Attacked by a virus!!!!!

My laptop not this machine was attacked by a virus or a hacker or something I have no knowledge of.  I felt like I was on a roll with my blog entries and now this.  I hope to be back soon with a healed computer.  Stay warm and safe and do some stamping.

Birthday Buffet-Celebrate Today

     Who doesn't love balloons?  This card was inspired by one made by stampedsilly.blogspot.com. I loved the fact that the balloons stamped so easily and could then be cut out with a matching framelit.  I added some color using the new Aquamarine chalk ink pad. Who would you send this card to?  I imagined it to be very generic, could be for kids, for males, or for females. And even though I made mine for birthdays, you could also use this set to make a card for graduation, weddings, or babies. Very versatile.  Hmm might make a good set of the week.

Birthday Buffet-Ribbon Punch card

    What makes a card pop out to you?  For me it has to meet the following  criteria.

1. Look simple to duplicate.

2. Use punches framelits, thinlits or something that makes cutting easy.

3. Be different from most of the cards I look at.

   You can see that this card which was inspired by one I saw on Pinterest created by iminhaven.blogspot.com meets all the criteria.

Birthday Buffet-Lego Mania

     Who doesn't love Lego's?  I remember having a great time helping my kids put their Lego kits together.  So, when I found this card on......Pinterest created by Cindy of CindyLeeBeeDesigns.com I knew that I wanted it to be featured in my birthday card buffet class. The circle punch I used is the 1/2 inch punch.  The rectangles are 2 1/4 inches by 1 1/4 inches.  They are attached to a white card stock base that measures 5 by 4 inches.  A little time consuming, but not hard and so cute when finished up.

Birthday card buffet-Belated Birthday

     Have you ever thought about giving someone a card and then a few days later realized it was only a thought and you never actually sent the card and now it was going to be late?
That happens to me a lot.  So when I saw that one of the sayings in the From the Herd card said It's Pasture Birthday, I knew I would be using it quite a bit.  So last week I made up 8 cards just like this one, sent out 6 and have 2 ready.  Now, my hope is that I will not have to use them at all.  What do you think?

Birthday Card Buffet-Etch a Sketch

    

     Do you remember the Etch a Sketch?  When I saw an etch a sketch card by serenestamper.com I thought it was so cute and I knew I had to make a similar card to be one of the cards at my Birthday card Buffet class.  Does it look hard to make?  Not so.....

1. Stamp the image on a piece of Vellum cardstock.  Then dry it with the heat tool.  The ink tends to stay wet and easily smudge.

2. Use the framelit from the Project Life Cards and Label set to cut out the middle of the Real Ted cardstock.

3. Layer the vellum on top of a piece of Sahara Sand cardstock and then finish up the card with two 1 inch white punched circles.

Now tell me who wouldn't like to get a birthday card that looks like this?

    

Balloon Bash-Finally Friday

     What a busy week!  I am glad it is Finally Friday.  I have had a lot of fun this week finding different ways to use this stamp Balloon Bash. For this card I was inspired by toocoolstamping.com who posted a card similar to this on Pinterest. You might wonder where I got the saying celebrate from.  Well, it is a part of one of the stamps.  I stamped just the center of the stamp and then cut out the banner with the words Celebrate.
     Some of the cards I have posted this week will be featured in my Birthday card Buffet class I will be holding on Monday, January 16th either at 12:30 or 6:30.  Come by and make enough cards to get you through the next few months.
RSVP on my email, sue.scheets@gmail.com, or my website www.sushi.stampinup.net. 




 

Balloon Bash-3-D Thursday

     Do you wonder how I made this cute candy holder?  I used the Mini Treat Bag Thinlit die.  But, you might wonder to yourself it should be a lot bigger than that.  While I was at Leadership with Dina and Karen we started wondering if there was a way to make a skinny bag that would hold a Hershey bar.  So, here is what I did.....

1. I cut two pieces of the small part of the treat bag. 

2. I then attached them together using sticky strip.

3. The finished result measures 2 1/8 by 5 inches.  So,it is not big enough to hold a regular Hershey bar, but most definitely could hold a mini.

