Boy Birthday Cards

I don't know about you, but sometimes cards for men and boys are hard. I try to pretty them up too much. When I saw the Simply Stars stamp set in the new annual catalog I knew it would be perfect for boy cards and I love the idea of stamping in the colors of the rainbow.

There are 2 large and 2 small stars in this set, then I filled in the empty spaces with a tiny star from Pendant Parade. 

I started in one corner and went in ROY G BIV  (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) order to the opposite corner alternating stamps and colors. 

All products are Stampin' Up!

4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch card base in Pacific Point

4 x 5 1/4 inch layer in Whisper White

stamp sets Simply Stars and Pendant Parade

colors: Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Garden Green, Pacific Point, and Elegant Eggplant

Thank you in ombre

It's interesting how trends seem to move from one area of our lives to another. For example, Ombre. I've seen it in hair color, clothing, nail polish and even cards.  This effect is reached by stacking different shades of color in a pattern, like on this thank you card.

This technique is easy to do with the new(ish) firm foam ink pads from Stampin' Up! Because they are so juicy, you can stamp easily 3 times, like I did here, without re-inking your stamp. It gives the perfect reduction of color.

All products are Stampin' Up!

card base 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 Perfect Plumb

layer 4 x 5 1/4 whisper white

banners in Crumb Cake and Perfect Plumb

Early Espresso bakers twine

stamped with Primrose Petals and Very Vanilla

Vintage Verses stamp set (sale a bration) and Inspired by Nature 

Fathers's Day

We live in Virginia and my Dad and Father in Law out west in Idaho and Utah, so I had to mail their Father's Day cards. I didn't want to spoil the surprise by posting them before I was sure they had arrived; so here they are.

For my Husband:

I used a Crumb Cake card base cut at 4 1/4 to stand tall
The layer is Garden Green embossed with the Honeycomb embossing folder
The flags were made from First Edition Designer Series  Paper (retired)
I sponged everything in Early Espresso
The sentiment is from Best Dad Ever (retired)

 This one has a Very Vanilla card base also with a top fold.

The layer is Basic Black
The image is from a Sale-a-bration set called  Feeling Sentimental stamped in Basic Black on a 2 1/2 inch circle of Very Vanilla
The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes on Very Vanilla punched with the Word Window punch layered with Basic Black punched with the modern Label Punch

Early Espresso card base with a layer of Designer Series Paper  from last winters mini catalog

The Colors are Island Indigo, Early Espresso and Bashful Blue

The image is from the same Sale-a-bration set, Feeling Sentimental (can you tell I love it) in Early Espresso

and the sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes again.

Digital Creations

I needed an anniversary card this week for my hubby; we have been married 19 years.  I wanted to make him a card that was digital, because he is a tech kind of guy.  As I was creating his card, I thought it would make a good post as well.  Maybe introduce someone to the coolness (is that a word?) of digital creating.  Cards, scrapbook pages, wall art anything you can imagine, professionally printed or printed from home, like I did.  The results are pretty cool.

I used My Digital Studio to create all four panels of this card. (The inside and back of the card are white and didn't photograph well, so I haven't added them.)  
The front layer is Pool Party. 
The  Curly Label Punch had been stretched larger than the actual punch and filled with Crushed Curry Designer Series Paper.
The large tag punch is filled with Island Indigo. 
The modern label punch is Pool Party stamped with Teeny Tiny Wishes in Island Indigo. 
All digital. Pretty Cool.

More graduation

It seems like every time I think I'm ahead of the curve, I get another announcement in the mail. So here is another graduation card I made this year. All of the ones I made followed the same two sketches, some with major changes because of multiple students from that school. Some with minor or no changes at all.

With wedding season approaching, I'll have even more cards to share.

Enjoy!

I found this on Pinterest as well. The link was for an ebay store, so comment if it's yours so I can give you credit.

I used:

Basic Black 8 1/2 x 11 inch, cut at 4 1/4, scored at 5 1/2

Whisper White panel 4 by 5 1/4

fish tail banners from DSP stacks in white and black and the Prints Poetry stack from the spring  catalog.

Word Play stamp set (retired) on Whisper White, bordered with Gumball Green

Graduation season is among us

As the end of the school year approaches there are many card making day in our house.  teacher thank you's and graduation cards abound.  This year graduation cards were hard for me to come up with.  So I looked at many blogs and websites for a sketch or photo until I was inspired.  I found many cards, but two were exactly what I needed.  Flat enough to mail, with enough going on to not be boring.  So I added a banner or bow here and there, changed the colors to go with the 5 or 6 schools I needed cards for and.....perfection.

OK so maybe not perfection, but great cards any way.

I saw this one on Pinterest from stampinconnection.com
I used:
Basic Black base 8.5 x 11 cut in half at 4 1/4, scored at 5 1/2
Sahara Sand panel on top and inside 4x 5 1/4 inches
fish tail banners from the Designer Series Paper stacks in Basic Black, Sahara Sand, and Real Red
Pure Gumption stamp set
die cut numbers, star brads and a bow

Welcome to my world

My baby boy just turned 1. Yikes! His birthday reminded me that it's nearly time for my first career change as an adult. I have happily been a stay at home mom for the last 17 years, but as the youngest children grow up, I realize that it's time to start thinking about what comes next. Next for me is turning my hobby into something more.  I have been a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for about 3 years as a hobbyist. Now comes the next step.
Here on my blog I will share creations from my craft room and posts with techniques for you to try in your crafting time. Come along for the ride! I hope you enjoy it.

Very Vanilla card base
En Francais stamped in Soft Suede
Pool Party layer cut with Ovals framelets
Spiced Cake fabric square cut with Dress Up frameletts