I told you yesterday I was heading back into my stamp room again and it felt SO GOOD!  I even had a friend/neighbor join me for a few hours which made it doubly good (Hi Kath!).  I set out to make a card for a very special friend who has supported me in so many ways, so armed with my ink, paper and stamp sets, here is what I created:

Field Flowersis quickly becoming another favorite stamp set. The two-step stamping technique gives such dramatic results, it's hard not to like it.  The color combination on the flowers is Pink Pirouette and Rich Razzleberry and for the stem I used Lucky Limeade.  The full flower is cut out and raised with a dimensional.  The sentiment is from the Friendly Phrases set which has six fantastic sentiments.  I love how the two different fonts in the sentiment work so well together.

A few accessories were used to add some interest.  My trusted side-kick the Big Shot came off the shelf to emboss the card front with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.  I also the Scallop Trim Border punch to accent either side of the image. And, last but not least, it's hard for me to make a card and not add a ribbon.  The Lucky Limeade ruffle ribbon was a perfect match .

It felt good to find my stamping mojo again!

To my blog readers in the Orlando area!  Dates have now been secured for my Annual Christmas Stamp-a-Stacks.  Please mark your calendars! The East side SAS will be held on Nov 5th.  The West side SAS will be held on Oct 29th and the Clermont SAS will be held on Nov 17th.  Please check my class calendar for further details. 

Have a great night!

I wish I could tell you that I have been on an exotic vacation somewhere sipping fruity drinks and eating bon bons, but I haven't.  It's simply been a week of one obligation after another topped off by my daughter going back to college on Sunday. The summer went by so fast and I found myself a bit "weepy" when she left. It was hard to create...so I didn't.

So, fortunately for me, I have extremely talented team members who recently participated in a team card swap.  I have decided to showcase a couple of cards made by Heather Prentice.  I am certain you will enjoy Heather's cards as much as I did.

 
Look at this adorable card made with the stamp set Under the Stars.  Heather's clever use of the circle scallop punch created a bite mark on the side of the card.  If you look closely, you'll notice that the card itself resembles a smore!  Brilliant!

 

This next card, while it may look simple and easy, took some time to make. This uses the stamp sets Take a Spin and Party This Way. If you look at the face of the dial - each of those sections were hand cut and pieced together - talk about packing your patience!  And, how about that game spinner?!  Adorable!  For those of you who may not know this, the spinner is functional and adds a great interactive element. 

Thanks to Heather for her creative swaps and for sharing her super talent.  I'm certain you will see more of her projects soon.

As for me, I'll be hittin' the craft room again this evening hoping to rejuvenate the creative juices that have been lying dormant.  Can't wait to get my hands on the some paper and ink!  Come on back tomorrow to see what I came up with.

Until then, happy stamping!

Yesterday was my birthday and while I intended to post a picture of my present I was simply having too much fun with my family. That's why I'm a day late getting this up.

One of the things I have always struggled with is taking good, quality photos of my projects. I quickly learned a beautiful project can look bad if the photo isn't taken in the correct light. Bad lighting doesn't do a good project justice  My husband caught on to my struggles and decided to end my woes.  So, he bought me this...

 
I know, you're thinking, "What the heck is that?".  It's a light box!  A portable, light-weight light box - and it's awesome!  I know it looks heavy and bulky, but it literally is only a couple of pounds. 

 

I put the card inside so you can get an idea of how much room there is inside.  I can easily photograph 12x12 scrapbook pages.  Here's a picture of how much light this box gives off:

There are a number of light boxes on the market and many of them require the use of lamps on either side of the box and have a number of components to be set up before it can be used.  What I love about this is the light is built-in, it takes about 20 seconds to assemble (although I probably will just leave mine up) and it all fits in to the base of the box that makes it easy to put away or take with you.  It's awesome and I love it!  It does cost a little more than some of it's competition, but the weight and ease of use is what sold me on it.  No regrets so far!

My hope is you will see an improvement in the quality of my photos going forward.  I know I always enjoy a project more on a blog when the picture is of good quality and you don't have to strain to see the details.

Enjoy the rest of your day.  I'm off to get some left over birthday cake...

Until next time,

Today I had the pleasure of meeting with my friends and fellow demonstrators who volunteer with me at the Ronald McDonald House.  We have a monthly meeting and it usually includes a card swap.  With Fall and Thanksgiving sneaking up on us, it was time to pull out my favorite Fall set called Day of Gratitude.  I also used a sneak peek item from the Holiday Mini Catalog - Spice Cake designer series paper.  This paper is SO beautiful, I can't wait to show you the entire pack when it becomes available on September 1st.

Back to the card...I made a pocket card.  I have an unexplained affinity for pockets cards.  Maybe because they're different, but it probably has more to do with the fact that they are fun to make.

 
Of course, I can't seem to make anything without using my Big Shot, so I pulled out the Leaves #2 die and made a couple of embellishments for the front.  To add some texture to the leaves, I ran one leaf through the Lattice embossing folder and the other one through the Perfect Polka dots embossing folder.

 
I think the most unexpected part of this card is the splash of blue, especially this particular hue of blue.  You'll see this color a lot in the new paper pack I was telling you about above.  I'm tellin' you...you are going to love it.

So, here's the skinny on the card:

Stamps: Day of Gratitude; Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, More Mustard; Paper: Crumb Cake, Spice Cake DSP, Very Vanilla, Pool Party, More Mustard and Early Espresso; Accessories: Leaves #2 die, Pool Party ribbon, gold brad, color spritzer tool, Big Shot, Lattice EF and Perfect Polka Dots EF.

Come back tomorrow so I can show you the newest addition to my craft room...

Until then,

If you are a follower of my blog, you know that I am a volunteer at one of two Ronald McDonald Houses in downtown Orlando. There are six area demonstrators, including myself, that take turns to provide guests of the Ronald McDonald House a few hours of papercrafting fun.  Our goal is simple...to create an environment in which House guests will be able to enjoy creative expression in the comfort of their "home-away-from-home".

Last week, my friend and fellow demonstrator, Karen, and I headed off to the Kuhl St House and set up shop.  We each had a card guests could make and spent the next two hours engaging numerous House guests in the art of rubber stamping.  We were very busy and time went by quickly, but I was able to snap a few photos towards the end of the night.

 
These two cuties were fabulous artists.  Given the chance, they would have stamped for days!  I see two future demonstrators...

 
Here's a proud Papa!  Surprisingly, we have quite a few men join us each month at our stamp table and we love it!  I forgot this gentleman's name, but at one point, he and his entire family were stamping with us.  We were very popular for awhile! Don't you just love his smile?

 
Here's Mom and Grandma...they too loved to stamp.  When the mom completed both of the projects, she looked at me and said, "What's next?".  I wish I had endless projects for them to do!

 
And, finally, here's me and my stampin' buddy, Karen, after a long, but fun night with the House guests.

Do you have interest in being a part of this fantastic opportunity?  I would love to have you join my team so you, too, can join me at the Ronald McDonald House.  Stampin' Up! is about more than stamps and ink... contact me at [email protected] so I can share with you the numerous opportunities (and blessings!) that owning your own stamping business can provide.

Be blessed!

I really don't like it when "life" prevents me from being in my stamp room.  This past week has been a whirlwind of activity, but things are starting to slow down just enough for me to take a breath. I see stamps and ink on my horizon...and that makes me very, very happy.

Last night I inked up a brand new stamp set called The Sounding Joy.  This set will be available to everyone on September 1st when the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog makes its debut.  This is such a beautiful set with four images.  I am starting to prepare my Christmas stamp-a-stack classes and this will be one of the cards we will be doing. Take a peek:

 
 This card was inspired by a card I saw in my Stampin' Success magazine, which is a publication specifically for demonstrators.  I loved the elegance and simplicity of the card. My favorite feature is the dry embossed swirls in the background.  It may be difficult to see in the picture, but the word "Joy" is also embossed in gold.  Lots of fun things going on with this card.

If you live in the Orlando area and are interested in making this card at my Christmas Stamp-a-Stack, please click here to visit my class calendar.  I will be adding this class within the week, so please check back often.

Thank you for visiting!  I will be back tomorrow with a few pictures from my visit to the Ronald McDonald House.  What til you see some of the happy faces I captured...all because of some stamps and ink.

Be blessed!

Like yesterday, I made more thank you notes for recent customer orders. A new addition to my stamp arsenal is Established Elegance (# 122532 C, #122530 W).  This set has 10 pieces and, the detail in each image is incredible!

 
I copied the sample in the Idea book and Catalog (pg 130) with some minor changes. I had some retired ribbon that matched pretty well since I didn't have the new Lucky Limeade ruffle ribbon shown in the catalog.

 
The 3 x 3 cards were a lot of fun to make.  They are the perfect size to say "thank you". I use these for my customer orders, but I also like to use them for tips whether for servers or for the woman who cuts my hair. 

I only got a handful done, but because this little card packs such a bunch, I'll be making more to have on hand.

Interested in making this card?  Let's do it at your workshop! Contact me so we can schedule a date and plan other beautiful items to make with it.

Two-step stamping is one of my favorite techniques. It turns ordinary images into extraordinary images with very little effort. In the newly released Stampin' Up! Idea book and catalog, the stamp set Field Flowers is the perfect example of how a seemingly simple stamp set can produce beautiful images.

 
I made thank you notes for customers who recently attended my Stampin' Up workshop and this was one of the cards that went with their order. The flower in this set is so beautiful I didn't feel much embellishment was needed.

The flowers were stamped in Pink Priouette and Melon Mambo and the stem was inked with Certain Celery. If it is difficult to see the two-tone pinks, click the image to make it larger to get a better view. The sentiment is from the Curly Cute set and is stamped in Melon Mambo ink.

Another new addition to this year's catalog is the mini brad.  These things are FABULOUS!  Not that I don't like the "regular" brads, but the mini's are the just the right size for smaller cards or small images.  This finished card is 4.25 x 4.25.

Interested in learning two-step stamping? Contact me at [email protected] so I can show you how easy and fun it is!

Have a great day!

Happy Sunday, Everyone!

Today I'm showcasing another card made with the Posy Punch hostess set.  I love the versatility of this set and, of course, the matching punch (Fancy Flower) that makes using this set SO easy.

This is a card I made for my 3rd level upline who spent a considerable amount of time with me on the phone recently discussing various Stampin' Up topics.  She called me despite being in the middle of a cross-country move!  Thanks, Pennie!

My favorite color is pink, so I am naturally drawn to Stampin' Up!'s color Melon Mambo. Although, just about any pink is fine with me.  The flower image is stamped in Melon Mambo onto Whisper White card stock and punched out using the Fancy Flower punch.  Don't you love how easy creating images can be with punches?  I also stamped the flower center in Concord Crush ink onto Whisper White card stock and then...can you guess?  Yep, I punched the circle out using the 3/4" circle punch.

The background swirl image is from the set Baroque Motifs.  I created a tone on tone look by using the Melon Mambo ink on the Melon Mambo paper. To create the leaves, I punched three large ovals (yep, another great punch) from Old Olive card stock.  Then, I folded them in half and ran them through my crimper.  By trimming one edge, it creates the look of a leaf!

And finally, for some added interest, I added a strip of Old Olive, created a border using the scallop border punch and pierced it with my paper piercer, then added a strip of Concord Crush card stock. The sentiment is from a fantastic set the current mini catalog called Happy Greetings (#123311 W, 123313 C).

Speaking of the current mini catalog...there is less than a month left before this catalog expires. If you don't have a mini catalog, you can view it by clicking here.  If you see something in it that have to have, please shop at my online store.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Every year Stampin' Up! designs an exclusive stamp set to help raise money for Ronald McDonald House Charities.  To date, with the help of demonstrators and customers, SU has contributed over $1,000,000 to RMHC.  Awesome!  This years set, called Turtle and Co., is the set I featured on my card today. This is another card I made for a swap with my Stampin' Up! team.

 
I'm not sure the name of this unique card fold, but I have used this several times in the past.  I think it is unique and adds interest for the recipient.  They have to do a bit of work to get to your message! 

The turtle is adhered to the Melon Mambo flower that was created using the Fancy Flower punch.  Before attaching the turtle I ran the flower through the Big Shot using the Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder. The flower is then attached to the Lucky Limeade strip creating a belly band.  This is what keeps the card closed.

 
When you remove the belly band, the left panel has to be opened.

 
To reveal the message, the folded white panel has be to lifted.  Isn't this a fun card fold?

The finished size of the card is 4.25 x 4.25 and fits perfectly in a A2 envelope.

Thanks for stopping by!  The weekend is almost here!