Trick or EEK!

Happy Halloween! Popping in to share a quick and easy project today to show how a stamped tag and some ribbons can make your treats look simply spooktacular!

The items I used here are retired, but you can use any of your favorite stamps, punches and ribbon to do the same. 

I saw the witches finger dipped pretzels on Pinterest and just had to make some. I got the green colored candy melts from the baking section in my local craft store and after dipping I added a sliced almond to the end for a creepy looking nail. I drizzled on extra melted chocolate to create a the knuckles. 

Lovely Floral Embossed Thank You

Hello! I knew it had been a while since I posted, but didn't realize it had been this long! Recently I have had a few people reach out to me to see if all was well because they noticed I hadn't shared in a while. Thank you so much, I truly appreciate that!

Things have been going well here, but truthfully I just haven't been finding the time to stamp in recent months. Many of you know that we were blessed with a precious granddaughter almost two years ago now. With her birth came a renewed interest in photography as I captured each milestone along with all the adorable moments in between. Lately, in my spare time I have put all my creative energy into learning more about photography so I can take even better photos. My stamping classroom has been transformed into a photo studio, so I have not offered classes since the Spring.

After seeing photos of my darling granddaughter, I started getting requests from others for me to photograph their little ones. Right now I am in the beginning stages of starting my own portrait photography business. It's exciting, yet a little scary! There are so many things to consider and I am learning so many new things as I go.

I'm sure you didn't come here to read my ramblings...LOL so here is a card I created for a wonderful and talented stamping friend/customer that I've had the pleasure to know through blogging. 

I feel SU! has really knocked it out of the park with their selection of embossing folders lately! This card uses two from the latest Annual Catalog. The main focus is on the Lovely Floral embossed panel. I used my Aqua Painter to watercolor the embossed design and then went over the color with Wink of Stella for some shimmer.

Also used here is the Stitched All Around stamp set and the coordinating Stitched Label Framelits along with the Tufted Embossing Folder.

Here is a little collage I created using some photos I took of our Maddy as we enjoyed a beautiful autumn day here in Michigan. She sure has brought so much joy into our lives!

For now, I plan to remain a SU! demo as long as I meet my minimums. I can still take orders, but I did cancel my SU! business website several months back. I am so grateful to all the wonderful people I have met over the years through my SU! business...both online and in person. With the colder weather I will hopefully find more time to stamp again, and with that hopefully share more posts here. Thanks for visiting today!

Peaceful Place Birthday

Last week I spent a very enjoyable afternoon stamping with a dear friend. We had fun sharing all of our new SU! goodies. She had recently ordered the gorgeous set Peaceful Place. It is on my wishlist so I was excited to ink it up and create a masculine birthday card for my Uncle.

I enjoyed watercoloring this with mainly new and returning colors...Mossy Meadow, Granny Apple Green and Balmy Blue.

After watercoloring the image I adhered it to the panel of Mossy Meadow Cardstock and ran the two layers through the Big Shot using the Subtle Embossing Folder. I just love this nice bit of texture it gives to my watercolored images! It doesn't show up really well in photos, but take my word for it...the Subtle EF really is a must have!

I finished off my card with a sentiment from the Very Vintage stamp set rather than one of the great sentiments that came with the Peaceful Places set because I didn't think about stamping any of the sentiments while stamping with my friend.

Accented Blooms Birthday

Today I have a card to share that uses mainly all new items...but since I needed a birthday card and the Accented Blooms set doesn't have a birthday greeting, I had to go to a favorite retired set for that. I just love coloring these pretty flowers! I used my Aqua Painter and several of my favorite bright, cheery colors including my newest favorite...Gorgeous Grape. I apologize for the blurry photo...I already had sent the card off before I realized.

After watercoloring the flowers I ran the piece through my Big Shot using the Subtle Embossing Folder...I really love the look it gives to the stamped image. I also used the Tufted Embossing Folder, which is my absolute favorite new embossing folder on the Gorgeous Grape layer.

