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    All content found at Stampin' by Genny is the sole responsibility of Genevieve Valdes, a Stampin’ Up! Independent Demonstrator. Stampin’ Up! does not endorse, edit, or otherwise contribute to this website.

Isn’t it Romantic

This week at Hand Stamped Sentiments there’s a big announcement.  We’ve added five more designers to our Design Team.  We’re so excited!  Please hop on over and welcome them by leaving a comment.  Also we have a wonderful color challenge with the romantic colors of red, black and ivory or white.  You can use any shade of red – Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Riding Hood Red or any other shade of red you prefer combine it with Black Whisper White or Very Vanilla.

I’ve been wanting to make different versions of corset cards and I CASED this corset shape card from Ink Stained Roni.  Hop over to her blog to get the template and other ideas.  The card base is Very Vanilla and I covered the front of the card with the music notes background from the Newsprint DSP and I sponged the edges with Riding Hood Red.  I’m down to a couple of sheets and I must buy more Newsprint DSP.  I’ve also been playing with the Red Glitter paper and I think it’s fabulous.  It’s perfect for adding that touch of bling.  I punched the hearts with the Small Heart punch and I also used my favorite embellishments – Victoria Crochet Trim and Vintage brads.

The candle is stamped with the medallion and flourish from the Artistic Etching stamp set.  I also added a red glitter heart and crochet trim.  Stamping on candles is very easy and there is a step-by-step tutorial on  SCS.  I hope you’re inspired by this week’s color challenge and show us your romantic side on HSS.

I also love the challenges over at PPA so I submitted my project.   There are so many talented crafters that participate.  Check them out.

Stampin' Up! Valentine musical corset and Artistic Etchings stamped candle

click image to enlarge

All Stampin’ Up! supplies below may be ordered from my website or email me to place your order.

All products are Stampin’ Up! unless noted.

Isn’t it Romantic gift set

Card Size: Approx. 4.25″ w x 5.50″h

Stamp Sets: Candle:  Artistic Etchings

Paper: CS: Very Vanilla; DSP: Newsprint, Red Glitter Paper

Ink: Classic Ink Pad: Riding Hood Red, Basic Black

Card Accessories: Small heart punch,  5/8″ Victoria Crochet Trim ribbon, 5/8″ Black Satin Ribbon, 5/8″ Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Basic Pearls, sponge dauber

Candle Accessories: Small heart punch, Basic Pearls, 5/8″ Victoria Crochet Trim ribbon

Technique: Stamping, Candle Stamping, Punch Art

Sale-A-Bration is here!

click image to download catalog

Sale-A-Bration is here! This is Stampin’ Up!’s biggest sales event of the year, now through March 31st.  There are three ways to benefit during this sale.

  1. FREE PRODUCT! For every $50 in product you order (before shipping and tax), get a Sale-A-Bration gift FREE.  All benefits are available when you order on-line.  Click to download the Sale-A-Bration Catalog or email me your name and U.S. address if you prefer a print copy.
  2. STARTER KIT SPECIAL! Perfect timing for the hobby stamper!  During Sale-A-Bration, the Stampin’ Up! Starter Kit (worth over $300) will be 15% off (new price $148.75 and ships free) and includes a BONUS product bundle worth $50.  Enjoy demonstrator discounts and benefits through June 30, 2011 with no obligation to sell or purchase anything further.Click for full Starter Kit Offer details
  3. HOSTESS BENEFITS! Stock up for yourself or team up with a friend(s) to place an order of $300 or more and earn hostess rewards.

Take advantage of this once a year sale and stock up!  If you have any questions or would like to place an order please email me.  Click here to view Sale-a-bration products.

Spring Vintage Hearts

This week at Hand Stamped Sentiments we have a hearts theme challenge.  Hearts are a wonderful shape because they’re not just for Valentine’s day.  They fit right it for birthdays, anniversaries,  thinking of you, weddings and thank you projects.  I knew I wanted to create a project with spring colors and with a shabby chic look.  I’ve recently downloaded the Spring Vintage DSP for My Digital Studio and I thought perfect! Next I selected the perfect coordinating stamp sets, Baby Blossoms and With all my Heart.  The box shape I selected is the Petal Cone.  The shape is perfect for my vintage shabby chic look I had in mind.  The Petal Cone die, Spring Vintage DSP and Baby Blossoms stamp set can be found in the new Occasion Mini.

To add to my spring shabby chic look I embellished with pearls, crochet trim and of course hearts.  The base of the card is Crumb Cake CS, the next layer is Rose Red CS.  The DSP is the Spring Vintage download printed on matte photo paper.  I created the sentiment layer on my card by stamping the frame from the Baby Blossoms stamp set then used paper snips to cut the frame.  I used the SU wide oval punch and then used a tag from the Matchbox die and stamped ‘friend’ from With all my Heart stamp set.  I also used the Eyelet border punch under the crochet ribbon and embellished with pearls.  I created the heart trim at the bottom of the card using the Small heart punch.  I aligned the side of the punch with the previous heart and aligned the bottom of the heart with the line I drew in pencil.  Draw it light so it can be erased once you finish.

The Petal Cone box is Very Vanilla CS and I then printed Spring Vintage DSP on matte paper then put the paper through my Big Shot with Petal Cone die so I could then cut two sides of the triangle.  I cut these out then adhered them to the sides of the Petal Cone.  The Scallop flower is made with the 2-3/8″ scallop circle punch and clear rhinestone brad.

This is my quick and fast method for making the scallop flower.  Punch 6 scallop circles, stack them all together, then pierce the center and use a brad to fasten.  Crunch and fold each layer.  Voilá you have a flower.  There are other methods where you fold each layer and spritz with water before fastening all the layers but I don’t have much patience and my quick method works for me.

I enjoyed making this gift set and I hope it inspires you to take the challenge and create your heart project.

 

Spring Vintage gift set

click image to enlarge

Spring Vintage Friend card

click image to enlarge

Spring Vintage petal cone box

click image to enlarge

All Stampin’ Up! supplies below may be ordered from my website or email me to place your order.

All products are Stampin’ Up! unless noted.

Spring Vintage gift set

Card Size: Approx. 5.00″ w x 5.00″h

Stamp Sets: Baby Blossoms, With All My Heart

Paper: CS: Very Vanilla, Rose Red, Crumb Cake, Spring Vintage DSP download papers printed on matte photo paper

Ink: Classic Ink Pad:  Always Artichoke, SU Markers:  Rose Red, Always Artichoke

Card Accessories: Small heart punch, Wide Oval punch, Heart to Heart punch, Eyelet border punch,Big Shot, Matchbox die, Petal Cone die, 5/8″ Victoria Crochet Trim ribbon, Basic Pearls

Petal Cone Accessories: Small heart punch, Heart to Heart punch, 2-3/8″ Scallop punch, Big Shot, Petal Cone die, 5/8″ Victoria Crochet Trim ribbon, Basic Pearls, clear rhinestone brad for scallop flower.

Technique: Stamping, Die cutting

With all my Heart

This week at Hand Stamped Sentiments we have sketch challenge.  I knew I wanted to create a Valentine card because I’ve been itching to use the red glitter paper in the new occasions mini. I also used one of my favorite stamp sets Notably Ornate and my two DSP favs – Love Letter and Newsprint.  Hop on over to HHS and take the challenge.  We’d love to see your projects.

HHS sketch challenge #51

HHS Sketch Challenge 51

With all my heart Valentine card

click image to enlarge

I have also entered my card over at Pals Paper Arts.  Their Design Team is so talented.

I knew I wanted to to create a Valentine card because I wanted to use the Red Glitter paper and the Notably Ornate stamp set because I love the frame.  I stamped it and the bird in Basic Black and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I cut them both out with my paper snips.  The dotted heart is from the I {Heart} Hearts set and stamped in Cherry Cobbler and also trimmed with paper snips and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  I framed the heart with the Pinking Heart border.  Kasey has a wonderful tutorial on how to frame with punched borders.

I created the large scallop border with 1″ circles.  I punched the circles from the Love Letter DSP.  I adhered the circles starting from the center so the border would end up even on both sides. The polka dot paper is from the Love Letter DSP and I also used a Newsprint layer.  For that Valentine feel I used the Red Glitter paper.  Love it!!  The sentiment banner ends are punched using the 1-1/4 square punch.  The sentiment is from the With all my Heart stamp set.

All Stampin’ Up! supplies below may be ordered from my website or email me to place your order.

All products are Stampin’ Up! unless noted.

