creativestampingwithjan

What Can You Do with an Embosslit Die -- Make a Simple Flower?

I don't see anything Simple about this Flower, but that is what Stampin' Up! calls this Embosslit Die cut flower (Simple Flower).  Look how gorgeous small flower is when it is die cut from Stampin' Up's textured Parisian Breeze Specialty Paper!  And with the addition of a 5/8" Chocolate Chip brad and two buttons from our Button Bouquet, and wow!

 

And if this isn't cute enough, the flowers pull up to reveal the message area of the card (which is really hidden inside the flower pot).  Want the pattern along with enough paper to make one card?  I have kits available for only $5. 

 

Would you like to hostess a party with your friends and make this card and two other spring projects?  Just let me know when!  Having a stamping party is fun, safe, enjoyable way to spend an evening with your friends.  Or would you like to gather $150 in orders from your stamping friends and place an on-line order?  Just book a party during the month of May or place a $150 on-line order, and I will DOUBLE your hostess gifts.  For example, earn hostess benefits of $20, I'll make it $40!  Earn a Level 2 stamp set, I'll up your hostess sets to 2 Level 2 sets!!  This will only be through of May 2!  Are you interested now?  Email me to set up a party@ jan@creativestampingwithjan.com or place your on-line order by May 2.

WEEK 3 BLOG CANDY WINNER!!

This week I have drawn the Susan Jolliff's name as the winner of the blog candy!!  Susan, you will receive the three cards featured last week, which are the two Manhattan Floral cards and the pink quilted card!  How about that?  I will mail them to you.

Keep your comments coming on my posts, and I will keep giving the cards samples away.  Thanks for all of your comments, that keeps me going!

Who Wouldn't Want to Receive this Card of Thanks?

If I had received this card, the first thing I would notice about it would be the wonderful water-colored flower in different shades of blue.  That technique is accomplished by first embossing the main rose design from the Fifth Avenue Floral Stamp Set with clear embossing powder.  Then a new technique I just learned was used for the water-coloring.  Wow, this flower pops off the page!
Doesn't this turn out gorgeous.  No two of these flowers turn out the same.  Each is unique. 

The class participants at tonight's Fifth Avenue Floral Class will learn this technique from me.  If you would like to learn to make these beautiful roses, as well as make four other projects, just contact me to teach a private class at your house, with your friends! 

Happy Stamping,
Jan

Manhattan Flower Style

Look at these gorgeous Kraft Corduroy Buttons!  Stampin' Up! has a whole line of new buttons that many of you got to sample through the Embellishment Club.  Just put a little piece of linen thread through the holes in these buttons and tie a knot--wow the buttons make this card pop! 

 

These colors look fantastic together--Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss and Going Gray--that's what I used to stamp the Whisper White cardstock for the main image.  This color scheme matches the Urban Oasis designer series paper, and I have used a piece from that paper package for the bottom portion of the front of this card.  Don't you just love how Stampin' Up's offers us so many products that go together (and it's all right in front of us, without driving all over to find matching products)?

This is one of our projects at the Fifth Avenue Floral Card Class this Friday night at my house.  We will be making 4 cards and a great gift box with a new Window Sheet opening (to see what's inside the box).  That will serve as a carrier for the cards or will be a great gift box.  The gift box also has corduroy buttons adorning it!

I do have kits available with full-color directions for these four cards and gift box for $25, which includes shipping. Contact me by email if you are interested in a kit or two: jan@creativestampingwithjan.com.

ANNOUNCING WEEK 3 BLOG CANDY WINNER...

Lavon Gill!!  To my good friend Lavon, you are the winner of "Kirsten's birthday card" which is the cupcake card, and the Mother's Day card from last week's blog posts.  You will receive these in the mail!

