Mother's Day Card

I'm thinking that my mom will get her Mother's Day card today sometime so I can finally post this card which I cased from Wickedly Wonderful Creations here.  The tulips are made from the small heart punch cut in half--3 pieces per tulip.  There are directions on Wendy's blog that I've linked you to.

I love the fresh colors with this--but I've always been a fan of red and white!  =-)

New..to me....Papillon Potpourri

I have seen so many beautiful cards made with this set that I finally had to get it to go with the punch that I'd purchased earlier in the year.  Here are 2 of the cards that I cased--with my favorite being the first because it is so versatile!  I made a card just like it earlier this week for a friend who was retiring and just had it say "happy,  happy,  happy....retirement."  It turned out really cute!

Cute huh?  I changed the colors a bit from Diane's card here--cute layout!  I'm trying to use up some things that are retiring that I have hanging around my stamping room.  You'll have to go to page 2 of her blog to see the post from April 18, 2013.

Here's another card that uses the small butterfly punch, the retiring 2 tags die and the small butterfly from the Papillon Potpourri set --  I used retiring certainly celery and not quite navy paper.  So sad to see the 2 tags die go!  =-(

I'm off to the Dr. tomorrow to see if I'm looking at a 3rd sinus surgery in 2 years--I'm hoping not, but we'll see!

Morning Cup

I'm not a coffee drinker--never have been, but most of my family is VERY into their coffee.  They love Starbucks, The Well (a local coffee place) or any little place that serves a variety of coffees.  So when SU came out with this set I was excited to see it, get it, .....and never use it!  Seriously!  I just couldn't ever find a time to send a card using this set.  So here are two cards using this set that I cased recently...

This I cased from Melissa Davies -- I really like the way it turned out.  =-)  And then this is a case from Elizabeth Green who is a SU demonstrator in Canada.  It was embedded in one of her videos....where she highlights the retiring Two Tags die--one that I'm really sad is retiring!

I'll be back tomorrow with a card that is made from a set that is NOT retiring!  =-)

A Little Organization....please.

I've been spending the last 2 weeks reorganizing.  My stamping area with some new (used) furniture, my paper and ink by pulling out the retiring colors and putting in the new with labels etc... and lastly pulling out all of the retired stamp sets that are on the list from this year and moving them to my retired stamp shelves (which are becoming entirely too full)!

I've decided that May should be a month of saying good-bye to the old and giving a shout out to the new!

As I stamped today I had some helpers---Hank the Cat and Daisy the Dog had to sit by and watch me in action....

I lost a bunch of stamp sets with this retirement list....some that never saw ink I'm sad to say.  This card was made with one of those sets....

...Circle Circus.  I think I maybe made one other card with it about 8 months ago.  I cased this from a design by Catherine Pooler.

My card with a current set is this...

....Betsy's Blossom.  I did use some retiring ribbon and the sentiment is retiring--one of my favorite sets-  Friendly Phrases.  I also am trying to use up some of my Certainly Celery paper since I have a bunch of it!  I cased this from HandStampedStyle.com.  

New Stuff Coming!

On top of the color change that's coming with the next catalog for Stampin' Up...

.... we have a new group of "in-colors"--I'm reading my demonstrator magazine "Stampin' Success" and I'm looking at a cute card and reading the list of things used to make it and here are the color names that I read......

Coastal Cabana--light aqua bluish color

Pistachio Pudding--light green

Baked Brown Sugar---looks like a darker crumb cake

Strawberry Slush--looks like a pinky red??

Crisp Cantaloupe--light orange/coralish

Andy there you have it!  They are actually very pretty, ice-creamish shaded colors.  Can't wait to see them in real life!

On another note--I got my 2nd Paper Pumpkin kit today--seriously! (that's a joke you'll get when you see the kit)  I'll get some pictures taken as soon as I can--right now I'm moving stuff around--I bought some used office furniture and am getting it moved in this afternoon--so all my stuff is piled on a table.

Stamping Party Fun!

One of these days I'm going to remember to get my camera out and take pictures of us at our stamping party!  We had a great time Tuesday night--talking, laughing and creating together!  The time we spend together is one of my highlights each month!  Last night's party was a bit of a stretch for me--due to an unexpected Dr. appointment in Kansas City I was not able to make examples of all the cards I demonstrated ahead of time.....so it was a bit of an adventure!

Before I show you the cards I just want to say that I'm in love with the ideas on Julie Davison's blog right now!  I wish I had a 10th of her creativity, but I don't so I cased several--(maybe more) ideas from her for this month's party.  I haven't had time to go back too far on her site, but everything I've seen --- I LOVE!  Please take the time to check it out here-- Julie's Stamping Spot.  I'll direct you to the exact post for cards that I did case under each card--the link above will take you to her home page.

Here are the cards I demonstrated last night:

I started off with 2  five minute (or less) cards.  I've already posted one of them here, but I'll put up a picture again--I also made matching envelopes for each of the cards.  The first uses the new Washi Tape that comes in the "This and That" bundle, but is also available separately.  I didn't know what all the fuss was about this stuff, but it's fun and easy to work with!  I cased it from Julie here.

The second card used the thumping (with a Regal Rose marker) technique after the stamp was inked up with Pink Pirouette.  The sentiment is stamped with Basic Gray.  I really do love the delicate quality this gives the flower in the Blooming with Kindness set.  You can't tell from the photo, but I added a couple of spritzes of my champagne mist spray (mixed with rubbing alcohol) to give the card some glimmer.

Then I made a card also cased from Julie, here, that uses the bottle caps from the spring catalog as the focal point.  It uses Patio Party dsp, midnight muse, primrose petals, summer starfruit and crumb cake.  The center of the bottle cap is punched with a 1" punch and uses the banner from Collage Curios and sentiment from Pennant Parade.

Then I did a couple of cards using the big butterfly stamp, Swallowtail.  The first card followed the directions in the Spring catalog to emboss and then use the champagne mist glimmer paint.  No picture-my card turned out UGLY!  =-)  It might have been the fact that I didn't have the pool party embossing powder....I will say the glimmer was lovely and I will try it again.

The second Swallowtail card turned out great!  I cased it from Brenda Quintana, here.  You stamp the butterfly with versamark and emboss with the early espresso embossing powder on Island Indigo cardstock.  Then using a Q-tip paint it with bleach--easy and impressive!  The sentiment is from the first Paper Pumpkin kit.

Finally I showed how to make a "spinner card"  following Dawn Olchefske's tutorial here and caseing Lori Heilling's design.  I think when I redo it and I'll move the sentiments a bit, but it is cute!  It uses the  Henry Says stamp set from the spring catalog stamped on Polka Dot Parade and then cut out.  I used a scrap of Summer Smooches dsp and the pinwheel sizzlet for the pinwheel.  The sentiment is from Wishes Your Way. 

Our make and takes were a tag using the washi tape and a triangular elephant box--both cased from Julie!  You should check out all of her different animals and she has a great video tutorial on how to make the bunny.  Here's the link for the tag--taken from one of her cards.

The flame is from the ornament punch pack in the fall/winter catalog.

 The best part of this project were all the different ways the ears were put on and the face was made--loved them all!  Here's the link--and there is a link to the video of how to make the basic triangle box in Julie's post.

So ends my loooooong post---it was a fun night!

Easter Fun!

My niece is a Pampered Chef consultant--and back when she was getting started I agreed to have a party for her if she would have one for me!  =-)  Her sister, who lives in Iowa, is a stamping fan so she wanted to have the party when she was here in Kansas.....so yesterday we planned a party for ....today. I planned more than usual for us to do (than a typical party) since it was family.....mostly.  We had my SIL, 2 nieces and 2 of their friends with daughters stamping with us--and it was great fun.  Of course I have fun just about any time that I stamp!  Here's what we made:

1.  This CAS card designed by Mary Brown at stampercamper.com that uses one of my favorite sets from the catalog  Blooming with Kindness

 You stamp the flower in Pink Pirouette and then using a Regal Rose marker (brush end) you tap it on the stamp --a technique called thumping.  It really adds a depth to the flower that is quite lovely.

2.  We made this card using Fabulous Florets, the Top Note die and Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder--in Daffodil Delight and Basic Gray.  

Make sure you stamp off once for the Daffodil Delight flowers--otherwise they are a bit dark (take notice on my top right where I forgot).  This card was totally cased from a swap that I received at regionals in St. Louis last weekend, but I can't give credit since there was no name on it.  

3.  This card which was pretty much cased from Dawn Olchefske. I had the card fronts already embossed from what I thought was going to be a swap at regionals and then I changed my mind, so I was glad to get some of them used.

You can sort of see the Iridescent Ice embossing powder on the bunny picture. It's very sparkly.  We used watercolor wonder crayons and blender pens to color.

And finally.....4.  This adorable bunny box (my face is a bit wonky--I'm blaming the marker).  Go here and see Julie's video and all of the different animals she's made out of the triangle box.  Cute, cute, cute!

The video was made about a week before all the other animals appeared so be sure to check out her other posts!

                         

Here's his cute little bunny tail...don't know where the pink smudge came from--probably my sponge dauber from the other card.

These are small--they would only hold maybe 2 kisses--or one piece of longer candy--like a taffy.  

I'm off to bed--my IU Hoosiers lost last night and now the Jayhawks lost tonight--it's a sad day in my house--now I have only Wichita State to root for!  Go Shockers!