Cottage Wall Fan Fold Flower

I made this card for my stamp club gals to re-create last night. See the previous posting for a link to the Fan Fold Flower tutorial. Gotta love that beautiful Cottage Wall Designer Series paper...GORGEOUS!






No Stamps or Ink...What?
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Orchid Opulence CS, Cottage Wall DSP

From Courtney's Closet #53 ~ Courtney's Playdate

Here's my sweet honey pie, Hannah, who was invited over to Libby's Little Addiction for a playdate with Libby Hickson's little cutie, Courtney. In the photo, Hannah is sitting upon the front steps of our house we are currently moving from. It's a little bittersweet when moving from one house to the next...so many memories shared in the old, and many more to come in the new! Head on over to the inspiration challenge called From Courtney's Closet ~ Courtney's Playdate #53 and join us in the playdate fun!





For my card, I used the Stampin' Up! colors of Taken With Teal, Tempting Turquoise, Garden Green, and Whisper White. The flower was created using a narrow piece of designer series paper from the Flock Together pack. Beate Johns at Fresh & Fun has a fantastic video tutorial that explains and demonstrates how to create the flower.





Stamps: None (a sentiment is placed on the inside, but could be any occasion)
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Taken With Teal CS, Flock Together DSP
Ink: None
Other: 5/8" Neutrals Jumbo Brads, Jumbo Grommets, Bone Folder, Scallop Edge, Corner Rounder, 1 1/4" & 1/2" Circle Punches, Pop-Up Glue Dots, Whisper White Satin Ribbon, Mat Pack & Paper Piercing Tool, Scor-Pal (non-SU)

Convention Swap ~ Dasher

I made over 60 of these cards for two organized swaps that I participated in at Stampin' Up! Convention last week. The Dasher stamp set is a single stamp on the last page of the catalog in the Under $10 section. How cute is he!?! I added a little Dazzling Diamonds on his swirly antlers to make them glisten.





Stamps: Dasher, All Holidays
Paper: Sahara Sand, Taken With Teal, Whisper White, Soft Suede CS, Holiday Lounge DSP
Ink: Soft Suede, Sahara Sand
Other: 2-Way Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Soft Suede Polka Dotted Ribbon, Big Shot, Top Note Die

Crazy Life

Sorry for the lack of postings this week. Here are a few things going on in the Schafer household:

* Just got back from Stampin' Up! Convention...which was awesome by the way!
* We're packing and moving into our new house in the country...cleaning and painting, too!
* Stamp Club is Thursday night...I will need this much needed stamp therapy session:)
* School starts next week for the kids and I...I have a new classroom and new age group to work with.

Greg and I have been up all night painting the living room and he just informed me that it will need a second coat:) The carpet stretcher is coming in a few minutes, and the carpet cleaners are coming this afternoon.

Needless to say, I won't be posting much this week, and the Curtain Call Color Challenge will be up and running again next Sunday! Thanks for bearing with me:)

Curtain Call Color Challenge ACT 2 Showstoppers

Thanks to all of you who entered a project for the Curtain Call Color Challenge Act 2! The entries were once again FANTASTIC...and we almost made it to 30 entries for a third Showstopper acheiver!

I just got home from Stampin' Up! Convention...and what a delight it was to see all of your entries through the week while I was away.



Kerstin Lang from gescrappt und gestempel blog submitted this lovely floral creation...love the explosion of handcut flowers.



Teresa Kline from Enjoy the VA Sunshine blog entered this little blessing...love her use of embosslits and yummy ribbon.



I'll be back later with the next Curtain Call! Thanks for stopping by:)

Curtain Call Color Challenge Act 2

Wow! The first Curtain Call submissions were fantastic! Thank you again for sharing your amazing talent with us:) For Curtain Call Color Challenge Act 2, I chose this beautiful towel set from Pottery Barn, which is a great website for endless inspiration! I love the bold floral pattern that these Sophia Organic Bath Towels have...gorgeous! The colors in the towels are Bravo Burgundy, Mellow Moss, So Saffron and Whisper White.

