Michelle's Great Paper Chase

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T17:19:00.000-08:00

Hope you are having a sweet Valentine's Day! Today, I wanted to share with you the maze game Valentine's cards that my boys and I created for them to give to their classes.

Timothy thought the little mouse from the Totally A-maze-ing stamp set was cute, and wanted to create a cheese maze for the mouse to go through using the stamps from the set. Here's how that turned out:

We used a square Crumb Cake card base. There's a layer of Real Red on top, which I punched a 2-1/2 Circle in to fit the maze. I also embossed the Real Red with the hearts from the Adorning Accents Textured Impressions Embossing Folders. I inked up the large heart background for the maze using the Rock n Roll Technique, with Daffodil Delight all over the stamp first, then Pumpkin Pie around the edges. The cheese image was stamped in the center with Pumpkin Pie ink, and we added a few Real Red stamped hearts around the maze as well. The mouse was stamped in Soft Suede and punched out with the 3/4" Circle. I tied it to the ribbon (retired Dusty Durango Polka Dot) using Early Espresso/Whisper White Baker's Twine. The "you're a-maze-ing!" image was stamped in Soft Suede on Whisper White and punched out using the Word Window Punch.

Daniel wanted to use the maze image from the Totally A-maze-ing stamp set for his card, and this presented a bit more of a challenge, as it was necessary to stamp the image and then make sure it would line up with the maze game. As long as you stamp the image so that it is pretty close to centered on the 2-1/2" Circle that goes on the back of the maze game, lining it up is no problem. In fact, I have a couple videos to show you some tips and tricks for doing that -- and even had some assistance from Timothy in making those videos!

Daniel's card is on a Natural Ivory base, again with the Real Red layer (although this time embossed using the diamond pattern from the Backgrounds 1 Texturz Plates). The maze is stamped in Pacific Point, with a Real Red heart stamped in the center. The flag with the greeting is also Pacific Point, and I heat embossed the greeting using Versamark and White Embossing Powder.

Here are the videos in case you'd like to create your own maze games -- these were fun to make for Valentine's and would make great favors for birthdays and other parties as well!

And, last but not least, I wanted to show you a couple quick and easy Valentine's I printed up for my boys to color. I made these using My Digital Studio and the Crush on You Color Printables Designer Template:

I printed them out using my home printer and Very Vanilla Card Stock. Very quick and easy! In fact, if you haven't tried My Digital Studio yet, there's no time like the present! You can get a free 30 day trial of My Digital Studio Express -- click here, select "add to bag" and then check out (if you don't already have a demonstrator, you can select me as your demonstrator, and I'll receive an email letting me know you've downloaded the free trial, so I can follow up with you, see what you think of it and answer any questions you may have).

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

You Light Up My Life Valentine

2012-02-13T12:59:00.000-08:00

Here's another of the cards I created for my Valentine's and More Card Class this month. I wanted this to be a more masculine Valentine, so used the Well Worn Designer Series Paper and the colors from that to create it. This one is a gate-fold card, using the Gnome Sweet Gnome stamp set from the Occasions Mini. Here's the front:

The base of the card is Cajun Craze. The front flaps of the card are embossed with the Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. Then, I decided to use the Heart Framelits to emboss a heart into the card base, too. The first time I did that, I didn't have any paper in between the cutting side of the heart and my plate, and discovered that was a mistake. For a few heart-pounding moments, I wasn't sure I would be able to extract the framelit from the plate! A little patience, and some gentle prodding from my scissors, convinced them to separate. And, ever since, to make this card, I instead line up the Not Quite Navy layer and cut that heart on top while the card base is embossed on the bottom. That works! No problems.

The gnome image and frog were stamped in Basic Black on Whisper White, and I colored them in using Blender Pens and Classic Ink. The colors I used are Cajun Craze (hat and lantern), River Rock (gnome's shirt), Not Quite Navy (gnome's pants), Soft Suede (belt and ground) and Garden Green (frog). I painted Gold Smooch on the gnome's belt buckle and then for the candle's flame.

The greeting is partly from the Gnome Sweet Gnome set. I added the "life" from Fabulous Phrases in place of the "garden" in the original stamp. I punched out the greeting with the Word Window Punch, and then layered it on a piece of Not Quite Navy that I'd punched out with the Modern Label Punch. I added a couple of the silver Mini Brads on either side of the greeting.

Here's a look at how the card opens:

And, here's the inside of the card:

If you look carefully, you can see a bit of the heart-shape embossed around the white heart in the center and on each side of the front flaps. I stamped the image on the white heart in River Rock. The "be my valentine" greeting is from the P.S. I Love You Set. It is stamped in Basic Black, and again punched out using the Word Window punch and layered onto a piece of Not Quite Navy, punched out with the Modern Label Punch.

Now back to finishing up my Valentine's for tomorrow! Amazing how no matter how far in advance I start, there always seem to be things to do right up until the end!!! Hope you had fun or are having fun preparing your Valentine's surprises as well.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Pretty in Pink Half Cut Valentine's Card

2012-02-09T17:35:00.000-08:00

Here's another Valentine's card I created recently -- both for my Valentine's and More Class and for my swap with my friend Marlene. This is a half cut card, and was inspired by this gorgeous card by Diane Vander Galien on Splitcoaststampers. From Diane's card, I found Jackie Topa's excellent tutorial on how to make half cut cards, which you can see (after checking out the rest of my post, of course!) by clicking here.

Here is my card:

The card base is Pretty in Pink card stock, and I inserted a layer of Whisper White on the inside. Both the front of the card and the Whisper White layer are embossed with the Tulip Frame Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. I sponged around the embossing on the Whisper White using Pretty in Pink.

The cupid image is from the P.S. I Love You stamp set -- as are the "from my heart to yours" greeting and the stamped image with the brackets. I stamped all of those using Basic Black Classic Ink. The cupid image was cut out using one of the smaller Heart Framelits. Behind that, I added a piece of Whisper White that had been punched out with the Full Heart Punch and sponged with Basic Black around the edges. (I was very excited to find out that the Full Heart Punch layers so nicely with the Heart Framelits!!!) That was all layered onto another Whisper White heart that had been die cut with the Heart Framelits. I squeezed Dazzling Details around that heart, and spread it evenly around using a paintbrush. Here's a close up so you can see the layers and the sparkle a bit better:

For the embellishment on the bottom side, I punched out the stamped image that coordinate with the Modern Label Punch, then added strips from the Rhinestone Jewels on top of it. I used the medium and small heart from the Heart to Heart Punch. The medium heart is stamped in Pretty in Pink with the image from P.S. I Love You that is a heart made up from lots of smaller hearts. The small heart is covered in Dazzling Details. Here's a close up:

I finished the card with a couple of Rhinestone Jewels on one of the front panels, and some Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon tied together with the White Organza Ribbon.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Fancy Valentine's Heart Box

2012-02-08T09:04:00.000-08:00

Marlene and I are swapping again, and now that I know she's received this, I can show you a Valentine's heart box I created for our 3D Valentine item part of the swap! I've seen others making this type of box . . . and seeing all the beautiful chocolate boxes in the stores made me think these would be fun to make with the new Heart framelits, too. So, I decided I had to give it a try. Here's how mine turned out:

And the side view:

To create my box, I started with two hearts cut using the largest of the Heart Framelits out of Riding Hood Red Card Stock (you could also make these using the smaller framelits . . . I just wanted to have the scalloped heart for this box). Then, I strips of Riding Hood Red Card Stock to create the sides for the top and bottom. I used 1-1/2" strips, then scored the strips at 3/8" using my Simply Scored Tool. I used Sticky Strip on the small part I had created with the score, removed the Sticky Strip backing, then cut about every 1/2" (you could do that in the opposite order if you were worried about getting adhesive on your scissors).

I attached the side for the top piece close to the edge, then repeated the process on the bottom piece, but made sure that side was adhered a little farther into the heart so that the top would fit nicely over it when I put the two pieces together.

Then, I decorated the outside of the box, using the beautiful new Blushing Bride pleated ribbon and hearts I die cut from the Everyday Elegance Designer Series Paper. I actually embossed the outer designer series paper heart using the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder. I added a 3D card stock rose, made using the technique in this tutorial. The rose is made out of Pink Pirouette Card Stock, and I rolled the petals tightly. I also used some Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds to make the petals glitter. Here's a close up:

The leaves were punched out of Lucky Limeade using the Blossom Builder Punch, and then I scored the "veins" onto them using my Simply Scored Tool.

For the greeting flag, I trimmed a piece of Very Vanilla into shape, and stamped it in Riding Hood Red with the "be my valentine" greeting from the P.S. I Love You set. I added Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamond around the edges.

The inside of the box was filled with several small heart shaped easel note cards:

I also adhered two Pink Pirouette hearts, which I had embossed using the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Folder, into the box to line it. Here's a better peek at the inside and at the little note-cards. The note-cards were decorated with stamps from the P.S. I Love You Set and the Fresh Vintage Sale-a-Bration set, and a bit of Everyday Elegance Designer Series Paper.

Here's another, almost identical heart I created with a little variation on the rose:

And, here's a close up of the rose:

I used the same technique to create this rose, but didn't curl the petals as tightly. For this one, I used a touch of Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds in the center for just a little sparkle.

Hope you enjoyed these, and they inspire you to create some fabulous Valentine hearts and projects of your own!

- Michelle

Valentine's Kids Class

2012-02-06T19:43:00.000-08:00

On Friday, I had a Valentine's Kids Class, and am really happy with how the projects turned out. I am really loving the new Sweet Shoppe Designer Series Paper -- it's perfect for fun, playful Valentine's and birthday cards. We created a card in the class, and a 3D heart spinner decoration.

Here's the card:

This is a 4.25" square card, with a Wisteria Wonder base, a layer of Calypso Coral, and then on top of that, a layer of the Sweet Shoppe DSP. We used the Heart Framelits to die cut the heart in the center of the designer paper. The owl is from the Fox and Friends stamp set, and was stamped in Soft Suede on Whisper White. The beak was colored using Calypso Coral, and then the image was punched out using the Heart Punch. I added one of the Jelly Bean brads on the heart. Then, for the finishing touch, tucked in a Pool Party flag with the "be my valentine" sentiment from the P.S. I Love You stamp set.

Here's the 3D heart spinner decoration:

This is created from four cardstock hearts, which I cut using the Heart Framelits out of Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, and Wisteria Wonder card stock. Each heart was folded in the center, and then one half glued to another heart, until they were all connected. The ribbon is from the Sale-a-Bration Everyday Enchantment embellishment set, and was glued in the center of the hearts before they were all connected.

The hearts in the center of each of the card stock hearst are cut from Sweet Shoppe Designer Series Paper using a Heart Framelit that is two sizes smaller than the one used for the card stock hearts. Then, I had fun decorating each of the hearts using sentiments from the Sweet Cake stamp set, rhinestone jewels, and hearts die cut using the new Fashionable Hearts Embosslit.

My idea for this heart spinner came from Pinterest (such a great site for collecting and organizing things that inspire you!), and the original blog post that mine was inspired by is here.

Stay tuned for more Valentine's projects tomorrow!

- Michelle

My Digital Studio -- Free Trial and My February Calendar Page

2012-02-03T11:13:00.000-08:00

Have you heard the news yet? You can get a free one-month trial of My Digital Studio Express!!! This is a great way to test out the program and see how much fun it is to create great digital projects -- cards, scrapbooks, calendars, tags, and so much more! Want to take advantage of this great deal? Then head on over to my online store, add the My Digital Studio Express free trial to your bag, and you can download it and start creating amazing projects right away!

I also have my February page to share with you from the calendar I made for 2012. Here it is:

The page is very simple . . . I wanted to keep the focus mostly on the photos of my guys! The page uses background paper from the Year to Remember 2012 Calendar Template, and the "February" comes from that as well. The banner is the Flag Punch, with a drop shadow under it. Quick and easy to create!

Thanks for visiting my blog! Please let me know if you have any questions about My Digital Studio.

- Michelle

Heart Shaped Easel Card

2012-02-01T16:28:00.000-08:00

At my group's SUper Friends meeting last week, we made this heart shaped easel card:

We started with a folded Poppy Parade card stock base, and another piece of Poppy Parade to make the card front. Then, we used two pieces of Very Vanilla to cut the layers. All pieces were cut with the new Heart Framelits.

We stamped the Very Vanilla with images from P.S. I Love You (from the Occasions Mini) and Everyday Elegance (from Sale-a-Bration). We used Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade, and Early Espresso Classic Ink to stamp. To get the lighter shade of Calypso Coral for the hearts behind the cupid, I stamped off on scratch paper once before stamping on to the Very Vanilla.

Here's the card open:

Side view:

and here's the view from the back, which shows how the base and card front connect:

Hope you like this project! Thanks for stopping by my blog!

- Michelle

Another Tea Shoppe Card

2012-01-31T18:14:00.000-08:00

When my SUper Friends demonstrator group met last week, we had a swap, and here is the card I prepared for it:

Can you tell how much I am enjoying the Tea Shoppe stamp set?!

This card is an adaptation of a card I saw and admired on Stampin' Connection (a special place Stampin' Up! provides for demonstrators to share ideas, projects, and more online). The card that inspired me was this beauty by Mary Fish.

For my card, I changed the color scheme and papers. I used Very Vanilla for the base, for one layer, and for the stamped squares. The frames around the stamped squares and the layer on top of the card base are Early Espresso. I also used a piece of the Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper (available as part of Sale-a-Bration!). The colors for the tea cups are drawn from that paper -- Pool Party, Calypso Coral, and Poppy Parade. I had fun using pearls to embellish my tea cups, as Mary Fish did on her card! The little flower is punched from Pool Party card stock using the four petal flower punch from the Itty Bitty Shapes pack.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

It's Time to Sale-a-Brate!

2012-01-27T12:57:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I've been a little quiet this week because there's lots happening around here!!! I'm the yearbook coordinator at my boys' school, and there's been quite a bit of coordinating to do this week. We also have a couple birthdays coming up in our family, so trying to get ready for those.

Plus, it's Sale-a-Bration! For those who don't already know, this is a fun and amazing time at Stampin' Up! when there are extra-special rewards for customers, hostesses, those who become demonstrators, and those who already are demonstrators! Here's a little more information on that (and there's a link in my blog sidebar to the electronic version of the Sale-a-Bration brochure, if you'd like to see all the great products and ideas in that).

Here you can see the free tote hostesses can earn (adorable!!!), and for workshops with over $400 in orders (before tax and shipping), there's a wonderful product bundle as well (which includes the designer paper, brads, and ribbon shown in the photo below right!)

And, if you've ever considered becoming a demonstrator (or just want to take advantage of the amazing deal on the products in the starter kit!), you won't want to miss this:

Please be sure to contact me with any questions, if you'd like to place an order, be a hostess, or join the Stampin' Up! family and my team of SUper Friends! (Speaking of which, we just had a get together last night, so I'll have some cards and a project to show you from that soon . . . stay tuned!)

In the meantime, did you notice my new blog banner? It's made with images from the One Big Sale-A-Bration Content CD!

- Michelle

P.S. In case you're reading this on a feed and don't want to have to click through to see the banner, here it is:

Clean and Simple Mixed Bunch Poppin' Pastels

2012-01-24T18:01:00.000-08:00

At our SUperFriends team meeting in December, I challenged my friends and team members to create a card on the spot using some pieces of card stock that I had purchased in a "grab bag" when Stampin' Up! had that fun promotion last fall. These were pieces that had been part of a Simply Sent kit -- a Crumb Cake card base plus some smaller pieces of More Mustard, Real Red and Old Olive card stock. We combined that challenge with trying out a new technique -- Poppin' Pastels, with a new stamp set -- the Mixed Bunch set from the Occasions Mini. We also used the new Blossom Punch, which coordinates perfectly with the Mixed Bunch stamp set.

For those who haven't tried Poppin' Pastels before, this is a very fun technique! You simply stamp your image in Versamark, then use a sponge or applicator to pick up a pastel color and rub it onto the Versamark. The Versamark catches the color and holds it.

Here's the card I created:

Here's a close view of the flower:

I used Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, and Old Olive Pastels to color the flower. To color the jewel rhinestone in the center, I used a green permanent marker.

The greeting is from the new Apothecary Labels stamp set.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Hostess Tea Mysteries Revealed!

2012-01-23T15:34:00.000-08:00

Before my hostess appreciation tea this weekend, I'd teased you with some photos of decorations and favors in progress. (You can see those photos in this post and this post.) Well, it's time for the big reveal!! The first project was a special banner I created to decorate my "tea room" for the day . . . although I'm liking it so much I probably won't take it down until the boys or their dad voice some objection . . . we'll see how long that takes! Oh, yes, here's the photo:

The banner pieces were cut from the beautiful Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper using the Perfect Pennants Die and the Big Shot. The letters are from the Letter It stamp set, stamped in Calypso Coral on Very Vanilla. I punched those out with the 1-1/4" Circle Punch, then sponged around the edges, first with Calypso Coral, then with Poppy Parade. I layered the letters onto two flowers I'd punched out of vellum using the new Blossom Punch. I sponged around the edges of the vellum flowers with Pool Party so they'd show up a little better.

The pennants were stitched onto the lengths of the Ruffled Pool Party Ribbon. Then, I added other random embellishments to complete the project.

For the other project, those were upcycled glass containers that I filled with chocolates and gave out as party favors. Here's the bigger picture as far as those were concerned:

Again, I used the Everyday Elegance Designer Paper on these. The labels are stamped images from the Apothecary Labels stamp set, which I die cut using the Labels Framelits. Ribbon is the Lucky Limeade and Calypso Coral taffeta, from the Everyday Elegance Embellishment set for Sale-a-Bration.

Finally, here are some of the goodies I prepared for the tea:

The top photo is of the "Bed of Roses" cake, brownies and Earl Grey Tea Cookies! In the bottom photo are some tea sandwiches -- Greek Chicken, Cucumber and Egg Salad. Yum!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Hostess Tea Make and Take!

2012-01-21T22:18:00.000-08:00

I had such a fun time with my friends who came for the hostess tea this afternoon! I really appreciate them taking the time from their Saturday to come have tea and stamp with me -- and their support of my stamping business this year!!! Anyway, here's the card I designed for us to make as our project. It's another shaped card made with the Labels Framelits, but this time it is an easel card:

The card base is Very Vanilla, with a top layer and a bottom accent cut from Pool Party. We used some of the beautiful Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper (from Sale-a-Bration -- you can get yours starting on Tuesday!!!) for the inner label, as well as for some of the flowers. The flowers were punched using the Boho Blossom and Bitty Punch Trio. We used Calypso Coral card stock for a couple of the flowers as well. Flower centers are Rhinestone Jewels.

Here are some close ups of the flowers:

The stamped tea cup images and the greeting are from the Tea Shoppe stamp set in the Occasions Mini. They are stamped in Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, and Soft Suede Classic ink, respectively. The ribbon is the beautiful new Riding Hood Red 3/8" Pleated Satin Ribbon (from the Occasions Mini -- I'm going to be offering an Occasions & Sale-a-Bration embellishement share including this soon, please stay tuned for more details!). The leaves were punched out of Lucky Limeade using the Bird Punch.

Here's a side view of the card, so you can see the easel better:

I'll post more photos from the tea soon. Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Fresh Vintage Label Shaped Card for Late Night Stampers Challenge 156

2012-01-20T13:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday! We have a rainy day here . . . in fact, my boys are a bit disappointed because the rain is too light. They were hoping for big rain and thunderstorms . . . that's pretty rare here, though! And, that's something I'm thankful for since I'd seen plenty of those before we moved here!!!

Anyway, on to the card I want to share with you today!!! This is a shaped card I came up with while working on a make and take for my hostess tea tomorrow, and it also happens to fit this week's challenge over at Late Night Stampers!!!

I created this card using the Labels Framelits (can you tell I'm loving these!?!!!)

This card is made with a Very Vanilla Base, and a Pool Party layer on top of that. Then, I added a Very Vanilla frame, and inside that, another piece of Very Vanilla, cut with a smaller one of the Labels Framelits. The Pool Party Base and center piece were both stamped with an image from the Fresh Vintage Sale-a-Bration set (Only 4 more days until Sale-a-Bration starts!!) I then sponged around the center label with Pretty in Pink on top and Lucky Limeade on the bottom.

The greeting is from the Apothecary Labels set, stamped in Lucky Limeade on Lucky Limeade Card Stock.

Butterflies are embossed and die cut using the Beautiful Wings Embosslit and the Big Shot. I added a Pearl Jewel in the center of each one.

Here's another view, so you can see how this card opens from the side:

And, here's the back . . . you can see from this that I created the card by running the Very Vanilla card base through the Framelit with the fold inside one side of the frame:

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!!

- Michelle

Another Hostess Tea Sneak Peek

2012-01-18T19:38:00.000-08:00

Here's another sneak peek at another project I've been creating for my upcoming hostess appreciation tea. Can you guess what these will be?

The designer paper is again from the Everyday Enchantment Sale-a-Bration pack, and I paired it with ribbons from the Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad pack. The labels are created with the Apothecary Labels Stamp set and the coordinating Labels Framelits from the new Occasions Mini. Can you tell I'm having great fun with my new stuff! Can't wait to share more of what I've been making with you!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Hostess Tea Decorations Sneak Peek

2012-01-16T19:20:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd just pop in quickly and give a little sneak peek of a project that I finished up recently for my upcoming hostess appreciation tea. I created this as one of my decorations . . . I'll show the whole project sometime next week, after the tea.

This is also a Sale-a-Bration sneak peek because the brads, designer paper, and Lucky Limeade ribbon are all items that you can earn during Sale-a-Bration!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Jungle Love for the KKC09 Color Challenge!

2012-01-14T19:42:00.000-08:00

I am so excited, I actually had a chance to play along today with the current KAPOW Kreative Challenge. This week is a color challenge:

When I saw the colors, the first thing that came to mind for me is that Cajun Craze and River Rock are in the Well Worn Designer Series Paper pack, and it would be fun to use that to create a Valentine's card. I've been playing around a lot with my new Labels Collection Framelits, so I also decided to create a shaped card. Here's how that turned out:

I used the P.S. I Love You stamp set, which is from the new Occasions Mini, for the heart and the sentiment. The heart is stamped in Cajun Craze Classic Ink on River Rock card stock. After stamping, I sponged the edges with Cajun Craze ink, then sponged the whole heart with Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint. I couldn't stop there, though. I had to sponge the outside of the Soft Suede label piece with the Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, too. Hard to capture the shimmer with a photo, but this one does a little better than the one above:

The heart reminds me of a leopard print, which is what got me thinking this is kind of a "jungle love"-looking card. Here's a closer view of the heart:

I added a few touches of Regal Rose -- first, in the flower embellishment on the heart. This was created from two of the medium sized flowers on the Boho Blossoms Punch. I used a stylus in the center of the flowers, then curled the flowers upward to add more dimension and shape to them. Then, I inserted a Fire Rhinestone Brad in the center.

For the "love you" tag coming out of the heart, I started with a strip of Very Vanilla, trimmed it into shape, then sponged it with Regal Rose Classic Ink and a bit of Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint.

The final touch I added was a bit of "faux stitching" with a River Rock Stampin' Write Marker around the edge of the designer paper label layer.

This was a really great color challenge -- and particularly fun for the Valentine's cards (you know you need to make some!) So, hope you'll play along, too!!!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Marlene's Amazing Emboss-Resist Noel Card

2012-01-13T10:31:00.000-08:00

When I opened the envelope that contained this card from my super-talented friend Marlene Caravello, I'll admit it, I actually squealed with delight! The colors are just so soft and beautiful!!! And, this card is truly even more beautiful in real life!

I love how Marlene used the Hello, Doily! stamp like a large snowflake in the foreground, embossed over the trees and sponging, which create the beautiful sunrise snowscape in the background. The Silver Glimmer Paper snowflakes and rhinestones add the perfect touch of sparkle, too.

Thanks again, Marlene, for sending it to me!!!

And, thank you for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Delicate Doily Birthday Wishes

2012-01-10T21:54:00.000-08:00

Here's another emboss resist card I have created using the combination of the Hello, Doily stamp and the Delicate Doilies stamp sets. For this one, I wanted a really pretty, feminine card, so I used a color combination of Pool Party, Regal Rose, and Pretty in Pink. Here's how it turned out:

I first stamped the Hello, Doily image in Versamark on Whisper White card stock, and embossed it using Clear Embossing Powder. Then, I stamped the Delicate Doily images using either Regal Rose or Pool Party Classic Ink. Finally, I sponged on Regal Rose and Pool Party inks in various places, but particularly around the Hello, Doily image, so it would "pop" out.

I added a small circle of fabric (from the Springtime Vintage collection) behind the little flower embellishment (which I created using the Boho Blossom punch and pieces of Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink). I also used Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon.

The greeting is from the Perfect Pairs stamp set. It is stamped in Early Espresso on Whisper White. I punched that out with the Large Oval Punch, and layered that onto a piece of Early Espresso punched with the Scallop Oval Punch.

Emboss resist is such a fun technique! If you'd like to see a couple of other cards I created using the same technique, please be sure to check out this blog post.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

My Digital Studio In Color Tags

2012-01-09T21:39:00.000-08:00

Before Christmas, I decided to design and then print out some tags using My Digital Studio. It couldn't have been easier! For the first one, I started with a template for a 2.5 x 4.5" tag that came with the 2011-13 In Color Pack. That template is in peach and blue tones (Calypso Coral, Pool Party and Island Indigo with a bit of Lucky Limeade, to be exact), and reads "Mr. & Mrs." -- in other words, it could make a beautiful tag for a wedding gift. With a few quick changes in colors and stamps, I converted that to this Christmas tag, which I had professionally printed through Stampin' Up!:

At the same time, I also created and printed out a few "thank you" tags. These tags are also from a template that comes with the 2011-13 In Color Pack, but for a 3x3" tag. I printed these out without making any changes -- they're perfect for attaching a little thank you note to a customer order or to a little thank you gift or well, there are lots of possibilities. Here's the front of the tag:

And, here's the back:

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Apothecary Label Happiest Birthday Cards

2012-01-06T15:49:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the new Occasions Mini yet? So many beautiful new stamps and accessories in it!!! I've been having fun playing with new supplies. In fact, I needed some special birthday cards, and created these using the fabulous new Apothecary Label set and the matching Framelit dies! Here are the cards (with apologies because I didn't have the best lighting to work with when I snapped these photos!):

For this one, I watercolored the flowers using Regal Rose Classic Ink and an Aquapainter. I used Lucky Limeade for the leaves. The sentiment on this one is from the Perfect Pairs Stamp Set.

The 3D flowers are made using a combination of shapes from the Boho Blossoms, Trio Flower (retired), and Itty Bitty Punches. I placed one of the smallest pearls from the Pearl Jewels in the center of each flower. Here's a close up of the flowers. I shaped them by placing a stylus in the center and bending the petals upward around that.

Here's another version of the card:

For this one, I embellished with a combination of Pumpkin Pie and Tangerine Tango flowers. The flowers were punched using the Trio Flower Punch, four petal flower from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch set or the Birds and Blossoms Sizzlet (now retired, although I had seen it recently in the Clearance Rack). There are mini pearls in the centers of these flowers as well, and for the watercolored flowers, I added a drop of Dazzling Details in the center.

Here's one more variation:

Hard to tell from the photo, but the large flower in this one is actually Calypso Coral. I created it using the new Blossom Punch from the Occasions Mini, with a center from the Mixed Bunch Stamped Set stamped in Soft Suede in the center of the blossom. I added Dazzling Details over the stamped area, and then attached a medium-sized pearl in the center.

The card bases are all Lucky Limeade. The designer paper is from a retired calendar set that I'd been hoarding for a while and decided should be put to good use!

Hope you like these. Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Happy New Year!

2012-01-03T21:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!! Hope 2012 is off to a wonderful start for you. So far, so good here! My guys were all back to school or work today. While I do miss the fun times we had together over the break, I'm sort of amazed at how much I was able to accomplish in the short time I had "free" today! Funny how that works!!!

Today I have a few pages from the My Digital Studio calendar I created for this year to share with you. I created an 8-1/2 x 11 calendar, and I used the 2012 Year to Remember Digital Download for the background paper and other elements. First is the cover:

The snowflakes are from various digital stamp sets -- I opened up the stamp menu and used a search function there to see the different options and choose from them. I added a digital pearl in the center of each snowflake.

The second page is the photo page for January:

I tried to choose photos for each month of significant events that happened in that month the year before. These photos show Daniel with his new braces and my guys on a visit we made to Point Lobos State Park in the Carmel/Big Sur area of California.

I didn't add many embellishments on my photo pages . . . I wanted to keep it quick and easy, with the main focus on the photos.

And, finally, I wanted to share perhaps my favorite of all the pages I created -- the back cover! I didn't realize until this year that I could fully customize this page as well. I enjoyed adding a favorite photo from each month to the back. Here's how that turned out:

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

SUper Ornaments

2011-12-27T14:00:00.000-08:00

One last Christmas-related post . . . can't believe how quickly it seems that Christmas came and went this year!

Anyway, about a week before Christmas my SUper Friends team had a fun meeting and swap. For this swap, I challenged the gals to make an ornament. It was so fun to see what everyone came up with for the challenge . . . no one's ornament was even close to the same! And, they were all amazing! So, of course, I have to share them here (with apologies because my photography on these just didn't turn out as well as I would have liked!)

Here's a beautiful paper folded star ornament by Nina:

Here's the side view:

and how it looks closed:

Nina used the Delicate Doilies stamp set to decorate her ornament, as well as sponging (you can't tell from my photos, but she even used Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint when she sponged, so these shimmer beautifully). If you'd like to make one of these, there's a video tutorial on Dawn Olchefske's blog here.

The next ornament is this gorgeous creation from Renate Krogdahl:

I love the designer paper and beautiful hat pins Renate used to make these! If you'd like to create one like this, there is a tutorial on Splitcoaststampers here.

For my ornament, I had seen a gorgeous ornament in Andrea Walford's 12 Weeks of Christmas newsletter on week 7, and just had to create my own version, using all Stampin' Up! supplies. Here's how that turned out:

Here's a close up so you can see a bit of the Music Notes standard wheel, which I stamped onto the tissue paper before decoupaging it onto the glass ball:

To create the paper to decoupage onto the ball, I first sponged Crumb Cake ink onto plain white tissue paper, then wheeled the Music Notes Standard Wheel in Early Espresso, then sponged on Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint. After all the paper was decoupaged onto the ball, I applied more glue, then sprinkled Champagne Glass Stampin' Glitter all over it.

The tag was punched out of Crumb Cake card stock using the Large Tag Punch, then stamped with the Music Notes wheel and Crumb Cake ink. Then, I stamped the snow flake image from the Season of Joy stamp set in Early Espresso. I put Crystal Effects around the edges of the tag, then added Champagne Glass Stampin' Glitter on top.

The snowflake is die cut using the Northern Frost strip and the Big Shot. I added a Pearl Jewel on top. I used Linen Thread to attach the snowflake and tag to the Victoria 5/8" Crochet Trim ribbon used for the ornament hanger.

If you'd like to check out the original instructions and project that I used to create mine, please click here.

Agnes also created a wonderful project to swap with us . . . a gift box (which could be used for ornament storage, but which she filled with a gift for us . . . earrings she'd made!) Here's the box she created:

Agnes started with one of the Kraft Gift Boxes available in the Holiday Mini (these are really neat, but only available until Jan. 3rd!) She stamped it using the snowflake image from the Every Little Bit stamp set. The band around the box is created from Tempting Turquoise Designer Series Paper, surrounded by a piece of Whisper White punched with the Lace Ribbon Border Punch. The snowflakes on top were die cut using the Northern Frost die, and the "Merry Christmas" tag is stamped with an image from the Bells & Boughs stamp set.

Finally, here's another ornament I created for a friend:

This was created using several soda cans. I cut out and attached two of the Snowflake #2 die (so you could only see the silvery inside of the can, not the colors from the outside). I added a piece of textured Real Red card stock punched with the 2-3/8" Scallop Circle in the center of that, and an image from the soda can, punched out with the 1-3/4" Circle in the center of that. The ornament hanger is a piece of Pool Party 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon.

Hope you enjoyed these and they will inspire you to create some great projects for next year! (Apologies that they were too late for this year!)

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog!

- Michelle

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T16:03:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share some Christmas greetings from our family to yours. Here's the card I created in My Digital Studio to share with our family and friends this year:

Inside pages:

Back:

Hope you are having a wonderful Christmas day!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Rudolph and More!

2011-12-24T00:03:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Eve! Hope you are enjoying the holiday season! We had a fun trip to see a "negative tide" in nearby Santa Cruz today -- we were able to explore tidepools and see sea creatures we wouldn't usually be able to see so well!

I have a few projects I have been wanting to share with you, and thought while I had a couple minutes, I'd try to get them posted. Here goes . . .

First, is an adorable Rudolph tag . . . I participated in a tag swap with some other demonstrators a couple months back, and this idea was my favorite from the swaps I received back. Funny thing, when I turned it over and saw the artist's name on the back, I discovered it came from my good friend and swapping-buddy Marlene Caravello. We used this idea for a make and take at a SUper Friends meeting, and my youngest son liked it so much, he decided we should make some of these for his kindergarten class, too. So, without further ado, here are the photos!

In the photo above, Marlene's tag is on the right, and my copy is on the left. Marlene used soft suede for the head and ears, I changed it up a bit because I was low on Soft Suede, and instead used Crumb Cake card stock for the head and ears. Then, instead of Crumb Cake antlers, I used Chocolate Chip.

Rudolph's head is created using the Top Note die. I used the heel from the Stocking Die to create the ears. The antlers are leafs from the Leaves #2 Originals Die. The eyes were created out of Whisper White and Basic Black Large Ovals. The nose was created using the 1-3/4" Circle and Red Shimmer Paper. Marlene pasted a strip of Silver Shimmer Paper onto her nose for a highlight. I just used my White Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen to add that detail.

Here's a photo of Timothy's classroom treats all assembled and ready to hand out:

Thanks for the adorable idea, Marlene!!!

I also wanted to show you that I did manage to finish my advent calendar like the one in the Holiday Mini -- here's the photo of that:

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Santa Punch Art Tutorial

2011-12-21T10:33:00.000-08:00

When I posted the Santa treat box, I mentioned a tutorial for how to create the Santa punch art. (Thanks again to Marlene Caravello for the inspiration for this!!!) Here's the tutorial:

Start with a piece of Whisper White, punched with the Ornament Punch, then emboss using the Elegant Lines Embossing Folder.

Attach the ornament to a piece of Silver Glimmer Paper, punched with the Extra-Large Oval Punch. On top of that, attach a piece of Peach Parfait, punched out with the Large Oval Punch.

Add two eyes. These two are Basic Black card stock, punched out using the medium circles from the Owl Builder Punch.

Add the mouth. This mouth is a piece of Real Red punched out with one of the medium circles from the Owl Builder Punch.

Add Santa's mustache -- two Whisper White wings from the Bird Builder Punch.

Santa's nose is another of the medium circles from the Owl Builder Punch, and is from a piece of Peach Parfait card stock.

Santa's hat is next. Start with a Real Red Extra-Large Oval attached to the back of Santa's head.

For the side of Santa's hat, attach a piece punched twice with the Large Oval Punch to create this shape:

Finally, embellish the end of Santa's hat however you like. For the Santa treat boxes, we used the Jewelry tag punch and then added a jingle bell and a Cherry Cobbler/Whisper White Baker's Twine bow. Here's an army of Santas I made for my boys' teachers -- I've attached their tags but they are still waiting for jingle bells and bows:

And, Daniel liked the Santa so much, he requested we use him to create treats for his classroom. For those, I added a 1/2" circle of the Silver Glimmer Paper to the hats:

Hope you enjoy the tutorial and use it to create some fun projects of your own!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Medallion Christmas Tree

2011-12-20T10:23:00.000-08:00

While I was making my medallion wreath a while back, I had the idea to use the medallions (or yo-yos, or lollies, or whatever else you'd like to call these! :) ) to create a Christmas tree. I'd seen them stacked into a pumpkin shape, so figured it should be pretty easy to create the tree -- and it was! Here's my tree:

To create the medallions for the tree, I used 6 strips of paper. They were each 12" long, and varied in width: 2.5", 2.25", 2", 1.75", 1.5", and 1.25" to be exact. The designer series paper is Holly Berry Bouquet, from the Holiday Mini. I also added in some strips of Wild Wasabi card stock.

As I hot glued the layers together, I tried to angle the medallions downward to mimick the way the branches of a real tree bend. (I've since seen other trees like this made by other artists, with the medallions layered flat, and must confess I like the way that looks a bit better . . . will have to do it that way next time I make one!)

For the base of the tree, I used an empty ribbon spool. I wrapped a strip of designer series paper around it:

I finished the top of the tree with a bow of the 3/8" Very Vanilla Velvet Stitched Ribbon:

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Stocking Transforms into Rudolph!

2011-12-19T13:20:00.000-08:00

When I saw Fran Sabad's adorable felt reindeer made with the Stocking Die, I knew I had to try making one of my own. Here's how mine turned out:

I used brown wool felt for the body and ears. The ears are cut with the heel part of the stocking. Rudolph's collar was cut using the stocking cuff part of the die and black felt. I also wrapped some Real Red 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon around the cuff. The antlers are Early Espresso card stock, die cut using the Lattice Die and then trimmed into shape. For the nose, I punched some Real Red Glimmer Paper using the 1-3/8" Circle, and then glued on using Tombo Mono (you have to be a little patient as it sets, but once it does, it holds well, even on the fabric!). Similarly, for the eyes, I punched a circle of Basic Black and a circle of Whisper White, and attached those using Tombo Mono.

Isn't this a fun idea?!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

SUper Friends November Meeting Swap Cards

2011-12-12T22:27:00.000-08:00

Hi, everyone! It's been a full day here and actually a pretty full weekend, too . . . we've been shopping, baking, crafting, and working on our Christmas cards! So much fun, I just wish I had a few more hours in the day to do everything I'd like to do and make all the projects I'd like to make!!! How about you?

Well, I have some great inspiration for you today . . . these are the cards we swapped at my last Stampin' Up! group meeting:

Here's Agnes's beautiful card using the Perfect Pennants set and some great embossing (I really love the touch of embossing on the Word Window punch tag!):

Here's Charlene's amazing card, which features a really neat fold I hadn't seen before, closed:

and open:

Charlene used Spice Cake Designer Paper and Gently Falling Stamp Set on the outside, and inside she used the Falling Leaves Stamp Set.

Here's Leah's wonderful card -- we all loved how she stamped the different colored leaves so perfectly and the great detail of the sweet little blue bird:

Here's Renate's elegant card:

The pearls and Gold embossing are so beautiful together!

Here's Nina's amazing card -- she did an emboss resist technique for this, and I love how she sponged on the colors:

And, here's my card:

I decided to create a tree using only pieces from the Sweets for the Sweet Stamp set. Here's a close up of my star (it's two pinwheels, fussy cut, attached together with a rhinestone brad, and then with the ends of each pinwheel curled under);

Hope you enjoyed these as much as I did!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Santa, Tree, and Angel Petal Cone Die Treat Boxes

2011-12-08T21:27:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks back, my friend and fellow member of Late Night Stampers, Robbie was in town and came over for a wonderful afternoon of stamping with my friend Charlene and me! Charlene brought her new Petal Cone die over, and we enjoyed using it to create some Christmas treat boxes. Robbie had seen an adorable Santa, elf, and angel on her friend Stampin T's blog, so we set out to create our own versions, first of the Santa, and then of the angel. These coordinated wonderfully with a Petal-Cone die Christmas tree that I'd received from my friend Marlene. Here are my the Santa and angel I made together with Marlene's tree:

Here's a close up of the Santa we made:

We had fun adding the stocking in Santa's hands. For Santa's face, we actually copied this adorable stocking stuffer I'd also received from my friend Marlene Caravello:

Here's a closer view of her Santa's face:

I've actually put together a step-by-step tutorial for how to put the Santa together, which I will post soon. (Stay tuned!)

Here's the close up of the angel I made, which is a pretty close copy of Stamping T's :

We thought it was pretty clever how she used the Owl punch and Blossom Builders to create the hair! And, loved the touch of vellum for the wings and on the angel's dress. The only change we made was in the halo . . . we decided we wanted to use the Silver Glitter Paper, and used the Extra-Large and Large Oval Punches to create it.

And, here's a close up of Marlene's Christmas tree:

Don't you love how she used the Snow Burst Embossing Folder to add texture to it? And, there's Dazzling Details garland around it, too -- very clever!

Fill these with candies, and they make such fun little gifts!

- Michelle

Awesome 3D Card Idea from Marlene

2011-12-07T13:25:00.000-08:00

I have another amazing creation by Marlene to share with you today! This starts as a card, then transforms into a wonderful 3D Christmas decoration. Marlene's inspiration for this came from a creation by Kirsteen Gill.

Here's what Marlene's card looks like when you pull it out of the envelope:

Then, you open it, and discover a beautiful folded paper tree, plus the instructions to assemble it. Here's the inside view of the card:

And, here is the tree, assembled, and resting on the now-open card:

Place a battery-operated tea light candle underneath, and you have a beautiful light up tree! Isn't this brilliant!?!

If you'd like to see Kirsteen's video on how to create a project like this, follow this link.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Christmas Card Ideas from Marlene

2011-12-06T16:56:00.000-08:00

It's always great fun to swap with my awesome and talented friend Marlene Caravello -- her artwork is always so beautiful and inspiring! When a box arrives from her it feels like Christmas! :) And, indeed, I'm happy today to be able to share some Christmas cards I received from her in one of our more recent swaps.

Here they are:

For this beauty, Marlene used the Christmas Lodge stamp set (from the Holiday Mini). After she stamped the images, she embossed the card front using the Snow Burst Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (also from the Holiday Mini). I love how she framed the house image using one of the Designer Frames Textured Embossing Folders. My camera made the colors a little out of whack (sorry about that!), but I believe that the blue she used is Not Quite Navy.

For the next card, Marlene used the Stocking Builder Punch and the houndstooth designer paper from the Frostwood Lodge Designer Series Paper pack. She embossed the stocking with the Houndstooth Embossing Folder to coordinate with the paper. The Garden Green background is also embossed, using the Striped Folder.

And, here's the inside of the card:

And, this last project could be used as a card, ornament, tag, or some combination of the three. Isn't it great how Marlene used the Designer Label Punch with Brushed Gold card stock to create a buckle for Santa's belt!

Here's the other side:

Hope you enjoyed these as much as I did! Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

My Digital Studio Projects: Thanks Card and a Few Calendar Pages

2011-12-05T20:25:00.000-08:00

Wow! It's December!!! And, already almost a week into December, at that! It seems like time really speeds up at the end of the year . . . does it feel like that to you, too?

So, I must confess, I have been busy with other projects and haven't had a chance yet to take photos of the most recent SUperFriends swap or the My Digital Studio printed projects that came back last week, but hopefully will soon! In the meantime, though, I want to show you the printed version of a card I created as part of my entry into the most recent My Digital Studio contest. Here is the cover:

I had fun adding lots of details . . . there are different layers of punches behind the Medallion digital stamp to add the different colors, digital stitching around the Medallion as well, and lots of layers of ribbon, scallops, stitching and more in the background.

Here's the inside:

I used the Top Note Digital Punch to create the area for the message inside the card, and continued the layers from the front. I also added a couple of flowers, created with layers of Fun Flower Digital Punches, and with lots of digital pearls for the centers. I used this for my Thanksgiving cards, but if you changed the color scheme, you could make the design work for other occasions as well.

While working in My Digital Studio last week on a calendar for 2012, I realized that after a good start, I'd forgotten for quite a few months to show you the pages I'd made for my 2011 calendar. So, here are several of the ones I missed:

The background papers, months, year, and tags for these pages come from the Noteable 2011 Desktop Calendar Digital Kit. I think it is really neat that even though the kit was designed to create a desktop calendar, I was able to use the elements from it to create an 11 x 8 1/2" calendar, relatively easily. (The only slightly challenging part was creating the calendar pages that coordinate with the photo pages I've shown you. That required combining 11 x 8 1/2" calendar templates for each month of 2011 with the coordinating labels from the Noteable kit). I added stamps and embellishments from other kits onto these pages as well, to customize them a bit more.

For the 2012 calendar I just finished this weekend, I started with the new Year to Remember 2012 Calendar template. (I'll try post some of my pages from that soon, too.) The Year to Remember template is for a 12 x 12" calendar, and I again wanted to create an 11 x 8 1/2" calendar. However, it was very easy to convert that by just shrinking the kit's calendar pages to fit on my 11 x 8-1/2" pages. I love the designer papers in the kit, and as for the papers in the Noteable kit, I'm sure I'll be using them on cards, scrapbook pages, and more in My Digital Studio soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

One More Swap Card and a Christmas Tag

2011-11-30T22:15:00.000-08:00

I realized after I posted the cards from our last SUper Friends swap that I inadvertently missed one. So, here's Charlene's beautiful card from our last swap (sorry about that!):

I love how she pleated the card stock around the focal image. Such a neat touch!

I also have a Christmas tag to share with you. Here's the front:

and here's the back:

I used the Perfect Pennants Die to create the scallop circle base out of Cherry Cobbler for the tag. On the front, I layered on a circle of Brushed Gold Card Stock. On top of that, I placed a piece of Watercolor Paper with the Poinsettia image from the Bells & Boughs stamp set. I stamped the image with Jet Black StazOn ink, then watercolored using classic ink for the leaves (Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive). I used Gold Lame Smooch for the centers.

On the back of the tag, I simply attached a piece of Whisper White as a place to write a little note.

For the finishing touch, I added a piece of the Quilted Cherry Cobbler ribbon from the Holiday Mini.

Can you believe December is almost here?! (Or maybe already by the time you are reading this!) My boys are so excited to start opening their advent calendars tomorrow . . . they've been counting the days until Dec. 1st, as well as to Christmas, ever since Thanksgiving!)

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check back soon to see some fun Christmas cards and projects, and hopefully I can get some photos taken tomorrow to show you the most recent swaps from my SUper Friends as well as what I just received back from the My Digital Studio printers!

- Michelle

SUper Friends Swapping Again!

2011-11-28T22:35:00.000-08:00

I had a fun meeting with my SUper Friends group today! We had a terrific card swap, and that made me realize that I hadn't yet shown off the beautiful cards I received in our swap last month . . . so here those are:

Aren't they wonderful?!!! It's always so fun to see what everyone comes up with for her card!

We also made a fun Christmas tag project today . . . I'll try to get photos of that and our swaps taken soon so I can share here, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

P.S. If you haven't checked out Stampin' Up!'s Online Extravaganza yet . . . well, what are you waiting for? Head on over to my online store now and check it out!

Thanksgiving Fun!

2011-11-25T17:13:00.000-08:00

Happy day-after Thanksgiving! We had a fun day yesterday -- we had friends over for dinner with us, and it was great to share a meal with them, and our boys had a wonderful time playing with their friends, too.

My boys woke up this morning ready to start decorating for Christmas, so we're in the process of that! The lights are up outside, and the tree is up and my oldest has almost put all the ornaments on . . . still a few more to do later this afternoon. Before we completely move along to Christmas, though, I wanted to stop and post a few fun Thanksgiving projects . . . have been meaning to do this all week, but this is the first chance I've had!

The first is a beautiful waterfall technique card I received in a swap with my talented friend Marlene Caravello a while back:

Isn't it wonderful!?!!

The next set of projects are some fun turkey cards that my boys made with me:

We used the Owl Builder Punch with the ears trimmed off to make each turkey's body, then random ribbons from my ribbon jar for the tail feathers. The beak is a trimmed off pennant punch, and the waddle is a small heart from the Owl Punch. These turkeys were inspired by this wonderful card by Sandie Conner, which I first spotted when it was chosen as the Super Hero of the Ka-Pow Kreative Challenge 04 (KKC04). These turkeys are just too much fun to make!

Well, I'd better get back to helping the boys with the Christmas decorating!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

My Digital Studio -- Caught Fishin' Page

2011-11-17T22:26:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a good bit of digital scrapbooking again lately, and wanted to share with you a page I made last month as part of my entry into the most recent contest Stampin' Up! had for My Digital Studio creations.

I thought this was a fun photo of my boys being boys! They were so proud of their catches that day . . . and they were actually amazed to catch anything since the last time we'd been to that lake, they didn't have any luck.

Anyway, I used a picture of the lake in the background, but toned down the color in it so it wouldn't compete with the bright colors of the photo. There are a few swatches of various digital papers on the side, and I had fun adding both zig zag and straight stitches on the page. To create the "caught" title, I used the digital Rough Type Stamp Set, and used the color picker to match the color to some of the darker earth tones in the photo. The fish are from the Cute Cats stamp set, and again, I used the color picker, this time to match them to the colors of the fish in the photo.

(In case you are curious, I didn't win with this page. The Finalists had some amazingly wonderful entries! You really should check them out when you have a chance . . . here's the link.)

And, if you'd like to see the latest downloads available for My Digital Studio, click here.

Hello, Glimmer Snowflakes!

2011-11-16T22:50:00.000-08:00

I had great fun putting this card together for a swap with my awesome and talented friend Marlene! The challenge for this one was to make a Christmas card, but I decided I wanted to use non-traditional colors, make it a shaker card using the cool Mica Flakes and Shaker Frames from the Holiday Mini, and play with some Silver Glimmer Paper! This card also qualifies for this week's challenge over at Late Night Stampers, which is to make a project with snow. It's snow much fun, you should play along, too! (Sorry about the pun, couldn't resist!) Here is my card:

Do you like the soft colors? I used Baja Breeze for the base and for the layer that is embossed with the new Snow Burst Embossing Folder (a little hard to tell, but I sponged over the embossing with Whisper White Craft ink to give it an even softer, more snow-like look). The pink accents are Pretty in Pink pieces, die cut with the Tasteful Trim die.

Here's a closer view of the stamped image in the shaker frame:

This is the little girl from the Gift Givers stamp set. I colored her in using Watercolor Wonder Crayons. Hard to tell from the photo, but I also went over the snowbank in the background and the falling snowflakes with a Versamarker, then applied Irridescent Ice Embossing Powder, and heat set it. So, between that and the Mica Flakes, there's plenty of snowy sparkle in there!

The snowflake accents along the left side of the card were created using Silver Glimmer Paper and the Northern Frost die. I had read in a discussion on Late Night Stampers that it is easier to die cut the Glimmer Paper if you remove the white paper backing first, and that definitely worked for me. I also colored one of the snowflakes by pushing it into a Regal Rose ink pad . . . it is a very subtle effect, but I was pleased to find out it worked. I've since seen a great technique (from a fellow member of Late Night Stampers) to achieve a brighter look . . . you can check it out on Sharon's blog here.

I finished off my snowflakes with a Rhinestone Jewel in the center of each. I also couldn't resist adding some Whisper White Organza to the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Stocking from Santa Card

2011-11-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

The Holiday Stocking Bigz Die is so much fun -- here's another project I made with it. Here I used it just to decorate the card front . . . although, you could make the stocking so it would hold a treat onto the front of the card, and that would be a fun way to give a little treat, too.

The card base is Basic Black, with a layer of Whisper White and then the Pink Pirouette layer on top of that. I embossed the Pink Pirouette Layer using the Tulip Frame Embossing Folder.

I cut the stocking out of Cherry Cobbler. I attached the heel and toe, which are cut out of the beautiful Holly Berry Bouquet Designer Series Paper. Then, I embossed the stocking with the Petals-a-Plenty Embossing Folder. I wanted only a soft, quilted look, though, so after I embossed the stocking, I ran it through the Big Shot again, with no embossing folder, just between the plates, to smooth the embossing down a bit. I used the same technique on the stocking topper, then attached that and the stocking to the card using Stampin' Dimensionals.

I used the Cherry Cobbler 3/8" Quilted Satin Ribbon to make the loop and bow.

To make the "from Santa" tag, I die cut an Oval, then embossed it using the oval frame from the Designer Frames Embossing Folders set. I punched out an oval to fit inside that, and stamped the words on there (I used a Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write Marker to ink up only the words I wanted from the words in the Dear Santa stamp set). Then I sponged around the edges using Pink Pirouette ink before attaching to the tag.

For a recent swap with my SUper Friends group, I decided it would be fun to jazz this card up a bit more and add some of the fun Mini Jingle Bells, too. Here's how that turned out:

Here's a close up of the jingle bells. I attached them to the quilted ribbon and Bakers Twine using Tombo Multi.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Not too Hard to Resist . . .

2011-11-09T15:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Wednesday! Today's been pretty productive so far for me . . . although my to-do list still feels way too long! I've been in serious digital scrapbooking mode right now . . . I'm working on pages for the boys' elementary school's yearbook. I also had fun yesterday creating and ordering some cards from My Digital Studio . . . will show you at least one of those very soon. While on the topic of My Digital Studio, I should mention that there's a free digital download available . . . over the weekend, Stampin' Up! gave away four downloads as part of a Digital Scrapbooking Celebration, and enough people participated that Stampin' Up! decided to give everyone a fifth free download. Isn't that wonderful?! You can read more about that over at mydigitalstudio.net by clicking here.

Now, on to the cards I have to show you today! The first of these I created as part of a card class for a wonderful new group of stamping friends I have been getting to know. They wanted to see some fun uses for the Hello Doily! background stamp and the Delicate Doilies stamp set, and while looking for ideas on Stampin' Connection (a special site Stampin' Up! has created for demonstrators, where we can share samples, ideas, and more with each other), I came across a gorgeous emboss-resist card with these two stamp sets by Brenda Keenan (who in turn was inspired by a card by Lyssa Griffin Zwolanek). I totally copied Brenda's color scheme . . . I love the Pool Party and Crumb Cake combination with this technique . . . so soft and pretty! Here's my version:

To create this, I first stamped Hello Doily in Versamark Ink onto white card stock. I used clear embossing powder, and heat embossed. Then, I sponged on Crumb Cake and Pool Party classic ink, and stamped images from the Delicate Doilies set in those two colors as well. To finish off the card, we added the greeting (this one is from the Petite Pairs stamp set), and embellished with Pool Party Seam Binding Ribbon and an Antique Brad.

After creating this card, I decided to use the same technique with a different stamp set to create another card, and inspired by one of the friends in my class, to use a bit more Pool Party sponged on first (in the card above, I used a bit more Crumb Cake). Here's how my second card turned out:

The embossed daisies in this one are from the Upsy Daisy Stamp Set. The greeting is from the Fabulous Phrases. Instead of an antique brad, I added some punched out flowers, and added Pearl Jewels in their centers.

This technique is great fun . . . lots of possibilities with it! Hope you'll try it. If you do, please add a comment and let me know -- would love to see what you make!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Spice Cake Medallion Wreath -- Finished!

2011-11-08T20:47:00.000-08:00

Last month, I started working on a wreath made of pleated paper medallions (these seem to go by many names . . . I know they are also called lollipop flowers, rosettes, accordion fold flowers . . . the list goes on and on!) My wreath was inspired by the beautiful sample on page 6 of the Holiday Mini. I decided to create mine using only the Spice Cake Designer Series Paper, which I think may have made mine turn out a bit too "busy"-looking for my liking. Lesson learned -- when I make another one, I will be sure to add more solid color card stock medallions to the mix as well!

Here's the first layer of my wreath in progress:

For the back, I just cut out a piece of the heavy backing paper that comes in Stampin' Up!'s Designer Series Paper Packages. I didn't worry about making it perfectly circular, since I figured it would be hidden by the medallions.

And, here's my finished wreath:

I had fun using the Spice Cake Designer Buttons, Antique Brads, and Neutrals Designer Buttons to embellish the medallions. The ribbon is retired Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon -- I wanted to use 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain, as in the sample from the Holiday Mini, but discovered that I didn't have any colors that would work! There will definitely be some Soft Suede Striped Grosgrain on my next order!

What do you think? You should give these a try -- and if you are in the San Jose area, I'm having a class on these soon -- would love to have you come make one with me! (Be sure to check my upcoming classes page for more info!)

- Michelle

Thankful!

2011-11-07T17:34:00.000-08:00

Whew! I apologize, it has been a while since I've had time to post! Last week was a bit of a whirlwind around here . . . maybe it was for you, too?! It was a fun week -- we celebrated two birthdays in our family, and had a fun Halloween in between. I'm very thankful for the fun times with our family and friends!

Today's card is a special card I created a while back to say thank you to some special friends who were a big help to us when my husband dislocated and broke his ankle almost two months back. Not sure how we'd have managed without their help and support! (By the way, my husband's recovering well. He's still on crutches . . . and we're hoping he'll be able to put some weight on his ankle and maybe even start walking on it again soon. Amazing how long the recovery for this type of thing is, but we're very thankful that he's been making good progress each week since the accident happened). So, without further ado, here's the card:

The card base is Pool Party Card Stock. The designer paper is Spice Cake, framed with Soft Suede. I cut out an oval for the greeting, using the Sizzix Ovals die, then embossed that using the oval Designer Frames Embossing Folder. The "Thank You" is from the Perfectly Penned stamp set, and was stamped in Soft Suede Classic Ink. I sponged around the edges of the oval with Pool Party and Soft Suede ink. The leaves are from the Gently Falling stamp set. The more solid image was stamped in More Mustard, and the outline in Soft Suede Classic Ink. There's also a small strip of Soft Suede paper behind the focal images, and I pleated that on one side to add more dimension and interest.

Thank you so much for reading my blog! Hope you'll stop back again soon!

- Michelle

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

Hope you are having a fun day! My boys are actually home from school today (it's a staff learning day in our school district), and we've been taking it easy so far. That's been especially nice because we had a jam-packed weekend with soccer, birthday celebrations, church activities, and more!!!

Anyway, I have a post full of random, but really fun Halloween projects to show you!

This first two are cards that I created for my Halloween kids class:

This one is a "peek-a-boo" card, with a special frame made using the new Peek-a-Boo Frame Bigz Die. When you open the panel with the owl on the front, here's what's revealed inside:

For the background behind the haunted house and inside the peek-a-boo frame, I used a technique I learned from my friend Marlene Caravello. Here's the amazing artwork she sent that was the inspiration for my cards (with apologies because my photography doesn't do justice to this -- it has wonderful shimmer paint details!):

The other project that we made at my Halloween kids' classes was a treat-holder bat. I found these on Heather Summer's blog, and thought they were so wonderful, I just had to make my own! Here is mine:

Timothy (my almost 6 year old!) had fun making these, too . . . in fact he made two pretty much identical bats! Here's one of them:

And, here are some fun little tags that I made as a thank you for my hostess club members to go with their orders this month:

I also whipped up some more cupcake thrones for Halloween treats to give the boys' teachers, and this time used my friend Yuka's sponging technique on the pennants so you could see it:

I filled the thrones with some Truffle Brownies I baked. I simply cut the brownies, put them in a cupcake wrapper, then in a medium cello bag, and tied with either a Black Satin Ribbon or with the new Basic Black Polka Dot ribbon:

And, last but not least, I just have to share an adorable little bat treat holder that I also received in my last swap with my friend Marlene Caravello (isn't she awesome!?!!!):

Hope you like these! Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Halloween Woods

2011-10-25T22:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I showed you the fun cupcake project that my friends and I made at our hostess club this month. Well, that wasn't all we made . . . we also made a Halloween card using Stampin' Up!'s Wood Sheets. This card was inspired by an article and project in Stampin' Success, a monthly magazine Stampin' Up! publishes for demonstrators, which is full of wonderful ideas, information, and inspiration. Here's my card:

The card base is Basic Black, and I layered two scalloped pieces that were die cut using the Big Shot and the Tasteful Trim Die onto the base. The outlining and dots along the scallops were added using Dazzling Details. Then, I added a square of Basic Black that I had embossed using the Spider Web embossing folder. I also spritzed that square with Silver Foil Smooch Spritz, for some extra sparkle.

To create the "Happy Halloween" tag, I started by punching a 2-1/2" Circle out of a Wood Sheet. (I was happily surprised to learn from Stampin' Success that the Wood Sheets can be used with punches as well as certain Big Shot dies. That opens up so many possibilities!) The image of the owl in the tree (from the House of Haunts stamp set) was stamped lightly on the wood using Black StazOn ink. I then lightly watercolored around the image using my Aquapainter and Old Olive ink, and leaving a moon-like circle to the left of the owl. The "happy halloween" from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set was stamped afterwards, again using Black StazOn.

I added two 2-3/8" Scallop Circles, punched from Cajun Craze card stock, behind the wood tag. I also punched a hole in the tag, using my Crop-o-Dile, and tied a piece of Black Satin Ribbon through it.

The gals from club again came up with some great variations in how they colored the tag and which images they used (turns out the haunted house from the House of Haunts stamp set also works well!) . . . should have taken photos of that! Will try to remember to do that next time!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween Cupcake Fun!

2011-10-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

Just over a week ago, I had a fun afternoon creating some Halloween projects with my friends in my hostess club. A while back, maybe even when the new Idea Book came out in July, one of my friends requested that one of our projects be the cupcake holder shown on page 67 of the Idea Book. So, I set to work, searching the blogosphere to see if anyone had come up with a pattern we could use! And, lo and behold, none other than the amazing JanTink (aka Janine Tinklenberg) already had figured it out and has an amazing, super-easy-to-follow, and in her usual style, incredibly fun to read tutorial on her blog -- and, at the risk that you'll pop over there and forget to come back here to see what else we made, here's the link to Jan's tutorial. (Thank you, Jan!!!) Although, in case you need incentive to keep you reading this whole post, you won't want to miss the photos of the cupcakes we frosted to put in our "cupcake thrones." (Thank you, Catherine and Jana, for supplying the cupcakes, icing, and fondant!!!)

So, armed with Jan's method for putting a "cupcake throne" together, I set about designing a throne fit for a Halloween cupcake. I liked the pennants on Jan's sample, so stuck with that, but decided to try to fit images from Spooky Bingo Bits on them. Here's what I came up with:

Plus, I created a little 3x3" note card to match:

The base card stock on these projects is Pumpkin Pie, and the designer series paper is Just Add Cake. I ran the designer paper through the Big Shot in the Spider Web embossing folder, then sanded the raised areas.

The pennants were created with the Petite Pennant Builder Punch, and Whisper White card stock. Spooky Bingo Bits images were stamped on them in Basic Black Classic Ink, and then I sponged around the pennant in Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, or Daffodil Delight.

I always get great ideas from the gals in my hostess club when they re-create my projects, and this time was no exception! My friend Yuka sponged each pennant with more than one color, leaving no white, and creating almost a tie-dye effect . . . it looked so cool! Apologies for not taking a photo of that to show you. I'll have to try to recreate the look soon so I can . . . or maybe Yuka will send me a photo of her project?

I added the little taffeta ribbon knots on here and there using glue dots. It's my way of making creating the illusion that banners are hanging on ribbons, without actually going through the trouble of glueing the ribbon on behind them.

As I mentioned above, perhaps the best part of this project was the cupcakes! Jana had the brilliant idea of testing out the new Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamps to see whether they would stamp into fondant. Guess what?! It worked with the marshmallow fondant Jana made!!! Here's Jana displaying how the cupcakes turned out:

And, here's our cute little Jack O' Lantern cupcake on its throne:

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Hello to the KA-POW Creative Challenge

2011-10-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I mentioned that I had a chance to finish two challenge cards! Well, now it's time to show you the other card I created. This one is for the current KA-POW Creative Challenge (KKC03), which is a color challenge to use Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Wisteria Wonder, and Whisper White. These colors are so bright and cheery! So, here's the happy card I created using them:

I used a Daffodil Delight card stock base, and then added pieces from the Flirtatious Specialty Designer Series Paper. The layout was inspired by an older Mojo Monday layout (#194) that I had printed out a while ago and was sitting on my desk because I have been wanting to make something with it for a long time. I just turned the layout on its side because that worked better with the paper pieces I wanted to use.

The white strip along the bottom is a piece of Whisper White that I die cut using the Big Shot and the Tasteful Trim die. I tied a piece of Wisteria Wonder ribbon around the card and into a bow above the white strip.

To finish off the card, I added the flower embellishment and the "Hello" greeting. Those pieces were both created using stamps from the Posy Punch hostess set. I stamped the "Hello" in Wisteria Wonder Classic Ink, and punched it out with the 1" Circle punch.

For the flower, I stamped in Daffodil Delight on Whisper White card stock, and punched it out using the Fancy Flower punch. I added a Pumpkin Pie button from the Bold Brights Designer Buttons pack on top. On top of that, I layered another image from the Posy Punch set (the flower in the circle), which I punched out with the 1/2" Circle Punch. I inserted a Wisteria Wonder Designer Printed Brad through that before adhering to the button. Here's a close up of the flower:

Hope you're having a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Stamp-Happy Friday!

2011-10-14T22:58:00.000-07:00

Today was a fun day -- this morning, I volunteered in my kindergartener's classroom and it was fun to be able to help him and his classmates with a project about goldfish and guppies. Only problem is now my little guy is convinced we need our own guppies at home. I loved having them when I was a kid, but not sure I'm ready for them now!

Then, after school, I was able to spend fun time stamping with friends and with my boys! My friend Charlene and I started an advent calendar project that I hope to show you soon, but for now it's still a work in progress. I also had friends over to work on some Halloween projects that I hope to show you soon, and managed to finish up not one but two challenge cards, which is something that hasn't happened in quite a while!

Here's the first of my challenge cards -- it's for the current challenge over at Late Night Stampers. This week's challenge is to make a card using River Rock, Cajun Craze, and well, just discovered in looking at the challenge again that it is supposed to be Night of Navy, but I got that part mixed up and used some Not Quite Navy. Oops! Guess I only managed two out of three, but at least I was pretty close on the third. Here's my creation:

The card base is Cajun Craze. I used Well Worn Designer Series Paper with a layer of Not Quite Navy behind it for the background. Then, I added a strip of River Rock, with a greeting from the Perfect Words set on it.

The base of the medallion is a piece of River Rock, which I die cut using the Big Shot and the Perfect Pennants die. I added a Not Quite Navy circle cut with the Circles die, and a piece of Well Worn paper punched with the 1-3/8" Circle Punch.

For the flower, I used my Fun Flowers die and cut two flowers out of Cajun Craze. I then used the Faux Suede technique to peel those apart, crunched them up, and used an Antique Brad to hold them together. Last but not least, I added a Denim Ribbon bow.

Here's a close up of the flower:

This was a fun challenge -- these colors are so perfect for fall cards. Hope you'll give them a try, too (with the Navy of your choice! Ha!)

- Michelle

Sweet-Pressed Cookies!

2011-10-10T20:51:00.000-07:00

Last week my littlest guy and I had a chance to test out one of Stampin' Up!'s newest products -- the Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamps. We followed the sugar cookie recipe that was included with the stamps. Here's how the dough turned out:

Then, we balled up the dough, put it on the cookie sheet, and stamped it. My little guy really enjoyed that part, although he took it extremely seriously, as you can see from his expression in the photos:

The handle for the set is just the perfect size for not only big hands but also little hands to be able to use it successfully. There are three images you can stamp, and Timothy insisted we try out each image. The stamps are very easy to interchange -- simply remove one image from the handle, and pop the next one on.

Here's a cookie we made with each design:

And, a whole plate full of our cookies:

In all, we were able to make about 13 cookies with the recipe, but everyone here thought they were so tasty, they did not last long!

If you'd like to buy your own (or pick up some for some fun gifts!), be sure to stop by my online store here -- and don't forget to visit the Clearance Rack while you are there -- there are some great deals on other holiday crafting items right now, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Deck the Halls with Fabric Stockings!

2011-10-07T18:14:00.000-07:00

Here's another of the projects I made for my recent swap with my wonderful friend Marlene Caravello. One of our challenges was to make a 3-D project, and I decided to make a Christmas stocking. When I saw the new Holiday Stocking Bigz L Die from the Holiday Mini, I saw so many possibilities -- not just in paper, but also in fabric! So, I decided it would be fun to stitch up a stocking with some of Stampin' Up!'s beautiful holiday designer fabrics. Here's the finished project:

Here's just the stocking, unstuffed:

I used the Deck the Halls Designer Fabric to make the stocking. I die cut 4 stockings total -- 2 from the fabric you can see on the outside, and 2 from the fabric used to accent the heel, toe and cuff. I first added the heel and toe accents to the pieces for the outside of the stocking. Then, I stitched each pair of matching stockings together right sides together. I turned the fabric for the outside right side out, and then stuffed the other stocking inside that without turning. Finally, came the most challenging part to figure out -- I stitched both stockings together, along with the cuff at the top and the ribbon for the hanger. For the ribbon, I used the new Cherry Cobbler Quilted Ribbon from the Holiday Mini.

Here's a closer look at the goodies for inside:

For these, I stuffed some yummy chocolates into the new 1 x 8" Cellophane Treat Bags from the Holiday Mini. I tied them together with some Very Vanilla 3/8" Velvet Stitched Ribbon and Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon. The tag is an image from the Stitched Stockings stamp set, stamped in Cherry Cobbler on Very Vanilla, and punched out with the coordinating Stocking Builder Punch.

This project was fun to make, and I really like how it turned out! Definitely going to have to make some more of these soon -- perhaps even for blog candy?

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Gently Falling with Spice Cake Napkin Fold Card

2011-10-04T22:23:00.000-07:00

Those of you who follow my blog regularly know that I enjoy swapping regularly with my amazing and talented friend Marlene Caravello. We finished up another of our swaps recently, and so I'm ready to share some of those projects with you!

