Stamps, Paper, Scissors

Another class card

I had a nice class Friday, thanks to the ladies who came. We had a new stamper among them, and it's always fun for me to see the excitement of someone who has never stamped before. I spend a bit of time worrying that they will get freaked out by my cards, which can be...ahem..a bit involved. But this class was actually just stamping and coloring, for the most part, with no strenuous techniques so I think she had a lot of fun!

Here's another of the cards:

Ingredients: Stamps - Blooming with Kindness; Paper - 2011-2013 In Color Designer Patterns Paper Stack, Blushing Bride, Very Vanilla, Calypso Coral; Ink - Calypso Coral, Blushing Bride, Early Espresso; Other - 5/8" flower trim, Modern Label punch, Delicate Designs embossing folder, gold brads, Early Espresso stitched grosgrain, sponge wedge.

GOJUS! (YILM!)

I also mentioned my car had a boo boo. I got rear ended when I was in downtown Detroit on Monday. Lookie:

I'm still waiting to find out if they are going to total this heap. The doors and hatch on this van can be pretty darned expensive, apparently, since it's not the newest car and used parts tend to be on the rusty side. I was contemplating selling it anyway, so it would totally be great if they do total it. Keep your fingers crossed!

The good thing is that, between me and the girls, there were no major injuries. We are going to the chiropractor to make sure that anything that got knocked out of whack gets knocked back into whack.

Well, it's time to get ready for church. Ta!

Paper Pumpkin Deviations #2

If you haven't  signed up for Paper Pumpkin, the new kit service from Stampin' Up!, you may or may not have heard the buzz about the latest kit, which arrived last week. Some folks didn't care for the cheeky nature of the stamps, but I really liked them. They are just what the doctor ordered when you need cards for teenagers. I know I showed the cards I made to my oldest, and she thought they were pretty darned cute!

Here's the card as designed by Stampin' Up!:

I think this is pretty cute, but as promised, I am here to show you what else can be done with the stuff in the kit.

Here's my first deviation from the original:

I turned the label sticker so that it became a banner instead and used the alternate greeting.

Then I tried changing the orientation:

I added some dimensionals, and I also put the secondary greeting slightly askew, which I think adds just a bit of whimsy.

Then finally, this is the third deviation:

On this one, I added dimensionals and a bit of ink swiped on the sides of the patterned paper and the secondary greeting piece. I also did a bit of doodling with an ink pen.

So that gives you three alternatives to the standard layout without adding extra product or stamps.

If you haven't signed up for Paper Pumpkin, head on over to the Paper Pumpkin site and have a look! Ta!

Fab Friday Challege Blog - Challeng #17

It's time for a new Fab Friday challenge over at the Fab Friday Challenge Blog!

This week we have a sketch challenge:

 Again, this is a simple sketch, but it's super fun to play with! Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - Creative Elements, Sweet Floral, Teeny Tiny WIshes; Paper - First Edition DSP, 2011-2013 In Color DSP Paper Stack, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Calypso Coral; Ink - Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Wisteria Wonder, Calypso Coral; Other - 1" square punch, 1/2" circle punch, 1/4" hole punch, Crumb Cake marker, sponge wedge, Jewels Basics Pearls, dimensionals, Calypso Coral ruffled ribbon, Signo white gel pen, blender pen.

GOJUS! (YILM!) You will notice that yet again I have First Edition DSP on this card. Sigh...just cannot get enough of this wonderful stuff. Alas, it is retiring, so I am torn between using it all up and being done with it or buying lots and lots and hoarding it!

You'll be able to see all of our creations and post one of your own by visiting the Fab Friday blog. You can also visit the other DT members' blogs and see what they've done with this challenge:

Mindy Backes
Cindy Beach

Justin Krueger
Amanda Mertz
Brenda Myers
Amy O'Neill
Marla Reed
Pam Steckman
Wendy Weixler

Enjoy! Ta!

Birthday Hoppin' and Boppin' with the Freaks!

It's that time again, time to freak out with the Freaks on our monthly blog tour! If you've just arrived from Dawn Olchefske's blog, you are in the right spot!

But if you started right here, fear not! You can manage to get all the way around the entire tour just by following the links at the bottom of each post.

This post is going live on the evening of the 19th, so if you find some posts in our tour have not yet posted, please be patient.  The entire tour should be accessible at some point this evening. Keep checking back!

The theme of this tour is Birthday projects. Who doesen't need birthday cards? NOBODY.

