May I Suggest...

… euphoria. An utter and complete state of euphoria!!! For your cards, that is!!! I am just in love the the new Euphoria pad by Basic Grey and all the goodies that Flourishes has to go with them!!! I have SO MUCH to show you today, so let’s just get started.




A picture is worth a thousand words!!! Need I say more!!!

The above Euphoria paper by Basic Grey, May Arts ribbons, Basic Grey buttons and brads, self- adhesive Pearls and Twinkling H20's can be purchased at Flourishes.

You can find the instructions for this gift box which contains 3 monogrammed cards, and links to the cards themselves, on my Blog, No Time To Stamp? I call it a *Cheater Box*, because you really don't have to make the box!!!

More detail and discussion on all of the above product is also available on my Blog, No Time To Stamp?, including links to numerous other projects and tutorials using this product line. Hope you can take the time to check them all out -- you will NOT be disappointed!!!

And I think that about wraps it up for today — but to recap — what DID I suggest:

Euphoria Designer Paper by Basic Grey
Basic Grey Buttons, Brads and fancy Glazed Brads
Sticky back Pearls
Luscious May Arts Ribbons
Watercoloring with H20’s (see Leslie’s tutorial linked here)
Making *Cheater Boxes* linked here
Flourished Words for beautifully scripted small Sentiments
Tag Trios for creating the perfect little hang tags for your cards
And, of course, the JustRite Monogram Stampers to create these gorgeous Monograms

And before you leave, I’d like to recommend stopping in at these fun Blogs to see more creations using the fun products I’ve suggested for you today:

Julie Koerber - check out this absolutely darling little bird card — too cute for words!!!

Faith Hofrichter - check out her use of Pearls and her tutorial on how to change the color of your DP - yes, she did!!!! Amazing!!!

Leslie Miller - watercoloring with H20’s tutorial - she makes it so easy!!! A MUST READ!!!

Susan Roberts - check out this AMAZING 4th of July card made with Euphoria paper!!!!

Thank you so much for stopping in today. Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead!!!

Sharon Johnson

May I Suggest...

…some simple and effective storage solutions. We all know the problems that are inherent with this hobby — so much *stuff* — such a big *mess* — well, that’s how it is for me, anyway! And I am making headway in my never-ending quest for organization, one baby step at a time. I’ll share just a bit here today, and I’ll start with stamp storage.

When clear stamps are purchased, they typically come on acetate type sheets in a plastic sleeve. We really do need a better way to store them on a permanent basis. The buyers at Flourishes have found a wonderful solution — Clear Boxes that easily house two small (4 x 6) sets, or one large (8 x 6) set. The boxes measure 4 x 6 and are a full 1/2″ thick. The hinge opens in the middle, they lay flat when opened, giving you two sides for storage. Here’s what they look like:

More on these boxes, including photos, can be seen on the full post of this article on my personal Blog, linked at the end of this article.

Another very effective product I'd like to suggest to you is a wonderful Clear Stamp Cleaner for your clear stamps.

This cleaner does a wonderful job cleaning your clear stamps and makes them feel silky smooth, which is so nice, but this cleaner’s claim to fame in my book is its smell — it has the MOST declicious scent of citrus!!! It makes me WANT to clean my stamps!!!! Gotta love it!!! The pad and cleaner can be seen here.

And I'd also like to suggest using the tag dies available by Spellbinders, and share a few tips and hints as to their use. Here's a pic of some of the tag dies available:

You may read this entire post which includes many more photos and tips on my peronsonal Blog, No Time To Stamp? Hope to see you over there!!!

Thanks so much for stopping in here today!!!

Sharon Johnson

May I Suggest ...

Hi everyone!!! Today’s May I Suggest… is showing up here a few days late, but better late than never! Today's May I Suggest... is going to be a little different than it has been the past few weeks, but change is good — right? What I am going to suggest today is a technique — masking. Probably one of the first techniques you learned as a beginning stamper, and if you don’t know how to mask, well, we’ve got a video tutorial for you to watch, so you’ll be ready to go in no time at all. Here’s the card I made using Coffee with Friends, which is a sample of quick and easy masking (combined with paper piecing):

To read more detail on the making of my Coffee with Friends card, you can check it out on my Blog (Sharon J).

And here is a card that Susan Roberts did, using Peony, which is still easy masking, only she repeated it many times over for this lovely effect of a huge bouquet of Peonies:

Now, is that a gorgeous bouquet of peonies or what? Just love that Peony!!!! To read more detail on the making of Susan's Peony card, you can check it out on Susan's Blog.

To view a tutorial on masking done by Nancy Kirk, you can click here. She used Cake Decorating 101 to do her video, so if you've never seen that cake and plate come together, this is a great sample of that as well!!!

To view an SCS tutorial on masking done by Beate Johns, you can click here.

Masking -- super simple, fun, with fabulous results giving your project some depth and dimension -- give it a try!!!

Sharon Johnson

May I Suggest...

What I would like to suggest today is that you… Stamp Simply. Yes, of course!!! And I’d like to suggest paper piecing as well. It gives your card a lot of punch for very little effort. And here are two simple cards that fit this Stamp Simply concept well:




These two cards are made pretty much the same, using Coffee with Friends, and a very simple plan of attack! We start with:

1) A simple design.
2) Use of designer paper for interest.
3) A large main image panel with a simple image, paper pieced, and elevated for dimension.
4) The addition of ribbon or an embellishment.
5) In this case, the omission of a sentiment, though we would often add one.

You may see the rest of this lengthy post which includes design tips and a little paper piecing tutorial on my Blog, No Time To Stamp?

Thanks so much for checking in!

Sharon Johnson

May I Suggest...

Hi everyone! It’s time for Wednesday’s May I Suggest… and this week I have a lot of pretty suggestions up my sleeve. Here’s a sampling of 2 cards made with this weeks suggestions in mind:

Is anyone getting the idea that I am totally IN LOVE with this bleeding heart image from Spring Ephemerals, which is Flourishes newest release. LOL!!! Yes, I AM in love with this beautiful image, especially since my own bleeding heart is just starting to get some blooms on it!!! And the fact that these 2 cards are the same, but different, is by no mistake. I wanted to show you how these solid image stamps in Spring Ephemerals look stamped as a black silhouette and as a white silhouette (the white is embossed) . Both equally as beautiful, just different.

The paper I want you to get a good look at this week is Scarlet’s Letter by Basic Grey — again, in the 6 x 6 pad that I so love to work with — great, manageable size! Both cards are made with papers from Scarlet’s Letter. The prints in this pad are GORGEOUS — rich, luxurious, fairly large-scaled patterns — and they all seem to just be MADE to go with our new Spring Ephemerals stamp set — or maybe it was vice versa — LOL!!! Whatever the case, they are a fabulous pairing!!!!

And of course, with paper, we need ribbons -- LOTS of ribbons!!! I have plenty to show you!!! Also, I'd like to talk about scallops and show you 2 alternative ways to make scallops that are so super quick and simple!!!!

This complete post, along with photos and tips, can be seen on my personal Blog, No Time To Stamp? So head on over there and see what I've got planned to show you!!! Thanks much for checking in!!!

Sharon Johnson

May I Suggest ...

Today I started a new weekly feature called May I Suggest...

It was supposed to run on this Newsletter as well as on my personal Blog; however, due to many technical difficulties last night (LOL!!!), the post isn't making this Newsletter, but I would like to give you a little peek at what I am suggesting:

And I would like to invite you to my personal Blog, No Time To Stamp?, to read the entire article.

Hope to see you over there -- thank you so much!!!

Sharon Johnson