Winona Scrap Book Pages

Every year, my Aunt Nancy asks me to make her two sets of scrap book pages.  One set for her daughter Jordyn who recently graduated from Winona State University and the other for her daughter Cassidy who also recently graduated but from St. Joseph's in Stratford.

Of course, I've made several pages with purple and yellow already and wanted to jazz it up a little bit more!  I thought the gold/champagne colored glitter paper did just that!  I also tried to create a little depth by have a ink to paper technique for the background but without adding too much.  I also used the hat and made it look like they were being tossed into the air.  Of course once you cover most of the background up, it's not as clear as it initially was.

The first page I always like to put a place where you can have a larger picture and a caption under it.  You can also see, I used Gold Encore Ink on the vellum paper to create a shimmer graduation cap.

I try to keep each page balanced.  By adding the 3 circles with just a part of the graduation cap showing, I was able to use one stamp and get three different looks.  And this also balanced out the page by adding a bit of white up on the top to bring your eyes upward as well.

I just LOVE this saying!  I think it's my favorite graduation one by far!  Of course we had to showcase this tab with a lovely brad.  I also left on the backside of the dimensional so it wouldn't stick to the mat.  This way Nancy can put the picture on the mat and then peel off the tab to reveal the sticky dimensional without any hassle :)

Here's a close of up of how the gold encore pad looks.  I just love how brilliant it is without having to heat emboss it.  It does take longer to dry so if you're in a hurry, I suggest you do this part first or use the heat tool to dry it quicker.

METALLIC GOLD ENCORE PAD

Jeremiah's 1st Homecoming

WOW!  I just can't believe that my first born child is old enough to attend homecoming!  Jeremiah turned 15 a few weeks ago and now he's at his first homecoming as a Freshman.  He was lucky enough to attend homecoming with his girlfriend too a couple weeks ago in Stratford.  But this is his school's first homecoming for him.  Keyarra is Jeremiah's girlfriend.  She is a lovely lady and is a freshman at Stratford.  This picture is a little blurry but don't worry, Paul Tishim took the professional ones and those will be much better (my phone was almost dead so the flash didn't work.)

Here's a picture of them at the Stratman's lovely home.  They were nice enough to host a dinner between mass and the dance for all the freshman and seniors.  Of course I have more pictures that I downloaded to my computer and put on facebook so you'll have to check them out there.

Jeremiah and Keyarra     HOMECOMING 2014

GOOD WITCH OR BAD WITCH????

I just love Halloween!  Sometimes it's the only time when people show their true selves!  Of course, I always loved to dress up.  The last couple of Halloweens I've used my wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses to dress up.  WHO DOESN"T LOVE PUTTING ON THEIR WEDDING DRESS?!?!  I was a princess and a vampire.  I haven't gone as a witch but I bet my kids would think that's what I should be!  This card is a comical Halloween card....hope you think so too!

The stamp set Tee-hee-hee is a photopolymer set which makes lining up the images very easy!  Here you see that the witch has gotten herself in quite a predicament.  Seems like instead of getting the little kiddie into her pot, she accidentally fell in herself!

For her shoes, I mixed gold embossing powder with gold glitter.  I like doing since the glitter doesn't rub off and get all over everything.  I also like the shiny look.  The pot is black embossing powder with some dazzling diamonds in it.  I didn't use black glitter because I wanted the pot to have a textured look and my using a color of glitter that didn't match the embossing powder, the contrast would make it seem like the pot had a speckled cast iron finish.

Of course this card isn't complete without the saying on the inside!  Now isn't this so true.  On the Wizard of Oz...what is the one thing you remember about the witch that was killed....her shoes!

Grateful For YOU!!!

For All Things....What a perfect stamp set to bring us into the fall mindset.  We start thinking about Thanksgiving and how we are grateful for everyone around us (and if you're not....why you hangin out with them?).

This card was inspired by some new fun accessories in the Holiday Catalog!  The Color Me Autumn Designer Washi Tape and Autumn Wooden Elements gave me chills....whoo I'm so excited :)

The color combo came straight from the WASHI TAPE!   Now how easy was that???  Love the coordination between paper, ink, and accessories!

