It's pretty and it's fun

Don't take my word for it, try it yourself. Watercolor painting is really fun and easy.

Thursday night we will have all the supplies out and we will be playing with heat embossing, re-inkers, watercolor paper and paint brushes.

Now all we need is you! Leave me a message here or call to save your seat!

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

Trend Alert - water coloring is FUN

"I'm just not artistic." This is my favorite thing to hear when working with a new stamper, because I totally believe this same lie.

I am not artistic. No one ever taught me how to use the hidden talents God gave me. I might have 20 sets of water color paints but no idea what to do with them. You too? Those strips of dried up lumps of color and a brush. . . what the heck am I supposed to do with them?

But water coloring is coming into the stamping world, and in a BIG way. It is POPULAR! and it is FUN! So I took a twirl around YouTube and learned a few techniques. And made a bunch of cards. The best thing about it is that there is no wrong way, every card will be different and that is OK. Yea!

Now that I'm a grown-up and no one is grading me on my work, I can do the things that are fun and I don't have to worry about what other people think. So the fact that I'm not artistic is fading away and I'm learning to enjoy the process and stop listening to the negative statements in my head and just go and have fun! You should try it!

I'm offering a class Thursday April 29 at 7 pm for just $20 to try Water Coloring and stamping together. We will make at least 4 cards, probably more, because it is just so dang fun. Leave me message or give me a call if you would like to come over and try it. If this date doesn't work for you, I would love to schedule a class that does!

Happy Stamping!
Dee Tollaksen

Free Shipping

For 5, April 21 thru 25, Stampin' Up! is offering free shipping on all orders (standard shipping). Please take advantage of this offer for any little indulgences you may have on your wish list, save that 10% and avoid the $6.95 minimum altogether!

The retiring list will be posted Monday April 21 as well, so items will be flying off the shelf. Be ready with your "got to have it" list, because if it retires, it will be gone fast, and forever.

Happy Stamping!
Dee Tollaksen

Sweetie Pie faces are so dang cute

Have I raved out about the Sweetie Pie stamp set yet? Because I think it is just the cutest thing ever! A whole set of sweet faces in clear photo-polymer stamps, so they are super easy to place exactly where you want them.  I did break out the stamp-a-ma-jig to get exact placement here.

My niece is into cos-play or some variation of that, something that my generation would have referred to as a theater geek; enjoying costumes, dressing up and putting on skits and plays.  Wearing makeup to "be someone else." So I kind of liked the idea of showing a whole bunch of similar faces but just one bright and beautiful "her" in the crowd.

I have a bunch of ideas floating around in my head for this set, so look out, there will be more coming soon!

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

Project Life comes to Stampin' Up!

Sometimes things actually get better as they get older. Scrapbooking is one of those things. We all know that we should be taking pictures AND keeping track of who is in them and what is going on, right?

Project Life makes it so easy. The kits provide pretty cards, photo safe pens and plastic pages with pockets. Slip your photo into a pocket, pick a cute card, jot down some details and slip it into a neighboring pocket. Done. Ta Da.

Okay. So you want to do more? Go ahead! Put some stickers on the cards, stamp some sentiments, make your own cards, use MDS (My Digital Studio) to customize the cards or duplicate them to share a duplicate book with Grandma. It is your project, do what you want with it. The kits will be color and theme coordinated, so you can pretty much just compose with confidence.

I will have samples in hand shortly. You will be able to order starting May 1st. You can book your workshop NOW, just leave me a message or call NOW to get on my calendar and get started right away!
Happy Stamping!
Dee Tollaksen

Carrots, not candy!

 A small miracle has been unfolding, I have been keeping my New Year's resolution. I know, it is April, more than 1/3 of the year has flown by, and I am still working on losing weight. Successfully. It is a long and slow (and hateful) process.

But I am still on the right side of the process. So I am hosting Easter dinner in a few days and I know that will include some tempting Cadbury eggs. I love them all. The ooey gooey creme filled ones. The hard shell chocolate filled ones. The caramel filled ones. Whatever ones they offer, I love them. I also like the Reese's peanut butter ones. But this year I'm trying to remember to eat carrots and not candy. So I thought I would share a little refrigerator magnet with all my Weight Watcher friends. They now know that I am super crafty. LOL So far, this is all the "super crafty" that I have shared with them. I'm sure the craftiness will explode soon, but for now, just a little fridge magnet.

