When I first started stamping and paper crafting, one of my favorite things to do was to dry emboss the envelope flaps in which I sent my cards. After so many years of making cards, scrapbook pages, 3D items, etc. I had almost forgotten about embossing my envelopes. Luckily I just received my new Elegant Bouquet Textured Impressions Die (for the Big Shot or Cuttlebug) and new it would be perfect for dry embossing the flaps on those envelopes again! And how fun to receive a card/envelope like this in the mail – all of that texture and design is almost irresistible.

I made a birthday card for my friend, Carolyn and had to emboss the envelope to match the card. Not sure how well you can see the embossing in the picture above, so here is a close up:

Isn't that just scrumptious? I love, love, love it! This is so elegant, yet oh so easy. These would be perfect for wedding or bridal shower invites. I'm sure you can think of many other reasons to decorate your envelopes.

Did I mention this was easy? Way easier than when I first started with my brass template, wax paper and stylus. Now I just put the flap in the embossing folder, create my sandwich for the Big Shot (in case you were wondering – MultiPurpose Platform/Tab1 -> cutting pad -> embossing folder (with envelope inside) -> cutting pad (top of sandwich)), and run it through the machine. Easy peasy!

Here is the card I made to coordinate:

This is a very simple card, because I wanted the dry embossing to stand out. Here's how I made it:

1) Dry emboss a piece of Pacific Point card stock (8.5 x 5.5") using the Elegant Bouquet Textured Impressions Die and the Big Shot. Note: I pre-scored and folded my card stock in half (at 4 1/4") so I knew where to place the card stock inside the embossing folder.

2) Ink up a Stampin' Sponge with Whisper White Craft Ink and lightly brush it across the raised embossing to make the design pop out a little more.

3) Using the scallop edge punch, punch the long front edge of the card (leaving a scallop edge).

4) Attach a 1 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of Designer paper (I used Walk in the Park) behind the front edge, lining it up so it is even with the back of the card. (You don't want your designer paper on the front to extend farther than the back of the card or your card won't fit in the envelope.)

5) Stamp the best wishes image from Oval All with Pacific Point ink. Punch with the large oval punch and sponge the edges with Kiwi Kiss ink.

6) Punch a piece of designer paper with the scallop oval punch. Attach the stamped image from the step above to the scallop oval.

7) Use the horizontal slot punch to punch a very small sliver out of the folded edge of the card (you need room to slide the ribbon around).

Tie a piece of Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla satin ribbon (mine was approx. 15"), sliding it through the hole you punched in the previous step. Trim the ends of the ribbon as desired.

9) Attach the stamped image to the card using dimensionals. Stamp birthday greeting on the inside of the card.

Here's a close up of the dry embossing:

Carolyn, I hope your birthday was as special as you are!

Join me on Sunday, July 26 (1-3p) to make this adorable cupcake card along with a beautiful brayered roses card and a 3D box.

What is Inspiration Club? This is a monthly club, which you can attend with 3 versatile options:

1) Join the club!
    This is an 8 month club where you commit to spending $25 each month for 8 months. You will receive a FREE Idea Book & Catalog ($9.95 value), get to create all of the projects (2 cards and a 3D project) each month for free, and will enjoy hostess benefits for 1 month!

2) Come as you can – for only $12 you can come every month or just when you can make it – no commitment required.

3) Spend $25 in catalog products and get the class for free!

You can register online here. If you are long distance and would like to make these projects, please let me know. If there is enough interest, I will make the class available as a kit.

For my Stampers' Club last month, we created these bookmarks to use in our new catalogs. I like these bookmarks because they are long enough to fit in any book I've found (e.g. text books, catalogs, regular paperbacks, cookbooks, etc.), but they are light weight and don't take up much room. They are great gifts to make for just about everyone.

Here's how to make one:

1. Die-cut a small scallop circle with the Scallop Circles #2 die and Big Shot from chipboard (I like to use the backs of the designer paper packs) and from Raspberry Tart designer paper (for the back).
2. Color the chipboard using Old Olive Craft ink and a sponge dauber. Set aside to dry.
3. Stamp the flower (I used Heartfelt Thanks) in Pink Pirouette and the outline in Rose Red on Whisper White card stock and cut out close to the image. Curl the flower petals with your fingers or scissors.
4. Apply sticky strip to the back of the scallop chipboard circle close to one edge. Attach a 20" piece of Pink Pirouette striped grosgrain ribbon to the sticky strip.
5. Cover ribbon and chipboard with the designer paper scallop circle you cut in step 1 (I like to use glue stick to get glue to all of the edges of the chipboard, but this still leaves me some "wiggle" room to get the edges of the scallops aligned perfectly).
6. Punch a 1 3/8" circle from the Raspberry Tart designer paper. Attach to front of colored chipboard.
7. Attach flower to circle using mini glue dots. Attach pearl half (from Pretties Kit) to flower center using a mini-glue dot.
8. To weight the bottom of the bookmark, place a strip of sticky strip along the edge of the ribbon. Slide on a piece of hardware (I used some retired hodgepodge hardware buckles here) and wrap ribbon around and attach to other side of ribbon with the sticky strip.

Here's a close up of the flower:

The new catalog has some fabulous new products you could use to make these bookmarks; be sure to check them out soon.

I've seen this technique a number of places and finally had to make my own version.

I think these dress cards are just too cute, and so easy to make. Simply cut a scallop circle using your Big Shot. Then cut a shape from one side of the circle to form the side of the dress. Using this piece you just cut off, flip it over and cut off the other side (this makes both sides even). How simple is that? Here's how I made my card:

1. Using Big Shot, die-cut a scallop circle from Raspberry Tart designer paper.
2. Create the dress as described above.
3. Cut a 4" piece of white grosgrain ribbon and wrap around the "waist" of the dress. Adhere to the back of the dress.
4. Add a clear rhinestone brad as a decoration on the belt.
5. Create the Pink Pirouette card (5 ½" x 8 ½" folded in half).
6. Attach a 1 ¼" x 5 ½" strip of Raspberry Tart designer paper to the left side of the card, along the fold.
7. Add dimensional to the back of the dress and attach to the front of the card.
8. Stamp sentiment from Sweet Serendipity (retired) with Rose Red ink on Whisper White card stock. Punch out with the Key Tag punch (retired) and sponge the edges with the rose ink.
9. Attach sentiment to front of card.

You could make these in so many different colors and textures – I can see this card made up in whites and vellums for a bridal shower card. I might have to make one in some funky paper for my daughter's upcoming sweet 16. What do you think?

Stamps: Sweet Serendipity
Ink: Rose Red
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Raspberry Tart designer series paper
Accessories: ¼" white grosgrain ribbon, clear rhinestone brads, key tag punch, dimensionals, Big Shot, Scallop Circle die, paper piercing tool

So is there anyone else out there that likes to "play" with matches, especially the old-fashioned matchboxes?  Okay, perhaps I'm a bit weird (perhaps, you say?), but I lvoe matchboxes.  They are so cute and fun to play with.

And I love this Matchbox die for the Big Shot! It is so much fun – and I have to admit – quite addicting! Do you know how many little goodies you can pack into one of these matchboxes? They actually hold a lot more than I realized. You can get 3 Chap Stick style lip balms in there, chocolate nuggets, tic-tacs, jelly beans, a whole lot of gift tags – hmm, might have to make this up in Christmas colors and give little gifts of Christmas gift tags. I like it!

Here's a little box I created for my workshops this month:

When I created this, I didn't realize that most of the colors would already be sold-out, but you can easily reproduce this in your favorite colors. I love the window in the top of the box sleeve. I don't think you can see it, but it has a window sheet behind the opening, so nothing from inside the box will fall out.

The matchbox itself is a breeze to cut and assemble - just run your choice of card stock and/or designer paper through the Big Shot with the matchbox die and voila!  Your box is perfectly cut and scored for you.  Wouldn't this make it so easy to create favors for a wedding, shower, party, etc?

To create the window, punch a hole with the large oval punch in the top of the window sleeve (before you assemble it).  Put a piece of window sheet (I cut mine 2"x 2 1/2") behind the opening.  Next, punch a large oval from a scrap piece of Pacific Point card stock.  Then take the scallop oval punch and center it over the oval opening you just created.  Punch this to create a little accent that you will put on top of the window opening (I prefer glue stick for this, since the piece is so small).  Now assemble your sleeve with SNAIL or preferably sticky strip.

To make the little tag (with the Matchbox Messages stamp set), I inked up the stamp in Basic Gray, then used a cotton swab to remove the ink from the little heart. I then used my Rose Red marker to add some color to my tag. Cute, don't you think? I punched out the image with the 1 1/4" circle punch and matted it with a 1 3/8" Baja Breeze circle punch. I then used my retired 1/8" cirlce punch to create a hole in the top which I threaded the Kiwi Kiss ribbon through.

Stamps: Matchbox Messages

Ink: Basic Gray, Rose Red marker

Paper: Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Walk in the Park DSP

Accessories: Window Sheets, 1 ¼" and 1 3/8" circle punches, 1/8" circle punch, Kiwi Kiss Satin Ribbon, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, cotton swab, Big Shot, Matchbox die

Just like you, I love to learn new tips/tricks/techniques for my stamping and scrapbooking. As a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, my friends, family and customers look to me to provide new ideas, which can sometimes be a bit overwhelming. Well, luckily Stampin' Up! demonstrators are a very friendly, helpful bunch and I had the opportunity to take a demonstrators-only class from a very talented demonstrator from Nebraska – Jennifer Thomas.

This adorable little basket is just one of the 8 projects we made at this stamp camp.

I was a little confused a first, but once I figured it out, this was rather easy to put together.

How to make it:

1. Cut 2 Scallop Envelopes from So Saffron card stock (using the Big Shot).
2. Cut a piece of So Saffron card stock 1 ¾" x 7 ¾".
3. Score this piece at 2 ¼" and 5 ½".
4. Fold the 2 envelopes with the side and bottom flaps folded in and the top edge (scallop edge) folded out.
5. Put sticky strip on the side and bottom flaps of both envelopes. Remove the red liner and attach 1 envelope at a time to the So Saffron card stock strip. Now you have the bottom of your basket!
6. Decorate the front as desired.
   1. We stamped the Eclectic Circles in Really Rust on Very Vanilla card stock and punched with the 1 ¼" and ¾" circle punches. The smaller circle was popped up from the larger circle with a dimensional. Attach the circles to a So Saffron scallop circle and attach this to the front of the basket with a colored brad.
   2. I used a piece of Apple Cider designer paper that was cut 1 ½" x 12" and wrapped it around the base of the basket.
7. Cut the handle from So Saffron card stock 1"x12"; use a Stampin' Around Wheel to decorate if desired. Attach to inside of basket with Sticky Strip.

I haven't had a chance to take pictures of the other projects yet, but I will definitely share as soon as I can.

If you try this project, please let me know and it would be wonderful if you shared a picture! I love seeing all of the creative projects you are working on.

Happy Stamping!

I forgot to share this card with you a couple of weeks ago when I played along with the SCS Technique Lover's Challenge #221. This is a fun card to create, once you get the hang of it. You can find the challenge and instructions here.

Here is the front view of the card.

And from the "side" so you can better see what the card looks like when opened:

And a top view:

Isn't this a cool card?! I used Not Quite Navy and the Bella Bleu designer papers to create this card. I also used Travel Post, which is retired, but I love the vintage look it adds to this paper. Wouldn't this be fun to receive in the mail? I love interactive cards! And this card does fit in a normal A2 size envelope – how cool is that?!

