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Register NOW for Jingle Mingle Stamp Camp!

Posted: Saturday, September 17th, 2011 | Comments (0)

Saturday, September 17th, 2011

Had a break from posting for a bit as we went on vacation to Siesta Key! And it was paradise! We had a lovely, restful time despite a few rainy days and still managed to come home with sunburns.

Thought I’d put one more plug in for my upcoming Jingle Mingle stamp camp next Saturday. Aren’t all these planned projects fab?

Here’s the class details:

Get a jump start your holiday season and mood with make & takes, games, nibbles, displays, fun festivities and friends!

It’s the debut of the awesome products from the fantastic Holiday Mini catalog and you won’t want to miss it!

Create 5 projects that you can use for the upcoming Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.(See close up photos below)
Discover different ways to use mica flakes in your paper crafting and scrapbooking projects
Delight in the ease of creating shaker accents with our Shaker Frames and take home some extras!
Marvel at the new products at the "Try It" station like the new Simply Scored, the Big Shot Letter Press plates and much more!
Be inspired by all the holiday project displays and decorations!
Check out upcoming class projects and sign up for bonus offerings for registering early.
Play The Grinch Who Stole Christmas Scavenger Hunt, Ho Ho Ho Bingo and Rockin’ the Stocking games for prizes!
And walk away with some door prizes and the new mica flakes and shaker frames included in the price of admission.

I can’t wait for you to jingle, mingle and stamp until you cramp! Sign up today!

Our Price:

$25 includes food, product, fun, games and prizes
Register at

http://2011jinglemingle.eventbrite.com

Last chance to register is TODAY! But, always call just in case. We may have an extra packet just for you!

Five camp projects include:

Blessings Mix box creatively using a new envelope die, including recipe card and ingredients to make a small sampling of the mix. Makes a great gift!
Stocking Shaped card with our new stocking die (thanks to my friend Lisa for this fab project!)
Pines & Poinsettia Shaker card using our new Mica Flakes
Sparkly fun 3×3 note cards or tags using the new Stocking punch and silver glitter paper
And a Jolly Holiday Mini Photo book decked out by our festive Mica Flakes.

Don’t forget, a generous jar of Mica Flakes and extra shaker card supplies are included in the class!

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Pearly Snow Swirled Beauty

Posted: Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 | Comments (8)

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

Hi there stampin’ pals!

Figured I was way overdue for some more Christmas ideas. I mean, after all we only have 39 more days until Christmas!! Aaaccckk can you believe it?

Wanted to show you a second version of the Faux Mother of Pearl technique card I had to create in a pinch. These were made from the same materials pack from the card I posted here (http://stampvamps.com/?p=963) using Angelic Joy and the same technique! One of my groups didn’t want angels or any religious style holiday card so this is what I came up with:

What you can’t really tell from this picture is just how pearly it is and how striking the Light Blue rhinestone brad on the embossed snowflake (from the Northern Flurries Embossing folder) and the Basic Rhinestones on the tree just make this card a ooohhh-la-la-la-OMG-Wow! card. And, could you picture this as an element on a scrapbook page? Your scrappin’ friends would go NUTS!

The color scheme is so simple with the Baja Breeze stamped tree with the Pacific Point over-stamped twinkles (hard to see the contrast here), making this a pretty quick card if it weren’t for the technique.

I absolutely LOVE the Snow Swirled stamp and am wondering if we’ll be able to enjoy it again next Christmas or will it retire? So, if you like this set, you may want to get it now and use it this season, just in case it goes away in July 2011!

Here’s what I used:

8 1/2 x 5 1/2 Baja Breeze Card stock
5 1/4 x 4 Glossy Card Stock
3 1/4 x 1 3/4 Glossy Card Stock
3 1/2 x 2 Baja Breeze Card Stock
White Shimmer Paint (116854 $5.95)
Northern Flurry Embossing Folder (120902 $7.95)
Northern Frost Decorative Strip (120901 $21.95)
Basic Rhinestones Jewels (119246 $4.95) Did you know you get 150 self-stick rhinestones for that price? A STEAL I SAY!
Circle Ice Rhinestone brads (109111 $10.95)
Snow Swirled Stamp Set (111690 $24.95) Only available in wood
Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine (113439) $99.95

Hope you get to try this technique soon. It really is a stunner and so very EASY!

