Ornate Blossom Candle and Gift Bag

 This has been a weekend of no card making.  I decided to try out this candle design I picked up from my first demonstrator who introduced me to Stampin' Up!  Beth's tutorial can be found on her blog Stamped with Flair.  Once you make one of these candles you're not going to want to part with it.  If you do decide you would like to give it away as a gift, here's a fun way for you to package it.

 Once I decide who will receive this beautiful gift, I will stamp the sentiment on the right side just above the background stamp.  Check back to see the split negative technique used for the card that will go with this gift set.  Meanwhile, here's a picture of the two projects together.  Love that rich razzleberry!

Stampin' Up! Vase

Hello, friends!  I think this has been the longest I have gone without posting since I began blogging, which really hasn't been that long.  The end of the school year tends to be a busy one for us teachers, so the stampin' has to be set aside for a bit.  Very sad, I know.  As I was going throug my emails this morning, I ran across a tutorial by Sharon Field.  It shows step-by-step how to make a stamped vase.  Here is my attempt using the Flower Fest stamp set. 

I love it!  It reminded me of my craftin' days when I was younger and we would use different colored tissue papers to make stained glass-like vases.  For some reason it seemed much more difficult this time around.  I think I've grown to be a bit more picky, for starters.  To make your own stamped vase click the link to the tutorial here.

Time to Say Goodbye

What an exciting time of year for those of us who love Stampin' Up!  In order to make room for all the new produts coming in July, hundreds of stamp sets, accessories, and home décor products are retiring! These last-chance items are only available June 1-30, so click the link on the side bar to get your favorites before they’re gone.

Baby Shower Fancy Favor Boxes

As promised, here is a picture of one of Katherine's favors for an upcoming baby shower.  How sweet!  She used the Two-Step Bird punch for the front of the bag.  And for the back...

Katherine used the Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die.  She is planning to add some pink and white confetti along with some special treats to go inside.  Grandma pride is shining brightly in this design, don't you think? 

Sail Away Into the Sunset

Sail Away is sold as a single stamp in the current mini catalog.  I think of summer and an ocean breeze everytime I use it.  This design comes form SUDSOL member Mary Brown.  There are three colors used to create the sun, starting with the lighter colors at the bottom and finishing with Tangerine Tango at the top.  Pacific Point was also used for the layers and sentinements.  We will be making this card during our last happy hour of the school year.  Summer Stamp Camps will begin in July for those of you who don't want the fun to end :).

I received a card similar to this one at a card swap

Fancy Favor Bags

 Believe it or not, this is a cusotmer's first Stampin' Up project that she designed on her own.  Nothing like going big right out of the gate.  I love it!  This fancy favor bag will be used for an upcoming wedding reception.  Katherine was busy making 60 of these for the guests.  She used the Fancy Favor Bigz die to make the bag.  The colors are Wild Wasabi and Daffodil Delight.  She used the crimper to crimp tissue paper to add as filler.  Here's a shot of the back of the favor.

She used the Ornate Blossom stamp on the front and the smaller version of the stamp from Friends Never Fade on the back.  No doubt that Katherine is a natural when it comes to papercrafting.  She's also making favors for a baby shower.  Check back soon to see the final product.

Sew Suite

There were so many products in the Occasions mini catalog that I loved that I never got around to playing much with the Sew Suite items.  Never too late, though, if you make sure you have them on hand before they retire.  The large brads are such fun, and this one was a perfect center for this button flower.

Marina Mist Gift Set

These were designed to fit into the 4" x 4" box that was posted yesterday.  The card measures 3 1/2" square and the envelople is 3 3/4" square.  Both were made using only one sheet of patterned paper with some still left over.  Now take a look at the matching box.

Marina Mist card stock and patterned paper were used to make the box, card, and envelope.  Here's a shot of them side by side.  I will use the same color theme to make enough cards to fill up the box.  What a nice gift it will make for a special someone.



4" x 4" Box

I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to get around to making a box.  This box was made with Certainly Celery card stock, striped grosgrain ribbon, and patterned paper.  The heartfelt thanks, hodgepodge hardware, and rosette were simple accents that helped pull it all together.  The plan is to make notecards to go inside.  Since there aren't any square very vanilla envelopes available to purchase, I will be making the envelopes out of patterned paper.  Check back tomorrow to see an example.  Thank you for stopping by today.

Student Thank You Cards

Something that teachers can always use are thank you cards to give to their students.  My colleagues and I will be busy making these adorable cards to give to our students.  The sentiment reads "just pawsing to say thanks."  The stamps shown all come from the Friends Fur-ever stamp set. We want to keep the postcards simple, since we're going to produce a lot of them.  I'll be sure to post more samples after we maket them next week.

Teacher Clipboard

How perfect is this clipboard to give as a teacher gift?  A friend of mine made these for her children's teachers, and was kind enough to make one for me.  I love it!  She painted the board with chalkboard paint and then stamped it using alphabet and number stamps.  She added a bus, with my name on it, to the clip and tied on some pretty ribbon.  But that's not all!  Check out the back of it!

