Brightening a rainy day

It's a bit of a dreary, rainy day today (which is good because we really need the rain), so I wanted to make something bright and fun. I think getting one of these cards would brighten anyone's day!

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^® unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Circle Circus
Card stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Crushed Curry, Almost Amethyst, Regal Rose, Real Red, Lucky Limeade
Ink: Crushed Curry, Almost Amethyst, Regal Rose, Real Red, Lucky Limeade, Jet Black StazOn
Accessories: Corner Rounder punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Greetings Ice Dots (KI Memories)

I chose my color combo from the colors in the pack of "ice dots" I used for embellishments. (One more old supply used up! Yippee!) It's more colors than I might normally use at once, but I really like them together. I stamped Whisper White card stock with the Circle Circus set (one stamp for each color), cut a 2-1/2" x 5-1/2" piece for each card and then rounded the corners. I matted each piece with a 2-3/4" x 5-3/4" of colored card stock and then adhered them to the 3" by 6" cards. And In my slightly obsessive compulsive way, I made sure that the same two colors of card stock weren't used together on any of the cards.

For each card, I punched the largest flower from the Boho Blossoms punch in the same color card stock as the mat and glued it in the middle of one of the black circles on the card. Then I glued on the ice-dot embellishment that matched the color of the main card. And that's it! Definitely quick and easy.

I like how placing the embellishments inside the stamped black circles helps them stand out a little; otherwise they could have become lost on the relatively busy background. And I like how that puts the embellishment in a different spot on each card -- it gives them each a bit of personality.

I also stamped the envelopes so they coordinate with the cards. I don't always do that when I make a card (generally because I just don't think of it), but it really is a nice finishing detail. And while it's always awesome to get a handmade card, it's even better when the envelope is pretty, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Oldies but goodies

I love buying new stamping supplies: papers, ribbons, brads, various trinkets. It's all good. The problem is that I seem to have a hard time using them up. Occasionally I love something so much that I want to save it until I have the perfect project for it. But more often than not, what seems like the cutest embellishment or the most beautiful patterned paper is just replaced with the next latest and greatest thing, and it gets pushed to the bottom of the stack or back of the drawer.

So every once in awhile I decide to focus on using some of my older, neglected supplies. Here is the latest group of cards I made with some of these oldies but goodies:

Supplies (Stampin' Up!^®, unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Touch of Nature, Curly Cute, Whimsical Words
Ink: Mellow Moss, Blue Bayou, Really Rust, Soft Sky
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Mellow Moss, Blue Bayou, Really Rust
Accessories: Beautiful Wings embosslit, 1-3/4" Circle punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Corner Rounder, Aged Copper Hodgepodge Hardware, Mellow Moss grosgrain ribbon, copper and silver brads (Making Memories), circle tag (Creative Imaginations), woven label (Me & My Big Ideas), hemp cord (The Finishing Touch), stapler (Making Memories), Dimensionals

I used collage-style stamping with the retired Touch of Nature stamp set and several retired colors to create the background paper. I cut a piece of the background paper for each card and then just added greetings and embellishments. Well, I say "just," but it actually took me longer than I thought it would. For some reason I struggled with these cards. I'm not sure if it was the colors or images or maybe the combination of the two. Who knows.

I think my favorite cards are the two with the Curly Cute greetings; I like the simple layouts. The circle tag on the birthday card has canvas material inside the metal rim. Cool, right? That's what I thought until I decided to use it. I tried stamping on it, adding flowers, putting an eyelet in the hole. But nothing seemed right. I finally settled on adding the woven label and hemp cord. Not quite what I was going for, but I think it turned out okay.

I've pulled out some other forgotten supplies (in some ways, it's almost like getting new things), so maybe I'll continue my mission tomorrow. Happy Friday!

A little birthday bling

First of all, I want to say that I find it pretty amusing that on Monday I was sweating in shorts and a t-shirt, and now I wish I had my winter clothes out. From 90° to 35° in about two days. And there's a freeze warning tonight. I know it's cliché, but only in Minnesota.

Anyway, with the cooler weather comes the beginning of birthday season in my family. Quite a few of those birthdays are among the seven-and-under set (the first party is this Saturday), and tonight I realized I don't have many kid-friendly cards in my stash. So I decided I'd better work on that.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: Bring on the Cake (inside card)
Paper: Early Espresso, Regal Rose, Daffodil Delight, Brights Collection Patterns DSP stack
Ink: Early Espresso
Accessories: Cupcake Builder punch, Ticket Corner punch, Early Espresso 1/8" taffeta ribbon, Daffodil Delight pom-pom trim, basic rhinestones, Dazzling Details

I used a piece of Designer Series Paper (DSP) in Daffodil Delight as a simple but fun background for the three cupcakes on this card. I wanted to add a little bling, so I placed rhinestones in the corners and on the middle cupcake. Then I used Dazzling Details to put some sparkle on the yellow "sprinkles" on the other two cupcakes as well as on the candle flames. A strip of ribbon and some fun pom-pom trim finish off the front of the card.

Inside the card I stamped a greeting and added one more cupcake. I didn't put any rhinestones on this cupcake because I thought they would affect how the card closes. But I think I might go back and add Dazzling Details, at least on the candle flame. A little more sparkle never hurts, right?

Stay tuned for more birthday cards in the coming weeks. Thanks for stopping by!

The big stamping day

I held my stamp-a-stack card-making event on Saturday, Sept. 10, and I think everything went well. I had eight attendees, and everyone made twelve cards (four each of three designs) and a Halloween treat bag. (I did end up using the card designs pictured in my August 13 post with just a couple of tweaks. I changed one of the colors and the ribbon used on the pennant card pictured on the left.)

I had a couple of brand-new (or almost brand-new) stampers, a few seasoned stampers and a couple somewhere in the middle. Everyone seemed to like the projects, although a couple of the card designs were a little more detailed, so they took a bit longer to complete. I tried to make simple cards, but I always worry that if I make things too simple, people will be disappointed in them.

The hardest part of the day for me was definitely the set up. I held the event at the childcare where I work, and since I figured nobody wanted to stamp at tables that are about two feet high (although I sit at them all day long), I planned to bring up a couple of folding tables from the basement. Well, when I started setting up on Saturday morning (by myself), I discovered that A) the tables were much heavier than I thought they would be, and B) they had to be maneuvered around a corner to get them up the staircase. Awesome. After about twenty minutes with no success, I was tired, sweaty and very close to just leaving those tables downstairs and letting everyone deal with preschool-sized tables and chairs. But I moved some other furniture out of the way, gave it one last try and somehow managed to drag the tables upstairs. All day long I was dreading having to put everything back, but thankfully my brother stopped by in the afternoon and helped me carry them downstairs.

As they were working on their cards during the event, a few of my friends and family members asked when I was going to have my next card-making day. Hmm ... I was exhausted by the end of the day, and I slept about eleven hours Saturday night, so I think I need a bit of time to recover from this one first. Whew!

Thanks for stopping by!

Remembering September 11th

On Sept. 11, 2001, I was working in the Corporate Communications department at American Express Financial Advisors (AEFA). It was the beginning of the day; people were still coming into work, getting settled, drinking coffee. Another ordinary day at the office. Then my manager walked past my desk and said that a plane had just flown in to the World Trade Center. I remember thinking -- and maybe I even said it out loud -- "A plane flew into the tower? How does a plane fly into a building?" At that point, the thought of a deliberate attack hadn't even entered my mind.