2013 Coming to a Close

So much has happened in 2013 and it seemed to FLY by. One of the main things that happened for me was starting StampinMania.com an online crafting store and community. While the site still isn't where I would like it to be I have learned A LOT. I've enjoyed it, cried over it, laughed over it, and in the end am thankful for the opportunity to chase one of my many dreams. I am hopeful that 2014 will be a good year with lots more to learn. I'll continue on my quest for my online store, pray for technical expertise that I need, and be thankful for the friends I'm making along the way.  I wish each of you a blessed new year in 2014. Stay tuned for more to come from StampinMania.com

Struggling for the RIGHT Place

Hi Crafters,

Many of you know that I started an online Paper Crafting Store - StampinMania.com.  It is powered by WordPress, which has a built in blog. So we moved everything over to that blog. The frustrating part is while it does have SOME of the cool features it doesn't allow me to do some things that I want. For awhile I thought, "well, I'll post on both blogs" well that is a pain and quite time-consuming.  I'm back in debate mode. When I go to a blog I like to be able to scroll down for the entire month or at least for several days. The blog on my website doesn't do that. You only see one day at a time and you have to select 'next' or 'previous'. To me that is not user friendly and it doesn't inspire anyone to read any further than the current blog post.

So, I ask you? Do you have a blog preference style? Do you have any comments or feedback that would help me make the right decision?

Thanks for any insight you share
Terri
StampinMania.com

Super Easy & Fun FLIP-IT Card

HI Crafters,

This card is super cute, super easy, and makes it look like you spent hours coming up with how to get the card to flip, when you really spent a few MINUTES.

 be sure to watch the video, then bop over to StampinMania.com for any products you may need. Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

Shop StampinMania.com - click Here

Big Sale This Weekend 20% off

HI Crafters,

Head on over to StampinMania.com and do a little shopping. 20% off all regular priced items thru midnight tomorrow.

20% off

 all regular priced items thru midnight tomorrow night (Sunday Aug 11th.)
Coupon Code:  aug2013

 

 

Check out some of the great products we have in stock now

 

 

Envelope Punch Board

 

Vintage Summer Fabric Stickers

Vintage Summer 6x6 Pad

 

Carta Bella Collections

Paper Smooches

 

Crate Paper Collections

 

 

 

 

 

 



Pearlized Smooch Accent ink - LOVE IT

Hi Crafters. Some of you have probably seen my posts on facebook.com/stampinmania or my tweets on @stampinmania on twitter about the Smooch Pearlized Accent Inks. It’s my new love. At first I thought the applicator was a brush, but its not, it’s more like a nib like a marker. It is fan-tab-ulous. You can put it on chipboard, thickers, color stamped images. It’s so fun to use, and the bottles are soooo cute.  They look like fingernail polish.

The bottles are small but they last a long time. This is truly a little goes a long ways. I can’t wait for you to try them. Be sure to watch the video and see some of the cool stuff you can do with it. I made a card I’ll post as well.

 

 

Be sure to checkout all the cool colors we have in stock at StampinMania.com. Click here to see them.  SmoochAccentInk

 

Red, White & Blue Give-Away Over $70 Value

Hi Crafters - - - - So, who doesn't like Freebies?  Here at Stampin Mania we like to reward our faithful followers and crafters and this one is EASY.  All you have to do is Like Us, Follow Us, Leave Comments, etc. You may enter once for each way of entering, meaning, if you follow us on twitter that's one entry, if you like us on Facebook that's another entry, if you leave a comment on FB entry,Retweet our give-away tweet entry, I think you get the idea.

So what all will you win?????

• Ten 12x12 double-sided scrapbook papers from the Stars & Stripes line by Doodlebug
• 2 Doodlepops by Doodlebug
• Washi Tape from the Stars & Stripes collection
• 1 sheet of stickers from Stars & Stripes
• Star Shapped Brads from Stars & Stripes
• Star Jewels from Stars & Stripes
• Clear Photopolymer Stamp Set "Happy 4th" by Lawn Fawn
• Clear Photopolymer Stamp Set "Picnic" by Hero Arts & Basic Grey
• One jar of "Summer" dry sand by Mudd Puddles
• One jar of "USA" dry sand by Mudd Puddles
• 1 tube of Liquid Glass adhesive by Mudd Puddles
• 6 Chipboard Cutouts

WOW - over $70 of FREE product plus we ship it for Free

Here's some close ups of the loot

Now  - how many ways are there to enter???? EIGHT and you can enter once for each of the 8 ways.

1. Follow us on facebook - FB  (facebook.com/stampinmania)
2. Comment on our post about the contest on FB
3. Like our post on FB
4. Share our post about the contest on your FB wall
5. Follow us on Twitter  @StampinMania
6. Retweet our tweet/post on Twitter
7. Reply/Comment on our Tweet on twitter
8. Leave a comment on our blog post about the contest (stampinmania.com  then click on Blog)

Winner will be randomly selected Monday, July 22, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Good Luck and Happy Crafting....
Lovin' Crafty Goodness 24/7

Coming back to old faithful

Hi all,  as many of you know I've been working tirelessly on a new Paper Crafting Community, StampinMania.com; you also know I moved my blog over there but what you don't know is I have had nothing but trouble with it. I don't know if its the way its setup or what . I've had two technical people working on it and after 2 1/2 months of craziness, its just getting worse. So, I'm back to faithful Blogger. I'm sorry I left you blogger, I have seen the error in my ways.

I tried running a free give-away, well, I guess the name 'give-away' implies it's free and I didn't really need to say 'free' give-away - ha. Anyway, I'm attempting to run a contest so not sure what the outcome will be given I've had nothing but technical issues since the get go. I will be moving the post over here shortly. I hope you will spread the word to your friends to come on over to my post on BLOGGER - the dependable blog home.

Fabulous New Product - Sizzix Magnetic Platform

Available Sept 2013 - Pre-Order TODAY

Introducing the NEW Sizzix Magnetic Platform that will be available at your local Sizzix retailers starting September 2013! It’s the perfect companion for your Thinlits and Framelits!

Oh My Gosh – this is fantastic – if you use framelits and thinlits and other thin dies you MUST have this product.  It will ship September 2013. Make sure you secure that you have one.

Note: the inventory shows In Stock – that is just for pre-ordering. This will ship Sept 2013
CAUTION: Due to the strong magnets, you will NOT want to use this if you have a Pacemaker.

CLICK HERE to PRE-ORDER, make sure and get you claim in to ensure you get one the minute they're available.

Visit Our New Home

Hi Crafty Peeps, please click here to visit our new home for all things Stampin Mania. Our store, blog, and tons more.

www.StampinMania.com

Let's Party



Chubby Chums from Paper Smooches

I am in love with this stamp set from Paper Smooches, Chubby Chums. This little bird just makes me smile. I’ve created a super simple yet really cute card. It’s great for a quick and easy birthday card. I love to use dimensionals/pop-dots on images to give that extra dimension. I stamped the bird on the card then stamped it again and cut it out to give dimension. I’ve taken a picture of the bird, you can kind of see underneath where it was stamped. I prefer stamping then applying a cutout on top to give even more of a 3-D look.

It's Getting Close

I’ve anxiously been awaiting the official opening of StampinMania.com

It’s taken a little longer than expected but I’m sure it will have been worth the wait. I’m currently planning opening weekend contests and give-aways. I’ve painstakingly been manually entering all the products, I’ve hit a few bumps along the way but I think you’ll be pleased. I’ve also been working on examples that I will be posting using some of my favorite products. One thing about Stampin Mania is that only products I’ve tried and endorse will be sold on the site. I’m looking for QUALITY number one; Style & Design a close second; and of course we can’t forget price.

We won’t have a TON of items on day one but I’m hopeful it will ramp up fast. I will be opening up the gallery in a couple of weeks so that all of you can post your creations as well. I want Stampin Mania to be more than a store; I want it to be a community where you’ll find so many things of interest that you’ll “Hang Out” for awhile, participate and enjoy the site. It’s not all about money and the store, it’s also about a community where we get to know each other.

Another addition in early Fall will be ‘events’ . Stampin Mania will be sponsoring crops and events throughout the year. We’ll be starting close to home here in Ohio with plans to visit other states as well. Hopefully uniting lots of twitter crafty pals together for fun and creative times.

So, tons to come – I look forward to spending many hours online with all of you.

Happy Crafting -

Terri

Mini Tag Album

My latest craze it mini albums from tags. Sooo fun, soooo easy, and sooo great for new scrappers. Sometimes it can be daunting to think about scrapping a big 12x12 scrapbook. A great way for newbies to start is with a smaller version; such as this.

Watch the video for details on how I covered the tags, created embellishments, and messed some stuff up - ha. 

Papers I used are mostly from My Minds Eye - however there are a couple of them from Jillibean Soup as well.

