Who Who Who is Having a Birthday?

I'm once again reminiscing about the 2011 Sale-a-Bration stamp sets. I loved loved loved the sets this past year, and I refuse to get rid of some of them. Such as the SAB Punch Bunch set. Nope. Never. I'm not getting rid of it. And one of the reasons is the owl image. It's so STINKIN Cute. And then you can easily punch him (or her) out with the Owl Punch, use some DSP to dress him up, and then adhere him to almost any type of card. In this case, Mr. Owl went to a birthday party at my spring stamp-a-stack. 

Stampin' Cita Tips:

• Stamp Sets: SAB 2011 Punch Bunch, Party Hearty (retired)
• Color scheme: Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Real Red, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip 
• Accessories: Owl Punch, Scallop Square Duo Bigz Die, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Die, Silver Brads, Modern Label punch.
• Use the Scallop Square Duo Bigz Die to cut out the bigger scalloped square. Then, use the Perfect Polka Dot Textured Impressions Embossing folder to emboss the polka dots on the scalloped square. 
• Stamp the owl image three times in Chocolate Chip. Use the Owl Punch to punch out each owl. Take a piece of scrap DSP and punch out a "body" from the Owl Punch. Adhere that to one of the owls. On that same "dressed up" owl, use Stampin' Write markers to color its eyes and beak. 
• Use Stampin' Write markers to color one of the birthday hats on the Party Hearty stamp set birthday hats stamp. Remember to "huff" on it before stamping the image to make sure the ink isn't completely dry. Cut out the birthday hat with some Snips and adhere it to the head of the "dressed up" owl. 
• Stamp the "Pearty Hearty" greeting in Real Red on Whisper White and punch out the greeting using the Modern Label punch. Use a paper piercer to pierce two holes in each side of the modern label and insert silver brads. Attach using dimensionals.   

Overall, this is a simple card, but if you want to mass produce this card, stamper beware. The polka dot scallop can take some time since you can only run one scallop square in the embossing folder at a time. 

Happy Stampin'!
~Cita   

Punch Out Birthday

 

Here's another card from the 2011 Sale-a-Bration timeframe. I love how the Punch Bunch stamp set would help to make simple cards, such as this birthday card. Three stamps, punch, DSP, and a little ribbon, and wa-la a cute, simple birthday card that could be used for a boy or girl.

Stampin Cita Tips:

• Stamp Sets: 2011 SAB Punch Bunch 
• Color Scheme: Real Red, Pacific Point
• Accessories: Brights Patterns DSP, Real Red 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Scallop Square Punch 
• Stamp the "happy birthday" image three times in Real Red and then once in Pacific Point. Punch out the three Real Red images with the Scallop Square punch and then cut out the middle square of the Pacific Point image. Adhere the Pacific Point square to one of the Real Red images. 
• Adhere your piece of DSP to the Pacific Point card base. Adhere two pieces of Real Red 1/8" Tafetta Ribbon to the DSP parallel to each other.

Super easy, huh?

Happy Stampin'
~Cita

Stampin' Up! on Top Ten List!

When you buy stamps from Stampin’ Up! you are buying the best. And here’s proof!

Creating Keepsakes magazine recently named Stampin’ Up!’s wood- and clear-mount rubber stamps as one of its Top 10 Tools for 2011.

And now, a personal testimony:

I’m a bargain hunter. My loyalty to brands is few and far between, but I am loyal to a few of them – Stampin Up! being one of them. But I didn’t fall in love with Stampin’ Up! overnight. It took me several months to realize just how awesome Stampin’ Up! products are. Their quality can’t be beat, and the prices really are not that bad. Having tried numerous other stamp brands, ink brands, and cardstock brands, Stampin’ Up! is truly the best. Thus, one of the reasons why I decided to sign up as a demonstrator and get 20% off my personal orders. 

I love Stampin’ Up!

Happy Stampin’

~Cita

Variation of a Mother's Day Card

When I have classes they are generally small. At first, wanting to be a successful demonstrator, I was a little discouraged on my average class size (which is three people). However, in the past two years, I have learned to love my small classes. Not only am I able to share what I love, but each attendee usually gets a lot of attention, something they may not get if I had a huge class. I have also learned that by having small classes I am able to unleash my attendees' creativity. They learn to use my card designs as a starting base and customize it according to their preferences, materials available, and needs.

In April, I had an Occasions Card Class, where we made three cards for upcoming holidays (Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Graduations). One of the ladies mentioned that she didn't need a Mother's Day Card, but she needed a Sympathy Card. So I pulled out a greeting stamp that could be used for a Sympathy card and opened a door of creativity for all three of my attendees. It was so much fun. I thought I'd share what we created that evening.

This is my original design. This color scheme (Pumpkin Pie, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, and Old Olive) is out of my comfort zone, but I think it worked.