Stamps: Travel Post (retired), Matchbox Messages, Full of Life

Ink: Not Quite Navy, Creamy Caramel

Paper: Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, Bella Bleu DSP

Accessories: Big Shot, Matchbox die (for the tags), sponge, ticket corner punch

One of my customers created these adorable cards using her new Big Shot and the Circles #2 and Flowers #2 dies. She also used Whisper White and Bold Brights card stock along with the Seeing Spots stamp set. Didn't she do a fabulous job?!

Be sure to click on the picture to bring up a larger view.

Talk about Clean and Simple! This is a single layer card using only Whisper White card stock. I've been wanting to try one for awhile and this week's Color Challenge (CC222) just happened to be a single layer card. Serendipity. J

I wanted to do some dry embossing on my card (which, unfortunately, you cannot see in the picture), and decided to try an experiment with my Big Shot. I die-cut a Top Note shape from the center of some thin chipboard, cut to 5 ½" x 4 ¼". Then I took this reverse shape (not the actual Top Note die-cut, but the leftover chipboard) and treated it like an embossing plate. I used the Multi-purpose platform without any tabs (both tab 1 & 2 were flipped out of the way), then layered the following from bottom to top:

• Top Note reverse image chipboard
• Whisper White cardstock (I actually taped the template to the card stock so I knew it would be in the right place)
• Silicone rubber
• Impressions Pad
• Cutting pad (I used this because my homemade texture plate wasn't as thick as the "real" ones, so I needed some extra height)

I ran this sandwich through the Big Shot and it dry embossed a perfect image of the Top Note die right onto my card stock. Woo hoo – I love it when an idea works!

To stamp the flowers – from Inspired by Nature – I left my "homemade" embossing template on the top of the cardstock, inked up the stamp with Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss and Chocolate Chip, then stamped on the front of the card. The template acted like a mask so I only stamped within my Top Note shape. Cool, huh?! I sponged the edges around the template with Chocolate Chip and the edges of the card with Tangerine Tango.

To tie the Kiwi Kiss Satin Ribbon on the front, I used my horizontal slot punch to punch a partial hole in the edge of my folded card stock, just big enough to slide my ribbon through, around the back and tied in the front.

As many of you know, I love to stamp my envelopes to coordinate with the card inside and this was no exception. I love how the single flower makes such a lovely statement on this envelope. Wouldn't you love to receive something like this in the mail? Wouldn't it just pique your curiosity to know what was inside?

Stamps: Inspired by Nature

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango ink pad & reinker

Paper: Whisper White

Accessories: Kiwi Kiss Satin Ribbon, Horizontal Slot Punch, Top Note die, Big Shot, sponge daubers

I've been intrigued with the Clean and Simple (CAS) challenges being held on Mondays at Splitcoast Stampers and decided it was time to play along. This week's challenge was to use pinks/corals along with Kraft card stock. I also haven't played the Mojo Monday sketch challenge in awhile, so I combined both challenges this week. Here is the layout for Mojo Monday 90:

And here is my card:

I had fun playing with my Big Shot and the Texturz plates. Not sure how well it shows up in the picture, so here's a close up (remember that you can click on the picture to bring up a larger view):

I used the Heartfelt Thanks stamp set (sadly, this is retiring – waaaahhhhhh!), and Pink Pirouette textured card stock (one of the retiring In Color colors – that's a weird phrase).

So just what is CAS? CAS stands for Clean and Simple. Per SCS:

There are different ways people view CAS. It is very subjective. There is no list of rules that will fit everyone's personal definition. The following are possible guidelines, only.

1. Clean: the design is uncluttered with lots of white or open space. Simple: having a clear focal point without a lot going on to detract from it. –OR-
2. simple in design regardless of the number of embellishments or how long it takes to color, stitch or to use a special technique –OR-
3. can be copied and mass produced fairly quickly… usually without a lot of coloring, layers, embellishments, tools and/or techniques –OR-
4. any combination of the above

Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks

Ink: Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip

Paper: Pink Pirouette textured card stock, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Kraft

Accessories: Big Shot, Texturz plate – Backgrounds 1, sponge daubers, 1 ¼", 1 3/8" and Scallop Circle Punches, white gel pen, dimensionals