GraniteStateStamper - Michelle Ide, Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, Laconia, NH

Chocolate Chip Teddy Bear

Today's Technique Challenge was to use only browns and vanilla to create a card. I knew that I was going to use this teddy bear from the new Bundle of Joy stamp set and when I sat down this card just came together first try! Got to love it when that happens.

To get the dark ring around the vanilla layer I took the image and rolled the edge on the Chocolate Chip ink pad. When I got this all done it looked a little plain so I used the white gel pen to create the faux stitching and when it was dry I colored over it with the Creamy Caramel marker.

All Supplies Stampin' Up!®        Paper : Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Very Vanilla            Stamps  :  Bundle of Joy, All Year Cheer I   Inks  :  Timber Brown  StazOn™, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa     Accessories  : Aquapainter, non SU!  Ribbon, Corner Rounder, Creamy Caramel Marker, Coluzzle, White Gel Pen, Dimensionals, Stamp-a-ma-jig

March Stamp Club Class

This months Stamp Club Class is tonight so I've been designing cards today for it. I know that I shouldn't wait until the last minute but I just seem to work best under pressure. I've come up with 10 or so cards this past week but I wasn't happy with any of them so bright and early this morning I headed down and came up with these three. 

I really like this one except for the "happy" tag. This is the first time that I've used a sentiment tab on a card and I'm just not sure about it. The flowers are water colored on Glossy card stock. I saw on the Occasional Stamper where Kim uses it to water color on all the time and just had to try it. I really like the results - the paper doesn't absorb the ink too quickly and it allows you to add more for shading without the paper tearing.  

This is definitely my least favorite of the three. I wanted to use the colors from the cover of the March Stamper's Showcase but I didn't have enough of the Ruby Red to make is the main color so instead of giving up and starting over with new colors this is what I came up with. Hopefully they like it.

This is my most favorite. When I first saw this set in the Spring Mini I knew that it would be mine. My favorite stamping technique is water coloring and this is perfect for it. It was lacking a little something when I was done so I added the little bits of ribbon and the gold brad. I will be making more of this one.

Card #1:     Paper : Tempting Turquoise, Glossy White,  Old Olive, Petals & Paisleys DP and So Saffron   Stamps  :  Polka Dots & Paisley     Inks  :  Black StazOn™, Tempting Turquoise, Regal Rose, So Saffron   Accessories  : Aquapainter, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Black Journal Marker, Tempting Turquoise Marker, Rose Red Marker, Turquoise Grosgrain Ribbon, Corner Rounder

Card #2:     Paper : Buckaroo Blue, Ruby Red, Mellow Moss, Sahara Sand and Confetti White      Stamps  :    You Make Me Happy, It's Your Birthday (inside)     Inks  :   Buckaroo Blue, Ruby Red, Mellow Moss, Sahara Sand   Accessories  :  Dimensionals, Ticket Corner Punch, Large Oval Punch, Paper Snips, White Gel Pen, Stamp-a-ma-jig
Card #3:     Paper : Close to Cocoa, Barely Banana, Confetti White       Stamps  :  Bundle of Joy, Warmest Regards      Inks  :  Timber Brown  StazOn™, So Saffron, Close to Cocoa   Accessories  : Aquapainter, Taupe Grosgrain Ribbon, Corner Rounder, Watercolor Crayons (Close to Cocoa and Barely Banana), Horizontal Slot Punch, White Gel Pen, Dimensionals, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Gold Brads

Lunchbox Tin Class

I finally did it!  I've had these lunch box tins for almost a year and I finally used them for a class. You can cover an entire tin with 1 - 12" x 12" sheet of designer paper, including the top and the tags for the inside dividers. We used the new Petals and Paisley Designer Series Paper, the Petals Jumbo Wheel and the new Round Tab Punch all from the Spring Mini Catalog. I struggled on how to make the dividers sturdy enough and finally had a light bulb moment and used poster board. I cut the poster board to 6¼" x 4¼", then matted a piece of Old Olive (6" x 4") to them and then, using the new Petals Jumbo Wheel, I stamped the front and back of each one with Old Olive ink. I attached the tag to the top edge of each but haven't labeled them yet. I'm not sure what categories I want on them. I ordered an acrylic template for the tins online and used it to cut the paper for the top. It was a little big but by cutting it down by about an 1/8" if fit perfectly. Everyone loved them!! I charged $15, had 6 people come and they finished in about 1½ hours.

How many challenges are too many for one card?

This card combines three of the weekly challenges from Splitcoast: TLC106 (frayed ribbon), CC104 (So Saffron, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery and Chocolate Chip) and SC114 (the sketch challenge). The hardest part was using the frayed ribbon. To do this you have to take a length of ribbon and trim off one of the edges and then pull the threads out of the middle. We were supposed to use the threads but after a few attempts of using them my stamp table was covered with ribbon fluff that's from 1/2" to 3" long and it was stuck to everything. So, I ended up using the piece of ribbon that was left over from the fraying process. It is wrapped around the image like a frame. I stamped one of the flowers on the square piece and then cut another one out and attached it with a dimensional. I then attached the center piece with another dimensional so the flower is very 3-D. I wish that I had make the celery piece narrower but overall I like what I came up with.

February Stamp Club Cards

I wasn't able to pre-order anything from the Spring Mini last month but was able to put in a HUGE order from it this morning, almost everything from the catalog - lol!! I am going to be mounting stamp sets for the next month!! I remembered that I do have the Polka Dots & Paisley set so I used that and the Color Combination Challenge and the Sketch Challenge from SCS to stamp a couple of cards.

This is the second card that I came up with and it is my favorite of the two. The colors are Cool Caribbean, Certainly Celery and Elegant Eggplant (looks like black) and I stamped the base card with Paisley background in Cool Caribbean. You can't see it well in the scan and in real life it is very subtle. I wanted to add ribbon somewhere on one of the cards but I couldn't decide where so I just left it off. This is the first card and I wasn't sure about it. I also used the Monday's challenge (Try a New Technique) which was "Blurred Vision". I used markers to color the flower image and after I stamped it I used my aquapainter to pull the different colors out to almost frame the image. I really like how it worked. When I first saw this set, other than the giant Paisley image, I wasn't really liking it but now that I've finally inked it up - I guess it can stay.

I had a Stamping Club Class this past Saturday and needed to come up with a couple of cards using a SAB set. This one is very simple. The girls in my club range from first time stampers to seasoned pro's so I'm always challenged to come up with cards that they all like. They said this was the favorite of the day because of the simplicity of it. I really like how the basic black cardstock make the image pop off the card. The other colors are More Mustard and Old Olive. The base is stamped with the Linen background stamp in More Mustard and then I used the swirly image from Delight in Life to frame the main image. This was inspired by Kim MacNutt. Hers was one of the first website that I found when I started stamping and her creativity and style has influenced my own stamping so much.

I've been seeing so many cards with the giant scalloped punch and I love the way it looks but I try to only buy Stampin' Up products that I can demo so I created the Tempting Turquoise layer using the slit punch and the coluzzle. By sheer dumb luck I cut it out the exact right size so the scallops spaced out perfectly. Woo Hoo!!! Got to love when that happens. Now, back to stamping!!