Cards

Seaside Shore

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Seaside Shore.0716This card make me want to go snorkeling!  How about you?  🙂

What a cute stamp set!  Seaside Shore has so many fun and cute images.  My favorite part of the stamp set though is the sentiment:  “Hoping your day goes swimmingly”!  Too fun!

The Seaside Embossing Folder is one of my favorite new folders.  It’s a nice pattern that can be used for a background on all sorts of cards.  It doesn’t have to just be ocean waves.

Fun and coordinating products!  I’m in my element!  Ha!  If we’re talking coordination here don’t forget about the By the Shore Designer Series Paper….some of the patterns have the same adorable little fishies on it.  I just love it when Stampin’ Up! makes my job as a crafter so much easier!

Ok…even just writing about this card and seeing the little fishies makes me want to take a quick trip to the ocean.   I guess there won’t be anything quick about it though since I’m in Colorado and there aren’t any oceans anywhere near here.  Maybe I’ll have to start planning a winter get-away!  🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Simple & Summery Card

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FreshFruit.0716.1When I had my Cindy’s Flamingo Bingo Birthday Blast last month I included a few make-n-take cards.  I only had two cards for eight people to make so I didn’t want them to be too hard.  Naturally I had to make a card with the flamingo from the Pop of Paradise stamp set but I also needed another card.  Since my favorite birthday “cake” is angel food cake with strawberries (if I can’t have the Cheesecake Factory’s White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake!) I thought I’d make a card using the strawberry in the Fresh Fruit stamp set.  I also wanted to use some of the fun designs from the package of Fruit Stand designer series papers.  Here is what I came up with.

Simple and Summery.  What more do you want when the temperature is in the 90’s day after day.  Although I can’t really complain about that.  Today the temp is only suppose to reach the upper 70’s and tomorrow the temp will barely break 70.  Woo Hoo!  I love cooler temps!

OK….back to the card!  I did get to use the fun new Layering Circle Framelits that has both smooth circles and scalloped circles that…well, layer!  🙂

Isn’t this a refreshing, summery color combination?  Watermelon Wonder and Cucumber Crush.  Mmmm…..not only does it look good it sounds yummy!  🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Thoughtful Branches is Here!

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Thoughtful Branches.1.0816Have you seen the new, exclusive Thoughtful Branches stamp set and the Beautiful Branches Thinlits yet?  OMG!  They are gorgeous and they are only available from Stampin’ Up! during the month of August!  I have seen SO many fabulous samples using this stamp set and I want to make the ALL!  Since that probably won’t happen I am actually share other people’s samples throughout this month.  You really have to see some of these amazing samples.  Stampin’ Up! has a whole board on Pinterest just for this stamp set.

This card is actually my creation based on some of the fabulous samples I’ve seen.  We’ll be making it at our Thoughtful Branches class next week.  The flowery die that is used for the flowers here can also be used for the leafy top of a tree too!  Very versatile!  🙂

There are some nice sentiments in the stamp set in a gorgeous font.  This will be one of those classic stamp sets that you will hang on to for a long time and go back and use time and time again.  I know I will!

Don’t for get that this stamp set and coordinating thinlits are only available until August 31st.  Don’t miss out on this fantastic bundle!  Buy it today!

Item #144328   Thoughtful Branches Bundle $52

Item #143539   Thoughtful Branches Photopolymer Stamp Set   $27

Item #143538    Beautiful Branches Thinlits Dies   $31

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Sunshine Wishes Wedding Card

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Sunshine Wishes.0716I made this card yesterday and I just had to share it with you right away.  It turned out exactly how I had hoped!

A friend from high school has a daughter getting married next week back in Minnesota so I needed to make a wedding card and get it in the mail.  Yes, I’ve know about the wedding for awhile but just hadn’t got around to creating!  This is the story of my life….procrastinate.  Sheesh!

Anyway, I searched pinterest for a card and wasn’t seeing anything I liked.  Oh…there were beautiful, fancy cards but this isn’t a fancy-dancy wedding.  The wedding and reception are in a barn!  How fun is that?!