Thanks, Lavon, for posting all of your sweet comments!  Remember, each time you post a comment to me about one of my blog posts, your name goes into my basket for "Blog Candy".  The "Blog Candy" to be won is the cards I post each week.  You will see the little gray word "Comments" below each post on my blog, and that is where you click and leave your comment.  Make sure your name is in my basket this week, so maybe you will win the sample cards (the first of which is the pink quilted card).  Of my gals leaving comments for me, I pick one name out each Sunday.   So post comments often and be a winner!!  (This candy is good for your waistline!)

Sewing on Cardstock?

You probably won't guess that I have more things I am passionate about other than stamping (as I never talk of anything but that).  But I do have a love for sewing too.  I love to sew and until I began stamping and crafting with paper products, that was my main hobby.  My two youngest daughters both earned their Silver Awards through Girl Scouts this past weekend, and as I was sewing all of their awards and accomplishments onto their Girl Scout uniform sashes,  I started thinking about sewing on cardstock.  Here is what I came up with:

  

I started with Stampin' Up's 6" x 6" Designer Paper Sampler II (that is a Level 1 hostess gift, and you could earn this!) and used the Regal Rose designer paper from it.  I punched random squares with the 1-1/4" square punch.

  

On a 4" x 5" piece of Regal Rose cardstock, I began placing these squares at the left bottom corner and moved across the card, until I had 3 rows of 4 squares.  These are easily placed like a quilt pattern as each square has two sides of design patterns to choose from.  (This is a good way to use up scraps of your designer paper too!)

 

Next I used brown sewing thread on my sewing machine to zigzag stitch along the lines where the squares met.  It was so fast and easy!  I then used my Top Note Bigz die along with my Big Shot machine to cut out this quilted piece.

Isn't that adorable?  This piece with then layered  onto a 4" x 5-1/4" piece of Whisper White cardstock that had the bottom edge scalloped edge punched.  Those two layers were adhered to a Chocolate Chip card base.

The new Oval All Stamp Set and Scalloped Oval Punch (both from the Occasion Mini Catalog) were then used to prepare the embellishment on the front.  I used Chocolate Chip classic ink, my Regal Rose marker (to color the flowers), and Stampin' Dimensionals on the back.  I also sponged around the edges of the lacy piece and the quilted piece. 

(Don't for get about the free "Under $10 Page" item that is your for free with a $40 order from the Occasion Mini Catalog through the end of April.  The Oval All Stamp Set, Scalloped Oval Punch and a package of Walk in the Park paper is a nice bundle to get for that $40.)

My goodness, that was fun!  I loved making this card.  If you don't sew often, don't let this card intimidate you, this was very easy!

Think about the possibilities of this card--baby girl congrats, baby shower, a Mother's Day card, get well card, wedding shower card, etc.  Any more occasions you can think of, please let me know.

Ok, then I had seen some cards where the stitching was just drawn onto the card with a black marker (no real sewing involved), so I decided to try my hand at that.  This paper, again, is from the Print Patterns II 6" x 6" set, except this time I used the Brocade Blue patterned paper and card base:

 

See, these are just small "x"s that I made with the narrow end of the Basic Black marker.

Which is your favorite color and technique, and which card do you think would be more versatile?  Just change the greeting and have a multitude of uses!

Hope you enjoyed the directions I have shared with you.

Have You Made Your Mother's Day Cards Yet?

Here is a suggestion for a Mother's Day card idea.  My opinion is this--if you are going to give any cards, then you really need to give Mother's Day cards.  That is the one day of the year I don't think you should forget!  Mother's Day means a lot to me! 

Can you see the white embossed wording between the "I" and the "U".  It is the "Love" stamp from the Love You Much Valentine Day set. 

 

Here's that part a little closer.

 

If you need help or further directions to copy this card, just email me.  And don't forget to click on the gray "Comment" section below and get your name in my drawing to win this card.

Have a great Sunny Friday!

Jan

Happy Birthday, Kirsten!

My daughter Kirsten is turning 13 today!  I wanted to share her birthday card with you and let you see how cute this stamp set is!  She reads my website every day, so Happy Birthday to you, Kirsten!

Her birthday card is also a part of my on-line Crazy for Cupcake Class.  The gals in this class pre-purchased the Crazy for Cupcake stamp set and the Sweet Always designer paper, and are now receiving 8 weeks of ideas to use their stamp set and paper with, and the classes are all for free.

  
The cherries are topped with Crystal Effects and a tiny amount of Dazzling Diamonds on each one, for a little bit of bling, bling, and a very feminine touch to this card.

Let me know what you think of my daughter's birthday card, and your name could be drawn to win this sample!!

Another Stamping Extravaganza Event? Well, Of Course...

Of course we are having another Stamping Extravaganza Event.  With as much fun as we had at the first event, we have already started planning our next event to coincide with Stampin' Up!'s new  catalog scheduled to be released July 1st. 

Did you come to the "first ever of its kind" Stamping Extravaganza which was held on February 14 at Wesley United Methodist Church, in Mt. Vernon?  If you did, then you know how exciting it was.  What could be more fun than a room full of Stampin' Up! demonstrators and their customers enjoying conversation, ideas, a Workshop Wow DVD and free Make & Take's.  (Oh, yeh, there was chocolate too!)

     

If you have never been to a Stampin' Up! convention or regional event, I just want to say that this event we held was the the closest to that that you will find in our area, only it's FREE.  The convention and regionals involve a lot of travel time, expense and registration fees.  You will be getting technique classes, demonstrations by knowledgeable demonstrators and tons of Make & Takes for FREE.  Oh yes, don't forget the door prizes and special offers only available at that event.

  

Don't be confused about what to do, if you missed the first event, because...the second in our series of events is being planned as you read this! 

Red Hot Summer Stamping will be held July 24 and 25 in two locations!  One of our locations is sure to be near you.  This event will be bigger and better than the Stamping Extravaganza and will be held Friday, July 24, in West Frankfort, Illinois, from 4:00 - 8:00 p.m.  and then will be repeated Saturday, July 25, in Mt. Vernon, Illinois (at Wesley United Methodist Church) from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.  Mark your calendar now to be sure you can make it to this event!  There is nothing like it in Southern Illinois. 

There will be lots more information to come, so stay tuned.  I just wanted to make sure you knew early enough so you could make plans to attend one of the events closest to you (or both if you desire!).  You will need to RSVP as the time gets closer, so we know you are attending.  We had 65 girls at our first event, and we want to double that this time!  So tell your friends and family and anyone who loves to stamp and scrapbook to come to this fabulous event!

Any Weddings in Your Future?

Got any weddings coming up this spring or summer?  My daughter is getting married in May and I played with a few samples of goodies that she could use as favors at her wedding.  This is what I came up with.

The biggest design is a treat bag, maybe to hold a cello bag with Jordan almonds or a small gift.  I used my new Matchbox Die and my Big Shot to create the small box with the white ribbon.  It will hold four chocolate nuggests, which I will wrap in more designer paper.  The other three are for peppermint patties, and one even has a "diamond" rhinestone on the stamped ring.

This treat with the green wrapper sticking out is a Guiradelli chocolate square. 
All I did on this one was wrap a piece of the new Parisian Breeze Specialty paper (page 158) around the Guiradelli chocolate square, wrapped a piece of our silky orgrandy ribbon around and tied a knot, and then used the scalloped oval punch to create the tag.  The Parisian Breeze paper is a heavier weight that most designer papers, and it is textured for that rich look. 

There is a York peppermint patty inside this little treat below.  The stamp I used for all of these is one of Stampin' Up's Classic Two-Line special order stamps, on page 149.  I will probably use this like crazy and then give this stamp to my daughter after the wedding!  Won't these look adorable at the reception in a dish or at everyone's place setting at the dinner she is having.  She is going to let me know which ones she wants as decoration/treats.  I would just take a variety of each!!