Thursday, February 29, 2024

Quick Quick!!

 Good evening friends!


Just a really quick reminder that today (11:59pm central time) is the final time for Sale-a-bration to order $50.00 in Stampin' Up! products for this year!  This is the time to gift yourself!

Take a stop by my website and see what strikes your fancy.  Remember all who comment, like or share my blog or shop Stampin' Up! and place a $25.00 order will be entered to win a gift direct from me!  Winner to be announce on Sunday, 3/3/2024!

Shop with me!




Tuesday, February 27, 2024

New technique, gifts and fun!!

 Good evening friends!


I hope you are all having a lovely day!  I have been in my creative space today while waiting to pick up MrStampz (LOL) from the airport.  He was supposed to return late last night, but with the joys of travelling his flight was canceled and rebooked for early this morning.  Didn't get into Nashville, TN until just after 11am.  Since doggo woke me up at 4:30am I had pleanty of time to play!

So, what are we working on?  Little, cute Easter gift boxes for all your family, friends, kids, adults, co-workers, Church friends and anyone you want to send a happy to.

I LOVE doing 3D dimensional artwork and love that it is functional as well.

Are you ready to see!  



Isn't this too adorable!!  I cannot get enough of this 12x12 Designer series paper pack.  I love the watercolor birds and flowers and muted colors.  The technique we will be working with today is bending/curving our straight sentiments into another shape for a different look!  That's right, you can take the photopolymer straight line sentiment and gently curve them on your acrylic block before stamping (works best with 2 or more word sentiments).



Isn't that so cool!  That turns many stamps into multiple uses.  Can't get your straight sentiment on that tag you're designing, curve it!

Let's get making shall we!!


Step 1:  Gather your supplies!

You will need the Stampin' Up! Square pillow boxes, spring/Easter sentiment of your choice.  I used the February 2024 Paper Pumpkin kit!  (ask me how you can join this monthly club) Stampin' Up! Sale-a-bration Flight & Airy 12x12 Designer Series Paper (ask me how you can get this paper for free, before it's gone!), Stampin' Up! Heartfelt Hexagon punch, Boho blue ink pad, Center stripe ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals (dimensional adhesive), Tear and tape, multipurpose liquid glue, paper trimmer and an acrylic block appropriately sized for your stamp.








Step 2:  Cut your materials!

Boho Blue flowers base color will be 4"x4"
Pecan Pie band will be 10.5"x1.5"
Pecan Pie Center Stripe Ribbon will be 20" (this one you will tie a bow at the left hand edge of the ribbon using approximately 7", the rest will be used to wrap around your box)

Step 3: Punch that beautiful birdy paper highlighting the 2 birds at the bottom 2/3rds of the shape, leaving room to stamp your sentiment at the top 3rd.  (see picture below)

Step 4:  Securely adhere your Boho Blue pattern paper to the top facing half of your pillow box.  (you will line up the corners of the pattern paper to each of the 4 intersecting score lines of the box) This will be the half without the adhesive strips on the 2 flaps.  You can either use your multipurpose liquid glue liberally for this step or the tear and tape, just be sure to get all the edges down securely since you will be folding the 4 sides down.  

Once you have adhered the pattern paper and it has dried completely if using liquid glue you are ready to assemble your pillow box!

Step 5: Assemble your box.  Turn your box over with the pattern paper facing your work surface.  Gently fold in the 4 flaps without the pattern paper down.  Then folding that half up toward the half with your pattern paper.  Fold down all 4 flaps with the pattern paper down toward the have with the adhesive flaps.  Once you have the correct shape of the box, remove the adhesive backing and snuggly adhere the 2 sides together leaving the top flaps with the notches open. (do not glue these flaps down, this is how you will get to the goodies inside the box)

Step 6:  Add your Pecan Pie band around the middle of the box with tear and tape, overlapping in the back.  Then adhere your bow with tear and tape in the upper half of the middle of your band, wrapping  the right tail all the way around back to the front and securing with more tear and tape.


Step 7:  Add sentiment!

Adhere Stampin' dimensionals on the back of your sentiment on the right, left and bottom.  Do not put dimension on the top half as this will be propped up by the bow.  Adhere to your box, covering your bow so that only the two loops show at the top and the tail on the bottom left.  

Keep going, you are almost done!

Step 8:  Add 3 embelishments to your sentiment in random places. And you are done!


