Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Across the miles...

This is a CASE from the latest issue of Stampin' Success. I made a stack of cards to send to a friend who is undergoing chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer. We are separated by a couple of states so cards are the perfect way to remind her that she's in my prayers.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Congratulations!

This is CASE of card in the June Stampin' Success published by SU! for demonstrators. It's a magazine full of ideas and information about the products. I used an old stamp set (Looks Like Spring) for the argle stamping on this acrd. This one also uses Gumball Green Midnight Muse and Summer Starfruit.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

New In Colors

Stampin' Up! Demonstrators have the opportunity to preorder the new In Colors. My preorder shipment arrived this week. This card uses three of the 5 new colors, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, and Gumball Green.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Triple Flower

The Triple Flower stamp is being retired. It comes as a single stamp and you can use three punches with it. So nice! The 5 petal punch is also retiring. Sad to see so many favorites retire but I know I'll find new favorites. Stampin' Up! always comes up with fun new products.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Go Confidently in the Direction or Your Dreams

I love this expression and thought it was a good sentiment for graduates. I paired Concord Crush with Basic Gray on this card that was a CASE from Pink Buckaroo Designs.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Graduation has past...

Sunday was graduation day for the seminary. The weather was beautiful so the graduates got to process from the seminary to the neighboring church for the service. This is a photo of Brian and me after the ceremony. Woohoo! Four years of study done; now we move on to the next adventure.

About midweek last week I realized I still was short graduation cards. So, I'll be sharing a few more of those. This trifold card is made using the Movers and Shapers Big Shot die that is retiring at the end of May. It is such a neat die... glad I already have it or I'd be ordering it. Using up some Concord Crush paper, DSP and glitter brads. All retiring! Get it while you can!!!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Elegant Trio Decor Stencil


Realized I would need more graduation cards. This is a CASE from a card swap from some time ago. I think I got it at the Milwaukee Regional 2 or 3 years ago. It uses one Stampin' Up!'s Elegant Trio Decor Stencils. The Decor Stencils are only available until May 31. I used part of the stencil again on the inside of the card. I used sponge daubers to apply the color. On the outside I first stamped over the stencil with Chocolate Chip ink on the En Francais background stamp. They image just applied in random places. Then I daubed with more mustard and chocolate chip ink. For the inside image I used chocolate chip ink.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Love Framelits!

Framelits make it so easy to add dimesion to your cards! I've used them on the front and then again inside this special "pop out" card. The top photo shows the card front. The bottom is the "pop out" interior. I got the idea for this layout from Linda Heller's Stamping School. It's a subscription online service that is chock full of ideas in video format. And each video project has accompanying PDF files with measurements and product used. Every week there are new videos added. It is worth every penny of the subscription price. I've used retired stamp set and DSP on this card but you could easily swap it for current products.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Live in the Sunshine!

Here's a fun, simple card. Grab some Designer Series Paper... look at the colors in it to pick a ribbon, card stock and ink colors and you're almost done!  I used a stamp set that coordinates with a punch. Then I used the Bojo Blossoms punch to add some smaller flowers. They looked so plain; so added the pearls... just what was needed. Rainy days here lately... so the sentiment was a reminder to not let the weather get me down. We do need the rain! April didn't have many showers here.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Nostalgic

I was feeling nostalgic, so I made these cards. "Hello Doily" brings back memories of  two very special ladies... my mom and my husband's paternal grandmother, "Granny" as she wanted to be called after she became a great grandmother. Granny crocheted, mostly afghans after I met her. But she gave me some doilies she had made when she was younger. My mom was a knitter. She knitted doilies. They were absolutely beautiful and their patterns were much more intricate than any crocheted doilies I've ever seen.  I have several doilies she made. They are treasured items! I feel so lucky to have had these wonderful ladies in my life. Thanks be to God!

Friday, May 4, 2012

Thanks a Lot!

These were the other pieces of Designer Series Paper from that same nearly exhausted package mentioned in yesterday's post. Don't they look different! That's one of the reasons I like SU!'s DSP. Because it is double sided you get so many patterns to choose from and there is always a few colors that repeat so the papers can be used alone or together. These scraps are left overs from a travel scrapbook I made. The stamped images are from Just Believe stamp set. Colors used here are Cameo Coral (retired), Baja Breeze and Basic Gray. You could easily substitute Calypso Coral with those two colors. Not a trio I would have thought of on my own. DSP is also great inspiration for color combos. Sometimes I just look at the colors listed for the DSP in the Idea Book and Catalog for inspiration. Thanks a lot SU! for all the great products!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

 So, I was cleaning up some clutter and came across a little stack of odds and ends to be filed in my stamping area. Amidst the things to be filed was a few remnants from a retired package of Designer Series Paper. These three cards went together pretty quickly - I just thought about some of the cards I've seen on other persons blogs and used the images in my head to create them. I can't decide which one I like best. The colors used are Basic Gray, Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss (a retired In Color from several years ago).
Stampin' Up! demonstrators get to preorder the new In Colors for 2012 beginning today. They are pretty! Placing my order in about a week. Once I get the new colors I'll make some cards and post them.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Colorful Masculine Birthday Card

This is a fun card I made using a retired Stampin' Up! set that a friend just gave to me. I needed some masculine birthday cards. The stamp had the skewed border; so I "fussy" cut the 8 stamped cakes but the black background for each was punched with a square punch. Very quick!
I love the expression: "birthdays are good for you - the more you have, the longer you live!"  Sounds like something my dad would have said.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Goodbye!

We'll soon be retiring Blushing Bride, Concord Crush, Pear Pizazz, Peach Parfait and Poppy Parade In Colors. They are so pretty! Now is the time to stock up on ink or paper or ribbon while it's still available. I've used all of them on this card. It also uses the Vintage Vogue stamp set which is also retiring. I'm looking forward to the new catalog and seeing the new In Colors!

Monday, April 30, 2012

Stencil cards

I made these two cards using the Summer Smooches Decor Stencil. In the top card I used sponge daubers and classic ink pads to apply the color. In the bottom photo the reverse piece of the stencil was used to block the Island Indigo and Pool Party that was sponged around the flower image.  Then I used my Color Spritzer and Calypso Coral marker to add a little contrast all over the card. I haven't done much with stencils; it was fun to try some new techniques.


Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Masculine Birthday Mouse


A couple more masculine cards using some long retired Stampin' Up! stamp sets. One of my coworkers said she had some stamping things that she no longer used. She wondered if I wanted them; said to use what I wanted and find a home for anything I didn't want. These cards are made from two sets from her stash. I had fun making them. The little mouse just makes me feel happy. The expression that is on the stamp with it is "Hooray for You" so I just inked the mouse image and found this "Happy Birthday" in the same arc shape in another of her sets. The balloon also came from that set. I used markers to color in the mouse and the balloons. Coloring is so therapeutic for me!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Masculine birthday card

I realized last week my stash of birthday cards was low in the masculine category. So, today I came up with this design using some ribbon that I've had for a long time.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Curvy Verses

This is a Get Well card I put together using the Curvy Verses and Patterned Party stamp set. The ribbon is from my stash; suspect it came from the dollar bin at one of the big box hobby stores. I'm going to have to get better at photography... because what you can't really see in this picture is that the green balloon has the argyle print on it and that the lower half of the card base is dry embossed using the Stripes embossing folder with my Big Shot.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Do Good

I used the Raining Flowers and Pursuit of Happines stamp sets on this card. Sure glad they are not retiring!
The Pear Pizazz cs was embossed with the snowflake embossing folder. It's sure a pretty pattern and certainly can be used for more than just "snowy" cards.
I'm going to miss this set of retiring colors: pear pizazz, peach parfait, blushing bride, concord crush and poppy parade. But it will be fun to see what the 5 new colors will be!

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Congratulations!

These cards use the same elements just varied them a bit. I can't decide which one I like better. Sometimes it's just fun to see where the scraps on desk top take you!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Sky's the limit!

I'm using some retired Not Quite Navy on this card. I paired it with Baja Breeze. Then added a little Wild Wasaba in the balloon images and along the bottom. I used the double scallop trim punch and just let the very edge of it show below the card stock.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Step it up...


Today, I made some more graduation cards. I started with the layout on the top card and decided to use the same layout and supplies and step it up a bit in the second card by adding a row of So Saffron trim on each side of the Cherry Cobber cs. I also ran the stars through an embossing folder after they were punched.

In the bottom photo I also ran the Cherry Cobbler cs through the snowflake embossing folder and then adhered it upside down on the card base.

Monday, April 16, 2012

More DSP scraps

And another card using some one inch DSP scraps. I ran the top square through the Big Shot with the Lattice Square embossing folder after I had adhered the DSP. It gives it more dimension and also helps to secure all those little triangles. They were made by punching with the one inch punch and the square in half on the diagonal.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

One Inch Scraps

These two cards were made using some Designer Series Paper scraps and a one inch square punch. The punch was also used to make the notch in the sentiment banner. Punches really save time! The card bases were embossed using embossing folders and the Big Shot. The brads are pretty heavy so I hesitate to use them on cards that are going in the USPS mail. But I'll need some graduation cards for friends here at the seminary and they can go into the intra-school mail so no need to worry about the weight.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Graduation cards continued...

A bit of "fussy cutting" on the flowers from Raining Flowers stamp set for this one. Otherwise it's a pretty quick card.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Graduation continued!

Another graduation card; this time I used colors from on online color challenge:  certainly celery, chocolate chip and pretty in pink. At first I thought I'd try to see if I could come up with a masculine card using those colors. Gave up on that pretty quickly! Just couldn't come up with anything I liked. I used the new Diagonal Plate to make the embossed lines on the white background.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Graduation is just a month away!

In about a month there will be a need for lots of graduation cards in my family. We have high school, college and even one seminary graduation coming up! Woohoo!!! So, decided to get started on some graduation cards. This layout is inspired by this week's Mojo Monday sketch.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The last donation for the auction... a hand knitted tote back with journal, ink pen and candle. The journal is a composition notebook that has been covered with DSP and card stock. Used my Big Shot Tasteful Trim die to make the Pacific Point card stock rick rack.  I unscrewed the pen and put a piece of matching DSP inside the pen barrel. The candle is decorated with stamped images, too. It's really easy to do; you just stamp onto tissue paper and then use your heat embossing tool to adhere the tissue paper to the candle by melting just the top layer of wax.
The tote is knit using regular worsted weight yarn with a one inch strip of plastic disposable bag. I had to have something to do while watching NCAA Men's Semifinals!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Tart and Tangy Card Set

This is CASE from Dawn Olchefske. She's one of my favorite stamping bloggers. She has a real knack for creating clean and simple cards. This is the retired Tart and Tangy stamp set. The ribbon really dresses up these simple images. Dawn has instructions on her blog for making the cute holder on the left, too.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

One Sheet Wonder Card Set

I've been working on donations for the seminary's senior class silent auction. This is a cute little box of 9 all occasion cards. The box comes from Angie Leach's Too Cool Stamping blog. Really easy to make with the new Simply Scored Diagonal Plate.


These three cards are birthday cards. I tried to make one each that was masculine, juvenile and feminine.

These 3 are thank you cards.

I then made one each for Sympathy, Get Well and Anniversary.  The Designer Series Paper is a retired pack. It has some really pretty images and goes with the Elegant Lines embossing folder. I could have gotten all the cards out of one sheet of DSP but wanted to use more of the prints. I think I'll be making another set of these cards to keep! 

Friday, April 6, 2012

Packed for Baby

I got the "Packed for Everything Bundle" free as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator incentive. I wasn't sure I would use these four stamps very much. But then I saw a post on Angie Leach's Too Cool Stamping blog and was inspired. I've used them a lot! And it's nice that you can either buy all 4 stamps as a bundle or buy each one individually. Here are 2 baby cards I made. I have friends who just had their first baby and another friend who has another grandchild. So, these went in the mail yesterday.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Got Birthday?

I made this card using left overs from a recent card making evening with friends at a retirement home here in Chicago. I go there 2 times a month and help a group of residents make 3 cards each. I cut all the pieces before going and then they stamp and assemble the cards. So, I come home with lots of left over scraps because I never know how many will attend. Then the challenge is to use those scraps for cards that I need. I heat embossed the icing with the vanilla embossing powder.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Just Believe

Finally had all the Easter cards I needed and still had a few pieces of this ribbon and some of the green and yellow scraps... so, rather than start another pile on my desk I made a couple cards like this. I always have a need for thank you cards! I used the Stripes Embossing folder for the background and turned it to get the checked look at the top and just the stripes along the bottom. There are so many ways to use the embossing folders! I just love my Big Shot... a really good investment! The stamped images are from the Just Believe stamp set.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Scrap Challenge

Still needed a few more Easter cards and decided it was time to use some of the "scraps" sitting on my desk. I had ribbon, card stock, vellum, even the die cut doily laying on my desks from past projects I'd done with the group at the retirement home. I'm pleased with how they turned out. It's amazing how quickly those scraps turned into lovely cards!