Valentine's Day is just around the corner ...

I have been making some Valentines! I love the combination of Poppy Parade and Crumb Cake and explored my overwhelming collection of dies to find some that would work for Valentines. Here are a couple I played with today:

These use various embossing folders and dies from my collection. The middle one I would never, ever do for a class! I popped up the word "Love" and also the hearts and used a combination of large and small dimensionals to do it. I would definitely need to find an alternative for a class. Talk about tedious! The others were just fine and I may use one of these for my Longmont Senior Center class on January 27.

Got an order from Stampin' Up! today containing lots of new goodies! I will start working on my card for the downline meeting later this month. With all the new stuff, I should have tons of fun!

Thanks for visiting and I hope you are all staying healthy and safe!  

If you have any questions about the techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Just playing around ...

I have a whole bunch of some designer series paper and thought it would be a good idea to make use of it. So, I did! Here are some samples:

I used this same pack of paper for my card for Sassy Stampers. See the blog post here. I used papers from my stash, some Stampin' Up! and some from Papertrey. The top card uses my new favorite color - Shy Shamrock! I used dies from my stash and punches and embellishments from Stampin' Up!

Thanks for visiting and I hope you are all staying healthy and safe!   

If you have any questions about the techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Stamp Camp North - January 11, 2025

Finally finished my card designs for Stamp Camp North. Here they are:

The campers can choose pink or blue. Card bases are Basic Grey (SU) and Dark Chocolate (Papertrey). This is layered with an embossed piece (Hero Arts) of either Spring Rain or Pale Peony (Papertrey). The stamps are from Unity Stamps and the stamp set is called Frosty & Feisty. Don't you just love these pissy kitty stamps! I used the Layered Circle dies and the Stitched Rectangle dies to die cut the image and the saying. The gems are called Frosty and Clear Epoxy Droplets and they are from SU. The images were colored using SU Blends.

Since going with an "anything goes" mode at both Stamp Camp North and Sassy Stampers (Berthoud) we have been able to use retired product and products from other companies and it has really upped the creativity! I tend to use mostly SU products, but the freedom to use retired products and other company's products has added a breath of life into my card making.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you are all staying healthy and safe!  

If you have any questions about the techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Working!

I am busily working on my cards for Stamp Camp North this month. Camp will be on January 11, 2025 (my dad's birthday - he would have been 98). If you want more information on this camp, see the flyer below. I hope to be back tomorrow with my cards - yes there will be two of them and the campers can decide which one they want to make! The stamp I am using is from Unity Stamps and I really love coloring these stamps. I colored two of the samples below, I love to color! I primarily used Stampin' Up! blends to do my coloring, but long to have the time to play with some of the various watercolor sets I have. One of these days....

I thought I would share with you a couple more cards that I made in 2024:

Information on Stamp Camp North:

Thanks for visiting and I hope you are all staying healthy and safe!  

If you have any questions about the techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

New Catalog Swap

Fellow demonstrator Cathy Hansen organizes a demo only swap for each new catalog that Stampin' Up! puts out. This time its for the new Mini Catalog and Sale-a-Bration catalog. I struggled with this one as it had to be using items from those new catalogs. I came up with this:

I think it is very "spring-like" don't you? The card base is Daffodil Delight and the first layer is one of the new in-colors that I haven't used yet, Shy Shamrock. The designer series paper is from the new Sale-a-Bration catalog and is called Bloom Impressions. I used Shy Shamrock ink to ink up the stamps from the Grow With Love stamp set (which is also in the new Mini Catalog.) I stamped the mint leaves on it a piece of white paper and then die cut the label.  I then die cut a separate mint leaves image and mounted it on the label using dimensionals.  The small circle says "grown with love" and once punched out it was mounted using dimensionals. The ribbon is also Shy Shamrock.  The gems are from the 2024-2026 In Color Shimmer Gems pack.

I enjoyed using this color more than I thought I would. The other colors in the newest batch of in-colors are very nice and I have used them often. I hadn't tried the Shy Shamrock and I am now asking myself why not.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you are all staying healthy and safe!   

If you have any questions about the techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Couple more cards from 2024

Here are a couple more cards from 2024:

July 2024:

August 2024:

September 2024:

October 2024:

November 2024:

December 2024:

Thanks for visiting and I hope you are all staying healthy and safe!  

If you have any questions about the techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Sassy Stampers - January 2025

Here is the card the campers will be creating at my table for Sassy Stampers in January 2025:

The card base is Blackberry Bliss and the first layer is Petunia Pop (both from Stampin' Up!). The designer series paper is from the Bloom Expressions pack which will be a new freebie (with a purchase of $60) offered as part of the Stampin' Up! Sale-a-Bration promotion starting January 7. The sentiment is from a new stamp set called Bright Borders and is punched out using a new punch called To the Point. Both products will be available in the new Stampin' Up! mini catalog. The ribbon is Petunia Pop and the flowers on the label were colored using Stampin' Up! markers. 

Thanks for visiting and I hope you are all staying healthy and safe!  
 
If you have any questions about the techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Whoa ....

How on earth is it January 2025?  Happy New Year everyone!

Well, 2024 has come and gone and I haven't posted here since October of 2023! Shame on me. But anyway, I haven't stopped crafting cards, I just stopped posting them and hope to do better in 2025.

Here's a few creations from 2024 that I'd like to share with you.

January 2024:

February 2024:

March 2024:

April 2024:

May 2024:

June 2024:

There are tons more cards I created for camps, classes, swaps and retreats in 2024 and I will add the highlights of the second half of the year next time. Tomorrow's post will contain the card I am creating for my first camp of the year at Sassy Stampers in Berthoud. 

2024 was a year full of fun and lots of surprises and I am really looking forward to a fruitful and creative 2025!

Thanks for visiting and I hope you are all staying healthy and safe!  
 
If you have any questions about the techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

More Clean & Simple (CAS) Christmas cards

As I mentioned before, I am enjoying the Facebook group for Clean & Simple Card Making. Here are a couple of cards I made using inspiration from this group:

The card at the top was created using a die I purchased on Amazon. The next two cards use laser cut wooden snowflakes I have had for a couple of years and never used! The bottom four cards are all created using digital stamped images from Lily of the Valley that I colored using Stampin' Blends. I cannot tell you how much inspiration I get from this group! What a talented group of crafters and the page monitors are the best!

Thanks for visiting and I hope you are all staying healthy and safe!  

If you have any questions about the techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.