Stamping with Hulda

Special Blessings, chipboard and something yummi!

2009-03-17T22:25:00.007-04:00

I got this stamp set mainly for the cross. I'm a Lutheran and these cards are for confirmation. But of course they can be used for something else too. That's why I don't use a sentiment (and the fact that those cards were sent to Iceland).

I don't think you can see it on the images but the crosses are covered with iridescent ice (heat embossed glitter). I used the Baroque Motifs stamp set to make the swirls and the flowers.

Here's a card I made this weekend. I was browsing through Flickr, looking for inspiration. I love looking throught all the beautiful cupcake and wedding cake images. I found an image that I wanted to use for my inspiration, I'm going to post it in another post because it'll be a part of a challenge I'll host for my icelandic craft friends.

The bird is from On Board So Tweet (#113893, pg. 183 SS IBC). It's chipboard. I drew the branch on chocolate chip card stock and cut it out. The branch is covered with Crystal Effects and I covered the bird with Whisper White Craft ink, then used my chalks to apply color to the beak and legs. I then covered the whole bird with Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds.
Here's a close-up of the bird:

The background is from Urban Garden designer series paper. I might add a sentiment later, when I figure out what I want to do with this card ;)

I had one day off this weekend and we went to see friends. I started telling them about something delicious we make one day a year in Iceland:

And we decided to go ahead and bake some of these. I couldn't find measurements American's use but we were still able to make it. You can find the recipe here. It's whipped cream you see in the middle of the buns.

TFL!

Bloomin' Beautiful :)

2009-03-11T00:34:00.004-04:00

I had no idea it's been so long since my last post. I've been getting a pretty good schedule at work and even got an extra shift last week. It's good for my wallet but leaves me with less time to make cards :(

I decided to go with a favorite set for this post. I had several ideas in mind but only had time to make two cards. I've been cards for a challenge at the icelandic scrapbooking forum, we had to make 7 cards in 7 days and each day we had a different challenge. The first card I show you is the last card I made in the challenge, we had to use flowers on our cards.

The image is stamped on watercolor paper and colored with blender pens and ink. I used our new eyelet border punch and a retired background stamp, Print Pattern.

The second card I made only took me a few minutes to make. I had the image already colored from sometime last year (I always make extra). I added iridescent ice to it a few days ago while adding glitter to a bunch of images I had in my box. I used my Floral background stamp (retired). I thought of adding ribbon but decided not to. There's room for a sentiment under the image if I decide to add one later.

Here's a close-up of the glitter.
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Since my last post we've had both snow and spring like weather!

I snapped this photo in our backyard on the 1st of March and a week later....

on the 8th of March I snapped this photo at Mt. Pisgah ;)

Hope you are getting spring like weather....it's supposed to get cold again here :(

TFL

SAB - Botanical Blooms

2009-02-27T10:16:00.005-05:00

This set is one of the Sale-A-Bration sets available. I thought I might give the 2 step stamping a try again, I'm not the best at it you know! But I just have to keep trying if I want to get better, don't I?

The colors on this card are Whisper White, Mellow Moss, Pixie Pink, Tangerine Tango, Bashful Blue and Baja Breeze, plus Black Stazon. I stamped with Stazon first and then added all the colors. I still felt like the flowers needed a little something so I stamped them again with Versamark and added Iridescent Ice ;) I used the new Eyelet Border Punch for the border.

On this card I covered the whole image in Versamark and then added the glitter. The background papers are from Taste of Textiles (IBC pg. 156). I just love those papers and wish there were more of each type in the collection. The polka dotted paper is thick Vellum.

Here you can see how shiny the white striped paper is. So pretty!
Here's another card I made with the white stripes paper...

If I could, I would buy a whole pack of that paper, maybe someday in the future I can....hopefully!
Well, I'm keeping this short today, I should be at work but I caught a bug and don't feel too good today, hoping to get enough strenght to go back to work tomorrow though.

TFL

Fifth Avenue Floral 1

2009-02-24T18:45:00.003-05:00

I think I have found my favorite set of the year! Fifth Avenue Floral is now #1 on my list of favorite stamp sets from SU.

I wanted to make a card for my grandmother, who turned 90 this month. I had bought her an Anne Klein silk scarf and these colors matched the scarf nicely (Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Sahara Sand and Basic Black. The red rose is stamped on Whisper white and then I used my brayer to color it red. I chose to do that instead of stamping straight onto a red card stock because this way the rose would be darker in some places and lighter in others without doing the whole watercoloring thing. I cut out the rose, covered it with Versamark and Iridescent Ice and heat set it.

This is actually the first card I made with this set. I Stamped the rose 3 times on Whisper White and then used my blenderpen and Tangerine Tango to color the roses in. I have to say though, Whisper White is not the best choice of paper when you want to watercolor, but I wanted to give it a try. I usually use watercolor paper but I didn't want to use heavy paper like that on this card. Well, I then cut out the 3 roses in different places so I could make a 3D rose. I then did the same as with the rose above, added Versamark and Iridescent Ice. The colors are Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango and Handsome Hunter. The "ribbon" is fake, it's Tangerine Tango card stock and a white Signo pen. Here's a close-up of the rose.

I don't know what to say about this one, the flowers are colored with blender pens and Pink Pirouette ink. And of course I added Iridescent Ice, I already had the kitchen all glittered up anyway *lol*.

I'm not too sure about this card, the colors were too soft except for the Chocolate Chip and Kiwi Kiss, I used Pink Pirouette and Barely Banana. I like the way it's set up. I might use it as a "sketch" for another card, case my own card.

Remember it's Sale-A-Bration time now and that means now is a good time to get the Big Shot from SU because you earn free stuff for every fifty bucks you spend!!!

I've already given one of the SAB sets a try and have got the pictures on my PC ready to be processed for my next post :)

I just got a box in today with chip board that I just have to try out (On Board so Tweet). One of my customers bought it and I fell for it...isn't it supposed to be the other way around??? *lol*

Anyway, I'm off to play Memory with my DS and hopefully I'll get him to go to bed early so I can play a little bit ;)

TFL

Ever After

2009-02-13T09:19:00.005-05:00

I've got a busy couple of days ahead of me so I figured if I want to post before Valentine's Day now is my chance. Last week I got this awesome set with my SU order. It didn't take me long to make something with the heart stamp.

I stamped the heart in Riding Hood Red, cut it out and covered it with Versamark and Iridescent Ice, and heatset it.The background stamp is En Francais and is stamped in Sahara Sand. I used the scallop edge punch for the border.

It took me a little bit of time to figure out what I wanted to do with the flowers. I ended up stamping them a few times on Whisper White, colored them in a little bit with Pink Pirouette and then added Versamark and Iridescent Ice to the whole image. So the card is really sparkling.

Ok, please ignore the fact that I forgot to cut the ribbon before I took the picture *lol*. I was in such a hurry to take pictures of about 15 card I had made and hoping that the battery in the camera would last, that I didn't notice the ribbon. I didn't notice until I was editing the pictures on the computer.

I decided to try not using red or pink. So I went with Whisper White, Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip. I did not put glitter on the heart this time but instead I covered the LOVE stamp with Crystal Effects ad Dazzling Diamonds.

This is all for today, I've gotta get to work and I'm going on a 4 hour Ghosthunt tonight :)

TFL

Time to embrace life

2009-02-10T09:46:00.003-05:00

I've been so busy trying out my new stampsets from the new catalog. I love the sets I chose to get in my first order, I got Ever After, Fift Avenue Floral and Special Blessing. I've yet to take pictures of the cards I've been making, that's on today's schedule. So I have to stick to the cards I had planned to show you anyway ;)

When I was making this card I was having a really hard time what color to use with the red and the pink (ridinghood red and pink pirouette) and I think I made the wrong choice, I should have used Chocolate Chip or Basic Gray, what do you think? But I like how I used the flowers. They are covered in glitter.

I got the idea for this card from a scrapbook page. The big flowers had similar eyelets or brads in the middle and I liked the way they looked. The jumbo eyelets are a little bit too big...or the flower center is a little bit to small for the eyelets but I managed to get the flowers to not fall apart. I covered the flowers with Crystal Effects and added a little bit of Dazzling Diamonds.

I have not decided which one of my new sets I'll be showing you next time, but if I can post before the weekend it'll probably be Ever After.

There's a Sale-a-bration going on now. If you order products for $50 you can pick out a little something from THIS BROCHURE

Until next time...

TFL

Just Jawing

2009-02-01T09:44:00.004-05:00

I'm having the worst luck with my computer. It broke down while my son was playing on it and we were hoping it had just over heated but we can't get it to work. So now I'm using our old computer (it's almost 10 years old!!!) and I've got a dial-up connection that's slower than slow and disconnects every now and then. I can't view any pictures and I'm lucky to be able to read my email. But I'm going to try to post and I hope my photo's show up ok.

I used my markers on the cherries, ruby red and old olive. The cherries are stamped on Pink Pirouette card stock. I stamped the skull on watercolor paper because I wanted to do just a little bit of shading, I used Sahara Sand and Baja Breeze. I don't know if you can see it on the picture but you can IRL. I covered the skull with Crystal Effects and used Dazzling Diamond glitter on the eyes and teeth (I actually did the eyes and teeth before covering the rest of the skull). I had been trying to come up with something I liked for this stampset for a couple of weeks and finally made this and I'm satisfied with it I have to say.

Here's the boy version of the skull card. The colors are Old Olive, Basic Black and Baja Breeze. Here I used the stars instead of the cherries. The skull is done the same way as before except I colored the eyes black instead of red.

I've been working on a few cards, not done as many as I'd have liked to but hopefully I'll get more done this week, I'm getting new stamps tomorrow, brand new from the new catty :) I'm so excited. Of course I've got to work and wont get to play until my son's in bed, but still, I just love getting new rubbah!

I hope you're all having a nice Sunday, mine started a little bit earlier than I wanted it to but the sun is shining and I'm planning on a trip to the playground in the next couple of hours or so :)

Here's a little something I'll be showing you in my next post:

TFL

Baby Boy in blue and green

2009-01-20T22:38:00.008-05:00

I decided to limit myself to 3 colors (+neutral color) when making the baby boy cards. I chose Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze and Mellow Moss.

Here I used a couple of dinosaurs from the Prehistoric Pals stamp set. I used the Coluzzle to cut the circles and a white Signo pen to draw the scallops and lines. the sentiment is from Short and Sweet.

Here we have the lion from the Wild About you stamp set. I inked it up with mellow moss and then used a not quite navy marker. I used the Coluzzle again and a white Signo pen for the "stitches". The background is a patterned paper from Baja Breeze Patterns Designer Series Paper. I used the sentiment from Short and Sweet again and my word window punch.

Here we have the alligator/crocodile and the bird from Wild About you. I cheated a bit and used and icelandic sentiment (it says "Welcome to the world little baby"). The background is fron the same package as on the card above. I wanted to use a ribbon but didn't have one that matched the colors so I used my Signo pen to draw stitches on a paper strip.

Pretty simple cards but I like the color combo, although the mellow moss doesn't look much like green.

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We finally got a little bit of snow yesterday and today. My DS has been waiting for the winter to come so he could play in the snow. So I had to get him out to play early this morning, before I went to work.

As you can see he's all bundled up, it's freezing cold. I love his hat, I bought it in Iceland, it's expensive but it's my favorite brand (in children's hats). It's from a Finnish company named Kivat.

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I've already made the cards for my next post ;)

You can probably guess what stamp set I'll be using ;)

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Well, anyway, for those of you who didn't know, the new Stampin'Up Catalog is out!

Download the catalog here!

You can order 24/7 from my website http://huldap.stampinup.net/ (US residents only).

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Free Idea Book with Online Purchase
From February 1-April 30, 2009, we're introducing new customers to Stampin' Up! by promoting our award-winning Idea Book & Catalog. To receive a free Spring-Summer 2009 Idea Book & Catalog, customers must:
Place an online order during the promotional period
Select a demonstrator at stampinup.com or shop through a demonstrator's DBWS.
There is no minimum order amount required, so anyone can take advantage of this offer.

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Love you much bundle

Until next time...

TFL

Baby girl

2009-01-14T21:16:00.003-05:00

My friend in Finland had a little baby girl just before Christmas and I've bought a little something to send to her. So I needed a card to go with the gift. I didn't want to use just pink and white so I decided to try perfect plum, apricot appeal, regal rose, basic gray and whisper white. I made two similar cards, using Nursery Necessities, and I have yet to decide which one to use.

I'm sorry, this one is a little bit blurry, I hadn't noticed it when I was resizing it. I didn't have perfect plum cardstock so I used my brayer to cover a piece of whisper white with perfect plum ink. I sponged all edges with sahara sand.

I decided to use the brayer again here, to make the regal rose background. And I turned the sketch.

Which one do you like better?

I think I might send the pink version. It's a little bit brighter than the other one.

I just finished making three baby boy cards. They took me a few days to make, my DS insists on stamping with me and that means I get absolutely nothing done. Well, it doesn't really matter what I'm doing. If I'm cooking he seems to look for things that I have to help him with. I try to talk on the phone (which I don't do much of) and he stands right next to me and sings as loud as he can so I can't hear the person I'm talking too. But as soon as I sit down on the sofa he finds himself something to play with. Are any of you familiar with this behavior in 3-4 years old children? ;)

Anyway, I'm going to try to post the other cards before the weekend.

TFL

Pun Fun again

2009-01-05T22:22:00.003-05:00

I just love this stamp set! The animals are so adorable. I made these cards right before Christmas, just needed to get out of the Christmas card mode for one night.

My DS gave this one to one of his friends when we went to his birthday bash. I used the Print Pattern background stamp (retired), scallop border punch, white Signo pen and Crystal effects on the card. I used my inks and blender pen to color in the image. The colors are Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point and Naturals White.

This one has Christmas colors, but is not a Christmas card. I used Kraft, Always Artichoke and Riding Hood Red. The patterned paper is from the Manchester Designer Serie. I used the scallop border punch again and a little bit of Crystal Effects on the image.

The colors in this one are Elegant Eggplant, Tangerine Tango, Baja Breeze and Naturals White. The patterned paper is from the Baja Breeze Petterns Designer Paper.
Well, I'm recovering from a stomach bug that I've had since New Year's Eve so I don't feel much like writing or doing much of anything, I have made it to work while I was sick but I'm worn out, but Stampin'Up has some great deals going on right now, check them out:

