It's Fun to be One!

Hello once again!  Tonight I have a card to share that I made for the sweet little girl next door who is turning 1 years old tomorrow!  Little Lily is the apple of her daddy's eye, rightly so as she is adorable!  I made a fun card with one of the Storybook Friends stamps.

When I showed the stamped image of the cute puppy to my husband, he came up with the sentiment "It's fun to be 1!" which was created with a non-Stampin' Up! alpha stamp set I've had for years.  The cute font really adds to the "fun" of the focal image.

The layout was based on the latest sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers:

I even made a matching envelope with my Stampin' Up! Envelope Punch Board.  The designer paper used on the card and in making the envelope is Sweet Sorbet, which will be available free with a $50 purchase during Sale-A-Bration.  It is delightful and I love all the colors.

The word bubble and arrow are from the new Essentials Wooden Elements.  They will be available Jan. 3 in the new Occasions Spring catalogue.  I used Stazon Jet Black ink to stamp the sentiment on the word bubble and it worked perfectly.

Well, thanks for taking a look!  I hope you have a safe and fun New Year's!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Storybook Friends, Curlz Alphabet Stamps (JustRite)
Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Pool Party, Sahara Sand, Crisp Cantaloupe, Sweet Sorbet designer paper
Ink:  Jet Black Stazon, Sahara Sand
Accessories:  Essentials Wooden Elements, Crisp Cantaloupe Ruffled Trim, Scallop Border punch, White Baker's Twine, Bitty Button, Envelope Punch Board

It's Your Day

Yes, here I am, post number two for today, sharing a fun little card I worked on over the last week. I've made it for Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #200!  She has been and continues to be one of my favorite sketch artists and has a new sketch every other week.  Be sure to visit her blog and check it out.

Here's the sketch:

  http://kgiron.blogspot.com/

And here is my card:

A banner was substituted for the oval and then the main focal image mounted on top of it. The image with that super cute lizard is from Tag It.  Using the colors in the designer paper, I chose various markers to color the stamp.

To make the banner I adhered some Sweet Sorbet* designer paper that was slightly larger than the Banner Framelit** to black card stock, to give it enough girth, and then ran it through the Big Shot with the framelit.  I really love the use of black in the new upcoming designer papers both for SAB and the Occasions Spring Catalogue.  Most of the other designs in this particular set use it as just a highlight.

Okay, time to sign off for tonight.  As always, I appreciate your visit.  I may be back with another card tomorrow night, so check back if you have a chance.

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Tag It
Paper:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Pistachio Pudding, Sahara Sand, Sweet Sorbet designer paper*
Ink:  Basic Black, Sahara Sand, Pool Party, Pistachio Pudding, Summer Starfruit
Accessories:  Alphabet Press embossing folder, Hearts A Flutter Framelit, Banner Framelit**, Sweet Sorbet Accessory Pack (Pool Party Twine)*, Pool Party Baker's Twine, Sycamore Street Button Pack (2013 SAB)

*Available January 28 during Sale-A-Bration
**Available January 3 in the Occasions Spring Catalogue

Petals of Thanks

Hi once again!  I hope you've had a great weekend.  I'm shaking my head at how fast the last two months have gone, and in a couple of days we'll be ringing in the New Year.

Today my card is for a sketch challenge at Pals Paper arts.  I needed a thank you card, so I pulled out Peaceful Petals from the upcoming Occasions Spring Catalogue to create the card.

The image and sentiment were stamped in Versamark and embossed with Stampin' Up! Gold Embossing powder.  I put a light wash of Pink Pirouette over the flower.  After it was cut out with a Windows collection framelit, I cut in half a Gold Foil piece that was left unused from another project and popped it underneath the main image.

The vertical piece is Soft Suede card stock covered with two types of Watercolor Wonder Designer Washi Tape*.  The polka dot designer paper is from Beau Chateau, from the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalogue.  I love how new Stampin' Up! products can mesh so well with retired products, because heaven knows, I still have plenty of retired designer paper!  However, I will use up more of this paper to make a matching envelope with my favorite new tool, the Envelope Punch Board.

Below is the sketch and a link to the Pals Paper Arts.  You still have a little bit of time to play along to pop over there and take a look at all the inspiration!

http://www.palspaperarts.com/

Thanks for visiting today and I'd love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment!  I hope you have a great week and a very safe and happy New Year!

