Stampin' Mama: A mama that stamps

Take Flight butterfly card - GinaK Desings

Yesterday, I was working on a canvas and used my photo corner punch on some paper from the Ebony and Alabaster paper pack (from GinaK Designs) and when I paged past the paper with the flourish and polka dots on it (seen on this card), I thought about how pretty it would look cut down to fit on a card with the flourish in the corner.

I took my daughter out for a mom&me date to see The Tale of Despereaux and when we got home, I was itching to take that paper out and get to work. (By the way, the movie was fantastic and I highly recommend it!)

I hadn't planned to go with only two colors when I planned this card out in my head, but sometimes things go differently than planned and the result is even better than what you have planned.

I started out with a Basic Black card base. This color of card base is great for using your gel pens to write on the inside....or using metallic inks to stamp a greeting on the inside. You can calso mount a lighter color cardstock on the inside to write and stamp on, if you like.

I chose More Mustard as my second color. I mounted a layer of More Mustard on top of the Basic Black. Then, I cut the piece of patterned paper with the flourish on top of that. I love the grungy look of this paper.....it's so my style!

I cut a strip of More Mustard cardstock at 1/2 inch height and stamped it with one of the greetings from the Take Flight set (from GinaK Designs). For a little while longer, you can get this set FREE with the purchase of 3 other sets from GinaK Designs. This has quickly become my new favorite butterfly set! I love the realistic look of the butterflies and the possibilities for coloring are endless. I stamped the greeting with Versamark and then embossed it with black embossing powder.

I stamped the larger of the two butterflies from the Take Flight set with Versamark ink on More Mustard cardstock and embossed it with black embossing powder. I cut it out using my precision tip scissors.

To add a little bit of subtle shading, I watercolored some More Mustard ink on the butterfly. To do this, I squeezed the lid of the pad against the pad itself, then opened it up and added a couple drops of water with a paintbrush and created my own watercolor paint.

I folded the wings of the butterfly up and mounted it on the card using the center of the butterfly only. This way, the wings stand up off the card, making the butterfly look 3-dimensional.

Oh......and make sure that you head over to Melanie Muenchinger's blog on January 1st for her Blogaversary! The celebration starts at midnight on Jan. 1st and she has some AMAZING give-aways  coming up that you won't want to miss out on!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama 

And the winner is......

Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes and for sharing your birthday traditions! It was a lot of fun to read each and every comment that I received!

The winner of the random draw for a FREE tuition to the Journaling 101 Online Scrapbooking Course is....

Heather Fullerton!

Happy Birthday Erika. Oh to be 32 again...I`m turning 56 in Jan. and have loved each year. Your cake is fantastic. I always have cherry cheescake which I adore. I love your hat...it really suits you. I hope you enjoy a fantastic time with your family and friends during this Holiday time.
Hugs
Heather

Posted by: Heather Fullerton (Retired Heather) | December 26, 2008 at 07:24 AM

I've been working on some really fun projects....taking my art in a whole new direction this past week. Can't wait to share it with you all!

Make sure to check back soon, as I'll also be sharing more bios of the amazing Design Team for the Journaling 101 Online Scrapbooking Course. There's still time to register for this course....and it'll especially come in handy as you get ready to scrapbook all those great photos you took this holiday seaons!

A Happy Birthday Give-Away!

I had a birthday on Monday and thought it would be fun to give a present away in honor of turning 32. Yes, I have no shame in telling how old I am because it's all a matter of how old you feel and I still feel 16!

For my birthday, I made my own cake. Growing up in a foodie family, none of us really like store bought cakes, so we get creative in the kitchen. This year, I decided to do something different. Instead of making a traditional cake, I made a MASSIVE pan of Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Bars and then cut my name out of them (my sister's idea) and coated them with melted semi-sweet chocolate and rainbow sprinkles. I made FAR too much and had a lot left over of uncut Rice Kripsy treats, but that was totally fine with us!

I think these are going to be a family favorite and I might just have to make them for all the upcoming birthdays here in my little family. We all love them!

