Hey Love!

Today's card uses a technique I learned at the very first Stampin' Up! workshop I ever attended, waaay back in 2003. Yep. For the Make & Take, we used a stamp set that was all images, and a stamp set that was all words and repeated the word of our choice in Versamark, as subtle "patterned paper". We used one image to go along with it, and we used silver cord, haha! I didn't even realize the metallic thread connection til I typed that sentence! Anyway, back then everything I did was very much considered #simplestamping. I was trying to save money on supplies by not buying them, haha, and saving {hoarding?} what I did buy. I even know who I mailed that first card to.

For this card, I used the latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, and built the card around the stamp set I wanted to play with. This is easily the most Valentine-y card I have in my upcoming class. The colors, the jar of hearts, and the repeated sentiment make it very festive, haha! With all the pink, it is likely going to go to my daughter. But I really like how it turned out and I hope my class attendees do too!

Supplies:
Stamps: Jar Of Love
Ink: Memento Black, Berry Burst, Powder Pink
Paper: Powder Pink, Whisper White & Berry Burst card stock
Accessories: Gold Thread, Dimensionals

annnd a less washed-out view, that is too dark, ha...

Tips-
- I mounted both the "HEY," and the "Love" on the block at the same time and stamped that way.
- I inked the Powder Pink hearts before the Berry Burst. Maybe that's obvious, but maybe it isn't, but it can be important with the clear, photopolymer stamp sets.
- I don't really know how to make thread look good, haha, I just stick Dimensionals all over the back and twist the thread around. Then it's stuck! haha!

Bright Little Note

I got to stamp yesterday, and I also planned out a few more cards to make, haha, so hopefully I'll get a little more stamping time soon! Do you ever do that? I couldn't decide which set I wanted to play with, so I came up with a few ideas, then I picked one! 

For this one, I used the latest Fab Friday sketch, and made a cute, happy card for my upcoming class! It also definitely qualifies for the #simplestamping challenge, since I really only used stamps, ink and paper! 

Supplies:

Stamps: Wishing You Well, Buffalo Check

Ink: Melon Mambo, Lemon Lime Twist

Paper: Melon Mambo, Whisper White card stocks

Accessories: Dimensionals 

I left the actual banner off from the sketch, but I put the greeting in the same spot, so it should work. I liked the bright colors to off set the huge storm we had yesterday. I'm really happy with how it turned out, which is always a good thing! Let me know if you want to attend my class!  

Scrapbooking!!

Over the weekend I finally set some goals for my new year, ha! Seriously... One of the things I really want to do more of is scrapbooking! I kept calling last year's scrapbooking accomplishments "abysmal". I got three pages done for the people in my house, and I didn't even print two of them. That means ONE page is complete from last year. blah! But scrapbooking is why I fell in love with stamps in the first place, not to mention the color options from Stampin' Up! And that is why I became a demonstrator. For scrapbooking! ...can't you tell?

So, once I set myself a goal and updated my yearly achievements at the bottom of the side bar here, I decided to pick some pictures and get to work! I loved these pics of my baby's second birthday so that's what I started with. I picked this pack of DP I got off the retiring list last summer, and haven't touched. This print with these Richard Scarry kind of animals and the balloons is adorably fabulous but it really could be a page all by itself.

Um... I have enough photos to do that I don't want a sheet of DP in this book, no matter how cute it is. So, I laid out my pictures to see how many pages I would need and then cut the DP in 3 inch sections to make a border for each page! Perfect!

Supplies:
Paper: Daffodil Delight, Sweet Sugarplum (retired), Soft Sky (retired) card stocks, Birthday Memories DP (retired)
Accessories:Cupcakes & Carousels Embellishment Kit (retired), Large Numbers Dies (retired), Big Shot

The colors come from the DP. I die cut the number, and used a little printed die cut from an accessory kit from a mini catalog I think a year ago....but maybe two years now? I need to find a good pen for journaling, but then I'm four pages closer to my goal! And a whole page more than I did last year!! Hooray!!!

As a side note, while I haven't done actual scrapbooking for a year, I have still worked on photos and journaling. I've been working on scanning pictures that came from my grandparents houses (they have all passed away) and adding captions of information (names, dates, locations, stories if someone knows something...). Then my dad has uploaded them to the cloud and shared them with family members. That way everyone has all the photos...eventually. But since June of 2017, I have done 2156 photos for my mom's family, 140 for my dad's family and 198 photos from my parents house. Really really. That is a lot.

#simplestamping

This fall, with the 30th Anniversary of Stampin' Up! they issued a challenge to demonstrators, to encourage more "simple" stamping. Showing off the fact that we can still make something pretty without owning everything in the catalog (as fun as that would absolutely be, haha!). Well, my style has always been closer to simple stamping than it has to the more complicated, layered projects. I love them, I just struggle to make it work together well. I've had to learn to incorporate all the accessories and embellishments and beautiful papers on my cards, haha. Also, if you've been a long-time reader, you'll know that our monthly blog hop used to focus on a simple card and a stepped up version, so simple is usually pretty easy for me.

I haven't stamped much in the last several weeks, like early December, so I thought starting off very simple would be a good jumping-back-in point. Also, I need to mail out at least four cards...so I picked an easy stamp set, a variety of colors to vary the card (the In Colors that retire THIS summer!!) and went for a super mailable, easy design! What do you think? I did use multiple stamp sets for the greetings so that these cards fit who I needed to send them to, but it really is just stamps, ink and paper!

Powder Pink is tricky to see in a picture, haha,

so here's a close up.

Supplies:
Stamps: Love What You Do, Part of My Story
Ink: Powder Pink, Memento Black
Paper: Whisper White

Supplies:
Stamps: Love What You Do
Ink: Berry Burst , Memento Black
Paper: Whisper White

Supplies:
Stamps: Love What You Do
Ink: Fresh Fig, Memento Black
Paper: Whisper White

Supplies:
Stamps: Love What You Do, PS You're The Best
Ink: Tranquil Tide, Memento Black
Paper: Whisper White

Supplies:
Stamps: Love What You Do, Wishing You Well
Ink: Lemon Lime Twist, Memento Black
Paper: Whisper White

These are really very simple cards. Do you like simple stamping or do you prefer to add a little bit of everything? Or maybe somewhere in the middle, like I usually do? haha....
Anyway, the best part of this story is that two of these cards went out yesterday and I should get two more out tomorrow too!

We Create The Blues Blog Hop

And here we are, starting a brand new year, with a great blog hop, full of inspiration to get you creating your own projects! Welcome 2019!

This month we went with a color theme- the cold, wintery BLUES! Blue can be exactly that- cold and crisp. But it can also be calm and soothing. Blue has always been one of my favorite colors so this was a perfect place to start the new year.

My card uses two shades of blue- selected from the DP that coordinates with the stamp set I picked! I also used the latest sketch from the Global Design Project page.  I liked this sketch because it allows the DP to shine, which makes the phrase work so well!

Supplies:
Stamps: Little Twinkle
Ink: Night of Navy, Pool Party
Paper: Whisper White card stock, Twinkle Twinkle DP
Accessories: Wink of Stella, Pearlized Doilies, Glue Dots

I'm working on designing an upcoming Valentine/Love themed card class and this will probably be one of the cards we make- using this cute set as an "I love you" card instead of for a baby card! What do you think? There really is Wink of Stella on "you" and "stars" but it is very hard to see, especially on a cloudy, snowy day, haha....

Anyway, hop on to see what Cheryl has made to inspire you, and then hop on to see everyone else's creations too! It's not a long blog hop, but it will get your creative wheels turning! And have a very happy new year!