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Hey Chick is Back and more!

Hello Stamping Friends,

Several years back during Sale-A-Bration we had a very popular stamp set called Hey Chick!   Stampin’ Up! has brought it back –with dies!  Not only are they offering dies for that stamp set they are now offering dies for the Hey Birthday Chick stamp set in the JJ mini!  Take a look see…

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There really are chickens with feathers on their head.  This picture is a Polish Crested Chicken.

Isn’t it cute!!

.   Thanks for the lesson;  many of us have learned something new.  Now can we go back to those dies?

Those dies are definitely fun!  My favorite is the corn stalk, or maybe the cut out Happy Birthday or maybe the chicken wire or the fence or that cool die that looks like twisted crepe paper to decorate for a party or…….

All right all ready!  You just need them all! 

Here are a few samples from the home office:

.   Whew….that fast forward video made me dizzy.  

But wasn’t it fun!  Shall we hire chickens to hold down our helium balloons at the next party?

  Like the fuzzy headed one?  Can we keep him?

Not a good idea.  Thank you friends for spending some of your time with me today.  I hope you are smiling by now!

SAL,  Smile A Little

Karen

 

Do you remember Stampin’ Up! ever bringing back a stamp that was retired years ago?

 

 

 

Oh So Ombre Starburst Card and Mystery Card #9

Hello Stamping Friends,

Current Hostess Code:  TMARBUUM  Use this code if your order is less than $150.

This month has flown by and February is almost upon us — whoo hoo time for valentines!!

You have valentine cards done?

Well, not for this post, Sal.  This post will highlight the swap cards and the Mystery Card #9.  For those who are new to the blog, each month we have two events- one Facebook Live event on the second Tuesday of each month and one Zoom event on the last Tuesday of each month.  Accordingly, the schedule for February is:

-February 9,  Facebook Live at 9:30 on http://facebook.com/stampalosopher/videos

-February 23, Zoom Mystery Card Event at 9:30 (Request an invite by submitting your email)

My event calendar shows the monthly Paper Pumpkin kit as a Facebook Live for the third Tuesday of the month but since the delivery times are so slow right now I haven’t received my kit in time to have the event.

.  Why don’t you do a YouTube live whenever you get the kit?

That is a possibility!  Especially with the January kit which has some beautiful valentine cards!  Stay tuned!

My swap card for this month is a Happy New Year! card and I used products from all three catalogs!

  1. From the Annual Catalog:  Stitched Stars Dies, Playful Alphabet Dies for the numbers, Word Wishes Dies
  2. From the Mini JJ Catalog:  Pearlescent Specialty Paper
  3. From the Sale A Bration brochure:  Oh So Ombre Paper

Recipe:

Base:  Either – Blackberry Bliss/Rococo Rose/Granny Apple Green/ Bermuda Bay, 8 1/2″X5 1/2″ scored at 4 1/4″

Starburst Base:  Whisper White, 5 1/4″X4″, Mark the center bottom at 2 5/8″ to show the starting point of your strips

Starburst Strips:  Oh So Ombre Designer Series Paper (DSP), 1 1/2″ X 6″,  make sure your strips are cut to go vertically light to dark or dark to light.  Cut each strip diagonally. Line the opposite corners in the track of the paper trimmer and cut. You will use 13 cut strips. Make a pile of 6 light to dark pieces and 6 dark to light pieces and use the 13th piece for the middle

Using liquid glue cover your Whisper White base. I used a sponge to spread Tombow so it didn’t have clumps of glue.

Place your 13th diagonal half with the point at the 2 5/8″ mark on your now ‘gluey’ piece of Whisper White. Work from that center piece alternating light and dark points.  Work quickly so you can slide each piece tightly to the previous one before the glue gets hard to work with.

When done, turn the base over and burnish the back to make sure all the glue spreads evenly and the pieces are tight to base.

Now cut all those starburst pieces to the size of the base using the back of the base as a guide.  Scissors work fine because you have the base to guide your cuts.

Note:  The Oh So Ombre paper is 6″X6″ so you have 4 strips on each sheet.  Each strip is cut diagonally making 8 strips per sheet of DSP so you need two sheets to make 13 strips.  Do not cut the last 1 1/2″ strip diagonally – cut it in half horizontally to give you a nice 3/4″ strip for the inside of your card.  You will have one starburst strip left over.

Star Top, Numbers and Scrolly at the bottom:  Pearlescent Specialty Paper, 4 1/2″ X 4″.  Use the double back adhesive paper just slightly less than that size and adhere it to the Specialty Paper, Die Cut your images, remove the five stars for the inside,  and then place the die cut images on a piece of scrap cardstock and run them back through the Cut and Emboss machine to flatten the little dots that show up in the cuts and to adhere the images tightly to the adhesive sheet.   Use a hat pin to remove the adhesive sheet backing from your die cut images by sticking it through the adhesive baking in the middle of a wide part.  The stars and the scrolly are from the Stitched Stars Dies, the numbers are from the Playful Alphabet Dies; both are in the Annual Catalog.  The Pearlescent paper is in the Mini JJ catalog.

Inside Happy New Year:   Oh So Ombre Designer Series Paper,  1 1/4″ X 6″, Apply double back adhesive sheet to the back and then cut using Word Wishes Dies, trim off the ‘s’ on ‘years’ since you are not using the ‘day’ die.  The stars are from the star cut out we made for the top.  The Oh So Ombre paper doesn’t show the little dots from the die like the pearlescent paper so I didn’t need to run it back through the machine to flatten but you do need to burnish the pieces well to adhere them to the cardstock.

.  What does ‘burnish’ mean?

Good question, Sal.  I do use that term often.  It is a technical way of saying ‘rub’.  Sometimes we use our fingers and sometimes we use the bone folder.  Most often the term is used when we score a piece of cardstock and want the fold on the score line to be nice and crisp and lay down flat.

Let’s look at this month’s Mystery Card, shall we?

Mystery Card Challenge #9.pdf

Base:  Granny Apple Green

I used the Sale-A-Bration Flower & Field Designer Series Paper which is free with a $50 purchase.

I punched and layered two large daisies in Whisper White, one small daisy in Pool Party and one in Whisper White.  Both the small and large punch are in the Annual Catalog.

The bee is from the Dandy Garden DSP in the Mini JJ Catalog, die cut with the Dandy Wishes Die.

The ribbon is the Ornate Garden Ribbon Combo Pack in the Annual Catalog (AC).

The jewel on the little heart is the “Flowers For Every Season Gem” in the AC.

The greeting is from the Many Messages bundle in the JJ catalog, page 35.  What an awesome set of greetings all cut out at once with the die!

Definitely to ‘die’ for!!!

Great pun, Sal!  Let’s look at the cards the others made.  We sure missed those who couldn’t be with us on the Zoom!

Beautiful cards!  Though the construction was basic, the mystery was in the different designer series paper that each chose!

We have fun, even virtually!  If you are needing supplies I would be honored to be your demonstrator and bring you ‘a pinch of creativity to spice up your crafting world’!

You can order online by clicking little Sal in the computer.

Use host code:  TMARBUUM   if your order is less than $150 or a club order.

I love to hear from you!

Lions & Dragons – Oh My!

Hello Stamping Friends,

Let’s have some fun with Lions (dandelions) and Dragons (dragonflies)!

January’s hostess code is :  UEEZKD2D for use if your order is under $150.

Yesterday I was live on Facebook with January’s club cards.  Each club member had kits with all the supplies so this time my presentation was different with just the construction of the card without going from the beginning to the end and listing all the sizes of the card cuts, so this blog post will fill in the gaps!

Dragonfly Z Fold Club Card Introducing The Dandy Garden Suite

This suite is on Page 25 of the JJ catalog (Jan-June mini)!

 

Recipe:

Base:  Bumble Bee, 5 1/2 X 10 7/8,  Lay the base horizontally at the 7 1/4″ mark and cut down 1 1/8 inch, then score the rest of the way.

Secondly, mark the left hand side down from the top at 3 3/8″ and cut the base from 1 1/8″ to the 3 3/8″ mark.  (Note: the tip of the cut is at 1 1/8″).

 

Score the base at 3 5/8″ from the left.  You now have two score lines: one at 3 5/8′ and one at 7 1/4″.

Your base is done!

Let’s mount our little dragonflies and the bumblebees on little strips of window sheets.

Window sheet strips (X2):  3/8″ X 1 1/4″

Bumblebees:  Use the Dandy Wishes Dies little Bumblebee die to cut two bumblebees from the Dandy Garden DSP (Designer Series Paper).  Color the back of the bumblebees with Mossy Meadow.  Place glue dots on the top of one of the window sheets, one on the front and one glue dot on the back, and then adhere your bumblebees back to back.  The “Garden Wishes” stamp set has a bumblebee image to stamp if you would rather have a stamp set than a die set.

Dragonflies:  The Dandy Garden DSP has sheets that match up with the Dragonfly punch (which is bundled with the ‘Dragonfly Garden’ stamp set for a 10% discount) and you will punch out two matching small dragonflies and mount them on your window sheet strip with a glue dot on the window sheet front and on the back.

Back Layer of the Z fold:  Dandy Garden DSP, full rectangle – 3 3/8″ wide X 5 1/4″ tall.  The DSP is directional.

Middle Layer of the Z fold (which is on the back of the base):  Dandy Garden DSP,  Start with a piece of DSP, 3 3/8″ wide X 4 1/8″ tall, Mark down 1 1/8″ on the right hand side and cut from the tip of the left hand side to the mark on the right hand side.  Flip your base over and place your bumblebee where he will be on top of a dandelion at the back when you fold the card flat.  Use a glue dot to position the bumblebee and then adhere the DSP.

Front Layer of the Z fold:  Dandy Garden DSP, 3 3/8″ wide X 3″ tall to start.  Mark 1 1/8 ” down -this time on the left hand side and cut a diagonal from the tip of the 3″ to the 1 1/8″ mark. Before adhering, wrap your linen thread around the DSP and tie a bow.

Note:  On both the middle and the front layer, you can place your DSP where it will go, and make your marks for your diagonal cuts without measuring so that if your diagonal cut is not quite perfect your layer will be and will have a nice 1/8″ border.

Greeting Border:  Bumblebee, 3 1/4″ X 3 1/4″, cut with the Largest Square Stitched Shape Die (2 5/8″)

Greeting Top Layer:  Whisper White, 2 1/2″ X 2 1/2″, cut with the 2nd largest Square Stitched Shape Die (2 1/8″).  I stamped the greeting from Dragonfly Garden, “May Good Things Grow All Year Long”, in green,  and then did a stamp off of the dragonfly cluster across the greeting in Bumble Bee ink.

Embellishments:  One little ladybug mounted with a glue dot.  16″ of Mossy Meadow Braided Linen Trim.

Alternative Cut:  Diagonal Z fold with the diagonal from the back to the front.

The base of this card uses just 1/2 of a piece of cardstock so you can make two cards from one sheet.

Base:  Bumble Bee,  5 1/2″ X 10 7/8″ scored at 3 5/8″ and 7 1/4″ with a diagonal cut from left to right at the 5 1/2″ cut down to 1″ from the bottom on the right.

Note:  I have a 1/8″ border on the right, left and tops but did not have a border on the bottom.

Back Layer:  DSP, 3 3/8″ wide X  3 1/4 ” tall, cut diagonally left to right from the 3 1/4″ tip to 1 3/8″ down from the top.

Back Greeting:  Shimmer White, 3 3/8″ wide X 1 7/8″ tall, For this greeting I stamped the “Thank You For Your Kindness” from Dragonfly Garden in blue and then added a punched out dragonfly.

Middler Layer– goes on the back of the base:  DSP, striped in this case, 3 3/8″ wide X 3 7/8″ tall , diagonally cut from the right to the left from the tip to left marked at 1 1/2 “.  Tip:  place the top of your layer with a nice 1/8” border and trim the bottom since it is flush to the bottom.

Front Layer:  3 3/8″ wide X 2 3/8″ tall, cut diagonally from the left to the right marked at 1 3/8″ from the top.  Now wait — don’t adhere yet.

Dragonfly: Dandy Garden DSP,  punch two large dragonflies and mount them with glue dots on a strip of Window Sheet 3/8″ X 1 1/4″.  Use another glue dot to adhere the window sheet to the front of the base.

After the Dragonfly is adhered – adhere your front layer.

Embellishments:  Die cut a bumble bee from DSP and adhere to front; adhere a ladybug trinket with a glue dot to front; tie a little bow with 8″ of Mossy Meadow Braided Linen Trim and adhere it to the back.

Which do you like better?  A rectangle back or a diagonal back?  Leave a comment with your vote by January 25 for a chance to win the ladybug trinkets!

Sand and Sea Club Cards Introducing The Sand & Sea Suite

This suite is on page 41 of the JJ catalog.

 

I used the Whale Of A Time Designer Series Paper instead of the paper in the suite so I had a smaller background behind the shells.   The cards shown above have three different backgrounds from the Whale of a Time DSP:

Which do you like best?  #1) little fishes amongst the seaweed,  #2) seahorses,  #3) the coral reef

Leave a comment with your vote by January 25 for a chance to win The Opal Rounds embellishments!

Recipe:

Base:  Pretty Peacock, 5 1/2″ X 8 1/2″, Scored at 4 1/4″

Layer 1:  Whale of a Time DSP,  5 3/8″ X 4 1/8″

Layer 2:  Garden Green,  Start with 5 1/2″ X 4 1/4″ and cut with the largest Seaside Seashell Die to make a base.

Layer 3:  Granny Apple Green, Start with 5 1/2″ X 4 1/4″ and cut with the largest Seaside Seashell Die, then cut out all the little vines and glue them to the Garden Green base.  This gives you a nice contrast of greens.  Note:  you can cut into the seashells to give more area to adhere the vines since the seashells will be glued on top.

Layer 4:  Pearlescent Specialty Paper, Start with 5 1/2″ X 4 1/4″ and cut with the largest Seaside Seashell Die, then cut out all the seashells and glue them on the base over the greenery.

Greeting:  Shimmery White, Start with 1 X 2 1/2″, stamp the greeting, and then cut with the rectangle stitched die to make a perfectly sized rectangle.  Cut one end, stop halfway, reposition the die on the other end and cut that half.  I demonstrate this in the video.

Inside:  Shimmery White, 5 3/8″X 4 1/8″

Inside strip:  DSP cut from the same piece as the background, 5/8″ X 4 1/8″

Here are two examples of what I did on the inside:

So you can vote and really see the backgrounds here are up close images of the cards:

#1 – Little fishes

#2 – seahorses

#3 – Coral Reef

Remember it is Sale A Bration time with free products for each $50 or $100 order!!

January’s hostess code is :  UEEZKD2D for use if your order is under $150.

SAL,  Share A Love

Karen

Thank You or Sympathy Cards

Hello Stamping Friends,

January’s Hostess Code:  UEEZKD2D  Use this if your order is under $150.  At $150 you receive the hostess rewards.

.    Lions and Dragons – Oh my!  (Dandelions and Dragonflies-tee hee)  

That image is a sneak peak of tomorrow’s Facebook Live to make January’s club cards.  Join me at 9:30 AM at:

http://www.facebook.com/stampalosopher/videos

 

Can I come?  

Not quite yet, Sal, I have a few more classes to watch to be able to have you join us.  Soon!!

Thank You Cards

Are you wishing you had a quick and simple card layout for thank you notes?   I have one from a Mystery Card Challenge in our Blended Stampers Group on Facebook.   I used it for my club Zoom Mystery Card challenge #8.

I used ‘Feels Like Frost’ Designer Series Paper with coordinating bases, the Stitched Nested Labels and Metallic Mesh Ribbon.

‘Love & Thanks to a Dear Friend’ is from the Prized Peony stamp set with an inside greeting of ‘Your sweet friendship refreshes the soul’ also from Prized Peony.  The ‘Thank You’ is from ‘Beautiful World’ using a Stampin’ Marker to color just the thank you of the stamp.  Note:  Always use a marker not a blend when coloring the back of a stamp since the blends are alcohol and would stain the stamp.

Here is a close up:

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Now you can see the trick!  You score at halfway-5 1/2 , and again at 6 3/4.  Then you glue the 1 1/4″ section between the 5 1/2 and the 6 3/4 scores to the back half of the card.  Punch out little notches on this glued section and you have a unique placement for your ribbon.  I used the ‘Tailored Tag’ Punch.

Here are cards made by club members:

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This was the Christmas card I made for the Blended Stampers group.  We could use all our left over Christmas paper and make this  year’s cards!!

Dreamer!!

For sure!

Did you overlook the beautiful ‘Touched My Heart’ hostess set in the back of the Annual Catalog?  I used it to make Sympathy and Thank You cards in December casing Dawn Michels’ post on Pinterest.

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The base is Just Jade and the brick background comes from Tasteful Touches.

Base:  Just Jade, 8 1/2 X 5 1/2  Scored at 4 1/4

First Layer (X2):  Whisper White, 5 1/4 X 4

Top Border:  Just Jade, 3 1/4 X 3 1/4

Top:  Whisper White, 3 X 3

Bow:  8″ of  3/8″ Old Olive/Pretty Peacock reversible ribbon

Stamp the heart, the bricks and the greetings in Soft Suede and color the leaves with Just Jade.

The inside greeting is from the set ‘Kindness and Compassion’ which is retired.

What……Breaking your own rule of not using retired products?  

Once in a while, what you want to say overrides the self imposed rule!

This was a swap card using ‘His Love’ stamp set.   I made it months ago and it has been sitting on my desktop waiting to be posted.  It seems a good place to post with these cards since it would be good for encouraging someone.

Base:  Mint Macaron,  4 1/4 X 11, Scored at 5 1/2

Layer 1:  Ornate Garden DSP in Mint Macaron with Gold Foil,  4 X 5 1/4

Layer 2: Mint Macaron,  3 X 4 1/2

Layer 3:  Whisper White, 2 3/4 X 4 1/4, Embossed with Dainty Diamonds Embossing Folder

Ribbon:  Pool Party Sheer 3/8″ Ribbon,  4″ to wrap the layer and 8″ to make a bow.

Medallion:  Die Cut with Tasteful Labels a Large Circle in Gold Foil, 2 1/4 X 2 1/4 needed, a small circle with the Tasteful Labels Die, 1 1/2 X 1 1/2, in Whisper White, and punch a 1 3/8 circle from the matching DSP for the middle of the medallion.

Daisy:  Punch a large daisy in the DSP and another with the Gold card stock.  Use the small daisy punch with DSP for the top of the daisy and embellish with a Gold Gilded Gem.

For the inside:  Stamp off the Bible and then stamp it on the card stock.  (This is sometimes called ‘second generation’ stamping- you stamp off your freshly inked stamp on scrap paper before stamping on your card stock to create a lighter image.)  Stamp ‘Always’ in full strength ink on top of the Bible.

I hope these cards have given you a ‘pinch of creativity to spice up your crafting world’.

That tag line is how I came to be!

Indeed!  Thank you for your time in visiting today.  If you don’t have a demonstrator, I would be honored to help you out with your crafting needs.

SAL,  (So At Last – the new year begins)

Karen

January’s Hostess Code:  UEEZKD2D   Click on Sal in the computer to go to my onsite shop.

 

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