Hugs,

Stef


Product Details:
Stamps:  Peaceful Petals*
Paper:  Soft Suede, Pink Pirouette, Gold Foil, Watercolor, Beau Chateau designer paper
Ink:  Pink Pirouette, Versamark
Accessories:  Stampin' Emboss Gold embossing powder, Aquapainter, Chalk Talk and Windows Collection framelits, Watercolor Wonder Designer Washi Tape*.

*Available January 3.

Make A Wish

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you've had an enjoyable holiday and were able to spend it with those near and dear to you!  Our normal day of celebrating Christmas spans two days; yesterday with my daughter and her family (Hey, Jess, it was fun yesterday!) and today a quiet day with just my husband and me.  So, during the afternoon today, I was able to slip into my craft room and finish up this card.

I've been seeing the gold trend all over the Internet and decided to take the plunge with some of the new products in the upcoming Stampin' Up! Occasions catalogue (products available 1/3/14).  Maybe it's the holidays, or winter, but I've really come to love the look of gold and white.

I used the current sketch from Freshly Made Sketches for the layout of my card.  I'm also entering this in the Friday Mashup challenge to make something with bling.  While technically it doesn't have any sparkles on it, I think the gold and white make it glamorous enough to warrant an entry.  ;-)  Be sure to click on the links below and go check out the challenges, as both have extended deadlines due to the holidays, so there is still plenty of time to play along.

http://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/

http://www.fridaymashup.com/

I just love the banners in the sketch.  I made a couple out of vellum, one out of Gold Foil paper, one is a stamp from Perfect Pennants and one made with gold striped Washi tape that was applied to white card stock and then cut with the smallest Banners Framelit (all from the new Occasions catalogue).  The smallest framelit is just the right size width wise to use for cutting out the washi tape banner.

This card will be for my dear friend whose birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, so after I chose the sentiment, I had the epiphany of putting a star next to it.  I dug out a retired Star punch to cut out the Gold Foil star, which was then popped up on dimensionals.

Well, that's it until next time.  I hope to be back with another card sometime this weekend, as it's back to work for me the next two days.  I would love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave me a comment!

Hugs,

Stef


Product Details:
Stamps:  Perfect Pennants, Sweet Essentials, Gorgeous Grunge
Paper:  Whisper White (plain and textured), Gold Fancy Foil Designer Vellum, plain Vellum, Gold Foil
Ink:  Encore Gold
Accessories:  Banners Framelits, Watercolor Wonder Designer Washi Tape, Gold Baker's Twine, Scallop Border punch, Polka Dot embossing folder.

See Ya Later, Alligator!

Hi there once again!  The card I'm sharing today is for a bittersweet occasion.  My manager, for whom I have worked as a credit analyst then as assistant manager for nearly ten years, is retiring at the end of the year.  While I am so happy for him, change is always hard and no manager will ever be able to fill his shoes, sniff, sniff.  He is a happy person, full of energy so the card I made needed to be more on the fun side than the serious.

I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch for the layout.  I thought the banners gave it a festive feel.  The free stamp from the upcoming Sale-A-Bration catalogue (available starting January 28, 2014) is so fitting for a light hearted send off.  Since he and his wife are already intrepid travelers, the great designer paper tied in the map image and also had good masculine colors.  And the Pool Party and Summer Starfruit twine, also from the upcoming Sale-A-Bration catalogue, were perfect colors to match with this paper.

http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/

This was a fun sketch with lots of possibilities, one to tuck into the sketch file for future reference.

Thanks so much for dropping by and I'd love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment.  I hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas, full of fun and enjoyment!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  See Ya Later, Hearts A Flutter
Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Gray card stock and textured card stock, Pool Party textured card stock, Lucky Limeade, Epic Day This and That designer paper
Ink:  Pool Party; Markers:  Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray, Lucky Limeade
Accessories:  Hearts A Flutter and Ovals Collection framelits, Tiny Wave Stampin' Trimmer Rotary Cutting Blade,  Stampin' Trimmer, Pool Party and Summer Starfruit Twine (Sweet Sorbet accessory pack)

A Coastal Birthday for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge

Welcome back!!  Wow, can you believe, it's 10 days until Christmas?  Yikes!  My husband and I just got done addressing all our cards to be mailed...running a bit behind this year due to my surgery...but we got it done!  Yippee!  Now, just one more signing session for some of our co-workers and our Christmas cards are DONE!

Tonight I have two cards to share, both made with the current Sweet Sunday Sketch by Karen Giron.

http://kgiron.blogspot.com/2013/12/sweet-sunday-sketch-challenge-199.html

Both cards use the flower and a sentiment from Gifts of Kindness, but I stayed true to the sketch with the first card and flipped it with the second card.

