Embellish

Last Day to RSVP for Christmas Traditions Recipe Keepsake Book!

On Saturday, October 5th, join us at from nine to noon to create your own “Christmas Traditions” family recipe smash books together with a loved one. 

Each mother-daughter team (or aunt and niece, sisters, grandma and granddaughter, or just plain friends, too!) will receive one bundle of Season of Style products, along with two spiral journals. You can bring along your family recipes, or put them in at home--at the class, we'll be focusing on the book itself. Your keepsake recipe book will hold about 25-30 favorite family holiday recipes when you are done!

Be prepared to enjoy the time together reminiscing and creating as we celebrate the unique relationships of the women in our lives and the importance of family memories passed along from generation to generation.

Cost for the class is just $40 per 2 people or $30 per person. Age 8 & up only, please. RSVP by September 17th. Natalie and I hope you can join us! Email [email protected] to RSVP. Space is limited in both sessions.

NEW! Can't participate in person? I would be happy to ship United States residents a class kit along with emailed photos of many of my own book's pages and general guidelines (not step-by-step instructions) as to how to put together Christmas Traditions Family Recipe Books of your own with your loved one. I will include a list of basic items you'll need to have together to complete the books. Cost is $60 and includes shipping via Priority Mail. The kit will arrive within 7-10 days of the actual class date. Please email me if you have questions, or Paypal the funds with the tag line "Christmas Traditions Recipe Book" to [email protected].

My SOMH teamies are talented!

I am terribly behind in sharing the sample swap cards from our monthly local demonstrator gatherings! Everyone has such cute ideas and they just love our monthly contest. Here's three really cute swap cards and happy mail, by Lynn D, Penni L, Cristy B and Lynn Z.



If you are a local Stampin' Up demonstrator (or wannabe!) you are SO welcome to come to our group meetings. We would love to have you as part of our energetic and enthusiastic group of stampers. Shoot me a line and I'll share the details for our next meeting, on Monday, October 14th, 2013. There is no fee--we just ask that everyone participate in some way, whether it's bringing a snack, designing a Make N Take, demoing a project, sharing a business tip, or giving a webinar overview. Hope you can make it!

Mini Photo Tutorial: Peekaboo Window Slider

At Convention this summer, one of the presenters shared the cutest little slider card, easily done with the exclusive new Peekaboo Windows die for the Big Shot. It went right into my notes, as I really wanted to try it when I got home! It turned out so cute, and was a perfect fit for my "moving-parts" cards event last weekend. So here's the skinny on how to make it at home! Above, the card is shown with the slider pulled open. Below, it's shown closed.

Lots of people miss the Peekaboo Windows die in the catalog (bottom left corner of page 193, not shown full size), but it is a hidden gem! It cuts out five different types of windows, all of which fit on a card and really dress up scrapbook pages, too. In fact, this slide would make and adorable spot for some hidden journalling in your next book!

The sliding mechansim is soooo simple. It's just a small rectangular piece cut from the same cardstock as the peekaboo window. It needs to be just slightly smaller than the door of your peekaboo window part.

I scored three lines into the door panel of my peekaboo window so that it would pull open like a louvered closet door, hinged in the center. You can make this work for any size window by scoring a 1/4 strip on one end, and the end of the window on the other, and then dividing the space between those in half for your middle score line (the pen marks I made above are very slightly off, I see!)

To attach the strip which you will pull to make the slider open, use mini glue dots where I drew the circles in the photo above. That gets attach to the underside of the peekaboo window on the narrow strip we scored on the door panel. You can see it a little better in this side view.

I adhered a small button on the end of the strip to make it more obvious where to pull to open the window.

