inky friends: 2018 holiday catalog showcase

September 14, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Welcome to My Inky Friends 2018 Holiday catalog Showcase blog hop! We are shining the spotlight on some of the great new stamp sets in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog. If you are following the hop in order, you have come here from Cindy and her wonderful Winter Woods display. Now, join me as I put the fantastic Wishing You Well set center stage.

I love a versatile set and this one really is great for any season. So, let’s take a look at some of it’s many talents.

I love this wreath with the Wood Textures designer series paper! Lemon lime twist and Berry Burst create a vibrant contrast to the wood. A wonderful card just to let someone know you are thinking of them. But, change out the greeting and this would work for a Christmas card as well. See, versatile!

Since this is the HOLIDAY Catalog showcase, I naturally had to make a Christmas card. I went with traditional green and red, but chose to work with bright and bold Lemon Lime Twist (I seriously can not get enough of this color!) and Poppy Parade.

I love how the bit of striped Poppy Parade paper peeking out from the main panel echoes the striped Poppy Parade ribbon! The three little pearls were colored with my Poppy Parade Stampin’ Blends marker. Voila – perfect coordination! This would be an easy card to mass produce. Simple, but with some fun little details to make it interesting.

That’s a wrap for me. I will now send you over to Twila who is showcasing one of my favorite sets – Dashing Deer. Thanks for stopping by! Come back again and join me in putting a spotlight on creativity!

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holiday catalog is here

September 5, 2018 By Mary Haugen

It’s here! The Stampin’ Up! 2018 Holiday Catalog is here and loaded with fabulous products and creative inspiration. Let’s kick it off with a project that features a couple of great new products. Buffalo Check background stamp and Merry Christmas to All bundle.

Isn’t this just perfect for a woodsy Christmas?! The Buffalo Check is stamped in black on Real Red card stock and backed with the log design from the Wood Textures designer series paper stack. Kind of has a lumberjack feel, doesn’t it. Change out the Sentiment and it would be great a great guy card “Merry” is cut out in Tranquil Tide with one of the Merry Christmas Thinlit dies. I really love die cut words, and this thinlit set has FOUR! “Christmas” from the Merry Christmas to All stamp set is stamped in black on a strip of Very Vanilla card stock. A bit of Linen Thread and a few gold metallic pearls add just the right finishing touch. I’m ready to curl up with some hot cocoa, flannel and fuzzy socks. Just kidding, I’m am NOT ready for that just yet. I’ll keep the sun shine, shorts and flip flops for a bit longer, thank you. (Seriously, I am NOT ready for winter…)

That’s a wrap for today. Come back and join me again to put a spotlight on creativity!

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stamp review crew: waterfront

September 2, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Welcome back to another Stamp Review Crew blog hop! I’m so glad you have joined us as we put the Waterfront stamp set in the spotlight. This set is a lot of fun to play with and creates wonderful watercolor style landscapes and more when you let your creativity cut loose. I have to admit, I have had the set for several months, but this is the first time I have created anything with it. I assure you, it won’t be the last!

For this card, I stamped the mountains, lake and trees first in Whisper White craft ink on Crumb Cake card stock and let it completely dry. Once dry, I stamped over the images with the colors Gray Granite, Pool Party and Tranquil Tide (with a little Early Espresso for the tree trunks). Since the stamps are photopolymer, it made lining up the images a breeze. I didn’t try to line them up perfectly. The bits of white peeking out give some nice highlights. I layered the image panel on a piece of Tranquil Tide dots from the ’17-’19 In Colors Designer Series Paper stack. The front of the card base was run through the NEW Corrugated Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. Isn’t it just AMAZING! I can tell it will be used A LOT!

I used Stampin’ Write markers to ink the sentiment stamp and layered it on a Pool Party circle cut from the Stitched Labels Framelits. Then adhered it over a bit of Linen Thread wrapped around the image panel.

