Fishy Best Wishes to You!

Thursday night I held my first event with my new Bellevue/Redmond Card Makers meetup group.  We had a small group but it was fun to meet some local gals and great to have the forced motivation to get my craft room unpacked!  I’ll admit it, I didn’t get the craft supply boxes opened until that morning.   Thankfully, I knew I had extra supplies from the card we did for my last get together in CA, so I didn’t have to do design work, just find and gather the supplies.

This was the fun fishy punch art card we made:

I found this card on Lyssa Zwolanek’s blog and loved it so much I had to share it with others. Isn’t he just the CUTEST?!  The fun part is that this card uses some punches in very non-traditional ways.

1.  For the body, I used an ornament stamp from the Delightful Decorations stamp set and punched it out with the Ornament Punch.

2.  Then I punched out a flower using the 5 petal flower and trimmed off the petals to use for fins.

3.  Then I used the 1/2” circle punch and the 3/16” punch on my Crop-a-dile for the bubbles and eye.

Fun, huh?  Give it a try and you can have your own cutey fish too.  Need one of the punches or supplies?  You can get it now in the online store. 

Click here to shop online 24/7 and start earning your NW Stamper rewards!

Best Wishes Recipe:
Stamps:  Delightful Decorations, Sincere Salutations
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Basic Black, Bashful Blue (sponging around the bubbles)
Paper:  Tempting Turquoise CS, Tangerine Tango CS, Bashful Blue CS, Whisper White CS, Basic Black CS
Accessories:  Ornament punch, 5 Petal flower punch, 1/2” circle punch, Crop-a-dile, Sponge Daubers, Basic Black Stampin’ Write marker

Birthday Butterflies and a Get Well Card

Alright, so last time I shared with you the Love card we made at my card night.  So, today I wanted to share the other two cards we made that night.  Both are inspired by cards I found in an old Stampin’ Up! Idea Book & Catalog.  Of course they turned out pretty different, and I wish it wasn’t against Stampin’ Up! copyright rules or I would show you a picture of the originals next to the version below.  Oh well, you just get to enjoy the version I made then.  

First was a clean and simple get well card.  I love this stamp from the Wellness Wishes set.  It just makes me want to hug the puppy and say,” Awwwww”.  So, we used watercolor pencils to color him in (and I’ll admit the girls that night did a much more artistic and cool version of watercoloring than I did).  We wrapped around some Black satin ribbon and then added a Circle brad.  The So Saffron cardstock was popped up using dimensionals and its as simple as that!

Tip:  If you are going to use watercolor pencils on Whisper White paper, I recommend using a blender pen to moisten the pencil coloring.  You can use a water pen, but I find that it is too easy for there to be extra water, which causes your paper to wrinkle up a bit.

Finally, we did a birthday card.  Well, really it was a neutral card and I put out the entire Sincere Salutations set so some people did birthday, some did thank you, while others did Thinking of You.  Got to love a sentiment set that has it all in interchangeable sizes.  We used a background stamp (Pretty Petals) to add a pattern to the base Crumb Cake layer.  Then, stamped the butterflies from the Dreams Du Jour set and sentiment on a Very Vanilla piece.  Tear off a corner of your Vanilla paper and add a Designer Button and you are ready to go.

Tip:  Crumb Cake ink makes a great subtle color on your neutral papers like in this case.  You can get a great shadow effect by stamping your image on the paper in Crumb Cake and then stamping your image with a darker ink (in this case Concord Crush) on a piece of scrap paper and layering it over one of the Crumb Cake images.  Slightly offset your cutout and the base image will show enough to look like a shadow!

Interested in making cards like these?

If you like these cards and are in the San Francisco area, I’d love to have you join me at one of my upcoming events.  Check out my calendar or contact me to set up your own private event for free with you and your friends!  I’d love to show you how to make more fun cards and scrapbook layouts!

Thanks for visiting!

Glittery Filled with Love Card

Last night was another fun card night with the gals of my meetup group.  We made three cards and I thought I would share today one of the cards we did.  I knew I wanted to showcase the Filled with Love set and the Bitty Buttons you can get free with the bundle and so I started brainstorming ideas for a layout.  Then I saw a card created by Robin Merriman and thought it would be perfect to start from.  I changed it up a bit so that I could use the super fun new glimmer paper and add in the cute heart bitty button, plus simplify some of the layers to make it a bit faster for the class setting.

