Catching Up…

So, guess what?  Last week and this week I finally sat down and made the thank you cards from my DS’s 1st birthday!! (For those keeping score his 1st birthday was 9/1!)  But better late than never, right??  Thank you to Nicole for letting me borrow her Little Trucks stamp set (I think that was the name of it) so I could get that tractor image.  We had a tractor themed party and my FIL gave tractor rides that day, so it was a perfect stamp!  The designer paper used was really, really old so I have no idea what the name of it was.  I just know it was old because it is not double sided!  And now, of course, all of SU!’s dsp’s are double sided.  The card base is Wild Wasabi (a retired In Color from last year) and then I used Summer Sun and Brilliant Blue.  The ‘thank you’ comes from the now retiring Take Three stamp set.  I used the large star punch, 1" circle punch, and word window punch and popped up that sentiment with a dimensional.  It’s a simple design, but I am pleased to have made them all, written them all, and sent them all!!!!  If I find a copy of his invite lying around I’ll add that to this post.

Happy New Year’s Eve!

My Daughter’s Birthday Invitations

(Originally posted on November 10, 2008)

So, my baby girl (yes, she’s our middle child at the moment but she’ll always be our baby girl!) is turning 4 next month.  I can’t even believe it.  Of course she’s crazy excited for her party and has been busy making her own invitations for weeks now (not that any of them make their way out of the craft room or are remotely understandable!).  So yesterday I made her ‘real’ invitations.  Her favorite color is blue and she always asks for the green plate at lunch so I used those two colors as my starting point.  I loved the brightness of the Glossy White and using the blender pen on the Glossy White CS on my cupcake card earlier this week and I wanted to do something signifying ‘4′ (see the 4 balloons?), and I also like to try to use up some retired SU! items I have lying around.  With all that in mind, here’s what I ended up with.  (And apparently she likes them because all of her grandparents visited yesterday at some point and she showed her invites to all of them unprompted!)  I wish I could say the layout was all my idea but it wasn’t.  Something has to give, right? LOL So I CASEd the layout from ’sepia’ on SCS. 

Supply List

Stamp Set:
Crazy for Cupcakes
Lots of Thoughts (retired)
Inks: 
Old Olive Classic, Jet Black Stazon
Markers: Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Old Olive
Ink Refill: Cool Caribbean (retired)
Card Stock: 
Certainly Celery (8.5" x 5.5")
Always Artichoke (4" x 5.25")
Cool Caribbean (retired) (3.75" x 5")
Old Olive (4" x 3.25")
Glossy White (3.75" x 3")
A retired DSP which I think might be Petal Patch, but I’m not 100% sure (1.5" x 4")
Embellishments:
Always Artichoke brads (retired)
Punches:
1-3/8" circle, scallop circle, crop-a-dile
Accessories: 
blender pen, dimensionals 

Another Color Challenge

(Originally posted on November 6, 2008)

Okay, I think I just made Kristina’s deadline.  Boy, these colors were fun to work with once I finally got an idea!!!!!  It took SEVERAL tries and several stamp sets before I finally did this one.  It’s a litle bit simpler but I like how it turned out.  I CASED the layout from page 19 of the Holiday Mini Catalog.  And I cheated a teeny tiny bit and used Glossy White CS instead of Whisper White CS like Kristina put forth in her Color Challenge.  I used the Glossy White because I really wanted the cupcake to be bright and colorful and with such dark colors it just wasn’t looking right on plain Whisper White.  Plus I love the way a blender pen glides over Glossy White CS.

So, what do you think?  I know the blue watercoloring looks the same but the cupcake base was done in Pacific Point and the candle and sprinkles were colored in Taken with Teal.  And like how I snuck in a touch of Pumpkin Pie with the flame?

Supply List

Stamp Sets:
Crazy for Cupcakes, Polka Dot Background
Inks:
CLASSIC: Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie, Pacific Point, Elegant Eggplant, Jet Black Stazon
Card Stock: 
Elegant Eggplant (8.5" x 5.5")
Glossy White (2.25" x 3")
Pumpkin Pie (2-3/8" x 3-1/8")
Taken with Teal (2-5/8" x 3-3/8")
Embellishments:
Pacific Point Striped Ribbon
Punch:
My Way
Accessories: 
blender pen, dimensionals

Embrace Life

(Originally posted November 2, 2008)

Hi All,

I made a video today to share a cute little ornament with you all but I’m having trouble getting it uploaded.  Go figure.  But I wanted to share SOMEthing with you!  So here’s a card some of my customers will recognize from this past spring.  It is one of my favorites.  It uses the Embrace Life stamp set and the old Groovy Guava In Color, both DSP and ink.  But one could easily change out that Groovy Guava DSP and ink color for any of our other fabulous DSPs and colors.  It’s such a simple yet elegant card, don’t you think?  I stamped the flowers in the Timber Brown Stazon and water colored it in with a blender pen. 

Off to keep working on uploading that video tutorial…

Inspired by Nature, again…

So, here’s yet another card using the Inspired by Nature stamp set.  I just love this set!  And I got a few new fun things yesterday so I had to play with those too!  Remember that Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon I loved so much on Dawn’s Upsy Daisy card?  Got it.  And I also got the new large oval punch.  I think this is such a great all occasion card and these daisies were inspired by my neighbor’s daisies – hers really are pink!

This is actually one of the cards members of my Marker club will be making tonight.  Supplies used are:
Stamp Set: Inspired by Nature
Card Stock: Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red
Inks: Pads: Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, and Always Artichoke marker
Tools: large oval punch, scallop edge punch, stampin’ sponge, sponge dauber, blender pen, dimensionals
Accessory: Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon