Enjoy Every Moment Card

I cut and stamped the pieces for this design sitting at Energym while my two oldest were in gymnastics class. We've been doing this since late, last Fall- and it's only this afternoon that it struck me to bring a project to stamp! These are for a Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend this weekend in Oconomowoc, WI - support letters for the couples attending, that they will receive at the end of their Weekend. Live in the Rockford, IL/Madison or Milwaukee, WI area? You can find out more info about a Weekend HERE. (Chicago and Joliet areas too!)

I am loving the SU! Texturz Plates! They provide dry embossing, like the Cuttlebug A2 Embossing Folders. Some differences: Texturz Plates are not folders and they have a larger area of approximately 5 3/4" x 7" (unlike the folders.) I used the Texturz Plates with my Cuttlebug! (Which I hope to be replacing soon with the Big Shot because it has more capability than the other, but can still utlizie all the A2 Embossing Folders I already own.)

ThisTexturz Plate Swirl Design added just the right background to my design. It seems sponging has returned as a favorite (for me) technique for creating some subtle, framing texture too! I sponged Riding Hood Red ink around the Close to Cocoa base and the two Very Vanilla pieces. Add in the Heart to Heart, Large Oval and Ticket Corner punches for a little embellishment - gotta have my SU punches! Since the Weekends are about loving your spouse more deeply and growing your intimacy, I also chose one of the Riding Hood Red designs from the Candy Cane DSP to emphasize "passionate love" - I believe that is what red roses signify, so I borrowed that meaning of red for my design!

Stamps: Enjoy Every Moment
Card Stock: Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla, Candy Lane DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red
Accesories: Texturz Plates, Heart to Heart, Large Oval & Ticket Corner Punches, Stampin' Sponge
ENJOY!

Wanted Birthday Card

This was one of the birthday cards my sweet girl received for her birthday this past weekend. It uses the same stamp set, called "Wanted", as I used on her invitation. It also uses the retired SU! background stamp "Weathered". The card came from Grandma Smith, who had it in her stash, received from a swap in the last couple of years. The original designer is Patti G. (another CreativePlayStamps DT member, and "the one" who got me started in paper-crafting 6 years ago!)

Stamps: Wanted, Weathered
Card Stock: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Blue Bayou (retired) & Naturals Ivory
Ink: Chocolate Chip Classic Ink and Vanilla Craft Ink
Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Stampin' Sponge, Dimensionals, Copper Cord and Brads (retired SU), Brown/Ivory Gingham Ribbon (non-SU)
ENJOY!

Birthday Party Craft

Today was my sweet girl's 7th birthday party! That's her with the popcorn she was munching stuffed into her cheeks so she could smile for the picture! (giggle - like mother, like daughter!)

We did two crafts - one of which was a Mother's Day present. Of course, late last night I thought, "Wouldn't it be cool to have the girls stamp a box to put the gift in right away?" Honestly, wouldn't it be nice if these "great ideas" would happen a little sooner? Okay - so I would have procrastinated it anyway...lol! So I put out a post to my super-fabulous Sudsol sisters and got the directions for the easiest box ever! It literally took me MINUTES to cut and half prepare four of these little 3" x 5" boxes.

How easy is it? I'm glad you asked! :)
It's sooooo easy, that....(I'm dating myself here)
For the BOX BASE, cut a 5" x 7" piece of cardstock. Score at 1" on all four sides. Use the Paper Snips, and cut along one score line only to the next next score line (1") to create a small flap that will fold in and be adhered to make a box corner. Repeat on all four corners. If you plan to stamp the base, do so now, before you create the corners! (It's hard to stamp a 3-d item, I know from experience! lol) Adhere the corners, and Voila! your base is done.

For the BOX TOP, cut a 5 1/8" x 7 1/8" piece of card stock or Designer Paper, and repeat the above steps. After I scored and snipped this piece, I then cut 1/4" off each side, so that after the top is assembled, the base color would show once the lid is on the box. ENJOY!

April SU! Promotion Reminders

Only SIX Days left to take advantage of...

Get Connected Promotion

Dates: April 1-30, 2009

Promotion Details

Customers
Spend $40 on Occasions Mini Catalog products and choose any one item from the "Under $10" page in the Spring-Summer 2009 Idea Book & Catalog for free.

Hostesses
Hold a workshop of $150 or more and choose any one item from the "Under $10" page in the Spring-Summer 2009 Idea Book & Catalog for free. For every $150 spent at the workshop, the hostess will receive another "Under $10" item.

The "Art of Letter Writing" has been returning as a popular topic lately. As paper-crafter we are well aware of the beauty of this art - so much so that we even craft what the letters are written on! THANKS for helping keep the art of letter writing alive and well.

