Wednesday, June 22, 2016

DOstamper STARS Challenge: Product Spotlight DSC #186


This weeks challenge was to use the 2016-2018 In Colors.  Rather than trying to use them all at once, I zoned in on the Sweet Sugarplum, which is prominently featured in the new Playful Palette Designer Series paper.  I'm pleased with the results.  You'll have to keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks to see other In Colors in my work.






Be sure to check out more "Product Spotlight" inspiration from the DOstamperSTARS Team (click on their names below):   

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

DOstamper STARS Challenge: Home Sweet Home DSC #185




Welcome to this week's challenge!  The third week of our challenge rotation is always called "Home Sweet Home" because we are asked to use a specific piece of home decor as our inspiration point.  We can use any or all aspects of the image provided...color scheme, theme, shapes, textures, images, whatever speaks to us.  This week's home decor item is in the image below and I zoned in on some of the colors and the butterflies & botanicals. 

One style of art work I have always admired but have never felt successful at doing is the layered, vintage look.  But, challenges are all about breaking out of your comfort zone, right? So I decided to give it a shot, and I'm pretty please. The images from the Butterfly Basics set made this card so, so easy!  If you are reluctant like me, give it a try - it's so much more fun and easy than you would ever think possible.
http://www.stampinup.com/ECWeb/CategoryPage.aspx?categoryid=12400&dbwsdemoid=2055485


I started with a rectangular Very Vanilla cardstock panel.  I used Early Espresso ink on a sponge to age the edges.  Next, I used Crumb Cake ink and a retired French script background stamp to create the background.  After that, I used more Crumb Cake ink and another sponge to apply some more aging to the whole panel in small circular motions.  After that I just started layering on the various images from the Butterfly Basics stamp set working from lightest to darkest.  The colors of ink I used were Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Early Espresso.  Next came the sentiment stamped in Early Espresso (you can use any sentiment, mine is from the bonus set I received a few months ago as a My Paper Pumpkin subscriber).  Once I was done stamping the panel, I matted it on Early Espresso cardstock, and an Old Olive card that I had aged with my sponge and Early Espresso ink.  Finally, I stamped the butterfly image on Very Vanilla using Crushed Curry, cut the image out by hand, adhered it with some Dimensionals and topped it off with some pearls, which I thought fit the vintage theme a bit better than diamond rhinestones, which I had considered.


As you may know, these Thursday challenges are sponsored by my upline, and anyone in her group of demonstrators is invited participate.  This week, we are lucky to have so many talented ladies share their interpretation of this image....go check them out by clicking on their names below:

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

STARS Challenge - Color My World DSC #184


Don't panic!  You didn't just lose 8 months of your life - it's not February or Valentine's Day.  I just couldn't help myself when I saw these colors.  I needed to refill my "love you" card stash (I like to send cards to/with my hubby when he's on business trips) so I decided to kill two birds with one stone: this challenge and increase my stash.  This card was simple to make but lots of fun.  



This was a challenge for the group of demonstrators that I belong to, and many of them chose to play along.  Check out their handiwork by clicking on their names below!

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Technique Tuesday #1: Shaker Shadow Box Card Tutorial


Hello!  Welcome to the inaugural edition of Technique Tuesday!  Every few weeks, on a Tuesday, I intend to share with you a new technique.  (DISCLAIMER: the technique is new to me and this blog, it may have actually been invented by someone else, and in all cases, I will attempt to give credit where it is due, if possible).  So check back once in awhile to see new technique I'm playing with.

This week, I started with the Shadow Box Tutorial I found on SplitCoastStampers.com and then modified it a bit to add the shaker feature.  Scroll down past the next picture to get my step-by-step tutorial.


(1) Pick a theme. I chose birthday, which drove my color and decoration decisions.

(2) Gather supplies:
a. Cardstock (I used Melon Mambo, Dapper Denim, Emerald Envy, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, and Whisper White)

b. window sheets

c. strong strips of adhesive (I used now-retired sticky strip, but any strong strip adhesive will work)

d. filler (i.e. sequins, beads, confetti, punched pieces - I used stars punched from cardstock using a Stampin' Up!'s Confetti Stars punch)

e. a scoring tool/system (I used a score board and bone folder)

f. a paper trimmer

g. nesting* dies and die cutting machine (nesting only necessary if you wish to have a border around your opening) - you could also use punches.  The shape doesn't have to be oval, either - it could be a heart or star, or something else that fits your theme.  I used some retired SU! Oval Framelits.

h. stamps (I used Balloon Celebration, which is available bundled with the balloon punch I used)

i. ink (I used Basic Black, Dapper Denim, Melon Mambo, Emerald Envy, Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie).

j. embellishments (I used stamped and punched balloons from the Balloon Celebration bundle)

(3) To make a card similar to mine:
a. cut 2 pieces of cardstock, each 4.25”x5.5”. These will be the back and front. On my example, these are the Melon Mambo pieces. Score them at ½” and 1” on both ends. The scores should run parallel to the shorter dimension. Choose one of these to be the front, and use your die to make a hole centered in the middle section of it. If you want to stamp on front or back pieces, I would recommend doing it while it is still flat. Once you are happy, you can fold the front. Starting on one end, fold at the first score mark in one direction and at the other score mark in the opposite direction. Then do the other end so that it is symmetrical. Repeat on the back piece. Set them aside.

b. cut one piece of cardstock to 3.5”x4.25” and use a die to cut a hole centered in it. This die should be smaller than the one use on the front so that you can see it through the hole on the front piece. Do your beost to center it, but if it’s slightly off, you can trim a small amount from each edge to align it better. This will create a layer similar to the orange rim on my example. Set this aside.

c. Next, cut two pieces of window sheets to measure 3.5”x4.25”. Line the entire perimeter of one window sheet with adhesive. Sprinkle your filling on. Then, carefully aligning it, place the second window sheet on top so that the edges line up perfectly with the first window sheet. Press edges tightly to secure adhesive, sealing in the filling.

d. Now we will assemble the front panel of the card. Adhere the window sheet/filler packet to the back of the front panel (the melon mambo piece in my example). Next adhere the window rim (the orange piece in my example) to behind the window sheet packet, making sure that the border it forms through the window is even. If you need to trim a bit off the edges of the orange piece in order to get it to be centered with in the Mambo window, you may. Just leave yourself enough room for adhesive. Set this assembly aside.

e. Cut 1 piece of cardstock to be 3.5” x 4.25”. This will be the inside part that you can see through the window. On my example, it’s the white panel with the banners on it. Go ahead and decorate this. It is helpful if you hold the front window over it to see where you need to decorate. Adhere it the middle panel of the back.

f. Adhere the front and back by running strips of adhesive down the outermost flap of each end of the front and back. Carefully and an put them together.

g. Decorate the front with die cuts, punched shapes, embellishments, stickers, ribbon, etc.

h. if you want a place to sign it, you can sign the back as is, or you can decorate the back and then sign on the decoration. You could also put a little pocket back there to hold a folded check, money or gift card.

If you try this, give me a shout out in the comments - I'd love to see what you did and hear your feedback!  Happy Stampin'!!!

Monday, June 6, 2016

Happy Mail!


Good morning!  Don’t you just love it when you get something fun in the mail that you weren’t expecting?  That happened to me recently.  My upline earned a cruise as a reward for the success she has had in her Stampin’ Up! business.  And to keep us entertained while she was gone, she sent us a little kit of pieces and challenged us to make something with it and then share it online. 

The kit contained:

1 cardstock rectangle just slightly smaller than the card face, cut from crumb cake cardstock  
5 strips of the delicious new Affectionately Yours WashiTape 
1 punched vellum pansy
And 1 white perfect accent 

She didn’t give us any other rules or restrictions, so I assumed we could use some of our own supplies to add to the creation.  So I also used Whisper White Cardstock, stamps from both Teeny Tiny Wishes and Love & Affection.  I also punched another flower from WatermelonWonder cardstock  using the same Pansy Punch, and used Night of Navy and Crumb Cake inks. 

This was my result!  I had so much fun doing this. This challenged me a bit because I have washi but I have never used it – so it was fun to finally give it a try.  Man, it’s addicting!  If you are a washi newbie like me, a couple tips:
  • If you are slow and careful it DOES peel back up if you don’t get the placement quite right (it’s very forgiving).
  • It is slightly see-through, so plan accordingly.
  • It has a slick surface, so if you want to stamp on it, you’ll want to use something designed for slick surfaces, like StazOn (note, I haven’t tried this myself yet, so don’t take my word on it working).

For the week my upline was gone, fellow demonstrators were posting their creations on our private Facebook group and I was so surprised at how much variation you could get from the same supplies.  It just goes to show you that there is no “right” way to create and you don’t need a ton of supplies to make multiple cards if you just challenge yourself to use what you have.  Of course, if you want to have lots of supplies, don’t let me stop you!  I’m certainly not the one to preach about that! J 

Hope you found this fun and inspiring…I sure did.  Until next time, happy stampin’!  If you'd like to see what the kits looked like right before she mailed them and what some of my friends did with their kits, click here!

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

STARS Sketch Pad Challenge DSC #183


If you're a follower of the Stampin' Up! world, you know that today is a BIG day for us!  The new catalog is now revealed to the public (before it was just for demos) and it is all available for purchase. Needless to say, we are all pretty pumped to finally be able to share all of it with you and order anything we want.

Speaking of new, here are some new products I used to make today's challenge.The pink and green are two of the NEW In Colors: Flirty Flamingo (LOVE that name) and Emerald Envy (which is a totally delicious green).  I paired it with our old friend So Saffron.  The patterned paper is also new.



To see what my friends did with this same sketch, follow the links below!  And come back soon to find more new goodies from the new catalog.



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