Riley the Moose Easel Card

Wow! Does time fly or what? I cannot believe that it has been over 2 weeks since my last post. This is an easel card I put together with a Riley the Moose stamp. I love this little moose! Perfect when you live in moose country! I also used one of the new Martha Stewart border punches. Easel cards are fun, as they stand up by themselves and look great sitting on a window sill or table. This picture was taken head on, so you cannot really see how an easel card works. The words on the base are mounted with foam tape, which "catches" the main part of the card, creating the easel.

Sitting Tilda with Candy

This is one of my favorite images from the Magnolia "Under the Mistletoe" collection released this year. I used the "Holly Letter" image to have her sit upon and she looks all dressed up with her hair pulled back. I colored her with Staedtler watercolor pencils and a Dove Blender Pen. I love my Copics, but when I am under the gun to get a bunch of cards done, I usually default to my watercolor pencils. I LOVE the ones by Staedtler. They are the best ones I have ever used and the only ones I sell in the store.

Martha Stewart Corner-Border Punch Combos

Martha Stewart Crafts started selling their new punches in a "combo" back where you get both the border and corner punch together for a design. Most card makers are used to border punches and have been somewhat luke-warm to the matching corner punch, as it seems somewhat limiting if you continually punch around a piece. However, I started playing with these and liked the effect I got on this card. One of the downsides of using a straight border punch is when you get the the ends of your piece. Unless you cut a piece larger than what you need, it is hard to get the pattern even on both ends. By using the corner punch at the ends with the border punch in the middle, the effect is a very finished look. I was quite pleased with how this turned out. The deer stamp used is by The Cat's Pajama's and the thank you stamp is by Savvy. I added the ribbon to the edge of the border design to finish it off. The patterned paper is by Darcie's Country Folk (now distributed through Art Gone Wild).

Quick treats and bags...

These are some simple treat bags and "boxes" that are perfect for the holidays. The Santa stick and reindeer are made using a triangle box stamp from Inky Antics and the coordinating holiday character clear set. These would make great treats for a school class or little table favors for the kids in the family. There is also a non-holiday set of character faces - including a cat and a dog. The poinsettia bag is a quick little bag with a poinsettia made with the Spellbinders poinsettia die and one of the Cuttlebug embossing folders to add some texture. And who can resist a quick little House Mouse gift tag?

Sneak Peak of the January BOTM from Inky Antics!

This is the new January "Board of the Month" for Inky Antics. It features new mouse designs that we're getting early because of the board program. Jackie at Inky Antics has designed another fun board with some great projects. Check the Stamped Designs website for class dates and times. And remember, if you take the class, you get 20% off the stamp sets used in the class! A great deal!

Large backgrounds from Impression Obsession...

We used the new large background images from Impression Obsession on each of the cards in this picture in our "Rock the Block" class. These cling mount stamps are 5-3/4" square which allows you to cover the front of an A-2 card. In the flower card, we inked the background image with the Adirondack Lights color Cool Peri and then stamped over the colored flower image (which is by Penny Black). The light color is visible on the ivory card but not on the colored image. The bird image is a new image from Serendipity Stamps and is a Tufted Titmouse perched on a branch. And you should all recognize Tilda from Magnolia stamps - this one is Blueberry Tilda.

New Cuttlebug Embossing Folders!

The new holiday Cuttlebug embossing folders arrived a couple weeks ago and have been selling quickly. We still have them all in stock, but they are going quickly and these will likely be similar to other seasonal items and not available after the holidays. Come in quick for the best selection. Some of the new folders are a 5x7" format, perfect for larger cards. As always, they emboss wonderfully.

Kittens in Mittens from Lockhart Stamps

Check out these adorable "kittens in mittens" images from Lockhart Stamp Company! Aren't they just the cutest? If you're a cat fan and looking for some easier holiday cards, these little guys can certainly help you out! There are 3 different stamps - the difference is in the design on the mitten. All are adorable!

Believe it or not - MS Icicle punches are BACK!!!

We have been waiting FOREVER for these to come back and they have finally arrived! I am not certain what the marketing theory is with EK Success and Martha Stewart Crafts, but you cannot order some items "out of season" and you never know if something will come back - or if you'll get any if they do bring it back. We pre-ordered these in April and they finally showed up last week. Get them while they're here - who knows if we will see them again!

Gift card and money holders

These are some gift card and money holders that we're going to to making in class next week and in the first part of December. We are all sending more gift cards for the holidays - especially for those family and friends far away. I personally have given up trying to find physical gifts for most of my nieces and nephews, as they live far away and our tastes are different. It was tough to photograph these. The card with the cardinals has a holder for a gift card on the inside. The money or check holder is the long one and a card slides out with a pocket where you can insert your gift. The jingle bells add a little festive touch!

