Rubber Stamping & Card Making with Yapha

Yes, I know that Valentine’s day was yesterday, but I have one more to show you. I used this week’s Nacho Average Challenges sketch.

I wanted to make a very wood-themed Valentine for my wood working husband, so I used both the Woodgrain stamp and the Woodgrain embossing folder. I wanted a deep, rich red to complement the wood, so I chose Cherry Cobbler.

Stamps: Woodgrain, Itty Bitty Banners
Ink: Early Espresso
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Other: Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit, Bitty Banners Framelits

Don’t forget that Itty Bitty Banners is one of the stamp sets that you can get free with your $50 purchase during Sale-a-bration!

For Valentine’s Day at school this year, Eve said that she would like to just put Hershey Kisses in each of her classmates’ boxes. I thought that was a great idea since all of the kids just want candy anyway. But we had to personalize it a little, so I designed a little logo using My Digital Studio.

Then I placed this logo over and over on to a sheet of labels.  I used the mailing labels that were 1″ x 4″, and I fit 3 of these circles onto each label. We used the 3/4″ circle punch to punch them out, and Eve stuck them to the bottom of the Kisses. We made enough that she can put two or three into each students’ box.

I wanted to do something a little bit nicer for her teachers, though, so I bagged up 9 of the kisses, and made this quick and cute topper.

Stamps: Delightful Dozen
Ink: Real Red
Paper: Real Red, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer Paper
Other: Top Note Bigz Die

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope it is filled with love and chocolate!

The Paper Players has a great color challenge this week. They are three of the five 2012-2014 In Colors! Aren’t they great together?

I had been feeling guilty that I made a Valentine for my 2 1/2 year old nephew, but not my 8 year old nephew (on the other side, they are not brothers). When I saw these colors I knew they would make a great Valentine for a boy. I used just a touch of the Primrose Petals. It is a Valentine, after all.

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals
Paper: Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals, Whisper White, 2012-2014 In Colors Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack
Other: Hearts Collection Framelits, Bitty Banners Framelits, Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Typeset Alphabet Bigz Dies, Midnight Muse Stitched Satin Ribbon, Summer Starfruit Stitched Satin Ribbon

I saw the idea for the big XO on a textured heart on a card by Andrea Walford. I actually used the zero die cut, because the O was too wide. What do you think — does it work for a boy?

Great colors from Pals Paper Arts this week. They match the colors in the More Amore Designer Series Paper, so that was a great place to start.

I had not had a chance to play with the adorable elephant in the Henry Says set yet. (Who is Henry? The elephant? Why is he named Henry?) I wanted to make a Valentine for my 2 1/2 year old nephew, and I knew that a Pool Party elephant would be super cute! I also love the way paper piecing looks on the elephant. I didn’t want to use too much of the Primrose Petals, so you only see it on the DSP.

Stamps: Henry Says, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Real Red
Paper: Real Red, Pool Party, Very Vanilla, More Amore Designer Series Paper, 2011-2013 In Color Designer Series Paper Pack
Other: Sycamore Street Ribbon (Pool Party), Stampin’ Dimensionals

Valentine’s Day is Thursday. I guess we’d better get to work on Eve’s school Valentines soon!

The whale from Oh, Whale is just too cute! I will be making this quick and easy Valentine with my after-school stamping class next week. I’m looking forward to starting up another session. Stamping with 3rd-6th grade girls always keeps on my toes!

Stamps: Oh, Whale
Ink: Marina Mist, Primrose Petals
Paper: Primrose Petals, Marina Mist, Whisper White, Sunshine & Sprinkles Designer Series Paper
Other: Cloudy Day Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Primrose Petals Stitched Satin Ribbon

Steve’s Kickstarter ends Sunday night. If you haven’t already, will you please take a few minutes to look at his project? Thank you for any help you can give.

I saw this great idea on Pinterest last  year (wow, has it been around for over a year already?), about covering your child’s door with hearts that say all of the things you love about them, so they wake up to it on Valentine’s Day morning. Steve and I decided to do that. We felt it was especially important since he was going to be in the hospital recovering from surgery on the 14th. This week’s ColourQ Challenge and the MDS Monday sketch were perfect to document that morning.