For my first project, I have a card using a set that I bought a while back but had not seen ink yet. Heck, it hadn't even SMELLED ink! So I got busy and....lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - Patterned Party, Beyond Plaid; Paper - Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo, Whisper White; Ink - Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo, Old Olive; Other - Argyle embossing folder, Cupcake Builder punch, Old Olive 3/8" Striped Grosgrain, markers, dimensionals, Basics Jewels Rhinestones.

 GOJUS!!! (YILM!) I love argyle as a pattern, and so I knew I had to team up the Argyle stamp with the Patterned Party set AND the Argyle embossing folder. And if you are wondering, I cut out the flags indvidually and glued them in place for the banners, and the Argyle background was carefully lined up and stamped using the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, just because I am that kind of crazy!

I decided to do a treat container for my next project. But not just ANY treat container. This is a party in a tiny box, or in this case, milk carton! I also decided it was time to ink up yet another set that was "virgin" rubbah! Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - A Fitting Occasion; Paper - Patio Party DSP, Baja Breeze, Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals;Ink - Midnight Muse; Other - Mini Milk Carton Bigz die, Pinwheel Sizzlits die, Bitty Banners framelits, Curly Lable punch, 1-1/4" Scallop Circle punch, 1" circle punch, Bitty Punch pack, Basics Jewels Rhinestones, Summer Starfruit stitched satin ribbon, Primrose Petals stitched satin ribbon, Metallic brads, dimensionals, binder clip, bamboo skewers.

STINKIN CUTE! (YILM!) Fill it with M&M's, and they will love you forever!

I went on to do another card. If you saw my card on my last post, this is the one that inspired it. I used a different color scheme, but the same formula: Light ink + dark ink + Crumb Cake cardstock = GOJUS! Lookie:

Ingredients:  Stamps - Field Flowers, From My Heart, Papillon Potpourri; Paper - Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Midnight Muse, Crumb Cake; Ink - Pool Party, Midnight Muse; Other - Pool Party Seam Binding, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Bitty Butterfly punch, Metallic brads, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercing Tool, Crumb Cake Marker, Sponge Wedge, Dimensionals, Crumb Cake marker.

Wowie Zowie! (YILM!) I love it when things turn out just about the way I think they will! This is such a bee-ewe-tiful color combination, you really must try it!

Well, it's time for you to head on down the blog tour road. Next stop is my BFF, Wendy Weixler! She's an ARTISAN, so natch, her projects are going to rock your stampin' world! Ta!

Lovely Little Labels Blog Candy or how I prove what a dufus I really am

My name is Jan and I have a problem.  A problem with stamps with matching punches, so when I saw this set in the 2012-2013 catalog and saw that it had matching punches, it went right on my wishlist:

So apparently, I ordered this set and the punches, and then I went back and ordered the set again.  Probably because the first one had not seen ink yet and so I forgot I had it.  I ended up putting the stickers on both of them, so I can't return one.

This past weekend I set out to remedy the non-inky thing plus to celebrate the imminent return of one of my all-time-favorite In Colors, Blushing Bride.  Lookie:

Ingredients:  Stamps - Field Flowers, Lovely Little Labels, Hey There Friend (Paper Pumpkin #1); Paper - Blushing Bride, Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake; Ink - Blushing Bride, Soft Suede; Other - Very Vanilla Seam Binding, Labels Collection Framelits, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercing Tool, Crumb Cake Marker, Little Labels punch pack; Sponge Wedge, Dimensionals, Crumb Cake marker. 

GOJUS!  (YILM) I love the feel of this soft vintage look!  It was inspired by a similar card I did for the Freaks Tour, coming up on the 20th!  Be sure to come back for that!

And now that I have gotten one of my sets inky, I'm going to remedy the other thing, the extra set thing.  If you live in the USA ONLY, leave a comment, and I will be selecting someone to get my extra clear-mount Lovely Little Labels set.  I will close comments on April 20th at 8 a.m. ET and select someone living in the USA only by using Random.org.  The winner will be notified by email, so be sure to leave yours in the comment form.  Good luck! 

Rain or Shine - Last class card

Here's the last card from my class last month:

Ingredients: Stamps - Rain or Shine; Paper - Sunshine & Sprinkles DSP, Pink Pirouette, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Pacific Point, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White; Ink - Packific Point, Melon Mambo; Other - Melon Mambo 3/8" Striped Organdy ribbon, clear EP, Boho Blossoms punch, 1" square punch, 3/16" corner rounding punch, Basics Jewels Rhinestones, dimensionals, Pacific Point marker, sponge wedge.

STINKIN' CUTE! (YILM!) I found a card with a similar layout on Pinterest and tweaked it to make it my own. This card was really a result of my daughter Laurel going to a baby shower. We went through my stash of cards to find one for the shower, and most of the baby cards I have made have been for boys, so I thought it was time to rectify that!

Thanks for stopping by! Ta!

Fab Friday Challege Blog - Challeng #16

It's time for a new Fab Friday challenge over at the Fab Friday Challenge Blog!

This week we have a color challenge:

 I really love these colors together. I pulled out one of my new single stamps and got to work. Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - Woohoo; Paper - 2011-13 In Color DSP Paper Stack, 2012-14 In Color DSP Paper Stack, Crumb Cake, Whisper White; Ink - Early Espresso; Other - Scallop Border Punch, Clear EP, markers, Jewels Basics Rhinestones Large, dimensionals, Whisper White stitched grosgrain, sewing machine, Signo White gel pen. 

GOJUS! (YILM!) I embossed the stamp with clear EP, then had fun with markers.

You'll be able to see all of our creations and post one of your own by visiting the Fab Friday blog. You can also visit the other DT members' blogs and see what they've done with this challenge:

Mindy Backes
Cindy Beach

Justin Krueger
Amanda Mertz
Brenda Myers
Amy O'Neill
Marla Reed
Pam Steckman
Wendy Weixler

Enjoy! Ta!

Stampin' Up! Swallowtail card

Here I go again with this Swallowtail stamp.  I had seen a card on Pinterest, which I followed to it's source here, by Petronela Hardy of Brisbane Australia.  She had used the ExLibris background with brilliant effect, by cutting out the center after stamping and using it as a frame.

Well, I wanted to do something similar for my class, but since I don't own that background (what?  I background stamp Jan doesn't own?!?!?!   Does such a thing exist?!?! Well, it did, but since then it doesn't anymore since I went ahead and bought the thing!) and I didn't want to make my students cut out the center of anything (Xacto knives are not always the friendliest things), I came up with this instead.  Lookie: 

Ingredients:  Stamps - Swallowtail, Amazing Family, Ciao Baby; Paper - Rose Red, Whisper White; Ink - Rose Red, Whisper White; Other - Tulip Border Frame, Rose Red seam binding, 7/8" scallop punch, Jewels Basics Rhinestones, sponge wedge, dimensionals. 

GOJUS!  (YILM!) My students loved stamping this card, not the least because it is so easy!  And while I still love Petronela's card, I think this holds its own. 

      Swallowtail

If you have not gotten this stamp, there is still time to buy it from my Stampin' Up! webstore!  You've got until May 31st!  Ta! 

Class card from March class

Yes, I had a class, and no...

Well, let's just not go there. It's getting old.

Here is just ONE of the GOJUS cards we made:

Ingredients: Stamps - Oh Hello; Paper - Tea for Two, Crumb Cake, Bashful Blue, Calypso Coral; Ink - Calypso Coral, Early Espresso; Other - Framelits Ovals Collection, Honeycomb embossing folder, Floral trim, Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon, In Color Designer Printed brads, sponge wedge, dimensionals, Early Espresso marker.

GOJUS! (YILM!) Even though this is a bit simpler than my usual, it all comes together quite nicely, n'est pas?

Sorry. My inner Frenchwoman tries to come out now and then. Her name is Camille. She can be quite forceful.

I have TWO more GOJUS cards to show you in the next week or so. Hopefully, by then I will be able to actually STAMP some more. Ta!

 

Fab Friday Challenge Blog - Challenge #15

It's time for a new Fab Friday challenge over at the Fab Friday Challenge Blog!

This week we have a sketch challenge:

 Again, this is a simple sketch, but it's super fun to play with! Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - You Rule; Paper - First Edition DSP, Neutrals DSP Paper Stack, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler; Ink - Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake; Other - Modern Label Punch, Word Window punch, 1-1/4" square punch, Scallop Trim punch, Clear EP, Basic Black marker, sponge wedge, Jewels Basics Rhinestones, Jewels Basics Rhinestones Large, dimensionals, Cherry Cobbler Seam binding. 

GOJUS! (YILM!) You will notice that again I have First Edition DSP on this card. Addicted!

You'll be able to see all of our creations and post one of your own by visiting the Fab Friday blog. You can also visit the other DT members' blogs and see what they've done with this challenge:

Mindy Backes
Cindy Beach

Justin Krueger
Amanda Mertz
Brenda Myers
Amy O'Neill
Marla Reed
Pam Steckman
Wendy Weixler

Enjoy! Ta!