The Last Valentine's Day Card ... for 2011

I got home so late tonight, and my husband was all excited about his new truck that he drove out of the show room today, that I forgot to post my final Valentine's Day project for 2011.

I really liked how it turned out!  I used a piece of Stampin' Up!s Spring Time Vintage Designer Fabric, and the green paper is from Botanical Gazette Designer Series Paper.  The card was inspired by Sharon Johnson of notimetostamp.  All of her cards are so classy and beautiful. 

Paper:  Botanical Gazette, Pretty in Pink, Very Vanilla,

Ink:  Regal Royal (not a lot of stamping on this card)

Stamps:  Hostess set-Occasions Mini - Something to Celebrate.

Accessories:  Victoria Lace, Vanilla Rosettes, Spring Time Vintage Designer Fabric , Pretty in Pink Taffeta Ribbon, wide silk ribbon, Modern Label Extra Large, Eyelett Boarder Punch, small pearl from the Pearl Pack

Purchase any of these items at:  http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/donnaross/

Just wanted to wish you all a very happy Valentine's Day.  (A little late)

Letters to Juliet Inspiration

I was inspired this week end to finish my Valentine projects after watching Letters to Juliet .  If you haven't yet seen the movie-- I know I'm probably the only person who hasn't seen it yet--its about the fact that its never too late for love...a timely theme as I thought of all the people I wanted send a greeting to tell them how much I love them.  Especially my darling husband who puts up with my mess as my creativity ebbs and flows.    I have a five quick projects to show you today.  They were so much fun!

Decore Accent Blocks
I found a piece of fabric at a local fabric store and thought it would be perfect to showcase a number of Stampin' Up embellishments and products.  I decided to use the fabric to cover a set of Decore Accent Blocks in a Valentine theme.

I started with a set of the Decore Accent Blocks (116829) and a set of the Sticky Pages (114300).  I cut both the fabric and the sticky pages into 3" X 3" squares.  I covered each square with the sticky sheets, and then removed the backing and added the fabric.  The blocks are a kraft color and the sticky sheets make them look pink.

Once each square was covered with fabric, I chose different embellishments for each block.  This block uses 5/8" grosgrain ribbon in Regal Royal and I also added three of the Vanilla Rosettes (118774) from the Occasions Mini Catalog and applied glue dots to hold them in place.

For this block, I used one of the Game Spinner Hands (121893) as a Cupid's Arrow and one of the Flower buttons from the Sale-A-Bration brochure.  Every time I look at it I think of another way to use these cute arrows.  I was surprised to find that I could lift the fabric so that I could punch a small hole for the brad so that the legs are hidden on the back side of the fabric.  The fabric went right back on top of the sticky sheet as firmly as the first time I put it in place.

 For the third block, I used the 3/8" Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon to make a bow.  A glue dot holds it in place. I also added a few of the small pearls from the Basic Pearls Pack (119247) from the Stampin' Up Catalog and Idea book.

On the final block I added the Vintage Flower Adornment in Rose Red (121829).  I was so lucky to find a piece of fabric that worked so well with so many shades of pink and all of our accessories!

My Digital Studio Hybrid
A few weeks ago, I created a Thank-you card in My Digital Studio software.  Using that card as a template, I quickly change the background papers and sizes and a few images to create this card front.  Then I stamped the heart stamp and filled it with Designer paper to create a page of hearts.  I punched out the hearts with the heart stamp, and glued 5 of them together to make the 3-dimensional heart on the front of the card.

Oh!  Before I forget... on Feb 09, Stampin' Up! introduced a new .pdf catalog of all the images available in My Digital Studio software.  Some images are available with the Application CD; others are available for purchase separately.  What a time saver!!  Now you can visually see all of the images in one place.  As a demonstrator, I saw an early copy of the .pdf, and I can't tell you how many times I've already opened it for a closer look at the images in my My Digital Studio library -- some I didn't know I owned! 

