Wednesday, July 28, 2010

A Few Tags

From Heidi...Each month I like to create a new tag to include as a little "Thank You" with my customer's Stampin' Up! orders. I thought I'd share a couple of them here. The challenge I make for myself each month is that I have to make them with scraps of cardstock. So the color combinations are made by what I have in a ziplock scrap bag...kind of fun! Thanks for stopping by and visiting us!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Sharing My July Color Challenge Card

From Heidi...Well this little 3x3 card serves as my July Color Challenge submission, as well as the card I created for our August newsletter's Craft Room, which hasn't been posted yet. It has been great to have some new colors to create with. This color combo isn't one I would've thought to put together myself, but I really like all these colors together. I was SO glad that this stamp set "Fundamental Phrases" didn't get put on the retired list...we use it ALL the time. Most of the phrases fit in the Word Window punch... another item we use all the time.
We got ourselves a website where we can now store our newsletters and add tutorials to share with you. So, here's our 3x3 Color Challenge card Tutorial for you...Hope you enjoy it!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

New Color Combo Tool


If you've noticed on the side of our blog, we have a link called Stampin' Up! Color Combo...and if you've clicked on it over the last year, it hasn't taken you anywhere. This is because the site has been down. The good news is that this site is back up and running again. This site is very helpful when you're going to create a card or project, but you're not sure about which colors to choose. The site helps you put together oodles of color combinations in a matter of minutes, or if you draw a blank on colors, you can click "Surprise Me" and it will put together random color combination ideas. Anyway, we just wanted to let you know that this site is up and running again. Simply scroll down the side of our blog and click on the Stampin' Up Color Combo and it will take you to the My Create Ink-Color Lab. Have fun!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Upcoming Class at Tumbleweed

Here's our next class...
We'll be making 3 one-layer cards using stamping, sponging, masking and paper-piercing to embellish. If you'd like to join us you can set up an account at Tumbleweed Recreation Center and register online using the following codes: (Tuesday, 8/3, 10 a.m.-Noon - 309TW.430) and (Tuesday, 8/3, 7-9 p.m. - 310TW.430). We'd love to have you join us, hope to see you there.


Sunday, July 18, 2010

A Couple of Tutorials

From Heidi...
We had our New Catalog Open House today. It was a lot of fun to get together with everyone and do some stamping, eating and visiting. We had a special guest at our Open House...Allison Hong, who made her debut with all our stamping "buddies". Jacob and Kayla were in charge of our giveaways, they were our name drawers and giveawayers.
We wanted to share the instructions for the cards we made today and we thought it would be fun to share them with our blog friends, as well. Here's our Crumb Cake Tutorial. Here's the tutorial to our Elegant Cherry Cobbler. Thanks for visiting us and we hope that you enjoy the tutorials.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Masked Reject

From Adriel:

Okay, so I've been working on cards for a masking technique class (which I think is in August). This is one of the cards that didn't make the cut for the class. It's not that it turned out bad or anything, it is just too time-consuming. When my mom and I plan for classes, some of our ideas are great except for the fact that they would take way too long with a larger group of people. Anyway, I thought I would share it because it did come out cute. =)

For the masking on this card, what I did was cut out a few leaves using my Big Shot and the Little Leaves die cut out of computer paper. I adhered these leaves to my card front with temporary adhesive in the desired locations. Then I misted the card front with a shimmer mist mixture that I added a few drops of Old Olive reinker to. I guess you could call that Tinted Shimmer Mist! =) Let it dry for a minute or two and then remove the Little Leaves die cuts. From there I added a stamped sentiment from the Fresh Cuts stamp set, added some little flowers using the Itty Bitty Bits stamp set and Punch Pack and Melon Mambo ink, and finished the little scene with a few cute little butterflies using the Beautiful Wings embosslit die.

Masking Tip: Most of the time with masking, you want to use thin paper such as computer paper, because then your edges on the masked section are more crisp.

Make your own Tinted Shimmer Mist: Mix a small amount of alcohol, a few drops of shimmer paint, and a few drops of ink in the color of your choice in a small spray bottle, such as a travel hairspray bottle. Shake and mist away!