If you look below the Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon, you can see that the bottom edge of the Basic Black piece has some stitches created using the Stitched Labels Framelits. The Accented Blooms set also has a few smaller, decorative images in it besides the main floral and sentiment stamps. I used one of them on the punched piece (which was embossed in White EP) and also to decorate the inside of the card.

Thanks for visiting today :-)

Enjoy the Ride Travel Themed Tray

Today I have a fun project to share that I've been working on a little at a time over the past couple weeks. I'd add a few things here and there and play around until I liked it. I finally decided it was done (for now) and adhered everything into place over the weekend.

This piece was created to hang in our vintage camper. (we are still in the middle of renovating...and that's a whole other story!) Anyways...I found this 7 Gypsies Tray at a garage sale, brand new for around $4 everything else I had in my stash. These trays were super popular maybe 8 or so years ago? I remember that Stampin' Up! sold one in black for a little while...I think it was part of a kit. Not sure if you can still find these for sale anymore...other than garage sales that is! lol

Each compartment inside the tray measures 4x6 so that works out perfect if using photos or in my case beautiful DSP. The top 3 compartments I used a half sheet of gorgeous paper by Webster Pages from the Strawberry Fields line. I love the "always take the scenic route" quote...not in love with the die cut butterfly I added...might be swapping that out for more realistic shape.

The scrabble tiles were also a garage sale find...I think they are the perfect touch for this travel themed tray. I made the flower in the bottom corner using the now retired spiral flower die and added a Vintage Brad to the center...I think maybe those were my all time favorite SU! embellishment. They were a little bulky for cards, but I love them for 3D projects like this.

Thanks for visiting!

Very Vintage Blessing

The new host set Very Vintage has some really pretty images and great sentiments that are perfect for creating collage style cards, so of course I HAD to have this set!

I water colored the beautiful floral image using my Aqua Painter and several new colors...Merry Merlot, Gorgeous Grape & Granny Apple Green, along with Fresh Fig, Powder Pink, Mint Macaron & Tranquil Tide. I really like the way Fresh Fig and Merry Merlot blend together when water coloring. The doily image was stamped in Sahara Sand after I finished water coloring.

Here's a closer look that shows the stitching around the edge created using the Stitched Label Framelits. This set of framelits was also a must have for me because I think they are going to be very versatile. I love the idea that with two different styles of stitched edgelits I can pretty much make any size square or rectangle and get that stitched look along the edge.

Have a GREAT weekend!

Accented Blooms Thank You

Thank you SU! for bring Coastal Cabana back! Just love this color, and also this brand new set...Accented Blooms!

I love sets that coordinate with a punches! This one has two different greetings that you can punch out using the Tailored Tag Punch. It is also fun to color! I used my Aqua Painter and inks to color these beautiful blooms, but this would also be a great set to use Stampin' Blend Markers.

I used two brand new colors...Gorgeous Grape on the largest flower and Granny Apple Green for the leaves. It's such a nice fresh green that pairs nicely with Old Olive, which I used for the shading. You may have noticed the beautiful textures on this card...

Most obvious is the Climbing Vine Embossing Folder used on the main panel, but I also used the Subtle Embossing Folder over my watercolored image. I just love the look this EF gives. The ribbon used here also has a nice texture...the little polka dots are soft & fuzzy. It's the new 5/8" Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon.

Colorful Seasons Father's Day

I'm late to the party this year...not only in sharing my Father's Day card with you, but getting new products from the newly released SU! Annual Catalog. I didn't do a pre-order this year like I always do because I knew I didn't have the time to actually use it last month, so figured I would wait until I could order anything I wanted. My birthday is at the beginning of June, so I always have a built in excuse for placing a large order! ;-)

This card uses a few new items along with the Colorful Seasons stamp set. The leaves are stamped using one of my favorite new colors...Granny Apple Green with Old Olive. The lighter small leaves are also Granny Apple Green just stamped off once.

