Rubber Stamping & Card Making with Yapha

My husband’s aunt’s mother passed away this week, and I wanted to make a card for her. As I looked at this week’s Curtain Call Color Challenge, I realized that the colors would work well for a condolence card.

Of course I grabbed the Thoughts & Prayers stamp set. Since I wanted a feminine card I used the flower stamp. For a more masculine card I could have used the tree. I don’t know if you can see them, but there is a tiny pearl inside each of the flowers. You can try clicking on it to enlarge in. It looks amazing in real life.

Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers
Ink: Pear Pizzaz, Concord Crush, Crumb Cake
Paper: Pear Pizzaz, Concord Crush, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, In Color Designer Series Paper Patterns Stack (Pear Pizzaz)
Other: Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Pear Pizzaz 1/2″ Stitched Poly Ribbon, Concord Crush 1/2″ Stitched Poly Ribbon,, Top Note Bigz Die, Big Shot, Basic Pearls

I hope not to have to make another condolence card for a while.

One of things I was really excited about was all of the organizational items in the back of the Stampin’ Up Idea Book & Catalog. I love, love, love my Clear Block Caddy! It keeps every little block in its own spot, and is handy to grab. But what I want to show you today is the Big Shot Die storage. I ordered the Large Die Box, which is advertised as storing 10 total Bigz XL dies or 20 total Bigz or Originals dies. The great thing is that you don’t have to chose, it can hold a mix of both! Here is what the box looks like when you first get it:

(Just to give you a little size perspective, that is a Great Dane paw in the top right.)

These inserts set in like this:

And then you can put a mix of the different dies in:

I love it! Such nice looking storage has really helped to organize my supplies. You may have noticed Punch Caddies in the catalog as well. These are not available and will not be. The manufacturer was unable to produce them to Stampin’ Up’s standard of quality. You have to love a company that would rather not not sell a product at all than to sell one of inferior quality.

Don’t forget! August 31st is the last day to order from the Summer Mini Catalog! Be sure to get the stamps and paper that you want before they are gone for good!

Hello and welcome to the Stampin’ Addicts Holiday Mini Blog Hop, where we are featuring a variety of the products in Stampin’ Up’s new Holiday Mini Catalog. You may have just arrived here from Lisa’s blog, where she showed you the adorable Merry Crittermas stamp set, or you may be starting here. Either way is fine, the blog hop will take you in a complete circle.

I am excited to show you the 15 piece stamp set, Season of Hugs, the latest stamp set in the Build-a-Bear line. This set is designed to work with the bears from the set Beary Best Friends, as you will see in my projects below. Like the other Build-a-Bear stamp sets, it is only available in the wood mount.

My first project is a Back to School card. Look at this little bear, all ready for school with a honeybee lunch box and an apple for the teacher! I think I’ll send this with Eve to give her teacher on the first day of school next week.

Stamps: Season of Hugs, Beary Best Friends
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Baja Breeze
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Other: Scallop Circle Bigz Die, Clear Circle Bigz Die, Stamp-a-ma-Jig, Big Shot

My next project is a Halloween card. How cute are these hats? And the goodie baskets? Love them! The pirate hat and the eyepatch are one stamp, and are designed to work perfectly on the bear. (I highly recommend using the Stamp-a-ma-jig for perfect position.) The little witch bear’s dress is paper-pieced – you can click on the picture for a closer look.

Stamps: Season of Hugs, Beary Best Friends
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Basic Grey, Real Red, Night of Navy, Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Whisper White, Sweet & Sour Specialty Designer Series Paper
Other: Paper Snips, Stamp-a-ma-Jig

My third project is a Thanksgiving card. I used a few other new products on this card, including the gorgeous new Fall designer series paper. It is a textured, heavy-weight card stock.  I was tempted to make it the base of the card, it’s that thick! The largest scallop square has been in the catalog awhile, but there is a new Bigz Die with two more scallop squares on it! I used the larger of the two to mat my bear. It measures 3″ x 3″.

Stamps: Season of Hugs, Beary Best Friends
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Elegant Eggplant
Paper: More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla, Autumn Spice Specialty Designer Series Paper
Other: Scallop Square Clear Bigz Die, Scallop Squares Duo Bigz Die, Big Shot, Early Espresso Satin Ribbon, More Mustard Brads, Stamp-a-ma-Jig

My final project is a cute little Christmas Matchbox. I was amazed at how perfectly this tree fits on the front! I opted not to use one of the bears with this. Although the paw prints aren’t quite the same, I thought this would be perfect for the dogs to give Christmas treats to all their doggie friends. The top of the Christmas tree is one of the new glimmer brads. Although it looks gold, it is actually the So Saffron brad from the Subtles pack.

Stamps: Season of Hugs
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Garden Green, Real Red, Soft Suede
Paper: Garden Green, Whisper White
Other: Matchbox Bigz XL Die, Big Shot

As you can see, the Season of Hugs stamp set is a very versatile addition to Stampin’ Up’s Build-a-Bear Workshop line. The super cute stamps cover Fall and Winter wonderfully! Thanks so much for stopping by! Next up on the blog hop is Candace, who while be showing you the beautiful single stamp, Christmas Postcard.

When my parents came out to California right after my nephew was born, I knew that I wanted to be sure to get a picture of all eight of us.  My dad has been asking for this picture, so I thought this would be a good one to turn into a scrapbook page. The page below is 12″ x 12″, ready to slip into his scrapbook. I used the individual page printing option through Stampin’ Up. I think I have mentioned before how much my dad loves maps, so using one of the backgrounds from the digital version of the Travel Journal Designer Series Paper was a natural fit.

I printed an extra copy of this, in case my parents want to hang it up somewhere. The easiest way to print doubles is to duplicate the page within the album. This is only when you are printing individual pages, not for bound albums.

Yesterday was my dad’s birthday. A few years back, when he turned 60, I put together a HUGE scrapbook for him. It not only chronicled his life, but I gathered pictures as far back as possible, and from as many cousins as I could. It was amazing, if I do say so myself. But this was before either of his grandchildren were born. So I figured it was time to update the scrapbook with some new pages. And since I’m in California, and he’s in Massachusetts, I had to think about what would be the best way to make the pages and get them to him. So, what I decided to do was create the pages in My Digital Studio, then use Stampin’ Up’s individual page printing option, and have the pages sent right to him. I’ll share the different pages with you over the next few days. The first set of pages I’m going to show you is a double spread page with pictures of my father and my daughter. These are two 12″x12″ pages side by side. You can click on the image for a closer look.

All products used on these pages are from Stampin’ Up’s My Digital Studio.You can purchase My Digital Studio or any of the digital downloads through my online store.

In case you were wondering, Sabba means Grandfather in Hebrew. You can actually see them looking at the scrapbook together in the picture on the bottom right.

Well, the weather outside here in Southern California may not seem anything like Autumn, but today is my first day back at work for the 2010-2011 school year! I thought it only fitting to post a nice Autumn card for the occasion. My friend and downline Samantha came over to stamp with me one day a couple of weeks ago, and brought this great stamp set with her. I love these leaves so much and was super excited to use it!

Stamps: Autumn Splendor, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, More Mustard
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Whisper White
Other: Pumpkin Pie Satin Ribbon, Word Window Punch, Matchbox Bigz XL Die, Big Shot

That great tag is from the Matchbox Die. Whenever I die cut one of the matchboxes, I always try to do a few extra tags to have on hand. Happy new school year to everyone, whenever you start.

Here’s a second card I made at my friend Beth’s workshop. It uses a super easy but really cool looking technique! See how there is a blank space between the embossed dots? You run your card stock through the Big Shot twice, each time with just 1 1/4″ inches of it in the embossing folder. Doesn’t it look great?

Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Marina Mist
Paper: Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango
Other: Basic Rhinestone Jewel Elements, Butterfly Punch, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Do you see how sparkly those rhinestones are? They are amazing! And a really good deal, too — 150 self adhesive rhinestones for $4.95! Thanks so much, Beth, for a great time and a cool new technique!

There are three stamp sets that are are now available in digital versions. These downloads work with My Digital Studio and any other digital scrapbooking program that allows you to import PNG and JPG files.

121439 Forest Friends Stamp Brush Set $1.95

123431 Funky Four Stamp Brush Set $3.95

121440 Letters Stamp Brush Kit $9.95

You can purchase these or any other digital downloads through my online store. They great news is that they are available for immediate use, with no shipping or tax! Just click on Digital Crafting, then Digital Downloads, then Newest Downloads to see all of the recent additions!

I also added a My Digital Studio tab to the top right hand corner of this blog. It is a handy reference to a variety of My Digital Studio resources, including a list of all of the downloads and a break down of the printing costs.

p.s. Did you get the My Digital Studio color upgrade? If not, take a look at this blog post for all of the information.

I had so much fun the other night! While I was back East visiting my parents, I got in touch with one of my Stampin’ Up demonstrator friends who lives near by. Beth invited me to come to a workshop she was hosting at her house. It was such a blast to get to go and make the cards that someone else had created and get to make a bunch of new stamping friends!

One of things I love about getting together with Beth is that we rarely buy the same stamp sets! One of the workshop cards we made used the new set, Timeless Treasures. It is a vintage style card, which is not something that I usually make. I love how this one turned out!

Stamps: Timeless Treasures, Music Notes Wheel
Ink: Crumb Cake, Basic Black
Paper: Crumb Cake, Riding Hood Red, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Love Letter Designer Series Paper
Other: 2 3/8″ Scallop Circle Punch, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, 1 3/4″ Circle Punch, Curly Label Punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, Sponges

Thanks for a great time, Beth! Hope to see you soon!

Whoo-hoo! Stampin’ Up just released some great new digital downloads! There are three different coordinating components in the Play Date line that are now available digitally as well as in real life. I am super excited to have these, as I am currently working on Eve’s first grade scrapbook. Before I show you the downloads, I want to show you a quick page I put together with them:

These downloads work with My Digital Studio and any other digital scrapbooking program that allows you to import PNG and JPG files.

121438 Play Date Designer Series Paper $4.95

123433 Play Date Embellishments $3.95

123432 Play Date Quick Accents Kit $5.95

You can purchase these or any other digital downloads through my online store. They great news is that they are available for immediate use, with no shipping or tax! Just click on Digital Crafting, then Digital Downloads, then Newest Downloads to see all of the recent additions!

p.s. Did you get the My Digital Studio color upgrade? If not, take a look at this blog post for all of the information.