Tuesday, May 1, 2018

May 2018 Blog Post





Hello and welcome to May!! This month is full of celebrations! Graduations and Mother's Day take center stage. Our focus is Mother's day for this blog hop. I made this card for a special friend who I have long considered my "spare" mom. I have known her since I was six! Her daughter and I met in first grade. And over 50 years later we are still the best of friends. 



This color combo is not one that I would normally put together. I used Flirty Flamingo and Smoky Slate. 




Can you see the sparkle?? A bit of Wink of Stella was added to the white parts of the sweet little chickadee. I did not have any ribbon, that is current, for my card, but I added a strip of Flirty Flamingo on top of a strip of Smoky Slate  cardstock to take the place of ribbon. After I stamped the verse from Thoughtful Banners in Black I ran the strip through the Big Shot with the Basket Weave embossing folder. This was a limited free item with Sale A Bration. But the great news is that it will be in the new catalog!! 




I love how the embossing makes it look like ribbon! 






The pearls add some needed dimension. Plus I popped the chickadee up on a foam dimensional. 

I hope that you have a lovely Mother's day no matter who you share the day with. We should all enjoy every day!
Now, please hit the next button below to see what my friend Mary has made!












doggandponyshow.blogspot.com
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Sunday, April 1, 2018








Hello and Happy Easter, Happy Spring and Peace to you at Passover! Happy April Fools Day too!

I have two cards for you today. 


The first card features the Delightful Daisy stamp set, Designer Paper and punch! I am participating in three full card swaps at the Stampin Up convention next week. Two of those cards are in today's post. 

This card has a unique fold. As you can see the front of the card is shorter than the back panel. I copied the idea from an amazing card maker, Patty Bennett. It took a while for me to design this card, but in the end I am thrilled with how it turned out. I had to make 11 of these for the swap. 

My next card features a stamp set from the mini Occasions catalog called Flying Home. I used a piece of the designer paper called Color Theory and stamped directly on it. Then I used my Stampin Blends to color the design. I made 11 of this card too. 



Enjoy your day! Please use the button below to hop to Mary's blog. Take Good Care~
http://www.doggandponyshow.blogspot.com


Di         http://www.stampingwithdi.com
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Thursday, March 1, 2018

March 2018 Blog Hop







Hello and happy March!
I forgot that today is the day before blog hop day! (or in other words...I blew it!!)
All of my cards today use sets from the Sale A Bration catalog. This is the best time of the Stampin Up year!! You get great stuff for FREE with your $50.00 or $100.00 order! This promotion ends March 31, 2018.  

 The first card showcases Lots of  Lavender stamp set. I love this image! I also used the Sweetheart Embossing Folder. The trick is that my image covers up the heart!! By using the Lots of Labels framelits, you don't know that there is a heart under there. Even though I used Fresh Fig Card Stock and Ribbon, the Stampin Blends I used to color the flowers are Rich Razzleberry in both the light and the dark, as well as Old Olive, light and dark.



 On the inside I used just part of the folder. The verse is from Ribbon of Courage stamp set.



 My next card uses the Party Pandas set. I believe that this set is actually the most popular of all the first release freebies. I made the balloon slightly bigger! The verse is from Lovely Inside and Out stamp set. I also used the Fox Builder punch for the "end" of the balloon. A wee bit of shading under the panda was added using an aqua brush and Smoky Slate ink. The cardstock is Bermuda Bay and Basic Black.



This card features the Epic Celebrations set. I chose Tranquil Tide cardstock, ribbon and ink. I used Smoky Slate for the background guitars and Basic Black for the verse and guitar. The aqua brush was used to color in the guitar as well as add some spatters to the background paper in Tranquil Tide. Crumb Cake was used to color in the fret board on the guitar with the aqua painter. 
Here I used Heartfelt Blooms with Dapper Denim ink on Whisper White cardstock. The Dapper Denim looks rich with the mat of Soft Sky cardstock. This stamp is really amazing. When you look at it you would swear that there is barely a design on it! This process was developed by Stampin Up and has a patent pending! I suspect that we will be seeing more like this in the new annual catalog!


This card is cased from the Sale A Bration brochure! I used Rich Razzleberry ink and Old Olive ink to stamp the flowers on the  "create my own Designer Series Paper" front piece. Then I used the light and dark Stampin Blends to color the flowers in! The cardstock of Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry really sets off the design! I used a layering oval die to make the Calypso Coral mat for the Stitched framelit Whisper White piece that supports the Rich Razzleberry die cut YOU. This is a matching free set of three dies. 




The inside carries on the theme with the verse in Rich Razzleberry ink and more flowers in Calypso Coral ink. 

Phew! That is a lot of cards!! I was having major problems with my computer. I'm sorry for the wonky way the photos are placed. Now we get to see what Connie has created for the hop. The next button below should take you to her blog but if it doesn't, please use the list below to hop to all of the people on our team hop. Thanks for stopping by!


http://www.texasschoolmarm.com

Di         http://www.stampingwithdi.com

Barb    http://www.beelinestamping.com

Kathya http://www.stampwithkathya.com

Ellie     http://www.elstamper.blogspot.com

Connie http://www.texasschoolmarm.com

Mary   http://www.doggandponyshow.blogspot.com
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Monday, January 1, 2018

It is 2018!!




Happy 2018!
It is a clean slate! Fresh start! A chance to get organized!! 
Whatever your goals are for the new year, I wish you much success.

I would really like to get and stay organized. That statement might surprise many people who know me. I have OCD thanks to my Dad, who had extreme OCD.  I have a hard time working when things are out of order. One of my Dad's favorite things to say was "A place for everything, and everything in it's place." It is a good rule to live by. Once you make that first fatal mistake and do not put something away in the right place, it escalates out of control quickly! 

My dad passed away 26 years ago this year. It is hard to believe that it has been that long. He was very supportive of all my endeavors. I think he would have loved my success as a card maker. He had a wonderful sense of humor and was incredibly kind. 

He would have loved this card because of the perfect spacing between the "tiles". He was a classy guy! On his birthday in 2018 he would have been 89! 

I have used the True Gentleman Designer Series Paper and the Tailored Tag Punch from the new Occasions catalog. (page 45) This DSP is going to be a favorite! It is so nice to have a masculine paper. Not all men hunt, sail or fish! And I dearly love punches!! Especially if they have stamps to match! This punch comes as a bundle with some great stamps in the Truly Tailored Bundle.

I will be setting up my Spring schedule of classes soon! Call me if you wish to be included in the group emails about all of my classes. Would love to have you join us. Classes are held on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Sometimes even Friday if needed. My classes are limited to only 4 people per class so that everyone gets individual attention and has the chance to learn and grow in the hobby we love! Classes all start at 10:00 am. 
Now go create something!
Happy New Year!!


http://www.doggandponyshow.blogspot.com


Di         http://www.stampingwithdi.com









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Friday, December 1, 2017

December Blog Hop!




Hello and Happy December!

What did you think of Barb's project?? I can hardly wait to see what everyone has done. Please leave a comment to let us know what you think of our work. We appreciate your feedback!

I have always loved small scenes. When I was a girl my mom took me to two places that I fell in love with. One was the Science and Industry building in Chicago which had the Colleen Moore doll house. Ms. Moore was a silent film star and the original flapper! The doll house was really quite huge at nine feet square and seven feet tall. Mom bought me a book about it which I still have.
The second place that I loved was the Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago. We went there many times. My mom actually took classes at the Art Institute and became an artist. The Thorne rooms were conceived by a prominent wealthy woman in Chicago. Mrs. Narcissa Niblack Thorne would travel the globe looking for items to put in her rooms. She had teams of artists creating items and helping to design each room. They are amazing! There are 68 miniature rooms housed in the basement of the Art Institute. As luck would have it, twenty of the 99 rooms created were given to the Phoenix Art Museum. There is a series of children's books based on the Thorne Rooms in Chicago called the Sixty-Eight Rooms, written by Marianne Malone that I highly recommend. Two children find a magic key and are able to shrink down to enter the rooms and interact with people from the era of the room! Delightful!! 
Given that history, is it any wonder that I have created a small scene for you in my card? As soon as I saw the set Night in Bethlehem I knew that I had to have it! It has a set of dies that match many of the stamps. 


Close up of the scene on the front of the card. Can you see the sparkle in the upper left corner??






The white cardstock is actually shimmery white cardstock, which I used for the die cuts as well as the front of the card. The designer paper comes from the Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paper package in the Occasions catalog. The card base and ink are black. I used dimensionals, mini dimensionals and Foam Adhesive Strips to add all the depth.  
I hope you enjoyed my card. I wish you a very Merry Christmas!
Take time to breathe!

Use the button below to hop to Mary's Blog!
http://www.doggandponyshow.blogspot.com
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Sunday, October 1, 2017

October Blog Hop!!

http://www.doggandponyshow.blogspot.com
Hello and welcome to October! You have hopefully arrived from Barb's post. If not, it's okay there will be a list at the end of my post so you can hop to everyone's blog. 

My card is simple and sweet. I am not a fan of scary Halloween. I do love the Day of the Dead though. And especially sugar skulls. The skill and talent it takes to make them is amazing. The Desert Botanical Garden here in Phoenix does a celebration of the Day of the Dead and has artists make up the altars paying tribute to the dead. I enjoy going to see what they dream up every year.

My card uses three colors of cardstock; Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black and Crushed Curry. The new cat punch was one of the first things I ordered when I got the new catalog. I love it! I do hope Stampin' Up comes out with more matching stamps for this punch!! 

I also used the largest circle in the Layering Circles dies to cut out the "moon". Then I used the cat punch to punch out the silhouette of the cat from the "moon". The stamp is from Teeny Tiny Wishes. 
I found that the post office had Halloween stamps!! I ordered them on line, as well as my stamps for Thanksgiving and Christmas!! Yes, I had to pay $1.75 to have ALL the stamps sent to me, but I feel like it is a BIG WIN not having to go to the Post Office!! Plus the offices near me never seem to have the stamps I want. And these Jack O Lantern stamps are adorable! 

I will be in the Fall arts and Crafts fair at Trilogy on Saturday, October 21st! starts at 9:00 and runs to 2:00. Get a jump on Christmas gifts. I hope to see you there. Happy Halloween!

Let's hop to Mary's blog and see what she has done!




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Friday, September 1, 2017

September Blog Hop!




Hello everyone! You may have just visited with my friend Kathya. A fine artist and someone I am proud to call my friend. I hope you will hop to all the bloggers to see their creations. This month the theme is the new mini catalog.
There are many fine sets in this new catalog. It is hard for me to pick a favorite. However, I am a sucker for punches that have matching stamps! So I just HAD to have the Everyday Label Punch (144668) on page 12 as well as the set that coordinates with it, Merry Little Labels (144795). There is another stamp set in the catalog that matches the punch, on page 45. Labels to Love has verses for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, and even Valentines Day! That is truly versatile! Plus there is an outline stamp that can be used with a variety of verse stamps already in your stash, that fits neatly inside the punch shape!

I have used many new products on my card. There is the Designer paper that is so lovely in Old Olive, Basic Black and White. Merry Little Christmas DSP (144621) has 12 sheets of double sided 12 x 12 paper, like always, but this has Christmas designs on one side and every day designs on the other! I adore plaid, so I used the Old Olive and Basic Black plaid on my card. I also used the 7/8" striped ribbon (144624), Merry Music Specialty DSP (144623) and the Foil Snowflakes (144642) that come in both gold and silver. I love these because they are muted silver and gold. Lastly, there are three black dots on the top of the label. These are also new! They are black rhinestones! They are in the back of the catalog, with the Halloween stuff. (144639)


Not your typical Christmas card. It came together very easily! That is one of the reasons that I love Stampin Up products. They work well together! That makes my work easier!

Wishing you a great weekend! Now hop on over to Connie's blog and see what she has made! Click on any of the names below to go to any of the blogs, or just click on the button to go right to Connie's blog!
http://www.texasschoolmarm.com
Di         http://www.stampingwithdi.com





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