More Circles!

Yesterdays cards got me in the mood for circles, so I continued that theme with these cards. I remembered seeing something similar in Stampin' Success, the magazine Stampin' Up! sends to demonstrators each month.

 

 

Stamp Set: A Fitting Occasion

 

Colors: 2011-13 In Colors: Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Wisteria Wonder, Island Indigo, and Basic Gray and Whisper White

 

Accessories: 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Designer Printed Brads

 

Stamp Set: Pretty Postage

 

Colors: 2011-13 In Colors: Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, and Basic Gray and Whisper White

 

Accessories: Postage Stamp and 1" Circle Punches, Designer Printed Brads

Shades of Purple

For some reason I had lots of purple scraps, so I came up with these cards to use some of them:

 

 

Stamp Set: A Fitting Occasion

 

Colors: Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Whisper White

 

Accessories: 1 3/8", 1 1/4" and 1" Circle Punches, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder

 

 

Stamp Set: Word Play

 

Colors: Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White

 

Accessories: circle punches, Square Lattice Embossing Folder

 

Stamp Set: Word Play

Colors: Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Whisper White

Accessories: circle punches, Square Lattice Embossing Folder

Wish Big Banner

More scraps for this card!

 

 

Stamp Set: Pennant Parade

 

Colors: Marina Mist, Perfect Plum, Wild Wasabi, Early Espresso, Whisper White

 

Accessories: Petite Pennants Builder and Scallop Trim Border Punches, Early Espresso Baker's Twine

Masculine Birthday Tree

Another pieces and parts card!
 

 

This one started with the Designer Series Paper that was from a Convention or Leadership project. They usually give us extra and I knew I’d find a use for it eventually. Since it is about Cherry Trees, I decided to use my favorite stamp from Lovely As A Tree. The Always Artichoke strip on the bottom and the piece of ribbon were also scraps. 

 

Stamp Sets: Lovely As A Tree, Teeny Tiny Wishes

 

Colors: Early Espresso, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Very Vanilla

 

Accessories: First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper, Early Espresso 1/8” Taffeta Ribbon

 

Sympathy Flowers & Stripes

Another card using up scraps:

 

I had an extra stamped image that I hadn’t used but set aside for later, so that’s how this card started. The striped pieces of DSP were extra after cutting what I needed for other projects, as were the strips of orange card stock. They
made an interesting background and gave me the colors to use for the flowers.

 

Stamp Sets: Apothecary Art, Loving Thoughts

 

Colors: Certainly Celery, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Basic Black

 

Accessories: Labels Collection Framelits, Festive Paper-Piercing Pack, Brights Collection Designer Series Paper Stack

 

Happy Anniversary To Me!

With everything that has been going on since the fire, I completely forgot that August 21st was my 11 year Anniversary with Stampin' Up! Woohoo! It's hard to believe it's been that long. It's been FUN! So much has changed with the company and stamping in general- all for the better, of course!

Actually, the 21st was the Stamp Share with my upline Betty. Her birthday was the previous Friday, so I had sent an e-mail out to everyone saying we should all send her birthday cards. One of the ladies said we should have a surprise party for her at the Stamp Share, which is usually at our Building. So we had everything planned- who was bringing what, where we were going to park cars so she wouldn't see them and get suspicious, etc. We're very sneaky! Then we had the fire. On to Plan B! Betty had the Stamp Share at her house, so we brought everything and surprised her there. It worked! I was in charge of getting her gift, which was a gift card for a spa and a bottle of wine. Of course I had to stamp something to put it all together!

 

 

I started with a 4” x 11” piece of Cherry Cobbler card stock and folded up the end to make the pocket. I used a 1” circle punch for the half circle and a 1 3/4” circle punch for the hole to go over the bottle. I scored 1/2” on both sides, cut away the sides on the top part and folded around the bottom parts to finish the pocket.

 

Stamp Set: Everything Eleanor

 

Colors: Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Whisper White

 

Accessories: lots of punches! 2 1/2” Circle, 2 3/8” Scallop Circle, 1 3/4” Circle (for the hole to go over the bottle- probably could have been smaller) ,1 3/8” Circle, 1 1/4” Circle, 1” Circle (for the half circle at the top of the pocket). And Sticky Strip.

