Serene Sympathy

  Sympathy cards are always so hard to make.  I never really know where to start so when I had to make a sympathy card over the weekend I let 2 challenges do the work for me.  I never want to do "over the top" cards but I also don't want to just slap something together.  Getting the right balance is the key.  I hope our friends can feel the love and prayers we sent to them.

  I used the current sketch at Fab Friday as well as this weeks challenge at CAS-ual Fridays which is to use Kraft or as we call it now at Stampin' Up!, Crumb Cake.

  I used the Festival of Print paper stack for my banner and wrapped a Very Vanilla seam binding bow around it.

  For the image panel I cut out a Windows Framelit and before popping it out of the die I sponged it with Crumb Cake ink which left a nice little border around the edge.  I also inked up Serene Silhouettes in Chocolate Chip ink and stamped it right over the sponging.  Then I popped the cardstock out of the die and wiped the excess ink off of it with a tissue.

  Next I added the sympathy sentiment from Petite Pairs and a few pearls to the flowers.

  Off to finish up preparing for having the neighbors come over for pizza before heading out to trick or treat!  Hope you have a fantastic Halloween!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Petite Pairs

Ink: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip

Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Festival of Prints DSP stack

Accessories: seam binding ribbon, pearls, Windows Framelits, corner rounder

Illuminate Snowflakes

  Another wet cold day here in Richmond and another day of schools being closed!  I hope all our friends and family to the north are safe and sound.  The photos of New York City and New Jersey are crazy.  I hope everyone got some place safe before all that water started pouring in!  I even heard that in Maryland they had some snow!  My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the storm.

 And now for something weather related that isn't dangerous!  A snowflake card!

 
  This is the last of the cards we made last week at my stamp-a-stack.  As I told my ladies, I just can't resist the blue and silver snowflake cards.  Every year I have to design at least one.  I think it's just a classic pretty combination.  This year we used the new Snowflake Soiree set along with lots of shimmer!

  The snowflakes on the Not Quite Navy layer are stamped with the new Illuminate ink pad.  They are just gorgeous!  The Glimmer paper snowflakes were cut out with the Snow Flurry Bigz die and layered with a glue dot.  We used a length of organdy ribbon across the top of the NQN panel.  The "Believe" is stamped in Not Quite Navy ink.

  And lastly we sprayed the whole card with shimmer mist.  This is a sparkly card for sure!

  I'm off to find some sort of entertainment for the crazy little boys!  Maybe I should check out all those ideas I've pinned on Pinterest but never actually do!  That would be a thought huh?  =)

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Snowflake Soiree

Ink: Illuminate, Not Quite Navy

Paper: Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Champagne & Silver Glimmer

Accessories: Shimmer mist, organdy ribbon, corner rounder, Snow Flurry Bigz die

Ornaments Framed

  So if you've got Did You Stamp Today? on a reader you're probably sick of me already this morning.  Stampin' Up! is keeping us demos on our toes today with all these great digital freebies and 15% off stamp sale today!  For more details see my previous posts from this morning.

  Not only do I have a lot going on stamping-wise but it's a busy, loud morning here at home.  We've had schools canceled due to Hurricane Sandy.  It's hardly windy at all here, just some gusts now and then and it hasn't rained much at all so the day off from school seems a bit silly.  I know that it will probably get worse later on and they are just being cautious but it's looking to be a long day inside for us!  We've already burned through paint pens and glitter glue, kids stamping, and Play Doh!  And it's not even 11am!  My poor abused kitchen table is begging for a break! 

  I have some cards to share that my stamping ladies made last week at my stamp-a-stack.  They made 2 of each design. 

  This design is really quick to put together.  We've used a Crumb Cake base with a layer of either Gumball Green or Cherry Cobbler Core'dinations cardstock.  The Core'dinations cardstock is embossed with the Holiday Frame folder and lightly sanded to bring out more of the details. 

  The ornaments were stamped in opposite colors from embossed panel and cut out with the matching framelits and popped up with a dimensional.  We stamped a Cherry Cobbler and Gumball Green ornament on the same piece of cardstock and ran both framelit shapes through the Big Shot at the same time; no need to do each one separately.  It really makes these cards quick!  We added a rhinestone to the center of the ornament and a Very Vanilla seam binding fork bow to the top.

  You can't get much easier than that!  And remember that the Ornament Keepsakes bundle with the added Candlelight Christmas Specialty DSP will get you the Festive Piercing pack for free ($7.95 value!).  You could make a ton of Christmas cards and projects with these supplies!  Don't wait though this deal is only good through the end October.

  Stay safe East Coasters!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Ornament Keepsakes

Ink: Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler

Paper: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler & Gumball Green Core'dinations, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Holiday Ornaments Framelits, dimensionals, Holiday Frame e.f., rhinestone, seam binding

FREE Digital Downloads!

 

Stampin' Up! has more fun for us this week!

What do you get when you combine Digital Scrapbooking Day and My Digital Studio? A week of A week of FREE downloads and 50 percent off ALL digital kits!

What: Three FREE downloads. 50% off ALL digital kits. Mega blogging on MyDigitalStudio.net all week!

When: October 29-November 5, 2012.

Why: To get the word out about My Digital Studio's awesome design program, content, and print products!

Get Your FREE Downloads:
   Go to my Online Store and click on the Free Download link

Get a BONUS FREE Download:If we get 18,000 downloads of FREE items we'll give you another FREE download!

 For more information about My Digital Studio and to see awesome samples head over to mydigitalstudio.net

Wow!! Big 15% Off Stamp Sale Today Only!

 

    Don't miss out on Stampin' Up's! HUGE 15% off stamp sale TODAY ONLY!  We've never had a sale like this before so check your wish list and head over to my online store and click on the Shop Now button. 

  I'll also be putting in a large group order for my local ladies later today so if you'd rather e-mail me with your order please send it to mandysurovy@yahoo.com and I'll get it placed for you.

Things to remember

• Background stamps
• Personalized name stamps
• Cookie press stamps
• Single-image stamps

This DOES NOT include

• Hostess sets
• Bundled stamp sets
• Digital stamp brush sets
  
  
   Please e-mail if you have any questions! 
  
  
   

Harvest Gratitude

  So is everyone running around getting ready for hurricane Sandy?  We filled up the car gas tanks, got an extra propane tank for the grill and put away all the stuff that was out in the yard.  We don't really expect much besides some wind and rain here in Glen Allen but we're prepared nonetheless!  I hope you all will stay safe!  I'll be spending some time in the stamp room I'm sure but for now I'll share one of the cards my ladies made this past week at my stamp-a-stack.

  The base is Naturals Ivory.  Then we used another piece of Naturals Ivory which we heat embossed the medallion from Day of Gratitude on.  The new Early Espresso embossing powder (in the Holiday catalog) is a wonderful color to use when black might just be, well, too black.

  3 squares from the Orchard Harvest DSP are layered towards the bottom of the embossed panel and then a length of ribbon is knotted around it.  In this photo I used 3/8" taffeta ribbon since I didn't have any of the Early Espresso stitched grosgrain when I made this sample.  My ladies used the stitched grosgrain which I think goes better with the feel of this card.

  The sentiment was stamped in Early Espresso and then punched out with the Decorative Label punch.  Another Decorative label was punched out of Island Indigo cardstock and then trimmed and layered behind.

  Finally the top panel was adhered to the base using dimensionals.

  Stay safe....Here comes Sandy!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Day of Gratitude

Ink: Versamark, Early Espresso

Paper: Naturals Vanilla, Island Indigo, Orchard Harvest DSP

Accessories: Early Espresso e.p., ribbon, dimensionals, Decorative Label punch

Snow, Snow, Snow!

  It's a good day for a number of reasons one of which is that it's a new challenge at Fab Friday!  Yay!  How are you guys liking these awesome challenges from Mindy?  I've been having a ton of fun and we'd love to see what you come up with for this challenge.  So head over to Fab Friday to see all the inspiration from the other team members and then get to stamping!

  This time around is a sketch challenge:

  This is such a fun and versatile sketch that I actually had a hard time narrowing down what I wanted to do!  That and the fact that my stamp room looked like a disaster area after having so many supplies pulled out to prepare for and host a stamp-a-stack for 18 people this week!  Yikes!  I had to really shovel off the desk before I got down to work.  Once I had my idea (and found all the supplies) it came together pretty quickly.  What do you think?

  I've hardly used any of the sheets from the Festival of Prints paper stack so I picked one and used it for my banner.  Most of the patterns can be used for more than just Christmas cards too which is nice for all those scraps I know I'll have left!

  The base is Baja Breeze with snowflakes from the Snowflake Soiree set stamped in Baja Breeze in 2 corners and then "Merry" stamped over the snowflakes in Early Espresso ink.  I rounded the 2 bottom corners with the corner rounder punch.

  The snowflakes were made with the Silver and Champagne glimmer paper and the Snow Flurry Bigz die.  I layered the 2 snowflakes and adhered them together with a glue dot.  To dress them up a bit I made a quick fork bow with 3/8" Whisper White taffeta ribbon and also adhered it with a glue dot.  The snowflakes are attached to the card with a dimensional (of course!).

  This would be a great card to reproduce using different colors and patterns from the Festival of Prints paper stack.  You could get so many different looks to the same design.

  Now that you've seen my card for the Fab Friday challenge it's your turn!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Snowflake Soiree

Ink: Baja Breeze, Early Espresso

Paper: Baja Breeze, Festival of Prints paper stack, Silver and Champagne Glimmer paper

Accessories: corner rounder, Snow Flurry die, taffeta ribbon

Birdbath Birthday

  Is everyone gearing up for the weekend?  We just need to make it through Friday and we're golden right?  I hope that you have some fun things planned.  We have several things on our agenda so I'm sure the weekend will go quickly. 

  My card today is one that I made several weeks ago for my mother-in-law when she asked if I could make her a stack of cards for some upcoming birthdays she needed to recognize.  I used this Mojo Monday sketch from September.  I didn't get it photographed in time to enter it but it was great to have a starting point.  My mother-in-law needed about 10 cards and I only had a few in my stash that would fit so I had to come up with some new designs....I didn't want them all to look alike!

 

  No crazy techniques or anything on this card.  Just some faux stitching around the edges.  The image panel and the one behind it are cut with the Windows Framelits and I just offset the panels for some added interest.  The scene was colored with inkpads and an Aquapainter.  I used the Owl punch for the 2 small hearts and added 2 Vintage Trinket brads to the banners. 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: For the Birds

Ink: Stazon   For Watercoloring: Lucky Limeade, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Crumb Cake, Island Indigo, Tangerine Tango

Paper: Crumb Cake, First Ed, DSP, Island Indigo, watercolor paper, Rose Red, Regal Rose

Accessories: piercing template, Windows Framelits, Vintage Trinkets, circle punches, Owl Punch, corner rounder