Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Saying goodbye to Brushos!

So Stampin' Up! is retiring the current BRUSHOS!  They are only available while supplies last and not later than June 3 when the new catalog retires.  I am sooo sad - and I can tell you I will not be parting with my current set of them.  I absolutely love the beautiful background they make, by just wetting your paper - sprinkling brushos and wetting again.  Here are a few cards I made using them and our Dandelion Wishes set, which is also retiring.
I used our Shimmer paper as it holds up well to the water.  Above I used some orange in the card - below, yellow, green and blue.  The dandelions are embossed in black so you can see them better, and the ones below have a black gem (our gems colored with black sharpie) in the center of each for some glitz.

Here's a close up - looks like a masterpiece right?!?  You can make your own masterpieces with Brushos if you get them while we still have them - each one is different and unique.

Don't miss out on your chance to own these in these amazing colors - you can go to my website at www.stampingwithmaureen.stampinup.net and click on SHOP NOW to see and buy all the retiring products.  But don't wait - or they'll be gone before you know it.  Be sure to use the hostess code below.  You can also click on any of the product images used in this project and it will take you right to my online store. -Maureen

Thursday, April 18, 2019

SF April 2019 Mother's Day Blog Hop!

Mother's Day is always a little bittersweet to me after losing my own Mother year's ago.  She was an amazing woman and inspiration to me and will never be forgotten.  But being a Mom (and a Gramma) have been my greatest blessings.  Now my daughters are grown and amazing Moms in their own rights - so I lift them up to you, as well as my Mother-in-law who blessed me with my wonderful husband!  Gloria will turn 99 in July - so she deserves an extra special Mother's Day.  On that note - today's project was created in love for all of those terrific women in my life.  I decided to make a gift card set in a Bag in a Box tote - as well as a Mother's day card to coordinate.
I used the Painted Season's Bundle from Sale-a-bration (no no longer available, but any DSP would work).  Here is the inside and envelope of the "Happy Mother's Day" card above.  I absolutely LOVE those flowers!  To make the 3D flower on that card (and on the tote) - I just stamped 3 images of the flower from the Painted Season's stamp set, then cut them out, cut slits into the top two layers around the petals a bit, attached the 3 of them together with glue dots in the middle, then crunched them up to the center a bit to get a real floral look to them.
I want to point out the embellishments I used for the centers of the 3D flowers.  They are pretty just as they come - but I wanted them just a little darker to match the flowers on the DSP - so I took out my bronze blend and added some color to them.  Once it dries (almost immediately) it is permanent.  You can color nearly any embellishment with these great markers to match your projects.
I also wanted to just quickly show how I applied the extra sticky strip to the back of my layers (strips and DSP) - I used it the entire length, as I do not want the tote to fall apart!
Here is the completed tote - it takes 1 - 3 1/2" x 11 1/2" piece of DSP (tote sides), 2 - 1/2" x 11 1/2" pieces of CS (top and bottom trim), 2 - 3/8" x 6" pieces of CS (handles) and a 2 1/4" x 5" piece of CS for the bottom of the tote.  This piece is scored all the way around at 1/2", I cut and scored as shown below - and folded up and adhered the sides and tabs to make a base for the DSP to be wrapped around.  Here's a visual of the base pattern and DSP pattern -
Then added the trim pieces and handles after with brads, and then added the flower with a dimensional.  The list of ways you could decorate this is endless.
Inside the tote I put these three coordinating notecards - decorated with the same DSP and three different sentiments.  Although it could hold candies, perfume, jewelry - whatever you would like to add to it.
On these I also decorated the flap of the envelopes with coordinating DSP - really brings it all together and cohesive.  I find the best way to to just cut a large enough strip of DSP to cover the flap.  Add snail to the outside edge of the flap, all the way around, lay down that strip of DSP, and trim with my snips.
 
When finished they look just lovely - how fun to get in the mail!
I hope you enjoyed these projects and got some inspiration for creating.  I would love it if you left me a comment below.  Don't forget to click through on each name below to see even more wonderful Posts with a Mother's Day theme.  See you soon with more ideas! ~Maureen

Maureen Rauchfuss - YOU ARE HERE

Like what you see - just click HERE and then click on SHOP NOW to see the catalogs and merchandise I offer.  Or if you'd like a hard copy of our Annual catalog, Occasions catalog and Sale-a-bration catalogs mailed to you, just let me know.  If ordering online please use my current hostess code -
Click on any image below to go directly to my online store and check out all of our great products -





Sunday, April 14, 2019

Summer (and Dragonflies) are coming

So I love this little dragonfly.  I have made many a card with him :)  In March we made this adorable card for my Everyday Cards class.  Got to use Versamark for the little x's behind him and the attendees got to choose from a couple different sentiments to personalize their cards.
On this view you can see the Versamark a little better, as well as the fact the sentiment and dragonfly are popped up on dimensionals.  Also added a few little pearls to show off his body :)
Here's the inside of the card where he makes another appearance.  I can remember sitting in the boat as a child, fishing, and the dragonflies lighting on the edges of the boat or the top of the water - just lovely!
Hope you are inspired by life or memories to be creative today.  Life without stamping would be soooo dull!  Stop by soon for more inspiration ~Maureen
Go to my site - www.stampingwithmaureen.stampinup.net and click on SHOP NOW to see our products/catalogs.  Or if you'd like a hard copy of our Annual catalog, or Occasions catalog mailed to you, just let me know.  If ordering online please use my current hostess code -
Click on any image below to go straight to my online store -


Sunday, April 7, 2019

March never-ending cards #1

So, three of my grandkids have March Birthday's - so I think I'm just going to share each of their cards here in three different posts.  The first with a March birthday was our grand-daughter #3 - Miss Makai!  
Here is her "sweet" birthday card -
Open top and bottom to get this layer with a cute little gift card tucked in -
Here it is without the gift card -
Then open that out to both sides to get this layer -
And finally this layer before going back to the first above.
It was all tucked into a sweet envelope and sent to her.  Being 8 hours away kills me when it comes to missing my kids and grandkids. 
Hope she liked the card and that her birthday was as sweet as she is!  ~Maureen
Stampin' Up! has just introduced an amazing new modular Storage System.  Just click HERE for full details; and then click on SHOP NOW to see our products/catalogs.  Or if you'd like a hard copy of our Annual catalog, or Occasions catalog mailed to you, just let me know.  If ordering online please use my current hostess code -
Click on any image below to go straight to my online store -