Stampin' Terri!

I'm Back!

Testing.....testing.... please do not adjust your set !  There was nothing wrong with your computer and no you did not unsubscribe by mistake....I did!  I've been MIA for the last month and a half and after a much needed break, I think I'm ready to jump back in!    First off I want to thank those of you who contacted me expressing your concern over my absence...you are so sweet and I thank you for caring!   Honestly, I just found myself overwhelmed with the whole business aspect of things, my real life (kids job, house, etc) and add Christmas to that and I think my brain blew  a fuse :(   As a result of all this, I pretty much had to abandon my business for a month and rediscover why I joined Stampin' Up in the first place.  I have discovered that I really don't like the stress of making this a business and so I have taken a step back from things and have decided that being a hobby demo is a better fit for me at this stage in my life.  With the full time job, 3 kids in sports and a house that is undergoing renovations....trying to keep up with the blog, my classes, and everything that goes with that, was driving me to drink .....I didn't even like being around me!  So with that done...you know what?  I am almost relieved...  I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I am happy again.   This March when I go on cruise I will enjoy it for what it is, a nice earned vacation and I will cherish every moment knowing it will likely be my last as well as my first!  I am okay with that :)  I know in my heart that should I wish to ramp things up again, it is in me to do when the time is right.  But that time for me is not now.  So with that being said, I still plan on sending out newsletters and offering specials, a monthly class to my customers and selling handmade things on-line (gotta make those minimums somehow, lol!)  and of course posting on my blog! 

So on that note, here's one of the cards that I designed for a shoebox swap that I did with my downline at our christmas party in December!

This card uses Flowers for You designer paper and the new level 3 hostess set Time Well Spent!  The flower on the tag is stamped on scrap white paper, colored and cut out, then attached to the tag using a stampin dimensional and Build a Brad.  The leaves were stamped with black on Olive cardstock, cut out and attached with glue dots.  The background stamp you see on the turquoise paper is the Polka Dot background stamp.

This next card was given to me and was designed by Sheri Van Hooren...

Isn't is sweet!!!  I love the way this card opens and the scalloped edge behind the snowman is glittery!  I am such a sucker for glitter :)  Thank you Sheri for such a beautiful card!  You can check Sheri's blog out here!

Merry Christmas!

I thought I'd better take a minute to post and say Merry Christmas so those of you who read regularily will know that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth!  December is just so crazy busy and I haven't been feeling 100% for the last couple weeks.  I didn't even get a December newsletter out and my 12 weeks of Christmas emails got put on the backburner  (in case you were wondering why you stopped receiving them!)  :(   I'll be turning over a new leaf in January though ....I have lots of new stuff to post!  I've got my new catalog in too.....love it!   So Happy Holidays to everyone out there and I'll be back in the new year!

-Terri

Advent Calendar!

So I've been working on this altered clipboard with my mom over the past couple of days and this is what we've come up with!   I am really pleased with how it turned out, I can't wait to hang it on my wall at work tomorrow :) 

This bottom strip is actually a pocket to hold all the tags.....I saw so many of these calendars that had these tags for the numbers but none of them showed where they kept the tags that were not up so I came up with this idea to keep them handy.

This is what it looks like without the tags, that red strip is dry embossed with my cuttle bug!  I had to run the strip through twice while turning the paper around because it is longer than the folder is.

Here's a close up of the star!  I made this with the small and large tag punches from a tutorial on Split Coast this month!  (You can find that tutorial here!)  I only did one layer of the star because it was a lot of work and I was too lazy to finish it, lol...)   The red circle underneath the "until" was dry embossed, again with my cuttle bug :)

Now, it was really hard to see in the first picture, but these tags for the countdown are actually popped out quite a bit with a disc magnet!  On the back of each tag I glued a small metal washer, rather than another magnet.  This cut down on the bulk when the extra tags were stored in the bottom pocket.

I did cheat somewhat on the letters and numbers you see here....I didn't have an appropriate alphabet stamp so I typed them out using my computer and printed them on Confetti cardstock in Stampin' Up colors using the RGB codes I found here on Split Coast Stampers.  The word "days" was cut out using a Wish-blade cutting device....it's similar to a cricut :)   It's not actually mine, it's my mom's so please no one ask me anything about it because I have no idea, lol!!

I really enjoyed making this, but it was sure a lot of work!!  Check out my listing here in the right hand column...this Calendar is available for sale, just in time for Christmas!

Supplies: 

Dashing Double Sided Designer Paper, Old Olive, Real Red, Confetti Cardstock, Small and large tag punches, 1" and 1 1/4" circle punches, Old Olive 5/8" Grosgrain ribbon, 1/4" red grosgrain ribbon, Red Brads ( American Crafts Elements), magnets, metal washers, sanding block.

Stamp Club Projects

First off I have to apologize for the lack of posting over the last week.....I have been having Internet connection issues :(  In fact the issues haven't gone away, I just got fed up and pack up my lap top and came to my mom's house to sponge off her Internet connection! 

