Inkin With Dink

Happy Wednesday!

Hello Stampers!  Today I want to show you my fun new gift bag that I made!

Isn't this just the cutest thing!!!  I made this using the SU! Simple Birthday Thanks stamp set.  I think that stamp is so cute, but I didn't want the words on the inside of the cupcake liner.  So, to prevent that from stamping, I simply inked my stamp with a marker!  I only colored the lines that I wanted to stamp!  Clever huh???  Here's the recipe:

Stamp Set - Simple Birthday Thanks, Smile (retired)

Cardstock - Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Yoyo Yellow

Stamp Pad - Riding Hood Red

Accessories - Marker, Striped grosgrain ribbon, 1/4" hole punch, gift sack

Happy Stampin' and TTFN!

Blog Goodies!

Hello Stampers!  I've been promising more blog goodies, so here they are!  My blog counter shows over 500 counts!  Would sure love to know who all of you are and what you are thinking of my blog!  So here's the deal.

When you read my blog this week, leave me a comment and let me know what you think so far!  Let me know if there is something you would like to see more of, something new you would like to see, or anything that I can do to make my blog better for you!  You have until the end of the day next Monday, October 20th.  The more comments you leave, the more times you will be entered in my drawing!

The winner will win two kits of each of the three cards pictured here.  I made all of these cards today with the Crazy for Cupcakes stamp set.  I will show you more close up pictures and give the recipes later this week.  The kits will contain everything needed to make the cards, including the stamped images.  All you will need to do is color the images and adhere the cards together!  Good Luck and keep those comments coming!

P.S.  Just wanted to add a couple of pictures of the work that we have had going on at our house for the last week and a half!

For those of you that don't know, we have this huge retaining wall in our backyard that has been rotting and falling apart for awhile.  We decide that we needed to replace it before someone got hurt.

This is what the new wall looks like almost completed!  That sure was a lot of gravel that they dumped in there!

My husband is excited because this pretty much eliminates the need to mow in the back yard!

We also had a small retaining wall that goes around the deck area.  We decide to just replace it too as long as we were at it!

I'll show you more pictures of the completed project!  I'll be so happy to have a nice quiet and less dusty house again!

Happy Stampin' and TTFN!

Totally Cool Technique Tuesday!

Hello Stampers!  I know that I had named Tuesdays before as Totally Cool Tool Tuesdays, but I have some neat techniques that I want to teach you too, so I'm going to alternate!

I was playing around today with one of my new SU! stamp sets, Crazy for Cupcakes, and this is one of the cards that I came up with.  I'm going to show you how I colored the cupcakes.  I wanted to use some of the new in-colors, Riding Hood Red and Pink Pirouette.  I have the stamp pad and cardstock in each color, but no marker.  So this is how I created my own markers!

1)  Squeeze your stamp pad with both hands so that you can feel the pad touch the lid.  

2)  When you open up your stamp pad, there will be a pool of ink on the lid.  This is what you will use for your color.

3)  Take a blender pen and dip it into the pool of ink.  

4)  Color your image, redipping into the ink pool as needed.

Try out this technique and let me know what you think!

Happy Stampin' and TTFN!

Happy Monday!

Hello Stampers!  I have to apologize again!  There won't be any blog goodies today.  I'm off work tomorrow though so I will have time to get something together and made!  Instead, I'm going to show you the cards that we made at tha party I had at Becky's house last night.

I know I have showed this card on my blog before, but this is one of the cards that we made last night and they loved it!  We colored the reindeer's nose and put crystal effects on it to make it shiny and red.  Here is the recipe:

Stamp Sets - Deer Friends, Sincere Salutations

Cardstock - Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Vanilla

Stamp pad - Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip

Accessories - Scallop circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, Sponge, markers, Crystal Effects

We also made this card because it is one of the stamp sets that is on sale this month for 20% off with a $20 purchase.  We popped the icing on the cupcake up by attaching it with dimensionals!

Stamp Set - Big Bold Birthday

Cardstock - Pixie pink, Certainly celery, White

Stamp pad - Certainly celery, Pixie pink

Accessories - ribbon, marker, dimensionals

Happy Stampin' and TTFN!

Happy Sunday!

Hello Stampers!  Woo Hoo! I have over 500 hits on my blog!  Tomorrow I'll offer some more Blog Goodies!  Today though, I want to show you some of the stuff I was busy doing yesturday during my all-day crop!  This picture is of one of the ornaments  that I created from my On Board Trinkets Ornament kit.  This can be found in the SU! Holiday mini catalog on page 14.  You can go on to my website at www.dinalstamps.stampinup.net to see the Holiday mini catalog.  This set was $24.95 and it makes over 40 ornaments.  All you have to do is punch all of the pieces out of the designer series paper and then adhere them to the chipboard pieces which you also have to punch out. To adhere the paper on to the chipboard, I simply used the Anywhere glue stick.  After I had all of the ornaments put together, I used my crop-a-dile to punch a hole in each piece for my gold cording!

This is what the finished ornaments look like!  I also ended up with a whole bunch of paper stars and chipboard stars ( in the baggie at the top of the picture) which I am going to use on cards and scrapbook borders!  I am going to give the ornaments as gifts and use as package toppers!  If you are interested in a kit, please let me know!

 

This picture is of the scrapbook border that I made yesturday also.  I didn't use SU! materials, but I thought it was so cute that I just had to show it to you anyway!  I am in a border club and every month we make a 12" border set for everybody in the club!  It is great to get borders to see other people's ideas and because it is often something that you would not have done becuase it is a different style than you have.

Well, that's it for today.  I have to finish getting ready for my party tonight.  Happy Stampin' and TTFN!

Super Saturday!

Hello Stampers!  I know, it's really Sunday, but since I didn't post yesturday, I'm going to post two today.  Yesturday I had an all day crop at my house.  It was free as long as you brought an appetizer to share with the group.  We had a good time and some really great food!  I want to show you the borders

that I cam up with for my monthly card/scrap class.  This one is of course for Halloween!  I just like it because it is fairly simple!  Here's the recipe:

Stamp Set - Batty for You

Cardstock - Black, White

Stamp pads - Black, Old Olive, White

Accessories - Black Gingham ribbon, On Board Simon Upper chipboard, markers, Pumpkin Pie designer series paper, So saffron designer series paper, Certainly celery designer series paper

I really like the color combination on this border.

Stamp set - Big Deal Alphabet, Ginormous Flowers

Cardstock - Yoyo Yellow, White

Stamp Pad - Pixie Pink, Garden Green

Accessories - Black gingham ribbon, dimensionals

Happy Stampin' & TTFN!

Happy Friday!

Hello Stampers!  Today I'm going to show you the cards that I have created for this month's card/scrap class.  I hold this class every month, and it is free to all of my Club Members if it is your month to

place an order.  To all others, the class is $7.  You can choose between three cards and one 3D item, or two 12" scrapbook border sets.  You can also make doubles of your cards for $6 more.

This first card was made using the SU! Batty for You stamp set.  I colored directly on the stamp with markers to give it the different colors on one stamp.  I used two scallop punch circles and just staggered them to go behind the pictures.  Here is the recipe:

Stamp Set - Batty for You, All Holidays

Cardstock - Pumpkin Pie, Black, Garden Green, White

Stamp Pad - Black

Accessories - Scallop Punch, Black Gingham ribbon, Markers

This card was really easy to make and one that gets lots of compliments!  The purses are made with punches and ribbon!  I sponged ink around the edges of the Regal Rose cardstock to keep the edges from looking so sharp.

Stamp Set - All Holidays

Cardstock - Rose Red, White, Regal Rose

Stamp Pad - Rose Red

Accessories - 1 1/4" square punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, gold brads, White Grosgrain ribbon, sponge, Rose Red Designer Series Paper.

This card was made with the Big Bold Birthday set.  I embossed the icing and adhered it with dimensions to make it stand out!

Stamp Set - Big Bold Birthday

Card Stock - Certainly Celery, So Saffron, White

Stamp Pad - So Saffron (craft), Certainly Celery, Black

Accessories - Clear embossing powder, marker, Certainly Celery Designer Series Paper, Certainly Celery Grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals.

These cards are also available in kits.  You can purchase a kit for three of one of the cards for $7, or one each of these three cards for $7.  All kits include everything needed to make three cards.  The kits are prestamped and ready to color and assemble.  Send me an e-mail if you are interested in purchasing a kit or if you have any questions!

Happy Stampin' & TTFN!

Blog Goodie Winner!

Hello Stampers!  I just wanted to announce that the winner of my Blog Goodie is my Aunt Vicki!  Thanks Vic for reading and for the comment!  I'll get your cards to you as soon as I can!

Happy Thursday!

Hello Stampers!  Today I'm going to show you the last of my Regional swaps.

The card on the top left is a swap from Diane Gill.  She used the SU! set Pocket Silhouettes.  That is another of my MUST HAVE sets!  I like the look of the white on red.  She also used the Ticket Corner punch.  The card on the top right is from Arla Ogle.  The middle left card is a swap from Jaimie Hesterberg.  She used the Eastern Blooms set that we got from Convention this year!  I love the tropical feel.  The middle right card also uses the Eastern Blooms stamp set.  I love the black and white with just a hint of color in the ribbon and brads!  The lower left card is again from Arla Ogle.  Again the Eastern Blooms set.  Finally, the bottom right is still the same set.  This one is from Deidre Tasler.  I like the black and white with pink too!  She embossed the branch in the middle.

The top left card uses the On The Fly stamp set.  I like the masculine feel of this card.  The top right card is a swap from Deb Mehrer.  The Tart & Tangy set is one of my FAVS!  The bottom left card is from Leesa Boston.  There is glitter on the top flower and the ribbon is held on by a brad!  The bottom right card is still one of my favorites!  This swap was by Dianne O'Connor.  I love the look of the cattails in the tall grass.  Great job Dianne!  The final card is from Peggy Marsh.  She did a great job watercoloring the picture.

Alright, that's it for my swaps from Regionals!  Weren't there some great ones!  I love getting all of these great ideas from people.  It tells me I need to step outside of my box and use other techniques and stamp sets!  I hope you enjoyed seeing these and hopefully you got some great ideas and get inspired to create! 

Happy Stampin' and TTFN!

Happy Wild Wednesday!

Hello Stampers!  I've got more swaps from Regional's to show you today!

All of the cards in this picture use the SU! set Upsy Daisy!  The top card on the left is a swap from my upline, Jeri Holm.  She colored the stamp with markers to give the flowers the two colors!  Love the color combination!  The top middle card was done by stamping the flowers first in close to cocoa and then again in white.  The card on the top right uses some punches too to jazz it up!  The scallop circle has the sentiment on it and the scallop edge was done along the bottom of the chocolate chip piece.  I like this color combination.  The middle left card is a swap from Rebecca Williams using designer paper.  The bottom left card is a swap from Amy Smith.  I like the tone on tone, but I really like the use of the new SU! Fillagree brad in the middle of the letter "O".  Cute idea Amy!  The bottom middle card has such a cool look!  I think she sponged the background color to give it the circular shape.  Remember to always start with your lighter color first and then go darker!  The final card on the bottom right uses the taffeta ribbon and designer series paper.

At Regionals, there were not very many people swapping 6 X 6 pages, so I only got three!  The top one uses several different stamp sets to represent several holidays.  This page was from Jenny Campbell.  The bottom two page spread was from my sideline, Sally Collier.  The cat is embossed with small wiggle eyes and she used the new SU! Ghostly Greetings designer paper.

This last picture shows Card Candy on the top left two items.  You give card candy to people to use on their own cards that they create!  You just give it with a dimensional attached and then it is easy for them to add to their card.  The top left one is from Carol Johns and the next one is from Leanna Cardwell.  The top right card looks like a popsicle with a bite taken out of it!  The Easter card on the bottom left is from Lauren Cone.  She used the SU! A Good Egg stamp set and added a flower from the Pretties Kit.  The note card in the middle is from Micky Lavinder.  She used the SU! Flight of the Butterfly stamp set.  Very cute!  The final card is from Susan Finn.  The pocket for the sentiment is simply made with three squares that have been folded down at graduated incriments.

If you have any questions about any of these cards, please send me an e-mail!

Happy Stampin' & TTFN!

Totally Cool Tool Tuesday!

Hello Stampers!  Alright, I know it is Wednesday, but since I didn't get a chance to post another time last night, I decided to make it up today!  Today's tool is another punch!  Can you tell that I just

love my punches!!  I'm going to show you cool things to do with SU!'s Word Window punch. The card on the far left uses the punch as a cute opening for a slider card.  The sentiment is stamped on the tag and it slides in and out of its little opening.  The middle back item is actually a bag.  There is a little lunch bag in between two pieces of black cardstock.  The punch was used to make handles for the bag!  This was a swap I received from Carn Meagher.  The card on the right uses the word window punch as the tree truck!  I love this card!  The photo corner punch was used for the tree branches.  The front item is a small note card and the sentiment again pulls out of the Word Window punch opening.  This was a swap I received from Terri Miller.

The card on the left in this picture used the Word Window punched out with the sentiment on it. This is very easy to do by stamping your word first, then turn your punch upside down and centering your word inside the punch and punching!  The back middle card is again using the word window punch with the sentiment on it.  I made this card at one of my upline/sideline shoebox swaps.  The card on the right is one of my favorite swaps!  I just love the way they used the word window to punch out cattails!  They used the Inspired by Nature By Nature stamp set as the grass in the background!  I received this card as a swap from Dianne O'Connor.  Thanks Dianne!  This final card in the front uses the word window punch as the sticks for the popsicle!  Very clever!  This was a swap I received from my upline, Jeri Holm!  Love it! 

