School Days

I mentioned working on this layout a while back and finally got a chance to scan and stitch these 12x12 pages. I lost a little bit of the border in this process, but you get the idea. It was a challenge for me to come up with a nice way to use all of my sons school photos, in the sizes that I already had on hand. Of course it also had to be a masculine layout...another challenge since I like to use flowers and cutesy stuff.

When organizing the photos I noticed that he seemed to be wearing either red or blue in most of the photos so that is how I came up with the color scheme. I used Bazzill textured card stock for the background. (I'm excited to see the new SU! textured card stock they are offering in the new catalog!) I matted all the photos in black since a lot of the blues in the photos were of different shades.

After I got done matting the photos and cutting out the title I arranged the photos, but it looked so plain and boring. That's when I thought of adding the circles. I'm so glad I did! It turned into a more fun and whimsical page than I originally envisioned, but I really was happy with the way it turned out. After cutting out the circle shapes with my Coluzzel, I was thinking that I wish I had some textured card stock in the red. That's when I pulled out my poor retired Houndstooth background that has been sitting so lonely on my shelf lately. That was just the touch I was looking for.

Adding the grades to each photo was a breeze using the Round Tab punch...plus it was perfect for a school themed layout. I just printed each grade using my black journaler pen. I wish I could have thought of a better title than "School Days" but other than that I was happy with it...and most importantly so was my son! Well, except for his 10th grade photo...but there's no changing that now! (he admits he should have listened to mom and gotten a hair cut! hehehe)

Stamps: Big Deal Alphabet, Typeset Alphabet, Tassel Time & Houndstooth background

Card stock: Bazzill textured 12x12, Real Red, Basic Black & Brocade Blue

Ink: Night of Navy, Real Red, White Craft (on the diploma)

Accessories: Coluzzel, Round Tab Punch & Basic Black Journaler

Baroque Motifs

I just love this new set! Especially the beautiful large swirly stamp. It can be both elegant and playful. This first card uses 2 of the new In Colors: River Rock & Groovy Guava along with one of my old favorites: Mellow Moss. I didn't order the new ink pads in these colors yet, so I had to make due with what I have. I used Cameo Coral with the Guava, but it's a little too bright I think. The Guava is a more toned down shade. Actually I didn't think I would like the Groovy Guava, but after seeing it in person I really do like it! I used Mellow Moss ink on the River Rock for the swirl design. I like the look of those two colors together.

The second card I did was a more fun and whimsical design. This time I used 3 of the new In Colors card stock: Purely Pomegranate, Soft Sky & Groovy Guava. Since the only ink pad I had to match was the Soft Sky, I used white embossing powder and embossed the flower designs. This set embosses beautifully! For the tiny flowers stamped in Sky I added a white center using my white Signo gel pen. Same goes for the white dots on the corners of framed "kind" sentiment. The brads in the center of the large flower are something I had in my stash. They match the Sky card stock pretty good. I'm hoping to see lots more colors of brads in the new catalog!

Notice the white dot border around the edge of the card? That is one of the stamps from the In the Spotlight hostess set. I have a feeling that's going to be a well used stamp.

Stamps: Baroque Motifs & In the Spotlight

Ink: Soft Sky, VersaMark & White Craft

Card stock: Purely Pomegranate, Soft Sky & Groovy Guava

Accessories: Stamp-a-ma-jig, White EP, Ticket Corner punch, white Signo get pen, brads & Stampin' Dimentionals

New Stuff In the Spotlight!

I got my pre-order from the Fall ~ Winter preveiw almost 2 weeks ago, but I hardly had any free time to play with my new goodies because of getting things ready for my sons graduation party. I did get a chance to make a birthday card for a friend using some new stuff, and since I know she must have received it by now, I think it is safe to post here.

This is a new Level 2 Hostess set called In the Spotlight. Isn't it cute?! I also used one of the new In Colors called Sky Blue. Notice the "paper piercing" around the edges of this card? That is actually not pierced, but it it one of the stamps from this set. It can also be used as a stem for the flowers.

Stamps: In the Spotlight, Sincere Salutations
Card stock: Soft Sky, Basic Black & Whisper White
Ink: Soft Sky, Regal Rose, & Certainly Celery



Now that things have settled down a bit here, I plan to get downstairs and have some fun using some of my new stuff! I'll be posting some new creations soon...

In Honor of Dads & Grads

Yesterday was Father's Day and the day before that was my son's graduation open house. We were so lucky to have such gorgeous weather and a day surrounded by family and friends. It was worth all the work we put into it! Yesterday we were totally exhausted! I haven't had much time to stamp lately, so I thought I would share a few of the cards that we made at my last class for Dads & Grads.

Masculine cards are always more of a challenge for me. I figure I can't go wrong if I pull out one of my nature themed sets and use lots of hardware and embossing to create a metal look. So, a few of the cards here have embossed images and use brushed copper card stock.

This coming week I hope to share some new creations using some new stamp sets from the upcoming catalog. I received my pre-order last week and have hardly touched my stuff due to lack of time. :-(

It's Tassel Time!

It's official...my first born has graduated High School! Does that mean I'm officially old? I remember back when I graduated high school, I thought my parents were old, and the kicker is, back then they were younger than I am right now! Oh well...you're only as old as you feel (and act!), right? I thought I would share a photo I took of my handsome (if I do say so myself!) son on graduation day. We are lucky - he is such a good kid! He graduated with honors too.

Now that I'm done bragging about my son, I thought I'd share a few of the graduation cards I've made lately using the Tassel Time set of stamps. I've been busy working on some graduation scrapbook pages also - so I'll be sharing those here at some point - but most likely not until after his open house. That is less than 2 weeks away now...yikes!

Summer Sun & Handsome Hunter card stock are a good match for his school colors so that part was easy! Actually, the hardest part about these cards were cutting out the little cap so they were pretty darn easy, but I think they turned out cute. Putting a brad on the cap and popping it up with a stampin' dimensional is what makes these cards.

Here's one I made for my neice who is also graduating high school this year. Her school colors are Navy Blue and Gold.

Have a great day!

Enjoy your day!

After being inspired by the beautiful peonies that are blooming in my yard right now I decided to create something using my Still Life Stems set. An "old" friend of mine is celebrating a birthday in the next couple of days so I thought she would like a card made with this set since she is both a stamper and a gardener. When I call her an old friend I mean that in the best possible way - we've been friends since high school and if she is old - then so am I because we were born only days apart.

I thought I'd try using one of my favorite background stamps - Floral, with one of my favorite color of cardstock - Celery. Can you beleive I never used the two of these together before? I love the look of the stamp inked in Celery on the Vanilla cardstock...never tried that either, but I'm sure I will again in the future.

I wanted to use the "enjoy your day" stamp from Riveting on the card, but didn't want the little present in the middle. So, I punched out the little peony bud with my 1/2 circle punch and glued that over the present. I think it is more fitting for this card.

Stamps: Still Life Stems, Riveting & Floral background

Card stock: Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla & Regal Rose

Ink: Certainly Celery, Regal Rose & Black Stazon

Accessories: Circle punches, Aqua painter, black polka-dot organdy

Still Life Stems and Frolicking Frogs

It was another beautiful day today! I worked a bit in the garden and there were some beautiful blooms so I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures. The first two remind me of one of my favorite stamp sets: Still Life Stems. I just love peonies! They are so pretty and ruffled looking, plus they smell so good! They remind me of my grandmother. She had them growing around the perimeter of her yard and every year she would bring us a huge bouquet when she would come to visit for my birthday. She had several different colors, I just have this one, but I think I need more!

Another one of my favorite flowers has got to be the Iris. There is so much detail on these flowers I love to look at them. It's a shame they don't bloom all season long! These Iris' are special in that these came from some plants originally planted by my husbands grandmother. I hadn't seen this particular shade of iris before. It is really pretty - the inner petals are a mauve shade and the outer petals are more of the color you would expect an Iris to be. With both a Peony and an Iris stamp in the Still Life Stems set, it's no wonder it's one of my favorites!

This evening while watering I had to run in for my camera again! This time it wasn't to photograph a flower, but a frolicking frog! OK...I'm exaggerating...he wasn't exactly frolicking, but he was looking pretty cute hanging onto on of my rose bushes, don't you think?

I got a lot of stamping inspiration in my garden today. Guess which sets I plan to play with tonight?

New catalog excitement!

I got my demo copy of the Fall-Winter Preview brochure a few days ago and I must say that I'm getting really excited about the new catalog! I decided to make a card with stuff that I already had, but will also be brand new to the catalog on July 1st. How could I already have new merchandise in my hands you may ask? Well, let me explain...I purchased the Palette O' Prints pad of designer papers, which is this months special and the stamp set I used was a set that was given to me at the regional seminar I went to last October.


The Almost Amethyst double-sided designer paper will be available in the new catalog, but sized at 12x12 along with other prints in the same color. There will be 16 color packs to choose from. Won't that be cool!? It is fun to have a sample of four of the colors to play with right now. There is still a few more days to get your Palette O' Prints if you would like. The 6x6 pad comes with Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery, Rose Red & So Saffron prints, and I know from the preview brochure that these prints will also be available in Soft Sky which is one of the great new In Colors offered in the new catalog. I wonder what other colors it will be available in?


The stamp set I used is called Double Line Doodles. It is a really cute set! I love the paisley-flower stamp I used for the background on the Bashful Blue card stock, don't you? The bottom half of the card shows the Palette O' Prints paper. Since it is double sided, the strip in the middle is the other side of the floral design. I simply folded it over to create the band. Because I'm excited about the new rhinestone brads that will soon be available, I used 3 rhinestones glued to the middle of the flowers to add some bling. It will be so much quicker & easier to use the rhinestone brads...plus they come in SU! colors!

I used my mat pack and white gel pen to create the faux stitching and then attached the matted image to the card using stampin' dimensionals. I left the bottom of card blank to add my sentiment later when needed.


If you are on my mailing list, you too will be receiving a copy of the Fall-Winter preview brochure in June.

Looks Like Spring...but Feels Like Summer!

I've been really bad about posting to my blog lately. This past week I've been busy working in my flower garden. Up until now it had been very neglected! A friend of mine gave me all sorts of perennials from her garden, so that got me motivated to get out there and do some digging, planting and weeding. Except for the weeding it has been fun! With the extremely warm weather we've been having everything is really starting to fill in. I love to go out and look at the changes each day. I noticed this morning that I have the first bloom on one of my iris plants.

Well...onto the card! I made this thank you card for my friend that gave me the plants. I took the photo out in my garden with the Bleeding Hearts she gave me in the background. I used the Palette O' Prints paper for the bottom and middle piece and then used the argyle stamps from the Looks Like Spring set to create the background for the top part. It looks like a mini version of the Palette O' Print paper, doesn't it?

Stamps: Looks Like Spring & wonderful Words
Card stock: Rose Red, Basic Black, So Saffron & Whisper White
Ink: Rose Red, Regal Rose, So Saffron & Whisper White craft
Accessories: Mat Pack & Signo white gel pen (for the faux stitching) Spring Bouquet punch, Vintage Brad

Have a fun Memorial Day weekend!

Got 'er done!

As Larry the Cable Guy would say, "Git 'er done!" Well, I got 'er done! In case you're wondering, I'm talking about the graduation open house invitations I've been busy working on for my son's high school graduation. I came up with a few ideas and then got his input on what he liked the best.

His school colors are green & gold, but we opted to use metallic gold card stock rather than bright gold. The cap and the "Class of 2007" are all embossed with gold embossing powder. There is a gold brad in the center of each cap. I printed the inside on a golden parchment paper.

I was pretty happy with the way they turned out, and I've even gotten several positive comments from those that have received theirs already. Like most guys, my son wasn't too excited, I think I got a "that's cool" response out of him along with an "I don't have to hand those out to my friends do I?" Even though it took some time, I'm glad I made them instead of buying them. Now that those are done, I just need to worry about the party!

Stamps: Tassel Time & Typeset Numbers
Card stock: Handsome Hunter, Basic Black & Brushed Gold
Ink: Handsome Hunter & Versa Mark
Accessories: Gold Glory embossing powder, Simplicity Corner Slot punch & gold brads

That's Nice

I've been super busy working on graduation invitations for my sons open house next month. I've got them almost finished, but haven't had much time to work on anything else...so I haven't posted here in a while. I did however spend my time on Monday working on a few projects that I needed to present at a group meeting the following day. That meeting ended up getting cancelled, so I thought I'd share the projects here.

Since May is National Scrapbooking month, one of the projects I prepared was a simple 6x6 scrapbook page. This is a bright and cheerful page don't you think? A sharp contrast to what's going on outside this morning...it's a dark and rainy day.

The polka dot "ribbon" I used to hold on the friend label, is actually a strip of one of the new papers from the Palette O' Prints collection from Stampin' Up!

I used the Garden Annual wheel to create the background and then added the white centers to the flowers using my white gel pen. The flower was cut out and attached with a dimensional.

Stamps: Garden Annual wheel, All Through the Year, That's Nice
Card stock: Tempting Turquoise, Pixie Pink, Certainly Celery, Whisper White & Palette O' Prints
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Pixie Pink & Certainly Celery
Accessories: White Gel Pen, Ticket Corner & Slot punches, brad

Hopefully tomorrow I will be ready to share the finished graduation invitations I've been working on. Have a great day!

Saying goodbye is hard to do!

This morning Stampin' Up! posted the long anticipated retirement list. I'm sad to say many of my favorite sets are on the list. *sob* Funny, I just made the card shown here the other night and all but one set I used is on the list. Still Life Stems is a beautiful set that was only in the catalog one year. Many other of my beloved floral sets are going, including Roses in Winter & Petal Prints. So are Balmy Breezes & Beautiful Beach- another one that was only around for a year. French Script & Cheesecloth backgrounds. Natural Beauty and Autumn Leaf Prints...and the list goes on. While I mourn the loss of some of my favorites, I'm excited to see what they put in their place!

Do you love those big scalloped punches you've been seeing, but don't own one? Well if you have the SU! slit punch you can make all kinds of scalloped shapes like the one shown here on this card. You simply need to cut out a donut shape with a cutting system like the Coluzzle and then use your slit punch to create the scalloped circle. There is a great tutorial here that shows exactly how to do it. I made a little boo boo on the top of this card and had to cover it up with something hence the two punch outs from the Window Word punch. I think it would have looked better without them, but had to cover up a hole. ;-) Other than that I love the way this turned out.

Stamps: Still Life Stems, Cheesecloth, French Script, Sincere Salutations
Card stock: Mellow Moss, Buckaroo Blue, Regal Rose, Always Artichoke & Whisper White
Ink: Mellow Moss, Brocade Blue, Always Artichoke, Black Stazon & various to watercolor
Accessories: Brads, Rose grosgrain, Window Word & Slit punches, Coluzzle, Tearing Edge & Aqua Painters

Thanks for checking in...have a great day!