Water Color Techniques

I am working on planning a series of classes I will be offering through Top Floor Learning on Rubber Stamping. My first class will feature water color techniques. It's going to be hard to step away from using the ink pads and aqua painters to talk about other mediums to get a similar look when I am getting this effect:



Even Emma is inspired to try some new techniques:

Christmas Card Club

Here is one of the cards we'll be making at my Christmas Card Club on February 17th and continuing the 3rd Thursday of each month after. We will be making 3 cards or projects each month leading up to the next Holiday Season. The cost of this club is $8 per month for a materials fee. There is no obligation to purchase any products, but if you place a $50 I will deduct the cost of the class from your order. Please let me know if you'd like to sign up for this and be ready to send out all of your Christmas Cards before the next holiday season is upon us!

Valentine Mailbox Class

Who doesn't love going to the mailbox to find a card waiting - or even better - CHOCOLATE??

We'll be making these little cuties on February 12th - just in time to give away to your favorite Sweetie! I will even be passing on a copy of the template to recreate it later!

Once the chocolate is gone, your giftee can use the clothes pin as a paper clip or attach it to your refrigerator to hold a favorite photo or card with the magnet that's attached to the back! Aren't they adorable? I CASEd them from Becky Roberts Blog Inking Idaho She does come up with some really neat ideas!

Let me know if you would like to join me on the 12th!

Vintage Bliss

I cased my card today from this one by Sage Kimball.

I changed mine a bit and used the Vintage Wallpaper Folder and Bliss Stamp Set from Sale-A-Bration. It was fun playing with the Distressing Kit though - I love seeing what I can do with that thing. I love the way this turned out, I used the files on the edge of the Pear then broke down the fibers even more with my bone folder causing the card stock to split apart a bit. The effect is simple and stunning. Even Emma enjoyed experimenting with the files as she was making her own "Flower Soft".

It's going to be hard leaving my stamps to return to work after all these snowdays!!

More Great Ideas with the Petal Cone Die

The girls and I spent the morning playing with the new Petal Cone Die. They combined their pages to make Valentine books ~wow~ did they have fun with glitter and sticky pages!

I used my die cuts to make cards using the Bliss Stamp Set from the Sale-A-Bration catalog. Want to get this great set for free? This is just one of the cards we will be creating next Sunday at 3 for my Sale-A-Bration preview and Kick-Off event. I will be giving away FREE STAMP SETS on this day. Everyone who places a $50 order will have their name entered into a drawing to win stamp sets including an exclusive hostess set, and a Sale-A-Bration Set of your choice!

Valentine Houses and Blog Candy Giveaway!

Here is a sample of one of the Valentine Houses that we made yesterday. We mixed some of the old papers with new products - the Decorative Label Punch and the Scallop Rectangle Clearlit. I love both of those items, they make fabulous tags!

Leave a comment telling me what your favorite item is from the new Occasions Mini Catalog or Sale-A-Bration Catalog by January 23rd, and your name will be entered into a drawing to receive this little house filled with some great items to feed your stamping and scrapbooking addictions!

What's On Your Wish List?

I love this new Petal Cone Die from the new Stampin' Up! Occasions Mini. It is much bigger than some of the other Big Shot boxes, though those are just as stinkin' cute. This was one item on my wish list that I recently treated myself to. Have you been holding out on any big ticket items such as the Big Shot or the My Digital Studio? MDS and the storage tower for my ink pads are the two items I have been holding out on. With Sale-A-Bration starting on January 25th it is just about time to treat myself to both of these items! In addition, I will be able to order the Digital Content CD with all the Sale-a-Bration items the Punch Bunch Stamp Set and the new Decor Elements Chalk Board.

Do you have items on your wish list? Join me next Sunday January 23rd @ 3:00 to complete three FREE make and take projects and to place your Sale-A-Bration Preorder. With the cold of January setting in, I bet you can't wait to stay inside and play!!

Sweet Sunday Sketch #99

It's Sunday, and time for the Sweet Sunday Sketch over at The Sweetest Thing . I have been saving these Love Impression rub-ons from the new Occasions Mini (item #121886) because I couldn't figure out how I wanted to use them. When I saw this sketch today I knew exactly how I was going to use a few of them - and here it is! I also dug out the Silver Waffle Paper that is a carry over from the Holiday Mini - woohoo - there is so much you can do with this stuff!

I then had to dig my trusty Circle Scissor Plus from under the deep freeze currently taking up residence in my stamp room to create these graduated circles. This is a really cool tool to have in your collection, I think it's one of my favorite tools, and I can quickly cut bigger circles than I am able to get with my punches or Big Shot - though I love my Big Shot too!

This is one of the cards we'll be making at my Sale - A - Bration Kick-Off on January 23rd!!

Thanks for Caring

I ordered this set because I love the butterfly and flower that came wit it. It's a versatile set with a Sympathy greeting, but it also great for spicing up little treat boxes and thank you's.

I stamped the flower with Old Olive and colored it in using an aqua painter. The detail was added with Silver Fox Smooch Ink. After the image was colored in and touched up I spritzed it with water for a softer, more muted look.

I used a card stock and inks in Rose Red, Old Olive, Very Vanilla and Chocolate Chip. Items from the new Mini Catalog include - the Vintage Flower Adornments, and Rose Red Seam Binding, Springtime Vintage DSP and the Thanks For Caring Stamp Set.

Thanks for stopping by today!

All Snowed In!

Did I ever mention that I love snow days? Being forced to spend a whole day inside during a blizzard leaves me with plenty of free time to stamp. This set uses one of my favorite stamp sets from the Idea Book and Catalog, Artistic Etchings and Tiny Tags.

Now that the Holidays are winding down, I am thinking ahead to Valentine's Day and this set would make a perfect gift item. If you would like to make one of your own, you can join me on January 22nd for the class. Class begins at 1:00 and the cost is $12. In this class I will show you some uses for the new Stampin' Up! Distressing Kit. Paper supplies are included in the cost, but please bring your basic kit plus a bone folder, Glue Dots and Sticky Stip Adhesive. A printed tutorial will be available so you can recreate this project at home.

Sale-A-Bration begins the following week, so I will have some sneak peek items on hand, as well as the new Mini-Catalogs. Order both stamp sets, plus the distressing kit used to make this project and choose a free Stamp Set or Accessory from the Sale-A-Bration catalog. Can't wait to see you at class!

Call me to reserve your space and for more details!

One More Pink Christmas Card

Pink Christmas Cards are among my favorites! This card was CASEd but when I tried to go back and find it, I couldn't locate the original. If you're stopping by to visit and it's yours, please "lay claim"!!

Christmas Cards

It might not look like much in this picture, but this card is stunning with Santa's hat completed in red glitter. Santa was stamped using the Jolly Old St. Nick Stamp Set, the candy cane is found in the Bingo Bits Stamp Set, and the verse comes from Just Believe.



This snowman is also one of the images in the Jolly Old St. Nick set. The snowflakes come from the Northern Flurry Die and are covered in silver glitter from the Fine Galaxy Glitter collection. Doesn't it all fit so well with the Marina Mist color scheme and the Tinsel Trim?

Recordable Accordion Album

How do you make the most adorable Accordion Album ever?

First you start with a cute kid:



Have her (him or them) say something especially adorable! Next use a piece of 5 ½ x 4 ¼ Card Stock and estimate where the play button will be when you adhere this sheet to your card, and adhere a Big Designer Button over the play button. Stamp “Push Here” above the button using the Got Merry Stamp Set and a marker. Adhere to the inside of the card using Sticky Strip:


Score one 8 ½ x 5 ½ piece of paper at 4 ¼ and 4 ½. Adhere it to the outside of the card. One side will be a little short for the card, make sure this side is on the front, cover it with the second piece of 5 ½ x 4 ¼ cardstock:


Adhere two 8 ½ x 5 ½ pieces together accordion style. Adhere the accordion strip to the inside cover of the card. Sponge the white edges with matching ink:


Embellish as desired:

A Season of Peace

You might notice a theme among my holiday cards each year - I love Pink Christmas Cards! They have a bit of a contemporary feel to them, and even though I love the vintage look when it comes to the holidays, I guess it's a little bit of wild and crazy that's sort of fun!

I used the Vintage Wall Paper Embossing folder, Platinum Shimmer Paint for the Dove, and stamped the image in Mambo Melon.

Enjoy!

A Quick Tuesday Tutorial

This is one of the most recent cards made at Cindyrae's Stamp Club. This is called an emerging color technique.

First you would stamp an image or your verse onto your card stock. We used Presto Patterns Specialty Paper. This DSP comes already embossed, and you can add the colors of your choice using sponges, spray bottles, etc.

Here I stamped Peace On Earth in Soft Suede. The next step is to stamp a larger image over the image you want to show through in Versamark ink and emboss using Clear Embossing Powder with your heat tool. Lastly you would cover your entire image in a contrasting ink color. I used the Silver Foil Smooch Spray liberally here, then rubbed in the color using a sponge. You could also use a brayer and ink pad instead of spray and a sponge, it's really up to you and the tools you have on hand.

Hope you enjoyed this card and directions today. Have a great day!

Happy Halloween!

More Halloween Projects can be found on my new blog - paperinkandmagic