The Big Shot... that's how I roll...

Special Offer, Limited Time

Curry Birthday

My cousin's wife had a birthday last week, so I made her this thirst-quenching card. I used 3 of the 6 In Colors, which all are so yummy looking. First, the card base is Crushed Curry. The matt layer is Rich Razzleberry with the Ticket Corner punch. The Ticket punch is so minor, but boy it does add just the right amount of zing sometimes.

Although you can't see it in this picture, I used VersaMark ink and stamped along the edges of the Rich Razzleberry using the vine stamp from Vintage Vogue. (Find Vintage Vogue in the new Occasions Mini Catalog) I dug out my almost forgotten Razzleberry Lemonade DSP and punched the edges with the new scallop trim border (a free Sale-a-brations gift). Using a small piece of Melon Mambo, the third In Color, I heat embossed another amazing stamp from Vintage Vogue with clear embossing powder. "Happy Birthday" is stamped in Rich Razzleberry below. I secured the silver brads, and silver flower designer brad to both the Melon Mambo and the Razzleberry papers. There is a Stampin Dimensional under the center of the mambo piece, which gives the mambo a bit of a waving banner feel. There is no adhesive besides the Dimensional, so I went with that and curled the ends of the Mambo strip.

The great thing about Stampin' Up! paper is that it is colored all the way through. This means that when you tear it or split it like I did here, there is no ugly white in the core. This looks so neat with the curl on the right, I just had to show you a close up.

I hope Alecia enjoyed her birthday and my card, even though it arrived late. oops

the benefits of a lost earring

so it must have been the 80's when I purchased a pair of 2" circle turquoise shell earrings. But in any case, somewhere along the way I lost one of the pair. I was getting tired of trying to find the other, and in my adventure of cleaning out the craft room closet, I again came upon this lone blue circle. Then it hit me! I got out the Circle Circus stamp set, some purple staz-on ink and stamped the wonderful bubbles all over it. The trick with a slippery surface and the staz-on is to go slowly and stamp in a deliberate motion that does not have too much pressure. Otherwise I could have slid the stamp right off the shell and made a messy purple smear that wouldn't have come out (staz-on is a bit permanent). After all the bubbles were applied, I picked out the D from Lovely Letters and got my white Staz-on. I was thinking about embossing the D but with the powder and the heat gun, it would have been a mess for sure. Now all I needed was a touch of Elegant Eggplant 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon. I tied it in a knot and attached it to the shell with a mini glue dot. I took off the earring hook and slid the thing onto a chain. Instant personalized monogram pendant!

Happy Birthday Olivia

One of my "Bubble Fairies" (or in regular terms: Flower girls) from my wedding turned 7 this past weekend. I had to make her a special card.

I started with Lovely Lilac and stamped the confetti from "Look who's Turning" stamp set all over the background. I then spritzed it with a solution of water mixed with Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint.

I then stamped my Monkey friend (Fox and Friends) in Chocolate Chip onto Whisper White. I used Lovely Lilac ink to stamp the greeting, the monkey's hat, and the confetti (all from Look who's Turning). I also used the spiral from "Lots of Bots" in chocolate chip. I did this because I stamped the monkey too high and I thought it would make him look like he belonged where he was.

I then stamped the "7" in Lovely Lilac and punched it with the small oval. I sponged around the edges and nested it with a large oval punch from Lilac. The scallop oval punch and the nested matt behind the monkey are Orchid Opulence.

The card went in the mail today, I hope she likes it!

Fox and Monkey

Did you know that you can get 8 3x3 sized "Love Notes" out of one sheet of 12x12 paper, with no waste? I just love that! Don't forget, when you are making 3x3's you really have to cut your paper to 3x6, and score it at the 3. Otherwise, oooops!

So here we have Fox and Monkey. The set is really called Fox and Friends, and you can find it in the new Occasions Mini Catalog. (Give me a call to get your hands on it) I've decided I have to change the name of the stamp set because my husband cringes every time he hears me say "Fox and Friends". I blame my parents for becoming hoodwinked by Fox News. But I won't talk about that here, cause it's lame.

