Graduation Gift Card Holder

We went to our nephew's graduation party yesterday and this is the card I made for him. I recently saw this cool design to create a gift card holder on another blog and wanted to try it. It has a pocket on the inside to hold a gift card, or in this case cash or check. I changed the dimensions of this card a bit from the original so that it fit in a standard envelope. Here is how it looks opened:

The Word Window punch was used to create the notch that slides into the slot to keep the card closed. Isn't that a great idea!? Click here if you want to see the super cute original card along with directions. For my altered version, keep in mind that I started with a 12 x 4-1/4" base which I scored at 2" & 7 -1/4". To make the pocket a little deeper to hold cash or check rather than a gift card, I also added a 2" x 4-1/2" piece of card stock (the Eggplant with the 1/2 circle notch cut out)
I thought the quote used here from the Live Your Dreams set was perfect for a graduate. The dotted journaling stamp from that set was also used to create the lines of the "notebook paper".
Stamps: Tassel Time, Live Your Dreams & Typeset Numbers
Ink: Summer Sun & Elegant Eggplant
Card stock: Summer Sun & Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: Word Window, Spiral, 1-3/8" circle punches

All Through the Year Trio

This is a set of cards that were made at my eScape All Occasion card class on Wednesday. Everyone who attended made 3 each of 4 different designs. I changed up the colors and embellishments a bit for each design and gave everyone lots of options for sentiments so they would have lots of variety with their finished 12 cards. It was a lot to do in a few hours...especially for a few newbie stampers, but everyone had fun!

For this set we used a Lovely Lavender base with the Garden Annuals wheel for the background. The images from All through the Year were punched out using the 1- 3/8" square punch. I think these are some fun, happy cards. This has been a really versatile set for me and I used the Garden Annuals wheel quite a bit. I'm assuming this wheel will also be retiring, since the matching set is. But you never know! Guess we'll find out in a few weeks when the retiring accessory list is announced.

Stamps: All through the Year, It's All Good, Lots of Thoughts (SAB set) & Garden Annuals wheel
Card stock: Lovely Lavender, Only Orange, Certainly Celery, Pixie Pink & Whisper White
Ink: Lovely Lavender, Only Orange, Certainly Celery & Pixie Pink
Accessories: Bold Brights eyelets, Certainly Celery & Orchid grosgrain, sticky rhinestones

Thanks for stopping by...have a great day!

Touch of Nature Trio

At the beginning of the month I offered my customers the chance to participate in a contest guessing 30 stamp sets that they thought would be retiring from this catalog. The 3rd place prize was a set of 3 cards made from my favorite retiring stamp sets along with 1/2 sheet of each of the retiring In Colors. Since the winners have now been awarded their prizes, I figured it was OK to share these here. Everything, right down to the embellishments will be retiring after August 10th.
The Touch of Nature set is so pretty and detailed it has always been a favorite of mine to watercolor. And....what will I ever do without the Weathered background? I especially loved to use it in combination with my soon to be departed Print Pattern background.
I'm wiping away tears just thinking about not being able to get more Soft Sky card stock and the double stitched ribbons...OK, so maybe I'm being a bit overly dramatic, but these truly are some of my favorites, and I will be sad to see them go. However, it is exciting to think about what will be coming in the next catalog to replace it!

Stamps: Touch of Nature, Weathered & Print Pattern backgrounds, It's Your Birthday
Card stock: Soft Sky, Groovy Guava, River Rock & Very Vanilla
Ink: Soft Sky, River Rock, Black Stazon & various inks to watercolor
Accessories: Antique Brass Hodge Podge Hardware, Double stitched ribbon

I need to go finish cutting card stock for my eScape Card Class I am having tomorrow. Remember...put down the phone, turn off the computer, and break free from the 'e'! That means NO internet, texting, etc...all day tomorrow!!! Or the stampin' police will be coming for you! ;-) Have a good one!

Last Stamp Club Meeting

Wow! The past 6 months sure went flying by! I cannot believe that last night was already the last stamp club meeting! I hope everyone has had as much fun coming to these club nights as I have had holding them. I'm lucky to have had such a great group of women! I will be starting up another group of 6 in August...let me know ASAP if you are interested in joining, and I'll fill you in on all the details.

Last night I prepared several projects, which everyone completed in between chit chat, laughs, good food and wine, provided by our hostess Tami. Thanks Tami! Here's a look at the projects we did.
I'll describe each one a bit because unfortunately one member of our group couldn't make it last night. We missed you Miriam! I stamped your projects, but you'll still have to assemble...that is if Rach gives them up! hehehe

I think everyone's favorite project of the night was the glass coaster. I found them at Target in their Dollar Spot a month or two ago. Unfortunately even after searching several stores I wasn't able to get more than 4 packs, so everyone had to choose either the butterfly or the bird from my favorite retiring set - Touch of Nature.
I photographed them here with the box in case others want to try and find them at your local Target. They come 2 to a box. All you need to do is stamp your image and insert it inside the pocket on the back. That way if you get sick of a design you can swap it out...or even change for the season. To add extra detail we also stamped the front with White Stazon. The bird coaster uses the fern image from the TON set. The butterfly has the swirl from Baroque Motifs. I also promised a masculine card so we used my favorite masculine set at the moment- For Father along with a couple retiring sets- Flannel Plaid and Trimtastic. Color combo is: Bravo Burgundy, Creamy Caramel, Always Artichoke & Chocolate Chip with Antique Brass Hodge Podge Hardware.
This is a trio of note cards using the new Fresh Cuts set with the die cut note cards. Everyone got to select their favorite color combo and make one note card. To add a little extra detail to these otherwise quick & easy cards, I added a little faux stitching on the layer behind the die cut opening. That layer was then attached on the inside using dimensionals to show off the die cut flower.

Last but not least, we did this adorable little boho bookmark. This cute project uses a variety of punches: Scallop, 1- 1/4" circle, Ticket Corner & Boho Blossoms. The scallop topper is held in place with a bit of adhesive at the top and the Jumbo Pewter Eyelet, this allows the scallop to slip over the page to hold your place. I didn't come up with this idea, but saw a tutorial on another blog...check it out here. Thanks for sharing this project Mary Jo!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

Apples and Pup For Father

I think that poor old pup was tired of smelling that nasty old work boot so he moved on to the pile of apples! Good choice! ;-) This is the card I made for my hubby for Father's Day. He is the produce manager at a large grocery chain so I figured he'd love to see a stack of apples on his card (hehe)...along with the cute puppy of course! That took a little bit of doing...

First I stamped the crate of apples, omitting the leaf on the right side. Then with the help of my stamp-a-ma-jig I positioned the puppy where I wanted him. I carefully inked him up using my Basic Black Journaler pen (because it is water proof) and stamped him next to the crate. The pile of apples that he is resting his head on are hand draw using a .20mm Pigma Micron pen by Sakura. It has a super fine tip and is also water proof. After that, I was ready to water color...the fun part!

I used various classic inks and my aqua painter. When I was done painting the image and adding a bit of shadow underneath, I used my pastels to create the background. This is an easy way to add a bit of blendable color to show the sky and ground.

Stamps: For Father, Riveting (retired) Print Pattern & Weathered backgrounds (soon to be retired...sob)
Card stock: Blue Bayou, Ruby Red, Old Olive & Very Vanilla
Ink: Black Stazon, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive & various to water color.
Accessories: Photo corner and circle punches, Vintage brads, Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, Blue Bayou Double stitched and Artichoke grosgrain ribbons.

Hope your day is a good one!

Some More Fresh Cuts

After making the sympathy card I showed you yesterday I wanted to try something using some brighter colors. I used the same technique, but this time I embossed the image in white and sponged on a rainbow of color. Included in the colors I sponged on were Saffron & Rose. When these two colors were combined they created an Apricot shade. So while my original intention was to go with a Saffron base for my card, in the end I felt Apricot was a better choice. I really like the color combo of Apricot Appeal, Rose Red & Mellow Moss and would not have thought to use it otherwise.

Doesn't the swirl from the Baroque Motifs set look nice as the background here? If you look closely at the Fresh Cuts image you can see part of the swirl at the bottom of the image, so they really do work well together. Since I was having so much fun embossing and sponging I made another card using the same technique.
The colors I sponged on here were similar to what I used on the sympathy card, only brighter. This time I used the Saffron card stock I had intended to use on the last card. I really liked the strip with the vine image stamped on it, like on the previous card, and decided to incorporate that into this card as well. So that it looked different, I planned to make this card vertical rather than horizontal like the previous two cards. After playing for way too long, I could not get all the elements to fit as I envisioned, so that is when I decided to try a square card. That worked like a charm...all the elements fell into place. I added the little scalloped border at the bottom using my corner rounder punch. SU! is going to have a new scalloped border punch coming out in the next catalog! Won't that be nice? You know I'll be snatching up that baby ASAP!

