Creative Distraction

Australian Open

2012-02-01T20:43:00.001-06:00

It's no secret I love tennis!

And I'm a huge Maria Sharapova fan. I know many people are put off by her shrieks when she strikes the ball, but if we even put half of the focus and determination into our life's work as she does, we would all be wildly successful!

I'm disappointed that she didn't win this weekend.
Next time!!!

What sport do you enjoy? Do you have a favorite player?

Celebrate Sale-A-Bration! SAB Card Sample

2012-01-28T06:00:00.000-06:00

The event we wait and watch for all year long is here!

Get a free exclusive product for every $50 you spend

January 24-March 31.

This Celebrate card was made with the new Outlined Occasions Sale-A-Bration (SAB) stamp set. This stamp set is FREE with a $50 product order. The white background is made more interesting with the Square Lattice Impressions Embossing Folder. And the Silver Glimmer Paper is a huge WOW! in person. It's a must have for a special touch.

A pop of Real Red added a great contrast to the Pacific Point and Bashful Blue. The three Bashful Blue vertical banners behind the sentiment punched at the end with the corner of the square punch for a perfect ending. See the complete list of supplies below.
This card was inspired by ahelynck here.

Card Recipe:

Outlined Occasions Sale-A-Bration (SAB) stamp set wood mount #126014

Outlined Occasions Sale-A-Bration (SAB) stamp set clear mount #126016

WhisperWhite cs #100730

PacificPoint cs #111350

Real Red cs #102482

Staz On stamp pad #101406

Real Red marker #100052

Bashful Blue marker #105111

Pacific Point marker #120968

Silver Glimmer paper #124005

Square punch #119865

Square Lattice Impressions Embossing Folder Die #119976

Metallic Brads #119741

Download Sale-A-Bration catalog.

Download SAB stamping supplies list.

Sale-A-Bration Details

2012-01-24T13:23:00.001-06:00

The event we wait and watch for all year long is here!

Get a free exclusive product for every $50 you spend

January 24-March 31.

Contact me today!

Julie Cluff

832-515-4632

julie@stampingjulie.com

Download Sale-A-Bration catalog.

Download SAB stampin' supplies list.

Family Sunday

2012-01-22T20:48:00.003-06:00

We now have three grandchildren! Can you believe it? I can't.

My daughter Stephanie and her husband Chris are now living in Idaho with their two children. I visited them in August and October.

Savannah is 2 1/2. She is busy, busy, so sometimes it's hard to get a good picture.

Braden is now seven months old. This was taken when he was only about 4 months old.

Daughter, Kristin, and her husband Joel live in Utah with their little baby, Siena.

Siena was born in July and this was taken when she was just a few days old.

And here she is at 5 months old when she came to visit for Christmas

and met Grandpa for the first time.

And in November our baby James turned 17! Hard to believe!

Enjoy!

Julie

Easy Shopping

2012-01-21T09:04:00.002-06:00

So now the items listed for making a project are linked to the online details for that item. Check it out here! Let me know if it works!!!

Enjoy!
Julie

Flight of the Butterfly

2012-01-20T19:53:00.003-06:00

A quick share tonight! It was fun to play with the Flight of the Butterfly stamp set that has been around for a while, but it's new to me. This card was inspired by this card from whiterockmama.

Start making your list - Sale-A-Bration is around the corner.

Card recipe:

Flight of the Butterfly stamp set #111564

Upsy Daisy stamp set #111710

Whisper White cs #100730

Rich Razzleberry cs #115316

Pacific Point cs #111350

Garden Green stamp pad #102272

Pacific Point stamp pad #111837

Old Olive scallop dots ribbon #124139

Houndstooth Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Die #123134

Antique Brads #117273

Flight of the Butterfly Stamp Set #111564

Enjoy!

Julie

New Blog Address

2012-01-19T15:44:00.003-06:00

I'm busy moving my blog from blogger to word press. I'm hoping this is going to improve our blogging experience, both for me and for you. So in the meantime you can still read posts at creativedistraction.blogspot.com. I'll let you know when stampingjulie.com is up again and fully functional.

Exciting!!! Stay tuned!

Simple Cards and Gifts

2012-01-18T19:09:00.000-06:00

For Christmas gifts, I made these simple Holiday potpourri bags with easy, but very cute gift cards. The gift card is an easy 3" x 3" card in Wild Wasabi and Real Red. I stamped the center image from Perfect Punches on glossy card stock and punched it out with the scallop punch and layered that on top of a Real Red circle. (I used the clear-mount stamp, but it also comes in wood mount.) I used the crop-a-dile to punch the hole to hang the card from the ribbon.

Here's a picture of a group of them before we took them for delivery. I love how fast you can put together a colorful fun gift with a little bit of stamping!

Of course you can use this same idea for a simple card for any occasion with the great selection of punchable images in Perfect Punches.

So there's an easy card idea for gift giving.

Enjoy,

Julie Cluff

julie@stampingjulie.com

Sale-A-Bration coming January 24!

2012-01-17T17:58:00.003-06:00

Sale-A-Bration is on its way! Time to get excited about free Stampin' Up! products. Plus I spent the week stamping with my sister. My new space is finally functional and I'm having fun with lots of samples to share with you.

Watch for it - new samples starting tomorrow!

Ever Wonder What To Do With All Your Cards... :o)

2010-07-30T08:00:00.003-05:00

Josie Bell Folsom DeLoach

2010-07-27T20:40:00.001-05:00

Josie Bell Folsom DeLoach

September 22, 1922- July 24, 2010

Here's a sweet picture of my lovely grandmother taken this past spring. She and my grandfather raised 8 children. She has numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren and even a great great grandchild.

She always looked so nice and she passed this habit down to our family.

And she was a wonderful seamstress. She passed this down too. My sister majored in fashion design at BYU - she's amazing. And my daughter is now majoring in a similar field at BYU and currently designing and making her own wedding dress!

My grandmother had an amazing understanding of the scriptures and had an undying testimony of her Savior. We are so blessed as a family to have been influenced by this remarkable woman.

Here's a picture of her with my grandfather. He passed away exactly 14 years ago on the same day.

And here's a five-generation picture taken last May of

my daughter and her baby daughter, me, my mother, and my grandmother.

Simple Family Brag Book

2010-07-17T23:04:00.000-05:00

Here's a cute little photo book you can put together in minutes using the clear envelopes. You can view a video tutorial of a similar project here. My son recently graduated from high school, my daughter is getting married and my granddaughter is a year old. So I slipped a few cute pictures in there and plan to send this to my grandmother this week. (shhhh - don't tell her.)

I stamped the Blushing Bride cs cover with the Vintage Vogue flowers in versamark and then stamped in Regal Rose and Early Espresso (this is a great new color - loving it) the large F and Family. I added a punched Boho Flower with a 3/4" circle center.

And here's a picture of the open photo book with my son and my mother.

And here's some more family pictures from the album:

My daughter and her fiance.

The cute grandbaby.

And my husband and I with our kids.

Enjoy!

Julie

Don't forget about my July special - 15% off!

Wild Cherry Mist Challenge - Celebrating 7 years!

2010-07-14T23:12:00.001-05:00

The color challenge this week at Splitcoaststampers.com (SCS) was wild cherry mist - in other words, use the colors Wild Wasabi, Cherry Cobbler, and Marina Mist. I had a left over piece of colored, embossed paper from a this Clean and Simple challenge project:

So I started with the embossed piece, the new SU! Just Believe set (and one of my favorites!), and the new SCS sketch.

Here's a detail picture:

I clear embossed the floral design on Whisper White cs. I then inked the butterfly from Watercolor Trio with versamark, then More Mustard and then ran the Cherry Cobbler marker around the edges before stamping the white cs and clear embossing. And finally I layered brayered colors of Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Certainly Celery and Wild Wasabi.

The Cherry Cobbler circle was also embossed and punched out with the 1 3/8" circle punch. "Thank you" was stamped with Wild Wasabi and punched out with the Word Window punch. And of course I used the Eyelet punch for the Cherry Cobbler border piece on the right. And last, but not least, a touch of my FAVORITE white organza ribbon. It goes with everything!! (If you don't have any of this yet, what in the world are you waiting for!?! I don't know how anyone lives without it. Of course, I don't know a lot of things. :)

Braggart Alert! ;o)

I was so excited to be recognized by the nice ladies at Pal Paper Arts with their PPA Artist Pick award for my entry in their challenge this week. Thank you, PPA!

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products now.

Celebrating 7 years! Product Share and Special!!!

2010-07-12T13:50:00.005-05:00

This month I'm celebrating 7 years as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator!

To celebrate with you I'm offering up to 7 items from the current Stampin' Up! idea book & catalog or Summer mini catalog for 15% off! (Product shares not eligible for discount.) This offer is good until the end of July. (If you need a catalog let me know or click on the catalog links on the right.) Email your order to me and I'll send you a paypal payment request. It's that easy!!!

There are a ton of great new products in the new SU! Idea Book & Catalog. Here's a great way to get a variety of products: product shares! (You can include these orders in your email or click the Buy Now buttons below.)

Sorry the Buy Now buttons are so spread out. For some reason I can't seem to fix it. It looks great in the preview, but it doesn't publish right. Ugh!

SU! In Color RIBBON SHARE: The ribbon share includes approx. 15 yards of 1/2" Stitched-Poly Ribbon as seen on page 190: you'll receive approx. 3 yards each of the new Stampin' Up! In Colors: Blushing Bride, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Concord Crush and Pear Pizzazz.

RIBBON SHARE: $10.99 (+ $2 shipping in US only, if not in local area)
SU! VINTAGE SHARE: Vintage Share includes brads, tags, trinkets, trim & designer paper

• Antique Brads (pg 187) - 5 pieces (1 each of 5 designs)
• Mini Vintage Tags (pg 186) - 3 tags
• Vintage Trinkets (pg 187) - 12 pieces (6 pins and 6 buttons)
• Crochet Trim (pg 190) - 2 yards (approx 1 yard each trim)
• Love Letter Designer Paper (pg 173) - six pieces of 6x6 paper samples
• Woodland Walk Designer Paper (pg. 173) - six pieces of 6x6 paper samples
• Elegant Soiree Designer Paper (pg. 175) - six pieces of 6x6 paper samples

VINTAGE SHARE: $14.99 (+ $2 shipping in US only, if not in local area)

Celebrating 7 years! - MOJO Monday Bird

2010-07-12T12:35:00.000-05:00

Ever since I got this little Cute by the Inch set I've been thinking about doing a four square layout with it, so when I saw this challenge, I was ready! It's a pretty basic card. I can see that I rotated the sketch.

I stamped three of the four squares in Baja Breeze on Baja Breeze card stock then stamped the fourth with Chocolate Chip on Certainly Celery cardstock. The celery square is raised slightly with a dimensional.

The color scheme was inspired by this beautiful paper, Greenhouse Gala. I used the circle cutter to cut a circle from the coordinating piece, wrapped it around the top right side and added vintage brads. Add some ribbon and done! Tip: to get the v-cut on the end of your ribbon, fold the ribbon in half and cut a slanted line from fold to the outside edge.

Recipe (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps: Cute by the Inch

Ink: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip

Paper: Baja Breeze cs, Certainly Celery cs, Chocolate Chip cs, Greenhouse Gala dsp

Accessories: ribbon, brads, circle cutter

This month I'm celebrating 7 years as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator!

Stay tune for some special offers that I'll post later today!

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products.

Celebrating 7 years! - CAS Just For You

2010-07-12T01:07:00.000-05:00

For my favorite challenge of the week-Clean and Simple!

This card took less than 20 minutes to make including all my mistakes, taking supplies out and cleaning up. The challenge this week was to use dry embossing, so I whipped out my favorite new technique of brayering the embossing folder. I then stamped the label from the brand new Just Believe set in Crumb Cake and added the sentiment in Marina Mist - a yummy new blue in the Subtles Collection.

The label was punched out with the extra large oval punch - quick and easy! I inked the edges of the tag, my favorite white organza ribbon was secured across the front with a little linen thread bow for a little added interest and finally the tag was adhered with dimensionals. I love to use the Tombow liquid multi glue for adhering dry embossed pieces. It's not going anywhere after that glue dries!

This month I'm celebrating 7 years as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator!

Stay tune for some special offers that I'll post later today!

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products.

Stamp camp review

2010-07-09T13:01:00.001-05:00

One of the three projects we did for the June stamp camp. This cute little cake is from the now retired "It's a Stretch" stamp set. It was colored with markers and layered on Crushed Curry with a scallop border.

The background is easy to do with SU's double sided paper. Cut 2 strips of different designer paper from the same collection 2 1/8 x 5 1/2 inches. Then cut those strips at 2 inches from the end, giving you two pieces each of 2 1/8 x 2 and 2 1/8 x 3 1/2. You'll have 4 different coordinating patterns to adhere in a staggered pattern.

The cute flowers were Boho Blossoms punch which is now available in the great streamlined design. I use a paper piercer to poke a small hole in the middle of the flowers for the brads. And glue dots work great for getting these little braded flowers to stick to your projects.

Here's the 3 projects that we did at June's stamp camp. The next stamp camp is July 22nd!

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products.

PPA50 Color Challenge - Prayer

2010-07-08T21:07:00.000-05:00

This beautiful stamp set has been waiting for me to ink it up for some time! I decided this was going to be the set I would use for the next challenge - so here it is....the PPA color challenge was to use Basic Gray, So Saffron and Chocolate Chip, definitely an unusual color scheme and one that I would have never thought to use on my own. That's the beauty of challenges, it makes you use think!

I worked hard to keep this relatively simple. I was so tempted to add background stamping or texturing, but resisted and kept this layout 'clean'. I used an x-acto knife to cut slits on either side of the tree trunk to thread the ribbon through. And of course I had to use my favorite ribbon. This could have easily ended up a masculine card with these colors, but adding a touch of white, the scallop tag & border, and the lovely ribbon girled it up.

I really like the look of cutting the rectangle smaller than the stamped image and then cutting around the over hang. There's probably an official name for this technique, but I don't remember what it is....anyone else know? Doesn't it just make the tree stand out? So fun!

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products.

Owls!

2010-07-08T07:00:00.001-05:00

At my last stamp camp we made this fun owl joy-fold card that was inspired by Mary Fish's post. It's really a simple concept with fun results. Make two cards, one a little smaller than the other, and overlap them with a closure. This first card was the one we made at the stamp camp in June and the second was one that I made with the left overs from the camp.

This is a picture of the card held closed by the hoot-hoot tag on the left:

Here's the card as it's opening:

And here is a picture of the interior of the card:

Here's the card I made from the left overs:

I used punched flowers with brads, tied with linen thread to close the card. The owl and branch, including the shadow were painted with aqua painters and reinkers. The owl and branch were then embossed with clear ep after using a versamark pen to cover the images. The ep keeps the painted areas from being colored over when the background is brayered.

The moon and sky were brayered by using a circle punched from a post-it note to mask the moon and brayer the sky. Then the negative was used to mask the sky while I brayered the moon.

I love brayered backgrounds!

The corners were created by punching a corner of Rich Razzleberry with the scallop border corner punch and then punching the scalloped corner out with the photo corner punch. Then that was layered over a larger photo corner.

Partially opened:

And the inside. The sentiment is from Occasional Quotes.

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products 24-7.

Sketch Challenge 288

2010-07-07T18:42:00.001-05:00

Here's my entry for the sketch challenge. I bet you can't guess the colors in this! They are Elegant Eggplant, Riding Hood Red, Daffodil Delight and a touch of Pumpkin Pie. Did you guess right? Probably not. The Elegant Eggplant in the photo came out looking blue instead of the deep purple in the actual card. Boo hoo...

My 15 year old son is an awesome guitarist. I really will have to post some video sometime so you can see how incredible he is. He loves it and will play for hours at a time. We formed a family band (brother plays the drums and dad plays the bass guitar and sings and I play the keyboard) and have played at a couple of events this year. That's what motivated me to get these stamp sets.

The background behind the guitarist is salted! I wet a piece of watercolor paper and brushed on the background colors with aqua painters and reinkers. Then I salted the paper to get the grainy effect before drying it with a heat gun. Here's a close up:

I used the stamp sets Extreme Guitar and Extreme Elements. Because the guitarist image was stamped on watercolor paper, which is a little rough, the solid image did not stamp solid so I went back over it with a my black SU! marker. Another option would have been to stamp it on whisper white, cut it out and adhere it to the watercolor paper.

I was reminded of the salted background technique from Michelle Zindorf's post. Thanks for the inspiration, Michelle!

This card measures 5 1/2 x 5 1/2.

Enjoy!

Julie

Hmmm?

2010-07-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure I love this card. I started it for a featured stamper challenge and then abandoned it. Then I put it together just before I read the color challenge which was Rich Razzleberry, Baja Breeze and So Saffron. Since this had all the colors except Baja Breeze, I was tempted to put a layer of Baja Breeze behind the center rectangle and use it for the challenge.

The stamp set I used was Artistic Etchings which I love. I embossed the center medallion with Irridescent Ice ep before coloring it with Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight and Rich Razzleberry. When I stamped the sentiment in covered it with white embossing powder some of the ink around it was still slightly damp and picked up some of the powder. I pulled out a paint brush and wiped a good bit of the stray ep away. It's a handy trick I learned many years ago!

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products now!

Baja Razzleberry Saffron Color Challenge Ruffle

2010-07-06T15:53:00.000-05:00

I used some left over Razzleberry Lemonade paper and So Saffron cardstock to create the tiered background. When punching out a border it really is easier to punch the middle and then the sides.

The flowers, butterfly and sentiment are from Watercolor Trio. I inked the stamp with versamark and then colored the stamp with River Rock, So Saffron and Rich Razzleberry markers. The versamark ink kept the image moist long enough for me to emboss the flowers with clear ep before brayering the background with Baja Breeze.

The little butterfly was inked with markers too, then stamped and cut out. I used a dot of the multi liquid glue to adhere the butterfly and keep it's wings free to flutter. The sentiment was stamped with white craft ink and embossed with white ep. And then, of course, I used a bit of my favorite ribbon!

Enjoy,

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products now.

Another Bermuda Bay

2010-07-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

Here's a card that I CASEd from stampinat6213, better known as Nancy Riley of IStamp. I've always admired her work. I changed the colors and used white ink and ep on the sentiment. I also simplified the background by stamping in Melon Mambo only. We used the True Friends stamp set to make this card at our retirement stamp camp last week. I loved the two-tone look of the flowers that Nancy did, but the reality was that was going to take too long to duplicate for our stamp camp!

Melon Mambo is now a part of the Brights collection. I love the new Brights collection. Actually, I love all the new collections. I made a fun birthday card this morning with the new brights - Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie and Tempting Turquiose with Wild Wasabi (from the subtles collection.) I used some retired stamps with all the new colors, but maybe I'll show it to you later. :) So cute!

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products now!

Clean and Simple Butterflies

2010-07-05T22:35:00.000-05:00

The Clean and Simple (CAS) challenge this week was to use a cake from Carrie's cakes as inspiration for a clean and simple card. Here's the cake I chose and this is the result.

If you look VERY closely you can see that I stamped white flowers from Vintage Vogue (c#118598, w#117690) on the white cardstock. The vine from the same set was stamped with River Rock ink (#109010). So happy to have River Rock back! The Beautiful Wings butterflies (#118138) were die cut from Pink Pirouette (#111351) and Pretty in Pink (#100459). I rubbed a little white ink on the butterflies to emphasize the embossing. The card base and the sentiment (from Teeny Tiny Wishes, #115370) are Pretty in Pink.

Very clean, very simple! I hope you like it!

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products now!

Goodbye, Bermuda Bay...Hello, Marina Mist

2010-07-05T06:00:00.002-05:00

(Do you need a new catalog?!? Leave a comment and I'll get one to you.)

I'm so glad Crazy for Cupcakes (#111618) made it into the new catalog! This is the cutest stack of cupcakes! And I love Melon Mambo cardstock (#115320). Unfortunately, Bermuda Bay didn't make the new color collection cut, but I'm thinking Marina Mist (#119682) is going to be my new Bermuda Bay. Love the lovely muted green-blue.

The main image was stamped with black stazon (#101406) and colored with markers: Soft Suede, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay, with a little pink very lightly painted on the cupcakes. Then the cupcakes were covered with Dazzling Diamonds glitter (#102023).

The background was stamped with the retired Wow Flowers with white craft ink (#101731).

Enjoy!

Julie
Click here to order Stampin' Up! products.
Check out the clearance rack!

Featured Stamper: cookiebaker

2010-07-04T23:41:00.001-05:00

Isn't that a great usernames - cookiebaker!? Charlene is the feature stamper on Splitcoast Stampers this week. This is the card I based my card on. I love clean and simple cards, so I was drawn to her CAS sample. I loved her oranges and yellows so I used Tangerine Tango and More Mustard for this card.

The flower is from Fifth Avenue Florals. I moved the sentiment to the center box and added dry embossing to the base of the card. You can't tell from this photo but I embossed the flower with irridescent ice embossing powder, painted it, covered it with versamark and embossed the whole image with clear embossing powder.
The embossing gives this flower some substance!!

Enjoy!

Julie
Click here to order Stampin' Up! products now!

Brayer/Embossing Magic!

2010-07-04T21:27:00.006-05:00

A customer showed me a great embossed card and I had to figure out how it was done. (Thanks, Karen!) The color was on the debossed part of the card instead of the raised image. So this is how you do it. You brayer color onto the embossing folder before you place your cardstock in the folder. When you put the paper in the folder and emboss it, the color is transferred to the background leaving the raised area without ink.

This first card was a simple card made for the CAS challenge at splitcoaststampers.com. The challenge was to use Blissful Blue, Pumpkin Pie and Certainly Celery on a clean and simple card. I brayered the Bashful Blue on the embossing folder, painted the embosssed flowers and swirls with Certainly Celery and Pumpkin Pie, and stamped the sentiment from Occasional Quotes in Pumpkin Pie. (I added glitter to the flower centers.) This card probably took me less than 10 minutes to make! No layers, just Whisper White cardstock and ink. So simple!

Here's a wedding card I made for a friend this weekend that takes the first card up a couple of notches. I brayered the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder (#115964) with Perfect Plum ink (#101437), then painted the center of the flowers with Baja Breeze ink (#111833) and added Dazzling Diamonds glitter (#102023) . This was layered on Perfect Plum cardstock (#101889) and a Baja Breeze card base (#111352).

This gorgeous Satin Organza White Ribbon (#114319) is perfect for any occasion! The Rose Red (#102544) and Whisper White (#100730) tags were die cut with the Lots of Tags Sizzlits (#114508). The sentiment from Occasional Quotes was stamped with white craft ink (#101731) and embossed in white (#109132), then layered over the ribbon with dimensionals (#104430).

Rose Red pattern paper was cut to cover the flap of the envelope for a matching set. This great color combo came from the new Color Coach (#121620), which I love!!

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products now!

Happy 4th!

2010-07-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

What a blessing it is to live in America and enjoy the freedoms that are ours! Happy Independence Day!

Enjoy!

Julie

New Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog

2010-07-03T15:51:00.005-05:00

2010-2011 Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog

Definitely Decorative CatalogSummer Mini Catalog May 1-August 31, 2010

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2010-07-03T11:42:00.008-05:00

We live in Houston. Luckily Hurricane Alex decided to go a different direction, but we are getting lots of rain! The good news is I'm getting a lot done at home.

I have four Four Square samples to show you. This is a recently retired stamp set and many of these samples are made with recently retired colors. Just a reminder that if you want something get it while it's still available! :o)

These cards were inspired by samples I found at splitcoaststampers.com.

This flowered thanks card was inspired by a card from Kathy LeDonne. We made this card at a stamp camp in the spring.
This pretty, lavender birthday card was inspired by darleenstamps.

This Tempting Turquoise and Cameo Coral Congrats card was inspired by CraftyJennie.

And finally this scallop square birthday card was inspired by darlenedesigns.

Isn't it nice that we don't have to come up with all the ideas by our selves! I love CASEing. It gives me a starting point to get the creative juices flowing.

Enjoy,

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products!

Sketch and Color Challenge

2010-03-16T14:15:00.004-05:00

Here's another that fits two Splitcoaststampers' challenges this week: first the sketch and second the color challenge.

The colors on this card are soooo rich in person. I started with a white card base that I punched with the eyelet punch. I backed that with a strip of Rich Razzleberry cardstock. The Cottage Wall designer paper is cut at 2 1/2" high in strips that measure, 1", 2" and 2 1/2". The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and is layered using the word window, modern label and large oval punches. The bird is punched from Rich Razzleberry and I used the paper piercer to add an 'eye'. The wing is punched from the designer paper and the leaves are punched from Mellow Moss and Old Olive cardstock.

Enjoy!

