Shana Gaff
(260)897-3911
stressfreestamping@gmail.com
Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator

Sunday, August 31, 2014

The Stamp Review Crew: Mosiac Madness Edition

Wow, can you believe it is September 1st already?!  This summer has flown by. The kids are in school and I am here at home all by my lonesome self. One would THINK I have all the time in the world to craft, but I have actually been busier than ever with things. I completely forgot about one of my design team challenges yesterday because of all of my planning I had been putting into my Holiday Catalog Party and Sale, and just had a few minutes to get to my Stamp Review Crew blog hop card today!  Luckily I already had the idea in my head for this week's fun geometrical set, Mosaic Madness, and it came together in only about 20 minutes!  Gotta love that when you are in a time crunch!
I thought I had some red ribbon but realized it was Melon Mambo, so I went with that instead. At the last minute I decided this would make a fabulous shaker card so I dug out my In Color sequins, a window sheet scrap and some circle Dimensionals. I love the result! The Strawberry Slush and Baked Brown Sugar ended up being a fabulous compliment to the Crumb Cake cardstock and Melon Mambo ink and ribbon.
Thanks for stopping by to visit me. Make sure to continue on through the blog hop to Deb's fabulous blog, or if you are working backwards you can click on the previous tab to see Holly's amazing project!  The complete list is at the bottom if you are completely lost, which is usually what happens to me! lol


Blog Roll

  1. Kerry Willard-Bray http://www.peoniesandpaperchains.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness-edition.html
  2. Nancy Smith
  3. Holly Krautkremer  http://rubberredneck.typepad.com/rubber-redneck/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness.html
  4. Shana Gaff    http://stressfreestamping.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-mosiac-madness.html
  5. Deb Currier   http://artfeltimpressions.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness.html
  6. Mike Funke *Christmas theme  http://stampin-style.typepad.com/stampin-style/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness.html 
  7. Ann Schach   http://www.stampinchic.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness.html
  8. Beth Beard    http://www.mylittlecraftblog.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness.html
  9. Paula Wright  http://paulastamps.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness.html
  10. Dawn Tidd   http://tiddbitsfromdawn.typepad.com/tiddbits-from-dawn/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness-edition.html
  11. Tanya Boser  http://tinkerin-in-ink.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness-edition.html

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

ATSM Photo Challenge!

I always love these photo challenges that Kylie puts together for us at ATSM and this one is particularly fun!
I love the black and white, the woodgrain, and the big white flower. I, as usual, was very literal with my card. lol
This card was so fast and easy to put together. I used some retired supplies, which I almost NEVER do, but they really fit for this challenge so I just had to. :) I wanted my pearl to match my Basic Gray cardstock and ink, so I colored it with my Blendabilities.  I'm not so great at coloring images YET (mostly because I haven't had time to practice! Boo!), but I can handle coloring embellishments! :)

Thanks for stopping by to see my card. Make sure to stop by the ATSM blog to see the rest of the design team's amazing work! 

Sunday, August 17, 2014

The Stamp Review Crew: Daydream Medallions Edition


 It's the second Monday of the month, which means it's time for another round of The Stamp Review Crew! This set, Daydream Medallions, has been one of my favorites since it came out, and I don't use it enough!  I was glad to be forced to get it inked up. :)  I chose to do a pull-out card in an envelope because I think the big medallion makes a nice topper. Here is a look at the finished card in the decorated envelope:
 I used Soft Sky, Old Olive and Blackberry Bliss, a combination I got off of the Color Coach. Gotta love the Color Coach!  I colored the rhinestones with my Rich Razzleberry Blendabilities.  Not exactly the same color, but the different hues allow them to coordinate nicely.  Here is a look at the card once it is pulled out.
I used Dotty Angles to add some interest to the edges of the card portion.  The sentiment comes from Starburst Sayings. It fits quite nicely in the center of my medallion! I love how Daydream Medallions works with these stamps that you wouldn't necessarily match them with. It's really actually very versatile, don't you think?

Thanks for stopping by. Make sure to click on the links below to return to Kerry's blog or to continue on in the hop to Ann's blog. They have some wonderful projects to share with us as do the rest of the team, and you won't want to miss a single one!