This was the first time I've actually had the opportunity to use this stamp set since I acquired it earlier this fall.  I love the flower silhouette with polka dots (!) and all the beautiful sentiments.  I chose to use the Happy Birthday sentiment as that is the type of card I give the most and have a few friends and my sister (hey Sue! nope, this isn't yours ; - )) with upcoming big days!

The color choice was accidental.  I was flipping through the designer paper I'd neglected the most prior to making holiday cards, and realized I hadn't even touched the Eastern Elegance paper, so I picked out this lovely pattern of Coastal Cabana.  While I don't see black being used frequently in card making (and maybe I'm just a bit sheltered or something) but I think it looks fabulous, especially with something like this blue green color. The black pearls are Large Basic Pearls from Stampin' Up! and colored with a black marker. What an interesting process (like, black ink on my nails and palms).  I wish SU would come out with a small variety of colored pearls...ah, well, card making is always an adventure, right?  And I know a lot of this issue is me and not just the process of trying to color a half round object with a chiseled permanent ink marker, right?

The second card puts the sketch on it's side and allowed me to stamp the full floral image.  I used the cute Coastal Cabana Ruffle Trim at the bottom of the main image, and added Basic Rhinestones for some sparkle.  This card also had the embossed side up on the underlying card stock, versus the debossed side on the first card.

Well, I certainly appreciate your visit and hope all your Christmas preparations are well under way!  I hope your week ahead is productive and happy!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Gifts of Kindness
Paper:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Eastern Elegance designer paper
Ink:  Basic Black, Coastal Cabana
Accessories:  Black Satin ribbon, Coastal Cabana Ruffle Trim, Lacey Brocade embossing folder (ret.), Large Basic Pearls, Basic Rhinestones, Word Window and Modern Label punches.

Festive Flags for Freshly Made Sketches

Hello again!  I'm back with a card that was made for this week's challenge at Freshly Made Sketches. It's a great layout with flags popping out beneath the main image.

I know I said no more Christmas cards, but I had the sole survivor of my first attempt at using glitter with heat and stick powder laying about on my "to make" pile and decided I really needed to put it to use and today would be the day, as it would work perfectly with this sketch.  I trimmed the card stock, stamped Merry Christmas in Silver Encore ink and attached a couple of pieces of glimmer paper on each end, because it wasn't sparkly enough already (ha ha).

The flags were cut from the Winter Frost Specialty designer paper and laid down on the Island Indigo base.  I cut them prior to deciding to add the glimmer paper to the main image, so not as much shows as I had originally intended, but the glimmer paper was a must to put the right finishing touch on the main piece.

Since my personal glitter fiasco, my upline kindly advised that I was probably heating the heat and stick powder too long and that's why I wasn't getting the coverage on the other pieces I tried.  So, I will give it another shot, because it is really pretty when it works!

Well, that's it for today.  I sure appreciate your visit and would love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave a comment.  I would be especially grateful for any hints about making my next glitter adventure more successful LOL!!

Hugs,

Stef


Product detail:
Stamps:  Festive Flurry, Greetings of the Season
Paper:  Pool Party, Island Indigo, Silver Glimmer paper, Winter Frost Specialty designer paper
Ink:  Versamark, Encore Silver
Accessories:  Heat and Stick powder

When Skies Are Gray

Hi there again.  As promised, no more Christmas cards!  Instead I have a card that was made using this week's Mojo Monday sketch and the color challenge at Pals Paper Arts.

http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/ 

http://www.palspaperarts.com/

I love the colors in this week's challenge and finally found time to make a card for it and before the deadline too (!), which is tomorrow at noon EST.  So, see, you too still have time to play along!

I decided to use Whisper White rather than Very Vanilla as it just seemed more suitable for this card.

Isn't that sentiment fun?  It is a sneak peak of one of the new Sale-A-Bration sets you can earn by spending $50 or more beginning January 28, 2014.  As a demonstrator, I was allowed to earn it early with an order that I placed last week.  The full stamp also includes a cute sun peeking out behind rain clouds but it didn't fit with this card.  I omitted it by using markers to color just the sentiment.

The Smoky Slate base was stamped with the Polka Dot background stamp in the same color of ink,  The Elegant Eggplant panel was then run through the Big Shot with the Cloudy Day embossing folder and bordered by two lines embossed on the Simply Scored Scoring Tool. Yes, there's kind of a rain drops and clouds theme going on here in compliment with the sentiment.

