Stamp Lifting is Legal

I just spent the morning working on the cards for the Ivy Lane cardmaking kit. Boy, I love those kits. It's all right there . . . everything you need at your fingertips, directions on step by step how to create 3 different beautiful cards. And enough in the kit to create 5 of each card. Wow! I love that.

This is one of the cards I created and probably my favorite, although they are all stunning and oh, so easy to create. It was while I was finishing up one of each of the cards (I like to do it that way, get the first ones done and then copy the rest. I call it stamp lifting) when I remembered a birthday coming up. Whoa, Nellie. Now what?

I looked through my birthday stamp collection and found an oldie but goodie, with the saying "A little birdie told me . . . ." But then what. And I had an AH HA moment.

I'd just stamp lift my card I just finished and use the birdie set instead of the set that came with the kit. Voila! Presto . . . here's my card:

You can see, it's the same design, same colors, same everything except it's not a generic card, it's a birthday card for a dear friend. And it took seconds to make AND everything was already out. I love stamp lifting!

What have you stamp lifted today?

Balloon Talk

Don't you wish you could see what your owl was thinking? I did . . . so I used the Stamp of the Month, Balloon Talk and made him say, "Hey There." Yes, I do know owls usually say, "Hoot, Hoot," but this one was a chatty dude. Here's the card I made:

Ironically the card set is called Owls and happens to be my favorite stamp set this week. I also used Lollydoodle paper which I like saying as much as I like using it. I like it so much I have gone through 2 paperpacks of it. Cute and versatile.

Another fun thing I made in my stamp studio was the card from the advertisement for the Stamp of the Month. Did you know that there are directions and recipes for each of those darling samples? Here's the link: Card idea instructions. From my website stampedbyme.ctmh.com, click on the "promotions" link and then the option for Stamp of the Month. Then stamp lift away.

Here's my card I created. I thought it would make a great greeting card or birthday or congratulations or . . .

Just wanted to share this very fun stamp set. I love sayings stamp sets and this one is unique and so versatile. Don't miss out though, it's only available until April 30th! :-)

Hoot Hoot Hooray for Owls

I've been getting out my owl stamp sets and making some adorable cards this week. I'm amazed at how popular owls are right now and not just in the stamping world either.

I saw owl things at Target yesterday, including this adorable necklace/jewelry holder that had cute owls on the branches. I needed it, but the budget does not include any more owl things. Besides, I'm saving my money for more owl stamps. <grin>

Here's a picture of my favorite owl card yet. I made it for a friend and then I had to make a bunch more since our family has SO many Spring birthdays. Sorry if you're a Spring birthday because you're probably getting one of these. LOL

Do you love owls too? If so, which Close To My Heart paper do you like to stamp your owls on? My favorite is this Lollydoodle paper. I love the paper, but I also like saying Lollydoodle. LOL

Have a stamping good day!

Stamp and Chats are BACK!

I'm so excited to announce our very next Stamp & Chats. Come join us for some crafty fun Wednesday, April 2nd 10 am to 1 pm! We'll take over the living room again so please respond to my email or comment to this post and I'll be sure to set up enough tables and have enough chocolate!

Stamp and Chats go WAY back in the history of my business and are reported to be just as effective as therapy and much, much cheaper (it's FREE). It's a great way to get projects done or get ideas for future projects or just a way to socialize.

What do we do? We sit and chat and, oh yeah, work on our projects. Bring your own things to work on or just stop by to see what I've been doing. I've just made the most amazing mini album of my daughter's wedding. (Yes, I have a daughter old enough to be married. Congrats to Megan and Cameron on their June wedding. Such an adorable couple!)

I'm not going to share the album here, you'll have to come and see it in person. I'm warning you, it's REALLY fun to make and very inexpensive. It helps that I had some amazing pictures of the wedding that make the pages pop, but the book is made in such a way it could fit just about any subject.

