Fab Friday!!!!!!

Oh my goodness!!!!! I am so excited! I was asked to be a design team member (huge honor!) for a brand new stamping challenge blog called Fab Friday! If you didn't already LOVE Fridays, now you have one more reason to make it your favorite day of the work week. This is our very first challenge and we hope you will play along! We have a fun sketch challenge for you this week.

Here is my take on the sketch. I turned it on its side (which is totally legal for sketch challenges and I didn't realize that when I started doing them).

Supplies:
Stamps: Lovely As a Tree, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Jolly Old St. Nick (retired)
Paper: Garden Green, Soft Suede, Pool Party, Very Vanilla
Ink: Garden Green, Soft Suede, Pool Party
Accessories: Big Shot, Woodgrain EF, Scallop Border punch, Very Vanilla seam binding, Neutrals button, bakers twine, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, homemade shimmer spray
Techniques: dry embossing, fork bow

I kept things fairly simple for this project. Who wants to make a bunch of complicated and time consuming Christmas cards? I always make a very large stack of cards so I have to keep them fairly simple and easy to duplicate. This card definitely fits the bill! It is hard to see in the picture, but the image panel is sprayed with shimmer spray (rubbing alcohol mixed with Champagne Mist shimmer paint) and I accented the tree, snowflakes, and ground with Dazzling Diamonds. In real life, this card has lots of shimmer and sparkle, which I love for Christmas.

Come on over and check out all of the other "fab" projects made by the design team and play along with us! We would love to see you!

~Marla Pin It

Herringbone for Hand Stamped Sentiments

Hello everyone! Now that August is almost over and life is beginning to fall into a rhythm, I am going to try to be better about stamping and posting regularly again. Last night, I  put the kids to bed and immediately hit my stamp room with every intention of stamping the night away. I couldn't even get started. I had a major case of stamper's block. I gave up and went to bed hoping to dream up some great idea. That didn't happen, but I did decide to do what I always do when I need some inspiration- check out the weekly challenges.

I thought I would try a brand new (to me) technique called "Herringbone" and play along with the challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments. I looked at the pictures from the tutorial on Splitcoast and decided to just wing it. I'm not totally sure that I did it right and the end result is a little busy, but I kinda like it. The background reminds me of a quilt and I thought that it would go well with the jar (plus, I will look for any excuse to use my current favorite stamp set). Here is what I came up with...

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved
Paper: Raspberry Ripple, Island Indigo, Early Espresso, More Mustard, Very Vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP, 2012-2014 In Color DSP stack
Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Island Indigo, Early Espresso, Lucky Limeade
Accessories: Big Shot, Window Frame framelits, Cannery framelits, mat pack, paper piercer, Festive Paper Piercing Pack, Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets, linen thread

Thanks for stopping by! Head over to Hand Stamped Sentiments and play along!

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Still Kickin'...

Just in case you were beginning to wonder, I am still kickin'. I just haven't stamped in almost THREE WEEKS!!!! Yikes! We were away on a wonderful beach vacation for a week and then last week I was very busy catching up from vacation and getting ready for my son's sleepover party for his seventh birthday (sniff, sniff) and this week we are preparing for a family birthday party for both of my kids (their birthdays are a week apart and my daughter will be turning four this Saturday- sniff, sniff again) coming up this weekend. We are also getting ready for my son to head back to school next Monday. August is an extremely busy month at our house, so it isn't really surprising that I haven't been stamping, but I sure do miss it. Hopefully, I will get a chance to stamp again in the next day or two.

In the meantime, here is a card I made over a month ago, but never posted. My mom is also a Stampin' Up demonstrator and is in my downline. She has a club that meets once a month and if it happens that I am going to be at her house for her club meeting, I will act as the guest designer and teach a new technique to her club. She requested the inset embossing (also called inlaid or embedded embossing technique) using the Papillon Potpourri stamp set and coordinating Elegant Butterfly punch. This is what I came up with. All of her club ladies really liked it. I hope you do too!

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:
Stamps: Papillon Potpourri, Friendly Phrases
Paper: Melon Mambo, So Saffron, Gumball Green, Whisper White
Ink: Melon Mambo, Gumball Green
Accessories: Big Shot, Square Lattice EF, Little Leaves Sizzlit, Elegant Butterfly punch, Scallop Oval punch, Large Oval punch, Gumball Green ribbon, basic pearls
Techniques: Inset Embossing

I really like this bright, summery color combination and it came straight from Color Coach. If you don't have a Color Coach yet, you really need to order one... NOW! :)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

~Marla Pin It