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Mojo Mosaic Madness Christmas

When I saw the Mosaic Madness stamp set for the first time, my very first thought was “That will make awesome Christmas cards!” I’m actually shocked that it took me this long to make you the first Christmas Card for the upcoming holiday season. The Mojo Monday sketch for today took me right to Christmas, and I found it was quite easy to come up with a sketch for this project. And here it is – I hope you love it!

Creative Tips –

My first thought when I saw the Mojo298 sketch was Cherry Cobbler, which lead to Christmas, which led to Pear Pizazz. Looking at the sketch, I knew I wanted to use the new Regals Designer Series Paper Stack and although it’s in white, I find that I’m combining a lot of Very Vanilla and Whisper White for a rather cool look.
I didn’t want the Pear Pizazz to overtake the card, nor the Cherry Cobbler, and I find the color proportions in this particular sketch are spot on.
I used the Early Espresso to provide a 1/16” matte for my larger pieces and the Very Vanilla to give just the right amount of neutrality to tone down the card.
Once I had my Mosaic Madness pieces stamped and cut out, I popped them up using Stampin’ Dimensionals onto a piece of Crumb Cake that I embossed using the new Beautifully Baroque Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (TIEF). I made sure to attach a piece of Linen Thread to ‘hang’ the ornament from the top of my card.
I added a small popped up banner using the greeting set Petite Pairs. This set covers the whole year, and is on sale for 25% until the end of June! It’s a great set because it has a saying for the front and inside of the card for each one. Check out this video tutorial for Banner Flags
The card needed a little something in the background, so I added the light lines using the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set in Pear Pizazz. I can’t stop using this set!
I’m not a bow person, so I added a Cherry Cobbler flat knot using the 1/2” Seam Binding Ribbon.
I added a little more dry embossing to the Very Vanilla strip using the Beautifully Baroque TIEF and my Big Shot.
For a finishing touch, I added the three sizes of our Pearl Basic Jewels to the banner and two ornaments.

This is a great color combination and I love the end result. I can’t wait to see what you do with this sketch.

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Stamp Sets – Mosaic Madness (130249c, 130246w) Bundle (132733c, 132734w), Petite Pairs (122497c, 128706w) Ink – Cherry Cobbler (126966), Pear Pizazz (131180) Paper – Very Vanilla (101650), Crumb Cake (120953), Pear Pizazz (131201), Early Espresso (119686), Regals DSP Stack (130139) Cool Tools – Mosaic Punch (131267), 1” Square Punch (124094) Beautifully Baroque TIEF (130917) Finishing Touch – Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), Pearl Basic Jewels (119247), Cherry Cobbler 1/2” Seam Binding Ribbon (120992)

So Long Farewell to the Spring Catalog…Project Parade!

Written by Ingrid Blackburn Leave a Comment

We’ve had so much fun at The Creative Grove with the Spring Catalog this year. The CG Crew felt this year’s mini catalog was the best one in 25 years. So if there is anything that you were holding out on, don’t wait – tomorrow starts the brand new catalog year which means that today is the official LAST day to order from the Spring Catalog. Some products made it into the new catalog, but most unfortunately did not. So we bid good bye to several favorites.

Click on any image to see the card details and creative tips.

Ciao Baby 001 Main

Ciao Baby – I didn’t get to stamp with this set as much as I would like, but here is the first actual creative scenery card I’ve ever made actually based off a real life photo or experience. It brings back such great memories of a wonderful day in St. Barts. Click Here for card details, creative tips and more photos

By the Tide – This was by far my most highly anticipated stamp set out of this year’s catalog. I was dying to do an underwater scene like the one above and below. The images were just begging to be brayered. I love all the projects I’ve made with this set, and there were many more, just made as exclusive content for clubs and classes. The top right one actually was a CG Crew project in January. Click each photo for card details, creative tips and more photos.

By the Tide 003 Main

Collage Curios – This is a fun set that I was shocked didn’t make the new Catalog. Here are a few easy projects that highlight this stamp set in a great way. This project was acutally a CG Crew project in March. We loved making this along with a necklace out of Soda Pop Tops. Those little flowers from our 5/8” Flower Trim and Soda Pop Tops also didn’t make it, which makes me glad I’m stocked up! The Soda Pop Top card features all the best from the Spring Catalog – Honeycomb Embossing Folder, Pool Party Core’dinations Paper, Paper Doilies, Hearts a Flutter Bundle, Oval Framelits, Collage Curios, Soda Pop Tops and 5/8” Flower Trim. Click each photo for card details, creative tips and more photos.

Collage Curios 002 Side

Hearts a Flutter – This set I had a ton of fun with around Valentine’s Day. I love the coordinating framelits that come along with it as well. As a bundle you save 15% which I just love! And the framelit set has a banner flag die in it. Below you see my use of the new Occasions Paper Piercing Templates in the Spring Mini – I just love all the different sizes of Hearts on the one of three templates. The first project was my actual Anniversary card for my sweetie Michael and was a Just Cards Class card. Smile Click each photo for card details, creative tips and more photos.

Swallowtail – okay, I think we can all agree that this ended up being my surprisingly favorite stamp set out of this years Spring Catalog. There are so many projects you didn’t even see with this amazing stamp too. But this is still probably one of my top five cards I’ve made over the past five months. My favorite detail is the Banner Flag. Look closely – that’s the butterfly image stamped tone on tone under the Thanks. I’ll miss that Thanks too – it’s part of the stamp set Kindness Matters which is retiring from the big catalog – and at $8.95 for the clear set is by far the best Stamp Set deal you’ll find. I think that one stamp has gotten almost as much usage as Thinking of You from Sweet Essentials. Click each photo for card details, creative tips and more photos.

Some more favorites from the Swallowtail Stamp Set.

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Filed Under: Brayer, Cards, Clean and Simple, Creative University, Inspiration, Masculine, Mojo Monday, Specials Tagged: CAS, online stamping classes, Order Stampin Up Online, stampin up demonstrator, stampin up discount, stampin up spring catalog cards

Mojo Happy Hour

Written by Ingrid Blackburn 10 Comments

It’s that sad and exciting week in Stampin’ Up! It’s our final time to say good bye to good ‘ol friends and hello to new ones. What am I talking about, you may be wondering – well…it’s the final week for some of my all time favorite products – some that have been with me for 11 1/2 years! And of course – hello to the brand spankin’ new ones in the new catalog. If you want your very own free catalog click here!

Of course, what better way to send of our dear favs other than Mojo Monday! I truly love creating in this fun Challenge. I find that it really gets my week off to a great creative start. Smile

Today we are saying good bye to my two favorite retiring colors – Not Quite Navy (Gasp!!) and More Mustard. Not Quite Navy and I have been good friends my whole life. So it was natural, when I joined the Stampin’ Up! sisterhood in January 2002, that Not Quite Navy quickly became my all time favorite color. And More Mustard, which is the exact color of Dijon Mustard – another favorite of mine…I can’t eat a hard boiled egg without it, is sadly being depleted with each card here in the Creative Studio. I think I only have three full sheets of it left!

And my favorite Designer Series Paper this year was hands down Fan Fair. How could you not like something with a giant Eiffel Tower and World Map in it?!

So since we’re saying good bye to some good friends, I thought I would say hello to a new one for me. Not that the stamp set Happy Hour is new to the catalog, but it is new to me! I’ve wanted this set all year, and felt it was about time to start stamping with it. And since Champagne is a fitting beverage to toast our retiring and new friends, why not three glasses of it!

Of course, I had to sneak my signature smashed flower in there too – everything is better with a smashed flower! And just plug in smashed flower into the search box on the right to see the many projects I’ve created with this easy and addictive flowers. Click Here To learn how to make smashed flowers

Creative Tips:

I gravitate to the square cards in this challenge, so that was an easy choice for me.
I used my color coach to choose my colors and then decided on Early Espresso as a highlight.
Champagne is bubbly and sparkly, so I had to have Rhinestone Basic Jewels! Instead of my usual flower center, I chose to add our Large Rhinestone Jewels.
My card needed a little something in the corners, so I added a large and two small Rhinestones instead of Paper Piercing. But the Paper Piercing would have looked great too.
I chose the Fan Fair DSP because it’s just the right amount of pattern without taking away from the spirit of card. Balance is important when working with patterned paper, otherwise you can quickly overwhelm your project.
To bring a little drama and emphasis to various spots, I popped up the Champagne glasses, banner flag and smashed flower. Click Here for a video on how to make a perfect Banner Flag end
I couldn’t get my greeting stamped right today for the life of me – ever had that happen? So I finally just filled it in with my Not Quite Navy Stampin’ Write marker. I’m so glad it’s the same ink as our Classic Ink Pads. If you look closely at my photos you can tell, but only because it’s zoomed in, holding the card in front of you, you’d never notice.
My card measures 5 3/8” x 5 3/8” and my white panel is 5” x 5”. My Early Espresso panel is just an 1/8” larger so that I have a 1/16” border…or is it too early in the day for fractions…lol!
My interior white square is 3”x 3” and the Not Quite Navy square is 3 1/8”x 3 1/8”. This card came together easily for me. I hope you like it, it has a classic and traditional look to it. I love the colors, I hope you do too! Happy Memorial Day.

