Polka Dots & Paisley

I love being a Stampin' Up! demo! For Christmas I (and every other demo) recieved the Polka Dots & Paisley stamp set from the company! This set is soooooo stinkin' cute and I couldn't wait to get started on a project with it!

Hoping for a "different" look I chose three colors I wouldn't normaly put together: Taken with Teal, Tempting Turquoise, and More Mustard. I really like how rich these colors look together! I couldn't believe how well I'd chosen!

There are no tricks or special things here. It's all strait stamping (though I did use my markers on the flowers rather than a stamp pad.) I put a pop dot behind the flower pannel and tucked "happy" under it. The dots in the corners were drawn on with the markers - though I thought about piercing them I think this turned out well.

So... What do you think?

Containing Myself

Ahhhh... Ever create something you're completely happy with? I did tonight. I got to use some of the self adhesive die cuts from Stampin' Up!'s Just Delightful Simply Scrappin' Kit as well as the little bitty bit of paper I had left over from the SAB swap.(That would be the striped paper on top.) In addition to the SS Kit I used "Flirty" ribbon from the Winter Mini and Bashful Blue cardstock. I added the white dots with my Signo Gel Pen all over the Bashful Blue cardstock for a little interest.

On the lid of the box I put Pretty in Pink cardstock stamped randomly with three different stamps from the Delight in Life stamp set (Sell A Bration set) all in Pretty in Pink ink. Add So Saffron brads to the little self adhesive die cut lable. Next I cut the word "Cards" out of Certainly Celery using my Cricut! Add a little Signo Gel Pen and VersaMarker for some depth and I am tickled pink!

Cards Cards Cards Cards....

OK, I stayed up most of the night working. I had that energy, and I couldn't seem to stop myself! I kept looking over at those sad lonely little microscope slides and decided they would be much more comfy nestled on a card rather than just laying around gathering dust. And, since I had a head start on the glitz and glitter, I added more and more and more!

I handed off the other slide to my gal pal Gwen, and we'll have to see what she comes up with for it! I'll make her share!

Other that that card I made candles. Usually I just go ahead and stamp on them, but since I was already having a night of bling I went ahead and embossed with Gold Detail Embossing Powder. WOW! Now you can make up your own mind, but I'm a little worried that the gold is too much?! Is there such a thing? I'd hate to be tacky, so you'll have to let me know what you think! (Be honest, but not hurtful!)

I also worked on a new technique using UTEE... Hmmmm... I know its hard to tell from the picture, but the flower is standing up. Very cute to see in person, loses some of the appeal through the photograph. Trust me, its cute. And this new technique will be added to my Embossing Technique Class. (Email me if you wanna join the class - either in person or through the mail!)

So, the last thing I did was work on a horsey card. I wanted something a little more masculine to send to my husband. This is so simple, but I really like the results. I spent quite a while hemming and hawing between the jute twine and chocolate grosgrain, but the twine won out in the end. I punched the little holes along each corner. Thank goodness for the guide or I never would have gotten them even!

Snow Under the Microscope..... Slide

Hello there friends! I haven't forgotten you, really! Between the holiday season and weather, and plans for a trip to Ohio things have been a little busy. But never too busy to stamp!

Yesterday my order from Lumpy Stuff arrived. I have been waiting for this box for a while, and am so happy that it's here! Unfortunately I wasn't able to get to it until tonight!

I decided to play with the microscope slides first. They're a little intimidating at first, mostly because I held them in my hand and my mind went TOTALLY blank! Yikes! But I got over it!

I used the Snow Flurries stamp set (recently retired), white StazOn, silver and a few shades of blue alcohol ink. On both slides I stamped a snow flurry in white StazOn randomly on the slide and set aside to dry. I grabbed a blank slide and covered with blue and silver alcohol ink.

For the darker slide I put the slides together and ran foil tape around the outside edges. On the lighter slide I sandwiched a piece of tissue paper between the two slides and then ran the edges of the slides with the foil tape.

It’s hard to tell how sparkly these are by the picture. The silver ink really catches the light beautifully. I'm going to attach pin back on to these and sell them at the upcoming craft fair, debating though how much to charge for these!

The other project I've been working on is Tea Bag Holders. Instructions for these cute little cards can be found on Split Coast Stampers. I'm going to keep tweaking these, but I thought they would come in handy in this season where everyone is getting sick. The tea enclosed is honey lemon - great for those sore throats.

My third recent project has been beaded inkpens using the paper from the winter mini catalog. I'll have to come back later and add pictures!

Until then though, have a safe and happy holiday season!

-Merr

Snow Day

Recently Missouri has received our first snow and it was a NICE one! The storm came first as rain that froze over night. All through the next day we got freezing rain and sleet! Poor David waited as patiently as possible for the snow to play in! Finally over night the snow fell so we woke up December first to SNOW! Yippee! Needless to say Davy was out in it as much as possible!

To commemorate this great first snow, I put together an accordion album. If it seems small that's because IT IS! This mini-accordion book I got at Dub and Sam and I LOVE it! It's small, but that's the point, right? Anyway, I actually bought quite a few of these babies and I'm looking forward to sending them out to the grandparents for small Christmas gifts!

Anyway... back on track...

I started by cutting Stampin' Up!'s Bashful Blue card stock into eight 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 rectangles. I went ahead and attached them before I decorated them, but next time I think I'll decorate first, and attach last!

Next, I stamped snowflakes all over the panels using white craft ink. I only embossed the panel for the front of the book since I have no patients! (On the cover I embossed with Iridescent Ice EP from Stampin' Up!) After the flurries were dried, I went back and sponged on some Bashful Blue ink around all four edges of the panels to give it that "frosted" look.

I used the snowmen from the Festive Favorites stamp set in Bashful Blue on white cardstock; and cut them out because the stamp was too wide for my little mini-book! I inked the edges of the image and embossed with more Iridescent Ice! I also used the little snowman tag from the Festive Favorites set - Bashful Blue on white again! I colored all the hats and scarves in on the snowmen with my (you guessed it!) Bashful Blue marker. On the little tag I used Bashful Blue (who'd a thunk?!) pastels around the snowman to make him seem more white.

I printed all my pictures out on the computer to about 2"x3"; and matted them on Ballet Blue cardstock which I inked around the edges with white craft ink. After they dried I adhered them in the book along with the little poem. I got the poem at my FAVORITE poem and quote site Denny's Poems and Quotes! There are literally MILLIONS of ideas on this site, and well worth a visit!

Anyway, because I'm sure you can't read the poem it says: "Little Nose/ Where did you get that little red nose?/Jack Frost kissed it I suppose./He kissed it once, he kissed it twice/Poor little nose, it’s as cold as ice!" Isn't that cute?! And so fittings since all the pictures in the book were taken of Davy with a pretty red nose and cheeks!

The last thing I did was finish the cover. I used the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to place my letters just right. (I used Ballet Blue for the ink.) The last thing I did was stamp a flurry on the ballet blue with the white ink and the punched it out using the 3/4" punch. I punched a hole in the center, attached my eyelet and threaded my elastic band through the hole.

Guess what, that's it!! Not too bad!

Anyway, I hope you like the book, and check back soon to see what I've been up to!

-Merr