Masculine?

So I needed a masculine birthday card recently and I pulled this one out of my stash of recently made cards.  My husband looked at it and said, "I thought you needed a guy card?".    Since he is actually a guy, I should probably take his word for it that it is not a guy card.  What do you think?  I was going to give it to an older gentleman, so I thought it would work.  What I decided to do is work on some more masculine cards so that I have some on hand when this comes up again.  Its so much easier to make pretty things, as least for me anyway.  I like flowers and ribbons and bows and butterflies, those are not masculine!

 I still like this card though, so I will refile it in my women cards and consider it good for late summer, early fall birthdays. I used my blender pens to color the image. Blender pens are clear (I think glycerin) pens that you can use with your ink pads or watercolor pencils, to create a softer colored look. You can achieve many color tones and shadows that you just cant do with regular markers.  You can see this in the cattails and the birds belly.  I also like to add an outline around the whole image to make it stand out more, like there is a shadow.  I used River Rock for the outline color, More Mustard for the bird, and Early Espresso and Always Artichoke for the stems.  If I manage to make any cards that my husband agrees actually are masculine, I'll let you know : )

Paper sale ending soon!

I just wanted to let everyone know that the buy 3 get 1 free paper sale ends on wednesday.  Feel free to call or email me if you have any questions! or click on the "shop now" button to go to my Stampin' Up! store!

Fun Snowman card!

If you were at my Christmas in July class last month, then you made this cute little snowman.  This is a really fun card to make.  I saw a tutorial on this tecnique, and when I saw three stacked circles, I had to make a snowman.   The card starts out as a circle, but when you lift up on the top circle, the others move into line and you get the telescoping effect.  Fun to make and fun to recieve!  You can make your circles in just about any size.  I wanted mine to be easy so I made them with my 'Big Shot' which has quite a few circle dies.  I used the large scallop circle die, the 4 in circle die, 3 1/2 in die, 3 in die, and my Stampin Up ! 2 1/2 in circle punch.  The snowmans arms are from a tree branch in the set 'Season of Friendship'.   The greeting is from the set 'Christmas Greeting'.  Christmas Greeting is a great set because it has a "Merry Christmas" that is big enough to be used on the front of a card, but not too big that it cant also be used on the inside.  It also has a nice sentiment for those of us who sometimes have a hard time thinking of something to write on the inside : )   The sentiment reads "May the joy and love you feel this holiday season extend to every day throughout the year." 

So Sweet!

In just a few days the new Holiday Mini catalog will be released! I'm super happy with this years catalog, but honestly I think I always love the Holiday minis.  Stampin' Up demonstrators get to order early so I picked up a few of my favorites.  I love punches, and this hobby horse is made from a punch that was designed to make Christmas stockings.  There is a matching stamp set, another thing I love, stamp set that go with punches! I used my markers to color the stocking stamp so that I could get two colors on the argyle. Some ruffled Chocolate Chip Ribbon make up the mane, and some Marina Mist ribbon for the reigns.   The base of the card is Marina Mist, and I used a bit of Pear Pizzazz as an accent color.  A simple wooden toothpick completes the hobby horse!  Too cute!  I love when punches can be used to make things other than what they were intended to make.  The queen of punches is a crafter on my fav site www.splitcoaststampers.com , "jactop".  She can make just about anything out of a punch. If you head over to the site, you can check out her gallery.

Big Bold Sunflowers

I just love my new 'Sunflower' backgound stamp, it is really big, the whole front of a card.  I can see using it on some scrapbook pages in the near future! This was my first attempt at using it.  I was feeling funky so I colored it with a bold color, 'Lucky Limeade'.  Lucky Limeade is a new color and I just love it!  I stamped the image onto some newprint paper and colored it with my "Lucky Limeade" marker. I decided to cut the image in half to make two cards. I added Basic Black as an accent and mounted it all onto the 'Lucky Limeade' card base.  The "My Friend" sentiment is from the set "Perfect Punches".  I love stamps that fit into the punches because I am a bit addicted to paper punches! Love Them!!   

Back to School Treat holders

These cute little backpacks are great for giving gifts to teachers, or for a little treat for the kids too!  They are the prefect size for a gift card or some chocolates, or both!  At the end of last year I made a few, (16!) of these for my children to give to teachers and aides at their schools.  They are so cute, I decided to make up a few this year to use for the kids in my Wednesday night church class.  There are 6 so its not quite as daunting as 16! I will fill them with some gummy fruit treats and a message of encouragement in the front pocket.  I found the template at my favorite paper crafting website, http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/.  If you've never checked them out, you should, it is a great site!

Back to School! YEA!!

This is the first full week back to school for my boys!  While its nice to have that summer break, I am glad to be back to a normal routine.  These pictures were taken when my oldest, David, was in kindergarten. He is now a forth grader! Wow, does time fly!  David made so many great friends in kindergarten, that he still plays with today.  These are 2 of them.  We are lucky enough to live just half a block away from school, so we often stayed behind to play with his friends on the playground before heading home.  This was one of those days! Zachary felt like such a big boy playing with David's friends! 

I chose bright colors for these pages, perfect for kindergarten.  The background color is Pumpkin Pie, with accents of Real Red and Pacific Point.  I also shopped the clearance rack for some discontinued corduroy buttons in those colors as well!  The Stampin' Up clearance rack is a great place to get embellishments, great prices and they still coordinate with the great Stampin' Up! color pallet!  The Pacific Point Ribbon is also on the clearance rack!  The little accents of ripped spiral notebook paper and the dotted lines for practicing letters, all add to the elementary school feel of the pages.

The Best Things in Life…

This is a card I made a while back to give to a customer of mine.  It says “The Best Things in Life are Made, Not Bought.”   Don’t you agree?  I do.  Homemade cookies are so much better, homemade butter cream frosting can not be had from a can, and handmade cards are no exception. When you make something by hand, you are also using your heart. What are you working on? 

Sorry I'm Late...

If you are a bit like me, you are occasionally late with Birthdays.  I am probably more than occasionally late actually : )   This card is perfect for just such an occasion.  It uses the cute little snail from the "Turtle & Co." set.   Again I am using Pear Pizzazz and Concord Crush, with just a little bit of Poppy Parade thrown in.  I embossed the background paper with the new "Stripes" embossing folder.  I made a layer with a piece of Concord Crush snipped at the bottom to look like a banner.  The snail was colored in using my "In Color" markers to match the paper.  A few details that don't show up in the photo are the line of snail "slime" trailing behind the snail, done with River Rock ink and a Blender Pen.  I also added a line of "Illuminate Top Coat" on the slime to give it a shimmer, and some "Crystal Effects" to the snails eyes.  I know, shimmery slime sounds odd, but its cute right?

Ribbon Share!!

This Post will stay at the top for the rest of the week, scroll down to see new posts :)

If you're like me, you love ribbon! I especially love Stampin' Up Ribbon because they design it to co-ordinate with their lovely papers.  And, if you're even more like me, you want it all! All the colors and styles!  But, that's pretty pricey SO.... how about we do a ribbon share?  Sounds like a good idea to me!  To start I thought I would do a ribbon share of the In Color ribbon.  I don't have any of that beautiful ruffled ribbon and I just really have to have it.   If you are new to ribbon shares, here is how they work.  I will sign people up to participate in the share, then purchase the appropriate number of ribbon spools, dividing up the cost.  I will then divide it up into 3 yard increments and package it all up for you.  You get 3 yards of each color.  A win win situation! Here is the cost breakdown: 

Option One: In colors 2011/12 includes 5 colors of 1/2" stitched poly ribbon (page 194 in catalog)
3 yards each of Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait, Concord Crush, Pear Pizzaz, and Blushing Bride
$10.50 (that includes tax and shipping to my reg customers who i can hand deliver it to, add $1.50 if i need to mail it-USA only)
Option Two: add the matching cardstock assortment and marker set, and I will give you tax and shipping free
markers $14.95 paper is $6.95 adding the ribbon share ($9 w/o shipping and tax)  makes it $30.90

 Option Three: In Colors 2011/13 includes 5 colors of 3/8" ruffled ribbon (page 194 in catalog)
3 yards each of calypso coral, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, and Wisteria Wonder
$18 (that includes tax and shipping to my reg customers who I can hand deliver to, add $1.50 if i need to mail it-USA only)
Option Four: add the matching cardstock assortment pack and the marker set, and I will give  you the tax and shipping free.  Markers $14.95 paper $6.95 adding ribbon share ($15 w/o shipping and tax) comes to $36.90
I need to have everyone signed up by August 25th so I can place the ribbon order.  Feel free to contact me with any questions. 

Birthday Balloon!

I saw several versions of birthday balloons made from the cupcake builder punch.  They were all so cute I had to make one of my own.  Those of you familiar with the punch will notice that the clouds are the frosting and the balloon basket is the cupcake holder.   The balloon is made with the 1 3/4 circle punch and the large oval punch.  I used some bakers twine for the strings attaching the balloon to the basket.  I also ran the sky background through the Big Shot with my 'Perfect Polka Dots' embossing folder.  I think the texture adds a bit more interest.  The happy birthday pennant banner was hand cut, using the "Happy Birthday" stamp from the "Create a Cupcake" set.   Just about any color combination will work, I'm using a lot of Concord Crush and Pear Pizzazz lately.  Hope you like it!

Lovely Ladybugs!

My little girl Jillian loves ladybugs.  I guess that's a good thing because they seem to be everywhere this year.  Seems like they are turning up in all our windowsills.  For her Birthday I decided to make her some ladybug cupcakes. They were really fun to make, m&m's for the spots, Oreo cookie for the head, yummy!  For her Scrapbook page I made ladybugs from paper, using various sizes of circle paper punches.  The base of the page is Wild Wasabi, with some Wild Wasabi polka dot patterned paper at the sides. Poppy Parade is used as the accent color.  I used the Tasteful Trim die for the border, I love that Die, and its 12 inches long - perfect for scrapbooks!  I also used the Hearts and Brackets die by her journaling.  I have to say, I find it so much easier to make little girl scrapbook pages than little boy pages.  I am going to make pages for my sons soon! Promise!

A few more Christmas Cards

Last month i was focusing on Christmas in July.  I had a few more cards from July that I thought I would post.  The first one uses a new set from the 2011/2012 catalog called "Beautiful Season".  This is a really pretty set featuring a bird on a holly branch.  I stamped the Bird in black Stazon ink, then colored him with blender pens and ink from the lids of my ink pads.  I also added a tiny dab of crystal effects to the I added a bow of Cherry Cobbler and a vintage brad as a pretty accent.  The card base is Early Espresso, which has been embossed with my new hounds tooth embossing folder.  I love embossing folders! I also added a bit of paper peircing in the bottom corner, and  distressed the edges of the main image piece with some Crumb Cake ink on a sponge.  Because Early Espresso is such a dark color, the interior of the card has a layer of very vanilla with a strip of garden green striped paper at the bottom, to make writing a greeting easier.  I also added the garden green striped paper to the envelope too!

This next card uses a stamp set called "Come to Bethlehem".   I used the hounds tooth embossing folder on this one, too.   I also took a sponge with some gold shimmer on it and ran it over the textured background, as well as the edges of the main image piece, but it doesn't show up in the photo.  I also added a rhinestone to the center of the star for some shine.  The Main image lifts up to reveal the sentiment "Giving thanks for God's gift of love and the joy we share through Christ the Lord" as well as a space to write a short greeting.  The main colors of this card are Cherry Cobbler and Soft Suede.    

At the Beach

This week we are in Wisconsin!  This is a scrapbook page I did from the last time we went.  My mom, sister and I took the kids, mine as well as my brothers two, to Blue Harbor Resort.  The kids love spending time with their cousins.  The resort has a beach as well as an indoor water park with tube slides, a lazy river, Lily pad crossing, baby area and a few pools.  It was fun to see these pictures and compare them to how the kids look today.  Three of my sisters kids didn't come this year, they are teen agers and don't have as much fun with the little ones : )   These pictures are from 2007.  Ill post newer pictures when we get back and print them. It took me 3 Years to make these pages, so don't hold your breath : )  I scrapbook in random order, whatever interests me at the time.  I used to feel that I had to do things in order of date, but then I would not feel inspired by a group of photos and not do any for months.  Now I scrapbook whatever I like and find that I'm getting so many more pages done! And that's the point right, to actually have pages in that scrapbook!  The kids really enjoy going through the scrapbook and it makes them remember how much fun they have together.   I used to stress about having the perfect layout and theme, but again, the point is to have the pages in the scrapbook, so I encourage you to get  working on your favorite pictures.  Your family will love them and you will too.  Let yourself go and just create!    

Spinning Snowball card

This spinner card was a lot of fun to make.  When the card is tilted the snowball rolls back and forth across the bottom of the card.  Kids especially love this interactive card. This is a very old technique that I have always meant to try and just never got around to doing.  When I got the new "Snow Much Fun" set and saw the rolling snowball image, I thought it would be the perfect set to use for this technique.  The snowball actually has a cute little cardinal perched on it, but I used my marker to ink it up, omitting the bird (although my sons would have loved the card even more if the poor little bird was tumbling in the snow).  Two pennies are used, with a foam dimensional sticker in the middle, to make the snowball spin.  One penny is glued to the snowball and the other is behind the track made with the word window punch. Contact me if you would like complete directions.

Stampin' Up! August Promotion! Buy 3 packs of $10.95 Designer series paper and get ! pack FREE

This is one of my favorite Stampin' Up! specials.  It runs every year and its my time to stock up on my favorites.  This year I bought some of the Beau Chateau, Just Add Cake, Pocket Full of Posies and Big Top Birthday.  After I hit submit I realized I forgot to add a pack of the Nautical Expedition paper from the Summer Mini catalog, so I may just have to place another order sometime this month.  I do LOVE paper!
Contact me if you have any questions about this promotion, or any other Stampin' questions!
And, watch for information on my upcoming Aug class, where we will be making projects featuring the Designer Series Paper products from Stampin' Up!