Happy Roller-Birthday!

Happy Sunday! Often, Sundays are my days to catch up, but sometimes I go to St. Mary of the Angels Roller Rink in Green Bay to see my family. It's a great family place to visit! Here's a card for any of those roller-skaters in your life:

Stamps: Best of Birthdays, Bring on the Cake
Paper: Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point
Ink: Basic Black, Tangerine Tango Marker, Rich Razzleberry Marker, Pacific Point Marker, Daffodil Delight Marker, Tempting Turquoise Marker
Accessories: Big Shot, Stocking Bigz Die, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, 1" Circle Punch, Glimmer Brads, Corner Rounder Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch

I used the Stocking Bigz die to CASE (copy and share everything) from Aimee Cretsinger, a demonstrator who shared this on Stampin' Connection, a demonstrator-only site for sharing ideas! 

To make any kind of card using a die cut, where the fold doesn't get cut, all you have to do is fold your paper where you want it and then place that fold below the top cut line.

 Be quick about CASING this card, as the Stocking Die and Glimmer Brads are on the Retiring Accessory list!

Happy Stamping!

 

Color Reorganization Done!

Stampin' Up! is renovating it's color choices and I spent time last weekend reorganizing as a result. I sorted all my paper and decided to relabel my drawers and ink caddy. I used MDS to create labels. Here is a jpeg that is linked a pdf of my labels.

I don't have the actual colors for the new In Colors, so I left them blank for now. I also just used a light gray for Smokey Slate, which isn't quite right.

 I used the Modern Label Punch on MDS for the shape, but it does not fit the punch. I made these so that two colors fit in each drawer I have:

Here's a close up of one cube:

I put two colors in each drawer. The colors mix, but it doesn't matter as it is easy to tell them apart.

I also relabeled my color caddy. I found that if I had a label of on the top of each column, I could track where each color is and know if I had it somewhere else or not. It's really helpful to me. I just count down the list-- 4th down, so the ink pad is in the 4th slot down.

Once things are organized, I have so much more stamping time!


Happy Stamping!

 

Happy Birthday to MEEEE!

I'm the Bomb! Well, I feel that way today. My students were very happy to celebrate my birthday with a treat in class. My husband wished me a Happy Birthday first in the am. My family texted, emailed and called. Friends gave me gifts and filled my Facebook Feed. Life is great! Here's a card I could have sent to myself:

Stamps: Bombs Away Photopolymer Stamp Set
Paper: Whisper White, Polka Dot Parade Designer Series Paper, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Gray
Ink: Basic Black, Basic Gray
Accessories: Big Shot, Chevron Embossing Folder, Brights Buttons, Basic Gray Stitched Ribbon

Some of my stampers used glimmer brads instead of the button and it looked cool!

You can order this photopolymer stamp online at my Stampin' Up! Store.

Happy Stamping!

Retirement 2013 Blog Hop Recap

Weren't those projects at the Stampin' Addicts Blog Hop fantastic? If you missed it you can go back through at any time. We have links that will still work forever.  Go back to my post if you want to check it out again: A Fond Farwell: Stampin' Addicts Blog Hop.


Retiring Stamp Sets are available until May 31st. Retiring Accessories are available while supplies last. For the most up to date, availability, check out my online store.

I used Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy on this card as both are retiring. I'll miss both as they made a great team together. This a card in my "easy" category. Stamp and watercolor. Easy.

Stamps: Elements of Style, Best of Love, Four Frames
Paper: Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Newsprint Designer Series Paper
Ink: Basic Black, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Decorative Label Punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, Aquapainters

Stamps: Elements of Style
Paper: Primrose Petals. Raspberry Ripple, Basic Black, Crumb Cake
Ink: Whisper White Craft Ink
Accessories: Labels Collection Framelits, Tea Lace Paper Doily, Vintage Faceted Buttons, Raspberry Ripple Stitched Ribbon, Big Shot, Stampin' Sponge

The chalkboard technique is simply stamping in our Whisper White craft ink on Basic Black Paper and then using a sponge to add some chalk dust. The fine detail inside the solid shapes makes this stamp set a great candidate for this technique.

This card got more positive feedback than I expected. See, I made the white part and everything on it to fit a frame. When I put it in the frame, it didn't look right. Being late the night before the hop, I decided to switch it back to a card. I, literally, just adhered my white part onto a card base and added the sentiment. I think its' crazy how mistakes can be made into a miracles. A true benefit of stamping is that creativity is more than just colors, but making the best of a bad situation!

Stamps: Elements of Style, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder
Accessories: Big Shot, Designer Frames Embossing Folder, Delicate Designs Embossing Folder, Daffodil Delight 1/8" Daffodil Delight Ribbon

Happy Stamping!

A Fond Farewell: Stampin' Addicts Retiring Sets Blog Hop

Goodbyes are always hard, so my friends and I at Stampin' Addicts have decided to hostess a blog hop featuring Retiring Stamp Sets! Did you come from Mary's Blog featuring Circle Circus? Maybe you are starting here. Your next stop will be at Heidi's blog featuring Forever Young and you can hop your away back around to my blog again.



My set is Elements of Style, a set that I have used many, many times for beautiful cards that seem to put themselves together. With that in mind, I have three cards to share!

 The chalkboard technique is one of my new favorites and this set is made for it!

 The front of this card started for a picture frame, but it looked too confined in there, so I brought it out into the open!

Beautiful Blues. My stamping group loved this one last Tuesday!


I'll post recipes on my blog Monday, so come back! Until then, go forward to Heidi's tribute to Forever Young.  If you want to go backwards, check out Mary's Circle Circus projects. If you get lost along the way, feel free to check out the thread at Stampin' Addicts, a great site for all things stamping.



Happy Stamping!


 

Camping Memories

Nope. Not a scrapbook page. I just had to get one more Father's Day card in using More Mustard:

Why is More Mustard so important you ask? Well, let me explain. Growing up, we had a canvas tent we camped in as a family--MORE MUSTARD AND OLD OLIVE. I have fond memories of riding out storms, floods, and bears in that tent. I wanted one more card to send to my dad before More Mustard retired.

Stamps: The Great Outdoors
Paper: More Mustard, Crumb Cake, Midnight Muse, Garden Green.
Ink: More Mustard, Midnight Muse, Garden Green
Accessories: Big Shot, Woodgrain Embossing Folder, Paper Cutter

Come make this card Tuesday Night at Stampin' Celebrations!

Happy Stamping!

 

This and That Notes

Life is good. I just spent two days at the Green Lake Conference Center at the Wisconsin Math Council Conference. Spotty internet, limited cell phone. No TVs. Peace and Quiet. Good Food. Fun colleagues. Great sessions.

 I had to do a bit of notetaking. I find that I write stuff down to help me listen, but I rarely look back. This morning, I knew I needed a way to remember what the big ideas, so I took out my This and That Journal and created this:

Wow. It felt so great to summarize the big ideas floating in my head and then the smaller tid bits to take back to my teaching. This is definitely something I will try again.

Plus, I got to play with stickers!

Happy Stamping!