Now you can fill your box with treats or goodies and it is ready to gift!  If you enjoyed this project, please like, comment and share on my blog so we can grow our community!  *FOR ANYONE THAT LIKES, COMMENTS, SHARES (from this blog site), FOLLOWS OR MAKES A $25.00 ORDER ON MY WEBSITE Amber Nelson Demonstrator Website, YOU WILL BE ENTERED TO WIN A FREE GIFT!!  ENTRY ENDS ON FRIDAY, MARCH 1ST, WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCE ON SUNDAY, MARCH 3RD AT 7PM CENTRAL!!  

Sale-a-bration, you can choose a free gift for every $50 or $100 purchase ends on February 29th at 11:59pm!!  This is where you will find your Light & Airy 12x12 pattern paper, free with a $50 purchase.

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Please let me know what type of art you would like featured!  Who knows, you may win a prize just for commenting!

Monday, February 26, 2024

I'm Official!!

 Good evening everyone! 


I am so so excited to announce that I now have my very own Stampin' Up! business website!  You definitely want to check it out!

Amber Nelson Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator


This site will be the hub where you can find ALL the good stuff!  All my specials and sales.  I hope you enjoy looking around.  Please let me know what you would like to see, projects or questions you have.  Suggestions for me!




Sunday, February 25, 2024

Pictorial/tutorial time (Let's get scrappy!)

 Good evening friends!  Welcome to my blog.  Today I am excited to share a fun scrapbook layout made entirely from scraps of left over patern paper!  When you are a crafter there always seems to be an abundance of scraps.  Yarn, fabric, paper, cardstock, the list can go on and on.  I like to get the most bang for my buck and use every bit of what I have.


That does not always happen, ok, being honest my scrap bin is SO much bigger than it should be!  How about you?  Are you over run with scraps?


Tonight I am going to go over one way to use up coordinating scraps you may have left over.  Stampin' Up! makes it easy since most of their designer series paper is coordinating.


Today we are using the Bee My Valentine Suite (no you don't have to just use it for the Valentine's holiday)!


This is a 7x7 scrapbook page layout.  I am doing a 7x7 as that is the size of my scrapbook I will be puting this layout in, but it is very easy to customize this layout for 12x12, 8.5x11 or 6x6.



This layout is so super simple, but looks amazing!  It is busy like a bee and I hope you love it!


You will start with some basic supplies like you paper trimmer, adhesive of choice and the Bee Mine Suite on pages 8-10 of the Stampin' Up! January-April 2024 Mini Catalog or scraps of your choice from your stash.  This set can be purchased as a whole collection or individually.  It will be available agian starting the week of March 11th.  This has been a very popular kit!  You can view it all here:


Bee Mine Bundle








So, are you all ready to make a scrapbook page with your scraps?  You can use really any coordinating scraps as long as you have at least 4 to 6 different patterns/colors.  My embelishments are even cut from my paper scraps!


Step 1: Gather your materials!







Step 2:  Cut your papers!

Striped paper (or base patern of choice) cut to 7"x7"

Honeycomb paper 5.5"x5.5"

Yellow plaid 6"x2.5"

Red with white stitch pattern 5"x1.5" 

Red heart background and bee background 3"x1.5"

    Hand cut the bee holding the heart and the 2 honey pots.

    Next, use the Bee Builder Punch to punch out a large and small heart from the red with white stitch patter paper.


Step 3:  Adhere your pattern paper!







When glueing this last strip across the picture, only apply glue to the left and right outside 1".  You can then slip your picture in and glue it down as desired.  At this point you could be done by adding a title of your choice using stamps, alphabet stickers or your die or Cricut cutting machine!


Or, you can go a step further and add some stamped detail such as the bee trail seen above and Bee Mine!!


I hope you enjoy this tutorial/pictorial so much that you would like to try a project for yourself!  Exciting things are coming including games, prizes, kits, clubs and specials only you can get here with me!  Stay tuned for more in the coming months!

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Scrapbook something or someone you love!

 Good evening everyone!

I hope this Tuesday finds you well and happy.  I have had a long and busy day and couldn't wait to get home to my craft room.  

Today I am working on something personal to me.  I find comfort in crafting and scrapbooking is an extension  of my feelings.  I have decided to create a scrapbook journal of sorts.  Selecting pictures of places and things that mean something to me.  No people in this one which takes a lot of pressure off.  Since this is just for me I can do what I want and not worry about if it is chronological, logical or correctly placed.

Today I am sharing my title page with you so you can see just how well a perfect pack of pattern paper can enhance your artwork.  I am using Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper, Perennial Lavender paper pack.  I just LOVE these colors and the coordination.


Perrenial Lavender DSP


I am doing a 7"x7" scrapbook, but these papers are 12x12 so they are suitable for any size scrapbook.  The beautiful flowers and rich colors coordinate with so many different paper crafts and are perfect for card making, home decor, gift giving and scrapbooking.




