PAPER PLUNGING WITH RIBBON

This week over at The Paper Plunge we are working with ribbon! Now there are so many different things you can do with ribbon! I've been wanting to do a specific card for awhile & thought this would be a great way to show off some ribbon!!!

So here's the card:

It's called a "Petal" card! The ribbon on this one is used not only for embellishment, but also for a belly band!!!

There are 3 types of ribbon on this card. 

The first, the belly band, is made from our 1 1/4" Burlap Ribbon. Love that stuff! The little bow is made from the Lost Lagoon Satin Ribbon. Did you find the 3rd? Yup, it's the Linen Thread in the Very Vintage Designer button!!!

So when you remove the belly band, you have a card that looks like this:

The beautiful paper is from the Moonlight DSP Stack in our Annual Catalog!

Now open it up:

Cool right?? The sentiment is stamped using Starburst Sayings, and the whole think is cut out using either the Circle Framelits or the Starburst Framelits!  Love my framelits!!! lol

So hop on over the The Paper Plunge & see what the other designers have created for you with ribbon! I know you'll be pleased & get some good ideas!!!

Happy Stampin!!!

CREATIVE BLOG HOP

I am honored to have been nominated to be on the 

Creative Blog Hop by my friend & upline Angela Carter over at Angela's Ink Link!  It's a fun little one-time blog hop!!!  Then after I get to answer a few questions about myself! Very exciting! Projects can be anything we want! That's cool!!!

So today's post is to feature an amazing stamp set, Painted Petals.

Here is the "suite" of cards I made:

I love this stamp set!!! It has THE most beautiful coordinating 

DSP-Painted Blooms! It can be framed with nothing else & still be beautiful! 

Here are the individual cards:

This one uses the DSP, stamp set, the Petite Petals Punch, and some 

Daffodil Delight Ribbon! I love how these colors look!

The next:

I thought this may look like flowers growing through the fence! This one uses the Note Tag Punch, the same Daffodil Delight Ribbon, and the 

Striped Scallop Thinlets Die.  Kept it fairly simple tho. That paper is beautiful but busy!!!

The last:

This one I took the piece of DSP with the leaf background & added the stamped flowers! I love how that looks!!! I grabbed that Petite Petals Punch again, as well as my brandy new Flower Medallion Punch!!!  I stamped that image with the Crazy about You stamp set! One of my current faves! lol  I will fess up to some retired Rose Red Seam Binding.  I just thought it worked here! Plus, don't have any other Rose Red ribbons!!! lol

Now, questions! 

1. What are you working on now?

Right now I am working on creating one of the Perpetual Calendars from our Occasions Catalog as a gift for someone! Don't wanna say who! I love this kit! I have made several already. It is very useful, and I have already referred to mine a couple of times! I like to look at it at the beginning of the month & then make the cards for my blog hops with the upcoming occasions in mind.  Easy peasy too!!!

2. How does your work differ from others in your genre?

Hmmm! That's a tough one. What exactly is my genre? Well, I'll take that to mean "stampers" like me. So how does it differ? Well we all have our own styles. Mine is clean & simple.  I don't like a lot of ephemera or extras on my cards. Occasionally I'll go there, but when I try to create "vintage" it looks like I just emptied out my supplies & glued them all on! Haven't quite got that eye. I like things neat, matted & simple. While I truly enjoy looking at those beautiful works of art, I just know I don't do them well!  In life I live outside of  the box, but interestingly enough, in card making, I live pretty much within the box! Boring I guess!! lol

3.Why do you create what you do?

I love to try new techniques! Whenever I see something I can't figure out I have to try it. I like to have a variety of "styles" and "skills" to pull from. Most of my cards are designed for one reason or another. A lot of them come from the several blog hops in which I participate. I enjoy giving a card to someone special. A friend of mine years ago, who has since gone to Heaven, kind of hit it home. When she was ill, I sent her a card weekly as she couldn't have visitors.  When she passed, her husband told me she still had every single card I sent displayed around her room because she would look at them & they made her feel good.  I guess that's why I create what I do.

