2016 Calendar July - September

Of course we have some red, white, and blue for July!  I used the stamp set "Work of Art" to make the flag representation.  Mom punched little stars for the blue field, and the 'let freedom ring' is glittered.

As kids we used to catch lightning bugs, put them in one of Mom's quart jars and give them to Verna, the lady down the road.  We know she let them loose, but she never told!  Here you have some lightning bugs and I used some glow-in-the-dark paint on their little tails.

I enjoy this arrangement of leaves on the September calendar.  Growing up, September is when the trees were turning and losing their leaves.  Where I live now, I just have to wait a little longer for that to happen.

Finishing up 2015 Christmas Cards

I decided to add a few more Christmas cards to my stash.  This one you'll recognize from my Christmas Stamp-a-Stack.
I made enough of these until the Washi Tape edging ran out.  I believe it was about 7 or 8 more.

THIS card I saw on Pinterest, and loved it immediately!
Again, it's the Work of Art Stamp set!
He's definitely a happy snowman - no melting!  I embellished him with a rhinestone on his hat with the holly and flower.  There's also a rhinestone piece on his scarf.

These snowman cards were really fun to make!  They went really quickly, and were so much fun!

13 Thank You's

I received some wonderful gifts, and needed to send out some Thank you cards.

I found this idea on Pinterest, and made a few changes.

 Stamp Set:  Work of Art, and Lots of Thanks
Ink colors:  (left)  Pacific Point  (right)  Bermuda Bay

 Ink colors:  (left)  Melon Mambo,  (right) Daffodil Delight
below, on the top left, Blushing Bride.

I really loved this design, and I hope you do as well.

Thank You Card

Mom requested a Thank You card for a friend...


After two reminders (It's been VERY busy here...) I made a card, but hated it.  It's been a long time since I've done any crafting it seems.


So, I dug out my favorite fall stamp set "Gently Falling", and my new favorite  "Work of Art', and merged the two. 

 I like the watercolor look from the Work of Art stamp set.

I used Cajun Craze,  Garden Green, and Smoky Slate as the main colors with a touch of copper Stickles to add some sparkle.

Christmas in July - July 16, 2014

As I did yesterday, here is another piece from the Work of Art stamp set we received at the catalog reveal.  I stamped off each Cherry Cobbler and Garden Green except one - near the center of the card is fully inked.

This is one of my very favorite Merry Christmas stamps!  It's old, and long retired.  I removed it from the wood block and backed with the foam mount so I'm able to keep it with a set of other Christmas stamps.  So much easier to find that way!

Christmas in July - July 15, 2014

This card features a background I used in a card earlier in the spring, and during our new catalog event on June 14th.  Here I'm using Christmas colors - Cherry Cobbler, and Garden Green as the background.

I stamped the Jolly Bingo Bits pieces, punched them out with the 1 inch circle, then opposite colors of cardstock for the backing 1 1/4 inch scalloped circle mat.  I like to add Cranberry Stickles to the bingo pieces... and a rhinestone for the tree's star.

New Thank You, and a Tutorial

It's been a very long time since I posted a tutorial... and I have "trick" I've been using to make my Stampin' life SO much easier!!

First, the Thank You card.
I'm still on my rainbow colors kick - So bright and cheery!
I used the Work of Art, Papillion Potpourri, and Watercolor Thank You stamp sets...
Real Red, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi, Pacific Point, and Lovely Lilac (ret.) as my colors, with Smoky Slate for the Thank you.

Now for the tutorial section of this post!

Do you LOVE your clear stamps, but have a hard time keeping them stuck to the blocks?  It didn't really bother me too much, but it really was horribly annoying when we would do events, and the stamps just wouldn't stay on the acrylic blocks!

I love clear stamps because:  1. they take up much less space  2.  I seem to stamp straighter with them 3.  They take up MUCH less space  4.  Have I mentioned they take up much less space!  I can store them so easily.

This is the solution to this very frustrating problem.  It works GREAT, and takes only a few seconds to do.

 Anytime I get a new stamp set, I place the stickers of the images on the stamp, and then take my Zig pen (pictured below) {the small one} and run some of the adhesive over the top of the stamp.  You can see the lines in the picture above.

Zig pens are wonderful things!!!  They say 2 way glue, and they really do work!  The larger one I use to restick my Cricut mats (see the 'Articles for Everything Cricut'  section) and the smaller ones for gluing small pieces, and paper piecing when I'm working with my Cricut.

Run some of the glue over your stamps (the part with the picture that sticks to the block).  You don't need that much!  Just apply a thin film, and set it aside.  I usually let them sit a few hours or overnight to dry.  Now you have a stamp that won't fall off the block when you're using it, and will peel off when you're finished cleaning it!

I'd love to know how this works for you!

Happy Nurse's Day!

This design was CASE'D from another card I saw online.  I love all things brightly colored and sparkly - and loved this card from the first moment I saw it!

This card uses the new stamp set from Stampin' Up available June 1st in the new catalog.  I was fortunate enough to received it at the end of April at the Catalog Reveal event.  It was very exciting, and it's always fun to have a new stamp set to play with.

Colors?  Top down, I used Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi, Pacific Point, and Wisteria Wonder.  Each of the butterflies was stamped with the coordinating color, punched, and uses 2 rhinestones as their bodies.

I made 2 of these, almost identical, one for our Health Clerk Kathy, and our Nurse Devin.
Thank you for everything you do for us, ladies!

INTRODUCING Stampin' Up's New In-Colors 2014 - 2016

These colors are darker than our 2013- 2015 collection.  It seems Stampin' Up cycles through a light collection, and a dark collection every other year.  This period we move into the 'darks'.

I used three techniques on each card to show the colors.  I stamped the image in a design on the cardstock background, then stamped the same color on white, and sponged the edges with the ink.
I then used the sentiment stamp to show color-on color saturation.

I LIKE them!!

Introducing; Hello Honey

Introducing:  Tangelo Twist

Introducing:  Mossy Meadow

Introducing:  Lost Lagoon

and, last but not least

Introducing:  Blackberry Bliss

I'm not normally a big fan of green, and have come to recognize I need to use green in my paper crafting - I like the Mossy Meadow color - especially stamped on white.