Sneak Peak #1

I love being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. In addition to all the great friends I get to meet and create with I love the opportunity to try out some of the great new products before they're officially for sale. Today I wanted to share with you one of the cards I made for a swap I'm in.

As a kid my family loved to celebrate the 4th of July. We would always go to the Johnson Parade (where anyone who shows up can be in the parade) and then have a family BBQ at my grandparents, which always ended in a mean game of whiffle ball. The combination of Real Red and Brilliant Blue has always been my favorite for patriotic occasions so I'll be a little sad to say goodbye to Brilliant Blue at the end of June (I'll definately be stocking up for my personal stash).

I got the idea for this card from a christmas card we made last year and I thought it would look cool to swap out the snowflakes for fireworks. I love this card, it turned out exactly like I pictured.


Stamp Set: July Fourth
Paper: Brilliant Blue, Real Red, and Whisper White
Ink: Real Red, Brillian Blue, and Bashful Blue
Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds, Clear Circle Rhinstone Brads, Large Star Punch, 1 1/4" Square Punch, 1 3/8" Square Punch

A Sympathy Wish

I love to make cards and gifts to give friends and family for happy occasions but it always seems difficult make just the right card when you need to express your feelings for those sad events. Every so often I have a customer specifically request to create cards to expand their card stash. In this case I was asked to have a sympathy card for our May Stamp-a-stack so I sat down to design a couple different options.


Stamp Set(s): Fifth Avenue Floral, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Designer Paper: Cottage Wall Designer Paper

Stamp Set(s): Bloomin' Beautiful, Teeny Tiny Wishes, En Francis

I really like how both these cards turned, especially that you can change the greeting to any specific occasion. For those of you who are able to attend next months Stamp-a-Stack we'll be making the second card so come join the fun.

Take care!

It's Raining Babies

Have you ever noticed that once you hear that someone is having a baby you find out about at least two others? And because of that I've found myself in the need for several different baby cards. I love that our designer papers are so beautiful that you can make a great looking card with very little effort.


Stamp Set: Punches Three (Retired Hostess Set)
Designer Paper: Sending Love Speciality Paper

Stamp Set(s): Animal Stories, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Designer Paper: Tall Tales Designer Paper

These are very simple cards that I know the new mom's will just love and you can whip up in a flash just in time for that next babies arrival.

Enjoy!

Personalized Stationary

So recently I received an order for custom thank you notes for a wedding shower gift. Since another part of the gift was a photo album I had also made that used Black and Silver we wanted to make the cards match. Below are two of the test cards (both use the Sweet Monogram stamp set).






This card uses Soft Sky Cardstock (Retired), Brushed Silver and Basic Black cardstock. The initial is embossed with Black embossing powder.

This card uses Baja Breeze Cardstock (I'm so excited this color is coming back next year), black cardstock, and the Bride Speciality Paper which I colored with the Baja Breeze Ink and a brayer.
The initial is once again embossed with black embossing powder.

So what do you think? We ended up going with the first sample but I think any bride would have enjoyed receiving either design. Just think change up the DSP, cardstock, and ribbon and you can make your own personalized stationary in no time that won't cost a lot!

Razzleberry Wishes!

Happy Tuesday. It seems that most people who live in the Washington Metro area long enough eventually all come to suffer from allergies, and this year seems to worse than in the past. So what started out as an irritation has now turned into a sinus infection which has completely wiped out my energy. Despite this, when I saw the sketch challenge offered to us this week by the operators over at Stamping 411 I new I had to play along.

This card really focuses on the Razzleberry Lemonade DSP which I used for three different designs for this card (not something I normally do). I started with a card base of Melon Mambo and matted the DSP on Rich Razzleberry (two In Colors I absolutely love). I used the Corner Rounder Punch on the bottom left corner of the Rich Razzleberry and DSP. I used the reverse side of the Melon Mambo Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon since the card already had a lot of patterns and added three Vintage Brads to the ribbon. A piece of Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon was wrapped around the third piece of DSP before tying in a know.

