HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

CLICK HERE
Stampin Up is offering a guide to all your holiday buying needs. This is a great tool to help you if you are buying yourself a present (wink) or to give to others as an idea of the things that interest you or even to use in buying for a friend or other family member. SU has helped take the guessing out of what to buy and how much to spend by categorizing by $5, $10, $25....etc.
Or maybe you are just interested in getting a gift certificate. I am happy to make one up for you. All gift certificates from me are exclusive to purchasing through me only. Let me know if I can help in your holiday shopping adventure! You can email me directly at http://www.nikkischmaltz@yahoo.com/ or http://www.nikkischmaltz@gmail.com/.

I will be back later in the day to post a few cards. See you then!

For My Birthday Bro

Good Morning. Hope you all had a good Monday. Mine went by sooo fast. I did have the opportunity to make a few cards. My brother's birthday is this week. I almost forgot:( That's sounds awful I know but he forgets mine every year so I don't feel too bad. Anyways, I was able to whip this one up for him. I like everything about it EXCEPT that STITCHING. I think it's awful but it is actually sewn. When I put that kind of effort into something...it's STAYING. So, pretend it isn't there, ok? My brother won't care though. I will most likely make another WITHOUT the stitching.

So here is what I did: Basic Black Cardstock is stamped with the Sanded background stamp in White Craft Ink. I then stamped the leaves from a retired set called Artfully Asian with black brilliance ink and embossed with Black embossing powder. This is all done on watercolor paper. I then watercolored the inside with Kiwi Kiss using my aquapainter and used black chalk around the edges. The strip of Kiwi Kiss cardstock is stamped with the same color ink using the retired Weathered background stamp and black brads were added to the corners. I then stamped in black with the retired It's Your Birthday and punched this out with the medium SU Oval Punch and mounted with dimensionals. All this is mounted on 8 1/2X 4 1/4" folded Whisper White cardstock.


This is the inside of the card. It is a pop up card. I hope to be able to write a small tutorial on how to do this. It is really so simple and gives a real WOW factor to the recipient.
















This next card started out as trying to do Beate's weekend sketch and just wasn't working for me. Mainly because I was trying to make a taller, thinner card. So I just made a "sketch" of my own so to speak. I also tried a new technique that I just read about. I will try to find the link and post it later to give that person credit.

Basically you ink up the image using Versamark and stamp on watercolor paper. Then I used my aquapainter to watercolor the image with reinkers. I used Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, So Saffron and Not Quite Navy. I then sponged around the edges with Baja Breeze. This was mounted on NQNavy cardstock. I then put a Jumbo Pewter Eyelet on the edge and tied a scrap of Kiwi/Vanilla Satin ribbon in a knot and adhered with a glue dot. The layer of Baja Breeze was run through my cuttlebug and then punched with the Scalloped Edge punch. I put a scrap of Kiwi layered with a scrap of NQNavy just above the scallop. The stamped image layer is mounted using dimensionals. I then used my scalloped, 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches to form the layered sentiment from Best Yet.
This is also popped up with dimensionals and I added the dots with my NQNavy marker.

So my cute story to share from dinner last night stars my son. We were sitting down for dinner and my husband sat down to the table singing "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way!" He then asked my son to say prayer. Dalton started out "Oh what..." while beginning the sign of the cross. Oops! He was continuing the Jingle Bell song. It was cute. We had a good chuckle. That was probably the best part of dinner. I hate to cook so dinner is never usually that fabulous...even when I try. But I continue trying....kinda:) Have you ever seen the episode from Everybody Loves Raymond when Ray tells his brother to do the wedding invites wrong so he won't have to help with the Wedding at all. Well, I've been doing dinner badly for a while now and no one tells that I don't have to do it anymore. Why does it only work for men?

It is going to be very rainy here the next few days. So, I hope to get some projects done. Thanks for stopping by!

CHALLENGES , A FUNNY STORY and the much delayed QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Happy Saturday! I LOVE the weekends. I know everybody does. But weekends here are days to completely relax. We are not your typical family, in that we aren't always "on the go". We very much enjoy just hanging out at home. So, besides a few errrands this am- THAT is exactly what we are doing today. My daughter is reading(her favorite past time) and my son is playing video games. This is a weekend only activity so he's very happy to do just that.

Yesterday, however, we headed in to see the newly released Madagascar 2 movie. My rating on this is "just ok" BTW. The best part of it is the music. You just have to MOVE when you hear those songs. Anyway, onto the brief, funny story.

I had spent the entire day with my husband running errands and picking on each other. He is always so much better at it than me. The picking that is. So we are sitting at the theatre waiting for the movie to start. My daughter is sitting between us while my son has decided to sit in the row in front of us. Yes, he is only 7 and already, apparently, embarrassed by us. SO, we are watching some of the commercials (yes, they now have commercials at the theatre) I hear my husband saying somewhat loudly "HEY! HEY!" When I look up at him he has this GINORMOUS piece of popcorn stuck to the right side of his mouth. I'm thinking "Ha Ha....Very funny weirdo" when he starts to talk about how he will never do a "comb-over" and I suddenly realize he has NO idea that this huge chunk of popcorn is stuck to his face. I just busted out laughing as he is going on about just shaving his head when he goes bald. It may be one of those things that you had to be there. But, I swear it is crackin' me up as I type it.

So I guess we will move onto the cards. This card is for the sketch challenge given by Splitcoast. I made a 4 1/4 inch square card so my interpretation is a little different on the actual sketch.

Stamps: Seaside Sketches(retired)
Ink:Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, NQNavy, Really Rust, Creamy Caramel, Blush Blossom, versamark
Paper:Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Watercolor, Urban Garden Designer Paper
Other:Kiwi Kiss/Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Filigree brads, Rhinestone brads, distressing tool, Aqua painter, glue dots, dimensionals, black embossing powder




This next one is for the Splitcoast Limited Supplies Challenge. We had to use a rectangle and circle on the layout and use ribbon only as our embellishment. I have never done this challenge before so I'm not sure if my corner punch is considered an extra embellishment. But it is glued now so there's no turning back. Plus it is too darn cute to remove.

Stamps: Big On Christmas, Season of Joy
Ink: Always Artichoke, real red, close to cocoa, more mustard, mellow moss, real red craft ink
Paper: Christmas DP retired SU, Mellow Moss, Real Red, Watercolor, Always Artichoke
Other: Clear embossing Powder, gold cord (center of poinsettia), red gingham, mat pack/paper piercer, aqua painter, 1 3/4" circle punch




Now onto the last card for the day! This is today's challenge. We were to pick something from a website called Boden and you can click on the name for my inspiration choice. I paired this with a sketch by Jen Del Muro. This card is probably a record for me. I decided to make it for my son's birthday...which is in APRIL. It is the earliest I have ever made a card for someone. Now...don't be tooo critical on the "8". I didn't have anything to make one other than a circle cutter and punches. I know it is a bit wonky but he'll think it is great. Now I just have to remember that I made this FIVE months from now LOL. So onto the details:










Stamps:Weathered, All Year Cheer II
Ink:Close to Cocoa, Choc, Chip
Paper: Bashful Blue, Choc. Chip, Tango Tang., Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Other:Circle Cutter and 1 3/8" circle Punch, Star Punch, 1" circle punch, mat pack and paper piercer, distressing tool


NOW, I realize that I did not post a QOW. But I honestly COULD NOT think of a good question. And by today I have like 4. So, I am going to ask one and TRY to remember the others for the following weeks.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

DO YOU LIKE WHEN I LIST THE RECIPE FOR A CARD OR EXPLAIN HOW I DID IT AS I GO ALONG IN THE POST?
PLEASE,PLEASE,PLEASE leave a comment!

Ok, so we covered a lot today...making fun of my cute hubby, creating, showing my raw, emotional, desperate ,pleading side as I BEG for interaction,( in case you missed it from the above Bold letters I am asking for a comment or two) etc...

I am taking Sunday off. I'm beat...all this has wore me out. Not to mention that darn time change. GESH! So, I hope you have a very relaxing Saturday. The holiday hussle and bussle is just around the bend you know.

A Medallion Style Tutorial

Just a quick post today as I really want to get out and enjoy some of the beautiful weather we have been having. My car needs some attention before the winter months roll in.

So here is a short tutorial on how to make the medallions I used to back the images on these two cards that I posted recently.

You will need the following items:

*A circle cutter of some sort (Coluzzle, Nestabilities, punches) depending on the size of the medallion you would like to create.
*Removable adhesive
* A1/4" square punch
* Scalloped punch
*Thin strip of scrap paper

For the first style medallion ,I cut out a circle using my new SU 1 3/4" punch. ( Please note that this is for my demonstration and that I used my creating memories circle cutter for the actual card)








Next I took the square punch and turned it upside down so that I could see where I was punching. I lined the cardstock up with the corners of the square to create a triangle shape to punch out.








Continue doing this all the way around the circle. Lining the next area to be punch up with the edge of the last area punch. You should end up with something like this. You may have to play around a bit depending on the size of the circle. It is trial and error. But both different sizes of circles that I did came up fine.
Now, you could leave the medallion just like this. But it looked a bit harsh to me so...




I again took my 1/4" square punch and just nipped off each of the points. SUPER EASY!











The second medallion is as follows:

I punched out a scalloped circle using my SU scalloped circle punch. This is a must have punch I'm telling you.










The next step is hard to see. I applied my temporary adhesive to the tip of a scrap of paper I had lying around. I used Dotto Hermafix but any adhesive that will allow you to remove the scrap paper is fine. Also, the important thing to remember is that the scrap paper should not be too wide or thick. This will make it difficult to punch through later.


Next adhere this scrap to the back of the scalloped punch








Now you simply slide the scalloped circle back into the punch and align it so that each scallop will be dissected with the points on the punch. See the photo to better understand. Once you have it lined up as you would like, simply punch again.

This is where a thinner piece of scrap paper works better. The SU punches are not made to punch through more that one sheet of cardstock.

Now remove that extra piece of scrap paper from the back and VOILA!


Here are 2 very simple medallions you can use to spice up your cards. Thanks for stopping in today!

Kristina Werner's Color Combo

Can I just say "WOW"? This was such a tough challenge. Little Webster dude sitting on my shoulder saying " Uh...YAH! That's what a CHALLENGE is..DUH!" But man did I have to work to get something with these colors. They are so out of my range. I would NEVER put these together. And I have to say even now...I would NOT put these colors together. Taken with Teal and Pacific Point are 2 of my least favorite colors. A little goes a long way, ya know?! So here is my creation. (Third try BTW) And I know I said I would post it tomorrow but I couldn't wait to check what others have done. And I never look at the other creations til mine has posted. So...2 posts in one day.

So here is the recipe:
Stamps: Best Yet (hostess set)
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Pacific Point
Paper: Pumpkin Textured, White, Taken w/Teal, Eggplant, Pacific Point
Other: Self dyed ribbon (pacific point reinker and white grosgrain ribbon) Hodgepodge kit, Pick a Petal Classy Brass template ( pg 191 of catalog) Stylus, paper piercer, various circle punches (all SU), Corner rounder for the scalloped edge.
The technique used is called dry embossing. You can see that several of the circles have been dry embossed and paper pierced. I also pierced the white card using the classy brass template. It has several guides for this. I hope you enjoy!

WORK IT GIRL WEDNESDAY

GOOD MORNING! What a monumental day in America! Last night we took our kids out for dinner to congratulate them on a job well done for the first 9 weeks of school. What I found so interesting was that the talk at our table was about politics. Now the interesting thing is that we aren't much of a "political family" and what was even more interesting was that the only ones really talking about it were my 7 and 9 year old. They debated really. Very funny to watch. My son who is a total "card" saw a picture of McCain and said " Yeah, there's my man!" He cracks me up. He will be disappointed to find out his "man" lost this am.

Now moving on to much less important things......Here is my inspiration for my card today.

This is a comforter on sale over at JC Penney's. I LOVE new comforters. I could seriously change my bedroom decor atleast twice a year if I had the funds. They have so many beautiful things to choose from. While I think this one is nice, it is a bit too masculine for me. Something I would pick out for my dad or brother. Very serene though don't ya think?

Here is my take on this inspiration.




Stamp Set: A Beautiful Thing, Canvas BG, Retired set called The Art of Life.
Paper: Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Mellow Moss, textured Sahara Sand
Ink: Choc. Chip and White Craft , versamark
Accessories: Oval Punch, Circle Punch, Scallop Punch, Clear EP.
This was a really quick card to make. I LOVED that I was able to use some of my scraps. Hope this inspires you today.

Now I do have a few more cards to post that I have been working on. I am really getting into doing challenges that are issued by other bloggers . Here are a few to show:


This is the color Challenge issued by Splitcoast:
The colors were Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, and Kiwi Kiss.

I used some scraps that I had laying around of designer paper called Bella Rose. I also used the rub-ons from last years Salebration. I used the butterfly on the pink and cut it out. The red oval in the center is quilted in appearance. This is done by scoring the paper at 1/2" intervals. I created the border using a retired corner punch from SU. Simply take off the guard and it can be used on straight edges. I'm not that thrilled with this card but I am so happy to get rid of some of my scraps. (not a great picture)

This next card makes me sooo happy. I just love that little robot. I can't wait to be able to give this to some little someone. This is from a sketch designed by Jen Del Muro at I Heart to Stamp

The base of this card is done in Taken with Teal

and I used some designer paper I had laying around by Crossed Paths. I am a paper junkie. Whenever they have those 5 for $1 sales, I am THERE! The little robot is from the clearance bin at Michael's. Now I wish I would have bought 2. I used my salebration rub ons for the celebrate circle and then put those little dots all around with my white gel pen. That is faux stitching around the center phrase that is stamped in white craft ink and then embossed with clear EP. The ribbon is another clearance find from somewhere. It went perfectly. Don't you just LOVE when that happens. This card truly makes me giddy with how stinkin' cute it turned out. Below is the inside of the card. Sorry it is so dark. I forgot to edit it:(

Last one for today. I had to make this for my son's teacher. We had conferences yesterday and I got to talking (for those who know me...QUIT laughing) and I totally took up our time and the next person's. I put her behind for the rest of the evening I'm sure. I felt awful when we left and I looked at the clock. So I whipped this up this am for her and hope she forgives me. BTW, I wasn't just making idle chat...it was related to my son's education. (That is to make ME feel better)

This is leftover paper from this project. The top edge is made using my SU scalloped edge punch. This is a must have in your crafting supply! I again used my Salebration rub-ons for the main flower image and cut it out. I then layered a 1" faux stitched Choc Chip circle with a Close to Cocoa punched flower that was also layered with a small punched out flower from the designer paper. The strip of chocolate chip at the top is a stitched looking rub on from the A PERFECT DAY package of rub ons in the current catalog. SORRY is also faux stitched and embossed with white EP then punched out with the med Oval Punch. LOVE that punch as you can tell. I'm an oval girl. All this is layered on a 5 3/4" square card that is textured white cardstock.
Check in tomorrow as I will have Kristina's challenge and hopefully a small tutorial on 2 different medallion punches. Thanks for stopping by!

A Very Productive Morning

I couldn't sleep last night and so what do you do when that happens? You STAMP of course. So much better to be creative then watch TV. I decided to work on a few challenges that I didn't have a chance to do throughout the week. The above card is the color challenge issued by Splitcoast Stampers. The colors were Pixie Pink, Tango Tangerine and Kiwi Kiss. I'm really excited about the texture of this card. I layered Pixie on top of itself and sponged pixie ink on the top layer using.....Saran Wrap. Then I distressed the edges of the card. The layer of Kiwi was embossed with my Cuttlebug and the image is from a retired set called SWEET OF YOU. The sentiment is also retired. I am so happy to be able to use my retired sets. I have sooo many. The twill ribbon is something I found at Joann's on clearance. It won't take you long from reading my blog to realize I buy LOTS of things on clearance. I used my aqua painter to color the image and sponged around the edges with kiwi.

NEXT....

This is from a Sketch Challenge issued by Beate Johns. You can view it HERE. I wanted to make a masculine and feminine card with this sketch.
This card uses a set called Noble Deer (just retired). I used the Sanded BG stamp on the Kraft cardstock. Then used an image from Noble Deer on the mellow moss in the same color ink. This is mounted on a strip of Artichoke and brads are added...sorry they are kinda wonky on the top. My main image is embossed using Choc Chip Craft ink and clear EP. I then aquapainted ( not sure that's a word). That is twine that is tied around the small strip of Choc Chip cardstock.

Notice the layered medallion shape behind my main image? That is just something I did using a 1/4" square punch on a circle cut out to mat the main image. I will show you how at a later date.


This is my feminine version done is bashful blue, real red and whisper white. The designer paper is an old SU packet that I still had leftover. That is real stitching along the edges. Again the center piece was run through my cuttlebug and the edges were scalloped using a corner rounder. I clear embossed an image from SO MANY SCALLOPS onto bashful blue and scallop punched it out. Then stamped a $1 stamp from Michael's onto white using real red craft ink and added the dots around the edge. Punch this out with a 1 1/4" circle and popped it up using dimensionals. The ribbon is from Making Memories and was again a clearanced item.

AND FINALLY......

This was a sketch challenge issued by Splitcoast Stampers from last Tues. If you don't already, you should check out this fabulous website www.splitcoaststampers.com. It is full of talented people and ideas.
I used 2 very different colors for me. They were inspired from the sticker that is in the center. (I got these...you guessed it...ON CLEARANCE from Joann's. ) They resembled SU's Cameo Coral and new Baja Breeze. The little flowers are from the Targe Dollars Spot and topped with a self adhesive pearl. I stamped in rows an image from the the set IT'S A BEAUTIFUL THING and pulled it all together with a faux bow of white taffeta ribbon. Well thanks for looking today. I hope to stamp a bit more but will most likely need a nap today. We are having great weather so I may work outside and soak up these last glorious days of beauty.