These two samples were done at my Stamp club on Friday, both were inspired by the December issue of Stampin' Success Magazine (the publication that demo's get free....ask me how you can get yours!)

This first one uses the crayon resist technique....you can use a white watercolor crayon for this or, if you have small children, steal the white one from there stash, they'll never miss it, lol...

To create this card I began with a half sheet of blue bayou card stock, folded it in half and stamped the front with the Aida Cloth background stamp with Blue Bayou ink.  To that I attached a strip of wasabi cardstock that I had pierced along the bottom.  Right now my paper piercer and guide is lost in the black hole that is my craft room, while the basement undergoes renovations, I think it looks pretty good, considering!!  The greeting comes from the Many Merry Messages set, which I stamped using Wasabi ink.

To do the snowman, start my stamping him on GLOSSY cardstock using black ink.  Then using the crayon, color in any areas that you would like to remain white.  Once that is done, sponge on the red ink and allow the ink to dry for a few minutes.  Once dry use a tissue to wipe off the crayon!  How simple is that!   I finished the card off by adding a couple pieces of ribbon with silver brads and then attached the piece to the card front.

This second card also uses a resist technique but with embossing powder. 

To recreate this card, I began with a half sheet of Wasabi cardstock, folded it in half and stamped it with the Linen background stamp using Wasabi ink.

I tied on a long piece of red 5/8 " grosgrain ribbon....this is such beautiful ribbon to work with, simply gorgeous, I'm so glad it's in the regular catalog and will be with us for at least another 7 months!  To make this nice flat knot, you need to tie a square knot (or a reef knot in nautical terms!)  Check out this video for a demonstration on how to tie one!

To make the snowflake piece, begin again with GLOSSY cardstock.  Stamp your images using VersaMark and emboss them with Clear powder.  I used the Snowfall set from the regular catalog.  Use your brayer and apply a layer of Soft Sky ink.  It doesn't have to be soft sky but the key here is you'll need two shades of similar colored ink, a light shade and a darker shade.

Now... punch out some circles of varying sizes out of post it notes!  Make sure the circles are all punched out where the post it note is sticky...this helps to keep them in place for the next step.  Then, apply the darker shade of ink (I used Blue Bayou) with the brayer over top of all of this.  Remove the post it note circles and the lighter colored circles will be visible!

Now finish it off!  Add a coordinating button, layer it on Whisper White cardstock and attach it to the card!    

Blog Candy revived!

It's been WAAAY too long since I offered up any blog candy so here goes....

If you are a regular surfer of Stampin' Up! blogs, you may notice something different today....as of November 15th, we are allowed to sell our handmade items in permanent retail location including internet websites!  What a great opportunity for all of us paper crafters!  Of course it goes without saying that we must all still abide by the angel policy and make sure the Stampin' Up! trademark is on all of our projects :)

In the sidebar on the right I have listed a few of the items that I will be offering, more will be added as the weeks go on so check back often!

To enter on this blog candy, leave a comment on this thread and tell me what are some of the projects that you would like to see offered or what handmade items you'll be giving away for Christmas this year! 

I'll leave the draw open until Sunday, November 18th at 9 pm.  The winner will be announced by 10 pm! 

And what does the winner get??? 

The winner will get to pick their very own Star Book from my blog, your choice, either the Secret garden book or the Creative license book! 

Good Luck, I can't wait to hear your ideas!

Terri

And the winner is Janet B!!   Janet writes:

"I am making quite a few things for christmas gifts. I'm making some altered clocks, some nugget tins, and probably an altered tin with an album inside it. That's all besides the cards. Can you tell I like altering items?"

I couldn't agree more janet, I love to alter things too!   I'll email you get your mailing address so I can send you off your star book!  Congratulations!

Technical glitch

Whatever happened to the first publish of the ornament pictures, I don't know....they got lost in cyber space apparently but they are up now!  Sorry about the confusion!

Chipboard Christmas Ornaments!

So I have been hording these samples, lol....I did them quite some time ago and have been carting them around to workshops and such....hence a couple are a little worse for wear but at least you get the idea!  These ornaments were offered for a class I did this month....all the ornaments you see here were done with only 1/2 of the package of On Board Trimmings from the Holiday Mini....only half!!  I actually lost my crea tive steam on these after half, lol...who knew you'd get this many ornaments out of one kit! 

There are 11 of them so keep scrolling!   Click on any picture to see it bigger.

                                                           ....And here's a close up of the center or the star....

My 11 year old son is mortified that I posted his last year's school picture with Shrek on the internet, lol....my daughter won't be impressed when she sees her's either...she says she looks like a vampire, lol....

