Stamping with Michelle

Inspirations Plaque Class

I am excited to announce my next class!  We will be making a set of inspirational plaques to decorate any room in your house.

Here is the sample first:

These plaques use your Decor Elements, and combine double sided background paper, stamping, and the Big Shot!  All four plaques will come with ribbon, I just didn't have enough to put on all of them yet. 

I will be holding this class on Wednesday, June 24 at 7:00pm at my house.  You can choose to make two of the plaques for $20, or the whole set for $30.   If you cannot make it to the class, you may choose to this class "to go".  You will receive all the materials to create these plaques, and you can pick them up during the class, or at anytime after. 

If you choose the two plaque option, you will be able to select from the set of four words when you arrive at class.

This class MUST be prepaid by Friday, June 12, so that I can order the supplies and have them in time.  You can paypal the money to me, or you can mail me a check.

I hope to see you at this class!

Happy Stamping and have a great weekend!

Michelle

Scallop Dress Card

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend with family friends.  Many thanks to those of you who may have served in our military!

Today's sample is one that I worked up about a month ago for a Big Shot class that I held, and it was a big hit!

Materials:  Embrace Life, Upsy Daisy
Cardstock: Pixie Pink, Summer Sun, Real Red, and Whisper White
Ink: Pixie Pink, Summer Sun and Real Red
Accessories: Scallop Oval Punch, Scallop #2 Bigz Die and Big Shot, Real Red Grosgrain ribbon, Silver brads, 1/16" circle punch, and Stampin' Dimensionals

The dress is created by cutting out the larger of the scallops on the Scallop #2 die.  I first cut a template out of lightweight cardboard.  I cut the scallop and then I drew pencil lines on the side from a bottom scallop towards one of the top scallops.  I matched it on the opposite side, and once I was happy with it, cut it out.  After I cut my cardstock scallop, I laid the cardboard template over it and traced along where I wanted to cut to create my dress.  A little stamping, a little ribbon, and Voila!  You have a fun sun dress that would make a great birthday card, invitation, or even shower card idea.

Have fun!

Michelle

Preschool Teacher Gifts

Today is my youngest son, Elijah's, preschool graduation.  I know that many of you have been with me long enough to remember when I was pregnant with him and will appreciate the sentimentality of this event.  A moment of silence, please, for the fact that my baby can now be considered a school age child. 

Elijah has been blessed with two amazing preschool teachers who have been just fantastic with him all year long.  Of course, I always like to end the school year with a small token gift for the teachers who have taken the time to educate my children all year long.  This year was no different!  I've chosen to make jewelry for all four teachers that I've worked with this year.  This is one of the sets that I made:

I also bought Dunkin' Donuts gift cards to tuck in with the jewelry.  I slid the whole thing into a medium cello bag and tied the top with some twill tape.  I've been contemplating for several days of the presentation that I wanted to create for it.  Well, yesterday, to the rescue, came my Stampin' Success ^(r) monthly newsletter from Stampin' UP! ^(r).  On the front cover was a box that I knew would be perfect!

This is what I came up with!  Are they not the most adorable thing?!

They were super easy to make too!  Here is a side view and then I'll give you the directions.

The outside of the box is a piece of cardstock that is 4" x 12" and then scored 5 1/4" from either side.  The yellow part holds your goodies!  It is a strip of cardstock that is 1 1/2" x 10".  Score this one at 1 3/4", 2 1/4", 5 1/4", and 6 3/4".  Fold the strip up and overlap the two ends and secure.  This will create a rectangle.  You will then attach the sides of the rectangle to the inside of the box.  The topper was made using the Top Note die and the Big Shot.  Score the top note 1 1/2" from either side.  Punch a hole in the top of the topper and the back of the topper.  You can then run ribbon down through the top, around the front of the box to the back, and then through the hole in the back of the topper and tie it on top.

Have fun and happy box making!

Michelle

Spring Stamp a Stack

I am excited to announce my next stamp a stack.  These popular classes are a great way to build your stash of cards so that when a need arises, you're good to go!  I am holding this class twice this month, once on Friday, May 22 at 7:00pm, and again on Wednesday, May 27 at 7:00pm.  I'm hoping that between the two nights I'll be able to catch everyone who has an interest in attending.  At this class, you will be making a total of 15 cards, 3 each of 5 designs.  The class fee is $30, with $15 going towards an order that you place that night.  Please RSVP by Thursday, May 21, and please specify which night you plan to attend.  To whet your appetite, here is a sneak peek at two of the cards we will be making:

Happy Stamping!

Michelle

Watercolor Roses

At a recent Stampin' Up! regional seminar for demonstrators, there was a technique shared that has taken the stamping world by storm.  We are making the following card tonight in my stamp clubs as our technique card, but I liked it so much I couldn't wait to share it all with you:

Materials:  Fifth Avenue Floral, Sincere Salutations
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Tangering Tango, Summer Sun
Ink: Summer Sun and Tangerine Tango; Versamark; Summer Sun Refill and Tangerine Tango refill
Accessories: Top Note Big Shot Die, White Embossing Powder, Aquapainter, Spray bottle with water

The technique has become known as watercolor roses.  The stamp set Fifth Avenue Floral works particularly well for this technique, but it will certainly work with other images as well.  You start by embossing your desired image using Versamark ink and white embossing powder on Shimmery White cardstock.  Next you want to use a spray bottle to spray water all over the embossed images.  Use an aquapainter to pick up drops of ink refill, and touch the aquapainter to your wet flower, one section at a time.  The water immediately pulls the color into the image.  Start with your lightest color, and then go back and highlight with darker colors.  The key to this technique, is to make the image VERY wet.  Spray it until you think it is wet enough, and then spray it some more!  A fellow demonstrator has created a video showing this technique, and click here to see this visual.

Here are a couple more samples that I made using this technique:

Be careful!  Once you give this technique a try, it is quite addicting!

Happy Stamping!

Michelle