Coastal Cabana Challenge Cards

Today, I got together with Julie again after a long stamping hiatus and made a few quick, simple cards. Both cards feature Coastal Cabana, a super-fun In Color.

The "Congratulations" card is for my friend Jessica, who is expecting twins! On the inside, it says "Woohoo! It's two!" The elegant design and the rhinestone remind me so much of Jessica, so this card is just perfect for her.

The second card is a thank-you to Kaitlin, who recently joined my Stamping newsletter and has come to a few of my classes. (Hi, Kaitlin!) The fun paper on the bottom is from the Spring catalog - the "Fresh Prints Designers Series Paper Stack". It's also the same paper I used on the LOVE banner. The layout comes from this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge. Such a simple layout makes the greeting really pop, don't you think?

Supplies

Stamps: Beautifully Baroque, Cuddles and Kisses, and a special photopolymer stamp set just for Demonstrators! (Sorry)

Paper: Coastal Cabana cardstock, Whisper White cardstock, and Fresh Prints DSP

Ink: Coastal Cabana - that's it!

Accessories: Real Red stitched ribbon, Dimensionals, Basic Jewel Rhinestones

Promotion Playtime - "We Create" Blog Hop

Welcome back! This month, we wanted to show you some of the great products that are available outside of our traditional catalog. Sometimes these fun offerings are overlooked, but they are too awesome to miss out on!

My projects use a few products from our Sale-a-Bration catalog that you can earn for FREE for every $50 you spend this month. Yep, for every $50 you spend, you get to chose a FREE item from the SAB mini catalog! (check out the sidebar for more info!) 

I started with a simple outline, inspired by Pinterest.

The banner "string" between pennants was simply drawn
in with the Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write marker - easy!

This simple, cute card uses the Banner Blast set and coordinating punch from the SAB catalog, as well as one of our new totally clear photopolymer stamps. The photopolymer stamps take some getting used to, but they do give a super-sharp image, as you can see above with the "Thank You." A little Cherry Cobbler baker's twine and a "string" (drawn with the Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write Marker) finish off the card. Love!

Then I moved on to a more-involved card. This one uses the same stamps and punches as the first, but I also used our super-fun Envelope Punch Board! You can use the punch board to make a custom envelope in pretty much any size, and it's so easy!

As you can see, I also added some DSP to this card, as well as using the polka-dot Textured Embossing Folder from the SAB catalog. I LOVE that the embossing folder coordinates so well with the pattern on one of the pennant stamps! (The orange one on the right end). I went through about 5 different color/paper/texture combinations before finally settling on this one, so now I have a bunch of itty-bitty envelopes laying around -- oh darn!  ;)  The layout for this card, and the instructions for the custom-sized envelope, were found over on Julie Kettlewell's blog.

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Be sure to check out the rest of the ladies in the Hop, and don't miss out on all these great products!!

"CASE That Pin" Blog Hop

Hello! And welcome to this month's We Create blog hop! This month, our projects have all been CASE'd from projects that inspired us on Pinterest. If you're new around here (or if you need a refresher), "CASE" stands for "Copy and Share Everything" and it's our motto when it comes to sharing ideas among friends. We love being inspired by other peoples' projects! So this month, you get to see what inspires us, and hopefully it will inspire you to create, too!

The cards I chose (from my over 400 Stampin Up pins!) all focused on a fun technique that I haven't really played with before: Negative Space. Stampin' Up! has tons of fun punches, and I've done plenty of projects with them, but these cards use the punches kinda in reverse - instead of looking at the punched out shape, you're looking at what's hiding behind it. It's super-duper easy, and it gives a really fun look to your cards. Try it out!

Here's the original, from Kay Kalthoff:

And here's my CASE'd version.

This is just such a cute and simple card. The background is a piece of the Quatrefancy DSP, and the center of the Blossom punch is popped up with the 1/2-inch circle punch. I added a few little rhinestones in the upper corner to help balance out my rather bottom-heavy version of this card. Such a bright, happy hello to send to a friend!

The second project I did was a lovely little butterfly card. Here's the original (which I just love!) from Karla Dick. Unfortunately, this one was only posted on Stampin Connection, so not everyone will be able to see the original source page - sorry! I tried to find it on a blog or something and just couldn't. :(

And here's my (larger) version.

I realized as I sat down to make this butterfly card that I don't have any white ink -- a major feature of the original. Oops! So I improvised and used the silver metallic ink that's available in the Holiday Catalog. This card is very elegant. The background flowers are stamped in the silver ink on Not Quite Navy cardstock, then the butterflies are punched out of the Crumb Cake overlay layer. The Crumb Cake layer is popped up on a few dimensionals, so the background pattern is a bit removed from the butterfly outline. It gives a lovely pattern to the butterflies, don't you think? I added some pearls and a quick sentiment, and that was that!

I hope you've enjoyed the "Pinspiration" this hop has shared so far! Be sure to check out the rest of the hop, and as always we welcome comments and Pins! Click on through to the next blog, and Happy Stamping!

Quick Apology: Somehow, the month of August just completely flew right by! I started prepping for this Hop and realized that I haven't blogged at all since last month's hop - yikes! Sorry, guys! I promise to do better this coming month. Now that summer is winding down, maybe my schedule will start to be a tad bit less crazy.

Regarding Daliahs

Last week, I had my first-ever Stamp Camp! For those of you who might not know what a Stamp Camp is, let me explain. I plan out 5 projects for you (cards, notebooks, gifts, etc.), all centered around 1 stamp set. You pre-order the stamp set and pay the usual class fee, then on the day of the Camp you come and learn how to make the projects. At the end of the day, you go home with 5 fantastic projects AND your own stamp set! It's a great way for beginning stampers to start building their own collection of products.

You'll get to see the fun Stamp Camp projects tomorrow during our We Create Blog Hop, so be sure to check back!

The card I'm sharing today is one that I made after the camp as kind of a bonus project. It's full of sparkle and, of course, my favorite color: Pool Party.

I'm quite proud of how this card turned out! This is the first time in a long time that I haven't relied on a challenge to come up with a card idea. I also realized that, for as often as I used to use them, I haven't used banners in a while. I created a "waving" effect with this banner by carefully bending and rolling the paper and then attaching one end higher than the other (the flower is popped up on Dimensionals for a bit more ... well, dimension!). 

The ribbon in the back is some of our retired 1" Satin ribbon in Whisper White, but you could easily substitute a current ribbon or even a strip of cardstock, perhaps with a decorative edge.

Here's a close-up of the detailed parts so you can see what's going on a little better.

Remember to check back tomorrow to see my Stamp Camp projects and the rest of the We Create Blog Hop!


Card Details
Colors: Whisper White, Pool Party
Paper: Silver Glimmer Paper, Quatrafancy Specialty DSP, Whisper White Cardstock
Supplies: Pool Party ink, Stampin' Sponge, Basic Rhinestones, Paper Trimmer, Dimensionals, 3-Way Glue, 1" Satin Ribbon in White (retired)

Soft Vintage "Oh Hello" (and 3 more challenges)

I seem to have gotten into the habit of posting really late at night. I've been trying to get better -- I promise! -- and had every intention of posting early, but then I got distracted. Go figure. I'm working on planning a trip to Disneyland, and it seems to invade every waking minute of my thoughts lately! So here I am again, nearly 1 AM, and I'm just starting to write up this blog post.

Maybe next time I'll manage to post before midnight.  . . . Maybe.

Anyway, on to the card! Determined after my last epic fail of posting a multi-challenge card, I wanted to get this one up as soon as possible so I didn't miss ANY deadlines. Woo-hoo!

I combined the color challenge over at Create with Connie and Mary (CCMC SUM13-02) with the layout from this week's Clean and Simple challenge (FTL248). Then, my stamping buddy Julie pointed out that Friday Mashup was hosting a Tic-Tac-Toe challenge (FM117), so I was all over that -- especially since it involves butterflies and pearls! My favorite things! So combining all that, I basically had my card all set up for me; I just had to pick out two measly little stamps. How easy is that?!

A close-up of the butterfly, colored in, with some great pearl details.

Julie suggested adding a tiny seed pearl to the brad - perfect!

The tiny butterfly details were colored in with a Stampin' Up! Blender Pen in Pistachio Pudding and Crisp Cantaloupe. The tiny pearls create the "body" of the butterfly, and in that one little details I've captured all three elements of the Friday Mashup Tic-Tac-Toe challenge! I also added a pearl to the antique brad off to the left, which adds just the perfect touch of "something special" to tie it all together.



Card Details
Colors: Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla
Tools and Accessories: Lace ribbon, Antique Brads, Linen Thread, small Butterfly punch, Perfect Pennants Bigz Die (Big Shot), Basic Pearls, Blender Pens, 1 3/8" circle punch, DSP (don't remember which - sorry!)
Stamps: Oh, Hello and Butterflies

Teapots, Fun Folds, and Paper Players

Evidently, I'm terrible at noting deadlines. I made this card based on a layout from the Friday Mashup sketch challenge, and I completely missed the challenge deadline! Lately, this has happened a few times more than I would like to admit.

Luckily, though, I also made this card for a color challenge: the lovely folks over at The Paper Players gave a gorgeous color combo this week, and so that's what inspired the details of this card.

I have to admit, this card was HARD to get through! I spent two hours hemming and hawing over details, colors, how to make the teapot stand out more, and on and on. Two hours, people!  ... Ahem. Anyway, I ended up just about giving up, and I set it aside overnight and came back to it later. In the end, I'm really pleased with how this card turned out. The tone-on-tone stack of teacups off to the left of the card? Definitely adds needed interest to the background, along with the small pearls in the upper right. Oh, I love little details.  :)

You want to see the best part, though?

It opens from the middle! I know, it's a really simple "fun folds" type of card (especially compared to some of the crazy, fancy cards I've seen!), but I was really inspired by the Fab Friday layout to make this card open like this. It's such a fun touch!

The details on the teapot are also pretty fun. It was watercolored in Baja Breeze (to match the DSP), with details highlighted in Rich Razzleberry. Tiny little Basic Pearls adorn the body of the teapot, and some Baker's Twine brings in the darker Island Indigo color, too. (And yes, the card is being held open with an egg carton. Hey, you work with what you've got.)


Here's the challenge info:

And, even though I missed it, the sketch from Friday Mashup:

Two Sketches and My Favorite "New" Color

This week, I discovered that THREE of the challenge blogs I frequent had similar sketches. I took that as the universe telling me I needed to use this layout -- so here's what I came up with:

I just LOVE how this one turned out! I don't usually "do" any of the Stampin' Up! "In Colors" (since they're only around for a relatively short time) but since this gorgeous Pool Party color has been announced as part of our Color Refresh, I am definitely looking forward to using it for years to come! (Possibly my favorite SU color ... except maybe Rich Razzleberry, but that's mostly because it's got an awesome name.)

I really like how the Basic Gray background (with the Honeycomb Textured Embossing Folder) looks with the bright, springy colors from the DSP. If you want to see another GENIUS idea for customizing this particular pattern of DSP, go check out Julie Wadlinger's entry in our Just Because blog hop. Betcha won't even recognize the paper!

And then, of course, the card needed a little bling -- so I added some of our Basic Jewels rhinestones to the DSP design to jazz it up a bit. The Tangerine Tango accents under the DSP and in the sentiment really make this a happy little "anytime" card.

I've entered this card in TWO challenges! (Because I'm daring like that.) Go check them out!
(It would have also been entered into Fab Friday, but I totally missed their deadline.... again! Go figure...)

Create with Connie and Mary (CCMC 247)

Clean and Simple Stamping 235

Card Details

Paper: Pool Party, Basic Gray, Whisper White cardstock; International Bazaar DSP

Ink: Tangerine Tango

Tools and Accessories: Honeycomb Textured Embossing Folder (Big Shot), Basic Jewels, Paper Snips (for cutting banner and placing rhinestones)

Easy-Peasy "Thank You" Cards

Remember a while ago when I posted those bookmarks I made for my old coworkers? Well, I also made them some quick thank-you cards, since they were such fantastic people to work with.

I was making all of these (impromptu) gifts the night before my last day at that job, so whatever I did had to be quick and easy to make at least 6 variations of. I ended up making 3x3" cards with a simple, punched-out sentiment and various colors of backgrounds.

Ta-da! Here's the whole lot of them, sitting on my desk at work. Here's a close-up of each one:

So, yeah, it's taken me FOREVER to post these, even though they were SUPER DUPER SIMPLE to make. However, there's a silver lining to my procrastination! This week's SUO Challenge (SUO68) is all about using ONE main color (and an accent/neutral, if you want) -- which is exactly what I did with these cards! Just goes to show that simple is sometimes really the best answer.

"Just Because" Blog Hop!

Welcome to our Blog Hop! Our group of fabulous demonstrators get together (online) on the first of every month to share really great projects, and we finally have a name -- "Stamp. Scrap. Sew. Share. Create." This month's theme is "Just Because." It was my month to pick a theme, and I've noticed lately that I never have enough "out of the blue" cards on hand to send to friends. So that's what we're showcasing this month -- projects for those "just because" moments.

Be sure to click through to all the blogs on our hop!

On to the projects!

You may already know about my love of butterflies (I even have a motto!), so my choice for projects probably doesn't come as a surprise -- they're all centered around the Beautiful Wings Embosslit © for the Big Shot!

I started with this card, inspired by one I found
on CraftinUp.com.

Then I made a cute notebook to go with it.
(My stamping tends to be like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.)

And, inspired by Retro Sketches, I made this card!

 All three projects use the same colors and basic theme, yet they turned out different. I love how versatile these products are! Like the captions say, the first card was CASE'd from another demonstrator, the notebook was my own creation (inspired by the first card), and the last one was made for a sketch challenge. I really love the challenges over at Retro Sketches, and this one was no exception!! Isn't it a fun layout? Here's the challenge info for RS#57:

And be sure to check out all our other fabulous hops!
"Holiday Shimmer" Hop
"Love is in the Air" Hop
"Birthday Bash" Hop
"Colors of Spring" Hop

Spring Has Sprung! (Which means more butterflies)

The weather here today was GORGEOUS! I could hardly stand being inside while the sun was so bright and warm, so I called up my girlfriend and we went out. Loved it!

A week or so ago, I made a great spring-inspired card from the color challenge over at Fab Friday, and today seemed like the perfect day to share it.

I love how this card turned out! It's got so many great details. The Honeycomb Textured Embossing Folder with little hexagons of DSP in it? LOVE! I also pulled in the same DSP along the edge to give the card some cohesion. The pink butterfly is simply punched out of a different piece of DSP (from the same pack) with some Basic Pearls down the middle. The small butterfly was stamped in that lovely Island Indigo and then punched out, and then I added pearls for the body.

There's a lovely Sahara Sand floral background along the right side of the card, and I like the way it "grounds" the butterflies.

Then, of course, to tie it all together, is the fun Baker's Twine along the bottom. I just wrapped it around a few times and tied a knot (since I really suck at little tiny bows! haha). The tag below the knot was the very last thing I added to the card, and I just love how well it brings everything together. Like it's tied up in a neat little gift package or something.

And like I said earlier, this card was inspired by Fab Friday's FabFri14 color challenge, though I did "cheat" a little and use Island Indigo instead of the second pink color.  ;)

Choose Your Own Sketch Challenge (RS52 + a repeat color combo)

This week, one of my favorite sketch blogs is celebration Sketch #52 with a "choose your own sketch" challenge. Pick your favorite from any of their previous 52 sketches and run with it. So I browsed through, chose one I liked, and combined it with the color combo from my previous post. What do you think?

First off, I just have to say that I LOVE this DSP! It's from the Twitterpated set, and it's just plain gorgeous. Especially with the bright Melon Mambo and Daffodil Delight. Love it!

I got the basic layout of this card done in just a few minutes, thanks to this lovely sketch (RS29):

Working out the details, however, took me the better part of an hour! I had the DSP background, the three rounded squares (which sounds completely oxymoronic), the butterfly, and even the pearls all in place and just how I wanted them. But it needed something to tie in the Daffodil Delight. (I really like things to be in pairs, so having the gray DSP and the gray square, the pink square and the pink butterfly, but just one yellow?! Yeah, drove me up the wall!)

I thought about putting a decorative Edgelits© border along one side, but that was too one-sided (again, pairs). So I tried some ribbon along the edge, and it just hung funny. So I gave up and walked away for a long while before finally coming back to it and trying just a plain strip of Daffodil Delight cardstock. Still too plain!

Then Julie, my brilliant stamping buddy, suggested I pull in other elements from the card too. Duh!! More pairs! Why didn't I think of that before?

Anyway, as you can (hopefully) see from the detail photos, I ended up stamping the same Daydream Medallions on the strip as I did on the squares (it's tone-on-tone, so it may be too hard to see in the photos, but I promise it's there) and pulled in the pierced paper motif as well (from the yellow square, under the greeting). Finally! That was exactly what it needed! Thank you, Julie, for saving this card and my sanity!

