Choose Happiness

What do they say?  Nothing new under the sun.  What's old is new again.  Hold onto something long enough, and it will come back in style.  What are some you can think of?  

Remember how stencils used to be all the rage in the 90's? Stencils are back, but now they're called Decorative Masks.  They're still stencils, but much cooler!  

Here, I used Dots & Stripes Decorative Mask with a Sponge Dauber.  Gently tap the ink pad with the dauber, and swipe the ink through the mask onto your cardstock.  

Supplies used:

Choose Happiness Stamp Set

Naturals Ivory Cardstock

Dots & Stripes Decorative Masks

Doilies, White Baker's Twine

Bermuda Bay Ink

Sponge Daubers

Big Shot with the Chalk Talk Framelits

Happy Stamping!

Bye for now, Maria

December Stamp Club: No Peeking Gift Bag

Is it Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas?  For me, it's Merry Christmas, but I do not like Christmas getting lumped together with Thanksgiving.  I want to celebrate two separate and distinct holidays!!! I'm always so sad when I see people take down their decorations and put the Christmas tree at the curb on December 26th!!  I want to savor the Christmas holiday just a little longer!

December's Club project was this darling little gift bag.  I like to keep plain white and kraft gift bags on hand.  They're neutral for any occasion, and are just begging for decorating!

The DSP is from the Trim the Tree Stack.  No need for cutting.  Just tear a sheet from the stack and attach to the front and back of your gift bag.  

Supplies used:  

Christmas Taggables (check the Clearance Rack section)

Cherry Cobbler Sheer Linen Ribbon, Ink

Whisper White Cardstock, Garden Green Cardstock, Trim the Tree DSP Stack

Label Bracket Punch

Big Shot with Chalk Talk Framelits

Regardless of how you celebrate the holidays this time of year, I want to wish you the merriest of merry for this holiday season and best wishes for 2015!  Bye for now, Maria

Throwback Thursday: Watercolor Thank You

I'm really "throwing it back" with these cards.  The parchment style cardstock and rainbow ink pads are from years ago--been hoarding them for a looooonnnnnnnggggg time.  Stampin' Up! used to sell the ink pads when I first became a demonstrator.  Today, I dug out a bunch of supplies that have been sitting around literally collecting dust.  

The stamp is called Watercolor Thank You, and is sold all by itself.  

You can do this technique with any of our Classic Ink Pads.   

After stamping, drag an Aqua Painter (filled with water, of course) over the image.  Use enough water to "pull" the color, but not too much you turn the cardstock back into pulp, which is what I usually do because I squeeze the barrel of the aqua painter way too hard--hold my pencil to tight too!!!

On the autumn thank you, I added a dotted outline with a gold paint pen.  I added dots to the blue thank you with a white gel pen, but it's hard to see in the photo.  

To finish the card, I added ribbon, turned up one of the corners, and added a leaf die cut from the Autumn Accents Bigz die.  

Supplies used:

Watercolor Thank You Stamp

Aqua Painter

Big Shot with the Autumn Accents Bigz Die

White Gel Pen

Silver Glimmer Paper

DSP shown on the Autumn card--retired and name unknown

Non-Stampin' Up! supplies used:

Gold Paint Pen

Parchment Cardstock

Rainbow Ink Pads

Get those supplies out.  Try a new technique.  Happy Stamping!  Bye for now, Maria