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What's new??? new clay and molds from Stampin' Up!

Looking for a fun way to take your cards to the next level?

Stampin Up! is introducing silicone molds and air dry clay in its new catalog. I've had a chance to play and the new products are really fun! The clay is available in white and you can color it with just a few drops of ink from your reinkers.  These are some flowers I made with the new Strawberry Slush - I used a few drops of the reinker to color the clay. When dry I sponged more color onto the flowers.  I used an aqua painter to put a bit of extra color on the center of the largest flower. 

Stay tuned all this week and see what's new in CLAY!  

Excited for the new catalog?   Beginning May 31st you can place your order, and even better - between May 31st and June 3rd, you can order from either catalog!  

I will be running specials starting on May 31st - June 15th, if you place your order with me you'll have the opportunity to earn free stuff!!!!   Please keep checking back! 

I'm not allowed to show you the new molds and clay until the 31st - but I can tell you that they are very similar in size, shape and feel to these available from another company but in some signature designs exclusive to Stampin' Up!  

My prediction?  You are going to love these!  

 

 

 

Have you ever spotted something and thought it would make a great papercraft poject?

Have you ever spotted something and thought it would make a great papercraft poject? Is this the longest blog title ever?   lol

I saw these framed pieces the other day at IKEA (in Orlando, although I'm sure every store has them) and thought they would make a great papercrafting project! 

I got out my new stampin up punch - Elegant Butterfly and some glossy CS.  I also selected two or three reinkers - for this project I think I used Tempting Turqoise and Orchid Opulence (retired, but you could use your fav color).

Using a straw (or a blow pen/color spritzer tool), just blow those colors around, let dry and use a second or third color (definitel let it dry :-) ).  Then take your punch and punch out some random color patterns.

I added some dimensionals and a sentiment (this is from Upsy Daisy, also retired but you could substitute any sentiment).

 

Last - my big announcement!  After taking a few years off I've rejoined the Stampin Up family! I decided to take advantage of the great deals offered during Sale-a-Bration.   If you'd like to know more, please let me know!   

SUO and faux

Here's a card featuring all Stampin' Up stamps and cardstock.  Its a collage type card featuring "faux bleach" with Upsy Daisy stamp set.  Faux bleach is the process of heat embossing (usually clear), sponging your color on, then using an iron to remove the embossing powder.   I stamped over that with En Francais (french script), I place the butterfly from Nature Walk and the sentiment from Afterthoughts.

The only "non" SU element is the rhinestone bling you could always substitute something else if you wanted to keep the card all stampin' up products.

 

Stamps:  Nature Walk, En Francais, Upsy Daisy and Afterthoughts.
Cardstock:  Pretty In Pink, Basic Black, White

 

Top of the morning to you!

This card originally appeared on my blog last year:  more green goodness but I liked it so much I wanted to re-post it.

Don't have any St. Patrick's day stamp sets and want to make a card?  Just look to your stamps for something from a recent holiday .... any heart shaped stamped or heart shaped punch will work! 

In this card, each of the four petals is made from the heart stamp in the Always stamp set. Cool, huh? I embossed Vanilla EP over watercolor paper - and then watercolored in Glorious Green and Green Galore (both also used as cardstock colors).  I was going to use a regular rhinestone brad .... when I discovered this beauty in my "stash" (I think its from K & Co.).  This could be substiuted to make your project "SU Only" if you need to.  The technique is known as embossed resist.

The only thing I think I will change is I want to change a ribbon in wider satin .... I think that would look more balanced.  On a related note, I miss these colors from SU - they were retired and I have always loved how rich and vibrant these are (so glad I kept reinkers in these colors).

Have a great St. Patrick's Day!   What are your plans for today?  Corned Beef is in my plans for today!

Tango with Razzleberry and Saffron

Sounds like a dessert doesn't it?  Actually, its a recent color combinaiton challenge at Splitcoast stampers, to use Rich Razzleberry with Tangerine Tango and So Saffron.

I went with a "faux colorwash bleach" technique in which the main image is heat embossed (I used clear) and then color is sponged overtop (embossed resist) and then it goes one step further - I use a hot iron and brown paper bags (or newspapers) to remove the emobssing powder. 

I first stamped the bottom layer with "En Francais" in Crumb Cake (Kraft), then I stamped with the Medallion in Versamark and heat embossed with clear eP the chunkier one - you can see a few strayed off the image and look like dots.  I sponged the colors on, starting in the middle with So Saffron, working to Tangerine Tango and then out to Rich Razzleberry.   I then heat up the iron, and taking some brown paper bags, I iron over top - the embossing powder will liquify and then stick to the brown paper, and you gently remove it.  I decided to tie the ends of the ribbon and adhere it onto the front to make it look like a bon-bon (rather than my usual knotted style).

