Stamp Club for July

We had fun this week at Stamp Club and made some great cards.  I received this orange and yellow card during the NC Round Robin and loved it so much so I figured my club members would love it too.  I made another one using Flirty Flamingo and Sweet Sugarplum.


If you want to recreate these cards, here are my directions:

Supplies:

l  Stamps:   Swirly Bird

l  Ink:   for Peach:  Peekaboo Peach, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Cucumber Crush

For Sugarplum:  Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry, Flirty Flamingo, Melon Mambo

l  Cardstock:  White,  your choice – Sweet Sugarplum and Rich Razzleberry OR Peekaboo Peach and, Ribbon

Measurements: 

l  card base:  5 ½” x 4 ¼ ”, scored and  folded at 4 ¼”

next layer:  4 7/8” x 3 5/8”  /  white layer:  4 ¾” x 3 3/8”

Instructions:

·          Stamp solid circles on white cardstock first (using Peekaboo Peach and Daffodil OR Flamingo and Sugarplum)

·        Stamp swirls on top of circles (Tangerine and Curry OR Razzleberry and Melon)

·        Stamp smaller swirls

·        Stamp leaves in Cucumber Crush

·        Tie ribbon around white layer.

·        Adhere layers and rhinestones.

Jars of Love

These are two of the cards we made in Stamp Club this month.  I just love the Jars of Love stamp set along with the coordinating framelits!  For the card below, I also used a piece of DSP from the Serene Scenery stack (another favorite!)  And how do you like the embossing folder????  It is new also and sure to be a favorite.  I stamped the flowers in Peekaboo Peach, Flirty Flamingo and Sweet Sugarplum.  The jar is stamped with Bermuda Bay and the leaves are Mint Macaron.  I used a little trick on the jar and flowers.  I punched out a circle and adhered it at the top of the jar with just 1/2 of it showing.  That gave me something to glue the flowers down to and made it much easier.

I had a hard time deciding which new sets to introduce to my club members this month.  I didn't want to overwhelm them by doing a different stamp on each card so I concentrated on just a couple new sets.  Here is the second card I made using the jars.

This one is a shaker card.  The DSP is retired (It's My Party) in Mint Macaron with a piece of the Peekaboo Peach ribbon down the middle to hide the seam.  I stamped the jar in black and used my marker to go around the edges in Mint.

May Club Cards

I held my May Stamp Club on Tuesday and we made some fun cards using a lot retired items.  You only have a few days left to buy these retired items!!  So if you know of something you really want, order now.  I would appreciate it if you used my May Hostess Code:  4FAMTZF3

Base:  Crushed Curry – 8 ½” x 5 ½”, scored & folded

Whisper White – 5 ¼” x 4”

It's My Party DSP (retiring) – 1 ½” x 5 ¼”

Color Squares – Melon Mambo; Mint Macaron, Crushed Curry – 1 3/8” square

Party Punch Pack Cupcake and Candle (retiring)

·        Punch the Candle Punch first in the white square (1 1/8”).   Slide it all the way up as far as it will go & punch.  Then take the Cupcake Punch & put it in so that just a bit of white is at the bottom.

·        Stamp sentiment at bottom.

·        Line up squares and assemble. (Use grid on your grid paper to make it easier to line up.) 

·        On Watercolor Paper (could also use Shimmery White paper), make a watercolor wash of 3 colors.

·        Colors I used are:

o   Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango & Melon Mambo

o   Tempting Turquoise, Wisteria, Cucumber Crush

·        Die cut white paper using the Hexagon Hive thinlet (retiring).

·        Stamp sentiment on scrap white paper from Feel Goods (retiring) stamp set and die cut using Labels framelits (retiring). 

·        Assemble card.

·        Stamp Swallowtail (retiring) using Versamark and heat emboss it with your choice of embossing powder.  (Black embossing powder is retiring and is already sold out.)

·        Use markers and color the butterfly.

·        Cut out with Paper Snips.

·        Wrap your choice of ribbon around Newsprint Designer Paper (retiring). 

