S.T.A.R.S.--Sharing The Art of Rubber Stamping

Western Sky Ensemble--Part 4

For all you SU! Demonstrators, here's a good idea for you to use up your old-style SU! Gift Certificates & extra stock of the Large Open-End Envelopes that are now retired!  After I stamped both the envelope & the gift certificate, I sealed the envelope and trimmed off just enough of the envelope so that just a little bit of the gift certificate was showing.   

Supplies:  Stamp Set:  Wanted

Ink:  Basic Black, Ruby Red, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, River Rock

Other:  Large Open-End Envelope (now retired), Horizontal Slot Punch, Blue Bayou & River Rock Double-Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon

Even if you aren't a demonstrator, you could use this same basic idea with any envelope that you have by cutting off one of the ends and inserting your card!  Hmmm?

Now, wasn't that fun?  More SWEET stuff tomorrow!!  Erin

Western Sky Ensemble--Part 3

This great scrapbook/journal was a steal (a few years ago) at the Target Dollar Spot!   Yes, you read that right, I paid a whole dollar for this journal, but how much did I pay to spruce it up?  Inquiring minds want to know!!  I stamped the back, too, but I think you get the idea!

Supplies:

Stamp Set:  Fabulous Flowers

Ink:  Ruby Red, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, River Rock, Basic Black

Card Stock:  Whisper White (to stamp main flower image on)

Extra:  Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, & River Rock Double-Stiched Grosgrain Ribbon, Ruby Red ribbon from Ribbon Originals: Rustic Retreat (now retired),  Silver Flower Ribbon Slide from Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware from Occasions Mini, Sticky Strip to attach ribbon to front of book.

Have a super stampin' day!  Erin

Western Sky Ensemble--Part 2

Welcome back...aren't you just filled with excitement about what I'm showing you today?  Okay, maybe that's asking a little too much!  But would it have been so difficult for me to have made a duplicate of this for myself while I had the supplies out?  I guess so, because, alas, I do not have this hanging on my wall!!

Here are the supplies:

Frame:  From Wal-mart for about $3.00...oooh!

Stamp Sets:  Wanted and Headline Alphabet (now retired)

Ink Pads:  Basic Black, Ruby Red, Blue Bayou, River Rock, Soft Sky

Paper:  Western Sky Designer Series Paper

Card Stock:  Whisper White, Ruby Red, Blue Bayou, River Rock, Soft Sky

Other:  River Rock Double-Stitched Ribbon, Silver Flower Ribbon Slide & Silver Star Brads from the Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware from the Occasions Mini Catalog, Stampin' Dimensionals

Tune in tomorrow for your next installment!  Erin

Western Sky Ensemble: Sneek Peak

Hello My Stampin' Friends!  I hope you are having a FABULOUS weekend.  I have some great stuff to show you this week that I've been just itching to show you, but we are going to take it nice & slow to build the excitement!! (And I'm going to be out of town, so I'm setting up the posts tonight to be posted during the week, so I wanted to have some extra fun stuff for you to look at while I was gone!)

I made the following items for an auction for my husband's squadron (or office for you non-military types).  I had never done anything like this before, so I wasn't quite sure what to put in it.  I knew there was another SU! Demonstrator putting in a basket, so I was a little nervous!!  But, after I made all this cool stuff, I wasn't very nervous anymore.  In fact, I told myself, that if no one else bid on it, that I would...just to get all my stuff back!!  And as I was making the items, I kept thinking, I should be making extra for me, but did I? NO!!  UGH!!

I wanted there to be a somewhat coordinated look tothe basket & since this was for a military function, I thought the patriotic theme with the "Western Sky" Designer Series Paper was a smart choice.  The only items I actually purchased for this auction were the basket (which I got for $10 at Target) and the Dove chocolates in the glass bottle.  EVERTHING else I already had on hand, ready for my stamping frenzy! 

Well, here's the sneak peek! Be sure to click on the picture for a larger view.

 

Be sure to come back tomorrow for a more detailed lok at one of the items in the basket! 

Happy Sunday...Erin

Bloom Cards--Patty Bennett Style...Part 2

Here are the other cards I made after seeing Patty's Cool Bloom Card.  Same details as yesterday's post, with the following exceptions:

* Tart & Tangy stamp set & A Perfect Day Rub-Ons in the Occasions Mini Catalog, 2 inch circle punch (not SU!), 1 3/8, 1 1/4, and 1/2 circle punches, Scallop Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch

*  Ribbon for yesterday's & today's post:  Striped Grosgrain Ribbon: Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, & Bashful Blue; Old Olive 5/8 Grosgrain; Old Olive Poly Twill Ribbon

Hey, what about those Blooms Cards without the Blooms?  Well, here they are!  I just used the basic layout from my Blooms cards minus the Blooms and shifted the ribbon to the left!  That way they are a little less feminine...I think!