4. How does your creativity work?

I'll take that to mean how do I come up with a project???!! So I first decide why I need the project. Birthday. Anniversary. Etc. Then I consider the person who will be receiving it. I try to gear the card personally.  Then I pull what I think works for them. Now, if I'm just creating, I pull out a new stamp set & think of a design that would fit it! I also love to visit challenge blogs & use them as a "kickstart" to my design.  That's particularly helpful when I get into a rut!!

So I hope you've enjoyed this Creative Blog Hop!  Now I get to nominate 2 people for next week's Creative Blog Hop! I am sending this on my good friend Helen over at Blue Dahlia Designs who always designs a beautiful card and my Canadian Stampin' Up! buddy Diane at 

Teach to Stamp who has a similar clean & simple design to myself.  Be sure to visit their blogs next week!!!!

Happy Stampin'!

COLORING DOWN THE LINES!

So we have a tiny Coloring Down the Lines Blog Hop this week! Only 5 of us!! But still...5 fun posts I'm sure!!!  Safe travels to our fellow hoppers heading to Orlando for Leadership!! As I write this post, we are in the midst of Snowmageddon-aka Blizzard Juno! Wanted to get this done in case the power goes out! Sure hope not!

Anyway, this week's hop you probably came from Carol's blog & then will hop on to Liz's Blog!!! I'm the end of the line this week! :)

So here's my card:

Here's the inspiration:

Here are the MDS colors:

Now I know this stamp set-From the Herd-probably wasn't the best to use for these colors, but I have been so excited to use it!!! I so love these little guys!!! Plus, after seeing it, I really love the way it looks with these colors! Oh those eyes!!!! I lol when I look at them!!!

I colored them in with my Crumb Cake & Calypso Coral Blendabilities!!! Wanted them to look kinda rugged. Altho the Dazzling Diamonds kind of "glams" them up a bit! 

The ribbon is from the Ribbon & Button Pack from the 

Sale-a-Bration Catalog!!! I love how this ribbon looks!!! Wish we had a whole collection of it! Pretty!

So I hope you've enjoyed our little hop this week! I'm sure everyone will be back with all kinds of fun next week!!!! Until then!!

Happy Stampin'!!!

2015 CLASSES!!!

The new Class List for Winter 2015 is now listed! Be sure to check it out by clicking the tab at the top of the homepage Workshops & Classes!!! Register NOW for your favorite class!!!!!! 

For more info on any of the classes, email me at jmets23@yahoo.com!!! Gonna be a fun few months!!!!!

Plus, don't forget! It's Sale-a-Bration time!!! Get your FREEBIES NOW!!! Ask me how!!!

Happy Stampin'!!!

OH BABY, BABY!!!

I found myself in need of a baby card this week. One of our extended family's recently had a beautiful little baby girl! Having a house full of boys, it's so exciting to do pink!! lol  But I also wanted to do a new technique. 

Here's the card:

Simple right? Right! The rattle at the top is what's called an Iris Fold! A form thereof!  I've never done this before but decided this would be a good time to try! 

What I found out was 1.) it didn't take nearly as long as I thought nor was it as difficult as I thought, and 2.) it probably would've been easier to do with DSP than cardstock. Altho the cardstock looks nice! Give it a try! Wanna know how? I'd love to do a class for you & your friends!! Just contact me!

So just a fun baby card!! Congrats to the Bell family on their beautiful little Emily!

Happy Stampin'!!

"PLUNGING" INTO VELLUM

This week over at The Paper Plunge we are designing with vellum! It's a tricky little critter but so worth the effort!!!!  

Here's what I came up with this week:

Now shhhhh! That's gonna be the hubby's Valentine card! lol  Not a ton of vellum, but enough to give it a pop.

