Home Décor

Video: Love the Hand-Penned Suite? Frame It!

My goal was to create a home decor project using the Hand-Penned Memories & More Card Pack from Stampin’ Up!®. It did NOT disappoint! I absolutely love this art piece!

The card pack is part of the Hand-Penned Suite, which is collection of products intended to work well together. For my frameable art, I used only two of the elements in the suite: the Memories & More Pack and the Hand-Penned Petals stamp set.

This is basically a scrapbook page designed to be framed for display. You probably could even add a small photo on there somewhere.

I don’t do a lot of scrapbooking as I struggle with the extra planning and steps. When I make cards, I can sit down and make a card using the supplies in my craft room. With scrapbooking, I have to choose my photos and print them in the size I want. That’s two extra steps in my process! My brain just doesn’t work well with that. Kind of crazy, right?

I also find scrapbooking takes sooo much more time. It feels like forever to finish a book and I end up loosing focus and moving onto something else. I’m the kind of gal that is often moving on the the next “shiny” thing that grabs my interest.

In my 15 years as a demonstrator with Stampin’ Up!, I’ve probably completed two scrapbooks. One was digital and one was an 8″ x 8″ book with only about 10 pages. I love looking at the gorgeous ideas on Pinterest, so perhaps I will try again someday. Some of you preserve your memories so beautifully. Maybe you can share some of your tips to help me give it another go?

Making this project

I used a variety of patterned papers for this design and used my Paper Snips to add a bit of a distressed look. The Ombré Specialty Paper adds a nice glimmer in the background for interest and texture.

The label in the 3″ x 4″ card in the photo below was carefully cut with my Paper Snips to separate it from the blue patterned background. Cutting it out allowed me to put the label on Stampin’ Dimensionals. My Blending Brush with Misty Moonlight ink added some extra colour on the edges, deepening the colour and drawing the eye to the white label.

You can see that I stamped on the Basic White layer with Daffodil Delight ink using the coordinating Hand-Penned Petals Stamp Set. The yellow ink balances well with the yellow accents in the patterned design on the Memories & More cards.

Other supplies used

Oh, Stampin’ Up!, how I love that you make it so easy for us to coordinate the colours and patterns in our artwork! Ribbon, accents, paper, and ink! They are designed to work together so beautifully!

Watch the video for more!

If you’re interested in learning more about the elements and techniques used to make this project, watch the video below. Don’t forget to support my YouTube Channel by clicking that subscribe button!

Desktop Adhesive Caddy

At the end of each year, I try to offer a special project for my customers.

Usually, I have a Christmas party in my home with goodies, prizes, and cheerful holiday music, while we craft together in our festive attire. It’s a wonderful time! The evening always ends with warmed hearts and a final Merry Christmas greeting to all, as each person bundles up against the snow and cold to make their way home again.

This year was a little bit different as we weren’t able to get together in person. Instead, we were able to meet together virtually on Zoom and enjoy each other’s company while we created the project that I prepared for everyone. The thing about virtual classes is that customers from out of town, who normally couldn’t attend my classes in person, were able to join in on the event. What a gift! We still had prizes and cheerful holiday music and we still ended with warmed hearts and a final Merry Christmas as we signed off and settled into our own space in our own homes. It was delightful! I feel incredibly blessed with the friends I’ve made because of my Stampin’ Up! business.

That said, I thought I would share the project with you as well, dear reader. We made a desktop adhesive  caddy that was inspired by the project shared on sallystampers.com. I made some changes to the individual boxes and added a couple more sections for the Stampin’ Seal and Stampin’ Seal Plus. The only adhesive that doesn’t fit in my caddy is the Fine-Tip Glue Pen (I might have to create an additional section and share that with you another day).

The designer series paper I used for this project will be available in January along with many more beautiful stamps, paper, and embellishments launch of the Sale-a-bration brochure and the January – June 2021 Mini Catalogue.

Follow along with my video tutorial to make this beautiful and functional desktop adhesive caddy.

I wish you a very warm heart and a safe and happy holiday! Merry Christmas!

Framed Winter Scene

I had the joy of my 14 year old daughter staying home with me on Wednesday for “take your kid to work day”. Basically, she got to stamp with me and I got to talk about what I love about Stampin’ Up! with her! It was a delight to work on this As You See It challenge together. I showed her how to use the Sponge Brayer to create a sunset sky and she thought it was very cool when I splattered water on the ink to create white spots that look like snow!

I was going to have her write part of this blog post, as she is quite the wordsmith, but we ran out of time. I’ll have to convince her to write for you another day.

Today’s challenge is a colour combination. I love pinks and greys together, so this was right up my creative alley!

I think these colours are stunning together! So soft and warm. I used the tree stamp from the Campology stamp set. I hadn’t used my new stamp set yet, so I was super excited to have the chance to break it in!

As you probably noticed, I decided that my sunset winter scene would be suitable as a framed piece of artwork. This would still make an amazing card, but I decided to create a 5×7″ art piece that I could display through the winter months.

I used my Sponge Brayer with Petal Pink and Flirty Flamingo ink to create the sunset sky. Then added some wisps of shadowy clouds with a sponge and some Basic Gray ink. I flicked water over this to create the falling snow effect. The trees from my Campology Stamp Set were stamped with Momento Black ink and the trunks were coloured in with a Light Basic Black Blends Marker.

I even added some additional white dots of snow using the Chalk Marker.

This sponged and stamped piece was layered over a thin matte of Whisper White and Basic Gray cardstock and adhered to the Whisper White/Plush Poinsettia Specialty Paper background with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The Petal Pink frame was cut using the Stitched Rectangle Dies and adhered to the Plush Poinsettia Specialty Paper with Foam Adhesive Strips so it would frame the winter scene.

The sentiment from the Itty Bitty Christmas stamp set was stamped on Basic Gray cardstock, then heat embossed with White Embossing Powder and my Heat Tool. I sponged Tuxedo Black Momento Ink over the sentiment to make that white embossing really pop! This was adhere to the front of my artwork with more Stampin’ Dimensionals over a swirl of Linen Thread that I placed on the left side of the sentiment.

The final touch was to tie a double finger bow with the White Crinkle Ribbon and attach it and the Glitter Star Ornament over the swirl of Linen Thread with Glue Dots.

I popped it in a frame over a photo of my son when he was a baby (he was so chubby and smiley!!). When winter is done, I’ll switch the artwork out and put my son’s chubby little grinning face back on display!

I love this colour combination! I think you should try it to and share it with us at the As You See It Challenge Blog! We love seeing your beautiful creations!

As always, you can purchase any of the Stampin’ Up! products that I feature here on my blog. Just click on the SHOP button on my website and see all the gorgeous supplies that Stampin’ Up! has to make your crafting experience the best it can be!

Stay safe and get crafty!!