I made this card for my Mom's doctor. I figured that it was time to express some thanks for her care.
Supplies: Papertrey Ink: Stampers Select White Cardstock and envelope; Beautiful Blooms stamp set; Stampin Up!: Rose Red, Regal Rose; So Saffron, Lovely Lilac, and Almost Amethyst inks; So Saffron and Basic Black cardstock; Rose grosgrain ribbon, brads, and Crafter's Tool Kit; Clear Dollar Stamps: A Stitch in Time; Palette Noir ink.
My nephew's graduation invitation is in gray and cranberry, so I wanted a card that would coordinate with those colors. I've been looking around for a true Ocean Spray Cranberry cardstock and
ink and think I've found it -- Blush Red Dark Prism paper and
Adirondack Cranberry ink. A perfect match!
I decided to let the sentiment from Motivational Centers from Cornish Heritage Farms take center stage and make a straightforward design for a teenage boy. You can't see it in the photo, but I stamped the background image on the white cardstock with Versamark before stamping the sentiment.
Other supplies: Stampin Up! Baroque Background stamp; silver brads; Basic Gray cardstock; Basic Gray ink on the envelope liner; and ticket corner punch; Versamark ink; Papertrey Ink Stampers Select White cardstock.
I am supposed to be participating in the Cartelicious challenge that my stamping buddies are posting Monday. I couldn't do it, but please be sure to check out Sue, Melissa and Rose Ann's blogs.
If you'd like to read more about my life, continue. Otherwise, happy stamping!
15 minutes is the approximate amount of time it takes to drive my son to school. He's a captive audience and usually this it is during these 15 minutes that we attempt to bridge the sea between teenager and geezer Mom! He's a cutie and I love him to pieces, but sharing feelings, information, etc. happens on a very selective basis! Good thing I have honed my cross examination skills!
So, to highlight the nature of the 15 minute Mom, I made a Mother's Day card in 15 minutes! I love the way this turned out, and the cool thing (yes cool is a word used by geezers...) is that the non papercrafter will think all that embossing is amazing, when we know it is a 2 minute Cuttlebug operation! I'm loving it!
I am not loving my photos however. I got a new camera and I just can't get the hang of it yet. Maybe I "need" one of those photographs in a box kits? Although I am also coveting the make your own stamp kit from Just Rite Stamps.
Hmm, are there any holidays honoring Moms coming up?
Supplies: from Stampin Up unless otherwise noted: Soft Sky and Chocolate Chip cardstock; All Holidays stamp set; brown taffeta ribbon; white organdy ribbon; corner rounder punch; Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Stylized Flowers; and Palette Burnt Umber ink.
Hodgepodge Recruiting Promotion for USA
May 1-31, 2008
Join Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator and get 20 percent off the Starter Kit, PLUS a free tin of Hodgepodge Hardware (a $27.95 value).
Hodgepodge Hardware assortment choices include:
| Item | Description |
| 105532 | Aged Copper |
| 105531 | Antique Brass |
| 105515 | Pewter |
If you have been thinking about joining Stampin Up, this would be a good time! Contact a demo for details. Note: I am not accepting recruits.
Get On Board with Chipboard! for USA
May 1-31, 2008
Spend $35 on Stampin' Up! products and get 25 percent off any On Board items from the Spring-Summer Collection.
All On Board products (pages 178-179) qualify for this promotion.
| Item Number | Description | 25% off retail price |
| 109181 | On Board Blossoms & Basics | $11.21 |
| 109179 | On Board Ginormous Pieces | $11.21 |
| 107925 | On Board Bitty Book | $7.46 |
| 108495 | On Board 5" x 5" Art Journal | $5.21 |
| 107065 | On Board Art Journal (5-3/4" x 8-3/4") | $7.13 |
| 107307 | On Board Accents | $9.71 |
| 109182 | On Board Lots of Letters | $9.71 |
| 109180 | On Board Simon Upper | $9.71 |
| 107306 | On Board Simon Lower | $9.71 |
| 109192 | On Board Clipboard (13" x 7-1/2") | $11.96 |
| 109190 | On Board Clipboard (9" x 9") | $5.96 |
| 109191 | On Board Clipboard (4-1/2" x 9") | $4.88 |
| 110713 | On Board Book Basics Large | $5.96 |
| 110712 | On Board Book Basics Small | $4.46 |
Cutting Combo Pack Special Offer USA
During the month of May, buy a Cutting Mat and get a Hobby Blade for FREE!
