The Ultimate Card Day - Summer 2012 Edition

WHEN: Sunday, June 24th from 11am-3pm

WHERE: K of C - Park Ave. West, Mansfield
COST: A $25 minimum Stampin' Up! order

Come and make ten different cards (pre-cut, just stamp and assemble!) from area Stampin' Up! demonstrators.

RSVP's MUST be received by Friday, June 22nd by emailing holly@hollystamps.com.

Snacks and refreshments will be provided. The new Stampin' Up! annual catalog is now out, if you don't have one we will have one available for you at the event.

September 1 - Thank You Cards

I've been working on mass-producing Thank You cards this weekend to send to everyone who took one of my classes in August. I know it will take the element of surprise from the people getting them who took a class in August and read this blog, but the design is SO easy to re-produce I thought it would be a great way to start out the month of September. I often forget to send Thank You notes (yes, slap my hand please!) but I'm REALLY trying to get better at remembering to do it. And the first step is to have Thank You notes/cards on hand, right? So here we go...send one to someone you care about today (or tomorrow since there is no mail today)! :)

Thank You Card

Ingredients:

• Kraft cardstock (Stampin' Up!)
• Patterned Paper (Melissa Frances)
• Scalloped border punch (Fiskars)
• White Pen (Signo)
• Thank You stamp (Stampin' Up!)
• Chocolate Chip ink (Stampin' Up!)
• Pearls & Large Rhinestone (Kaiser Craft)
• Pink Paper Flower (Kaiser Craft)

Instructions:

1. Cut an 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of kraft cardstock in half so you have two 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" sized sheets.
2. Fold them in half to make your card.
3. Cut your patterned paper into 5-1/2" x 2" strips.
4. Using your border punch, punch along one of the longer sides of this strip of paper. Adhere it to your card.
5. Stamp your "Thank You" in the middle of your strip that you just adhered to the card.
6. Place a small pearl on each end of the stamped image.
7. Using your white pen dot along the top and the bottom scallop of your patterned paper.
8. Adhere a large rhinestone in the center of your flower and decorate it further with your white pen if you wish. I added some little white dots to each angle of the rhinestone.

That's it - hope you are having a WONDERFUL holiday weekend! :)

August 22 - Clear Page Class

It's been a little while since I posted, so sorry about that! Life has definitely been keeping me busy with school coming up, etc. Today's project is for a class I'll be doing next Thursday at The Scrapbooking Cafe.

It's a clear page class - the acrylic used for this page is very thick by Pageframe Designs and makes the page a great home decor piece. With the class you also get the brushed silver easel to hold it up on. So you'll make this complete project during class. I love the Jenni Bowlin line we'll be using for this so I'm very excited. I will also have a special little bonus project that we'll use with the scraps we have left over. :)

On a side note - I think this may be one of the first pictures of me I've used on a project in....um....like forever. I know a lot of people feel the same way, but I HATE pictures of myself. Especially now that I have glasses. I can never get them to look right or I always seem to look like a nerd. BUT I really have to get over it - like it or not, it is who I am and I don't want the girls to open their albums one day 20 years from now and say "Wait...did we have a mom while we were growing up?" UGH. So my personal scrapping goal for the next few months is to scrap more of me, whether I want to or not. And if you don't see my face smiling back at you from at least a few future blog posts, be sure to beat me up about it. :)

On that note - I'm off to the lake this morning with the girls to enjoy the morning with the sun, the sand, and the surf. Have a GREAT weekend and if you're signed up for my recipe class on Saturday - see you soon!!!!

June 18 - The Scrapbooking Cafe

This isn't really a project I can give instructions on, but it is something I had worked on and am very proud of! My friend Jen is opening a new scrapbook store here in town, The Scrapbooking Cafe, and asked me a while ago to create a logo for it. The store opens in about a month and it was SO cool for me to see that logo on a big sign above the store!

I'm so excited about the store, I will be teaching classes at it and will be in charge of the consignment items (yes, you'll be able to buy and sell your paper craft items there!) so I'm looking forward to mid-July!

Suzy and I have been missing our Friday night crop nights so I can't wait to get back in the swing of things with that and start cropping again!

Hope to see you there sometime!

May 21 - Friends Mini Clear Album

Well, yesterday was my birthday and it was a crazy day by all means so I'm posting yesterday's post a bit late.

I LOVE these little clear mini albums from Pageframe Designs. I did this one for a Stampin' Up! class that I'm doing in June - the class is only $25, and includes the album, set of rub-ons and a white signo pen - everything to make this album -->

If you're not local but would still like the class kit with instructions please just send me an e-mail at holly.vandyne@gmail.com and I can ship you the complete kit with full instructions. Or if you ARE local and would be interested in taking the class, send me an e-mail as well and I will get you the date and details.

