Regional Swap Card

I am planning to attend Stampin' Up!® Regional Seminar in SLC UT in April. I wanted to get a head start in creating my swaps, I am planning to take 75 of this card and 75 of another (still planning this one).

Card Details:

Stamps: Crab and Company

Ink: Cool Caribbean, Tempting Turquoise, Regal Rose, Close to Cocoa, Basic Black

Cardstock: Cool Caribbean, Tempting Turquoise, Regal Rose, Whisper White, Polka Dots and Paisleys Designer Paper

Other: Rose Grosgrain Ribbon

Chocolate Bunny!!

Chocolate Easter Wishes!

I absolutely love Easter... the colored eggs, the egg hunts, marshmallow chicks and all the bright colors of spring! But my absolute favorite thing about Easter is without a doubt... the chocolate bunnies!! I am a total chocoholic, so here's to Chocolate Bunnies!

Card Details:
Stamps: Bunny Hugs
Cardstock: Polka Dots and Paisleys Designer Paper, Chocolate Chip, Cool Caribbean, and Whisper White
Other: Pretty in Pink Brads, White Gel Pen, Ticket Corner punch, 1/4" Circle Punch for brad mats, and Word Window punch.

The bunny was stamped with basic black ink on Close to Cocoa cardstock and cut out. There is also faux paper piercing around the circle tab at the top. Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery and Tempting Turquoise markers were used to color the eggs and Easter basket.

Spring Mini Magic

Spring Mini Catalog.... Magic!

I have had more fun playing with sets and accessories from the Spring Mini Catalog. Here is tonight's featured card.

Card Details
Stamps: Polka Dots and Petals, Polka Dots and Paisley
Paper: Whisper White, So Saffron, Taken with Teal, Old Olive, Petals and Paisleys DP
Ink: Taken with Teal, Old Olive, So Saffron
Accessories: Apricot Grosgrain Ribbon

Find Joy in the Little Things

Find Joy in the Little Things

I wanted to create a card that would show off our new designer paper and wouldn't take a lot of time to put together. Here is what I came up with. The new designer paper will debut in March, if you haven't heard about the special, email me directly (kylamaestas@msn.com) and I will forward the details or you can contact your Stampin Up demonstrator for more infomation.

Card Details
Stamps: Polka Dots and Paisley
Cardstock: Whisper White, Cool Caribbean, Rose Red, Petals and Paisleys Designer Paper
Other: Large Brads (Making Memories), I created the brad mats using 1/2" circle punch

Crab and Company II

Crab and Company "A Pinch to Grow an Inch"

This card was designed using Card Sketch Challenge #87 from SplitcoastStampers. You can view more information about this sketch by clicking here.

Card Details:
Stamps: Crab and Company

Cardstock: Petals and Paisleys Designer Paper, Regal Rose, Cool Caribbean, Old Olive and Whisper White

Ink: Basic Black, Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise

Other: White Gel Pen, Olive Brads

Packing Tape and Glitter Technique

Happy Birthday Stamping Divas

I participated in a swap on Stamping Divas to celebrate our 2nd birthday on the web, the challenge was to create something that sparkles and dazzles. I had originally planned to go with the faux diamonds technique and at the last minute changed my mind and went with packing tape and glitter. Here is a variation of the card I created for this swap.

To those divas who participated in this swap... sorry to spoil the suprise!!

Card Details:
Stamps: Simply Said
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Regal Rose
Other: Black Grosgrain Ribbon, Folk Heart Punch (SU)

Technique Details: Create a window using a punch of your choice, (there are other ways to create windows but this is the easiest I have found). Place clear packing tape over the backside of the hole, sticky should be facing up. Place a small amount of glitter onto the packing tape and spread it around with your finger, rub the glitter in and shake off any excess glitter. I have seen several windows that had a stamped image or message behind them, when doing this use glitter very sparingly or the message or image will not be seen through all the dazzle and glitter.

It's a Boy?

A New Little Someone

I have been so behind on my personal correspondence that I thought I would start working to get ahead and knew I would need 2 baby cards in the upcoming months. I knew one of the babies was said to be a girl so I got out the pink papers and embellishments and had a great time making these baby cards. It never occurred to me that one of these babies could be a boy. I just received an email this morning from my 5th level up-line and sure enough... she has a new baby boy. I will have to re-invent this card with blues.

Card Details:
Stamps: A New Little Someone
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Loves Me Designer Paper
Other: Pretty in Pink brads, White Narrow Organdy Ribbon, Pink Grosgrain Ribbon, Silver Cording, large and small oval punches for tabs, and my new Scalloped Oval Giga Punch (I am so glad to finally have these)



*The New Baby charm came from the craft section at Wal-Mart, they have these back with the baby shower items.

Update.... Insane Week!

Things have been crazy so far this week... I am recovering from a very nasty cold that continues to linger, and finishing up the last week of Officer's School tasks. This program has been absolutely amazing, if you ever have the opportunity to participate I would highly recommend that you do it!

Stamping Anytime Soon? Of course!! I will be stamping with my kids today... we are finishing up the last of the Valentines for school. I love stamping with my kids... do you? Also more to come with Crab and Company, I just adore this little crab!! And another creation using Polka Dots and Paisley with the new designer paper.

More demonstrator training notes coming soon as well!! This month's business topic: Recruiting that Fits (this was one of my favorite classes from Convention last year) and creativity notes topic: Sketches continued.

Crab and Company!

Snappy Birthday!!

I just love this adorable little stamp set... here is my first card using this set!

Card Details:
Stamps: Crab and Company (Spring Mini Catalog)
Cardstock: Petals and Paisleys Designer Paper, Cool Caribbean, Chocolate Chip, Rose Red and Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Basic Black, Rose Red, Tempting Turquoise, and Cool Caribbean
Other: Silver Brads

Rolling Stones!!

Just Chicken In... Rolling Stones Technique

I was so excited when I logged on this morning and got a surprise email from a dear friend Alisa!! She was emailing me to congratulate me about the March Stampin Success.... as I read her email I thought "Wow, that was sweet of her... but I have NO idea what she is talking about!" Of course I immediately logged onto the SU website to find out what on earth she was talking about.... and discovered that Stampin Up has featured one of my techniques in this month's issue.... Rolling Stones! I was bummed to see that no photo of my chicken card but hey I am still excited all the same!

Here is the card I shared with Stampin Up at the Stampin Share at Convention 2006.

Card Details

Stamps: Best of Cluck

Card stock: Night of Navy, Lavender Lace, Whisper White, Bashful Blue, and Glossy Card stock

Ink: Basic Black, Night of Navy, Lavender Lace and Bashful Blue Markers, Bashful Blue Lavender Lace and Night of Navy Re-inkers.

Other: Navy Grosgrain Ribbon, Stamp Box (medium size works best), Marbles

Technique Details: This card is the marriage of two fabulous techniques combined into one... I have always loved the look of polished stone but to be very honest never did like the marbled look.. the samples I had seen were very plain behind the marbles and for some the look did not appeal to me. Then I had an original idea for once LOL.... put something behind the marble look. In preparing for a glossy card stock class I decided to play around with the polished stone technique. I used bashful blue, lavender lace and a tiny bit of night of navy. Just as soon as the card stock had dried I threw it into a stamp box with a few marbles and some night of navy re-inker and shook.

Bunny Hugs!!

Bunny Hugs

I just received my Spring Mini Catalog preorder sets. I loved this set in the mini, but love it even more now that I have had a chance to play with it. I also just received my scalloped punches and have enjoyed playing with them as well.

Card Details:
Stamps: Bunny Hugs
Cardstock: Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Petals and Paisleys Designer Paper
Other: Turquoise Grosgrain Ribbon, Pretty in Pink brads

Tips: I used the paper piercing template from the crafters tool kit and a Stampin Write Marker to add the dots around the scalloped circle. I used the key tag punch to cut out the greeting, and used the 1/4" hole punch for the brad mats.

Paper Lantern Technique

I learned this technique through Technique Junkies, you can find out more about this amazing monthly publication by visiting www.patstamps.com should you decide to purchase a subscription or any of the CD's please be sure to tell her that Kyla Maestas sent you as she does have a referral program.

I believe the original submission for this technique was from Jan Tinklenburg, I could be wrong, I would have to go through my old newsletters to be sure. (I want to say it was Oct 04 edition but you can check her website to be certain)

Paper Lantern Technique is basically using the crimper on your main images for a neat effect... you of course stamp first and then crimp. In the original publication for this technique they used a black ink to add color and dimension to the ridges from the crimper. I most often omit this part of the technique. I have seen this most often used on the Asian themed cards, but I do like the effects it offers on other themed cards as well.

Here are 2 examples from SCS that showcase this technique without the variation.
* Paper Lantern Good Luck
* Calming Garden Paper Lantern

Catching Up.... Downline Support and Training

I am finally getting all of the emails out to those of you who requested them for the business and creative meetings I host for my downline. If you are interested in these notes and have not received them please feel free to post with your email address and I will forward them along. Please note that the creative meeting notes come with a challenge... click here for more details about this challenge.

If you have questions about any of the notes you received please feel free to contact me at kylamaestas@msn.com. For those of you who have posted and do not have downlines, if you feel this information would benefit you and your business please post your email and I will gladly forward them along.

FYI: I will be posting some of the photos from the creative meeting notes (sketches, my sketch journal, sketch tool box and binders) later in the week.

Oh Hoppy Day...

Hoppy Birthday

Here is a card created about a year ago using the same paper lantern technique as shown in yesterday's Asian card... this technique is fun even on the cutie cards which I tend to lean to more often then not.

Card Details:

Stamps: Unfrogettable

Cardstock:Certainly Celery, Mellow Moss, So Saffron, Whisper White

Ink:Pumpkin Pie, So Safron, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, Basic Black

Other: Moss Grosgrain Ribbon, Twill, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

This Week's Sketch Challenge

Rhapsody

I absolutely love the card sketch challenge this week on SCS. You can find more details about this sketch by clicking here. I modified my card to omit the 3rd layer, I tried several different things and couldn't find anything to go there that I liked... working with this patterned paper was kind of tricky (the colors are just off enough from the SU colors that it was hard to use our cardstock with it). Our newest scrapbook store has some amazing patterned papers, I have had these for a while and couldn't decide what to do with them... there are several different patterns from the Rhapsody series used on the card (not sure which ones, I didn't keep the ends)

Card Details:

Stamps: Happy Harmony

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip

Ink: Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Sage Shadow and Chocolate Chip

Other: Patterned Paper is "Rhapsody" series from Three Bugs in A Rug

Techniques: Faux Paper Piercing, Micropearl Watermark

Artfully Asian

Artfully Asian

This is a new stamp set for me, just arrived last week. Our weather has been so terribly cold that is has been difficult to lacquer and mount stamp sets. We have seen some warmer temperatures over the last few days... I finally had a chance to mount some of my new stamps. The background of the card does not show the effects of the pearl ex, but I stamped the leaf image in Versmark and stamped it randomly. I added a small amount of Stampin Pastels to the leaf image and card stock (Sage Shadow and Perfect Plum) and then stippled Micropearl pearlex over the top.

Card Details:

Stamps: Artfully Asian

Card stock: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, and Perfect Plum

Ink: Basic Black, Versamark, Sage Shadow, Perfect Plum and Pale Plum

Other: Micropearl Pearlex, Stampin Pastels, Vintage Brads

Techniques: Pearly Pastels and Paper Lantern Variations

So Very... Loved

I created this little 6x6 page as part of my submissions for SU's convention display stampers. This is the first time I have submitted for this, wish me luck :). The little girl in the photo is my daughter Tayllar.

Scrapbook Page Details:

Stamps: So Very, Very Punny, Sweet On You

Cardstock: Night of Navy, Real Red, Whisper White

Ink: Night of Navy, Real Red

Other: White Narrow Organdy and Navy Grosgrain Ribbons, Silver Brads

Softer Side of Polka Dots and Paisley

This week in Officer's school we have been assigned a partner for this week's activities... we were asked to stamp a card and send to our buddy using the Polka Dots and Paisley set. The colors were a lot softer that I typically stamp with, inspired by the designer paper.

Card Details

Stamps: Polka Dots and Paisley

Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Blush Blossom, Bashful Blue, Very Vanilla and Petal Patch Designer Series Paper

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Blush Blossom, Certainly Celery and Bashful Blue Stampin Write Markers

Other: Bashful Blue Brads, Ivory Organdy and Celery Grosgrain Ribbons