Monday, September 21, 2009

Harvest Stamp A Stack

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of joining up with 5 other Stampin' Up! demonstrators in the area for a 12/$24 Stamp A Stack. Each guest who came made 12 DIFFERENT cards. The theme was Harvest, so each of us made one Harvest card and then we got to choose any kind of card we wanted for our second one. It was just too much fun to be able to take away 10 other cards (all the demonstrators swapped with each other) and to learn so many new techniques. I know my wish list got a lot longer after Saturday! The first two cards shown are the ones that I brought.

Enjoy and be inspired!
Let me know if you have any questions about any of the cards.












Sunday, September 20, 2009

Wednesday's Workshop

Last Wednesday, I was able to do a workshop for my good friend, Kim. She is a former SU! demonstrator who actually got me hooked on making cards in the first place, so we were both excited to have a fun girls' card making night. It ended up being a smaller group than originally expected, so it kind of morphed into a 3/$5 card making night rather than your typical workshop. I was more than willing to do this, especially because I had already designed some cards that I could use for this event.

My hostess gift for Kim was this little purse card I made using the Top Note Die and the Big Shot. I saw this online and just had to do it. Wouldn't it be the perfect card for a gift card?


Inside the purse, I included a gift certificate for my next 3/$5 card making night FREE!! Kim is my go-to SU! pal and she loves making cards and getting some "mommy time" just as much as I do! So, I knew she would be able to use and enjoy this.


Kim had really wanted to do a Christmas card to get everyone jazzed for the holiday season. I had found this {amazing} card online and knew right away I wanted to share this card. My upline, Andrea, let me borrow her Snow Swirled Christmas set. This was originally going to be the "make n take" at the workshop. I changed the colors a bit from the card that I cased, and used Chocolate Chip instead of the grays. If you look really closely, you might be able to see Dazzling Diamonds in the Christmas tree. Trust me, it's beautiful in person!! I love how it sparkles and it looks like lights on a Christmas tree!! I had lots of extras cut up for this card, so I made 5 more a couple of days after the workshop and I think I'm going to sell them in sets at the upcoming holiday bazaars...and I'll probably make even more since Andrea said I could hold onto the set for longer!!


The next card we made was one that I had designed for the Stamping 411 Challenge a couple weeks ago. I also used this card for the Stamp A Stack I co-hosted with 5 other demonstrators this past Saturday (it was a busy week of SU!...check back soon for the 12 cards we made!). I love this Pumpkin Patch set and the guests of the workshop loved the card, also. One of the gals decided to buy this set for her son's birthday party invitation that she'll be having on Halloween. Love it!


The last card was one that I had designed while playing around with my stamps on a girls' night craft night a couple of weeks ago. I knew this would be the perfect card to share with friends and they agreed. This card is made using the One of A Kind stamp set.


I can't tell you enough how much I LOVE doing this Stampin' Up! gig. I get so many opportunities to be crafty and spend time with friends and meet new creative minds like me! I have a handful of events coming up in mid-October, so I look forward to more opportunities to create and to share.

Thanks, Kim, for the fun time!! If anyone else is up for some crafty time and a chance to earn free products, let me know. I'd be happy to come on over to share with you and your friends my love for stampin' and all things creative and fun!



Friday, September 4, 2009

Sketch Challenge 115

I was inspired this evening to work on one of my cards for the upcoming Harvest themed Stamp-A-Stack I'll be co-hosting with 5 other ladies on September 19th. I will be bringing two cards, one Harvest themed and one of my choosing. The other ladies will each do the same and in total there will be 12 cards to create!

After seeing the sketch challenge from Stamping 411 for Saturday's Sketch, I was super excited to get started on this card using my new Pumpkin Patch stamp set I just received in the mail yesterday.

Here's the sketch...


And here's my take on it...

if you look closely, you'll see the Perfect Details texturz plate in the background on the pumpkin pie cardstock...hard to see in the picture, but it makes a great added touch to the card!

You'll see I didn't include everything in the sketch, but the inspiration was still there! I love the simplicity of this card and those little pumpkins are just too cute! I'm not a big fan of the spookiness of Halloween, so this set is perfect for me to make some fun Halloween cards!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

more card swaps!

A little over a week ago, I attended another Stampin' Up! downline meeting, and again we brought cards to swap! Since I had just hosted my kid-friendly birthday card making night, I decided to bring the rocket birthday card from this post to give to everyone.

This first card was created by Debra Easter. I was happy to see a card that uses a stamp set that I own! This card was made using the stamp set One of a Kind and the Filigree Designer Brads for the middle of the flower. The Designer Series paper used is retired.


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Off the topic of card swaps for a minute...

Seeing the above card reminds me of a project I created for my first open house back in March. The stamp set One of A Kind is one of the first Stampin' Up! sets I owned, so I used it for the 3-D project at my open house. This is the candy pouch we made using the One of A Kind set...


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Back to card swaps...

I love this next card because it used many of the punches Stampin' Up! sells to create the snowman and birdie. I'm on the hunt for fun Christmas ideas, so it was great to get a little early Christmas sample. I love the scalloped edge on the right hand side of the card to finish off the look! This one was created by Cindy Becker.


Unfortunately, there weren't many swaps that evening, but thankfully my direct upline and friend, Andrea Botten, pulled through for me and ended up giving me TWO cards to help inspire me! Andrea has great taste and nice card quality. I love this because I think we're a lot alike, which helps us be able to share our ideas with each other...and actually like those ideas! *wink*

This first one is pretty simple, but that's what I like about it. Sometimes I see cards that are so complicated that I don't even want to attempt it. This uses the awesome set called Wonderful Favorites. It's only words, but it can be used for so many things. She also used the Stars #2 Original Die with the Big Shot die cutting machine.


This next one Andrea used for one of her card making nights. Is this not super cute!? This card is made using the Bugs & Kisses stamp set. This set is on my wish list for sure! It would make some great kid cards don't you think? My favorite thing is definitely the little magnifying glass made with circle punches and the Word Window Punch.


I hope you enjoyed taking a peek at some creative cards made by others. It's always fun to be able to share ideas and have samples on hand for workshop events. Speaking of workshops...I'll be doing a workshop in a couple of weeks that introduces some products from the new mini-catalog that was just released on September 1st. It's available online now if you would like to take a peek!
// ADDED BY RYAN ON 1-3-14 // END ADDED BY RYAN 1-4-14