*TIMESAVER: Just think you could do a whole sheet of glossy card stock at once and then cut it to the size you want to save time!

Until next time, go stamp somethin’!

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Fang-tastic Goblin Greetings!

Posted: Saturday, October 30th, 2010 | Comments (0)

Saturday, October 30th, 2010

Happy Halloween from the Coughlin household!

Here’s the last of my shares for Halloween! I have to say, from the Wicked Fun designer paper, Spider Web embossing folder, Fang-tastic, Wicked Cool and Paisley stamp sets to the awesome accessories like waffle paper, glimmer brads and bat punch, Stampin’ Up! didn’t disappoint us this Halloween season. My only wish is that I had more time to do some of the awesome projects I had in my head!

But, here’s two of my favorite cards:

First up is this beauty created by my awesome upline, Susy Miller for my Holiday Mini catalog swap. She made great use of the waffle paper and Wicked Cool Designer paper but my FAVORITE was how she took the bat from the Fang-tastic stamp set and just glittered his wings with orange glitter after stamping it on a Window Sheet! What you can’t see very well here is the internal backdrop of the Spider Web embossing folder highlighted in white ink. WOW!! WOW!! WOW! Awesome card!

This next card is one I created with the Paisley Prints class. It was my intent to offer this class up for sale but I never got my act together and now I fear it isn’t timely anymore. Perhaps I’ll share the rest of the cards in the following weeks. This stamp set is so versatile as you can cover so many holidays and occasions. Not to mention–paisley is all the rage right now! We even have a coordinating Stampin’ Around wheel to go with it!

I think I like the fact that the paisley pumpkin was turned into a spooky jack o’lantern using the Pumpkin Faces Sizzlit in the catalog. By highlighting these black face accents with stitching details from our white gel pen, I was able to give this card the right amount of pop to make it work. Of course, that awesome Spider Web embossing folder was a major WOW! highlight. The bat punch was a nice final touch, don’t you think?

Well, I hope you have a "wicked" fun Halloween! Now where’s those Snicker bars I bought for the Treaters? It’s time to feed the boss some chocolate for posting this Fang-tastic Goblin Greeting!

Chow! (yes as in eat — not Caio! Ha!)

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Bribe the Boss with the Wicked Witchy Box

Posted: Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 | Comments (1)

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Almost done sharing Halloween projects from the last couple months! Just a couple more to share in the next couple days to get you in the mood for the ghost and goblin invasion! Sorry about the poor quality photo here…just don’t have time to retake it and I’ve edited it to the best of my ability.

This project is a box bottom wrapped around with a card cut from the Big Shot Movers and Shapers die. Real easy to do!. I stamped the spider web on a Window Sheet and stuck it in the opening. The spooky bats were made with a technique called Reverse Pastels. All you have to do is sponge some white chalk on the black card stock. Next you ink up the bat stamp with Versamark ink and stamp it over your chalked area. WAHOO–it removes the white chalk and leaves the bat design behind!

For some reason, I always bring my chalks out around this time of year to do Reverse Pastels and Poppin’ Pastels techniques. Don’t ask me why! There’s also three small ovals punched out and overlapped here to make a pumpkin. SO cute!

Another thing I’d like to point out is the fun silver waffle paper sticking out above the Wicked Fun striped designer paper at the bottom of the box. I’m digging this stuff!

This silver accent makes me want to fill up the box with chocolate Kisses, dontcha think? Mmmm….now who should I give it to? (I hear a lot of "Me…me….ooohhh…ooohhh…send it to me…." out there! ha haha! Ahh…so maybe I’ll just keep it myself and it will be my secret stash. Mmm…maybe I could call it my "Bribe the witch box" to keep the boss (me ) from getting grumpy! Good plan?

Great plan!

Happy Halloween!

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Wicked Cool — It’s In the Bag!

Posted: Sunday, October 17th, 2010 | Comments (0)

Sunday, October 17th, 2010

Late last month I had a class I called the "Spook-tacular Boutique" and those who signed up could select the Wicked Cool or Fang-tastic to use with their projects. The next few posts will share what we completed in class.

One of the favorites, and the most time-consuming, was a mini bag book created from two of the 3 1/2 x 2 1/4 x 6 5/8" Mini Lunch Sacks available on p. 13 of the Holiday Mini catalog (121031 $4.95 for 10). It’s the perfect size to highlight Halloween photos, don’t you think?

This project was loaded with some of the new products in the mini including the Basic Black Waffle paper, Black Flourish Jewels, 1/2" Raven Lace trim and Glimmer Brads.

I also through in the Wicked Fun Designer paper, Bitty Bat punchy, Thick Window Sheets, Brights and Neutrals Designer Buttons and Black 1 1/4" Striped ribbon from the current catalog/idea book to give it the fun look I was aiming at.

As you can see, Cajun Craze was my card stock color of choice for the pages and the waffle paper was used for photo mats and side borders to give it a spooky touch!

What’s pretty evident here is the black lace tucked under the Designer Paper but what isn’t is the coolest effect of the whole book. I took a piece of our thick window sheet and ran it through the Big Shot with our Spider Web Textured Impressions Embossing folder. WOW! Quite an effect and everyone loved it. It kinda had the effect of an acrylic book and it can be used to mount a photo on as long as they are the same size front and back and overlapped each other.

The book was pretty thick with the extra thicknesses of the bag bottom and the window sheet added in but the crop-a-dile cut through it like butter!

To bind the book, I "finished" the front and back card stock pieces of the book with Jumbo Eyelets and then thread the 1 1/4" thick black striped ribbon through each end to tie in the front. Some added lace to make the finished book frilly but fun! Of course, I didn’t like the striped ribbon all fancified so I started shredding it with my fingers until it was more fringe then ribbon and I was finally satisfied!

Kinda cool when you think it all started with two mini lunch sacks! Stay tuned tomorrow for some more projects from last month’s Spooktacular Boo-tique!

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Breathless Over Pearlized Angelic Joy

Posted: Thursday, October 7th, 2010 | Comments (4)

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

Oh my Gosh! This technique is so beautiful and so easy. Wait until you see! I’d taught it several years ago and ran across an old card that used it while cleaning up my garage this past weekend and thought it was time to bring it back again!

Faux Mother of Pearl and the Angelic Joy stamp set ended up being a perfect combination. I will confess that I wasn’t totally sold on the Angelic Joy stamp set (available for a limited time in our Holiday Mini catalog) until I read the greetings and realized that it could be used for a Holiday card and a SYMPATHY card!

Here’s the greeting in the stamp set that got me: "Angels are that unseen presence, watching over us through joy or grief and whispering to our hearts of God’s love." You can check it out by clicking on the Holiday Mini catalog shown in the right-hand sidebar.

Doesn’t it just take your breath away? If you look real close, you might be able to see how I also painted the angel wings and the dove she is holding with the Shimmer Paint,. Ooo La La! The Faux Mother of Pearl technique uses the White Shimmer paint on Glossy card stock:

Faux Mother of Pearl Technique:

1) Scrunch up a piece of plastic wrap and dip it into a little Shimmer Paint that is in the cap of your jar.

2) Tap the Shimmer Paint coated plastic wrap all over a 4 x 5 1/4" piece of glossy card stock and let dry. A little paint goes a long way!

3) Once the paint is dry (should only take a couple minutes), sponge a light colored ink sparsely around the shimmer painted glossy card stock to give it a touch of color.

Wa la! You’ve got Faux Mother of Pearl. Here’s a close up of the piece I did and then ran through the Northern Flurry Textured Embossing folder to deboss it:

Can you see all the shimmer?

This is one of my very favorite cards I’ve done in a long time!

