shelter from the storm

May 21, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Life is lumpy. Sometimes we all could use a little note of encouragement – like today’s card.

This card was made with the retiring Weather Together stamp set and coordinating framelits. I masked off the area under the umbrella, then sponged in around and stamped the raindrops to get my stormy background. The bright Peek-a-boo Peach umbrella is a fun pop of color. It is popped up with a dimensional for some depth.

Do you know of someone who could use some encouragement? Why not create a card and send it out today? It is amazing what a little happy mail can do. Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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Sweet Treat

May 18, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Today’s card puts me in the mood for hot summer days. Cool Treats is a really fun set. I’m sad to see it retire, but I’m sure Stampin’ up! will come up with something just as great!

I like the word stamped repeatedly on the right side. I stamped the popsicle twice. I cut out one of them with the coordinating framelit. and layered it over the other image for some dimension. I added fun little details like the linen thread tied on the ends of the sentiment strip and the little rhinestone on the treat. A fun treat to wish someone Happy Birthday!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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lovely inside and out

May 16, 2018 By Mary Haugen

My husband, Brett, and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary in June. (Wow, 25 years, where did the time go?) June is pretty busy for me as I run the YoungStars Children’s Theatre Workshop, so today we are departing on an amazing trip to celebrate early. We are heading to Europe for two weeks – London, then Amsterdam, Rome and finishing with a week long mediterranean cruise! We have been planning this trip for a long time. I can’t believe it is finally here! I will share some pics when I get back. I will share some on Instagram while I’m gone if you want to see what we are up to.

As I continue my farewell to some great stamp sets, I realized the my few projects have shared a Pool Party / Calypso Coral color combo. What can I say, when something works, it works!

I love the floral pattern peeking out from behind the die cut panel. I added the Pinewood Planks embossing folder and piercing for even more texture. What a fun stamp and die set! A great card to lift up a friend.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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all you need is chocolate

May 14, 2018 By Mary Haugen

In just a few weeks, the new Stampin’ Up! catalog will be out. While I am super excited about the fantastic new stamps and accessories coming (and the color revamp- Coastal Cabana is back, baby!), there are many that are leaving us that I will miss. You can find the retiring list HERE. I thought I would take some time to look back at some of my favorite projects from the 2017-18 catalog that will be retiring.

I think this card was my absolute favorite from this last year. It spotlights the More Than Chocolate stamp set and the Wood Textures designer series paper.

I love the delicate Pool Party scalloped circle peeking out from under the candies. The Pool Party twine and little Calypso Coral heart are fun details. I love chocolate, so this set was a must have for me. I also really like the fonts used on the sentiments.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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inky friends: a fond farewell

May 11, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Welcome to the Inky Friends: A Fond Farewell blog hop. We are taking time to put some great retiring sets center stage one last time. If you are following the hop order, you have arrived here from Sarah’s Ink Spot. Weren’t her No Bones About It projects fun? I love those dinosaurs. Make sure to make your way through the entire hop and check out the other great projects. I am putting Sweet Cupcake in the spotlight. Mmmmm – cupcakes. These are some of my favorite projects that I created with this set. They look almost good enough to eat.

This is my absolute favorite card I ever created with the Sweet Cupcake set. I paired the set with the coordinating framelits. There are so many fun details on this one – the depth from the die cuts, the banners layered under the cupcake, the little flag. What a great birthday wish.

I chose to leave a lot of white space on this one to let that yummy cupcake pop. The shading the various layers of stamps give it is so cool. I did a light watercolor wash shadow underneath the cupcake to help ground the image.

I love polkadots. I used the three circles to play off the polkadot pattern paper. A simple thick bakers twine bow and a tiny rhinestone balance the delicate feel of this card. This is one set that is staying in my stamp collection!

Thanks for stopping by! I’m sending you over to Rhonda and her projects with Basket of Wishes. Enjoy your journey through the rest of the blog hop and bid a fond farewell to some great stamps sets.

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share what you love

May 5, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Stampin’ Up! has released a new suite from the 2018-19 catalog for an early sneak peek – The NEW Share What you Love Suite!

There are three different bundles available for every crafter. You can find information on them HERE

I thought I’d share a couple of cards I create with this fabulous suite of products.

This first card was one of our make and take projects from On Stage last month. Can you find all of the fun new products used? Let’s start with the amazing Share What You Love Specialty designer series paper. It is a heavier weight paper, and four of the patterns in the pack have a wonderful pearlized accent. The fun accents come in the Pearlized Doilies, Share What You Love Artisan Pearls, and Rich Razzleberry 1/4″ Velvet Ribbon.

For this card, I used the same pattern of the Share What You Love Specialty designer series paper. Since it is a heavier weight paper, I folded it in half and used it as the card base. This was, I get pattern outside and inside the card. I trimmed of a strip of the card front so the inside pattern would show when the card is closed. I did put a panel of Whisper White on the inside to write on. I added a stitched shape circle of Wood Textures designer series paper for the greeting. It pairs great with the Share What You Love Specialty designer series paper. I decided to let the paper take center stage and didn’t add any other embellishments.

This is a fantastic suite of products. Take advantage of the early release and grab yours today!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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display samples – part 8

April 23, 2018 By Mary Haugen

It was a crazy weekend with performances for my high school play-“All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”. The cast did a great job. I am very proud of those kids. It was bittersweet to see it end as it was my last play as director for HHS. I will miss my theatre kids immensely.

Here are my last two projects from my display samples – 2 scrapbook pages. I think these are my favorite of the 21 items I created. I usually struggle with scrapbook pages, but these came together pretty quick. As soon as I saw this leaf print in the Nature’s Poem Designer Series Paper, I knew the picture I had to use. The colors reminded me of my daughter’s wedding last summer. I thought I would be perfect to show off my two beautiful girls – bride and maid of honor.

I added a piece of Wood Textures designer series paper under the picture. It echoed the rustic theme of the wedding decor. The sentiment from Rooted in Nature was a perfect message for my girls – Be Strong, Be Happy, Be You.

This next page features one of Rachel’s Senior pictures. She LOVES books, so this shot of her with a stack of her favorites was perfect.

I used some old and new on this project. I used sentiments from both NEW Rooted in Nature and Sea of Textures sets. The old is the current Naturally Eclectic Designer Series Paper. I typed the words on the white panel and added the leaf stamp behind. I think this page really show my daughter’s love of reading. There are a lot of little fun elements that add to the interest of the page. It was a lot of fun to put together.

That is it for my display samples form On Stage Milwaukee. I hope you enjoyed them. I certainly enjoyed creating them and sharing them with you.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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display samples – part 7

April 20, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Opening night of the high school play was great. Small audience, but very responsive. The cast was fantastic. I am so proud of them!

We have almost reached the end of my display samples. Today, I have a couple of gift packaging ideas for you. The first is a cute little pouch made with the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits. I am sad that this is retiring, but I will definitely keep mine. I think it is great for packaging a gift card.

I cut the treat bag out of the Natures Poem Designer Series Paper. I wrapped a band of Mint macron which had been stamped with one of the leaves from Rooted in Nature. The little label is from the Stitched Labels Framelits. A bit of doily peeking out from under the label is a fun touch.

This next project is a gift bag made from one sheet of 12″x12″ Designer Series Paper, I used Nature’s Poem.

I found a pattern on line for folding the bag. I create handles from the new Silver and Petal Pink Baker’s Twine. I put several strands together, threaded them through holes punched in the bag. I tied a knot in the center of the handle for added detail. The label is again from the Stitched Labels Framelits. What a fun way to package a gift for a friend.

I’ll be back on Monday with my last two display projects. These are my solid favorites of all 21 projects I created for On Stage Milwaukee! But first i have to wrap up the run of this play. On with the show!!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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display samples – part 5

April 18, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Today’s display samples feature the NEW Rooted in Nature stamp set. This is a great set which offers a lot of versatility. I love the sentiments in it.

The Tree Rings background stamp pairs perfectly with this beautiful tree. I used a thin strip of Fresh Fig to ground the Vanilla Panel. I die cut the small circle from the Stitched Label framelits in Soft Sky and stamped the sentiment in fresh Fig.

For this card, I started with a piece of the Nature’s Poem Designer Series Paper. I stamped the splatter from Artisan Textures with Versa Mark and embossed with Copper embossing powder. The Circles are from the Stitched Shapes and Stitched Labels framelits. I love the little bit of copper accents with Powder Pink and Blackberry Bliss. I’m happy Blackberry Bliss is joining the core color line with the new catalog!

I love gray and yellow together. The leaves are embossed with the new Pineapple Punch embossing powder. Pineapple Punch is one of the new In Colors for 2018. Such a bright cheerful yellow. I used the lines from Artisan Textures to help break up the white space.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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display samples – part 4

April 17, 2018 By Mary Haugen

I’m back with a few more samples with the Artisan Textures stamp set. This set is great for making your own designer background paper.

My color scheme for this card is Whisper White, Lemon Lime Twist and Pool Party. I used All Things Thanks stamp set for the sentiment panel.

Why not use a stamp to color with? I started with a piece of Petal Passion Designer Series Paper, which is just black and white. I added Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry and Pear Pizazz with one of the stamps in the Artisan Textures set. Coloring made simple. I stamped the sentiment in white craft ink on a die cut from the Stitched Labels Framelits and added some doilies to finish it off.

This little treat bag started as a plain envelope! I hope to do a quick tutorial post on this next week. Again, I stamped the background, this time using Bermuda Bay, Sweet Sugarplum and Lemon Lime Twist. The two circles are die cuts from the Stitched Labels Framelits. The sentiment is for the NEW Rooted in Nature set. (I will have samples featuring that set tomorrow.) .

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

-Mary

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