Sweet Baby!

Something for Baby, Bordering Blue, Pretty in Pink

I think I love this new stamp set from Stampin' Up!  I love how there are matching framelits.  Wishing a also had a photo of the pennant banner that my SIL and I made with the carriage and a onesie cut out with the framelits.  This card incorporates some retired product and new product.  It's fun to bring out some of those "oldies" that you haven't seen for awhile.  I used Pretty in Pink and Bordering Blue for this card, both retired colors, along with the vintage safety pin, taffeta ribbon and flower brads, all retired.  Current product is the banner punch, the flower punch, the Something for Baby stamp set and framelits.  Stay tuned for more from this wonderful set!
Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!
Blessings,
Julie

Watercoloring Techniques

Happy Watercolor, Delighful Dozen, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler

 For my last workshop, I wanted to show the guests how many ways they could color in a lined image without going to a lot of work.  This technique, Watercoloring with Markers, is one of my absolute faves.  Simply stamp with StazOn Black or any other solvent ink onto a piece of watercolor paper (Stampin' Up!'s paper is the best - only because I've tried others and their absorbency rate is fantastic!), use a marker to go over the accent lines on the stamp, then use an Aqua Painter to spread the color out.  If some of your image ends up too light, go over some of the accent lines again with the marker when your color is dry.  On this card we used Cherry Cobbler.  That is my absolute favorite shade of red!!!  We made a removable bookmark with the watercolor paper and flower image, tucked it behind a piece of Gold Vellum and the Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding.  Those were attached with Mini Glue Dots.  We used the Tag Topper Punch to shape the top of the bookmark and some Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine finishes the bookmark off.

Happy Watercolor, Cherry, Very Vanilla, Brushed Gold

I made this card because I wanted a stepped up version to show.  I love the layers of Cherry Cobbler cardstock and the Brushed Gold cardstock against each other.  Such an elegant look.  Here I used the Gold Washi Tape for a background and across the stem of the flower.  On this card I experimented with some watercolor paper from a local crafting store.  See how the image is washed out and there isn't much color variation?  It took a 1/2 hr for the little bit of water to soak into the paper.  I had to go over it again with the marker to get some color variation.  I was very disappointed.  Lesson learned.  Unless I'm using blender pens, DON'T use the cheap watercolor paper!  Because of the colors going on here, I chose not to use the Baker's Twine.  Instead, the Linen Thread looks quite fine. 
Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station once again.  Let me know how you've been enjoying coloring in your stamps recently.
Blessings,
Julie

A Few Recent Workshop Projects

Simply Sketched Hostess Set, Watercolor Wander DSP

 Just in case you haven't picked it up yet, pretty much all of my workshops are Totally Hands On, which means that there is a very minimal amount of demonstrating and then the guests make 3-5 cards/projects.  This seems to be what the guests want and like and it's also a great way to get the tools into their hands to try out.  Would you buy a dress without trying it on to see if you liked it?  Nope!  Same thing with stamping and crafting supplies.  The more we can try things out, the better decision we can make on what we like to use and what we probably wouldn't use.  This card was inspired by a card on Pinterest.  I've changed the blue and green colors to be closer to the Designer Papers.  We used Marina Mist and Wild Wasabi.  Oh, and check out the background.  You'll find that we embossed it with a flowery embossing folder.  The subtle look is so fun and elegant, too.  I can't find the original (after searching for 10 minutes!) so my apologies to the original artist.  We added some pearls underneath the greeting as a nice accent to finish off the card.  I really love this Designer Paper Set!  It's going to be so hard to say goodbye to it after June 1st. 

 The next two cards here are a two-in-one set.  If you put the Yay word inside the word bubble before you cut the two out with your framelits and Big Shot, you can get two cards out of your supplies!  We used the Silver Foil sheets for our greeting, the clear window sheet from the Quatrefancy Specialty Designer Series Paper, and the background is Wild Wasabi.  A few random holes were punched with our Paper Piercing Tool to put in a few random Mini Silver Brads.  We hid the glue for the window sheet behind the bubble frame so that it wouldn't show.  Quite a simple project and yet it looks very nice.  This one was a hit!

