Thursday, February 28, 2013

For You

Hello Stampers, quick post tonight...I call this my 5-step project.  In five easy steps you have a cute gift holder using the petite pocket die.  So many wonderful things you can create with this die! Notice the color, lol. Thanks for stopping by.


Wednesday, February 27, 2013

You're Amazing...

Hello Stampers! So day three of my challenge and still going strong! What's my challenge you ask?Well, as a member of the design team for the Sunday Stamp blog challenge, we all take turns hosting a color or a sketch challenge. I'm hosting my first challenge and the deadline to participate is this Friday, March 1st. The colors I chose are whisper white, daffodil delight and basic black. So I personally am challenging myself to create all week long with that color combo. So far so good. What do you think?

I came home today and I don't know about you, but I knew I wanted to create for myself-for me. Had a stressful day at my other job working on a project that is due tomorrow. I know it will get done but I'll be much happier once it is done! I got to creating on this card and it cheered me up ASAP! Went for the chalkboard technique again and my inspiration for this card came from my friend Rhonda Morgan, who is also my Upline/Sideline. Sometimes, you have to be your own cheerleader in life.



So, with that, I'll call it a night. Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you have sweet dreams and wish a blessed day tomorrow.  

Until next time.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Papillon Potpourri

Hello fellow stampers! Well, I'm on day two of my creative challenge and so far so good.  But the week isn't over yet.  Do you ever sit down to create a card and don't know where to start?  You can have an idea of what you want to create but not sure what to do? Well, one thing that I do is look at past blog sketches or color combos.  Doesn't matter that the deadline has passed to include your project, a good sketch is always a good sketch!

Well, that's what I did for my card today, I went back and looked at the archives on the Sunday Stamps blog and I came across this cool sketch. It made creating so much easier!  You can see the original post here. So next time you're in a creative rut, try looking at past sketches.




We used the framed tulips embossing folder this past weekend at Spring Fling and I was missing it so I used it for this card. Using our white gel pens makes perfect dots between each tulip. Gotta love products that coordinate, the large butterflies from papillon potpourri go with the elegant butterfly punch.  The smaller ones coordinate with the bitty butterfly punch from the Spring Catalog! Except I used the beautiful wings embosslits.  The 1/4 stitched grosgrain ribbon is the right size to layer on top of the needlepoint embossing folder. The sentiment is from the Spring Catalog, the Pop-Up Posies Designer kit. And there you have it, another card completed using the current color challenge from Sunday Stamps! 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time. 

Monday, February 25, 2013

A challenge to myself...

Hello Stampers!  I had such a fun day yesterday! I attended the annual Spring Fling event that my uplines Diana Gibbs and Rhonda Morgan organize.  It was a packed day, full of inspiration, catching up with friends and learning new crafting tricks! I'll share with you photos of what we created later on.

So have you seen the awesome creations this week at Sunday Stamps? They are beautiful! You still have time to play along, so join us! I'm already inspired by the creations by our design team! So I got to thinking, since I picked this color combo for the week, what if I use it to create all week long? Hmm, now that would be a challenge for me! Could I stand up to the challenge? I hope I can.

So today, I created another card using this color combo. One day down! I used the new stamp set Oh, Hello from the spring catalog. It's such a fun set. This was a simple card to put together. Used my paper piercer again and I even decorated the inside of it.



Wish me luck friends, hopefully I can rise to the challenge for myself. If you've challenged yourself creatively, let me know what you've done! Thanks so much for stopping by. Until next time.


Sunday, February 24, 2013

Sunday Stamps Hostess

Happy Sunday Stampers!  I'm hosting my first challenge at Sunday Stamps this week! I hope you can play along with us, we love to see what you create! Our Design Team has awesome creations to share with you, so join us!

This week I have a color challenge.  These colors are the colors of my craft room, or at least I made myself stick to three main colors.  Daffodil Delight makes me happy, it motivates me to create.

I have a quick disclaimer before I talk about my project for this week.  The black frame and "K" shaped chipboard are not Stampin' Up! WHAT!  I know, I know, but everything else is.



I've been  collecting "K"s to display in my room and I had this idea to frame a letter K. So I covered the K with one of our basic black polka dot sheet from the Neutrals DSP stacks.  Then using our basic black 1/8 taffeta ribbon I piped the sides of the K. Notice the daffodil delight chevrons?  It's from our Essentials Designer Fabric pack. I also used it to make a yo-yo flower with it, from our 3 1/2 circle die.   Then I stacked some of our Designer Buttons in basic black, daffodil delight and whisper white. I really like how this came out, quick home decor project.

So what's up with my name? My name is very personal to me.  Even though it's spelled like Kathy with an "a" at the end, I don't like it when people call me Kathy, that's not my name.  It's pronounced as if it was spelled ka-ti-a, Katia.  I've been told it's a popular Russian name, but as far as I know, I'm not Russian and I don't have any Russian ancestry. Wanna know how I got my name?  My mom named me after a popular character in a Mexican novela (soap opera). If you ever seen a novela, they are very dramatic and they all have the same story line; peasant girl falls in love with rich boy, parents don't approve, etc. etc. I often tell my friends that they don't need to watch novelas, real life is a novela happening everyday! Anyhow, that's the story on my first name. Now my middle name, that's even harder to say than my first name.  You don't even want to know about my last name! 

That's all for now, thanks so much for stopping by.  Make some time to create something beautiful this week.  Until next time.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Fab Friday!

Greetings Stampers!  We made it to Friday!  Yay!  It's been a great week but I'm looking forward to the weekend.  So today I have another entry to a blog challenge, this time the Fab Friday blog and they have a color challenge. I dusted off my Papaya Collage stamp set for this card, I think this is the first time I inked up the frame. The base of the card is whisper white and I layered it with perfect plum.  Using my paper snips I cut the frame out and colored in the filigree with perfect plum too.  The butterfly from the SAB set Bloomin' Marvelous is inked in baja breeze, but it's hard to see.  I also punched out one butterfly with bitty butterfly punch-love it! And look, didn't even know (ok, I forgot) I had wild wasabi ribbon!   I tell 'ya, still lots of new stuff for me to play with! Even the designer builder brad is new!



I also have to share this photo with you, we had irrigation yesterday and my two merles got really muddy. Azul (Blue) on the left is the dad, he is my oldest at 10 years old and a blue merle Australian Shepherd and Mija (my little girl) on the right is his daughter and she is a red merle. She is six years old and my baby girl. Just like her daddy! Oh they got so dirty but they had fun. I didn't care, they still came inside the house, well they always do. I'll show you photos of my other two doggies in another post. 


Thanks so much for stopping by.  Hope you've enjoyed my ramblings this week. Have a fantastic Friday!  Until next time!


Thursday, February 21, 2013

Vintage Verses

Hello Stampers! How's your week going?  We got lots of rain in Phoenix yesterday, which is always good, we need it!  So I've been playing with some other new items from the Spring catalog.  Impulse buying applies to stamping stuff, right?  Well, technically, I received the white creped filter paper free from Stampin' Up! as part of a promotion, except I don't remember why.  Hmm...anyhow, I had this paper sitting around my room and so glad I finally decided to play with it. I've seen various flowers made with this paper and I wanted to try it out.  A huge thanks to fellow demo Patty Bennett for her instructions on creating this flower. I couldn't create just one, but two!



I used three different punches for my flower. The 1 1/4 scallop circle, 1 3/4 scallop circle and the 2 3/8 scallop circle. The trick to using the creped filter paper with our punches-use copy paper to punch out your shape one at a time. The filter paper is really thin.  I punched out each shape four times and then crumpled it up to give it texture. Then I spritz some vanilla shimmer smooch spritz onto the paper for a slight shimmer effect. 

