SU Giant Year End Close Out PLUS Clearance Rack Refresh

Some days I wish SU gave demos a little more notice about sales, but surprises keep life exciting! It's the giant year end close out on now until January 4th, 2021! Plus the clearance rack was also refreshed with lots of goodies from last year's catalogue and even Stampin' Blend markers. Wow! Don't wait, because supplies are limited in the clearance rack.

You can place an order online or contact me to place an order.

Autumn Stamping Project--A Variety of Cards!

Whew! I didn't think that I would finish my September project, which turned into an October project and finally became the November project.

As we cope with working from home, missed loved ones and celebrations, I want to remind everyone that crafting of any kind is so restorative. A few minutes a day by yourself or over over Zoom--the arts keep us in touch with ourselves and others. They allow us to indulge in our imaginations and fantasy lives, help us grow confidence and give ourselves a bit of control too :)

Here are the supplies I used to make four cards:

• Life Is Beautiful Photopolymer Stamp Set
• Autumn Goodness + dies bundle
• Very Vanilla cardstock
• Cinnamon Cider cardstock
• Plaid Tidings DSP
• Cinnamon Cider ink
• Pumpkin Pie ink (Petal Pink will also do--I used Peekaboo Peach forgetting it was discontinued, whoops!)
• Seaside Spray ink
• Early Espresso ink
• Assorted Stampin' Write and Stampin' Blend markers
• Stamping Sponges

The idea I had in mind changed a little bit. Stamping the wheat stooks in Peekaboo Peach pushed them into the background. I used a 2" circle punch to make a mask and sponged around it for the sunset. 

Originally, Life is Beautiful was not on my to-buy list, but I realized it had a lot of potential. I stamped the leaves on and off with Cinnamon Cider and Peekaboo Peach for a layered look and then sponged the empty space with Peekaboo Peach. It's a little hard to see in the picture.

Sometimes when I have a hard time getting started, I just stamp! This is how I ended up with a lot of die cuts from the Autumn Goodness set. Again, the leaves from Life is Beautiful made a nice ground and some more Peekaboo Peach sponging knocked back the brightness of Very Vanilla. The two colours go surprisingly well together, which was a nice surprise.

I wasn't sure how the fourth card would turn out, so I just stamped all over the Very Vanilla panel. A little Seaside Spray ink on the panel and the plaid DSP brought a cool green to the card. Add a doily from the stash, and voila!

Now that my autumn cards are done, I can finally start on some Christmas designs :) 

Sunday Sketch - September Stamping Project

Since I post my projects at the end of the month, I decided to share the sketch for them at the beginning of the month. Check back in a few weeks to see how the sketch becomes reality!

August Stamping Project - Label It!

Every so often I need a reminder that stamping is more than just card making or scrapbooking. A friend gifted me a jar of homemade jam and later asked if I had the label stamps to go with a particular punch. I did not, but I could do one better!

For this project you will need:

• Stamps with a small pattern
• Label paper or plain paper or Whisper White cardstock
• Computer and printer
• Tear tape adhesive

These are rather loose guidelines. Sometimes I describe how to make something and other times I describe how to make it yours. Plus, there are lots of labelmaker programs out there.

If you have labels...

• Open Microsoft Word or visit Avery’s website, http://www.avery.com.
• Enter the label code and follow the instructions to create a sheet of labels. You may need to create an Avery account.
• Design a label with your chosen text such as “From me to you” or “From my kitchen to yours”. Make sure to leave some room at the edges to stamp.
• Print labels according to your printer's settings.

If you don’t have labels...

• Open Microsoft Word or visit Avery’s website, http://www.avery.com.
• Choose a label template that matches a punch that you have, such as a tag or a circle.
• Design a label that will fit within the space of the label template and ensure that you have left some space around the text to stamp around the words. For example, if you have a 2" circle punch, a 1-1.25" label design would work well.
• Make a test print on plain paper and see if the design fits the punch. This way, you won’t waste good cardstock. Make adjustments as necessary. When you are satisfied, print on Whisper White, Very Vanilla or plain paper.
• Punch out the labels.

Additionally, if you are handy with CorelDraw, Adobe PhotoShop or Adobe Illustrator, you can make a page of labels in those programs too. However you do it, your goal is to get a page of labels like this:

Punch them out! 

Get stamping! Choose stamps that have small designs and pick a contrasting or complimentary ink.

A current set that works well is Pattern Play and I also used the discontinued set Budding Borders.

Add some tear tape adhesive to the back and you're ready to go. Don’t forget you can add embellishments too like ribbon or string, especially if giving as a gift.

There you have it—a fun project that you can label your gifts with or make a gift for others. Did you know before that you can print on Stampin’s Up’s Whisper White or Very Vanilla cardstock? I have used both an inkjet and a laser printer with great results. See you in September!  

Stampin' Up! August-December Mini Catalogue is Here!

If it seems like nothing is on schedule this year--you're right! Stampin' Up! moved their annual fall catalogue to August from September. I have copies in hand if you would like one. Just contact me or shop with me to see what's new.

July Stamping Project - Welcome Baby Cards

TIme for the big reveal of July's stamping project--welcome baby cards! I never have enough of these on hand and I'll probably make a few more down the road. I picked Mint Macaron cardstock because it's gender neutral. All it wil take is a little extra colour to personalize it if the occasion calls for it. The one with the pink banner was sent off to our friends who welcomed a baby girl recently.

Fable Friends is discontinued but there are all sorts of cute stamps that can be used instead like Wildly Happy.

Sometimes it's easy to make all the cards the same, but I wanted each one to be different and try out some different ideas kicking around the ol' brain. Cinnamon Cider was the logical choice for inking the animals and I liked the contrast with Very Vanilla cardstock. A matching pencil crayon in the stash was perfect for their fur. Usually Crumbcake is my go to brown, but sometimes it can be too subtle. And speaking of subtle, I tried out some Soft Sea Foam for just a hint of colour on the base of two of the cards. 

One of the larger rectangles from the Ornate Layers dies had the vintage look that went with the rabbit and squirrel. Fable Friends always reminds me of Peter Rabbit :-)

Next, I used up some scrap pieces of Very Vanilla for the big hello on two cards. 

The big Hello is from another discontinued set, Hello Friend. Sometimes it's a puzzler as to how one can have SO MANY STAMPS and not have JUST THE RIGHT STAMP. LOL! Hello is perfect, anyhow, since everyone is eager to meet the new little person :-) The ink is Shaded Spruce.

I die cut a bunch of branches from the Birds and More set plus Forever Flourishing from Mint Macaron. Tone on tone can have a very pleasing look and is an effective way to add texture and layers to a card base.

I don't have anything that says Welcome Baby, so I had to handwrite it with a Cinnamon Cider Stampin' Write marker. Fortunately, I did have a congratulations stamp.

All these techniques were simple and fun to try out. I imagine I'll be doing them again for Christmas cards pretty soon! Until next time...

Sunday Sketch - July Stamping Project - Welcome Baby

Since I post my projects at the end of the month, I decided to share the sketch for them at the beginning of the month. Check back in a couple of weeks to see how the sketch becomes reality!

As you might have guessed, this is a new baby card. Surprisingly, I don't have anything in the stash that says welcome or new baby, so I'll have to improvise a bit. The stamps are from a discontinued set, Fable Friends. They're the closest new baby stamps I have.

By the way, it's July! That means it's time for BONUS DAYS!!!. Spend $60 CAD before taxes and shipping and receive a $6 coupon to spend in August. You'll want those coupons because the holiday catalogue is coming out in August instead of September this year. Oooooh!