Cards

Two Step Stamping: Too Kind

by

010I do love my Melon Mambo….I was so glad that Stampin’ Up! had Melon Mambo ribbon in the catalog this year.   I told you….I plan my cards around what colors of ribbon I have!

It’s Stamp-a-Stack at classes this week.  We’ll be making 15 cards (3 each of 5 different designs).  It’s one of the more popular classes I offer because people can keep a card and still give two away…and the cards are EASY!

This card uses the Too Kind stamp set.  These flowers are so fun.  This is Two-Step Stamping at it’s easiest.  The flowers themselves are kind of messy so you don’t have to worry about lining things up perfectly.  You don’t even have to change ink colors!  The two different stamps do the highlighting for you.

Today is registration day for Stampin’ Up!’s convention this summer!  Woo Hoo!  Convention is always so much fun.  Did you know that if you sign up to become a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator now that Stampin’ Up! will pay your registration fee?  What a deal!  Contact me if you’d like more information on convention or on becoming a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator.  I’d be happy to help!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Backyard Basics Beauty

by

002I LOVE THIS CARD!  It’s simple, yet gorgeous!

I “borrowed” the general layout from someone online (thank you to the original creator) and made it my own.  Remember how the other day I mentioned that the Backyard Basics stamp set didn’t do a whole lot for me?  Well, this is the card that changed my mind.  Once I made this card I fell in love.

I started with the Shimmery White card stock.  It just makes everything so elegant.  The design at the bottom of the card is from the Mosaic Madness stamp set and the sentiment is from the Trust God stamp set.  The purple I used on the card is Elegant Eggplant.  I like Elegant Eggplant but I do still miss Concord Crush!  Once I stamped the flowers with Black StazOn ink I colored them with my blender pen and ink pads and die cut them with the COORDINATING Backyard Basics Framelits.  Coordination!  My favorite word in the stamping world!  Ha!

Can I say it just one more time?  I LOVE this card!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

New Feature! 3 x 3 Thursday

by

001Are you ready for something new?  I’m starting 3 x 3 Thursday!  I always make a little 3 x 3 thank you note to put in my customer’s orders.  Some of them are pretty darn cute so I figure it’s time to start sharing all of this cuteness with you!

This is one of the most recent ones I made.  Adorable, yes?  🙂

I used the very cute Starburst Sayings stamp set and die cut the little starbursts with yes, wait for it….the COORDINATING Starburst Framelits!  You know how much I LOVE coordination!  🙂

I also use the fun Retro Fresh Designer Paper and the equally fun Brights Candy Dots on the card.  It’s scary how much fun is on one little 3 x 3 card!

Let me know if you have any great ideas for 3 x 3 cards.  I’m always looking for new ideas!  Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Backyard Basics Easter Eggs!

by

006Yes, sometimes there are really stamp sets (and coordinating framelits!) that I don’t think I need.  I know you’re confused….I usually love everything and have to have everything but Backyard Basics just didn’t do it for me.  I saw no reason that I needed a bee stamp, another flower stamp, another butterfly stamp, a bird stamp or an egg stamp for heavens sake!  Who stamps an egg?!

Well, I didn’t stamp an egg but I sure do love the egg framelit!  Woo Hoo!  Once I saw this card online I knew I was going to end up purchasing the Backyard Framelits….and if you’re going to have the framelits you really need the stamp set!  🙂  Anyway, a girl has to have an Easter Egg!  Don’t worry….I’ll show you another card using this stamp set in a few days.  I am getting my money’s worth!  🙂

This was a quick and adorable card that we made in classes last week.  Stamp the sentiment (from Delightful Dozen) on the Whisper White card stock and then run it through the Big Shot with my new favorite Embossing Folder, Decorative Dots.  You have to do your stamping first or it’s really hard to get a clean image with all those dots in the way!  Ha!

Die cut two eggs with the (now) fabulous Backyard Framelits, cut some grass with your Stampin’ Up! Fringe Scissors and you have an adorable card for Easter!  Have you played with the Fringe Scissors?  They’re pretty neat.  One of these days I’ll have to show you how to make a really cool flower using them.

If you’re wondering about the pretty designer paper I used, don’t.  You missed it.  It was the Sweet Sorbet Designer Paper from Sale-a-bration which ended Monday.  I hope you got a package if you wanted one.  There were some beautiful designs in it.

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

 

Tip of the Day Tuesday: Coloring Doilies

by

007It’s Tuesday and I have a little tip for you!  Did you know that you can color Stampin’ Up! Doilies?  Well, I suppose you could color any doily but why wouldn’t you use Stampin’ Up!’s?  🙂

It’s pretty easy.  You just need an ink refill, a spritzer and 70% Rubbing Alcohol.  Is this sounding familiar?  It should.  I used the exact same technique I use when coloring the Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon!  Mix your alcohol and ink refill in your spritzer and spritz away!  The more saturated the color you want the more ink refill you need to use.  That’s it!  Now you can have any color doily (or ribbon) that you want!

Doesn’t the Strawberry Slush doily really add to the card?  I stamped the tulips from the Blessed Easter stamp on Shimmery White card stock before coloring with my Blender Pen.  Shimmery White is my favorite paper to use when coloring lately.  I can hardly wait for the new Blendabilities Markers to come out.  Unfortunately there’s been a slight delay with the manufacturer but I know they’ll be available some day!  They will make coloring so much fun!  I’ll definitely keep you posted!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

The Last Best of Flowers

by

007Today’s the day.  After today, no more “Best of” cards.  🙁  I hope you’ve ordered all of the ones that you want because today is the last day to order them.

I used Best of Flowers to share my last “Best of” card with you.  We made this in one of our recent classes and it was a hit.  I loved the way it turned out.  It makes me think of Summer for some reason.  I know….here I am talking about Summer and some of you across the country have barely had a taste of Spring!

I love this color combination of Early Espresso and Crushed Curry.  Doesn’t the Crushed Curry Chevron Ribbon make this card extra-fun?  I did get to use my favorite new Decorative Dots Embossing Folder on the card.  I love this folder and was so excited to read the fine print in the Sale-a-bration Brochure that it will be in the new catalog coming in June!  Woo Hoo!

Speaking of Sale-a-bration….today is the last day for that too.  If you haven’t placed your Sale-a-bration order yet you better do it ASAP!  You don’t want to miss out on FREE stuff!

So, to finish explaining my card…the daisies are punched out with the 1 1/4″ Scallop Circle Punch and the centers are punched out with the circle from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack.  Punches!  They make our lives so much easier!  🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

One More Best of Birthdays….

by

017I’m getting kind of sad now that these “Best of” stamp sets are coming to an end.  I had a whole year + to play with them and I wait until the last minute.  Typical!  Anyway, this is a fun little Best of Birthdays card for you.  Bright and springy just like the weather (at least here in Colorado!)

I love this card because it has washi tape on it and I used Melon Mambo as one of the colors.  It’s got to be a great card, right?!  Doesn’t the little flower with the Candy Dot in the middle of it just finish the card off?  Too fun.  The flower is from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack.  The washi tape is from the Gingham Garden pack and the framelit is from the Chalk Talk Framelits.  I might have to make a few more of these for my stash! 🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

 

Simple Saturday: Best of Butterflies

by

010Well, I’m a little behind again on my posts but I guess you’re used to that by now.  Sheesh….I do try to stay on top of it!  Thanks for putting up with me!

It’s Simple Saturday and I have one last Best of Butterflies card for you.  I embossed the background with the Beautifully Baroque Embossing Folder. (I think this was the first time I ever used it!)  The sentiment is from Bring On The Cake and of course the butterfly is from Best of Butterflies.  Now don’t forget that Monday, the 31st is the absolute LAST day to purchase any of these fun “Best of” stamp sets.  You can check them all out here.  Don’t miss out!

Do you ever have trouble trying to figure out what color(s) to use on a card, especially one like this where you use just about any color and it would work?  Do you know what my secret is?  Ribbon.  Yes, ribbon.  I start with the ribbon.  Number one, it helps narrow down your color choices and number two….I love ribbon!  🙂  How’s that for a tip of the day!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

 

Washi Tape Wednesday: Big Wish!

by

030Happy Birthday to my favorite DIL, Margot! Ok…she’s my only DIL but that’s beside the point!  🙂

As soon as I saw this Big Wish stamp set in the new Occasions Catalog I knew I had to get it to make Margot’s birthday card.  She loves donuts!  At their wedding in October Margot and my son Jared chose to have pies and donuts instead of cake!  Too fun!

It was real easy to stamp the donuts on the pedestal…especially with the clear-mount stamp set.  I would probably have had to use my Stamp-a-ma-jig if I had a wood-mount stamp set though.  I was going to use some of the Retro Fresh Designer Paper for the background on the card but then I thought that the Retro Fresh This and That Washi Tape was a lot more fun!  I love washi tape!  I actually had a dream last night that Stampin’ Up! came out with tons of fun new washi tape in the new catalog.  I sure hope that’s true!  🙂

Time to get ready for today’s class.  Both classes yesterday went well.  We made some adorable Easter and Spring cards that I’ll be sharing with you soon.  Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

 

Geometrical Meets Another Great Year

by

039On Saturday my baby turned 21….No, I am not old!  Tonight we’re taking him and his girlfriend out to dinner at a nice steak house.  Yum!  Since we’re celebrating birthdays I thought I should post a birthday card today!

We made this card a few classes ago.  It’s pretty easy but it’s fun!  Just stamp Another Great Birthday and color in the letters.  Stamp a few triangles from the Geometrical stamp set, add some Kaleidoscope Designer Paper, a few Stampin’ Dimensionals and you have a fun birthday card!

These are cards are quick and easy (ok…it does take a minute or two to color in the letters…).  I made a bunch of extras for my card stash!

I need to think about going shopping since I haven’t actually got my son anything for his birthday yet.  The VISA gift card is looking pretty good!  🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

 

Upsy Daisy Best of Flowers

by

001I have to admit that I got all giddy when I completed this card.  It’s PINK and it’s beautiful!  What more do you want?  I did copy the basic layout for this card.  How could I not?  It’s gorgeous!  Thank you to the designer.

The flowers of course are from Best of Flowers.  Don’t forget….there’s only about a week left to order the “Best of” stamp sets.  Don’t miss out!  The sentiment is from A Dozen Thoughts.  Have you checked out this stamp set?  I love it.  There’s tons of sentiments and they’re all in different fonts.

The gorgeous embossing on the card is made with the Delicate Designs Embossing Folder and then die-cut with the Large Scallop Edgelit.  Coordination!  My favorite word!  I’m not sure, but this might actually be one of the first times I’ve used this embossing folder.  Yikes!  Ok, maybe I have….it’s just been awhile!

A beautiful card for what I’m hoping is a beautiful day.  It’s a bit chilly this morning but the sun is out so that a good sign!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

A Baby Shower Card!

by

Yikes!  Where did the week go?  I’ve been doing such a good job of keeping up with my posts and all of the sudden it’s Saturday!  How did that happen?

Well, it has been a busy week.  A friend from church passed away and I offered to make his wife (also a friend) thank you notes.  So, first I had to figure out what to make and then start making them.  I’ll show you what I came up with in a later post (even though I used a retired stamp set!).  Then there was church, choir and the funeral this week so everything else went on the back burner.

I’m back though and excited to share with you today.  I get to go to a baby shower this afternoon!  I haven’t been to a baby shower in ages!  The ones I’ve been invited to have all been out of town so this should be fun.  It’s for the DIL of one of my friends at church.

038 I’m an avid reader and I love children’s books so that is the gift I usually give to babies.  My favorites are Dr. Seuss and Sandra Boyton.  Today I’m going with Dr. Seuss.  I bought the books and then found this adorable gift-topper on Etsy.  Have you checked out that website?  It’s fabulous!  Almost as addictive as Pinterest!  I just typed in “Dr. Seuss baby gifts” and this was one of the cute things that came up.  It’s little rolled up socks in a washcloth all decorated to look like a baby Cat in the Hat! TSC!  Too Stinkin’ Cute!

I’m going to wrap the gift in white paper with red ribbon to go with the little gift-topper.  My challenge was to come up with a card to match the rest of the gift.  Unfortunately, Stampin’ Up! doesn’t have any Dr. Seuss stamps so I got on my trusty computer and 032looked for clip art.  Ta Da!  Just what I was looking for.  I used one of my programs to add the words to the word bubble and printed it out!  Too fun!  I also googled Dr. Seuss quotes to find the quote for the inside of the card.  Gotta love the internet!  🙂

Once I had my Dr. Seuss theme all figured out I got to thinking that the card really didn’t have any stamping on it to show off to all of the people who will be at the shower.   Hmmm….how to get people interested in stamping?    I finally figured out that I’d put the Dr. Seuss card in the gift with the books and then put a regular baby card on top of the package.  Perfect!  Now, maybe someone will 036get interested and want to hold a workshop or come to a class.  I know….devious.   A girl’s gotta market herself, right?  😉

I decided  to revamp a card we made in our “Best of” class for the actual baby card.  It’s the one I posted on March 13th.  I just made it over with Coastal Cabana to make it more for a boy.  Yes, the baby will be a boy.

Time to get going….I need to actually wrap the gift and make some more of those thank you notes.

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Best of Butterflies for Spring!

by

005Yep….Spring is just around the corner…can we make it a couple more days?

Does this card just shout Spring?!!!  I love the color combination!  It’s so bright and….springy!  🙂  Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight and of course, my favorite, Melon Mambo!

The Best of Butterflies has so many butterflies to welcome in Spring!  Just the stamp set to use on a not-so-spring-like day.

I do have a confession to make….I had trouble with this card.  I know you’re wondering why…it’s just a bunch of butterflies stamped randomly on a piece of paper.  Well, that’s the problem…I can’t do random.  I really have a hard time randomly stamping a bunch of things on a piece of paper so it look good.  I need to get over it.  That’s the whole point of random….just do it!  But despite all of my problems with random, the card turned out pretty good.  Bright and cheerful!

I hope you have a bright and cheerful day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

A Flower Shop Hello

by

025Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  I hope you weren’t expecting to see anything green from me today.  It didn’t even cross my mind to come up with a green project for you.  Spring is just a few days away (Woo Hoo!) so how about some flowers?

We made this fun card last month at class.  Don’t you just love the patterns in the Fresh Prints Designer Paper Pack?  The color combination of Coastal Cabana, Real Red and Crumb Cake is so fun.  Definitely not a combination I would have come up with on my own.  That’s what I like about Stampin’ Up! and about copying ideas from other stampers….they help me expand my horizons….try things I wouldn’t have tried on my own.

I used both the Flower Shop stamp set and the Petite Petals stamp set for my flowers.  Of course I had to use the coordinating Pansy and Petite Petals punches to punch them out!  Coordination!  Woo Hoo!  You know how much I love that word!  The “hello” is from the Four You stamp set.

There’s definitely not a shortage of products used on this card!  The more the merrier!  🙂

Well, I’m off to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned.  Not my favorite thing to do but there are worse things in the world!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Simple Saturday: Best of Butterflies

by

009Good morning!  It’s Simple Saturday and apparently Best of Butterflies = simple!  Ha!  It’s two weeks in a row that I’ve used this cute stamp set for Simple Saturday (although last week it was Simple Sunday!).   Not only did I used the same stamp set but I used the Notecards & Envelopes again.  They’re perfect for a simple card because you don’t have quite as much space to fill.

I started with a couple strips of the Gingham Garden Washi Tape, added three butterflies and a couple of layers.  That’s it!  Card done!  You can’t get much simpler.  I did add a liner to the envelope with the fantastic Envelope Liner Framelits.  Just perfect to jazz up the whole thing!

Well, I’m going to play in my craft room today and get ready to have the neighbors over for a little pre-St. Paddy’s Day celebration.  Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!