FREE Spring/Summer 2009 Idea Book & Catalog

Receive a FREE catalog when you order online through my Stampin' Up! business website. Just go to: www.2stampinjewels.stampinup.net and click on the SHOP NOW button.

May is National Scrapbooking Month - look for some promotions to help our celebration!

ENJOY!

CreativePlayStamps Contest Inspiration

Have you entered the CreativePlayStamps April Showers Bring May Flowers Contest yet? Here is a little inspiration to get you going! The theme is garden/floral. I've been wanting to use these pretty little Prima flowers for quite awhile now. So how often do I tell you how much I adore my Nestabilities and Cuttlebug Embossing Folders? :) To make frame the focal image, and make the the colors stand out just a bit more, I sopnged the edges of the card base and the scallop oval with Night of Navy ink. Then I used a little Baby Blue Stickles to lighten and give a subtle sparkle to the inside of the flowers.


Stamps: Thinking of You (CPS)
Card Stock: Ballet Blue, Bashful Blue & Whisper White (SU)
Ink: Memento London Fog, Night of Navy (SU)
Accessories: Prima Flowers, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Nestabilities Classic Ovals Set, Baby Blue Stickles, Mini Glue Dots and Dimensionals (SU)
ENJOY!

YOU Did It! - Easter

This Easter lovely was stamped by my m-i-l, Alice S. using the retired SU! stamp set, "Never-ending Joy". Love the bright, cheery Spring color combo of Lovely Lilac and Apricot Appeal, as well as the creative border using the Eyelet Border Punch. The Apricot Appeal 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon adds a wonderful finishing touch of texture that compliments the two-step stamping of the stamp set. She said she made all her Easter cards on Holy Saturday night! Way to go Mom! :)

ENJOY!

CreativePlayStamps Contest - 3 Winners!

EXTRA, ETXRA - Read All About It..... CreativePlayStamps.com Contest Announced...

April Showers Bring May Flowers Contest!
The contest starts Friday, April 17th and you have until Midnight on May
8th to submit your entry of a garden or flower themed card.

There are three prizes available:
1st Prize: Big Bag of Prima Flowers* PLUS a $30 Gift Certificate
* The bag of flowers is about the size of a child's pillow - 13" tall, and 9" wide - and weighs 1/2 a pound!
2nd Prize: $15 Gift Certificate
3rd Prize: $10 Gift Certificate

The winner will be chosen by a vote of our customers.
Voting starts May 9th and ends May 22nd.

Go to our Contest Forum to log in, and upload a picture of your flower or garden themed card.

Here's the details for entering:
- No purchase is required to enter the contest.
- You must log in before submitting your contest entry - anonymous
entries won't count.
- You must upload your contest entry by Midnight, May 8th.
- Your entry must be a card.
- Your entry must have a flower or garden theme
- You may enter as many times as you like (but you may only want to do
one or two so you don't split your own vote)
- Do not mail us your cards - you must scan or photograph them yourself
(or have someone do it for you)
- Pictures must have a file size of 2MB or smaller
- A description of how you made it would be nice, and may get you more
votes, but is not required
- The CreativePlayStamps.com Design Team is not eligible to enter.

The details on voting:
- You must log in to vote
- One vote per person
- You may change your vote at any time prior to the end of voting
- To prevent ballot stuffing (this is Chicago after all!), a prior
purchase is required to vote
- The CreativePlayStamps.com Design Team can vote.
- The polls close at Midnight, May 22nd.

We will post the winners on the site by May 26th, and we'll also
announce them in the newsletter. As always, don't hesitate to contact
us if you're having trouble logging in, or participating.

Celebrate Spring! Upload your cards, cheer on your friends, and come see
the beauty that's been created! Laura & Art (owners)

I look forward to seeing your contest entries! Woohoo CreativePlayStamps!!

WANTED: Party Girls

This is the birthday invite I came up with for my daughter's 7th birthday party. She wants a horse theme party - so all the decor has horses on it - most a mother horse and baby foal - she loves baby animals! It's going to be a small gathering with just three girlfriends - who have all had the date on their calendar for over a month because I *knew* I wouldn't get the invites made in time. (The party is a week and a half from today!)

I really like how this design turned out! I especially like the little touches of embellishment - the Rope Twine (retired SU!) is kept in place by a few Mini Glue Dots (I ADORE the mini glue dots!) and the pink rhinestones (self-adhesive, of course, and by KaiserCraft) on the Word Window punches (which are popped up on Dimensionals.) I sponged Chocolate Chip Classic Ink around the edges of the Close to Cocoa base to create a framing efect without adding another layer of card stock. As always, am lovin' my Classic Oval Nestabilities Set! I used the scallop to help keep the feminine touch in the design, same idea for the Loves Me DSP and the pink rhinestone bling. My girl isn't a true "girlie girl", but she isn't a tom boy either. She liked the design - so I guess I did good! :)

How about the horse "galloping" along the inside of the invite? For those who haven't seen this done before - this effect is achieved in a very simple way - stamping off! I stamped the first horse fully inked, then stamped twice more to achieve the 'in motion' effect.

Stamps: Wanted (SU!) and Rough Edges Mini Alphabet(retired SU!)
Card Stock: Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose, Taken with Teal, Whisper White, Loves Me DSP (retired)
Ink: Chocolate Chip and Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Word Window Punch, Oval Nestabilities, Rope Twine (retired SU!), Rhinestones (Kaiser Craft), Mini Glue Dots and Dimensionals.
ENJOY!

Manhattan Flower Embossing Folder

What's this? On the left is the recently released SU! Textured Impressions Die (aka embossing folder) called Manhattan Flower. It makes a wonderful, deep, dry embossing on your card stock. Use it with your Big Shot, Cuddlebug or other die cutting machine.

The idea for this design came from a picture I saw from SU! Leadership conference. I embossed on Real Red card stock, but instead of using the relief side of the dry embossing, I flipped the card inside out, then used my Quickie Glue Pen to 'fill in' the rose outline, then sprinkled on the Christmas Red Ultrafine Opaque Glitter. I tried to get a good picture so you could see the sparkle of the glitter. Imagine the possibilities of colors, as well as events this design could be used for!
ENJOY!

Happy Easter from some of YOU, my fabulous StampinJewels Jewels!

Cathy L. stamped this Fifth Avenue Floral Easter/Spring design. Wonderful use of the lily images, don't you think? This is one of my favorite sets of the Spring/Summer 2009 Idea Book & Catalog.

Great job Cathy and THANKS!










Beth H. stamped this adorable "chick on film". It certainly "cracked me up" - with a smile of delight! Beth used Lavendar Lace, Gable Green, So Saffron, Basic Black and Whisper White - along with the Spiral & Word Window Punches.
Great job Beth, and THANKS!








Marcia R. stamped this design using a Riley Moose image from Hanna Stamps. I've seen these adorable moose images many times before - they are on my Wish List! :) Nice shading job on the moose, and around the egg Marcia!

Great job Marcia - and THANKS!

ENJOY!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to All!
I found a few minutes to play on Saturday - lots of tools to have fun with here! I used my SU! Texturz Plates on the Close to Cocoa base, along with my Classic Oval Nestabilities for the Regal Rose scallop oval, and the fold-over egg-shape part of the card from retired SU! Loves me DSP. I added some Prima Flowers and some Close to cocoa sponging to frame the edges of the base, as well as to frame the 'egg'. The "Happy Easter" sentiment is from the retired SU! All Year Cheer 1 set. ENJOY!

Let's Go to the Hop! Dance Frame

Another WWME Dance success! This is an annual event for married couples, and you don't have to have attended a WWME Weekend to attend teh dance. This event is what's been keeping me busy- even from paper-crafting! Yikes! At the end, though, paper-crafting was a part via the picture frames we used for the dance. I got the idea for this adorable 45 vinyl record from Melanie Muenchinger.

This frame was easy peasey! I used my CM circle cutting system to cut out three different layers of Basic Black - so the album 'grooves' would show up and make it more evident it was indeed meant to be a record. The Designer Label Punch adds a touch of class. And the EK Success holographic musical notes stickers add a splash of color and fun. I mounted it on some white card stock so it would stand up on the tables at each couple's seat. The back was stamped with my "Handmade By" stamp from SU!, and a small WWME logo stamp I picked up at a WWME Convention five years ago. I took my printer & circle cutter to the dance, and just popped out my media card every now and then and printed off the pictures.

And you guessed it! That is ME and my hubby in the pic! I have always wanted a poodle skirt outfit - and now I have one! I think the pink glasses are my fav part of the outfit! Guess what Ill be for Halloween for the next 10 years?! lol

For more information on Worldwide Marriage Encounter (WWME) please go to either www.wwme.org and find your state and religious preference OR if you are in the Joliet,IL - Chicago,IL or Rockford,IL/Madison,WI/Milwauke,WI areas - please go to www.alifetimeoflove.org ENJOY!

Get Connected with the NEW Occasions Mini Catalog

From April 1-30, spend $40 on products in the Occasions Mini Catalog or host a $150 workshop and get a FREE item from the “Under $10” page in the Spring-Summer 2009 Idea Book & Catalog (p. 208). Filled with exclusive, brand-new products, the Occasions Mini has the products you need to connect with friends and family! Click on the link above, then on the 'Shop Now' Button. ENJOY!