Stamping & Scrapping with Jen

Virtual Clubs are All the Rage!!

Here is one of the cards we made for Club this month.  (I had posted a sample earlier this month that looked similar to this, but I changed it a little bit.)  Can you tell the difference?

Anyway, this was one of the cards that all my Virtual Clubbers received a video tutorial on this month!  My in-person clubbers got to make this card, but my lucky Virtual CLubbers receive TWO exclusive FREE video tutorials every month!!

If you are interested in more information about my Virtual club, click here.  You can join the rest of my crazy Virtual Clubbers!!

Bordering on Romance Card

Do you love this stamp set, Bordering on Romance?  There are just way too many things I want to do with it!  It can be stamped in black and colored in, or stamped in a color, or used a background or as a focal point! And the fact that it comes with coordinating Big Shot Accessories - like the Edgelits Dies and the Textured Impressions Embossing Folders is even more awesome!!!  All these products can be found in the Occasions Mini Catalog.

So in this card, I kept things simple.  I used the one large floral image to create a black & white background.  Then I stamped it again on a scrap piece of Whisper White cardstock and colored it in with markers.  I cut that image out and popped it up on a couple Dimensionals and created a focal point.

My very trusted Teeny Tiny wishes and the Word Window and Modern Label punches created an easy greeting. And the nice thing about that is it is so easy to switch out the grreting and make it something else.  So this card could be just as easily a birthday, thank you, sympathy, friend, thank you, Mother's Day etc.

Supplies used for this card were:

Stamps: Bordering on Romance, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Cardstock: So Saffron, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink: Jet Black StazOn
Accessories: So Saffron, Melon Mambo, & Wild Wasabi Markers, Word Window & Modern Label Punches, Stampin' Dimensionals

In the next few days, I'm going to really start my training again for a few half-marathons I am planning on running later this spring.  I had a really great run this morning and another one this past Saturday, so I am hoping I can stay healthy and keep gaining momentum and be in great shape to run the 13.1s!!!  This Sunday I signed up for a SuperBowl 4-Miler.  It should be just a fun run - I haven't decided if I was going to "race" it.  It will be the last race I run in the 35-39 age bracket. :(  In two weeks, I'll be moving up.

Watch for more on my running.  I am going to have you help me stay accountable, so I might post every time I run just so I know I am hitting my goals!  Oh, and speaking of goals, I am hoping to run 1,200 miles this year - that's 100 miles/month.  I am at 83 miles since January 1, so I am a little behind, but I expect to have many weeks of 30+ miles, so I know I will catch up.  January is a maintenance month, so considering that, I think I'm in good shape! (Last January I only ran 45 miles, so I am way ahead of that!!)

I hope you enjoyed today's card sample with the Bordering on Romance stamp set.  Expect to see more samples with that set coming in the near future!

 

It's Sale-a-Bration Time!

Today is the FIRST day of Sale-a-Bration!!!  Have you seen the new Sale-a-Bration catalog?  There are MANY cute exclusive stamp sets inside AND many catalog products that can be "redeemed" as your free Sale-a-Bration items!  Things like fabric, embossing folders, buttons, stamps, and MORE!  It's a great time to make your purchases because for EVERY $50 you order, you can select one item!!

And if you are a hostess, you get even more bonuses!  You'll earn all the same benefits as a customer for your orders, PLUS receive a free shopping tote, and an exclusive hostess bundle when your workshop is $400 or more.  All this is on top of the regular hostess benefits!!!

And if that is not enough, it is also a great time to be a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator!!  YOu can join Stampin' Up! for the low investment of $125 and you'll receive a starter kit to help you get your business off the ground!  You will also receive a free pack of DSP or a free download every month for the rest of the year that you place an order!!  Awesome deal, right???

Without further ado, I wanted to share a sample with you!  This card uses the Elementary ELegance stamp set, which can be yours FREE with a $50 purchase!!!

Stamps: Elementary Elegance
Cardstock: Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder
Ink: Pool Party, Calypso Coral, and Wisteria Wonder
Accessoreis: Curly Label Punch, Pool Party 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon

Will this be the FREE set you select when you place your Sale-a-Bration order??

My Digital Studio: Christmas Card

I decided to make my Christmas cards this year with My Digital Studio.  I actually created two different cards.  One was for my family who got a photo of my kids and our annual update which my husband very cleverly writes.  Every year I DREAD taking the photo of my girls.  It's usually torture!!!  However, this past year, I'm not sure if it was because they were older or because they just think they are supermodels, but they were actually EXCITED to pose for the picture and have their little photo shoot.  It was BY FAR the easiest year ever to get a good one!! 

