"You're The Man" Blog Hop!

Welcome to our "You're The Man" Blog Hop! Take a hop through and see all of the great masculine projects we've come up with for you. As always, please hop all the way through. Comments and pins are always appreciated. Enjoy!

This month's Hop is all about the men. We've created some really fun projects for the dads, brothers, sons, and guy friends in our lives, and we hope that you'll enjoy them too!

I decided to create a card for my little brother, who is — crazy as it seems to me — evidently old enough to graduate high school. Holy cow! I'm super proud of him, and I'm actually sitting in the airport as I write this, heading out to be there for his graduation (and him receiving his Eagle Scout award — who told this kid he was allowed to grow up so fast?!).

I made the card Teal, Silver, and Black — his high school colors (and mine, since we went to the same school). The "Congratulations" is from one of the sets that I'm sad to see go. The stars are a new stamp set from the BRAND SPANKING NEW CATALOG! It's over there in the sidebar - go check it out! It launched TODAY, and it's full of so many gorgeous new products.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my creations.

"Birthday Bash" Blog Hop! (And 2 challenges)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Does anyone else think of that old Frosty the Snowman cartoon every time you hear someone shout "Happy Birthday"? No? Just me, then.

Anyway, Welcome to our third monthly Blog Hop! Our theme this month is "Birthday Bash," and we're showing you some fun projects relating to everything birthday. I was stoked for this theme, because it gave me a chance to prep for all the upcoming birthday celebrations.

Be sure to check out all the fantastic blogs in our hop!

Hop Forward: Kris Kilkenny

Hop Back: Julie Davidse

Inspired by this week's Clean and Simple sketch challenge (FTL225), this is what I came up with:

The sketch had banners where I have the circles, but I've been doing so many banners lately that I wanted to change things up. Some great DSP and a fun Edgelits for the zigzag border, and I ended up with a pretty cute and simple birthday card (if I do say so myself).

I also stamped a quick, decorative circle behind the greeting. I stamped it in clear VersaMark ink and used clear embossing powder (heat embossing). So I linked up to this week's Late Night Stamping challenge to "Heat Things Up," too.

But a card wasn't enough! So I made a coordinating little gift bag to go with it.

Using the same colors and DSP, I made this cute bag topper in under 10 minutes (and that was while watching TV, so it was probably only 5 minutes of work). Quick, cute, and filled with candy -- the best kind of gift to make!

So there you go! A quick, easy card and gift. Go check out the rest of our hop, then get stamping to create your own fabulous birthday creations!

Hop Forward: Kris Kilkenny

Hop Back: Julie Davidse

Sketch & Colors

Tonight, I held my first of what (I hope) will be a monthly tradition - an "open stamp night." I put on a movie, got out my stamp stuff, and invited anyone who wanted to come to join me. I had my eye on a couple of sketches to get my creative juices flowing, and this was the (rather bold) result:

The bold color combo isn't something I'd usually go for, but this week's Dynamic Duo's color challenge picked Melon Mambo and Island Indigo. (Those color names just make you want to dance, don't they? ... No? Just me, then. Okay.) The colors are great together, and I decided to just jump in with both feet and go all-out with them. 

The layout comes courtesy of Retro Sketches (told you I love their sketches, so expect to keep seeing them!). Retro Sketches #45 is just a nice simple plaque-and-banner layout, so the Memorable Moments stamp set was a perfect match! I needed a little something to embellish with, and once again, butterflies fixed everything. Add in some little pearls on the Melon Mambo butterflies, and we were good to go.

This is my favorite little detail: one of the Embosslits butterflies
embossed with Melon Mambo flowery swirls.

I was really happy with how this card turned out. The layout, the trail of fluttering butterflies, the circle-covered background, and especially the colors. What are some of your favorite color combos?

Card Details
Stamps: Memorable Moments, Tiny Tags (butterfly detail)
Colors: Melon Mambo CS, Island Indigo (from Summer Smooches DSP), Whisper White CS
Tools & Accessories: Labels Collection Framelits, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Basic Pearls, Melon Mambo Embossing Powder (with VersaMark ink)

Wedding card - Freshly Made Sketches #66

I made this card (belatedly, I admit) for my big brother's wedding. Their colors were purple and silver, and I thought this simple and elegant card was a lovely nod to their big day (which was now 3 weeks ago... but it's the thought that counts, right? ...Right?)

I love the elegant look to this card, and the Affection Collection stamp set (with the "Love" and "Always" stamps) was a huge part of that look. It's available in Stampin' Up!'s holiday catalog -- which ends on December 31! So if you like this set, hurry up and get it before it's no longer available! You can shop online anytime HERE. (How cool is that?)

After I made the card, I realized it matched this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge - FMS66. I've always loved participating in the FMS challenges, so here's to hoping they like my card!

Here's their sketch:

Card details:
Stamps: Affection Collection (no longer available, as of Jan. 2013), Memorable Moments, Petite Pairs (inside)
Big Shot: Labels collection Framelits dies, Lacy Brocade Textured Embossing Folder
Cardstock: Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Versamark
Other: Whisper White ribbon, silver Embossing powder, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive

Happy Thanksgiving! (And welcome to Christmas)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you have a wonderful, safe, and delicious holiday with your loved ones.

I am a firm believer that the Christmas season doesn't start until the day after Thanksgiving. No Christmas music, no Santa, no trees or lights go up until after Thanksgiving is over -- it's all I can do to handle one holiday at a time! But I have one exception (other than the occasional Christmas-in-July music indulgence) -- Cards. I LOVE making Christmas cards, and it just makes sense to start them early on to minimize the last-minute hectic rushing to make that one last card before you hurry out the door to a Christmas party. So here's what I've been working on - enjoy!

Card Details
The top two Vintage-inspired card were made with:
Stamps: Ornament Keepsakes, Greetings of the Season
Paper: Very Vanilla, Be of Good Cheer DSP and Festival of Prints DSP
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Basic Pearls, Baker's Twine (cherry cobbler)
Tools: Vintage Lace embossing folder, Ornament Keepsakes framelits dies

The bottom card was made with:

Stamps: Ornament Keepsakes, Greetings of the Season

Paper: Crumb Cake, Festival of Prints DSP, Very Vanilla

Ink: Soft Suede, VersaMark (ornament)

Accessories: Silver & Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powders (heat embossing)

Thanks to Julie Wadlinger for the fabulous photos!

More Card Challenges

This week, I decided to participate in the Friday Mash Up card challenge, which has a really fun Christmas-themed project. To make it more interesting, I also decided to do the Freshly Made Sketches challenge. So I took the layout from FMS and combined it with the theme of the Friday Mash Up, and here's what I came up with! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and I LOVE the thin Old Olive ribbon (1/8" taffeta ribbon from Stampin' Up!).

Card Details

Stamp Sets: Ornament Keepsakes, Greetings of the Season

Cardstock: Crumb Cake (base), Old Olive (ornament), "Be of Good Cheer" Designer Series Paper (DSP)

Ink: Versamark (with silver embossing powder), Soft Suede

Ribbon: 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon (Old Olive)

Again, this was for Freshly Made Sketches FMS #57 and the "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" challenge from Friday Mash up. What do you guys think?