Rubber Stamping & Card Making with Yapha

I had to try this because it looked so cool! I brayed Marina Mist ink on the inside of my embossing folder, and then when I put in the piece of Whisper White, only the raised snowflakes kept their original white! You may notice this card looks remarkably similar to this snowflake card. It is the same basic layout, but a very different feel to the card.

Stamps: All Holidays
Ink: Marina Mist, Crumb Cake
Paper: Whisper White, Crumb Cake
Other: White Satin Ribbon, Decorative Label Punch, Simple Pearls, Northern Flurry Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Stampin’ Dimensionals

A huge thank you to Tanya for posting this adorable snowflake tea light candle set on her blog! After seeing her post so many different versions of the tea lights, I just had to try it. It was so much easier than I thought it was going to be! In fact, we are going to be making these as our final project in the after-school kids’ class. As like a grand finale. With a lot of supervision, of course. The snowflake is cut out of metal flashing with the Big Shot.I took Tanya’s advice and ran it back and forth several times before taking it out of the Big Shot.

(Note: Don’t buy the flashing shingles. They don’t work. Get the flashing on a roll. I found I could cut it with my Craft & Rubber scissors — on sale until Tuesday!)

Stamps: Northern Hearts
Ink: Marina Mist
Other: Tissue Paper, 1 1/4″ Circle Punch, 1/16″ Handheld Circle Punch, Heat Tool, Snowflake #2 Originals Die, Big Shot

For a complete tutorial on making the tea lights, see Tanya’s Blog.

One of the things I like to do every year for my parents is to create a photo calendar for them. Until now, I’ve been stuck with the limitations of online photo haring sites. But not any more! Thanks to My Digital Studio, the freedom I have with which to create the calendar is incredible. I can have any layout at all for the top page, and I can decorate and annotate the calendar date page as much or as little as I like. This allows me to put on birthdays, Jewish holidays, and any other holidays I choose, as well as make it look pretty  and match the top half. Over the course of the next few weeks I will be sharing my calendar with you. If you are interested in learning more about My Digital Studio, I do offer a free one-on-one class for anyone who purchase the software from me.

Here is the cover:

And here are the pages for January:

One of the beautiful parts of My Digital Studio is that I’ll never run out of matching paper, ink, or embellishments. They will always be there for me! I’ll post a few more months tomorrow.

We woke up this morning in New Bedford to what truly is a Winter Wonderland, so I thought I’d better post another card for the Pals Paper Arts Challenge! Eve was excited to go out and play in the snow, but first she measured how deep it was — 15 3/4 inches according to the yardstick she put in!

My husband asked me to make up some Christmas cards for him to send to friends this year. He looked at all of my designs, and decided on this one. I love the simple elegance of it, and the sparkle of the glitter. I made similar cards for him last year. Sorry about the glare. Between the glossy card stock and the glitter, it’s hard to get a good picture.

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Sincere Salutations
Paper: Ballet Blue, Basic Black, Glossy White
Ink: StazOn Black, Ballet Blue, Lovely Lilac
Accessories: Two-Way Glue, Dazzling Diamonds, Sponges

I’ve been spending this snowy day hard at work on a My Digital Studio calendar for my parents. I’ll be sharing pages of that with you soon!

This week’s challenge on Pals Paper Arts is a theme challenge of Winter Wonderland. I needed to make another gift card holder, so I decided to apply this theme while making it. I love these gift card purses! You can see the first one I made or the originals that inspired me. Here is my Winter Wonderland one:

Stamps: Patterned Pines
Ink: Bashful Blue
Paper: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Whisper White
Other: Snowfall Printed Window Sheet, Circle Brads (Ice), Bashful Blue Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, 1 3/8″ Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Top Note Bigz Die, Big Shot, Crop-a-Dile, Velcro

I used the Snowfall Printed Window Sheet over the Night of Navy paper for that great look! Because of this, I took the photo at a slightly odd angle to avoid glare from the flash. A little bit of Velcro keeps it closed. The rhinestone brad in the middle is hard to see, but it is light blue.

Here’s another card I made with my Kids’ Class. I gave them their choice of any of the three stamps included in Holiday Line Up. Several of the kids used the reindeer stamp, and it looked great with that too. They colored theirs with the Watercolor Pencils, but I used the Stampin’ Write Markers on mine. I used the layout from this card, but changed the stamp set. It was a pretty quick card, but it looks great!

Stamps: Holiday Line Up
Ink: StazOn Black, Stampin’ Write Markers (Bermuda Bay, Real Red, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie)
Paper: Kraft, Real Red, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White
Other: Bermuda Bay Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Border Punch

Wow, it sure got cold here in Los Angeles this week. I actually had to wear socks! Guess it’s time to break out the snowman cards!

This card is based on one by Lyn Put. I changed the colors and added some shimmer paint. I’ll be making this one with my after-school kids stamping club. They really liked using the Big Shot last week, so I’m going to let them cut out their own snowflakes.

I used the Frost White Shimmer Paint two different ways on this card. First, I used it with an aquapainter to color in the snowman’s face. The snowman’s face looks funny in this picture, since the shimmer paint is reflecting the flash. In real life, it just looks glittery. Second, I made it into a spray, by combing 1 oz of 70% rubbing alcohol with a few drops of shimmer pain. I then sprayed it onto the snowflake for a glittery look!

Stamps: Big on Christmas
Ink: StazOn Black, Ballet Blue, Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Basic Black
Paper: Ballet Blue,Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Pawsitively Prints Designer Series Paper
Other: Snowflake #2 Die, Big Shot, Frost White Shimmer Paint

I just could not resist the adorable critters in this stamp set! Now that the weather here in Southern California is turning chilly (hey, I actually had to wear socks!), I figured it was time to pull out these little guys. I tried a new technique on these. Not really new new, but new to me. It is called VersaMark resist, and it was so easy! And it turned out great, if I do say so myself. How does it work? Well, I’ll tell you. You start with glossy white paper. Stamp whatever image you want to stay white with VersaMark. (I used the snowflakes from Christmas Punch.) Then you brayer over it with the color you want to be the background. That’s it! No embossing, just use a tissue to wipe away the excess ink that doesn’t stick to the VersaMark. Quick, fun, easy, and gorgeous! I love it!

Stamps: Cold & Cuddly, Christmas Punch
Ink: VersaMark, Basic Black, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay
Paper: Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Glossy White
Other: White Satin Ribbon, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8″ Punch, Modern Label Punch, Top Note Bigz Die, Big Shot, Brayer

Let me know if you try this technique and how it works for you!