To the Moon! Fab Friday is Back!

  Whew!  We made it through another week!  It's Friday and the Fab Friday challenge is back in action!  We took a month off and now we're ready to rock.  So what do we have in store for you for the first challenge of 2014?  Check it out!

  How about that color combination...Great colors for Valentine's Day right?  Well that's the direction I took it!

  I love this image from the Love You to the Moon set.  It's perfect for little boys (which I have!) and it works well for my husband too.  Way back when before we were married I gave him the Guess How Much I Love You children's book.  So we've always used the "love you to the moon and back" phrase... "to the moon and back" is even engraved inside his wedding ring.  So you can see why I had to get this stamp set!

  Since the image is kind of small I kept the layout clean and simple and focused on the challenge colors.

  The card base is Crumb Cake with 2 corners rounded.  I added a narrow strip of Coastal Cabana that is embossed with the Decorative Dots folder.  Don't the little bumps look like the the moon craters?  Then I added a little strip of Silver Glimmer paper next to the Coastal Cabana.

  For the image panel I inked up the stamp with markers and stamped it on Whisper White cardstock then cut it out with the Oval Framelits.  Then I stamped the moon part on Coastal Cabana cardstock with Versamark and heat embossed it with white e.p.  I cut the moon out and popped it up with a dimensional onto the oval panel.

  The final part of this card is the Real Red flag with the glittery Coastal Cabana heart.  I just cut a little flag out of a small scrap, punched the heart with the owl punch and added some Dazzling Details to sparkle it up a bit.

  I hope you'll play along with us at Fab Friday!  Show us all the fabulousness you can do with these colors!  For more inspiration check out the rest of the Design Team!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Love You to the Moon

Ink: Versarmark, markers- Crumb Cake, Coastal Cabana, Real Red

Paper: Crumb Cake, Coastal Cabana, Silver Glimmer paper, Real Red, Whisper White

Accessories: Oval framelits, white e.p., Decorative Dots, Owl Punch, Dazzling Details, dimensionals

Alligator Love

  It snowed again last night so the boys are off from school again!  We're all wondering if they will cancel for the rest of the week....we did get about 3 inches which is more than we had last week when they canceled school for 4 days....  We shall see.

  For now I've got a card to share that I made for last week's Mojo Monday challenge.  I didn't get the photo taken and edited in time to submit it to the challenge but that's OK.  It was a fun layout to work with and I fussed over it a long time.  I couldn't get these colors to cooperate quite the way I wanted to.  I don't know if it is because they are all kind of bold colors but I kept playing around until I got something I was mostly happy with.

 As you can see I'm still having a lot of fun using new Occasions catalog and Sale-a-bration (SAB) items!  I wanted to make a Valentine's day card for one of the boys so I didn't want it too froo-froo and I loved these colors.

  The base is Island Indigo and then a layer of Whisper White that was embossed with the Honeycomb embossing folder.  I then embossed a piece of Gumball Green Core'dinations with the SAB embossing folder Decorative Dots.  I sanded the dots a bit with the sanding block.

  I stamped and punched out 3 little banners using the Banner Blast stamp set and matching punch---all freebies with SAB!  I layered the banners under the embossed Gumball Green panel.

  For the sentiment I stamped one of the phrases from the Geometrical set in Island Indigo and then put that on top of the Gumball Green layer.

  The alligator was stamped with Gumball Green and then cut out with the Circles framelits.  I colored in the little heart with the Daffodil Delight marker and also added a heart banner to the side.  The final touch is the retired Daffodil Delight button tied with a little bit of hemp twine.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Zoo Babies, Banner Blast, Geometrical

Ink: Gumball Green, Daffodil Delight, Island Indigo

Paper: Island Indigo, Gumball Green, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Gumball Green Core'dinations

Accessories: Honeycomb e.f., Decorative Dots e.f., Circle Framelits, banner punch, button, hemp twine

 

Clean and Simple Valentine

For this card I combined 2 challenges, one of which has already ended but the colors are still awesome!  Sometimes you don't need a whole lot of frills on a card and just a few details can make it special.

  The color combination came from ColourQ 224, Poppy Parade, Island Indigo, Pool Party, Basic Gray, and Whisper White.

  The Color Block inspiration came from CAS-ual Fridays.

  The base of the card is Whisper White, then I added a Poppy Parade panel which had a heart cut from the center.  I like how the negative white heart breaks up the brightness of the Poppy Parade.  Then I embossed my sentiment onto the Island Indigo panel with white embossing powder.  You can find this sentiment along with a bunch of other love/thinking of you stamps in the Occasions catalog in the Love You to the Moon set.  The final panel in Pool Party is embossed with the Arrows embossing folder also in the Occasions catalog.  I said yesterday that it's my new favorite and I can't deny it.  To soften all the edges a bit I rounded the corners on the color pieces.

  To keep with the color combination I added a Basic Gray button threaded with white Baker's Twine.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Love You to the Moon

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Whisper White, Poppy Parade, Pool Party, Island Indigo

Accessories:  Arrows embossing folder, baker's twine, button, white e.p., corner rounder, heart framelits.

Retro Birthday

  The month of February will be here before I know it and we have a lot of family birthdays so I'm trying to stock up on some birthday cards so I have enough for the whole month.  I think I counted 6 or 7 so I need to be on my game!

  I used the Freshly Made Sketches challenge to get me started with this card.  I liked the big banner behind the top layer; so many different things you can do with a banner.  For this one I just played it straight and did some embossing.  I think the new Arrows embossing folder is my new favorite!

  I pulled my colors right from the Retro Fresh DSP in the Occasions catalog.  I think this will be one of the guy cards I need so I kept the frills to a minimum and just did some paper piercing around the oval and added a smaller banner punched with the Sale-a-Bration punch.  A retired Tangerine Tango button threaded with linen thread is the final touch.   The oval panel is popped up on dimensionals because I just can't say no to those little foam dots!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Bring on the Cake

Ink: Baked Brown Sugar

Paper: Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar, Very Vanilla, Retro Fresh DSP

Accessories: Oval Framelits, Arrows e.f., banner punch, button, linen thread, oval piercing guide

Happy 2014...A Bit Late

 Here we are again with another "snow" day in Richmond.  Apparently they found a small patch of ice in the shade some where on a back road in Henrico County.  So no school again.  I find it kind of ironic that the teachers and staff have had to report to work the last few days, garbage and recycling service is running, USPS and UPS have been delivering, parents are planning playdates, driving to work and Target, going to the bounce houses places and yet the roads are still too dangerous to let the buses run....Hmmmmm....

  But anyway, on to the card.  I designed this one to send out for our New's Years cards.  I love the bit of sparkle from the Champagne glimmer paper and the sequins.

 This could also work for a birthday, wedding or anniversary card too!  The card base is Basic Gray with the bottom corners rounded and then a panel of Soft Sky Core'dinations paper embossed with the Decorative Dots folder (SAB).  Trying to mimic the bubbles in champagne a bit.  Next,  I tied a bit of Basic Gray 3/8" taffeta around that layer.

  For the image I used my Basic Gray marker to ink up the champagne glasses from the Happy House set and the "Celebrate" from the Make a Wish set.  I stamped them onto Very Vanilla cardstock.

  I used the Oval Framelits to cut out my images and then went to work on the sparkle.  I used the Word Window punch with the Champagne Glimmer paper to fill up my glasses.  This was a great way to use up a few small scraps that I couldn't bear to throw away.  Just trim the little word window pieces to fit in the glasses and glue down with Tombow Multi.  The finished oval panel is popped up with dimensionals.

  Then I pulled a few sequins off of the spool and glued them right down to the card front.  Another little something to make the card look bubbly!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Happy Hour, Make a Wish

Ink: Basic Gray (marker)

Paper: Basic Gray, Soft Sky Core'dinations, Very Vanilla, Champagne Glimmer paper

Accessories: Decorative Dots e.f., taffeta ribbon, Oval Framelits, gold sequins, dimensionals, corner rounder punch

Hooray for Today --- Or Not!

  So yesterday I said only in the south could school be cancelled 2 days in a row for an inch of snow.  Well I need to amend that to 3 days in a row!  Apparently there is too much ice on the roads and the schools need to be closed again??!!  So it's another lazy day here at our house.  Though I did lay down the law last night at dinner that if there wasn't school today that we would finish writing our Christmas thank you notes.  That of course was met with groans...I think the boys might rather be at school!  =)  But it needs to be done and I'm already slightly embarrassed that we haven't completed that after Christmas task.

  Today I'm sharing the last project that we did at my private stamping class a few weekends ago.  Since almost everyone at the class was new to stamping I wanted to keep the projects simple but cute.  You don't want to overwhelm beginners with too many techniques or tools.

 

  For this card we started with a So Saffron base and then used a layer of Retro Fresh DSP (Occasions catalog).  The sentiment from Geometrical (Occasions catalog) was stamped in Baked Brown Sugar onto Whisper White. After I had these projects prepped for the class I realized that the Retro Fresh DSP uses Very Vanilla instead of Whisper White....oh well...it's doesn't look too strange does it?

  We then stamped 2 Coastal Cabana triangles and punched them out with the Triangle punch (Occasions catalog) along with one from another pattern of the Retro Fresh DSP.  The triangleS are adhered to the corner of the card to look like a banner.

  The final touch is a candy dot on the "R" of the sentiment.  I love this sentiment because it can be used not only for birthdays but any exciting accomplishment or reason for celebration.

  I hope you have reason to "Hooray" today....maybe your kids are back in school??  =)

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Geometrical

Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana

Paper: So Saffron, Whisper White, Retro Fresh DSP

Accessories: candy dots, Triangle Punch

Sunny Day CASE

  Well it is a bright sunny morning here in Richmond.  Cold but sunny.  And only in the south can school be cancelled 2 days in a row for an inch of snow!  On Monday they were prepping us for 3-6 inches.  They cancelled school for Tuesday on Monday night at about 9:30.  All day my boys sat at home waiting for the snow to play in.  It flurried a little and then about 5pm it snowed a little....like a dusting on the ground.  It snowed a bit more but it was that fine dusty snow that just blows around and doesn't really accumulate.  Again, school is cancelled and there is barely enough snow to warrant putting on boots!  Oh well...the boys think it's funny having a 5 day weekend!  At least it's cold so the snow won't melt immediately like it usually does.

  Since we do have some sunshine I'll show my CASE (copy and share everything) card of a punch art sun.  If you're an avid blog hopper you've probably seen this card and this card by my stamping buddy Jennifer Timko.  It was so cute I just had to make one myself.

  The base of the card is Soft Sky and I made the clouds by cutting out the thought bubble from the new Word Bubbles Framelits and embossing them with the Sale-a-bration (SAB) Decorative Dots folder.  To make the grass I took a strip of Old Olive and used the Fringe Scissors (Occasions catalog) to cut almost all the way to the edge but leaving a small strip intact to hold the grass together.

  The sun is a Daffodil Delight circle and the rays are stamped with the Banner Blast set (SAB) and punched out with the matching Banner punch (SAB).  How cool is it to get these 2 coordinating products for free starting on January 28th??  The sun is popped up on dimensionals.

  To finish this card I added the 'love you so' sentiment from the Geometrical set (Occasions catalog), flagged the end and threaded some Old Olive 1/8" taffeta ribbon through a Soft Sky button.

  Thanks to Jennifer for sharing her creativity!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Banner Blast, Geometrical

Ink: Daffodil Delight

Paper: Soft Sky, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Whisper White

Accessories: Banner punch, Fringe Scissors, Word Bubbles Framelits, Decorative Dots e.f., button, 1/8" taffeta ribbon, dimensionals

Valentine's Tag Topper Treat

   Here is another one of the projects that we did at the private class one of my customers hosted last weekend.  With Valentine's day around the corner this was a fun quick project that was well received by the ladies at the class.  You can change it up for what ever event/season/occasion you need it for.  Ghiradelli chocolates are always appropriate!

  We used the new Scalloped Tag Topper punch to make this treat.  Just start with a 6 inch long piece of Blush Blossom and cut it 2 inches wide.  Next, score at 2 7/8" and 3 1/8".  Then use the punch on each end of the cardstock strip.  

  The Love You to the Moon stamp set in the Occasions Catalog has a nice assortment of love and thinking of you sentiments and images so we stamped the little 'xo' heart on the the Blush Blossom cardstock with Strawberry Slush ink.  

  We inked up the "Love You" with Strawberry Slush ink and then used a blender pen to remove the ink from the arrow and "you" portion of the image.  Next we colored the arrow and "you" with the Gumball Green marker and then stamped it onto Whisper White cardstock.  We punched it out with the large oval punch, popped it up with dimensionals and added a rhinestone.  

  To keep the flaps of the chocolate wrapper folder down I just added a little bit of double sided tape to the back of the chocolate, this will also keep the candy snug inside the pouch.

  The final bit to finish this up is the Gumball Green stitched ribbon threaded through the tag holes and tied.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Love You to the Moon

Ink: Strawberry Slush, Gumball Green (marker)

Paper: Blush Blossom, Whisper White

Accessories: oval punch, blender pen, rhinestone, stitched ribbon, Scallop Tag Topper punch, dimensionals

Baby Boy Rhino

  I've been all about the Zoo Babies set lately haven't I?  It's such a cute set how could you not use it for babies?  That and the fact that it's really the only baby set that I own!

  Our neighbors found out the other day that they are having a little boy.   After 3 girls that news was certainly exciting for them.  I had to make a card to go with a little gift for them.  How much more boy can you get than a rhino?

  This was a fun sketch from the ladies over at Freshly Made Sketches so I had to play along.  The angle of that bottom panel is really fun as I generally am very balanced and straight with my layouts.

  A bonus with this card is that I used up a bit of retired product.  The DSP is from the Sent With Love pack from last year and the red button is the retired style.

  The Island Indigo flag is embossed with the new Arrows embossing folder which I think goes well with the DSP pattern.

  I stamped the Rhino twice.  The first one I cut out with the square framelits and the second I cut out with my paper snips and popped up on the first rhino with dimensionals.  To get the horns a different color I used a blender pen to take away the Pool Party ink and then used the Island Indigo marker to re-color the horns.

  Hope you're having a fun weekend!  Ryan's Space Race rocket was not a big winner this morning but it was really fun to see all the designs and the excitement of the scouts.  On to designing Pinewood Derby car!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Zoo Babies

Ink: Real Red, Pool Party, Island Indigo- marker

Paper: Real Red, Sent With Love DSP, Island Indigo, Whisper White

Accessories: button, baker's twine, dimensionals, Arrows e.f.,  Square framelits

CAS Petal Parade

  Happy Friday!  I hope you have a fun weekend ahead of you.  We have the Cub Scout space race which is always fun to see as well as dinner with friends.  I do hope to find some time to stamp too of course.

  My card today is one that I designed for a private class I did last weekend.  One of my customers wanted to have some friends and co-workers over for an afternoon of crafting so I put together a few projects for them to do.

  This is a nice clean and simple card using Sale-a-bration (SAB) freebies!  The flower stamp set, twine and DSP are all things you can get for free with a qualifying purchase!  For this card we simply stamped the two flowers from the Petal Parade stamp set in Pool Party and Summer Starfruit, added a strip of Sweet Sorbet DSP and then a bow of Summer Starfruit twine from the Sweet Sorbet accessory pack around the sentiment panel.

  I designed this card to be an any occasion card and each of the ladies at the class could choose which sentiment from Sweet Essentials they wanted for their card.  Aren't those nice pops of happy colors for the sometimes dreary winter?  I know I'm not the only one who thinks Summer Starfruit is hard to work with but it does go nicely with Pool Party in this case.  It's all about finding the right combination isn't it!?

  For my local ladies, our next stamping event will be on Jan. 28.  I sent an email a few days ago so please look for it and RSVP by this coming Wed. if you plan to attend.  I have not heard back from many of my regulars and I don't want anyone to miss out.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Petal Parade (SAB), Sweet Essentials

Ink: Pool Party, Summer Starfruit, Sahara Sand

Paper: Pool Party, Whisper White, Sweet Sorbet DSP (SAB)

Accessories: Sweet Sorbet Accessory pack (twine) (SAB)

Baby Girl Elephant

Am I on a roll or what??  3 days in a row right?  I've been getting a lot of inspiration from challenges and today's card actually uses 2.  One for the layout and one for the colors.

Hand Stamped Sentiments has the color challenge of Wisteria Wonder, Strawberry Slush, and Coastal Cabana.  Mojo Monday challenge is the layout that I used.  I did flip the sketch on it's side but it still works right?

 Old friends of ours just had their first baby right before Christmas so I needed to make a card to send with a little gift.  Can you tell that the baby was a girl??

  Not only was my inspiration from the 2 challenges but my friend Mindy is on the Hand Stamped Sentiments design team and she made the cutest tag using the challenge colors so I told her I was totally going to CASE (copy and share with everyone).  Obviously not an exact CASE but I had to go with a Wisteria Wonder elephant too!  Thanks Mindy!  You rock girlfriend!

  Now for the details.  Just a few new things on this card...the DSP is a pattern in the Retro Fresh pack in the Occasions catalog. I love every pattern in the pack!  The Strawberry Slush panel is embossed with the Arrows embossing folder also from the Occasions catalog.

  I stamped the ear in Coastal Cabana and cut it out and glued part of it down to add some dimension. The little heart is covered with Dazzling Details.  I had some of the retired Wisteria Wonder baker's twine left so I paired it up with a Pool Party (or maybe Soft Sky?) button.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Zoo Babies

Ink: Wisteria Wonder, Stazon, Coastal Cabana

Paper: Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush, Wisteria Wonder, Retro Fresh DSP, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Arrows e.f., baker's twine, button, Dazzling Details, Owl punch (heart)

Love Word Bubbles

  I'm back with another card showing fun Occasions Catalog products.  Since Valentine's day will soon be upon us I wanted to get a head start on cards to send to family and friends.  The sketch challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary was my inspiration for this card.

  The card base is Real Red and embossed with the new Arrows embossing folder.  Then I cut a bunch of word bubbles with the new Word Bubbles framelits using Whisper White cardstock.  I added some punched hearts in Crumb Cake, Real Red and Coastal Cabana and then arranged them on the card front.

  I inked up one of the matching stamps from the new Just Sayin' set with markers and then cut it out with the framelit. This set is so fun;  cute fonts, fresh sentiments and a great size to be able to ink up the bubbles and words separately to mix and match on different projects.

  To finish up I put down a narrow strip of Coastal Cabana, added 3 Crumb Cake candy dots and then layered my 'love ya' with a little mini glimmer paper heart on top.  Of course it's popped on dimensionals if you were wondering!  =)

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Just Sayin'

Ink: Crumb Cake, Coastal Cabana (markers)

Paper: Real Red, Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Crumb Cake, Red Glimmer paper

Accessories: Word Bubbles framelits, small heart punch, Arrows e.f.,  Owl punch (mini heart), candy dots

Happy Watercolor, Happy Birthday

  I've finally gotten around to playing with some new Occasions catalog products (and a Sale-a-Bration sneak peek!).  I've had them for what seems like so long and they are just now seeing ink!  I got back to stamping last week to prepare for a private class I did for one of my customers and her friends over the weekend.  I'll be showing those projects over the next few days but right now I want to share a card I made that fits into the current Friday Mashup challenge before the challenge is over.

  The challenge at Friday Mashup is to use twine or make a birthday card or make a card with both elements.  Done!  I always need a lot of birthday cards so I'm pleased to have this one in my stockpile!

  Do you see all the new goodies on this card??  Goodness!  Where do I start?  First, the color combination of Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke and Wisteria Wonder is straight from the color coach.  Not new, but worth pointing out since I would never have gotten these on my own but I like the finished card.  The pops of gold are all mine though.  New products alert!!  The gold bakers twine (for the challenge!) threaded through the button and the gold sequins highlighting the flower center and sprinkled on the card base!  The gold sequin trim is so cool because you can use it in a length like ribbon or snip the thread and pull the sequins off and use individually.

  Next is the Happy Watercolor set, which seems to be perfect for happy spring cards.  I stamped the watercolor splotch (or whatever you'd call it!) in Wisteria Wonder and then stamped the flower right over the top in Always Artichoke.  So easy!  Some added sequins give a pop to the flower panel. Then I stamped the little dots onto the card base in Crumb Cake ink and glued down a few sequins.  To glue down the sequins I just used a tiny dab of mono multi glue.

  The Sale-a-Bration peek is the Decorative Dots embossing folder I used on the Always Artichoke strip across the card.  I think it goes so well with the dots stamp from Happy Watercolor.  I think I'll be using this folder on a ton of cards.

  The banner is stamped with one of my old tried and true birthday greetings from Bring on the Cake.

  I just got my Sale-a-Bration brochure in the mail today so those of you out there with a demonstrator should be getting yours too!  If you don't have a demo I'd be happy to help you out or check out the Stampin' Up! site to search for a demonstrator local to you.

  It's good to be back sharing!  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Happy Watercolor (Occasions catalog), Bring on the Cake

Ink: Always Artichoke, Wisteria Wonder, Crumb Cake

Paper: Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Wisteria Wonder

Accessories: Gold Sequin Trim (Occasions catalog), Gold Baker's twine (Occasions catalog),  Decorative Dots embossing folder, very vintage designer button

Get a Head Start for Christmas 2014!

In other words I was too late to get these cards posted for inspiration for 2013 so maybe I can call this a head start for 2014....I found some old Christmas DSP and whipped up a few last minute cards using it...

  See that cute little banner stamp and punch??  A little sneak peek for Sale-a-Bration!

  And this was a design we did at one of my classes that for some reason never got blogged about.  We used the Illuminate ink for the background snowflakes....looks cool when the light hits it.

  That's all I've got for now...I've been trying to get the creative juices flowing but after such a long layoff over the holidays I'm struggling.  Hopefully I can get to some challenges to jumpstart some ideas!

  Happy New Year!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?