Convention Quality Swap (CQS)

Lyssa's Convention Quality Swap is my favorite swap I have ever participated in!  The cards are always absolutely beautiful!  Lots of criteria, but it makes for a great swap, and it really does help me do my best work since the focus is on quality NOT quantity!

Supplies:

Label Love, Artisan Label Punch
Backyard Basics Stamp Set and coordinating Framelits
Strawberry Slush, Pistachio Pudding Cardstock and Ink

Chevron Embossing Folder

Fun Flowers Die and cheap satin fabric shrunk with a heat tool

Simply Pressed Clay and Molds

Stampin' Spritzer and Isopropyl Alcohol

Sponge Daubers

Convention 2013: Over the Top Tags Group 3

I've always loved tags, either gift tags or as an accent on a card. First organized swap I participated in at convention this year was the Over the Top Tags Swap (Group 3 & 4). Over the Top means they had to be at certain size, embellished, layered, and/or spritzed. I enjoyed stamping for this swap a great deal. Each group was limited to 8 swappers--makes it easy to keep the quality top notch.

Card stock is cut to 6 x 8 1/2

Scored at 2 3/4, 5 1/2 and 

Create a belly band to hold your tag together

Supplies:

Backyard Basics Stamp Set and coordinating Framelits

Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla CS

Baked Brown Sugar, Pistachio Pudding, Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana Ink

Primrose Petals, Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon

Stamping Dimensionals, Stampin' Sponges

Convention 2013: Over the Top Tags Group 4

Here's my swap for the Over the Top Tag from Group 4.

The size layers are 6 1/2 x 3 1/2, 6 1/4 x 3 1/4 and 6 x 3

Supplies:

Clockworks, Really Good Greetings Stamp Sets

Simply Pressed Clay & Molds

Dazzling Diamonds Glitter (sprinkle into mold before adding clay)

Fun Flower Die and satin fabric (the cheaper the better)

Organdy Ribbon

Very Vanilla CS

Venetian Romance DSP

Pistachio Pudding, Indigo Island, CRISP Cantaloupe Ink 

Spritzer with Pistachio Pudding Ink Refill and Isopropyl Alcohol (70%)--it's very light and might not show up on screen, but it's on there

Convention 2013 Very Vintage Swap

Shelli (CEO of SU!) is fond of a "vintage" look.  Her stamped work is always so beautiful!  Here's my idea of vintage for the Very Vintage Swap.

Supplies:

Creative Elements Stamp Set

Very Vintage Buttons, Linen Thread

Tea Lace Paper Doilies

Very Vanilla, Early Espresso CS, Soho Subway  DSP

Woodgrain Embossing Folder (I used this because the lines on the DSP reminded me of the texture)

Fun Flowers Die with cheap satin fabric 

CRISP Cantaloupe, Early Espresso Ink
Label Love, Artisan Label Punch

Sponge Daubers

Convention 2013 3D Swap: Satin Fun Flowers

3D swaps are cool. They are anything besides a card or a scrapbook page. Think pins, tags, boxes, candy holders, notebooks, etc.

I love making these layered satin flowers with the Fun Flowers Die.  You shrink the fabric with your heat tool, glue several layers together, and use to make pins, etc. or to embellish stuff.   They're extremely versatile--great for the front of a card, magnet, pin or bag tag.  You'll see a lot of these on my convention swaps. 

Making a spritz is easy. Add 70 percent isopropyl alcohol  to a Spritzer bottle. Drop in Ink from a refill bottle. The more drops, the darker the intensity. Lighter colors will take more ink. I probably spritzed the Pistachio Pudding flowers  3 or 4 times to get the color the way I wanted it.

The centers of the satin flowers were flowers made from the Simply Pressed Clay and the silicone molds.  They were so easy to make.  I got about 140 flowers from one pack.  Half of my clay flowers have glitter on them--just sprinkle Dazzling Diamonds glitter inside the mold before adding the clay.

Supplies:

Satin Fabric (the cheap stuff), Heat Tool, Hot Glue

Fun Flowers Bigz L Die

Buttons & Blossoms Simply Pressed Molds and Clay

Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding Ink Refills

Stampin' Spritzers, Isopropyl Alcohol (70%)

Pin backs, pin tacks, magnets, key chains etc.

