February Newsletter

Just letting you know that our February Stamping Newsletter has been published and is now posted for you to view. We've got a fun how to make your own paper button tutorial in it. You can
Click Here to view it or scroll down and click on our Newsletter button. Hope that you all have a great coming week!

Creative Blogging

From Adriel:

Sometimes I struggle with coming up with things to share on this blog... I think if I don't have a picture of something finished or some exciting craft-related news, then I don't have anything to share. Anyone else feel the same way? It's funny, isn't it? I'm creative with my hands, but being creative with my writing and blogging is difficult... kind of a weird problem. =P

I ran across this awesome thread on Etsy with an extensive list of things to blog about... no more blog boredom! Yay! Anyway, I thought I would share the link with you...

GIANT list of blog topics

Okay, so to try this whole "creative blogging" out, here's a question that I would love your comments on!

What kind of color combos are not "conventional" but still work for Valentine's Day? I'm looking forward to hearing what color combos you've been playing with for this holiday and what suggestions you may have! Who knows... maybe I'll pick one of the ideas and make it a color challenge! Now that's a creative idea! =)

Have an awesome and creative day! =)

Masculine Cards at Tumbleweed

From Heidi...
I'm sharing the cards we'll be creating this coming Tuesday night, 7-9 PM at Tumbleweed Recreation Center (Code-336TW.230). If you're without something fun to do on Tuesday night, come and join us...Simply contact us: twohappystampers@gmail.com
and we'll get you registered.
I love this Chic Noveau DSP paper...it makes such great looking cards. I CASE'd the vertical card from Mary Fish, and loved the layouts that others have shared for the other 2 cards. I appreciate all the inspiration from all the very talented people out there. Thanks for looking!

MDS Baby Album

From Heidi...Yes, I'm still here. I'm thankful for Adriel, she is a faithful blogger, I'm so glad for her :-) Besides being a great blogger, she's a great daughter and a great friend, too! I've been busy...my son was chosen to participate in NPR's radio program "From the Top," so he and my husband flew to Hawaii for a week to tape the show, and we've had special requests for cards, so I haven't had as much time for other things. But today I thought I'd set aside some time and post a blog myself. We've been working on a baby album and Adriel and I are each working on designing scrap pages for it. Adriel came up with all the themes (in like 10 minutes!!! Wow...so glad she came up with the themes, otherwise I'd still be working on them...2 weeks later!) I used MDS to create the "One Month" page for the album. Thanks for letting me share it and thanks for taking time to visit us and comment! Hope you all have a great day

Another Beautiful Card

From Adriel:

I'm writing the post for this entry, but I can't take credit for this beautiful card... my mom made it. She did such a beautiful job on it and I love her color combo... gorgeous!

Here is yet another card sample for the nature cards we (mainly she) was/were working on a couple of weeks ago. Mom made lovely lollipop flowers and they "pop" out at you, don't they? Really pretty... did I mention I really like this card? ;-)

Beautiful job, Mom! =)

Soft Butterfly Card

From Adriel:

Wow! It's amazing to say, but it actually isn't raining here (at the present moment)! It has been just raining and raining... I don't think in all the years I have lived in AZ that it has rained for so many days in a row like this. It's definitely been a lot of water and the kids were so happy to go outside and play today. =)

A few days ago, I told you about cards we were making for the gift shop of a nature park near us. My mom made most of the samples for this, but I didn't have any pictures of the cards she made. The other day, I spent most of the afternoon taking pictures of our items, including her nature cards.

This card she made is so beautiful! She used such soft colors and the style is so elegant! I'm designing one of our SAS cards for March after this card, I like it so much! =)

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend! =) Supplies for this card are listed below...

Supplies (all SU! unless noted) - Almost Amethyst CS, Perfect Plum CS, So Saffron (or Barely Banana) CS, Whisper White CS, Finial Press Textured Impressions Folder, Circle Scissors Plus, Scallop Circle #2 Die, Boho Blossoms punch, Scallop Trim border punch, Perfect Plum marker, So Saffron marker, Almost Amethyst marker, Mellow Moss marker, silver brad, small circle punch (size?), button (not SU).

Another Valentine SAS Card

From Adriel:

We had a great time Tuesday at our afternoon and evening classes! Everyone's cards came out wonderful and it was a great time.

Here is the card my mom designed for this class...

Isn't it cute? She punched the smallest blossom from the Boho Blossoms punch out of Razzleberry Lemonade DSP and adhered them in the shape of a heart. Fun idea! My daughter was watching me edit the picture today and she said that would be cute to do with small punched hearts and I think she's right!

We've got one more class left tonight and that's a wrap! Looking forward to seeing those of you who will be attending. Have a great day! =)

Something Different...

From Adriel:

I know we've been showing a lot of Valentine-ish cards and things... that's just what we've been making recently! =) But I have something a little different to show you today and so let's get to it!

We have a wonderful park nearby us called the Veteran's Oasis Park that has a small lake where you can fish and nature trails and such. They have an education center facility also, with a little gift shop inside. We have a nature journal class planned there in February and May (I think!), but they were interested in selling some of our cards with a nature theme in their gift shop. So we made up some samples and let them have a look over them... blah, blah, blah...

My mom made some beautiful cards, but I don't have any pictures of those (YET)! Here's just a couple that I made in the cute 3"x3" note card that I love for something quick!

I'll try to get some pictures taken of my mom's cards, because she made most of the samples and her cards are really nice! Have a great Monday and enjoy your day! =)

Valentine SAS Card

From Adriel:

This coming week is our busy week full of card and stamping classes! We are going to have so much fun making these cards with our stamping gals!

Here's a couple of the cards we're going to be making at our SAS classes this week.

They're basically the same card with a different printed paper and the cardstock on the scallop circles reversed. Simple design, a lot of Big Shot-ing and pretty DS paper! BTW, that's the same DSP that I used on these mini love notes with the tiny squares of DSP... Sending Love Specialty DSP from Stampin' Up! I hope they continue making this kind of paper in the future, because it is so awesome to have one side with glitter on it. =)

If you're curious about the supplies I used, here's a list (all supplies Stampin' Up! unless noted):

Real Red CS, Kraft CS, Very Vanilla CS, Pretty in Pink CS, Chocolate Chip CS, Sending Love Specialty DSP (one of my favs right now!), Big Shot die cut machine, Scallop Circles #2 die, Elegant Bouquet Impressions folder, Hearts & Brackets die, Photo Corner punch, All Holidays stamp set, Chocolate Chip ink, rhinestone (not SU!).

Mini Love Notes

From Adriel:

I love making 3x3 mini note cards... they're just so cute! Of course, you can't send them in the mail (unless you put them in an A2 envelope), but they're perfect for giving along with a small gift, or tucking somewhere to find later, or just for giving from hand to hand on their own! Anyway, they're cute... that's the important part! And they're also pretty easy to make a bunch of because of the size... cute and simple! I really like that! =D

I used small squares of the lovely new DSP from Stampin' Up! called Sending Love Specialty DSP. Each sheet of DSP has one side that has glitter on it... built in glam!! ;-)

Simple, yes. Quick... well, cutting those squares super small and then adhering them evenly on... not so quick. But CUTE... remember, that is what we're going for! =D

Look for these in our Etsy shop soon!

Birthday Card for Kwerner's Color Inspiration #57

From Adriel:

My daughter, Kayla's 9th birthday is tomorrow. So I needed to make a birthday card and Kristina Werner has a color inspiration challenge on her blog right now! Woohoo!

The colors were a challenge... SO MANY! What I ended up doing was adhering thin strips of the different colors of cardstock onto a white piece of cardstock, side by side. I ran it through my Big Shot with the Hearts & Brackets die. The heart got dimensionalled to a 3-1/2" x 5" white cardstock base with the bottom corners rounded. I finished the card with a pink ribbon bow.

Anyway, wanted to share it with you! Hope you're having a great weekend! =)

Card for Raspberry Suite Challenge #21

From Adriel:

I haven't participated in a challenge recently and this color challenge on Dawn McVey's blog looked fun. It was a great excuse to get creative and do something different!

The colors were so refreshing to work with! Since I was using Stampin' Up! product, I had to improvise with the colors. I used some retired designer paper in So Saffron and last year's in color Baja Breeze. I had pleated (or ruffled) the designer paper strips. I had this awesome wide striped Chocolate Chip ribbon that we got recently, scrunched it, tied a beautiful light yellow button on and it looked just as awesome on the card as it did on the spool! (Yes, love it when that happens.) Clear embossed a couple of flower images from the Fifth Avenue Floral set on the Very Vanilla CS and added the great sentiment from the Priceless set. Added dimensional adhesive to the back of the Very Vanilla panel and attached it to my 3-1/2" x 5" Chocolate Chip card base.

My picture isn't the greatest, but then again, I didn't take it at the greatest time of day! It was evening... I did my best with my photo editing software to make it look decent. Hmmmm... my perfectionist part of me has to sleep right now while I post a not-perfect picture! Ack! ;-)

Anyway, had a great time with these colors and enjoyed the creative process! Enjoyed myself more than I should have, I'm sure! =D

Sale-A-Bration is here!

January 5-March 31, 2010

Sale-A-Bration, Stampin' Up!'s biggest event of the year, means friends, fresh ideas, and free products! And with three ways to earn exclusive Sale-A-Bration products, there's something for everyone.

• Spend: Buy $50 worth of Stampin' Up! products and get a FREE Sale-A-Bration reward!
• Host: Host a $300 workshop, and get a FREE Sale-A-Bration reward!
• Join: Become a demonstrator, and get a FREE stamp set (up to a $47.95 value)!

This promotion ends March 31, so contact me today to spend, host, or join! Or click here to see the Sale-A-Bration brochure.

Shabby Valentine Flowers

From Adriel:

We've been having fun making some Valentine items for our shop and classes. The new Valentine paper in the Stampin' Up! Occasions Mini catalog (can't remember the name of the paper) is so much fun, with one side of the paper having glitter on it! So much fun! =)

I made these shabby flowers and thought they would be great on some Valentine gift tags. I made a tutorial for these shabby flowers awhile ago and you can find it HERE if you want to make some yourself! Have fun! =)

January Newsletter is Up!

Just letting you know that our January Newsletter has been posted. You can click on our Newsletter link below or here.
Happy New Year!

January Newsletter Posted

We've published our January 2011 newsletter and it's ready for you to view, just  Click Here. Here's a sneak peek of one of the Christmas cards that we received from one of our stamping friends. You can view the rest of the cards in this month's newsletter, along with our upcoming classes for this month, and other fun stamping news...Enjoy!

Diane Loy