Glass Etching

So after I attended Minneapolis Regionals and saw the glass etching using the raw vinyl and Big Shot, I got to thinking and wondered if the raw vinyl was really neccessary. Could I just use paper and run it through a xyron to stick it to the glass? So I tried it. The first time instead of using the negative, I used the actual cut-out and then I was wondering how one controls where to stop putting the etching cream on. A few days later, it dawned on me that I was supposed to use the negative space so there would be no confusion where to end the etching cream. I didn't think to use transfer tape or anything of the sort to get the middle pieces of the flower, but all in all my experiment worked. You don't need raw vinyl to make your own designs, paper and the xyron work just fine. The jar is from Ikea and I used the flower from the Blooms and Basket die. For the picture, I just placed the jar over some cardstock so it was easier to see the etching part.

Watercolor Flowers

***UPDATED WITH SECOND PICTURE***
For some reason I can't get the post to save with the picture anywhere else but at the very top. So I guess that's where it's going.

After seeing so many beautiful watercolor flowers, I just had to give it a try myself. There are many different blogs with this idea and I'm not sure who I first learned it from, but here is a good place for a tutorial (this is just one spot I remembered off the top of my head and I'm sorry if you also have a tutorial and I didn't mention it, but you can always leave it in a comment). Anyways, of course I don't have the exact supplies needed to I did a little experimenting. I tried glossy white cardstock and the watercolor paper. I'm not sure what I like better...you can see for yourself. I did a couple of things wrong that resulted in cards that I'm not too trilled about but lessons learned and I will have to give it another try. Thanks for looking. The first one is with the watercolor paper and the second is with the glossy paper

LNS Challenge #17

I'm finally participating in a challenge. That was the original reason for starting a blog. Late Night Stampers run a weekly challenge and this week's challenge is to CASE something from Sherrill's website (our group mom) , changing a couple of things.

For the first card I used Very Versatile from the Occassions Mini. The original card can be found here and is by Charlene. Paper: Brilliant Blue, Whisper White, Summer Sun, Real Red. Ink: Chocolate Chip. Accessories: Circle Sissors Plus, White Satin Ribbon, Button



And as I was searching Sherrill's website for the cards the I CASED, I found another card the I CASED a while ago for a shoe box swap. I don't think I've posted it yet, so I'll post it now. The original is found here , third one down. My card used Eastern Blooms. Paper: Lavendar Lace, Raspberry Tart DSP, Whisper White. Ink: Lavendar Lace



The last card I made for this challenge is actually part of the same post as above and is the eighth one down. Stamp: Petal Pizzaz. Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Raspberry Tart DSP. Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink. I also used the satin ribbon from the Occassions Mini and dyed it with the Kiwi Kiss ink.

Late Night Stampers Blog Stars

Late Night Stampers is an awesome Yahoo group, filled with TONS of inspiration and caring people. The group is made up of Stampin’ Up! (both current and soon to be) Demonstrators.

Starting today, there are several groups of “Blog Stars”. We’ll be traveling around to each other’s blogs to get inspiration and “cheer” on our fellow demos.

Below is the group I’m in, be sure to check out their cards, and leave a comment as well - they are here to inspire you too!

Sandi MacIver http://www.sandimaciver.com/
Chris Austin http://www.luv2cre8withu.blogspot.com/
Heidi Michel http://www.heartfeltblessings.blogspot.com/
Kelli Waters http://kellistamps4u.blogspot.com/
Nancy Legate http://www.stampnnuggets.com
Dianne Shiozaki http://www.stmprdee.blogspot.com/
Holly Brown www.glitterstampsandink.blogspot.com
Virginia Killmore http://virginias-website.blogspot.com/
Kirsten Brown http://imstampinsilly.blogspot.com/

Stampin' Up! Blog Tour May 15th and 16th

Pack your bags 'cause you're going on a trip! Take a tour of 20 beautiful blogs, and you will see creations that will amaze and delight you. But it's only a two-day trip! It begins at 7:00 a.m. CDT on May 15th and ends May 16th at midnight! So how does it work? On May 15th you will come back to my blog and see some projects featuring one set in the current catalog. Then a link will be provided for you to make the next stop on the blog tour and so on, you will visit 20 blogs in total, all with wonderful stamping ideas. Hope to see you then!

Where have I been?

It's been almost a month since my last post, so where have I gone? Let me fill you in, with some pictures too. That being said, this may get lengthy, but please stay with me :o).

As you recall, I had to make 350 wedding invitations for my mom's cousin's daughter. They are done and have been put into the mail as of April 17, yeah!! Prior to that I had some other projects that I needed to take care of, including swaps for Minneapolis Regionals, swaps for a local scrapbook group I belong to, swaps for a SCS swap I signed up for, swaps for my SU! meeting and then design and prepare for a SAS for 5 people.

For the scrapbook group I belong to, we have monthly challenges and then meet once a monthly to share our designs. For Christmas, our challenge was to create a 6 x 6 page of ourselves to swap with the other members, so we would each have a page of everyone in the group that participated (I think 11 people did). Well, being behind as usual, I didn't get my done as and a matter of fact didn't get them done until the night before our last meeting in March. Most of is it non-SU! and is actually from Close to my Heart (gasp!). I did use the SU designer label punch and hardware though.



And then I had to finish up (and start) my monthly challenge page. March's challenge was to reduce, reuse, recycle anything onto a scrapbook page. Since this was also last minute, I used the packaging from the wedding invitations that I was making to make a 12 x 12 layout of a before and after picture. The background was created by using the stickers on the packaging for the paper and the letters and matting were from the packaging from the sticky strip used to add the pocket to the invites.



I have already posted my SAS samples here, and they were a hit, mostly. At the last minute I decided that everyone might now want 5 of the same wedding card so I made it optional to use other stamps as the focal point, which created some chaos. Also, I have a question for you guys. When I prep for my SAS I always cut the minimum size piece of paper needed to use the punches, but not everyone has the same idea as I do when it come to placing the images for punching and I always end up giving more paper when they run out. How do you handle this situation? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I previously posted some examples for my SCS swap (March 17 and March 29), but they ended up being my Minneapolis Regionals swap because I just didn't have time to create for that, so I had to create new swaps for the SCS swap. I combined one of my swaps for the SCS swap with my SU! meeting swap by using the same design, but different paper, so I had enough for both. Below are the combined swap for SCS and my SU! meeting and then the other swap for the SCS swap (I had to make 50of each design).





Finally, with everything done, I went on vacation. TC was stationed at Fort Bliss as he prepared to deploy to Iraq (left April 30 for Kuwait and to Iraq) and he had a four day leave April 21 through the 25th, so I flew down to El Paso for the week to spend it with him. I won't go in the details of the trip, but we had nice weather and had a good time. We also spent a couple days in New Mexico, including seeing the White Sand Dunes that we got to sled down. Here are a couple of pictures from that excursion.



Whew! That about sums everything up. I do have a few last catch up things to work on, including my COTM exchange which I am about 15 days late on now and then a WOW swap for convention that I'm participating in remotely. No convention for me this year, but hopefully next. I would also like to get some things together for some more classes, since no one signed up for my last class. And let's not forget the make over of my dinning room to a craft space...

I didn't post recipes, to try to save some time, but if you have any questions, please leave a comment and I will get back to you. More will be posted later today!

Stamp A Stack

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted, but life has been very busy. I'm still working on the 350 wedding invitations, went to the Minneapolis Regionals, rearranging my dinning room into a craft room, had some things to finish up for a scrap group that I'm part of, and finally planning for a last minute stamp-a-stack for this Saturday for 5 people. It's going to be 5 of 5 for $30. Here are my mock ups, but I need some advise as to if they are sufficient or not. Like I said it was last minute, so my supplies were very limited, especially where accessories were concerned. And as a result that are very little, almost no, accessories. But it is my first time designing cards with DSP. Any feedback would be appreciated. Recipes will be posted later.

Thanks for stopping by!