Regionals inspiration, cards and a 3D project

This week has been a heavy work schedule week...long hours hence I have been so quiet but I have had a chance to stamp in the evenings but no energy to post. So here is a 3 part post covering my stamping adventures this week.

Part One:

The Stampin' Up! regional meeting in Oakland this past weekend was so much fun. Catching up with my stamping friends, getting some great swaps and learning a few different things.

This card is a case from a swap I received from Linda Simons. I spotted her card a few feet away while swapping out in the lobby and just knew I had to have one and I was definitely going to case it! What a simply elegant design. I just loved it from the get go! The hand stamped background I switched out and used the SU! Boho
Backgrounds stamp set. Everything else is pretty much to spec...how could you alter it?! :D Did I mention I love this card? For those ladies who participate in my monthly card swap...SURPRISE! :) This will be my card to you!

Part Two:
One of the nuggets of the regional was directions to make this super cute bag. It has two pockets which makes it extra fun.

For my monthly card swap members - SURPRISE!! I decided to go ahead and make one of these for each of you. Each bag will have three 4x4 cards in it also.I used my Rose Cottage Simply Scrappin' Kit to make these.

These are a few of the selections of the 4x4 cards I made with the Rose Cottage Simply Scrappin' Kit that will be tucked into each bag for the Monthly swap members.

Part three:

The challenge for this month's card swap was the Faux Silk technique.

Here is my card :D

I hope you all have a great weekend!

I've been tagged!

Patty from Patty Stamps tagged me yesterday....what fun!

1. Stamping Style : Depends on my mood. A little bit of everything really. Sometimes quick and simple yet other times elaborate and detailed.

2. Inspiration: Oh boy...let's see, home decor and crafting mags for color schemes and layout inspirations, new techniques and great blogs.

3. Color: Browns, blues and pinks but for some reason I am gravitating towards orange! :)

4. Work Space: With the move to the new house, I have a combined home office and craft room...it works great for me. Just need more shelves for crafting stuff :D

5. Perfect: Traveling, Being on vacation. Cooking and spending time with friends.

6. First Job: Growing up on a farm, you always had jobs. My first job job was at 8 years old driving the tractor with a trailer hooked to the back of it, driving up and down the grapevine rows so the cart guys could pick up the crates of picked grapes for delivery to the packing shed where the grapes were chilled and packed ready for the local markets. That was my after school and summer vacation job for about 5 years.

There is a funny story on when I was being taught how to drive a tractor that I will save for another time :)

My first paying job as an young adult was a Customs Agent Shipping Clerk.

7. Wildest Dream: Owning a fabulous house on 5 acres of land and having it self sustaining - growing our own organic vegetables, having truly organic free range chickens and of course wonderfully fresh eggs as well as raising our own animals. Of course, it has to come with a detached studio that I could craft my little heart away in :)

8. Ink: Stampin' Up! inks of course...both classic and craft inks. They rock :D

9. Family: They all live in Australia. Miss them dearly. Mum and Dad, 1 sister and 2 brothers, 5 nephews and 2 nieces. Of course, I also have Sheri's family who live in Vermont. Mum (hey Judy!) and dad (Hi Ron!), 1 bro - big shout out to ya Shaney!

10. Biggest Challenge: Making time to have fun. Between work and crafting, what time is left??? :-D

I'm tagging:

Kristy at Stamp Garage

Nancy at Paper Smiles

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to stamp I go...

Tomorrow is Stampin' Up!'s regional meeting in Oakland California. Apart from the 2 hour drive there and 2 hours back, I am REALLY looking forward to it!

Not only will I get to see my stamp friends again, I will also be partaking in Make and Takes, trying some new techniques and having some plain old fun.

Here is a picture of my card swaps I made for the day. Pretty simple with no embellishments...I had to really hold myself back from popping flowers and glitter all over them :)

I can't seem to gravitate away from the "She's all That" stamp set...I just l-o-v-e it as well as the Bali Breeze designer paper but I am going to have to hide them away for a while as I have other stamp sets that are crying out to be used :D

I will be posting on Sunday some photos taken at Regional including some of the card swaps received.

Precious memories

Whew, life has been busy these past couple of days. I have been making fronts for cards swaps - Monthly Inner Circle Card Swap, Occasional Mini Swap and for Stampin' Up! Regional meeting tomorrow in Oakland. I realized on Wednesday I had 80 swaps I needed to make in a very short time frame...wowsers! :) But they are all done now and I am breathing easy.