I used the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set and stamped the "get well wishes" sentiment which is highly appropriate right now.

We're going to be visiting my family next week and my mom and her friends love to buy the cards I make and seem to need a lot of get well and sympathy cards so I've been busy making several different designs for them to choose from.

This card with it's bright cheery colors is sure to brighten someone's day. Hope you enjoy and have a great week

All Awash with Flowers

Another beautiful weekend! I love that Stampin' Up! has given us an opportunity to get a peak at the new, upcoming Idea Book and Catalog with this Awash with Flowers stamp set. I received this stamp set earlier this month but I had not had a chance to ink it up but thought it would be perfect for this weeks Stamping 411 challenge.

I had a piece of Rose Red cardstock sitting on my desk from an earlier project so I decided to use it for my cardbase. The designer paper is Pawsitively Prints DSP from the Build-a-bear collection and is oh so cute. The main stamped image used the clear mounted stamps which made it very easy to line up the tops of the flowers and the stems (I did flip the stem and stamped just the bottom to be able to connect the upper flower to the stem of the bottom). Since this is a 2 step stamp I then inked the full image with the Brocade Blue, Rose Red, and Old Olive inks to quickly fill in the flower images. I added a little bling to the flowers by adding Dazzling Diamonds to accent the flower.

Once ready I matted the image on a piece of Old Olive cardstock before adding the Rose Red 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, and the greeting from the Tiny Tiny Wishes stamp set (this has quickly become my "go to" stamp set for the perfect greating.

I showed this card to this weekend and it was a big hit for it's pretty simplicity. Also, you could change the sentiment to fit any occassion.

Hope you enjoy and are able to stamp with this new stamp set soon, you'll love it!

It's a Color Renovation!

What an exciting week! Stampin' Up! announced a major revamp of its colors yesterday. We're retiring some of the lesser used and outdated shades, adding some totally new ones, as well as bringing back some best-selling In Colors (love it!), and reorganizing our color families!



These awesome new color collections will be officially released with the new Idea Book and Catalog on July 1, 2010. You can see the new color collections below if you want to get a head start on reoganizing your supplies.





You'll notice that in addition to adding 10 previously retired or current In Colors to the new color collections there are also five completely new colors. Stay tuned for more information on these new shades, including Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Cajun Craze, and Cherry Cobbler.



I was a little sad about the colors that didn't make the cut, shown above, which are retiring at the end June with this catalog, but as I've learned with the In Colors after using them you grow to love them. Having our color palette shaken up periodically is a great thing, as it keeps our style fresh and evolving. Make sure to stock up on those retiring colors for future use, and get great ready to enjoy all the great new colors.


If all this color news isn't enough there will also be changes to the In Color Program. Stay tuned for more information.



I hope you are as exciting as I am for this fresh change and all the possiblities that exist.



If you're a demonstrator you'll be able to get a sneek peak of these new colors starting in June with our preorder period. If you're not yet a demonstrator there is no better time to sign up, so contact me to become part of my team!

A Sneek Peek Special

During the month of April Stampin' Up! is providing a sneek peak at the new 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog with the Awash with Flowers stamp set. There are two great ways to get this fun new stamp set. 1) you can purchase either the wood (Item #117062, $39.95) or clear mounted set (Item #120549 , $27.95), or 2) earn the set for FREE by hosting a $350 workshop. How great is that!

Also, you have the opportunity to purchase four different garden themed stamp sets in the current catalog for 20% off. Check out the full details here!

An Easter Thank You

What a beautiful Easter! I hope you all had an enjoyable easter weekend and were able to enjoy our beautiful weather. It was so nice that spent as much time as we could outside working in the yard, relaxing, and catching up with neighbors. Yesterday one of our neighbors was nice enough to invite us over for Easter dinner (we love how great our neighbors are!). I wanted to thank them for their hospitality to I decided to whip up a quick thank you note and used this weeks Stamping 411 sketch challenge to get started.

