Cards

Bella’s First Birthday

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IMG_8462Yesterday I got to attend a 1st birthday party for a special little lady.  Miss Bella is the daughter and the granddaughter of a couple of my dear friends from church.   Isn’t she adorable?

The party was short and sweet as the birthday girl needed her nap.  She loved grabbing the tissue paper out of the gift bags and seemed to enjoy the frosting on her cake.

I used the Number of Years stamp set for the Bellacard as well as the retiring It’s My Party Designer Series Paper.  I’m definitely going to miss this paper.  It’s so perfect for any birthday.  I did purchase an extra package of it to have on hand even after it retires.  Have you?  🙂

I haven’t played much with the Layered Letters Alphabet stamps but they were perfect for the envelope.  I’m really going to have to use them more.  (I know…I say that all of the time!)

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

May is for Masculine (cards)!

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IMG_8393Every May I hold a class where we make 5 guy cards.  With Father’s Day and my dad’s birthday in June it’s the perfect time for those hard to design cards.

I used the In the Meadow stamp set on this card.  It wasn’t one of the first stamp sets I chose from the Occasions Catalog but I knew I’d be getting it eventually. There are some beautiful images in the set.  I especially like the mountains.

This card would be great for any occasion.  I can using it for a sympathy card, can’t you?  Hmmm…I may have to whip up a few extras of these.

If you don’t have this stamp set yet don’t fret.  It’s going to be in the new 2016-2017 catalog.  🙂

You’ll be happy to know that I actually made a few cards today.  I’ll be sharing them with you soon.

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Back Again….

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What are you going to do with me?!!!  I just can’t seem to stay on top of my blogging.  🙁

20160517_204214 (2)I’ve been in the Canadian wilderness for the past week or so at the family cabin.  It’s SO beautiful up there.  I just LOVE it!  The only draw back to the Canadian wilderness is that it’s…..a wilderness.  No internet!  Yikes!  Once in awhile we can get data and texts on our smart phones but only if we’re lucky.  Actually, it’s not too bad being without the internet but it does make it a bit difficult to stay on top of and run a business…..

DSC_0054 (2)Views like the ones you see here in my post are what make it all worthwhile though….even if it takes us two days by car to get there.

Now that I’m back home though I’m anxious to get back to work.  I haven’t really had a chance to play with my new toys (new stamps, ink pads, etc!).  It’s time to get down to business and create!  Hopefully I’ll get some fun samples done soon to share with you.  Stay tuned!

There’s only a few days left to order from the 2015-2016 Catalog and the 2016 Occasions Catalog.  Don’t miss it!  Place those orders today!  🙂

Have a great day and a safe Memorial Day weekend!

Amazing Birthday

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IMG_8384Happy Birthday to the queen of #imbringingbirthdaysback, Shannon West! You can read Shannon’s story here about how she started the #imbringingbirthdaysback movement.

This movement has caught on like wild fire in the stamping world and I’m happy to say that I’ve jumped on the bandwagon.  I’ve done a pretty good job of keeping up with birthdays.  🙂

Would you like a hand made birthday card from yours truly?  Just email me your name, address and birthdate!  I’d LOVE to send you a card for you birthday.  My birthday chart doesn’t have quite as many names on it as Shannon’s so I have room for more!  🙂

We made this card for our “guys class” this week.  During May I always have a class dedicated to guy cards.  Everyone looks forward to it since guy cards are so hard to come up with.  I found the basic idea for this card on my favorite site, Pinterest.  The sample I saw was a full size card but I thought it would be cute as a 4″ x 4″ card.  Ok….maybe I shouldn’t have used the word “cute” when describing a card for a guy…

Isn’t the Go Wild designer paper fun?  Get it before it’s gone…..

I think I’m going to try this card with the tons of designer paper I have on hand.  I wouldn’t say that I hoard designer paper, I just order way to much when I use it for a class.  Oh, well….what’s a girl to do?

Have a great day. Take care and Happy Stamping!

3 x 3 Thursday: Love You Sew

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IMG_7763Isn’t this adorable?  The Love You Sew stamp set is stinkin’ cute and I knew I had to have it.  However….you can’t buy it.  It’s a hostess set only.  Don’t fret.  You still have a couple of weeks to get it.  Put that final order together from the current catalog and stock up on things you use a lot of like card stock, envelopes and adhesive.  It adds up fast and you’ll be at that minimum for a hostess order ($150) really fast!  Or you can get some friend together and you can all place one big order.  Just don’t miss out!  🙂

I’m sad….I haven’t had time to play with all my new toys!  They’re just sitting on my stamp shelf looking pretty. 🙁

I’ve been seeing lots of great ideas though for those many stamp sets.  One of these days….one of these days….!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

The Open Sea

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IMG_8405Have you missed me?  Apparently consistency is NOT my forte in life.  Sheesh!  You’d think I was busy or something or maybe had a stupid Spring cold….whatever my excuse, I’m back….at least for a few days!  Ha!

