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Cards & Tags

Life’s A Beach Card with Sand from Cancun!

by Joe Rotella on February 6, 2012

Last June, I was in Mexico for business and had just a few minutes to run to the beach and feel the water before heading back to the airport for the trip home to Ohio. In those short minutes, I couldn’t resist filling an empty water bottle with sand, knowing it might come in handy [...]

Pug Birthday Card

by Joe Morgan January 23, 2012

One of my best friends loves Pugs. She has two of them and their names are Frankie & Piglet. She had a birthday recently, so I wanted to use this cute Pug In Party Hat stamp from Viva Las Vegastamps! to make her birthday card. To start off, I stamped the image on white cardstock [...]

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Senior Ladies, Best Friends – A Card For Your BFF

by Joe Rotella January 16, 2012

Until this project, I don’t think I’ve ever used a “photo stamp.” You know the kind – stamps made from photographs rather than drawings. I’ve seen many that have interested me, but just didn’t know what to do with them or how to use them. That brings me to the pound of rubber I received [...]

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Another Year Down The Drain – Welcome to the Viva Las Vegastamps! Blog Hop!

by Joe Morgan January 1, 2012

  Happy New Year!! To kick off the year with a bang, Viva Las Vegastamps! is hosting a blog hop! If you’ve come here from Aimee Fleck’s Blog, then you’re in the right place. To start the hop from the beginning, please go to the Viva Las Vegastamps! blog. If you like blog candy, this hop is [...]

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Split Personalities, Psycho Spiral, Viva Las Vegas Blog Hop – Happy New Year!

by Joe Rotella January 1, 2012

Happy New Year!! To kick off the year with a bang, Viva Las Vegastamps! is hosting a blog hop! If you’ve come here from DeeDee Catron’s blog, Um Wow Studio, then you’re in the right place. To start the hop from the beginning, please go to the Viva Las Vegastamps! blog. If you like blog [...]

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It’s Fruitcake Time!

by Joe Morgan December 26, 2011

I hope everyone had  a Merry Christmas! For my last post of 2011, I wanted to make a card that I have had planned out in my head for quite a while. I know it’s the day after Christmas, but it’s funny, so here it is.  I am sure everyone will get a late card [...]

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Circus Themed Card using Viva Las Vegastamps! and Creative Paperclay

by Joe Rotella December 19, 2011

A couple years back, I took a pottery class through the Lifelong Learning program offered by my city’s Parks and Recreation department. We learned to throw pots, work with clay slabs and even did some molding. Back then I used some small face molds to make embellishments for a clay bowl. When it came time [...]

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My Favorite Fruitcake Recipe!

by Joe Morgan December 12, 2011

For my Viva Las Vegastamps! design team post this time, I wanted to use this funny fruitcake recipe stamp that I have admired for a while now. I used Spellbinders dies for the mat, recipe card, and cake platter that my fruitcake is on. I used a Sizzix embossing folder to add the dot texture to [...]

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Season’s Greetings Side Step Card

by Joe Rotella December 5, 2011

I participate in a card swap at Red Letter Journals. On the first Sunday of every month, about two dozen card makers get together to learn a new technique and trade cards using the technique they learned the previous month. It’s a great way to learn new things, have fun and get some great cards! [...]

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I Like Cats Too!

by Joe Morgan November 28, 2011

  First of all, I have to say that no cats were harmed in the making of this card! Secondly, I love cats and would never eat them!  I was looking through all the stamps that I got in my pound of rubber from Viva Las Vegastamps! and spotted this sentiment about exchanging cat recipes. [...]

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Bowling Ball Spinner Card – Fiesta Lanes (Includes Pattern to Download)

by Joe Rotella November 21, 2011

Sometimes when I browse a collection of stamps, I look for stamps that will work well together to create a scene. When I found these three bowling stamps at Viva Las Vegastamps! I knew there had to be a fun way to combine them. It wasn’t too long before I realized a spinner card might [...]

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Merry Christmoose

by Joe Morgan November 14, 2011

For this week’s project, I wanted to make something with Sakura Crystal Lacquer. One of the things I really like about Crytstal Lacquer is that when it dries, it’s not just clear and glossy, it’s also flexible. So, unlike similar products, it won’t crack or break off of something if you bend it. I recently spent [...]

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Shell Shaped Card Featuring a Glitter on Acetate Mermaid!

by Joe Rotella November 7, 2011

Glitter!  Most every crafter I know likes to add a little bling to their projects once in a while, and glitter is an easy way to do it. This little fact may surprise you; glitter was invented by an American cattle farmer named Ruschman during the 1930s! Although some sources say he invented the product [...]

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Beware the Pumpkin Eater!

by Joe Morgan October 23, 2011

  Halloween, my favorite holiday, is almost here! For this weeks post, I made a cute card using three different pumpkin stamps. To start out, I stamped the three stamps on white cardstock, and colored them with Copic markers. I cut out all three of them. One of them includes a graveyard scene in the [...]

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Angel Wings

by Carole Lassak October 20, 2011

Amazing Mold Putty!! Perfectly named. It is amazing—there is no end to the things that you can mold with this easy-to-use medium. You just take equal parts of A (which is white) and B (which is yellow), and knead them together—just like working with clay—until they are completelycombined and there are no streaks. Depending on [...]

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Ouija Board Halloween Card

by Joe Morgan October 10, 2011

Welcome! I’m happy to be posting the first project of my second term on the Viva Las Vegastamps! Design Team. This month, the folks at The Robin’s Nest provided us with a selection of their papers to use in our projects. As I flipped through the pile, I saw my favorite – Glitter Sepia Trees [...]

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Trick or Treat! Gift Tag

by Joe Morgan September 12, 2011

October will be here soon! So, I decided to make something for Halloween this week since it is my favorite time of the year. For this week’s post, I made a tag that I can attach to a small gift bag of Halloween treats. I started out by stamping the Surprised Kitty stamp on white [...]

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Bah! Humbug! Christmas card season is coming! Like it, or not!

by Joe Morgan August 31, 2011

    While browsing though the Viva Las Vegastamps! store, I found this beautiful Angel stamp that I had to have. The card you see here isn’t what I had originally planned to do with this stamp, but once I found the “Grumpy Nightcap Man” stamp that makes me think of Scrooge, I decided to [...]

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August Card Club

by Amy Day August 27, 2011

You know the old saying “Better late than never?”  I’m going to use that as my defense! Red Letter Journals’ monthly card club met on Sunday, August 7.  Unfortunately, the Create & Craft team was unable to attend, but we were nicely represented by Carole’s daughter-in-law, the lovely Joanna.  While I was at our annual [...]

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The Off-Season!

by Joe Morgan August 22, 2011

  Hello again! For my post this time, I decided to mix weird and funny (again). While browsing through the Viva Las Vegastamps! online store, I found this sentiment that says “In the off-season, the sugarplums dance in seedy nightclubs.” I knew right away that I could make a funny card with this one, so [...]

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Backgrounds with Crystal Lacquer

by Carole Lassak August 10, 2011

I am participating in a card swap next month at Red Letter Journals, one of our local scrapbooking shops. The challenge theme is backgrounds. So, here’s what I came up with. I started with a piece of acetate slightly smaller that my card. I stamped my image—Dragonfly from Earth Art International—on the acetate using black [...]

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Don’t Make Me Get My Flying Monkeys!

by Joe Morgan August 8, 2011

  Don’t Make Me Get My Flying Monkeys! Hello again! For my Viva Las Vegastamps! blog post this week, I wanted to use a witch stamp that I got in my last order. So here is what I came up with. I ended up using three stamps from Viva Las Vegastamps! in my project. First, [...]

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Stained Glass Crane

by Joe Morgan August 5, 2011

I was asked by another member of the Viva Las Vegastamps! design team if I could post today in her place because she is travelling for a fun filled weekend. So I agreed and this is what I made! I fell in love with the Stained Glass Crane (#5013) stamp as soon as I saw [...]

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Permanent Masks

by Carole Lassak July 27, 2011

I started my paper arts adventure as a stamper. I still reach back to my roots and dig out the rubber stamps. One of the stamping techniques that I most enjoy is masking. This technique creates the illusion of depth and perspective. The original stamped image is covered with a mask so subsequent stamped images [...]

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The Curse!

by Joe Morgan July 24, 2011

Sometimes, two things collide and the result is a very interesting card. I eagerly opened the “pound of rubber” from Viva Las Vegastamps! as soon as the packaged arrived. Would it have cool stamps? How many would be ones that I would have picked out myself? Would there be any surprises that would really inspire [...]

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Mica Powders and Crystal Lacquer

by Carole Lassak July 13, 2011

I love the stamps from Earth Art International designed by Sue Coccia. For this set of notecards I selected the Hare, Dragonfly, and Horse stamps. I used VersaMark Watermark ink to stamp each image on black paper. VersaMark is so sticky that it acts as an adhesive for pigment powders. Next, I lightly brushed mica [...]

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So who can relate to this card?

by Joe Morgan July 11, 2011

  While browsing in the Viva Las Vegastamps! store a few weeks ago, I noticed the unusually large selection of stamps of different women with unique facial expressions. Then I came across this sentiment (see card) and knew I could put it to use. The two stamps I used are: Lady With Dog  #7546 First [...]

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Viva Las Vegastamps! Blog Hop

by Joe Morgan June 29, 2011

Welcome to the Viva Las Vegastamps! blog hop! If you are hopping in order, you should have come here from Rebecca Parsons’ blog. If this happens to be your first stop, be sure to visit all the blogs by following the links.  For blog candy, Viva Las Vegastamps! is giving away their “Pound O’ Rubber” [...]

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Hot in Vegas!

by Joe Morgan June 27, 2011

Hi! Today I posted my second project for the Viva Las Vegastamps! design team. As luck would have it,  I just happen to be posting from my room at The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas.  I am here with my partner who is here on business to speak at an HR conference (SHRM). Tomorrow, I [...]

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Gnomes Are Stealing My Sanity!

by Joe Morgan June 12, 2011

Hi! Thanks for checking out my first blog post as a Viva Las Vegastamps! Design Team member. I have a strange sense of humor, as you will see in some of my postings. For this project I decided to make a card using three stamps from Viva Las Vegastamps! To start out, I stamped the [...]

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Hand Made Flowers

by Amy Day June 11, 2011

A few months ago, the Create and Craft team joined a monthly card swap at Red Letter Journal in Grove City.  Each month, the club meets to create a card using a specific technique.  Over the next month, each member makes a set of 6 cards using that technique.  The cards made over the previous [...]

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Easter Eggs with 3D Crystal Lacquer

by Carole Lassak April 13, 2011

Anybody thinking about decorating Easter eggs??? You can definitely add a new dimension to your egg decorations with colored 3D crystal lacquers from Sakura Hobby Craft. I started my egg decorating project by coloring hard boiled eggs. I dissolved a tiny amount of paste dye (the kind used for cake icing) in one cup of hot [...]

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Acetate, Glitter & 3D Lacquer

by Carole Lassak March 23, 2011

Today I have another fun project using Sakura Hobby Craft 3D Crystal Lacquer, acetate, and glitter. I made a tile that I used to embellish the front of a greeting card. This is an easy technique that delivers results that will have folks asking, “How did you do that?” To start, select the stamp that [...]

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We’re Not In Kansas Anymore

by Amy Day March 17, 2011

That’s right Toto!  Riley isn’t in Kansas – he’s in Ohio!  AND he’s getting ready for his debut at Scrapbook Art – Saturday, March 19th. Riley and his girlfriend Sophie are cute no matter what they are doing, but they are especially cute as the cast of the Wizard of Oz.  While my absolute favorite [...]

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Viva Las Vegastamps! Design Team Submissions

by Joe Morgan March 15, 2011

Viva Las VegaStamps! Here are a couple of projects I did for the Viva Las VegaStamps! call for design team members. The first one was a butterfly card that I made using an Impression Obsession Cover A Card stamp on two layers, and then a PSX butterfly stamp colored with 3 different shades of blue [...]

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3D Crystal Lacquer, Glitter & Shine

by Carole Lassak February 8, 2011

I love anything that sparkles and shines, so it was only natural that I would pair 3D Crystal Lacquer by Sakura Hobby Craft with glitter. I began this project by printing an image on acetate using a laser printer. Working from the side of the acetate that is not printed, outline one area with the [...]

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Hoo Hoo Hoo Who Loves You

by Joe Rotella January 3, 2010

A Valentine’s Day Card using a chocolate brown and pink palette with an owl as the focal point, asking “Hoo Hoo Hoo who loves you?”

Stamps are from Hampton Art and Inkadinkadoo.

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Struggling To Create Tags Using Cricut® DesignStudio

by Joe Rotella December 30, 2009

A contest was recently posted where the basic requirement sounded simple:
Create a tag using Cricut® DesignStudio (DS) and the Cricut® Plantin SchoolBook font cartridge.

The end result? The limited functionality of DS combined with the limited shapes available on the Cricut® Plantin SchoolBook font cartridge made this tedious and time consuming. Worst of all, I had to change my design concept to fit the limitations of the software and cartridge.

When the possibilities are endless with Sure Cuts A Lot™, why would anyone use DS?

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