The color combo shown here is: Rose Red, Elegant Eggplant, So Saffron & Mellow Moss.

Have a great day!

Fresh Cuts Sympathy

This is the first card I created with my new Fresh Cuts goodies. I thought the "thinking of you" script in the background of this collage stamp made it perfect for the sympathy card I needed to make for a friend. I started by embossing the image in black on white card stock. Then I sponged the background using Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy & Eggplant inks.


The 5 Petal flower punch works great with this set as it is such a good companion to the little flower stamp, and of course the die cut notes.



For the background I used Sanded and the little border stamp that comes with this set along the bottom. I really like this set a lot! It looks so pretty embossed! Plus I have always really liked collage style stamps. I read somewhere that there are at least 5 different SU! sets that are used in this collage. Can you spot them? Up until then the only one I had noticed was Riot of Petals. If you look closely you can also see images from Wonderful You, Kind Thoughts, Baroque Motifs & So Much.

Check this out....isn't it the cutest?!!

My good friend made this for my birthday. I love the papers she used and the little bag is just adorable! She had a rub-on tool from Basic Grey in the bag. Thanks for thinking about me Rach...you rock!!!


Now that I finally have my computer running with all my software re-installed (thanks Danny!)I'll be posting on a regular basis again. Thanks for stopping by...hope your day is a good one!

Happy Father's Day!

Well, I kind of have most things up and running on my new computer so I am able to post today...WOO HOO! Luckily my camera was compatible with Vista, and my printer just needed a new driver which I was easily able to DL. Still have to reload most of the programs however. I've been so busy working outside that I haven't had to much time to do that yet.

Since it is Father's Day today I thought I would share the card I made for my Dad with you. Coincidentally this card uses all sets that are either retired or soon will be. This morning Stampin' Up! released their list of stamp sets that will be retiring when this catalog ends. If you haven't seen the list, you can check it out here. One of my favorite background stamps- Weathered (used here) is on the list. So is Wildlife Reserve - the set that this bear image is from. Other sets used are: Fancy Flexible Phrases and Beauty of Life.

I inked the scene from Beauty of Life in Basic Brown ink and highlighted the pine trees with my Artichoke marker on the rubber. After I stamped the image I colored with a combo of inks and pastels. I then stamped the image a second time on Kraft card stock, water colored the log frame and cut it out. I popped that up on dimensionals. The bear was water colored and also popped up. I sized the card so it would fit into an extra Carousel Note envelope that I had left.

I hope you get to share the day with the special Father's you have in your life...enjoy!

I didn't intend to "eScape" just yet!

This past week I was forced to "eScape" sooner than I thought! By that, I am referring to a promo that Stampin' Up! is running later on this month titled eScape; which is based around the idea of not using the internet, texting, etc for an entire day...but to communicate on a more personal level by making and sending a handmade card.

I unexpectedly got a little taste of that this week when I was forced not to be able to go online. Last Friday our hard drive bit the dust (on my birthday, no less!) so I've been unable to post anything on my blog...sorry about that! I didn't realize just how much time I spend on the computer browsing the internet reading and checking out other stamping blogs. I sure missed that, but the up side was that I had a lot more time to do other stuff...like use the birthday gift I sent myself! ;-)

This lovely box of goodies, including the new Fresh Cuts stamp set and die cut notes, arrived here just in time for my birthday and before my computer died. Thank goodness they were able to save all my photos I had on my computer! This is one that was transferred over.

I have made some beautiful samples (if I do say so myself!) using Fresh Cuts that I'm excited to share here...after I get everything loaded on this new computer. Keeping my fingers crossed that all my hardware & software is compatible with this new Vista operating system. Sometimes I really hate computers! Not too sure how I like this one yet. (so far not really!) Hopefully when I get everything up and running again I'll love it. It kind of sucked being forced to buy a new one when we were not planning on it. Oh well...at least we have power and no damages from the recent storms that have been blowing thru here. Keeping my fingers crossed on that aspect as well...we missed the first series of TS that went thru this area this morning, but more are on the way...and after all it is Friday the 13th! Hope your day is a lucky one!

Detroit Red Wings are the 2008 Stanley Cup Champs!

Way to go Red Wings!!!

Bloomin' Beautiful Touch of Nature

Here is the card I created based on the flower photo I posted yesterday. This morning it is so dark & gloomy outside that it was really hard to get a good photograph of this card. The colors are so much more vibrant in real life. After taking several shots and uploading them, this was the best...sorry for poor quality photo.

