Dazzling Diamond Dust Birthday

My step-sister and her husband have birthdays this month. He's plenty-nine, she's a few years younger but plenty-nine, too. Actually, I think it's kind of funny. There was a time when they were quite a bit older than me. Now we're all the same age. This is her card, tomorrow I'll show you his.

I've always wanted to try a lot of different techniques, but never quite got myself going. My secret sister requested things made in different techniques, so I'm making her a book of technique cards, so all of the cards I'm making for the next few weeks will feature different techniques. This card features "Dazzling Diamond Dust", a beautiful sparkly but very sparkly technique. Unfortunately, the scanner doesn't do it justice. To make the focal image, stamp your image with classic ink on whisper white cardstock. Cover the piece of cardstock with Versamark, then pour Iridescent Ice embossing powder generously over it, then use your heat tool to heat it until it shines. Make sure your Versamark pad is clean, the first one I did had pink spots on it.

To make this particular card you need: Stamp Sets: Garden Silhouettes, Hugs and Wishes. Cardstock: Whisper White, Old Olive, Lavender Lace. Ink: Lavendar Lace classic ink, Versamark. Markers: Lavender Lace, Old Olive, Summer Sun. Accessories: sponge, Old Olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon.

Stamping is Always Time Well Spent

Shelli Gardner, owner and co-founder of Stampin' Up, and a very sweet lady, recently sent all demos a gift - a Level 3 hostess stamp set from the upcoming catalog, Time Well Spent. It's a really pretty set, a little on the doodly side, with flowers, a butterfly and a heart and some cute sentiments. I needed to make one more card for my Secret Sister this month and couldn't resist using it. Here's a sneak peak.

It uses Cameo Coral, So Saffron and Tempting Turquoise cardstock and markers, and Cameo Coral, Tempting Turquoise and Basic Black classicinks. It doesn't show well in the scan, but the So Saffron dots and five inside petals have Crystal Effects on them to add dimension and shine. This color combination is straight from the Color Coach, which is a tool I could not function without, and I really like the way it turned out.

The new catalog coming out in January has some really gorgeous stuff in it. I'm really glad my birthday is not to long after the catalog comes out, as I know I'm going to need a lot from it. Call or e-mail me to reserve your copy of the catalog or reserve a date for a workshop!

An Apology, and A Card for You

I ran into a friend on Halloween who commented on the fact that I haven't updated my blog for a really long time. I couldn't decide to whether to be apologetic or excited. Excited because now I know someone actually reads my blog, or apologetic because I haven't posted for so long. So, I'm offering a public apology to Perry and anyone else who's missed my posts, and I'll just smile to myself while I post this next card.



This card is for my DDSS (a Secret Sister for SU Demonstrators on SCS), so I hope she doesn't read my blog. Her favorite color is turquoise. It's not a color I use a lot, so it was hard to come up with something. I started with a sketch I found on SCS (SC 142, but I changed it quite a bit) and played with my Color Coach to find a color combination I liked. I wasn't real impressed with it's recommendations for turquoise, so I looked around for a combination turquoise as a coordinating color and found this. It's Green Galore with coordinating colors Garden Green, Rose Red and Tempting Turquoise. A simple card, but I like it. And amazingly, my daughter likes the color combination and she usually doesn't like the Color Coach combinations.

Stamps: Fabulous Flowers, Background Sampler, Itty Bitty Backgrounds. Card stock: Tempting Turquoise, Garden Green, Green Galore, Whisper White. Ink: Regal Rose, Rose Red, Green Galore, Taken with Teal and Versamark. Accessories: Tempting Turquoise 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, clear embossing powder, glitter, liquid glue and stamping dimensionals. The flower is Regal Rose rocked with Rose Red, then the petals are highlighted with liquid glue and glitter.

Hope you like it!