Retro Fresh Gift Set

The Catalog Premiere Monday night was a blast!    Stampin' Up had a live simulcast revealing the upcoming catalog.  Demonstrators had fun oohing and aahing over the new releases.    The new products will be available in June:)

I made a little gift to take for my upline demonstrator using the Retro Fresh DSP and the Starburst stamp and framelit set.  

Just a little bit of pampering, with bubble bath, chocolates and card in a matching bag.  This is such a pretty color combo with the soft colors of Coastal Cabana with So Saffron and the bright pop of Tangerine Tango.   

For the gift bag - start with a 12" X 12" doubled sided DSP.  Trim a 1" X 12" piece from one side.  (This will be the handle.)  Cut the remaining piece to 8-1/2" X 11".  Score at 2", 5",  7" and 10" on the long side.  Score at 2" and 7" on the short side.  Fold the top section down on the last 7" score mark.  Cut the tabs and assemble!

This Day Forward Card

Purple seems to be the color of choice for weddings this season.   The dramatic contrast of white and purple is so elegant.

When Leah and a I made the wedding dress shower favors we made a few extra dresses.  Nice to have them for other projects ready to go!   I added a third layer to the bottom of one for this card.  The background stamp is from the set This Day Forward.  I really like how it frames the dress and has little hearts in the design.  The inside has the matching sentiment.

Supplies: 
Stamps: This Day Forward
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White
Ink: Elegant Eggplant
Big Shot: Dress Up Framelits, Delicate Designs Embossing Folder, Ovals Collection Framelits
Accessories: 3/8" Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon, Pearl Basic Jewels

Dress Up Bridal Shower Favors

Leah co-hosted a bridal shower for her friend recently and we made favors to hold wrapped Hershey Nuggets.

We adapted instructions from Frenchiestamps.com.  (You can see the original video HERE. )

There are several things we did a little differently:  1. We added a second layer to the skirt to make it floor length.  2. The Delicate Designs embossing folder made a pretty lace-like pattern on the dress front.   3. White Taffeta ribbon was wrapped low to give a dropped waistline and one tiny pearl added at the neckline.

Also we wanted the box to fit the two nuggets more snuggly so the measurements were tweaked.  The new measurements are:    2-3/4" X 3-1/2", scored at 3/4" on each side.  This makes a box where the nuggets fit quite tightly and bulges slightly at the sides.  I liked that as the candies did not fall out when transporting the favors.  I recommend trying one first before cutting a bunch to make sure you like this snug fit.  A strong adhesive is necessary for this to stay together.

Leah saw an idea for an Advice Box on Pinterest.  We made one with a purchased box and die cut letters with the Typeset Alphabet Dies.

Supplies:
Stamps: It's a Wrap (Digital) for the candy wrappers
Cardstock: Whisper White
Big Shot: Dress Up Framelits, Delicate Designs Embossing Folder, Typeset Alphabet Bigz Dies
Accessories: 3/8" Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon, Pearl Basic Jewels, Large Pearl Basic Jewels, Silver Elastic cord (retired)

A Bushel and A Peck Scrapbook Page

One thing (there are many!) that I love about paper crafting is you can jump between styles of art.  Many of my projects lately have used bright colors and clean & simple designs.  This scrapbook page is much more muted with a classic vintage feel. 

I used the Etcetera DSP for this.  The background paper reminded me of wallpaper.  I cut or tore sections from the coordinating papers to surround the picture and clutter up the page a bit.

This is a picture of my dad and me.  Farm girl from the start!

I used My Digital Studio so I could color match the words to the DSP colors.

Of course this page needed a bushel basket.  Every color in the Designer Series Paper was just perfect for watercoloring the image.  You would have thought I planned it that way!

Supplies:
Stamps: Harvest Blessings, Days to Remember Digital Kit (the I love you stamp)
Cardstock: Etcetera Designer Series Paper, Baked Brown Sugar, Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Watercolor paper
Big Shot: Apothecary Accents Framelits, Circles Collection Framelits, Delicate Doilies Sizzlit
Accessories: Antique Brads, Vintage Trinkets, 1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon, 5/8" Crochet Trim
Reinkers: Baked Brown Sugar, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Old Olive

Stampin' Addicts Retiring Stamp Sets Blog Hop

Welcome to the Stampin' Addicts Retiring Stamp Sets Blog Hop.   It is almost time (Yeah!!!)  for the release of the Stampin' Up 2014 annual catalog.  To make room for the many new stamps and accessories we must say good-bye to some favorites.  Members of Stampin' Addicts have prepared a quick little hop of some of those retiring products.