Julie

Since Last We Visited & CAS58

2009-10-15T21:29:00.006-05:00

It's seems that camera/computer issues always seem to get in the way of my regular posting on this blog. The camera stops working right or the computer stops working right, or both and next thing you know I'm out of the blogasphere. I had a really bad crash this time when my computer crashed and shortly after my pda/phone crashed before I got the phone synced with my computer again and I lost 10 years worth of data! Ugh!! Lessoned learned - I now have my phone auto syncing to the internet daily. So unless the whole world wide web goes down, I think I'm covered!

In addition to the holidays, here's a list of fun activities that happened around my house since I last posted...

tennis tournament

Kristin's visit

AJ & Nancy's visit

family camp

trip to Washington DC

Chris's graduation from HPD academy

teen camp

race for the cure

Dallin's eagle project

tennis camp

trip to Tennessee

Here's my Clean and Simple card for Splitcoaststampers challenge CAS58 - Chocolate Chip Mint.

I repeatedly stamped the long stem flower with white craft ink on Old Olive cardstock and mounted it on Chocolate Chip cardstock. The bird was stamped in Chocolate Chip on Natural White cardstock. I used a blender pen to add a touch of Bermuda Bay and Summer Sun to the bird. The ribbin is Chocolate taffeta tied through at flower ribbon slide. The bird was adhered with dimensionals. The base is Natural White cardstock with a score line all the way around the front at a 1/4 inch from the edge. Very Clean, Very Simple!

Enjoy!

Julie

The Big Shot Hero

2009-08-14T08:35:00.004-05:00

Have you seen this yet? You have to see this great video by Stampin' Up! demo Linda Heller and her husband Matt - it's so funny! You'll love it! Check it out here!

It's particularly humorous to me because we just used the Big Shot in 3 of the 5 projects we did last night at stamp camp. I'll share more about that later.....

Enjoy!
Julie
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Kris and Ty - Beatles tribute

2009-08-12T11:52:00.004-05:00

My daughter Kristin and her friend Ty were rehearsing for a talent show at BYU. Her cousin recorded the rehearsal and the performance. Such a fun arrangement of Beatles' Come Together!! Hope you like it! And yes, it's the same girl before and after the straightener....:o)

And here's the performance:

No Time to Play...

2009-08-04T06:50:00.003-05:00

Actually, I've been playing a lot - tennis that is. But I've had little time to play in my stamp room. We are headed to Corpus Christi for a tennis tournament in 2 days and I'm the acting captain for this event! And when I'm not on the court preparing, I've been busy, busy, busy with a million other things. I did get a chance to play in my stamp room this weekend, but I can't share it yet. I'm working on a surprise project for a friend and can't share it until the surprise is over.

I do have some other pictures from the last stamp camp that I could share, when I catch my breath. I have an open house that I'm getting ready for tonight for my NEW American School satellite school. I've been homeschooling my kids for 14 years and this year I will start 'homeschooling' other teens. My girls are in college and my boys, grade 9 and 12, are the only ones left in our homeschool so it's time to help others.

If your in the area, the open house for the school is at my house this evening, Tuesday, at 7 PM. There's another open house next Tuesday evening at 7 PM.

I hope you like the new layout. I'm still working on getting this blog where I want it.
Julie

Scrappin' Sunday #3 - Homemade Pre-mades

2009-07-26T23:50:00.007-05:00

Similar to last week's entry, these are pages that were made long before the pictures were added. A couple of years ago when my mom, my sister and I got together we had a scrapbook page swap. I added pictures to these pages these past February during our scrapbook fest.

Soon I'll add these pages to a real album and won't that look nice!!! Sadly, I have to admit that I have the albums on my shelf, but I haven't taken the time to actually put it all together.

Enjoy!

Julie Cluff

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More Stampin' Challenges

2009-07-23T10:42:00.002-05:00

Three for one: SCS sketch challenge, SCS color challenge and Stampin' B challenge.

I started by punching 3 - 1 1/2" and then stamping the blossom from Kind & Caring Thoughts at different angles with the Not Quite Navy. I used an aqua painter to pull the NQN ink onto the blossom and then finished with Pretty in Pink, Really Rust, Mellow Moss, and Old Olive. I used a versamark pen and clear embossing powder to emboss the painted flowers and leaves, before sponging with Pretty in Pink and sponging the edges with Really Rust.

The blossoms were layered on squares of Not Quite Navy, which was layered on the Pretty in Pink strip that was sponged with Really Rust. The white organza ribbon was tied on with a silver flower from the Hodgepodge Hardware.

The background is Whisper White, and the top is embossed with the big shot and SU texture plate. The texture was sponged with Not Quite Navy, then the piece was layered on Pretty in Pink and Not Quite Navy.

The little butterfly was white embossed on Really Rust, cut out and adhered with a glue dot. The sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes was stamped in the bottom corner with Not Quite Navy.

Enjoy!
Julie
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Request for Two Wonderful Families

2009-07-23T08:44:00.010-05:00

It has been a difficult week. My cousin, Scott, who I haven't seen in many years, drowned in a heroic effort to save his two young sons. You can read a little more about it here. And a little more about Scott here. The services are today. Please pray for his family. I cannot even imagine how difficult this is for them. (A trust fund has been set up for his three boys.)

On a little happier note, Scott was an actor/entertainer. He worked as a MRI technician and here is a fun video of the Napoleon Dynamite Dance he did for his coworkers.

Also, sadly, a dear friend is battling cancer and received some devastating news yesterday. Just when she thought she had seen the last of it, she found out that it has spread to her brain. She was admitted into the hospital last night. She is a wife and a mother of a grown son and a teenage daughter.

Lori is a friend in my neighborhood and the captain of our tennis team and one of our best players too. Our team won a spot in a tournament in Corpus Christi in August, and as of last week, Lori was expecting to get a release from the doctor in time to get back on the courts before the tournament. We were all looking forward to a fun, rewarding trip, and now we are just crushed that Lori and her family are having to deal with this horrible turn of events.

Please prayer for these two wonderful families!

Mojo Monday 96

2009-07-21T14:44:00.004-05:00

I would love to know who came up with the name Rich Razzleberry for this fun purple. I was so excited to see a new purple in the in-colors this year.

This card is for the Mojo Monday challenge that you can see here. I used Razzleberry Lemonade paper for the three paper panels in the back ground. These strips were adhered to a black 4" square and black brads were added to the top and bottom of each piece. Then this was attached to a 4 1/4" white card base.

The flower image is from SU!'s hostess set Kind & Caring Thoughts is so is the word phrase. A white circle and a slightly larger black circle were cut out with SU!'s circle cutter and glass mat. The flower was stamped with versamark and Rich Razzleberry twice without reinking, then embossed with clear ep. I added some black outlining to the underside of the flower petals and stem for more dimension. This image was then sponged with Bashful Blue and Old Olive, and the edge sponged with black.

The card was wrapped in wide Old Olive grosgrain ribbon and the circle image adhere on top with dimensionals. The words were selected from the word's on one of the sentiments from the set. The specific words were markered with black marker and then punched out. HINT: With Stampin' Up's great lever punches it's easy to stamp your image and then turn the punch over to center your stamped image in the punch for perfect, centered punching!

The oval label was made with the small oval punch, sponged with Bashful Blue, and layered on the Razzleberry cs punched word window with pewter brads from the vintage brads on each side.

Hope you like it!
Enjoy!
Julie
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Clean and Simple 24!

2009-07-20T22:14:00.003-05:00

This is a combined clean and simple (CAS) challenge from SplitcoastStampers. Last week's was an inspiration challenge and I chose this art work to inspire this simple no-layer card. This week's is a color challenge - turquoise, orange and yellow. So I combined the two and this is what I came up with.

I love these challenges - so simple! I know I've mentioned this before, but when I have no time for stamping I ALWAYS have time for a CAS card.

I quickly stamped the 3 flowers from Fifth Avenue Florals in the three colors, added lines vertically and horizontally to the side and bottom with a ruler and a Tempting Turquoise marker, stamped the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes and added glitter to the centers of the flowers. Done! Easy peasy!

HINT: When adding dazzling diamonds glitter with two way glue, don't overdo the glue. Just use the corner of the tip to apply it. Because it goes on almost transparent it is hard to tell how much you are adding and very little glue (and glitter) is necessary for BIG impact. This way you can add the bling and it will still look sophisticated.

Enjoy!

Julie

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Cool checkbook cover

2009-07-20T21:27:00.003-05:00

Another blast from the past. Stampin' Up! used to sell these clear checkbook covers that were perfect for adding your stamped artwork. I found another place you can get them here. A little disclaimer: I have never ordered from them so order at your own risk. :)

This was quite simple. I stamped the quote, "The secret to having it all is believing that you already do!" on pattern paper and layered that on more pattern paper. Then added the punched flower and button. Isn't this the perfect quote for a checkbook cover?!? HINT: Stampin' Up!'s pattern paper is perfect for this project because it's sturdy and 2 sided so the inside of the cover looks great too.

Enjoy!
Julie
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Scrappin' Sunday #2: The Super-Secret-Strategic Plan Or...

2009-07-19T10:00:00.002-05:00

The Triple S Plan for short.

Tuesday I wrote: "Last month my daughter and I scrapbooked her 3-week trip to Europe in just 3 evenings - 70 pages! Now that's super-mega-power scrapbooking. I'll show some of that later and share the super-secret-strategic plan...."

So here is the Triple S Plan for Super-Mega-Power scrapbooking:

1. Print and organize pictures chronologically and in themes

2. Print itinerary on card stock and trim left edge with spiral punch

3. Cut a stack of picture mats in white and a few in a couple other coordinating colors

4. Create a stack of very simple pages with strips of accent paper, color blocking and coordinated page elements. (The Simply Scrappin' kits are AWESOME for doing this!)

5. Adhere itinerary, pictures and memorabilia to pages.

Five easy steps to Super-Mega-Power Scrapbooking. My daughter Kristin printed and organized her pictures and photocopied her itinerary. I made a stack of photo mats and a stack of simple pages to place the pictures on. We did very little cropping of the pictures to keep it simple.

We chose to do it this way because she had very little time between semesters at college, and she wanted to get it in a book while the memories of the trip were still very fresh.

Enjoy!

Julie

Looking Back - Notepads

2009-07-15T17:12:00.009-05:00

Here's a blast from the past. These cute little notepads were made with the small black composition books. I made these a while back and used the Linen Print designer paper which is now retired. HINT: Stampin' Up!'s two sided paper is perfect for this project: the paper is sturdy and using one side of the paper for the covers and the other side of the paper for the binding gives you perfectly coordinated books every time!

These are simple to make. Trace the front cover and the back cover on the back side of the pattern you want on your front and back. After cutting out the front and back, adhere it to the cover with liquid glue. I use the Tombow Mono Multi. HINT: Use a foam brush to spread the glue to the edges for complete coverage.

Cut the binding strip 2 1/2" x 6", apply glue using the same method, and wrap the binding. HINT: Use a bone folder to wrap the strip tightly around the binding. Use the tip of the bone folder to score the corners and the side of the bone folder to press the paper to the book on all sides.

Then decorate the cover. I stamped titles along the binding on each notebook, color on color, and added a label to the front.

Enjoy!

Julie

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Scrappin' Sunday #1

2009-07-14T19:39:00.008-05:00

This is a page I made during my last scrapbooking fest with my sister in Feb. of this year. I didn't take the pages out of the covers to photograph them so they are a little hard to see, but if you click on the image you will be able to see a larger picture. And I haven't put it in a proper album yet either.

This is a pretty simple page. I used various stamp sets and the Big Shot Die Machine to make the tags. The main title "Scrapbooking Fest" is printed on the cards stock, then cut out and over stamped "2009" in large Groovy Guava numbers. The flowers are punched with the Stampin' Up! flower punches and layered. I used Wild Wasabi and Guava for this page, which are now retired.

But I know the first thing you asked yourself after reading the title of this post is "Why Sunday?" Because I intended to post this on Sunday and make scrapbooking my theme every Sunday, but it's now Tuesday and I wanted to share it NOW, so....there you have it! Of course, now you're thinking - "that's not a very good explanation" - and you would be right!Everyone has a different approach to scrapbooking. My sister and I get together usually at least once a year for a week or two just to scrapbook. We finish 75-100 pages during our scrapbooking fests. That is my "Scrapbooking Strategy."

The philosophy behind this is that it takes a special kind of creative energy to scrapbook, and it makes a special kind of mess, so we get it over with in one big BANG. And you can see we make quite a mess! (Would you like to see what is in that closet at the back of this picture? Here's a clue: it is not just a closet; it is a to-die-for work station and storage haven. I'll share pictures of it later if you would like to see them.) I'm on the right; my sister Kari is to your left.

