Coach Thank You Cards

  We are snowed in here again in Central Virginia!  We haven't been out to measure our totals yet but it's still snowing a bit.  We fortified ourselves with some bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches so we are ready for some snow play!

  Before that however, I'm going to share a set of thank you cards that I made for Ryan's soccer coaches.  They organized a team to play Futsal over the winter season.  If you're not familiar with Futsal is a really fun, fast paced indoor version of soccer.  Our boys played well and never gave up even though some of the other teams were far more advanced.  I'm especially proud of Ryan who volunteered to be one of the goalies which is a pretty tough position in Futsal.  It was fun watching him as well as terribly nerve-wracking!

  I used fun bright colors that I was able to mix and match to make 3 "same but different" cards.

  The lower portion of the card fronts are stamped with the circles from Draw the Line set.  I matched the ink color to the card fronts.

 The soccer player was stamped in one of the 3 inks onto Whisper White and I used the Angled Tag Topper punch.

  Next, the soccer ball and the word "thanks" were inked with Versamark and stamped on the various cardstocks and heat embossed with black embossing powder.

  The soccer ball is cut out and popped up with a dimensional on the tag and the narrow "thanks" strip is adhered to the card from right above the stamped background.

  I added a length of 1/8" black taffeta ribbon through the tag and tied it off in a knot.  The whole tag is popped up on the card front with dimensionals.

  The final detail was to add a sprinkling of candy dots to the upper righthand corner to help balance the card.

  I had stamp club earlier this week and need to take photos of the projects to share with you all.  Hopefully, the lighting will be better this afternoon when the snow stops!  We'll see!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Simply Sports, Draw the Line, Lots of Thanks

Ink: Versamark, Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie 

Paper: Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie

Accessories: black embossing powder, dimensionals, Angled Tag Topper, 1/8" taffeta ribbon, candy dots

For the Birds Thank You

 Ahhhh....do you hear that sound?  Exactly it's quiet at my house this morning!  After snow days all last week the boys are back to school this morning.  It was hard to get going this morning but we made it.  I even got to take my morning walk which I was greatly missing.  I track my steps on FitBit and it was super depressing seeing my low totals.

  I'm just getting in under the wire for this challenge over at ColourQ.  I had the card in pieces on my desk for a few days before getting it all together.  Aren't these colors great together?

   I stamped the birds and then colored them in with Blendabilities and punched it with the Tag Topper punch.  The wires don't quite reach across the whole tag so I used my black marker to extend them to the edges.

  I raided my ribbon scraps to find some of the retired Raspberry Ripple ribbon as well as the ruffled Wisteria Wonder ribbon.

  I used the little banner punch to add the challenge colors to the edge of the tag.  The sentiment is mounted on a punched circle of Gold Glimmer paper.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: For the Birds, Petite Pairs

Ink: Memento Black, Blackberry Bliss  Blendabilities: Rich Razzleberry, Wisteria Wonder

Paper: Blackberry Bliss, Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, Gold Glimmer paper, Raspberry Ripple (retired)

Accessories: circle punches, Scalloped Tag Topper punch, banner punch, dimensionals, sequin trim, retired ribbon, polka dot embossing folder

Ombre Birthday

  Since I'm coming up on my monthly class I thought I had better share the projects we did last month!

  My stamping ladies got to have some hands on time with Blendabilities as well as the star mask.

  The base is Smoky Slate and then a layer of Soft Sky.  We used silver ink with a sponge dauber and the star mask to get the stars on the background panel.  It's hard to see in the photo but the silver ink gives a nice subtle shimmer.

  Next is a strip of the Best Year Ever Sale-a-Bration DSP with a length of Smoky Slate 1/8" taffeta ribbon around it.

  The image is from the Big Day Sale-a-Bration (SAB) stamp set and is stamped in Memento ink.  The new Soft Sky Blendabilities assortment was used to color in the "cake" going from lightest down to darkest.  This panel was adhered with dimensionals.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Big Day (SAB)

Ink: Silver, Memento Black  Blendabilities: Soft Sky

Paper: Smoky Slate, Soft Sky, Best Year Ever DSP (SAB), Whisper White

Accessories: taffeta ribbon, stars mask, dimensionals

Bold Spotlight - Fab Friday 58

  We are having yet another snow day here in Richmond so the kids are celebrating but there is something for me to celebrate.  It's a Fab Friday Challenge day!  Woo Hoo!  Even if the snow isn't keeping you home make time to play along with us and this fabulous sketch!  So much you can do with those panels!  And don't forget you have 2 weeks to rock our challenges so you can sit and ponder if you need to.

  Check out the sketch:

  I took a bit of liberty in tilting my square panel and layering the long flagged piece to the back but I think you can totally see the sketch in my card.  What do you think?

  I've been thinking about doing this spotlight technique for a while and just had to order the Blended Bloom stamp to try it out.  This sketch was the perfect chance to pull it all together into a card.

  I stamped and cut out the large flower and then stamped it again and used the Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight Blendabilities to color in just one section before punching it out with the 1 1/4" circle punch.  Before adhering the colored part to the flower with dimensionals I backed it with a Basic Black 1 3/8" punched circle.

  The whole flower is popped with dimesionals onto a polaroid style frame in Basic Black.  The frame is made by using the square Framelits to cut the center of the panel out leaving room for the sentiment to be embossed in white at the bottom.

  Using a sponge and the Smoky Slate ink pad I colored a strip of the striped Irresistibly Yours Specialty DSP (FREE! during Sale-a-Bration!!) to make my flagged piece.  I love how you can add any color you want and wipe off the excess to leave the pre-embossed patterns to shine!  To add a bit more definition to the banner I added small Basic Black punched banners to the ends.

  The rhinestones bring a bit of the Pumpkin Pie color to the rest of the card.  Coloring your rhinestones is super easy with the Blendabilities.  I love coloring the rhinestones for a perfect match to my Stampin' Up! inks!  Makes my crafting OCD self so happy! 

  The colors for my card are inspired by the Stampin' Royalty challenge as I just loved the orange, gray, black combo.

  I hope you'll pop over to Fab Friday and see what awesomeness the rest of the Design Team has in store for you.  I always get new ideas from them and also think, "Duh, why didn't I think to do it that way!"

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Blended Bloom, And Many More

Ink: Memento Black, Versamark, Smoky Slate  Blendabilities: Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight

Paper: Smoky Slate, Basic Black, Whisper White, Irresistibly Yours Specialty DSP (SAB)

Accessories: Square Framelits, dimensionals, rhinestones, circle punches, white embossing powder

Prize Pig

 Do you have that one stamp set that as soon as you saw it you just had to have it?  I had to have this set shortly after I started stamping in 2005.  Walk This Way is just the cutest farm animal set with a pig, cow, chicken and sheep.  I've held onto it all these years later and even though I keep very few retired items as a demonstrator this one always gets a spot in the drawer.

  I combined 2 challenges for this one, Sketch Frenzy Friday and the Friday Mashup.  The sketch is pretty self explanatory but the Friday Mashup challenge is to use a farm animal and add some party bling.  I didn't get the bonus point because this stamp set doesn't have a goat image but I think this one came out pretty cute.

 

  Adorable right?  Will eBay sales for Walk This Way jump?  Probably not but it's a sweet hello card nonetheless!  It's a nice combination of old and new using the retired stamp set with the fabulous Best Year Ever Sale-a-Bration DSP and the Hardwood background stamp.

  The base is Crumb Cake stamped with Hardwood in Soft Suede ink.  I rounded the bottom corners with a corner rounder punch.

  I bought the Starburst Framelits when they were one of the Tuesday specials a few weeks back and hadn't used them yet so I thought the shape would make a good background for my pig.  I used the circle piercing guide to pierce all the way around the starburst. After I had the card assembled my husband thought it looked like a prize ribbon from a fair, hence the title of the post! 

  Next, I added the sentiment which I used a marker to ink up just the "hello" from the retired hostess set Good Greetings and punched it out with the Decorative Label punch.  I tucked it behind a narrow strip of the Best Year Ever DSP.

  The pig is stamped in Memento black ink and then I colored him in with Pink Pirouette Blendabilities.  I fussy cut him with my trusty paper snips and then popped him up with dimensionals.  Look at that cute little curly tail!

  For the party bling part of the challenge I used a scrap of silver taffeta ribbon on the end of the DSP strip and some silver sequins scattered about.  Each sequin has a rhinestone in the center for a little extra sparkle.

  This was a fun card to put together and I'm glad I had a farm animal so I could play along with Friday Mashup.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Walk this Way (retired), Good Greetings (retired), Hardwood

Ink: Soft Suede, Memento  Blendabilities: Pink Pirouette

Paper: Crumb Cake, Coastal Cabana, Best Year Ever DSP, Whisper White

Accessories: Starburt framelits, dimensionals, silver taffeta ribbon, rhinestones, sequins, decorative label punch, corner rounder

  

Celebrate Balloons

  Just a quick Celebrate Today card to share.  A few weeks ago when I was designing projects for my monthly class I was loving this color combination but set this project aside as it was a lot of changing colors for 20 people to do with one stamp!

  The background was stamped with the balloon stamp in Strawberry Slush, So Saffron and Crisp Cantaloupe.  I did full strength as well as stamped off once images.  That gives a nice depth to the design.

 

  After creating the background I heat embossed the word "Celebrate" in white onto vellum and then cut it out with the Balloon Framelit.  I very carefully used Tombow 2 Way glue and applied the glue to the back of the vellum by using the word to guide me.  If you aren't heavy handed the glue won't spread out too much but will still be plenty to keep the vellum stuck down.

  I added a few strips of the gold from the gold baker's twine and a white baker's twine bow.  Using the same Tombow 2 Way glue I scattered a few gold sequins around to add to the celebration feel of the card.

  Don't forget that you save 15% by buying the Celebrate Today stamp set and Balloon Framelits together!  Gotta love savings!  To order Click on the Shop now button on my sidebar ------>

  Off to enjoy our rare Richmond snow some more before it melts!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Celebrate Today (Occasions Catalog)

Ink: Strawberry Slush, So Saffron, Crisp Cantaloupe, Versamark

Paper: So Saffron, Whisper White, Vellum

Accessories: Balloon Framelits (Occasions Catalog), gold baker's twine, White baker's twine, gold sequins, white embossing powder

Just Because....

....Who doesn't need a pink and gold fish??  Seriously, I don't know who I'm going to send a pink and gold fish to but I didn't need any more Valentine's Day cards so wanted to take the Colour Me challenge in a different direction and it's always nice to have some all purpose cards on hand.

  I'm not a huge pink fan so the Cherry Cobbler and Pink Pirouette color combo were certainly going to be a challenge.  I decided a clean and simple layout would be best.

   After deciding to use a stamp set that hadn't seen ink in a while, By the Tide, I also pulled out some vellum to see what I could do with it as well.

  The card base is Cherry Cobbler with a layer of Whisper White.  I stamped the coral in Cherry Cobbler and then the words in gold right onto the vellum overlay.  The vellum and Whisper White layers both have the lower corner rounded for some extra interest.  To adhere the vellum to the card front I simply placed all my adhesive behind the fish and flag elements once they were in place so it didn't show through.

  The fish was stamped in gold onto Pink Pirouette cardstock and then I cut it out and popped it up with a dimensional.  The flag was stamped in gold with Just Because from the And Many More set.

  I added some embellishment details; gold sequin trim, pink & gold bakers twine (leftover from the January Paper Pumpkin kit) and finally some pearls above the fish to look like bubbles floating up. 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: By the Tide, And many More

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Gold

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, vellum, Pink Pirouette

Accessories: corner rounder, dimensionals, gold sequin trim, pink & gold baker's twine, pearls 

  

Clean & Simple Cake

  I made this card last week for a challenge over at CAS(e) This Sketch but because of the gray weather and being short on time trying to get a decent photo was the real challenge.  I finally got around to the photography and then editing but it was too late too enter it in the challenge but certainly not too late to share with you!

  I've mentioned before that February is a busy month birthday wise for our family so I've been concentrating a lot on those cards so I have a nice variety to choose from.  This is a fun sparkly card to celebrate a special day!

  The cake is colored with the Pink Pirouette and Coastal Cabana Blendabilities, the cake stand with the Smoky Slate assortment and the "birthday" also the Coastal Cabana set.

  After coloring I filled in the cake with Crystal Effect and then sprinkled some Dazzling Diamonds into the wet C.E.

  Check it out:

 

  The bit of sparkle on the cake pairs nicely with the sprinkling of silver sequins and the ribbons and baker's twine at the top.  The booked inspired DSP strip is from the Best Year Ever DSP pack which is a FREE reward with a $50 order during Sale-a-Bration.

  Actually the stamp set, Big Day, DSP and Coastal Cabana Blendability assortment are all Sale-a-Bration rewards!  So awesome!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

  Stamps: Big Day

  Ink: Memento Black  Blendabilities: Coastal Cabana, Pink Pirouette, Smoky Slate

  Paper: Whisper White, Best Year Ever DSP

  Accessories: Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds (retired), silver sequins (retired), Coastal Cabana & Crisp Cantaloupe baker's twine, silver ribbon