Don't you think this is a great, simple design for cards?  You could do the same layout with any of Stampin' Up!'s Designer Series Papers & coordinating card stocks & ribbons!  Woo-Hoo! 

Have a Stamptacular Saturday!!  Erin

Bloom Cards--Patty Bennett Style

Okay, last week I showed you the 3 cards we did for my So Cool Card Club (Don't remember? click HERE).  One thing I always like to do is to cut extra card stock so that I can make lots of cards to have on hand...I think I might have gotten carried away with my blooms card which I found on Patty Bennett's Inspiring Blog.  (Directions for the cute little leaf are at the bottom of her post about the cards.)

The base of each card is 6x6, scored at 3 inches, & then folded in half to measure: 3 x 6

Colors:  Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Old Olive, & Bashful Blue

Each piece of the Designer Series Paper: Summer Picnic (from Occasions Mini) measures: 1 3/8 x 5 3/4

It was like putting a puzzle together trying to decide which Designer Papers to put with what cardstock, and it was lots of fun!

The flower centers on these cards are made from the Stampin' Up! Build-A-Brads...sweet! I used the stamp set Little Pieces to stamp the centers.

The greetings are from the stamp sets Stem Sayings and One of a Kind.

Click on each photo to enlarge to full size!

Here's just a little closer look at one of the cards!

And here's an even closer look at all the detail of the bloom! 

Tomorrow I will show you a few more samples of the Bloom Cards & even some Bloom Cards without Blooms??  Hmmm?  How is that possible??  Come back tomorrow & you'll find out!!

Have a Bloomin' Beautiful Day!!  Erin

Yet even more Scrappin' Fun with My Little One

These are the last couple of scrapbook pages of my dear sweet little Alexander when he was just a sweet little bundle of love instead of an almost 5 year old Thomas the Train lovin' bundle of energy!!  I'll have to post some recent pages, so you can see what he looks like now!  Enjoy...Erin

More Scrappin' Fun with My Little One

Here are a couple more scrapbook pages of my little boy, Alex.  Enjoy...Erin

PS...Since you all know the great copy cat that I am, I'm sure that these page layouts were scraplifted from someone else, but since it's been quite awhile since I made these, I unfortunately don't have the original source for these...if it's you...let me know!

Scrappin' Fun with My Little One

I hope you are all having a terrific Tuesday!  I thought I'd share with you some scrapbook pages this week that I made quite awhile back, but since you haven't seen them, they are new to you!  These are some scrapbook pages of my little boy, Alex, who will be turning 5 next week! Where has the time gone?  Boo-Hoo!  Enjoy!  Erin

You can click on the above pictures to see more details of each page...if you want to that is.  Erin

Love these Blooms!!

Die-cut Blooms, Oh, how I love thee!  Let me count the ways!  On cards, on gifts, on scrapbook pages, in a vase & even in a case!!  Here are a couple of ways that I've used these gorgeous blooms! 

Blooms in a Vase!!

I've seen this idea poppin' up all over the place and knew I just HAD to make them, too!

I used the new Silver Hodgepodge Hardware from the Occasions Mini as the flower centers, Old Olive 5/8 inch grosgrain ribbon for the "leaves" and some dowels for the "stems". Also, I made "water" in the vase by running thin strips of Bashful Blue card stock through my handy-dandy crimper.

See below for closer pictures of both the front & backs.  I wanted them to be "viewable" from the back because I have them sitting on a ledge above my kitchen sink that looks into our living room.

****************************************************************************************************************************

Blooms in a Case

If you have these blooms, you know that after you start using them, keeping the rest of the 12x12 sheets intact becomes a little tricky.  I was once again sent to my craft table after I saw Lisa Martz's Cool Bloom Bunker!  It's so clever!!  Not wanting to be a complete copycat, I decided to make mine look more like a purse, and I have plans to make more of these "purses" to hold other little items like this.  I've already made one for my Felt Fusion, but you are going to have to wait for another day to see that one!  On the inside, I put each flower color in it's own medium cello bag, that I had to trim a little to fit into the case.  I also put the really small pieces in a small cello bag inside the medium cello bag.  Now go...organize your blooms!!   Erin