This is me eating at my scrapbooking table. Literally, all we do is sleep, eat and MOSTLY scrapbook! We did go to a couple of movies and watch American Idol.

I made 76 pages that week!

Last month my daughter and I scrapbooked her 3-week trip to Europe in just 3 evenings - 70 pages! Now that's super-mega-power scrapbooking. I'll show some of that later and share the super-secret-strategic plan....

Enjoy,

Julie

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Razzle Dazzle Sketch

2009-07-11T19:29:00.004-05:00

(Don't forget to register for updates to this website on the right side bar.)

Here's the latest splitcoaststampers sketch. It came out on Wednesday and I'm being very slow about getting it done! This cards has been at different points of development on my desk for a couple of days!

It's been a busy week. I'm starting a school at my home for grades 6-12 this fall and I've been busy trying to get everything in order. Wednesday night I had an information meeting for parents at my house and Thursday I spent the day in training. Busy, busy, busy.

I've been homeschooling my kids for 14 years. My two oldest daughters are in college, but I still have my sons, ages 14 and 17 at home. We're inviting 4-6 more kids to come do school with us using the New American School curriculum. It's a achievement-oriented program that I've been using with my boys for the past year. And I love it!

So here is my rendition of this weeks sketch! Hope you like it.
Because I made this card is numerous short stamping sessions, it is a interesting design mix from SU! Razzle Dazzle set. I started with the center piece in which I stamped the background block on Whisper White cs with second generation Crushed Curry. HINT: 2nd generation means that I inked the stamp and stamped it once on scrap paper before stamping on my project.This is sometimes referred to as stamping off.

The flower was then stamped over the Crushed Curry in Melon Mambo. I added glitter to the Melon flowers using 2-way glue and dazzling diamonds glitter.

The base of the card is white layered with black. The black looked plain so I stamped the small flower with white craft ink. On top of the black I layered pieces from the Razzleberry Lemonade. Then I added Crushed Curry cs on black cs and wrapped the polka dot Melon Mambo ribbon around the front of the card. HINT: I used the crop-a-dile to punch a hole off the left side of the card to thread the ribbon through.

The main piece was then added to the front with dimensionals. I stamped the sentiment on Crushed Curry with black stazon and punched it out with the word window punch. I punched the Melon dp with the large oval punch and punched the black cs with the designer label punch. These were layered with the stylized silver hodgepodge label plate. The large silver brads in the top left corner are from the same hodgepodge set.

I hope you like it!

Enjoy!

Julie
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Butterfly Dream

2009-07-07T00:53:00.005-05:00

A color challenge: Tempting Apricot Cocoa Breezes (Tempting Turquoise, Apricot Appeal, Close t Cocoa and Baja Breeze). I have not used Apricot Appeal in ages even though it used to be a favorite. I pulled all the stamp pads out to work on this challenge in the morning and before you know it I was on a roll and couldn't stop. Then once I finished it, I had to get it posted before I went to bed. LOL

I used a retired SU set, Happiness Always, that I never got to play with much when it was current, so I decided to pull it out and see what I could do. I stamped the butterflies in Apricot Appeal and then Close to Cocoa with the detail stamp. The flowers are Baja Breeze overstamped with Tempting turquiose with an Apricot Appeal center.

The butterflies were cut out, glittered and then adhered with glue dots in the center so their wings are free to fly....The Baja Breeze layer was embossed with polka dots with the Big Shot from Stampin' Up!

Enjoy!

Julie

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Birthday Circles

2009-07-06T15:58:00.009-05:00

I'm so excited! Lauraos mentioned my card as a favorite at the Splitcoaststampers CAS (Clean and Simple) favorites forum. Isn't that nice? And I didn't even know that forum existed.

Here's my CAS entry for this week. The challenge was birthday cards. I used the new Circle Circus set and stamped with the new IN colors: Melon Mambo and Soft Suede. Pretty clean and simple!

I added Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the flowers on the Melon Mambo circles and tied some polka dot Melon Mambo ribbon around the Melon paper strip that goes across the middle of the card. I snipped the ribbon a little differently than I usually do for added interest. Hope you like it!

I can tell this is going to be a "go-to" set because of the versatility. You stamp in pastels you have a baby card, stamp in red & green - Christmas, orange & black - Halloween...you get the idea.

Enjoy!

Julie

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Other Tidbits - Sea World in June

2009-07-05T20:10:00.008-05:00

Before Kristin returned to college a couple of weeks ago, Ron and I took a weekend trip to San Antonio to visit Sea World with Kristin (20) and James (14). Unfortunately, Dallin (17) had to work so he wasn't able to make the trip with us...and, sadly, as it turned out, they changed his schedule, and he probably could have gone with us anyway!

Here's a few pictures of our day. We spent the first part of the day at the waterpark (which explains the messy-hair/no-makeup look), and we spent the second half of the day watching the shows and riding the rides. We've learned from experience that the water park is packed in the hot afternoons. Of course, it's hot all the time so there is no bad time for water!!

Ready for the Sea Lion and Walrus show!

Waiting for Shamu!

Enjoy!

Julie

Happy July 4th!!!

2009-07-03T09:01:00.001-05:00

Happy Independence Day! Here's my contribution to your 4th of July celebration.

I woke up this morning with this card in my head. The Asian Artistry 'grasses' were stamped in black craft ink and embossed with clear ep. Then I used Ruby Red and Not Quite Navy markers to color this flag from Star-Spangled Banner (retired SU) and stamped it on the whisper white card stock above the grasses.

I used a black pen to underline the red stripes on the flag and added a little white highlights with my white gel pen to add depth. I then colored the whole image with a VersaMarker and embossed with clear ep. I used a black pen and ruler to add the flag poll.

I brayered starting from the top of the card with Baja Breeze down 3/4 of the card. Then I used Not Quite Navy to brayer the top. From the bottom I brayered Creamy Carmel. The edges were sponged with black stazon. It was then layered on white, Ruby Red and Not Quite Navy cardstock.

A brad was added to the top of the flag pole. The tag label was made with the tag corner punch with brads added to each end and then the label was attached with dimensionals.

Enjoy!

Julie
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Bold and Bright Flamingos with NO Flamingos...

2009-07-02T16:42:00.008-05:00

I saw the Bold and Bright challenge on Splitcoaststampers.com "Ways to Use It" forum several days ago and I pulled out the Pink Flamingo Designer Series Paper from Stampin' Up! This pack of paper has sat on my desk just waiting for me to figure out how I wanted to use it. Well I saw the sketch challenge yesterday (picture at the top of the page), and I decided this was my chance to do both! So here it is.

So I punched out all these little circles from the designer paper, but the flamingos on the paper were too big for these 1" circles; thus, we have Pink Flamingo with NO flamingo.

The only thing stamped on this 5" square card is the little greeting at the bottom right from the new SU set Teeny Tiny Wishes stamped in Close to Cocoa. The circles are 1" punched from the Pink Flamingo paper. I then added LOTS of glitter and a glitter brad to the center flower. (My 20 yo daughter would be proud. She loves glitter.) HINT: To make a glitter brad, roll the head of your brad on a glue dot and then dip it in Dazzling Diamonds glitter. Easy, easy with fun results.

Each circle was attached to a Chocolate Chip cs scallop circle (Martha Stewart 1" scallop punch) and then adhered to the card with dimensionals. The Summer Sun pattern paper is also from Pink Flamingo. That was attached to a square of Chocolate Chip cs and then attached to the Whisper White cs base.

Here's a close up at a different angle.

Enjoy!

Julie
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"Happy Birthday, Human"

2009-07-01T00:19:00.008-05:00

HOT OFF THE PRESS: FROM THE BRAND NEW STAMPIN' UP! CATALOG THAT IS EFFECTIVE TODAY! TAKE A LOOK HERE! Be sure and check out the latest promotions which includes the scallop punch on sale 30% off until July 5th.

Don't you love that - "Happy Birthday, Human." I can think of some computer gurus that would get a kick out of this card and image. Or maybe Trekkies or Star Wars junkies. I don't know, but I think it is so cute.

These images are from the brand new Stampin' Up! set Lots of Bots. The robot is stamped in black stazon and colored with the fabulous SU markers. Now I have no idea why it photographed this way, but in real life the blue on this robot is much darker and matches better. I colored the robot with Ballet Blue marker, Summer Sun, Real Red, Only Orange and Bashful Blue. I added some glitter to him and he is so cute in his glitter, but I know you can barely see it. Look closely in this detail shot.

The colors came from the splitcoaststampers.com color challenge: Kraft, So Saffron and Night of Navy. Again the blue is very bright in the picture, not the color it is on the card itself. Anyway, I punched him out with a 2 1/2 " punch and layered on a scallop circle of So Saffron pattern paper and Night of Navy circle. I punched the So Saffron and the Night of Navy with a 3" circle punch, then took the guard off my corner rounder and scalloped the edges of the So Saffron piece. It makes a perfect layer. The scallops didn't meet up exactly right so I positioned it under the "Happy Birthday, Human" tag.

I stamped the computer coding text in Night of Navy on Kraft paper, punched the corners with the tag punch, layered it on Night of Navy cs and added colorful brads. The Night of Navy card base was layered with Whisper White and So Saffron pattern paper and the colored brads were added to the top right hand corner.

I started making this card and realized that the Mojo Monday sketch this week was perfect for this card so I used their sketch and modified it slightly.

Enjoy!

Julie
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Mojo Monday with Sneak Peek

2009-06-29T21:21:00.003-05:00

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This card was inspired by the sketch challenge at Mojo Monday. It's so fun to start with great inspiration like this sketch. I used every stamp in the new level 2 hostess set, Asian Artistry, except the dragonfly. This images are so lovely and so fun to work with.

(All supplies from Stampin' Up!) I started with whisper white cs, stamped the grassy image in creamy carmel, then inked the bird on the branch in Old Olive, Ruby Red and Close to Carmel markers and stamped over the previous image. I used the aqua painter to pull the color from the outline of the bird to color it in a little. I punched a 1" hole out of a scrap piece of paper and sponged the sun in the upper left corner with summer sun. I used the spritzer tool to spritz the image with chocolate chip, then sponged the edges first with Ruby Red, then Chocolate Chip.

This was layered on Chocolate Chip cs with the bottom edge scallop punched. The Ruby Red layer was stamped with the floral image in Ruby Red and Chocolate Chip. The base of the card is Chocolate Chip with a layer of So Saffron pattern paper. The ribbon is from Ribbon Originals Dress Up. The brads were layered on 1/4" Ruby Red circles.

I selected a phrase from the sentiment that comes with this set and inked it with Chocolate Chip. The background was stamped with Ruby Red, 3rd generation. Hint: 3rd generation means that I inked the stamp and stamped it twice on scrap paper before stamping on my project. Then it was sponged with Chocolate Chip.

The edges of the Designer Label in Ruby Red cs and the Wide Oval in Chocolate Chip cs were sponged with Chocolate Chip. Finally vintage brads were added to the top and bottom of the layered tag and the tag was attached to the card with dimensionals. Here is a close up of the tag.

Hope you like it.

Enjoy!

Julie
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Pocket Thanks

2009-06-29T21:04:00.003-05:00

This is my second sample for the clean and simple "Make It Sparkle" challenge over at splitcoaststampers.com. I notice that a lot of stampers add lots of embellishments, colors and layers to their clean and simple cards, but I really like to keep them truly clean and simple. I used the same colors as the last one, a similar but smaller image and changed up the layout.

The image is from Pocket Silhouettes. I inked up the silhouette with versamark and then Melon Mambo. I then embossed with iridescent ice ep. I stamped the image three times in a bouquet. HINT: Emboss after each stamp of the image. Clean the stamp, ink, stamp the image and emboss again. If you wait to emboss after you have stamped the whole picture your ink may not be wet enough to hold the ep for good coverage.

The center circle is punched with a 2 1/2" punch and the card dimensions are 4" x 4 1/2". Very clean, very simple!!!

Enjoy,

Julie Cluff

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Clean and Simple 21!

2009-06-28T22:48:00.004-05:00

Here's a sneak peek at a new hostess set, Kind & Caring Thoughts, with a new in-color Melon Mambo. The Clean and Simple challenge was to use sparkle, so I inked up with versamark and Melon Mambo and embossed with iridescent ice ep. Then I stamped the sentiment, tied the knot and attached it to a 3" x 6" card. That's it - clean and simple.

The new catalog starts this Wednesday! Of course, that means if there is something you want from this past year's catalog, you better act quick!

Enjoy!

Julie
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Watercolor Rose

2009-06-27T16:32:00.000-05:00

This beautiful rose is from Fifth Avenue Florals. I used the "reinker spread technique", but I wish I had watched this tutorial BEFORE I made this flower. It's a simple technique with fantastic results.

I used watercolor paper which in retrospect was probably not the best choice. Shimmering White cs would have been better. I stamped the rose in versamark and embossed with clear ep. Then I wet the paper with a large paint brush. Again a small spray bottle would have been a better choice. Then I used an aquapainter to touch the paper with reinkers and let the color spread on the wet paper.

Recipe:
All Stampin' Up! products
stamps: Fifth Avenue Florals, Fine Lace bg
paper: Lavendar Lace cs, Pink Pirouette (retiring 6/30/09), Whisper White cs, watercolor paper ink: Lavendar Lace, Pink Pirouette (retiring 6/30/09), Rose Red, versamark
accessories: Pink Pirouette ribbon (retiring 6/30/09), scallop punch, paper piercer, dimensionals

Flock of Birds

2009-06-26T15:01:00.001-05:00

These fun little "Zoofari" birds are retiring at the end of the month! Don't miss your chance to get this adorable set. This is almost an exact replica of the sample in the Idea Book and Catalog. You really don't have to be a creative genius to enjoy creating attractive cards that your friends and family will love! Find something you like and make it your own. The Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog is great for that.

It's a simple card stamped in black and watercolored with reinkers - So Safron, Bordering Blue and Pink Pirouette. The base of the card is the lovely Pink Pirouette that is retiring at the end of the month. The sentiment is from Sincere Salutations. Hint: You can just use part of a sentiment by inking only the word or phrase you want to stamp with a SU marker.

Enjoy!
Julie

This card measures 6 1/2" by 3 1/4" and fits the Open-End Envelopes (#107286). The birds are stamped on the envelope in Bordering Blue.

I Did It! Verve Challenge

2009-06-25T07:58:00.008-05:00

Busy, busy day today! I just returned from another heartbreak tennis match. I normally play doubles, but today was my first EVER competitive singles match, and I am no spring chicken. (See picture of grandbaby here!) And I lost in the 3rd set tie breaker. It looked like this: 1st set 6-3, 2nd set 3-6, third set tie breaker 6-10. UGH! It's only 100 degrees here in Houston - all that sweating for nothing!!! I thought some of your tennis fans might appreciate this tidbit.

I just finished the last of the Verve Release Challenge! Later I'll post a picture of the 5 cards I made from their 5 sketches. It's so fun trying new things!

(All supplies from Stampin' Up!) I stamped the Upsy Daisy in black craft ink and embossed with Iridescent Ice. I love that stuff, if you haven't noticed yet. Too bad it doesn't photograph well, but, then again, it could be the photographer... I Then I cut it out using the coluzzle cutter. Finally I brayered the top with Baja Breeze and the bottom with Kiwi Kiss and sponged the edges with black.

Then I cut 2 circles a size bigger in Black and Kiwi Kiss. I removed the guard from my corner rounder and scallop the edge of the Kiwi Kiss circle and layered it all up. I'll have to do a little tutorial on that later, but not today as I have 18 women coming over tomorrow night for a stamp camp! Yikes! I've got to get ready....

The base is Black and white layers with angle cut Urban Garden paper on top. The ribbon is tied around the white cs and pattern paper layer. Then I added designer hardware and buttons to the bottom corner. Because the base is black I added a layer of white and the pattern paper inside with a circle of the embossed flowers to the left of the sentiment. Here's a close up of the inside:

It was fun playing along with these challenges.

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products.

Stampin' Up!'s Upsy Daisy, #111710, $18.95

God's Beauty - Butterfly

2009-06-24T22:43:00.007-05:00

Another challenge from Splitcoaststampers.com. I was working on another project when I stumbled upon the idea and inspiration for this card. Hope you like it!

As always, all the supplies I used are from Stampin' Up! The center piece is stamped with the images from God's Beauty. I used an aquapainter and reinkers to add color. Hint: I add a little extra water to my brush to get a good mix on my reinkers, then I test the color on a scrap of paper to test. Remember, you can always go darker but it's almost impossible to go lighter.

The flowers are Blush Blossom, Summer Sun and Cameo Coral. The leaves are Mellow Moss and Old Olive. And the butterfly is Brocade Blue and Summer Sun. I overlapped the blue and yellow on the butterfly wings so it graduates with mixed green in the middle. I hoped you could see it in this close up of the popped up butterfly, but it looks better in real life.

The main image was layered on Cameo Coral and then black cs. The Summer Sun panels are from the Pink Flamingo designer paper pack and layered on black cs. The center piece is also popped up with dimensionals. The base of the card is Blush Blossom layered on Black cs. The sentiment was stamped in the bottom right corner and the black gingham ribbon was added.

I was tempted to sponge the edges on this one but I'm very happy with the clean look.

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products.

Pink Flamingo Designer Series Paper, $9.95, #113976

Lovey Dovey Color Inspiration #55

2009-06-24T01:06:00.001-05:00

This card is serving double duty. The colors are from Color Inspiration #55. And my only question is where can I find those CUTE shoes! Aren't those smart looking??? And the layout is from Verve's Challenge VSJUN05. These great colors remind me of a card I made with SU's Wanted stamp set, but I decided to do something a little different than what I normally would with this color selection.

The little Lovey Dovey heart has been sitting on my desk for some time and needed a home. It's stamped in black and embossed with Iridescent Ice ep, then punched with the SU heart punch. I originally stamped this on Vanilla cardstock but sponged it with More Mustard to match this card.

The Basic Gray pattern paper is from Urban Garden and the rest is stamped. I stamped the Baroque Motif swirl on the main image with More Mustard, then added the Really Rust flowers. I used the Motif swirl again on the More Mustard background paper with Vanilla craft ink. The Really Rust background cs is stamped with versamark. Here's a close up:

The scallop layer is sponged first with More Mustard, then Really Rust and finally Basic Gray. The scallop edge is paper pierced and then this piece was layered on Really Rust and Black cs, after which I wrapped it in the gray taffeta ribbon.

I added silver brads to the Basic gray pieces and finally adhered the heart to the front with dimensionals. I think my favorite part is the vanilla swirl on the mustard card stock. I just love that swirl.... The base of the card is Basic Black cs. Hint: When you have a dark card base, either use a white gel pen to add your note or adhere a matching light cs to the inside for writing your message.

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products.

Baroque Motifs, #113490, $27.95

Elegant Cherish

2009-06-23T13:17:00.006-05:00

I love the look of this in real life. But tone on tone is so hard to photograph. And you cannot possibly see all the shimmer and shine on this card in the picture. The inspiration for this card came from three places - the stamp, the paper and the Verve Sketch.

I started with this shimmering paper from SU's Taste of Textile pack and decided on my color scheme. This paper is just gorgeous! And it's on sale 25% off until the end of the month while supplies last. The picture is below but it does not do this paper justice.

I stamped the Cherish from Illuminations (retiring at the end of the month) on Whisper White in Sahara Sand and embossed it with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. Hint: By inking the stamp first with versamark and then the classic ink color, your ink will stay wet long enough for your embossing powder to adhere and heat.

After embossing 'Cherish' I stamped over it in white craft with the French Script background stamp and embossed that with clear embossing powder. It really adds some great texture. The main image and the textile paper were layered on Sahara Sand. The Pretties Kit flowers, beads and pearls were added and voila!

This is such a beautiful stamp set! We used this one for my daughter's wedding thank yous. I stamped and embossed 'Thanks' in silver on the front of SU's 5" x 3 1/2" note cards that comes with envelopes. It was easy, easy and they looked great too.

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products.

Illuminations, #114990, $30.95, retiring at the end of the month!

Now Only $7.46, Taste of Textile Specialty Paper, #113991, on sale 25% off, now until the end of the month or while supplies last. (These wonderful papers provide a textile feel and add subtle dimension to your paper crafting. 12x12 sheets: 2 ea. of 5 paper types, total of 10 sheets. 105 # Cover Bronze Metallic, 80 # Coated White Pin Stripe, 80 #Cover Black Linen Texture, Printed Kraft Stampin' Up! Card Stock Close to Cocoa, 48 # Clear Vellum printed Polka Dots Not Quite Navy)

Mojo Razzleberry Lemonade - Yum!

2009-06-23T12:05:00.007-05:00

Another sneak peek at the yummy Razzleberry Lemonade designer paper available July 1st. This card uses three of Stampin' Up!'s new In Colors - Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, and Crushed Curry. The base of the card is Melon Mambo and the background is layered with different prints from the designer papers. Hint: A paper strip is a great alternative to ribbon across your card.

This great layout is from Mojo Monday's sketch challenge 92. This is a classic-meets-new card as I used a retiring stamp set with new colors being released soon. I stamped the flower from Heartfelt Thanks (#114980, retiring June 30th!) in these three great new colors - Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, and Crushed Curry, then layered it with Crushed Curry and Rich Razzleberry cardstock. The bottom edge of the Razzleberry layer was trimmed with the scallop edge punch (#112091).

The small square was punched and layered and then topped with designer hardware. The designer hardware is on sale now 50% off, only $2.48 per package until June 30th while supplies last. Hint: The designer hardware is very easy to attach with a crop-a-dile. I also added to silver brads to the left side of the floral image for balance.

Lastly, a ribbon was added to the left side of the paper strip and the sentiment 'thanks' was stamped in white and then embossed in white in the lower right corner.

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products.

Heartfelt Thanks, #114980, $32.95, retiring June 30th!

Scallop Edge Punch, #112091, $15.95

Sunny Bird

2009-06-23T11:46:00.004-05:00

My take on the color challenge this week (CC224) at splitcoaststampers.com. The challenge was to use Pacific Point, Summer Sun and Tangerine Tango. I would have never used this combination, but I really like the results.

The pattern paper is the new Razzleberry Lemonade that will be available to order July 1st. I stamped a second generation solid flower in Tangerine Tango. Hint: Second generation means that you have inked the stamp and stamped on scrap paper once before stamping on your project to make a lighter image. Then I stamped the line image in Tangerine Tango.

The oval was cut out with my coluzzle and sponged with Summer Sun. The edges were then sponged with Tangerine Tango. I punched the top of the oval with two holes and threaded the ribbon through the back and attached the oval to the pattern paper. The bird was stamped in Pacific Point, cut out and attached with dimensionals. Hint: I cut the thin edge pieces of my dimensionals to attach to each part of the bird for a secure mount. Don't let these edge pieces go to waste.

The pattern paper was layered on Whisper White cardstock that was trimmed with zigzag scissors before mounting it to the Summer Sun cardstock base. The lovely pacific point corduroy buttons (#114341) added just the right touch on the bottom left. And they are on sale 50% off until the end of the month for only $4.95 while supplies last.

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products.

Blue Giraffe

2009-06-22T08:12:00.008-05:00

I was inspired by 2 of featured-stamper Christy's cards. My main inspiration was this card. I used a giraffe image and the basic layout. I loved the way Christy uses color, and the way I used the colors in this card was inspired by this cute dog card.

The giraffe from Wild About You (retiring June 30th!) is stamped in Pacific Point (also retiring June 30th!) on Whisper White cs. The spots and ground shadows were colored with Blush Blossom marker. The adorable red flowers are from the same set. I colored just the flower (not the stem) with a Real Red marker and stamped. This was offset layered on Pacific Point and black cs.

One thing I loved about Christy's card is the background that was stamped with the Patterns Print background stamp and then overstamped with images in another color. I stamped this Sahara Sand background with Sahara Sand then overstamped with dotted pattern with Tempting Turquoise craft ink. Hint: You'll need to use craft ink (which sits on top of the paper like paint) for the true color to show up.

The flower was punched from various circle punches and the scallop punch. Hint: When punching out a stamped image, stamp first then turn the punch over and center the stamped image in the punch and punch away. It is a nightmare to do it any other way! And the Stampin' Up! punches are so great for lining things up! I love, love, love punches!

Enjoy!
Julie
Click here to order Stampin' Up! products.

Wild About You, #115110, $25.95 USD

Clean and Simple 20!

2009-06-22T08:05:00.009-05:00

The Clean and Simple challenge today was paper piecing. (CAS20) This little balloon from Crazy for Cupcakes is perfect. I stamped the balloons on the white card base first. Then I stamped just the balloon on designer paper scraps, cut them and adhered them over the stamped balloon on the card. Easy!

The sentiment was stamped with Apricot Appeal. I then stamped in red on a scrap of white, cut out BEST, adhered to a scrap of bashful blue and attached with dimensionals.

Enjoy!
Julie
Click here to order Stampin' Up! products.

Crazy for Cupcakes, #111618, $23.95 USD

Wild About You

2009-06-21T14:45:00.004-05:00

This fun little elephant was inspired by a card I saw by Jeanne S. at splitcoaststampers.com. The elephant was inked with Bashful Blue then I used a Not Quite Navy marker and ink pad to ink the edges and to stamp the small flower directly on the elephant stamp. Then I huffed and stamped the elephant. Hint: Breathing or "huffing" on your stamp adds moisture to the ink before you stamp. (The elephant is from SU Wild About You. It's retiring at the end of this month, so if you can't live without it send me a message and I'll order it for you.)

The elephant was then masked and the sky and grass were sponged in. I used a Garden Green marker to add the grass blades. Hint: Turn the image upside down and draw the grass by pulling the marker towards you.

The base was pieced with Not Quite Navy and Pretty in Pink cardstock stamped with the Boho Backgrounds. Not Quite Navy was stamped in white craft ink and the pink was stamped with versamark. I used the cropadile to punch to holes in the top left corner of the main image to add the ribbon bow.

New Look!

2009-06-21T09:53:00.004-05:00

Check out my new blog look! What do you think? Any ideas or suggestions? Would love to hear your comments.

Enjoy!

Julie

Clean and Simple 19!

2009-06-20T14:19:00.004-05:00

Another Splitcoaststampers.com challenge. The clean and simple challenge, CAS19. This card measures 5 1/2" square. The front is Lavendar Lace layered on white and Elegant Eggplant. The rose was stamped with white craft ink, then masked and the smaller flower was stamped with Lavendar Lace. Hint: When you make a mask for a stamp attach it under the lid of the stamp set and you'll have it for the next time. This card took me less than 5 minutes to make because I had previously made the mask for the rose.

The sentiment is stamped in Elegant Eggplant. And don't you just love this fabulous ribbon? It's one of my favorite ribbons in the current Stampin' Up! catalog - Whisper White Organza Ribbon (#114319).

Enjoy!

Julie

Click here to order Stampin' Up! products.

Friendly Bird

2009-06-20T14:01:00.003-05:00

OK - these colors may look familiar! This card was made with the colors from the color challenge (Baja Breeze, Ruby Red, Whisper White) and the Featured Stamper Challenge (FS123) at Splitcoaststampers.com. I was inspired by this card of sumtoy's. Isn't this a cute layout? I really liked the pieced background.

I stamped the bird from the SU stamp set Friends 24-7 with Basic Brown. Now here is the tricky part and if you look very closely you can see what I did. I inked just the ends of the limb and stamped them at the end of the first stamped image to extend the branch to the edge of the paper.

I used reinkers and aquapainter brushes to paint the image then covered it with versamark pen and embossed with clear embossing powder. Then I sponged with Baja Breeze and sponged the edges with Not Quite Navy. I used Urban Oasis pattern paper pieced on Whisper White cs for the background.

The flowers are from the SU pretties kit. I painted them with Ruby Red and Baja Breeze reinkers then layered with a button. Hint: I attached the flowers with a brad and adhered the button to the brad with a glue dot. This gave it a more secure hold.

Splitcoaststampers sketch challenge

2009-06-20T13:43:00.005-05:00

I love sketches and this card was inspired by the splitcoaststampers sketch challenge SC233 and the color challenge CC223 (Baja Breeze, Ruby Red, Whisper White) Aren't these great colors!?!
I stamped the flowers with Basic Brown then water colored with reinkers. Then I covered the stamped image with versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder before sponging with the Baja Breeze ink. The outside edges were then sponged lightly with brown. The Baja Breeze background was stamped with white craft ink and embossed with white embossing powder. Hint: Stamping in white and embossing with white gives you a nice crisp image.

All the pieces were layered with Chocolate Chip cs. The main image was adhered with dimensionals and the buttons were added with glue dots.

Silhouettes

2009-06-17T22:43:00.006-05:00

Just a couple of quick pictures of cards I made a long time ago. The inspiration for these cards came from a papercrafting magazine I think, but it has been too long ago for me to remember exactly. The designer paper is the old yummy chocolate pattern paper from Stampin' Up! It may be hard to tell but the main image on the first card is stamped on Whisper White cs and layered on Very Vanilla cs. It's a cool effect, combining the two neutrals.

On the second card I stamped the image with Pink Passion and then added dots of brown. I really like the bright pop of color with the brown! Also instead of layering the focal image the edges are heavily inked with Chocolate Chip ink with the direct to paper technique.

The past couple of weeks my 20 yo daughter and I have been working on scrapbooking her recent trip to Europe. We have been doing some assembly line scrapbooking - nothing fancy, but cute and quick. I'll get some pictures posted in the next couple of days, along with recent Splitcoaststamper challenges and upcoming Stampin' Up! stamp camp projects.

Cards in a Snap and Masking

2009-06-15T07:20:00.008-05:00

Here's two simple cards that I promised you. The first was inspired by a gift certificate from a gardening center. I was asked to decorate an envelope to go with it and loved the quick results on the vanilla envelope so I reproduced it on a simple card. I don't think I would have thought of this color combo. Later I added vanilla taffeta ribbon and that added just the right extra without too much extra time. I used the two hole punch and punched to the left of the sentiment and then tied my ribbon in a small bow.

The base is SU Elegant Eggplant, which is hard to see in this photo. Then the flowers from SU Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set were stamped on Very Vanilla. The large flower was stamped first with Elegant Eggplant, then I masked it and stamped the smaller flower with Cameo Coral around it. The sentiment from Heartfelt Thanks (retiring this month) was stamped last with Elegant Eggplant. If your worried about stamping the sentiment straight use a stamp-a-ma-jig.

The longest part of this process is creating a mask. I use printer paper scraps to create my masks. Just stamp your image on your paper and cut it out. Then I use a very small amount of SNAIL adhesive to adhere it over my stamped image. There's a great tutorial on masking at splitcoaststampers.com. They use a post it note that already has adhesive on it. After you create your mask, put it in the stamp set box and reuse it over and over again. Now this card really is VERY quick and easy.

This second card was a quick thank you we created for Stephanie to send out after her baby shower. It's on SU Regal Rose and Whisper White cardstock. I used flowers from Doodle This (retiring at the end of the month) stamped randomly around the edges in Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose and Pink Pirouette ink. The sentiment is from Cheery Chat (previously retired) in Regal Rose.

There you have it. These cards took just a few minutes to create - cards in a snap. Stamping and creating doesn't have to take hours!

Enjoy!

Julie

Easter treats

2009-05-15T22:21:00.005-05:00

I know this post is waaaay out of season, but I thought I would show you my VERY last minute creation for the kids at Easter. My kids are older (14-22) and I decided I was tired of the Easter basket mess, and yet, they all still want Easter candy, so this is what I came up with. And when I say last minute I do mean last minute. I purchased the candy on Saturday and made the little bags Easter Sunday before everyone got up! Unfortunately my group picture is blurry, but they did look cute up there all lined up. And away from the dog too!

I printed the Happy Easter greetings on whisper white card stock,then stamped a background image on them from the SU Springtime Smile retired set. You have to look closely to see the stamped image. Then I layered it with pattern paper and cardstock. On the girl's tags I added a little squiggly border with black, fine-tip pen.

Sometimes I'm happiest with the stuff I do quickly. I tend to keep it clean and simple that way. Later this week I'll show you a couple of CAS (clean and simple) cards I made recently. I was happy to see that CAS is one of the new challenges at splitcoaststampers.com. That might be a challenge I can participate in.

Enjoy!

Julie

Just Because

2009-05-13T23:11:00.003-05:00

I got my inspiration for this card on splitcoaststampers.com. Unfortunately it was long enough ago that I don't remember to whom to give credit. This picture is a little blurry. I stamped the silhouettes on the kraft cs then dotted the flowers with a white gel pen. Then the same silhouettes were stamped in white craft ink on black cs and gel penned. (Is that a word?) And inserted into piece of the stylized silver hardware. That piece was then backed with a piece of whisper white, stamped with black script and punched out with the label punch.

Enjoy!

Julie

Blessings

2009-05-11T14:00:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago I showed you a card I made for my daughter when she was expecting. Well, here's the result. Savannah Faith, my first grandchild, was born in March. The first picture was taken minutes after she was born. The second picture was taken about 3 weeks later, Easter weekend. Don't you just love all her strawberry blond hair!? (We are working on training her dad to call it strawberry blond instead of orange. lol)

And I'm sharing a card too. I loved this Pick a Petal set when it came out and I think this may be the only card I've made with it! Isn't that just the way it goes....and the background is from Polka Dots & Paisleys. I love that little dotted background. I used it on the tennis card too.

Enjoy,

Julie

Here’s the Toad

2009-05-10T21:38:00.004-05:00

Now this makes sense! You can add, "You're unfrogettable" when there are actual frogs on the image! This card is a rather unusual size. Mostly because I started with watercolor paper, stamped a picture and painted it. Then I decided to make it a card. I don't remember the dimensions, but I believe it is too big for a large standard square envelope. Eventually I'll have to make an envelope for it and pay extra to have it mailed, if I decide to send it…

I stamped the frog sitting on the mushroom, then masked the frog, stamped the toadstool under him and painted the picture using reinkers with an aquapainter – my favorite coloring method. I was a little off when I stamped the mushroom and so my toad is off balance. I should have used a stamp-a-ma-jig! I finished the main image with a hand-drawn border using a black 05 ZIG millennium pen.

Enjoy!

Julie

Toad you...

2009-05-10T20:25:00.005-05:00

I toad you so. OK, enough with the frog puns. The funny thing is I made this card and then realized that there is no frog in sight on this card, but the verse refers to the frog. It just doesn't work to say, "Have I snailed you lately that I love you?" now does it. So forgive the mismatched image and verse, but isn't this the cutest snail ever.

I stamped the snail on the paper and watercolored the snail and background. Then I stamped the snail again on pattern paper, cut out the shell and glued that over the painted image. I love stamping on pattern paper. I think it creates so much visual interest.

Enjoy,

Julie

The Worst and My Passion

2009-05-10T20:15:00.004-05:00

The Worst: I am decidedly the worst blogger in the blogger world. I love sharing my creations, but obviously not enough to keep up with the vehicle by which I share my creations....

My Passion: Among other things, I LOVE tennis! I am obsessed with the game and can't stay off the court. If I stayed off the court more often I would get more blogging in. Right? I just wish my skills equaled my passion!

So here is a card I made for my teammates at the end of last season. The card design was actually preconceived and created in a kit that I purchased to be used with a different stamp set, but I thought it lended itself to this tennis set. It is hard to tell but the racquet and ball are highlighted with glitter.

Enjoy!
Julie

You Look Fabulous

2009-02-16T12:19:00.002-06:00

My daughter Stephanie and her husband Chris are expecting their first child, our first grandbaby - a baby girl - in one month! Wow!

This is a card I sent to her early in her pregnancy. Now I need to make another card for the shower her friends are having for her on Thursday night.

All supplies are SU. I embossed the Regal Rose silouette on Whisper White cs and then brayered and sponged the background. The pink is the In Color Pink Pirouette, and it's hard to see in the picture, but the background is stamped with the flowers from Boho Backgrounds.

Serene Sunday

2008-12-06T14:49:00.007-06:00

Here's another couple of creations. Again, I'm going to share one 'old' one and one recent. This first one was made for James's birthday last year. I used the Stampin' Up! sets Wanted and Bronc Buster for this one. The base of the card is Basic Gray textured cardstock.

The layers are Ruby Red and Really Rust. Also, the Sanded background was stamped over the main image. I love the look of layered punched images.

This next one I made last week as I was experimenting with brayer and marker techniques. (Underneath this sample you'll see a picture of my first attempt. I'll explain that later.) I embossed this image from Serene Spring, then colored it with markers, using a blender pen to blend the colors.

When the coloring was complete I colored the image completely in with a versamarker and embossed it with clear embossing powder before I brayered and sponged the background sky and ground. I also used a black marker to extend the ground to the edges. And my favorite part is the little red lady bug on the grass below the bird.

It is hard to see but the sky blue background layer is textured cardstock. The main colors are Night of Navy, So Saffron and Sky Blue.

Okay, I scrapped this first attempt because I had some trouble with the brayering, the bird came out a little dull, and I hadn't embossed this image before I colored it. When I started coloring the white and yellow flowers, they turned gray as the stamped image smeared. You'll notice too that I added some more ground with a black marker as well as extending the the ground out to the edges.

Hello!

2008-12-06T13:42:00.006-06:00

Wow! It has been a year since I updated this blog. I was still creating over here, but I admit I got tired of dealing with my electronics.

Here are a couple of cards I've created this past year. This first one is one of my favorites. I had purchased this retired set, A to Z Accents, and was playing with it. I made these cute little tags. Then I took some inspiration from this Uptown paper and a sketch challenge, and here it is.

Here's an interesting card I made just this past week. I was playing with Pocket Silhouettes and then last week's sketch challenge from splitcoaststampers inspired the layout. It's an unusual card and I'm not sure I like it much. The color combination is Rose Red, Cameo Coral, Pacific Point and Basic Black. I embossed the flower images and then brayered the background. The black strip across the middle was stamped with coral craft ink. That's probably my favorite part. I love the look of the light ink on the black.

I'll be back tomorrow with a couple of more projects to share.

Love the Punches!

2007-12-02T22:41:00.001-06:00

I'm sure I've mentioned this before but I love the punches! This is actually the tile coasters all wrapped up in their box. I wrapped it in SU wrapping paper, then added a bow and tag.

This tag took me minutes to make; it was so quick and simple. The tag was made with circle punches, the designer label punch, the key tag punch, the SU Riveting stamp set, and a silver eyelet and cording. The eyelet was set with my new Crop-a-dile which I love. I'm sure I've mentioned that before too. :) The colors used were Sky Blue, Purely Pomegranite and Wild Wasabi. I realized afterward that Real Red and Bashful Blue really matches this paper better, but there was no time to remake it. But I can do it right next time!

I've always been a handicapped wrapper, but I thought this turned out quite nice! And the ladies at the gift exchange thought I had it wrapped professionally, so there you go - no more 'handicapped wrapper' for me!

Christmas Tiles

2007-12-02T22:24:00.001-06:00

Here is a set of Christmas tile coasters I made for a gift exchange. I needed a gift pronto and no time to go to the store. I had 5 tumble tiles left in a box so I started stamping. Lucky I had '5' tiles because I messed up the very first one I stamped, so I had to be perfect on the next 4! These are stamped with Black StazOn ink. The stamp set is a retired Stampin' Up! hostess set. (If you need to know the name leave a comment and I'll look it up for you.) I stamped the center image, then masked it and repeatedly stamped the verse for the background. It says "It's Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air."

The stamped image was colored using pastels with blender pens. Finally, it is sprayed with a mat finish sealant. I've heard if you spray it with a gloss finish sealant or use markers that the colors run. Also, coloring on tiles really chews up your blender pen so I use an old pen.

I used furniture pads under the tiles so it won't scratch the table. The furniture pads are those round felt adhesive pads that you put under your furniture to keep it from scraping wood floors. I like to use the ones that are about 1 1/2 inches cut into quarters and placed in each corner of the tile.

Designer Paper

2007-12-02T22:18:00.000-06:00

I got this list awhile back to help coordinate the Stampin' Up! Designer papers with the cardstock that matches. With the new catalog coming out in January the retiring stamp set list is at www.stampinup.com. The retiring wheels and accessories will be posted on the 10th.

Which are your favorite designer series papers?

Enjoy!

Designer Series Paper and Coordinating Cardstock Colors

Brocade Backgrounds: Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, River Rock

Cerise: Real Red, Very Vanilla

Charbon: Basic Gray, Very Vanilla

Creepy Crawly: Basic Black, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust

Cutie Pie: Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Rose Red, So Saffron

Darling Doodles: Brocade Blue, Groovy Guava, Rose Red, Wild Wasabi

Dashing: Old Olive, Real Red, River Rock, Very Vanilla

Fall Flowers: Old Olive, Really Rust, Sahara Sand, Soft Sky

Flowers for You: Certainly Celery, Lovely Lilac, Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise

LeJardin: River Rock, Soft Sky, So Saffron, Very Vanilla

Linen Prints: Apricot Appeal, Cameo Coral, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, Pink Passion

Notations No.2: More Mustard, River Rock, Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi

Outlaw: Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Really Rust, Sage Shadow, Very Vanilla

Petals & Paisleys: Certainly Celery, Cool Caribbean, Rose Red, Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Taken with Teal

Prints: Monochromatic papers available in Almost Amethyst, Always Artichoke, Blue Bayou, Brilliant Blue, Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, Groovy Guava, Lovely Lilac, More Mustard, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, River Rock, Rose Red, So Saffron, Soft Sky, Tempting Turquoise

Porcelain Prints: Blue Bayou, River Rock, Wild Wasabi

Uptown: Almost Amethyst, Basic Gray, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi

Wintergreen: Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Sage Shadow, Soft Sky

Dallin's Birthday

2007-11-21T21:46:00.000-06:00

My schedule has been tight, with little time for updating this blog, but I do have some fun things to share. At the beginning of November we celebrated our son Dallin's 16th birthday with a dance at the clubhouse for him and one of his best friends, Josh.

The boys all showed up first to help Dallin and Josh set up. FINALLY the girls showed up and the party could start in earnest. The kids had such a great time and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the kids dance. Our good friend Paul dj'd the dance for us. He did a great job! And some of these kids can really dance! Wow! Here's some pics from the party. (Keep in mind that this was a dance with poor lighting for pictures.) No matter what I do this post will not line up right, so the pictures and the text are all over the place. Sorry!

1. Dallin during his honorary birthday dance

2. the dj, Paul

3. the girls, an essential ingredient

4. the bothersome 12 yr old little brother, James

5. the crowd

6. swing dancing

Fun box

2007-10-22T22:33:00.001-05:00

At the stamp camp Friday night we made explosion boxes. However, I woke up in the middle of the night worried about the lids, because it occurred to me that I hadn't emphasized the need for red line tape to adhere the tabs on the lid to keep it secure.

Check this tutorial out for a cute mini box pattern for gift cards. And here is the cute box and cards that were made with this pattern.

Wrapping Paper Inspiration

2007-10-22T20:43:00.001-05:00

This birthday card for my mother was inspired by the wrapping paper on her gift and Beate's sketch challenge #24. My mother's gift was Stampin' Up! stamps and accessories, of course.

My mom is the one that started the stamping mania in our family nearly 20 years ago. We were at the Strawberry Festival in Plant City, Florida. There was a vendor demonstrating stamping and embossing, and my mom bought the whole embossing kit, which included an embossing ink stamp pad and several colors of embossing powders. (I probably shouldn't admit this, but I recently found some of those original embossing powders in the back of my cabinet!! Yikes! Twenty year old embossing powder. You will be happy to know that I tossed them out.)

This was in the day when we heated our embossing powder by holding the back of the paper on a hot iron. We used toothpicks to press it against the iron. My oldest daughter was a toddler and I can remember my mom, my sister and I stamping while constantly warning our small children to stay away from the iron. Those are the good old days, huh? Does anyone else remember heat embossing with an iron, or am I the only dinosaur here?

RECIPE: All Stampin' Up! supplies unless otherwise noted.
Gold Butterfly:
Stamps – Priceless, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Paper – Pumpkin Pie cs, shimmery white cs, Metallic Gold cs, Rose Red cs
Ink – Versamark, Gold, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories - Gold eyelets, Iridescent Ice ep, Gold ep, wide white organdy ribbon, gold cording, tab punch, scallop punch, Designer Label punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, ticket corner punch, cropadile

Bunch of Bugs

2007-10-17T19:34:00.000-05:00

Yet another Bugs & Kisses card. Are you sick of them yet? I'm almost done. I love bright colors. I think they make such cheerful, happy cards - great for making someone's day. Now I just need to work on the sending part....

The tag is embossed with white embossing powder and punched out with the Designer Label punch then layered on the scallop which has been pierced. The red cs around the main image is also paper pierced and then 'stitched' using a white gel pen. The x's and o's are stamped in Green Galore in the background for 'hugs and kisses'. The scallop edge was made with the slot punch.

RECIPE: All Stampin' Up! supplies unless otherwise noted.
Hugs & Kisses:
Stamps – Bugs & Kisses, Rough Edge Alphabet
Paper – Whisper White cs, Real Red cs, Green Galore cs, Tempting Turquoise cs
Ink – Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Brilliant Blue, Green Galore, White craft
Accessories - Designer Label punch, Scallop punch, Slot punch tool kit, white gel pen, red gingham ribbon

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Last of the Bugs

2007-10-17T19:09:00.001-05:00

Here's the last of the 'Bug' cards. Once again I used the cuttlebug embossing folder for the Lavendar background. I also used the Shimmery White cs which has become my neutral of choice. The scallop flower is layered on a faux circle made with the tab punch. You can view a film on how that is done here: http://rubberstampingdiva.com/?p=36. The 'for you' tag was punched with the word window punch and then trimmed. It has a linen thread bow, which is hard to see in the photo, and is attached with a dimensional. The dragonfly is adhered in the middle and the wings are folded upward a little.

RECIPE: All Stampin' Up! supplies unless otherwise noted.
Passion Pink Dragonfly:
Stamps – Bugs & Kisses, Mini Mates
Paper – Whisper White cs, Shimmery White cs, Pink Passion cs, Gable Green cs,
Ink – Lavendar Lace, Pink Passion
Accessories - Scallop punch, Tab punch, Word Window punch, Ticket Corner punch, Cuttlebug embossing folder, brads, dimensionals, pink gingham ribbon, tool kit

More Bugs - As Promised

2007-10-17T16:51:00.000-05:00

Whew! We just got back from a whirlwind trip to Europe. The best part was that most of it was free! My dh, Ron, won a promotional trip from work to Barcelona, Spain. We were there for 4 days. What a beautiful city! I'll have to share some pictures when I get them. All the pictures ended up on Ron's computer because I didn't want to lug my computer around Europe, but he doesn't go anywhere without his. It's part of the work.

Anyway, from Barcelona we flew to Geneva and met my brother who is working there. We spent a half day in Geneva and the next morning we hopped on a train to Paris. We toured Paris for a couple of days and then flew home. Very fun! We saw so many amazing things and thoroughly enjoyed the people, the food, and the sights.

As promised, here are some more Bugs & Kisses cards. The card I showed you on Oct. 5th was inspired by a card 'vitality' posted at splitcoaststampers.com. This first one here was inspired by 'kellyjg' at scs. The second one is a blend of a card '11Valerie11' posted at scs and a cute scrapbook page in a Stampin' Up! magazine. Anyway, that is where the inspiration started.

I loved the bright colors and crisp design of this card. I used a cuttlebug embossing folder for the white background. I almost exclusively use Stampin' Up! products but recently I got a steal of a deal on a Sissix machine. My favorite things is the embossing folders. It is so quick and easy to make fun backgrounds. And yes, I know the ribbons are skilly-wonk on this card; it's on purpose. Actually, it didn't start out that way, but I thought it added some skilly-wonk charm so I kept it.

RECIPE: All Stampin' Up! supplies unless otherwise noted.
Hello bugs:
Stamps – Bugs and Kisses
Paper – Real Red cs, Basic Black cs, Whisper White cs, Yo-yo Yellow cs
Ink – Basic Black craft, Real Red craft
Accessories - clear ep, Prima flower, brads, ribbon, Cuttlebug embossing folder, black pen

The second one was hard to photograph. The card is cut a 1/4" smaller than a standard card and then that was mounted on black cs to frame it. Also, in the picture you can't see that the little flowers are popped up on dimensionals or the shimmery in the shimmer white cardstock. Those little flowers are just darling popped up on there and I have become a huge fan of the Shimmery White cardstock. And the faux stitching is stamped with the All in a Row stamp.

RECIPE: All Stampin' Up! supplies unless otherwise noted.
Cute Turquoise Bug:
Stamps – Bugs & Kisses, Paisley bg, All in a Row, Expressive Everyday Phrases, Three for You
Paper – Sky Blue cs, Basic Black cs, Purely Pomegranate cs, Tempting Turquoise cs, Summer Sun cs, Groovy Guava, Shimmery White cs
Ink – Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise, Summer Sun, Groovy Guava
Accessories -ribbon, Bold Bright brads, dimensionals, Stampin-ma-jig, ticket corner punch, oval punch, Three for You flower punch

Sneak Peek - Bugs!

2007-10-05T01:06:00.000-05:00

I made some fun Bugs & Kisses cards, but I don't have time to post them all right now! Here's one. I was inspired by a card I saw on Splitcoast Stampers. I'm going to be away this week, but I'll post the rest when I return to blogging. I promise!

Long Time No See

2007-10-05T01:03:00.000-05:00

“Long Time No See” Stamp Camp
Friday, October 19th, 7:30 pm
My house - I've missed you all!
Create 3 fun projects!
Only $5 or FREE with a $25 product purchase.
On-time drawing. Door prizes (for everyone). Refreshments.
Only firm RSVPs please.
**Bring class kit. (Class Kit: paper trimmer, scissors, adhesive, bone folder or scoring blade)

Orlando Regionals

2007-10-05T00:41:00.000-05:00

Last week I went to the Stampin' Up! regional event in Orlando. My sister, aunt and I use these events as an excuse to get together. While we were in Orlando we took my grandmother to lunch for her 85th birthday! Here she is with her Key Lime Birthday Pie!
Here's my sister and my aunt. We had such a good time. My sister flew in from TN and I flew in from TX. We had a wonderful time staying with my aunt who lives near Orlando. She is so creative and clever.

She taught us how to make these fun lunch pails while we were there. (She also taught me how a nice pattern for a knitted wash cloth.)Here's pictures of the lunch pail. Inside the lid is a little pocket for stamps and inside the pail are month inserts for recording upcoming events and organizing the cards. All supplies are Stampin' Up! of course.

It's Stephanie's birthday!

2007-09-24T15:51:00.000-05:00

She is 21 and celebrating a million miles away from us at college. But I thought it would be fun to share a card that she made while she was home recently.

Stephanie made this for Ron and I when her boyfriend flew into town to propose. Ron, especially, was very instrumental in making the surprise happen. Way to go, Dad!

The Sage Shadow doesn't show up very well in the photo. She also used Au Chocolate dp and Chocolate Chip cs. Everything is sponged with Chocolate Chip ink. Of course, everything is Stampin' Up! Beautiful card, Stephanie! Happy Birthday!

Fresh and Fun Challenge

2007-09-20T18:14:00.000-05:00

My daughter caught a typo in a previous post; I used the wrong 'right'. Of all words, isn't that funny? She thought it was weird that I did that, because as she put it, "You don't make mistakes like that." So even as an adult she still thinks I'm perfect...Isn't that nice? I still have her fooled.

I liked Beate's sketch so much at Fresh and Fun last week, that I used it twice. On this 'flower for you' card I trimmed the edge of the Sidekick Sayings main image similar to Chriss's card on Beate's blog. I love that look with this stamp set. I also used Beate's faux stitching with the All in a Row argyles stamp. I had to do it twice, because, like her, I'm too impatient to use the stamp-a-majig.

I stamped the main image with stazon ink and colored it with my ink pads and blender pens. I even colored over the words with a little sky blue to give it some life. The top corners are pierced, but you can't see it very well in the picture.

The second card also uses the Splitcoaststamper's color challenge CC131: Taken with Teal, Always Artichoke and Purely Pomegranate. Whew, that's a mouthful!

The artichoke base was wheeled with the rough texture wheel. I stamped the swirls with both creamy caramel and artichoke (second generation). I probably should have stamped them a little more off, because it just made it look blurry. The swirls were also stamped over in caramel with the Linen background. To make the teal centers I stamped with the smallest flower from the set and punched it out with the Three for You flower punch, then attached them with a brad. The top flower is cut out and adhered with a dimensional.

I'm trying to get better about adding the details, so here's the recipes.

RECIPES: All Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted.

Flower for You: Stamps - Sidekick Sayings, Vases in Vogue, Polka Dots & Petals, All in a Row; Paper - Petals & Paisleys dp, Mellow Moss, Regal Rose, Whisper White, So Saffron; Ink - Stazon Black, Regal Rose, Sky Blue, Apricot Appeal; Accessories - rhinestone brads, blender pen, dimensionals, sponge, crafter's tool kit

Cherish: Stamps - Baroque Motifs, ,Linen bg, Rough Texture wheel, Priceless; Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Always Artichoke, Whisper White, Taken with Teal; Ink - Purely Pomegranate, Always Artichoke, Taken with Teal, Creamy Caramel, chocolate brown chalk petal; Accessories - brads, ribbon, Heidi Swapp distressing tool, (large brad from Joann's)

Playing With Sketches

2007-09-20T17:53:00.000-05:00

This card was made using Lauren Meader's sketch challenge on your blog My Time...

This was my first opportunity to use the new stamp set Priceless and I immediately thought of it when I saw the sketch. I love sketches! It's a great place to start.

The flowers and the butterfly were stamped on Shimmery White. I inked the flowers up with Lavendar Lace and then rolled the edges in Brilliant Blue. The butterfly was inked with Cameo Coral and rolled in Groovy Guava.

All Stampin' Up! Recipe: Stamps-Priceless, Three For You, Linen bg; Paper - Shimmery White, Lavendar Lace, Night of Navy, Cameo Coral; Ink: Lavendar Lace, Night of Navy, Cameo Coral, Groovy Guava, Brilliant Blue; Accessories - dazzling diamonds, ribbon, sponge, punches (scallop, circles, ticket corner, slot, corner rounder), brads

Hot Blog....Thanks!

2007-09-18T22:26:00.000-05:00

Imagine my enthusiastic surprise tonight when I was surfing some blogs and discovered a reference to little old me on Artistic Avenger. Check it out. Wow! What an honor to be noticed! Thanks!

Here's a $1 spiral notebook I got at Michaels. The cover already had the multicolor J's on it and I just added a few touches to spice it up. I didn't have the spiral punch yet when I did it. It would have come in handy. Now I have it and haven't used it yet. The second picture is just inside the front cover. Very quick, easy and fun!! (Of course, all supplies are Stampin' Up!)

Wow! I have a lot to learn....

2007-09-18T22:00:00.001-05:00

Sorry to all of you who tried to post comments to my blog and were left behind. I had no idea that these comments were waiting for me to push the OK button. They should be posted faster now that I know I'm actually supposed to do something about it!!!! (And how in the world do you get these to format correctly? It looks right in the preview, but when I post it the pictures and words don't fit together right.)

We returned from our trip to Idaho just recently. We got our daughters moved into their apartment at BYU-Idaho this past week. (They are sharing a room.) We had fun decorating their walls! Have you ever seen this done before? I hadn't until I was visiting a friend in Florida this past year.

It's just designer paper with the edges torn and applied to the wall in a patchwork. It's very fun and easy to do. Kristin (redhead) had the idea first and when she got done Stephanie (blond) had to have it too, so we got busy doing her side.

Because these are not their walls the put it up with tape so that it could be removed later. But if you were putting it up on your own walls you would use wallpaper paste.

The other project we tackled while

we were out there was selecting a wedding dress for Stephanie. Her wedding is in December so we had no time to lose. She picked out a beautiful dress. I can't show you the one she picked-you'll have to wait until December - but here is a sampling of the dress buying trip. She will definitely be a beautiful bride! Chris is one lucky man!!!

The only thing I'm wondering is...when did I get this old????

Love & Punches...

2007-09-03T20:41:00.000-05:00

I love punches! So I thought a love card would go great with this list of punches. I gave this card to my cousin and her new husband last month on their wedding day. This card doesn't even come close to the beautiful wedding announcements her talented mother made for her. Lucky girl!!!

Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks, Linen bg, Wonderful Words Paper: new dp, rose red, lavendar lace, barely banana Ink: rose red, creamy caramel, old olive, black
Accessories: watercolor crayons, dazzling diamonds, organdy ribbon, dimensionals (All Stampin' Up!)

And here is a list I found of the SU punches and their stamp sets that coordinate with them. This was originally posted at Splitcoaststampers . I don't know who assembled this, but thank you. Now I just need a list with the page numbers on it!!!

Scallop Circle Punch: In the Spotlight, Glorious Garlands, Punch Pals, Double-Line Doodles, Wanted, Priceless, Big Flowers, Big Deal Alphabet, Looks Like Spring, Fabulous Flowers, Ginormous Flowers, Sweet Shapes, Illuminations, It’s Your Birthday, Warm Words, Pictograms, Short and Sweet, Sincere Salutations, All Holidays, Jumbo Alphabet, All About Occasions, Brocade Basics, Baroque Motifs, Sparkling Sayings, So Much, Fun & Fast Notes, On Board Blossoms and Basics

Tag Punches: Perfect Presentation, All About Occasions, Flakey Friends, Punch Pals, Be Happy, Tagger’s Dozen, Bundled in Love, Business Boosters

Designer Label Punch: Party Punch, Labelicious

Round Tab Punch: Party Punch, Office Accoutrement, Totally Tabs

1” Circle Punch: Sending Happy Thoughts kit, Perfect Presentation, Glorious Garlands, The Snowflake Spot, Perennial Favorites, Holiday Blitz, Double-Line Doodles, Polka Dots & Petals, Create a Coupon, Genuine Articles, Business Boosters, Calendar Cues, On Board Blossoms and Basics

1 ¼” and/or 1 3/8” Circle Punch: Simple Delights Simply Sent kit, Perfect Presentation, Batty For You, Holiday Tag Team, Sparkling Sayings, Be Happy, Figures of Speech, Double-Line Doodles, Polka Dots & Petals, Big Flowers, Stamp of Authenticity, Carte Postale, Think Happy Thoughts, Big Pieces, Seeing Spots, So Happy, Dots Are Hot, Brocade Basics, Labelicious, Genuine Articles, Circle of Friendship, It’s All Good, Sporting

½” and/or ¾” Circle Punch: In the Spotlight, Holiday Tag Team, Glorious Garlands, Cold Play, Snow Flurries, Merry Merry, Punch Pals, Forever in My Heart, Holiday Blitz, Double-Line Doodles, Sweet Thing, Wanted, Star Struck, Little Flowers, Little Pieces, Please Come, Dot Spot background, Alphabits, Art by Design

1 ¼” and/or 1 3/8” Square Punch: Simple Delights Simply Sent kit, Perfect Presentation, Forever in My Heart, Sealed With a Kiss, Be Happy, Figures of Speech, Tagger’s Dozen, Sweet Thing, Office Accoutrement, Stamp of Authenticity, Carte Postale, Glad Tidings, It’s All Good, Art by Design, Sporting, Business Boosters, It’s a Date

¾” Square Punch: Punch Pals, Calendar Cues

Large Oval Punch: I did it, many of the word sets

Star Punch: Wanted, Starstruck, Sporting, Wild West Alphabet, On Board Blossoms and Basics

5-Petal Flower Punch: In the Spotlight, Be Happy, Priceless, Simply Said, Looks Like Spring, Heartfelt Thanks, Ginormous Flowers, Office Accoutrement, Big Pieces, Cutie Pie Double Sided Paper, On Board Blossoms and Basics

Snow Blossom Punch: In the Spotlight, Simple Snowman, Wondrous Gift, Snowflake Spot, Merry Merry, Snow Flurries, Punch Pals, Snowfall, Be Happy
Spring Flower Bouquet Punch: Looks Like Spring

Three for You Punch: Three Thoughts Simply Sent kit, Punch Pals, Take Three, Three for You punch box

Word Window Punch: So Many Sayings, Block Party, Boatloads of Love, Fun & Fast Notes, Take Three, Everything Baby, Short & Sweet, Happy Everything, Wonderful Favorites, Warm Words, All Holidays, Everyday Flexible Phrases, Amazing to Zany, Fundamental Phrases

Doodle this...

2007-08-28T14:58:00.000-05:00

I've added an email service to this blog. You can enter your email address on the left and you will be sent an email each time I update my blog. But don't hold your breath. I obviously do not update this often enough!!!!

This card was fun to make. I laid awake one night thinking about stamping these fun flowers on designer paper and this is what I came up with the next day. The Doodle This flowers are stamped on designer paper with black craft ink and embossed with irridescent ice ep. I wish you could see it in person. It's sparkly and fun. The mustard card is stamped with the paisley background stamp. All Stampin' Up! of course.

My oldest daughter announced her engagement this summer and her fiance was visiting this past week from Idaho. They will be getting married in December. This will start a new phase in our family's changing life! He is a very nice young man and we are very happy for them.

Wonderful Butterfly

2007-07-20T05:36:00.001-05:00

This is a simple card made with SU Winged Things, watercolor crayons and dazzling diamonds glitter. I wish the glitter would show up in these pictures.

I think I like watercoloring with reinkers the best. I've painted with the crayons by coloring on the image and then painting or just taking the color on my brush from the crayon and painting. I think on this butterfly I colored in a small area with the crayon and then dragged the color with the brush. I'd like to try this one again using the reinkers. I seem to get better results that way. Anyone out there have a good tips for using the crayons. I'm all ears.

Also, I dropped a crayon on the card and smudged it. I was able to remove most of the smudge with an eraser, but you can still see it a little, but not in the photo.