Country Living

Country Living and Stampin' Up! have partnered to create the "Country Living Holiday Collection Stampin' Kit", which will be featured in Country Living's December issue! I've included a picture from the upcoming article here... check it out for some great holiday ideas.

In conjunction with the release of this special stamp set, you can also subscribe to Country Living for only $12 and get a FREE mini-stamp kit. For just $1 an issue, you'll receive great craft projects, articles on collecting, makeover features, recipes, and entertaining ideas--all delivered to your home each month. When you sign up for a subscription through Stampin' Up, Country Living will send you the exclusive Stampin' Up mini stamp kit which can be used to design note cards, menus, or anything else that inspires you. Ask me for details on how you can sign up for your new subscription to Country Living and get your free mini stamp kit today!

Feeling Full

Even though Halloween is officially the next holiday on the calendar, I can tell that many of you are thinking about Christmas just as much as I am! The Christmas Stamp-a-Stack workshop scheduled on Sunday November 16th is now full with 8 attendees... there are still spaces in the Wednesday November 12th session, and I'm thinking of scheduling an additional weekend session near the end of November if there is interest. Please contact me if attending an added weekend session would work for you!

For a peek at my Fall/Winter class schedule please click here: http://summerscreativecorner.blogspot.com/2008/08/upcoming-classes.html

Happy crafting everyone!

Lovely Layers

The moment I came across the “Snow Swirled” stamp set in the Fall/Winter 2008 Idea Book I knew I would use it as the basis for Christmas cards this year… the design of the tree is so beautifully intricate, and I’ve always had a soft spot for delicate snowflake stamps. We’ll be using this set in my upcoming Stamp a Stack of Christmas Cards workshops (November 12th at 6pm & 16th at 1pm), and I’m pleased to share the card design with you here!

The finished card is customizable in several ways. Don't like the notched corners? You can skip that part... Prefer a different greeting? I have more to choose from... Not the glitter type (but, who isn't the glitter type?!?!)? You can leave the glitter behind. However people choose to tailor it, the elements of this 6-layer card will be precut and waiting for them to stamp and assemble at my Stamp-a-Stack of Christmas Cards Workshops. The workshop costs $25.00 to make 10 cards, with a fee of $10.00 for additional sets of 10 cards – you can make as many as you need to send personalized greetings to everyone on your list this holiday season! The session on November 16th is almost full, although there are a couple spots available on the 12th… please contact me if you would like to join us - hope to see you there!

Dying for Die-cuts

My Christmas supply shipment arrived yesterday, and in it I received some of the first sets of stamps I’ve ordered since Stampin’ Up introduced die-cut images. What a quick and easy process it was to assemble my new stamps! Those of you who’ve purchased Stampin’ Up sets in the past probably already know that our sets come unassembled – it’s a great way to cut down on the costs associated with having someone in the factory assemble each stamp you order. In the past, when your unassembled stamp set arrived you would carefully cut around the raised image using a pair of sharp rubber scissors before adhering the image to a wooden block. In the Fall/Winter 2008 Idea Book Stampin’ Up introduced many new die-cut stamp sets, saving you the work of cutting the images yourself while preserving the cost-saving benefits of at-home assembly.

When your stamp set arrives, you will find three separate elements in the clear plastic storage box – a sheet of adhesive rubber with the raised stamp image now die-cut, wooden blocks for mounting, and a sheet of clear stickers with the images of each stamp as well as a box label. Assembling your new stamp set is easy:

First, pop the stamp images from the adhesive rubber sheet (don't discard the remaining rubber though - see my bonus tip for why!)

Then, peel the protective backing off the rubber and centre it on the corresponding wooden block

Finally, attach the sticker with the corresponding image on the front of the block, being sure that the sticker and the rubber image face the same direction

Once your stamps are assembled, don’t forget to adhere the label to the clear storage box making it easy to identify the stamp sets name and how many stamps are included in the set.

Bonus tip: Save the remaining adhesive-backed rubber from your stamp set, and store it with your other glues and adhesives. With a pair of sharp rubber scissors you can easily trim this leftover rubber to use in place of the raised adhesive squares and circles we often purchase to give cards a sense of dimension. It’s a great way to save you money and help reduce needless waste going to our local landfills!

