Clean & Simple With Petite Pairs

Today's cards were made using the Petite Pairs stamp set on page 164 of the IB&C. This stamp set includes sentiments for the front of the card with coordinating sentiments for the inside. The sentiment inside the sympathy card says "to heal your heart". There are actually 9 sets of greetings in this set and the photo on the right shows cards I made using 5 of the greetings. Some have ribbons, some have a little something extra stamped on them, but each one is a little different. This stamp set will also make cute 3x3 gift card sets to give as presents. I will be working on those a little later today. I have a feeling this is going to be another one of my "go to" sets. Have a nice day!

Designer Series Paper

Just a reminder that tomorrow is the last day to take advantage of the buy 3, get 1 free Designer Series Paper special. Today's card uses two patterns from the Berry Blossoms pack. While making this card I wasn't sure if the card base was going to be Calypso Coral, Wisteria Wonder or Lucky Limeade, but then I decided that since I did not have an of those ribbon colors (I know--can you believe it?), I went for an Early Espresso base. The sentiment is from the Curly Cute set and the little flower is from the Itty Bitty Bits set. I lined the inside of the card with Whisper White and stamped matching flowers in opposing corners. You will be seeing more cards and even scrapbook pages using paper from Berry Blossoms, but first I need to get some ribbon! Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Big News!

My baby brother got engaged last night. Dan is in his mid fifties and has been a bachelor (and a handsome one, too!) all his life. I have not yet met is fiancee, Karen, but look forward to meeting her in the near future. I was going to send them the pretty Mocha Morning Just For You card which I posted earlier this month, but Dan's favorite color is blue. So I decided that I could make a similar card for him and Karen with a few changes including the use of Baja Breeze to acknowledge their engagement. The sentiment is from the A Word For You set on page 165 of the IB&C. As with the Mocha Morning card, I used my Simply Scored tool from Stampin' Up to make the grid on the one section of white cardstock. All in all, it was a great weekend for us. Sydney spent the last couple of nights with us which is always such a treat. And then when she goes home, the house becomes so very quiet. Hope you had a good weekend, too!

Circles & Squares

Since I had the Just Add Cake DSP out yesterday, I made a couple of cards. This card has a Wild Wasabi card base along with touches of Baja Breeze and Peach Parfait cardstock. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Happiest Birthday Wishes Hostess set. I first inked the "Happy" using my Espresso marker and stamped and then inked "Birthday" with my Espresso marker and stamped. I did have to clean the stamp between words so that there was no visible sign of "happy" when I stamped "birthday". And of course, the near-perfect placement of the words was all due to the use of my Stamp-a-ma-jig! Happy Friday!

Autumn I Miss You

Aside from the Crumb Cake card base, the rest of the card is made using scraps! The leaf was my inspiration, so as I looked thru scraps the card just fell into place. The pattern paper is from the Just Add Cake collection and together with the Peach Parfait, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla cardstock the card does shout Autumn! I am getting ready to send a stack of cards to Operation Write Home, so the "I Miss You" sentiment will be put to good use. Speaking of scraps, do you ever wonder weather or not scraps are worth saving? Well, they are! I have one drawer in my cabinet that is just cardstock scraps. They are sorted by color family so it is easy to pull out what I need to punch a shape or stamp on. I try to only save scraps that are at least 2 inches wide/long. And my scraps do come in handy as the card shows! Have a great day and find yourself a little scrappin' time!

Halloween Hang-ups

Hard to believe that it is time to start thinking about Halloween as I am still in Summer mode! One product I rarely ever use is the stampin' around wheel. When I was able to preorder from the Holiday mini, I did order the Halloween Hang-Ups jumbo wheel because I thought it was cute and because I should demo it even though it is not one of my favorite items. (By the way, if you are a customer of mine the Holiday Mini should be in your mailboxes soon or it might have already arrived at your house.) The base of my card is Lucky Limeade and I stamped on a purple cardstock that is retired. I also used the pretty Tangerine Tango Polka Dot ribbon and the Happy Halloween sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set on page 157 of the IB&C. Have a great day!

