The Big Shot Basics ~ a craftroom must have!

 

I love my Big Shot ~ just check out all the amazing creations you can make using the Big Shot ... IME it is a craft room must have for the whole family quickly cutting cardstock, fabric, cork, thin wood, metal sheeting, fun foam and more!

Here are some flashback Thursday items that are made using the Big Shot ... from home decor, gift holders, cards, headbands and more the Big Shot makes life easier!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Technique Tuesday - Selective Embossing

Thought I would share the Technique Card we made at our last class ... each participant gets a 6x6 sample with instructions for their Inspiration book to recollect on later....this card showcased the Cottage Garden stamp set with the Square Lattice, Designer Frames and Elegant Bouquet emboss folders.

With the sample we practice a couple of things from negative selective embossing to create the stampable rectangle space on the pink square lattice embossed cardstock for our sentiment to 'double embossing' as seen here with the Designer Frames with the Elegant Bouquet embossed inside it!

Happy Stampin'

Beautiful Bold Blossom Bouquet

Here is one of the cards we made this month during our Selective Embossing Technique class ...

This card we used portions of the Framed Tulips emboss folder to create a different framed look ... than filled our frame with images from the Bold Blossom stamp set in the Summer mini. Accented with a two tones Night of Navy and Daffodil Delight flower using the Blossom Bouquet triple layer punch!

To add a little bling we used the versamarker on the butterfly wings and the yellow portion of the flower and applied iridescent ice emboss powder - very pretty in person!

Happy Stampin'

Button Buddies encore

Here is another card inspired by the OWH challenge this week ... featuring once again the Pocketful of Posies DSP with the Poppy Parade cardbase and a Naturals White Top Note frame which was stamped in Poppy Parade with the coordinating My Friend stamp set that goes with this DSP. 

I used the Big Shot and Ovals Die to cut two ovals one in our Red Glimmer paper and the smaller in Naturals White and using the Button Buddies set I hand colored the floral focal point and than versamark embossed the vase in clear to give it depth - and finished it off with some small buttons and some Victorian lace!

Happy Stampin'

Just Believe in Recycling ...

This was another quick and easy card I made the other day as I was going through my scraps and realized that I had lots of these 'Top Note Frames' in my scraps from when I cut out the Top Note for other uses but did not want to waste the paper.

So here we have a Not Quite Navy card base with a Naturals White Top Note Frame which I paper pierced on the corners to give it some character and than used it to frame a White Embossed Just Believe stamped image and than using my Versamarker I added some Melon Mambo embossing powder to just the flowers and the Thank you sentiment....and that is how a scrap of paper gets recycled into a beautiful Thank You card!

Happy Stampin'!

Handmade Gift Boxes

I love the little Box 2 die from Stampin' Up - it is the perfect size for a variety of small gifts to people from jewelery or candles to chocolates or a gift card - and the added 'hand decorated gift box' to hide your treasures in is just that much more meaningful for recipients :)

This set of boxes is for this weekends Stamp a Stack and features the Contempo Christmas stamp set currently on sale for 20% off in the Holiday Bundles pack done up in gold embossing and punched out with the Ornament punch! I paired the punched ornaments with the Contempo stamp around wheel also embossed with gold powder to make my own 'designer paper' to match!

Front view of the boxes done in Night of Navy and Crumb Cake and Real Red and Crumb cake.

Back of the box show casing how the Contempo Stamp Around Wheel creates a nice design along the back of the box!

Joy Banner - traditional style

So here are my 'traditional' Joy Banners created from my digital template!

Horizontal Banner ... admitting I did not like the way this one hung on the wall - so I did it over again ;)Second time is a charm ... here is my Vertical Joy banner which I was happier with the way it hung ... well that and in my home I totally have more places to hang a vertical designed banner than a horizontal one.

I designed the 5 panel Banner so that if I wanted I could have the option to create one that either says Joy, Peace or Love depending on my inspiration. I went with the Joy because I wanted a 'winter' theme that could stay up past Christmas and well it allowed for the Ariel Snowman to be incorporated into the O and I am just in love with snowman this season!

So my first panel is Mr Christmas Owl in his fancy vest showcased on the polka dot embossed whisper white paper!

The letter J encased on the ornament punch which was stamped with the polka dot ornament from the Delightful Decorations set and the Serene Snowflakes in the background.

Letter O panel features a Ariel view snowman punched with our circle punch, arms are from the 2 Bird punch set with brad eyes, real red grossgrain ribbon accents.

Letter Y panel is embossed with the Northern Flurry folder and paired with the 2 Step Bird to make a Christmas Cardinal and of course some Rhinestone bling!

Final Panel with the Tags til Christmas stamp set punched out with the ornament punch in the Baja Breeze ink with a little Rhinestone bling paired with some Vanilla Smooch Spritz to add some glitter!

Lady with an Alligator Purse

Today I was having fun brainstorming a request to make a pocket envelope card or bag for a friends business. She wanted something simple to hold a few business related items for customers!

I had been dying to try out this embossing technique and figured - what can be more fun than making an alligator purse and wouldn't it be a cute little 'gift' for her customers!

The first one is a plain purse highlighted with the faux alligator skin top and the 5 petal flower punch accented with a Star from the Stars Die Cut and a little brad as the 'clasp' holding the purse closed. However this one just felt like something was 'missing'.

So I added a little texture with a little bit of Versamark and the little Stars from the Canada Day Stamp set....this ties the purses in with her Thank you card theme.

Here is a side view of the purse with a little accordion style side that will allow a few small objects to be placed inside the purse for sharing with customers.

I also tweaked the inside of the Thank you card design to allow for the adding of a business card or customer appreciation gift card.

Hope she likes them!

Thank You Cards - Boxed Sets

These a some custom order Thank you cards I have designed for a friend. She requested something with a Star theme in purples and greens. I did up two different designs to choose from both featuring Rich Razzleberry and Certainly Celery colours cause they seemed the closest match to her business logo.

This first card I used the Canada Day stamp set from our Summer Mini to create the background paper. The sentiment is from a retired stamp set Kind and Caring Thoughts. The stars are die cut from the Stars die set and I stamped them with the fireworks from the Canada Day set and sponged the edges to give them a bit of dimension! The inside of this card is black to add a personalized sentiment.

The second card design I used the Big Shot and a thank you embossing folder and embossed the Rich Razzleberry cardstock with thank you wording. This layer is wrapped that with some polka dotted grosgrain ribbon and than to finish it off I adhered a Rich Razzleberry Star accented with another star cut out of our Designer Series paper and a Razzleberry brad to hold it in place. The inside of the card is blank with some tiny star accents in the corners to jazz it up a notch.

The 10 card set come in a coordinating gift box with matching envelopes.

Run for the Cure Hybrid Series - part five

This card for the Run for the Cure card set is the final in the hybrid series set I created for this week. Featuring the Elegant lines embossing folder and the Boho Blossoms punch. The Boho Blossoms are sponged with Pretty in Pink ink. I used the I wear Pink and Hope Ribbon stamps from the Breast Cancer Awareness Flourishes stamp set.

Run for the Cure Hybrid Series - part two

After a lovely day of shopping with my sister here in NY - where I got some awesome deals off my wish list! I thought I would take a moment to share another card - the joy of technology that I can be here on vacation and still sharing my stampin' passion with others! I downloaded these cards to my laptop before I left and even brought some water colouring images and my Stamp Write markers and aqua painter so I can create here too ..... cause creating is a vacation in of itself ;)

So without further ado here is another installation for my Run for the Cure - Pink themed card set ... I love the flowing dress from this stamp set- fun to water colour and hard to see but I blinged it up for a night on the town with some GLITTER always fun to add glitter!

Cottage Wall

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Stamp for the Cure fundraiser presented by a fellow demo Caroline Locke ... a totally awesome event and for an amazing cause close to my heart - funding cancer research and finding a cure!

The event featured the Stamp set Cottage Wall and the coordinating designer series paper Sunny Garden from the current catalog .... of which the new wonderfully inspiring IN colours coordinate with!

Below is one of the projects we created at the event - a decorated DVD case which can be used to give as a CD album of photos to a loved one, a collection of music on CD or you can remove the insert and decorate both sides and use it as a memory or gift card box!

Inside of the DVD container ...

My Open House - a 'business warming' party!

WOW ... I had an awesome busy weekend so my apologizes for not posting on the blog this weekend.

I had my first open house 'business warming party' and my thanks to everyone who was able to come out to support me I had an awesome time and hope everyone else did as well!

We made two cards this is the first one featuring the Because I Care hostess stamp and showcasing the corner punch and ornament punch and colour spritzer tool - which rocks for making a 'antiqued' looking paper depending on the colour choices!

Our second card features the Elements of Style stamp set and showcased the ease of the Big Shot and the Daisies 2 bigz die as well as the ticket corner punch.

I wasn't sure how I was going to fit everyone into my little living dining room while still creating an 'inviting space' but I hope I pulled it off!

Even carved out a little niche for a card and project display for people to peruse to get inspiration on how Stampin' Up! products can be used to create wonderful unique cards!

And well not social gathering will be complete without some yummy food for sharing over great conversation and card making .... thanks again to family and friends for making my open house a success ;-)

Playing with my Big Shot

How sad is it that I am actually grateful that my ole Cuttlebug croaked on me last month ... cause it was a perfect excuse to purchase my Stampin' Up! Big Shot as a replacement ... this tool is a 1000 times easier to use than the Cuttlebug was ... plus unlike the Cuttlebug it can cut multiple pieces of card stock easily AND it can cut various fabrics including felt and metal sheets ... all mediums that I cannot wait to try out!

However this weekend all I had handy was my totally awesome Stampin' Up! card stock ... so I was playing with my Build a Bear Bigz Dies and here is one of the cute cards that I made with them ... does she look like she should be heading off to the Sock Hop!