Little White Tin Mail Box
It wouldn't be Valentine's Day without dressing up one of these little tin mail boxes.  Several years ago, I found a supply of them and bought an entire case.  Since then, I have seen many other mailbox tins at much higher costs.  I'm so glad I purchased in bulk when they were available.  These are perfect for candy treats as well as small 3X3" cards or Gift Cards.

I used the Love Impressions (121780) Designer Series paper from the Occasions Mini Catalog to cover the body and for the heart on the mail box.   I punched the mailbox flag hart using the Full Heart Extra-Large punch (119883). I used some of the images from Love You Much (113756) for the front of the mailbox, and images from Filled with Love (121154) from the Holiday Mini for the Feb {Heart}14 image on the mailbox flag, popped on a Dimensional and a small tab of Pretty in Pink Taffeta Ribbon on one side to match the Pretty in Pink Taffeta Ribbon on the arm of the mailbox.  A large red striped bow sits on top of the mailbox, made from 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon (119768)

Be My Valentine Treat Jar
This cute little jar from the Container Store is the perfect size for decorating with a few bows and a couple of stamped images.  I used one of the striped designer papers from the Subtles Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack (117152).  I inked To & From Tag with Regal Rose and then carefully wiped off the To: and From: before I stamped the striped paper.  Instead I used the Be My Valentine stamp from the Filled with Love (121154) set from the Holiday Mini for my sentiment.  I added a small punched heart with a very small diamond in the corner and attached the tag to the Regal Rose grosgrain Ribbon and Petty in Pink Satin Ribbon.  The container is filled with sweet treats and I love that the whole project took only about 15 minutes to assemble. 

I'm wondering if I can give these two together as a set. If I had thought ahead, I probably would have used coordinating papers and ribbons between the two projects.  I often find that I'll get inspired to begin another project as I'm in the middle of one project and work on them together, and then I end up with projects that work together;  Unfortunately, these two didn't come together like I thought they would.

Pompom Love Treat Bottle
This is another unusual glass bottle with a plain clear top that made me want to cover it with something.  I took a couple of strips of sticky strip and covered the bottle cap and then cut two strips of pompoms from the new Melon Mambo PomPom Trim and stuck it to the sticky strips. 

After filling the jar with hearts, I added a very small bow and a tag with a small heart.  I punched out the tag with the Jewelry Tag Medium Punch (117190).  The bow is 1/8" Pretty in Pink Taffeta Ribbon with white trimmed edges.  The tag is from Tiny Tags as is the {love} image.  The heart with xo is from a page of heart images I found when I did a search on "hearts" in My Digital Studio.  I wasn't sure which I wanted to use, so I made a page of different heart shapes, duplicated them, colored them in different shades of pinks and reds, and printed them on a piece of Whisper White card stock on my home printer.  This one found its way onto the small label for this project.

Here's the little treat jar with a card I made with Melon Mambo card stock a week ago.  Another fun, little gift complete.

We'll, that's enough for one day.  Hope you enjoyed these projects.

Continuing the rush to finish my Valentine's Day projects, today's project uses one of the Valentine sets from the Occasions Mini catalog.

I believe the Stampin' Up! artists get better with each passing year.  I love the images on this Valentine Defined set.  They work so well together, but they also work so well mixed with other Stampin' Up! sets.  For some reason, I chose Melon Mambo as my base color and ink color.  Then I broke out my Color Coach to help me find which other shades of pink to use on this card.  I think this is the first card I've made using this color combination.  I couldn't have done it without the Color Coach.  If you haven't ordered yours yet, your creativity in selecting colors will mushroom once you have it.  I used the clear stamps on a clear block and positioned both images on the same block, making it easy to position both images exactly where I wanted them before I stamped. 

I used the Heart to Heart punch and punched hearts out of Regal Rose.  Then I inserted the two largest hearts into the Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit Die and ran it through the Big Shot Die machine.  I also punched the bottom layer of Whisper White using the Pinking Heart Border punch.  I normally would use a layer of Designer Series Paper somewhere on a card with this many layers, but the embossed hearts, pinking heart border and the double ribbon seemed to be enough textures on one card.