I’ve had this stamp set for a while but have been so caught up with Christmas that I’ve been slow to start using it.  However, it is another stamp set that I am crossing my fingers will make it into the main catalog next year.  I love how versatile and modern it is!

Tips for this Card –

When stamping the big hearts on the left side of the card, start by stamping the heart in the middle.  Then you can more easily control how much is cut off on the top and bottom hearts as well as feel like you have reasonably centered layouts of your heart and layered love.

Glue down all your layers before adding your heart Bitty Button.  It just makes it easier to get adhesive on your Love layers.

Adhere your heart Bitty Button with Crystal Effects.  This clear lacquer also makes for excellent glue that actually dries super clear so you don’t get adhesive outlines or wiggly layers like you might with glue dots or double sided tape.  You don’t need very much, just a thin coating on the back of your button

Oh, and the glimmer paper punches like a dream with your standard punches.

So if you haven’t heard, this stamp set is only available until January 24th as part of a special bundle

So, what is all included?

• Filled With Love stamp set (only available until this promotion ends)
• Love Patterns designer series paper pack – 12 sheets of 12×12 double sided paper.  6 of the sheets are patterns in Real Red and 6 of the sheets are Pretty in Pink
  This paper pack is exclusive to this promotion and is not in any of the catalogs
• Free Bitty Buttons!

Check out the flyer to see pictures of everything in the bundle

Got to love free, right?  Especially when we are talking about something as cute as those bitty buttons.   Anyway, thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

Filled With Love Card recipe:
Stamps: Filled with Love
Ink: Real Red, Chocolate Chip
Paper: Real Red Glimmer paper, Real Red CS, Whisper White CS, Chocolate Chip CS
Accessories: Bitty Buttons, 3/4” Circle punch, Small Heart punch, Crystal Effects

Come Join Me for Some Crafting!

I just got back from a fun Holiday Party and Vendor fair and after talking to folks all afternoon, I realized that my last couple classes for the month are happening in the next week!  So, I’m going to hurry up and put the finishing touches on my projects but in the meantime wanted to invite you to come join the fun too!

So, if you are in the San Francisco/San Jose area and are looking for something fun to do, I’d love to have you join me.

• December Meet & Greet –  December 7th at 7pm
  • This is my monthly get together with my local meetup group (Bay Area Card Makers).  Folks come socials, show off the projects they have been working on, and I provide a free make & take project – usually a simple card for everyone to do.  You don’t need to bring anything and this is a perfect event for every skill level. 
• Thank You Card Stamp-a-Stack – December 12th at 2pm
  • We all know the holiday season means lots of gift exchanges and kindness from others. Be ready to show how much you appreciate it with a set of handmade thank you cards. We will be making 12 thank you cards – 3 each of 4 designs. Everything will be provided including envelopes for a supply fee of $25. 

So, if you are interested in attending, you can RSVP through the meetup group or send me an email and I’ll make sure to have your supplies ready and waiting!

A Simple Day of Gratitude Card Share

A little over a week ago, I hosted my monthly “meet & greet” and as with each month, I brought a free make & take card.  This month, I decided to use the fabulous Day of Gratitude set, which thanks to regionals in Portland, I am love more and more each time I use it.

Anyway, I got home and put all my supplies away and managed to hide the card from myself for over a week until today!  Well, I found the card and really like how it turned out and so I wanted to share it with you here.

This stamp set begs to be used with Cajun Craze and More Mustard inks, both of which have not been my favorite colors.  But I have to say, Cajun Craze has really grown on me!  It is the perfect color for using in fall scrapbook layouts and cards.

For some added kick, the Decorative Label punch out is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.  Otherwise, it is a quick and easy card that looks great in person.  We stamped the strip of Very Vanilla cardstock randomly using the images from the Day of Gratitude stamp set in the colors More Mustard, Cajun Craze, and Early Espresso.  Its like making your very own Designer Paper!  The medallion is stamped in Old Olive ink on Old Olive cardstock.

In the San Francisco Bay area? I’d love to have you join me for my next event!  Check out my event calendar or contact me for more details!

Until next time- Happy Stamping!