Card designs for Convention swaps

Since my last post I have had a few productive crafty days. Yippee! On Sunday I finished making the gifts I will be giving to my roommates at the Stampin' Up!^® Convention in a few weeks. (I can't share them yet, though, because I want them to be a surprise for my roomies.) On Monday I made a few cards to celebrate the Fourth of July. And today I finally finished designing the cards I'm going to make to swap with other demonstrators at Convention.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Flower Shop, Petite Pairs
Cardstock: Island Indigo, Very Vanilla
Ink: Melon Mambo, Island Indigo, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: GIngham Garden Designer washi tape, rhinestones, Dimensionals

This card was inspired by the second card in the blog post titled "Flower Shop cards." I just made a few tweaks, such as changing the orientation of the card, adding a layer to the card base, and using three different flower images instead of the same image three times.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: For the Birds
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Gray cardstock; silver glimmer paper; Polka Dot Parade Designer Series Paper (DSP)
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; Real Red, Old Olive, Marina Mist, Crushed Curry, Basic Gray markers
Accessories: Occasions Paper-Piercing Pack, paper-piercing mat and tool, rhinestones, Dimensionals

The strips of DSP and silver glimmer paper are each 1" wide and 3-3/4" long. It wasn't intentional, but I like how the the pattern on the DSP -- the circles made of tiny dots -- is repeated with the paper-piercing around the focal image.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Storybook Friends, Sweet Essentials, Lovely Little Labels
Paper: Sahara Sand, Whisper White cardstock; Polka Dot Parade DSP
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; Sahara Sand, Baked Brown Sugar, Blushing Bride, Daffodil Delight markers
Accessories: 1" square punch, Postage Stamp punch, Sweet Buttons Embosslits die, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

This card and the next one were inspired by my "Miss you zoo" card, but I made a few changes for efficiency. To make the faux postage stamps for these cards, I stamped the image on Whisper White cardstock, punched it out with the 1" square punch and then adhered it to a Whisper White Postage Stamp piece. I prefer the look of the faux stamps with the embossed border, but this method is easier and faster to mass produce. I also adhered each faux stamp directly the card instead of first attaching them together on another piece of cardstock.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Zoo Review, Lovely Little Labels
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Naturals Ivory
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; Basic Gray, Crushed Curry, Soft Suede, Pumpkin Pie markers
Accessories: 1" square punch, Postage Stamp punch, 2-1/2" circle punch, 7/16" natural trim, Dimensionals

I really liked the spattered background on the first version of this card, but I was having trouble reproducing it. So after much deliberation I decided to use punched circles for the background instead. I think this background works well, too -- it reminds me of an animal print.

Now that I have the designs done, I actually have to make the cards I will be swapping. I'll probably make ten to fifteen cards of each design, so I'd better get stamping! Thanks for stopping by!