Holiday Doilies

Like I said in yesterday's post...doilies are the new black! They are just too much fun! Stampin Up jumped on the doily bandwagon with this perfectly simple Delicate Doilies stamp set. They even have it in digital form HERE and an extra large doily stamp HERE. Love them all!

For today's card I used the Delicate Doilies stamp set and Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler, and Pear Pizazz inks. You could literally use any color combination you wanted  on this card along with any sentiment. We made this card in my Stamper's Night Out class last week and the girls loved it! It's one of those simple cards that takes you 5 minutes to create but looks fabulous! Such a perfect holiday card!

To get the beautiful vibrant colors when you stamp you need to use a good quality white cardstock. You can check out my cardstock comparison HERE. For this card I used Whisper White. It's the very best!

I hope you like today's card! I'm going to share another doily project tomorrow!

Have a great Thursday!

OH! P.S. if you live anywhere near Tahlequah, OK you have to come to the 12 Hour Scrapbooking Crop for the Relay for Life!! It will be FUN!

You ROCK!

No YOU rock! ;) Metal is FUN! And I don't mean heavy metal...hardy har har!
Monday I shared with you a Father's Day Card and a How To on faux metal background! It's super fun and super easy!
Today's card is for the tween, the teen, the birthday girl, or whatever rockstar in your life!

Supplies:
- 4x5.5 White Card
- 3.5x5 Faux Metal Sheet (Instructions HERE)
- Two Embossing Folders of your choice
- 3x4 Piece of Rose Red Cardstock
- 2x4 Piece of Rich Razzleberry Cardstock
- Rose Red Ink
- Stazon Ink in Black
- Markers in Daffodil Delight, Rose Red, Rich Razzleberry, Tempting Turquoise
- Blender Pens
- Watercolor Paper
- Border Punch
- Decorative Label Punch
- Stampin Dimensionals/Foam Adhesive Squares
- Friends Rock Stamp Set

Directions:
1. Take your Rose Red ink and ink around the edge of the card front. (Optional)
2. Emboss your faux metal sheet. Apply adhesive to the card front and adhere the faux metal sheet. (Applying your adhesive to the card front instead of the embossed sheet will prevent you from smashing your embossed design)
3. Take your piece of Rose Red cardstock and punch with a border punch.
4. Emboss the piece of Rich Razzleberry with the embossing folder of your choice. Adhere this on top of the piece of Rose Red. Adhere to the card.
5. Stamp your sentiment, star, heart, butterfly, and guitar onto watercolor paper with Stazon Ink. (You must use Stazon Ink for the outline to be permenant)
6. Color your images and sentiment with your markers and blender pens. Cut your images out with scissors and punch your sentiment out with the Decorative Label punch. Ink the edges of your punched sentiment with Rose Red ink.
7. Adhere your sentiment and images onto your card with Stampin Dimensionals.

This rockin' card takes no time to put together! Plus this stamp set is so much fun to color! By simply changing the colors this could be a masculine card!
Well I hope you like today's card!
Tomorrow I'll be sharing a sneak peek of a layout I have in the new Scrapbooking Tips and Tricks issue where I used the Punch Potpourri Stamp Set! This issue is FILLED with fabulous flower ideas! AND since YOU ROCK....I'll be giving a copy away!
So be sure to tune in tomorrow!

Don't Judge a Stamp Set...

I've always agreed with the phrase "Don't judge a book by it's cover." I have read many books that were wonderful but had terrible covers! After this week I'm convinced this phrase applies to stamp sets as well as books! Although I'm not quite sure how you would alter it. "Don't judge a stamp by it's black and white image in a catalog?" Haha! I hate to admit that this hostess set in the new Summer Mini wasn't my favorite stamp set in the catalog. When I got it a couple of weeks ago I wasn't that thrilled about it but I was in a Poppy Parade kind of mode. I had just been at the Gap and bought a shirt that exact color, painted my toes that color, and I was dying to use it in my papercrafting. I guess you could say Love and Care came at the right time. I started playing around with it and came up with the card above. I LOVED it and I knew my girls at Stamper's Night Out would too!
I had so much fun making that card that I just starting stamping different color combinations. Then I thought WOW! I could make Brodey's teacher a set of cards for Teacher Appreciation week!

