Masks are not just for Halloween

I just love this paper crafting technique ~ masking is so simple but it adds a lot of pop and layered dimensions to a card without adding 'bulk' of actual layers! Plus once you make a mask ONCE you can save it in your stamp case for future uses ~ so its only fiddly cutting the ONE time! 

Have you used the masking technique? Would love to see your samples ~ feel free to post a link to your work in the comments!

Happy Stampin'

Margaret 

A little bit of Rock -n- Roll

..t o help get your Tuesday morning off to a great start!

I am loving this new Sheltering Tree Stamp set from the Occasions mini and it is a great stamp set for doing the Rock -n- Roll technique with ... in the video they use two tones of green for a subtle rock -n- roll but you could do a light green with a rock of color depending on the time of year your card is going out ~ pink for floral in the spring, oranges or reds for the Fall or White for a dust of snow in the beginning of Winter!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

What's Up Coordination

 

One of the things that first attracted me to Stampin' Up! all those years ago was the stunning 'coordination' of all our products ~ it takes out so much of the guess work when you are standing in the aisle of the craft store trying to figure out will this work with that? Plus it removes the disappointment of getting home and realizing 'nope that wont work at all' and most of all I loved the financial savings that results in having products that you will actually USE verses having them sitting in your stash wondering 'well now what will I do with that' cause turns out it does match or coordinate with your project after all!

This What's Up video is a prefect example of how our stamp sets are designed to coordinate with our punches and piercing tools to help you quickly and easily create stunning projects that will leave your loved ones asking 'How did she find time to do that'?

With Stampin' Up! you will never have to spend time in the aisle wondering 'what can I do with this' cause when glimpsing through the catalog there are handy 'tips' with each item that lets you know what has a coordinating stamp set, punch, embellishment and so forth to help bring your projects together with ease PLUS you have access to ME to answer any of your paper crafting questions!

Looking for inspiration in your paper crafting? Come on out and join us for a Technique class, Stamp a Stack or Scrapbooking social! 

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Triumphant Technique Tuesday

Had a blast this week with our Faux Patina technique class ~ I just LOVE the vintage look of this technique and it is so quick and easy to do yet yeilds a stunningly beautiful effect card recievers will think you worked for hours to create this beauty! 

The card to the left here features our elegant bouquet embossing folder and the color combination of Crumb Cake, Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana and Early Espresso with a little simmering accent Champange glimmer paper punched with the Elegant  Butterfly and a splash of color with the Itty Bitty butterfly punch overlaid and some half back pearls to give it some bling and the sentiment is from Perfectly Penned!

Than this beauty over here to the right just looks so striking specially in person ~ like a shimmery copper! 

Showcasing our Honeycomb embossing folder with the color scheme of Crumb cake, Brown Sugar, Crisp Canteloupe and Cajun craze this card also features my FAVORITE stamp set at the moment ~ Secret Garden which comes with some amazing Edgelit die cuts to allow you to quickly cut the flowers out if you'd like ~ I have some cards coming up later this week that showcase just how gorgeous this set is and how fun it is to water color ... just look at these gorgeous flowers and shimmery coppery effect ... and the little butterfly is divine who would not feel extra special opening up an envelope and finding this beauty ... you too could be giving out gorgeous cards like this just come out to a class and check it out?

Would also like to extend a warm welcome to a new friend and wonderful talent joining the stamping table ~ Sherry from Sherry's Custom Cakes! I am not sure who is more excited about the idea but Sherry is going to be combing Stampin' with her cake making PLUS she also features GLUTEN FREE cakes .... which well let me tell you has me tickled pink with anticipation to have both my favorite things in one place stamps and gluten free baking ... I think I am in heaven! 

Please remember to stop by my current steals and deals album on Facebook to see promotions that are going on for the month of August!

Happy Stampin;

Margaret

Kissed by Nature

Here is another 'Kissing' card from tonight's Technique Tuesday class ... we used the Inspired by Nature stamp set in Pink Pirouette which was kissed with the En Francis in Early Espresso and featuring a 'framed' Labels collection ... and a little Framed Tulips and the Tasteful Trim in Baja Breeze.

I used my Color Coach for the palette and the layout was inspired from over at 'Just Us Girls' which was a nice simple but elegant layout. 

If you have a moment hop on over and check them out ...

 Just a reminder that this month Stampin' Up is offering paper crafters a chance to try out the My Digital Studio Express for FREE for 30 days so that you too can fall in love with everything it has to offer ... check it out here!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Superbowl 'Kissing' Distrations

I took advantage of the men being distracted by the big screen, cold beer and munchies today to spend much of the afternoon hiding in the 'women cave' aka my Crafting Corner ... who knew I would grow up craving to be sent to the corner for the afternoon???

So with my free time I spent this afternoon coming up with this wonderful offering of 'love' for my Technique Tuesday class this coming week .... with February being the Month of Love I thought we would revisit our KISSING techniques ;)

 The butterflies were 'kissed' in numerous ways from the stamped off kiss, uninked kiss and finally two toned kissing ... you cannot see it too well in the photo but the Upsy Daisy was kissed with some En Francis two toned kisses .... seriously who doesn't like some kissing such a cute and fun little technique?

My creation this week was inspired by the wonderful Sketch challenge over at 1{heart}2stamp .... hop on by and check out the wonderful inspirations from the Design Team and other bloggers!

 The color combo of Basic Black, Real Red, Regal Rose and Whisper White from over at ColourQ ... some wonderful inspirations go check them up too.

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Happy New Year Stampers

Sending out lots of Happy New Year blessing to all my blog hopping friends - 2011 has been a truly amazing year and I am looking forward to having an awesome healthy and prosperous 2012 ~ and send out the same wish for all of you!

Having some fun with challenges this week while trying out my sneak peak goodies from the upcoming Occasion's mini as well as Sale-a-bration items for next month! 

This is another 'peekaboo embossing' technique I used hiding the butterflies behind the Elegant Bouquet embossed image ... just loving the new Framelits from Stampin' Up!

This gorgeous ribbon and brad is available as of January 24th for FREE during Sale-a-bration! 

 My layout was inspired from the wonderful Design Team over at Stamping 411 ... head on over and check out what everyone else came up with!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Another 'kissed' card ...

Had a lot of fun trying to 'master' this 'kissed' technique ... this is one I tried the Upsy Daisy stamp set with the En Francis stamped with a Chocolate Chip ink for the background and white emboss powder over top!

I will admit that I almost threw it out cause it did not turn out 'perfect' however as being told 'it looked cool' from a family member I decided to give it a try as the more I looked at it I thought while it was not 'perfect' it had a sort of 'vintage faded look' so I distressed the edges of the paper and rolled with it and now I love how the card ended up coming together - sometimes we are our own worst critics when 'creating' something.

Happy Stampin' 
Margaret

Some 'Kissing' going on this season

Well Christmas was AWESOME around here ... we really scaled back on the 'presents' and instead spent some quality time together playing cards and having fun on Christmas day - which is truly what it is all about! 

And well I have to admit as much as I love the holidays I LOVE being on vacation ... carved out sometime to spend sometime playing around in the Stampin' Cave with some techniques on my 'wish I had time to try this' list and here is a sample from one of them ...

Embossed kissing ... it is a little bit tricky to master the 'timing' to get it to turn out just right - cause you need the ink to dry but not the 'versamark kiss' before applying the embossing powder! 

However I love the effect of having the 'embossed image' overlaying JUST the stamped image of the floral focal - gives my old favorite Inspired by Nature a pop having the En Francis stamp as an overlay in the Tempting Turquoise embossing powder

Here is the 'sentiment' hiding on the bow with the Tiny Tags and Jewelry Tag punch!

More fun with Bleach ...

This is another card from my Technique Tuesday class - fun with bleach ... it is really hard to tell on the photo but this was the Bleach with Smooch twist so the snowflakes are bleached out but have a 'glitter' from the smooch spray that was sprayed onto the bleach paper towel - it is cool and shimmery in person!

Serene Snowflakes is such a pretty stamp set and I love the Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze and Crumb Cake color combo!

I will have another post later tonight with a sneak peek of my Guest Design over on A La Monkey Cards!

Happy Stampin'

Margaret

Book-a-thon Challenge!

Stampin' Up is holding another Book-a-thon contest for Demos in an effort to help us fill our calendars for the upcoming Sale-a-bration between January 24th and March 31st! 

This is an amazing time to host a workshop either in your own home or mine if that would work better for you - which is a double bonus cause you get a great afternoon or evening with your friends and all the hostess benefits of the workshop but I do all the housecleaning and clean up! 

So all you need to do is shoot me an email or phone call today before 9pm to tell me you are interested and we can arrange the details of when will work best  between us! 

Now on to sharing inspiring cards ... this challenge was from over at Stamping 411 ...

 And here is what I came up with using the sketch outline and well the continue color palette inspiration from this weeks Color Q and playing with the Foxy Oxi technique some more - loads of fun!

 Just love how the Tree Trimmings set looks with the snowy background effect of the Foxy Oxi ... and well a little bling of the Pewter embossing powder and some Rhinestone gems!!

Happy Stampin!
Margaret

Playing with Bleach ...

This weekend I was playing around with both the Foxy Oxi and various bleaching techniques in preparation for class on Tuesday ... and combined my playing with this weeks Just Us Girls Challenge .... 

The color combination which was inspired by the Stamping 411 Color Challenge of Poppy Parade, Pink Pirouette and Basic Black.

I bleached out a Dasher on a piece of Pink Pirouette and while he is very subtle I just love how it looks in real life - the texture of the embossing folders really add depth and character to the card.

The flash plays havoc on the image which really pops more in real life - but I added some Dazzling Details and Pearls helped to accent Dashers antlers!

Thanks for stopping by...
Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Clearly For You

More fun with the Iris Fold card layout ... this one features the Pretty Postage Stamp set and the Clearly for You stamp set and the Beautiful Bouquet DSP with the In color Wisteria Wonder.

We will be learning more about this technique at my November 1st class - still room around the table if you are interested - just shoot me an email or phone call!

Happy Stampin'

Margaret

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone has enjoyed their Thanksgiving weekend... we just finished and I am taking a break to blog before tackling the clean up!

This is one of the cards we will be making at tomorrow nights technique class ... it uses the 'Iris Fold' technique!

Love how the Well Worn DSP coordinates with this technique and the Just Believe stamp set ... Night of Navy, Cajun Craze and Very Vanilla look lovely together!

Happy Stampin'

Margaret

Uncharted Territory ...

This is a card from tonight's Faux Stain Glass technique workshop ... I am loving this technique ... it is a little messy kinda like finger painting - but I find it very relaxing to move the colors around until you get the effect your like!

One of the things I like about techniques like this are that no too cards end up looking alike ... it allows everyone's creative juice to flow as they add colors and move them around!

Happy Stampin'

Faux Stain Glass

Here is another sample I made to practice this technique for my Technique Tuesday workshop tomorrow night ... just love how it looks like a stormy sky with the Upsy Daisy's down in the front ... the technique like anything in life definitely improves the more you play with it!

This card color combo features Pink Pirouette and Elegant Eggplant with a bit of Wisteria Wonder for good measure!

Happy Stampin'

Positive Vibes for Philis

Found some time to hide in my craft room this weekend and get caught up on preparing for upcoming classes and making some Card Warrior offerings for Rhonda Wades Project Hope.

Today's a 'multitasking' initiative which allowed me to create samples to showcase at my upcoming 'Faux Stain Glass' Technique Tuesday class ... as well as create a card for Ms. Philis Bukovcik who needs our positive thoughts and vibes of strength during her fight of Ovarian Cancer ... may she feel our strength and courage on her journey.

Happy Stampin'

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'

Designer Framed Elegant Bouquet

Yup - yet another Selective Embossing offering - having so much fun playing with this technique - the color combo is Melon Mambo and Pretty in Pink  with a hint of Wild Wasabi!

The back layer of card is stamped with flowers from Cottage Garden stamp set in Melon Mambo on the Pretty in Pink cardstock which is then run through the Square Lattice emboss folder and a strip of Whisper White attached after it was punched with the Scallop Trim punch.

Then the magic happens ... the Whisper White square was run through the Designer Frame to get our frame and than I reran it through the Elegant Bouquet using selective embossing to place the flowers inside the frame and hand cut around the frame to create the floral accent point on the card but before it was popped up on a couple dimensionals I had some fun with the floral frame...

... by playing with the Versamarker ... I heat embossed the various parts of the frame with different embossing powders ... Silver on the frame, Wild Wasabi on the stems and Melon Mambo flowers and than added a little more bling with some Rhinestones!

Happy Stampin'