My video stopped for some reason in the middle so I ended up with two parts. Yeah, I finally figured out how to merge the two together in YouTube. Enjoy

I haven't totally finished the one I started during the video. I am however up to 6 tags so that's 12 pages total. I was about half way thru when my cutie patootie 5 yr old grandson bopped in and wanted to help. Needless to say - we got side-tracked. I'll finish in the next day or so and take pics to show you how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

My First Tutorial - My Humble Beginnings - ha

Owl card using Sizzix & Stephanie Barnard matching stamps and dies. I figured I would start my first video EASY - ha.  So, given that I have no idea what I'm doing, or how to edit it you get all the extras; like putting my clear stamp on backwards and getting a blog, my fat arm swinging thru the camera area, and basic fumbling around; but all in all, I'm thinkin' for my first try, not to bad.

Feel free to leave comments - and be brutally honest ;-)  I know I would.

Here's the card I'm making

Products Used:

Autumn Owls Stamps & Framelets set (Sizzix/Stephanie Barnard)

Whisper White & Pool Party card stock (SU)

Soup Labels (Jillibean Soup)

Pale Tomatoe mid-tone, and Cup-O-Joe mid tone inks (Hero Arts)

Cloud Embossing folder (SU)

Ruffled Ribbon - Pool Party (SU)

Big Shot



Kite Birthday

Hi Stampers,

I am sooooo loving the new stamp sets with matching dies. I recently purchased the one from Sizzix called Kites.  Love it. What do you think? We have it in the Stampin Mania Store

Here's the stamp/die kit from Sizzix

Patchwork Paper

hi Crafters

I made the paper using 1/4" stips of 4 different patterned papers. Jennifer McGuire taught it on the class video. Clearly I goofed and didn't keep my pattern consistent nor did cut them all the same - duh on my part. I was just bopping along cutting paying NO attention. I wasn't going to start over though. Mainly because I don't really like the colors I chose. If I had used pinks and reds I would have started over ;-)  I think I will create patchwork paper in the next day or so and do a better job.

Basically you just cut a gazillion strips at 1/4" of 12x12 paper then glue them down on a 12x12 piece of cardstock. Its pretty cool.

I was also only supposed to round the corners on two of the corners of each square - ummm yah, I accidently rounded a WRONG corner so had to do them all. Trust me Jennifer McGuire's is MUCH better but you get the jist of it.

butttt, look at the cool diecuts I made from the patchwork paper - I think these are pretty cool -

Thanks for stopping by,

Clockworks Collage

Hi Crafty Peeps,

I've been in craft central ;-)  Here is a card that I haven't put a sentiment on yet because I'm not sure what I want it to be but I think this card works without a sentiment too. I think its a great guy card. I'm usually making girly things but I wanted to make something using this stamp set that I hadn't used before.

The card front was a white piece of paper when I started. I used distress ink, Black Soot first to make it kind of gray and hazy then I used distress ink Broken China to add the blue tint so it would go with the patterned papers I selected.

I also used the Black Soot over the patterned papers to get rid of the 'white' that was in them. It was a fun card to make, and messy!

I made my own black enamel dots on the banner using Black Pearl Pen.

Hop over to StampinMania.com to check out the great products

Carta Bella Fabulousness

Hi Stampers,

I got another awesome order this time it was fabulous-ness from Carta Bella Paper. The colors in this line are gorgeous. My pictures do NOT do them justice. The paper weight quality is awesome. The line is their "Well Traveled" line. I am going to be buying more of this. So much goodness how am I going to pay for everything - I LOVE IT ALL.

The color isn't RED but it's not Maroon either, it's a gorgeous Burgundy-Maroon-y Red; Hey Carta Bella, what is this red called - its awesome.

A Day Without Crafting

A Day without crafting is like a day without sunshine. Oh, the sun wasn't shining today here in Ohio was it???? I did get to watch the videos from the online card class I'm taking but I didn't get a chance to make anything or post. We have company in town so my play time this week is limited.

How about all of you? Were you crafting today? Are you addicted to it as much as I am. I would truly love to have an entire week where I could do nothing but play in my craft room, watch tutorial videos, even make some tutorials; surf the net for creativity and inspiration, play on twitter and facebook. hmmm, sounds like I might be planning a week off - how great would that be. Ok, back to reality, I won't get a week off to do that but it's nice to dream. I have to keep my real job to pay for my 'dream' job.

Hope you all are doing well, I wanted to at least say howdy.

Chic to be Shabby

Hi Crafting Peeps.

The challenge was to create something Shabby Chic. I have GOT to take photography classes. I am HORRIBLE at taking pictures and knowing lighting and all that.