Anyway, as you can see, I've started trying to use up the extras from my wedding this past October. I made a mistake in my counting and ordered two packs of the Perfect Plum Patterns DSP. Then I cut all of it!!! Yikes. So I have a ton of 2x6 inch pieces of PP DSP. Under the monkey, you see he is mounted to a Perfect Plum label from the Bigz XL Matchbox die, which is also leftover from my wedding favors. That worked pretty well actually, but I wanted to see what the fox looked like under a Scallop Circle punch. Both friends are punched from the 1 3/8 circle punch. I used a Stampin' Dimensional to pop the friend off the little love note. I then stamped Thank you from Holidays and Wishes stamp set in Close to Cocoa, which is also the color of our furry friends.

Fox and Monkey have a few other friends as well, and while I think the monkey is my favorite, the owl is certainly hooty to have a chance on some paper. If you want to meet the other friends, or give this set a try, let me know, I can help you out.

For my Hubby, on our Wedding night

I made this for my Husband and I gave it to him on our wedding night. (It matches all the other Wedding Stationary I made myself too -those will be posted in the next few weeks). I just woke up one day and thought "OMG the sweet treat cups look like boobs!!!" and the card was born from there. I had a template for the corset card for so long, I'm sorry I forget who made it, but then I finally had a use for it. I had to modify the template a bit to make it fit the cups and the 1 3/4" circle punch.

Scallop edge punch on the very vanilla paper acts as a chemise under the corset. I wrote a love letter on it and slid it inside. The grommets were a pain, especially near the cups. The star punch is non SU 'cause that's what I had. Wide oval punch made the sides of the corset, instead of following the template.

I had to build up layers under the treat cups to form the corset cups, I did this by layering a black circle with a few dimensionals and then a Perfect Plum scallop circle over that.

I filled the treat cups with a little glitter and vellum hearts from the heart to heart punch.

I also added garters and added the Circle Ribbon Slides thru both pieces of Basic Black ribbon.

I hope you enjoy my creative use of Sweet Treat Cups, my husband did!

Ingredients:
Paper: Perfect Plum, very vanilla, Elegant Eggplant, vellum
Accessories: VV Ribbon Slides, black eyelets, sweet treat cups, 1/4 bb ribbon

January's Stamp Club

Thanks to Dr. King, I had the day off from work; so I planned out a sweet little Valentine's card for this week's Stampin' Sunday. I have some interesting friends, so they of course were interested in making an "Anti-Valentine's" card. I came up with the card base, and when the final touches are added, you choose how you feel about our Saint Valentine.

I mean, its not all cynical singles out there hatin' St. Val. I get that Hallmark has killed the idea of this day and turned it into a cash cow, and yeah, I don't dig on that either. BUTT... it is my first Valentine's Day as a married woman. AND this will be my first year as a Stampin' Up! Demo where I am actually ready to hit all the card holidays head on. Yes, I was slow to start, then I had big events happen like the purchase of my home, and the wedding of my lifetime. But those excuses are in the past now, and it's time to get dirty!

This February will mark the end of two full years with Stampin' Up! for me and I really need to get this ball rolling. Like I said, my excuses are done, but I also finally feel like I have a great stamping room, and it is filled with the right tools and toys, and I know how to use them! I have nothing else to stand in my way (until I have a baby anyway.....)

SO, here is the upcoming projects for this Sunday. I feel like the VD card with the red hearts, and the white shimmery background is nice and classic, and easy enough for newbies. And in the same suite, the ANTI VD card is just as handsome. It follows all the same techniques right up until the very last step... but the outcome is hugely different.

Red and white, classic Valentine. Perfect Plum: feels pretty without the over the top girlyness to it. Wouldn't you agree?

We are also making the slim calendar from the December Open House, you will love what you learn from me about what to do with it when the year is over...

So see you this Sunday, January 24th at 2pm. Bring a new stamping friend and get a free gift from me.