A Birthday Adventures Card

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Balloon Adventures.0117You can never have enough birthday cards on hand.  Someone you know just had, is having or will have a birthday soon.  I can’t seem to keep up.  How do you do with sending out your birthday cards?

Today’s card is one we made at my recent Card Buffet.  No punching or die-cutting.  Just a few layers, some designer paper and a quick bow.

It’s easy to come up with a color combination for a card when you start with designer paper.  These two papers are from the Party Animal Designer Series Paper Pack.  This package of designer paper uses fun colors like Pacific Point and Tangerine Tango that you see on this card.  I really like when Stampin’ Up! comes out with new papers because a lot of time they use colors that I don’t often use.   For example on this card….orange isn’t usually my go-to color unless its October and I’m making Halloween cards but it sure makes this card pop!  Pacific Point also isn’t one of my go-to colors.  If I need a blue I usually start with Night of Navy.  I like when I can get out of my box.

Do you have a favorite designer series paper from the new Occasions Catalog?  I haven’t quite decided what mine is yet.  I love the bright colors in the Party Animal package (pg 5) and the Bohek designs in the Falling in Love package (pg. 51)are gorgeous.  The color combinations in the Tasty Treats Specialty package of papers (pg. 33) are yummy and the colors in the Succulent Garden package (pg. 21) are beautiful together.  It’s a really tough choice.  I’ll let you know if I ever make up my mind.  🙂

Have a wonderful, colorful day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Suite Sentiments Friendship Card

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Watermark.1The Suite Sentiments stamp set has some great sentiments in it.  I first shared one of the sentiments here.  The airmail sentiment was perfect for that valentine card I made.

The sentiment I used on this card was another big reason I purchased this stamp set.  I love the font and I love the saying.  Not only can you use it on card just about friendship but you could include it in a birthday card or a thank you card.

If you look closely at the sentiments in this stamp set you’ll notice that many of them coordinate with other stamp sets and suites in the Occasions Catalog.  Check out the full stamp set here and see what I mean.  See if you can link the sentiment with the stamp set or suite that it coordinates with.

It’s hard to tell from the picture but I used one of the swirls from the Swirly Bird stamp set on the Blushing Bride card stock.  I stamped the image with the Blushing Bride ink and it adds a subtle design to the paper which just makes the focal point image pop just a bit more.

I paired this lovely sentiment with the Avant Garden stamp set which is one you can earn for FREE with a $50 purchase during Sale-a-bration.  I stamped the flowers on Shimmery White card stock and colored them in with my Blender Pen and ink pads.  Isn’t it lovely?  As I mentioned the other day, you just can’t go wrong if you pair a color with black.

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping.  Have you made out your Sale-a-bration wish list yet?  🙂

Perfect Mix Valentine

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Perfect Mix.0117Valentines Day is less than a month away and it’s time to get busy!  This week I’m holding my Love & Friendship Class.  Here is one of the cards we’ll be making.

I love the Perfect Mix stamp set.  It’s so clever!  This little mixer is one of my favorite images from the stamp set.  What’s your favorite?

This card is pretty simple but SO darn cute!  The designer paper is from the Sending Love Designer Series Paper Stack.  The nice thing about this stack of papers is that not all of the images have hearts on them for Valentines Day.  There are a number of non-heart patterns which will make it perfect for the whole year.

I think this week after my classes are over I’m going to sit down and design more cards and projects with all of my Valentines products.  It seems a shame to use them only once.  Even if I won’t be using these projects in a class I can definitely share them with YOU!  🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make it Mine Monday: Avant Garden

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Avant Garden.0117It’s another fun Make it Mine Monday.  This is a great little challenge for me.  This week I didn’t have any cards on hand that I knew I had CASEd so I went to the internet and started searching for a card to copy.

My favorite place to start looking for ideas is Pinterest.  Sheesh!  You can find almost anything there!  I came upon Mary Brown’s card that you see below and decided to go from there.

I really liked the way she grouped the flowers on her card and how she used only one color ccmc440for the flowers but stamped one off so that is where I began my card.

I could have used Real Red like Mary did on her card but after looking over all of my colors I decided on the seldom-used Rose Red for my card and paired it with the also seldom-used Basic Gray.  I’m really liking that color combination!  What do you think?

I went for the smaller 4 1/4″ x 4 1/4″ size for my card.  I didn’t want to deal with all of the extra white space on the card.  I’m starting to be ok with extra white space but just wasn’t feeling it for this card.

My images are stamped on Shimmery White card stock for some sparkle and when I didn’t think that was sparkly enough I went over my flowers with my Clear Wink of Stella pen.  You just can’t have enough sparkle, can you?  🙂

I’d like to challenge all of you to give Make it Mine Monday.  Ok…you can do it whenever you’d like but I think you should give it a try.  Find a card you like and switch it up.  I’d love to see what you come up with.  Send me both the card you’re copying and the one you came up with.  It will be fun to see what you all do!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Simple Remarkable You

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Remarkable You.0816Another simple, yet elegant card perfect for my Card Buffet.  Don’t you just love the flower images in the Remarkable You stamp set?  All of the images are so beautiful.

You can pair almost any color with black and it looks great.  Black makes everything pop.  The beauty of a card like this is that you could pair the black with almost any other color and the card will be beautiful.

I wish Stampin’ Up! had black ribbon of some sort but I’m making due with the Basic Black Baker’s Twine.  I do double it a lot like I’ve done on this card and it works!  🙂

I did play with stamps a bit yesterday as well as work on cleaning my stamp room.  Unfortunately I didn’t get quite as much done as I would have liked.  Isn’t that how it always goes?  Ha!

I’m excited for our Stamp Camp meeting tonight to see what projects the other demos come up with.  I’m also anxious to see what they think about my projects.  Our Stamp Camp will be held on Saturday, February 25th so if you’re going to be in the Denver area and would like to attend just let me know!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Simple Saturday: Floral Phrases

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Floral Phrases.1.0816It’s Simple Saturday!

This is one of the easy cards we made at our Card Buffet class this past week.  Three stamps on a piece of Shimmery White card stock.  Mount on Night of Navy.  Adhere to Night of Navy card with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  That’s it!  You’re done!  It really can’t get much easier than that.

Ok…I guess you could just stamp the images on a single layer white card and be done but what’s the fun in that?  🙂

I’m still trying to kick this darn cold that’s lingering around.  The last couple of days I was feeling a little sluggish but yesterday I felt pretty good and got a lot accomplished.  I just sound terrible and am still quite congested.  I guess it’s that time of year though.  We usual return from our after-Christmas visit to MN with something.

I have done quite a bit of stamping in the past few days and am quite excited about some of my projects.  I had to make some swaps for our team swap as well as some samples for our Stamp Camp meeting on Sunday.  Don’t worry…I’ll definitely be sharing them with you at some point.

Hopefully I’ll get to play a little more today although there are a number of other things that I should probably be doing….but stamping is so much more fun!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

It’s Sale-a-bration Time

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Have you been Sale-a-brating?  I love Sale-a-bration!  Who doesn’t like FREE stuff!  If you’re not familiar with Sale-a-bration let me tell you about it.  It’s a special time in Stampin’ Up!’s year where when you spend $50 on catalog products you can choose any item from the Sale-a-bration brochure for FREE!  Yep!  Spend $50 get a free item.  You can’t beat that!

There are 12 fabulous products for you to choose from!  Click on the Sale-a-bration Brochure at the right and see them all.   I know there will be at least one or two that you’ll have to have!  🙂

The video below highlights one of the new Sale-a-bration products.  It shows you the Pretty Pocket Card Kit.  What a fun and easy way to make some cute cards!

The great thing about Stampin’ Up! project kits is that you can always change them up and do something different with them.  If you feel you’re not creative enough or just don’t want to take the time to come up with an idea on your on just head on over to Pinterest!

sw_prettypocketcardkit_potw_jan1017Here’s a glimpse of some alternate ideas that Stampin’ Up! came up with.  Cute!

Take care.  Happy Stamping.  Let’s Sale-a-brate!

Blooms & Wishes

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blooms-wishes-0816This is probably my favorite card from my Card Buffet classes this week.  You know….it’s PINK!  🙂

A girl’s gotta love Flirty Flaming, right?  Have you used this color combination before?  Flirty Flamingo and Peek-a-boo Peach?  They look pretty good together don’t they?

You know me….I have a hard time with random but I think I did a pretty good job on this card.  I just stamped some flowers full strength and some of them I stamped off before stamping on the card.  Easy peasy!

I have the cards planned for my Love & Friendship classes next week but my team has a meeting on Sunday to plan our next Stamp Camp.  That means I need to design a card or two for that meeting as well as design and make some cards for our team swap that are due that same day.  All this on top of three classes this week.  Yikes!  I think I’m going to be busy!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make it Mine Monday: Vintage Leaves

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vintage-leaves-1-1016-2Here’s a new weekly post for you.  Join me on Mondays to find out how a take someone else’s card and make it my own.

Today’s card is one we’ll be making in classes this week.  I usually don’t like to use the Big Shot in a Card Buffet but I couldn’t resist with this card.  I’m not sure what it is about this card but I really, really like it.  It could be the color combination, the bold leaf or maybe just the overall design.  Whatever the reason, this is the card I came up with after seeing the second card here in this post.

Looking at this second card you can see where I got stampin-up-vintage-leaves-gorgeous-grunge-mm-001-791x1024started.  I took the design and pretty much and left it as is.  It looks like I widened the focal piece  but other than that the card design is the same.

The next thing I did was change the color.  I’m weird but when I’m designing and know I want to use ribbon that’s where I start.  I look at all of my ribbons and pick something that will work with the design in my head.  On the original card I didn’t want to use the gold ribbon with the Tip Top Taupe ink so I used the Basic Black Baker’s Twine and Archival Basic Black Ink.    I also changed the color of the card itself from Mint Macaron to Pool Party.  Once I did that my card was born!  🙂

Can you see how easy it is to start with someone else’s card and make it your own?  With this card I basically just changed the colors and you can see what a difference that can make.  Join me again next Monday for another installment of Make it Mine!

Have  a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Card Buffet: Flourishing Phrases

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flourishing-phrases-0816I have my card buffet scheduled for this week.  This is the third time I’m trying to hold this class.  I had to cancel twice already.  Third times the charm, right?

Naturally I came back from the MN Homeland with a cold and today I’m pretty miserable.  Stuffy head, can’t breath….you know how it is.  Anyway, I’m hoping I don’t have to cancel the class yet again!

For a Card Buffet class I’ve designed 8 easy cards.  You can come an make as many of any or all of the cards as you’d like.  The minimum cost for the class is $30 with each card over 8 only $2 a piece.  It’s a great way to build up that stash of cards for the year.

The great thing about these cards is that on most of them you can change out the sentiment for whatever occasion you need!  The hardest part about designing for this class was making sure I didn’t use the same colors on multiple cards (unless I have more than one ink pad of the same color!).  You also realize that easy, simple cards aren’t the easiest for me.  I don’t get too carried away when designing but I do love my Big Shot and I try not to use it for this class.  (Very Difficult!)

If you’re in the Denver area and want to join us on Tuesday or Wednesday let me know!  We’d love to have you join us!  🙂

Take care and Happy Stamping!

Windowbox Die Birthday Card

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windowbox-die-swapIsn’t this a fun birthday card?  My down line and friend, Janet, made it for a swap we participated in.  She used some fun new items on it.  How many new items can you spot?

Well, maybe we should count how many items are NOT new!  Ha!  If I’m right, the only old items that I’m seeing are the card stock and the ink.

