Embedded Heart Technique Card

For my February Technique Night classes, my theme is intricate dies and the Big Shot Die Brush. One of the cards we will be doing features the beautiful Bloomin' Hearts Thinlit Die embedded in the upper layer of the card front. It was inspired by a card that I found on Pinterest, which I basically recreated using Stampin' Up! products.

Take a closer look and the embedding part:

• I die cut two of the Bloomin' Hearts with the thinlit using the Precision Base Plate, one heart from the Watermelon Wonder cardstock and one from Tip Top Taupe cardstock. I then used the Big Shot Die Brush to remove the hearts from the die and to also remove all the little bits of paper from the die cut. I put the Watermelon Wonder heart aside to use for something else, and inserted the Tip Top Taupe heart into the negative space left by the Watermelon heart.
• No, I didn't fit all those little bits of paper back into the spaces in the Tip Top Taupe heart! That would be a ridiculous amount of work. I simply glued the top panel over a 3 7/8" x 4 1/2" piece of Watermelon Wonder cardstock, which was adhered to the card base where the heart would sit. The effect is the same though and it's really hard to tell that it's not all embedded.
• The sentiments are from the Sale-A-Bration set What I Love. You can earn this set for free for a $60 or more order during Sale-A-Bration, until March 31st. A word of caution, though. Definitely stamp the sentiment first before you die cut the heart out of the cardstock. If you mess up you can turn the paper over or stamp another one before you die cut.

• The branches and bird are made with the Bird Builder Punch, an old favourite. Make sure you have the pattern you want facing the right direction before you punch. The large flower die from the Bloomin' Heart Thinlits die cut the flowers that you see. Pearls made the flower centers and the bird's eye.

That Big Shot Die Brush works wonders! I highly recommend it! If you are in my area, you are invited to my Technique Night classes. Join with a fun bunch of ladies and learn some new stampin' techniques!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.

Product List

What I Love Photopolymer Stamp Set [141276]	Watermelon Wonder 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [138334]	Tip Top Taupe 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [138336]	Early Espresso 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [119686]	Neutrals Designer Series Paper Stack [138435]
Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [126974]	Bloomin' Heart Thinlits Dies [140621]	Builder Bird Punch [117191]	Precision Base Plate [139684]	Big Shot [113439]
Big Shot Die Brush [140603]	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	Glue Dots [103683]	Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]

An Unspooky Halloween Card for As You See It Challenges

As I've said before, I'm not super-stoked about Halloween, but I do like to play around with the colours and some of the more fun, light-hearted images. This week, for As You See It Challenges, we have a colour challenge, and I made an "unspooky" Halloween card, using the Spider Web Doilies and the Woodland Embossing Folder and some punch art:

This is the banner for the challenge, and though the contest for our special challenge for Lola last week has chosen the winners, the response wasn't what we had hoped for Lola's sake. We have left the linky open for the next month, so we hope more people will participate. Her recovery from the stem cell transplant continues to be rocky, so she could really use the extra encouragement and love these cards will bring to her. I hope you'll consider entering your card. Lola is looking at all the cards on the challenge. She can't have the actual hard copy due to infection issues. If you want to see the card that I made for her, check it out here.

Here's this week's card:

• Black, orange and blue make an interesting combination, but one that I really like. I used lots of Pumpkin Pie and Basic Black ink and cardstock, but the Lost Lagoon worked really well with the Woodland Embossing Folder and the stem and vines for the pumpkins.
• I sponged the inside top of the Woodland Embossing Folder with Lost Lagoon in, then inserted the Very Vanilla cardstock in it and ran it through the Big Shot. It is helpful to do this with this particular embossing folder because it helps the trees really show up.
• The pumpkins were made by punching three each of the Extra Large Oval Punch and the retired Small Oval Punch. I kept that one because it was so useful with punch art figures. I sponged the edges of each oval with Pumpkin Pie ink and overlapped them as you see in the photo. The vines are punched using the Bird Builder Punch and the stems were just cut freehand.
• Guess how I made the bats? It uses another punch in a unique way. Answer at the bottom of this post!!
• I finally got my Spider Web Doilies, so I had to make another Halloween card just to use them, but if I turn them over, they are white on the back so I will use them for other projects at different times in the year. You can actually ink them up using a brayer and make them any colour you want.
• The sentiment is from the Happy Scenes stamp set and the spiders around it are from the A Little Something stamp set.

