Valentine Spectacular...

Every quarter, I hold a spectacular event. This past Sunday we celebrated Valentine's Day with the Always stamp set recently with 14 of my closest friends. We had fun!

This card uses the gorgeous Western Sky designer paper. Here it's layered on Blue Bayou card stock (all corners punched with the ticket corner punch), and then on a Soft Sky card.

The Real Red adds a punch of color with the heart, two brads and new striped grosgrain ribbon.

Finally, the circular "a" is punched with the 1 1/4" circle punch and layered with the 1 3/8" circle punch.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Always on my mind...

This bird from Always was embossed with a Craft Regal Rose pad and clear embossing powder. It's shiny....

The colors of card stock and ink are Regal Rose and Close to Cocoa, with Light Pink grosgrain knotted on the side of the layers.

Great job, Louise!

Always brag book pages

One of my downline came up with these 6" x 6" pages for an event. I love that the strip of Regal Rose looks like designer paper with the flower stamped in white StazOn and the branch in Regal Rose. The pink and white taffeta ribbon adds softness to the pages, as do the build-a-brads.
Other punches used include the photo corner, word window and 1/8" (to set the build-a-brads).
The bird was stamped in Rose Red and cut out (the legs were actually cut off). The legs were inked with a chocolate chip marker, as was the birds beak and eye.

Crayon resist...

I didn't have a lot of luck photographing this card to show off the crayon resist technique. Basically I used glossy white card stock and stamped the flowers in Basic Black ink.

Then I took a white crayon and colored wherever I didn't want color to stick when sponging on the various colors. After sponging, I took a tissue to wipe where the crayon was, and it shows a bright white. It's striking in person.

There's a little bling with silver brads in the corners and some brocade blue 5/8" grosgrain across the front.

I'd love to see what you can do with this technique... as well as the others below! So share your samples with me.

One of a Kind faux metal...

Embossing powder is so neat because it raises up the lines of a stamp. But it's also great to build up layers of the powder (alternate VersaMark pad, then powder and heat and repeat a couple of times), then push your stamp into it to make an indentation before the last layer cools. It makes the top layer (in the sample) look like metal, hence the technique being called faux metal.

I did some dry embossing with the Priceless classy brass template on some shimmery white card stock. The other layer is Bravo Burgundy.

I used the ticket corner punch on the corners of the shimmery white and faux metal layers. The "for you" is punched out with the small oval punch and layered with the large one.

The final touch is some soft white taffeta ribbon wrapped around the front layers and tied in a knot.

Spinner card...

Everyone loves cards with moving parts - especially guys. This card uses several punches - the 1/2" circle one for the build-a-brad in the middle of the flower, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches for added color and weight, and the word window punch for the track. Heck, I even used the ticket corner punch for the right side of the East Coast Prep designer paper.

The stamp set du jour is One of a Kind.

To make the part that fits into the track, simply add a Stampin' Dimensional centered behind the image you want to have spin, stick a penny to that, then another dimensional and then a second penny. Even with putting 2 cents on this card, it's a great bargain! You can't find this in a store....

Embrace Life...

This has got to be my favorite card! The blossoms and background plant are from the Embrace Life stamp set, while the sentiment comes from One of a Kind.

Glassy Glaze embossing enamel is built up in three layers over the colored image and then bent to crack in a technique called cracked glass.

Add some vintage brads and some ribbon originals and it's a beauty!

One of a Kind...

I love this set and how well it coordinates with so many others in the Spring-Summer Collection, including True Friend and Boho Blossoms. There's even a new punch - Boho Blossoms - that perfectly fits one of the One of a Kind stamps.

This little goody is a Post-It Note holder with some District ribbon originals down the front, hodgepodge hardware and a build-a-brad. I've gone through 4 tins of build-a-brads in a short amount of time - I LOVE THEM!

Life is Good...

This is a stamp from Text & Texture that works on cards and scrapbook pages alike. A stamp from Doodle This is stamped on the left side with glitter applied over it. Rhinestone brads complete the look - dotting the "i's" in the title, as well as decorating the corners of the photo.

Text & Texture...

Big words like "You & Me" really stand out when you "kiss" them to a background stamp like Paisley.

This brag book page has a word window punch out attached to the top right with a brad, then there's a button with a little bit of black gingham.

Blooms everywhere...

