Nancy Ruth ~ SCS Featured Stamper

When I first started participating in the challenges over on Splitcoast, one person kept popping up with comments and encouragement ... Nancy Ruth Levine. So when I saw that she was today's FS, I was thrilled for her! Congratulations Nancy Ruth ... you deserve this honour today!

Here's my card. I based it on this one from Nancy Ruth's gallery. I loved the layout and thought that I could use my new chipboard template with my embossing folder to mirror the layout. Thanks for the wonderful inspiration Nancy Ruth!

Here's a close-up of the texture on my card. The butterfly is punched out with the new SU Butterfly punch, and I added a Fleurette but coloured the centre using a blender pen and ink ... yes, it's that easy! I love these little white flowers, you can turn them any colour to suit any card.

Recipe
Stamps : Teeny Tiny Wishes, Flight of the Butterfly
Cardstock : Bordering Blue, Whisper White
Ink : Bordering Blue, Sahara Sand
Accessories : Blender Pen, Fleurettes II, Butterfly Punch, Petals a Plenty Embossing Folder

Never Run Out of Buttons Again!!!

Thanks to Lynn on Splitcoast, you never need to run out of buttons again! Lynn found the coolest thing for us to play with on today's TLC ~ and it's so easy and such fun! Lynn found a blog post by a German stamper called Jennifer detailing how to make your own buttons from cardstock. So never again do we have to find the perfectly matching button to our DSP or cardstock, just make your own ... and it's easy too! Here's the card I made today with 3 hand-made buttons, one is made from a 1" circle punch and 2 are 3/4". How cute are they?

And here's a close-up of the buttons. I was so anxious to put my card together that I added the linen thread when the crystal effects was still tacky ... next time I'll wait a little longer!

Recipe
Stamps : Friends 24-7
Cardstock : WW, Mellow Moss, Soft Sued, Cottage Wall DSP
Ink : Mellow Moss, Soft Suede
Accessories : 3/4" and 1/2" circle punches, linen thread, crop-a-dile, scallop punch, dimensionals

A New Technique

This is turning into the craziest week so apologies for my lack of posting. Just wanted to share something with you from Regionals. One of the demonstrations was how to tweak the SU Embossing Folders. I also tried something else for the first time ... I dyed the flowers from the pretties kit in Ruby Red re-inker, I love how they turned out!

I used my Big Shot Die, Oval Scallop Frame, and made a template from chipboard which just so happened to be the backing in our projects folders handed out at Regionals ...

You can see from the above photos what the chipboard template looks like. It's very easy, you just place your cardstock into the Folder, but instead of making the sandwich according to the Big Shot Platform instructions, you make it as follows:
Closed Platform
Chipboard Template
Embossing Folder
Cutting Plate
This sandwich gives just enough pressure to make the impressions around the oval (you can see the shadow in the first pic which is where the design will show) which leaves the centre nice and flat for your stamped image. I'm going to spend spme time going through all my Big Shot dies to see what other shapes I can make! It's a great way to take your cards up a notch.

Club girls, this is one of our projects tomorrow evening :)

Recipe
Stamps : Home for the Holidays
Cardstock : Whisper White
Ink : Ruby Red
Accessories : RR Ink & Blender Pen, Big Shot, Oval Scallop Die, Petals a Plenty EF, Pretties Kit, RR Brad

All-Girls Road Trip to Regionals

Well, sorry I wasn't around yesterday ... I went on a road trip with some Splitcoast demo pals to the STAMPIN' UP REGIONALS IN CINCINNATI ~ WAHOO. What a total blast we had. I've never been to a Stampin' Up organised event before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I have to tell you that it went WAY above all my expectations, a truly wonderful day full of the latest and greatest Stampin' Up goodies. And, yes, we all got a free stamp set! How fun is that?!

We left on Thursday afternoon and our good friend Dawn Marie drove us in the most fantastic conversion van (or probably, more aptly now called a converSAtion van!!!). All wood interior, leather seats with arm rests, TV ... I tell you, this is the way to travel! We left around 3pm and we were actually on the road for a good 5 minutes before we stopped for McFlurries!!!! No, I'm not kidding! What could be better than ice-cream and girlfriends, really?

