Whew! Well, that's over...I think I forgot how much stress in-person classes cause me. The final outcome is great, but the lead-up...yikes! This month the class featured the Brushed Blooms Bundle and here are the class projects. Each participant received kits to make these three cards.  The projects involved a little coloring with alcohol markers, making a background with the Stampin' Blends and alcohol markers, and a little die-cutting.  I had one new...and I mean new...stamper to the class so I had the mini cut n emboss so that she could practice her die-cutting skills. Thank you to Bruegger's Bagels for allowing me to host my class at their facility...the bagels are the bomb by the way...the space was/is perfect especially with the natural lighting.  Most especially, thank you to my stampers who came out to create these awesome projects.  Happy Stamping! Brushed Blooms Card Kit $25.00 Buy now

Hi, so glad you decided to pop in to see what I have in store for you today.   This is my inaugural blog hop with Stamping with Friends. Stamping with Friends is a group of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators who enjoy sharing our love of paper crafting in general and for me, more specifically, card making with you. The group hosts two hops every month.   The theme for this hop showcases retiring sets, bundles, or products from the January - June 2021 mini catalog that retires at the end of this month.  I chose to feature the Vine Design Bundle. I was drawn to this bundle for many reasons; first, the die cuts are elegant and can stand alone to create a beautiful, simple yet elegant card, second, the sentiments also make it a very versatile set that covers multiple occasions, and third, I could see the possibilities with one of my favorite masking and blending techniques. I hope you enjoy this hop and the cards I created to share with you. This first card highlights the masking and ink blend

  Oh how I love sketch challenges...especially when the cutting and scoring dimensions are provided (I'm a little lazy like that). Today's card project was created for a card swap group that I assist to moderate and host the monthly sketch challenges.  This month, I chose this simple layout, courtesy of Stampin' Up! demonstrator, Robin M. Pretty simple, huh? Yes, but there are so many possibilities. I chose to dig into the Simply Elegant DPS that I've been dying to use and a retired Stamp set Honey Bee, to create my first piece. I'm making an effort to mix "old/retired" products that I've had for a long time, but have never used.  Tips: 1) Use grid paper to help with alignment, 2) adhere the two outer panels first on the matting layer, then the center panel. I hope you enjoy what I've created using this layout.  

I absolutely love card swaps...on a smaller scale. Creatively, when I have to create more than say five (5) of the same card (as typical in most card swaps), I find that I often get stuck.  So I started my own swap group...it's a tiny thing right now, but I hope it continues to grow. If you are a cardmaker and would like to be part of a card swap group, join my FB group and sign up for swaps.  There were four (4) cardmakers that signed up for the swap: Sharon Coleman, Wendy McArthur, Bobby Price, and me. Swaps had to be mailed so that everyone received their card on the 15th.  Unfortunately, with the way the mail has been going lately, not everyone met the deadline.   The most current swap features the Stampin' Up! Quiet Meadow Bundle.  This bundle, The Quiet Meadow Stamp Set and the Meadows Dies debuted in the 2021 - 2022 Annual Catalog on page 110 and I couldn't resist.   The parameters of the swap were pretty wide open:  1. Use all or part of the bundle 2. Include at le

  It's another SplitCoastStampers challenge accepted and submitted.  This time, I consolidated the Color Challenge and the Sketch Challenge.   This week, the color challenge, CC846, was to use the Stampin' Up! colors: Cinnamon Cider, Misty Moonlight, and the new in-color Evening Evergreen. These colors screamed masculine to me, but I didn't want to make a masculine card. I wanted to see if I could soften it a little and make it more neutral.  My cardmaking process is not typically linear...sometimes I start with colors in mind (this can set me on the path to the type of stamp I'll use), other times I'll start with a fold or layout or a technique. For this card, I had both the color scheme and a layout to start with.   On a 4"x 5 1/4" piece of vellum, I randomly scribbled with Stampin' Up! Misty Moonlight, Cinnamon Cider, and Evening Evergreen Stampin' Blends then used 91% rubbing alcohol and an aqua painter to diffuse the inks to create the backgro