Rubber Stamping & Card Making with Yapha

Coming soon! A Parade of Paper Blog Hop to showcase each of Stampin’ Up!’s beautiful Designer Series Paper packs. On May 8th and continuing ONLY through that weekend, I am part of a group of Stampin’ Up! demonstrators from Stampin Addicts who are hosting a virtual tour through our blogs. Each blog will showcase a different package of the fabulous Designer Series Papers from Stampin’ Up! and will also link to another blog participating in the Parade of Paper Blog Hop. You may start at any post, stop and pick it back up later, or visit all of them in succession. You will eventually wind up back at the blog where you started.

Just like Cinderella at the ball, however, all the fun ends at midnight on Sunday, May 10th. The tour will be over and the blog links will be broken. So check back here on Friday, May 8th at 8:00 am when the Parade of Paper Blog Hop links go active and join in the fun by clicking the links to visit all of our blogs. We hope you will be inspired by all the creative projects and beautiful scrapbooking pages and cards.

NOTE: Some blogs may have additional contests or blog candy. Each will show off our expertise with one particular package of DSP, as well as give you a little taste of our personalities and our blogs. You can find all of us in the chat threads at Stampin’ Addicts, a great site for demos and non-demos alike!

One of the great things about being a Stampin’ Up demonstrator is all of the opportunties that we have to earn free stamps! For example, because of my sales during Sale-a-Bration, I was able to choose two free any priced sets out of the catalog! How is that for fun? There are many more wonderful reasons to join. Contact me if you want to hear them!

One of the sets that I chose was A Rose is A Rose. It is a beautiful two-step stamping set that is easy to use with spectacular results! I made a few Mother’s Day cards with it.

Stamps: A Rose is a Rose, All Holidays
Ink: Rose Red, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Old Olive
Paper: Rose Red, Regal Rose, Whisper White
Accessories: Top Note Bigz Die, Stamp-a-Ma-Jig

Stamps: A Rose is a Rose, All Holidays
Ink: Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Certainly Celery, Old Olive
Paper: Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Whisper White
Accessories: Top Note Bigz Die, Stamp-a-Ma-Jig

All supplies are from Stampin’ Up and available to purchase through my website.

I’ve been seeing the cutest flower pot cards all over the card making blogs lately, and I just had to try it! It is so perfect for Mother’s day!  All of the instructions can be found on Stephanie Luman’s blog.

The flower part pulls out of the top of the card, leaving you a place to write. How cute is that? Love it!

Stamps: All Holidays
Ink: Really Rust
Paper: Really Rust, Whisper White, Pixie Pink, Elegant Eggplant, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Always Artichoke 1/4″ Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Border Punch, 5 Petal Flower Punch, Simple Flower Embosslit, Circle Fire Rhinestone Brads, Clear Rhinestone Brads

I’m taking orders for these for Mother’s Day, so let me know if you want to buy any. Or if you want to buy the supplies to make your own!

Who doesn’t like free stamps? No one that I know! And you can get free stamps from Stampin’ Up for just a few more days, through April 30th! How? For every $40 in items that you purchase from the Occasions Mini Catalog, you can pick one of the stamps or kits off of the $10 and under page (page 208)! How fun is that? So when I bought that super cool Matchbox Bigz XL Die that I’ve been using for the last few days, I got the “Happy Birthday” stamp below for free! Visit my website to place your order before this special ends!

I used my fun new stamp with today’s Mojo Monday sketch:

I love the bright and cheerful colors of the Good Morning Sunshine Designer Series Paper, so I decided to start with those and go from there! Here is what I came up with:

Stamps: Birthday Wish, Holiday Blitz
Ink: Summer Sun, Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point
Paper: Summer Sun, Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point, Whisper White, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Accessories: Kiwi Kiss Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, 1 1/4″ Circle Punch, 1 3/8″ Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch

Make sure to order today so you don’t miss out on free stamps!

My friend Lyssa, another Stampin’ Up demonstrator, is in the process of collecting 100 different things you can do with the Matchbox Die. I am loving all of the great ideas! Today’s idea is a mini dresser, which I first saw here. So unbelievably adorable, I just had to make one! (And yes, Eve already has taken this over. It’s in the dollhouse, with Polly Pocket clothes in the drawers.) You could fill the drawers with candy, jewelry, or other small surprises.

Paper: Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Bella Rose DSP
Accessories: Matchbox Bigz XL Die, Top Note Bigz Die, Big Shot, Fire Circle Rhinestone Brads, Crop-a-Dile, Sticky Strip

I’ll take a break from Matchbox ideas for a couple days, but don’t worry, I’ll be back with plenty more!

There are some super cute items that can be made with Stampin’ Up’s matchbox die, but I think the one I saw this morning really takes the cake. Susie has two fabulous wagons on her blog — a red one and flower garden one — as well as an amazing baby carriage. I was blown away by these when I saw them! I don’t think she used the die to make them, but it sure works perfectly for it. Kristina Werner posted the colors for her 50th Color Inspiration, and as I was batting around ideas, my mind kept going back to these super cute wagons! This week’s colors are:

I made this wagon for Eve. It is just the perfect size to use with her Polly Pocket dolls. I used the smallest of the three tags on the matchbox die to put a little license plate on the back of the wagon. These would make super cute place cards at a child’s birthday party or baby shower. It coud pull small dolls or treats. I used one other cool trick that has been floating around on the Internet lately, which is to put a brad through a button. It’s a fun and different look!

Here’s a view of the front:

And here’s a view of the back:

Stamps: Simple Serif Alphabet & Numbers
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Summer Sun
Paper: Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Accessories: Matchbox Die, Summer Sun Corduroy Buttons, Big Shot, Bold Bright Brads (Real Red & Tempting Turquoise)

I knew I wanted the Matchbox Die as soon as I saw the Occasions Mini Catalog, but when I saw this fabulous treasure chest by Gretchen Barron, I couldn’t wait! I did wait however, until April, so I could get a free set from the under $10 page by buying it! (Click here for more info on this great April special.) I made my super cute little treasure chest last night! I love how it came out! I used the Great Friends stamp set to make the tag, since the stamps coordinate with the tag from the matchbox die perfectly. And don’t worry, I have more super cute Matchbox die ideas on the way!

Stamps: Great Friends
Ink: Rose Red
Paper: Rose Red, Kiwi Kiss, Cameo Coral, Raspberry Tart DSP
Accessories: Matchbox Die, Kiwi Kiss Satin Ribbon, Rich Regal Brads (Rose Red), Crop-a-dile

Contact me today if you would like to order supplies to make your own, or purchase one already made by me!

Mother’s Day is coming soon and I am so excited that I get to spend it with both my mother and my daughter this year! How fun for all three of us! I saw a great card whose technique was demonstrated at Stampin’ Up’s Minneapolis Regional Conference. (Not that I was there. As much as I would have liked to have gone back to Minneapolis for it, it was a little too far. But I heard about it.) Basically, you brayer ink over the debossing side of the Manhatten Flower Texture Die. You put a white piece of card stock in, and roll it through your Big Shot. When it comes out, your flower outline is embossed and stays white, the rest of the piece is whatever color ink you used. It is so cool looking. I used this technique to make a Mother’s Day card for my mom in Yo-Yo Yellow (her favorite Stampin’ Up color). I used Shimmery White, which lends just a touch of sparkle to the card.

Stamps: All Holidays
Ink: Yo-Yo Yellow, Old Olive
Paper: Yo-Yo Yellow, Old Olive, Shimmery White
Accessories: Manhattan Flower Textured Die, Brayer, Old Olive Striped Grosgrain Ribbon.

I think she’ll love it!

This is the third card that we’ll be making at the Heat Embossing class, it uses a technique called “Dazzling Diamond Dust.” After you stamp your main image, you cover the whole piece of card stock that it is on with Versamark. In the example below it is the entire white strip with butterflies. After you cover it with VersaMark, you heat emboss it with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. This gives it a beautiful sparkly sheen! It is a little hard to see in the picture, but looks great in real life. I adapted this card from one by Amy Bell.

Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly, Heard from the Heart
Paper: Whisper White, Summer Sun, Pacific Point
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Summer Sun, Pacific Point, Basic Black, VersaMark
Accessories: Riding Hood Red Striped Grosgrain, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder

There are so many amazing rubber stamping techniques out there, and new ones are being thought up all the time! Since it is good to be a life long learning, I’m going to be teaching a variety of technique class. The first class will be on May 1st at Heather’s house. It is a heat embossing class, and we’ll be learning three different heat embossing techniques. The first card we’ll be making will be embossed in black and water colored. I posted it last week.

The second card we’ll be making uses the emboss resist technique. To do this, you first stamp your image in VersaMark on Whisper White or Glossy Card Stock, and emboss it with clear or white embossing powder. Ink is then sponged over the top, but it doesn’t stick to the embossed areas, causing the design to show through. It is a stunning technique, and easy to do once you know how. Here is the card we will be making. I got the idea from Gretchen Barron’s blog.

Stamps: Upsy Daisy
Ink: VersaMark, StazOn Black, Rose Red, Cameo Coral, Apricot Appeal
Paper: Apricot Appeal, Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories: White Embossing Powder, Top Note Bigz Die, Big Shot

Come join us if you are in the area! Remember, if you don’t want to make your own cards, you can always buy some beautiful handmade cards in my Etsy shop.