Sunday, June 29, 2014

You're Invited, this Wednesday at 1, 4 or 7 pm

Are you "in the club?" You know that I want you to be, right? Once a month, club members come to my house and stamp, chat, place an order, pick up last month's order, share the projects they've made since last month, share their weight loss secrets, make me run up and down the stairs to get more stamps, ink colors and stamping tools, and listen to my crazy dog bark like a lunatic.

We have become friends, shared our health stories, our children's achievements, our vacation thrills, our bargain hunts and we have built an impressive craft collection! Our stamping skills have improved, but it's funny, there's still so much more to try!

Come September we will start another round and I'm sure we will find plenty of cards to make, topics to discuss and laughs to share! If you want to see what Stamp Club is like, drop in and give it a try! We will be stamping this Wednesday, July 2 2014 at 1:00, 4:00 and 7:00. Just let me know you're coming so I can save you a seat and have cardstock cut for you to make the cards!

Happy Stamping!
Dee Tollaksen

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

There were some prayers offered up, but not the ones you're thinking. . .

I'm going to throw around some lingo here, so go ahead and skim or tune out and just enjoy the pretty picture, if you aren't a stamper: this is a single layer card, made with masking and sponging AND the stamp-a-ma-jig. And I lived to tell the tale.

Some of my most dedicated stampers got together yesterday for a technique class and I tossed this card in, thinking "it's a single layer card, one stamp set, how challenging could it be?" Well, I kind of had them on the ropes already, so it might not have been a fair fight. But they will live.

And if we had done this one first, or just this one, I think we would have been fine, and they would have been bragging about it today!  Because it is pretty spectacular! I can say that because I CASEd it from Brian King who made it look super easy.

If you want to try this technique, just leave me a comment or shoot me an email, I'd love to help you out!

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

Friday, June 20, 2014

Starbucks might be on to something . . .

Remember how the old fuddy duddy's reacted when Starbucks put a coffee shop on every corner? They just went ahead and built them and waited for us to arrive. Well, I guess the nay-sayers might have been wrong.

Whenever a new crafting trend comes along and I feel like one of those fuddy duds, I have to check my attitude. Come on, what in the world could I have to lose? A couple pieces of paper? Let's play! Get out the ink and the aqua-painter and let's have a try!

Look how pretty this is! And it didn't take much experimentation. Just two stamp sets, Another Thank You in photo-polymer and Perfect Blend. I heat embossed using Early Espresso embossing powder and the paper is water color paper.

There are a couple tricks that I would love to share with you, why don't you come on over and stamp with me. We will be making this card Monday night if you're available, just leave me a comment or shoot me an email. OR let's set up a time that works better for you!

Happy Stamping!
Dee Tollaksen

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Yoo hoo, hello there!

Oh, it's summer time and the livin' is easy, hmmm hmmm hmmm, la la la la la la la. Well, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. I have been stamping and my cards are fabulous. But I just have neglected to share those fabulous card with the blog. If you miss me, you can always send me a message, I'll get off my lazy lawn chair and blog!

So isn't this gorgeous! I stamped and embossed with white embossing powder. Then I colored with the new Blendabilities Markers from Stampin' Up! These fun new products are currently only available to demonstrators. They are in production and they are going to be wildly popular when they are introduced, so there must be a whole bunch of stock available, and the markers need to be perfect, because we are all going to want them!

The Blendabilities are intended for coloring line images, but Cindee Wilkinson showed this technique on her blog and I loved the look. I would love to let you try the Blendabilities, come on over and take a class this Thursday night or let's set up a time at your convenience! Or maybe it is time for you to join the fun as a demonstrator and get your own collection of markers! There's a great deal going on right now, leave me a little comment or shoot me an email and  let's talk!

Happy Stamping!
Dee Tollaksen

Monday, June 9, 2014

Bargain Time

Looking for good homes for retired stamp sets, ink pads, punches, embossing folders and more. You name it, I have it for sale. . . at a bargain price!

When Stampin' Up! takes a product out of the catalog, I take it off my shelves and offer it up at a discount once a year at the garage sale.

Please come and take it off my hands!

Don't come early, and don't miss it!
Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

It's a Garden Party

 Theoretically, I own all these stamps and card stock so that I can make cards and gifts for my friends and relatives. I know that is what you tell your husband and friends too. So occasionally, I have to actually produce a substantial gift, and I am up to that challenge!

My friends and I threw a "Garden Theme" shower for our friend Linda this spring, and since I am the stamper, I gifted her with a bag full of thank you notes with a garden theme. I used the Tag It stamp set for the trowel and Teeny Tiny Wishes for the thank you, as well as miles and miles of retired ribbon on the cards, heat embossed all of the images and they are all notecard size.

The gift bag was from My Paper Pumpkin that I jazzed up with the sequin trim and DSP, and instead of spelling a message I used stamped and punched flowers to go with the garden theme.  After all was done, I should have given her postage, but I didn't think of it.

If you are LOVING this trowel and hoping to order it for yourself, you are just a day or two too late, because the new Stampin' Up! catalog has just gone live and the stamp set is now retired. So leave me a message, I'll get you the new catalog and we'll find you something even better to light your fire!

Happy Stamping,
Dee Tollaksen




Sunday, June 1, 2014

Happy!!

Happy!! Are you a happy kind of person? I hope so! I try to be spreading happy everywhere I go. I love that the most popular song right now is Pharrell's Happy song.

Stampin' Up! says You Can Never Have Too Much Happy and in Stamp Club we paired it with this really zippy DSP (designer series paper) to make a seriously happy card. And if you are paying attention, it makes a great masculine card, right?!

It has been a really happy season for me, my son finished his contract with the Marines, my daughter is floating along in a nice job with a nice boyfriend, my good friend got married last night to a nice man and we all had a good time at her wedding.

And we will be first time grandparents in just a few short months -- so excited!

Happy! Happy! Happy!  If you need a reason to be happy, just leave me a note and I'll bring you a new Stampin' Up! catalog, we can have a nice cold iced tea and a few laughs. I'm sure that will brighten your day!

Hope this first day of June finds you Happy!

Dee Tollaksen