Patricia Stamps

Jolliest Time of the Year

Yes, I'm thinking about cold and snow already. Yesterday and today it was near 100 degrees here in Indiana. I think a little cool weather would be welcome right about now.

This stamp set, Jolliest Time of the Year, is an oldie, but a goodie. If you like it, you can still order it directly from my online shopping site, or by contacting me directly to place an order for you. 

I stamped the snowman in Black Stazon ink and colored him in with Stam 
pin' Write Markers. I used Melon Mambo, Bashful Blue, Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink and Only Orange.

I cut the snowman out in a circle using my Stampin' Up circle cutter. I positioned the circle, hanging off the edge of the bashful blue cardstock and trimmed the edges even with my Stampin' Up Tabletop Cutter (which I LOVE!!!).

The little strip of Melon Mambo cardstock was run through the Big Shot machine with the Flurries embossing folder and the edge was punched with the Scallop Trim Border.

To make the shimmery background on the Bashful Blue cardstock, I used the Frost White shimmer paint. I poured a little on a plastic lid, added a little water and then used a scrunched up piece of plastic wrap as a dauber.

The card itself is Basic Gray.

I hope you enjoyed it.

If you wish to order any supplies, please go directly to my website http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/46902/ and click on the "Shop Now" button in the upper right hand corner.

 

SU Only Challenge - Retired Stamp Set

Every year when the Stampin' Up catalog comes out, there are number of stamp sets that retire. This means you won't be able to purchase them again after the catalog is gone. For the most part, I get rid of all of those sets, to make way for some new ones. There are still a few stamp sets left my retired shelves.

Elegant Inspirations - because it is just beautiful and I love the scriptures. It is my go to set for wedding and thinking of you cards.

Watercolor Garden II - a beautiful floral set that is so easy to use. Two step stamping and nothing else is needed to make a quick beauty with this set.

Stampin' Fun for Everyone - I haven'[t used this set but once or twice, but it is one of those that I just keep thinking I might, because it is so much fun.

Anyway, I could on for a little while about which sets I still have and love, but on to the challenge.

This SUO Challenge is to use your favorite retired stamp set to make a card. I must say that this was a tough challenge. I have so many retired stamp sets that I love. I chose to use Cowboy Kid. I have a little boy and this set is just so cute for cards for his friends.

Click on over to the SUOnly Challenge and play along.

SUOnly Challenge - Wheels

Are you wondering why we are doing a "wheel" challenge and my card has no wheels on it? Well, this card was made with one stamp (the words) and one wheel (for the border of cupcakes as well as the background of cupcakes).

I love to use Stampin' Up wheels on my projects. This one is especially cute and useful. For the border, I wheeled the image in basic black and then colored it in with my markers. For the background, I wheeled with Baja Breeze ink on Baja Breeze cardstock.

TIP: Whenever I wheel a background, I always go on the diagonal. That way, if you are not perfectly straight you cannot see the mistakes nearly as much as if you go horizontally or vertically.

If you want to order Stampin' UP products, please see my demonstrator website.

www.46902.stampinup.net

Classes for Stampin' Up demonstrators

I have been teaching crafting classes for over 10 years. It is hard to believe it has been that long, but I started doing so before my great nephew Skylar was born and he is a teenager now.

In all of my years as a craft teacher I've enjoyed the teaching, but sometimes I just want to feel like the student. I want someone to sit down and show me a new way to tie a knot, or some cut little trick to make filler for gift baskets from my left over cardstock. That is why I am SO excited about a new site that I was introduced to just a few weeks ago. The site is called Paper Crafter's Library.

The Paper Crafter's Library has examples, samples, videos, handouts, projects, Q&A and so much more. The site is run by Andrea Wolford and her sister Sophie.

They post beautiful samples, along with videos to explain exactly how they did the project. My watercoloring has gotten so much better just by watching these videos.

Please take a few minutes to check it out. Membership is only $14.95 a month and it is well worth it. I have done a lot of different boot camps, stamp camps, etc. in my years as a crafter and I can tell you that this subscription is worth $100's every month.

