Rubber Stamping & Card Making with Yapha

A little birdie told me… it’s time for another Mojo Monday sketch! It was a gray, dreary, rainy day today and I really needed some bright colors! So I reached for my Good Morning Sunshine Designer Series Paper, and headed over to today’s sketch:

I chose to use the set A little Birdie Told Me since it has three componants that would fit nicely in the three blank spaces. Plus I’m really enjoying the birds singing in the morning. I used Old Olive brads from the Rich Regal pack — they match the Kiwi Kiss very closely. Here is what I came up with:

Stamps: A Little Birdie Told Me
Ink: StazOn Black, Summer Sun, Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss
Paper: Summer Sun, Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Accessories: Kiwi Kiss Satin Ribbon, Rich Regal Brads, 1″ Circle Punch, 1 1/4″ Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch

Happy Birthday to my Eve! I can’t believe she’s already six! Time sure flies… I wanted to make her a very special birthday card, one that had all of her favorites — red and pink and cupcakes and flowers and glitter and more! Below is what I came up with. It may look a little mature for a six-year-old, but it has all of her favorites on it. The best part was that she could even read it herself!

Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes
Ink: StazOn Black, Kiwi Kiss, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red
Paper: Rose Red, Kiwi Kiss, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Raspberry Tart
Accessories: Pretty in Pink Taffeta Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds, Two Way Glue Pen, Top Note Bigz Die, Big Shot

Biscuit made her a birthday card too! (He’s quite the stamper, you know.) This is a 3″x3″ card.

Stamps: Man’s Best Friend, Party Hearty, Family Phrases
Ink: So Saffron, Real Red, Basic Black
Paper: Real Red, So Saffron, Whisper White

I’m so excited that Kristina Werner’s color challenge this week works perfectly for a Passover card! I’ve been feeling the need to make more, especially with these adorable froggies! Here are this week’s colors:

I decided to do another scalloped circle card. The circle reminds me of a seder plate. And the frogs, the second plague, are one of my family’s traditional Passover symbols. I used textured cardstock for the Kiwi Kiss and the Baja Breeze. I liked how it adds just a little more dimension.

Stamps: Hoppy for You, Simple Serif Alphabet
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Accessories: Baja Breeze Striped Ribbon, Scallop Circle Bigz Die, Big Shot, Circle Scissors Plus, Stamp-a-Ma-Jig

Hoppy Passover to you and yours!

I mentioned a couple of days ago that the Decor Elements tree I put up also has a matching stamp set. It is a gorgeous tree and comes with some very nice sentiments as well. To make this card, I inked up the leaves with my Kiwi Kiss ink pad, and then colored over the trunk and branches with a Chocolate Chip marker. I used a sponge dauber in Kiwi Kiss around the edges of the white as well.

Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Accessories: Kiwi Kiss Satin Ribbon, Eyelet Border Punch, Sponge Daubers

Here’s another Passover related card. Well, for me it is Passover related because of all of the frogs, and frogs always make me think of Passover. For you, a frog may just be a frog. This is from a sketch challenge on a new website I have been visiting called Stampin’ Addicts. It’s a happy, upbeat group of crazy stampers like myself.  The forums are a great place to chat and the gallery is growing. Today’s card:

Stamps: Hoppy for You
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Accessories: Kiwi Kiss Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Large Oval Punch, Scalloped Oval Punch

Stampin’ Up’s new Occasions mini catalog is here and it is full of fabulous stamp sets, gorgeous paper, and wonderful accessories! You can purchase from it now through the end of June. One of the amazing things about this mini catalog is that there are stamp sets available not only in English, but Spanish and French as well! (Not every set is available in both Spanish and French.) Below are the pictures for the non-English versions of the stamps. There is a great special coming up for April that should be available later today. I will post as soon as it is “live.” Email me for details if you just can’t wait.

ETA: The promotion is running now! For every $40 you spend from the Mini Catalog, you can choose one item off the “$10 and under” page in the big catalog!

(You can see the Spanish and French versions of Eight Great Greetings in this post.)

Verano Suave $23.95

Été Paisible $23.95

Trés Polyvalents $25.95

Gran Amiga $17.95

Todos Ovalados $16.95

En Ovale $16.95

Vieillottes Et Cocottes $16.95

Sens Du Temps $22.95

Please let me know if you have questions about these sets, or anything else in the Occasions Mini Catalog. Happy stamping!

Passover is coming up next week, and one of the things my family really likes to focus on are the ten plagues. Particularly the decorations — frogs and bugs more so than blood and boils. So I got it in my head to make a Ten Plagues Passover card. It took quite a few stamp sets, and a fairly loose interpretation of the plagues, but here is what I came up with:

The plagues (and the stamp sets I used)
1) Blood (Pick a Petal)
2) Frogs (Hoppy for You)
3) Lice (Hoppy for You)
4) Wild Beasts (Wild About You)
5) Cattle Disease (Pun Fun)
6) Boils (All in the Family)
7) Hail (Pick a Petal)
8 ) Locust (Bugs & Kisses)
9) Darkness (Chocolate Chip Cardstock)
10) Slaying of the First Born (All in the Family, Family Accessories Too)

Ink: Ruby Red, Garden Green, Not Quite Navy, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip
Cardstock: Creamy Caramel, Garden Green, Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Accessories: Stampin’ Write Markers

You can learn more about Passover from Judaism 101.

I have loved this tree since I saw the latest Decor Elements brochure! It is graceful and oh so beautiful! I have been searching for a place to put it, and when we had to repaint the walls after the library flooded when the sprinklers burst after the ice storm (long story), I knew exactly where it could go! As you may know, I am the head librarian at Applewild School in Fitchburg, MA. This beautiful tree now graces the wall above our reference collection in the 4th – 9th grade library.

It was a multi-step process, but all in all it took less than an hour from start to finish. And of course I took pictures of each step along the way!

The tree comes in two sheets that need to be cut into separate pieces. It looked like this when I pulled them out of the tube.

Next, I carefully cut apart the individual pieces, making sure to keep their identifying numbers with them, as written in the instructions. I laid them out on the floor to make sure I had it all right.

I started by putting up the trunk.

Then branch number 2.

Then the rest of the branches, one by one.

This one was tricky!

The final branch!

But we weren’t done yet! We also purchased the Thoreau quote. Sean had the great idea of cutting it apart. We put the quote under the branches, and the birds above the tree. The quote says, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.”

Et Voila! The finished wall! I love the way it came out!

Love the tree but don’t have enough space? It comes in three sizes, and is also a part of the Thoughts and Prayers stamp set. Let me know if you have any questions about this. If you live close enough (or want to fly me out), I’m more than happy to help you put one up!