Soft Suede Valentines

Craft Haven Retreats - Soft Suede Valentines

Today's Valentine's Day cards feature a clean, crisp look using a Soft Suede and Midnight Muse color combination.  Quick hearts were cut from Comfort Cafe DSP using the Hearts Collection Framelits.  A little paper piercing, and a few quick accents made these Valentine's Day cards come together in no time!

All of today's cards use Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze and Soft Suede CS, Comfort Cafe DSP, and Soft Suede and Midnight Muse ink.

Whale You Be Mine?

Stamps :  Oh, Whale! Tools:  Happy Whale Clearlits Die,  Paper Piercing Occasions Pack



Be Mine



Stamps:  Mixed Medley (Holiday Mini Hostess)
Tools:  Paper Piercing Occassions Pack, 3/4" Circle Punch,
1 1/4" Scallop Circle Punch,
 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 1 3/4 " Scallop Circle Punch



Sweet Friend



Stamps:  You Are Loved
Tools:  Paper Piercing Packs Occasions and Essentials,
 Beautiful Wings Embosslits
 Adorning Accents Embossing Folder





Happy Stampin'!









Artisan Valentines

Craft Haven Retreats - Artisan Valentines

With Valentine's Day upon us, Love is in the air!  And, what better time of year for card making. With Stampin' Up!'s newest stamp sets, Designer Series Paper and embellishments, Valentine's Day card making couldn't be easier.  From romantic to whimsical, there's something for everyone!  This week at Craft Haven Retreats we'll be sharing with you some of our favorite Valentine's Day creations.

Today's card series feature some of the beautiful embellishments from the Artisan Embellishments Kit found the the Spring Catalog.  This wonderful kits come with gorgeous lace in 3 designs, seam binding, lacy doilies, paper flowers, buttons, resin flowers, and designer ticket stubs and tags!  When paired with Crumb Cake and Primrose Petals, this kit is perfect for a romantic style.

For all of today's cards we used Natural Ivory and Crumb Cake card stock, Primrose Petals and Crumb Cake inks, elements from the Artisan Embellishments Kit, and a touch of Print Poetry designer series paper.

Artisan Amour



Stamps: En Francais, Bliss (retired), Artistic Etchings, Affection Collection

Artisan Forever and Always

Stamps:  En Francais, Loving Thoughts

Artisan Happy Valentine's Day

Stamps:  En Francais, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Artisan Love

Stamps:  En Francais, Tiny Tags

Happy Stampin'!

Oh Happy Day! Sale-a-Bration is Here!

Craft Haven Retreats - Oh Happy Day!  Sale-a-Bration is Here!

 

It's time to celebrate because Stampin' Up!'s biggest event of the year is here!  During this exciting sale, you can earn many exclusive products - FREE!  For every $50 you spend between January 22 and March 22, 2013 you'll earn a Free product of your choice from the Sale-a-Bration catalog.  There's no limit to the Free merchandise you can earn.  Click on the catalog below to view all of the exciting new items that are available exclusively during Sale-a-Bration.





PDF file of sale-a-bration

 

And, if Sale-a-Bration isn't enough reason to celebrate, we'll give you one more! Today is our Birthday!  Yes, Melannie and I share the same Birthdays.  Happy Birthday to us!

 

Today's card, Oh Happy Day, features many of the new items you'll find in the Sale-a-Bration catalog. 

 

 

 

Stamps:  Bloomin' Marvelous

Ink:  Pool Party, Island Indigo, Tangerine Tango

Paper:  Whisper White, Island Indigo, Sycamore Street DSP

Accessories:  Tangerine Tango Ribbon, Pool Party Button. Rhinestone Jewels

 

Happy Stampin'!



 



Faithful Friend

Craft Haven Retreats - Faithful Friend

Today's card features Stampin' Up!'s International Bazaar product suite.  This georgeous peacock is truly a treasure! When paired with the coordinating paper's bold colors and patterns, this beauty makes an exotic statement!

Stamps:

World Treasure (126765 w 126767 c)

Ink:

Pacific Point (126951)

Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango and Lucky Limeade Stampin Markers

Paper:

Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Lucky Limeade card stock

International Bazaar DSP (126920)

Tools:

Apothecary Accents Framelits (127003)

2 New Stampin' Up! Deals - now through January 21st only!  Order yours today - just in time for all of your Valentine's Day card making.

 

Happy Stampin'!

Love Letter DSP Squash Book

Earlier this week I was watching videos on YouTube, one of my new obsessions, and I came across a tutorial called Squash Book with Dawn.  I had never heard of a Squash Book.  This project is fast, fun, and completely awesome!  Dawn Griffith's video tutorial is at the end of this post.  Here's my cover!  

I used Very Vanilla to construct the pages and Love Letter DSP for the background papers.  These DSP papers have a vintage quality to them, so I inked the edges to age the Very Vanilla card stock.  Journaled with my stampin' write basic black marker and added a miscellaneous black ribbon and Martha Stewart birthstone gem stickers to give the cover a simple old world look.

When you untie the ribbon and fold back the cover, the first page of your squash book is revealed.  

Open the squash book further and you will find an amazing amount of space for photos, journaling, and embellishment!  

What's more you have even more room on the flip side of this paper album!

The finished album is 4.25" square.  I decided to print my photos in black and white to go along with the aged look.  If you decide to cut your photos on the diagonal to fit the triangle shaped folds--lay your photos out first!  I ended up repositioning a few of my square photos so the photos all flowed the same direction.

As promised here is Dawn's video!  I hope you try this project out! :) Happy Crafting!

DEMONSTRATOR SPECIAL

Welcome Stampin' Up! Demonstrators!  Have you ever dreamed of an entire weekend to do nothing but craft?  Well, we can make your dreams come true!

Craft Haven Retreats offers an all-inclusive weekend retreat for crafters of all types.  We specialize in card making and scrapbooking, offering the use of our craft room tools and equipment to compliment all of your Stampin' Up! projects!  We have the Cricut Expression with an extensive library of cartridges, Big Shot with dies, Zutter Binder and more.

We're offering a DEMONSTRATOR SPECIAL - Demonstrators who bring 6 or more guests stay FREE! Our all-inclusive weekend retreats provide a perfect opportunity for demonstators to share their passion with customers, downlines, or friends! In addition to providing delicious home-cooked meals, snacks and lodging, we offer a craft room equipped with individual work tables, craft lighting, and the free use of our extensive tools and equipment.

Host your own workshops for the weekend - whether it be training, techniques, card making, scrapbooking or just playing with new stamps and accessories. We do the rest! We'll work with you to customize your Weekend Retreat to fit your needs.

We're located in the beautiful Sister Lakes Michigan area, just an hour and 45 minutes from Chicago. Our location in Michigan offers beautiful fall foilage with lots of side activities including apple and fruit orchards, antique and craft shopping, wine vinyards tours with taste testing, and just relaxing by the lake. Why not plan a Stampin' Up! getaway weekend now! We're offering a Special Fall Rate of $199 per person--remember--YOU STAY FREE!

Call or e-mail us for more information. We would love to hear from you!

Nanci 708-259-7482

Melannie 708-441-9531

July Stamp Club

At our July Stamp Clup we featured the gorgeous Bella Bleu DSP.  So sad to see this paper go!  We made a darling drawer box using Holly McMillen's tutorial found here at Split Coast Stampers.  Our 5 cards and envelopes fit perfectly inside. So nice for gift giving or display!

The paper flowers were made using this technique featured in Julie Buhler's Paper Pleasing Ideas tutorial found here.

Drawer top decorated with leaves from the Bird Punch and these fabulous paper flowers.

Border punches always add so much!

Everyone loved the new Elegant Lines embossing folder!

Elegant Bouquet embossed on Top Note Die.

Paper:  Bella Bleu DSP, Almost Navy, Craft (not SU, substituted because my Crumb Cake didn't arrive in time)

Stamps:  Vintage Vogue, Just Believe, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Embossing Folders:  Elegant Bouquet, Elegant Lines, Script (Cuttlebug)

Ink:  Crumb Cake

Misc:  Top Note Die, Bird Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, various Circle Punches, various Oval Punches, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Scallop Border Punch, Eyelet Border Punch, Dazzling Diamonds, misc. ribbon, twine and small brads

Thanks for stopping by!

Nanci

Our Last Retreat Spring 2010 Season

We hosted our last retreat of the Spring 2010 Season for the lovely Ludwig Ladies and friends--all novices to paper crafting!  Our weekend opened with

 a dinner featuring Creamy Pasta with Spring Vegetables and Chicken, Tomato Bread, Ceasar salad, and fresh strawberries.  The meal ended with a light dessert of lemon chiffon ice cream with a lime twist.  Save some room for our decadent late night desserts and snacks!

After dinner we jumped right into our beginner's mini-album class. We covered the basics of cutting paper and choosing adhesives. We mastered the technique of clear embossing with Versamark to create a tone on tone or watermark effect with butterfly stamps across our book cover.  Then we bound our mini-albums with the Zutter.   A short intermission occurred, so we could recharge our collective batteries with warm, oozing, chocolate lava cake a la mode!

Once our albums were bound, we designed layouts for our blank pages.  The fun continued as photos were cropped and pages were embellished with gems, ribbons, punches, and buttons.  We crafted until the birds began to chrip in the trees!

The weekend concluded with a leisurely breakfast of Creme Brulee French Toast Casserole and Baked Sausage Breakfast Casserole, yogurt parfait, and fresh fruit.  Our guests left relaxed taking their completed mini-albums home to share with friends and relatives.  We hope your craft group will spend a weekend with us this fall!

Congratulations Dominique - Class of 2010!

Well it's been a long time since we posted, but our hiatus is over! :)  Today, I'm going to give a shout out to my nephew, Dominique, down in Georgia.  He's graduating from high school this year!  I cannot attend the graduation ceremony, but I'm sure this shaker card will let him know how excited I am for him!

The Stampin' Up! cardstock is: Rich Razzlebury, Old Olive, Orchid Oppulance, and DSP Cottage Wall.  The Gold Glitter Paper is from DCWV Mariposa paper pack.  Stampin' UP! punches are Word Window, Large Circle Punch, and Ticket Punch, with Rich Razzlebury ink and sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  The shaker cup with padded envelope for mailing are available through Stampin' UP! as well.  I cannot remember where I bought the STAR brads--I've had them for years! :) I added a few white gel dots and filled my shaker cup with STAR confetti.  His name and graduation year were cut on the Cricut Expression.  He requested purple and gold, so I hope the card will meet with his approval! 

Congratulations Dominique!

Butterfly Mini-Album Retreat Class

 This Zutter mini-album was the project for our most

recent retreat weekend at Lake View Lodge.  The Stampin' Up! DSP Cottage Wall was used with Razzleberry, Old Olive, and Orchid Oppulance cardstock and ink accents.  We used the butterfly stamp from the Sprinkles stamp with VersaMark and clear embossing powder to create the tone on tone random butterfly pattern on the top half of the Razzleberry cardstock.  The scallop border and butterfly punches and Flight of the Butterfly stampset continue our butterfly theme.  White gel pen, rhinestone and ribbon accents complete our cover design.  Additional butterfly embellishments were cut on the Cricut Expression using the Walk in My Garden cartridge.  The Round Tab punch was used to add index tags and journaling to some of the pages.

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Craft Haven Retreats Premieres at Lake View Lodge!

The reviews are in, and according to Emily Taylor, our first two events at Lake View Lodge were "a smashing success!!!"  Our afternoon demonstration class opened with a "sour cream container" project, a Sweet Treats box die-cut with the Sizzix Big Shot, and several card making techniques including using embossing folders.

Our guests thoroughly enjoyed creating their projects and using the tools and embellishments provided to add the finishing touches to personalize their designs.  The Chocolate Muse regularly appeared to replenish the endless supply of inspiration and treats needed to produce and fill these works of art!  The afternoon class concluded with the participants joining the evening class for a Mexican fiesta.

Olé!

 Fresh from their Mexican feast, our evening participants were all smiles as they arrived in the craft room to begin their introduction to Mini-books and Zutter bindings--pajamas optional! 

...just a short time later--more smiles and the mini-book is taking shape!

Time for a few embellishments!

There's room for a few more pretties!




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Viola!  We've jumped continents to finish our "Ooh la la" books.  Take a look at our pages!
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
In this case you can judge a book by it's cover! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A picture is worth a thousand words!

 

  

  

Some projects are so fun you want to do them again and our evening class agreed!

  

. . . and that was just the beginning!  The crafting continued until 4:00 AM when the last die-hards succumbed to the satisfaction of an evening well spent!

  

How much cropping can I get done in one evening without interruptions?  As much as I want to get done!

It's been a hard night's work, but the party has to end sometime! 

                   The End

Our New Craft Room at Lake View Lodge

We're so excited--we have our craft room set up for our Stampin' Up! demonstrations on Saturday, February 27, 2010 at Lake View Lodge.  

Here's a sneak peak at a few projects we have planned for Saturday.  We'll supply all the tools, tips, and chocolate you'll need for a cozy winter afternoon and evening at the lake!  Creme Brulee French Toast is on the menu for Sunday brunch. 

Sweet Treats Valentine's Day Cards

These cupcakes look good enough to eat!  All three were cut with the Cricut Expression using the Sweet Treats cartridge with Stampin' Up! Sending Love DSP.   Stampin' Up! punches used; Word Window, Modern Lable, and Scalloped Trim Punch.  Real Red Ink stamped with sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes from Stampin' Up! coordinates with the cardstock and punches.  Ribbon and rhinestones from Michaels and Crystal Stickles complete the embellishments.  Thanks to Julie at  Paper Pleasing for the Easel card idea and she posted the Splitcoaststamper's tutorial to make Easel cards on her blog as well, so I will too!  Hope it inspires you to try this technique--it definitely inspired me!   Happy Valentine's Day!

Winter Fun at Lake View Lodge

Winterland Retreat at the Lodge

 It was a beautiful day for a walk along the frozen shore. 

Melannie and Lucy ventured out onto the lake, following a trail of snow mobile tracks!

Ice fishing was good today - or so we were told by this group of fisherman!

Snow mobilers kicked up the snow as they sped past us!

A make-shift ice house on the lake.

Inside, Chris and Brady enjoyed a toasty fire.

And some Valentine's Day card making complete the afternoon.

This card features the Cricut Expression and Love Struck 2010 cartridge.  Stampin' Up! DSP Sending Love was used along with Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Real Red and Pretty In Pink card stock.  Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set, Chocolate Chip ink, Word Window and Modern Label punches complete the sentiment.