Stamp Review Crew – You’ve Got This

 

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Stamp Review Crew. If you’re not familiar with our hops, we’re a group of Stampin’ Up demonstrators from around the globe who team up twice a month to highlight different stamp sets from the annual and seasonal catalogs.

 

This week we’re featuring a set called You’ve Got This and I’m sure you’re going to see some amazing ideas for this set. If you’re hoping in order, you just came from Nikki’s blog where I know you weren’t disappointed.

 

I’ve made a few cards with this set, but I was stumped for a new idea for this hop. So I turned once again to a sketch challenge, this time from the Clean & Simple Stamping sketch challenge blog. This card shows a bit of a sneak peek from the new Occasions catalog that goes live on January 5 – a sheet of paper from the Birthday Bouquet dsp.

 

 

I picked out the Blushing Bride and Watermelon Wonder colors from the paper to color my flowers, which were fussy-cut and popped up above the background image from the set. I fudged on the sentiment a bit by using the word “you” from the Hello You thinlits and only inked up the last half of the sentiment stamp. This was in keeping with the sketch I used, but I kind of like it better that way – a little more slangy. The sequins were left over from another project – I think it was a previous Paper Pumpkin kit.

 

I hope you like my project. Deb is up next with projects I know you’ll love. Thanks for stopping by.

Stamp Review Crew – Festival of Trees

 

Welcome once again to another edition of the Stamp Review Crew. We are an international group of Stampin’ Up demonstrators who blog twice a month using a specific stamp set to give you lots of great ideas on ways to use it. This week we’re featuring the Festival of Trees set and matching punch. You can find this set in the annual catalog in the Holiday section.

 

My first card is one we made during my Christmas in July class. I don’t believe I’ve posted it before, so here it is:

 

 

It’s based off one of the sketch challenges, but it’s been so long since we made them, I don’t remember which one. I used the silver thread behind the tree. I’m still working on the “messy” thread look. Some people just ball it up and throw it on there and it looks like it was meant to be that way. Mine’s not quite there yet.

 

This second one was also based off a sketch – this one is #152 from Case this Sketch. Both of today’s cards use the tree sheet from the Merry Moments dsp. I think it goes so well with the stamp and punch.

 

For this second card, I only used the punch to punch out a tree from the corrugated paper. I just love this stuff! It adds kind of a rustic touch to your cards. In retrospect I should have punched the tree first and then cut out the circle. It’s a little difficult to line up correctly when you do it the other way around.

 

 

The sentiment is from the Oh What Fun set. “A Merry Christmas” is on the inside.

 

Next up is Rochelle’s blog. I can’t wait to see what awesome projects she has in store for us. Or you can go backwards through the hop to Dawn’s blog.

 

Hope you like my projects – thanks for visiting!

Stamp Review Crew – Jingle All The Way

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Stamp Review Crew. We’re a group of Stampin’ Up demonstrators around the world who hop together the first and third Monday of each month to highlight a stamp set out of the catalog. For this special edition, we’re working with a holiday set – Jingle All The Way – and the coordinating framelits set.

 

It’s been awhile since I last posted. Been taking a bit of a break, although not by design. I’ve been doing lots of stamping though. I hope to post some of the cards soon.

 

A big thanks to my sweet friend Geraldine, who let me borrow the stamps and framelits. There are some really cute ornaments made with this set on Pinterest. Here’s what we came up with:

 

I used the two-way glue pen and Stampin’ Up glitter to line the edges of each die cut. I also used Whisper White for the snowflakes and sprinkled glitter on them while they were still damp. Finally, I added loose glitter and the mica that we used to sell.

When I first saw this set, I really loved the hills and houses and trees. It reminded me of Tuscany. Or at least what I think Tuscany must look like with the rolling hills and cypress trees and vineyards in the distance. I hope to go there some day – it’s on my bucket list.

 

I played with varying shades of green, yellow and purple to create my rolling hills.

 

I didn’t have a specific occasion in mind for this card, so by the time I had it put together, I really couldn’t find a sentiment I thought looked good with it.  That’s what happens when I wonder off the reservation.

 

I hope you liked my projects. Next up is Nikki. You’ll love her style – can’t wait to see what she has in store for us.

 

Here is the complete list:

 

1.  Dawn Tidd http://tiddbitsfromdawn.typepad.com/tiddbits-from-dawn/2015/12/stamp-review-crew-jingle-all-the-way-edition.html
2. Heidi Baks http://runningwscissorsstamper.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-stamp-review-crew-jingle-all-way.html
3. Sue Plote  http://thispinkrooster.blogspot.com/2015/11/stamp-review-crewjingle-all-way.html
4. Jessica Williams http://thepapercaper.com.au/2015/12/07/the-stamp-review-crew-features-jingle-all-the-way
   
5. Nancy Smith   https://iguanastamp.wordpress.com/2015/12/06/stamp-review-crew-jingle-all-the-way
6. Nikki Spencer  http://nikkispencer-mysandbox.blogspot.com/2015/12/stamp-review-crewjingle-all-way-edition.html
7. Tanya Boser  http://tinkerin-in-ink.blogspot.com/2015/12/stamp-review-crew-jingle-all-way-edition.html
8. Rochelle Blok  http://rochelleblok.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-stamp-review-crew-jingle-all-way.html
9. Betty Traciak  http://kittystamp.blogspot.com/2015/12/stamp-review-crew-jingle-all-way-edition.html
10. Mike Funke http://stampin-style.typepad.com/stampin-style/2015/12/stamp-review-crew-jimgle-all-the-way.html
11. Linda Callahan  http://stampinseasons.blogspot.com/2015/12/stamp-review-crew-jingle-all-way.html

Speaking About Stamping …

Recently as part of my goals and objectives at work, I joined the Toastmasters Club to become a better speaker. I suppose I was hoping I’d do more watching than speaking, but they get you up and talking right away. Today I did my second speech (and it’s only my third week as a member).

Each speech is based on an exercise to make you a better speaker. Today’s exercise was to learn how to organize a speech so the audience understands your message. Although you create an outline to keep your speech on track, the goal is to speak without any notes. Especially in your early speeches, it’s important to speak on something you’re very familiar with or knowledgeable about. Can you guess my topic? I spoke about the importance of making and sending handmade cards.

I started by reminding the audience how special you feel when you receive a handmade card. Then I discussed what supplies are needed to make a card. Finally, I demonstrated stamping by making a double-time card. The total speech was to be 5-7 minutes and in my practice runs, I left myself around 3 minutes to demonstrate a my simple card. However, it didn’t quite work out that way. I felt like I was just getting started when I saw the yellow warning light come on.

 

I ended up leaving off some of the stamping and only showed how I would adhere it all together. Fortunately I made a sample so I could show the completed card in case anything went wrong.

I’m happy to report that overall, the speech went well and I got a lot of good feedback. I even managed to finish the speech with 10 seconds to spare. 🙂

Stamp Review Crew – For All Things

 

Hello and welcome once again to the our bi-monthly Stamp Review Crew blog hop. If you’re stamping in order, you just came from Mike’s blog. I love following him – he’s always got such creative projects.

I love the stamp set we’re featuring today – For All Things. This was the first set I bought out of the holiday catalog last year and I was so happy to see that it carried over. I’ve already done 2 blog posts on it – cards and a tag book.

Today I went with another card, pairing the stamps with paper from the Into the Woods stamp set. LOVE this paper! The sketch is from an INKspired card sketch. I can’t find an actual blog for this sketch. I believe it’s something the incredibly talented Teneale Williams, an Australian demonstrator, does with her down line. I love her style and this card sketch caught my eye.

 

 

I had a class yesterday in which we used clear embossing powder on the take out boxes that Stampin’ Up sells. I thought I would try stamping on the boxes using Mossy Meadow and Soft Suede. I wasn’t sure how well the inks would show up, but I like the way it turned out.

 

 

By the way, we struggled a little getting the corners of the box to go together to form nice, crisp corners. When I was pulling a box out of the package today to work on, the instructions fell out. I hadn’t realized it came with instructions. Turns out there are little slits on the side that you tuck the corners in. It pays to read the instructions. LOL

 

Hope you like my projects. Now it’s time to move on to Deb’s blog to see what she has in store for you.

 

 

And don’t forget the flash sale this week – all stamps 15% off!!!

 

Flash Sale!

 

Next week, for five days only, Stampin’ Up is having a flash sale! All stamps are 15% off! This is the time to get the rest of those Christmas stamps you’ve been eyeing in the holiday catalog. Or maybe get that cute stamp set in the annual catalog that you’ve been meaning to buy.

 

So review your wish list this weekend (or make one if you don’t have one already) and order online and take advantage of my October offer – a free package of adorable reindeer clips with an order of $30 or more.

Stamp Review Crew – Happy Scenes

Hello and welcome. It’s the first Monday of the month (or will be shortly) and time for another edition of the Stamp Review Crew Blog Hop. On the first and third Monday of each month our group of international Stampin’ Up demonstrators bring you our take on a specific stamp set in the catalog.

This week we’re showing ways to use the Happy Scenes stamp set. This set has a coordinating window framelit and makes adorable cards – like looking at scenes through a window. However, being a member of this team is teaching me to “think outside the box”. The enormously talented members of our team are always coming up with unique ideas for the stamp sets we feature. So I decided to skip the framelit and make a shaker card.

 

I used card sketch #264 from the Paper Players Challenge. I paired the image with some paper from the gorgeous Into the Woods designer paper. The “fluff” inside the shaker card is Flower Soft. Now there are several ways to make your own version of this embellishment, including using your grater to grate our card stock. This is a great way to do it because you know it will match your inks and papers. However, I have had this jar for years and it’s still almost full. I did a major purge earlier this year, so now I’m trying to use up whatever’s left.

 

 

Here is a close up of the image inside the shaker. It’s a little hard to get a picture without glare.

 

I hope you like my card. Now it’s time to see what great ideas Dawn has for us.

 

World Card Making Day

Happy WCMD! I hope you had a chance to do something crafty. Carol, one of my team members, and I held a fun event this morning. We had people come by to do a make and take, play with some paper pumpkin kits and munch on donut holes. Of course we had drawings with lots of prizes as well.

Here are some pictures from our event:

Around the make and take table

 

Busy at work. If you look way in the background, you’ll see my big display board. I forgot to take a picture of it. 😦

 

 

Playing with a Paper Pumpkin kit

 

 

Partners in crime

I had a lot of fun getting ready for this event. I wanted to display lots of ideas – cards from previous and upcoming classes and Paper Pumpkin kits. Here are a couple of the displays:

 

Carol is a fairly new demonstrator, but she had a display set up with lots of great card ideas:

 

We stayed until they kicked us out for a kid’s birthday party. I guess I should show you the card we made. It’s a fairly simple card using the For All Seasons stamp set, one of my favorites that made it from last year’s holiday catalog into the main catalog. We used the Rock & Roll technique on the large leaves (a little hard to see in the picture).

 

Wish you could have joined us. Whatever you did today, I hope you had some time to play, preferably with stamps, paper and ink. 🙂

Stamp Review Crew – No Bones About It

Welcome to another edition of the Stamp Review Crew. I’m the last one on the hop this time around, so you probably already know who we are. But in case you jumped in at the end, we’re an international group of Stampin’ Up demonstrators who get together twice a month to highlight a different SU stamp set.

This week we’re featuring the adorable No Bones About It stamp set. Where was this set 10-15 years ago when my boys were really into dinosaurs? Well, actually I wasn’t even stamping back then, but if I’d seen this set, I probably would have started. 🙂

I love that this set includes the skeletons as well as the dinosaur shapes, but for my card, I wanted to create a dino-scene. I came across a tutorial for Bendi cards this week and decided it would be a fun way to display my dinosaurs.

A bendi card has two flaps with tabs that fit into slits to make a 3-D card. This allows you to have layers to create depth and dimension.

Here is the card with one flap open:

With both flaps open:

Just lay the flaps flat and the whole card will fit in an envelope.  I went over the edges of the card quite a bit, so I’ll need a larger envelope, but if you stay within the dimensions of the card base, you’ll be able to fit it into a regular envelope.

Well that’s my project. I hope you like it. I think I kept herbivores together, so there will be no carnage going on here. I showed to my now-teenage dinosaur-loving son who informed me that “rawr” really means I love you in dinosaur. He googled it to prove it to me. Who comes up with these things?

You can move backwards in the hop to see what Tanya made or return to the beginning of the hop to view Heidi’s projects.

Summer Stamp Camp – Post-it Note Holder

This past Saturday we had a summer “stamp camp for grown ups” at my house. This end of summer event was a chance for us to get together and use stamps and inks to create projects beyond basic cards. I’ll post the projects this week as I have time.

First up is this cute little post-it note holder.

 

This particular style holder has a little place to hold your pen. I got these mini gel pens from Amazon, but if you’re lucky, you may find them cheaper at the Dollar store.

Love the paper – it’s from the Pretty Petals paper pack. Each sheet of 6×6 paper is enough for 4 covers. The flower stamp is from a previous Paper Pumpkin kit. Its shape looks very similar to the flowers in the paper. Finally, the sentiment is from the Happy Happenings stamp set. This particular one is something I would say to my daughter.

Here is a look at the inside:

 

I think it turned out really cute. I’m tempted to keep it, but they’re so easy to whip up, I guess I can bear to part with it and send it to my daughter.

We had a fun time. Prepping for the camp was a lot of work, but I think everyone had fun. We might just make this a regular event. Camp Iguanastamp – kind of catchy, don’t you think?