This card was so simple to make but [...]]]> As soon as I saw the new stamp set Elements of Style I just knew how I could create some ‘clean and simple’ cards using that beautiful big floral stamp…it is just gorgeous and you can find it on pg 133 of the new Catalog…

This card was so simple to make but I love how it turned out – I simply used Early Espresso ink and stamped my image onto a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock (formerly known as Kraft).  I then used my Scallop Trim Border and Ticket Corner Punches on the edges and adhered it to a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock using Dimensionals – onto that piece I stamped my sentiment using Early Espresso ink – my sentiment is from another fabulous brand new stamp set called Just Believe that you can find on pg 109.

Finally I attached my layers to my base of Early Espresso cardstock and there you have a card that is perfect for any occasion just by changing the sentiment – you could make a batch of them so that you always have a thank you or birthday card to hand.

Ex-DEMONSTRATORS – it’s not too late to rejoin Stampin’ Up! for just $35 – PLUS when you join my team, I will give you a set of the brand new In Color Stampin’ Write Markers for free!

When you place your first order, you get 30% OFF OF ALL THE BRAND NEW CATALOG GOODIES – amazing!!!  Click HERE to find out more…and Demonstrators have the Holiday Mini Preorder beginning on Sunday so this is a wonderful time to rejoin… BUT HURRY – FORMS MUST BE RECEIVED BY STAMPIN UP BY SATURDAY…  Contact Me for details!

When you use [...]]]> As soon as I saw this embossing folder I knew it would be super easy to make very elegant cards using it…you can find it on pg 214 of the Catalog and priced at just $7.95 it is very affordable and has become an essential part of my card making kit…

When you use it, it the embossed design becomes the focal point of your card and this embossing folder makes it very easy to make a bunch of elegant thank you or birthday cards to have to hand…such as the card featured below…I love it…

The card base is Early Espresso cardstock and onto it is layered a piece of Marina Mist cardstock that I embossed using Elegant Lines…look at that beautiful design and it is etched so deeply into the cardstock to make a very dramatic card…I love this color combo which is inspired by my wonderful friend Jennie who loves to wear browns and blues – they work sooo well together…

At the top is a piece of 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon in Early Espresso onto which is tied a tag that I made using a stamp from the set Elements of Style (pg 133) – the tag is attached to the base using a Dimensional to give it a lift and it is secured using a piece of Linen Thread and a piece of 1/4″ Marina Mist provides a little finishing touch…  Don’t you just love these new colors?

He is ADORABLE!   And whilst impatiently waiting for my Owl Punch to arrive in my order that is in the UPS delivery system, I was delighted this morning when I logged [...]]]>

You can find a list of all the [...]]]> Did you enjoy the Blog Hop?  I am so sad to see lots of those wonderful stamp sets go…remember that they are retiring and that after June 30th they will be gone forever so if you want any of them, buy them soon to avoid disappointment.

You can find a list of all the Retiring Stamp Sets by clicking HERE – it will open in a new window – if you want to see the images, titles  & prices all in one place instead of cross-referencing the list with your catalog, I have compiled a document detailing this for you – it also has the wheels & images on there too – you can find it and print it off by clicking HERE

Want to know who won my blog candy which features flip flops that I embellished?   They look alot like the flip flops below…cute, eh?  I am giving more pairs away too…sign up and join my team for just $99 during June and I will be mailing YOU a pair PLUS a free stamp set of your choice as my gift to you…want to know more?  Click HERE for all the details…

Onto the blog hop…I promised more details and some closeups of my projects plus announce the winner of my Blog Candy so please read on…the set I used for my projects was SCARY SKELETON that you can find on pg 24 of the Catalog – it is a great price at just $14.95 and this is what it looks like:

Isn’t that skeleton cool?  It’s sooo easy to make him look fabulous especially with White Embossing Powder on Black Cardstock…did you like the haunted house? That was so much fun to make – I used Groom Specialty DSP* for the house which you can find on pg 158 and do you like the little Jack-o-lantern?  He is simply a Pumpkin Pie Corduroy Brad* and his face is made out of scraps of cardstock that I trimmed to size…CUTE!!!  You can find the corduroy embellies on pg 181.

The roof section is separate and is attached to the card using Dimensionals – I used a double layer of dimensionals stacked on one another to make it pop up alot and look like the roof overhangs the house…

I edged the roof using the Scallop Edge Punch (pg 187) and made the chimney using some scraps – I angled the chimney to make it stand out a little and the rim of the chimney is also attached using Dimensionals to give it…well…dimension!  The smoke?  That is simply a piece of thin wire that I twisted around my finger and onto it I threaded some Silver and Clear Microbeads from Bead Duo* (pg 180)  – isn’t it a cool effect?

Want to make your own Haunted House? You can find the template and dimensions to make it by clicking HERE

*All of the starred items in bold are on the Last Chance Accessories List – they are ONLY AVAILABLE WHILST STOCKS LAST so if there are any that you need, please order them NOW to avoid disappointment!

And now onto my Dancing Skeleton Card and the tutorial on how to create this neat effect…it is so simple and looks so cool – you simply need a stamp, some ink, punches and a Stamp-a-majig (SAMJ)…

Never used a Stamp-a-majig before? It is one of the best investments you will make and you will wish you had gotten one ages ago – you can find it on pg 191 of the Catalog and priced at just $11.95, it is well worth investing in one…

If you want to know how to use the Stamp-a-majig, I have a downloadable and printable tutorial for you which shows you how easy it is to use – you can find my tutorial by clicking HERE and it will open up in a new browser window.

