Yesterday afternoon my friend Judy and I had our own little workshop. Just the two of us - we are hoping to do this every week.

We made a card using the Pick a Petal set from Stampin Up and then made a box that will hold about 4 cards and their envelopes. The box was made using just one sheet of card stock (8 1/2 by 11) and a piece of DSP (6 1/2 by 6). We used Wild Wasabi card stock and DSP from the Summer Picnic collection. We followed the tutorial posted by Joanne B. the only change we made was to increase the dimension of the DSP. Rather than the 4 X 6 1/2 in the instructions, we cut it to 6 1/2 x 6. This allowed us to overlap the DSP onto the top of the box and onto the back. Here is the link to Joanne's tutorial. http://stampedbyhand.blogspot.com/2007/09/note-box-my-first-tutorial.html

Here is a BD card I made - the bears are by PSX, but the rest is all Stampin Up. I used Dazzling Diamonds on the cake (from the Bitty Birthday Set). I stamped the bears with Chocolate Chip onto Creamy Caramel then shaded in a bit. Even did a bit of paper piercing on the scallop.

Catching Up

I have been putting my stamps to good use this week. I have made all of my April birthday cards and even have my mother's day cards done! I CASE'd from posts found on Splitcoast and am amazed at the creativity out there. All of the different, beautiful cards using the Embrace Life set from Stampin Up have given me ideas that should last a long time. The versatality of the set is unbelievable! Stampinjudy posted this on Splitcoast - I tried her technique using the scallops punch for the corners. I had to adapt as I do not have the SU markers yet. Rather than stamping the flower on vanilla, I stamped it on Cameo Coral and then highlighted (tried anyway) with purely pomegranate and my blender pen. Used some stickles and a clear rhinestone to add a bit of glitz.

This card is also using the Embrace Life set. It is my version of the one posted by Julie Buhler for her colour challenge (JCC09). I adapted it a bit, but am pretty pleased with the result. I did not have the river rock ribbon. See the link below to view the original. http://paperpleasing.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/04/julies-color-co.html

I bought the Voila and Voila to Go sets and finally got them mounted and ready to use. Looked through my stock of papers (pre Stampin Up) and found some decorative papers I could use up. I also found a spool of ribbon that coordinated. All bought at Michael's over the years. I had an email from a friend who was going to be cooking a turkey dinner and it inspired me to make this card.

These two cards are using the Merci set (SAB) and were inspired by a design I saw on the Stampin Up Website.

Heartfelt Thanks

I have been a "collector" of rubber stamps for a number of years and although I have used some of them, the collection is growing larger each day. Now that I am retired and have more time (or so I thought) I am hoping to put my collection to good use.

This is my first upload and the first card I have made using the Heartfelt Thanks set from Stampin Up.

Supplies all from Stampin Up unless otherwise noted

Card Stock - Perfect Plum, Mellow Moss, Whisper White

Ink - Perfect Plum, Versamark

Chalks - Perfect Plum, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana

I am new to blogging and hope to continue. I am a new Stampin Up Demonstrator, although it is mostly for myself and a few family and friends.