Blog Roll:

  1. Dawn Tidd   http://tiddbitsfromdawn.typepad.com/tiddbits-from-dawn/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallions-edition.html
  2. Debra Burgin   http://heartfeltinkspiration.com/2014/08/17/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallions
  3. Cindy Beach    http://stampspaperandink.typepad.com/stamps_paper_and_ink/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallion.html
  4. Heidi Baks    http://runningwscissorsstamper.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-daydream.html
  5. Mike Funke   http://stampin-style.typepad.com/stampin-style/2014/08/stamp-reviewcrew-daydream-medallions.html
  6. Yapha Mason   http://yaphamason.com/blog/2014/08/17/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallions-edition/
  7. Lisa Young   http://addinkandstamp.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallion.html
  8. Tanya Boser  http://tinkerin-in-ink.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallions.html
  9. Paula Wright   http://paulastamps.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-daydream.html
  10. Kerry Willard Bray    http://www.peoniesandpaperchains.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallions-edition.html
  11. Shana Gaff    http://stressfreestamping.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-daydream.html
  12. Ann Schach -Christmas themed project   http://www.stampinchic.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-daydream.html
  13. Betty Traciak  http://kittystamp.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallions.html
  14. Beth Beard   http://www.mylittlecraftblog.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-daydream.html
  15. Wendy Weixler   http://wickedlywonderfulcreations.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallions.html
  16. Adriana Benitez  http://escape2stamp.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallions.html

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Fun with Shapes

It's time for another challenge at Addicted to CAS and it is right up my alley, being a major in math and all! :) 
We have the lovely Lyndal joining us once again as Guest Designer. She has made a really cool shaped card for us to enjoy. You must check it out and I must give it a try some time!  It looks really easy and a great way to add interest to a card while still keeping it CAS. For my card, I used the CASE with a twist challenge at Time Out Challenges. I had lots of geometric shapes to choose from, but I decided to go with triangles and hexagons.


I started by sponging the rectangle with four different shades of blue and blue/green. My card was originally supposed to be a one layer white card but stupid me sponged my rectangle in the wrong spot so it would have been on the right of the card instead of the left. Duuuuhhhhh!!! I put all three triangles on one clear block and stamped the row of them first in the center, then worked my way up and down, making five rows altogether. Then I filled in the spaces with the hexagons for some more geometric interest. I love how it turned out!  I then simply finished it off by adding my sentiment and a few rhinestones. I just LOVE CAS cards and there is a lot of fun inspiration from the design team so make sure to hop on over there and check it all out!

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Beauty of the Season

Wow, it's been a while since I have blogged!  This craziness of a summer is winding down, but I have a feeling things aren't going to be much better once school starts. All three kids will be in school now, so I have decided that I will substitute teach a few days a week to keep me busy.  That means even less crafting time than I already have. Waaahhh!!!

Today we have a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More...Holiday!  I don't generally make Christmas cards this early, but I earned the Beauty of the Season stamp set for free during a Stampin' Up! promotion, so I decided to give it a try. Sometime between then and now I have managed to misplace that silly stamp set, so you know what that means I have in store for me today?  Stamp studio cleaning session! And my kids thought they could sit here and enjoy their last few free days before school starts. Riiiight. :)

I decided to keep this one CAS in case I decided to make a few more for my actual Christmas cards. I generally don't do that because I have enough cards left over from challenges I participate in, but I have really slowed down with the challenges, so I am thinking I might have to reproduce a few!
I pulled out my gold embossing powder for the image and the sentiment. I looks gorgeous on the Kraft paper. So much better in real life!  I then used my Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities to color in the bird, the branch and the berries. I love how the Blendabilities allow you to color on the Kraft without really changing the color of the marker.  To finish it off I folded down the corner and added some gold glimmer paper underneath for a little extra sparkle.  Easy peasy!

Thanks for stopping by. Make sure to stop by the ATSM home page to see the other beautiful holiday creations by the design team and to play along!

Sunday, August 3, 2014

The Stamp Review Crew: Flower Patch Edition

Today we have another Stamp Review Crew Convention hop for you!  Flower Patch, my first MUST HAVE set from the new catalog, was one of the sets we agreed to use for our Convention display board.  I love flowers and this one is so funky and fun and it also has a coordinating set of framelits, which is one of the reasons it is a must have in my opinion. :)

I did two projects with this set, a scrapbook page and a card.  I decided to use a black and white photo of Janae for my scrapbook page so the colors in the picture didn't fight with the colors of my page. I used some In Colors on this one, Coastal Cabana and Strawberry Slush, as well as some fun and shiny silver.
I had so much fun layering these flowers!  The outside of the big flowers is cut with the framelits, but each of the smaller layers is hand cut, so it took me quite some time to get them all cut out! Totes worth it though because after layering each of them with Dimensionals and popping an In Color sequin in the middle, they look like store-bought embellishments to me!  Don't you just love the Striped Scallop Thinlit with the flowers, too?! I think it looks like lattice!  I chose to pop in some of the leftover silver pieces. I saved all of the rest of them, hoping to find a project for them soon. :)

My next project is a CAS card. These flowers are all cut out with the coordinating framelits.  Aren't those little dots adorable?!  I love that there is a framelit to cut all those little puppies out!
The larger flowers have little circles of Crisp Cantaloupe baker's twine behind them. I just love this stuff!  It's thick enough to add a lot of extra texture, and it coordinates with our colors! And at $3.50 a roll, it's a bargain. Can't go wrong there!

Thanks for stopping by my blog.  Click on the links below to continue on to Mike's blog, or if you missed someone you can always go backwards to Beth's blog too!



Blog Roll:
  1. Mike Funke    http://stampin-style.typepad.com/stampin-style/2014/08/src-flower-patch.html
  2. Betty Traciak  http://kittystamp.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-flower-patch-edition.html
  3. Kerry Willard Bray
  4. Tanya Boser  http://tinkerin-in-ink.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-flower-patch-edition.html
  5. Nancy Smith  http://iguanastamp.wordpress.com/2014/08/03/stamp-review-crew-flower-patch
  6. Heidi Baks    http://runningwscissorsstamper.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-flower-patch.html
  7. Dawn Tidd    http://tiddbitsfromdawn.typepad.com/tiddbits-from-dawn/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-flower-patch-edition.html 
  8. Lisa Young  http://addinkandstamp.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-flower-patch-edition.html
  9. Holly Krautkremer    http://rubberredneck.typepad.com/rubber-redneck/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-flower-patch.html
  10. Yapha Mason   http://yaphamason.com/blog/2014/08/03/stamp-review-crew-flower-patch-edition/
  11. Debra Burgin    http://heartfeltinkspiration.com/2014/08/03/stamp-review-crew-flower-patch
  12. Jill Coleman    http://www.jillstamps.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-flower-patch-edition.html
  13. Adriana Benitez    http://escape2stamp.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-flower-patch.html
  14. Beth Beard     http://www.mylittlecraftblog.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-flower-patch.html
  15. Shana Gaff    http://stressfreestamping.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-flower-patch.html

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Kinda Eclectic

It's time for another fun challenge at Addicted to CAS and OHHHHH did I have fun with this one! :)

We have the talented Lyndal joining us for this challenge. Make sure you stop by her blog to leave her some love. She has some great style!!!

I used this fun sketch from Freshly Made Sketches to kickstart my creativity. I knew I had to dig out some gold glimmer paper for this challenge and this sketch was perfect for some!
I have always been in love with gold. When all of my friends were getting silver engagement rings, I was THRILLED to get a gold ring. And I'm not talking white gold here! lol  I just love the shine that true gold has. It's so elegant and princess-like. :)
Oooh, just look at all that gold!  Gold Glimmer Paper, Gold Encore Ink and gold stretchy cord. Yummy! And paired with Kinda Eclectic? Really, can you ever go wrong with that set? I just love it so much!  This Be You Tiful sentiment from Flower Patch is pretty fabulous too!

Thanks for stopping by!  Make sure to check out the rest of the design team's beautiful creations. Lots of beautiful and shimmery cards this week!