Mini Valentine Cards

I made a couple of mini cards to help Nicole out with her fundraiser. They came out pretty cute and as a result, one of my coworkers wants to buy 10 of them, so yay! The craft paper has been pretty popular lately, so I wanted to play around with it. I really like it!


For these cards I used:
Card Stock - Kraft (base), Pirouette Pink, Candy Lane DSP and White
Stamps - Priceless (left) and Happy Heart Day (Right)

For the right card I used:
Card Stock - Kraft (base), Pirouette Pink, Candy Lane DSP and White
Stamps - SU! Love You Much, SU! Together Forever

Crafty commissions

As I mentioned in a previous post, one of my bosses needs a birthday card and Valentine's card for his wife, so here are a couple of little things I cooked up. I think they are cute, and hopefully they aren't too "simple". Although in some cases "simple" is a much better way to go, I still haven't determined when to say when - I imagine it will come to me as I make more cards and get better. It was fun making these cards, and I will probably make a few more to see if anyone else wants to get in the Valentine's spirit.

For this card I used:
Card Stock - Kraft, Candy Lane DSP, Red Riding Hood and White
Stamps - SU! Love You Much, SU! Short & Sweet

For this card I used:
Card Stock - Baja Breeze (base), Prints Pack DSP (retired, SU!), Indulgent DSP (retired, Sassafras) and White
Stamp - SU! For a Friend

More Bounty

Here are more pictures from my first visit to Felicia's Scrapbooks. I walked away with a ton of papers that I will be using very soon. One of my bosses asked for a Valentine's Day card and a birthday card for his wife, so yay! I like making cards for fun, but I also like the commissioning aspect for it as well. It's kind of like a game - I try and learn everything about the person the card is being made for, and try to create something that they would really like. I like seeing people's faces when they answer my questions, because they usually laugh quietly to themselves about something quirky and endearing about the person they love and seem happy. Well, that's been the theme so far, at least! heehee

It's been such a motivator to have a real workspace for crafting, I have to say. Everything is organized and accessible, but it's ok if I leave things out if I haven't quite finished. Maybe I will see about posting pics of that room soon, too. But first --! These papers are so cute and from a company called Imaginisce. I think they are from a series called Twitterpated.

This one is Hey Foxy, and the animals and trees are actually glossy.

This one is called Critter Chatter
And here is another one from Sassafras Lass called Indulgent (I think this is retired (or retiring)

Treasure Hunter

So today, I made out like a bandit! For Christmas I had received a gift certificate to Felicia's Scrapbooks and I finally had some time today after my errands to stop by, and I am so glad I did! I found some awesome, awesome, AWESOME papers today. These are just some of the ones I got, and they are from a company called Sassafras Lass. I absolutely cannot wait to use these, but a part of me really wants to hoard them as well, since they are so neat looking.

This first one is called 'Say Timber'.

This one is Fawnd of You

This one is called So In Love

There were even coordinating stamps, which I debated on getting but I bought tons more paper and embellishments, so I thought I would play around with these first before I got too carried away. (I'll probably be back really soon anyway! hehe) And a really nice part of the trip is that I was accompanied by my husband and he actually thought these papers were really cool, too. Usually he sighs heavily when we go anywhere crafty, but he liked helping me pick between all the Sassafras prints. More pics to come!

Back in the swing of things

I've been absent from my stampin' fun for entirely too long! I lost my mojo for just a bit, due to a series of life changing events, but I am happy to say I am in a really great place right now, thanks to the support of my family and friends. I'm super grateful.

I have a new job, and even though I work later than I am used to, I've been in a much happier mood. So with that, I have a card I worked very hard on for a swap. It was a Twilight themed swap. I finished the first book, am on the second and still have not seen the movie - ACK!

With that, I have pictures, although...not to pat myself on the back too hard, but the pictures don't really do the card justice I think. I was very happy with the way they turned out!

Here is the front of the card


I tried a different fold this time, still a standard sized card though. The front seal I made took 4 layers of UTEE and one of red glitter embossing powder. I really wish my camera could really capture the color and texture, it was really pretty. I tried to get a close-up but you still can't tell too much.


Here is the inside of the card - lots of work, but so worth it. I used a brayer technique I learned from Kim from Stamp-a-rama who learned it from Michelle Zindorf. I took a piece of glossy photopaper, punched out a circle and temporarily affixed it to the paper, then using a brayer I rolled Baja Breeze ink all over the paper, then I used Pacific Point around the edges with the brayer. Then with a sponge, I used Basic Gray. Then when you take off the circle piece of paper, you have a bright white moon. Then using StazOn ink in Jet Black I used the tree stamp for a cool silhouette effect. I wanted to give this a really dark and romantic feel, so I used the cursive background stamp.

Here is a close-up so you can see the quote I chose for the card. I think it's very fitting.


I am super excited to see what kinds of swaps I will receive, and I hope that whoever gets mine really enjoys it.

On a side note, I should also mention that my stamping room that I complained about earlier, is fully functional and AWESOME!  I couldn't be more ecstatic that I have my own working space now.

More to come, I'm working on some Valentine's Day cards. I got some great gifts over the holidays that I've been itching to use, among them the SU! Valentine's Bundle. (You've seen the heart punch in action already!)

I used:
Card Stock - Black (base), Riding Hood Red, White and Glossy paper
Stamps - SU! En Francais, SU! Nature Silhouettes

Sad Swapper - EDIT Grateful Swapper

So it is sad news...I sent off my Thank You Swap a long time ago and then I received an empty envelope back. :(
I guess the swaps that were going to be sent to me fell out of the envelope, but now there's nothing that can be done. Wish that there was though. ..::sigh::..

EDIT
I would like to share some news on this matter. My swap hostess felt bad that I didn't get my swap and she decided to send me some of her own. I was really touched that she chose to, since essentially it wasn't either one of our faults that things didn't get to the final destination. But I am super appreciative and it really says so much about why I care so much about stamping - the community shows me that even if life doesn't go as you expect, there are people out there that care and are willing to go above and beyond to remind us of that. That is why I like making cards and giftables, and am proud to be a part of the stamping community. Thank you to ChicagoGirl on SCS - for being a sweet hostess.

Awesome WOW! Presentation

When I went to the SU! Regional, one of the best Wow! presentations of the day was from a demo in Austin named Cyndee Rust. Her stuff was awesome! She only had 5 minutes, but I think it blew the whole crowd away. Since she didn't have that much time, she was kind enough to take people's email addresses and send them the tutorials on how to do the projects. Here is what she showed us (all images courtesy of Cyndee Rust):

This first one is a peppermint patty box (holds two), which she adapted from Rochelle Wick's blog Impressions.


The next thing she showed us was an adorable mini pizza box filled with gift tags adapted from Jen del Muro's blog I{heart}2stamp.

Here is a scallop box with mini tins that Cyndee adapted from Sheryl Dickinson's blog Stamping with Sheryl. It uses the scallop die cut from the Sizzix, which is a neat tool (just a little expensive).


Here's another view.


This was so adorable. It's a Kit Kat bar cover! Use a 6”x6” piece of DSP. Mono around all 4 edges – completely all the way around. Fold up and around. Then crimp ends. Instructions were from Toni Tessler's blog Toni's Adventures in Stamping & Scrapbooking.

Then there was this criss cross box. Adapted from Nichole Heady's blog Capture the Moment.


Finally, she showed us a wonderful flip album. This picture doesn't do it justice, it was such a Wow! piece. This was adapted from a tutorial on Chiaki Haverstick's blog StampingPro.



She did a great job, and the thing that floored every person in the room? The fact that Cyndee made this all with one (1!) Simply Scrappin' Kit and had so much left over! I plan on attempting my own variations with these projects at some point, so I will post those when that happens. But don't hold your breath, I have to finish my Thank You cards for the wedding, a Thank You swap I joined, also after all these birthdays I need to make cards for - and, AND - I'm in the beginning stages of a rehaul of my designated stamping room. I have a room for everything, but I always bring my projects downstairs to the dining table because it's bigger and the lighting is better, so I am figuring out how to keep it more contained, so my husband doesn't run from the house for fear that the crafts are taking over, hehe. Busy busy, but still excited!