Mother's Day Cards

Since my mom already received it, I can share the springy card I made for Mother's Day.

I just LOVE this card design. Not too difficult, and packs a big WOW factor. 

To make it extra special, I added a little glitter and made a coordinating envelope. 

 

I love my mom! Big shout-out to her for sitting at the booth with me for 8+ hours at a craft fair last week! :) One of my best sellers was this adorable little flower pot Mother's Day pocket card (inspired by Julie Davison).

 

My sisters, best friend, and grandma all received this one from me. I love them all too! :)

FYI - The Blossom Punch & Mixed Bunch Stamp Set are only available through 6/2/15 while supplies last!

 

Fun Fold Card

Stamps: Mixed Bunch, All Holidays
Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe, Pool Party, Sahara Sand
Paper: Pool Party Coredinations, Sweet Sorbet DSP, Summer Starfruit CS, Whisper White CS
Tools: Blossom Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Envelope Punch Board
Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, 2-Way Glue Pen, Stampin' Dimensionals

Flower Pot Card 
Stamps: Petal Potpourri, All Holidays
Ink: Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive
Paper: Rich Razzleberry CS, Whisper White CS
Tools: Flower Medallion Punch, Berry Basket Bigz Die, Big Shot
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals

italics = retired product

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

New Product and Weekly Deals

Look at the beautiful new Festive Flurry Ornament Kit that Stampin' Up! just released!

All you need is a hot glue gun - the kit includes the pre-printed and scored cardstock to make ten ornaments. It also includes the ribbon and rhinestones for the finishing touch! I plan to use them as decorations for a friend's baby's birthday party in December. It's her first birthday, and the theme of the party is "Winter One-derland." How cute (and appropriate!).

Stampin' Up! even made a video to show how to make these beauties. Last year's ornament kit sold out in less than a week, so get it while supplies last!



Also, check out the new Weekly Deals!

A Winter Wreath

Hehe I'm following an autumn wreath with a winter wreath! I managed to squeeze three challenges into this one card: Sketch Saturday #283, Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge - Welcome Home, and Color Throwdown #267. (I'm also submitting this card to the Christmas Cards All Year Round blog's November challenge - Winter Wonderland.)

With the two green colors, I thought "I could make a wreath!" However, I don't have any wreath stamps, and wasn't feeling creative enough to free-hand one. So, I changed gears and went with a non-traditional wreath of snowflakes, using the adorable retired hostess set, Four Seasons! (Love the little birdies in this set... even though they didn't make an appearance for this particular card.)

I had trouble coming up with a sentiment to use. "Merry Christmas" just didn't seem appropriate for such a non-traditional Christmas card color scheme. I finally found this retired sentiment, which I thought was clever. As in, "warm" wishes to combat the cold snow!

I think the Glimmer Brads add just the right amount of sparkle to jazz up this card.

I made a coordinating Very Vanilla envelope using the Envelope Liners Framelit dies in the Holiday Catalog. I just recently got them, but they are a MUST-HAVE! Between them and the Envelope Punch Board, I ALWAYS make a matching envelope for my cards now!

As a fun little surprise for the recipient, I kept stamping the background snowflakes onto the back of the card as well (not pictured).


Stamps: Four Seasons, Hugs & Wishes 
Paper: Tempting Turquoise Prints DSP, Crumb Cake CS, Tempting Turquoise CS, Old Olive CS, Always Artichoke CS, Very Vanilla CS
Colors: Tempting Turquoise Marker, Old Olive Marker, Always Artichoke Ink/Marker
Tools: 1" Circle Punch, 2-1/2" Circle Punch, 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Punch, Hexagon Punch (for flagged ends), Paper Piercer (for brads), Big Shot, Envelope Liners Framelits
Accessories: Brights Glimmer Brads, Stampin' Dimensionals 

italics = retired product

Autumn Wreath & Cards (& Sale!)

Stampin' Up! is continuing their Weekly Deals! Every Tuesday, look for new items on sale! Here are this week's items:

My favorite of these items is the Autumn Accents Bigz Die. This is a MUST-HAVE. Check out this awesome wreath I made using this die with Stampin' Up! cardstock and Designer Series Paper. I'm entering my wreath into the current Crafty Creations Challenge - Autumn Colours, and the Crafting for All Seasons Challenge #64 - also Autumn Colours.

Doesn't it look so nice against the natural wood of my current apartment door? :)

I got a styrofoam wreath from Michael's and just used straight pins to attach all the leaves. I made sure to first kind of wrap them around to coat the wreath itself, so the green styrofoam wouldn't show through. Then I just continued adding leaves until I was happy with the look! I wish I had kept track of how many leaves it took, but I did not. My guess is... maybe 150?

Here are some cards that also use the Autumn Accents Bigz Die. This first one uses the Adorning Accents Embossing Folder, which is also on sale. 

Tis the Season... for Sparkle!

This weekend has been wonderful - I had absolutely NOTHING planned! So yesterday I got to do some stamping and knitting, and today I've already made a cute little Christmas card!

In my search for card challenges yesterday, I came across this fun blog: Tis the Season. The color combo for their second challenge (TTS2) is right up my alley! I actually made a card with a similar color scheme 7 years ago (see below), back when I first started stamping and had very little stamps and supplies! (These stamps were actually Close to My Heart, I think. Before I became an SU! purist. I even used the masking technique - and I had only been stamping for a month! I'm so proud of my early-stamping self.)

In a way, I think it may have been easier to create when I had just a few stamp sets and I really had to think outside the box. My current inventory might look desirable, but honestly I can't even remember what sets I have and I constantly need to pull everything out and browse to find anything. It's kind of ridiculous. I have 7 cubes filled with stamps. SEVEN!! If I ever get the time and energy, I may just need to start selling stuff on ebay just to de-clutter and simplify!

Besides the sickening number of stamps, check out how otherwise adorable my stamping area is!! The rest of the apartment may still need some work, but I finally finished this part. :)

Anyway, back to the color challenge. It's definitely non-traditional, but I love it! I was having trouble deciding on a layout/idea, but then this morning on Pinterest I found this card. It even has the right colors for the challenge! So I totally CASEd it.

I love that I was even able to use the "optional trimming" of glitter! Fun stuff! I think I'll keep up with this blog and maybe it'll help me get my Christmas cards made and sent out on time this year! Hey, there's a first time for everything! ;)

The size of this old ornament punch calls for a wider card if you want to fit 3 across. Because I have the new Envelope Punch Board, I didn't have to worry about finding an envelope to fit an oddly-shaped card: I can just make one! So I used some old Tempting Turquoise DSP. The card front is 3" x 6". I had never really tried the white-on-white look, but it seems so classy, and I like how it turned out! Thanks to the bright gorgeous sun making an appearance today, you can see shadows showing the dimension on my card.

Stamps: Delightful Decorations, Snowfall
Paper: Tempting Turquoise Prints DSP, Whisper White CS
Colors: Tempting Turquoise Marker/Ink, Pear Pizzazz Marker/Ink, Melon Mambo Marker/Ink
Tools: Envelope Punch Board, Paper Piercer & Mat, Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack, Heat Tool, VersaMark Ink Pad, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Ticket Corner Punch, Ornament Punch
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals 

italics = retired product