One of the privileges of doing what I do is receiving handmade cards from my friends.  Today I'd like to share some of the wonderful handmade Christmas cards that have arrived here this season….. and I'll post more soon. 

All of these cards are much more beautiful in real life than I've been able to capture on camera.  That's because trying to balance light vs. shadow (to show depth and texture) along with accurate color/exposure – is an art I haven't yet perfected.  So my apologies for being a VERY amateur photographer, but thank you, ladies, for thinking of me!

Carolyn's deer is Rudolph.  How do I know?  Well, he has a shiny red gem on his nose!

Dee is a knitter, and tells me her knitting friends really enjoyed her card this year. BTW, that's white embossing on the red cardstock!

Lots of texture on Kathy's jolly card!  A particularly tough one to photograph with all its contrast, but doesn't it just make you grin?!?

Big hugs to all my stampin' friends, and Merry Christmas!  More cards to follow….

I can hardly believe it, but we recently celebrated my grand-daughter's first birthday!  Because I'd learned through Stampin' Up!® that the metallics silver and gold will continue to be a trend into 2014, I picked out some adorable clothing pieces in cream and black….. and gold.  Yep, that's right – not a blip of frilly pink anywhere in the batch, lol!

But then, gifts bought, it was time to think about packaging, of course.  I'd known immediately that I wanted to use this cream and gold top (and black & gold pants) for my packaging inspiration, so I began looking for a vanilla gift sack that I could doll up with my stampin' stuff.  But alas, no vanilla or cream sacks were to be found.  But in my search I ran across this darling little number with its black velvet band and cream grograin bow, and couldn't take my eyes off it.  I remember thinking how unusual for a one-year-old's birthday, but I figured I could make it would work.  As long as I added some gold to the mix, that is….

But there were still a couple of points that required some creativity to address. 

Challenge #1 was that even though I'd chosen the smallest size of this bag, several folded pieces of  clothing for a one-year-old still only filled the bag half way up.  And just as there had been no vanilla or cream bags available – likewise, there was no vanilla or creme tissue paper to fill up the empty space.  So I grabbed my bone folder and curled up a bunch of strips of Very Vanilla and Basic Black cardstock, along with some gold foil paper (from the Holiday Catalog). First dilemma resolved!

Challenge #2 was to figure out how to get gold glittery stars for the card.  Embossing wouldn't yield quite the glitz I had in mind, and although Stampin' Up! sells real pretty silver, champagne and red glimmer papers, I wanted true "gold"!  So I smooshed ink directly from my Gold Encore ink pad (on sale through 12/23/2013!) generously all over a 1/4-sheet of Very Vanilla cardstock.  Then while that was still wet I covered the entire surface with Heat & Stick powder….. then heated with my heat tool JUST until it melted and became sticky.  Then I poured gold glitter (again, from the Holiday Catalog – and also on sale through 12/23/2013) all over that ….. then hit it again with a burst of heat to set it.  Voila!  Gold glimmer paper!  🙂

Next, I laid that face-down on the Stars #2 Bigz die we used to sell until it retired a while back…. and that gave me the stars I glued to the front of the card.  That is, AFTER I stamped gold spatters from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set, that is. 

Oh! And the sentiment elements are from one of my very favorite versatile stamp sets:  Memorable Moments

Merry Christmas!

While assembling some cards this morning I found myself applying a technique I use all the time to correct a common challenge, so I figured I'd share it here while I was thinking about it:

You know when you wrap a ribbon around an upper layer for your card…. and anchor it down on the back side with SNAIL adhesive…… but 3 days after you've finished your card that nice snug ribbon you'd carefully attached suddenly seems a bit slack?  And then shortly after that, one of the ends has completely come untucked from behind that layer? Darn! WHY does that always happen?!?

Well, what's going on is that the ribbon ends are under stress being unnaturally bent around that layer of cardstock, and SNAIL is not a strong enough adhesive to win out over the long haul against elements that are heavy or under constant stress. (Same reason you wouldn't choose SNAIL adhesive to assemble a box.)

So the solution is to use an alternate type of (stronger) adhesive on those ribbon ends.  I used to advise a layer of Sticky Strip placed parallel to the edge of the cardstock as shown along the left edge of my 2nd example. (Don't forget to peel off the red cover before adhering to the card base, of course!) 

But Sticky Strip is a bit pricey and requires more application dexterity than the simpler version I usually use now:  a quick squirt of Tombow Multi-purpose Glue as shown on the ribbon end on the right.  Once that is attached to your card base and the glue dries, that ribbon end is not going anywhere!  

So try using the SNAIL adhesive just long enough to set the ribbon ends in place after wrapping them around to the back, and then add a squirt of Tombow Multi-purpose Glue on each ribbon end as you anchor that upper layer onto your card base.

And let me know what you think!

It's that time of year again:  Digital Scrapbooking Days (Nov. 1 – 8).  And like every year, Stampin' Up! is celebrating over on www.MyDigitalStudio.net!

If you're into digital design (and specifically MDS, of course), you'll want to check in daily (to the blog there) to see what's in store each day.  Every day you'll find a different featured discounted download, and if you hurry today, there's even a free digital stamp set!  (Grab it quick at my store here.)  If it doesn't look familiar, it's because it's brand-new!

And more deals worth celebrating include 30% off a bunch of print products…. as well as other digital downloads.  So head on over to www.MyDigitalStudio.net and join the celebration!

Sweet Paper Dreams,

Well, it's Tuesday again!  Another round of MDS (MyDigitalStudio) digital downloads and a new week of Weekly Deals (even including a punch marked at 25% off its already Clearance Rack price)!  Now, you may notice that the selection of weekly digital downloads is a little thinner than usual for a regular Tuesday, but I think that's probably because there are plenty of OTHER goodies heating up the MDS world…… including this 30%-off MDS special (on lots of downloads and print products) that begins today, and our annual MDS celebration that always heralds the beginning of November.  (Be sure to check in daily Nov. 1-8 for the fun and even MORE discounted and free digital downloads to be offered!)

So we've got LOTS going on in the world of Stampin' Up!  Whew!

But today I mostly wanted to share a card.  A card other than the seemingly endless string of Christmas cards I've been working on lately, lol. (Sorry I can't show most of those here because they're exclusive to my Christmas Card Club.) 

Anyway, recently I was asked to make an engagement card and I jumped at the chance. Not only was it an opportunity for a change of pace, but I'm all about hearts and flowers and pink and love.  I asked a few questions about the bride, and while I still didn't feel like I really knew her, at least had enough idea of a direction to take. 

I chose Blushing Bride (figured that was appropriate), Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla.  For the card base, I cut a 1/2-sheet of Very Vanilla cardstock the long way (11" x 4-1/4"), and scored 3-1/2" from one end and 2" from the other.  The inside is lined with a quarter-sheet (shy 5-1/2" x 4-1/4") of Crumb Cake, with another layer of Very Vanilla (4" x 3-1/4") hidden behind the upper section.

I used the Hearts Collection Framelits Dies to cut the hearts, then put the larger one through the Woodgrain embossing folder before sponging it with Crumb Cake ink.

I used both Delicate Designs and Needlepoint Border Embossing Folder sets for the edges.  (Note: these folders were too long to go through the Big Shot sideways, so I used my (retired) Craft & Rubber scissors to trim the ends just enough to fit.  Oh, and I repeated the Delicate Designs folder on the flap of the Crumb Cake envelope, too.

To finish off the pink heart, I stamped (with Blushing Bride ink onto a scrap of Very Vanilla cardstock), and cut out a flower from one of my favorite stamp sets, Everything Eleanor….. then colored in the ends of the stamens with a White Gel Pen. 

The trick to the whole thing was actually in positioning the two hearts so they would interlock and hold the card closed.  So I anchored down the right-hand side of the pink heart (with Multipurpose Liquid Glue for a strong bond; love, love, love that stuff!) – attaching it just to the lower edge of the card…….. and the upper part of the larger heart to the upper section of the card.  This left a space to tuck the point of the larger heart in behind the smaller heart when closing the card.

Oh, and I almost forgot:  "Celebrate Today" comes from another one of my "go to" stamp sets, Perfectly Penned.  I first inked the stamp in Versamark ink, then immediately with Blushing Bride ink.  Stamped (yes, with a Stamp-a-ma-jig for proper placement), and heat embossed with clear powder.

I'd been wanting to do an interlocking design of this type for some time and figured this was the perfect opportunity.  Please leave me a comment and share what *other* types of interlocking designs you can think of!

So I've been thinking a lot today about what's so great about Tuesday?  Yeah, it means Monday's finally over.  Not that *I* think there's anything wrong with Mondays, 'cuz I have a great job I love, of course, and I always look forward to the "fresh start" that a new work week brings.  But I know that traditionally Monday takes the rap for being a day to dread.  So I suppose it stands to reason that Tuesday must be better.

But in the Stampin' Up! world Tuesday just got a couple of clicks even better!

If you've been paying attention you probably already know that I've looked forward to Tuesdays for several years because that's the day a handful of new MyDigitalStudio (MDS) image downloads are released.  Sometimes I even stay up late at night to catch the transition from Monday into Tuesday in Mountain Time (which is 11 pm here), so I can check out the new downloads before hitting the sheets!

But as of today we now have two more reasons to love Tuesdays.  Meet the new "Weekly Deals"!

Weekly Deals

    1)  Every Tuesday Stampin' Up! will designate a handful of products that will be discounted for one week.  So when you place your orders online you'll notice that those specific items will show their discounted prices when you place them into your shopping bag!  The discount will run from Tuesday through the following Monday, but in the event that the supply of one of these products runs out, it will be removed from availability rather than go on backorder.

and

    2)  ONE of those "Weekly Deal" items will be an MDS download.  But the Weekly Deal MDS downloads will be discounted by a full 50%!  Wahoo!

So hurry, hurry, and go check out this week's introductory Weekly Deals here: http://bit.ly/GM6gFN 

Have fun!

Ok. I admit it. I'm smitten.  Totally in love with Stampin' Up!®'s new Envelope Punch Board.  Rather funny product name, but something that should have been invented about 20 years ago, imho!  Just think of how much use we all could have gotten out of it if it HAD been!

So today I've got a video for you to show you what it does, and how it does it.  (Straight to the point, it makes envelopes.  In a whole bunch of different sizes.)  And for only $19.95, I think you just might fall as hard as I did! 

Oh, and be prepared for that overly-huge pile of Designer Series Paper you've been hoarding – to finally see the light of day!

Envelope Punch Board

#133774

$19.95

Ready to own it?  Grab it now!

So which stamped image would you prefer on YOUR card?  Top?  or Bottom?  And why? (Please don't consider alignment in this example; I just tossed these 2 samples down to shoot the picture, so alignment doesn't count in this case.)

Personally, I prefer the bottom example because it's got cleaner details.  The top one looks kinda "mushy" to me, and doesn't showcase the crisp detail of the rubber stamp's artwork.  So do you know what made the difference?  Same ink pad (Bermuda Bay), same person using the exact same stamping technique – only a few minutes apart, same paper…….

But what made the difference was blotting.  Yes, for my personal preference, every single pad I've received in the newer firm foam style (and I have ALL of them, btw) has been too wet.  Overly-inked.  And therefore, transfers way too much (wet) ink to my paper, which in turn takes longer to dry, and in the meantime the wet ink wicks along the fibers of the paper until it's finally dry. Result:  top image. Mushiness. You can actually watch it happen.  The moment you stamp the image it looks great.  Bright and vibrant color.  You smile.  But come back a minute or two later and it has blurred out the details.  (Insert sad face here.)

So here's what I do with every single firm foam pad I get…

First, I stamp with it to test it.  (See top example.)  I study the results a couple minutes later.  100% of the time I have decided it needs help…

So I take a couple paper towels and fold them up together to approximately the size of the pad.  And then I blot.  Really firmly.  I mean, after all the point of this process is to remove excess ink, right?  I keep refolding the towel to get a new surface, and keep going.  How do I know when I'm done?  When the ink on the towel no longer looks solid and rich. (Usually 3 or 4 firm presses.) Then I try stamping again.  If there's still bleeding and loss of detail after a couple minutes of dry time, I blot some more.  If bubbles surface on the ink pad after tapping my stamp onto it, or I hear a sucking sound, it's a sure-fire indication it's still too wet for my preferences.

