Deal of the Week #4

From today thru Sunday Stampin' Up! is offering the Styled Vanilla Hodgepodge Harware on sale for only $18.99. That is a $10.96 savings on the normal proce of $29.95.

Each kit contains 100 Styled Pieces along with 100 matching brads:

The following comes in an alterable hindged tin:
Raised Dots Designer holders (10)
Small Rectangle holders (10)
Raised Dots Designer holders (10)
1" Circle holders (10)
Square holders (10)
1/2" Genuine brads (10)
3/8" Star brads (10)
1/2" Flower Brads (10)
3/8" Flower brads (10)
Flower ribbon slides (10)
3/16" Brads (100)

The kit can be found on page 178 of the current Idea Book & Catalog.

Hardware kits can be ordered by contacting your SU! Demonstrator. Contact me to place an order today or order online by clicking the catalog to the right. You can view the entire SU!! Product line and place your order anytime online. Contact me with any questions about the Hodgepodge Hardware or any other SU! Product.

Viewfinder

"Pony Party" is a fun stamp set. You can do so many things with the pony. It comes with wings to make a flying horse and a horn for a unicorn. It also comes with several small things to decorate the pony. I remember as a little girl playing with My Little Pony. Each pony had a small decal on the rear end. There are 5 that come with this stamp set. They would make cute stickers for a childs card. They could also be placed in a build-a-brad so they can be changed out as you wanted. I couldn't decide which one I wanted to use, so I used them all.

I made a viewfinder card. There is a wheel behind the pony that turns. As you turn the dial, one of the images shows through the hole in the pony. There is a small rainbow, a star, a group of flowers, a pair of hearts and the butterfly. The viewfinder is made by attaching the wheel behind the image with a brad. The pony panel is then placed up on dimentionals. The sentiment was colored with various markers and then stamped.

Razzberry Lemonade

Razzberry Lemonade is a darling pack of Designer Series Paper using the new In Colors. The catepillar shown here is from the hostess Level 1 stamp set "Love Bugs". You can get this set for free with an order over $150. The fabulous friend sentiment is from the stamp set "Oval All" The sentiments fit perfectly into the Oval Scallop Punch. Again I used a few of the new In Colors to match the designer paper. Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, and Dusty Durango. The image was colored by pulling some of the ink off a marker with a blender pen. This helps to soften the color. You can get a similar look by using the ink in the lid of an ink pad and wiping some of it off before coloring the image. I find that taking it straight from the marker is easier and more controllable.

Because I Care

The rest of my husbands army unit came home the other night. I wanted to give a card of thanks to some of the ladies who are in charge of our FRG (Family Readiness Group). They do a lot of work with little thanks all year. This is a simple 6x3 card. Simply score a piece of 6x6 cardstock down the middle. Stampin' Up! also sells envelopes for these cards. The card base is Pretty in Pink. I stamped the "Inspired by Nature" grass image on the card in Old Olive. The decorative edge and scallop oval are Rose Red. I used the slot punch with some Chocolate Chip cardstock to make the cattails. The sentiment is from the retired stamp set "Greetings Galore".

Other three In Colors

Yesterday I showed you a card with the first three In Colors for this year. Today I have the other 3 colors. The yellowish color is Crushed Curry, the orangy color is Dusty Durango, and the brown with tint of green color is Soft Suede. The stamp set used is from the Level 3 Hostess stamp set "The More the Merrier" The set also contains a cute row of birds holding hearts, a row of cupcakes, a group of snowmen and a circle stamp perfect for Thanksgiving. There are also a couple small sentiments and a heart to finish off the set. I thought these pumpkins would work perfectly with these 3 In Colors. The image was stamped with Basic Brown and colored in with the In Color Markers. The soft suede strip was run through the Big Shot using the Texturz Plates Backgrounds 1 exclusively sold by SU! The sentiment was punched out with the word window punch and tied to a piece of hemp twine. The layout was taking from one of the layout challenges on SCS. If you are ever having design block, I highly suggest looking there for some inspiration.

2009-2010 In Colors

I have been working on designing my swaps this weeks for the Stampin' Up! Convention next month. I wanted to try something with the new In Colors and a technique I normally don't do. Faux techniques have always been a little intimidating to me. I decided to try out Faux Silk. Though I have decided not to use this particular card for my convention swaps, it was nice to finally try a new technique.

Faux Silk is a technique using tissue paper so the cardstock has a feel and look of silk in the end. You can find a wonderful tutorial for Faux Silk on SCS here. When I made my card, I did (accidentally) skip the crumple the tissue paper step. I happened to use the same stamp set as the tutorial without meaning too. "Embrace Life" has been in the catalog for awhile now. It is a nice everyday use stamp set. You can dress it up with any sentiment or use the images in the background.

I used three of the new In Colors. Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, and Bermuda Bay. The images were all stamped on tissue paper with Basic Black and then colored in with Rich Razzleberry. I covered the white cardstock with a glue stick before laying down the tissue paper. Using the Piercing Tool (now sold separately) I gave the edges a little detail. The ribbon is Dotted Rich Razzleberry. I really like the look of these three colors together.

Check back this week for more cards using the new In Color and a color comparison of them all.

The good ole' Red, White & Blue

"Seeing Stars" has a lot of potential. My first instinct was to punch out the various stars with my star punches and layer them on one another. When I got the stamp set, I had a new vision. A field of stars. This is what resulted. I did not stamp a sentiment on the front, so I can grab it in the future when needed. A simple "Thank You", "Congrats", or Welcome Home" would go nice in the lower left corner.

I used Real Red and Briliant Blue ink to make the background. A short strip of 5/8" Red Grosgrain across the center and a quick mat of Real Red and Brilliant Blue is used to showcase the Ribbon. The "Ribbon of Hope" is stamped in Yo Yo Yellow. Make sure to check out the very last page of the catalog. There are some wonderful images on the $10 and under page. While you there check out the Ronald McDonald House stamp set on the inside back cover. It is cute. Check back this week for samples using "Very Thankful".

Courage

If you are military and have not seen page 67 of the new 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog from Stampin' Up! you need to go see it now. I fell in love with everything on that page from first sight. My husband happened to look over as I was flipping through the catalog and did a double take on that page. He took the catalog from me, looked harder and then asked if I would be ordering the stamp sets soon. Well, the entire page made it onto my first order on July 1st. It was so happy when the box came and I got a chance to play with it.

This image is wonderful. It is easy to color or simply shade areas. The saying that comes with it is very nice. I wanted to keep the design of this card simple. It is a large panel of Whisper White on a Rose Red card base. I roughed the edges and then inked them with Basic Gray. The image is colored with blender pens and stampin' pastels (chalks).