The new Blackberry Bliss color is such a great color for fall.  It's a nice hue...not too dark and not too light.  That perfect color to bring out the yellows and oranges during this season.

My accent piece from the Autumn Wooden Elements was colored with a sponge dauber and then dried lightly with the embossing tool.  You can let it air dry, but that'll take a bit.  The reason I used a sponge dauber was to the wooden piece wasn't too saturated with ink. I still wanted to see the wood grain to give another bit of texture to the card.

The card itself would be very universal just by swapping out the saying.  Birthday, sympathy, thanks, and many more greetings would be appropriate.

I hope you enjoyed my card!  Please leave a little note about what your favorite element was.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :)

Happy Birthday Jeremiah!  His birthday was on Sunday (the 7th).  He turned the big 15!  And like a trooper, we spent almost all day outside working on the trees that were cut down on Friday.  We started at 10am.  We had his birthday party from 12-2 and then back outside for the rest of the trees.  I think we finally called it quits (after the chopper wouldn't stay running anymore) around 6pm.  I know it wasn't the ideal birthday to have but when it's got to get done, it's got to get done!  At least it was a beautiful day outside and we got to enjoy everyone's company.  I was surprised that none of the birthday party guests stayed to help ;)  Happy 15th birthday and I hope you're having fun today at your first homecoming dance with your girlfriend.

OMG! GIFT BOX PUNCH BOARD!!!

I forgot to take pictures of the box when I had it opened and scored.  But here you can see what the Gift Box Punch Board here!  It's a great value at just $19.95.  I made this box (4x4x4) from a 12x12 sheet of cardstock.  I just stamped randomly on the one side and then used the board and scored, punched, rounded, and folded.  It was that easy.  NO ADHESIVE NEEDED!

The colors I chose were easy.  I found this awesome Sweet Taffy Designer Series Paper and just used the colors from the patterned paper I liked.  Of course you can see that the hues are very neutral for the hip kids.  I mean really, pink is not a girly color anymore!

I cut the designer series paper into 2x12 inch strips.  I used two strips, taped together just a little, and wrapped them around the box.  I then used our AWESOME NEW HANDHELD STAPLER to keep the paper together to create a nice little belly band to keep the top closed even better.

After I had the belly band created, I wanted to make it funky!  I used the fringe scissors to get the strips nice!  One thing I did figure out to get your fringes long without snipping them off, only cut part of the way down and then move your scissors down the paper and continue to cut.  Once you squeeze all the way, the fridges kind of twist and if you go back in with the scissors, you won't be able to line it up good where you already cut.

After I fringed the top, I added the ribbon with a quick staple to the back and my little tags.  The tags came from the stamp set Amazing Birthday.  It's so nice and can be used for more than just birthday cards and gifts too!

Just a couple more angles of the box.   You can see that the "tags" hang down and can flip over to add just a little something extra.  It truly was an easy box to make.

LOVE THE SIMPLE DESIGN!!!

So I've had this stamp set for some time now, Six Sided Sampler.  I decided that for this stamp camp I wanted to try and use only one stamp set on each card.  So this is the design I came up with.  I wanted to showcase the bold pattern with the gold.  I JUST LOVE IT!

The background color is Blackberry Bliss...one of the new 14-16 In Colors.  I just love how the Gold Encore Ink stands out against this hue.  I also like that the Blackberry Bliss isn't red, isn't purple, but is truly a deep rustic color.  This makes it perfect for a neutral card.

To save paper, you stamp your saying on the mat and then punch out of the middle.  The top picture is what the back looks like and the bottom picture is what you have for your focal point.

The background was created very easily with the gold ink pad.  I just love the way it pops on the blackberry bliss background....WOWZERS!  As you can see we dry embossed the gold shiny cardstock to give it some volume as well.

Below is the finished card!  All the elements come together to create a great THANKS YOU Card!

Stampin' Up! makes everything so easy to coordinate.  From our paper to ink and then to accessories.... it really is easy!  You don't have to worry about if the colors match...you know they will!  And with all the coordinating stamp sets and punches, you're guaranteed to find the perfect project to use them on!