January 2011

Funky Photo Card

January 31, 2011 Jentimko 2 Comments

As promised, I am back with some more specifics about my photo book from the Blog Hop this weekend. The tutorial I based this on came from the ultra-talented (and totally generous) Sarah Wills. Her blog has tons of ideas and I used her Scallop Square Die Mini Scrapbook Tutorial as the basis for my card. I thought it would be a fun little something to make for my mom since she came to visit this week.

I started with a base of On Board chipboard knowing she would keep this to show to her friends. I cut the chipboard into two 4 1/4″ squares and then cut four pieces of Old Olive card stock to the same size. Using my Anywhere Glue Stick, I attached three of the pieces to the chipboard and left the last one off to allow for ribbon placement. Just like Sarah’s instructions, I cut a piece of Chocolate Chip stock to 3 3/4″ x 11 1/4″ and folded it concertina style. I decorated the two pages on each side using Funky Four and the Play Date DSP that coordinates with it.

Here is the before and after of the front two pages. I created a 2 1/8″ x 3 1/8″ panel for the picture I wanted to put in. I then used the little leaf stamp from Funky Four as further embellishment. I love that the DSP matches this image and simply cut a square for the facing page.

I then moved to the back and designed two more facing pages. Again, I used some of the Play Date paper and a stamp from the set. I initially made a square for the photo but then adjusted once I chose my picture. I used a 1/8″ bigger panel behind it.

I connected these panels to my chipboard covered pieces using Sticky Strip (again, per Sarah’s suggestion). I then decorated the front of the card. All that was left was to attach my ribbon. I lined up where the ribbon should go, attached it to the chipboard using Sticky Strip and then glued down the Old Olive Paper over the ribbon.

I love that this project comes together so quickly and makes such an nice little gift!! Thanks, again, to Sarah for her generosity of ideas.

Those who stamp with me know that I don’t make a lot of “3-D” projects. I tend to be a little too practical, I think. This went a bit outside the box for me so I’m going to enter it into the So Shelli Creative Challenge this month. Shelli Gardner (CEO of Stampin’ Up!) challenged us to go outside our comfort zone. I’m so glad I did!! I think my mom is pretty glad too because she is already talking about showing this to her friends. *smile*

Thanks for stopping back in today. I’ll see you later this week with another ColorLab challenge on Thursday and maybe something before then (if there are no snow days!).

Stamp: Funky Four (113738), Say It Simply (122324); Play Date DSP (117168), Old Olive (100702), Chocolate Chip (102128), Whisper White (100730); Ink: Real Red Marker (100052), Tempting Turquoise (100058), Chocolate Chip (100071), Old Olive (100079); Accessories: Real Red Wide Grosgrain (109052), On Board Sheets (114320)

All products are Stampin’ Up!

Sale-a-brate with the Stampin’ Addicts!

January 28, 2011 Jentimko 29 Comments

Welcome to the Stampin’ Addicts Sale-a-bration Blog Hop!! I hope you are enjoying the projects you can make with all the FREE stamps available with the SAB promotion. I know you loved Holly’s projects over at InkPaperStamps with Forest Friends! She always has the best ideas.

I am going to show you some things I made with Funky Four. Talk about a fun set!! It is part of the “Family Organization Suite” and has matching designer paper called Play Date. I have used that on a couple of things today because, let’s face it, they are made for each other! FYI, you can click on any picture to see it in more detail.

My first project is a quick card that uses the designer paper to create grass. Ok, alternate universe grass but the bright colors are really perfect! I just used my paper snips to create the hills using Play Date DSP and the Brights Paper Stack DSP. I inked up the tree in Old Olive and Early Espresso, stamped on Whisper White and cut it out. The sentiment comes from Teeny Tiny wishes and the punches (Word Window, Modern Label) are perfect for that set. The sentiment, the tree and the yellow “grass” are all popped up on Dimensionals.

I’ll admit that the next card is for someone of a certain sense of humor. I certainly did not originate the idea with the mushrooms but I find it really funny! The psychedelic rick-rack paper comes from the Greenhouse Gala DSP. I used my markers to color the mushrooms and sentiment is from Party Hearty. I created a bow with my Pumkin Pie Narrow Grosgrain and cinched it up with thread through a Brights Button. The sketch comes from Mary-Jo Price and is perfect for these little mushrooms!

Since I am limited on the number of pictures for the hop, I created a collage of my last project using My Digital Studio. This is a mini photo book that uses a variation of a tutorial from Sarah Wills (she is stop number 5 on this hop, by the way). I will give more specifics on my variation, plus a link to her instructions, on Monday.

I’m so glad you stopped by today and that you like these fun projects! Your next stop on the hop is Holly at Rubber Redneck. You will be so impressed with what she made using Ornate Blossom! Thanks for hopping with me today. I look forward to seeing you again soon!

ColorLab 26

January 26, 2011 Jentimko 12 Comments

You are going to love, and I mean LOVE, using today’s ColorLab Challenge colors. They are seriously beautiful together!

The Perfect Plum and Basic Gray pair so nicely and I loved adding a pop of Bashful Blue. I found another great sketch courtesy of the Operators over at Stampin’ 411 and got to work. Something about this color scheme compelled me to pull out my Every Moment set. I just knew the flower and the butterfly would be fantastic on this challenge.

I started with a base of watercolor paper for my image and stamped the flower and butterfly in Black Stazon Ink. Using my lightest color first, I colored my butterfly with Bashful Blue and then the flower with Perfect Plum. I have Stampin’ Write markers in these colors so I used the technique of coloring a bit on a clear block and pulling the color from there with my Blender Pen. I added Basic Gray to the flower center and stem, and then to the butterfly. With the little left on my Blender Pen, I shaded a little around the images with Basic Gray. I used the sentiment from Say It Simply (again!)…it really is a great little set!

For the rest of the card, I rolled out a frame on Perfect Plum with my Big Shot and the Framed Tulips Embossing Folder. I did use some retired Basic Gray Taffeta ribbon and scrunched it using the thread pulling technique. All you have to do is rough up the end a bit and pick a center thread to pull. I did the same on the tails of the bow. The bow is held together with an Antique Brad. The team over at Pals Paper Arts have a Bow challenge this week…how fun! Of course, I love a bow so I am thrilled to join in.

I hope you love playing with these colors this week! I can’t wait to see your beautiful creations! I’ll be back tomorrow for the Stampin’ Addicts Sale-a-bration Blog Hop. I’ll be showing you projects with the SAB choice Funky Four. Thanks for stopping in today!

Stamps: Every Moment (120522-C), Say It Simply (122324); Paper: Watercolor (105019), Basic Gray (121044), Perfect Plum (101889), Bashful Blue (105120); Ink: Perfect Plum (100035), Bashful Blue (105111), Basic Gray (120966); Accessories: Big Shot (113439), Framed Tulips Folder (121809), Antique Brads (117273), Blender Pen (102845), Basic Gray Taffeta (retired)

All products are Stampin’ Up!

SUOC11 – Cherry Espresso Valentine

January 25, 2011 Jentimko 5 Comments

Today’s challenge over at SUO Challenges is Valentine’s Day cards. Appropriately enough, I am kicking off Sale-a-bration with a card class that includes a Valentine’s Day card. I can’t wait to make this card with my classes this week!

I started with two of my favorite colors and a new stamp set from the Occasions Mini called Be My Valentine. I inked the entire stamp in Cherry Cobbler and stamped it on Very Vanilla paper. Then I cleaned off the red and inked up the word banner in Early Espresso and stamped it again. As a helpful hint, stamp your reds first and set them aside to dry. Something about red inks take longer to dry, especially on Stampin’ Up’s ultra-smooth card stocks (like Vanilla and Whisper White). I took my smaller Espresso piece and ran it through my Big Shot using the Square Lattice Embossing Folder and then did the ribbon scrunching technique on top of a line of Sticky Strip. Once that layer was completed, I went back to the Cherry heart and cut it out leaving a little border and cutting the banner from the edges. The Espresso banner was cut next to layer on top of the Cherry heart. A couple of helpful hints:

1. With any broad flat stamps, it is helpful to take a sanding block to the surface (gently, of course). I sand in all directions and then clean it off with Stampin’ Mist on my Stampin’ Scrub. This gets rid of the “too smooth” finish on the stamp and helps ink adhere better (yes, I noticed AFTER the card was done that I needed to do this…it is fixed now!).

2. After the banner is cut, take a Stampin’ Write marker and ink the edges of the paper to finish the look. If you work from behind the image, you reduce the chance of a mistake.

The banner was attached to the heart and the heart was popped up on Dimensionals, as was the inner panel. Finally, I added some Basic Pearls to the flowers on the heart to add a little elegance.

I can’t wait to see your Valentine entries into the challenge. Don’t forget to go see the amazing work of the whole design team! I’ll be back Thursday with another ColorLab challenge and on Friday with Stampin’ Addicts Sale-a-bration Blog Hop!

Stylish Blogger?

January 21, 2011 Jentimko 6 Comments

Who would have thought that I could be stylish??!! Apparently, two of my favorite stampers do and that means a lot to me!! Cindy over at Heart’s Delight Cards and Heidi at RunningwScissorsStamper have awarded me this honor. Thanks to both of them!!

Now the rules of this are:

I have to tell you 8 things that you may not know about me and pass this on to 8 of my favorite stampers. So here goes with what you may not know:

1. I grew up in Orlando, Florida and much of my family still lives in Florida.

2. I was a Math major at Florida State University and was in Air Force ROTC there. This is where I started flying and had the good fortune of being selected to go to Pilot Training.

3. I lived in the country of Panama for three years.

4. I have been qualified on lots of airplanes in my life: T-37, T-38 (Instructor), C-130E/H, B727 (Flight Engineer), B737, B757, B767, Airbus 319/320.

5. I look forward to the day that the pilots and other employees of United Airlines get reprieve from the bankruptcy contract where they took 50-65% pay cuts to save the company.

6. I love stamping with my friends! They make the most beautiful cards and they have a wonderful variety of styles. I always learn something from them.

7. I really, REALLY want to go to Stampin’ Up’s Convention this year so that I can meet in person some of the lovely stamping friends I have met through my blog.

8. I have never been very artsy until the last few years. While I was on maternity leave with my oldest, my husband deployed for the beginning of the Iraq war. In order to fill time, I went to Stampin’ Up classes, sewing classes, cake decorating classes. One of the reasons I love Stampin’ Up so much is that the products proved to me that I have a creative side and made it easy to make beautiful things! Oh, and I still make cakes too.

Cindy and Heidi are a great source of inspiration. Others whose blogs I love (in no particular order):

1. Sarah Wills – http://sarahsinkspot.com/blog/

2. Debra Burgin – http://heartfeltinkspiration.com/

3. Krystal De Leeuw – http://krystalscardsandmore.blogspot.com/

4. Yapha Mason – http://yaphamason.com/

5. Lisa Young – http://addinkandstamp.blogspot.com/

6. Jen Mitchell – http://www.jen-icreate.blogspot.com/

7. Jennifer Weide – http://www.sunflowerstamper.com/

8. Karen Barber – http://karenbarberstamps.blogspot.com/

I hope you have learned a little about me and maybe found a new favorite blog to go visit. Thanks for stopping in today. I’ll be back next Tuesday with SUO Challenge #11 and I’m busily working on my projects for the Stampin’ Addicts SAB Blog Hop that starts in a week. See you soon!

ColorLab 25

January 20, 2011 Jentimko 10 Comments

While my weather outside certainly doesn’t match, I am starting my “seasonal stamper’s disorder” color switch over to spring colors. Good thing ColorLab has some colors just for me this week!

Umm, Jen…Old Olive and More Mustard kind of feel like Fall, you are saying?? Not when paired with Pacific Point!! Ok, and not when used with a fun little flower set. I just knew that the Pacific Point HAD to be used for flowers and what better set that A Flower For All Seasons? This is a set that never lets me down when I want a fun little note. I just pulled out my blender pen and had this little image colored in no time. I used my Watercolor paper to insure the best blending. A little Old Olive on the Frog and the stems, More Mustard on the pail, the bright and happy Pacific Point on the flowers and a little more Old Olive to ground the image. The sentiment comes from the Hostess Level 2 set Apple Blossoms.

That Olive DSP looks familiar doesn’t it? It is from the Jolly Holiday pack…not just for Christmas! I almost made this one without ribbon and a bow but then…well, I was compelled by the magnetic pull of my ribbon drawer to pull out my narrow Vanilla taffeta. What can I say…I love a bow!

I hope you have time to join us this week over at ColorLab. I’d love to see what you can do with these colors! I hope you have a great end of your week. See you again soon!

Stamps: A Flower For All Seasons (111592), Apple Blossoms (118531 – W); Paper: Jolly Holiday DSP (117159), Old Olive (100702), Very Vanilla (101650), Watercolor (105019); Ink: Old Olive (100079), More Mustard (100076), Pacific Point (120968); Accessories: Blender Pen (102845), Scallop Edge Border Punch (119882), Very Vanilla 1/8″ Taffeta Ribbon (119960), Brights Buttons (119747), Dimensionals (104430)

Crazy about MDS!

January 18, 2011 Jentimko 10 Comments

You may have noticed that I have updated the look of my blog banner! It may even look familiar and you would be right. It is the Travel Journal DSP from last year’s Summer Mini made into a Digital Kit for My Digital Studio (MDS). The digital kit not only includes the paper but the stamp set too! I have to admit that it seems tailor made for a blog called Stampin’ on the Fly!! All I had to do was copy the paper as a JPEG file and insert it into my header. Easy, peasy!!

With that done, I moved on to making my own shopping button. As promised, I now have an on-line store and wanted my button to match the blog header. I started with a blank card template, filled an oval punch with “paper” then added my airplane stamp and a text box. A little swirl (made with low opacity) and I was done. I love it! I also love that I can change the look anytime I want.

I have a couple more pictures to show you from an MDS calendar I created for my husband as a Christmas present. I downloaded the Notable Desktop Calendar Kit and all I had to do was put in the pictures. I changed very little because the pages are so great!

I might be a little biased but aren’t these pages awesome??!! This is what the kit contains:

The “paper” in the set is really fantastic and you can see how well done the layouts are. Both of these kits are available for MDS in Window or Mac OS X. I am a My Digital Studio Certified Instructor so if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. If you want to see more of the downloads available, take a look at the Digital Crafting section of my online store.

Thanks for stopping by today. Let me know what fabulous things you have created with MDS…I’d love to see them!

All products are Stampin’ Up!

Birthday Party and a Blog Candy Winner!

January 17, 2011 Jentimko 19 Comments

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who left comments last week for my blog-iverary!! I am so thrilled that you have joined me on this creative journey and it was so nice hearing from you. Right to the blog candy winner. Using Random.org, here are the results:

True Random Number Generator Min:

Max:

Result: 3

Jen Conrad, that means you are the winner. I will e-mail you to get your mailing information and if you don’t hear from me today, please contact me.

It seems that I’m not the only one with a reason to celebrate. Stampin’ Celebration has madeover their blog and are throwing a bit of a party! Here is their inspiration challenge for this week:

I also saw that the Operators over at Stampin’ 411 have a sketch challenge this week and it is a great one. It includes tearing on the base layer. Always a great way to add quick texture to a project!

While I love the balloons, I also noticed the little pennants on the table of the inspiration piece. I decided to pull out my Brights Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack and my Party Hearty stamp set to see what happened.

The little hats turned into pennants! Oh, I love this stamp set for the variety of cards it makes! The words are from a retired A La Carte set called Birthday Wish. These little sets really are super for specific stamp needs! I colored a piece of thread with my Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Write Marker so I could “hang” the pennants. I really love the torn Melon Mambo piece with the pop of Daffodil Delight torn above it.

Thanks again to all my followers! I’m looking forward to another fun year of stampin’ and blogging! I’ll be back tomorrow to tell you about my new blog header and some fun with MDS.

Stamps: Party Hearty (111532), Birthday Wishes (retired); Paper: Brights DSP Pack (117155), Melon Mambo, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight (Brights Card Stock 119706), Whisper White (100730); Ink: Brights Stampin’ Write Markers (119701); Accessories: Brights Designer Buttons (119744), Glue Dots (103683), Dimensionals (104430), Non-SU Thread

All products are Stampin’ Up unless otherwise indicated.

Sale-a-bration Starter Kit Bonus Bundle

January 15, 2011 Jentimko No Comments

We all know that Sale-a-bration (SAB) is truly a time for celebration at Stampin’ Up! If you have received your SAB flyer, take a look at the back page and you will see a special offer. If you start your Stampin’ Up business during Sale-a-bration (Jan. 25th – Mar. 31st), you will receive a bonus bundle of over $50 in free products. That’s right, more free products!! Take a look at what you can get:

Color Coach p. 155

Something Special Simply Sent (or any Simply Sent Kit) p. 183

Live, Laugh, Love Stamp Set (or any Simply Sent stamp set) p. 183

Heart to Heart Punch (or any punch values $17.95 or less) p. 202

This is in addition to the amazing savings already offered on the Starter Kit! There are so many advantages to starting your business during Sale-a-bration! When you sign up to be a demonstrator, you save 30% on your first demonstrator order (made within 45 days). During SAB, you will also receive your SAB benefits and free stamps for that order along with any hostess benefits. WOW!!

I’d love you to consider starting your business with me. If you have questions or need further information, you can click here for my contact information. Becoming a Stampin’ Up demonstrator is one of the best decisions I have ever made. Let me help you take your next step on your creative journey!

CL24 – Blushing Blossoms

January 13, 2011 Jentimko 12 Comments

The colors for today’s ColorLab Challenge 24 are really beautiful! Just take a look:

These colors lend themselves to soft, vintage style cards. While I would love to tell you that is what I made today…it wasn’t happening. Believe me, I tried to make it happen but I had to cut my losses and make something else. After over an hour of trying to force things, I pulled out my Apple Blossoms hostess set to see what came of it. Thankfully, a much better card. I inked up the big and little blossoms of the set with Blushing Bride and used a sponge dauber to add Rose Red around the edges. How pretty they are together! Soft Suede for the stems and the flowers were done. The stem for the little flower is just the stamp for the stem done upside down. I inked the words in Blushing Bride and sponged on the residual Rose Red to make the sentiment match. My touch of Crumb Cake is the new Crumb Cake Seam Binding from the Occasions Mini.

While the colors are soft, they aren’t as soft as this picture looks. I guess some days are just like that when you are stamping. The layout comes from the wonderful team over at Stampin’ 411 and their SSC185.

Thanks so much for stopping in today. I can’t wait to see the beautiful things you create with these colors!! Don’t forget to go to this post to see the blog candy offered for my blog-iversary! See you again soon!

Stamp: Apple Blossoms; Paper: Soft Suede, Blushing Bride, Very Vanilla; Ink: Rose Red, Blushing Bride, Soft Suede; Accessories: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Crumb Cake Seam Binding, Basic Pearls

All products are Stampin’ Up!

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