A Little Get Well

This past weekend, I found out one of my long distance stamping friends has been quite ill and has a long road of recovery ahead of her.  I made this card to hopefully send her a little cheer as she is getting better.

This card uses one of our Sale-A-Bration sets that I have been having a hard time deciding how to use. Recently, I have seen multiple cards using the flowers in a neutral color on Crumb Cake card stock.  I thought, "I must try it out for myself!"  Love the results!

Here are the supplies I used:
Stamps: Sweet Summer, Sincere Salutations
Paper: Early Espresso, Kraft, Very Vanilla, Jolly Holiday DSP
Ink: Early Espresso
Accessories: Decorative Label Punch, 2"x1-3/8" Oval Punch, uni-ball Signo Gel Pen, Early Espresso Satin Ribbon

Masking-A Simple But Forgotten Technique

This month my stamp club's cards focused on the basic technique of masking.  In talking to my club members, I realized how few of us actually used this simple technique in our daily stamping.  I was first introduced to the technique when I started stamping 8 years ago and I don't think I had used it since.  The For All You Do stamp set lends itself to using this technique with the background polka dot stamp and foreground butterfly stamp.  For this card, I stamped the butterfly on a square piece of Whisper White card stock and then on a piece of scrap paper.  I cut out the scrap paper butterfly and laid it over the other butterfly image as a "mask".  I then took my polka dot stamp and stamped over the butterfly.  The mask helped prevent my butterfly from getting covered in polka dots.  There are so many possibilities with this technique!  I challenge you to try it out today.  For those of you wanting to learn the technique in more depth, contact me to schedule a workshop.

Here are the ingredients for today's card:
Stamps: For All You Do
Paper: Sahara Sand, Perfect Plum, Concord Crush, Whisper White
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Concord Crush
Accessories: Rich Razzleberry 1/4" Grosgrain

Birthday Card for a Snowy Day

I was supposed to be in North Carolina today to meet my new nephew, but due to my family's exposure to the chicken pox, we determined it was better to put off our trip.  I am at a loss as to what to do with myself!  So, you all get to benefit this week.  I actually have time to stamp for fun and do some blogging.

On this lovely snowy day which has become the norm for us here in New England, I decided to make a birthday card.  I modified last week's Clean and Simple Sketch for the design of the card.  I am having so much fun playing with the new cupcake punch and coordinating stamp set!  This card also uses one of my new favorite color combos that comes straight from page 123 in this year's Idea Book and Catalog.  Check back tomorrow for another card using this great color combination!

Here are the ingredients:
Stamps: Create a Cupcake
Paper: Sahara Sand, Concord Crush, Perfect Plum, Whisper White, Brights Patterns DSP
Ink: Sahara Sand, Perfect Plum, Rich Razzleberry, Concord Crush
Accessories: 2"x1-3/8" Oval Punch, Decorative Label Punch, Build a Cupcake Punch, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch

Sale-A-Bration

Just Around the Corner

I have finally acknowledged that life is sometimes busy and I don't get a chance to blog as often as I would like.  I have had some extra time now that the holidays are all over to get back to a little blogging.

My favorite time of year is just around the corner, Sale-A-Bration.  I just recently did a card swap and this was my card sample for the swap.  I am already in love with the great goodies that will be free with every $50 purchase!  This card uses supplies from the Sale-A-Bration catalog and the Occasions Mini catalog.  Be sure to check them out!  Remember, Sale-A-Bration begins January 25!

Supplies:
Stamps: Punch Bunch (free with $50 purchase)
Paper: Whisper White, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight
Ink: Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, Ice Cream Parlor Ribbon & Button Pack (free with $50 purchase), Daffodil Delight Pom Pom Trim

PPA 52-Sketch Challenge

Today, I have another card for you inspired by this week's sketch challenge at Pal's Paper Arts.  Sketches are a great way to get inspiration for a design of your own.  They provide a great starting point for a card.  After I get my sketch, I like to select my color scheme, often inspired by one of our designer series paper lines.  Finally, I select the stamp set that I would like to work with.  This is a great way to give yourself guidelines when you just can't think of what you want to do.  You can also select a theme as well to help narrow all the choices that you need to make when designing a card.  Hope these tips help!

Here are the ingredients for this card:

Stamps: Just Believe
Paper: Pacific Point, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Blueberry Crisp DSP
Ink: Crumb Cake, Pacific Point
Accessories: 5/8" Basic Black Grosgrain, Staple

PPA 51-Wedding Card Challenge

Today, I decided to take a break from my intensive scrapbooking to make some cards. I got my two new catalog shipments this week and decided to take some time to play with some of my new goodies. I got some new scrapbooking materials too which I hope to try out this week.

So, my inspiration for this card came from the Pals Paper Arts Challenge. This week's challenge was to create a wedding theme card. This gave me an opportunity to use one of my new sentiment sets. Here are the details:

Stamps: Word Play
Paper: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Greenhouse Gala DSP
Ink: Crumb Cake
Accessories: Daffodil Delight 5/8" Grosgrain, Beautiful Wings Embosslits, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

Some New Goodies

I have been really getting into scrapbooking this week with the class I am taking. I am currently at 5 pages which is amazing for me. Between playing with the kids, going to kid activities, work, and housework, I am lucky if I get one page done a month. This class is really motivating me and getting me to make time! For some reason, I really love to scrapbook in the summer, so that helps too. I finally really got a chance to dig into my new supplies. For these pages, I used one of our new Designer Series papers and its coordinating stamp set. All of the buttons used on the pages are retired. I am waiting for my next order to update my button supply.

Here are the ingredients:

Stamps: Friends Never Fade
Paper: Greenhouse Gala DSP, Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Sahara Sand, Travel Journal DSP
Ink: Baja Breeze
Accessories: Not Quite Navy Brads, Boho Blossoms Punch, 2-3/8 Scallop Circle Punch, 1-3/4 Circle Punch, Assorted Buttons, Whisper White 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Staples, Naturally Serif Sizzix Die

I Bid Adieu

Today, we say farewell to some much cherished favorites as we prepare to welcome some new goodies tomorrow. For my farewell, I decided to post this card that I made for last week's Stamp-A-Stack. It uses Green Galore, one of the retiring colors and some of our retiring ribbon. I also welcome back one of my favorite colors, Pink Pirouette. It is a great card for summer!

Here are the ingredients:
Stamps: Tart and Tangy, Short & Sweet
Paper: Real Red, Green Galore, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red, Pink Pirouette, Green Galore
Accessories: Real Red Polka Dot Grosgrain, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Corner Rounder Punch

Unexpected Scrapbooking

These pictures are ones I never expected to scrapbook. I had planned on putting all my honeymoon pictures in a picture album, but when our summer mini catalog came out with our new travel paper and stamp set, I had to pull these pictures out of hiding. I am selecting the best pictures from our trip to scrapbook, not all of them. I know for many people it can be difficult to not scrap all your pictures, but picking out a select few and not overloading your page truly draws your attention to the pictures you do select. You can always use your journaling to fill in the gaps.

Here are the ingredients:
Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Sentimental Journey
Paper: Travel Journal, Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue
Ink: Crumb Cake, Night of Navy
Accessories: Mini Library Clip, Jumbo Brad, Top Note Sizzix Die, Curly Label Punch, 1" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Word Window Punch