I had been watching an episode of Murder She Wrote when I came up with the idea for this next card. I hand an image in my mind of a quaint painting hanging on a weathered cottage wall, Here’s what I came up with:

I covered the card base with a piece of the Wood Textures designer series paper – seriously, my FAVE! I stamped the scene on a piece of thick Whisper White card stock. I hand drew the flowers with Stampin’ Write markers. Then I framed the painting. First I cut a pice of Basic Black card stock the same dimension as my “painting”. Next, I cut diagonally corner to corner both directions. Finally, I trimmed about 1/4″ off the outer most edge of each triangle. Here is a picture to help you see what I did.

I could have just mounted the “painting” on a piece of Basic Black and called it good. But this way, I get the mitered corners like a real frame.

It’s a really small detail and most probably won’t notice it, but I thought it was neat.

If you started this blog hop from the beginning, I am the final stop. If you picked it up somewhere in the middle, make sure you go around and check out all the great inspiration with the Waterfront stamp set! From here you can go back to Heidi or on to Debra

*The Stamp Review Crew is a group of International Stampin’ Up! demonstrators who want to show you how much you can do with ONE stamp set. Each edition the SR Crew will showcase a new featured stamp set. Each stop along the hop will show you a different idea, or ideas using that set!**

That’s a wrap for now. I hope you will come back and join me in putting a spotlight on creativity!

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inky friends: dc9

August 31, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Time for a design challenge from My Inky Friends! For this challenge, we are featuring a square sketch, inspired by page 16 of the Annual Catalog.

I decided to use some new items from the Stampin’ Up! Holiday catalog which goes live tomorrow! It is chock full of fantastic goodies for all of your holiday projects! For this challenge, I used the Dashing Deer Bundle – stamp set and coordinating thinlits – and the Joyous Noel Specialty Designer Series Paper. Oh. My. Goodness. It is sooooooo pretty! The copper foil accents are stunning.

Colors are Sahara Sand, Gray Granite and Copper. A close up look at a few details:

The vellum circle is cut out with one of the Stitched Shaped Framelits. The sprig is from the Frosted Bouquet Framelits (part of the Frosted Floral Suite) cut out of Copper Foil. For the Soft Suede strip I crumpled it up then separated the layers so it has a look of suede (difficult to see in the photo). I used the Bright Copper Shimmer Paint and the stylus end from the Take your Pick too. to put the copper details on the image at the bottom of the card.

Finished project is a 5″x5″ card. I love the neutral tones on this. What a fantastic Christmas greeting to send.

Head over to My Inky Friends blog and check out the other projects based on this sketch. I hope you will join us and play along. Create your project based on this sketch then upload a link to it on My Inky Friends blog to share it with us. We love to see your projects!

That’s a wrap for today. Join me again to put a spotlight on creativity!

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thank you blooms

August 29, 2018 By Mary Haugen

I can’t believe it is the end of August. Boy, the summer just flew by. And here we are going into Labor day weekend. At least my youngest two will be home for the long weekend. And on Saturday we are going to see……HAMILTON!! I have been looking forward to this coming to Minneapolis for over a year. And I was fortunate to be able to get tickets for the four of us to go! Eeeeek! (I’m just a little bit excited.) I am not throwin’ away my shot!

We were doing a photo shoot in my studio for the upcoming Stamp-n-Storage catalog a couple of weeks ago. And I was told to “grab some stuff and look like I was working on a project”. So, I pulled out some things and just started stamping. When the photo shoot was done, I had to finish up the card. This is the finished product:

The card base is embossed with the Subtle 3D Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. The striped layer is from the Twinkle Twinkle designer series paper pack. For the flower panel, I stamped the flowers from Perennial Birthday in Gray Granite. Next I colored them with my Stampin’ Blends in Flirty Flamingo and Granny Apple Green (the lighter shade). Then I grabbed my Light Pool Party Stampin’ Blend and colored the background. Ta Da – I made my own DSP!!!! I embossed the greeting in white on a piece of Gray Granite card stock and adhered it to the card. So easy! Have you tried coloring with Stampin’ Blends yet? You really need to. They are fabulous!

