CHRISTMAS STAMP-A-STACK

 
This is the card I designed for our last Mothers Class the first week in December.  It's easy to assemble and should make a nice finale for our Fall sessions.

The top-fold card base is Always Artichoke, the die cut window is white cs, and the tree is stamped on light green cs and punched out.  The bottom corners are rounded.


To make the tree sparkle, I brushed it with a light coating of TomBow mono glue and sprinkled it with Sugar Coating glitter.  You can see how much it glistens in the sunlight in the photo below.  The star is punched from silver glitter paper and attached with a glue dot.  The tree is mounted with SU dimensionals, and three rhinestones were added for balance. 

 The inside greeting will be stamped on printer paper with Versafine Olympia Green ink.  After rounding the bottom corners, it will be attached with snail.

This year's class has been a lot of fun, and I look forward to reconvening in February.  Hopefully, the worst of winter will be drawing to a close by then!

WORLD CARD-MAKING DAY--FUN!

We celebrated our day with a small, intimate gathering at the Tower.  After stamping images on plain white cs for future use, we made this one acetate card.  We thought of making up our own greeting inside of "Have you been naughty or nice?" but decided to use "Wishing you peace and joy this holiday season"  or "Ho! Ho! Ho!" instead.

The image was stamped in gold ink on white cs and mounted on the front of the card with the green cs behind it on the inside of the front.  The kraft piece was mounted on the outside of the back panel with the greeting attached on the inside of the card.

When we finished the card, we cleaned up the table and had lunch.  Joan received the door prize of a clear Christmas stamp set.

TIP:  If a stamp doesn't stamp evenly, check out the ink coverage on it before you stamp.  I find that "working" the stamp does a better job of  eliminating lighter spots than pressing harder on the paper.  Simply rub firmly with your thumb or two fingers on the back of the stamp before releasing it from the paper.  This usually does the trick!

Also, as you can see in the second photo, acetate static "attracts" dust and fingerprints, so be sure to clean off your card before slipping it into an envelope for mailing.

CASEing the Ipad #6

For World Card-Making Day on October 6th, I decided to hold a workshop.  When I saw this card on Simply Stamped HERE (July 12 post,) I thought it would make the perfect Christmas card.  Thank you, Maile Belles!

For the workshop, we'll do 3 of these poinsettia cards and three Autumn cards with a leaf.  To make the poinsettia, I used the main part of  a stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs and stamped it twice:  once on white for the leaves and once on red for the rest.   After coloring in the leaves and assembling the blossom, I mounted it on the corner of the white overlay with a dimensional.  Instead of a button, I used three tiny red gems on the side to make it more postage friendly.

This design lives up to Maile's beautiful work on her "Simply Stamped" blog.

BACKGROUNDS AND BUTTERFLIES

 Today's workshop was on a variety of backgrounds and butterflies.  This first one featured the SU Filigre background stamp which we inked up with Versamark with the stamp face up on the table, placing the green cs over it and rubbing gently.  After sponging the edges with Versamark, we taped it to the white card base.

Next, the butterfly was made by stamping, punching and sponging the blossom from the SU Mixed Bunch set.  Then we cut away the top and bottom petals to form the butterfly, added 3 black gems and black wire antennae and mounted it to a punched black sparkle scalloped circle with dimensionals.

The greeting was stamped on a pre-cut label and embellished with green gems.


For the Rich Razzleberry card, we first ran the white cs through the Cuttlebug and attached it with double-stick tape.  We stamped the flower in black, colored the leaves green and stamped the coordinating floral stamp with a matching color ink.  Then we taped it on black cs and mounted it to the front of the card with dimensionals.  The butterflies were die cut with a SU Sizzlet die and mounted with glue dots, with the largest one inside.  This was the quickest card today.

Although pictured last here, this card was actually the first we did today.  It took a lot longer to do than I thought it would--over an hour!  There were a lot of steps for this one:  spritzing with spray inks on the white panels, then rounding the corners and attaching the jute around it before mounting it to the card.  The butterfly was stamped with Versamark and embossed with black ep.  The Bible verse was stamped in black, taped to the black cs and embellished with more jute tied in a bow.  Placement on the card was done, after alining it with the jute beneath and using dimensionals to secure it to the card.  The butterfly was then cut out, its body colored with a black marker and attached with dimensionals.

In spite of all the work it took to complete the cards, they all came out great!

Christmas Stamp-a-Stack

Here's the card I came up with for the workshop I'll be hosting at my house next month.  I pulled out an old stamp from Christmases past and bought some new dsp from Hobby Lobby.

Starting with a Crumb Cake cs base with a side fold, I used the Hero Arts woodgrain background stamp with Versamark.  Then I cut the dsp to 4 1/4" x 2 1/2" and attached it with ds tape.

After stamping the tree on Confetti White cs with Versafine Olympia Green ink, I cut it out and sponged the edges with Peeled Paint Distress Ink, added the gold star and mounted it on the card with dimensionals.  Last, I added the jute, tied with just a knot, on the left side.

I took the photo on my messy table so you could see it in its "natural" environment!

Stamp-a-Stack Designs

Isn't this little guy adorable?! The penguin was made using the SU owl punch with black and white cardstocks, clipping off the ears to turn the owl into a penguin.

The background paper was purchased at Hobby Lobby, as were the self-stick snow flakes. After tearing the white cs and layering it over the dsp, I used Crystal Lacquer as a glue for some chunky "snow" glitter. Then, I assembled the penguin and popped him up with a SU dimensional. The inside greeting is "Warmest Holiday Wishes" stamped in blue.

The second card is a folio card with a heart theme. A piece of 4 1/4 x 11 cs, scored at 5 1/2 and 6 1/2, has the saying as its main image. For the left fold, a 2" strip of dsp covers the folded portion, and a piece of red embroidery floss is wrapped around the inside fold. I chose a holly dsp (not shown here) to coordinate with the heart stamp on the front.

Inside, the greeting from SU was stamped on the same cs as the sentiment on the front and cut to fit. I punched a heart from a piece of red velvet cs I had in my stash.

I'll be hosting this workshop next Saturday, and I think the class will enjoy making these!

Here's a tip: For times when I want to use a tiny gem, such as the red ones shown on the second card, I cut them from a lettering set purchased from the sticker aisle of our local craft stores. They come in clear, black, red, light blue and pink. The red ones make great berries and the black ones work well with eyes for birds!

Christmas Card Workshop

Today was the workshop at my house where everyone made 2 each of 3 designs. The designs I came up with worked really well, and we all had a lot of laughs as we put them together.

Joan, on the left, is my "regular" stamping buddy; Debby on the right is a new stamper who is lots of fun to watch as she is constantly amazed that she CAN do this.

Ruth and Jackie, in the second picture, were happy to show off their cards. These were the snowflake ones. There was also one with a candle, held by Joan. Last was a candy cane design with the candy cane story printed up for the inside.

To add to the cheery mood, we had a few snow showers earlier this morning before they arrived.

I'm so blessed to have such fun friends!

(If you click a second time on a card, you can get an even better view.)

HAPPY WORLD CARD-MAKING DAY!

How will you be spending this day? Stamping? Hiking? Gathering new ideas?

I'll be hosting a Stamp-a-stack workshop today with six stampers around my dining room table. We're making the Christmas card shown in a previous post (scroll down to Sept. 3rd.) Included in the group are three beginners and one new stamper.

UPDATE: The Workshop went very well! Everyone got their 8 cards done, and even added a Christmas star on the envelopes--all in an hour and a half. One woman who came had never stamped before and is looking forward to attending another workshop.

World Card-making Day

Did you know that Sat., Oct. 2nd, is World Card-making Day? In honor of the event, I will be hosting a workshop where each stamper will make 8 of this design.

All stamps and supplies are from Stampin'Up, featuring one of the new Christmas sets in the Holiday catalog. The card base is Crumb Cake, the image will be stamped on Very Vanilla with Soft Suede dye ink and mounted on Soft Suede cardstock. The verse is mounted with SU dimensionals.

Torn edges add a little texture, although I plan to redo it with the torn side a bit more parallel with the curved image. The only embellishment is some gold glitter gel pen on the 3 halos.

I kept the design simple to reflect the simple Birth of our Saviour.

Christmas Workshop Today...

...and, of course, I forgot to take pictures while everyone was here! (as usual...)

Everyone made four of three different designs, but this one was my favorite. Unfortunately, the scanner doesn't do it justice. After punching out three of the snowflakes and attaching the ribbon, the cuttlebug design was attached to the white card front using dimensionals. We stamped the snowflake in blue, attached the Merry Christmas with glue dots and added some Frosted Lace Stickles to the snowflakes. Using one of the snowflake circles that was punched out, we added a blue gem and attached it below the ribbon with another glue dot.

Enjoy!

Autumn Grid

Here's my version of Dawn Griffith's Faux Grid technique--thanks Dawn! (May 29, 2009)

Following Dawn's video, I used white cardstock for my grid and mounted it on dark brown cs. Instead of her cute fishies, I used leaves and an acorn from an old retired SU stamp set (Fall Whimsy.) After coloring in the squares and images, I added the greeting. For the finishing touch, I used Ice Stickles for a little glitz.

We all enjoyed making these cards at Mothers Class, too!

(Check out Dawn's videos--link at right!)

Workshop Card--Easy!

Since I plan on doing another workshop soon, I needed to come up with something simple. Here again, the background paper really helps make the card.

Inking up the tree with two colors, green on top and brown for the trunk, might be a little tricky for a beginner; but cutting it afterward for mounting is "safer" than trying to stamp it directly on a card.

I like how the button fit just right on the blue stripe. This makes for a good all-purpose or masculine card to have on hand!

STAMPING WORKSHOP

This Saturday I'll be hosting a stamping workshop around my dining room table for six or seven eager stampers. Here is one of the cards we'll be making.

First, they'll stamp the image with Versamark, then color it with chalks. Then, they'll use the Giga scalloped circle punch, add some Stickles to the flower centers and set it aside to dry. Next, they'll choose a dsp for the card front, mount it with double-stick tape and tie the embroidery floss around the (top fold)card. After cutting about a half inch off the bottom of the top flap, they'll add a coordinating strip of dsp on the bottom, stamp a greeting and glue an embellishment on.

Finally, they'll attach their image with SU dimensionals. Elegant, but easy--the best kind for a workshop!

Wish you could join us!

Keenagers Project

One of the reasons I haven't posted lately is because I've been spending hours and hours preparing for a special Easter project for the "Keenagers" (seniors) at my church. Since most of them are in their 70's and 80's, all non-stampers, I had to make up kits with everything pre-stamped, ready to assemble. Be sure to click on the photo to enlarge!

First, they put together a bag topper for Easter treats. They filled the bags with Easter grass, added the candy provided and sealed the zip-loc top. To make the cover, all they had to do was color in the image and tape down the paper strip and the scalloped oval.

Next, we did the purple card with the butterfly. Since the card was already folded and punched with my Fiskar's eyelet border, they basically just had to tape down the white strip, the butterfly and the inside greeting. This was the easiest project of the four.

Then we did the bunny card, which was a little more involved. They especially enjoyed using mini dots and pom poms for the bunny tail!

Last and smallest, but not least, they assembled the cross card. After wrapping the embroidery floss around the image and securing it on the back, they attached that piece with SU dimensionals to the darker cs and mounted it on the card. Earlier, Evelyn and I had made matching envelopes for the smaller size using our Envelopers.

There was lots of excitement in the room, especially with one woman who said in the beginning that she could never make these. I'm so glad we proved to her that she could!

Since this occurred on the same day as the Mothers classes, they were all happy to help. They jumped right in as leaders, and the older folks really enjoyed having younger moms there with them. All in all, the effort that went into making this a success was well worth it.

This whole event just goes to prove that stamping can also serve as a creative ministry! Every time we make a card and send it out to someone, it says "someone cares" enough to take the time to think about that person and express it in a personal way.