Friday, January 31, 2014

Uh, oh, it has a heart on it

Well, it is almost February, right? So we know that Christmas is over. We know this because the retail stores couldn't wait to toss all the decorations out and pop up all the Valentine products immediately. We have been steering around the hearts and candy for 6 weeks already and, yes, today is still January!

My card goes a little vintage with the edges of everything sponged in Early Espresso. Mostly it is a collage, with a cluster of flags around the heart, over a doily. All pretty and romantic, with just a few sequins to give it a touch of bling.

If you are avoiding the Valentine aisle in the grocery store, give me a call. We can spend an hour together, make a couple very nice romantic cards for the folks you love that will truly demonstrate your feelings but not line the pockets of the Hallmark industry.

Happy Stamping!
Dee Tollaksen

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Sale-a-Bration is underway at Stampin' Up!

I used the new Sale-a-Bration banner set and punch to create this cute Vintage style card. love to add bling and ruffles and make a card that can be used for any occasion at all. Not gonna be able to pass it off on any of my guy friends, but it will work for a birthday, or a thank you or a thinking of you style, right?

Gotta run, busy busy day!

Happy Stamping!
Dee Tollaksen

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Frozen Flowers

We booked our vacation. I am making flowers. The spring catalog has arrived. Catalogs are promoting swimsuits. But open the door and there is a polar vortex  settled in Chicagoland. Brrrrr. I am doing everything I can think of to avoid the issue of the frigid weather right outside my window.

So I made a bright and cheerful flowery wreath. The new catalog from Stampin' Up! features a Big Shot die that cuts the spiral for the rose; just wrap the spiral and a dab of hot glue holds it in place and you have a beautiful, permanent rose in two seconds. They are easy and fast and now everything I do will have paper roses attached to it!

Seriously, Kathy and Roberta came over and we made these wreaths last week. . . we selected colors, wrapped the burlap ribbon around our styrofoam forms, cut our flowers and wrapped our flowers. Then we arranged it all using straight pins and the whole project was done in under 90 minutes. Easy peasy.

Happy Stamping!
Dee Tollaksen


Monday, January 27, 2014

Bonus Dahlias

If you still only owned the Regarding Dahlia stamp set, but now you owned some scissors, you could create this gorgeous card! I spent some time fussy cutting this flower! I stamped it 3 times on Real Red card stock and cut the entire flower, then cut a small center section, then cut a middle size section, layered them up. A length of the red Glimmer paper runs the length of the Basic Black card front. Hello You is one of the sentiments in the stamp set, but the great shapely square  is from a fun set of framelits for the Big Shot, but you could use your scissors and cut a square!

Now, this final Regarding Dahlia card is for those of us who have bought everything in the catalog and have finally decided to actually use some of it on a card. LOL

I have made a bow from a bit of Chevron ribbon and matched it with a shape from Apothecary Accents framelit set for the Big Shot, which is also where that lovely shapely square on the top card comes from.  The base of the card is Whisper White and the flower has been stamped on the same Whisper White, three times. I fussy cut it, just like I did the red one on the first card, and layered them. You might be able to see that I snuck a sparkly clear marker onto the dahlias here. It just makes a little glittery look on the petals without glue or shedding, but Stampin' Up! doesn't yet offer anything like it, so I had to go out shopping in a local shop.  The gorgeus silver striped Vellum  is featured in the new Occasions catalog and is available in a silver package or gold package.

I think I have one more dahlia in gold to share, then we can move on the Sale-a-Bration goodies.

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

Sunday, January 26, 2014

The rest of the bag of dahlias

 Yesterday I shared a couple of orange dahlias and today I have a couple of black dahlias. I'll bet nature doesn't even produce orange or black dahlias, but Stampin' Up! let's us make them whatever color we want!

The first one demonstrates the popular polaroid technique where the featured image is square and matted onto a white rectangle with a small sentiment at the bottom. We used a silver marker around the edge of the square to highlight the dahlia square. The pen was available in the holiday catalog and then on the clearance rack. I love to use it inside a black card like this one. I hope you got yours when they were available because I don't think we sell them anymore.

There is also a tiny flag of red glimmer paper to add a bit of bling and color, coming right off the sentiment, if you look close. You could use a bit of ribbon or bright DSP if you didn't have red sparkly paper, but this works wonderfully to brighten the card!

The second card is also black and white with a bit of red glimmer, layering two identical images of the Regarding Dahlia flower and a sentiment from the same stamp set.

This class was designed to demonstrate how one stamp set and limited supplies could produce beautiful and very trendy or classic cards and quite a variety of cards without having to own a lot of crafting supplies.

Happy stamping!
Dee Tollaksen


Saturday, January 25, 2014

Half in the bag


I don't know why I had such a challenge with this pretty dahlia. It is such an easy stamp to work with, I think it was just that I wanted to demonstrate how easy it is, that I was over-thinking the whole concept and making it difficult.

So these are two of the cards we made at the Regarding Dahlia stamp set class this week. They both use Pumpkin Pie ink and are single layer or   one-element design. The sentiments are both included in the stamp set, so no extra stamps are needed.

The Pumpkin Pie card textured using the Big Shot and a piece of trim was created with a punch. This could be modified with a piece of ribbon or plain card stock and some DSP or background stamping.  The white card is dressed up with washi tape, which is so popular right now! and so easy to use! We also sponged some Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie ink over the dahlia image, no fussy coloring or fancy tools needed.