Some people have worried about the possibility of having to ink their pads more often if they do as I do.  But at the same time I've heard complaints about having to reink way more often with these pads than with the former style.  Personally, I have not experienced that. Perhaps because my standard is "how does the stamped image look after a couple minutes?", rather than "how wet does the pad feel?"  Of course eventually I do have to reink, but I don't feel it's any more often than I did with my former pads.

But when I eventually do re-ink a pad, I'm careful to only apply just enough ink to bring it back up to my level of preference.  This often means the surface of the pad may not be an even color all over; it may show darker areas or dots where the new ink was applied.  But while that may look funny, I haven't found any negative affect at all on how the stamp inks up.  (But that may be because my technique is to always tap a stamp all over the surface of the pad to ensure even ink coverage before stamping with it anyway.) 

So if you've ever wondered where the detail went, give some "blotting" a try – and let me know what you think! 

Wow! With the end of August sneaking up on us so quickly (and also colliding with the Labor Day weekend), 3 deadlines for fabulous opportunities are sneaking up, too…… and might easily be overlooked.  So today I figured might be a good time for some reminders:

Recently I introduced Christmas Card Club 2013 – Virtual Style!  What does that mean?  It means that THIS year you can join in the Christmas Card fun from wherever you are in the USA!  No need to commute to my stamping table like in past years; just go to YOURS! Signups go through Friday (Aug. 30) for those who want to get FULL program benefits, including a BONUS tutorial for a pretty holiday project.  I sent a video out to all my newsletter subscribers yesterday…..  Click here to view that video if you missed it, or just read the details & sign up here. 

Here's a Christmas card to help get you in the mood.  Now, this is NOT one that we'll be doing during Club, but rather, it's made using the Merry Little Christmas (Simply Created Kit) Bundle on page 27 of Stampin' Up!®s Holiday Catalog.  I figured that starting out with this kit might be a good way to kick-start my holiday enthusiasm and help me get to designing the Club projects.  After all, it's a bit of a challenge to be thinking about Christmas when the daytime temps are still regularly going over 100 out on my deck!  😉

August 31 also means the end of 50% pricing for the first 2 months of a new Paper Pumpkin subscription!  That's right – just $10 a month for your first two months if you start your subscription by August 31st and use the promo code PUMPKINDEAL at sign-up.  And remember these subscriptions make great gift ideas for younger daughters or friends who have limited time or space for crafting in their lives!  Each project is designed for about a 30-minute crafting break, and the types of projects vary from greeting cards to other fun things.  Give it a try, and get your first 2 months at half-price if you sign up by Saturday (Aug. 31). 

Join Now!

Ok, ok….still not sure of the value?  Well, for your first month of subscription you'll receive the "welcome" kit – a greeting card kit (with supplies to make 4 cards), which also includes a clear acrylic block worth $8.50 all by itself. When you take advatage of this 50% offer, that means you'll get the whole rest of the kit PLUS included shipping direct to your door – for only $1.50!! And since you'll always have total control of your Paper Pumpkin account, you can log in and cancel or suspend any time.  Pretty cool, actually.

And last, but far from least…… Are you ready to join the ranks of those of us who enjoy a discount on every product we buy through Stampin' Up!?  And/or maybe get involved with some of our Sea to Sea Stampers team activities?  And/or join us at next summer's Convention?  And/or learn how to earn some money sharing crafting with your friends?  Well if you join by this Saturday you'll get to add a free Simply Created kit (up to $29.90 value) to your starter kit (which is already always a great value to begin with).  Read more about that here, and when you're ready to learn more about joining Stampin' Up!, give me a shout (my contact info is at the top of this page)…. or find out more or sign up online here!

Sweet paper dreams,

Have you seen the Thinlits Label Card dies yet?  Stampin' Up! actually has two of this style of die sets (too recent to appear in any catalog), and I recently got a chance to play with one of the sets.  And since I also just FINALLY acquired appropriate gear to record some videos, I did that too…. take a look!  (Note that there are two parts to the video, so it's best to watch them in order.)

Oh, and if you'd like to see more videos with tips like these, stay tuned.  They're coming….. along with a brand-new (Christmas card) VIP Club!