So here is what we picked.

I look at that photo and I don't know WHO those big kids are!! Surely that couldn't be MINE, right?????  But whoever they are, I think they are adorable, and I sure do love them to pieces!!!

So next year, consider using My Digital Studio for your holiday cards - it made things a lot easier - and I was really happy with the quality and ease of them!!!

10 Card Class - Next Tuesday 1/24

Here is a sneak peek of one of the cards from my 10 Card Class next Tuesday.  I still have room in the class (there is a morning session at 10:30 and an evening one at 7:00 - there is more room in the evening class).

If you would like to sign up for the class, please click here.

This card uses the Outlined Occasions stamp set from the Sale-a-Bration catalog.  If you are not familiar with Sale-a-Bration, prepare to fall in love!!!!  All the stamps that are part of the promotion are FREE!!  You just spend $50 in other merchandise, and this stamp set (or any one of the other options) is your FREE!!!!!!  This promotion begins next Tuesday, so this class will also be a Sale-a-Bration kick off!!

Here is a full photo of the card.

I'd love to see you next week!!

Packed for Birthday - Club Card

Here is a sneak peek for all my clubbers this month - a card created with the Packed for Birthday stamp!!!

I had some great intentions of getting some stamping done yesterday, but ended up with a sick kid home with me. :(  Needless to say, I wasn't as productive as I wanted to be, but I did get to give lots of love to my little girl.  One doctor's visit and a prescription for antibiotics later and I had no cards made.  Luckily, Pam, my fabulous assistant was coming over and I knew she could help!  I told her what I wanted and she created a bunch of cards for me for upcoming events!

The first one I will show you will be one of the club cards for this month.  If you join my Virtual Club, you will get an exclusive video tutorial on this project!!  If you are in my "traditional" in-person Stamp Club, you will be creating this card on January 26!

Last week I used the Packed for Baby stamp set and you can see that sample here.  Both these stamps are sold individually and as a set with two others.  (You can save a little money if you buy all 4!!)

Hope you enjoyed today's sample!  See you tomorrow!

Packed for Baby Card

Here is a baby card made with LOTS of new items from the Occasions Mini Catalog: stamps, embossing folders, and Designer Series Paper!  It was a project in my December's Technique Tuesday Class, which was actually held TODAY.  (I know, weird, but it's true.)

In case you don't have your own copy of the Occasions Mini (it came in the mail a few days before Christmas - so if your house is like mine, it may be in a pile somewhere!!!), you may not know that as of YESTERDAY you can order out of it!!!  To place your order for any of these items or anything else, you can click on my Online Store.

This technique was Pencil Bleeding, where you stamp an outline stamp in Jet Black StazOn ink and use the Watercolor Pencils to outline part of the image.  Then blend or bleed the color toward the middle of the image with a Blender Pen.  In this sample, I used the same color, which resulted in a monochromatic color scheme.

Some of the products used here were the Packed for Baby stamp set (#125672), which you can purchase on its own for $9.95 or in a bundle (#127337) with 3 other similar stamps (Packed for Birthday (#125746), Packed for Dad (#125452), and Packed for Mom (#125450)) for $29.95.  I also used the new Twitterpated Designer Series Paper (#125406), which has a great palette of colors for Valentine's Day and springtime.  And finally, I used one of the new embossing folders, Adorning Accents for the detail at the bottom of the card.

Other supplies on the card include:

• Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, and Basic Gray cardstock
• Fabulous Phrases stamp set
• Basic Gray and Jet Black StazOn ink pads
• Stampin' Dimensionals

It felt good to get back to some stamping, so I'm happy to report I already have more samples to share!  Be sure to come back soon!

Hanging onto Fall...

I went for a run this morning at 6:00AM.  It was 19 degrees.  The coldest run so far this year, but it's going to get worse!!  I want to hang on to fall for as long as I can (3 days to go!!!).

I had made a few of these cards a couple weeks ago and then I actually put them in the mail!! 

I was just talking to a friend and I was saying that in 2012, I want to put "Pay It Forward" into practice, and one of the things I'd like to do is make and mail more handmade cards - or even just some hand-written notes.  No one does that anymore!!  (And the poor post office is suffering from it too.)

My daughter's fourth grade class did an assembly last week for their whole school and it was somehow related to paying it forward and it got me thinking - what if everyone did something simple yet extraordinary every single day - heck even once a week!!!  Don't you think that could make the world a better place???  At the very least, SOMEONE would know they were thought about that day.

This all sounded familiar to me, so I looked back at my posts from very early this year and I found this: New Year's Paper Crafting Resolutions. I didn't do so well.  :(  I guess I was able to do a few things - maybe slightly more than normal, but I failed miserably compared to what I wanted to do.

2012 is a new year.  I want to do better; hopefully I can.  And to make it a little easier on me, although I would like to think that a handmade card is (one of) the BEST things I could do, I have to remember that sometimes just a phone call is enough to make someone's day.  If I am really going to attempt this, I need to make it easy.  Easy & simple, yet extraordinary.  Pay it forward.

 

A Special Birthday Card

With the excitement of Thanksgiving, and all these online specials (Yes, like everyone else I am having a Black/Friday Cyber Monday Special!!  For all the details, you can check out Friday's post by clicking here!) I haven't been able to post the card I made last week!

So in addition to last Thursday being Thanksgiving, it was also my good friend Becky's birthday.  (<--- Here we are in Long Beach, CA back in June.) I won't say how old she is (although you might be able to figure it out - sorry Beck!), but it was a big birthday!  So I figured a big birthday deserves a special card and I thought & thought about it - so much so that I sent it late, but by now she should have it.  So now I feel like I can post it and share it.

And a little bit about Beck - she is one of my high school friends and has been a good friend since we were 15 or 16.  I think we became close during our Freshman year of high school in Honors Biology because we were the only two girls in the class.  We did lots of crazy stuff in high school, kept in touch through college, we both worked in New York (different places) but we would meet up there, then she moved to California 10 years ago, and I have been to visit her 4 or 5 times and she always comes back home twice a year and we usually get together then too. She is just one of those people who becomes more like family than a friend because they have been in your life so long.  She's one of the people I had in mind a lot when I made my list of things that make me happy the other day.  You can find other stories and the occasional scrapbook page about Beck here and here and here (and probably in other places, too!)

Back to the card. :)  This is a Tri-Shutter Card (as per Splitcoast), and I created it with Cherry Cobbler cardstock and First Edition Designer Series Paper.  The flower was created with the Floewr Folds Sizzix die, the 40 is from the On Board Merry Medley (sponged with Cherry Cobbler Classic Ink) and the "&, fabulous, happy, & birthday" stamps are from Fabulous Phrases.  I tweaked the Jewelry Tag punch to get it long enough for birthday.  It's not my usual clean & simples style of stamping, and it stressed me out to make it, but I liked the way it came out.

Now this coming Sunday is my friend Scott's birthday.  (He's in a lot of those scrapbook pages with Becky.) I have to come up with something for him this week.  And I have to try & mail it on time.  I'm leaving for Washington DC on Friday for my last race (I think) of 2011. I'm thinking Scott's card might be a little less involved - we'll see!!!

Thanks for reading!!  And don't forget to check out my Black Friday/Cyber Monday special!!!

 

 

Not So Seriously Birthday

Let's pause in the middle of the holiday craziness for a little birthday card complements of Not So Seriously.  I think we can all use a break from reality sometimes, and for this Not So Seriously is both the stamp set used in this sample AND a pretty good play on words!!!

This set features several stamps, but my favorite is this adorable woman who is probably 40ish (I'm only 39 so I totally can't relate - HA!!).  She has a big butt (which is maybe something I could relate to) and has this great expression on her face, like she is saying something VERY important.

For my card, she is explaining how she "got something fabulous for your birthday".  What you don't see is the inside, which says, "and I'm thoroughly enjoying it!"  How many times have you bought something for a friend and either went back and bought it for yourself or just picked up two while you were out??  I am guilty of that.  And sometimes I'll buy it in bigger multiples so I have one for everyone!

Before I get totally off track and forget to include the card, here it is:

The background is Baja Breeze and the accent piece of DSP on the left is from the Subtles Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack.  It's a 2" x 4" piece of Rose Red.  I used the Color Coach to pick out the colors.  I wanted something that was more complementary, and the Color Coach RARELY (if ever) lets me down!  Because of the cardstock colors, it was easy to select the colors in her dress.  You guessed it - Baja Breeze with Rose Red polka-dots.  I matched her shoes to her dress and her hair is actually More Mustard.  The Blush Blossom marker was used to color her skin and I did use a blender pen and Sahara Sand to outline her whole body to help her pop off the page a little.  I finally added the tiny rhinestones (the ones that come in the long strip) for her earrings and then pretty much called her DONE!!!

This was one of the cards we created for this month's stamp club.  It went together pretty quickly and she sure is cute. (Okay maybe cute isn't quite the right word, but maybe interesting??)  Anyway, I am sure you will see some additional card in the future with this girl - especially when I am in those kinds of Not So Seriously moods!!