Feb 10, 2011 | Cards, Occasions Mini 2011, Valentine's Day |
One of the fun things about Stampin’ Up! Events is the demonstrations that they do on stage. Some ideas I like to try and others I don’t. One of the stamp sets they showed at Leadership was the Valentine Defined stamp set. This was one of the first sets I bought from the Occasions Mini catalog. To me it was different from the other sets we have had before. And I really liked this little card they showed on stage. When one of my card clubs asked for me to do a masculine valentine I thought this one fit perfectly. I made a few minor changes but basically kept the card the way they showed it to us.
The base of the card is Early Espresso. The chain of hearts is repeatedly stamped on the base in Early Espresso ink from the bottom to about half way up the card front. Then I tied a piece of Real Red Grosgrain ribbon around with a knot on the side. I usually don’t put adhesive on my ribbon so that once I tie the knot I can adjust where it is on the card. For this one the knot needs to be all the way to the left. If you feel the need to secure the ribbon just tuck a mini glue dot underneath in a few places once you have it in position.
Don’t you love the little heart tree? I inked it with a Pear Pizzazz ink pad and then used an Early Espresso Stampin’ Write marker to color just the tree trunk before stamping it on a piece of Whisper White card stock. Below the tree I stamped “happy valentine’s day” from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set in Real Red.
The Decorative Label punch creates the decorative edge behind the stamped white piece. I did make two versions of this card – this one shows the Red Glitter paper as the edge. I also used just plain Real Red card stock on one version. Behind that is a piece of Pear Pizzazz striped Designer Series paper. On top of the tree I added the two little punched hearts. One in Real Red card stock (that’s the guy heart) and one in Red Glitter paper (that’s the girl heart). The whole thing is attached to the front of the card with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
When I use
a dark colored card stock for my card base I add a coordinating neutral on the inside so you have a place to write. For this one I stamped the heart flowers in the corner – ink it first with the Pear Pizzazz ink pad and then use a Real Red Stampin’ Write marker to add red to the hearts before stamping. Stamp Love You image in Real Red.
This is one of my favorite Valentine cards this year.
To order Stampin’ Up! Supplies to make this project click here.
Stamping Together at Monika’s Place – February 2011 Newsletter – CLICK HERE.
February 2011 Ribbon Share – CLICK HERE.
Feb 9, 2011 | Big Shot, Occasions Mini 2011, Valentine's Day |
I realized that Valentine’s Day is going to be here in the blink of an eye and I haven’t shared all my projects with you yet. So I better get busy with that….
This project was part of my Valentine class that I had in January. It uses the new Petal Cone die for the Big Shot that is in the Stampin’ Up! Occasions Mini catalog. The cone is cut from Pretty In Pink card stock – you cut two pieces from the die to form the cone shape. Before assembling the cone shape each piece was embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder. For my Big Shot I ran this through with no tabs on my platform – this embossing folder embosses so deeply that it was cutting through the folds of my cone so I removed one of the tabs to take away some of the pressure.
I also cut 4 of the half scallops from some of the Real Red Patterns paper which is part of the Love Patterns Designer paper pack – it is still available through Feb. 14th. These scallops were glued on each of the four sides of the petal cone and then glued down to the outside of the box.
On the front I added Real Red satin ribbon and a Vintage brad – this is a cheater bow – you don’t really have to tie it. I learned this from another demo in my group. You start with folding your ribbon like a “cancer bow” – do you know what I’m talking about – it is just the loop with the two tails hanging down. Once you have that shape you take the center of the loop and bring it down to where the two tails cross. Then take the brad and wrap it around the whole thing at that spot and tighten it to hold the bow pieces in place. Sorry I don’t have pictures of that – but it takes two hands to hold the bow and the brad and that doesn’t leave me a hand for the camera. I then took the brad through the scallop edge which holds that front flap down.
The two side flaps have a jumbo eyelet added and then the Real Red Satin ribbon is pulled through and knotted to create the handle. These would also be cute May Day baskets – just change the colors!
Oh and then on the bottom I added some of the red Glitter paper hearts – the Full Heart punch and then the small heart punch – punch two of each and glue them back to back with the white crochet thread in between. Pull the thread through the tip of the cone – in reality this is easier to do before you assemble the cone – but sometimes you don’t think of these things until later so I used the little floss threader to pull it through the tip and then either tie a big knot or use your paper piercer to stick a glue dot down in the bottom to hold it secure.
I filled my cone with chocolate kisses but the boys have been eating them so there are only a few left inside right now. I hope you like this little valentine treat – make one for each of the kids and hang them on their doors for Valentine morning!
Feb 9, 2011 | My Digital Studio |
UPDATED: Exciting news there is now a My Digital Studio catalog!! It is a pdf file that includes thumbnails of all the software images and downloads. This first release is current up through the end of Jan. 2011 and at the end of each month it will update with the downloads that were added during that month. I plan to print off the product details sheets and use the check boxes to keep track of the downloads that I already have. This is going to be a wonderful tool and you can find it on MyDigitalStudio.net under the Resources Tab – click here for the link.
My Digital Studio Downloads released on 2/1/2011 – CLICK HERE for the pdf file.
My Digital Studio Downloads released on 2/8/2011 – CLICK HERE for the pdf file.
