Stamp School February Release Sneak

Stamp School's February sets and new ink, felt, and card stock colors are available tomorrow! Today, I thought I'd give you a sneak peak at one of the sets called Blessed Easter.

To mix things up a bit, I paired Blessed Easter with one of January's releases, Natural Landscape. I highlighted just a small portion on the tree to give the feeling of spring just beginning to bloom. I also used a stamp from Blessed Easter on the inside of the card.

Check out what the other Stamp School Faculty has created over at Stamp School's blog.

Supplies:
All supplies are from Stamp School except for the Copic Markers
Paper: Whip Cream, Cotton Candy, Berrylicious
Ink: Hot Fudge
Stamps: Blessed Easter, Natural Landscape

Thanks for stopping by today!

Together Is The Best Place To Be

Today's project is a bit of a bundle project. Glue Dots® challenged its designers this month to make a wedding project, and Moxie Fab World is having a Punches Challenge. I thought I'd combine the 2 and make some framed art with my Fiskars Heart Squeeze Punch that would also make a lovely wedding gift.

I know you've probably seen a lot of this kind of framed art. This one's a bit more personalized because you use a map of a location that is special to the couple that will be receiving the gift to add an additional personalized touch. For example, this one is made from multiple maps of different locations that are special to my husband and me (where we met, where we married, where we owned our first home). If you are attending a destination wedding you could make the hearts from the map of that destination (i.e. Jamaica, Hawaii, Mexico).

Here's what I used to make my frame:

The background piece is a sheet of Jillibean Soup Kraft card stock. I cut it down to fit the frame and ran it through my printer to created the border and text. You could easily do this part with a black fine point pen and a ruler. I just have really, really bad handwriting so I decided to print the text instead.


Here's a close up of the text:

I attached my hearts with Mini Glue Dots®, but the Ultra Thin Glue Dots® would work equally as well here. Whenever I arrange something in a grid pattern, I lay one row across and one down to get the spacing right, then I work out in rows from there.

In the bottom right hand corner, I created a heart with our wedding date on it instead of creating a heart out of a map piece. Instead of using flat adhesive for this heart, I attached it with a Pop Up Glue Dot®

...and there you have it! just pop your creation in a frame and you're all set!

Thanks for stopping by!

*I created this post while participating on the Glue Dots® Design Team

The 2nd Snow

Well, in honor of only the 2nd "real" snow we've received so far this winter (and for where I live, it's crazy not to be covered in snow all winter), I thought I'd share my Bo Bunny Snowfall layout of the first snow from this season.

My boys couldn't wait to get out and "help" Dad shovel. About 1/2 of the papers in Snowfall are glittered, so I chose just a few of those to highlight the page. The line has a bit of an antiqued feel to it, so I inked all of the edges of my papers to help the all meld together. I even inked the edges of the Thickers I used for the title.

Thanks for stopping by!

Felt Flower

Hello! I'm hosting the color challenge over at Stamp School today featuring the colors from this creation

I made this bright felt flower from 4 colors of Stamp School felt (Blue Raspberry, Berrylicious, Razzleberry, and the light pink that will be released soon!) and the Lifestyle Crafts Nesting Leaf Die. It took a little time to stitch it all together, but I love the end result...and I just don't think it would look the same without the stitching.  I planted the flower in a square vase that I had from some flowers I received a long time ago. I created a stem from copper picture wire (use the thickest gauge you can find so it will stand on its own), and secured it in place by filling the vase with those decorating glass 1/2 marbles. I've also created a matching card, but you'll have to head over to Stamp School to see that.

Stamp School is also having a Facebook Giveaway right now. There will be a Stamp School prize pack awarded to one lucky Facebook commenter (randomly chosen by random.org). All you need to do to enter is like Stamp School on Facebook and answer a question. Since we’re Stamp School, we want to know the name of your all time favorite teacher! For additional entries, you can tell others about Stamp School. When your friends like Stamp School they should answer the question AND tell us who sent them (i.e. My favorite teacher was Mrs. Smith, and Samantha Taylor sent me). They’ll get an entry for commenting, and you will receive an additional entry for every friend you send over to Stamp School. All comments need to be made by 11:59 pm CST on Friday, January 20th, on our Facebook Page. To comply with Facebook rules and regulations, the winner will be announced here on the Stamp School blog on Saturday, January 21st. Good luck!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Go Pack Go!

I haven't had a whole lot of time to scrap just because lately, so even though this isn't my all time favorite layout, I'm happy to have this photo scrapped and in my album.

Last year the owner of my local scrap store procured some Packer scrapbook paper for me (because she knows I'm such a fan), so scrapping last year's game photo was easy. This year, I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do since I didn't have any of that paper left. Then I saw it, when wandering the store, I saw the greens and yellows of My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 2 line, and knew it would be great for my Packer photos.