Today’s card is the second card we made at my first ever Sip, snack and stamp event on Friday.  The event went really well.  It was fun to just sit and visit with people as they played.  Since they only had a couple of projects to make my guests were a little more relaxed.  I’ll definitely hold another one sometime.  #6monthstampingoals

All the credit for this card goes to my downline Janet.  She made this card for our little stamping night while we were in Salt Lake City last month.  Pretty much everything on this card is retiring.  The stamp set, the embossing folder, the ribbon and the Lost Lagoon card stock are all going.  🙁

I think the item I’m most sad to see go is the embossing folder.  Its a perfect one to use on those guy cards.  Do you have a favorite item that’s on the retired list?  I’ll have to think of the one item that I really hate to see go and let you know.

Don’t miss out on those retiring items.  Remember that stamp sets are guaranteed to be available through May 22nd and everything else is only available while supplies last!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Sip, Snack and Stamp!

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Today I’m holding a new event call Sip, Snack and Stamp.  It’s an open house style event where you can drop in, visit and make a couple of cards.  You can even play a little with the new In-Colors.  So if you’re in the south Denver area pop on in.  9 am – 11 am and 4 pm – 7 pm!  🙂

At our On Stage event last month Stampin’ Up! challenged us to hold a new event each month for the next six months.  ‪#‎6monthstampingoals  My Sip, Snack and Stamp event is my first new event.  I don’t have a lot of RSVP’s but I think we’ll still have a nice time.

IMG_8396Today’s card is one of the one’s we’ll be making at our event.  I used the retiring stamp set Choose Happiness.  I’ve used this stamp set a few times in the past and I really love the flower in it.  Can you see the gorgeous background I made with it?  Of course once I had the background done I had to figure out what to put on it….hmmm…..  Then I remembered that I had the hostess set Happy Birthday Everyone that I had never used.  (Sheesh….do you think I have too many stamps?!)  It worked perfectly on the card but then it still needed a little something.  A matching button!  Yes!  A button worked perfectly on the card.  I had a bunch of buttons that of course I hardly ever used.  (Do you see a theme here….?)

I’m pretty tickled with this card.  So tickled that I’ll probably have to hold on to this stamp set for a while….just in case I want to make more of this card.  Sheesh!  Out with the old….In with the new!  Just let it go girl!  I’m hopeless.  Oh, well….

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Simple Rose Card

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IMG_7672One last card from our Flower Power class a few weeks ago.  This card is simple, yet elegant.  One of my favorite kinds of cards.

When I say simple, I mean simple.  The hardest part of the card is die cutting the flower and then roller over the die with the Big Shot Die brush to loosen the paper from the die…..and if you’ve ever done that you know that it’s not hard!

You don’t even have to glue the die cut flower to the card stock!  Nope.  Just lay the flower where you want it, fold the pieces that over-hang to the back and use regular tape to adhere the pieces to the back of the card stock.  Easy-peasy!  Your card is practically done!

Besides being striking, this card is very versatile.  You can use any type of sentiment that you’d like!  The Rose Wonder stamp set comes with quite a few sentiments as well as the fun label.  Don’t you just love the font on this sentiment?  All of the sentiments in this set are written in this font.  Beautiful!  I made my card a birthday card but this card would work perfectly for a sympathy card too.

I think I’ve found a new favorite color combination.  I really like Crumb Cake and Basic Black together.   They really look sharp together.  Do you have a favorite color combination?  What is it?  Leave me a comment and let me know!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Technique Tuesday: Rose Garden Puzzle

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IMG_7704It’s the second day of sun!  Woo Hoo!  The snow is gone and Spring is finally here (for now…)!  It’s time to celebrate with another flower card!

