A birthday 'Woo hoo!'

No matter the time of year, I don't think I'm ever more than a week or two away from needing a birthday card for someone. (If it's October, I need two or three every time I turn around!) So I always love to find a new, fun stamp I can use for birthday cards. When Stampin' Up!^® introduced their latest collection of single stamps, I knew I had to get the stamp called Woo Hoo!

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Woo Hoo!
Card stock: Basic Black, Whisper White, silver glimmer paper
Ink: Jet Black StazOn pad; markers: Blush Blossom, Marina Mist, Old Olive, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Chocolate Chip, Early Espresso Accessories: Chevron embossing folder, rhinestones, Dimensionals

The most time-consuming part of this card was probably the coloring; otherwise it was a quick card to make. Because the focal image is pretty busy, I wanted to keep the rest of the layout clean and simple. I embossed the Basic Black card base with the Chevron embossing folder to add a little texture and then added a strip of silver glimmer paper near the bottom of the card. I adhered the finished image (I hand-cut around the frilly border) over the glimmer paper with Dimensionals, and for a final sparkly detail, I added one rhinestone on the bottom right corner of the focal image and three along the top left edge of the card base. And that's it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Raining flowers

When I saw the hostess stamp set Million-Dollar Moments in the Stampin' Up!^® spring catalog, I was immediately drawn to it. It's not my usual style, but I really like the silhouette image of the woman holding an umbrella and the different things you can stamp as the "rain" (I think my favorite is the flowers). And the little duck image just quacks me up! (Sorry, that was really bad, but I had to do it.) Here are the first couple of cards I've made with this fun set:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Million-Dollar Moments
Paper: Crumb Cake, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Very Vanilla card stock; Print Poetry Designer Series Paper (DSP) stack
Ink: Crumb Cake, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit
Accessories: Summer Starfruit striped ribbon, Petite Curly Label punch, Dimensionals

I started with a piece of paper from the Print Poetry DSP stack and pulled my colors from there. I stamped the silhouette image twice on Very Vanilla card stock: once in Crumb Cake ink and once in Midnight Muse ink. I cut out just the umbrella from the Midnight Muse image and adhered it over the Crumb Cake image with Dimensionals. For the sentiment, I punched a Petite Curly Label from Summer Starfruit and adhered that near the corner of the stamped panel. Then I stamped the greeting, punched it out with the Petite Curly Label punch and used a Dimensional to attach it to the Summer Starfruit label, just slightly offset.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Million-Dollar Moments
Card stock: Midnight Muse, Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Whisper White
Ink: Midnight Muse, Baja Breeze, So Saffron
Accessories: Cloudy Day embossing folder, corner rounder, Jewelry Tag punch, mini silver brad, white baker's twine, Dimensionals

I adore the new Cloudy Day embossing folder; it adds such a great subtle texture, and it's perfect with this image. I struggled a little bit with the color balance on the stamped panel for this card because both So Saffron images are on the left side. (I really wished the duck was facing the other way so I could have stamped him on the right side.) I tried to balance that out a little by adding a So Saffron tag behind the sentiment on the right side of the panel, and I think that works pretty well. The extra tag also gives the small greeting a little more "oomph."

I'll try to keep the new cards coming. I have one more to share tomorrow or Wednesday, and then I need to get back to the drawing board. Or, more accurately, the crafting table. Thanks for stopping by!

Secret Garden cards

I'm a sucker for just about anything floral, so when I first saw the Stampin' Up!^® spring catalog, I knew right away that I would be getting the Secret Garden stamp set and the coordinating Framelits dies. This weekend I made two cards with these items and a few other new goodies.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Secret Garden
Paper: River Rock, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green card stock; Print Poetry Designer Series Paper (DSP) stack
Ink: Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green
Accessories: Secret Garden Framelits dies, rhinestones, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Two-Way Glue Pen, Dimensionals

I love how quick and easy it is to make a paper bouquet with this coordinating stamp set and dies. I've made cards similar to this many times in the past, but I've always cut out the flowers by hand. I don't mind doing that -- in some ways "fussy cutting" is sort of calming for me -- but it definitely takes a lot more time. And here's a little trick: The two light pink flowers on this card are actually one flower that I cut in half. Since I was tucking it under the larger flower, I decided not to "waste" it by leaving half of it hidden.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Secret Garden
Paper: Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Primrose Petals, Very Vanilla card stock; Print Poetry DSP stack
Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green
Accessories: Secret Garden Framelits dies, Honeycomb embossing folder, Gumball Green stitched ribbon, pearls, Essentials paper-piercing pack, paper-piercing tool and mat, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

I did do some fussy cutting for the flower on this card. Using Raspberry Ripple ink, I stamped the largest flower image three times: twice on Primrose Petals card stock and once on Raspberry Ripple card stock. I used the Framelits dies to cut out one of the Primrose Petals flowers. Then I hand-cut the center out of the other Primrose Petals flower and the middle group of petals out of the Raspberry Ripple flower. I used Glue Dots to layer the center pieces on the large flower so it has a little bit of dimension.

The piece of Print Poetry DSP on this card was one of the scraps leftover from the card above. I also had a long, skinny strip, which I adhered along the bottom of the inside of this card.

Come back tomorrow for more cards featuring new products from the Stampin' Up! spring catalog. Thanks for stopping by!

Fifteen-minute card ... more or less

This month I haven't been posting on my blog nearly as much as I expected to or should have been. It seems that getting back into the swing of things after the holidays has been tricky. And then last week I started getting sick with whatever crud is going around. I had to work Friday (and yesterday) because we already had other staff out sick, but by Friday night I was down for the count with a nasty cough and crazy sore throat. I spent all Saturday and Sunday in bed. On Monday I migrated to the couch in the living room for a change of scenery and some different TV viewing options. (Side note: I am a tad bitter that I had to spend my glorious three-day weekend sick. Boo!)

All in all I know I was pretty lucky to "bounce back" so quickly, although I'm still not 100%; the runny/stuffy nose and cough are lingering. I didn't feel the greatest coming home from work today, and I really wanted to curl up with my book and a blanket. But I had this nagging feeling that I should make something. It seemed too overwhelming, though, to decide what kind of card to make and then what stamps to use and what colors ... well, you see where it was going. To take some of the pressure off, I decided I would make a fifteen-minute card. With that idea in my head, it didn't seem like such a daunting task, and I gave myself "permission" to just make something without worrying about whether it was "good enough."

In the end, the card I made probably took twenty to twenty-five minutes. But even though my timing was a bit off, I accomplished what I wanted to: I made a card without fretting about decisions. I just picked out one of the first stamps I saw, thought of an embellishment that would work with it and kept going from there. As a bonus, I used some supplies that I haven't touched in a long time. Here is the finished product:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: [name unknown; retired incentive stamp]
Card stock: Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride, Whisper White
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride
Accessories: Square doily, Framed Tulips embossing folder, Elegant Bouquet embossing folder, 1-3/4" circle punch, 1-1/4" and 2-3/8" scallop circle punches, Boho Blossoms punch, 1/16" hole punch, Blender Pen, pearls, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

The Crumb Cake base is just a 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" piece of card stock (embossed with the Framed Tulips embossing folder), not a traditional folded card base. Instead, the card is inside the doily "envelope" (although you could write on the back of the Crumb Cake base if you needed more space). To make the envelope, fold the doily in half horizontally and vertically to find the center of the square. Open it back up and fold three of the corners into the center point. I placed a Glue Dot on the bottom corner and then adhered the right and left corners to the Glue Dot. I added the Blushing Bride scalloped circle to cover the "seam" and to help the corners stay together.

The card inside the envelope is 3-1/4" square and embossed with the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder. I stamped the image with Jet Black StazOn ink on Whisper White card stock and used a Blender Pen to color it. I punched out the finished image and adhered it to a scallop circle, and then I used a 1/16" hole punch to make a hole in each of the scallops. I used Dimensionals to attach the focal point to the card, and -- ta da! -- a more-or-less fifteen-minute card.

Tomorrow I'll be receiving a bunch of new goodies from the Stampin' Up! spring catalog and Sale-A-Bration promotion (yippee!), so I hope to have several fun creations to share with you soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Same layout, different holiday

Do you ever look back at cards you've made and recreate them with a different color scheme, different images or a different "theme"? That's what I did for today's cards.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake card stock; Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper (DSP) stack
Accessories: Window Frames Collection Framelits dies, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Full Heart punch, Beachfront ribbon originals, Victoria crochet trim, Festive paper-piercing pack, Stampin' Pierce mat, paper piercer, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

I started with the layout I used for the cards in my Christmas color flip post (July 22, 2012). But instead of using one piece of DSP and flipping over a strip to show the print on the reverse side, I used two pieces of DSP (I wanted just Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla in the prints), cut each one in half (to 4-1/2" x 3-1/4") and then cut a 1-1/2" x 3-1/4" strip off each of the four pieces. Mixing the patterns, I adhered the pieces to a 4-3/4" x 3-1/2" piece of Crumb Cake card stock. I placed a piece of crochet trim over the "seam" and then adhered the panel to a Cherry Cobbler card base. (I ended up with four cards, two of each style shown in the photo.)

To make the focal point, I used the second-smallest die in the Window Frames Collection Framelits dies to cut a piece of Crumb Cake card stock. I pierced a border around the die-cut and then adhered a piece of Very Vanilla ruffled ribbon (from the retired Beachfront Ribbon Originals pack) across the middle of the shape. I punched a heart from Cherry Cobbler card stock, embossed it with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, and adhered it over the ribbon with Dimensionals. Then I adhered the finished piece to the card with Dimensionals. I also used Glue Dots to adhere the ends of the ruffled ribbon to the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Up in the clouds

A few weeks ago I was looking through some of my retired Designer Series Paper (DSP) from Stampin' Up!^® and found a fun cloudy sky print that I had forgotten was in the Welcome Neighbor DSP pad. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to use it on a card with the Up, Up & Away stamp set.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Up, Up & Away, Warmest Regards
Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White card stock; Welcome Neighbor DSP pad
Ink: Real Red, Early Espresso pads; Baja Breeze marker
Accessories: Cupcake Builder punch, Real Red polka dot ribbon, Tombo Mono Multi liquid glue, Dimensionals

I think it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself! Here are a few details:

• I used the Cupcake Builder punch to create the cloud shapes. To match the clouds on the DSP, I used my Baja Breeze marker to create a stitched border on each cloud. (Technically, the background color in the paper is a muted Bermuda Bay, but the Baja Breeze worked perfectly.)
• The striped DSP for the grass was also in the Welcome Neighbor DSP pad. I cut the shape for the hills free-hand.
• The balloon, one of the clouds and the sentiment are attached to the card with Dimensionals.
• To avoid complete pattern overload, I adhered the ribbon to the card with the polka-dot side face down. I love the touch of white provided by the stitched edges, though.

Thanks for stopping by!

Two million cards!

As of last week Operation Write Home (OWH) has sent more than two million cards to our heroes overseas to help them keep in touch with family and friends back home. The cards I have contributed have been a teeny, tiny, itty, bitty fraction of that, but I am still happy to have been a part of such an amazing accomplishment.



Congratulations, OWH!

Valentine trio

It's hard to believe that it's already almost the middle of January -- it seems as if Christmas was just a few days ago! Before I know it Valentine's Day will be here, so today I spent some time creating valentines for my friends and family.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: You Are Loved, Lovely Little Labels
Paper: Cameo Coral, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla card stock; First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP)
Ink: Cameo Coral (pad and marker), Soft Sky, Jet Black StazOn
Accessories: Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Petite Pennants Builder punch, Little Labels punch pack, small heart punch, corner rounder, Calypso Coral baker's twine, Color Spritzer tool, pearls, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

I liked the color combination I used for the love card I made a few weeks ago, so I decided to use a similar combo for this card. It's hard to pick up some of the little details in the picture, so I'll point out a few things:
~ I spritzed the card base and the First Edition DSP pennants with Cameo Coral.

~ For the Soft Sky pennants I stamped the floral heart image from the You Are Loved set and then punched out part of the image.
~ There are three small pearls on one of the Soft Sky pennants.
~ To adhere the pennants to the card I placed a Glue Dot in the top two corners of each pennant.
~ Inside the card I stamped the floral heart in Cameo Coral (first stamped on scratch paper so the image was lighter) then stamped the greeting over it.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Filled with Love, Curly Cute
Card stock: Soft Sky, Whisper White
Ink: Soft Sky, Pear Pizzazz, Riding Hood Red
Accessories: Apothecary Accents Framelits dies, small heart punch, Adorning Accents embossing folders, In Color glimmer brads, Pear Pizzazz stitched poly ribbon, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

To make the focal image on this card, I used the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig tool to stamp a line of four of the stemmed heart image in Pear Pizzazz, and then I die cut the group with one of the Apothecary Accents Framelits dies.

I stamped the small heart in Soft Sky and Riding Hood Red on a separate piece of card stock, punched them out and adhered them to the stemmed hearts with Glue Dots. I added a glimmer brad to each side and then used Dimensionals to adhere the piece over the ribbon.

Inside the card I stamped the sentiment and added three small punched hearts.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Warmest of Wishes, Grateful Greetings
Card stock: Kraft note cards and envelopes (Paper Reflections), Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Petite Pennants Builder punch, mini silver brads, small heart punch, paper piercer, mat pack, Cherry Cobbler baker's twine, Glue Dots, Tombo Mono Multi liquid glue

(Note: This card base is 5-1.2" x 4", so it is slightly smaller than A2 size.) For this clean and simple card I used a layout from a birthday card I made last month.

I stamped and punched out five pennants and used mini silver brads to connect them. To attach the banner to the card, I placed a Glue Dot on the back of the middle and two end pennants. For some simple embellishment I wrapped a piece of baker's twine twice around the bottom of the card and tied it in a knot.

Inside the card I stamped the sentiment and added three small hearts punched out of Cherry Cobbler card stock. I didn't take a picture of it, but I also added a punched heart to the middle of the envelope flap.

Thanks for stopping by!

A fun discovery

I'll be honest, I'm always a little envious of the creative people who can take a few punches, dies or stamps and come up with unexpected ways to use them. I don't usually have the eye for that. But while I was playing with the Floral Frames Framelits dies to create my flower-shaped card, I did make a little discovery: you can use these Framelits dies to make label shapes.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: Raining Flowers, Sweet Essentials
Card stock: Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade (marker)
Accessories: Scallop Edge Border punch, Floral Frames Framelits dies, Delicate Designs embossing folders, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, rhinestones, Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue, Glue Dots

See the shaped piece of Lucky Limeade card stock behind the greeting on this card? That was made with the Floral Frames framelits dies! I know that it's not terribly cute or exciting, and I may not even be the first person to think of it, but it was a fun discovery for me.

I used the second-largest die in the Floral Frames set and a 1-1/4" wide strip of card stock. (The finished length of the label shape will be about 4-1/4", so be sure your card stock is at least that long.) I positioned the Framelit die so that two "petals" across from each other were aligned on the strip and then ran it through my Big Shot. (If needed, you could place a self-stick note across the die and card stock to hold them in place.)

If you use a slightly wider strip of card stock, you create a different shape (see photo). I layered the label in my card above with a small banner, but I think either of these labels would look great layered with other shapes, too (I think I might try ovals next). And I'm sure you could use the rest of the Floral Frames Framelits dies to make larger or smaller label shapes; just adjust the width of your card stock as needed.



Thanks for stopping by!

Flower-shaped card

A while back I saw an adorable Floral Frames card on the blog of another Stampin'!^® demonstrator, Mary Fish. Mary used the Floral Frames Framelits dies to create a fun flower-shaped card. I wanted to try my own version, and here is the card I created:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Paper: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Lucky Limeade cardstock; Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper (DSP)
Accessories: Floral Frames Framelits dies, Woodgrain embossing folder, Brights Collection buttons, white baker's twine, Glue Dots

What a bright, cheery card for a cold winter day! And it was really easy to make, to boot. I wanted the card to fit in a standard A2-sized envelope, so I started with a 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" card base in Daffodil Delight. I placed the largest Floral Frames die on the card so that two of the points were lined up evenly along the bottom of the card, and then I ran the card and die through my Big Shot. (A quick disclaimer: Framelits dies do specify that they are designed to be used with a single sheet of paper, card stock or other material. I didn't have a problem cutting through both layers of card stock, but it could affect the product warranty if any damage occurs.)

