Monday Montage Blog Hop – Week 5

Posted on October 20, 2013 by kate80132

Hello friends! Welcome back to Monday Montage! You should have arrived here from the amazing Bree Renwick’s blog, select the “next” button below and that will take you to the next stop on the hop, the fabulous Dani Dziama’s blog. I can’t wait to see what they have to share this week, you won’t want to miss it!

“Undefined”…I have to admit when they launched this new line at convention this summer I just didn’t get it. I thought the completed stamps looked a little kindergarten-y and the whole idea didn’t speak to me creatively. But….I decided to order the kit and give it a whirl. I really wanted my very own “glamper” stamp so that is what I made! I have to admit, it was really fun! and I love, love the way my stamp came out! I gave it the Shasta wing and made it look as vintage-y trailer as I could!

Now that I had the glamper, what better colors to use than Tempting Turquoise and Real Red? Perfect! I used the World Map background stamp and stamped it in full strength Tempting Turquoise on a piece of cardstock cut to fit exactly on the right side of the swing card. On top of the World Map image, I stamped “Off the Grid” in Whisper White. Another little trick I did was to use the Chevron Punch on a 1 1/4″ strip of Real Red card stock. I trimmed the front end to match the “V” and I trimmed the back end to fit into the fold of the card. Then I lined up the punched out chevrons to match the strip on the top of the fold. The last little old school technique I used was to mask the trailer and then stamp the “tire tread” image from Gorgeous Grunge under my little trailer. After I added my tire tread, I stamped one of the Gorgeous Grunge splatters on top of the glamper image with Illuminate Ink. I think I put Illuminate splatter on almost every card I make these days!

The whole card is full of symbolism to just hit the road and “get out there”! I can’t wait to have my own little glamper to do just that in! My bestie SIL just got a cute little glamper last weekend and her stove is turquoise. I think I will send this glamper card to her to celebrate her new little home on wheels!

I’m so glad you are back to enjoy our creative inspiration! I continue to be awed by the skill and creativity of my fellow friends on this hop! Be sure to come back every other Monday to see what we have up our sleeves for you!

Make sure you go “Back” if you missed Bree Renwick or you can loop on around by hitting the “Next” button to get to Dani Dziama and the rest of the hop!

2013 Artisan Finalists Blog Hop – Day 9

Posted on August 18, 2013 by kate80132

Welcome to Day 9 of the 2013 Artisan Design Team Finalists Blog Hop! So sad that our hop is almost over! All of the combined talent of these girls is just AH-mazing! I am in awe of the work submitted by the Top 20 finalists! You should have come from the fabulous Bree Renwick’s post to get here and from here you can click on “next” and get to Dani Dziama’s amazing work! If you missed Bree either select the “back” button to get there or go all the way around the hop to get back to her.

This is my last card entry. I actually had a couple more cards I sent in to Stampin’ Up but I’ll share those later.

This card features the Epic Day This and That DSP and Washi Tape. I also used the large image from Layered Labels on its side as a background image. I love how that looks! I inked up one of the images from From My Heart with a marker only inking the border and leaving off the sentiment. I stamped that on some Very Vanilla and used a framelit from the Labels Collection to cut it out. I highlighted the image with the Gold Smooch Ink…love that too! My favorite feature on the card is the tiny balloon from Collage Curios that I gold embossed on to Vellum Cardstock. After I punched it out, I added Gold Lame Smooch Pearlized Ink to the edges and attached it to one of the small Soda Pop Tops. Loved those little guys, so very sad they have retired! This time I painted my doily with Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint. As soon as we got the doilies, I have added them to 8 out of 10 projects. Once I tried painting them with the shimmer paint, I couldn’t help but do it every time! Yummmm-O!

I hope you enjoy my card as much as I enjoyed making it! Happy Funday Sunday! Hopefully your Sunday included some creativity too 🙂

Here are the products I used:

Stamps: Label Love, Layered Labels, Collage Curios, From My Heart

Ink: Soft Suede, Early Espresso, VersaMark

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, White Vellum, Epic Day This and That DSP, Brushed Gold, Very Vanilla

Embellishments: Soda Pop Tops, Boutique Boxes Designer Kit, Calypso Coral Baker’s Twine, White Tea Lace Paper Doilies, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, 5/8″ Crochet Trim, Very Vintage Designer Buttons, Gold Embossing Powder, Epic Day This and That Washi Tape, Gold Lame Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink, Rhinestone Basic Jewels

Tools: Big Shot, Labels Collection Framelits

To purchase these products go to my online store!

Check here for upcoming events and classes!

Make sure you check out all the fabulous projects created by the finalists by going through the hop! Select “back” to see Bree Renwick’s fabulous work and select “next” to get to Dani Dziama’s amazing projects! You do not want to miss a thing!!!

2013 Artisan Finalists Blog Hop – Day 7

Posted on August 16, 2013 by kate80132

Welcome to Day 7 of the 2013 Artisan Design Team Finalists Blog Hop! I can’t believe it is Day 7 already! This has been so much fun! I sure hope you have been enjoying the finalist’s projects, I think they have all been AH-mazing! It is so different to get to enjoy them up close and personal and not be competing with 5000 other excited stampers to see the boards! I love convention but I am getting so much more out of these fabulous creations at home on my own computer screen!

You should have come from the fabulous Bree Renwick’s post to get here and from here you can click on “next” and get to Dani Dziama’s amazing work! If you missed Bree either select the “back” button to get there or go all the way around the hop to get back to her.

This is my fluffy, romantic confection of a card! It features lots of sewing and sponging and pretty 🙂 I used two of my absolute favorite stamp sets that retired with the new catalog: Established Elegance and French Foliage. I probably used the script from French Foliage on nearly every project I made while it was current! Well maybe not every project but lots and lots of them!

Highlights of this card: I lightly stamped some Very Vanilla Cardstock with the Netting Stamp and the script from French Foliage. Then I cut out it out with a framelit from Apothecary Accents. I took that piece of paper and cut it down the middle longwise and that created the top and bottom piece of the card. I stacked that with half of a doily and attached them both to the front of the card with machine stitching. I also stitched together two different patterns of the Two for Tea DSP for the front. I cut a piece of First Edition DSP (another sad, sad retirement loss) with an oval framelit. I colored a small butterfly image from Papillon Potpourri with markers and stamped it on the top center of the First Edition and again on a piece of Very Vanilla. I punched out the image on the Very Vanilla and popped it up over the image on the DSP. Then I punched another butterfly out of vellum and added that and a pearl on top of the stamped butterfly. Lots of pretty dimension! I added a button, pennants, flower trim and a big flower made from the cupcake papers in the Pop-Up Posies Designer Kit. One of the ribbons I used came from the Artisan Embellishments Kit in the Spring Mini….oh.my.word….I just loved that kit and could not get enough of it!!!!

All the vintage-y, flowery, lacy yumminess just makes me feel good! I hope it makes you feel good too and inspires you to make something pretty today!

Here are the products I used:

Stamps: Established Elements, French Foliage, Papillon Potpourri, Netting

Ink: Soft Suede, Island Indigo

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, White Vellum, Tea for Two DSP, First Edition DSP

Embellishments: Pearl Basics Jewels, 5/8″ Crochet Trim, Gold Lame Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink, 5/8″ Flower Trim, Pop-Up Posies Designer Kit, Whisper White Baker’s Twine, Artisan Embellishments Kit, Antique Brads, Subtles Designer Buttons, White Tea Lace Paper Doilies, 1/2″ Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint

To purchase these products go to my online store!

Check here for upcoming events and classes!

2013 Artisan Finalists Blog Hop – Day 5

Posted on August 14, 2013 by kate80132

Welcome to Day 5 of the 2013 Artisan Design Team Finalists Blog Hop! I sure hope you are inspired to create something beautiful after seeing all these ah-mazing projects! I know all I want to do every day when I get home from my day job is hole up in my craft room and make something pretty 🙂

Today is another card day….we had to submit 5 cards for our entry so of course we all have more cards to share than anything else! This card features the Mosaic Madness stamp set again but is way more my typical style than the last card I shared with this stamp set.