Paper:  Melon Mambo, Regal Royal, Whisper White

Ink:      Melon Mambo

Stamp:  Valentine Defined (Occasions Mini Catalog)

Accessories:  Regal Royal Grosgrain Ribbon, Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon, Corner Rounder, Pinking Heart Border punch, Heart to Heart Extra Large punch, Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit Die, Dimentionals, small pearl

Color Coach

Here's what Stampin' Up!s Color Coach looks like.  It includes 55 double-sided cards with removable metal post fastener.  On individual color cards, one side shows color, the other side lists  coordinating colors. 

The cards are 2-3/4 x 4-1/2" giving you a good size color swatch to really see how your colors will look together before you pull out all your full-size papers. 

You can order your own Color Coach on-line when you place your Sale-A-Bration order to earn free stamps with every $50 order.  Color Coach - 121620 - US$14.95.

We'll I'm off to my craft room for the rest of the morning.  Remember to sign up for my Stamped Sophisticates blog using your email to receive information on new projects as they are posted.

Stay warm

Vintage Flower Adornment

Time to get serious about Valentine's Day cards.  Kicking it into high gear today because it is a snow day here in Texas...only without the snow.  Icy roads closed most businesses and schools today, so I was able to work on Valentine projects. 

This first project uses one of the new Vintage Flower Adornments from the Occasions Mini.

This card uses one of my favorite sharps -- an oval.  I used the Big Shot and Oval Bigz Die (#114525).  I embossed in Whisper White the Elizabeth stamp.  I also used one of the stamps from Tag til Christmas, embossed the tag shape in whisper white, stamped and embossed the "love you" sentiment from Valentine Defined and punched out the label shape with the Decorative Label punch (#120907), introduced in the Holiday Mini catalog. 

I used a white gel pen to create the faux stitching around the edge of the oval. The card stock colors are Pink Pirouette and Blushing Bride and the striped paper is from the Patterned Designer Series Paper Stack-subtles (#117152).  I love that you can also download these designer papers as background papers in My Digital Studio.  That way, if you need more of one of your favorites, you can print it from My Digital Studio.  I sponged the edges of the striped paper with Blushing Bride ink.

 I pulled a string loose from the edge of a piece of Pretty in Pink satin ribbon, unraveled it,  and tied it in the middle with a 3/8" wide piece of Pretty in Pink satin ribbon.  The Vintage Flower Adornments from the Occasions Mini is attached with a glue dot.  Hint:  I find that heating the glue dots slightly with my heat embossing tool helps them stick better over time.



Vintage Flowers Adornment (#12187)9 - set of 24, 8 each of 3 colors.  Very Vanilla, Rose Red, and Baja Breeze



This is a second version of the card above.  I added three pearls to the side and kept the ribbon a bit simpler.





 I couldn't end the day without doing something in My Digital Studio.  This is a mixed media card designed and printed at home with My Digital Studio.  Then I added the ribbon and printed more butterflies the same size as the one I printed  on the card, cut it out, attached it with glue and bent the wings up to add dimension to the card. 
Colors:  Cherry Cobbler, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive and Whisper White. 
Stamp set:  Image is a Sale-A-Bration stamp set called Bliss, however, I used digital content from the Sale-A-Bration CD which includes all of the new images available in the Sale-A-Bration Mini Brochure, called So Much to Sale-A Brate Digital Content CD (#123681); another free pick during Sale-A-Bration.  Pick your free Sale-A-Bration set when you spend $50.

I love that I can now use this card template in My Digital Studio with any sentiment and change the colors as I see fit. Printed on my home printer on Whisper White card stock, this now becomes a 15 minute card anytime I need a greeting card.  (Now I need to do one that is more masculine and I'll be all set!)

More My Digital Studio Downloads
After introducing a record number of new My Digital Studio Downloads in January 2011, Stampin' Up! introduced another set of new downloads for my digital studio February 1, 2011.  Included in this set of downloads are two set of scrapbook templates, including:



8 X 8" designer template; 24 pages including a front and back cover design.  Also includes 13 Designer Series Paper patters, a 24-piece stamp brush set, and 33 embellishments.  Originally built to easily scrap your Jan 2011 Leadership experience, these pages make a great starting point for  for creating your own pages using these pages as a starting point (#124447 - $14.95).  Add a matching patterned paper, stamp brushes and embellishment digital download (#124446) -- below-- to highlight your time at Leadership, or modify for your own use.



Also just added, this cute Love Birds Digital Kit.  (#124443)

Digital downloads are available instantly after purchasing them for use in My Digital Studio.  Or select the download version compatible with other software.  Visit Stampin' Up! online anytime to see the newest My Digital Studio downloads available.  



Happy Snow Day!

 - Donna Ross



Creating with My Digital Studio

As I was catching up on Facebook posts by family members, I ran across photos of my grand niece and nephew that were so cute, that instead of working on traditional cards in my craft room, I  fired up My Digital Studio software and quickly put together this page.

I'm about to send my mom a box of magazines, books, and Valentine's Day gifts and I printed an 8-1/2 X 11 copy of this page onto photo paper to include.  I know she will be tickled to receive this.

I started with one of the scrapbook templates available as a download, one of the thousands of digital designs for books, pages, cards and more available on My Digital Studio!  The software has tools for cropping photos and for customizing the colors, embellishments and text in the template I used to start my page.



My Digital Studio software - #118108 - US$79.95


My Digital Studio software is easy-to-use software that lets you use Stampin' Up!'s exclusive artwork, designs and colors to create an assortment of printed, projects on either your home printer or you can have them professionally printed.  Click this link to learn more about this PC and Mac compatible software and rates for professional printing.

Two of the newest downloads include the Valentine Defined Stamp Brush Digital Download and Pretty in Pink Patterns Designer Series Paper.  This is an adorable eight-piece stamp brush set with the perfect mix of Valentine's Day imagery and words to create all your valentine and love projects.  This download also includes a 4-1/4" X 5-1/2 greeting card designer template.  Look for Valentine Defined Digital Download - 124026 and Pretty in Pink Designer Series Paper - Digital Download #124033.



Valentine Defined Stamp Brush Set - Digital Download - #124026



Pretty in Pink Designer Series Digital Downloads -- #124033.  This is available in several additional color as separate downloads.

Hope you enjoyed today's project in My Digital Studio.  Let me know if you have questions.

- Donna

Filled With Love Promotion Ends Mon, Jan 24

ONLY TWO DAYS LEFT TO ORDER!...

There are only two days left for you to get a FREE package of Bitty Buttons--a $4.95 value--when you order our Filled with Love Bundle or for you to purchase the exclusive Love Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack.

When this promotion ends on Monday, January 24, the Filled with Love Stamp Set and Love Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack will no longer be available!

Description	Wood-Mount	Clear-Mount
Filled with Love Bundle Contains the Filled with Love Set* and Love Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack   Available in wood mount, clear mount, French and Spanish versions *Featured on p. 43 of the 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog and only available until Jan 24, 2011	#124380  $32.90	#124381  $26.90

What’s coming next?  On Tuesday, January 25,  Stampin' Up! launches Sale-A-Bration!  This is the biggest and most exciting promotion of the year.  You will earn your choice of FREE gifts for every $50 in products that you purchase.  I’ve been adding to my wish list since early January and plan to place a big order to earn free Celebration products and other goodies listed in the Sale-A-Bration mini catalog.

Also on Tuesday, Stampin’ Up! will announce a wonderful Sale-A-Bration new-demonstrator Starter Kit Promotion.   It is a great way to get everything on your wish list at significant savings. You can sign up on line and gain access to the on-line demonstrator site for project ideas and video demonstrations.  Check back here on Tuesday for more information!

http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/donnaross/promotionsCLICK HERE to shop for the Filled With Love promotion, and see supply lists for the treat box pictured above.

Stamping on a Budget

Be sure to check out the Clearance Rack at Stampin' Up! for Valentine products that will really save you money.

I was so pleased to see the little Valentine Bot Treat boxes on sale.  I used several dozen of these last year.  Now you can buy them for a fraction of what they cost by visitng the Clearance Rack at Stampin' Up!.  They come flat and already die cut, 30 to a set.    You simply fold them together and seal them with a seal, which is also included in the kit. 

They are cute as is.  I added  punched hearts out of the left-over paper from the pre-die cut sheets and added ribbon to decorate each box. Look for item 118080 for the girl bot set in Pretty in Pink.  Clearance items are limited quantities and once they are gone, they are gone.

You can also turn the boxes inside out for a more sophisticated look.  One side is plain and is a perfect surface for adding your own creative ideals, or just a little bit of ribbon to dress it up.

The other side includes a To:  From:  section.  I filled my completed boxes with chocolate candies and set them out on my desk at work last year.  Needless to say, my office had a lot of visitors!  Come back later this week and I'll show you what will be on my office desk for treats this year.

You will also find that may of last year's designer papers were also on sale in the the Clearance Rack .  These are a few projects I made last year from the Sending Love Designer Series papers, item number 117153!  Look how cute the treat box is with the card.  Clearance Rack items are only good while supplies last.  Treat yourself to some of these great bargins before they are gone.

Here is another sample card made from the Sending Love Designer Series Paper, 117153. I used two different patters from the 12 X 12 paper set along with Very Vanilla card stock.  The bottom boarder is punched with the Eyelet Border punch, 119853.  Let me know if you have any questions about these project.

 The little treat box was made using the Fancy Favor (115965) Sizzix Bigz XL die and the Big Shot Die Cut machine from the regular Stampin' Up! Idea book and catalog.  I used the Riding Hood Red 1-1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon through a handle I created using the Stampin' Up! World Window punch, 11985.  I used the Pretty in Pink Stamp Writer pen on the ribbon to turn the Very Vanilla strips pink to match the box.  I created the dotted heart by die cutting a Pretty in Pink and a Whisper white heart using the Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit Die, 117332, and punching out the Pretty in Pink heart  with the Full Heart Extra Large Punch, 119883 and framing it with the Whisper White die cut heart.  The wide Red Riding Hood ribbon is held together with a bow of natural hemp twin, 100982.

On this card, I used one of the images from the Girl Bot Treat boxes, shown above, as an image on my card front.

Another great find in the Stampin' Up! clearance rack are these Chocolate Chip treat boxes, 115690.  I decorated this one with Sizzix Swirley Sizzlits Decrotive Strip die, 113456 using the Big Shot Die Cut machine.  In fact, the plain treat box was the perfect size for gift cards or small candy treats and I found myself using them for Christmas gifts, Valentine's Day treats, and even Mother's Day!

Check out other great finds on the Clearance Rack that will add so much to your Valentine's Day projects.

Subscribe to this blog at the link on the right so you're sure to see new projects as they are posted.

We'll, I'm off to my stamp room for an afternoon of stamping.

Have a great day!

Donna Ross

Stampin' Up! Occasions mini for Jan - Aug 30, 2011 is now available

The new Stampin' Up! Occasions mini catalog is finally here!!  Forty-four pages of new stamps, punches, Designer Series papers and embellishments for scrapbooking and card making.  Also, new trinkets and baubles for Simply Adorned jewelry.  Download your copy today!

http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/donnaross/catalogs

In addition to the items in the new Occasions mini catalog, if you are a digital scrapbooker, there are new digital downloads for My Digital Studio software.  If you use other software for your digital projects, you can also download a version of these new stamps, papers and embellishments in .png format that will likely work with your software.  Many of these downloads are digital versions of the new products from the Occasions Mini Catalog.  Note:  After purchasing the digital downloads, you will need to return to the purchase site to download your purchases.

I'm working on samples which I'll post in the next couple of days.