And here is the accompanying card, using the other part of the bubble.  Instead of trying to keep track of the tiny little piece of foil from the inside of the "a", we used a rhinestone.  Much prettier and easier!!!  The silver vellum cardstock looks so pretty against the Soft Sky cardstock and the silver ribbon really ties it off nicely.  (hahaha)  We hid the glue dots behind the polka dots so that you couldn't see any adhesive behind the vellum.  On both of these cards, we left the inside blank.  This allows you to use the card for many, many occasions.  Always handy in the world of "must have it right now" that we seem to be living in. 

Thanks so much for stopping by the Stamping Station.  I hope your week starts off with sunshine and stamping.

Blessings,
Julie

Best Buds All the Way!

Making a Point, Soft Sky, Pacific Point, Whisper White

My upline is a wonderful woman whom I love to swap with.  Our swaps keep me stamping and reaching for more techniques, layouts, and color combos.  I made this card for our February swaps.  I really wanted to use the Best Buds stamp from Making a Point, one of the hostess stamp sets in the Occasions Catalog.  I haven't been very good about using my fancy paper clips from Stampin' Up! so this card gave me a good excuse to use one.  3 Mini Brads reflect the silver of the fancy paper clip.  The Designer Paper is High Tide from the Occasions Catalog.  (What a fun set of DP!)  The buds were cut out with a framelit from the Apothecary Accents set and the Big Shot.  Best Buds was restamped onto a piece of Soft Sky and cut out with a framelit from the Banners set and the Big Shot.  I used the Soft Sky, Pacific Point, and Smoky Slate Stampin' Write Markers to color in the image. 
Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.  Hope to see you again soon.
Blessings,
Julie

A Little Banner Fun

 Oh yes, banners are so fun and so in!  The smaller banners were made with Stampin' Up!'s Banner Blast and the Banner Punch from the Sale-A-Bration catalog.  (You only have 13 more days to order and be able to get these babies for FREE!)  I colored the Made a Wish stamp in with my Pacific Point and Pumpkin Pie markers before stamping them on Whisper White cardstock.  The banner behind it was embossed with the Decorative Dots embossing folder.  These banners were cut out with the Banners framelits and the Big Shot.  The lighthouse and sailboat are from the Settin' Sail photopolymer stamp set that I love so much.  Oh, see that background?  Well, you know that bubblewrap that the Envelope Punch Board comes in?  Well, ink that puppy up with some So Saffron ink and a brayer, then lay your cardstock over the top of it.  So much fun and super easy.  I'd forgotten about that technique until I came across the saved bubblewrap in my craft room.  It's always fun to bring back an oldie-but-goodie.

And this card ... well it was made with leftovers from a swap that I did.  See that cool image on the two smaller banners?  It's the Embossing Folder Resist technique.  Here are the directions:
1.  put a piece of wax paper in a detailed embossing folder and run through the Big Shot.
2.  build a sandwich on your ironing board:
     one piece of copy paper
     one piece of glossy cardstock, glossy side up
     wax paper with the embossed pattern
     one piece of glossy cardstock, glossy side down
     one piece of copy paper
3.  turn your iron onto the cotton setting and iron just for about 5 seconds
4.  ink up a brayer and spread the ink onto the glossy side of one of the glossy pieces of cardstock, rolling until it's even
5.  repeat with the second piece of glossy cardstock
6.  wipe away the extra ink with a tissue or paper towel. 
TADA!  You have a really cool looking piece of cardstock!  I used the arrows embossing folder from the Occasions Catalog.  I do love that folder. 
So, what do you think?  Ready to try it?  Let me know what you come up with.
Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!
Blessings,
Julie

Wood Grain Owl Thank You

Seems like we're always needing thank you's around here.  And, oh yes!  I love the new Woodgrain background stamp.  It's gorgeous!  I used Early Espresso and stamped the Woodgrain background onto Chocolate Chip cardstock.  After punching out a 1 3/8" circle, I stamped the Woo-Hoo! in Always Artichoke onto Very Vanilla cardstock and cut it out with the coordinating Word Bubbles framelit.  Isn't it cute?

And you have to dress up the inside, right?  The Woodgrain was stamped in Crumb Cake onto Very Vanilla here.  The owl is Cajun Craze and Crumb Cake.  I hate trying to glue on those tiny dots for eyes, so always go with the white gel pen instead.  Makes my stamping life a ton easier.  The greeting is from Sassy Salutations.  I just used that at the last workshop and everyone was talking about how cute the greeting was.  It is cute.  Definitely cute. 

Have you used your owl punch recently?  If not, here's a challenge to you to get it out and see what you feel like making with it.  So much fun in one little punch!

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

Duck Dynasty Birthday Card

Basic Black, Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Early Espresso

Have you ever had to come up with a card with a theme that you don't have any stamps or backgrounds for?  Yup!  My son was invited to a Duck Dynasty birthday party.  Oiy!  Don't have any camo or realistic duck stamps.  Punt!  I made my own camo background with the frosting portion of the Cupcake Punch.  Yay!  The duck was masked before stamping because the original stamp is a duck pull toy.  If you cover the area that you don't want on your image with tape, ink, then pull the tape off, you will only have the portion of the image that you want when you stamp.  Another way, of course, is to use a marker.  Since I only wanted the duck to be one color, it was easier to mask.  I sponged a bit of Soft Sky around the duck and used my Old Olive marker to ground the duck.  I stamped the greeting in Early Espresso on Summer Starfruit and cut it out with the matching framelit from the Word Bubbles Framelits.  (Have I mentioned yet how much I love these framelits?!  They are da bomb!)  The duck was cut out with the Apothecary Framelits.  The background dots is a free embossing folder with any $50 purchase through the end of this month.  Yay for fun cards!

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station! 

Blessings,
Julie

You're Peachy Keen!

You really are, you know.  Peachy keen, I mean.  :-D  This was the first chance I had to play with this Peachy Keen stamp set and On Film Framelits.  Isn't it fun?  Have you seen the sets yet?  They're great!  To start off with, I used my reinkers and Aquapainters to make the watercolor background on watercolor paper.  Next, punch the film frame out of Coastal Cabana with the framelit and the Big Shot.  Stamped the arrows and punched them out with a framelit.  Cut out the camera with the camera diecut.  The arrows were made with the new Arrows embossing folder.  I handcut the greeting after stamping in Calypso Coral.  The film frame and the greeting are popped up with dimensionals so that the film looks like it has space behind it.  So, what do you think?  Have you bought this set?  Were you tempted?  This is a great set for both cardmaking and scrapbooking!  Just wait til you see what I did with it for my husband's Valentine card.
Well, thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station once again. 
Blessings,
Julie

Vivid Vases Made Easy

Summer Starfruit, Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana, Pistachio Pudding, StazOn Jet Black

This is a one piece stamp.  It comes in wood only, but who cares?!  It's cute!  At first I wondered how I would use it and if I'd like to color it in all of the time.  Until this idea struck.  I used the Watercolor Block idea.  Make sure you stamp your main image in StazOn Jet Black so that your black ink doesn't run and stamp onto watercolor paper.  Ink your acrylic block. (SU's is the easiest since you have nice beveled sides to hold on to so your fingers don't get messy.)  Spritz a couple of times with water, holding the spray bottle about 6-8" away from the block, stamp down on the area of the image you want to color.  Clean your block and ink up with the next color, etc.  This is a 5 minute card if you're organized.  The hexagon design behind the image is the Hexagon Hive Thinlit Die from the Occasions Catalog.  The hexagon nicely compliments that Designer Paper from the Sale-A-Bration stack.  It's all finished off with the Summer Starfruit twine, also from the Sale-A-Bration catalog. 

Have you tried this technique before?  If so, I'd love to see what you've done with it.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!

Blessings,
Julie

Washi Valentine

Yes!  Playing with my toys, ahem, tools(!) again.  Thought this might be a fun way to show off my Gingham Garden Washi Tape and the hearts framelits from Stampin' Up!. For the saying, I covered the image of Vivid Vases with tape, inked up the saying, removed the tape and stamped it in Raspberry Ripple.  On the back side of the Whisper White cardstock, I drew a grid so that I would have more accurate placement of the hearts framelit.  Finished off with the washi tape and a rhinestone, it's a quick and simple card and easy to make multiples of.  Just one of the ideas that I'll be showing my customers at upcoming events.  Ooooooh, I just can't wait for Sale-A-Bration!

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station once again.  Have a super weekend!

Blessings,
Julie

Wedded Bliss

Embellished Events, Everything Eleanor, Petite Pairs

 Yes, wedded bliss.  That is what a daughter of our church was just blessed with.  As a community, we celebrated with her at a bridal shower.  I just love those occasions!  Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to this one, but sent the gift along.  Yes, the gift is the card.  Oh, first I have to tell you about the front here.  Well, the circle was stamped with the Everything Eleanor stamp after I markered only the outside.  I didn't want the lines on the inside.  The bells are from the Embellished Events stamp set.  They were first inked in VersaMark, then inked in Crumb Cake, then stamped down.  I used my Iridescent Ice embossing powder to make it show up darker and shiny.  The doily sizzlit is such a nice frame for these stamps.  Best Wishes is from the Petite Pairs stamp set.

Apothecary Accents

And then the inside.  yes, that is a gift card holder as part of the card.  I saw that someone made a card out of a 12 x 5 1/2 piece of cardstock.  Well, I figured this would be a lot easier.  I took a 3" wide piece of cardstock and scored it at 1/2", 1 1/2", & 2 1/2".  After that I punched an extra long slit with my word window punch.  The edges are attached to both sides of the inside of the card with Sticky Strip.  I also put a bit of Sticky Strip next to the opening holding of the gift card so that it would tightly hold the card.  So, what do you think?  I kinda like it.  :-)  This way the gift cards don't slide all over or fall out of a pocket.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.  Many fun hours of crafting to you!

Blessings,
Julie

Sketched Birthday Love

Sketched Birthday, Bitty Banners

Here's something a little different.  I used the new Sketched Birthday set with the wonderful new In-Color Crisp Cantaloupe.  Isn't that a pretty color?  Oh, and who can resist that ruffled ribbon?!  The cake is stamped on watercolor paper with StazOn Jet Black and then colored in with Chocolate Chip, Crisp Cantaloupe and So Saffron.  The plate has a touch of Smoky Slate.  So, what new stamping toys have you been playing with lately?  :-D

Thanks for stopping by.  Would love to hear from you.  :-)

Blessings,
Julie

Scalloped Sympathy

There have been so many deaths over the past month.  So sad that I need to make a ton of Sympathy Cards, but I guess that's where we are in life.  This card is a CASE of another one somewhere here on the internet.  I forgot to write down where I found it.  :(  Sorry about that!  If it's yours, please link to your post in the comments and I'll add it up here.  This card uses the SAB DP from this last campaign, paired with Perfect Plum and Always Artichoke.  The stamp sets are Loving Thoughts and Growing Green (ret.).  I love the lattice die and now it adds such a wonderful background to almost any card.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

Layered Labels and Many Layers...

This is quite different than what I usually make.  Still am not sure how I feel about the red flower, but needed something else on it.  I made this for a friend of mine who just found out that she has MS.  She's a dear, dear friend and I'm heartbroken for her, although she has a wonderful attitude about not worrying over it.  I made this card using some retired stuff.  The embossing powder used for the Layered Label is Handsome Hunter from the Rich Regals Embossing Powder set.  Remember that one?  The DP is Twitterpated.  After gluing the DP on, I ran it through the Big Shot with the embossing folder.  Two types of ribbon were folded and the glitter brad is holding it all together.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,

Julie

Pretty Petites and Woodgrain

Baja, Espresso Celery, Pretty Petites, Woodgrain Emb. Folder

This card was a project from a workshop last month.  We used the Early Espresso Coredinations cardstock from the Holiday Catalog and the Woodgrain embossing folder to make the cool wood background.  The canvas ribbon is from the Spring catalog.  I like how just the lower edges of the cardstocks are rounded.  Dazzling Details was used in the centers of the flowers from the bigz die.  The ribbon punch finished off the piece under the woodgrain.  I can't remember where I got this layout from, but it was inspired by something posted online.  Sure wish I could keep track of all that!

