Playing With Some New Toys

Today was a great day. The little brown truck (aka UPS truck) pulled up at my house and dropped off a 23 lbs box of goodies for me to play with! No, it wasn't all mine, there were lots of goodies for the ladies who attended my New Catalog Event almost two weeks ago. But I did get a bunch of stamp sets, all of the new In Color Ribbons, some of the 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, new DSP, some Big Shot stuff and some new punches. Fun times!!! :)

I used the sketch above from Let's Try Stampin' on Tuesday for my card today. I wanted a sketch where I could use my new stamps, new DSP and In Color Ribbon. I think it worked :) Of course, as you can see I changed it up - a bit. Lol. I also used the Four Seasons Hostess Set. Isn't that birdie so cute!

Tips & Tricks:

*I love love love the new Fancy Fan Embossing Folder. It is so gorgeous and classic! I can see myself using this one a lot!
*Have you seen the new Paper Piercer and Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack? So many shapes you can pierce: the Heart, Curly Label, Designer Label and more! All coordinating with our punches! I used the circle template on this card.
*I really loved these rolled flowers and I replaced the scallop edge on the sketch with them. The technique is simplified paper quilling. I had done this technique a few weeks ago in another card and I had to refer to my own post about it to remember how to do it. How silly is that!
*The ladies at my Stamper's Group are doing this card this Sunday. I really wanted them to try out some of the new products. Want to come and learn some advanced techniques? Come try the group out on Sunday or join a new one starting in August/September :)
*I am *really* loving the Stitched In Color Ribbon. It is so soft and shiny! And don't you love how the Summer Starfruit Ribbon looks golden? So pretty...

The Polka Dot Parade DSP is so much fun! I love the bright colors and all the polka dots! (Of course ;) ) I really hope the ladies enjoy this card on Sunday! And I'm so glad I've finally got my new goodies... I have a few more coming next week :) Happy days!

'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Tea for Two?

Today I'm using a stamp set in the 2012 Occasions Mini, Tea Shoppe, which will be leaving us on April 30th when the Mini ends. Though I must say, I have high hopes that this stamp set will carry over to the 2012/2013 Idea Book & Catalogue.

My inspiration for this card was last week's Friday Mashup Challenge. Though I must say, I was clearly more challenged than I expected. Apparently I can't read  ~ they asked us to use the sketch provided and/or use the ghosting/VersaMark resist technique. I misread that to mean that we should use the emboss resist technique, so that's what I did. I guess I only did complete one part of the challenge but my intent was to mash the challenge up and do both ;)

Tips & Tricks:

*Emboss resist is easy! Emboss your image with an embossing powder (I used White Embossing Powder). Sponge over your image with a contrasting ink. I used Pink Pirouette and sponged the edges with Pretty in Pink. The embossing powder is like plastic so it doesn't absorb the ink; it resists it. My tea cup doesn't photograph very well but in real life it looks pretty good ;)
*I love the Basic Grey Satin Ribbon. It has a gorgeous silvery sheen to it!

*Instead of the tag depicted in the sketch, I used the Framelits Labels. Love how classy these look with the pretty tea cup.

I am looking forward to doing the emboss resist technique at one of my Stampin' Technique Classes soon. Hope you've enjoyed my tea card, 'til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Watercoloring and Spotlighting

One of the big perks of attending a Stampin' Up! event such as Leadership is getting NEW, sneak peek stamp sets that no one has seen before. I have been waiting for the right moment to break this one out and it seems like I've been swamped with Valentine's Day and birthday cards. So finally, I get to use and show off the Everything Eleanor stamp set which will be featured in the 2012-2013 Catalogue. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it, especially swirly brocade. The flowers are gorgeous and there's few other super beautiful stamps I haven't used on this card.

My inspiration for this card was the Friday Mashup Challenge. We were challenged to use penguins on our card, use the spotlighting technique, or mash it up and do both. Well, I don't have any penguins and I really wanted to use my new stamp set so I did the spotlighting technique. I did cheat a bit and included the sweet little bird stamped in pool party. I guess he's 'spotlighted', too ;)

From the Mini stamp set Loving Thoughts, I thought the 'dream' sentiment fit this card perfectly.

Tips & Tricks:

*For added dimension, I used Crystal Effects to give my flowers a dewy look, and also to make my sweet little bird (can you tell I love that little guy?)

*I've had a few people tell me that this stamp set looks 'old'. Well, it's only as old as you want it to be. Add some modern, fresh colors and I think this set is as young as you want it to be.
*I water colored the flowers with classic ink and my Aquapainters. I started with some Wisteria Wonder throughout the flower, concentrating it in the center. I added some Perfect Plum, mainly in the center and the inner petals. I then added some Elegant Eggpalnt mainly to the center a few of the outer petals to give the illusion of shadows and natural shading.
*When watercoloring, make sure to stamp your image in Staz On. It's alcohol based and won't run when you are watercoloring.

