Sara Jane's Studio

Sale-A-Brate with Happy Moments

The stamp set "Happy Moments" is one of the sets you can earn for free during Sale-A-Bration this year. 

The images are below.

Happy Moments Stamp Set Images from Stampin' Up!

 

And here is a fun card you can make for a special birthday.  It was inspired by a fellow demonstrator, but I made a couple of tweaks to it.

It's a Whisper White card base, with a piece of Old Olive cardstock that has been embossed using the Petals-A-Plenty Textured Impressions Folder for the Big Shot.

The cake was stamped in Basic Black ink, and the flowers were water-colored using the Aquapainter and Old Olive classic ink.  The cake platter was watercolored with Going Gray classic ink.  The sentiment was stamped below using Basic Black.  And it was so easy to position it using the new Clear Mount format, becuase I could see exactly where it was going!!  

I cut a piece of 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, and tucked one edge over the top of the embossed Old Olive piece.  The other end was cut on a diagonal, and I attached it to the Old Olive piece using Mini Glue Dots.  Then I mounted the whole piece on Basic Gray cardstock, and attached it to the card front.   
 The cake image was mounted on a piece of Basic Gray cardstock, and was mounted to the front of the card using Stampin' Dimensionals.

An elegant, and quick, card for a special birthday!!

Sale-A-Brate 2010

It's that time of year at Stampin' Up! when they reward customers with free product!!  Annually, SU creates a series of special products which can be earned with each $50 that you spend on regular product.  This year Sale-A-Bration includes not only stamp sets, but also unique designer paper in a 6" X 6" pad, AND even a new paper border punch in the new punch style!

I've been having fun with all of the new products, and plan to show them here over the next few posts. 

This first one is a project that was posted on the SU website, and I wanted to play around with it because it also uses a new Big Shot die for the little milk carton. 

It is little- maybe tiny is a better word- it is only about 1-1/2" on the side, and about 3" tall when finished.  That's why I wanted to show it with my hand, so you get a true sense of the size. 

The project starts with the Mini Milk Carton Bigz die, cut out of Old Olive cardstock.   If you buy the milk carton die ($32.95) you are well on your way to earning either the Good Neighbor stamp set, or the Welcome Neighbor designer paper that are offered as part of Sale-A-Bration. 

Below is what the die cut looks like- with a piece of Sticky Strip double-sided adhesive on one side of the body of the carton.  It helps to pre-fold along all of the score lines, as well.

Fold the carton together, and adhere the one side.  Then one-by-one, fold up the bottom pieces, and use another piece of Sticky Strip on the last piece to hold it all together.  Stand the carton upright and press down to make sure the adhesive holds well on the bottom.  You can puf a small toy or somethign else inside at this point, if you like.

To create the carton top, you simulataneously push in the triangles on the opposite sides of the top.

 

Add three pieces of Sticky Strip as shown below, to hold one side of the top closed. 

Then you can open the carton pour spout as shown below.

For a finishing touch, I decorated with a 1-1/8' wide strip of designer paper from the Welcome Neighbor paper pack.  The tag is a 1-3/8" circle, stamped with elements from the Good Neighbors stamp set. The house (in Bermuda Bay) and the roof (Dusty Durango) were stamped independently and attached to the circle, after stamping the tree in Old Olive.  The sentiment "For You" is from another Sale-A-Bration set, Vintage Labels, but you could also use many other small sentiments, such as those from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  The tag is held on by linen thread and a 1/2" Library Clip.

And of course with a little change in color and designer paper you could make these for:

• A birthday party favor, filled with candy or a little toy
• In silver and white, it becomes a wedding favor holding nonpareils or even rice to throw!
• An Easter basket treat, filled with jelly beans
• A party favor for a baby shower or bridal shower
• A treat for dinner or luncheon guests

  
  

Clear the way for clear mount stamps!

In January, Stampin' Up! introduced their own line of clear mount stamps.  It was a long time coming, but they did the right thing by exploring the best options.  And they came out with a good one!

You've probably already tried clear, acrylic (or photopolymer) stamps. And maybe even you've read my post about the pros and cons of acrylic versus rubber stamps.  (If you haven't, click here and read on!)  Some of my own complaints about acrylic stamps are:

• not all acrylic stamps work well with all dye inks
• acrylic stamps can be easy to rip when you are removing them from their case or from the stamping block
• some images are not as crisp and clear as they are with rubber stamps.

And, of course, the biggest complaint we all have about wood-mounted rubber stamps is that you cannot see the placement of the image.

So Stampin' Up! has come up with a great compromise:  rubber stamps with a backing that clings to an acrylic block.  And they are packaged in a case just like those you get DVDs in.  So you know what that means: simiplified storage issues!!  And in fact this has been one of my own personal issues with storing unmounted stamps in general: how to store them so they are both visible and accessible?

Here are some pictures of the Vintage Vogue stamp set, offered in the Occasions mini catalogue.

Front of the case.

Back of the case, showing the stamps clinging to the inside. 

So you can see the images easily without having to open it up or fumble around.

Above, the case is opened up.  There are instructions printed on the inside cover, which keeps them handy.

 
  And for the acrylic blocks, if you buy the whole set, they fit nicely in the turquoise tin that held the punch sets that SU sold over the last few years.  They have a nice rounded edge, and are indented on all four sides so that they are easy to hold onto.

The blocks come in 9 sizes, square and rectangle, and range from 1-1/4" square to 4-7/8" X 6" (for large backgrounds).

All of the stamps in the Sale-A-Bration catalog and the Occasions mini catalog are offered as both clear mount stamps AND mounted on wood blocks.  SU is remaining true to their die-hard, wood mount enthusiasts!

So no matter which format you prefer, you can enjoy the high quality rubber stamps and images that you have always gotten with Stampin' Up!
 
  

  

A Year of Collage - January 2010

Some years, when I can make the time, I love to make my "Year of Collage" calendar.  I offer it as a class as well, and even sell a few at Christmas time for special gifts.  The best part, and the hardest part, is coming up with a unique design for each month of the year.  I try to change up the look, the colors, and the techniques, so each one is a piece of art.  And, they are usually sized to sit on the desktop, so I don't have a lot of territory to cover!

This year the calendar is sized to fit in a CD-type jewel case, that opens up and becomes an easel to display the month.  So each design is 4-1/2" wide by 5-3/8" tall.  I start by creating the months in a table format in Microsoft Word, sizing it to fit in teh desired space.  Making the table can take a little time, but once you have it, you can keep copying and pasting it and then filling in the dates.

For January I always think of the New Year's holiday: something bright and shiny and celebratory.  So here I used the graphic punch of black and white papers, and red highlights.  The year was stamped with Tall Tales numbers from Stampin' Up! (retired) using red ink, and then embossed with a red glitter embossing powder.  The month is mounted on Real Red cardstock, and is highlighted with a spiral paper clip and some fun fiber.  I love that it looks a little like confetti spililng over!!

Check back each month to see the new creation.  Maybe by the end of 2010 you'll come join me in making your own for next year!!
 

Post Holiday Use of Holiday Stamps

Happy New Year!!  Hope you had a delightful holiday season, restful and fun.

Here I am sharing a Stampin' Up! idea for a post-Christmas use of the Berry Christmas stamp set that was part of the Holiday Mini Catalog (now retired). 

 

This is so simple, but so fun!  The little bird is stamped on Whisper White in Certainly Celery, and trimmed to 1-1/4" square.  Then over stamp the circle images with Soft Suede in the center of the bird.  Punch a piece of Soft Suede with the Scalloped Square punch, cut off one scalloped edge, and adhere to the back of the white square.  Then mount with Stampin' Dimensionals on the lower corner of a Bashful Blue notecard, 3" square.  (Use the textured cardstock for just a little added interest.)  If you like, stamp the circles in the lower corner of the envelope, as shown here.

Now, if you'd like, turn this into a quick gift for a friend, or hostess gift for a gathering of any kind.  Make four identical cards, and place them with four envlopes into a medium cellophane bag.   Fold over the top and close with some SNAIL adhesive. 

Stamp the bird four times, each above the last one, on Whisper White.  (I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to line them up.  Click here for a quick reminder on how to use one.)  Start with Soft Suede, then without re-inking, stamp again, just above the first bird image.  The third bird is stamped in Certainly Celery and the fourth is Bashful Blue.  Stamp the circle image with Soft Suede on the light-brown bird as shown, below.  Trim this to 3" X 1-3/8".  Add a short piece of Soft Suede Polka Dot Grograin ribbon, and staple this with the bird images to the top of the cellophane bag. 

 
 

And there you have a quick and easy, simple gift!!