I'm looking forward to the Open House in honor of the new Stampin' Up! catalog at my mom's house this weekend! I'm sure I'll be seeing some of you there and I'll have the baby with me, so you can see her too. =)

Cya! =)

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Travel Scrap Album

From Heidi...We have some really fun projectclasses planned for the Summer and Fall. We have a Travel Album class planned for Tumbleweed in September, so I've been playing around with some album ideas. I found this fun album idea where you make your own book binding using stitching, so I tried it out and made this little prototype. It was fun to make, so I'll be using this idea to make a new one with some of the new Stampin' Up DSP and new cardstock colors. I used My Digital Studio for "All Aboard" image. I found a bunch of fun "travel-themed" digital stamps on MDS, so I'm going to add some digital elements to the album, too. Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

In-Color Open House Card

From Heidi...Here's another one of our fun Make-n-Takes for our New Catalog Open House, Sunday, July 18. We're offering a choice of hearts or stars, depending on your own preference. These cards use Stampin' Ups new "In-Colors": Poppy Parade, Concord Crush, Peach Parfait, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz. I've been enjoying playing around with all the new colors. With so many new color combination possibilities, it makes creating that much more fun!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Open House Card

From Heidi...We're hosting a New Catalog Open House, Sunday, July 18, 2-4 PM at my house. We'll be making a couple of "Make-n-Takes" using some of the new colors and new stamp sets from the new Stampin' Up 2010-11 Idea Book and Catalog. I thought that I'd post the Make-n-Takes throughout the week. We've got some fun door-prizes, featuring new catalog items. If you'd like to join us, let us know. It'll be fun!

Stamp Set: Elements of Style
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla
Big Shot: Textured Impressions Perfect Polka Dots
Punches: Butterfly, 1-1/4" circle, 1" circle

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Lacy Floral Card

From Heidi...In this month's newsletter I have this fun "how-to-make" flower in our craftroom. Since I only included a close-up picture of the flower in our newsletter, I thought I'd post the whole card here on our blog. I didn't come up with this idea, and I'm sorry that I can't find the person who posted it. I thought I saved the info, but I must have filed it in a place that I now can't find. You can check out our newsletter's Craftroom for more details on making these flowers. I thought it made a fun focal point.

Friday, July 2, 2010

July Newsletter and New Catalog

The New 2010-2011 Stampin' Up! Catalog is here! Lots of new colors, new color collections, and new stamps and products.


Just letting everyone know that our July newsletter has been posted. You can click on the link below or click here. Hope you all have a Happy Fourth of July! Below is a picture of one of the gift card holders we'll be making in one of our classes posted in the newsletter.



Thursday, July 1, 2010

THS Color Challenge #6 for July

I'm super excited about the color challenge this month! I've been waiting for the new colors from Stampin' Up! to come out and they are finally here! Woohoo!

Here's this month's color challenge!

THS Color Challenge #6


Poppy Parade, Concord Crush, Pear Pizzazz, Early Espresso, and Very Vanilla (these are Stampin' Up! color names... use what you have, but try to keep it close).
Are you lovin' it? I know I am! =)


Here's my card for this month's color challenge.

Supplies: Elements of Style stamp set, Perfect Punches stamp set, Early Espresso ink, Concord Crush stampin' write marker, Early Espresso stampin' write marker, Very Vanilla CS (base), Concord Crush CS, Poppy Parade CS, Pear Pizzazz CS, Color Spritzer tool, Top Note die, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Scallop Oval punch, Corner rounder, Cream satin ribbon, adhesive half-pearls, dimensionals.

This challenge is open to all of our artsy, craft friends. Whether you make cards, scrapbook, knit, paint, make jewelry, or anything else in between, we'd love to have you join us!

Make something creative using our color challenge and use inlinkz at the end of this post to submit your creation or send us a picture of your inspired creation and we will post an inlinkz box on your behalf. We will choose 5 of the submissions to feature on our blog at the end of the challenge!


Sound fun? Join us!

Guidelines to participate:
  • Use the colors in the challenge as a springboard for your creativity.
  • Please keep submissions family friendly. =)
  • Challenge ends Saturday, July 31st @ midnight, Arizona time.
  • Have fun!
    We're looking forward to seeing what you have to share with us!
Let your friends know about our challenge, too!

Have fun!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Entries for THS Color Challenge #4


I was putting together the post for July's Color Challenge and I realized I never posted the entries we received for the month of May Color Challenge. The baby came and life just kind of swept over me. Things like the blog and color challenges kind of got ignored.
Anyway, it's not too late, right?!

Here's the entries we received for the THS Color Challenge #4.
Thanks to those who participated and sorry for the delay in getting your entries up! =)

Arielle from Snappy Stamper made this awesome card. I love what she came up with!
That textured background is really nice. =)

Anthonette from Chavez Designs made this super cute Father's Day card with the colors.
I love the layout with the blocks of different patterns going on! =)

Thanks for your participation! Join us again!

Check back with us tomorrow for our new color challenge for July!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

A Hybrid Thank You

From Heidi...
Isn't it nice to have a post from Adriel? Wow, and a one-handed post at that, complete with pictures. I love your color challenge card, BTW, Adriel!With my son's graduation and his 18th birthday he received quite a few gifts and cards, so he was in need of some "thank you's." This is when I love My Digital Studio. It is a time-saver when it comes to making cards. You're able to create that handcrafted card look and yet it's SO much faster and let's face it, sometimes you just need some fast cards to send out. These are the "thank you's" I made for him. Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you're having a nice afternoon!

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Butterfly Birthday Card for THS Color Challenge #5


From Adriel:

I thought before the month of June was over, I should share the card I made for our color challenge. Easier said than done! I'm typing with one hand while I nurse little Allison, typing much slower and backspacing more than normal. I'm sure with more practice, I'll get more proficient at one-handed typing.

So, I'm going to keep this post short and sweet. I simply don't have the patience right now to type a lengthy post one-handed. =D

Two Happy Stampers Color Challenge #5 for June
Butterfly Birthday Card

No supply list... sorry!

There's still a few days left in June if you'd like to join us for this month's color challenge. Click HERE for the details.

BTW, I've been enjoying looking through the new Stampin' Up! catalog! I'm really looking forward to playing around with the new colors! How about you? :)

Thursday, June 24, 2010

One-Layer Medallion

From Heidi...I am so glad that River Rock is back...and back as one of Stampin' Up's core colors, which means it's going to be around for quite awhile. I love this color! I also love the Medallion stamp set...it's so bold and BIG!!!
This is another one of the one-layer cards I created for our upcoming class at Tumbleweed Recreation Center next month. If you'd like to join us for our Creative Cards One-Layer class, it is scheduled for Tuesday, July 6. We offer this class twice. Once at 10 AM-Noon and again in the evening at 7 - 9 PM. You can register online through Tumbleweed's online registration. Once you set up an online account with them the registration process is simple. Maybe we'll see you there!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Color Challenge

From Heidi...We went camping last week with my son and grandkids and had a great time. The weather was perfect and the company was the best :-) It was nice to relax and get away. Funny how getting out of the daily routine helps you to get a better perspective on things. I really appreciated my time away and just getting refocused.
Last week I wanted to try out our June Color Challenge and decided to combine it with last week's Mojo Monday card sketch, as well. It was kind of fun to just play around, to not have a specific reason or class to be creating for, except to just have fun! I hope you're all enjoying your summer...wherever you happen to be.



Friday, June 18, 2010

Father's Day Cards

From Heidi...My husband asked me last night if we had a Father's Day card for his dad...uh-oh! So I went searching for a fun card to make for Father's Day, and came across this YouTube Video. These are super easy to make and they are really cute! I've been trying to use up the retiring DSP's, so the Nouveau Chic DSP was perfect for a man's shirt. If you haven't gotten around to making a Father's Day card, you'll have fun making these. Thanks for checking in with us :-)


Wednesday, June 16, 2010

One-Layer Cards

From Heidi...We offer classes at Chandler's Tumbleweed Recreation Center a couple of times each month. I've been preparing for our upcoming classes in July and August. This is one of the cards we'll be making at our July 6 class. The theme is One-Layered cards...which was fun to create for. It sounds easy...you know, it's just one layer...but to make that one layer fun and interesting is the challenge! I wanted each of the 3 cards to be different, which they all ended up being. I did end up adding a button to each card :-) Hope you're all enjoying your week and thanks for looking!
Cardstock:Whisper White
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Not Quite Navy, Regal Rose, Old Olive
Stampset: Vintage Vogue, Sincere Salutations
Big Shot: Scallop Square Die

