July Stamping Project - Serene Garden Thank You Cards

My team held a card swap earlier this month to celebrate the new catalogue and it was...a challenge for me. As usual I had an idea in my head and quickly sketched it out. I'm not sure if this makes any sense, but here was the original idea:

As you can see, it turned out very differently! Once I started making the cards, I realized I wouldn't have enough space to make an aperture card and I didn't have a sentiment stamp small enough to fit in a round space. Creativity is often all about problem solving, so I attempted to solve the problem with a pink strip across the card front and a bit of glittery ribbon to give it some pizazz. However, the cards looked too dull. Dang! One of my crafty friends suggested that I use a colour that would make it pop and she was right. Here's the final design in the pink and green combo:

Stay tuned for the orange/blue combo - I ran out of time for a pic!

Another challenge was fussy cutting out all those birds. Sometimes it seems like spending the extra money on dies isn't worth it, but, let me tell you...if you want these cute little birds on lots of cards, you'll want the dies to go with them. Bonus tip! Did you know that there is a 10% discount on new stamp and die bundles in the first year of production? The sets are unbundled after the first year and must then be purchased separately.

Supply list for 20 cards

• 11 sheets Very Vanilla 8.5x11" cardstock (10 sheets for bases and 1 for birds)
• Tea Room 8.5x11" Cardstock Pack (6 each of one colour or 3 of green or orange)
• 1 sheet Powder Pink 8.5x11" cardstock
• 6 Garden Impressions DSP
• Early Espresso ink
• Crumbcake ink
• Calypso Coral ink or Coastal Cabana ink
• Serene Garden stamp set
• Mesh stamp from Best Birds
• Dotted line stamp from Petal Palette
• Thank you stamp from Daisy Delight
• Thank you stamp from Tea Room Ribbon Pack Combo
• Wink of Stella pen
• Adhesive, Stampin' Sponges and Stampin' Dimensionals plus scissor snips

1. Score an 8.x5x11” sheet of Very Vanilla cardstock down the middle. Do not fold.
2. Stamp all over the front edges of the cards with the mesh stamp from Best Birds in Crumbcake ink. Stamp down the middle so that when you cut the sheet in half, that edge will be stamped.
3. Cut the bases in half. Load up a Stampin' sponge with Crumbcake ink and sponge around the edges and towards the top of the card front.
4. Cut 20 card front panels. I cut 10 Coastal Cabana and 10 Calypso Coral, but you can do 20 of your preferred colour. Each panel is 3.25x4.5" tall and you'll be able to get four panels from a letter sized sheet.
5. Stamp leaves and flowers in a corresponding colour on the front panels. You can rotate the small leaf stamp if you want to fill in both top corners. Fill in the extra space with the dots stamp from Petal Palette. Sponge the front lightly with Crumbcake ink. I went over them with a Wink of Stella pen.
6. Cut 20 2x3" Melon Mambo pieces if you are making the green and pink version or 20 2x3" pieces from a sheet of Pacific Point for the other version. Or 10 of each for variety :-)
7. Pick the red roses or blue and yellow flower sheets from the package of Garden DSP. Cut 20 2x2.5" pieces and set aside.
8. Stamp the Serene Garden bird 20 times over a sheet of Very Vanilla with Early Espresso. Leave room to die or fussy cut. Cut out and set aside.
9. Cut 20 1x3.25" Powder Pink strips. Stamp "Thank You" in Fresh Fig in the middle of each strip and set aside.
10. Cut 20 4" pieces of Tea Room ribbon. I used white for the green and pink combo and green for the orange and blue combo.
11. Whew! That's a lot of prep. Time to assemble! You will probably find it easiest to start with the front panels. Adhere the pink Thank You strip about 1.5" from the top. Run a little bit of Snail or other tape runner adhesive to the back side of a ribbon strip and center it under the Thank You strip. I used tape to secure the ends to the reverse. Add the bird above the Thank You strip.
12. On the front of the card base, adhere the solid rectangle in the upper left hand corner with the longest edge point down.
13. Adhere the patterned rectangle in lower right hand corner with the longest edge along the bottom.
14. Add Stampin' Dimensionals to the back corner of each card front and centre it on the front of the card.