Did you love this card? Come and make it and THIS waterfall card at a Stamping Technique Class this Sunday February 19th. It's going to be tonnes of fun and I hope you can join me!

Stay tuned for more sneak peeks in the coming weeks - so so fun :) 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Waterfall Card and Tutorial

This past week-end, I had a stamper's group and after seeing a fantastic swap at Leadership (I wish I could give credit but it wasn't a swap I received, I just saw it in passing...) I decided to do a waterfall card. This card has such an impact, looks so complicated but is actually very easy to make! I also designed this card with the Friday Mashup Challenge in mind. They asked us to do a card:
1) using the sketch they provided; or
2) using something new in our stamping stash; or
3) mash it up and do both.

Because I knew I wanted to do a waterfall card, the sketch didn't work for my card. But I did have a Sale-a-Bration stamp set, Elementary Elegance, that I hadn't used yet. I've used the Sweet Shop DSP before, but it's still pretty new in my stash and I love the colors so I used that, too. Finally, the waterfall card I saw at Leadership used the Labels Framelits and it looked so great! They're pretty new in my stash too :)

Look what happens when you pull the ribbon tab:

How awesome is that? The best thing about it is that it's not even that hard to make. See below for a quick and easy tutorial:

Step 1: For a standard 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 (A2) card, cut a piece of card stock that is 8-1/2" long. The width will depend on how wide you want the waterfall to be. Here I used the 2nd smallest Label Framelit and my strip is 2-1/2" wide.

Step 2: For four waterfall elements, score your cardstock (on the bad side of the card stock) in five places at even intervals with your Simply Scored scoring tool. I scored my card stock at 3/4", 1-1/2", 2-1/4", 3" and 3-3/4". You NEED that 5th score line, even if you have only 4 elements.

Step 3: Fold the card stock on all the score lines as shown.

Step 4: Adhere the waterfall elements (on this card, the labels) just below the following score lines: 3-3/4" for the upper most element, 3", 2-1/4" and 1-1/2"  for the last element. DO NOT adhere anything to the last scored area (3/4" score line;.

Step 5: On your card mat, use brads to attach a 4" x 1" strip of card stock or DSP about 1-1/4" from the bottom of the mat. DO NOT adhere this card stock with adhesive; you need your waterfall to pass through here.

Step 6: Put a strip of Sticky Strip at the top of the 1st score line (at 3/4").

Step 7: This is the tricky part. Slide the unscored portion of the waterfall card stock underneath the 4" x 1" strip of card stock or DSP that you attached with brads. Then, attach the Sticky Strip you put on in Step 6 to the top of 4" x 1" strip of card stock/DSP. Be very careful to adhere your waterfall on straight.  

Step 8: Decorate your card as desired.

See how it's *really* not that hard? There's a few steps, but once you've got the hang of it, it only takes about 20 minutes to make! The girls at my stamper's groups were thrilled with this card and I'm so glad! My mom will be getting this card for her birthday on Saturday and I hope she loves it too.

Does this card make you wonder a bit more about Stamper's Groups? If you're in Ottawa, drop me a line and I can tell you a bit more about how you can learn new techniques! 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity.

Stamper's Technique Group Preview

A new year brings new stamper's groups. And that means new techniques to learn for me! I'm starting a card technique group on Saturday February 4th at 8PM, as well as an Anything but a Card class starting Sunday February 12th at 2 PM. Both groups will be every other month. I love these groups because not only do I get to stamp with some very awesome women, but I also have a reason to do some fancy shmancy cards. If you're in the Ottawa area and you'd like more info, email me at stampingmonica@gmail.com.

I have been wanting to try the Faux Tile technique out for a while, and the Fresh Vintage Sale-a-Bration stamp set (a sneak peek!!!) is perfect for it. The only thing I probably didn't do exactly right was that I stamped a bit too hard on the crease lines, but I still like the tile effect. And I love how striking it is with the Rich Razzleberry against Whisper White :)

I also used inspiration from this week's Friday Mashup Challenge. They asked us to do a thank you card, use Designer Series Paper or mash it up and do both. So mashed it all up and used the gorgeous Pocketful of Posies DSP.

Tips & Tricks:

*I love how Lucky Limeade ribbon looks with Rich Razzleberry. The contrast is stunning.

