A Lovely Christmas Swap

Last month I participated in a shoebox swap with some SU! demon- strator friends of mine, though I didn't actually get to attend due to illness. This lovely card is one of the projects from the swap. Jolene Barnes was the designer. Isn't it lovely? She used the White Shimmer Paint on the background. I just love the Navy/Silver/White combo for Christmas.
And don't forget that the 12 Days of Christmas sale is going on right now. See yesterday's post for details or click on the link on the right.

Christmas Blessings to you and yours,

Julie

Stampin' Up!'s 12 Days of Christmas and "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN???"

Sorry that I've been missing for the last week. It's so hard to prioritize my time during the Christmas season. I hope to make it up to you over the next few days.
How's this for a beautiful and simple Christmas card? It was made by Sandy Kelso, a demo that I met at convention. I love the way this card shows off the Petals-A-Plenty embossing folder from SU!
And don't forget the wonderful sale that Stampin' Up! is having right now. What, you don't know about it? Well, from now until the 22nd, there's a big sale on selected Big Shot dies and vinyls. You can make your own vinyl adhesive decorations with the vinyls and your imagination is the limit with these wonderful dies! Go to my Demonstrator Website and click on the "shop now" button. Don't forget to select me as your demonstrator so that you can take advantage of the preferred pricing.

Happy shopping!

Blessings,
Julie

Ever Have a Card Morph?

Christmas Card Cranks are over for the year. Should we start earlier next year? Maybe we should have a crank in July with some new sets...Yes! That's the ticket! Anyway, you've seen this card before because it was one of the CCC cards. I had to keep it simple so that my guests could get their 20 cards made in under 4 hrs. But I have such a hard time keeping things simple. I really like a little more pizzazz. So....
I messed with it for my own cards. This past Saturday, there were only two guests coming, so it proved to be the perfect opportunity for me to get started on my own Christmas cards. And this is the card that morphed from the original. What do you think? Ever had that happen to you before? I'd love to see the "before" and "after" pictures.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

Recipe: Serene Snowflakes and All Year Cheer (retired) stamp sets, Soft Suede ink, Soft Suede & Whisper White Cardstocks, Christmas Cocoa Designer Series Paper, Vintage Brads, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.

Birthday Wishes Notes Style

Fun & Fast Notes is a great basic stamp set. Look at this fun cake image...some markers, a little glitter and ta da! You're done. Oh, and the panels are made out of left over strips of DSP. This sketch was challenge 35 over on Stampin' Addicts. Very fun!

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings and a great Christmas season to you.

Julie

Recipe: Fun & Fast Notes, SU Markers, Rich Razzleberry, So Saffron, Whisper White, Raspberry Lemonade DSP, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, 2-Way Glue Pen.

Have Yourself a CAS Christmas

well...a (Clean And Simple) Christmas card, that is. This layout is from a Stampin' Up! publication. It's been floating around in the creative cavity of my brain for awhile. (Now THAT didn't sounds good, did it?!) I used the color challenge 40 from Stampin' Addicts (a 100% Stampin' Up! gallery site) for my colors. It's not the traditional colors for Christmas, but I like it! Do you know how hard it was, not to put any bling on here?! So I used my Shimmery White cardstock for my main image.

What kinds of CAS cards have you come up with lately? I'd love to see them!

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

Happy Thanksgiving Wishes

Here's my special Thanks- giving card to you, my blog friends. I hope you have a wonderful time with friends/family. I hope you remember all of the little things, besides the big things, that you have to be thankful for. I hope God sends you a special blessing on Thanksgiving Day...just because!
I'm thankful for my wonderful family, friends, stamping, books, a roof over my head, a full pantry, hugs, coffee, and blogging buddies. I love the creativity that we share through the internet.

Thanks for being my friends.

Blessings,
Julie

Recipe: Autumn Harvest & Teeny Tiny Wishes, Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand, Always Artichoke and Really Rust cardstocks, Always Artichoke 1/4" grosgrain, Linen Thread, SU Markers, Ticket Corner Punch.