OMG, I'm hooked!  You can dye, sponge, stamp on this paper, even use with your Big Shot but for these flowers, I like them in white. See why I couldn't just make one flower!  Paired with the Sycamore Street dsp from SAB and coordinating ribbon and the Vintage Verses stamp set, y ya (just like that) you have a completed card.  Oh, another first for me, using Sahara Sand card stock. Love it!  

Well friends, thanks so much for stopping by.  Let me know what you think of the flower or if you have played with our white creped filter paper.  Until next time.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Oh, Hello...

Welcome back stampers!

Create with Connie and Mary is already on Week 4 and the designers have created amazing projects!  I made some time to create something for the current challenge on the blog.  When I first saw this color challenge, the Not Quite Navy color threw me off.  This is my first time EVER creating with this color, not sure why, but glad I finally created with it. With over 40 exclusive Stampin' Up! colors, plus In-Colors, sooner or later, I'm bound to use each color at least once.

I did play with some new stamping toys while creating this card.  The most exciting part of this card for me, cutting fabric with our Dress Up Framelits! Oh my gosh, fabric, the possibilities!   This daffodil delight chevron pattern is from the Essentials Designer Fabric pack.  Our 1/4 stitched grosgrain ribbon makes a perfect belt for the dress. I also used our seam binding ribbon to create the ruffled ribbon border on the oval but I need more practice doing this. The fold on the card is called double dutch fold and I found the tutorial here from Splitcoast Stampers.



So what do you think of the color combo? Not bad huh!  You can see other designs with this combo here. Well friends that's all for now. Thanks so much for stopping by.  Hope you are creating something this week. Until next time.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Missing You...

Welcome back stampers!  Hope you had a wonderful Monday!  I'm back today with another creation for a blog challenge!  Having the day off yesterday really helped me to get a jump start on crafting.  I also got a lot of chores done.

I created this card for another Dynamic Duos challenge.  I had this idea in my head for awhile, so when I saw the color scheme for this week's challenge, I knew I had to spend some time creating it.



Even though it is retired, I used the Smooch pearlized top coat to color in the clouds. The sentiment is from the stamp set For the Birds and I punched it out with the small heart punch. The nest and tree branch is from the stamp set Take Care. So have you gotten the cloudy day embossing folder yet? No? What are you waiting for!  With spring right around the corner, this is a great embossing folder to have. 

Well, I better get going.  Thanks again for stopping by! Until next time.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Stampin' Royalty Challenge

Hello Stampers!  If you have today off for President's Day, hope you are enjoying your day.  I'm multi-tasking today, doing chores around the house, cleaning my craft room and creating.  I also spent a little bit of time looking at blog challenges.  I came across this color challenge from Stampin' Royalty and I knew I had to play along.  Love these three colors together! Remember this card? Well I couldn't use the same card since the colors were similar, so I made a new one.



It's amazing how many different ways you can use the background stamp, Swallowtail from the Spring Catalog.  Have you tried the triple time stamping technique?  I tried it with this stamp and I like the effect.  I inked it with melon mambo and then colored it in with daffodil delight.  Using our color spritzer tool with our daffodil delight and melon mambo markers it created a nice splash of color in the background. I kept the color theme going with our 2 1/2 scallop dots melon mambo ribbon, a daffodil delight designer button and our jewelry tag punch with the sentiment from Tiny Tags. This was a fun challenge for me, one that I know I'll use again.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Sunday Stamps

Hello Stampers!  Happy Sunday to you!  We have another great challenge for you at Sunday Stamps this week!  Hayley is our host and she has a fun sketch for us!  So what are you waiting for, come play with us!

I really like the Sycamore Street DSP from Sale-a-Bration (SAB) this year.  Such wonderful colors.  This is a z-fold card and the base of the card is island indigo, layered with whisper white.  I used several items from the SAB catalog.  The ribbon and button pack includes three spools of island indigo, pool party and tangerine tango and it has a beautiful satin feel to it.  The colors of the buttons are pool party, tangerine tango and rich razzelberry. The summer starfruit butterflies are from the Bloomin' Marvelous stamp set.

From the Spring Catalog I used our new Ovals Collection framelits.  I love that there is a new paper-piercing pack, the Occasions set.  You've probably noticed I like to do a lot of paper-piercing on my projects.  The bitty butterfly punch coordinates with the butterfly from the SAB Bloomin' Marvelous stamp set.  Gotta love product coordination.

From our Annual Catalog I used the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes set, a must have for various sentiments. The little girl is from the Lean on Me stamp set, which I received at the SU! Convention is 2011 while attending Hispanic Night. While my set is in Spanish and I ink the part of the stamp set I want to use.  I paper-pieced her dress with a small strip of the SAB Sycamore Street dsp.  I also used the Modern Label and Word Window punches and pearl basic jewels, on the butterflies. In case you didn't know, using the Blush Blossom Stampin' Write Marker is perfect for coloring in flesh tones on stamped images.


Well friends, that's all I have for now.  Thanks again for stopping by.  Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!  Until next time!


Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Dynamic Duos Challenge #39

Hello Stampers!   Hope your week is going well!  I made some time tonight to create a card for the Dynamic Duos Blog Challenge.  I hadn't a chance to play along with their challenges until now. It's amazing how using two colors can be so inspiring.  Check out the other creations here.



I kept my design simple.  Can you guess which items I used again on my card?  The stamp set "For the Birds" is such a fun set. The base of the card is very vanilla. I paper pierced the mail box with pool party dsp. The cute buttons on my card, those are the exclusive SAB buttons only available until March 22.  

Thanks again for stopping by.  Until next time.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Chalkboard I 'heart' you

Hello stampers!  So Valentine's Day is almost here and I wanted to create a handmade card for my boyfriend. Although I like to give him cards just because not just on special occasions. I didn't want to create a frilly, fu-fu card so I kept it simple.

I'm having fun creating cards with the chalkboard technique so I used it to create this card for him.  I saw a card similar to this on an email I received from a greeting card store. I received the Morning Post alphabet stamp set as part of a birthday present perk from Stampin' Up! Love getting spoiled from Stampin' Up! I have fond memories of playing tic-tac-toe.  I hope he likes it.

Thanks again for stopping by!



Sunday, February 10, 2013

Button Buddies Flower easel card

Happy Sunday Stampers!  Have you played along with us at Sunday Stamps yet? We have an awesome color challenge this week.  Melissa is our wonderful host and my fellow designers have created some beautiful creations.  Come check us out and play along with us!

When I saw Melissa's color challenge it took me awhile to think of how I wanted to use it.  Last Monday at our Shoebox Swap meeting I got a cool easel card from my fellow demo Becky and I wanted to try it out. I really like the flower stamp from the Button Buddies stamp set so I used to create a sunflower. I didn't use any ink pads for my card, just our Many Marvelous Markers!





Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a chance to create something this week!

Stamp Sets:  Button Buddies and Pretty Petites
Card Stock:  More Mustard, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Subtles DSP Stack
Other:  1/2 Scallop Dots Ribbon, Beautiful Wings Embosslits, Neutrals Designer Buttons, Stampin' Dimensionals, Petite Curly Label punch

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Freshly Made Sketch #72

Hello Stampers!  Hope your Saturday is going well.  It was a busy day for me, spent most of the day cleaning the house, although my craft room is still messy.  Hmm...creative chaos can be good right?  Well, in my disorganized mess I had room to create a card to play along with a sketch challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches.  I'm a bit late to the party as I'm barely playing with the More Amore Specialty DSP from the Spring Catalog.  I love the colors in this DSP! I'm having fun with the Hearts a Flutter stamp set and coordinating framelits dies!  The Cloudy Day EF is quickly becoming one of my favorites!  The love cup is from A Fitting Occasion stamp set and the sentiment is from Tiny Tags.



So go check out the other creations at Freshly Made Sketches here, lots of inspiration. Thanks again for stopping by!  

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

SAB Shoebox Swap

Hello Stampers!  Happy Tuesday!

Hope you created something this weekend!  Last night we have our downline/upline Shoe Box Swap meeting using stamp sets and items from the SAB catalog.  I got so many wonderful ideas on how to use some of the stamp sets, especially the ones that I didn't initially like.  Good thing SAB goes on until March 22!

So I used the Bloomin' Marvelous stamp set.  Love that the new bitty butterfly from the Spring Catalog coordinates with the butterfly in this stamp set.  I'm loving our new cloudy day embossing folder.  I cut it out with our label framelits in pool party and then sponged pacific point to give it more detail.  The butterflies are stamped off several times in tangerine tango and summer starfruit and then I punched out two of them.  The Sycamore Street dsp is full of awesome designs but right now I'm really liking this pattern.



Well that's all for now friends.  Gotta finish putting together several stamp sets I ordered and received so I can play with them. Thanks so much for stopping by.  Until next time!


Sunday, February 3, 2013

Ears to you...

Hello Stampers!  Happy Sunday.  We have a new challenge at Sunday Stamps this week, Holly is our host.  She has an awesome sketch.  Come and play with us, here.

Earlier this week I got some new stamping goodies and one of them was this cute single stamp called Ears to you.  I love the bunnies! I used daffodil delight, pacific point and melon mambo markers to ink up the bunnies first.  Then I inked each bunny separately with our new ink pads so the image would be brighter and richer.  Using our paper snips it was easy to cut up each bunny and then pop it up with our dimensionals.  Wanna know a cool trick with our dimensionals?  If you layer two of them together creates a higher pop up!

The awesome clouds is our new embossing folder from the Spring catalog.  I created my own shimmer mist with a few drops of marina mist and rubbing alcohol. I wanted the focus to be on the bunnies so I left a lot of white area on my card.  A small strip of the new 3/8 organdy ribbon in melon mambo with the sentiment is a nice touch. I have so many ideas running through my head of what to create with these bunnies.



Ten Never-Before-Seen Images!
You wanted more? You got more! We've had a great response so far to our experiment with single stamps. So much so that we are making ten more never-before-seen images available as single stamps available through March 31, 2013.
Details
  • These stamps are available on any order type-customer, demonstrator, workshop, or online. 
  • You can find the stamp item numbers on the flyers.
  • Single stamps can be ordered in the online store.
  • These won't be sent in our typical cases or packaging; they'll be packaged in cello bags. If you'd like a case for your stamp, you can buy our Clear-Mount Stamp Cases that come in packs of four (item 119105).
  • This offer is available for clear-mount stamps only.
  • The stamps won't come with a Clear-Mount Block, and you'll need to buy a block separately if you don't already have one. The recommended block sizes can be found on the flyer. 
  • There's no limit on how many pieces you can buy.
  • These stamps are only available through March 31, 2013, so get them while you can!

You can shop for all the single stamps here from my online store. 


Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, February 1, 2013

The Paper Players Challenge

Good morning stampers!  I know-morning!  Got up early today for a quick challenge post. I came across this sketch from the Paper Players and I had this card in mind!  Of course I used all Stampin' Up! products!  Go check out the creations from the design team here.  I'll come back later today and add what I used.  Thanks for stopping by.



Updated: So I played with the new hearts a flutter stamp set and coordinating framelits from the Spring catalog! I love both items! I know I'll be using them more.  The base of the card is raspberry ripple and the dsp is the retired Halloween from the holiday catalog.  I created the roses using our 1 1/4 scallop circle. It makes the right size roses.  I layered them on top of the large heart. The sentiment is from the pennant parade.  I really like the way it turned out, all thanks to a cool sketch.  I think I'll try stepping up this card by adding a bit more layers. Thanks again for stopping by and for your cool comments.