Medallion Ornaments

Here's a simple Christmas card that uses the medallion stamp as the texture for ornaments.

The medallion stamp was embossed using clear embossing powder on Rich Razzelberry cardstock. Then it was sponged over with frost white shimmer paint. The "thread" and ornament "reflections" were painted on using the shimmer paint as well. (Click on the links to purchase these items from my online store.)

I was actually trying to heat emboss with different layers and types of powder with the medallion stamp on a full-sized card, but it didn't come out the way I wanted it to. So, I punched out some small circles and turned them into ornaments. Sometimes accidents give you the opportunity to look at a situation differently and you end up with some great cards.

Cased from the Catalog

Here's a card that I cased from the current catalog p. 197. I used the same layout and color scheme, but made some adjustments.

Kraft-Swirled Leaves

Here is the result of some experimentation with kraft card stock (which I love), In-Colors, the Big Shot, texture plates, shimmer paint, and the leaf cut die.


These 4x4 cards use Kraft, Mellow Moss, Rich Razzleberry, and Soft Suede cardstock, Mellow Moss Ribbon, and Frost White Shimmer Paint.

If you want to mail any square envelope the USPS will charge you 20 cents extra because of the shape. The good thing about 4 x4 cards is that they fit in a regular medium envelope.
Try making a different sized card this week, they're fun!

If you'd like to have a private class to make these with a group of friends, please contact me to schedule a date.

I actually made these months ago, but stopped posting because I was in the middle of packing and moving.

Let it snow!

We got our first real snow today after a rather warm autumn.

Check out these snowflakes that will bring some winter cheer to your home without making you cold:
Serene Snowflakes Stamp Set.

Snowflake Shimmer Decor Decals (They'll cling to your windows or walls) They're on clearance!

For every snowflake set you order between now and 4 January 2010, I'll give you a gift of 4 cards with matching envelopes and 4 feet of taffeta ribbon. You may order online or email me your request.

Thank You Cards Gift Set

I was playing around with the textured cardstock to make boxes for sets of gift cards.
This is the result.
(Sorry some of the pictures are split. I've got to upgrade my camera/ memory card.)

Here's the box decorated with Mellow Moss Taffeta Ribbon as well as a tag cut using the Big Shot and the Tag Dies.

I put a set of 4 cards & envelopes in this custom box. I wanted the cards to be plain because they were designed for a man (even if the tag on the box is a little fancy).

Christmas Cards

Here are some Christmas Cards that I've been working on, enjoy!

You'll see some of them if you come to the NAC Gallery during the month of December.

Kraft Cardstock makes a nice background for an earthy, yet elegant vintage card.

This one is spiced up with glitter!

Camera or computer trouble? My computer/ camera sometimes eats images. This one is rather minor. Sometimes it erases 95% of the picture. If you've experienced this, how do you fix it (besides buying a new camera)?

See what a lovely combination the Big Shot swirls texture plate & champagne shimmer paint make!

Art Show!

The Norwich Arts Council is hosting an art show/ sale during the month of December.
Some of my cards will be displayed in the gallery, and will be for sale.
The opening night is December 4th from 6-9 pm.
You are welcome to stop by and check out this exhbit: 6x6 Holiday Treasures
Some of the other pieces include, hand painted glass ornaments, jewelry, and mini-paintings.

A few of my favorite things...

Chatting with friends...while sipping hot cocoa...
stamping lots of cards... with taffeta ribbons...

Join us for a few favorite things at my new studio
Ladies Stamping Night:
Friday 4 December between 6-9

Stamp a stack of birthday and thank you cards 12 for $20 (including envelopes)
Stamp a stack of simple Christmas cards $1.25/ card (includes envelopes)
Gift card set: 8 cards and a matching gift box $20

Please let me know by 1 December if you plan on coming.

News!

OK, so I haven't posted in a really long time, for a good reason.

My husband and I bought a house!

Now I have space to invite you over to stamp!
Come on over and use my new studio.

Email me if you want directions! bassem judith @ gmail. com (without the spaces)

Birthday Floral Pop-Up Card

Stampin' Up! has great card stock. It holds its color better and is stronger than the regular card stock you find at big box craft store. There are over 60 colors of card stock that coordinate with ink, ribbon, and other accessories. You have the classic 48 colors grouped into 4 color families, 7 neutrals, and 6 In-Colors that change each year.

In addition to all these, Stampin' Up! also offers other specialty cardstock. So this card features Shimmery White card stock, and this is the first time I've used it. One of my friends used some on her card, and it looked absolutley fabulous. It's very glossy on one side, almost like photo paper, and is flat (as in not shiny) on the other. (See how shiny it is in the picture.)

So here's the card without the glare. Yes, it's for another family birthday: for a special person, my twin sister. She's classy, so I decided to use the simple elegance of the flowers from Fifth Avenue Floral and couple it with the Shimmery White card stock. The outside looks pretty simple, but the inside has a surprise!

It pops up! As I was browsing blogs, I saw a tutorial for pop-up cards and could hardly wait to make a card using this technique.

Here's a closer look. Contact me to learn even more techniques or how to get some specialty card stock for your next project.

Stamp Sets: Fifth Avenue Floral, Teeny Tiny Greetings
Materials: Brocade Blue card stock and coordinating ribbon, Whisper White card stock, Crystal Effects (for the center of the flower), and the Word Window punch (for the greeting and for the pop-up effect)

Butterfly Birthday Card

In my family August has always been a busy birthday month. In the past decade my family has grown through marriages and births, and now there are even more birthdays in August! There's almost a week straight at the end of August-beginning of September that's chock full of birthdays (almost one per day)! Anyway, it's a lot of fun. So, I'd like to share some of the birthday cards I enjoyed making for some special people in my life.

I wanted to play with some new things I got things I got this summer: Melon Mambo-the new, bright pink In-Color, the Beautiful Butterflies die, Texturz Plates, Frost Shimmer Paint, and Build-a-brads. I made it for someone who loves pink and has dressed up as a butterfly for Halloween.

It was fun and easy to use the Big-Shot to add texture to the card stock and then cut out a beautiful image. You can do it too. You'll use the Stampin' Up! Backgrounds 1 Texturz plate to make the swirly background on the butterfly. Actually you get six textures to work from in that set, so you have a lot of possibilities to explore. Then you'll layer the texturized card stock on the Beautiful Butterflies die and run it through the Big-Shot again. If you want to see how, then email me, and I'll be happy to show you!


I added Frost Shimmer Paint to the butterfly with a sponge, to make it stand out from the rest of the card stock. The body of the butterfly (and the greeting) were punched from the word window punch. The greeting comes from a wonderfully versatile set called Teeny Tiny Wishes; it has something for just about every occasion. The flowers are from the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set.

It's easy to personalize cards with the Build-a-brads. Oh, and you can also use Stampin' Up! markers to color ribbon so that it matches the card stock. Enjoy!

Elegant Thank You Notes

Here are some cards (full-size and note cards) that I want to share with you. I was just playing around with the Medallion Background Stamp and Mellow Moss, and this is what I came up with. I hadn't worked with this shade of green before (surprisingly), but it was a lot of fun.

The Frost Shimmer Paint gives the card an even more elegant appearance. The sheen of the taffeta ribbon and the shimmer paint complement each other well. The tag is from the die set and cut with the Big Shot.

I think these could be used for every day thank you cards, but they're fancy enough for wedding thank you notes.

Let me know if you'd like to order a set of 10 or 20 of them.

I put together a little folder to hold these notecards.

Adorned Brita Pitcher- A $10 make-over

When the new decor elements came out, I was inspired by all the different types of projects you could do with them. Besides sprucing up a wall, or touching up a shadowbox picture frame, you can also decorate your laptop computer, glass tables, vases, etc. So, I thought I'd give my Brita pitcher some personality with the Adornment decor element.

I chose the one in So Saffron to match my kitchen and color preferences. You may choose from over half a dozen colors, and this piece of vinyl art costs less than $10.

I cut the emblem in half and then applied each half to either hemisphere of the pitcher.

I also wanted to try another quick project, so I decorated a Craft Keeper.
It was pretty easy, and I think it came out well.