The glittered papers add some extra fun, and there are lots of great titles and layered stickers. What didn't work on it's own, I just changed. For example, the "WIN" stickers actually said, "YOU". I just used some alphas in the right size and color to change it to WIN, since the packers had a 35 - 21 victory over the Bears that game.

To create the journaling labels, I used a Spellbinders set to cut 2 labels from a cream colored patterned paper. I then used the die as a mask and sponged on some Tim Holtz Distressed ink in Antique Linen to add a bit more pizazz to the labels.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamp School

Stamp School is officially in session January 1, 2012! That means you can get their new stamp sets, paper, ink, and felt starting tomorrow. To get you ready for the release, I thought I'd put a little product info out there so you know just what Stamp School is all about and the quality you can expect.

Cardstock
Poptone Cardstock from Stamp School is a heavy 100 pound cover weight cardstock. It works brilliantly for card bases, however we suggest you score your cardstock before you fold it, it's just THAT heavy weight. The Poptone Cardstock cuts beautifully with any diecut machine and die, even the thin wafer thin steel rule dies from My Favorite Things or Spellbinders. It has matching dye inks, and matching wool felt.

Inks
The Poptone Dye Ink from Stamp School is a raised dye ink pad. The inks are made to match the Poptone Cardstock. The ink pad comes with a hinged lid, so you won't ever lose your lid, and is labeled with the ink color. It works beautifully on our clear stamps, and because it is a dye ink you can do any technique fit for dye inks. We also have re-inkers available.



Felt
Soft to the touch yet sturdy, Stamp School felt is medium-weight 100% merino wool, imported from Holland. Be forewarned, once you craft with it you'll have a hard time ever going back to a blend or acrylic. Approximately 14 oz. per linear yard (36x72 inches) and 1mm thick, almost 1/16 inch. Our felt is not flammable,and safe for babies and children.

Stamps
Stamp School stamps are made in the USA with the highest quality photopolymer. 

Stamp School will release two stamp sets per month. One set is a themed image set, drawn by one of our illustrators. The other set is a sentiment set that is meant to be used on the inside of your handmade cards (although we’re sure you’ll love them so much they might take center stage on front too!).
That covers the products, but what about how to use the stamps? As the name implies, the site is opening up Stamp School to help teach stamping techniques from the most basic of stamping to cutting edge techniques that use the latest and greatest tools. Stamp School has a YouTube channel, where you can watch the Faculty (Design Team) create handmade cards, altered arts, or other paper crafting projects. They have a full line-up of tips and tricks that our Faculty will share with you every day on the blog. Lastly, they have step-by-step tutorials planned that the Faculty will share on the blog, and they’ll be available in the Stamp School archives.

Here are a few cards I've created with one of January's stamp sets:

This is just to pique your interest, if you want to find out more about this stamp set, check out Stamp School, and see really great cards, head over to Stamp School's Blog by clicking here.

A Few Things for the New Year

I'm super excited that the countdown has started for the release of new stamp sets from the BRAND NEW COMPANY Stamp School:

The first 2 stamp sets will be released January 1, but if you head over to Stamp School's Blog right now, you can see projects made by the owner, Lisa, and by the design team using the new sets. I'll also be back here tomorrow with a card or 2 I've made using the new sets and some info about the card stock, ink, and felt Stamp School will be carrying as well. If you can't tell, I'm super excited to be starting out my new year as the design team coordinator for this awesome new company.

Now on to 2 projects using the same base pieces. About 2 weeks ago A Walk Down Memory Lane handed out these fun packs of kraft calendars (2 sets of calendars per pack) from Maya Road for customer appreciation day. Before that day, Lisa gave me a pack and said, "can you do something with these?" Oh...music to my ears, and challenge accepted!

Up first is a purse/pocket calendar made 6 badge holders tied together.

You can find the badge holders at just about any office supply store or office section of a big box store. I paired the calendar pieces with paper and stickers from Simple Stories' Year-O-Graphy collection. I kept the embellishments flat and minimal to keep this calendar from being bulky in your purse. It's cute, simple, and fun to put together.

If you're looking for a bit more of a challenge you can try making a wall calendar:

This starts out as a calendar, but turns into a photo display.  The calendar cards are attached with Removable Glue Dots®, that way when the month is done, you just take the calendar off to reveal the photo underneath. The paper is again from Simple Stories Year-o-Graphy. All of the circles (photo and patterned paper) were cut with the Lifestyle Crafts Nesting Circle Dies.

I punched holes through the Maya Road 3″ Super Mega Bottle Caps, and strung some May Arts ribbon (that you can buy by the yard. You’ll need about 3 yards total) through the holes. Then you can use the stickers from the Simple Stories Year-o-graphy line to embellish the photos and calendar pieces as you like.  This is a really fun project that can be hung in your house long after the calendar year is over!

Thanks for stopping by!