Hey, I just realized my manicure even coordinates with this card!

That’s a wrap for today. Thanks for stopping by. Come back soon and join me in putting a spotlight on creativity!

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kanga and little roo

August 27, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Life has been really crazy over here lately. In the past month we: moved our daughter and son-in-law into their first house; moved our other two children off to college, in opposite directions from our house; moved our business, Stamp-n-Storage, to it’s new location; and continued working on my craft studio remodel. I have mostly moved back in, but there are still trim details to finish up. I can’t wait to give you a full tour! For now, how about a little teaser?

I just LOVE how the top of my Ikea Kallax came together. (thank you Hobby Lobby!) It really makes me happy to look at. Which is good, since I spend a lot of time in here!

At the beginning of August, before our youngest two moved, we all went to see the new Winnie the Pooh movie, Christopher Robin, together. Talk about hitting you right in the feels! Such a sweet movie. I love Pooh Bear even more now. I thought I would share today’s card in honor of a sweet mother and son duo from the Hundred Acre Wood – Kanga and Roo. (Ok, so in this case, Roo is a Koala, use your imagination)

Coloring this duo was so easy with my Stampin’ Blends and the Animal Expedition DSP. A delightful birthday greeting for any age!

That’s a wrap for today. I’m heading back to work in my studio – creating and cleaning! Plus I am working on a special project for a class I am teaching for the Grand Opening of Stamp-n-Storage’s first retail space! Check out details on the class and other Grand Opening activities here.

Thanks for stopping by! Come back soon and join me in putting a spotlight on creativity!

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dear friend

August 24, 2018 By Mary Haugen

I was playing around with the P.S. You’re the Best stamp set. I just love the typewriter. I started by adhering a panel of the Share What You Love DSP to a Whisper White card base. I set this inside a folded piece of vellum card stock to soften the DSP some.

I colored this cute little typewrite with Mint Macron Stampin’ Blends. Seriously, these markers are the BEST! It is so easy to get great shading and depth. I added a Petal Pink watercolor wash on the “paper”. Once it was completely dry, I stamped the sentiment. I popped this up with dimensionals on a piece of Wood Textures DSP that I had punched notches out of with my 1/2″ circle punch and wrapped with Linen Thread. I finished up with three of the Share What You Love Artisan Pearls.

This makes me think of an author working away at a quaint little cottage with a wonderful flower garden. Like maybe where L.M. Montgomery might have written Anne of Green Gables. Yeah, I like that.

That’s a wrap for today. Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to come back and join me again as I put a spotlight on creativity!

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stamp review crew: varied vases

August 19, 2018 By Mary Haugen

The Stamp Review Crew is hopping again and this time we are putting Varied Vases in the spotlight! This is such a fantastic set. I love the little vases and flowers. The coordinating Vases Builder punch makes it even better. I had played with set quite a bit when it first came out. Check out this post or this one for even more Varied Vases inspiration. This time, I wanted to try a different approach with this set.

For my first card, I chose to let the sweet flowers take center stage. I started with a gradient watercolor wash on three small panels of watercolor paper. i used Calypso Coral, Lemon Lime Twist and Coastal Cabana. Once completely dry, I stamped the flowers on each panel with Memento Black ink. I adhered a panel of Wood Textures DSP on a Whisper White card base which I had wrapped three rows of Linen Thread. The sentiment is stamped and embossed in white on the bottom of the Wood Textures DSP. I adhered the three flower panels with dimensionals for some added depth. I finished off with a little rhinestone one each panel. I colored these with Stampin’ Blends markers – Calypso Coral, Granny Apple Green, Bermuda Bay.