Happy stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

Personal and Confidential

 Did you hear my big news?

If you look at all the pictures, you might guess.

I'll help you with some clues.  These darling owls represent my daughter-in-law and my son. They are very much in love. See the heart between them? Of course they are in love! And they are very cute.

But they don't even realize that they are just in black and white while the rest of the card is very colorful and that they are surrounded by a gold frame! They have a very bright future!

Things are changing for them very soon.

 Oh, look how colorful Danielle is becoming when you pull the little white panel  using the pretty tab.

Oh? Who is that? Who who (they are owls, right?)

A baby!

Yup! There will soon be a baby in our family and their lives will blossom and change and be filled in ways they never knew or dreamed possible!

And we cannot wait to share in their joy on this new adventure!

If you would like to know how to make a magic changing card like this, just leave me a little message, I would be happy to share the secret with you.

Happy Stamping!
Dee Tollaksen

Over the top but not over the hill birthday card

 I remember when Stampin' Up! first introduced the Big Shot and told us it was going to sell for $99. And we all just shook our heads and said it will never catch on. Who will invest that much in their hobby?

But I cannot imagine crafting without it! And certainly we all invest that much and so much more, with our electronic cutters and piles of paper and tools and ribbon!

Shown today is a more colorful version of my flower card, these roses are made with the spiral die on the Big Shot. They are so easy to just roll up after cutting with a die. Then a drop of hot glue or a couple glue dots and they are firm and ready to go. I had a stash of pearl beads that are perfect in the centers. Also featured on this card is a panel of Crumb Cake card stock run through the Big Shot in an embossing folder (is this one retired?). A bit of Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon, sentiment and some petite petals flowers stamped to coordinate with the envelope/box.

An over-the-top card in lots of neutral colors so that the recipient isn't knocked over when she opens it!  So glad I saw the wisdom of getting the Big Shot! LOL

Leave me a message and I'll be happy to come by your crafty place to show you how to make over-the-top cards and box/envelopes for your friends!

Happy Stamping!
Dee Tollaksen

Super duper fab wedding card

Because I am the stamping teacher, my friends have high expectations from me when they ask me to make a card. We recently went in together and bought a "group" gift for a lucky couple who will be getting married soon.

Stampin' Up! makes it easy to pull together a beautiful card! Shown here, I took a panel of the new Silver embossed Vellum layered over Basic Gray card stock over Smoky Slate as the card base. I die cut a couple leaf sprigs  from silver glimmer paper and stamped in smoky slate. The highlight on this card are the roses which are die cut on the Big Shot using the Spiral Die in the Celebrate catalog.

Now I don't want you to panic, but I had some pearl beads in my drawer that aren't from Stampin' Up! I don't know where they came from but they are absolutely perfect for the center of these flowers! Just drop some glue down inside and push the bead in. Perfect!

But now the card is not going into any regular envelope, so pull out the Envelope Punch Board. There are lots of YouTube videos available for making a boxy envelope. Just start with a 9 x 9" square of cardstock or DSP and follow the video instructions. Then I added a whole bunch of flowers from the Petite Petals punch.

Definitely a show-stopper card! But surprisingly easy to pull together. Leave me a comment and we can schedule a time to get together and make a stash of these for you to impress your friends!

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

No April Fools Tricks today

I am a little afraid to put anything on the internet today, as it is the first day of April, so I will just be short and sweet.

Pretty card. Fourth of four from the Vivid Vases class. Heat embossed using Versamark ink and Wild Wasabi embossing powder. I added a ruffle of ribbon and a matching button with a bit of bakers twine threaded through, some DSP and a "candy dot" for a pop of color.

I love that this stamp can speak for itself, very simply, or can be colored, fussy cut, water colored, so many different techniques on a low cost initial investment. And it is just so pretty!

Happy Stamping!
Dee Tollaksen