Free New Catalog

If you would like your very own brand new FREE 2013-2014 catalog click here to find out how to get one!

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Stamp Sets – Happy Hour (126642c, 132013w) Ink – Not Quite Navy (126971), Not Quite Navy Stampin’ Write Marker (Regals Collection – 119701) Paper – Whisper White (100730), Not Quite Navy (101722), Early Espresso (119686), More Mustard (100946), Fan Fair Designer Series Paper (126918) Cool Tools – 1” Square Punch (124094), Fancy Flower Punch (118073), Paper Snips (103579) Finishing Touch – Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), Rhinestone Basic Jewels (119246), Large Rhinestone Basic Jewels (129324)

Filed Under: Cards, Challenges, Masculine, Mojo Monday, Techniques Tagged: CAS, Happy Hour Stamp Set, masculine cards, Mojo295, Order Stampin Up Online, Smashed Flowers, stampin up demonstrator, stampin up discount

Swallowtail Emboss Resist

Written by Ingrid Blackburn 4 Comments

The Swallowtail stamp is one of my favorites to create an simple but elegant card in just minutes. Today I decided to emboss and show you a little emboss resist.

Creative Tips:

I like stamping with the swallowtail stamp on an angle. To me it’s like she’s in flight. Try it at different angles.
This is a detailed stamp, so I encourage you to use an Embossing Buddy first on your Whisper White card stock.
Next ink up your image in Versamark ink. Versamark is a watermark pigment ink. It’s sticky – that’s how we’re going to get the embossing powder to stick to it. Because it’s a watermark ink, stamped on a color, you immediately have a faint (watermark) matching color of ink – it’s a must have!
Next I poured White Embossing Powder all over my Swallowtail image. Because our powder is so fine, it really gets into the detail of this stamp well. If you haven’t tried Stampin’ Up! embossing powder, I encourage you to do so. I guarantee you’ll notice the difference, my customers swear by it!
Melt your powder using our Heat Tool being sure to really get the entire image. Tip – if your powder looks grainy and not smooth, it’s not melted. With an image this large it’s easy to miss some, so take your time and check.
I used Tangerine Tango to color my butterfly. I gave my project a couple of minutes to cool, and then sponged my Classic Tangerine Tango directly over my image. The raised embossed image resists the ink and pops. It’s a cool technique that’s a big wow.
To finish my project off, I sponged around the edge to create a frame.

You can over emboss, and there’s no real fix for that. Before I joined the Stampin’ Up! sisterhood, I over embossed all the time. I would get so frustrated because my images always looked really funny and not that pretty. My embossing powder would turn this funky color, and you just knew it wasn’t right. I guess that’s why I’m not a good griller either…I always over cook the meat. It never looks done…lol!

This is a simple project that really comes together in minutes. I love the simplicity of it. Now it’s your turn!

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Stamp Sets – Swallowtail (129213w, 129216c), Thanks so Much (retired) Ink – Versamark (102283), Tangerine Tango (126946) Paper – Whisper White (100730), Tangerine Tango (111349) Cool Tools – Heat Tool (129053), Embossing Buddy (103083), White Embossing Powder (109132)

Filed Under: 10 Minutes or Less, Cards, Techniques Tagged: Cards, emboss resist, handmade cards, online stamping classes, Order Stampin Up Online, stampin up demonstrator, stampin up discount

A great Tip for Edgelits

Written by Ingrid Blackburn 2 Comments

One of my customers was recently going through one of my many basket of cards for ideas here in my classroom. She stumbled upon this card and I happened to tell her that I made 100 of these last summer. She said there was no way she would ever cut out that many of those Finishing Touches Edgelits because she didn’t like to pop out the little pieces (notice there are two on this card – so that’s 200!). I told her I’d show her a little trick I learned along the way and thought I’d share that with you today too!

Anytime I’m using the Doilies or Edgelits, I use a lint brush to help me get out those little pesky pieces. It does most of the work for me and I then can quickly pop the remaining ones out with my Paper Piercing Tool. It goes so quickly, I think you’d be absolutely amazed!

