Wedding Season!

Yes, it is also wedding season! So, here are three wedding cards I made for my mom to give!

This card might be my favorite. The bride had a peachy-pinky color, and gray. I used retired stamps, card stock and DP but its so purty! I used a Mojo Monday sketch, which can be found HERE. The heart? I mixed up a little Sterling Silver embossing powder, with the Iridescent Ice embossing powder, and just sprinkled that! *love! Also, if you like that eyelet punch, place your order by this afternoon or its gone forever!

Supplies:
Stamps: Ever After (retired)
Ink: Basic Gray, Versamark
Paper: Blush Blossom (retired) Basic Gray DP (from a retired hostess pack)
Accessories: Eyelet Edge Punch (about to retire!!), White Taffeta Ribbon, 1 1/4 inch circle punch, 1 3/8 inch circle punch, Sterling Silver embossing powder, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, Heat Tool


This card uses the same stamp set (because I love it!), but a sketch from HERE.

Supplies:
Stamps: Ever After
Ink: Real Red, Basic Black
Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Basic Black
Accessories: Eyelet Edge Punch (about to retire!!), Dimensionals

This final one uses a sketch I used only a couple weeks ago, and it can be found HERE. I used a lot of retired product, but the colors and card stocks are current! lol!

Supplies:
Stamps: Seaside Sketches (retired)
Ink: Basic Black, Bashful Blue
Paper: Certainly Celery, Perfect Plum, Whisper White card stocks, Just Delightful SS Kit (retired!)
Accessories: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Blender Pen, Stamping Sponge, Certainly Celery Twill Ribbon (retired!)

Graduation Season!

These cards are not for my display board, they are actually for my mom to mail out! I visited my parents this week and she needed a lot of cards made. Here are the four graduation cards!

This first card uses two retired stamp set, and this kid graduated from my high school, making the colors easy to work with, lol! (the other graduates I had to look at photos on facebook or google the school to find out their colors - all these kids use their photos as announcements, instead of ordering the whole she-bang like we used to, lol) I used a sketch from a couple weeks ago, found HERE.

Supplies:
Stamps: Great Graduation (retired), Framed Greetings (retired)
Ink: Basic Black, Real Red
Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories: Silver Brads, Mat Pack, Blender Pen, Star Punch (retired)


This card uses the latest Mojo Monday sketch (tho not as a circle or square - just a regular A2 sized card). It uses retired stamps, retired colors and a retired punch! But its still pretty cute!

Supplies:
Stamps: Great Graduation (retired)
Ink: Buckaroo Blue (retired), Basic Black, Apricot Appeal Marker (retired), Blush Blossom Marker
Paper: Buckaroo Blue (retired), Very Vanilla card stocks, First Edition DP
Accessories: Blender Pens


This card uses the sketch from Clean & Simple. The DP is current on this one, but the colors and stamp images are not.

Supplies:
Stamps: Seaside Sketches (retired), In My Thoughts (retired)
Ink: Basic Black, Bordering Blue (retired), Buckaroo Blue (retired), Summer Sun (retired) Blush Blossom
Paper: Buckaroo Blue (retired) & Whisper White card stocks, First Edition DP
Accessories: Silver Brad, 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, Stamping Sponge, Blender Pens


This card uses the sketch from Stamping 411. Lots more retired product, colored to look just like the graduate!

Supplies:
Stamps: Great Graduation, Smarty Pants
Ink: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Blush Blossom Marker, Ruby Red (retired), Taken with Teal (retired)
Paper: Taken with Teal (retired), Basic Black, Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Silver Brads, Mat Pack, Star Punch (retired)

Punched Bird

This one is just one more for my display board! The card design comes out of the 2011-2012 Creatividad Celebrando (Spanish version) but I replaced the stamped image with the punched bird, and I changed the color scheme. These colors all come from last year's In Colors, which are of course carried over to this year. I did not add a greeting yet, I'll add one when I need one.

Supplies:
Paper: Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Whisper White & Island Indigo card stocks
Accessories: Bird Punch, 1 3/8 inch circle punch, Pearls

Teacher Gifts!

School ended last week! I only had what? several months worth of warning that the last day was coming up, but I didn't manage to put together thank you gifts for the teachers, until the night before the last day of school! I've had my retired stamps out and handy so I used this nice masculine set for my daughter's teacher, who is a man. I whipped up this card for him...

Supplies:
Stamps: Sentimental Journey
Ink: Soft Suede, Always Artichoke, Midnight Muse, Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler, Peach Parfait
Paper: Peach Parfait, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Silver Brads

and then a gift sack to match, and then it was midnight! So I found this old gift sack I'd made at one of my first workshops ever, lol, and put the gift in for my son's teacher, who is a woman.

*if anyone is curious, lol, the man got a package of microwave popcorn and two kinds of candy in the big theater size boxes. The woman got 8 handmade cards from my stash and one box of theater sized candy.

Christmas in....?

May? Sure. LOL. I was working on cards for my display board (you know that if you've visited in the last few days) and looking over my still-current stamp sets. I didn't have any cards using this set so I gave it a shot! So yes, I am posting a Christmas card today! *giggle
And the design of the card is based on the card on the cover of the 2011-2012 Celebrando Creatividad, which you can see on the side bar -->

Supplies:
Stamps: Come to Bethelehem
Ink: Always Artichoke
Paper: Always Artichoke, Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla card stocks
Accessories: Decorative Label Punch, Always Artichoke Seam Binding, Dimensionals

The gift of time.

This is another card for my display board.
I love clocks, lol. This is my second stamp set with a clock and I love the new one in the brand new catalog too...! I paired the clock with the greeting "thinking of you" because that seems fitting for time. Thinking of someone its been a long time since the last conversation...wishing there was more time to be together, things like that.
And I used dark, earthy tones, which I love the result of.

Supplies:
Stamps: Forever Young, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Four Frames
Ink: Early Espresso
Paper: Early Espresso, Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake card stocks
Accessories: Pearls, Decorative Label Punch, Dimensionals

Something sweet...

I need to make about 30 new samples for my display board! That retired list almost wiped it clean! haha! I try hard to make sure everything you see on the display board is available for purchase. But, this project co-incides with the end of school (this week!) and all the many activities involved with that. It also is that time of year when my husband is preparing to start another summer of scout camp (he runs a camp almost every summer, as part of his job). This means my house is really busy right now! So last night I stuck in a movie, surrounded myself with all current stamping supplies and sat down to find out how many cards I can create before my new catalog workshop.... haha! I got three done, and need to keep going! (but! that's more for you to enjoy on my blog, its a win-win!)

The white rectangle that makes up the focal image of this card was sent to me from I don't even know who, just exactly as it is. Its a very cute use of the Aviary stamp set so I matted it and put it on a card! I have no idea what stamp set the "Just 4 You" comes from.......but I have chosen to decide that it is current enough...? for my display board, haha!! Plus the colors someone used are fun and summery, which is perfect right now!

Supplies:
Stamps: Aviary, unknown greeting
Ink: Early Espresso, Calypso Coral, Pool Party
Paper: Pool Party, Early Espresso, Calypso Coral, Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: White Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon. Scallop Edge Punch

Happy Birthday!

This one will definitely be used for an upcoming birthdays, LOL! And I think with the yellowy green color (Summer Starfruit) and the blue (Midnight Muse), its good enough for a guy! Plus, it uses entirely brand new product!
You wanna hear something else that might encourage you to sign up? These two stamp sets and this DP were free to me, simply because I had a friend who wanted to become a demonstrator! Who doesn't love free stuff?? Let me know when you too are ready to join Stampin' Up!
I used a sketch I found HERE, which was posted more than a year ago, so I think its okay that I used the sketch but not the rest of the challenge, which was to distress the card. *smile

Supplies:
Stamps: Make a Cake, Itty Bitty Banners
Ink: Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Chocolate Chip, Raspberry Ripple makers
Paper: Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse, Whisper White card stocks, Patio Party DP

Take Two

I got this stamp set a few weeks ago and finally got a chance to play with it. I'm reasonably sure this sketch came outta my own head, and I basically made it twice, just used both angles. Maybe upcoming birthday cards for a few guys...maybe not...haven't decided, but I do like them! I really love the images with the color combinations.

Supplies:
Stamps: Daring Adventure
Ink: Basic Gray
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Baja Breeze card stocks
Accessories: Silver Brads

Supplies:
Stamps: Daring Adventure
Ink: Early Espresso
Paper: Garden Green, Early Espresso, More Mustard, Very Vanilla card stocks
Accessories: Regals Brads, Mat Pack (retiring)

Bright, retiring flowers!

My blogger friend Susan posted a sketch challenge last week and sketches are my favorite kind of inspiration and challenge too! So of course I played along and I featured all retiring product! Don't miss out on your chance to get these fun stamp sets or simple ribbon!
And how do you like how I made my two patterns of paper? Its just one sheet, but half was stamped with a greeting and half with a flower.

Supplies:
Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Upsy Daisy
Ink: Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight
Paper: Melon Mambo, Whisper White & Daffodil Delight card stocks
Accessories: White grosgrain ribbon

tiny butterflies!

Isn't this dark blue DP fun? I think so! Today I used Jen's May SFYTT and the new DP, card stock and ribbon from yesterday! hee hee!

Supplies:
Stamps: Lean On Me, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Basic Black, Midnight Muse marker
Paper: Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse & Whisper White card stock, Patio Party DP
Accessories: Whisper White stitched grosgrain ribbon, Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Blender Pens

Springy Sneaky Peeky

I took some time last night to get a few cards put together, which means I'll have things to show you for a couple days at least, LOL! I didn't think May was super busy for us, but these last two weeks of school sure are! On top of everything else that's usually going on...!

This card shows a sneaky peek to some new DP, card stock and ribbon that's in the braaand new catalog! I used the sketch from Stamping 411 to design this card. And I do love this stamp set...I'm so glad its sticking around!

Supplies:
Stamps: Forever Young
Ink: Early Espresso
Paper: Primrose Petals & Whisper White card stocks, Patio Party DP
Accessories: Stitched White Grosgrain Ribbon

Original Note Cards

THIS is exactly what I have been looking for! I need a quick way to do notes and this looked perfect!
I had an order arrive just before I dove into the dvd project and I hadn't managed to toss the packing paper yet! yeay!! (talk about a silver lining...I'm cheering for clutter??)
So today I really needed to send some notes off and I threw these together. here's what I created.......

I chose not to monogram the notes but to use stamps instead. I figured that with the crumpled paper, a nice dose of Smooch Spritz would be the perfect touch. I punched out the bird shape and the Decorative Label Punch shapes and laid them on the note cards and sprayed away...but the bird was really hard to notice. I stamped in the less-spritzed areas, and where I laid the punched pieces. I don't know if you can really tell, LOL. Everything I used has either recently retired or is about to.

Supplies:
Stamps: Vintage Vogue (retiring), Faith in Nature (retiring), Fresh Vintage (retired)
Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Soft Suede, More Mustard, Wild Wasabi, Gumball Green, Island Indigo
Paper: packing paper from the Stampin' Up! orders!
Accessories: Log Cabin Smooch Spritz (retiring!), Decorative Label Punch, Bird Punch

Check it out and link back if you give it a try!!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Mother's Day! I've certainly had a great day. I got to sleep in, my daughter and husband made me blueberry muffins from scratch, my kids had sweet homemade gifts ready for me, and I even got a nap after church!

For once I remembered to mail out cards on time! That included having my kids make Mother's Day cards for their grandmothers on time too, lol! My kids haven't wanted to stamp much in recent years, so when I told them they could make a card, use one I already had, or just write a letter, I was surprised they both wanted to stamp their own. Out came all the stamps and inks, and here's what they created!

My daughter started the same way they always used to stamp - very colorful and random...

My son created this...

and then this...

so she imitated his design with this....

I was very impressed with this designs. And of course the grandmothers we're thrilled!

Pages from a video

I haven't posted in 14 days! I am so sorry! I have crafted a ton, believe it or not. My grandmother passed away and I was put in charge of sorting thru pictures and creating a slideshow to play at the viewing and funeral. That was on top of the busy work week I had, all the other things I needed to do, and the funeral itself required a 12 hour drive (and 12 hours back) for a 4 day stay, wherein I had a crazy bad allergic reaction to something in a bean burrito from this grandmothers favorite restaurant in the world. It made for quite a whirlwind week!
I created the slideshow on My Digital Studio of course. *grin. For one thing, I didn't want just photos. Both of my parents have received dvd's full of old family photos at similar events and when we looked at them, didn't know who half the people in the photos are, much less what they're doing or why. So sad!! I knew I'd be sending copies of this disk to all of my cousins and a few other people and I wanted them to know the significance of these photos. And even if they already do, they're children and grandchildren will need to know too, lol! So while I wanted to let the photos do the talking, I wanted journaling added to most photos, and a few embellishments to make the screen a little more interesting.
I created 125 frames, and we fit three songs into the background, ending at almost exactly 12 minutes. I worked on this project every spare minute I had last week to get it done on time. (4:30 am the day of the viewing...!) I discovered that using my camera with the flash setting off to snap a photo of the photos worked better in most cases than scanning. Then I had to edit the photos, then build the page and add the journaling. lol. Also I wanted the video to be as chronological as possible since that's the whole point- to feature her life.
When working with My Digital Studio, you can create your own project, without the layouts provided, but you can also select a photo layout within the project. One of the options, at least with the DVD project, is to have the photo fill the screen. I did that 11 times. This is my favorite full screen photo:

and here are a few other random favorite pages.....

 my mom is one of those cute little girls.

my grandparents always showed their love for each other and I used 24 slides of just the two of them. They were married 57 years before my grandfather passed away.

That final page is the only slide that did not have her in the picture, but it captures the trips to the cabin and the way she created those trips for all of us grandkids.

Anyway, this is what has been keeping me busy. I have a class scheduled for this Friday so hopefully I'll have a chance to get some paper crafting done soon!