CAS Flower

  After a busy weekend we're ready to go into the new week full steam ahead.  I've got a very simple card to show.  I made it a while ago to go along with a new neighbor gift.  We had so many new families move into our neighborhood at the same time I was having a hard time keeping up so I needed to keep it simple!

  I think this whole card was made using pieces that were still on my desk from several other projects.  The base is Raspberry Ripple, then a strip of Orchard Harvest DSP.  I embossed a piece of Early Espresso with the Square Lattice e.f.  I stamped the flower from Reason to Smile (retired) in Early Espresso and then colored with my blender pen.  I took my flower colors right from the DSP; Lucky Limeade and Raspberry Ripple.  The final touch is the wood button tied with Lucky Limeade baker's twine.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Reason to Smile (retired)

Ink: Early Espresso, Lucky Limeade, Raspberry Ripple

Paper: Raspberry Ripple, Orchard Harvest DSP, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Square Lattice e.f., wood button, baker's twine

Blast Off With Fab Friday!

  Is everyone ready for the awesome new challenge at Fab Friday?  We had another great turnout for the last challenge and hope everyone can play again for challenge 3!  This time Mindy has given us a fun sketch to play with.  There are so many possibilities with this layout and I know you're going to knock our socks off!  To play along just follow the sketch, post it to your blog or online gallery and then link it up back at Fab Friday using the little Inlinkz tool at the bottom of the post. 

  And now for the sketch:

  For my card I did take some liberties with the placement of my main image panel but I do love how it turned out....maybe so much so that I won't be able to give it away!

   How fun is that little guy blasting off into space in his rocket ship?  While the stamping on this card isn't difficult I did take a bit of time with the details.  Check out the chevron embossed Early Espresso panel, the brads on the 3 flags, the paper piercing around both window framelits, the hand cut flames and the mini brads accenting the points on the rocket ship panel.

  But wait!  There's more!  I had myself a bit of fun with the Glimmer Paper - silver and champagne.  Using the retired (but still very handy) Crop-a-dile I punched some champagne glimmer paper circles to jazz up the rocket ship...just a little dab of Tombow Mono-Multi glue holds them down perfectly.  Next, I decided that I needed a moon on my card....who doesn't need a moon right? (No, not that kind of moon....geez people get your mind out of the gutter...this is a stamping blog! LOL!) I punched one champagne circle and one silver circle.  Then using 2 different sizes of handheld circle punches I randomly punched some circles in the silver circle.  Then I glued (again with the mono-multi) the two glimmer paper circles together so the champagne color comes through the holes. Voila!  Moon craters! I popped the moon up with a double stack of dimensionals to make sure it got the attention it deserved.

  But wait!  There's even more!  After stamping the rocket ship but before adhering all the layers together I used the 1 1/4" circle punch to punch out the window.  I used my Circles #2 die to cut a circle from a sheet of acetate.  I adhered the acetate circle to the back of the rocket ship.  Then I stamped the space dude on a scrap of Whisper White and layered the rocket ship over the top.  I love this little detail of the clear window and the space dude looking out.  You can kind of see it in this photo with a bit of glare on the window.

 

 Kind of fun huh?  Go check out the super talented design team and get inspired to play along with us at Fab Friday .  I can't wait to see what you create!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Blast Off

Ink: More Mustard, Pool Party, Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso

Paper: Pool Party, Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer paper, Champagne Glimmer paper, acetate

Accessories: Chevron, e.f., mini brads, piercing template, dimensionals, Circles #2 die, Windows Framelits, circle punches, Crop-a-dile, brads

Stately Pine

  All day I thought I would find time to post this card and I just couldn't squeeze it in.  The "at home" in my title of stay at home mom is a crock let me tell you.  I'm never home!  Or at least I don't feel like I'm at home for any decent length of time.  It's just enough to throw some more laundry in the wash or fold what's in the dryer or vacuum one floor or make lunch or drop off groceries before I'm out the door to do something else.  Towards the end of summer I kept daydreaming about the start of school and having large chunks of time to tackle some more involved projects around the house that have been on my mind....Nope!  I guess if my family isn't living in filth, has clean clothes, eats real food several times a day and makes it school/work on time I guess can consider myself ahead of the game and should just go back to daydreaming...

  I'm sure you're not here to listen to my (mostly in jest) bellyaching so we'll move on to the fun stuff of stamping!  I made this one last week using colors from the Splitcoaststampers color challenge from several weeks back: Basic Gray, Gumball Green and Chocolate Chip.

  I had a bit of a hard time getting the Basic Gray to play nice with the other colors but in the end we all worked out an agreement!  Basic Gray made a small appearance and Gumball Green and Chocolate Chip sucked it up and made it happen.  I used the Basic Gray for the spritzing on the pine panel and for the layer behind the pine panel.  I thought this would be a good design that with just a bit of bling and/or a pretty ribbon and change the sentiment it could easily turn into a Christmas card. 

  I used the corner rounder for several layers and added some texture by embossing some of the Gumball Green Core'dinations cardstock with the Woodgrain embossing folder.  The sentiment from Petite Pairs was stamped in Chocolate Chip and then punched out.  I added a wooden button with hemp twine knotted through the holes.  I'm not completely sure the button works but I couldn't come up with anything else that I liked better.  Sometimes you just need to leave well enough alone.

  We're coming up on the home stretch to the weekend so I hope you all have an awesome Friday and and even better Saturday!  Get yourself stamping and have some fun!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Lovely As A Tree, Petite Pairs

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Gumball Green, Basic Gray (spritzes)

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Core'dinations Gumball Green, Basic Gray, Very Vanilla

Accessories: spritzer tool, sanding block, oval punch, wooden button, hemp twine

Autumn Butterfly Birthday

  Well we made it through Monday!  On to Tuesday...We are running to and fro all this week to different commitments, appointments etc.  I'm tired just looking at my calendar for this week!  So much for more "me time" once school started! 

  My mother-in-law asked if I had a stack of birthday cards that she could use for numerous birthdays next month.  She came to the right place!  I had a few in my stash but still needed to make a few more to have enough for her.  I saw last week's Clean and Simple Challenge and the Color Challenge over on Splitcoaststampers and got to work combining them into an autumn birthday card.

 

 The CAS challenge was to use color blocking and the color challenge was Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie and Midnight Muse.  To keep with the clean and simple theme I stacked my colors up on the left and kept the right side open and white.  I unified both sides by rounding all of the corners of the topmost layer of Whisper White  and the top corner of the Cajun Craze block and the lower corner of the Midnight Muse block.  

  For my stamped image I went with the circular butterfly from Serene Silhouettes and stamped it in Midnight Muse.  The new style ink pads are perfect for these solid stamps.  The coverage is awesome and you don't get those little lighter blotches anymore....just remember to keep the ink where it's supposed to be it's "Tap, Tap, Tap" and not "Mash, Mash, Mash"!  =)

  I added a rhinestone to each of the flowers to give some nice CAS sparkle.  And believe it or not I still have some of this retired organdy ribbon left so I used bit of that around the top layer.  The circle was then adhered with dimensionals.  The top layer of Whisper White is also popped up on dimensionals because I just can't say no!  I know it's a sickness isn't it!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Serene Silhouettes

Ink: Midnight Muse

Paper: Whisper White, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Midnight Muse

Accessories: corner rounder, circle punch, rhinestones, organdy ribbon (retired), dimensionals

Dazzling Ornament

  Happy Sunday stampers!  I'm sharing a Christmas card that I made a while back and it just kept getting buried in the "to blog about" pile.  While this card looks CAS (clean and simple) there are some details that take a few more steps.

  I had some fun with the Dazzling Diamonds for this card.  First I stamped the ornament in Cherry Cobbler, then planted it face down on one of the multipurpose adhesive sheets and put the backing paper back over it.  Next,  I used the coordinating Framelits dies to cut out the ornament adhesive sheet and all.  Once I had it cut I peeled off the adhesive backing and pressed the whole ornament into my tray of Dazzling Diamonds.  Tapped off any excess glitter and Wow!  Super sparkly!

  Next, I stamped the ornament again in Gumball Green (cleaning off the Cherry Cobbler ink of course) and then cut out just the pattern in the middle of the ornament.  The paper snips were very handy for this portion of the card!  I adhered the pattern to the ornament and then added rhinestones.  I used Cherry Cobbler baker's twine to make the loop.

  For the flag/banner I stamped "Christmas Cheer" from Sweet Essentials and edged the cardstock with the Gumball Green.  This little detail keeps the flag from disappearing into the background.

  I really liked how this card turned out so I made 9 more to add to my Christmas card stash.  I hope you're getting some ideas for your Christmas cards.  It's never too early to start thinking about them; we're already halfway through September! 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sweet Essentials, Ornament Keepsakes

Ink: Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler

Paper: Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets

Accessories: Holiday Ornaments Framelits, baker's twine, Dazzling Diamonds, Vintage Wallpaper e.f.

Wonderfall is Fab on Friday!

  TGIF right?  We're starting the weekend off right with another Fab Friday challenge.  We had an awesome group of entries for the very first challenge so we're excited to see all the awesome projects for this great color challenge!

  This time it's a color challenge!  So Saffron, Sahara Sand and Basic Gray!  Head over to Fab Friday for all the details on how to join in the fun and see the fabulous design team samples! 

  I'll admit that at first I was stumped but once I started playing with the colors I really liked them together.  Lately here in Central Virginia we've had cooler temperatures and hardly any humidity so feels like fall is in the air....at least for a few days.  I fully expect to have several more 90+ days before autumn officially starts!  For now I've decided to embrace the cooler weather and I stamped a fall card for this color challenge!

  The photo makes this card look short and squat but it's a regular A2 size.  Again, I must work on my camera skills!  Anyway, I had fun making this little leaf bouquet to incorporate our challenge colors.  The card base is Sahara Sand and I embossed a smaller piece of Sahara Sand with the Woodgrain embossing folder for the top portion of the card.  Next I used a scrap of Very Vanilla and the zigzag Finishing Touches Edgelit and added it behind a piece of the Basic Gray polka dotted DSP from the Howlstooth & Scarringbone pack.  I covered the seam with Basic Gray taffeta ribbon.

  Next, using the fun new Wonderfall stamp set and the coordinating Autumn Accents Big Shot die I created my leaf bouquet (both found in the Holiday catalog).  Quick tip: Cut your leaves out first and then ink your stamp, flip it over and lay the leaf on top of the stamp.  Use a bone folder or brayer to "rub" your ink onto the die cut.  Pretty much like how you use big background stamps.

  Once I had my bouquet made and popped up with dimensionals I needed to do some embellishing!   I added a Very Vanilla button tied with linen thread (a.k.a. Man Ribbon!), added a Vintage Trinket safety pin and a little tag.  The 'hello' is in the Pennant Parade set and is the perfect size for the jewelry tag punch.

  This card is going to find it's way to my grandparents with some photos of the boys from the first day of school.  Just need to print them out...one more thing added to the to-do list!

  I hope you can play along with us at Fab Friday!  Remember you have almost 2 weeks to do the challenge so you can mull it over for a bit!  Have a fantastic weekend!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Wonderfall, Pennant Parade

Ink: So Saffron, Sahara Sand, Basic Gray

Paper: Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Howlstooth & Scarringbone DSP

Accessories: Vintage Trinket, linen thread, button, taffeta ribbon, Finishing Touches Edgelit, Woodgrain e.f.

Ornament Tent Card

  Here's a fun Christmas card idea!  It's really never too early to start Christmas cards is it?  I made this one a while ago after seeing the Clean & Simple Challenge on Splitcoaststampers to make a tent card.  I had made a tent topper card in the past so I went with the choice of learning how to make the tent card.  My card isn't anywhere near "clean" or "simple" so I didn't post it to the challenge.  It's still a cool card and a great idea if you have a friend or relative that saves and displays every card you send them.  This card is great to display and can be folded up flat for storage until next Christmas!

  My card didn't start off as a square card but after some measuring difficulties it turned into a square card!  I used the Festival of Prints DSP pack as well as the Ornament Keepsake and matching Framelits.  The Window Framelits were used to cut the viewing window on the card front and the sentiment panel.

  Here's the side view which shows the "tent" part pretty well!

 

  The ornament looks cool dangling down into the window.  I used Cherry Cobbler baker's twine for that part and then seam binding ribbon for the big bow.  

  This was a fun card to put together and I may try other variations in the future....you could have all sorts of things hanging down!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Ornament Keepsakes, Petite Pairs

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Lucky Limeade, Silver Shimmer paint

Paper: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Festival of Prints DSP

Accessories: Windows Framelits, Holiday Ornaments Framelits, baker's twine, rhinestones, circle punch, seam binding ribbon

Birthday Balloons

  Happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a great weekend and got lots of stamping time in.  I did a little bit of stamping but the weather was so nice yesterday that I spent a good part of the afternoon outside reading.  I did finish this card on Friday combining a few challenges though.  I wouldn't want you to think I was slacking off or anything!

  I used the ColourQ combination of Calypso Coral, So Saffron, Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip and white.  I didn't have any Soft Sky (I don't think I ever owned that color at all!) so I thought that Pool Party was a pretty close match.  For the layout I used the Sketch Challenge over at Splitcoaststampers.

 

  I had fun mixing and matching the balloon colors to get the right balance.  Some fun details that I like on this card are the Whisper White craft ink clouds on the Pool Party card base and then the clouds are stamped again on the balloon panel in Pool Party.  I also like the polka dot DSP that was edged with the scallop edgelit.  And finally the little punched flowers with the rhinestones in the center....too cute if I do say so myself!

  I'm off to a busy day of grocery shopping, laundry and general running to and fro.  Hope you have a great start to the week!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Up, Up and Away

Ink: Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, white craft

Paper: Pool Party, Pool Party In Color DSP pack, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, So Saffron, Calypso Coral

Accessories: oval punch, Itty Bitty punch pack, stitched grosgrain ribbon, scallop edgelit, rhinestones, dimensionals

Folded Paper Flowers

   Happy Saturday everyone!  It is one lazy morning here at our house that's for sure.  Last night we hostessed a "happy hour" get together with some of our neighbors.  It turned into quite the late evening with good food and good company.  Needless to say we are all lounging around right now trying to get motivated to do 'something'.  Does blogging count?  Ha!

  My card today is one I made a while ago.  I saw this card made by Christina on Pinterest and really liked how the bright colors popped against the black background.  I, if you can believe it, don't own a flower die or punch!  I had to make due with creating my flowers from folded pieces DSP.

 I used an old Color Challenge at Splitcoaststampers; Real Red, Wisteria Wonder and Island Indigo.  Kind of a crazy set of colors in my world but I think it works.  To make the flowers I used my 1 1/4" circle punch and punched out 4 circles in each of my patterns.  Then I folded each one in half and then in half again.  I adhered them to the card base with the open flap part facing the same direction going around in a circle.  Then I added the buttons with baker's twine bows using glue dots.

  To keep the card from being too dark I added the Sweet Essentials sentiment stamped on a piece of Whisper White with some Wisteria Wonder trim at the bottom.  I cut the trim using one of the Finishing Touches Edgelits.  Two mini silver brads anchor the sentiment panel and rounded corners at the bottom finish this card off.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sweet Essentials

Ink: Black Stazon

Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder, Summer Smooches DSP, In Color DSP Pack

Accessories: circle punch, buttons, baker's twine, mini brads, Finishing Touches Edgelit

Autumn Betsy's Blossoms

  The first day of school went great for both boys yesterday.  Ryan said his favorite part of school was recess and Alex said his favorite was snacktime!  Boys!  Now just to get into the routine of getting up early and getting everyone where they need to be on time!  I think I'm going to have to work on being disciplined this year with getting errands and housework done instead of heading right for the stamp room!  I better get a schedule going....any suggestions?  But this week I'm going to be lazy and stamp a lot as a reward to myself for making it through the summer!  Ha!

  I made this card yesterday because I needed to send a check to someone and I think those long, white business sized envelopes are so boring and impersonal so I wanted something pretty to send. 

 I liked the sketch so much for the brand new Fab Friday challenge  that I wanted to use it to make another card.  I love how just changing colors and stamp sets on the same sketch gives a whole different feel.  Here is the card that I made for my design team submission: Watercolor Sky.  Totally different isn't it?

  I got busy with my sponge daubers for this card.  For the flowers I used More Mustard, then daubed a ring of Cajun Craze and then a bit of Early Espresso in the centers.  I did that 3 times on Very Vanilla.

  Then I recreated the look of the flowers for the bird.  The bird was first stamped in Early Espresso on Very Vanilla and then cut out.  I cleaned my stamp and then inked it up again in More Mustard and daubed a bit of Cajun Craze and then cut out just wings and popped them up on the bird body with dimensionals.  

  I used the More Mustard pattern from the Autumn Harvest DSP and added a bit of Early Espresso taffeta ribbon, a small strip of Cajun Craze cut with the Tasteful Trim die and finally a Vintage Trinket brad to anchor it all down.  The bird is then popped up with dimensionals.

  We'd love to have you play along with us for this challenge at Fab Friday! 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Betsy's Blossoms

Ink: More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso

Paper: Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla, Autumn Harvest DSP

Accessories: Tasteful Trim die, Vintage Trinket brad, Taffeta ribbon, dimensionals, sponge daubers

Back to 'Spool' Promotion

  How fun is this promotion??  You know I can't say no to ribbon so this one is right up my alley!  I love the In Color satin stitched ribbon.  For my local ladies this promo will still be going on when we meet at the end of the month!!  Get your wish list together!  You can get free ribbon to use on your Christmas cards!  If you're out of town or can't make it at the end of the month you can order online HERE.  If you have any questions just let me know!

  Promotion Details: While the kids are heading back to school, Stampin' Up! is going back to 'spool'! For the month of September, get a FREE package of 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon-an $8.95 value-for every $40 you spend!

The Fine Print

• Any order type qualifies for this promotion-customer, demonstrator, workshop, or online.
• This promotion has no limits-for every $40 you spend, you'll get a free package of 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon. Go crazy!
• Sorry-hostess dollars don't count toward this promotion.
• You need to take advantage of this deal before the following deadline:   Sunday, September 30, 2012; 11:50 PM (MT)

First Day of School!

 After a long and mostly great summer, school has resumed in our area!  After all the back to school open houses, endless forms and packing snacks and a lunch the day has finally arrived.  Everyone got going this morning at the right times and the boys made it to their respective schools.  Alex wasn't too thrilled about getting his picture taken but other than that it went quite smoothly this morning!

Is it just me or do Ryan's shoes look huge??

The grudging "smile"

  And of course I had to make a back to school project.  There were several "back to school" themed challenges from this past week but I think I missed the deadline for all of them.  Oh well....it was still fun to be stamping!  I made a bunch of these back to school pencils that we gave out to the various teachers and office staff at both schools this morning.  I think the adults need just as many "good luck" wishes as the kids do...maybe even more since the adults are totally out numbered at school!  This is a variation of the owl themed back to school pencils I did last year.

   I punched the scallop circles from the new Core'dinations Early Espresso cardstock and then ran them through the Big Shot with the new Woodgrain embossing folder (Love it!).  Then I added a punched circle from the Orchard Harvest DSP.  I colored the acorn with More Mustard and Early Espresso markers and stamped it on Very Vanilla. Another circle punch and some Crumb Cake sponging.  I hand trimmed the banner after stamping the sentiment and doing some more punching.  I tied the whole tag to cello pencil back with Island Indigo baker's twine.  Since the baker's twine is white I sponged some Crumb Cake ink on that too so it wouldn't be so stark against the Very Vanilla.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Wonderfall, So Happy for You (retired)

Ink: Early Espresso, More Mustard, Crumb Cake (sponging)

Paper: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso Core'dinations, Orchard Harvest DSP

Accessories: Scallop circle punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, Island Indigo baker's twine, 1" x 8" cello bags, Woodgrain embossing folder, pencils