This year, some of my favorite new products are the embossing folders. Check closely to see the beautiful texture added to this card using the new Subtle Embossing Folder. It gives the effect of linen cardstock...and I just love this one! Don't overlook this one in the catalog just because the texture is hard to see...trust me, you NEED this one!

The little label is from the Stitched Label Framelits...which is my pick for favorite new dies. It is stamped using Timeless Textures and Thoughtful Banners stamp sets.  I layered it on top of Linen Thread and Copper Trim.

This masculine card could be used for any occasion, not just Father's Day. I hope that yesterday you all had a GREAT day celebrating the fathers in your life!

Antique Sewing Cabinet

One of my favorite things to do in the springtime is hitting the garage sales that seem to pop up everywhere. Sometimes you find some really cool things for great prices! I love that you never know what you are going to find! I especially love vintage items that can be re-purposed. I found one such item a few weeks ago...a vintage folding sewing cabinet. I can't say I was looking for one, or had even seen one before, but it looked pretty cool, and at only $2 it was a real steal! It needed a good cleaning and a little wood glue, but other than that it's in great condition. I thought my Mom who is a quilter would love to have this, if not to actually use, for a decoration in her sewing room. Unfortunately, her room...like mine, is pretty much overflowing with items and she didn't want it. I took it home and started to look for things in my stampin' studio that might fit in it so that it could possibly work for storage for me. This is what i came up with.

At first I had hoped to hang it on the wall, but it took up too much wall space. The only spot I had that it would have fit, it just wouldn't have been handy. So I moved a couple things around and was able to set it up right across from my desk so that I can see what I have there at a glance.

The top shelf fits my small collection of washi tape, with room for more on the shelf below. The 3rd shelf his some extra ribbon that is retired, but I still use often. I wish the space was a tad bigger as the ribbon just fits and to get it out without destroying the spool I have to turn it a little, hence the space between groups. The bottom cubby fits the stampin' cases so I stored a few background stamps and some retired packs of DSP from when they were 4x6 pads. I decorated some of the shelves with washi tape and made a little banner for it as well. The vintage hankie is something I picked up at an antique shop.

 The other side holds my spools of bakers twine on the top shelf...I'm sure originally it was made for spools of thread. Below that I put my most used jars of embossing powders. Now I can easily see them at a glance instead of digging through a bin in a drawer. The middle bin holds some finished cards that are ready to mail along with a couple retired background stamps I still use quit often. The bottom shelf just has a few decor items, with some background paper behind it. I may add more paper behind other areas, but haven't decided yet. Here's a view of how it looks sitting across from my desk.

and another view of my room...

I figure if I need to make more room I can easily fold it up and move it out, for now it's working out well and I love the nostalgic charm it adds to the room.

UPDATE: I recently shared a story here about a WWII Veteran who was to celebrate his 100th birthday on June 6th and hoped to receive 100 cards. I know I sent him one and I knew many of you would send him a card as well, so I figured he would surely exceed 100 cards. I got to wondering just how many cards did he end up receiving? I figured maybe a couple thousand??? I checked to see if there was an update to his story, and...Mr. Fabela received OVER 55K cards!!! Isn't that fantastic!? Here is the link to his story which includes a video of him opening some of the goodies he received. He was so overwhelmed with emotion. Thanks to everyone who took the time to send him a card.

Lovely Oak 100th Birthday Card

Today, on Memorial Day as we remember those in who have sacrificed so much for our freedom I thought I would share a story about a WWII Veteran who will be celebrating his 100th birthday very soon. 

For his 100th birthday on June 6th...which comes 74 years after he was miraculously pulled off a Normandy-bound boat on D-Day, Michigan WWII veteran Isaac "Ike" Fabela has just one wish, his family said...Mr. Fabela will be anxiously checking his mail, as the happy and humble vet hopes to rack up 100 birthday cards from well-wishers across the country.

