Gently Falling card for Monkey Challenge 71: Autumn

Here's a peek at an upcoming stamp set and designer paper in the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini. You can order from it September 1, and trust me, you'll want to!

I stamped this card with the Gently Falling set, which coordinates beautifully with the Spice Cake dsp and fabric that you see here. I used Soft Suede and Baja Breeze inks and card stocks, along with 1/8" Early Espresso taffeta, a Regals brad, pearls and a couple of punches for the greeting, which is from Grateful Greetings. I love this combination! I stamped off the Baja Breeze for the inside of the leaf for a lighter touch. It's really pretty in person, though it's hard to pick up the delicate tone in the photo.

I created this card for this week's A La Card Monkey Challenge 71: Autumn + Sketch.

Stamps: Gently Falling, Grateful Greetings;

Ink: Baja Breeze, Soft Suede;

Paper: Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze, Soft Suede, Spice Cake dsp;

Accessories: Spice Cake fabric, 1/8" Early Espresso taffeta, basic pearls, dimensionals. Regals brads, oval punch and scallop oval punch.

American Ink team swaps (a few, anyway)

I'm a couple of weeks late in posting the swaps from our last American Ink team gathering. And we've got another coming up soon! I'm happy to welcome a few new stampers to our group - Welcome Dani, Ginette and Lynn!!! If you're interesting in learning more about stamping, including new techniques, please contact me! You're welcome to join our next group get-together to see and experience the fun for yourself.

Mary Ann's Word Play card

Frankie's Festive & Fun card (Holiday Mini sneak peek)

Touch of Kindness thank you with scrappin' kit add-ons

A handful of my club members will receive this Touch of Kindness thank you card. The designer paper and strip come from the Playful Polka Dots Simply Scrappin' Kit. There's still time to purchase either item. They'll retire for good on August 31 in the Summer Mini Catalog, along with some other great stamp sets and patterned paper. Click here to place your order with me. Thanks!

Batty for You treats for Halloween

These skinny cello treat bags (1" x 8") are coming up in the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog September 1. You'll want to buy lots because they're inexpensive and cute! I bought some Skittles today and picked out the orange and green ones for these treats. That made my kids happy because they got all of the other colors! lol

Aren't these cute? I used Batty for You stamps in Peach Parfait and Old Olive inks, along with Basic Black, along with 1" and 1-3/8" circle punches, and the scallop circle punch. The medallions are adhered to the cello bags with mini glue dots. (BTW, there's a little adhesive strip at the top of each skinny cello bag, so you pull off the plastic and stick it down to itself! Cool, eh?

Quick and easy Christmas card with Pennant Parade

Christmas cards don't get easier than this Pennant Parade one. This was one of my latest stamp-a-stack cards. I started with a Whisper White card in the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, added a 4-1/4" x 3" piece of Old Olive card stock with a 4-1/4" piece of Old Olive scallop dotted ribbon (I love the stuff!). The bottom of the tree and the greeting (from Season of Joy) were stamped first with Soft Suede and Old Olive inks. I stamped the tree from Pennant Parade on a scrap piece of white and punched it using the Petite Pennants Builder punch, and adhered it with dimensionals. That's it!

Simply Soft thank you card

I hosted a 10-card class as a fund-raiser for Autism Speaks Saturday. It was a great success! Thanks to all of my friends and customers who helped make it so. Loads of cards were made, including this Simply Soft/Oval All one. I'm happy to report a donation of $200!

Spooky Bingo Bits for Monkey Challenge 70

I was excited to ink up this newly-mounted Spooky Bingo Bits stamp set. All four of the stamps shown are from that set. I created this card for this week's A La Card Monkey Challenge 70: Halloween + Sketch. The three strips of patterned paper is from the Frightful Sight pack, and the front of the Whisper White card was embossed with the Spider Web folder.

I used this sketch:

 

Stamps: Spooky Bingo Bits;

Ink: Cajun Craze, Lucky Limeade, and Basic Gray;

Paper: Whisper White, Cajun Craze, Lucky Limeade, Basic Gray, Frightful Sight dsp;

Accessories: 1" and 1-1/4" circle punches, Stampin' Dimensionals, Spider Web embossing folder, Big Shot.

