321 Stamp: Launching Creativity

"Steel" this Lattice Die Idea

Inspired -- that's what this card by the fabulous Jolette McDonald is. She looked at the little diamonds that are actually the by product of the Stampin' Up! Lattice Die for the Big Shot die cutting machine and she saw the Pittsburgh Steelers logo! Now I know it's not a great year for Steelers fans -- so maybe they need some cheering up with this card design!

Here's a photo of Jolette holding a notepad holder we made from the Stampin' Up Thoroughly Modern designer file folders at a recent team gathering. (More on that in another post!) Jolette is a 3-2-1 Stamp team member, an amazing middle school math teacher, mom and wife -- and manages to find time to be so creative. Thanks for sharing this great idea Jolette!
The Lattice die is item # 115958 -- look closely and you can see those Steeler Diamonds. What else can you see in this great die?

Enjoy!

Patterned Pines

I love the Patterned Pines stamp set from SU's Holiday Mini catalog. It's a hostess-only set -- free with a $150 order. This beautiful card by the talented Sandy Mitchell, a member of the 3-2-1 Stampers, features a great blue color scheme. I love the touch of Bashful Blue Taffeta ribbon at the top.

The beautiful snow "hill" is a curvy cut piece of white card stock that's been textured with the Petals-a-Plenty Embossing Folder (also a Holiday Mini item available until Jan. 4). The touch of glitter along the hill top is perfect.I love using the little rotary cutter is the SU Cutter Kit to make the curve (item #106958) -- it includes four tools total -- the cutter, a rotary scoring tool, perforating roller and a paper distressing tool.

Do you have all those Christmas cards made yet?

Delightful Decorations Meets Baroque Motifs

Baroque Motifs has been one of my favorite Stampin' Up! sets since it came out a few years ago. I've used the Swirly stamp as a branch before -- and when Delightful Decorations showed up in the Holiday Mini Catalog, that swirl was perfect of course for hanging a Christmas ornament. Lots of people have had this idea as I've seen variations around cyberspace. I love adding the Ruby Red flowers to the "branch" -- that stamp is also from Baroque Motifs.

The ornament was stamped in Ruby Red as well and punched out. The branch is in Old Olive as well as the greeting from my favorite new Christmas greeting set called Four the Holidays. The little bow is the Olive Taffeta that's included in the Mistletoe ribbon set from the Holiday Mini Catalog -- such a yummy texture for sweet bows like this one that can then be attached with a mini glue dot. A Ruby Red card stock mat and olive card base finish it off. This was the last card from my recent Christmas card class but I'll have more Christmas ideas to share so check back.

Gifts of Christmas

Here's another card from my recent Christmas card class. I love the Stampin' Up set called Gifts of Christmas (item #115372). It's well priced at 18.95 as you get everything you need for the outside and inside of your card -- plus there's a beautiful coordinating flower sprig to dress up the envelope. The Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder for the Big Shot goes perfectly with the flowers in the image, making a beautiful white background. (Just click on the photo to see it larger -- you can always do that -- and it should let you see more of that embossed pattern a little easier.) The image is stamped with Real Red Classic ink and then the corners of the white and Real Red layers are dressed up using the Ticket Corner Punch. Simple elegance -- and a very quick choice to make lots of Christmas cards that you'll be proud to send to family and friends.

Scenic Season Christmas Card

 
Here's another card from my recent Christmas class. This is the one card from the class that I directly CASEd (stands for Copy And Share Everything) from my fellow demonstrator Lisa Freeman in VA. You can see her card here and even a video she made to show the technique for using a circle-punched post it note as a mask to sponge the sky and make the moon that so perfectly spotlights the bird.

It's tough to see in my not great photo but the trees shimmer so beautifully in person thanks to Two-Way Glue pen and Dazzling Diamonds Glitter. The ink and card stock color is Night of Navy.

I love that Scenic Season is one large stamp that includes the outside greeting and then on the inside I used the message stamp that comes with the set on a white panel plus added some snowflake accents from the great Holiday Mini Catalog set called Serene Snowflakes. Don't forget to decorate your envelope as well -- I don't show that here but I always believe in "no naked envelopes."

