Celebrating Designer Series Papers... Part Trois

With tomorrow being the Occasions Mini Catalog's last day, I thought I'd share some projects using the Sending Love Specialty Designer Series Paper... I'm off to the city today to show my aunt and uncle around (who are visiting from Toronto). Enjoy!

The card above was made for a DIY Challenge in which I was to glitter some flowers. I chose the Sending Love Designer Series Paper, as it's a Specialty Paper, which includes pieces with glittered designs. There's a delicate shimmer on the pink design of this Designer Series Paper and I just used my VersaMark ink and embossed a little Iridescent Ice embossing powder on the edges of the flowers I punched in Real Red card stock using my Trio Flower punch...

Next, this pretty card was made using the Petal Card die and my Big Shot. I adhered it to the Chocolate Chip card stock and used a little Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon to hold it shut. It's a perfect little hiding place for a secret sentiment, photo, or embellishment. You choose! Shhhh... The stamp set I used with it is also an Occasions item: With All My Heart.
Nothin' like a White Space Challenge to force me to KISS (Keep It Simple, Stamper!) I just cut a piece from a scrap, used my With All My Heart set for the sentiment and mounted it all on some coordinating card stock (Real Red, Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip). The punches I used are the Scallop Edge, Word Slot and Modern Label. Wanna know how I got just the "thank you" sentiment, even though there's more to that stamp? Check last week's {Technique Video}. Voila! Simple!
Finally, I made use of my Extra Large Fancy Flower punch (which will be available after April 30, even though it's an Occasions item), Scallop Edge, Word Slot and Scallop Oval punches for this card. Tote-ally Tess is the stamp set I used for this little gal. I used the Paper Piecing technique to make her little tote bag and apron; I just stamped the tote and apron on pieces of the Sending Love Designer Series Paper and cut them out. A quick and easy way to add visual interest with a stamp!
Thanks for your visit today! I got my Summer Mini preorder in the mail and will be showcasing some of those items next week along with some Mom-worthy items. Take care!

Celebrating Designer Series Papers... Part Deux

Whew, what a week! Since I last posted, I've hosted my first garage sale, finished planning the year for my preschool class and started a whole-house clean-up for when I host my book group (for the first time ever) on Friday evening. Did I say "Whew!"?

Thought I'd share some of the things I've made using the Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper from the Occasions Mini catalog. While I'm sad to hear that it's sold-out, these are ideas that can be applied with a variety of other Designer Series Papers. Enjoy!

This simple card can easily be replicated for any occasion. Switch out the Designer Series Paper with any number of options. Got any Autumn Traditions DSP laying around? Use a leaf stamp instead of the florals, switch a plain button for the floral one and voila! You've got a great card for a guy in your life... You could use this same idea with a couple of the pieces from the Patterns Pack DSP III that's offered as a Hostess Bennie. Super simple!

Want to stick with the tone-on-tone idea? How about that same Patterns Pack Designer Series Paper III (Hostess Bennie) like this one:

And finally, this card is an example of what you can do to with Designer Series Paper and a few different types of ribbon...

I look forward to sharing some more Designer Series Paper projects with you later this week. Hope your week's been a good one! Thanks for your visit!

{Technique Video: Masked Inking}

Here's another video for your viewing pleasure! I hope you find it useful!

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: With All My Heart

Papers: Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip and So Saffron card stocks

Inks: Chocolate Chip Classic

Accessories: Large Oval, Scalloped Oval and Scallop Edge punches, Rose Red Double-Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Paper Snips

Thanks for your visit!

Celebrating Designer Series Papers...

I've been busy this week creating cards for a series of White Space challenges using the Designer Series Papers from the Occasions Mini Catalog. They're available through the end of April (and since they involve Retiring Colors, they won't probably appear in a later catalog). I'll be posting all of them this week, so stay tuned! Here's a look at what's coming...

{Challenge! "Taggies"}: A Little Birdie Told Me...

Hello and welcome to the Studio! Before I go any farther, I would like to wish my dear mom "Happy Birthday!". I love you, Mom, and I hope your day is great!

Today's card is one I submitted for a challenge last week at 365 Cards. The challenge was inspired by those baby toys that have the ribbon tags along the edge.

I have been really enjoying using my Extra Large Two-Step Bird Punch. I am *LOVING* the new punch design! I can't get over how easy they are to store...

