Stamped Sophisticates

Download Free Stampin' Up! Catalogs - including the Summer mini catalog

Thursday, September 01, 2011

Stampin' Up! Holiday mini....is here!

Holiday Mini Catalog available - download here
Simply Scored Scoring Tool now available

It's here!...the Holiday Mini Catalog is now available. Download your copy today.

I'm excited, today to introduce you to Simply Scored!

Take the chore out of scoring. Simply Scored features two easy- to-read rulers, with 1/8" increments, along the top and side. Also one zero center ruler. Nonskid feet secure it to your work area.

Comes with a high-quality stylus instead of a plastic bone folder.
Stylus is ergonomically shaped and features a comfort grip.
The high-quality metal tips on each end of the stylus--they come in two sizes--glide smoothly over your paper...and improve with time
Features a unique set of place markers that let you mark your score lines when creating multiple projects with the same score lines.
Includes three place markers.
Additional place markers can be purchased for flawless scoring.
Includes a hidden storage compartment in the back of the base to hold your scoring tools.
Accommodates card stock up to 12" x 12".
Demonstrators have been able to preorder and you can see some of the wonderful projects I've made, here.

Visit my Stampin' Up Store to purchase one today!

Item # 122334

Enjoy!

Donna Ross

Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrator

SU Demonstrator Web Site: http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/donnaross/

Download Free Stampin' Up! Catalogs - including the Holiday Mini Catalog

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The Open Sea Digital Hybrid Birthday Card

Final days to order from the Summer Mini Catalog
Buy 3, Get 1 Free Designer Series Paper Special ends Aug 31
My Digital Studio downloads are a great way to to buy if you are storage challenged

I was playing with My Digital Studio digital software a few days ago and printed out a few of the papers from Nautical Expedition and images from The Open Sea Stamp Brush set. Both are from the Summer Mini Catalog, which ends Aug 31. (Edit: Great news! Stampin' Up! just announced that this popular set, The Open Sea , will be available until July 2012! You can order the wood mount under item # 123030 or the clear mount under item # 123032) End Edit) I didn't have any plans for the items I printed until I realized I needed a birthday card for my brother in Minnesota this week. It took me less than an hour to design this hybrid card using both digital images and traditional embellishments. Complete. Stamped. And in the mail.

Recipe:

Stamps: Digital Download: The Open Sea Stamp Brush Set (124112)
Ink: None. I used digital downloads for the sentiment as well
Paper: Almost Navy, Whisper White. Crumb Cake, Digital Download: Nautical Expedition Designer Series Paper (124111)
Accessories: Cherry Cobbler/White Baker's Twine (123125), Stampin' Dimensionals, Spiral Boarder Punch (retired), Paper Snips

Here's the inside of the card. Again, I choose a design from the Nautical Expedition Designer Series Paper digital download, printed it on white paper, selected a few more digital downloaded images from The Open Sea Stamp Brush Set and printed them on Crumb Cake cardstock. I matted and mounted each and I was done with a fast, easy card.

I think this makes a great masculine card. I love the new digital downloads that Stampin 'Up! releases each Tuesday for My Digital Studio. It is a great way to "have it all" from each new catalog release without taking up walls of storage space. I now order some traditional stamps and papers, and some digital downloads from each new catalog. I love using them both! For more ideas on using digital downloads, be sure to visit and register on the My Digital Studio Site. You can see the entire catalog of digital downloads (see the Resources button at the top of the My Digital Studio home page), plus find answers to your My Digital Studio software questions. Be sure to register on my blog to receive notification by email when the link to the new Holiday Mini catalog is released Sept 1. You'll find great holiday digital downloads that will pique your imagination as we move into the fall Holiday months.

Donna Ross

Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrator

SU Demonstrator Web Site: http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/donnaross/

Download Free Stampin' Up! Catalogs - including the Summer mini catalog

*Buy 3, Get 1 Free promotion ends Aug 31. Mix and Match the Designer Series Papers Packs you want.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Spooky Bingo Bits make great Cello Bag Toppers

Order Tangerine Tango Stampin' Embossing Powder for Halloween projects, now!
Frightful Sight Halloween Designer Paper special: buy 3, get one free*

The best Holiday Mini Catalog I've ever seen from Stampin' Up! will be released in just a few days -- Sept 1. I've been playing with more of the sets and products available early to Stampin' Up! demonstrators. Click to enlarge images.

These are the new 1" X 8" narrow cellophane bags available beginning Sept 1. Aren't they perfect for filling with rows of treats like gum balls, mints, chocolates, red hot cinnamon discs, Boston Baked Beans, Hot Tamales, Red Licorice Twists, Jujubes, colored pencils, marbles, or anything long and narrow. The toppers I made use the Spooky Bingo Bits Stamp set from the main catalog along with the new 1" punch offered Sept 1 in the Holiday Mini Catalog. Love these new holiday products!! While I'm now ordering most of my stamp sets in clear mount, for sets like this, I prefer wood mount. Yes, it takes up more room, but I think it saves time when you are stamping several pages of images at one time, like I did with this set (see photo below)

To order any of these Stampin' Up products on-line at my store, shipped direct to you address, click here.

Recipe:
Stamps: Spooky Bingo Bits (123944 w, 123946 c)
Paper: Calypso Coral, Wisteria Wonder, Lucky Limeade, Basic Black
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: 1" square punch (124094- avail Sept 1), Narrow cellophane bags (124134 - avail. Sept 1), Scallop Square Punch (119884), 1-1/8 square punch (non-Stampin' Up!), Black Embossing Powder (109133), Tangerine Tango Embossing Powder (123106), Heat Tool (10005), Embossing Buddy (103083), Powder Pal tray(102197), Red Sticky Strip tape (104294)

I stamped and matted two images so that both the front and back side of these bag toppers were finished off. Here is a close up of some of the addition images I matted, ready to use as bag toppers or on cards. And there are many more images in the set that I can't wait to use on other projects.

I like stamping and embossing these smaller images. I believe they retain their sharpness better when embossed. Which makes it especially nice that Stampin' Up! offers Tangerine Tango Embossing Powder! I completely missed this new embossing color in my first new catalog order. Then I realized I already owned it since I had ordered it out of the Summer mini catalog! Yeah!! Click to enlarge photo, and take a look at the images on the left embossed with Tangerine Tango embossing powder.

Another new embossing color I'm anxious to break open is the new Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powder. Paired with the Frightful Sight Designer Series Halloween Designer Series Paper, it will make sophisticated Halloween cards in non-traditional colors. But for now, I'm going to work on a card to go with these toppers. Check back soon!

Hope you have as much fun working with these new products as I did. Be sure to sign up for my to have my web site updates automatically sent to your email address, so that you'll receive the link to download the Stampin' Up! Holiday mini catalog as soon as it is released Sept 1. Look for the "Subscribe via email" link in the right hand column of my web site.

Enjoy!

Donna Ross

Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrator

SU Demonstrator Web Site: http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/donnaross/

Download Free Stampin' Up! Catalogs - including the Summer mini catalog

*Buy 3, Get 1 Free promotion ends Aug 31. Mix and Match the Designer Series Papers Packs you want.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Berry Blossom Nugget Purse

Berry Blossoms nugget purse -- yes, another Berry Blossom project
Final 6 days to order from the Summer Mini Catalog, and

Final days to Buy 3, Get 1 Free Designer paper promotion

One package of 12 X 12 Berry Blossoms Designer Series Paper package is all I've used for the many projects I've shown over the past few weeks. Each time I reach for this pack of Designer Series Paper, I get a little tickle of joy. Here's my latest project using Berry Blossoms Designer Series Paper... the venerable nugget purse. We all know that this cute purse design has been around forever. However, when I saw Mary Fish's nugget purse samples I knew I would finally create my own samples using Berry Blossoms DSP. Here's what my nugget purses look like with one of the cards I created in an earlier post.

To see more projects with Berry Blossoms Designer Series Paper:
- Fun Flowers and Berry Blossoms
- More Berry Blossoms cards projects
- Berry Blossom flowers

I used 5" of Ruffled Calypso Coral ribbon for the purse handles, attached with Red Sticky Strip tape. Most nugget purses are made using the 1/4" grosgrain for the handles. I changed the dimensions slightly to accommodate the 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon.

Cutting Dimensions: My measurements accommodate the 3/8" wide ribbon. If you use 1/4 ribbon, you may wish to change your dimensions.

Cardstock: 1-1/2 X 4-3/4"
Berry Blossoms Designer Series Paper(DSP): 1-1/4 X 4-3/4" Adhere DSP to cardstock.
Score along the long side at 1-3/16", 2-3/16", 3-1/2, and 3-7/8"
Tip: Since The new Simply Scored Scoring Tool only scores at 1/8" increments, more your paper 1/16" in from the edge before scoring the first two scores and use the 1-1/4 and 2-1/4" score channels, then move your paper back to the edge of the scoring tool surface and created your 3-1/2 and 3-7/8 scores
Create sharp creases with your Bone Folder along the score lines.
Adhere Red Sticky Strip to the 3/8" wide area
Add the Ruffled Ribbon before closing the nuggey purse.
Hold the nugget purse closed using a small brad stuck through two small flowers. I used one of the flowers from the Boho Blossoms punch and one from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack

To order Stampin' Up products on-line at my store, shipped direct to you address, click here.

Recipe
Stamps: - none
Paper: Berry Blossoms Designer Series Paper, Coordinating In Colors card Stock (124329)
Ink - none
Accessories: Simply Scored Scoring Tool and Stylus (122334 - Avail Sept 1), Paper-Piercing Tool (116631) and Mat Pack (105826), Old Olive Brads (119740), Boho Blossoms Punch (119858), Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack (118309), Paper Cutter (104152)

These cute treats would make wonderful favors or quick nibbles when you don't have time to bake or cook.

Enjoy!

Donna Ross

Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrator

SU Demonstrator Web Site: http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/donnaross/

Download Free Stampin' Up! Catalogs - including the Summer mini catalog

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Clean, Simple, Fast Cards

Fast cards with Stampin' Up! Big Top Birthday Quick Accents
More quick cards with Simply Sent Kits
Last few hours to take advantage of Texas Tax break

During the Stampin' Up! Convention last month, one of the main stage demos showed how to make a large stash of cards that were simple, clean, and fast. I wanted to see for myself how fast it really took to make 20 cards. While I was at it, I also broke out a couple different packs of the Simply Sent cards kits. Click for a closer look.

I made 24 cards in about 1-1/2 hours from the Big Top Birthday Quick Accents kit!! For the Big Top Birthday Quick accents I used only Whisper White backgrounds cards and envelopes, one stamp pad--Real Red, and the one sentiment sets; Perfectly Penned. Double click to enlarge the image.

I also made two different cards from the Simply Sent Everyday Elegance and two cards from the Simply Sent Sweet Moments sets...again, very simple and very easy.

Above is a look at the cards I made with the Quick Accents kit and the Simply Sent kit.

Of course with any of these cards you can dress them up with more layers and different embellishments, but that would defeat the purpose of quickly making a large stash of cards to have on hand or to give as a quick gift.

Visit my Stampin' Up! Store to purchase any of these itmes:

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Perfectly Penned
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Real Red
Accessories: Big Top Birthday Quick Accents Kits (122368)

Big Top Birthday Quick Accents Kit - 122368

Quick Accents are heavy-weight, self adhesive die cuts and paper ribbon sheets that come 2 sheets to a package. 1 ea. of 2 designs in 12" X 12"size. At convention they showed these cards using as base cards the Stampin' Up! 5" X 3-1/2 note cards and envelopes (107311), which save you even more time since you don't need to cut the Whisper White cardstock. However, I wanted to make mine standard 5-1/2 X 4-1/4 size cards. Both on stage at Convention and my experience at home was that you have plenty of left-overs from one Big Top Birthday Quick Accents kit to make more projects than just the 24 cards. Below is what the two design sheets in the kit look like.

Next, I went to work on the two different Simply Sent kits. This year's catalog includes three of these kits. I'm showcasing two of the three. Both kits include everything you need, including the envelopes. Both kits include eight cards; 4 each of two different cards, labels for your stamped sentiments, and lovely die cut boarder edges. The Simply Sent Everyday Elegance set also includes embossing on the borders, and the Sweet Moments kit includes ribbons and adhesive-backed pearls for embellishing the cards. While you can also purchase matching sentiment stamps for both cards, I found I had sentiments from existing stamp sets that worked perfectly. Click for a closer look at each card.

See the contents of the Everyday Elegance Simply Sent Kit - 122377

Then on to the Sweet Moments Simply Sent Kit. Again, the cards simply fold together, stamp the label and adhere the accent ribbons and attach the labels

Here's a closer look at what's in the Sweet Moments Simply Sent Kit - 122376

These kits are perfect for new stampers, with limited supplies; or for experienced stampers without a lot of spare time. These cards went together so fast that I'm going to do a class next week end. If you're from the Houston area, check here for class details and registration.

Enjoy!

Donna Ross

Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrator

SU Demonstrator Web Site: http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/donnaross/