Birthday Celebration!

A big month for us, my son turned 18 last week and I am a little excited and scared at the same time. Nonetheless, I am happy he is looking forward to his future.

I made a birthday card for the Stampin' Celebration Sketch Challenge (SC135).

To be honest, the card wasn't for my son.  It was for a nephew.  A lot of September birthdays for us!

I pulled out my Confetti Celebration Wood Mount Stamp Set from the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog.  I love this stamp set, lots of fun celebratory images!  I thought the string of lights would be cool to stamp along the card with the Happy Birthday image!  I stamped everything in basic black archival ink and then colored the lights with Stampin' Write Markers.  I decided to use Marina Mist, Pumpkin Pie, Crushed Curry, Sweet Sugarplum and Flirty Flamingo.

I used die cut the stars from the Popcorn Box Thinlits Dies using Copper Metallic Paper.  I like the way the shiny copper paper added a little brightness to the card.

Hope you can join us at Stampin' Celebration this time, I would love to see how this sketch inspires you!

SC134 Happy Anniversary

Well, it's already near September and the kids are back in school.  It was a nice summer and I am sad to see it behind us.  My favorite time of year is the fall though, so I look forward to sweaters and pumpkin-flavored foods and beautiful colors.

The Stampin' Celebration Challenge (SC134) for this month is a great way to ease into the fall feeling!

I love the neutral colors in this inspiration and I couldn't wait to dust off my Hardwood background stamp from Stampin' Up!.

For this card I stamped the Hardwood background stamp with Sahara Sand onto Very Vanilla cardstock.  Then I used the Rose Garden Thinlits to die cut the leaves with Old Olive cardstock and the flowers with Sahara Sand cardstock.

The greeting is from the Number of Years Photopolymer Stamp Set from Stampin' Up!  I used the dots from the same stamp set and stamped them using Chocolate Chip ink.  I added a Delicate White Doilie as a background to the greeting.

These items can be found in the Stampin' Up 2016 Annual Catalog.

Hope you are inspired enough to join us this month!  We look forward to seeing your design!

SC133 Paisley Sketch

Welcome back to Stampin' Celebration and the August Sketch Challenge (SC133)!


I was able to preorder some items from the Stampin' Up! 2016 Holiday Catalog and I couldn't wait to use the new Paisley Suite of products!!

I am a fan of paisley and so when I saw this stamp set I knew it would be given a lot of love this fall!

I also love that Stampin' Up! introduced copper mettalic products into the 2016-2017 Annual Catalog!  They did not disappoint when they added copper foil to the 2016 Holiday catalog!!

So for this challenge I wanted to incorporate copper and paisley into the design.


Here is what I cam up with...

I have to be honest, it took a whle to get this to where I wanted it to be.  Usually with a sketch challenge I have an easier time developing a card.  For this one, perhaps I was restricting myself too much, bt I finally got it to where I was happy with the end result.

The color combination is Copper, Bermuda Bay, Cajun Craze and Tangerine Tango on a background of Very Vanilla.  I took the colors from a combination I saw on Pinterest a long time ago!  While I didn't stick with the color combination totally, it certainly was an inspiration to the design.

This card uses the Paisley & Posies stamp set and the Paisley framelits from the 2016 Holiday Catalog (sneak peak)!.  The greeting is from Rose Wonder and I added the Bermuda Bay sequin trim.

I hope you get to play along with us this month!  Can't wait to see what you create.

YAY, Stampin' Celebration

It's time for the August Inspiration Challenge!  YAY!  It's a little bittersweet that August is here already.  My kids start school in 2 weeks and my son (first born) will be a senior in high school.  So we will get to "enjoy" him for another year and then watch him continue to spread his wings.  I am excited for him and so far the reality has not hit me.  So let's move to the fun stuff so I can stay distracted!

The Stampin' Celebration August Inspiration Challenge is so great!  I love the nautical theme.

For my card I decided to use the color scheme of Night of Navy and Daffodil Delight.  I wanted to use balloons, unfortunately, I misplaced my balloon framelit so I decided to go with stars instead.

The two greetings are from two of my favorite stamp sets in the Stampin' Up! 2016 Annual catalog. Thoughtful Banners Photopolymer Stamp Set and Confetti Celebration Wood Mount stamp set.  I have used these stamp sets a lot since I purchased them.  Very versatile, and who can't use more celebration type cards?!?  

I used the Stars framelits Duet Banner Punch to make the various shapes.  Then I topped the card off with some white sequins from the Metallics Sequins Assortment.  The background is Night of Navy Designer Series Paper from the Regals DSP pack.


 

I can't wait to see what you create with this challenge!

You Are Awesome!

When I saw the Marquee Messages Photopolymer Stamp Set in the Stampin' Up! 2016 Annual Catalog I was so excited!  I loved the images and thought this would make a fun card.

I decided to use the set to make a nice colorful card!

I decided to stamp the image onto Whisper White cardstock using the Basic Black Archival stamp pad.  Then I stamped the same image onto Real Red, Pacific Point and Daffodil Delight card stock and fussy cut different portions of the image and glued them to the stamped image on the whisper white cardstock.  I colored in the little bars on the edge with an Emerald Envy marker. For an added effect I colored in the circles on the red arrow with a white gel pen (sadly not a Stampin' Up! product any longer) to make the circles pop.

I used dimensionals to add the image to the front of black and white chevron paper from the Pop of Pink Designer Series Paper set!  Yet another piece of paper in this pack with no pink in to, allowing me to use it with any color I want! How fun is that?!?

I love how the card turned out and can't wait to send it to one of my nephews.

Hope you enjoyed the card!

Oh Happy Day for a Celebration

Thanks for peeking at my creation for the Stampin' Celebration July Sketch Challenge!

 

I have to say, I was a bit stumped when I started thinking about this card.  I didn't want to be persuaded by all of the squares.  I thought layering a few images would be just fine.  But then one night I thought about making a shaker card and this sketch helped spark some creativity!  I was so happy as it has been a little while since I was able to use my creativity.

For this card, the color combination is Whisper White, Basic Black and Bermuda Bay.  I used the striped paper from the Pop of Pink Designer Series Paper.  I was so excited to use this paper!  I also used the new Layering Squares Framelits from the 2016 Annual Stampin' Up! Catalog.  These framelits were great for this project!!

The greeting is from the Thoughtful Banners stamp set and I used the new Duet Banner Punch to punch the banner.  The stamp set and punch are being offered as a bundle with 10% off the purchase price when you purchase these two items as a bundle!  I love this set and have used it a few times already!

For the shaker portion I used the new Foam Adhesive Strips and the Metallic Sequins Assortment and added a few sequins I pulled from the Bermuda Bay sequin trim ribbon.

A fun card for anyone's birthday!

I hope you were inspired and play along with us and this challenge!  I can't wait to see what you create.

Hooray for a Pop of Pink!

A quick post of a birthday card we made at my July Stamp Camp.  

This card uses the Pop of Pink Designer Series Paper from the 2016 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog.  I love this paper!  The colors in the package are Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Whisper White and Gold. Many of the sheets are black and white which make them so versatile for using with other colors!!  I accidentally purchased two packs of this paper and now I am so glad!  Very versatile set of paper!

The stamp set Confetti Celebration, a new stamp set in the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog.  I stamped the greetings and stars in Archival Basic Black ink.  I added a little strip of silver sequin ribbon for a little bling.  The Hooray was punched using the 2" circle punch and I hand cut the banner.

A simple fun card!  Watch for another card to be posted next week.

Enjoy your day.

Summer Fun Hip Hip Hooray!

Finally had a stamp camp this year!  My last stamp camp was in December so I was excited to see my friends again!  I thought I would post the cards we made. Since the new Stampin' Up! Annual catalog was released un June, I used many new products to make the cards!  It was a greta way for me to try to use the fun new products I purchased!

I tried to focus on birthday cards, mainly because I wanted to make sure I had a nice stash saved up for the coming months.

This card uses one of the new In Colors for 2016, Dapper Denim. I used Pool Party for the base.  I used Gorgeous Grunge  with VersaMark and the new copper embossing powder for the background. Then I die cut the Dapper Denim with the Party Pop Up Thinlits.  The little greetin is from a new stamp set called Birthday Banners, a new set in the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog and die cut it with a little label fromt he Bunch of Banners Framelits.  I added some copper mettalic thread behind the little label for a little added effect.

A quick easy card, and, a good masculine card as well!

Best Day Ever for a Stampin' Celebration!

I am excited for July, and while I don't want summer to go by too fast, July is always a fun month!

I hope you will be able to join us for the Stampin' Celebration July inspiration challenge.  It's a fun one and has so many options, as you can tell by the various options the design team members created, as well as our guest designer!

My card drew inspiration from the gingham table cloth and burlap!  I love gingham, so I was excited to be able to create something with this style.  

To create the gingham look I used the Brushstrokes stamp from Stampin' up! 2016-2017 Annual Catalog.  I stamped the image vertivcally and then horizontally using Real Red ink.  The greeting was is from the Birthday Blossoms stamp set and is stamped with Basic Black Archival ink.

I used the Layering Squares framelits and the Big Shot to cut the layered squares (whisper white, real red and tip top taupe).  I added a few white enamel dots as embellishments.

Fairly simple card and I love how the gingham effect turned out.  Now I know what to use in case I need a gingham background in the future!  I wonder how it would do with a plaid effect?!?  Hmmm, could be something to play with this weekend, that, or do homework.

World's Greatest Stampin' Celebration Sketch

Thanks for stopping by!  I am so happy you viewed my blog!  Busy summer with a summer class and travel for work.  Luckily I have figured out how to manage time and speak up when things got overwhelming!  It's amazing what people will do to support you!

I liked this month's sketch challenge at Stampin' Celebration! It is simple and could be used for so many different things!

I decided to make a card with a generic sentiment.  I thought my kids could use it for their Father for Father's Day, although if they don't I could always use it for a birthday, thank you or any other occasion!

I used a new paper pack, Playful Palette, from Stampin' Up! which showcases the new 2016-2018 In Color collection. This big banner is Emerald Envy designer series paper.  It's a really pretty darker green color.  I decided to mix it with Island Indigo and Crushed Curry.  The card base is Tip Top Taupe.  The greeeting is from the Greatest Greetings stamp set stamped in Early Espresso.  I added a little metallic thread behind the punched star to add a little shimmer.

I also stamped the starburst from the Kinda Eceltic stamp set to add a little color.  I like how the starburst is peeking out from behind the banners.

I can't wait to see what everyone else creates with this sketch!  Hope you find some time to play along.

Stampin Celebration Thank You!

Welcome back to Stampin' Celebration!  I certainly needed a little break.  I had a crazy spring between work, going back to school and other life events happening, I was overwhelmed and needed a bit of a break.  I have a problem in that it is hard for me to say "no".  I am finally learning to prioritize.  I still get caught up in trying not to let anyone down, I am sure I will continue to challenge myself on that front!

In any case, I am very happy to be able to craft, even if it's only here and there. It helps me relax and organize my thoughts.  I suspect it may be similar for others!  Of course, it is also one of the many things that keeps me up at night!

I was happy to have a little inspiration this month with the Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge (SC128)!

I was cleaning out my retired products since the new Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog got released on June 1st and was happy that the Wonderous Wreath and matching framelit were still available!  While this is a holiday set, the wreath can be used for any occasion.

I loved the bright green and yellow colors so I decided to stick with those colors. I used Cucumber Crush, Garden Green and Crushed Curry.  A little vellum helped wash out the Cucumber Crush DSP background so that the wreath stuck out.  I also decided to use the Crushed Curry enamel dots since the stamped berries didn't show up as well.

The banner is from a new set in the Stampin' Up! 2016-2017 Annual Catalog called Thoughtful Banner which has a coordinating Duet Banner Punch!  I was so excited to see this!  I love the frameits, and punches are even better!

Hope you enjoy the card and that you are able to play along with us at Stampin' Celebration!

Birthday Celebration with Stampin Celebration

Nothing like my child's birthday makes me happy and yet so sad at the same time!  I love that they are growing up and that our interactions grow and mature.  I am trying not to think of the next stage in our lives, empty nest and all.  So today we will celebrate her day and not think about what will be.

Given that my creative time has been somewhat limited of late, it was great to be able to use inspiration already available from Stampin' Celebrations newest sketch challenge (SC127) to help me create a card for my daughter's birthday!

She is sweet 16 today!  Can' believe it.  Anyway, since she isn't really into cars, I decided to make her card more festive for the occasion.

For some reason the Big News stamp set (Stampin' Up! 2015-16 Annual Catalog) was on my desk and the birthday greeting was looking me in the face. Then, when I went to pick a paper for the background, the Schoolhouse Designer Series Paper was right in front.  I loved the polka dots and I couldn't believe how easy the card came together in my mind.

A festive card for my daughter's big day!  

