Golden Birthday

After a few days off enjoying our limited sunshine outside, I'm back on this rainy Sunday with another gold card. I stayed with the vanilla & gold color scheme but this time I used the Another Great Year stamp. I love this stamp set because it's big and can take up the whole front of the card with very little embellishment. In fact, this time I hardly used anything - no paper piecing or faniciness whatsoever, except for that gorgeous gold embossing powder, the super-easy and fun to use washi tape and some gold brads. I may be a little biased, but I've used a lot of embossing powders over the years and Stampin' Up's are simply the best I've used (but then I think that about all of their stuff :-))
I'm trying to build up a new stash of cards to give out so I don't feel pressured to make a card every time a birthday or big event comes up - this is another good one to put in that stash!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Another Great Year
Cardstock: Very vanilla, Gold foil sheet
Ink: Versamark
Other Stuff: Gold EP, Watercolor wonder washi tape, gold brads

Golden friendship

This month my stamp club order included the Watercolor Wonder washi tape, which is a set of three gold colored tapes. It took me a while to decide to order them, because I wasn't sure how much I would use gold. Well, after I sat down with them in front of me, it didn't take long! I'm an old Girl Scout, and one of the songs we used to sing all the time went like this, "Make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver and the other gold." So in my head I always think of really good friends when I see the color gold. Thus, the perfect pairing for that gorgeous gold washi tape was the sentiment from the World Treasures set, complemented with gold embossing powder and some beautiful gold foil sheets, which aren't just for Chrismas! I cut out the sentiment with the Apothecary accents framelits dies, and traced around the outer edge of the die and cut it out by hand to make the gold layer behind it. This card was simple to put together, perfect for a spur-of-the-moment send out to a dear friend. I just ripped the washi tape and put it on there, but if you like a cleaner edge, you could cut the tape and add it on for a more formal look than this casual one-layer card.

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: World treasures
Cardstock: Very vanilla, gold foil
Ink: Versamark
Other Stuff: Gold EP, Apothecary Accents framelits, Watercolor wonder washi tape, dimensionals

Pretty in Pink

I was finally able to get some pictures of the cards I've been making lately, so I'll have several to share with you this week. This is the card I was talking about last time - my stamp club swap card from last month. Our theme was 'Monochromatic cards' and I got some real beauties from the group. I copied the idea for this card from someone on Splitcoast and I very smartly put the person's name on a sticky note inside the card I was going to keep for myself for the swap, so that I could tell you. However, I must have accidentally swapped that card (not so smart)!!! So, I cannot take credit for putting the little flowers on the lattice, but I can't tell you who gets the credit :-(
Doesn't this card just scream "Springtime"? I'm still waiting for spring to hit my part of the world so as I wait I have to make do with making pretty cards like this.

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Teeny tiny wishes
Cardstock: Strawberry slush, Pink pirouette, whisper white
Ink: Strawberry slush
Punches: Itty Bitty shapes punch pack, Modern label, 1" circle, Ticket duo builder
Other Stuff: Lattice die, Rhinestones, Strawberry slush ruffle stretch trim, dimensionals

Help from a friend

I cannot tell a lie: this was not the card I was planning on posting today. I have another card that I quite love, but I thought I had a picture of it and I don't. And if there is one thing that I learned while I was home recovering from my surgery it is that it is best to take pictures of your cards during the day. They look SO MUCH BETTER than my poor cards that I photographed at night (which is how I always did it because I work during the day and stamp at night). But now that it is almost springtime, I can still get in plenty of good light when I get home from work, as long as I REMEMBER TO DO IT. That is the story of my life right there folks.
Anyway, on to today's card. My stamp club does a monthly swap, which is really fun and it also encourages everyone to actually use the products they buy each month instead of just looking at them, all pretty in their packaging. So, for today's card I decided to use one of the layouts from a swap I got a few months ago. It's simple, but so cute and I got to use several of the designs from the Sweet Sorbet paper pack offered for FREE (with $50 purchase) during Sale-a-bration, which ends this month. And of course I couldn't stay away from my go-to set, Starburst Sayings. What do you think of the Pistachio Pudding paper for the card base? It's not a color I've used often, but I can see it really coming out and using it a lot now that spring is about here. Hopefully I'll get around to snapping that picture of the other card I've made, which is also quite 'Spring-y.' See you soon!


Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Starburst Sayings
Cardstock: Pistachio pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper white, Sweet Sorbet DSP
Ink: Versamark
Other Stuff: Pool party EP, Starburst and circles framelits, square punch, Perfect polka dots EF

Trash to treasure

A few days ago I decided to undertake a big project: cleaning off my stamp desk. This is really more of an excavation than just a cleaning, if truth be told. I will work and work at my desk until my stamping area gets to be too small for me to work at anymore; in my case this is less than about a 10" x 10" square, although in a pinch I can work in smaller spaces than that! It is amazing the things that get uncovered as I clean. I find all sorts of bits and pieces of projects that never quite got finished. Most of the time I just pitch them because I want to clean for some new project I have dreamed up, but sometimes I take a second look at it with fresh eyes and come up with something I like. Today's card is an example of that. I had played with the Happy Watercolor stamp set and actual watercolor paper a while back and was underwhelmed. But then when I found my watercolor rainbow, I trimmed it up a bit, added a super-cute sentiment and put it onto the one watercolor wonder designer notecard that I didn't know what to do with. Super simple but I have to say, it makes me very happy!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Happy Watercolor
Cardstock: Watercolor paper
Ink: Real red, pumpkin pie, daffodil delight, gumball green, tempting turquoise, basic black
Other Stuff: water spritzer, Watercolor wonder designer note cards, corner rounder punch

Many, many thanks

Six weeks ago today I had surgery to remove a large, benign brain tumor. The surgery took almost 7 hours and I was in the hospital for 5 days, and have been home on medical leave this whole time. Amazingly, the surgery and my ensuing recovery went incredibly smoothly, and I am getting ready to return to work tomorrow. Obviously, I could not have done this on my own and have many people to thank. My hospital room, and then my house, looked like a florist shop for weeks (it was quite lovely!). I had meals brought to the house, baked goods dropped off, got 'goody boxes' in the mail and had countless acts of kindness, thoughts, prayers and well wishes sent my way. I have written a lot of thank you notes! Today I am sharing some of the cards I sent. I used a beautiful notecard set from the Stampin' Up! Occasions catalog called Watercolor Wonder Designer Note Cards & Envelopes. They are an amazing, thick watercolor-weight and already have most of the design on them. All I had to do was add a little sentiment and stamping here and there to give them my own little spin, which was perfect because I didn't have much energy those first few weeks of recovery! Between these cards, and the Good As Gold card kit (FREE as a Sale-a-bration kit!), I was able to get all my thanks out!

Two to share

Today I'm sharing two cards that use the same sketch, but look completely different. The first is another fun birthday card using my favorite set from the Occasions catalog, Starburst sayings and the coordinating Starburst framelits. I used a piece of (now retired) tangerine tango DSP from the old Brights color stack (which could easily be substituted for a pattern in the new stack) and then put some fun colors together with it: Coastal Cabana and Tempting Turquoise, pulling them all together by embossing with the oldie but goodie Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. I used Turquoise embossing powder for the focal point of the sentiment and finished the whole thing off with the Banner punch and stamp set that is part of the Sale-a-bration special that is still good until the end of this month!

My second card was inspired by a baby shower that my sister, mom and I are helping to host in April. It's a little more 'modern' and uses the color scheme of Strawberry slush, Pink Pirouette and Smoky slate. I used copious amounts of the gorgeous Strawberry slush ruffle stretch trim and the elephant from the Zoo babies set (did you see that I popped up the elephant's ear with a dimensional???). Again, I used the Sale-a-bration banner stamp set and punch for a cute little addition at the top of the card. To finish it off, I used the Modern Mosaic embossing folder, although I think that the Chevron EF would have been another great choice.

