Saturday, July 12, 2014

Set sampler Saturday! - Age Awareness

Tomorrow is our 23rd wedding anniversary!

Tonight my husband and I went out to dinner in order to celebrate.

Since our morning was filled with a baseball game for our younger son, and my afternoon was making graduation cards for our older son (he has parties to go to this weekend), I had no time to do my set sampler cards!

I was bound and determined to keep it "set sampler Saturday" and not Sunday!

When we came home, I decided I would do some really quick cards.

Isn't that what we just need sometimes? Quick cards?

You know, when you're in a hurry and you say, "Oh no! I need to make a card!"

Well, if it's a birthday this is your go-to set!

It's called Age Awareness and it's new this year! 
As you can see it has lots of different stamps! What I like most about it - it's photopolymer, so it's clear all the way through for easy placement! Plus, they just STICK to the clear block without any fussing around. (I am starting to prefer these over the regular clear-mount stamps that we sell...)

I consulted my vast file of Pinterest cards... (like I said I needed quick cards - quickly!) 

Mostly CASEs with some tweaking...
Colors: Lost Lagoon and Whisper White
Extras: 2 1/2" circle punch,  sponge daubers, white gel pen, linen thread, marker in Lost Lagoon

Paper: Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White, Sweet Taffy DSP (don't forget July SU! special: buy three DSP, get one free!) I love the colors in this pack so much I may just buy three more and get a fourth one free!
Ink: Blackberry Bliss
Extra: Tangelo Twist ribbon


Colors: So Saffron, Pool Party, Calypso Coral and Whisper White
Extras: Pool Party ribbon (from last year's Sale-a-bration), dotted scallop ribbon border punch, Dotty Angles photopolymer stamp set
Quick and easy!

And I can officially say that I got this done in time to qualify for "set sampler  Saturday!" Phew!

If you are interested in purchasing Age Awareness, Dotty Angles, or any other Stampin' Up! product, please visit my website, and click "shop" in the upper right-hand corner:

While you're there, don't forget to stock up on your favorite Designer Series Paper! This month only: Buy 3, get 1 FREE !

Friday, July 11, 2014

What's cookin'? - Caprece Chicken

One of my favorite foods of summer is a caprece salad. Fresh basil ,fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella... Mmmm!
Throw in some chicken and you have a main dish meal!

For this recipe I have no measurements -just a list of ingredients. You decide how much to put in - and adjust it to your liking!

Ingredients:
Olive oil
Minced garlic
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Cherry or grape tomatoes (or other small tomatoes)
Fresh basil
Fresh mozzarella
Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste

Step 1:
Warm some olive oil in a frying pan. Add chicken and cook until you no longer see pink, flipping once or twice. Remove from pan.


Step 2:
In same skillet: add a little more oil, add minced garlic and cook until it begins to soften and turn golden. (Do not let it turn brown - that is bitter tasting!)
Step 3:
Add tomatoes and cook a few minutes until they begin to soften. (If you use small, whole tomatoes such as grape, it will start to crack; I used a little bit larger of the tomato cut into halves.)

Step 4:
Add basil leaves, broken-up. Cook another 2-3 minutes, or until it starts to wilt.

Step 5:
Put chicken into a broiler-safe pan. Pour tomato, basil, garlic mixture on top of chicken. Add fresh mozzarella slices, balls, pieces NOW.

Step 6: 
Broil for about 5 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Step 7:
(Remove from broiler!) Drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

Step 8:
ENJOY!!!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Rosettes for Gift Tags

This year I made coupons and put them with all of the catalogs that I handed out in June. They are either for a discount or "get something free" when you purchase a particular item.

June was the first month of the new catalog, therefore it is the first coupon. Last month focused on the new In Colors - which we used at stamp club so everyone could see them up close! Several of my stamp club members and other customers took advantage of the FREE gift when they purchased the new color kit. They each received a pack of the Cut and Ready Card Bases in the new In Colors! (They are cut to card size and already scored for you, to make life easier!)


I decided that each month I would package the free gift in a fun way, since I am starting to stamp more and more each day. (☺️)

For June gifts, I decided to make tags. I used: Layered Labels stamp set (retired), Apothecary Accents framelits,

 ribbon in the new colors Lost Lagoon or Blackberry Bliss, and gold baker's twine.
The finishing touch would be a rosette since I haven't made those in a while.

And when I say "in a while", I'm not kidding... Things did not go well in the beginning!

I wanted to use the new Moonlight Designer Series Paper stack, since it featured several of the new colors, 

and the Designer Rosette Bigz XL die for the Big Shot.
What I didn't remember was that you need two strips of paper, each 12 inches long, to make it rosette as big as I needed. The Moonlight paper stack sheets are only 6 1/2 inches, so even with two of those, it wasn't long enough.
Every time I tried to make one it tore!

