Rubber Stamping & Card Making with Yapha

Lucky me! This week, both the Stamping 411 Color Inspiration and the ColorLab Color Challenge have the same colors, based on the super cute Candy Cane Christmas Specialty Designer Series Paper.

Earlier in the week I saw this super cute (and easy!) View Master card on Lyssa’s blog and decided that I would try it when I had time. (She has a great tutorial.) I used the Fox & Friends stamp set to make a super cute baby card. (There are a lot of babies on the way at work!)

The scallop circle on top spins to reveal a variety of animals underneath.

Stamps: Fox & Friends
Ink: Baja Breeze, Real Red, Blushing Bride, Garden Green
Paper: Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Candy Cane Christmas Specialty Designer Series Paper
Other: Glimmer Brads (Subtle), 1 3/8″ Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Bigz Die, Clear Circle Bigz Die, Big Shot

It was a super fun card to make, and easier than I thought it would be!

This week’s Pals Paper Arts challenge is to make a Clean & Simple card with Ribbon. I got this nice wide grosgrain ribbon to make Hanukkah cards with, and realized how perfect it was for this challenge! The ribbon was a lot softer than I expected it to be, too.

Stamps: Shalom Sayings
Ink: VersaMark, Night of Navy
Paper: Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Night of Navy
Other: Night of Navy Striped 1 1/4″ Grosgrain Ribbon, Gold Embossing Powder

I really like how nicely the Soft Suede card stock matches the gold. It’s a great alternative to the Brushed Gold card stock.

Yesterday I showed you one of the sketch challenges from MyDigitalStudio.net. I also did the one from the week before, though I hadn’t had a chance to post it. This is Alesha’s fabulous sketch:

Here’s my interpretation of it. This is an 8″x8″ page that will be part of Eve’s first grade scrapbook.

The background is from the Celebrations digital download. I set it to 50% opacity so it wouldn’t overwhelm the picture.

I’m hoping to finish this scrapbook in time to print it during Sale-a-Bration (January 25-March 31, 2011). You did know that you could earn Sale-a-Bration benefits on your MDS printing, right? Of course you can! Heck, print enough and you can earn hostess benefits, too!

Have you visited the My Digital Studio website yet? It’s a really neat place! It was created by Stampin’ Up for both demonstrators and regular users of My Digital Studio, and includes message boards, galleries, a blog, and other information about the program. Alesha Walls, a fantastic Canadian Demonstrator, has started a Saturday Sketch challenge. Here’s the one from this past Saturday:

It was such a fun layout, and little out of my comfort zone (which is a good thing, I think). I had a bit of a hard time finding three pictures that would work well together for it, but I decided on Eve’s three birthday cakes from this past year. (One was on her actual birthday, but it was a Passover cake, the second was after Passover ended, and the third was with the giant cupcake baking pan.)

I used the My Sweet Pea digital kit as my starting point, and chose the rest of the paper and accessories in coordinating colors (Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, and Pumpkin Pie). I used the same paper twice — once for the background, and then again I used a piece of it at the bottom. This paper in it’s original form retired last summer, but it’s always available digitally! And I’ll never run out!

Believe it or not, Stampin’ Up just released another batch of Christmas themed digital downloads. I was looking at the paper — it has some great patterns that will be fantastic year round as well! And that fabulous Bingo card — you could make Bingo sets for all different occasions!  These downloads work with My Digital Studio and any other digital scrapbooking program that allows you to import PNG and JPG files.

Item	Description	Image	Price
123954	Holly & Jolly Embellishments		$3.95
123953	Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper		$4.95
122181	Jolly Bingo Bits Stamp Brush Set		$7.95
122182	Bingo Card Stamp Brush Set		$1.95
123955	Christmas Countdown Stamp Brush Set		$7.95

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!

There is 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

Incredible! Unbelievable! Never before heard of low price! What do you call it when you get over $310 in crafting and business supplies for only $87.50? You can call it an amazing deal, but we’re calling it an amazing opportunity! From November 15-30, you can purchase either the Standard or Digital+ Starter Kits at 50% off the regular retail price of $175 (plus free shipping!). I would love to have you join my team, The Craft Therapists, whether you join just for the discount, plan on starting a full-fledged home business, or fall anywhere in between.

