Kites!

This is the fourth card designed for my upcoming card class. I've had the idea in my head a long time, I just haven't had a chance to play with it yet! Cute, sweet and simple! The sky is "watercolored" with Coastal Cabana ink and an Aquapainter.
And tip: Stamp the solid part of the kite first, then add the lined part. Otherwise it comes out wonky, which I don't understand, but keep experiencing!

Supplies:
Stamps: Swirly Bird
Ink: Flirty Flamingo, Coastal Cabana, Smoky Slate
Paper: Flirty Flamingo & Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Dimensionals

But the funny thing was, as my sky was drying and I was literally pulling the kite stamp off the plastic, my daughter asked if we owned any kite stamps she could use on the page she was making for the week. "Well....there's this one..." haha! She loved it and used it as soon as I cleaned it!

Yep, I'm having my kids make at least one scrapbook page per week this summer again. Because sure enough, they're still complaining commenting that they have so many events not scrapped, and I really haven't had any time! Her pages have been extremely simple, as you can see, but I like them having the creative time, and I like that they're working on their stack of photos! And maybe I'll scrapbook some time soon anyway....

Blog Hop: Pumpkin Style!

Wow, another month down...
Anyone else dragging today with post-Halloween-wipeout? I am just so utterly exhausted, lol... and maybe too much junk food...definitely not enough real food... annnyway, my Halloween can be summarized with these two frames:

Charlie Brown, a pumpkin and "Hermione from the third{Harry Potter} movie"...
annnd a Harry Potter themed party!

(inspiration & sources found all over Pinterest...I have a Harry Potter board...)

So today is November and temperatures are supposed to start dropping! Fortunately for you, a new month means a new blog hop, bursting with inspiration! Just in case you have enough energy to stamp today! Or later this week works too!

Today, I have a stepped up thank you card, which, of course everyone needs in November! I love the idea of sending a thank you card each day, tho I haven't ever pulled it off... If nothing else, you'll want a sweet way to thank whoever hosts your Thanksgiving dinner, or if you're hosting, then whoever helps your Thanksgiving dinner! This one is perfectly autumnal!

The inspiration came from HERE, and actually, I used the stamped version at my card class last month! 

Supplies:

Stamps: Swirly Bird, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Pear Pizazz

Paper: Pumpkin Pie & Whisper White card stock, Color Theory DP

Accessories: Old Olive Mini Chevron Ribbon

And for my stepped up version, I definitely stuck closer to the inspiration, and I used the same supplies except the dies instead of the stamps. Super easy!

(I just forgot to stamp a greeting on the front til I went to photo it, ha!)

Supplies:

Stamps: none

Ink: none

Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Pear Pizazz & Whisper White card stock, Color Theory DP

Accessories: Old Olive Mini Chevron Ribbon, Big Shot, Swirly Scribbles Dies, Fine Tip Glue Pen

Both are quick little cards you can whip up ahead of time! 

Now you can hop on over to Cheryl's blog and see what she's shared to get your creative juices flowing! Then continue thru the hop and be sure and leave all of us your thoughts! We all love comments on our work! 

Swirly Summer!

Last summer when the new catalog was released, I ordered the Swirly Bird stamp set and coordinating dies. I saw tons of ideas everywhere online and this is one I really wanted to make. Annnnd then, ya know, life. ha... So this past week I made it!!!
I don't have a greeting assigned to this card, but I like the bold colors and the fun design!

Supplies:
Stamps: Swirly Bird
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Real Red, Pacific Point
Paper: Pacific Point, Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Big Shot, Swirly Scribbles Dies

What do you think? My favorite part is that I got to stamp! haha!

Blog Hop: Stepping over soon

When your tween comments how fast the year is going, you KNOW it is flying by... How in the world is it March of 2017?? I have no earthly idea, but I totally feel blindsided.
Well, the advantage of a new month is a new blog hop, chock full of stampy inspiration just for you! So here you go!

For my post, I wanted to do a couple of stepped over projects for you. However, thanks to this cutie...

...I only got one project done in time...and the lighting is not great, thanks to ten new inches of snow! But the card still turned out nice! And it feels like summer on my card, much unlike our "frozen tundra", as my husband calls it.