One final note: this card also uses the beautiful, bright color combo from Create with Connie and Mary (CCMC240). Love it!

Card Details
Stamps: Daydream Medallions, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight (hey that rhymes!), Melon Mambo, and Basic Gray CS; Twitterpated DSP
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray, Melon Mambo
Tools & Accessories: 1 1/4" square punch, Bitty Butterfly punch, 1/16" corner rounder punch, Basic Pearls, and the Paper Piercing Tool, pad, and guide.

Seize the Birthday #6 + FabFri12 (Masculine Birthday Card)

I've mentioned before that I am terrible at making masculine cards. Part of the problem is that most of my stamps have butterflies, swirly patterns, flowers, or something adorable on them; not very masculine, huh? I've been trying to remedy that, though, mostly through buying neutral colored paper & non-frilly sayings stamps. So when I was actually able to accomplish this week's Seize the Birthday Masculine Card challenge -- and I liked my end result! -- I was pretty proud of myself. Granted, what I came up with might be more suited for a little boy than a grown man, I'm fairly certain my dad would be happy to get a card like this.

I promise that I didn't pick out my curtains to match Stampin' Up! colors.
. . . It just kinda happens that way sometimes. 

The layout came from the sketch challenge over at STB, as I mentioned above. The fantastic color combo, though? Yeah, totally wish I could claim that as my own fantastic creation. But I can't. It came from the lovely folks over at Fab Friday, who gave us a phenomenal color challenge this week. (I actually made TWO cards in that color challenge, and I'll be posting the other one tomorrow.) So here are the challenges I undertook for this card. First, the sketch:

Isn't it lovely? Now on to the color challenge! (Note: I left out the Perfect Plum in an attempt to make this as masculine as possible with the cutesy background.) This is the FabFri12 color palette:

In an amazing feat of coincidence, this card ALSO qualifies for this week's Friday Mashup! Since I used our Stampin' Write© Markers to color in the word stamp elements, it qualifies for the "Markers" section, and the Textured Impressions Embossing Folder© on the bottom qualifies it for the mash-up with "texture" -- so there ya go! Here's their info, too, so go check them out! 

Here is the "Mashup" Challenge:

1. Make a project "using your Markers (thumping,Color Spritzing,Coloring etc.)."
2. Or Make a project with "Texture."
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project with "Texture using your Markers."

Card Details

Paper: Soft Suede CS, Baja Breeze CS, Whisper White CS, Storytime DSP

Ink: Baja Breeze, Wild Wasabi

Tools: Perfect Polka Dots Textured Embossing Folder©, Ovals Collection Framelits©, Paper Piercing Pack & Paper Piercing Tool, Stamp-a-Ma-Jig© (to align text), Dimensionals

Fab Friday - Lost and Found!

I made this card over a week ago, during the same late-night stamp session that I made this card. But then I put it in an envelope and set it aside -- and completely LOST it! I looked everywhere! Or so I thought. Turns out it was sitting underneath a bag I took with me to a Demonstrator meeting at the beginning of the month. Don't ask me how it got there, because heaven knows I haven't got a clue! Pretty much the story of my life. Who knew you could lose so many things in a 2-room apartment!

So, from the "Lost and Found" files of Michelle's Living Room, here's an adorably pastel baby card I made for the Fab Friday 11 Challenge:

A close-up of the banner, since it's a little hard to read.
And isn't that itty bitty bow adorable?
(I'm rather proud of myself for tying it so tiny!)

I love the pastel colors in this card, and the polka dot DSP is just perfect for a baby card!

Here's the Fab Friday Sketch (so you can see that I pretty much just copied it exactly... including the "frillies" from an Edgelits on top of the green mat layer.) But that's what is so great about these sketch challenges -- they give you some fantastic layouts to work with!

In other news, I've fallen completely behind on my Month of Letters Challenge mailings. So I apologize to all of those who are still waiting on a card in the mail -- I will send them, and soon! These last few weeks have just seen a LOT of changes and unexpectedness, so some things have had to take a back burner. But don't worry! I'll be back to normal very soon (I hope!).

Are any of you doing the Letter Month challenge? How's it going for you? Better than I'm doing, I hope!

Happy Stamping!