That's all for now - I've got some more great stuff to share with you later this week. It's Spring Break here in North Texas so I've literally had to fend off half a dozen 'Mom!' calls to post this entry . . . gotta get those kids outside in this beautiful weather to burn off some of that energy I wish I had!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Starburst sayings, Banner blast (SAB)
Cardstock: Tangerine tango, Coastal cabana, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper white
Ink: Versamark, Tangerine tango, Coastal cabana, Tempting Turquoise
Other Stuff: Tempting turquoise EP, Perfect polka dots EF, Starburst framelits, Banner punch (SAB), dimensionals

Stamps: Zoo babies, Banner blast (SAB)
Cardstock: Smoky slate, Strawberry slush, Pink pirouette, whisper white
Ink: Smoky slate, Strawberry slush, Pink pirouette
Other Stuff: Strawberry slush ruffle stretch trim, Banner punch (SAB), Stamp-a-ma-jig (for placement of the sentiment), Modern mosaic EF

A Banner Day - Girly style

About a week ago I posted a really cute birthday card for boys, with nautical colors and the banner stamp and punch from the Sale-a-bration flyer. I thought it was such a cute concept that I decided to change it up a bit and make a feminine version of the same card. The colors I used for the girly version are straight out of what I used for my daughter's nursery, 7 years ago: Light pink, hot pink, and lime green. I LOVE these colors together for girls! AND, this card passed the ultimate litmus test. My daughter saw this card laying on my stamp table, came over, picked it up and studied it for a minute, and then asked me if I could put this card in a special place and save it to give to her on her next birthday! A banner day, indeed!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Starburst sayings, Banner blast (SAB)
Cardstock: Pink pirouette, Melon mambo, Wild wasabi, Whisper white
Ink: Pink pirouette, Melon mambo, Wild wasabi, Versamark
Other Stuff: Embossing buddy, Melon mambo embossing powder, Banner punch (SAB), Starburst framelits, glitter pen (non-SU)

A Special Request

My grandmom (we call her Mommom) comes to stay with us for several months at a time throughout the year. Since it is a monstrously awful winter up in Pennsylvania this year, she is having an extended winter stay. Even though she spends so much time here, she makes sure to keep up with what is going on back home. She asked me to make a special 80th birthday card for her sister-in-law, so if Mommom asks, Mommom gets. I even used my special silver foil sheets and silver designer vellum, which I have a tendency to hoard and not use because they are 'fancy.' I don't know if there is a 'color' associated with an 80th birthday (similar to a golden 50th) but I figured an 80th birthday deserved my most fancy schtuff! Although, now it is making me want to get the gold foil and gold designer vellum too!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: None
Cardstock: Smoky slate, Island indigo, Watercolor Wonder DSP, Fancy Foil Designer Vellum (silver), Silver Foil Sheet
Ink: None
Other Stuff: Typeset Alphabet Bigz Die (for the numbers), Delicate Doilies Sizzlit, Organza ribbon

Working with patterns

Sometimes in a paper pack, there are some prints or patterns that might not appeal to you, even if you like the overall look of the paper pack. For this card, I challenged myself to use a pattern that was difficult for me. This chevron pattern is very bold and not something I would gravitate to on my own, so that's what I decided to try. The trick, I've found, is to use it in small doses. The other thing that I had to do with this card was add some white layers behind the two chevron panels - I had the card laid out without them, but in this case it needed something more, and that extra little layer did the trick. I found this sketch (from Splitcoast, I believe) and it works. This card turned out very neutral; it could be for males or females, old or young. A perfect card to keep in your stash for when you need a quick card!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: See Ya Later (SAB)
Cardstock: Real red, coastal cabana, Bermuda bay, whisper white, Fresh Prints DSP
Ink: Real red and Bermuda bay markers
Other Stuff: Chevron EF and dimensionals

A Banner Day

Today's card was inspired by two things. First, I saw a really cute card on Splitcoast that used banners on the top and bottom (thank you Jennie Maier, who I don't know but I loved her card!). It made me think of flags, so then naturally my mind went to a nautical theme, which always makes me think of the Pottery Barn Kids summer catalogs. I love these catalogs because they have such cute, preppy boys' rooms. I decided to go with Soft Sky, Night of Navy, and Real red as my color theme. From there it came together so quickly and was fun to make - I'm already thinking that I could do one with the same stamp sets in 'girl' colors. This is the kind of card I need to sit down and make a few of, so that I have them when I'm scrambling to get the kids to a birthday party and they say, as we're walking out the door, 'Hey, don't we need a card??' Sometimes it's nice to get back to basics - this card is just stamps and punches, nothing fancy or time consuming.

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Banner Blast(SAB), Blue Ribbon
Cardstock: Whisper White, Soft Sky, Night of Navy, and Real red
Ink: Night of Navy, Real red
Other Stuff: 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, Banner Punch (SAB), Dimensionals

Love the Starburst

The Starburst Sayings and Starburst Framelits have got to be, hands down, my favorite things in the Occasions Catalog. I keep reaching for them every time I start to make a card. I always stayed away from card sketches with circles on them, because I never had the "right" stamp set to incorporate into the design. Not anymore!!!! Now I LOOK for sketches with circles just so I can use this set more. Today's card uses a little tip I picked up somewhere along the way and I'll share it with you. The Starburst framelits have lots of space in between the different layers, and sometimes I want a closer layered look (look at the layers on the small circles). The smallest starburst on each of them is from the framelits. The next 'starburst' is home-made by using the 1 1/4" scalloped circle punch. I punched the scalloped circle out, and then stuck it to a sticky note to be able to put it back into the punch and re-punch, this time in the center of each scallop, to give the 'starburst' look. Pretty tricky, huh?

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Starburst Sayings
Cardstock: Crumb cake, Whisper white, Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Fresh Prints DSP stack
Ink: Pool party, Bermuda Bay
Other Stuff: Starburst Framelits, Circles Framelits, Dazzling Diamonds, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, 1 1/4" scalloped circle punch, Basic Rhinestone, Dimensional, Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay and Crumb cake markers

My blog is back!

Hi everyone!
Yes, it's true. I'm going to start posting on my blog again. Let's do a one sentence recap of the past couple years. Sold house, moved in with mom, built house, moved into new house, had benign brain tumor removed. Sooo . . . I've been kind of busy and have not had much motivation for stamping at all. Now that all the big stuff that I knew was coming up has come and gone, I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I have a lot of creativity that's just coming out. Plus, I REALLY like the new stuff in the Stampin'Up! occasions spring catalog and it's helped me get over my creative slump.
So, without further ado, here's my Valentine's Day card, with hardly a minute to spare! I used a sketch to help me get started (that will be a common theme). This one is from the Mojo Monday blog, if I recall correctly. It's my take on a Shabby Chic style and I had a lot of fun putting it together.
I'm still working out some kinks, so expect to see some changes in the future. I'm going to figure out how to watermark my pictures (please don't steal my pictures!), and I have to update all the sidebars and stuff, but I didn't want to wait any longer to start posting, so we'll just fit that stuff in as I can (and as I figure it out!)

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Hearts a Flutter, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Yippee Skippee
Cardstock: Raspberry ripple, Crumb cake, Primrose petals coredinations, Whisper white
Ink: Raspberry ripple, Crumb cake
Other Stuff: Primrose petals marker (because I can't find the ink pad!), Burlap ribbon (from the Burlap and Blooms Simply Created Wreath Kit), Hearts a Flutter framelits, Scalloped Tag Topper Punch, Raspberry ripple ribbon, Very vintage button, Vintage faceted button, Basic pearls, Chevron Embossing folder, sponge dauber, glitter pen (non-SU), mini stapler (non-SU), dimensionals, Sanding block