Introducing “eCrafting”

By now we all know that internet technology can open new doors and bridge distances at an amazing speed – after all, without it you wouldn’t be reading this blog :-). I’m excited to share with you the latest way I’ve incorporated technology into my classes... I call it eCrafting, and it allows someone living at a great distance the opportunity to attend my classes “virtually”. Preparation is required for this long-distance learning opportunity as supplies must be ordered well in advance, papers must be pre-cut and some additional preparation may need to be completed (depending on the supplies an eCrafting attendee has access to at their location). Individual orders for Stampin’ Up supplies such as stamp sets and ink pads can be delivered directly to your home, and the additional supplies I’ve prepared are mailed out in plenty of time to arrive prior to the class. That preparation combined with the use of our webcams and microphones allows me to welcome a long-distance student into my home along with the rest of the class, and gives everyone the opportunity to complete their projects together. In addition to enjoying the experience of learning new techniques and creating beautiful cards and other projects, eCrafting offers the added bonus of social interaction and a sense of camaraderie from working in a group setting – an experience we miss when working alone. So don’t let distance be the barrier that stops you from enjoying an afternoon with friends working on fun and exciting stamping projects… join me in eCrafting!

Shown above, Meaghan from Petawawa (on the monitor) joins Tracy and Valeeta here in London for our Halloween Handiwork class!

A Halloween Trick… or Two

In my recent Halloween Handiwork class we created a set of six sweet treat bags, embellishing the bag topper with stamps from the “Batty for You” set and trying lots of great colouring techniques. The results were fantastic, and I thought I should share some tips & tricks with those of you who were unable to attend the class.

Make-a-Marker: When planning this class I knew I wanted to use more than one ink colour for many of the stamps in “Batty for You”, and using Stampin’ Write markers is the easiest way to accomplish this technique. Unfortunately one of the colours I had my heart set on using (the recently added “in colour” Kiwi Kiss) doesn’t come in a marker. What to do? After putting just a drop of the Kiwi Kiss re-inker on a sheet of plastic, we dipped the end of a Blender Pen into the ink and allowed it to soak into the end of the pen – viola, instant marker in just the colour I wanted! After the class I cleaned the Blender Pen by wiping it back and forth on a scratch pad until the ink ran clear, and I’m ready to use the pen again for either another creative re-inking or in a more traditional blending fashion. Big thanks to Lisa B. for introducing me to this great technique - I can't imagine Frankenstein would be nearly as spooky in any other shade!

What's Down is Up: What’s the best way to be sure your image is centred nicely when using a small piece of paper shaped by a punch? Be sure to stamp your image on the paper before punching, then use the punch in its upside down position so you can centre the image in the hole before actually punching the paper. I’ve gotten so used to using this technique that I tend to use my punches upside down even when I’m not punching out an image at all!

Unwanted Ink: No, I'm not talking about tattoo removal... just the neat trick of removing ink from part of an already inked stamp using a blender pen. In the pictures shown below I’ve fully inked our little Dracula in Basic Black, and am then removing the black ink from the edge of the cape and Dracula’s eyes. Filling in the newly cleaned areas of the stamp with a Real Red Stampin’ Write marker gives us this charming two-tone image... What a treat!

Happy (and crafty) Halloween everyone!

I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas (Card)

I've been drooling over the "Snow Swirled" Christmas stamp set since the day I got my hands on the Stampin' Up Fall/Winter Idea Book, and have decided to use it as the key element of my "Stamp-a-Stack of Christmas Cards" class on November 12th (6-10pm) and 16th (1-5pm). This class is your opportunity to create beautiful many-layered Christmas Cards by cutting, stamping and punching your card elements in sets of 10. This assembly-line style of card making gives you fast results, and allows you the opportunity to either assemble your cards during the class or take them home to do at your leisure. With Christmas music playing and eggnog to sip, this fun afternoon or evening (choose the date that works best for you) will really get you in the holiday spirit! The cost is $25.00 for 10 cards, and if you want to impress even more people with your craftiness additional sets of 10 cards cost only $10.00. Although I won't have a completedsample card to post until my supplies come in, I thought a sneak peek at the colour palette and stamp set itself might be a nice teaser for those of you considering joining this class... I hope you like the elements that will go into the card as much as I do!