Stampin-Style

Warmest Birthday Wishes

Stampin' Up! Pleasant Poppies
& Papillion Potpourri

Here's a little ditty I pulled together for a few of my friends at Convention.  We are part of Mary Fish's group (you may have heard of her!!!!!!) and are part of her Stampin' Pretty (Handsome) Pals Round Table.  Okay, so handsome really kind of kills the alliteration, but I KNOW you know where I'm going with that!  LOL  Anyway I wanted to use Pleasant Poppies.  I think it turned out beautifully and the subtle wathercolor wash effect is so easy to get!

Stampin' Stuff:

Stamp Sets -

• Pleasant Poppies Wood Mount (126480)
• En Francais Wood Mount (109521)
• Papillion Potpourri Clear Mount (123759)
• Blooming With Kindness Clear Mount (126422)

Ink -

• Early Espresso Classic (119670)
• Soft Suede Classic (115657)
• StazOn® Jet Black Ink Pad (101406)

Paper -

• Very Vanilla Card Stock (101650)
• Tangerine Tango Card Stock (111349)

Tools -

• Water Color Pencils (101879)
• Blender Pen (102845)
• Paper Snips (103579)
• Elegant Butterfly Paper Punch (127526)
• Postage Stamp Punch (122344)
• Sponge Daubers (102892)
• 2-Way Glue Pen (100425)

Putting It Together Tips:

• I started by stamping the En Francais background stamp in Soft Suede and the Pleasant Poppies background stamp in Early Espresso.  This gave just enough contrast to identify the poppies from the script.  At first you'll think it will be too confusing to color.  Do the stems first and all of a sudden the poppy flowers just pop out asking to be colored.
• The Watercolor Pencils are a wonderful tool.  Especially when teamed up with the Blender Pen.  It makes it so easy to blend colors.
• To get the wash effect you see on a zoom view with the stems, I simply dragged the Blender pen along the right edge of the flower and stem and the Early Espresso bled - but in a good way!  It softened the images for the perfect look.
• The sentiment tag was cropped using the Postage Stamp punch to make the notched flad and the entire tag was edged using a sponge dauber and Early Espresso ink.  The sentiment is Early Espresso as well.
• For the butterfly, stamp two.  Cut both left wings off.  Glue the two bodies together slightly offset using a Two Way Glue Pen and position a Dimensional in between the wings to give the butterfly depth. 

The Stampin' Up! Starter Kit is only $99.  Completely customizable with $125 worth of great Stampin' Up! merchadise.  You'll receive product and business supplies valued at $190.
Contact me for the details

 

What A Great Deal Michelle Got!

Hi everyone,
I always like to share great deals and last night one of my best customers, Michelle, cleaned up!  She placed a  $450 order with me.  Of course with a $450 order she received $65 in free Hostess benefits and one item from the catalog at 50% off.  (Think Big Shot!  WOW!)  But until July 31st, when you place a $450 minimum order directly with a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, either as a customer or as part of a home party order, you receive an additional $50 in free merchandise as part of the “We {Heart} Our Hostesses” Promotion. 

And of course she took advantage of the “Reason To Smile” promotion and got a wood mounted stamp set for $5.

Michelle is one of my best customers and belongs to my Customer Loyalty Program, so she received an additional $50 from me.  So lucky Michelle walked away with almost $200 in free Stampin' Up! merchandise! 

Paid merchandise = $400
Free merchandise = $190
Months of creativity = Priceless! 

Does this girl know how to shop or what!  Way to go, Michelle! 

Don't let the month go by without cashing in on these great promotions.  And don't forget my customers get free stuff from me too!

PPA139 - Thoughts of You

Stampin' Up! Reason To Smile
& Papillon Potpourri

It's the Pals Paper Arts Bi-weekly Challenge.  This week it's a sketch challenge by our own Design Team member Margaret Moody.  Sketch challenges can be so much fun once you realize that just because there's a circle in the upper left and lower right corner of the sketch, it doesn't HAVE to be a circle.  That's just a place holder.  And MY place holders are butterflies!  I love how intricate these butterflies are cut out and I didn't have to pick up a pair of scissors to do it!  Check out my Stampin' Tips to see how!