*Love the ribbon? It's the Lucky Limeade 1/8" Organdy Ribbon, part of a SAB bundle! Gorgeous and I love how because of its lightness I can wrap it around a few times without it looking too 'heavy'.
*Sale-a-Bration starts January 24th. Free goodies for every $60 spent ~ stamp sets, brads, ribbon, DSP and many other accessories! How awesome is that???
*I love sponging on my cards. Great effect that costs pennies. Our Stampin Sponges are only $4.75 for 3, and I take each sponge and cut them into 8 triangles. When they get dirty I wash them and reuse! I get over a year's use out of my 3 sponges.
*To do the accent sponging on the faux tiles, make sure you only ink the edge of the sponge so it doesn't spread elsewhere.
*I always use Glue Dots to adhere my buttons. Here I adhere the Tiny Tag with a Glue Dot and then adhered the button over top.

Hope I've inspired you to make a thank you card for someone special! 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out *your* creativity.

Layers Upon Wonderful Layers

It was like Christmas in Stamping Monica's stampin' studio today ~ my Occasions Mini preorder came! I ordered WAAAAAY more than I was planning and also got a ton of FREE loot... just because SU! is such a fantastic company :) :) :) I love love love being a demonstrator!

There were tonnes of awesome new products in the Mini: pleated ribbons, designer buttons, Framelits (Big Shot dies that create shapes in multiple sizes, similar to Spellbinders dies), Edgelits (card stock edge cutters) and coordinating edge embossing folders! Oh and some really great stamp sets. And Designer Papers. Actually everything :) I also got a bunch of Sale-a-bration loot (SAB runs from Jan 24 to March 31).

Gorgeous Pleated Ribbon and Designer Buttons

Today, I had absolutely no idea where to start. None. So many great products, which ones to work with??? I had to make a project for my upcoming stampers group (I promised them a project with new products) as well as some swaps. The swap cards will be a smidge different to make them a bit easier to make, but the idea will be the same.

I also chose to use the new stamp set P.S. I Love You. It is a super Valentine's stamp set, perfect for kids' valentines, as well as adult ones. This super cute sketch is from Freshly Made Sketches. It's a keeper, for sure. I love the Heart Framelits, coordinating hearts, or make a frame! Place it right over an image and cut it out with precision. Totally AWESOME :)

Tips & Tricks:

*My 3D butterfly and ornament have been real hits! So I thought, why not do it with the Heart Punch and coordinating image from P.S. I Love You. Need some details on how to make the 3D heart? Here's a previous Blog Post on 3D Butterflies - different punch, same idea :)

*This card is an angled easel card. I saw this concept at a demo meeting about a month ago and have been making it ever since. Love. It.
*I cut cupid out by hand ~ sometimes doing a bit of cutting has a great effect.
*Like the Designer Paper? It's the new Twitterpated DSP. It coordinates with the Blushing Bride Pleated Ribbon and Twitterpated Designer Buttons, both used on this card. Isn't it gorgeous?

I hope you've enjoyed this little Sneak Peek :) I'll be back with more soon because there's just so much awesome stuff! 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Snowflake Shaker Card

I just love shaker cards. They are super fun for kids and adults. Who doesn't like shaking a snowglobe. Well, this is the same idea but in a card :) I had to design a project for my Stamper's Group on Saturday and knew we would be using SU!'s new Shaker Frames and Mica Flakes. But I had no idea what my card would look like. Then I saw this week's lovely Mojo Monday Sketch. And my card materialized.

I've been using the Sweet Snowglobe so much this year, I wanted to do something different. So I used the gorgeous big snowflake from the Snow Swirled stamp set. I also wanted to show my ladies how to emboss ~ many of them haven't done it before. Our embossing will be done using the gorgeous new Pewter embossing powder.

Tips & Tricks:

*I love the new Shaker Frames. They make making shaker cards a snap! I've had a lot of questions on how to use them. I will be back with a tutorial next week, after my ladies have done their class. 
*Use SU!'s Window Sheets to create the window on your shaker. They can be punched with punches, cut with a paper cutter or die-cut with the Big Shot.
*To create interesting dimension, I embossed both the Whisper White layer and Marina Mist 2-1/2" circle with the Snowburst Embossing Folder. I love the look!
*The Shaker Frames are about 1/8" high whereas Stampin' Dimensionals are about 1/16" high. To adhere my top Marina Mist layer, I doubled up on the Dimensionals - one on top of the other!
*Yes, I used retired ribbon. It's the 1-1/4" Early Espresso Ribbon. But it worked so well with this card :)

Hope you've enjoyed my card and love my little 'snow flurry'. I also hope my ladies will love it on Saturday. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Origami Diamond Fold Tutorial

If you read my blog on a semi-regular basis, you know that I like to do challenges. Someone recently asked my why I do so many challenges. Well, it pushes me to do things I may not think of, gives me new ideas for projects and keeps me blogging :) The challenges also bring new readers to my blog who hopefully enjoy my work!

