3.31.2014

Bye-Bye to Sale-A-Bration

Today is the last day that you can earn any of the 2014 Sale-a-bration items for free. You can click on the product images below to go to my online store, so you don't miss out on yours! I'm sad to see them go; but so glad that I got the One Big Sale-A-Bration 2014 Digital Ensemble as one of my free items. Now I've got all of the images to use forever on my projects in My Digital Studio!

I needed to create a Quick & Easy card for Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration. It doesn't get any quicker or easier than My Digital Studio!


I used Soft Sky for my background. White Baker's Twine and Soft Suede brads adorn the banners from Banner Blast. The elements at the bottom are all from the Sweet Sorbet Accessory Pack.

With just a few minutes on the computer, I now have a great card front I can print out; or a digital card that I could email to someone, or post on their Facebook wall to let them know I'm thinking about them.


3.25.2014

Blog Candy Winner

Congrats to Cynthia T. who will receive a Stampin' Up! embossing folder from me as the winner of last Friday's blog candy giveaway. Thanks to all who played along!


3.24.2014

Masculine Monday

I have really struggled over the last ten years to create masculine cards. Therefore, when I saw that today's Design Team challenge at Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration was just that, I jumped in with both feet!

I'm not sure if I've just evolved creatively, or if Stampin' Up! just has some really cool products that make it super easy, or maybe both. Regardless, I was pretty happy with how my card turned out, and it took me less than 10 minutes to design and make it!


My apologies for the giant picture, but I wanted you to be able to see the detail of the frame I made using the Hardwood background stamp. After I stamped it on the Early Espresso, I cut each section into strips and layered them over the Soho Subway DSP. Don't you just love those Essential Wooden Elements? They come cut into several different shapes, so all I had to do was stamp on them and glue them on the card!

I hope that I INKspired you to get outside your creative comfort zone today. I also hope that I remember where this card is come Father's Day. Oh wait, his birthday is in a couple weeks! Perfect!

3.21.2014

Simple Gift Card Holder

It feels great to be back in a regular blogging schedule. This is the first week since I took over my new position at work that I've blogged the entire week! Speaking of my new job, my student employees have had to deal with me expecting more out of them and changing the way they do some things. They have stepped up to the challenge, and I wanted to show my appreciation to them.


Let's face it, they are college students and probably won't care about this part. However, I'm guessing they'll love what's inside!


If you would like to see the full tutorial you can check out my Design Team post at Stylin' Stampin' INKSpiration. But before you go...

I've got BLOG CANDY! All you have to do is leave a comment with your guess of where the gift card is from. One lucky reader will win a Stampin' Up! embossing folder. You have until 9am Saturday, March 22nd to guess. Please also leave your email address in the comment, so I can reach you if you are the lucky winner!

Have a great weekend and ENJOY!

3.20.2014

Embellished Flower

Guess what?! I've got another flower to share with you today! Our Design Team Challenge at Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration today was to create a flower. I thought for a long time on this one and struggled with ideas because I didn't have the products I thought of using. When I finally stopped thinking so hard about it, I decided I could make a flower with ribbon.


I started playing with my Raspberry Ripple ribbon to see if I could create a decent looking flower. I discovered that the best way is to make a loop, then make the opposing loop and go around the circle like that. Did that make sense? Once I had my flower complete, I had my husband try to shove the Antique Brad through the ribbon layers. It didn't work. I had speculated that ahead of time, so I had my (retired) Crop-A-Dile out and had him use it to punch a hole in the middle while I held on to the flower. I was then able to put the brad through the hole and use it to hold the flower together. The flower did need fluffed after he squished part of it with the Crop-A-Dile.

I think this ribbon flower would also look great glued to a headband or on a wine bottle tag, if you are gifting some wine. 

It is going to be a sad day when the 2012-2014 In Colors retire at the end of May. I'm certain that Stampin' Up! will have fantastic colors for 2014-2016, but I really like these! In tribute, I used 3 of them on this card.

I had to laugh at myself. Once I was finished with this flower, I started thinking about all of the other embellishments I have that I could have used to create more flowers! Inspiration for future projects!


3.19.2014

Watercolor Wednesday

Since spring won't make up its mind to stick around; I've been pretending that it's really spring with all of my cards lately! Living in the Midwest my entire life, I should be used to crazy weather; however, my patience is wearing thin this year!

Today we are celebrating Watercolor Wednesday at SSINK.


I knew I wanted my flowers to have bold, vibrant colors, so I chose Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, and Daffodil Delight from the Brights Collection to color the main portion of the petals. I wanted to offset the color on each layer with something lighter, so I grabbed Pink Pirouette, Wisteria Wonder, and So Saffron from the Subtles Collection. The center of each flower is colored in using Baked Brown Sugar.

For best results when watercoloring with our fabulous Stampin' Up! products; well you should really use our watercolor paper, but since I didn't have any on hand, I used Whisper White. I stamped my flower images with Staz-On ink. It dries quickly, and won't bleed when using the Blender Pen with your other inks. With the ink pad closed, I gently pushed on the middle of the pad to create a "puddle" of ink on the inside of the lid. I used my Blender Pen to pick up ink from this puddle. Have you used our Blender Pens before? They are great! They come in a pack of 3, however I only used one last night for all those different colors. Once you are done with one color, you scribble on a piece of scratch paper until the output is clear again, and then you can start using it with another color.

To assemble my card, I decided on Pistachio Pudding for the base. Such a great spring color! I used a piece of the Watercolor Wonder DSP that I had printed from MDS for my card last week. I thought about using some washi tape as well, but when I started placing everything on the card, I liked the simplicity of this design and I really wanted my flowers to stand out. I stamped the "friends" sentiment directly on to the DSP. Now I can send this spring-y note card to a friend I haven't spoken to in awhile.

One last thing, if you are using the Staz-On ink, I highly recommend that you get the Staz-On cleaner. I didn't invest in it for many years, and I have many stained stamps to prove it. You cannot tell on this flower image that I ever stamped it with black ink!