CHA Summer 2010 Remembered at Last!

The CHA Summer 2010 Craft Supershow was held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois this year.

We attended the show on Friday, July 30th.  I had to work on Friday morning for a few hours and we thought we would be arriving late.  We did not realize that it didn't open until Noon on Friday, so we didn't miss anything.  We were in line and waiting when they opened the doors! :)

We had such a great time at the show.  We decided to stop by the Splitcoaststampers.com booth.  I joked with Nanci that maybe we would get to meet Beate!  She does a lot of the video tutorials on Splitcoaststampers.com and her blog, fresh & fun, is wonderful!  We were doing a make-n'-take and the woman at the booth started explaining how to use the Copic markers and I instantly recognized her voice--it was Beate!  I was "star-struck" and tonque-tied immediately!  I still cannot believe that we actually got to meet her--what a thrill!

Nanci, Beate, and I at CHA Summer 2010

Custom Crops had this photo opportunity all set up at their booth including the props.  

We're thinking of replacing our current blog photo from last years Covered Bridge Festival  in Southern Indiana with the snapshot from the Custom Crops booth.  Leave a comment and let us know which photo you prefer!  Thanks in advance and happy crafting!

Original Content Removed at the Request of Stampin' Up! Compliance 2

Happy Labor Day!

Our Fall 2010 Special $199 per person is good through October 31, 2010.  We have a few spots left for the weekend of October 22-24th!  Reservations via e-mail, info@crafthavenretreats, or telephone, Nanci 708-259-7482 or Melannie 708-441-9531.  Happy Crafting!

Original Content Removed at the Request of Stampin' Up! Compliance

By the way,  my Squash Book was featured on Young and Crafty's blog for Scraptastic Saturday.  On Saturdays you can link up a project to the site.  It's a fun way to see what other people are creating!  Thanks again Hannah for featuring my project!  Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Holiday Mini Projects from Studio1Stampers Meeting!

In my blog yesterday I mentioned that we had been to a Studio1Stampers meeting with Laura Barto.  She had four projects we could make--all using items from the Holiday Mini catalog. 

Christmas Collage is a large wooden background stamp.  Laura stamped an image of the stamp on a piece of vellum.  She cut it to fit inside the stamps plastic container and positioned it so you could see the stamped image through the box lid.  She then took 4 different Stampin' Spot inks and applied the ink (rubbed it around)  to the box's lid in the areas where she wanted the color on the stamped image.  Then she lightly spritzed the box top with water mist.  When the color on the plastic lid beaded up, she placed a piece of white glossy paper on top of the box.  Then she placed a sheet of copy paper on top of the box top and lightly rubbed the paper over the area covered by the glossy paper.  This process transfers the ink colors to the glossy card stock.  Carefully remove the glossy paper and allow it to dry for approximately 2 minutes.  In the meantime, we inked the Christmas Collage stamp with Early Expresso.

When the card stock is dry enough, place the colored side down on top of the inked stamp.  Rub lightly with the copy paper over the card stock to insure transfer of the Early Express ink to the colored side of the glossy paper.  Each image will be unique.

This matchbox chest is filled with Gift tags that were stamped and punched like the Dec. 25 tag on top of the chest.  The fabric ribbon is cut from the new Stampin' Up! fabric.  Notice the stripes in the fabric all match the cardstock in the chest.  The matchbox die-cut is for the Big Shot.  It cuts the shape, scores the fold lines and will even put perforations in to make the more difficult folds easier!

The Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and the distressing tool where used to texturize this card.  The image was stamped in black and colored in with the Stampin' Up markers.  The rhinestones and ribbon dress the card up nicely!

This is the coaster from the Holiday Mini.  The die-cut for this shape cut all three layers at once.  I finished quilting the coaster at home tonight.  I did not have any white or natural quilting thread, so I decided to use the gold color--it makes the stitches easier to see.

Aren't these projects fabulous?  Thank you Laura for sharing these projects with us!

Christmas is Coming!

We went to the Studio1Stampers Group Meeting on Thursday evening.  The event was hosted by Stampin' Up Demonstrator, Laura Barto.  We made several projects, but I'm just going to post one tonight!  More projects and technique details will be given in Saturday's post!

This card uses the Christmas Collage stamp from the new Holiday Mini Catalog! 

Hope you enjoy the card!  Happy Crafting!

Merci Stamp Set with Blended Watercolor Crayons

I came across the picture of this card tonight and I thought it might be interesting to see it posted with the cards that I posted on Sunday using the same stamp set.  

This card was made about two years ago using the Merci Stamp Set from Stampin' Up!  The images were stamped in black and heat set with black sparkle embossing power.  I used the Watercolor Crayons Soft Subtles to color the card and blended it with the Aqua Painter.  The flower centers are Swarovski Crystals that are applied with a heat setting tool.

These are the two cards that I posted on Sunday, August 29th.

The Merci Stamp Set images were stamped with Versamark and colored with chalk on a q-tip.   Same stamps but what a contrast in styles!

Just a reminder that Craft Haven Retreats Weekend Fall Special $199 per person ends October 31st.  We have reservations available!  Lake View Lodge is located at 50650 Garrett Road, Dowagiac, MI 49047. If you are interested or want additional information, you can contact us at info@crafthavenretreats.com or call Nanci at (708) 259-7482 or Melannie at (708) 441-9531.  See our add in Michigan Scrapbooker Fall 2010 issue.

August Stamp Club Projects

Hi Crafters!

We had a really late night tonight!  Our August Stamp Club met tonight, so we could get the order in before midnight!  Here is our parade of projects!

Card #1--who doesn't love Play Date DSP and the Owl punch?

Card #2--Flower Pot Card--fast, fun, and fabulous! :)

Pick the flowers to reveal the sentiment!  The hardest part is deciding where you want to adhere your Old Olive leaves!

Card #3--Who doesn't like ice cream?  Design your own sundae!

Does anyone know what the wood grain looking square stamp is in this stamp set?  We cannot figure it out!

Card #4--is the Gala Greenhouse DSP sneak peek from our post on Tuesday 8-24-10.

Are you dazzled by our Dazzling Diamonds?

Card #5--Is a card we cased right out of the Stampin' Success.

Do you like this card?  Circle Yes  Circle No   . . . Circle Circus stamp set--we love it!  Hmmm, I wonder how many circles there are on this card?

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Crafting!