There are a few things I'm proud of in this layout. The bird cage was just a plain natural wood die cut. I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks on it, then I got into all my jewelry making supplies to see if I could come up with some thing to dangle from the bottom. I think it turned out kinda cute given it was my first one. You probably think the papers just came the way they look but I'm pretty happy about that too. I used Distress Inks on the Designer Paper, which is from the Nostalgia collection from My Minds Eye. Then the photo mats were a plain solid color that I used Distress inks on.

I LOVE the paper flowers. They're from Engraver (Prima Flowers) and I think they are some of my Favorite. Unfortunately they are no longer available, but click the Prima Flowers link to see what Prima products we do have in stock.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hocking Hills Crop

Hi Scrappers.  Wow - so excited. I'm here in beautiful Hocking Hills, OH with 17 gal pals for 4 days of scrapping, relaxing, and having a ball. Here are a few pics. Right now we're scrapping and watching all the episodes of Downton Abby, season 1 and  2. I'll be posting pics of what I'm working on as well. I finished a couple of scrapbook pages already, they're simple but still cute.

More pics of the place later. It's awesome. It has it's own swimming pool, unfortunately closed for the winter, hot tub, game room, and a TON more. I'll show pics of my room and other areas but it's awesome. I wish all my twitter pals could get together and rent the place for a few days - wouldn't that be cool. We could all get together and meet each other. I think we should think about that.!!!  But now, I'm here with all my local Ohio Gal Pals - we come here every Feb and Nov. They're a GREAT bunch of women. We all get along and enjoy the time so much. It's so fun seeing what all everyone is working on and I learn a TON when I'm here.

Hexagon Hello

I am clearly on a roll for posting to my blog - ha. My card was inspired by a twitter friend of mine, check her card out here Wendy Goundrey. I saw her card and knew I had to make one, or two, or three .... ;-)  I think this would be a good card for OWH.

I had been looking EVERYWHERE for a honeycomb looking stamp !!! Finally found one, and LOVE IT. Found it at The Stamps of Life by Stephanie Barnard, check out her other great stamps as well.  The Stamps of Life

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  from The Stamps of Life, "background 4 bees" and "Fundamental Phrases" from Stampin' UP!

Designer Paper: retired papers from Stampin' UP!

Accessories: Ribbon (retired from SU); Embossing Folder (SU); Texture Boutique embosser from Sizzix; Dimensionals

I stamped the background image, then embossed several papers and cut out the shapes. For dimension I popped some of them up on dimensionals and the rest of them are adhered flat.

Super easy card, great for any occassion and depending on the colors you us can be either for a girl or a guy. Great card - thanks for the inspiration Wendy.

Cork - The New Trend

Hi everyone. I bought a large roll of thin cork and have been cutting different shapes out of it using my BigShot. Here is a tag that I was messing with today. It still needs something, not sure what, but I'll figure it out -EVENTUALLY. Anyway, I wanted to share some of the new trends from CHA - Cork.  The Paper flowers are embellishments from teresa collin's Vintage Finds collection. To see her entire collection click here teresa collins designs

you are going to start seeing a lot more cork in scrapbook layouts, cards, and tags. If you want to see some of the up and coming items, that I still can't find in stores, online or in person yet visit Little Yellow Bicycle



As I embark on new things, like cork, stay tuned for hopefully 'improvement' in my creations ;-)  thanks for stopping by.

My Minds Eye Scrapbook Pages

today I used the My Minds Eye "The Sweetest Thing" collection. I LOVE the colors in this collection. I think I have almost all of this collection. I've posted these two pages on Etsy to sell  if you're interested visit my Etsy Store here Stampin Mania on Etsy

To see all of the great products from My Minds Eye visit their website: My Minds Eye

The yellow Doily for flower is from My Minds Eye then I created a center for the flower using twine.

I used twine on the banner as well as created it as the center for the flower below as well. The banner pieces are all cut from My Minds Eye papers from the 

I LOVE the wooden button pieces. They're from the Wood & Chip Buttons in the sweetest thing collection.They are pre-sticky on the back for easy adherence to your projects. They give a great texture and dimension to your projects as well.

BoBunny Isabella Scapbook Pages

I think my new favorite color combo is Pink & Gray. This BoBunny new collection is the best one yet. I absolutely love it. Unfortunately my pictures do not begin to do it justice. I need to take a camera class. You can always see good picks of the collection at either the BoBunny site click here Isabella Collection or A Cherry on Top online store click here Isabella at A Cherry On Top (that's where I bought all my BoBunny products.)

I used the following BoBunny Products:
Isabella: 12x12 Paper Collection, 6x6 paper pack, Trinkets, Noteworthy, Jewels, Combo Sticker Sheet,

Twine used if from The Twinery.com. The Twinery Colors used Sandstone and Blossom