These are very easy cards, so they are great for beginners or if you need to make a lot of cards or you are in a hurry!

The other half of the class will be here tomorrow.

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen


Sunday, January 12, 2014

First Love, but not the last

So many stamps, so little time. When a new catalog comes out, like the Occasions catalog from Stampin' Up! just has, it can be overwhelming. There are so many gorgeous stamp sets and so many new embellishments and designer papers!

But then I just keep coming back to one or two perfect images. The ones that will stand alone, can be used for any occasion, require little or no fuss.

Vivid Vases is sold as a single stamp which makes it a great bargain. It has a very versatile sentiment, which could be chopped right off if I want. It has a nice big image that can stand alone on the face of a full size card or on a note card size card. I can dress it up like shown with DSP (designer series paper) or I could have added some water coloring to look like water in the vases.

I will be using this stamp a lot and will definitely get my money's worth! And now I can relax and see what else to fall in love with from the catalog!

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

Friday, January 10, 2014

I Want it ALL product share

NEW Service!
 Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalog
 Product Share
Do you love the new Occasions Catalog from Stampin' Up!? My wish list is huge! And I have a feeling yours might be too! So I put together a little product share sampler with a little bit of everything -- all my favorite must-haves from the new catalog.


It would cost you over $175 to purchase all of these accessories on your own! Sign up for my product share and try a little bit of everything for
 only $25 + $4.95 if product is to be shipped, US customers only.

Each Occasions Catalog Product Share from Dee  includes:
·                  Chevron Ribbon (1 yd)
·                  Retro Fresh Designer Paper (six 6x6 sheets)
·                  Watercolor Wonder Designer Notecards (2 cards and envelopes)
·                  Gold Fancy Foil Designer Vellum (three 6x6 sheets)
·                  Silver Fancy Foil Designer Vellum (three 6x6 sheets)
·                  Gold Sequin Trim (2 yds)
·                  Silver Foil Sheets (one 6x6 sheet)
·                  Gold Foil Sheets (one 6x6 sheet)
·                  Silver 1/8" Ribbon (2 yds)
·                  Watercolor Wonder Designer Paper (six 6x6 sheets)
·                  High Tide Designer Paper (six 6x6 sheets)
·                  Pacific Point 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon (2 yds)
·                  Summer Starfruit 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon (2 yds)
·                  Gold Baker's Twine (5 yds)
·                  Silver Baker's Twine (5 yds)
·                  Basic Metal Buttons (4 pcs)
·                  Kaleidoscope Designer Paper (six 6x6 sheets)
·                  Essentials Wooden Elements (8 pcs)
·                  Metallic Clothespins (6 pcs)
Ready to sign up?
 Reserve your product share now or by emailing me at dtollaksen@wideopenwest.com

·                  When each product share is full, I will send you a Paypal invoice for the product share ($25 + $4.95 s/h) and order the product. Each “share” requires 4 participants to be “full.”
·                  Please allow two weeks for delivery since I need to order the product, cut and divide it up and then send it to you. 

·                  This offer is only available from Dee Tollaksen, Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator .

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Jumping from Christmas right to Valentine's Day

Are you a Valentine's Day kind of person? Do you wait until the last minute and then wonder why your loved ones pout when you give them a random "hello kitty/my little pony" or "teenage mutant turtle" valentine card?

Let's get together and make a pretty card that shows you care! You don't have to go to Hallmark or spend $50 on sad wilted roses, but a handmade card and a thoughtful  item that won't fade in a couple hours will be much appreciated. And you still have plenty of time!

Call me and I'll get you set up!

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Regarding Dahlia versatility

 Have you enrolled in the Regarding Dahlia class? Coming up Thurs Jan 23 at 7 pm, we will make 4 cute cards using this stamp set, and you get to keep the set!  Your fee of $22 needs to be guaranteed by Jan. 13 so I can have the sets on hand by class night.

I have been fooling around with the set making samples so you can see how versatile it is, but these are just for my stash, not the class cards. I'll show you some samples soon!

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen



Saturday, January 4, 2014

Glam it up

Raise your hand if this applies to you:

I own a crafting tool that I don't know how to use.

I neglect to send beautiful cards to my friends on their birthday.

I hate making resolutions on January 1st.

It is really hard to type when I have to raise my hand for every one of these!

I love paper crafting. I want everything related to it. I want every color of glitter paper. I want every rubber stamp in the catalog. I want every die cutting tool and attachment. I want miles of ribbon and yards of twine. Occasionally I even use a postage stamp to send a card to a friend!  Things have got to change! You people have got to start receiving cards!

So I am in my craft room, figuring out how to use My Digital Studio with ease. I have the basics down. I can manage. But I cannot sail through a project with ease. And now I added a Silhouette Portrait digital cutting machine, so I want to be able to use it with ease also.

This card shows that I can create a sentiment in digital form and output it on the Silhouette which cuts it from Silver Glimmer paper. Then I used the Big Shot to die cut the pretty leaves, added a bit of ribbon and rhinestones. Then I put it in an envelope and added a postage stamp and mailed it to my friend Elaine. And it was only 2 days after her birthday. Whoo hoo! Hip Hip Hooray!

So that's the plan: Enjoy my hobby and share with my friends. Hope I can manage! Email me your birthday and your address. I'll send you a card!

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen