Red, White & Blue

Many of the 4th of July celebrations begin today and so today's card, while not being patriotic, is red, white and blue. The butterflies are stamped using one of the images from the Papilion Potpourri set. There are six different butterfly stamps to choose from and three of them coordinate with the Elegant Butterfly punch. I really like the flower design on this butterfly stamp and then there is another with the same pattern only the butterfly is a little smaller. If you like butterflies, this set is for you. Have a wonderful day and a safe weekend!

Cottage Window

From my first look thru of the new catalog, a few of the stamp sets were "definitely needed" sets. You have already seen samples from Happy Hour and For The Birds and today's card is the first card I made using Cottage Window. The stamp set is just darling and as you can see, there is a little something for every season to put in the window. I lightly sponged a little Bashful Blue ink on white cardstock prior to stamping the window. After stamping and coloring the window, I cut it out and adhered it to the card. I then stamped the greeting (without my SAMJ) and it was crooked. So I stamped the sentiment again, punched it out using the Scallop Oval punch and covered the mistake. The stamp set is cute, cute cute and I will be making many cards with it. Have a great day and keep yourself hydrated!

Navy & Daffodil Birthday

An embellishment that I seldom use is a button. But lately I have been seeing many cards embellished with buttons and decided that I needed to make a button-embellished card. A fairly easy layout, the retired Night of Navy ribbon was threaded through the button holes and tied on the card front. If I mail this card, I will definitely need to add extra postage as the button does stand out a bit. The button matches the Designer Series Paper and as I am looking at it, I am thinking that a red button would have added just the right amount of "pop" versus the yellow blending in so much. Nonetheless, this is an easy card to make, with or without the button! Have a wonderful day.

July's Promotion

Today's cards were quickly made using an exclusive stamp set that Stampin' Up is offering during the month of July. The Reason To Smile set is available beginning July 1st and you can purchase it for $20.95 (wood mount) or $16.95 (clear mount). But better than that, when you place a $50 order during July, you can purchase the set for $5.00. It consists of flower images (7 stamps), is great for two-step stamping and is available in both clear and wood mount. For the card on the left I used Pink Pirouette with Pretty In Pink ink and Wild Wasabi with Certainly Celery ink. The words are from Fabulous Phrases. For the next card I used Rose Red with Pretty In Pink for the flowers. The images on the Rose Red cardstock are the outline images of the other flowers included in the set stamped in Rose Red ink to create a background. After using Reason to Smile for these two cards, I can definitely see myself using it frequently in the future. Have a nice day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Another White-on-White Card

I have posted similar cards, but I wanted to share this pretty white- on-white wedding card. I used white and Shimmery White cardstock, white satin ribbon, a heart framelit and the Scalloped Heart of Hearts embosslit. After layering the cardstock, tying the ribbon and adhering the hearts, the card needed something more. I have had these Swarovski crystals for quite a long time, but only use them for special cards for special people. Since Pete and Becky (married yesterday) definitely fit the "special people" category this card for them rated the Swarovski crystals. The crystals are so beautiful in person, changing colors depending on from what angle you are viewing the card. No crystals? Pearls would be a pretty embellishment, too. I added the little tag, but in reality, this is a card that requires no stamping. So get out those embossing folders and Big Shot dies and create something pretty! Have a great Sunday!

Watercolor Crayons

The Bordering on Romance stamp set has a good flower image for water coloring with crayons. For this card I used Black Stazon ink, watercolor crayons, blender pen and watercolor paper. Watercoloring does take a little practice and I have far from perfected it at this point. I will also say that I have wasted a few pieces of watercolor paper--lol! While playing with this particular technique, I found myself so into the blending that I had nothing else on my mind. Next time my mind is on overload, I will just pull out my watercolor crayons and blender pen and participate in a little "watercolor therapy"! Have a good day and find yourself a little stampin ' time.

Happy Hour

When I saw the Happy Hour stamp set in the new catalog, I had to have it. It reminds me of summer, Jimmy Buffett and fun times that our family enjoyed over the years. Between the new stamp set and Raspberry Ripple ribbon, cardstock and ink, here's a card for just about any happy occasion. Quick and easy for the first card, I wanted to "color" it up a bit for the next card. An assortment of Stampin' Up markers and cardstock~~Melon Mambo, Gumball Green, Elegant Eggplant and Tempting Turquoise~~together with the little drink umbrella and straw did just that! The Happy Hour set is on page 36 of the catalog and consists of 5 drink images, 7 little drink "embellishments" and 5 greetings. I see many cards being created with this stamp set and I am going downstairs to make a couple now! Have a great day and stay cool!

"Orange" You Sweet Z Fold Card

One of my favorite card styles is the "Z Fold" and we will be making the one pictured here at Cherie's class July 1st. The large orange slice is from the Mouthwatering stamp set while the little orange slices are from the Happy Hour set. The great thing about both stamps is that they can be oranges or lemons or limes and the large one can even be a slice of watermelon--all depending on the color you choose. Mine is an orange because I am doing a Rebus Card--a picture is used in place of a word. Hopefully everyone will know to read the card front as "Orange You Sweet" rather than "Aren't You Sweet" and think it is cute! Have a good day and keep cool!

Scallop Envelope Favor

While deciding what favor to make at the card class on June 23rd, I remembered from a while back seeing a fellow Stampin' Up demonstrator's photo of a cute little favor using the Scallop Envelope die. For my favor I used Daffodil Delight DSP and the new Gumball Green ribbon and ink for the embellishments and accent color. The "Thank You" is from the Itty Bitty Banners set (shown here) on page 134 of the new catalog and thanks to the coordinating Bitty Banner framelits on page 191, the curvy little banner took no time at all to cut! This set of framelits consists of 3 dies. Not only do the dies coordinate perfectly with this stamp set, many of the sentiments in various other stamp sets also fit in these framelits. This little box will hold three miniature Hershey bars or a Ghirardelli chocolate square. Wrap the little candy bars in matching DSP and you have an even prettier favor. Unfortuantely, this favor will not fit a typical gift card which is a smidgeon too big to squeeze in. The bow is made using the new Gumball Green ribbon. Now is when I wish I had ordered the pretty glimmer brads that are in the cattie as this bow required a larger brad, an item of which I do not have very many. An alternative would be to tie a bow and then use one of our glue dots to adhere it to the front of the box. Hope you have a great day!

Patriotic Favor

I had my first version of this favor on my counter during the Open House last week even though I needed to work on it a little. I received a number of comments about it and wanted to share my up-dated version. I put the sparklers in it which means it is not for the children. But how cute if you were able to add little red, white and blue candy sticks or Pixie Sticks rather than sparklers? (I bet Party City has something that would work perfectly.) And now I just thought--how about if this was your plastic dinnerware holder? I need to go try that. I'll be right back! Here is a photo with plastic dinnerware in place of the sparklers and I do like this, too. If you are having a July 4th cook out, a bunch of these in a basket would certainly be a patriotic addition to your buffet table. The ribbon is retired SU ribbon, but any thin red or blue ribbon will work. The star is from a punch I have--not SU. I now have another use for the Petite Pocket die, a purchase I didn't know if I should make or not! I am so glad I did. I have used it for many things, this being the latest. Have a fun-filled weekend!

More Organized Storage Area

I have finished sorting through all the "stuff" I just threw into my storage area and just in time as it is trash collection day today. This post is especially for my friend, Regina who just doesn't believe that my storage area would be a mess! And as I look at these photos, I wonder why I just didn't take a couple extra minutes every so often to put things in their proper containers? Oh well, at least it is cleaned up now and it is my intention to keep it this way, too. We will see how long that intention lasts! Have a great weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time--or maybe a little organizin' time? LOL!!!

Ice Cream Cone birthday

Quick and easy, this is a cute little card that can be made in a matter of minutes. The ice cream cone, from the Mouthwatering stamp set in the new catalog, was inked using Stampin' Up markers while the sentiment from A Word For You was stamped using a Real Red ink pad and my Stamp A Ma Jig. The little cherry in the corner was punched using the Build A Cupcake punch and a scrap of red cardstock. I colored the stem using my Chocolate Chip marker, adhered it to the card and topped it off with Crystal Effects. It will take a couple of minutes for the Crystal Effects to dry, but you could make a few of these cards in different color combinations and be prepared for upcoming birthdays. My next post will be the before and after pics of my storage room. It is looking pretty darn good, if I say so myself! Have a great day!

Another Little Bird Card

I now have two card classes per month which is a very good thing. But as I was typing my post this morning, I realized that I need to identify which class is making this card. I have decided that for identification purposes here on my blog and on my SU website, the group that has been with me for quite a while will be "Group 1" and Cherie's Group will be "Cherie's Group". During the Group 1 class on June 23rd, we will be using blender pens. Keeping the blender pens in mind while I design cards for the June 23rd class, I created this card. The image is from the For the Birds stamp set in the new catalog. I stamped it on watercolor paper using black Staz On ink and then colored it. A little texture was added to the Very Vanilla layer by using the Simply Scored tool and it was all tied together using retired Chocolate Chip ribbon. At the Group 1 card class, the card base will be Perfect Plum so that we can use the Perfect Plum taffeta ribbon that I recently added to my ribbon collection. It is so very pretty! And now it is back to the reorganizing of my storage space! Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time.

Yesterday during our Cricut get-together, the subject of organizing came up. We talked about our good intentions to get organized and I said that I had to organize my storage area. Since Sydney was here over the weekend, during Cricut she was going through her cabinet tossing "baby" stuff and things she hasn't used for a while. She did a very good job. Of course, she only got through one bucket of stamps--but it was a good start. So this morning I went down to clean up from the weekend and work on that storage area. Guess what? The only thing I did was make these two cards--hahaahh!!! The stamp is from the new Embellished Events set which I inked using my Stampin' Up markers. I used coordinating colors of cardstock and Polka Dot DSP (Marina Mist & Raspberry Ripple; Daffodil Delight & Tangerine Tango)and now have two birthday cards that are similar yet different. Later I am going to take a before picture of my storage area and an after "getting organized" picture and we will see just how much of a difference organizing will make. Have a great day!

Open House

The new cattie open house was a success yesterday. Had a very nice day spending the afternoon with family and friends who enjoy stamping, laughing and snacking on goodies, too! Our granddaughter spent the night and I woke up this morning to fruit salad she made (with a little help from her Grandpa). This afternoon will bring more laughter to my scrap room when the Cricut ladies arrive for our monthly get-together. A few ladies were unable to attend yesterday's open house and I wanted to send a big hug and say thank you to them and to all who have supported me in my SU endeavors. I became a SU demonstrator so that I could purchase their products with the 20% discount (which covered shipping & tax). Now I have a group of enthusiastic women who attend my classes, purchase Stampin' Up products through me and share their stampin' ideas, too. And the best thing~~I have made some wonderful friends over the past several years not only because of Stampin' Up but my Cricut, too! Have a great Sunday and keep cool!

Lots of Dots!

Today's card was created using two of my favorite new products: the For the Birds stamp set and the Polka Dot Designers Series Paper. In addition to those two new items, I also used the Itty Bitty Banners stamp set and Framelits. As for the color combination of Real Red, Marina Mist and Whisper White, I love it! Not a combo I use often, but after coloring in the image with my markers, the little red wagon and the blue bird is what prompted me to use these colors, especially after I remembered that Marina Mist was one of the colors in the Polka Dot DSP. Have a great day and hope to see you tomorrow at my Open House!

Birthday Cherries

I received my Stampin' Up order yesterday and started playing with some of it immediately. After I finished creating this card, it reminded me of Mary Engelbreit products. I should have added a little black along the way! The little randomly stamped cherries are from the Create A Cupcake set, which I have used many, many times. The double cherries are from the Mouthwatering stamp set which is now in the new catalog, a carry-over from a mini. And the sentiment is from A Word For You. I will say that my favorite thing about this card~~well 2 favorite things~~are the polka dot DSP (new) and the Crystal Effects added on top of the big cherries. Have a wonderful day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

So Soft

Once again I put the new hostess set, Four Seasons, to use. The white base and Pink Pirouette ink and cardstock gives this card a very soft and serene feel. The sentiment is one of the stamps in the A Word For You set while the butterfly in the center of the scallop circle is also one of the stamps from the hostess set. I was originally going to add a couple of little pearls to this card, but opted for one of the embosslit butterflies instead. I am spending my time this week preparing for the New Catalog Open House and look forward to seeing many of you on Saturday. Have a wonderful day!

A Tool For Him!

I designed this card after seeing various "wrench" cards posted by a few Stampin' Up demonstrators on our business website. A few punches and a brad are all that is needed to create the wrench. The sentiment is from the Delightful Dozen stamp set--one I purchased a while ago and a worthwhile purchase it was. This is another Make & Take at my Open House on Saturday. You will be able to personalize the card a bit more at the Open House by adding "dad" or "uncle" or your choice of other titles using the Family Reunion stamp set. Have a great day!

Cute Sweet Birthday Wishes

My New Catalog Open House is June 9th so I am getting ready. My catalogs and wish lists are packaged and now I am working on the Make & Takes. This card is one of the Make & Takes but I still need to make a few little changes to it. "And what does this have to do with the new catalog", you ask? Not too much as everything I used (with the exception of the retired ribbon) was in the previous catalog~~LOL!!!! I just like the colors and the watermelons and this card serves as a reminder that even with the excitement of a new cattie, continue to use what you already have! By the way, a little later today you can to go to my SU website www.stampintimesomewhere.stampinup.net and browse the new catalog until you get your hands on the real thing! Have a good weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time.