Happy Stampin' & TTFN!

Ribbon Shares!

Hello Stampers!  I wanted to show you pictures of my current ribbon shares. 

 

This picture is of the 5/8" striped grosgrain ribbon.  You will get 3 yards each of six different colors (Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango).  That's a total of 18 yards of ribbon!  The cost of this share is $16.

 

This picture is of the Gingham ribbon.  You will get 3 yards each of six different colors (Black, Red, Light Blue, Light Pink, Moss, Caramel).  That's a total of 18 yards of ribbon!  The cost of this share is $13.

Let me know before Monday, Oct. 6 if you are interested in either of these!

Happy Monday!

Hello Stampers!  So sorry I haven't posted in a couple of days.  My youngest daughter Amie, had a soccer tournament in Champaign, Illinois this weekend.  If you're from around there send me a comment and say hello!  Anyway, their first game was Saturday morning, so we left Friday evening.  We were supposed to be home at a decent time yesturday, but they ended up making it to the championship game so we had to stay for that game at 5:00 p.m.  Needless to say, it was about 10:00 p.m. when we got home last night! 

Back to stamping!  I spent some time today putting the new SU! specials on my blog.  You can always look in the left hand column to see information about SU! specials.  If you click on the picture, it will take you to the promotions page on my website where you can get more information!  If you ever have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask!

This is my new candy dish!  Isn't it cute!  SU! is having a special on this Spooky Spider vinyl decor element for the whole month of October.  There are three different sizes of spider that you can purchase, the small spider is 4 5/8" for $5.95.  The medium spider is 8 7/8" for $10.95.  The large spider is 14 15/16" for $14.95.  I bought my candy jar at Target for about $7 and the small spider element cost me $6.  So my entire Halloween candy dish was only about $13!  I love it!!

Another special that SU! has going on right now is the World Card Making Day special.  From Oct. 4 - 11 you can get 20% off every Simply Sent Card Elements kit and every Simply Sent Card Kit.  Check these out on pages 176 - 177 of the Fall-Winter 2008 catalog.  The Simply Sent Card Kits contain everything you need to make 10 cards, including the stamp set and stamp pads!  These are for those who are just starting out and don't have many supplies.  The Simply Sent Card Elements Kits contain everything you need to make 9 or 18 cards, except for the stamp set or stamp pads.  These are for those who have more supplies but enjoy the convenience!  This picture shows a sample of the cards made from the Flower Power Card Elements kit.  Don't you just love the colors in this kit!  Let me know if you have any questions about this special!

This picture showcases a couple of the stamp sets that are offered in this final special.  This special is the It's Our Birthday & We're Throwing A Party special!  SU! turns 20 years old this month, so there are 8 birthday sets on sale for 20% off regular price during the month of October!  This picture shows card swaps that I received at convention from the Bitty Birthday and Crab & Company sets.  I have two of the sets on order for myself right now and I can't wait to get them and show you some of the cards I'll come up with!  With this special, SU! is also offering the large tip Aquapainter for a special price of $7.25 while supplies last.  The aquapainters are shown on page 193 of the current catalog.  They are great for watercoloring!

Don't forget to send me a comment regarding your favorite punches before the end of the day on Thursday!  Two winners will receive 5 Christmas cards with envelopes!  One will go to my family and friends who send me a comment and one will go to my new blog readers who send me a comment!  Good luck!

Happy Stampin' & TTFN! 

Happy Friday!

Hello Stampers!  I'm going to take another break from showing you swaps to show you an item that we will be making at one of my upcoming classes!  I'm very excited about this!  On Oct. 19 I will be holding

a decorative glass plate class!  The cost of the class is $17 and it will include a 10" glass plate and six decorative discs to change out for the holidays!  The discs are attached to the underside of the plate with mini glue dots.  The six discs will represent Valentine's Day, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  All supplies will be provided.  This will make a great holiday gift for friends, family, or yourself!  If you are unable to attend on Oct. 19th I will be holding an Open Camp on Wednesday, Oct. 22 at which you will be able to complete the project also.  Please RSVP for either of these dates by Sunday, Oct. 12th.  If you have any questions. please do not hesitate to contact me!

If you are unable to attend either of my scheduled classes, I will have the completed projects available for $20.  Please let me know if you are interested!

Happy Stampin' & TTFN!