Welcome to A Stampers Paradise!

You've stumbled upon my escape from the daily grind! I hope you enjoy what you see here. I am a SU Demo who loves trying new techniques, holding card making classes, creating techniques of my own, and most recently blog design, I love anything stamping related! I hope you'll stay a minute and come again! I'd love to know you were here, so feel free to leave comments!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Some new blog designs for a friend...

Here's the samples I just sent to a good friend of mine who LOVES ladybugs for her blog design. I am definitely more drawn to the first sample, but I wonder which one everyone else likes better? Let me know! Backgrounds and header created in MDS. Once she picks the one she likes best, she'll have a great new blog design, and it will be custom to her! For a fee, I will soon be offering headers, backgrounds, as well as matching buttons made to order!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Cherry Mist Christmas...

                         
Here's a Christmas card I made last night, actually I made two of them. For swaps, I am finding it's so much quicker to make 2 of the same card at once. I really ended up liking this one, even though it's very different from what I usually make. I started by running a piece of Whisper White CS through the Big Shot with the Pretty Petals Embossing folder. I then inked up my brayer with Cherry Cobbler ink, and covered the raised images with ink. I LOVE this simple but effective technique. You get the raised texture and color. If you have never tried it, you really should pull out your brayer and give it a go!

Thanks for stopping by!

Paper: Whisper White, Marina Mist, Cherry Cobbler CS
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Silver Shimmer Paint
Punches: Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border, Eyelet Border, Ornament
Accessories: Big Shot, Pretty Petals folder, Marina Mist ribbon, Daubers, Filigree Brad, Brayer, Glue Dots, SNAIL, Dimensionals 

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Here's my NEW blog design!!!


I've been working on my Fall blog design all morning. If you stopped by during the process, I am sure you saw quite a mess of mismatched banners, buttons and background. But, lo and behold, I was finally able to finish it! I created (as always) the entire blog design using SU's digital software called My Digital Studio (I refer to it as MDS). I paired Crumb Cake with Cherry Cobbler, and a touch of Early Expresso. I loved the colors, and went from there. I decided to keep it clean and simple with little embellishments. I had fun making this one! If you are interested in a blog background and header done just for you, feel free to leave your email address. If you have MDS, I can link you to instructions/tips. If you don't, I would explore designing for you. Hope you like it! I think I may make the header a tad bigger, but besides that, I'm lovin' it!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Christmas Doors...

These were so much fun to make, and super easy to do more than one at a time! I sponged around the edge of the card to give the door some depth, and the edges of the door sections are heavily sponged on the edges to they look like they are actually raised. The doorknob is a Silver Brad, but it looked way to plain on the card by itself. So, I punched a Modern Label piece, and stuck it back in the punch to make it tiny. I think it's a great shape for this, and I have never seen it done, so it's a truly original idea, which are hard to come by these days! Doesn't mean noone else has ever thought of it, just that I have never seen it, so it's original to me. If you have this punch, give it a try!!! The wreaths are made from circle punches (1 inch circle, overpunched with 1 3/8 circle to make a ring), then the tiny scallop from Itty Bitty Punch Pack was punched a lot and layered on the ring with Tombow Multi. The bow is a SU Sizzlit, it's the Beary Girl Accessories from the Build A Bear line! Both of these had to be sent out for swaps, but I will be making MANY more of these. I think a saying for the inside would be 'From Our Front Door To Yours, We Wish You A Merry Christmas', or something along those lines! Hope you like it, and as always, on to the supply list!
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Sahara Sand Ink/CS, Real Red & Garden Green CS
PUNCHES...Modern Label, 1" & 1 3/8" Circle, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Curly Label
Beary Girl Accessories Sizzlet
Dimensionals, Tombow Multi, SNAIL
SUO!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

A White Wedding Wish....

We had a wedding to attend this past Saturday for my husbands co-worker, and for whatever reason, I waited to make their card right before running out the door to the ceremony! I have made a very similar card in the past, but it wasn't embossed, and was rectangular instead of square, I like this one better=) I don't know anyone else getting married, so I won't need to make another wedding card for a while. I love making these! I always do wedding cards all white, it might be an excuse to avoid color combo exploration:) Their wedding was beautiful and I hope they liked the card!
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All Supplies SU!
Whisper White CS, Glossy White CS, Mulberry Paper, Brushed Silver CS
Encore Silver Ink
Teeny Tiny Wishes for the sentiment
Ornament Punch, Boho Blossoms, Word Window, Modern Label, 1 1/4 Circle
Elegant Lines Embossing Folder with the Big Shot for SU
White Organza Ribbon, Clear Rhinestone Brad

Monday, September 13, 2010

A card I made for my own sketch...

Here's a card I made this week for a sketch that I designed for an online swap group. I used some retired DSP called Bella Rose, which is still my favorite paper EVER! I used the set Just Believe as well as Well Scripted for the sentiment. This card is a mix of current and retired product, but everything is SU! This card could easily be recreated using current product only! I used Perfect Dots for the embossing folder, Top Note Die for the image, and also used the Wide Oval punch with two brown ovals behind it to frame it. This was a simple card, but I just love the result. Below is the sketch I designed. Feel free to use it in your creations, too! Thanks for stopping by!


Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Pink and Brown Christmas...

Hello, everyone! I am so glad you stopped by for a minute! Here's a Christmas card I made last night, I actually made this card twice, for two swaps. I LOVE the Greeting Card Kids stamp set, and have been itching to make a Christmas card with this adorable little girl. Notice instead of doing a detailed coloring, I only added a tiny bit of color to the image. I hoped to achieve an aged image look, so the coloring it barely there. I WISH my camera had cooperated! Batteries died and I did not have time to get new ones, these had to mail out this morning. The image is sprayed once close and once far with the new Vanilla Smooch Spritz from SU! It gives a sheen to the image, and the closer spray provided some small 'glops' of shine with look like falling snow when the light hits it! I wish I had gotten a chance to get a better picture. I really like the old, feminine feeling from this card, and such a different color scheme that traditional Christmas!

Supplies : SU only
Paper - Textured Pink Pirouette, Early Expresso, Whisper White
Stamps - All Holidays, Greeting Card Kids
Ink - Pink Pirouette, Early Expresso, Old Olive
Punches/Dies - Corner and Border Scallop Trim Punches, Rectangle Clearlit, CropODile
Accessories - Dimensionals (about 12 on this card), Chantilly Lace Trim, Blender Pens

Friday, September 3, 2010

Patterned Owl...


Well, so far, I have been making solid color owls with the new Owl Punch from SU! However, I just got in my new Greenhouse Gala DSP and decided the owl would look great patterned. Definitely not your everyday barn owl:) This card was made for 2 Fall swaps. One was for SU Demos in NC, so I could only use current SU product. So that card was minus the button and ribbon, which are both retired. This card is for another swap group. I loved making this! Hope you don't mind looking at it =)
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Supplies are all SU!
Baja Breeze Textured CS, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive CS, Greenhouse Gala DSP
NO stamps, NO ink (that's a big deal for me!)
Big Shot and dies: Scallop Circles #2, Little Leaves, Perfect Dots Embossing Folder
2-Step Owl Punch
Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Baja Breeze Corduroy buttons, Dimensionals