Cricut Nugget Favor

It is Cricut Sunday today and while I wait for the ladies to arrive, I will post a photo of the little favor they will each get today. I used the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge to make this holder. It was cut at 4 1/2" and perfectly fits a Hershey's nugget. After it was cut out, I then ran it through my Big Shot using an embossing folder I had. The two inner flaps interconnect at the top and the two outer flaps have openings that fit thin ribbon through perfectly. I know it seems like I used nothing Stampin' Up~~but I did! I used the cardstock. The first favor I made using random white-core cardstock. After running it through the embossing folder, not only did white edges appear everywhere, but when folding up the little boxes, they were actually splitting. So once again, I am going to give rave reviews to my SU cardstock! It worked perfectly! Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Scrapbook Expo

Yesterday was a perfect day. I attended the Scrapbook Expo in St. Charles with my daughter and granddaughter. Surprisingly, I did not spend very much money (a good thing) and it was enjoyable to see things through the eyes of Sydney. She is very well-behaved seven year old so taking her into a crowded place was no problem. The three of us did a two-page layout at the Close To My Heart booth. Sydney was thrilled that she was able to do her own pages and she found the "rock and roll stamping" and the "stamping off" techniques much to her liking. She also had to sponge the edges of all of the off white cardstock and she told us that she didn't realize it took so long to sponge. As we passed a booth that had tons of ribbon hanging by the yard, Sydney says, "Oh Gay, keep me away from the ribbon! I just love ribbon." Very cute~~especially since, I, too, love ribbon. We had a nice lunch at a restaurant in the Pheasant Run Hotel, took one more look around the Expo and then had to call it a day as Sydney was off to her ballet and jazz/hip hop dance class. And today my husband comes home from an 11 day fishing trip to Canada, so guess what I am doing? Cleaning and catching up on all the things I didn't do while he was gone--LOL! Enjoy the day!

New Scoring Board

I was testing my new Stampin' Up scoring board when I made this card. When I first purchased a Score-Pal years ago, I was so happy to have it. I could score my cards and add a little scoring here and there with no problem. But when something called for a score line at the 4 3/8 mark, then I had a problem. The Score Pal had score gutters every 1/4 inch so I would have to figure out how to get those eighth inch marks at just the right place. But the SU score board has scoring gutters at every 1/8 inch mark. For this particular card I scored the upper half of the card at every 3/8 inch mark both horizontally and vertically. (Couldn't see that on the card to the left so I snapped another photo of the card without the flash.)I did find that scoring so closely I needed to really be sure I was scoring in the right "lane". Another difference is that the SU score board uses a stylus versus the Score Pal which uses a bone folder for the actual scoring. So there was a little learning curve there, too. But since the stylus is metal, I will not have to replace it as I find I need to do with the plastic bone folder after numerous uses. I like my new SU score board but I have jumped the track a few times and gotten part of a score line where I didn't want one. But a little extra embellishing seems to take care of that. So my new SU score board is a keeper. By the way, the Crumb Cake & Very Vanilla design on the lower portion of this card is another from the Mocha Morning DSP . Have a good day!

Simple Elegance

This card was so easy to make and yet it is so elegant. The paper I used is just one of the papers included in the Specialty Designers Series Paper "Mocha Morning". It is Crumb Cake with a black flocked design. I added 5/8 inch Basic Black Satin Ribbon and a greeting stamped on a scalloped oval and layered on another scalloped oval. The result is a very elegant card that will be perfect for a special occasion. Next time you are here, you will have to remind me to show you this paper. It is very different what with the flocking and the metallic ink designs on some of the papers. Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time.

One sheet/10 cards

I have read about card classes where you use one piece of 12x12 scrapbook paper and make a minimum of 10 cards. So I was wondering how difficult or easy it would be. I followed a pattern for cutting the pieces needed for 10 cards using a sheet of paper from the hostess DSP paper Cheerful Treat. I then choose coordinating cardstock and ink colors and got to work. Following the pattern, I made the base cards. Then I was on my own. I did spend a while putting ten cards together~~what stamp, what punch, embellishments, etc. But it was a fun project and a little challenging. I have decided that an August 27th class will be the one sheet/10 cards class. Each participant will choose a sheet of DSP paper, follow a cutting pattern and create their cards. My stamps and punches will be available. If you are up for the challenge, register for the class. It should be a lot of fun!

Pear Pizzazz

Pear Pizzazz is one of those colors that I rarely use. I prefer Certainly Celery when I need a green. But one of the main colors in Spice Cake DSP is Pear Pizzazz. Another of my least favorite colors is River Rock--again I could count on one hand how many times I have used it. And again it is one of the main colors in the Spice Cake. Last night I talked myself into creating something with the DSP and these two colors. As I started stamping with Soft Suede I was reminded that it wasn't too long ago that I never used Soft Suede either. But then I saw the retired Elegant Soireee paper in person, purchased it and have created many things using Soft Suede ever since. So this card is an attempt at using colors I don't particularly care for, even though I love the DSP. The leaves are from the Gently Falling set in the new Holiday mini which you should be seeing soon in your mail boxes. This is a two-step stamping technique set, which I really enjoy doing. (Of course I am going to have to do a little convincing about the joys of two-step stamping after last week's class--lol!) I stamped the leaves in Pear Pizzazz on River Rock cardstock then lightly dabbed the stamp on Soft Suede prior to stamping the image. The outline of the stamp was done using Soft Suede and then cut out and adhered to the card. I ran the decorative label thru the Big Shot using the Lattice Work embossing folder which added just enough extra texture to this card. Hope you like the card and hope you have a great weekend!

Scrap Pages with Spice Cake

Do you know how often I have used the color More Mustard? Probably never! Not really~~that's an exaggeration. I will say though that the More Mustard you see on these two pages probably came from the same pack of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock I purchased when I first became a SU demo 3 1/2 years ago. And not only that, but I used miscellaneous brads (not SU) which were included with a set of brads I purchased years ago and thought I would never use! You are seeing a lot of this Spice Cake paper and I haven't even created anything using the Pear Pizzazz patterns that are included in this DSP pack. I will work on that! Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time.

Back To School Time

It seems like summer just flew by this year! School has started or will be starting soon in my area. So I wanted to create a "favor" for a child's classmates or for a teacher who wants to give their incoming students a little "welcome to my class" item. Remember those 1x8 cellophane bags I used for M&M's favors? Well, Stampin' Up will be selling those cellophane bags when the Holiday mini is released on September 1st. Two pencils fit perfectly in the 1x8 bags. I needed that little apple from the It's A Wrap stamp set as that is the only school-themed stamp I have. (I know, former preschool teacher and no school stamps!) So I used the new 1" square punch to punch the apple, adhered that to a scalloped squared and tied it with the pretty polk dots scallop ribbon. Cute and easy and useful, too!

SU Birthday Cake

In earlier posts I included pictures of birthday cards I made using the Cricut flowers. Today's birthday cake card was made using Stampin' Up products including the new Dazzling Details which is in the holiday mini! If you are familiar with Stickles, then you will love the Dazzling Details. It is glue with glitter in it and the Dazzling Details will be the perfect finishing touch to many of my cards and projects! I used the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder for the cake; the Itty bitty flower punch for the flowers and the bottom edge of the cake; and leaves from the Two-Step Bird Punch were used for the leaves on the cake and the flames on the candles. I added Dazzling Details to the candle flames and the centers of the flowers--the finishing touch! Have a great day!

Another Spice Cake Card

Two more prints from the Spice Cake DSP are shown on this card. I really think SU outdid itself with this DSP. The ricrac Soft Suede trim strip was made using the Tasteful Trim Big Shot die. My original idea for this card was to tie a bow with the linen thread after adding the tag, but once I adhered the ricrac to the card, I was taken back to my sewing days many years ago. The trim reminded me of the packs of ricrac sewing trim in the Notions Department of fabric stores and then the tag screamed for a button rather than a bow. Now I need to make use of the matching fabric I purchased--lol! Have a great day.

Oh My. . .

. . .is what I have to say about the Holiday mini! Cute Halloween sets, pretty Fall sets and beautiful Christmas sets. I am not quite into Christmas yet and using Fall colors for this card was a little difficult on this summer morning. But, I love, love, love the Spice Cake Designer Series Paper in the mini. The prints are fabulous and the colors (Soft Suede, More Mustard, pool. Party, Pear Pizzazz, River Rock and Very Vanilla) are so pretty together. I had to use a bit of it so that I could give you all a sneak peek of the Spice Cake. There is also fabric to match and BIG buttons. I did purchase the fabric and buttons, but I have not a clue as to what to do with them--lol! I have never purchased any of the SU fabric, but I broke down when I saw the pictures of it. Somewhere down the line, I will make something using the fabric and buttons. And when I do (and if the project turns out) I will post a photo of it on my blog. Watch your mailboxes as the Holiday Minis should be shipping soon. Have a very nice Sunday.

I was cleaning up my scraproom and came across three roses that I had watercolored a few weeks ago. I read that you can make stamped images three-dimensional by cutting out the same image at varying points and then layering. That is what I did with the three roses. I left the bottom layer alone. I then trimmed along the petals to make the next layer a little smaller. And then the third layer I cut more petals off. I used Stampin' Up Dimensionals between the layers and the result is very "dimensional". This particular image was very easy to cut as it is a larger image and the outline of the rose was embossed. It might be more difficult to achieve if using a smaller image, but the dimensional look can still be achieved. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Get Well Soon

Crumb Cake and Cherry Cobbler--what a great color combination! The get well band aid is from the It's A Wrap Occasions stamp set on page 59 in the new IB&C. The set consists of 7 images with various sentiments. And not only is the color combination great, but how about that Cherry Cobbler ribbon? I just think it is so gorgeous. An example of another use of this stamp set is the candy wrapper on the right. I stamped the image on a label, adhered it to a piece of DSP and then wrapped it around a Hershey nugget. This would be a perfect little treat to add to your child's lunch box or to give to your child's teacher. That being said, not sure how the candy would hold up in the hot weather we have been having--lol! I see many possibilities for this set which means that you will be seeing photos of some of my "It's A Wrap" creations in the near future. Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Cherry On Top

We have a few August birthdays so there is no better time to use the Build-A-Cupcake punch. I don't know about you, but sometimes I neglect to use great products I have purchased--and the cupcake punch is one of those items! But look how cute the cupcake is. I punched the cherry from red cardstock, colored the stem brown and then added Crystal Effects to the cherry. The frosting looks swirly because after I punched it, I ran that little piece through my Big Shot using an embossing folder. The striped paper is from the hostess DSP Cheerful Treat, which has some very cute designs and it is very cheerful paper. The sentiment is from the Word For You stamp set on page 165 of the IB&C. I will be posting some other cards I make using other designs from this DSP pack. And speaking of paper, SU's special during the month of August is buy 3 packs of DSP and get one free--a really good deal for those who like designer series paper packs. Have a great day!

Birthday Cake Inspired

John and I ordered Sydney's cake from Jarosch Bakery, a bakery that our family has ordered special cakes from for years and years. She wanted pink, yellow and purple flowers with pink writing. We had already given Sydney her overhead projector, but we had a little something to give her at the adult party. I needed a little gift tag for the bag. (BTW, it was the electronic pencil sharpener she wanted--lol!) My good friend is a CTMH demonstrator and CTMH announced the release of a Cricut cartridge that coordinates with some of their stamps. Well, my friend doesn't have a Cricut nor does she know how to use one, so I had the pleasure of doing a few things with the new cartridge so that she would understand the whole "Cricut thing" better. I saw the flowers on the cartridge and I knew I wanted a tag that looked like the cake we ordered. The square 3x3 gift card was made to match the cake before I saw the cake. After I saw the cake, I wished I had made a circle gift card as there is a circle card on the CTMH cart. So today I made a new gift tag to match the cake more closely--lol. In the future someone will be getting a pretty cake tag! Now I need to perfect the rolling up of the flowers. I am impressed with the cartridge as it has some great objects and shapes and an alphabet. I look forward to seeing all that can be done with that Close To My Heart cartridge. And by the way, I used Stampin' Up cardstock and ink. And the icing on the cake is the Shimmery White. Not a good thing to do at 9 at night, but I am now hungry for a piece of cake!