Another little tip I have for when you are mass producing them is to run two through your Big Shot at the same time. While it’s not recommended to do more than that (you can actually break your machine if you force anything through), what’s great about doing two is that on one all the little pieces come completely out! Then on the second I just whip out my lint brush & Paper Piercer and finish it off.

If you’d like to see all the details of how I made this card Click Here.

Try it, I think you’ll be amazed!

To Shop 24/7 in the Creative Store – Click here!

Stamp Sets – Lacy and Lovely, Travel Journal Script Builder Wheel Paper – Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke, So Saffron Ink – Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke, So Saffron Cool Tools – Big Shot, Finishing Touches Edgelits, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Delicate Doilies Sizzlits, Decorative Label Punch Finishing Touch – Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Pearl Basic Jewels, Linen Thread

Filed Under: Big Shot, Techniques Tagged: doilies, Egelit Tips, online stamping classes, Order Stampin Up Online, stampin up demonstrator, stampin up discount

Collage Curios Bottle Caps

Written by Ingrid Blackburn Leave a Comment

Have you tried out the Soda Pop Tops (Bottle Caps) out yet? This was my first attempt at making a way cool card with them. This project was one of our make n takes at the CG Crew team meeting in March. We also made a very cool necklace pendant with this set as well. Click Here to find out more about the CG Crew

I love how all the elements come together on this project. It’s fun, has a little of a modern vintage flair, does that even make sense?

Creative Tips –

We started with a Pool Party base in our Core’dination’s card stock run through the Big Shot with the Honeycomb Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (TIEF). We then sanded it down to reveal the cool pattern in a distressed look using the new Stampin’ Sanding System. (You can get the Pool Party Core’dinations card stock in a package until 5/31, next year it’s in a combo pack – so stock up while you can!)
The banners are stamped and cut out with the Hearts a Flutter Bundle that includes the Stamp Set and Framelits.
One of the Paper Doilies was cut in half and angled so that it fit behind the banners.
I love the whole Very Vanilla/Whisper White thing that’s very on trend today, this card shows it off very well. What do you think? Do you like it, or does it just look wrong to you? Let me know!
The new 5/8” Flower Trim is an awesome accessory. I cut just one off and added it with a few glue dots. I always leave the netting on the back, some of the CG Crew just couldn’t leave it on and had to trim it away, I guess to each her own, right?!
For a little color pop, I added a few strips of Riding Hood Red that were distressed using our new Distressed Tool.
The oval was cut out of our First Edition DSP using our new Oval Framelits.
Collage Curios is an awesome stamp set to use with the bottle caps. I love layering the different stamps in this set. Here I used Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Riding Hood Red and Early Espresso.
To flatten the bottle caps (Soda Pop Tops), you just run them through the big shot. It’s so super easy, and you have a really cool little embellishment. I love this little card. It’s fun, flirty and a good blend of some of my favorite things from the Spring Catalog – ending next week (sniff…sniff). I hope you love it too!

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Stamp Sets – Collage Curios (129102c, 129099w), Hearts a Flutter (129252c, 129249w) Bundle (131097c, 131098w) Ink – Pool Party (126982), Early Espresso (126974), Crumb Cake (126975), Whisper White (100730), Riding Hood Red (111348) Paper – Very Vanilla (101650), Pool Party Core’dinations Card Stock (129321), Riding Hood Red (111348), First Edition DSP (127821), Paper Doilies (129399) Cool Tools – Oval Framelits (129381), Hearts a Flutter Framelits (130159), Stampin’ Distress Tool (127562) Big Shot (113439), Honeycomb TIEF (129378), Stampin’ Sanding System (129367), 1” Circle Punch (119868), 1/2” Circle Punch (119869) Finishing Touch – Glue Dots (103683), 5/8” Flower Trim (126869), Soda Pop Tops (129388)

Filed Under: Big Shot, Cards, CG Crew Tagged: online stamping classes, Order Stampin Up Online, stampin up accessories, stampin up demonstrator, stampin up discount

Best of Butterflies Flight

Written by Ingrid Blackburn Leave a Comment

Sometimes we just need a quick and elegant card for an occasion. Today I needed a birthday card that was impressive, but didn’t take a ton of time. The Best of Butterfly set is perfect for this occasion. Who doesn’t like butterflies? I decided to go with one of my favorite retiring colors – River Rock. River Rock looks stunning with Basic Black, so my choices today were quite simple.

It’s my son in-law Jeff’s birthday today, and I thought this card would be perfect. The colors are neutral, and the butterfly is cool. And since he’s a cool guy, it’s a perfect fit.

