Tote-ally Awesome Deal!

I thought it would be a perfect time to update you all on the current Stampin Up! special they have going on to get this TOTE-ALLY Awesome Craft Tote for the bargain price of FREE! That is right for FREE!



Isn't it pretty? It is patterened after the Greenhouse Gala Designer Series Paper! Imagine sharing your love of Stampin' Up! with this stylish tote that is large enough to carry 12" x 12" card stock and a paper cutter, as well as punches, ink pads, and accessories. The best part is there are TWO Starter kits to choose from, Standard and Digital at a new lower price, there's never been a better time to join the Stampin' Up! family.

Take a look at this video showing more about the GREENHOUSE GALA TOTE

Ready to get started? CLICK HERE and use my password LOVESRUBBERSTAMPS

Get your's today! This offer only lasts until October 18th!

Back Finally!

Hi Everyone -

I am finally back! I am hoping to get back to making some stamping projects and putting together a technique class here in the next week or so. Our basement flooded and that is where all my stamping stuff is. Once I get some kind of order back and can find everything I will be back to posting on here. Right now all my stamping stuff is buried in sacks and boxes. I appreciate all that have joined as my followers and will be getting caught up on that as well. Thanks for your patience everyone! I did get the new link for the holiday mini catalog up! They have a lot of really cute things so be sure and take a look! Take care - Laura

New Catalog!

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the lack of posts, I have been really busy filling in at work with everyone going on vacation. But overtime means more money for STAMPS - LOL! Speaking of stamps.... there are a whole bunch of new stamp sets in the BRAND NEW 2010 - 2011 catalog which went live today! You can see the whole thing online by clicking on the catalog on the left sidebar, or better yet get a FREE HARDCOPY when you host a workshop with me. They are also available for purchase for $9.95 plus postage just contact me to make arrangements to get your's. This new catalog is AWESOME! The hostess sets are amazing and the new accessories will be so much fun to play with. I really love the new book, but don't just take my word for it...check it out!

For today's card I wanted to use some new goodies from the catalog. The stamp set is a level 1 hostess set called Because I Care and is one you can choose for FREE when your workshop or personal order qualifies. The main colors I chose for my cardstock and background were chosen using a new fun tool available for purchase called the color coach. It has large samples of all the cardstock colors and color combination suggestions on the back. The one I went with for my card are all new ones called, MARINA MIST, CAJUN CRAZE & CRUMB CAKE (love this color!) The color coach replaces the color wheel and is so much better! The color samples are a huge 2 3/4" x 4 1/2" Here is what the color coach looks like:



To order your own color coach click here.

Here is today's card



I LOVE this new hostess set! The hydrangea flower is so detailed and pretty! I stamped the main flower bloom in versamark and colored it using pastels. I used a layout design from splitcoast stampers - card sketch 284. Here is a cool tip for the card sketch layout... Click on the picture itself and it will enlarge to the exact size of a standard card so you can get the measurements for each panel using your ruler!



To make this card:

Stamp Sets: Because I Care hostess set, Pocket Silhouettes

Paper: Stampin Up! Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Whisper White

Ink: Stampin Up! Classic ink pads in Marina Mist, Whisper White, Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, Chocolate Chip (sponged the edges of crumb cake)Versamark

Accessories: Stampin Up! Stampin Up! Pastels, dimesionals

Spotlighting - Elements of Style

Evening everyone!

My NEW Stampin Up! catalog came today!! YAY! I haven't opened my box yet because I am waiting until after I get this post done and supper made because I will be looking at it for hours - LOL! For my June technique class we will be doing a technique called spotlighting so I started to play with the technique. Spotlighting is where you have a black and white image or any other color you want and only color a small section. Here is a card that I made using the Elements of Style stamp set and the new cherry cobbler paper - yum! I love the new colors!



My spotlight on this card is done using the butterfly punch and then popped up on pop dots to match the section of the image that I colored. The embossing folder is sqaure lattice from the summer mini. I was inspired by a card done by Karen B Barber on splitcoast.

Here is what I used to make mine:

Stamp Sets: Elements of Style

Paper: Stampin Up! whisper white, cherry cobbler, basic black

Ink: Stampin Up! Classic ink pads in basic black, ruby red, old olive, chocolate chip

Accessories: Stampin Up! square lattice embossing folder, butterfly punch, dimensionals, slot punch, scallop oval punch, large oval punch, 1/4" basic black grosgrain ribbon

This will be one of the cards we will make at my June Technique class! It will be a fun class also featuring reverse spotlighting, faux wood, & punch art dog cards! See my event calendar for full details here! Come join us!

Frame Illusion - Elements of Style

I love this new stamp set that is featured in the SUMMER MINI CATALOG called Elements of Style. I finally had a chance to play with it. I follow a blog done by a very talented lady named Michelle Zindorf. She does some amazing cards and creates a step-by-step tutorial to show you how to do them. One of my favorite cards she did was one that had a frame illusion. It looks like a painting in an ornate wood frame and appears to pop right off the page. When I saw this stamp set in the mini I knew I had to use it to make a card like that! Here is my card....



I love how it turned out! I decided to use a technique called poppin pastels to color my hummingbird. I stamped it in versamark and then rubbed pastel chalk over the versamark. It really grabs the colors of the chalk. I then cut it out and popped it on dimesnionals. The rest of the card is completely flat! How cool is that?

To see how this card is done and to see my inspiration check out Michelle Zindorf's tutorial - click here

My card uses all stamps from the Elements of Style stamp set. With my card I wanted my flourishes to stay on just the "frame" part and not carry over to the canvas so when I inked those in versamark I had a post it note covering my "canvas".

Here are the colors I used on my card:

Flowers - done in crushed curry with blender pen, mellow moss & old olive (marker) on the leaves
Canvas - Sahara Sand - sponging around the edges in chocolate chip to soften it
FRAME - versamark flourishes then embossed with clear embossing powder, sponged close to cocoa first then chocolate chip on outside to darken, my shadow edge for the canvas is chocolate chip
HUMMINGBIRD - stamped in versamark then used Stampin pastels in summer sun, lovely lilac, ruby red, garden green

Here is a list of supplies used:

Stamp Sets: Elements of Style

Paper: Stampin Up! Basic black, Cajun Craze (new upcoming color!), Whisper white

Ink: Stampin Up! Classic ink pads in Sahara Sand, close to cocoa, chocolate chip, crushed curry, mellow moss, versamark

Accessories: Stampin Up! Stampin pastels, blender pen, dimensionals, clear emobossing powder, heat gun, sponges, chocolate chip stampin write marker

Hope you try one out!! Night all!

WANTED - Punch Art Card

Good Evening all!

I was going to post this card for you this morning but blogger seemed to be down for awhile. This is the 4th card we made in my faux metal technique class. I wanted to demonstrate the GUN METAL technique because I love the look of it and when I saw this card done by carriejoe I knew I had to make one myself and use gun metal for his hat star.

Here is a close up of what the gun metal technique looks like:



HOW TO DO THE GUN METAL TECHNIQUE:
Materials - Chipboard, Encore ink pad, Glassy glaze enamel, heat gun
STEP 1 - Choose your chipboard shape
Step 2 - Cover the front of your chipboard piece with silver or gold encore ink, using the encore ink pad. I used the silver on mine. Easiest way to do this is to lay your chipboard down on scratch paper and then rub or press your encore pad onto it. Do this until your piece is completely covered in ink.
STEP 3 - Cover your chipboard with glassy glaze enamel
STEP 4 - Heat the glassy glaze until it bubbles, then let it cool & Wahlah - gun metal!
Optional Step - After your piece is cooled you can rub some black ink over the gun metal with a sponge to age it a bit - I did not do this on either of my pieces. If you don't have glassy glaze you can substitue UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel) they are similiar in consistency, the glassy glaze is a little finer but really close.

Here is my finished card:



Isn't he the cutest? Here is what I used to make the little wanted dude. The hat was made using the Stampin Up! Top note die. I cut one in close to cocoa cardstock and then cut it in half to use for the hat. The hat brim is made using 2 long leaves from the Sizzix Leaves #2 die. I just cut a small strip of chocolate chip for the hat stripe. All hat pieces are sponged with chocolate chip ink for dimension. His face was an oval cut out in blush blossom using the coluzzle. His mask is also 2 leaves without the stems from the Sizzix Leaves #2 die in basic black. Then I punched 2 white circles with the 3/4" circle punch, his nose and the blacks of his eyes are punched with the 1/2" circle punch. His nose is popped on dimensionals to peek over the wanted sign. I used a white gel pen to make the highlight on his pupils.

This is a really fun card to make and he is sooo cute! Hope you try one!

Stamp Sets: Wanted

Paper: Stampin Up! Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Basic Black, Bluch Blossom, Whisper White, Very Vanilla

Ink: Stampin Up! Classic ink pads in Chocolate Chip, Creamy caramel, encore silver ink pad

Accessories: Stampin Up! Chipboard stsr from the On Board Essentials set, Sizzix top note die, Sizziix Leaves #2 die, coluzzle, 3/4" & 1/2" circle punches, dimensionals, distress edger, vintage brads, glassy glaze enamel, heat gun

Have a great night all!

Pretty Tulips - Faux Metal Tin Ceiling

Afternoon stampers!

I wanted to share the 3rd card that we did at my faux metal technique class featuring Faux Metal Tin Ceiling. This is such an elegant background I absolutely LOVE it!

Here is the card:



Turned out really pretty I think! I drew my inspiration from a lady by the name of Diana Gibbs. She did a gorgeous card using this same technique and color scheme and even put together an awesome tutorial video on how to do this technique. If you want to see the tutorial that she put together click here:

FAUX METAL TIN CEILING

To make the background I used the Textured Impressions FINIAL PRESS embossing folder.

My vase and tulips were made using Stampin Up! punches. To create the vase take the ornament punch and punch out an ornament. Snip off the pointed end so it is flat. I embossed mine with the same embossing folder as the background for added texture. The tulips were made using the Stampin Up! Two-Step bird punch. You punch 3 of his wings in whatever color you want your tulips to be. Mine were done in crushed curry. You can sponge the edges of your flowers if you want also. Be sure to layer them so your two wing tips for the outside petals are both facing the outside, the middle one doesn't matter. glue them together. Then punch a stem of leaves from the same bird punch for your flower stems. I popped my tulip heads on dimensionals.

Here is the full list of products used:

Stamp Sets: None! All punches!

Paper: Stampin Up! Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Whisper White, Crushed Curry, Old Olive, Sahara Sand was used for my tin ceiling base

Ink: Stampin Up! Silver Embossing powder & Versamark

Accessories: Stampin Up! Textured Impressions Embossing Folder - FINIAL PRESS, Two-Step Bird Punch, Ornament punch, dimensionals, 2-way glue pen

I love how this card turned out! This is a beautiful technique and I hope you try one and put a link to your card in your comment.