I used the paper from the More Amore digital download with the great set of words and hearts for the background. Interestingly, this is not in the regular paper pack. It is however one of the designs in the More Amore fabric. Since it is digital, I can just print it out if I want to use it on real paper. It’s win-win, really!

She still has most of the hearts up on her door, so I guess we won’t be able to do this again this year. Better go search Pinterest for another great idea!

I like this week’s Unscripted Sketches because it gave me a chance to use my new Petite Curly Label that I got free from Sale-a-Bration, and the matching set, too!

I love stamps with matching punches, and being able to get them both free during Sale-a-Bration is really the icing on the cake. I also used the Ciao, Baby stamp set, which also matches this punch. I doubled up the Pool Party Seam Binding so it wouldn’t be as see-through.

Stamps: Pretty Petites, Ciao BabyInk: Real Red, Basic Grey, Pool Party
Paper: Real Red, Whisper White, More Amore Designer Series Paper
Other: Pool Party Seam Binding, Petite Curly Label Punch

You will be able to buy this punch after Sale-a-Bration, but why wait to buy it when you can get it now for free?

So exciting to see the news on Facebook when a good friend gets engaged! I dropped everything to make Jessica a card. I even combined the Dynamic Duos Color Challenge with the sketch from Fab Friday.

Since it is an engagement card, I wanted to add a lot of bling so I used both rhinestones and the silver glimmer paper. The heart is from the More Amore Specialty Designer Series Paper. It comes with two sheets of these die cut hearts, in Primrose Petals and Real Red.

Stamps: A Word for You
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Real Red
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Subtles Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack, More Amore Specialty Designer Series Paper, Silver Glimmer Paper
Other: Basic Rhinestones, 1″ Square Punch

My husband’s Kickstarter Project has just a week left, and $2000 to go. He is 60% of the way there! He has some great rewards available for backing his project. Kickstarter is all or nothing. Will you help make his dream come true?

I am super excited to be doing a Stampin’ up party for Heather tomorrow! It’s been a while since I’ve done one, and Sale-a-Bration is truly the best time for it! There is so much free stuff that everybody wins! I was having a REALLY hard time coming up with a good Valentine to make, though. There are going to be about a dozen people there, so I didn’t want to make anything that would be too tedious or frustrating. Luckily, Steve to the rescue! He did a Google image search and found this card by Andrea Walford from three years ago.  It’s a great design, so I updated it with current paper, ribbon, and stamps. You could really use it for any occasion by just switching those up.

Stamps: Delightful Dozen
Ink: Real Red, Pool Party
Paper: Crumb Cake, Real Red, Very Vanilla, More Amore Specialty Designer Series Paper
Other: Sycamore Street Ribbon Pack (Pool Party), Designer Label Punch, 1 3/8″ Square Punch

I love Pool Party so much. I just don’t know what I am going to do when it goes away at the end of May. Sale-a-Bration is a fantastic time to stock up on all of your supplies!

If you haven’t had a chance yet, will you check out Steve’s Kickstarter project. The video is only 3 1/2 minutes long. He has two weeks left. Anything you can do to help spread the word would be much appreciated. Thanks!

What do you do when two of your favorite challenges have a sketch and color in the same week? Combine them, of course! So that is what I did with this week’s color challenge from Nacho Average Challenges and the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

With those colors, I knew I wanted to do something for Valentine’s Day. But I also didn’t want that shape on the sketch to be a heart. So I pulled out my new Happy Whale Clearlit, and cut a Pool Party whale. I did not use the stamp because I wanted the whale to be facing towards the right. I glammed him up with a rhinestone for an eye.

Stamps: Oh, Whale
Ink: Real Red, Pool Party
Paper: Primrose Petals, Real Red, Pool Party, Whisper White, More Amore Designer Series Paper, Sycamore Street Designer Series Paper
Other: Happy Whale Clearlit, Basic Rhinestone, Bitty Banners Framelits

My one concern with this card is that the Sycamore Street Designer Series Paper (free for Sale-a-Bration!) has a Whisper White Base, while the More Amore Designer Series Paper has a Very Vanilla base. I combined them on this card. I can’t decided if they work together. What do you think?