I loved making this card – the film strip is so easy to create using the Spiral Punch (pg 187) and this punch is one of my favorites as I have used it to make rolodex cards and also to create a cover for the On Board Journals on pg 185 – this punch is perfectly sized to fit the coils making it a breeze…  And those dancing skeletons came out so well…

Want to make your own dancing characters? You can find the tutorial on how to do this by clicking HERE – you will also find a downloadable/printable version so that you can keep it for future reference too!

The sentiment? I simply stamped it onto the card base and I made a cute frame over it to make it stand out – I punched a shape out of  black cardstock using my Word Window Punch and then took my Modern Label Punch (both on pg 187), positioned it over the top of my word window ‘hole’ and punched – this results in this cute frame that you add using Dimensionals for a cute touch…and again, I used beads from Bead Duo*…I’ll miss them when they are gone…

I almost forgot the details of my Party Favor…the favor is simply Rock Candy onto which I tied my embellishment – it is simply two circles of layered cardstock onto which I stamped my sentiment in Versamark and sprinkled on Black Embossing Powder and set it with my heat gun…I stamped my skeleton using White Embossing Powder onto black cardstock and cut him out – he is attached to the circles using Dimensionals to make him pop of…at the top I put through a piece of Linen Thread onto which I threaded some beads again from Bead Duo* (pg 180) and my finishing touch was a piece of Black Satin Ribbon from the Summer Mini Catalog…

You can find all of these Blog Hop projects and their close-up photos in my very own Gallery which you can find by clicking HERE – they are in the category marked ‘Blog Hops’…there is also a permanent link to my Gallery that you can find in my left side bar which you can bookmark so that you can easily find it and my projects again for easy reference…

And lastly…announcing the winner of my Blog Candy…the lucky winner will be receiving a pair of embellishment Flip Flops just perfect for the 4th July PLUS the item that they liked the most…

And the lucky winner chosen by random number generator is…

Comment no.9 – on June 12th, 2010 at 8:38 pm - by Kay Drenth who said ‘OMWord! That house is awesome and that film strip is too cute’

A BIG congrats Kay – please email me with your mailing address and I will get your goodies on their way to you…enjoy

A very warm welcome to Stop no. 1 on the Stampin’ Addicts Retiring Stamp Sets Mega Blog Hop! I am one of a group of 28 Demonstrators who are going to be showing you what you can create with some of the retiring stamp sets – and believe me, you will be wowed…I [...]]]>

A very warm welcome to Stop no. 1 on the Stampin’ Addicts Retiring Stamp Sets Mega Blog Hop! I am one of a group of 28 Demonstrators who are going to be showing you what you can create with some of the retiring stamp sets – and believe me, you will be wowed…I have a link at the end of this post so that you can hop over to the next blog…keep hopping and eventually you will go full circle…if you arrive back here, you will have just arrived from stop no. 28 where Melissa showed you some very cool things you can do with the set Very Thankful.

The set I chose to use is Scary Skeleton which you can find on pg 24 of the Catalog – it is priced at just $14.95 and features 4 stamps – a skeleton, a bat, a cat and a sentiment…please read on to see what I did with it and to find out details of some summery blog candy…and when you come back Monday you will find out who won the blog candy plus get more close up photos, templates and how-tos for my items…

It is tough to come up with halloween ideas this time of year when here in Texas it is already close to 100 degrees but I put my thinking cap on and started to play with paper and came up with this…it’s a Halloween party invitation…

I used Designer Series Papers and Groom Specialty (ALL of which are retiring so if you want any, snap em up fast!) to create my scene and various embellies – I made the smoke from the chimney using wire and microbeads and that jack-o-lantern is a Corduroy Button…I love how the skeleton pops out of the opening door…and the template for the house?  Come back on Monday and it will be posted here for you to download…

And here is the reverse side of the invitation along with a party favor that I think kids of all ages would LOVE…

For the invite, I incorporated circles from the front to provide my features and used stamps from the retiring set ‘Introducing’ on pg 146… I got out my Big Shot and Bill Board Alpha Strip Die to create words and a Texturz plate to give a little luxurious touch…for the favor, I took an old fashioned Rock Candy on a stick and embossed my skeleton using Versamark Ink and White Embossing Powder – I cut him out and added him with Dimensionals so he pops out – there are even microbeads on the thread holding him to the top for a little extra touch…more deets on Monday…

Now that skeleton looks like he is dancing so I figured I would use this in my next item…here I have featured him and two of his friends in a filmstrip setting…

I used my Spiral Punch to create the filmstrip effect and my skeleton stamp, Black Ink and a Stamp-a-majig to create the scenes that make them look like they are dancing – on Monday I will have posted a printable tutorial to show you how to create this effect.   I used a strip of DSP from the retiring Cast-a-Spell pack on pg 161 and again featured Green Microbeads to tie the paper in and the fabulous Modern Label Punch to create a frame…

Now this skeleton would also be fabulous to create cards and projects for that Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) as well…imagine the possibilities…

My final item is very clean and simple but I love how it turned out…

It features layers of Very Vanilla cardstock, a tiny smidge of Basic Black and that cute bat…the sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes (pg 145) and that GORGEOUS Pumpkin Pie Striped Ribbon creates a fun splash of color…I love that and you can find it on pg 183…you can see that by using Dimensionals you can give some drama when you use the same color cardstock in layers…it gives a very clean and elegant finish…

Come back on Monday to see printable tutorials and templates and to find out who won my blog candy…speaking of Blog Candy…leave me a comment to let me know which project you like the most and you will be entered into a drawing to win a pair of Flip Flops that I have embellished using a Bigz Die – photo of this is in my sidebar – PLUS the item that you like the most ALONG WITH some yummy candies…

I hope you enjoyed your visit – you are now leaving to visit Holly and see what she has come up with using the stunning set Holy Triptych on her blog at Ink Paper Stamps by clicking HERE - enjoy!

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