Cards of Love

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day. How about you? My dear husband and I gave each other homemade cards. He made me a card that had pictures from each year of our five years together. Very sweet! Here's the card I gave him. I have to say, it's one of my favorite cards I've ever made. I made it a couple years ago, and I couldn't bear to give it away.

It uses a retired stamp set called Sweet of You, and a background called Handstitched. This was my first attempt at stitching on a card, and I have to say it's not too shabby. It's hard to tell, but I used Crystal Effects on the cake dome to make it look like glass. I love this color combination, too - close to cocoa, Chocolate Chip, and Regal Rose. Just sounds like Valentine's Day, doesn't it?



I have also been playing with my new A Little Birdie Told Me stamp set. Here's a wedding card I made for a swap with the PhillyInkers. I used a fun fold to showcase the 2-part sentiment. I have also used this set to make birthday cards. There's an itty birthday party hat with this set too. I gave those all away before I scanned a sample. Guess I'll just have to make some more!

This card uses:
A Little Birdie Told Me Stamp Set
Brocade Blue, Basic Black, and Confetti cardstock (recycled!)
Black Staz-On Ink
Brocade Blue and Sahara Sand classic ink pads
AquaPainter for watercoloring

Thankful Thoughts

I just received the Thoroughly Thankful stamp set in the mail. This set is part of Stampin' Up's Fall Frenzy promotion. Here's a draft of a card I plan to send to our family members who will be joining us for Thanksgiving this year. It uses Really Rust, Old Olive, and Summer Sun cardstock. I watercolored the images using the AquaPainter on confetti cardstock. I tied it all off using some Hemp Twine. I think it might look even better with some background stamping on the Really Rust cardfront. on What do you think?

Christmas in August Stamp Camp

I hosted a Christmas in August Stamp Camp last weekend, and we had lots of fun listening to Charlie Brown Christmas music and making Christmas cards. Here's a sampling of some of the projects we made. I am considering offering the class again this weekend, since some people have been out of town and such. Let me know if you would be interested by e-mailing me at events@shilohstamps.com.

Christmas in August Stamp Camp would also be a great opportunity to take advantage of the Christmas in August special and get a head start on those Christmas cards this year. Here are some more examples of Christmas cards.

This is a pop-up tent card. The tree pops up when it's standing up. We used watercolor paper, staz-on ink, and the aquapainter to paint the tree from Year After Year. The polka-dots on the bottom are from the Dashing designer series paper.

This sparkly Merry Christmas card was inspired by a card I made at a stamp camp a few years back. On this card, we used an image from In The Spotlight as the snowflake, stamped with Encore silver metallic ink. Then we laid a stripe of Sticky Strip across the top and sprinked the whole card with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. The glitter sticks to the sticky strip and the Encore ink. We topped it off with a Merry Christmas tag from the Holidays and Wishes set and tied it with a white grosgrain ribbon. Warning - this card is messy (but fun) to make. Be sure you have a Powder Pal so you don't get glitter everywhere!

This Merry & Bright card uses a set from the new Holiday Mini catalog. It's a Love Note (3"x3") so it's super-quick to make. Stampin' Up is giving away free Love Notes this month when you order the Three for You Punch set. See this post for another Love Note example that uses the punches.

Christmas card ideas from my stack of samples

Here are a bunch of Christmas card samples, to get you thinking about how you can take advantage of the Shiloh Stamps Early Christmas Special. I want to help you make homemade Christmas cards early this year, so I've thought about what could be most helpful. If you order a stamp set, cardstock, adhesive, envelopes, and embellishments (everything you need to make your Christmas cards), then I will mount your stamps, cut your cardstock into cards, and make you a page of custom return address labels. The last day to place an order is August 29th. E-mail me at alison@shilohstamps.com for more information.

If you would like to try out some new stamp sets (including some from the new Holiday Mini) and work together to design your Christmas cards, sign up to attend my Christmas in August Stamp Camp. I have one spot open for Friday evening and a few spots open for Saturday afternoon. Let me know ASAP if you would like to participate.

This was our Christmas card last year. It opens in the middle and uses the tree from the Loads of Love stamp set. It also uses the stipple brush for some shading. I made this card at an in-home workshop the previous year, and loved it. My generous stamping friends loaned some of the supplies I needed for this card. I liked Loads of Love so much, I wound up ordering it for myself!

This was Claire's Christmas card last year. It uses the City of David stamp set. I love how she put the Luke 2:11 scripture on the back of the card. She used markers to color in the star and palm trees on the front.

I made this card at an in-home workshop I attended last year. I love this color combination - mellow moss, always artichoke, and whisper white. It uses The Snowflake Spot stamp set. Hemp twine is one of lowest-priced embellishments, so this is a more cost-effective card.

I made this card at a Stamp Camp I attended at Claire's house years ago. This may have been one of the first stamping events I tried. This card uses a cool technique with glossy cardstock and reinkers. I would be glad to show you this technique.

My husband loves the blue and chrome color combination, so this may be his favorite card I've ever made. These silver snowflakes are raised up using a technique called embossing. It's lots of fun, and it looks fabulous!

This card uses a beautiful stamp set that is now retired. It also uses the crimper, my new favorite tool. I love how artistic this card looks with the splotchy paint look in the background. It's a stamp set called Itty Bitty Backgrounds.

This card was made by another stamper - Yolanda Croucher. When I signed up to be a demonstrator, Claire let me pick some cards out of her stash of samples. This is one of the cards I chose. I'm guessing she got this card through a swap.

This may be the first Stampin' Up card I ever made. I attended a Stamp Camp at Claire's house, and she had a drawing to give away her hostess benefits that night. I won! I got to order all sorts of goodies for free, and I was hooked!

Birthday Fun

So today is my 30th birthday. I know, I know, it's hard to believe.

Well, just the other day I had a bunch of stampers over to make birthday calendars. See, one of my goals is to be better about sending birthday cards and gifts on time. So I made this birthday calendar to help me remember. I'm going to hang it on the wall in my craft room so that I will have cards on the ready when needed. My mom and my grandma are both really great about sending birthday cards. They send out all their birthday cards for the month on the 1st day of the month. So if your b-day is the 20th, you're getting a card early. If it's on the 1st, it may be a bit late. What a novel idea, though. I have lots of friends with August birthdays, so this month is a good time to start the new habit.

These are some samples of birthday cards we made together (and matching envelopes).

There's also some samples of pages from the birthday calendar we made together. If you'd like a birthday calendar of your own, let me know. I would be glad to show you how I decorated mine, or I could decorate one for you (for a small fee, of course). Sorry for the white boxes in the photos. I didn't think to take photos before I started writing everyone's birthdays on my calendar!

June - with watercolor mortarboards. The AquaPainter works well in the calendar since it has thicker paper. Otherwise, the moisture makes thinner paper curl. Watercolor paper is on my wishlist!



July - Jon was excited to see me doing a patriotic theme. I think these stars almost look like denim - very Americana.













May - I love these flowers in Year After Year. They're so versatile, and they're easy to color in with markers.









October - These pumpkins are watercolored in Really Rust with the AquaPainter. These colors are so vivid!

Just a little something + fun with punches!

Here's another card we made at my recent Open House. I like how the polka-dots on the card coordinate with the ladybug polka-dots. It's super-easy to make, and involves very little stamping and coloring. You just punch out circles of cardstock to make the polka dots (using the 3/4" circle punch), then stamp the greeting, cut it in a perfect square with the square punch, it in using the blender pens, and then attach some gingham ribbon! I also like to stamp something special on the back as a "Hallmark" signature.

Some of the supplies:

• Figures of Speech stamp set
  
• 3/4 inch circle punch
• square punch
  
• blender pens
  
• gingham ribbon
• I Did It stamp set

Stampin' Tip: Did you know that you can align images in punches pefectly by just turning the punch over? For example, instead of punching out the square in this card first and then trying to line up the stamp perfectly in the center, you can stamp the image first and then punch it out.

Open House invitations - 3 versions

So I'm having an Open House at our new house on June 30. We'll be celebrating the launch of my new stamping business by making cards, winning door prizes, and checking out the new catalog. If you'd more details, e-mail me using the Contact Me button at the right.

Which card do you like best? I always make a few versions to have my options open. It's interesting how a card design evolves after you work with it a while.

Supplies:

• Right at Home stamp set - (retiring June 30!)
• Itty Bitty Backgrounds stamp set
• buckaroo blue cardstock
• so saffron cardstock
• barely banana cardstock
• chocolate chip cardstock
• whisper white cardstock
• basic black classic stamp pad
• real red classic stamp pad
• buckaroo blue classic stamp pad
• chocolate chip classic stamp pad
• so saffron classic stamp pad
• blender pens
• AquaPainter
• mellow moss marker
• hemp twine
  

happy together - anniversary card, 3 different versions

My parents (35 years together), grandparents (60+ years together!), and sister/brother-in-law (4 years together) all recently celebrated anniversaries, so I'm sending this belated card. What a legacy of long marriages! My husband and I recently celebrated 3 years of marriage. We are thankful for this family legacy.

Supplies:

• A Little Love stamp set - (retiring June 30!)


• It Stamp set - hostess set 2006-2007


• Barely banana cardstock


• brocade blue cardstock


• mellow moss cardstock


• chocolate chip cardstock


• very vanilla cardstock


• chocolate chip classic ink


• watercolor pencils


• blender pens


• 1 3/8" square punch - this makes everything go quickly!
  

Which is your favorite?

Loads of Love - for Father's Day

This was the other make-and-take from Amy's workshop. It uses a signature Katy slant.
I sent this card to my dad, my father-in-law, and my grandfather for Dad's Day. My dad loves cars, so I think he'll like this card. Trucks and blue means its instantly masculine, even though it doesn't say Father's Day.

Supplies:

• Loads of Love stamp set
• Itty Bitty backgrounds stamp set
• brocade blue cardstock and classic ink
• chocolate chip cardstock and classic ink
• watercolor pencils
• blender pen
• crimper - such fun!

believe

So my mom loves dogwood trees. When I was a kid, we had two dogwood trees in our yard - one in front and one in back. The one in front was not doing so well. I remember pulling into our driveway and hearing my mom lament the ailing tree. One day, I decided I would help make the tree better. I carefully took some blossoms off the tree in our backyard, and taped them on the tree in our front yard. The next time we pulled into the driveway, my mom was so excited to see her tree "coming back to life". Sadly, I don't think the tree made it, but it's become a great story in our family lore.






Supplies:

• Natural Beauty stamp set (retiring June 30!)
• chocolate chip classic ink
• chocolate chip cardstock
• pretty in pink cardstock
• regal rose classic ink
• hand-stitched background stamp (retired)
• watercolor pencils
• blender pen

Here's a link to the list of stamp sets retiring this year. I have to say, I'm sad to see this one go. I'm sure there's something even better to take its place.

I just wanted to use the word BELIEVE from a stamp that has lots of words on it, so I just colored the word "believe" with marker and then stamped it.

Background stamps are so easy to use, and they make a polished effect quickly!

Snappy Birthday

I made this cute card at Stampin' Down the Shore with fellow demonstrators Claire and Kristen.

Supplies:
Crab and Company Stamp Set - from the Spring Mini catalog
Sandy Shells wheel
chocolate chip cardstock
chocolate chip classic stamp pad
tempting turquoise cardstock
turquoise 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon
chocolate 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon
tempting turquoise marker
blender pen
confetti cream cardstock