Barbara's Stampin' Studio

Just Believe Balloons ~

 

Here's a fun Q&E* birthday card that just takes a few minutes from start to finish.

I used the Just Believe stamp set, using the circle image for my "balloon" and stamped it all over the background, kinda like wallpaper, using Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi and Marina Mist.

Then I stamped another in Daffodil Delight to use as my balloon and punched it out using my 1 1/4" Circle punch.

I mounted my balloon with Dimensionals and added some Baker's Twine for the bow and tail. I used Celebrate Today from the Perfectly Penned set and made it pop by putting a 2 1/2" Circle punch piece behind it.

Lots of fun!

  *Q&E = Quick & Easy

Springtime Bicycle card

 

The Moving Forward stamp set is my set of the week and it was fun to make.

I colored the bike using my Stampin' Markers in Real Red, Pacific Point, & Basic Gray and added Gray brads to the wheels too.

I added a few flowers in Daffodil Delight and Melon Mambo

and a couple of frogs in Lucky Limeade for fun!

The clouds in the background are from the Sunshine & Sprinkles Designer paper that's in the Spring catalog #126922. Get yours HERE

Yes, I hand cut the "grass" using Garden Green card stock, here's a close up.

Want to help out Ronald McDonald? The Moving Forward stamp set is this year's exclusive set for the Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Order yours and Stampin' Up will donate $3.00 for each set!

Get yours here in Clear Mount or Wood Mount

Quick Color Edge Technique for Balloons

 

I'm prepping to make several dozen cards tonight,

so I needed a Color Edge Technique card that was FAST!

This set, Up, Up & Away was perfect!

I stamped the balloons in Real Red, Gumball Green and Marina Mist and colored the edges of them using my Early Espresso Marker. Stamp them, adda few little birds and some words and you're done!

Simple, Easy and Fun!

Moving Forward ~ My personal stamp set Challenge

 

Okay, so I got this cute stamp set, Moving Forward, last summer, but with moving to my new home and all, it didn't get unpacked until recently.

This cute set can be found on page 209 of the Idea Book.

It is this year's exclusive Ronald McDonald House Charities stamp set.

Did you know that Stampin' Up donates $3.00 for every set sold to the Ronald McDonald House Charities? Yep! So far they've contributed over a Million dollars!!

WOW!

Since I started my weekly personal Challenge last week, I just had to make this one the Challenge set this week. It just makes sense.

I have several ideas for it and you'll see more in the days to come, but here's my first idea.

Yep! I used the Split Impressions Brayering Technique, again!

I think maybe I'm stuck on it, do you think?!?

After I ran my Whisper White card stock through my Big Shot with the Argyle Impressions Folder and cut it in 2 on an angle like this~

After cutting them apart, I brayered the pieces using Gumball Green & Marina Mist ink.

Then I mounted them to a piece of Crumb Cake card stock to use for my base and decided to go for a vertical card.

Next I decided to do some cut & paste with the sailboat, but since this is a brand new, never before used set, I have a tip for you.

TIP: Before inking up a new stamp, sand the image a bit with a Sanding Block.

This enables the rubber to pick up the ink better since there may be residue on it from the manufacturing process.

After sanding my image, I stamped it three times,

once in Marina Mist, once in Crumb Cake and once in Gumball Green.

Yes, you should clean your stamp in between colors.

Now I'm going to cut two of my sailboats apart to be used on the third.

I cut the bottom off of the Crumb Cake boat and the middle piece and the flag off of the Gumball Green boat.

Then I added these pieces to the Marina Mist boat like this ~

Hmmmm, not quite happy with the words, what to do?

I think I'd like to use the Gumball Green words instead.

Will it fit in my Word Window Punch?

Let's try it!

You betcha! It fits!

Punch it out and add it to the card, using a Crumb Cake Modern Label behind it and adding 2 Marina Mist brads for fun.

Don't forget to stamp the envelope!

I decided to use the Beyond Plaid stamp set that came out in the Spring catalog.

The argyle stamp mimics the argyle impressed piece.

And hey!~ I can use a Crumb Cake Envelope too!    Perfect!

All dressed up and ready to go!

Oh! and I added a bit of Natural Ribbon to the bottom too.

Guys love textural things, did ya know?

Annie's Cute Baby Washline Idea

 

Here's a great baby card that my friend Annie created.

She used 2 stamp sets, 4 Textured Impressions Embossing Folders, 2 Designer papers & 2 Punches too.

Isn't it cute?

The tiny jumpers? Annie used the Owl Punch. Who'd a thought?

The little heart on one jumper is also from the Owl punch.

The tree stamp is from a set called Take Care and the words are from Petite Pairs.

The four Impressions Folders she used are:

Polka Dot for the card base, Cloudy Day for the sky,  and Woodgrain & Square Lattice for the grass.

Annie used two different paper s for the jumpers: Summer Smooches for the Tangerine one and Patterned Paper for the green one.

The jumpers are hung up using Baker's Twine, OOPS! Looks like one of mine is falling off!

What a great idea Annie!

Grunge Rock Birthday In Color

There are so many stamp sets being retired next month, nearly 200! and there are just so many that I really, really like to use.

This one is called Grunge Rock and I like it because you don't have to be exact in your placement of the images and can kind of "wing it" and it still looks great.

I got together with friends on Monday to stamp and the theme of the day was using either Retired stamps or the 2011-2012 In Colors that are being Discontinued.

I decided to challenge myself and do both!

. . . . . and I found out that I used even more Discontinued accessories after seeing the list on Wednesday. So here you go!

I used the discontinuing In Colors in Poppy Parade,Concord Crush, Peach Parfait and Pear Pizzazz for the card stock, ink, paper and some accessories. The paper that I used for the background is from the Just Add Cake Designer paper pack. The In Color Glimmer Brad, Square Fire Rhinestone and the Peach Parfait Ribbon are also on the Discontinued list and are available only while supplies last.

Get yours before they are going, going, gone!

 

Piled High Ice Cream Wishes

Big Wishes are coming your way with this fun punch card.

I used 5 punches, 2 Designer Papers, a stamp set, and a bit of ribbon to make this card last month when I had a bunch of friends having birthdays.

I paired Pink Pirouette with Soft Suede, adding Real Red for the word and cherry, natch.

The punches are the new Lace Ribbon Border and Petite Pennants Builder, along with the Cupcake Builder and 2 Circle punches.

The stamp set is Pennant Parade and the ribbon is Pink Pirouette Taffeta.

Hmmmm, I've got kids cards to make this month, maybe I'll try this in different colors!

Check back later to see what I came up with!

 

 

It's an Elebration!

Okay, so you've just gotta love this cute little elephant guy. Don't you?!?

This is a single stamp called ELEBRATION that came out in the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog this summer and I just think he's too cute!

For this card I used the Just Add Cake Designer Paper for my background and added a few ribbons here and a few brads there too. I used the Petite Pairs word set with the Curly Label punch for my Happy Brithday greeting.

To color the Elephant, you can use whatever you'd like ~ Watercolor Pencils, Markers, Pastels or my fav, Watercolor Crayons. Just remember to have fun!

 

Popsicles ~ YUM!

Don't you ever want to Thank someone for something they did that they didn't have to do? I think this is the perfect set to do it with for the summertime. It's called Sunny Fun and has not only there fun popsicles, but Flip Flops and Kids playing too. What a great set for anything summer, birthdays, invitations, and more.

Here is one of the cards I created with the popsicle image. Hope you like it!

To make this card, I used Daffodil Delight Patterned paper and Marker, Tangerine Tango card stock and Marker, Melon Mambo card stock and marker, Whisper White card stock and Soft Suede Marker, for the chocolate popsicles.

I also used my Scallop Trim Border punch, my Big Shot and the Perfect Polka Dot Impressions Embossing Folder.

Don't have this fun set yet? Order it today and start stamping!

Sunny Fun Kids at Play

Flip Flops, Kids, and Popsicles ~ What says more about summer?

Sunny Fun is the set that has all three & it's available in the Summer Mini catalog thru the end of August.

Here is a card I made when I had some down time a few weeks ago. I used Stampin' Pastels for the sun and water and used a Scallop Circle punch as a template for the clouds. The kids are colored using my watercolor pencils and a Blender Pen.

 

I wanted a bright background so I decided to use my Square Lattice Impressions Folder and my Big Shot with Daffodil Delight card stock.

For the word piece backing I used one of the shapes from the new Doily Triple Layer Punch. This punches 3 different shapes all in one punch! Ya gotta love it!

Although it's tough to see here, I added Crystal Effects for drops of water and also for the sunglasses on the kid on the left.

 

Baby Soiree

Last month I was challenged to come up with a non-traditional baby card and decided to use the Elegant Soiree Designer paper to do so.

This is what I came up with

 

I used 5 of the Soiree prints, with Crumb Cake, Basic Gray, Early Espresso and Natural Ivory card stock. There are Neutral brads in Crumb, Espresso and Vanilla as accents, along with Chocolate Chip Jumbo brads for the wheels.

I placed Vanilla Taffeta ribbon, scruched up, along the bottom for added texture too.

Oh, and the stamp image is from the Fun & Fast Notes set.

Enjoy!