I guess since last week’s card was kinda simple, I felt like doing something a little more complicated this week. I was actually searching for a different kind of folded card on YouTube and came across this video. I thought it was really cool and decided to give it a try. Here’s the thing – I am about 3 years late to this party! This card has been around for some time. There are lots of different videos on it. Oh well, better late than never! My version has the sliding panel adhered to a regular card base, so you can still open it up like a regular card and write your message.
The plastic bag I used for the sliding mechanism was pretty high quality – thick, slippery plastic. And since it’s hidden, you don’t need to worry about the printing on it.
Anyhoo – enjoy and have a great week!
Note: If you are reading this post in an email, you’ll need to click on the post title above (“Wednesday’s Card”) to go to my blog and play the video.
This week’s card is really easy to make. I used the (retiring!) set called Inspired by Nature. I’ve used this set quite a bit – especially the grass, which is a great subtle background – so, I’m sad it is retiring. But on that note… I have seen the new catalog! I’m already planning my first order. There is a new butterfly punch – it is gorgeous!!
Anyway, for this card… I used the ink, emboss, ink technique to get the light and dark diamonds. I was pleasantly surprised that the Memento ink I used on the flowers actually stayed wet enough to grab some of the embossing powder. It’s a really cool texture because it has the flowers and diamonds raised, but the diamonds are a bit thicker. Anyway, try it yourself to see!
I used the Modern Label punch twice in black (one to layer up and one to layer down) to get the border on the sentiment. Much easier and cleaner than trying to cut around it yourself! Scroll down for the video, or read on for a sweet story.
On a personal note, here is my 11-year-old daughter, Alaina, with Rosie:
Alaina is very passionate about rescuing dogs. This girl has lemonade stands to raise money for the SPCA, and she donates her own money as well. She’s always asking if we can drive around and “look for lost dogs”. She’s working on a Web site to raise awareness for dog rescue. She is counting down the days till she turns 12, when she will be old enough to volunteer at the SPCA. She wrote a letter to our congressman about banning puppy mills. And, she has prepared a speech to deliver to the entire 5th grade about the plight of abandoned dogs.
Four weeks ago, she was at soccer practice and noticed a dog running loose in a nearby overgrown field. After practice, she spent about an hour, at dusk, trying to corner this dog and capture it. Alaina was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, but she didn’t care. There was no way she was going home without this dog. Let me tell you – this dog was not happy. It would growl every time you reached a hand toward it. Alaina finally got it on a leash and into a crate (thanks to my husband, who brought the crate and leash from home). I was so proud of her! It took a lot of courage to force this mean dog into the crate. We took it home, and the dog spent the rest of the night balled up in the corner of this crate, growling.
When I came downstairs the next morning, I was surprised to see the dog sitting on Alaina’s lap, tentatively licking her face. As a mom, I was more worried about this dog attacking her face – it had been so hostile the night before! On the contrary, Alaina was beyond excited. When she went to school, the dog immediately retreated to the crate, where it spent the entire day. It would growl at me if I even looked at it.
I will never forget the moment Alaina got home that day. As soon as the dog saw her, it bounded out of the crate and leaped into Alaina’s arms, licking her face frantically and yelping cries of joy – seriously, uncontrollably yelping cries of joy. It was unbelieveable. It made me cry just watching the scene. The picture above was taken that night. From that moment on, this dog would not be more than 2 inches away from Alaina. She sleeps snuggled up against Alaina every night and follows her everywhere.
I put up “lost dog” signs in the surrounding neighborhoods, just in case. But, no one called. I also checked to see if she was microchipped. Nope. So… Rosie is now a permanent member of our family. She is a 1 year old chihuahua. She has since warmed up to the entire family and is the sweetest, most amazing snuggle bunny dog I’ve ever met!! In fact, she’s in my lap right now! And yes, we already have two other rescue dogs, so now we officially have a pack!
Okay, just wanted to share that story to hopefully make you smile today.
Next week’s card is going to be really fun – I made it but haven’t recorded the video. It’s a double slider card! Stay tuned and have a GREAT week! Oh, and of course, HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all you moms out there! Hope you get lots of hugs on Sunday.
Note: If you are reading this post in an email, you’ll need to click on the post title above (“Wednesday’s Card”) to go to my blog and play the video.
Something a little different today – gift tags! I’ve been thinking of these gift tags as kid tags, but honestly, I think I would use them for gifts to my friends too! How cute are those little furry folks!!
If you have young children, or children with young children, you know how many birthday parties there are! I usually don’t give one of my handmade cards with the gift – you know the kid is just tearing it off to get to the toy! I like to use a simple tag and have my child write out the “to” and “from”. Another benefit – it’s on the outside of the gift and everyone can enjoy your efforts!
I dug out some little accessories for these animals from other sets – balloon, hat, cupcake, etc. They are all colored with Copics. In the video, I created the raccoon one. It really didn’t take long to create these – I want to say about 10-15 minutes each? I think a set of these would make a great gift to a mom of young children for Mother’s Day!
In other news… I am pre-ordering the new Stampin’ Up! 2012-13 catalogs on Monday to be sent to customers. I know in my previous post I said that anyone who spent $100 or more this year would get a free catalog from me. Well… as I compiled the list, it’s longer than I thought it would be. A good thing for Foster Kids Charity! But, it’s $5 per person to send a catalog. If you would like to pay for your catalog, I would welcome the help. You can send $5 via Paypal to receive a catalog, whether you spent $100 or not. Thank you in advance!
I am still in mourning over my favorite SU stamp sets going into retirement. Read on for more information about the retiring accessories below!
I pulled out my Fifth Avenue Floral set and was going through splitcoaststampers for some inspiration. There were a few people who took the lily and made a stargazer out of it! I thought, wow, how cool is that?? And since it’s my favorite flower, I was really wondering why the heck it never occurred to me before, lol!! Anyway, I followed a card to Loll’s blog. She has some beautiful cards, and this card really struck my eye. So pretty!
So I’m sure you’re looking at these flowers and thinking that it must be hard to do. Seriously… it’s NOT. I go through just a few simple steps in the video.
I tried creating the lily with Copics and then again with colored pencils. I tried it with a white embossed outline and then with black and brown outlines. When I had all the various options created, I laid them out in front of my kids and asked them to pick their favorite. They picked Copics with brown outline, so that’s what I went with. I used a Stampin’ Up! Rose Red marker to make the dots and also to create more dimension with a crease in the middle of the flower.
The stems were created with Certainly Celery cardstock and Copic markers. It’s kind of weird how the Copic markers absorb into the colored cardstock. They actually blend really nicely, but you have to wait a few minutes. If you’re impatient, you’ll over-do it and it will all come out one color.
Okay, so the list of retiring accessories came out this morning (ribbon, punches, dies, inks, etc.). I was eating breakfast as I was reviewing the list and I just kept eating faster and faster!! The list is hugely long. A couple of notes about this list:
Several of the retiring accessories are already on sale! Yeah for that!!
While the retiring stamp set are all available until 5/31, the retiring accessories are only available while supplies last.
All the ink pads are on the list because they are changing the format of the ink pad. So, no worries about the colors changing – just moving to a better ink pad.
All the markers are on the list. I’ve been told that they will still have the most popular markers available for sale individually, but the rest will only be sold in multi-color packs. The most popular ones are: Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Rich Razzleberry, Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Certainly Celery , Old Olive, Early Espresso, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, and Crumb Cake.
I’ve had some people ask me what my favorite products are. I’ve been meaning to sit down and come up with a list, which I finally got around to on Saturday. Well, I thought it was going to be a pretty easy and short list… but it didn’t really work out that way!
I was thinking just stamp sets, but then I thought, what about inks, paper, punches, and all that? The list grew, so now I have a dedicated page for it! I even added my favorite Copic colors.
Check the top menu. It’s called My Favorite Things. I’ll have to update it periodically because there are always new and cool things I want to buy and share!
Thank you to everyone who left a comment about my daughter’s frog pottery last week. She stood next to my computer as I read every comment and email to her. She was literally jumping up and down with excitement with every one. It was so cute!!
For the butterfly on this card, I used Stampin’ Up! markers with a blender pen. I just got these Spellbinders circles. Believe it or not, my sister had a garage sale and her neighbor was selling them for $5, in an unopened package!! Ring me up!
Enjoy the video and have a great week!
Note: If you are reading this post in an email, you’ll need to click on the post title above (“Wednesday’s Card”) to go to my blog and play the video.
Every year on “retirement day”, I grab my latte and settle in to review the list of stamps that Stampin’ Up! has announced they will no longer be selling in the new catalog. I get my catalog and use a sharpie to “X” out the stamps in the catalog that are on the list. Today is that day. I approach this day with both excitement and apprehension. Why? Because as a customer of SU products, I’m excited to see what will be replaced with new, fresh items. However, as a seller of SU products (well, not exactly, but you know what I mean!), I’m worried that my supply of stamps that I have invested in to demonstrate and sell will be rendered useless.
I knew the retired list would be longer this year because SU is moving to a new catalog format. The annual catalog will go from 241 pages to 209 pages, and the mini catalogs will be larger. I also knew that decor elements and simply adorned would be discontinued. So, I figured the list of stamps shouldn’t be TOO bad.
Well, there are about 300 stamp sets on this list. I feel for the women out there who rely on SU income, because this list is very long. For me, I’m disappointed because I know people want to see me use products that are available.
As a customer though, it is pretty exciting to anticipate all the new sets to be released.
To view the complete list, CLICK HERE. I’m interested in your thoughts on this list – let me know!
By the way, this list only contains the retiring stamp sets. The retiring accessories list (embellishments, paper, dies, tools, punches, etc.) will be released on April 25th.
: Tree (YG17, YG21, YG23), Bunny (W1, W3, W5, 0), other animal I can’t identify, lol! (E13, E25, E27), balloon & hat (R81, R85), grass (YG17)