Today I am sharing the card I made for him, and I'm hoping that maybe you will also take a little time to send him a card as well. (address and link is at the end of this post)

I thought it was fitting to use Stampin' Up!'s oldest and one of the most beloved stamp sets- Lovely As A Tree for his card. I used the Tailored Tag Punch to create the border on the left side of the card. Crumb Cake, Early Espresso and soon to be retired Dapper Denim were stamped using the Hardwood stamp inked in Whisper White. The Mossy Meadow main panel was stamped using the oak leaf image from the Lovely As A Tree set. The oak tree image was watercolored using an Aqua Painter.

To embellish the card I used Linen Thread and one of those wooden shapes that were offered in the Holiday Catalog a couple of seasons ago. The sentiment is computer generated since I didn't have a suitable sized sentiment to use.

I am sure that Mr. Fabela will be surprised with all the wonderful birthday greetings he is sure to receive in honor of his special day. He sounds like a kind-hearted and wonderful man...can you imagine all the stories he has lived to tell? If you would like to read more about his story please visit this link.

Thanks to all who send him a card:

Ike Fabela
C/O Nick Rodgers
PO Box 3112 Montrose, MI 48457

Lastly, I would like to say thank you to all of our service men and women and their families for the selfless life they've pursued.

You've Got This Collage

You've Got This is such a pretty set, but I haven't used it in a while. Since it is on the retiring list, I figured I would get it out and play. I only knew that I wanted to use a couple of my favorite colors that will be returning to the Stampin' Up! palette in the upcoming new catalog. Here's what I came up with.

I started by stamping the large peony onto Whisper White card stock using Black Archival Ink because I planned to watercolor the image. I masked the flower and used the large crosshatch background that is included in this set inked in So Saffron with a bit of Soft Suede on the edges. I stamped it over the flower not worrying about the leaves because I knew I was painting those using Mossy Meadow (a returning favorite) and the yellow would add a nice compliment to the green of the leaves. Using my Aqua Painter I painted the petals using my favorite returning color...Blackberry Bliss and with a bit of Fresh Fig as well.

Using the Timeless Textures and Butterfly Basics sets I added a collage look to my background with several of the stamps from these sets. The butterfly is from a really old retired set called Natural Beauty. I just kept adding elements until I was happy with it. When I was done stamping, I felt it still needed something so I used a Tim Holtz stencil and applied some Blackberry Bliss ink with a Sponge Dauber. I think this added the perfect touch!

Now that I had my stamped panel all water colored and stenciled it was time to finish the card. I used some retired Blackberry Bliss Stitched Satin Ribbon layered over some Lace Trim. I planned to make a bow, but didn't like the way that looked so after searching for some ribbon charms that I thought I still had in my stash and coming up empty handed, I decided to die cut and embellishment using the Flourish Thinlit Dies.

I cut out Blackberry Bliss and Gold Foil and finished it off with a pretty Gold Faceted Gem. This card was a series of trial and error, that I almost gave up on...but I love the way it turned out! I bet I probably couldn't duplicate it if I tried!

If you don't already have the You've Got This stamp set, be sure to order before the end of the month. As of yesterday, there are now many discounted items on the Retiring List as well...check them out!

A Rainbow of Retiring Colors

The background layer for this card was created using the Watercolor Background Technique . The colors used are all on the Retiring List.

To create the background I simply used my ink pads to ink up a large acrylic block and then spritzed it with a little water before using it to stamp the Whisper White background piece. These are the colors I used: 

• Island Indigo 
• Wild Wasabi 
• Tempting Turquoise 
• Sweet Sugarplum 
• Rose Red 
• Tangerine Tango 
• Peekaboo Peach

After the background was thoroughly dry I used the Awesomely Artistic stamp set (retiring) inked in Island Indigo to add even more interest to the background. I used post it notes to mask the edges of my background to prevent the floral design to extend beyond the background. (The full instructions are shared in the post linked above.)

The dragon fly wings were cut out and Wink of Stella added for some shimmer. The sentiment comes from the Birthday Blossoms set which is also retiring.

Make sure to shop early for your favorite retiring colors...while supplies last!