My project is pretty true to the sketch, and I am glad the other designers provided additional interpretations to help provide further inspiration!  I am looking forward to seeing what inspires you from this sketch!

Dancing with Stampin' Celebration!

Wow, April here in Chicago came in like a lion!  I know it's supposed to be April showers, bring May flowers..., but the snow and wind this weekend made it feel more like early March rather than early April!!

Anyway, speaking of April, I am loving the April inspiration challenge by Stampin' Celebration (SC126).  The fun bright colors should help urge spring along!

I was drawn to the the raindrop effect in the lower right-hand image and decided to try to make this come to life.  I also liked the bright colors of the orange, yellow and green watercolored together so I also wanted to use this effect in my card!

For the rain drops I started with a base of whisper white cardstock and used my Versa Marker to create the circles and then heat embossed them with clear embossing powder.  Then I took some alcohol and a few drops of Daffodil Delight, Pumpkim Pie and Wild Wasabi reinkers and added them to alcohol. Then I used a medium sized paint brush to paint the colors on the card.  I started with yellow, then orange and finally green.

The sentiment is one from Tim Holtz (not Stampin' Up!).  I love this sentiment and it fit perfectly with the theme!  I heat embossed the sentiment with black embossing powder so I could watercolor over the sentiment.

For the raindrops I found a semi-raindrop shape in the Pyramid Pals framelits from the Stampin' Up! 2016 Occasions catalog (I think it is supposed to be an ear).  I just rounded the bottom and turned the ear into rain drops!

Well, that's my card!  Bright and cheery.  I don't think the raindrop effect worked out all that well.  I probably need some shading or something.  But, it was fun to try!

Can't wait to see what caught your eye!

Stampin' Celebration Flowering Retirement

Welcome back to the Stampin' Celebration Sketch challenge for March (SC125)!  

A friend at work is retiring so I had to make her a card.  Unfortunately I will be out of the office when they have her party so I wanted to be sure I created it in advance to give to her.  I found a color combination I wanted to use and decided to go with a floral theme.  The new Botanical Builder Framelit Dies from the Stampin' Up! 2016 Occasions catalog were perfect for this card!  Once I picked the colors, it was as simple as cutting and gluing.

The greeting is from the Wild About Flowers photopolymer stamp set from the Stampin' Up! 2015-2016 Annual Catalog.  I added some candy dots on the smaller flowers and white enamel dots on the bigger flower for added dimension.

I hope you have time to play along with our challenge!  I can't wait to see the you make this sketch your own!

Colors: Pacific Point, Blackberry Bliss, Tangerine Tango, Pool Party, Whisper White, Mossy Meadow.

Stampin' Celebration Handsome Fellow

Welcome to the March Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge.

Apparently the cute frog inspired a lot of us on the design team!  I decided to pull out the Playful Pals photopolymer stamp set from Stampin' Up! (2016 Occasions catalog) and make my first creature with the set.  I ended up fussy cutting the body parts out instead of using the die cuts.  It was therapeutic!

I thought he was perfect for the "Hello, Handsome" greeting from the Happy Happenings stamp set (Stampin' Up! 2015-2016 Annual Catalog) .  The color scheme I used was Wild Wasabi, Lost Lagoon and Night of Navy.  I added a few Night of Navy candy dots and some ink splatter from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set.

I can't wait to see what inspires you this month! 

A Birthday Celebration the Stampin' Way!

Welcome to the February Stampin' Celebration sketch challenge (SC123).  

My husband's birthday is today and so I knew I wanted to make him a birthday card!  This was a great sketch for his card!

For this card I pulled out the Big News Stamp Set from Stampin' Up (2015-2016 Annual Catalog)!  I embellished it with stamps from the 2016 Occasions Catalog from Stampin' Up, Balloon Celebration and Timeless Textures.  The color scheme is Pear Pizzazz, Island Indigo and Lost Lagoon.

A fun card and I hope he likes it!

Have a great day!

More Hugs and Kisses

I couldn't resist, I really liked the arrows in the Stampin' Celebration inspiration challenge so I decided to try to make them with paper!

The arrows were made with the chevron border punch from Stampin' Up! 2015-2016 Annual catalog and the hearts from the Circle Card Thinlits Dies.  I stamped Tip Top Taupe cardstock with the Hardwood Background stamp using Early Espresso ink.  

I like the fun look of the card.  Happy Day to you!

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Stampin' Celebration Hugs and Kisses

Wow, February already!  And time for this month's inspiration challenge from Stampin' Celebration (SC122)!