For the back of the board she added some vintage pictures (Dick and Jane) using Mod Podge.  Thank you, Sarah, for such a sweet gift!  I'll treasure it always.

Graduation Card

Here's another graduation card using the Happy Grad stamp.  This card is going to my smart and funny nephew, Brandon.  Their colors are purple and gold, so the Elegant Eggplant and gold embossing powder captured the school spirit well.  I also used gold cord and clipart cut from his graduation announcement.  Congratulations, Brandon!

Happy Grad Invite

The stampin' happy hour group came together on Tuesday to help Juli make her son's graduation invitations.  It only took six of us an hour and a half to run 25 of these cards through our assembly line.  We used the Happy Grad stamp from last year's summer mini.  Don't you just love the words on this stamp?  The daffodil delight and real red were a perfect match to Justin's school colors.  I think it came together beautifully, and Lindsay says her brother is happy with the results.  Thank goodness.  Congratulations, Justin!

Summer Splash

As promised, here is the other card we made at my upline's team event that had us using the surfoboard stamp from the Summer Splash stamp set.   This time the surfboards have been cut to look like vases.  If you look closely, you can see where the card was pierced around the circle.  I'm especially fond of the colors as they remind me of my favorite football team. :)

You Always Do the Nicest Things

Here's a card that I made at my upline's team gathering this weekend.  The petals on the flower are actually surfboards cut from a stamped image from the Summer Splash stamp set.  How clever!  Also used from the Summer Mini catalog were the designer series paper from Beyond the Garden and one of the stamps from Happy Greetings.  Stop by tomorrow to see another creative way we used the surfboard stamp.

Clearance Rack

All right you crafters out there!  I've added a button to the left side of my blog that you're not going to want to miss.  It's a link to Stampin' Up!'s clearance rack.  There are many, many great deals, so don't miss out! 

Flower Fest Meets Watercolor Wonder Crayons

I don't know about the other ladies who joined me during stampin' happy hour on Tuesday, but I had fun coloring in the flowers of this card using the Watercolor Wonder Crayons.  The flowers in this set are perfect to use with the crayons since there is so much space to color.  The flowers are from the Flower Fest stamp set, which can be found in the Summer Mini catalog.  Please let me know if you would like any of the current Stampin' Up catalogs.  I would be happy to get them to you.

Journal

A friend of mine gave this beautiful journal to her intern as a good-bye gift.  She included notes and drawings from her young students to include in the journal.  I thought it was a terrific idea.  I helped her put the cover together by using Springtime Vintage Designer paper, baja breeze seam binding ribbon, paper daisies, an antique brad, a mini vintage tag, and the tag from the petal cone die.  It was fun to see it all come together, and I'm sure her intern loved it.

Stampin' Up! Craft Room Part III

 We moved our old kitchen island to the craft room because it is the perfect height for standing while crafting.  I usually use my Big Shot here and store all Big Shot products in the storage boxes.

 I purchased these two cables from Ikea, and they are perfect for displaying my daughters' art work and my cards and scrapbook pages.  They come with numerous clips for hanging many of your stampin' projects.

My daughters love their work space, and they're usually pretty good about keeping it organized and clean.  They love when Stampin' Up! products retire because they wind up on their side of the craft room.  My room is constantly evolving with me as I progress as a demonstrator.  I'm anxious to see how it will transform from year to year.  Thank you for stopping in today!

Stampin' Up! Craft Room Part II

The magnetic boards from Michaels come with four magnetic canisters.  I have 16 displayed on one board so that they're easy to reach.  I prefer these containers over the SU ones because I can see what I need and they're easy to grab.  So as soon as my embellishments arrive, I transfer them to one of these containers.  I have 24 total and I still have room.  They come with a 4-way divider, but I take it out for some of the larger embellishments such as the paper daisies and ribbon.

Here's another storage solution that works well for me.  I have stacked two Rubbermaid Shelf Saver X Cubes to hold my markers.  You want to store your markers flat like this so that both tips stay fresh.  As you can see there is plenty of room to add lots more.  The criss-cross design is perfect for the four color collections.  I use the bottom container for the In Colors and misc. such as blender pens and a Versa Marker.  More craft room photos to come tomorrow.

Stampin' Craft Room Part I

When I signed up to be a demonstrator and started accumulating a lot of stampin' products, it was clear that the dining room was no longer a viable option as a work and storage space.  My husband, Denny, was kind enough to share part of his office with me.  We painted and added some furniture.  It quickly became an inviting workspace for not only me but for my two girls as well.  Now we all hang out in the basement office and work and play.  Here's an overall shot of the space. 

 The U shape consists of three Ikea tabletops with either drawers or poles for support.  All three chairs and the rails holding the punches are also from Ikea.  I bought the magnet boards at Michaels.  The paint color is called asparagus.  Here's a different angle.

The paper sorters were purchased from newegg.com.  I have four of them stacked 2x2.  The black storage boxes are from The Container Store.  So far the space is efficient and holds everything beautifully.  I'll share more pictures in part II, which will show some close-ups of my favorite storage solutions.

