Birthday Gift Stack

Well I'm back after a week+ away from home.  I really think vacations are more than just the time you're away....there's the few days of prep to get ready to leave and then the few days once you're home to get settled back into the routine.  A week of vacation is really like 2 weeks!  So needless to say there hasn't been any stamping lately.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Nova Scotia.  What a beautiful place and such friendly people wherever we went.  We saw lots of beautiful scenery and some amazing natural wonders, took fabulous hikes and ate way more than our share of good food.  I look forward to going back again someday to see the parts we didn't have time for this visit.

  I do have one quick card to show that I made for a birthday party that Alex was invited to a while back.  It's a great way to use up some scraps of DSP!

 

  I used some leftovers from Sale-a-Bration 2 years ago as I thought these fun bright colors were perfect for a little girl.  I made a fork bow for the top and just used 3 lengths of ribbon to make the bow fuller.  I added a rhinestone to the center of the bow for a little glam.

  I promise to be back this week with some new projects.  I have stamp club tomorrow so I want to share the fun projects my ladies are making this month.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: none

Ink: none

Paper: Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Whisper White, Everyday Enchantment DSP (retired SAB)

Accessories: Perfect Polka Dot e.f., Calypso Coral ribbon (retired SAB)

In Color Mosaic

  Check out this sweet and simple card that showcases all of the new In Colors.  My stamping ladies made this one last month at my new catalog party.  There's nothing like seeing new colors in person! 

 And thanks to some demonstrator friends who participated in a ribbon share I had a sampling of all the new In Color ribbons for my ladies to choose from to use on their cards. 

  The stamp sets on this card are also new as is the embossing folder.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Lots of Thanks

Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush

Paper: Whisper White, Baked Brown Sugar

Accessories: Mosaic Madness e.f., In Color ruffled trim, rhinestones, mosaic punch, dimensionals

Grungey 5th Birthday

  So are all of you ready to jump ship as Did You Stamp Today? readers??  I've been gone a long time haven't I?  So much for the summer of relaxation and free time!  =)  We've pretty much been going non-stop since school got out.  Camps, out of state trips to visit family, anniversaries, birthdays oh my!  Next summer I'll know better I promise.

  But for now I do have a card to share for the new Fab Friday challenge.  This time around it's a color challenge.  Woo-Hoo!  Are these great colors for a guy card or what? 

  And as luck would have it I needed to make a card for my little guy's 5th birthday which was yesterday.  Here he is all ready to get the party started at 7am.  It would have been earlier but we told him not to come out of his room until his clock said 7:00 at the earliest!  He was excited for sure!

  To explain my "grungey" card so it makes sense, you need to know that Alex is the child who doesn't care if he's got food all over him, his clothes on backwards or inside out (notice the pj's inside out!) and will walk around the grocery store with his party hat on (yes he did all that on his birthday!).  He is a hot mess most of the time but he can be super sweet, gives great hugs and has a smile that makes me smile.  My grungey card is in his honor!

  I've got some fun new goodies on this card.  Most notably is the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set.  I knew this one would be perfect for backgrounds, guy and boy cards.  Another new item is the washi tape.  This stuff is so fun because you just rip it and go with it...no measuring, no scissors and if you want to reposition it just peel it up and try again.  It's a very freeing accessory!  =)  And do you see those red "brads"??  Well they aren't really brads.  They are the new candy dots that you just stick down like the rhinestones and pearls.  And they come in ALL the colors!  You can make them real brads by adhering them to the new brad bases or just use them without.  A great double duty accessory!  My last item you might not even notice but I was super excited to see them when I first got the new catalog.  Circle Framelits!!  Woo-Hoo!  It's awesome to have circles in so many sizes that nest so neatly and fit in a small little sleeve!

  Dig into your stamping supplies and play along with us and our fun colors for Fab Friday Challenge 22!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge, Bring on the Cake, Blast Off ('birthday')

Ink: Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red - marker

Paper: Basic Gray, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White

Accessories: candy dots, washi tape, Circle framelits, dimensionals

A Fab Anniversary

Happy Friday!  We have a super busy day ahead of us so I'm going to get right to the stamping!

We've got a great sketch for you to work with this time around at Fab Friday.  There are so many possibilities with that larger square panel I can't wait to see what you all come up with!  Remember play along and link your project so we can all oooohhh and aaaahhh over it!

Check it out:

   Your creative wheels are turning!  I can hear them!

  This is what I came up with.  I needed an anniversary card for my husband as our anniversary is next week.  10 years has gone by in the blink of an eye that's for sure.  We have always tried to keep with the traditional gift giving ideas for anniversaries such as paper, wood, leather, copper etc.  It's kind of fun to try to come up with something original within the traditional gift idea.  The tenth anniversary is tin so it's a bit tougher to come up with a good gift…tin cans don't have much use!  I wanted to make sure I tied the card in with the gift so I used some tin foil as an element!  I just adhered the foil to a piece of cardstock and then ran it through the Big Shot with the Stripes embossing folder.  I also pierced the foil layer using the circle piercing template.

  And sorry for the poor photo….who knew tin foil was so hard to photograph!  My color combination came from a paper plate that I saw at Target a while back and I thought it was a fun guy card combination.

  Don't forget to check out the rest of the Fab Friday design team to see what they have come up with for this sketch!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Happy Hour, Remember Rotary Stamp, Something to Celebrate (retired Hostess)

Ink: Gumball Green, Basic Gray, Pool Party, Daffodil Delight

Paper: Smoky Slate, Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, tin foil

Accessories:  Stripes e.f., candy dots, baker's twine, Decorative Label punch, circle punch, Word Window punch, circle piercing template

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A Word About Readers & A Booster Club Thank You

Before we get down to the business of stamping (which hasn't happened too much lately at my house!) I want to remind those of you who read my blog using Google Reader that as of July 1 Google Reader will be going bye bye.  I know you would be heartbroken if you missed out on any of my projects!  =)  There are a few top contenders out there to take the spot of Google Reader.   So far I've heard the most about Feedly and Bloglovin'.  I've just started using both and will see which one takes the cake in the end.  But for now if you follow a lot of blogs and would have no idea where to start if you had to re-create your list then I suggest finding a new reader and at least import your feeds so they are stored some place until you decide.  Feedly and Bloglovin' both have like 2 clicks to import your list from G. Reader so that's a bonus in my book.

  On to the stamping stuff.  I made this card a while ago at the end of the preschool year to thank the parents that volunteered during Teacher Appreciation Week.  Many of them provided food for the teacher or brought them special treats so I wanted to make sure that their effort was recognized.

  I made about 20 of these so I wanted them to be pretty easy to make.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a lot of Sale-a-Bration DSP left!  The Sycamore Street DSP is a great all purpose pack to have around.  The thank you tag is stamped with one of the stamps from the Dude, You're Welcome kit, the button is also from Sale-a-bration and the Island Indigo arrow was stamped with the Designer Typeset photopolymer set.

 Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Dude, You're Welcome, Deisgner Typeset pp

Ink: Island Indigo

Paper: Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Sycamore Street DSP (retired-SAB 2013), Pool Party, Island Indigo

Accessories: Chevron e.f., SAB button (retired), baker's twine, corner rounder

Blue Ribbon Father

  I made this card quite a while ago as a swap for the Baltimore Stampin' Up! regional meeting in April.    It's a fun guy card and can be easily changed for a birthday as well.

  Making Stampin' Up! swaps in the month of April is a tough thing….the spring and annual catalogs were coming to a close, retirement lists were soon approaching, retired colors were already announced. In short, it was a guessing game as to what stamp sets would still be available.  I tried to play it safe with current In Colors and a stamp set that was new within the last year.

  Blue ribbon is a fun set in that you can customize the center with just about anything you can punch out with a circle.  There are a variety of images that come with the set and you can also added other elements from other stamp sets.

  I went with the great guy color combination of Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Marina Mist and Crumb Cake.

  I hope all the dad's in your life have a great Father's Day!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Blue Ribbon, Delightful Dozen

Ink: Midnight Muse, Gumball Green, Versamark

Paper: Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Marina Mist

Accessories: Chevron e.f., white embossing powder, corner rounder punch, scallop circle punch, circle punch, Gumball Green stitched ribbon

In Color Butterflies

  Happy Friday and Happy Last Day of School and Happy New Fab Friday Challenge!  Wow!  That's a lot of happy isn't it?

  It is actually the 20th Fab Friday challenge!  I can't believe we've had that many already.  Time flies when you're having fun.  I hope you've been inspired as much as I have.  I love seeing my fellow design team members cards and get so many ideas from them for my own stamping.  I hope you'll join us this week and break out those new In Colors and create something fabulous!

  Here is the color palette:

  I'll be honest with you…when Mindy gave us this group of colors to work with I was a bit scared…5 colors is a lot and while I like all the colors individually I wasn't quite sure how to combine them into one card.  I thought and thought and then decided that a CAS design was in order to keep a handle on all the color!

  Here is what I came up with:

  This was a super hard card to photograph for some reason…all the white?  The sparkle?  The photographer?  I seriously took about 40 pictures in various rooms, different lighting, phone and camera…It just wasn't happening and this is the best of the bunch.  I like it way more in person.

  The base is Strawberry Slush and then a layer of Silver Glimmer paper.  Next, I embossed a layer of Shimmery White with the new Modern Mosaic embossing folder.  I used the edge of my tag as a guide to trim the corners from these 2 layers to echo the shape of the tag.

  Ink pads and an Aquapainter were used to brush the In Color inks right onto another piece of Shimmery White.  Then I cut out the tag shape with the new Chalk Talk framelits (LOVE these!).

  Then I punched out matching butterflies with the Bitty Butterfly punch and added them to the tag with glue dots.  I dressed them up a bit with rhinestones and then finished the tag with an organza ribbon knot.

  The congratulations banner was stamped with Baked Brown Sugar ink onto more Shimmery White cardstock.  Even though the Sweet Essentials stamp set isn't new I'm still digging it.  I just love the font and the long skinny designs are perfect for banners/flags.  I finished off the sentiment with a large rhinestone.

  So don't be afraid of all these new colors!  Get to stamping and show us your stuff over at Fab Friday!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sweet Essentials

Ink: Strawberry Slush, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar

Paper: Shimmery White, Silver Glimmer, Strawberry Slush, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, Coastal Cabana

Accessories: Modern Mosaic e.f., Chalk Talk framelits, organza ribbon, Bitty Butterfly punch, rhinestones