Rubber Stamping & Card Making with Yapha

I am fortunate to work with a lot of amazing people and incredible teachers. One of them truly must be part leprechaun, and because of her we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at school like nothing I have ever seen. We start with bagpipes in the morning, move on to dancing jigs on the tables, and all of the kindergarten teachers’ feet turn green. Her birthday is tomorrow, so I wanted to make her a leprechaun birthday card. I pulled out my Gift Givers set from the Holiday Mini Catalog and used the great little leprechaun stamp.

Stamps: Gift Givers, Perfectly Penned
Ink: Stazon Jet Black, Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Blush Blossom, Chocolate Chip, Basic Grey, VersaMark
Paper: Certainly Celery, Garden Green, Brushed Gold, Whisper White, Regals Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack
Other: Champagne Glitter Glass, Gold Embossing Powder, 1 3/4″ Circle Punch, 2 3/8″ Scallop Circle Punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch

Today is the last day to order from the Holiday Mini Catalog, which means it is also the last day to order this adorable Gift Givers stamp set among others. Be sure to get the items you want before it is too late! Notice how they all match punches? I love that!

Whoo-hoo! I did it! I finished Eve’s first grade scrapbook in time to have it printed at 30% off during Stampin’ Up’s National Scrapbooking Month sale! I want to share with you another one of the pages that I made for it. St. Patrick’s Day is HUGE at the school were I work and Eve attends. Probably because we have our own resident leprechaun to make sure the festivities are second to none. In this page, she is dancing on the table with Eve. It’s not quite as big a deal in first grade — in kindergarten all of the teachers’ feet turn green!

Now I just need to finish up the one for my mom… Don’t worry, Mom, I’m working on it!

I had some great luck this morning! After my husband left for work at 5:15 this morning, the dogs let me go back to sleep until 8:00! I feel like a whole new person! I was able to combine the clean&simple sketch challenge, the Stampin’ Royalty Color challenge, and the Stampin’ Celebration Inspiration Challenge to create a cute card for St. Patrick’s Day or any other time you might want to wish a person luck.

Both the shamrock stamp and the saying are from the free Sale-a-Bration stamp set, So Happy for You. I stamped first on the Whisper White piece, than ran it through the Big Shot for a variation on the Inlaid Embossing Technique.

Stamps: So Happy for You
Ink: Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, Sahara Sand
Paper: Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, Sahara Sand, Whisper White
Other: Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Dotted Scallop Border Punch, Decorative Label Punch, Small Heart Punch, Basic Rhinestones

I love that you can use a heart punch to make a shamrock!

St. Patrick’s Day is huge at my school. HUGE! I can’t even begin to describe how thoroughly it is celebrated. Everyone wears green, of course, and some of the teachers’ feet even turn green magically! Because of this, I am always excited to see new St. Patrick’s Day stamps. The new single stamp at the back of the Occasions Mini Catalog was no exception! This is a swap card I made with. The greenish tint to the River Rock card stock was just perfect for it.

Stamps: Lucky Shamrock
Ink: Garden Green
Paper: Garden Green, Early Espresso, River Rock, Whisper White
Other: 1″ Circle Punch, 1 3/4″ Circle Punch, 2 3/8″ Scallop Circle Punch, Early Espresso Satin Ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Big Shot

This stamp is available in a wood-mount or as a digital stamp brush as well.

Some more new digital downloads are available, including some more Big Shot die shapes and some fun stamp sets! These downloads work with My Digital Studio and any other digital scrapbooking program that allows you to import PNG and JPG files. You can see a PDF of all of these downloads here.