I started with a piece of Sending Love DSP (I love this paper!) and matted on a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock. I wrapped a piece of Organza Ribbon around the paper before adhering to the Pretty in Pink card base. The stamped image is from the Picinic Parade hostess set and works perfectly for easter. I added several of the images to the clear block at once before stamping it with Chocolate Chip ink to create the scene. Then I filled it in with some of the smaller images individually. Then I used various Stampin' Write Markers to color in the scene. This piece was then matted on Barely Banana cardstock. I stamped and colored in the "thanks" from the same set and then punched it out with the Oval Punch and poped it up with Dimensionals on a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock punched out with the Scallop Oval Punch.

The last piece was 2 butterflies that had been cut out earlier and were just sitting on my desk waiting to be used that I layered on top of each other before placing them on the card.

Definately a springy card which neighbors will enjoy. Take care and have a great week!

A Sneek Peek at this Month's SAS Project

As promised we'll be making a special project for this months stamp-a-stack. On April 11 at 2:00 PM you can learn how to make this cute card wallet. It uses several different images from the Pun Fun Stamp set well as lots of watercoloring and fancy folds.


The wallet opens out and each card tag slides out of the envelope on the side. Each envelope is attached to the wallet and perforated so all you have do do is tear off an envelope and you have a cute decorated envelope, perfect for gift giving.


Who wouldn't want to receive one of these cute cards for their next birthday. Once you learn how to make these great cards you could modify them for any gift giving need.

The cost of the class is $20. Don't forget to reserve your spot in this fun class ASAP by either emailing me or responding to the individual invitations I'll be emailing out shortly.

Hope you enjoy the beautiful Easter weekend!

Brand new items over 50% off in the Clearance Rack!

You've got to head over to my shopping website NOW! Got to http://www.deichfeld.stampinup.net/ and click on SHOP NOW, then go to the Clearance Rack. There are lots of new items, including favorites like Raspberry Tart and Maine Blueberry DSP, Baja Breeze buttons, Kiwi Kiss ribbons, rubons, chipboard, and much more!

You won't believe the prices - Simply Scrappin' Kits for only $8 (regularly $20), double sided designer series paper for $3.99 a pack, ribbon for just $2.99 a roll!

The only problem is, everything is first come, first serve -- and you MUST order through my website. So head over and make sure you get the items you've been wishing you had stocked up on before they retired.

A Manly Birthday

What a crazy weekend! It's amazing how the social life of a 5 year old can be more hectic than his parents. We spent all day Saturday
running around. My birthday is tommorow so my too guys took me out to dinner to one of my favorite restaurants on Saturday (it was fabulous!) Thankfully we were able to rest a little on Sunday after one of my workshops. Since I've been make very floral cards recently I decided to work on something a little more manly for this weeks Stamping 411 challenge.

This weeks creation started with a piece of Bermuda Bay Textured Cardstock (I love that SU! offered textured cardstock in 8 1/2 x 11 size this year for the In Colors but I always seem to forget about it).

My strip is lots of layers, starting with Bermuda Bay Designer Paper, Whisper White, and Soft Suede Cardstock, and finally another piece of Whisper White that I ran through the scallop edge punch (I love this new punch!) I tied a piece of Soft Suede Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon around the layers but flipped it so the polka dots did not show.

I used the Birthday Bliss Stamp set and stamped the greeting twice, once in Soft Suede and again in Bermuda Bay Ink. Since I wanted the greeting cut close to the edge I used my Paper Snips and cut out the oval on the Soft Suede piece and the words from the Bermuda Bay. Finally I used the dimensionals to mount the greeting and make it POP.


Nice and simple, but I love the color combination. Hope you enjoy and have a great week!

One Layout, Three Different Cards

Like many demonstrators we sometimes end up with extra cardstock cut for classes and workshops. Normally I just use the extras to make up multiples of the card and add them to my card stash. For a recent workshop I had enough supplies cut to make a lot of cards so I decided to use the same layout and pieces but changed the stamp sets and occassions. The first card below is the card from the workshop and the next two are alternates.

Stamp Set(s): Good Neighbor, Whimsical Words

Stamp Set(s): Picinic Parade

Stamp Set(s): Beary Best Friends, Beary Best Wishes

This card is a favorite of Aidan's. It's a great card for a kids birthday, Aidan colors the bear for each recipient.

Enjoy!

A Flower for Mom

We're half way through another week. It's funny that as the weather gets nicer it's harder and harder to stay inside and work on projects when we can be outside soaking in the long awaiting warm weather. I definately decided to take inspiration from the spring flowers for this weeks Stamping 411 challenge.

I started with a piece of Sweet Pea DSP that was sitting on my desk and created this card around this great design. The card base is So Saffron and the the designer paper is matted on a piece of Pretty in Pink cardstock. I used a piece of Pretty in Pink Taffeta Ribbon along the right side of the card and tied a big, fat bow on top. I decided to use the Messages for Mom stamp set (I can't believe this was the first time I had inked it up). The letters are stamped with Chocolate Chip ink on So Saffron cardstock. I cut out each of the letters with Paper Snips so they could run down the side of the card and each was popped up with dimensionals. Then I used the flower stamp and stamped it with Chocolate Chip ink on Whisper White cardstock before mounting it on a piece of Old Olive cardstock. The flowers were colored in with Old Olive, So Saffron, Pretty in Pink, and Regal Rose Stampin' Write markers.

I finished the inside of the card by stamping "Happy Mother's Day" in the center in Chocolate Chip and used the flower image in the top left and bottom right corners in Old Olive.



I love how this card turned out and think any mom would love to receive it (hopefully my mom isn't looking at this post). Enjoy the rest of the week and soak up all the nice weather.

Birthday Wishes

I’m so happy that spring has finally arrived…I’ve spotted the first daffodil blooming in our front yard (whoo hoo!) This weeks Stamping 411 challenge threw me off a little but then I loved the idea of using scraps so I decided to give it a try and with only 2 weeks left in the Sale-a-bration promotion I used three different items that you can earn for free (love the freebies!).

I started with Melon Mambo for the card base and then added a piece of Pretty in Pink cardstock that I ran through the Big Shot with the SU! Perfect Details Texturz Plate. Then I picked to scraps of designer paper from the Welcome Neighbor SAB pack. I added a piece of Melon Mambo Polka Dot Grosgrain ribbon between the layers of designer paper before tying in a knot. I stamped the present image from the Happy Moments SAB Stamp set with Basic Black ink on a piece of Whisper White cardstock that was layered on top of Rich Razzleberry. I used a mix of Stampin’ Write markers to color in the packages. I also stamped the packages on another scrap of designer paper and cut it out with my Paper Snips for the middle present.

The greeting is from the Whimsical Words SAB Set and is colored in with Bermuda Bay and Melon Mambo Stampin’ Write markers and the whole thing is matted on a piece of Melon Mambo cardstock.

This is a really cute card that was fun to make and definitely matches the sunny mood we’re all feeling on this beautiful day.

Hope you enjoy.

A Sneak Peak at this Month's SAS Projects

As promised I wanted to share a sneak peak at some of the projects we'll be making at Sunday's Stamp-a-stack. This is 3 of the projects, I'm keeping the 4th as a suprise. I hope you can join us.

A Childhood Favorite

Happy start to the week, which means another Stamping 411 challenge. I was really good this weekend and worked to plan all my projects for next weekends stamp-a-stack and I almost ran out of time before I had to leave for a business trip on Sunday afternoon. I initially tried to use this weeks challenge for one of our project cards but it just wasn't working but I woke up Sunday morning and thought that the new Something Sweet stamp set would be perfect for this sketch.

This was the first time I used this stamp set and it just screamed BOLD Brights. I started with a piece of Real Red Cardstock and used the Corner Rounder Punch on just the top left and bottom right corners (this corner punching will be repeated on each piece of cardstock on the card). Then I took a piece of Gable Green Cardstock and ran it through the Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dot Textured Folder.

The main image is stamped with Real Red ink on Whisper White cardstock. The clear mounted Something Sweet stamp set is perfect for making sure all the pieces lined up (I actually mounted both pieces of the gumball machine to one block and just stamped once. Then I stamped the circle image on a seperate piece of cardstock before randomly stamping the gumballs with Real Red, Gable Green, Lovely Lilac, and Brilliant Blue ink (some were double stamped so they had different levels of color) and punched it out with the 1 3/4" Circle punch. Then I stamped some more gumballs on a scrap of paper and used the 1/2" Circle punch to punch them out before attaching them with SNAIL and dimensionals. This completed image was then mounted on a piece of Brilliant Blue cardstock. Before adhering the piece to the card I added a piece of yummy Real Red statin ribbon (love it!)

Finally the greating is stamped in Lovely Lilac and punched out with the Modern Label punch. I sponged the edges with Billiant Blue ink before using dimensionals to mount the greating to the card.



Cute and easy card, perfect for kids birthday (or the kid in all of us!).

Hope you have a great week and check back tomorrow for a preview of some of our upcoming stamp-a-stack projects (there's still time to RSVP).

Haitan Relief Efforts

I am so pleased to hear that worldwide a totoal of 13,587 I "Heart" Hearts stamp set were purchased through Stampin' Up demonstrators in the allotted timeframe and that more than $27,000 will be donated by Stampin' Up! to the American Red Cross as a result. Thanks so much to everyone who purchased the set, The people of Haiti are going to need continued aid and support and every little bit helps. Thanks!

Don't Throw Out Those Scraps!

My February Stamp-a-stack was on Valentine's day so I made each of the ladies a little candy box with the Bitty Box and Envelope Big Shot XL Die (a Stampin' Up exclusive!) I used Heart to Heart punch to punch windows in the top that I covered with a transparency sheet (too cute!) Anyway, I lots of little harts from the punches and instead of throwing away all the little pieces I saved them. As I was cleaning my desk I ran across them and knew I need to finish the card before I lost them.

For the card I just ran a piece of Real Red cardstock through the Big Shot with the Scallop Envelope Die and then ran the cut out through the Big Shot again, this time with the Perfect Polka Dot Texture Folder. Then I used Sticky Strip to seal the sides of the card and attach it to the card before filling it with all the hearts spilling out of the top. The greating is from the Well Scripted stamp set.

Pretty cute, and a great way to use all the little punched out pieces you hate to throw away!

Hoppy Easter!

We've had a very productive weekend. We have a huge christmas village that we put up on the plant ledge in our foyer and since I'm afraid of hights I'm at my husbands mercy to take it down. So this weekend we packed up the the village as well as the valentine's decorations. At the same time I put out the easter decorations so I'm definately embracing the easter season as the snow slowly is melting away. When I saw this weeks Stamping 411 challenge, I thought "What a great challenge!"



One of my favorite stamp sets from the mini catalog is Chocolate Bunny, maybe because it reminds me of my favorite food group, chocolate! I started with a piece of Orchid Opulence for the cardbase. I used the Shades of Spring DSP (the green strip kind of reminds me of grass) and matted it on a piece of So Saffron cardstock. A piece of Pretty in Pink Taffeta Ribbon was wrapped around the DSP and tied in a knot before adhering it to the cardbase. Then I stamped the Chocolate Bunny on Close to Cocoa cardstock with Chocolate Chip ink before cutting it out with Paper Snips. The easter eggs wer cut out of the same DSP pack with the small oval punch. The bunny is mounted with dimensionals so it pops.

Finally, the greating is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set and stamped with Chocolate Chip ink.


Nice and simple and sure to get you ready for spring. Have a great week!