Travel sets

Ooh La La! New travel stamps

Summer is coming to a close and scrapbookers everywhere are working on their vacation pages and mini books. These cute sets will make those pages Pop! They have a great vintage feel. Like they were pulled straight out of a 1950's travel brochure. 

Greetings From...   Set number 134621

Map It Out  Set number 134620

Quick little sale

Here is a quick note about a  limited time special. This bundle isn't listed in the catalog, it's  Until the end of the month you can save on this Stamp/ Punch combo

Click HERE to shop for it online

Bundle Item	Page in Catalog	Description	Retail Price	15% Savings Price	Amount Saved!
135311	90 183	Butterfly Bundle (Clear-Mount) Papillion Potpourri Clear-Mount Stamp Set Bitty Butterfly Punch	$30.90	$26.27	$4.63
135312	90 183	Butterfly Bundle (Wood-Mount)  Papillion Potpourri Wood-Mount Stamp Set Bitty Butterfly Punch	$34.90	$29.67	$5.23

Fall in in the air

Like it or not Autumn is upon us. Kids are in school, mornings are turning crisp and I'm thinking about crafts in warm earth tones. It has come to my attention that I should post more photos of the process for my projects and not just the end result. With that in mind, here are some treat bags for a fall party I put together this week. the decorations are fabric cut using Autumn Accents die with the Big Shot die cutter. I have never tested to see just how many I could cut at once but for this project I easily cut four layers of fabric with one pass.

And here are instructions with photos

You will need two (2) sheets of paper 6X6 

First Score both sheets of paper in the same way.

 Score three sides at 1 1/2 inches and score the fourth side at 1 inch.

Now fold down the side scored at 1inch and cut out the squares across from the fold on one paper. On the other paper cut in from the sides but do not remove the squares. 

 Finallly glue your two papers together or you may prefer to use stick strip for a stronger hold but I found Towbow glue works fine for these little bags. 

 You can slide one side of the bag under the flap of the other for a really tidy finish to the porject. Now you are ready to decorate for any holiday or party theme you like. 

Envelope punch board

OK going to try and post a video so bare with me. Sometimes I don't technological-ize so well. If the stars are properly aligned you should see a great new tool available below. You can make envelopes in pretty much any size without a lot of pesky measuring and trial and error for special sizes.
Available for purchase HERE or through my online store to the left.

When Fandoms Collide

Being a fan is fun. In our family we support each other's interests even when we don't share them. If I haven't mentioned it lately we live in Knoxville. My husband also so happened to graduate college from UT. And will you look at that, it just so happens to be Labor Day Weekend. You can probably guess where this is going.  Football time in Tennessee. To better celebrate I created our own little VOL army.  Inspired by an old friend who does great work with the 501st MidSouth Garrison. 

Old gift bags

We celebrated our daughter's 5th birthday this weekend and along with a kid's birthday party come gift bags. I like to save them for re-gifting but what usually ends up happening is I fold them up put them away then forget where they are and end up buying new ones anyway.  Rather than doing that again I turned them into envelopes for sending out thank you notes for all the party guests. If I were really miss organized I would have made note of which bag went with each guest and sent them back to the original gift giver but no. I'm not that person. Here are some of the envelopes I made today using my handy Stampin Trimmer and my Simply Scored diagonal plate. Best part... I get to feel all smug about saving the earth while getting my craft on.

These envelopes fit standard 5 1/2  by 4 1/4 inch cards. To make them simply cut your paper into 7 3/4 inch squares then score two opposite corners at 4 1/8 inches on your diagonal plate. Finally score the two remaining corners at 3 1/8 inches, fold and glue. 

New Christmas Stamps

Eight (8) Individual Christmas stamps are now available. These are Brand Spankin' New and not even in the holiday catalog. You can order them online or through me.
 Follow this handy LINK to see all the Single Christmas stamps and some other new stamps not yet available in catalogs.

Fandom Paperdolls

 Yes it took me long enough but hopefully it was worth the wait. A few posts back I pointed out some designer paper that looks like the wall paper from the BBC Sherlock series. Being a bit of a SuperWhoLock fan I was inspired to, well, make the characters out of paper.   (Here the word bit means really a lot but I don't want to freak anyone out) Pretty early on in the project I was struck by how all the detached body parts cut out of paper looked very serial killer-esque  but I pressed on. Never let a little creepy get in the way of a good craft project.

If you want to try it at home start by printing out plain black and white pictures and cutting around the shapes. the more detailed the better. Next cut apart the pieces into all the different colors of paper you will use and glue the template to the correct colored papers. Finally cut out your colored papers following the template and reassemble them.

 You might want to label the parts as you cut them out. It makes reassembly much easier

This is the creepy part I was talking about. Don't worry it gets better

Finally we have my tribute in paper to Sherlock

And my tribute in paper to Supernatural

If you live in Knox, Sevier or Blount County Tennessee and want in person help with a project like this, drop me an email. As a Stampin' Up! independent demonstrator that is part of what I do. Outside of East Tennessee I can put you in touch with another demonstrator to help you. 

Promotion Time

A really good promotion on My paper Pumpkin this month. If you haven't heard of it, Paper Pumpkin is a monthly subscription for papercraft fun. Every month you get stamps ink and paper and other sundry accesories in the mail  to make a new project. It's like having your own mini workshop at home. Subscription cost is usually $19.99 but you can sign up now using the promo code Pumpkindeal and get your first two months for only $10.00 each plus tax.

Don't forget to choose me (Rachel Phelps) as your demonstrator. 

Hand Made Notebooks

I'm really proud of how well these little notebooks turned out. Can you tell by how large I made the pictures? If you have a sewing machine and can sew a straight line you can make these. I will definitely be holding a workshop to let people give it a try. If you are in Knoxville and want to attend shoot me a comment or email. the workshop will be in September. Plenty of time to make a bunch for stocking stuffers or as Christmas gifts for teachers.  Stamp sets accessories are listed below

Stamps:
Flower Shop
Best of Butterflies

Accessories
Pansy Punch
Chevron embossing folder
Fancy Fan embossing folder

Goodbye Parquet Tile!

Every DIY home project takes longer than I want but after its over I think that wasn't so bad. Its my short term memory problem that allows me to start looking for the next project. For the moment however, I'm just relaxing and enjoying having a functional kitchen with an intact floor again. Here are the Before and After shots. And I promise some paper craft posts coming soon.

Washi what?

I will be the first to admit I'm not always on the cutting edge of what's hot in the craft world .OK not in  technology or fashion or music either but I will come around eventually. So if you are like me you may not have seen or even heard of Washi Tape. It originated in Japan and has the feel of thin masking tape. It comes in lovely colors and designs and you can really dress up a card or scrapbook page quickly with it. Here are a couple of cards with washi tape

 washi tape set: Gingham Garden
Stamp sets:
Flower Shop
Simply Sketched
Best of Greetings

BBC fans?

Two important discoveries today. First, July is paper sale month at Stampin' Up! You can get a free pack of paper for every three sets you buy. NO Limit. so if you go crazy and buy 9 you get 3 free.  Here is the flyer or CLICK HERE to go directly to my store. The sale includes all packs priced $10.95

Second, but perhaps more importantly the sale includes this paper set. Take careful note of the design on top row center. It isn't a perfect match but close enough that I made a little squee noise that drew the eye roll of my husband. 

If you are not a BBC fan let me clue you in. Here is a shot of Sherlock and Watson in their living room at 221b Baker street in the series Sherlock. You can expect to see some Sherlock themed cards from me soon. 

creative wrapping

Paper craft tools are just perfect for creative present wrapping. I used to spend a lot on gift bags and wrapping paper but now I just pull out my stamps, grab some tissue paper and get creative. This is a gift for a co-worker of my husband. She is having a baby. I didn't know the gender so yellow will do just fine. The stamp set and punch I used are available individually  or get them as a set at 15% discount.

Stamp set: Flower Shop

Punch: Pansy Punch

Stamp/Punch bundle

Gingham Garden Washi tape

Summer vacation

Why does summer seem to be so much busier than the rest of the year? I have not been to yoga class for five weeks but I made up for it this week doing construction work or rather demolition work.  The old 80's parquet tile in the kitchen and hall is gone. It took the better part of three days and some very sore muscles on my part but it is finally gone. Now I just have to level the floor and install my new laminate. That will be a snap right?.....we'll see.

Demolition doesn't leave much time for crafting. Fortunately for my creative needs I was lucky enough to be invited to a get together with my upline this weekend. That motivated me to design one card for a swap. The swap was to feature new products or colors and this is the result.

Colors are from 2012-2014 In Color collection

Primrose Petals and Midnight Muse

Stamp sets are

Best of Butterflies

Best of Birthdays

Featured new product is the Modern Mosaic embossing folder

Wave the flag

Over the past week I spent so much time getting ready for a local con there was not much paper craft going on at my house. You can roll over to Fanboy Expo if you want to know what had me so distracted. You can also check out Geek Con Coverage on Facebook for event photos.  With that in mind I did manage to come up with one card design I felt was worth photographing. Ta-Da!

It has a vintage feel that reminds me of the Bicentennial celebration back in 1976. 

Supplies

Whisper White card stock

Baked brown sugar card stock

Midnight Muse card stock

Raspberry Ripple stampin' pad

Stampin' Spritzer

Chevron embossing folder

To make this card emboss your bakes brown sugar card stock with the chevron pattern then drag the Raspberry ripple stampin' pad across the face of the embossed paper to create this great slightly uneven look. If you wanted a more uniform coverage using a brayer would be the way to go but I think the color variation adds to the vintage feel here. Next to create the stars fill a stampin' spritzer with 1/2 water and 1/2 bleach.( I used Clorox brand because that's what I use around the house.) spray onto the Midnight Muse card stock over a bleach safe surface. the more you spray the more stars you will have. I had to play around with that a bit as I over sprayed a few times and ended up with too much white.  

That is all there is to it. Now you just glue and mail it out to wish someone a happy Independence day. 

Spring Topiary

Last week working with vellum on one of my cards gave me an idea for a decor project. Here it is. A Rainbow colored butterfly topiary. Many times my brilliant ideas turn out to be lots of work and a great big mess all over the dining room table for a week that gets transferred directly to the trash. Once in a while they work. That is what keeps me crafting.

These are really easy and can be completed in just a couple of hours. First step is stamping the butterflies in black ink on vellum. give them couple of minutes to dry. Next color half  your stamped images using Stampin' Up! ink and blender pens in you choice of colors. Then cut out all your images and glue colored butterflies on top of the uncolored ones. Finally affix butterflies to a pre-made topiary, wreath or other decor item of your choice. I picked up the top ball and pot at a floral supply store and the stick came from my back yard.

supplies I used are:

Vellum

Best of Butterflies

Blender Pens

Stampin' Up! ink

1/2 inch Seam binding ribbon

Swarm of Butterflies

I knew this was going to be a great stamp set. This week I went butterfly crazy again with the Best of  25 years butterfly set available here
When you stamp on vellum and color from the reverse side the result is a beautiful, life-like image. After creating this card I have a surprise up my sleeve for a home decor project using the same technique. Check back in a few weeks for that one.

Stamped on Vellum and colored using Stampin' Up! ink and Blender pens

Here is a simple yet sophisticated card suitable for sending to anyone but particularly a father or husband or son who doesn't like all the frills. A butterfly card for a man. Yep I just did that. If i were sending this to my sister I would just change up the colors for something more pastel and add a little bling to each of the butterflies.

Use Stamp-a-ma-jig to line up stamps perfectly

Next up is another masculine example with butterflies. This one is for a young man who is graduating  high school this weekend. It's such a great feeling to be able to give a card you made with care rather than just something you bought. Both the butterflies and the word "congrats" are stamped using ink that matches the card stock color. I love the tone on tone look. One of the best bargains for beginning stampers is to buy a set of card stock and stamp pads together. I recommend the In-Color collection as a good place to start. The colors in these collections are changed every two years so you know they won't look outdated.

2012-2014 In-color collection
Two colors from the collection are featured below, Midnight Muse and Summer Starfruit.

Multiple embossed elements add depth to the image

Finally this is the most simple but perhaps the most elegant card of the week.  Done completely in Whisper white and Basic black card stock with Basic black ink for the stamps; this card is also for a specific event. My brother is getting married and nothing says wedding like black and white. 

Kitchen Craft

This week I took a very short break from stamping to refurbish an old iron skillet. Baking is my greatest kitchen love and I understand from my mother there is no greater pineapple upsidedown cake than one made with an iron skillet.  My father gave me this old one some time back and it sat in the trunk of my car for a couple of months along with several other "some day" projects I have there. As you can see it needed quite a lot of work.

After a web search, the best instructions I found for the project were here ( I Believe I Can Fry) and involved using oven cleaner. After three days I was impatient and just scrubbed off the remaining residue with steel wool. It turned out fine and is now ready for baking cornbread.

Best of Butterflies

I am seriously loving working with this set of butterfly stamps. Rather than stick to just cards this week, I branched out and decorated a few candles. These are amazingly easy and make great teacher gifts. you can use any smooth pillar candles. scented, unscented wax or soy. you simply stamp on tissue paper then transfer the image using a wax paper overlay and your Stampin' Up! heat tool. (available here) As you can see on the top candle using more than one color is no problem and fine details show up very well.  If you are in the Knoxville, Tennessee area and want to learn this technique for free, Just call or email to schedule a date for your own workshop.

Best of 25 years

 Last week's blog post featured stamps from the sets Best of Love and Best of Flowers. I put up links to the sets but didn't really talk about the promotion so here you go. To celebrate their 25th Anniversary, Stampin' Up! is making some favorite retired stamps available for a limited time. This Is my Favorite promotion because it allows you to get some great stamps as a really great price. All sets are priced at $14.95. And when you buy six sets you earn a Free set of your choice from the collection. A new set is introduced every month and they will only be available until March of 2014.

This week I receive my Best of Butterflies set. I'm really looking forward to working with that one so check back to see how that turns out.

Available online or by calling 865-219-3181

January Best of Birthdays

April Best of Butterflies

Open House

We had so much fun and creativity floating around at the open house on Saturday. This was a card I designed to demonstrate how you can use some of the stamps from the Best Of 25 Years line. I love being able to get my hands on some retired stamps and I really love being able to earn a free set for just buying the sets I want.

When my guests arrived they really steped it up and made some amazing variations on the theme. I can't wait to see what my next event will come up with. 

Stamp sets used: 

Best of Flowers

Best of Love

Colors used:

Verry Vanilla

Rich Razzleberry

So Saffron

Basic Gray