Inventory Blowout

Love you much Promotion

Here's the retired stamp list:
Retired Stamps list

And retired accessories list is here:
Item # Product
111377 ACCENTS & ELEMENTS ROOF GARDEN
112012 ACCENTS & ELEMENTS SEASON TO SHARE
112088 ACCENTS & ELEMENTS TRUE ELEGANCE
102782 ALBUM LEATHER BLACK 12X12 Not Available
104188 ALBUM LEATHER BLACK 6X6
105384 ALBUM LINEN POST MELLOW MOSS 6X6*
104516 ALBUM LINEN POST NAVY 6X6
105381 ALBUM LINEN POST REAL RED 6X6*
103977 BUTTONS BOLD BRIGHTS*
103978 BUTTONS EARTH ELEMENTS
103981 BUTTONS EARTH ELEMENTS & NEUTRALS
105446 BUTTONS RICH REGALS
105445 BUTTONS SOFT SUBTLES
103604 DAYS-TO-REMEMBER CALENDAR 12X12
102174 DAYS-TO-REMEMBER CALENDAR 8 1/2X11
112465 DESIGNER SERIES PAPER BANBURY
112462 DESIGNER SERIES PAPER GEORGIA PEACH
112463 DESIGNER SERIES PAPER GHOSTLY GREETINGS
112040 DESIGNER SERIES PAPER GREEN TEA
112470 DESIGNER SERIES PAPER HAIKU
112460 DESIGNER SERIES PAPER HAWAII PAPAYA
112469 DESIGNER SERIES PAPER HOLIDAY TREASURES
112458 DESIGNER SERIES PAPER JUNIOR VARSITY
112459 DESIGNER SERIES PAPER MAINE BLUEBERRY
112466 DESIGNER SERIES PAPER MUIRFIELD
112149 DESIGNER SERIES PAPER PARISIAN SUMMER
112467 DESIGNER SERIES PAPER PRESTWICK
111355 DESIGNER SERIES PAPER SUMMER PICNIC
112039 DESIGNER SERIES PAPER WINDSOR KNOT
112963 ELEMENTOS PARA TARJETAS DIAS FESTIVOS HECHOS A MANO SIMPLY SENT
106523 ENVELOPE TEMPLATE FIVE-IN-ONE CARD COVER
104104 ENVELOPE TEMPLATE MINI
107298 ENVELOPES CONFETTI WHITE MEDIUM
110695 ENVELOPES OPEN END KRAFT SMALL
109115 ENVELOPES OPEN END VERY VANILLA SMALL
103372 METAL EDGE TAGS ALUMINUM WHITE SQUARE
107925 ON BOARD BITTY BOOK*
109190 ON BOARD CLIPBOARD 9X9*
109180 ON BOARD SIMON UPPER
112086 ON BOARD SOMETHING SEASONAL
107923 PAGE PROTECTORS RING 3.25 X 3.25
104942 PUNCH 1/4 INCH CIRCLE
104943 PUNCH 1/4 INCH SQUARE
107273 PUNCH 3/4 INCH SQUARE
104389 PUNCH DOUBLE CIRCLE*
100391 PUNCH HANDHELD 1/8 INCH CIRCLE Not Available
104830 RIBBON GINGHAM CARAMEL
104829 RIBBON GINGHAM LIGHT BLUE
104828 RIBBON GINGHAM LIGHT PINK
104831 RIBBON GINGHAM MOSS
109037 RIBBON GROSGRAIN MORE MUSTARD 1/4 INCH
110282 RUB ON ANCHORED
111806 RUB ON CHILLS & THRILLS
111805 RUB ON SCHOOL DAYS
111417 RUB ON WORD FLURRIES
110283 RUB ONS TAKE NOTE
112193 SIMPLY SCRAPPIN I WISH
112186 SIMPLY SCRAPPIN PINA COLADA
112068 SIMPLY SCRAPPIN SUMMER HOME
112043 SIMPLY SCRAPPIN U R SWEET
112061 SIMPLY SCRAPPIN WINTER RETREAT
112016 SIMPLY SENT CARD ELEMENTS HANDMADE HOLIDAY
109868 SIMPLY SENT CARD KIT LIFELONG NOTES
103647 STAMPIN STORE MINI
105813 WRITE ME A MEMORY FONT CD VOL II
107212 MATEYS MAP
106749 BRIGHT BULBS
109672 BRONCO
104100 MAKING TRACKS
108978 SANDY SHELLS
110332 SNOW
101233 SNOWFLAKE
109694 SWEET STARS
111249 TAKE A NUMBER

TFL

Season of Friendship

2008-12-30T20:05:00.003-05:00

Happy Holidays!
I'm sorry it took me so long to post again. My husband tried and tried to fix the USB without any luck but he bought something that helps us connect our camera and printer/scanner to the computer. And now that the holidays are almost over I should be able to do a little bit more crafting. I've been working extra and had put all my stuff away. I'm working extra this week too and we'll be driving to Tennessee after work on Saturday. We usually spend New Year's Eve and New Year's Day with our friends in TN but I'll be working both days so we postponed it to the weekend instead.

The first card I used as a Christmas card, I decided to try a different kind of fold. I stamped the image on Whisper White, stamped the tree in Chocolate Chip and the snowflakes in Certainly Celery and Pink Pirouette. I then stamped snowflakes in Baja Breeze on a different sheet of paper and cut them out. I stamped the bird in Riding hood Red and added dazzling diamonds and crystal effects, I did the same to the blue snowflakes. I sponged the edge of the image with Baja Breeze.

This is more of a spring card even if the colors are similar. I used Brocade Blue, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery and Pink Pirouette. I cut the flowers by hand and the bird is done the same way as the one on the first card. I wanted the tree to look a like the trees here in the mountains in the springtime. Everyone talks about how pretty the fall colors here are, and I agree, but I also think the spring colors are beautiful.
My DS actually fell asleep early tonight so I'm going to work on a couple of cards. I got a couple of new sets right before Christmas and haven't had the chance to try them out :o

TFL

Christmas Classics

2008-12-09T13:39:00.000-05:00

Here's the first card I made with the Christmas Classics stampset. And the first and only time I've made a card like this. It's a free standing pop-up card. There's a tutorial HERE.

I think I did OK, it's pretty simple, not much embellishing. The colors are Always Artichoke, Real Red, Chocolate Chip and I think So Saffron, it's been a while since I made the card.
Here's a simpler card. I wanted to try the Dryer Sheet Technique. And I bought dryer sheets for the first time *lol*, we don't have those in Iceland :o

I used the Holiday Treasures designer paper.
the punches I used in these two cards are the Scallop Edge Punch (second card) and the Round Tab Punch (first card).
I think I have a curse on my, every time I buy a background stamp (2 out of 3 stamps) the same stamp end up on the retired list, like just a month after I buy them. Maybe I need to order background stamps just after I see the retired list, so I can use them longer :o
But yes, the retired list is up, you can find it by clicking HERE. I've got 4 stamps/stampsets on this list :(
We've got FREE SHIPPING going on, if you order for $70+ and 10% OFF RETIRED SETS.

And remember you can order online (US residents only), my website is http://huldap.stampinup.net

TFL

Punch Pal Penguins

2008-11-30T21:54:00.001-05:00

Happy Holidays everyone! This time of year sure gets busy at a retail store, I tell yah! I've already gotten plenty of extra hours where I work. Even went a little bit over the limit (they have a limit for part time employees), but only because a teenage girl made one too many mistakes and lost her job. I know it's sad that she lost her job....I sure hope she learned something from this because if I'd been her boss I'd have sacked her a while ago! I don't get how some people think they don't have to follow orders and rules like everyone else, think they don't have to a thing and still get paid! Well, enough of that....and to my card:

I actually made this card I think last July. The card base is Bashful Blue. I stamped the images on watercolorpaper and used my Watercolor Wonder Crayons to color them. Crystal Effects is something I just can't seem to live without. I added CE to the penguins and the sentiment. The striped background I made by using a white WWC on Whisper White cardstock and then used my brayer to cover it with Going Gray. And sponged a little bit of Bashful Blue around the edges.The "brads" are actually just punched out paper, I just added CE to make the dots look more like brads.

We still haven't been able to fix our USB but I've just put pictures on a CD at CVS and hopefully I'll have time to post soon again.
Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend and Thanksgiving!
TFL

Scandinavian Season

2008-11-15T01:26:00.001-05:00

I have to admit that the stampset Scandinavian Season does not remind me of Scandinavia (I've lived in Norway and Sweden and have been to Denmark a few times), but I like the set :)

Here's the first thing I came up with, using the Christmas tree from the set. It took me a while to come up with something I liked. I stamped the trees with Jet Black Stazon on Whisper White. I then brayered Old Olive over the images. Added a little bit of white with my Signo pen and cut out the trees. I then masked the bottom half of the card base before I brayered Baja Breeze for the sky. The card base is Naturals White cardstock. I then got the snowflake and Whisper White craft ink and stamped snowflakes all over the card, stamped red stars and Very Merry. The trees are on 3D tape.

Here you see my favorite stamp from the set, the mitten. I stamped the card base (Kraft) with snowflakes in Chocolate Chip. And stamped the mittens on Baja Breeze card stock in Chocolate Chip. I cut the mittens out and stuck them on Whisper White card stock with 3D tape and made sure the hemp cord would stay in place by using just a little bit of Crystal Effects. The bottom part of the card base is from Baja Breeze Designer Paper.

These cards are not too hard to make.

Now, I don't know when I'll post again, I'll have to look through the cards I've got on the computer and see if I have any that I haven't posted yet. I'm working on a few cards but my computer's got a problem, it doesn't recognize our printer/scanner or our camera, or any other USB connections. It worked fine last Saturday (a week ago) but then on Sunday it wouldn't do anything. Since then we've found out that it's a common problem if you have Windows Vista and a lot of people have simple solutions to the problem (that worked on their computers) but we've tried all of them and nothing works for our computer :( So I'm going to try to make a lot of cards this week to make it worth $3.99 to put my pictures on a CD at Target (ridiculous price when you do everything yourself, but we don't have a photolab at our Target).....or I could pay $2.50 at Walmart and wait an hour to get it, but I don't like that choice either. I don't know my work schedule this coming week but I sure hope I'll be creative when I'm at home ;)
Well, I hope someone got inspired by my cards, have a wonderful week y'all and TFL!

A couple of Christmas cards

2008-11-06T09:28:00.000-05:00

I've got a couple of Christmas cards to show you. I made them before I went to Iceland and I think I might just do more.

I don't know if you see it, but I was trying to make an ornament and make it look like it was hanging on a Christmas tree. I used Coluzzle to cut the red circle, a scallop circle punch to punch the mellow moss circle and a designer label punch for the little brown piece. The colors in this card are Mellow Moss, Riding Hood Red and Whisper White. The stampset is Baroque Motifs.

Here we've got the snowmen from Holiday Lineup and snowflakes from The Snowflake Spot. The colores I used are Pink Pirouette, Old Olive and Elegant Eggplant. Not the traditional Christmas colors but I think they look good together. I used my blenderpens and inkpads to color in the image.

I just sent off a whole bunch of Christmas cards to my mom yesterday, 30 cards I think. So I've been busy since I got back from Iceland. My DS was sick on the way home but fortunately he slept on the flight from Iceland to Boston. I am so glad I didn't miss the fall colors here in the mountains. We drove around yesterday and looked for good places to take fall pictures. We ended up in Chimney Rock.

Hope you're having a good day!

TFL

Lovely Christmas 1

2008-10-26T00:38:00.002-04:00

It's been too long since my last post. I've been so busy and don't have access to the computer as muchas I'd like. I'll head home on Monday and I'm really hoping my DS, who has a bad cold, will feel better by then. Last time I came to Iceland he was sick half the time we stayed here and was sick the day we flew back to the US and it was not easy travelling for hours with a sick child. I hope I wont have to go throught that again, this time we have to spend a night in Boston on the way home.

Anyway, here's one of my favorite stampsets, Lovely as a Tree.

I also used the retired set Snowflake Spots. The colors are Night of Navy, Bashful Blue and Whisper White. I stamped the trees first and then made the sky. You can use a sponge, a sponge dauber or a brayer to make the blue sky. I used a sponge. I used a sponge dauber on the card insert. If you think it's missing something you can cover the tree image with Versamark and pour Iridescent Ice over it and heat set it and it's sparkle like a fresh fallen snow.

We've got snow here in Iceland now and my DS loves playing in it. I took him to a preschool where I used to work and he played in the snow with the kids while I caught up with my old co-workers.

This picture is from Friday afternoon, it looks likeit's taken at night but it was 6 pm and I had to use the flash because he was moving to fast for my camera.

This'll have to do for now, we're expecting company tomorrow and I've got to pack my things too.

I plan on posting again next weekend :)

TFL

Punch Pals and Monday Mailer

2008-10-06T00:15:00.000-04:00

Finally I get a chance to blog. I've been in Iceland for a week and already seen a little bit of snow and we had an earthquake here in my town less than an hour ago, 2.8 on Richter scale. Just a small one and short.
Today's cards are from the Punch Pals stamp set. I've only got two to show you and then a couple of Monday Mailers from Jen.

The card base here is Bravo Burgundy, then we have Naturals White and Always Artichoke designer paper (retired). I stamped the penguins with Stazon and colored them in with my Watercolor Wonder Crayons and a blender pen. I do not color straight on the image with the crayons, I dab my blender pen on the bottom of the crayon to pick up the color and then color the image.

I used the same technique to color the snowman in. Except I used a marker for the holly. I popped up the image and used the spiral punch on the side. The card base is Night of Navy, then Bashful Blue and Naturals White. Stazon and Night of Navy ink. Pretty simple.

Here are the Monday Mailers from Jen. She used the Upsy Daisy stamp set on the first card and Pocket Silhouettes on the second card (third and fourth card for September). She used my favorite Designer Paper on both cards,Urban Garden, and the colors are Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Kiwi Kiss and Whisper White. She used the scallop border punch on the second card.
Very pretty cards, I think I'm going to have to get the Upsy Daisy stamp set now!

I'll try to post again soon, I've got a busy week ahead but hopefully I'll get a few minutes to use the computer.

TFL

Eastern Blooms

2008-09-20T09:57:00.004-04:00

I had been debating whether or not to get this stamp set but gave in and bought it. And I don't regret it. My favorite is the big flower, now I just need more markers so I can try more color combos with it.

I think Old Olive and Not Quite Navy turned out good. I used a little bit of Crystal Effects in the middle of the flowers. The card base is Bashful Blue.

The colors in this card are Sage Shadow, Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White. I used markers to color the stamp before I stamped it. I used my Designer Label punch to make the vase, stamped the piece with one of the flower stamps and used a white Signo pen to add details. I thought the background needed a little something so I stamped the branch a few times in Sage Shadow and Cameo Coral. Added faux stitching and voilá!

I stamped this flower stamp in Always Artichoke on Pink Pirouette and cut them out. I stamped the small flower on the background in Always Artichoke on Pink Pirouette cardstock, added white dots to the flower centers with my Signo pen. The "ribbon" is Always Artichoke card stock, I just added faux stitching to it. I used Crystal Effects on the three bigger flowers.

Next weekend I'll be traveling to Iceland. My DS and I will fly from Charlotte to Boston and from Boston to Iceland. It'll be early Sunday morning when we get to Iceland. So we'll be travelling for quite a few hours. It's going to be very stressful for me since my DS is only 3 years old and I've never been to the airport in Boston, heard it's pretty big.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to write a blog before we leave.

TFL

Embrace Life 2

2008-09-15T20:05:00.006-04:00

I know the weekend has come and gone and no post from me. I haven't been home. Our friends were house-sitting and invited us over so we stayed with them Saturday and Sunday. And I was working today. Now, if we had 2 computers I'd have been able to post last night (Sunday night) but DH got to the computer first :(
Anyway, enough of that, I've seen so many pretty cards with the Embrace Life stamp set that I wanted to use it again. I thought I'd be able to make a few pretty cards to show you....but my mojo took a few days off and I can't find it.

I do like this card though. I used Ruby Red, Basic Black and Whisper White card stock. The images are stamped with Stazon Jet Black ink. I stamped the flowers on WW card stock and used my sponge daubers to add pink pirouette ink and ruby red. I then cut out the flowers and glued them to a piece of ww card stock. Layered it with Basic Black and added a scallop border which I made with my Slit punch. I used my white signo pen to do the dots and used it on the leaves and flowers too. I wrote "congratulations" with the Signo pen on Basic Black and punched it with my word punch.

This card is pretty simple. The flowers are stamped on Whisper white and I used my blender pen to color them in. I used Pacific Point ink for the flowers. I then covered them with Crystal Effects. The scallop border is done with my Slit punch again, layered on Baja Breeze card stock. I used my brayer on the bottom of the card base and a little bit of white Signo for faux stitching. The card base is Naturals White card stock.

Here's Naturals White again as a card base. I masked off areas of the card and used my sponge daubers to fill in the So Saffron and Pacific Point. this card looks kind of Swedish to me, the Swedish flag colors (blue and yellow). If you don't have the card stock that matches your ink pads you can use your ink and sponges/sponge daubers/brayer to make your own colored card stock. I used my scallop circle punch and my coluzzle tool for the image and covered the image with Crystal Effects.
Now to the Monday Mailers.

This is MM#1 from Jen. She used Family Phrases, Window Dressing (Hostess set), Enjoy Every Moment and All in the Family (all stamp sets) to make this card. I really like the way she folded the card and the image fits perfectly in the circle window (I didn't do a good job photographing it). Here you can see how it's folded:

She used three punches on the card, the slit punch, scallp circle punch and a circle punch. The card stock: Baja Breeze and Pink Pirouette. Ink: Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze and Basic Black for the image.

This is MM#2 from Jen. Here she used Kiwi Kiss and Pacific Point card stock and ink pads. The card base is Whisper White. The stamp set is Upsy Daisy. I think these colors are great together and white really makes them pop up. Thank you so much Jen!!!

Next weekend is the last weekend before I go on my trip to Iceland (my DS and I will be spending a month there with family and friends) but I'll try to post while I'm there. Next weekend I'll be using Eastern Blooms and while I'm in Iceland I'll show you a few Christmas cards I've been working on.

I don't know if you noticed that you can order Stampin'Up products online now!!! You can do it through my website, I'm still working on it but the link is http://huldap.stampinup.net/ (US customers only for online ordering please).

Have a great week and TFL!

Bronc Buster 2

2008-09-07T08:26:00.003-04:00

I decided to give the Bronc Buster set another try, just for fun.

This card here is just the base and one layer. The base is Naturals White card stock and the layer is Whisper White. I brayered the WW with Sahara Sand and stamped the Bronc Buster on it. I used post it notes to cover the top of the card and sponged around the image with sponge daubers and Going Gray ink and Basic Gray ink. I then brayered the top with Going Gray and sponged it with Basic Gray. I then used my Bronco Wheel and Basic Grey ink on the top part. Added a little bit of faux stitching with my Going Gray marker and stamped the swirls with Versamark. And the card was done.

Here I wanted to try NOT using the biggest image. I'm not sure if I like it or not. The colors are not my usual colors except for Chocolate Chip. More Mustard and Creamy Caramel are not on my Favorites list. I stamped the swirls with Versamark and I used a Chocolate Chip marker for the stars and horse shoe. Added Crystal effects on the stars.

Here I stamped the image with Versamark and used my pastel chalks to give the image a little bit more color, then covered it with Crystal Effects, which I think was a mistake, I don't think I'll do that again. The colors in this card are Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel and Really Rust.

This card is a simple one. I stamped the image with Versamark and used my chalks to give it more color. I then used a sponge dauber to make the card look a little bit dirty. I used a marker and colored the sentiment before I stamped it. Added the Chocolate Chip layer and the hemp cord.

Next weekend I'll use Embrace Life and the weekend after I promise to use one of the new sets ;)

Here's a link to more inspiration

TFL

Pocket Silhouettes

2008-08-30T08:36:00.006-04:00

I made sure I'd have some alone time to make these, I got up early, about 2 hours before my DS, and got 3 of them made before DS woke up. but I've had so much fun making these. I've fallen for the designer paper I used, Urban Garden.

This card is my absolute favorite. I brayed the background, could have done better there but I still like it. I then used a sponge for the edges. Colors: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss and Not Quite Navy. I used Whisper White for matting and Basic Gray as the base. And just a little bit of designer paper.

Not much to say about this one. Colors: Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy and Whisper White. I used my word punch for the sentiment and scallop border punch for the scallop strip.

I stamped the image in basic Black on Very Vanilla. Matted with Baja Breeze. The card base is Basic Gray.

I don't think this needs much explaining either. This is cardboard covered with designer paper and card stock. I used my scallop border punch, my scallop circle punch and my Coluzzle circle template.

Monday Mailers

Here are the last 2 MM's that I received from Dacia. We had to do FAUX anything and she was so creative.

You probably look at this card thinking....FAUX WHAT? I know I did, until I noticed it's not designer paper she used in the background. She did faux tearing and faux dp in one. Brilliant idea!

This card is so pretty, I wish I could make that stamp set look so good. She did a faux diamond on the image. You might be able to see that it sparkles on the picture. I'm not sure how she made the scallop circle, I was trying to see it but didn't want to tear the card up.

I have not decided what stamp set to use next weekend, it'll be an old one though, gotta give the old stamps some lovin' too :)

TFL

It's a Stretch

2008-08-25T21:01:00.002-04:00

I am so sorry it took my so long to post. We had AT&T guys working in our street on Friday and they left us with a dead phone line. Apparently they forgot to switch our phone back on. And I've only got dial-up :0 You can imagine what I was thinking all weekend about those poor guys. DH called the customer service and was told (by an answering machine) that we'd get someone over next Thursday!!! But fortunately someone came over yesterday and turned our phone back on...and my DH glued himself to the computer the rest of the day.

Back to my post. I'm not too crazy about the cards I'm showing you now. I've been trying to work on the cards and get ready for workshops and my 3 year old wont leave me alone for one second. He needs to stamp too, you know! Which means I get to clean the 100+ stamps he wants to use (or 10+).

This one I think is my favorite. The base is Baja Breeze, then Pacific Point, Apricot appeal, Always Artichoke and watercolor paper. The image was stamped with Stazon and colored in using blender pens and ink.

Cameo Coral, Chocolate chip and Whisper White. I used Baroque Motifs too. I used markers on this image.

I really like the stocking but I should have picked different colors. Always Artichoke, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze and Elegant Eggplant. I used Crystal Effects on the stockings and Scallop border punch on the red layer. Colored in using blender pens and ink.

I have come to realize I don't like Tangerine Tango at all, but I still want to use it *lol*. I think this stamp is cute but I don't have a sentiment to go with it so I found one in the Nursery Necessities stamp set. I colored the image with blender pens and ink. And added a little bit of faux stitching ;) This card fits in SU's medium square envelope.

Next weekend I'll be using Pocket Silhouettes!

TFL

Pop-up Christmas card

2008-08-21T23:45:00.003-04:00

I got a request for a pop-up tutorial. Well, I had never done a pop-up card before but I had this idea to make a pop-up christmas card (after I received a birthday card from my Upline).

I'll start by showing you how I did the pop-up part of the card (that's where I started). You can scroll down to the bottom of the post if you want to see the card first.

I started off with a white base, 3 1/2 x 7 inches.

I used my bone folder to score at 3 1/2 inches (the middle)

I drew a line 1 inch from the middle, to see how far up I needed to cut.

And used my paper trimmer to cut from the line to the middle, 1 1/2 inch from each side.

I then scored each end of the "flap" so it would be easier to fold the opposite direction of the rest of the card.

Now would be a good time to stamp the background on the top part (I didn't know that then though *lol*)

Next I cut a piece of designer paper, it is better to cut it a little bit bigger than the white cardstock because you can always trim it when you've glued it down.

I glued the dp to the top part of the white cs. Be careful not to put glue on the "flap".

Before I glued the dp to the bottom part I adhered a ribbon to the front and tucked it under the dp to hide the end.

I then added the image I wanted to pop-up.

I then adhered ribbon horizontally on the back of the base so I could us it to close the card. And I adhered the whole thing to my card base. And this was the result:

Untie the ribbon:

And Voilá!

Now how is that for a first pop-up card and a first tutorial in english?

Supplies

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Whisper White, Ruby red, Kiwi kiss

Designer Paper: Holiday Treasures

Stamps: Christmas Classics

Ribbon: Always Artichoke

Markers: Old Olive, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard

I'll be back this weekend with "It's a stretch"!!!

TFL

Serene Spring

2008-08-17T12:38:00.004-04:00

The stamp set I'm showing you today, Serene Spring, is one of the hostess sets in the new Ideabook & Catalog.

This is the first card I made with the set. I stamped the image on Very Vanilla. I'm not very good at coloring on VV card stock. I used my inks and my blender pens to do it. But what I think turned out just the way I want it is background. I wanted the background to look like a wall behind the image. So I used a technique called the Grid Technique to make a faux tile background. I used my bone folder and my Fiskars cutter to emboss lines on a sheet of Very Vanilla. I then used my brayer to cover the card stock in close to Cocoa and if I remember right, Baja Breeze. I don't have the card here to look at, I sent it as a Monday Mailer to Wanda.

I really wasn't sure what to do with this one. I wanted the focus to be on the image but I didn't want it to be just the image on a white background....but now I think I should have done just that, I should have kept the background just plain white and not added those layers or brayered the card base. Oh, well, I'll keep that in mind next time. I stamped the image on watercolor paper and colored it in with my inks and my blender pens.

Here's another easy faux tile. The image is stamped on watercolor paper and colored with inks and blender pens. I used the new scallop border punch for the scalloped edge.

Here is another image stamped on Very Vanilla and colored with blender pens.

I'm keeping this post short because I'm not feeling all that good, got some kind of stomach virus I think. But I want to show you a birthday card I received last week from my NCSUdemos group and the Monday Mailer I got from Dacia last week.

I don't know much about this card except for the stamp. *lol* I like the pattern paper, I'm pretty sure it's a retired one. the stamp is from our last SAB and it was stamped and heat embossed, then punched out with our scallop circle punch. Pretty card don't you think?

Here is the Monday Mailer I got from Dacia. Looks like she may have used the Heartfelt thanks stamp set. She was going for the faux silk and it turned out great! I think she picked a wonderful color combination too. Very pretty!

Next weekend I'm going to show you a new stamp set called It's a Stretch.

Until then....TFL

Thank you

2008-08-10T01:25:00.004-04:00

I decided to show off the nice cards I've got in the mail recently. The first card is a birthday card I received from my Upline. She used a retired designer paper, Fall Flowers. I have to admit that I don't know the stampset she used.

This is so neat. I'm going to try this idea, my DH gave me an idea of how to make a Christmas card similar to this one.

This card here is the first Monday Mailer I got this month. Dacia made it for me. We are supposed to make cards using FAUX anything and she did Faux stitching. She used two of the new In-Colors, Pacific Point and Tangerine Tango. And the stamp set is Pick a Petal. I think her pattern turned out great!

This card here was the last Monday Mailer for July. We had to use Bold Brights on our cards. Carol made this card for me. She used the Embrace Life stamp set and the main color is Orchid Opulence. She stamped the image on Shimmery White card stock. It's so pretty.

Here's a card I got from Laura. She used the Tart and Tangy stamp set and Summer Picnic Designer paper. You can find directions on how to make this card HERE.
I've been meaning to try this fold myself, don't know if I'll be able to make a card as nice as Laura's though.

This card was made by Sharon, we swapped stamp sets a couple of weeks ago and she made me this beautiful birthday card using the set she got from me, Older and Wiser. Isn't the turtle cute!?! I love the way she folded the DP too.

Ann asked me to show the sketch I used from Take Ten. It's on page 26 in Take Ten Jun/Jul/Aug 2008 (Stampers' Sampler Take Ten). The cover is green. The sample on pg. 26 is made by Jen del Muro.

Well, I'm not showing you any of my cards today. That doesn't mean I haven't been busy stamping *lol*. Next weekend I'll show you Serene Spring. I've got the cards ready but you'll have to wait.

I finally got the new catalog this past Friday and I've looked through it about a hundred times. I love all the color combos they have in it and there are "a few" stamp sets I NEED. But I'm not going to get them all at the same time. I've already started thinking about Christmas cards so I'll get a couple of those, the ones I have retired this weekend (just my luck!). And did you know that SU is going to start selling Sizzix products? Yep, it's true! And I really like their dies! But you can't order those until September.

Here are some interesting links you might want to take a look at!

$99 starter kit promotion

Fall-Winter Sampler Promotion

Never before seen promotion

Well, I'm off to decide what to put in my first order from the new catty!

Until next weekend....

TFL