Unfortunately this past week I needed two sympathy cards.  I himmed and hawed a long time of what stamp sets to use and of course what to say but I finally decided to go with the hydrangea in the new "Because I Care" hostess stamp set and the medallion stamp from "Artistic Etchings".  For the medallion I used the baby wipe stamp pad techinque.  To do that I took a wipe and folded it in quarters.  Then I put drops of So Saffron, Old Olive, and Pink Pirouette ink on the baby wipe and used the wipe as my stamp pad.  For the hydrangea, I stamped it in Stazon and used my markers to color it in, then cut it out and used my 2 way glue pen to adhere it to the card front.  There are some subtle differences in the cards as well.  The ribbons are different shades of brown and on one card I used the new Smooch Illuminate top coat in the center of the flowers. 

This month’s stamp a stack class was held on the first Tuesday of the month.  Here are the cards the ladies created.  3 each of the 4 designs.  The leprechaun (isn’t he cute?) wasn’t my original idea – I found him through Ann Clemmer.  I used My Digital Studio to print out the sentiments as I don’t have a large sentiment for St. Patrick’s Day.  (There is a nice ‘happy st patrick’s day’ in Teeny Tiny Wishes but I wanted something bigger!)  And it’s hard to tell but the three dots below the leprechaun are actually 1/4" circles punched from Brushed Gold Card stock.  And can I tell you how much I LOVE the new Polka dots embossing folder?????  It makes the blow easier to take from SU! retiring the Polka Dots background stamp on me!  I know you can’t really see it in the picture but I used the embossing folder (with the Big Shot) on the Basic Black layers and wham!  It adds dimension like you wouldn’t believe!

Other Products Used:

Stamp Sets: Bloomin’ Beautiful, Vintage Vogue, Very Vintage Jumbo Wheel
Designer Paper: Sweet Pea
Ribbons: Chocolate Chip Taffeta and Basic Gray 5/8" Satin
Brads: gold and clear rhinestones

NEXT MONTH’S STAMP A STACK IS MEETING ON TUESDAY, MARCH 2ND.   We will be creating 6 Easter cards and 6 cards geared toward women for any occasion.  Class fee is $25.  Please e-mail me if you’d like to join us!

Tonight was one of those nights where I realized how much I truly love stamping.  Sometimes I get so bogged down with the constant worrying of coming up with projects for all of my classes, clubs, stamp a stacks, etc that I forget why I do this.  I LOVE STAMPING and more importantly I LOVE STAMPIN’ UP!.  I love this company that can still give me butterflies in my stomach when playing with a new product.  I love this company that strives to provide us with the most recent images, accessories, embellishments, etc and teaches us ways to use them.  Okay, okay… what am I talking about? 

Well, a lot of my customers should be receiving their Holiday mini catalog sometime this week and if you buy nothing else from it (haha!  ya right!  this mini catalog is amazing!) you HAVE TO GET SOME SHIMMER PAINT.  Some of you may remember how GA-GA I was over Pearl Ex… well my GA-GA-ness is back!  LOL  I know this scan does a yucky job of showing the shimmer, but those of you stamping with me on the 24th are going to go GA-GA with me.  I know you’ll be using the product a week before you can order it, but you’ll be thanking me I’m sure!  It’s JUST BEAUTIFUL and so easy to work with.

And why I digressed… I was trying to participate in Taylor’s sketch challenge for the first time in months and I digressed from the sketch… I flipped it on its side, changed the location and orientation of the accent piece, and didn’t use two different backgrounds.  So… it doesn’t really follow the sketch anymore but this is yet another reminder of how much I love this craft that I do.  Just let the creativity flow, play with high quality products, and it just works!

I’ll attempt to get a picture of this card so you can see the leaves and butterflies shimmer as well.

Edited:  HA!  I just looked at the post and then at my card IRL… there’s just no comparison.  I wish you could all see this card IRL!  I’m not one to boast about my cards, and really I’m not here either, just in heaven with the shimmer paint and want you all to see how gorgeous it is!  I’ll work hard on taking a decent picture tomorrow!

Any better???  I know you still can’t see the shimmer on the leaves or butterfly but maybe you can see it better on the Bravo Burgundy background?