Granite State Stamper

Dreaming of Summer . . .

. . . or at least spring!! 

I can tolerate, and even enjoy a little, winter up until Christmas.  I'm so busy planning and shopping and a little bit of snow really puts me in the holiday mood.  So it's all good.

But I've had enough and am now counting down the days (or months really) until I can go to the beach.  A nice balmy 90°F each and every day of the year and I would be a happy girl.

So here I am in my stamping room (at a not-so-balmy 65°F) dreaming of a day in the oh so distant future when I can go and sit at the beach with a good book and some nice cold diet coke.

This card is done with the stamp set Time Well Spent and using the Crayon Resist technique and I love how it turned out.  The colors are Lovely Lilac, Tempting Turquoise and just a little bit of Green Galore.  It's hard to see where I used the crayon resist so here is a close up of one the butterflies.  Very subtle but just enough I think.

This card is from a class that I held at the beginning of the month were we used one stamp set to create three totally different projects.  The versatility of Stampin' Up! sets is amazing. 

Here's are the other two projects. 

The love card is done using the retired stamp sets Headline Alphabet and the colors Red and Black.

The chocolate filled (or half filled as the case may be) bottle is done using the new 2007/2008 In Colors.  The saying is perfect, "Too much of a good thing is a GOOD THING".

I'd love to hear what you love about Stampin' Up!  Leave a comment and you just might get a surprise.

Have a wonderful day and happy stamping!

~ Michelle

Floral Cards and criminal behaviour . . . .

When I sit down to create a card, whether it's for a class or for personal use, I always gravitate towards my floral stamp sets.  You might think this is logical since I am a female but in my non-stamping life (NSL) florals are really not my thing. 

I was never one of those little girls who didn't like to get dirty and just loved to dress up.  You would be more likely to find me at the top of a tree reading a book (yes at the same time) than **should this be then or than?** you would playing house or picking flowers or any of that  stuff.

Well, I did pick flowers sometimes, but only Lady Slippers.  I don't know if it is really true or not, but I was told that it was against the law to pick them so I took it upon myself to pick every one that I saw.  Then I would be panicky for the next day or so just waiting for the local police to come and get me.  (You can see what kind of child I was huh?)  BTW, I have reformed from this behavior so the Lady Slippers in and around the Lakes Region area of NH are once again safe!

So I just don't know where my absolute love of floral cards come from but here is my latest.

I created this using the Faux Silk technique and absolutely love how it turned out.  It is so soft and purpley (something else I don't really like in my NSL) and the faux silk area is so soft and faux silky that it is hard to believe it is just tissue paper.

The base of the card is Pale Plum with Perfect Plum and Barely Banana layers on it and the flower images were colored in using my Pale Plum, Barely Banana and Mellow Moss markers.

If you would like to see step by step photo instructions on how to create this card just sign up for my email address and make sure to check the box to receive my "Project of the Month" email and then leave a comment letting me know you'd like to receive the one for this card.

Have a great day and happy stamping!!
~Michelle

Stampin' Up! Gives Away 85 Cruises!!

Shelli, co-founder of Stampin' Up!, surprised members of the Utah National Guard with a special gift--a cruise to Bermuda! 85 members of the Utah National Guard and their guests will be joining many of our Stampin' Up! demonstrators on our annual cruise this year, as a thank you for the service they render to our country.

For more information check out these two stories.

Utah company surprises National Guard members with cruise

National Guard Members get Free Cruise

Secret Garden Coaster Album

Here is a coaster album that I made using the Simply Scrappin' kit ~ Secret Garden.  I know that it is retired now but you can easily substituted it with the new Rose Cottage Simply Scrappin' kit.

These are very easy to put together. For this album I used my Bind-It-All with the 3/4" coils and 7 coasters. 

The first thing that I did was to used my Always Artichoke marker and color all four of the edges of each 4" medium weight coaster.  When you do this make sure to color over the edge and onto the top and bottom of each coaster about 1/8".  This will ensure that no white peaks out from under the DP.

  For the cover I used Always Artichoke textured card stock cut at 3 7/8" x 3 7/8" layered with a piece of 3½" x 3½" DP that I used the ticket corner punch on.  LOVE is from the stamp set So Many Sayings (level 1 hostess set from 2007 Fall~Winter Collection) and was stamped with Always Artichoke ink onto Groovy Guava textured card stock and then punched out with the large oval punch.  The oval was distressed by dragging it across the Always Artichoke ink pad and then attached to the front with an oval frame from the Pewter Hodge Podge Hardware kit.  The ribbon is Always Artichoke ¼" Grosgrain and Whisper White Taffeta that I dyed using my Groovy Guava re-inker.

Here are photos of the inside pages and of the back cover.  They are pretty straight forward as I wanted the photos to be the main focus.

                              

If you would like to create a coaster album similar to this one sign up for my monthly newsletter (in the left column) and I'll let you know when the next class is, I hold several classes each month in my Laconia, NH home.

Do you want to attend one of my stamping classes, but you can’t make it because you are busy or you live too far away?  Purchase one of my class kits.  Each kit contains all supplies, dimensions for all projects, step by step directions, color photos of each step and any template that was used.

Have a wonderful day and keep stamping!

~ Michelle

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