Anyway, Dawn Marie did a fantastic job of driving us all down into Kentucky where Tracy navigated us successfully to our Holiday Inn Suite. Super room, 2 King Size beds and a pull-out sofa. There are a few photos of me on the sofa-bed which are not fit for publication ~ let's just say 'What happens in Cincinnati, Stays in Cincinnati' ... bwahahaha.

First stop was to find somewhere for our supper. Debra was aching for a huge steak (have you seen the size of her? Put it this way, the waist of her jeans would fit around ONE of my thighs ... no, I'm not kidding) So we found a great restaurant down on the river-front looking across to the City. Our server Chris very kindly took us out onto the balcony to take pictures!

Here we are! From the left is Tracy, Pony, DawnMarie, me and Debra. Now that was a fun evening! Then it was back to our hotel room where Debra showed us the new SU File Folders (page 169 of the main catalogue). They are just GORGEOUS, I totally passed them over in the book, but when Debra showed us her project, we all decided they'll be on our next order. Here we are playing with Debra's files!

Sorry Tracy, I forgot you had a towel on your head! Hey, at least she washed her hair!!! That's Debra sitting and working hard, me and Dawn Marie. We were so scared to cut the beautiful folders, we made Debra go first and show us how it was done! Pony's missing from this one, she took the photo ... thanks girlie!

Well, the big day finally arrived and we were SO excited. The Duke Energy Centre in Cincinnati is an amazing place. I suppose I've just led a sheltered life, but that place was HUMUNGUS! Here we all are outside Ballroom B waiting for the doors to open ... let me tell you, we almost bashed them down in our excitement!

The day was wonderful, we all sat at huge round tables with our Stampin' Up projects, we listened to Shelli Gardner (our CEO and founder of SU), she was a wonderful speaker, so motivating and such a genuinely nice person. I did tell her that she was, actually, my best friend, she just didn't know it ... and she didn't look at me like I was the moron that I am, she smiled, hugged me and said, of course she knew we were. However, she did walk right past my table at lunch time and didn't say hi, or give me a BFF hug or anything, so she's not much of a Best Friend, now is she!!!! She did, however, graciously allow us to have our photo taken with her {{sigh}} ... we love you Shelli!

That's Tracy, Pony (bobbing down), me, Shelli, Dawn Marie and Debra. Can you see from my expression that I was that crazy, giggly, stalker kind of fan ... so apologies Shelli, I know you will be reading this post because you are, after all, my best friend!!!

Thanks girls for a wonderful, fabulous road trip. You girls are the best ... I'll always remember that journey home where we covered such topics of conversation as:-

Nail polish that changes colour in the sunlight (yes, we really did talk about that!) / Giving Birth (yes, that was just after the nail polish!) / Death / Families / children / Love / Marriage / The Marines / Religion / Politics / Bra fittings / Money / Houses / Cars / Lot Lizards (I never heard of such a thing!) / Sweaty unmentionable men-parts ... well, I admit it was me that brought that up, but hey, it WAS a long journey / but the most memorable was the conversation about our friendship and how lucky we are to have each other as friends. Love you girls! Convention 2010 here we come!

Baby Oliver

Last September, I travelled to England to my cousin's wedding ... this September, we're welcoming Baby Oliver into the family!

Congratulations Jacko & Kate!

... and of course, for any addicted Stampaholic card-maker, this is a wonderful opportunity to make something to greet the baby!!! Here's my card.

Recipe
Stamps : Lovely Letters
Cardstock : Bashful Blue, Very Vanilla
Ink : Bashful Blue
Accessories : Bashful Blue Grosgrain Ribbon, Big Shot, Texturz Plate

A Treat in a Box

We've been invited over to friends for supper tonight to celebrate the Labor Day w/end here in the USA and I wanted to take something for the hostess. I made these chocolate chip cookies at lunch time and decided to make a box to put them in. I think it turned out really nicely ... and makes a home-baked gift really unique.

