Sliding back into the blogging groove...

Wow...I've been "away" for a long time (long by blogging standards). I have a reason, though. I had a lot of Stampin' UP events (like 4 in the past week) plus the regular mother/wife/housewife responsibilites and...well....blogging just didn't happen.

But I'm here now and have something very fun to show you!

I had some extra crafting time a couple weeks ago while Caitlin and Alaina were at Mother's Morning Out (those ladies run a wonderful ministry there, by the way) and Emma at school (yet another wonderful ministry). So, I decided to try my hand at a slider card. Really cool card - you pull the left side (where the white bit is sticking out from the half circle punch) and it also pulls out the right side. Magic!

I had some trouble with this at first. I couldn't wrap my mind around just how the slider thing worked. You use a cut up plastic shopping bag to make the card slide and I couldn't read the tutorial right for those steps and I couldn't figure out where to put the adhesive to make it all slide right. It took me about 15 minutes to figure it out and, being the frugal paper crafter that I am, I kept carefully peeling the cardstock apart rather than tossing it and starting anew.

There's something to be said for perseverance, however, as I did get it finally! And boy was I happy with the results! I created the card knowing I wanted to send it to a "little" girl I was a nanny for years back when I was in college. The "little" girl is now a freshman in college herself! I wrote the message before I took the picture so that's why there's writing on the card.

To see the slider card tutorial, click here.

Here's my supply list if you'd like to CASE any part of my card:

stamps - You Make Me Happy (retired)
ink - only orange, brilliant blue, green galore, yoyo yellow
paper - green galore, whisper white, only orange
other - ribbon (Wal-Mart, run through yoyo yellow ink pad), corner rounder punch, 1-1/4" circle punch, sponges

Now go create!
-Nicole

Why haven't I made one of these before?

Another challenge I participated in was this one here. I was excited when I first read this because I'd never made a waterfall card. There are SO many different kinds of folds I've never tried still and I'm eager to get around to them.

When I showed this card to one of my regular customers/class attendees, her first words were, "When are we making this?" I've been wanting to do a Fabulous Folds class for several months now, but I've had other stamping events going on - maybe now is the time to plan one!

I had just 45 minutes to make a waterfall card and since I had no idea if I was going to have trouble with it or not, I went with my first instinct - to use Wild About You and make this a kids' birthday card. I figured a child would REALLY enjoy the interactivity of this project.

Since I knew I wanted this to be for a child, I chose bright colors - Purely Pomegranate, Brilliant Blue, Wild Wasabi, Yoyo Yellow, Brocade Blue, and Garden Green. I also decided to use the polka dot stamp from Polka Dots & Paisley for the card front's background. It added nicely to the "fun" feel.

The tutorial to make a waterfall card is readily available here. Good, precise scoring is essential to the card flipping properly so pay close attention to those steps.

You can see in this photo that when you pull down on the ribbon, each image flips over and folds behind the next image. Once you've viewed all the images, you slide the ribbon piece back up and the images flip over each other in reverse (the "waterfall").

The "wild about you" stamped words on this project are actually on one stamp. To stamp just one word at a time on each square, I used a water-based marker to color in the word I wanted to stamp. I then "huffed" or breathed onto it to remoisten the ink, then stamped on my cardstock. When using this technique, you must clean your stamp very well between stampings. If you don't, you'll get faint images of the other parts of the stamp that you weren't intending on stamping! I like to use my Stampin' Mist and Stampin' Scrub several times between inkings to ensure the stamp is perfectly clean.

I did complete this challenge in the 45 minutes allotted, despite having never made a waterfall card before. The secret was to not second-guess myself in the design department. I did not stress over the stamp sets or colors. I just went with whatever popped into my head. It's so awesome and freeing to create like this! Try it!

Now go create!
-Nicole

Christmas Card Stamp-A-Stack

I still have a few more Virtual Stamp Night Challenges to post (I really did spend all day stamping last Saturday!) but I have to "interrupt" those posts for this one.

My first Christmas Card Stamp-A-Stack is this Saturday, September 22 and I wanted to show 2 more cards we'll be doing at this event. You can see 2 other cards here.

In addition to the traditional red and green, I wanted to have some nontraditional Christmas colors on these cards. I saw the Pixie Pink and Wild Wasabi combination on a sample in Stampin' UP's Fall/Winter 2007 Collection and just loved it. Christmas can be such a joyful and fun time of year and this card certainly reflects that!





This next Stamp-A-Stack card is much more traditional - you have your reds and greens (Bravo Burgundy and Old Olive) with a bit of gold thrown in and the effect is more understated.

The Stamp-A-Stack is this Saturday, September 22 at 2pm. You'll make a total of 10 cards (2 each of 5 different designs) and you'll receive envelopes that you can stamp to coordinate! We'll be stamping at the Sewickley Public Library in their spacious Community Room. There's no hurry to this event, the cards are very doable for even the newest stamper, and I guarantee you'll have fun! Click here to see more details and to find my contact information.

You can also email me to sign up for my mailing list, where you'll be kept in-the-know on my latest stamping events, specials, promotions, and other interesting and fun tidbits!

Now go create!

-Nicole

More VSN Challenges

My photo could be better, but I'm still not a pro at Adobe Photoship so extend grace to me please!

Here is the challenge and there on the left you see my answer to it. When this challenge was first posted, I was so excited. I'd never stamped on candles before and I'd been thinking of including them as one of my Christmas Gifts Class projects. I was so excited and then...I realized I did not have a proper colored candle in the house!

I decided to search anyways and, buried deep underneath a pile of votives, I found this vanilla one we'd received for free years ago when we bought a rocking chair at a local furniture store. Ok, I was so excited again!

And how fun was this! It was like magic watching my stamped images transfer to the candle. Sort of like the first time I learned heat embossing and saw the powder turn to liquid gold. I used Stampin' UP's Natural Beauty stamp set (retired) with Chocolate Chip ink. I colored the images in with markers. I just love this set and I don't care if it is retired and I'm a demo. I'm still using it! It has so many beautiful, soft images that just beg to be colored. What really drew me to this set is the word collage image (see card below). I finished the candle off with some gold cord. This will make a pretty gift, don't you think?

This next card was for this challenge. I already knew I wanted to use the bleached background I'd made several days ago with the French Script background stamp (also retired). (Speaking of bleaching, I need to upload the October Technique Tuesdays class projects... this week, I promise...). I found the perfect leaf almost immediately when I dashed outside to search.

I used my brayer to roll Green Galore ink over the leaf, then pressed it to Whisper White cardstock. I rolled over it with a clean brayer to make sure all the ink transferred to the cardstock. I then cut it out with my paper snips (super sharp and very good at cutting into small places) and glued it to the background.

I then used Elegant Eggplant ink to stamp the word collage from Natural Beauty (the same set I used on the candle above) on vellum. I stitched the piece to the card with linen thread.

I then glued the whole thing to Lavendar Lace cardstock and edged it with a Uniball Signo White Gel Pen. Even though I had 45 minutes to complete this challenge, this card came together in under 30 minutes. I told you in my last post, once I get going with a stamping or two, the ideas really start to flow.

If you've never stamped with nature's wonders, head outside for a hike and see what you can find! Pretty much anything goes...I've seen scrapbook pages with twigs stitched on! S-t-r-e-t-c-h your creativity!

Now go create!
- Nicole

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

A few days ago I told you how I spent Saturday afternoon participating in Splitcoaststampers (SCS) Virtual Stamping Night (VSN). It was my first one ever and I'm already eagerly anticipating the next one! SCS also has Virtual Scrapbook Weekends. I believe one is coming up in October or November and I plan to participate in that, too.

The hourly challenges are an incredible boost to your creativity. So many of you have told me, with a sigh, "I'm just not creative." These challenges will prove you wrong! When you have just 45 minutes to come up with a card or other project (start to finish), you start going with the first thing that pops into your head. And since you're going on your first impulses, your project almost always looks fine (I've found that overthinking is the #1 creativity killer). Like with anything else, the more you stamp, the better you'll get.

I find that I start out slowly. The wheels turn creakingly, I struggle to implement an idea, and my finished project looks a little rough around the edges (hence why you will not see here the first card I did for my first challenge LOL...that is, unless you can find it on SCS's site...). But the second project comes more easily and looks better. By the third one I've fully hit my stride and I can't put my ideas on paper fast enough! You can ask friends that I've scrapped with...I'll burst out with, "I know!" or "Ah-ha!" or "This will look so awesome!" and I dash around, snatching tools and paper and embellishments off my studio shelves, working quickly before the idea flits away. They laugh at me, but they still invite me back LOL!

So this card was made for this challenge here. As I read the synopsis of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" I saw that Charlie Brown's ghost costume had 18 holes in it (instead of the normal 2 for the eyes). I laughed and then did an, "I know what I'll use!" I have this cool bubble punch from Creative Memories that I've never used. Then I realized it would make a great background for a giant pumpkin.

I got to work.

I swiped Chcolate Chip ink over my Chocolate Chip card front. I used a scrap of Garden Green cardstock (I just pulled it out of my scrap bin and used it exactly as it was, no cutting at all - I had only 45 minutes, remember?) to punch holes into, then swiped more Chocolate Chip ink over it. My pumpkin was made with a Coluzzle, using the oval template. I cut 3 ovals from Pumpkin Pie cardstock then sponged them with Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip ink to add some visual depth. I ran a tiny scrap of Close to Cocoa through my crimper, then sponged more Chocolate Chip ink on for the stem. The vines were done with paper yarn that I twisted around my finger to curl a bit. I stamped "hope" from Everyday Flexible Phrases onto a jewelry tag, then attached it to the card with linen thread (I used "hope" since Linus spent all night in the pumpkin patch believing the Great Pumpkin would come).

