A Semi-Masculine Card

All supplies SU unless noted: Short & Sweet stamp set, textured cardstock in baja breeze, cardstock in kiwi kiss and whisper white, ink in baja breeze, heart to heart and word window punches, urban oasis designer series paper, ribbon in chocolate chip

I struggle to make masculine cards, I have to restrain myself from adding another bow or a sprinkling of glitter. I would consider this just a "semi-masculine" card because I couldn't help but add the subtle heart accents at the top. However, I think that one can get away with putting some lovey-dovey details if you give it to someone special...since it's a gift from the heart after all.

Within this card I can highlight 3 ways that this card was an efficient use of resources:

1. This card was made from a 6x6 piece of paper folded in half to become 3x6. You may have alredy done the math, but this means 4 cards can be produced from one piece of 12x12 cardstock.

2. After using the Word Window Punch on the tweed patterned paper, I placed a scrap piece of Whisper White behind it. Using a pencil I lightly marked the area that would appear through the Word Window. After stamping the "love you" sentiment I adhered the Whisper White cardstock to the back of the designer paper.

3. I used the Heart to Heart punch to create some textured hearts to add interest to the top of the card.
When you love paper as much as I love paper you'll enjoy using Stampin' Up! punches as they allow you to conserve your resources. When you can see where you're punching you can punch as close to the edge as you can in order to conserve paper.

Don't throw that scrap away! The negative space left post-punch would make a great border for your next project.

Feel free to share some more paper saving tips in the comments!

Caught in the Act!

Look who I caught stampin' up a storm. :) Buddy carefully stamped a thank you sentiment from the Short & Sweet stamp set. Then, he used the small oval punch...to very carefully to punch it out. He caught on very quickly and had a good time despite the fact that I insisted on recording this historic moment on my digital camera. :)

Buddy's Tips for Rubber Stamping:

• ink your stamp well so that you can get an evenly stamped image
• but don't rock back and forth on the ink pad otherwise areas of the stamp that you don't want to show up will make little marks on your paper.
• if you mess up, don't stress you can always use the other side of the paper
• have fun...once you get rollin' it's a blast!
  
  

Crafty Boys

I had the pleasure and privilege of helping five high school make cards for an event that the youth group put on at church. Initially, they were dubious about whether or not they'd be able to replicate the samples I showed them.

However, after a lot of hardwork and determination they were able to add their own personality to the designs I had prepared for them.

I think that they look fabulously snazzy and most importantly they came from the heart.

Don't Forget!

If you haven't already checked out the Spring-Summer Occasions Mini you should definitely put it on your to do list before April 30th. There's a lot of cute ideas and ways to keep connected with loved ones contained in the latest catalog.

Click here to see the new catalog!

The best part about the new release of this Catalog Mini is that a promotion is attached. You'll receive a FREE item from the Under $10 page (p. 208) in the Spring-Summer 2009 Idea Book & Catalog, when you buy $40 in products from the Occasions Mini Catalog.

However, the promotion is only for 2 more weeks...Don't miss out on this great deal!

*Sorry...no pictures today...for some reason blogger is being difficult.

Flourish

All supplies SU unless noted: A Beautiful Thing and Thank You Kindly stamp sets, cardstock in basic gray, baja breeze, kiwi kiss and very vanilla, ink in so saffron and close to cocoa, photo corners punch, flourish texturz plate, sizzlits birds and blooms die set (for the leaves), ribbon in very vanilla, stampin’ dimensionals

Hello Tuesday!

I think that Tuesday is automatically better than Monday because you've already gotten used to being a little dazed on Monday after all the fun that you've had on the weekend. Therefore, by the time Tuesday comes around you're ready and rearing to go.

I have a mini-tutorial below on how to use Stampin' Up!'s Texturz plates with the Big Shot. It's pretty nifty how you can turn a normal piece of cardstock into something that gives your card a bit of oomph all with a turn of a crank!

Place your cursor on the pictures in the slideshow below in order to see the instructions for that step.

Enjoy!

Bella Toile

All supplies SU unless noted: bella toile background stamp, thank you kindly stamp set, cardstock in kraft, chocolate chip and very vanilla, bella rose designer series paper, ink in chocolate chip and red riding hood, scallop edge punch, stampin’ dimensionals

It's interesting how different people can perceive beauty differently. However, I do think that we are trained to see beauty in things that seem to be harmonious with one another.

One thing that I like about Stampin' Up! products is that paper, ink, and stamps coordinate. For example, the small strip of Bella Rose designer paper coordinates pretty well with the look and feel of the Bella Toile background stamp. Given that both of them are given the adjective of "bella" it was a snap to connect the dots.

With this card it was my first time using a background stamp. You ink up this huge stamp, put it down on the paper and BAM! instant sophistication and beauty. The stamp turned a plain piece of kraft paper into something truly beautiful. You can make out every detail of the design.

I reinked a small portion of the background stamp in red riding hood in order to stamp the small blossom as an accent. The background is so huge you could potentially pick and choose what design you wanted to stand out depending on how big your paper area is.

K.I.S.S.

All supplies SU unless noted: short & sweet stamp set, textured card stock in baja breeze, cardstock in basic gray and whisper white, walk in the park designer series paper, ink in basic gray, small oval punch, scallop oval punch, stampin’ dimensionals

K.I.S.S has come to be known as a mnemonic device for "Keep it simple, stupid" or "Keep it short and sweet".

When it comes to making cards K.I.S.S. can also be used to remember to "Keep it simple and sensible". With busy schedules and long to-do lists sometimes making time to stamp is difficult. However, whenever I do sit down to make something I like to keep it simple and let the paper speak for itself. If I were to add anything else it would just seem like a detraction from what's already great on its own.

Simplicity aids to higher productivity as well as increasing the enjoyment of being able to create something with little stress involved. :) With beautiful paper this card was quick and easy to make.