Friends

Today is another cloudy, rainy day so can't get out and plant my flowers.  Good day to stay indoors and what else -- stamp!  I have been thinking about all the friends I made while on my trip so have made a "friend" card.  The stamp sets used are the "My Garden Set" and "Plant a Little Love" from JustRite.  I purchased these sets from Joan's Gardens.

The background paper is from a MS paper pad.  A white square was embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder and attached to a slightly larger piece of pink card stock. The corners were rounded with a corner rounder punch.  I used a white pen to add stitch marks around the edge.  The border with the verse, from the "My Garden Set", was white embossed on pink card stock and cut out with a petite circle Nestie.  Another smaller white scalloped circle was cut out to add the flower to.  The scallops in both pieces were pierced. 

The flower from "Plant a Little Love Set" was stamped three times and colored with Copic markers. I did this so I could layer the flower for dimension.  You can see this in the second photo above.  Each layer is attached with dimensional tape.  Four Cuttlebug corner flourishes were cut out and placed on each corner of the embossed piece.  A white dotted Swiss bow was made with the Bow Easy and attached to the top of the design.  Pink pearls were added to complete the card.

This was a very fun card to create.  As you know, I love lots of layers and dimension.  It always makes me feel good when I spend time to "create" my own little piece of art.  This will be one of a set of cards I am giving my sister for her birthday.  I have to get busy and create a box for her cards now. 

JustRite Challenge

This week the JustRite Friday Challenge is sponsored by Copic and the challenge is to use your JustRite ROUND stamps with this inspiration sketch shown here.

One of the newer JustRite stamp sets is the Kaleidoscope Set.  This set has six beautiful borders and centers.  For my card I used Versamark ink and clear embossed one of the designs on glossy card stock.  It was colored with sponge daubers using two different shades of lavender then cut out with a circle Nestability.  The border used from this set was white embossed on lavender card stock and cut out with a petite scalloped Nestie. 

The background was embossed with the Cuttlebug dotted Swiss embossing folder and a Martha Stewart punch used along the bottom.  Another lavender border was punched out then a pretty lace attached on top with ScorTape.  Each layer of the Center was attached with dimensional glue dots.  I wanted to add a mulberry rose to the center of the design but only had pink and white.  I decided to add some lavender reinker with some water in a spray bottle so I color one of the white roses  lavender.  It was attached in the center of the Kaleidoscope design with a glue dot.  Two pearls were added to the top corners. 

Mariposa Thank You Card

Today I made a card using beautiful paper from the "Mariposa" paper stack that I purchased from Joan's Gardens.  OMG, this has the most beautiful papers in it. Have you seen this paper?   I am sure you would love every page in this pad. They are so pretty I actually didn't want to use them but I can always buy more -- right!  These papers are so beautiful by themselves that you really don't need to add much stamping. 

I cut off the design from one of the corners from this page and attached it to ivory card stock.  My card is 5.5" square and the paper is 8x8".   I wanted to add some dimension to the card so cut out the butterflies and one of the flowers from another piece and attached them with dimensional tape.  After I cut them out I inked around the edges of each cut out piece with matching Chalk Ink so the cut white edges didn't show.  I used a verse from the JustRite "Just A Note" stamp set in the upper right corner.  It was stamped with black Memento ink and cut out with a circle Nestie.  The border was stamped on another piece of cs and cut out a scallop edge circle Nestie.  There is dimensional tape between each layer.  Four black rhinestones were add to the design to complete the card. With the rest of the paper from this page I decorated the inside of the card but failed to take a picture.

I apologize for the poor quality of pictures.  We have very cloudy weather and just can't seem to get a nice sharp picture showing the beautiful color.  If I knew more about PhotoShop I'm sure I could probably sharpen the color, but I don't know how to do that.  

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.  I went out to lunch with my daughter today and now I plan to get in some more stamping this afternoon.

Friendship and Happiness

I made this card for a friend and decided to enter it in the JUGS challenge.  Alicia is the hostess this week and her challenge is to include dry embossing on your card.   You can do this however you choose....with an embossing folder, light table.....only requirement is that your project has dry embossing on it somewhere.

The background on my card was embossed using the Sizzix Finial Press embossing folder.   For the center design, the bottom aqua piece was cut with the Nestie's Label One.  For the next level up I stamped one of the borders from the JustRite "Friendship Set" and cut it out with a Nestie's Petite scalloped circle.  Another Nestie circle was layered on top.  Each layer is attached with dimensional tape.  A Prima flower was added in the center. 