I won't be including instructions on this page for obvious reasons (they'll be in the kit) but it does make a gorgeous album for you, a friend, your children and their friends - whoever! And you can't see as well in the photo, but there is an elastic band with pearls and beads that wraps around from the back and keeps the album closed.

Hope you all had a great Wednesday!

April 14 - Digital 101 Page

I love doing digital pages, just don't often get a chance to do them since I've been trying to limit my computer time lately. Well, that and the fact that I'm so hopelessly addicted to paper...and stamps...and embellishments...you know how it goes. :)

But I am very excited that I will be teaching a "Digital 101" class over at Couture Scrapbooking. If you've always wanted to try digital scrapbooking (or even just hybrid scrapbooking which is a mix of both paper and digital scrapbooking) then this class is the perfect start.

I've come up with a digital kit of goodies (paper, embellishments, etc.) that we'll be using to make this page and a few others. And you'll receive a PDF with step by step instructions for putting it all together. And last but not least, access to a class-only forum where you can chat with me and the other students to talk about the class, the projects, ask questions, etc.

I'm so excited, I really do think it is going to be a lot of fun! To the right is one of the pages that we'll be making in the class using a bunch of Photoshop techniques (you'll download a FREE 30-day trial of the software for this class if you don't have the program installed on your computer already). Hope to see you in class! If you want more details on how to register just click here.

April 10 - Clear Easter Photo Card

I was going through the Easter photos I had taken a few weeks ago and came across this one that I loved. Natalie was in focus, but the egg wasn't so I turned the rest of the photo to sephia and left the color in the egg. So I printed it out in a 3" x 4" size and used it for an Easter card.

I will also be having a small class in my home where we will be making 4 clear cards using the BRAND NEW patterned cards AND a clear scalloped mini album from Pageframe Designs. For more information and to sign up please just click here.

Clear Easter Photo Card

Ingredients:

• 3"x4" photo
• Clear Card (Pageframe Designs)
• Felt Frame and Patterned Paper (Fancy Pants Designs)
• White Sakura Pen (Stampin' Up!)
• "Short Order Alphabet Set" (Stampin' Up!)
• "Rough Edges Mini Alphabet Set" (Stampin' Up!)
  
• Close to Cocoa ink (Stampin' Up!)
• Vellum Tape Runner (Therm O Web)
  

Instructions:

1- Adhere your photo to the side of your patterned paper with the tape runner then adhere your felt frame on top with the tape runner.

2- With your sewing machine set to the zig zag stitch, stitch around the frame to adhere your paper/ photo to it. Then sew the center between your photo and the patterned paper.

3- Stamp your "U" and your "R" on the patterned paper inside of the frame.

4- Cut a sheet of patterned paper to fit the inside of the card but cut the top third of the sheet off. This will make the top of the card on both sides entirely clear. Lay your frame down on it like where it will be placed on the front of the card and stamp your letters under the frame.

4- Adhere your inside patterned paper you just stamped to the inside of the card, then adhere the frame to the front center of the clear card with your vellum tape runner.

5- Using your white signo pen make white dots around the edges of the front of the card that are not already covered by the frame.

March 10 - Clipper Frame

"Hi. My name is Holly and I am a picture frame addict."
:) Can you tell yet by reading this blog?

My latest choice for addiction are the clipper frames by 7gypsies. Oh my I cannot tell you how much I just LOVE these frames! They are like a clipboard, but with a regular picture frame easel on the back so they stand up like a frame. There is a 5"x7" piece of glass clipped to the front that you slip your photo under.

I'm currently planning a Home Decor workshop where you can come and make a few different (and completely fun) home decor projects to take home and display in your house, and this will be one of them. Keep watching here for more details if you are local. Or if you're not local and would like a kit/instructions keep your eye out here too and I'll let you know where you can get them if they are available. :)

Clipper Frame

Ingredients:

• Clipper Frame by 7gypsies
• Pearls and Rubons by KaiserCraft
• Alpha Stamps by Stampin' Up!

Instructions:

1- Take glass out and flip it over. Apply your rubon to this backside of the glass (that way the rubon won't get chipped off by the clip). TIP - Make sure your rubon is two-sided before you apply it because the back side of your rubon will be what shows through to the front.

2- Slide your photo under the glass, then clip it onto the board.

3- Embellish the outside of the glass and the board with Pearls.

4- Stamp your name/caption on a piece of cardstock and slip inside the bookplate.

And that's it! Really fast and really easy - it doesn't get any better than that!!!