This page used 2 pieces of designer series paper, Stampin' Up! die cut paper butterflies in white that I ink blended with various purple inks and purple fine shimmer gems.  All can be found in the Stampin' Up! mini catalog until April 2024.  My title was done on my Cricut Joy Xtra with the pen function.  I love that I don't have to worry about having my own handwriting in my scrapbook if I don't want it there.

So, let me know in the comments below what you think of this set and what other things you would like me to share!  Till next time, keep on crafting and creating.


Amberlynn!

Sunday, February 18, 2024

Let's take a tour!

 Good Sunday afternoon!


I hope you all are finding time to do what you enjoy best!  I am in my craftroom (my happy place)!  So, I was thinking to take you all on a picture tour of my craftroom/den/office/game room.  I share this space with my hubby.  I can't show his areas for reasons best left unsaid, haha!

Come along with me and see what I see when I'm crafting!  There is a lot of clutter, but there is organization as well.  My space is a mishmosh of what I like, what I could find and anything I could use for extra storage.  Believe it or not, I also have stuff stored away in my laundry room and my hubby's wood working shed.  


So first we are going to see what I absolutely LOVE!  My fireplace!


Next we'll move to my paper storage, I have A LOT!


In here you will find my 8.5x11 cardstock, 12x12 pattern paper, vinyl and iron-on vinyl.  I also store my Cricut Joy, large heat press, laminator and Sizzix Big Shot die cut machine.  On top is painting supplies and under is Cricut supplies and my tool bag!  Yes, I even have my own cordless drill!

More Storage!




It's not a Dreambox, but these areas hold a lot.  I have additional 12x12 paper, scrapbooking kits, stamps, Cricut supplies and lots of embelishments.  My cube storage holds my Cricut Maker 3 and it is near enough to my work station that I don't need to move it every time I want to use it!  Bonus!

Lastly, we are going to look at my command center, where the magic happens!  My computer desk, crafting table and additional storage.


I always have my Cricut Joy Xtra hanging out with me on my craft table, Stampin' Up! stamps in the cabinet and frequently used items in the cart and in the cube storage.  You'll see mounted to my craft table is a stand for my phone.  One day soon (I hope) I will begin to do video tutorials!  Stick around for that!


*Small disclamer, although I am a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I use any and all products that strike my fancy.  

Stick around in the coming weeks!  I will be announcing a fun chance to receive a prize or happy in the mail from me!!


Enjoy the remainder of your day and happy crafting!  Thank you for touring my space, come back anytime!

Friday, February 16, 2024

Let's talk inspiration!!

 Good evening my crafty friends & those that don't "think" (you know who you are) they're crafty!  

Let's talk about inspiration this evening.  Where does it come from?  Where can you find some?  Are we born with it?  Can it be taught?  Are you lacking in it?  Why does it seem to come so easy for some and not others?  Why are they "crafty" and we are "not crafty"?


Shhhh...I'm going to tell you a secret!  We are all crafty, yes, that's right!  All of us!

In the beginning it could be from a kit with clear instructions.  Like Stampin' Up's! Paper Pumpkin!  This little box can be delivered to your home each month with new crafty goodness and you can follow the directions as stated or choose your own adventure!



This monthly subcription kit comes with everything you need to make up to 3 projects, either cards (9), gift boxes or paper artwork.  I love them for those days where I am feeling like I am lacking in the inspiration department, you know those days right!

I also find inspiration all around me!  Colors I see, websites I frequent, my family, friends and coworkers.  I may see a color combonation I like that will have me making a card later that day.  I use many, many books and magazines.  A great resource for me is my Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog and the Mini Catalog.  These 2 books are FULL of inspiration from many talented artists.


Stampin' Up Catalog



Stampin' Up Mini Catalog


Crafting is whatever you want it to be!  I like to make anything and everything.  Glitter is MY very best friend, but it may be your arch enemy!  I like paper and glue, you may like paint and canvas.  No one craft it the "best".  Some of us may like quick crafts (me, me, me) and others may like to do crafts that take time, are intricate and involved.  The key is, you won't know it until you've tried it!  

Let's get inspired together!  Share what inspires you in the comments below.  Remember, like and share so that we can keep growing our little crafting community!

Till next time, find some time to craft this weekend!


If at any time you are interrested in hearing more about Stampin' Up! or Paper Pumpkin reach out at craftebeesdesigns@gmail.com.

Card Making for Stress Relief

  Hi Hi crafty friends! I was feeling a bit stress and came to my craft room to hide out and play.  Do you craft when stressed out? Today...