The designer paper is the new Tasty Treats Specialty DP.  The sentiment is from the Cool Treats stamp set. The row of candles is punched with the Candle Border Punch and the design is die cut from the Window Box Thinlits Dies.  Oh…the little beads are the new Sprinkles Embellishments!  Wow!  That’s a lot of new stuff!  Nice job Janet!  I can’t wait to recreate this card!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Suite Sentiments

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suite-sentiments-1216Happy All Kings Day or First Day of Epiphany.  Since Christmas is officially over now it’s time to start thinking Valentines!  What?  Yes.  Valentines!  🙂

I designed this card in the middle of December for a swap.  When I was first trying to come up with an idea I was at a loss.  Then I started looking at the sentiments in the Suite Sentiments stamp set and had my brilliant idea.

So, maybe you don’t think this is as clever as I do but I’m thinking airmail….airplane.  BINGO!  There’s a little paper airplane in the Shooting Star stamp set that I knew would work perfectly!  Woo Hoo!  Of course I then had to figure out the actual design of the card and this is what I came up with.  Simple, yet adorable.  🙂

There is a die for the airplane which definitely made things easier.  I first embossed the plane on Real Red card stock with White Embossing Powder.  I did cut this one out right along the embossed outline of the plane.  Then I just die cut the plane from Whisper White card stock and adhered the two together.  It needed the extra border to show up on the designer paper.

My first valentine of the season.  I hope you like it! 🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

2017 Occasions Catalog

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The new Occasions Catalog is here and after a frustrating day yesterday (see yesterday’s post) Stampin’ Up! is ready for you to check it out and place those orders!  You can check out the catalog here but the video below gives you a fun little overview of some of the fabulous items you’ll find in the catalog.  Enjoy!

Have a great at and Happy Stamping!

They’re Here!

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The 2017 Occasions Catalog and the 2017 Sale-a-bration Brochure are here!  Woo Hoo!  New products!  I LOVE new products!  Have you checked them out?  Click on the link to the right and see what they’re all about!

If you’re on top of things and were trying to place an order this morning you may have had a small problem.  ALL of Stampin’ Up!’s systems were down.  Computer, phones, you name it.  The only way they could let us demonstrators know about it was through social media.  Yikes!

All is well now though so go ahead a place those orders!

hey-chick-1216As I’ve mentioned before, my favorite Sale-a-bration item is the Hey, Chick stamp set.  It’s TSC!  Too Stinkin’ Cute!  You can find it on page 17 of the Sale-a-bration Brochure.  This is a card I’ve previously posted and I can assure you that there will be more!

If you’ve already had a peek at the brochure have you picked out your favorite item?  I’d love to hear what your favorite its.  Leave a comment!

nailed-it-catalogOne of my favorite new items in the Occasions Catalog is the Nailed It stamp set and the COORDINATING Build It Framelits.  There are never enough products perfect the males in our lives.  Stay tuned for an adorable gift card holder that I made for Christmas with these products.

Do you have a favorite item in the Occasions Catalog?  Or maybe a favorite product suite?  Let me know!

The important questions is “Have you started your wish lists yet?”.  If not, get started!  🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Beautiful You

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beautiful-you-1216The new Beautiful You stamp set that you’ll be able to find in Stampin’ Up!’s new Occasions Catalog starting tomorrow just called to me.  I don’t know why.  It’s not the usual type of stamp set that catches my eye.  I think that part of the reason I’m drawn to are the sayings.  Especially the one I used on this card.  Live, Laugh, Love is kind of my mantra.

The figure I used on this card is my favorite of the three different ones in the stamp set so I set out to design a card using it and my favorite saying from the set.  This is what I came up with.  A very simple design which I water colored.

I started with Shimmery White card stock, ink pads and my Aquapainter.  At first I tried coloring the image with my new Watercolor Pencils but as I mentioned yesterday I just haven’t quite mastered them yet.

Instead of inking the sentiment with both a black marker and a Bermuda Bay marker I first inked the stamp in the Bermuda Bay ink pad and then I used my black marker right over the Bermuda Bay ink.

I can’t wait to share the new Occasions Catalog with you tomorrow!  Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping