End of the month!

Crazy! Tomorrow is October?! Couple reminders....

• Don't forget our blog hop tomorrow! Plenty of fun ideas to inspire your own creations!
• Check out the "What's Going On?" tab at the top to see all of Stampin' Up!'s current promotions and things not offered in the catalog!
• If you're a fan on facebook, you might want to check your "Pages Feed" on the sidebar. I don't know why but I'm getting ads for other pages, and not seeing much from the pages I wanted to follow... Also, if you "like" my posts, you should see more of them...!

Coordinating shades

Today I'm sharing the final card from my Neutral Accessories class. I used a slightly older Freshly Made sketch.
We used coordinating colors of ink to the papers, lol. But mostly this was to show how best to use the pearls or even rhinestones. I have found that using the tip of my Paper Snips scissors to lift it off the sheet of pearls and then putting it in place on the project, is the easiest way, and the adhesive doesn't stick to anything you don't want it on!

Supplies:
Stamps: Summer Silhouettes, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Primrose Petals, Coastal Cabana, Early Espresso
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Early Espresso & Whisper White card stocks, I Am Me DP
Accessories: Basic Pearls

Chevron Punch!

Today I have the third card we made at my Neutral Accessories class. This card uses a Freshly Made Sketch.
I was in the mood to use brown, but had a hard time coming up with what to put with it. This might possibly be only the second time I've used Raspberry Ripple, lol, but it makes a nice autumn color combination!
We put the buttons across the top for the accessory, and we used the new Chevron Punch! Love this!! This time we punched Raspberry 'arrows' out of a bit of paper and laid them on top of the Chocolate Chip strip. I'm excited to see what else we can do with this punch...!

Supplies:
Stamps: Creative Elements, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Early Espresso
Paper: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Raspberry Ripple
Accessories: Chevron Punch, Neutral Buttons, Glue Dots

Thankful Map

Another sneak peek of my upcoming accessories class.
But mostly, I am SO excited about this stamp set!!! Demonstrators get a sneak peek at products when they release new catalogs and this was part of the preview this summer. I immediately fell in love (I loooove maps!) with this, but it was promptly removed temporarily. Then it came back a day after I placed a big order! I have been waiting quite impatiently for this to be in my hot little hands and ta-da! HOORAY!
I started with the sponging technique. I stamped it in Basic Gray and then sponged ink directly onto the card stock....I have the older, classic ink pads which work so nicely for sponging. And I liked these brads in each point of the punch.

Supplies:
Stamps: World Map, Banner Greetings,
Ink: Basic Gray, Tangerine Tango, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke
Paper: Very Vanilla, Tangerine Tango, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Designer Label Punch, Mini Brads, Mat Pack, Hexagon Punch

CASE from the Catalog

CASE means Copy And Share Everything. Sometimes we change it up a bit and make it our own, sometimes we make exactly what we saw! Today its a bit of a change up, but the stamping is the same. Open your catalog to page 93 and see if you can find my inspiration...

Supplies:
Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers
Ink: Gumball Green, Calypso Coral
Paper: Calypso Coral, Very Vanilla, Epic Day DP
Accessories: Neutral Button, White Bakers Twine

This card is going to be made at my Neutral Accessories class. I rather liked the chevron pattern going across the bottom there, beneath the tree. And the little flag at the top is pretty cute too! What do you think?

52 Week Challenge, Revisit!

If you read my blog earlier this year, you may remember I had challenged myself to do a page of each week of the year. If you've read my blog last week, you know that I lost MDS in May and that project has been on hold (sheesh, do I talk about anything else?! tee hee...). Well, last Sunday I thought I'd start a little catching up by doing a page from this month! Tada!

I don't know which week number this is, lol, that will take a little more time. Catching up will take some time too. But here's a nice start.
The page could not be more simple....I adjusted one of the layouts that comes with MDS to fit the pictures I had. I used a photo from the week instead of background paper. I used a label punch as the journaling mat. (which yes, I have centered better...) And I added a drop shadow to the whole thing...but that is IT.

A Coach-Thank-You gift with MDS!

There are other things you can do with MDS besides scrapbook pages, you know. I've shown before that you can make prints to frame for your house. Cards are, of course, part of the program. I've even shown that you can make a video! Today I'm going to show off a gift set I put together for my daughter's soccer coach.

Most coaches around here have one practice before the season begins, and call it good. The "season" means two games a week and since coaches are parents who volunteer, most don't want to give more of their time than that. I can absolutely understand that, but it has made a world of difference having a coach who held three practices before the season started, and continues to hold practice throughout the entire season!! This is the first time my daughter has played soccer, and this coach has worked with the kids on an individual level, helping them run-and-kick, helping them drop-kick, and tossing the ball at their heads, haha, to teach them to use their heads instead of their hands. My daughter has improved sooo much and she's not the only one!!

I really, really appreciate how much time and effort this coach has put into this team so I really wanted to put something together for him. I asked his wife what kind of snack or treat he might like, so that's what he's getting. My daughter wanted to pick out something for the assistant coach too, and I thought the coach's wife deserved some chocolate, haha!

Now for the "stamping" part of this post...! Who remembers One-Sheet-Wonders? That was a super trendy concept when I started with Stampin' Up! The idea was to take a single sheet of DP (or stamped sheet) and cut it into all sorts of sizes to be used on tons of different projects. That's the basis of my project today.

In MDS I downloaded the Great Sport stamp brush set to get a soccer ball image. I made a collage 8x11 page, using different colors and two sizes of soccer balls. (I resized most of the images) The whole sheet looked like this, and I printed it onto Whisper White card stock:

Then, I used another page and printed off two soccer balls. I sized them first to 1 3/8 because that's the size of circle punch I have, but then changed it to 1.35 to make them fit just a hair better. I printed those onto card stock also. After punching them out, I stuck them on the cards! The card colors are not my very favorite, but they're based on the kids' uniforms.

Here's the coach's gift and the Retro sketch 81 for the card...

And the assistant coach's gift, I used the Monday Mojo sketch 310 for this card:

Supplies:
MDS: Great Sport: Soccer Ball, resized
Fundamental Phrases: Thanks (comes with MDS), resized
Sporting: everything else (comes with MDS), resized
Colors: Basic Black, Going Gray, Crushed Curry, Raspberry Ripple, Island Indigo, Only Orange, Pacific Point
Stamps: Itty Bitty Banners, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Crushed Curry, Island Indigo, Basic Black & Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: 1 3/8 inch circle punch, Hexagon Punch, Dimensionals

Double Challenge Digi Page

As the title so clearly states, today's page used two challenges. First I picked a strip from the 123 Get Scrappy blog, using ribbon, rhinestones and a back to school theme. Then I used Cheryl's EMS sketch from her blog!

Honestly, I'm not sure if I love the page...is it the colors? I just used what I found on her clothes... Is it too busy? Otherwise it looked too plain...I don't know. Oh well, another page done, and that's the part that matters! *grin

Supplies:
Timeless Portrait Content Disk, opacity changed
Flirtatious content disk
Pennant Punch
Sycamore Street content disk, recolored ribbon
2013 SAB content disk, Rhinestone size changed
Pocket Full of Posies content

Great to be 8!

Here's another digi page I made the other night. This one focuses on the people who came to my daughter's baptism, and uses a layout from MDS Monday that I have wanted to use for months! They posted this layout sketch right about the time my laptop died, taking MDS with it, so this is the first chance I've got to make a digital page with the layout (and I don't print photographs big enough to do a tradition page with this fabulous layout!!)
*I have already made a change to this page- I added a little journaling tab under the words at the bottom...
And the top photo kind of looks like it doesn't exactly fit, because it doesn't. There's a border that may be cut off during printing, and if it is cut off, the picture fits perfectly, haha. I had to fit all the people in and the photo wasn't centered to begin with!

Hmm...that sounds like a lot of whining, but really, I'm so excited to have MDS back, and to show off new pages for you, that I love!

Supplies:
Days To Remember content disk
A Split Second download - recolored tag
Lemonade Stand content disk
Seam Binding download

My MDS is Back!!!

I am SO excited!! My laptop crashed in May and it took us a few months to decide what exactly we were going to do as far as me having a computer. I have now finally gotten MDS totally installed and ready for my use- and let me tell you, I wasted no time playing with it again! *squeal! Despite the fact that I literally have hundreds of printed photos waiting to be scrapped, I cranked out three digi pages on Sunday, and Sunday in my house is not exactly a day of rest! This one is actually the last one I made, but the inspiration is the newest source. I saw this layout linked on Erica's blog Sunday, haha, and knew exactly what to make with it!

I love the layout, I love the photos, I love the recolor tool with MDS, I love that so many papers and accessories are right at my fingertips, I love that nothing is wasted if I change my mind and I love how the page turned out!!!
Seriously, what are you waiting for? Give MDS try for 30 days for FREE, or download the program for only $19.95!

Supplies:
Basic Gray Script DSP, opacity changed
Brads, recolored
Domestic Goddess content disk
Days To Remember content disk
Sycamore Street content disk, ribbon recolored
Everyday Enchantment content disk
Paper Daisies download

Soft Sympathy

Happy Monday to you! Busy week ahead? yeah, me too... giggle...
Today's card comes from is based on a recent Mojo Monday sketch. (I didn't copy it down quite right, apparently...) I needed another sympathy card and thought the purples with the lacey doily and pearls made a perfect card for this friend.

Its very, very subtle, but I used a Blender Pen to "smudge" the Wisteria ink and color inside the flowers just a bit. I used post-it notes to cover the doily edge and only stamp in the center. Love how nicely that turned out! Its really a very simple card, and sometimes that's just what we need...

Supplies:
Stamps: Simply Sketched
Ink: Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant
Paper: Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: Tea Lace Doilies, Pearls, Blender Pen

Happy Sentiment, Happy Card

This is a fun one for the weekend! I used a Freshly Made Sketch for this card. I love the touch of the bit of gray chevron print from the I Am Me DP! And I thought this made a fun little color combination!

Supplies:
Stamps: Feel Goods
Ink: Basic Gray
Paper: Calypso Coral, Pool Party & Whisper White card stocks, I Am Me DP
Accessories: Neutral Buttons, White Bakers Twine, Rhinestones

Halloween 2

And here is the end of my scrapbooking night! Another Halloween layout, this time from 2011, with more retired paper- this time so old that its single sided! haha! This is another simple layout, but sometimes its nice to let the photos be the page. Even the journaling is kept to a minimum here.
Maybe next time I scrapbook I'll pick a different season... maybe... *wink

 

Supplies:

Paper: Old Olive card stock, Halloween Night DP (retired)

Accessories: Black grosgrain ribbon (retired)

Pink Birthday

Quick post today...
I love this color combination! So happy for a birthday card! And the chevron and the polka dots are so fun! This one uses a CAS sketch that I missed the deadline for, lol.

Supplies:
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, Four Frames
Ink: Basic Gray, Melon Mambo
Paper: Whisper White & Melon Mambo card stocks, I Am Me DP
Accessories: Designer Label Punch, Melon Mambo taffeta ribbon, Dimensionals

Halloween 1

haha, sure, we can post Halloween pics! Its what I got scrapped, so its what you get to see! And the stores are full of it anyway...
These pics are from last year, and the DP is again retired. The second page is simply a full sheet of DP. I liked it just as it was!

Supplies:
Paper: Cajun Craze, Old Olive & Basic Black card stocks, Wicked Fun DP (retired)
Accessories: Neutral Buttons (retired)

Where's the Olive card stock?
Right here:

I just used very thin strips of card stock, folded it thru the button and used a couple Glue Dots on the back to hold the paper down and the button on! Love that technique!

Friends

I know I said I'd show scrapbook pages, but I've decided to mix it up with some cards I made last night, lol. We'll alternate for a bit now that I have plenty of creations to show you, haha...

Today's card uses a recent Clean & Simple sketch. My result is a very quick, CAS, In Color card! I love the phrases in the Feel Goods set-- they're not occasion-specific and perfect for a "Just Because" kind of a card. This one is going to be mailed off this week!

Supplies:
Stamps: Feel Goods, Summer Silhouettes
Ink: Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush
Paper: Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana & Whisper White card stocks

An Autumn Page

Remember last week when I had a lot of scrapping time? Well I finally put together those remaining layouts and! reached my 2013 scrapping goal! In September!! WHOO HOO! All three layouts used retired DP, so we'll go in backwards retiring order, lol. That means first up is this lovely Autumny page, along with the hope that we can maybe cool off very soon and be really crazy and have a lovely, long autumn for once! Instead of going from summer almost straight into a long winter...? that sounds peachy- sign me up for that!

I love taking pictures of my kids IN the fall leaves. And I love my leaf stamps and dies! This retired DP is absolutely perfect for it, so of course I had to use it! This is a very simple page but I love it!

Supplies:
Paper: Orchard Harvest DP (retired)
Accessories: Autumn Accents Bigz Die, Big Shot

Block Stamping

Happy Friday!! Oh how much I'm enjoying the weekends right now, haha!
Today's card uses the current Freshly Made Sketch. I fiddled around trying to figure the right "shape" for their oval and finally realized that using my D block would make a cool shape and a nice background for the flower! Love it when things work out!
This card was made for a specific someone, and I had the ribbon in mind from the beginning. It is retired, but I liked it for this card.

Supplies:
Stamps: Simply Sketched, Creative Elements
Ink: Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Coastal Cabana
Paper: Coastal Cabana, Soft Suede, Whisper White
Accessories: Soft Suede Polka Dot grosgrain ribbon (retired)

Gray on Gray on Gray!

I gotta say, this is one of my very favorite pages in recent months! The layout is simple enough, and I used up some more old DP, along with a retired stamp. The strips and the polka-dot chunk were already cut to those sizes, I just fit them on the page! I love how the tools look stamped over the polka-dot print! Clearly I was on a DP kick this scrappy night... haha, but that's good because it uses up my stash, AND it all lays flat in the books!

Supplies:
Stamps: Tool Shed (retired)
Ink: Basic Gray
Paper: Basic Gray card stock, Urban Oasis DP (retired)
Accessories: Epic Day Washi Tape

Blog Hop: CASE that Pin!

Its the first of the month, so that means its time for another fabulous blog hop!

This month's theme was chosen by Julie, and she'd like us to focus on using our pinned projects on Pinterest! Smart girl! How many of us find our Pinterest boards are full of ideas that we never, ever get around to trying? Not to mention how handy it is to CASE (Copy And Share Everything) your projects - you simply find a project you love and you make it! No thinking required! *grin Hopefully you'll stick with the whole blog hop and be inspired to use your own Pinterest boards in your papercrafting!

First up, I have this quick and cute sample...which is linked right HERE. I love stamping on DP! The sample card uses retired DP but I'll show you how to use supplies you can order right away to make your own! And to make it my own, I went with a standard A2 size card, instead of a square note card. I find I don't use those very often...

Supplies:
Stamps: Summer Silhouettes, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Midnight Muse, Wild Wasabi, Basic Gray
Paper: Midnight Muse card stock, I Am Me DP
Accessories: Corner Rounder Punch, Rhinestones

And then this pretty one, found HERE, took a few more stamp sets, hee hee....

Supplies:
Stamps: Wonderfall, Wanderlust, Simply Sketched
Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Pistachio Pudding
Paper: Pistachio Pudding, Baked Brown Sugar & Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Hexagon Punch, Rhinestones, Linen Thread, Neutral Buttons, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals

Well, I hope that inspires you, just like it did me! Its so easy to swap out the supplies you have and create a card you already love! Hop through to each stop and maybe you'll even find more to pin! Next up: Julie!