Anyhoo, I simply punched my bird's wing on the flipside of the floral of the Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper so that I'd get the houndstooth design. The houndstooth design is opposite the floral, but one has to punch the bird's wing on the side you want, or else the wing points up when it's flipped over to show the other pattern.

Next, I punched the branch using the Old Olive piece (it's the flipside of the striped piece I used in last week's Technique Video). Then I punched it again in the Sahara Sand part of that same piece to get the leaves. I used a little Two Way Glue and the tweezers from my Crafters Tool Kit to put it all together (it did feel like a little neurosurgery, I gotta say, but it's worth it).

The ribbons are (in order of appearance) Rose Red 1" Double-Stitched Grosgrain, Bashful Blue 1/4-inch Grosgrain, Chocolate Chip 5/8-inch Grosgrain and Whisper White 1/4-inch Grosgrain.

I also used my Scallop Edge Punch to make the little borders at the bottom.

This was a very easy card to make, aside from the gluing and will be a versatile design I'll replicate for lots of purposes. We've only got a couple of weeks left for the Occasions Mini Catalog, which brought us a lot of these materials. I'm lovin' the Sweet Pea Paper and since it contains Taken with Teal (one of the Retiring Colors), I'm not expecting it to appear in the new 2010-11 Idea Book and Catalog in July. I'll be purchasing more before the Occasions Mini ordering deadline, which is April 30. Refer to my earlier post about the Color Renovation for more info on the exciting new changes with the colors...

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: None this time!

Papers: Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper (Occasions Mini Catalog, available until April 30), and So Saffron and Chocolate Chip Card Stocks

Inks: None this time!

Accessories: Extra Large Two-Step Bird Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Rose Red 1-inch Double-Stitched, 5/8-inch Chocolate Chip and 1/4-inch Whisper White and Bashful Blue Grosgrain Ribbons, Paper Snips, Two-Way Glue

Big News! Stampin' Up! Announces Its Color Renovation!

Cue the sounds of jackhammers and saws... Renovation is underway!


Stampin' Up! has announced its new Color Collections! Refer to the chart below:

Here's the breakdown:

• Stampin' Up! is changing the language a bit. Rather than calling its four groupings "families," we're calling them "Color Collections" now.

• Instead of 12 colors in each Collection, there will be 10. These 40 colors will be called "Core Colors".

• Five new Core Colors have been introduced (you can see them above). From left to right, they are Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler and Marina Mist. You'll notice a sixth new name, Crumb Cake, which is the new name for Kraft. As a lover of Kraft card stock, I'm thrilled to learn that with the name change comes the introduction of an ink, marker, pastel, Watercolor Wonder Crayon, ribbon and embellishments in the same color! Yippee!!

• Fans of the In Colors will be thrilled for several reasons. First, you'll recognize some old and new favorite In Colors which have become part of the Core Color line. Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango, River Rock, Soft Suede, Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze and Wild Wasabi are all "permanent" fixtures in the Color Collections. Second, there will be a 2-year life span for the In Colors as they're introduced. For example, there will be five new and as yet unseen In Colors released on July 1 and they'll be around for the 2010-11 Catalog *AND* the 2011-2012 Catalog. In 2011, five more new In Colors will be introduced so that there are 10 In Colors in the cycle each year. Love that change! Whew! Got it? Don't worry -- I'll keep you posted (and in June, I'll have previews with some projects made with the new In Colors)!!

• Speaking of Color Collections, they've changed their names a bit (and some colors have scooted around).

• In the Brights Collection, you'll find: Regal Rose, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango and Real Red.

• In the Neutrals Collection, there's River Rock, Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Basic Gray, and Basic Black.

• The Regals Collection includes Elegant Eggplant, Night of Navy, Not Quite Navy, Always Artichoke, Garden Green, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Riding Hood Red, Cherry Cobbler and Bravo Burgundy.

• Finally, there's the Subtles Collection: Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, Perfect Plum, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Baja Breeze, Wild Wasabi, Certainly Celery and So Saffron.