I made ALOT of flowers for my convention swaps. My Big Shot really got a workout.  How do you know when you need new cutting plates?  When you crack the plates!!!!  How many passes can one set of plates take?  I don't know, but these were my original plates, and I'm sure it was hundreds if not thousands of passes through the Big Shot!  It was loud, and I thought I broke my machine.  Bye for now, Maria

Convention 2013 Salt Lake City

Here's my swap tote full of cards, tags, pins, 3D items just waiting to be traded for other equally nice items. Card swapping/trading is one of the hi lights of Convention for me--it's exciting to swap ideas and be around other demos who are equally as excited about stamping as you are! I like every part of trading--planning, creating, and trading!  It's the sharing part of the hobby that makes it so much fun!  If I have an idea and you have an idea--we each have just ONE idea. But, if we share our idea with each other, then we have TWO ideas (or 6000--that's how many people will be in SLC this year!).  Two, ideas are better than one!  No, I'm not making thousands of swaps--is that even possible!?  The bag is from Thirty One--it's one of their organizing totes.  Stayed tuned to see what's inside--I will be posting my convention swaps during the week.  Bye for now, Maria

July Stamp Club: Adorable Folded Box

Isn't this little thing adorable?  I don't know what its called, or where it originated, but I received it in a swap at Baltimore's Regional event this past April.  It will fit two Hershey Kisses or one Nugget candy. 

Here's our July Club version...

Start with a 4 x 4 piece of DSP

Score at 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 on one edge

Score lines are enhanced with a red sharpie so you can see them

Score at 1" and 3" on the other edge

And, you need to score the corners like shown in red

Fold up on score lines

Add two punch outs with an oval punch and clip together

Here's the grown-up version...

This one will hold a whole lot of chocolate, a handful of tags or even a few notecards.

Start with 12 x 12 piece of DSP

Score at 3" and 9" on one edge

Score at 5" and 7" on the other edge

Score in the corners as shown

(Ignore the score lines that are NOT in red--those were boo-boo's)

Crease and fold up

To close your box, create a topper that is 4 x 6 folded in half

Add ribbon and stamping as you wish 

Supplies:

Label Love, Petite Pairs Stamp Sets

Gumball Green, Early Espresso Ink

Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Summer Starfruit Cardstock

Soho Subway, Epic Day DSP

Extra Large Oval, Artisan Label Punch

Summer Starfruit, Natural Trim Ribbons

Wildflower Meadows

Organized swaps are all over the place at Convention--and they're great!  Don't get me wrong--I love them.  But, nothing is exciting as general swaps--swapping on the floor of the main stage at convention.  General swaps just mean no theme, and you can make as many as you want--as long as everything is current Stampin' Up! merchandise, of course!  For my general swaps I used Wildflower Meadow background stamp and the coordinating embossing folder--love that!  Love anything that makes creating cards easier and more beautiful to boot!  I used my left over satin flowers too. 

Supplies:

Wildflower Meadow and coordinating embossing folder

Label Love and Artisan Punch

Fun Flowers Bigz L Die and satin fabric, shrunk with heat tool

Simply Pressed Clay and Mold

Pistachio Pudding, Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush Ink and Cardstock

Mosaic Madness

This card is a total CASE (copy and share everything) from Shelli (CEO at SU!) at the Baltimore Regional this past April.  I love the new set Mosiac Madness, but I love all things rubber stamping and SU!, right?  Of course!  It coordinates with a embossing folder and punch--yup, love that too!  One of the great things about SU!--everything goes together.

Supplies:

Mosaic Madness Stamp Set

Mosaic Punch & Embossing Folder

Itty Bitty Punch Pack

Quatrefancy DSP

Whisper White, Island Indigo, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Pool Party CS

Pumpkin Pie Reinker, Spritzer, Isopropyl Alcohol (70%)

Rhinestones

Altered Composition Notebook

Well, it's that time of year again. Each spring we create new Altered Composition Notebooks at Stamp Club to say good bye to all the DSP I've hoarded over the last year.  Here's our project for May.  I won't bore you with the details.  See this post for instructions and measurements.  Happy Stamping!  Bye for now, Maria

All Occasion Notecard Set

I love this "Peace on Earth" card.  I received this card in a swap from Mary Bergere at Stampin ' Up! several years ago.  I love the simplicity of it, and think it would be a great card for any occasion. 

Just by changing the cardstock and ink colors, it gives the card a whole different look.  We made the following set of all occasion notecards for April's Stamp Club project. 

Bravo Burgundy, Lucky Limeade, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink cardstock and ink.

Certainly Celery, Lucky Limeade, River Rock cardstock and ink.

Bashful Blue, Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Lucky Limeade cardstock and ink.

River Rock, More Mustard, Lucky Limeade, Certainly Celery cardstock and ink.

Stamp Set:  Perfectly Penned

Accessories:  Bird Builder Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Woodgrain Embossing Folder

Happy Spring! Happy Stamping!

Happy Spring!  Happy Stamping!  Now's the time to do some spring cleaning.  No, I really mean spring stamping!!!  Cleaning can wait, right?

Lots of "pop-ups" in the Spring Catalog.  The Pop-Up Designer Kit comes with 9 embossed tags--wish this shape was available as a Big Shot die!  The little tag is perfect for the front of a card.  I used 5 flower pieces for the flower instead of the 9 recommended in the kit's directons. The "Just for you" stamp is included in the kit. 

Supplies used:  Calypso Coral cardstock and ink, Tea for Two DSP, Stampin' Dimensionals, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder

Recently, I attended a retirement luncheon.  Lots of lovely things were said about the retiree.  Why do we have to wait until we retire to hear how much we are appreciated?!  And, who says hearts are only for Valentine's Day?!  Gratitude that comes from the heart--can't go wrong with that!  I think we need to tell people "thank you" and tell them often!  The stem of the paper flower is attached to the card by threading the stem through the scalloped heart. 

Supplies:  Wishes Your Way Stamp Set, Pool Party Core'dinations Cardstock, Read Red Cardstock and ink, More Amore Specialty DSP, Artisan Embellishments Kit, Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslits, Silver Glimmer Paper, Stampin' Dimensionals

This next card backs Silver Glimmer Paper behind the Paper Doily Sizzlit.  The detail of the sizzlit and the bling of the Glimmer Paper--beautiful combo!  The little tag is held onto the card with the center brad and is kind of curled up a little so it's lifted off the card front. 

Supplies used:  Wishes Your Way Stamp Set, Pink Pirouette Cardstock, Rich Razzleberry Cardstock and ink, Paper Doily Sizzlit, Silver Glimmer Paper, 3/8 White Taffeta Ribbon, Word Window and Modern Label Punches, 3/8 Basics Glimmer Brads, DSP from Razzleberry Splash Simply Scrappin' Kit, Stampin' Dimensionals

The Big Shot makes it soooo easy to cut out fabric including demin.  It took me less than 20 minutes to cut out this old pair of jeans.  Without being too careful, I was able to cut enough demin to make 6 wonderful flowers pins. 

Supplies:  Flower Folds Bigz Die, Big Shot, Silver Basic Designer Buttons, Linen Thread, demin

Isn't this little book adorable?!  Stampin' Up! showed us this at Leadership 2013 in Orlando. It is made with one sheet of 12x12 DSP.  A belly band holds it closed. 

Supplies: Made for You and Clockworks Stamp Sets, Not Quite Navy cardstock and ink, Silver Basic Designer Buttons, Marina Mist ink, Natural Trim, Parker's Patterns DSP, Very Vanilla Cardstock

Speaking of  Orlando, here's a pic/scrapbook page of Dan and me at Leadership.  It's one of those "self-portraits."  Ya know, where you hold the camera out with one hand, and take your own picture.  It's hard to do without getting your arm in the shot.  If you look closely around the photo and on the flowers, I used the white gel pen around the DSP for an extra little embellishment.  There's a few extra dots on the flowers too! 

Supplies:  Splash Simply Scrappin Kit, Uniball Signo White Gel Pen, Silver Glimmer Paper, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack

Now, I need to get some spring cleaning done, and studying for an exam on Monday!  Wishing you a very Happy Easter! Bye for now, Maria