Benefits of Tea

Over the years, people have been learning the great health benefits to drinking tea. But how about the benefits of making a teapot for charity? I think its just as healthy...for the soul!

There's nothing better than the gift of giving and especially when its for a good EXCELLENT cause! Stampin' Up! has partnered with Ronald McDonald House as its charity of choice. So, demonstrators who live close to one can volunteer and help. The methods and commitment vary from house to house but I just love ours. The house brings comfort and provides a “home-away-from-home” for families so they can stay close by their hospitalized child at little or no cost.  But they provide a lot more! To continue these various programs and in maintaining the house, the OC Ronald McDonald House is having their annual High Tea. We've been asked to make party favors for their guests.

Aren't these just clever? Our fearless leader, Karen Moody, drafted this sample to use at the Orange County Ronald McDonald House High Tea Event. (And by the way, not all McDonalds contribute to this charity and wasn't even started by McDonalds, the fast food chain. Just a fact I learned.) Anyway, I'm having an event where you can come and help me make some of these to send off. As a thank you, you'll also get to make one for yourself to take home with you.

Stamp Ink Diva Studio in Corona, CA

Monday, September 20, 2010 at 10 a.m. 

Please RSVP.

If you aren't already involved, I highly suggest you find a charity and give a little bit of your time. It's a gift multiplied by 2: for the recipient and you.

{Project Details}
Stamp: Elements of Style and Oval All
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Basic Black and Whisper White Card Stock.
Accessories: Large Oval and Scallop Oval Punches; Big Shot, XL Matchbox Die, Top Note Die, Floral Fusion Sizzlet, and Silver Brads.

Also, did you know that for every Tag Alongs (120513--C; 117018--W) stamp set sold, $2 of it goes to the Ronald McDonald House?

To order on-line 24/7 click here.

Thanks for stopping by today! If you are already volunteering, I'd love for you to leave a comment about your choice of charity/cause.

Swap Share for Convention 2010

Every year, the highlight of my summer would be my trip to Salt Lake City for a Stampin' Up! Convention. Its a stamper's heaven: seminars on different products and presentations, make and takes, and overflowing of ideas.

One of the many fun things at Convention is swaps. Picture little boys trading baseball cards, but only its demonstrators sharing their creative cards and 10x more fun!

This is one of my cards that I made.

TIP: I used a technique that I like to call "masking with embossing folders". Wow, that's a long name! But the idea is to put chipboard shims in desired shapes (I chose rectangle) and put them on the places you'd like to see the embossed images and the other areas will not get embossed. I've completed a similar project, look here.


{Project Details}
Stamp: Elements of Style
Ink: Baja Breeze Classic Ink Pad; Baja Breeze, Basic Black, and Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Markers.
Paper: Baja Breeze, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, and Very Vanilla Card Stock.
Accessories: Boho Blossoms, Large Oval, Scallop Oval, and Wide Oval Punches; Big Shot; Perfect Polka Dot and Square Lattice Textured Impressions Folder Embossing Dies; White Gel Pen; Basic Pearl Jewels.

Oval All Stationery Set

I was lucky enough to have my mother (from Georgia) accompanied by my aunt (visiting from Korea) to come and visit with me here in sunny California. As a parting gift, I wanted to send them home with a card set of my own creation.  I started with a Whisper White card stock. Then stamped the "Baroque Background" onto the card stock with Baja Breeze Classic Ink Pad. (TIP: to get a better inked coverage of your stamp, rub the rubber stamp with a sanding block.) In this case, I don't mind the splotchiness of the background. It adds a little extra to the "vintage" feel of the card. I cut two 1/8" x 4.25" strips of Basic Gray card stock and adhered them towards the bottom of the card. Using the "Oval All" stamp set (113790-Occasions Mini Catalog), I stamped each rubber stamp onto the extra pieces of Whisper White card stock  ("Just for You" not shown). Punched those images with the large oval punch and layered onto a scallop oval punched Basic Gray card stock using Stampin' Dimensionals. For added depth, I layered the Basic Gray scalloped oval onto the card using Stampin' Dimensionals as well. 

For this stamp, I stamped the butterfly image with Basic Gray Classic Ink onto another Whisper White card stock. Once I was finished coloring the butterfly, I cut it out and layered it using mini glue dots. But I felt like it needed something more, so I added my favorite dazzling diamond glitter. 

For this image, I stamped the flower twice with Basic Gray Classic Ink onto another Whisper White card stock and water colored the whole flower. The second flower, I only colored the center of the flower. Trimmed the main flower and layered onto the large oval with mini glue dots. Finally, I trimmed the center of the second flower and adhered to the center of the large flower now layered onto the large oval.

"Best Wishes" was inked with Baja Breeze Classic Ink. Then, I colored the words directly on the rubber stamp with a Basic Black Stampin' Up! marker and stamped onto the card stock.

I think these came out beautifully and it was easy to do! 

Tags, Tags, and More Tags

I wanted to share a few things that we did at a workshop this past weekend. The hostess had requested tags because most of her guests were new to stamping and wanted to show them something really quick and easy that could easily be made and used (besides cards). These are the things that I came up with and think that it came out really well! 

I also couldn't let them go without something cute to store these handmade tags. So we used my favorite die cutting machine, the Big Shot, and the exclusive Stampin' Up Matchbox XL Die, found in the Occasions Mini Catalog.

Supplies Used: Big Shot, Matchbox XL Die, Scallop Oval Punch, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Square Punch, Large and Small Tag Punches; Oval All Stamp Set, Say It With Scallops Set, and Cheap Talk Stamp Set; Whisper White Cardstock, Chocolate Chip Cardstock, Kiwi Kiss Textured Cardstock, Baja Breeze Cardstock, and Baja Breeze Designer Series Paper; Window Sheets, and So Saffron Ribbon (from Sale -a- Bration); Pacific Point Classic Ink Pad, Kiwi Kiss Classic Ink Pad, Baja Breeze Classic Ink Pad, and Chocolate Chip Classic Ink Pad.

Thoughts and Prayers

What a simple yet elegant sketch, wouldn't you agree? I used this MOJO 79 sketch for my Thoughts & Prayers card. 

I love the tree stamp from this set. But I must admit, these are the cards that make me so sad to make because the recipient of this card means that they are hurting or in pain. My heart and prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones in the Montana plane crash. 

card recipe: thoughts & prayers stamp set (113252); close to cocoa stamp pad; so saffron, chocolate chip, very vanilla, and baja breeze cardstock; bella rose designer series paper; so saffron ribbon from sale-a-bration ribbon bundle; scallop edge punch, large oval punch, and scalloped oval punch (mini occasions catalog).