Stamping with Michelle

Hawaii Bound

Hello everyone!

Tomorrow I leave for a five night stay at the Waikoloa Village Resort on the big island of Hawaii courtesy of Stampin' Up! I'd like to say that I've been really good and prepared a few blogs posts to magically appear in my absence, but unfortunately, that hasn't happened.  I am gone all next week, and I'm sure it'll take me a few days to get my head screwed back on properly once I get back, so I probably won't post again until somewhere around April 1. 

In the meantime, I wanted to simulatneously announce on the blog what I have also emailed to most of you.  While I am away, I have a special offer for anybody who places an order through my website.  When I get back, I will be putting togther special grab bags of our latest accessories.  Each grab bag will contain nearly $10 worth of merchandise in a nice variety of products.  I will also be pulling one winner for every five orders that I get for a free stamp set from my stash.

Additionally, Stampin' Up is currently including a free catalog in all orders that are placed online through the end of April.  And, of course, Sale-a-bration is still underway, and you will get a free Sale-a-bration set with every $50 that you spend.

Aloha to you all!  I try to pack some of the sunshine in my suitcase and bring it back with me!

Michelle

Fresh Cuts for Spring

Today's card sample is a sample that I actually did last summer when preparing for convention.  It became one of my swap cards  that I brought with me.  It is so nice and springy that I thought I'd share it today!

Materials:  Fresh Cuts
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Whisper White and Apricot Appeal
Ink: Certainly Celery, Apricot Appeal and Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: Tempting Turquoise ribbon, Silver Chunky Glitter, Multi Purpose Adhesive, Key Tag Punch

This was a fun and happy card that worked up fairly quickly.  (It had to, when I had 50 of them to make!)  I used the multipurpose glue to adhere the chunky glitter in the center of the flowers, and that worked really well.  The Key tag punch out is actually rounded on both ends, but I liked the look of it cut flush with the edge of the card.

I'd love to see what spring cards you are making too!  If you email me a picture, I can post it here on the blog for everyone to enjoy!

Happy Spring and Happy Stamping!

Michelle

Wedding Invitation

So, yesterday, I promised you that I would show you the invitations we made for my brother's wedding next month.  Remember...these were designed around a stamp set that is no longer available.

We used Ivory, Pink Pirouette and Almost Amethyst for the colors.  The finished dimension of the card is 4 1/2" x 6 1/4" and it is just a single sheet (it doesn't open).

Here is the response card:

These were created to a finished dimension of 5" x 3 1/2".

And now, here is the inside of the Response Card:

The Slit punch was used to hold the insert in place.  It could be removed and then returned in the accompanying envelope.

Didn't they come out good!  My future sister-in-law was quite pleased!

Happy Stamping!

Michelle

Altered Notebook

As many of you know, my brother is getting married in April.  Last weekend, we had a wedding shower for his fiancee.  My future sister-in-law's family is actually from England, and the friends that she has in the states are all out of state.  Therefore, it fell to my sister, my mom, and me to plan the shower.  The night before the shower, I remembered that when we threw my sister a shower, I had decorated a notebook to record the gifts in that matched the wedding invitations.  I decided to create a notebook for Liz as well.   This is what I came up with:

The stamp set is on that is long retired, but it worked perfectly for the invitations.  I don't think I've shown you those yet.  I'll have to scan it and post it for you.  Anyway, the notebook was one that I picked up in the stationary aisle at Target.  I cut cardstock to match invitation, and I used the spiral punch, to punch holes along the side so that the front would be completely covered.  It came out really good, and my sister-in-law loved it!

Don't forget that there are still a few weeks left in Sale-a-bration!  You can check out the catalog here.  And, right now, when you place an order online, you also get the catalog included in your order for free!

Happy Stamping!

Michelle

Bella's Bloom card

Today's sample is a card that I actually created last fall.  It uses the new Bella's Bloom stamp set and makes a create all occasion card.

Materials: Bella's bloom
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla and the Bella Rose DSP
Ink: Riding Hood Red pad and Always Artichoke marker
Accessories: Large Oval punch, Wide Oval punch, Riding Hood Red ribbon, Blender pens

The flower is, of course, all one stamp.  But I just hate to ink a flower in a color and not have the stem be green.  I could use just markers to ink the stamp, but I really wanted the flower to be Riding Hood Red to match the paper.  So.....I inked the whole flower in Riding Hood Red first.  Then I used a blender pen to remove the red ink from where the greenery would be.  It took several times of cleaning the blender pen and going back to remove more color, but it finally all came off.  Then I used the Always Artichoke marker to add color back on.  It stamped out beautifully and was exactly the colors I wanted!

Happy Stamping!

Michelle

Happy Snow Day

Happy Snow Day everyone! I don't know about you, but I am quite ready for March to move along into the warmer days of April!  It's been a long winter.

Here's a pot of daffodils to help cheer you up today:

Materials:  Always in my Thoughts
Cardstock: Mellow Moss, Choclate Chip, So Saffron and Confetti White
Ink: Basic Brown, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron and Mellow Moss
Accessories: Mellow Moss grosgrain ribbon, Large Oval punch, Wide Oval punch, Blender pens, Stampin' Dimensionals

This was a sample that we made at my workshops last month and it went over really well, so I thought I'd share it with all of you.  Usually, you might notice, when I watercolor, I tend to use my aquapainters.  And, generally, I do.  I like that the aquapainters have a direct flow of water and they tend to give a more blended look.  With the Blender pens, however, when you color with them, the initial spot that you start to color in is pretty much where the color stays.  That necessitates going back and forth lots of times to pick up more ink, especially, if you are coloring a larger area.  However, with this sample, the area to color is so small, that the blender pens are perfectly suited for it. 

Don't forget that Sale-a-bration is still underway, and for every $50 that you spend you can get a free Sale-a-bration item.  You can place your orders directly through my Stampin' UP website here,  and until April 30, when you place an online order, you will receive a catalog for free.

Also, I just began a photo album that lists out all of my retired merchandise that is for sale.  I have one more box of stamps that I'm working on posting this morning, but the rest is already up.  Take a look and see if there is anything that you would like!

Happy Stamping and stay warm!

Michelle