in the stars

July 9, 2018 By Mary Haugen

My studio remodel is slowly moving forward. We should be ready to prime the ceiling and walls this week! Once primed, we can paint and then we can move my desk back in! I am getting really excited. I have been thinking about decor for the room. I am planning a trip to Hobby Lobby this week to get some ideas. I can’t wait to share photos of the finished room!

I have been able to get some stamping done at my temporary location. Although it is difficult with a small fraction of the space I’m used to and many more distractions being in the center of family activity, it isn’t all bad. I am enjoying the company of my daughter and son who are home from college for the summer. Here is one of the cards I create at my kitchen desk. I used the new Little Twinkle stamp set and coordinating Twinkle Twinkle designer series paper.

I started with a piece of watercolor paper and did a simple wash of Petal Pink with my aqua painter and ink refill. Once that was dry, I stamped the heart constellation in Night of Navy and the small star cluster in Petal Pink. I layered this onto small strips of the striped pattern paper and then onto the Night of Navy layer, which is adhered onto a thick Whisper White card base. the sentiment is stamped on Petal Pink card stock and cut out. Finally I added a little Nigh of Navy bakers twine and a few rhinestones. A fun card that could be used for a variety of occasions.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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wild about you

July 6, 2018 By Mary Haugen

I just love the Animal Outing stamp set and coordinating Animal Expedition designer series paper. For today’s card, I decided to let the paper take center stage.

These animals are so darn cute! I fussy cut out one of the little chameleons from a different sheet of Animal Expedition designer series paper to accent the lower corner of the card. I stamped the sentiment on Pool Party, Berry Burst and Lemon Lime Twist and cut out one word from each. I angled the cuts to keep with the whimsical feel of the card. This set and paper is proving to be very versatile and a whole lotta fun!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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happy independence day

July 4, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Happy 4th of July!

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bloom with happiness

July 2, 2018 By Mary Haugen

July is off to a fantastic start! Stampin’ Up! has announced some great deals this month. I have shared more details about those on my Center Stage Stamping Facebook page. But I have to tell you about the starter kit special. Sign up to be a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator in July and you not only get $125 worth of product for $99, you also get a color family set of 10 ink pads- FREE! With all the fantastic NEW colors available, this is a great way to get your hands on them and join the Stampin’ Up! family. I would love to have you join my Center Stage Stamping cast!

I am loving the fresh new palette of colors Stampin’ Up! has. There are nine BRAND NEW colors and six previous In Colors returning to the core color line up. Not to mention the five new 2018-20 In Colors! That’s a whole rainbow of color fun waiting for you.

Speaking of new colors, I usually do not use purples much, but I have had a lot of fun with Highland Heather and Gorgeous Grape.

The Highland Heather panel is embossed with the Simple Stripes embossing folder. I used Gorgeous Grape for the little vase, Daffodil Delight for the flowers with Mango Melody for the flower outline, Lemon Lime Twist for the leaves and Granny Apple Green for the leaf outline – all punched out with the coordinating Vase Builder punch and popped up with dimensionals. Sentiment is heat embossed in white on Basic Black card stock. A great card to brighten a friend’s day.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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inky friends – dc7

June 29, 2018 By Mary Haugen

It’s time for another design challenge from My Inky Friends! This time it is a layout based on a card on page 48 of the 2018-19 Stampin’ Up! catalog. I knew the Broadway Bound suite would be great for this challenge. This set was a must get on my first order from the new catalog. Hmmmm, I wonder why? I decided to turn the sketch on its side.

The only stamping is the “make a” banner. Gotta love the Broadway Lights framelits!! The marquee is perfect to fill in with the Metallic Pearls featured in the suite, or my favorite embellishment -Basic Rhinestones! Perfect for a little Broadway Bling!

Make sure you go over to My Inky Friends and see all the other great ideas for this card layout, then play along! Create your own project based on this sketch and share it with us.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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25 years

June 27, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Yesterday Brett and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. A quarter of a century – has it really been that long?

Ok, yeah, I guess the added weight and loss of hair proves that it has. Now our kids are grown. One is married, the other two are in college. We are entering a new stage of life. Seems fitting for it to happen at this milestone.

I wanted to share the card I made for Brett. I know that the 25th traditionally calls for silver, but I decided to make a card that represents us.

Wood has always been an important part of our life. Brett was into wood working as a hobby when we were first married. He has built benches, entertainment centers, and more for our home. (And it plays an even bigger part since we started Stamp-n-Storage!) So naturally I pulled out the Wood Textures designer paper. (my favorite!) I used the retired Large Numbers thinlits to cut out the 25. I placed a bit of retired floral dsp behind and mounted the panel with dimensionals for added depth.

Happy Anniversary, Brett. Here’s to 25 more! I love you.

-Mary

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a star is born

June 25, 2018 By Mary Haugen

I had some fun this weekend creating with the new Little Twinkle stamp set. I paired it with the Twinkle Twinkle designer series paper and came up with this sweet card.

I started with a Gray Granite card base that I embossed with the Pinewood Planks 3D Dynamic Textured Impressions Folder. The Star is stamped in Pool Party and cut out by hand. I added the paper strips to give it a shooting star feel. For the bow, I took a piece of the Petal Pink/ Silver Bakers Twine and pulled it apart to get just the Petal Pink threads. I doubled it and tied a bow.

This would be a great card to send to any of my theatre friends with a new baby. Or, you could change the color scheme and it could celebrate someone’s performance in a show!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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thank you big time

June 22, 2018 By Mary Haugen

My studio remodel is coming along slowly. We took out the closet and removed the popcorn ceiling texture.

My wonderful husband, Brett is doing most of the work in the studio himself. I owe him a BIG thank you. Today’s card might fit the bill. The new Animal Outing stamp set is SO cute! I just love this little rhinoceros. He is so much fun to watercolor and perfect for the new color Gray Granite.

The Gray Granite layer is embossed with the new Subtle 3D Dynamic Textured Embossing Folder. I pulled in some Lemon Lime Twist, Pool Party and Grapefruit Grove for a pop of color. The leaves were cut with the Animal Friends thinlits. I surprised myself by not using any extra embellishments on this. But the die cut leaves, stitched circle and Grapefruit Grove strip cut with the Stitched Labels framelits give this card plenty of extra detail.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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granny apple mango hello

June 20, 2018 By Mary Haugen

The craft studio remodel continues slowly. That’s the problem when you do it yourself. We were gone every evening last week, therefore nothing happened in the studio. Hopefully we can find some time to make some good progress soon. Meanwhile, I am trying to create some new projects in my confined space. Here is one I made before we started remodeling. I love the fresh new colors Mango Melody and Granny Apple Green. Perfect for summertime.

I thought these two new colors were perfect for the Varied Vases set. Two of the tiny flowers stamped randomly make a fun background. I masked the mango vase when I stamped the granny apple one so it would appear to be in front. I also masked it when I stamped the flowers to shorten the stem. Stamping the flowers and sentiment in black created a nice contrast with the rest of the card. I used the Layering Squares Framelits to cut the “polaroid” frame in Mango Melody card stock and layered it over the white panel stamped with the vases. This panel is popped up with dimensionals to create some depth. A little white Baker’s Twine and a rhinestone add just the right accent.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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we interrupt the regularly scheduled program

June 18, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Summer means construction season, right? So why not a little studio remodel? After some not so subtle hinting, my husband finally agreed that it is time! My posting last week was pre-empted due to Brett giving the green light for things to get started. So, we boxed up everything in my studio