Shades of Orange

On the weekend I did my annual Stamp-A-Rama with my downline.  This is a fun event where we get together and stamp, stamp, stamp...15 projects in total!  Over the next little while, I'm going to share what they made.

The first is a fabulous card featuring Tangerine Tango, Poppy Parade and Peach Parfait.  I was inspired by a card on Me, My Stamps & I.

We started with a Chocolate Chip base and the layered some Tangerine Tango and Crumb Cake.  The tree is from "Season of Friendship" and was stamped with Chocolate Chip & Old Olive craft ink.  The flowers are one of the flowers from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack.  The centers of the flowers were done with a white gel pen.  And, the card was finished off with some Linen Thread and a Mini Vintage Tag (the Hello is from the Tag set).

I think this was one of my favorite cards from the Stamp-A-Rama!

Have an inspired day!

Fast & Textured

I'm loving the new In Colors!  Here's one of the cards I've been working on for my downline Stamp-A-Rama.

Isn't it fabulous!  I used 3 of the new In Colors, Pear Pizzaz, Concord Crush and Blushng Bride, for the background.  The texture was done with my Big Shot and the new Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder.  This embossing folder creates such a deep impression.

Around the middle of the card is a piece of the 1/8" Taffeta in Early Espresso.  The main stamped image is from the new Level Two hostess set, Fast & Fabulous which is a great two-step floral set.  I love it!  I stamped the pink first with Blushing Bride, followed by the outline in Early Espresso.  It was nice, but was lacking something, so I did a little coloring with my Pear Pizzaz marker to fill in the leaves and stem.  The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes (a MUST HAVE for anybody's stamp collection!) and was stamped with Early Espresso on Crumb Cake.  I punched it out with the Word Window Punch and mounted it on a punched Modern Label punched piece.

We have 5 new In Colors to play with...Pear Pizzaz, Blushing Bride, Concord Crush, Poppy Parade & Peach Parfait.  You can purchase Classic Ink, cardstock, markers and ribbon in these colors.  This morning I mentioned an In Color special.  Well, here it is!

For the month of July, when you purchase the new In Color Kit (120952), I will throw in 1 yard of each of the In Color 1/2"  Poly-Stitched Ribbons absolutely FREE!  The In Color Kit inlcudes 20 sheets of smooth cardstock (4 of each of the 5 colors) and an ink pad in each of the In Colors and is $36.95.

Contact me today to place your order so you can start playing with these fabulous new In Colors!

Happy Stampin' and have an inspired day!

It's Here!

The much anticipated arrival of the new catalogue has happened!  I'm so excited for this catalogue...it's FULL of fantastic new stamps, color and accessories to play with!  There's a couple items that are not available yet...

Watercolor Crayons

Stampin' Pastels

Rub Ons

Punch Caddies

All of these items will be available soon, but in the mean time there's 224 pages of STUFF for you to drool over and order to play with!

With the Color Renovation and such a HUGE change in the colors this year, Stampin' Up! is offering kits for you.  Check out the button on the right side...click on it and you will get all the details.  You can place your orders for these kits through me or my website.  If you choose to order through my website, please remember to select me as your demonstrator to receive preferred pricing.

If you have not yet received your catalogue contact me and I can get one to you!  If you would like to join my Catalogue Club (more info on the Specials Page) please let me know and I can get you a beautiful coil-bound catalogue with some great coupons to use throughout the year.

I've been busy stampin' up a storm getting ready for my Stamp-A-Rama with my downline tomorrow, so I will start sharing those projects tomorrow with you.  And, I will be back later today with a fabulous, limited time In Color Special.

Rubber hugs,

Feeling Patriotic

Hello!  It's almost Canada Day.  The kids are looking forward to going to the fireworks and I'm looking forward to a day off!  *wink*  When Taylor was little he asked what Canada Day was and we told him that it's the day we celbrate Canada's birthday.  Ever since then, he sings Happy Birthday to Canada every year on Canada Day...and he has taught his brothers this too, so they all sing.  It's cute!

Anyway, today I'm going to share the latest Mantle Message I did.

I can't believe how many designs I tried before I settled on this one!  It's pretty simple, but perfect for Canada Day.  Like the rest of my Mante Messages, it's done on square coasters.  I alternated stamped white and plain red squares, and all of them have been sponged with Real Red ink on the edges.  The letters were done with Basic Black and cut with my beloved Big Shot.  The squares are joined together with Double Stitched Real Red Ribbon...get it while you can people.  As of July 1, there will be no more Double Stitched Ribbon in the catalogue!  Here's a closer look at the letters.

That's all for today! Happy Stampin' and have an inspired day!

Potted Plant Gift Box Tutorial

As promised, here is the Potted Plant Gift Box Tutorial!

To complete this project you will need 3 sheets of 12x12 cardstock.  Cut one of the sheets in half so you have 2 6x12 pieces.  Score these two pieces at 2 1/2 inches from the top (so that you have a section along the top of each piece that is 2 1/2 x 6).

Cut one of the 12x12 pieces down to 11 7/8 x 11 7/8.  Score the 12x12 piece and the 11 7/8 x 11 7/8 piece at 3 inches on all four sides.

Make sure you keep track of which piece is which!  Next you'll want to make an X in the middle of the 11 7/8 x 11 7/8 piece.  The X in the picture below is really, really faint, but it's there...click on the picture to make it larger and you'll be able to see the X!

The X is important so you know where the center is, because the next step is to cut a 4 inch circle out of the middle of it.  I chose to cut a 4 inch circle, becuase the plant I had was 4 1/4 inches in diameter.

Get out your scissors, becuase you need to make a few small cuts.  You want to cut along the score lines, from the edge of the cardstock to where the horizontal and vertical score lines intersect.  You want to do this on two sides...two opposite sides!

Lets make this look like a box now!  Crease all the score lines with a bone folder so you have a nice square box when you're done.  Then put glue on the square portions, fold up the sides and stick the glue to the rectangles bewteen the squares (on the sides where you made the cuts).  Hmmm, that totally made sense in my head, but didn't really translate into words very well...here's a picture to help with that explanation!

You want to do this step with both the piece with the circle cut out and the one without the circle.  Now that they're both boxes, one will fit into the other like this...

And, now it's time to bring back those two 6x12 pieces!  You want to put glue on one of the sides of the box and attach one of the 6x12 pieces to it (so that the scored area is at the top).  Do this for both pieces, attaching them to oppostie sides of the box.

Punch a handle (I used the Wide Oval punch in my original design) in each of the scored sections.  Bring them together and tie with a ribbon.  This is what it should look like when you bring the tops together.

That's it!  These are super easy and you can embellish to fit any occasion.  You could also omit the box with the hole and just fill the bottom with baking, candy or some other fabulous gift.  Check out the embellished ones I did here.

Let me know if you have any questions and if you make one be sure to link to it in the comments so I can see!

Have an inspired day!