• Now you may have noticed some colors missing (about 30)... Well, sadly, they're retiring at the end of June (just like some stamp sets and accessories do). Here's the Retiring Colors list: Almost Amethyst, Apricot Appeal, Ballet Blue, Barely Banana, Blush Blossom (though the Blush Blossom marker will still be available), Bordering Blue, Brilliant Blue, Brocade Blue, Cameo Coral, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Gable Green, Glorious Green, Going Gray, Green Galore, Handsom Hunter, Lavendar Lace, Lovely Lilac, Mellow Moss, Only Orange, Orchid Opulence, Pale Plum, Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Really Rust, Ruby Red, Sage Shadow, Summer Sun, Taken with Teal and Yoyo Yellow.

• **Retiring Colors will not be available after June 30. Stampin' Up! will guarantee the availability of those colors until June 1. Once that date passes, the Retiring Colors will be available only while supplies last. You all know how much I despise the "Buy now, before they're gone!" mentality, and I've got a few favorites that I want to stock up on. Guess I'll do that sooner than later!

I hope this all makes sense! I'm normally not a person who embraces change, but I'm excited to see what Stampin' Up! has in store with this Color Renovation. Having been a Demonstrator for nine years, I've seen this type of change before and it always means good things.

Remember, if you just want a paper pack or ink pad or two, we can combine orders to save on shipping (if we live close). You don't have to host a workshop to be able to order!

Thanks for your visit! Please let me know how I might be of further assistance!

{Tuesday: Technique Video (Punch Flowers)}

Hello and welcome to the Studio! I'm sorry this is a day late. Stampin' Up! came out with an enormous announcement about its color offerings in the next catalog and I was completely distracted by this big news. I'll be publishing another post today about all of that excitement...

For the {Tuesday: Technique Video}, I enjoyed putting together the card above. I'd used that basic layout for a challenge a couple of weeks ago and then I used it in another challenge last week, but changed the colors and the textures a bit. I'm thrilled with this easy, effective layout that has eaten up so many of my scraps for me!

Here's the video:

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: NONE this time!

Papers: Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, and Whisper White card stocks

Inks: NONE this time!

Accessories: Large Oval Punch, 1-inch Circle Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, 1/16-inch Handheld Punch, brad, Whisper White Satin Ribbon

Thanks so much for your visit! Join me later today as I explain Stampin' Up!'s big news…

A New look for April!

I hope you all had a lovely Easter! We certainly did. Mr. Cottontail came to our place and our children discovered nests throughout the house with fun treats (candy and otherwise). We also enjoyed an early morning egg hunt outside. The kids are getting good (and quick) at finding them! We hope we got them all; Joe normally runs over at least one with the next mowing.

I've been busy in the Studio, but I needed to update the banner and buttons first. Since we're in the final month of the Occasions Mini Catalog, I thought I'd use elements, stamps and Designer Series Paper from the My Sweet Pea kit for My Digital Studio.

The background color in the banner is So Saffron, which is one of the colors in the Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper (which, in hard copy, is available until April 30 in the Occasions Mini Catalog). The stitched felt pieces are also available for a few more weeks and they're called Sweet Pea Stitched Felt.

I'll be posting a new video soon as well as a Mise en Place posting. Thanks for your visit!

{Challenge! Card Recipe}: Easter Bunny

Happy April!


April is one of my favorite months (my mom and eldest daughter are April Babies). Add to it that Easter's in April this year, and I'm egg-specially enjoying the fact that it's April today! Tulips are ready to bloom (daffies are already blooming around here) and the trees are leafing out...


For a card recipe challenge last week over at 365 Cards, I created this simple one... I chose the Easter Bunny image from Eight Great Greetings. The stamp comes with "Happy Easter" on the bottom, but I cut the image apart from the sentiment and mounted them on separate sides of the wood block. This is a simple adaptation you can make as you mount your stamps to make them that much more versatile. I did this with my Fun and Fast Notes set, too.


The image was colored with watercolor pencils and a Blender Pen and the bunny's circle was sponged with So Saffron Classic Ink to make it stand out.


Stampin' Up! Supplies:


Stamps: Eight Great Greetings and Teeny Tiny Wishes

Papers: Brocade Blue, So Saffron and Very Vanilla card stocks

Inks: Chocolate Chip, Brocade Blue and So Saffron Classics

Accessories: Watercolor Pencils, Blender Pen, 1 3/4-inch Circle Punch, Brocade Blue and Very Vanilla wide grosgrain ribbon, Stampin' Sponge

Happy Easter, Stampers! Thanks for your visit!