I simply used the Heart Framelits to cut out the hearts. I really like how the Fancy Foil Designer Vellum (with the cute little hearts!) coordinates so nicely with the Silver Foil Cardstock.  

And how about that new Bow Punch from the Occasions Catalog?!?!?! Amazing right? So easy but with such a WOW!!! Looks great with the 

Red Glimmer Paper! If it were all black & white it might look like a tuxedo! lol

I was gonna use the Hearts Embossing Folder for the Real Red background, but I forgot! Then I went back & realized I like it this way better! I think it would've been a bit busy with the embossing. I like the "glam" of it as it is! Sentiment is stamped with Crazy about You and embossed with 

Silver Embossing Powder.

So be sure to visit The Paper Plunge & see what the other designers have done with vellum! I've seen the designs, and I am in awe!!! Sooooooo pretty!!!!

Happy Stampin'!!!

COLORING DOWN THE LINES

It's Coloring Down the Lines Blog Hop day!!! Got some pretty colors for ya this week!!!

So Helen's having computer problems so this week you may be traveling here from Carol's blog! Hello there!!!!!  We have a good size hop this week, so be sure to pop over to Laura's blog after mine (nice to have her back!!!)-then keep going & enjoy!!! Lots of great stuff!

So here's my card:

Here's the inspiration:

Here are the Stampin' Up! colors in MDS (thanx again Robbie!):

Wow these are some pretty colors this week! I just keep playing with all my new toys from the Occasions Catalog & the Sale-a-Bration catalog!!! 

The flower is from my current favorite stamp set Lotus Blossoms! You can actually get that stamp set for FREE! Just ask me how!  They call it a double-step stamp set, but it's really a triple-step stamp set! So easy to use with all the improvements Stampin' Up! has made to the double-step stamping!  If you haven't done it in awhile, give it a try now!!!

The sentiment is from Crazy About You. It's from the Occasions Catalog.  If you look closely, you can see the "bling" on the flower piece. It's 

Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder on a stamp from Build a Bouquet. There are a couple of great background stamps in that set!!! You can find it in the Occasions Catalog!

The Smoky Slate is embossed using the new 

Spring Flowers Textured Embossing Folder. Very pretty look!!!

Throw in a couple of the Oval Framelits & the Small Oval Punch & you  have a pretty card!!! I will use these colors again!!!

So keep hopping & enjoy! I'll see you on this hop next week, but be sure to check back later this week for more fun with The Paper Plunge & some vellum!!!!!!!

Happy Stampin'!!!

"PLUNGING" INTO A NEW TECHNIQUE!

Happy Friday! It's The Paper Plunge challenge day!!!! Yeah!!!!

This week our Design Team is challenging you to try a NEW technique!! It's very easy to get in a rut with the same 'ole same 'ole! So this was good for us too!

Here is my card this week:

The new technique I'm using is called the Bokeh stamping technique. I guess it's actually a photography trick for blurring the lines so to speak!  I've seen it on some cards & thought I'd give it a try!

Now in my research, I discovered that this is a watercolor type technique. So I tried it as such.  This is how my first card came out:

But as you may or may not know, working with Watercolor Paper is perfect for watercoloring but not necessarily for stamping!  It's designed to absorb the water, which it does. But the paper isn't "smooth", so stamping is a bit tricky. Thus the tag here. Plus, there's a lag time while waiting for it to dry. Not long, but still some!

So I started playing. I'm more of a CAS (Clean And Simple) kinda stamper so I pulled out my Whisper White cardstock, ink & sponge! I like the way it came out even better! No wait for a dry- it's dye ink with no water!!!

On either one, the white dots or blurring is done with the 

Whisper White Craft Ink. It's a pigment ink. Takes a bit longer to dry, but it has a dimension to it that the dye ink doesn't. It kind of "sits" on top of the card instead of absorbing into the paper. Make sense? I did learn one thing tho-I need to reink my ink pad!!! lol

Although either card is lovely, I'm pretty sure I'll be repeating the first!!! It was actually very quick & easy!  

