Jun 17, 2009 | Big Shot, Blog Tour, Catalogs, Circle Circus, Decor Elements, Scrapbook Pages, Stamps, SU Buttons |
So sorry that I didn’t get a post out yesterday. It was a busy day and by the time I sat down last night to do it the internet was down. I’m not sure what the problem was but it was back this morning when I checked around 8:30. Yesterday was – tennis camp (Ryan), meet the new band director (Tyler), dentist appointments (all 3 boys), tennis match (Ryan). Ryan did end up winning the tennis match with his doubles partner Sam – it was mostly due to Sam that they won – but Ryan did have the final winning shot though.
Today I’ll show a sneak peek from the new catalog – if you spend time out there looking at blogs you may have already seen this set being used. The set is called Circle Circus and actually coordinates with the Decor Elements called Eclectic Circles that we already have. This is a 6×6 scrapbook page that we made at my downline meeting last week. It is a design from a 12″ x 12″ layout that Stampin’ Up! created and is shown in the new catalog. I just made it smaller. The title is the Stampin’ Up! Billboard alphabet Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die for the Big Shot. The colors I used are Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise. The title is Chocolate Chip. And the button is from the Button Latte Designer Button collection. I think this is going to be a fun set and it works with all the circle punches that we have. You’ll see more of this from me as it will be my featured set for the next Blog Tour – more information is in the right hand side bar.
Have a great rest of the day!
Jun 15, 2009 | Big Shot, class, Occasions Mini 2009, SU Ribbon |
June 2009 Class Kit To Go
Cleary Thanks Class Kit To Go
All images Stampin’ Up!© 2009
The June Class Kit To Go is now available to be ordered.
You will need to have some supplies at home to complete the kit as shown. I am not including a stamp set option this time.
The featured item is the Cleary Thanks printed window sheets and you can make the cards with just these.
I did use the Oval All stamp set on two of my cards but you could use any greeting set or even rub-ons to complete your cards.
There are 10 cards – 2 each of 5 different designs. This class features a box with a clear window sheet cover and decorated belly band that holds 10 cards and envelopes.
June 2009 Class Kit To Go
Cleary Thanks Kit 1 is $20
Payment due by June 26th. Kits will be ready by July 13th or sooner.
Kit 1 includes:
Cleary Thanks printed window sheets on page 10 in the Occasions Mini catalog
Step-by-step Instructions to make cards and box
Materials to make ten cards with envelopes and the box
(including card stock, ribbon, rhinestone and jumbo brads, die cuts, clear window sheet, and envelopes)
Demonstrator option:
Demonstrator option – instructions only – $6. Please contact me at [email protected].
Additional items you need at home:
Additional items that you will need to complete the Cleary Thanks kit as shown are:
Basic Gray Classic ink pad, Pink Pirouette or Pretty in Pink Classic ink pad,
White Gel Pen, Paper Piercer and Mat Pack,
Sticky strip, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots,
Oval All stamp set, a bone folder,
Stampin’ Sponge, Paper Cutter with scoring blade,
Large Oval punch, Scallop Oval punch, and Wide Oval punch.
If you need any of these additional items they can be added to the cost of your class.
The kits will be ready by July 13th for you to pick up at my home if you are local. I can mail them to you for $5.00 if you are not.
If you order additional items there may be an extra charge to mail those items to you.
Please send me an email if you would like to purchase the June Class to Go Kit. Payment must be made to me by cash or check by June 26th.
I will be placing the order for the materials the night of the 26th.
Jun 14, 2009 | Big Shot, Blog Tour, class, In Colors, Retired List, Stamps, SU Ribbon, Wild About You |
Wild About You is another stamp set that is retiring this month and one that I think is so much fun. It works for cards, great for kids stuff and great for scrapbook pages too. Today is the last day for the Late Night Stamper’s challenge to use one retiring stamp set and create three different cards with it. So I just finished doing that with the Wild About You stamp set. We will make atleast one of these card at my Last Chance Stamp-a-Stack class on Friday.
The first card was an idea from Wendy that we made atleast 2 years ago and used the same 3-d layering technique that I did on the watercoloring cards I’ve shown lately. The lion gets stamped three times and you cut out his mane and his face seperately and layer with dimensionals.
The second card is a design from Stampin’ Up! and uses the In Colors – Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango and Pacific Point. The heart is punched with the Heart to Heart punch. The corduroy button in Pacific Point adds a little pop. The Tangerine Tango edge is done with the scallop border punch. Punch the edge once then slide it over and punch again and it gives it a jagged look like the teeth of the alligator – also a good way to cover up when you mess up aligning the scallop punch – you meant to do that!
The third card was my design – I have collected elephants since I was a little girl and love this little elephant. 
Not sure why but I decided to do a pink and brown card and make it a new baby card. I don’t have any baby girls but the pink and brown seem to be popular for decorating these days when it comes to baby girls. I wanted the card to be a little frilly since it was a girl card so I added the eyelet border punch and the organdy ribbon. I also ran the littl close to cocoa piece through the big shot to give it some swirly texture. The Pink Pirouette DSP and the white layer of card stock are sponged on the edges with the Pink Pirouette ink. The elephant was edged with the Regal Rose marker before I stamped it but it is hard to see in the picture.
