1/31 Flower Medallian

What a fun card this is! I was inspired by THIS SKETCH at SCS. I didn't have time to work on the sketch challenge yesterday, but I squeezed in a creative moment this afternoon.

.

My sweet upline invited me over to her house this past week and she and I made a few cards together and then she showed me a gorgeous True Friend card where she had colored the medallian with Turquoise. I took a picture of it so that I could remember it and that is what inspired me to use these colors and color the medallian as such.

.

The medallian and sentiment are stamped with Black Craft and embossed with Black EP. I made the dots with my Basic Black journaler using the piercing mat as my guide. I am going to make up a bunch of these cards because I need some friend birthday cards. Hope I've inspired you, too. Happy stamping!

.

Supplies I used to create this card:

.

Stamps: True Friend

Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise

Ink: Basic Black Craft, Tempting Turquoise

Accessories: Aquabrush, Pretties Kit, Paper Piercer Mat, Black Journaler, Foam Tape

1/29 Yellow and Gray

I am always up for a challenge . . . but the challenge at SCS today almost did me in!! We were to use YoYo Yellow with Going Gray and Basic Gray. I spent half the morning trying to figure out how to do that! My first question was which stamp set??? And then a voice from heaven said: "If in doubt, grab Baroque Motifs." So, I did. I truly think that it's almost impossible to stamp something ugly with this set. So, feeling like I couldn't lose. I started stamping. YIKES! It was not working! I should have taken a picture of my overflowing waste basket! But, I persisted and finally felt like this card might just come together. In the end it did . . . but man . . . what a struggle!

One little tip I learned in doing this project is: Do not stamp gray over yellow . . . it will come out green. But, yellow over gray seems to turn out just fine. (yeah, I can't figure that out either!)

Supplies I used to make this card:

Stamps: Baroque Motifs Paper: Basic Gray, YoYo Yellow, Going Gray, Whisper White Ink: YoYo Yellow, Going Gray, Basic Gray Accessories: Pewter Hardware, Basic Gray Taffeta Ribbon, Distressing Tool, Foam Tape

1/24 Kids, Paint and Cats

The Ways to Use It Challenge today is to use Acrylic Paint on your card. No problem for me! I just went to my stash of painted backgrounds that my kids and daycare kids have painted through the years. I found this bright background that I think my daughter made by squirting paint onto a page protector and then squishing a piece of cardstock onto it. I wanted to keep the painted background as prominent as possible so I opted to embellish with a bold piece of ribbon and a piece of scallop paper to trim the top. Next, I needed to find an image that would keep the background a big part of the card. I decided to use a new stamp set called Celebrate Everything. I chose the "Good Times" sentiment because paint and kids equals a good time for sure!

Card Supplies:

Stamps: Celebrate Everything
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Slit Punch, non SU Ribbon, Acrylic Paint, Page Protector

My 10 year old daughter is about to turn 11 and one of her favorite stamp sets of all time is called Cats Mini. It is an old set . . . retired by SU ages ago. But, she pulls it out to stamp with often so I decided to make her birthday card with it.

This card is 3 1/4" x 6 1/4" and these are the supplies I used:

Stamps: Cats Mini (retired), Small Sayings (retired)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Naturals Ivory, Odds and Ends from my "stash" that is non SU
Ink: StazOn Black, More Mustard, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Paper Piercer, Notched Corner Punch, non SU Ribbon, AquaPainter, Markers

1/18 Wanted

I've been stamping since President's Day of 2000. That marks the day that I went to my very first Stampin'Up demonstration at my friend's house. She would always send me hand-stamped cards and I wanted to see how she did it as whenever I dabbled in stamping, my results were well . . . not so good. Paper - Ink - Stamps . . . not all are created equal and when I learned about Stampin'Up's paper, ink and stamps - I never looked back! Eventually, after years of loving my hobby, I became a SU demonstrator myself and I absolutely LOVE it!

When I first started stamping, I didn't use designer paper very much because back in 2000, there really wasn't a lot to choose from. But, I did use background stamping a lot to decorate my cards and that was what the Limited Supply Challenge was for us today. We are to stamp a card the old-fashioned way with no designer paper.

I picked Flannel Background to stamp tone on tone over the Ruby Red strip. That flannel doesn't show up very well in the photo . . . looks great though IRL! Then, I took the paisley stamp out of the Wanted set and stamped this tone on tone over the Bordering Blue card base. I kept the stamping nice and tight. I've always used ribbon and fiber on my cards so that was my next step. Then I did a bit of movement stamping to give my horse some action.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I hope you are having a nice day. If you are in MN . . . stay warm this weekend and don't go out and about without your emergency kit and your sleeping bag!

Supplies I used on this card:

Stamps: Flannel Background, Wanted Paper: Bordering Blue, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla Ink: Basic Brown, Bordering Blue, Ruby Red Accessories: Ribbon, Natural Hemp

1/17 Bonjour!

I had a root canal this morning at eight o'clock. I am stamping today so that I can take my mind off of my aching jaw!! Today's challenge at SCS is called Ways to Use It and today it was ways to use embossing. Julia's sample used Carte Postale and had the most amazing embellishment on it. She embossed a giant brand. You can see her sample HERE. Isn't it beautiful? Julia inspired me to get my Carte Postale set out, too, as it is one of my very favorite sets and I haven't used it in a while. I also pulled out my French Flair Background stamp, too, because it goes so well with Carte Postale.

.

I loved Julia's giant brad, but I didn't have anything even remotely like it. Yet, she still inspired me because I knew that I could use my 1 1/4" circle punch and come up with a very pretty flower circle. I mounted these circles on a second circle the same size to give it a little more substance. I mounted my Bonjour Flair panel the same way.

.

My card is 5 1/4" square. I used my black craft pad to ink up my stamps and then black embossing powder. It looks so rich in real life. Everything on this card is SU with the exception of the ribbon. I wanted a satin ribbon - just seemed a bit more elegant to me.

.

Supplies I used on this card:

.

Stamps: Carte Postale, French Flair

Paper: Basic Black, River Rock

Ink: Black Craft

Accessories: Heat Gun, Black Embossing Powder, Satin Ribbon, 1 1/4" Circle Punch

1/16 Happy Day Cards

This is one of the cards that my customers made at my Spring/Summer Open House. I just LOVE how bright and cheerful this card is and we decorated the inside so cutely, too. I got the idea for this card from ltecler at SCS. You can see her card HERE. I changed a few things and simpled it up just. But, I must admit - I love how mine turned out. I think one of the cutest things about Lori's card were those painted toes. My customers got such a kick out of this.

Card Supplies:

Stamps: Happy Heart Day
Paper: Only Orange, Gable Green, Going Gray, Whisper White, Rose Red Designer Prints
Ink: Basic Black, Rose Red
Accessories: Ribbon, Slit Punch, White Gel Pen, Foam Tape, Blender Pen, Marker
Technique: Paper Piecing


Here's another image from the Happy Heart Day set. Such a sweet little mouse, isn't he? My friend Tracy will probably NOT be buying this set just because of this one particular stamp. She HATES mice. I guess it is kind of like how I am with spiders. I've passed on purchasing sets with spiders in them, too. No matter how "cute" they are! lol! This card got its design and color combo from page 102 of the 2005/2006 catalog. I love to go back and page through me old catalogs and then *remake* the card with current stamp sets. Easy peasy and so much fun!

Card Supplies:

Stamps: Happy Heart Day
Paper: Brilliant Blue, Rose Red, Old Olive, Naturals White
Ink: StazOn Black
Accessories: Button, Linen Thread, Aquapainter
Technique: Watercoloring


This is my last Happy Heart Day card to show to you today. Again, such a simple little design. I helped my 4 year old neice make some cards similar to this to give to her mom. She did give one to her mom. The other one she gave to me . . . wasn't that sweet! This is a little 3x3 card . . . perfect size to hook onto a gift bag or to attach to a little gift.

