Fabric and Spinners

I've realized it's been almost a month since I posted!  Yikes.  I've been busy crafting and doing a bunch of other things.  I recently started a new blog too (dairyfreedairyfiend.blogspost.com), so now I need to manage writing both blogs :)

Last month, I did some fun projects with my stamper's groups. I've been getting lots of questions on Stampin' Up! fabrics and the spinner cards, so I decided to do both. For the fabric card, we used the Fun Flowers L die as well as the Sweet Stitches fabric. We also used the double-sided adhesive sheets from the Occasions Mini. We adhered the fabric, wrong-side down, to the adhesive sheets. Then we ran the whole thing through the Big Shot with the Fun Flowers die.

We also created a sweet ribbon with the fabric. A strip of 1" of fabric was cut and tied into a knot. Simple, but adds a lot to the card. We also put a Flower Brad through the center of the fabric flower, just to dress the card up a bit more.  I love the added texture that the fabric gives and I just adore the Fun Flowers die. The flowers layer so beautifully and open themselves to many different possibilities: cards, bookmarks, scrapbook pages, anything :)

Anyone who has received a card from me recently knows I LOVE the spinner cards!  I've given them to pretty much everyone and anyone that has had a birthday recently. And I will keep giving them :) They're so easy to put together, washer underneath the card, spinner hand and brad at the top. To make sure your spinner card spins, take your paper piercer and pull up under the game spinner hand and brad.

We also did a 'tie-dye' technique on the card. Using Glossy Paper, emboss your image (in this case, an image from the Take a Spin stamp set) in white. Spritz with water. Take Stampin' Reinkers and put a drop or two of 3 or 4 colors on a paper towel. With your Aquapainter, add color from the reinker to the spritzed image in different areas. Add another color. Re-spritz with water as needed and until you are happy with it. When dry, we punched it out with the 2-1/2" circle punch. The colors we used on this card were Cherry Cobbler, Tangerine Tango and Marina Mist.

 
I hope you've enjoyed these cards and keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!



p.s. Clearance rack items are on sale at 60% off and they added a whole bunch more! Take a look see!
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Stamping in Bulk

Sometimes we have to make a bunch of cards for an occasion: invitations, thank you cards, or we just have a lot of birthdays happenning around the same time.  In these cases we have to 'stamp in bulk' and make a bunch of the same card.  But if you're like me, you get bored after card #3 and are itching to stamp something different.  Well, I recently found the cure to this.

Bugs and Kisses Thank You Cards :)

I had to make thank you cards after my daughter's birthday party.  But the thought of making 12 of them was not very appealing to me.  So I went to my left over cut up card stock from my card classes (I always cut extra card stock, which means I end up with card stock) and chose a couple of styles that would work well together, and with the stamp set I chose, Bugs and Kisses.

And then I stamped.  Twelve of them.  And it wasn't so bad!!!  To glitz the thank yous up a bit, I added the adhesive rhinestones to each in different places (I LOVE those embellishments). 

I used the same ink on all of them (Early Espresso) but otherwise they are all a bit unique.  Yet similar.  They all have the same three bugs, and the same greeting.  Some have the Greenhouse Gala DSP, others have the retired Tropical Party DSP.  Some are embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, others are not.  And some are landscape, whereas some are portrait orientation. 

So what do you think?  I think it's a pretty great way to create a bunch of the same, yet different cards!  I didn't get bored and could get creative, even if only a little bit, with each card :)  Hope this inspires you the next time you have to stamp in bulk.  Keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Stamp for Books Fundraiser

We're very lucky... our daughter gets to go to a brand new school. And it's beautiful. Really beautiful. Her JK class has gorgeous new carpets, toys, and even a bathroom right in the classroom. But being a brand new school, that likely went over-budget, they're lacking some things. Like books for the library. And play structures in the playground. We're being assured that the play structures are coming, but we're not sure exactly what *kind* of structure we're getting, just that we'll likely want a bigger one... And there are some books in the library... some.

I'm on the parent council for the school and due to conflict of interest, I can't hold a stamping fundraiser through the school. So I thought to myself, why not just do my own? I sat down today, picked a date - Sunday March 19th from 2-4 - and decided we'd to 6 cards (2 each of 3 designs) for $15 - All profit will go to the school. To design the first card, I knew I wanted butterflies. I also loved the Pals Paper Arts Challenge Colour Challenge this week: Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake and Soft Suede. Using my beloved 3-D butterfly, I ended up with the card to the left. I needed something simple, to maximize profits from the fundraiser. But with the embossed background, the dimension from the butterfly and the scallops, I think I came up with a simple yet elegant card that can be used for birthday, thank yous and even anniversaries.

The other two cards will be kept a secret for now ;) But rest assured, they've been 'approved' by someone other than me ;) More information on my fundraiser is available on my Classes Page. I hope to see you there! Or if you can't make it, maybe you'll take advantage of my class-to-go option :)

Keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

A Birthday Card for a Very Special 3 Year Old

A friend of my kids is turning 3 this week-end. So I knew that part of today would involve making a card for her. When I opened my email this morning and saw the Pals Paper Arts Sketch Challenge 81, I knew it would be a great sketch for the card I was planning. I already knew I wanted to use the Big Shot Simple Numbers, Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets and Dazzling Diamonds Glitter to make a glimmery "#3". What I especially loved about this sketch is that I could really make the 3 stand out while combining several coordinating Designer Papers.

If you aren't familiar with Stampin' Up!'s Adhesive Sheets, you'll love everything you can do with them. They can be used with fabric, card stock - anything really. And not only that - you can stick them to card stock / fabric and then run them through the Big Shot to get perfect adhesive die cut element for your paper crafting. To add a little glam to this special card, I die cut the '3' with the adhesive on the top side, so that I could sprinkle Dazzling Diamonds Glitter on it.

The Simple Numbers dies come with a little flower, so I cut it out with some remaining card stock/Adhesive Sheet and applied glitter to it as well. I put a Chocolate Chip Corduroy Brad (retired) through the middle of the flower to add a bit more texture.


Hope you enjoyed this special birthday card. Keep letting stamps bring out your creativity! (Although, isn't it ironic that I barely used stamps on this card? lol!)

Watercoloring Stamper's Group

My stamper's groups always want to do some watercoloring. In the past, I've always struggled with finding stamp sets that work well for watercoloring, but this year we have "Greeting Card Kids", the perfect set! Since we were coming up to Valentine's Day, I also used the new "Blowing Kisses" set. To prevent the ink from bleeding during watercoloring, we used Stayz-On ink in black.

For the Blowing Kisses card, we watercolored with AquaPainters and Classic Ink. For the little Greeting Card Girl, we used Watercolor Wonder Crayons. Both images were watercolored on watercolor paper.

We also tried out a ribbon technique that is all the rage right now - ruching. We ran Sticky Strip along the bottom of the card and then we applied our ribbon, gathering it randomly. There are many different way ruching can be done. Using different ribbons achieves a different look. Stay tuned for more ruching examples in weeks to come since I'm loving this technique ;)

Take a look at my class list, too. Couple of great new classes coming up! And most importantly, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity.