Feb 9 2016

Technique Tuesday – Rose Wonder!!!

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Laura's Stamp Pad

Happy Tuesday!!! You all know what that means….I have a fabulous technique to share with you today!!! I loved the Rose Wonder Stamp Set and coordinating Rose Garden Framelits (Bundle & Save 15%) once I first laid eyes on them! I love the beautiful flowers and the greetings…..oh my goodness. I reach for this stamp set for every card I create because the greetings are PERFECT!!!

This is a very simple and yet so beautiful card that is perfect for many different occasions!!! I created this one as a Sympathy and Thinking of You and the other sample is Birthday! I love it!!! You can also play with different colors for even more fun! Let’s get started!

For this card, all you need is cardstock, ink, Fine Tip Glue Pen and the Rose Wonder Bundle! I cut a piece of Very Vanilla Cardstock measuring 4″ x 5-1/4″ and placed it on the Precision Base Plate. I placed the large rose die on the paper where both of the leaf ends are very close to the edge or falling off. Then run this through the Big Shot. You can run it through 1-2 times to make sure you have that nice even cut. Then the best way to get the image out of the die and to pop out all of the cut out piece, you will want to use the Die Brush. Check out how amazing it is here! That thing is best thing ever! Love it!!! You will want to keep the negative/corner of the cardstock of the Rose as well. I used a Lost Lagoon card base and adhered the corner piece to the top right hand corner of the card front. Then using the Fine Tip Glue Pen, I add adhesive to the Rose and placed it right next to that corner piece. In some places it is closer and in others, it is farther away and that’s okay. You don’t need to coat the entire back of the rose. I mostly did the edges and a few spots in the middle, then placed it down and held it for 15-30 seconds. Then if there are a few spots still popping up, just add a little underneath and press it down again. I used Lost Lagoon ink for the greeting from the Rose Wonder Stamp Set! Here is another sample!

I thought it would be fun to use two colors – Elegant Eggplant and Pink Pirouette. I love how it turned out. I think a light and dark blue would be fabulous as well! Since the cardstock is so dark, I decided to add the greeting to the bottom left corner! I also added a few pearls in the center of the rose for a little bling! I love it!

If you would like to see this in action, check out the video below or click here! Don’t forget to give it a thumbs up if you liked it and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on Thursday’s video as well! 🙂

Let me know in the comment below which color combination you like the most or what color combination I should try next!

Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Feb 8 2016

Rainbow of Balloons!!!

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Laura's Stamp Pad

You know how I love bright colors and I just can’t help but create a rainbow of balloons!!! I LOVE IT!!! I used the balloons from the Party Wishes Stamp Set and punched out a few with the coordinating Party Punch Pack (Bundle & Save 15%). I love this set. You can see a few more samples using this set here and here!

I started with a Bermuda Bay card base. Then I took a piece of Whisper White measuring 4″ x 5-1/4″ and added some It’s My Party Washi Tape on the top and bottom. Can’t go wrong with some black and white and bright colors!!! For this sample, I actually stamped the greetings at the end but you can do it now if you would like. I made another one and my balloons were up to high that I could only stamp the greeting down low. It’s all up to you. The greeting is from the Greatest Greeting Stamp Set! Now for the balloons…..it is all up to you. For this sample, I stamped a string and then added the balloon, stamped another string and on and on. You can also stamp all 7 of the strings and then add in the balloons. Every other balloon was stamped on scrap paper and then punched out with the Party Punch Pack and attached with a Stampin’ Dimensional! I used Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Cucumber Crush, Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay, and Elegant Eggplant (ROY G BIV)!

You could use this card for all types of Occasions – Graduation, Birthday, a Promotion, Engagement and so much more! Do you love bright colors and rainbows of color like me? Let me know your favorites in the comments below!

Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Feb 5 2016

Fabulous Friday!!!

Posted on February 5, 2016 by Laura's Stamp Pad

Happy Friday, everyone! It’s the weekend again and let’s enjoy it to the fullest. Who would rather stamp than watch the Super Bowl???? I know I would since I’m not a huge football fan! 🙂

First of all, I wanted to thank Julia D. and Joanna Z. for their generous donation of cards for the Ronald McDonald House!!! If anyone else would like to send cards (hand-stamped or not), I would love to include them in my box of goodies which will be sent out in the next few weeks. Our little Tab House has room for a few more tabs so I’ll wait till it’s super full. I have also been thinking about signing up to cooking/serving another dinner over there. It was about a year ago when I did it the last time and it was so much fun. If you are local and would like to join in, I would love to have you join us!

Of course it wouldn’t be a Friday without the Weekly Deals!!! If you don’t have the Decorative Label Punch, NOW IS THE TIME!!! Just scroll a few days through my blog and you will see it a few times. LOVE that punch and just bought a second one 2 weeks ago. Then it goes on sale this week……should I get a third??? My first one is like punched out….I tried tin foil and all and it just seems a little dull on the points but after years of punching with it, I understand he’s just tired. Don’t forget that you can earn Sale-A-Bration goodies on the Weekly Deals and even the Clearance Rack!!!

Don’t forget to check out my Botanical Bundle Up Close and Personal that went up yesterday! Lots of great tutorials and reveals on my YouTube Channel!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!! I’ll see you back here on Monday!!

Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Feb 4 2016

Cute Conversations Paper Pumpkin Kit!!!

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Laura's Stamp Pad

The January 2016 Paper Pumpkin Kit arrived and as always I was super excited to rip it open. You can check out my excitement here! It is called Cute Conversations and after playing with it, I totally get it. They are little conversation hearts. I love it! I will admit though when I first opened it and saw the banner and treat bags, I was a little skeptical. I didn’t really want to create a banner that would only be up for a week or two and I only needed a few treats….or so I thought. I started to play with the kit and create the treats like the instructions where you adhere two hearts together.

I didn’t really like the way they turned out. The opening was really small and the treats weren’t staying in. Also, if you put a few kisses in there, they will be spilling all over. So I put the candy in some cellophane bags, used the Mint Macaron Baker’s Twine to tie them up and added them to the hearts.

I needed treats for all of my nieces and nephews so I started with those. I put the candy into a Cellophane Bag. I stamped on the conversation heart with the stamps and Watermelon Wonder ink. I adhered the heart to the front of the bag and clipped a clothespin on with a little piece of sequins. On the little banners, I stamped To/From and wrote their names. I added adhesive to the back of it and adhered it to the left side. I love how they turned out!! I had so much fun making these, I made a few more that say You’re Sweet so I could pass them out to random people at the Post Office, Bank, Store and other places I go to. Why not share a little love?? 🙂

I had lots of the little banners left over and still some candy that I had to get packaged up before I ate it all. I wrapped the little banner on a cellophane bag and tied some ribbon on the top. Super cute and simple!!!

I wanted to create a few cards as well to send out for Valentine’s Day so here are my Conversation Heart Cards. I just added a few hearts and stamped. I added some of the loose sequins to the card with the Fine Tip Glue Pen! They are super cute and I love how they turned out. I still have some banner left and tons of ribbon and sequins. I love how these kits come with so much goodie!

If you would like to sign up for Paper Pumpkin and get the February Kit, be sure to do so before the 10th!!! Click here to sign up now! I can’t wait to see what it is. You can also purchase a Pre-Paid Subscription for 1,3,6, and 12 months. Starting at 3 months, you can earn Sale-A-Bration goodies! Woot Woot!

Can’t wait to see the February Kit!

Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Feb 3 2016

You’re So Lovely!!!

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Laura's Stamp Pad

The You’re So Lovely Project Kit in the Occasions Mini Catalog peaked my interest the moment I laid eyes on it. The little foam roller just looked like so much fun…..and the diamonds!!! 🙂 I got the kit and opened it up with all of you. Check that out here! I was a little confused/worried about the foam roller and thinking how is that going to press into the template enough to make a mark. Well let me tell you I found out right away and there was nothing to worry about. I had so much fun rolling all afternoon, I couldn’t stop myself. It was super easy and the ink showed up perfectly with minimal pressure. I was so impressed! I loved it!

Look at me going to town. You can see that the top portion has been rolled over the bottom hasn’t. The whole thing looks pink because I had done several of them. Another fabulous point, the foam roller hardly has any ink on it at all. It’s not all squishy and dripping (I’m a press dark, go dark type of person) and messy. You could probably touch it and it wouldn’t even barely leave ink on you. Once you are done with the templates, you can rinse them off or clean them with a baby wipe.

Speaking of template, I have a BIG TIP for you. Using a Sharpie Marker, write this side up or Front on your templates so that all of the die-cut images fit correctly. In the card below, the star is off-set because I did it with the template backwards so the die-cut star didn’t fit perfectly.

I loved the star image on the gold foil star card front. All of the supplies on these cards are from the kit!!! I did get the coordinating You’re So Lovely Stamp Set for all the greetings and that banner outline! Also, I decided I liked the black chalkboard banners better than the kraft ones. I thought the kraft ones looked too rustic for the gold foil and star bling. There are enough of both to do all of the cards so it wasn’t a problem at all!

Oh how I loved the butterflies and just couldn’t decide which color I liked best. I squealed with excitement at the placement of the Gold Dots down the center of the butterfly. Love it!!!!

Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend!!! I started with the diamond and was having so much fun, I couldn’t stop. Then I realized I needed to play with the others as well. I did the full template with the far left, then I did the reverse template with the next one and for the far right, I laid the die-cut image down and wheeled over it. Wait till you see the treat bag with the Watermelon Wonder Diamond on it! Eeeeee So much fun!!!

I played with these circles so much that I totally forgot about the wreath die-cut. I tell you that I had so much fun with this kit, I didn’t even know what I was doing.

Look at all of these leftover pieces. There are tons of the wreaths since I didn’t use them. The image in far bottom right is the center of the wreath that looks like a Disk Blade. With my family being farmers, I thought I might be able to use them for a Man Card!

Here are a few of the treat bags. The kit creates 12 cards and 12 treat bags with tags! I really enjoyed this kit and can’t wait to use the templates and foam roller for many more projects! I hope you enjoyed all of these pictures. I’m telling you this is a fabulous kit and always remember that YOU’RE SO LOVELY!!!

Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Feb 2 2016

Technique Tuesday – Watercolor Wildflowers!!!

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Laura's Stamp Pad

Happy Tuesday! I am so stinking giddy about sharing this card with you today! I LOVE IT! It’s so soft and beautiful. I know I know, it’s not my usual bright colors but it is flowers! 😉 The technique I’m sharing with you is a little watercoloring with the Aqua Painter. I know many might not like it or have never tried it so I’m going to share some tips and tricks today!!!

This card also screams Spring with the pastels and blooming flowers. Oh how I am counting down the days still Spring – 47 more days!!! Let’s get started on this beauty!!!!

SUPPLIES NEEDED: Aqua Painter, Basic Gray Archival Ink (or Stazon), your choice of colors

I took a piece of Whisper White cardstock measuring 4″ x 5-1/4″ and stamped each of the flowers from the Flowering Fields Sale-A-Bration Stamp Set. I used every image in the set except the butterfly and I really should have added him in. That would have been amazing! I stamped all of the flowers with Basic Gray Archival Ink which you can use for watercoloring. I liked the softer look of the gray verses a black. It is okay if the flowers don’t all line up along the bottom because the greeting banner is going to cover that up! Now that your images are stamped, it is time to color. I have found that when using an Aqua Painter, you don’t need to squeeze it at all. The water will gently come out as you color. I also found that just barely touching it to the paper is best for those fine lines. I tend to press hard but then the brush tip bends and it becomes really wide and all over the place. Just a light touch to the paper works best. If you don’t like making a mess on the inside of your ink pads to create a color palette, just press a clear block into the stamp pad and use that as your color palette and then rinse off when you are done. You can always add re-inker to the clear block as well. I used Pear Pizzazz for my stems. The flowers are (left to right) Wisteria Wonder, Hello Honey, Pear Pizzazz, Marina Mist, Pear Pizzazz, and Calypso Coral. Another tip that I have is allow it to dry a little and then go back and add accents or more color. Don’t think that you have to get the perfect look with one swipe. Have fun with it!!! For the greeting I stamped it in Basic Gray onto Pear Pizzazz from the Greatest Greetings Stamp Set. This card could really have any type of greeting on it! I added a little piece of Tea Lace Doily to the bottom of the banner and adhered it to the card with Stampin’ Dimensionals! By adding just a little piece of the doily, I can get 3, sometimes 4 of these out of one doily. I love getting the most out of my supplies!

If you would like to see this in action and how I used the Aqua Painter, check out the Video Tutorial below or click here! Don’t forget to give it a thumbs up if you liked and subscribe so you are notified when I post the next one!

Let me know in the comments below which you prefer – Aqua Painter, Blender Pens, Marker, or not a fan of coloring!!!

Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Feb 1 2016

Wedding Wishes!!!

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Laura's Stamp Pad

The Love Blossoms Designer Series Paper is so beautiful! The flowers, the simple patterns, the colors all are so perfect for so many occasions!!! Love it!!!

I started with a Rose Red card base. I cut a piece of the Love Blossoms Designer Series Paper measuring 2″ and 5-1/2″. I layered it onto a piece of Garden Green measuring 2-1/4″ x 5-1/2″. I cut a Tea Lace Doily in half and placed it on the right hand side, tucking the end under the strip of Designer Series Paper. The greeting is from the Rose Wonder Stamp Set in Rose Red. PS: You NEED this stamp set. It has the perfect greetings for every occasion and the font is beautiful. Bonus, it has flowers in it as well! Perfect!!! I punched the greeting out with a 1-3/4″ Circle Punch and layered it onto a Blushing Bride 2″ Circle Punch. Then I layered both of those onto a Rose Red 2-3/8″ Scallop Circle! I added the greeting to the card with Stampin’ Dimensionals….of course! 🙂 You can see more samples using this Designer Series Paper here!

This card would work well for Valentine’s Day (13 days away), Birthday or Sympathy! Which greeting would you use? Let me know in the comments below!

Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Jan 29 2016

Fabulous Friday!!!

Posted on January 29, 2016 by Laura's Stamp Pad

Happy Friday everyone! This has been a crazy week and I’m excited for the weekend!

How cute are these girls?!?!?! These are my nieces who got to come with their Mom to the Stamp Party last weekend. They did a great job making their cards and adding a little of their own flare. Love them!!! We had a great group of stampers of all ages. I loved every minute of it!!!

Of course it wouldn’t be a Friday without the Weekly Deals! The Bear Hugs Framelits are from the Occasions Mini Catalog! They are super cute and you could use them for lots of different things. Also, the clothespins are great to hold treat bags closed. Don’t forget Valentine’s Day is right around the corner! Don’t forget that you can earn Sale-A-Bration items with the Weekly Deals, Clearance Rack and Occasions Mini Catalog items!!! Woot Woot!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I will see you back here on Monday!

Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Jan 28 2016

Memories In The Making!!!

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Laura's Stamp Pad

The Memories In The Making Project Life Card Collection is one of the items that you can earn for FREE through Sale-A-Bration!!! I thought the cards were super fabulous because many of them are window sheets with frames and borders and amazing designs. There are a few that are gold on one side and silver on the other. WOOT WOOT! I love how there is something for everyone there. The other pieces have embossed prints on them so you can have fun and add color for an emboss resist technique. Love it!!!

The card above uses one of the embossed patterns and I brushed over it with an Elegant Eggplant Sponge Dauber to give it some color. Since the card is 4″ x 6″, I had to cut it down a bit (4″ x 5-1/4″). I added some Whisper White Cotton Ribbon. For the greeting, I used the Big News Stamp Set. I layered it onto Elegant Eggplant and added it to my card with Stampin’ Dimensionals. I thought it needed a little bling so I added some Dazzling Details to all of the little dots in the scroll. 🙂

I didn’t want to waste that little strip that I cut off so I created this card. I took another Memories In The Making Card, stamped the greeting from the Tin Of Cards Stamp Set in Stazon Ink and added it to my card front once it dried. Be very careful when stamping on Window Sheet as it can be slick and want to slide all over. Straight up and down! This is one of those cards that the dotted wreath is gold on the back side. I’m a silver girl though! 🙂 Since you can see adhesive on Window Sheet, I just added it to the left hand side where the patterned paper is. It is held securely with Tear & Tape so I don’t have to worry about it coming off!

I wanted to do another one so I took another Card from the Collection that was embossed stripes. I used my Sponge Daubers to add color in this amazing ombre pattern. I used Bermuda Bay, Island Indigo, and Night of Navy. I loved how it turned out. I wrapped some Silver Metallic Thread around a few (hundred) times on the left hand side and tied a knot. I added it to a Bermuda Bay card base and did the awesome greeting again from the Big News Stamp Set. Perfect Man Card!!!

Then with the little strip that I had to cut off, I created this card. Again I took one of the Window Sheet Cards and stamped in Craft White Ink with the Tin of Cards Stamp Set. I adhered it on with Tear & Tape under the strip of ombre! I love how these turned out!

You can use Project Life Card Collections for greeting cards and memory keeping. They are so much fun and so versatile. You can check out a few of my Project Life Album Pages here!

To see all of the cards from the Memories in the Making Card Collection, check out the Video Tutorial below or click here! Don’t forget to give it a thumbs up if you liked it.

Have you ever tried the Project Life Card Collection for memory keeping or card making? Let me know in the comments below!

Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Jan 27 2016

A Marriage Made In Heaven!!!

Posted on January 27, 2016 by Laura's Stamp Pad

Based on the title, you might think this is a post about my marriage but it’s not! 🙂 Hehe <3 Although I do think our marriage was made in heaven and blessed by God! Instead, this post is all about this fabulous Wedding or Anniversary card! You could change up the greeting and make it into a Valentine’s Day card as well!!

I used a Blushing Bride card base and a piece of Whisper White measuring 3-3/4″ x 5″! I took a few different patterns from the Love Blossoms Designer Series Paper Stack in the Occasions Mini Catalog and cut them into stripes measuring 2″, 1-1/2″ and 1″! I then used then Banner Triple Punch to add the beautiful banner tips! Then I staggered them along the piece of Whisper White. I stamped the greeting from the Blessed By God Stamp Set in Rose Red in the lower right corner. I thought it needed a little something towards the top so I wrapped some Gold Metallic Thread around the Whisper White a few times and then tied it into a knot. This adds a little shine and texture! To finish it off, I added a few sequins from the Metallics Sequins Assortment which has circles, hearts and stars. The hearts were perfect for this card! I adhered the sequins with the Fine Tip Glue Pen. You can check out a tutorial on that here!

A card style like this is great to use up scraps of your Designer Series Paper and you could use this template for any card type. Have you tried this style yet?? Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Happy Stampin’

~Laura