Stamping With Princess

Card Making Fun Raising Event for A Scarlet Cord

All you need is love…so sing the Beatles. And so says the Bible (Matthew 22:37-39):

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…Love your neighbor as yourself.

We all long to be loved. And life is enriched when we love others. I’m blessed to be part of a great family of Christians at Joyland Church who have accepted God’s love for themselves and who want to express that love to others. So it was a great honor to work along side my friend Vickie McKnight to create a special fun raising event for A Scarlet Cord - a ministry dedicated to letting prostitutes in Colorado Springs know that they are loved.

Here’s the room all setup for the fun raiser. Yes, I realise it should be spelled “fund raiser” but we had so much fun…so it was a fun raiser. Let me point out a few things we did fo setup…

1. Each table has an handmade tool caddy. The caddy has all the community supplies such as tape, scissors, gems, etc. I also have the card that will be made at this station clipped to the caddy.
2. There is a handmade trash box that matches the tool caddy. I love a clean work station. Everyone cleans up after themselves before they move to the next station.
3. There is a folder that contains all the material everyone needs for every station. All the materials are pre-cut. This includes, paper, ribbon, envelopes, etc. They will carry this with them to every table.
4. Under each folder is scratch paper. The scratch paper stays at the station. So everyone has something to work on.

Vickie and I created place cards for everyone. The name plates are double-sided. The reason for this was so that everyone could find their seat and learn the names of everyone around them.

To make these, I got my craft mat wet with water and pink ink refill. Then I laid white paper on that. When that was dry, we used a blending tool to fill in the white areas with pink distress ink. We stamped some hearts in red. Then hand wrote the names with a black sharpie.

I say we…but Vickie did most of this! They measure 1.5″ tall x 4″ wide.

I created water bottles with three different words. The one in the picture says “loved”. But we also had bottles that said “cherished” and “precious”.

I used the same technique to create the paper to cover the label on the water bottle. Then I cut out a QuicKutz heart on my Cuttlebug and tied it to the bottle. So each bottle had a dangling heart.

The labels for the water measured 1.5″ tall x 8.5″ wide.

Card Making Fun Raising Event – What We Made

So what did everyone make at the event? We made four stamped cards and a folder to put them in. The tall card on the right with the orange flowers is the folder. It has pockets inside to hold the four cards and envelopes.

Most of the stamps I purchased from the “value” section of the store. So they were a $1 each! All four cards were made with these. This included stamps from Studio G and Inkadinkado. The one exception is the big flower stamp and the definition which are Stampin’ Up sets.

I used distress ink for most of the cards. The black was VersaFine Onyx Black. Love both of these inks!

Each card has ribbon and gems. I just can’t help myself. That does bring the cost of each project up a bit…but everyone seemed to love those elements. So definitely a keeper.

Card Making Fun Raising Event – Card Close Ups

Ok, want you to see some of the details on the cards. Here goes.

This folder is 4.5″ wide by 5.5″ tall when all folded closed. The cards inside all measured 3.5″ x 4.25. That allowed me to use slightly smaller envelopes – 4 bar (3 5/8 x 5 1/8.

This card is super simple…but it can be easy to miss a step or two on it. This turned out to be one of the longer stations.

First, stamp the definition in black. Then you’ll know where to stamp the flowers. Leave enough space so you can tie a ribbon below the definition.

Second, ink up your background flower in orange. Then stamp it on a piece of scratch paper before stamping it on the white cardstock. Then stamp the flower outline on top of the background. Repeat this process for two more flowers (or more if you have a bigger space or want more flowers).

Repeat the process with green ink and leaves. Stamp as many leaves as you want.

Then frame with kraft colored cardstock. Add gems and ribbon. Tape to the brown folder.

It’s not pictured here, but the back also has a single orange flower. We stamped some text on top of the flower in the back that says “Hand Stamped By:” or “That’s All She Stamped”.

The stamps are all Stampin’ Up. Ink is Distress Ink and VersaFine. Paper was all purchased at Xpedx.

Believe it or not, this “Wish Big” stamp gave me the most grief. I struggled because I didn’t know how many people were going to come….so I didn’t want to use any decorative paper. The stamps I had on hand had to pull double duty and create the background and foreground.

I decided to create a simple boy birthday card. So I selected the teal/blue ribbon and cardstock.

The teal is cut into the shape of a tag to give it some interest. I also stamped the greeting in black on the brown cardstock. Note that the image is stamped near the edges and the image runs off the page. A very common technique in stamping.

Of course, I added gems. I really couldn’t help myself. And everyone else used them, too. So they must have agreed that the gems give flare.

The teal ribbon is tied in a bow. Since this is a boy card…maybe I should have tied it in a knot instead???

Here we come to the most challenging card of the event. This is also one of my personal favorites.

First,we stamped the flower in black ink on the brown cardstock. Again to create a look of background paper.

Next, punched out a large circle in the center right. The stamp that shows through is a bit larger than the circle. So we had to stamp the image on white cardstock then center it in the circle. We couldn’t stamp through the circle.

The butter fly and verse “so sweet of you” is one stamp. On this card I stamped it all in brown. Then on a scratch paper stamped the butterfly in pink. Cut it out and glued it to the white paper.

Then, the final touch is to put pink gems over the body of the butterfly.

We attached a petite pink bow to the front using a Zot. Perhaps one of the greatest glue inventions ever. Ok, I exaggerate but I’m a big fan of glue dots.

This card could have been a lot easier had the stamp fit inside the circle. But alas, I did not have a bigger punch or a smaller stamp.

The other element that gave people grief was the bow. People struggle to make bows in the first place. Having to use a tiny ribbon on top of that was even more challenging. So, I tied several bows and was happy to do so.

The event was one day before Valentine’s day. So we created a “love ya” card. This was another stamp that gave me grief. I’ve seen lots of cute cards that use note type stamps. But…what background do you give this image since you can’t use decorative paper?

I opted to go with “white space”. Meaning not to add much to the background. That means the stamp must carry most of the interest. Ok, I confess, my sister actually designed this card. I simply added the little green heart.

She stamped the image in green. Framed it with a kraft paper (set at an angle). Then tied a piece of green ribbon around it. Here it’s a knot instead of a bow.

The green heart is simply punched out with a heart punch. Three gems in a row leading up to the heart give the card some “movement”.

My sister originally had a button adhered to the center of the flower. I removed it because I thought it would slow down the station. And because I didn’t have 30 of the same button. I didn’t want to people to get hung up on the idea that all the buttons were different. (That’s something I would get hung up on).

The last card was a geometric card. Again, one of my favorites…probably because it’s got some tone on tone elements!

The squares are cut to 1.5×1.5. The flower stamp is a bit too large for the square. I love that!

The happy birthday greeting is actually part of a stamp that has a little cupcake above it. So people had to learn to ink just the words. Everyone accomplished this very well.

Gems add sparkle. The bow adds interest.

Aain, it proved challenging for some people to tie a bow. These were attached with Zots.

The ink was red distress ink.

The inside has a stamped flower as well. Some people added a gem to that one as well. For hand delivered cards…I think gems inside are great. For mailed cards…I would limit 3D elements to just the outside.

For a card with square elements like this, I encourage people to lay the parts and pieces out before taping. Do a “dry run”. That way you can move the pieces around to see what grouping you like best.

Card Making Fun Raising Event – The People!

No fun raising event would be complete without people! Here are some photos of people that came. Notice…the event was open to men and childen 12+.

I really want to thank everyone that came. It was fun to share my love of stamping with so many of you.

Here’s what one of the guys said, “I was reluctant to attend this event because I thought it was kind of a girlie thing, but thank God I went because I discovered a creative side of myself that I did not yet know existed.”

A special thank you to Vickie for driving to my house twice to stamp name plates and prepare for the event. And for her help with setup and tear down. A big thank you to my sweet husband who stayed up late to help me cut paper and prep for the event! I love you! SWAK. Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day!