My STAMPALOOZA

After a short hiatus, I am back with lots of cards and techniques.  We have just about 6 weeks until the new Stampin Up Catalogue comes out, so I will identify which cards in the next posts will have parts that will be discontinued.  So far we only have the retiring stamps list, as the rest will be coming out next week.

The fun technique with today’s card is using the Lace Ribbon Border die as a lacy edge for your card. 

 The fiddley level for this technique is 1. 🙂

First I cut a strip of shimmer card stock with the Lace Ribbon Border punch.  I do love the shimmer paper.  It provides such a subtle sparkly surface.  Next I cut the lace in half lengthwise:

Clip the new strip where indicated.  This will allow you to curve the strip to the shape of the edgelit.

As you may have discovered, I LOVE Smooch Spritz – the shimmer is just gorgeous!  I spritzed the lace strip in BOTH silver and vanilla smooch.  You could just use silver, but I did both since lately, I can’t stop at just ONE!

Next I snailed the back of the edge of the top layer cut with the edgelit die and gently attached a little bit of the lace at a time, bending it to the shape

You will notice this strip is a little shorter than the one on the card – either length will work, I think.

One of my other favorite inks is the shimmer paint.  I’ve used the platinum shimmer here and inked the doily stamp set (Yes! This stamp will be in the new catalog!) with a sponge dauber.  This is such an easy way to get that silver shimmer – no need to emboss!

 Last but not least, I punched silver shimmer cardstock with the scallop oval punch and then punched each scallop with the 1/16″ circle punch.  Cute!!! I’ll definitely be doing this again!  You can put a small dot where you want to punch the scallops if that helps – it isn’t as easy as it looks to find the center spot once you have the paper in the punch!

I do like the silver, vanilla, crumb cake color scheme of this card.  It looks very metallic, and reminds me of the jewelry I make – mixing copper or bronze with silver.  Now I am inspired to saw some little scallops for the next piece!

• Card Components: (Retiring stamps in Red)
• Stamps: Distressed Dots Background Stamp, Delicate Doilies, Precious Butterflies,
• Paper: Crumb Cake, Shimmer,
• Ribbon: Crumb Cake 3/8″ Taffeta,
• Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Platinum Shimmer, Silver & Vanilla Smooch Spritz,
• Tools: Scallop Oval, Large Oval, 1/16″ Circle punch, Lace Ribbon Border Punch, Edgelit Die (Adorning Accents)

Until tomorrow…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!

December’s Page Features the “Snow Much Fun” stamp – the birds and snowman are so cute!  The icicle border is Stampin’ Up’s silver glimmer paper – really a luscious paper!  The glitter does not come off, and it is really easy to cut with scissors, dies, or paper cutter.

The January page is the only one that did not quite come together as well as I would have liked.  I tried to make “snow drifts” from vellum and glitter glue, but the glue really warped the vellum and it did not sit as flat as I wanted.  The silver snowflake is the glimmer paper again – so beautiful!

This is the last page for the year, February 2013.  Our Occasions Mini catalog is filled with wonderful products, including several dies.  The Heart Framelits have 6 different sized hearts, with the largest one edged in scallops.  This pink one is the next size down, surrounded by pleated ribbon (also from the mini). 

I had a few die-cut doilies and heart left over after Valentine’s Day to round out the page, and finally, paper-pierced the darling little girl from “Greeting Card Kids”.  The sentiment is a verse from a Nat King Cole song, “Unforgettable”, which coincidentally was written and recorded first in 1951.  That was the year I was born, and also my cousin, Debbie, who is the Grandmother-to-be!  So not only did I think it was a perfect little thought to end the baby’s first year, it also has a surprise meaning!

Well that wraps up my first (and perhaps ONLY) Baby Scrapbook Calendar!  It truly was a labor of love, so thank you for bearing with me through so many posts!

Until next time…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!

One thing that I found as I was doing these scrapbook pages, is that once I decided on the elements for each page, I would set them on the page without the glue and move them around until I found a design I was happy with.  I have seen some scrapbook pages where there was nary a 1/4 inch of unused space – I think that is just too busy.  I rather like that these pages are a little “thin” on embellishments.  If the parents decide to journal a little, they still have room to add a label or maybe a scrap of memorabilia from that month.

Banners have been BIG this year and by adding a bit of the striped pattern from this designer series paper pack, I was able to dress up this simple one a little.  I am still on my “decorated edge” kick, and paper-pierced this one after adhereing the leafy strip.  I also spritzed the strip with the copper Smooch to make it stand out from the brown background (and to give it a little bling!).

I’m a sucker for little animal stamps, and I have been getting out “Furry Folk” and putting it back UNOPENED for several months!  I decided that the November page should have a “forest-y” feel and finally Mr. Bear made it to the light of day! 😉  The pinecones and fir tree embellishments are all from a Sizzix strip die in my stash, and again I spritzed with the Smooches to make them more artsy and sparkly.  The patterns in the Nursery Suite paper pack are just brilliant!  I could layer even this busy one and still have a nice design to the page.

Only three pages left, so … until tomorrow…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!

Stampin’ Up has many benefits for Hostesses, and one great thing they have done this year is to make hostess “dollars” for achieving sales levels at a party very flexible.  Exclusive stamps can now be “purchased” with hostess dollars at a discount, and the dollars can be used for any other merchandise for sale in the catalogs.  The little floral stamp with the butterflies is one of the exclusive hostess stamps in the Occasions Mini catalog. 

I rummaged around in my “not Stampin’ Up” area and found a floral Sizzix die for the border and a similar-shaped flower die from another company to frame the area for the baby picture that will go on this August page.  I also did a little paper piercing, cutting out the bottom of the paper to conform with the die-cut flowers to continue the “lacy edge” theme for many of the pages.

I had many themes going with the calendar, and one was changing the color scheme (slightly) every three months.  March, April and May are Pink (mmmm…can you guess what the baby is going to be?)  June, July and August are Green, and September, October and November are brown.  I thought the roses in the “Attic Boutique” designer series paper were perfect for a late summer page, along the little bees buzzing around (and the sentiment) from one of my non-Stampin’ Up stamp sets.

Until tomorrow…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!

The 2012 “baby” themed designer paper is “Nursery Nest” and features these 2 designs (of 12 total) that I used for the June and July pages of the “Baby Scrapbook Calendar” project that I have been working on.

One of the (many) things that I love about Stampin’ Up is that there are stamp sets that coordinate with the designer papers, as the bird cages and little blue birdies do from the “Aviary” stamp set.  I stamped the bird cages on Vellum card stock, so that I would NOT have to cut between the wires of the cages to see through them!

The bird on the July page is from the new Sizzix Bigz die, Elegant Bird, available in the Occasions Mini catalog through April 30, 2012.  (This is SUCH an awesome mini release!  I have already used a goodly number of the products in the mini catalog, just for this project!!!)  The layered frame on this page is also from the mini, Sizzix Framelits Labels (6 graduated dies are in the set). 

I think I did mention that there were a few items that are not Stampin’ Up just because of the challenge to make every page different, and I was really searching for embellishment ideas.  The fence on this page is a border punch that actually is for Halloween and had little bats on some of the posts.  Clip Clip Said my Scissors!!! LOL!  I did use the Stampin’ Up Scallop border punch to make the bottom of the fence a little more interesting.

Until tomorrow…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!