Christmas Card Time

I've been a slow blogger lately because of several Christmas card classes that have kept me very busy. This is one of the cards we made at class. It  features the Wandering Words set from the SU Holiday Mini Catalog. I love this set because there's a stamp for fall holidays, this one for Christmas and then another for Valentine's day. Each image features a pretty saying and graphic image and of course with omitting you could ink up just parts of each image as well and use them that way.

When designing this card I knew I wanted to use the 1 inch wide strip of Christmas Cocoa Designer series paper -- the white areas on that strip are flocked and it's such a pretty look. I also wanted a unique way to attach the ribbon accent that you see in the corner of the white strip.

I decided to use a Chocolate Chip 5/16" Jumbo Brad and the legs go right through one of the holes created using the Eyelet Border Punch. Here's a close up look at how the snippet of Mistletoe white and red stitched ribbon is simply pinched between the legs of the brad -- an efficient way to add the ribbon without creating the bulk of a large knot that would make it difficult to mail.

I'll be showing the other 3 cards from the class this week so check back and if you need any supplies just click the Online Ordering button.

Pop-Up Gift Card Holder

The Look Here Pop Up die for the Big Shot die cutting system is one of the easiest pop up dies we sell. Once you make one it's really pretty easy and it's a very useful die for giving someone a gift card in a creative way. Gift cards are very much appreciated by the recipient -- but can seem impersonal so I like to dress them up when I can with a nice presentation.

This pretty white card is the elegantly sophisticated home for a surprise inside. First a version where I just dressed up one of the die cut's built-in arrows by covering it with a stamped and punched out Ornament using the great stamp set and matching punch from the Holiday Mini Catalog.

The die cut has a peek-a-boo cutout in the back so before adhering it to the inside top panel of the card, I attached a piece of the beautiful and very touchable red and white flocked designer paper called Christmas Cocoa Specialty paper from the Holiday Mini. Then here's a stepped up version with a few more stamped and punched out images dressing up the inside.

This die comes with directions and here's a tip that makes it so much easier: once you have your pop up insert ready to attach to the inside of your card, just attach the parts that adhere to the top panel of the card. Only put adhesive on those parts first -- none on the bottom section. Once you've attached the top section above the center fold, fold up the pop up part (you're folding the bottom panel over the top -- then add adhesive to the bottom panel and to attach it just close your card and it will stick where it's supposed to. Hope that makes sense.

Happy gift card giving -- and wouldn't you like to receive a gift card good for more stamping goodies? I do have gift cards available for purchase that are redeemable from me for Stampin' Up merchandise so be sure to let your friends and family know how they can get in touch with me to get you one for Christmas! Just send a note to my email link.

Falling Leaves Peek-a-boo Window Card

I wish it would start to feel like fall here in Florida -- 90 degree days are definitely not fall like! I love making fall cards and this design is one I really like for any small stamp that will fit through the peek-a-boo window made with punches.

Start by layering your mat onto the front of your card (in this case my mat is the 4" by 5 & 1/4" piece of Soft Suede Card Stock.) But don't attach it permanently yet -- just line it up with the vanilla card front so that a small border of the vanilla is showing just the way you want when it's finished. You can use a temporary adhesive such as Dotto to hold this if you'd like. Then punch through both layers -- the mat and the caard while they're held together -- with the 1 & 3/8 inch Square Punch from Stampin' Up. Now take off the Soft Suede layer and stamp on it. You could of course stamp before punching but I like to know where the window will be as I place my leaves. I used Versamark ink and stamps from the Falling Leaves set, plus some splatter courtesy of tried and true set Itty Bitty Backgrounds.

For the little border that shows through the punch window, I punched a window in a scrap of Crushed Curry card stock with the 1 & 1/4" Square Punch. Attach this in between the Soft Suede mat and the Vanilla card, adjusting it so that a border shows evenly from the outside and when you open the card. It's a nice little detail touch that adds to the look of the card.

I use the window in these as a way to tie a bow or in this case linen thread around the card front and through the window. You have lots of options for this stage. You can tie it around just the mat layer; the mat layer after the Curry window accent's been attached (that's what I did here but I also really like it not wrapped around the Curry layer so you have more color showing); or around the whole card and mat once they're attached.

The Gratitude greeting is from the same set and was stamped in Soft Suede on Dusty Durango and then punched out with the Modern Label punch. I stamp right through the window to stamp the little Happy Thanksgiving circle greeting. The stamp blocks happen to be 1 & 1/4" for many of the small stamps so if your stamp is centered on the block then it's very easy to just line up the block with the window and stamp right through the window on the inside of the card. When adding an additional greeting like the one here, be sure it's low enough that it does not show through the window when the card is closed.

Happy fall y'all!

Guest Stamper - Asian Artistry

I can't believe it's been a week since I found time to write up a new post. I had some fun Big Shot idea classes this week and was so busy. Once I get those things photographed, I will share what we made. For now here is a card from guest stamper Grace Benjamin who's part of our 3-2-1 Stamp team. Grace sent me this card recently and I just loved how beautiful it is. She told me she CASEd it -- that stands for "Copy And Share Everything" in the world of Stampin' Up demonstrators because we love to share ideas with each other.

It's made with the Level 2 Hostess Set called Asian Artistry -- you can earn this set free with a $300 workshop or customer order. I love the detail of the vase. It was made by punching out a 1 3/4" circle from Rich Razzleberry card stock, trimming a little from the top and bottom and then adding a gold embossed leaf accent. The tone-on-tone sponging along the edges of the circle also add depth and make it really look like a rounded vase. Such pretty watercoloring on the main image!

Also wanted to welcome 3-2-1 Stamp team member Mickey Roberts to the blogging world! You can check out Mickey's blog here -- her work is beautiful and she's very excited to be sharing online.

Thanks Grace and thanks to you for stopping by my blog today!

Collage Style Cards and Scrapbooking

 I've always loved the collage style of stamping. It's a technique that ebbs and flows in popularity but is always a go-to style when I want to play around in a more artistic way. And a great idea shared at SU convention got me thinking about all the fun you can have using some of Stampin' Up's great background stamps as part of your collage -- especially the ones that are essentially a collage of words.

The projects shared in this post were among the things we made at my August stamp and scrapbooking clubs. The card uses the Gratuitous Graffitti background stamp and I used a sponge dauber and Soft Suede ink to ink up just the word "Gratitude" -- fading the ink out on the images that surround that word on the large stamp. The multi-color images around the greeting are all from the new Extreme Elements set -- a must-have set for me. Those images were all "second generation" -- meaning I inked them up then stamped ink off on scrap paper first before adding them around Gratitude. The panel has been spritzed with a Soft Suede marker using the Color Spritzer tool (item #107066 -- love this for speckles!). The card itself is Dusty Durango with a Soft Suede accent strip -- and this card was essentially a copy of the one showed off at convention.

Here's a close up so you can see one more little touch that really makes the card a beauty -- the G is stamped a second time, cut out and then popped up right over the one on the card.

On this 6" square scrapbook page, I took that collage idea and used the Tres Chic background stamp and the Medallion stamp. First, I stamped the Medallion in white craft ink on Bordering Blue card stock. I heat set that with a heat tool. Then I used a Bordering Blue Craft ink spot (pigment ink) to add color to just a section of the Tres Chic stamp. BEFORE stamping it, I used a sponge dauber and Night of Navy craft ink to highlight a few words so they would stand out as my subtle page title. TIP: On the large background stamps I use the inked stamp with the wood side lying on the table, rubber side up and just place the paper face down over the ink -- much easier than trying to stamp with that large stamp the traditional way. The page is accented with a white Jumbo Grommet and white photo mat with an Eyelet punched edge, dressed up with Night of Navy grosgrain ribbon.

Check out this version! Same stamp -- same process -- but this time I inked up a different section that would make a perfect header for a page about my creative pursuits (important to scrapbook about yourself and what's important to you!) That Navy flourish is an image from Extreme Elements again -- such a perfect set for all different styles of stamping. There are images that can look like everything from extreme sports dirt splatters -- to elegant accents. It's all in the context.

Happy stamping!