Feathers for You

I am having a tough time keeping up with my blog and with all of the swaps that I signed up for! Convention is just 19 short days away and I have signed up for 11 swaps and have a Blog Hop (July 12-14, don't miss it!) to design for, ahhh! I must be crazy! I have come up with 9 of the swap card designs, and cut, stamped, and prepared them, completed 4 of them, and still need to design 2 more. The last 2 are big ones, so I need to make sure I have enough supplies of whatever I design before I start on them. Upside, I will have almost all of my posts for July done way ahead of schedule :) Downside, I feel like I need to do all of my designing for swaps first. Luckily, this card turned out to be too much fussy cutting for the shoebox swap, which is one of the 2 that I need to design for yet. I do love how it turned out though!

I don't do a whole lot of fussy cutting, but this was very worth it. I actually had to walk away from this card last night and come back to it this morning as I was struggling to put the right accent to the left of the sentiment. I tried to put the goose from Wetlands there, but it was too big. Then I tried some buttons and Natural trim. Too small. then the feathers popped into my head! Why it took so long, I have no idea :)

• Stamps: Fine Feathers, Four You, Positively Chevron
• Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso
• Paper: Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso, Naturals Ivory, Very Vanilla
• Other: Big Shot with Adorning Accents edgelit and Chalk Talk framelit, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer and Mat,  Signo white gel pen, dimensionals

Happy last day of June! How the heck did it slip by so fast?!

Vintage Wedding

So, I was cruising through my older Pinterest pins and found some inspiration from this card by Paula. Love hers, but I tweaked mine a bit to make it more me :)

Would you believe the bottom portion is actually sponged with Crumb Cake? It looks so close to the Baked Brown Sugar! I masked off the top part of the Naturals Ivory panel, then clear embossed the flowers and sponged with the Crumb cake. I was not going to stitch or doodle around the edges, but it looked too simple. I broke down and stitched it down :) The banner is a scrap of Naturals Ivory I sponged with Crumb Cake and die cut with a Bitty Banners die.

• Stamps: Fabulous Florets, Label Love, Yippee-Skippee
• Ink: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Baked Brown Sugar, Illuminate
• Paper: Baked Brown Sugar, Naturals Ivory
• Other: Big Shot with Bitty Banners framelit, Artisan Label and Itty Bitty Shapes punches, Pearls Basic Jewels, Clear and Gold embossing powder, Embossing Buddy, Heat Gun, sponge, Baked Brown Sugar Stretch Ruffled ribbon, dimensionals, sewing machine and thread

 I lined the inside of the card with more Naturals Ivory and did a little generational stamping with the flower. This card could really be a wedding or an anniversary card, don't you think?

Strawberry Romance

Time for a little feminine crafting! I've been so focused on masculine stuff lately, I almost had to remind myself to make something girlie :) And I have bee dying to use this fabulous ruffled ribbon. It is sooo yummy!

This card will go in the Operation Write Home box, they always need Love, Thinking of You, and Miss You cards :) This is such a sweet sentiment. The flower embellishment is colored with markers and then some Gold Smooch Accent ink is dotted into the center. You can still get the accent ink on the Clearance Rack.  Love how well the Simply Pressed Clay sticks with a little bit of liquid glue :)

• Stamps: Lovely Romance
• Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Strawberry Slush, Baked Brown Sugar, Crushed Curry
• Paper: Whisper White, Strawberry Slush, Pear Pizzazz
• Other: Big Shot with Chalk Talk framelits and Beautifully Baroque embossing folder, Pistachio Pudding, Strawberry Slush, and Baked Brown Sugar Stretch Ruffled ribbon, Simply Pressed Clay and Buttons and Blossoms mold, Blender Pen, Frost White and Gold Lame' Pearlized Accent Ink, Signo white gel pen, Sticky Strip, dimensionals

Mountains of Sympathy

We all need a card for a sad occasion now and again, and I like to keep a stash of them so I don't have to rush to make one when I need it. But sometimes you need something a little more tailored to fit the person it is going to. Just such a thing occurred recently when one of my uncles passed away on Memorial Day weekend. He was my uncle-in-law for about 30 years as he and my uncle had been together for that long. I will miss Robert aka: Auntie Bo-Bo! He has had AIDS since the late 80's and had been doing very well, until this spring when pneumonia caught him. This card will go to Jerry and they have lived in the California mountains for a long time, so I needed something simple and masculine, serene. I hope that is what I achieved here.

I masked off the top and bottom of the cardfront and sponged on some Island Indigo, Soft Suede, and Whisper White. Then I stamped the trees in Early Espresso and Whisper White, and the sentiment in Early Espresso. After it dried a bit, I added the white gel pen frame.

• Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Love and Sympathy
• Ink: Island Indigo, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Whisper White
• Paper: Crumb Cake
• Other: Naturals designer buttons, Island Indigo Baker's Twine

Giggling Cheese!

Sometimes you just have to have a funny birthday card and I am so glad that Stampin' Up! came up with this new set! I love the funny stuff! I am not sure who is going to get this card, but I have a few candidates in mind (waggling eyebrows sadistically)!

I was just playing around with this image and this card just kind of evolved all on its own. That is my favorite way to create :) And I just cannot get enough of the Core'dinations papers! They just beg you to touch the card and stare at the texture, sigh....

• Stamps: Giggle Greetings
• Ink: Jet Black Stazon, Daffodil Delight, Gumball Green, Pumpkin Pie, Raspberry Ripple, Smokey Slate
• Paper: Smokey Slate,  Core'dinations: Pool Party, Primrose Petals, and Gumball Green, Whisper White, Naturals White
• Other: Big Shot with Perfect Polka Dots, Alphabet Press, and Chevron EF, Window Frames framelit, and Lardge Scallop edgelit, Festive Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer and Mat, Sanding Block, Blender Pen, Daffodil Delight ¼" Stitched grosgrain ribbon

I may have to CAS myself and make this card with a few different images, I love the colors and patterns so much!

HELLO, Hello, hello!

I am still feeling my way around with this soft and subtle color. Hopefully I will master it soon :) I have seen some fun cards with a repeating sentiment in different colors and thought I would try my hand at it.

This is a rather simple card, maybe a little too simple. I keep looking at it thinking it needs more punch.... I guess we can't love every card we make, can we!

• Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Four You
• Ink: Soft Suede, Pistachio Pudding, Gumball Green
• Paper: Pistachio Pudding, Naturals White
• Other: Mosaic punch, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, dimensionals

Have I mentioned how easy the Mosaic Madness set is to create patterns with?! Sooooo easy! I do love that part of this card :)

Strawberry Curry

When I was doing my projects for the recent SA New Colors Blog Hop, I got a bit carried away! I was having so much fun playing with Crushed Curry, I just couldn't stop :) This started out as a tag, then I stuck it on a cardfront. I better remake the tag, because I think it is just gorgeous!

I haven't quite decided if this will be a birthday or a hello card. I will stamp the greeting where my watermark is later, in Early Espresso. Unless it is too big, then I will make a little banner in white for the sentiment. The flowers are on watercolor paper and the only yellow I used is the Crushed Curry. I love this little Strawberry Slush centers! And can you see the shimmery flowers in the background? They really add something in real life :)

• Stamps: Secret Garden
• Ink: Crushed Curry, Strawberry Slush, Illuminate
• Paper: Crushed Curry, Crumb Cake, Strawberry Slush, Watercolor
• Other: Big Shot with Apothecary Accents and Secret Garden framelits, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer and Mat, Signo white gel pen, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, Embossing Buddy, White embossing powder, Heat Gun, Doily, Aqua-painter, dimensionals, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Gingham Garden Washi Tape

Waterfront Thoughts

Happy Father's Day to all those wonderful men on our lives! We need to honor those fellas and make them feel special :) I have quite a few of them in my life, and I have already made cards for all of them and featured them on my blog already.  So, I decided to make a masculine card that would work for any occasion, so I can send it on a random day to let one of my wonderful men know I am thinking of them.
And I wanted to play with my new toys ;)

I have been tossing the idea for a watercolored image with this stamp ever since I saw it in the new catalog. It jus makes me think of sunrise at the lake, when all of the "people" noises are gone, and that sun is just tinging the sky with pink.... ah, peace!
I used the Woodgrain embossing folder as it also reminds me of ripples in the water. The Chevron ribbon adds to the nautical feel of it :) I must confess, the color scheme was dictated by what color Chevron ribbon I have, hehe!

• Stamps: Wetlands
• Ink: Illuminate, Island Indigo, Smokey Slate, Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper White
• Paper: Island Indigo, Pool Party Core'dinations, Naturals White, Watercolor
• Other: Big Shot with Woodgrain EF, Finishing Touches edgelits, and Apothecary Accents framelits, Embossing Buddy, Heat Gun, Smokey Slate embossing powder, Smokey Slate and Island Indigo Chevron ribbon, Aqua-painter, Signo white gel pen, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer and Mat, dimensionals, sewing machine and thread, Sanding Block, Island Indigo Candy Dots

To all the wonderful men in my life, I wish you a dozen of these kinds of mornings this summer! 

Firetruck Hero

Have you noticed the You're My Hero set in the new catalog yet? It is adorable! I have been playing with it a bit and came up with a few ideas. I'm saving one of them for a convention swap, but I will show you this one :)

I have been dying to use the new chevrons BG stamp, and this was my first card with it. I must confess, this card sat for a couple of days on my desk while I tried to decide what kind of card to make it. I know you can't see it in this picture, but the banner was embossed with a diagonal stripe. The banner just fit in the stripes EF to make it this way!

• Stamps: You're My Hero, Positively Chevron, Four You
• Ink: Smokey Slate, Raspberry Ripple
• Paper: Raspberry Ripple, Smokey Slate, Whisper White
• Other: Big Shot with Stripes EF and Apothecary Accents framelits, Neutrals Candy Dots, Signo white gel pen, Simply Pressed Buttons and Blossoms mold and Clay, dimensionals, sewing machine and thread

 I inked just a portion of the chevrons again and laid the paper on the stamp so that there would still be a strip of white below the chevrons, then stamped the sentiment over the chevrons. I love how this turned out!

Subway Artisan

Something about the Soho Subway paper was calling to me last week. This is one of the cards I made. I just couldn't bring myself to cover up the numbered panel on this card, so there really isn't much stamping.

Look how well the Simply Pressed Clay buttons took the colors with a marker! I am going to have to make a bunch more blank buttons, I am already half way through the stash I had made last month. I think I may even buy another set of molds, or 2... so I can mass produce these babies!

• Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
• Ink: Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Summer Starfruit
• Paper: Early Espresso, Naturals White, Soho Subway DSP
• Other: Corner Rounder and Artisan Label punches, White Baker's Twine, Simply Pressed Clay and Buttons and Blossoms mold, Signo white gel pen, dimensionals

SA New Color Hop: Crushed Curry

http://www.stampinaddicts.com/forums/general-stampin-talk/9354-new-colors-blog-hop-june-10-a.html

Welcome to our hop! One of the great things about Stampin' Up! is the color coordinated line of products, and the fact that SU keeps it fresh by updating the color families every few years, and adds new In-Colors every year. This year marks another color refresh and SU brought back a few old favorites and introduced some soon-to-be new favorites. We at Stampin Addicts wanted to highlight these new colors and have put together a fun hop for you today.

If you are following along the hop from the beginning, I am stop #9, the last stop! You may have just arrived from Sara's blog where she featured Soft Sky, another of my favorites. Didn't she do a wonderful job?! If you are lost, here is the link to the main hop thread. Don't be afraid to leave us some comments and share conversations there. We all like to chat as much as we like to stamp, lol!

I was going for a very masculine feel with this one and you can never go wrong with the banner look. Those chevrons are from the big oval of chevrons from the Oh, Hello set, believe it or not.

• Stamps: Oh, Hello and Distressed Dots BG
• Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Island Indigo, Crumb Cake, Crushed Curry, Illuminate
• Paper: Crushed Curry, Island Indigo, Crumb Cake, Naturals White, Raspberry Ripple
• Other: Big Shot with Chevron and Honeycomb EF amd Finishing Touches edgelit, 1¼" Square punch, Signo white gel pen, dimensionals

 How about a little party in a card! The colors I picked for this card just made me think of fruity drinks at the beach :) I've never drank alcohol at the beach.... maybe I should someday!

• Stamps: Happy Hour
• Ink: Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay, Tangerine Tango, Rich Razzleberry
• Paper: Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White
• Other: Big Shot with Adorning Accents EF and edgelit, Signo white gel pen, Rich Razzleberry ¼" grosgrain ribbon, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, dimensionals

 I was playing with color-blocking again, with the smallest acrylic block and a water mister, and everything seemed to go just fine!

• Stamps: Mosaic Madness
• Ink: Soft Sky, Crushed Curry, Soft Suede
• Paper: Soft Sky, Crushed Curry, Soft Suede, Naturals White
• Other: Big Shot with Modern Mosaic EF, Artisan Label, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, and Mosaic punches, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer and Mat, Signo white gel pen, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Natural Trim ribbon, dimensionals, Stampin Spritzer

 I love me some butterflies, and  I could not resist making this playful and bright card. Can you see the embossed line frame around the image panel? It is really cute in real life!

• Stamps: Papillon Potpourri, Delightful Dozen
• Ink: Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry, Strawberry Slush, Smokey Slate
• Paper: Crushed Curry, Naturals White
• Other: Bitty Butterfly and Elegant Butterfly punches, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, Rhinestones, Simply Scored, dimensionals

 I hope I have inspired you to go play with you new/old colors!

And if you started somewhere in the middle of the hop, your next stop will be Carmen's blog where she shows us the joy of Baked Brown Sugar!

Simply Best Wishes Tag

Gingham is so fun! Summery. Cheerful. And bright! Who doesn't love gingham? Boring people, that's who! Well, maybe just people who don't like country-style stuff ;) But everyone  loves Washi Tape right!

This tag is the result of me just playing around with a scrap of paper and then deciding that I loved it. Actually, it is the result of more than one experiment. The flower is one I made with the Simply Pressed Clay and Mold. It was just a plain clay flower, then I used a blender pen and pink ink. Then I spritzed the whole flower with Vanilla Smooch Spritz. It turned out beautiful, and sat on my desk for a few weeks before I found the perfect project for it :)

• Stamps: Remember This and That Rotary Stamp, Secret Garden
• Ink: Island Indigo, Strawberry Slush, Crushed Curry, Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride
• Paper: Naturals White, Pear Pizzazz
• Other: Big Shot with Secret Garden and Labels framelits, Occasions Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer and Mat, Gingham Garden Designer Washi Tape, Simply Pressed Clay and Buttons and Blossoms Mold, Vanilla Smooch Spritz, Daffodil Delight Seam Binding ribbon, White Baker's Twine, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack-circle

Doesn't this just scream summer sweetness?! I should really make a matching card....

 Two days until the SA New Colors Blog Hop! Don't forget to come back to check it out :)

Calypso Cabana

I finally used the right technique for the Color Block method! I was not spritzing with water before and it always turned out all streaky, I could never figure out why. I have been a stamper for a long time now, but this old dog still has some new tricks to learn, I tell you!

This card fits right in with the Midweek Throwdown at Operation Write Home, challenging us to make cards featuring water!

I was just playing around with this technique, then decided I needed to make my practice stamping into a card. A little texture and some sponging give this card more depth. I feel like this card could be for a woman or a man, the colors are just gender-neutral enough to pull it off.

• Stamps: By the Tide, Bring on the Cake
• Ink: Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, Smokey Slate
• Paper: Calypso Coral, Smokey Slate, Coastal Cabana, Naturals White
• Other: Big Shot with Modern Mosaic embossing folder, Acrylic Block, Stampin' Spritzer with water, Corner Rounder and 1" Square punches, Signo white gel pen, sponge

No embellishments on this card, huh. How did I manage that?! I wish I had the Smokey Slate Chevron ribbon already, I think I could have gotten that in here somehow :)

Don't forget to come back on Monday, June 10, 2013 for the New Colors Blog Hop!

Soho Birthday Zinger

While we all wait for our New Catalog goodies to arrive, how about a little love for the Photopolymer stamp set that came out last month. I have hardly played with it! It has some great humorous birthday zingers and I can think of a few people I could give this one too.

The polka dot paper in the background is actually some of the retired IC DSP stack paper in Summer Starfruit and sponged on the edges with some Soft Suede. That made it fit right in with the Soho Subway print that is the numbered DSP, which is where I pulled all the colors for this card. And as you can tell, my Crisp Cantaloupe inkpad is just a little too juicy right now :)
The buttons are made with the Simply Pressed Clay and Mold. I made a bunch of plain ones when I first got my preorder so I could color them any color I wanted. I found the best way to color them is directly with a marker. Quick and easy, but I do get my fingers all inky, lol. Another lovely thing about the Simply Pressed Clay is that the finished embellishment sticks to your project easily and firmly with your Tombow Mono glue!

• Stamps: Bombs Away Birthday
• Ink: Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Crisp Cantaloupe, Island Indigo
• Paper: Naturals White, Soft Suede, Island Indigo, Soho Subway DSP, 2012-13 IC DSP Stack
• Other:Corner Rounder, 1¼" and 1-3/8" Circle punches, Simply Pressed Molding Clay and Buttons Mold, Signo white gel pen, dimensionals

And heads up, there is a quick blog hop coming on June 10th featuring the new colors of Stampin' Up! so don't forget to stop by!

Catch of a Lifetime!

Jamie and I have been married for 23 years today! That puts a big smile on my face. I love that man of mine, and really feel he is the catch of my lifetime. You might actually get to see his card before he does since this is posting before he wakes up, lol! 

My man does love to fish, so this is so appropriate :) One of the good things about having a blog that I share most everything I make is that I can go back and see what I made for people in years past so I don't repeat myself. I was reviewing the last few years' cards and noted that I have not done anything relating to outdoors stuff yet, and this popped into my head. 

Nothing new on this card, but I don't have anything but the Mosaic Madness and Label Love sets yet from the new catty, and they just did not seem to fit the need for this card. 

• Stamps: By the Tide, Designer Typeset Alphabet photopolymer, Hearts a Flutter
• Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
• Paper: Core'dinations Real Red, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Whisper White
• Other: Big Shot with Woodgrain embossing folder, Signo white gel pen, Paper Snips, dimensionals, Sanding Block

Sometimes I find it harder to make a card for a really special person because I feel like it will never express what I am feeling well enough. Anybody else feel that way?