On to the details...I water colored each flower (from the Touch of Nature set) using various colors of classic inks with my aqua painter. I started with the lighter colors and built up color intensity by adding deeper richer tones. I cut out squares of Artichoke, Eggplant, Burgundy & Pumpkin card stock and stamped the blossom definition (from Bloomin' Beautiful) onto each square in it's coordinating ink. Since the stamp isn't quite square, I had to use my stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the words to stamp it a second time to fill the square. The flowers are popped up on dimensionals.

The bottom section is stamped with the fern from Touch of Nature and then sponged on the edges with Artichoke ink. The word bloom is embossed in black. I think the polka-dot ribbon adds a fun touch to this otherwise formal looking card. I hope you like my card inspired by nature.

In My Garden

I'll start off today by saying, don't ask me about the Red Wings! They were sooo close...less than 30 seconds to be exact, from winning The Cup. that's when Pittsburgh scored their 3rd goal to tie up the game and send it into over time. After sitting through triple over time, the Wings ended up losing. It's not over yet...now they're heading back to Pittsburgh. Hope I didn't jinx them with yesterdays card. Now lets change the subject...

I was out working in my garden yesterday and some of the flowers blooming were just so pretty I had to grab my camera. I just love the flower shown in this first photo.It is something I picked up at a small family run greenhouse not too far from here. They have a good variety of plants for reasonable prices, but they don't put the little picks that tell you what the plant is. That is written on each greenhouse as you enter...and of course I don't remember what this particular plant is called. I love the colors and the velvety petals. This flower actually inspired me to make a card. It is not quite finished...but I promise to share it later. Here's another bloom of the same variety, just a different color. They open when the sunlight hits them and close up at night. Edited to add: My curiosity got the best of me and I had to do a search to find out what this daisy-like flower was called. All I could remember was that I thought it started with a "G". I found the name in one of my seed catalogs, it's called a Gazania. Mystery solved!

Right now the only perennials blooming in my garden are the Iris. I have a few different varieties, just don't ask me the names. ;-) One plant is really special because it came from a group originally planted by my hubby's Grandma. The color of these are a bit unusual from what I normally think of when I envision an Iris. The creamy yellow petals look like they were lightly dusted with cocoa, and they shimmer in the sunlight...just beautiful. You really have to click on this photo to really see the beautiful detail of this flower.

Now when I think of Iris's the color of this variety is what I normally think of.

Yesterday was a big day for spiders in my garden. Unfortunately one decided to come inside with me...in my hair *shudders at the thought* ! YUK! I hate spiders! I don't mind them outside where they're supposed to by...but not inside, and especially not crawling on me!

I always have a few helpers when I'm working in my garden. Here's Magglio, AKA Stinker.

Ahhhhhhh...the life of a cat! Laying around napping or playing all day only to worry about when you're getting your next meal. Here's my girl Kahlua, AKA Little LuLu. Isn't she pretty? She will actually strike a pose for me...when she's in the mood that is! Yesterday I guess she was because I got several really nice photos of her. Now Magglio on the other hand...he's almost always on the move and has always been really hard to capture a good photo of him. Hope you enjoyed my mini garden tour! I hope to be back later with a card inspired by my first photo. Enjoy your day!

Red Wings...Wishing You the Best!

I just had to make a card today in honor of the Detroit Red Wings! They are back at home tonight for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs...and they are up 3 games to Pittsburgh's 1. That means if they win tonight, they win The Cup! How exciting!!!

I wanted to participate in Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge, so I used her sketch as my inspiration for this card, and of course my color inspiration came from...the Detroit Red Wings! I used the Level 1 Hostess Print Packs paper for the background...the paisley print kind of mimics the Red Wings logo. I cannot believe it's taken me this long to try some of these sketch challenges! It makes it so much easier to have a sketch to start with for a jumping off point. If you haven't tried these before I highly recommend it!

The cute little Red Wing-ed bird is from the Spring Song set. I water colored him using my watercolor pencils and aqua painter. The "wishing you the best" circle is from a retired Hostess set called Riveting. I embossed that in black. I used my small oval punch to create the brad enforcers on each side and the Ticket Corner punch to add interest around the main image.

Thank you Beate for always providing such wonderful inspiration on a daily basis! YOU ROCK!!! In my next post I hope to be thanking the Red Wings!!! Thanks for stopping by...have a good one!!!