Hello, Lovely Make & Take, part V - the final chapter

Making cards is such great therapy.  Ironically, what's caused minor household stress around here is the bit of basement flooding that happened Monday... since the basement is where the office/craft room is, I'm cut off from my stamps and card stock.  So, today I'm sending cards as therapy, rather than making them. The restoration guys are giving it about another 3 days to be completely dried out... Then I can clean up the craziness and get back to crafting!  Fortunately, we did not have any significant damage to our belongings, but the crate where I had all my Stampin' Success magazines got wet.  While the property manager and maintenance guy were working on the house, I was sitting in the corner with my heat tool, drying out my magazines.  Made me feel as if I was doing something useful, and the Stampin' Success collection will survive :)

On with the show!  The cap of this make & take was the attractive little gift bag.  The idea of the project was to bling the cards, decorate the envelopes, wrap them in the gift bag and have a quick and useful gift.  This cutie little bag makes it a total success.   

My bag differs only slightly from the model below, I had used some of the ribbon from my kit for my cards. Instead of wrapping the bag with the new Bermuda Bay 1/8" Taffeta ribbon, I made a bow and stuck it behind the Old Olive card stock banner.  The Silver Glimmer paper was cut with the 1-3/4" circle punch. Glimmer paper is great - all the bling with none of the fuss of regular glitter.  and those are the little rhinestone basic jewels on the banner that have been part of the theme of this project.  A little fold of Calypso Coral Chevron ribbon adds a little extra color and texture.

"Hello, Lovely" is a great stamp set to have.  There's an eclectic variety of 10 stamps including sentiments and decorative elements.  I especially like the "Thank You - You're the Best" sentiment, because you can use it together as shown, or you can cut it in two and have a "Thank You" banner and a "You're the best" arrow to use separately.   A little retro, a little vintage, a little modern... works well with other sets or all on its own.

Everything for these projects can be purchased from www.creativeflare.stampinup.net

Previously unlisted supplies:

Tag a Bag gift bags: 131370 $3.95 for 10 bags.

Bermuda Bay 1/8" Taffeta ribbon:  131206 $5.95 for 10 yards

Calypso Coral Chevron ribbon:  130018 $8.95 for 10 yards

Silver Glimmer Paper: 124005 $4.95 for (2) 12" x 12" sheets

Other possible color combinations for this project are: 

These palettes coordinate with the Eastern Elegance, Epic Day, and Birthday Basics designer series papers.  Imagine what you can do with that!

This project is so flexible, there's an amazing amount of tweaks you can do - adding designer series paper or even going with a monochromatic theme.  Great for planning a stamp camp or class, or getting a jump on your holiday gift giving.  Fast, fun, gorgeous, done!

Enjoy!

Hello, Lovely Make & Take, part IV

Here's card #4 from the make & take - the original, if you look at the instruction guide on yesterday's blog, just had the sentiment "You make me happy" stamped in the lower right hand corner, and the ornate square pattern on the envelope.  I decided to incorporate all of it on the card front.  

"You make me happy" is stamped in Coastal Cabana on Whisper White card stock, trimmed and attached with Stampin' Dimensionals.  The ornate square is stamped on the card front using the Stamp-a-ma-jig.  I added a 1/2" strip of double-sided Crisp Canteloupe designer series paper - it's all from the same 1/2" x 12" strip cut for the first card, just flipped over to the pattern on the reverse side for this card.  Rhinestones, a Bermuda Bay card stock hexagon, and a Old Olive chevron keep the color theme going.  

All supplies available from www.creativeflare.stampinup.net.

Enjoy

Hello, Lovely Make & Take - part 3

This blog is my take on the "&" card in the bottom right corner of the idea sheet.  Ampersands are hot right now, probably because of their curvy, free-form appeal.  The original was simply the "&" stamped in Bermuda Bay classic ink, and then just stamped off 3 or 4 more times, creating a little visual echo on the corner of the card.  I kept with this original idea, and added a little bling.

I stamped an extra "&" onto a separate piece of Whisper White card stock, cut it out and used some Stampin' Dimensionals to give it some pop.  The "you" and "ME" stamps come from the "You make me happy" stamp in the set, stamped in Old Olive and Crisp Cantaloupe and trimmed to fit the card.  Also from the set is the arrow fletching stamped in Coastal Cabana on the top left.  The chevron banner is more of the same strip I cut to make my first card of this series.  The kit came with ribbon and glimmer paper for the gift tag, there was enough to make the silver heart and add just a sniglet of ribbon to this card.  

Enjoy!

Stampin' Up Convention 2013 - Hello, Lovely Make & Take part 2

Here's the second of the make & takes from the kit (see previous blog entry).  The original pattern had the arrows in Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana, and Old Olive.  The chevrons were made using the Hexagon Punch and Bermuda Bay and Old Olive card stock.  A little paper piercing added some dimension to the corners.

Supplies - available from www.creativeflare.stampinup.net

Hello, Lovely stamp set - set of 10 (wood mount item #130240 $32.95; cling mount item #130243 $24.95)

Note Cards (item #131527 for 20 cards and envelopes)

Bermuda Bay card stock (item #131197 $6.95)

Old Olive card stock (item #100702 $6.95)

Coastal Cabana classic ink (item #131175 $5.95)

Crisp Cantaloupe classic ink (item #131176 $5.95)

Old Olive classic ink (item #126953 $5.95)

Hexagon punch (item# 130919 $15.95)

Piercing tool (item #126189 $3.95)

Essentials Paper Piercing Pack (item #126187 $7.95)

Stampin' Pierce Mat (item #126199 $4.95)

Stampin' Up Convention 2013 - Make and Takes!

Hello, Lovely make & take part 1

This July, I went to my very first Stampin' Up Convention!  Talk about an amazing Girlz Weekend Out.  I went by myself and made 5 new best friends.

One of the many fun things about convention, is that we get to test new product through Make & Takes, Mini Classes, and Product Playgrounds.   They give us the stamp sets and consumable materials for all the sessions on the first night (in a very swanky convention bag - this year's model was a custom Stampin' Up back-pack complete with padded laptop carrying pocket - ooh!  Loved it!).  On "Expo Day" tables are set up with tools and volunteer demonstrators guide participants through making the projects.  Participants get to choose when they want to complete those projects... or if they want to be like our crew and go to the mall instead...  we skipped doing the projects at convention.  Hey, there was an amazing mall just across the street from the convention center - we just couldn't resist the allure of retail therapy!

Now that I'm back, here's the first card that I made using the same ink, stamps, and products that were in the make and take package, with a few added twists of my own.

This is a scan of the instruction and idea sheet that came with the make & take.  Included was 4 of the new 5" x 3-1/4" Note Cards and envelopes.  It is interesting to note that even though the cards have the same great finish of the Whisper White card stock sold individually, the card stock of note cards is heavier weight.

Supplies:  (available from www.creativeflare.stampinup.net)
Hello, Lovely stamp set, set of 10  (Wood mounted blocks: item #130240, $32.95.  Cling mount stamps: item #130243, $24.95) Acrylic Blocks C and H recommended.
Note Cards  (item #131527 - $5.95 for 20 cards and envelopes.)
Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Ink Pad  (item #131176 - $5.95)
Old Olive Classic Ink Pad  (item #126953)
Bermuda Bay Classic Ink Pad  (item #131171)
Coastal Cabana Classic Ink Pad  (item #131175)
Old Olive card stock  (item #100702- $6.95 for 24 sheets)
Whisper White card stock  (item #101730 - $8.50 for 40 sheets)
In Color 2013-15 Designer Series Paper Pack  (item #130136 $21.95 for 40 sheets)
Rhinestone jewels  (item #119246 $4.95 for a sheet of 150 self-adhesive jewels)
Stamp-a-ma-jig (item #101049 - $11.95)

Here was my retouch of the card on the lower left hand corner of the instruction sheet.  The original sheet had just the 4 stamp pattern on the plain card front.  I stamped them separately on a 1-3/4" square of Whisper White card stock, mounted it on a 2 x 2" square of Old Olive card stock, and cut a little banner of Crisp Cantaloupe Designer Series Paper that was 1/2" x 3".  The Rhinestone jewels were part of the make and take package, just hard to see in the first picture.

Hints:  Using the Stamp-a-ma-jig was essential to getting these stamps positioned.  Also, because my new ink pads were super juicy, it worked well if I stamped off the ink lightly on a scratch sheet of paper before stamping on my card stock.  When using clear blocks and cling mount stamps with the Stamp-a-ma-jig, I find it helpful to mark the corner of block that fits into the jig, that way I know that I'm holding my stamp the same way each time. I use a "Sharpie" marker to mark the block, and it cleans off easily with the "Staz-On" ink cleaner when I'm done.

Enjoy!

Card Swap I

In giddy anticipation of attending Stampin' Up's annual convention this month, I have been making card fronts  for swaps.  It's traditional to make cards to swap with other demonstrators, looking for fresh perspectives and new friends.  The dunes were traced from a french curve drawing tool onto Sahara Sand card stock and  sponged with ink.  The shell was a folded piece of Crisp Cantaloupe punched 3/4 of the way into the punch.

Supplies for this card are all available from my website: www.creativeflare.stampinup.net

Stamp Sets:  sentiment- World Treasures(132100w $$23.95/126767c $17.95)
seaweed - Papaya Collage (132055w $31.95/126612c $23.95).  Block E is recommended for both sets

Ink:   (131171) Bermuda Bay
(126959) Wild Wasabi
(126983) Calypso Coral
 (126976) Sahara Sand
(131179) Smoky Slate

Card Stock:
Background: (131297) Coastal Cabana
Seashell: (131298) Crisp Cantaloupe
Sand:  (121043) Sahara Sand
Oyster: (131202) Smoky Slate
Sentiment:  (131203) Soft Sky

Punches:  7/8" Scallop Circle (129404 $12.95)
Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack (118309 $16.95 set of 3 shapes)

Sizzix Big Shot die cutting machine (113439 $99.95) with the Apothecary Accents Framelets (127003 $24.95)

Also used were Sponge Daubers (102892 $10.95 for 12), Stampin' Dimensionals (104430, $3.95 for 300) and last but not least, Pearl BasicJewels (119247 $4.95 for 150)