This is Halloween!

Welcome to Halloween Week here on Stampin' with Paula!  Everyday this week, I'll be posting a look at Halloween projects, many of which will be offered at my Spook-tacular Stampin' Buffet October 7 & 8.


I set out last week to make a Halloween banner with the new Perfect Pennants Big Shot Die.  I gave you a sneak peek at it on Friday but here it is: (click on the picture to get a better view).

Colors: Basic Black, Lucky Limeade, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry.  Big Shot: Perfect Pennant Bigz L, and Alphabet Simple Letters Bigz Dies.  Punches: 1-3/4", 1-1/4" and 3/4" circle punches.  Tools: Simply Scored, Crop-A-Dile. Accessories: Brights Designer Buttons, Silver Brads, Basic Black 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon.

I was a little sad when Stampin' Up retired the larger pennant die for the Big Shot.  But, this die is perfect for banners with more letters on them.  After all, if I had made one that said "HALLOWEEN" with the old one, you would have needed a very long wall on which to hang it.  So the smaller pennants on this new die are just right.  Each pennant is 4-1/2" tall and the entire banner is approximately 3' long with the ribbon ties on the end.

Usually I string banners together with ribbon, but this time I decided to use brads to put it together.  You can see that I alternated the pennants top to bottom to do this.  Once I got the lollies (paper medallions) and the letters on there, I decided to add the buttons on a whim.  Do you like them?

I will be offering this banner at my Spook-tacular Stampin' Buffet on October 7 & 8 if you would like to make one for your very own for $12. Can't come, and still want a banner like this (or any other for that matter) - I can make it for you for an additional fee.  Just contact me and let me know what you want.

For some strange reason, every time I look at this banner, the song from Nightmare Before Christmas (or the Haunted Mansion Halloween at Disneyland) runs through my head and I can't make it stop (the song starts about a minute into the video):



Come back tomorrow and I'll show you step by step how to make those cute lollies that are on the banners and introduce you to another catchy tune that I just can't seem to shake.

Doin' the Happy Dance!!!

Remember this fun card?  I found out today that it won the Thinking of You Creative Challenge over on SoShelli.com.  I've never won anything like this before and I have to admit that I'm totally over the moon about it.  I love this little turtle and had so much fun making this card.  I'm also grateful for the FREE RUBBAH that is coming my way.  Stay tuned to see what I requested. :)

You can check out all the other beautiful winners on Shelli Gardner's Blog.  And you can also submit an entry for the September Christmas Card Challenge.  (You don't have to be a demonstrator to win, but you do have to create a card with Stampin' Up! products).  All you have to do is create a beautiful Christmas Card and post it on a blog or in a public gallery and then post a link to it in the comment section for this month's challenge.  Then you too can enjoy some FREE RUBBAH!!!

Just Be Thankful

Colors: Calypso Coral, Very Vanilla, Basic Black. Stamps: Just Believe.  Punches: Decorative Label.  Accessories: First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper, Calypso Coral Ruffled Ribbon, 1/4" Black Grosgrain Ribbon.

Earlier this week, I showed you a Thank You Card we'll be making at Susie's private Thank You Card class.  This is the other one.  Just Believe was my favorite new stamp set in the 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog. Sometimes I get sooo busy using the new products, I forget about the older favorites so it was fun to pull this one out again.  I just love using this image as a silhouette like in this example, or coloring the stamp with markers for a more natural look.

It also morphed into this week's Stampin' Addicts Sketch Challenge.  Anyone is invited to play along in any of the great challenges we offer at Stampin' Addicts.  The site also has a wonderful Stampin' Up! only gallery organized by stamp set that anyone can visit any time.  Ever stumped on what to do with a particular stamp set, or just need new ideas for an old favorite, the Stampin' Addict Gallery will inspire you!

I also wanted to share with you a little sneak peek of a project I've been working on this week for my Spooktacular Stampin' Buffet.  Starting next week, you'll start to see a lot of Halloween Projects, including the rest of this fun project, posted here so stay tuned!!

And I'm trying out some new share it tools.  Try them out and tell me what you think!

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The Open Seas still available

Generally, when the Summer Mini Catalog ends, all the stamps, papers and embellishments that didn't make it into the Idea Book and Catalog are no longer available.  This year, Stampin' Up! made an exception with one of my favorite sets from the Summer Mini: The Open Seas.

This set is perfect for masculine cards for any occasion: birthday, Father's Day, graduation, retirement, sympathy, etc, etc. I think I also love it because it reminds me of growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area with lots of nautical-themed things all around. Here are a couple of cards I've made with this set:

Colors: Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla. Stamps: The Open Seas.  Punches: 1-1/4" and 1-3/8" circles. Accessories: Retired Designer Series Paper, Vintage Trinkets.

Colors: Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy and Whisper White.  Stamps: The Open Seas. Accessories: Baker's Twine, Retired Designer Series Paper.

The set comes with five coordinating stamps including the ship, globe, compass, and anchor images and a larger background image that looks like a handwritten ship log.  (That ships log also reminds me of census records and could be used for all kinds of heritage scrapbooking.)

You can order the stamp set online or anytime by contacting me. It is available in both clear mount (item 123032) for $18.95 and wood mount (item 123030) for $23.95.  It is also available as a digital download for My Digital Studio (item 124112) for $3.95.  Unfortunately, the coordinating Designer Series Paper is no long available as paper, but is available as a digital download for My Digital Studio (item 124111) for $4.95. 

Today is also the last day to RSVP for my All Occasions Buffet this weekend.  Don't miss out!  Let me know today what you'd like to make and how many of each.  You can see all the projects here: Sept. Stampin' Buffet.  I hope to see you there!

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Sketch Challenge Inspiration

Last week, I had the opportunity to be at the Stampin' Up! home offices in Riverton, Utah.  I love going there because it is just so inspiring.  One of the things I love to look at when I'm there is the international catalogs they have in the lobby.

As I was flipping through the pages of the New Zealand Idea Book and Catalog, a particular sample caught my eye and I immediately thought, that would make a great sketch challenge.  Surely, it can't be in our catalog too because I would have noticed it.  Right?

Wrong!  There it is on page 128 with the Notably Ornate stamp set.  Not sure why I never noticed it before.  But it was the perfect inspiration for last week's Stampin' Addicts sketch challenge (sketch challenge 109 for those of you keeping track at home).  Here's the sketch:

And here is what I created with the sketch:

Colors: Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Whisper White.  Stamps: Easy Events. Punches: 1-3/4" and 2-3/8" Scallop Circles.  Accessories: Island Indigo Ruffled Ribbon, Stampin' Write Markers, Crystal Effects

I needed to design a card for a private card class I have coming up next week and this one was perfect.  It fit the theme (Thank You cards) and it features the In Colors which I'm featuring a special on the this month.

If you would like to host your own private card class for you and your friends, let me know.  It's a great way to spend an afternoon or evening with your friends creating and having fun.Contact me today!

My Digital Studio Recipe Pages

I can't resist a good swap.  And while I didn't sign up for 18 swaps at convention this year like I have in the past, I still signed up for plenty.

One of the easiest swaps I did this year was a My Digital Studio 6x6 recipe swap.  Here are two of the recipes I swapped:

Colors: Early Espresso, Pear Pizazz, Cajun Craze.  MDS Kits: Autumn Spice, Vintage Brads

Colors: Early Espresso, More Mustard, Pear Pizazz, Cajun Craze.  MDS Kits: Autumn Spice, Stitching

Are you wondering how I made 6x6 pages when MDS doesn't currently have a 6x6 option?  After picking my background paper, I selected a square punch and resized it to 6x6.  You can resize any punch by dragging a corner, but if you need an exact size, like this use the "resize" tool in the Design Center on the right side of you screen. Love this feature!

That 6x6 square became my canvas and I started filling it with page elements.  When I had it exactly how I wanted it, I deleted the 6x6 square and then clicked on "Select All" (you can do that through the arrange menu, holding the ctrl button on your keyboard and dragging you mouse over the elements you want to select, or my favorite keyboard shortcut - ctrl + A.  Then I grouped them together using the arrange menu or ctrl + G on your keyboard.  This is what it looked like at that point.

 

Once everything is grouped together, it's easy to move, copy and paste, etc.  So that's what I did - dragged it to the top corner, then copied it and pasted it three times to place one in each corner.  I used the align tools to make sure they were all exactly even.  It looked like this:

After I had that all done, I sent them off to the printer and when they were delivered to my doorstep, I cut them into fours and they were ready to swap.

I know what you are thinking though -- what if you don't need four copies of the same 6x6 page?  Then instead of filling the back ground with a single Designer Series Paper, you would leave it white and fill your 6x6 square instead and just design four different 6x6 squares, one in each corner.  

I hope that all made sense and that maybe you learned something in all of it about My Digital Studio.

Designer Fabric Button Rings

From L-R: Candy Cane Christmas, Timeless Portrait, Deck the Halls, and Spice Cake Designer Series Fabric.

Aren't these fun?  Some gals in my neighborhood made fabric button rings last fall.  I knew that Stampin' Up!'s Designer Series Fabric would be perfect for these. And the Big Shot makes it so easy to make them too.

I used the 7/8" button kits that you can get at any fabric store.  They have different sizes if you want to make smaller or bigger buttons.  You can look for the ring bases with the jewelry-making items at your favorite big box craft store. 

For this size of button, you need a 1-3/4" circle of fabric.  And how handy is it that Stampin' Up! just happens to have the Circle #2 die for the Big Shot that cuts that size of circle.  (And not just one layer of the fabric, but up to 8 layers of fabric at once!!)

Follow the directions on the back of the button kit to assemble the button.  Then remove the button shank.  I used some pliers and just gave it a good yank and it came right out.  Don't twist.  I made that mistake the first time and I was sorry. I used Crystal Effects to adhere the buttons to the ring bases and it worked perfectly.  (See, it's not just for making colored images shiny. It also works as a strong glue). 

I made these as convention gifts for my Stampin' Addicts Sistahs and a few other special friends.  They were a big hit! (And no, I don't wear all four of those rings at once, but you could make coordinating ones from the different fabric packages to wear together.)

We will be making these at my All Occasions Stamp Buffet on September 16 & 17.  They will be $2.50 each or 3 for $7 and you will have your choice of fabrics to cut and make that day.

Countdown to Halloween

Last week I showed you a countdown to Christmas.  This week I'm sharing a countdown to another holiday that children frequently ask how long til:  Halloween.  It's also one of the featured projects at my All Occasions Stampin' Buffet this month:

Colors: Perfect Plum, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Whisper White. Stamps: Festive and Fun.  Big Shot: Square Scallop Duo, Billboard Decorative Strip.  Tools: Crop-a-dile. Accessories: Markers, Chalkboard  Decor Element Sheet, Basic Black Scalloped Dot Ribbon, Basic Black and Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon. Other: Chalkboard Marker.

The black scallop square is die cut from our Chalkboard Decor Element Sheets so each day you can erase the number and right a new one on there.  I used a chalkboard marker to add the dots in the scallop and write the number, but you can use regular chalk as well.

The base of these are some On Board Small Book Basics that Stampin' Up sold a few years back.  I've been hoarding a couple of packages of them, but this is the perfect use for them.  They measure 5-1/2"x7" so they are the perfect size to hang, or put on an easel.

And notice the Festive and Fun set again?  I'm getting a lot of use of this cute set.  Love it!

If you want to make one of your own, come September 16 or 17 to my Stampin' Buffet.  They are $6 each but I only have a limited number of those boards so RSVP today!  You can see all the other projects here: All Occasions Stampin' Buffet.  And don't worry too much that this is the only Halloween project this month.  Next month will be all about Halloween so stay tuned.

Fun and Festive Swap

I can't resist a good swap.  Especially when a new catalog comes out.  So even though Valentines is still months away and we have a lot of really great holidays between now and then, I'm showing you a Valentine's Card that I made for a recent Stampin' Addict Holiday Mini swap.

Colors: Pink Pirouette, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White.  Stamps: Festive and Fun.  Punches: Modern Label.  Big Shot: Polka Dot Embossing Folder.  Accessories: Dazzling Details, Silver Brads, Taffeta Ribbon, Markers, and White Gel Pen.

Sometimes to switch things up a little bit, I like to use Pink Pirouette as a neutral Card Stock.  It's a light enough color that it can take other ink on top of it.  And the Card Stock itself is a titch thicker than the others so it holds up to coloring pretty well.  Here I stamped the Valentine in Black Stazon and colored it with Cherry Cobbler.  One of the other fun things about using Pink Pirouette for a base, is then you can use white as an accent.  I colored in some of the sections with our white gel pen to give it some more color.

This stamp has that cute heart for a V and I really wanted to make it pop.  So I stamped just that heart on Cherry Cobbler and used the white gel pen for the dots.  Then I cut it out and used a dimensional on top of the original image on the card.

It does seem very strange to be sharing a Valentines Card in October.  At some point in my stamping obsession, I've become oblivious to the calendar and just started stamping whatever, whenever.  But this stamp set is only available until January 3 and it does include a cute Christmas and Halloween image too so don't wait until Valentines to order it.  You can see more about this set in this previous post: FESTIVE AND FUN SNEAK PEEK.

Happy September!

September is here!  For stampers, that means all the brand new stamps, paper, gadgets and gizmos from the Holiday Mini Catalog are now available!  I've showed off several stamps here over the past month and I've even told you some of the other fun things that would be in the catalog.  But in case you missed it, here are some hightlights!

• The brand new Simply Scored Tool!!!  So excited about this (as if the three exclamation points didn't give that away).  I've had a different score board for years and I thought I loved it, but I had no idea what I was missing.  Stampin' Up's Simply Scored has score lines at every 1/8".  It comes with a stylus that fits perfectly in the holder at the bottom and it comes with three removable markers that you can place above any score line to remind yourself where you need to score.  All for $29.95. 
• Pages of brand new Halloween stuff.  I hope you got to see samples made with the great Halloween products during the blog hop.  Everything from eerie to cute, whatever your Halloween taste, you'll find it in this catalog.
• Remember the M&M bags from last year's Halloween Buffet?  They are in the catalog!  Yay!
• Spice Cake Suite!  I've professed my love for this suite before.  I used it to redecorate my blog in honor of the occasion. What do you think?
• New embellishments: Mica Flakes, Mini Jingle Bells, Dazzling Details, and Pewter Embossing Powder just to name a few.
• Two different beautiful types of ribbons - 3/8" Velvet Stitched in Very Vanilla and 3/8" Quilted Satin Ribbon in Early Espresso and Cherry Cobbler
• New Holiday-themed Personalized Address Stamps
• New Big Shot stuff: Textured Embossing folder, Letterpress and 3 new dies including the cutest Christmas Stocking!
• Two new punches
• A Christmas-themed Simply Scrappin' Kit with a cute matching album
• Buttons and Fabric
• MUCH, MUCH MORE!

Click on the Holiday Mini Catalog icon on the right there to see the entire thing.  Or click in the shop now button and beat the rush!

Also, since it's a new month, that means new Specials!!!  And this month, I am offering an exclusive offer that is only available from me! Click on the exclusive offer page above for all the details.  Let's just say it involves some of my favorite new things and free stuff!

What are you most excited about in the new Holiday Mini?