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

I know that it's a shock . . .

to see yet another card made with the Upsy Daisy stamp set.   What do you think of it?

One thing that I love about Stampin' Up! is the quality of the products that they have in each catalog.  It's so easy to fall into the habit of using the same product over and over again.  Each time I sit down to create a card I reach for my Whisper White card stock to stamp the main image on.  Well, no more.  I decided that I needed to break out and use something different with this card so I said NO to the Whisper White (that was calling my name) and went with . . . . . . . . . Glossy White instead! 

I know that you're all full of awe and thinking, "WOW!! Michelle, you are so daring!"  LOL  Actually you're probably thinking big, hairy deal.  That's hardly a difference at all, right?  Well it really is.   There are so many techniques you can do with the Glossy White that just will not work with the Whisper White and here is one of them.

For the main image I inked up my brayer with Baja Breeze and then ran it back and forth over my Glossy White starting at the top edge and working my way to the bottom until it was totally covered with varying shades of the ink.  Then I inked one end of my brayer with Red Riding Hood and, again starting at the top edge of the cardstock, rolled it back and forth and back and forth until I was happy with the colors.  As you can see I didn't cover the Baja Breeze entirely and the Red Riding Hood is darker in other areas.

I wasn't really thinking when I decided to mix blue with red and wasn't expecting to end up with a purple card.  But, I love how it turned out!  It's funny but some of the lighter areas are a perfect match with our Pale Plum cardstock so that's how this card came to be.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Have a wonderful Tuesday and happy stamping!

~ Michelle

I've never been a big fan of . . .

. . . Not Quite Navy.  For me it has always been a hard color to use.  It's not green, it's not blue, it's somewhere in between and I have a heck of a time matching it with other colors.  That is until now!!

Don't you just love this card!!

When I started to make this card I knew two things.  I wanted to use the new Upsy Daisy stamp set and I wanted it to use Baja Breeze, which is one of the new 1008-1009 In Colors.

Now I just had to find another color to go with it.  I looked at the other In Colors but nothing really jumped out at me so I took the piece of Baja Breeze and held it up against each of the other SU! colors.  When I got to Not Quite Navy I knew that this was it!

The layout was really pretty straight forward.  When I am using a larger image as the main focus of my design I cut the card stock to the same size as the wood block that the image is mounted on.  In this case the Whisper White is cut at 2¾" x 3¾" and I just layered up from there.

To give the image some added zip I inked up the stamp first in the Baja Breeze and then, using one of my sponge daubers, I added Not Quite Navy here and there to the stamp.

The bottom edge of the Baja Breeze and Whisper White layers was punched with the new Scallop Edge Punch and then I used the Crop-A-Dial to punch a hole in each of the scallops of the Baja Breeze layer so the Whisper White would show through.  The sentiment is stamped using Not Quite Navy.

Thanks for visiting!

Happy Stamping!

~ Michelle

If you don't have time . . .

. . . to sit down and stamp a card why not use some of Stampin' Up!'s amazing Designer Series Papers!

Here is a card that has minimal stamping on it, only took a few minutes to put together and no one will ever know how easy it was.

I created it using SU!'s new Haiku DSP and when you give this to one of your friends or family they will never guess how easy it was for you to create.

The base of the card is So Saffron with a layer of Kiwi Kiss and then the DSP on top.  Stampin' Up! has taken all of the guess work out of it by creating the complementary, dual-sided paper.  I took the piece of DSP and cut it to size, cut (2) 1" strips off it, flipped them over and then attached them to the top and bottom of the card to frame the larger layer.  The only stamping that was involved was picking out a sentiment.  You could put together a bunch of these and when you need a card in a hurry just grab one and stamp a saying that fits the occasion.

I don't know if you noticed but I also placed a small strip of the DSP on the inside to pull it all together.

Have a great day and keep stamping!

~ Michelle

It's about time . . .

. . . I started posting again, huh?  Thanks for your patience and understanding while I took care of my family and of myself.

I stamped for the first time in 3 months this weekend and this is one of the projects that I came up with.

I love the "Bag in a Box" projects that I've seen around the internet and wanted to create one using the new Bella Rose DSP.  I really like how it turned out. 

The base and the handle tabs are made using Kiwi Kiss, which is one of the new 2008-2009 In Colors, and the ribbon is the new Riding Hood Red Taffeta.

The sentiment tag was created using my Coluzzle (Riding Hood Red), Scallop circle Punch (Bella Rose DSP), and 1 3/8" Circle punch (Whisper White).  The "Birthday Wishes" is from the stamp set Fundamental Phrases and is stamped in Riding Hood Red.  The background of the sentiment was stamped using Upsy Daisy and Kiwi Kiss Ink.  The image was stamped off first to keep it from being too dark.

Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful day!

~ Michelle

Have you heard the news?

Stampin' Up!® is now offering online shopping!

Whether you wake up in the middle of the night with the perfect plan for the perfect project or just need to make party invitations with no time for a workshop, it’s no problem.  Now you can order from me any time, day or night, through my SU! web site.

Visit my web site by clicking the "24 Hour Online Shopping" image at the top of the right column and when you arrive at my website click on the "SHOP NOW" button under my contact information.