Card Supplies:
Stamps: Happy Heart Day
Paper: Rose Red, Naturals white
Ink: StazOn Black, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Lovely Lilac, Wild Wasabi
Accessories: Ribbon, Aquapainter
Technique: Watercoloring

I combined two challenges at SCS to make this card. The color challenge . . . which I did not get to yesterday, was to use Rose Red, Sage Shadow and Apricot Appeal. I used my Time Well Spent Level Three Hostess Set to make this card in the sketch challenge format. I love the way the black sets it all off!

Supplies I used to make this card:

Stamp Sets: Curvy Verses, Time Well Spent Paper: Rose Red, Sage Shadow, Whisper White, Basic Black Ink: StazOn Black, Rose Red, Appricot Appeal, Sage Shadow Accessories: 1/8" hole punch to punch out accents on the flower and the butterfly, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Corner Rounder to make the scallops on the sage panel, ribbon, pretties kit half-back pearl

1/14 Herbal Birthday

I started this card on Friday while I still had my Orchid Opulence laying out on my desk. I really don't mind this color! lol! Sharon Johnson mentioned that she liked it paired with an old color called Mint Medley that SU used to have. I decided to try it with Gable Green.

I found some designer paper in my stash of non SU papers and I decided to take my cues from there. That is why you see the swirly from Baroque Motifs carried up into the main image panel. ( I really LOVE Baroque Motifs!)

I wanted to create a few birthday cards so off to my Image Book I went a looking. I decided to use Sweet Herbs - a long retired SU set, but still one of my favorites. The sentiment is also from a retired SU set called Simple Sayings II.

Have you noticed how the designer paper sort of pops just a bit? I used a ruler and my fine-tip black marker to pop that edge just a bit. This is a flat card - not even foam tape! Perfect for mailing away! Have a great day!

Supplies I used on this card:

Stamps: Sweet Herbs, Simple Sayings II, Baroque Motifs Paper: Orchid Opulence, Basic Gray, Whisper White, non-SU designer paper Ink: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Going Gray, Orchid Opulence, Gable Green Accessories: Ruler, Fine-Tip Black Marker, Aqua-Painter

1/13 Snowflake Ornament Card

.
Today our Featured Stamper at SCS is I'mVeronica. I cruised through her gallery and chose THIS CARD to case. I changed the colors, made the flower a snowflake and repositioned it just slightly on the card so that it looked more like an ornament. I used the bracket in Everyday Flexible Phrases to imitate the brackets she used. I am QUITE happy with the way this turned out. I may use this design to make my Christmas Take Ten cards for February. It was so simple. Somewhere in this Internet world, I saw an idea that I remembered (quite remarkable, I agree!) where you use the 1 1/4" circle punch to punch in as close to the snowflake "petals" as possible. This sure beats cutting out a snowflake by hand!
.
I used the following to create this card:
.
Stamps: Snowfall, Everyday Flexible Phrases Paper: Whisper White, Sage Shadow, Soft Sky, Wintergreen DP Ink: Sage Shadow Accessories: 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Snow Blossom Punch, Star Punch, Sponge, Silver Brad, Foam Tape
.
Guess what I am making today - a Thanksgiving dinner!!! My house smells so good right now that my belly is all a rumble. I purchased a nearly free turkey back in November when the local grocery stores where running some incredible specials. That 18 pounder is in my oven and we are WAAAYYY excited about having turkey tonight!!

1/11 Beautiful Thing in Orchid

I was reading a thread over at SCS the other day about your "least" favorite SU colors. I was so surprised to see how many people positively detested Orchid Opulence! I can't say it is my "favorite" color . . . but I certainly don't dislike it!! I decided to challenge myself to use that color in the very next card that I made and I got that opportunity this morning.

.

The Limited Supply Challenge for this week was to make a card and stay within a color family. Well, Orchid Opulence is in the Bold Brights color family and I picked Lovely Lilac to go with it.

Now, I also happened to browsing one of my favorite blogs in the whole world . . . Sharon Johnson's No Time to Stamp Blog. She was challenging us to make a tall thin card. Well, I can do that! So that is how this card got it's start.

.

First I created my card base. This is 6 1/2" long by 3 1/4" wide. It fits into the small Open Ended Envelopes that SU sells. I stamped the Baroque Motifs swirl onto some Orchid Opulence card stock and added this to my Lovely Lilac base. Then, I decided to use my newest set called A Beautiful Thing. I stamped my long center panel and then layered it onto a second white panel that I sponged with Lovely Lilac. The next thing I did was to add the banded sentiment at the bottom. So far, so good. But, the card looked blah. I decided to add some floating lilac and white flowers accented with rhinestone brads to jazz this card up a bit. Yeah! My card is now "working!" Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to!

.

Card Supplies:

.

Stamps: A Beautiful Thing, Baroque Motifs Paper: Lovely Lilac, Orchid Opulence, Whisper White Ink: Lovely Lilac, Orchid Opulence Accessories: Designer Label Punch, Key Tag Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Rhinestone Brads from SU Ice Circles, Ticket Corner Punch

1/6 Hot Cocoa Pull Card

I am doing a Fun and Fantastic Hold It Class at the end of January and I will definitely be using this pull card. Winter has a long ways to go yet here in Minnesota so a cup of Hot Chocolate in February is still quite an enjoyable treat.
.
I was inspired to make this treat holder based on this pull card HERE by Nancy Riley aka stampinat6213. She also happens to be this week's Featured Stamper so I was glad that my case of her pull card could also work for one of my upcoming Stampin' Events! Share and Share Alike! It is also a Technique Lover's Challenge found HERE that I didn't have time to do at the time the challenge was issued - plus, I was a little intimidated! Thank You, Nancy, for providing the inspiration I needed to make this winter treat - it's my very first pull card ever!!!
.
This pull card features a slip band for decoration that also holds a 3x3 card. Actually, it's just under 3x3 so that it stays nice and tight to the snowflake. The clip helps to keep that mini card closed and adds a little decoration at the same time.
.
I started with a 6"x 9" piece of designer paper from the Amethyst Prints pack. I scored it at 4 and 8 inches. That left me a short flap to attached it all together with a piece of sticky strip. I adhered this to the side and to the bottom. I ran the bottom edge through the crimped just a short bit. I put jumbo eyelets through my top - it is so easy to work with these when you are using ribbon and they give such a nice look to your projects.
.
I used the Boho Friend wheel on the slip band. Snowfall, one of my favorite winter sets which is still available for ordering on the SU dormant list, is featured on the mini card which is attached to the band. I made some diamond dust paper and punched a snow blossom out of it which I accented with a rhinestone brad and popped it up on foam tape. Super cool and sparkly! The hot cocoa packet is from Swiss Miss and I just wrapped a length of Eggplant grosgrain ribbon around it, put it in it's pocket, brought the ribbon through the eyelets and tied a bow. Couldn't be simpler!

Above is a picture of the Hot Cocoa Pull Card Opened to show you how the cocoa packet slides out with just a little pull. Just too much fun!!!

.

Supplies I used to make this Pull Card:

.

Stamps: Snowfall, Boho Friend Wheel

Paper: Almost Amethyst Prints DP, Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant

Ink: Almost Amethyst, VersaMark

Accessories: Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Snow Blossom Punch, Eggplant Ribbon, Ice Rhinestone Circle Brad, Sponge, Paper Crimper, Pewter Hardware, Jumbo Pewter Eyelets, Crop-a-Dial

1/5 Tulip Tea for Two

I am always inspired to stamp when I visit SCS, but sometimes I don't always have the TIME to stamp. Such is what happened way back when a Tea Bag Holder Card Challenge was posted on November 19. It was for a Technique Lovers Challenge and you know how I LOVE techniques!! Well, I surfed over a few samples and looked longingly towards my stamping area and then life went on. No time that day or that week. The project went onto the back burner. I would get around to it eventually and that eventually happened today!

I surfed over to see what the inspiration challenge was - one of my favorite challenges . . . but so rarely do I get to play as my weekends are usually packed. We were to take our inspiration from a Pottery Barn picture. Here it is:

The first thing I noticed about this picture was the color of the buffet - Always Artichoke. I had the base of my card and my starting point. I would also pull out Garden Whimsy. I had to have tulips on this card and this set was calling me. Next, I looked over my template options. I had several tea-bag card templates to choose from. I decided to make the kind that would hold two teabags and . . . HERE is the TEMPLATE for that.

I got my jumbo brads out - again inspired by the hardware on the buffet. I wanted something bold and sturdy as I had big plans for my ribbon! The colors that I used - oranges, yellows and greens were all taken from the inspiration picture. To beef up the boldness of my tulips, I stamped them again on a scrap of Whisper White, cut them out and popped them up on foam tape. I think they look absolutely luscious!

Supplies I used to make this Tulip Tea Holder:

Stamps: Garden Whimsy, Everyday Flexible Phrases Paper: Always Artichoke, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, Whisper White, Bali Breeze Patterned Paper Ink: Wild Wasabi Accessories: Wild Wasabi Double Stitched Ribbon, Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon, Jumbo Pewter Eyelets, Crop-a-Dial, Ticket Corner Punch, Only Orange Marker, 1 3/8" Circle Punch on the inside to make pulling out the teabags easier

This is an inside look at my Tea Bag Holder. Hope you enjoyed your time at my blog! Keep on Stamping to Share and thanks for stopping by!

1/4 Brad Accents

I love to use brads and sometime it's fun to use them beyond the traditional ways. In this card I wanted to really accent the stamens in this flower - brads to the rescue. To "support" them, I used a fine tip black marker to draw over the stamen stems - they needed to be a little sturdier if you know what I mean!

.

The SCS Friday Limited Supply Challenge was to make a card that didn't use white or vanilla card stock. It helped me think outside the box and come up with some fun colors that seem to work well together. My card base is Certainly Celery. The "leaves" is just the flower stamped on Certainly Celery and cut apart. The flower itself is stamped on Soft Sky with Certainly Celery brads used for the stamens. I wanted a backdrop for my flower that would really make it pop. After a bit of trial and error, I decided to use Brilliant Blue. The flower is stamped with Chocolate Chip in the background and it is bordered with Chocolate Chip as well. A little Soft Sky Double-Stitched Ribbon, a quick stamp with the bamboo and the sentiment and I was done. Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

.

Supplies I used to make this card:

.

Stamps: Embrace Life

Paper: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Brilliant Blue, Soft Sky

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Certainly Celery Brads, Fine Tip Black Marker, Ticket Corner Punch, Soft Sky Double Stitched Ribbon, Foam Tape, Positioner

1/3 Pretties Kit Fun!

I love flowers of all kinds so when SU came out with their Pretties Kit this fall I had to get it on my very first order. I especially love the half-back pearls and rhinestone brads that are in this kit and have used them often. Today, encouraged by a SCS challenge to use flowers on your card, I was inspired to make a card with a Pretties Kit flower - and not just one flower, either! I layered four different flowers to make this WOW flower for my simple, but elegant card. My card stock is a base of Bordering Blue and a layer of Blue Bayou. The largest flower is dyed with Bordering Blue Ink. All you do is swirl the AquaBrush into a drop of Bordering Blue reinker and paint away. I can't believe how easy it is to dye these flowers. The other flower that is dyed was colored with Blue Bayou ink in the same way.

Here are the supplies I used to make this card and thanks so much for stopping by!

Stamps: French Flair, Baroque Motifs
Paper: Bordering Blue, Blue Bayou, Whisper White
Ink: Blue Bayou, White Craft, Bordering Blue
Accessories: White Taffeta Ribbon, Oval Punches, Pretties Kit Flowers, Foam Tape

1/2 Christmas Take Ten for January!

I was very inspired by a card that I'd saved to my favorites over at SCS. It is this card by Taylor VanBruggen. I decided to adapt it to fit some current Stampin'Up products that I had on my shelf. I loved the idea of Navy, White and Cocoa - what a fun yet elegant card. I made ten of them and they went quite quickly with my assembly line method of stamping. This will be the card we make this month at my Christmas Take Ten Event. This event is a way to help my customers get their Christmas cards done in a stress-free way well before the hectic holiday rush!

.

Here are the supplies I used to make this card:

.

Stamps: Snowfall, Baroque Motifs

Paper: Night of Navy, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White

Ink: Night of Navy, Close to Cocoa, White Craft

Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Snow Blossom Punch, Positioner, Silver Brad, Foam Tape, Sponge