A ribbon was taped along the left side of the card.  Flowers that I purchased from Joan's Gardens were added along the ribbon with glue dots.  I curled the wire stem that was on each rose for added dimension.  The verse is from PTI and was cut out with a Nestie and each scallop pierced.  Pearls were added to complete the card.

This was not a hard card for me to complete because I love to add dry embossing to most every card I make.  Hope you like it.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful weekend.

JustRite Christmas card

I made this card to enter into the JustRite  Friday Challenge 019: Christmas in May Challenge but didn't think about the time difference so missed entering in time.  I had so much fun with this card I am posting it anyway.

I used three JustRite stamp sets:  "Something Sweet", "A Merry Little Christmas Set", and "Decorative Frames".  I started by embossing the outside of the blue card stock with the Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss embossing folder.  I only embossed around the edges of the frame.  I have had the cute little acrylic snowflake frame for a long time and wanted to use it to frame the greeting.  This greeting is from the "A Merry Little Christmas Set".  It is actually a round stamp but I did not use the frame. These stamps are so versatile you can use them many ways.   It was cut out with a square Nestability and attached to the back of this frame.  Next I stamped the little frame from the "Decorative Frames Set" using VersaMark and white embossing powder then used the same Nestability to cut out the center because I wanted to attach it to the top to frame the opening.  I used scissors to cut around the outside of the design.  I used ProGlider High Tac adhesive.  The little snowman from the "Something Sweet Set" was stamped with black Memento ink and colored with Copic markers.  He was attached to the frame with a glue dot. Along the bottom of the card I added some pretty trim I found while in Chicago.  It kind of reminds me of snowflakes on this card.   Three Martha Stewart snowflakes were punched.and I added one of the small circles with the pearl, from the lace,  in the center of each snowflake.  Glitter was added to the snowflakes and on the snowman.  

It is never to early to start making your Christmas card.  I am very happy with my first one for this year.  Have you started yours yet? 

Well I will pay more attention to deadlines next time.  Hope you enjoy this card.

JustRite -- A Perfect Day

It was "A Perfect Day".  I want to tell you about my exciting visit to JustRite Stamps with my friend Pam. 

As you all know I have been away to do a workshop for Joan Fricker at Joan's Gardens. I have developed a great friendship with one of my StampTV buddies, Pam Imholz.  We were on the same Center Stage Design Team for Gina K Designs.  Pam was able to take some time off to attend the workshop and then she drove me back to spend some time with her at her home.  When I met Pam I felt like we had been friends forever.  She is such a sweet, fun person to be with.  We shared an amazing afternoon together at JustRite stamps.

After my visit with Pam I had plans to visit  a long time friend who lives in Elk Grove Village in Chicago. Some time ago, I noticed on the JustRite site, that they are also in Elk Grove Village so  I wanted to stop by to see if they had a retail store.  I have been a big fan of JustRite stamps from the very beginning.  I started out with the large monogram stamper and have been adding JustRite stamps to my collection ever since.   Pam was driving me down to see my friend, so we decided to see if we could find JustRite on the way.  As it turned out they are located just a couple of miles  from my friend.  We had the address but there was not a sign for JustRite.  We walked in and told them we were looking for JustRite Stamps.  The person we were talking to was the President of JustRite.    We told him we had just returned from a workshop at Joan's Gardens in Indiana and I had featured some of their stamps in the projects.  In fact, I had the sample cards  used for the workshop plus all the other JustRite cards I had made and used for display at the workshop with me.  What a warm welcome we had.  He invited us to sit down in his office to visit with him and several others from his staff.  Our meeting lasted about two and a half hours and was so interesting.  We learned about the history of the company, a little about the process of making the stamps, were shown some of the new products and the new catalog, discussed different marketing strategies and answered questions about things we look forward to in the stamping world.  It was very exciting to be able to discuss these things with them. 

 Pam and I were so excited to see the new products. We were each given a couple of the new sets and the new stamp blocks.   Up until now all the handles were wood blocks.  You are going to love the new clear stamp blocks with grooves, which is going to allow you to position the stamp perfectly.  Isn't that exciting!  Lots of new things coming.

We were shown the new 2010 JustRite Catalog and Idea Book.  This catalog has 84 pages and includes all their current stamp sets as well as the new stamps that will be released during the next four months. It is filled with beautiful cards/projects completed by their design team.  You can read about the new products and preorder this catalog from the JustRite site  here.

JustRite will be releasing over 37 new products which includes nine new Christmas/holiday stamp sets that Pam and I instantly fell in love with.  One of the new sets has snowmen stamps -- if you are a follower of my blog, you know how much I love snowmen!  This set is definitely on the top of my wish list.

 I want to thank Craig, Randy and Kim for a most enjoyable afternoon and their generosity.  I am excited to start working with my new stamps.  It was exciting to hear about the company, see new products, and have you take an interest in what we stampers have on our minds .  I have loved JustRite stamps from day one and I am so excited about all the new things to come. I feel very honored you gave us the opportunity to visit with you.  Thanks again for everything.

Our visit to JustRite was "A Perfect Day" as my card above says.

This card was made with one of the new JR stamp sets. I don't know the name of the stamp set (it was not in packaging) but I love every stamp in it.   I also love the new clear stamp block and I am sure you will too. I chose this stamp because it describes my fun day at JustRite. The greeting and border were stamped with brown ink twice. I used a scalloped rectangle Nestability to cut the greeting out of one of them so I could attach it with pop dots to give the card some dimension. The design paper is from Basic Grey. The flower was made using a crepe paper streamer. Carolyn (Cammie) King has a tutorial here. I wanted my flower to be tan to coordinate with the background paper so I  used the heat gun to slightly scorch it. I love how it turned out. (The paper starts to scorch very fast so you need to quickly run the heat gun over the flower so it doesn't catch fire.) The brown flourishes were cut using the Cricut. A brown silk ribbon and pearls were added to complete this card.

You still have time to check out the JustRite May Super Sale and save up to 25% off some products .  If are not familiar with JustRite,  you will find a great variety of stamps for any occasion and also so many sentiments that stampers love to add to their stamp collection.  You will love these stamps.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day.

Punched Daisy

Punch and dies used for flower

 I have two requests to explain how I made the punched daisy card I posted here.  I thought I would just post a similar card and answer questions from my readers.  One of the questions was what did I use for the small white squares.  It is a Cuttlebug die that I bought when the Cuttlebug first came out.  I don't know if they still sell it.  After cutting out the squares I embossed them with the Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss embossing folder. 

The second person asked which punch I used for the petals of the flower.  It is the smallest of the SU oval punches. I would have used a Nestie but they are not small enough for the size flower I wanted.    I cut out a small "v" shape in the end of each petal and sponged the petals with a darker ink using sponge daubers.  The petals are layered onto the center of the flower.  The center of the flower was cut with a small scalloped oval die from Nestabilities.  In order to make the center look like it had seeds, I used a stylist to emboss a lot of dots on one end. The flower is attached with a glue dot and the leaves tucked under using a little adhesive. 

I hope this info helps.  Thanks for stopping by.

 

JustRite Purple Daisies

This morning I bought a few flowers for my flower boxes so thought I would use one of my favorite JustRite stamp sets to make a flower card today.  These daisies are from the "Beautiful Blossoms" stamp set.  They were stamped with Memento black ink, colored with Copic markers and cut out. A black rhinestone was added to the middle of each flower. The flowers were layered on a Nestability Labels Six die then on the Spellbinders Lotus Pendant.  These were attached to the middle of the dp. 

For the flower in the upper left hand corner, I used a prima flower and added some punched flowers to the center, then a black rhinestone.  Stamped leaves were tucked below the flower.  A SU butterfly was stamped on vellum and attached with a dimensional.  The greeting was stamped onto the dp and two additional rhinestones added to complete the card.

It is a beautiful day here in Washington so I plan to go out and get a little sun this afternoon.  Thanks for stopping by.

 

Update on Indiana Workshop

Before I start my post today I want to thank all of you who have sent cards to my niece.  She has received cards from all around the world and they have certainly cheered her up.  She is very excited to open every card.  She is amazed at all your talent and is adding the cards to a scrapbook album.  I really appreciate all the love you have sent.