I was drawn by so many elements in these pictures, but my favorite was the arrows!  I love the rustic look of them.  I also saw some clothes pins arrows at Target in the dollar section and I was excited to recreate them for this project!

The bag has very little stamping, only the strings were stamped using the Balloon Celebration stamp set from the Stampin' Up! 2016 Occasions Catalog. The rest was die cut using the Mini Treat Bags Thinlits dies, the Circle Card Thinlits dies and punches.  A pretty quick and fun project to make!

Hope you are inspired to play along with us!

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Wish Big

Trying to sneak one more post in for January!  I had a stamp camp last night and thought I would post one of the cards we made.

This card uses the new Botanical Gardens Suite from the Stampin' Up! 2016 Occasions Catalog.  The Botanical Builder framelits are beautiful!  The color palette is Watermelon Wonder, Mint Macaroon and Early Espresso.  I love the It's My Party enamel dots in the Occasions catalog; they add a great pop of color to the flower!

Have a great one!

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Stampin' Birthday Celebration

Welcome to the Stampin' Celebration January Sketch Challenge (SC121).  A fun sketch with so many options!

I did consider getting a head start on Valentine's day and use hearts for the four circles.  And then I saw the new Botanical Blooms bundle from the Stampin' Up! 2016 Occasions catalog and new I wanted to try this set out!

I love these new framelits!  The flowers that have the 3-dimensional effect are just beautiful and add some great dimension to any project!  Look how fun these flowers as they overlap the sentiment banner. So cool!!

For this project I used Watermelon Wonder for the flowers and Mint Macaron for the leaves.  Early Espresso helps add some depth.  And enamel dots in Mint Macaron help pull the colors together! The greeting is from the Stampin' Up! 2015-16 Annual Catalog, Remembering Your Birthday.  I used some scotch tape to cover the part part of the stamp I did not want to include in the greeting and then removed the tape after inking the stamp.  Worked perfectly!

I hope this sketch inspires you and I can't wait to see what you create!

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Balloon Celebration!

It was a chilly day weekend, the perfect weekend to stay inside and papercraft!  I got a lot done so I am happy I am able to post some new projects.

My niece's birthday is coming up and I wanted to try to be early (or at least on time) with sending her card.  Step one is done, now just to make sure it gets in the mail on time!

I wanted to use the new Balloon Celebration bundle from the Stampin' Up! 2016 Occasions catalog. It is a fun set with so many options!  I love the fact that there is a punch for the balloons.  A little secret (confession) though.  I forgot where I put the punch so I fussy cut the balloons for this card. Afterwards, I spent some time hunting for the punch and found it!  So, next time it will be a little easier to use this stamp set.

For this card I started with Whisper White and mixed a drop of Island Indigo ink with alcohol and brushed the ink mixture on the cardstock.  The balloons are Melon Mambo and More Mustard (retired color from Stampin' Up!).  Another confession, I still haven't cleared out my scraps since the last color refresh from SU and so I thought I pulled out Crushed Curry.  Alas, I did not.  I wanted to use Crushed Curry because it is a brighter color and would look really great with the Melon Mambo.  The More Mustard looks good too ;0).

Apart from fussy cutting the balloons, this card was pretty easy to put together.  For the bow I used the new thick baker's twice (basic black and melon mambo) and pulled apart the colors to get only the melon mambo.  I made a fork bow using only two tines to make a smaller bow.

A fun card that I hope my niece will enjoy!

Stay warm everyone!

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Little Lamb

What a better way to celebrate than with a new baby in the family!  My husband's cousin had a baby last week and so I had to make a card to welcome the new bundle to the family!

To help spark the inspiration I checked out the new retrosketches challenge #198 and loved the sketch! The outlined frame is so fun to play with, I just knew I had to use this sketch!

For this card I used the Barnyard Babies stamp set from the 2015-16 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog.  I stamped the lamb using the Archival Basic Black ink and then fussy cut it.  I die cut the star using Lost Lagoon cardstock and the Star Framelits.

The new Wink of Stella glimmer pen is a new favorite and always helps to add some bling to a project!  I love how easy this pen is to use, and it doesn't make a mess!  I also used the Wink to Stella pen to add some sparkle to the Hello Honey confetti stars.  You can see the sparkle in the close-up photo.

Now I have to get the gift!  Can't wait to meet the new little guy!

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