I started with a Smoky Slate base … have I mentioned how yummy this cardstock is? It was a perfect base for my design. During one of the main stage presentations at convention someone said silver is out and gold is in, well I have to say, I love them both equally and this card is all about silver! I sponged the edges of my doily with Soft Suede and then painted it with Frost White Shimmer Paint, full strength. My craft room is missing that luscious product big time! I tore a strip of the canvas creations and sponged it lightly with Soft Suede too. I stacked the canvas, crochet trim and a strip of Brushed Silver paper under my main panel of Crumb Cake cardstock. I stamped my Mosaic Madness images on Pool Party, Crisp Cantaloupe and Crumb Cake cardstock in Whisper White Craft Ink and punched them out. On top of each punched image I added a Vintage Faceted Button with Whisper White Baker’s Twine. Each one! One button was just not enough for this card in my opinion 🙂

To make the sentiment banner, I embossed “gratitude” Whisper White cardstock with silver embossing powder. I lightly sponged the edges in Soft Suede and then I painted the whole banner with Frost White Shimmer Paint, full strength. Hopefully the picture shows at least a little how gorgeous this is! The sponging becomes kind of muted and pretty and the whole look is just amazing.

I hope I have inspired you to make something pretty today!

Here are the products I used:

Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Fabulous Phrases

Ink: Soft Suede, Whisper White Craft Ink, VersaMark

Cardstock: Strawberry Slush, Whisper White, Quatrefancy SpecialtyDSP

Embellishments: Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons, Canvas Creations, Whisper White Baker’s Twine, White Tea Lace Paper Doilies, Frost White Shimmer Paint, 5/8″ Crochet Trim, Pearl Basics Jewels, Silver Embossing Powder

Tools: Big Shot, Chevron Embossing Folder, Mosaic Punch

To purchase these products go to my online store!

Check here for upcoming events and classes!

2013 Artisan Finalists Blog Hop – Day 3

Posted on August 12, 2013 by kate80132

Welcome to Day 3 of the 2013 Artisan Design Team Finalists Blog Hop! If you have been following the last two days you may have noticed the same thing I have! These projects are amazing! I hope you are enjoying seeing these fabulous projects as much as I have!

I have another card today that I submitted for the Artisan Design Team contest. This one is wayyyyy outside the box for me! I am more of a vintage, shabby chic girl and the bright colors I used here are not my usual color palette. I love how this turned out though, I think I need to work outside of my comfort zone more often 🙂

Highlights: I embossed Strawberry Slush with the Chevron Embossing Folder and then I smeared it a bit with Whisper White Craft Ink. I also heat embossed some of the Mosaic Madness stamp set images on Strawberry Slush Cardstock and on some of the Quatrefancy Specialty Designer Series Paper in White. After punching some of these images out with the Mosaic Punch, I adhered some of them flat and popped some up with dimensionals. The perfect finishing touch was the White Tea Paper Doily. I told you I can hardly create anything these days without adding one or two of those to the project!

I wish I had a better picture of this one…I guess I am happy that I have a picture at all!

Here are the products I used:

Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Friendly Phrases

Ink: Strawberry Slush, Whisper White Craft Ink,

Cardstock: Strawberry Slush, Whisper White, Quatrefancy SpecialtyDSP

Embellishments: Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons, In Color Dahlias, Whisper White Baker’s Twine, White Tea Lace Paper Doilies

Tools: Big Shot, Chevron Embossing Folder, Mosaic Punch

To purchase these products go to my online store!

Check here for upcoming events and classes!

2013 Artisan Finalists Blog Hop – Day 2

Posted on August 11, 2013 by kate80132

Welcome to Day 2 of the 2013 Artisan Design Team Finalists Blog Hop! You should have come from the fabulous Bree Renwick’s post to get here and from here you can click on “next” and get to Dani Dziama’s amazing work! If you missed Bree either select the “back” button to get there or go all the way around the hop to get back to her.

Today I am sharing one of the scrapbook pages I submitted for the Artisan Design Team contest. I love, love, love this page! I love the subjects….my daughter and her beautiful puppy Sawyer….and I love the products I used to create it! This is an 8 1/2 x 11 scrapbook page and I used the new member of the neutrals family as my base: Smoky Slate. This color is soooo yummy! I also used a couple of different patterns from Soho Subway Designer Series Paper; it was perfect for this project. Some highlights on the page: I made a “flag” with a wooden skewer and put three flags in Smoky Slate with words from the “Fabulous Phrases” stamp set. I added some ribbon to the flag and slid it under the panel of Early Espresso Core’dinations Cardstock across the bottom. I embossed the Early Espresso panel with the Honeycomb Embossing Folder and distressed it a bit by sanding it and then smearing some Whisper White Craft Ink over the high spots. I included White Tea Paper Doilies again and again, I painted them with shimmer paint. This time I used Frost White Shimmer Paint. Have I mentioned how much I will miss this product???? (sigh) I can’t seem to make any projects these days without using a doily or two! And who would want to? They are beautiful, add just the right final touch to nearly every project and they are sooooo affordable! I embossed “You’re Amazing” from the “You’re Amazing” stamp set in Silver Embossing Powder onto White Vellum Cardstock and then used one of the framelits from the Apothecary Accents Framelits to cut it out. I added the brads from Vintage Trinkets to finish off the piece. I used one of the images from the “Mosaic Madness” stamp set to stamp some subtle highlights on the base cardstock in Whisper White Craft Ink. I love how beautiful this is on the Smoky Slate, the image is delicate and soft at the same time. It makes me swoon a little! Lastly, I made a flower with the corduroy Summer Starfruit button and some punched cardstock. I love that Summer Starfruit button and ribbon pick up the color of my daughter’s sweater!

Here are the products I used:

Stamps: You’re Amazing, Mosaic Madness, Fabulous Phrases

Ink: Early Espresso, Whisper White Craft Ink, VersaMark

Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Brushed Silver, White Vellum, Soho Subway DSP

Embellishments: Summer Starfruit Corduroy Button, Frost White Shimmer Paint, Summer Starfruit 3/8″ Stitched Satin Ribbon, Very Vanilla 1/2″ Seam Binding Ribbon, Vintage Trinkets, White Tea Lace Paper Doilies, Silver Embossing Powder

Tools: Big Shot, Honeycomb Embossing Folder, Apothecary Accents Framelits

To purchase these products go to my online store!

Check here for upcoming events and classes!

2013 Artisan Finalists Blog Hop – Day 1

Posted on August 10, 2013 by kate80132

Welcome to the 2013 Artisan Design Team Finalists Blog Hop! We will be sharing all the projects that we submitted to Stampin’ Up for the contest over the next ten days. I can’t wait to share all the projects I poured my heart into for this! This is an AH-mazingly talented group of ladies and I know you will be inspired by all the gorgeous projects! You can choose the “next” and “back” buttons below to get to each designer’s post each day.

First off, I have to say that I was humbled and overjoyed to find myself in the company of all these creative souls! What an honor to make the Top 20 in this contest! I will be following all of the 2013 Artisan Design Team’s posts this year, I can’t wait to see what they come up with! I feel especially lucky to have become friends with these girls during the weeks prior to convention when we found ourselves as part of the Top 20! We still chat as we have time and I have truly won some wonderful new crafty friends 🙂

The first project I am sharing is a card featuring some of my favorite products old and new. I was so sad to see the Shimmer Paint retire in May! I just loved that stuff and used it in many ways! On this card, I “painted” full strength Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint on my White Tea Lace Paper Doily and on at least one of my banners…yummy! My button is made with the White Simply Pressed Clay dyed with Calypso Coral Re-Inker. I sponged the dry button with Soft Suede Ink to give it that vintage look. I used the Canvas Creations for the label shape, I cut it out with a framelit from the Labels Collection. Then I stamped it with the Ship’s Log image from “The Open Sea” stamp set and sponged the edges with Soft Suede. Thank goodness that stamp set is still around, I find myself reaching for it often!

Here are the products I used:

Stamps: The Open Sea, Loving Thoughts

Ink: Soft Suede, Baked Brown Sugar, VersaMark

Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Brushed Gold, Epic Day This and That DSP

Embellishments: Canvas Creations, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, Simply Pressed Clay, Calypso Coral Baker’s Twine, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, White Tea Lace Paper Doilies, Gold Embossing Powder

Tools: Big Shot, Honeycomb Embossing Folder, Labels Collection Framelits, Buttons & Blossoms Simply Pressed Clay Molds

To purchase these products go to my online store!

Check here for upcoming events and classes!

Busy summer days!

