Sunday, June 30, 2013

Wishy Washy--oh hell.

Are you wishy washy regarding washi tape? It is popping up all over the crafting world, including here at Stampin' Up! It is affordable, cute and FUN, what more could we ask for?

Washi Tape is simply a masking tape, which means it is low-tack and can be manipulated more easily than a high-tack tape, giving us an opportunity to remove it or re-position it if we change our design.

This pretty pink card uses the Oh Hello stamp set, with the chevron oval and the fun sentiment. Then we punched a couple butterflies and layered them with a giant rhinestone. At the Washi Tape Class, everyone did their own thing with the tapes available, but mostly we all taped from the center of the oval to the edge of the card.

Stampin' Up! tape is so easy to work with and matches our designer paper and colors PERFECTLY!

The ladies in class were a bit wound up and had me in stitches. As the teacher, I'm trying to help everyone and keep up with the conversations. Maureen kept laughing at the idea of "leaving off the Oh" on the stamp. I laughed along, but I have to admit, I didn't get the joke. What the heck was so funny about just stamping Hello? It is still cute without the Oh, right?  Two days later, I finally got the joke: leave off the final o, making the sentiment: "Oh, hell."  Well, that is funny! LOL

Wish you were there, maybe you would have explained the joke to me! Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen



Saturday, June 29, 2013

Wheeling along!

Rolling right along, using a wheel for the first time in ages! We have so many options when creating a card: dry embossing, DSP, stamping, stamp & Emboss, watercoloring/coloring. . . the wheels seem to collect dust and don't get much love.

I sorted through all my wheels for the first time in years, and found that I have only 3 that are still current, and all where assigned to us at Stampin' Up! events. But they are great for quick, beautiful backgrounds! I went with color-on-color to simply give this very dark blue some interest. One pass with the wheel and trim the edge with a framelit on the Big Shot. Then I went a bit crazy with the tiny pearls.

Add a beautiful sentiment, already has some swirls and a frame, over a die cut label, add a bit of ribbon and we are all set!  This would be a great design for making multiples or taking to a shoebox swap: not too many steps or supplies.

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

I CASEd myself!

Just a quick change of stamp set and punch and ribbon, but the same color scheme and layout. I loved the design, and I love the new Flower Shop stamp set, so I CASEd myself!

We made this card in Stamp Club this month, and members got to decide if they liked this version or preferred the Secret Garden version with the Framelits.

Pretty much a tie, since all the flowers are gorgeous and the color scheme was the same.

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Let's revisit the mask

Don't you think this beautiful ruffle ribbon livens up an old-faithful masking technique? I created a mask using a piece of cardstock with a rectangle cut out of it. We used some clips to hold the mask to our card front and sponged some in-color inks inside the mask. The Crisp Cantaloupe and Coastal Cabana are beautiful together! This hostess set, Morning Meadow, offers the perfect solid color stamp in Early Espresso and a simple sentiment. The Stamp Club members loved it. . . I may make a stack of these for convention swaps!

If you haven't got your new Stampin' Up! catalog yet, what are you waiting for? Just leave me a message and I'll see that you get one!

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

Monday, June 17, 2013

Hello Summer!

Summer has officially arrived, finally. High humidity, temps int he 80s, soft drinks and gatorade are flying out of the fridge and the air conditioner is on more often than it is off. And I am happy about it, I much prefer the sun shining, skin burning heat to the bitter cold of Chicago winters!

A bit of bright, CAS (clean and simple) layout and easy technique on this card, in bright, fresh colors! Use your oval punch, run the pieces through an embossing folder and add a pretty button with a bow--you're all set! I guess I needed to build up my card stash, I seem to be making "all occasion" cards currently!

I am off to enjoy a hot summer day, hope you are too!
Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Happy Father's Day

A little bit masculine, a great card to keep in the stash. I think it can be used for one of those times when you just need a little card to send out to brighten someone's day, whether it is a guy or a girl.  This is my first use of this little stamp set, but I am starting to see lots of samples on-line, and I will be featuring it a few times in the near future!

My son arrived back in the U.S., safe and sound and reunited with his wife at the Marine base in North Carolina. I am profoundly thankful to everyone who prayed for his safety, and for those prayers being answered. We will go for a visit next weekend and I cannot wait!

Don't even think about sneaking in and snatching away any of my ink or stamps while I'm gone, the Boston Terrier will be home to protect all my convention samples and new catalog goodies. Just give me a call and schedule a class or party and I'll be happy to give you your own new products!

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

Monday, June 10, 2013

Five Way Flower

Individual stamps: every customer begged for the opportunity to buy one stamp, not a $40 set of stamps to get "the one" they want. So Stampin' Up! offers a wide variety of individual stamps. The Five Way Flower is great fun, and it is designed to work perfectly with all our scallop circle punches.

I stamped in versamark and clear embossing powder on a variety of card stock colors, to match the Gingham Garden DSP (designer series paper). Then I used my 3 largest scallop circle punches to cut out the flower.  Also shown is a sentiment from Chalk Talk stamp set, cut with a framelit.

I would love to see you at the Five Way Flower class, offered at three times: Thur June 27 at 1 and at 7 pm and Wed July 3 at 11 am. This is a "Keep the Set" class, so you will make 4 cards (including this one) and keep the stamp for just $25. . . what a deal!

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Christmas in June

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" and he wears a brown uniform, drives a big diesel truck and brings me boxes filled with stamps, card stock, ribbon and ink!

When the new Stampin' Up! catalog comes out, it is just like the old Sears Christmas catalog, I circle my favorites, post-it note the samples I love, make a list, check it twice, order ASAP, order again, and I hole up in the stamp room.

Our convention is 40+ days away, which sounds far off. . . but I have 4 events I have signed up to swap in, plus general swapping to do, plus roommate pillow gifts. So lots of stamping to do!

I love the new Chalk Talk stamp and framelit set, you'll be seeing a lot of this set! Paired with the This & That DSP, pretty and ready to swap!

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

Saturday, June 8, 2013

CAS is my FAVE

I love  love love a clean and simple card. I've been stamping like crazy, and when I get in a groove like this, I tend to make complex, multi-layered, embellished cards. So I have to stop myself and pull back to create a card that is easy to duplicate. Convention is coming and I've committed to 4 different events that require cards that will be duplicated. And I have to do all the prep! So CAS is the way to go!

Happy stamping!
Dee Tollaksen

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Early bird gets the worm, but no stamps

ü  4 demonstrators
ü  3 hours
ü  30% -80% off original price
ü  Stamps, tools, embellishments, paper
ü  Cash n carry—no exchanges, refunds or returns
ü  Rain or shine!
ü  Sat., June 15 at 9 am

Monday, June 3, 2013

NSR - not stamping related

I try to keep the blog "strictly stamping" but sometimes I just have to share: that middle Marine is my son and he will be back on US soil (out of harm's way) in less than two weeks.

Amen.

Happy Stamping!
Dee Tollaksen

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Double Vision

I am trying to come up with the perfect card to make in large quantity. Stampin' Up! convention is mid-July and I love to have a beautiful card to share at swaps and shoebox swaps, but a beautiful card that can be reproduced in large quantity is challenging!

I made a few of these and I like it very much, but the bow is held on with a glue dot. This is fine if I am creating the card to give with a gift or even to pop in the mail, because this seam binding ribbon is very thin and not too bulky for mailing.

But when we are at convention, we have hundreds of cards all shifting around in our box or bag or luggage, and that glue dot is just not going to do the job. So I went with the less pretty, simple ribbon knot. It's OK, but not the same. Also, I left the ends extra long because these swaps tend to get beat-up and this will let the recipient repair the fraying when she gets home.

What do you think? I like that the honeycomb embossing is only at the bottom, the silver sparkle dazzling details gives a bit of bling without bulk, and the framelits make it easy to cut tons of detailed flowers from the Secret Garden stamp set.

Happy Stamping!
Dee Tollaksen