Sail Away Father's Day Card

I made this card recently at my upline's house.  The Sail Away stamp is a single stamp that is now available in the Summer Mini Catalog.  Finding a stamp for a masculine card can be challenging sometimes, but this catalog has many that can be used to give to the males in your lives.  I also used the Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine form the Summer Mini.  It's a great value ($2.95 for 25 yards) and soft and easy to work with.

My dad passed away last year, but I will be sending this card to my mom for her to put on display for my dad.  I wish I could remember who told me that they always send a card to their mom to place on their mantle.  I thought that was such a great idea, so I would like to thank that person for sharing that story with me.  I know my dad would have loved this card.  I love you, Dad!

Double Diagonal Pocket Card

 Once I learned how to make the double diagonal pocket card, I couldn't get enough.  I even showed my fourth grade students how to make it to give to the cafeteria workers/helpers at our school. 

 It's the perfect card for tucking in a note, gift card, and/or small gift.  The Springtime Vintage DSP, paper daisies, and an antique brad were used to make this card.

A fan-fold flower was used here in place of the paper daisies.  It's fun to watch it all come together after the final step.  It's always surprising to see how well the two sides of the designer papers go together. 

Quilled Roses

Here is a beautiful birthday card that you're going to want to click on for a close-up view. The flowers were made with card stock using a quilling tool and some dazzling diamond glitter.  The stamp from the Bliss stamp set is inked in the background using the Pretty in Pink stamp pad.

Peek-a-Boo Owl Card

This card was a lot of fun to create.  The punched owl is peeking through the hole in the tree ready to give you a message.  See what she has to say.

Hope all of my friends out there have a great day!

Flower Fest Layered

Well, here it is again!  I was too tempted by this stamp from the Flower Fest set to put it down for very long.  It is one of the few stamps that I have that you're able to layer.  To color the layered flower, I used a Melon Mambo marker and a Blender Pen.  The colors used are Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, and Pretty In Pink card stock with Melon Mambo ink.  If you click for a close-up you should be able to see the Dazzling Diamond glitter.

Flower Fest Card

This is the card we're going to be making this week during Tuesday's stampin' happy hour.  I cased this from Kristi Jones.  It uses both heat embossing and the crayon resist technique.  This is a new stamp set (Flower Fest) from the Summer Mini Catalog, and I'm having a blast with it.  Expect to see this one again.  Also from the new catalog are three embossing colors, Tangerine Tango, Wild Wasabi, and Melon Mambo.  For this card I used two embossing colors to help create the butterfly.

Materials:
Card Stock: Certainly Celery, Glossy White, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White
Inks: Tangerine Tango, Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, Versa Mark
Punches: Butterfly, Decorative Label
Ribbon: Whisper White Grosgrain
Jewels: Basic Rhinestones
Emboss Powder: Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi

Crayon Resist Technique:
Stamp the images on Glossy White card stock.  Outline using a white crayon in the places you want the white to show, which will resist the ink.  Daub or sponge on your ink.  That's it!

Candace's Horse Show

Candace had her first horse show on Saturday.  We're so very proud of her.  What does this have to do with stampin' you ask?  Well...

She's wearing Stampin' Up's Night of Navy Striped Grosgrain ribbons in her hair, of course!

BEAUTIFUL!

Nature Walk

This is one of the cards the guests made last night at Meredith's party.  The stamps used were from the Nature Walk and Tiny Tags stamp sets.  The colors are Baja Breeze and Very Vanilla card stock with Basic Black ink.  The fibers are Baja Breeze Seem Binding Ribbon and Linen Thread.  It was fun to see the creative variations the guests made with the Nature Walk set.

A Simple "I Love You"

Here's a simple, elegant card that uses one of the stamps from the Four Frames Stamp Set.  I like the richness of the black and how it pops on the regal rose cs.  I wanted the stamp to have the same richness, so I used a VersaMark stamp pad and black embossing powder.  It was just the right touch. 

Gift Bag for Hostess

I recently made the small butterfly card at my upline's house.  Because of its size I thought it would look perfect as a tag on a gift bag.  A background stamp and Rich Razzleberry ribbon were the perfect touches to pull it all together.  I am going to present this to my hostess this Friday with a little surprise inside.

Baja Breeze Bonanza

When I won the Springtime Vintage fabric at a team advent, I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it.

Here is my first attempt at a ribbon board.  I love how it turned out.  I used Baja Breeze Seam Binding Ribbon and Vintage Flower Adornments to help embellish the board.

And now for something to add to the board.  Here is a diagonal double pocket card made out of the Paisley Petals Designer Series Paper.  Paper daisies, an antique brad, and seam binding ribbon helped to bring it all together.  Now the card is ready for a note and a gift card.

I used one of the Four Frames stamps to make this thank you card.  The stamps in this set are designed to be used with the Decorative Punch.

You may notice that this card follows the same pattern as the card above.  It just has one less layer.  Now let's see how it all came together...

Trust me when I say it is much prettier in person.  Along with the cards, there is also a petal cone, a fan-fold flower, and a flower embellishment made with the Big Shot.  Sorry about the lack of lighting and shadows.  Still an amateur with all of this.  I promise to get better.  Thank you for stopping by today!