My Happy Stamping Place

Chicks and Dudes

Last night my daughter and I were talking about going to Ulta.  My 10 year old Sam asked why girls take so long to get ready.  He said,"I just get up in the morning, pick a random shirt out of my drawer and some pants and I'm ready to go." Ah yes, the chicks vs dudes dilemma.  Rebecca said girls do all of the washing, drying, curling, primping, painting because other girls do.  She may have a point there.

While browsing the aisles of Ulta later that evening, Rebecca kept saying, "I LOVE this store!  It would be so fun to work here!"  She thinks the reason why we chicks love stores like Ulta so much is the promise of the products to make it us look great.  Who doesn't want to look better?

When it comes to cards, the chicks vs dudes also comes into play.  When making a card for a girl or a woman I pull out all of the stops!  I add ribbon, beautiful colors, bling, glitter, scallops, etc.  It's so much fun to make a pretty card!  But when it comes to masculine cards I focus on making it simple.  I use earth colors, masculine accents like metal brads, texture, and definitely no glitter, flowers or bling!

In June my stamp club ladies are doing a masculine card swap.  I am also focusing stamp club on masculine cards.  It's something most of us chick stampers struggle with but we all have dudes in our lives that we want to give cards to! I made this card with the Monday Mojo 140 sketch.  The middle star actually spins around on the small star.  I got this idea awhile back from Dawn Olchefske.

Recipe: Stamps:  Fourth of July, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Star Jumbo Wheel

Ink: Soft Suede, Sahara Sand

Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, Soft Suede, Soft Suede dp

Other:  Curly Label punch, small star punch, large star punch, stampin' dimenionals

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope I have inpired you to go make your own dude card!

Kathleen

Chocolate Butterfly

I saw a beautiful card by Melanie Watson that inspired me to make this card.  I used her method of cutting a butterfly out of chipboard with my butterfly sizzix die.  Then I dabbed it with versamark and poured glassy glaze embossing powder over it and heated it.  Nest I rocked a chocolate chip craft ink pad over it - not totally covering the chipboard piece but randomly inking it.  I poured glassy glaze embossing powder over this and embossed.  I let it cool then dabbed versamark over the whole thing and poured glassy glaze over the whole piece once again.  I dabbed by stamp from Vintage Vogue in Versmark and had it at the ready.  Then I heat embossed the butterfly once more and while it was hot and gooey I pressed the stamp in it on one side.  Let it cool a tad and lift the stamp off.  I then punched a Word window out of Kraft(soon to be Crumb Cake) cardstock and then placed the punched piece on a post it note so I could go over it with the punch and punch it smaller.  Next I slipped this piece inside my square lattice embossing folder and ran it through my Big Shot.  I attached this to the middle of the butterfly and took two little strands of cardstock and glued those to the back.

Recipe:  Stamps:  Vintage Vogue(was in the Occasions mini catalog but is still available and will be in the new catalog)

Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip craft ink, Versamark

Paper:  Very Vanilla, Kraft, Chocolate Chip

Other:  Butterfly Sizzix die, Square Lattice Sizzix embossing folder, word window punch, glassy glaze embossing powder, Chocolate Chip striped ribbon, scallop trim border punch, stampin' dimensionals, onboard longboard chipboard

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathleen

Recipe card class

I have had a recipe club going for the past 9 months.  It's been great fun!  I decided to hold a one day recipe card class for anyone who wants a chance to make some wonderful cards and taste some of the yummy recipes.  In this class participants will make ten 6x6 recipe cards and taste 5 of the recipes.  Here's a peek at the recipe cards.

The recipes range from appetizers, side dishes, main dishes and desserts.  You can give a collection of these in a 6x6 book as a gift for graduation, wedding or shower, birthday, teacher gift, but you may want to keep this all to yourself! 

Class details

Date: Saturday, June 5

Time: 1:00-5:00

Price: $30

If you are local to the Twin Cities area of Minnesota and are interested in coming to this class you can contact me at [email protected] or 952-226-2190.  Space is limited so sign up early!

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathleen
 

Life is Busy!

May is one of those transitional months.  Everything is starting and everything is ending.  It makes life extra busy!  Yesterday was my 20 year wedding anniversary.  My son had a soccer game last night so my husband took the day off work and we spent the day together.  It was nice to have time for just us instead of running the kids to all of their activities.  The day went so fast though!  I brought him to a funeral(what a trooper!), we went to Applebees for lunch, shopped for new light fixtures for our dining room and entry way and then came home to relax until we had to go to soccer. 