I was Scan0003seeing a lot of cards with these die-cut hearts and knew I wanted to use them but I still hadn’t found exactly what I wanted.  Then I came across this gem and knew I was on the right track.  Check out the picture of a portion of the wedding invite….the colors were almost perfect!  I just made a few minor changes and the card was perfect!  I love when my fellow demonstrators give me that boost of inspiration that I need.  Thanks Amy!  🙂

I guess I better go and get this card in the mail!  Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Flourishing Phrases Sympathy Card

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IMG_8539Unfortunately we all need sympathy cards at one time or another.  I designed this sympathy card for a swap I participated in.  I was pleased with the results.  How could I not be when there are so many gorgeous elements on it?

Let’s start with that designer paper.  Beautiful, gorgeous, fabulous…..I LOVE it!  The Blooms & Bliss Designer Paper is fantastic.  Half the designs are in the color combination you see here with the Blushing Bride and Sweet Sugarplum and the other half are a combination of Island Indigo and Mint Macaron.  Have I told you how gorgeous these papers are?  🙂

The next fabulous element on this card is the Sweet Sugarplum Ruched Ribbon.  It’s soft, textured and beautiful.  I wish it came in all of the Stampin’ Up! colors but unfortunately it only comes in the five new in-colors for 2016-2017:  Sweet Sugarplum, Flirty Flamingo, Peekaboo Peach, Emerald Envy and Dapper Denim.

Then comes the Flourishing Phrases stamp set which is conveniently bundled with the Flourish Thinlits.  Have I used the word gorgeous in this post yet?  I’m pretty sure I have but I’m going to use it again.  As you can probably gather from the name of the stamp set, it is mostly sentiments with just a few images but there’s a nice variety of phrases and the font is…well….gorgeous!  But the thinlits!  Oh my!  Flowers and leaves and vines all to compliment the gorgeous sentiments.  I LOVE it!  Not only does this stamp set have great sentiments for the front of the card but there is a complimentary verse for the inside.  Perfect!  I know my mom is always asking me for verses for the inside of a card, especially sympathy cards since she never knows exactly what to say.  Nice work Stampin’ Up!

I hope your day is wonderful!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Sunshine Sayings: Love & Hugs

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IMG_8545Love & Hugs to Everyone!

When I saw the card I CASEd (copied) this from I first fell in love with the way the words were cut out separately.  It’s such an easy thing to do with this stamp set because that’s the way the words come.  They are all just single words or partial phrases so you can say what you want!

When I first say the Sunshine Sayings stamp set and the Sunshine Wishes COORDINATING Thinlits, I actually fell in love with the thinlits first.  I LOVE these hearts!  There’s a beautiful loopy flower in the set too as well as some words.  Since the stamp set and thinlits came in a bundle I had to get them together!  They were one of my first purchases.

What was your first purchase from the new catalog?  Let me know in a comment!  I’d love to hear.

Have a great day!  Love & Hugs to you!

Sweet Cupcake: Still Celebrating!

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IMG_8542OK…I’m not really still celebrating my birthday although I would if the occasion arose.  Ha!

Just because I’m not still celebrating doesn’t mean that I can’t share another fun birthday card with you.  Isn’t this card sweet?  Yes, I CASEd  (copied) it from a wonderful sample on the internet.  Gotta love that internet and all of the resources you can find there!

This fun card is made with the Sweet Cupcake stamp set and the COORDINATING Cupcake Cutouts Framelits.  These framelits are great because not only does the set contain the dies that cut out the cupcake but you can die cut the banner and the “wish”!  You can’t really tell from the picture but I used the Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Brush on the “wish” and the dark parts of the frosting to add a little sparkle to the card.  The Festive Embossing Folder and the White Perfect Accents are just the right touches to finish off this card.  The fact that the card is PINK makes it perfect!  🙂

My team held a Stamp Camp on Saturday which was quite a success.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and they loved the projects.  I’ll have to take some pictures of the projects for you.  Now that my birthday and Stamp Camp are over I really need to concentrate on the three classes I’m holding this week!  Luckily I got everything cut yesterday so now I just need to clean up my house a bit and start thinking about the next class!  I guess a demonstrator’s work is never done.  Luckily I LOVE what I do!  🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

It’s Birthday Fiesta Time!

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IMG_8529My birthday is in two days and I think it’s time to start celebrating, don’t you?

I’m a little sad this year.  Usually during this week of the year my demo friends and I are heading to Salt Lake City for Stampin’ Up!’s annual convention.  Since expanding worldwide they’ve changed up their events and no longer do one in July.  🙁

I loved convention (and still love all of the SU Convention2015.1events) but I really loved celebrating my birthday with my stampin’ friends.   Here’s a picture of us last July all dressed up for the Roaring 20’s party.

Since I’ve decided to start celebrating early I thought I should post a birthday card, right?  This fun and easy card was made with the Birthday Fiesta stamp set.  I know…how can I use this stamp set and not use the llama?!  I did use my favorite color on the card though!  🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Stampin’ Sponge & Thick Baker’s Twine

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kittyHave you ever wondered what to do with a Stampin’ Sponge and Thick Baker’s Twine?  Well, wonder no more.  They make the perfect kitty toy!

Meet our new kitten, Tasha.  If you’re a Sci-fi geek like my family, think Star Trek Next Generation Season 1 and you’ll know where we came up with the name.  🙂

We adopted Tasha on Friday so we’ve been busy kitten-proofing our house and playing with the adorable sweetie.  She’s 2 months old and SO tiny!  We didn’t have many cat toys in the house so I was trying to think of something for her to play with.  Our last cat used to love batting Stampin’ Sponge quarters around on the floor kitty.1which gave me the idea to make a kind of dangly toy for little Miss Tasha.  I got out my stamping supplies, tied some Thick Baker’s Twine around half a sponge and tied it all to a dowel.  It’s the perfect kitty toy!

Needless to say, I didn’t get a whole lot done on the stamping front this weekend.  I think I had a pretty good excuse, don’t you?  But now it’s time to get back to work.  I need to finish planning this week’s “Cindy’s Flamingo Bingo Birthday Bash”!  I can’t wait to tell you all about it!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Swirly Bird Sail Boat

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IMG_8531I love the swirls in the Swirly Bird stamp set and the Swirly Scribbles Thinlits but I think my favorite item of both of these is the “swirly strands” that look like water…..and I you have water, you have to have a boat, right?!

This little sailboat is adorable and very easy to stamp.  I’ve actually fussy cut mine and popped it up with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  I know, many of you hate to fussy cut.  The boat is actually made up of three different pieces so they’re very easy to cut out.

To make the water the two different colors I just die-cut the “swirly strands” from Dapper Denim card stock, adhered it to Marina Mist card stock that I had lightly sponged with Marina Mist ink and then trimmed the top.  No trimming was needed on the sun because that swirl fits perfectly over the stamped circle.  I tell you….COORDINATION my friends!  🙂

Doesn’t this card just make you go out to the lake and relax?  That’s what it does for me.

Have a great day and a relaxing weekend!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Birthday Fiesta Llama

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IMG_8535This llama is SO dang adorable!  Don’t you just love him?  I just had to make a card with him on it!

Have you played with the Birthday Fiesta stamp set yet?  It has some pretty fun images including the this adorable llama and the cute little cactus.  There are some fun banners too as well as a couple of sayings.

The best thing(s) about the Birthday Fiesta stamp set are the COORDINATING products!  Yes!  There’s a whole mess of products that coordinate with it.  Framelits, embossing folder and of course designer series paper!  Woo Hoo!  My favorite word!  Coordination!  To check out all the products that coordinate with the Birthday Fiesta stamp set check out page 11 in the Stampin’ Up! catalog!