Stamp sets used are One Tag Fits all from the new Occasions Catalog & 

It's Your Day from the Sale-a-Bration Catalog.  These 2 catalogs are quickly becoming my favorites EVAH!!! I will be so bummed when the SAB catty is gone! This stamp set is amazing!!!

So what new technique did you try? Show us over at 

The Paper Plunge! 

I'm dying to see what my fellow designers came up with! I'm sure I'll be CASEing!!!!!

Happy Stampin'!!!

COLORING DOWN THE LINES

It's that time again! Coloring Down the Lines Blog Hop day!!!! This week we have some fun, bright colors!!!!  

Welcome on over from Helen's blog! Hope you are having fun! If you are starting here, be sure to continue on to Liz's blog & keep going until you get back to the first one! It's fun, & there are lots of great designs with these colors!!

So here's this week's card:

Here is the inspiration photo:

And here are the Stampin' Up! colors in MDS:

Pretty colors right? Kinda looks like spring! Well I decided I was gonna try something other than flowers! I've been dying to use this new stamp set from the Occasions Catalog-It's called Cheerful Critters! These images are so cute! I'm not sure what I'll use this card for, but there are so many options!!!

See how cute he is:

I pulled out the stars for this one! Framelits, Embossing Folder, Punch!  The stripes were colored with the Stampin' Write Markers.  Finish it all off with some 1/4" Real Red Cotton Ribbon & it works!!!!

So hope you enjoyed this week!!!!  Now continue hopping around!

Happy Stampin'!!!!

TAKING THE POLAR PAPER PLUNGE!

Well here we are! The Paper Plunge day!!! And it's soooooo cold here in Massachusetts!!! Everyone (including myself!) is having so much fun with the cool spring items in the Occasions Catalog!!! But today I have to say I went winter! As I post this, we are -2 degrees F!!! lol  Spring seems a long time away!!!

But I DID have a blast making this adorable little project!  Not much stamping, but lots of fun! This week's challenge was to use a die to create your project! I used several!!!

Here it is:

So no, not a card! I've been "die-ing" (see what I did there? lol) to use the new Berry Basket Bigz Die I got!!!  I can see so many uses for this die! And it's one of the easiest 3-D die items I've ever made!!! You can use it with or without the handle. Apple baskets, Easter egg baskets, party favors, etc.!

So the little snowman is made mostly from my Circle Framelits. Altho his head is a Circle Punch. 

The little hat believe it or not is made from the flowers in the new 

Bouquet Bigz Die! I used one of the petals for the hat part & one of the leaf ovals for the brim!!  

The arms are made from the leaves on the die!!! Perty cool!!!! I just love the way he came out!!!

The sentiment is from the adorable Cheerful Critters stamp set! Can't wait to get more use out of that one!!!!!!

So be sure to head over to The Paper Plunge & see what the other designers have in store for you! Lots of amazing stuff!!! You have 1 week to add your die cut design!!! Or just use the ones there for inspiration!!!! Enjoy!

Happy Stamping'!!!

ICS BLOG HOP BE MINE

Welcome to January's 

Inspire, Create, Share Blog Hop! 

This month we are creating Valentine's treats for you. Now I know it's a bit early, but it gives you time to use them all for inspiration!  You need time to make that special something for that special someone!!!

So here's my Valentine gift to you!!

lol! It looks blurry but it's not!! I stamped it that way!!!

I've used almost all items from the new Occasions Catalog!! If you haven't seen it yet, you MUST!!! It's so amazing!!! These products are from their Valentines offerings.

The DSP used is called Stacked with Love. It has some really great images that can be used for well beyond Valentine's Day. 

There is even some Stacked with Love Washi Tape to go with it! 

Of course, I'm sure you know that's the beauty of Stamping' Up!-everything coordinates!!!

The stamp set is You Plus Me. It has several great options for Valentines, love, maybe wedding or anniversary.  

Then, if you can see it, the big red heart (which was cut with the 

Heart Framelits by the way) is embossed using the 

Happy Hearts Embossing Folder!  See it's a love fest on our blog hop this month!!!

So now, use the image below to hop on over to Olivia's blog! Then be sure to keep going.  Don't forget to leave a message on each! We love to hear from you!!!!

Happy Stamping'!!!

COLORING DOWN THE LINES!

This week's Coloring Down the Lines Blog Hop is filled with excitement!!! Not only do we have some awesomeness for you, but it's also the kick-off of our Occasions Catalog & Sale-a-Bration!!!! Today's card uses tons of new stuff!!! So cool!!!!

Hello visitors from Helen's blog! Glad you are here!!! Be sure to keep hopping to Liz's blog & see what she has waiting for you! Then keep going all the way back to here!!!

Here's my card this week:

Here's the inspiration (thanks Liz!):

And here are the MDS colors (thanx Robbie!!):

Now we have a rather "large" card here, but I really wanted to feature some of the great new products.  This is designed as a wedding card. Kind of tough to put into an envelope, but still a nice card!

So the flower is cut with the brandy new Bouquet Bigz die!! There is even a stamp set to go with it! Didn't use this time tho! But stay tuned! lol

The sentiment is from the Simply Wonderful stamp set from the 

 Sale-a-Bration Catalog! The DSP is so amazing! Also from the SAB catty. It's called Irresistably Yours!!!! Both can be yours-FREE!!!! Just ask me how!!!

The nifty little embellishment is from the Occasion Catalog & is called Something Borrowed.  

So I hope you've enjoyed your little sneak peek at some of the goodies! It can all be yours NOW!!! The catalog is online NOW!!! 

Click HERE for the Occasions Catalog! 

Click HERE for the Sale-a-Bration Catalog!!!  Want your own? Just ask! I have plenty for you!!!

Such an exciting week at Stamping' Up!!!!!

Happy Stamping'!!!

PLUNGING WITH A SKETCH!

This week over at The Paper Plunge, we are working with a sketch challenge!  One of our designers, Robbie, created a great sketch in 

My Digital Studio (MDS) for us to use!  These are my favorite challenges! I love taking a simple picture & "modifying" it! I love to see what everyone else does with it! You'll have to visit The Paper Plunge to see the sketch tho!!!

So here's my card:

I have been so excited to use a bunch of my new goodies from the new

Occasions Catalog that goes live on January 6!!! It. Is. Amazing!!!!!! The best one hands down!!! That also begins our Sale-a-Bration catalog!!! Can I just say FREE!!!!! Yup!! You can get FREE items!!!! 

But anyway, more about this week's card! All the components are from The Occasions Catalog except the card base & the Gold Ribbon (with of course the Mini Stapler to attach it!)

The stamp set is called Adventure Awaits!!! It's some really cool large sized images! I love it! Different than anything else we have really.

But the kicker is it's stamped on our new Chalkboard Paper with our new Yellow Citrus Colorbox Chalk Inkpad!!! Oh this is sooooo cool!!!! I think this will be one of my favorite new techniques! Can't wait to really explore that!!!

That really cool background is from the Adventure Bound DSP Stack!!! Yup!!! Photographic images! Wait till you see them all!!! Soon cool!!!!!!

I figured I'd try a bit of a "grunge" or "steampunk" style. I've been trying to get a grip on that for awhile! This is a very simple card of that style, but thought it kinda worked!!! lol

So go pop over to The Paper Plunge & see what all the other designers have in store for you!!!! I'm sure you'll enjoy! Try your hand at uploading your pic to the blog! Super easy to do! Just click on the Linkz link & it'll take you right there!!!!

Happy Stamping' 2015 to you all!!!