Not only do I have a flower card for you today but I also have a new technique and a little trick to make it easier for you.  I’m not sure of the official name (if there is one) for this little technique but I’ve heard it called the Puzzle Technique so that’s what I’m calling it.  🙂

If you look closely at the rose you can see that there are two different colors of petals.  (Yes….you need to look CLOSELY!)  I used Watermelon Wonder and Calypso Coral for my rose.  The first thing I did was die cut the rose from Basic Black card stock to get my outline.  Then I die cut the rose two more times from the Watermelon Wonder and the Calypso Coral and placed some pieces of each color in the black outline.  But wait….this is where the tip comes in…….

When making your “sandwich” on your Big Shot you want to place your card stock on a piece (the sticky side) of Glad Press ‘n Seal wrap (found at your local grocery store).  Now layer as usual and run through the Big Shot.   This little trick has (most of) your little pieces sticking to the Press ‘n Seal wrap in the shape of the flower.  This makes it much easier to know which piece goes where when you place them in the Basic Black outline flower.

IMG_7703Once you have your colored roses die cut it’s time to place the pieces in the black outline.  Here’s where things get totally random.  Yes, I know….I don’t do random well but I think I did ok on this flower.  Actually, the great thing about this technique is that you have enough pieces for 2 flowers!

This technique is really quite fun but you need a little patience and a pair of tweezers comes in handy for those little bitty pieces as does the Fine-Tip Glue Pen.  I would definitely give this technique a try sometime.

Oh…..if you like the designs on the corners of the Whisper White card stock you might want to run to my store and grab a Curvy Corner Trio Punch before they’re gone.  I’m so sad that this punch is retiring and won’t be in the new catalog on June 1st.  🙁

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

It’s STILL Snowing!

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IMG_7759Happy May Day!  It’s unbelievable.  It is still snowing!  That’s 4 days in a row.  Yikes!  Good thing it’s been fairly warm.  I can’t even imagine how much snow we’d have if this was March!  It’s been a light, drizzly snow since Thursday!  Sheesh!  At least the weather report says it should be nice and warm by the end of the week!

Since it is actually May today I needed more flowers!  Good thing we made lots of flower cards in our Flower Power class!

This card is made with my favorite color so it should cheer me up a bit today!  I used a new technique while coloring these flowers from the Helping Me Grow stamp set.  I used my Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Brush to pick up the Melon Mambo ink to color the flowers!  You can’t tell from the picture but the flowers are very sparkly!

I’m going to miss my Melon Mambo ribbon since it’s retiring.  I loved having it the catalog….I actually had two choices of Melon Mambo ribbon but sad to say they’re both going away.  If you love Melon Mambo ribbon as much as I do stock up now….I did!  🙂

Stay warm and dry!  Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Picture Perfect

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IMG_7761I had to post a flower card today to remind me that it actually is spring….

It snowed ALL day yesterday and it’s still snowing!  YUK!  It actually started on Thursday.  Luckily it wasn’t quite cold enough for the snow to stick to the roads and such but there is snow on the ground.  Welcome to springtime in the Rockies.

Once again I’m using a stamp set that I had no desire to get.  I didn’t need another flower stamp and I didn’t want the hummingbird or the starfish found in the Picture Perfect stamp set.  But then I saw some cards made with the 3-step flower stamps and knew I had to give it a go.  The flower is beautiful…..and I really like the way this card turned out.

Of course I copied the basic idea for this card.  Sometimes you just have to keep things simple.  🙂

I’ve been scaring myself the last few days because I’m actually cleaning up my stamp room.  Not only that….I’m getting rid of stuff.  I’ve decided to have my sale at the beginning of June when I have my new catalog open house.  That way I’m not holding on to it all summer.  Another reason is that we’re having out-of-town guests in the middle of June so I have to clear out all of the stuff!  Ha!  This past week and this upcoming week are pretty open for me so I’m hoping to get a lot done.  MAYBE….if I ever get this room looking good…I’ll actually post a picture or two of my craft space.  Don’t hold your breath though.  I’ve had good intentions before and they’ve never actually panned out.  A girl can only try, right?

Have a great day.  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Birthday Blooms

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IMG_7756I can’t believe that the weekend is here already.  I also can’t believe what a slacker I’ve been about my posting to my blog….ok….I can believe it.  I’m just glad that you stick with me and continue to read my blog (at least once in awhile).

Today’s card is one we made in our Flower Power class last week.  The whole class was centered around flowers….perfect for Mother’s day or any occasion.

I kind of feel sorrow for the flowers around here in Denver.  They’re going to get pretty cold in the next day or so….Yep!  It’s suppose to snow again.  Actually it was snowing this morning a bit when I went out but the rest of the day has just been damp and dreary.  We’ll see if the weatherman is correct.

I tried something a little different (at least for me) on this card.  I watercolored the image with my Aqua Painter and ink pads but then I went over the parts I wanted a little darker with the coordinating marker.  It really turned out nicely.  I liked it too because I didn’t over-saturate the card stock by going over it again and again with my Aqua Painter.  I’ll have to try and remember that trick for the next time I water color.

Did you notice that I did “the random thing” with the silver thread?  Ha!  You know how much trouble I have with random but I thought I’d give it a try again.  It does do a little something for the card.  I just have to get over trying to hard when I do random!

Wishing you all a warm and snowless day!  Happy Stamping!

Number of Years Floral Card

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IMG_7614Hello!  Here’s another swap card I made for OnStage 2016.  We’re also making it in class this week.

Watermelon Wonder is definitely one of my new favorites.  It’s right up there with Melon Mambo!  I especially love the new Watermelon Wonder 1″ Stitched Satin Ribbon.  It’s gorgeous!  I’ve been holding on to it trying to figure out what to do with it and I think I found the perfect thing!  🙂

You can’t see all of the pretties on this card in the photograph.  I used Shimmery White card stock (another new favorite!) and I just had to use the Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Brush (another favorite!) on the flowers.  Oh…don’t forget the little tiny pearls on the five-petal flowers.

Pretty.  Pretty.  Pretty.  I do have to admit that I’m pretty pleased with the way this card turned out.  Simple, yet elegant.  My favorite.  🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Bear Hugs Baby Buggy

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IMG_7743Hello!  Have you checked out the Retired List?  You can check out the actual list here or you can go to my store and see the actual items that are on sale.  Don’t miss out!  The stamps will all be available through May 22nd but the everything will only be available while supplies last.  Some of the items may be up to 50% off!  Woo Hoo!

Today’s card is one I made for a swap last week.  I can’t seem to get enough of the bears!  (They’ll be in the new catalog!  Woo Hoo!)  I loved the little saying from the Suite Sayings stamp set so I had to figure out a design to use both the saying and the bear!  🙂

IMG_7751The second card you see here is actually my first attempt.  IT turned out and I liked it, but I didn’t love it.   What to do.  Hmmm….That’s when I decided to try it with my favorite color, Melon Mambo!  What a difference it made!  What do you think?  Do you like the pastel colors or the bright colors?  Be sure to leave me a comment and let me know.

Usually when I participate in a swap you only make the card front.  This swap asked for the full card so I figured I had to do something fun with the inside too, right?   I decided I could add another bear along with the little heart and the saying.

IMG_7748I did receive a lot of really nice cards from this swap.  I’m sure I’ll be sharing some of them with you or at least CASEing them and putting my own twist on them.

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

 

 

Mini Treat Bag Birthday Card

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IMG_7778We’re off!  Yep!  We’re on our way to Salt Lake City for Stampin’ Up!’s On Stage Event.  Woo Hoo!

There aren’t any Stampin’ Up! events scheduled today so we’re going to hang out, have a nice dinner and then go back to the hotel to play.

We’ve each designed a card and brought all of the pieces and parts with us.  Everything is stamped and die cut for us so all we’ll have to do is put each other’s cards together.  Should be fun.

This is my little card/project for tonight.  I made a birthday card using the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies.  If you read my post from yesterday you know that these thinlits are on the Weekly Deals this week and you can get them at a discounted price!  How great is that?!!!  Check out all of the deals here!  Don’t miss out!  These are the last Weekly Deals ever!

IMG_7780Back to my fun little card….Not only did I use the fun Mini Treat Bag Thinlits but I used my very favorite Bear Hugs Thinlits.   If you’re looking at the first picture and wondering what that pink thing poking out of the bag is….it’s a balloon!  This way you have something to grab on to so you can pull the card out of the Mini Treat Bag easily.   Pretty clever, huh?  🙂

This type of card wasn’t exactly my idea.  I actually received a similar card (without the bear!) at convention last summer.  It’s been sitting on my desk since then waiting for my brain to decide to copy it.  I knew I wanted to use the bear on my project for this evening but wasn’t sure what to do with him.  Then I figured out that he fit perfectly on the front of the Mini Treat Bag and the rest is history!

IMG_7781I used all sorts of fun products on this card.  You can check them all out below.  Don’t you love it when things coordinate like the designer paper and the washi tape!  You do know that it’s my favorite crafting word!  🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!  Don’t forget to like my Stamp by Stamp page on Facebook so you can see all the crazy things we’re doing!