124427 Always Artichoke Patterns Designer Series Paper Digital Download $1.95

124428 Garden Green Patterns Designer Series Paper Digital Download $1.95

124429 River Rock Patterns Designer Series Paper Digital Download $1.95

124430 Soft Suede Patterns Designer Series Paper Digital Download $1.95

124432 Word Play Stamp Brush Set Digital Download $7.95

124437 Lucky Shamrock Stamp Brush Digital Download $0.95

124439 Lots of Tags Shape 1 Digital Download $0.95

124440 Lots of Tags Shape 2 Digital Download $0.95

124441 Lots of Tags Shape 3 Digital Download $0.95

124442 Lots of Tags Shape 4 Digital Download $0.95

124545 Framed with Love Stamp Brush Set Digital Download $3.95

124557 Go Green Stamp Brush Set Digital Download $0.95

124565 Game Night Stamp Brush Set Digital Download $5.95

124566 Jackpot II Designer Series Paper Digital Download $4.95

You can purchase these or any other digital downloads through my online store. They great news is that they are available for immediate use, with no shipping charges! Just click on Digital Crafting, then Digital Downloads, then Newest Downloads to see all of the recent additions! If you registered your copy of My Digital Studio, you may also receive end-of-the month emails from Stampin’ Up featuring that month’s digital releases.

There is a My Digital Studio tab to the top right hand corner of this blog. It is a handy reference to a variety of My Digital Studio resources, including a list of all of the downloads and a break down of the printing costs. There is also a new Resources page on MyDigitalStudio.net that includes a MDS Catalog. It shows all of the MDS software artwork (contained in the boxed-version) and downloads from the October 2009 launch through January 2011! The catalog gives a snapshot of the entire product line with artwork thumbnails followed by product details. Because MDS is regularly coming out with new artwork, the catalog will be updated every month.

A few days ago I showed you the pumpkin milk carton that I decided NOT to make with my after school class. Today I will show you what we are in fact making this afternoon. It’s a whole Got Treats 3″x3″ note card set! The kids will get to use both the Clear-Mount stamps and the markers to color different parts.

Stamps: Got Treats
Ink: Soft Suede, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Old Olive, Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, Pretty in Pink, Pacific Point
Paper: Soft Suede, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, Pretty in Pink, Pacific Point, Whisper White

One of my favorite things about March is St. Patrick’s Day. When I was in junior high school, a friend of mine and I used to make green tuna sandwiches — I made green tuna, she baked green bread. Nowadays I’m all about the green bagels with green cream cheese!  It’s played up big at my school, making it even more fun. Here is a card I am making with the Faculty Card Making Club after school today, and also at another workshop this month. I just love making a shamrock out of heart punches! The stem is made with the Wide Oval Punch. You punch a partial oval, then punch another sliver off it.

Stamps: Define Your Life
Ink: Old Olive
Paper: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper Pack
Other: 5/16″ Neutral Brads (Chocolate Chip), 1/4″ Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Full Heart Punch, Wide Oval Punch

Hope this month is lucky for you!

Here’s a look at the February and March pages of the calendar I have been making for my parents. I have to tell you, this calendar making is so fun, it’s hard to stop! If you plan on making one, here’s a great tip — before you get started, gather all of the pictures you want to use and put them in the same folder. This makes inserting them into the calender much easier!

Here is February, with a Valentine’s theme:

And March, combining Purim and St. Patrick’s Day:

Yep, more coming tomorrow!

Ah, St. Patrick’s Day! Whether you are Irish or not, you have to love St. Patrick’s and all of its accompanying green goodies. Here is my St. Patrick’s day version of the decorated pepermint patties, as previously seen for Hanukkah and Valentine’s Day. (I think this basic combo can be made for any occasion!)

Here’s a close up of the patties. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to use the glitter or not, so I did one with and one without.

Stamps: Pinch Proof
Ink: Old Olive, Certainly Celery
Paper: Old Olive, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Top Note Bigz Die, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8″ Circle Punch,  Small Cello Bags

What’s not to love about St. Patrick’s Day? I’m not Irish or Catholic, but I still enjoy the wearing o’ the green. And the eating o’ the green. And the drinking o’ the green for that matter! The card below was inspired by a similar card by Connie Babbert. I used the Sale-a-Bration set Polka Dot Punches (still available through the end of March!) and the Full Heart Punch to make the shamrock. I made the stem by punching a sliver with the Wide Oval Punch.

Stamps: Polka Dot Punches, Pinch Proof
Ink: Garden Green, Certainly Celery
Paper: Certainly Celery, Garden Green, Whisper White
Accessories: Full Heart Punch, Wide Oval Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Gold Brads