This little card is my favorite 4 1/4″ x 4 1/4″ square card.  I love this shape and size because it’s large enough but there’s not too much extra space to fill.  Sometimes if you have a regular 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ card and your images are on the small side you have to come up with some way to fill all that empty space.  OK…I’m a little lazy sometimes!  Ha!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Pun Intended Hostess Set

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Pun Intended.0616Did you know that there are 6 amazing stamp sets in the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog that are only available to hostesses?  Only a  hostess can purchase these discounted stamp sets with their Stampin’ Rewards points.  Be sure to check out these amazing stamp sets on pages 198-201 of the catalog!

Did you also know that you can be your own hostess with a minimum order of $150?   It’s true!

The Pun Intended Stamp Set is one of my favorite hostess sets.  It has some fun and quirky images and sentiments.  I love this little camera and the “snappy birthday” sentiment.  Too fun!  I made this card last month for a former demonstrator friend who is now working on becoming a professional photographer.  🙂

You can see it very well in the photo but I first stamped the camera on the card then I stamped it on a piece of scrap paper, cut out just the body of the camera and adhered it over the first stamped image with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  This gave it a little dimension and really added to the card.

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!  Be sure to let me know if you’d like to host your own party so that you can purchase this stamp set!  😉

Swirly Bird & Flirty Flamingo Flowers

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Can you tell that I like the Swirly Bird stamp set?  I think this is the third time this week that I’ve had a post using it!  Well, you can’t get too much of a good thing, right?!

My favorite part of the stamp set is actually the COORDINATING Swirly Scribbles Thinlits.  I can’t get enough of all those scribbles and swirls!

Since this card was for a class I didn’t want to go too crazy so I didn’t use the thinlits at all.  I just used stamped images.  The sentiment and the label are from the Thoughtful Banners Stamp Set and punched out with the Duet Banner Punch.  More COORDINATION!  Woo Hoo!

Really, can a person every have too much coordination?  🙂

That’s what I love about Stampin’ Up! products.  Things work together.  I don’t have to make a guess as to whether this ink color will match that designer paper or if this shaped framelit will die cut that sentiment.  Most of the work is done for me and that makes creating SO much easier.

What do you love about Stampin’ Up! products?  Leave me a comment.  I’d love to know!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Confetti Celebration

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IMG_8481It’s birthday month!  Woo Hoo!  I’m having a birthday in a few weeks and I love to celebrate!  This card says it all.  Yay!  Let’s Celebrate!

Another card featuring new products!  Confetti Celebration is the perfect stamp set to…well, celebrate!  Who says you can only celebrate birthdays?  There is no cake on this card, no candles or presents…it’s just telling us to celebrate!  We could be celebrating a promotion, buying a new house or car, an anniversary of any sort….the ideas are endless.  There is a balloon and a “happy birthday” in this set but like I said, you could really use it for anything.

I’m going to use this card to remind me that there’s always something to celebrate.  This card has such fun and bright colors on it that it just makes me smile and want to celebrate something!  I hope you have something to celebrate today.

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Love & Affection

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IMG_8479Have you checked out the designer series paper in the new catalog?  It’s all gorgeous!  Yes, there are some that I like better than others but overall the designs this year are FABULOUS!

In the new catalog Stampin’ Up! has organized products into suites that help you with the COORDINATION (love that word!) of products.  On pages 44-45 you can find the Affectionately Yours Suite and that’s what I used on this card.  The stamp set, designer paper and the embossing folder are all part of this stamp set.  I love it when some of the work of designing a card is done for you.

Isn’t this Affectionately Yours Specialty Designer Paper great?  I love the bright and fun colors they’ve put together.  This package of paper is “special” because two of the designs have copper foil on them…gorgeous!

Do you love Stampin’ Up!’s designer papers?  Do you hoard designer paper?  I don’t necessarily hoard the paper but I hate to run out so I buy too much for a class and then when it retires at the end of the catalog I have TONS left over.  Of course there are always those projects that I have planned that I never get around to doing too.  Oh, well…..what’s a crafter to do?!

One quick tip for you on this cute card:  When using the smaller embossing folders like the one used on this card us the Thick Whisper White card stock.  Sometimes with these small folders you end up with little creases and I found that they are not as pronounced when you use the Thick Whisper White card stock versus the regular.

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!