The Wacky Watercooler April Blog Hop – Spring has Sprung

The Wacky Watercooler April Blog Hop – Spring has Sprung

If you have just visited Jackie's Blog weren't her projects awesome?  She always inspires me.  Tonight I have a technique class and I made my two projects to go along with the themes of this hop--Spring!

The first technique we are learning tonight is the Card in a Box.  Deb Valder's Stampladee is the website that I followed to make my card, she had very clear instructions and I really appreciated her help and incites. The bonus is that the card fits in a A2 envelope with extra postage.  I found that you had to make sure your flowers were inside the box while closed or it wouldn't fit in the envelope.

Fresh Prints Card in a Box

Recipe

Ink: Real Red and Coastal Cabana

Paper:  Fresh Prints DSP pack(Spring Catalog), Whisper White, Coastal Cabana and Crumb Cake Card Stock

Stamps:  Flower Shop, Petite Petals, Papillon Potpourri and Simply Sketched(Hostess)

Accessories:  Petite Petals Punch, Pansy Punch, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Bitty Butterfly Punch, Elegant Butterfly Punch, Big Shot, Little Leaves Sizzlit and Fringe Scissors

The next technique I have to show you is the No-Line Piercing Technique.  I saw beautiful cards using this technique on Beth Rush's Beth's Paper Cuts 

 

No-Line Piercing Happy Watercolor

Closeup of No-Line Piercing

Recipe

Ink: Gumball Green, Crisp Cantaloupe and Calypso Coral

Paper:  Watercolor Paper, Crisp Cantaloupe and Daffodil Delight Card Stock, Watercolor Wonder DSP

Stamp:  Happy Watercolor

Accessories:    Pin, Stampin' Pierce Mat, Aqua Painter, Summer Starfruit 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon and Decorative Label Punch

As always if you wish, scroll to the bottom of the page to see updates on my two granddaughters.  Next up, Deb Smart and enjoy the hop and come back and visit us next month!

 

 

 My husband Scott, is a bee keeper.  Last year he had twenty hives and this year his goal is thirty, so bees are a theme in our family.  So here are my little bees:

Corinne May - 15 months

Addison Grace - 20 months

Stampin' Llamas Fall-i-Days September Hop

Welcome to our Stampin' Llamas Fall-i-Days September Blog Hop!  My life has been so busy since our last hop visiting the newest granddaughter and my folks.  So many new toys and so little time to play.  I finally scrapbooked today with a friend and it had been over a month since the last time, and I am supposed to be retired, ha!

This Halloween card was made using the new Label Card Thinlit Die and it turned out too cute.  I used retired dsp and the sizzlet retired pumpkin also.  The Boo! is from retired Tiny Tags and punched out using the retired tag punch.  See the cute little Old Olive dot on the tag?  That is one of our new Candy Dots, just love them.

Technique class was last night and this card was made using the Clear Block Stamping Technique.  Just ink up one of our clear blocks and stamp, then stamp darker images over it.  The leaf images are from the Gently Falling set and the Pumpkin Pie Chevron was made using the new Chevron Border Punch from the Holiday Catalog.  The Thankful is actually cut using our new Expressions Thinlits Dies.  My husband thought I had died string brown and glued it down.

Once again I used the Expressions Thinlits Dies to make the Merry. This is the Sunburst Technique and I used our new dsp pack Winter Frost.

The snowflake on this spinner card was made using the Straw Blowing Technique.  In the center is a Frosted Finishes Embellishment and doesn't it really set it off?

One of my biggest challenges is making man cards.  Unfortunately, the camera did not pick up my colors well on this one, but the technique I used was the Magical Masking Tape Technique using the same colors that are in the Venetian Romance dsp.  Finished it off with the Chalk Talk Bundle (what a great buy)!
Well, that's all from me this time(PS: if you want to see the grands keep scrolling).  Go see what my other talented friends have made for us this time:

Kath R - http://kath-allthatscrap.blogspot.com/
You are here:  Debbie - http://cleverandcute.blogspot.com/
Jackie - http://jackotterstamp.blogspot.com/
Stephanie - http://www.pleasepassthesnail.blogspot.com/

Well, this is eight month old Corinne, and I just spent five days with her.  Her mom text me today that she started crawling, two days after they went home, too late for me to see, but what a great time we had.

Addison had her first birthday on the 19th!  You are right, her right eye has a shiner she fell the night before her birthday party and had a black eye for the party.  She started walking on the 27th, just growing up too fast.

Holiday Catalog Blog Hop

It has been over a month since I posted, boy does time fly when you are having fun, as in visiting your grandchildren(you can see new pics at the end of this post if you are interested).  My friends and I decided it was time to blog hop with new items from the holiday catalog. 

My first excitement in the catalog was the new White Stampin' Chalk Marker.  Blackboard stamping is the hot new in thing to do and this marker works great for personalizing your gifts this season.  I used the Artisan Label Punch to black card stock and used the White Stampin' Chalk Marker to make a border and add the name.  The large tag is made using Chalk Talk with Stazon and cut out with the coordinating framelit.  Don't you love gifting home made items, and this stamp set helps make them extra special.

Stampin' Up! had added some of last year's Christmas stamp sets to the list of available for purchase.  I was so happy to hear this since I loved the Ornament Keepsakes set and the coordinating framelits.

Also the Snowflake Soiree was extended.  This card was made using glossy card stock and stamping the snowflakes and sentiment in Versamark and then embossing with white embossing powder and heating.  Then I sponged Rich Razzleberry ink over the embossing, it makes such a lovely card, just love those snowflakes.

 Tonight at our Technique Class one of the techniques we will be learning is White Craft Ink Watercolor Technique and thanks go out to Patty Bennett for placing the instructions on her blog.
Didn't this card turn out to be too cute?  I used one of the flowers from the Flower Shop stamp set and stamped it with white craft ink.  Then using the Aqua Painter I filled in the petals with the white craft ink, then with Primrose petals, finishing the centers with Raspberry Ripple.I stamped the small leaf from Gently Falling with Gumball Green.  Finished it off with a sentiment from Blooming with Kindness which I cut out using the Hearts A Flutter Framelit die.  What a difference the new Big Shot Magnetic Platform is to using the Framlits, no more struggles with tape to keep the paper from moving, worth every cent!

Here is our hop lineup:

Kath - http://kath-allthatscrap.blogspot.com/
You are here - Debbie - http://cleverandcute.blogspot.com/ 
Jackie -http://jackotterstamp.blogspot.com/
Buffy - http://buffycooper.com/

Here are the promised pictures of my granddaughters.

Addison with her first sucker after shots.

Corinne with Grandpa Martin

Stampin' Llamas Summer Blog Hop

Welcome to our Summer Blog Hop!  First let me thank Stephanie for making our beautiful banner and buttons.  As you can tell, I haven't spent much time lately blogging.  But I have gotten to see both of my granddaughters in the last two months and have had to visit my mother since she fell again.  My customers think that I have disappeared off of the face of the earth, but I am still here and happy to be creating again.
My first card was one that I had copied off of the internet and we made this at our new catalog party.  Just love the new Washi Tape!

Best Friend Washi Tape

Recipe:

Stamp Set: Label Love

Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Whisper White and Melon Mambo Card Stock

Ink:  Melon Mambo

Accessories:  Gingham Garden Designer Washi Tape, Large Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Artisan Label Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, Small Oval Punch, Framed Tulips Embossing Folder, Big Shot

This card was so much fun to make.  I removed the Shop Around from the wheel and made it into a large stamp.  I used my favorite tool, the Stamp-a-ma-jig to help stamp this card straight.  The stamp set, Postage Collection is a Hostess only set, a great reason to have a Stampin' Up! party.

Shop Around Postage Collection

Recipe:

Stamps:  Shop Around and Postage Collection

Ink:  Soft Suede

Paper:  Crumb Cake Card Stock

Accessories:  Stamp-a-ma-jig

I have been selling my cards at the Carbondale Community Farmers Market and last Saturday, I noticed that the Sympathy cards were all gone.  On my flowers I used a technique with the Aqua Painter and Ink Refills.  It is time for me to dig out a new bottle of clear embossing powder, the dregs I had left did not melt right, so my technique did not work as well as I had planned, but I still like the end result.

Calypso Coral Flower Shop

 Recipe:

Stamp Set:  Flower Shop and Loving Thoughts

Ink:  Versamark, Calypso Coral Ink Refill and Stazon

Paper:  Calypso Coral and Shimmery White Card Stock and Epic Day This and That DSP

Accessories:  Embossing Buddy, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Pansy Punch, Aqua Painter, Ovals Collection Framelit, Big Shot, Big Shot Magnetic Platform(worth every cent to use with Framelits, it works great!)

Now for pics of my lovely granddaughters:

Corinne May(Five Months)

Addison Grace(Nine Months)

Thanks for visiting my blog.  Now on to the other Stampin' Llamas:

Spring-a-Bration February Blog Hop

Welcome to our February Blog Hop!  After waking up to the beautiful Hibiscus bloom yesterday morning, I felt that spring is really on it's way.  Isn't it beautiful and I managed not to kill it over winter.

Well, my son is a band instructor at a high school close to New Orleans and last week they marched in two Mardi Gras parades.  Here is my granddaughter dressed for the day.

And here is a Mardi Gras card inspired by her tshirt. 

I started by sponging on glossy cardstock the Retired Fleur De Lis from the Elegant Trio Stencil Set.  The mask I found on the following Pattern and I printed it to 50%, then placed it on our Champaign Glimmer Paper and cut it out.  I used the Bird Builder punch and punched out four wings to add feathers to the top of the mask.  First I sponged them with Gumball Green and Concord Crush inks before attaching them to the mask.  I dimensioned up the mask over the Fleur De Lis and the two nobs showed through the eye holes and they look like eyes, too funny.

The next two cards are from my Technique Class last week.  First we learned the Tie Dye Technique and made St. Patrick's Day cards using it.

First take a light ink with a sponge in a circular motion on a sheet of white cardstock. Then do the same thing with a medium color ink on top of the large light and lastly add a small circle of dark color ink. Then take a Stampin' Up! Aqua Painter and lightly draw a circle where the colors meet, then a fine mist of water.  Heat with heat gun to dry. This creates the tie dye look.

 

The next technique we learned is the Stampin' Mist Technique using the Pleasant Poppies Background Stamp.  I love how versatile this stamp is. 

 

On White card stock, sponge and ink and just rub it on your paper. After filling the paper with ink, you take your stamp and place Versamark on it, then mist it with Stampin' Mist cleaner. Then stamp it on your paper! It is almost like a bleaching technique.

Before you leave here is a picture of my newest granddaughter, Corinne.  She is seven weeks old today.

Visit our hop next month again, thanks for dropping by today.

 

 

 

Spring-a-Bration Blog Hop

Welcome to our Spring-a-Bration Blog Hop!  You must have been in awe with Stephanie's Blog, she creates all of our banners and does such a wonderful job.  So much has happened in my life since our last hop.  I am now a grandma to two beautiful little girls.  Pictures at the end of the blog if you are interested.  I have finally gotten to play with my new stamps.  I will be posting more in the future, I am really inspired by our new Stampin' Up! products.

My son-in-law, Andrew asked me to stay with them for two weeks after the baby was born to help out.  What a wonderful gift it was to see her changing daily.  I just heard yesterday that he received a bonus at his work because he put in some many extra hours the last year.  One of his favorite shows is Dr. Who and I was so excited to see an English Police Box in the sale-a-bration catalog as part of the Feeling Sentimental Stamp Set, and the best part is that I got it for FREE!  So I added a light to the top of the police box to make it look like the tardis from Dr. Who. Hope he loves his card and realizes how proud we are of him.

Tardis Feeling Sentimental

I must admit that I had a terrible time this week with getting my stamping juices flowing.  It had almost been a month since I had stamped.  So I went in search of some challenges to help get me going. The color challenge #118 is from:  Utah Divas International.

 And the sketch Friday Sketch #011813 over at Paper Craft Planet.

Recipe:

Stamps:  Feeling Sentimental(SAB), Carry On(Hostess), Collage Curios(Spring)

Paper:  Pool Party, River Rock and Very Vanilla Cardstock

Ink:  Soft Suede, Versamark

Accessories: Honeycomb Textured Impressions Embossing Folder(Spring), Pool Party Embossing Powder(Spring), Island Indigo and So Saffron Many Marvelous Markers

When my ladies first saw the Spring Catalog they were so excited to have the Sizzlits Die Pinwheel.  I wasn't as interested in it until I started seeing other demonstrators making very cute cards with it.  The next card uses it and the Wishes Your Way stamp set.  I used a reinker and the aqua painter to die the doily the color I desired.

Windy Wishes

 
 
The color challenge was from Fab Friday #10:

And the sketch challenge is from Freshly Made Sketches #70:

Recipe:

Stamps:  Wishes Your Way

Paper:  Very Vanilla and Pool Party Card Stock, Print Poetry Designer Series Paper Stack(Spring), Tea for Two DSP(Spring)

Ink: Versamark, Pool Party

Accessories:  Sizzlits Die Pinwheel, Cloudy Day Textured Impressions Embossing Folder(Spring), Tea Lace Paper Doilies(Spring), Pink Piroutte Reinker, Ovals Collection Framelit Dies(Spring), 1/8" Mini Brad, Aqua Painter

Well, my new granddaughter's name is Corinne May.  Here is a picture I took of her last week:

And here is one of Addison when she came home for a visit at Christmas.  She is wearing the cute hat I bought her at the Apple Festival.

Come back and see us next month for another hop.  Have a good month and don't forget about sale-a-bration!