Stamp Club Make and Takes

On Tuesday I attended a Stamp Club run by Cheryl LeFore of La Quinta, California.  Cheryl as you may recall from my earlier posts, won Stampin' Ups! 2011 Artisan Award.

Cheryl attended SU Leadership in San Antonio  Texas earlier this year and showed us all the free stamps and products she acquired while there.  There were so many gorgeous goodies on display!  She also showed us several of the swap cards she received.

A gorgeous card made by scoring the beautiful hearts from the Fashionable Hearts Embosslit Die cut.  This fun die cut simultaneously cuts and embosses fun hearts as accents for any project! Use with Standard Cutting Pads and Multipurpose Platform. Die measures 2-1/4" x 2-1/2". Coordinates with the Sweet Shop product suite and is only available until March 31st in the Occasions Mini Catalogue, item #125596 for $14.95.

I absolutely loved all the floral cards she had on display and will be CASING some of them for my spring card classes. 

Another highlight of the evening were the two make and take Easter projects Cheryl demonstrated.  The first project is a cheerful little Easter Bunny perched on a carrot candy box.  He's made from punched ovals, circles and the ornament punch.

This simple project is made with a variety of Stampin' Up! punches.  The little 5 sided box that looks like a carrot, will hold Hershey's kisses.  What a sweet treat!

Here's a closeup so you can see some of the detail on the punches.  Ovals, small heart, circles and the ornament punch make up the body of this cute little bunny.  Whiskers and paw details are added with a black marker. 

This view lets you see the details in the box.  The box bottom and top are made with the Fancy Flower punch and the box itself is a piece of cardstock that's been embossed with the Swiss Dot embossing folder and scored.  Pretty easy.

The carrot top is made by punching scallops with the Scallop border punch on a 4 x 4 piece of cardstock.  A line is scored down between the scallops across the cardstock and then lines are cut from the scallop to within an 1/2" of the bottom.  Once all the cutting is done the "leaves" were rolled around a dowel and then fitted through a small circle in the center of the flower punch that was made using the cropodile punch. Easy peasy!

The second project was an Easter card made with the new Elegant Bird Bigz Die Cut and the Easter Dove stamp. 

This gorgeous card was made with Blushing Bride cardstock which was embossed with the Tulips Embossing folder.  The bird was cut out of Whisper White Cardstock with the Elegant Bird Bigz Die Cut and then embossed with the Elegant Lines embossing folder.  By embossing the Eyelet Border Punch with the Snow Burst Embossing Folder, a very lacey effect was achieved. 

The Easter Dove - Wood-Mount Stamp, item # 125455 was used on the inside of the card. 

This $8.95 stamp which features the universal symbol of peace--a dove with an olive branch. Perfect for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Rosh Hashanah projects, too can be purchased from the Occasions Mini Catalogue until March 31st, 2012.

Elegant Bird Bigz Die Item # 125593 Cost $26.95

Easter Dove Stamp Item # 125455 Cost $8.95

Cards From Friends and Family

Earlier this month I celebrated my birthday and I was very blessed to receive the following awesome cards from friends and family. I thought I'd share these wonderful works of "heart" along with a few valentines beauties. Enjoy!



This card was made by one of my fabulous downline members, Ethel De Temple.   Ethel features one of my favourite stamps this season, Tea Shoppe see page 19 of the Mini Occasions catalogue.  I love how she centered the large teacup on the scallop square so it looks like a placemat or napkin, and then added the tiny basic pearls and satin ribbon  for adornment.  The lines from the "Stripes" Embossing Folder also add some visual appeal.  Great card Ethel!

Isn't this a gorgeous card? Brenda Rigby Riehle a SU Demo and fellow Late Night Stamper (LNS) sent me these birthday wishes all the way from Belmont, NY. Check out Brenda's blog, she has some awesome cards and projects. http://brendariehle.stampingup.net

Another fabulous stamp set from the Occasions Mini is the Apothecary Art set on pages 24 and 25.  It features 6 stamps that can be layered using the Labels Collection Framelits.  Isn't this a great card design?  I wish you could see it in real life as it's stunning.  This card was made and sent to me by Helen Cummins from Louisburg, Kansas.  Helen is a member of Late Night Stampers.

This lovely card was made by Jody Townsend of Colorado Springs, Colorado.  What a surprise when I received this card.  Jody is a member of Late Night Stampers too. 

Here's a birthday card fom Stampin' Up!.  Yep that's right Stampin' Up! sends birthday cards to all their demonstrators.  That's just one of the great perks, and note the message on the inside of the card below.  You can't beat that for a great birthday present.  I submitted my order this week and got my rewards! 

Betty Lee Moore of Vernon, BC sent me this gorgeous Valentine's Day card.  I loved all the little layered hearts  on this card and the way she layered her ribbon.  Beautiful card Betty Lee and much appreciated!

Here's a great Valentine's Day card sent by my awesome sister Heather.  Those little House Mouse characters are so sweet and so is this card!  Thanks Heather, loved it!

And finally here's the card I made my husband for Valentine's Day. 

Hope you enjoyed this selection of cards and come back to visit again

Penny

DAY THREE MY DIGITAL STUDIO EVENT & FREE DOWNLOADS

MY DIGITAL STUDIO EVENT & FREE DOWNLOADS

ONLY TWO MORE DAYS TO GO!

Learn more about digital scrapbooking and card making and get your free download.  Simply complete a quick survey at http://www.mydigitalstudio.net/

and your ready to access these amazing free products. 

