Cards

Another Bravo Graduation Card

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004The new Bravo Stamp is perfect for graduation cards.  All of the sayings in the stamp set are congratulations, bravos, you did it and other such sayings.  Like I mentioned in my last post about this stamp set it has my favorite…Woo Hoo!  How can you not like a stamp set that has “Woo Hoo” in it! 🙂

I made this card for my nephew Matt.  He graduated last Monday from my alma mater, The University of Minnesota.  Go Gophers!  I had to make him another card (which I have yet to mail) this week.  He spent his four years at “the U” in ROTC and he got commissioned yesterday!  Woo Hoo!  We’re so proud of him!  I’ll post that card in the near future.

There were lots of graduations this past week.  My son and his wife are actually here for about a day and a half as they came to see one of their good friends receive her masters!  Way to go Alyssa!

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Kind and Cozy

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004Well, here’s another one of those stamp sets that was just sitting on my shelf waiting to be used.  I finally dusted off my Kind and Cozy stamp set and used it in classes this week.  It’s a really cute set.  I’m not sure why it was collecting dust.

I decided I needed to use my favorite Gingham Garden Designer Paper one more time before it goes away.  It’s so bright and cheerful and it has my favorite color Melon Mambo in it!  The perfect paper!  Hmmm….do I need to order more before it’s gone?  🙂

What’s your favorite designer paper in the current catalog?  Leave me a comment and let me know!  Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Fun and Adorable Zoo Babies

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002Once again, all I can say is TCS!  Too Stinkin’ Cute!  I’m not sure why it took me so long to break down and purchase the Zoo Babies stamp set.  It’s ADORABLE!  Every single one of the images is TSC!

We made this card in classes this week.  Everyone fell in love with these little critters.  I used three silly monkeys on my card but most of the people in class chose to use three different critters.  I need to make more cards using this stamp set so I can play with all of the critters.

I went with the color combination of Coastal Cabana (love that color!) and Soft Suede to make it more of a baby card.  You could easily use brighter colors though for an older child.  Some of my customers have requested that we make kid’s cards in class so you may be seeing more of that type of card….keep a lookout!  🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Who Doesn’t Love Designer Paper?!

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013When you’re in the market for an easy card head to your stash of designer paper!  That’s what I did for this Simple Saturday card!

This new Maritime Designer Paper is ADORABLE!  It’s so dang cute you don’t even need a stamp on it!  You usually use the designer paper as an embellishment on your card but these patterns are so cute you can use them as the focal point of your card.  There’s nothing easier!  🙂

Does the little octopus on the second card look familiar?  It should!  It’s the same octopus from the Sea Street stamp set.  COORDINATION!  Woo Hoo!  I know…it’s the simple things in life that tickle my fancy!  🙂

Have a great Saturday!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

 

Bravo!

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001It’s time for another sneak peek!  The new stamp set that I’m showing you today is Bravo.  This is a great greeting set full of congratulations and such.  My favorite greeting in this set is Woo Hoo!  🙂

Today’s card is one that I made for one of my nephews who graduated from college last week.  Any of the sentiments in this stamp set work perfectly for graduation.  On this card I paired the “congratulations” with the graduation cap from the Pomp & Circumstance stamp set in the Occasions Catalog.  On the inside of the card I used the “Yay, You!” stamp from the same set.  A fun card for any graduate.

Yesterday I should have been cutting card stock or actually cleaning up my craft room.  Instead I ended up reorganizing part of the closet in my craft room where I keep my card stock.  I’m quite pleased with my new arrangement.  I’ve moved all the card stock from the floor and lower shelf to eye level.  What a difference!  I love it!  I guess this means that tomorrow I should actually work on things that need to get done…..

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Sneak Peek: Sea Street

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006This little octopus from the upcoming stamp set Sea Street is TSC!  Too Stinkin’ Cute!  Oh, my!  Wait until you see the coordinating designer paper Maritime….you’ll be in love with these cute critters!

Today’s card is one I made while messing around with this adorable stamp set.  The dominate colors in the designer paper are Real Red, Night of Navy and Coastal Cabana so I decided to stick with those.

My new favorite embossing folder, Decorative Dots, works perfectly with this stamp set.  I think it looks like little bubbles in the water!  🙂

Don’t you think that the Just Sayin’ stamp set is the perfect compliment to the adorable little octopus?  What a great kid’s card!  I’m definitely in love with this stamp set and was so glad that we demonstrators could order it early!  Don’t you wish you were a demonstrator?  😉

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

The All-Purpose Owl Builder Punch and Baby

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005Do you own Stampin’ Up!’s Owl Builder Punch?  You may want to rethink that.  This has got to be one of the most versatile punches I’ve ever seen.  Practically every time I get on the web I see a new use for this silly punch.  It’s a must-have tool for every crafter!  🙂

Today’s card shows one of the cutest uses for this punch that I’ve seen in a long time.  This adorable little dress is made from the “vest” on the owl punch.  Once again, how do people come up with these great ideas?  When I look at the owl punch I see an owl…that’s it!  Good thing for the internet!  🙂

I love this ruffled ribbon although it was a little hard to work with .  This is the perfect use for it though.  Once again I hope you have some leftover because it’s on the retired list and it’s sold out in all colors but Baked Brown Sugar.  🙁

Doesn’t this make the cutest little baby girl card?  I’ve seen some cards where they’ve turned the “vest” into a little pair of overalls just by  clipping a little triangle in the center bottom edge (and of course leaving off the ruffled ribbon!).  TSC!  Too Stinkin’ Cute!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

 

A Baseball Card for Mother’s Day

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Mothers' Day.0514 (2)Last week I posted a baseball card made using the Chevron Punch.  I mentioned that I made my mom a similar card for Mother’s Day but forgot to take a picture of it.  Well, here it is.  My mom took a picture of it for me yesterday after opening her gift and sent it to me.  Here it is.

My Mother’s Day was quite peaceful.  Hubby is out of town.  Son #1 lives in California and Son #2 worked all day.  Son #2 did stop by after work though so that was nice.  I spent the day playing in my craft room and watching the snow fall outside.  Yes…..I said snow!  Yuk!  Actually it’s still snowing on Monday morning as I write this.  Life in Colorado!

I got caught up on some of the Paper Pumpkin kits that have been piling up on me.  They’re so easy and fun I don’t know why I don’t keep up with them.  If you don’t what Paper Pumpkin is it’s a monthly kit that arrives in the mail every month.  It contains everything you’ll need to make that month’s project except for adhesive.  The projects are fun and easy and they keep getting better every month!  Have you tried Paper Pumpkin yet?  You should!  Sign up today!  Just go to www.mypaperpumpkin.com.  Please list me as your demonstrator if you do sign up.  🙂

They’ve changed the way they send out the kits.  It used to be that you got a special Starter Kit when you signed up but now you will just get the next month’s kit along with everyone else.  This starts in June.  Let me know if you have any questions on Paper Pumpkin.  It’s fun!

Have a great (warm and sunny!) day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Simple Saturday: Sassy Salutations

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002Here’s a fun and simple card for Simple Saturday!  My card group at church is getting together on Monday so I needed to come up with some easy cards we can make in bulk.  I was trying to come up with some designs and realized that I have TONS of designer paper that is retiring at the end of this month so……

This Birthday Basics Designer Paper is perfect for….well…birthdays!  Ha!  Of course before I got too carried away with my design I needed to make sure I had ribbon that matched the designer paper.  🙂

Speaking of ribbon….I just counted and there are about 50….yes, 50!….new ribbons in the upcoming catalog!  Woo Hoo!   I’m in heaven!  I should have no problem at all designing cards now.  Ha!

I actually had a number of ribbon choices that coordinated with this designer paper but I decided to go with the Bermuda Bay 1/8″ Taffeta Ribbon.   It’s so bright and fun and just perfect for a birthday card!  The birthday sentiment is from the Sassy Salutations Stamp Set.  Another fun choice!

After a quick run to the grocery store I’m hoping to sit down and play with some of my new toys!  I can’t wait!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

 

 

Rev Up the Fun!

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030My husband rides motorcycles (yes, plural…we have three in the garage!) so I knew I needed to use this stamp set for our masculine card class.  Unfortunately Rev Up the Fun was on the retired list and is already sold out!  Bummer!  I had a few people ask about during class and probably could have sold a couple.  🙁

This was a pretty easy card to make.  I just stamped the images on the card stock and layered things up.  The fun part of the card is the embossed Silver Foil Sheet.  I embossed it with the Houndstooth Embossing Folder. (This is also on the retired list but is still available!)  Doesn’t it look like something you’d find in a garage?!

I’ve already sent one of these cards out.  My brother-in-law’s birthday was on Monday and he has a motorcycle too so I thought he might enjoy the card.

Now that this week’s classes are over and I have the next class planned I can start playing with my new toys that I was able to preorder from the upcoming catalog!  Woo Hoo!  I’ll definitely be sharing so stay tuned!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

 

3 x 3 Thursday: Peaceful Petals

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0083 x 3 cards are fun and simple to make.  I used the Peaceful Petals stamp set on this little card.  I just love this single bloom.  I can’t wait to use my Blendabilities alcohol markers with this stamp set.  It’s just perfect for coloring!

I really like how striking the black and white look is.  It makes this simple card elegant.

I liked this little 3 x 3 card so much that I had to make a regular size card with the same image and colors.  I added ribbon and a sentiment along with embossing the background with my favorite Decorative Dots Embossing Folder.  I’m 003SO glad that this folder will be in the new catalog!

This full size card will be perfect for my group at church to make.   Simple, yet elegant!  🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

 

Oh, Happy Day!

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001Let’s have a little fun on a Wednesday!  Chevrons, starburst and striped ribbon….they all say fun to me!  How about you?

I was looking through my supplies one day and saw this Pacific Point Striped Ribbon.  It looked so fun!  I knew I had to figure out how to use it on a card and this is what I came up with.  I thought about using more colors on the card but I didn’t want to get too carried away.  I think there’s enough going on with the chevrons, starbursts and stripes, don’t you?  🙂

These stamps from Starburst Sayings are so fun!  You know where I’m going next don’t you…..I LOVE the COORDINATING Starburst Framelits!  Ha!  Me and coordination…I can’t get enough of it!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Technique Tuesday: Ombré

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027Ombré means shaded or graduated in tone.  I used a simple ombré technique on today’s card.  I used my ink pads and sponge daubers to make may graduated tones.

I first stamped the flower image from the So Very Grateful stamp set on Whisper White card stock with the Basic Gray ink.  When you’re working with multiple colors it’s always best to start with the lightest color.  I started my ombré effect with Blushing Bride.  Crisp Cantaloupe is the middle color and Calypso Coral is the darkest color.

For the background I stamped the flower image randomly on the Crisp Cantaloupe card stock with the Crisp Cantaloupe ink.  I used my favorite ribbon coloring technique to get the Basic Gray ribbon.  I filled my spritzer with rubbing alcohol and Basic Gray ink and spritzed the ribbon until I had the shade I wanted.  The Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon that I use with this technique is retiring so I am kind of bummed about that but there is some new ribbon in the upcoming catalog that might work just as well.  I can’t wait to try it…

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

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046It’s baseball season so what makes a better masculine card than a baseball?  Yes, I CASEd this card….but it’s so darn cute!  I love how the Chevron Punch makes the stitching on the baseball….very clever.  How do people think up all of these wonderful ideas?

I used a dinner sized paper plate to make the curve up the baseball.  Then it was just a matter of punching enough chevrons with the Chevron Punch to make my stitching.  TSC!  Too Stinkin’ Cute!

The sentiment is from Perfect Pennants in the Occasions Catalog.  For some reason I like to pop up that “a” in another color whenever I use this stamp.  It just seems to add so much to the card.  The star is from Simply Stars.  This is one of the many stamp sets on the retired list that is already sold out. 🙁  Don’t fret if you like stars though….you may see some in the new catalog….just sayin’!  🙂

My mom is a huge baseball fan so I altered this card a bit into a Mother’s Day card for her.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it before I packaged up her gift.  Maybe I’ll have her take a picture of it when she gets it so I can share.  I need to get the gift in the mail today so it gets to the Minnesota Homeland before Mother’s Day!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Hardwood and Doilies

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013My Thursday night event was a lot of fun.  The gals seemed to enjoy making the cards.  This is the third card we made that night.  Hardwood and Doilies.

It’s a pretty easy card which is why I designed it for this event.  I was trying for an old fashioned or Victorian look.  I’m not sure I succeeded with that but I do like the card.

I used the Perfectly Penned stamp set for the sentiment.  It worked perfectly for the look I was going for.  I hope you already have this stamp set because it’s one of the many retiring stamp sets that is already sold out both in clear mount and wood.  I’m amazed at all of the stamp sets that have quickly sold out.

I really like the doily on this card.  I need to incorporate doilies on more of my cards.  They’re just so pretty! 🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!