Each year I let my girls help me design their birthday invitations. Let me tell you I have gotten some really good color combos out of them! This year Emma picked pink for her color. Well, at first she picked every color in the rainbow and wanted each kid to get an invitation made with their favorite color, but I reeled her in by limiting her to her own favorite color.

I ordered the “Crazy For Cupcakes” stamp set special for her birthday this year after I learned this really cool technique from Donna Centamore a while back to make puffy frosting or snow. I thought this technique would be perfect for Emma because she loves to eat the frosting off cupcakes! She really got a kick out of the puffy frosting!

How about a tutorial?

Supplies:

• Crazy for Cupcakes Stamp Set (#111618)
• Hugs and Wishes Stamp Set (#109383)
• Chocolate Chip Card Stock (#102128)
• Pink Pirouette Card Stock (#111351)
• Whisper White Card Stock (#100730)
• StazOn Ink Pad Jet Black (#101406)
• Pink Pirouette Classic Stamp Pad (#111838)
• Close to Cocoa Classic Stamp Pad(#10139), re-inker(#102444), or Marker (#100072)
• Creamy Caramel Classic Stamp Pad(#103220), re-inker(#101478), or Marker (#100078)
• Going Gray Classic Stamp Pad (#103274), re-inker(#102521), or Marker (only in neutral pack #109126)
• Real Red Stampin’ Write Marker (#100052)
• Aqapainter (#103954)
• Pink Pirouette re-inker (#111843)
• Heat Tool (#100005)
• Salt and All-Purpose Flour

Gather your supplies and Pre cut your card stock pieces as follows:

• Pink Pirouette (5.5″x8.5″)
• Whisper White (5″x3.75″) and (2.75″ x 4″)
• Chocolate Chip (3″ x 4.25″)

Step 1: Random stamp balloons all over card front using Pink Pirouette Classic Ink.

Step 2: Using StazOn, stamp images on Whisper White Card Stock (2.75″ x 4″). I used Timber Brown StazOn, which has been retired from our catalog. the StazOn resists bleeding when you watercolor the cupcake bottoms. You can also use Basic Brown Classic Ink or Jet Black StazOn for the cupcakes and Chocolate Chip Classic for greeting.

Step 3: Stamp invitation information onto whisper white insert (5″ x 3.75″) using Chocolate Chip Classic Ink.

You can barely see it in the picture, but I also stamped a large cupcake in the center with Pink Pirouette Classic Ink. This will look like a watermark behind your writing.

I used my Chocolate Chip Stampin’ Write marker to write in the rest of the information.

Step 4: Now for the fun part! Take a small container and add equal parts of All Purpose Flour and Salt. I used a Sponge Dauber to measure. Mix well.

Add a few drops of water and mix to the consistency a little thicker than school glue. Add 3 drops of Pink Pirouette Classic Ink to this mixture.

Step 5: Color each cherry with a Real Red Stampin’ Write Marker. Color the stand with Going Grey, and the bottoms of each cupcake were watercolored using an aqua painter, Creamy Caramel, and Close to Cocoa Classic Ink.

When watercoloring, I very quickly and lightly colored each bottom with creamy caramel starting at the top left hand corner and working to the right. You want white spots here and there so don’ worry about that. Then do the same with Close to Cocoa Classic Ink to add a shadow. You can see the detail in the next picture.

Step 6: Using a small spatula or screwdriver, carefully place the salt and flour mixture on each cupcake. You only need a little frosting on each cupcake, just make sure you push it from the center out to the stamped outline.

Using a heat tool dry the backside of the card stock until the mixture turns from shiny to matte finish. Then use the heat tool on the front of the card stock and heat each cupcake until the frosting puffs up.

Step 7: Assemble your card, and don’t forget to use your personalized name stamp on the back of your card so the receiver knows it was handmade by you!

I hope you have fun playing around with this technique. I suggest using some of those card stock scraps that you have lying around to play with this. If you add too much mixture It might not dry in the middle. If you add too much water the puffy accents might crush because they are too delicate.

Come back for more tutorials soon!

Happy Stamping!

I am past the half way point with my Sister-In-Law’s Wedding invitations!

I just finished creating the Monogram for the front. In my last post I showed you how I used embossing to add a little WOW to the invite. Well, here is another one for you! I wanted to emboss a frame for the monogram with Certainly Celery (her wedding colors are celery, chocolate, and gold), but I do not have a Certainly Celery Craft Pad. How did I do it? By using my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig of course!

Using the clear plastic sheet to position the stamp correctly was going to take way to long, so I had to be a little creative for mass production. Here is what I did:

First I cut pieces of Very Vanilla card stock that were the same size as the wooden block of the stamp I was using. Then I stacked up all 140 squares and ran a highlighter down one corner. This was the corner to place in the Stamp-a-ma-Jig. You will see why I needed to do that in just a minute.

To stamp the frame in celery, I placed the pink corner of the card stock next to the Stamp-a-ma-jig and stamped the image with Certainly Celery Classic Ink. I made sure to have the Stampin’ UP! copyright on the wooden block facing the same way each time I stamped.

Classic Ink will not stay wet enough to emboss with, so I needed to stamp with VersaMark directly over the image again. First I ran the Embossing Buddy over the Card Stock, and then placed the pink corner next to the Stamp-a-ma-Jig. Using VersaMark Ink, I stamped the frame directly over the certainly celery image. Again, I made sure that the copyright was facing the same way each time.

