Constantly Stamping

SAB Valentine's Day Card

Today's card is a quick and easy Valentine card made with the Sprinkled Expressions Sale-a-bration set. It's been a while since I made this card, but I think I used Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, and Pretty in Pink ink, card stock, and Patterns DSP. I die cut the scallops with the Tasteful Trim die, curled the edges a little bit and tied everything off with a bit of baker's twine and a button. That is pretty much all there is to it.

Valentine's Day-Artisan Facebook Gallery

The Artisans have their Valentine gallery featured today over on the Stampin' Up! Facebook gallery. I have two projects this time. Why? Well I didn't even think I would have time to make anything at all, but a few weeks ago I made this altered heart box. I liked how it turned out so I thought, hey, I can use this as my FB project.  So I photographed it and sent it in early. I used the Circle #2 die, some red felt, and the Loving Thoughts stamp set from the Occassions Mini catalog, 5/8 Black Satin Ribbon, and a glue gun. I was inspired by a pillow I saw while shopping and decided to see if I could get a similar look.

I was really pleased with how it turned out, but let me tell you a funny story. At the time I made this I was wearing hybrid gel nail polish (is like a cross between regular and acrylic polish). It was like the polish literally attracted the glue from the hot glue gun...I mean, almost like a magnet. It was not a good experience. So I have decided to save this type of manicure for special occassions and just not wear any polish most of the time...at least not when I am going to be using a hot glue gun. :)

So, now  I will finish my story about why I have two projects on the SU Artisan FB wall. Well, I was feeling a little guilty that the felt heart just didn't have much "paper crafting", so about a week after I had already sent SU photos of the other project, I got another burst of inspiration and created this project. When I sent in the pics of this one, they said, "we'll just use both projects if that's OK with you". As it turns out, participation was a little low this time, so there you have it.

I really wanted this altered box to have a vintage feel to it, so I embossed, sanded, and used tea stain distressing ink to achieve the effect. I love how it looks so romantic. The paper I used is from Sell-a-bration and the stamp sets are from the Occassions Mini catalog. These aren't your typical Valentine's Day colors, but I think they make a refreshing change to the popular reds and pinks you normally expect to see.

For the flower I used a combination of flowers from the Fun Flowers die (three layers) and the Blossom punch (3 layers). I embossed, sanded, distressed and curled each petal and then put the layers together using Stampin' Dimensionals. I even used one of the new large pearls from the mini catalog. I used lots of seam binding ribbon to create a big, beautiful bow and attached it all with a hot melt glue gun.

Well, that's all for today. Can you believe that both projects are really just $1 boxes of chocolate? I hope that you are inspired to create something special for your sweetie! It doesn't have to be expensive or time consuming, but you might want to buy more than one box, just in case you can't resist the tempation to quality test the chocolate! :)

Fresh Vintage Blessings Card

When I made this card, I didn't really think about Valentine's Day (it was late November), but I do think it fits the theme well. You could change out the expressions, or just use it the way it is here. I used the SAB Fresh Vintage stamp set along with the Everyday Enchantment DSP. Let me just say right off the bat that this is my FAVORITE design in this DSP collection. Even though SU says it the color is Poppy Parade, I personally think it goes better with Real Red ink and cardstock...so that is how I used it. There is a slight color variation between the background paper and the stamped image, but honestly it is almost undectible (and I am super picky about things like that).

This is one of the display projects I made that SU sent off to another market, so unless you are visiting my blog from the UK, you are probably seeing this card for the first time. As a matter of fact, all but one of the samples I have left to share were not on display in San Antonio, so there are lots of new things from Sale-a-bration to show you coming up over the next few weeks!

A Sweet MDS Tutorial

I received a nice comment from Tammy asking how I created the label for the Valentine Treat bag. So Tammy, this is for you (and anyone else who may be wondering). I tried to keep the pictures small, but you can click on them and they will enlarge if you need a closer look.

 

Of course you need to purchase and download The Sweetest Ever Valentine template. Open MDS and create a new project. Choose Multiple Output Option. Select 8-1/2x11 Portrait setting. Choose Designer Template. Select Sweetest Ever Valentine Template. This is what Page One will look like.

Step One: Delete everything off the page except the part that we will be working with.

 

 

 

 

Step Two: Move the words and frame away from the background. Group them together to make it easier to keep together. Also group together the background paper but leave it where it is.

Step Three: Duplicate the background and move it below the first box.

Step Four: Return the words and frame to the original position.

Step Five: Use the square label punch to cover the portion that you don't want to print.

Step Six: Fill the punches with the same color as the background paper (in this case, Whisper White). This helps conserve printer ink.

Step Seven: Use the square punch again to add a little extra pink CS to the sides. I used the color picker to get an exact match.

Step Eight: Change the color of the side punches to pink. I used the color picker to get an exact match. Now select everything and group it so that nothing gets messed up. You may want to fill the other portion of the page with other elements so that you don't waste your expensive matte photo paper.

That's it. How this helps!

Sweet MDS Hybrid Valentine Treat Bag

OK...yes I know it is New Year's Eve, but honestly, it isn't too early to think about Valentine's Day. I have had a wonderful holiday season, but it is just time to move ahead. Yesterday I decided that I wanted to do make something...anything...but what? So I decided to check out the MDS website. I haven't been there in a while and I was curious to see what new downloads are available. That is when I stumbled onto this gem. It's the Sweetest Ever Valentine Designer Template (#129009). For only $9.95 (US) this download includes pre-designed lollipop cover, mini chocolate wraps, medium cello bag treat toppers, a candybar wrapper and some cuter than cute lables and tags. They are already designed, so all you have to do is print, cut, and assemble. Those applications are so obvious, so I thought why not see what else I could come up with using this fun download.

This is what I came up with. I started with a 5"x12" piece of DSP from the new mini catalog, folded it in half and used a new die from the Occassions Mini Catalog (available January 4th, 2012) along with a bunch of other goodies from the new mini. Did I mention that you are going to flip when you see the new mini catalog? OMG! There are so many fabulous new products. I hope you saved some of your Christmas cash, because you are gonna have to have just about all of it!

Well, that is about it for now. Have a wonderful and safe New Year's celebration and I will see you next year!

CARDS Magazine Tag & Card

I have been too distracted over the past few days to really sit down and stamp anything worth posting. So I thought I would share with you the tag and card that I had published in CARDS Magazine a few months ago. I know many of you have asked me where you can get CARDS Magazine. I have found them at several craft stores, but you can also visit their website at www.northridgepublishing.com for subscription info.

This tag was the first thing I have ever sent in for consideration and I was floored when they said they wanted to publish it in the February issue. Since I had never even attempted to be published before, I decided to start small and work my nerve up for bigger and better things. I am amazed by the incredible quality of the photographs in this magazine. This tag was fairly simple, but the felt heart did require some hand-stitching. Basically everything is Stampin' Up! except the tag die (Sizzix) and the pink felt. It has been quite some time since I made this, so please forgive me if I don't give many details.

This was the first card that I have ever had published (CARDS, March 2011). I knew the minute I finished it that it would either be an Artisan Award entry or a magazine submission. Obviously I decided to go with submitting it to a magazine. I started with a Pretty in Pink Card Base and layered on another piece that I had run through the Big Shot with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder. I rubbed the embossed image with Whisper White craft ink to give it a more vintage look. I cut some Pretty in Pink DSP with the Blossom Party die and spritzed it with a mixture of Frost White Shimmer Paint and rubbing alcohol. You can click on either picture for a closer look.

My Digital Valentine Box

With Valentine's Day only two days away, I thought I would share a quick and easy project that I made with My Digital Studio. I acutally made this a few weeks ago and forgot about it, so the details are a little sketchy, but I'll try. Basically, on part of a sheet of paper I printed the Love Impressions-Pattern 4 digital dsp large enough to cover the Big Shot Pillow Box Die (approximately 5" x 5.5"). Of course, you can use traditional 12" x 12" DSP and get four boxes per sheet...but I didn't have any, so I went the digital route. Then I created a tag that was just the right size to fit inside the Scallop Circle Punch using All Holidays & Greatest Moments digital stamp sets and the digital heart & circle punches. You can basically get two boxes and four tags per sheet. I just punched out the tag and applied it with dimensionals.

That's all for now. Todays is beautiful and sunny so I think I'll go do something besides sit in front of the computer all day.

 

 

I Was Picked Twice!

Last week I entered my Metal Embossed Valentine Boxes into two different challenges: Stampin' Celebration and Hand Stamped Sentiments. I was thrilled to learn that my project was chosen as one of the picks of the week at both challenges. Woo Hoo! So, I have been doing my best to add the badges into my sidebar...and if you have TypePad then you know that is a challenge in itself...especially if you are html challenged like me. I am definitely going to take a class on all that stuff...SOON! I basically have the badges added, but I am doing something wrong on one of them, so if you are one of my subscribers, I hope you haven't been getting messages telling you that I have published, because I think I have tried at least 20 times to get it right. I guess I am just going to have to wait for my computer nerd DH to help me figure out what I am doing wrong.

Now that you are here, I think I should share a sweet little project that I made the other day. I bought a cute, clear acrylic heart necklace that lights up at a craft store a few weeks ago. I just had to see if I could do something fun with it. So, I added a little rub-on to the heart and a ribbon rose to cover the ugle silver bead at the top of the heart. I think it turned out cute...but wouldn't you know that after all of that, I discovered that the wire has a short in it and it won't say lit. Bummer! Oh well, it might make a cute embellishment for another project, so I guess it wasn't totally in vain.

We had more snow yesterday afternoon/evening and the roads go pretty yucky, so I guess I will be stuck here at the house. So maybe I will get some inspiration and come up with something else to share with you soon.

 

A Rose Just for You

When I posted the heart boxes I received a comment from another person telling me about another group of SU demos who call their blog "Hand Stamped Sentiments". I entered my heart boxes into their challenge, but I felt kind of bad that I didn't give them any credit on my post. So to fix that, I decided to use the colors from this week's Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge, along with a sketch from Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge for today's post. (NOTE: I missed getting this blog post ready and linked to the Romantic Colors challenge by a few minutes...at least I think that is what happened. I'm CST, so I don't know what time zone the challenge closed. Oh well, you can still check them out, you just won't see this card entered in the challenge.)

I love the traditional colors of Black, Cherry Cobbler, and Vanilla for Valentine's Day. I think they are so romantic. I decided to pull out my negelected Love Notes DSP and get busy building my card. Karen's sketch was a definite winner this week too. Up until now I have avoided using circles on my  cards, but I recently purchased the Large Sizzix Clear Circle Die. It nests perfectly with the Large Scallop Circle.

One of the things that I have always wondered is why SU didn't include any leaves or flower stems in the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set. It is an absolutely gorgeous set, but it left me wanting more. So I decided to borrow the stem from the Because I Care set. I mean, I literally removed the stem from the hydrangea so that I could use it seperately if I desired. Over time that has proven to have been a good decision and has given me lots of flexibility.

I recently discovered that the smallest oval on the Oval Die layers perfectly with the Extra Large Oval Punch. I am always happy when I can layer my punches. Here I stamped the sentiment from the After Thoughts set, punched it, layered it, and then layered it some more using the Decorative Lable XL Punch. I stamped the rose twice in Cherry Cobbler CS and cut it out twice so that I could build the layers. For the finishing touches I used pearls and a black satin ribbon bow.

As always, I love to receive your encouraging comments.

 

SCIC#38 Stamping Celebration Inspiration Challenge

Yesterday, I stumbled on a blog called Stamping Celebration. This is run by a group of super talented Stampin' Up! demonstrators who have pooled their resources to offer a weekly creativity challenge. So, I thought I would play along. As you can see from the photo, this week's inspiration colors are the traditional Valentine's Day red, black, and white. (UPDATE: I also entered the challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments this week. This is another group of talented SU demonstrators who have a weekly blog challenge, so be sure to check them out.)

Let me start off by saying that I did come up with this idea on my own, but then found out later that Monica Weaver at Add a Little Dazzle had already beat me to the punch. You know what they say...great minds think alike. LOL! Since I did purchase my embossing metal from Monica and she inspires me with practically every thing she makes, I will give her credit, because I know that her creativity has most definitely rubbed off on me when it comes to working with embossed metal. But as you can see, our projects did turn out a little differently.

I covered two $1.29 Russell Stover heart boxes of chocolate; one with red and the other with black embossing tin. Just like Monica, I used the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, but that is where the similarity ends. I opted to add some 6" wide tulle netting to my hearts. I think it gives a very romantic feel to the project. I topped off the tulle with some satin ribbon roses that I made by hand. You can see my video tutorial for easy ribbon roses here. I used a needle and thread to secure the rose and then stitched it to the bow so that I was certain it would stay together. I created a simple little tag with the Tiny Tags stamp set and coordinating punch.

Wouldn't either of these make wonderful wedding favors? You just need to be careful when you work with metal sheets because the edges can be a little sharp. I sanded the edges down some to make them safer to handle. I love how these turned out so much that I resurrected my photo light box to photograph them. I broke one of my lights several months ago and I just got a replacement light a few days ago...what timing!

Hope you like 'em! Have a great day!