Sale-a-bration has started...

Hi Stampers,

Stampin' Up's annual Sale-a-bration promotion is off to a great start - contact me today to schedule your workshop - it's great to be a hostess during Sale-a-bration!

Today I'm sharing the card I made for our monthly demonstrator meeting  - it uses items from both the Spring and Sale-a-bration catalogs.  The colors are taken right from the FREE DSP from Sale-a-bration called Sycamore Street - Rich Razzleberry, Island Indigo, Calypso Coral, Pool Party and Summer Starfruit.  I chose two of the patterns - the vines and the chevrons - trimmed from the paper and accented with the FREE Island Indigo ribbon.  The crosses at the bottom are one stamp from the Madison Avenue FREE set stamped in Rich Razzleberry and accented with the punch from the Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, which fits perfectly.  I accented the crosses with Rhinestones.  The greeting uses the Thanks So Much from the Oh Hello stamp set in the Spring mini and is also accented with Rhinestones.  I used one of the Apothecary Accents framelits fro the greeting as well as cutting one in Pool Party that I cut in half to accent the greeting.

Contact me today to take advantage of Sale--a-bration and get your FREE products!

Keep Stamping, 

Ho, Ho, Ho

Hi Stampers,

Well we're heading into the homestretch for this year's Christmas preparations. Just have to make some cookies and we're ready here at the Dickinson house.

Today I thought I'd share something I made for a very nice frame I received a few years ago at our Demonstrator Christmas party. This is a frame with 3 4X6" openings and the person who made it for me (thanks Laura F) gave me 4 sets of pictures for it. After seeing something at one of our demo meetings from Pam H, I decided to make a new Christmas set of projects using the Red and Silver Glimmer paper and several Big Shot dies.

This project was really quick - I cut out 3 sets of the ho ho ho letters using the Simple Alphabet dies out of Silver Glimmer paper and attached them to 3 pieces of Red Glimmer paper. I used the Stocking Accents die for the Candy Cane - I cut one Candy Cane from each color of Glimmer paper and then cut one apart and paper pieced it Red & Silver. The Santa on the bottom is made up of punches - you can see which ones in this post where I made some tags.

Hope that everyone has a fantastic Christmas! Can't wait to spend time with the family this weekend!

Keep Stamping,

End of Occasions Mini Catalog

Hi Stampers,

Just a reminder that you only have a day or two to get the great products in this year's Occasions Mini Catalog and with that in mind today I'm sharing a project using some of those products. This was a stamp camp I held about a week ago and it's called a Collage Frame - several of the talented demonstrators in my group have done this project but I decided to give mine a flower theme (several of the others I had seen were Christmas projects). It was really tough to get a good picture of this project with light and shadows - this was the best one I took but I think you can see all the details of it.

I started this collage with 5 basic colors so I could keep it fairly simple: Very Vanilla, Pear Pizazz, Always Artichoke, Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy, which are all colors in the Springtime Vintage DSP, which I used in several squares. From that starting point, I thought flowers - I used the Very Vanilla Rosettes from the Occasions Mini, the Paper Daisies and the Fun Flowers Die for the Big Shot. I also used the Bird, Butterfly Punch, Scallop Circle, Boho Blossoms, Scallop Ribbon Border, Scallop Edge, Scallop Trim Border and several Circle Punches. There were many stamp sets I used: Stem Silhouettes, For All You Do, Vintage Vogue, Punch Potpourri, Strength & Hope, Easter Blossoms, Just Believe and Butterfly Prints. Big Shot dies used were the Square Lattice, Perfect Polka Dot, Finial Press and Elegant Bouquet Embossing Folders, the Beautiful Wings Embosslit and Scallop Rectangle Clearlit Die as well. Accessories I used were the Baja Breeze Seam Binding, Glimmer Brads, Mini Brads, Buttons, Pearls & Rhinestones, Chantilly Lace trim, Linen Thread and Very Vanilla 1/8" taffeta ribbon. Two of the squares were heat embossed with White Craft and White embossing powder. Besides the Springtime Vintage DSP, I also used DSP from Presto Patterns, the Subtles Stack & Greenhouse Gala.

Each of the Squares is 2.25" square and the frame opening is 10X10". I will say that attaching them to the Very Vanilla backing piece is a math problem and anyone who knows me knows that is not my strong suit but I figured it out. My customers enjoyed making these and I plan on making more of these as well - it is a challenge - kind of like figuring out 16 different cards to make but I enjoyed it and hope you like this collage too.

Keep Stamping,

Easter Weekend

Hi Stampers,

Well, although the weather continues to be more winter than spring, it's Easter weekend and so I want to share a card with you today using the Easter Blossoms set from the Occasions mini catalog.

I made this card originally for a workshop I had at the end of March and it uses the Springtime Vintage DSP. I used the colors from the DSP for my card - Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy and Very Vanilla. I stamped the girl and the greeting in Baja Breeze. The greeting is punched with the large oval punch and the background is the scalloped oval punch. I also used the Scallop Border punch to punch both sides of the Night Quite Navy piece. I accented the center with the Chantilly trim and used a small stamp from the set for the sides of the Baja Breeze card. This Easter Blossoms set is only available through April 30 in the Occasions Mini Catalog as is the Springtime Vintage DSP.

I hope that you enjoy a great Easter weekend with family and friends. He is risen!

Love that Owl Punch!

Hi Stampers,

Sorry I haven't posted recently - the first few weeks of back to school have been really busy at my house even though I only have one son at home going to high school. My volunteer activities at school and church and life in general have kept us busy not to mention those always pesky computer problems that seem to keep cropping up.

Anyway, the card I have to share with you today is one I made for a swap in August and even though I'm not a big Owl or bird fan, I just love this new Owl Punch. You can have so many different looks for the owl just by the colors you use. For this card, I used the Woodgrain background stamp in Early Espresso on Crumb Cake (this is my absolute favorite color now). Behind the owl is a Real Red Large Scallop Circle punch (another great new punch) and the leaf is Old Olive from the XL Bird Punch. The owl is punched in Early Espresso with Crumb Cake for one layer of the eyes and then a layer of Early Espresso. The front of the owl is a piece of Playdate DSP. I used Googly Eyes for the eyes instead of the teeny punches that you could use from the punch. The Happy Birthday stamp is from Family Phrases and is punched with the Word Window Punch and the piece behind the greeting is punched with the Modern Label punch. I love all of our punches and how much they add to cards!

Keep Stamping,





Dawn Dickinson

Time to say Goodbye to the Summer Mini...

Hi Stampers,

Well, since most of our kids are back in school, and Labor Day is right around the corner, it's time to say Goodbye to all of the great sets in Stampin' Up's Summer Mini Catalog, which ends on August 31.

Today's card is one of the projects we did at my "Copy the Catalog" Stamp Camp in June and it features one of the Hostess sets available in the Summer Mini - Punched Posies.

This card uses Real Red, So Saffron, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie and as soon as I saw it, I knew I would have to duplicate it for my Stamp Camp. Each of the flower images is stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder and then punched out with the XL Fancy Flower, Scallop Circle, Five Petal and 1" Circle Punches. The centers of the flowers are the Filigree, Silver & Neutrals brads as well as a Red Button from the Playground Buttons. The greeting is stamped in Chocolate Chip and is from Thank You Kindly on Confetti White cardstock. The ribbon used is Old Olive 5/8" Grosgrain. I used White Crochet Thread for the bow on the Pumpkin Pie flower. The bottom part of the card is Tempting Turquoise cardstock and a strip of So Saffron cardstock.

Hope you enjoy this last taste of the Summer Mini! Have a great weekend!

Summer is flying by too fast...

Hi there Stampers,

Today's very hot weather reminds me that it's August - flowers are starting to look a little parched and it's time for the kids to go back to school. Today's card share is one I did as a swap for the Conventional I went to last week. It uses lots of things that are new in this year's catalog. The colors are Whisper White, Basic Black and Daffodil Delight, one of my favorite new colors.

The Daisy is made with the new Extra Large Scallop Circle punch and the Large Scallop Circle Punch, as well as the Boho Blossoms punch for the Black center and for the Daffodil Delight piece in the middle, I used the Finial Press Embossing folder to texturize the center and punched it with the 3/4" circle punch. After you punch the Scallop Circles, you cut into each petal on both for the Daisy. I also sponged Daffodil at the end of the petals. I attached the daisy to a piece of DSP from the Neutrals DSP stack in Basic Black after tying a knot with the new narrow 1/8" Taffeta ribbon in Daffodil Delight. The greeting is stamped in Basic Black on Daffodil and is from the new stamp set called "A Word for You".

Enjoy the rest of your summer!


Dawn Dickinson

Thanks for your support on this journey...

Hi Stampers,

Today I am sharing a card with you that I created as a Thank You to the family & friends who supported my son when he went on a summer Missions Trip to Memphis in July. We really appreciated the people who were willing to give and pray for him on this trip where they worked on turning a house into a food pantry and held a VBS program for the kids. It was a hot week but they had a great time!

Anyway, this card showcase the stamp set Sentimental Journey from the Summer Mini Catalog, as well as the coordinating DSP called Travel Journal. I took a piece of the DSP and scored it to show the reverse side of the paper as well. Then I stamped several images on Crumb Cake in Crumb Cake ink. The Thanks So Much is from Trendy Trees and is stamped in Night of Navy and layered on Pumpkin Pie and Night of Navy punched with the Word Window, Designer Label and Modern Label punches.

It's always good to thank those who have helped and Shane (who celebrated his 16th birthday yesterday) is thankful for the people who helped him during this trip.

Keep Stamping,

Same Design, Different Looks

Hi Stampers,

I hope that everyone is having a good week - lots going on here - I used to think May was busy but this year it's been April. I've been busy stamping and have 2 cards to share with you today - both are the same card, but different colors.

This week was my monthly meeting with my Stampin' Up demonstrator friends - we did a shoebox swap using a set from this month's "Two Step into Spring" special - don't forget to take advantage of this sale where 4 sets are discounted during April - see my sidebar icon for the details.

I decided to use Fifth Avenue Floral for my card. This is a 3X6 card in Bashful Blue. I stamped one of the flowers from this set in Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White inks. I used the Eyelet Border punch for the border and put a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock behind the Bashful Blue. I used the Big Shot Lots of Tags Sizzlit to cut the backing piece for the greeting, which I stamped in Chocolate Chip on Whisper White and then sponged the edges with Bashful Blue and punched out with the Wide Oval Punch. The Thanks is from the Thank You Kindly stamp set.

The second sample uses the same design only this time in Pretty in Pink and Basic Grey. This time I made it into a wedding card using Best Wishes from Short & Sweet on Whisper White, sponged with Pretty in Pink. I punched it out with the Large Oval Punch. The backing piece is Basic Grey punched with the Scallop Oval. I stamped the flower the same way using Basic Grey, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White and added some of Stampin' Up's Organza Ribbon as well.

I wanted to show you that you can use the same design to create many different looks for your cards. The original design for this card was one that I had actually done last year with different colors and it was great to re-visit it this year.

Happy Stamping!

Now that it's March, turn those Hearts into Shamrocks

Hi Stampers,

Since it's March 1st, I thought I'd remind you that hearts make good shamrocks as I share a St. Patrick's Day card with you. We made this at my Stamp Camp on Friday. All of the cards at this stamp camp were 4 1/4 inches square. I used Kraft, Whisper White and Soft Suede cardstock. I used the Full Heart Punch to punch the Shamrock Hearts out of Old Olive DSP. Old Olive Grosgrain ribbon is the stem and one of the Latte collection buttons tied with Linen Thread complete the shamrock. I used the Four Tags Sizzlit for the tags and the ever versatile set Teeny Tiny Wishes for the sentiment.

Valentine's Day Treat Box

Hi Stampers,

Thought I'd share another of the Fun Folds from last week's stamp camp. This easy to make treat box has been around for a while and I know I have another sample of it around somewhere, but I think it looks especially good for Valentines Day with the I {Heart} Hearts Set as well as the new Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit. The I {Heart} Hearts set is the one that Stampin' Up is donating $2 for each set sold to Haiti earthquake relief. So far this month, almost 7,500 sets have been sold! Anyway, this box is made by using a square piece of cardstock (this one is 9 X 9"). You score it into thirds both ways and then score a diagonal in each of the four corners. I decorated each of the 4 panels using Sending Love DSP, the Full Heart punch and the Embosslits in Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla. I stamped the other hearts, cut them out and used Stampin' Dimensionals to pop them off the back heart. To close the box, you punch holes in the top of the sections and thread grosgrain ribbon through and tie it. The tag is made with Teeny Tiny wishes and the smallest heart from the I {Heart} Hearts set punched out with our new small heart punch. I punched the greeting with the Large Oval punch and the Scalloped Oval Punch. Fill it with candy and your're ready to give it to someone you love this Valentine's Day.

Shimmer Paints are Still Available!

Hi there Stampers,

Just thought I'd share a card I made a while back for a wedding reception we went to. It's a fairly simple card to make. It's Elegant Eggplant, Cardstock Vellum and Whisper White. I used the Manhattan Embossing Folder for the Big Shot with the Vellum and then trimmed it to fit the card front. I sprayed Shimmer Paint mixed with Rubbing Alcohol on the Elegant Eggplant cardstock to add some glitz. The greeting is from Short & Sweet (one of my favorite sets) and punched with two of our Oval Punches.

I shared this card today is to remind everyone that the Shimmer Paints from the Holiday Mini catalog are still available so you can still order them and use them to add some "glitz" to all of your creations.

More new stuff from the Mini Catalog!

Hi Stampers,

It is really cold here today and of course there is way too much snow on the ground - tired of it already and it's only January. But of course the weather being so cold means time to stay in and stamp!

Here's another sample using some more new stuff - the new small heart punch, Sending Love DSP and Real Red Satin Ribbon from the Occasions Mini catalog and the Scallop Trim Border punch from the SAB Mini. All of the hearts were punched from the same piece of Sending Love DSP - this DSP is great because it's a little heavier than regular DSP, still double-sided and has some bling - each of the pieces of DSP has glitter on one side of the paper. I used Kraft, Real Red and Very Vanilla cardstock and the sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes. It was fun seeing how many different parts of the DSP I could use for the hearts. This DSP is Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip & Very Vanilla - perfect for Valentine's Day and beyond.

Stay warm!

New Year! New Stuff!

Hi Stampers,

I hope that everyone had a great holiday and Happy New Year! The Christmas decorations are put away until next year and my sons went back to school this week so I guess the holidays are really over. I hope that everyone enjoyed all of the Christmas samples I shared during December and I will be posting projects with more of the new sets and products available in both the Sale-a-bration and Occasions minis, especially once my first SAB order arrives. This year I tried to only order a few sets during December so I could wait for SAB to get more for FREE!

Today I want to highlight one of our new punches - the Scallop Trim Border punch. Starting with these new Mini Catalogs (Occasions & Sale-a-bration), Stampin' Up is introducing a new style for punches. This style of punches allows for better leverage for punching, easier stackable storage for punches and added precision for intricate punches. This is part of Stampin Up's commitment to give us the best tools in the industry. The Scallop Trim Border punch is FREE with a $50 order of products during Sale-a-bration (page 9 of the SAB Mini)! You can also earn FREE products by hosting a $300 workshop during SAB or by joining my team as a demonstrator. SAB began on January 5 and goes until March 31.

This card uses one of the new sets from the Occasions Mini called Vintage Vogue. I used Bella Bleu DSP and used the new Scallop Trim Border Punch on the top and bottom of the DSP and on the Dusty Durango Piece that Friends is on (also stamped in Dusty Durango. To make the flowers, I stamped the larger flower in Not Quite Navy and the smaller one in Dusty Durango on Very Vanilla and used a Vanilla Brad from the 5/16" Neutrals Brad Assortment for the center. I used Very Vanilla Wide Grosgrain for the knot.

Grab Bag Gift

Hope that you are enjoying all of these holiday projects! The next one is something I created for my SU demonstrator Christmas Dinner this week - a great part of being an SU demo is all the great people in my group! We all bring a grab bag gift that we made to exchange. I created 3 sleeves for a jar I had recently purchased. This one is for Christmas and uses the Christmas Cocoa DSP and Real Red. I used the Snowflake punch and punched out circles from the opposite side of the DSP with the 1" circle punch.

The second sleeve is for Halloween and I used one of the Window Sheets from the Night & Day DSP as well as Only Orange cardstock. I stamped Little Boo in Versamark and then heat embossed it in Black. I punched out Little Boo with the 1.25" punch, the Pumpkin Pie circle in 1 3/8" circle punch and the Black with the 1.67" punch. I used the Timeless Type Big Shot alphabet for BOO!

The third sleeve is for Fall/Thanksgiving and I used my favorite fall set Autumn Splendor from the Holiday Mini. I heat embossed the leaves in Gold after stamping them with Gold Encore ink. I added the Chocolate Chip wide stitched ribbon and Autumn Meadows DSP.

Hope you've been inspired to make something for a gift!

Pop Can Snowflakes

Happy Monday Stampers!

Today's Christmas card is another use for the Big Shot - Pop Can Snowflakes! Because the Big Shot will cut metal, someone said you could cut pop cans and make snowflakes. In this card, I used 2 cans of Diet Sierra Mist Cranberry, which is one of my favorite flavors of pop and has the right colors for Christmas. After my dear husband cut the cans apart for me, I ran them through the Big Shot with the Snowflake Die. added a Red Rhinestone Brad put it on a card with Real Red and Whisper White cardstock. I added Mistletoe Ribbon (from the set of ribbon available in the holiday mini ONLY until January4) and the sentiment from one of my favorite sets Short & Sweet embossed in white on Real Red punched with the Large Oval Punch and the Scallop Oval punch in Silver cardstock. I love this idea and will be trying to figure out more cans of pop to use for this very fun technique.

There are quite a few Big Shot dies on sale from now until December 30 - see the top link on the left sidebar of my blog for details! The Big Shot is a fantastic tool - is it on your Christmas List?

Next Stamp Camp

Sorry this took a few days - I've been under the weather this week - just wanted to give you a taste of what we'll be creating at my next stamp camp on October 30 - this Wood Perpetual Calendar. I first saw this project last year at Christmas time when one of the members of a talented group of stampers I belong to gave it as a Christmas present. You can paint the calendar holder any color you want (or leave it natural). We'll be making inserts for each month - 4 are shown in this picture. There is limited space available at this time - e-mail me today to reserve a spot before they are gone!

Happy Saturday!

This is one of the cards we did at today's "Shape Up" Stamp Camp. It's inspired by a swap I got somewhere last year (no name on the back of it). I changed the colors to one of my favorite combos of colors from the Cottage Wall DSP - Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive & Orchid Opulence. I love the patterns in this DSP. Anyway, this card features Faux Stictching in both Old Olive Marker (on the Whisper White) and on the Eggplant, which was punched with the Medium Oval Punch. The flower center is punched with the Small Oval punch. The card base is Soft Suede. The greeting is from Trendy Trees and is stamped in white and embossed.

Hope those who attended this camp enjoyed it! More samples from it later.

Happy Tuesday,

Sorry it's been a while since I posted anything - life does get busy in May, that's for sure. Track meets, band concerts, work, stamping - all good, but they all make life hectic. Anyway, today's sample is one I took from the SU demonstrator website, where we get samples of cards every day - you can only see it if you are a demo and one of the perks of being a demo is access to our website. Anyway, it uses the Pocket Silhouettes and Sincere Salutations stamp sets, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy and Whisper White cardstock, Not Quite Navy Marker (with the spritzer tool), and ink. The wide oval punch fits this greeting set perfectly and I also used Urban Garden DSP (don't forget that DSP is the special this month - Buy 3, get the 4th FREE) and Baja Breeze wide stitched ribbon. Enjoy your day!

Hope you are all enjoying a great weekend! At least for today the weather in Chicago is finally nice. Today I'm sharing a card with you that I made for a swap earlier this year. It uses the new Big Shot Embosslit SU Sweetest Stem, which coordinates nicely with the Sweet Stems stamp set and the Raspberry Tart DSP. I also used the Thank You Kindly Stamp Set, Pretty in Pink, Kiwi Kiss and Rose Red cardstock, the Scallop Square punch and Basic Grey for the sentiment. Hope you enjoy the weather! I'll be doing some cleaning since it's our town's "throw out as much garbage as you want for free" week, it's a good time to spring clean and to spend time catching our favorite teams in action this weekend - the Cubs, Bulls and Blackhawks!