The Road to Happiness is one of those retiring that I will miss.   It has a sweet little convertible with cute accessories ranging from birthday, friendship, thank you and wedding.  I used it recently for this bridal shower card.

I actually started with the idea of the diagonal striped paper for the road and built it up from there.  Kind of a funny starting point but it worked!

The card base is a bit different on this one as I used a 3" X 12" piece of DSP and added a piece of whisper white card stock on the inside for writing.  Looks like I forgot to stamp on it!  I usually add a coordinating stamped image on the inside.

Because this was a hand delivered gift I did not need to use an envelope and the card was part of the package decoration.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Please click on the buttons below to continue forward to Rhonda's blog where she has lovely projects with the Secret Garden set or backward to Heidi's blog where she has adorable projects with the Peek-a-Boo Frames die.

 

 

Stamp Review Crew: Six-Sided Sampler Edition

  

HAPPY EASTER and welcome to the Stamp Review Crew's latest blog hop.  Our stamp set this time is the super trendy Six-Sided Sampler.  You can click HERE for the complete blog roll or follow the links at the bottom of the page to hop from blog to blog.

My card is pretty traditional on the outside but has a BIG surprise on the inside!

When first opened it looks like this:

As you follow the bee and unfold the paper it opens up.  I guess this could be called a Hexagon Explosion Card.  I saw a journal that folded up like this and thought it would work as a card style as well.  

The little bee winds in and out of stamped and heat embossed images from the Six-Sided Sampler

until it reaches the sweet center greeting.

I used MDS to create the base.  Starting with a hexagon punch in the center of the page I copy and pasted punches and placed them at each side of the center hexagon.  I left a very tiny margin in-between each hexagon to use as a guide for cutting.

I wanted this one to be a big as possible so I filled a 12" X 12" page (making sure not to go into the bleed area) and had it printed through Stampin' Up's printing service.    Once it arrived, I cut around the outside edges and then cut on the inside lines as shown:

This could be made smaller and printed at home.  Wouldn't little 3" X 3" love notes be adorable with an explosion center??

Once everything is cut, accordion fold the paper.  Starting with the center hexagon fold it over and align it with the adjacent hexagon.

Continue accordion folding around the circle.  Flip the whole thing over so the first fold is on the bottom and adhere to the inside of the card.

Now it is time be on your way as you hop along the bunny trail.  Click on the buttons below to continue.   Thanks for stopping by!

   

  

Designer Journalling Tags to the Rescue and a New Blog Header

I was rushing to get a couple of care packages with Easter goodies off to our Army son and his roommate and did not have time to do a big project of cards to put in.  I had to get the post office before closing or they would not get there in time!  So I grabbed the pack of Retro Fresh Journaling Tags, some scraps of Retro Fresh DSP and the Eggtra Spectacular stamps and whipped up these guys.        

Quick is good sometimes!!

Also I made a new blog header with My Digital Studio.  I am so happy to have new little kitties for Kitty Stamp!

When my computer hard drive crashed before Christmas I did not have everything backed up.  (I learned my lesson and now have everything safe and secure!)

One of the things I lost was my MDS downloads.  I downloaded them again (this took quite a while as I have a pretty big library) but I did not see the Cute Cats stamp set.   I was really bummed.  I love those cute kitties and use them all the time for my "signature" on the back of cards and on my blog.    It turns out they were on the original MDS program but not on the new version.

I still had my original CD so I popped in the content disc and installed it.  When I restarted MDS it did not work at all!  PANIC!!  I was afraid I really messed it up would have to reinstall everything all over again.  Thankfully after a call to demo support where they told me to update the software to the new version it all worked just fine and I have my Cute Cats back!

My Digital Studio Vellum Techniques - Stained Glass

One last vellum technique!  I have two versions of the Stained Glass technique-- one completely done with My Digital Studio and one hybrid method.

This is the all digital project:

My Digital Studio Stained Glass- "painted" digitally

Stained Glass Window Ornament (Digital method):
1.  Add the digital egg stamp from Easter Blossoms to the page and enlarge it to 2-1/2" inches.  (For both methods you need a stamp that has open spaces to fill in with color.)

2.  Add a brush layer on top. (Look under the freeform menu to find this).  Stretch the layer to completely cover the stamp.
3.  Paint over the all the open areas with various colors.  (I used Melon Mambo, Crisp Cantaloupe and Gumball Green.)

It looks messy at this point:

Paint over all the open areas with paint

4.  Rearrange the layers so the paint layer is behind the stamp.

Magically it looks beautiful!

5.  Print on vellum cardstock.

6.  Die cut it with 4th oval framelit (counting from smallest to largest)

7.  Diecut a frame from Gold Foil with the 3rd and 4th Framelits nested.

8.  Attach Gold Baker's Twine hanger and Gumball Green ribbon.

For the hybrid method I printed just the egg image (no painted layer) and then colored the back side with markers.   This is like the traditional stained glass method where you stamp on vellum and then color the open areas with markers.

Hybrid method - Egg printed digitally then colored with markers

Comparing the two methods I found the all digital version took a little longer to do but the results were cleaner and crisper.   You can see in the above photo that the markers show through a bit and also are more streaky.

I do hope you have enjoyed this series of tutorials and are able to use these methods in your projects!

My Digital Studio Vellum Techniques- Hand Embossing and Faux Shadow Stamping

I was planning to wrap up my mini series of My Digital Studio Vellum Technique tutorials today but this is a rather long post.  Tomorrow I will have one last project and tutorial.

The remaining techniques are ones frequently done with traditional stamps.  Doing them with MDS is simple and not really anything new-- just a fun variation.  Unlike traditional stamps with MDS you can vary the size of stamped images, get different color variations and save your projects so you can make them again!

Hand Embossed Luminary:

To conserve vellum I have images for two of the projects on the same page.  The bottom portion of the page is a sneak peek of tomorrow's project!

Finished MDS page

1.  Open an 8-1/2" X 11" blank landscape project.

2.  Add the little girl stamp.  Resize to approximately 1-3/4" high.  Change to a dark color.

3.  Add the branch stamp.  Resize to approximately 3" high.  Change color.  Copy, paste and mirror image the stamp.   Position on either side of the girl.

4.  Add any other images for other projects and print on Vellum cardstock.

5.  Flip the cardstock over and lay it on the piercing pad.  Use the score tool to indent some of the flowers.

6.  Cut the cardstock to 3-1/2" X 11".  Join in a circle and adhere with Sticky Strip.  I put mine on a glass candle holder but this works as stand alone luminary as well.  (Use a battery operated candle.)

Faux Shadow Stamped Card:

Finished MDS page (for two cards)

1.  Open an 8-1/2" X 11" blank landscape project.
2.  Add as a page layer a dark color.
3.  Reduce the opacity to 60.
4.  Add the little girl image.  Resize to approximately 2-3/4" tall.
5.  Use the color picker to change the color of the image to the same as the background.  (Your image will disappear.)
6.  Add a drop shadow.  (I used the default settings.)
7.  Copy and paste if you are making multiple cards.
8.  Print on Vellum card stock.
9.  Die cut with the 5th (counting from the smallest to largest) Ovals Collection Framelit.
10.  Place the largest smooth oval framelit extending over the folded edge of Whisper White cardstock as shown.  Run through the Big Shot.

11.  Position the 4th Oval Framelit (counting from smallest to largest) on the front of the open card.  Run through the Big Shot.

12.  Layer a piece of heart printed Gold Fancy Foil Vellum on Whisper White cardstock.  Diecut both pieces with the largest scalloped and the third oval frame lit.  Use mini glue dots under the hearts to adhere the two pieces together.

Pieces ready to assemble

13.  Wrap Gold Baker's Twine around the outer frame three times on each side.  Use regular tape on the back of the frame to secure.

14.  Layer the card front and frame with the vellum image in between.

15.  I added a liner for the envelope cut from Fancy Foil Vellum with the Envelope Liner Framelit.

Supplies: 
Digital Stamps: Easter Blossoms
Cardstock: Vellum Cardstock, Whisper White, Gold Fancy Foil Vellum
Accessories:  Mini Glue Dots,  Gold Bakers Twine
Big Shot: Ovals Collection Framelits, Envelope Liner Framelits
Tools: Piercing Mat, Stylus

My Digital Studio Vellum Techniques- Vellum Float Photo Frame

Today's post is a continuation of the MDS Vellum Technique suite from yesterday.  Of all the projects this one was the one that was (is) giving me the most problems photographically.  The photo and images are printed on vellum and then attached to a clear glass base with washi tape.

It looks lovely when backlit but that really did not look right when I tried to photograph it that way.  If I put it on a white background the glass totally disappeared; putting it on a black background the vellum portion was too dark.  This not-so-great pic is the best of the bunch.

So IF you could see it in real life you would see that the photo is crisp with soft muted colors.  The sentiment and girl silhouette stamps are color matched to my daughter's pants.  I saved this color as a favorite and used it in all the other projects as the base color.  The gold washi tape matches tones in the background of the photo and is itself somewhat translucent so it adds to the light airy feel.

Best of all it is super easy to do!  Here is how:  

There are several ways to do this project.  You can design on a 5" X 7" page, cut your vellum card stock to 5" X 7" and insert that in your printer.  I prefer to design on 8-1/2" X 11" pages and trim to size afterward as my printer handles regular size paper consistently.  I will give instructions for the latter method.

Vellum Float Photo Frame:

Finished MDS page

1.  Open a new blank 8-1/2" X 11" portrait page.

2.  Add a square punch.  Use the rulers at the side and stretch to 5" x 7".  Center the punch.  (This punch is a place holder.  It will be deleted later.)

3.  Add a 2-1/2" X 2-1/2" photo box.  Add photo and a mat.  (Use the default mat size and a color that coordinates with your photo.)

4.  Add the little girl stamp and "Sending Springtime Smiles: sentiment.

5.  Change the color of the stamps to a dark color such as Elegant Eggplant or use the color picker to choose a dark color from the photo.  I chose the dark blue of the blue jeans.

6.  If you are using a color from the photo add it to your favorites.  (When you have the Color Picker open, click "add to favorites" is the bottom right hand corner.)

7.  Add Corner Punches at each corner.  These are guides for cutting once you have printed the project.

8.  Delete the 5" X 7" rectangular punch. 

9.  Print the project on Vellum Cardstock

10.  Trim the vellum to 5" X 7".

11.  Attach the photo to an 8" X 10" piece of glass with strips of Washi Tape.

Note:  I used the glass from an 8" X 10" photo frame.  This was a higher quality frame and edges of the glass were beveled.  Some less expensive frames might have glass that is somewhat sharp on the edges.  

My Digital Studio Vellum Techniques- Faux Vitalized Vellum

I have been playing around with ideas for techniques that use My Digital Studio images printed on vellum.  I have to say I love the results in person but I have had a bear of time photographing them.    I came close to not even posting these.  But in real life they are really pretty and the techniques are nifty-- if I do say so myself:) -- so I am going to post them and hope that you will be inspired to try them.

Each of the projects has a different technique.  From left to right they are:  Faux Vitalized Vellum Bag, Vellum Float Photo Frame,  Faux Shadow Stamped Card, and Hand Embossed Luminary.

I have tutorials for each of these plus an additional little bonus project not pictured here.   These are techniques that could be used on many different images and projects.   I thought step-by-step tutorials would be the easiest way to convey the method.   Because of the length I am going to break this into a couple of posts over the next several days.

All projects were printed on Stampin' Up Vellum Cardstock with my home printer.

Faux Vitalized Vellum Bag:
This first technique is one that I named Faux Vitalized Vellum.  The traditional Vitalized Vellum technique is done by rubbing an ink pad over vellum to cover it with ink.  Then clean stamps are stamped on the wet ink.  This removes the color in the stamped areas leaving them lighter than the background.  This project creates the same look with MDS.

Faux Vitalized Vellum Technique

Finished MDS Page

1. Open a 8-1/2" X 11" blank landscape project.
2.  Add a square punch and stretch it to 8-1/2" X 8-1/2".  Fill with a dark color.  Reduce the opacity to 60%.
3.  To simulate the streaks of the pad on the paper, add the Vintage Overlay Texture #8 stamp.  Change the color to the same as the punch but at 100% opacity.
4.  Add the flower stamp from Easter Blossoms.  Make it the same color as the background but change the opacity to 30.  Copy and paste multiple times.  Vary the size, flip and rotate the stamp until the background is covered.
5.  Add the "Happy Easter" stamp at the side.  (same color as the background at 100%)
6.  Print on Vellum Cardstock.
7. Trim the vellum so it is 8-1/2" X 9".  You will have 1/2" that is unprinted at the right side.  That is so that when you assemble the box the color does not show through at the seam.
8.  Score at 2", 4", 6", 8".  Turn and score 2" from the bottom.

Score at 2", 4", 6" and 8"

Turn.  Score at 2".

9.  Cut tabs and assemble box with Sticky Strip.

Bottom tabs cut and 1/2" unprinted tab at right side.

10. Pinch the sides in at the top and punch two holes with a hole punch through all the layers.
11. Tie a bow with White Taffeta Ribbon.
12.  Die cut "Happy Easter" with a Banner Framelit and attach with a Mini Glue dot.

Supplies: 
Digital Stamps: Easter Blossoms, Vintage Overlays
Cardstock: Vellum Cardstock
Accessories: Simply Score Board, Sticky Strip, Mini Glue Dots, 3/8" White Taffeta Ribbon
Big Shot: Banner Framelits