Rubber Stamping & Card Making with Yapha

It was 95 degrees here today! And when I saw the Stampin’ Celebration Inspiration Challenge, I knew those bright colors would be great for some hot summer flowers! I combined them with Stampin’ Addicts’ Sketch Challenge and the Pals Paper Arts Technique Challenge — Punches.

To use more punches I made the square with the Scallop Trim Border and Corner Punches. Since the flowers go a little outside the box, I may have used them to cover up some punching boo-boos. You’ll never know, will you?  I wonder if I get extra points for using a stamp set with “punch” in the name?

Stamps: Punch Potpourri (Hostess Level 1)
Ink: Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight
Paper: Daffodil Delight,  Whisper White, Brights Designer Series Paper Stack
Other: Scallop Trim Border Punch, Scallop Trim Corner Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, 1/4″ White Grosgrain Ribbon

This is a little California sunshine for my parents and friends getting more snow back East. Stay warm!

When I saw this card I was so impressed by the clever use of the Build a Blossom stamp set to make a fish, that I knew I had to make one for Eve’s Betta fish, Mike. I’m not sure when his birthday is, but I’m sure that he will appreciate it nonetheless! I used the bigger scallop circle on the Scallop Circle #2 Bigz Die to make the base. The card is about 3 1/2″ in diameter. Since Bettas are solitary fish I wanted a smaller card that would feature just one.

Stamps: Build a Blossom, Circle Circus (bubbles), So Happy for You
Ink: Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie, Baja Breeze
Paper: Pacific Point, Whisper White
Other: Basic Rhinestones, Scallop Circle #2 Bigz Die, 3″ Circle Bigz Die, Big Shot

To make the “bithday fishes” saying, I used my marker to ink up everything but the “W” in the “birthday wishes” stamp from the So Happy for You set. Then I wrote in the “F” after stamping the words. Thursday, March 31st is your last chance to earn this set for free (along with the other Sale-a-Bration sets)! Be sure you get your free goodies before Sale-a-Bration ends!

If you’ve been waiting for grosgrain ribbon in more colors, your wait is over!  Stampin’ Up released an add-on pack and a few more fun downloads yesterday, too. These downloads work with My Digital Studio and any other digital scrapbooking program that allows you to import PNG and JPG files. You can see a PDF of all of these downloads here.

125167 Grosgrain Ribbon Add-On Pack $3.95

124586 Fabulous Phrases Stamp Brush Set $7.95

125171 Homegrown Stamp Brush Set $4.95

124459 On the Green Stamp Brush Set $1.95

124461 Sweetness Unlimited Stamp Brush Set $2.50

124462 Tiny Teacup stamp Brush Set $1.95

124454 Homemade Stamp Brush Set $1.95

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 charges! Just click on Digital Crafting, then Digital Downloads, then Newest Downloads to see all of the recent additions! If you registered your copy of My Digital Studio, you may also receive end-of-the month emails from Stampin’ Up featuring that month’s digital releases.

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. There is also a new Resources pageon MyDigitalStudio.net that includes a MDS Catalog. It shows all of the MDS software artwork (contained in the boxed-version) and downloads from the October 2009 launch through February 2011! The catalog gives a snapshot of the entire product line with artwork thumbnails followed by product details. Because MDS is regularly coming out with new artwork, the catalog will be updated every month.

Since it’s my week off of the ColourQ design team, I decided to make a card instead of scrapbook page. I combined the color’s with this week’s Stampin Addicts’ sketch challenge.

As I was thinking about what to put in those squares, I remembered that Flower Fancy had a small flower that would work great with the colors and the sketch.

Stamps: Flower Fancy, A Word for You
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery, Early Espresso
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Crumb Cake, early Espresso, Whisper White
Other: Certainly Celery Satin Ribbon

I hope you’ll come play along with ColourQ this week, and Stampin’ Addicts, too!

I was looking for a sketch to use while making my mother-in-law’s birthday card, and I came across this one from The Paper Players. Just perfect!

We got my mother-in-law the Keurig coffee maker that she has been wanting. I asked my husband what kind of card to make her. “A coffee card”, he answered. Obviously! So here’s what I came up with.

Stamps: Morning Cup, Create a Cupcake
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Rich Razzleberry
Paper: Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Naturals White, Brights Designer Series Paper Stack
Other: Corner Rounder, Watercolor Crayons, Eyelet Border Punch, Aqua Painters

I used Naturals White since it works great with the Watercolor Wonder Crayons. It holds the water better than Whisper White, but isn’t as thick as Watercolor Paper. It looks really nice with Crumb Cake, too, since it also has flecks.

I saw this fabulous birthday card over on Twila’s blog and I absolutely love the bright colors she chose and the inlaid embossing with the circle punches! I made up a slightly modifies version, and it was the fourth card we made at my birthday card class last weekend. I usually only make three projects, but it was raining cats and dogs out (I know, because I stepped in a poodle), and I wanted to thank them for coming out despite the weather!

Stamps: Word Play
Ink: Pacific Point
Paper: Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White
Other: 1″ Circle Punch, 1 1/4″ Circle Punch, 1 3/8″ Circle Punch, 1 3/4″ Circle Punch, Old Olive Satin Ribbon, Basic Rhinestones, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Big Shot

It would be easy to substitute different colors and make very different cards for many occasions. Such a classic design!

Stamping 411 went back to a nice, clean sketch for today’s challenge. I really like these best.

I decided to use Happy Together for my main image. I earned it as a free Sale-a-Bration set last year, and it is still available this year as well! But remember, there are only a few days left to Sale-a-brate — the fun ends on March 31st.

Stamps: Happy Together
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Graden Geen, More Mustard (for the beaks)
Paper: Garden Green, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Woodland Walk Designer Series Paper
Other: Crumb Cake Seam Binding Ribbon, Curly Label Punch

I have to thank Samantha for the Woodland Walk paper and Debbi for the Crumb Cake Seam Binding Ribbon. I couldn’t have made this without you!

Spring break started for me this afternoon, and what better way to start than with the beautiful spring colors from this week’s ColorLab challenge!

I decided to combine this with this week’s Pals Paper Arts challenge to emboss something. I haven’t used my Manhattan Flower Textured Impressions embossing folder in quite a while, so I pulled that out. I embossed the patterned paper, and then sponged some chocolate chip ink over it to make the embossing stand out more.

Stamps: Afterthoughts
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Paper: Pear Pizazz, Chocolate Chip, Brights Designer Series Paper Patterns Stack (Daffodil Delight)
Other: Pear Pizazz Poly Ribbon, Manhattan Flower Textured Impressions embossing folder, Big Shot, sponge

Afterthoughts is a Level 1 hostess set, which you can earn for free when you host a workshop. Or you can always order enough to be your own party. There was another line to this stamp. It said “so you don’t have to share.” But that really didn’t go with the feel of this card, so I used my Chocolate Chip marker to only ink up the part I wanted. It’s a little more shabby chic than I usually do, but I like how it came out.

When I was looking for a good masculine birthday card, I found this great one by Amanda Mertz. I really love the clean lines on it! I changed the colors around and came up with this version. This was another of the cards that we made at my birthday card class last weekend.

Stamps: Party Hearty, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Early Espresso, Not Quite Navy
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, Garden Green, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso
Other: Early Espresso Satin Ribbon, Scallop Circle Punch,  1″ Circle Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

I toyed with the idea of embossing the four squares to add some texture, but I decided I wanted to keep it looking clean.

Oh fun! Awash with Flowers is now available as a digital stamp brush set! I love this stamp set — how fun to have a digital version too. Stampin’ Up released a few more fun downloads yesterday, too. These downloads work with My Digital Studio and any other digital scrapbooking program that allows you to import PNG and JPG files. You can see a PDF of all of these downloads here.

124470 Greenhouse Gala Designer Series Paper $4.95

124472 Friends Never Fade Stamp Brush Set $3.95

124471 Awash with Flowers Stamp Brush Set $7.95

124466 Blossom Party Shape 1 $0.95

124468 Blossom Party Shape 3 $0.95

124469 Blossom Party Shape 4 $0.95

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 charges! Just click on Digital Crafting, then Digital Downloads, then Newest Downloads to see all of the recent additions! If you registered your copy of My Digital Studio, you may also receive end-of-the month emails from Stampin’ Up featuring that month’s digital releases.

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. There is also a new Resources pageon MyDigitalStudio.net that includes a MDS Catalog. It shows all of the MDS software artwork (contained in the boxed-version) and downloads from the October 2009 launch through February 2011! The catalog gives a snapshot of the entire product line with artwork thumbnails followed by product details. Because MDS is regularly coming out with new artwork, the catalog will be updated every month.