A July Birthday

My brother, Sam, has is birthday in July. When I was planning his card I must have been caught up in challenge fever, and decided to see if I could make a red, white and blue birthday card that wasn't a 4th of July card. 

I got the idea for the ribbon banners form a Lawn Fawn YouTube.  I used Pacific Point for the card base, whisper white for the layer, and some old in color ribbon in Poppy Parade.  I didn't have blue bakers twine, so I colored white with my Pacific Point marker.

Sketch Challenge Crazy

I think I have gone challenge crazy!  I have bunches of cards for August birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, etc, and I have been looking to challenges for inspiration.  This one is for the Create with Connie and Mary #261.

       

I came up with this:

I didn't notice until now that I had covered up part of the words.  I'll have to fix that. hehe.  I made this as a birthday card, using the Happy Birthday sentiment that came with the set on the inside. I picked Pool Party and found a color combination in the Color Coach. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, overall.

Thanks for looking!

products:

card stock:      Not Quite Navy (retired), So Saffron, Very Vanilla

DSP:               Pool Party (retired pattern)

ink:                  Not Quite Navy, Pool Party, So Saffron

tools:               Lace Ribbon Border Punch (retired), Triple Blossom Punch (retired), flower                                 from Itty Bitty punch pack, Labels Framelitts

Greetings Earthling

The card I made for today was for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge.



I used one of the very first Stampin' Up! set I bought, Greetings Earthlings.

I'm not a huge fan of coloring little images. Probably because I'm not great at it. But I have a nephew with a birthday coming up and this stamp set is perfect for him.  I wanted the patterned paper to have spots like the alien, so I dug through my stash and found an old Stampin' Up! DSP. I couldn't handle the empty space when I got done, so I stamped the same alien in Tangerine Tango ink to fill the void.

Thanks for looking!

Products:
cardstock:     Tangerine Tango, Whisper White
DSP:              Bring in the cake
stamp set:     Greeting Earthlings
ink:                 Early Espresso, Garden Green, So Saffron, Marina Mist, Tangerine Tango
tools:              many marvelous markers

Stampin' Up! only challenges #74

I've been trying my hand a some challenges lately.  I'm not always good at following the rules, but the SUO challenges make it easier because the product is AWESOME! The rules are on their blog, but basically you are to use Stampin' Up! products only.  For my card this time, I tried a water color background using a color combination I saw on Pinterest.

I used my Stamp and Write markers and clear block E and colored down the block in Basic Black, Basic Grey, Island Indigo, Bermuda Bay, Pool Party and Smoky Slate.  Then I took a Stampin' Spritzer filled with rubbing alcohol and sprayed the clear block until the ink wasn't splotchy and began to run together. I let it dry over night, mostly because it was getting late. Alcohol doesn't take as long as water to dry.  In the morning, I stamped the Bermuda Bay card base with Bermuda Bay ink, stamped off, added the panel that I stamped the image and ribbon to.  Included a punched sentiment and presto.....cool card!

The challenge was a get well card, but I realized that just a small change would make this work for anything.

Thanks for looking!
all images copyright Stampin' Up!
card stock:      Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Smoky Slate
ink:                    Bermuda Bay, Island Indigo, Basic Grey
ribbon:              Pool Party ruffled ribbon
stamps:            Inspired by Nature, Simply Soft, Word Play
tools:                Decorative Label Punch, Petite Curly Label Punch, stamp a ma jig, clear blocks

Thinking of you

We often need sympathy or thinking of you cards, and they are some of the hardest to make, because they are unexpected.  I try to have a few on hand, so that when a friend is having a hard time, I can add a few personal touches and message and get it in the mail.  I also usually make these cards two at a time just to keep  my stash from running low. 

The card base is 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 inches in Very Vanilla . I layered a piece of retired DSP (Domestic goddess) cut at 5 1/4 by 3 inches. There is a small line of Pool Party in the DSP, so I added Pool Party ruffled ribbon. I stamped the Triple Treat Flower in Pool Party and So Saffron on Very Vanilla, added dimensionals and a Basic Grey courdery brad from my stash. I punched the flowers out with the Fancy Flower and 5 Petal Flower punches.  Last but not least, the top was rather emmpty so I added some butterflies from the Beautiful Wings embosslit in the same DSP, using the reverse side. The semtiment is from The Word Play stamp set in Pool Party ink. I used my marker to ink up half the semtament for the front and half for the inside.

Grab and Stamp

Sometimes when I need a craft fix, or when I need a card that I haven't already decided planned, I grab a stamp set or pieces of a few stamp sets and some paper scraps and see what happens.  Occasionally it turns out good and usable.  Most of the time, I have to walk away and come back later and "fix" it.  Now, there are no mistakes in paper crating, just potential.      

 The sets I grabbed this time were Tool Shed, Word Play, and Pennant Parade. I used a store bought card base from my stash and Newsprint Designer Series Paper (DSP).  The card base was stamped in Early Espresso ink and the Hello in Crumb Cake. Wish Big was stamped in Real Red, punched with the Label punch, layered with another layer punch in Early Espresso. I sponged the edges of everything in Early Espresso ink.

Lots of birthdays

My husband and I come from larger than usual families. That means I have lots of card making opportunities; birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, new babies. I started making cards before I ever heard of Stampin' Up!, so my stash still has some other products that sometimes I use.

For example, the embossing folder here was one of the very first I bought. I saw this a version of   this card on pinterest from jaymamalme.blogspot.com and loved it. It's cute and simple and won't be too hard to mail. (most of my cards are mailed) Not too much bulk.

card base: Soft Suede 8.5 by 11 cut at 4 1/4, scored and folded at 5.5
Layer: Pink Pirouette 4 by 5 1/4, embossed
I eyeballed the gift sizes starting at about 3 inches across and 1.5 inches tall from Cheerful Treat Designer  Series Paper (DSP)
stamp: Tiny Tags in Lucky Limeade (retired) ink
the embossed layer was sponged with Soft Suede ink, as were all the edges
the ribbon is Chocolate Chip (retired)

Create With Connie and Mary #260

Color challenge and shape challenge all in one. This week Create with Connie and Mary is just that.




The colors were the easy part, I love this years In Colors from Stampin' Up! And Calypso is one of my favorites!!  The shape wasn't to hard in thought, in practice, it took a couple of tries, and rethinking, but I came up with this:

The shape was cut with the largest Labels Frameletts in Crisp Cantaloupe. The banners are in Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe, and Calypso Coral. The Butterflies were cut with the Beautiful Wings embosslit. I also used some retired Calypso Coral ribbon.

Freshly Made Sketches #94

I made a card for the Freshly Made Sketches blog #94. I'm leaving my comfort zone like crazy these days. Not by completing the challenge, but by posting it.





 I like sketch challenges, I think. This was a little harder than I thought it would be buts that probably just because it was me.  I tend to over think things. But here is what I came up with.

Base in Smoky Grey
Layer of Domestic Goddess Designer Series Paper (DSP retired)
Daffodil Delight punched with the Scallop Trim Border punch
Pool Party Strip stamped in Smoky Grey with the Your My type stamp set
Pinwheel in Calypso Coral, Pool Party and Daffodil Delight

Country Wedding

My cousin got married this spring and in true county fashion wore cowboy boots with her dress. I should mention that she has the most amazing shade of blue eyes (like our grandmother) and chose soft blue and cream for her colors. I new the cowboy boot from the Bootiful Occasions stamp set would be awesome, maybe. (a cowboy boot on a wedding card?)

So to make this a wedding card I used the triple time stamping technique, where you stamp the image on all three layers at the same time then mount them on mats. 

The card base and mats are Bashful Blue, I stamped the boot in Bashful Blue on Very Vanilla. I added a flower from Tiny Tags in Crumb Cake, stamped off. 

The sentiment is in Crumb Cake, punched with the word window punch, layered on the modern label punch. 

The flowers were some I have had in my stash, from where I don't know, I've had them forever! and they match great!

Birthday cards

I had two friends with birthdays the same week last month which gave me more reasons to play in my craft room. This was my first experiment with the chalk board technique and there were many tries before I got the final result the way I envisioned.

 

Very Vanilla card base, Gumball Green layer, Prints Poetry DSP, Basic Black,Midnight Muse ribbon stamped in Whisper White with Vintage Verses stamp set.

Very Vanilla card base, Calypso Coral, News Print DSP, Basic Black, Calypso Coral ribbon, stamped in Whisper White with the feeling Sentimental stamp set.

Some of my favorite things

I am headed into new territory today. This card was made for a blog challenge at http://suochallenges.com. The challenge is to make a project using your favorite Stampin' Up! accessory. I'm not sure what my FAVORITE accessory is, but currently I find myself reaching for embossing folders and frameletts.

The card base is Soft Suede cut at 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, scored at 4 1/4 stamped with Soft Suede ink with the En Francois stamp.
My layer is So Saffron cut with the Ovals frameletts, embossed with the Honeycomb embossing folder.
The image is the dress cut from Spice Cake fabric with the Dress up frameletts set.
I wrapped Early Espresso bakers twine around the middle and added to tags stamped in Soft Suede with the Tiny Tags stamp set.

Chalk Board Technique

I normally don't use pigment ink. I am impatient and it takes too long to dry. When I've got my craft groove on, I don't like to be slowed down by silly things like ink drying :) That being said I am in love with the Chalk Board Technique. It makes very pretty cards but can also be used in masculine cards like this one:

The Idea is to make the card front look like a chalk board using white ink or embossing powder on black paper.  I prefer to use the Whisper White craft ink. I like the almost erased look the craft ink gives. It is a longer drying time than other Stampin' Up! inks, but the result is worth it.

I used the Sale-a-bration set Feeling Sentimental in Whisper White ink on Basic Black card stock. Layered it with Always Artichoke DSP and put it all on a Cajun Craze card base.

Stamping in the middle

I watched a video recently on Stampingimperfection's you tube channel called "stamp in the middle". It's a technique that allows your sentiment to be the focal point of your card front. What a great idea! There are so many word art and subway art sentiments that I had to try it.

I pulled out my color coach. (A very cool tool from Stampin' Up!) and chose a color combination that I hadn't tried before.

The card base is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 Summer Starfruit
The layer is  4 x 5 1/4 Marina Mist embossed with the Framed Tulips embossing folder
The imaged is stamped on Whisper White 3 x 4 1/4 in Summer Starfruit and Marina Mist

I stamped the sentiment from Word Play in the middle toward the top in Marina Mist.  Then I used my stamp and write marker in Marina Mist and a ruler to draw lines across the top and bottom.  Using post it notes, i masked off the line and sentiment and stamped the flourish in Summer Starfruit. The Real Red butterflies were punched with the Beautiful Wings embosslit.