Birthday Specials!

My sister and I will be celebrating our champagne birthday this month; we'll be turning 30 on August 30th. To celebrate I'm offering 2 specials through the month of August:

1. Get 10% off any birthday stamp set or
2. Get 10% off any order over $30.

This offer is not available through my online ordering website.
If you still need a catalog to peruse, email me and I'll make sure to give you one.

Birthday Card Class

Birthday Card Class
Come stamp a dozen birthday cards at my place. You’ll have them on hand and ready to use throughout the year. Make a total of 12 cards to suit your needs: (masculine, feminine, boy, and girl birthday cards).

The cost of the class is $22 and includes a perpetual calendar and a zip-lock bag.
All supplies are provided - including adhesive.
You’ll need about 2 hours to complete your projects.

~ You can also choose to purchase envelopes for an additional $3.
~ If you’d like to make a card-stock box to hold all your cards, add $3.
~ If you’d like to order a sturdy card organizer (Forget-Me-Not Keeper p. 203), add $11.95 to your total.*

Please let me know 2-3 days in advance if you are planning on attending, so I can prepare your materials.
Choose your class session(s):

(A.M. Sessions:) (P.M. Sessions:)
(9:00-12:00 noon) (2:00- 5:00)
(Sat. August 8) ( ------------)
(Wed. August 12) (Wed. August 12)
(Thurs. August 13) (Thurs. August 13)
(Fri. August 14) (Fri. August 14)

**Free envelopes: Register and pay for 2 classes
or register and pay with a friend and you’ll receive free envelopes for both classes!!**

*Depending on when you order and pay, the Forget-Me-Not Keeper may not have arrived by the day of your class, and I’ll make pick-up arrangements with you when it comes.

Please email me with your registration information at: bassem judith@ gmail.com
(There are no spaces in my actual email address.)
Name:

Phone:

Email:

Address:

Which class options you would like:

~Basic Birthday Card Class Fee: $22
~With a box to make: +$3
~With a Forget-Me-Not Keeper: + $11.95
~With envelopes: +$3 (Are you receiving any envelopes for free for signing up with a friend or
for ordering two classes?)

Are you interested in hosting your friends at your house for this class?
As a class hostess, you'll receive a little gift from me.
You may also earn ink pads or card stock or other fun stamping supplies!
Contact me soon to set up a stamping date at your place!

Sign-up Promotion

Have Fun Doing What You Love

From July 15 — August 31, you can join the Stampin' Up! family for as little as $85 with the Mini Starter Kit. Have fun helping friends and family create exciting projects, while earning free products and even a little extra cash!
Contact me today for details: bassemjudith @ gmail.com
(Connect my name and "gmail." I separated them here to thwart spammers.)

Faith & A Milk Bottle

Here's a milk bottle, actually a Starbucks beverage bottle, that I altered with Decor Elements. It took less than 5 minutes to transfer the image and tie the bow.

Yesterday I wanted to make something, and I pulled out these decorative words that I purchased awhile back for a framing project that I haven't started yet. Anyway, I looked at them, and then opened up my cupboards and found my simple little milk bottle vase, just like the ones my dear friend Nancy always uses for wildflowers. I decided that's what I'd decorate, and then just had to choose which word to use (faith, hope, love, or life).

Yesterday something reminded that God is protecting us and caring for us, whether we are walking through easy pastures or dark valleys. So, I chose "faith." Whatever you are facing right now, keep holding on to Him, He always keeps His promises.

This Decor Elements set comes with the words: faith, hope, love, life.
It is available in these colors and sizes: Black, Chocolate, and Kraft
small ($4.95) and medium ($5.95).
Click here for more details.
I used the small Chocolate set for this project, as well as Whipser White 5/8 Satin Ribbon.
It's a high quality, double-sided satin ribbon that you may purchase for $8.95 for 15 yards.

Here's a closeup.

Baby Shower Favors

Here are two favors that I made for a baby shower recently.