Boo pennant banner for Halloween

It's fun and easy to make little BOO pennant banners with the new Perfect Pennants Bigz die and Frightful Sight dsp. I cut the letters with the Alphabet Simple Letters die for the Big Shot. I used Basic Black, Lucky Limeade and Cajun Craze card stocks, and ruffled Lucky Limeade ribbon. I like setting up a little vignette just inside my front door. It gives my house a festive feel for holidays and makes it much easier to decorate since I focus on a couple areas rather than every room.

Here's a close-up of the first "O." I used the retired Stampin' Up! Bitty Bat punch and added the bat with dimensionals on top of the letter and rosette.

Twisted Easel Turtle & Co. card with photo tutorial

I decided to try my own Twisted Easel card after seeing one online. When closed (as in the photo above), it looks like any other card. I watched a couple of video tutorials, but more time was spent on the card design than what made it a twisted easel. So I'm going to give you the details on how to make a Twisted Easel card with photos in three short steps.

Here's what the Twisted Easel card looks like when opened. My card uses the Turtle & Co. stamp set. Two bucks from every set sold goes to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. I buy the special RMHC set every year because it's a great cause! I used Poppy Parade card stock and some Pocketful of Posies dsp, along with the hostess set Perfect Words, and the Scallop Trim Border Punch.

Twisted Easel Photo Tutorial:

1. Fold a half sheet of card stock (4-1/4" x 11") in half, then cut 1-1/4" from one end. This is the top of your card.

2. Now here's the "twist" mechanism - you open the card up and fold the top left corner down along the fold line and crease.



3. Back to my Turtle & Co. card - I made my front panel 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" (a regular card front size). ONLY put adhesive on the folded down corner from step 2. When you adhere your card front, it helps to "close" the card. This will allow the front to close flat (very first photo on this post), and there's still plenty of room to write a message inside the card.

Note: When doing a Twisted Easel card, you really want something (layers of paper, like I have, or a button, brad or something else that will "hold" the front open.

Howl-O-Ween Creeps is perfect for Halloween card fun

I used my Howl-o-ween Creeps stamp set (coming up September 1 in the Holiday Mini) because I love that witch! This time I decided to glam her up a bit with some pearls on her hat, dress and shoes.

I used this week's sketch on the Stamping 411 blog, and this is what I got. I figure a witch loves her black cat(s), her pet bat and spider, and strings of candy corn and spiders. The Old Olive glimmer brad adds a bit of bling.

This close-up shows the pearls better, as well as her Cajun Craze hair. The vertical strip with the spider is from a piece of paper in the Frightful Sight dsp pack, along with the cat paper. Here's the 411 sketch:

Team make & takes and letting the cat out of the bag

My American Ink team gathering Saturday was a blast! We had some great make and takes and some great food, not to mention the swaps.



Kim is hanging onto summer with her big, beautiful Sunflower card. It uses that huge stamp clear embossed with More Mustard craft ink, plus the Well Worn background stamp in So Saffron ink. A Tiny Tags saying was punched out with the Medium Jewelry Punch. I stamped my sunflower a bit high on the card.

Mary Ann's make & take used the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, the Swirls & Curls Verses hostess set from the Summer Mini, Brights dsp, and buttons. Her card also added score lines above and below the sentiment.

And now the cat is out of the bag - literally! Frito Lay is our the newest member of our family. He went head first into my stampin' bag today and was trying to get at the supplies I had in the tote. When he couldn't get to them, he started attacking his tail, and then curled up for a bit on the other side of the tote. I'm happy to say he's roaming contentedly around the house, which is a good thing because I've already accidentally shut him in my closet and, this morning, closed a bathroom cabinet door on him.

I hope you're enjoying your Sunday! If you're in the area this coming Saturday, please drop by between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. to shop my retired stamps and other items, make a card or 10 or more, and enjoy some refreshments as part of my Autism Speaks fund-raiser.

"Quick" snail Button Buddies thank you

I used only items from my scrap box to create a handful of thank-you cards for some club members. I started with a 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" piece of Certainly Celery card stock folded in half, then a strip of designer paper punched at one end with the Postage Stamp Punch, and a Soft Suede snail from Button Buddies punched out with the 1-3/4" circle punch and sponged around with Pretty in Pink ink. The Subtles button and white baker's twine finishes the note card.

Once I finished the notecards, I cleaned out my scrap box! After putting away the large pieces of solid card stock, everything else went into a huge (11" x 14") Ziplock bag that'll go in my free box at the studio, along with other random stuff I found on my desk.

Polar Party penguin shaker card with mica flakes

I love how this Marina Mist Polar Party penguin shaker card turned out. It gives you a glimpse of some upcoming Holiday Mini products - the Snow Burst embossing folder on the card front, the mica flakes that make up the "shake" of the shaker card, a piece of Frostwood Lodge dsp, and something you can't see - the shaker frame, which is like a dimensional in that you pull it off a sheet and it's sticky on the bottom, simply adhere it around the penguin (in this case), pull off the top paper and adhere the window sheet and other card stock layer to the top.

I used the mini silver brads on each corner, just like the card I CASE'd in the Holiday Mini Catalog. I changed the paper, stamp set and ribbon used. Oh, did you notice the scallop dotted Marina Mist ribbon? I'm loving that ribbon! Enjoy your weekend. I am!

D is for Dog sympathy card for Monkey Challenge 69

This week's new challenge at A La Card Monkey is a sympathy or thinking of you card with a sketch. My neighbor has to have her dog put to sleep this weekend, so I felt this was appropriate. It's hard saying goodbye to a dog that has been in your family for 14+ years, as her dog has. I didn't want the card to be a downer, but I did want her to know I'm thinking of her and Nicky.

It's always good to have one in your stash should something happen. Here's the sketch I followed:

Stamps: D is for Dog;

Ink: Wild Wasabi, Early Espresso;
Paper: Whisper White, Just Add Cake dsp, Poppy Parade, Wild Wasabi, Early Espresso;
Accessories: 1/8" Early Espresso taffeta, Stampin' Dimensionals, 1" and 1-1/4" circle punches.

Sweets for the Sweet pinwheel birthday card

My stampers made two of these cards at a recent stamp-a-stack. I love the bright colors. I think this makes a great birthday card for someone young or young at heart! It uses the Sweets for the Sweet stamp set, as well as Bring on the Cake, Brights dsp, a strip of Pumpkin Pie, and Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight and Pacific Point inks. The pinwheels are held on with dimensionals and I stuck a mini glue dot at the bottom of the toothpicks to hold those down.

Autism Speaks fund-raiser held Saturday, August 20

You're invited to attend either a crop or 10-card class or both from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m on Saturday, August 20, at my studio. Each event is $10 each, or $15 if you choose to do both. There will also be miscellaneous single cards for you to make for only a dollar apiece. Refreshments are included!

All proceeds will benefit Autism Speaks, including a percentage of my retired stamps, ribbons, punches and Sizzix dies that are sold that day. If you can't make it, but are willing to make a donation, please click here: http://www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=447523&supid=314762907

People who want to spend the day working on their scrapbooks are welcome to use all of my tools, dies and mounted stamps, along with my open ribbon and dsp packs as part of the $10 fee. For those taking part in the 10-card class, all supplies are provided. This class will take 1-1/2 to 2 hours, so you can come anytime between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to make those 10 cards. Invite a friend!

I am hosting this event along with my downline, Laura. Thanks in advance for your support! We appreciate it.

Crazy for Cupcakes yummy cupcake holder

Tonight's club members not only get to make a cupcake holder - they get a yummy chocolate cupcake too! I modeled this after a sample in the catalog. It uses the Crazy for Cupcake stamp set, along with Just Add Cake dsp, Poppy Parade and Pool Party card stock. I used the Modern Label Punch for the phrase and added a couple of rhinestones for some bling.

I got the free tutorial for this cupcake holder off of Jan Tink's blog.

I'm a winner!

My Established Elegance card here was one of the Top Three!

Thanks, Mary Jo!

Field Flowers in Wisteria Wonder

I love purple! This Field Flowers card is Wisteria Wonder and Lucky Limeade, with dark highlights on the flowers in Elegant Eggplant. I love the ruffled ribbon and the new Lace Ribbon Border Punch. I CASE'd it from Ilina Crouse, whose card was Poppy Parade and Very Vanilla.

Holiday Mini Sneak Peek at Howl-o-ween Creeps

I've been wanting to create a Halloween card ever since my Holiday Mini Catalog preorder arrived the other day. So I did! Here it is, using the same sketch for A La Card Monkey as the previous one.

The witch and sentiment are from a new set called Howl-o-ween Creeps. The paper is from a pack in the regular catalog called Frightful Sight (and is part of the BUY 3, GET 1 FREE Designer Series Paper sale this month), and the black lace and jewels are from last year's Holiday Mini. Did you notice the spider web embossed on the Basic Black card stock layer?

Facing The Open Sea with Monkey Challenge 68: Anything Goes!

I always feel a sense of urgency when we near the end of a mini catalog. Did I use my stamps enough? What designer series paper do I still need to use? I came up with The Open Sea stamp set and Nautical Expedition dsp. I love them both, and I'll miss them both when they're no longer available after August 31.

I love this week's A La Card Monkey sketch. I can visualize so many different kinds of cards using this sketch - and for every occasion. In fact, I may just try one or two more cards with this same sketch this weekend, so keep an eye out for that. Now for my card - I used the Square Lattice Embossing Folder on the Whisper White card front, then added 1-1/2" x 3-3/4" strips of Nautical Expedition dsp (made into flags with a square punch at the bottom). I used a bit of SNAIL to adhere the Baker's Twine across the top. I punched out the Early Espresso ship with the 2-1/2" circle punch and adhered it with dimensionals. Then I added "you're the BEST" from Perfect Words (a hostess offering) in Cherry Cobbler ink on a strip of white card stock that I also punched at the end with a square punch. There's a trinket brad on the end.

Button Buddies embossed flower card

Nothing says happy like Poppy Parade and a Button Buddies flower! This is one of the cards my customers will be making tonight at a stamp-a-stack. The So Saffron striped designer paper is from the Just Add Cake pack. And the sentiment is from Friendly Phrases.

Established Elegance for Techno Stamper Challenge

I'm finally getting things put back into place after the three-day craft festival last weekend. It was a great success, and I'm very happy with the results. I have two new American Ink team members (Hi Ginette and Dani!), a new club starting next month, and a bunch of new customers. For a bonus, I received an invitation to participate in the Holiday Food & Craft Fair at the Pavilion in November. I'm looking forward to that!

So onto the card. I used Mary Jo's sketch at http://technostamper.blogspot.com/. My card has a Crumb Cake base with layers of Mocha Morning Specialty Paper, and Basic Black and Soft Suede card stocks. The inks I used are Basic Black, Soft Suede and Crumb Cake. I like the collage look with stamps like this. And I love the velvety feel of the Mocha Morning paper. It's so soft. I think the pearls add just the right touch of sophistication. Here's the sketch:

Buy 3, get 1 FREE - Designer Paper is on sale!

This month you'll want to stock up on designer paper. Stampin' Up! is offering a Buy 3, Get 1 FREE sale thru August 31. This special is good for any designer paper in the Summer Mini Catalog and the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog. Here's a list:

122343 Nautical Expedition



122367 Paisley Petals


122357 Beau Château


122354 Pocketful of Posies


122355 Domestic Goddess


124339 Just Add Cake


122351 Frightful Sight


122352 Timeless Portrait


122350 Berry Blossoms


122342 Beyond the Garden


122359 Well Worn


122347 Nursery Nest


122349 Letters to Santa


122348 Big Top Birthday


•SPECIALTY Designer Series Paper and Hostess Designer Series Paper are not eligible for this promotion.


•There is no limit to the number of free packages you can earn.


•Hurry! The promotion ends August 31.