Hey! Rub-on removal ... in case you need to

Ok, now I don't want to remove rub-ons from this notebook (which I love, love, love).

(the outside front cover)


(the inside notebook cover)

But I was able to remove a crooked rub-on from a blue version of this same book. I don't know if it's just because of the surface of the books, but I used an adhesive remover square from Stampin' Up! (at the bargain price of $1.95). Quite glamorous, eh?



I know the purpose is to have the rub-ons stay ON ... but it was nice to undo a mistake, too! It also worked on this glass of buttons (but I did have to remove the buttons to hold the glass flat for some good scrubbing).

Niece's birthday

Our niece turned SEVEN this week, so I had to make a glittery, shiny card for her. As a special touch, I didn't stamp the top of the candle so I could draw the top of it to look like a seven.

I still remember the early morning that we got the call she was arriving - and we'd just gotten to bed after being out the night before with my brother-in-law celebrating his St. Pat's birthday.

And now she's a wonderful girl who's been a tremendous gift for each of us in our family (kudos go to her Mom and Dad!!) and impressively, she just keeps getting better and better. As I said in her card, we celebrate her life.

Easter chicks

These are one of the cards we made at last night's stamp camp using the A Good Egg set. There were just 3 of us stamping, but we had a good time! I made up my extra supplies into some additional cards because they were so quick and easy to make. The background patterned paper is from Stampin' Up!'s Designer Series paper in Certainly Celery and the shell is also Designer Series in So Saffron. The shell is paper pieced and we cut out two shells so it looks like the top shell had just popped off when the chick came out. The sentiment in the window says "happy easter" from the same set as the chick, but both my stampers in attendance made their cards into baby cards using words from another set, Fundamental Phrases.

Springy paper piecing and rub-ons

This card was made of scraps of designer paper. I love how happy this little bird (from A Little Birdy Told Me) looks! I gave it a couple flowers, and colored in a shadow by its feet. I also used a bunch of punches to make the scalloped element in the lower corner, and the sentiment is from a Stampin' Up! rub-on set. The little orange dot w/ the white rub-on is, if I remember correctly, covering up a smudgy boo-boo. The ribbon is from the Theater collection of SU! ribbons.

We're looking forward to 60 degree weather today, and I'm so happy it's feeling like spring! Have a great day. :)

With prayerful encouragement ...

We recently joined a new church, and imagine my excitement when I heard that they have a CARD MINISTRY. This is something that feels like it's right up my alley!

When I approached the coordinator, to offer my services, I had to chuckle a little on the inside because she sounded so dubious about accepting my offer to donate my handmade cards. I understand however that she was probably worried about how to shake me off if they were terrible. I really feel like the card making is a strength of mine though, and if she knew me better, I think she would know that unless I'm confident in something, I simply don't volunteer. This is NOT strength, it's just a protective measure. I hate to fail.

She agreed to take six cards from me, and she mentioned that she's looking for cards to express a message of prayerful encouragement. I printed a couple of Certainly Celery card bases on my computer in a couple of different fonts, and then built cards to go with them. This is one of the two that I've made so far. I stamped the flowers, then colored them in with markers and cut them out. The large flower is mounted on dimensionals, and except the base, all the cardstock on this card is made from scraps. The other card I made is a totally different design, but came out as incredibly blurry photo-wise, so I'll try to upload that tonight because I did get a picture, but didn't get it downloaded.

When I showed my cards to the minister's wife, she gasped and pulled me into a tight hug, practically towing me down the aisle of the church to Joyce, the card ministry coordinator who hadn't seen the cards yet. I'm now hopeful about setting up a women's day at the church where I can maybe get volunteers to help me with stamping and assembling. I think it would be so special for church members who were needing solace to get something made for them by their church community.

I don't talk of church, religion or God often on my blog, but I wanted to leave off on this post with a quick footnote of how right it felt to be making something for this purpose. I will also make cards that will go to parents of new babies, which is a joyful occasion, but I also am very hopeful that my cards will be sent off through the ministry workers and that they might help someone feel better in a time of struggle. Do any of you out there have experience with a card ministry? Any tips or hints? I know that when I originally volunteered, I did so because as an avid stamper I ALWAYS have extra cards, and I was so happy to give them for a good purpose! If you have cards that you'd like to donate for use by our church, please contact me and I'll get you my mailing address.

Rub, rub, rub

More "Love and Happiness" rub-ons from the current Stampin' Up! Sale-a-bration promotion. In this photo the card base actually looks more like Kraft cardstock, but it's really River Rock.

I added some dotted borders with my Chocolate Chip marker because the card needed some sort of border, but I didn't want anything heavy and I was trying to keep it to one layer. I also put some white dots on the chocolate bits to give them some pop. I primarily used Chocolate Chip colored rub-ons, and added just a few white rub-ons to add that something extra. Around the biggest flower, I put in some "mini petals" with my white gel pen, again to tie it all together.

Another thing I also like is the effect of giving the word 'happiness' a white shadow by layering the rub-ons. It worked perfectly!

Rub-on ruminations

I covered this canvas frame using some of the rub-ons from the Stampin' Up! "Love and Happiness" set that customers can get for free when they spend $50 (or more) before March 17 as part of Sale-a-bration. These were super easy to put on, and where you see the pattern go "off the edge," it's actually wrapping around the side!

I think this frame is from Archivers and here's a look at what it looked like before:

Flower Fusion In"tin"tions

Most wives wouldn't appreciate getting an empty tin that used to hold mints ... however, knowing I'm a stamper, Ky brought me home a 1-1/2" round tin that he got as pillow mints on his latest business trip. Of course I say all that as a stamper, but there isn't stamping on this project!

I used cardstock, Flower Fusion (from Stampin' Up!) felt flowers, and a rhinestone brad.

It had a label on the top and bottom, both of which were conveniently 1-3/8". Perfect for use with my 1-3/8" punch! I covered the label on the bottom with Old Olive cardstock, and put another over the label on the top. I then used a nail to punch through the tin lid (to receive my brad posts later).


On the inside of the lid, the brad pieces were just a little too bumpy, so I raised up the interior piece of cardstock on dimensionals. I don't think it was terribly necessary, but, as my stampers know, I don't like to see those brad legs, and feel compelled to cover them if possible. :)

Pretty cute, huh? I don't know exactly what I'll do with it, but Ky ALSO gave me a tin FULL of Altoids SMALLS mints, so he suggested I just put them in the newly decorated tin. For now, it just makes me happy to look at it.

CASE closed

My card is very closely based on a card by Amy Ward. I rotated the card, switched out the ribbon and changed the sentiment (to one from Fundamental Phrases). The flowers and swirls come from one of this year's Sale-a-bration sets that customers can choose for FREE when they purchase $50 in merchandise. I love the whimsical feel of this set. The felt flowers are from Stampin' Up!'s Flower Fusion set and are die cut for you and come in a very cute tin with 130 pieces.

We made this card as another of the projects for Stamp Club. With a smaller group, we can use embellishments that I might not otherwise because they're cost prohibitive with a large group.

Coincidentally, Amy is also one of my banner design customers!