April Stamping Project: Birthday Blooms Floral Greeting Card

I have to get better at posting my projects at the beginning of the month instead of the end! I made a bunch of these card fronts to swap for OnStage Local 2017 and I was really pleased with the response to them. I think instead of using Whisper White cardstock, Very Vanilla could easily stand in to tone done the brightness...but that's up to you!

Hurry! The stamps and dies used in this project are retiring!

Supply list for 16 cards

• Whisper White cardstock (11 8.5x11" sheets) for card bases and flower die cuts
• Melon Mambo and Tempting Turquoise cardstock (1.5 12x12" sheets) for flower die cuts
• Brushstrokes background stamp
• Flower Fair thinlits dies
• Flower Patch photopolymer stamps
• Melon Mambo, Sweet Sugarplum, and Tempting Turquoise inks
• Simply Scored scoreboard

How I made the cards:

1. Score Whisper White cardstock lengthwise at the 4.25" mark. Do not cut or fold.
2. Sponge Daffodil Delight lightly all over the right side of the scored sheets. Follow-up by stamping the right side of the sheets with the spraypaint stamp from Touches of Texture, also in Daffodil Delight.
3. Cut the sheets in half to make 16 card bases.
4. Mask off the back of the card with scrap paper. Load up the Brushstrokes stamp with Sweet Sugarplum and stamp the front.
5. Stamp all over the front of the card with the background stamp using Crumbcake ink.
6. Now here's the fun part. You can decide to stamp the flowers however you like. As you can see from the samples, I did half Melon Mambo/solid flower and half Tempting Turquoise/regular flower. You will need to stamp a total of 28 flowers on Whisper White cardstock regardless of your colour choice. If you are careful, you can stamp 12 flowers to a sheet.
7. Once the flowers are stamped, you can cut them out by hand or with the matching die. I ended up fussy cutting them all because I took them to work to get them done.
8. Now for more flower making! Use the large flower die and cut out 28 flowers. You should have double the amount of stamped flowers. Tip: you can safely cut two sheets of cardstock with the die to save time.
9. Cut 16 flowers with the large flower die from Whisper White cardstock and stamp with a sentiment. I used the birthday stamp from Flower Patch with Tempting Turquoise.
10. Cut each stamped flower from step 6 into quarters with scissors. Don't worry about being perfectly accurate. Keep each set of quarters together, however.
11. Adhere one flower quarter to the corner of each card. You may want to fold the card bases in this case to make it easier to adhere the quarters on the left side of the card front so it lines up with the edge.
12. Now, divide your pile of non-white flower die cuts into two piles of 16 flowers each. One pile will stay solid. The other half will be cut in half.
13. Place one solid flower upside down on your workspace and then two halves (also upside down) slightly apart so that there is an upside down V shaped gap between the two halves. Adhere the halves to the whole flower. You may want to use the first flower as a template for the others.
14. Turn the assembled flower right side up and adhere the white sentiment flower to the front.
15. Place a dimensional on the back of the assembled flower and adhere to the front of the card to make it bloom!

Click for larger size!
 

Remember, you can always halve my project ideas, but this is another way to stamp a stack of cards that will be a thoughtful gift or provide birthday wishes throughout the year. It may seem too like the card has a lot of steps, but they work up quick with all the stamping and die cutting. I was able to make the cards in a week by the spreading out the tasks.

Easter Stamping Project: Quick Easter Greeting Card

Spring is such a busy time and somehow Easter always sneaks up on me! Too late I realized that I needed to make some Easter cards - and quick! You can easily make 4 cards in one hour with this design.

Supply list for 4 cards

• Whisper White cardstock (2 8.5x11" sheets) for card bases
• Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
• Wisteria Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad
• Stampin' Write markers in Watermelon Wonder, Crushed Curry, Baja Bay, Mint Macaraon and any other pastel or subtle shades that you prefer
• Basket Bunch stamp set
• Aqua Painters
• Simply Scored scoreboard
• Cutting mat, ruler and/or grid paper

How I made the cards:

1. Score Whisper White cardstock lengthwise at the 4.25" mark. Do not cut or fold. Turn the paper clockwise and make sure to start stamping on what will be the front of the card.
2. As you can see, I used the eggs, chicks, basket and rabbit, but you can use any stamp combination you like. First I stamped the egg rows - top and bottom. Then I stamped the chicks. This gave me just enough room to add a row of bunnies. Your mileage may vary. I used a ruler and grid paper to make sure that I lined up my rows.
3. Colouring time! I coloured in all the areas that I wanted to in subtles colours along with Bermuda Bay, Watermelon Wonder, Mint Macaron, So Saffron and Crushed Curry markers. Feel free to use your own choices. This would be a great step for kids to do while you stamp.
4. For the background I lightly wet a puddle of Wisteria Wonder and brushed between the images. You may want to practice on paper first to get just the right amount of water and ink for the background of your card. Press the Wysteria ink pad to make a puddle on the inside of the stamp pad. Make sure your brush is just a little wet - too much water and the paper will buckle. Brush between the stamped images and use your finger to smear the colour if it gets too wet.
5. Cut sheet in half and fold cards. You can also stamp a sentiment inside. Although I love the Basket Bunch set very much, it does need a Happy Easter stamp :-)

Have a happy and blessed Easter!

My First Stampin' Up OnStage!!

I had the most a-m-a-z-i-n-g time at Onstage Local in my hometown. Words cannot describe how fun it was meeting other demos from Western Canada along with seeing the new catalogue and product releases. Wow! From start to finish it was a jam packed day of stamping, presentations, demonstrations, fun and friendship!

For starters, I received some pieces of flair for my lanyard including a first timers button! The square button was for the Prize Patrol during the presentations. It was a great way to keep everyone excited and I was the first at my table to win!! A picture would flash on the screen and correspond with the button in your bag. Woohoo!!

In the swag bag were some pens and an exclusive notebook planner and adhesive notes. Of course, there was a stamp set. I love the bag! It's so roomy for all my crafty adventures.

On the tables were centrepieces featuring the new 2017-2018 in-colour collection along with tubs and envelopes that we weren't supposed to peek at :D They contained some of the new product and projects for the afternoon. At the very end of the day, everyone at the table got to take three or so things from the bucket!! I took two stamp pads and a roll of new ribbon.

It was thrilling to spend all day with my team, learn new techniques and craft, but the absolute best part of the day was at the very beginning. I had made about 40 card fronts to swap and I had barely settled in with my team members before we were approached with swappers! I wish I had made more. Look at my bag full of gorgeous swaps.

Whew! I was pretty pooped by the of the day but I couldn't stop reliving all the fun I had. Sadly I had more pictures to share but I accidentally deleted a bunch of them and couldn't recover them. Fortunately memories last longer. If you have a chance to go to OnStage, be sure to go. You won't regret it. Not only was it affordable but I felt well compensated and well fed for attending :-)

Why Not Become a Demonstrator?

There's just a couple of weeks for Sale-A-Bration and I thought I would just toss this out there - have you ever thought of becoming a SU demonstrator? Sale-A-Bration is a pretty good time to join actually. The price of the starter kit has decreased over the years and you also get to pick what goes in it, which includes two free stamp sets. I'm told that years ago this was not so. Trust me, it's a great deal, even if you want to be hobby demonstrator like me.

Why would you want to be a demonstrator? How about...

•  meeting fun new people just like you
•  sneak peeks at new products
•   quarterly magazine
•  loads of tutorials and advice

Why did I become a demonstrator? Well, I mostly wanted to make new friends and I was looking for crafty fun within my neighbourhood instead of having to drive to events on the other side of town. There are Stampin' Up! demonstrators everywhere.

I'm also big into paper crafts and it frustrated me to no end to have a pile of paper and ink that didn't coordinate. My stamping collection was made of random stuff here and there. Once I became a demo I was able to kit up with all the tools I needed. Trust me, anything is 100% more enjoyable when you have the right tools for the right job. Now I can just plan out a card and order all the supplies instead of searching high and low for the right colours or paper and it arrives on my doorstep within a week!

One last thing - it's no pressure. I feel so welcome as a hobby demo by the other ladies on my team. When the time is right I might branch out into parties, but I am good learning for now and that's OK :-)

Sale-A-Bration!

One of the fun things about being a demonstrator is getting a sneak peek at all the upcoming products. I was so busy with visiting friends and family at Christmas that I didn't get a chance to order much beforehand for Sale-A-Bration. I had a very happy mail day last last month where my Carried Away Designer Series Paper arrived along So Very Much and Delicate Details. Who doesn't need a giant thank you stamp?.

But wait, there's more! Yes, I had no idea that there would be a second release of Sale-A-Bration products. I put in an order last night and am looking forward to the glimmer paper and medallion stamp set! Check it out!

February Stamping Project: Best Birds Happy Birthday Greeting Card

 

My February project is a card that I made for a team swap back in October. It's a really fun card that stamps up quickly - you can stamp a stack and have birthday or congratulations card for a year's worth of celebrations.

Supply list for 16 cards

• Crumb Cake cardstock (8 8.5x11" sheets) for card bases
• Pink Pirouette cardstock (1.25 12x12" sheets from Subtles collection pack) for flowers
• Very Vanilla cardstock (1.5 8.5x11" sheets) for birds and tags
• Tip Top Taupe cardstock (1 8x11.5" sheet) for branches
• Birds and Blooms thinlits dies
• Flower Fair thinlits dies
• Crumb Cake and Tip Top Taupe inks
• Best Birds stamp set

How I made the cards:

1. Score each sheet of Crumb Cake before cutting in half to make two 4.25x5.5” card bases. Don’t fold the cards.
2. Stamp all over the front of the card with the background stamp using Crumbcake ink.
3. Stamp the inside bottom right of the card with the left facing (male) sparrow from Best Birds using Tip Top Taupe ink.
4. Use the large flower and smaller flower from the Flower Fair die set to die cut the large and small flowers for the front from Pink Pirouette paper. Here’s a tip - draw a grid pattern on the 12x12” sheet to make best use of your paper to cut the big flowers. Use the scraps from in-between to cut the small flowers.
5. Stamp 16 branches with Tip Top Taupe ink on Tip Top Taupe paper and die cut.
6. Stamp 16 right facing birds with Tip Top Taupe ink on Very Vanilla paper and die cut.
7. Assemble the bird, branch and flowers before sticking down to front of card. My tip - assemble one and then place a sheet of wax or parchment paper over it to use as a guide for the other pieces so they are all spaced the same.
8. Divide a sheet of Very Vanilla into 1.5x4.25" pieces for tags.
9. Stamp the desired greeting with Tip Top Taupe towards the right side of the edge of the tag.
10. Using a craft knife and ruler or Stampin’ Trimmer, cut out the tags. You can fussy cut the banner tail or use a hexagon punch.
11. Adhere the tags to the front of the card, fold in half and it’s ready to give!

Click for larger size!

I find that I use the Best Birds set a lot - you won't go wrong with purchasing this set for your Stampin' Up collection!

Dear Christine: Do I Need a Big Shot Die Brush?

Dear Christine - do I need a Big Shot die brush?

I must confess that one of the things that held me back from enjoying stamping was not having the right tools for the job. Sometimes there are things in the catalog that seem a little superfluous. Do you need a Big Shot die brush? Yes - especially if you purchased the Up & Away Thinlits Dies. I discovered the hard way that I definitely need the Big Shot die brush after poking out tons of little pieces from this lovely ornate die. Would you want to spend your time craft instead of cleaning dies with a piercing tool? Ooof!

 

While the Big Shot die brush will be going in on my next order, I have used it before. It comes with a foam pad and you just roll it over the die. The foam pad will wear with time, but you can always flip it over and use the other side or wear it evenly by not using it in the same spot.
 

Click for larger image

Not pictured - the mess all over the floor when I bumped the cutting mat! That's another problem to solve :-)