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!

Blessings,
Julie

Happy Easter Chocolate Bunny Style

I usually don't do Easter bunny cards, but I saw this little guy on Pinterest and had to try him.  The bottom is the ornament punch, the head is the 1 3/8" circle, and the ears are the large and small oval punches.  The clouds were made with Stampin' Up!'s cloud embossing folder, available in the Occasions Catalog, and the cute little tail is the fabric flowers in the same catalog.  So, what do you think?  Isn't he adorable?  And super easy.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter.  I also hope that you have fun celebrating with family and friends.

Many blessings to you!

Julie

Happy Good Friday

It's Good Friday and we just got home from an amazing service.  I posted this today instead of Sunday since the ribbon is red.  On Sunday it will be white as snow. 
The cross was made with Stampin' Up!'s Lattice Bigz Die.  The greeting is stamped from the Delighful Dozen stamp set.  I hope this card reminds us all of what started yesterday (Thursday) and was finished on Sunday (Easter Morning).  Without the crucifixion, there is no resurrection.  I am humbled.

Blessings,
Julie

Nature Sympathy

Do you ever struggle with not wanting to use a traditional sympathy stamp set for a sympathy card?  I do.  Sometimes I get tired of what I have and want to switch it up a little.  So, I found this retired DP in my stash and thought it would make a nice starting point.  I think the Gently Falling set coordinates nicely with it.  And, as always, my Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set (40 different sentiments!) came in handy to finish off the card.  The woodgrain folder was used on the background piece and some retired grosgrain ribbon and the retired eyelet punch finished it off.  I love it when a card comes together this easily.  I might have to make a few more for a craft fair fundraiser coming up.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!

Blessings,
Julie

So Sorry for the Letters at the Bottom!

You won't believe how much spam comments my blog is getting! I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to add the "type in the letters you see" box at the bottom of the comment page.  I really didn't want to have to do that.  I hope you won't mind the inconvenience. 

Bundle of Love, Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Wisteria Wonder)

In the meantime, here's a card that I made with my Bundle of Love set.  A customer and friend of mine is having a baby and I wanted to celebrate with her.  This is the card that I sent to her.  The bottom of the So Saffron DP was stamped with VersaMark and the onesie stamp.  The pennant punch helps to decorate the upper left corner.  The congratulations stamps was cut out with my Apothecary Accents Framelit.  Very fun and pretty easy to do.  Oh, and don't forget the popped up greeting in a different color.  Totally adds to the dimension of the card and unfortunately doesn't show much on the photo.  Oh, and sorry about the colors.  They didn't come out very true on this photo.

I hope you have a wonderful day.  I'm going to be some things together for a fundraiser for a boy who is dealing with leukemia for the 3rd time.  His insurance refused to cover the bone marrow transplant since this was the 3rd try, so we're doing all we can.  Here's a link to his website so that you can read about him and donate if you feel led to.  Colton's Army.  As Eric on Eric's Little Heroes said, sometimes it really does take an army to raise a child!

Blessings,
Julie

Feeling Sentimental?

 I am!  Yes, I'm feeling sentimental about this wonderful Sale-A-Bration stamp set called Feeling Sentimental.  I love it!  The stamp set also includes a British style phone booth, a large front wheeled bicycle and the word "celebrate".  Gorgeous images and so easy to use for both masculine and feminine cards.  Oh, and don't you think this would also work for a juvenile card?  The pennant was made with Hearts a Flutter stamp set and the Hearts a Flutter Framelits.  The circle was cut from our new Delicate Details Lace Tape.  All of these items are featured in the Spring Catalog.  The colors on this card are Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse, Tangerine Tango, Pool Party, and Whisper White. 

Hearts a Flutter stamp set

Hearts a Flutter Framelits

Delicate Details Lace Tape

Aren't these great products?  I'm going to be whipping up a few more things with this stuff.  I'm really loving those pennants!

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.  I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Blessings,
Julie