Kathy's Stamping Niche

Fresh Cut - sneak peek

I just love it when Stampin' Up! lets us have a sneak peek into the new catalogs.  For the month of June, SU is offering the Fresh Cut stamp set for $21.95 AND you can add on the coordinating Fresh-Cut Notes (15 each of 4"x 4" laser-cut note cards with envelopes) for only $5!  Want more note cards, add those on for $8.95 each.  This stamp set will be in the Fall-Winter 2008 Idea Book & Catalog.

Now if you are a Hostess with a $400 workshop during the month of June, you'll receive the Fresh Cut Stamp Set AND the Fresh-Cut Notes for free!

Here are 2 cards that I did.

 

This card has a piece of So Saffron Card Stock underneath that I stamped with the Fresh Cut Stamp Set in Whisper White Craft Pad and embossed with White Detail Embossing Powder.  It is attached with Stampin' Dimensionals - one in each corner and one underneath the center flower.  I cut 1/4" off the front edge and distressed it with the Cutter Kit.  Add a small strip of Old Olive on the back piece, punched out a small flower from the Boho Blossom punch and adhered the flower and So Saffron small button (from Fresh Favorites II) with Mini Glue Dots.  The words are stamped in Old Olive.  This is my rendition of the card on the SU flyer.

Here's another card that I colored with Garden Green, Lovely Lilac, Orchid Opulence and So Saffron Stampin' Markers.  I huffed and huffed and used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to center it on the note card.  The Lovely Lilac Card Stock is also adhere with Stampin' Dimensionals on the back side of the front, but I randomly stamped some images in Lovely Lilac to give the background some texture.  The So Saffron punched flower from the Boho Blossom punch and a Lovely Lilac small button are used with Mini Glue Dots.

I am hoping to play a little more today and tomorrow so I should have another 2 or 3 cards to share next week.  Everyone have a wonderful weekend!

Our 25th Wedding Anniversary

Some of you might be wondering what we actual did on our Anniversary so I thought I would share.

I totally forgot that Les had the week off - one of 5 weeks of vacation he gets, so we did absolutely very little!  LOL.

Les took me out for breakfast at IHop.  I know that doesn't sound very exciting, but I LOVE their Swedish Pancakes and they are a very special treat for me.  I honestly was going to cook for him, but with him being home all day, I can't fight my way to the stove.  I know, poor me!  Instead, I told him what I was going to do and so Les did some of it instead!

He went to Costco and brought a bag of shrimp and started them marinating the day before.  Then we saw an advertisement for a new Chinese restaurant so instead, we put everything else on the back burner and went out for dinner instead!  LOL.

However, we had our curly fried shrimp the next day (and several more days after that) and they are just as yummy as on New Year's Day when my cousin Nancy makes them.  He didn't get his Spam Musubi, so maybe I'll just surprise him in the next few weeks.

So our 25th Wedding Anniversary was on the 14th of May and nothing that I really wanted to do happened but there is always next year!

Explosion Box - Part 2

Here is the second part of the Explosion Box.  The previous post showed the Explosion Box closed and when you take the lid off.  This post will show you the individual layers.

This is the box level.  You make this by using a 12" x 12" piece of card stock and scoring at 4" and 8".  Turn the card stock one quarter and score again at 4" and 8".  It will look like a tic-tac-toe display.  Now cut off each corner and reserve those pieces to use for backing pictures.

 

 

This is the 2nd layer.  The Card stock is 10 1/2" x 10 1/2" and is scored at 3 1/2" and 7".  Turn the card stock a quarter sheet and scored again at 3 1/2" and 7" and cut off the corners.

 

This is the 3rd layer.  The Card Stock is cut 9" x 9".  Score this piece at 3" and 6".  Turn the card stock a quarter sheet and score again at 3" and 6".  Cut the corners off.

 

This is the mini accordion booklet that is taped onto the 3rd layer.  I cut a piece of card stock that measured 5 1/2" x 12".  I then scored the 12" side at 2 3/4" - 5 1/2" - 8 1/4" - 11".  Then cut that piece to measure 2 3/4" x 12".  This way you score the 2 pieces only once.  Now tape the 2 pieces together.  Leaving one of the one inch flap on the top.  I used the corner rounder to make a scallop border on mine and added a piece of 5/8" wide grosgrain ribbon as an accent.  When adding the ribbon, be sure to only tape it down on the backside, otherwise your accordion booklet will not open correctly.  I used about 18" of Bashful Blue Taffeta ribbon for it.  I also journaled the information on the backside of each panel.

 

To make the lid you need to cut a piece of card stock to 6 1/8" square.  Now score all edges 1".  Fold all the score lines and cut 2 sets - direct opposites - from the edge to the fold lines.  You've just made your tabs.  Put red-line tape on the outside edges of the tabs to secure to make and secure your lid.

 

Here's a view of the inside of the lid.  You will need 2 pieces of 5/8" wide grosgrain ribbon cut to 13" and 1 piece cut 8".  Put tape (snail, mono, atg) on the 8" piece from top to bottom.  Start from the inside of the lid and place the end as shown above and carefully bring it up and over to the outside lid and then across the lid, down the lip of the lid and back inside of the lid.  The other 2 pieces, place 2 to 3 inches of tape on just one end and place them on opposite sides of the lid.  These are the 2 pieces you use to tie the bow.

I found this box fairly easy to make, it was the decorating that made me crazy!  LOL.  Here are some measurements that might help you decorate your Explosion Box.

1st Layer - 3 3/4" square for background layer

2nd Layer - 3 1/4" square for background layer

3rd Layer - 2 3/4" square for background layer

Mini Accordion Booklet - 2 5/8" square for background layer

2 1/2" square piece for the front

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.  Hope you enjoyed my version of the Explosion Box.  Thanks so much for your comments and for stopping by!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Explosion Box - Part 1

When I did the WOW swap at leadership, one of the swaps I received was an Explosion Box.  Then at the Oakland , someone demonstrated another version of the Explosion Box and I was hooked!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the front and left side of my Explosion Box.  I used the Rose Cottage Simply Scrappin’ Kit.  These kits sure do make your life easier!  Not only does it come with color coordinated textured card stock, you get wonderful self-adhesive die cuts to embellish your project with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a photo of the back side.  You can tell by the bow.  The tails should be in the front.

 

When you open the box, you get this!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An explosion of 3 layers plus a mini accordion booklet.  I don't have time to show it all right now, so I will be back tomorrow with the layer by layer photos.

 

Hope you all have a great Memorial Day!

Tri-Level Wall Hanging

Finally!  I finished my Tri-Level Wall Hanging using the Small Book Basics from Stampin' Up!.  I used the Rose Cottage Simply Scrappin' Kit left-overs from my Explosion Box.  I promise, I will share this very soon.  I still have lots of left overs so I will be trying to use them on future projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I cut the River Rock, Rose Red and Chocolate Chip Textured Card Stock to fit the Small Book Basics Chip Board and then used the Corner Rounder.  Next I attached the Card Stock with glue and then sanded all the edges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Journaling was done on the computer and printed on Soft Sky and River Rock Card Stock.  The 1 3/8" Square Punch was used to get the tiles to the right size and then the corner rounder was used on all of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used some of the Printed Card Stock as background to frame the photos and lots of the die cuts to accent this panel.  The photo of my Dad is actually an 8" x 10" that I scanned and tried to clean up.  My Mom's photo is an 8" x 10" oil painting that I scanned.  I resized both photos to fit on the panel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last panel shows most all the siblings.  This photo was taken a couple of years ago and the eldest sister was not able to be with us so I just put a missing bubble for her.  To put the ribbon on, I cut 2 pieces of the 5/8" wide Chocolate Chip Grosgrain to a length of 28".  It's threaded in and out of the panels and secured with red line tape on the back.  I tied a square knot on the top and it will hang in my stamp room when I find a place for it.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'm sorry I haven't been posting as frequently as I should be.  Sometime life happens.

Preparing for the Seniors

Kim asked if I could share how I prepare for my Seniors, so here it is.

I cut and punch out everything.  For example, the first card I cut all the card stock to size.  My seniors folded the Soft Sky in half, rounded the corners of the Wild Wasabi with the corner rounder and stamped most everything.  I stamped the one flower in Groovy Guava and attached the rhinestone with Crystal Effects, but the Seniors cut the flower out and put the card together.  Some of them can tie the ribbon, some of them can't so I will tie it for them.

On the second card, once again I cut everything to size.  I punched out the scallop piece and the 2 Pumpkin Pie circles, but I think next time I won't.  They had to stamped the Old Olive Apple and then use the 1 1/4 circle punch and they did fine.  I was worried that carpal tunnel and arthritic hands would make the punching hard.  The Seniors stamped and taped everything on this card.

My Seniors are extremely high functioning and actually get around much better than I do!  I took my Explosion Box to share with them (I will share with you in a week or so) and we will now be doing this as a project.  I know that it will take at least 2 visits, probably 3, to make; but that's alright with me.  I know they are having fun and when we are done, they will have a great gift to give someone.

Sure hope that answers your question Kim.  I should also let you know that I do this free.  I'm a great believer in "giving back" and this is one of the ways I do that.

2nd Monday at Silvercrest, May

I spent the morning at Silvercrest with my Seniors.  They made 2 cards and here they are.

This is a card we did as a Make-N-Take at the Oakland Regional's.  I just changed the "Thanks" to "Happy Birthday" from the Eat Cake stamp set.  The card uses Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi and Very Vanilla Card Stocks.  A bit of Groovy Guava Double Stitched Ribbon and the flower from Live Your Dream stamped with Groovy Guava ink on Very Vanilla Card Stock and cut out and put in place with a Stampin' Dimensional.  The flower is topped off with a rhinestone because I ran out of the Clear Rhinestone Brads from the Pretties Kit.  The Wild Wasabi has the right side corner's rounder and is adhered to the card with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Here's the second card. The base is Old Olive Card Stock and the Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper is used for the background and the Pumpkin Circles.  A piece of Old Olive 5/8" wide Grosgrain Ribbon is placed across the card and then the other pieces are put in place.  The center Scalloped piece is held in place with Stampin' Dimensionals and the other 2 Old Olive Apples from Tart N Tangy set are just held in place with Snail.  The words are from Hugs & Wishes and stamped in Old Olive Ink.

Today I took a few things with me for the seniors to choose our next projects.  I'm excited when they get excited because they are so much fun to work with!

More later!  I'm still working on the On Board stuff.  I should have it ready to post soon.

Cards you NEED, but don't like to make!

I always need Sympathy Cards.  I don't like making them when I need them because I'm usually too sad to focus on a decent card so I make a bunch at one time and then I'm able to pull what I need from my stash.

This one uses Very Vanilla Card Stock and Vellum Card Stock.  On the inside of the front, the words from Close As A Memory are stamped in Very Vanilla Craft Ink and embossed with Gold Embossing Powder.  On the Vellum, I stamped the flowers from Essence of Love with Very Vanilla Craft Ink and embossed with Clear Embossing Powder.  To finish the card, I tied the Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon around the entire card.  This also keeps the Vellum attached to the card.

This is the 2nd card I made.  I used Very Vanilla Card Stock, embossed the words from the Close as a Memory stamp set using Very Vanilla Craft Ink and Gold Embossing Powder.  The trees from Lovely As A Tree are stamped on a separate piece of Very Vanilla Card Stock in Very Vanilla Craft Ink and embossed with Clear Embossing Powder.  I then used the Cutter Kit to rough up the edges and taped the piece to the front.  I really like this, but something was missing.

So.....I did the card again and this time I used Champagne Embossing Powder from Draggin' Ink.  (Draggin' Ink no longer does Embossing Powder, sorry!)  It comes out slightly darker than the on with Clear Embossing Powder and looks very rich IRL.

I've now restocked my stash and actually have 3 different designs to chose from.  The other one uses discontinued Stampin' Up! product so I didn't want to put it on the blog.

See ya later!

On Board Bulletin Board

Stampin' Up! is offering 25% off any On Board item purchased during the month of May with any purchase of $35.00 or more.  There is no limit so you can go crazy!

I made a Bulletin Board from one of the pieces from the On Board Ginormous Pieces.  This was shown at the Oakland Regionals and I added my own touches to it.

I used Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper to cover my chip board.  Just place the chip board on the back side of your paper and mark it with a pencil.  Cut it out and paste it on the front of your chip board piece.  The Crop-A-Dile was used to make the holes on top for the Certainly Celery 5/8" wide Grosgrain Ribbon.  Knots were tied in the back to keep the ribbon in place.

The letters were stamped using Defining Alphabet on Summer Sun Card Stock in Chocolate Chip ink.  They were then punched out using the 1" Circle Punch and adhered to the bulletin board with Mini Glue Dots.

The push pins were made by stamping the apple from the Tart N Tangy set in Craft Real Red and Craft Gable Green onto shrink plastic.  Cut them out and shrink them using your heat gun.  I then placed them onto the push pins using Mini Glue Dots.  The cork board part is something I found in my stash.  It is a 7" square that I brought at Ikea.  The cork is glued on with white tacky glue.

In the next couple of days, I am going to cover an On Board Clip Board and hopefully the small On Board Book Basics.  Thanks for stopping by!

Let The SALE Begin!

Let the Sale begin!  Click this link Retired Sets For Sale, you will find the new list of retired stamps sets and their prices.  If you have any questions, please email me.  I'll do my best to answer them.

You can also go to my blog.  On the right hand side column, there is a listing called "Retired Sets For Sale".  If you click on that, you will see the current list.  I plan on updating the list at least twice a day.

Thank you very much for looking.