 

Here is a card that we made in my class on Tuesday night.

I got the idea from the Paper Crafter's Library. I watched a video of the card being made, which helped me to help my customers who can't "randomly" stamp without a plan. It also gave me a great tip for my faux bow. I changed the colors and the sayings, but I used the measurements from the PDF file that came with the sample and the video. Class prep was EASY and the card is beautiful.

Please give it a chance. Let yourself enjoy being the student for a change.

 

 

Love is in the Air - SUO Challenge #11

Our challenge #11 is to make Valentine's Cards.

Here I used the four diferent Stampin' Up punches: scallop circle (for the body), five petal flower (for the head, with two petals removed), the full heart punch and the word window punch (for the legs, punched piece cut in half). I also used the smallest pearls from the Basic Pearls set from Stampin' Up. I'm so thankful those are self adhesive!

I hope you enjoy it. Let me know if you make some Valentine cards that you want to share.

Also, I am having class tonight, January 25, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. and we are making Valentine cards. If you live in the area and wish to join us, just send me a note or give me a call.

SUOnly Challenge #10 - Baby cards

I'm glad things have settled down in our lives. Glad to be back to posting fun new ideas to share with you. This year I am going to focus a lot more on all the wonderful things we can do with the My Digital Studio software from Stampin' Up. I am loving it! Not only do I love the software, but I love the fact I can order new things to go with it in the middle of the night and have them just moments later. Instant gratifica tion :)

The challenge for SUOnly group is to make a baby card.

I used the "All in the Family" digital stamp set. I took the baby body and the head and put them together. Then, I enlarged that image and saved it as a jpg file. I printed that image out as a wallet size photo onto Whisper White cardstock.

I colored the image and then cut it out very closely, leaving a very small white border.

I cut out the Duo Square die (larger of the two) with Whisper White. I then cut a slightly smaller square to go inside of it and ran that piece through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice embossing folder.

The words are from the wood mounted stamp set Short and Sweet and I used Whisper White craft ink to stamp them.

Hope you enjoy it. Now click on over to the challenge page and play along :)

 

SUOnly Challenge #6 - Clean & Simple Christmas Cards

Welcome to a new challenge. Clean and Simple Christmas Cards.

I have made a lot of cards already this season. This one is one of my favorites. Not just because of the beautiful stamp set, but becaue of the simplicity. I love that this one set has the main image, outside words as well as inside words. I only need one stamp set, three colors of cardstock, one color of ink and two embellishments.

Stamp Set: Come to Bethlehem

Cardstock: Shimmery White, Brushed Silver and Elegant Eggplant

Ink: Classic Elegant Eggplant

Other: Rhinestones, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing folder

 

I hope you enjoyed this challenge card. If you need help choosing your Christmas cards and ordering the supplies, leave me a commment and I will get back with you.

Peace on Earth Christmas Cards #3

This card uses both Holiday Mini hostess sets, Peace on Earth and Northern Hearts.

The colors are Marina Mist and Whisper White. I embossed the main "Season's Greetings" image with white embossing powder and a Versamark pad.

Peace on Earth Christmas Cards #2

I absolutely love this stamp set and this designer series paper.

The stamp set is Peace on Earth, a level two hostess set. If you want it, you need to earn it soon, as it will retire at the end of December.

The paper is also from the holiday mini catalog and it will be going away at the end of the month. It is called Deck the Halls. You can order it directly from my Stampin' Up website.

The middle element is from the new ribbon border punch. I love the look that punch creates. You can order it from my website, as well.

The colors used on the card are Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake (ink on the world) and Very Vanilla.

Peace on Earth Christmas Cards

  Here is a card I made using the beautiful level 2 hostess set, Peace on Earth.

The card is made with Elegant Eggplant and Whisper White.

I used the embossing folder, Northern Flurries. I did it in one direction, removed it and turned it around. The one end is slightly less embossed than the other, just because it went through the machine two times, but it still looks very pretty.