Baby Cards

Our dear friends are celebrating the arrival of their first grandbaby, a little boy.  The Family Reunion stamp set includes the words "Grandma" and "Grandpa" so I knew I would use that set.  Together with the addition of some of my favorite retired product (diaper pins, congratulations and red-checked ribbon) I created a cute grandbaby card.  Since I was in baby card mode, I decided to make a baby girl card.  Pink Pirouette and Chocolate Chip is one of my favorite baby girl color combinations.  Once again, the stamped images and ribbon are retired SU products.  Between the oval framelits and the Polka Dot embossing folder, these cards are  both good examples of using your old with your new.  So  don't forget about those "old" stamping products in a drawer somewhere. Every once in the while, look through your "stuff"~~and stamp away.  Have  a great day! 

Strawberry Thank You

At a card class earlier this month, Anne treated us to the most delicious fresh strawberry whip cream pie~~really the best!  Anne also brought the cutest little heart-shaped strawberry cheesecake--to die for!!!!  The treats were from Weber's Bakery, an old, Polish family-owned bakery on the south side of Chicago.  I have not had a Weber cake or pie in I don't know how many years, but eating a piece of that strawberry pie was like going back in time.  I am not quite sure what was sweeter~~the fresh-baked goods or the memories of growing up as a baker's granddaughter and always having fresh-baked goods in our house.  I wanted to thank Anne for such a special treat with a "strawberry" card.  I used a combination of stamp sets:  Cheers and Fruit & Flowers for the strawberries and Blooming With Kindness for the sentiment.  I am so blessed to have met and become friends with so many kind and caring women through our common tie of paper crafting.  And even more blessed when we share so many other things, too~~including knowing a great bakery!  Have a wonderful day and don't overdo the shoveling!

Easter Bunny

This morning's post is short and sweet.  A fun Easter card, the bunny is an image in My Digital Studio software that I cut using my electronic cutter.   Vellum, ink and a little sponging is what is needed to achieve the white and Baja Breeze backgound~~a fun technique that we will be doing at our classes this month.  Off to run an errand or two before the predicted snow begins.  Have a great day!

Little Easter Favor

While searching the internet for cabinet refinishing videos I came across~~of all things~~these cute little favors!  I will apologize in advance to the person who made the video I watched.  I was so interested in getting  score lines and sizes, that I totally missed her name.  Christy from Texas sticks in my mind.   Needless to say once I watched the video, I had to run down to my scrap room to recreate it.  I made a few and as I was scoring the strips of card stock, I was coming up with different ideas.  Instead of little flowers, maybe a little bunny or an Easter Egg.  Or we could use our Itty Bitty Banner framlets to cut out a sentiment.  Pool Party baker's twine would also be very cute.  So many possibilities!  I came across the pretty Spring Lindt/Lindor candy which fits perfectly in the little box, as does a Cadbury Egg.  Have a great day! 

A+ Teacher

Yesterday afternoon I sat down at my computer to play with My Digital Studio software and chose to create a card.  When I clicked on "stamps", a teacher stamp set appeared.  The set included all the elements on the white cardstock and then some.  I brought the lined oval paper onto the card and then the A+.  After typing "teacher" and selecting the font and color, I moved that onto the lined oval.  The black lines showed thru the red letters, so I sent the letters forwarded to get rid of the lines.  After "stamping" the apple outlines, I learned that I could change the color of sections of the image without changing the entire image.  (I was able to make the little stems brown and a couple of the outlines red instead of black.)  I printed it first on Whisper White cardstock, but the ink smeared!  And the placement was not that good.  I then moved things around and printed it on a different white cardstock. It looks pretty good and I finished it off with retired paper and ribbon.  All in all, I think it is a very cute card. As I read this post for errors,  it sounds as if I just whipped  out this card using MDS.  So as to not lead you astray, that isn't how it goes--lol!  I spent at least a couple of hours making this card--most of that time was computer time.  As I get more familiar with the program, the quicker I will be able to create cards.  Well, that is the hope anyway!!  Have a wonderful weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time.

Simply Stated

The oval Designer Frame embossing folder is very pretty and it is the perfect size for this cross from the Crosses of Hope set.  I seldom use this embossing folder as the oval ring more often than not seems to crinkle a bit. The pretty blue butterfly hides the crinkling on the Not Quite Navy card.  From Papillon Potpourri, the butterfly was stamped in Versamark, embossed with black embossing powder, inked with two shades of blue and punched using the Butterfly punch. The sentiment is from the Delightful Dozen stamp set.  The oval embossed frame on the Early Espresso card is still a bit crinkled but not so much that I had a need to cover it up.  These are definitely cards that speak loudly even with the simplicity of the design.  Off to do a a couple of errands today--before the snow arrives!  Have a great day.

Little "egg-plant"

With the windy and very cold weather upon us, a pretty Spring card can surely brighten the day. And hopefully, today's card will do just that.   The prettiest part of this card for me is the Pool Party button (a Sale-a-bration item) tied with Pool Party Baker's Twine.  The sentiment is from the Wacky Wishes hostess set and the potted "egg-plant" is just one of  eight stamps included in the Everybunny stamp set in the annual catalog.   This is one of the Easter cards we will be making in the March 2nd and 9th card classes.  Have a great day!

Happy Dirtday!

Today's cards are fun cards created with a little boy in mind.  The I Dig You stamp set is one of those sets that I don't really need, but the cuteness won.  I used markers to ink up the truck images and due to the fact that the image is solid, it took a few "trys" in order to get a more solid stamped image. The stamp-a-ma-jig came in handy when adding the "load" to the dump truck.  On the Island Indigo card I adhered 1/2" circles to the truck tires using silver mini brads.  Torn black card stock worked well for the dirt and I added a trio of presents in the dirt.  If you know the age of the child receiving this card, you can stamp that number on the truck in black.  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

39 Years!

Early last week I created this pretty pink card.  It came about because I wanted to see how I could change the color of flowers in the Flower Trim found in the Spring Mini.  The middle flower was pressed directly against the Pretty In Pink ink pad while the flowers on either side of that one were sponged using Pretty In Pink ink.  The card evolved from there using a heart framelit, little branches from the bird punch and the "love you much" sentiment from the Best of 25 February set.  But I needed an anniversary card for John and this was definitely a little too feminine, so I made a masculine version.  No flowers, no pearls, just a simple card, again using a heart framelit, the sentiment stamp and an embossing folder.  The mini silver brads in place of the pearls are the perfect embellishment for this anniversary card.  Just as the pink card would also be a pretty Mother's Day card, the Blue/Gray card would be a very nice card to give your Dad on Father's Day.  Have a great day!

A Little Lace

Have you thought about purchasing the Delicate Details Lace Tape in the Spring Mini?  I did order it and both patterns are very pretty.  The tape is on the expensive side (my opinion), but it sure is  pretty on this card~~and convenient, too!  No punching to do; no little pieces to poke out after die cutting; and no problem with excess glue getting all over the card front. I personally would not use this tape on a 12 x 12 scrapbook page~~well, maybe I would it if was a scrap page about my beautiful granddaughter!!!!  LOL!!!!  But as an accent on cards, this tape can go a long way.  My Simply Scored tool was used for all the embossing.  (Did I ever mention that I really like the diagonal plate for the Simply Scored board?)  The sentiment is from the Made For You set on page 44 of the Annual Catalog.  The simplicity of the set, the font, the fact there are three sentiments included in the set and the cost of $11.95 (wood mount) or $8.95 (clear mount) makes this a good addition to your present stamp collection or as a starter set for the beginner.  Have a great weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today's very pretty card was in my mailbox earlier this week, sent  by my dear friend and fellow-papercrafter, Kathy Z.  Originally, Kathy saw a similar card on the internet and then recreated it using her supplies.  If you still need to make a Valentine or two, this is a great sketch to use.  Even if you don't have the Postage Stamp punch, two sizes of square punches will look just as nice.  No Jewelry Tag punch? Tie a bow on the ribbon in its place.  Thank you, Kathy!  Love the card.  Hope you all have a lovely day.     

Easter Blessings

Today is Ash Wednesday and I thought that an Easter card would be very appropriate for today's post.  Two new items from the Spring Mini were used on this card: the sentiment is a single stamp and the oval die cut is one of a set of six sizes included in the new Ovals Collection framelits.  The pretty cross is from the Crosses of Hope set in the annual catalog.  I stamped the cross using Perfect Plum craft ink and then embossed it using SU's clear embossing powder.  Don't have craft ink?  No problem!  Stamp the image first in Versamark and then immediately in Perfect Plum classic ink.  Sprinkle with the clear embossing powder, heat and the result will be the same. Another option:  simply stamp the cross using Perfect Plum classic ink. Carefully scissor cut the cross and adhere to card with dimensionals.  So simple yet so pretty.  Have a great day. 

Sending Love

I ordered the Sent With Love special that Stampin' Up recently released and now that I have it I am not sure what to do with it--lol!   Since I wanted to make one more Valentine, I decided that this card would be made using Sent With Love DSP.  The envelope is actually the Scalloped Envelope die cut folded sideways~~~cute, cute, cute!  The "love you much" sentiment is a stamp included in the February Best of 25 promotion. Originally it was one of the images from the Well-Scripted stamp set, a set that I could not part with once it retired.  The little tickets are punched using the Ticket Duo punch with the image being from That's The Ticket in the Spring Mini.  I spent a little time coming up with this card, but I really like it! Now what else can I make using Sent With Love?

Cherie's Candy Bouquets

Every so often I like to share projects made by others on my blog~~today is one of those days.  When Cherie showed me this photo of the collection of Valentine bouquets she created using her Cricut die-cutting machine, I knew I wanted to share it with others.  The bouquets are sooo adorable and Cherie is a perfectionist in her paper-crafting, so  I can only imagine how much time she spent on the bouquets.  The recipients of these Valentine bouquets will be thrilled and impressed.  Have a wonderful day!

Playing With Patchwork

I love the look of patchwork quilts and I totally admire anyone who quilts.  I do not have the patience for it, so my "quilting" has been limited to the making of Top Note Die quilt cards.  And then I saw a card on our demonstrator site by Lisa C.  I liked it so much that I decided to create one that we will be making in our classes this weekend.  The pattern paper is from the Print Poetry DSP stack.  My favorite part of this card is the new Designer Builder Brad.  The new builder brads in the Spring Mini have a touch of elegance and add a bit of a vintage feeling to this card.  I see these builder brads on future cards, especially come Mother's Day.  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time this weekend.

Playing With Honeycomb

Today's card features the Honeycomb embossing folder from the Spring Mini.  I embossed the white card stock using the honeycomb folder.  I then created the Tempting Turquoise DSP hexagons using a hexagon "punch" in the My Digital Studio software and die cut them using my Cricut.  If you do not have MDS2+, no problem~~you can easily create little hexagons for the honeycomb:  emboss DSP paper using the honeycomb folder and then scissor cut some of the DSP hexagons to add to the white cardstock.  By embossing the DSP, you are able to see just where to cut the hexagons so they will fit in the hexagons on the white cardstock.  When I first saw this embossing folder, I was not attracted to it at all.  That opinion has changed as I find myself using it more and more.  How cute this card would be for s soccer player.  Make it black and white and it would remind the recipient of a soccer ball!  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time.

Chalkboard Technique Tag

While I should be getting ready for the weekend card classes, once again I was sucked into my scraproom and did not accomplish what I had hoped.  But since I did find bottles of Strawberry Crush at my local Meijer's store~~yeah~~I made a cute little tag.  Using Stampin' Up's My Digital Studio software and the chalkboard technique to add a little "eraser dust" to the tag I was able to create a  perfect teacher tag.  After printing and trimming the black tag with white lettering, I punched a decorative white bottom edge and layered that on a Real Red card stock tag.  The red hearts were cut using the Hearts embosslit.  If you want to give this to your child's teacher for Valentine's Day, the chalkboard tag might be best on a can of Strawberry Crush so as to avoid the possibility of broken glass between home and school.  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

We arrived home safe and sound and it was quite a chilly welcome!  And then I saw all the laundry that needed to be done~~oh my!  The pictures posted here are probably my favorites of all the pictures I took in Florida.  This Great Blue Heron was patiently waiting for a fisherman to give it a treat.  I was able to get within 6 feet of this beautiful bird to get the closeup.  Don't forget that Saturday and Sunday are card class days here.  Let me know by Friday if you will be attending class.  We will be using products from the Spring Mini and Sale-a-bration. Have a great day!

Links

The links I posted regarding the specials SU is offering, did not go directly to my website.  To see the specials, you can go to my website:

www.stampintimesomewhere.stampinup.net

where you will need to click on shop now and then Best of 25 or Sent With Love.  Blogging on the road just isn't as easy as at home!

Best of 25 Years: February

Best of Love Stamp Set

The above images are those included in February's Best of 25 Years stamp set.  The Best of Love set has a price of $14.95 and is available in clear mount only,.  Don't forget to save the little "25" sticker and adhere it to your collector's card.  When you purchase a total of 6 Best of Stamps sets, you can send in your collector's card for a FREE set of your choice valued at $14.95.

You can get the Best of Anniversary Collection sets on my SU website:

www.stampintimesomewhere.stampinup.net  and click on shop and then Best Of 25
 

 

 

Sent With Love Promotion

These all-new travel-themed products are perfect for documenting family vacations, creating unique invitations, or myriad other fun paper-crafting projects!

And here’s the rub: these exclusive products are only available from February 1 through April 30! Buy the Sent with Love Stamp Set or Designer Series Paper separately—or get them both in a bundle with Calypso Coral Baker’s Twine for 20 percent off!
We’re also offering a coordinating digital kit. See below for item numbers and prices.

Item	Description	Price
131847	Sent with Love Clear-Mount Stamp Set*	$17.95 US/ $21.95 CAN
132182	Sent with Love Designer Series Paper*	$10.95 US/$13.50 CAN
132851	Pretty Bundle* Includes the Sent with Love Stamp Set, Sent with Love Designer Series Paper, and Calypso Coral Baker’s Twine at a 20 percent discount!	$25.50 US/$31.50 CAN
132914	Sent with Love Digital Kit Coordinates with the Sent with Love products. Not included in the Pretty Bundle.	$9.95 US/$12.50 CAN

                                                                                          
*Only available through April 30, 2013.  The following link will take you to my website.  Click on Shop Now and Sent With Love:
www.stampintimesomewhere.stampinup.net

Placing Order

Due to the change in vacation plans we experienced, I will be placing an order first thing Tuesday morning and expediting so it will be here by Thursday evening.  If there is anything you would like to add, let me know by Monday night.  You will pay the normal 10% shipping charge.  I will be paying the expedited charge.  Have a great day.

Florida Sunset

As many of you know, John and I were on vacation for the past few weeks.  We went to our favorite vacation city, Fort Myers Beach, Florida.  The sunset pictured here was captured the first day we arrived.  While we were there, the weather was wonderful. We stayed at the north end of the island this year and loved it.  Each day I could walk to Bowditch Park and soak up the sun and take photos and videos of little creatures.  John and I were there for a week by ourselves and our friends then arrived.  We had a ball for a few days and our plans took a sudden change.  Our sister-in-law (John's brother's wife) died unexpectedly.  John and I headed off to Pinehurst, North Carolina.  We were with family which was nice, but would rather get together for more enjoyable family time.    Andrea will be missed by many.  She was a very kind and loving person who loved her family and traveling.  I was fortunate to have her as more than a sister-in-law~~she was my friend.  I do know that we will be returning to very cold weather, so hope this photo warms you up a bit!