Epic Blue Ribbon Birthday

  Nothing like waiting until the last minute to make a birthday card for your husband right?  I needed a birthday card for Saturday so of course I started working on it Friday morning!  I'm going to go with the "I work better under pressure" excuse!

  I used Sketch Frenzy Friday challenge to get started for my card since when you're working under pressure it's always easier to have a starting point.  I also pulled my color scheme from the Epic Day DSP that is part of the This and That journaling suite.

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   I has some fun with the new washi tape as well as the new Typeset photopolymer stamp set (the "36!!!" tabs on the side).

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Blue Ribbon, Typeset photopolymer

Ink: Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray

Paper: Basic Gray, Epic Day DSP, Pool Party, Gumball Green, Whisper White

Accessories: brads, Chevron e.f., washi tape, rhinestones, Daffodil Delight stitched ribbon, piercing tool/template, petite curly label, Apothecary Accent framelits, circle punch

Sweet Girl Birthday

  The past few weeks I've had only enough time to stamp but no time to blog so my cards are getting backed up in my "Cards to Upload" folder!

  Here is one I made a few weeks ago for a sweet little girl who we've known since the day she was born!  She turned 7 a few weeks ago and the boys attended her birthday party so of course I needed to make a card for the occasion!  Where has the time gone (how old do I sound!!) ?

  I used the Fab Friday Challenge 15 from a few weeks back to get my card started.  It's a really versatile sketch that I know I'll use over and over.

  I kept this one pretty clean with some hits of bling because really, what 7 year old girl doesn't love some sparkle??

  Say good bye to a few items on this card that are on the retirement list…Patio Party DSP, Baja Breeze cardstock/ink and the Regals Collection brads.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Make a Cake, Sweet Essentials

Ink: Midnight Muse, Baja Breeze, Primrose Petals, Versamark

Paper: Baja Breeze, Primrose Petals, Patio Party DSP, Midnight Muse, Whisper White

Accessories: rhinestones, brads, dimensionals, Beautiful Wings embosslits

Mod Specs

 It's been a busy few days with things going on at both boys schools so I haven't had much time to stamp for the blog.  I did come across this card that I made a while ago and haven't shown yet.  It's a fun one using one of the single stamps that Stampin' Up! has continued to make available because they were so popular.

Some details to note: I stamped and cut out 3 of the glasses using different colors and popped them up.  They also have small pearls at the edges.

And there is a little bit of embossed detail at the edge of the ribbon.

Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Spec-Tacular (single stamp)

Ink: Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse, Pacific Point, Pool Party

Paper: Whisper White, Sycamore Street DSP (retired- SAB), Midnight Muse

Accessories: pearls, dimensionals, Needlepoint Border e.f.

A Little Old & A Little New

  Happy Friday!  The past few days have been a whirlwind of personal commitments and stamping related events.  As many of you know the Stampin' Up! retirement list came out a few days ago and then demonstrators got to order some new items in a new catalog preorder (the new catalog will be live on May 31!).  My box arrived this morning and I had grand plans to play this afternoon and come up with a fabulous card for the Fab Friday challenge.  Well…….that didn't work out and so I have this mediocre card instead!  =)  My stamp room is a mess, I have supplies for about 5 projects littering not only my space but my dining room as well so I think my creativity was scared off by the mess!

  I tried to use some new supplies mixed with some old ones and this is what I came up with.  It's a very literal interpretation of the sketch but if you could see my space you'd probably be surprised I could even do that much!

  Can you spot what's old and what's new??  Head over to the Fab Friday and get some more inspiration and then play along with us!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: For the Birds

Ink: Stazon, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie

Paper: Coastal Cabana (new!), Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Quatrefancy Specialty DSP (new!)

Accessories: Modern Mosaic e.f. (new!), Pumpkin Pie brads, 2 Tags Die (retiring!), Bitty Buttons (retiring), 1/8" taffeta ribbon

Butterfly on Sycamore Street

  Super fast post, I have TONS of work to do in the stamp room this weekend to get ready for my Moving Forward class on Tuesday.  It will be a lot of fun but I just have to get organized.  If you could see my stamp room with supplies for about 6 different projects cluttering my desk you would say, "geez, she has a TON of work to do this weekend"!  Seriously, it's a disaster.  But luckily I already have this project from February (yes, February!) that I hadn't shared yet!

  I know you are all hoarding the Sycamore Street DSP from Sale-a-bration.  I have several packs that are still wrapped up tight!  Anyway, it's spring and there are birthdays happening everyday, engagements, teacher appreciation and all that stuff that makes up everyday life.  I'm sure there is someone in your life that needs (or deserves) one of your hand stamped lovelies.  This is a super easy and fast card to make.  And I have 2 versions to inspire you!

  Really, this one could not be any easier.  Rich Razzleberry base, Whisper White layer embossed with either the Honeycomb e.f. or the Vine Street e.f..  Then the butterfly from Serene Silhouettes stamped in Rich Razzleberry and punched out (don't forget to pop it up with a dimensional!).  Layer that over a strip of your choice of the Sycamore Street DSP.  Add a single blossom of the Flower Trim (use a glue dot or a piece of Sticky Strip) and a Sycamore Street ribbon flag and TA-DA!  A card to fit pretty much any occasion!

  Add what ever sentiment you need to the inside of the card and mail that baby off to that loved one.

  Have a fabulous weekend and I hope your stamp table isn't nearly as buried as mine is so that you can get some stamping in!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Serene Sihouettes

Ink: Rich Razzleberry

Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Sycamore Street DSP

Accessories: Vine Street e.f., Honeycomb e.f., Flower Trim, circle punch, Sycamore Street ribbon, dimensionals

Spring Tree

  I am just a tab bit behind in posting projects lately.  I was hoping to catch up over the weekend but as usual time got away from me.  I actually spent all day Saturday in Baltimore for a Stampin' Up! regional event.  It was a lot of fun!  I swapped with some great stampers (I hope to show those at some point), met some online friends in person for the first time and just had a great day that was focused all on Stampin' Up!  Seriously, 850 people all crazy about Stampin' Up!….how could that be a bad day?    

  If you've ever thought that being a demo would be fun, now is a great time to join Stampin' Up!  You get $155 worth of products for just $99 in your starter kit….and you get to pick whatever you want!  If you join now, you'll be able to preorder from the new catalog, get sneak peeks, go to Stampin' Up! events, get a 20% discount on your orders, earn 20% commission of what you sell, get an exclusive demonstrator only magazine and so much more (yes, I sound like an infomercial but it's all true!!).  Check out your wish list and if you've got close to $99 (and really who doesn't??) then you should consider it.  I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.  I'd love to have you join my team so if you're ready to get started click here to join the fun!

  On to the stamping!  Here is a card that my ladies made at my last class.  I wanted to teach them how to stamp off and how you can get varying shades using the same color.  I CASEd this card here by Aimee Cretsinger.  It was such a sweet design that I really just tweaked it a bit to highlight some other supplies I wanted my stamping ladies to get to play with.  Thanks for the great idea Aimee!

  We used Lucky Limeaid (I'm really going to miss this color!) for the tree and used different sizes of circle punches.  The stamp used is the big flower stamp from Betsy's Blossoms.  To stamp off just keep stamping without stopping to re-ink.  The trunk is a piece of Early Espresso that was embossed with the Woodgrain embossing folder and then hand cut.

  A punched butterfly, a pearl and a baker's twine bow complete the embellishments for this card.  All of this is mounted on a layer of Primrose Petals Core'dinations cardstock that was embossed with the Vine Street embossing folder and then sanded.

  I decided to leave a sentiment off of the front so it could be customized for any occasion.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Betsy's Blossoms

Ink: Lucky Limeaid

Paper: Whisper White, Primrose Petals Core'dinations, Early Espresso

Accessories: Vine Street e.f., Woodgrain e.f., Early Espresso baker's twine, circle punches, butterfly punch, pearl, dimensionals

Sweet Spring Baby

  How is it that it's Friday already?  Time flies when you're having fun or running around like a madwoman…something like that.  Anyway, we're back at it over at Fab Friday.  It's another fantastic challenge to get those creative juices flowing just in time for the weekend!

  See what magic Mindy has for us this time around:

 Perfect for that spring time weather some of you are having…while it has not been snowing like in other parts of the country, Richmond has been having obscenely hot weather for April the past few days.  It was high 80s today and yesterday (according to my car thermometer) hit 91!  Yikes….we went from winter head on into summer.  But we can look at the Fab Friday challenge colors and imagine spring even if the weather isn't cooperating.

  After we got back to town from Easter break we found out that our neighbors had their first baby.  That wonderful occasion paired with our challenge colors got me into the stamp room.  Here's what I came up with.

  I tried to keep it clean and simple (CAS) with pops of the brighter colors as a backdrop to the sentiment.  I used the scalloped Edgelit for the Summer Starfruit layer, then pierced the Calypso Coral layer with the coordinating piercing template and then used Pool Party Core'dinations cardstock and my trusty Honeycomb embossing folder.  I distressed that layer a bit with my sanding block.

  Behind those layers I stamped the large flower from the Betsy's Blossom set in Crumb Cake ink onto the top Crumb Cake panel.  I cleaned and re-inked the stamp with Calypso Coral and then stamped it on Whisper White and punched it out with the small scalloped circle punch.

  I used a bit of Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon to make a fork bow and stuck it down with a glue dot  onto the scallop circle.  Then I stuck that all down on top of the banner stamped with Sweet Essentials "Hello, Baby" sentiment in Crumb Cake.  It looks crooked in the photo but I think in real life it's pretty straight!

  Now it's your turn to come up with a fabulous design using our challenge colors!  Remember to link up your card at Fab Friday so we can all oooohhhh and aaaaaahhhh over it!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Betsy's Blossoms, Sweet Essentials

Ink: Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral

Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Calypso Coral, Pool Party Core'dinations, Summer Starfruit

Accessories: Honeycomb embossing folder, piercing template, scallop Edgelit, Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon, small scallop circle punch

Nautical Blocks

  Since the temps here in Richmond will be reaching into the 80s again today I thought I would share this nautical, beach inspired card using By the Tide.  My ladies made this design at my last class.

  I CASEd this card from Connie Tumm's card that I found on Pinterest.  I really liked her blocks of colors and I think the Real Red, Midnight Muse and Crumb Cake color combo is a definite winner.

  This card starts with a Midnight Muse base and then a layer of Crumb Cake that was stamped all over using the shell and script words stamp.  Even though you can't see much of the images on this panel it really gives depth to the card.

  Next, the lobster, fish and sea shell were stamped on their respective Whisper White blocks.  Don't the images just pop on that white cardstock?

  The final accent for this card is the center metal button with a Real Red 1/8" taffeta ribbon knot and banner stamped using the Itty Bitty Banners set.

  Thanks for looking! Did you stamp today?

Stamps: By the Tide, Itty Bitty Banners

Ink: Crumb Cake, Real Red, Midnight Muse

Paper: Midnight Muse, Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Accessories: metal button, 1/8" taffeta ribbon