ABCs of 2011

I thought it would be fun to look back on my 2011 with a little twist: I thought of one thing for each letter of the alphabet (easier said than done).

A favorite new bread - Flaxseed Farmer's Wheat with Cranberries from Breadsmith
Bellydancing
Costume for Halloween. I actually dressed up this year, as a farmer.
Driver's license renewed. The next time I have to do that will be when I turn forty. Ugh. 
Energetic toddlers 
Flambards series by K.M. Peyton. Read the books (except the fourth, which I think ruins the happy ending) and watched the TV series, some parts multiple times.
Going to the Stampin' Up! regional conference in Minneapolis in February
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Finally!
Izzy's ice cream - Norwegian Chai!
Jane Eyre obsession. 'Nuff said.
Kindle. I still prefer "real" books, but I've had my Kindle for a year and am starting to read more e-books.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo concert in February and Les Miserables in December
Making cards
National Novel Writing Month. I wrote 11,018 words in my (unfinished) novel.
Operation Write Home. I donated fifty-five handmade cards this year.
Pirates of the Caribbean. I was late to jump on this bandwagon, but I saw all four of the movies over the summer.
Quirky stories about my Lego Minifigure collection
Reading books. I finished forty-one this year, not quite to my goal of fifty.
Stamping!
The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Can't wait for the movie next year.
Utah trip in July for my second Stampin' Up! annual convention
Ventured into the world of blogging
Watching The Big Bang Theory. Definitely my favorite sitcom, maybe even my favorite TV show.
eXhibit of King Tut at the Science Museum of Minnesota in September
Yoga
Zipper pulls and hair clips made as birthday gifts

Hope your 2011 was a great one and 2012 is even better. Have a happy, safe New Year's Eve!

A little bird for you

I didn't do any stamping today -- too busy watching Sense and Sensibility and Jane Eyre -- but I have one more card to share that I made earlier in the week. I started out with the intention of making a masculine, or at least gender-neutral, card, but I think it ended up more on the feminine side:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: Nature Walk, Tiny Tags
Card stock: Bordering Blue, Soft Suede, Naturals Ivory
Ink: Basic Brown, Soft Suede, Bordering Blue, More Mustard
Accessories: Victoria crochet trim, Jewelry Tag punch, Log Cabin Smooch Spritz, Vintage Trinkets, Aqua Painter, bone folder, Dimensionals

I guess I didn't look too closely at the card before I took the picture; the "4 you" tag at the top should have been hanging down.  Oh, well.

I stamped the bird image in Basic Brown ink and then water colored it using an Aqua Painter and classic ink pads. I roughly tore around the image and layered it on a piece of Soft Suede torn in a similar shape.

For the rest of the card front, I cut a piece of card stock the same color as, but slightly smaller than, the card base. I lightly sprayed the piece with Log Cabin Smooch Spritz (that took a bit of trial and error; I over-sprayed the first piece I tried) and ran my bone folder along the edges to distress them. I added a piece of knotted crochet trim along the top of the card. I punched two small tags -- one plain and one stamped -- and used a small safety pin to attach them to the knot. I added three brads, adhered the bird and then used Dimensionals to attach the completed piece to the front of the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Favorites of the bunch

A couple of weeks ago I posted the picture of all the birthday cards I made as a gift for my grandma, and I mentioned that I would show individual pictures of some of the cards. I realized this morning that I've only posted one card so far - oops! So here are pictures and supplies for a few more of the cards, some of the ones that ended up being my favorites in the bunch. Note that all the supplies are from Stampin' Up!^® unless otherwise noted in the supply lists.

Supplies:
Stamps: Create a Cupcake
Card stock: Early Espresso, Regal Rose textured, So Saffron smooth and textured, Ballet Blue textured
Ink: Early Espresso
Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, balloon die cuts (they are from a Sizzix Big Shot die, but I don't know which one), white baker's twine, Word Window punch, Dimensionals

This was a really quick and easy card to make. I already had the balloon shapes, so I just tied some baker's twine on them and attached the balloons to the embossed card (the strings are not glued down). I added a greeting, and that's it!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bugs & Kisses
Card stock: Crumb Cake, Tempting Turquoise, Yoyo Yellow, Real Red
Ink: Jet Black StazOn
Accessories: Dimensional bug stickers (source unknown), circle punches, paper crimper

These cute dimensional bug stickers came premade, complete with google eyes and antennae, but I don't think they would be too hard to recreate from scratch with various punches. I decided to use a very simple layout for this card. Because there wasn't a common color among all the stickers, I used Crumb Cake to create a neutral card base and then selected one color from each sticker to use for the background circles. It's hard to tell in the picture, but I ran the punched circles through my crimper in two different directions to create a little extra texture.

Supplies:
Stamps: Happiest Birthday Wishes
Card stock: Naturals White
Ink: Lovely Lilac
Accessories: Dimensional bug stickers (source unknown), Simply Scored tool, Dazzling Details

This card really used minimal supplies. This butterfly sticker was from the same pack as the stickers in the card above. (I love how the curves in the greeting make it look as if the butterfly is flying.) I made a border of two scored lines around the entire card and added a line of Dazzling Details between the lines.