To play along in the Curtain Call Color Challenge Act 2, simply create a papercrafted project using these Stampin' Up! colors (or similar shades from other companies), post it on your blog or other public gallery (Splitcoaststampers, Paper Craft Planet, etc.) using the keywords Curtain Call, link your posting back here, and then come back to enter your name and URL in the Mr. Linky box. You have until Sunday, August 9th at noon (CST) to enter your project.

I will once again be picking my FAVORITE Curtain Call Color Challenge submission who will be announced as the Curtain Call Show Stopper at the end of the week!



The ones who are chosen as a Show Stopper will receive this award to post on their blog and share the exciting news! I will be picking more than one Show Stopper each week depending on the number of entries there are. There will be awards given out for every ten Curtain Call Color Challenge entries!

The flower on the towel set reminded me of the Flower Fancy stamp set. With a little two-step stamping using my Stamp-a-majig, some layering of cardstock, and a ribbon/button treatment...here is the result! I can't wait to see what you come up with:)









Stamps: Flower Fancy, Trendy Trees (sentiment)
Paper: Mellow Moss, Bravo Burgundy, So Saffron, Whisper White CS
Ink: Mellow Moss, Bravo Burgundy & So Saffron Stampin' Write Markers
Other: Mellow Moss 1/4" Grosgrain, Button Bouquet (retired), Stamp-a-majig, Pop-Up Glue Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals
Techniques: 2-Step Stamping, Stamp with Marker

True Friend

Modern Butterfly

Sharing in Your Sorrow

For the final design from the Stamp-a-Stack last week, I used the ever-so versatile stamp set called Thoughts and Prayers. It is is such a peaceful set with beautiful detail. I inked up the tree using my Stampin' Write Markers...Chocolate Chip for the trunk and branches, and then Always Artichoke and Sage Shadow for the leaves. The coordinating designer series specialty paper is called To the Nines can be ultra-masculine if you need it to be.





Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers
Paper: Sage Shadow, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla CS, To the Nines Specialty DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, Sage Shadow Stampin' Write Markers
Other: Vintage Brads, Mat Pack & Paper Piercing Tool, Stampin' Dimensionals

Convention Check-In Day

Me, Kim, Terri (SAM), Julie, Susan... after checking in



Me and Libby in our super cute Showstampers tees



Our convention bag is an awesome reversible canvas tote that has a new pattern on it...maybe coming in the Spring Mini...hmmm? The bag was filled with goodies including four stamp sets, one standard wheel, a catty, journal, pen, our name badge, etc.



Here's a little something extra that I got today...actually a BIG something! I found out that I earned the Rising Star award which includes a fun little backpack, cash award, Founder's Circle Retreat, and on-stage recognition. What an honor! Pinch me....am I dreaming? The adorable stamp set was awarded for having 20K in sales last year!



My upline, Julie, gave me the sweetest bracelet to celebrate my award. Thanks, Julie...you're the best!



What an awesome day! Thank you to all of my customers and downline (Showstampers) that I call friends! I have the best job sharing Stampin' Up! with all of you!

Sending You Worm Wishes

Here is the second design from the Stamp-a-stack last week. This stamp set, Bugs & Kisses, is so stinkin' cute! Aren't those bugs darling stacked together...got that idea from my upline Julie. I thought I may need to use my stamp-a-majig to line up the bugs, but this set is so easy to center and line up...love that! The scallop edge peeking out is a Scallop Square punch of Rose Red. I used the Tall Tales DSP to bring some more life to the card and wrapped the So Saffron cardfront with Old Olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon.





Stamps: Bugs & Kisses
Paper: So Saffron, Old Olive, Whisper White CS, Tall Tales DSP
Ink: Rose Red, So Saffron, Old Olive
Other: Scallop Square Punch, Old Olive 5/8" Grosgrain, Stampin' Dimensionals

Thanks So Much

This card was one of the designs that we made at my Stamp-a-Stack last week. The monochromatic colors are Perfect Plum and Pale Plum accompanied by Vanilla Naturals cardstock. I used the Pocket Silhouettes stamp set with both plum inks to create a landscape effect. The Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon was tied in a knot and wrapped around the torn edge of Perfect Plum cardstock. I love the organic feel of this one and the layout is great to use again with other stamp sets.





Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes
Paper: Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Vanilla Naturals CS
Ink: Pale Plum, Perfect Plum
Other: Very Vanilla 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals