Stampin' Sunday with my Peeps

Sunday I went to an AWESOME stamping party, with my friend of too-many-to-mention years, Stephanie, and her great friends Laura and Myra.  Laura and Myra are former and current Stampin' Up (SU) demonstrators, respectively.  Stephanie is the person I credit blame for my current stamping/cardmaking  hobby addiction.  We had an intro session at her house about a year or so ago, and I have been hooked ever since.  Love her, love her family, and love her friends Laura and Myra! 

Oh yeah, loved the spread too.  Curried chicken salad, goat cheese tarts, brie and a million blackberries.  YUM!!  A quick lunch, then down to work!

Myra came loaded with great ideas and three, count them, THREE awesome projects for us to tackle.  The first one looks like this.

CUTE, right??  We used a great sizzix border embossing folder, which I may just need, and a sizzlits die that cut and embossed the butterflies at the same time.  Gotta love a one step toy.  Cute little sentiment, some pearls, lace and a button.  Pop all that on the cute polka dot designer paper (also known around here as DP), and into the frame on the embossed card front.  Easy-peasy.  Pretty, too.

Then, we got serious with some watercolor markers.  Myra hauled out this really amazing SU stamp of these flowers, and a brown, green, and red marker, all from SU, which match their corresponding inkpads exactly.  SU knows what they are doing, I gotta say.  Anyway, we colored directly onto the stamp, and when we finished we misted the whole thing lightly with water, and stamped.

As you can see, we got this amazing watercolor look, that looks like we did it all by hand.  No siree, Bob!  I have to admit, my stamp didn't get pressed down correctly when I went at it, but the tag part was already planned, and it luckily fell underneath it!  Whew!
That tag is a punch from SU.  Really easy to deal with, and so pretty.  The sentiment is done on a scrap of white cardstock, and taped to the tag, and then we knotted some chocolate ribbon into that really cha-cha frame.  It had originally been tied all the way around the back of the image, but I am a ribbon miser, so I just taped about 1/4" around the back on either side with mono adhesive.  No need to waste what you can't see!
The ticket punch makes for a great detail on the corners of the image, and the chocolate cardstock pops it nicely off the green base.  I loved this technique, and I will be trying this one again. 

After this one, we took a well deserved coffee and dessert break, and we chowed on some little raspberry filled pastry things I brought, and some beautiful fresh fruit and chocolates.  These gals are FUN, let me tell ya, and they could not be sweeter!!  Armed with a good sugar and caffeine buzz, we headed back to work.

We made THIS!

Is this not the BEST?? Myra wanted us to experience embossing on patterned paper, and I could not like this any more if I tried.  She also had us do this beautiful ribbon technique which looks so great and really can't be easier. 

Lay a strip of strong adhesive where your ribbon will be.  Secure the ribbon at one endand then gently pinch up the amount of ribbon you want to see, and then press down on the adhesive.  It is sort of tricky trying to get the loops to be the same size at first, but loop and press, loop and press, and soon enough you've gone across the card.  I would say there's about 1/4" inch of ribbon pressed onto the card at every loop, but it's really best to leave your ribbon end on the spool, and cut it off when you've finished and secured the end to the card, just to make sure you have enough. 
We finished the ribbon off with a nice, big brad, and when it went on, the loops changed direction to frame it all by themselves.  Don't ask me how.  It seriously just happened.  The magic of cardmaking.

The scalloped edge was a nice easy trick too.  We used a punch to make the edge.  Put a strip of adhesive on the top of the piece of DP you're using to make the bottom of your card front, and (here's the trick), align it, sticky side UP, on the bottom edge of the inside of the card.  Wait, that sounds weird.  I mean, the edge you didn't scallop cut.  Get it?    Then just close the card and gently press.  The adhesive will grab exactly where it needs to, and the bottoms will line up correctly.  Nothing worse than a wonky card.  I really liked this card so much.  The colors and the softness against the graphics of the papers are so wonderful.  There is a bride-to-be out there who may be getting two of these, unless a certain little argument gets settled....but that's another story. 

Oh yeah, in the interest of full disclosure....I put my watermark on these pics because I made the cards, but these are merely copies of Myra's awesome work.  Isn't she talented?!

Thanks to the ladies for an amazing day.  I could NOT have enjoyed myself more!

Thank YOU for dropping by my blog!  See you soon-
All best--
Richard