Rubber Stamping & Card Making with Yapha

One of the Sale-a-Bration freebies I was looking forward to getting was the Decor Elements “Notes” chalkboard. I really wanted to put it on the back of our front door, to jot down things I needed to remember in the morning. But the door has panels, and they weren’t quite wide enough. There was however, a hook on the back of the door from the previous owners, so I thought, “Hey! I could hang it on the back of the door!”  So I searched all over the house for a piece of cardboard that I could mount it on. After about 20 minutes, I realized that the Notes chalkboard came packaged with a piece of cardboard!! Here is what comes in the package. The chalkboard piece and the white parts are separate:

So I applied the chalkboard piece to the cardboard and trimmed around it. Then I applied the white layer. I used my crop-a-dile to make two holes, and set in two of the pewter jumbo eyelets. Then I ran a piece of Poppy Parade ribbon through the holes to hang it up.

And here it is in use!

I’m really pleased with how it turned out, and I like the fact that it is removable.

Eve had the hardest time deciding which of the Decor Elements chalkboard pieces she wanted for her new room — the hippo or the owl? After much careful thought and deliberation, she went with the owl. We finally had time to put him up over the weekend. (This is the largest size.)

These go up just like regular Decor Elements, but are an actual chalkboard material that you can write on!

Eve just loves her new owl.

Our only disappointment is that the walls in our new house are EXTREMELY textured. Decor Elements are not recommended for textured walls, and we are a little concerned about how well this will actually stay up. We bought the speech bubble as well, but are waiting to put that up until we see what happens. If this doesn’t work, we’ll move on to plan B, which is to put the Decor Elements on some kind of canvas or frame, and hang that. In the meantime, it looks super cute!

My brother and his wife are expecting their first child in about a month. I am super excited about the imminent arrival of my new nephew, and almost as excited that they picked some super fun Decor Elements with which to decorate the baby’s room! One of the great things about using these here in Southern California, is that you can decorate above the crib and the changing table without the fear of anything falling down in an earthquake. I showed you the super cute robot they put up a few weeks ago. Well, they had time to put up the rest, so I went over to take some pictures.

You can see the robot over the changing table. They also added some monkeys swinging on a vine. (Don’t forget, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them.)

Here’s a close up of the monkeys. I just love how they are going around the corner!

Moving on around the room, they added four animals from the now retired stamp set, Wild About You. These are done in multiple steps, since each of the colors are applied to the wall separately.  My brother said it was not as difficult as he thought it would be. He actually had a lot fun putting them up!

Here are all four of the animals. (The bird is not up yet.)

Isn’t the room adorable? I have to tell you, though, these adorable creatures are all on the Decor Elements Last Chance List, and will not be available after June 30th. The good news is that right now they are all 25% off! If you want to see a visual list, go to my website, then click on Last Chance, and then Home Decor.

My brother and his wife are expecting their first baby in about seven weeks. They were really excited about the decorating possibilities when I showed them the Decor Elements catalog. They picked out a few they wanted to put up to decorate the baby’s room. I went over today to show them how the Decor Elements work, and to help put up the first one. Together we put up this adorable Chocolate colored Robot, right over the changing table.

They also have some monkeys and the animals from Wild About You to put up as well. I’ll be sure to post pictures of their finished nursery.

My friend Krystal just started a new stamping challenge blog, Stampin’ Celebration. It’s a weekly party themed inspiration challenge. This week’s challenge features super cute robots. Check it out if you are looking for new ways to stretch your creativity!

When we moved into our new apartment last summer, I told Eve that she could pick whichever Decor Elements she wanted for her new room. (You might remember that she used to have butterflies on her wall.) She picked the princess, carriage, and castle — all in pink. No real shock there. But when we went to put them up, they just looked strange, floating on her wall with nothing grounding them. So I while I was looking around for some better way to put them up — maybe frames, maybe canvas — Stampin’ Up announced that they would be selling some of the raw vinyl. People could use their Big Shots to make their own Decor Elements! I bought some of the raw vinyl in Certainly Celery, but instead of die cutting it, I used it to create more of a scene with the Decor Elements that Eve had chosen.

It took us less than hour to put all of it up. Steve helped with the castle, since even standing on the bed I can’t reach that high. Most important of all, Eve loves it!

Each package of the raw Decor Elements vinyl comes with two sheets of vinyl (approximately 14-1/4″ x 24″ ), along with two sheets of transfer tape, for $12.95. It is available in the following colors:

118801 Bashful Blue
118814 Basic Gray
118804 Black
118806 Certainly Celery
114337 Chocolate
118808 Clear
114334 Dark Gray
118813 Gable Green
114336 Kraft
118805 Night of Navy
118803 Old Olive
118810 Pixie Pink
118800 Pretty in Pink
118809 Pumpkin Pie
118802 Real Red
118798 Rose Red
118812 Sahara Sand
118797 So Saffron
118799 Taken with Teal
118807 Tempting Turquoise
114335 White

Chalkboard Decor Elements Vinyl Sheets (118815) are also available for $14.95.
You can purchase any of these through my website. Just click on Shop Now.