Posted on August 5, 2013 by kate80132

Wowsers this summer is flying by! Between work, travel and projects I have been a very busy girl! I feel very blessed that I got to travel to Alaska again, an epic two week visit with family! That was amazing! If you ever get the chance to go to Alaska, I can’t recommend it enough. The beauty everywhere takes your breath away! And during the summer it is light most of the time which makes for a very interesting sleeping pattern! Next up was Salt Lake City for the Stampin’ Up Convention! Before all of that, Arizona to help my son and his girlfriend move home from college! Sheesh! I’ve been logging some miles! In between I have been super busy at work at AAA and we also had a little fire nearby (Colorado Black Forest Fire) in June and I moved my stamp room from the basement to the second floor! It’s making me tired just reading all of this!

I received some very exciting news while I was in Alaska, I got a call from Stampin’ Up and was notified that I had been selected as one of the Top 20 Finalists for the 2013 Artisan Design Team! What an honor! I spent the next three weeks until Awards Night at convention with my stomach in a knot worrying about whether or not I made the team (top 10). In the end I didn’t but I still feel like I was a big winner just making the top 20! I made 19 new awesome friends too! All of the finalists connected on Facebook before convention and shared our fears and amazement at being selected! It was a crazy ride all the way around! Don’t miss our Finalist’s Blog Hop starting on Saturday, August 10th. We are featuring all the projects we submitted to Stampin’ Up for the contest. I promise amazing inspiration and beautiful work!

Convention was the absolute best! I just love hanging out with my besties from near and far and catching up. We had a wonderful time laughing, crying, shopping, talking and just being together. I will share some pics and some gorge swaps from convention over the coming weeks.

Today I want to share a couple of projects that I made for a friend’s wedding. We set up a joint pinboard on Pinterest and several of us pinned numerous ideas for decorations, favors, etc. One thing I knew I wanted to make for her was a card “box” out of a vintage suitcase similar to one that I saw on Pinterest. She also wanted a “brooch bouquet”. If you haven’t seen those, just Google brooch bouquet, they are so pretty! She got a couple of brooches from her grandmother and then bought the rest from the Goodwill. I found a small vintage “suitcase” in Arizona at an antique shop for $6!

Here are the finished projects:

Finished brooch bouquet!

Close up of some of the brooches, her grandmother’s are clustered together.

The bride with her gorgeous bouquet! Stunning! the bride and her bouquet!

Nearly finished card box. This is the only picture I have of this project right now! I added a piece of retired “First Edition” DSP to the inside of the lid after I took this picture and that completed the project 🙂 I am going to get some more pictures of this beauty and will share another day. It was about 4 am when I took this and I just had to go to bed!!! Look at my giant crafting mess all around the finished suitcase. I was a busy, busy girl that night! The banner says “CARDS” and is made with burlap banner pieces. I used the Big Shot to cut out the letters in Brushed Gold paper. Each banner piece is embellished a little bit differently with antique lace, flower trim, buttons and ribbon. I lined the inside of the suitcase with satin fabric that is a vintage-y cream color. I added some tulle and burlap to the handle to finish the look.

I hope you enjoyed these projects! I certainly enjoyed every minute of putting them together from being inspired by Pinterest projects to finding the materials needed to the final result 🙂

My bestie Debbie Keane and I are both trying to be more consistent bloggers so we are challenging each other to blog regularly. Check out her blog at http://www.pungostamper.blogspot.com. She has some amazing projects for you to drool over! We are hoping that if we keep each other accountable we will do a better job posting!

Do something you love to do today!

To purchase some of these products go to my online store!

Check here for upcoming events and classes!

Time to bid farewell to some favorites!

Posted on April 24, 2013 by kate80132

Today is the day that the retiring product list is released! It’s time to say goodbye to some favorite colors, stamps & embellishments. As traumatic as this is every year it is also very exciting to say hello to new goodies! I have seen the new catalog and I am super excited about the fabulous new products coming soon!

If you need re-inkers or more paper in a retiring color or a stamp set you have been thinking about that is going away….don’t delay! The paper, embellishments and ink will go super fast and when its gone, its gone! Some things are on sale and can even be picked up at a discount. Nice!

See the detailed retiring list here.

Now for the eye candy. This card features the Hearts a Flutter Stamp Set and Framelits Dies. I also used Paper Doilies, 1-1/4″ Two Tone Ribbon in Pink Pirouette/Rose Red and Canvas Creations. This card is light and airy and romantic. Who wouldn’t love to receive this on a day they need a nice pick me up? Enjoy!