Sweet Little Bird - Stampin' Up! Sprinkles of Life

  I have a lot of cards ready to be shared and many of them are made with the Sprinkles of Life set since I was preparing for a class using the set and matching punch.  I made a ton of samples and came to realize how versatile this set can be.  I mean I knew it was cute when I made this Bird on a Branch card or this Mega Ice Cream Cone card but really the sky's the limit with a set like this with a coordinating punch.

  Many of the images in Sprinkles of Life can be used for a variety of card types.  This one today is a thank you but you could easily change it to happy birthday, thinking of you or leave it blank.

  The base is Thick Whisper White and then popped up on dimensionals is a piece of the Corrugated cardstock in kraft.  I added a silver brad and topped it with an Old Olive candy dot.

  Next I put a strip of English Garden DSP across the center of the card.  To make the focal panel I cut a circle from Whisper White and then punched a cloud/cupcake top/ice cream scoop and used it as a mask to sponge some light clouds with Marina Mist ink.

  The branch is Soft Suede card stock stamped with Soft Suede ink and punched out.  I used Old Olive and Mossy Meadow for the leaves and glued them down to the ends of the branches.  The bird nest was created by putting 2 glue dots onto the branch and then smashing (yes that's a legitimate paper crafting technique!) a length of linen thread into them creating a nest shape.  The bird is stamped in Marina Mist ink onto Marina Mist cardstock and then punched out.  The whole circle is popped onto dimensional.

  The sentiment is stamped in Mossy Meadow ink.

  The layout is from a Freshly Made Sketch challenge from a few weeks ago.  The circle was just the right size to show off the smaller images of Sprinkles of Life.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sprinkles of Life

Ink: Marina Mist, Soft Suede, Mossy Meadow

Paper: Whisper White Thick, Corrugated paper, English Garden DSP, Soft Suede, Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Marina Mist

Accessories: silver brad, candy dots, dimensionals, Tree Builder punch, linen thread

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Basket of Apples Thank You - Stampin' Up! Sprinkles of Life

  Well we are deep into the first week back at school!  It's taking a bit of adjusting getting used to having to be up and out the door earlier and having homework to do in the afternoon but the boys seem to be doing ok.  I think by Friday night we will all be pooped and ready to relax!

  I saw the Stampin' Royalty challenge which is to make a back to school themed card so I went with it.  I like to show my appreciation to the boys teachers, past and present by giving them all a card at the start of every school year.  I hope to convey all my appreciation for taking such great care with the boys over the years and how they've created such a great foundation for learning.  I think you can never say thank you enough and that goes double for our teachers.

  I used the Sprinkles of Life stamp set and coordination Tree builder punch to make this card.  It's not a new idea but it's so cute and really shows the versatility of this set that I couldn't resist making my own apple card.  I'm sure teachers are over the whole apple/teacher thing but it's still a cute card right?

 The base is Garden Green and then a piece of the Schoolhouse DSP.  I created the basket using the bottom of the cupcake stamp and stamped it onto Crumb Cake cardstock in Soft Suede ink.  The basket handles are made with the candle stamp with the flame cut off.  I attached them to the basket with a mini silver brad.

  The apples are stamped in Real Red ink onto Real Red cardstock and punched out.  I used the chalk marker to give a little bit of highlighting to the sides.  The apples and basket are mounted onto a tag cut with the Tags & Labels framelits.  I used the heavy weight Whisper White for the tag to make it more substantial.  

  I used a bit of linen thread and some NEW (!) Striped Ribbon from the Holiday catalog to finish off this tag.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sprinkles of Life

Ink: Soft Suede, Real Red

Paper: Garden Green, Schoolhouse DSP, Heavy Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Real Red

Accessories: mini silver brad, Tags & Labels framelits, linen thread, Striped ribbon (Holiday catalog)

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Winter Trees - Fab Friday 72 - Stampin' Up! Sleigh Ride Edgelits

  Happy Friday!  Is everyone looking forward to the long weekend?  We have a lot of stuff planned so there is no chance to be bored at all!  This is our last hurrah before school starts for the boys on Tuesday then the schedules become pretty hectic.  It was nice not being on much of a schedule this summer but it's back to reality now!

 We have a new challenge starting today over at Fab Friday!  I missed being able to play along last challenge as I was out of town on vacation.  Check out the fun sketch this time around! Our design team always rocks it!

  And here is my card:

  Do you ever make a card and then look back at it and wonder how it could have possibly taken you as long as it did to put together?  Well, that was this card for me.  I spent an embarrassingly long time working on this one.  I had one idea in my head with different colors, papers, stamp sets, and embellishments and I don't think I used a single one of those item in the final card!  My stamp table is piled a foot high with stuff tried out and then rejected!

  The base is Crumb Cake, then a layer of Soft Sky.  I embossed the Whisper White layer with the new Softly Falling embossing folder.  It's such a nice delicate texture and I love it for a look of snow in the background here.

  Next, I cut a circle of Silver Glimmer paper and then another smaller circle of Shimmery White cardstock using the Circles Framelits.

  I gave the Shimmery White a watercolor wash all over with Soft Sky ink and an Aquapainter.  I added just a touch of Island Indigo towards the top to make it look more like the darkening night sky.

  The new Sleigh Ride Edgelits were used to cut out some cute little trees out of Mossy Meadow cardstock.  I just trimmed them off the long strip with my paper snips.  I used the far edge of the tree edgelit to cut the snow bank out of Shimmery White and just layered it across the bottom of the color washed circle.

  Little silver stars are stamped on the sky panel using the Holly Jolly Greetings stamp set and then the trees were glued down.

  To keep with the sketch I added some embellishments in the way of punched and die cut stars, candy dots and rhinestones over to the left side of the card.

  One Christmas card down about 64 more to go!  It's a good thing I'm starting early right?

  I hope to see your card in our Fab Friday challenge gallery for this sketch.  I love seeing how people interpret a sketch and always get a lot of ideas too!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Holly Jolly Greetings

Ink: Soft Sky, Island Indigo, silver

Paper: Crumb Cake, Shimmery White, Mossy Meadow, Silver Glimmer, Soft Sky

Accessories: Sleigh Ride Edgelits, Circles framelits, Stars Framelits, Softly Falling e.f., candy dots, rhinestones, stitched satin ribbon

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Get Well Blossom - Stampin' Up! Garden in Bloom

     I didn't need a Get Well card when I sat down to stamp but it's always good to have one handy to quickly pop in the mail or drop off to someone along with some food.

  These colors kind of made me think of the end of summer/beginning of fall for some reason.  I really like how the flowers in the Garden in Bloom set look so different depending on the color choices.  Here are a few past cards to check out to see the different looks; Thank You Garden, Garden of in Colors, Thank You.

This one is stamped in Delightful Dijon.  The larger part was stamped off once and the smaller detail stamp is in full strength.  The outline is Soft Suede as is the center which is stamped off once.

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 The background is embossed with the Fluttering folder and then a strip of English Garden DSP.  I dug through my scrap folder and found an already punched piece of Crumb Cake so I pierced an oval in the center for some extra detail and then layered the sentiment banner across it.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Garden in Bloom, Thoughts & Prayers

Ink: Delightful Dijon, Soft Suede, Marina Mist

Paper: Soft Suede, Whisper White, Crumb Cake, English Garden DSP

Accessories: Fluttering e.f., Decorative Label punch, dimensionals, paper piercer

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Cow in the Pasture - Stampin' Up! Barnyard Babies

  The card for today is another that I made using bits and pieces that didn't make the cut for other projects but were to good to just toss.  To see another 'bits and pieces' card check out yesterday's Clean and Simple Bike Ride.

  The Barnyard Babies stamp set was the very first one on my wish list when the new catalog came out.  The sweet little animals are just so cute!

  For this card I had the panel with Pear Pizzazz square already stamped.  It's made with a clear block inked up with an ink pad and then stamped directly onto the cardstock.  I don't know why I had this piece; it must have been an idea that didn't work out for another project.  It was sitting on my desk for quite some time.  I stamped some grass with Old Olive ink to give some more detail.

  Next, I stamped and colored the cow with alcohol markers and cut her out with my trusty paper snips (seriously, if you don't have these you really need to get them! You can order them below just by clicking on the picture of the paper snips.  The same goes for the rest of the supplies to make this card).  I then popped her up on dimenionals onto her pasture.

  A little bit of embellishment in the way of Pear Pizzazz cotton ribbon, linen thread bow and the sentiment from One Big Meaning stamped in Early Espresso.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Barnyard Babies, One Big Meaning

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Memento black

Paper: Old Olive,  Whisper White

Accessories: alcohol markers, paper snipes, Pear Pizzazz cotton ribbon, linen thread, dimensionals

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Clean and Simple Bike Ride - Stampin' Up! Sheltering Tree

  Long time no post! I spent last week at the beach enjoying the time with family, the awesome view and nice weather.  But now it's back home and back to the grind!

  I have a card to share that was made of up random pieces that didn't make the cut on other cards and were starting to pile up on the edge of my desk.  You know how that goes right?  Try something out and it doesn't look quite right but it's not messed up so you can't just recycle it and so it gets set aside.  Well I had about 5 or 6 of these card elements sitting there so I decided it was high time to turn them into actual cards!  This is one of the results of that stamping session....or maybe it was more of an assembly session.

 The card front was embossed with the Elegant Dots embossing folder.  This was one of my "reject" card elements.  The other one was the panel with the bike on it.  I think I had stamped it to practice lining up the 2 parts of the bike on top of the Work of Art swoosh and it actually came out well but was on a piece of cardstock that wasn't the right size for the project I was then working on.

  All I did was add a slightly large Night of Navy panel behind it and added the ribbon, flags and faux button.  Done!

  The faux button was made using 3 cardstock circles adhered together and then punched with a small hole punch for the baker's twine to go through.  A button without the bulk of a real one.

  The bike theme is kind of appropriate as Richmond is hosting the UCI Road World Championships in a few weeks and all over town we're starting to see signs of the fun that is coming.  We're planning to find a great place to cheer some of the races from.  If you're coming to town for the races and need some ideas of other things to do or places to visit just let me know....we love showing off Richmond!

  I bet you have card pieces laying around your stamping area that just need a little accessorizing to bring out a full fledged card.  Give those pieces some love and get them off your stamp table!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Sheltering Tree, Work of Art

Ink: Marina Mist, Night of Navy, Crushed Curry

Paper: Whisper White, Night of Navy, English Garden DSP, Cherry on Top DSP

Accessories: white baker's twine, circle punch, handheld hole punch, dimensionals, banner punch, Sale-a-bration ribbon (retired)

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Christmas in August - Stampin' Up! Tree Punch

 Digging through my dusty files I came across this card that I made for last Christmas and never shared.  It's a fun little shaker card and I feel like it was inspired by one I saw on Pinterest so if you know of the original please let me know and I will certainly give credit.  I looked through my boards and couldn't find it.  And if you search Christmas Cards on Pinterest you get about a bazillion samples and so I wasn't going to find it that way!

  Even though I made this last year you can easily recreate it.  The sequins were ones in the holiday catalog but we now have silver sequins in the Annual Catalog that would work perfectly.  The "Christmas" banner was stamped with the super popular Endless Wishes which is retired but you can substitute a different Christmas stamp. The thin baker's twine can be substituted with the thick baker's twine in Calypso Coral.

  The tree punch, Little Letters thinlets, Decorative Dots embossing folder and rhinestones are all still available so get to making some Christmas cards now...you'll thank me later!

  And speaking of Christmas cards I better get my Stampin' Up! Holiday catalog preorder sent in.  I think I've been procrastinating because there are so many great things in it I don't know how I'm going to narrow it down and leave some items off.  Such a terrible crafting problem isn't it!  Customers should be receiving their catalogs soon too.  Ordering starts on September 1.  If you don't have a demonstrator I'd be glad to help you get started just get in touch...email is on my sidebar or you can leave a comment here.

  To order supplies to help you make this card click on the picture below and it will take you to my online store.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Endless Wishes (retired)

Ink: Calypso Coral

Paper: Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Pool Party

Accessories: Tree punch, Little Letters thinlets, scallop edge die, dimensionals, rhinestones, baker's twine


 

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Wisteria Blossom Hello- Stampin' Up! Blended Bloom

 I had some fun with embossing the other night while the boys were getting ready for bed.  My stamp room is upstairs so I can "supervise" the getting ready for bed process while playing with paper and ink!  How convenient right?  Though sometimes I lose track of time working on a card and have to tear myself away and say good night to the boys and turn off lights.

  This card came together pretty quickly using the CAS(e) this Sketch challenge and the closed Colour Me challenge.

  Using the large Blended Bloom single stamp and embossing it with white embossing powder onto Wisteria Wonder cardstock and then then I cut it out.

  I mounted it onto a piece of Whisper White cardstock that was partially embossed with the new Elegant Dots embossing folder.  I left the lower part plain to emboss the "hello" in black.

  I used a row of pearls and a narrow strip of retired Smoky Slate ribbon to separate the embossing from the sentiment. One corner is rounded just because.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Blended Bloom, Endless Birthday Wishes

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder

Accessories: pearls, Elegant Dots e.f., white embossing powder, black embossing powder, ribbon, dimensionals

  

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