A Little of This and a Little of That...

You know how it is.  You're browsing in a store and suddenly you spot something.  It's nothing much, actually, but it totally grabs your imagination and you can already see your finished project in your mind.  Well, that happened to me when I was looking for a plain old Post-It note pad.  I found one but I found something even better as well---another Post-It note pad.  The other Post-It note pad was perfect!  It matched my Dress Up framelits and I was certain I could match the colours in the note pad.  So, of course, I bought that one as well.

Can you see what I mean about this being a perfect Post-It note pad?  Since I already had a standing acrylic 5"x7" frame which I had bought some time ago on spec, the ideas were just falling all over each other in my head.  I finally decided to match the image on the note pad as closely as possible but I would reverse the background colours.  I chose to put Bermuda Bay as the main background and then put a strip of the Certainly Celery from the Subtles Collection Designer Series Stack at the bottom.  The colour match was phenominally close.

I chose a piece of Naturals White cardstock to cut the dress dummy using the Dress Up framelits.  Then I used the same framelit to simply cut a piece of Basic Black cardstock, eliminating the bottom stand.  I hand cut the top to match the top of the dress on the note pad.  Once the Basic Black dress was adhered to the dress dummy, it looked perfect.  Since I didn't have a stamp for the shoes I decided to punch out a heart from a piece of Red Glimmer paper using the Small Heart punch and a tiny heart using the Owl Builder punch.  The large one, I adhered at the base where the floor would be and the tiny one, I adhered to the waist of the dress.

Then I drew a choker necklace using my Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Marker and covered that with the Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details.  Once that was dry, I was able to slip the completed design into the standing acrylic frame.  It was no work at all to put some strips of Sticky Strip on the back of the note pad to adhere it to the left of the frame.

This stands perfectly on my desk and is so much nicer in person.  And it all began with a Post-It note pad...

Playing with clay!

If someone had told me that I'd be making my own flowers and buttons and dozens of other things out of clay to embellish my cards, I'd have scoffed.  Why bother when there are so many embellishments available, right?  Well, guess what!  I'm making my own and loving it.

You're going to have so much fun when you come to my Open House!  We're going to make and colour our own flowers for the awesome card we'll be putting together.  Intrigued?  Well, you should be.

In my last order I received the White Simply Pressed Clay that will be available with the new catalogue.  It's so easy to use and stays flexible even after drying.  It can be coloured by kneading some drops of ink refill into the clay but I found it was easiest to get precisely the colour I wanted for my project by leaving the object the clean white colour of the clay and then using my Stampin' Write Marker to colour it (or an ink pad with a blender pen).

I went a bit crazy using the clay because it was so easy to use.  Not only did I use the Simply Pressed Molds that you can buy for the clay, but I also used a couple of my Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamps.  Actually anything that you can push the clay into will act as a mold and once it's dry you have a brand new embellishment.

The card which I made features the clay embellishments as well as two of the new In-Colors and also the new Mosaic Punch that is also in the new catalogue.  This time, instead of using the punch with the Mosaic Madness stamp set, I used it simply to cut out six of the shapes from the Crisp Cantaloupe cardstock.  Using my Bone Folder, I curved the sides of the shapes to give them some dimension and sponged them with the same coloured ink.  I then layered them in threes to make a blossom.  I also used the leaves framelit from the Secret Garden framelits to cut out two sections of leaves from the new Pistachio Pudding cardstock.

For the rest of the card, I used the Pool Party cardstock as well as the Island Indigo cardstock.  They matched the piece of Quatrefancy Specialty Designer Paper perfectly.  I cut a window out of the designer paper using one of my Window Frames Collection framelits so that I could feature a piece of the printed window sheet from the same Specialty Designer Paper.  Love the result!

Put them all together and what do you get?

I have a hand-coloured clay flower inside the paper blossom as well as at the top left.  The L O V E is made out of the clay as well and then hand-coloured.  For the letters I used one of the cookie presses that was available for Demonstrators, saying "LOVE what you DO".  The "LOVE" letters were the perfect size for my card.  The ribbon I've used diagonally across the top left is some Island Indigo left over from Sale-a-bration.

I absolutely love this card.  The new colours---the new clay embellishments---everything just comes together perfectly.

Introduced by "Madison Avenue"

Remember the Madison Avenue stamp set which you could get free with a qualifying purchase during Sale-a-bration this year?  Didn't you just love those tile-like influences in the design?  Well, Sale-a-bration may be over for the year but just wait a few days for the unveiling of the new catalogue and you may just be as delighted as I was to see the continuation of this design.  Of course with the brand new stamp sets (you'll have to wait for the new catalogue to discover the name) there is a wider range of stamps and designs to combine.  Intrigued?

For this particular card, I've used two of the new colours that have been added to the colour collections.  I love the richness of the colours, don't you?  I stamped right in the centre of the designs made by the brand new embossing folder and the stamped images just "pop" against the Whisper White.

For the sentiment I used one of those cute Round Array stamps that is available in a bundle at 15% off with the matching 7/8" round scallop punch.  If you want that bundle, be sure to order it before May 30th to get that 15% savings.

And this card uses some more new colours as well as the same new stamp set and embossing folder.  Like the sentiment?  It can be yours if you hold a workshop and choose it as one of your hostess gifts.  This sentiment along with five others make up a really versatile stamp set.

Remember, you'll be able to order from the new catalogue starting May 31st.  I'll be posting more of the tempting new products over the next week or so.

May brings us Brides and Babies!

What a terrific stamp set Stampin' Up! has just released for their May 25th Anniversary Best of Stamps!  It's a beautifully drawn set of five stamps, four of which have been released sometime during the past 25 years and one of which is brand new and never-before-seen.  You can check out the PDF flyer here.


Aren't the images great?  And they don't just have to be used on cards.  Can't you just see some of them embellishing your scrapbook page?  Or that special page or framed art you're making for someone you love?

These stamp sets are being released, one each month, for the full year of 2013 to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Stampin' Up!  To sweeten the pot, Stampin' Up! is giving away a "proof of purchase sticker" with each stamp set in the 25th Anniversary collection.  Adhere the sticker to the Collector's Card that your Demonstrator gives you and, once you've collected six, you can send in your collector's card and redeem a FREE set of your choice, up to a value of $17.95.

What a deal!  Can't you see yourself using this set for your projects?