The crystal effects on the Purely Pomegranate plant doesn't show too well in the photo, but it looks (and feels) great in person.

Blooming with Love is the primary stamp set used, along with the coordinating wheel, Blooms & Bulbs. The background of the card is stamped with Sanded.

I'm ready to get to work in the garden!

Fuzzy blooms...

Sorry this photo is fuzzy. You can still get the idea, though, and I don't have the card anymore, so this will have to make do.

Blooming with Love is the main stamp set used. There's piercing along the top and bottom of the Always Artichoke layer under the Chocolate Chip layer. And the card itself is Really Rust.

Blooming card...

I think this card is so sweet I could get a cavity just looking at it!

The greeting is from All Holidays and the little flowers are from Blooming with Love.

The card uses 5/8" Regal Rose grosgrain ribbon, as well as silver brads, and the ticket corner punch.

Hope you like it!

Blooming with Love...

A little hardware, some pretty white taffeta ribbon and Blooming with Love is all that's needed for an adorable 6" x 6" scrapbook page.

Love those dots!

I wanna be a cowgirl...

Friend by Definition makes a great background for a scrapbook page. This one also uses the Weathered background stamp, as well as Blooming with Love.

Nursery Necessities...

Louise came up with this adorable card. It uses Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip (and that yummy satin ribbon you can find on Theater ribbon originals) and Real Red.

The zigzag red and white ribbon is from Jersey ribbon originals.

Love that little bird and elephant!

Happy Heart Day...

This is the stamp set featured in the Valentine's Bundle talked about at right. It's cute, right?

The colors are Barely Banana, Real Red and Whisper White with some Cutie Pie designer paper. I love the red (fire) circle rhinestone brad in the center of the flower in the heart.

I just all markers for the image - Basic Gray (comes in a 4-pack with three other neutrals), Real Red, Barely Banana and Certainly Celery. Oh, almost forgot the bit of Pretty in Pink for the mouse ear.

One of a Kind...

I keep forgetting to post Copyright Stampin' Up!. It applies to all of these samples.

This card uses the new One of a Kind stamp set, a build-a-brad (love those things!), an antique brass brad, and some Close to Cocoa designer paper.

The words are punched out using the designer label punch, then layered on a 1 3/8" Always Artichoke circle, also punched out.

The colors are Very Vanilla, Not Quite Navy and Always Artichoke. Hope you like it!

Bronc Buster...

There's quite a bit on sponging on this card - Soft Sky on the Soft Sky card stock, and some Basic Brown on the Close to Cocoa designer paper where it's ripped, as well as the Genuine layer.

I never have a thank-you or happy birthday card handy for a male when I need one. This design fits the bill!

And punches used include spiral, 1/16" and the small star.

Give Thanks...

A 6" x 6" piece of card stock (Wild Wasabi here) fits perfectly in a small open-end envelope when folded in half. The Real Red strip has a jumbo eyelet in it, with double-stitched Wild Wasabi ribbon with a little red gingham in there too (much of it went off the scan).

The pail of apples was stamped in Jet Black StazOn and colored using watercolor wonder crayons and an aqua painter on watercolor paper. The "Thanks" is from So Much and was stamped in Basic Black ink.

Thanks for visiting!

Ginger Blossom paper...

Ginger Blossom designer paper goes hand in hand with the new Embrace Life stamp set. This is my take on the same paper and set Louise used several days ago, for a stamp-a-stack tomorrow.

The sentiment comes from the stamp set All Holidays, using a Ruby Red marker to isolate the words.

The card body and double-stitched ribbon are River Rock.

Have a great weekend!

Check It Out...

Talk about a Thank-You card that takes care of everything! Check It Out has just three stamps in the set for $18.95, and so many stamping options.

This card uses Blue Bayou and Groovy Guava ink pads, Blue Bayou and Sahara Sand card stocks, Groovy Guava designer paper with a design that mimics the curls in the stamp, and double-stitched Groovy Guava ribbon.

A Little Birdie Told Me...

The sayings are from A Little Birdie Told Me, but the adorable bird is from another new stamp set in the Spring-Summer Collection 2008 called Nursery Necessities.

The designer paper comes from East Coast Prep. I'm loving all the new papers. Great designs and great colors. This one has More Mustard, Tempting Turquoise, and Old Olive, among others.

Happy New Year!