This week's Pals Paper Arts Challenge challenged us to create a fall or Hallowe'en card based on the image to the left. Lots of leaves, Crumb Cake color and just a nice fall feel. We're doing a very autumn-feeling project with my Saturday night Stamper's Group this week-end and I thought I'd share this tutorial I made for the ladies. I love love love this special card style and hope the ladies too. I learned it at a Sparkledaisy Team Meeting a few months back.

I do have to preface this tutorial by saying that the original tutorial and idea is by Wendy Bell who made this video. I don't do well with video, I need step-by-step instructions and find they work better in my classes too. So I came up with this step-by-step text- and image-based tutorial. Enjoy!

1. Trim your favorite sheet of Designer Series Paper (DSP) to 11” x 11”. Pick the side you want showing on your card and put that side facedown on your Simply Scored Scoring Board.

2. Bring the bottom right corner of the DSP to the top left corner. Using your bone folder, create a nice, crisp fold across the middle. Make sure that the paper is folded right through the middle.

3. Turn the DSP with its folded edge to the top of board. Place your scoring board markers at 3” and 5.5” and score your DSP. Flip your DSP over and score at 3” and 5.5” again.

4. Turn your DSP 90 degrees so that the fold is straight down the 7.75” line of the scoring board and the tip of the triangle is touching the left edge of the scoring board. Make sure the folded edge is EXACTLY on the 7.75” line straight down (as shown). Score the DSP at 3.5”.

5. Cut out the small triangular notches as shown.

6. Fold inwards along all of the score lines.

7. Push the left and right folded sides 'inwards' to create the 'diamonds'. The diamond on the left-hand side will be the pocket for the top flap.

8. Open the folds of the DSP to reveal the inside. Put adhesive on all edges except what will be the left-hand diamond – as shown in red. Adhering the DSP together keeps its edges nice and clean.

9. Fold the card over on the main score line and put your Origami Diamond Fold Card together. Add embellishments, etc., as desired.

This is what it looks like opened up :

 

I used the Spice Cake DSP for my card as well as Dazzling Details on my leaves to jazz them up a bit. Hope you've enjoyed this tutorial. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Trifold Shutter and Embedded Image Tutorial

I had my bimonthly Saturday night stamper's group this past week-end and we did a lot of embossing with new embossing powders. We also used some new accessories as well as some stamps that are sailing into the sun when the Summer Mini ends on August 31st.

The first is a Trifold Shutter card using The Open Sea stamp set. We embossed the sailboat with the new Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powder. I love these new colored embossing powders, they really make an image 'pop' on a card. I also wanted to try the new Pewter-colored embossing powder (sneak peakfrom the UPCOMING Holiday Mini!!!). I love how it is just a smidge thicker than the Silver embossing powder. It will be great for the Faux Metal Technique.

 

Isn't the Trifold Shutter just a great looking card? Best of all, it folds down to a 4" x 5-1/2" card! It's very easy to make, too:

1) Cut a piece of card stock to 12" x 5-1/2".

2) Score on the long side at 2", 4", 8", and 10"

3) On the short side, cut slits at 1-1/2" and 4" from the 2" score line to the 10" score line.

4) Fold the 2" score line to make a mountain and the 10" score line to make a valley.

5) Alternate the folds at the 4" and 8" score lines as pictured.

6) Decorate as desired.

We also did the Embedded Image technique. I love how easy it is and next time I plan on combining it with the Cracked Glass technique.  

The Embedded Image Technique is very easy!  Here are the steps:

1) Stamp and image or background stamp on your card stock. Here I stamped the larger flower stamp, 'Create' and 'No. 3' from Creative Elements.

2 ) Cover the entire surface of the stamped card stock with VersaMark ink and emboss with Clear embossing powder. Let cool and repeat to create a nice, smooth surface. Make sure your VersaMark ink pad is nice and juicy to make sure that the embossing powder sticks well and you get a good layer of it on your image.

3) Choose a coordinating image. Stamp in VersaMark OVERTOP of the clear embossing powder in a contrasting color (here I used Cherry Cobbler). As you emboss the contrasting image, it will embed itself into the clear embossing powder creating the cool look pictured here!

Tips & Tricks:

*The Nautical Expedition DSP is perfect for men's and little boy's cards. As is The Open Sea stamp set. I'm so sad they're leaving us with the Summer Mini - get your while you can!

*Use a Bone Folder to fold your score lines evenly and crisply.

*The 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon is perfectly sized to fit through the little slits of the new Lace Ribbon Border Punch. How cool is that?

*I didn't use an Embossing Buddy to prevent the Cherry Cobbler embossing powder from sticking to the clear embossing powder in my embedded image so I have speckles throughout that look pretty neat. If you don't want this to happen, make sure to use the Embossing Buddy.

Hope you've enjoyed these two quick tutorials. Contact me for more info about joining a Stamper's Group and learning advanced techniques. In the mean time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!