So, what am I giving away as a way to celebrate my birthday?

A FREE tuition to the upcoming Journaling 101 Online Scrapbooking Course

(this is a $75.00 value!)

We all have a story to tell and this 12 week course will help inspire and teach you to tell those stories in a creative way in your scrapbooks. Even if you've never scrapbooked before or you're a veteran scrapper, this course has something for everyone!

*** This Birthday Give-Away is NOT limited to where you live.....so even if you are outside of the US or Canada, you can still participate.***

So......what do you need to do to enter?

How about you all tell me what you like to have for your birthday treat! Or a special tradition when it comes to birthday.

I'll pick the winner with the random number generator on Tuesday (12/30) at 11 am Eastern Time and announce the winner here!

Spread the groovy love and send your friends over to enter, too! And while you're at it, if you haven't already signed up for my mailing list (which is that little box ALL THE WAY at the top of my blog, at the top of my right hand side bar), pop your email address into that box so that you don't miss out on any of the fun stuff I have going on outside of this blog, along with newsletters and more!

My friend, AJ, made me a drawstring bag for my birthday. It was supposed to be a hat but she didn't think it would work as that so she turned it into a bag. I found that it's versatile and works as both! I took this birthday pic for her so she could see what it looke like on me!

Have a beautiful evening, holiday and weekend everyone! No matter what you celebrate, I wish you peace and joy!

Much love, Erika

Altered Clipboard & Creative Photo Gifts! (Stampin' Up stamps)

This clipboard completes the last fo the clipboards that I have hanging up above my desk in my studio. I love making these! They're a great way to display 5x7 photos and perfect for using those school photos the kids come home with and you're not sure what to do with.

One thing I realized about my stamp collection is that I have very few stamps that work well for a young boy. I really need to remedy that.

By the way, my son really is a happy boy, but he doesn't smile for the professional photographers at school since they only take one photo and you're stuck with what you get, even if their eyes are closed!

I thought that the fern would be very neutral and work for this but I almost turned it down because it's a retired Stampin' UP set. Then I thought, I kept that set because it's one that I love and I knew I would use it or my own personal stamping, even if I couldn't demonstrate it in my workshops or classes, so why not use it for something personal?

I'm so glad I kept this set. Using it to create this altered clipboard reminded me how much I love this set!

I used Perfect Plum, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa and Mellow Moss for this project, along with the Headline Alphabet set that retired a couple catalogs ago. Yet another retired set that I adore and would never get rid of because it works so well when I need large letters.

I found the fern ribbon at Michael's years ago because I really liked the colors and the ferns. I'm surprised that I hadn't opened it and used it yet, but that's how I am with some of my stuff. I hoarde it and don't use it because I'm waiting for the perfect project to use it with and then can never figure out what that perfect thing is. For a little over a year, I've been on a quest to use things I have in my stash that I've been collecting for the past 12 years. When I pulled out the fern set, I knew it was time to break into that roll of ribbon.

This clipboard is one of the projects that ia showcased and taught in the Creative Photo Gifts online course. Even though this class already took place earlier this month, you can still purchase the class. It's great for last minute holiday gifts if you need to make something tomorrow at the last minute.....and for year round when you'd like to give meaningful photo gifts to those you love!

CLICK HERE for more information and to purchase this class.

Have a beautiful evening!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama 

Bake it, Make it, Take it! - Recycled Cookie Tin & GinaK Stamps

It can get expensive purchasing cute little tins to put gifts in. Especially around the holidays when you have a lot of cookies to give as gifts.

My husband jokingly picks on me for all the little tins and containers that I save. He thinks they're going to take over the house. He's exaggerating. Trust me. It's not like the box collection that I had when I was 19. My father burned them all when we were getting to move to Vermont from Pennsylvania because he refused to use up valuable and costly space in the moving truck. It took me a while to get over that. *wink*

Anyway....I always know that I can use these little containers for goodies....you all know how much I love to bake.

The container that I used from this project was left over from the candy I ate from one of my kids' fundraisers a couple years ago. It's such a great size for cookies!

And speaking of cookies....you all know how much I love peanut butter and chocolate together. I used my mom's recipe for her Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies with Hershey's Kisses. This is my favorite Peanut Butter cookie recipe EVER. It's never dry or crumbly. Not overly sweet....and even though I used natural peanut butter with NO sugar in it, these cookies were still the perfect sweetness! I decided to use this recipe for my Bake it, Make it & Take it post.

Oh....and this is a great project to do with your kids or grandkids, or even yourself or a couple of girlfriends this weekend. Or what about next week when the kids have off from school? Do you have any elderly neighbors that would love a little visit from you with some cookies to boot? It's a wonderful way to spread some holiday cheer.

I covered my tin with paper from the Ski Slope Designer Series pack of paper (Stampin' UP) and then wrapped a piece of the red polka dotted Pure Luxury Holiday Ribbon from GinaK Designs.

I used my Coluzzle cutting system to cut a circle of patterned paper to decorate the top of the tin, though you can always substitute this with a holiday bow or a tag if you like.

The stamped image on the front of the tin is from Rupa Shevde's set, The Magic of Christmas (from GinaK Designs). I mounted it on top of a striped piece of patterned paper (from the Ski Slope pack). 

 All of the little snowflakes on the side of the tin were done using the same stamp set as the greeting. There's quite a few snowflakes in this set (and I LOVE snowflakes) and I use the three large ones. I inked them up first with Versamark ink and then directly with Riding Hood Red or Baja Breeze (I did 3 of each). I then sprinkled them with Irridescent Ice embossing powder and heat embossed them. I punched them out with the 1 1/4 inch circle punch and mounted them on Riding Hood Red and Blue Bayou cardstock circles that I punched out using the 1 3/8 inch circle punch. I mounted them around the tin with pop-dots.

Just one batch of my mom's Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies with Hershey's Kisses makes a TON of cookies, so you have more than enough to hand out to friends and still have plenty to snack on for yourself....or even leave a couple out on a plate with a glass of milk on Christmas Eve. 

And if you're looking for some more creative baking and packaging ideas, make sure to check out my other posts here:

Bake it, Make it & Take it!

Happy Creating and baking!

-Stampin' Mama 

Journaling 101 Online Course Design Team Bio - Heather Nichols

 

Today, I'd like to introduce you to one of the AWESOME members of the Design Team that I've put together for the Journaling 101 Online Scrapbooking Course.

Today's Design Team Spotlight is on Heather Nichols.

                       I've been a fan of Heather's work since way back when I first became a member over at Splitcoast. I've followed her blog for quite some time now. When I was thinking of what I would write about Heather for this spotlight post, I described her style to myself (because, yes, I talk to myself all the time) as simple and rustic. When Heather sent me her bio to share with you all, that's exactly how she described herself! Apparently, great minds think alike!

Heather has a brilliant and unique way of taking Kraft cardstock and turning every humble piece into a masterpiece. She has a large and varied skill set when it comes to designing cards, projects and scrapbook pages. She can go simple and classic, rustic and charming, over the top, vintage and feminine.....she can do them all and still stay true to her unique sense of style.

I was so excited when Heather agreed to be a part of my Design Team for this round of the Journaling 101 Online Scrapbooking Course. I can't wait to see what she creates, but I know that whatever it is, it's totally gonna ROCK!

I asked Heather to tell us a little bit about herself:

In her words:

Most people know me from my blog as pine (which came from my online username pinefeather) or in real life Heather Nichols. I live in St. Cloud , MN with my husband Chad and daughters Tacy (8) and Hana (5).  When I am not stamping, scrapbooking, or working on other design projects I am taking care of my girls. My oldest daughter, Tacy, is diagnosed with cerebral palsy and autism. I am always busy with her appointments and care as well as being part of committees and groups that benefit special needs children and their families.

I began stamping when I was about 12 years old. I was given a tackle box of stamps and supplies for Christmas that year and have been going ever since – needing more of a room now than a tackle box to store all of my supplies! I majored in graphic design in college and have always had a huge interest in printmaking, bookbinding, and paper arts in general. I went to my first Stampin' Up! Workshop in 1997 and became a demonstrator in 2002 (and continued until this past summer.) Soon after I joined the online community www.splitcoaststampers.com and had the honor of being a guest designer and then a part of their Dirty Dozen design team. After being on the team, I started doing design work for other paper crafting companies and also was published in Card Creations and Stamp It! magazines. In 2007, Nichole Heady approached me to be a part of the design team for her new company, Papertrey Ink, and it has been a perfect fit. This past August I launched my own stamp line with Papertrey Ink called Pinefeather Press.

I have always been interested in scrapbooking and try to work a project in whenever I can so someday my stacks of photos will become contained in albums and on pages for my family to enjoy. I am so excited to be a part of this course and it will be such a learning experience for me. Writing isn't one of my strong points, but I know it's so important to tell the stories on our pages. I think I normally get distracted by the glitter and buttons that I want to add to my pages where my journaling should go!

My design style is pretty simple and rustic. I love natural colors and vintage materials. I love kraft paper and white ink. I love to play with simple techniques and incorporating them into my projects.

I am sharing one of my favorite scrapbook pages of my daughter Hana when she was 3 months old. I love the pictures of her in the natural light and the expression on her face. I had so much fun adding the stamped word confetti for my journaling onto the page. I also created the fun glitter heart embellishments, stamped the heart pattern paper on the page, and made the sweet coordinating cards to share with friends (I am big about making several projects with the same colors/theme as long as I have all the materials out and in front of me!)

You can find out more about me and the projects I love to create at my blog: Pine is Here

I asked Heather to share one of her favorite layouts with us and I was so tickled that she shared not only a layout, but also the matching cards, too!

If you've been thinking about taking this course and you want to take your scrapbooking and journaling to the next level, make sure to check out the course information and register today!

Click here to find out more ---> Journaling 101 Online Scrapbooking Course

Scrapbook Page: Spread your wings and Fly....using Molly Stamps

 

I've had these pictures just WAITING to be scrapped since early 2007. Yes, I know that's  not that long of a time to be waiting to be scrapped. I know some of us have pictures that have been sitting for 20 years. My wedding pictures haven't been scrapped yet and that was almost 12 years ago......my excuse is that I'm still trying to develop my style. haha!

Anyway....I wanted to do something special with these photos....something with wings. I have another set of these photos that I started working on right after these photos were taken and I put butterfly sticker wings that I had cut apart from the original butterfly stickers they were a part of. I'm still going to use those and make a mini book out of them. But I also wanted a 12x12 scrapbook page to put in my album.

Along came Molly......Molly Stamps, to be exact.  When Russ showed us the Wings on Things sets (they come in either big or small....and there's plenty of uses for BOTH sets), I knew I had found the inspiration for my scrapbook page. 

 I used a pale pink cardstock for the base and painted a border around the edge using Gesso tinted with a dot of red acrylic ink. I used a sponge brush to go around the outside. I don't know why, but lately, that is one of my favorite things to do to my cardstock. It's understated, but just enough to set it off.

(Click on any of the pictures for a larger view)

I used the same pink paint to dab the center and outer points of the felt snowflakes (Stampin' Up Felt Flurries snowflakes....love those things!) and then dipped them in glitter while the paint was still wet.

I stamped the dragonfly wings on vellum with Riding Hood Red ink and sprinkled Irridescent Ice embossing powder on them while they were still wet (one of the advantages of stamping on vellum with dye based ink is that it stays wet for a little while, unlike on regular cardstock) and heat embossed them. I cut them out and then adhered them to my pictures. I used the small wings for the top four pictures and the large wings for the bottom picture. Because I used vellum, I could see through them to trace where I needed to cut them so they would fit around my daughter's coat (and her hand in one of the pictures on the top). I really like the effect that stamping the wings on vellum has. It gives the wings a translucent quality, just like real dragonfly wings. The sparkly embossing powder makes them shiny and glittery.

The large stamped letters were inked first with Versamark ink and then directly onto the Riding Hood Red pad so that the image would stay sticky for the Irridescent Ice embossing powder. They have a great shimmer when embossed. The black handwriting is my own and was done with a Slick Writer marker.

I stamped a second set of large wings to create the large dragonfly as my embellishment at the bottom of the page. I used little pink and blue Dew Drops (from the Hydrangea collection) with mini glue dots to form the body of the dragonfly.  

The more I use the Wings on Things sets with my photos, the more and more I find that I can do with them. I used them on my photos for this scrapbook page, but I also used them for my embellishment. What a great way to carry over the theme! And the best part about them is that because they are stamps, I can use them over and over again! 

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama 

Scrapbook Page: If children were flowers....using GinaK stamps

 

The release party over at the GinaK forum on SCS was a blast Thursday night! Great chats, great contests and great challenges!

Speaking of challenges, you can check out the challenge I did here: December Sketch Challenge 

There's still time to play if you'd like the chance to win a stamp set from GinaK Designs! The deadline is tomorrow night!

Above is the page that I created using Gina's new Tropical Flowers set. I am LOVING this set. Especially for scrapbook pages. It's so versatile! You can create so many different effects with this set. Tropical, wild flower garden, meadow, silhouetted against the sky, etc. The possibilities are endless. 

I took this picture in the spring on the side of a hill in a field behind our old house. My daughter was picking flowers and I zoomed in through the branches and caught this adorable pose from her.

 I created the meadow border at the bottom of the page by stamping the images once with full ink and then again directly after. It gives the effect of depth in the field.

I stamped the red flower images with Riding Hood Red ink on Riding Hood Red cardstock and then cut them out, leaving a slight border of uninked cardstock around the edges. I embellished them with a copper brad in each and mounted them on top of the stems with pop-dots.

The journaling was done with a white Signo Gel Pen. This page is done in an 8x8 format, so there wasn't a lot of room for extensive journaling. I think I might frame this since it's a great size for that.

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

GinaK Sneak Peek Day 4 - Scrapbook page with Take Flight set

I love butterlies. Okay, so some of you already knew that. But for those of you that didn't know it yet....I LOVE butterflies. Love em! When Gina sent us the pictures for her new sets, I instantly fell in love with her new Take Flight set. I'm such a sucker for butterflies...especially when they're realistic looking, like these. And speaking of butterflies, I just noticed that the little butterfly on the watermark that I put over my pictures looks like it's part of the design that I did on my cardstock! I assure you, it's not part of the set and I totally didn't mean for it to be like that!

Oh.......and this set is the new "One Free with 3" set! That means that when you purchase three stamp set this month from GinaK, you get this set absolutely FREE! 

Remember how I said yesterday that some stamps were just MADE for me and the pictures I take? Well, I feel the same way about this set. It has butterflies in it so OF COURSE it was made for me!

I took these pictures during the summer of 2007 and have been wanting to scrapbook them for some time now, but they've been sitting in the photo envelope just waiting for me to find the perfect embellishments to go with them. Yup, you guessed it. As soon as I saw this set, I knew what pictures I was going to use with it.

I used a piece of green textured cardstock (from Bazzill Basics) and inked around the edges with my Mellow Moss craft pad. I stamped one of the butterfly images from the Take Flight set all over the cardstock with the same color ink. I like to use my heat gun to speed up the drying process of craft inks. Since they're a pigment ink, they take a while to dry. When the inspiration is flowing, I don't like to stop to wait for ink to dry.

I can't remember where I got the printed butterfly paper, as it was quite a few years ago and I've been holding onto it for the perfect project. I tore a piece of the paper and mounted it on the left side of the 12x12 green cardstock. I mounted my photos on a darker piece of green cardstock and placed it in the center of my layout.

The words that I used on my layout were done on an even lighter shade of green cardstock and they're also from the Take Flight set. I stamped it with Versamark and embossed it with black embossing powder. The "summer '07" was written with a white Signo gel pen.

To create the butterfly embellishments for my page, I used a Kaleidacolor ink pad (the Cappucino combination) and brayered a piece of GinaK's Pure Luxury cardstock. I stamped the butterflies over the brayered ink (it's important to either let the brayered ink dry with time or speed it up with a heat gun) with Versamark ink and embossed them with black embossing powder. I cut them out and mounted them on the layout in the centers of the butterflies, so that their wings could be folded up a bit for dimension. Obviously, I'm going to be framing this layout in a shadow box so that the wings don't get flattened by putting them in a regular scrapbook. Even if they were put in a scrapbook, though, they'd still look beautiful with the butterflies adhered flat to the page, or popped up with some pop-dots.

Make sure to check out what the Design Team has done with this set:

• GinaK
• Melanie Muenchinger 
• Theresa Momber 
• Donna Baker 
• Kurtis Amundson 
• Jessica Fick 
• Emily Giovanni 
• Carolyn King 
• Carolina Butching 
• Joanne Basile  
  

And don't forget to come to GinaK's release party tonight from 7-10 pm (central time) for chats, challenges, prizes and lots of sneak peeks!It'll be at her SCS GinaK Forum

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

GinaK Sneak Peek Day 3 - Scrapbook page with "Hand-in-Hand" set

It's day 3 of the sneak peeks for the new sets that are debuting from GinaK Designs tomorrow night (12/11) over at Gina's Forum at SCS.

Today's sneak peek uses a set that I'm especially excited about. It's called Hand-in-Hand and it's the newest set by Melanie Muenchinger. Do you ever think that something was created JUST for you? That's the way I felt about this set as soon as Gina shared the images with us a few weeks ago. I also knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

I really enjoy using my stamps with my scrapbook pages and as soon as I saw this set, I thought back to the picture I had taken last month when I went along with my daughter on the school's "Hike for Hunger" fundraising hike. She held my hand through some of the hike and it made me happy because I knew it didn't bother her if her friends saw her holding her mother's hand. She's still at that age when things like that don't make you feel embarrassed. I'm cherishing these moments as long as I can because someday I know things won't always be like they are now.

This set was THE perfect set when it came to scrap-booking these pictures. Of course, it's also a great set to use for cards and it's so unique.....I've never seen a concept like this anywhere else. Leave it to Melanie to dream something brilliant like this up!

I started off with Perfect Plum cardstock and swiped all over it with my Perfect Plum ink pad. I mounted my photos on black cardstock so that they would pop out a bit more.

The flowers that I cut out and scattered around my page are from the Let it Bloom paper pack. I was able to use up a bunch of the flowers. Even the ones on the edge of the papers, seeing as they were just going to sit on the edge of my photos and the cardstock anyway. I even cut some of the flowers in half to get even more mileage out of them. 

The stamped images were done on some of the paper from this pack, as well. They were stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with black embossing powder. Just look at that image and the greeting! Didn't I tell you this stamp set was made for these pictures?? I could have sworn that Melanie KNEW I was going to be needing them for this page.

I prined out my journaling on Kiwi Kiss cardstock and then swiped my ink pad over the strips to give it a distressed look to go with the look of the rest of the layout.

The journaling reads:

Right now, she’s 8 1/2 years old.

Right now, she still thinks I’m cool.

Right now, she still depends on me for everything.

Right now, she still wants to live with me forever.

Right now, she still wants to hold my hand.

Some day, these things will change.

And even if I’m not holding her hand,

I’ll always be holding her heart.

Make sure to check out what the Design Team did with this set:

• GinaK
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Theresa Momber
• Donna Baker
• Kurtis Amundson
• Jessica Fick
• Emily Giovanni
• Carolyn King
• Carolina Butching

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama