Happy New Year's!

I have been a terrible blogger lately so I think that should be one of my New Year's resolutions. Of course, we are leaving tomorrow so I will have to start blogging again at the end of the week - so it doesn't sound like I starting out very well. :(

I was able to do a little non-holiday stamping this weekend. It was nice to make some cards for fun for a change. And I was using new stamp sets that I got this year at Christmas so that makes it all the more fun!

If you want the supply lists for either of these, let me know!

Got my new CATTY!

I got my new catalog from Stampin' Up! a couple days ago which means that I have spent part of the last two days looking through it and ooh-ing and aah-ing over things that I like.

After feeling a little burned out from making Christmas cards and all that, I finally decided that I was ready to do a little stamping today. I used an idea that you will see in the new catalog and one of the hostess sets that is int he new catty as well. Here is what I ended up with.

Hope everyone is ready for Christmas!!

still stamping away!!!

Just in case you were wondering - I am still making lots of cards, just not taking the time to post them. However, I made this card and decided that I just LOVED it and so I had to post it to my blog. This uses the retired set, Big Blooms (still love it).

I'm not sure how many people are checking my blog these days, so I won't post any details about it unless people ask!

Busy busy

Even though I was busy this morning getting ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow, I still had time to do some stamping. And since I am now just sitting in my statistics class while they take an exam, I can tell you a little more about it. :)

Stampin' Up! posted instructions on how to make this card for its demonstrators and I decided that I had almost all the supplies so I would give it a try. Then I started substituting just a little. I used Rose Red when they asked for Ruby Red because I have more of it on hand. And since I don't have any Earth Elements brads, I couldn't use the brad colors that they suggested (Ruby Red and Old Olive); so I substituted and used some of the Rich Regals brads instead (So Saffron and Rose Red). Since I didn't have the Old Olive brad, there was nothing tying the ribbon color to the rest of the card, so I substituted once again and used Old Olive as my color that shows through the little holes I punched in the big flower.

In the end they were little substitutions and I doubt that most people would notice.

The darker shades on the card were created by coloring with a VersaMarker. I really don't use my VersaMarker hardly at all, so it was fun to pull it out and play with it a bit.

Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!!

What I worked on last night...

So - I didn't work on as many cards last night as I originally wanted to, but I got a few done. I actually worked on a couple that are not done yet because I need to get something back from my sister to finish it. Anyway - here are two designs that I did complete last night. Actually all the Stampin' Up! materials that I used on them are current too! :) That doesn't happen all that often! This is my first "I'm sorry" card ever. Who knows when you might need one of those, though.

Beate's WSC #28

I participated in another weekend sketch challenge this week :). I made a very simple card with hardly any stamping. I must be getting lazy. I am still not sure how I feel about the end result here. Once again - if you want the recipe, let me know. Back to the drawing board!

Another quick post

I hope that people realize that I have really been stamping lately. :) I am working on more cards for the craft fair my sisters and I will be at in 2 weeks from today. I am making 2 of each card design for right now. Today I have made 4 different designs so far, but 2 of them are ones that I have done in the past so I won't post them. Here are the other two that I have done so far today.



The scan of the card with all the glitter didn't turn out that great. Oh, well - better luck next time. Again, if you want the recipe for any of these cards, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. Have a great night!

Quick Post

I just wanted to make a quick post with a few cards that I have made today. I am done making Christmas cards for the next 2 weeks and am trying to make about 10 cards a day of birthday, thank you, etc. So I will be making a few designs a day and making about 2 or 3 of each design.


I wanted to post the cards that I made this evening, but I don't want to take the time to give all the supplies. If anyone wants to know - let me know by using the email link on the side! :)

Well it's about time!!!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I have been busy making cards, it is just that I am making cards that I have made or posted before which would be a bit boring if I kept posting them over and over again. But finally something new to post! :)

My sisters and I are going to be selling cards (mainly Christmas cards) at a craft fair on the 1st of December which means we have been busy bees lately. Here is a Christmas card that I just made, but am thinking about tweaking slightly.

I used a retired set from 2 years ago (has it really been that long?). I matted the tree on Brocade Blue, but now I am thinking that it really does look better matted in Real Red even though it means the center of the eyelets will also be red. And if I mat the tree with red, that means I need to change the matting for the Mellow Moss embossed rectangle to be something else. I'm thinking white. Hmmm.

Anyway - the recipe here is:

Stamps: Trim the Tree, Season's Greetings (both retired)

Paper: Brocade Blue, Real Red, Mellow Moss, Shimmery White

Ink: Brocade Blue

Markers: Mellow Moss, So Saffron, Real Red, Brocade Blue

Accessories: eyelets, Wide Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Cuttlebug Spots & Dots embossing folder

Beate's WSC #24

So - I took another week off, but here I am again with another sketch challenge entry. I'm not sure how I feel about the end result here. I wanted to make something for the sketch challenge and I needed to make a baby shower card. So this is what I ended up with.



I really don't have very many baby stamps because why should I? Therefore I had to get into something that is retired.

Here is the recipe:
Stamps: Something to Celebrate, Hugs & Wishes, Swirls (non-SU)
Paper: Orchid Opulence, Pretty in Pink, Shimmery White, Retired Designer Paper
Ink: Black Stazon, Orchid Opulence
Accessories: Watercolor pencils, blender pen, ribbon

Beate's WSC #22

Well - I did not get around to doing the sketch challenge last weekend, so I had to make sure to do it this weekend. On Friday night I hosted a stamp-a-stack of Christmas cards class and then my sisters were here on Saturday and Sunday to make cards. Did everyone know that Saturday was World Cardmaking Day?

I did a lot of work while my sisters were here, but it doesn't seem that I got much finished. :( I hope to finish my Halloween party invites tomorrow though.

Without further delay - here is the card I made for the weekend sketch challenge. Enjoy!

Recipe:

Stamps: Frolicking Frogs (retired)

Paper: Wild Wasabi, River Rock, Bashful Blue, Cutie Pie DP, Whisper White

Ink: Basic Black, Wild Wasabi, River Rock, Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Groovy Guava

Accessories: Aquapainters, Wild Wasabi ribbon, Corner Rounder punch and Cuttlebug embossing folder - Spots and Dots

Time to pull out the decorations!

This past week has been a little busy as I gave the first exam in my statistics class and just finished getting them all graded. Now it will be a couple more weeks before another exam in either class I teach so I have a bit of a break! :)

Since October starts on Monday it is time to pull out all the Halloween decorations. I love decorating my house for holidays! Of course, when we were living in our 1300 sq ft apartment in Tampa it seemed like we had a lot more decorations than it seems now that we are in a house almsot twice that size. Last year I bought some more decorations to make it seem more festive and we will see how long I go this year before getting something else - I already bought these cute lights to put up on the front window outside.

In the spirit of the holiday that is almost before us, I have a Halloween card to share. I used a couple different techniques on this one.



The background of where the house is stamped is actually Glossy White cardstock. If you haven't used it before, it is really neat because it is smooth and shiney like photo paper. I'm not sure of the actual name of the technique, but you take a cotton ball and wet it with rubbing alcohol. Then add a few drops of reinkers for your stamp pads (I used Only Orange, Real Red and Yoyo Yellow) and dab it all over the cardstock until it is covered. I think it created a really neat eerie background perfect for a Halloween card.

The other technique that I used was stamping with bleach. I wanted to put swirls in the background of the card (it made me think of wind) but I also wanted to have trees in the background. So I stamped the swirls the same color as the cardstock (Ruby Red) but I made a stamp pad of a paper towel that I put bleach on and stamped the trees with that.

Oh - I have had a couple people ask about the game that is so addicting and more challenging than SuDoku. It is called Kakuro - it is like Sudoku in that it uses the digits 1 - 9 and the numbers cannot repeat in each row or column. But it is more like a crossword puzzle in that every puzzle looks different and now you are trying to fill in the digits so that they add to the sums given for each column and row. As a numbers person, I enjoy this far more than a crossword puzzle!

Recipe:
Stamps: Home is Where the Haunt Is, Swirls (non-stampin' up)
Paper: Ruby Red, Old Olive, So Saffron, Glossy White and Basic Black
Ink: Black Stazon, Ruby Red
Accessories: Reinkers - Real Red, Only Orange, Yoyo Yellow, Black Grosgrain ribbon, Photo Corners Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Bleach

Beate's WSC #20

And once again I haven't stamped since last week's sketch challenge. Such a slacker I am! Although I have been a little busy writing a couple exams and grading them for one class, I have to admit that slacker is a good word. Justin has gotten me hooked on a new game that puts Sudoku to shame as far as challenging goes. It is quite addicting, which means that I am not very productive lately.

Anyway - here is my entry into this week's sketch challenge. I have been trying lately to come up with cards that are suitable for giving to a guy, which I think that most people know is easier said than done. This one started as a guy card, but I'm not sure if that is how it ended up. You be the judge!

Recipe:

Stamps: Loads of Love, Loads of Love Accessories

Ink: Timber Brown Stazon, Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red, Basic Gray, and So Saffron

Paper: Certainly Celery, Rose Red, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Au Chocolat (retired), paper from Friends & Flowers Simply Scrappin' Kit (retired)

Accessories: Aquapainter, Celery ribbon, Rose Red brads, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Word Window Punch, 1/4" Circle Punch

Finally getting better...WSC #19

Here is the only card that I have made over the past week. I have been sick with a cold and haven't felt like doing anything besides laying around and resting. I really wanted to use this stamp set, but I had a little trouble staying true to the sketch that was presented. I hope that this is close enough! It is a little plain - but I am feeling plain so I guess that explains it.





The image was colored using a combination of watercolor techniques - I used watercolor crayons, but since they don't make those for the In Colors, I watercolored with the ink for those instead. And the Swirls in the background are from the great stamp set that I got from Beate from winning her challenge a couple weeks ago. Thanks Beate!!!


Recipe:
Stamps: Holy Triptych, Swirls (Autumn Leaves brand)
Paper: Blue Bayou, Purely Pomegranite, Mellow Moss and Very Vanilla
Ink: Timber Brown Stazon, Blue Bayou, Purely Pomegranite and Mellow Moss
Accessories: Watercolor Crayons, Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon

Beate's weekend sketch challenge #18

I am getting this in on about the last day to enter. I don't know what it is lately, but I just keep making Halloween and Christmas cards. At least Halloween is next month though. :)

Recipe:

Stamps: Autumn Apparitions, Halloween Backgrounds (retired)

Paper: Lovely Lilac, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi and WW

Ink: Lovely Lilac, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, Basic Gray and Basic Black

Accessories: stipple brush, gingham ribbon and brads

What came in my mail yesterday

Just over a week ago I posted a Frosty card that I made. It was actually an entry into a sketch challenge that I won. :) So yesterday in the mail I got my prize - it is an set of clear, acrylic stamps. As soon as I get an acrylic block or two I will be able to use it and make a card to post. With this set was a card from Beate, here is a pic of the card:





Beate does such awesome work - I am amazed everyday when I visit her blog.

In the Spotlight

When I placed my big order I got a level 2 hostess set - In the Spotlight. When the catalog first came out, none of the hostess sets really "spoke" to me. Of course (this is really typical with me), as time passed I really grew to like this particular set. So - here is the first card that I made with it.

Notice the use of In Colors on this one - River Rock, Purely Pomegranite, and Blue Bayou. I think that I will cave and get the ink for River Rock and Groovy Guava on my next order - I said it wouldn't be long until I broke down and got them all!

Noel - version 2.0

So - I think that I fixed the Noel card. Before there was just way way too much red. And here it is:

I think it turned out rather cute. :) The bad thing is that I had decided not to order navy ribbon on my last order, so I had to make a run to Michael's and it was a pain to find just navy ribbon.

Anyway - I think I have the 5 cards for my stamp-a-stack of Christmas cards all figured out. That means that I had better start deciding what my own cards will look like. When you have around 150 to make, you need to start early.

getting ready for Halloween already

I am trying to stay on top of my game this year. Already I have been planning Christmas cards (I think that I have found a way to fix the Noel card below - I will try to post it later today) and now I think that I have planned out the invites for our Halloween party.

I wanted to throw a Halloween party ever since the first year that Justin and I were married, but we were living in an apartment and didn't really have the room to invite lots of people over. Then a year ago we moved to the Houston area and had a nice, big house. Perfect for hosting a party. We had the party last year and it was lots of fun. This year I am hoping for a big turnout since we know more people here now. :)

Here is what I have come up with for our invitations for this year. The only pic that I have of our invites from last year contains all of our info (phone # and address) so I won't be posting that, but I think they were pretty cute!

The info about the party will be underneath the folded part. You might notice that I got this from one of the sketch challenges that Beate had on her blog a few weeks ago. I loved it and knew that I wanted to use it for invites.

It has literally been like Christmas today!

It has been a while since I have put in a large stamping order. My sisters and I are wanting to sell cards at a craft fair booth and I have had some requests to do a Stamp-a-Stack of Christmas cards. So I decided that it was time to get some new Christmas stamp sets. Sure - some of them are not "new" but they are new to me. Anyway - I mounted 9 stamp sets this afternoon (thank goodness that 4 of them were the die-cut sets from the holiday mini) and then I started making some cards. Christmas cards to be exact.

I won't post my supplies that I used - I'm not sure that people are paying attention to that anyway. If you want supplies, you can post a comment asking for them.

These are my favorite two that I have made so far.



The City if David card is one that Stampin' Up! did last year and I loved. I had been dying to get the set so that I could make the card. :) The snowflake card is one that I just had to do with the a couple of our In Colors - Blue Bayou and Soft Sky. Last year I refused to buy the In Colors. Now I finally caved and bought 4 of them for this year. How long do you think I will go until I break and get the last 2?




These two both seem like they are missing something. I know what exactly I need for the Santa card - it needs just a bit of bouble-stitched Wild Wasabi ribbon in the empty blue space between the Christmas trees and the "Tis the season" sentiment. I'm still kind of struggling with what to add to the Noel card.

Overall I need to keep these relatively simple so that people can make a lot of them at a class. Any suggestions?

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #17

I took a couple weeks off from the sketch challenges with going on vacation and then getting ready for fall semester. But here is another. Like the last one I did (can't remember which one it was now though) - I love this sketch. There are so many cute things you can do with it. :)

I decided to start in with the Christmas themes and used the old faithful Frosty set for the snowman. I love this set. But I have a feeling that since it has been a around for a few years now it will soon be leaving us (i.e., I am predicting that it will retire either this year or next). I really wanted to use some of my Cutie Pie paper and decided that the little white flowers on the Bashful Blue paper look close enough to snowflakes, although I'm not sure just how many people I am fooling with that.

I made the scalloped edge by punching out a lot of 3/4" circles in Certainly Celery and I used some Confetti White as my neutral on this one. The sentiment is from that retired set that I have been using a lot lately: Cute Converse - I can't help it - they are the perfect size to use with the punches!!!

Something old, something new ...

... nothing borrowed, but something blue.

Inspired by a friend (thanks Wendy!) and some of the new wrapping paper that Stampin' Up will be selling in the Holiday mini (Sept. 1), I decided that I needed to try to make a card that is mainly Chocolate Chip, with some Bashful Blue snowflakes (something blue). The only set I have with snowflakes is a retired set, Snowflakes. That would be my something old here. And last of all, using my light blue embossing powder is my something new.

I like how this turned out and only wish that I had some of the Taffeta Bashful Blue ribbon to finish it off. Plus, I think it will look better with one of the newer snowflake stamp sets that SU! has.

Thanks Wendy for the inspiration!

In a funk

The lack of posts means that things have been busy around here. First it was the end of my summer term and I had to get grades turned in. Then Justin and I left to go a trip to the other big cities in Texas - you can read a bit about our trip on our blog here. We got back from our little vacation about a week ago - but then I was in charge of a night all about Preparedness for the ladies at church. That was last night and after I made my syllabi for this semester (which starts on Monday) I was finally able to stamp. :)


Needless to say, you take a couple weeks off and it really kills your creativity. I got this Cutie Pie paper the day before we left and hadn't had a chance to use it yet. I have to admit - as much as I love designer paper, I have a really hard time using it. For the most part, I am afraid of making something that I don't like in the end and wasting the beautiful paper!


Anyway - once I pulled out a little Cutie Pie, I realized how well it went with Big Blooms and was sad yet again that Stampin' Up! didn't keep this from the Spring mini. Well - I will choose to use it regardless! I decided to pair it with another retired good one: Riveting was a hostess set in last year's catalog.


Here is what I came up with - I'm going to get it into tomorrow's mail for my upline's b-day which is on the 30th. Hopefully she gets it in the mail before she decides to check out my blog again!

Beate's Weekend Sketch #13

I finally have a little extra time to work on some cards (extra emphasis on "little" here). Anyway - here is my card for Beate's sketch challenge for this weekend. This was a really fun card to make. After I was done though I had wished that I hadn't used so much pink - maybe I will just have to do another one, right?


I used a lot of retired products on this one - the paper is from the Just Delightful Simply Scrappin' kit that was a SU Sell-a-bration item this past year, the flower stamp was also a sell-a-bration from the set Delight in Life. The sentiment came from the Cute Converse set I got over a year ago and never used until now (I told you before - if I get it for free it is really a toss-up when I will use it).


I have to admit that I had a little trouble with the dimensions on this one. From the sketch it says the card base is 8.5" X 5.5" and tells where to score it. When I did that though - my resulting card was a 5.5" square and I could tell from everyone's cards that were posted that they were getting rectangular cards. Hmmm. So - I started with a base that was 8.5" X 4.25" and I ended up witht a standard size card. Very interesting.

Has it really been that long?!?!

Wow - time has gotten away from me! My sister wants me to teach a card class at her house in a couple weeks. It took me while to find time to do some stamping, but I finally picked all the cards that people will make. A few are ones that I have done in the past, but here are a few new ones that I tried out this past weekend to see what I thought.

Both of the birthday cards here I CASE'd from Stampin' Up! publications. On this one I used Pale Plum, but when I do it at the class I will use Almost Amethyst - I decided the plum didn't go quite as well as I had hoped. I made this in the hopes that it would be suitable for a guy, that's why there is no ribbon or anything else frilly.


Here is the recipe:
Stamps: Big Deal Alphabet and Everyday Flexible Phrases
Paper: Brocade Blue, Certainly Celery, Pale Plum, Barely Banana and Whisper White
Ink: Brocade Blue, Certainly Celery, Pale Plum
Accessories: 1 1/4" Square Punch

This one uses one of my favorites - Eat Cake. Where I saw this they were discussing how to make scratch and sniff cards but I won't be able to get into that with the class so this is unscented. :)


Recipe:
Stamps: Eat Cake
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose, Old Olive and Very Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive; Markers - Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose, and Old Olive
Accessories: Brads

This next one is a boy baby card. I have been seeing these pocket cards pop up a lot lately and thought I would jump on the bandwagon. Once again, I'm not going to make it this way for the class, but this was just to get an idea. Instead I am going to make the card in Taken with Teal instead of Tuorquoise, mat the Zebra in Green Galore, use ribbon on the folded portion of the card that is Teal and Green (instead of the striped paper), punch the tag out with the same blue polka-dot paper as the rest of the card, and make the pull-out part Turquoise instead of White. I know - it sounds like a lot of changes - but I think it will be super cute!!!


Recipe:
Stamps: Zoofari, Holidays & Wishes, Hugs & Wishes
Paper: Taken with Teal, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Petals & Paisley DS
Ink: Basic Black and Taken with Teal
Accessories: Brads and Round Tab Punch

Weekend Sketch Challenge #10

Here is my entry for Beate's sketch challenge for this weekend. I haven't entirely decided how I feel about how it turned out.

I am having trouble accepting the fact that Big Blooms from the Spring mini didn't make it into the catalog. :( Anyway - I used a new color combination for me - Perfect Plum, Pale Plum and Sage Shadow. In addition to the Big Blooms set, I used the Watercolor Joy wheel and a stamp from Holidays & Wishes for my sentiment. Enjoy!

Not really what I had planned, but...

I decided to use my Doodle This stamp set and colors to match this ribbon that I pulled out of the dollar bin at Michael's. The colors Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery were great matches, but I had a lot of trouble matching the darker pink. I finally settled on Pink Passion, but once I put the card together they don't entirely match. I'm guessing that from the picture, most won't be able to tell - but I can tell. :(


But before the matching problem was discovered, I learned that I am not good at sewing on cards. So - I can't sew curtains and I can't sew cards. :( Of course - I had to learn the hard way that I don't sew cards very well. Hence all the holes that are pierced all around my Certainly Celery Designer Prints Paper. I started sewing and it all messed up, but by then there were holes all across the top of my paper. My choice was to each throw it out, or pierce all the little holes and try to pretend that is what I wanted it to look like. So I chose to pretend.







The recipe:
Stamps: Doodle This, So Very (Sell-a-bration 2007) and Petals Jumbo roller
Paper: Pink Passion, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery Designer Prints
Ink: Pink Passion, Whisper White Craft Ink
Accessories: ribbon, and flower shaped eyelet

Best Fishes

Can you tell that my summer classes have come to a close - I have posted 4 cards in the last week! Actually I gave the final exams yesterday and got them graded. Today I have to go and turn in my grades, but I have to start teaching another class tomorrow. This shouldn't be quite as bad though - it is only one class, but they do meet for three hours a day - yuck!

One of the Sell-a-bration sets this past year was a really cute one called Very Punny. It has small images with small sayings. The sad thing is that I have had this stamp set since February and this is the first time that I used it. That happens with things that I get for free though. I'm not sure what it is - but if I pay for it, I use it as soon as it arrives. If it was free it is really a toss up how long it will sit on my shelf before it gets used. :(

On this one I totally CASE'd (Copy and Share Everything) another card that I saw made with this same set. The problem is, I don't remember at all where it was that I saw it. The other one was a green card and used the little frog image that says "Hoppy for You". I decided though that the Cuttlebug embossing folder I used on the background really goes great with the bubbles that the fish is blowing out. And I used 3 colors that really don't see much used by me - Brilliant Blue, Only Orange and Yoyo Yellow. The ribbon is a color called Maize that matches so well with Yoyo Yellow - I better not start using that color too often since Stampin' Up! discontinued the Maize Grosgrain Ribbon.

Anyway - enjoy the card - hope it gets your creative juices flowing!

Rhino fun

I got this Zoofari set so that I could make cards for kids, but instead, I made another baby card!


Chipboard is all the rage right now, so I got a pack of colored chipboard mat stack. It claimed to work work with any die-cut machine and it did! I have this scalloped frame die that I have not used much, but have really been wanting to use more. The colors of the chipboard don't completely match Stampin' Up! colors though. :( However I used the watercolor pencils to color in the rhino and it turns out that they don't really match SU colors either but I felt like these blues were close enough to matching each other. You be the judge.


Justin actually helped me with this color scheme. How good is he at this kind of stuff?


The scan is a little dark on the side because with the chipboard and the ribbon the scanner wouldn't close all the way. :( Oh well, right?

Artichokes and Eggplants - gotta love those veggies

This card features one of my favorite color combinations - Always Artichoke and Elegant Eggplant. I'm not sure what it is about these two colors together - but I just love, love, love them.



I bought this stamp set, Bud Basics, almost a year ago when it was in the Summer mini catalog. I was very happy to see it show up the new Fall-Winter Collection Catalog that came out a week ago. :) This is a great stamp set and there is a jumbo wheel that corresponds with it.

On this card, I also used the Divine Swirl Cuttlebug embossing folder on the background. I love those embossing folders - they add so much!

If you haven't seen the new catalog - check it out here. If you want your own copy, let me know. :)

I love ladybugs!

A couple years ago I dressed up as a ladybug for Halloween. So when I saw that Beate had made a ladybug card and put on her blog, I had to try it out. This is the first time that I have used two new stamp sets from the Fall-Winter Collection catalog. The ladybug wings are stamped with the Pick a Petal set and the greeting is from the Hug & Wishes set.



I just love ladybugs!

Happy 4th!

The 4th of July is also my father-in-law's birthday so I made him a very patriotic card. Here it is - I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder (love it) on the Brocade Blue background. The card itself is Real Red, and the star image is from Stars & Swirls (just retired!). I used a Versamarker to color in the star and then embossed it with Hologram Highlights EP. The "Happy Birthday" sentiment is from the Eat Cake set.



Enjoy!

Beate's weekend sketch challenge

Have I told you how much I love to visit Beate's blog? She really puts me to shame - she has such cute stuff and makes things daily, as opposed to me since I am now lucky to stamp once a week. :(

The challenge for this past weekend was to make a card following this template:

Here is my entry:

As you can tell - I am all about the designer paper lately! This uses paper from Petals & Paisley and the stamp set Doodle That. Both of these items are from the Spring mini and I really hope they make it into the catalog that comes out in just days! I love them both.

Anyway - Happy stamping!

more chocolate and pink

A friend of mine recently had a little girl and wouldn't you know it - the only baby card I had made was for a boy!

So I threw this together about a week ago - but haven't seen my friend yet to give it to her. :(

I used the retiring set Baby Firsts and the Baby Time wheel and my favorite paper Au Chocolat. The cute ribbon is the stuff from Michael's - gotta love it.

Enjoy!

Father's Day

I saw this same card last year - just with different colors. Can you believe it took me a whole year to get around to making it?

This uses the All-Year Cheer II stamp set (which is retiring in 2 weeks!), as well as the Monogram "F", Itty Bitty Backgrounds and Everyday Flexible Phrases. My papers were Brocade Blue and Au Chocolate (as well as Vanilla to stamp the "F" on).

Hope everyone has a great Father's Day!

What a cute little crab!

So - I love to check out Beate's blog - once you check it out, you won't visit mine anymore! Anyway - she posted a challenge to make a gate card a few days ao and here is mine. My sister got the Crab and Company stamp set from the Spring mini and that is what I used for this.

I actually thought that making the gate card was a lot of fun and I was really wishing that I got this stamp set for myself, but considering that I bought 4 other stamp sets from the Spring mini - I just couldn't do it. I guess I will be borrowing it from my sister a lot!

This week is killing me!!!

So - I started to write all about how I am super swamped this week with the summer classes that I am teaching, but I changed my mind. I am too excited to post the card that I somehow managed to make this week. I do have to warn you though - I think that my posts over the next 5 weeks will be few and far between. However, after July 11th I will have plenty of time for stamping!

So - I have noticed a trend in the last few things I have made. I must have a thing for big flower images lately. I really need to find the time to make cards that have something besides flowers on them.

For part of my birthday present, my mom had given me some little chipboard puchouts that she got at Michael's. Ok - who am I kidding - that I picked out at Michael's for her to give me. :) I got two packs and they both have the same images in them - various flower and heart shapes - but one pack has colors and patterns, the other doesn't so that I can color them anyway I want. I looked through the colored and patterned ones and thought about how the lavender color that they used was so close to Almost Amethyst.

So - when I finally sat down to make something with it, I pulled out some of my designer prints that will be in the next catalog (July 1st is too far away!). I really htink it matches so well - it is hard to believe that the flower image isn't Stampin' Up!'s!

Anyway - until my life calms down and I have more time to stamp - enjoy yet another flower card!

Prima Flowers

Things are getting really busy around here for me. Summer classes start on Monday so I have been trying to put together 2 different syllabi, work on my lectures for the first week, etc., etc. Teaching in the summer is far more intense than teaching in the fall or spring so I usually don't have to put as much time in all at once but when you have to cover the same amount of material in 5 weeks as you usually do in 15 there is cause for panic.

Anyway - enough about that. About a month ago I got some of those Prima flowers that are so popular right now, but I couldn't figure out what to use them on. There are tons of them in a pack so I know this means I will have them until the day I am so old I can no longer see to stamp! I pulled out some of that ribbon I got in the bargain bin at Michael's and decided it was just the right colors to use with my little flowers. And lucky for me - the ribbon was pink and chocolate brown so you know I was reaching for my Au Chocolat paper!

Here is what I came up with:

I actually only used one stamp on the whole card - the "thank you" came from a Sell-a-bration set that I got over a year ago!

Enjoy!