The Snowman's arms were made from the pieces cut off a snowflake and sponged with brown craft ink. He used to have a hat too but it got lost somewhere in his travels....this guy has a lot of miles on him, lol...he's been all over Edmonton and Stony Plain and has had a road trip down to Red Deer and back too! I'm actually surprised that his hat is the only thing he's lost!

I really love that star ornament at the top...I think it's my favourite J it's so easy to attach paper to chipboard, the easiest I have found so far is a simple glue stick, it sticks quickly with little "waiting to dry" time and I haven't had any issues of the paper coming off yet! Once you stick the chip board to the paper, you cut it out and use a sanding block to smooth out the edges.

And what better time to experiment with chipboard and paper than right now?? Until the end of November, when you buy 3 packages of Double Sided Designer Paper, you get the forth one FREE!! AND ....if you are Canadian you get free shipping this month!! Whoo hoo! How great is that?!?! Take advantage of the free paper order this month and I'll also toss in a pack of our Anywhere Glue sticks! To place your order, email me at terri@stampinterri.com ! I can ship anywhere in Canada, right to your door!

Vitalized Vellum!

Here's a new technique that I just learned using vellum!  This is unbelievably easy....just my kind of stampin'!!

Basically, all you do is apply 2 - 3 colors of ink to the vellum by whatever method you want....in this card I swiped the lightest color first (celery) across the vellum making sure to leave some white spaces.  Then I sponged on some blue bayou to fill it in.  While the ink is still wet, you take a dry stamp, stamp it into the ink and lift it off.  That's it!  The color comes off with the stamp!  I used the Snowburst stamp set from the holiday mini catalog for this card.  Remember that if you are going to use the same stamp twice to clean and dry it between each impression.  Nothin' to it :)  Then let your vellum dry while you assemble the rest of the card.....or if you are like me use your heat gun to speed up the process :)  Once the vellum is dry mount it on white or light colored cardstock so the images show up better, I used Soft Sky here.  Now how easy is that?!?!  The patterned paper here comes from the Winter Green Designer series paper and the ribbon is moss taffeta. 

Snow Fall Split Negative

Here's a bit of a different take on the Split negative technique (See the tutorial here!)

Now normally when you do this technique, on the white side you would stamp the snowflake in a dark color or craft ink and then emboss it with clear powder. 

For this card I thought the snowflake would be a bit to drab if I did that and plus Blue bayou ink doesn't come in craft ink!  So what I did instead was to stamp the snow flake on the white cardstock with white craft ink and then pour on heat and stick powder.  Make sure that you use the embossing buddy first though because this glitter REALLY likes to stick in places where you don't want it to!) 

Once you dump off the excess powder, heat it gently until it just barely melts....the biggest mistake people make when they use heat and stick powder is to overheat it.  When it is overheated it pretty much just gets cooked....literally....it looses it's sticky!  Once the powder was melted, I quickly poured on some sliver glitter and then removed the excess.  Even though I used the embossing buddy in this sample I still had to take a small paintbrush to touch up the image from stray glitter and even then, I didn't get it all!  So this is definitely a card that you give to someone very special, I wouldn't make 50 of these!

The background is made by stamped the flourish from Baroque Motifs randomly on the blue bayou card front and then I used the ticket corner punch on the corners.  The label came from the level 1 Hostess set "party punch".  To assemble it, stamp the image on Soft Sky cardstock using Pomegranate ink and punch it out with the label punch.   Punch out the circle from the center of the image with the 1/2" circle punch and set aside for later.  Mount a pomegranate circle (1 3/8") behind the label.   Stamp the label image again on white cardstock.  Punch out the 1" circle from the label on the white cardstock and mount the 1/2" blue circle in the center of it with a dimensional then use your crocodile to punch a hole in the center of the white circle to poke a rhinestone brad through and attach the white circle to the blue label.

Tie your double stitched ribbon around the card front, add your label with dimensionals and VOILA!  You are done!  There are no less than FIVE punches used on this card!!  Which isn't a problem for a punch addict like me, lol.... 

Secret Garden Star Book!

Here's a little teaser for those of you who signed up to take my Star Book Class this Tuesday!

Here's the book closed:

......and here it is open!

This really isn't as hard as it looks, especially when you use one of our Simply Scrappin' Kits!  We are using the Secret Garden kit...there is enough stuff in the kit to make two of these star books!  I was short one piece of 12 x 12 patterned paper but I stole a piece out of the Brocade Background paper that I had left from my progressive pages last week.

Even though it's too late to register to attend this class you can still get your hands on it by asking for the class "To Go!!"  The cost of the class to go is $30.00 plus $9.00 s/h. (Canadian $$)  International customers, please ask me for a pay-pal invoice before you send payment.

The class to go includes all the supplies except for adhesive and a step by step tutorial including pictures!  You must have sticky strip to complete this book!  Our SNAIL adhesive or glue stick is not strong enough.

To order the Star Book Class "To Go!"  please email me at terri@stampinterri.com or check out my new heading Classes To Go to use a shopping cart!