The only part you have to be careful with is when you are adhering the window and mechanism down onto your cardfront. Make sure you don't get any adhesive on the right hand side of the card where the slider must pull out. I adhered my peekaboo window with a mini glue dot in each corner, then one in the middle of the top and bottom. That puppy ain't goin' nowhere! I love mini glue dots. You can also use Sticky Strip or Tombo Multipurpose Liquid Glue, but use something more than regular SNAIL mono adhesive, as there will be a lot of tension on the card as it is pulled multiple times by the amazed recipient : )

A simple and quick way to make a card with a lot of wow! I encourage you to:

1. experiment with other window shapes to make your own slider.
2. be sure to take a closer look at the Peekaboo Windows die.
3. leave me a comment if you appreciate FREE photo tutorials!
4. be sure to tell your friends there's lots of fun and free inspiration at Song of My Heart!

In Love With Color 9/15/13

Welcome to In Love With Color! Color combining inspiration can be easily found at your fingertips here at Song of My Heart Stampers each week. Updated with the latest Stampin' Up colors, and keeping an eye on trends in fashion, home decor and papercrafting, I'll share three different color combos early every Sunday morning for your inspiration.

This week's color combos:

1. Soft Sky, So Saffron, Cajun Craze and Baked Brown Sugar
2. Calypso Coral, Night of Navy, Pool Party and Baked Brown Sugar
3. Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral, and Crumb Cake

Playing along? Be sure to email me your entry to be featured on the first Sunday of the month if you are playing along! I love to see what you've done with it. Use "In Love with Color" in the subject line, please. [email protected]

Two quick Thinlets Cards

Just a quick note to share some quick Big Shot Thinlets cards we're making today at the 10-10-10 Event. I love how FAST these dies make moving-parts cards. I've said it before and I'll say it again--these types of cards used to be the ones we'd make once a year for our very bestest friend in the whole world, but nobody else warranted such time and hassle! Now we can make them with a single run through the Big Shot--you can share fantastic, professional-looking cards with pizzazz with everyone on your friends list!

Here's the inside of the goldfish one we're making with the Fishin' Around stamp set, Gumball Green, and the Circle Card Thinlets:

And here's a more serious one we made with the Labels Card Thinlets, Crisp Cantaloupe and Calypso Coral. So fast and so special! Wouldn't you feel special if you got this in the mail? I love sending cards that truly send the message that I was thinking of and praying for the person while I created it.

These dies are so new they are not pictured in any of our printed catalogs, so here's a link to my online store where you can view them and see a description. They don't require any special sort of platform to use in the Big Shot, although of course as with any metal die, the new Magnetic Platform for the Big Shot is the cat's meow! Be sure to give me a holler if I can help you get any of these new goodies on the way to your doorstep today!

Photo Tutorial: Simple Pull-Up Card

I'm on a roll in the stamp room today! But I'm taking a break to deliver on my promise to get you directions for this simple "pull-up" style card that I shared on the ninth. You are going to flip when you see how easy it is! When you open it, the card inside actually pulls up from the pocket to expose your writing. It's super cute!

So let's get started! To begin, you'll need a 4x12-inch strip of cardstock, a Simply Scored board or other scoring tools, a 5.25x3.2inch piece of neutral cardstock for the interior, mini glue dots or Sticky Strip, and stamps, ink and papers to embellish your finished project.

Score your 4x12 cardstock strip at 3.75 and 9.25 inches. Our card is going to fit in a regular envelope, no problem. Then, score your 5.25x3.25 inch rectangle at five inches on the long side.

Put glue dots or Sticky Strip on the little quarter-inch flap you just created, and position it STICKY SIDE UP (very important!) as shown. The edge without the flap should just reach to the second score mark on the card base piece. You can see there's space between the edge with the flap and the first score mark on the card base piece.

Then, close the card. The Sticky Strip or mini glue dots will adhere to the inside of the top cover.If you did it correctly, when you re-open the card, it should look like this. See how the white card is attached only to the front cover and not the back of the card? That's what makes the pulling mechanism.

The rest is super simple. Fold the bottom card flap up to form a pocket, securing with Sticky Strip or other strong adhesive. Make sure whatever you use doesn't come too close to the insert, or it won't pull freely up out of the pocket when it is opened. If it has trouble catching, you can trim the card down so it's not quite as wide, and it should be ok.