Here's a peek inside the box ...

To make the box:- 12x12 Cardstock, score at 3" on each edge. Along ONE edge, snip from the outside along the 3" score towards the centre of the box. Do the same on the opposide edge. These make tabs which you can glue to the other sides to make the box. For the lid, just cut about 1/8" off a 12x12 piece of cardstock and do the exact same thing. I decorated mine with the new 1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon in Old Olive, and the top is done with the square scallop die and the Flower Folds Die. The centre of the flower is Think Happy Thoughts.

Enjoy your holiday weekend everyone!

Recipe
Stamps : Think Happy Thoughts
Cardstock : Old Olive, Choc Chip
Ink : Old Olive, Choc Chip
Accessories : Cookies (yum), Big Shot, Flower Folds and Scallop Square Dies, Circle Punches, Dimensionals, 1 1/4" Old Olive striped grosgrain ribbon

A Scrapling

Friday's SCS challenge was to make something with a 'scrapling'. I had no idea what a scrapling was! But it soon became clear, if you take a regular card, 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" and score at 4 1/4" you get your standard card size. But if you want a square card, then you trim the bottom edge off which leaves your 'scrapling' ... it's teeny tiny, but quite cute! Here's mine:

I used my En Francais BG stamp with the flowers from Thoughts & Prayers stamped right over the top. The little flowers have Crystal Effects in their centres and micro beads. Here's a close-up so you can see the dimension:

Recipe
Stamps : Thoughts & Prayers, En Francais, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Cardstock : Very Vanilla, Night of Navy
Ink : Creamy Caramel, Night of Navy
Accessories : Night of Navy grosgrain ribbon, Crystal Effects, Microbeads

Birthday Card

Good Morning! I needed to make a 'belated' card for my friend Sharon today ... sorry it's late Sharon! Sharon had admired a swap card I received which is similar to this ... I still haven't figured out how it was done, but when I do, I'll share it!!! I think it came from my friend, Ann Fitton, but she hasn't replied to my e:mail yet ...

Recipe
Stamps : Wings of Friendship
Cardstock : Choc Chip, Whisper White, Choc Chip DSP, So Saffron
Ink : Choc Chip, Versamark
Accessories : Piercer, SU Scallop Oval and Plain Oval Punches, Top Note Die, Big Shot, Taffeta Ribbon, White Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Flower Brads, Fleurettes II

A Birthday Card Sketch

Today's Splitcoast sketch is nice and simple. I needed to make a birthday card for my friend, Laura, and came up with this. It's 'Shabby Chic' and I really love how it turned out! For the focal image, I started off by stamping 'En Francais' in Creamy Caramel onto the card ... making sure not to cover the entire thing, then I sponged the edges with Close to Cocoa. Then I used Versamark to stamp the flourish and embossed it with Gold EP. The tiny 'Happy Birthday' is stamped in Old Olive. For all supplies, please see the recipe below.

Here's a close-up of the 'shabby' focal image. The 'dots' were made by using Chocolate Chip Designer Paper, this paper has a white core, so once it's been run through the Big Shot with a Texturz Plate to get the dots, you just lightly sand over the top to reveal the white core. I love how this looks!

Recipe
Stamps : Friends 24-7, Teeny Tiny Wishes, En Francais
Cardstock : WW, Old Olive, Choc Chip DSP
Ink : Creamy Caramel, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa, Versamark
Accessories : Gold EP, Texturz Plate, Big Shot, Sander, Taffeta Choc Chip Ribbon

Sympathy Card

I needed a Sympathy Card today, always hard to do, I find. I used Versamark Ink and Perfect Pearls to give the effect here. I hope it brings some comfort.

Recipe
Stamps : Thoughts & Prayers
Cardstock : Vanilla, Choc Chip, Blush Blossom
Ink : Versamark, Choc Chip
Accessories : Perfect Pearls, Big Shot, Top Note Die, SU Punches, Taffetta Ribbon