Box du Jour

I made this little box for today's demo challenge at SCS. I think it turned out really cute! Card is 3x3; box is sized to hold cards and envelopes.

INGREDIENTS
Stamps: Dreams du Jour stamp set (coming soon to SU!), Doodle This
Cardstock: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red
Designer Paper: Scrap from Bali Breeze
Ink: Bashful Blue, Basic Black
Accessories: SU Markers, 1/4" Celery grosgrain, Signo gel pen

Scrapbook Class-in-a-Kit

Aug. 27: LAST DAY TO ORDER the SEPTEMBER KIT!

You know I love scrapbooking, right? This is a new program that I'm organizing for fall. It is essentially a monthly 'club' wherein you pre-order a class kit for a cost of $16-$20 each month (plus $5 shipping for those out of town). Each kit will contain:
--All materials necessary to complete THREE different two-page 12x12 layouts (for a total of six pages), including cardstock, designer paper, ribbon, brads, buttons, stickers, page candy, etc. You supply only adhesive, paper trimmer, scissors, pencil, and other very basic tools.

--Photos of completed layouts

--CD containing video instructions on how to assemble the pages (so you can scrapbook at your convenience)

--Extra paper

The first kit is $16.00 (US) and will feature Stampin' Up's new Bella Rose paper pack. Deadline for preorder/payment is August 27th, and I will have kits ready on/before September 10th.

Please let me know if this is something you might be interested in by visiting my demo website and emailing me or using the Contact Me form from there.

Addicted to Chrysanthemums

I can't stop making these flowers! They turn out SO wonderfully, no matter what you do! I went a little loco with this one--it has seven rows of petals. The card is 5½" square, so you get an idea how big it ended up!

This is my creation for yesterday's SC185 Sketch Challenge at SCS. I'm not ENTIRELY happy with the rest of the card, but I'll keep looking at it and see if I'm inspired.

Ingredients: SU Cardstock in Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Mellow Moss, Old Olive; SU Classic Ink Pads in Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red, Close to Cocoa, Mellow Moss, Old Olive; Five-Petal Flower punch; Large Oval punch (leaves); Ticket Corner punch; 1/4" Chocolate Chip ribbon; Pewter brads; Stampin' dimensionals; Stampin' sponges; Sponge daubers; Old Olive marker

Thanks for visiting!

Sisters

Please click on any image to see a larger version!

Wow! This layout is somewhat of a departure for me. Does this paper look familiar? See here for the tutorial where I made it.

I've got a lot of 'Firsts' in this layout:
1) This is the very first time I have EVER glued a photo directly to the base layer. I'm a matter, no question about it, as you can no doubt tell.
2) I had never before done an entire page with just ONE photo.
3) I 'invented' (to my knowledge) a new punch flower (see tutorial).
4) Prior to this layout, I had never freehanded every bit of title text.
5) This is the first time I've used such elaborately stamped paper as my page base.**

Ingredients: Whisper White (base), Bordering Blue (title), Ballet Blue (flower), and Not Quite Navy (mats) cardstock, Small Oval and Five-Petal Flower punches, Silver Hodgepodge Hardware, 1/4" white grosgrain, SU! paper snips.

Did you notice that the title text is kinda wobbly and uneven? Yep. I picked up scraps of Bordering Blue and my papersnips and just started cutting out letters. So they're a little... UNuniform? Each letter taken by itself looks rather questionable, but put together, they look great, I think!

Now here's a close-up of the Hardware on the right-hand page:

And here's a close-up of my totally groovy flower:


And... here's the sketch (available only to demos with access to the demo challenge forum at SCS, and to visitors to my blog) I did for the July 15 Demo Scrapbook Challenge:


**By the way, a friend asked me about my using dye inks to stamp the background paper. Yes, I did use dye inks, and yes, dye inks are at a greater risk of fading over time. I have had Lavender Lace ink fade after two years in indirect sunlight. However, I have a box full of cards and goodies that I made ten years ago (when I first discovered SU!) that are still as vibrant today as when I stamped them. So I'm thinking (i.e. confidently hoping) that the ink formula hasn't changed much in ten years, and that storing stamped art away from harsh light (as scrapbooks generally are) will preserve the integrity of the ink color.

Pretty Bag Tag

A quickie project for you. I made this bag tag for today's 3D demo challenge on SCS. Front and back are identical.

Ingredients (all SU!): OnBoard Accents (chipboard tag), scraps of Summer Picnic, Spring Break, and Prints Pack papers, Five-Petal Flower punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Pretties rhinestone brads, 1/4" Pumpkin grosgrain, 5/8" Olive grosgrain.

Used my faux chipboard technique to give the five-petal flower some substance. I had originally intended to put my initials in the top blue part, but it just looked too busy to my eye.

Five-Petal Punch Chrysanthemum

Hey! Welcome to my blog! This post is getting a LOT of traffic lately, and I just wanted to invite you to check out the rest of my blog (at least be sure to check out my Chrysanthemum card here). If you use this technique, I truly do appreciate that you give credit and link to my main page. Thanks! --Stacey ;-)

The idea for this punch flower (about 3" in diameter!) actually came from the large flower stamp in SU's Fabulous Flowers set. It's a large mum, and all the petals are basically the same shape. I got to looking at it and had one of those eureka moments where I had to run excitedly to my craft table to try it. And it worked! The first one I made is pretty basic, and appears on my 'Sisters' layout, which I will post later for the July 15 Demo Scrapbook Challenge. For this tutorial, I've kicked it up a notch.

Here's what you'll need for one Five-Petal Punch Chrysanthemum:
-Five-Petal Flower punch
-Scrap of SU cardstock (I'm using Pretty in Pink)
-At least one ink pad in a related color (I'm using three: Apricot Appeal, Pretty in Pink and Cameo Coral)
-Quarter or sixth of a stampin' sponge
-Paper snips
-Liquid glue (I prefer Tombow's Aqua to the Multi for this)
-Piercing tool and pad (I use a pushpin and thick piece of fun foam)

And here's what to do:
1. For a flower with three 'layers' (as I am doing), punch FOUR Five-Petal Flowers. For a four 'layer' mum, punch SEVEN.
2. Find the center of each punched flower and pierce a hole. (The white piece is my template that I use over and over.)
3. Sponge some color into the centers of the flowers. As you can see, I used Apricot Appeal on one (for my central layer), Pretty in Pink on one (for layer two), and Cameo Coral on two (for layer three).
4. Set your central layer flower aside for a moment. For the remaining three flowers, snip them into petals by starting in a 'V' between petals and snip to the center hole. So you end up with one unsnipped flower, and all the rest snipped into petals (be sure to keep them separated if you use different colors).
5. Apply a small dot of glue to the inside points of the petals for layer two. Quickly press them ink-side up to the back , so that they are centered between the petals of the unsnipped flower.
6. Continue with a third layer of petals, applying a small dot of glue and adhering petals. If desired, continue with a fourth layer.
7. Here, I've added a Boho Blossoms punch flower in Apricot Appeal and secured it with a small brad from the silver Hodgepodge Hardware.
8. Here, I've added Small-Oval punch leaves (cut to a point with papersnips).

Here's a link to a card I did using a 7-layer version of this flower:

DIY Designer Paper

Click on any image to see a larger version!

I saw a beautiful designer paper recently that came in a large pack of rather mediocre paper. So instead of buying the entire pack (for $20+), I decided I could replicate the general feel of the paper fairly well with stamps and ink. So I gave it a try and am very pleased with the results. This is nice heavy paper (since it uses SU! cardstock), so it's great for scrapbook page bases. It takes time, but cost me nothing (I already had the supplies), and it was so EASY! So easy, in fact, that I made another design, AND put together a very quick tutorial...

Here's what you'll need four two sheets each of two different designs:
-Four sheets of white (or other light colored) 12x12 cardstock
-At least three ink colors. I'm using Bordering Blue, Old Olive, and Rose Red
-Quarter of a Stampin' Sponge
-Stamps. I'm using Baroque Motifs
-'Sanded' background stamp
-Stampin'Around wheel, handle, and ink cartridge. I'm using Baroque Border with Not Quite Navy
-Wheel guide (optional but REALLY handy)

Paper One:
1. Sponge Bordering Blue around the edges of two sheets of white cardstock.
2. This is about what they should look like when you're finished sponging.
3. Stamp your design in bold colors. Here I've used Old Olive ink. The paper looks nice just like this, but I wanted something a bit more colorful.
4. I've added two more rows, one Rose Red and another Old Olive, and now I'm using my Sanded background stamp to distress the paper. I'm just bouncing the stamp on my Bordering ink pad, not bothering to ink the entire surface, and pressing it into white spots on the paper.
5. I've added Bordering swirls using the same stamp that I used for the Olive and Rose stripes. However, I stamped off once onto my workmat before stamping the image onto my paper (so the color is more subdued).
6. A close-up of a portion of the finished design.

Paper Two:
1. Assemble your Stampin' Around wheel in the handle with the ink cartridge and roll out rows of designs. The wheel guide is super handy for this.
2. Again, I distressed with my Sanded background stamp, using Bordering Blue and the same willy-nilly technique.
3. Again, I added muted swirl designs in Bordering, stamping off to tone down the color.
4. A close-up of a portion of the finished design.

Give it a try!

I've been tagged

I've been tagged! I'm flattered that Dani Miller stampinwithdani.typepad.com finds my blog inspirational enough to tag me! Thanks Dani! Hmm... now I have to come up with seven random or little-known facts to share about me. *adjusting thinkin' cap* Okay, here goes...

1. I grew up military, I was in Germany when the Berlin Wall came down ('85-'91). Attended nine different schools from K-12. Graduated from Kaiserslautern American High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany.
2. I am a published author. Three romance novels (written under pseudonyms) and one anthology are now out of print.
3. My very first rubber stamp was home-made. I was in the fourth grade when I glued cut-up rubber bands to pieces of wood to make cool designs.
4. I'm a nerd! I earned my degree with a 4.0 GPA.
5. I hate to wear shoes (though I love buying them!). As a consequence of my barefoot preference, I have broken eight of my toes at least once each.
6. I hate roller coasters, but love white-water-rafting.
7. I have helped build an igloo in Alaska. (Lived at Eielson '79-'82)

Whew! That was actually rather difficult! Okay, now to tag seven more inspiring blogs...

Kris http://texaskrisstamps.blogspot.com/
Kimber http://kraftykkreations.blogspot.com/
Ann http://nannasinktopaper.blogspot.com/
Krista http://www.krista-kris.blogspot.com/
Jen http://iheart2stamp.com/
Aly http://alystamps.typepad.com/
Jill http://jillstamps.blogspot.com/

Home again, home again, jiggety jog

I'm back from vacation. I'm in that weird frame of mind where you're reluctant to return to normal boring everyday life, yet eager to return to normal. Does that make sense?

While I was away, the mods at Splitcoast Stampers deemed my humble monthly demo scrapbook challenge worthy of its very own 'room' in the demo challenge forum! I'm very excited! Now all my challenges can be found in one spot! If you have access to the demo forums at SCS, you can check it out here: Monthly Stampalooza Scrapbook Challenge. Be sure to check out the other demo challenges while you're there!

I've been meaning to participate in more demo challenges, but now that I'm back from vacation, I'm gonna buckle down and commit to doing them (i.e, more than just my own!). I've added a line to my SCS signature that keeps track of how many I've done this year, so you can see how I'm doing.

Now... I guess I'd better excavate my craft table so I can make something wonderful to post here on my blog to make up for this pictureless ramble.