Did I Have a Good Time in Sturgeon Bay?

As they say in Wisconsin, "You Betcha!"

Door County hospitality was first-rate, the stamping techniques were top-notch, and the Silver Stamper gathering was...well, intimate. "Bug" de Vos flew in from California, I flew in from New Jersey and Lynn and Denny Rick drove down from Minnesota. Shown is our group in front of the fireplace at the Bridgeport Resort.

The weather was unseasonably warm, which gave us a chance to explore the peninsula and enjoy some outings for meals and shopping. Saturday morning was very windy, as you can see by the white caps on the bay in the photo taken from the car. (click photo for a closer view.)

One of our activities for the weekend was a "Challenge" where we had to create something within a frame using only the stamps, papers, and embellishments provided. I'm so proud of Lynn, our Silver Stamper president, for taking FIRST PLACE with her Nostalgia Sisters design! All the entries were so well done, it truly was hard to pick one winner over all the others. Congratulations Lynn!!

I got home Sunday evening exhausted from the trip, but sooooo glad I went! The whole weekend was just filled with outstanding projects, new things to learn and wonderful people who saw to it that we all had a good time--and we did!

OFF TO WISCONSIN...

...FOR THE DOOR COUNTY RUBBER STAMPING ESCAPE WEEKEND! See you here with photos when I get back...

Ginger's Technique-Tuesday-Held-on-Wednesday Class

Evelyn, Mary and I took this class last night at Ginger's house, where Ginger "de-mystified" the techniques used to make these cards. The middle one is a slider card, and was the hardest to make; but it was well worth the effort (shown opened here.)

The red card is a shadow box card, which was easy to do once we saw how it was done. The autumn card is a tunnel card, and it was also easy to do. Could it be that it's just because Ginger is such a good instructor? (Thank you, Ginger!)

Evelyn is new at stamping--only a couple of weeks. She and Mary had stamped earlier in the day here at the Stamping Tower, and she's making fast progress. After admiring Evelyn's cards last night, Mary cracked us up when she said, "You're the only stamper I know who's gone from Beginner to Advanced in one day!"

Cuttlebug Poinsettia

It seems that no matter which Cuttlebug design you use (almost), if you use white cardstock, it looks elegant. The Poinsettia was watercolored, then coated with white twinkling H20's, with gold glitter added in the center. I cut out the middle petals and popped them out with foam tape, then glued it down over a piece of sheer white ribbon stapled underneath to the side of the oval. An appropriate verse or greeting can be stamped on a lighter cardstock, as shown here, with the embossed cardstock placed over it.

Christmas Card Surprise

The surprise is on me, since I didn't really like this stamp at first. I guess I just didn't know what to do with it. So I started with coloring it, then added stickles and a tree brad for the "A" and mounted it on metallic gold paper. I tied a gold cord around it, but then what? It was too small for the card, leaving a lot of empty dark space. Since I had a sheet of trees already stamped, I cut one out, added gold brads, popped it out below the main image and voila--I have a card!

Even though I like it now, it's going to be one of a kind since there are too many steps to mass produce it.


(Unfortunately, the scanner doesn't do the bling justice!)

SHIMMERING CHALKS

You can't see the shimmer, unfortunately, but this card was enhanced in a subtle way with Shimmering Chalks on the flowers. I ordered them over the internet from An Angel's Art in St. Paul, MN and was very impressed with the way they were packed and shipped. They arrived without so much as a hairline crack in any of the chalks!

AUTUMN THANKS

Here are two cards I recently made to use as thankyous for the birthday cards I received.

The card on the left was done with a maple leaf stamp and coordinating punch. The DP underneath has maple leaves, one of which shows through the punch. The stamped ones are colored with sponged fall-colored inks and then spritzed with a brown ink "blow gun" (as I call them.) The oak leaves were done the same way, except for the punch. Both have light green cardstock beneath, tilted on the maple leaf card. The ribbons on the left are two different Martha Stewart Halloween ribbons (plain) and the one on the right I pulled from my ribbon drawer.

These were really easy to make and will serve well for my thankyous!

(Click on the photo for a closer look...)

World Card Making Day

Today was my workshop, and it was quite a disappointment. Several of the people who said they would be here never showed. Maybe because it was such a beautiful day to be outside???

Those who did attend found the cards easy to make and were delighted to go home with so many ready to mail. They even stamped the envelopes to match!

Scroll down to the Oct. 1 post to see the cards we made.

TFL!

October: My Favorite Month

Don't you just love this time of year? Warm days, cool nights, explosion of color!

This card was made using some background paper that I found in the bottom of my drawer...must be at least 4 or 5 years since I put it there! Unfortunately, the scanner doesn't do it justice. The leaves and swirls are outlined in gold, and the gold-embossed leaf is colored with glimmering chalks. As you can see, I finally found a scalloped oval punch (and also a scalloped circle) which I found at Amazon.com, of all places.

I'm enjoying sunny days in my stamping tower with my loyal cat for company!

Tuesday Stamping Class

This week at our Ladies Bible Study "fun" elective (a card-making class) we made 3 variations of this card suitable for sympathy or encouragement. "Refuge and Strength" from Stampin' Up has some really nice sayings to stamp over the cross, and this verse is my favorite from that set. For the inside, I shared my collection of Bible verses and other sayings for the class to use. One of our members has been out sick for quite awhile, so we decided to shower her with our cards to let her know she is missed.

Stamping is more than just a hobby for me. I consider card-making in particular a way to minister to others, especially these days when letter-writing seems to be a lost art.

World Card-making Day Is Almost Here!

October 6 has been designated as World Card-Making Day. Does anyone know by whom??? Surely not Hallmark!

Anyway, it's as good an excuse as any to host a workshop. I've designed some Fall and Christmas cards for my fellow stampers to make. The Christmas ones are all done with peg stamps from Rubberstamp Tapestry. It was a challenge to vary them so they didn't all look alike.

The Thanksgiving card could also be used as a Fall birthday card by changing the wording on the front. It is a "kickstand" card using the "Give Thanks" set from SU, and we'll be using colored pencils for the apples and the pail. Stampers will be making 4 autumn cards and 2 each of the Christmas cards, for a total of 10 cards for $10.

I'm looking forward to seeing what variations they come up with!

SILVER STAMPER VISIT

One of my Silver Stamper friends on tour from Minnesota stopped in for an overnight visit yesterday and today. Since it was such a beautiful day, we took a walk up the road near our house. Linda, Steve and "Mac" posed on the edge of a cliff for this photo with the valley in the background. Afterward, we all enjoyed an evening of good food and conversation around the dinner table well into the night. It's amazing how much Silver Stampers and their husbands can have in common!

This morning, Joan came to stamp as usual; and Linda was able to join us in the "tower" where she taught us how to make tiny folded boxes and encouraged us to use them as gifts of encouragement. She explained how she has given them as thank-yous, pick-me-ups, and other impromptu occasions with little candies or notes inside. What a great idea!

Next Stop...Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin

As a member of Silver Stampers (for stampaholics over 50) I'm looking forward to the Stamp Escape weekend in Door County, Wisconsin next month! I've got my reservations made at the resort where the stamping events are being held and booked my flights; so I'm good to go. It should be fun to meet Silver Stampers from other parts of the country!

I plan to bring some cardstock, ink, stamps and other supplies to "play" with while I'm there.

Now, what shall I pack...

Silver Stamper Thank-you's

As a member of Silver Stampers, I received almost 50 birthday cards and will be busy sending out a thank-you note for each one of them. This is just one of the designs I came up with. (The card is done on white cardstock--the polka dot paper behind it was just for contrast in the scanner.)

Thank you Silver Stampers for making my day so special!

STAMPER'S BIRTHDAY

When Mary came over to stamp this morning, she took my picture to post here. Then she, Joan and I stamped all morning... Now that's my idea of a great birthday!

Another Christmas Card

When you send out 100 Christmas cards, you need something quick and easy. This tree was gold-embossed on dark green cs, mounted on metallic gold cs and layered over green and red background papers split down the middle and glued to a beige parchment card. It was easy to do; but a bit time-consuming with all the cutting and layering, so I'll only be making a few.

For the rest of my cards, I plan to use a combination of two SU sets: City of David (on order) and Wondrous Gift (posted on Sept. 6, below.) With so many to do, I like to design a variety in order to keep things interesting. Starting in August also helps!

Little by Little...

...I've been making Christmas cards and stashing them in a special drawer until it's time to mail them. Here are 2 cards made with background papers and a diamond punch. The blue one was mounted over a snowflake cuttlebug design and centered with a snowflake button. The green one was done the same way with a green button for the center.

Speaking of Snow...

I, for one, am not looking forward to those cold wintry days of chipping ice off the deck. However, I do love the bright sunshine that leaf-less trees allow to penetrate through the windows--great for stamping!

Here's a peek at one of my Christmas cards for this year! The blue "snowflake" at the bottom was punched from blue cardstock (the same used as background for the JOY snowflake) and attached with a silver brad in the middle.

Leftover card from last winter

Here's a card from last year that was fun to make and could be used for Christmas or a winter birthday:

Stamp snowflakes and trees in white on navy cardstock. Add torn white cs to the bottom, tie silver twine around it and set aside. Stamp blue snowflakes on white cardstock and mount the blue image over it. Highlight the branches by adding "snow" with a white gel pen.

Total time to make: 5-7 min.

HOLIDAY CARD MAKING

This year at Ladies Bible Study, we're doing an elective for card-making. Since not all the ladies are stampers, I pre-stamp the appropriate pieces and make kits for them to assemble after they color in the images. This is the one I designed for Thanksgiving using the Pomegranate card stock from Stampin' Up.

First they will crimp just the front edge of the card. Then they will color the main image with markers, attach it to a slightly larger rectangle of pale green and wrap embroidery floss around it, securing the floss on the back. Next, they will stamp the verse and smaller image, color the berries and leaves, punch it out with a circle punch and tie a bow with matching embroidery floss. After taping the rectangular piece to the card, they will attach the "tag" with a pop dot...easy!

I like the unusual colors for this Thanksgiving card--what do you think?