Monday, June 14, 2010

Another My Digital Studio Hybrid Card

From Heidi...This Hybrid Card is my favorite of the three that I made. I love the colors in this watercolor image and the tall vertical feel. I used My Digital Studio's digital Summertime Splendor DSP. The more I'm using MDS, the more I'm seeing all of the possibilities with this program. The ability to resize the downloads make it super versatile, because you're not limited to one size stamp or one sized image on the DSP. I'm looking forward to our Hybrid Classes next month. I can't wait to share the cards with everyone.Adriel bought herself a copy of MDS with some of her birthday money, so when she's got a little more time to play with it, I'm looking forward to seeing what she comes up with. She's usually is a little braver than I am when it comes to the technical stuff.
Cardstock: Cajun Craze, Bashful Blue, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
Ink: Basic Black, Chocolate Chip (sponging)
Punches: Photo Corner, Itty Bitty Shapes
My Digital Studio, Linen thread, Button

Saturday, June 12, 2010

My Digital Studio Hybrid Card

From Heidi...
I've been designing and creating the last few weeks, so now I have some new cards and projects to share with you. I've been creating for a Hybrid Class we'll be offering next month. I used My Digital Studio's new Summertime Splendor download DSP paper to create the focal point of this card. Stampin' Up's new core color, Cherry Cobbler, really sets the watercolor image off. I just got my order with the new colors a few days ago, so it's been fun to play with the new DSP and stampsets. I also received the new 2010-2011 Idea and Catalog book...it's full of new and fun stuff to create with. Thanks for stopping by and visiting us!


Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Cherry Cobbler, Rose Red
Ink: Basic Black
Big Shot: Perfect Polka Dots Impression Folder
Punches: Scallop Trim Border, Modern Label, Word Window
My Digital Studio - Summertime Splendor DSP; Black grosgrain ribbon; pink button

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Vintage Scallop Circle Cards

From Adriel:

I'm actually posting something new today! Wow! =)

Life has changed a lot for me with a new baby. I know that in a few more weeks, things will have settled down a little bit and she won't need so much attention (nursing, burping and diaper changing make up at least 8 hours of my day) and she'll be sleeping better. A part of me is longing to be the mom to my other two children I was able to be before the baby and to have the steam to do "extra" things that don't seem that important at the moment. While a part of me is craving for what used to be "normal", I'm realizing that this season of life is so short and will soon be over. My tiny little baby will be walking and talking before I know it and I'll have time again for those "extra" things. I'm learning to embrace the new "normal" and take it a day at a time. So today this is the little "extra" thing that I'm able to do. =)

I loved the scallop circle card my mom made a few weeks ago! I loved it so much, I made my own scallop circle card!

Mind you... I made this before baby. I'm not really sure when I'll be making anything new, but when I do, I'll be sharing it with you! =)

All supplies Stampin' Up! unless noted: Kraft CS, Chocolate Chip CS, Very Vanilla CS, Chocolate Chip ink, Rose Red ink, Very Vintage wheel, Vintage Vogue stamp set, Itty Bitty Bits stamp set, All Holidays stamp set, Boho Blossom punch, Modern label punch, Scallop Circle Bigz die, Circles #2 Originals die, Big Shot die cutting machine.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

She's Here!


From Adriel:


Allison Grace arrived on May 25th!
It was a great delivery and she is healthy and doing well.
We are all in love with her. =)

I've got more photos on my facebook wall... if you have an account, make me your friend and you can see them! =) You can visit me on facebook HERE.

Two Happy Stampers Color Challenge #5 for June

Hi to all of you! The colors for our color challenge this month were inspired from a gift bag from a birthday present. I loved the colors and thought they would make a great challenge!




Our color challenge this month is: Almost Amethyst, Perfect Plum, Bermuda Bay, and White (these are Stampin' Up! color names... use what you have, but try to keep it close).

This challenge is open to all of our artsy, craft friends. Whether you make cards, scrapbook, knit, paint, make jewelry, or anything else in between, we'd love to have you join us!

Make something creative using our color challenge and use inlinkz at the end of this post to submit your creation or send us a picture of your inspired creation and we will post an inlinkz box on your behalf. We will choose 5 of the submissions to feature on our blog at the end of the challenge!

Sound fun? Join us!
Guidelines to participate:
- Use the colors in the challenge as a springboard for your creativity.
- Challenge ends Wednesday, June 30th@ midnight, Arizona time.
- Please keep submissions family friendly. =)
We're looking forward to seeing what you have to share with us! Let your friends know about our challenge, too!


Have fun!

Last Chance Retiring List has been Posted


One Last Chance...Dozens of stamp sets from the 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog are retiring, and June 1-30 is your last chance to get your favorites. You can Click Here to see all the products being retired.