First Day of the Stampin’ Up! Convention 2011

July 14, 2011 under Convention 2011, Fabric

My word!  Its been a whirlwind of a week starting with me desperately trying to get swaps made and everything packed and ready to go for convention this year.  But I made it and flew into Salt Lake City on Tuesday in anticipation of a great week…and I haven’t been disappointed! 

Today was the first day of convention and boy was it a doozy!  Lots of sneak peeks of upcoming products, freebies, amazing ideas, and fab projects.  I’ve been posting pictures on my facebook page when I could so if you want to see a few more pictures, check it out.  But I couldn’t take pictures of a lot of the details I learned so I wanted to share a few pictures and more details!  Enjoy!

Ok, can I have a personal toot for a minute? :)   Each year they invite people who met certain milestones or achievements to walk across the stage.  I am still working towards that, but this year they added 2 more marches – first time attendees and anyone who recruited in the last year.  Well, Bethani, my downline, got to walk for first time attendee and I got to walk for recruiting!  Yay!

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Next we had a HUGE sneak peek at the upcoming Holiday Mini that launches in September.  No joke, I am in so much trouble with how much I want out of it.  There are new ribbons (can you say velvet and quilted satin?), new punches including a stocking punch that has a matching stamp set!!, fun holiday dies and embellishments (like mini jingle bells that I have no idea what I’m going to do with yet but I have to get), more adorable fabric (I’m just saying check out my next picture), of course new papers and stamps, and a ton more.  Then they showed us this bag that we could buy in Memento Mall that looks like this:

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Know what it’s for?  AAAAHHHHH!  I’m so excited!!!  It’s made to fit the new Simply Scored tool!  That’s right, a super awesome scoring tool.  It takes the best features of what’s out there and adds some, like besides giving you lines every 1/8”, you get a metal tipped ergo stylus, multiple plastic arrows to mark which score lines you are using for a given project, a storage compartment, multiple ruled edges, etc.  I’m so stoked!

Ok, moving on.  At lunch, I had another amazing experience where when we entered the Gathering Place to get our lunches, we got picked for a You Crew experience.  You Crew is their name for randomly selecting people to have one of a variety of one of a kind experiences and in our case, we got a special table with glasses, plates, lemonade, a staffer who made sure we were well taken care of.  Pretty fun!

IMG_2695  At the end of lunch, we saw that they had put out a special dessert.  Cookies…but not just any cookies, check out the designs:

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Yeah, yeah you say, they have designs.  But these are special designs.  They are Stampin’ Up! cookie stamp designs!  Yes, as in a stamp that can make different impressed images on cookie dough.  How fun is that.  Oh, and the shortbread recipe that comes with it, if it is the same one they used for these cookies, is pretty darn yummy.  :)

Finally we finished our day with make & takes, which I still need to finish so I can share with you, and one more session where we saw some great ideas for quick, easy, and inexpensive projects.  Like did you know you can get a package of quick accent stickers, 2 packages of notecards, and make 40 cards in no time flat?  And they are simple and cute too. 

I know I don’t have many project sample pictures today, but don’t worry.  I’ll have more of the projects and products I can photograph and share posting over the next few days.  And don’t forget to stop by my facebook page to see more photos and updates when I can.

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Dress Card using Designer Fabrics

April 2, 2011 under Fabric, punch art

I saw a project someone made at convention last year that created the dress part of this card using cardstock and a paper napkin.  Then, when I was looking for ideas for using the Stampin’ Up! designer fabrics, I ran across some cards that used the dress and put it onto a standard card base.  Cute, right? 

I originally found instructions from Lorraine Castellon-Rowe’s blog and then started playing with the fabrics and papers I had around.  Because I wanted to use the swirly pattern from the Deck The Halls fabric set, I decided to use my swirly pattern Texturz Plates for my BigShot to emboss the background piece of Very Vanilla cardstock. 

To make the dress bodice, I used a series of punches:

Dress Card Punch Art Step 1 1.  Punch a circle using the 2 1/2” Circle Punch for the base of the bodice
Dress Card Punch Art Step 2 2. Punch out the waistline of your dress using the 1 3/4” Circle Punch.  If you want to be very precise, you can take the cut out from the first side and trace that curve on the opposite side.  Then use the pencil line as your guide when lining up the punch.
Dress Card Punch Art Step 3 3.  Punch the neckline using the 3/4” Circle punch

Then embellish as you like.  I used the adhesive pearls and added some ribbon to the waistline but you could get creative with gems, buttons, embossing, or whatever sounds fun to you.  The skirt was just run through the BigShot using the Scallop Square die though I think for future cards like this, I would probably use the new Scallop Square Duo die.  And then adhere to the back of your bodice.

