TECHNIQUE TUESDAY

Here is a simple card using some new products and adding a little tissue flower for effect.

First you will stamp and assemble your card.  Here I used the new Painted Petals Stamp Set found in the Occasions Catalog on pg 19 using Pear Pizzazz and Wisteria Wonder Ink.  This set is SO pretty!  I used the Irresistibly Yours DSP that is a FREE item with your $50 order during Sale-a-bration.  I rubbed over the paper with a sponge, inked with Wisteria Wonder, until I got the coverage I wanted.  The white flowers are glossy and do not pick up the ink color. After the card was finished I made the little flower.  Here is how you do that:

You will need your ink (a few drops in your lid), Filter Paper (pg 193 of regular catalog), Aqua Painter, Small Brad, and 1 3/4" Scallop Punch.  Pick up your ink with the Aqua Painter and color a section of the Filter Paper until you have enough for what you want.  You will probably have to add more ink until you are done.  I dried the paper for a minute with the Heat Gun because I was too impatient to wait for it to dry on its own. I folded the paper so that I had 3 layers and then punched through with my punch.

Now put a brad through your punched scalloped circles, move around a little and "scrunch" with your fingers until you get the look you want.  Add your flower to the card with a few Mini Glue Dots. This took my more simple, but pretty card to the next level.  I should have showed you this last week when this Filter Paper was one of the Weekly Deal Items.  It is still a good deal, even when on regular price.

Here are the Weekly Deals for this week:

All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack Price: $6.95 $5.21	Gold Stampin' Glitter Price: $3.95 $2.96	Marina Mist 1/4" Cotton Ribbon Price: $5.95 $4.46	Old Olive Baker's Twine Price: $2.95 $2.21
Tangerine Tango Baker's Twine Price: $2.95 $2.21	Wildflower Meadow Clear-Mount Stamp Set Price: $13.95 $10.46	Wildflower Meadow Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Price: $7.95 $5.96

MISCELLANEOUS MONDAY

Welcome to a new week.  We had such a great Joyful Hearts' Team Meeting on Saturday.  I learned lots of new things, made some great make n' takes, saw some awesome demos, enjoyed a wonderful lunch, and spent time with some great stampin' friends.

It is such a privilege to be part of a Stampin' Up team.  You can also do what I do and have fun creating.  Sale-a-bration is a great time to join the family because of the added incentives now until the end of March.  Click here to view all the details.  After you have seen the great advantages, go ahead and click the "join" button and become part of our awesome team.  Feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.  I would LOVE to share this fun experience with you and help you in any way I can.

Today's post is a card that was on display at our meeting, created by Deb Paisie, a very creative and fun stamper.  I just LOVE this card:

This card uses the Chalkboard Paper and the Rose Coral Chalk Ink Pad found on pg 25 of the Occasions Catalog, the Something Lacy Background Stamp on pg.43, and the Bowmaker Punch on pg 13.  The little hearts are from the SAB You Brighten My Day Stamp Set which you can get FREE with your $50 order.

Debbie was part of the Monday Creative Blog Hop a couple of week's ago.  Visit her blog and visit the new Monday post this week when you visit Lisa Tedder.


New stamp camp dates are now posted for March.  We will be making several general and Easter cards.  You will also have a chance to make the cute Easter basket I posted last Thursday as an added fun project if you would like.  Go to the top of this page and click on the website listed to see the dates and times for stamp camp under Events.

FRIENDLY FRIDAY

I just realized I called yesterday's post WOW WEDNESDAY and it was really Thursday.  Sorry.  I guess because I do the draft ahead of time, I got confused.  Not hard to do for me.

Still playing with my Berry Basket Die, especially since we are getting a good size snowstorm here in Pennsylvania.  This is my take on the card that is posted on the Stampin' Up Blog.  I still need to"fill" my basket, but don't have all the supplies yet.

To make the basket, cut just half of the basket piece.  The scalloped strip needs to be cut long enough so that you have 15 scallops included.

• Make another score line 1/4" below the already scored mark that is on your basket piece after cutting.
• Cut your scalloped strip, if necessary, so that you have just 15 scallops.
• Score between the scallops using your Paper Cutter or your Simply Scored to get a more finished look since one score line shows up when cutting.
• Fold back the two end scallops on each end of your strip.
• Fold back the bottom of your basket piece.

Here is what these pieces should look like:

Center and attach your scalloped strip onto the basket piece.  Then attach the basket and the strip to your card base.  Here is a side view.

Here is a picture of the Stampin' Up sample, filled with fun spring goodies.

Now spring just needs to get here.  We had 10" of snow and it was in the single digits again last night!  Yowza for March!  The rest of the weekend and next week are to be much warmer.  Looking forward to real spring being here soon.

WOW WEDNESDAY

I have been "working" (really playing) with the new Berry Basket Die from the Occasions Catalog.  I am having so much fun!  I have to demonstrate the die at our Saturday Team Meeting.  Thanks to some very creative people on Pinterest, I have come up with some cute samples.  Here is the one I am sharing today - getting ready for Easter.

I made the basket with Daffodil Delight cardstock and stamped a few spots on it with Meadow Moss Ink and the Gorgeous Grunge Stamp Set.  I put the basket together, which is VERY EASY and then filled it with pieces of grass that I made by cutting long strips of cardstock and cutting one end with the Fringe Scissors.  I punched some eggs out of DSP with the Oval Punch and just stuck them randomly down into the grass.










Here are some close up pictures - first of the Die.  The black areas are what your cut out pieces will look like.  You need to cut two of everything.

This picture is a close up of the bunny.  I glue-dotted it onto half of a skewer and just stuck it down into the basket.  I copied a pattern I saw made by Carla B.  I honestly cannot read her cursive last name.  Here are two more pictures to show you the punch pieces you will need.

WOW WEDNESDAY

Took my camera to the camera shop and it was an easy fix.  I learned something new about my memory card.  So here are the brads I was going to show you yesterday for the technique post.  The first picture shows retired brads I had left over.  The second picture shows you how you can change their look/color to suit your needs.

These are what the brads looked like before.  To change them you need to hold them and heat well with your heat gun.  Then dip them into the embossing powder of your choice.  Because the brads are hot, the powder will stick to the brad.  Continuing to hold them, reheat with your gun until the powder melts.  You can do this several times to get good coverage and the desired effect you want.

.

These are the same brads after embossing and heating.  Aren't they cool!?  I also tried a pearl and it worked on the pearl also.  I used Wild Wasabi, Cherry Cobbler, Gold, Tangerine Tango, and Melon Mambo Embossing Powders.


I have to thank Deena Zeigler for this technique that I found on Pinterest.

This picture shows you what I used to hold the brads.  It is a holder I have for holding a match to help keep it away from your fingers.  The suggestion was to use tweezers, and, although that works, it is harder to hold the brad with tweezers and you are also closer to the heat gun. For the pearl, I just stuck it onto the end of the holder and it stayed there while I dipped and heated.
This tool worked great!

TECHNIQUE TUESDAY

Well, I was all ready to post a really neat technique I came across and my camera is giving me issues.  Sorry.  Check back tomorrow to see if I got things ironed out.

Here's a cute little card to keep you content until I return.  This was taken from a convention display. Not sure who the creator is.  Sorry.

MISCELLANEOUS MONDAY

We are now in the last month of Sale-a-bration.  Make sure you get all the goodies you want and your FREE item with each $50 of product ordered.  Speaking of which, there are 4 new FREE Sale-a-bration goodies to choose from.  Click here to see the new items.

Today's card is one of my favorite sets in the original SAB brochure - A Happy Thing:

The bird is colored with the Blendabilities.
Unfortunately, Stampin' Up has removed all Blendabilities, including the free SAB ones, off the market for the present time.  There have been some quality issues associated with the pens.  Because Stampin' Up works so hard to bring quality products to all of us, they feel it is necessary to remove these until the issues are resolved.  I will keep you updated about how things are going.  In the meantime, if you have some, like I do, continue to use them to create your projects.  I am hopeful that there will be a solution so we all can continue to order more colors and use them for a long time.  We all thank you for your patience.

Visit Frances Wagner for today's creative blog hop.