      All of the ribbon used above is retiring ....  except for the purple card - that is the new rouched ribbon in Sweet Sugarplum.

·        Adhere DSP to card.

·        Cut 2 banners out using Banners Framelets (retiring) and adhere to Newsprint paper.

·        Adhere butterfly to card.

·        Stamp sentiment and cut out with Bitty Banners (retiring).

·        Use Wink of Stella for accent on butterfly.

April Club Cards

I haven't had time to share my Stamp Club cards for this month.  We met last week and made these cards.  I had designed the cards before the Retiring List came out and I was trying to predict which stamps were retiring.  I guessed correctly on some of them.

This first one uses Blooms for You which is retiring.  It is a single stamp.  Other stamp sets used were:  Hardwood Background Stamp; Tin of Cards; Papillion Potpourri; and Something to Say (retiring).  I used Early Espresso on everything except the middle of the flower which is Soft Sky.

The only things retiring on this card is the DSP - both the Botanical and the Color Me Irresistible which is a resist paper that I sponged with Mint Macaron.  Thank goodness this stamp and die set will carry over.

I will be sad to see The Open Sea leave.  It was such a great set for masculine cards.  I did my first - successful - Reflection Technique on this card.  I stamped the water on the bottom with Pool Party using one of the stamps from Timeless Textures.  Don't overlook this stamp set - it is a good one for lots of different backgrounds.  Next I stamped the ship in Early Espresso on the card AND on a piece of acrylic transparency.  I turned the transparency over, line it up with the ship and rubbed the ink onto the card.  Easy, peasy!!  The sun is from Kinda Eclectic stamped and embossed in white.  I sponged Soft Sky on the top.

This card was a fun one to make.  I stamped the flower from Watercolor Words with Versamark and used Clear powder to heat emboss them.  Next I spritzed the card with water or you can just use your Aqua Brush to brush on clear water.  Make sure you are using either Watercolor Paper OR Shimmery White Paper.  I used the Shimmery White.  After the paper is damp, brush on three different colors from top to bottom letting each one blend into the next.  I used:  Calypso Coral, Pink Pirouette and Rich Razzleberry on the pink one and Bermuda Bay, Soft Sky and Tempting Turquoise for the blue one.  I am sad to see the Corner Punch leaving us but that is the only retiring item on these cards (oh - also the thick twine.)

My postings may be a little sporadic for the next week (aren't they always???)  I am "leaving on a jet plane" tomorrow for Texas - my final trip for a few years.  I am taking my Mom to spend a little time with Ashley before she moves to Hawaii.  I have been doing really good on Weight Watchers but don't think I will be counting points next week as I enjoy Mexican, BBQ, and steaks at Josephines!!

St. Paddy's Day and Stamp Club

Happy St. Paddy's Day!!

 

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day a few days early.  Our favorite Irish restaurant/bar had a big celebration on Saturday with bands, vendors, food and of course, your favorite beverage.  It was a free event with the option to buy a VIP ticket.  We decided to purchase the tickets since they included 2 beverages, a meal, tee shirts and access to the VIP toilets each.  Well, maybe I should say the VIP Porta-Potties!!  We didn't have to stand in line in the restaurant for the toilets but by the end of the night, I was standing in line inside!!  

 

 

We ran into our leprechaun friend that we had met at the celebration a couple of years ago.  This guy comes dressed like a leprechaun every year!  I didn't get a great picture of him this year but here is his picture from 2012 when we met him - Bob, the Leprechaun

There are all kinds of people at this event!  This couple was really OLD!  They sure went all out with their costume - wig, beard, a tutu that had lights attached!  Oh my!  There were several young people there also with tutus on and tights underneath.  Believe me, their outfits were not flattering!!  Don't people look in the mirror when they leave home????

This was also Stamp Club week for me.  We made a few Easter cards.

I just love this little Easter Lamb single stamp (only $10). 

Isn't this the cutest?  I CASE-d this from Judy Marshall's blog, Brown Paper Packages, where you can download the seed packet template.  This chick is from a Sale-a-bration set called Honeycomb Happiness.  He is super cute!  She has a few other templates on her blog as well.

This card was another CASE - this time from Frenchie (Stamp and Scrap with Frenchie).  I used the DSP from Sale-a-bration for the pants - using the Washi Tape Label Punch.  I used the glitter tape to decorate tem along with a few other items I had in my stash.  The sentiment is stamped on white paper and cut out with the new Balloon Punch. 

And an Easter cross card that I have already shared with you HERE.

Final Stamp Club cards for Feb.

These are the last two cards that we made at Stamp Club last week.

This one uses the Botanical Blooms bundle - DSP, stamp set and framelets - a pretty good deal I think.  The card on the left is one I received at Quarterly but sorry to say, don't know whose card it is. I made the card on the right switching out the flower center to Cajun Craze and using a sentiment from Trust God.  I love the sentiment!!

This next card proved to be a bit tricky - only because of the math involved!!  I had mistakenly put the wrong measurements in the directions for cutting white panels so we had to do some "figuring!" The correct measurement is 1 3/8" x 3".  The "For You" is from a Paper Pumpkin set.  I had hoped to put all the flowers on a large block and stamp them all at the same time but I could not get them close enough since they are the rubber backed stamps and not photopolymer.  So we just passed the stamps around the table.  I really like the Sale-a-bration stamp set.

What a day!

How do you like the new blog header and background?  I didn't make this one.  Instead I got it from one of the free sites (Shabby Blog) and then just personalized it.  Inside the circles are parts of cards I cropped.  The middle one and the one on the right are from cards we will be making this month at Stamp Club.

I had a pretty scary morning.  I was supposed to play bridge in Mooresville this morning.  We had gotten just a bit of freezing rain in the early morning but it didn't look like anything to worry about. Sonny was a dear and started up my car when he went up to get the newspaper so it would be nice and toasty for me and so the ice would melt off the windows!  I left the house and headed out of the neighborhood.  I went really slow through the 2-3 really bad curves on Island Point just outside our neighborhood with no problem.  I picked up a little speed and was rounding another curve when my car started skidding on the black ice.  I skidded from one side of the road to the other until I finally landed in a field on the other side of the road with my car turned around and facing the road. Luckily, there were not any other cars around me.  After calming myself down, I pulled out of the field and into a parking lot that was just a couple of feet from me and called Sonny.  He got to me about 15 minutes later and checked out the car.  Luckily, no damage to it or to me!  He ended up following me up to Hwy 150 where more cars had been traveling on the road and it wasn't so treacherous.  When I finally arrived at bridge, it started sleeting again and the girls who were waiting for me decided not to play but to get in their cars and head home!  I did the same - much slower this time!!  It never got above freezing today but there is a warm up coming tomorrow!  Can't wait!!  I hate to see what our electric bill is going to be this month.



Tomorrow is stamp club.  Here is one of the cards we will be making using the Large Number framelits and Number of Years stamp set.  This is a good set to have!  I am going to let each one pick which card they want to make.

October Stamp Club Projects

This week has been my Stamp Club week.  I had a group of ladies here on Tuesday and the rest will be here on Thursday.  For the first time in I don't know how long, we made cards without using the Big Shot - no embossing, no framelits, etc!!  Don't know what is going on!  Although I did pull the Big Shot out for an extra project.  I had requests to learn how to use the Festive Flower Builder Punch and the Square Pillow Box.  So, I punched out a bunch of flower petals for them as well as the Box parts - in case we didn't have time to make them in class, I could demonstrate and then they could take them home to make.  But, we did have time and they made their own.  I showed them two different ways to make the flowers dimensional - one using the Bone Folder and curling the petals and the other just folding the petals in the center; plus they had the option to cut an opening in the Pillow Box or leaving it closed.  Some stamped the petals; some did not.  I do prefer the look of the petals stamped although I did not do it on mine.

Here are the projects and cards that we made this month.  Can you tell I had Fall on my mind???

Sentiment is from Watercolor Words

(Cheer All Year, Gorgeous Grunge and For All Things)  I have really gotten a lot of use from Cheer All Year!

Spoiler Alert - This is my shoebox card for Quarterly using Christmas Cuties.

