Teachers...Are You Ready for the Summer?

I love it when I can fulfill two challenges for the creativity of one. The Woodware UK team was challenged this week to create a teacher gift. Stampendous is challenging everyone to create something with a summer theme. Ta dah! I haven't met a teacher yet who didn't celebrate the end of the year and look forward to the summer. And my children's teachers loved to receive gift cards to buy a good, juicy, relaxing book to read through the summer.

 I chose to use the Stampendous Perfectly Clear Summer Cuties. The girl looks as though she's waving goodbye, and the sentiment is perfect. I followed this great tutorial on Split Coast Stampers to create this great pop up gift card holder. Super simple, and fun to receive. The Barnes & Noble gift card just tucks right into the envelope slipped in between the two pop up boxes.

The summer cutie that I chose was colored with markers and a blender pen. A few highlights were added with a Sakura White Gel Pen. The happy paper is by London Design, and the gingham ribbon is the perfect summery touch.

All items in this project can be purchased at your local craft stores listed on the Woodware UK site. Check out what the entire Woodware UK team has been creating for teachers this week on the Woodware UK blog.

In the USA, these images can be purchased through the Stampendous web site. Check the Stampendous Impressions blog for more summer fun.

Dreamweaver Stencils and Art Glitter for a Sparkling June!

 AND

ARE TEAMING UP THE ENTIRE MONTH OF JUNE TO BRING YOU AN AMAZING CREATIVE COLLABORATION MIXING DREAMWEAVER STENCILS AND ART GLITTER. COME ALONG FOR THE RIDE...WE PROMISE IT WILL BE A SPARKLING ONE!

Visit the Art Glitter blog and the Dream It Up! blog for fabulous inspiration from both talented design teams. We are encouraging all of you to play along with the challenge of creating with Dreamweaver Stencils and Art Glitter*, preferably using the Double-Glitter Technique with a wedding theme. Just link your creation to the Mr. Linky on the Dream It Up! blog, or email pics to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, for an opportunity to win one of four fabulous glitter and stencil prize packages. One winner will be chosen each week. (US and Canada only, please).

 

Here is my post for today:

 I decided to do a triptych for my wedding card, using the Double Glitter technique. I cut and adhered three sections of the Double-Sided Mounting Paper to my long white panel. I taped off the heart portions, covered the back of the Heart Whimsey stencil with a light coating of Coconut soap, brushed with small amount of water to ensure good coverage of soap (thank you, Lynell, for that tip!). The soap prevents the stencil from being glued to the adhesive.

I first applied the blue-green color of the Ultra Fine Art Glitter Pee Wee Wonderland Kit over the leaf and vine sections. Then I used a soft brush to remove excess glitter from the entire stencil (pour back into container!). I removed the tape from the heart portions and applied in the pinky-lavender glitter from the same set. Rub the glitter in thoroughly for good coverage. Because it is ultra fine, it fills in beautifully. Once again, brush off all excess.

Now, turn the panel upside down and pull the panel away from the stencil, keeping the stencil flat. I covered the entire background portions with Art Glitter Ultra Fine Pearl. The pearl finish provides such a beautiful sheen and contrast to the sparkle of the glitter on the stencil design. All I needed to add was a pretty bow and charm to finish this off.

For more inspiration from the Art Glitter design team, please visit their blog for a complete list of players throughout the month.

For more inspiration from the Dream Team, here's the blog list for this week:

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy
Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 
Jessie Hurley

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser 

*For the month of June Art Glitter is selling 1 oz jars of glitter for $5.98 (regular price $7.32)! Get the deets HERE!

WW Sketch 13: Queuing Up for the Tofu Barbecue!

OMG! Is this not just the CUTEST piggy ever? He is a Francoise Read design for Woodware UK, and I love, love, love him. He comes as part of a This Little Piggy clear set with two fun sayings..."This little piggy..." and "hogs and kisses". Seriously, you know you have to have this! While you are at it, you need to get his pal, Chubby Kitty!

Following the Woodware UK sketch challenge #13 this week, I thought I'd create a Father's Day card for the hubs. He loves to grill and barbecue (yes, there is a difference!), so I thought a BBQ related card would be fun for him.

Don't panic, though! This little wobbly-eyed piggy is going to the TOFU BBQ! He's too cute to become anyone's chops and ribs! Notice how he's dressed for the Q? He has his denim jeans on (stitched and all), and his napkin pinned around his neck...so bring on the sauce!

He was stamped and embossed with Stampendous White EP on kraft cardstock and cut out. The two background panels for the sketch match, and I added a cute belt and buckle with the sentiment added. I punched out the BBQ letters using Sizzlits. This could easily become a great invite for a summer occasion, or as in my case, a Father's day card for the "piggy" in my life!

Come play along with the Woodware UK team this week. Link your own version of this sketch for June, and you might win a fabulous prize!

Are You Ready for the Summer?

 The Stampendous teams are jumping into June with a whole new challenge...Summer! Considering it's been in the 90's all of this week, it's definitely easy to think of summer, and not necessarily with fondness. Up in the high desert of California, summer means high, dry heat, and lots of bugs. *shudder*

If I think of a color that screams "summer" to me, it would have to be yellow...bright and sunny, so I chose to post my Polka Dot Zinnia card from the October 2011 catalog. Actually, this is a very simple card, perfect for numerous occasions. I stamped the Stampendous Cling Jumbo Zinnia set with Onyx Versafine on fun patterned paper. The flower was cut out and several of the petals were popped up for added dimension. The flower was stamped again on a panel in which I'd also stamped the Cling Dream Text for a background.

Another panel of the patterned paper was stamped with the border from the zinnia set, and run through the Corrugator for texture. Some polka dot satin ribbon and a Thank You charm finish off this summery-cheerful card.

Be sure to check out what my teammates have created for the challenge today!

Stampendous Impressions

Wendy Jordan
Jennifer Ingle
Pam Hornschu
Janelle Stollfus
Taylor Usry
Kristine Reynolds
Tenia Nelson
Susie Moore

Don't forget, we want YOU to play along with us!  Simply make a summer themed project of some sort and add the direct link for your project to our collection at the end of this post (or on the Stampendous blog) no later than Thursday, June 28 at 11:59 PM EST .  You do not have to use Stampendous products, but we sure love it when you do!  As an extra incentive for playing along, one lucky crafter (drawn at random) will receive this fabulous new Friendly Phrases Perfectly Clear stamp set:

As an even bigger incentive, if you use Stampendous products on your project, that entry will count twice, which increases your chances of winning!  Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address.  We hope you have a chance to play along with us (you an enter as many times as you'd like!) this month...Happy Crafting!

A Flight of Rebellion

Sorry if my post today is confusing. Yes...I know...the Dream Team still has this last post to feature the May challenge of black and white with a pop and/or graduation. I am the team leader, so it's doubly embarrassing to admit...I AM SICK OF BLACK AND WHITE!

So, I am rebelling. This is probably more pop with a bit of black and white, but it could work as a graduation card...sort of. Yep.

This card features the Open Butterfly stencil, Zentangled and colored with Copic markers, just to be unique. Originally, I created this Madras plaid background with Iceberg and Citron Color Solution inks swiped over a glossy cardstock surface with the CS Applicator. Going back and forth, and up and down created this cool background.

When the background was completed, I traced the Open Butterfly stencil onto the back of the panel, and cut it out. Those pieces were
used to created a different card. Now I had the opportunity to place the open cut out over a white cardstock panel and Zentangle the design inside. A clever sentiment from the Bird Words stencil seemed appropriate to finish off this card.

I think Lynell plans on posting the winners from the May challenge tomorrow on the Dream It Up! blog, so you have until about 6 pm, Pacific Time to link your own creation to the Mr. Linky HERE. Remember, you have an opportunity to win one of two sets of stencils!

I don't know about YOU, but I am curious to see how many of the rest of the Dream Team cheated this week. Let's go check them out:

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser 

Jessie Hurley

A Sketch and a Celebration

I love it when I can incorporate two challenges in one project! This week's challenge for the girls at Woodware UK was to create an invitation, and I thought I'd design it using this week's sketch challenge SC387 at Split Coast Stampers. The sketch created by my pal and fellow Stampendous team-mate, Taylor Usry, was really unique and fun as you can see at left.

I chose to use the Stampendous Perfectly Clear Party Invite set, and has everything needed to create a multitude of invitations for several occasions. In the UK, you can purchase this set through any of LSS listed on the Woodware UK site, or in the US from Stampendous.

Since the sketch has a CAS look to it, I kept it that way...simply stamping the gift with it's swirly ribbons at various angles in Onyx Versafine ink. I paper pieced these with some bright pink cardstock. The sentiment was stamped on white, with a pink stamped gift overstamped, and the whole panel cut at an angle and matted.

Looking at the sketch, I originally thought to just add staples for the small lines, but when I studied the stamp set, I thought the candles would be perfect for these straight bits of added interest.

For more invitation ideas, check out the rest of the Woodware UK team linked to the Woodware UK blog HERE.

Feeling FAIRY Crafty?

Well, last night I did an "OMG!", as I forgot that I hadn't created something specifically for this last post for the Stampendous "gifty" challenge. After the hamster wheel in my head squeaked for a few minutes, I remembered that I had never posted my beautiful Fairy Tale Book that I created a year ago during that catalog crunch time. It could be a nice gift...right?

I didn't happen to have a blank scrapbook on hand at that time, so I made my own. I covered large panels of chipboard (recycling...yes!) with Contact paper that has  the look and feel of suede. I stamped the binding section with Stampendous Elegant Borders using Coffee Bean Brilliance ink, and created wrapped corners for the focal panel to match.

The focal panel was stamped using various images from the Perfectly Clear Fairy Queen, and colored with Copic Sketch markers. For added texture, dimension, age, and interest, I added coffee spritzing, ultra fine crystal glitter, and some faint stamping of more Perfectly Clear Elegant Borders in Pearlescent Beige Brilliance. The panel was matted with Paper Adventures "Baby Blue Scroll" to bring out the blue in the fairy dress. Flowers, pearls, and rhinestones were the finishing embellies, plus gorgeous crinkled cream  May Arts ribbon laced through the binding grommets.

I've added a few of the pages that were inserted in the book...each uniquely Fran•táged and stamped with fabulous images from the Perfectly Clear Fairy Queen, Elegant Borders, Eiffel Tower, Vintage Crowns, Chandelier, and Damask Chair sets. Sometime I intend to add pics of my mom as a little girl playing in the garden to these pages.

Granted, I did not have to use that many sets to create this book, but it was fun! I highly recommend going wildly creative with your own Fairy book, and the entire Stampendous Fran•táge line of images and Essentials are the perfect ingredients for your own magic.

For your own opportunity to win some Stampendous goodness, please play along and create your own gifty project...it could be as simple as a set of cards or notes, or just one gift card holder. Link your creation on the Stampendous Impressions blog, or the link at the bottom of my post. One randomly selected winner will receive this new Cling Jumbo Tropical Garden stamp set:

For more gifty inspiration, check out what the rest of the Stampendous team players have been creating this week:

Stampendous Impressions

Lea Kimmel

Pam Hornschu

Jennifer Ingle

Tenia Nelson

Susie Moore

Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address.  We hope you have a chance to play along with us (you an enter as many times as you'd like!) this month...Happy Crafting!