Yummy Swaps!

Greetings, stamping friends!  As promised, I'm sharing the swaps that I received from my stamping sisters.  (I think I've already mentioned how much I love my stamping friends, haven't I?)  I still have 3 more coming in from my friend Barb, so I hope to have more to show you in a few days.

Katey Gilpin

Katey Gilpin

Katey Gilpin

Sharon Graham

Sharon Graham

Sharon Graham

Cheryl Dendinger

Cheryl Dendinger

Cheryl Dendinger

Aren't these great?  I love swapping because I not only get samples for the sets that I don't have, but I also get ideas for layouts and color schemes.  Swapping is a wonderful thing!

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!

Blessings,
Julie

My Other Two Cards For the Mini Swap

 This card was really fun to create and came together very quickly.  I used the cupcake stamp and punch to make the center, the SAB designer paper and die cuts, and the SAB button.  Super fast and easy.  I also made some of these in White with a different scallop border die cut.  And don't you just love those polka dots?!  They are so fun!

And last, but not least, this was my favorite of the cards that I made.  Maybe that's because it's all about chocolate!  (That is the 5th food group, after all.)  This card used the Framed Tulip embossing folder and Eat Chocolate stamp set from the Occasions Mini.  The scallop strip was made with my Bigz XL die from the last Mini, but it's still available.  Isn't it pretty with the pearls on it?  And you can use the die to cut out fabric, too.  The scallop square behind the circle was made with another Bigz die from the last Mini. 

Ok, enough for today.  Tomorrow I'll show you the swaps that I received, so make sure that you come back to visit.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

Occasions Mini and SAB Swaps

A few friends and I decided to do a little swap together using the new items from the Occasions Mini Catalog and the Sale-A-Bration catalog.  I love swapping!  Oh, I guess I've told you that before.  Well, I do.  This is two of the three cards that I made.  It's fairly simple so that it can be used as a Make n Take at a workshop.

Ok, so please ignore the bad punching at the bottom of the card.  I messed one of them up and decided that the only fair thing to do was to keep it for myself.  The heart is punched out of the new Red Glitter cardstock that's in the Occasions Mini.  It's absolutely gorgeous in person!  Colors are Riding Hood Red and Very Vanilla.  The word is from Artistic Etchngs and the Designer Paper is Love Letters from the main catalog. 

I'll try to get the other two cards posted soon.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!

Blessings,

Julie

Three Amigas...Three Challenges!

I love my stamping friends!  I've met such wonderful people since I began demonstrating for Stampin' Up!  I really didn't expect new friendships, but I've been richly blessed by them.  My friends Sharon, Joanne and I haven't been able to get together recently for a stamping playdate, so we decided to do a virtual playdate.  :-)  Isn't that hilarious?  Anyway, we were all to come up with a challenge and we needed to post our projects by tonight, midnight.  Oh yes, if you happen to be attending Ashley's workshop this Saturday, you'll be making these fun projects!

This sweet treat is for Joanne's challenge....to stamp something sweet.  I'd also planned something like this as a project for this Saturday's workshop, so double-bonus on this one.  :-)  This project uses the Designer Paper from Sale-A-Bration, ribbon from SAB, three hearts punch, half pearls colored with a sharpie, and the stamp set Eat Chocolate.  Oh yeah, I'm loving that stamp set!  The idea for this candy holder came from my dear blogging buddy Janet.  Thanks for sharing your wonderful idea, Janet!

This card is for my challenge.  My challenge was a color combo...Elegant Eggplant, Pear Pizzazz, Baja Breeze, and Peach Parfait.  I didn't get the extra points for using pearls.  :(  The layout for this is from SC317.   I used the Designer In Color Pack, which is a hostess level 1 set from Stampin' Up.  How sweet is that?!  And did you know that the Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain would match so nicely with the Peach Parfait DP?

The last challenge was from Sharon.  We were to use a "found" item, ie. something from around the house, like a jar lid.  I saved my netting yesterday that the mini watermelons came in.  How fortuitous!  I used the cardboard that is the backing of each DP pack, punched a 2 1/2" circle out of it, used packing tape to attach the netting to the edges of the cardboard and sponged over it.  After that, I punched the circle out, attached it to a scallop made with my Scallop Circles #2 Bigz Die and went from there.  This sketch is from SASC80 and the color combo is from SACC79.  I think one of the beatiful things of papercrafting is that you can find inspiration from so many sources.

And this is what my sponging template looks like.  Packing tape holds the netting on very well.  I didn't try to pull it evenly, because I wanted the "natural" look. 

So, blogging friends, what can you do with these challenges?  I'd love to see them!  Please post them somewhere online and leave a link at one of our blogs so that we can find them and leave a love for you.  There's no time restrictions for you.  We'd love to see how creative you all can be.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

I'm Sorry Daisy

I went over to stampinaddicts.com to play in some challenges.  This card incorporates the SACC78 and SASC79.  Which means that the colors were Pear/Kiwi, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, and Basic Black.  I've been wanting to use my daisy Bigz Die for awhile, so this is it.  Very fun and quite simple to make.  I also used my new Tulips Frame embossing folder from the Occasions Mini.  Isn't it a beautiful pattern?

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!

Blessings,
Julie

Coaster Luminary

Hey, look what I made!  There was a challenge on VSN to make a luminary with some examples.  The only catch is that you have to make it in 45 minutes.  Ok, that apparently doesn't work for me when I have an elaborate idea and I've never made one before!  The whole thing actually took me 1:40, but I'm really happy with the result and that my original design worked.  I covered some coasters (do you know that Outback passes out a pile of coasters and they don't usually get wet?) with Black on the outside and White on the inside, then sent them through the Big Shot with my Lattice Die, which is, of course, exclusive to Stampin' Up!  I then cut pieces of vellum, covered them with glue stick, stuck them on the white side and then covered with glitter.  After cutting out the green lattices, I glued them on with Crystal Effects, which can double as an amazing glue, besides being a beautiful accessory.  (If I'd had more time, I would have covered the centers of the flowers with it.)

 The rest of the pieces are all cut with the Big Shot.  I punched the holes with my Crop-A-Dile and threaded my Marina Mist Taffeta through it.  This is what it looks like in the dark with my battery powered tea light.  I hope you can see the detail.

Oooooo, yes, it does change colors.  Isn't it cool?!  I really like it!  Paper crafting is so much fun.  And I can't wait to give this away and see the recipient's face.  Give it away?!  Actually, I'm not sure if I'll be able to part with it.  If I am, I think one of my SAB hostesses might just receive this luminary.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station. 

Blessings,
Julie

Paper Pieced Tote-Ally Tess

Here's another card for VSN.  This is for one of my fun friends who swears I'm way younger than I really am.  Needless to say, I LIKE HER!  :-D  I stamped Tess on Confetti White cardstock and then stamped her a couple more times on some designer paper.  Then I cut out the pieces and glued them on after coloring her other features.  The background is the vintage wallpaper embossing folder on Baja Breeze cardstock, rubbed lightly with a chocolate chip inked sponge.  So, what do you think of her?  I really like this little gal.  Oh, and the designer paper is retired, so sorry, you can't buy it anymore.  But it is on my list of all time fav's for DP.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

VSN Vellum Flowers

Yes, I am once again playing the VSN challenges.  I'd like to do one more today.  We'll see.  I'm having terrible trouble with a pinched cyatic nerve and it hurts!  Anyway, this card is for my sweet, wonderful, amazing friend Monica.  Her husband just received his new, healed, heavenly body last night after a long battle with cancer and CNSV.  She's so upbeat and positive ... she wants us to celebrate his life and that he's healed now, so I didn't want any black on this card.  I want her to feel stronger and blessed by it.  That's why I've chosen the colors that I have.  So you're wondering about those flowers?  Well, I made them out of vellum with my flower embosslit from SU, flipped them over on their backside and colored on them with my Watercolor Wonder Crayons.  After that, I covered the back of them (the colored side) with glue stick and stuck them down.  Because you're looking through the uncolored side of the vellum, the color is muted.  I really love this technique.  And after stamping my sentiment on the Very Vanilla, I punched off the corners, ran it through the Big Shot with a texture plate, and then lightly sponged Crumb Cake around the edged.  The green accents are from the Swirls Scribbles sizzlit.  Just the right touch to finish it off and tie in the Garden Green of the flower centers.  On the inside I repeated the Very Vanilla cardstock and pattern and put some more swirls scribbles on the corner.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

p.s.  if you're a praying person, please lift up my friend Monica and her family in prayer.  The strength of God is truly what's holding her together.  May thanks.

VSN Challenge

I decided to play VSN last night.  (Virtual Stamp Night on Splitcoast-stampers.)  I only had a chance to play the first challenge, but it was a fun one  We had a layout to follow, colors to use, and we had to have a flower made out of punches or die cuts.  The only stamped image could be the sentiment.  So this is what I came up with.  I used my new cupcake punch from the Occasions Mini for the flower.  Can you tell which part of the punch I used?  Yep!  The frosting!  After layering 5 of each color, I glued a small punched flower in the center and added a rhinestone to finish it off.  It was a bit time consuming, but it was also fun to design a flower out of something so unrelated.  The colors are Cherry Cobbler, Regal Rose and Pear Pizzazz.  A very pretty combo to work with.  So hopefully I'll have time to do more challenges today, but first I need to take care of some Cinderella duties.   Where, oh where is my fairy godmother?!

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

More Digital Scrapbooking Pages

Here are a few more pages from the Hawaii scrapbook.  These first two are of all the grandchildren playing at the beach.  I really love the colors and these pages in 12 x 12 make the photos so amazingly gorgeous and colorful.