I have a new Class Kit to Go ready and will send that information out to my email list later today and post on my blog tomorrow. I hope you are having a good weekend.
Hey did you notice that I am a PRINCESS now? See the crown at the top of my side bar…
The girls that are on the next Blog Tour all have crowns! The tour will be in July for 3 days.
Happy Stampin’!
Jun 10, 2009 | Big Shot, Circle Scissor Plus, Designer Series Paper, Heartfelt Thanks, Retired List, Stamps, SU Ribbon |
So yesterday I tried to accomplish several different things at one time – I wanted to create a card for the Stamping 411 challenge, I wanted to create a card (actually 3 cards) for the Late Night Stampers challenge and I wanted to start on my card designs for my class later this month using the Last Chance stamp sets that I have and that we will be using in my Stamp-a-Stack class.
The Late Night Stampers challenge was to use one of the retiring stamp sets and create cards for three different 
occasons using the same stamp set. I decided to use Heartfelt Thanks as my main stamp set but ended up using Hugs & Wishes with it – it is also retiring. Two of the three cards use the sketch from the Stamping 411 challenge.
And one of the three cards will be in my Stamp-a-Stack class later this month.
The inspiration for this card came from my friend Michele who is very talented and also a demonstrator. She loves sponging (I do too) and using the white gel pen. This card uses both the Heartfelt Thanks and Hugs & Wishes stamp sets. Colors are Kraft, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White. The Circle Scissor Plus and the Big Shot were used in this card too.
The second card was based on the Stamping 411 sketch.
Again using the Heartfelt Thanks and Hugs & Wishes stamp sets. I used the Sweet Always Designer Series Paper and the colors include Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip and Regal Rose. The base of the card is Kraft since I had that left from the other card. The ribbon is wrapped all the way around and I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch a small slit at the fold of the card. 
This creates a hole that you can feed the ribbon through to wrap around the front of the card. I then punch a hole with my paper piercer where I wanted the brad to go and put the ribbon inbetween the two prongs of the Rhinestone brad before putting it through the hole. I pulled the ribbon tight and then flattened out the brad prongs on the back. It actually worked out that on the inside of my card the prongs were hidden by the ribbon.
And then the third card for the Late Night Stampers Challenge also uses the Stamping 411 sketch. This time I used the Sweet Always Designer Series paper as the actual focal point of the card – the piece with the Always bird on it. I used Heartfelt Thanks for part of the greeting and the THANKS comes from the Chit Chat Rub-Ons. 
To create my little accent on the Chocolate Chip strip I took a piece of the Regal Rose wide Grosgrain ribbon and frayed several inches of it. Then took the frayed portion and tied it around one of the little paper clips from the clips assortment.
Three different cards and I like all three. The third card you could basically create the same idea using the Always stamp set – Stamp the bird image in VersaMark ink on some Designer Series Paper and clear emboss it – or stamp it in a the ink that is slightly darker than the paper you are working with. Lots of possibilities. The Sweet Always paper happens to have the bird image on one of the patterns so I used that.
That’s what I have to share with you today. Don’t forget that Heartfelt Thanks, Hugs & Wishes and the Sweet Always Designer Paper are all retiring so order today by visiting my website – www.monika.stampinup.net – and click the SHOP NOW button or contact me by email or phone and I’ll place the order for you.
Have a creative day!
Jun 2, 2009 | Big Shot, Chipboard, Designer Series Paper |
The Late Night Stampers group had an Owl contest during May – you had to create something using the chipboard owl from the On Board So Tweet Chipboard (not retiring – yeah!). The owl is also the “mascot” for the Late Night Stampers group – that makes sense to me…..
Since I am new to the group I decided to make a bag tag to add to my convention bag so when I’m walking around other people in the group will know that I am part of the group too. So if you are in the Late Night Stampers group make sure you look for me at convention and say “Hi!”. So here is my Owl Bag Tag:
Aren’t the eyes the cutest! This idea came from my friend (and downline) Michele – it was on a card that she made and showed me a few months ago. Just use the 3/4″ circle punch to punch from the Good Morning Sunshine paper. Use the Anywhere glue stick to attach to the little chipboard circles.
Several people asked about the “texture” on the owl’s body – there isn’t really any texture at all – first I used Chocolate Chip Craft ink to “paint” my owl – I use a sponge dauber for this – and let it dry. Then I took the leaf image from the Great Friends stamp set (Occasions Mini catalog) and stamped all over it with Chocolate Chip classic ink. I tought it would give a faint hint of feathers….
The branch and leaves are covered with Old Olive craft ink, the flowers with Ruby Red craft ink and the center is a pencil eraser dipped in Chocoalte Chip craft ink, the beak is Pumpkin Pie craft ink. The branch was cut apart and the extra leaf section is actually underneath the upper portion of the owl to help support him on the tag since his lower portion is attached on top of the branch I needed it to all be level.
The base piece is cut from the On Board Long Board chipboard using the Top Note die. Then I cut two pieces of the Summer Sun print from Good Morning Sunshine Designer Series Paper – used the Anywhere glue stick to attach one to each side. I decided to glue all the chipboard piece on with Crystal Effects – so it wouldn’t come off with the wear and tear of hanging it on my bag.
I used the Crop-A-Dile to punch a hole in the corner and added a book ring and a piece of ribbon. The “LNS” letters are cut from the Billboard sizzlets strip.
I can’t wait to get to convention, get my bag an attach my tag. Then I’ll also know which bag is mine since everyone will have the exact same bag once we get there!
Have a great day!
May 29, 2009 | Big Shot, Designer Series Paper, Occasions Mini 2009, SU Ribbon |
I did get teacher gifts made yesterday/last night. I made 6 for Ryan’s teachers for this school year. Since Ryan has several male teachers this year I needed something that would work for both men and women. While looking at blogs I found a project that I thought would make a great teacher gift. I also remembered another friend of mine making a similar project. I finally found through several links a template for what I wanted to make – a Scratch Pad Holder. The template is from Connie Stewart. I made a boy version and a girl version and while playing around I also came up with this cool thing to do with the Jumbo Grommets.
Girl version supply list:
- Old Olive card stock
- Maine Blueberry Designer Series Paper (retired)
- Not Quite Navy card stock
- Bashful Blue card stock
- Big Shot Die Cut Machine
- Daisy #2 die
- Jumbo Grommets – silver
- Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon
- sticky strip
- RSVP pen
- Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, Bashful Blue classic inks
- Sweet Little Sentiments stamp set
- Darling Dot stamp set
- Bone Folder
- copy/printer paper
Notes on this project – the Maine Blueberry paper is the same patterns as our current Washington Apple paper – I just really like the colors in the other one and had enough to make the three scratch pad holders. I cut four of the medium sized daisy flower – 2 in Not Quite Navy, 1 in Old Olive and 1 in Bashful Blue. They are layered like this – Not Quite 
Navy, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Not Qutie Navy. Then insert a Jumbo Silver Grommet through the hole in the center and push back the prongs with a bone folder – it is a tight fit with 4 layers. The two ends of the ribbon are pulled up through the center of the grommet and tied in a knot in the front – see I can do knots just fine. The printer paper is cut in half both ways to get 4 pieces per sheet – 5-1/2″ x 4-1/4″. On about half of the stack I stamped “a note for you” and then the flower from Darling Dots. That was the longest part of the whole project. The matching patterned paper is just rolled and stuck inside the barrel of the RSVP pen. I cut my piece to be 3-1/4″ x 1″ – I used the bone folder to soften up the paper and help it curl.
Boy version supply list: 
- Kraft card stock
- Manchester Designer Series Paper
- Twill Tape (medium width)
- Jumbo Grommets – Vanilla
- Clear Embossing Powder
- Heat Tool
- Powder Pal
- craft tweezers
- Always Artichoke Stampin’ Write marker
- Always Artichoke Classic ink
- RSVP pen
- copy/printer paper
- Sweet Little Sentiments stamp set
- Seeing Spots stamp set
- Old Olive Craft ink
Notes on this project: Pen and printer paper are done like the girls project. I decided to use the twill tape for this one because I didn’t have any other ribbon that I liked with the Manchester Designer Series paper. But then the Jumbo Vanilla Grommet didn’t stand out much against it because they were nearly the same color. So I decided I wanted to try to color my Grommet. I tried coloring the grommet with the Always Artichoke Stampin’ Write marker and dipping it in clear embossing powder and heat set it – due to the nature of the metal grommet most of the ink pooled up and “disappeared” so it didn’t add much color. I tried another layer and again it didn’t add much color. I decided to try 
using craft ink – but I didn’t have the Always Artichoke in craft ink so I had to use Old Olive. I dipped the whole front of the grommet in the ink until it was completely covered (this time the ink didn’t puddle up much) and then dipped in clear embossing powder and heat set it. It gave it a really crackled kind of look to it and was enough to make the grommet stand out from the twill tape. By the way I pushed back the prongs on the grommet first except for one I only pushed part way and used that for my craft tweezers as a holder. When you heat the metal it will get hot so you need to use the craft tweezers for holding – it also makes it easier to dip in the ink and the embossing powder.
On my second one I tried to skip the step with the Always Artichoke marker and use only the Old Olive craft ink – while this would have been great wit the Always Artichoke craft ink (if I had it) my second attempt gave me a very Old Olive colored grommet which was not the exact color I wanted for this project. I have a picture of each – can you tell the difference? For the third one I went back to adding color with the marker first and got more the result I had the first time which was a more artichoke color.
I took them all to school when I went to get Ryan after his exams were done. We handed them out to all the teachers and we are all home – school is done – another year complete – a our summer has begun!
Have a great weekend!