I used the next largest Floral Frames die to cut a layer of the Summer Smooches DSP and a layer of Whisper White card stock (for the inside of the card). I adhered the DSP layer to the front of the card and then trimmed off the parts of the top two points that stuck up past the fold. Then I cut off the same amount from two points of the Whisper White layer and adhered it inside the card. (The Daffodil Delight card stock is light enough that I could have skipped this step, but I like how the card looks with the layer inside.)

For the rest of the card front, I used the third-largest Floral Frames die to cut a Real Red flower, which I embossed and adhered to the front of the card. I love the texture created by the Woodgrain embossing folder. To create the flower in the center, I used the smallest Floral Frames die with another piece of the Summer Smooches DSP and finished it off with a Tempting Turquoise button and a touch of baker's twine.

To create the leaf, I cut a piece of Lucky Limeade card stock with the second-largest Floral Frames die. The petals of the flower can be cut apart to make perfect leaves. For this photo, I drew lines on the die-cut so you can see how to separate the petals, and then I cut out one section. I hand-trimmed the leaf shape a little more and then embossed it with the Woodgrain embossing folder and adhered it to the back of the card front (see photo above).


I think the next set of cards I make as a gift may just have to be these flowers. Thanks for stopping by!

Valentines or anytime

Now that the holidays are past, it's time to start thinking about Valentine's Day. In the last batch of cards I recently sent to Operation Write Home, I included a couple of designs that I might use for some of my valentines this year. Neither card mentions Valentine's Day on the front -- so they are designs that could be used year round -- but it would be really easy to add that greeting, either stamped or handwritten, on the inside of the cards.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: Turtle & Co.
Card stock: Confetti White, Pear Pizzazz, Poppy Parade
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; markers: Pear Pizzazz, Poppy Parade
Accessories: 1/2" circle punch, Scallop Edge border punch, Pear Pizzazz stitched poly ribbon, corner rounder, Dimensionals

I really like how this clean and simple layout turned out. The scallops under the ribbon are a strip of Poppy Parade card stock punched with the Scallop Edge border punch. The scallops on the side of the focal image are three 1/2" circles glued right next to each other on the back of the Confetti White layer. You could embellish this card a little more by adding googly eyes to the frog and glitter to the heart.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Safari Animals (DeNami Design), Wild About You
Card stock: Confetti White, textured Real Red
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; markers: Going Gray, More Mustard, Soft Suede
Accessories: Full Heart punch, Adorning Accents embossing folder, Dimensionals

With the red hearts, this card does have more of a Valentine's Day look about it than the first card. You could make it a little more "any time" by layering a different shape behind the animals and/or omitting the embossed heart border. But I do like the wild animal theme for kids' valentines because it works for girls and boys. You could easily make a class set of valentines by changing the size of the card to 3" x 3" and using just one heart and animal with the greeting.

Thanks for stopping by!

Two versions of a birthday card

Happy new year! I hope your new year celebrations, whether lively or quiet, were happy ones. My family had dinner and game night, which was just right.

Today I'm going to share a couple of kids' birthday cards. They use the same focal image and almost the same layout, but one is a girly version, and one is more boyish.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^® unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Happy Chick Birthday (Unity Stamp Co.), Create a Cupcake
Card stock: Whisper White, Barely Banana, Pool Party, Pink Pirouette
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; markers: Barely Banana, Pool Party, Pink Pirouette, Pixie Pink
Accessories: 2-1/2" circle punch, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, Scallop Edge border punch, Polka Dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Lily White rhinestones (Doodlebug Design Inc.), Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue, Dimensionals

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Happy Chick Birthday (Unity Stamp Co.)
Card stock: Whisper White, Green Galore, Yoyo Yellow, Taken with Teal
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Versamark; markers: Green Galore, Yoyo Yellow, Taken with Teal, Pixie Pink, Only Orange
Accessories: Top Note die, Merry Minis punch pack, Scallop Edge border punch, primary rhinestones (Me & My Big Ideas), Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue


Can you see the similarities in the layout? The cards are mirror images of each other, and I changed the shape of the focal image. On the boy card I stamped a sentiment multiple times across the strip of card stock. For the girly card I embossed the strip and then added a greeting stamped on a little flag.

I think both of these cards turned out cute, but I'm a little partial to the girl version. Which do you like better?

Thanks for stopping by!