One of the challenges we came up with was to create a fancy fold card, and that card should be for Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. I chose to make a napkin fold card for Thanksgiving. I followed this excellent tutorial from Splitcoaststampers to create the napkin fold (I wanted to do the fancy scalloping around the edges, but must confess I bungled my first try with that badly -- I punched corners first when I should have started with edges -- then decided that for this card, I actually liked the straight edges better anyway.)

Here's a photo of my finished card closed:

Then, after removing the belly band:

And, opened to show the inside:

Close up of the stamping on the interior panel:

I used Sahara Sand for the card base, then the Spice Cake Designer Series Paper for the accent layers on top of that. The interior panel is Very Vanilla, stamped with the Gently Falling Stamp Set. I used the Rock n Roll technique on the colored leaves, inking first with More Mustard, then with Cajun Craze, before stamping. The outlines and greetings (from the Perfect Pairs set) were stamped in Soft Suede.

For the belly band, I used Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon and Sahara Sand Card Stock as the base. I scalloped the Sahara Sand using the Scallop Trim Border Punch. I added a layer of Spice Cake Designer Paper on top of that. The medallion piece was created using Sahara Sand and Very Vanilla pieces cut with the Perfect Pennants die and Big Shot. I punched out a Pool Party circle to go under a fussy-cut leaf I had stamped using the same Rock n Roll technique as for the interior panel.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Thanks so Much for Fall

2011-09-26T14:53:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it is now officially fall? We had some slightly cooler weather over the weekend, and even our first little sprinkle of rain in a while, so it actually felt a little like fall here! It's supposed to get warm again this week, but I've noticed some leaves are starting to change and it is getting dark earlier . . . and the kids are starting to discuss what they want to dress up as for Halloween. (I think they're going to use last year's costumes again this year! That sure makes life easier!)

Anyway, I hope you are enjoying these first few days of fall, too. Here's a fall card I made recently for a couple of swaps, using some fun new products from the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini:

Here's a close up of the T monogram:

I made this piece using the Letter It alphabet set, stamped in Soft Suede on Very Vanilla. I punched it out with the 1-1/4" Circle, so it would layer in one of the new Spice Cake Designer Buttons. These buttons are probably the biggest I've ever seen -- so, when I saw them, the first thing that came to mind was using them as a frame!

There is a 1-3/4" Circle of More Mustard underneath the button, and that is layered onto a piece of Soft Suede, which I die cut using the Perfect Pennants Bigz L Die and the Big Shot.

Here's a close up of the leaves:

These were stamped using the new Gently Falling stamp set. For each leaf, I first stamped the more "solid" image from the set. I used the rock n roll technique to ink the stamp. The maple and small leaf were inked first in More Mustard, then rocked around the edges into Cajun Craze. The oak leaf was first inked with River Rock, then one side was rocked into More Mustard and the other side with Cajun Craze.

I added a Very Vanilla jewelry tag, stamped with an image from the Tiny Tags stamp set. I used linen thread to tie a bow through a hole I punched in the tag.

The designer paper is from the Spice Cake Designer Series Paper pack, and I layered that onto Pool Party card stock. The card is on a River Rock base.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Feels like Friday!

2011-09-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

My kids finished school for the week today (there's a staff learning day tomorrow), so it feels like a Friday tonight! I have only a couple minutes as I need to get back to watching a movie with them, but thought I'd pop in and show you the last of the cards from my recent Marvelous Minis class. Here they are:

The flowers on the cards are made with the Blossom Petals Builder Punch. I used Calypso Coral for the petals for one card, and Island Indigo on the other. Each flower center is one of the new Designer Printed Brads. The leaf is Pear Pizzazz, and the greeting on it is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and is stamped in Lucky Limeade.

I used the Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbon around the two top layers. The top Whisper White layer was embossed using the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder and the Big Shot. Underneath that is a layer of Pear Pizzazz.

The card base is a 5 x 3.5" Note Card.

Hope you are having a wonderful day -- and can get an early start to your weekend, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Just a Little Bit Spooky . . .

2011-09-21T16:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a fun little Halloween mini card (3 x 3"), created using the Spooky Bingo Bits stamp set:

The card base is Pumpkin Pie textured card stock. I stamped the "spooky" greeting directly on the card stock, and used Basic Black ink for it.

I used markers to color the rubber before stamping the three images, and then used markers to color in some of the images after stamping as well. The images are stamped on Whisper White, and punched out with the 1" Circle Punch. I layered them on a strip of Basic Black, which is in turn layered on a strip of Rich Razzleberry on top, and a piece of Basic Black punched with the Lace Ribbon Border punch and layered over a piece of Old Olive.

I'll have more Halloween projects to show soon . . . stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

I'm back!!!!

2011-09-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

Did you miss me? I've been taking an unplanned break from blogging because my family needed some extra TLC. My husband managed to break his right leg and ankle pretty seriously while skimboarding on September 11th . . . he ended up having emergency surgery to patch everything back together, and has been home recovering ever since . . . and will be for a while! He's doing all right -- each day seems a bit better, and slowly but surely we are getting back to a more normal routine. And, that means I've actually found a few minutes today to pop in here and share some of my creations with you again.

But, before we get to the card I want to show you today, a little unfinished business . . . I still have an unclaimed kusudama ball, and while I don't mind having it around, I really intended it to brighten someone else's day, so I've decided to have random.org give me another random number, and we'll try again! So, drumroll please . . . the random number selected is 6, which if I am counting right means Robin will be receiving the kusudama ball soon!

Now, on to a card . . . or actually two versions of a card!

These are both made using Stampin' Up!'s Note Cards as a base. (The Note Cards are 5 x 3.5" -- a really nice size for a quick thank you note or some birthday wishes!) I layered some Basic Black on the card base, and then a piece of Whisper White, which I embossed using the new Houndstooth Textured Impressions Embossing Folder and the Big Shot.

After embossing, I brayered over the raised area with Basic Black Craft Ink. When you emboss with the Houndstooth folder, there are different raised areas on each side of the paper -- so depending which side you choose to brayer over, you'll get a different look. That's why the pattern looks different on my two note cards.

I then added some Basic Black 5/8" Satin Ribbon and the greeting/focal piece. To create the focal piece, I inked up a letter from the new Letter It alphabet with Rich Razzleberry, stamped off once on scratch paper, then stamped on to a piece of Whisper White. I stamped a word from the Fabulous Phrases stamp set over the letter. Next, I punched out the letter with the 1-1/4" Circle Punch. I layered that piece on a piece of Rich Razzleberry card stock, punched out with the 1-3/8" Circle Punch. Then, that was layered on a piece of Basic Black that had been punched out with the Decorative Label Punch.

For the finishing touch, I added a flower from the Itty Bitty Bits stamp set, stamped in Rich Razzleberry on Whisper White and punched out with the coordinating punch from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack. There is a black rhinestone in the center, which is from a retired rhinestone package from last year's Holiday Mini, but could be re-created using a Basic Rhinestone Jewel, colored with a black permanent marker.

Hope you like the cards! Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

The Sky's the Limit!

2011-09-08T11:36:00.000-07:00

Here's another of the cards we will be creating in my upcoming mini card class:

This card uses the fun new set Up, Up & Away from the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog. For the balloon, I stamped the solid balloon image first, then used markers to color the rubber of the striped balloon image, and stamped that on top of the solid balloon.

A little hard to see in the photo, but the focal image is framed by the rectangular frame from the Designer Frames Textured Impressions Embossing Folders set.

I created the cloud background by sponging around a cloud mask punched out from the Cupcake Builder Punch.

The greeting banner was cut free hand, the greeting stamped in Early Espresso, then the edges sponged with Real Red Classic Ink, and faux stitching added with Real Red Stampin' Write Marker around the edges.

Wouldn't this be a fun card for a birthday or graduation or congrats on a new job? Lots of possibilities, I guess!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

- Michelle

Vintage Rose Video Tutorial!

2011-09-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to announce I have a new video tutorial available for you! You might remember this card, with 3D vintage-y rose blossoms, from this post:

If you'd like to re-create these flowers, here's my video to show you how:

Hope you like the video. Please let me know if you make these, I'd love to see what you create with this idea!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

More Marvelous Minis

2011-09-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

Here are two more cards that I created for the upcoming Marvelous Minis class. These use the Tagtastic Hostess set plus a couple of my favorite new items from the Holiday Mini -- the Holly Berry Bouquet Designer Series Paper and the Cherry Cobbler Quilted Satin Ribbon. The designer paper was cut into scallop strips using the Tasteful Trim die and the Big Shot. The stamped images were colored with markers.

Here's a close up of the Just for You card:

And, here's the Happy Birthday card:

These are 3 x 3" cards -- so fast, easy, and fun to create! They are perfect to tuck onto a gift or give as a little surprise to brighten someone's day.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Gently Falling Mini Cards

2011-09-03T12:58:00.000-07:00

This past week, I was busily creating mini cards for an upcoming class, and here are two cards I designed that use the wonderful new Gently Falling set from the Holiday Mini:

Here's a closer view of each card (I've been playing around with photographing cards on white versus black . . . not sure which I like best yet. What do you think?)

These cards are both on More Mustard Textured Card Stock bases (although it looks almost like Pumpkin Pie in the black background photo!) I used the beautiful new Spice Cake Designer Series Paper as well. The greetings are stamped in Early Espresso on Pool Party card stock strips, which I folded and trimmed to look like flags.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

The Holiday Mini is Here!!!

2011-09-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the Holiday Mini yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Click on the photo of it below, and you can browse online to your heart's content (or, if you don't already have a demonstrator, please leave me a comment or send me an email, and I'll be glad to get you a copy of your own!)

There are so many fun products in here -- I've been having fun playing with the Stocking Die for the Big Shot and the Spice Cake Product Suite and so much more! You'll be seeing my creations with those here soon! So, stay tuned!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Hello, Doily! Thank You Card

2011-08-31T16:06:00.000-07:00

Before showing you today's card, just a quick reminder that this is the last day to order from the Summer Mini! This card is the last of the cards we made at my CASE the Catalog Card Class this weekend. For this one, I adapted the "Season's Greeting" card from page 43 of the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog. The version in the Idea Book, uses the Bells & Boughs stamp set, and I love that, but wanted to use the Hello, Doily! stamp for a somewhat less "Christmas-y" looking card. Here's how mine turned out:

I also substituted the Perfectly Penned stamp set (can you tell this is one of my current favorites?) for the Curly Cute stamp set (which I also think is wonderful, but don't have yet!) Finally, I added a couple of rhinestones to my version.

Just a quick post today -- now I have to head off to help my new third grader with his spelling words!

Thank you for stopping by!

- Michelle

The Case of the Beautiful Butterfly Card

2011-08-29T15:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the wonderful ladies who came to my CASE the Catalog classes this weekend! It was great fun to stamp with you!!!

Today's card was by far and away the most complicated and time consuming of the cards we made. It took just over an hour to get all the pieces prepared and put together! However, I think the end result is worth it!

This card is adapted from the card on the bottom of page 197 of the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog:

I kept the same basic color scheme from the catalog, just used a different stamp set and changed the embellishments a little.

The catalog card uses the Creative Elements stamp set. For my card, I decided against fussy-cutting butterflies, and thought it would be a great opportunity to use the Beautiful Wings Embosslit instead! So, I first stamped pieces of Very Vanilla, using an image from the Delicate Doilies stamp set, then ran them through the Big Shot in the Beautiful Wings Embosslit. The greeting on mine is from the Tiny Tags set, and was punched out with the Jewelry Tag Punch.

The catalog card also uses Vintage Trinkets, but I opted for Clear Rhinestone Jewels in the butterfly centers instead.

One of my favorite parts of the card is all the Bitty Buttons -- they just add such a neat touch!

Hope you like this card. Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Celebrate Today with Build a Blossoms!

2011-08-25T15:55:00.000-07:00

Another of the cards that caught my eye in the current Idea Book was one on page 112. So, of course, I had to create my own version of it (or CASE it). Here's my version of the card:

I kept the Not Quite Navy base and More Mustard piece the same as in the Idea Book. And the flower is the same. The petals are stamped in Rich Razzleberry. For the larger petals, I off-stamped once before stamping on the Very Vanilla and punching the petals out with the Blossom Builder Punch. The smaller petals were stamped full-strength, then fussy-cut. The flower center was stamped in Old Olive and punched out with the 1/2" Circle Punch.

The designer paper in the background is from the Well Worn Designer Series Paper pack -- one of my new favorites. I love how versatile it is -- you can make masculine or feminine cards so easily with it!

For the greeting banner, I substituted a stamp from the Perfectly Penned set, stamped in Old Olive. The sample in the Idea Book uses Curly Cute instead.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Polka Dots, Banners, and Flowers, Oh My!

2011-08-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

Just a quick share today -- this is another card from my CASE the Catalog Class coming up this Friday:

The card this is based on a card on page 12 in the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog. I simply changed the color of the card from Calypso Coral to Pool Party. I love the simple elegance of this design.

Can you believe I actually stitched this card with my sewing machine?! I've been working on cleaning my crafting space, and one of the big changes I made was cleaning everything out of the way of my sewing machine so I can use it! I'm so happy about that!

While we're on the topic of page 12 of the Idea Book -- did you notice the beautiful flowers there? That was one of the first things that caught my eye when I first saw the Idea Book. And, those flowers are definitely on my list of things to CASE (i.e., Copy & Share Everything)!!! The flowers are made with different pieces punched from the Blossom Petals Builder Punch -- I love how versatile that punch is -- a definite must-have for anyone who loves punch art!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Wish Big Card

2011-08-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

When my boys saw the Need for Speed stamp set in the new Idea Book, they were so excited. My eight- year-old is really, really interested in airplanes and particularly jets, so he especially thinks the jet in the set is cool! He's already used it quite a bit, including to help me make this card for a friend's birthday:

The card base is Crumb Cake, and the panel with the jets is Whisper White. We stamped the jets with Night of Navy ink, then sponged around them with Pool Party Classic Ink. We sponged the edges of the Whisper White with Night of Navy. We put a strip of Night of Navy underneath that, along the bottom of the card. It is hard to see in the photo, but that strip is embossed with the Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.

For the greeting, we stamped images from the Pennant Parade set in Night of Navy on a piece of Pool Party, and punched it out with the Petite Pennants Builder Punch.

Here's the inside of the card:

We lightly rolled the So Many Stars and the Striped Builder Wheels, then stamped the jet from Need for Speed, and "Celebrate Today" from Perfectly Penned.

Super simple, but a fun card for an eight-year old boy!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Variations on a Happy Theme

2011-08-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

It seems like I've been "CASE"-ing a lot lately -- especially the new 2011-12 Idea Book & Catalog -- lots of beautiful samples in there! Well, today's cards are no different. These are all inspired by the square card on page 85, with minor tweaks.

The first in this series of cards is perhaps the most direct copy. And, by the way, is one of the five cards we will be making in my "CASE the Catalog" class this Friday -- if you're in my area (San Jose, CA), and would like to come, please leave a comment or send me an email to let me know -- I still have a couple spaces!

Anyway, for this one, I used the same layout and colors as in the Idea Book, I just changed the stamp set from Nursery Times to Easy Events. For the ruffled paper, I used Paisley Prints. I switched to a flower button instead of the heart from Itty Bitty Buttons, and left off the So Saffron banner, since it was easier to just stamp the greeting below the image. For this card, I also did "faux stitching" with a White Uni-ball Signo Gel Pen.

This card is pretty much the same -- I just substituted Marina Mist for the Baja Breeze card base, used only one button, and actually stitched with the sewing machine:

I was having so much fun with this layout, though, and needed a bunch of birthday cards, so I kept going -- plus Isabella decided to "help" me and pose while I was photographing some more of this set of cards:

A little closer view of my favorites from these:

The embellishment above is a piece of Peach Parfait punched out using the new Triple Layer Blossom Bouquet punch, with a red button in the center.

For this one, I managed to fit a Pool Party card stock flower, punched with the four-petal Itty Bitty Shapes Punch flower, in the center of the Old Olive button. In the center of the flower, I put a drop of Dazzling Details (if you haven't heard of that yet, that's because it is a sneak peek of a brand new product from the Holiday Mini, available September 1st!)

For this card's button, I used Dazzling Details to help hold a Pearl Jewel in the center.

Just wanted to give you a close up of the Dazzling Details on the cupcake!

And, these are Calypso Coral punched flowers with Dazzling Details in the center.

Whew! Thanks for staying with me through all that!

- Michelle

Ribbon Share

2011-08-19T13:28:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! Recently, I put together a ribbon share with some of the brand new ribbons from the new 2011-12 Idea Book & Catalog, and my first group now (almost) all have their beautiful new ribbons! Here's how each person's share turned out:

Pretty, huh?! Well, I have a couple more interested in doing another share, but it takes 5 people to make it work, so I thought I would see if you would be interested in joining in the share.

This share is a great way for you to try out nine of the beautiful new ribbons without buying full spools (which would cost more than $90!). The total cost for each participant will be $18 (which comes out to only $1 per yard, including tax and shipping!), and for that, you will receive:

2 yards of Lucky Limeade 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon
2 yards of Pool Party 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon
2 yards of Island Indigo 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon
2 yards of Blue 3/8" Denim Jean Ribbon
2 yards of Basic Black 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon
2 yards of Old Olive 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon
2 yards of Pretty in Pink 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon
2 yards of Tangerine Tango 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon
2 yards of Cherry Cobbler 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon

This is available to U.S. addresses only. If you would like to join or have any questions, please email me at michellevanw-stamps@yahoo.com Once I have 5 who are interested, I will send everyone an email to confirm, as well as to collect the information needed to place the order (paypal email address to send the invoice and mailing address to send your beautiful new ribbons after the order arrives).

Thanks,

Michelle

Hello, Doily Projects!

2011-08-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

Here's the other set of projects we made during Sunday's hostess club (if you didn't see the card we made yet, you can see that here):

The little box is "CASED" from Stampin' Up!'s 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog -- there's an almost identical box on page 150, with some really cute flowers in it. (If you are viewing the Idea Book online, it will actually be page 152 in your viewer.) Here's a close up of my box:

The box is created using the Big Shot and the Fancy Favor Bigz XL Die. We cut the box out of Textured Not Quite Navy Card Stock. We inked up the Hello Doily stamp with Versamark, and heat embossed with White Stampin' Emboss® Powder.

For the greeting, we used the Fabulous Phrases set, and stamped using Cajun Craze and Old Olive on a Whisper White piece punched out using the Extra-Large Oval Punch. Behind that piece, we layered pieces cut from Cajun Craze Card Stock using the Lace Ribbon Border Punch. And, that is all on top of a piece of Crumb Cake Card Stock punched out using the Decorative Label Punch.

The little flowers are an image from the Itty Bitty Bits stamp set, stamped in More Mustard and Cajun Craze Classic Ink, and then punched out with the coordinating Itty Bitty Shapes Punch. We added a Pearl Jewel in the center, and a piece of Old Olive punched out with the branch from the Bird Builder Punch. The ribbon on the side is 1/4" Bashful Blue Grosgrain.

I designed a coordinating 3 x 3" notecard to go with this sweet little box -- here's a close up of that:

For the notecard, we again used a Not Quite Navy Card Stock base, with the Hello Doily stamp embossed in White. The greeting is again from Fabulous Phrases, stamped in Old Olive ink, and punched out with the Word Window Punch. We layered two small flowers, left after we'd punched the Lace Ribbon Border Punch, behind the greeting. Then, behind that is a piece of Crumb Cake punched out with the Modern Label Punch. The flowers, branch, and ribbon are the same as on the Fancy Favor box above.

Hope you enjoyed these -- I think the Hello, Doily stamp set is so much fun! And, if you haven't tried this color combo before, I'd recommend it!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Showing Kindness Matters with Vintage Roses

2011-08-16T20:03:00.000-07:00

You might remember that last week, I showed you this serendipitous card that came about as I was working on the card I am about to show you. I created the card I am showing you today as one of the projects for my hostess club this month, and it is a "CASE" ("Copy & Share Everything") or recreation of the beautiful "You're Fantastic" card on page 12 of the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog (if you are viewing the Idea Book online, it will actually be page 14 in your viewer), just with a different color scheme and stamp set.

For this card, we used the Kindness Matters set for the background stamping and the greeting:

We started with a Crumb Cake base, stamped the butterflies and swirls on in Crumb Cake Classic Ink, then sponged around the edges of the card with Soft Suede. We also stamped the greeting with Soft Suede.

The flag or banner piece behind the focal point is a piece of Certainly Celery, which we embossed using the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Embossing Folder and Big Shot. We attached a piece of Natural Ivory card stock, punched with the Scallop Edge Border Punch, to either side of the Certainly Celery piece.

We used another piece of Natural Ivory to create the dotted oval frame piece -- it is embossed with one of the new Designer Frames Textured Embossing Folders and the Big Shot. We tore carefully around the edges -- and actually, I learned from my friend Jana that you could take a wet q-tip around the area you wanted to tear, and that made it way easier! It also made the edges a bit softer where the paper fibers had been broken down by the water. Thanks, Jana, for that tip!!!

In the center of the frame, we added a piece punched from Paisley Prints Designer Series Paper, using the Wide Oval Punch.

We created the flowers using two pieces punched from the Five Petal Flower Punch for the smaller flower and the Fancy Flower Punch for the larger flower. We used the Faux Suede technique to create the soft fuzzy look to some of the petals and create more petals for the flowers. I'm going to have to add these flowers to the list of things I should make a video to show how to do because it is way harder to explain in words than to demonstrate! The kids are back to school in basically a day, so I should be able to do that for you very soon! In the meantime, here's a close up:

We created the leaves by punching blossoms out of Always Artichoke using the Blossom Builder Punch. Then, we scored them (using Stampin' Up!'s new scoring tool! Available to customers starting Sept. 1st!!!) and ran them through the crimper.

The ribbon is Crumb Cake Seam Binding Ribbon, which we tied in a bow, spritzed with water, then scrunched and let dry. We attached it using several drops of Tombo Multi -- one in the center, and then one on either side.

Hope you like it! Please stop by tomorrow to see the other projects we created at Sunday's hostess club!

- Michelle

More Amazing Cards by Marlene!

2011-08-15T17:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! Today I have a couple more cards to show you created by my amazing and talented friend Marlene Caravello. Here's the first one:

Marlene used the coordinating Pennant Parade stamp set and Petite Penant Builder Punch to create the tree on this one. I love the background for the tree, too -- I hope Marlene will comment and correct me if I'm wong, but I think this is done using the Faux Fossil technique (you drop two colors of reinkers in between two window sheets, with space in between the colors so they do not become muddy, and then open and close the sheets, pouncing them together. You then transfer the ink from a window sheet onto glossy card stock). I think Marlene used Cherry Cobbler and Always Artichoke on this card.

Here's a beautiful ATC that Marlene created using the same technique:

It looks like Marlene used Pretty in Pink and Wisteria Wonder on this one. I love the little bit of Wisteria Wonder ruffled ribbon on the corner -- it's attached with one of the great new mini silver brads. The stamp on the left side is from the My Friend set.

It's a little hard to see in the photo above, but there is also a butterfly die cut from a Window Sheet using the Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die. Marlene also embossed the butterfly with the Elegant Bouquet Embossing Folder, and stamped "hello" from the Pennant Parade stamp set on one wing. Here's a photo from a different angle so you can see the butterfly better:

Very beautiful! Thanks, Marlene, for letting me show off your work!

Thank you for stopping by!

- Michelle

SUper Friends SUper Swap!!!

2011-08-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

Boy, do I have a treat for you today!!! At our meeting last month, my SUper Friends team each created cards to swap, and they were so wonderful, I just had to share! Here they are:

By Agnes:

And, a bonus card from Agnes:

By Sparrow:

By Charlene:

And, a bonus card from Charlene:

By Christina:

By me:

It was great fun to see what everyone made -- we're swapping again later this month, and I'm excited to see what the gals come up with this time, too!

Didn't want to overwhelm you by posting details about the ingredients for each of these cards, but please feel free to email or comment if you have questions about what we used to make these.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

A Little Serendipity

2011-08-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

This morning, as I was finishing up the last sample for my upcoming hostess club's projects (I know, I know, relatively last minute! But, I've already got the plan for next month, so hopefully that won't be so last minute!), I realized that one of the pieces I had been struggling to make work on the card I was creating would be perfect for something just a little different. That's where the serendipity came in!!!

The piece I had was a Marina Mist "flag" that I'd embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Embossing Folder -- I was using it to try to "CASE" or recreate the beautiful "You're Fantastic" card on page 12 of the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog (if you are viewing the Idea Book online, it will actually be page 14 in your viewer), just with a different color scheme and stamp set. The Marina Mist turned out to be too powerful in the background for the look I wanted. I ended up changing the color of that piece of the card again, and came up with something that I really like for hostess club -- I'll post that here sometime next week (don't want to completely spoil the surprise for my hostess club friends)!

Anyway, I was looking at the Marina Mist piece, thinking it was too nice to go too waste, and it looked great with some Beau Chateau Designer Series Paper that also happened to be out on my desk, and then I thought about two challenges that I wanted to try -- this month's So Shelli.com Creative Challenge, which is to create a "thinking of you" type card, and this week's Late Night Stampers challenge #133, which is to create a thinking of you card with some blue in it -- and realized I could use it to make something that would work nicely for both. Since I had the "You're Fantastic" card layout on my mind, I stuck with that, tweaked it a bit more and came up with this card:

Each side of the Marina Mist embossed piece is lined with a piece of Early Espresso, punched using the Scallop Trim Border Punch.

The medallion with flowers on it is created with a piece of Early Espresso Card Stock, which I embossed using one of the new Designer Frames Textured Impressions Embossing Folders (love these!!!) Seems strange to say because it doesn't look like it was done carefully, but I carefully tore around the oval frame after it was embossed. I wanted to make sure I didn't lose any of the beautiful dotted frame! I also love the lighter color that shows where the Early Espresso is torn. Here's a close up so you can see that better -- and the detail of the flowers:

The flowers were all created from Very Vanilla card stock. The largest flower was created using several pieces punched from the Five Petal Punch. The medium flower is two pieces from the Boho Blossoms Punch, and the smallest flowers are punched using the four petal flower from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack. I inserted new Silver Mini Brads in the centers of the flowers. I love being able to add just a little bit of silvery bling -- so pretty!

The ribbon is Pear Pizzazz 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon, which I tied in a bow, then spritzed with Stampin' Mist, scrunched up to the shape I wanted, and let dry.

The greeting flag is a hand cut piece of Very Vanilla, on which I stamped the greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes in Early Espresso Classic Ink.

After everything was assembled, I spritzed the flowers and greeting just a little bit with my Marina Mist Stampin' Write® Marker and Spritzer Tool.

This card just makes me happy to look at -- hope you feel the same!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Michelle VanWiggeren

Well Worn Blossom Jewelry Box and Note Card

2011-08-10T16:51:00.000-07:00

For my hostess club last month, I wanted to show off some great new products from the new Idea Book, and thought the new Blossom Box Die would be a fun project to try because last month's hostess also had a jewelry party at her house on the same day. So, we'd have a fun gift box to use with the new jewelry. Here's what we ended up making:

Here's a close up of the note card:

The note card base is Naturals Ivory Card Stock. We simply added a strip of Well Worn Designer Series Paper (part of this August's awesome designer series paper special!) to coordinate with the Blossom Box. We stamped a sentiment from the Perfectly Penned stamp set in Soft Suede Classic Ink, and finished the notecard with a bit of the new 3/8" Blue Denim Jean Ribbon. Don't you love how well the denim ribbon coordinates with the Well Worn paper?

Here are some close ups of my sample Blossom Box:

The Blossom Box was a bit tricky to assemble, but I love the end product. I'm thinking about creating a video tutorial for it, but will probably have to wait on that until next week when the kiddos are back to school!

Anyway, once we managed to assemble our boxes, we used more of the denim ribbon around the box, and attached a flower to that. We created the flower using two River Rock die cut flowers from the Fun Flowers Bigz L die. We sponged those flowers with Cajun Craze Classic Ink. We layered a smaller Cajun Craze flower, also cut with the Fun Flowers Bigz L die cut, on top of the River Rock flowers. Then, the flowers are held together and to the ribbon using a 5/8" Jumbo Brad. For mine, I used a Very Vanilla brad, and sponged on just a bit of Cajun Craze Classic Ink. I was happily surprised that it actually stayed on the brad, and didn't wipe off!

We created one other bonus card, and for that, I copied the layout of a card I saw by Amy O'Neill on Stampin' Connection (a wonderful site that Stampin' Up! provides for demonstrators to share with one another). Wish I could show you her original, as I love the color combination she used on it (Pool Party base with Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and Whisper White)! I haven't been able to find if she has a blog or figure out another way for you to see her card, but if I can, I will try to link it up here so you can see for yourself. Anyway, here is the card I made:

My card has a Whisper White Card Stock base. On the bottom I added a strip of Pool Party, which I had embossed with the new Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. Under that is a layer of Wisteria Wonder, which had been punched out with the Lace Ribbon Border Punch. On top of that I layered a strip and a knot of Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbon.

The pennants were stamped with the Pennant Parade stamp set, in Versamark for the patterns, and in Wisteria Wonder for the greeting. We punched out the pennants using the Petite Pennants Builder Punch.

Last but not least, we added some Rhinestone Jewels for some bling!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Blog Candy Winner

2011-08-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hi again! Just wanted to update you on the kusudama blog candy. I had random.org choose a random number for me, and it picked 10!

Looks like that is Donna! Congratulations! Please contact me so we can make arrangements for me to send the kusudama ball to you.

Thanks to everyone who left comments -- they are very appreciated!!!

-- Michelle

Happy Anniversary Card

2011-08-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks back, my parents celebrated their anniversary, and I wanted to create a special card for them. I used some of my favorite new supplies, and here's what I made:

The card is made using Shimmery White Card Stock -- I love the subtle sparkle of this paper! I layered some Pool Party Card Stock on top of the base, then used another sheet of Shimmery White on top of that. I embossed the top part of the top Shimmery White layer using the oval frame from the new Designer Frames Textured Impressions Embossing Folders Set, and the bottom part using the new Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. I added a Pool Party 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon across the top of the embossed stripes, and punched some flowers to attach on top of that. "Happy Anniversary" from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set is stamped in Pool Party in the center of the embossed frame.

Here are some close ups so you can see the shimmer and the details better:

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Flirtatious Happy Birthday by Marlene

2011-08-08T21:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! Here's another beautiful card I received in my last swap with my sweet and talented friend Marlene Caravello:

Marlene's card has a white card stock base, with layers of Melon Mambo and the Flirtatious Designer Series Paper. The beautiful Melon Mambo medallion is from a special die cut sheet that comes as part of that designer series paper. Marlene added a whisper white scallop behind the medallion so it would stand out more, and there are jewels on the medallion and greeting.

Love it -- hope you do, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

-- Michelle

Quick and Easy Delicate Doilies

2011-08-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick and easy card using the Delicate Doilies stamp set:

I randomly stamped images from the set in Island Indigo, Calypso Coral, and Pink Pirouette Ink on a Whisper White card base. I added a Pink Pirouette flag, and stamped "heartfelt thanks" from Fabulous Phrases in Island Indigo on that.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Gettin' Punchy with Late Night Stampers!

2011-08-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

This week on Late Night Stampers, the challenge is to punch a bunch -- create a project using punches and dies. So, here's what I created:

I had my Delicate Doilies stamp set on my desk when I was thinking about what to make and decided I wanted to play around and try to make some funky flowers with the images. This card didn't come out exactly the way I had envisioned, but I still think it is funky and fun.

To create the largest flower, I started by embossing the largest image from the stamp set, using Versamark and Melon Mambo Embossing Powder on Pretty in Pink card stock. I punched that out using the 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Punch.

For the inside of the largest flower and the other two flowers, I started by embossing the smallest image from Delicate Doilies. I again used Versamark, but this time with Tangerine Tango Embossing Powder on So Saffron Card stock. I punched that out using the 1-1/4" Circle Punch. I surrounded that with eight Tangerine Tango pieces cut with the scallop circle punch from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack. Then, I put a 1-3/8" Circle of Tangerine Tango behind that.

There's a Rhinestone Jewel in the center of each flower.

The leaves and stems were created using the Bird Builder Punch. I punched them from Wild Wasabi card stock.

I also used Wild Wasabi card stock to punch out the side pieces with the Decorative Label Punch. I traced around the edges of those pieces with my Wild Wasabi Stampin' Write Marker to add some extra interest.

The flags on either side of the card were cut from Whisper White card stock, and sponged with Pretty in Pink. I stamped the sentiment on the top flag using Melon Mambo ink.

The butterflies were created using the Beautiful Wings Embosslit and the Big Shot. They were cut from Pretty in Pink and Melon Mambo card stock. I embellished each with a Rhinestone Jewel.

I adhered all my pieces to a Certainly Celery card base, which I had embossed using the Framed Tulips Textured Impressions Embossing Folder and the Big Shot.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Sweet Pea Kusudama Wreath

2011-08-02T18:26:00.000-07:00

Hi, again! Second post for today . . . and another quick one! Just wanted to share another kusudama project I'd created, actually a couple months ago now, but finally getting around to posting! Here it is:

And, a closer view of some of the flowers I created for this wreath:

Probably the most colorful of these wreaths that I have created yet, and perhaps my favorite! These flowers were created using various patterns from the My Sweet Pea Designer Paper (one of my favorites of all time, which is unfortunately retired -- although the images from it are still available as a digital download in My Digital Studio).

To see how I created these flowers, you can check out my video tutorial in this post.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Designer Series Paper Special!

2011-08-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

Have you heard the news? Stampin' Up!'s having a special on Designer Series Paper during August!

This is a great time to stock up on paper for cards, scrapbooks, kusudama projects, and more!!! To see which designer papers are included in this special, or to start shopping, please click here!

- Michelle

Fancy Swap Hop -- Marlene Caravello's Brushless Watercolor Card

2011-07-28T23:05:00.000-07:00

Hi! Welcome! For those of you who regularly read my blog, you might recall that I mentioned earlier this week that I actually got to speak with my dear friend Marlene Caravello for the first time this past weekend because we have been working on a special surprise for you!!! Well, here it is! I'm lending my blog space to Marlene for the day so she can take part in a Fancy Card Swap Blog Hop!!! I'm so excited and honored to be able to do this with her -- Marlene's art work is so beautiful, and I know the other cards you see in the blog hop will be amazing, too! Be sure to keep hopping after you check out Marlene's creation so you can see for yourself!!!

You may be arriving here from Elizabeth Price's blog Seeing Ink Spots (if not, you won't want to miss her beautiful vintage card or instructions for how she dyed her organza ribbon), and after you've checked out Marlene's fancy card, you'll be heading to the next stop on the blog hop, Kaylene Murray's blog Stampin Kay (I'll provide the link again at the bottom so you can check out the whole post before heading on to see Kaylene's beautiful creation!)

So, without further ado, here's Marlene's card:

and the inside view:

Marlene used a simple Brushless Watercolor technique to create the background behind the flower on her card front. She explains:

Using Stampin' Up!'s watercolor paper (this is the best as it is 100% cotton), cut down to size needed. Add Stampin' Up! Classic colors of choice with sponge or brayer. Do not skimp on ink as it will lighten up as it dries. Spritz heavily with water mist. Turn paper to let color(s) run or add rock salt (leave on until dry) for an interesting result. It's easy and fun!

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to hop along to Kaylene's blog by clicking here.

Submitted by Michelle VanWiggeren for Marlene Caravello

Kusudama Tutorials and Time for Blog Candy!!!

2011-07-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

Several months back, I mentioned that I was working on a kusudama ball tutorial and pondered whether a kusudama ball blog candy might be of interest to anyone. While I have been a bit distracted by random and various other projects, I have not forgotten either of those ideas!

First things first . . . for the blog candy . . . if you would like to be the proud owner of a kusudama ball created by me, please leave me a comment on this blog post before August 6th at midnight (for those reading this on Facebook, please make sure to click through to the blog to enter your comment in the right place). I'll use a random number generator to pick who will be the lucky recipient and announce that person the week of August 8th. If there are enough comments (like more than 30), I will make more than one ball (although paper designs may vary from the one shown), so I can choose more than one recipient. Here are some photos of the kusudama ball someone will receive:

Now, on to the tutorials for those who'd also like to make this project themselves!

The first step is to select the designer paper you would like to use. For the kusudama ball above, I used four 12 x 12 sheets in two designs from the Flirtatious Designer Series Paper. You need to make 12 flowers to make the ball, and each flower requires 5 petals, which if you do the math means you need 60 squares of paper. The squares I used were 3 inches by 3 inches, so I was able to get 16 squares out of each designer series paper sheet (you'll have two of each design left over . . . I plan to use those to make cards!)

Next, you will need to cut your squares.

Then, it is time to start folding each of the petals. To begin, bring the top corner of your square to the bottom, with the design on the outside that you would like to be on the outside of your flower. Here's a photo of that:

Then, bring each of the outer corners to the top, like this:

Take each of those flaps, and fold in half toward the outer corner, like this:

Then, squish the flaps open like this:

Fold down the top of each of the flaps, until it is in line with the edge leading to the top, like this:

Then, fold the outer edge of each flap in half, back toward the center, like this:

Finally, put glue on one of the flaps, and attach to the other flap:

Assemble five petals together by attaching side to side. I use Tombo Multi to do this.

I made a video to show you how I do both the petal folding and the flower assembly. Here it is:

After you have all 12 flowers assembled, it is time to arrange and glue them into the ball. I divide the petals in half, and assemble each half of the ball. I start by figuring out which will be the center flower, then place 5 flowers around that. I hot glue in any rhinestone brad or other center I may want for the flowers, then attach the flowers to each other using hot glue.

When both halves are finished, I create a ribbon loop for hanging the ball (this takes approximately 12 inches of ribbon . . . I simply loop it and create a knot at the other end), then hot glue that in between the two halves.

Here's a video to show you what I mean:

Did you catch my little goof in the video? Those are actually rhinestone brads, not rhinestones. (It is possible to attach rhinestones, it would just be a bit more challenging!)

Hope you will try this out. Please be sure to leave a comment to enter for blog candy or if you have any questions!

- Michelle

Printed Spring Break My Digital Studio Album

2011-07-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything My Digital Studio-related! I think my last posts were probably back in May when I was digital scrapbooking daily to finish my goal of completing an album during National Scrapbooking Month (if you'd like to see my work in progress posts, you can here, here and here). Well, I accomplished my goal, had the book printed, and have some photos of the completed book to show you (with apologies because my photography skills leave something to be desired -- the book and pages look much better in real life than in these photos!).

Here's the final version of the cover:

I kept the layout the same from what I originally showed you, but I decided I wanted a lighter background and settled on this light blue digital designer paper from the Shades of Spring Digital Download.

Here are some pages from inside:

(For the bottom two, I took inspiration from Becky Fleck's PageMaps for the layouts.)

On the back of the book is a rainbow we saw as we were driving home:

I'm really happy with how the book came out -- the guys and I really enjoy going through it and remembering our fun trip! I have some other projects I should get started on soon, too . . . hopefully will have some time to get into them this week while the boys are at their day camp or once they are both back to school . . . won't be long now . . . yikes!

Anyway, I love how fun and easy it is to scrapbook using My Digital Studio. If you haven't tried it yet, you should!

- Michelle

Another Flirtatious Butterfly Card

2011-07-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

Hi! Happy Monday! Hope you had a terrific weekend. I've had the privilege of stamping quite a bit recently . . . both Thursday and Friday friends came to stamp with me in the afternoons. Saturday, I had the treat of stamping with a good friend in her wonderful stamping space. And, yesterday, I had the great joy of finally speaking on the phone to my long-time stamping friend Marlene (we've only communicated via mail and email before then!) We're planning a treat for you all later this week . . . stay tuned! Guess you can tell, I had an awesome weekend! And, with the boys off at day camp today, I'm getting things organized for some consistent blog posts this week. So, let's get that started with today's card:

I made this card for a challenge with my friend and SUper Friends team member Charlene. For our challenge, we each agreed to make a card using Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge #27, so that's the source for this fun layout.

When I saw the layout, I thought the Flirtatious Designer Series Paper would be great to use with it -- it's a fun way to show off the different doily patterns! I layered the designer paper on Whisper White card stock, and used a Wisteria Wonder base.

I added the Melon Mambo butterly in the center along with the greeting. The butterfly is created with two die cuts from the Beautiful Wings Embosslit. I stamped them with Versamark and images from the Delicate Doilies stamp set. Then, I added Pearl Jewels in the center. Here's the close up:

I finished it off with a sentiment from Fabulous Phrases, stamped with Wisteria Wonder Class Ink on a piece of Whisper White card stock cut into a flag shape.

Hope you like it! Let me know what you think -- I love to read your comments. And, if you'd like to join us in doing this sketch challenge, let me know that, too!

- Michelle

The Case for Matching Pen and Paper Sets!

2011-07-20T22:55:00.000-07:00

A while back at a Friends Happen! meeting, my friend Kallien Meris introduced me to a wonderful project -- stationery cases created by decorating empty stamp cases! Such a terrific project, I had my hostess club members create their own at one of our meetings. Here are some of their amazing creations:

This one by Catherine uses Playful Polka Dots along with the Strength and Hope stamp set:

Others used the Nautical Expedition Designer Series Paper from the Summer Mini along with the Open Sea stamp set and Baker's Twine to create gifts suitable for dads:

Here's the inside of one -- specially engineered by Lea so the pad and pen would stay neatly in place:

And, here's another one using Nautical Expedition Designer Paper and The Open Sea stamp set:

I had fun creating this one for a swap with my friend Marlene Caravello. These cases are so much fun to decorate -- if you haven't already, you should give this project a try! Instead of filling with a notepad and pen, you could also insert some handmade cards and envelopes for a sweet gift set.

I'd love to see what you come up with if you make these stationery cases, too.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

- Michelle