Ships and Blogs

Well (as most of the blogging world knows) Blogger went down yesterday like a sinking ship and took with it all of the comments left by my awesome readers. So...if you left a comment on any of this weeks posts THANK YOU!!!
Speaking of ships I promised yesterday I would share a card made using the brand new Open Sea stamp set and Nautical Expedition Paper from the Summer Mini Catalog!
This card is very quick to put together. Just make sure you don't stamp the compass upside down like I did! Hehe! ;) This card could be for Father's Day, graduation, birthday, or just about any manly occasion!
The sentiment is not a stamp. I typed it out and printed it onto Marina Mist cardstock. This was a card in my Stamper's Night Out Class and I wanted it to be an all occasion card. I used the Happy Father's Day stamp from the Best Dad Ever set and stamped the inside of the card. There are many sets that include Father's Day sentiments like All Holidays, Teeny Tiny Wishes, and there is even a set called Word Play that has a stamp that says "You Mean the World to Me."

To make this card you need:
- White Card 5.5x4
- Not Quite Navy Cardstock cut (or ripped) to 3.5x5.5
- Red Striped Piece from Nautical Expedition Paper cut/ripped to 2.5x3.75
- Marina Mist Cardstock cut/ripped to 2.75x3.5
- Whisper White Cardstock cut/ripped to 2.5x3.5
- Antique Brad
- Baker's Twine
- Open Sea Stamp Set
- Ink in Not Quite Navy, Basic Gray, Riding Hood Red, Crumb Cake

1. Stamp the ship stamp in Not Quite Navy in the lower right corner of the Not Quite Navy piece of cardstock. Adhere to the card.
2. Adhere your piece of red striped paper about an inch from the left side of the card.
3. Stamp the ledger stamp onto the Whisper White cardstock with Crumb Cake ink. Stamp the world stamp onto the left side with the Not Quite Navy ink. Stamp the anchor to the left of the world in Basic Gray. Stamp the compass stamp in Riding Hood Red at the bottom of the world.
4. Adhere the stamped piece onto the piece of Marina Mist cardstock. Use a paper piercer to punch a hole through both pieces and insert brad.
5. Tie the baker's twine around the paper and wrap around the brad. Trim ends.
6. Adhere about a quarter of an inch from the left side of the card.

Now wasn't that easy!?! Beautiful, but manly, cards are sometimes a challenge to come up with! Here is one that would be perfect for any aged boy OR woman!
If you have any questions about this card please email me at aprilmassad@yahoo.com! Also if you would like a Summer Mini Catalog mailed to you just send me an email with your mailing address!

-My next card post will be a baby card I made a while ago for a dear friend who is having a baby soon! I used the Animal Stories stamp set and was inspired by....a kitchen towel! Haha! I'll even post a pic of the kitchen towel!
Well folks have a fabulous Friday!

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!

Sale-a-Brate Good Times....COME ON!!!

I'm sorry if you can't get that song out of your head now! ;)
I have some exciting news! Sale-a-Bration starts TODAY!!
If you are new to Stampin Up, Sale-a-Bration(SAB) is a super sale that lasts from January 25 to March 31 2011.

During this time:
-Earn one FREE Sale-a-Bration product of your choice for every $50 you spend!
-Host a $300 workshop and earn one FREE Sale-a-Bration product of your choice!(Not to mention some really great hostess benefits)
-Join Stampin Up during SAB and receive 15% off your kit PLUS $50 in bonus products!

If you have ever considered hosting a Stampin Up workshop OR joining SU this is the time! A Stampin Up workshop is a fun night where you get your friends together to make a couple of cute projects(like the one above)! It's free to attend and the hostess benefits from the sales that night! It's also a perfect excuse to get out of the house! ;)
I have several of the stamp sets that are listed in the SAB mini catalog! HERE is a card using the So Many Thanks stamp! There are also several brand new and super cute stamps sets as well as embellishments, ribbons, papers, and decor elements. To view a PDF of the SAB catalog click HERE!
Well I just wanted to let you know about Sale-a-Bration! Wahoo! If you would like to receive a SAB mini catalog in the mail send me your mailing adress. I can also email you a PDF of all of the additional Sale-a-Bration stamp sets that are listed in the back of the SAB mini catalog. If you have any questions please send me an email at aprilmassad@yahoo.com!