Yuletide Christmas

This picture looks so peaceful. I wish my house looked like that! The kids are all home this week and I have a major headache, aftermath from my fibro attack yesterday. Arg! So I hid downstairs and finished this card. I had the main image done weeks ago, but had to set it aside to get ready for my Christmas Card Cranks. What do I like about this card? The non-traditional colors and how simple it is. That Petals A Plenty folder really is great enough to carry this whole card.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

Ingredients: Rose Red, Whisper White, and Certainly Celery Cardstock. Mistletoe Ribbon. Yuletide Christmas stamp set. Black Stazon and Certainly Celery inks. Vintage Brads. Scallop Oval Punch. SU! Petals A Plenty Texturz Folder.

Masculine To the Nines

Do you need more ideas for masculine cards? Well, To the Nines Designer Series Specialty paper is the way to go. I've used it here for the cupcake frosting and the striped panel. the background layer of Sage Shadow was run through the Big Shot with the SU! Perfect Details Texturz Plate. If you want a deeper impression than the plate gives you, spritz your cardstock lightly with water and then run it through on the plate. The cupcake was made with the SU Big Bold Cupcakes Sizzlits. I crimped the cupcake paper and then dragged the edges over the Sage Shadow ink pad.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!

Blessings,
Julie

Christmas Presents SU! Style

You know how sometimes you just have this idea that you must put on paper right away? Well, this is one of those cards.
The presents are different sized squares of designer paper from the Holiday Mini Catalog. The curly ribbon is very thin strips of Christmas Cocoa designer paper, curled around the applicator of the pastel chalks. The thin stitched ribbon is a slice of the Mistletoe Ribbon Originals from the Holiday Mini Catalog. The greeting is from All Holidays in the 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

Happy Birthday Baby

I had some serious fun experimenting with this card. First of all, I didn't have those really cool swishes from the Extreme Elements stamp set. I used My Digital Studio to print them in Pacific Point on my Whisper White cardstock with a gray shadow behind them. Now, to dress them up a little.

How about the Party Hearty cupcake with a darker blue on the frosting? Sure, that works. Oh, we need to pop that a little, right? So, let's dab on some really cool Frost White Shimmer Paint from the Holiday Mini Catalog.




Well, what are we going to do with the greeting? I know! Let's use Teeny Tiny Wishes and the Word Window Punch. What??? That's not done yet? Ok, we'll pop out a couple of sizes of ovals and use the cool shimmer paint on the smaller oval. Now, a little bit of Itty Bitty Backgrounds and we're done! Oh, don't forget to put a bit of shimmer paint on the edges of the lighter blue (Ballet) cardstock. Ok, now we're done. This should be ok for a 13 yr old boy.

:-D

Blessings,
Julie

It's Christmas Card Crank Time

Ok, so who's ready to pump out some Christmas cards? These are the cards that we'll be making here at my house this year. I only have 4 spots left on November 21 and 6 left on December 5, so contact me right away if you'd like to attend. Both events will be held from 1 pm to 5 pm. The cost is 20 cards for $25.
This card uses Tree Trimmings. It's a CASE of a Stampin' Up! card that I saw at convention.
This is a quick and simple card made with Serene Snowflakes. The great thing about this card is that you could also use it for a winter birthday.
I'm really excited about the colors on this card. I think the Bella Bleu DSP goes quite well with the Bashful Blue.

Yes, we MUST have at least one card that uses the Big Shot. I think the Top Note Die is perfect for the poinsettia swirls. The ribbon is retired Metallic Gold.
This last card looks a lot more complicated than it really is. A bit of quick coloring with marker, punching, and glue it all together.

Ready for Christmas! I've already started playing the music occasionally.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

Build A Bear Cuties

Oh yeah, is this little girl cute, or what???!!! I just love the Build A Bear Workshop products in the Holiday Mini Catalog. This is a card from Friday night's workshop. We used some wonderful Fine Galaxy Glitter on the balloon and gift bag. I purposely didn't put the party had on this cutie so that the card could also double as a baby congrats card. The layout is a CASE from Jan Tink. We stamped with StazOn Black onto Shimmery White cardstock and colored it in with the SU! markers. You can get a great blending look on the shimmery white.
And this is the same card stock with the flower DSP flipped over. Isn't this boy adorable? I couldn't resist the cute party hat on this one. You can achieve the watercolor look by coloring twice in the areas that you want to look shaded. The button is Stampin' Up! Yes, it really is. It's my cardstock button made with my Buttons sizzlit and my Big Shot. I die cut 6 of them, glued them together, then sanded the edges for a rounded look. That means that I can have buttons of any SU color with my sizzlit...hurray!

I just finished designing for my Christmas Card Crank, so stay tuned for the unveiling! :-D

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

My Digital Studio

Hostesses can order MDS for $40 this month if their workshop has $400+ in sales. There's still time to take advantage of this great offer!
If you'd like a demonstration of this great software, contact me by clicking on that email button on the upper right corner. I'll gladly show you what many possibilities there.

Blessings,
Julie

MDS Pre-designed Cards

Isn't this a fun card? It's a pre-designed card on My Digital Studio. The only things that I added were the bow and the polka dots on the chocolate chip cardstock. That's IT! And did you know that it's really easy to use the pre-designed cards to make your own? Check this out...




Isn't it cute? I just love those little kitties. I changed the message and added some stamps for the background and focal point, added a little shadowing and I'm done! :-D
Thanks for visiting the Stamping Station. Hope to see you again soon!

Blessings,
Julie

Easy Masculine Birthday

This is a fun and quick masculine birthday card. I used the Color Spritzer for the dots around the main image. I used eyelets on the lower corner of the Creamy Caramel, laced some Hemp Twine through it and tied it off. This was a project for last night's workshop and for next Friday's workshop. Seems like no matter who I talk to, they need masculine ideas. For some reason that's more challenging than feminine cards. Maybe that's because we enjoy the feminine colors and papers more? Anyway, hope this helps get your imagination going for quick cards.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

Workshop Christmas Cards

Here are two Make & Take cards for tomorrow night's workshop. I just love the Christmas Cocoa Designer Series Papers and this sheet is no exception. I've stamped the snowflakes on Whisper White cardstock in Soft Suede with the center spotlighted. Doesn't that Clear Rhinestone Brad really finish it off nicely? Love the bling!! The background snowflakes were stamped off a both once and twice to make sure that they stayed in the background. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and is punched with the Word Window Punch and framed on the Modern Label Punch.
Here's the second card. This is a super easy and quick. This was inspired by one of the cards posted on the demonstrator side of the Stampin' Up! website. The window was made by sending my cardstock through the Big Shot with my Movers & Shapers Curly Label die and the sentiment was punched with the coordinating Curly Label Punch. I sent the main cardstock and the Old Olive strip through the Big Shot with my Finial Press Texturz Folder. It's tied off with some Sleigh Bells ribbon (from the Holiday Mini Catalog).

Well, I hope the guests love these cards tomorrow night. I sure had a lot of fun making them!

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!

Blessings,
Julie

Another My Digital Studio (MDS) Possibility

Hey! So, what do you think of this? Put in a photo and size it for the background, change the opacity, add another photo, some words and one stamp...I'm done! Maybe 10 minutes? And I have a custom background of the fun cake that we made. So, what do you think? Are you curious about what YOU could do with MDS? Email me or call and we can talk. I'll give you all the info that I have.
Oh, and don't forget that it's a new week and we have new deals for the week. Click on the button in the right column to see what the special is for this week.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

Razzleberry and Curry Thank You

Have you seen this gorgeous stamp set in the new Idea Book & Catalog? It's called Greenhouse Garden and it's GORGEOUS!!!!! I just love the look of 2-step stamping and this set takes it to new heights. Look at the detail on those beautiful flowers.
This card was made as a thank you to the demonstrators who participated in a swap that I just hosted. I wanted to give them something special for making a lot of swaps, so this is what I came up with. The bottom border was made with the Eyelet Border Punch. The DSP is Razzleberry Lemonade. Colors for the flowers are Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry, and Rich Razzleberry.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

Christmas Glitter

Who doesn't love a present wrapped up all glittery and pretty?! This was going to be for a shoebox swap that I'm participating in on Sunday, but I decided against it. They probably wouldn't like me very well for making them doodle on the greeting. KWIM?
For this card, I used the Night and Day DSP and Real Red. After adhering the 5/8" Grosgrain to the layers, I put sticky strip across the ribbons and pressed it down on my black Chunky Glitter. The medallion was made with my Sweet Season stamp set, a couple of punches, and a red Rhinestone Brad.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

Kids at the Beach

My friend Erika and I took all of our kids +1 extra camping. This was a couple of years ago, but I've never gotten around to scrapping it. How exciting to finally have them put together. What a wonderful memory! My Digital Studio software from Stampin' Up! made it very easy to complete this page. It might have taken 10 minutes, after figuring out how to embellish. Did you notice the cute little ladybugs crawling around on the page?