My next blog entry I'll show two more challenges I did. One is not a card, but does involve stamping.

Now go create!
-Nicole

I meant to go running Saturday morning. I really wanted to go running Saturday morning. I'd gotten up early to go running (like 5am early) and as I was sitting outside, lacing up my running shoes, there was a big flash of lightning. I tore off my running shoes and dashed inside and that ended any thoughts of running.

It was probably so-called "heat lightning" (is that for real, by the way?) and I could have probably safely gone for a run, but I'm chicken when it comes to lightning. If I hear a rumble of thunder even, I scramble for cover. The irony is that I LOVE thunderstorms (one June we had one everyday for the entire month and I absolutely loved it!), but I love them most from a sheltered spot. Hey, The Weather Channel backs me on this one...don't they always say to take cover when you see lightning? I'm just listening to the experts...(Alexandra Steele, Paul Goodlow, Jim Cantore, Stephanie Abrams, and Mike Bettes have never let us down LOL!) (Wow, do I really know the evening crews names? Brian and I are such geeks LOL)...

So anyways, since I "couldn't" go running and I was awake, I decided to stamp something. I headed for my craft table and my eye fell on this Real Red cardstock I'd bleach-stamped snowflakes on about a week ago. I had been playing around with this technique for next month's Technique Tuesdays class and had made a bunch of pieces, which were lying in a stack on my craft table.

I cut my Bashful Blue cardstock to 2-3/4" x 11" and folded in half (this size gets you three cards from one sheet with virtually no scraps and fits into Stampin' UP's fun small open-ended envelopes). I glued my bleached snowflake background down and then used the paper piercing tool from the Crafters' Tool Kit to make a border. Using Bashful Blue and Real Red Classic Inks, I stamped the same snowflake (from Seasonal Whimsy) onto vellum, which I then tore. I glued this over my background. I stamped "Happy Holidays" (from the retired Warmest Regards set) in Real Red ink onto a scrap of Bashful Blue, used my Crop-A-Dile to attache silver eyelets, then strung silver cord through the eyelets and around the card. I used the paper piercer to put a hole in the card fold for the cord to go through.

This card came together fast and I really love pretty much everything about it. Bashful Blue and Real Red is one of my favorite color combinations - the contrast is so striking and I like how one calms while the other excites; vellum is a super way to overlap backgrounds; you can never go wrong with tearing paper LOL (my comfort technique); silver cord and paper piercing always seem to finish a card off perfectly.

The bleaching technique was so fun! I have more cards to share with you using more card fronts I made with bleach, so be sure to come back for those. Also, I invite you to Technique Tuesdays class - bleaching is one of the techniques we'll learn in October and they are really a lot of fun. The ladies who attend are a fun bunch, too!

Now go create!
-Nicole

A third layout...

You might be tired of seeing my kids by now...(this is the last layout I will show for awhile, promise!)...and they aren't the only subjects I scrapbook. However, they are the focus of my most recent layouts so that's why you are seeing endless photos of the three girly-girls.

So what else do I scrapbook if not my children? My husband - myself - friends - trips before children - I did an album for my paternal grandparents - I'm currently scrapping my maternal grandfather's WWII photos (which are all straight from the original negatives!) - I did an album of gourmet dishes my brother cooked (he liked to really "do up" the food presentation and do a photo shoot of the dish) - I created an album a few years ago for the sole purpose of going through the grieving process.

Really, anything is material for scrapbooking. I've made layouts just because there was a certain color combination I wanted to try, or a word I wanted to use. I have a layout with nothing but song lyrics on it. There's a LOT of creative freedom with paper, ink, and your thoughts. You get the idea.

The page pictured above was made to celebrate a huge accomplishment for Caitlin, our middle daughter (who's turning 5 October 2! Yikes!). She'd been struggling with going to the dentist and our 4th visit was a winner! You can read the journaling by clicking on the picture.

I cut a couple squares of patterned paper (Creative Memories) and glued them down to my cardstock. I used rub-ons (Basic Grey) to decorate the corners and bring your eye to the photo. I then used Whisper White Craft Ink (Stampin' UP) to stamp the title (Ma Vinci's Reliquary) and to add some contrast along the edges of my page. To add the contrast, I just brushed my ink pad roughly against the cardstock edges. I didn't think about it and it was a very random, imperfect thing. To finish the page, I outlined my photo with a black journaling pen and wrote the story in the lower left quandrant. Caitlin was too tickled that I'd made a whole scrapbook page about her (successful) dentist trip - her smile was the best!

I'll have loads of projects to show you in the coming days. I've spent most of today participating in the Splitcoaststampers Virtual Stamp Night/Weekend (VSN). This was my first time and it was a blast! A different challenge every hour, only 45 minutes to complete it - man, did my creativity just flow! When I can really dig deep into my supplies and play for hours, everything comes so quickly and easily. So make sure to stop back to see what came from my day of being challenged.

Now go create!
-Nicole