Here’s what was used:

Stamp set:

Angelic Joy Wood (120849) $16.95 Clear (121172) $12.95

Card Stock:

Whisper White (100730) $8.50

Bashful Blue (105120) $6.95

Ink:

Bashful Blue Classic Ink pad (105209) $5.95
Basic Gray Classic Ink pad (109120) $5.95

Accessories:

Metallic Silver Waffle paper (120984) $9.95 (comes with 2 rolls - silver and gold)
Northern Flurry Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (120902) $7.95
White Shimmer paint (116854) $5.95
Glimmer Basic brads (Silver was used) (121003) $4.95
Northern Frost Decorative Strip die (120901) $21.95
Bashful Blue marker (105111) $3.50
So Saffron marker (105114) $3.50
Ticket Corner punch (119867) $6.95

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Cherry Cobbler & Christmas Collage

Posted: Wednesday, October 6th, 2010 | Comments (2)

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

Happy Fall, ya’ll! Been crazy busy around here but I think I might be getting caught up around here! I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel anyway. It’s a teeny tiny speck right now . . .

Anyway, I have just finished the designs for my Technique Freaks class next week (for those who are interested Technique Freaks class is next Tues., Oct. 12 from 10 am to 12:30 pm OR 6:30 to 9 pm) and thought I’d share one with you today. And, if you are good lil’ stampers, I might even share some more this week. I know…I know…posting twice in one week….I heard that collective GASP of shock! ha ha ha!

This card is one that I did for a workshop last week using Smooch Spritz. I tried several times to get the beauty of it on camera–but I couldn’t quite capture the pearly glow so you’ll have to trust me when I say it is really pretty:

The gals at my Spring Hill workshop really liked this card. I just started working with this group and they’ve been stamping for awhile so I always sweat what I’m going to do. Their big smiles and ooooh’s and aaaaah’s were my reward this time and it made me feel so good that I was able to teach them a few tricks along the way.

Three pearls were used across each of the bell images to add pizzaz. I discovered the color combination while I was watercoloring the bells from the Bells and Boughs stamp set (this will be a the featured stamp set in my Whole Shebang class next month. You can check out my class offerings by going to http://www.eventbrite.com/rss/user_list_events/35282259) with Cherry Cobbler. The lighter version that was coming out was very similar to Blushing Bride so I thought: "Mmmm, what if I stamped the Christmas Collage background stamp in Cherry Cobbler on Blushing Bride card stock?" WOW! Really, really pretty! Here’s the recipe:

Stamps:

Bells & Boughs 120831 Wood ($19.95) 121142 Clear ($14.95)

Christmas Collage 121279 Wood ($17.95)

Card Stock:

Cherry Cobbler 119685 ($6.95)

Blushing Bride 119796 ($6.95)

Always Artichoke 105119 ($6.95)

Inks:

Cherry Cobbler Classic pad 119669 ($5.95)

Blushing Bride Classic pad 119786 ($5.95)

Always Artichoke Classic pad 105219 ($5.95)

Whisper White Craft pad (for greeting) 101731 ($7.50)

Accessories:

Blender pen 120845 ($9.95 for 3)

Scallop Oval punch 119856 ($16.95)

Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding 120992 ($6.95 for 10 yards)

2 3/8 Scallop Circle punch 118874 ($16.95)

1 3/4 Extra Large Circle punch 119850 ($16.95)

Have a fabulous stampin’ day!

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One Sheet Wonder Tropical Treat

Posted: Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 | Comments (2)

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

When I first set eyes on the Paradise stamp set when the Stampin’ Up! Idea Book and Catalog came out in July, I exclaimed with delight! Fun tropical sets for us Floridians are hard to find and this one fit the bill BIG TIME!! After I began using it in my classes and workshops, many of my customers have said that they hadn’t given the set a second thought. BLASPHEMY I SAY! But, aahhh…I have changed their minds. Lookie:

I came up with these beauties when I thought it would be cool to offer up a set of cards as an Emergency Card kit gift in these Olive Cigar Boxes I’d purchased 4 years ago and never used. Most of the customers made the kit as a gift for THEMSELVES! They are refusing to give them away, ha ha ha! Here’s what the decorated cigar box looks like (I kept it simple so it wouldn’t take forever to make all 6 cards and the box and their coordinating envelopes and tissue):

As you can see, all the cards and cigar box have a consistent design because I just stamped a piece of Vanilla Card stock randomly with all the leaves in either Old Olive, More Mustard and Elegant Eggplant. I added burnished color with the Certainly Celery ink and a stamping sponge quarter. I then cut the pieces according to a grid I created so we could have 6 pieces for the cards and a big piece for the box. ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS in person!

