Fun 'n Crafty Blog Hop June 2014

Welcome to the Fun n' Crafty Blog Hop for June! This is our first of our monthly blog hops and I hope you enjoy all the inspiration. This month we will be showcasing project ideas from the NEW Stampin' Up annual catalog. So make sure to check out the list of stops on the hop at the bottom of this post to see them all!

As I flipped through the catalog, I had the hardest time deciding what to showcase...  After the longest deliberation I ended making two cards.  I'm very proud of myself for narrowing down my choices to only two.

Card #1

My first is based off of the card on page 145 of the 2014-2015 annual catalog. What really caught my eye was the fun pattern.  I bought the Six Sided Sampler Stamp Set a few months back, but haven't used it much.  After making this card, I need to break it out more often.  My favorite part is definitely my silver glimmer paper.  I hoard this but forced myself to actually use it...  Love how it turned out.

Supplies:

Six-Sided Sampler Clear Stamp Set

$18.95

Six-Sided Sampler Wood Stamp Set

$26.95

Hexagon Punch

$15.95

Perfect Plum 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$6.95

Calypso Coral 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$6.95

Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper

$4.95

Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad

$7.50

Basic Black Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Basic Gray Baker's Twine

$2.95

Stampin' Trimmer

$29.95

Snail Permanent Adhesive

$6.95

Stampin' Dimensionals

$3.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Card #2

My second is based off of the card on page 67.  While I kept the design basically the same for my card, I changed a lot for this card.  Most of my changes stemmed from not having certain products.  I don't have Coastal Cabana enamel dots, so I went with the dot stamp from the Work of Art set.  I don't have the Dictionary Stamp for the background paper, so I used some In Color DSP instead.  Even with all the changes, the card is very similar to the one in the catalog.  And my version is much more "me."  Just a note, I free handed the wavy sides of the banner and the piece of Coastal Cabana DSP.

Supplies:

Flower Shop Wood Stamp Set

$23.95

Flower Shop Clear Stamp Set

$17.95

2013-2015 In Color Backgrounds Designer Series Paper Stack

$21.95

Work Of Art Wood-Mount Stamp Set

$29.95

Work Of Art Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$21.95

Coastal Cabana 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$6.95

Baked Brown Sugar 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$6.95

Crisp Cantaloupe 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$6.95

Pistachio Pudding 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$6.95

Baked Brown Sugar Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Pistachio Pudding Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Pansy Punch

$15.95

Snail Permanent Adhesive

$6.95

Stampin' Dimensionals

$3.95

Stampin' Trimmer

$29.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Blog Hop Participants:

• Jennifer B. of Northwest Stamper
• Rose B. of RoxyRose44
• Tobe B. of The Craft Sea
• Sara G of
• Pamela W. of Stinky Tofu
• Annie L. of Love Me Cards

Card Class #2

A few weeks back I held my second card class.  We made four cards using a ton of retiring/retired DSP.  I wanted to make sure that the card designs were fun, but easy to make.  I think I found the right balance with these.

Card #1

Inspiration: From Stampin' Pretty

My Interpretation:

Supplies:

• Stamps: Daydream Medallions; Sweet Essentials (retired)
• Cardstock: Basic Black; Very Vanilla; Silver Glimmer Paper; Modern Medley DSP (retired)
• Ink: Riding Hood Red (retired)
• Accessories:
• Tools: Floral Frames Framelits; Big Shot; Paper Trimmer; Snail

Card #2

Inspiration: From Ink It Up with Jessica

My Interpretation:

Supplies:

• Stamps: Birthday Cake (retired)
• Cardstock: Whisper White; Crisp Cantaloupe; Birthday Basics DSP (retired)
• Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe
• Accessories: Honeycomb Embossing Folder
• Tools: Big Shot; Paper Trimmer; Snail; Scissors

Card #3

Inspiration: From Angela guesting on Northwest Stamper

My Interpretation:

Supplies:

• Stamps: Perfect Pennants
• Cardstock: Crumb Cake; Coastal Cabana; Real Red; Whisper White; Fresh Prints DSP (retired)
• Ink: Real Red
• Accessories: Small Metal Brads
• Tools: Paper Trimmer; Snail; Scissors

Card #4

Inspiration: From Ginger Stamps

My Interpretation:

Supplies:

• Stamps: A Word for You (retired); Petite Petals
• Cardstock: Whisper White; Watercolor Wonder DSP (retired)
• Ink: Gumball Green (retired); Crisp Cantaloupe
• Accessories: Jewels; Island Indigo Ribbon (retired)
• Tools: Blossom Punch; Petite Petals Punch

Make and Take and Stamp Club HW

I have two simple cards to share with you today. The first card was my make and take card from my May open house.  I wanted allow everyone to make a simple card for free, but not make it too complicated.  Enter the joys of monochromatic cards.  I found this example on Pinterest.  The original can be found at My Creative Corner.

And decided to recreate it using retiring colors and papers.  I have to use them somehow!  Each guest had the choice of making their card in Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals, or Raspberry Ripple.

Supplies:

• Stamps: Wacky Wishes (retired)
• Cardstock: Gumball Green (retired); 2012-2014 In Color DSP (retired)
• Ink: Gumball Green (retired)
• Accessories: 2012-2014 In Color Dahlias (retired)
• Tools: Patterned scissors; Snail; Paper Trimmer

The second card was my May stamp club homework.  Our host is such a task master!  We have to do homework every month!  Oh, who am I kidding?  We love it and usually end up making more than one example.  I was distracted with other crafts this past month, so I only made one.  Here's the sketch from Operation Write Home:

My interpretation uses a ton of current in colors and some retired DSP.  I love the cool colors and pattern play.  I played with the dimensions a bit (i think they are a bit off), but kept the design just like the sketch.

Supplies:

• Stamps: Vintage Verses (retired)
• Cardstock: Sweet Sorbet DSP (retired)
• Accessories: Pistachio Pudding Ruffle Stretch Trim (retired)

Smoky Slate 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

$6.95

Crisp Cantaloupe 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

$6.95

2013-2015 In Color Designer Series Paper Stack

$21.95

Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Stampin' Trimmer

$29.95

Snail Adhesive

$6.95

Mini Glue Dots

$4.95

Craft & Paper Scissors

$29.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

June 2014 Crafting Goals

Just a few little goal reminders to keep me on track.  Usually I will recap last month's goals and my progress, but as this is the first goal post, I don't have any to share from May.  Here are my goals for this month:

• Stay on top of Project Life
• Use the SU set for a PL spread
• Plan a workshop or class
• Put finishing touches on the Summer Bucket List notebook
• Price and possibly sell my retired stamp sets
• Make June 6x6 Monthly Page

Thanksgiving Circles

Yet another simple design to help me finish my twelve sets of twelve cards.

My Interpretation: I decided against the flower and stuck with three simple circles, a sentiment, and a ribbon.  I started with just the circles and sentiment, but realized that the card was just too plain.  The ribbon goes a long way to adding to the card.  I didn't take pictures of the others, but ended up running out of this green plaid ribbon and substituted orange and brown solid ribbon for the rest.

Tip: The orange circles looked too plain as just solid orange, so I made my own patterned paper.  I took SU's Magnificent Maple stamp (sadly retired), and stamped all over a 8.5x11 sheet of pumpkin pie paper in pumpkin pie, wild wasabi, early espresso, and more mustard ink.  The overlapping leaves created a nice neutral pattern paper to then cut into circles.  It definitely adds a bit more homemade touch to card.  Plus, I now have some leftover homemade pattern paper to play with.

Supply List:

• Stamps: Magnificent Maple (retired)
• Inks: More Mustard (retired)
• Cardstock: Fall themed scraps
• Accessories: Ribbon scraps
• Tools: 2" Circle Punch

Snail Adhesive

$6.95

Stampin' Trimmer

$29.95

Chocolate Chip 8-1/2X11 Card Stock

$6.95

Very Vanilla 8-1/2X11 Card Stock

$8.50

Pumpkin Pie 8-1/2X11 Card Stock

$6.95

Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Hip Notes

$11.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Project Life 2014 W19-20

These two weeks were my challenge to use the new Stampin' Up Everyday Adventure Card Collection and Accessories.  I did cheat just a bit and included a few non-SU stamps.

Week 19

This week was dominated with pics from our first trip to Deer Hollow Farm.  I got some pictures of the animals, but most importantly a few pics of Arthur enjoying the trip.  My favorite is the picture of him sitting on the sheepskin rug.  So cute! I especially love that his hat was askew; just feels right.

I added some stickers, washi tape, and wood veneers to coordinate with the SU cards.  I'm loving the bright colors and geometric patterns.

Week 20

This week included a few pics from Arthur's 7 month photo shoot.  I had to include the one where he's laying across the chair.  Too cute!  I added some stickers and stamps to a few of the photographs, but kept it mostly simple like usual.

Supplies:

• SU's Everyday Adventure Card Collection
• SU's Everyday Adventure Accessory Pack
• Heidi Swapp Stamp Set
• Stamp Set from May's Take Ten Kit

Card Class #1

A few weeks back I held my first ever card class.  We made four cards using a ton of retiring/retired DSP.  I wanted to make sure that the card designs were fun, but easy to make.  I think I found the right balance with these.

Card #1

Inspiration: From Stamp with Sandy

My Interpretation:

Supplies:

• Stamps: Morning Meadow (retired)
• Cardstock: Whisper White; Afternoon Tea (retired); Smoky Slate
• Ink: Wisteria Wonder; Certainly Celery; Primrose Petals
• Accessories: Large Pearls
• Tools: Pansy Punch

Card #2

Inspiration: I have two inspirations for these baby cards.  One is a card I had made a few months back

And the other is from a card made by Lucie Bell

My Interpretation:

Supplies:

• Stamps: Sweetest Gift (retired)
• Cardstock: Marina Mist; Blushing Bride; Whisper White; K & Company Paper Stacks
• Ink: Marina Mist; Crumb Cake; Regal Rose
• Accessories:
• Tools: 2" Circle Punch; Cloud Embossing Folder (retired); Polka Dot Embossing Folder; Pattern Scissors; Paper Trimmer; Snail

Card #3

Inspiration: From Stamp with Amy K

My Interpretation:

Supplies:

• Stamps: Wacky Wishes (retired)
• Cardstock: Crushed Curry; Kaleidoscope DSP (retired); Whisper White
• Ink: Strawberry Slush
• Tools: Banner Punch; Snail; Paper Trimmer

Card #4

Inspiration: From Mama Mo Stamps

My Interpretation:

Supplies:

• Stamps: A Word for You (retired)
• Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry; Floral District DSP (retired)
• Ink: Rich Razzleberry
• Accessories: Tangerine Tango Ribbon (retired); Silver Jewels
• Tools: Elegant Butterfly Punch; Bitty Butterfly Punch; Snail; Paper Trimmer

Essential Products #2: Cutting Tools

Let’s dive in today with a huge essential product: Cutting tools!

Everyone needs to be able to cut paper (and ribbons and stickers and everything else).  There are definitely lots of cutting tools out there to choose from.  Here's my round-up of tools:

Product Description: Cutting tools come in all shapes and sizes.  Most people start out simply with a pair of scissors. But as your crafting experience grows, so does your collection of tools.

Choices: As evidenced by the pictures above, I have multiple different types of cutting tools.  They each have their own specific purpose.

• Scissors -- A comfortable, sharp, and sturdy pair of scissors goes a long way in crafting.  I picked up this pair of Fiskars scissors about three years ago and they are still going strong even with almost daily usage.  I have a tool caddy sitting under my desk, but these stay front and center in my pen holder for easy access.  Some people prefer short paper snips, but I love my big handled long scissors.  I imagine that when they get dull, I will just got out and buy another pair.

• Ribbon scissors -- You do not want to use the same scissors for ribbon cutting as for paper cutting.  For ribbons cutting, I have a small, short pair of Fiskars scissors.  They are marked on the other side with sharpie so I can remember to only use these for ribbons.  I've seen others mark their ribbon scissors with a bow.

• Patterned scissors -- After my regular scissors, this set (they are actually two more, but they are packed away for an upcoming class) was my next cutting tool purchase.  I found this EK Success set at Target, but I've seen similar at most craft stores.  Originally I used them to cut my pictures for traditional scrapbooking pages.  Now, I mainly use them to add fun edges to my greeting cards. Very versatile set!

• Paper trimmer -- The most expensive cutting tool purchase I've made is this paper trimmer.  I realized eventually that I wanted to be able to quickly made straight measured cuts.  This is the best way to do that.  I bought my Fiskars trimmer at Michael's years before I became a Stampin' Up demo.  This one is great with the easy to swing out extended ruler, but I've noticed that my lines are starting to wear off.  It may be time to upgrade to Stampin' Up's version.  I've heard really nice things about it.  Plus, I can easily buy and switch out the blade for rotary trimmers.  And it doubles as a scoring tool.  As with all paper trimmer, you must buy replacement blades every once in while.  The more you cut, the faster you need to replace.  For this Fiskars trimmer, I buy a pack of twp replacement blades about every other month.

• Exacto knife and paper piercer -- My last two cutting tools are nice to have but in way a necessity.  Both my blade and pierce came from Michael's.  The blades are replaceable, but I've never replaced them.  I don't use these tools often, but they do come in handy.  The blade can be used for small precise cuts (i.e. cutting out a stamped image).  The pierce is most often used to pierce holes for brads.  I also occasionally use to pick up small jewels, especially those that really stick to the plastic.

My Choice Brand(s):

• Stampin' Up -- Of course SU has a great selection of various cutting tools.
• Fiskars -- Any from Fiskars is guaranteed to be nice quality.  They know their cutting tools.
• EK Success -- My patterned scissors are EK Success, but I can tell they are aren't as sharp or well-constructed as my Fiskars supplies.

Where to Buy:

• Stampin' Up
• Michael's
• Joann's

May PL Swaps

I joined a Project Life Swap group on Facebook a few months back and have really been inspired.  Basically every month, the admins post swap themes (8-10 usually).  You sign up for how ever many you want and commit to making usually 10 cards making the theme.  Before the due date, you send your cards to the swap host.  She collect everyone's cards, sorts them, and sends you back a packet of card. This month, I joined four swaps:

Yellow -- I used SU's Hip Notes and Petal Parade stamp sets and the Bitty Butterfly punch.  The base cardstock and yellow patterned paper were from my scraps pile.  Very simple card, but lovely.

PL Card Revamp -- The goal was to take existing PL cards and revamp them with embellishments, stamps, paper, etc.  I chose some random 4x6 cards (mostly from Studio Calico kits) and the Vintage Collection Paper stack and started layered.  I also added some pink chevron washi tape and stamps from SU's new PL collection.

Children's Book -- I joined the children's book swap because I immediately thought of my favorite children's book: Alice in Wonderland.  I took a simple quote on a black background and layered some paper that reminds me of Wonderland.  I used American Craft's Galaxy Marker in medium, DCWV's Bewitched paper stack, and SU's Pocketful of Posies DSP (retired).

Butterflies and Ribbons -- For this swap, I challenged myself to use all non-SU stamps, accessories, and papers.  I'm use really trying to use as much non-SU stuff as I can to make room for my growing SU side business.  I took a sentiment stamp from a forgotten set (with peacocks) and combined it with some punched out butterflies and ribbon tassels.  I was going for a fluttering look and they do flutter if you wave the paper around a bit.  I also tried to use paper scraps for the butterflies (a few are slightly different papers because I ran out) and leftover ribbon.  And it change it up a bit, I made five purple and five red cards, just for the variety.  I like how these came out: clean but with a bit of flair.

Sunday Haul #3

I took advantage of a Steals.com deal about a week ago and it finally came!  I snapped up Captured, Official, Bewitched, and Harvest for extremely cheap.  I'm planning on selling about half of each set on my FB group.  I just don't really need hundreds of cards of the same design.  I'd rather have a variety.  I also picked up a package of PL Design 4 pages.  I'm planning on using them for my Daily December album later this year.