Now, it would be easy to say that I chose the Serene Garden stamp set because it has birds, but the line style art is really unique and eye catching - a nice clean look that you don't often see on stamps but you probably have in icons and illustrations. I gave away all but two cards in the swap - I'll have to stamp some more or come up with a new idea to have on hand. Until next time, I remain...

A Crafter's Best Friend - the Raskog!

Raskog! What the heck is that? You may have heard the name but you have surely seen the three tiered utility cart or one of it’s cousins on Pinterest or your friend’s craft room. As an IKEA fan, I remember wanting a Raskog so much when they were first released. There were two things I couldn’t get over - the hospital blue colour and the price, which I think was around $69 at the time.

Fortunately, the price came down and more colours were released! Never was I so excited about a piece of furniture in my life - and I think that is why people adore their Raskogs and are so devoted to them. If you don’t believe me, google “Pimp my Raskog” or join the Facebook group of the same thing. What makes the humble utility cart so appealing is it’s infinitely customizability. It’s not just A Raskog, with a little creativity, it becomes YOUR Raskog. Folks add paint, vinyl stickers and trick the carts out with containers and more. Add a cutting board and you have an instant work surface. Flip over the top tier for a sewing cart. If you’re short on space, Raskog to the rescue! All you have to do is search for "Pimp My Raskog" and admire the way people have customized their little carts. It's amazing how attached we can be to an inanimate object. My theory is that a Raskog is just so handy and an extension of our creatives selves that we can't help but fall in love with them.

The only downside to Raskogs is that they are a little rascally to assemble, with tiny screws that like to fall out of the hole while you try to screw them in. I think it took about a half hour to assemble and then I soon busy organizing all my craft stuff. It’s been a constant struggle to keep the craft stuff under control - it just gets all over the place no matter how much IKEA furniture you own - but it has made a huge difference in keeping my supplies off the kitchen table. I have seven cups hanging off the side of the top tier for pens and pencils, then two on either end for cutting utensils, sponges, adhesives and random stuff. Antonius baskets will fit in the tray - which I previously featured.

All my catalogs and albums are within easy reach on the top tier along with some larger crafty items. My Big Shot lives on the second tier - the handle hangs outside the tray, while the third tier is a catchall of papers and projects. I love that I can wheel my supplies out of the way or closer to the kitchen table - but it lives just outside the kitchen most days! It’s been tempting to get a second one, I have to confess for the basement where a lot of my art supplies are.

If you don’t have an IKEA near you, don’t worry. You can find Raskog style carts at Michaels, Sam's Club and Target. I have to admit, it's been tempting to get another...

June Update

Whoops, ran out of month again! There were many good reasons, I assure you! First of all, my mom and I went on our first vacation together in many years. We went to the lovely Okanagan region of British Columbia and enjoyed a week there.

For some reason, I always end up watching home and garden shows on vacation. Perhaps we watched a few too many because soon I couldn't wait to get back and rearrange the basement. As it happened, there was an unplanned opportunity to do so! Let's call the unplanned opportunity a leaky water line.

Once I realized all the potential, my husband and I set to work on cleaning OUT the basement. It didn't seem like a lot of stuff...until we found ourselves marking multiple trips to the recycling depot. Knowing that I would have the basement of my dreams motivated me as we tossed, sorted, cleaned and scratched our heads at some of the stuff we found. Stay tuned! I took some before pictures.

I am working on a team swap, but working on the basement was exhausting. Things downstairs moved upstairs and I tried not to pack too much of my stamping stuff away. I managed to break down the cards into steps and hope to finish them this weekend for the next team meeting. Here's a sneak peek - it took forever to fussy cut all the little birds!

Whew! June flew by pretty fast. I did order a lot of the new products. May can be a scary time for a demonstrator because you want the new stamps, but there may be some things from the previous year that you want too. I'm really in love with the Tea Room suite, especially the set of cards. These are perfect for scrapbooking or quick makes when you need one. I don't believe it, but I forgot to order the stamps and die set despite ordering the paper...ah well! It happens :-)

Wish me luck with my reno - I'll need it! The result will be worth it.

May Stamping Project - Mother's Day Cards

Making a handmade card for Mother's Day always takes me back to grade school! This year I reused some leftover card fronts from OnStage swaps to make cards for my MIL and my mother. I hate anything to go to waste in the craft room! I customized them and made 5x7" card blanks to affix the card fronts to. Voila!

