Dress Form for Non-Sewers

We were on a bit of a drive together this summer, and Dad overheard a telephone conversation I was having with Lila. We were discussing sewing machines and the cheezy "craft" ones that don't work too well for sewing on cards. Lo and behold, a few days later, Dad got me a fabulous sewing machine with lots of bells and whistles. Kelly inspired me to sit down, read the manual, and try it out... but I admit that I haven't spent any time on it since that evening. I have been looking into taking sewing classes.

This month, The Stampers' Sampler's Tempting Template is a dressmaker's form. I stamped the top heart first onto vanilla cardstock. Then, I took the template printout and placed it over the heart so the neck was centered over the point of the heart and traced the template... careful to leave enough for the heart. Next, I cut out the dress and stamped the 'skirt' using the reversed heart image twice. The final touch was Swarovski flat-backed pearls to make the necklace.

Supply List:
Stamps: Boho Blossoms (My Favorite Things)
Paper: Very Vanilla CS (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: VersaMagic in Aegean Blue (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Flat-backed pearls (Swarovski)

This was definitely out of my comfort zone, and I enjoyed it quite a bit!

Happy Stamping!

More Bargains!!

It's about an hour into "Black Friday" here in Boise and have I got some bargains to share with you:

* Verve Visual is having a "So Thankful Sale" through Sunday the 25th. Stamps are 10% off, designer paper is 25% off, and lots of other great supplies and embellishments are on sale too! Plus, orders over $50 save an extra 10% off their purchase. You must use the coupon code THANKFUL to receive the discount.

* Purple Onion Designs has released a bunch of fabulous new rubber. Check out the adorable cupcake and the gorgeous damask flourish. YUM! Even better? The new stamps are included in the 25% off Holiday Sale. You must use the coupon code HOL2007 to receive the discount. POD also has a new blog.

* Mandarin Pixie's stamps are all 40-60% off through the end of the month. Through Saturday (11/24), they're sweetening the deal by offering free shipping for orders over $20.

Happy Shopping! And, of course, Happy Stamping!

More Enabling

There's a 25% off sale at The Cat's Pajamas going on from 11/16 through 11/18. Their stamps are very swanky and cute. I am in love with Sprinkle the cat as well as their sentiment stamps. There are some fun and unexpected themes, too, like pirates and knitting. TCP has single stamps wood mounted (although some are still available unmounted) and three holiday sets in clear photopolymer. Don't miss the penguins! The sale is easy: Alma set the site up so the 25% off is automatic!

MadRatRubber is offering 15% off everything while supplies last. This is being billed as a Holiday/End of Year sale, but an ending date isn't listed.

Happy Stamping!

Versatility & Savings

No matter the size of my stamp collection, I've always been drawn to stamp sets that are full of versatility. If you're like me, you'll love and appreciate both Verve Visual stamp sets that are available TODAY!

There are now just a few short weeks until Christmas, and I'm in holiday mode. This card was made using only one rubber stamp -- a sentiment from the brand new Wonderful Wishes set. What makes it so usable?

* It has FOURTEEN sentiments that can be used for any occasion (or no occasion at all)
* There are three great border stamps to frame your greeting or other small image I'll definitely be keeping this stamp set in a very handy place in my stamping area because I plan on reaching for it often.

Supply List:
Stamp: Wonderful Wishes (Verve Visual)
Paper: Be Good (Cosmo Cricket), Bling Cardstock (Bazzill), Chartreuse Card & Cream Scallop Panel from the Yours Truly collection (Archiver's)
Ink: Chestnut Roan ColorBox Chalk (ClearSnap)
Accessories: Small Star Squeeze Punch (Fiskars), Sponge, Stippling Brush

While shopping at Verve for these new sets, don't miss the Veteran's Day Sale! Lots of good deals!

Happy Stamping!

Sneak Peek: Nov. 10 Verve Release

The countdown has begun! Verve Visual is scheduled to debut two more brand new stamp sets in about 48 hours. Each set includes a whopping SEVENTEEN stamps!

This new sample card combines the oval frame from Wonderful Wishes with the fun stars and one of the sentiments from Starlight Starbright. The oval frame fits very nicely with the yellow Extra Jumbo Oval Scallop Punch from Marvy, which I purchased yesterday thanks to Shannan's hot tip. She said that the yellow circle scallop punch works with the set's circle frame, too.

Starlight Starbright includes a bunch of fun star and shooting star-type shapes, and these can be seen on the upper panel of this card. And with eleven coordinating sentiments, this set can be used all year 'round.

Stamps: Starlight Starbright & Wonderful Wishes (Verve Visual)
Paper: Cowboy Collection (Crate Paper)
Ink: Chestnut Roan ColorBox Chalk (ClearSnap), VersaFine Vintage Sepia (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Ghost Shape Star (Heidi Swapp), Calabaza Orange Pinata Ink (Jaquard Products), Chipboard Shape - from the Archiver's Exclusive Punctuation Set (Making Memories), Extra Jumbo Scalloped Oval Punch (Marvy Uchida)

I really enjoy these big stamp set releases! There'll be two new guest designers whose work will also debut on 11/10, so keep your eyes on the Verve blog!

Happy Stamping!

New Card & News

Lots of fun new stuff on the stamping front today! First, a new card that was designed for the big stamping project mentioned in an earlier post. More than 150 items (cards, tags, envelopes, etc.) to be displayed in 5 different states were created and this is my favorite.

The stamp set used for this card is from Hero Arts. It's called Joyful Greetings and also includes a Christmas tree, star, two more snowflakes, a second big swirl, and sentiments. The blue cardstocks are two of the new Smoothies from Bazzill and WOW are they ever smooth! I love stamping with them!

Supply List:
Stamps: Joyful Greetings (Hero Arts)
Paper: Island Breeze & Tropical Breeze Smoothies (Bazzill Basics), Pearlized White Cardstock (Verve Visual)
Ink: VersaMagic Ocean Depth (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Light Blue Gemstones (Hero Arts), Ribbon (American Crafts), Bind-It-All (Zutter), Rotary Cutter & Scallop Blade (Fiskars), Pop Dots (EK Success)

On to some fun stamping news & sales:
-- Steve Vander Meer at Meer Image is celebrating FIFTEEN YEARS in the stamping business! All his tiny peg stamps are half price, and there are 27 brand new styles. Sale runs through 11/15/07.
-- Starving Artistamps has eight pages of new stamp images. There are two pages of equestrian stamps for you horse lovers out there.

-- Viva Las Vegastamps is having a huge sale called "Stampsgiving" on their unmounted sheets, giant grab bags, and Miracle Tape. They can be found in the Bargain Basement at http://www.stampostore.com/ or by scrolling down to “Latest Products” on the shopping cart home page and UM plates, just order your Plates in threes and put “Happy Stampsgiving” in the comments to get your FREE plate with purchase of two. Sale runs through 11/22/07.

I love the idea of Stampsgiving... Couldn't we all use a day to be thankful for the bounty of stamping? Think of all the people you've met and friendships that have developed because of this great hobby of ours, and the creativity and relaxation! Let me know if you think of any fun Stampsgiving traditions. :)

Happy Stamping!