I appreciate you dropping by and taking a look, and would love to hear from you if you have a moment to leave me a comment.

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  See Ya Later, Best of Flowers, Papillon Potpourri, Polka Dot backgrounder (ret.)
Paper:  Whisper White, Smoky Slate, Elegant Eggplant
Ink:  Smoky Slate, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories:  Cloudy Day embossing folder (ret.), Apothecary Accent framelit, Whisper White Baker's Twine, 1 3/8" circle and Bitty Butterfly punches, Simply Scored Scoring Tool

Joyful Wishes

Hi there!  A bonus post today.  I made this card earlier this afternoon for the challenge at Seize the Sketch (http://www.seizethesketch.blogspot.com/) but when I went to post it discovered I had missed the deadline!  Arrgghh!  At that point I decided to post another card to my blog that I had completed late last week and wait until tonight to share this one.

Doesn't that poinsettia look lovely?  I don't take credit for originating the idea of the technique used to create the flower, so I feel I can safely say that.  It's been all over the Internet and Splitcoast Stampers, so when Stampin' Up! had the set on sale the end of November, I succumbed to it's siren song.  The upside is that I think it will be one I will use in years to come, it is such a lovely image and sentiment.

The poinsettia image was stamped twice onto vellum card stock with Versamark, heat embossed with white embossing powder, then fussy cut with my paper snips.  While the hand cutting seems like a lot of extra work (yes, dies would have been much quicker!), the fact is the lines are pretty thick and it was not hard to cut out relative to many other Stampin' Up sets I've fussy cut.  The sentiment was heat embossed as well, but on to Winter Frost designer paper.  I reduced the card base to 5 1/2" x 3 7/8" so that the flower overhang would still fit into an A2 envelope.

Okay, all of you that check out my blog on a regular basis...a big sigh of relief...this will likely be the last Christmas card I post in 2013!  Thanks for putting up with the holiday overload, but it is rather my style for making holiday cards.  I really dislike making several of the same exact cards, let alone 60+, so I tend to make several styles.  Thanks for hanging in there!

Well, off to bed soon.  Take care and, again, have a great week ahead!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Joyful Christmas
Paper: Pool Party, Winter Frost Designer Series Paper Pack, Vellum
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories:  Stampin' Emboss White embossing powder, 1/8" Silver ribbon, Frosted finishes Embellishments.

Noel

Happy Sunday!  It's been record breaking weather here in the Northwest.  We had temps down as low as single digits, with high temps in the 20's.   Brrrr.  Of course, I know many in the Midwest and in Texas (!) have had much worse weather, with snow and freezing rain, so I guess we should count ourselves fortunate to have avoided the accompanying precipitation with these cold temps, at least for the present.

I have a card to share tonight that warms my heart due to the colors used:  Baked Brown Sugar, Cherry Cobbler and Champagne (Glimmer paper).

It's a shame that the glimmer paper and Baked Brown Sugar don't look as good together in the photo as they do IRL, especially with the gold embossed sentiment and branches stamped in gold ink.  The card stock looks like it's a bit more yellow in the photo.  The Cherry Cobbler paper added a rich brightness to the whole thing.

I used this week's Deconstructed Sketch for the layout:

http://deconstructingjen.com/deconstructed-sketch-129/

Another great sketch that was easy to use and make a card that will be easily mailed.  With the glimmer paper and the gold ink and embossing, it really didn't need anything more, at least in my mind.  ;-)

Thanks for taking a look!  I hope you have a great week ahead and be safe out there, those that are traveling through inclement weather.

Hugs,

Stef

Product details:

Stamps:  Greetings of the Season, Woodgrain, Peaceful Wishes (ret.)

Paper:  Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Baked Brown Sugar, Champagne Glimmer paper

Ink:  Gold pigment ink from Stampin' Up, Versamark

Accessories:  Corner Rounder punch, Ovals Collection framelits.

Merriest Christmas

Surprise!  I'm back with yet another Christmas card (I know, another one?) to share with you. This one was made for Mojo Monday.

http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/

What a fun and easy sketch!  I used the cute Santa stamp from the Tag It stamp set for the main image.

This card just makes me happy, with the festive colors and cute Santa.  Of course you almost need sunglasses because it is so bright LOL!  The image was stamped in Cherry Cobbler, then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I hand trimmed the stamped image then mounted it on Gumball Green card stock cut out with a Chalk Talk framelit.  Dazzling Details adds the sparkle.

You can see the Dazzling Details globbed up on one of the boots.  It was hard to see how much was coming out, so I didn't catch this until after it was dried.  Bummer!

Thanks for visiting once again!  I may be back later today or tomorrow with another post.

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Tag It
Paper:  Gumball Green, Textured Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Snow Festival designer paper
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler
Accessories:  Chalk Talk Framelit, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, Dazzling Details

A Silver Muse Christmas

Welcome back!  The card I have to share today uses this week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  Originally it was also to be for the Dynamic Duo challenge using the color Midnight Muse and another of your choice.  But I realized by the time I got done making the card yesterday, that the deadline was the day before.  Oops!

http://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/

When I first started making this card, I tried adding all sorts of extraneous "stuff" (ribbon, etc.) but it was just too over the top, so I opted to keep it super simple.

The Midnight Muse card base was stamped with snow flake stamps from the Festive Flurry and Snow Swirled stamp sets, inked up in Illuminate Pigment Ink.  I bought that ink last year and then it sat on my ink pad holder, so this is the first time I've used it.  It's very subtle, which is the effect I wanted against the Silver Glimmer paper strip.  It's a bit hard to photograph, so I'm not sure my pics do it justice.

The sentiment was stamped in silver, cut out and adhered along with three dots of Silver Glimmer paper.  A very CAS card for me but I love how it turned out, and how easy it was once I let go of the idea of adding a lot of additional embellies and whatnot.

Thanks for taking a look, I appreciate your visit!  This weekend will bring the great Christmas Tree Hunt and decorating the interior of the house, with lots of time to rest up in between.  I hope you have a fun filled weekend as well!

Hugs,

Stef


Product details:
Stamps:  Greetings of the Season, Festive Flurry, Snow Swirled (ret.)
Paper:  Midnight Muse, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer
Ink:  Colorbox Silver, Illuminate Pigment Ink
Accessories:  Large Scallop Edgelet, Corner Rounder punch, 1/8" Circle hand held punch (ret.)

Christmas Greetings

Hi there and welcome back!  I know it's been a while since I've posted (please see end of post for personal update) but I'm back with a card for the Paper Players challenge, just under the wire with less than a day to spare!

http://thepaperplayers.blogspot.com/

I went rooting around my craft room looking for something different to use for LeAnne's theme this week to make something evergreen.  I dusted off pulled out some old, retired Christmas paper and scrapping materials and then I spotted what I wanted...holly leaves stickers!  Holly leaves are evergreen (i.e. not deciduous) so I thought that might qualify.  I started playing around with what leftovers remained and some of the retired dp and here is what I came up with:

For years I have been challenged as to how to use the Simply Scrappin' remains on a card primarily due to the size, and also because I prefer to use stamps rather than stickers. (For those of you new to Stampin' Up!, Simply Scrappin' sets were discontinued a few years ago). Making a 5 x 5 card and turning the month on it's side allowed me to fit it all in.  I think this turned out kind of cute, especially with the Real Red Polka Dot ribbon.  Carrying the polka dot idea further, and since I needed a larger-than-A2 envelope, I was able to use up more of the retired dp with my Envelope Punch Board.

While leaving room for a written note, a greeting was stamped on the interior using the Endless Wishes photopolymer stamp set.

Thanks for the visit, I appreciate you taking a look!  I hope the remainder of your afternoon is great and that your Friday is productive and goes by quickly so you can enjoy the weekend!

Hugs,

Stef

Product details:
Stamps:  Endless Wishes
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Real Read, Dashing and Cerise retired designer paper.
Ink:  Real Red
Accessories:  Stickers (Christmas Jingle Simply Scrappin'), Envelope Punch Board, Basic Pearls, Real Red Grosgrain Polka Dot Ribbon, Scallop Border Trim and Corner Rounder punches.




On a personal note....

For those that don't know I had back surgery a week ago Tuesday.  Rather than coming home the same day, which was the expected result, I ended up spending the night in the hospital, and the recovery after returning home has been slower than I'd hoped.  The surgery went fine, there weren't any complications, it's just that the impact physically has been greater than my husband or I anticipated.  Fortunately he was here with me through Sunday and each day this week I felt improvement in shaking off the fog of the pain meds, at least for incrementally longer periods of time (don't know if that's good or the tolerance level is rising LOL!).  While I've dabbled in my craft room for short periods off and on this week, today was the first day I felt like I could complete a card and post it to my blog.  I'm planning on working from home next week, at least on a half day basis, so that too, is a step in the right direction!

Well, you all take care and I'm hoping to have a short post tomorrow if you have a chance to drop by!