It’s a fun card and one you could make in so many variations to be a perfect match for the recipient of the card. I hope you enjoy this project!

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Just For You Dress Card Recipe:
Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Basic Black
Paper:  Riding Hood Red cardstock, Very Vanilla cardstock
Accessories:  BigShot, Scallop Square Bigz die, Backgrounds 1 Texturz plates, 2 1/2” Circle punch, 1 3/4” Circle punch, 3/4” Circle punch, Adhesive Pearls, Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Small Oval punch, Deck the Halls designer fabric

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More Ideas with Designer Fabric

March 31, 2011 under Cards, Fabric

*** Reminder! Today is the LAST day of Sale-a-Bration.  If you haven’t gotten your favorites yet, get shopping!  You have a few hours left to shop online or contact me with your order and get FREE STAMPS or accessories! ***

Continuing in my sharing of the fabric technique cards we made at a recent class using the Stampin’ Up! designer fabrics, and I thought I would post a couple more today.

Sure, this is the most basic way to use fabric… but its fun!  And while I grew up with a mom who is a fantastic sewer, I never quite go into it and so didn’t internalize some of the basics.  So, I was excited to be reminded by Bethani about the fact that when you tear a piece of fabric, it will give you a wonderfully straight edge every time.  I’m so used to paper that will has a complete mind of its own when it comes to tearing, so I was thinking I had to use a cutter for every edge.  Sure, the tear gives you a slightly feathered look… but it’s a CUTE feathered look.

I just LOVE how this turned out!  Most of the card is pretty self-explanatory.  We stamped the flower image on the base cardstock in Versamark, and then did simple sponging and punching for the other elements.  And then we get to the fabric flower…SO FUN!! 

Ok, to make the flower, we cut out 4 flower shapes – in this case using the Cherry Blossom embosslit.  Once you have those four flower shapes, take a small square cut from a Sticky Pages sheet.  Expose one side of the Sticky Page square and then take one of the fabric flowers and fold it in half.  Place that folded flower on half of your sticky square.  Next, take your 2nd fabric flower, fold it in half, and place it on the sticky square so that it overlaps the the first fabric flower and now forms an “L” shape.  Ok, on to fabric flower 3.  You guessed it!  Fold it in half!  Place it on the sticky square so that it overlaps flower 2 and the folded edge is flush against the folded edge of flower 1.  Finally, grab and fold flower 4.  Place it on the sticky square so that the folded edge is flush with flower 2, its right corner is on top of flower 3 and its left corner is under the right corner of flower 1.  At this point you should have a flower that is stuck to the Sticky Pages square.  I then pierced a hole in the center with the paper piercer and placed an antique brad.  Then remove the remaining backing on the sticky square and place where you want it!  In my card, I layered it on a Rose Red scallop circle that was punched using the 2 3/8” scallop circle.

 

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You Take the Cake Card:
Stamps:  Party Hearty
Ink:  Rose Red, Regal Rose, Early Espresso Stampin’ Write Markers
Paper:  Wild Wasabi cardstock, Baja Breeze cardstock, Whisper White cardstock
Accessories:  Candy Lane designer fabric

Lucky You Card:
Stamps:  Afterthoughts (hostess set)
Ink:  Versamark, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Old Olive cardstock, Whisper White cardstock, Rose Red cardstock
Accessories:  Sticky Sheets, 2 3/8” Scallop Circle punch, Corner Rounder punch, Sponge daubers, Paper Piercer, Antique Brads, Stampin’ Dimensionals

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Playing with Designer Fabrics the “No Sew” Way

March 27, 2011 under Cards, Fabric

When my downline, Pam, suggested having a class focused on using the designer fabrics; I thought it was a great idea.  She was looking for more ideas on how to use all the cute fabrics and I needed the kick in the pants to start cutting more into my fat quarters.  So, I organized a fun afternoon where I shared “no sew” ideas and Bethani, another of my downline, brought an awesome card for everyone to do as well.  Since two of the cards used Sale-a-Bration stamp sets, I thought I’d share them first.

So Happy For You Butterflies

 

For this card, we use the Sizzix Multi-Purpose adhesive sheets to put adhesive on the back of the blue and red polka dot fabric (we didn’t put any adhesive on the multi-colored polka dot fabric).  Then we ran both fabric pieces through the Big Shot using the butterfly Bigz die. 

Tip:  Place the fabric on the adhesive sheet prior to running it through the BigShot.  It not only will make it easier for you to have an exact shape match without having to try to line anything up, but the BigShot will provide all the pressure you need to ensure a no-bubble seal between the fabric and adhesive!

We adhered the cardstock and then ran a piece of cardstock vellum through a crimper for a fun little touch (ok – and really I somehow completely forgot the vellum at home and so the ladies used whisper white paper and it looked really good too).  I adhered the crimped paper in the center only.  Then used the big butterfly with the adhesive back as the main adhesive as I layered it over the crimped paper. 

Then we used glue dots in the center of the little butterfly and the button to layer them on top.  By only using adhesive in the middle of the small butterfly and the vellum, it gave the card a little extra dimension and/or movement.  Finish it off with my favorite sentiment set right now – So Happy For You from the Sale-a-Bration catalog

 

Sweet Summer Flowers

This is the card that was designed and taught by my downline, Bethani Semple.  Isn’t it so fun looking!  I think she did an awesome job and though I changed my version up a little by wrapping the ribbon around the Old Olive cardstock, I now think her original version that wrapped the Night of Navy taffeta ribbon around the cardbase was better. Smile

Anyway, for this card, we took a strip of the Sweet Stitches Fabric and twisted it (kind of like how you twisted a towel when you were a kid and were going to “snap” someone in the kitchen).  So, once you had the twisted strip of fabric, we curled that around a small stick – in this case a paper piercer – to form the flower head.  When you were finished coiling, you tucked the end of the ribbon up through the center of your flower.  Then, add some hot glue to a punched out circle of cardstock and squish in your flower head.  Ta da!  Your very own custom accent.  Totally fun, huh? 

In this case we used the ribbon flower as a head for one of our Sweet Summer flowers, this set is also from the Sale-a-Bration catalog.

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A Designer Fabric Holiday Card

November 24, 2010 under Cards, Fabric

I ordered the new Designer Fabrics a long while back as part of a special for Stampin’ Up! convention attendees and was excited to try experimenting with incorporating fabric into my projects.  Well, I kept looking at the pretty fabric sitting on my shelf and couldn’t bring myself to cut into it (ok, and I’ll admit I was a little intimidated to try something different).  But after my friend kept asking me about the fabrics, I knew i needed to break them out and just start cutting!

So, this card was a fun way to play with the fabric, experiment with fraying the edges (since I had seen a few cards that did this to a very cute effect), and then also use the matching designer series paper as an accent in the Build-a-Brad.

Fabric Christmas Card smSide note – for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about when i say “Build-a-Brad”, it is that brad in the center of the card.  What makes these brads cool, is that they come as a blank flat-topped brad.  They are meant for you to punch out any paper/stamped image using a 1/2” circle punch and adhere that punchout to the top of the brad.  Then you can use the provided clear  adhesive-backed plastic pebble to make the brad looked finished. 

Here is a close up of the brad showing how we punched out a circle from the Designer Series paper that had the same pattern as the fabric:

Build a Brad with fabric sm

I started with the idea of using the fabric and fraying it.  Then I added the Build-a-Brad.  I had the card done and all ready for the class when I looked at it and said, “Its so vintage, I bet a torn edge would look cool”.  So, I tore the bottom edge of the card, which looked cool but really popped when I added some Crumb Cake cardstock to the bottom of the card inside. 

This card probably took the longest to make, but I love its fun accents and vintage feel.

Some tips for this card:

  • When we adhered the DSP to the top of the brad, I like to use Crystal Effects as my glue as opposed to Snail or Glue Dots because you can get a flat even coating of the adhesive on the brad top and you know it won’t slide around on you in the future.
  • To adhere the fabric onto your cardstock, your best bet is probably going to be the Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets.  But if you don’t have that (and we didn’t for the class), you can use sticky strip to do the job.  For this card, I recommend cutting your fabric and determining where you are going to lay it on your card.  Cut a piece of Sticky Strip that is 1/2 – 2/3rd the height of your fabric piece and place it on the edge of the cardstock and then press your fabric onto the sticky strip.  I found that if you tried to put sticky strip directly onto the fabric, it can be hard to get the red backing off the tape without pulling the tape strip off of your fabric at the same time.
  • When fraying the edges of your fabric, only pull one or two threads at a time to minimize punching and pulling of your fabric. 
  • Pull extra threads for fraying by using the tip of your Paper Snips to separate the thread you are going to pull from the flat fabric piece.

Don’t miss your chance to get the Designer Fabrics for 50% off!

If you like the idea of playing with fabric in your projects, don’t miss your chance to try it out for half-off as part of the Online Spectacular sale.  You only have until Nov. 30th, so don’t delay!  Check them out HERE.

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