Yippee-Skippee

I love some of the new sentiments from Stampin' Up this year:  "I Freakin' Love You!"   or "I love your guts!" or "You kick booty!"  They're SO expressive and the way real people talk.  Well, maybe not, but close.  Really, imagine what it would be like if everyone talked the way sentiments on greeting cards read:

Wife:  Hi, Honey.  Did you remember today is the day we have a meeting with Liam's teacher?
Husband:  We don't remember days, we remember moments!
Wife: Huh?

Husband:  My mother is coming to stay for 3 weeks.
Wife:  Family - where life begins and love never ends!
Husband:  Who are you and what have you done with my wife???

Child:  Mom, I kinda fell in the mud, then I couldn't get my shoes off and the carpet is sorta all muddy....
Mom:  Thank you for the beautiful ways you touch my life!
Child:  Sweet!  I thought you were gonna be really mad!

I'm sure your imagination could work on that scenario for a while, but instead I wanted to show you a card with a really cute little sentiment!  And I've heard people actually say this when they're excited about something.  

This card was created for The Paper Players Challenge #162

Again, this isn't a palette I would have chosen for myself, but as I worked with it today, it kind of grew on me.  

• The sentiment is from the stamp set of the same name:  Yippee-Skippee!
• I'm not sure where the inspiration to try the Delicate Doilies Sizzlet again came from, but temporary madness is one possibility!  It's annoying at best and impossible at worst to get all those little bits of cardstock out of the doily shapes.  They are lovely if you have lots of time, but mine wasn't completely cutting through, which just added to the frustration level.  I got out the Perfect Pennants Bigz L die in the end because it has a couple of less lacy doilies on it.  If you have the same problem, try adding another layer of cardstock underneath the die as a shim for a cleaner cut.
• I used the Delicate Details Lace Tape, cutting out individual circles of lace and mounting them on the cardstock, then punching them out with the 3/4" Circle Punch, which matches the diameter perfectly!

It all works together for a light-hearted, all-occasion card for those exciting moments in life!

By the way, the Big Shot Magnetic Platform is available for order starting today, and the Clearance Rack has been updated.  I wouldn't hem and haw about either of these for too long!  You know how fast things fly when they're announced!  If you order online, be sure to select me as your demonstrator and use Hostess Code QAZ7WGUR to save on shipping costs.

Stamps: Yippee-Skippee! (w131341; c131344)

Paper:  Basic Black (121045), Pool Party (122924), and Rich Razzleberry (115316) cardstock

Ink:  StazOn Jet Black (101406)

Accessories:  Delicate Details Lace Tape (130966)

Tools:  Delicate Doilies Sizzlits L (126999); Perfect Pennants Bigz L Die (123126); Big Shot (113439); 3/4" Circle Punch (119873)

Delicate Doilies Sizzlits L

Delicate Details Lace Tape

3/4" Circle Punch

Yippee-Skippee! Stamp Set

Perfect Pennants Bigz L Die

Happy Easter Egg

I hope you had a Happy Easter!  It is a very special celebration for me, because it reminds me that I am loved with a deep abiding love.  In fact, I am loved so much, that One was willing to die for me, in my place!

The great thing is, He knows you, too!  And simply by accepting this love and believing that He died for you, too, you can live with Him forever.  Let me know if you want to know more about this amazing love!

I have a couple of things to share today.  I wanted to see if I could create some Stampin' Up Easter Eggs, but just didn't get around to it until today.  The result was:  "Hmmm! Shows promise but needs more work."

I used a raw egg and my Oh, Hello clear stamp set.  Without mounting the stamps on the clear blocks, I inked them up in VersaMark and applied them, bending them to the curve of the egg.  Then I sprinkled on the White Embossing powder and heat set it.  It took much longer to heat set the powder on the egg shell than on paper.  In fact, I'm thinking the egg is no longer raw! lol  I put the egg in a small bowl to heat emboss it, because it got too hot to hold properly.  

Then I used Regal Rose reinker in about 1" of water.  It had to be deep enough to get decent coverage for the egg.  I was going for an ombre look but I was hoping to have a much more defined line between the shades.  I immersed the whole egg in the lightest shade, then added a few more drops and immersed it 3/4 of the way up.  I repeated adding more drops of reinker, but only covering the bottom half and finally the bottom 1/4 of the egg for the darkest shade.  I had to use a lot of reinker for so much water, but it was an experiment and fun to try.  What do you think?

Here's a card I made for my Technique Night this week, focusing on Crystal Effects.  I case'd the design from Sage Kimble, a stamper I really admire.

I changed up the colours and the stamp I used, but kept the awesome layout and the beautifully sponged clouds on the background panel.  I also added Crystal Effects like dew drops on the petals of the flower and used the Delicate Doilies Sizzlit instead of the Scallop Circle that Sage used behind her main image.  I tried to get a sentiment on there but it just didn't fit anywhere, so I left it off.  I still think that Stippled Blossoms is one of the most WOW! stamp sets in the catalogue.  I love two-step stamping, especially with a Stamp-a-ma-jig to help me out. (Here's a video link to help you with that.)  The cloud background is created by taking a scallop circle punched from card stock and laying it at the bottom of  the paper, sponging along the edge, then moving up, changing the orientation of the scallop circle and sponging again. Repeat until you get to the top of the paper.  I used this technique on the background of the main image as well.

That makes 3 different techniques using Crystal Effects, so I hope you've found them all.  

Enjoy the last day of your long weekend, if you get one more day off on Easter Monday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps:  Oh, Hello (w130730; c130733); Stippled Blossoms (w126745; c126747)

Paper:  Night of Navy (100867), Certainly Celery (105125) and Whisper White (100730) card stock

Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Bashful Blue (126961), Marina Mist (126962) and Night of Navy (126970); VersaMark (102283); Regal Rose Classic Stampin' Ink Refill (105223)

Accessories:  Stampin' Emboss Powder in White (109132); 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon in Certainly Celery (119963); Crystal Effects (101055)

Tools:  Heat Tool (129053);  Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder (117335); Delicate Doilies Sizzlits L (126999); 2 1/2" Circle Punch (120906) and 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punch (for sponging the clouds) (119854); Stamping Sponges (101610)

2 1/2" Circle Punch

Oh, Hello Stamp Set

Delicate Doilies Sizzlit

Stamping Sponges

Stippled Blossoms Stamp Set

Mini Winners!

Mini-winners!  Say that 5 times rapidly!  Don't tell me what you ended up with at the end! 

I wanted to share some mini 3" x 3" cards that I made to include with my customers' orders.  I like to let them know how much I appreciate their orders and add some little personalized comments, so these little cards are the perfect way.  And, as I learned from my upline, if I just write on a post-it note and don't put their names on the envelope, they can re-use the card!

The colour palette is from Dynamic Duo's Challenge #40, a black tie challenge along with Tempting Turquoise.

I wanted to focus the design on the soda pop caps, new in the Spring Mini Catalogue, and I just learned how to squish them properly, and it actually worked!  WOW!  I punched out centers using the 1" Circle punch and stamped them with images from the Collage Curios stamp set, also available in the Spring Mini.  The stamped doily is from the Delicate Doilies stamp set, while the sentiment is from a lovely little set called Kindness Matters.  The black doily behind each squished soda pop top is created using the Delicate Doilies Sizzlets L.  It makes lovely die-cut doilies, but you must take the time to poke out ALL the little bits the die creates but doesn't fully liberate from the card stock. I use either my Paper Piercer or the stylus from my Simply Scored scoring tool.

With the little ribbon tails made from 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon in Basic Black, it looks like each medallion is a little awards ribbon for the winner, so I'm hoping my customers will feel like big winners!

I still may do a full standard-sized card for this challenge (so I can add the dessert option of clouds), but I will do some more work on that tomorrow!  See you then for a MOJO Monday design.

Stamps:  Collage Curios (w129099; c129102); Delicate Doilies (w122590; c122592); Kindness Matters (w122900; c122902)
Paper: Tempting Turquoise (102067), Whisper White (100730) and Basic Black (121045) card stock
Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pad in Tempting Turquoise (126952); Jet Black StazOn (101406)
Accessories: Soda Pop Tops (129388); Big Shot (113439); 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon in Basic Black (124145)
Tools:  Delicate Doilies Sizzlet L (126999); Simply Scored Stylus (125624); 1" Circle Punch (119868)

One Inch Circle Punch

Delicate Doilies Sizzlet L

Collage Curios Stamp Set

Kindness Matters Stamp Set

Soda Pop Tops