Too Much Happy?!

Never! I ♥ ♥ ♥ this one! It is another Project Life style scrapbooking insert swap, and I can't stop looking at it! I love that the Mosaic Madness stamps fit just perfectly into the petals of the Floral framelit, and that the smaller Floral framelit fits so perfectly ion the points of the Mosaic stamps in the center. And the sun and beach feel of this piece. Yup, pretty happy with myself :)

Really, I can't help it. I have to use as much Core'dinations as possible! It is so awesome! I actually could not stop myself from just designing and immediately making all of the swap pieces right away. I had been designing the prototype for each swap, then cutting and Big Shotting everything, then putting the kits aside to work on after everything was designed. The plan was to keep the creative juices flowing and them just coast with the busy work. This way I was not getting so rushed at the end that I couldn't think of anything. It worked pretty well!

• Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Yippee-Skippee
• Ink: Crushed Curry, Smokey Slate
• Paper: Crushed Curry, Whisper White, Bermuda Bay Core'dinations
• Other: Big Shot with Floral framelit and Modern Mosaic embossing folder, Sanding Block, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer and Mat, Bermuda Bay 1/8" Taffeta ribbon, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Dimensionals

I hope everyone else loved this at least half as much as I do!

Single Layer Birthday

 This was one of the toughest swaps to design for, I swear! When you have all kinds of tools and embellishments in your stash, you tend to use them all the time. That is great, it is the reason you bought all that yummy stuff in the first place right? (Ok, I'll admit there is stuff I have bought that I just pet, and save for something really special) But, seeing as how I am a demonstrator and need to teach new people how to create lovely things at the beginning of their papercrafting journey, it really helps to have some beautiful, single layer, limited supply samples :)

Turns out I was having trouble deciding which color to use, so I made a few practice runs at it before I settled on this one. I did emboss this one, but it is still a limited supply card, I swear! And I actually used a ruler to draw that outline, which I am sure you can tell :)

• Stamps: Secret Garden, Perfectly Penned
• Ink: Illuminate, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe
• Paper: Crisp Cantaloupe
• Other: Signo white gel pen, Embossing Buddy, White embossing powder, Heat Gun, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, ruler

I tried it in Pistachio Pudding with the greeting from You're Amazing and Wild Wasabi ink and marker.

 And in Primrose Petals with Raspberry Ripple ink for the sentiment and Primrose Petals marker for the flowers.

Which is your favorite?

Awesome...Thanks!

This is a pretty in your face card, but that can be really fun sometimes :) This is the first thing I made with the new Simply Stars set and I used this card for the second half of my Savvy Swappers June swap. Now I am kind of thinking I should make a few more, some for Operation Write Home, one for my card sales box, and one for me to use :)

Stars and Chevrons were made to go together, don't you think :) And I am so glad I decided to buy the Soft Suede taffeta ribbon not that long ago. I never know what I am going to need until I start playing.
Did you know that these stars coordinate with the retired SU Large and Small Star punches? I am so glad I still have those, but I couldn't use them for the swap because they are not currently available. Can't demonstrate something you can't sell :)

• Stamps: Positively Chevron, Yippe-Skippee, Simply Stars
• Ink: Soft Suede, Soft Sky, Daffodil Delight
• Paper: Soft Sky, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White
• Other: Big Shot with Modern Mosaic embossing folder, Signo white gel pen, Simply Pressed Clay with Buttons and Blossoms Mold, Soft Suede Taffeta ribbon, White Baker's Twine, Paper Piercer and Mat, needle

Cool Christmas

And the swaps keep coming! I'm telling you, I went a little crazy, and it is going to take a while to get them all posted :) And Christmas is now 5 short months away.  This is a super easy card to mass produce and is quite mailable.

Snowflakes would look good too, but I really like the elegant and vintage feel to this one. That is Pool Party ink and Coastal Cabana ribbon. They look good together, I think :)

• Stamps: Lovely Romance, Greetings of the Season
• Ink: Whisper White, Pool Party
• Paper: Whisper White, Crumb Cake
• Other: Signo white gel pen, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer and Mat, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Coastal Cabana Stretch Ruffle ribbon, Dimensionals

That has to be one of the shortest "other" sections I have done is a while! I guess a girl collects a few tools over the years ;)

Freaky Love

More swaps! This is for the Savvy Swappers group I joined at the beginning of the year. We decided to exchange our June swaps at convention this year.

When I saw this sentiment, I had to have this set! It is so darn cute! And totally something I would say :)

The heart in the center is actually sponged with Whisper White masked with a negative of the large Heart punch. I am not sure, but I think I used Core'dinations on over half of the swaps I made!

• Stamps: Yippe-Skippee!
• Ink: Whisper White, Illuminate
• Paper: Naturals White, Cherry Cobbler Core'dinations, Early Espresso
• Other: Big Shot with Beautifully Baroque and Adorning Accents embossing folders and Labels framelits, Festive and Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer and Mat, Signo white gel pen, Small Heart and Full Heart punches, Sanding Block, Embossing Buddy, Heat Gun, Cherry Cobbler embossing powder, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Dimensionals, sponge

Green Hexagons

I finally dipped my toes in the swap hostessing pool! I hosted a Masculine card swap at convention. We all need more ideas for those, although I seem to do plenty on my own. Maybe I was playing to my strengths :)

 This is another set that is so easy to create your own patterned paper with. The hexagons line up so easy and there are several different patterned stamps, so you can have several colors going all at once. My Pistachio Pudding pad was so juicy I had to do the stamp-off technique on the Whisper White, but I really like it that way.

• Stamps: Six-Sided Sampler, Four You
• Ink: Pistachio Pudding, Early Espresso, Gumball Green, Baked Brown Sugar
• Paper: Pistachio Pudding, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
• Other: Big Shot with Honeycomb embossing folder, Hexagon punch, Signo white gel pen, Garden Green, Crumb Cake, and Early Espresso Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Beach Memories

Today is the kick-off of Stampin' Up! convention, and I can guarantee you that I am having a great time! I know I am excited just typing this as I can't wait to meet up with my friends and go exploring again :)
I have held off posting my swap projects until now as I wanted people to have their swaps in hand and get to see them first.
This is a 3"x4" Project Life style scrapbooking insert, which is something you will be able to use soon with a new product in the Holiday Mini. (It goes live on August 1st, just a couple weeks away)

I just love these birds, and how easy they are to watercolor. I did not use watercolor paper on this, although that was my plan. I sorta had the project all cut up before I realized I had used Naturals White. It still works great.

• Stamps: Wetlands
• Ink: Illuminate, Crumb Cake, Pacific Point
• Paper: Crumb Cake and Pacific Point Core'dinations, Naturals White
• Other: Big Shot with Woodgrain embossing folder, Sanding Block, Natural Trim ribbon, Aqua-painter, Embossing Buddy, Smokey Slate embossing powder, Heat Gun, sewing machine and thread

Hopefully I will post an update with a completed page using this element!

Shoebox Swap: Wetlands

I have never done a shoebox swap before and I was a little nervous that I didn't have enough of a Wow to my project, and that it would take too much time. I also was not planning on doing a masculine card, but most of the sets I got right away from the catalog were masculine sets. I do use them alot, so that is not a bad thing :)

This was my prototype. I used Wild Wasabi as the base green, and it looked kind of washed out. It looks ok, but it just did not have the punch I was envisioning.

So, I tried it with Gumball Green Core'dinations, and sanded the Woodgrain texture. What a difference! When I showed these to my hubby, his comment was that he liked the more subdues DSP on the first one, but the darker green on this one. I hope everyone enjoys making this card at the swap!

• Stamps: Four You, Wetlands
• Ink: Early Espresso
• Paper: Crumb Cake, Gumball Green Core'dinations, Naturals White, Soho Subway DSP
• Other: Big Shot with Labels and Ovals framelits and Woodgrain embossing folder, Occasions and Festive Paper Piercing Packs, Paper Piercer and Mat, Signo white gel pen, Dimensionals, Sanding Block, Paper Snips

 

ETA: We flew in to Salt Lake City at about 1:30pm on Tuesday, then drove 4 hours south to Moab and Arches National Park. I thought I would share how we spent our sunset :)

 Here the sun is just starting to dip below the horizon and we are rushing to get to the Delicate Arch viewpoint before the sun actually sets.

And this is at twilight, which I am shocked this came out so well. There was not that much light for walking down the trail back to the car!