Harvest Candle by Lockhart Stamp Company

This is a great card from Lockhart Stamp Company using their image called "Harvest Candle." The classy image is colored with Prismacolor pencils and set off with simple layering. We just got in a large order from Lockhart stamps featuring some great new holiday designs.

My Favorite Things Stamps Have Arrived!

We just got in a HUGE order of MFT stamp sets - including the new holiday images. The clear sets are a great value and allow you to create a variety of projects from one set. Besides the holiday items, we also stocked up on other images from MFT, as well. The bunny images have been very popular.

New Martha Stewart Punch Combos!

Some of the new Martha Stewart Border/Corner punch combination sets are in! This gives you BOTH the punches you need to do the complete border/corner combination, or you can just do an individual border or corner. In the picture is also a new holly border punch. These tend to sell QUICKLY and we never know if we will be able to get more in stock, so if you're interested, I highly recommend that you come in quickly. We sold several the first day they were in the store before even pricing them.

Penny Black Holiday Cards

Penny Black has the cutest hedgehog images. Of course, there are other cute characters and also some wonderful classy images. We used a couple of the cute critter images from one of the new holiday clear sets and a classic dove image to make these 3 holiday cards. The dove card is a simple design with a wonderful sentiment. I took some snowflake images from Stampendous and scatter stamped them in gold metallic ink to reduce the white space and add a little sparkle. The hedgehog card uses some new designer paper from ANW Crestwood with beautiful silver metallic swirls. The silver snowflakes I added red and green snowflakes to the mice card using a Martha Stewart snowflake punch. I know that the colors are not ordinary colors for snowflakes, but I think that they finish the card. I used gold metallic dewdrops from the Robin's Nest in the center of the snowflakes to add a little shine.

A special advent calendar

Start with a 24-cup mini muffin tin, add some cardstock, images and numbers and create a unique advent calendar! We're going to make this fun calendar in November. Each day holds a little "treat" for the recipient. Makes a great little gift and would be a great "pick-me-up" for someone who needs one.

Snoopy has landed at Stamped Designs

We just ordered some new Snoopy stamps and they arrived this week! These are GREAT images for "guy cards." We're going to be teaching a class with these stamps in December and January. Snoopy is truly a timeless character. We all grew up with the Peanuts comic strip and these stamps just make you smile.

Polar White Flower Soft is on the way!

I know, I sent out an update email last night saying that Flower Soft was currently out of stock of the Polar White color. Well, I have been checking their website daily and today it is back in stock! I have 24 jars ordered, along with 6 more jars of the autumn mix. If all goes per plan, it should be in the store next week. They usually ship pretty fast.

Storage for JustRite Stamps

I saw a great way to store your JustRite stamps this weekend. These stacking jars make sorting and storing your stamps a breeze! You can put them in topic groups and it also reminds you that you can interchange all the centers and borders across different sets. You can find these stacking jars at various locations - usually in bead departments of larger stores and sometimes even in "dollar stores." I am going to look into carrying them at Stamped Designs if I can get them at a competitive price. This will keep your stamps neat and orderly and will keep them from getting misplaced.

Tilda Loves Me

I was in a "create a card with Tilda" mood this afternoon. These little images are almost addicting. I opted to have Tilda "sit" on a strip of cardstock. This is a great trick for the large number of "sitting Tildas." My coloring medium is Staedtler watercolor pencils and a Dove blender pen. This method has been my favorite way to color for over 10 years. I love the Copics, but I can grab a container with the 60 pencils in the complete line, a blender pen and a bottle of refill fluid and color almost anything. It's a great way to pass time on an airplane!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fall into Metal Cards

I finally finshed the cards for the upcoming "Fall Into Metal" class! I've been looking for the appropriate dies for creating the cards for this class. I used "Glue Foil" by Streuter - they were cut out with various dies and then colored with alcohol inks. As you can see, the metal pieces can be the focal point of the card, a main element, or a smaller accent piece. This is a great way to get a totally different look from the dies you already own. The best thing about using Glue Foil is that it comes in larger sheets, so you are not limited in what size die you can use.

Dewfrost Cards

The card samples from Memory Box have arrived and these are the new Dewfrost card samples! Memory Box always comes up with simply elegant designs. These cards will be taught in November. The samples and stamps arrived last weekend and the stamps and paper have been selling like hotcakes. In fact, we're placing a re-order for the ones that we have sold out of. Be sure to check out all the stamps from Memory Box (including some fun designs for Halloween).

Halloween Cuteness!

Penny Black is truly one of my all-time favorite companies! I have been using their stamps since 1996 and this is one company that continues to produce great images. The hedgehogs are ledgendary and I love the cats! I have a very soft spot in my heart for tabbies anyway - especially the slightly overweight kind! These cards are a combination of new images and some older ones that have been re-released in a clear stamp format. Just fun, fun, fun! The cat on the broomstick card uses an EK bat border punch and some great ribbon from May Arts. I took some of the bats that were punched out and used them around the words. The hedgehog ballooon card uses the Cuttlebug pumpkin embossing folder in the background. The vampire cat card uses some great glitter paper from The Robins's Nest and one of the new border dies from Spellbinders.

Tilda in Paris

The main stamp is "Tilda in Paris," which is one of the older Magnolia images, but she is very cute and I just had to do something fun with her. On this card, I used paper piecing for her clothes, hair ties and hat. The image is stamped on print cardstock, then the separate parts are cut out and put together as they are attached the base image. The trickiest part of paper piecing is finding print that are sized appropriately for the size of the image. These pieces are pretty small, so you need to find something with a pretty small pattern. The rest of the image is colored with Copic markers. I used 3 colors of Bazzill Swiss Dots cardstock - the 2 layers are cut out with the Spellbinders Dahlia dies. I distressed the edges with Ranger Distress Ink - Worn Lipstock color. I went a bit out of my comfort zone for colors, but was pleased with the result.

Memory Box Twilight Studio Cards

Time for some fun, new designs from Memory Box! These cards will be taught in a couple classes at the beginning of October. The class schedule should be out next week. the stamps and new paper packs are on order. If you want anything held as a special order, please let me know and we'll put them aside for you. These are always popular classes and stamps, so sign up early once the schedule is out! I'll post info on the paper pack and cards on the website soon.

I-Top Tool is on order!

Want to make your own custom brads to match your project? Well, the "I-Top Tool" from Imaginisce is the product for you! This tool allows you to cover a brad blank with the paper of your choice! There are punches coming out in September that will allow you to punch the pieces for a perfect fit. Those are also on order and I am hoping will ship with the tools later this week. My supplier is not listing them as a "pre-sell" so I am hoping that they were released earlier than Imaginisce anticipated on their website. A template set is also available - a more frugal option - but you have to do all the cutting yourself. The link below will show you a video on YouTube with a demonstration of how the tool works. There are 3 sizes available - small, medium and large. The small brads are 16mm, the medium are 22mm and the large are 28mm. Now, for those of you that struggle with metric conversions, the small is 0.63 inches (between 5/8 and 3/4"), the medium is .86 inches and the large is 1.1 inches. Hopefully they will be in the shop next week. And yes - we'll have one to demo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFs1fi-2Omw

Cheetah sisters...

No trip to San Diego is complete with a visit to the San Diego Zoo or Wild Animal Park. These 2 cheetah sisters are at the Wild Animal Park and are waiting for the 1 PM "snack." There are 3 in this area - all sisters that were hand raised as their mother did not care for them. The handlers are able to go into the enclosure and walk up and pet them. They are 4 years old and gorgeous animals. This is 2 of them eagerly awaiting their snack. Prior to this time, they were crashed in the shade sleeping.

New Mega Mounts from Impression Obsession

This is the new "rocker block" or "mega mount" from Impression Obsession - shown with the new 6x6" cling mounted background images. This mount is WONDERFUL for stamping larger images that sometimes can give you trouble getting a uniform impression. The mounts are on order and should be in "soon." I know that they were on the boat from China (literally) when I was in Orlando for the CHA show. I saw one when I visited Impression Obsession the week before and you're going to love them. The background images are great, as well. They will allow you to cover the entire front of a 4-1/4 x 5-1/2" card. They should be in stock at the store soon.

Sissix Embossing Folders

Embossing folders have been all the rage lately. It started with the Cuttlebug folders, and now several other companies are making them - including Sissix by Ellison. Ellison has previously made "embossing plates" which were not as easy to use as the folders. One of my new favorites is this "3-dot" folder that comes in their birthday pack. It is shown on the cat card in the picture. These cards are from the "Just a Touch of Color" card class being offered in August and September.

Hawaii view...

Some of you know that I was fortunate enough to spend a week in Hawaii for work. You know you're lucky when you check into the hotel and they say "You've been upgraded to an ocean view room." Yes, this was the view from my 19th floor hotel room overlooking part of Waikiki beach. The only concern I had was when the tropical storm was threatening and the thought of losing power and walking up 19 flights of stairs to get to the room. Fortunately, the storm fizzled out and power never left us!

Martha Stewart Punches in Stock!

Just before we left for the CHA in Orlando, most of the new Martha Stewart punches arrived, including the new border and corner punches. We put them out right before we left on Sunday. We're still waiting on the "Icicles" punch that a lot of you want. We did get in some "Dripping Goo" punches and the new "Spiderweb" border and corner punches. We played with them at the show and I took a picture of them below. I was pleasantly surprised with how the spiderweb punches worked. To create the design show below, you need the corner punch and the border punch. The designs are sized perfectly for card making. There are several designs and all of those came in last week. Be sure to check them out!

A look inside Impression Obsession

Recently I was in Williamsburg, VA and visited Impression Obsession. I took a few pictures so you can see what it is like to produce red rubber stamps. Most stamp manufacturers press their own red rubber - a process which uses a machine called a vulcanizer. Steel plates are made of the designs and the rubber is pressed into the plates with heat and pressure - creating the red rubber stamps we all know and love. Clear stamps are produced by a different process and most stamp companies do not make their own clear stamps. All the red rubber stamps at I-O are made right there in Williamsburg - hand cut and either put on cling mount or mounted to wood blocks. Mitra Friant, the owner of Impression Obsession was gracious to let me poke around and see some of the new items that are releasing this summer. We can all look forward to her "mega-mount" acrylic mount for large stamps and the fabulous 6x6" square background images she created. This allows you to completely cover the front of an A-2 size card with one pass of the stamp. The mega-mount allows you to get a nice, even image. Hopefully these will be at Stamped Designs by the end of August.

Tilda in a hat...

How can you not like this image of Tilda with a fancy hat from Magnolia? I colored Tilda with Staedtler watercolor pencils and a Dove Blender. The background paper is from Melissa Frances - I distressed the same paper with Ranger's Old Paper Distress Ink, then punched out the flowers. The words are by Hero Arts.

This is a great multi-purpose card that can be easily changed with different wording.

A Favorite Image

We all have them - images we love and can use in many ways. Sometimes I call them "go to images" because they are the ones I pull when I need to make a card and don't have a lot of time. This Leigh Hannon dragonfly image by Impression Obsession is my newest "go to" image. I just love the design and have used it already for birthday cards, get well cards, thinking of you cards, etc. In the card shown above, I also used a leafy vine background image from Printworks and wording from Northwoods Rubber Stamps and colored the image with Copic markers. You can "bling it up" with a little glitter on the wings or use some Twinkling H20s. The possibilities are endless!

Playing with Acetate...

If you haven't done anything with acetate, you really need to give it a try. I prefer the 10 mil thick variety, as it makes the card seem a little more substantial. The cat card in this post (cat stamp by Penny Black, flourish by Impression Obsession) uses acetate as the base card. The flourish is stamped with pink opaque Stazon. The trick with a card like this is that you need to adhere some cardstock on the inside of the card for inside wording. It is best placed behind the front image. You also have to remember that the adhesive on the lowest layer will be visible through the acetate. I prefer to use a Xyron for this.



The snowman card (stamp by Darcie's) has 10 mil acetate run through a Cuttlebug embossing folder. This gives a wonderful effect and does not alter the size of the cut acetate.

The "GIRLS"

As many of you know, we got a couple new cats in October 2008 after losing our beloved tabby Tugs, who was 18. The house was too quiet without a cat (or two) and we went to the Cocheco Valley Humane Society and brought home Dora and Bucle (in the window). You can see that windows are quite popular. This one is especially exciting, as they can see the birdfeeders in the back yard! I did not have the flash on the camera, so it is not the best picture to see their coloring, but they don't like the flash.

A card from a left-over...

We've all had this happen - start working on a card and discover that something is too large or too small. In this case, the flowers and circles were too large for the card I was working on. So, I set this aside and finished the class card with smaller circles. I needed a thank you note and decided to use the left-over design. I ended up with an A-6 card size and put a couple embossed lines above and below the words with a Scor-Pal for some accent. A simple card, but very effective. I love to layer and used several colors of Bazzill cardstock. The flower is from a Penny Black clear set. The words are by Stampendous.

Welcome!!!

I know, this has been a long time coming. If I could only have about 6 more hours in a day, I might be able to get more done. We'll see how this goes. My goal is several posts each week. I hope to add items that are not seen on the store website, allowing you to see some of my other stamping creations and ideas.