August Color Challenge Card

From Adriel:

I finally got around to playing with our color challenge colors (that sounds a bit awkward). Color challenge colors... anyway, yes, I did! I played with the colors and made a card. We'll probably be making this card later down the road at one of our classes, so we'll probably show it off again later. =)
I used a fun technique for the flowers that is pretty old by now in the stamping world, but it gives lovely results and makes me feel like an artist.

1. I stamped the floral image in versamark ink on shimmer white CS and embossed with white embossing powder.

2. Sprayed this with water and used an aqua painter and reinker (or ink any way you can get it... reinker is better, but I didn't have reinker for Wild Wasabi), and pick up the ink with the aqua painter and almost "drop" it on the wet CS. The water on the CS almost pulls the ink from the aqua painter and creates a pretty effect. I did Wild Wasabi in the centers and Marina Mist for the petals. This technique does tone down the color a lot and actually can change the hue completely. I tried this with the Night of Navy and it ended up being violet... not quite what I was going for.

3. Anyway, allow these to dry (I used a heat tool to speed up the drying process) and trim. They're really pretty! =)

The flowers are from one of my all time favorite sets from Stampin' Up! - Fifth Avenue Floral. It is so versatile and we've done a lot of different things with it. I really hope they don't retire this set for a while, because I really love it and love using it.

There's still time to play in our monthly color challenge! You have until the end of this month to make something creative, whatever it may be, using our colors. All the details are HERE! =)

If you have any questions, let us know! Thanks for stopping by our blog today. Happy Wednesday!

-Adriel & Heidi
Two Happy Stampers

Linked up with:

Trendy Treehouse Creative Share Wednesdays

Show Us What You're Working With

&

We Did It! Wednesday

Die Cut Masking Kit

We all enjoyed making the cards for this month's class, Die Cut Masking. If you missed it and weren't able to join us, or you live too far away to come, you can still enjoy this class! We have the instructions available and also a card kit with supplies to make the cards all ready for you. Here's a run down of the cards with the payment options following:

You can purchase the directions for all 3 cards for $5 using the button below. A PDF will be sent to you within 48 hours of purchase. This is a great option if you're a Stampin' Up! demo or if you already have a lot of supplies and just want the directions. Directions are such a time-saver!

You can purchase a kit for this class for $12 (which includes S&H) using the button below. Kit will include the pre-cut/scored/punched card stock, die-cut masks, ribbon, and pearls for 3 cards, 1 of each of the designs. You will need your own adhesive, stamps, ink, and shimmer mist.(Because of the angel policy for Stampin' Up!, we cannot pre-stamp for kits we sell.) Kits will be mailed in 1-2 days of purchase and should be received within 1 week. Kits are available only while supplies last.

Be Bold!

From Heidi...Our next class is Tuesday, September 7 at Tumbleweed Rec. Center and the theme is Bold and Bright cards. We're offering this class at two times, 10-Noon (315TW.130) and 7-9 PM (316TW.130). I thought I'd share one of the cards we'll be making. We'd love to have you join us!

Birthday Bumblebee

From Heidi...My grandson's birthday was last week. He had a marathon birthday celebration with something going on that was related to his birthday for 4 days. It was fun to celebrate with him. You would've thought he would be birthday spoiled by the end of the 4 days, but he did pretty good considering how much celebrating we did. I made him this bumblebee birthday card. I saw this card on someone's blog (I'm sorry that I can't find the link, but you can click on this blog and view a ladybug, which is another fun idea) These both were so cute and I was glad to have a reason to make the bumblebee. I hope you're inspired!Cardstock: Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White
Big Shot: Scallop Circles
Stampset: Messages for Mom

Dreaming of Cards

From Heidi...I know this sounds weird, but I wake up with pictures of cards in my mind...Yikes! Most of the time I never get around to making all the cards in my mind, but this card that I woke up with the other morning became a "real" card. It went together really fast and was a lot of fun to make.
On another note, on Tuesday I taught the masking cards at Tumbleweed that Adriel created for this month. All the sponging and shimmer spritzing was a lot of fun! We're teaching this class again next week at my house...woohoo! Join us if you can. Thanks for stopping by and visiting us!

Cardstock: Whisper White, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Early Espresso
Ink: Craft White, Versamark, Early Espresso
Stampset: Silhouette Sentiments (Hostess set)
Accessories:Tiny Tags punch, Big Shot Textured Impressions Perfect Polka Dots and Square Lattice, White and Clear Embossing powder, Heatgun, Button, Thread

Masking with Die Cuts

From Adriel:

I designed the cards for this month's card classes with a focus on masking, particularly using die-cuts. Many of us have at least one of the popular die-cutting machines. We personally own the Sizzix Big Shot and enjoy using the special dies that are available exclusively through Stampin' Up!. The fact is, none of the die-cutting machines are cheap and finding new ways to use them is a great way to get more bang for your buck! So I wanted to focus on using die-cuts in our masked cards class to give you more options for using your die-cutting machine. Each card employs a different technique on applying the ink to get that masked image, so we're also showing how to get different looks when masking with your die-cuts. A description of each card is below!

Elegant Top Note Card

This card uses the popular Top Note die as a mask. Stamping using the beautiful Fifth Avenue Floral set, along with sponging creates a beautiful frame around the die-cut. A large trimmed flower, a simple stamped sentiment and a lovely cluster of pearls adds just the right amount of extra to the card without taking away from the masking.

Delightful Floral Card

This card combines the combination of brand new colors from Stampin' Up! along with a special floral background using a die cut flower and sponging. The two-tone sponging adds depth to the flowers and the background created is beautiful in itself. A simple stamped and punched sentiment along with some elegant satin ribbon gives the finish that complements the beautiful masking. I was inspired by Dawn's video tutorial for this masking technique.

Butterly Flourish Card

Butterflies are very popular in crafts lately and they get incorporated into this lovely card. Butterfly die-cuts create a mask over the cardstock, which gets a spray of shimmer mist, creating a sparkly background to the sweet butterflies. Stamped images from Vintage Vogue complete the elegant look of this card.

You can purchase the directions for all 3 cards for $5 using the button below. A PDF will be sent to you within 48 hours of purchase.

You can purchase a kit for this class for $12 (which includes S&H) using the button below. Kit will include the pre-cut/scored/punched card stock, die-cut masks, ribbon, and pearls for 3 cards, 1 of each of the designs. You will need your own adhesive, stamps, ink, and shimmer mist. (Because of the angel policy for Stampin' Up!, we cannot pre-stamp for kits we sell.) Kits will be mailed in 1-2 days of purchase and should be received within 1 week. Kits are available only while supplies last.

Let us know what you think about this month's cards and the kit! We'd love your feedback! =)

Summer Watermelon Card

From Adriel:

Okay, I'm sure my mom has shown this card to you all already, but just in case she didn't, or just in case you missed it, here's is a super cute handmade summer watermelon card that my mom created that is just so cute! I love it!

Pssst... I just added it to our shop, so if you want it, come and get it by clicking HERE. =)

My Friday feels like a Saturday today. My husband took the day off of work, the kids got their school for the week done yesterday and I took a nap this morning. We all need a day like that, right? =)

Hope you're having a great day! Friday is one of my favorite days, whether my husband has the day off or not, because the next day starts the weekend. So happy Friday to all of you! =)

Party Invitation with MDS

From Adriel:

My son's 8th birthday is coming up soon. He made his own pinata with the help of some neighbor friends and his sister, so he wanted to have some kids from the neighborhood over for a party. It's kind of taken a little while to get him to decide finally what he wanted to do and I haven't been the most motivated person lately, so we're cutting it pretty close with the invitations. Instead of putting it off another day, I sat down at the computer yesterday afternoon and designed a quick invitation on My Digital Studio. I haven't played with this program very much, so I'm still learning how to use it. I thought this turned out pretty cute for the small amount of time I spent making it.

Anyway, I wanted to share it with you all. My Digital Studio is a great way to create without a mess and in a fraction of the time it takes to create with real supplies. No cutting, gluing, measuring, stamping... it's pretty cool. Of course, there's just something about doing it for real that I like and won't give up, but this program is another way to create that is lots of fun. I was really happy with my results and loved being able to print these up from my computer (I did a layout of 4 to a page), cut them quickly and give them to my kids to hand out.

Plus, it looks special and I think it made my son feel like his birthday was something special, which it is!! I felt like a good mom. =D

THS Color Challenge #7 for August

A new month means a new color challenge!

Our colors this month are:

Night of Navy

Marina Mist

Wild Wasabi

&

Crumb Cake

Feel free to throw in white or cream if you want.

Yummy colors!

It will be fun to play with this color combo!

As always, our color challenge is open

to all of our artsy, crafty friends.

You have the whole month to create something fabulous

using our color combo!

Just post it on your blog or a galleryand link to it

using the submission button at the bottom of this post.

You can also send us a picture of your creation

and we will submit it for you.

Email us: twohappystampers@gmail.com

We'll feature 5 of the entries on our blog!

Guidelines:

Color challenge ends August 31st @ midnight Arizona time.

Please keep submissions family friendly.

Get inspired, get creative, and have fun!

We're looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

August Newsletter Published

It's not quite August yet, but we've finished our August Newsletter and thought we'd publish it a few days early. You can click on the link above or scroll down to our Newsletter button and it will take you to it.
One of our stamping friends, Wilma Johnson, shared with us this card she made. We've featured her and a few other stamper's wonderful cards in our newsletter this month. We hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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.

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! =)

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!

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!

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

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.

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.

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!

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!