 

All Supplies from Stampin' Up!
Stamps:   En Francais, Medallion, Sincere Salutations
Ink:  Crumb Cake, So Saffron, Tangerine Tango, Rich Razzleberry, Versamark
Cardstock:  White, So Saffron, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories:  Embossing Powder, Ribbon, self adhesive rhinestone (not SU but you could substitute an SU product)

Midnight raven

One more with Stampin' Up's new stamp called "Midnight Raven" - its a single in the new 2010 Holiday mini catalog.

I used a page from a magazine (this is a great way to '"upcycle" anything you've read) and sponged the new Concord Crush ink color, with a bit of Bermuda Blue (if you don't have this you could substitute Tempting Turquoise or a blue) for a little color pop all around the stamped image. 

The bottom is a scallop edge punch from the sale-a-bration catalog, and I used a bit of

Details:
Ink:  Basic Black, Crushed Concord, Bermuda Blue
Stamp:  Midnight Raven
Cardstock:  Kraft, scrap of black
Accessories:  Grey taffeta ribbon (SU) and some black rhinestones

Jiffy cards

Really, these look like they might take some time, but they're a breeze to make!  Especially if you make several of these flowers up beforehand and just keep them handy, ready to spring into action.  If you missed it, the flowers are easy to make (really!) and you can make them in a variety of paper or cardstock.  I like to use an old book, but I also used some double sided dsp (the bottom pic is Raspberry Tart from Stampin' Up) and loved the results.  The hard part???  Choosing your favorite ink color,  You can click here <----- to get the skinny on the flowers.

These are pre-cut 3 x 3 notecards in textured cardstock, but they're easy to cut - just cut  6 x 3 in and fold in half - from your favorite card stock!  You can get 8 of these lovely notes from a sheet of 12 x 12, and Stampin' Up sells little envelopes that match these perfectly.

The sentiment is from Warm Words (retired) but there are a ton of sentiment sets you could substitute.

PSPSCUSBR .... or in other words, flower!

I amin love with making these flowers!  They are really quick and the video tutorial here  <----- click to go see it.    The video tutorial is by someone else, and they have done a wonderful job showing off these flowers.

One of the great things about these is that you can use all different kinds of paper:  you can use cardstock, scrapbook paper, brown paper bags (see yesterday's post), books, tissue paper, etc.  But I think my favorite is to use the pages from a book that I've relegated to craft use (it was extremely bad poetry) but it makes great paper crafts! 

 

The basics:  PSPSCUSBR

Punch: Punch (or die cut), I like to use 8 if its thick like cardstock, 9 if its paper
Sponge:  The color of your choice onto the edges, I love to use dye based ink because it softens and blends beautifully when you mist it.
Pierce:  Stack them together and then pierce in the middle (thumb tack or piercing tool), this is for a brad you will use later.
Sprtiz:  Spritz or mist these water, use enough to get them wet.
Crumple:  Crumple them up like a spitball
Uncrumple:  that's right, very gently pull them back apart
Stack:  place them all together
Brad:  Place a brad through that whole you pierced in the middle of them
Crumple:  Crumple them back together, working from the very top layer.  Keep playing with the layers till you get the flower as you like it (its okay to add a bit more mist to them if they're getting dry).

Let dry and place your masterpiece on your card.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, Shell-a-brate!

This month's theme: "Christmas in July" at Friends Having Fun.  The challenge for this month is to:

- make a holiday card (it can be Christmas, Hanukah, Festivus, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, etc) or scrapbook page
- make your card long and narrow to fit a business sized envelope (4 1/8 in x 9 ½ in). An easy dimension is to cut your 8.5 x 11 cardstock to 8 in by 9 in and score the long way down the middle (yields a folded card size of 4 x 9). If you are scrabooking, one of the elements in your layout should be this size.
- incorporate your favorite technique.

As an optional element / ingredient - create something "holiday"  representative of your home state.   So, I crafted this beach theme Christmas tree. 

My favorite techniques (I used three all together for this card):  watercoloring, embossed foil, and sanding. 

The cardstock is Baja Blue - it is embossed and then I ran the ink pad over top, let it dry, then sanded it.  The seashell Christmas tree from the retired set "Shellebrate the Season", white satin ribbon completes it (all supplies from Stampin' Up! except for the stickles).  I used distress stickles in antique linen for the sand.  Here's a little ornament I made wiht this stamp set, too  <----- click

 
The card colors was Etsy inspired by the Mermaid Tears store and this fabulous sea glass necklace:

more green goodness!

Don't have any St. Patrick's day stamp sets and want to make a card?  Just look to your stamps for something from a recent holiday .... any heart shaped stamped or heart shaped punch will work! 

In this card, each of the four petals is made from the heart stamp in the Always stamp set. Cool, huh? I embossed Vanilla EP over watercolor paper - and then watercolored in Glorious Green and Green Galore (both also used as cardstock colors).  I was going to use a regular rhinestone brad .... when I discovered this beauty in my "stash" (I think its from K & Co.).

The only thing I think I will change is I want to change a ribbon in wider satin .... I think that would look more balanced.