Stampin' Stuff:

Stamp Sets -

• Reason To Smile Wood Mount (131274 - W 131275 - C)
• Papillon Potpourri Wood Mount (123757)
• Loving Thoughts Wood Mount (125843)

Ink -

• StazOn® Jet Black Ink Pad (101406)
• Pacific Point Classic (126951)
• Wild Wasabi Classic (126959)
• Water Color Pencils (101879)

Paper -

• Whisper White Card Stock (100730)
• Pacific Point Card Stock (111350)
• Wild Wasabi Card Stock (108641)
• Marina Mist Card Stock (119682)
• Daffodil Delight Card Stock (119683)
• Tangerine Tango Card Stock (111349)

Accessories -

• Stampin' Dimensionals (104430)

Tools -

• Stamp-a-ma-jig (101049)
• Blender Pen (102845)
• Elegant Butterfly Punch (127526)
• Fancy Fan Folder (127751)

Putting It Together Tips:

• The focal point of this project is a beautiful aster.  This stamp set is offered during the month of July only when you purchase $50 in Stampin' Up! supplies.  What a deal!  I've included the item numbers for the special pricing under  the Stamps header.  Of course you can also buy them without meeting the $50 minimum, but then they're around $20.  Click here for details.  Color it in using the matching stamp or use watercolor pencils like I did here.
• I used Wild Wasabi ink to make the flower impression.  That way it doesn't look like a coloring book image.  I used watercolor pencils to color the image in and softened them using a Blender Pen. 
• The Fancy Fan Embossing Folder is made even moree dramatic with the use of two different colors of card stock and some Pacific Point Classic Ink.  I used Snail to hold the Wild Wasabi card stock onto the Marina Mist card stock.  Then I inked the Fancy Fan folder with Pacific Point ink and carefully positioned the card stock on the dry side of the folder.  Carefully close the folder and firmly hold it together while you position it on the Big Shot.  Crank 'er through!
• There's really no magic to cutting out the butterflies.  The 2012 Elegant Butterfly punch makes it the easiest part of this card!

Starting May 1st purchase the Stampin' Up!  Starter Kit for only $99.
You'll receive product and business supplies valued at $190.
Contact me for the details

PPA138 - I Am Africa

Stampin' Up! Serene Silhouettes &
Tasteful Trim

It's time for the Pals Paper Arts challenge.  This week it's a color challenge using Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler, and Early Espresso.  This was a particularly difficult challenge for me as I always think of flowers when I hear Daffodil Delight, but without a green, it's kind of, welL...a CHALLENGE!  As you all know I believe inspiration is everywhere, even on your computer desktop!  So as I was logging in this morning a looked at the wallpaper on my computer and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  I took this pic a few weeks back when I was in Joshua Tree National Park at sunset.  I have always loved silhouette shots and then I thought of Serene Silhouettes and I had my card!  Tasteful Trim was added as an afterthought and my partner said it reminded him of his time in Africa!  All of a sudden I thought “Lion King!”

Stampin' Stuff:

Stamp Sets -

• Serene Silhouettes Clear Mount (127324)
• Just Believe Clear Mount (120453)

Ink -

• Cherry Cobbler Classic (119669)
• Early Espresso Classic (119670)

Paper -

• Daffodil Delight Card Stock (119683)
• Cherry Cobbler Card Stock (119685)
• Early Espresso Card Stock (119686)

Accessories -

• Stampin' Dimensionals (104430)

Tools -

• Framelits Labels Collection (125598)
• Tasteful Trim Bigz XL Big Shot Die (120893)
• Brayer (102395)
• Sponge Daubers (102892)

Putting It Together Tips:

• I started this card by brayering Cherry Cobbler to the top portion of a piece of Daffodil Delight card stock.  You have to brayer the color gradually by loading the brayer and starting to roll the color off the card stock.  This eliminates the harsh line on the project.
• I “juiced up” my Early Espresso stamp pad with my reinker and imprinted the first image on the brayered card stock and then imprinted the image again in the same spot on a scrap of paper.  I tore the scrap of paper to create the earth silhouette making sure the “earth” rose to meet the mound that the tree was on.  Then I placed the scrap over the brayered card stock as a mask and loaded the exposed card stock with Early Espresso using the brayer.
• The sentiment component created with a Labels Framelit and the Tasteful Trim zig zag accents were edged with Early Espresso to make them pop.  Load up the Sponge Dauber and lightly tap the edge of the cut out.  It's better to tap lightly and add until you like the results.  Once the ink is on the paper - it ain't comin' off!!!

Starting May 1st purchase the Stampin' Up!  Starter Kit for only $99.
You'll receive product and business supplies valued at $190.
Contact me for the details

 

PPA138 Sneak Peek

It's time for the sneak peek of my upcoming color challenge.  Twice a month the Pals host a challenge with alternating color and sketch subjects.  This is the week!  And I thought I'd share with you a quick peek at mine.  As always a little hint that the PPA challenges are like the Circle of Life!  It's so easy to play and you could earn the prestigous honor of being the PPA Pick of the Week.  Use whatever supplies you have on hand.  Any company's products will work.  Check out the Pals Paper Arts website tomorrow for our next exciting challenge.