Since I placed the paper and the wooden block next to the Stamp-a-ma-jig the same way both times there is no need for a clear plastic sheet because the stamp and the image will line up perfectly every time.

Clear Embossing Powder was poured over the image, and then heated with the Heat Gun.

I stamped the Monogram in Chocolate Chip Classic Ink, and cut out the frame with my Paper Snips. Here is the finished product!!

This picture doesn’t really show the embossed image very well, but wait until you see the completed invitation! Let’s hope they will be done tomorrow!

Happy Stampin!

As promised I am posting a very quick tutorial on how to heat emboss an image. I am sure most of you have tried embossing before, but for those of you who haven’t …you don’t know what you are missing! Embossing is a very simple process and it sure does add a WOW to your project.

First of all there are a few basic supplies you will need (all products can be found in the Stampin’ Up! Idea Book and Catalog and I have page numbers listed for you):

• Card Stock (pages 162-166)
• VersaMark Ink (page 193)
• Embossing Powder (page 190)
• Embossing Buddy (page 190)
• Heat Tool (page 190)
• Powder Pal Tray (page 190)
• Rubber Stamps (can be found throughout the catalog)

Step 1: Rub the Embossing Buddy across the Card Stock to reduce static. This prevents the Embossing Powder from sticking where you don’t want it to.

Step 2: Stamp the image on Card Stock using VersaMark Ink.

Step 3: Hold your stamped Card Stock over a Powder Pals tray. Pour Embossing Powder over the stamped image, then shake off the excess.

Step 4: Heat the stamped image, using a Heat Tool, until it turns shiny.

Here is a better picture displaying the raised, shiny image…

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and that it inspires you to try heat embossing. If you would like to see the items used in this tutorial Click Here to view the Fall-Winter Idea Book and Catalog.

As always contact me anytime if you would like to place an order. I can ship your embossing supplies directly to your door anywhere in the U.S.

Happy Stamping!

Do you ever have a hard time removing the red liner from your Sticky Strip? The next time you use Sticky Strip pull out your Bone Folder. After placing the Strip onto your project, run the bone folder back and forth along the red liner pressing firmly. Now, the end of your red liner should release a lot easier!

I hope you enjoyed todays quick tip! Let me know how this works for you by posting a comment below.

Don’t have Sticky Strip or a Bone Folder? You don’t know what you are missing! Sticky Strip is the best stuff ever for 3D projects, and for attaching weather stripping onto storm doors (long story….) LOL! Contact Me and I can have them shipped straight to your door!

Happy Stamping!

I have to confess, I haven’t been stamping for fun that much lately! This is something that I really miss. The kids are going back to school this week, so we are getting ready for that. I have been saying for over a week that I wanted to do some FUN stamping and play with my Big Shot a little more. So when I noticed that Splitcoast Stampers was having a virtual Stamping Weekend I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to stamp for fun!

Although I didn’t play with my Big Shot last night, I did create a bookmark card for the “And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street!” Challenge (AUG08VSNC). I decided to create a bookmark with Flight of the Butterfly (pg. 99 in IBC*) but couldn’t decide on a layout or color combo. SO, where did I go for inspiration? My Fall-Winter IBC of course! When I am stuck for ideas I turn to the page that the stamp set is displayed and see what I can find. In this CASE I used the layout from the card and the scallop butterfly idea from the swizzle sticks. If you don’t have the most recent Idea Book and Catalog yet contact me and I would love to send one out to you!

The card base is Rose Red Card stock(4 1/4″ x 11″). The greeting is stamped on Whisper White card stock with Pumpkin Pie Classic Ink. The sample in the catalog had an Old Olive brad at the end of the greeting, and I don’t have any. So, I punched out a circle with Old Olive card stock and added Crystal Effects to the top! It looks just like a brad! I cut the Pumpkin Pie Card stock 3/4″ larger than the Whisper White Card stock, then used the Scallop Edge punch on the bottom. Whisper White is adhered to Pumpkin Pie and then Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon is tied around the top. Before attaching this layer to the card base create the bookmark first.

The bookmark is made with a Jumbo Paperclip I purchased from Staples. I punched out 4 Old Olive scallop circles with my Scallop Circle Punch. Tombo Multipurpose adhesive was used to adhere two scallops together, so now you have two thicker scallops (like chipboard)instead of four. The Rose Red center was punched with the 1 1/4″ circle punch.The butterfly was stamped with More Mustard classic ink on Whisper White card stock (stamping off on scrap paper first to make image lighter). The flowers were stamped with Rose Red Classic Ink. I adhered the center of the butterfly to the rose red circle with Tombo Multipurpose, and the wings with Dimensionals. Four Pop-UP Glue Dots were used to adhere the two scallops together at the top of the bookmark.

To put the entire card together I added sticky strip down both sides of the Pumpkin Pie Layer. Then placed the bookmark where I wanted it to be on that layer. I added Sticky Strip once more on the other side of the bookmark, to create a pocket. I removed the red liner and placed the layer onto the card base and added my bookmark to the card! All this while watching “Pearl Harbor” on my computer!

I had such a great time making this card. Try it yourself and attach a link to your card, I would love to see it!

Happy Stamping!