 Of course the majority of our time was spent at the beach.  Hurray for the children being old enough to truly enjoy it!  As you can tell from their faces, they had a ball boogie boarding, body surfing, and snorkeling.  Oh, and don't forget playing in the sand!

We did have some times of going out to eat together.  Sometimes that was a bit of a challenge with 16 people in the group, but most places were able to accomodate us.  For this page, I journaled directly on the background Designer Paper and added a strip from one of my Kits that I've downloaded. 

And this as the opposing page was copied over as a mirror page and then we added the photos.  Again, the journaling was added directly onto the photos and Designer Paper.  I love added a shadow on the words.  The effect is a 3-D look. 







So that's what part of the book looks like.  If I find some more pages that have ideas of how to easily personalize your album, I'll be sure to share. 

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station. 

Blessings,
Julie

My Digital Studio Hawaii Scrapbook

My in-laws celebrated their 50th anniversary last July and decided to take the family to Hawaii to celebrate.  While we were there we were all busy clicking away.  We had a secret plan....to scrapbook the trip and surprise my in-laws with it. 

We had many pages (48 in all!) and most of them were themed.  Each family had a two-page spread with their own experiences and photos.  These two were our pages.  I used a layout that came with My Digital Studio, plugged in the photos, added a couple more, added the swirls on the edges and our names in Hawaiian.  The book is beautiful!  I'll show you a few more pages in the coming days.  And yes, I'm planning on ordering one for myself!  :-D  This software makes scrapbooking SOOOOOO easy!  If you'd like to see it in action, let me know and I'll give you a tour of it.

Thanks for once again stopping by the Stamping Station. 

Blessings,

Julie

Color Combo Challenge

My friend Joanne (aka sleepyinseattle) is the hostess for today's color combo challenge 305 on splitcoaststampers.  It's a perfect combo for a Valentine card.  And since I don't usually do traditional Valentines (I like the unusual), I decided to do a non-traditional layout.  I glued a couple of scraps of Cherry Cobbler and Melon Mambo on the the Pretty In Pink background, then glued on my main images, then sent the whole thing through the Big Shot with my Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder from Stampin' Up!  I'm not usually a pink person so this was definitely a challenge for me, but I do like the way it turned out.  So, what can YOU do with this color combo?  I'd love to see your creations.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station. 

Blessings,
Julie

Occasions Mini Catalog and Sale-A-Bration Sneak Peek

Sale-A-Bration is almost here!!!!!  It's my favorite time of the Stampin' Up! year.  See that pretty ribbon, button, and designer paper?  They're all from the SAB catalog!  The layout for this card is sketch challenge 78 from stampinaddicts.com.  The colors are of course from the DP, but also from color challenge 76 at the same web gallery.  This card features my favorite punch, the 2-step owl.  Well, ok, I have a LOT of favorite punches, but I think this guy is really adorable!  The "thread" in the button is a strip of cardstock adhered on the back with a mini glue dot and attached to a flower from the Boho Blossom Punch. 

So, are YOU excited for SAB?  If you don't have a demonstrator, please contact me so that we can arrange a workshop or catalog party for you.  Oh, and just wait until you see what I have cooked up for a workshop project featuring a Valentine card.  :-) 

Blessings,
Julie

Simple Thank You

I need some thank yous to send out, so I went to splitcoaststampers for a layout idea.  I used SC314 from this past week.  The colors were inspired by a swap that I received at Regionals in Portland a couple of months ago.  The background pattern has red medallions stamped on it and I sponged the edges with Basic Gray to give it a softer look.  I also sponged the edges of the focal point piece of Very Vanilla.  The lace is from the Holiday Mini that just ended and the button is from last year's collection.  See, it does pay to hang on to your wonderful, but retired accessories.  I put the bow together by folding the lace and using Mini Glue Dots in between each layer.  The Designer Series Paper is Love Letter from the Idea Book & Catalog.  The greeting is from the wonderful hostess set Because I Care and the medallion is from Artistic Etchings. 

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings for the new year,
Julie

Weddings and Wishes

 Happy New Year!  Sorry for the long absence.  We were enjoying Christmas and New Years, with some trips to downtown Seattle and the movie theaters as a family.  Good times!  And yesterday, we were blessed to be at a wedding.  I used this card for inspiration and sketch challenge 312 from splitcoaststampers.com.  The colors are from the wedding, except for the green.  I had to add that for the leaves. 

I textured the inside left and punched half of an oval out of the green piece to make a money holder.  I love the way the Tiny Tags stamp set finishes this card.  It's such a fun set!  The greeting inside is a retired stamp set.  The colors here are Basic Black, Concord Crush, Pear Pizazz and Whisper White.  The wide oval punch was also used for the vase.

Thanks for visiting the Stamping Station.

Blessings for the new year!
Julie