Hostesses during the months of October and November have the chance to buy this at half price. Contact me for more information.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!

Blessings,
Julie

New "Deal of the Week"

Stampin' Up! has a new special for this week. Jumbo Grommets, 1/2" Library Clips, Mini Library Clips, and Circle Designer Brads are all discounted for the week. Wowzers! This is a great way to add some dimension and interest to your projects. Click the "Deal of the Week" button on the sidebar to go to the online store to check out the prices. Remember, as long as you've selected a demonstrator, you'll receive the preferred pricing.

Elegant Medallion

I just love the Medallion stamp!!! This is a card that we made in July, using my new Medallion stamp and SU! Lattice Bigz Die. I love using these colors together. And yes, I totally forgot to post this one. So sorry about that!

The medallion was stamped twice in Mellow Moss. After cutting the lattice out with the die, it was cut in half, glued to the black strip with a slight overlap, and the extra was cut off. Some Moss Taffeta Ribbon and a half pearl from the Pretties Kit finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

Autumn Harvest

Here's a really simple card that we'll be making at the next two workshops. I really love the beauty of this DSP. The pumpkins were stamped with Dusty Durango onto Shimmery White cardstock and then sponged with Pumpkin Pie. I love the look of sponging on the Shimmery White. This card doesn't have any accessories on it on purpose. (Yes, I'm not following my own rules! LOL!) Anything added to it seemed to just muddy it up. I think the stripes are too busy for anything else besides the layers.

The great thing about this card is that it can be a Halloween card by adding the jack-o-lantern face to the pumpkins, or a thank you, or a Thanksgiving card. It will be up to the individual to figure out what its purpose is. I love multi-purpose cards!

Oh, and don't forget the blog carnival, going on now. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, click on the logo in the sidebar to be directed to the post with the addresses. Hope you have a chance to enjoy it. And please let me know if you'd like questions answered about My Digital Studio.

Blessings!
Julie

The Card That Didn't Win

Here's a card for you. It's one that I dreamed up over the course of a couple of nights. I worked and worked on it to get it just right and then sent it in for the Winter Wonderland contest at SU! Guess I didn't win, because I didn't hear anything. Bummer!
The curtain is made by pulling a thread or two on the 5/8" Real Red Grosgrain. The curtains are DSP scored every 1/4" and folded accordion style. The curtain pull-backs are elastic cord with Pretties Kit beads. I stamped the nutcracker from Yuletide Christmas in StazOn Black, colored with my markers and then covered with Crystal Effects. Merry Christmas was embossed with the Classic Ink embossing technique. (email me if you'd like instructions.)
After cutting out the lattice with my SU! Lattice Bigz Die, I put the lattice back in the frame and made a glitter window out of it. The window is popped up on dimensionals with a tree, bird, and snowflakes stamped behind it. It's so hard to capture the 3-D effect with my camera. Hope you get a bit of the feel of this one.
So, while I didn't win, I am very happy that after dreaming this one up for awhile, it did turn out as I had hoped.

Oh, and don't forget that the Blog Carnival is still going on. Just click the link on the right to go see some great projects featuring the many uses of My Digital Studio, Stampin' Up!'s new digital program.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

p.s. Anne, did you notice all the red? ;-)

My New Daughter Digitalized

Here's my new daughter Sophia. She's a student from Korea who is living with us. I FINALLY HAVE A GIRL IN THE HOUSE! :-D We have a hard time getting pictures of her face because she's very quick to put her hands up. She says that she practiced that in Korea, so that is why she's so quick. LOL!

Once again, My Digital Studio made this a quick and personalized page. Sophia chose the Rich Razzleberry color and the flower pattern. (Did you know that you can change the colors of the DSP on MDS?) I used brads for the centers of the flowers. Oh, and notice that perfect bow? Well, let's just say that I didn't spend any time making that look perfect, te he he! So, here you go...another page with MDS.

So, what are you waiting for? You mean you haven't ordered yours yet? Quick! Click on that shopping button on the right...you're sure to be pleased with this purchase!

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

My Digital Studio Blog Carnival

Welcome to the first Blog Carnival of Stampin Addicts, where you will be able to see many wonderful ideas for My Digital Studio projects. My Digital Studio (MDS) is Stampin' Up!'s new digital scrapbooking software. Not only can you make scrapbooks of various sizes with it, you can also make calendars and greeting cards. Add to that, the pleasure of working with Stampin' Up!'s colors, stamp images and accessories and you have one fabulous product. Yes, it's definitely worth the investment!












Don't you just love that Bermuda Bay color with my Mexico pictures? These pictures have been sitting on my computer, waiting for me to print them and then scrap them. Well...no more! I will now be able to pump out my scrapbook pages and print them through Stampin' Up! Check that one off of my list!



Here is a card made for my Mom & Dad's anniversary this month. I designed it on MDS, printed on photo paper, then accessorized and mounted it on cardstock.


Here's a scrapbook that I made of last year's Christmas celebration. I used a pre-designed layout and whipped this out in 4 hrs, including adding a lot of elements that the pages didn't originally have. I love the idea of being able to link music up to viewing the scrapbook. This is my kind of scrapping! This movie was made with the MDS software...how cool is that?! There are many options for sharing your projects.

Are you starting to see how MDS could enhance your crafting life? You can shop for MDS via the button on the right. Just click on the Holiday Mini Catalog. If you don't have your own Stampin' Up! demo, please feel free to select me as your demo.

So...on to the next blogs in the carnival. I'll leave the links here so that you can view them through November 1st. All of the blogs in the carnival will also have a sidebar button for you to easily find their MDS Carnival post.

DMDezigns/Dawnmarie: My Digital Studio - The Birdseye Overview
HowManyCats?!/Comeka: Digitize Your Sketch Library with MDS
Yapha: Turning Templates into Treasures
Willysgirl/Sarah: MDS Xmas and Extras
Hollylogic/Holly: MDS as a Design Tool (or How Not to Slice Up All Your Brushed Gold)
Lyssa: Playing with Stamps You Don't Own
Lilysinkpad/Sara: Simply Scrappin' Kits Go Digi
JulieA/Julie: Wanna Little Music with Your Slideshow?
lovetostampandscrap/Cheryl: Creating a Calendar to Beat All Calendars
Melina Stamps!/Melina: Man-Scrapping with MDS
BroncoMom/Joyce: Build Your Own DSP
Britiney: Clever Album Covers - A Piece of (Cup)Cake
S1itcher46/Kim: Hybridizing and Cataloging Collections
Kelli: Side-by-Side Test: Is it Actual or Is It MDS?
Scrapbookmama/Ellie: Keeping the Spotlight on Your (Adorable!) Subjects

Happy Hopping to you!

Blessings,
Julie

Blog Carnival Coming Soon!

During the past few weeks, I've been showing you some fun projects that I've made with my new My Digital Studio software. Starting this weekend, you'll be able to view projects that some of my demo friends from stampinaddicts.com have created on our blog carnival. Yahoo! I'll have a link on the sidebar, so that you'll be able to find the carnival easily during the next month. Saturday is the kick off...it's sure to be amazing and fun! Please join us there!

My Digital Studio will be available for purchase tomorrow, October first. You can order it through your demo, or emailing me, or ordering online. This is a great way to use those photos that are just sitting on your computer. (Yes, I'm lookin' at you! :-D I know about those photos that have never been printed.)

So, please come join us on this fun adventure of crafting digitally!

Blessings,
Julie

p.s. Q. what do you say to a tent with a split personality?

A. you're two tents

Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!

CAS (Clean and Simple) Cards With Sympathy

Time for another Clean and Simple Challenge today. Here are the two cards that I came up with from today's color combination from the CAS challenge. I wanted to use Embrace Life because of the Reinker Spread technique and because I haven't used it much lately. You know, that's a great way to get your stamping mojo back, if you're in a slump...just get out a stamp set and/or a DSP or accessory that you haven't used for a long time (or never used! yes, I'm looking at you. :-D) and start creating.

These two cards were one at first. I had the image on the left and wanted to put the Reinker Spread flower on the same card, but it just didn't work. The styles were too different. So, it quickly became two cards. Unfortunately, I have need of both as sympathy cards. Guess it works that way.

Well, thanks for stopping by.

Blessings,
Julie