I have just returned from a very fun filled "vacation".  I flew into South Bend, IN to do a workshop for Joan Fricker at Joan's Gardens.  What  wonderful people Joan and Jon are.  Jon is Joan's husband. I really enjoyed my stay with them.   I have some pictures of Joan, myself, my friend Pam and the workshop projects I prepared.  I met many stampers who follow my blog and have made many new friends.  Joan's workshops are just fabulous and I highly recommend you attend if you get a chance.  The next one will be in August.

My challenge was to create and teach some new techniques for Joan and the participants.  Below are pictures of the items I created for the workshop.  You can see additional pictures on Joan's blog and Pam's blog.

Joan and Selma

Pam  (Stampin' Pam) and Selma

Pam drove down from upper Chicago to attend the workshop.  On Sunday Pam and I drove back to her house and had so much fun.  Pam, her husband and I went to a restaurant called "The Shanty" and had a delicious dinner that evening. Pam had never heard of this restaurant but it was featured on the Food Network and I really wanted to go.  What fabulous food!   

Monday afternoon I was to go stay with another friend who lives in Elk Grove Village.  I have been using JustRite stamps for a long time and noticed on their site they are located in Elk Grove Village. As you can see below, I used three JustRite stamp sets in my workshop projects.   I wanted to stop by and see if they had a retail store.  Pam and I went before she dropped me off at my friend's house.  I will tell you all about this exciting visit in a later post.

As you probably know, I posted a tutorial on how I make my vellum flowers.  I have had so much response  to that tutorial I decided to show everyone at the workshop how to do it and let them make some.  Below is one of the pictures from the tutorial.  You can purchase the punches and vellum needed to create these flowers from Joan's Gardens.

The first project for the group was to make a shadow box card.  I had many details incorporated so they all learned a lot of techniques.   The tulips, which were colored with Koh-i-noor Pencils and OMS, is from the JustRite stamp set "Breath of Spring".  The verse is from the JustRite stamp set "Autumn Blessings".  All the JustRite stamp sets are also available from Joan's Gardens.  The card below is the one Joan made in the workshop.

Joan had never used Koh-i-noor pencils and OMS.  One of my demonstrations included this technique.  Also on this card I wanted to show how to use many layers without a lot of bulk.  They were taught how to cut out frames for each layer.  Also I am always asked about how to cut out flowers so I did a demonstration and showed them how to create a dimensional flower by layering  several flowers.  The flowers used on this card are from the JustRite stamp set "Plant A Little Love".  The little girl is  the Stampavie "Cherry Pickin' stamp. 

The following picture shows the cut out frames for layering.  This was done using a Fiskar's paper cutter.

For this last project I had everyone create a 6x6x3 inch box.  It was covered using 2 different 12x12"  pieces of Webster's Pages and decorated using mulberry flowers which Joan had to get from England.  Aren't they beautiful.  She now carries these in her store.   Flourishes were cut out with the Cricut and a MS punch was used for the leaves. 

Below is a picture of the side of the box showing the paper and pretty lace used for the edge of the lid.  This lace was attached with ScorTape.

The inside of the bottom of the box.

I had them cut out a portion of the design from the Webster's Pages paper to add a sentiment to the inside of the lid.

I want to thank Joan for the opportunity to go out and present this workshop.  It was wonderful to meet her, her family  and all the other stampers. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful weekend.

(Some project pictures were borrowed from Joan Fricker.)

Happy Mother's Day

I want to wish all you mothers a very Happy Mother's Day.  I have been spoiled by my family and hope you are too.  This is going to be my last post for a couple of weeks; I will be leaving early tomorrow morning to fly to Indiana. 

I recently purchased the Spellbinder's Lotus Pendant and have been so anxious to make a card with it.  I had these purple flowers made so thought they would make a pretty arrangement on this pendant.  The tag is also from Spellbinders and the greeting from MTME. 

The Spellbinder dies, vellum and pearls were purchased from Joan's Gardens. 

I have a special request.  My niece has stage four cancer and I'm sure would love to receive some warm wishes.    She has wide spread cancer and is so sick. She has four children who are devastated over this as well as the rest of her family and friends.   If you have time, would you please send her a card to send a little cheer her way.  I would really appreciate it and I am sure it will bring her joy.   Here is her address:

Gail Battis

7575 SW Pine Street

Portland, OR  97223

Thank You.