If you would like to see all available digital downloads visit my Online Store on my website. Click the SHOP NOW button and then look under Digital Designing. My signature below was created using My Digital Studio and the So Much to Sale-A-Brate Digital Content CD that you can receive Free – ask me how….
Feb 8, 2011 | Designer Series Paper, Medallion, My Digital Studio, Sale-A-Bration 2011, Scrapbook Pages, UDI Color Challenge |
Yep – its another MDS page – I know I’m showing a lot of those lately. But you know what the cleanup from creating a My Digital Studio scrapbook page is so fast – just save and shut the laptop! Plus it is a totally portable workspace – so on Sunday night I sat downstairs in the basement with my husband to watch the Super Bowl. And I used My Digital Studio to create my project for week 22 of the Utah Diva’s Color Challenge.
Click on this link to go to the Utah Diva’s Color Challenge blog. Gretchen sent us this for our Color Challenge inspiration:
Some nice masculine colors this time. I have been missing my oldest son Kyle (he is away at college and doesn’t call me quite as much as I would like him to) so I created a scrapbook page featuring a picture of him after the Convocation Ceremony at Georgia Tech this past August. That’s the GT Rat cap that he is wearing all the freshman got one at the ceremony and part of the ceremony were the traditions on how to personalize your hat. I’ll have to check if he ever did that. Here is a quick run down on what they are supposed to do –
The Georgia Tech Rat Cap Diagram. On the underside of the bill, write RAT in the center of the bill. Write your name above RAT and your hometown below RAT. On the left of RAT, write your incoming major and on the right, write your expected graduation year. On the back of the hat, write TO HELL WITH GEORGIA. If you are planning on co-oping, circle the tip of the cap.
For every football game write TECH above the opponents name with the respective score. If Tech loses, write the game score upside down. If Tech wins, write the score rightside up.
I looked through the different Designer Templates that I had in My Digital Studio and found this one – I switched out all the colors and Designer Papers to fit the color challenge but kept the layout of the page the same as the template. I did add a digital stamp from the Bliss set in the So Much to Sale-a-brate CD – you can get it for free during the Sale-A-Bration promotion going on right now. So it is a great time to purchase My Digital Studio if you haven’t already done it.
This is also my page for this week for Project 52. I ahead for week 6 – got it done at the beginning of the week instead of the end. By the way I did talk to Kyle on Monday and he is coming home Friday for the weekend – yeah! He said he has been busy at school with a heavy load of classes and his TA position.
Stampin’ Up! Supplies:
- MDS Card stock: Chocolate Chip
- MDS Ink: Very Vanilla
- MDS Stamp sets: Medallion, Bliss, Schoolbook Serif Alphabet, Greatest Moments II
- MDS Designer Series paper: Tangerine Tango Patterns, More Mustard Villa, The Write Stuff II More Mustard large dots, 2011 Notable Desktop Calendar Kit – pattern 11
- Accessories: My Digital Studio
To order Stampin’ Up! Supplies to make this project click here.
Stamping Together at Monika’s Place – February 2011 Newsletter – CLICK HERE.
February 2011 Ribbon Share – CLICK HERE.
Feb 7, 2011 | My Digital Studio, Scrapbook Pages |
Last week I went with Greg on a short trip to South Carolina. We went to take delivery on his new car at the factory. It was the ultimate driving experience and the BMW Performance Driving School. Greg loved every minute of it. Me on the other hand – not so much. Let’s just say I have no desire, will never, ever be a race car driver or to even drive somewhat fast around a track. My words were – “you have to let me out of this car” – as Greg is zipping around the track catching the car in front of him and not letting the guy behind him catch up. And even worse for me was when we did a “Hot Lap” with the instructor – me hanging on in the back seat for dear life with my eyes closed. The instructors are professional race car drivers and they know how to drive a car. We learned a lot and they taught us how to use all the different features of the car and got to try them all out on and off road tracks.
I took lots of pictures and have more to scrap but I started with the building of the car. Inside the factory they added cameras so they can make recordings of each car as it is built then they create a video and email it to you when your car is finished. I took screen shots of Greg’s car from his video and added them to an MDS scrapbook page. Show this one to your husbands….
In My Digital Studio I used a photo template and add papers in the background from the new Leadership Kit download. The papers and colors worked perfectly with the car photos. I have more pages to create but this is the beginning – the car being born. It starts with the first camera in the upper left corner of the page and then go clockwise around with the center photo showing Greg and his new car when they delivered it to us at the performance center.
This was another page for the Project 52 challenge – one page a week – but I think I need to make more than a page a week – I have lots more pictures and things to show than what I have been able to do on one page.
The base of the card is Early Espresso. The chain of hearts is repeatedly stamped on the base in Early Espresso ink from the bottom to about half way up the card front. Then I tied a piece of Real Red Grosgrain ribbon around with a knot on the side. I usually don’t put adhesive on my ribbon so that once I tie the knot I can adjust where it is on the card. For this one the knot needs to be all the way to the left. If you feel the need to secure the ribbon just tuck a mini glue dot underneath in a few places once you have it in position.
a dark colored card stock for my card base I add a coordinating neutral on the inside so you have a place to write. For this one I stamped the heart flowers in the corner – ink it first with the Pear Pizzazz ink pad and then use a Real Red Stampin’ Write marker to add red to the hearts before stamping. Stamp Love You image in Real Red.
