Elegant Lines Color Challenge

  I have a lot of birthdays to make cards for in September--what's up with that??  All those cold January nights I guess!  =) So this is one that I made using a color challenge I saw posted on Create With Connie & Mary a few weeks ago.  I got some new goodies and decided to use this color challenge to get started and see where it took me.  Of course I went crazy with the pearls (I just can't say no-- yes I'm weak!) and had some fun with the new Decorative Label punch (we'll be using this at stamp club on Tuesday!).
 
  The color challenge was for Tangerine Tango, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla & Crumb Cake.  Since Tangerine Tango is a pretty bright color I knew I just wanted to use a little bit of it for a pop of color against the neutral colors.

   I used the circle stamp from Just Believe for my pop of Tangerine Tango.  I punched it out with the 1 1/4" circle punch and then mounted it to a 1 3/8" Early Espresso circle.  I also added a little pearl to the center of the flower.

   For the sentiment I used A Little Birthday Cheer (retired) and punched it out with the new Decorative Label punch and also mounted that on Early Espresso (I'll show this little trick at stamp club!).  Again, more small pearls to accent around the punch.  Behind the sentiment I have a strip of new Very Vanilla seam binding from the Holiday Mini catalog.  I pulled several threads to get it to gather for the ruffle.

  The Crumb Cake panel was put through the Big Shot using the Elegant Lines embossing folder.  I accented some of the circles with more pearls.  I used the ticket corner punch and mounted it to an Early Espresso layer and then again onto a Very Vanilla Base.
Thanks for looking!  Happy Stamping!

Stamps: Just Believe, A Little Birthday Cheer (retired)

Ink: Tangerine Tango, Early Espresso


Paper: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake


Accessories: 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches, Decorative Label punch, ticket corner punch, pearls, seam binding, Elegant Lines embossing folder


                                                                                             

Happy Birthday Owl

  So I'm sure everyone has seen the adorable owl punch that has just flooded (in a good way!) the stamping galleries since its debut in the new Stampin' Up catalog.  Of course I thought it was just adorable when I saw it but I was concentrating on getting all the new colors and some accessories to match as well as a few stamp sets that I thought it would be several months until the owl made it to the top of my "to order" list.  And let's face it my list is pretty long!  After seeing a bunch of examples of things other than owls that could be made with this punch I decided that it needed to be moved to the top and was added to my last order. 

  I started out fairly simple as I needed to make a birthday card for a guy friend.  I still have a ton of paper left from my Sweet Pea DSP pack---don't hoard the designer series papers my friends, it wants to be used I promise!  Also I think I'm slightly obsessed with squares in my layouts.  I have used them a lot lately and hope you're not bored seeing them yet again here!

 
 The owl punch is so cool because you can make each one so unique just by changing the the colors and designs of the paper and you don't need a lot of paper either so it's great to use with scraps.  This little guys body is punched from Chocolate Chip and then layered with a piece of DSP in So Saffron for the tummy.  The feet and beak are punched from Pumpkin Pie.  The eyes are So Saffron, Whisper White & Chocolate Chip.

  I made a little happy birthday banner and sponged the edges with Chocolate Chip and added a brad on the end.  All this cuteness is mounted on a Crumb Cake base.

  Thanks for looking!  Happy Stamping!

Stamps: A Little Birthday Cheer

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie


Paper: Crumb Cake, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Sweet Pea DSP


Accessories: Owl Punch, brad, dimensionals, 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" square punches

Eastern Bloom Birthday Wishes

  Just a quick post today since we're busy getting ready for 5 out of town family members to descend upon us on Saturday.  I made this card recently for my sister-in-laws birthday.  I thought this color combination was fresh and bright and perfect for a birthday. 

  Try as I might I just couldn't get the Elegant Eggplant to look more eggplant-y in the photo....It's really purple and not black I promise!  Maybe it's that striped DSP that is making everything funky...might have to rethink that pattern in the future!

  First I stamped the largest flower from Eastern Blooms in versamark on Baja Breeze, Elegant Eggplant & Rose Red cardstock.  Then I embossed them using white embossing powder.  It makes the flowers pop and look all shiny & wet...very cool.  I then punched them out with my 1 1/4" square punch.  I didn't center the flowers in the punch as I wanted to have more of the cardstock showing to help break up some of the DSP in the background (really I should have just picked different paper for the background shouldn't I?).  I layered the flower squares onto 1 3/8" squares punched from Whisper White. 

  For the 4th square I used my Versamarker (yup, a marker that is the Versamark ink with dual tips) to just color the "wish" part of "The more candles the bigger the wish" from the Well Scripted set.  I stamped that onto Elegant Eggplant and then also embossed with white embossing powder.  That was also punched and layered the same as the flowers.

  I added tons of rhinestones to the centers of the flowers as well as the connected string of them under "Wish".  My sister-in-law is a hot shot manager of Victoria's Secret (seriously, she wins trips to NYC for fashion shows and stuff!) and we all know how much they like their bling so I thought it was a perfect match.

  So much for a quick post huh??  Thanks for looking!  Happy stamping!

Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Well Scripted

Ink: Versamark


Paper: Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Elegant Eggplant, Rose Red, Welcome Neighbor DSP (retired)


Accessories: 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" square punches, rhinestones, organdy ribbon, Versamarker, white embossing powder

Sailboat Thank You

  So when you don't have a stamp to fit the occasion you get out the punches and go to work!  My husband needed to send a thank you card for being invited to go sailing on the Chesapeake Bay a few weekends ago---I know fancy schmancy huh?  I got to stay home with 2 crazy little boys and I didn't even get to stamp; total torture!  Anyway, I don't have any boat, sailboat, or water type stamps so I got out my punches and made a sailboat out of Designer Series Paper.

  I wanted to stick with nautical colors as well as keep it on the masculine side (hopefully it didn't end up on the baby side!) so I went with Night of Navy as the base alternated with Whisper White.  The top Whisper White panel had the corners punched with the ticket corner punch to jazz it up.  For the sailboat I used the DSP that was offered as a hostess benefit a year or 2 ago--it was the only patterned paper that I had in Night of Navy.  The hull (I do read occasionally so I know that is the correct term!) was punched with the 1 3/4" circle punch and then cut just about in half.  The larger sail is half of a
1 1/4" square punch.  The small sail is a 1 inch square cut in half.  To define the top of the mast I added a silver brad and a little hand cut sliver of Real Red for a flag (I'm sure there is some technical term for that little flag but I haven't read that extensively!).  The sentiment from Thank You Kindly was stamped in Night of Navy. 

  Hardly any stamping on this one but plenty of paper!

  Thanks for looking!  Happy Stamping!

Stamps: Thank You Kindly

Ink: Night of Navy

Paper: Hostess Pack Designer Series Paper, Whisper White, Night of Navy, Real Red


Accessories: ticket corner punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, 1 1/4" square punch, silver brad

Sweet & Simple Baby

  I was finally able to give this card along with a gift to friends who are expecting their first child.  I made the card a while ago and had the gift ready to go but just haven't seen them due to very busy summers.  I doubt that they read my blog but just to be on the safe side I didn't want to post it until it was out of my house.  Since they don't know the sex of the baby yet I went with gender neutral brights.  I can start working on a boy or girl theme in a few weeks!  My 4 year old is pretty good at guessing whether a baby will be a boy or girl...I think he's 100% right now guessing when our friends are pregnant so maybe I should start getting my pink stamping supplies ready!


  I borrowed this layout from a sample in the

Holiday Mini catalog.  Can you find which one? Hint: It's not a baby card at all =)  First I stamped the Elephant from Animal Stories in Tempting Turquoise and then punched it out with the 1 3/4" circle punch.  Using the 1 1/4" circle punch I punched 5 circles each of Real Red & Tangerine Tango and then adhered them to the back of the elephant.

  I stamped BABY on Whisper White alternating Real Red and Tangerine Tango.  This is a great use for some of those 1/2" strips that you can't make yourself throw out but they continue to accumulate...it's a nice little touch at the top of the DSP from the Welcome Neighbor Sale-A-Bration pack from last year (2 great substitutes using current DSP would be the Nursery Suite Specialty paper or the Build-A-Bear Workshop Pawsitivley Prints II).  Another little accent on the bottom is a small strip of Tempting Turquoise scallops punched with the scallop border punch.  Some gender neutral Whisper White grosgrain ribbon across the middle and mounting the elephant circle on dimensionals finishes this one off!

Thanks for looking! Happy Stamping!

Stamps: Animal Stories, Fundamental Phrases

Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Tangerine Tango, Real Red


Paper: Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Welcome Neighbor DSP (retired - Sale-A-Bration)


Accessories: 1 3/4" & 1 1/4" circle punches, scallop border punch, grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals

 

Another Color Coach Combination

  This is a card I made a while back.  It was a thank you card for our awesome neighbors (Hi Beth!).  As I have so many times since I got it, I used the Color Coach for getting started on this card.

 

  This was also around the same time that I had gotten the Elegant Lines embossing folder and was running every piece of cardstock through the Big Shot.  I had embossed the Rose Red piece but didn't have a card for it to go on so it was just sitting on my stamping table.  I checked out some color combinations on the Color Coach and settled on River Rock, Not Quite Navy, and Rose Red.

  The flower image is from Fifth Avenue Floral and the main image was stamped in Not Quite Navy ink and colored in with a blender pen and the Rose Red Watercolor Wonder crayon (not my strong suit but I'm trying!).  Of course since my lovely pearls arrived in the same box as the embossing folder they had to be given some love too.  And let me tell you they go a LONG way...I still have a ton left after using them at stamp club as well as on a bunch of personal projects.  A lot of bang for $4.95!  I quick tip for getting the pearls placed just where you want them is to pick them up using the tipof your paper piercing tool or paper snips.  Then you just put the tip against your cardstock and kind of push it off with your finger where you want it.  Same goes for the rhinestones.

 I cut 2 large butterflies from the Beautiful Wings embosslit, one in Not Quite Navy & the other in River Rock.  I layered the Not Quite Navy on the bottom and it kind of looks like a shadow.  I gave the River Rock butterfly a body using more pearls and also bent the wings up slightly for more dimension.  A nice little bow from Very Vanilla taffeta balances out the butterfly and finishes the card off.

  Thanks for looking!  Happy Stamping!

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral

Ink: Not Quite Navy, River Rock

Paper: River Rock, Not Quite Navy, Rose Red, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Elegant Lines embossing folder, Scallop Trim border punch, pearls, Beautiful Wings embosslit, blender pen, Watercolor Wonder crayons, 3/8" Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon

Happy Back to School Day!!!

  This mommy is super excited that preschool started today.  While I love my boys and we've had a good summer the last 3 weeks have been kind of rough.  I think we were all ready for a change from the pace of summer and in need of some structured separation from each other.  Thank goodness for all those wonderful preschool teachers!  Both boys will be in school this year so I wanted to make a little good luck card for their teachers (2 teachers in each class) for the first day. 

  I made all 4 of these yesterday and they basically use the same supplies.  I won't go into details about each one because they are pretty basic.  If you have any specific questions feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail and I will get back to you. I did use markers to ink up the apples.

Card #1

Card #2

Card #3

Card #4

Thanks for looking!  Happy Stamping!

Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Fundamental Phrases, Defining Alphabet

Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Certainly Celery, White craft ink

Paper: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Real Red, Old Olive

Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, scallop circle punch, 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches, taffeta ribbon, 2 Tags Die,  word window punch, linen thread, scallop square punch, wide striped grosgrain ribbon, large oval punch, markers

Just Believe Stamp-A-Stack

  I said that on Thursday I would post the second card we did at the Stamp-A-Stack but time totally got away from me during the second half of the week and over the weekend.  We went to a wedding in Maryland on Saturday and had a great time visiting with a bunch of friends we don't get to see very often....and Sunday was spent driving and recovering from a VERY fun reception!  Today we had a lazy day at the pool and hanging out at home getting geared up for the first day of school (yay!) tomorrow.  Enough of the blah blah blah....Here's the card:

  For this one the largest flower stamp from the Just Believe set is stamped in Marina Mist.  We tore the corners of both the Very Vanilla Layer and the Crumb Cake layer.  The Very Vanilla panel is sponged all the way around with Crumb Cake ink.  I am loving how rich and elegant the Marina Mist 5/8" satin ribbon is on this card.  The sentiment is also from Just Believe and is stamped in Chocolate Chip and also sponged with Crumb Cake.   The sentiment is punched out with the large oval punch and then mounted on a scallop oval punched out of Chocolate Chip.

Thanks for looking!  Happy Stamping!

Stamps: Just Believe

Ink: Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla


Accessories: Marina Mist 5/8" satin ribbon, Large oval punch, Scallop oval punch

Christmas Circle Stamp-A-Stack

  Last night I had a great group come to my Stamp-A-Stack.  We had 13 stampers and I think everyone had a good time and enjoyed the projects.  Here is the first card we did (I still need to take a picture of the second card so I'll show that one tomorrow).  This card is fairly straightforward....I really like how the Whisper White looks after being embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder....I think that it really makes it look elegant for Christmas. 

  We used Always Artichoke and Cherry Cobbler to stamp the 2 different circles from Circle Circus and then punched them out with the coordinating punches.  These were layered on top of an Always Artichoke scalloped circle punched from the new 2 3/8" circle punch.  The small top circle is popped on dimensionals and blinged (spell check doesn't think that's a word!) out with a rhinestone jewel.

  And last but not least we added some overall sparkle to the whole card front by spraying it with shimmer mist (6-7 drops of Shimmer Paint-we used the Champagne color-mixed with rubbing alcohol in a mini mister, just shake really well between sprays).  The ladies really liked this as it's super easy to do and it dries really quick....perfect for making Christmas cards!

  If you're in the Richmond, VA area and are interested in joining in on the stamping fun, check out my calendar of events and get in touch with me!  The more the merrier!

Thanks for looking!  Happy Stamping!

Stamps: Circle Circus, Four the Holidays

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Whisper White


Accessories: Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Shimmer Mist, Rhinestone jewel, dimensionals, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle punch, 1 3/4" Scallop Circle punch, 1" circle punch