Another set I have used a lot - Among the Branches!  (Sentiment is from Cheer All Year)

I will be putting my order in on Friday.  So if you want to order anything and save on shipping, use the Hostess Code #VY9XNCNC when ordering on-line.  Thanks!

September Fall Stamp Club

Loving this week's weather!  Sonny just told me it is supposed to be down to 50 this morning!!  Time to turn off the A/C.  Cool fall weather plus NFL football makes this gal happy!  I am in a fun football pool and picked pretty good this week I guess.  I am FIRST right now with 14 wins and 1 loss.  One game left to go - I'm watching it now but about to go to bed so I'll have to wait until the morning to see if the Vikings pull it out against San Fran. (Updated - Vikings lost so I tied for first place this week.)

I had time yesterday to do a new blog header for fall - using My Digital Studio.  I haven't used MDS in a while and need to get busy and start on my 2016 calendars.

I attended a Holiday Stampaganza Saturday and made some really cool projects.  We also did a swap card.  Plus I recently did a swap with the NC demos so I have a lot of great samples from the Holiday Catalog that I will be sharing soon.

This week is Stamp Club and we are going to be using some of the Bundles from the Holiday Catalog.  Thought I'd share the directions I give my club gals if you would like to duplicate these cards.

HALLOWEEN CHEER ALL YEAR (pg 6)

Supplies:

·        Cardstock:  Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Happy Haunting DSP, Hello Honey

·        Ink:  Black, Hello Honey

·        Accessories:  2” Circle Punch, Spider Web Doilies (pg 47), ¾” Circle Punch

·        Stamps:  Cheer All Year

Directions:

·        Adhere spider web DSP to black card.

·        Adhere orange “pumpkin face” DSP to 3 ¼” x 4 ¼” panel of Black card stock.

·        Use Fine Tip Glue and adhere spider web doilie  to top left of panel.  It will hang over – cut that part off & save for inside of card.

·        Punch out 2” circle from Hello Honey card stock & adhere to center of doilie.

·        Stamp bat in black ink and adhere to circle with dimensionals.

·        Cut 1” strip of Tangelo Twist & cut end into flag.  Adhere to back of black panel so the flag part is sticking out.

·        Adhere panel to card in top left corner.

·        Stamp Happy Haunting onto strip of Very Vanilla and “flag” ends.  Adhere to panel with dimensionals.

·        Stamp “BOO” in black ink onto scrap of Vanilla, punch with ¾” Circle Punch and adhere to card.

·        Decorate inside of card!

This is not from the Holiday Catalog but I wanted to demonstrate how easy these flowers are to make from the Cotton Paper.

 THANKS CARD W/FLOWERS

Supplies:

·        Cardstock:  Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Cotton Paper (pg 148)

·        Stamps:  Endless Thanks, Gorgeous Grunge

·        Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Watermelon Wonder, Crushed  Curry

·        Accessories:  Twine, Corner Rounder, Lovely Lace Emb. Folder, Paper Piercing Tool w/mat, brads

·        Punches:  Corner Rounder, Pansy, Petite Petals, Festive Flower Builder Punch

Directions:

• ·        Emboss white panel with Lovely Lace folder.  Round corners.
• ·        Tie twine around card & tie.  Adhere to Bermuda Bay card.
• ·        Stamp sentiment (Endless Thanks) onto 3” x 2” white panel at bottom right with Bermuda Bay ink.
• ·        Stamp dots from Gorgeous Grunge in Watermelon Wonder & Crushed Curry – STAMP OFF FIRST!!
• ·        Adhere panel to card with dimensionals.
• ·        Punch flowers: 

o   8 from Petite Petals Punch from Crushed Curry Cotton Paper;

o   4 from Pansy Punch from Watermelon Cotton Paper;

o   4 leaves from Festive Flower Builder Punch (use smaller leaf) from Green Cotton Paper 

• Place the flowers one on top of another and pierce the center with your Paper Piercing Tool.  Put a brad through the center.
• Crumble and fluff the layers and adhere them to the card w/glue dots.
• Tuck the leaves under the larger flower and adhere them to the card.

HAPPY SCENES BUNDLE (pg 11)

Supplies: 

·        Cardstock:  Mellow Moss, Black, Vanilla, Happy Haunting DSP

·        Ink:  Black, Mellow Moss, Soft Saffron, Pear Pizazz

·        Stamps:  Happy Scenes, Cheery All Year

·        Hearth & Home Thinlits Dies

·        Accessories:  Markers, Square Pillow Box Die (for leaves), Postage Stamp Punch (retired), Mellow Moss Ribbon (retired), sponge daubers

Directions:

·        Adhere ribbon to bottom of Polka Dot Happy Haunting DSP.  (I used glue dots to pleat edge.

·        Adhere polka dot paper to Mellow Moss card

·        Use Hearth & Home Thinlit to cut out window & window sill parts.

·        Stamp scene on 2 ½” x 3 ¼” piece of Very Vanilla.

·        Use markers to color pumpkins.

·        Lightly sponge sky with Soft Saffron & grass w/Pear Pizazz

·        Adhere “scene” behind window die.

·        Adhere window to card on right side with dimensionals.

·        Stamp sentiment onto Very Vanilla scrap and use edge of Postage Stamp Punch on edges.

·        Punch out leaves using Square Pillow Box Die and adhere to front of window.

·        Decorate inside.

AMONG THE BRANCHES BUNDLE (pg 39)

Supplies:

·        Card Stock:  Very Vanilla, Delightful Dijon

·        Stamps: Among the Branches

·        Ink:  R.Razzleberry, D.Dijon, Tangelo Twist, Sahara Sand

·        Accessories:  Dijon Dotted Lace Trim, Punches – 2” Circle, 2 3/8” Scallop Circle, Sponge Daubers

·        Woodland Embossing Folder

Directions:

·        Emboss Very Vanilla with Woodland Emb. Folder

·        Use daubers to softly daube Sahara Sand ink onto trees.

·        Stamp leaves in different colors onto branches

·        Stamp on scrap Vanilla cardstock “AUTUMN WISHES” with R.Razzleberry ink.  Punch out w/2” Circle Punch

·        Mount onto 2 3/8” Dijon scalloped circle.

·        Tie Dijon Dotted Lace Trim around card and tie.

·        Adhere whole panel to Dijon card.

·        Adhere “AUTUMN WISHES” to bottom left of card with dimensionals.

August Stamp Club

Busy week for me (as you can guess from the lack of posts!).  I played bridge on Monday.  Then Tuesday, learned of the death of a husband of one of the gals in our bridge group.  Pete had been in and out of hospitals and rehab for 5 years with kidney disease but still, it was a shock.  Last night we went to a party at a friend's new house in our neighborhood.  Wouldn't you know it, an hour before the party was to start, it started raining.  We need the rain but it sure ruined the plans of those who had planned to boat over to Anna's house!  Luckily, her house is huge so there was plenty of room inside for everyone and even outside in the covered areas.  It was a lot of fun.  This has also been Stamp Club week although my numbers have dwindled drastically this week.  I ended up having a total of 4 people this week.  But we had fun anyway!  Here are the cards we made this week.

This card was one I received last spring in a swap made by Melissa Kernan.  It was a different use of the stamp set, Sheltering Tree.  The only change I made was to emboss the Mossy Meadow piece with the new Woodlands embossing folder from the Holiday Catalog,

 This set uses the Paper Pumpkin set I bought at convention.  Love the gift bag, card and matching envelope!

 Another CASE from Pinterest.  I thought the upside ice cream cones fit the sentiment great!!

This is a new set that I just purchased.  It is in the annual catalog - You're Sublime.  I just love the cute images in this set!  I haven't decided which is my favorite.  I think this set will make really cute little note card sets.  I used DSP from the Subtles Stack and let each person choose which image they wanted to make.

My $200 Shopping Spree order arrived yesterday while I was gone along with a $100 order that I had placed - all from the Holiday Catalog!!  I can't wait to start playing with all the new goodies!

Stamp Club for June

This is the third week of the month which means it's Stamp Club.  I had my first group over yesterday and the rest (that are in town!) will be coming tomorrow.  These are the cards we made:

This Blackberry Bliss beauty uses the flower from Garden in Bloom - a new two-step stamp.  I love the new Brick Wall embossing folder.  It is a bigger folder than the usual embossing folders.  I used the white gel pen to color in the "mortar" on the bricks.

This card was actually a CASE from my friend, Allison.  She did a card very similar to this one in our New Catalog Swap last month.  I wanted a chance to use the Layered Alphabet stamp set and this was perfect for it.  I gave the gals a choice of color - Cucumber Crush or Watermelon Wonder.  They both look great paired with Basic Black.

I love this little koala but haven't used it much.  I think I was trying to color him in and it just didn't work.  This little guy, I stamped with Early Espresso and didn't color anything except for the flower and added a few tiny dots around the flower and the sentiment.  I used the Score Board to score vertical lines on both sides of the bear and backed it with Marina Mist that I added lines to with the gel pen.  Since this was a square card (4 1/2"), we also used the Envelope Punch Board to make an envelope.

We also made the Slider Card I shared HERE.

I really enjoyed having a new member join us and a guest who I met for lunch last week.  Barbara is visiting her son in Mooresville and lives in Florida.  She is also a SU demonstrator.  I was glad she was able to come to club and have a creative day with us.  My new member is Gayle who just moved here from Florida too.  It's funny - she found me through either my blog or contacting SU directly.  As it turns out, she moved in to the same neighborhood as me.  And to make it even more coincidental, her back yard backs up to my front yard so she was able to just walk over yesterday.

Some good deals this week - I have my eye on the Sweetheart Punch and you can always find a use for White Ribbon - use it white or dye it to match.  Here are the Weekly Deals for this week:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

May Stamp Club

Wow!  This is my 2000 post on this blog!!

I finished up Stamp Club Tuesday.  We made four great cards using mostly items that will be retired in just a couple of weeks.

I had to take a deep breath in order to cut into this Painted Blooms DSP.  It is so pretty I have not wanted to use it!  But, it's just paper, you know???!!


This was such a simple card to make.  I didn't want to put much on it and cover up the beautiful paper.  Everyone got a different piece of DSP to make their cards and choose their sentiment.  They turned out beautiful.

This is a cute little pocket card.  I folded the Crumb Cake card stock up and sealed three sides with Washi Tape. But first, cut the center out with a Framelit.  The Coastal Cabana card slips inside the pocket and is stamped with Chalk Talk.  Punch out a few flowers in Calypso Coral and add some Coastal Cabana and Garden Green leaves and a few pearls to the centers of the flowers, and bada, bing, bada, bang .... you're done!

This card uses the Hostess set, Bloom with Hope.  It is stamped on Naturals Ivory paper with Early Espresso accents.  I used the retired textured Early Espresso which distresses very nicely.  I love the flower from Blooming Kindness.

Stamp Club Cards

These are the cards we made this month for Stamp Club.

This one uses the Faux Tile technique.  Every one did a different color and chose the stamped image on the side from Everything Eleanor, Butterfly Basics or Thoughts and Prayers.



Faux Tile

This next card uses a fun fold that I found on-line.  The flowers are from Flower Shop and I used DSP from Back to Black.

open

This card was so much fun!  It fits into a business sized envelope.  I used the DSP from Sale-a-Bration, Irrestibly Yours.  I cut the balloon images with the Balloons Framelits and sponged them with In Colors.  I used the Little Letters Thinlets to cut HAPPY out of the balloons.  One of the gals punched her son's name out of the balloons instead.

I love the single stamp, Vivid Vases.  These are the two cards I made using them.  One of them uses DSP for the vases and the other uses markers.

Sonny and I had a relaxing weekend in the mountains.  My good friend, Judy, lent us the use of her cabin for the weekend so we enjoyed a delayed anniversary get-away.  The log cabin was so comfy with a creek running through the back of the property.  The weather was perfect.  It started raining on Sunday but we were packing up and heading home anyway.