Stampin' Mama: A mama that stamps

Quick Card - Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper

I don't know what in the world took me so long to order this paper but ever since it arrived, I've been wanting to use it all up! I ordered the paper for the cute Recipe box kits that I recently offered and I LOVE using it for cards.

What I love about Stampin' UP's Designer Series paper packs is that you can use them almost by themselves to make a card! If you're looking to make a quick card and don't want to have to pull out a ton of stamps, SU's Designer Series paper packs are the way to go! And it's really easy to use up smaller pieces and scraps that you just can't bear to throw away.

Have you seen all the paper stacks in your craft and scrapbook stores that have the glittered accents on the pages? I really like that look but I'm usually hesitant to spend $20+ for a big pack of paper when I have so much at home already that needs to be used up. So......to create the look of patterned paper with glittered accents, all I did was break out my 2-Way Glue pen and my Dazzling Diamonds glitter (both from Stampin' UP) and quickly created my own glittered paper.

The 2-Way glue pen is my favorite glue to use for glitter. It dries flat and quick. I never have to worry about waiting for the glue and glitter to dry before I can turn the paper over to apply adhesive and stick it to my card. It happens so quickly.....that it should almost be illegal! *wink*

For this card, I used the designs to guide where I wanted to apply my glitter. I quickly drew my glue pen over the dots on the thin strip of patterned paper and sprinkled glitter over it. I did the same on the flower that I punched out from the Summer Picnic paper. I drew around the outline of the flower with the glue pen and then applied the glitter.

I mounted the flower on top of a scalloped circle (Certainly Celery), which was then mounted to my card with a pop-dot for a little extra dimension.

The only stamp that I used for this card was the "happy birthday" image, which comes from the Eat Cake stamp set and was stamped with Basic Black ink.

This card literally only took me about 7 minutes from start to finish, even with cutting out the red patterned paper circle, which I cut with my Coluzzle circle template.

You could step this card up if you wanted to and add a few brads in the upper right corner of the card, or tie a ribbon around the end of the dotted strip.

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Quick cards.....no stamping required!

These three cards were offered up on my Groovy Give-Away last Friday, but I wanted to do a separate post to explain a little bit more about these cards and show some detail.

These three little cards are only 3 x 3 inches, but they pack a lot of punch.

I wanted to create a set of cards that were quick to make and also contained no stamping (*gasp*....yes, that's right, I said it.....NO STAMPING....you can all start breathing again now).

It's amazing what you can do when you force yourself to put the stamps down and look around your craft space to see what else you can use create. In this case, I went to the patterned paper and punches.

My little 3 x 3 finished card bases are created with Real Red cardstock.

I am SO glad that I tried out the Cerise Designer Series paper before it becomes permanently retired. I really liked the Au Chocolate paper that Stampin' Up offered last winter and was kind of leery of getting the same kind of patterns in bright red. I held of and finally went for it last month and finally broke the package open last week. Wow, am I glad I did!

When the new catalog arrives, I'm really hoping that there are some new colors in these patterns because it's great to work with in making non-stamped cards.

These little cards were as simple as cutting some cardstock and paper and using some quick punches. Nothing fancy, but the results are clean, simple and very eye catching.

I found that by playing around with positioning my circle punch (I used the 1 1/4 inch circle punch for the smaller circles) over the patterned paper that I could get some really cool punched looks.

This card here uses the same paper for the punch out that I used as the background in the card on the far right in the first photo.

The larger circle was punched out of Very Vanilla cardstock, as it matches the Very Vanilla in the patterned paper. I punched that out with a 1 3/8 inch circle punch.

I adhered the two circles together and then used my 1/16 inch circle punch in the center of the punch out so that I could put a small silver brad through the hole.

The circle/brad accents were mounted on the cards with a pop-dot. I really love to see dimension on my cards. I go through pop-dots like you wouldn't believe. (*note to self - get more pop-dots....you're almost out!*)

This card here uses the same papers as used in the card above, but I reversed them. The punched paper from above got used as the background in this card here. The background from above was punched out for this card here. The cards use the same patterns, but they have a totally different look. And again.....no stamping required!

Enjoy your evening!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies: Cerise Designer Series paper; Real Red and Very Vanilla cardstock; 1 1/4 inch circle punch, 1 3/8 inch circle punch, 1/16 inch hole punch; pop-dots; mini silver brads

Holiday Card......simplicity personified

This is one of the cards that I designed for my Stamp-a-Stack that happened last weekend (and for the "Holiday Stamp-a-Stack by Mail").

I had 4 designs and everyone did 5 each of those designs. The other 3 designs were done with colored cardstock as the base. I wanted to do one design that used vanilla cardstock as the base, as I find it really personifies simplicity and elegance.

I wanted to create a design that didn't take away from the simplicity and still retained a classic elegance. This is what I came up with.

Very simple, but very elegant.

It's truly simplicity personified. But it's also elegance personified.

A little bit of patterned paper can go a long way......just a quick strip across the center of the card adds a little bit of contrast and color. Again....very simple, but striking.

It's hard to tell from the photo but the snowflake shines and sparkles with, yup, you guessed it....Dazzling Diamonds Glitter. That glitter works on so many levels. It can be used to make a bright balloon on a child's card come to life....but it can also turn a simple snowflake into a sparkling wonder.

Speaking of sparkling wonders.....I recently updated my son's blog with a post and pictures from the trip we took last month to Florida. I keep meaning to share it with all of you and I keep forgetting. If you'd like to check it out, you can click here: Zach's World  That little boy of mine (though he's getting to be not-so-little these days.....hard to believe he's almost 9 years old soon!) always keeps us guessing, but he's always full of sparkle and wonder.

Have a lovely evening.....and make sure to check back tomorrow for my 400th post give-away! :)

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Holiday Harmony paper all dressed up....

I recently got a new package of Designer Series paper....the Holiday Harmony paper. I couldn't quite get the colors perfect on this picture, but it's close enough. :)

I wanted to go with something quick and rich. And also a bit non-traditional when it came to holiday colors. Everything seemed to be muted holiday tones (which I'm really okay with.....I like muted tones, you all know that!), but I wanted something else in there that jazzed it up just a bit. That's where the Perfect Plum comes in. It gave it just a little bit spice. :)

I just can't help myself when it comes to layering with these Designer Series papers. They lend themselves so well to it.

Yes, that is direct-to-paper you see around the outside edges of the Purely Pomegranate cardstock that I used for the card base. And yup, you guessed it. I couldn't keep my hands off that little distressing tool from the Cutter Kit. Sometimes I wonder if that thing will outlast me or if I'll outlast IT! I have used that little tool SO hard but it never seems to give up and give in. It just keeps going. Someone just recently told me that it should outlast me since it has 7 blades on it, but I've given every one of those blades a work out. That little tool AMAZES me. Not just with what it can do, but that it has held up to the constant beating I've given it. I LOVE that thing!

I used the Snowflake Spot set for this card.....not a whole lot of stamping, but just enough. I used Whisper White craft ink for the snowflake spots across the top and bottom of the card and also for the word, "Cheers."

If you look closely at the Twill Tape that I used on this card, you can see that it's not the clean ivory color that you see when you open the package. When I laid it on the card, it looked TOO clean. I swiped my River Rock ink pad across it a couple times to make it look a little dirtier and match the River Rock colored patterned paper underneath. I really like how it came out.

I used a ribbon buckle from the Antique Brass HodgePodge Hardware Kit to thread the twill tape through and then embellished over the top with a few prima flowers and Antique Brass mini brads (also from the HodgePodge kit).

Oooooh, I just thought of a really sweet 3-D project I could make with this pretty paper.....but I'll save that for another day and another post. Maybe even tomorrow!

Have a lovely night!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Another quick Simply Scrappin' Kit card....and a challenge to you!

Yes, I'm still working on that Winter Bright Simply Scrappin' Kit. It's amazing how much stuff comes in that package! It's like a Never Ending Gobstopper! It just keeps going and going and going.

