Saturday Sketch Challenge 188

Good Evening Friends!

I was a little nervous about this week's sketch, cause it's a little more complicated that my normal style, clean and simple.. :D

However, as I received the design team cards, I'm glad I left it, because OH BOY there are some BEAUTIFUL cards to share with you this week!

Getting Down To Measurements:
Base: 8 1/2' x 5 1/2" scored and folded in half at 4 1/4"
Layer 2: 5 1/2' x 3"
Layer 3: 2 3/4" x 2 1/2"
Layer 4: 2 1/2" x 2 1/4"


Here is what the design team has for you! (hold on to your socks!)

Lee Conrey





Patti Chesky






Robin Merriman

Gretchen Barron






Kerin Sylvester






Tiffany Bauer






Selene Kempton






Connie Babbert

Now it's your turn :D Never played with us before?? Well, it's easy! Sky's the limit!

1. Make a card
2. Post it online somewhere to your blog or other online forum
3. Post a link to the free linky tool below (please point the link to your post and NOT just your blog)
4. Have some fun and leave comments for each other (and for the operators if you like their work). ~ Everyone loves comments!

We hope you join us this week and play along with this sketch! But don't delay our links will close at 8AM on Thursday morning Eastern Standard Time.

Have A Great Week!
Selene~

Stamper's Showcase #187

Let's give it up for Stamping 411 Participants! You are making our job very difficult. If we could, we would choose all of your wonderful projects for Stamper's Showcase but alas, we are limited to only 5 each week. So, here are your Operator Picks for Sketch Challenge #187. Congratulatoins to all who participated. Keep up the fabulous work! You are one creative bunch of stampers!!!

Color Inspiration

Have you seen the newest Better Homes & Gardens magazine? There's an article on getting together with girlfriends to craft and create. The article tells the story of a group of ladies who would craft while watching Friends (oh, how I miss that show). Eventuakly the tv was turned off because the conversation while crafting turned out to be a much better form of entertainment. Isn't that the truth?


The magazine also features some fun color combinations for decorating your home. I don't know about you, but the winter blahs seriously get me thinking about painting a room or two in the house.

One of the featured color combos is called Modern Mediterranean. I am generally not a lover of the peach family, but this color combo definitely intrigued me. So, this week's color combination was born.

The colors are: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Peach Parfait and Baja Breeze.

Don't let Peach Parfait scare you if you need to make a guy card. Try using the direct-to-paper technique to give it a bit of texture. It's an easy technique and doesn't add bulk to the project.

If you decide to take the color inspiration challenge, please link your project's web address to our blog using the Linky Tool at the bottom of this post. We can't wait to see what you've created!

Clean and Simple Stamping - The Warmth of Crumb Cake

Hello Stampers!
Thanks for being patient with us here at the 411 today - it's the day for our once monthly post on Clean and Simple stamping and we (ok, me) had a few technical glitches. Mainly that I had a card all ready to share, but with no operating camera in the house that presented a bit of a challenge for me! So, Selene to the rescue with a super sweet card to share!
That's one of the benefits of working as a team here - we step in and help each other out! Love these girls!
So, how about we get to the card - shall we?

Now I don't know about you, but I just LOVE Crumb Cake cardstock! It's so warm and inviting. When I use it I just feel like I could curl up in a soft blanket and read a book by the fire. Yeah, I know, then I wouldn't be stamping, but that's the feeling I get! Just go with it, ok? :)

I absolutely adore this card that Selene made - first of all, it is both Clean AND Simple, but with the use of the Pretty in Pink Designer Paper and the softness of the Taffeta Ribbon, it appears to be much more rich and just draws you in.
So let's break this one down for you - the card base is Crumb Cake cut at 4 1/4" x 11" and folded to make a standard A2 card. (4 1/4" x 5 1/2")
Selene added a piece of Whisper White which has both top and bottom punched so delicately with the Scallop Trim Border Punch. She then added a piece of Pretty in Pink Patterns Designer Paper and wrapped it with the Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon. Love her sweet little taffeta bow!

The stamping is so lovely and simple. She used the greeting from the Because I Care stamp set and then stamped the birdcage image from Nature Walk out of the Occasions Mini. After she colored it in a bit with a Pretty in Pink Stampin' Write marker, she added just a tiny bit of bling with the self-adhesive Pearl.

Like I said, soft, lovely and simple! Thanks so much Selene!

Stampers, we at Stamping 411 hope you enjoy all types of stamping, but for the times when you need something lovely and fast, try out a Clean and Simple design. You will soon discover why the "less is more" theory is fabulous!

Have a great day everyone!

Saturday Sketch Challenge 187

Good Evening Friends!

I'm so excited to bring you another AWESOME sketch challenge from your stamping 411 operators!

So ~ what's in a sketch challenge?? Well I personally {heart} challenges in general, because it gives those of us with empty (but creative) minds a head start by taking one of the design elements out of the equation!

If you were feeling especially challenged, you could also incorporate a second challenge, such as Kerin's bi-weekly technique challenge, or Patti's color inspiration challenge! Then, you'd be ready to fly with just a stamp set and some paper and ink, you'd be ready to jump off! What a wonderful week it's been here at stamping 411. I've seen lots of ideas I can't wait to try on my next crafting projects!

Thanks so much to those of you who play along, whether you post your card to a public forum or not, you're still playing! :D Love that!!!

