The Holiday Mini is Here!

The new 2011 Holiday Mini Catalog is here!
You do not want to miss this one, I want everything in it! You can look through page by page online HERE or by clicking the image above.

If you want to get anything out of it, you can go right onto my SITE and order it, or you can email me and I can put it in for you!
site: http://lynnpratt.stampinup.net
email: pratt.lynn@gmail.com

And don't forget, for every $50 of merchandise that you purchase, you can choose any one of my tutorials for FREE! Purchase $150 of merchandise, get three for FREE and FREE hostess merchandise too!

Sweet Floral Layered

While I was at the SU Convention this year, I won the Sweet Floral background stamp that I made this card with. When I first got it, I thought it was the ugliest stamp that I had ever seen. A few other people saw it and said, "Oh, how pretty!" I figured if some people like it, maybe I could make a card that I like with it.
Here is my layered card using only this stamp and Perfect Words for the sentiment. I stamped the stamp a few times in Cherry Cobbler for the top and a few times in Always Artichoke for the leaves. Then I just cut some parts out and popped them up with Dimensionals, either one or two high.
I am still on the fence with liking this stamp but I really like how the card came out!


For the sentiment I just punched it out with the Modern Label punch. Then I punched two more in Cobbler, cut them in half going each way, and glued them to the back. This makes a nice outline around your words.

Summer Mini Ends Tomorrow!

Don't miss out on ordering out of this great Summer Mini Catalog! It ends tomorrow so don't wait! If you don't have one you can look through page by page online!

Click on the catalog above or HERE to look through now!

You can place an order online or email me by tomorrow afternoon to place it for you.
pratt.lynn@gmail.com
or order online at:
http://lynnpratt.stampinup.net

Don't forget, if you place a $50 order you get to pick any tutorial from me for FREE! Place a $150 order, you get three FREE tutorials and FREE hostess merchandise!

Also this month only, buy three Designer Series Papers and get one FREE!

Simply Soft, Extended

I made this card using the Simply Soft hostess set. I used white satin ribbon and died it with the More Mustard ink refill and the Aqua Pen. Then I let it dry and scrunched it up on top of Sticky tape to get the bunched look on the card. I stamped two of these flower images right on top of each other to give me a longer looking flower then the single stamp. After I stamped the Mustard on the inside of the black outline, I colored the red and green and used Crystal Effects on the petals to make them stick out and shine. I used Pear Pizzazz, Very Vanilla, More Mustard and Cherry Cobbler for this card.

I used the Mini Silver Brads here and just colored them with a permanent red marker! Then I put them through 1/4" circles and then onto the card. I really like how this came out. The silver just didn't go with the card, but the red looks great! I also took the edge of my Very Vanilla paper and just wiped it across the Cobbler ink a few times on all of the edges and put it on with Dimensionals. This really made it pop out from the card nicely.

Gently Falling Three Cards & Box

Here is my three card class with a matching box, using the new Gently Falling stamp set and Spice Cake Designer Series Paper and Buttons from the new 2011 Holiday Mini. This mini officially starts for customers on September first, so this is a little sneak peak of the products! For Demonstrators, we have already been able to pre-order and get these products, so here are some great things to make with them and show your customers for when they can get them!
You can easily switch up the colors and stamps for this project and make it for any occasion. I thought pastels with a baby stamp set would be perfect for this layout!
The box easily fits three of each card and envelopes for a great gift!

CLICK HERE
to see more details or to get this tutorial!

Card Party Cards

I have already showed you the hostess gift that I made for this party but here is the card that I demonstrated there and the card that they did.

This card uses The Open Sea stamp set and the Top Note die with the Big Shot. I used VersaMark ink for the globe and chart stamp on white paper in back and clear embossed it. Then I sponged with Night of Navy ink on top. In person you can see the images are shiny and it looks really nice.

This is the card that they did at the party. We used the Just Believe stamp set and the background uses the Very Vintage roller. I tried to keep it simple since there were lots of first timers.

Simply Soft, Sponged

I used the hostess set Simply Soft to make this card. When I first got this set I wasn't sure what to do with it but I really like it now!
The colors I used on this card are Soft Suede, Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, More mustard and Very Vanilla. The piece of DSP that you see is the new Spice Cake DSP that is in the 2011 Holiday Mini Catalog that most of the SU demos have already. If you are not a demo, you have to wait until September 1st when this catalog officially starts to get this great new paper, sorry! One of the many great reasons to be a demo is you get to pre-order a month ahead of time from the new catalogs and we get to see the catalogs even earlier then that! If you want to be able to do this and much more, see my page about joining my team! Did I mention you get a great discount too?!
I also used Crystal Effects over the flowers to make them glow. I even did an inside to this card! I think this makes the card seem so more more sophisticated, it's like getting two cards in one! I sponged the Ribbon very lightly with Soft Suede ink so it matched the tone of the card. Without that it seemed too bright to fit. For the edges of the inside and outside I sponged them with More Mustard ink first and then went around the very edges with Soft Suede to give a deeper look.

August Club Cards

For my Stamp Club this month I seemed to run out of time so I actually searched on blogs for card ideas! I did find some great cards and didn't even change them too much. Here are the cards we did and where I got the inspiration from!

I found this card on Splitcoast and just changed it a bit. I can not find the creators real name on there, but you can see her great card HERE! I got this Sweet Floral background stamp at Convention as a prize and could not think of a thing to do with it. Thank goodness for other blogs to get inspiration from!

This card is inspired by Nancy Ferb (almost copied exactly so I guess that's not really inspired by...). I love how she uses the new Grow stamp from Convention with the Just Believe stamp set! I did not have the new brads for the bottom so I just punched a piece of paper and used Crystal Effects on it.

And the last card idea I got from Karen Colburn. This one uses The Open Sea stamp set from the Summer Mini. I love the tearing of the two layers of DSP and so did all of my ladies!

Thanks for the great card ideas ladies so I didn't have to think too much!

Strength and Hope Hostess Gift

I thought I would share the little gift that I made for the hostess of my last party.
I used the Strength and Hope stamp set with Melon Mambo, Crumb Cake, Pool Party and Very Vanilla cardstock and ink. I made nine little 3"x3" cards with envelopes and put them in a decorated Fancy favor box. I put this in a cello bag and finished it with a ribbon!

Origami Kissing Card

I have been trying to come up with a fun way to use the S.W.A.K. stamp that I got as a prize at Convention. I was thinking to make an origami kissing card and I found this great video (below) on You Tube to make one. I thought the S.W.A.K. lips would be perfect to put on the envelope to seal it shut! The video is pretty good to follow as long as you pause after each step and then go on.

SO... I decided that I would make step by step printable directions for you guys! If you click on the images you should be able to download the printable pages. Or you can just click on the link below them to download!
You really have to make this card, especially if you have kids. It is so much fun to play with and make it talk. It is so realistic!

Click this link to download direction.
http://www.mediafire.com/?oblovs5e3sq3b



And I found out SWAK means Sealed With A Kiss.... Boy do I feel silly not figuring that one out on my own!

Caramel Apple Card -FREE Template

I was asked to come up with a template for a Caramel Apple Card, so here it is! I really had a lot of fun with this!

I used Cherry Cobbler cardstock for the main card and sponged the edges. I used More Mustard for the caramel part and sponged with More Mustard ink. The center is Very Vanilla and the stick is So Saffron (5" x 5/8" strip with top edges rounded) and they are both sponged with More Mustard very lightly on the edges. I used the Chocolate chip marker to draw the seeds in the center and put Crystal Effects over them. I used the white gel pen for highlights on the front. I glued the top of the caramel onto the apple card base but I used Dimensionals for the bottom to make the drips pop out.

To get the FREE Template
CLICK HERE

I am using a new site to download things from, so let me know how you like it! I think you should be able to get it from this site without signing in like the last site I was using.

Tires & Treads FREE MDS Punches

I have been having so much fun converting the stamps from My Digital Studio into punches that I decided to try and make some of my own punches! I just used clip art from the Internet and made them into punches! These five images below I am calling Tires & Treads. You can see the page I made with them above!
Use link below to download the SVG. files.

tire tread


tires - tires fill

tire tread small - tire tread small2

The link below should let you download the punches in the right format for MDS punches. Copy these files to your desktop first. Then you have to copy and paste them into your punches folder. If you copy them directly into your punches folder for some reason they will not work.
These type of files also work with the Cricut!

http://www.mediafire.com/?9508b5ob5wo5c

This is my trial to share these punch files, so if this works I can share more! Let me know what you think! This is also the first time I have used Mediafire so let me know how that works to download from.

12"x12" Mini Book

I got this book idea from a mini book that they made on the Alaska cruise (I think) that a fellow demo showed me. I made this in a class with my my kids and nieces and they all loved doing them! They are aged 4-10 and then 4 adults also. It was easy enough for everyone! I thought this would make the cutest little scrapbook or just a little book to draw in.

The directions to make it are below!

For the pages of the book you need one sheet of 12" x 12" cardstock. You are going to score it in one directions at 2", 6" and 10". Score in the other direction at 3", 6" and 9". Then you are going to cut along the red line I have shown going through the center of three of the sections.


Now you are going to fold up the two inch sections all the way across. These are the pockets that will hold the removable pages.


Now fold in half on the center score. You can accordion fold the end strips to make the pages.


Fold these on both sides. This will give you all of your pages. You are going to tape the backs of the pages together where the three red arrows are shown pointing.


Now all of your pages are together and you are ready to decorate. This is all from just one sheet of 12" x 12" paper!


You will need a 4"x4" piece of DSP to tape to the back of the end pages to make the front and back cover. The insert pages are 3-3/4" x 2-1/2". You need 8 of them. The belly band is 1" x 8-1/2".


Then just decorate however you would like and you are finished! I used The Open Sea stamp set from the Summer Mini catalog with matching DSP.

More MDS Stamps to Punches

Here is my My Digital Studio page of my kids and nephews hiking this summer. I changed the Holly Jolly tree stamp to a punch so I could fill it with DSP instead of just a color. You can get the directions for how to do this HERE.
I have been having so much fun with this program and figuring it out!

MDS Converting stamps to punches

So I have seen lots of ways to convert My Digital Studio stamps to punches, but I thought I would write up some of my own directions since I was so proud of myself for figuring it out!
Ok, here goes... this is how I converted My Digital Studio stamps to punches and then filled them with photos to get these pages!

First you have to download the free Inkscape program from the Internet. This is a good program for lots of things and I have never heard of anyone with any problems downloading it.

After you download it, open Inkscape and you have to go to File (at the top menu), then choose Import. Import any stamp of your choice, I used the Noteworthy alphabet for the first page and the Holiday Blitz flip flops for the second page. Below is a screen shot of the letter after I imported it in Inkscape. (So proud of myself for figuring out this screen shot thing and getting it into my blog post no less!! Hooray for me!)

(You can find your MDS stamp files by going on your computer to your program files, then choose My Digital Studio. Then click on the components folder, then punches.)

Once your stamp is imported, click on it to select it, and you will see the selection handles around it. Then go to Path at the top menu bar and then choose Trace bitmap.

A new box will open up and you want to hit update and then OK. Once you hit OK, you should see your image in this box. (If you do not, you have to make sure your imported image is selected) Now you can close this little window with the red X at the top right of it.

Now go to File (top menu bar) and then Document Properties. When this box opens you will see Custom size towards the bottom. I have the size set to 148 x 158 mm for the letters but you can try any size until it fits right around the edge of your letter. This makes the page size smaller so when you save your new letter file (or any stamp image), there is not a ton of space around it when you select it.
***If there is lots of space around the image on the page, when you bring your new punch file into MDS, the selection handles for it will be way outside of the actual shape and make it very difficult to edit.

Now go to File and then Save as. When you save your file you want to save it as a Plain SVG, not an Inkscape SVG. Save it right onto your desktop. You are finished with Inkscape for this letter.

Now open the folder that contains the punched images from MDS, the same way you got to it before. You are going to right click on the new svg. file that is saved on your desktop and choose copy. Now put your cursor over the punches file, where ever you want it saved in. I saved all mine in the Extras folder withing the MDS punches folder. Then right click and choose paste. A box will come up telling you this is locked and you want to choose continue. Your new punch is now in the MDS program!

Now open up MDS and choose punches on the right menu and add a punch. When you go to Extras (or whatever file you saved it into) you should see your new punch there! Choose your new punch!
Once you have the punch shown on your page, it will come in very large. Just double click on it and a box will open. Change the height to 3" (or whatever height you want it) and then close the box.

Click on the new punch and choose paper fill on the options in the menu on the right. Choose any type of designer series paper you want. (If you want to fill the punch with a photo, you still do this step but it will not matter which paper you choose since you are going to replace it with a photo.) If you only wanted DSP filled letters, then you are all finished!
If you want to fill it with a photo, like I did with the sandals above, then double click on the letter after it has the DSP in it. A window will open and you want to choose replace image. Pick a picture that you have saved on your computer and choose it. It will now show up in the punch! You can move it around on that screen and place it how you want and then hit OK. It is now replaced in your project with a photo in the shape of your punch!

I am very good at coming up with projects but I was very proud of myself for figuring out how to do this on the computer!! This is not my strong point!

Hope this was helpful, if you used this, show me some of the pages you make! I would love to see them!