price: $3.75   Sale: $2.81	Strawberry Slush Classic In Color Stampin' Ink Refill Price: $3.75  Sale: $2.81	White Simply Pressed Clay Price: $8.95  Sale: $6.71

It's the First Day of School!

Well...the inevitable has happened.  Summer is over and school starts today.  My sweet little boy is starting grade two at a brand new school.  Being a teacher myself, it is nearly impossible for me to take the day off to see him off to school...I'll be gone before he even gets up, so I made a special card to tuck in his backpack for him to find when he gets to school.  We are all a little nervous about the new school and all that it entails and I want him to know I'm thinking about him and hoping his day goes well.

If you've been around Stampin' Up! for a while you'll recognize the DSP and stamp set I used.  The DSP is from the long-retired Storytime pack.  I just love it, especially for occasions like today!  It has some fabulous school-themed prints that come in handy many times.  The good news is that it is still available on the Clearance Rack AND this paper is available as a digital download for My Digital Studio, so you can still get this great paper.  If you have kids or are a teacher (or both!) you should own this paper!

I used several different stamp sets, some current, some long-retired.  The word Happy comes from a retired Hostess set called Something to Celebrate.  The first day of grade and the A+ are from another retired set called First Day.  The little boy is from the still-current photopolymer set called Dear Heart.  I coloured him using the Skin Tone assortment and Daffodil Delight Blendabilities. 

On the inside I made some punch art textbooks using the Word Window punch.  The apple is die cut using the retired Cannery Framelits, which are also still available on the Clearance Rack.  The sentiment is from the Dear Heart set.

I hope this little card is a reminder to my sweet boy just how much his Mommy loves him and hopes he has a great year in grade two!