May All Your Wishes Come True Release and Blog Hop for Sassy Studio Designs!

Just a couple of things first.  If you've made it this far on the fabulous blog hop, God Bless You!  Also, for everyone in the United States, Happy Memorial Day!  I love this holiday because it pays tribute to those who have or are serving in the military.  I proudly served 12 1/2 years in the Navy and loved every minute of it.  It was a privilege and honor and I wouldn't have traded one single second of my time doing one of the most important things in my life.  Now on to the blog hop!

Don't you just love it when something you've truly wished for comes true?  I know it's happened to me several times in my life and it's just truly magical when it happens.  That's what the new release for Sassy Studio Designs, May All Your Wishes Come True, is all about.  But there's a twist - it's about when your grown up wishes come true!  Thanks so much for stopping by and I think you'll love this release!  I now I sure do!

If you've come to my blog from my ever talented designing sister, Sara's blog, then you're on the right track.  If not, make sure to go to the Sassy Studio Designs blog and start from there.  I promise it will be well worth your time!

I am really excited to present Cinderella Pin Up to you!  I'm really pleased with how she came out!  Just want to warn you that there's a few pictures!

I did something new for me, I used a digi and made a candle!  I've done it with rubber stamps before but never with a digi and I had a blast!  (I'm writing a tutorial for it and you'll be able to find it over at our Paper Craft Planet Group in a few days.)  She's colored with copics and added to the candle with my embossing gun.  I added some stickles all over her gown, headband and shoes.

I added some blue tulle from Joann Fabrics and all of the flowers are from Recollections.  Love her missing shoe!

I added some jewels to the top and the back and they are by Studio G.

Since she's a pin up, I wanted to add a sassy type sentiment to her!

Here's a view of the side with another sentiment.  I like this one because usually when you hear about a ship coming in or something good happening, usually the person is at another pier or the airport and they miss it.  Miss Cinderella Pin Up was in the right place at the right time!

And here is a view of the left side of the front of the candle.  It was hard working with this project because it smelled so good!  The scent is Fresh Linen and I got the candle at Michaels.

Well, I'm the next to the last stop so head on over to The Sassy Studio Designs Blog and tell us what you thought about the blog hop and the release.  I think it's one of our funnest so far!

Stampin With Those New Clear Stamps

I thought I'd share a tutorial for those of you who are a bit leary of the new clear stamps. This is my way of stamping and hopefully it will put a different spin on the clear stamps for you.

Ingredients:

1 Belles N' Whistles stamp (the most important thing and I just love Wishes!)
Ink of your choice (I chose Memento Tuxedo Black)
Paper of your choice
Acrylic block to fit your stamp
1 9 x 12 sheet of craft foam (Yes, it's like the kind you can get at Joann's for like 10 for $1.00 when they're on sale!)



First I place my paper on top of the sheet of foam. This gives your stamp a great cushion in helping the ink cover the paper.



Then I peel off the protective covering from my acrylic block. I always cover my blocks with Tac N' Peel and love it!



Next I ink up my stamp. I like to pat my block on top of the ink pad but do it however works for you.



Then I place my block on the paper wherever I want to stamp. And then press down! Don't rock too much and try and place even pressure over the entire stamp.



Then just lift the stamp up and you've got a great, clear, crisp and clean image! I have been stamping like this for like a year and a half and I always get a great impression but these clear stamps are great to stamp with.



Some of you were worried about how detailed Elisabeth Bell's images would turn out and I picked Wishes from our new Spring and Summer Release because of the great detail and small lines used and it came out perfectly! I've stamps up all of the new clear Belles N' Whistles stamps and didn't get a bad image out of any of them.



So go get some cheap foam sheets, a great acrylic block and stamp away! I hope this clears up some of your misgivings about the quality of the image you'll get by using these clear stamps. I've got to tell you that not only was I not disappointed with them, but I loved how much space I saved with them! Quick, easy, clean stamping, Belles N' Whistles stamps! Enjoy!

Quick and Easy Thumping!

If you have some of those stamps that you think would look too over done with coloring but a bit to plain with just plain old stamping, try thumping! It's a great technique to add just a tad bit of color to an image as you stamp. I tried this following a tutorial over at splitcoaststampers from Beate and it's easy as pie! Believe me, if I can thump, so can you! So let's go thumping!

Here are your supplies:

You stamp (Please don't laugh at my very well loved acrylic block with all it's ink on the sides!) I used this beautiful stamp, Pitcher and Basin, from Serendipity Stamps from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design.
paper
An Ink Pad
A marker that's a darker color than your ink



First off, you ink up your stamp with the ink pad.



That's not so hard. So on to step 2 - the thumping!



Now we thump with the marker. Add color wherever you want to. Use the side of the marker to add some darker ink onto the inked image. Please use the side so you don't damage the point of your marker.



After your image is thumped as much as you'd like it, take a deep breath and breath onto your inked stamp and then stamp your image onto the paper.



Isn't this great! I love how it comes out. I thought this looked good, but look at the imaged cut out and framed by my scalloped circle. Doesn't that dark ink just pop off the page? I love it! Here's a close up of it.



This is the beautiful card I made using my pitcher image. I wanted to keep it simple so the pitcher would be the focal point of my card. I'm trying to thing that less is more! But you know me!



Here's another version of the image but in red. I can't decide which I love more!

I'd love to see what you come up with! So get thumping and showing off what you've got!




Card Ingredients:

Pitcher and Basin by Serendipity Stamps, Laura Ashley Connemera Paper from Dovecraft, Bella Baubles, Blue Moon Heart Charm, Ribbon, gold thread, Kaisercraft Pearls.

My Little Pink Book Tutorial and Guest Designer Call!

This is long, but please bear with me! Today I'm going to take another shot at doing a tutorial. I love little packages for things and have just discovered a great way to make envelopes and use them as a cover for these great Journal Cards by Pebbles. Susana at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design has a great variety of them and almost all of the supplies that I used in doing the project. You can use them for just about anything! I make notes on dates, To Do Lists, sketches or notes on supplies I need, blog or companies I want to check out. These journal cards are so versatile that you can use them for just about anything!

As for this tutorial, I'll try and make it as easy as I possibly can. Here's what you'll need:


12 x 12 paper, Scor-Pal or scoring tool, cutter, stamped image (I used Eloquently Evil by Smirks because I love her!), Scor-tape, brads, Journal Cards, Scrapper's Floss, embellishments (I pulled together some Bazzill flowers, Bella Baubles and my Martha Stewart Branch punch, and my stickles because I love the glitter!)

Here we go:

1. Cut your paper for the envelope 7" x 10" (This dimension happens to fit the journal cards).

2. Score our card diagonally at 1/4" and at 6 3/4" all the way down the page.

3. Then turn the sheet and score it at 2 1/2" and at 7" all the way down the sheet.

4. Cut the 1/4" on both sides of the card off down to the first diagonal score line, 2 1/2" down. Then go down to the second diagonal score line, 7" down and cut off the 1/4" on both sides.


5. Fold up the 3" bottom piece at the score line. Place a 3" strip of Scor-Tape on the over flap on both sides.

6. Remove the protective covering on both sides of the Scor-Tape and gold the two 1/2" flaps over at the score line.

7. Fold down the top 2 1/2" flat at the score line. Insert a brad on the top flap and on the bottom of the back of the envelope. These will be the closures for the card.


8. Slip the cards inside the envelope!


9. I used some Scrapper's Floss as the string for to keep the envelope closed. I love this stuff!


10. Decorate the front of the envelope however you'd like. I love this sassy Smirk. I can just see her scheming on what's going to be included in her Little Pink Book!


Want to Be a Guest Designer for a Month?
Susana from Susana's Custom Art & Card Design is running a fun contest starting March 5th thru the 12th to find 2 Guest Designers for the month of April! She is looking for a Guest Designer for the store to promote "Anki's Sweethearts" stamps and one designer to promote "Lockhart Stamps" for the store as well. Each designer will receive a set of stamps to work with and the requirement is to make 3 cards a week for the month! Both designers will also get a ONE-TIME-ONLY discount of 10% to Susana's store!

How do you enter?
First you need to have a blog--and send your blog address with your entry!! You can then get all the details at the PaperCraft Planet sites for SCACD and Fans of Karen Lockhart and also the store blog, Follow Your Heart (link these in your blog)--all the details will be on these sites. You can enter one time for each site's contest by sending a picture of your best & original work to Susana--if you enter for each site, you must send in an original work of art for each though! If you have stamps from Susana's store to use on your project-- great, but it is not required for your entry projects! You also need to answer this question to send along with your entry "What makes you the best choice for the Design Team?".

Sound like Fun? Hurry and send your BEST work by March 12th for a chance to be on a Fun & Fabulous DT for a month!!