I haven't been in my stamp room for a week.  I hope to get back there real soon!  In the meantime, I have some of the swap cards I received from the WOW card swap I was in to share with you.

This first one was made by Sandy Hillson.  I love how she used the ice cream cone from Sweet Scoops with the Build a Bear die!

This next card was made by Sara Cimbaro.  I love the texure and sponging in this card!  It would make a great masculine card - something we all struggle with. And what a great out-of-the-box use for the Tropical Party stamp set!

I hope you are all keeping your sanity during ths busy, busy time of year!  I'll be back tomorrow with a peek at a recipe card class I have coming up.

Happy stamping!

Kathleen 
 

Once Upon a Barn Sale and Stamp club card

My sisters,friends and I are having a sale this weekend.  If you live in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota or will be in the area, stop by to check us out! 

 

May 13-15

Once Upon a Barn Occasional Sale

310 Wayside Road W., Hopkins

 

Stampin' Up treasures await at The Barn Sale, where finely crafted cards are displayed amid antiques, garden treasures and lots of fun surprises! Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, May 13-14, and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 15. See you at the barn!

 

 

I have another stamp club card to show you.  This card was also one of my swap cards for the WOW card swap I was recently in.  We used the Sweet Scoops stamp set(are you really surprised?), and some of the Island Oasis designer paper from the Summer mini.  The flower is a Blossom party Sizzix die.  I cut it out with Stampin' Up! chipboard and covered it with the vanilla smooch spritz.  You will find this in the Summer mini catalog too in 4 colors!

Recipe:  Stamp set:  Sweet Scoops

Ink:  Chocolate chip, Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery

Paper:  Island Oasis dp, Chocolate Chip, whisper white, Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise

Other:  Blossom Party Sizzix die, onboard chipboard, crystal brad, Scallop die #2 Sizzix die, Scallop border punch, vanilla smooch spritz

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Kathleen 

 

Aloha

My kids had a late start day today.  That's when they go in to school 2 hours late.  My 16 year old daughter, Rebecca got to go in at 8:45 instead of 6:45.  My two boys, Nick, 12 and Sam, 10 got to go at 11:00 instead of 9:00.  I was taking a shower this morning while the boys were getting their last minute things together for school.  They didn't know I would be out of the shower before they left so they both left me a note.  A little backstory:  Because of the family dynamics with the boys being only 2 years apart they are always in competition with each other.  Sam, the youngest, is very affectionate, always tells me he loves me, and ALWAYS has to sit by me at dinner, restaurants, church,etc. Nick gets a little tired of that, understandably so.  A couple of years ago Sam started saying to me before he left for school, "Bye mom, see you after school, love you more than ever!"  Just another thing for Nick to roll his eyes over.  So this past year, Nick has become really affectionate and tells me he loves me all of the time.  I love it!  So their notes this morning read:  Sam's note: "Bye Mom.  Love, Sam. See you after school. I have everything.Bye!"  Nick's note:  "Bye Mom. From Nick.  I love you more than Sammy does".  Bwahaha!  He knew I would get a chuckle out of that!

I have another card to show you from stamp club last week.  I was inspired by this card I saw from LittlePinkBuckaroo on Splitcoaststampers.  I loved the look of grass with the Tropical party stamp set and the Island Oasis designer paper.  I decided to make a grass skirt on my card.

Recipe:  Stamps: Oval All 

Ink:  Basic Black

Paper:  Island Oasis designer paper, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Whisper White, Basic Black\

Other:  Floral Fusion Sizzix die, large oval punch, scallop oval punch, crystal brad, So Saffron narrow grosgrain ribbon

I gotta skedaddle.  I'm hosting Bunko tonight and need to finish up the food I'm making for tonight.  I"m using some yummy recipes from my recipe club!

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathleen
 

Patriotic card

I had stamp club last night.  It was a full house with everyone back from wintering in warm places and taking a break from club, etc.  It was great to have everyone back into the fold.  LOL!  I always love teaching an eager audience and that's what my stamp clubbers are.  Eager to soak up fun new stamping product and techniques.  I had them make this card last night.  It was one of my cards for the WOW card swap I'm in every quarter.  I've been waiting for a great patriotic stamp set and this one definitely is it!  It's called July Fourth and you can get it in wood mounted and unmounted rubber to use on clear blocks. I used every stamp in this set except for one on my card.

Recipe:  Stamps: July 4th

Ink:  Night of Navy, Real Red, Sahara Sand

Paper:  Kraft, whisper white, Night of Navy, Real Red

Other:  wide oval punch, slit punch, star punch, vanilla smooch spritz, stampin' dimensionals

I used a technique called the slit punch twist.  I'm thinking about doing a video on it.  It's really easy once you learn how to do it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathleen

******Please note:  If you want some of the retiring colors then you better order this month!  As of June 1, they are while supplies last and they will go fast!  I would suggest going through your inventory and checking which colors of cardstock, reinkers, ink, or other matching embellishments(ribbon, brads, designer paper) you may need.  Then place your order with me or your demonstrator ASAP!***** You can place your order with me through my online ordering website, by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 952-226-2190.
 

Fox box and card

I'm using the fox box from my critter's class last week for my son Nick's friend's birthday gift.  We will be giving him money so the money will be placed inside the fox box surrounded by starburst candy.  I made a quick little matching 3x3 card to go with it.  I used the Fox and Friends stamp set that was in the Occasions mini catalog. This set is no longer available but I'm hoping it makes it into the new big catalog coming out July 1. I ok'd the box with Nick.  Had to make sure this was going to be cool enough for a 12 year old boy.  He was cool with it.  :)

Recipe:  Fox box: paper: Really Rust, Whisper white, Basic black

Accessories:  Fancy Favor Sizzix box, Top note Sizzix die, 1" circle punch, 3/4" circle punch, Scallop Oval sizzix die, uniball white gel pen, 1 1/4" square punch

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathleen

******Please note:  If you want some of the retiring colors then you better order this month!  As of June 1, they are while supplies last and they will go fast!  I would suggest going through your inventory and checking which colors of cardstock, reinkers, ink, or other matching embellishments(ribbon, brads, designer paper) you may need.  Then place your order with me or your demonstrator ASAP!***** You can place your order with me through my online ordering website, by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 952-226-2190.

Fairy Magic

I combined a sketch challenge and color challenge I found on Splitcoast for this card.  I stamped the fairy on watercolor paper with jetblack stazon and colored it in with my aquapainter and ink pads.  I made my own background paper with the Awash with Flowers stamp set.  I wish this fairy would perform some magic on my lawn and get rid of all of the dandelions.  I've been picking them most every day because I don't want my husband to dump chemicals on our lawn.  I work really hard to feed my family organic healthy foods and clean with healthy cleaners with out all of the chemicals. I don't want to ruin it all with chemicals on my lawn.  I keep telling my husband I want one of those weed pullers that you can stand up and pull with.  I also want to put corn meal gluten on our lawn but that's a long term solution to our weed problem.  Has anyone tried corn gluten on their lawn?  I'd love to hear from you if yo have!  Ok, ok, here's the card:

Recipe:  Stamps:  A Little Bit of Magic, Awash with Flowers

Ink:  Jetblack Stazon, Lovely LIlac, Cameo Coral, Gable Green So Saffron, Blush Blossom, Old Olive

Paper:  So Saffron, Very Vanille, Watercolor paper, Basic Black

Other:  Very Vanilla Satin ribbon, aquapainter, stampin' dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathleen

******Please note:  If you want some of the retiring colors then you better order this month!  As of June 1, they are while supplies last and they will go fast!  I would suggest going through your inventory and checking which colors of cardstock, reinkers, ink, or other matching embellishments(ribbon, brads, designer paper) you may need.  Then place your order with me or your demonstrator ASAP!***** You can place your order with me through my online ordering website, by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 952-226-2190.

Sparkly Icecream

Yes, the icecream cones are back.  I just couldn't help myself.  Actually the focal point I had already stamped and put aside a couple of weeks ago.  I saw a sketch challenge on splitcoast and decided to make this work for that. 

Recipe:  Stamps:  Sweet Scoops

Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Versamark

Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip monochromatic designer paper

Other:  Vintage brads, irridescent ice embossing powder, stampin' dimensionals, square lattice embossing folder, scallop border punch

I have some fun cards for my stamp club on Thursday.  Check back to see those soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathleen
 

******Please note:  If you want some of the retiring colors then you better order this month!  As of June 1, they are while supplies last and they will go fast!  I would suggest going through your inventory and checking which colors of cardstock, reinkers, ink, or other matching embellishments(ribbon, brads, designer paper) you may need.  Then place your order with me or your demonstrator ASAP!***** You can place your order with me through my online ordering website, by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 952-226-2190.