This is Donna's card. She didn't need a Mother's Day card, so we used "Thinking of You" and then embossed it with white embossing powder. I love how this came out and how the embossing makes the sentiment pop from the card.

This inspired Sylvia to go all out. She wanted a Mother's Day card, but she didn't want her sentiment on the DSP, so she moved it. After rummaging through some of my ribbon scraps she found some scrap Soft Suede ribbon that she bunched up.

Phoebe had a blast playing with her card. Having never embossed, she took to it quickly and fell in love with it. She added a little tilt to her embossed sentiment.

I may be a little biased, but my classes are fun. We have a great time stamping and unleashing creativity. If you are in the Albuquerque area and would like to attend a class, please contact me. A list of my upcoming classes can be found on my Stampin' Up! website.

Happy Stampin'
~Cita

Show-and-Tell: Nursery Thank You Cards

This past spring, I made a few thank you cards for the ladies who work in the nursery during my Tuesday morning Bible study. These ladies take great care of my little Bella Bug each week, and all the ladies in the Bible study wanted to express our thanks. I made these cards for everyone to sign, thus the reason they are not the standard 4.25"x5.5" card size. I figured that these cards needed to be big enough for about 20-30 women to sign, so I just took a 8.5"x11" piece of cardstock, scored it at 5.5" and decorated. These were the perfect size.

I wanted to use as many scraps as I could in this card, and I succeeded. :) Scraps are great to decorate the owls.

I CASEd this card from fellow Ladybug, Karen.

I am not a big fan of yellow and was amazed when this card was finished.

I CASEd this card from Ladybug, Corrina. No stamping was involved in this card.

This card was inspired from a card my former manager gave to me. The white flower and thank you are embossed.

Happy Stampin'
~Cita

My Digital Studio Contest

Stampin' Up! is offering another opportunity to score free product with their My Digital Studio contest. If you win, you can get up to $400 in FREE My Digital Studio digital downloads plus a a digital pin for your DBWS site, personal blog, or Facebook page. Here are the details:

• Design one digital card and one single-page layout using only
  My Digital Studio products.
• Entries will be judged on creativity, style, composition, color,
  originality, and overall design.
• Ten finalists—five customers and five demonstrators—will be
  chosen by Stampin’ Up! judges.
• Six winners—three customers and three demonstrators—will be
  chosen via online voting from the group of finalists.
• Customers and demonstrators will be judged separately. Prizes
  will not be combined.
• Submit your entry to MDScontest@stampinup.com by October 15, 2011.

For more information, visit MyDigitalStudio.net. 

~Cita

June Ladybug Projects

These are late, but better late than never. In June we held the Ladybug Ink monthly meeting. These meetings take place in Albuquerque, NM  and feature a night of make-and-takes, 3-minute demos, swaps, the latest Stampin' Up! news, and lots of visiting with other demonstrators. You have to be a demonstrator (or thinking about becoming a demonstrator) to attend this meeting. 

These projects are the 3-minute demos from the June meeting. These three ladies are super talented and showed us some amazing projects. 

This first project is from one of the newest demonstrators in the Ladybug group. For the life of me, I can't remember her name, but I'm pretty sure it begins with an M, so I'm going to call her M. 

She demoed how to make a matchbook scrapbook album. She got the idea from the monthly demonstrator Stampin' Success magazine, and put her own little spin on it.

Ladybug M's Matchbook Scrapbook project

The next project was from Mindy, who actually gave us some tips on how to use Big Shot dies to make unconventional shapes, such as the one featured on the card below. She took the beloved Top Note die and ran the cardstock through the Big Shot twice. The first time she got a regular top note shape. Mindy then rotated the shape 90 degrees and ran the cardstock through the Big Shot a second time, coming out with the beautiful shape in the card below.

Mindy's project featuring the Big Shot and Top Note Die.

This last project is from Ruth. I was pretty excited and impressed with her project because it's what we call a hybrid project, which uses My Digital Studio and then traditional stamping techniques. She designed the words and the background in MDS and then printed it out. She then stamped the s'more images, colored them, cut them out, and then adhered them to the MDS background. (She also made the box too). Inside is a whole bunch of sweet goodness that you can use to make your own s'mores. mmmmm...Ruth is so talented.

 

There are some amazingly talented women in the Ladybug Ink group. I am blessed to be among them and am constantly inspired by them. Interested in joining our amazing stamp group? Contact me, and I can tell you how. You don't have to be in Albuquerque. :)

Happy Stampin', 

~Cita

Hello new Holiday Mini Catalog

EXCITED!!!!
The New Holiday Mini Catalog has been released today and is ready for your viewing and ordering pleasures. I have to say, that I believe this is the best Holiday Mini I have ever seen. With the new Simply Scored tool, the amazing stamp sets, the new Stocking punch, and the beautiful DSP, I can't get enough of it.

Check it out and then head on over to my website to place your order. If you want any of the items for free, contact me and we can set up a workshop where you can earn free product.

Happy Browsin'

~Cita