Guy Greetings: An All-Occasion Card

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IMG_8411Yep!  Another guy card.  You can’t go wrong using Guy Greetings to make a guy card can you?!  Ha!

This is the last of the 5 guy cards we made in May.  This one is quite versatile and can be used for pretty much any occasion.  I chose to use it for Father’s Day since I sent the adorable bear card to my dad for his birthday.

Nice and simple.  My kind of card….although when I made it I actually stamped the anchor on a piece of scrap paper and then cut it out and adhered it to the Very Vanilla circle.  Why?  I’m not sure.  I guess I didn’t want speckles on my anchor.  Sheesh!  The card would have been even simpler had I just stamped it on the punched circle.  Of course, to each his own.  It works either way.  That’s the beauty of card making….you really can’t do things wrong….you just do them differently!  🙂

Here’s a little trick on making this card.  Do you notice that the woodgrain is going up and down on this horizontal card?   Well, the woodgrain stamp doesn’t quite fit across…..all I did was line it up as best I could by eyeing it and stamped a second time.  It’s woodgrain….it shouldn’t be perfect.  Ha!

Take care and Happy Stamping!

Bear Hugs for Dad

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IMG_8415Yesterday was Dad’s birthday.  We made this fun card in our May class and I knew it would be perfect for him.  Mom and Dad have a cabin on a lake in Wisconsin so the sentiment is right on!  🙂

I am so glad that this stamp set carried over into the new catalog.  I LOVE it!  How can you not love this adorable bear and the cute little fishies?!  Best of all…..COORDINATING framelits!  Woo Hoo!

I completely CASEd this card from Pinterest.  I’m not ashamed to admit it.   Why not borrow someone else’s beautiful work?  I know you’re surprised that I didn’t change anything from the original….so am I.  I usually add another layer or some ribbon or something but I liked this one just the way it was!

Have you had a chance to check out the new catalog yet?  You’re going to want to check it out!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

The 2016-2017 Catalog is Here!!!!!

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2016_AC_Cover_En-USHave you seen it yet?  It’s FABULOUS!  I know, I know….I say that every year but this catalog really is fantastic.  There are so many wonderful new products!  You really need to check it out!

If you would like your very own hands-on copy be sure to contact me.  I’d love to make sure that you get one.

I thought I knew exactly what I was going to order this morning but I spent a good portion of the day refining my order so I could put it in as soon as I got up this morning.

You’re thinking that I shouldn’t be quite this excited about the new catalog since I’ve been flipping through the pages for over a month now but as of TODAY I can order anything in it that I want.

Luckily my very favorite item in the new catalog was available for me to pre-order so I’ve been able to play with it a little bit.  What is it you ask?  It’s the Pop of Paradise stamp set (pg. 85).  It has a flamingo in it!  For some reason I really like flamingos.  Once you’ve had a chance to look through the catalog you’ll have to let me know what your favorite item is.

Have fun browsing the new catalog.  I know you’ll love it as much as I do.  Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Baby Bear

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IMG_8470Saturday I shared with you a post about a first birthday party that I went to.   It was Miss Bella’s birthday and I was trying to come up with the perfect card for her.  On my first attempts I used the brand new Baby Bear stamp set.  OK…it won’t be new for you until tomorrow but I figured you needed a sneak peek!

Isn’t this bear adorable?  Doesn’t it look just like a real teddy bear?  I won this stamp set at the On Stage event last month.  So fun!

I am going to be honest with you….I had a hard time stamping this cute little bear.  It’s three-step stamping which means it takes three different stamps to stamp IMG_8467the bear.  Stampin’ Up! has labeled the three different stamps (1, 2, 3) so you know which order to stamp in.

HOWEVER…and here’s my tip/trick for the day…..I found it much easier to stamp if I stamped 3, then 2, then 1.  I would definitely give this a try.  I just couldn’t get things lined up perfectly when I went 1, 2, 3.  It could just be me but try it yourself.

If you’re wondering what colors I used on the bear for the shading here it is….I used Crumb Cake for 1.  Chocolate Chip stamped off for 2 and Chocolate Chip full strength for 3.

Do you love the pink color on this card?  It’s the new Flirty Flamingo!  So pretty!  What about that ribbon?  I LOVE it!

Now here is a question I need answered….Which of these two cards do you like better?  The baby card or the birthday card?  Please leave me a comment and let me know.

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

P.S.  Don’t forget that today is the last day to order out of the 2015-2016 Catalog!

 

Happy Memorial Day!

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4thJust like the Fourth of July, Memorial Day brings to mind Red, White & Blue as well as stars (and stripes).  I originally posted this card last July.  I wanted to share it with you again today because most of the items used on this card are retiring.  🙁

The fun backgrounds are from the Sweet Li’l One  stamp set, the stars are from the Be the Star stamp set and the sentiment is from the And Many More stamp set.  I’m sad to see them all go but I’m really bummed to see the And Many More stamp set go because it was my go-to stamp set for sentiments along with A Dozen Thoughts stamp set which is also retiring.  I don’t know what I’m going to do…..

If you like this card and want to recreate it, tomorrow is the last day to order these stamp sets.  After that they’re gone for good.  Don’t miss out!

This card design has seen a lot of mileage.  The Military Ministry group at church sends out birthday cards to current and former military personnel from our church and this was the design my card group used.  We did leave off the doily and the label punch to make it a bit simpler.  They ask for the same design whenever they run out.  I guess they liked it.  🙂

I hope you have a safe and blessed holiday today.  Thank you to any and all of you who are in or who have served in our country’s military.  And most of all, let’s remember all those who gave their lives for our freedom.

Take care and Happy Stamping!

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!