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. 
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. 
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. 
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!!!
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. 
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. 
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. 
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!
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!
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!
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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! 
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. 
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!
