Happy Harvest

I thought if I made some fall cards, we'd have some fall weather.  So far .... no.  It got to 91 degrees today.  We have broken a lot of records with our 90 degree days this month.

This card uses a lot retired items.  The leaves are from Vintage Leaves and the matching dies, Leaflets.  If you don't have these items, there is a great set in the current Holiday Catalog - Gather Together that would work great.  I stamped the leaves on Melon Mango cardstock with Cajun Craze and Pumpkin Pie ink.  After die cutting the leaves, I used the dauber and sponged the edges.  The banner and sentiment is from Country Home.

We went to visit Ashley this weekend and took my mom and Sammie, my cat.  When we took Sammie to Ashley's last month, she tolerated the drive.  This time ..... not so much!  She bit Sonny once - tried for a second time but get him.  Needless to say, he was ready to throw her out the window!  I think she was like that this time because she didn't have much room in the back seat with mom back there.  Plus, the traffic was horrendous (as usual) and it took us 8 hours!  As soon as we got to Ashley's, it was on to dinner.  Ashley had reservations for 6:30 at an Ethiopian restaurant with two of her friends.  Sonny did not go - which was a good thing.  Mom usually will eat anything but not so with Ethiopian food!  It wasn't my favorite either but I tried everything.  We stayed around the house this time.  With mom and her walker, that makes it much easier.  I did some yard work and Sonny did a few "fix it" projects.  Mom loved sitting on Ashley's porch in the rocking chair or on the swing in the back yard.

On Friday, we noticed some things going on with Sammie.  She threw up a couple of times and started peeing in mom's bed and Ashley's bed.  There was blood in her pee so we took her to see the vet on Saturday.  Sammie is like a wild cat at the vet's so they had a hard time examining her.   The vet feels like whatever is going on with her is caused by stress so I think this is the last time she goes on a trip with us!  She got a antibiotic shot and the vet gave me some Gabapentin to give her when we were ready to drive back to NC.  It took Ashley and I a while to get it in her but it did help with the drive back.  She was mellowed out!!

When we got home last night I had a call from a neighbor who told me there had been a shooting on my cul-de-sac.  There are only 3 houses on our street!  We missed all the action.  We think someone was attempting to break into the home.  When the wife and child arrived home, she thought something wasn't right and called her husband and 911.  Her husband arrived first and I am assuming he is the one who shot the burglar in the leg.

Well, it's almost time for some Steeler football.  My team has been terrible this year so far - haven't won a game!  I am hoping for a win tonight.

November Stamp Club

We had Stamp Club last week and made two cards, our December calendar and a Birthday Reminder Box.

Here are the pictures and instructions:

2 pieces of Thick White Cardstock –

·        #1 measures 11” x 7”

·        #2 measures 7.5” x 6”

·        Score Piece #1 on it’s longer side & .5” / 3” / 8” / 10.5”

·        Use the Diagonal Score Plate & score at the 8” mark (see diagram)

·        Flip the page completely over (to the back side).  The first diagonal (@ 8”) should now be in the opposite corner.  Score again at the 8” mark diagonally.

·        Fold & cut off the corners

·        Add strong tape (Red Line or Sookwang tape) to the two 5” flaps on the side.

Piece #2: 

·        Score at .5” and 3” on the longer side. 

·        Turn 90 degrees and score at .5 & 5.5” on the shorter side.

·        Trim ½” flaps as seen in diagram

·        Place strong tape on ½” flaps.

Adhere Designer Paper to box before putting it together.  Side panels are cut 7” x 2 ¼”.  Front panel is 4 ¼” x 4 ¾”

·        Fold the ½” flaps up & align them along the inside back of Piece #1.  Adhere.

·        Fold in the “wings” and adhere them to the base flaps.

·        Fold up the front & adhere to the remaining ½” flaps.

To make the notch, measure in half-way from the sides & make a pencil mark.  Use a Circle Punch & punch a half circle.

You need 6 Dividers cut at 6” x 4 ¾”

DSP for the dividers is cut at 5 ½” x 4 ¾” – scored at 5.5” & 2”

If you want to make additional boxes (nice Christmas present!), here is the link to directions AND a link to printing the calendar inserts.

https://wizardshangout.blogspot.com/2012/06/lucy-birthday-card-keeper.html?m=1

Thanks to Marianne for this card!  She gave me the one on the right for my birthday in October.  I gave the ladies a choice between Wisteria Wonder and Fresh Fig.  This set comes with framelits but I did not use them on the card.  We just stamped directly on the white cardstock.

BEAUTIFUL BOUQUET

Supplies:

Ø  Ink:   (your choice)

·        Card #1 – Garden Green, Daffodil, Fresh Fig, Sugarplum

·        Card #2 – Wisteria, Daffodil, Flirty Flamingo, Garden Green

Ø  Cardstock:  Whisper White, Fig OR Wisteria

Ø  Stamps:  Beautiful Bouquet

Accessories:   

Ø   Twine or Ribbon

Instructions:

·        Stamp stem with green ink.

·        Stamp flowers in your choice of colors.

·        Stamp sentiment of your choice.

·        Make a bow & adhere it with Glue Dots.

·        Adhere white cardstock to purple card.

This card is so much prettier in real life.  I actually got a new club member thanks to this card!  It was a great way to introduce everyone to the new Stampin' Blends!

VINTAGE LEAVES

Supplies:

Ø  Ink:    Black, Cajun Craze

Ø  Cardstock:    Very Vanilla (8 ½” x 5 ½” AND 5 ¼” x 4”), Thick white cardstock

Ø  Stamps:   Vintage Leaves, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Accessories:   

Ø   Stampin’ Up Blends Markers

Ø   Classic Label Punch

Ø  Woodland Embossing Folder

Ø  Leaflets Framelits

Instructions:

·        Run the smaller piece of Very Vanilla cardstock through the Woodlands embossing folder.  Adhere to card.

·        Stamp leaves onto Vanilla cardstock, color with Blends Markers & die cut. 

·        After die cutting leaves, use Blends marker around edges so white is covered up.

·        Adhere leaves to card – use dimensionals on some of them.

·        Stamp sentiment on scrap of Vanilla, punch out & adhere to card.

DECEMBER CALENDAR

Supplies:

Ø  Ink:  Cherry Cobbler

Ø  Cardstock:  Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler, Be Merry DSP, White

Ø  Stamps:  Be Merry, Wrapped in Warmth (retired)

Ø  Cable Knit embossing folder

Instructions:

·        Run Green cardstock through Big Shot with Cable Knit Embossing Folder.

·        Stamp cup & lid onto Be Merry paper & cut out.

·        Cut a strip of Be Merry paper and wrap around middle of cup. 

·        Adhere cup & lid to green card.

·        Stamp sentiment in Cherry Cobbler; cut and mount with dimensionals

Using Stampin' Up Blends

I shared the information about the new Stampin' Up Blends last week.  Now they are available for you to order them!!  I have ordered most of the colors and made this card using them.  I stamped and colored the leaves onto Thick Whisper White cardstock and had great results.

It was so easy to do the shading on the Vintage Leaves!  I used the framelits to cut out the leaves.  Next I took matching Blends and went around the edges of the leaves where it was white.  I used the Woodland Textured Embossing Folder to mount the leaves onto.  Simple card to make!!

Enjoy watching these videos that give you tips and tricks on using the new Blends Markers.

Perhaps you would be interested in the Color Me Happy kit which is available now!

Fun with Embossing Paste

When the Embossing Paste was first announced at Stampin' Up's On Stage, I didn't think I was interested.  But last month I decided to order it and see what the fuss was all about.  Well, now that I have used it, I am hooked!  It adds such a nice dimension to a card.  Here is my favorite card that I made using the paste.  I took a small bit of the paste out of the jar and put it on my Silicone Mat and mixed in 2-3 drops of Smoky Slate reinker.  Use the palette knife to get the color all mixed in and then using the Brick Wall mask (Pattern Party Decorative Mask - p. 201) smooth the paste onto the Smoky Slate card.  It doesn't take very long to dry.  For this card, I als used the Hearth and Home Thinlits to make the window.  I sponged a piece of white cardstock in Soft Sky and Tempting Turquoise.  Next I cut out this cute little bunny with the birthday cake from the Birthday Memories Designer Paper.  I had to cut this one out but a lot of the images in the DSP can be cut out with a framelit!  I glued the bunny down to the sponged background.  I adhered a piece of window sheet to the back of the window and put it all together using dimensionals.  This whole piece was adhered to a Basic Gray card.  (The red ribbon I used is retired.)

Check out this video from Stampin' Up for the "how to's" of using the paste.  Just a couple of tips that I'm not sure are mentioned in the video.  When you get your paste, the jar will only be half full.  That is the way it is supposed to be.  It settles in shipping.  Each jar has 4 fl. oz of volume.  It dries pretty fast so I would recommend keeping the lid on it as much as possible.  Also if you scrape it back into the jar after using, make sure you push it all down towards the bottom of the jar.  If you leave some on the rim, it will dry out.  There is also a picture of using the paste on page 176 of the catalog.

Here is another card I made with the paste.  

I used a piece of the glossy cardstock that I made last week with a reinker technique (see HERE) and another mask with the Embossing Paste and colored it with Marina Mist reinker.  The leaves are from Vintage Leaves which also have matching framelits.  To make the flowers multi colored, I did the Baby Wipe Technique.  I dropped a few drops of reinkers on to a baby wipe, thus making my own custom stamp pad.  The colors I used were Early Espresso, Lemon Lime Twist, Marina Mist and Soft Suede.

I had a little bit of the colored paste left over and instead of throwing it away, I added a little Lime Twist reinker to the blue and applied it to another piece of card stock that I had available.  I'll be using it later to make a card.