Note: I am not accepting any SU orders at this time. Perhaps some day, but I cannot do it right now, so contact your local demo. If you need to locate a demo, email me for a reference or go to the demo locator at Stampin Up.
I love the idea of making background paper. Since I knew I would be using this sentiment for Mike, I decided to make a brightish (new word) paper because that's what Mike likes.
I used Impression Obsession's clear set, Mod Elements to make the background. This is great set. It is very easy to order directly from Impression Obsession and they have super fast shipping. No affiliation, just a too happy customer!
It was also time to use the "new" Stampin Up In Colors that have been gracing my craft room since January. In this case, I used Soft Sky, Groovy Guava and Wild Wasabi (please, my non stamping readers, no more jokes on these names!).
The sentiment is from Full of Life, from the Stampin Up Spring Occasions Mini (extended through June 2008). I admit it, I love this sentiment enough to buy the whole set! I think it is perfect for weddings, anniversaries, and even for a baby. In this case, I'll give it to Mike just for being so darn cute!
I stamped the sentiment in a variety of colors, but in the end, black worked best, so I went back and added some black dots to the background paper (dots from Papertrey Ink's Beautiful Blooms.) A little black really made the other colors pop.
I also used these clear floral arrangement Decorative Accent "things" in place of the much more expensive Dew Drops. The whole bag was in a clearance pile at Michaels and was $2. Since they are clear, they pick up the color of the cardstock underneath. A Best Buy!
Other supplies: Wild Wasabi cardstock and ribbon; Soft Sky, Basic Black and White cardstocks, ticket corner and round corner punches, all from Stampin Up!; Japanese screw punch (to make the little holes in the scallops -- and I didn't mess it up!!) and a black pigment fine marker to outline the holes.
Someone asked me when I get the time to stamp. In this case, I made the card between 4 and 6 am today!
Yes, sometimes I'd rather stamp than sleep! Wouldn't you?
Mike got a surprise, big, award at work yesterday. (No, not $$$!! just accolades.) He works like a crazy man, no wonder they appreciate him.
So, I had to make a surprise, BIG, card for him -- this is 4" x 9" -- to celebrate the hugeness of his life and love. It took a long time to make this card, but he's worth it. I hope he likes it! It is rare that I really love something I've made, but I love this!!!
It was my first serious adventure with chipboard. This chipboard is from Stampin Up and is quite thick and sturdy. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to use that hobby blade to cut inside the designs.
Supplies: Chipboard, ribbon, dimensionals, and patterned paper (Summer Picnic) are from Stampin Up. SU Chipboard will be on sale in May, by the way. The little apple and sentiments are from Stampendous. Black ink from Memories. The base red card is from Memory Box and the inside of that red paper is white (which I LOVE)... and, finally
Talent from ME!
Have a nice weekend. The weather here in DC is PERFECT! Hope yours is too!
Goodbye Orchid Opulence!
No, Stampin Up isn't retiring Orchid Opulence, but I am. I've been looking at Papertreyink's luscious set of papers and ribbons and then looking at my very full set of Stampin Up's cardstocks, inks, etc. Back and forth! I will not have two complete sets of papers, inks, etc. (Repeat three times!)
Finally, I decided to gradually rid myself of the Stampin Up colors that I never use. Orchid Opulence immediately came to mind! There are not a lot of SU colors that I will put out to pasture, but enough to make room for some Papertreyink. Seems like a good compromise.
I will just retire the OO cardstock, as I can always use the inks, etc. for blending into other colors...
So, here, as the beginning of a goodbye to Orchid Opulence, I present this card, made with Papertreyink's Beautiful Blooms set. Sentiments are also from Papertreyink (Simple Little Things). Inks used: SU Night of Navy and Palette Canvas.
Enjoy your day. I'll be surrounded by security and traffic snarls as the Pope is in town!
Over the past several months I've been tagged and given a few blog awards by my fellow bloggers. I kept a pile of these notices and then, of course, lost the pile! I appreciate every one of them and apologize if I did not fallow through and acknowledge them.
So, here are a few that I remember and cherish.
Mary, at It's About the Journey, tagged me. I can't remember why! Isn't that awful? But I appreciate it nonetheless. I love Mary. She is one of the nicest stampers I know. Can't wait to meet her some day.
Then, Etha of More Green Wool gave me a This Blog is Rated Excellent award. If you don't know Etha, please check out her blog as she knits and stamps and is a pro with clear stamps.
Finally, Becky at Hemidemisemiquiver gave me an award the other day -- I cheer her up! I love that! I can't believe she even reads my blog!!
I'm always amazed when ANYone reads this blog, never mind gives me an award. I LOVE awards, talking through this blog, validation, the whole nine yards -- and don't mind admitting it! So -- thanks to these stampers and to anyone else I overlooked....
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About the card -- Is this the perfect sentiment for life or what? I finally found Verve Visual this week and wow do they deliver with lightening speed. I have a tendency to shop when feeling stressed. I must have been really stressed as I purchased 4 of their awesome sets. Sadly, Mike picked up the mail today! I hate Saturday deliveries! LOL I love these stamps. Great quality. Great service. Beautiful designs. I'm happy!!
Supplies: Stamps: sentiment from Serenity set by Verve Visual, the flower underneath the sentiment is from Stampin Up's Embrace Life, and the strip under the sentiment is stamped with Faux Ribbon by Papertreyink; Paper: all Stampin Up: Ruby Red, River Rock, and Naturals White (if you are looking for a stiffer base, which is not as pure white as Papertreyink's Stamper Select, this is pretty good stuff!) and Ginger Blossom Designer Paper; Inks: Versamark and Ruby Red; Green Dew Drops; SU Ticket Corner Punch. Oh, and various adhesives!
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I've made a ginormous mess the last few weeks. I've given up making believe I will ever be neat and organized. It just isn't going to happen! I've managed to get stamping supplies in my stamp room, the computer room, my Mom's room, the kitchen and the dining room. Oh, and our bed is covered with different shades of white paper -- It appears I've run out of vellum! I see more shopping this week...
Oh, things are going better with my Mom. My strategy (patent #2456789) is working. More details to come!
If you ever have the chance to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom in Washington DC, please take advantage of it! It is tricky to plan a trip and be sure to see the blossoms because their bloom, of course, depends on weather conditions. So hop on a plane right now!
I hesitate to even call my card Cherry Blossoms Greeting as it doesn't come close to the real thing. However, I think this combo of Mellow Moss, Pretty in Pink and a touch of Black evokes just a bit of the feeling of the blossoms.
Supplies: All Stampin Up except the Martha Stewart tag punch, gel pen, and the greeting from Papertreyink. I used a white gel pen on the flowers and stamped the leaves in Versamark and then colored over them with a Sakura clear gel pen (easier than embossing and essentially the same effect.) The blossoms and leaves are from Embrace Life.
I like this card. It is my all time favorite layout -- simple yet flexible.
Then I decided to play around with photoshop to see what this card would look like with different colors and texture. Here are a few "faux" versions. This has definitely opened up my mind to some stamping and color combo possibilities!
Do you have a fave?
Here's an almost two toned thank you card -- bashful blue, real red and just a touch of old olive (does anyone else hate these names? I'm mean really, I feel like such a dork putting them on my blog, but if you stamp, you probably recognize these as Stampin Up names of ink and what can I say other than, I guess I have to suck up the names as I'm not about to invest in a whole new set of ink and cardstock just to avoid dorky names...). But, I digress...
Back to the card. The whole thing is Stampin Up, (except the Marvy Oval Scallop Punch and the blue Amuse Twinkle in the center of the flower), including the red and blue checked ribbon. Darlings, I just ran my bashful blue marker over the white part of the gingham ribbon and got me some nice coordinating ribbon. Not too inventive, but effective if I say so myself. The Thank You flower is from a Level One hostess set called For a Friend and the background is Paisley.
My camera is slowly dying, so hopefully I'll have a new one and all my cards will look SO MUCH BETTER (blame the camera, blame the mirror...).
Some of you asked where I got the template for the Butt Ugly Easter Box. It is a printable darling box from QBee on Splitcoast. I need to find a link for it and post it. I will, I promise!!
That's it for the Two Toned Thanks. For more of my life, click to keep reading. Or, go eat some chocolate!