 

This is the wine, in case you’re wondering what kind it is:

 

 

 

“Call Me A Cab”, from a Glacial Ridge Winery in Spicer, MN

Scentsational Season Bundle

Card #5 from the Stamp-A-Stack

Such a bright and happy card! I CASE'd this from my upline Betty. She always has such cute cards!

Stamp Set: Scentsational Season, More Merry Messages

Colors: Cherry Cobbler, Island Indigo, Lucky Limade, Early Espresso, Whisper White

Accessories: Holiday Collection Framelits, Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Stack, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Dimensionals

I LOVE the stamp sets with matching framelits! Why didn't they think of these sooner?

Joyous Celebrations "Rudolph"

Card #4 from the Stamp-A-Stack: Rudolph!

Stamp Set: Joyous Celebrations

Colors: Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Holiday Frame Embossing Folder, Extra Large Oval and Dotted Scallop Border Punches, Basic Pearls, red Sharpie marker, Dimensionals

Did you know that the Basic Pearls and Rhinestones can be colored? Just use a Sharpie marker! Unfortunately our Stampin' Write Markers don't work- it has to be a permanent marker.

Did you notice the Christmas tree at the bottom of the Holiday Frame embossing folder? Make sure you have your embossed layer right side up so the tree doesn't end up up-side down!

Snow Festival Designer Printed Tags

Card #3 from the Stamp-A-Stack: super easy thanks to the Snow Festival Designer Printed Tags in the Holiday Catalog! Just add some card stock behind them to add some color and make them into cards. I used some strips and cut some with various framelits for everyone to use on their cards. I also had a variety of Christmas greetings to add. This is the sample I made:

Stamp Set: Christmas Lodge (greeting)

Colors: Primrose Petals, Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green

Accessories: Snow Festival Designer Printed Tags, Window Frames Framelits

Googly Ghouls Spider

I don't usually make much for Halloween, but I LOVE the Googly Ghouls stamp set and their Googly Eyes! Now that we live in a neighborhood we'll have Trick-or-Treaters (living on a farm on the highway we never got any!). I bought the Ghoulish Googlies Designer Kits so we'll have something cute to hand out. But I wanted a card for the Stamp-A-Stack using them as well, and saw a card similar to this one somewhere. I need to write down the details when I find things!

The belly band slides off and the card is a gate fold...

...and looks like this when it's open!

Stamp Sets: Googly Ghouls, Wacky Wishes (hostess set from the main catalog)

Colors: Tangerine Tango, Basic Black, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White

Accessories: Spider Web Embossing Folder, 1" Circle and 1 1/4" Scallop Circle Punches, Googlies (eyes)

I'm Still Stamping!

Not much is happening at the Building yet. The insurance company decided they wanted to send someone out to determine the "cause of origin" for the fire, even though everyone has said it was lightning. Part of their procedure, I guess. I just wish they would hurry up so we can start cleaning and rebuild!

I had a Stamp-A-Stack scheduled for last Saturday, and decided to have it here at the house rather than cancel it. I figured it would be good to keep me busy and my mind off the Building. It was great seeing everyone and we had fun! I had 2 projects at the dining room table, 1 at the counter, 1 on the 4 foot table Chase uses for a desk that we set up in the living room, and the 5th project was at my stamping table in my office. At least if I forgot something, I didn't have far to go to get it!

And we had homemade chocolate cake! I forgot to take a picture of it- sorry! It was 2 layers of dark chocolate cake with homemade chocolate frosting. I even had it on my crystal cake platter. It didn't last long, but hopefully everyone enjoyed it!

On to the cards...here is the first one. A non-Christmas card using a new set from the Holiday Catalog:

As soon as I saw the woodgrain embossing folder, I knew we needed to do an owl card!

Stamp Set: Owl Occasions

Colors: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Pacific Point, Real Red, Garden Green, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Core'dinations Card Stock, Stampin' Sanding System, Woodgrain Embossing Folder, 2 1/2" Circle Punch

My Core'dinations card stock ended up tearing in spots, so I tried adding a sheet of wax paper in the embossing folder. That did help a little. Luckily it wasn't terribly noticeable with all the sanding.



Inside The Building After The Fire

Just inside the shop, looking up above the kitchen. This was where the fire started and was the worst. We had a lot of house stuff that we hadn't moved yet stored up there and it's all gone.

Same area, just a little farther in.

Looking straight in from the door. The 1st door goes to the kitchen, the 2nd door is the utility room. To the right is a safety ladder with insulation on the steps.

Another look up- that's sunlight coming in where the roof was opened. The furnace and water heater were up there.

In front of the utility room- the door was closed and everything inside looks OK. That was my Dyson vacuum cleaner just to the left of the door!

From the other side- that was the water heater that used to be white

From the end of the utility room- water heater and furnace

Everything in the office is covered in black soot

From the office looking thru the kitchen to the shop. This is where the lightning hit. It's open to the outside. The paint on the wall to the right is holding up the sheetrock!

Trying to get a closer view of that corner

Other side of that corner- this is what is left of the cabinet and toaster oven. Stuff from above the kitchen fell thru and is all over the floor.

What's left of the microwave on the other side of the kitchen

The cabinet/toaster oven/cook top from the other side. That mug laying there was wrapped in paper and in a box with lots of others that was above the kitchen. So much for John's collection of Coors mugs!

Everyone is pretty sure it was lightning. We're waiting for the report from the fire department so we can send it to the insurance company. They write their report and what they recommend, and then they have a company come in and start cleaning everything. More waiting!

Fire At The Building

We had a fire at the Building last night/early this morning. Luckily no one was hurt and John wasn’t home so the semi and trailer weren’t inside. The Sherriff’s office called him a little after 1am but he was in North Dakota. So he called me at 1:26 and told me to get over there. I pulled up at 1:37 and was shocked to see all the smoke and trucks from 4 fire departments. Apparently there were lots of flames when they got there. They did get John’s pickup out- the fire was hot enough to make the ceiling fan fall down into the box and the plastic on the mirrors and box is all melted. The fire was in the rafters, so the office and the area above the kitchen were the worst.

John is home now and has called the insurance company. Now we wait until they come out to look at it. They won’t let us go inside yet, so who knows how bad it is in there. Not fun! Just wanted to let everyone know what happened and that we’re OK. We probably won’t be stamping there for awhile!

More Layered Labels

Trying more ideas with the Layered Labels stamp set:

Stamp Sets: Layered Labels, Everything Eleanor, Perfect Punches, Tiny Tags

Colors: Garden Green, Marina Mist & Whisper White

Accessories: Apothecary Accents Framelits, Large Oval Punch

I stamped the green image from Everything Eleanor first, masked it (covered it with a post-it note that I stamped the image on and cut out) and then stamped the large Layered Labels image over it for a faux layered look.

Stamp Sets: Layered Labels, Itty Bitty Banners, Bordering On Romance

Colors: Not Quite Navy, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White

Accessories: Apothecary Accents and Bitty Banner Framelits, Adorning Accents Edglits, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Mat and Tool, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, non-SU! oval punch (oops! I don't normally do that!) 

Heartfelt Layered Labels

Playing around with the new Layered Labels stamp set. I used this image, stamped in Early Espresso on Very Vanilla and cut out with the Apothecary Accents Framelit, for a swap and had a few extra.

Crumb Cake, Early Espresso (with torn edges), Marina Mist (Square Lattice Embossing Folder)

This card has a surprise inside! I had experimented with the Designer Frames Embossing Folder and apparently covered it up on the front but forgot about the inside! So I stamped the "Thanks" from Perfect Punches and punched it out with the Scalloped Oval Punch and layered it on a Wide Oval. I think it looks pretty cool!

Pink Pirouette, Early Espresso (Houndstooth Embossing Folder), leftover pink rhinestones from the Blossom Builders kit that was in the Occasions Mini Catalog 

Regal Rose, Soft Suede (Houndstooth Embossing Folder), leftover pink rhinestones from the Blossom Builders kit that was in the Occasions Mini Catalog

This was my swap card. Pink Pirouette, Early Espresso (Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder and Labels Collection Framelits) and Happy Birthday from Create A Cupcake stamped in Early Espresso on Pink Pirouette cut out with the Bitty Banners Framelit 

August Is A Busy Month With Stampin' Up!

I have to lots to tell you about for this month!

Today is the first day to order from the HOLIDAY CATALOG!

My Digital Studio 2 is now available!

31% off 31 Digital Items for 31 Days!

A Spooktacular Sign Up Special!