Blue Banners

I saw this card over at Rita's Creations this week and fell in love with the layout.  I decided to give a similar card a try and this is what I came up with.  I also decided to make this card for the color challenge over at colourQ so I've used Cool Caribbean, Tempting Turquoise, Pacific Point, Midnight Muse, and white for my color palette.  Since my order of new stamps came, I had to use one from the upcoming Spring catalog, so I used the diagonal striped banner from the new Hearts a Flutter stamp set.  I cut that out with the coordinating framelit die.  I also used that die for the turquoise polka dot banner, but that one is narrower so I just used the die for the bottom of it.  I think I'll get a lot of use out of this fun banner, and I love that it can be used for more masuline cards as well!  The smaller banners are all done with dies in the bitty banners framelits collection.  I added some textured stripes (with the stripes textured impressions folder) to the Pacific Point card stock, but unfortunately didn't show up in the photograph very well.  I stamped the greeting from Sassy Salutations and mounted everything on Midnight Muse card stock and tied some stitched Midnight Muse satin ribbon around it all. 

Happy Blooms

New stamps make me happy!  I've been stamping so many Christmas cards lately that it was fun to use something more Spring-y today.  I was able to pre-order items from the Spring Catalog and Sale-a-Bration on Saturday and today Mr. Brown made my day with a big brown box.  This is the first card I stamped with my new goodies and I know I'll be making a whole bunch more with this Sale-a-Bration set called Bloomin' Marvelous.

It was nice to have a little direction when creating today, so thank you Dynamic Duos for the color inspiration--Certainly Celery and Real Red.  These colors are so fun together, they'd be a great combo for Christmas but they also work well for Spring!  I layered the greeting with the oval punch, scalloped oval punch, and designer label punch and mounted that on top of my Real Red stitched grosgrain.  I love the soft look of the stamps in this set and can't wait to try out more cards with it!

Patterned Packages Tied Up With Strings

Coming up with names for my posts proves to be rather interesting at times.  I try to come up with a name that relates to the card I'm showing, and I also try to make it not sound too stupid :)  I'm sitting here singing "My Favorite Things" in my head because of my title.  I started with Patterned Packages since the present stamp is from the Patterned Party set, then I thought about "tied" since I have the ribbon around it, then one thing leads to another and I'm singing The Sound of Music to myself.

I made this card for the sketch challenge at Fab Friday.  I have a bunch of pre-cut paper leftover from last week's Christmas Card Buffet, so I decided to put some of it to use.  I used the paper that I had cut for this card as my starting point and then combined it with the sketch.  I had to incorporate my favorite Patterns DSP, so I used some of the Pool Party striped paper from the In Color stack.  I stamped the "happy birthday" from Sassy Salutations and then decided that the card needed a couple little presents off to the side.  I realized that the presents in the Patterned Party set would work great, so I inked just one of the three presents with my Island Indigo and Wisteria Wonder markers.  I separated the stamped image and the dsp with some Wisteria Wonder ruffled ribbon and then layered that panel onto Island Indigo and Pool Party card stock.  I textured my Wisteria Wonder card base with the Lacy Brocade embossing folder and then added the layered panels to finish the card.

Cheery Snowflakes and Polka Dots

I'm in love with the fun color combo used in the current colourQ challenge.  I used to lean more to the traditional side when it came to colors for snowflakes and Christmas cards, but I've learned that it is way more fun (and often more visually appealing) to mix things up a bit.  I really like the pink and blue mixed with the traditional red and green.  I tried to stay pretty true to the suggested colors, but I did swap Wild Wasabi for Glorious Green and Tempting Turquoise for Cool Caribbean so that I was using current Stampin' Up! colors.  I sure miss having Cool Caribbean around, but I guess we can't have them all, can we.  I think the combo still works well and is pretty close! 

I stamped the snowflakes from the Snowflake Soiree set in Real Red, Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi, and Tempting Turquoise and then cut the panel into three pieces before mounting it onto my Regal Rose card stock.  I then mounted that onto some Tempting Turquoise Patterns DSP (love those polka dots with the snowflakes) and then onto white and finally onto the Wild Wasabi card base.  Originally I was planning to just use a turquoise card base, but after trying it both ways the wasabi won--it just looked better and cheered up the card with extra color!  I added some stitched grosgrain in Real Red around most of the layers and then tucked my greeting under the stamped panel.  I used the Sweet Essentials set (specifically the "make a wish" stamp) and just inked up the "wish" part of it.  Then I punched it the tall way with the Decorative Label Punch to give it some shape.

I have to say that I think Snowflake Soiree is one of my favorite, if not the favorite, of all my snowflake sets.  I didn't think I'd say that when I first got it, but the shapes and patterns are just too much fun!  That is saying a lot as I've been a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator for over 14 years now, and that means I have a LOT of snowflake sets--come on, you know that we always "need" the latest and greatest snowflake set :)  I'm typing up this blog post as I look out my window and see the sunny blue skies and not a bit of snow on the ground, which is just fine with me!  We got a little snow in the mountains last night, but just a bunch of rain here in the valley.  Now this is my kind of winter!  I'd prefer to have my snowflakes be the stamped kind and my snowmen to be the sidewalk chalk variety.

Soft Heart Trio

Crumb Cake, Pretty in Pink, Pool Party, and Chocolate Chip----love it!  This is the color combo over at Just Add Ink right now.  Initially I was thinking that this would make a perfect combo for a baby card, but then I noticed some of my new rubber sitting on my table and decided to give it a try with my new set called You are Loved.  I've seen this set in the catalog and kept thinking about getting it, and I took the plunge when it was part of the Online Spectacular sale a couple weeks ago.  The part that I fell in love with was the tag.  The designer label punch has been one of my favorites for some time, so naturally I "needed" that tag stamp.  I like how the oval in the center of the tag fits perfectly with the oval punch.  When trying to formulate this card, I looked at the large heart stamp and decided that I liked the pattern in it, but that the large heart wasn't going to work with what I was going for.  I stamped the large heart in Crumb Cake, Pretty in Pink, and Pool Party, and then used my full heart punch to punch out just a portion of it so that I could get a patterned heart more appropriately sized for this card.  I layered those hearts with Stampin' Dimensionals onto 1-3/4" squares that I cut from the Patterns DSP (I wish there was a square punch that size, but the paper cutter worked just fine).  I mounted those on some white, then Chocolate Chip, then Pretty in Pink card stock.  I textured my Pool Party card base with the Elegant Lines embossing folder to try and mimic the fun pattern in the hearts.  I tied some Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon around the bottom of the card and then mounted my tag on it with more Stampin' Dimensionals.  I think I'll have to remember this color palette and try it out with some baby stamps next time.

Candy Cane Stripes

I feel like it has been forever since I participated in a blog challenge!  It's probably only been a couple of weeks, but I've missed them--and my creating time.  Thanksgiving and my Christmas Card Buffet took my time away, so I haven't had much time to sit down and just create, but I managed to get a little time in today.  I decided to start by participating in the current sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  I wanted to keep my card clean, and bold, so I limited the amount of color on it.  I chose Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla for my colors and then started to create.  I knew I wanted to mimic the stripes on the candy canes, so I turned to my trusty Patterns Designer Series Paper and used some of the Cherry Cobbler stripes for my background.  I've definitely decided that the Scentsational Seasons set is my favorite Christmas set this year (as you can probably tell by the number of times I've used it thus far), so I used the candy canes from that set for my main image.  I cut those out with the coordinating framelits and then layered them on a Cherry Cobbler circle that textured with the chevron embossing folder and then punched with the 2-1/2" circle punch.  That is layered on a scalloped circle that was cut from the Perfect Pennants big shot die and is then mounted with some Stampin' Dimensionals so that it stands out from the card a little.  The banners are all cut with the Bitty Banners framelits--funny thing is I didn't think I'd use those framelits a lot when I first got them, boy was I wrong!  I stamped the greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes and then finished of my card with a Very Vanilla seam binding ribbon bow around the candy canes. 

Merry Bold Snowflake

I held my Christmas Card Buffet earlier this week and now I'm getting around to posting another card that we made.  This card features the new Bold Snowflake stamp (one of Stampin' Up!'s clear mount single stamps available through the end of the year) along with the "merry" stamp from the Snowflake Soiree set.  I love how the bold snowflake coordinates with the blossom punch.  I wanted it to stand out from the white word background, so I layered a green blossom punch behind the stamped layer.  I used Garden Green and Real Red for the card--the most traditional red/green combo.  My card base is textured with the Petals-a-plety embossing folder.  Do you recognize this layout?  Check out this card for my inspiration.

Clean and Simple Bird

Here's another card that I made for my mom's box of cards.  I wanted a clean and simple, yet fun card.  I chose Melon Mambo and Lucky Limeade to go along with all of the white space on the card.  The bird and branch come from the Best of Everything stamp set.  I textured my background with the petals-a-plenty embossing folder.  The green polka dots come are from my favorite Patterns DSP and then mounted on some Lucky Limeade card stock that I punched with the scalloped edge punch.  This was a quick card to put together and it added some great variety to the other cards that I made.

Sunny Butterflies

What a gorgeous sunny day we are having!  It's 50 degrees and sunny, the mounds of snow we have are melted, and it just makes me happy!  Most years it seems like we really get cheated out of those perfect Autumn days, but this year they keeep coming back (after cold spells and storms).  I hope they keep coming!

Tonight I'm holding my Christmas Card Buffet but I decided that I needed to share a sunny card to mimic the day instead of a Christmas card.  This is another of the cards that I made a stack of for my mom's birthday.  It's similar to this card that I made back in September and this card that I made last month.  I just love switching up the colors and coming up with a whole new feel for the card.  I think today's card is my favorite of the three.  I did not add words to the card upon my mom's request to have some generic (wordless) cards.  I picked the more ornate patterned paper from the brights Patterns DSP stack so that it could hold its own without words.  My colors are Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, and Tempting Turquoise.  I really love the butterflies from the Papillon Potpourri stamp set and it's funny to realize that I didn't even notice this set in the new catalog until I saw a few ideas online a few months ago--then I HAD to have it and it has become a favorite!  I textured my background with the petals-a-plenty embossing folder and then added some daffodil seam binding ribbon around the layers to complete my card.  I hope you get to enjoy a sunny day soon (if not today)!

Polka Dots for Christmas

Christmas is less than a month away!  Are you getting ready?  We (okay, my husband) put up the Christmas lights on Thanksgiving.  My kids LOVE the Christmas lights and it is so fun to watch their excitement every time they see them, so I encouraged my husband to get them up so we could turn them on Thanksgiving night.  My husband is one of those guys who doesn't like Christmas music or Christmas lights on before Thanksgiving, so we settled for the first day he'd turn them on.  It's fun to take little drives around the neighborhood and listen to the kids' excitement over even the simplest light displays.

Tomorrow and Wednesday I am holding my annual Christmas Card Buffet where we'll be making a bunch of Christmas cards.  My intention is to have this class at the end of October each year, but this year the last month has really gotten away from me.  Oh well, at least it is happening before December!  This is one of the cards that people have the option of making.  I made one similar to this a few months ago, but I had to modify it so that I had the right supplies for the class.  I used the Scentsational Season stamp set for the tree and star and the Embellished Events set for the greeting.  Colors are Gumball Green, Raspberry Ripple, and Daffodil Delight.  I textured the background with (my favorite) Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder to mimic the dots in the Christmas tree.  I also added some polka dot paper (another favorite) from the In Color Patterns DSP Stack and mounted that on some white that I punched the scallop trim border punch along.  I finished things off with the Raspberry Ripple stitched satin ribbon around the pattern paper.  Happy 26th of November!!!

Primary Pinwheels

I gave my mom a whole box of stamped cards for her birthday this month.  She has been asking for cards for a while and wanted some birthday and then some all occasion cards (cards without words on them).  I stamped several cards in a few designs of birthday cards for her and then went to work on the all occasion cards.  I'm finding that I have a hard time not putting words on cards.  This card uses primary colors (real red, daffodil delight, tempting turquoise, and pacific point) and the pinwheel stamps from the Sweets for the Sweet stamp set.  Once I had everything stamped, mounted, and a ribbon tied around it, it was missing something.  I textured the background with the perfect polka dot embossing folder and it was still missing something.  Do you know what that something was?  Words.  Yep, I just couldn't leave it blank, so I turned to the Made for You stamp set and used the "especially for you" stamp.  I figured these words were harmless enough, they could be used for anything.  Birthdays.  Hello.  Congrats.  Whatever.  That way I could add the words and still have it be an all occasion card.  I'll keep trying to make some wordless cards, but sometimes the words just help finish off the card. 

Circles and Presents

Have you ordered from the Online Extravaganza yet?  I just LOVE some of the sets that are 50% off!!!  I have to admit that I was a little bummed that I just ordered a couple of the sets, like less a month before they were on sale, but I guess I've gotten some enjoyment out of them in that time.  Okay, confession, one of the sets has not even been used yet, but at least I took advantage of some of the others that I didn't already have.  My order should come on Monday so I'll have some new rubber to stamp with.

I made this card a couple weeks ago, before I knew about the sale.  I used one of my favorite birthday stamp sets--Patterned Party, which just happens to be on sale right now.  If you don't already have it, you should get it while it is HALF PRICE!  You can't beat that.  I came across some pre-cut card stock from one of my 2011 classes and decided that I ought to use it up.  I started out with the supplies from this card and then got busy stamping.  I stamped my presents in Marina Mist and layered them on the same colored card stock.  I added a strip of Marina Mist card stock to the inside edge of the card so that it would highlight my scalloped edge.  The patterns in the presents inspired me to add more patterns to my card, so I stamped a panel with stamps from the Circle Circus set in Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery, Marina Mist, and Basic Gray.  I mounted everything on my card base that I textured with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.  Finally, I finished it of with a bit of seam binding ribbon.
 

Swirled Snowflakes

A couple weeks ago my friend Pam asked if I had the Snow Swirled stamp set.  She borrowed it and made a card similar to this.  I loved how she used red and green and gray together, so I used some elements of the card (the snowflake background, the greeting, and the diagonal ribbon) and changed up the rest a bit to create my own.  I changed the red to Cherry Cobbler, the olive to Garden Green and left the Basic Gray.  I also loved how she used ribbon on the card and just glued a piece diagonally--I did this with the Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon.  The verse also comes from the Snow Swirled stamp set and is punched with the wide oval punch and layered on the Decorative Label Punch.  I wanted it to stand out a little, so I added the blossom punch behind it.  I figured it has 6 sides like a snowflake, so why not?

This week's challenge on Hand Stamped Sentiments is to make a card with Snowflakes, so here it is.  Hope you enjoy!

Candy Cane Duo

I consider myself a "brights" girl when it comes to selecting colors to stamp with (Stampin' Up! has 4 color collections: brights, regals, subtles, and neutrals).  Most of the year the brights are my go to group of colors, they just make me happy.  Now that it is Fall and Christmas is coming, I am loving all of the color combos lately, and find that the regals mixed with neutrals are some of my new favorites.  My card here was made with Sahara Sand and Cherry Cobbler, the current combo of colors at Dynamic Duos.  I also combined those colors with the layout at Mojo Monday.

I textured my background with the Chevron embossing folder and then added a strip of paper from the Be of Good Cheer DSP pack.  I stamped the candy canes from the Scentsational Seasons stamp set and cut them with the coordinating framelits.  My greeting comes from Teeny Tiny Wishes and is stamped on crumb cake card stock then layered on cherry cobbler that I punched with the scallop edge punch before layering it on some white card stock (so that the cherry layer would stand out from the dsp paper).  I tied those layers together with some Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon and added them to my card base.  Thanks to the fun blogs for the color and layout inspiration!  35 days until Christmas!

Gift Stack

It's so fun to be able to share ideas with each other online.   I saw an idea that inspired this card online, but it wasn't credited, so whoever made a card like this for a swap, thank you for the inspiration!  I took the idea she used of the stacked gifts and switched it up a bit.  I decided to make my card be a birthday card, so I chose some fun papers from the Patterns DSP stacks in the colors to go with The Paper Players challenge this week--Old Olive, More Mustard, and Bravo Burgundy.  I cut my designer series paper into rectangles and then made "lids" for each of the gifts by punching strips of the matching card stock with the scallop edge punch (I sized the strips just a tad longer than the gifts).  I wanted to keep my background clean and simple so that the gifts would really stand out, so I used white for a background color.  It needed some texture in the background to go along with all of the fun patterns, so I textured it with the Chevron embossing folder before mounting it on my More Mustard card base.  I used some Old Olive 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon to "tie" my gift stack together and then made a tag with card stock and the Sweet Essentials stamp set.  The bow is actually a separate piece of ribbon that I tied and then adhered with a mini glue dot on top of the tag.  This is a fun idea that could be used for Christmas as well. 

Rich Red Ornament

So many great challenges, so little time to stamp!  I've had quite a list of sketch and color challenges that I've wanted to try out and I didn't get nearly the amount of stamping time that I hoped for this weekend.  There were a few challenges that were due today, so I decided to combine a couple so that I could realistically complete them.  This is the card that I came up with for the fabulous color challenge at colourQ and for the awesome sketch challenge from Freshly Made Sketches.  You'd think that with the colors and layout already selected the card would be quick and easy to put together.  Well, the challenges definitely inspired me, but this card took some time and a bit of trial and error.  Originally I wasn't thinking Christmas when selecting the colors (Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake, and Soft Suede) but then I started creating and I knew I wanted to use the Ornament Keepsakes set and the Lacy Brocade embossing folder.  I love how this turned out--a rich, bold Christmas card that still uses the traditional red but really doesn't need any green.  I used my matching framelits to cut the ornament and then layered it onto the Crumb Cake circle that I textured with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder and punched with the 2-1/2" circle punch.  That is layered on a scalloped circle cut with the perfect pennants big shot die.  My designer paper is from the Floral District dsp (the yellow) and the Neutrals Patterns dsp (the suede dots).  I stamped the greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes and punched it with the word window and modern label punches.  I finished off the card by adding some 1/8" taffeta ribbon in Daffodil Delight to "hang" my ornament.
 Hope you enjoy!

Saffron Blossom Trio

I am already excited to see Spring blossoms.  I know, I know, I should just enjoy the seasons, but this 12+inches of snow we've gotten is a bit much for me.  My kids, however, are loving the cold white stuff.  Maybe I just need to actually get a pair of boots so that I can stomp around in it with them.  My daughter says it isn't Winter yet (because she pays a lot of attention to what the calendar says), so it should still feel like Fall for another month, right?

Since I'm in this Winter denial, I opted to stamp with flowers once again.  I chose the Summer Silhouettes set for the flowers and Sweet Essentials for the greeting.  I used the color combo from Stampin' Royalty: So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Gumball Green, and Chocolate Chip.  I textured the background with the Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder (just along the top 2/3).  I wanted to add more patterns, so I used some of the Pumpkin Pie colored paper from the Polka Dot Parade DSP and then tied my stamped panel with some Gumball Green Stitched Satin Ribbon.  Now, can we just cross our fingers that this snow will melt and we can get back to Fall?  I still need to take pictures of my kids in their Halloween costumes, and I'd like to do it outside with the leaves.