Category: Samples

Stampin’ Sunday 1-18-09

They have announced the Artisan Award Contest again so I’ve been thinking a lot about what I wanted to do.  This is a contest for any demonstrator who just wants to show off her stuff.  I like this contest because it’s based solely on your creativity so it’s great for anyone who got into Stampin’ Up! because they love to create and they aren’t working it as a business, but it’s also great for people like me who works the business and sometimes needs a little push to get the creative juices flowing. 

bugs-kisses-closedI have entered this contest every year since they started it.  This will be my third year.  I haven’t one yet, but I have had several of my items featured on the demonstrator website as well as at Convention.  I love seeing my things displayed and I love knowing that they liked something I did. 

So for this Swapping Sunday I though I would share the projects I made for the last 2 years.  I can’t share this year’s with you until after the contest (because of the rules.)  But i figured I could share the old ones with you.  Although some of the product is retired now I thought they still might inspire you. 

two-by-twoI have shown just a few of the samples here but you can click here to see all of them.

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Swapping Saturday 1-17-09

Time for swaps again and I’m still wishing I knew who it was.  I forgot to say one other thing as to why a lot of these cards don’t have names.  When we go to the local meetings we usually do full cards instead of card fronts like at convention.  This way we can actually use the card.  However because of this we often don’t put our name directly on the card.  Some will include a business card or the card might have a sticky note with the name, but they often get lost or removed.  That’s why I don’t know who to give the proper credit to.

s-split-treesI really love this card and the way that she stamped the trees and then cut them apart.  I just think it is a really neat look.  I also really liked how she put on the ribbon.  It’s unique and different than the traditional knot that most people do (including myself).  I think it’s a beautiful card.

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Freewheeling Friday 1-16-09

Here is another great card from Brandi’s meeting.  Once again I really wish I knew who made it.  I want to say that it was Chantia, but I could be wrong.  I do need to redeem myself a little here.  I had a display at the meeting so between setting it up and asking questions I really didn’t get to look at the swaps people were giving me.  Otherwise I would probably know who gave them to me.  At least I might know some of them.  Please if anyone does know I’d love some help to give them proper credit.

cupcake-wheelAnyway I just love this card.  It uses the cupcake wheel.  I love the picture because you can actually see the sparkle on it.  I believe she used dazzling diamonds glitter.

This is a really fun wheel because it’s a line image instead of a bold image like alot of the wheels.  Which allows you to color it and really make it your own.  This is a really simple card but I think it’s so cute and she did a great job.

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Thrifty Thursday 1-15-09

Have you ever tried one of those books where all of the accents are made with one piece of paper.  Well I wanted to give it a try.  I searched for patterns, but didn’t really find one that worked for what I was doing so I just made up my own.  If I can find it I will try and post it for you.

mb-frontThis is a great book to use for gift items, for kids or for something you just want a quick small scrapbook of that you can keep around the house.  I created this book for my son DJ.  It’s of his baseball team last summer.  The nice thing about it is that it’s quick and easy to make so you could make one for each kid or if they are old enough they could make their own.

First you want to decided on a theme.  I obviously used baseball here so I chose the Just Baseball set #109459 $12.95.  I also used the sporting set $109246 $17.95.

Then I picked the colors I wanted to use.  You want to choose 3 to 4 colors that you will used for the entire book.  I used Real Red, Night of Navy and Whisper White as my basic colors.  Then I added Close to Cocoa and Sahara Sand as my accent colors.  I picked my colors to match his baseball team colors and the colors of the equipment.

Next you will need 1 piece of 8 1/2 x 11 paper that you will be stamping on.  I used the Whisper White.  Then you just want to stamp your images on it randomly.  It doesn’t really matter where you stamp them because you are going to cut the paper all up.  I overlapped them a lot because I liked the look of it.

Once you have your paper stamped you will cut it up to the pattern.  Then you will need a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 paper of your accent color.  I have used the night of navy.  You would use the pattern to cut up this paper to go behind your stamped paper.

This book is a 6×6 and has 16 pages.  To save money I attached the pieces to both sides of the paper instead of using two different ones back to back.  It makes a total of 16 pages so you will need to sheets of 12 x 12 cut into 6×6 to give you 8 sheets.

mb-pg-7Once you have everything cut you can begin to assemble the book.  Here is just a sample of one of the pages.  You can click here to see the whole book.  I really will try to find the pattern and get it posted for you as well. 

I hope you try making one of these fun books for a loved one or letting your kids try one of there own. 

Some of the other great sets you could use to to create one of these books are: any of the sport ones, any flower sets, wild about you, bugs & kisses or just try it with your favorite set.

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Wacky Wednesday 1-14-09

Here is just another simple rub-on, but I love it.  Sometimes I think we try to make things to complicated and need to remember that simple can be just as elegent.  I love the white rub-on with the black and white photo. 

limited-editionIf you can’t tell this is one of the very cute pictures of my little Xander when he was a baby.

All I’ve done is put the rub on directly onto the glass.  If I were putting it into a scrapbook page I would put it directly onto the picture for the same effect.  The nice thing about the glass is that I can change out the picture and still have the saying there.

Don’t you just love rub-ons.  If you haven’t given them a try yet the I really encourage you to start today.

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Technique Tuesday 1-13-09

These awesome matches were made by my up-line Mindy Bywater.  She did them for a Convention Swap last year.  I think her and Janice used them for a club later because I made the card at one of Janice’s Demo Club nights.  Now your are probably wondering why they would be on technique Tuesday.  Well if you look closely at the ear of the Elephant you can see why.  On all of the animals she has used the beads.

I thought this was defiantly a fun and different way to use the beads.  If you’ve never tried them before then here’s the easy steps to use them.  I usually use both beads when I make things, but here she only used the micro beads.  I believe that we used the crystal effects.

First you want to stamp your image like normal.  Next you want to cut your image out if you are cutting them.  All the animals on the page are cut out.  The card is just on a square.  Once you have cut out your images you are ready to put on the beads.

wild-about-you-pagesI’m going to be bad here and suggest something other than our wonderful powder pals when working with the beads.  The reason is the tiny beads bounce really bad and are full of static.  I sometimes use the large powder pal underneath, but I’ve actually found what works best is a piece of paper folded in 1/2.  I use the grid paper because it’s nice and big.  I like the paper because it doesn’t cause as much static and I can fold it completely in 1/2 and pour the beads back into the container without them bouncing everywhere.

To apply the beads you want to apply just a very thin layer of crystal effects and then sprinkle on the beads.  Don’t worry about spilling some on your paper that’s why we made it so that we could funnel them back into the container. 

wild-elephantShake off any loose beads and set them aside and to dry.  Make sure you let them dry really good.  You don’t want to try and apply them to the page when they are still wet or you will squish your beads and it won’t look good.

If you are doing just a small area like on the giraffe.  (It’s just his tail and the top of his antlers.) The easiest and best way to do it is just to dip the end of the desired part into the beads.  This is a lot less messy and and a lot faster too.

Now you are probably wondering where she got the cute circles from that are on the two stripes.  It’s actually one of the center’s available for the Pick a Petal #109445 $27.95.  Another fun thing she added is all the dots on the words are actually brads.  They would also be really fun to do with the beads.

I hope you try this fun technique at home.  I will show you another time how to use the beads with both sizes.

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