Blog Hop - "Use Your Words"

Hello! It's time again for our monthly We Create Blog Hop. This month's theme made me laugh out loud when I heard it, because it's something I say a lot -- "Use your words." I can only imagine I'll be saying it even more when I have kids someday!

Anyway. I was super excited to do this hop because, if you haven't already seen them, the new catalog features some sets with AMAZING typography! The stamps I've featured are ones that can stand all on their own (though adding a little extra pizzazz is never a bad thing, right?), which makes cards come together lickety-split! In fact, I made all the cards for this hop in under an hour total! Like I said, super quick and easy!

Stamp sets: Big News, Something for Baby
Framelits: Baby's First Framelits 

Stamp set: Big News

Stamp Sets: Occasions 4 You, Mixed Bunch
Petal Punch 

Stamp Set: Big News

And because Stampin Up loves making things so easy for us, there's also an index of greetings & alphabet stamp sets right in the back of the current catalog! How easy is that?! You can check out the catalog by clicking on the link in the sidebar.


There are SO many more great ways to Use Your Words with Stampin' Up!'s word sets, so be sure to hop through the rest of the blogs to see what other ideas you can find!

Promotion Playtime - "We Create" Blog Hop

Welcome back! This month, we wanted to show you some of the great products that are available outside of our traditional catalog. Sometimes these fun offerings are overlooked, but they are too awesome to miss out on!

My projects use a few products from our Sale-a-Bration catalog that you can earn for FREE for every $50 you spend this month. Yep, for every $50 you spend, you get to chose a FREE item from the SAB mini catalog! (check out the sidebar for more info!) 

I started with a simple outline, inspired by Pinterest.

The banner "string" between pennants was simply drawn
in with the Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write marker - easy!

This simple, cute card uses the Banner Blast set and coordinating punch from the SAB catalog, as well as one of our new totally clear photopolymer stamps. The photopolymer stamps take some getting used to, but they do give a super-sharp image, as you can see above with the "Thank You." A little Cherry Cobbler baker's twine and a "string" (drawn with the Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write Marker) finish off the card. Love!

Then I moved on to a more-involved card. This one uses the same stamps and punches as the first, but I also used our super-fun Envelope Punch Board! You can use the punch board to make a custom envelope in pretty much any size, and it's so easy!

As you can see, I also added some DSP to this card, as well as using the polka-dot Textured Embossing Folder from the SAB catalog. I LOVE that the embossing folder coordinates so well with the pattern on one of the pennant stamps! (The orange one on the right end). I went through about 5 different color/paper/texture combinations before finally settling on this one, so now I have a bunch of itty-bitty envelopes laying around -- oh darn!  ;)  The layout for this card, and the instructions for the custom-sized envelope, were found over on Julie Kettlewell's blog.

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Be sure to check out the rest of the ladies in the Hop, and don't miss out on all these great products!!

"Fall Fun" Blog Hop!

Hello! Thanks for checking out our Fall Fun Blog Hop!

If I'm your first stop, welcome! If you've been hopping for a few blogs, thanks for stopping by! For anyone who might not know, let me explain how our Blog Hop works: We are a group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators (and friends) who have banded together to put on a monthly blog hop for our readers. At the end of each post in the Hop, you'll see the "Next Blog" sign; after you've checked out this entry in the Hop, click on that sign to take you to the next blog, then the next one, etc., until you wind up right back where you started.

This month's theme was "Fall Fun." I'm a BIG fan of Fall! I love the crisp, cool weather and the changing colors in the trees. I love the back-to-school vibe (especially now that I'm done with school!) and all the great holidays that sneak up on us so fast in the next few months. I just wish that here in Utah Valley we could get true Fall weather for a bit longer before the snow sets in. Ah well. I hope you enjoy the fun, festive projects we've created for you today! Remember to click through the whole hop, and comments/pins/shares are always welcome. Happy Fall!

I created this card for the Cards In The Mail Swap I'm participating in this coming year. You can see the other (amazing!) cards I've received in my last post. This month's Swap theme was to focus on the Holiday catalog and anything "fall" themed (so it fit perfectly with this Hop -- two birds with one stone!). The lovely "Truly Grateful" stamp set from the Holiday catalog really stuck out to me. I LOVE wood grain, and so this background stamp was just begging for me to use it!

The layout for this card was actually inspired by a sketch challenge (which has, of course, expired by now -- just my luck) but it lent itself so well to this banner with a faded stamp detail. I chose the color palette using Stampin' Up's Color Coach, which I borrowed from Julie. I've had one on my "short list" for ... well, probably years now, and every time I use it I wonder why I haven't bought one yet. Hm. It may be going on my next order, now that I think about it.

Thanks again for stopping by! I hope you've enjoyed my "Fall Fun" creation. Be sure to click through to the rest of the Hoppers to see what they've made.

"The Great Outdoors" Blog Hop featuring Stamp Camp Creations

Hello, and welcome to this month's We Create Blog Hop! Tanya from Tanya's Stamps & Things chose the theme for August: "The Great Outdoors!" So this month we're showcasing our nature-themed projects, whether it be flowers or birds or camping - anything you'd find outside is fair game!

For the hop, I've decided to show y'all the projects I made for my first-ever Stamp Camp that I held a little while ago. (For an explanation of how a Stamp Camp works, see yesterday's post.) The set I featured for this Camp was "Regarding Daliahs" - a cute set that's perfect for a beginner; it has ONE image and four great "any occasion" greetings.

I made 4 projects for this camp. Most of them are very straightforward projects, as this was a camp for beginners. The last one (my favorite!) involved heat embossing (one of my favorite techniques) but was still a very simple card. All of these cards were CASE'd, but I don't have the originals handy right this moment. As I find them, I'll link to them in the picture descriptions.

Enough words. On to the pictures!

Thanks for checking out my Stamp Camp! I'll be holding more of these in the coming months; my goal is to do one EVERY SINGLE MONTH! Early next week I'll reveal August's stamp camp, so be sure to check back!

Now go enjoy the rest of the hop! If I was your last hopping stop, thanks for joining us! Hope you've felt inspired to go CREATE!

Regarding Daliahs

Last week, I had my first-ever Stamp Camp! For those of you who might not know what a Stamp Camp is, let me explain. I plan out 5 projects for you (cards, notebooks, gifts, etc.), all centered around 1 stamp set. You pre-order the stamp set and pay the usual class fee, then on the day of the Camp you come and learn how to make the projects. At the end of the day, you go home with 5 fantastic projects AND your own stamp set! It's a great way for beginning stampers to start building their own collection of products.

You'll get to see the fun Stamp Camp projects tomorrow during our We Create Blog Hop, so be sure to check back!

The card I'm sharing today is one that I made after the camp as kind of a bonus project. It's full of sparkle and, of course, my favorite color: Pool Party.

I'm quite proud of how this card turned out! This is the first time in a long time that I haven't relied on a challenge to come up with a card idea. I also realized that, for as often as I used to use them, I haven't used banners in a while. I created a "waving" effect with this banner by carefully bending and rolling the paper and then attaching one end higher than the other (the flower is popped up on Dimensionals for a bit more ... well, dimension!). 

The ribbon in the back is some of our retired 1" Satin ribbon in Whisper White, but you could easily substitute a current ribbon or even a strip of cardstock, perhaps with a decorative edge.

Here's a close-up of the detailed parts so you can see what's going on a little better.

Remember to check back tomorrow to see my Stamp Camp projects and the rest of the We Create Blog Hop!


Card Details
Colors: Whisper White, Pool Party
Paper: Silver Glimmer Paper, Quatrafancy Specialty DSP, Whisper White Cardstock
Supplies: Pool Party ink, Stampin' Sponge, Basic Rhinestones, Paper Trimmer, Dimensionals, 3-Way Glue, 1" Satin Ribbon in White (retired)

Soft Vintage "Oh Hello" (and 3 more challenges)

I seem to have gotten into the habit of posting really late at night. I've been trying to get better -- I promise! -- and had every intention of posting early, but then I got distracted. Go figure. I'm working on planning a trip to Disneyland, and it seems to invade every waking minute of my thoughts lately! So here I am again, nearly 1 AM, and I'm just starting to write up this blog post.

Maybe next time I'll manage to post before midnight.  . . . Maybe.

Anyway, on to the card! Determined after my last epic fail of posting a multi-challenge card, I wanted to get this one up as soon as possible so I didn't miss ANY deadlines. Woo-hoo!

I combined the color challenge over at Create with Connie and Mary (CCMC SUM13-02) with the layout from this week's Clean and Simple challenge (FTL248). Then, my stamping buddy Julie pointed out that Friday Mashup was hosting a Tic-Tac-Toe challenge (FM117), so I was all over that -- especially since it involves butterflies and pearls! My favorite things! So combining all that, I basically had my card all set up for me; I just had to pick out two measly little stamps. How easy is that?!

A close-up of the butterfly, colored in, with some great pearl details.

Julie suggested adding a tiny seed pearl to the brad - perfect!

The tiny butterfly details were colored in with a Stampin' Up! Blender Pen in Pistachio Pudding and Crisp Cantaloupe. The tiny pearls create the "body" of the butterfly, and in that one little details I've captured all three elements of the Friday Mashup Tic-Tac-Toe challenge! I also added a pearl to the antique brad off to the left, which adds just the perfect touch of "something special" to tie it all together.



Card Details
Colors: Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla
Tools and Accessories: Lace ribbon, Antique Brads, Linen Thread, small Butterfly punch, Perfect Pennants Bigz Die (Big Shot), Basic Pearls, Blender Pens, 1 3/8" circle punch, DSP (don't remember which - sorry!)
Stamps: Oh, Hello and Butterflies

3 Challenges with Mosaic Madness (But Too Late)

This is, I think, the first card that I've made at home for weeks. This is sad, people! I have really fallen out of my stampin' groove. However, I'm really quite happy with how this one turned out. It went through at least 3 iterations before I ended up with the final product. It's a more modern look than I've been doing lately, but I think that works well with the clean gray-green-white color scheme.

I made this card based on THREE challenges - talk about getting back into the groove of things! Yeah! Go me!! Aaaaannnnddd then I completely forgot to post this early enough (I blame the holiday - Hope you had a happy 4th!) and I missed TWO of the three deadlines. FAIL. Ugh. Oh well, I still got a great card out of it.

The layout came from this week's Clean and Simple sketch challenge (FTL247), which was a great - but challenging! - layout to work with. And thankfully, I haven't missed this deadline. Hooray for only incomplete failure!

Dynamic Duos provided the color palette ... kinda. The challenge was to use Basic Gray and a choose-your-own color. (Neutrals are always allowed.) So I chose green - Lucky Limeaid in the paper and Old Olive in the stamp. It's hard to tell them apart, so I'm just counting them as the same color, okay? Okay. This deadline I did miss, so sad day.

My favorite part of this challenge combo, though, was one I was very sad to have missed: PaperPlayers issued another tic-tac-toe challenge! I LOVE these! They give you a grid, like the one below, and you have to pick one row/column/diagonal to work with.

I chose the diagonal Embossing-Bling-Birthday, and I really like the result! But again, I missed the deadline (UGH!) so I wasn't able to enter. *Sigh* Maybe next time I won't fail so badly and actually get these things posted on time!

"You're The Man" Blog Hop!

Welcome to our "You're The Man" Blog Hop! Take a hop through and see all of the great masculine projects we've come up with for you. As always, please hop all the way through. Comments and pins are always appreciated. Enjoy!

This month's Hop is all about the men. We've created some really fun projects for the dads, brothers, sons, and guy friends in our lives, and we hope that you'll enjoy them too!

I decided to create a card for my little brother, who is — crazy as it seems to me — evidently old enough to graduate high school. Holy cow! I'm super proud of him, and I'm actually sitting in the airport as I write this, heading out to be there for his graduation (and him receiving his Eagle Scout award — who told this kid he was allowed to grow up so fast?!).

I made the card Teal, Silver, and Black — his high school colors (and mine, since we went to the same school). The "Congratulations" is from one of the sets that I'm sad to see go. The stars are a new stamp set from the BRAND SPANKING NEW CATALOG! It's over there in the sidebar - go check it out! It launched TODAY, and it's full of so many gorgeous new products.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my creations.

Birthdays, Butterflies, and Bows - And a Custom Touch

I had so much fun making this card! The inspiration for it came from 3 different card challenge blogs (one of which was closed even when I started the project!), and I'm super pleased with the result:

I just LOVE the quick-and-easy customization "trick" I learned at the SU Regional I went to last month: insert a piece of DSP into the envelop for an instant "luxury" look! So simple, but the effect is fantastic.

As I said, this card was inspired by several fun sources. The layout for this card came from Freshly Made Sketches (FMS86). 

The touch of butterflies came from SUO Challenges #70. When I saw that SUO was all about butterflies, you know I was so totally all over that! Haha. I love me some butterflies.  :)

And the birthday theme came from a fun tic-tac-toe challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays in celebration of their 100th challenge! Hooray! These challenges are always a lot of fun.

Fusion Challenge and My FIRST My Digital Studio!

Hello again! I hope you all enjoyed the fun May Day Blog Hop we had last week! If you missed it, click here to start hopping.

This week, I've tackled TWO new things in one project! It was a little overwhelming and scary for me to take on that much "new" all at once, but I'm pretty proud of myself in the end. As silly as it sounds, even though I've been a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator for nearly 3 years -- and even though My Digital Studio (our digital crafting software) is only $20 -- until this week, I'd never actually created ANYTHING in My Digital Studio! I know, it's ridiculous. But I've now righted that wrong!

And so I present: My very first MDS creation! Made entirely in the FREE TRIAL of My Digital Studio!

I made this card for the Fusion Card Challenge, which is a relatively new stamp challenge blog with a fun concept. The designers give you a sketch and an inspiration photo; you can use either -- or both! -- in your creation. This was their Fusion #5. I was inspired by the photo, so I pulled its colors into the card (made with their layout, too). I'm pretty happy with it.

As I mentioned before, this was made entirely with the free trial of MDS. I didn't buy/download any stamps or accessories or anything. And it was made from scratch, not from a template (but that's another fantastic option, too).

May Day Blog Hop! (And SUO 69!)

Welcome to our May Day Blog Hop! Take a hop through and see all of the fun May Day projects we've come up with for you. As always, please hop all the way through. Comments and pins are always appreciated. Enjoy!

Today, I wanted to show off one of my FAVORITE new stamp sets. You'll get to see this gorgeous set in the upcoming catalog, and I just can't wait until all of you can use it with me! To me, May means birthdays. My family has at least 6 birthdays in May, and so I wanted to create fun, happy, special cards with specific people in mind. So here's what I've come up with.

I made this 3x3 card last, but it's absolutely my favorite! I love how you can create
your own "DSP" look in the background by lining up the stamps!

Since these adorable little 3x3 cards can't be mailed, this mosaic card is for one of my dear friends here in the Provo area. It's such a perfect little pick-me-up card! The students here at BYU have just finished finals, so I think I'll send this as a "Welcome to summer!" note for a friend.


This next one might be my favorite. It's so hard to choose, though -- it's like picking a favorite kid!

This one was CASE'd from a card by Illina Crouse,
and I'm totally in love with the details of it! 

"Today calls for something pink with sprinkles on top!" The saying on this card absolutely, positively reminded me of one person in particular - my old roommate and best friend, April. She LOVES everything pink and sparkly! Which is just fantastic, since she's expecting a little baby girl this summer! This may just turn out to be her baby shower card. (But shhh! Don't tell her!)

If the SUO Challenge I entered (see below for details) only lets me enter one card, it's this one! It's my favorite of the three -- if I really, really had to choose.



Next up, a colorful variation!

This one was a total mess until my dear husband suggested the
dimensional gray flowers at the bottom. Perfect touch!!

And this card is most likely destined to be a thank-you card for a friend of mine. I have so many great friends to be thankful for, so it's going to be hard to choose! I guess I'll just have to make more!

Card Details:

All of these cards were made with the Mosaic Madness stamp set, the coordinating punch and Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, and just a few colors - Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink, Silver Glimmer Paper (or embossing powder), and Very Vanilla.

Since 2 of the 3 cards I made used the Textured Impressions Embossing Folder for the Big Shot (both Sizzix products, sold by SU), I've decided to enter these cards in the SUO Challenge this week! Their challenge, SUO69, features ANY Sizzix product, and you should go check out the fun entries there!

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my creations.

Paper Players One-Layer Challenge

This week, The Paper Players had an interesting challenge -- a one-layer card. So many of the cards I make involve multiple layers either through stamps or just separate layers, so this was quite a challenge for me. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, especially the "faux layer" around the greeting. 

This is a technique I've seen used a lot, but I've never actually done it. I stamped the sentiment and then taped a mask over it. Then I stamped the leaves and flowers and sponged off the edges of the mask. That's it! A simple technique, but it gives a cool effect. 

Challenge Info

Card Details

Stamps: Summer Silhouettes, Perfectly Penned

Ink: Pink Pirouette, Old Olive, Creme Cake, Daffodil Delight, Soft Suede

Two Sketches and My Favorite "New" Color

This week, I discovered that THREE of the challenge blogs I frequent had similar sketches. I took that as the universe telling me I needed to use this layout -- so here's what I came up with:

I just LOVE how this one turned out! I don't usually "do" any of the Stampin' Up! "In Colors" (since they're only around for a relatively short time) but since this gorgeous Pool Party color has been announced as part of our Color Refresh, I am definitely looking forward to using it for years to come! (Possibly my favorite SU color ... except maybe Rich Razzleberry, but that's mostly because it's got an awesome name.)

I really like how the Basic Gray background (with the Honeycomb Textured Embossing Folder) looks with the bright, springy colors from the DSP. If you want to see another GENIUS idea for customizing this particular pattern of DSP, go check out Julie Wadlinger's entry in our Just Because blog hop. Betcha won't even recognize the paper!

And then, of course, the card needed a little bling -- so I added some of our Basic Jewels rhinestones to the DSP design to jazz it up a bit. The Tangerine Tango accents under the DSP and in the sentiment really make this a happy little "anytime" card.

I've entered this card in TWO challenges! (Because I'm daring like that.) Go check them out!
(It would have also been entered into Fab Friday, but I totally missed their deadline.... again! Go figure...)

Create with Connie and Mary (CCMC 247)

Clean and Simple Stamping 235

Card Details

Paper: Pool Party, Basic Gray, Whisper White cardstock; International Bazaar DSP

Ink: Tangerine Tango

Tools and Accessories: Honeycomb Textured Embossing Folder (Big Shot), Basic Jewels, Paper Snips (for cutting banner and placing rhinestones)

Easy-Peasy "Thank You" Cards

Remember a while ago when I posted those bookmarks I made for my old coworkers? Well, I also made them some quick thank-you cards, since they were such fantastic people to work with.

I was making all of these (impromptu) gifts the night before my last day at that job, so whatever I did had to be quick and easy to make at least 6 variations of. I ended up making 3x3" cards with a simple, punched-out sentiment and various colors of backgrounds.

Ta-da! Here's the whole lot of them, sitting on my desk at work. Here's a close-up of each one:

So, yeah, it's taken me FOREVER to post these, even though they were SUPER DUPER SIMPLE to make. However, there's a silver lining to my procrastination! This week's SUO Challenge (SUO68) is all about using ONE main color (and an accent/neutral, if you want) -- which is exactly what I did with these cards! Just goes to show that simple is sometimes really the best answer.