Here’s the box open with the stamped tissue lining which made it feel even more special:

Want to see each of the cards close up?
Sure you do!

Used the Rock and Roll technique on one of the leaves if you’re wondering!

Nice pocket card, aye?

I sold out of all my Cigar Boxes (had 10 of them and I’m wishing I had more to make some gifts of my own. Someone special’s going to get this one.

Well, gonna go and finish reading the last book of the Twilight series. Ahhh….I’m obsessed! ) TAH!

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Light Up the Holidays!

Posted: Saturday, November 21st, 2009 | Comments (0)

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

Light up your holidays with this simple but elegant project. And I think the dazzle of this project comes from two things:

1) The beautiful Rich Razzleberry ink and coordinating ribbon

2) The Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the dove.

If you haven’t ever stamped on candles OR just haven’t done it in a long time–you’re gonna get addicted again. Especially when you can create an elegant gift for peanuts in these tough economic times.

All I did was take a 3" pillar candle from Walmart (a little over a buck), stamp in Rich Razzleberry ink on tissue with this lovely stamp from the Gifts of Christmas stamp set. Cut out the image and lightly glue it to the candle with a glue pen. Slowly (and I mean SLOOOWWWLLLLYYY!) heat up the image on the candle with a heat gun until it starts to "sweat" or "glisten" as the wax starts to melt. The tissue will soak up the SLOW melting wax and disappear like MAGIC! Once you see all the tissue disappear–you are DONE! Wrap a coordinating ribbon (I used the reverse side of the Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot ribbon) and add some glitter and you are done in less than 15 minutes!

Hope you’re able to get to some homemade holiday gifts this year! I know I’ll be making some more of these. I think our awesome regular server at our local Friday’s Restaurant will be getting this one! )

Ahh…the Saturday house vacuuming and class set up for this afternoon is calling my name. Thanks for stopping by! Taa!

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Paper Crafting Fall Fun in Florida

Posted: Thursday, November 5th, 2009 | Comments (0)

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

I know, I know…this is the 2nd post in a row with leaves.

But you gotta understand–this is the only way I’ll ever see Fall! When you’ve grown up your entire life in the beautiful Sunshine State of Florida, the changing of the leaves is a novelty…something you see in postcards or when you go on a Fall vacation.

So indulge me!

This card features another technique from my Oct. Technique Freaks class called Water Color Resist. Don’t you just love how these colors go together. It’s because these colors are in that beautiful Autumn Meadows Designer Series paper. Stunning…I tell you! I would have never put Taken with Teal in a Fall color combo but it sure makes you go WOW!, doesn’t it? Stampin’ Up! just makes creating beautiful things so EASY!

Of course, they are no dummy–they also developed the gorgeous Autumn Splendor stamp set to go with the paper. Or was it the paper to go with the stamp set? Ahh…who cares? It’s just plain yummy!

Okay, okay–I’ll get to the technique–geesh! You don’t have to nag.

Here, I just stamped and embossed the leaves with black pigment ink and black embossing powder on watercolor paper. Then, I just picked up drops of Taken with Teal, Dusty Durango, More Mustard and Ruby Red re-inkers with my Aquapainter and randomly distributed the colors on the water color paper to create this montage. In some areas I used more water than others–almost creating a wash.

I personally think that this stamp set is one of the best SU! has produced in the 10 1/2 years I’ve been a demonstrator. And believe me, I’ve owned every one! ) (The novelty of Fall–remember?) Check it out:

116503 Autumn Splendor $20.95

116769 Autumn Meadows Designer paper $9.95 – 12 sheets: 2 ea. of 6 double-sided designs 12×12

Well, gotta run. Gonna go have some fun at a morning workshop and need to load up the goods! Don’t you wish you could come with me? I know you do! Guess I gotta go have some f un without you! TA!

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