Good Mocha Morning!

I am so excited to share today's post with you!  This is one of my latest wreath creations.  It was inspired by my friend and customer, Marsha.  She created the most gorgeous collage frame at my class, using Mocha Morning DSP.  I love the yummy colors in these papers!  I was curious as to how they would look in a large wreath above my fireplace.  I was going for a vintage look.

I covered a few of my Spice Cake buttons (soft suede, from my stash:) with punched circles of the DSP.  I added Antique Brads to the crumpled flowers and to the embossed butterflies.  I love how it turned out.  Stay tuned for another Mocha Morning project, coming soon.

Before you go, just a few reminders about Stampin' Up! retiring products and new things to come:

Get them before they are gone! The Retired Accessories and Definitely Decorative (including Décor Elements) lists are now available and won't stay around for long, as these are limited in quantity and can sell out fast.  Some are even discounted from 25% up to 70% off!!!

I highly recommend placing your orders early as things will sell out. If you have not yet completed your collection of the 2010-2012 In Color ink pads, card stock, markers, refills, ribbon, you'll want to get them ASAP!  

SUPER GOOD NEWS:

I am offering a special that you'll want to enjoy:  If you order $50. in product through me (before tax and shipping) any time between now and the end of May, I will give you the upcoming new big catalog --- for FREE.  You can spread the $50. out throughout the time remaining until the end of May, as long as the cumulative amount comes to $50.  You can order online or during a class... and don't forget that ordering $25. at a time could earn you a free class, too, so it's all good and all fun!!!

Things to note:

• Classic Ink Pads: will be replaced with a new exciting "firm foam pad" being introduced with the 2012-2013 annual catalog.  The Firm Foam pads offer better ink coverage and, in turn, better stamped images.
• Craft Ink Pads:  will no longer be offered, except in black and white.
• Stampin' Stampin' Write Markers: only select markers will be available individually (will still be offered in color collection assortment packs).
• 12" x 12" Textured Card Stock:  will no longer be offered.
• 12" x 12" Smooth Card Stock:  will only be available in select individual colors and color collections assortment packs.

Collage Frames: Saturday Morning Brunch Bunch

Here's a peek at some of the frames we made in my Collage Frames Class.  They are going to take them home and add a few more things, including photos, and then they'll bring them back to share with everyone.  I forgot to take photos of the Monday Morning Brunch Class --- sorry everyone --- but they all chose to make the banners.  I'll try to get some photos of those later.
These are from the Saturday Morning Brunch Bunch.  I love how the projects evolved as we worked on them!!!

This frame uses the beautiful neutrals from the Mocha Morning DSP.  Look how she used a favorite old 'find' of a pin for the center of one of the butterflies!  I would not have thought of trying that.  One of the great things about working with groups is that we all come with creative ideas and can easily inspire each other.

This project was done with Well Worn DSP and some of the newsprint.  I had to get out a few old stamps from my 'stash' to fit her theme.  We've embossed them to add to the texture.

The fishing theme frame will be for her husband.  The 'W' theme frame will be for her home.

Lots of layering really adds a lot to the projects.

See how some of the text and letters were cleverly used to create personal parts of the frame?  I love it!

More later.  Aaron and I are working hard to get our asthma under control.  This is a difficult Spring for us, as far as the asthma goes.  I still love that we do have warm weather, though.  I have never been a fan of winter cold.  About one good snow is plenty for me:)

Hearts, Flowers, Ribbons and More!

Here's the layout we made at our Scraps and Prayers class this week.  Everyone really liked it.  I used a lot of Soft Suede, to prevent it from looking too 'pink' for the overall look.  This layout would lend itself well to old, sepia toned photos.

I've used layers of DSP from the Neutrals pack, Newsprint, Beau Chateau and Mocha Morning.  They all work together beautifully because I chose the patterns that had Soft Suede in them.  The Soft Suede heart is from textured CS and the Pink Pirouette heart is embossed with the dotted embossing folder, to give lots of texture.  All the punched hearts are attached with dimensionals.

I cut the fabric flowers with the Fun Flowers die.  Each flower has 3 layers, is spritzed with a spray product to stiffen it, and then crumpled up to give it a shabby, chic look.  I let it dry overnight, to be sure it was ready for our class.  I added an antique brad to the center of each flower, layered it over a piece of crochet lace trim and attached it with Liquid Tombow adhesive.

A super easy way to attach the pleated ribbon is to use an 18" long ruler as a guide.  Line it up with the lines on your grid paper and 'draw' a thin line of Liquid Tombow adhesive parallel to the ruler.  Remove the ruler, lay the ribbon onto the line of adhesive, and gently press it into place.

So here you have it, a great layout for Vintage photos.

Using so many layers and texture really adds a lot to a layout.  We finished it off with two little mini library clips.

Dad...Dad...Dad...

I still hear their little voices echoing in my head as my children called
"Dad, Dad, Dad..."
                   over and over until he would answer them.

Sometimes, it took a while to get his attention because they said it so much that he kind of became immune to hearing it:)  I can't help thinking of the memories when I see this 'Dad' stamp.  Don't you just love the argyle design?

Today, I wanted to make a big and masculine card, so I chose to create one that is a 5 1/4" square when closed.

When I think of a masculine card, I think of the rich colors in the Mocha Morning Specialty DSP and I think of lots of layers and texture --- a manly kind of thing.

My colors are Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Soft Suede, Early Espresso and a touch of Very Vanilla.  After I took the photo below, I went back and slightly curled up the ends of the flags, using my bone folder, so it now has even more dimension.

Compare the photo above with the one below.  That's the difference you can make in layering, just by gently curling the 'flags' with your bone folder.

I certainly prefer the additional texture after the curling:)

I used the Scallop Edge Border Punch to create the edge on the left side of the Soft Suede layer.  The focal piece is created with the oval frame from the Designer Frames embossing folder set.  I used our distressing tool to rough up the edges and then sponged them lightly.  I also sponged lightly over the embossed oval, to make it stand out more and have even more texture.  I stamped 'Dad' with the stamp from the Loved Ones stamp set.  This is a darling set and covers all your relatives!  After I stamped the 'Dad' stamp, I punched it out with our large oval punch, lightly sponged the edges, and attached it inside the embossed oval.

I used the 1" square punch to create the v-shape at the ends of the 'flag' strips.  I added more texture by using the Square Lattice embossing folder on the Early Espresso layer.

After finishing it, I realized that it qualifies for two blog challenges --- a sketch challenge and creating a masculine card challenge.  I feel like I'm stretching my creativity by trying new challenges and coming up with how I will create them.  I hope you enjoyed today's post.  Now, go stamp something!