AUGUST SIMPLY PAPER DESIGN CHALLENGE....

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late for an important date..... That date being when I was suppose to have my card ready for the August Simply Paper Design Challenge. I have plenty of excuses, but they really mean very little, so I shall move on.....

First, see what Cindy, Regina and Debbie came up with over on Cindy's blog, which will also show you the sketch and colors. Boy, they all did a great job. You can see by the post that I received the one Debbie submitted as my birthday card from her --- loved it!!!! Pictures do not do justice to these cards, they are so much more gorgeous in real life. Regina's is so cute, using the twine around the top of the jar. I haven't bought this stamp set --- yet. And Cindy's --- did you see the leaf border around the bird? I love how she did the colors on that. I am so not worthy....

For my card, I wanted to use the For the Birds stamp set, but wasn't sure where to go from there. I stamped the wagon image (you know, little red wagon...) with Stazon ink and colored it with my stamp pads and blender pens. I added Gumball Green and Marina Mist to the challenge colors, so I could have green leaves and a little blue bird. I punched this out with the 2-1/2" punch (I love my punches!!!). Then, I had planned to border it with the largest stamp from the Daydream Medallions set, but, alas, I did not have a block large enough to mount it on (added to my list for my next order). So, I settled with using the Floral Frames Framelit dies (which coordinate with the Daydream Medallion set) to cut out flowers with my Big Shot in the Cherry Cobbler and Daffodil Delight. This was all mounted on a piece of Early Espresso that had been embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots folder, also using the Big Shot. I attached a piece of Cherry Cobbler ribbon from corner to corner and added a sentiment from the On Your Birthday set (retired) punched out with the small oval punch layered over the modern label punched from Cherry Cobbler. The finishing touch was pearls placed around the largest flower.

 

Hope it was worth the wait and I will try to be on time with the next challenge. It should be posted on Cindy's blog this weekend. Please join us!!!

 

Thanks for stopping by!!!!

IT'S BEEN A WHILE, BUT............

For our Little Debbies meeting, we were able to sign up for the gift exchange. The only requirements were it had to be at least $10 and in had to be hand crafted. I copied the gifts I made for my son's teachers.

Close up.....

The other side.....

 

Thanks for stopping by!!!!

JULY SWAP FOR THE SIMPLY PAPER DESIGN CHALLENGE.....

Is it the end of July already?!?!?!?!? Time for another Simply Paper Design Challenge. This is the challenge. How can you not do red, white and blue for a July challenge? So it is Riding Hood Red, Whisper White and Not Quite Navy.  Cindy really outdid herself on this sketch. So much so that I came up with 3 cards.
This first one uses the Need for Speed stamp set for the car and Teeny Tiny Wishes for the sentiment. Red, white and blue are great for a masculine card.

Card No. 2 uses the Reason to Smile set, which I really, really love. The sentiment is from Something to Celebrate and the DSP is Summer Smooches. I strayed from the color combo and instead used one from the Color Coach --- Island Indigo, Baja Breeze and Rich Razzleberry. I wasn't real sure about it as I was working on it, but I really like how it turned out.

For the third card, I inked up the Up, Up and Away set.  For the popped up clouds, I used the cupcake punch. Don't they look nice and fluffy?

 So, there you go. This sketch is one I still have ideas for, so keep an eye out in the future --- you will probably see it again. Check out what Cindy came up with here. What an awesome challenge!!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!!

LITTLE DEBBIES SUMMER SHOEBOX SWAP...

We had the summer meeting of my Stampin' Up group, the Little Debbies, this past Saturday. There is something about a bunch of ladies who love stamping getting together and stamping (and eating) that is like no other. It was a shoebox swap, which is where you cut supplies for everyone and throw it all in a shoebox (hence the name, huh?). Then you just pass the boxes around and complete one of each of the projects. We had 15 ladies attend this year. 15!!! So, we had 14 cards to make in a short space of time. Not being the quickest stamper on the plant, I worked diligently until 1:30, but then I had to head to my DD's soccer game. Luckily, several of my friends (Hey, Cindy, Sherri & Debbie W.!!!!) finished some of the cards for me.

My card was a CASE of a Pinwheel Card done by Gretchen Barron. Her tutorial for it is here. I used the Summer Smooches DSP and the background is from the Polka Dot Parade DSP. The card here has the Real Red paper, but I also had some using the Rich Razzleberry because I only had so many of the Glimmer Brads (did I mention there were 15 people there???). The sentiment is tied up with a couple of pieces of Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine.

We also had a gift exchange, where all of the gifts had to be homemade. I will show the gift I gave and the one I received next time.

You can see everyone's projects & gifts on Debbie Naylor's (my upline) blog.

Thanks for stopping by!!!! Have a great day!!!!

GRADUATION CARDS.......

Ahhhh, high school graduation. A new chapter in life. The theshold of adulthood. They do not know how much they are going to miss being kids.......

The first card I did was for my husband's cousin's daughter. She actually had a dual graduation --- from high school and from the local community college. You go girl!!!! That had to be alot of hard work. I CASEd a gift card holder from our Stampin' Success magazine, which is a monthly demo magazine from Stampin' Up. Her school colors are maroon and gold (I hope). This is the card closed:

And here it is opened with a little treat stuck inside:

I loved the cap so much, I used the design for the front of my nephew's card. The colors for his school are red and black. The template used for the gift card had to be downsized to fit on the card front.

The inside sentiment:

My nephew's girlfriend also graduated and I CASEd a card from Stampin' Pretty with Mary Fish for her. Isn't this the cuteset little owl, armed with his degree? She attends the same high school as my nephew, so it was red and black again.

The inside:

Good luck to all of this years graduates!!!!!

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES - PART 3......

The last of the teachers stuff is the cards to go with the gifts. I used the same DSP as used for their framed word apples from my last post. I did not put anything on the inside so that my son could write his own words of thanks.

This one features the fabric brad that matches the DSP and is no longer available. I CASEd this, but the picture I printed has no identifying items whatsoever. If you know where I saw it, please let me know and I will update this with a link.

 I added a pumpkin pie button and ribbon on this one. It was CASEd from an email for classes from Jill Hilliard. Check out her blog Jill's Card Creations.

Stay tuned --- I am going to show you the graduation cards I did next time. Have a great day!!!

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES --- PART 2....

The second gift I did for the teachers this year was inspired by my friend Beverly Cole. She found this really cool website that will fill in shapes with words of your choice. See the details on her post. My take on them is much more simple (mostly because I did not have any of that wide ribbon to match and, let's face it, I can't make the gorgeous bows that she has on hers).

The first one is the one made for Ms. Witt and it uses the Summer Smooches DSP.

The other one is for Ms. Beyrau and uses the long retired Jersey Shore DSP (no relation to Snooki or the Situation --- this paper came and went long before them).

Are they not the cutest idea for teachers???? Thanks so much, Beverly!!!!

Have a great day, everyone!!!!