Kathy's Stamping Niche

Wonderful You

My swap card for my adopted upline's meeting used the Wonderful You stamp set and matching Jumbo Wheel Stems & Silhouettes.

This was a fairly quick card to make.  The base of the card is Always Artichoke and the wheel is rolled on with Always Artichoke ink.  The flower image is a 2 step stamp.  Solid part of the flower is So Saffron with Always Artichoke stem and the outline part of the flower is done with Rose Red and Mellow Moss stem.  The flower is stamped on Whisper White card stock with the words in Always Artichoke and then layered onto Always Artichoke and the So Saffron card stocks.  To finish it off, Moss Gingham Ribbon is used and the whole thing is attached to the card front with Stampin' Dimensionals.

I'm thinking about doing this as a swap card for convention.  Speaking of convention, after all my planning and saving and selling, I will not be able to join the thousands of excited stampers at convention.  Thank goodness for my friend, Blythe Klipple.  She will be swapping for me, but I will miss being able to see everything first hand.

I was so bummed about not being able to go, that I decided to hold my own mini-convention!  I'll share everything after the big happening, but I am trying to make it feel like a real Stampin' Up! event.  We are going to meet for 3 days, 9AM to 2PM everyday, do make-n-takes, have lunch and even have a couple of WOW demonstrations.  There are a few more surprises up my sleeve, but I don't want to share until after the event.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful rest of your weekend. 

Box In A Bag

Last night was my adopted upline's meeting and Robin did this great project called a Box In A Bag.  Here is Rob's sample.

Don't you just love the Afternoon Tea Designer Series Paper?  I will really miss it.  Now Rob saw a tutorial for this on Paula Goff's blog and shared it with the rest of us.  Thanks Paula for a great tutorial.  It is greatly appreciated.

This is the one I made.  It was much easier to make than you think and lots of fun too.

Dragonflies for Sale

I am now offering mizuhiki dragonflies for sale.

They are available in Gold, Silver and Red.

$3.50 per Dragonfly or 5 Dragonflies for $12.  Flat fee of $3.00 for shipping and handling.  If you do not want to order through PayPal, just send me an email.

Be sure and let me know what color(s) you want.

To order just one Dragonfly             

To purchase 5 Dragonflies

 

Mizuhiki Dragonfly

Joyce asked for directions for the Mizuhiki Dragonfly so I uploaded a page that you can access on the right side column of my blog.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

I've also decided to sell my dragonflies in Silver, Gold and Red.  They will be $3 per dragonfly or 5 dragonflies for $12.  Shipping and Handling will be $3.  You can start ordering now and I will accept PayPal payments when I figure out how to put the PayPal button on my blog.

Thanks!

September 6x6 Calendar

This is for September's 6x6 desktop calendar.

Elementary Essentials Stamp Set was used.  The ruler is stamped in Ruby Red on Whisper White Card Stock and the writing lines were stamped in Craft Whisper White on Basic Black Card Stock and the whole thing is mounted on Close To Cocoa Card Stock.  I had some paper thin cork and used that for the bulletin board.  The reminders were printed with the help of the computer on Whisper White Card Stock and cut to the small size.  They all have mini brads through them and are then attached with mini glue dots.

I wrote the alphabet by hand using the uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen.  I left the chalk board area blank because I couldn't decide what to put in it.  A couple of things I thought about were:

• Welcome Back To School
• Welcome to Class
• I'm Mrs. Chono-Herring or My name is Mrs. Chono-Herring
• or just leave it blank and put a wallet size picture there.

Do you have any other ideas?  Sure could use some help.

I got this idea from my friend, Blythe Klipple.  Several years ago, we did a 12x12 swap to put on the wall calendar and Blythe did this wonderful September Back-To-School page. 

Thanks for stopping by this week.  Today our temperature is suppose to be 104 and tomorrow will be 107.  Whew, that's hot.  Everyone stay cool and dry over the weekend!

Introducing Décor Elements

 

Stampin' Up! is introducing a new product line called Décor Elements.  Décor Elements are self-adhesive vinyl elements that can be placed almost anyway to customized your special areas.

If you would like to see more, right now; email me and I can send you the brochure as a pdf file.  OR I will have hard copies on Monday to mail out to you.  Email me with your name and address and I'll mail it out right away.

My actual order will arrive on Monday and I'm very excited about putting the ones I ordered up in my stamp room.  After I put them up, I'll share pictures of them.

Mizuhiki Cards

I love working with Mizuhiki.  Mizuhiki is Japanese Paper Cord that is covered with mylar.  I needed a card featuring Mizuhiki and this is what I came up with.

The Dragonfly is a variation of the Clam Shell or Love Knot.  It is attached to Shimmery White Card Stock bordered with Lovely Lilac and Washi Paper.  The words are from Hugs & Wishes.  I used mini glue dots to adhere the Dragonfly to the card.

Once again I used the Shimmery White Card Stock, along with Real Red Card Stock and Washi Paper.  The Artfully Asian stamp set is used and this is the Clam Shell or Love Knot.

If you would like to learn how to make your own Mizuhiki embellishments, purchase a pack by Yasutomo.  Every pack has directions on the back to make a few knots and Yasutomo has a website that shares several projects.

I'm toying with the idea of selling the dragonfly and the love knot but haven't come to any decision yet.  If you are interested, leave me a comment; might help me make mine mind up.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stampin' Up!'s Retiring Stamp Set List

Stampin' Up!'s retiring stamp set list was released today.  This is a much smaller list, thank goodness!

You may order anything on the list until August 10, 2008 because after that, we will have the new 2008 Fall-Winter Catalog to order from.  Can't wait to see what surprises SU has for us!

Click here to see the list alphabetical.

Click here to see the list by catalog page number.

So, how many stamp sets did you lose from the list?

Hurray for the Red, White & Blue!

I have been swapping with a group called the Awesome Stamping Fools for years and the last 4 years we've been making the SU 6x6 Desktop Calendar.  My friend Lynne has seen all of my calendars and has been asking for years to make one for herself, so finally; we are starting on hers.

This is July.  Last November and December, everyone was making these as snowflakes and I just never got around to making one.  Finally got to make one and I decided, with a little imagination, it looks like a star burst and if we use patriotic colors, it could be July.  The colors featured are Real Red, Brilliant Blue and Whisper White Card Stocks.  Also used was the Brilliant Blue Designer Series Paper and Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper.  Regular Mini Gold Brads and the Real Red Rhinestone Brad from the Fire Circle Brads add just the right touch of bling to the card.  The word is from Wonderful Words stamped on Vellum Paper in Brilliant Blue.  Make sure you give it plenty of time to dry.

To create your own Tag Star burst, here is a great tutorial.  I try to only post Stampin' Up! items on my blog, but half of the calendar will be with SU products and half will not.  If you would like to see the rest of the non-SU months, leave me a comment.  We have done June, July and December.  I'm hoping to figure out the rest this weekend. 

Summer is starting in my neck of the woods.  100 degrees is the forecast for Saturday.  So everyone have a safe and cool weekend.

Fresh Cuts Stamp Set, Again!

I really like this set so I'm not promising that I won't be sharing another card with it.  Last week or so, people on SUDSOL were talking about the faux cloisonne technique and so I tried it.

I purchased a gardening magazine and found different pictures I thought would work.  Holy Smokes, guess I haven't brought a magazine in a long time because this one was $7!  The Faux Cloisonne technique is very easy.  All you do is emboss your image in black or gold on the magazine picture!  Fresh Cuts stamp set is used.  Card Stock is Basic Black and Orchid Opulence.  I apologize for the picture.  I took a couple of dozen and I just couldn't get my camera to work very well.

Here's another one.  This card is using Basic Black, Gold Metallic and Brocade Blue Card Stocks.  I embossed both cards using Gold Encore Stamp Pad and Detail Gold Embossing Powder.  After you emboss on the magazine picture, cut out your stamped image and you're ready to create a wonderful card.  The measurements for the above card are:

• Embossed Image - 3 3/8" x 3 1/8" approx.
• Brocade Blue Card Stock - 3 1/2" x 3 1/4"
• Gold Metallic Card Stock - 4" x 3 3/4"
• Basic Black Card Stock - 5" x 10", fold in half

Hope I haven't bored you with another Fresh Cuts card.  Thanks for stopping by!