If you miss out on this offer/opportunity you will still be able to get these digital products after November 7th, however they will have to be purchased.  So why not take advantage and get them FREE today and tomorrow!

I love the fact the My Digital Studio is so easy to use.  I whipped up this Christmas tag in a matter of minutes.  Once printed out I can make a hybrid tag by simply adding some embellishments and bling.  The really neat thing about this is that I can also make a whole sheet of tags in a matter of seconds.  Something that would have taken considerably longer in my craft room. 

To learn more about My Digital Studio - click here.  There are great tutorials and samples and discussion threads you can follow. 

To shop online 24/7 - click here

Have a great creative weekend!

Top 10 Tools for 2011 - Exciting News!

Stampin' Up! has just announced that Creating Keepsakes Magazine has named Stampin' Up!'s wood- and clear-mount rubber stamps as one of its Top 10 Tools for 2011! Isn't that sooooooo exciting?

While Stampin' Up! has long been recognized in the stamping and crafting industry for producing high-quality rubber stamps and exclusive images in a variety of artistic styles, being recognized by Creating Keepsakes is just another validation that when customers choose Stampin' Up! products, they are choosing the best!

Along with Stampin'Up!s stamp sets being
such high quality is also the "value" that you
get by buying Stampin' Up!  Most big box and craft stores sell other brands of stamps, but at a much higher price than you pay for Stampin' Up!s exclusive lines.  Remember to always divide the number of stamps in the set into the total cost and you will see what an amazing buy they truely are. 

The Open Sea Still Available

Great news for those of you who loved "The Open Sea" stamp set but were unable to buy it before the August 30th deadline, you'll still be able to do so.  Isn't that terrific!   Stampin' Up! just announced that The Open Sea Stamp Set will still be available as a write in item until July 2012.  Here are the codes in case you want to order it:

• The Open Sea W (item # 123030)
• The Open Sea C (item # 123032)

Monkey 72 - Christmas Sketch

When I saw this week's A La Card Monkey Sketch # 72 I just loved it.  Simple yet really classy!   I loved the plaid used for the background of the sketch and having just received my Frostwood Lodge DSP ( #124002) paper in my recent order I had to use plaid too.  As I don't want to miss this week's challenge, I'm not including a lot of details just pictures that I hope you'll enjoy.  The recipe is below.

My background paper is one of the beautiful plaids from the Frostwood Lodge Designer Series Paper.  I ran it through the new Snow Burst Textured Impressions Embossing Folder to give it some more texture.  This kind of reminded me of the old flannel pyjamas we got as kids.   

I absolutely love every stamp in the new Christmas Lodge (#123767W or #123769) stamp set on page 29 of the new Holiday Mini catalogue.  This set has that old fashioned Christmas feeling to it and I anticipate using it a lot for this season's bevy of cards.  There are two fabulous sentiments included in this set and the Merry Christmas one I've used is stamped in Garden Green on Whisper White cardstock and then mounted on Red Riding Hood cardstock. 

Don't you just love this old Lodge?  I've stamped it in Garden Green on Whisper White cardstock and mounted it on Riding Hood Red.  A little border of Brushed Gold cardstock trims the bottom and a 1/8" garden green colour of satin ribbon is on top (non-SU). 

For the inside of my card I used the second sentiment from this stamp set stamped in Riding Hood Red.  To continue the old world feel I used a full strip of the flannel DSP and edged it with the scallop border punch. 

Monkey 71 - I Missed it!

Okay so last week I had lots going on, but I really wanted to do the Monkey 71- Fall Sketch.  I'd dutifully saved the picture of the sketch to my challenge file, printed out a copy of the sketch so I knew what I was making.  Because I have a very limited number of Fall stamps, seasonal sentiments and designer papers I was really feeling stumped about what to make.  A few days passed and then one afternoon towards the end of the week when I was walking Murphy around the lake, a lightening bolt of inspiration hit me.  Here I was walking through these beautiful woods and all about me golden brown and rust leaves are falling and gathering at my feet.  At that moment I knew what I was going to design and so I ran home, dragging poor Murphy behind me so I could get at this card.  This is what I came up with, but alas it was too late!  The Monkey 71 linky was closed.  Oh well I decided I loved the card and was going to post it anyway.  So here you are: 

I remembered a tutorial on watercolouring with blender pens that Ann Schach made last fall that used the Autumn Spendor set and the simplicity of her techique and her beautiful finished card really impressed me.  So, before starting my project, I  went back and viewed her video and I was really happy I did.  Because I often feel challenged in the watercolouring department and Ann made this technique look so easy, I think viewing the video really helped make me make these leaves look real.  If you want to check out Ann's video and blog post click here. 

The card base is Always Artichoke, topped with a layer of River Rock that's been texturized with the ever popular Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  The rectangle is made with layers of Always Artichoke, Cajun Craze, and River Rock.  The leaves from the Autum Spendor stamp set were stamped on River Rock and cut out by hand.  I used a blender pen to colour them using Cajun Craze, Old Olive and More Mustard inks.  I've used glitter (non SU) to accent the leaf veins. 

Three artichoke buttons are tied with teeny little stips or Cajun Craze cardstock.  The "Many Thanks" sentiment is from a retired Stampin' UP! set called "Of the Earth" that I simply can't part with, and it was stamped in Cajun Crase on River Rock cardstock and then punched out with the Decorative Label punch. 

The inside of the card has a Lacey Border punched from Cajun Craze and a layer of River Rock for the base layer.  The sentiment again from the "Of the Earth" set was stamped in Cajun Craze too. Okay that's it.