The mom-to-be is environmentally responsible, so I gave the ribbon a dual-function.
Unwrap it from the package, and it opens into a bookmark to remember the special little someone.
The Certainley Celery pillow box was made using the Big Shot pillow box die; it's fabulously easy to use! Then I stamped the baby's initials on the card stock with the Define Your Life Alphabet set. The circle and star were cut from SU! punches.


Oh, and inside there was enough room for 2 balls of Lindt chocolate. The brown paper package (not tied up with string, ...) was whipped up from the extra wrapping that SU! uses when they ship packages. It's totally recycled and re-used, and more importantly, large enough to hold 2 Ghiradelli chocolates.


If you want to make pillow box favors for an upcoming party, shower, or wedding, please contact me soon!
bassemjudith "the @ sign" gmail.com (I'm trying to avoid spammers; that's why I wrote the address that way.)

Battle for Perfectionism

Hello,
I'm finally blogging again. I was pursuing a university course that took much of my free time. And then I felt overwhelmed by all the things I hadn't blogged because I wanted to show them properly. [The previous post was just a half-hearted attempt at a post.] So, that kept me from sharing what I've done. So, I'm going to just share what I want instead of feeling that I have to "catch up" or show things in "chronological" order. Oh my!

Anyway, I'm finally breaking ground, and this post is my attempt to get back into the habit of blogging again. I want to be sharing with you again, even if my posts don't live up to my idea of perfect. So, no photos today, just text, here I am again.

I have several evenings available to come over and show you and your friends techniques that you can use on dad, grad, and birthday cards. Just contact me so we can set up a date!
:) Judith

Mini Cards

It's finally spring!
Here's just a quick post to show you briefly what I'm up to.
Here are some mini cards I worked on in yesterday's afternoon light!

This card is full-sized. I wanted to make a crocus using the SU! punches, and this is what I came up with. Crocuses remind us, even while buried in snow, that God promised that the seasons will continue as long as the earth remains. It will not stay winter forever. Even though this first week of spring feels wintry, spring will come!

Check out the Stampin' Up! home page for the most recent information about Sale-A-Bration and specials. I've been busy with a class and life, and kind dropped off the blogging world for a while.

Valentine's Card Class

10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Jan 31, 2009

Come to my place for a morning of relaxed stamping. Bring a friend or two, and enjoy some tea and light refreshments. You will have the chance to win some exquisite cards and postage stamps.

These cards will be given away at the class:

Hand-stamp Valentine cards for you or your children.

Please contact me by Jan 24th to hold your place and to pre-pay.

Cost: $12.00

Option 1- 10 mini cards

Option 2- 4 regular-sized cards

Option 3- 5 mini cards and 2 regular sized cards

It will take you 60-90 minutes to complete your cards.

Feel free to sign up for more than one project. The cost includes all materials and envelopes.

The mini-cards are designed to be hand-delivered. If you wish to send them in the mail, you'll have to put them in a larger envelope.

Register by Jan. 28 and pay at the door: $17.00. Those who register at the last minute may receive substitutions of products or may have to wait while their materials are cut.

Open House-New Catalog

Saturday, January 24th
Stop by my place any time between
10:00 a.m. and 1:00 pm.

Come with your friends and spend a little time connecting with each other while stamping a quick project. While you're here, pick up a brand new 2009 Catalog and sign up for my Valentine's Card Class. Please email me so I know how many projects to prepare.

Sweet Bear

I made this card to participate in Kristina's Color Challenge this week.

I chose this stamp because it's time to make Valentine's cards and this bear is sweet with her little heart-sealed letter.

Here's a close-up of the watercoloring: I heat embossed the image on watercolor paper, and then I painted the bear.

You can see the sweet buttons, and the watermarked background.

Materials: (Click on the ones that are underlined to link to the online store for Stampin' Up! Enter my name as your demonstrator and you'll get a 10% discount. Starting on Monday if you place an online order, you'll get a free catalog!)

CS & Paper: Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Watercolor Paper, Whisper White
Stamps: Favorite Teddy Bear, Best Yet
Ink: Chocolate Chip Craft, Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red Craft, VersaMark
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Button Bouquet, Linen Thread, Clear Embossing Powder, SNAIL, Glue Dots
Tools: Heat Tool, 1 3/4" Circle Punch