I wanted to put together a quick card without stamping today and this is what I came up with. I've been hoarding (yes, I hoard, surprise, surprise......nothing new in the world of the Stampin' Mama) those big cardstock stickers that come in this pack. I just couldn't bring myself to use them on anything because what if I wanted to use them on something else later on? I had to slap myself around a few times before I came to the point that I could actually use them today, but I sucked it up and finally gave in. Nothing overly spectacular, but it's quick and easy and took me all of 3 minutes to put together. Literally. No joke! You can't even format a card on the computer and print it out in under 3 minutes! I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again.....those Simply Scrappin Kits really DO rock! :)

It's extremely easy to slice a few pieces of cardstock, some paper and pop some stickers to it all. Imagine how quickly you could put together your holiday cards this way. I have used my kit for SO much and I still have plenty to use. Of course, I also have lots of stickers because I'm a hoarder. Well, now there's a challenge for me. I'm going to create a card using JUST a cardstock base and stickers. No cardstock layers, no patterned paper....just stickers.

I double dog dare you to do the same! :) Let's see what you can come up with! Send me a picture of your card made with just Simply Scrappin' Kit stickers! I'd love to see what your creativity cooks up!

Have a great week!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Quick stamping.....but oh so cute with the Double Line Doodles set

While using the buttons on yesterday's post, I wanted to try something with buttons again. Who knew those little buttons could be so addictive?

I used the Double Line Doodles set for this card.

Just a little bit of good old fashioned stamping for this one.
I've been challenging myself more and more to use the new In Color color palette and really like the way this turned out. Of course, I happened to have some of the new and beautiful Double Stitched Grosgrain ribbons in the In Color colors so that helped to tie it all together really nicely.

The stems are in Wild Wasabi and the flowers are in Purely Pomegranate and Groovy Guava (I LOVE that name). I used some mini glue dots to adhere the little buttons to the center of the flowers. Aren't they SO cute?

I love doing these little flowers at different heights. It gives a little more visual interest.

I tied a length of Groovy Guava ribbon around the front of the card and secured it with a double knot. That just didn't seem to be enough color and contrast for me, so I added a couple more colors. I added the Wild Wasabi double stitched ribbon in a single knot around the Groovy Guava ribbon. That just didn't seem like enough to me, either. The black gingham ribbon was the finishing touch for me.....especially because it coordinated with the greeting that I did in Basic Black ink. Again, I did a single knot with the ribbon, the trimmed the edges of the ribbons. Perfect!

Today is the day we come back home....as you're reading this, we're back in the air and our vacation has come to an end. I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend....and a great start to the new week!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Quick and Elegant.....LOVE the Brocade Background paper

I may not have the specific stamp sets to coordinate with this paper, but I'm finding all kinds of ways to use it even WITHOUT the stamp sets. Who said you have to own everything in order to make a beautiful card? Of course, that doesn't stop me from DREAMING about owning everything.....a girl HAS to have dreams, right?

I really love the vintage, Victorian and shabby chic look, though I doubt I would have ever been "lady enough" to pull it off myself in clothing, style and demeanor if I lived in that time period.....it's a good thing I was born in this era instead of the one that required petticoats and bloomers. I probably would have been sent off to "finishing school" or given up on as a tomboy that likely would never have gotten married. ;)

Since I don't have any of the coordinating stamp sets to go with the Brocade Background Designer Series paper (which also happens to be double-sided), I decided to use the paper as my main focus. Even though the patterns go this way and that....stripes, flourishes, diamonds, etc.....they still look really nice together when layered.

I used the distressing tool on my Cutter Kit to rough up the edges of the paper a bit, to give it more of that shabby chic feel.

I used a pewter ribbon charm with some narrow ivory organdy ribbon as an embellishment and secured the ends of the ribbon back with some pewter finish mini brads. I trimmed the ends of the ribbons into a "V" shape.

I swiped around the outside of the card with my River Rock ink pad. The more I use this colors, especially for swiping, the more I see the benefit of this peculiar color. I wasn't quite sure what to do with it when I first got it, but it's a close second for swiping behind my Creamy Caramel pad.

I used the "thanks" image from the Much Appreciated set with Always Artichoke ink to finish the card off.

Happy Thursday and....

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Another quick card with a little bit of stamping and lots of wow!

I have been having so much fun trying out new uses for ribbon, paper strips, border stickers, etc. I've been looking for ways to use the things I've hoarded over the years, as well.

Not that long ago, I stumbled on some really great ribbon with chocolate brown, pink and aqua. I never really considered myself a fan of the color pink, but the more I see it paired with chocolate brown, the more I've fallen in love with it. And how can you go wrong when chocolate brown is paired with aqua? It's just so yummy!

When I shared my cake card last week, my friend, Jen, had some fun with her Photoshop program to give me some new ideas and inspiration. She used just a couple of colors for the cake and ribbon and that got me to thinking. Thinking that it was high time that I broke into this ribbon that I've been hoarding for about 4 months (actually, 4 months isn't that bad, considering how long I've hoarded some of the other stuff in my collection).

And yes, that's my coveted Cool Caribbean cardstock again. I told you I was getting a little more liberal with it. I lifted my rationing orders on myself to make this card and yesterday's card. It was just too perfect to pair with that aqua/chocolate brown ribbon.

For this card, I simply cut lengths of ribbon and adhered them to my cardstock with SNAIL Adhesive. It's amazing how well that stuff sticks ribbon down. It's not coming up any time soon.....or EVER for that matter.

I really just eyeballed the length of the ribbon and played around with it according to the dimensions of the cardstock.

Just like I did with the last cake card I made, I used a small piece of ribbon to create the candle. I trimmed the end to a point and then punched a hole with my 1/16 hole punch and inserted a mini gold brad into the hole. Voila! Instant trendy candle. :)

I used GinaK Designs's Curly Happy Birthday stamp for the greeting at the bottom of the card using Basic Brown ink.

This card literally took me under 8 minutes to put together. Talk about easy and quick!

Enjoy your Wednesday!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

And now for something completely different....no stamping, but a whole lot of WOW

When I got my mail yesterday, there was a little surprise for me waiting in my PO Box.

One of my sweet friends, Bee (who is also a new stamper and paper crafter, as well as blogger), sent me a beautiful card that she created for me along with a second envelope with some fantastic ribbon that she picked up while at Target.....after knowing that we don't have even ONE Target store in the whole great state of Vermont.

I feel a certain kinship with Bee, as she also has a son that is autistic. Bee and I actually met on LiveJournal because our sons are autistic. A mutual friend hooked us up and I've enjoyed getting to know Bee. And it seems that Bee would like to blame me for encouraging her new addiction to stamping. ;) That's okay.....at least this addiction is legal. ;)

Thank you, Bee, for the special treats in the mail! You ROCK!

I impressed myself so much yesterday with the Christmas tree card that I decided to try something along that line again today. The whole paper strip thing. But then I started looking at that ribbon and went in a different direction. This is what I came up with.

The card of ribbon actually came with 6 different ribbons on it, but there were 4 that caught my eye and seemed to work perfectly together. The "Celebrate" ribbon was part of the card, too, and was great as my greeting. This card ended up taking me about 7 minutes to put together and required no stamping whatsoever.  (I can hear the collective gasps out there.....it's okay, you die hard stampers can pick yourself up off the floor now.....you heard right, the Stampin'  Mama DID say this card required no stamping.....it's okay, really, it is.)

I cut strips of cardstock, taped some ribbon on top and cut the ends so they were flush with the edges of the cardstock. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. :) The "Celebrate" ribbon did get folded around the back of the cardstock, though. Using the "Celebrate" ribbon gave me a good reason to pull the coveted stash of Cool Caribbean cardstock I have hiding in my paper files. Since that luscious color retired at the end of June, I haven't been able to bring myself to use it. I limited myself (actually, I think "rationed" is a better word for this instance) to one piece for this card and then gave the rest of the pack of cardstock a kiss, petted it and lovingly put it back in the paper file, all the while telling it I won't forget it.  I had to assure the poor Cool Caribbean that it's not that I'm not using it because I don't love it anymore, but because I love it TOO much to use it all up. It seemed sad, but understanding. I think Cool Caribbean just needs a little more time to fully understand my love and devotion to it.

I just love my little candle. You never know where a brad is going to come in handy. A little snip-snip of some ribbon, a punched hole and a brad, and BAM.....you've got yourself a trendy little candle.

Have yourselves a lovely Wednesday night.....and I'm going to ask Bee if I can share the beautiful card she made me. :) I also have another card from another reader that came in the mail that I plan on sharing, as well! :)

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Cardstock: Barely Banana, Cool Caribbean, Very Vanilla, Close to Cocoa; ribbon on cake from Target; ribbon for candle from Michael's; gold mini brad

Quick card with the Simply Scrappin' Kits......and a question answered

I find that I can never have too many "thank you" cards. There's always someone to say "thank you" to, even if it's just for being a good friend. I find myself reaching for a "thank you" greeting more often than I reach for others.

I've spent most of today doing non-crafty things....unless doing dishes, washing out the trash can, making salads and watching movies is considered crafty. Well, for me it's not considered crafty and I needed to get my crafty fix in for the day and make a quick card. Okay, I DID clean off my craft desk because my daughter made a huge mess of glue, stickers and paper scraps on it, but I still don't think that qualifies as gratifying craftiness for me.

I looked through my stamp bins for something to work with but nothing screamed at me to be used today (I think my stamps wanted a break from me), so I pulled out one of my Simply Scrappin' Kits and decided that would be a great quick fix.

The Secret Garden Kit is my all time favorite kit from the new catalog. The colors and patterns are so soft, earthy and gorgeous together. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for the Paper Bag Album that I put together.

As much as I love scrapbooking and it's what I started with LONG before I started stamping, I'm just not a "kit kind of girl." I prefer to work with a LOT of creative license when I'm scrapbooking, though I know that for some people, they LOVE working with kits. For cards, though, I LOVE these Simply Scrappin' Kits. They're more like "Simply Card Kits" to me. You can do an incredible amount of projects with these kits. I made that entire Paper Bag Album, as well as 3 other cards, and I'm STILL working on using up the supplies in the kit....it's like the supplies in those kits are never ending!

Everything that I used on this card was from the kit, except for the ribbon and the stamped image.

All of the Simply Scrappin' Kits are new this year and they include a selection of beautiful textured cardstocks. They have a linen look and feel to them that's just luscious. You can kind of see it at the top of the card on the first picture, but you can definitely see it in the bottom right corner of the picture here to your left.

From one of the past Groovy Give-Away posts, Elizabeth asked:  What tool from your wish list will be your next purchase?

I really stick to the basics when it comes to tools. I have my paper cutters, my circle and oval cutters, embossing gun, crimper (though it doesn't really work right since my kids have tried to crimp matchbox cars through it and yah, that doesn't really work well), my Crafters' Tool Kit and my handy-dandy Cutter Kit. That's pretty much it when it comes to tools.....other than the essential and basic punches that I have. I really am a "back to the basics" type of girl. I don't own a Cricut. I don't own a Cuttlebug, a Bind -it-all, a Rubicoil, a Sizzix machine, a Xyron, a Quik-Kut, a Scor-Pal, a Spellbinder, a Carl Cutter, an ATG gun or a BigKick machine. Like I said, I'm a "back to the basics" kind of girl.

I guess none of that answered Elizabeth's question, now, did it?

Some may not consider these next two things as tools common in a stamper's "tool box," but I think it's partly because as stampers, most people wouldn't think of them as stamping tools. My wish list for tools is comprised of only two items. A REALLY beefed up digital camera and a 12 x 12 color printer that prints exceptional quality photos.

The camera I'm using now has been a great friend and great to learn on but the more I learn about cameras and how much more I could be doing, the more I want an upgraded and beefed up camera.

As a scrapbooker, I've been wishing for a 12 x 12 printer for a while now. I never print photos out on my printer because it's just not meant for that. But I've also wanted to put 12 x 12 cardstock through my printer for ages and no matter how hard I try to talk my 8.5 x 11 printer into feeding a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock through it, it's just plain stubborn and won't listen to me. It actually talks back to me and argues about it. Pfft!

So........probably not the answers you expected, but it's what I really want. I got the new computer last year and I just splurged on some more memory for it. The camera will be next on the list. Gotta save my pennies for it. :)

Have a great Saturday night!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: Much Appreciated set (Stampin' UP); Textured Cardstock: Groovy Guava and River Rock (Secret Garden Simply Scrappin' Kit); Patterned paper (Secret Garden Simply Scrapping Kit); Ink: Always Artichoke; Always Artichoke grosgrain ribbon