Pretty in pink

Field flowers is one of those stamp sets that's been on my wish list all year, but I haven't had the chance to buy it yet. So you can imagine my surprise and joy when, while poking around at my mom's house this weekend, I noticed that she HAD bought this set!!!! I made a pretty convincing case to have her let me "borrow" it (it hadn't even been opened yet and she's had it for MONTHS!)so I had to make a card with it pronto. I did some stuff with this card that I haven't done in a while . . . fussy cutting out the flower head, smooch spritzing the flower head and the background paper for a 'distressed' look, using the crocheted ribbon trim for just a touch of lace, and pulling out my much beloved En Francais background stamp (please please please don't retire that one, Stampin Up!!!!!) This set is going to get a lot more use now that it's found a good home!!!!!!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps:Field flowers, En francais
Cardstock:Sahara sand, Blushing bride, Early espresso, Very vanilla
Ink: Blushing bride, regal rose, Pear pizzazz, Chocolate chip
Other Stuff:Backgrounds 1 texturz plate, Pear pizzazz seam binding ribbon, Victoria crochet trim ribbon, gold glow and log cabin smooch spritz, color catcher, sponge dauber, dimensionals, stamp-a-ma-jig

Card art?

This is one of those cards that I had a lot of fun making, but at the same time I totally know that this card has no purpose whatsoever. I love the way it turned out - I had a 'vision' of it in my head and this is pretty close - but why would I send someone a card with a bird's nest and eggs on it????? If anyone can think of a reason to send this, I'd love to hear it. Otherwise, we'll just call it 'card art' and appreciate that it's a pretty cool card, even if it has no purpose :-)


Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Nature's nest
Cardstock: River rock, Whisper white, Wonderfully worn DSP
Ink: River rock, Chocolate chip, Baja breeze
Other Stuff: Baja breeze satin pleated ribbon, Early espresso striped ribbon, dimensionals, sponge daubers, markers, blender pen, oval scallop frame bigz die

Better late than never

Okay, so I didn't quite get my whole week of posts published in a row, but I was close. Here's the last of my sneak peeks for Summer smooches. I know that this paper is going to get a lot of use with my summer pictures, if I ever get to scrapbook them :-)
I've still been busy up in my scrapbook room so I'll have more posts coming!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Just believe, Pursuit of happiness
Cardstock: daffodil delight, whisper white, summer smooches dsp
Ink: old olive, daffodil delight
Other Stuff: markers, circle punches, sponge dauber, basic rhinestones

A great idea

Today I was talking with one of my friends who is also a member of stamp club and a terrible enabler. She had looked at the new Digital downloads that Stampin' Up released today (they do that almost every Tuesday) and found one kit that she really loved and said that she'd be ordering it soon. Well, one of the things that we all wish Stampin'Up would 'fix' is being able to buy digital downloads during a club or workshop order (No, they haven't fixed that yet). We feel like someone should get "credit" for that purchase, and hence we don't often order downloads. As we were talking, we realized that at least we could get another free Sale-a-bration goodie if we buy $50 worth of digital downloads at one time before the end of March. That way, at least we get SOMETHING for that purchase. How had I not thought of this before????? But then my next thought was, 'Do I actually have $50 worth of digital downloads that I want?' Silly me. I started looking at things I had on my wishlist and realized - quickly - that I could spend 2-3x that $50, so no worries there!!! So if you've been putting off getting some digital downloads, head over to my Stampin'Up website and place your order today, and get some free goodies along the way!!!!

Funky!

Trendy trees is one of my favorite stamp sets ever. My post the other day about using smaller stamps with the summer smooches paper turned on a lightbulb in my head and made me run for Trendy trees to do the same thing. I messed it up just a little bit (hence I had to cut my green tree to fit over my patterned square) but sometimes you just have to improvise and go with it. This is one of those cards that I got frustrated with and left overnight before throwing it out. When I went back up the next night, I decided that it was still cute and not deserving of the trash bin. How could I throw out those cute little trees????

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps:Trendy trees, Distressed dots BG
Cardstock:Old olive, Whisper white, Summer smooches DSP
Ink: Early espresso, Real red, Island indigo, Old olive
Other Stuff: Mat pack, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, small scalloped circle punch, 5/8" red grosgrain ribbon (retired, I think), dimensionals, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Send me soaring

Here is installment #3 of my "Summer smooches" phase. Today's card used two stamp sets that I HAD to have and then didn't use: Send me soaring and Petite pairs. Both sets are really cute but small, and I have a problem sometimes using the smaller images on cards. So that brings me to reason #47 that I LOVE the summer smooches paper: The patterns are bold and bright and can 'help' a card along so that you can use a smaller stamped focal image. Brilliant!!!! Usually I like to use designer paper as a background and let my stamps be the highlight of the card, but sometimes with smaller stamps they need a little boost, and this paper is perfect for that!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Send me soaring and Petite pairs
Cardstock: Real red, whisper white, Summer smooches DSP
Ink: Lucky limeade, bashful blue, Markers: Island indigo, Real red, Daffodil delight, lucky limeade
Other Stuff: Stamp-a-ma-jig, small and medium oval punches, mat pack, paper piercer

Sweet!

One of my card/stamping/scrapbooking magazines recently had an article about how to use Baker's twine. I was especially interested since I had just bought all 5 colors of the Baker's twine from the Occasions mini catalog (yes, I really am my best customer!). One of the cutest things that they said to do with it was to coil it. I think that these lollipops are so stinkin' cute I can hardly stand it. I'm not gonna lie - it took a bit of time to get the hang of it since the twine is thin and getting it to start coiling took a little work (and some tweezers), but like most things once you get the hang of it, it's easy-peasy. Since I have little kids I think that this card design will be a big hit - and will help me use all that twine I bought!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Create a cupcake (sentiment)
Cardstock: Whisper white, daffodil delight, Summer smooches DSP
Ink: Real red
Other Stuff: Corner rounder punch, 1" circle punch, Baker's twine, Big shot multipurpose adhesive sheets (perfect for getting the twine to stick!), Word window and modern label punches, sponge dauber

A week of smooches!

Alright y'all . . . I told you I've been busy up in scrapbook room, but I doubt any of you are ready for this: a WHOLE WEEK of new blog posts!!! The Stampin Up promotion for April is a preview of a new product line for the new catalog that is called Summer Smooches. As a demo I can preorder some stuff and I bought the digital download as soon as it came out. I absolutely LOVE the new paper. I printed out 4 sheets of my most favorite designs and have been using them like crazy, so I'm going to share a new card with you every day this week that uses this paper. It's bright and summery and cheerful and I just think it's fabulous.
So here is card #1, using the Button Buddies stamp set. I got some buttons for FREE from SAB and used some on this card, along with the Island Indigo baker's twine from the Occasions mini. Who wouldn't love getting this card in the mail?

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Button buddies, Teeny tiny wishes
Cardstock: Old olive, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil delight, whisper white, Summer smooches DSP
Ink: Tangerine tango, Tempting turquoise, old olive (marker)
Other Stuff: Scallop edge border punch, small oval punch, large scallop circle punch, brights buttons, 1/16" handheld circle punch, Island Indigo baker's twine, basic rhinestones, mat pack, mini glue dots

There's still time!

I haven't been able to fit in a Stamp-a-Stack this Sale-a-bration period, but it's not too late to place an order. SAB is the best time of the year at Stampin' Up as you get a FREE gift of your choice for each $50 you spend. We won't go into detail about how many gifts I myself have qualified for, but suffice it to say it's easier to pick things in the SAB catalog that I DON'T have . . . shhhh!!!
Today's card features the absolutely beautiful paper Everyday Enchantment. One thing I really love that Stampin Up has been doing this year is offering some of the paper as a digital download - no more wishing I had just one more piece of that one extra-fabulous pattern in the pack. Now I can print out as much or as little as I need!!!! This card is using the real deal cardstock, but you really can't even tell a difference - promise! Also in this card is the vintage-styled Apothecary Art stamp set and the labels collection framelits dies that go with it. The longest part of this card was the coloring!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Apothecary art
Cardstock: Soft suede, Very vanilla, Everyday Enchantment DSP
Ink: Soft suede
Other Stuff: Markers and blender pen, Labels collection framelit, Pear pizzazz seam binding ribbon, sponge dauber, Vintage wallpaper EF, dimensionals

Easy Easter

I think I'm having Easter at my house this year. I tend to go overboard sometimes at the holidays with crazy food or decorating ideas that end up wearing me out (one time my friend and I made these RIDICULOUS easter eggs that Martha Stewart had in her magazine and it consumed us for about a week) but I'm learning that simple really is okay. For instance, the card I'm sharing today. Super simple but, I think, super cute. I am really hoping that Stampin Up keeps the pleated ribbon in the new catalog this summer. I LOVE IT. It looks crazy hard, but in reality, it's just like regular plain ribbon, but fancier. What could be better?

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Everybunny
Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Whisper white, blushing bride, Pear pizzazz DSP
Ink: Stazon black
Other Stuff: Blushing bride pleated satin ribbon, Scallop trim border and scallop trim corner punches, Dazzling diamonds, markers and blender pen, Subtles glimmer brads

Busy busy

Hi friends! I've been busy busy busy up in my stamp room!!! I have rediscovered the wonders of the 'sketch challenge' and while I don't actually upload my creations to the various websites, I've been using a lot of sketches lately to help spark my creativity. It seems like I went through a long period of 'tweaking' other people's work, but not really coming up with anything of my own. With sketches, I'm using someone else's base, but the stamps, colors, papers, etc are all from my own mind. So this next period of my work is going to be my 'sketch period.' Also, once I make the card the sketch sometimes gets lost in the process, so I'm going to just tell you about some of the best places to go for inspiration. I love the sketch challenge (each Wednesday) on splitcoaststampers.com and also Mojo Monday, Ispy sketches, the deconstructed sketch, and the sweet stop. All of these places are wonderful when you need some card inspiration and I encourage you to check some of them out!
Now on to today's card. I used an odd size, something I rarely do. But now Stampin Up has a new diagonal board to go on top of its scoreboard, so I can now make my own envelopes with ease - no more worries about how to send those random cards!!! I did some coloring with my markers and my blender pen on water colorpaper, which I absolutely love. I see this as a gorgeous Mother's day or special birthday card. Lovely.

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Bordering on Romance
Cardstock:Sahara sand, old olive, Rose red, basic black, watercolor paper, cardstock vellum
Ink: Stazon black
Other Stuff: 2 1/2" circle punch, Scallop trim border punch, vanilla satin ribbon, blushing bride pleated satin ribbon (LOVE!!!), Beautiful wings embosslit, basic pearls, Perfect details texturz plate, Stampin Up markers, blender pen

Feeling lucky

So I guess I should preface this and say that I don't have a drop of Irish blood in me. I grew up a Penn State fan, thus not liking Notre Dame on principle. I do have some Irish friends that I have had some fun St Patrick's Days with in my younger years, drinking green beer and whatnot. But I can't say I've ever really had an urge to celebrate St Patrick's Day, wearing green and going around kissing people and all. So why did I make a card for St. Patrick's Day??? Who knows? But as I was making it, I knew immediately who would get it: my mommom. When I was younger sometimes my mommom would find a 4 leaf clover and she would give it to me. I think she even sent me one or two when I was in college. So I decided to send her one back. Mommom likes to play bingo and the lottery so I figure she could use a little luck. Can't hurt, right????

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Sincere salutations, 5th Avenue floral (stem)
Cardstock: Garden green, River rock, Lucky limeade, Garden green DSP
Ink: Lucky limeade, garden green
Other Stuff: Oval scallop frame bigz die, small heart punch, gold glimmer brads