Earth Day Craft Class

Today, in celebration of Earth Day I hosted an craft class focused on nature themed stamps, and crafty ways to recycle.

Our first project was a beautiful nature themed card.  I got my inspiration for this card from Michelle Zindorf's blog.  She uses stamps to create beautiful works of art.

Card Recipe (All Stampin' Up!)
Stamps: Friends 24-7
Inks: Pale Plum, Certainly Celery, Perfect Plum
Papers: Perfect Plum, Certainly Celery, Watercolor Paper
Accessories: Stampin' Sponges, Aqua Painters, Paper Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, 1/16" Circle Punch, Soft Subtles Brads

Our second project was an awesome wall hanging that will be finding a permanent place in my house because it inspires me to LIVE WITH PASSION.  I was thinking my bathroom mirror would be good but the paper may not fare so well in the humidity of the bathroom so I think the refrigerator will have to do.

For this project the backing is a 4x6 piece of cardboard.  These perfectly sized pieces of cardboard were found in my packs of 4x6 photo paper for my printer.  I'd been keeping them for awhile and then on a cleaning kick I tossed them in the recycle bin thinking that if I'd held on to them for a year or more without using them that I probably wouldn't. The next day I was trying to come up with ideas for my earth day class and ended up digging them out of the recycle bin. :) They are perfect for this project!

This project also has a secondary attribute with regard to Earth Day - I repurposed Christmas designer paper! I believe that using what we have makes us more creative and finding new ways to use products keeps us from wasting them.


Card Recipe (All Stampin' Up! except the cardboard)
Stamps: Inspired by Nature
Papers: Mery Moments DSP, Old Olive, Whisper White
Inks: Old Olive
Accessories: Hemp Twine, Butterfly Punch, Crop-a-dile, Jumbo Eyelets, Linen Thread, Corner Rounding Punch, Mini Library Clips

Our third project was another gorgeous nature themed card.

Card Recipe (All Stampin' Up!)
Stamps: Upsy Daisy, En Francais
Papers: Really Rust, Whisper White, Basic Black
Inks: Basic Black, Summer Sun, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust
Accessories: 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Photo Corners Punch

I hope you enjoyed these Earth Day themed projects!  Did you do anything special for Earth Day?

Crafting with friends

One of my favorite things about paper crafting is the social aspect - crafting with friends is so much fun!  Yesterday a friend & I got together for a couple of hours of craft time.  We'd been trying to get together for awhile but our schedules hadn't cooperated, but finally we were able to make it happen!

She had a few specific projects that she needed to complete and I needed a couple of masculine birthday cards for my family.  I got everything pre-cut before i went to her house so it was just a matter of assembling my cards.  I had to make a few last minute adjustments once I arrived (apparently the measurements in my head didn't compute once I had everything cut) but I like how they turned out!

One of the most resume-worthy skills that I've learned as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is being able to think and make adjustments on the fly while presenting. I can't even begin to count how many times I've forgotten to prepare a critical part of a project for a class or workshop and instead of profusely apologizing to my customers for my shortcomings I make a split second decision to modify the project and they rarely notice that I made a mistake.  My presentation skills and ease in front of a crowd has definitely improved.

Anyhow, here are the cards that I made while crafting with my friend yesterday. I hope you like them!

Card Recipe (All Stampin' Up!)
Stamps: Happy Moments, Well Scripted
Inks: Really Rust
Papers: Really Rust, Whisper White, Patterns Pack DSP III
Accessories: Stamp-a-ma-jig

Card Recipe (All Stampin' Up!)
Stamps: Happy Moments, Well Scripted

Inks: Night of Navy

Papers: Night of Navy, Whisper White, Patterns Pack DSP III

Accessories: Stamp-a-ma-jig

April Workshop

Here are the cards that I demonstrated at a workshop this past weekend. In addition to tailoring the presentation to my hostess, whose favorite colors are black and purple, I also wanted to show ways to use products that might seem out of season at first glance, and to showcase some of the colors that will be retiring soon.

The first card, our make-and-take, was designed specifically with my hostess' favorite colors in mind:

Card Recipe (All Stampin' Up!)
Stamps: Messages for Mom
Inks: Elegant Eggplant, Basic Black
Papers: Lavender Lace, Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Elegant Eggplant 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Sponges

Our next project used a designer paper that I easily associate with Valentine's Day.  However, I purchased a lot of it and have been trying to find creative, non-valentine ways to use it.

Card Recipe (All Stampin' Up!)
Stamps: Season of Friendship, Well Scripted
Inks: Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink
Papers: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Sending Love Specialty DSP
Accessories: Wide Oval Punch, 1/4" Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, 5/8" Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon, Stampin' Sponges

Our final project showcased colors that will soon be retired as well as a cute stamp set that is currently on sale 20% off! I got my inspiration for this card from the Chic'n Scratch blog.

Card Recipe (All Stampin' Up!)
Stamps: Trendy Trees (20% off through April 30, 2010)
Inks: Green Galore, Close to Cocoa
Papers: Gable Green, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Paper Piercing Tool, Mat Pack

I hope you enjoyed looking at these projects.  Stay tuned because my Earth Day Craft Class is later this week and I can't wait to share the projects that I came up with!

A couple of Thank-you Notes

Last month I sent out a couple of thank you cards to friends.  I LOVE the way they turned out but I wanted to wait awhile to post them here so they would hopefully reach their intended recipients before being posted online. :)

Card Recipe (All Stampin' Up!)
Stamps: Happy Moments
Inks: Chocolate Chip
Papers: Sending Love DSP, Pretty In Pink, Chocolate Chip, Real Red
Accessories: Soft Subtles Brads, Modern Label Punch, 1 /38" Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, 5/8" Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon

Card Recipe (All Stampin' Up!)
Stamps: En Francais, Chic Boutique
Inks: Not Quite Navy
Papers: Not Quite Navy, Bella Bleu DSP, Kraft, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Scallop Trim Border Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1" Circle Punch, Earth Elements Brads, Kraft Taffeta Ribbon

Sale-A-Bration Stamp Class

Here are the projects that we made at my March Sale-A-Bration Stamp Class:

Card Recipe (All Stampin' Up!)
Stamps: Happy Moments
Inks: StazOn Black, Rich Regals Watercolor Wonder Crayons
Papers: Regal Rose, So Saffron, Very Vanilla

Card Recipe (All Stampin' Up!)
Stamps: Good Neighbors, Short and Sweet
Inks: Old Olive, Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red
Papers: Old Olive, Ruby Red Textured Card Stock, Whisper White
Accessories: Old Olive 1/2" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Trim Border Punch

Card Recipe (All Stampin' Up!)
Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Very Vintage Jumbo Wheel
Inks: Elegant Eggplant, Always Artichoke
Papers: Kraft, Always Artichoke Textured Card Stock, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Elegant Eggplant 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Rich Regals Brads, Stampin' Dimensionals

We had a small group, but had a great time chatting and crafting!  I love having these get-togethers each month.

Big News from Stampin' Up!

The Color Revolution

After two years of exhaustive research Stampin' Up! has revamped their entire color palette!  While I am sad to see some of the colors go I am excited about the new colors being offered and the return of some lovely past In-Colors!

Where did these colors come from?  Well, some of them carry over from the previous palette, some are previous In-Colors, and some are brand new!

So, which colors are retiring?

If some of your favorites are in this group my advice is to start stocking up! They will no longer be available after June 30, 2010.

With the news of the revamped palette comes a new In-Color policy.  Instead of having In-Colors available for only one year, the new In-Colors will be available for two years!  Each year a new set of five In-Colors will be released and will be available in addition to the In-Colors from the previous year so you will have 10 colors to play with in addition to the 40 in the core color families.

Stampin' Up! will continue to offer card stock in the following colors in addition to the core color families: Brushed Gold, Brushed Silver, Confetti Cream, Confetti White, Glossy White, Naturals Ivory, Naturals White, Shimmery White, and White vellum card stock, as well as White vellum paper. If you are wondering what happened to Kraft it has now been renamed Crumb Cake and is included in the new Neutral Color Family.

For some of you this announcement may come as a shock, especially if you have been building your collection of core colors from Stampin' Up!  To help ease the transition Stampin' Up! will be offering  Card Stock and Classic Pads, Stampin’ Write Markers, Watercolor Wonder Crayons, and Stampin’ Pastels New Color Kits.

I can't wait to get my hands on the new colors!

All images in this post are © 2010 Stampin' Up!