I also have been making cards. I love, love, love those card kits. So you can see how much fun those are. I have samples of the papers from this season's catalog AND, of course, free catalogs for anyone who wants one.

 I'm actively working my business again so bring a friend and I'll give you a goodie. I also have been naughty and bought some of the new stamps to show and tell, but this means my stamp drawers are overflowing so . . . stamp sale! All of my used stamps are just $5 per set, used or not. Wahoo. Don't miss out on that deal.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Stamp and Chat. I hope we fill my living room with tables and have a blast. Come on over!

I'm back from Retreat!

I had so much fun in the Big Bear woods! The other retreaters and I crafted and made many fun projects. Here are just a few to share . . .

I made the Frosted card kit p. 69.
I think it would make an excellent card class. Stay tuned for a date/time and price. The kit in the catalog made 15 cards and it was a snap to make. And fun too! :-)

These are the Laughing Lola cards from the kit on page 68. Once again, I love kits and it was a snap to make these cards and they can be custom changed to match whatever card giving need you have. Love the colors and the stamp set is really versatile.

Sue L. showed us how to make this adorable card using the stamp of the month

 Scandinavian  Wishes

 This very fun project was provided by Kelly H. The lanterns were cut out using our newest Cricut cartridge, Artbooking. We folded them and used strips of background paper to cover the folds. Kelly even gave us a flameless candle (a real candle would be, um, not feasible). Beautiful!

Kathy showed us how to make this layout. The tree and photo blocks were cut out using the Artbooking CTMH Cricut Cartridge (I WANT this cartridge!!!!). The only difficult part was adhering it to the base page, but with a little bit of adhesive to hold it in place he was soon bolted down. LOL. I love the colors . . . the paper is from Huntington (p. 42 of the Fall/Winter catalog). Now all I need to do is develop some fun pictures to decorate the pages.

Maybe this one:

I'm ready for my next retreat!

Retreat!

That's right . . . I've retreated with my Stamp Studio treasures to the mountains of Big Bear Lake, California. It's beautiful up here . . . mountains and trees and critters galore. I've looked. I've seen. I've photographed for more scrapbooking. LOL

Even with the distraction of the beautiful scenery, I've managed to get a lot done. One of the big accomplishments yesterday -- I completed the Workshops on the Go Frosted cardmaking kit. This kit was a breeze -- or should I say a blizzard -- to put together and the results were stunning.

The Frosted cardmaking kit is on page 69 of the new Idea Book and includes everything you need to create 15 stunning cards, even pre-cut cards and envelopes. The only things you need to add are stamp pads and acrylic blocks and some basic tools, like adhesive. Presto, bam . . . 15 cards!

If you'd like to order the kit to complete your Christmas or Holiday cards, just send me an email or leave me a comment and I'll get it to you asap. You'll love the ease and fun of this awesome kit. And that's not all! Laughing Lola (p. 68) is another cardmaking kit, plus you'll discover numerous scrapbooking kits throughout the catalog.

Enjoy! I'm off to make some more cards!

Words, words, words!

The Stamp of the Month for this month, Poster Tidings, was a little hard for me to get used to, I'm not going to lie. Then a friend, Michele P., showed me how to do the different colored words, fast and easy. Here's the card we made while spending a fun day in her Stamp  Studio:

First we stamped the whole autumn stamp in Indian Corn Blue. Then on another piece of Colonial White we stamped the stamp again, concentrating on, "Fall" in Honey, "Family" in Olive, and "Blessed" in Barn Red. Next we cut out only those words. Using a piece of pop up tape, we attached the words over the original Indian Corn Blue words. Presto, the card is stamped in different colors.

Another cool thing about this card is it is made using Baby Cakes, which makes you think Baby, right? Not so! Look how adorable the dots make this card stand out? Love it! Thank you Michele P.

While we were in Michelle P.'s Stamp Studio, we also made these cards:

Fun day of stamping and chatting! Thank you, Michele!