The standard kit includes a variety of paper crafting products, and the Digital + Kit is a great option to showcase both traditional crafting products and our exciting digital design software, My Digital Studio. (Can I just point out that if you were planning on purchasing My Digital Studio anyway, the Digital+ Starter kit is basically the same price! And you get so much more!) The picture above shows what each one contains, below is a list as well.

Please note that the stamps, inks, papers, and accessories are customizable! You can choose a product in the same category of an equal or lesser price.

By signing up now, you will be able to use the 30% off your first order to pre-order from the Occasions Mini Catalog and Sale-a-bration Catalogs in December!

I am so happy that I became a Stampin’ Up demonstrator! Just think, not only do you get a discount on the products, but you get them before everyone else! You can get a behind the scenes look at all of the fun new stamping ideas!  A few perks of being a demonstrator :

• Seeing and ordering new items before the general public
• Getting your copy of the Idea Book & Catalog and Mini Catalogs early
• A subscription to Stampin’ Success, the exclusive monthly magazine packed with samples and business tips
• Access to Stampin Connection, an online community with over 70,000 stamped samples
• Access to the demonstrator sides of Stampin’ Addicts and Splitcoast Stampers
• A minimum 20% discount on everything you order, 30% off your first hostess order
• An upline who is there when you need her — I am just a phone call, email, or text away!
• Opportunity to earn fabulous FREE trips

I was excited to see this week’s Stamping 411 sketch challenge, because it has the perfect spot for the Hanukkiah from Shalom Sayings.

When I looked at the sketch, I knew exactly what I wanted to put in that bottom design spot –  the Candle Crazy builder wheel! Here’s what I came up with:

Stamps: Shalom Sayings, Candle Crazy Builder Wheel
Ink: Night of Navy, Bashful Blue
Paper: Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Other: Night of Navy Satin Ribbon

Don’t forget, tomorrow is the deadline to enter the My Digital Studio Contest!

Here it is. The first official Hanukkah card of the season. Hanukkah comes early this year (or December comes late, your choice) and it is time to get going on these! I started with this week’s Clean&Simple sketch challenge.

Because the “Happy Hanukkah” sentiment is actually inside the main image, the card looked a little unbalanced to me, so I added some ribbon. Pacific Point and Daffodil Delight are a bright and festive Hanukkah color combination.

Stamps: Shalom Sayings
Ink: Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight
Paper: Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Brights Designer Series Paper Pack, Whisper White
Other: Daffodil Delight Taffeta Ribbon, Top Note Bigz Die, Big Shot

Hanukkah starts December 1st, so there will be quite a few Hanukkah cards coming your way soon!

When I saw Holly’s colors for this week’s Color Round Up Color Challenge, I knew exactly how I wanted to use them!

I had been thinking about making a Sock Monkey card with my after school class this week, and these were the absolutely perfect colors for it! Of course, I had to incorporate the Big Shot too, because goodness knows those kids love using the Big Shot!

Stamps: Sock Monkey, Sock Monkey Accessories
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Marina Mist, Real Red
Paper: Marina Mist, Real Red, Whisper White
Other: Clear Scallop Square Bigz Die, Big Shot, Aqua Painter

I can’t wait to see what the kids do with all of the possible accessories!

You’re probably thinking, “Really? More Leaves?” What can I say? I like fall leaves! This is very similar to the last card I showed you with this set, but it is in fact the opposite! This card uses the Joseph’s Coat technique, where you sponge your color on first, then clear emboss your stamped images, then brayer over with a dark color. France Martin has a great video on her blog, which inspired this card. I used this week’s ColourQ Challenge colors for this card. (Now that we are settling in, I hope to be getting back to more challenges!)

Aren’t they fabulous fall colors? I think they worked really well for this card!

Stamps: Autumn Splendor, Thank You Kindly
Ink: Early Espresso, Cajun Craze. So Saffron, Always Artichoke
Paper: Crumb Cake (Kraft), Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla
Other: Early Espresso 1/4″ Grosgrain Ribbon, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Sponges, Dotto

I bet you are wondering what I am going to do with all of these fall thank you notes! I’m giving them to my downline Samantha who got married at the end of October. It was a beautiful fall wedding!