Before we get really down to business, I thought you might like to see us mostly together! I didn't end up with photos of all of us, but it's so AWESOME when we are all together that I just HAD to share! So for this first photo... Here's the layout from left to right

Robin Merriman, Tiffany Bauer, Patti Chesky, Lee Conrey, and (me) Selene Kempton.
And for this one
Tiffany Bauer, Lee Conrey, Connie Babbert, Patti Chesky
and that's me on the floor (LOL) ~ Selene Kempton

These photo's were taken at manager's reception at the wildhorse saloon in Nashville. Oh and did we dance!!! I did! They had private line dancing teachers on the dance floor! So very cool. Stampin' Up spoiled us for a night on the town! I was so excited to be able to spend time with my girlfriends! God bless the internet or I may have never met some of these fine ladies! :D

Back to this post and the sketch challenge, ey? One potential set of measurements (that I did for my card on the bottom already) could be:

Base: 11 x 4 1/4", scored and folded in half at 5 1/2"
layer 2: 5 3/8" x 4 1/8" *** note: this is an extra layer, you could skip this one.. :D
Layer 3: 5 1/4" x 4"
Layer 4: 3 3/4" x 3"
Layer 5: 3 5/8" x 2 1/2"

Now, here is what the design team came up with....

Connie Babbert

Lee Conrey




Patti Chesky





Robin Merriman





Gretchen Barron





Kerin Sylvester





Tiffany Bauer





Selene Kempton

Now it's your turn :D Never played with us before?? Well, it's easy! Sky's the limit!

1. Make a card
2. Post it online somewhere to your blog or other online forum
3. Post a link to the free linky tool below (please point the link to your post and NOT just your blog)
4. Have some fun and leave comments for each other (and for the operators if you like their work). ~ Everyone loves comments!

We hope you join us this week and play along with this sketch! But don't delay our links will close at 8AM on Thursday morning Eastern Standard Time.

Have A Great Week!
Selene~

Stampers Showcase 186

Good Morning! A super thank you to all of the talented people who played along with us this week. I'm sure that I speak on behalf of the operators when I say that we're inspired by your work!
Here are your operator picks for Sketch 186.

Technique Thursday - Kissing

It's time for another edition of Technique Thursday, and I thought in honor of the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday I'd highlight "kissing" this week! This is a fun and easy technique.

Supplies you'll need:

• Solid Stamp
• Patterned Stamp
• Classic Stamp Pads

Step one:
Ink the solid stamp with the color of your choice, for this card I've used Cherry Cobbler.

Step two:
Do NOT ink up that patterned stamp. Lay the inked solid stamp facing up, and press the patterned stamp onto the solid stamp, making sure to stamp off the ink onto your grid paper after each time you apply it to the solid stamp. When you're done, your solid stamp will look something like this:

Step three:
Huff (breathe moist air) onto the inked stamp, as it may have begun to dry as you were adding your pattern.

Step four:
Stamp onto card stock, this is what they will look like:
Here are two samples using this technique:

Supplies used on the above card:
Stamp Sets: I {heart} Hearts, Circle Circus
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Card stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Pretty in Pink
Accessories: Framed Tulips embossing folder, Paper Piercing tool, Assorted Buttons (neutrals, subtles & regals), Mini Glue Dots to adhere the buttons, dimensionals.

Supplies used on the above card:
Stamp Sets: I {heart} Hearts, Circle Circus, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black
Card stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Melon Mambo
Accessories: Basic Rhinestones, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, dimensionals (behind center heart), Polka Dots embossing folder.

I hope you've enjoyed this quick tutorial, and maybe you'd even like to create a sample of your own! Link up below so we can see what you've come up with!!

"How To Build" A Scallop Mat

Hi Everyone,
Ever wonder how to make the mat for the Clearlits Scallop Rectangle? Well today I’m going to show you how.
You will need your Big Shot, Your Sizzix Clearlits Scallop Rectangle (boy that’s a lot of words for this little thing) and scraps of card stock. Paper Snips and Snail Adhesive for the assembly.
First you will cut out three Scallop Rectangles using your Big Shot

You’ll need two for the mat and one for the image piece

Stamp your Image on your Image Piece

Cut the two Mat Pieces in half…..one vertically and one horizontally.

Apply Snail to the back of the image piece

…and start building your mat by lining up the scallops and leaving a slight edge. Don’t worry too much about the corners they wont match exactly

Once you’ve got two sides on flip it over and add more Snail to the Mat for the top and bottom pieces

Line up as before to complete the mat on the top and bottom.
Attach Dimensionals to the back of the Mat and Build your card.


That’s it for today. I hope you enjoyed this little “How To”
See you next time!!!
Lee

Saturday Sketch Challenge #186

Hello everyone and welcome to Stamping 411 and a new Saturday Sketch Challenge!

Today's sketch uses a simple technique that we sometimes forget about -- tearing! Tearing your cardstock or DSP adds great interest and texture and is a fast, easy and very inexpensive way to dress up a card or project!

Here's one possible set of measurements that you might use for this sketch:

1. Layer One -- Cardbase cut at 5.5 x 8.5", scored and folded
2. Layer Two -- Cardstock cut at 4 x 5.25"
3. Layer Three -- Cardstock of DSP cut at 4" wide and torn at approximately 4"
4. Layer Four -- DSP cut at 2.5 x 3.5"
5. Layer Five -- Cardstock cut at 2.25 x 3.25"

Okay! Are you ready for some inspiration from your Stamping 411 Operators? Here you go ...

Selene Kempton

Connie Babbert

Lee Conrey

Patti Chesky

Robin Merriman




Gretchen Barron

Kerin Sylvester

Tiffany Bauer


Have we inspired you to try this sketch on your own? We hope so! We can't wait to see what you create this week! Once you've created your project, taken pictures and posted them on your blog or other Public Forum, come back and leave your link below! We're waiting to see your creations!

Thanks everyone ... and Happy Stamping!