Stamping Expo and New Toys

Yesterday three friends (Kathy, Andrea, & Steph) and I made a little road trip to Columbia to check out the Stamping, Scrapbooking, and Paper Arts Expo. In spite of the title, this was mainly a stamping show. We saw some of the cutest stamping products, amazing new techniques, and wonderful tools. Steph even won a $100 to spend at the show!

I went with the single-minded idea of purchasing the Cupcake Flourish set from Darcie's (which they featured at CHA in Jan). Sadly they were not in stock yet. However, in an unrelated conversation with a gentleman who, unknown to me, just happened to be the owner of Darcie's, I found that I could pre-order the stamp set, and they would pay the postage. Woot! My set should arrive in March.

I did make a few other purchases. Also from Darcie's, I purchased printed patterned cardstock which was 12" x 18". It will be fabulous for making boxes using the 12 x 24 cut mat!! I also purchased glossy paper to die and stamp on, red glitter, two stamps (one is featured below), and some really amazing Parisian ribbons and laces.

Last night I just had to play with my new toys, so I made three cards. The first utilized one of my new stamps, the circular Happy Birthday. I used Bittersweet paper in the background and generic cardstock, which was textured with swiss dot. I used my nesties to cut out and emboss my Happy B-day circle. The center cupcake is from Inkadinkadoo Cupcake set.


This second card utilizes a make and take technique from Dacie's. The make and take involved painting the pre-stamped wreath, selecting pre-printed images, cutting them out, and shrinking them to button size (think Shrinky-dinks) and using them as embellies.
I again used my nesties and cut out and emboss the image. I adhered the circle to peach cardstock, which I punch with a border punch. The cream organza ribbon and my Happy Easter stamp were the perfect dress-up touches.


And finally, I went back to my previous project and assembled another card using the SU Illuminations set. You cannot really tell but the image is embossed with silver embossing powdered.

Well, that was my day and my evening. Fun and productive!!!