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There are many, many firsts with a new baby. If you have any children, do you remember the first Halloween? Hopefully you captured some memories in photos.
Marsha did. And she created some great scrapbook pages with them. Have a look at her 12" x 12" two page layout of Patrick's first Halloween as we continue on Marsha's scrapbooking journey. If you missed the first two scrapbook pages in this journey, you can view the two 12" x 12" scrapbook pages now.
Did you notice Marsha has added her journaling? This is important. You need to identify the people in the pictures and the dates at a minimum. I read somewhere years ago that if you do not journal your scrapbooks are only good for up to two generations.
That makes complete sense to me. How many old photos have been passed down to you that you cannot begin to identify who some of them are. Pretty sad to think about. Especially sad if you put all that work and love into creating scrapbook pages to be passed down from generation to generation.
Notice how beautifully Marsha's card stock coordinates with the background paper. All the products - card stock, background paper (called Designer Series Paper) and ink - are all Stampin' Up! products. Stampin' Up! color products all coordinate. This not only makes your handcrafted projects look professional, it takes the guesswork out of wondering if have any card stock that is remotely a close match to your background paper, ribbon, brads, buttons, etc.
Speaking of background paper, Marsha incorporated the Pumpkin Pie background paper layer of her title into matting for her photos. I especially like the offset matting of background paper and card stock for each of the baby photos.
If you saw my post yesterday about the Many Marvelous Markers, you know there is not a Whisper White Stampin' Write Marker. So, how did Marsha get the white writing for her journal blocks? She used the White Gel Pen. The white writing a sharp look on the Basic Black Card Stock.
Marsha's title was stamped with the now retired Collage Alphabet. If you would like to purchase the retired alphabet stamp set, I have one available to purchase listed with the other over 100 retired Stampin' Up! stamp sets. The stamp sets are listed in alphabetical order. If you do not see it listed, someone else beat you to it.
We hope you are enjoying and are inspired to get started or back to your scrapbooking as you go on Marsha's scrapbooking journey.
Have you been wanting to start a scrapbook but have no idea where to start?
Go on a journey with me as I share scrapbook pages created by Godby (God be) With Us Stamper Marsha Mendenhall.
This journey started a little more than eight years ago when I met Marsha at my vendor booth at a craft show Thanksgiving weekend. It is a vivid memory of the cheery and excited face when she spotted a border I had stamped with the now retired Pines stamp set.
Flash forward to 2012. Marsha has photos of her children starting from over 40 years ago and scrapbooking supplies she has been collecting over the past eight years. Does this sound familiar?
If you don't have quite that much to sort through, great! If you do, take heart as Marsha tells us her approach to the piles of pictures.
"Oh Man, do I have a load of pictures! I guess my main collection began when my oldest son was born 41 years ago. Then, I inherited pictures from my Mother and it has grown way out of control. Years ago, I tried to put some in photo books but that did not last long.
Then came the invention of the digital camera, need I say more?
There were pictures in boxes that would spend years in between looking at them. And, even then, when showing them to one of my kids, I had to sort through the box to find the ones they would want to see.
Shortly after Christmas, the idea came to me of making a scrapbook with beginning pages for each of my four kids for Christmas next year and give them more pages each year.
Marsha has chosen to make 12" x 12" pages. I can hardly wait to show you Marsha's first two scrapbook pages of her new born son. She did such a lovely job!
My hope is to have two more scrapbook pages of Marsha's to post. She has a desire to make good progress. Your waiting to see what she will post next just might help keep her motivated.
Remember the beautiful Stampin' Up! A Flower for All Seasons stamp set? Godby With Us Stamper Carol Ann made this pretty hand stamped card with the now retired stamp set.
Don't you just love her awning? Carol Ann used the Word Window Punch in alternating shades of More Mustard and Bravo Burgundy Card Stock to create her awning.
Also delightful are the three flower pots on the window sill. Carol Ann's card using three of the four stamps from the set. Look at all that pretty color.
Speaking of color, I think Carol Ann watercolored her flowers, flower pots and creatures. If she used markers and got all that shading with them, my hat is off to her.
I find the easiest way to watercolor is with the Aqua Painters. Just love them. The Aqua Painter offers great control over the amount of water needed. Not too much or not enough.
Did you notice, Carol Ann used the Snow Burst Embossing Folder to add texture to her background paper? Nice touch!
Carol Ann's card is full of nice little touches that make her card from pretty to pretty extraordinary. How about that window sill? She used the Scallop Edge Border Punch. What I particularly like is her placement of the 1/16" circle holes. Typically you see them added in the center of each scallop and not between like she did. I will so be using that! Oh, wouldn't Basic Pearl Jewels be pretty on the right card? I want to remember to try this very soon.
Carol Ann purchased the retired A Flower for All Seasons stamp set from my list of well over 100 retired Stampin' Up! stamp sets for sale. And then emailed a picture of her pretty card. A big inky hug to Carol Ann for sharing her card.
Looking for a retired stamp set? I list retired Stampin' Up! stamp sets for seven different stampers. This gives you a nice variety of styles to choose from. Some of the stamp sets date back to the early 90's! You will want to check out my list of retired Stampin' Up! stamps and see if you find any treasures.
Be sure to check back periodically. Soon I will be list more stamp sets of yet another stamper. The list is ever changing with new additions and sold stamp sets removed. I strive to keep the list accurate and up-t0-date.
Is there a retired stamp set waiting to go home with you? Check and see!
The free-with-purchase Stampin' Up! Sale-a-bration Sprinkled Expressions stamp set includes a two stamps great for graduation cards. It is much more than a graduation card set, but how great it is to have a stamp set on hand for the graduations that are a continual part of our May and June each year.
Didn't Marsha do a great job cutting out her cascading stars? She left an equal border around all of them. Not always easy to do, but the Very Vanilla border really sets them off against the Lucky Limeade Card Stock behind them.
In this pattern of the Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper, you see a hint of the Pool Party color. Marsha pulled the hint of color into her beautifully with the Pool Party used to ink and layer her greeting.
Like me, Marsha doesn't care for a naked, or blunt, edge of background paper. She tied some of the color coordinating ribbon from the Everyday Enchantment Ribbon & Brad Pack to cover the edge. The ribbon is sheer and gives a subtle blending of the background paper and Lucky Limeade Card Stock.
Would you like to have the Sprinkled Expressions stamp set in your collection to make a graduation card when the need arrives? If so, order $50 in Stampin' Up! products in my online store and choose Sprinkled Expressions as your FREE choice.
If you find FREE fun, then you will love shopping with Shelly! When you order online from Shelly, you enter into the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis! After only 3 orders of $25 or more, you earn FREE shipping on the fourth order! It is that easy. No punch cards. You don't have to wait until you spend hundreds of $$$ to earn your FREE shipping reward. Just place your 4th order within one year of the first.
Life is complicated enough, ordering the best stamping and scrapbooking supplies available should not be. It isn't with the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis rewards program. Enter into the oasis now with your first order on www.stampinsmiles.stampinup.net!
Stampin' Up! Sale-a-bration is only here for a limited time!
The Sprinkled Expressions stamp set has three fun shapes - star, heart, flower - and three great sayings. The Sprinkled Expressions stamp set is one of the free Sale-a-bration choices with any $50 Stampin' Up! order January 24 - March 31, 2012. Don't you just love free? Free Stampin' Up! products is definitely a celebration! Have a look at the free stamp set images.
Let's get to the star card made with the Sprinkled Expressions stamp set. The base of the card was made by Godby (God be) With Us Stamper Sherrie Bryant. In the center of the Designer Frames Embossing she had stamped her greeting on the So Saffron Card Stock with Old Olive Classic Ink. We couldn't remember which Stampin' Up! stamp set it came from. So, I used her card and made a couple of changes to turn it into a Sale-a-bration card.
Instead of stamping directly onto the So Saffron Card Stock, I used my Stampin' Write Markers, So Saffron, More Mustard and Old Olive, to get a variety of colors and stamped on Whisper White Card Stock. Sherrie's color combination, So Saffron, More Mustard and Old Olive, was taken from the Color Coach. It sure worked well for the colors of my stars.
The stamped Whisper White piece was layered onto an Old Olive Card Stock piece. Then I got all fancy and embossed and trimmed a So Saffron Card Stock piece with the Houndstooth Embossing Folder and filled the frame. Upon reflection, I thought it might have been cool if I had embossed a More Mustard Card Stock piece for inside the frame. It might have looked like I cut out the inside of the frame. Oh well, maybe next time.
If you find FREE fun, then you will love shopping with Shelly! When you order online from Shelly, you enter into the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis! After only 3 orders of $25 or more, you earn FREE shipping on the fourth order! It is that easy. No punch cards. You don't have to wait until you spend hundreds of $$$ to earn your FREE shipping reward. Just place your 4th order within one year of the first.
Life is complicated enough, ordering the best stamping and scrapbooking supplies available should not be. It isn't with the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis rewards program. Enter into the oasis now with your first order on www.stampinsmiles.stampinup.net!
Stampin' Up! Sale-a-bration is only here for a limited time!
Do you have the Sizzix Pillow Box Bigz Die? Godby With Us Stamper Melissa Welch does. Look at the adorable gift packages she made for her daughters!
Melissa die-cut the gift packaging by running the Sizzix Pillow Box Bigz Die through her Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine. The Big Shot makes paper crafting fun and easy. You can make great die-cut boxes, shapes and emboss with ease.
Didn't Melissa do a great job? Melissa picked up the Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper from the Clearance Rack Blitz and made the adorable pillow box gift packages. Not just crafty, but a smart shopper! Have you checked out the Clearance Rack yet? You will find discontinued Stampin' Up! products up to 80% off their original price!
I love how Melissa dressed up the pillowbox with a band of coordinating Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper around the center.
Did you notice she also added a layer to the band? One of the nice added touches I often write about that take your handmade projects up a notch.
I love matchy matchy. Melissa used three different of the patterned papers that still coordinate. You just got to love that about the Stampin' Up! Designer Series Papers. All different yet coordinating.
One of the different Jolly Holiday background papers Melissa used was on the gift tag. Melissa used the Large Tag and Extra Large Tag Punches for a perfectly layered gift tag.
Take a gander at that beautiful handwriting! I wish I could write like that.
Melissa's finishing touch was the ribbon tied around the length of her pretty pillow boxes. The ribbon also perfectly coordinates because the ribbon is also from Stampin' Up! Stampin' Up! products - card stock, background paper, brads, buttons, ribbon and more - all come in their exclusive, coordinating colors. Stampin' Up! makes it easy to have beautiful, color coordinated handmade projects.
It looks to me Melissa tucked the gift tags under the ribbon. It looks like it is tied in without needing to punch a hole, thread the ribbon through the hole and tie a know. That's what this stamper would do.
A big inky hug to Melissa for sharing her handmade gift packaging with us!
Want to be able to make adorable gift packaging too? Order the Sizzix Pillow Box Bigz Die in my online store!
When you order online from Shelly, you enter into the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis! After only 3 orders of $25 or more, you earn FREE shipping on the fourth order! It is that easy. No punch cards. You don't have to wait until you spend hundreds of $$$ to earn your FREE shipping reward. Just place your 4th order within one year of the first.
Life is complicated enough, ordering the best stamping and scrapbooking supplies available should not be. It isn't with the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis rewards program. Enter into the oasis now with your first order on www.stampinsmiles.stampinup.net!
Does this Santa look familiar? He is from the Jolly Old Saint Nick stamp set is last year's (2010) Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog. He is the picture that comes to mind when you think of Santa Claus.
Godby with Us Stamper Carole Carr made this adorable handmade Christmas greeting card. Look at the beautiful job she did cutting out the Santa. I'm sure she said she embossed him first with black embossing powder.
Carole and I are in agreement: heat embossing is like magic. You first stamp with a pigment ink pad, my choice VersaMark Ink Pad, sprinkle on the embossing powder, shake off any excess and then melt the embossing powder with the Heat Tool. It is always exciting to see the embossing powder cling to the stamped image and then do its melting magic. You just can't help but do a little happy dance inside each and every time.
Did you know if you missed embossing an area you can go back later and finish the job? I've noticed an area that wasn't melted the following day and was able to still use the Heat Tool and melt it.
One of the most common questions I get is "Can I use a hairdryer to melt the embossing powder?" The short answer is "No." There are two reasons:
A hairdryer will blow off the embossing powder (rut-ro)
A hairdryer does not get hot enough. The heat generated from the Heat Tool is intense.
You will be able to find embossing heat tools for less than the one Stampin' Up! carries. Is there a difference? Short answer: YES!
Once upon a time I didn't know there difference. I also didn't know I could order Stampin' Up! products outside a workshop. So, I picked one up at a local discount store for a few dollars less. It worked.
Then one day I was stamping with a new stamping friend and fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and used her Heat Tool from Stampin' Up! I could not believe how fast my embossing was done. How could this be? Asked just that question of my engineer husband. His answer was my embossing heat tool just wasn't the same high quality of a machine of the Stampin' Up! Heat Tool.
Well, I ordered the Stampin' Up! Heat Tool right away and have been using it happily ever since. Of course, by then I knew I could place an order anytime from myself.
In case no one ever said you can place an order for Stampin' Up! products outside a workshop, I'm telling you. For that matter, you can place online orders with me anytime day or night, on holidays, in your pajamas, on vacation . . . in my online store!
When you order online from Shelly, you enter into the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis! After only 3 orders of $25 or more, you earn FREE shipping on the fourth order! It is that easy. No punch cards. You don't have to wait until you spend hundreds of $$$ to earn your FREE shipping reward. Just place your 4th order within one year of the first.
Life is complicated enough, ordering the best stamping and scrapbooking supplies available should not be. It isn't with the Stamping Smiles Online Ordering Oasis rewards program. Enter into the oasis now with your first order on www.stampinsmiles.stampinup.net!
Create some magic of your own by ordering some embossing powder now!