Today is the last day for this great sale on stamps! 15% off all regularly priced stamps! If you wait too long you'll miss out! Contact me TODAY!

Don't let this be you! Contact me today! Last chance!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today!

Product List

Happy Scenes Photopolymer Stamp Set [139821]	A Little Something Wood-Mount Stamp Set [139827]	A Little Something Clear-Mount Stamp Set [139830]	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121045]	Pumpkin Pie 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [105117]
Lost Lagoon 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [133679]	Very Vanilla 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [101650]	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad [140931]	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad [126945]	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad [133644]
Spider Web Doilies [139622]	Stamping Sponges [101610]	Extra-Large Oval Punch [119859]	Small Oval Punch [120908]	Builder Bird Punch [117191]
Bitty Butterfly Punch [129406]	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	SNAIL Permanent Adhesive [104332]	Glue Dots [103683]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]

** You may have guessed that I punched the bats using the Bitty Butterfly Punch. You just punch the butterfly, then used temporary adhesive to attach it to a long  thin strip of cardstock which you use to insert the butterfly in the punch again and use the top edge of the punch to punch again further down the butterfly to remove the bottom wings. It works like a charm!

Peek-A-Boo Card Featured at Technique Nights

One of the techniques that I learned how to do at my retreat weekend was the Peek-A-Boo card technique, thanks to the talents of my friend, Amy Jasper! It was such fun to put together and almost magic the way it works. And it features my current favourite DSP, Something Borrowed along with Crisp Cantaloupe accents! (Whatever will I do when Crisp Cantaloupe retires? I can't even...)

Take a look at how it works:

Isn't that awesome? Do you want to know how to make one? Sign up for my classes this week, Technique Nights 1 and 2 on Wednesday and Thursday, and we'll all put one together! Your card recipients will think you're an absolute genius! Once you know the measurements and mechanism, you can make up dozens of designs on your own!

Because Technique Nights fall on April 1 and 2, April Fool's Day, the theme for the classes is Tricky Techniques such as this one, multicoloured embossing, and a splattered cut-out frame that I'll show you Wednesday. Do sign up by tomorrow as I am preparing the packages for the attendees then.

All good things must come to an end! And one of those good things is Sale-A-Bration!

Sale-A-Bration this year has been amazing and, unfortunately, it ends today! I loved the rewards Stampin' Up! offered those who purchased $60 or more in one order. If there was something you wanted to get, there is still a little time. I will be putting in an order tonight at 5 pm. Message me with what you want before then and you'll be able to slip in under the wire! 

If you want to sign up and become a demonstrator on my team, you can still do that and earn two Sale-A-Bration rewards for doing that as well (or choose one Simply Created kit from the Occasions catalogue). Again, message me or simply go to the Join My Team button and follow the prompts. To join Stampin' Up! it only costs $125 and you get a custom starter kit of $155 worth of your choice of any current catalogue products with no shipping charges! Even if you choose to do nothing more than order the kit, you will get 3 months worth of 20% discounts on all the products, an early look at the new Annual Catalogue and a chance to pre-order from it a whole month ahead of the public, and access to great stamping community sites such as Stampin' Connection. You don't have to carry an inventory and I will help you every step of the journey to run your business your way.

Oh, yeah, it's Tuesday!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the Stampin' Up! products used to make this card today!

Product List

World Of Dreams Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134186]	World Of Dreams Wood-Mount Stamp Set [134183]	Painted Petals Clear Stamp Set [138822]	Painted Petals Wood Stamp Set [138819]	Painted Petals Photopolymer Stamp Set [137146]
Something Borrowed Designer Series Paper [137785]	Sahara Sand 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121043]	Crisp Cantaloupe 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [131298]	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad [126976]
Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Stampin' Pad [131176]	Pearl Basic Jewels Embellishments [119247]	Builder Bird Punch [117191]	2" Circle Punch [133782]	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack [133787]
Ovals Collection Framelits Die [129381]	Big Shot [113439]	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	2-Way Glue Pen [100425]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]