4. To finish off the bag, I used another stamp from the Balloon Bash stamp set, but two banners using the thinlit that goes with the Mini Treat bag set, and tied a bow with the matching ribbon from the Sale a Bration catalog.

    What would you put inside this cute little treat bag?

Balloon Bash-Wednesday Wow

     Have you ever learned how to do something and then since you don't do it again forgotten about how much fun it was?  I feel that way about shaker cards.  I made my first card several years ago where I have to carefully place dimensionals all around the edge of the open area.  Inevitably I would leave a gap and all my glitter would fall out.  Well, SU has a wonderful tool that I forget about that makes this so easy. The tool is called Shaker Frames.  They come in 6 different circle sizes and are very easy to use.

1. First punch a circle the size you want your window to be.

2. Next place a piece of window sheet behind this circle that is bigger than your circle.  This will keep your glitter inside the shaker card.

3. Attach your shaker frame on the back and against the window sheet.

4. Fill your frame with whatever you want to shake.

5. Attach the front of your card to the main card and once it is sealed you can shake to your hearts content and nothing will spill out.

Occasion catalog supplies used:

   Birthday Bash designer paper
   Balloon Bash stamp set
  
Other supplies used
    Shaker frames
    Circle punches
    Crushed Curry, Mossy Meadow, Night of Navy, and Calypso Coral ink pads
    Oval punch
    Bitty Banners framelit
    Sketched Birthday stamp set
    Confetti star border punch
    Whisper White, Night of Navy, and Calypso Coral card stock

Balloon Bash-Technique Tuesday

     Where did I come up with the wonderful background?  Well, it is just one of the papers in the Adventure Bound designer series paper stack.  Today's technique is simplicity. 

1. Find a simple saying you want to be the mail focus of your card.  I chose one from the Balloon Bash stamp set, my set of the week.

2. Choose one of the dsp's that will accent the saying.  I thought the brick design made the stamp almost look like
graffiti.

3. Mount the dsp on contrasting card stock and you now have a very simple but to the point card.

    I wonder what this stamp would look like of pieces of wood, plaid, pebbles, or birchbark.  These are just a few of the designs you can find in this great dsp pack.










    

Balloon Bash-Miscellaneous Monday

     Do you love to have a stash of cards ready to go when the need arrives?  I do too.  So, Monday, February 16th I am having my first birthday card buffet class.  There will be around 12 cards and a few treat boxes to choose from.  Here's how it will work.......

1. First you look at all the cards in the buffet just like you would peruse all the food items in a buffet line before putting anything on your plate.

2. Next you decide which ones you want to make.  Go to your  first card choice and decide how many you want to make of that card.  You will not be limited to one card, you will not have to make all the designs unless you choose to.

3. There will be several cards for kids, for ,and for males.  So, you should be able to go home with plenty of birthday cards for the next few months.

4. All you have to do is let me know when you are finished how many cards you made and pay $2.00 a card for your finished projects.  Envelopes will be provided so you can make them match your card.

5. Please RSVP your intent to come.

PS This card will be one of your choices.

Technique Week-Burnishing

     Do you wonder as I did how the lines appeared on the background of this card and not of the leaves?  Well, this was done with a process called burnishing. The card stock used is from the Sale a Bration catalog and is white on white.  The burnishing will pop the white raised design.

1. Take a sponge of dauber and rub your first color all over the card stock. This is what is called burnishing. When the color is the shade you like, then take a tissue and rub the color off the white area.

2. Ink up a Background stamp. In this case it was the Wood grain stampset.  Stamp this right over your first layer of ink.  Once again wipe the ink off the white leaves.  The end result is stunning.

  This card was one of the make n takes at the last Jubilant Butterflies meeting.  Robin did a great job with this one don't you think.  My mind is going wild thinking of other background stamps to burnish with.

Technqiue Week-More Faux Rusted Metal cards

     I think this card is my favorite of all the cards I made using the Faux Rusted Metal technique.  And a big surprise it is my creation!  I attended a meeting of the Jubilant Butterflies this week and agreed to teach the demonstrators at the meeting how to create cards using the Faux Rusted Metal technique.  I wanted to make several examples in addition to the card I show on my blog yesterday.  Check it out here.

1. I first tried to think what other punches would work as well as the heart punch did.

2. I came up with the butterfly punch, a flower, and I CASED another card that Allison made using the typewriter.

3. I liked the results and will most likely try some other combinations in the future.  What punch or card would you use to feature this technique?

The typewriter image was stamped after everything else was completed.  Not too clear, the pad may need reinking.

 

 

I used the Pansy punch for the flower.


Which card sample is your favorite?

Technique Week-Faux Rusted Metal

     Doesn't the heart on this card look like it was made from rusted metal?  Well, using card stock, embossing powder and ink you too can make a heart that looks like this.

1. Punch out 6 hearts from Basic Grey card stock and glue them one on top of the other.

2. Randomly dab some gold ink over the top heart and then place gold embossing powder over the heart.

3. Before heating the embossing powder, move it into little piles with your finger so there will be spots without gold powder on them.  Heat the powder.

4. Rub some Soft Suede and Cajun Craze ink over the heart.

5. Next place some Pool Party embossing powder over the top of the heart.  It will stick because the ink will remain moist while on top of the embossed areas.  Once again move the powder into piles, then heat.

6. Finally, rub some  more of the two inks on the top of the heart.  You now have a Faux rusted metal heart for your card. 

Thanks to a great tutorial by Allison Okamitsu  I was able to make heart look like hers.  You can too by watching this video.

Come back tomorrow to see some more samples on this technique.

Technique Week-Wednesday Wow

     Do you like to learn new ways to do things?  Or do you like to be reminded of old techniques you used to do?  Press Club for January did just that.  We revisited the Faux Metal technique.

1. Pick out a card stock base.  I used Basic Grey.

2. Ink up a piece of the card stock that is bigger than the shape you want to use using Versa Mark.

3. Sprinkle with silver embossing powder and melt it.  Repeat this process 2 more times waiting until the previous layer is dry before inking with Versa Mark.

4. As soon as the second layer is completed ink up you image with versa mark and have it ready to apply to the layers of embossing. 

5. Stamp and press the image into the embossing on the third layer before it has a chance to dry.  If you make a mistake then just heat up the layer, reink the stamp and try again.

Easy peasy and fun to do.

Occasion catalog Open House-Mini Treat Bag Thinlit

     So this was one of the last things people made at my Open House for the Occasions catalog.  The base was made using the Mini Treat Bag Thinlit, and the tag on the bag was made using the chalk board paper and the Aquamarine chalk ink pad. These bags will be perfect for cookies, embellishments, card and lots of other small treats.  Look for more ways to use the extra items that come in the bags in future posts.
    I am back from sunny Florida, and home to snowy Illinois.  Full of lots of new ideas and plans I will be revealing in the days ahead. It was a great few days with new and old friends.

Occasion Catalog Open House-Lotus Blossom

     Everyone seems to be in love with the Lotus Blossom stamp set that is a part of Sale a Bration this year.  But, they are also a little nervous that they will be able to stamp the flower and make it look good. Here is the technique I found that helped me be successful.

1. I found it best to use 2 colors.  One color needs to be a subtle color in the shade you want to use.  I used Blushing Bride on my card.  The other color can be whatever you want it to be.  I used Real Red.

2. You will be able to see all the layers best if you start with the smallest stamp first.  The stamps have an arrow in the corner that will help you make sure you place them in the same spot each time.

3. Stamp your first image in the darker color full strength.  Then using the second image, ink it and stamp off once to make the ink a little lighter.  You will be able to look through the stamp for a perfect placement.

4.  Finally, stamp the last image which is the large solid image, in your lighter shade. 

Now, it is your turn to try. You will be amazed at how easy it is to make a perfect looking lotus blossom.