Creative Tips:

I wanted to add a little splash of color, so I inked up my clear D stamp block in River Rock and stamped it on a piece of Whisper White card stock.
I popped the butterfly image on top in Basic Black and gave it a quick zap with my heat gun to set the black ink.
The greeting is from the set You’re Amazing, and although I probably could have put it on an accent using Apothecary Accents Framelits, I thought it was better by itself today.
I popped up the Butterfly once I matted it on Basic Black. I thought it needed just a little pop of elegance, so I added a few Pearl Basic Jewels for a nice effect.
When adding Pearls, I like to place them in three in an asymmetrical triangle. So I used two below connecting to the point within the Butterfly and three above.
I refrained from wanting to place more pearls in the design portion of the greeting as it was too much. As a rule – when you want to stamp or place one more somewhere – stop!

This card took just a few minutes to put together and is a great go to card for any occasion. I hope you love the end result just as much as I do.

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Upcoming Blog Tour

Be sure to stop by this Sunday for the 25th Anniversary Blog Tour featuring this cool stamp set. 20+ stampers with great ideas – you won’t want to miss it.

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Stamp Sets – Best of Butterflies (133345c) You’re Amazing (126722c, 126720w) Ink – River Rock (126977), Basic Black (126980) Paper – Whisper White (100730), River Rock (126977). Basic Black (126980) Cool Tools – D Clear Stamp Block (118485) Finishing Touch – Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), Pearl Basic Jewels (119247)

Filed Under: 10 Minutes or Less, Cards, Clean and Simple, Masculine Tagged: 25th Anniversary Stamp Sets, diy cards, online stamping classes, Order Stampin Up Online, stampin up demonstrator, stampin up discount

Wildflower Meadow Sneak Peek

Written by Ingrid Blackburn 4 Comments

How would you like a sneak peek into the new Wildflower Meadow bundle? I’ll admit, I wasn’t 100% sold when I saw this, it was the dots, but once I got my hands on it – all doubts faded away. My intention was to brayer and have silhouette foregrounds with this stamp set, but I loved making this card in color, so now for me the possibilities are endless!

Creative Tips:

I quickly decided on using one of our newest colors – Crushed Curry as my main color. But I didn’t want everything to be yellow, so I took out my blender pen and markers.
I inked up my background image in Crushed Curry and the removed the color from the areas that I wanted to change. I colored the stems and leaves Old Olive and added some highlights to the flowers in Melon Mambo.
To remove the color from my stamp, I used a Blender Pen and cleared it on my grid paper. There was a lot to remove, but it was easier to do it this way because of all the polka dots. I only removed ink where I was going to add Old Olive.
Since I did some coloring on my stamp long after I initially inked it up in Crushed Curry, I huffed on it to remoisten the ink before stamping it.
I wanted to add some pop to this card, so I embossed the main images with the matching Wildflower Meadow Embossing Folder. I think you’ll agree it adds a cool look to the card!
I sponged the edge to frame my photo in Crushed Curry and used that color as a base.
I colored my greeting – a sneak peak into another set – Label Love and the new Artisan Label Punch. I used Melon Mambo and Old Olive.
To give a slight border that matches, I punched a second label and just cut it in half. I simply extended it past the ends of my greeting to give the illusion of a larger punch.
I wanted a little contrast, so I added an Old Olive strip of Cardstock to give some separation to my greeting from the rest of the card.

Here you can see the difference on whether to emboss or not to emboss. It’s a huge difference – but both are fine! With the folder, the card really pops – it’s a wow. I know you’ll love creating cool cards with this stamp and embossing folder. After this one, my mind is now full of ideas!

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Stamp Sets – Label Love (130619c, 130622w), Wildflower Meadow (129165c, 129168w) Ink – Crushed Curry (131173), Old Olive Marker (100079), Melon Mambo Marker (Brights Collection – 131259) Paper – Crushed Curry (131199), Old Olive (100702), Melon Mambo (115320) Cool Tools – Artisan Label Punch (130920), Wildflower Meadow Embossing Folder (129376), Blender Pen (102845) Finishing Touch – Stampin’ Sponges (101610)

Filed Under: Cards Tagged: diy cards, online stamping classes, Order Stampin Up Online, stampin up demonstrator, stampin up discount

Mojo Mosaic Madness Christmas

So Long Farewell to the Spring Catalog…Project Parade!

Mojo Happy Hour

Swallowtail Emboss Resist

A great Tip for Edgelits

Collage Curios Bottle Caps

Best of Butterflies Flight

Wildflower Meadow Sneak Peek

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