Happy Valentine's Day ...

Here's another card from my January class ... paper flowers for Valentine's Day!

Making the flowers is much like making the Valentine Treat Toppers ... stamp, punch & stick.

Punches Used:

• Scallop Circle Punch


• 1 3/8" Circle Punch (or 1 1/4 Circle Punch depending on the size of your stamp)


• 1/2" Circle Punch

Stamp Sets: Big Pieces, Little Pieces, Holidays & Wishes

Colors (inks & cardstock): Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate, Soft Sky, Blue Bayou ... and Whisper White craft ink.

To make the flowers petals ...
I punched 2 scallop circles of textured cardstock (2 pieces so that I could put the wire stem in the center and still have a finished flower back).

To create the centers ...
I stamped images from Big Pieces and punched them out with the 1 3/8" Circle Punch. Then, I stamped images from Little Pieces and punched them out with the 1/2" Circle Punch. To complete the centers, I attached the 1/2" circles to the 1 3/8" circles using brads (a paper piercer works great to create a starter hole for the brads). Next, I attached the 1 3/8" circles to one of the scallop circles using Stampin' Dimensionals.

To finish the flowers ...
I cut a piece of wire (approx. 6"), folded it in half and twisted ... creating the stem. I sandwhiched the wire between the 2 scalloped circles using Sticky Strip.

To attach the flowers to the card ...
I used Stampin' Dimensionals behind one flower, and Sticky Strip behind the other (creating some depth). Finally, I punched two small holes with a paper piercer on either side of the wire stems and tied with a small piece of linen thread.

Last Steps ...
I used a Stamp-a-ma-jig to place the "Happy Valentine's Day" greeting ... stamped in Whisper White craft ink on textured Purely Pomeagranate cardstock. The final piece is attached a Whisper White greeting card ... ready for sending.

Have Fun!

Valentine Treats ...

While playing around in the Stamp Garage last month, figuring out what valentine stamp projects to include in my class, I decided one of the projects should be "3-D" ... as in, not just another card. Well, of course chocolate and Valentine's Day go great together so a chocolate-filled cello bag was a start. I didn't want to make the project to complicated or time consuming (we're all crunched for time) and wanted something beyond the standard tag ... enter the punches! Lots of them!

For this project, I used 6 punches:

• Scallop Circle
• 1 3/8" Circle
• 1 1/4" Circle
• 1" Circle
• 1/2" Circle
• Double Rectangle

Stamp Sets: I used 'Circle of Friendship' and 'Little Pieces.'
Cardtstock: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Pink Passion, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pink Passion

Steps to make your own sweet treats goodie bag ...

Punch out one piece of Pink Passion cardstock using the Scallop Circle punch. Then punch two rectangle slots from your Pink Passion scallop circle using the Double Rectangle punch.














Next, punch out a Pretty in Pink circle using a 1 3/8" Circle punch and a Chocolate Chip circle using a 1 1/4" Circle punch. Then, stamp your favorite saying from the 'Circle of Friendship' stamp set using Chocolate Chip ink on Whisper White cardstock. Punch out the image using a 1" Circle punch. Stamp your favorite image from 'Little Pieces' in Pink Passion ink on Pretty in Pink cardstock and punch out using a 1/2" Circle punch. Adhere the 3 larger circles using your favorite adhesive -- leave the 1/2" circle for later.














Run a piece of ribbon through the slots on the Pink Passion scallop (I used pink and white gingham ribbon that is 3/16" wide). Next, attach the Pretty in Pink (1 3/8")circle to the front of the Pink Passion scallop using a couple Stampin' Dimensionals. (Be sure that your ribbon runs out the back of the scallop so that you can tie your treat topper to the cello bag.) Adhere the small Pretty in Pink (1/2") circle to the center of your 'Circle of Friendship' (1") circle using a Stampin' Dimensional.














You're now ready to fill your cello bag with your treat of choice and tie on the scallop decoration. Voila!














For my treats, I used small cello bags (3" x 5") - they were the perfect size to share a small handful of Hershey's Kisses.

Hope you have a great Valentine's Day next week. And, if you're not celebrating Valentine's Day - use black cardstock for your scallop and go with an Anti-Valentine's Day treat ... everyone loves chocolate. ;)

Spring Solitude ...

Maybe it's all the rain we've been getting lately that prompted me to go with lots of flower designs in the cards I made for my January stamp class. I used the 'Spring Solitude' set for this card.

I opted to keep the stamping simple (another "ooh, I need a card quick" option). Images are stamped in Purely Pomegranate, Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive. The greeting is stamped in Versamark and embossed with black embossing powder - tho' you can stamp this in Black ink or color of your choice (Old Olive looks nice) if you want to save a tiny bit of time on the embossing step.

A Lil' Thanks ...

Getting ready for stamp class this week. Here's one of the featured projects, a 4x4 inch "Thank You" notecard.

I used the new "A Beautiful Thing" stamp set and a piece of Bali Breeze double-sided designer paper. Cardstock colors are Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie. The greeting is from the "Much Appreciated" stamp set - stamped in Whisper White craft ink.

The Flowers: The flower was stamped in Pumpkin Pie ink on Pumpkin Pie cardstock and then punched out with the 5-petal punch. I inserted a small white fabric flower (from Stampin' Up!'s "Pretties" kit) colored with some Pumpkin Pie pastel chalk and a marker for the flower center.

The Ribbon: To decorate the ribbon, I stamped the tiny flower images (4 in a row on one stamp) from "A Beautiful Thing" in Pumpkin Pie ink on to a piece of white grosgrain ribbon. This is a great way to make sure your ribbon ties into your project!

These notecards go together quickly ... perfect when you're short on time.

Good Things in 2008!

Happy New Year!

I'm finally getting back to a somewhat normal routine and looking to do some more stamping. I stamped this card with the new 'Time Well Spent' stamp set on watercolor paper using Timber Brown Staz-On ink. I played with a quick watercolor wash in Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and Summer Sun using watercolor crayons and, you guessed it, water. By using more or less water I was able to create lighter and darker shades of the same color.

For a bit more bling, I added a touch of glitter in the center of the flowers. It doesn't show up too well in the photo.

Books & Boards ...

In an attempt to get organized for the holidays, I decided to decorate a clipboard and a notebook to keep track of lists, receipts (thanks to a pocket) and other to-dos ... Great thing about these projects is all it takes is some designer paper & a glue stick!


I featured these projects at my class last week. Everyone chose their own designer paper - for my projects I used SU's Dashing paper (I'm a big fan of the simple geometric patterns and slightly retro holiday colors). For embellishemnts, I used some small chipboard pieces colored with craft ink (Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Real Red) ... and, some stamping with the Rough Edges alphabet and 'Snow Burst' stamp set.

I'm thinking I might make a few more of these for gifts ...

Happy December!

Whew, so much for November. Too much going on to stamp, post ... but I'm determined to get back into the swing of creative things. To kick things off, a quick card that's great for the holidays or, change colors & images, and use the same layout for any occasion (birthday, wedding, 'just because').


I think the layout idea came from a sketch contest months back (sorry I can't recall which one, promise to post a link when/if I remember). Here's a bit more info about what I used:

Stamp Set: Season of Joy
Designer Paper: Holiday Harmony
Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Always Artichoke
Extras: Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon, Punches! (1 1/4" Circle, 1 3/8" Circle, Scallop Circle)

The 'Season of Joy' stamp set, 'Holiday Harmony' designer paper and satin ribbon were all from Stampin' Up!'s Holiday mini catalog.

I showed this card at my stamp class last month and I think it's safe to say it was a hit!

Here's to an enjoyable December!