My next card brings back the Wood Textures DSP. I think it is a great pairing with Varied Vases. I stamped the Vase in Coastal Cabana, punched it out with the Vase Builder punch and wrapped a bit of Linen Thread around it. I stamped the flowers in Memento Black, Poppy Parade and Lemon Lime twist and cut them out. (Full disclosure, I cut them out with my Scan-n-Cut.) I layered all of this on a Whisper White panel and stamped the sentiment along the edge of the Wood Texture DSP squares. I added two little Poppy Parade Ribbon loops before gluing the Whisper White layer to the Gray Granite card base. Notice the texture on the card base? I ran it through the NEW Tin Tile Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. This folder is in the Stampin’ Up! 2018 Holiday catalog! It is really awesome!

That’s a wrap for me. I am the final stop on the blog hop, so if you started at the beginning, you have seen all of the amazing Varied Vases projects. You can go forward to Charlet, the first stop of the blog hop. Or you can go back to Mickey and work your way back around. If you started the hop somewhere in the middle make sure you continue on so you don’t miss any of the fantastic inspiration! And as always, you can find the blog hop archives over on the Stamp Review Crew blog.

**The Stamp Review Crew is a group of International Stampin’ Up! demonstrators who want to show you how much you can do with ONE stamp set. Each edition the SR Crew will showcase a new featured stamp set. Each stop along the hop will show you a different idea, or ideas using that set!**

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

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Back on Broadway

August 13, 2018 By Mary Haugen

I’m back today with another Broadway Bound Suite project. What can I say, I REALLY like this suite!

Isn’t that marquee framelit die awesome! It has holes in it for perfect placement of the metallic pearls. And, can we talk about the Lemon Lime Twist striped paper!? LOVE IT!! The bold stripes are a great base for the marquee greeting. The photopolymer stamps make lining up the greeting a breeze.

Well, I guess I better get back to work packing up two kids to move off to college later this week. So, that’s a wrap for now. Happy Stamping!

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inky friends: suite designs blog hop

August 10, 2018 By Mary Haugen

Welcome back! I excited to be part of My Inky Friends Suite Designs Blog Hop! This time we are putting a spotlight on various product suites in the 2018-19 Stampin’ Up! catalog. I am thrilled to put the broadway Bound suite center stage! (I know, you are all so surprised that i would pick that suite. What can I say? Somethings are just meant to be!) This dramatic suite can be found on page 69.

Let’s start with this fun project pairing.

Who wouldn’t love to get a birthday treat like this. The gold foil in the Broadway Bound designer series paper brings out that Broadway sparkle!

First off how awesome is this cupcake topper? A bit of gold glimmer paper punched with the Starburst punch makes a great base for the fun greeting. A few gold Metallic Pearls are a great finishing touch.

The gold shimmer cut from the Broadway Lights Framelits balloons make this a great coordinating card for the cupcake treat.

This next pair of projects Brings out the Bold colors of Lovely Lipstick and my favorite, Lemon Lime Twist,

Here is a closer look at the gift box.

I started with one of the Lustrous White Mini Gable Boxes. I wrapped the bottom with the cake pattern from the Broadway Bound dsp. I glued some Lovely Lipstick 1/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon around the top. The greeting on the box is layered as follows: 1-3/8″ scallop circle in Basic Black, 1-1/4″ circle in Lovely Lipstick, the hat die cut from the Broadway Lights Framelits (I added the black dots with a Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker). I stamped the sentiment on Lemon Lime Twist card stock and cut it apart and adhered to the circle. This element is added to the box with dimensionals.

I let the Broadway Bound dsp take center stage for this card. The little candle embellishment on the “I” is one of the silver Candle Embellishments. But wait, it’s pink, not silver. Ah ha! I colored it with the dark Lovely Lipstick Stampin’ Blend! How cool is that?

Broadway Bound is a fantastic suite of products that give your birthday projects great dramatic flair! I’m sending you over to Twila and her wonderful projects featuring the Under the Mistletoe Suite. Or, if you are traveling backwards through the hop, you can go back to Rhonda and her delightful projects with the Delightfully Detailed Suite.

That’s a wrap for now. Happy Stamping!

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