I also made this little plaque as a prize gift for someone I work with.

I used the small On Board Book Basics that is available in the Occasional Mini catalog as the backdrop, Le Jardin Double Sided Designer Paper with Fancy Pants rub ons and Prima Flowers with little jewels in the center.

You look Fabulous!

Hoole Dooly, is this card bright or what?! lol

I used Beates Weekly Sketch Challenge for the layout of this card.

I wish I could promise this will be the last time I use the Bali Breeze designer paper...but I just can't do that :)

This card is a 4.25 x 4.25 card using Close to Cocoa as the base.

The Bali Breeze DP was used on all 4 layers.

I stamped the Pregnant girl from the She's All That" stamp set in Tempting Turquoise on White Whisper cardstock. I embossed her dress using a 50/50 mix of Crystal Clear Embossing and Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.

I layered felt flowers from the Felt Fusion Flower kit (pg. 177 in the Spring.Summer catalog) using coordinating brads to hold them together and pop them on the card using dimensionals.

A Tree for all Seasons

Oh boy...you get to partially see how messy my craft table is at the end of a card. That's embossing powder all over my cutting board as I was embossing just before I took this photo.

I will have to take photos of my craft space when it's tidy and post them :)

OK...on to the card :) This little fella, is a 4.25 x 4.25 card.

I stamped the summer tree from the "A Tree for All Seasons" SU! stamp set in Going Gray Classic Ink as I only wanted a faint outline of the image so I could fill it it. I used, Certainly Celery and Green Galore for the leaves and grass, Close to Cocoa for the tree trunk, limbs and swing seat and my new favorite color, Only Orange for the butterfly.

I layered the the tree with Only Orange and Close to Cocoa cardstock and then paired those colors with the Bali Breeze Designer Series Paper (yes again!!) to create the backgrounds. A little bit of Faux Stitching added to the top and bottom border of the Orange DSDP piece and finished it off with my Close to Cocoa marker.

The Happy Hellos sentiment stamped in Close to Cocoa comes from SU!'s Lots of Thoughts stamp set.

SCS Sketch Challenge

I was flitting around SCS and saw the sketch layout for this week's sketch challenge and it looked like fun, so I decided to try my hand at it.



And here is my take on it...


Can you tell I adore the Bali Breeze Designer Series Paper? lol

For this card, I used;
Close to Cocoa cardstock for my 4.25x4.25 base and layering.
Bali Breeze DSDP offerings for all layers.
The Birthday girl from She's all That stamp set.
Chocolate Chip Classic Ink.
Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon.
Sponge for feathering.
Unknown brand of bling for the candle and corners.

Embossed Die Cut Blooms

This card was fun to put together.

The Die Cut blooms available in the Occasional Mini Catalog are super fun.

I cut a 4x4 piece of floral paper from the Bali Breeze Designer Series Paper and used the stitching kit from the Stampin' Up! Crafter's Tool Kit to stitch the outside.

I pulled a large, medium and small flower from the pack.

On the smallest flower, I used the Celebrate stamp from the Sweet Serendipity stamp set and stamped it off center in Chocolate Chip.

Using my Versamark pad, I covered each flower completely with Versamark and then used SU!'s Crystal Clear Embossing powder to give the them a glossy appearance. The fun thing about this is that the embossing powder deepened the color of each flower.



Here is a close up of the embossed flowers.

I finished off the smallest flower with a clear bling brad from the Pretties Kit.

Faux Envelope card

Hi everyone,
I honestly cannot believe the week has flown by so quickly but I am very glad the weekend is here!

Here is a Faux Envelope card (or should I say Faux upside down envelope card), I made using the other half of yesterday's Carousel note card.

Again, I used paper from my favorite DSDP, Bali Breeze and matched it with Close to Cocoa and Soft Sky cardstock.

I stamp the round dotted stamp from the Boho Backgrounds stamp set with Versamark on the Carousel note card and then used my white gel pen to flourish the outer edges of both the Carousel Note card and the Pink paper.

Using the Medallion stamp of the Boho Backgrounds, I applied directly to rubber Rose Red, Bordering Blue and So Saffron Markers and then "huffed" the stamp to moisten the marker ink before stamping it onto Very Vanilla. I used the 1 1/4' punch to pop out the center layered it on the pink Bali Breeze paper using the 1 3/8" punch. I applied the medallion using a dimensional.

Using the So Many Saying stamp set, I masked the stamp to leave the "You make me happy" line and stamped it in Chocolate Chip classic ink, using my Stamp-a-ma-jig for placement.

I was going to add ribbon to the card but I didn't like the look of it, so tada...this is it. Simple yet cute :)

Essence of love

I cut the Close to Cocoa base card down to 4 x 4.25. The Bali Breeze designer paper was cut to 3.75 x 4, and then faux stitchi with the stitching kit and a Close to Cocoa marker.

I then cut the Carousel note card in half and trimmed it to fit the base of the card. The other half was used to make a Faux envelope card which I will show you tomorrow :)

With Versamark, I stamped the Essence of Love floral stamp and embossed it with SU! Crystal Clear Embossing Powder. The Serendipity Phrase from the Sweet Serendipity Stamp set was stamped in Chocolate Chip over the Floral Boho Background stamp in Sahara Sand.

The butterfly from the Essence of Love stamp set was stamped in Bordering Blue using the stamp off technique. I layered it with the orange Bali Breeze designer paper and Soft Sky cardstock. Put it all together and you get this cute little card. :)

Recipe:
Stamp: Essence of Love stamp set, Boho Backgrounds stamp set, Sweet Serendipity stamp set,
Paper: Soft Sky Carousel note card, Bali Breeze double sided designer paper, Close to Cocoa cardstock
Ink: Versamark, Choc. Chip, Bordering Blue, Sahara Sand
Misc: Crystal Clear Embossing Powder, Heat gun, 1', 1 1/4", 1 3/8' punches, Stitching kit from Crafters Tool Kit.


Happy Friday everyone!!!

She's All That

Have I told you that I think the new Occasional Mini catalog that is available March 1 is the best ever? I really, really, really love it!

I received my delivery yesterday and couldn't wait to play.

I made this card using the following Occasional Mini catalog offerings;
Carousel Note Card
She's All That and Essence of Love stamp sets
Bali Breeze double sided designer paper
Chunky Sprinkles Glitter
Poly Twill Ribbon

I stamped the boarder of the Carousel Note with the butterfly from the Essence of Love stamp set in Versamark. I then used the Basic Grey Marker and dotted the scallops.

Using the Coluzzle, I cut out a large oval of the Bali Breeze paper and a smaller Very Vanilla piece.

Sahara Sand Classic Ink was used to stamp the Essence of Love floral growth stamp. I used Close to Cocoa Classic Ink to Stamp the Girl walking her dog and drinking coffee from the She's All That stamp set, which I have to say is my all time favorite stamp set!

Using Stampin' Up!'s Two Way Glue, I filled in her dress and sprinkled the new Iridescent Ice Chunky Sprinkles Glitter to give her dress a sequenced look. I added a paper clip from my HodgePodge set and tie some of the new Chocolate Chip Poly Twill Ribbon on it.

I can't wait!...

I cannot wait for my order from Stampin' Up! to arrive tomorrow. As a demonstrator, we are able to pre-order merchandise from the new mini catalog a month in advance to make samples and prepare for upcoming classes.

This mini catalog is the best ever! I will be sure to share with you new arrivals as soon I receive them! I am SOOO excited about this mini catalog!

Yes, I am wishing the day away already!

OK...now what to do for 24 hours? tap tap tap.... :-)

Eastern Elegance Rub Ons

Last night I was playing with the Stampin' Up! Rub ons and I made this quick card.

There is no stamping involved with this card. All elements are from the Eastern Elegance Rub on packet.

Whisper White, Real Red and Black cardstock and white ribbon was used as well as a red Button from the Stampin' Up! button collection.

It looks a lot prettier in person!

Another Keepsake Box

This is another Keepsake box I made. This I made for Sheri and I. I wish I could remember what company paper I used but I don't. I pulled these out of my left overs basket. It may be My Mind's Eye. If I had to bet on it, that's what I would pick. I also used Fancy Pant's Rub-ons as well as double and triple layered hand made flowers with a little bling-bling on them that I had sitting around in my pre-made basket.

I hope you all have/had a great weekend!

Teenager gift set

I really do love the Stampin' Up! Scrappin' Kits not only does it make Scrapping so easy, they are great for making quick cards as well as 3D projects!

I made this set of card for a friend's teenage daughter. I had a retired Friend and Flowers Scrapping kit left over and instead of having it take up precious shelf space and collect dust, I decided to turn part of it into a little surprise gift for her.

There is no stamping at all with these cards. I used the die cut flowers and letters to embellish the cards. There are 4 4x4 cards and a 1 4x6 card in this set.

Thanks for looking! Happy Friday!!