There you have it! The rest is just embellishments. I LOVE a SUPER quick and easy way to dress up an ordinary card with a little something extra. Costs pennies and takes like two minutes to do--my kind of project!!

You are an integral part of keeping bloggers enthused and regularly posting, so take a moment to leave some love. I'd also feel special AND loved if you placed an order on my Stampin' Up website, and you'd feel happy and special when it came, and it would just be one big love-fest! Just think, together we can make the world a better place : ) Click here to share the love! www.lyssa.stampinup.net

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Photo Tutorial: One-Strip Matchbook Gift Card Holder

I have a cute and QUICK project to share with you today! As always, the tutorials at Song of My Heart Stampers are 100% free, no strings attached. If you'd like to show your appreciation for all the sharing, please leave me a comment and totally make my day! And if you don't have a Stampin' Up demonstrator and would like a free Idea Biook & Catalog or would like to place an order for anything you see on my blog, click here: www.lyssa.stampinup.net

I don't know about you, but I LOVE getting and giving gift cards! They are so handy, and I always feel like the person I give them to can get something they really want. However, they're a little impersonal, so I like to dress them up with a great card or holder. Today I want to share a super easy matchbook-style gift card holder that you make with a single strip of paper.

Ready to start? To begin, you'll need a 3x12 inch wide strip of cardstock, your SImply Scored board, the Decorative Label punch, Sticky Strip or other really good adhesive, and stamps and ink to decorate your finished holder.

Score your cardstock strip at 3.75, 8, 8.75 and 9.5 inches the long way. Then fold the end with the three scores as shown below, folding back on itself.

Before you do any adhering, you'll want to notch out the end of the strip so that it's easy to grab and slide the gift card out of the pocket. I used the Decorative Label punch, to make mine fancy, but you can use any good-sized punch to notch out an oval or circular area for the same purpose.

Use Sticky Strip or other really strong adhesive on top and bottom of the pocket (not shown), making sure to leave the left hand notched edge open wide enough for the gift card. Snug is good--too tight is not! Then use a line of Sticky Strip to fold over the little scored flap (shown above), making sure not to put it too close to the edge, because that's where your holder's cover is going to slip into to hold the whole thing closed.

Here's the inside of my holder, with all the steps completed:

And the outside, with the cover closed and tucked into the matchbook-style tab:

That's it! I told you it was easy! You guys know I don't do complicated. Life's too short : )

Now I have two hints for you:

1. You can make an envelope that is exactly the right size for this puppy, using the new Envelope Punch Board. That thing ROCKS! If you don't have it, you're gonna want it, so call me.
2. The pocket will also fit thin, flat candies like Ghiradelli's. If you have any in the house. Or if you had some in the house, but they mysteriously disappeared while you were photographing your tutorial. 

Now, leave me a comment if you LOVE free tutorials, and I will magically produce another one tomorrow!

LAST DAY to RSVP!

YOU RSVP NOW for the “Moving Day” 10-10-10 Event, and I'll bring the COFFEE!

Saturday, September14th at ten a.m. in Watertown

 Come and create ten cutie-licious  card designs, taking about ten minutes each, for just ten bucks*!  

• ·          Get your hands on new stamps and Big Shot goodies from the glamoriffic Holiday Catalog!
•  ·        Learn ten new layouts and color combos!
  
•         Make six quick MOVING-PARTS cards that are cute and impressive!
•  ·        Totally funderful door prizes will be given every half hour!
•  ·        There will be a ONE DAY ONLY SPECIAL OFFER you will not want to miss!

*Cost is just ten dollars per person with a $25 or more order, or $20 if you don’t want to order. Everything is pre-designed and prepped for you to just stamp and assemble as you relax and chat. I will have coffee and a scrumdiddly-umptious breakfast snack there. Everything is included except envelopes and adhesive.

NOTE! I will have adhesive there to purchase! So don’t be late because you had to dash somewhere at the last second.

RSVP no later than TODAY!!! Last call! 

Hope you can join me for this always-fantastic event—not to be missed! (920) 261-3962  [email protected]

Simple Pull-Up Card

Ready for a sneak peek of my "Moving Day" 10-10-10 Event? We'll be making this cute and easy "pull-up" card THIS SATURDAY--be sure to email me at [email protected] if you have discovered you can come after all--I've had a couple cancellations and we'd be able to squeeze you in!

On the outside, this card looks like any other. I used So Saffron with Smoky Slate and the Eastern Elegance Designer Series Papers along with the butterfly punches, Basic Rhinestones and the Hello, Lovely stamp set. But open it up and the magic happens!

The action of opening the cover pulls a card out from a pocket in the interior! Clever. Here it is from the side view:

The white card is scored at a half inch and adhered to the inside of the card front, so that when the lid is raised, the card pulls up with it. The card is long enough to prevent it from being pulled completely up out of the pocket.

Gotta run get the munchkins from school and then I'm off to my area demonstrator meeting, but I'll try to do a mini photo tutorial tomorrow with sizes and scoring directions. I also have an adorable matchbook gift card holder to share with you. There's steam comin' from the stamp room these days! I am right smack in the middle of my sample swap cards for the Founder's Circle retreat. I have to make 120 of the same card, can you imagine? I am having my own personal Downton Abbey marathon every night after I put the kids to bed, trying to get these finished. I'll share those soon, too!

In Love With Color 9/8/13

Welcome to In Love With Color! Color combining inspiration can be easily found at your fingertips here at Song of My Heart Stampers each week. Updated with the latest Stampin' Up colors, and keeping an eye on trends in fashion, home decor and papercrafting, I'll share three different color combos early every Sunday morning for your inspiration.

This week's color combos:

1. Pool Party, So Saffron, Cajun Craze and Basic Gray
2. Crumb Cake, Rose Red, Soft Sky, Soft Suede
3. Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake

Playing along? Be sure to email me your entry to be featured on the first Sunday of the month if you are playing along! I love to see what you've done with it. Use "In Love with Color" in the subject line, please. [email protected]

Joyful Christmas

I know, I know! More Christmas cards. But you gotta get a head start on them, you know... otherwise it doesn't happen AGAIN this year. And that would be how many years in a row? OUCH!

Just a quick post today as it's already dinner time and the munchkins are clamoring for food again (it's like a daily thing with these two, not sure what is up with that). This is one of the cards we'll be making at September's Christmas Club. I'm so excited! We'll be using the classic new Joyful Christmas stamp set, trying out the subtle gleam of the Encore Silver ink pad, and doing a SMALL amount of hand-cutting and watercoloring. I know people cringe at the thought of those two techniques when you're making multiples, but these will be simple, I promise. It will be ok. : )

Click here to see the other stamps in the Joyful Christmas stamp set on my shopping site!

Prince of Peace

it's the most wonderful time... of the year! I love Christmas. Do you? I actually love Thanksgiving best of all, because to me it includes all the best parts of the event without the stressful parts. But Christmas is a close second, especially in years where I get an advanced start on the season.

Back today with a couple more cards using the new Prince of Peace stamp from the recently released 2013 Holiday Collection of singles. At only $6.95, Prince of Peace is a gorgeously economical option for your Christmas cards this year. Click here to view them all!

Hard to beat blue and silver for Christmas cards, is it not? Especially when the blue is our gorgeous Island Indigo color, and paired with stunning patterns from the Winter Frost Specialty Designer Series Papers. As you can see, this stamp coordinates perfectly with the new Deco Labels Collection Framelits for the Sizzix Big Shot. I added a lot of Christmas bling by using the new silver foil cardstock for mat mat piece, adding two Basic Rhinestones to the frame, and using a small strip of Silver Glimmer paper in with my pennants.

This was such an easy card to assemble. It would be a fantastic one to mass produce! Be sure to contact me if you'd like to order any of the supplies to make your own at home, and I'd be happy to set you up.

Here's another version that I liked as well, using Island Indigo chevron ribbon and the Mosaic Madness Big Shot embossing folder. One nice thing about doing the ribbon this way is that it is flat, with no bulky knot to cause the P.O. to get themselves in a twist about!

Stay tuned for more Christmas ideas, plus a sneak peek at a couple of the projects for my Moving-Parts Cards 10-10-10 Event! Not too late to RSVP to attend and learn ten simple ways to jazz up a card with a  fun interactive surprise! [email protected]

2nd Annual All-Day Scrapbook Marathon

You are invited to participate in our second annual all-day Scrapbooking Marathon on Saturday, October 19th from nine a.m. to nine p.m. held at Maranatha College in Watertown. Come when you can and leave when you must!

 Our fabulously fun day will be divided into three parts:

 **From 9:00 -11:30 a.m. approx, you will be participating in ten Make N Takes. Each one is designed to teach you something (or many somethings!) new and trendy right now in the world of scrapbooking. You’ll be using the latest tools, learning new techniques, and getting a lot of pages done, all at the same time!

 **Eat lunch at the college’s all-you-can-eat soup and salad bar, sandwich deli and pizza kitchen, with free drinks and desserts included. Other options may include waffle bar, omelet chef, pasta bar and more. Accomodations can be made for allergies.

 **From approx. 12:30-9:00, work on your own projects in a pleasant room with a comfy chair, plenty of space and nice bright lighting! Chat with friends new and old while you get some of your projects done. Put the things you learned in the morning session to good use! Stay as long as you can. We'll order in pizza for anyone interested, around six p.m.

Price is just $35 per person or $60 for two for the day, and includes lunch, bottled water, all 10 Make N Takes and a fabulous goodie bag. There will be a free paper swap table for you to take or leave papers you no longer have need of. We'll also be playing Embellishment Bingo and other fun games, where you can earn tickets towards a prize package that will knock your socks off!

The deadline to sign up is Monday, October 7^th. Space is limited to 20. Payment in advance is required to hold your spot. Refunds will not be given for cancelations after October 11th. Adults only, please.

I hope you can come and participate in our Scrapbooking Marathon! Think of how much we’re going to get done. Awesome! Please contact me to RSVP or for more information— [email protected]

HUGE new Christmas-themed Single Stamps

Finally got a moment to work with my new Christmas single stamps! I was so excited to see the new religious-themed ones that I ordered them right away. I was especially pleased with this gorgeous stamp with the timeless words from Isaiah 9:6, immortalized all over again in Handel's Messiah. Doesn't it just make you wanna sing? "For unto us a child is born!" All by myself in my stamp room this week, now that the kids and hubby are back in school, I discovered I can still hit the high notes. : )

You can view the entire new holiday release in our single, clear-mount stamp collection by clicking here.

One word of caution, however--they're HUGE! The flyer has them shown at 50%. Since all other Stampin' Up stamps in the main catalog and Holiday Catalog are shown at full, regular size, it can be a little surprising to get one of the stamps only featured on our flyers, such as the 25th Anniversary Collection or these new single stamps, and discover it is quite the scene-stealer! 

For instance, on the flyer, this circular nativity image looks to be about the size of our 1 3/8th inch circle punch. But view it here stamped and heat embossed on a regular sized card:

I used the two largest regular (not scalloped) circles from the new Circles Collection Framelits to make my goil foil cardstock rim around the opening in the cardfront. I skipped a size and went with the fourth circle in from the largest plain circle for cutting out the actual image (this will all make sense when you look at your Framelits). So just be aware than size is going to be a little deceptive on this particular single stamp collection.

I have more cards with the Isaiah stamp to share with you tomorrow, with more of that gorgeous silver foil cardstock and framelit work, too. Thanks for popping by! Now, where'd I put that Handel CD?

"Christmas Traditions" Family Keepsake Recipe Book Classes

 

 

On Friday, October 4th, join us at from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. to create your own “Christmas Traditions” family recipe smash books together with a loved one.There will be a second session on Saturday morning, October 5th, from 9-noon. Register for whichever date works best for you!

Each mother-daughter team (or aunt and niece, sisters, grandma and granddaughter, or just plain friends, too!) will receive one bundle of Season of Style products, along with two spiral journals. You can bring along your family recipes, or put them in at home--at the class, we'll be focusing on the book itself. Your keepsake recipe book will hold about 25-30 favorite family holiday recipes when you are done!

Be prepared to enjoy the time together reminiscing and creating as we celebrate the unique relationships of the women in our lives and the importance of family memories passed along from generation to generation.

Cost for the class is just $40 per 2 people or $30 per person. Age 8 & up only, please. RSVP by September 14th. Natalie and I hope you can join us! Email [email protected] to RSVP. Space is limited in both sessions.

NEW! Can't participate in person? I would be happy to ship United States residents a class kit along with emailed photos of many of my own book's pages and general guidelines (not step-by-step instructions) as to how to put together Christmas Traditions Family Recipe Books of your own with your loved one. I will include a list of basic items you'll need to have together to complete the books. Cost is $60 and includes shipping via Priority Mail. The kit will arrive within 7-10 days of the actual class date. Please email me if you have questions, or Paypal the funds with the tag line "Christmas Traditions Recipe Book" to [email protected].

Let there be Peace on Earth Christmas Card

Wanted to share a sweet, simple and economical one-layer Christmas card that might fill some of your needs for this year's holiday. Using the Calm Christmas Stamp Set from the 2013 Holiday Catalog, plus the new World Map background stamp from the main catalog, I composed this card using Night of Navy and Marina Mist inks on a Whisper White 4x4.25 piece on a vertical 4.25x11 Night of Navy card base. With just three stamps on the cover and one on the inside, your cards would be done in no time! 

To bling it up for Christmas, I added Whisper White Organa ribbon and some Basic Pearls to the olive branch in the dove's beak. Though you can't see it in the photo, I spritzed the Night of navy cardstock with homemade Shimmer Mist, so it's got a little glam, too.

20 of us made 12 of this card and two other designs at Christmas Club last month. While there is no space left for more attendees at that third Monday night meeting, I would still love to help you get your holiday cards done. Let's chat and see if we can get together some friends and have a card-making day. I make it so easy for you, with everything designed and cut out--then we just get to stamp and chat as we assemble, snack, and laugh the afternoon or evening away. Email me today! [email protected]

31 Pages in 31 Days final blog candy winners!

We had SUCH fun here at Song of My Heart Stampers during our second annual 31 Pages in 31 Days Challenge. I hope you will enjoy looking back at all the inspiration collected here over the course of the past month (and last year's session, too) and have ideas to motivate you all year long!

And of course, no party is complete without blog candy! Here are the four winners:

Week One: Debbie D

Week Two: Cheryl T

Week Three: Jennifer N

and announcing Week Four's winner of all the pages we made in Scrapbooking Summer School 2013, randomly drawn from eighty-one entries during the final week:

"When you wonder if you make a difference, remember, I was not a scrapbooker before this series this month. :D. I'm headed to my crafting table right this minute to finish my last few pages. Thank you, sincerely & completely for sharing!"--Kristine J

So congratulations Kristine! All winners must contact me no later than September 7th with their snail-mail address in order to recieve their prize ([email protected]).

Many thanks to everyone who left comments and for all the lovely and uplifting things you said. I was delighted beyond words to hear some of you were inspired to, and actually did, start scrapping. A big shout-out to all my readers, and everyone who participated in 31 Pages in 31 Days. We made it!

Welcome to In Love With Color! Color combining inspiration can be easily found at your fingertips here at Song of My Heart Stampers each week. Updated with the latest Stampin' Up colors, and keeping an eye on trends in fashion, home decor and papercrafting, I'll share three different color combos early every Sunday morning for your inspiration.

This week's color combos:

1. Pool Party, So Saffron, Calypso Coral and Basic Gray
2. Island Indigo, Melon Mambo, Soft Sky, Soft Suede
3. Blushing Bride, Rose Red, Basic Gray and Smoky Slate

Here's an adorable card by Lauri Ingram, using the In Love With Color challenge from last week! She did a great job. Be sure to email me your entry to be featured on the first Sunday of the month if you are playing along! [email protected]