For those of you that do not know, I am an elementary school librarian. When I saw the new Decor Element that said “Do Good. Be Kind” it really resonated with me. Of all of things we teach children, this is the most important. If they can learn these two items, then our job is well done. It is a theme that runs through most of the stories I read to them, and also what I hope they see in my daily interactions as well.

Directly opposite the door to my office is a wall that is a lovely shade of blue. It was calling out for something, and I think I found it!

Do Good. Be Kind. If only we could all follow this simple advice every day.

I love the Thoughts & Prayers Tree. I love it as a stamp and I love it even more as a Decor Element vinyl design! I have put up three of these trees so far — one at Applewild School Library, one at Paula’s house, and one at my parents’ house. But I’ve never had one of my very own. And now I do! We put up one in our living room, and I have to tell you, it looks fantastic! And it’s great for California, because you don’t have to worry about a huge piece of art falling down in an earthquake.

Remember, this comes in 6 pieces, so we started out slowly. Here’s a look at it partially up:

Here is the finished tree, right behind our couch:

My husband really liked the quote that was with it in the catalog, so added that too. We separated the birds from the quote for a more balanced look. Here’s a close-up of our end result:

I love seeing this in the living room! Here’s what it looks like:

We’ll take a little break from Valentines today. I want to show you one of the Decor Elements that my husband and I put up this week. We had this space above the stove, and were looking for something that would fit there. We decided on this saying, “Our attitude toward Life determines life’s attitude toward us.” It’s the perfect thing to read all day, from making coffee in the morning to cleaning up after dinner!

You can see all of the Decor Elements in the July brochure and the January supplement. We put up a few more as well, so be sure to check back to see them!

It’s here! It’s here! January 5th is here and with it brings all sorts of new goodies! I know you don’t want to listen to me blather on and on, so here are the links that you have been waiting for!

Occasions Mini Catalog! Starts today and goes through April 30th. The big exciting news in this mini catalog is the new option of Clear-Mount stamps. These are not clear stamps, but rather the deeply etched red rubber that you expect from Stampin’ Up, but designed to be used on clear acrylic blocks. Please see my video tutorial on using these stamps for more info.

Sale-a-Bration starts today as well! It is every stampers favorite time of year! For every $50 that you spend, you can pick one free item from the  Sale-a-Bration catalog. For the first time ever, this includes stamps priced at $15.95 or less from the main catalog as well! If you host a workshop of $300 or more, then you can choose an additional set! There is a fabulous paper pack and an amazing punch in there as well!

As if that weren’t enough, there are new Definitely Decorative items as well! These include some amazing chalkboard Decor Elements! We’re thinking about putting up some extra walls just to have room to put up all of this great stuff! You can view the new Definitely Decorative insert here. But wait, there’s more!

You loved them when they were circles, you’ll love them even more as hearts! Yep, there is a new Treat Cup in town, and it is heart-shaped, just in time for Valentine’s Day! The new Heart Treat Cups coordinate perfectly with the Sweetheart stamp set and the Full Heart punch. Download the Heart Treat Cup flyer for more information.

Still want more? I have one last special to share with you! Stampin’ Up! has partnered with Country Living magazine to bring you the Cards à la Carte stationery kit. This exclusive kit  includes the following products:

• Dinner Party stamp set (set of 3)
• Ballet Blue Classic Stampin’ Spot
• Preprinted stationery (24 sheets: 4 each of 6 designs)

Download the Country Living Cards a la Cart Stationery Kit Flyer or take a look at the stamp set that it comes with.

Phew! Well that’s all of the news for today! Please let me know if you have any questions, or start shopping now!

One of the fabulous products in the Holiday Mini Catalog is this Holiday Mix Décor Elements.

It comes in your choice of four different colors — Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Black, and White. Stampin’ Up advertises it as containing the letters for “Joy,” “Snow,” and “Noel.” But surely there are other things that can be spelled with those letters… My friends over at Stampin’ Addicts and I put our heads together and came up with the following list of 65 (yes 65!) other words and phrases you can spell with one sheet of the Holiday Mix Décor Elements.

eon
eons
Joe
Joel
Jon
Jones
Jonny
Jose
Jowl
Jowls
Len
Lenny
Leno
lens
Leo
Leon
Lew
lone
Lonny
loon
loose
lose
low
lows
new
news
no
no lo (as in no lo contendere, but only a lawyer would love that one. . . .)
no se (Spanish for I don’t know. . . )
noose
nose
now
ol’
Ole (Old English)
Ole (Spanish)
oleo
one
Only
only one
ow
owe
owes
owl
owls
own
owns
Oy
sew
sewn
slow
sole
son
soon
sow
sown
soy
swoon
wen
woe
woes
won
Ye
yes
yo
yon

A big thank you to Holly for her amazing contributions to the list! Imagine what you could do with more than one sheet! Oh, and don’t forget these great wood blocks to put the letters on!