Three Drawer Box

Side View

Front View

Top View

I had a lot of fun making this cute box. Wouldn't it be perfect to give to a mom for Mother's Day.   Katie Renz created this box with drawers and has a tutorial on her blog here.  I followed her tutorial using my own ideas to decorate the box.  This week on Clearly Inspired Challenges,  sponsored by Clear Dollar Stamps, the challenge is to submit a project using flowers.  I am going to enter this box into that challenge here.

The dp is from a Martha Stewart paper pack.  Label One Nestabilities were cut for the top and the bottom.  There are three different sizes on the top.  A MS punch was used for the design under the silhouette.  This gorgeous  silhouette is from Webster's Pages "Life's Portrait Silhouette's"   purchased from Joan's Gardens.  A border was placed along the bottom edge of the box - also a MS punch.  Three of my vellum flowers were added (tutorial here) and a few punched leaves.  Small pearls were added in the center of the flowers.  SU Corduroy button brads were added for the drawer pulls.

This box looks very complicated but is really very easy.  Katie's tutorial is very easy to follow.  Hope you will give it a try.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a fun filled weekend.

Another covered box

Today I wanted to create another box, to use for cards I have made, to give as a gift. The size of this box is 6x6 inches.  I covered it with paper from Basic Grey.  Martha Stewart borders were added on the sides and bottom of the lid.  Flowers were created to resemble the flowers in the design paper.  They are made out of vellum.  I love making vellum flowers.  The butterfly is also vellum which makes it easy to form.   Martha Stewart punches were used for everything on this card.  A piece of acetate was attached on the inside of the lid over the opening.  Have you ever used the Glue Glider High Tac adhesive?  OMG, I have a new love!   I have had this cartridge for my Glue Glider for some time but never used it.  It is FABULOUS!!!!   The glue comes out in little dots and was so easy to use to attach the lacy borders.  The dots only stick to the cs and does not show through in the holes like regular adhesive.  It was a breeze to use even attaching the acetate to the lid and it has a very strong  hold.  

All the products used for this box were purchased from Joan's Gardens.  The vellum and black boxes may not be shown in her store but I know they are arriving soon, so you can email her and place your order.  If you haven't tried the Glue Glider High Tac adhesive, I highly recommend it and I'm sure they are in stock.

I have been working on finishing touches for my workshop.  I will be leaving next Monday to help Joan get set up for the workshop on May 15.  I am very excited to meet Joan in person and meet all the crafters who will be arriving.  After the workshop I will be going up to Chicago to visit with my stamping friend Pam; also will visit a very dear friend I have known for years.  I will be gone a total of 10 days.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you will leave me a comment.  Love to hear from you.

Olivia

Wow what a day we are having!  The winds are blowing 50 to 60 miles an hour.  We normally can see mountains surrounding us and cannot see past our neighborhood today because of all the dust.   A large pine tree was blown down on the highway and was blocking traffic. Our electricity was off just a short time but there are many areas that have been without power for hours.  Hopefully tomorrow is a much better day.

For my card I used another Sarah Kay stamp that I purchased from Joan's Gardens.  It turned out really bright, didn't it!  The name of this stamp is Olivia with her kittens Kiki and Sugar.  The image was stamped and colored with Copic markers then cut out with a deckle  rectangle Nestability.  A strip of dp was added to the left and some vellum flowers I made added.  Tutorial here. I used wire to create the same design as in the dp and placed these, along with leaves, under the flowers.  The verse was popped up on dimensionals and two pearls added. 

I love coloring these cute Sarah Kay stamps.  I have several cute little boy stamps I will be working with next.  

Thanks again for stopping by.

Isabella's Sketchbook Challenge

My stamping friend Linda Payne, who is the Design Team Leader, asked me to join Isabella's Sketchbook group on Paper Craft Planet.  On Isabella's Sketchbook blog there is a challenge and you just need to use one of her sketches to participate.  I downloaded Isabella's  free digi, which is this beautiful flower image, and decided to join in on the challenge. You know how much I love to make cards with flowers!   

This pretty image was printed off and colored with Copic markers.  The verse is from MTME.  It was cut out with Nestabilities Label Nine.  The background paper is from the Making Memories Wedding paper pad.  A Martha Stewart punched border was added to the bottom.  It has a purple ribbon threaded through the lattice then a purple bow added.  White Cuttlebug corners were added on top then purple rhinestones added to the center of each flower. 

If you would like to join in on this challenge and/or get this pretty digital image, go to Isabella's Sketchbook Challenge here.

Thanks for stopping by.