InStyle Sneak Peek

Are you ready for a sneak peek? Thought so! Meet Trent and Justin...


Trent & Justin will be available in the InStyle Stamps store on Wednesday, April 1st. Aren't they cute? I have a nephew who takes karate lessons, and I know he will get a kick out of them (no pun intended...).

Be sure to check out the InStyle Stamps blog all week for more sneak peeks from the rest of the design team!

InStyle Stamps Blog Hop!

Welcome to the first InStyle Stamps blog hop! The blog hop will be held from 11:30 am EST to 10pm EST on the InStyle Forum. Come join the fun, and be on the look-out for contests to win some great prizes throughout the day! Plus, make sure to vote for your favorite DT member project, as well as play “Meet the DT Trivia” to be entered into our drawings for the grand prizes to be held at the end of the hop!

This time around, the design team was challenged to create a home decor project. For my project, I decided to alter a frame for a special someone (who shall remain nameless as she hasn't received the gift yet...). She had her first child recently, so I thought that making her a special frame for her favorite photo of her and her son would make the perfect gift. After all, what new mommy doesn't want to show off photos of her new little munchkin? LOL!



Do you think she'll like it? The photo I put in it is one of my favorites, but of course, mommy can switch it out if she likes.

I stamped Jasmine with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and colored her in with copic markers. Isn't she just the perfect image to go with the photo? What a proud mommy she is!

The sentiment is one of my favorite quotes by Victor Hugo - "A mother's arms are made of tenderness, and her children sleep soundly in them." I used my word processing program to print it out, and layered it with my nestabilities.

The dp used on the frame is scraps that were leftover from some other baby projects I made for this particular mommy, so it will coordinate with everything else I've made for her. Neat, huh? I knew there was a reason I never toss my scraps! LOL! I layered the dp onto SU lavender lace cs, and used a glue stick to attach the paper to the frame. You wouldn't think so, but I've found that Elmer's glue sticks are the best thing to use for attaching paper to any wood or plastic surface. I always stock up on them when the stores do the big back-to-school sales.

Here are my answers for the "Meet the DT Trivia." Pay attention, there will be a quiz later! LOL!

1. What is your favorite color combination for crafting? pink and brown
   
2. If you were stuck on a deserted island, and a box washed up on shore, what 5 craft supplies would you most want to find inside? copics, stickles, designer paper, memento ink, stamps
   
3. What is your favorite coloring medium? copics
   
4. What embellishment can you not live without? It is a toss up between ribbon and stickles.
   
5. What are your hobbies (other than papercrafting)? reading, photography, baking, indoor gardening, jewelry making, painting, just about anything computer related
   
6. What’s your favorite spring time activity? I look forward to taking photos of spring flowers. We have apple and peach trees in the yard, and they are always lovely in the spring.
   
7. If you could visit any place in the world, where would you choose to go? New Zealand
   
8. When you were little, who was your favorite super hero and why? Superman. Amazing super powers combined with a young Christopher Reeve in a form fitting suit. Enough said. LOL! I so wanted to be Lois Lane!
   
9. What is one item that you really should throw away, but probably never will? The sweat shirt from the softball league I played on as a kid. It is totally ratty, and will never, ever fit me again, but I just can't bear to part with it for some reason.
   
10. If you were an animal, what would you be? A dragon. Hey, no one said it had to be a real animal! ;)
    
11. If you could have an endless supply of any food item, what would you get? Haagen-Dazs Fleur de Sel Caramel ice cream. Seriously. It is that good!
    
12. What is your favorite movie? Serendipity
    
13. Who is your favorite actor/actress? Hugh Jackman / Natalie Portman
    
14. Do you have a pet? If so, what do you have? I have 2 very spoiled Siamese cats. And a husband - he counts as a pet, right?
    
15. How did you first get introduced to stamping? At a Stampin' Up! party.
    

Now that you've finished reading my ramblings, be sure to check out the blogs of my fellow DT members to see what they came up with! And don't forget to high tail it over to the InStyle Forum for all the details on how you can get entered into the prize drawings!

Jen B.
Jennie H.
Joy S.
Kim G.

Latrice
Maria B.
Mary G.
Michelle O.
Risa W.
Sandy B.
Shary N.
Silke H.
Taylor U.
Vicky C.
Virginia

And introducing our newest team member, Cathy! Cathy didn't make a project for the blog hop as today is her first day on the team, but stop by and tell her "hi!".

InStyle Stamps Method Monday

It's time for Method Monday at Instyle Stamps, and it is my turn to host! Today I have an adorable card box for you. Now don't worry, I promise that it is easy to make even though it will look like you slaved over it for hours! LOL!


To make a card box of your own, you will need:

• 1 piece of 8 3/4 x 7 1/2 card stock for the bottom
• 1 piece of 7 7/8 x 6 5/8 card stock for the top
• a scor-pal or other scoring tool
• scissors
• glue dots
• assorted embellishments for the top

Once you have cut your 2 pieces of cardstock to size, take the piece that will be the bottom of your box and score it 1 1/2 inches in from all four sides. Referring to the red areas in the template to the right, use your scissors to snip out a triangle from each corner. Now fold up your scored edges so that your paper looks like the sample in the photo to the left. Bring the sides together, and attach the remaining triangular flap the the inside of the box using a glue dot. Repeat with all 4 flaps until you have formed the bottom of the box.

For the top of the box, take your remaining piece of card stock, and score at 1 inch along all 4 edges. Follow the directions from the box bottom to form the top, and decorate it to taste.


Now wasn't that simple? :)

Don't forget that this Friday is the first ever Instyle Stamps blog hop! Be sure to check out the InStyle Stamps forum for all the details. The design team has out done themselves with their projects for the hop, and you will have a chance to win some great prizes! Be there, or be square!

InStyle Stamps Forum now open!

Today is the grand opening of the InStyle Stamps forum! We now have a space of our own to discuss all things InStyle. LOL! From sneak peeks, contests and coupons, to seeing what the design team has up their sleeves using ISS products, it will be the place to be!

As an added bonus, the 100th person to register will win our Grand Opening Prize - $100.00 of stampin’ goodies! So why not join in the fun?!? Click HERE to get started!

One layer card

I'm sure you are saying to yourself, "what's up with the bird photos?" LOL. Well, let me tell you. I took these a few years ago from my mother-in-law's kitchen window. She loves hummingbirds, and has up to 20 of them that visit her feeders each year. Her birthday was this week, so these photos served as my inspiration for her card. What do you think?


I decided to try something a little different this time around, and did a card with just one layer. I used Papertrey select cardstock for my card base and embossed it using an oval Nestability in my Cuttlebug. Before removing the die, I sponged SU Soft Sky ink in the center to add more dimension to the card. I love how it gives the look of layers without the bulk.

I specifically snagged this image off of the pif threads on SCS a while back to make her card. I don't remember the name of the stamp, sorry! I used two of the images for the card, both of which were colored with copic markers. The first image was colored in completely, carefully cut out, and glued to my card base. The second image only had one wing and the flower stamen colored. I cut them out, and then layered them over the first image with 2-way glue and pop dots to add dimension. Doesn't it look like the wings are moving as the hummingbird hovers over the flower?

Those of you who have been lucky enough to see a hummingbird in person know that their feathers have this gorgeous iridescent sheen to them. To try to recreate that effect, I went over the hummingbird with a clear atyou Spica marker. If you click on the image of the full card, you can see how much it sparkles. And best of all, it dries instantly, unlike my Sakura gelly roll pen that I always manage to smear.

MDCC34

This week's card challenge on the Mothers & Daughters challenge blog is to create a border of some sort and use it on your card.


For my border, I used a Martha Stewart punch to create a pretty scalloped edge on my yellow strip of cs, and then layered on a strip of white cs and a piece of dp by Imaginisce. For some extra pop, I attached some pretty buttons from my stash.

I used chick with tulip from Serendipity stamps for my image, and colored it in with copic markers. (photo below) I used my oval Nestabilities to cut out the image, and layered it onto a scalloped oval to coordinate with my border.

If you'd like to play along, make a border and use it on a card. Post a link to your card on this post on the MDC challenge blog and you will be entered to win a fabulous prize!

You probably are looking at my marker colors and saying to yourself, "I don't remember copic carrying those two yellows on the end." Well, you'd be right. The two yellows on the end are my own recipe. I really like YR21, and have always been frustrated that there aren't any lighter yellows in the same shade to blend it with. What's a girl to do? Well, this girl purchased 2 empty sketch markers and a YR21 & blender refill and custom mixed her own colors. I used all three of the YR21's on my chick, and am very happy with the result. I went a head and made a couple of other colors too, which I will show you at a later date. I firmly believe that a crafter can never have too many colors! LOL!

ISS Thankful Thursday & a Guest Designer Call!

Today is Thankful Thursday at Instyle Stamps, and it is my turn to design this weeks sketch! And I have exciting news... This week, instead of competing for a prize, entrants will be trying out for a spot on the guest design team for April and May!

Here's the sketch for this week:

To apply for the guest design team spot:

1. Make a project based on the sketch above. It should be created for a person that you are thankful for. It doesn’t have to use the words "Thank You", but it can if you like.

2. You do not have to use an ISS image. However, if you've got one, you might as well flaunt it! LOL!

3. Post your project on your personal blog and write about the guest designer call. Then go to the ISS blog and and leave a link to your blog post in the comment section under this post. Please include your email address so we are able to get in contact with you if you are selected.

4. All entries must be received by 11:59pm PST on Wednesday, March 25th.

5. We will be contacting the winner via email by Sunday, March 29th, and will announce the guest designer for April and May here on the blog on April 1st.

If you have any questions relating to the guest designer call, please contact me at:

instylestampsdt@aol.com

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To give you a little inspiration, here is the card I made based on the sketch:

My card is for a dear friend who is celebrating a milestone birthday this month (and isn't too happy about it). I decided to make her a nice cheery card with Mellie to go along with the chocolate cake I will be baking this weekend. That should cheer her up, right?

InStyle Stamps Sneak Peek Tuesday

InStyle Stamps will be releasing new images on Wednesday, and lucky me got to play with one of them early to bring you a sneak peek!

Meet the latest image in the Anime line by InStyle Stamps - Mike and Jessie! Aren't they just the cutest couple ever? I don't know about you, but for me, they bring back fond memories of walking down the hall with my high school boyfriend. They are just too sweet!

Mike and Jessie were colored with Copic Markers, and then had highlights added with a white gel pen. The solid colored cardstock is SU Wild Wasabi and Baja Breeze. The pretty dp was in my scrap pile, so I'm not sure of the brand. Jessie's shirt matches the peach polka-dot paper perfectly in real life, but for some reason the camera is washing out the color of the paper. :(

Be sure to check out the InStyle Stamps blog to see two more sneak peeks today. And don't forget, Mike and Jessie, and all of the rest of the new releases will be available in the InStyle Store on Wednesday!

InStyle Stamps sneak peek!

I have one more sneak peek for you of the adorable new line of Digi downloads for Easter from InStyle Stamps before the big release this evening. Are you ready to see it? Thought so!

This cutie is called Easter Egg Teapot, and will be available in the InStyle Stamps store (along with all of the other cute Easter images) at 3pm PST today! How exciting is that?!? I know I'll be waiting, wallet in hand! LOL!

Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE my tea. I probably drink 3-5 cups of it a day. (usually caffeine free, honest!) So as you can imagine, I was VERY excited when I saw this adorable tea pot! The cute floral design is exactly the kind of pottery I would have if DH wouldn't have a fit (too girly and all, you know!). Tee hee.

I colored the image in with copic markers (B41, B21, Y11, C0), and then covered the entire image with Crystal Effects to get that nice sheen like you would have on a real teapot.

Be sure to check out the InStyle Stamps blog for another sneak peek from guest designer, Taylor.

InStyle Stamps sneak peek!

Are you ready for another sneak peek? Meet "Falling Chick," one of the great new Digi download images from InStyle Stamps that will be released on Wednesday!

Isn't it adorable? The minute I saw it, I knew it would be the perfect image for a cute little Easter basket for my DH. One of the things I love about him is that he is always making me laugh, so what could be more perfect?

Be sure to check out the InStyle Stamps blog for a second sneak peek by design team member Jennie, and a tutorial by yours truly to make an Easter basket of your own.