Supplies:
Stamps: On Your Birthday
Card stock: Sahara Sand, Bordering Blue, Really Rust, True Thyme
Ink: True Thyme
Accessories: Tool charms (Scrap-Ease), screw-shaped brads (source unknown), silver mini brads

I've had this set of tool-shaped charms (and several other packs) forever. I thought this color-block layout would be a good way to use them on a birthday card. I filled in the empty spaces with a few brads that look like screws. I think this card is about as masculine as you could get!

Supplies:
Stamps: Happiest Birthday Wishes
Paper: Soft Sky card stock, Designer Series Paper (DSP) Patterns Stack - Brights Collection, Soft Sky DSP Prints
Ink: Soft Sky
Accessories: Paper daisies (Making Memories), yellow glitter brads (Making Memories), green ribbon (source unknown), Butterfly punch, white baker's twine, mini-pinking scissors (Fiskars), Dimensionals

On this card I love the little touches of yellow in the flowers and brads combined with the blue and green. And it's hard to tell in the picture, but the green ribbon is slightly variegated; it's dark green on one edge (here the left side) and changes to a light green on the other edge. I knew when I bought the ribbon that it would be perfect for flower stems.


All of these cards were fairly quick and easy to make -- that's what happens when you suddenly have to make a couple dozen cards in just a few days! But I think they all turned out cute, and they gave me ideas to try again another time. I hope you got a few ideas, too! Thanks for stopping by!

Flower fest

Today I felt like stamping flowery cards, something I haven't had much chance to do lately, what with making Christmas cards and then all the hoopla of the holidays. Here are the three cards I created:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: Array of Sunshine, It's Your Birthday
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Framed Tulips embossing folder, Lots of Tag Sizzlits (Label 2), large oval punch, Blushing Bride stitched-poly ribbon, basic pearls, Dimensionals

I bought the Lots of Tags Sizzlits awhile ago -- I think with the intention of making Christmas tags -- but this was the first time I've used them. I love that with this particular tag, the oval inside the tag is the perfect size to be punched out with the large oval punch. It worked great for the greeting on this card.

For the flowers (which unfortunately look kind of washed out in this photo), I stamped the large bloom from the Array of Sunshine set four times on Very Vanilla card stock. Two of them I cut out around the whole flower, one I cut out around the middle circle of petals, and one I cut out around the inner circle of petals. I embossed the border on the main layer of Very Vanilla card stock, added some ribbon and pearls, and layered the flowers in the corner.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Sweet Summer
Paper: Whisper White, Peach Parfait and Lucky Limeade card stock; DSP Patterns Pack - In Color
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; markers: Peach Parfait, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade
Accessories: Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, Scallop Trim Border punch, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, basic pearls, Dimensionals

This card is pretty self-explanatory, mostly just stamping, coloring and layering. I did add some details to the flowers: I punched two small flower shapes in each color, layered them and adhered them over the stamped images. I also added a pearl in each flower and a few others around the stamped images.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Sweet Summer, Raining Flowers
Card stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Pool Party, Peach Parfait, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; markers: Peach Parfait, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Basic Black
Accessories: Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Boho Blossoms punch, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, 1/8" Basic Black taffeta ribbon, Dazzling Details, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

To make the flowers on this card, I used the image from the Raining Flowers set that looks like half a flower. I stamped the image twice for each flower, turning the stamp so the images were back to back. I colored the flowers and added two punched shapes in the middle: the smallest flower from the Boho Blossoms punch in black and the scalloped circle from the Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack in the same color as the flower.

To fill in the space between the flowers, I stamped the small butterfly image from the Sweet Summer set and added dots of Dazzling Details (also in the center of the flowers and on the embossed design on the butterfly). I wanted to add ribbon without covering up any flowers, so I placed a piece of ribbon diagonally at two opposite corners. The butterfly adds a simple focal image without detracting from the background. I wasn't sure how this card would turn out while I was making it, but I like the end result.

Thanks for stopping by!

One more thank you

After I finished making my Christmas thank-you cards yesterday, I remembered I one more card. It's not really for a gift; my boss gave me some chocolate chip cookie dough that she had leftover from her holiday baking. But I firmly believe that chocolate chip cookie dough is one of the greatest inventions ever (I used about half of it for cookies, and the rest I ate raw), so I thought I'd write a thank you to put inside the container when I return it.

Because I needed a small card, I decided to use a pocket note card. I bought a package of these cards several years ago from Stampin' Up!^®, and I still have quite a few of them left. Here is the quick card I made:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Easy Events
Card stock: Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Lucky Limeade, Pretty in Pink pocket note card
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Lucky Limeade marker
Accessories: Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, basic pearls, Dazzling Details

The card is about 2-1/2" x 3-1/2", so the thank-you image from the Easy Events set was the perfect size. I stamped the image on a 2" x 2-1/2" piece of Whisper White for the card and also on the outside of the envelope (without the greeting). After adding a layer of Lucky Limeade card stock, I adhered the image to the card.

I colored the flower leaves with a marker and glued punched flower shapes over the stamped flowers. For the flowers on the card, I used two punched shapes for each flower; the bottom flower shape is adhered flat on the card, and the top flower is adhered just in the middle, and the "petals" are curled up a bit. I added a small pearl in the center of each flower for a little embellishment. For the flowers on the envelope, I glued only one punched shape per flower, and I added a drop of Dazzling Details in the center of each flower. I think the finished card is pretty cute, and I might just have to make a set of similar cards with the other images from the Easy Events set.

Thanks for stopping by!