August 14, 2012

Stampin’ Up! World Treasures Friendship

This World Treasures Friendship Card starts out with an unusual background created by water stamping. I sponged Primrose Petals and Raspberry Ripple ink on Whisper White card stock covering the whole background. Then I soaked a paper towel in water on a paper plate and using it as a stamp pad, stamped circles from the Circle Circus stamp set to complete the background. As the water dries, the ink lightens giving the effect you see here.

The main message was stamped in Rich Razzleberry and trimmed out with the framelit from the Apothecary Framelits set. To keep the framelit in place so that the greeting would stay centered I held it in place with post it notes.

The Rich Razzleberry label was also cut out with an Apothecary Framelit and then edged with paper piercing made super fast and easy with the paper piercing tool, mat and template. A dynamic trio!

The ends of the label were punched with the 1/4″ circle punch from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack. I first punched the circle from a post it note and placed it where I wanted to punch the circle on the label. That made it easy to punch the label and get it right where I wanted it! I demonstrated this idea in the video on creating a scallop frame a couple of weeks ago using a large circle punch.

Each piece was popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals and then the ribbon was threaded through before the background was adhered to the Whisper White card stock base. Normally, I use about an inch of SNAIL adhesive in each corner and maybe some in the middle if it’s a large piece, but on this background I SNAIL’d (new word) the entire edge to keep it in place. The water stamping tends to warp the paper slightly and using extra adhesive helps solve the warping.

Enjoy, Julie

Card Recipe:

Stamps: World Treasures w-#126765 c-#126767, Circle Circus w-#115778 c-#127784

Ink: Primrose Petals #126858, Rich Razzleberry #126950, Raspberry Ripple #126859

Paper: Whisper White #100730, Rich Razzleberry #115316

Extras: Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine #113439, Apothecary Accents Framelits #127003, Stamping Sponges #101610, Paper-Piercing Tool #126189, Stampin’ Pierce Mat #126199, Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack #126187, Whisper White Organza Ribbon #114319, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack #118309, Rhinestone Basic Jewels #119246, Stampin’ Dimensionals #104430, SNAIL adhesive #104332

August 13, 2012

What Not to Stamp!!

Remember this flower made with a dryer sheet and lots of sparkle ? Well, funny story – when the EMTs came to the house and took my husband by ambulance to the hospital last week they cut his clothes off, which is standard practice in trauma incidents. So the nurse at the hospital gave him a set of disposable scrubs to wear and that’s what he wore home when he was released because I did not even think to bring him clothes when I came back the next day. Needless to say, I was a little overwhelmed and wasn’t really thinking straight.

This morning when I was doing laundry, I found the ‘paper’ scrubs in the laundry basket. And I actually thought for a few seconds, “I wonder what I could make out of these!!!???” Yes, crazy thought! But I’m sure someone, somewhere, could make something beautiful out of it with enough bling, but not me. I decided to throw them away! Sorry, to disappoint you, but NO ‘paper’ scrub flower tutorial today.

Enjoy, Julie

August 11, 2012

Create a Wedding Photo Guest Book

A couple of years ago when my daughter got married, I created a photo guest book for the wedding, so their guest could sign in and add their well wishes.

It was super easy to do using My Digital Studio and a designer template. In fact, it was my first time using the program and I completed the book in one morning.

Using the Summer Home designer template, I simply eliminated some of the embellishments and photo boxes to allow for plenty of room for signatures and messages from their guests.

I also changed out the colors in some cases. For example, the page above and below had a red background which would have been hard to write on, so I changed it to a Kiwi Kiss background, which was lighter.

The brackets on this page were in Kiwi Kiss, so when I changed the background paper to Kiwi Kiss, I changed the brackets to Bashful Blue. This is super easy to do with the My Digital Studio 2 update. You just highlight the brackets, click on then’recolor’ icon and then choose the color you want. After I eliminated the extra photoboxes and embellishments and rearranged a few things, I simply dropped the pictures into place and viola! instant wedding photo guest book!

The morning I created their wedding guest book, my laptop wasn’t working, so I used my son’s laptop. As a result I lost the original file after I sent it to Stampin’ Up! to be printed, so I recreated it here so you could see how I did it. I plan to create a video tutorial this week on how to create a photo guest book.

Enjoy, Julie

August 11, 2012

Stampin’ Up! Happy Birthday Wonderful You Card

A little Catalog magic inspired this Pretty Postage birthday card! The card on the bottom of page 178 was the specific inspiration. I changed the stamps and the colors slightly and I was excited to use the little silver mini brads for the first time. Love those little things – so cute!

The circles on the blue tag are stamped Marina Mist ink on Marina Mist card stock, color on color, with a circle stamp from the Circle Circus stamp set.

The birthday cake was colored with Stampin’ Write Markers and then stamped and punched out with the Postage Punch. When I color a stamp with markers I like to start with the lightest color first to keep the markers clean. With this card it was easiest to color the candles flames first as they are so tiny and it would have been really hard to color them just right after everything else was colored in.

The flag ends of the large Early Espress banner and the Certainly Celery banner were cut with the corner of a Square Punch.

Do you need a 2012-13 Catalog for inspiration? Email me now with your U. S. address and I’ll one in the mail to you.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Pretty Postage w-#123095 c-#123097, Friendly Phrases w-#126149 c-#126151, Circle Circus w-#115778 c-#127784

Ink: Marina Mist #126962, Early Espresso #126974

Paper: Polka Dot Parade #126902, Whisper White #100730, Early Espresso #119686, Marina Mist #119682, Certainly Celery #105125

Extras: Subtles Stampin’ Write Markers #119700, Brights Stampin’ Write Markers #119702, Postage Punch #122344, Apothecary Framelits #127003, Square Punch #119877, Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine #113439

Enjoy! Julie

August 9, 2012

So Very Grateful!

Yesterday started as a great day. I got up early, enjoyed my bible study, did a little work, went to a spin class, came home and quickly showered to go to a meeting at the church, went to the church for a relatively short meeting with some sweet ladies and that was the end of the great day!

My husband was working from his home office on Wednesday. He had been on conference calls all morning. When I walked in the door at 1:00 I found him passed out on the floor of the kitchen. He had been slicing tomatoes for a sandwich. He turned to put the knife in the sink, slipped and fell with the butcher knife in his hand, hit his head, and cut himself badly and had gone into shock! Of course, I was in shock too by this time! It was a horrific experience to find him like that.

He was taken by ambulance to the emergency room and I was SOOOO thrilled when I was finally able to see him and he was coherent AND he had a great report from the doctor – no significant injuries. They kept him overnight for observation, but he is fine now and I am SOOOO very happy to have him home!

Love that good man I married many years ago!

I made this little sign this afternoon when we got home from the hospital.

Here’s a PDF copy if you are feeling grateful for the wonderful people in your life! So Grateful printable

Enjoy! Julie