Amour card

Card Size: Approx. 5.50″ w x 4.25″h

Stamp Sets: Notably Ornate, With All My Heart, I {Heart} Hearts

Paper: CS:  Basic Black, Very Vanilla; DSP:  Love Letter, Newsprint, Red Glitter paper

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black

Accessories: 1″ circle punch, Small heart punch, Pinking Hearts Border Punch, 1-1/4 Square Punch, Basic Pearls, Heat tool, Versamark, Clear embossing powder

Technique: Stamping, Heat embossing

Finally…Audrey Dress Tutorial

I have had several requests for the Audrey Dress Tutorial and I finally finished putting it together.  Click here to download the tutorial.   Work and deadlines have gotten in the way of me finishing this last week but here it is.  If you have any questions please email me.  The only part that’s difficult about this tutorial is figuring out how you’re going to embellish the dress.  Have fun and thank you for your patience.   Please don’t forward the tutorial but rather direct people to my blog.

Bring on the Bling dress card

click image to enlarge

Blog Candy winner

Thanks to everyone who visited in 2010.

The winner of the Out of the Box Stampin’ Up! stamp set  is . . . .  . .drum roll, ……..

Andrea who wrote”

“LOVE those corset cards! Can’t wait to see what else you’ve got up you sleeve!!”

Andrea thanks for visiting.  I selected you using a random number generator.  Congratulations!

Andrea, please e-mail your address to me using my Contact form and I will put these in the mail to you ASAP.

To see this week’s post and challenge click here.

Owl Love

This week at Hand Stamped Sentiments we have a Punch Theme Challenge.  I was so excited about this challenge because one of my favorite punches is the Two-Step Owl punch.   So I decided to create my project around this punch.

I’ve been wanting to make an owl box to store 3″x3″ cards and I’ve succeeded.  The 3″ x 3″ cards and envelopes fit nicely into this box.  I’m finishing up the tutorial along with the dress tutorial.  I promise to post them by the end of the week.

click image to enlarge

All Stampin’ Up! supplies below may be ordered from my website or email me to place your order.

All products are Stampin’ Up! unless noted.

Owl Box and 3″ x 3″ cards

Finished Box Size: Approx. 5.50″ w x 7.00″h

Cards, Finished Size: 3″ x 3″

Stamp Sets: Tiny Tags

Paper: Digital paper Play Date, CS:  Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Tempting Teal, Real Red, Crumb Cake

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Decorative Label Punch, Two-Step Owl Punch, Two-Step Bird Punch, Scallop Trim Punch, Jewelry Tag Punch, Basic pearls, 5/8″ Real Red grosgrain ribbon,

Techniques: Stamping, Paper Punching

 

2010 in review

Thanks to all of you my 2010 blogging was a success.  I appreciate you stopping by to see my projects and to comment.  The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. My blog was viewed about 27,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 3 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 101 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 132 posts. There were 277 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 199mb. That’s about 5 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was February 9th with 518 views. The most popular post that day was Sexy and Sweet Valentine corsets.  I plan on doing more of these corsets with different materials.  Look for these in the coming weeks.  Don’t forget you may purchase these little corset invitation/cards on my Etsy shop.  I can also make these in any color you request.

Where did all my visitors come from?

Thank you to these top referring sites in 2010.  They were splitcoaststampers.com, stampinconnection.com, demosites.blogspot.com, palspaperarts.com, and handstampedsentiments.blogspot.com.

My blog Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Sexy and Sweet Valentine corsets February 2010
7 comments

2

More Vintage Christmas Cards with Deck the Halls DSP November 2010
6 comments

3

Fancy Easter Basket March 2010
9 comments

4

Wicked Halloween August 2010
11 comments

5

Another Graduation Gift Set June 2010
3 comments

Again, a big THANKS to all of you for visiting and in celebration of a great blogging year I have some blog candy.  All you need to do to enter is leave a comment on this post telling me to enter you.  If you are getting this post via e-mail, please CLICK HERE and then leave a comment.  I will use the random generator to pick a name and announce it on Monday, January 10.

SU Out of the Box stamp set - To enter to win leave me a comment.

A Parisian Birthday

I’ve been wanting to use the Love Letter DSP with the Artistic Etchings Stamp Set.  The patterns are beautiful and as usual I always have a problem deciding which side to use.  I made this box with three cards and stamped the envelopes to match for a friend’s birthday.  This project came together very easy.  I first made the box with the chip board that comes with the DSP. You can also use Stampin’ Up!’s cardstock but if you want to use DSP you need to adhere it to a thicker stock therefore I used the chip board.   SCS has a great tutorial on how to make this box.

I first cut the chip board to size then adhered a slightly larger piece of  DSP over the chip board and trimmed to the size of the chip board.  I then scored as instructed and assembled the box as instructed on the SCS A2 box tutorial.

I decorated the top of the box with a strip of the Love Letter DSP red medallion DSP.  I was dying to use the frame for the Notably Ornate stamp set which I stamped on a Very Vanilla layer with Basic Black ink then heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  I rounded the corners then sponged with Basic Black and Riding Hood Red.  I stamped the crown on Very Vanilla and used my paper snips to cut out then sponged with Riding Hood Red.  The Eiffel Tower is stamped with Basic Black then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. Paper snips and a hobby blade were used to cut the Eiffel tower.  The crown and the tower are adhered with Dimensionals and embellished the frame with the Basic Pearls.  I love the Basic Pearls.  They’re perfect for embellishing any card because they come in three sizes.  The knotted ribbon is adhered with a mini glue dot.  I punched a border out of a strip of DSP and adhered to the back of the frame layer then adhered the completed layer to the box.

I created the three cards with different DSP from the Love Letter group and used the Artistic Etchings stamp set.  The fan fold instructions can be found on SCS.

Parisian box with cards

click to enlarge

All Stampin’ Up! supplies below may be ordered from my website or email me to place your order.

All products are Stampin’ Up! unless noted.

Parisian Box

Finished Box Size to Fit A2 cards

Cards, Finished Size: 4.25″ x 5.50″

Stamp Sets: Artistic Etchings, Notably Ornate

Paper: Love Letter DSP, Very Vanilla CS, Basic Black CS

Ink: Basic Black, Ridinghood Red

Accessories: Decorative Label Punch, Small Heart Punch, 1-3/4″ Circle Punch, Antique Brads, Black Satin Ribbon, Basic Rhinestones Jewels, Basic Pearls, EK Success Fleur De Lis Edge Punch

Techniques: Stamping, Heat Embosssing

Winter blues

This week at Hand Stamped Sentiments we are celebrating the color blue.  Select any shade of blue or different shades of blue and create a project.  I have been so inspired by the upcoming digital downloads in the spring mini and by MDS I decided to make two projects for this challenge.  Also the spring 2011 mini goes into effect today!  Download your copy or email me and I will mail you one.  You may also visit my website to see all the new items in the occasions mini.

winter blues

click image to enlarge

I made an 8″ x 8″ scrapbook page of our furry children.  Like everyone who scrapbooks I’m so behind.  This is one of the many pages I’m creating for them.  I used the Blueberry Crisp digital DSP for the background.  I love the Not Quite Navy and Night of Navy colors which were perfect for photos of my sleepy dreaming pets.  I had so much fun creating this page.

Blue pet scrapbook page

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The next project I created is a thank you card I’m sending to my brother and sister-in-law for a wonderful Christmas dinner complete with Yorkshire pudding.  So yummy!  I used the new  Nature Walk digital stamp set to create this card.  The background paper is Blueberry Crisp #5 DSP and I used the birdcage from the Nature Walk digital stamp set all over to create the background.  Being able to create your own DSP is another wonderful feature of MDS.  I love the Blueberry Crisp DSP digital download.  For $4.95 you get twelve different digital paper designs and they’re all gorgeous.  The branch, bird and nest are also from the Nature Walk digital stamp set which will be featured in the spring mini which goes into effect today!  I love the digital downloads because you can order them online and you can download them instantly after you process your transaction.

thank you nature card

click image to enlarge

All Stampin’ Up! supplies below may be ordered from my website or email me to place your order.

All products are Stampin’ Up! unless noted.  To see all the new downloads and products in the occasions mini visit my website.

Pet scrap book page

Finished Size: 8″ w x 8″ h

Digital Stamp Sets: Baroque Motif, Man’s Best Friend, Cute Cats

Digital Paper: Blueberry Crisp #1

Color used for sentiments: Bashful Blue, White, Black

Accessories: Modern Label digital punch, Bashful Blue brads

Techniques: Digital crafting

 

Thank you card

Finished Size: 5.50″ w x 4.25″ h

Digital Stamp Sets: Nature Walk, Thank You Kindly

Digital Paper: Blueberry Crisp #5

Color used for sentiments: Night of Navy

Digital Accessories: Vintage brad, Very Vanilla Seam Binding ribbon, Decorative label punch, Photo corner punch

Techniques: Digital crafting