I used the current Mojo Monday sketch, a few brand new things from the Occasions Mini and put the Big Shot to good use, along with a hefty stack of Dimensionals! Nine, I think...

Supplies:

Stamps: Swirly Bird, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Early Espresso, Pear Pizazz, So Saffron

Paper: Very Vanilla, Pear Pizazz, Early Espresso card stocks, Cupcakes & Carousels DP

Accessories: Cupcakes & Carousels Embellishments, Scribbles & Swirls dies, Woodland Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Dimensionals

For now, hop on over to see what Cheryl has created for you. Hop on thru and see what everyone made! Leave us your thoughts- we all love comments! And later, come back and see what else I create using the same idea! 

Blog Hop: Simply Stepping It Up!

Hello again, and welcome to yet another month!! Our summer has been jam packed and yet flown by! Now summer is nearly over and school is starting soon!
And a new month means a new Blog Hop, so read on!

In this Blog Hop, we try to inspire you with ways to step up your paper creations. This time I started suuuper simple! For the layout, I used the latest from the Freshly Made Sketches blog. I wanted to try out the kite part of the Swirly Bird stamp set. And I promise there is a greeting on that card, but wow, Soft Sky is a very faint shade of blue, isn't it??

Supplies:
Stamps: Swirly Bird, Here For You
Ink: Peekaboo Peach, Soft Suede, Soft Sky
Paper: Whisper White

Then I added just a bit to step it up more. For one thing, I used an Aquapainter to color on a Soft Sky circle, to better follow the sketch and to anchor the kite in the sky, instead of just randomly thrown on the card. After it dried, I stamped the specks from the Swirly Bird set with Soft Sky ink, just onto the painted blob, to add a bit more dimension. Then I cut out the kite and popped it up on Dimensionals. This makes it qualify for last week's TGIF Challenge! I made the "Hang in there" a darker shade so you can see it, haha, and I added some Enamel Shapes to the kite string!

Supplies:
Stamps: Swirly Bird, Here For You
Ink: Peekaboo Peach, Soft Suede, Soft Sky
Paper: Whisper White
Accessories: Aquapainter, Enamel Shapes, Dimensionals

Still very simple, but definitely stepped up! And I think it turned out really cute!

Now hop on over to Cheryl's blog and see what she has to inspire you! Then hop on thru everyone else's and leave us your thoughts! We all love comments!!

Cards In The Mail

I do have a few other things ready to share with you, but today I'm going to show off the latest things I've gotten in the mail!

Blog Hop: Step It Up with Swirls!

Happy July!!
July?? Yep, the year is officially half over and I don't know where it went! But a new month means a fun, new Blog Hop, so here we are!

Do I need to admit I have a problem? A small addiction to this stamp set and die? Well....here it is again! Of the eleven separate card designs I have made in June, six use this set... *ahem... But I really do love it!

This month I used the latest from Freshly Made Sketches. For my first sample I kept exactly to the sketch. I even used a flower shape! I kept it quite CAS with a little stamping and a quick greeting. Done and done!

Supplies:
Stamps: Swirly Bird, Here For You
Ink: Watermelon Wonder, Mint Macaron, Tip Top Taupe
Paper: Watermelon Wonder, Flirty Flamingo, Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Swirly Scribbles dies, Big Shot

Then for my stepped up version, I added some ribbon (I really like this new striped ribbon! It is both pretty and soft!), changed up the stamps, and moved the greeting. I also popped the white panel up for dimension! Still quick and easy to make, but a little cuter and more effort! And I love these colors for summer, too!!

Supplies:

Stamps: Swirly Bird, Here For You

Ink: Watermelon Wonder, Mint Macaron, Flirty Flamingo, Tip Top Taupe
Paper: Watermelon Wonder, Flirty Flamingo, Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Watermelon Wonder striped ribbon, Swirly Scribbles dies, Big Shot 

What do you think? Are you loving this set as much as I am? If not, what IS your favorite go-to product right now? 

Well, hop on over to Cheryl and see what she's created for you. Then hop on thru and leave us your thoughts! 

Another Swirly Thank You!

Happy Monday to you! And look- I'm still here! Yeay!!

This is the last of the Thank You cards I mailed out last week. This card uses the latest Freshly Made Sketch, but I did tip it. And clearly, I really love this Swirly Bird set and Swirly Scribbles dies! ...and...the Paper Pumpkin stamps from March...

Supplies:
Stamps: Swirly Bird
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Watermelon Wonder, Emerald Envy
Paper: Watermelon Wonder, Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Swirly Scribbles Dies, Big Shot, Dimensionals

So now that I've featured all the new In Colors, which one is YOUR favorite? Have you ordered any?? You really should....! If you don't know where to start, my favorite beginning is the assortment of card stock and the marker set! *grin!

Baby Thank You

Today's card keeps with my theme of playing with the new In Colors this week.
Funny enough, Saturday a thread popped up in my facebook news feed from my up-up-line's page asking what new In Color was everyone's favorite. The biggest response was "all of them!". I hadn't played with anything when the question was posed, but I knew right off I liked Dapper Denim...which is why you've seen it three times on my blog already, despite a zero-stamping month, haha! But I wanted to try the other shades out before answering... Having now used all the colors, I might agree- ALL OF THEM! These are really fun shades to play with and they work well with a lot of our existing colors! Can't beat that!! They also seem to span the seasons, which is an important feature in craft colors, I think.

So today, I debut Sweet Sugarplum, for a really sweet card! I saw THIS one on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to recreate. Also, the very last evening at our house (we moved to my parents while our new house is built..!) I got a text from a friend that she was bringing a baby gift by! So of course she needed a Thank You card too! And I realized this cute card worked perfectly.

Supplies:
Stamps: Swirly Bird, March 2016 Paper Pumpkin
Ink: Sweet Sugarplum, So Saffron, Perfect Plum
Paper: Sweet Sugarplum, So Saffron, Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Swirls & Scribbles Dies, Big Shot

I used the new color for the card base, the greeting, and the bird. I got the color combo from some thoughts I have about the baby's new room....I'm leaning towards a purple and yellow combo...It works! And I thought the fun splatter stamp with the greeting worked nicely too!

Flirty Flamingo Thanks!

Happy Monday to you!
I have a surprise for you, haha... I have a post scheduled for every day this week!!! I am pretty excited that I got so much stamping done this weekend after um...forever....
I realized this weekend was the first stamping I've done the entire month! But not only did I need a short stack of Fathers Day cards, I also needed a whole bunch of thank you's! Many friends and neighbors came and pitched in to help us move and clean our house. They were life-savers because my husband ended up getting pretty sick (pneumonia) and I, obviously, couldn't lift much, and even some cleaning was too much for me. A ton of work fell to our kids, which is okay, but wow, help was so appreciated! So I needed to mail out ten thank you's.
Of course I had some in my stash, but I had surprisingly few (I blame teacher gifts...haha!) so darn it, I just had to fit in some time to stamp!

And I really wanted to play with new colors!! So today is a double dose of Flirty Flamingo and a double dose of the same sketch, courtesy of Freshly Made Sketches!

This was the first card I made Saturday. When I very first saw the Swirly Bird/Swirly Scribbles bundle, I didn't love the stamp set, but I did love the dies, so I ordered that part. Annnnd then realized that the stamp set would really come in handy...! So I finally got to play with them together, haha!
The splatters on the first card come from the Swirly Bird set, and they were stamped off for a paler shade of Flamingo. I like it!
*Also, I adore the font in the Paper Pumpkin stamps from I think March, so I used it several times Saturday, haha....!

Supplies
Stamps: Swirly Bird, March 2016 Paper Pumpkin
Ink: Flirty Flamingo, Mint Macaron
Paper: Whisper White, Flirty Flamingo card stocks
Accessories: Swirly Scribbles Dies, Big Shot, Dimensionals

And this was the last card I made Saturday, haha! I decided I liked the sketch so much, I may as well use it twice! I switched out the bottom strip for a card base, and used a different die. I also used Gorgeous Grunge for these splatters, but I'm not sure it made that much of a difference, haha!

Supplies:
Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge, March 2016 Paper Pumpkin
Ink: Flirty Flamingo
Paper: Flirty Flamingo, Whisper White card stocks, Pop of Pink DP
Accessories: Butterflies Thinlits, Big Shot, Dimensionals

So there you have it, two similar thank you cards, ready to be sent out today! Yeay!!!