Valentines!

Well I wanted to get a head start on the Valentines so I wouldn't be rushed and I did it! I was so excited to use the new Heart Treat Cups from SU! They are just adorable for Valentines or any other card that you want to add a little extra 'love' to!

For these cards I wanted to add Valentine M&M's to the treat cup, but I didn't want people to have to tear the card apart to get to the treats inside! To avoid the destruction of the Valentine I used a sliding door on the back of the card to make accessing the treats easier! This way all you have to do is pull the heart tab up and out come the treats!

To make this card you will need:
8.5x11 White, Pink, and Red Cardstock
SweetHeart Treat Cups (Stampin Up)
Full Heart Punch (Stampin Up)
1 1/4 Circle Punch (Stampin Up)
Real Red Ink pad and sponge
Sweet Heart Clear Mount Stamp Set (Stampin Up)
Valentine Sentiment Set-I used a retired Valentine Set from Stampin Up

1. Cut the White Cardstock in thirds length wise...they should be strips that are 8.5 by approx 3.66 (this doesnt have to be absolutly perfect!)
2. Fold the white paper in half to give you a card that is approx 4.25 x 3.66...set aside
3. Cut the Red Cardstock in strips of 2.5 by 4.25 (I elected to round the 2 of the corners)
4. Cut the Pink Cardstock in 2.5 inch squares
5. In the center of the Pink Cardstock squares stamp the 'Be Mine' heart from the Sweet Heart stamp set
6. Place the Pink Cardstock on top of the White Cardstock so the fold is at the bottom of the white
7. Use the stamped image as a guide to punch a heart out of the Pink Cardstock and folded White Cardstock. You will want to make sure these are lined up how you want them to appear with the treat cup!
8. Use the White punched hearts to make the tab on the top of your Red Cardstock sliding door! I choose to stamp the front with a saying and then just sponged the back heart. I simply sandwiched them together at the top of the Red Cardstock.
9.At this time you can finish off the main card by glueing the side edges of the White Cardstock together while leaving the top open. Then punch a half circle at the top so the sliding door can nest inside. You can also choose to decorate the main card how every you like at this time...after this it will have the treat cup on it making it difficult for further decoration!
10. Now you can remove the sticky backing from the treat cup and line it up on the White Cardstock so the cup is accessible from the punched holes made previously.
11. Apply the Pink Cardstock over the Sweet Heart Treat Cup to hide the edges.
12. Insert the sliding door and add the candy and you are set!

You now have a Valentine you little ones will love to hand out!

Clear Mount Stamps!

So I just needed to share my joy with everyone about Stampin' Up's new clear mount stamps! I am in love! Finally I get the quality of Stampin' Up stamps in a clear mount! They have a great selection of them in the new mini catalogs for Sale-a-bration and the Occasions Mini. They are easy to use and have a great new case that is well designed for storage! The cases are the size of a dvd case and stack much better then the wood mount cases. Here are my favorite things about them:

1. Less bulky then the standard stamps and stack very easily!
2. The ease of using a clear mount stamp especially when you have a specific position you are looking for!
3. The cases now show the stamp images on the binding so its much easier to locate that special stamp!
4. They are less expensive as the traditional wood mount stamps!

I highly recommend them! Plus they have some great images that will be perfect for making amazing Valentines! Check them out...you will be amazed!

Dimension!

Well my New Year Resolution to have a post every week has already failed, but don't worry...I am back! It was a tough beginning to the New Year, but we have everything back on track! So lets move forward!

The next technique that I want to go over is a very important one if you want your designs to have a certian punch to them! This technique involves layering and using Dimensionals! These are raised adhesives that you use to add hight and dimension to your pieces. There are several techniques that you can use with this and I am going to show you a couple that I used on one card!

First is layering the same image to give it an extra pop! This is very easily done by double stamping an image. You will first stamp the image in the desired location on your card or your scrapbook page. Then stamp the same image on a second piece of paper. Now this piece of paper can be the same color as the orignal or can be a seperate color that better fits the stamped image. As you see in the card I made, I stamped the image of a bird, first on white paper and then again on a seperate white piece of paper. I elected to color in the image of the birds body, but I easily could have chose to stamp it on a yellow piece of paper to get the same desired effect. Once I was finished coloring the body, I cut out just the body. The legs and beek will already be on the orignal piece of paper for me. Then I used a dimensional to adhere the body directly above the body on the original piece of paper. This way it allows the bird to pop off the page!

Another way to use dimensionals is to pop a specific item. In this card I made a flower by using the Scallop Circle Punch from Stampin' Up and simply cut towards the center on each indent of the scalloped circle. I then used a large brad to act as the center of the flower. To help the flower stand out more I placed a Stampin' Up dimensional behind the flower so it gave the flower added hight!

Now there are many differnt ways that you can use dimensionals, but these are two that I commonly use and find work great to give a card or page that little something extra!

I will be back soon with more fun tips and techniques!

Let's Emboss!

As I resolved to do, I am starting my tips and techniques! This weeks technique is Embossing! This is a new technique to me and I have fallen in love with it! I love how it adds an extra punch to the projects that I am making! There are several ways to Emboss and I am going to show you two of the techniques I use the most!

The first technique is the easiest of the two and I find it helps to add just a little something to a card without having to do a lot of work! This technique involves using an Embossing Pen and Embossing powder on a project that you are making. I use this technique most when adding a bit of sparkle to a project because it is easy to add a touch here or there! To do this technique you will use the embossing pen to outline or acent a stamped image or an image on a decorative page. You will simply outline the segment that you want to have accented and then sprinkle the embossing powder over the area touched by the pen. After tapping all extra powder off you will then use the heat set tool and set the embossing powder! This is great because embossing powder comes in various colors and can also have glitter in it so it will help show off your creations!

The second technique you can use is actually inking your stamp with a Versa Mark which is like a glue ink pad that is clear and then stamping the image on the page. Once the image is stamped then you want to sprinkle the embossing powder over the stamped image and tap off all extra powder. Then like in the last technique you would use your heat setting tool to set the powder! I really like to use this technique when I stamp on the back of my cards with the 'Hand Made' stamp from Stampin Up! This way the image stands out and lets the giver or receiver know that the card was made by hand from Stampin Up! products!

This picture shows an example of the second technique with the Black Embossing Powder from Stampin Up!

To start embossing I recommend that you have the following products to make sure your project turns out great:

Embossing Powder (I recommend Black, Iridescent Ice, and Glassy Glaze)
Powder Pals (this is great to keep your powder from going all over)
Heat Tool
Versa Mark Pad
Embossing Pen

All of these things can be purchased from Stampin Up!

Bring on 2010!

Well the new year is here! Time to make good on those new year resolutions! I have decided that it is the time to make more time for my cardmaking and scrapbooking so from this point forward, my goal is to post at least 1 card or scrapbook page a week! In each one I will try to use a new technique to show everyone! This way we can all work on this goal together! If you have any things you think would be fun to try let me know and we can try them out together!

My first one will start tomorrow with a posting on Embossing! I have just started using this technique and really enjoy it and think that you will too! Hope everyone had a great New Years and is ready to take ahold of their 2010!