A Pinterest Success

Lately I have been terribly sucked into Pinterest.  It's my Candy Crush I think! I pin and pin and pin, food, color schemes, scrapbook layouts, fonts and workout challenges.  I chuckle everytime I pin a workout, here I am pinning instead of seizing the time and actually working out!  Well, I started working out (again) today and actually used a tried and true workout (not a pin) and added an extra workout from a pin!  So far so good, one day down, xx to go!

Anyway, while pinning I found this great card layout...

I decided to make a similar card using Stampin' Up! supplies.  My roommate from college had a birthday earlier this month so I used this design for her card.

Here is my take on the card sketch...

I just love the Amazing Birthday stamp set!  I have used this specific stamp on at least 3 cards so far!  

I love how this turned out and was excited to send the card to my friend!  I ended up adding more stars to the card (they were just sitting on my desk lonely).

Have a great day.

Awesome Bokeh Thanks

So my husband and I were driving and he brings up that he needs to get some thank you cards for some guys at work.  He is giving them a small reward to thank them for extra hours they had to put in lately. Anyway, I just look at him and said "Really?!?".  Now he doesn't usually like when I say that (and "Seriously?!? as well).  But I just had to say it.  After all, he sees all of my stamping supplies and sees the Stampin' Up! boxes arrive on a near weekly basis.  So I don't know why he would even think to purchase any sort of cards, ever!  Furthermore, if he was thinking it, why even tell me???

Anyway, in the end he agreed that I should make the cards and I promised to not make them "girly".

I was perusing stamping challenge websites last week and came across The Friday Mashup! challenge #174.  This week's challenge is a technique challenge called Bokeh.  I have never heard of this challenge but it looked really fun so I decided to play along with this challenge for the cards I needed to make.

For the background I decided to use the Stampin Spritzer to make my own background.  I had some spritzers already filled with alcohol and ink so I decided to use these to practice.  Here is how this card turned out...

Now I have to be honest, I mixed these colors in the spritzers so long ago, I forgot what colors I used.  I believe they are crushed curry, bermuda bay, tangerine tango and strawberry slush.  

I used the 1-3/4" circle and the 1-1/4" circle punches to help make a template for the 2 circles.  I then used a sponge dauber to add the whisper white craft ink to the card.  Then I used the sponge dauber itself to make the smallest circles.  I really like how the effect turned out.  I think this is a new favorite of mine and can't wait to do this effect with the ladies from stamp camp!

The greeting is from Yipee-Skipee, again, as masculine as I could get.  The stars were die cut using the stars framelits (smallest star from the set made the bigger star on the card) and the circle card thinlits die (the small star on the card).  I popped the smallest star onto the card with dimensionals and then added a few rhinetsones. 

This was the "practice" card (and thank you cards for some ladies at work who helped me celebrate my birthday, thus the rhinestones).

For my husbands needs I decided to scrap the old colors in the spritzers and use the new in-colors!  I mixed up alcohol and 25 drops of lost lagoon, hello honey and mossy meadow reinkers and sprayed whisper white cardstock with the 3 different colors.

I like how the darker colors make the white circles pop a little more.  I believe these also passed the "masculine" test.

Hope you enjoyed the cards.  I will be playing with this effect a little more, maybe mixing up whisper white reinker with a little color from the other reinkers?!?

Have a great day.

Stampin' Celebration Sketch Challenge #85

Hi Everyone, it's time for the mid-month Stampin' Celebration Sketch Challenge.  This month's challenge was perfect for me to get some more traction on my scrapbooking!  Earlier this year I posted my goal of trying to get my 2013 photos in digital scrapbooks by the end of March.  Well, it's mid-August, kids start school today and I still have lots to do from 2013.

Anyway, this month's sketch challenge from Anita was perfect and I loved the flags!

My sketch was for my middle daughter's scrapbook I am making using My Digital Studio software from Stampin' Up!.  She took a social dance class sponsored by the middle school PTA.  The kids learned how to do the Fox Trot, Swing dance, Waltz and a line dance or two.  They had to dress up for the lessons as well.  While most of the kids complained about going, they seemed to have a good time once they were there!

Instead of using flags I decided to make my own washi tape.  I love this effect.  You can use any designer paper, color or card stock this way!  All you have to do is add a photo box to your page and then size the box to the size you want the washi tape to be.  Then, fill the box with any DSP or card stock. I usually open the DSP I want in the resource pallet (on the left side of the program).  Then you can select the DSP you want to use and drag and drop the paper into the photo box.  Next, rip the edge or edges of the photo box and you have washi tape!  I add a drop shadow for more depth.  I used the following My Digital Studio elements for this project:

Designer Series Paper\_Designer Kits\Be Awesome Today

Stamps\Designer Kits\Days to Remember\Days to Remember - overlay      

Embellishments\Staple & Stitching\Chocolate - Simple Stitches line 5 (re-colored Basic Black)

One hint, when you add the DSP to the photo box, the photo box will capture the full width of the DSP (12 inches) no matter the width of the photo box.  So you don't have much flexibility to change the shape of the photo box once you add the DSP.  You can usually make the boxes bigger, but not smaller.  If you find you need to change the shape and the photo box does not allow you to change it, just delete the DSP from the photo box, change the photo box shape and then add the DSP again.  There may be other ways to fix this, but this is the only trick I know.  Also, be aware that the DSP print may not look like you expect when you add it.  You can see that the paper in the smaller flags on the top right has a smaller print than the larger flags on the left side. I hope that makes sense!

Enjoy the projects from the other designers on Stampin' Celebration!  The projects they created are really fun!!

Bloomin' Birthday

My Mom's birthday is Friday so I needed to make her a birthday card!  I decided to use Retro Sketches #127 sketch for her card.  I loved all of the layer and elements in this sketch!

For her card I used the Stampin' Up! Flower Patch photopolymer stamp set and the Flower Flair Framelits Dies.  These items are new in the 2014-2015 catalog and I just love them!  So easy to use when you want floral images!

I used the Flowerpot Designer Series paper for the background images and color scheme.  I also used the File Tabs Edgelits Die for the Crushed Curry tab.  On the small Tangerine Tango flower I used a rhinestone which I colored with the Daffodil Delight Blendabilities pen.  The leaf was stamped using Garden Green ink on Wild Wasabi cardstock.  I used some Lost Lagoon satin stitched ribbon behind the Blushing Bride flower.  For the greeting I used markers to color in the greeting and used the Project Life Cards and Labels Framelits to die cut it (I love this shape!).

I hope she gets the card in time!  I made the card this past weekend and will finally put it in the mail tomorrow.  Hmmm..

Happy day!

Stampin' Celebration August Inspiration

Hi everyone, I am in total denial about back to school.  Unfortunately, my kids only have 2 weeks left before the big day!  So sad.  But, good to get back into a consistent pattern.

This months inspiration challenge at Stampin' Celebration #84 was fun to play with, although a little nostalgia hit me.  My kids are in high school and middle school, and they won't give the cute back to school teacher gifts to their teachers anymore.  I have to be creative now in how I acknowledge the teachers!

For this sketch so many ideas flew through my head.  In the end I decided on a chalkboard sketch and tried to incorporate the cute red school house!

For the school house I used cherry cobbler cardstock and cut them to 1/2" and sponged the edges with cherry cobbler ink to add depth.  The word window is from the Essential Wooden Elements.  I sprayed it with a solution of alcohol and crushed curry refill ink and then stamped it with a greeting from Be the Star stamp set in the Stampin' Up! 2014-15 catalog.  I added a little cherry cobbler baker's twine behind the word window. 

For the chalkboard I used stamps from the What's Up? stamp set as well as the greeting from Life's Adventures (a hostess set in the 2014-15 catalog).  I used Versamark and embossing powder (white, crushed curry and blushing bride) and then rubbed a little whisper white craft ink on the black cardstock to give it a worn effect.

Time to start getting the supplies in order.  I have another staycation planned for next week.  Lots of shopping in my future!  

Have a great day!