If you miss purchasing them when the new catalogue comes out, they may show up on the Clearance Rack.

April Update - Stampin' Up! Onstage

I can't believe how fast April went by! It seems just like yesterday I was hopping on a bus to Red Deer, Alberta, after work for OnStage. This is a special Stampin' Up event for demonstrators only and it is loads of fun! Not only do you get to meet other demonstrators and hang out with your team mates, you are treated to sneak peeks of new stuff, craft with new stuff and go home with new stuff! It's such an exciting event and one where I feel special and recognized. It's thrilling to see others accomplishments and celebrate their successes. It was also extra special because it was SU's 30th anniversary!

Woo!

Everyone received a reversible tote bag with a planner and stamps - naturally!

Inside the bag was also a fun surprise - a light up letter box. Fuuuunnnnn!

I learned a lot of new techniques just by swapping with other demos. My favourite tip from OnStage was to fill a plastic baggie with embossing powder, stamp with Versamark and then dip the piece of paper into the baggie to coat. Using embossing powder has always been a little scary for me because I just picture glitter getting everywhere. My favourite part of the event was swaps. I just loved coming home with new ideas and my swaps were well received. I remembered to keep one of each for myself.

I can't wait until next year!

March Stamping Project: Happy Easter Egg Greeting Cards

Somehow Easter always sneaks up on me, so I designed a simple card for a fast turnaround. I made these double sided flat cards, but with a few changes you can make them into regular cards.



Supply list for four flat cards

• 1 sheet Elegant Eggplant 8.5x11" cardstock
• 3 sheets Whisper White 8.5x11" cardstock
• Elegant Eggplant ink
• Daffodil Delight ink
• Hello Easter stamp set (only available until the end of May!)
• Scissor snips, ruler and craft knife or Stampin' Trimmer
• Adhesive and Stampin' Dimensionals
• Stampin' Sponges

Click for larger

Cut a sheet of Elegant Eggplant cardstock into 4 4.25x5.5" pieces.

1. Cut two sheets of Whisper White cardstock into 8 pieces. First, trim the cardstock down to 7.5x10" sheets. Save the scraps for later. Cut the sheets in half at 5" on the longest side and then in half again at 3.75".
2. Trim the leftover strips to 0.75x3.5".
3. Stamp "Happy Easter" on the strips with Elegant Eggplant ink and notch each end.
4. On another piece of cardstock, stamp the largest egg in Elegant Eggplant. Colour if you wish.
5. Carefully cut out each large egg with scissor snips.
6. Sponge the front panel all over with Daffodil Delight and affix to one side of the Elegant Eggplant panel.
7. Take the back panel and sponge the edges with Daffodil Delight. Stamp leaves and a rabbit in Elegant Eggplant ink. Affix that to the Elegant Eggplant panel. Make sure both front and back are facing the same way and one isn't upside down :)
8. Stick down the Easter egg to the front.
9. Place 2 Stampin Dimensionals on the back of the Happy Easter sentiment and stick on the front.

One of the reasons that I chose the decorative egg over the striped one in the set was that it reminded me of eggs I used to make in school back home in Edmonton. The art of traditional Eastern European egg decorating is lots of of fun! Have a happy and blessed Easter!

Keeping Cutting Dies Organized - How I Do It

I have a funny story about why paying attention to storing dies is so important. Years ago I bought a rectangular die set because it had one or two sizes I needed. Well, I misplaced those dies. No problem, I ordered another set and strived to look after them better. Wellllll...I misplaced the dies from the second set. Then I ordered a third set! Somehow I managed to find all the missing dies, so now I can do my die cutting thrice as fast.

The problem is though, dies are expensive and you can’t always get a replacement set. Unlike stamps, dies present their own little storage problem. They don’t always stick back on the sheet nicely and the packaging is a little mysterious. Some people get magnet sheets for their dies and empty DVD cases. You can also make a binder with magnet sheets and plastic sleeves.

Leaflets Framelits dies

I use the original packaging because I’m cheap and eco-friendly like that, plus I don’t want to take up more space than I have to. I may get to the binder stage some day! But what's working for me now is identifying all my dies by cutting each one out on scrap paper and affixing them to the paper liner. This way I can test them out, use up scraps and identify them quickly by grouping them together. Any other suggestions? Leave a comment!