YUK!

Finally, I broke down and decided to watch tutorial videos from YouTube. The one that helped me the most was by Sarah Nabor. Here's the link to her video:

Her helpful hint was putting some hot glue on one end of your accordion folded piece...
Press it down for a few minutes on your silicone craft mat (adhesives don't stick to it!) ...
When the glue is dry, the piece starts to fan out on only one side, already starting to form your rosette.

(Think book binding!)

When you do that to the second piece and then join them together with your sticky strip, it makes a beautiful, EASY, rosette that I don't have to struggle with trying to push the center down!
Yaaaa! No more stress! Now it is fun again!

Thank you, Sarah Nabor! 

Now I was ready to finish the tag.

I had some 2 1/2 circles that I had already punched out of card stock. I stuck it down to a Jumbo Sticky Round  (picture sticky strip in a circle rather than tape!)
I placed the rosette onto the Jumbo Sticky Round, adhering it into place.


Next, I added some hot glue to the middle of the rosette and added the tag that I had created.

I went on to create several more... Easy as pie!

You can see the one on the bottom right that I did the other day trying to use the shorter paper... I don't know how, but this one worked and so did the others that I made for Tuesday club, but the new ones are way nicer and I'm much happier with them!

My apologies go to anyone who already received one that is not as nice as these new ones! 

But after all, I have to put it in perspective - it is just a tag! 

Oh well, they still looked nice! There were just a few spots on the back of those that I used washy tape for a tore.

So, don't look at the back! Ha ha!

Now I know a trick, and it will be smooth  rosette sailing from now on!

I hope this helps you too!

Of course, if you do not own the Big Shot or the die, you can still make rosettes! You simply need teo strips of 2 x 12" paper, and use your paper cutter or Simply Scored tool to make even scores on both (you choose the width.)

If you are interested in purchasing any of these items please visit my website and click "shop" in the upper right-hand corner!

And don't forget my special for July - FREE glimmer paper with the purchase of any framelits from page 231!


Sunday, July 6, 2014

Set Sampler Saturday - Just Sayin'

Holy cow! I almost forgot!

It's "Set Sampler Saturday"!

This morning I remembered and went down to my stamp to make a few new cards. I had to stamp early because we were having a cookout today.... Then I forgot about it until now!

So, I have a whopping five minutes left to Saturday so, dammit, it's "Set Sampler Saturday"!

This week I'm using the set Just Sayin' and the matching Word Bubbles framelits.

My first card is a case of one shown in the catalog on page 109. 

I switched the colors up a bit, but it's basically the same design. The colors are Pool Party, Night of Navy, Tangerine Tango, and of course, touches of the gold vellum and foil paper! It also uses the solid gold washi tape from the Watercolor Wonder collection.
One and done! (Stamp, that is!)

My second card is a CASE of one seen on Pinterest.
The card base is So Saffron, with a strip of the Retro Fresh DSP (now retired) and 
Tangerine Tango washi tape from the Retro Fresh This and That collection.
The focal point uses the colors Soft Suede, Coastal Cabana, and Tangerine Tango.

I used some "homemade" gold sequins to embellish this card!

The third card is not new - we made this at a 2/5/15 class. I wanted to share it again because, like the others, it's a simple, yet striking card:
Here, the Wildflower Meadow emboss folder ( for the Big Shot) is used for a subtle background on the Basic Gray card stock.
... So, you have already seen how 3 of the stamps perfectly coordinate with the framelits. But, don't forget that you can use any other stamp in the Word Bubbles!

In fact, one in particular gets used a lot without words:
Here, the "thought" bubble is used as a cloud!

And below, you'll see that the negative space created by the "cloud" works well, too!

Have fun with this stamp set and the matching framelits!

As always, you can order these items and more by visiting my website and clicking "shop" in the upper right-hand corner!



Thursday, July 3, 2014

Graduation card!

I was so consumed last month with my son's graduation, that I neglected to remember - this means that all his friends are graduating too!

Luckily, their grad parties are spaced out enough throughout the summer that I have time to make all the cards that I need!

I'm going with a design that I used last year for another friend of his. It is not my original design, but I just love it!

I can easily change the colors to match the school, and use different glimmer paper... even coloring the white one if I have to with Stampin' Spritzers and ink refills! As a bonus, this card easily can be used for a girl or boy.

Here is the card for I made for a party this Saturday:
Our town's local high school colors are brown and yellow.

Tomorrow I have another card to make and I will just change it because he went to another school where the colors are green and white!

Garden green - I checked!

PS: thank you, Ronnie, for the loaning the grad cap stamp to me!