2009 September » fresh & fun

Again with the birds!!!

Challenge, Flourishes, LLC 41 Responses »

Sep 082009

I am sorry I haven’t’ shared with you over the weekend. I did have stuff to share, but SCS work is crazy right now. That server switch will be wonderful in the long run, but boy does it create more work right now…..I didn’t get to do much all weekend but work.

When I was shooting the video for the stained glass technique, I had to create another image just like the one I already shared. I used the same sketch as on the last card, but turned it into a 4 1/4″ square. You know me….that’s my comfort zone.

Paper, ink….everything else is the same. No surprise though that I like this one better, right? The ribbon is different. It’s Stampin’ Up!’s Organza Ribbon. This time I left the image a rectangle and cut it and the Chocolate Chip layer behind it with Rectangle Nestabilities.

The inside is super simple, just a 3 15/16″ square of Whisper White cardstock and a 1 1/4″ x 3 15/16″ strip of the gorgeous BasicGrey patterned paper.

Keeping you updated on my thought process regarding my decision about Stampin’ Up!

I am still debating about whether or not I should sign the new Stampin’ Up! IDA. While I have spoken with Stampin’ Up! and they would allow me to continue my work on SCS and to stay a demonstrator, I still feel conflicted.
It would not be right for me not to post the details of projects I create with non Stampin’ Up! products – it would hurt the quality of my tutorials. While I do understand the reasoning behind asking demonstrators not to overtly market other products, I’m not sure if that restriction will work for me and my work on SCS.
Daven doesn’t tell me what to post on my blog and what not (how sweet he is! ). But I like what I create for SCS and I want to be able to post it here…along with the details of how I made it. So…as of right now I am leaning towards not signing the new agreement. If Stampin’ Up! changes their rules a little bit more and allows us to give credit to the companies whose products we use on our personal blog, then I will probably change my mind. But I feel I need to prepare you should that not happen.

This is a very difficult decision for me. I started stamping with Stampin’ Up! products and I LOVE their products and the company. I really love being an upline to my downline members. But I love my work for Splitcoast more. I think that’s what it will come down to. I want to share all my work here, not just the projects that feature Stampin’ Up! products. I want to mention all the products I use to give credit where credit is due. It’s respectful and the right thing to do.

I will keep you posted. Hugs and smiles

Shimmery Skaters

Challenge, Stampin' Up! 47 Responses »

Sep 042009

First thing I did with the sketch was flip it. Isn’t it funny? I create the sketches only to change them right away. I am such a dork!

My card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Soft Suede cardstock folded in half. Next comes a 3 15/16″ square of Real Red Cardstock followed a 3 3/4″ square of Whisper White. The patterned paper is from the Christmas Cocoa Specialty Paper Pack. The long strip on the right measures 1 5/8″ x 3 1/2″, the short one on the bottom 1 3/8″ x 1 7/8″. The circle was cut with Circle Nestabilities.

The skaters from the stamp set Winter Post were inked first with Versamark, then with Soft Suede Classic ink. After stamping the image on the designer paper circle, I embossed them with clear embossing powder and added Shimmery Paint over it with a paint brush. The paint was a bit too thick (dark), so I wiped excess of with my fingers.

I added faux stitching to the long strip with my paper piercing tools and Soft Suede Marker and taped three circles cut with the Window word punch on the top right. Three clear Rhinestone Brads were added in the center. Red Polka Dotted Ribbon was tied around the layers to cover the ending of the smaller designer paper strip.

The sentiment is from the hostess set Holiday’s Best. It was stamped in Soft Suede, punched out with the small oval punch and taped under the ribbon knot. The metal embellishment is from the Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware kit.

On the card inside is a 3 15/16″ piece of Whisper White cardstock. On the left is a 1 3/8″ x 3 3/4″ strip of the Christmas Cocoa Specialty Paper. I cut out a half oval with my large oval punch and adhered a Real Red stamped version of the sentiment (punched out with the small oval punch) into that dent.

Stampin’ Up! update:

I had a chance to talk to members of the compliance office of Stampin’ Up! yesterday. Because I am an Splitcoast employee, I will be able to write tutorials and product reviews for/with non Stampin’ Up! product and stay a demonstrator.

I will however have to alter my blog. I won’t be able to link to places where you can buy non Stampin’ Up! product anymore. I will be able to keep everyone on my blog roll, just have to take down my store links. I will be able to post links to SCS (tutorials and challenges), since Splitcoast doesn’t sell anything there directly.

I feel bad that I won’t be able to share anymore where I bought Nestabilities or gorgeous ribbon that Stampin’ Up! unfortunately doesn’t carry, but I will be able to leave my links in my older posts…..so if you search Nestabilities with my search engine on my blog, you will find those and with those.

I have decided to see how this all plays out and stay a demonstrator for now. If I feel too confined by the agreement, I might change my mind later on. But I love the products and I really enjoy being the upline to my downline. Time will tell.

Have a great weekend! Hugs and smiles

Weekend Sketch Challenge #96

weekend sketch challenge 15 Responses »

Sep 042009

Here is the sketch for this weekend:

To participate in the challenge, make a card with this layout and upload it either to your blog, or to an online gallery.
If you upload your card on SCS, put WSC96 (NO SPACE INBETWEEN WSC AND 96) in the keyword section. That way we can look at all of them at once!

At a link to your card to Mr. Linky! Because I have passed another huge milestone (3,100,000 crazy number, I know), I will be raffling away prize this time. I will pick a winner randomly from the entries next Wednesday around 10:00 a.m. EST. One card counts as one entry. I will raffle way

Jumbo Outline Alpha from Stampin’ Up!
One spool of 1″ wide brown Satin Ribbon from May Arts (I ordered it twice, duh)
Copic Ciao Markers B23 and R85
Spica Sparkle Pen in Lemon

To see samples made with this sketch now, check out the blogs of

Cambria Turnbow

Charmaine Ikach

Jenn Balcer

Laurie Schmidlin

Lori Craig

MaryJo Albright

Sharon Harnist

Have fun creating! I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

SCS submissions

Stained Glass

Flourishes, LLC, Nestabilities, Video Tutorial 14 Responses »

Sep 032009

I created this card for yesterday’s sketch challenge on SCS.

I still needed a Stained Glass sample, so I could shoot a video for the technique. I stamped Flourishes, Birds on Vine, in Chocolate Chip ink on Vellum Paper, added clear embossing powder and embossed it. Classic ink stays wet long enough on Vellum that you can do that. Then I used Copic Markers to color the image on the back. I used my airbrush tool to spray Whisper White cardstock with B00, ran it through my Xyron and attached the Vellum over the sprayed cardstock. It was then cut with Label 4 Nestabilities and layered on next bigger label die cut out of Chocolate chip cardstock.

The patterned paper is from BasicGrey Sultry pack, the rhinestones from Kaiser.

For the visual learner, here is the video tutorial for this technique.

Tutorial on SCS - Double Pocket Card

Borderabilities and Pendants, Nestabilities, Scor-Pal, Stampin' Up!, Tutorials, Video Tutorial 55 Responses »

Sep 022009

Today’s tutorial on SCS is for a Double Pocket Card.

My card base is a a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Sahara Sand cardstock folded in half. It is layered with a 3 15/16″ x 5 3/16″ piece of Chocolate Chip. The Double Pocket card piece is created out of Whisper White cardstock. All designer paper is from Thoroughly Modern Designer Paper Pack.

The Ruffled backing of my circle layers is created with the Eyelet Shapeabilities Pendant. The circle layers were cut with Nestabilities. Both butterflies were cut with Big Diez Beautiful Butterflies Die. The bigger butterfly was first pained with Shimmery Paint and sponge dauber, then the edges were sponged with Chocolate Chip. The pearls are from the Pretties Kit.

The sentiment is stamped twice, once in Basic Brown and once in Bermuda Bay. The You from the Basic Brown layer was colored with Rose Red ink. I cut slightly inside the oval lines and taped this piece on my Bermuda Bay oval, that had been cut out with the large oval punch. That was layered on a scallop oval that had been punched out of Chocolate Chip Cardstock. The gorgeous ribbon is from May Arts.

The inside of the card is pretty simple and mirrors the layers on the card front.

Here is a video for the visual learner:

Here are two Double Pocket cards I made a while ago:

Christmas Card

Baby Card

I am sure most of you have heard about the new demonstrator agreement form we Stampin’ Up! demonstrator will have to sign at the end of this month. I am afraid I might not be able to stay a demonstrator with the new agreement. I sent an email to Stampin’ Up!’s compliance office, but haven’t heard back yet. I feel bad, since I love Stampin’ Up! products, but I won’t give up my work at Splitcoaststampers so I can stay a demonstrator. I will let you know what happens. My blog might be changing to a more Non-Stampin’ Up! blog soon.

Hugs and sad smile