National Scrapbooking Month!

Happy Friday, everyone!  I'm super excited  to share our newest promotion for the month of May, which just happens to be National Scrapbooking Month.  Yes, I know it's still April, but it's ALWAYS a good time to scrapbook, amirite?

Starting today, and throughout the entire month of May, you'll recieve 30% off selected stamp sets and digital download bundles.  I am SOO psyched to see the sets that are on sale... here's some of my favorites:

Simple Friendship:

Simple Friendship

I already own this set and can tell you, the butterfly is my go-to butterfly stamp.  I also adore the handscripted "True Friend" sentiment... it's hard to find sentiments in this style of font - believe me, i've tried! My May series of classes will be featuring a card using this very stamp set, so stay tuned for that reveal next week!  Purchase this wood-mount set for $18.17 (regular price: $25.95).

Word Play:

Word Play

I've wanted this set since it first came out, but I had a hard time squeezing it into my budget. Now that it's 30% off, IT WILL BE MINE!  Purchase the wood-mount set for $29.37 (Regular price: $41.95) or the clear-mount set for $20.27 (Regular price: $28.95).

Printed Petals:

Printed Petals

I seriously can't get enough of flowers (that's a no-brainer and is obvious by looking at my portfolio of projects ;-).  The only thing I like more than flowers is flowers with coordinating punches!  As such, this set is a must-have in my book. Purchase the wood-mount set for $13.97 (Regular price: $19.95) or the clear-mount set for $10.47 (Regular price: $14.95).

Party Hearty

Party Hearty

This birthday set has it all!  Fun hats, cupcakes, great sentiments and a little coordinating tag - if you need a birthday set to suit a wide age-range, this set is for you!  Purchase the wood-mount set for $18.87 (Regular price: $26.95).

Grunge Rock

Grunge Rock

Grunge is in, especially in the world of scrapbooking. This set will help you "rock-on" with a great background, fun wordy accents, and of course, A GUITAR! Purchase the wood-mount set for $14.67 (Regular price: $20.95) or the clear-mount set for $11.17 (Regular price: $15.95).

Animal Stories

Animal Stories

What baby or child layout wouldn't be complete without fun animals?  Stamp them in pastel colors for a nursery theme, or more vibrant hues for kids and toddlers.  So cute!
Purchase the wood-mount set for $11.17 (Regular price: $15.95).

Sweet Shop Alphabet (lowercase)

Sweet Shoppe Lowercase Alphabet

Here's a fun, clean and curly alphabet to accent your pages. Use a Stamp-a-ma-jig to help you with positioning of your individual letters, but even if your letters are a bit askew, this alphabet will look great! Purchase the wood-mount set for $22.37 (Regular price: $31.95) or the clear-mount set for $16.77 (Regular price: $23.95).

There's also a bunch of digital download sets for sale at fantastic prices, but more on that in another post.

Happy Stamping!!! (and scrapping ;-).
Michey

Black and White and Red All Over

It's been awhile since I've made a card that's just for me.  I've been spending so much time planning projects for my girls that I haven't really had time to craft "just for me", you know?

Well, in the midst of designing a project for my May classes, I was struck with inspiration!  So I ask you, what's black and white and red all over?  (Hint, it's not a newspaper and it's not a skunk in a blender...)

My inspiration for this piece started when I broke open my Love Letter DSP in the process of planning a May class project (those of you that are signed up will see what that's all about on May 1 ;-)

I fashioned the flower embellishment using a technique I picked up at the Baltimore Regional last fall using 1 1/4" striped grosgrain (this one is in Riding Hood Red from the clearance rack and is an absolute STEAL at only $1.99 per roll), layered with Victoria Ribbon using the same technique.  After each layer was sewn and gathered together individually, they were both fastened together with an Antique Brad.

Here's a closeup :

For the background, I pulled out my beloved and retired French Script background stamp (for a currently-available alternative, check out En Francais.)  I stamped the background in Versamark and Chalked it with my Stampin Pastels in Very Vanilla - to see this better, click on the first picture to enlarge the photo to see more detail.

This card also uses my oh-so-favorite Cherry blossoms from the Easter Blossoms set in the occasions mini.  April is the last month of the Occasions mini, so if you don't get this stamp set now, you may never have another opportunity.

Anywho, toss in a mishmash of a few of my favorite reds (Riding Hood Red cardstock, Poppy Parade Marker and Cherry Cobbler ink for the sentiment), and some Basic Pearls and this card is done!

I'm finding it's really a challenge striking a balance between the business side of crafting and the personal side of it.  I'm really happy I took some time out from the planning and kitting to make this card that is so very "Michey".  Looking at it makes me smile and serves as a little reminder to not forget the "me time".

Thanks for looking!
Michey


Details:  
Products available for purchase from me from Stampin Up

Stamps: Easter Blossoms, Something to Celebrate, French Script (retired)
Paper: Love Letter DSP, Riding Hood Red, Basic Black, Very Vanilla
Ink: Versamark, Basic Black, Poppy Parade Marker, Cherry Cobbler (sentiment)
Accessories: Stampin Pastels, 1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain in Riding Hood Red, Victoria Crochet Trim, Antique Brads.

Butterfly Easel Card Tutorial

Many of you asked "How'd she do dat?" when I first showed you the butterfly easel card last week.  Well, here's a tutorial I whipped together that will show you how simple this is and will encourage you to pull out that Beautiful Butterfly Bigz die and give it a shot!  (as in Big Shot ;-)

First off, here's the finished card. This tutorial will only cover how to make the easel part of the card... you'll then have a blank canvas to embellish and decorate it as you please ;-)

To start, you'll need 2 pieces of cardstock -  i'm using So Saffron.

One piece should measure 3.5" x 6" and one should measure 3.5" x 3". These measurements are just a little bit on the generous side, once you get the hang of cutting them out, you can trim them to be just a bit smaller to save on your precious cardstock.

Take your 3.5" x 3" piece and run it through the bigshot using the Beautiful Butterfly Bigz Die. You'll be cutting out the larger of the two whole butterflies. Set this whole butterfly aside.

Take your 3.5"x 6" piece and score it at the 3" mark. Fold on the score line and what you'll have is a double layer 3.5" x 3" piece with a fold at the top. This fold will eventually be your "hinge" for the easel card base (more on that later).

I've done some creative photoshopping here to show you how to cut out the next piece. The red outline in the photo above illustrates the cutmarks of the die. Position your folded piece of cardstock so that the fold is just below the top of the wings. This will ensure that when you cut your two layers of cardstock, they will still be joined together along the fold line, forming a hinge.

After you have run this through the bigshot, notice that you have 2 diecut layers with a "hinge" at the top joining them together. Neat, eh? Don't worry that the tips of this little guy's wings have been "flattened". When all is said and done, his flattened wings will be hidden from view ;-)

Unfold your little twin butterflies so they lay flat. In this photo, i've put a dotted line to illustrate the fold line that is already there.

Create a new score line as indicated in the photo, which happens to be at the 1" mark. Be sure to only score one of the two twin butterflies, we want to leave one nice and flat.

Now it's time to tape this little guy up! You'll only be applying adhesive below your score line (see photo for details). Once you've decorated your "whole" butterfly that you've previously set aside, you can then line him up ontop of his glued brother and fasten them together.

(This next part is the hardest to describe, so hopefully looking at a photo of the finished product will be enough >.<) To finish off your easel and make it "stand up", fold along your score lines. You want to make sure you are folding away from the decorated butterfly front that you attached in the previous step. You'll know you've folded it correctly if by looking at your folded piece from the side, you see a triangle. Here's a photo of the side view of my finished piece. This should give you an idea of how the score lines work:

You might have to mush down on all your score lines with a bone folder to keep him from opening up on you, but by and large he'll stand on his own two feet wings! Voilà! You've created your easel!  

And, here's the finished piece once again!

I hope you found this tutorial helpful!  I'll include my supply list below on how I got this all decorated up, but if you have any question, just let me know.

Thanks for reading!
Michey

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Stamps: Just Believe, Punch Potpourri, French Script (retired)
Paper: So Saffron, Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry
Ink: So Saffron, Pear Pizzaaz, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Beautiful Butterflies Die, Boho Blossoms Punch, Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents

Blog Candy Winner!

Thanks to everyone for your constructive feedback about how you like to find your way around blogs and websites!  You all gave me so wonderful things to dwell on, and you even confirmed a suspicion or two I already had, so I'd say this blog candy was definitely worth it!

The randomly chosen winner of the Ice Cream Parlor blog candy is.....

Eileen!

Congratulations!  Eileen, please email me at michey1st@gmail.com  with your address and I'll put your goodies in the mail for you early next week.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and HAPPY FRIDAY!

Michey

Raising Kindness and Blog Candy Reminder

Ever since Bronwyn Eastley's Butterfly Easel Card, fluttered its way into my life, I knew I had to make one of my very own.

Michey's Note:  I've gotten a ton of questions about how I made this, so I'll be posting a tutorial for how I did the easel part of this card over the weekend so please check back for more details.

I wish I could say this little fella just kinda "happened" but I've actually been thinking about him for the better part of 2 weeks ^.^  His body, cut from multiple layers of the Beautiful Butterly Bigz die, came together last week, more like a "proof of concept" and "can I do it?" sort of deal, and once I got him all cut, folded, and, um, butterflied, he sat on my studio table pretty much nekkid for more than a week.

Don't worry, he didn't catch a cold or anything, and he didn't have any ribbon on him, so the cats pretty much left him alone ;-)  He's finally dressed now, thanks to that delectable flourish and appropriate sentiment from the Vintage Vogue stamp set and he even made some friends with the gang from the Beautiful Butterflies Embosslit.

This little card fits nicely in SU's Mini Square Envelopes, but I kinda think these would be cute as Placecard Holders for a fancy shmancy dinner, or even as a little thank-you gift to a hostess.

Finally, a little bit of administrative stuff: don't forget to leave me your feedback on this post for a chance to win some Retired Ice Cream Parlor Paper, Ribbons and Buttons! I read each and every one of your comments, over and over again and they always make me smile =)

Thanks for fluttering by!!
Michey

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Stamps: Vintage Vogue
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Whisper White
Ink: Versamark, Basic Gray
Accessories: Beautiful Butterflies Die, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, White Embossing Powder, Jewelry Tag Punch

Ice Cream Parlor Blog Candy for Your Thoughts

Happy Monday, Papery Peeps!  I have to admit, I'm not really feeling like setting foot in my studio *quite* yet.  I'm enjoying a few days away from my craft room after the flurry of crafty fun I experienced over the weekend.  Do you guys ever go through periods of downtime like that?

Don't get me wrong, I have a fun little idea percolating in the back of my mind, I just wasn't *quite* ready to settle down and start working on it, you know?

Anywho, the upshot of all this free time is that:

1. I don't really have anything new and crafty to share (boo!), 
2. I do have a new facebook fan page (yay!), feel free to click *like* over there in the left column =) and...
3. I do have a question for all you loyal followers and commenters for a chance to win some blog candy (DOUBLE YAY!).

Loyal Followers:  Michey, get to the question already, we want CANDY!
Michey: Ok ok, geez, you guys mean business! ;-) So...

When you browse around on the blogosphere, how do you navigate around when you arrive at someone's blog?  Do you use the long list of links that they may have along the sidebar, do you jump around the related posts to see what other projects they've worked on? What do you find works best for you?

I'm working on a redo of my happy little blogging home (yeah, I know, I really only *started* blogging and already I want to improve things... I can't help it, it's in my nature! >.<), and I want to focus my efforts on creating something that is pleasing for you to look at, but also pleasing for you to use, so I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts!  Now's your chance to tell me how you *really* feel ;-)

There *may* even be a little blog candy for one lucky commenter, but you didn't hear that from me...

As luck would have it, I have a 6x6 pack of Ice Cream Parlor paper, ribbons, and buttons that is burning a hole in my pocket, so one lucky commenter will get to take it off my hands! If you missed this cute set during Sale-a-Bration, now's your chance to see what all the fuss was about!

Just leave a comment on this post (hopefully answering my blog-browsing question, but if you'd rather just chat about random things, that's fine too ;-) between now and Thursday at 5 PM to be entered for a chance to win.

Anywho, hope you all had a creative day!  I certainly did, but it wasn't with paper or ink ;-)

Thanks for taking the time to share your blog travelling experiences with me!

michey

Class Recap and Lessons Learned: Part 2

Yesterday I teased you all with 2 of the cards we made in my April 2 class.  Well, now that it's April 3, how appropriate that I show you the other three? ;-)

I first designed this card without the butterflies, and it made me go "meh".  THANK GOODNESS my Beautiful Wings Embosslit arrived in time, because once I added the butterflies and the pearl centers (there's another little butterfly hanging out on the inside of the card as well), my heart went pitterpatter ;-)  At that point, I knew this card was class-worthy.

This card showcases the big shot.  Thanks to the Top Note die and the Manhattan Flower Embossing Folder, It came together super fast and with a minimum of effort.  It's hard to tell but the Top Note piece has been glittered up with Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz (although in hindsight, I probably won't be using that again in a class setting - see below for some lessons learned).

Here's the token Easter card of the day.  I did give people the choice of instead using the "Sending Springtime Smiles" sentiment from the Easter Blossoms set, but by and large, everyone went with Easter.  This card also features the Dotted Scallop Border Punch, which i'll touch on in a bit.

Lessons Learned

Now that my first class is under my belt, here's a few little tidbits I walked away with.

1. Border Patrol -  Border punches in a classroom setting can be problematic.  I think next time, I'll either use ribbon or just straight strips of cardstock.  Trying to teach folks the ins and outs of lining up the border punch while 94824983 other things were going on was kinda tough.

2. Save the Smooches for another day - I mean smooch spritz!  What were you thinking?!? ;-)  The smoooch spritz caused the whisper white cardstock to buckle while it was still wet.  As I was making the sample card, I blasted it with a heat gun to speed things along, but I didn't want to bombard folks with too many tools, so I kept the heat gun holstered.  This caused people to have to wait for their smooch spritz to dry, which slowed them down.  I think next time, I'll just use Shimmer paper instead.

3. Block Party - Note to self: GET MORE ACRYLIC BLOCKS!  I've transitioned to mostly clear-mount stamps, which works GREAT for me, but for my classes, it means constantly switching out stamps.  The few wood sets that I do have were a godsend yesterday, but moving forward, I need to stock up on certain sizes of Acrylic Blocks.

4. Keep it Simple, Stampers - Its hard - I mean REALLY hard, for me to put myself in the shoes of a new stamper.  Stuff that comes second nature to me after doing this for so long is completely foreign to a novice papercrafter.  I do think some of the projects I did were a bit challenging for the new girls, but they did wonderfully, so in the end it's all good.  I think next time I'm going to give the new girls an earlier start, or possibly their own class entirely, so I can give them individualized attention.

5. Don't sweat the small stuff - No amount of planning and forethought is enough to make sure every teeny tiny detail is accounted for, so don't stress about it.  I totally forgot to do the giveaway I had planned - there was just too much going on - and my camera sat forgotten in the corner the whole time. Meh!  In the end, I had fun, and my girls did too, so perhaps we'll do a giveaway next time, with photos to prove it ;-)

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Just for You

Stamps: Afterthoughts
Paper: River Rock, Always Artichoke, Rose Red, Springtime Vintage DSP
Ink: River Rock, Rose Red
Accessories: Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Basic Pearls

Happy Birthday

Stamps - Perfect Punches

Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White

Ink: Rich Razzleberry

Accessories: Rich Razzleberry 1/8" taffeta ribbon, Manhattan Flower Embossing Folder, Decorative Label Punch, 2 x 1 3/8 Oval Punch, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz

Happy Easter

Stamps - Easter Blossoms

Paper: Baja Breeze, Springtime Vintage DSP, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla

Ink: Stazon Jet Black

Accessories: Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch

Class Recap: Part 1

Well, my first class is over and yowzers, I'm pooped!  It was well worth the effort because I had a blast and I think my guests did to, so i'll file this event under the category of "awesomesauce" =)

I'm incredibly proud of my stampers!  I had some never-stamped-before gals and they caught on quickly and were eager to learn!  I hope I was able to give them the attention they needed, because I felt like I was pulled in 15 directions at once for awhile there >.<

Anywho, here's some of the projects we made:

I think this card was the hit of the afternoon. After completing it, everyone really seemed pleased with their results, and with how easy it came together.  I even got a few "Wow"s from the new stampers!  This is one of those cards that looks complicated but once you sit down and do it, it's not hard at all.

I gave people the choice of sentiment for this card.  Some people chose Happy Mother's Day as shown, others went with Happy Easter and I think someone also might have turned this into a birthday card.  Offering this choice helped people to make a card that they found most useful for their needs.

Here's another one we made:

For this card, I gave everyone a choice of Thank-You's from the Thank You Kindly set.  It's always interesting to see which stamps people gravitate towards.  One gal stamped the thank-you on the left side instead and did some background flourishes in blue to add interest.  I LOVE seeing people switch things up to suit their tastes because oftentimes it's something I never would have thought of myself!

So, those are the first 2 cards we did.  Tune in tomorrow for part 2 to see the rest of the cards we made, plus some lessons learned from my first event.

Thanks for stopping by!
Michey

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Cherry Blossom Card:

Stamps: Easter Blossoms, Something to Celebrate
Paper: Blushing Bride, Early Espresso
Ink: Early Espresso
Accessories: Framed Tulips Embossing Folder, Whisper White 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon

Thank You Card:

Stamps: Easter Blossoms, Thank You Kindly
Paper: Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy, Paisley Petals DSP
Ink: Versamark, Not Quite Navy
Accessories: 1 1/4 and 1 3/8 Square Punches, Linen Thread