I took several different sentiments from the Sincere Salutations set and stamped them with Basic Gray. (Basic Gray goes with any color combo) I took the smaller flower stamp and stamped around the sentiment with So Saffron ink. Then I punched the sentiments out with the Decorative Label Punch. I also adhered double sided foam adhesive squares to the backs of the sentiments. I left the backing on the adhesive so that she can add the sentiment she needs to whatever card she chooses.
So Saffron is a beautiful shade of yellow that has many beautiful color combos in the Color Coach. I ended up stamping 6 different card with 6 different sentiments. Listed below are the color combos I used for the cards starting with the card in the upper left of the photo.

Regal Rose - Early Espresso - So Saffron
Tangerine Tango - Pacific Point - So Saffron
Melon Mambo - Tempting Turquoise - So Saffron
Cajun Craze - Always Artichoke - So Saffron
Perfect Plum - Wild Wasabi - So Saffron
Poppy Parade - Baja Breeze - So Saffron

Once the cards were stamped I put the sentiments in a baggie and tied them all together with a pretty ribbon! I let Brodey stamp her a card with the same stamp set and he really enjoyed doing it!
This stamp set is a Hostess Set that is available for a limited time in the Summer Mini Catalog. If you would like more info on how to get this set please send me an email at aprilmassad@yahoo.com!
I hope you enjoyed today's post! Tomorrow I will share a Father's Day card using the new Open Sea stamp set and Nautical Expedition Paper!

Go Green!

Howdy folks!
I just love the color green! I think it might be my favorite color! I especially love it when the grass starts to turn green! Springtime is my favorite season and St Patrick's Day is right around the corner!
At my Stamper's Night Out Tuesday we made these adorable little St Patrick's Day baskets! They are the perfect size to hold some of the fun little chocolate coins! I brought my sewing machine and let the girls sew their baskets and I think they enjoyed it! Sewing on paper projects is easier than you think! I think it's actually easier than sewing on fabric!

To make this sweet basket you will need:
Big Shot Machine
Baskets and Blooms Die
Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder
Lucky Shamrock Stamp
Circle Punch
Markers (Daffodil Delight and Old Olive)
Shimmery White Cardstock
Kraft or Soft Suede Cardstock
Old Olive Cardstock
Decorative Label Punch
Crop-a-Dile
Satin Ribbon
Sewing Machine (Optional)

Directions:
1. Take a piece of your Kraft cardstock and position it so that you only cut out the two basket pieces.
2. Take your two die cut basket pieces and emboss them with the Vintage Wallpaper folder.
3. Adhere the two baskets pieces together OR sew around the three sides with your sewing machine. I used a zig zag stitch.
4. Take your Lucky Shamrock stamp and color it with the markers. Huff on the stamp to remoisten the image and stamp onto shimmery white cardstock. Punch the image out with the circle punch.
5. Use your Decorative Label punch to punch a label out of the Old Olive cardstock. Use your Crop-a-Dile to punch a hole in the top. Adhere the stamped circle onto the Old Olive label with a foam adhesive square.
6. Tie your label onto your basket with the satin ribbon.
7. Fill the basket with chocolate coins or other green goodies!

This is a fun, quick project that is so cute! The Big Shot die cut machine that I used to make this card is by far my favorite die cut machine! I have four different machines from four different companies and the Big Shot is by far the best, in my opinion! It will cut any dies that you might already have from other machines! I have several SNO ladies getting the machine and I will be doing Big Shot classes with them!
If you are interested in purchasing the Big Shot or have ANY questions about it or this card please don't be shy! Send me an email at aprilmassad@yahoo.com and I would be happy to answer your questions!
I have also set the date for our April Stamper's Night Out! It will be on April 12th at 6:30pm at the Scrappin Pad! More details to come!
With spring upon us SUMMER is right around the corner! That means Stampin Up's new Summer Mini Catalog will be popping up in mailboxes everywhere! If you would like to be one of the firsts to receive it simply send me an email with your mailing address ASAP! I would love to send you one!

Happy Thoughts

I love the sentiment on this card! Especially when I watch our weather and it tells us about another winter storm moving in tonight! Right now my happy thought would be that next month the grass will start to turn green! ;)
This is a very simple card I made today with one of my favorite color combos and a hostess set called Apple Blossoms. I used it on a set of cards HERE.
My color combo today is Baja Breeze, Soft Suede(or Kraft), and Cherry Cobbler. If you were to ask me what my favorite color is right now it would be Baja Breeze. It's the most perfect shade of blue. I have to make myself not use it on every single card!

Supplies:
-Ink: Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler
-Stamps: Apple Blossoms
-Cardstock: Soft Suede or Kraft, Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze, Whisper White
-Decorative Lable Punch(Sentiment)
-Boho Blossoms Punch(Two Small Flowers)
-Crop-a-Dile (as a hole punch)

Directions:
1. Cut a piece of Kraft cardstock to 8x5.5 inches. Score down the middle at 4 inches.
2. Cut a piece of Baja Breeze cardstock to 5 x 4 1/8 inches. Randomly stamp the large flower and small flower from the Apple Blossoms set with the Baja Breeze ink.
3. Cut a piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock to 5 1/8 x 3.75 inches. Adhere your Baja Breeze piece to the Cherry Cobbler piece.
4. Cut a piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock to 5.5 x 1.5 inches. Use the Stamp-a-ma-Jig to Stamp the circle stamp onto the cardstock using Cherry Cobbler ink.
5. Use your hole punch or Crop-a-Dile to punch holes in the stamped image.
6. Cut a piece of Kraft cardstock to 5.5 x 2 inches. Adhere the piece of Cherry Cobbler to the Kraft piece with foam adhesive squares to pop it up.
7. Stamp your sentiment onto Baja Breeze cardstock with Chocolate Chip ink. Punch out with the Decorative Label punch. Adhere this with foam adhesive squares.
8. Ink your large flower stamp with Chocolate Chip and stamp twice onto Whisper White cardstock. Punch the center of the flowers out with the medium flower from the Boho Blossoms punch. Adhere the flowers to the card as shown in the photo.

I hope you like today's card! Everyone had to cancel for tonight's Stamper's Night Out due to the weather. I'm sad! I always enjoy my classes, but I will see everyone on the 22nd! There are only 2 spots left for that class if you would like to come!If you want to reserve those spots you need to email me at aprilmassad@yahoo.com!
Don't forget Sale-a-Bration is still going on but only until the end of next month! Who doesn't love free stuff? ;)
Well I'm headed back to the craft room to plan March's Stamper's Night Out!
Stay warm!

Shadow Stamping

Hi all!! I hope your week has been fab!
Today I'm sharing a card that is a variation of a card we will be creating in my February Stamper's Night Out class!
My students will get to learn this FUN shadow technique in person, but I'm going to give you the quick How To today. I will be sharing my class card and a more detailed How To after my classes.
For this card I used the Thanks for Caring and Nature Walk stamp sets. I also used the Botanical Gazette Designer Series Paper.

The ink pad colors I used are:
Floral Stamp (Old Olive)
Birdcage (So Saffron for background and Early Espresso for the outline)
Butterfly (Pumpkin Pie)
Sentiment (Marina Mist)

Now the technique is the same for all of the stamped images on the card, but to make it short I'm only going to tell you how to do the birdcage image.

Birdcage Image:
1. Ink your stamp with So Saffron and stamp onto watercolor paper
2. Use your blender pen and go over the image with it so that it blurs the lines. You are just creating a shadow and this does NOT have to be perfect. The messier it is the better!
3. Ink the same stamp with the Early Espresso ink and use your Stamp-a-ma-Jig to line up the image and stamp right over the blurred image.

That's it! That's how I created these beautiful images!
For the images that are one color, I simply stamped off on a scrap piece of paper before stamping the first image. Then I just blurred it with my blender pen as in the steps above and stamped the second time with the same color!
I hope you have fun with this technique! If you have ANY questions please don't hesitate to send me an email at aprilmassad@yahoo.com!