MAY SIMPLY PAPER DESIGN CHALLENGE....

Another month, another challenge.......
For May, the team decided to give a fond farewell to the retiring In-Colors - Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, Blushing Bride and Concord Crush. Teamed with one of Cindy's awesome sketches --- well, you just can't go wrong. Here is the challenge and Cindy's card can be seen here. Also, check out what Regina came up with here.

For my card, I started with the Just Add Cake DSP. The patterns I chose used the Poppy Parade and Peach Parfait. For a color to compliment those, I used the Pear Pizzazz. The stamp set used is the soon to be retired Not So Seriously. The gift bag was stamped with black StazOn and colored with my Stampin' markers. The sentiment was stamped with the Poppy Parade. I then punched it out with the small tag punch and layered it with peach parfait cardstock punched with the large tag punch. To add a little bling, I attached a piece of white ribbon with a rhinestone brad.

The inside of the card:

I love that sentiment. Luckily, my niece (who was the lucky one to receive this card) has a great sense of humor......

However, this was not my first try on this challenge. I made this card first (sorry for the blurry photo):

It uses the cake from the Voila stamp set, the sentiment from the Whimsical Words stamp set and the center label is from Punch Bunch, all retired. Same DSP and colors used as the other one. I punched the flowers with the Boho Blossoms and added rhinestones in the centers. I really liked this card, but the idea for the other one got into my head (mostly using the tag punch in the center) and I just had to try it, too. So, how about a 2 for 1 deal???

Thanks for checking in..........

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY.............

To all of you mom's out there ---- HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!! I hope you are all being pampered and showered with love today.
I have the cards that I made for my mom and mom-in-law to show you today. They were both CASEd and not much was changed from the originals. This first one is for my Mom-in-law and was on an email where Jill Hilliard was offering classes. I do not have a link to the card, but you can find Jill's blog here. Using the summer smooches DSP (love, love love it!!!) and Bright Blossoms stamp set, it was all layered on a whisper white base. I used a strip of crushed curry ribbon (retired) and accented the flowers with some rhinestones. The sentiment is from the Curvy Verses stamp set.

The inside, using the retired Something to Celebrate stamp set for the sentiment:

The one for my mom was CASEd from a Stampin' Addicts post by Deb Currier that was sent to my group from my upline, Debbie (her blog is here). You can find the orginal post on Deb's blog here. It is so simple, yet packs quite a punch. It, too, was layered on a whisper white base. The first layer is the white ran through the Big Shot with the Stripes embossing folder. Then, I just cut a circle of white and covered the bottom half with a piece of DSP from the Cheerful Treat pack (retiring this month). The sentiment is from Well Scripted (retired) and the butterfly was made with the Beautiful Wings embosslit die.

The inside of it, using the same sentiment as above:

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day!!!!

APRIL SIMPLY PAPER DESIGN CHALLENGE......

I must say, I was very excited about this month's challenge --- a quilt card. See the challenge info here. You see, I used to sew and I love quilts. I have only made two very simple ones for my kids, but I love checking out the different patterns every now and then. So, in my very simple mind, this was right up my alley. Right? Oh, so not right. Let me just say this --- fabric is much more forgiving than paper (even on the super small scale that I was working with). So after two very sad tries of one pattern, I looked again for an easier block to use and finally came up with this card.

It uses the new Summer Smooches DSP. I absolutely love the bright colors and cute little patterns with this paper. It will be available in the new catalog coming out on June 1st. In the center is a bow tacked down by a Summer Smooches fabric brad, which was only available for a limited time and is now retired. I made this with my sister-in-law's birthday in mind. I also needed something small to place her gift in and, as luck would have it, the new Petite Purse Big Shot Die (also coming out in the new catalog) just fit the bill.

Isn't that purse the cutest little thing? And so, so easy, even I can make one..... What is a birthday without a little cake? So, inside looks like this:

As it would turn out, Cindy said that she also had a hard time with this challenge. But I guess it wouldn't be a challenge if it were easy, huh? Even so, I think we both are very happy to have this one done and over with. Kathy also joined in the challenge again this month. Check out both of their cards here. I love how Cindy stitched her ribbon on the top and bottom of her block. Notice how she and I pretty much used the same block design. Kathy and I used the same DSP, but she used a different block design. Man, I cannot believe the amount of piecing she did on this. Regina also joined in on the fun and went above and beyond by making 2 cards here. Aren't they gorgeous??!!!?? Thanks to Kathy and Regina for taking on this challenge with us.

Now onto May..... Keep an eye out on Cindy's blog here for details and play along......

CUPCAKES AND PARTY HATS...........

Again, a very quick post. This card uses a sketch and color combo found here. It was the June 2011 Simply Paper Design Challenge. The only thing I did different was that I flipped the sketch upside down. The stamp set is Party Hearty and was colored up with my markers. Easy peasy............

Thanks!!!! Have a great day!!!!

QUICK & EASY......

This was a quick and easy birthday card that I CASEd from somewhere, but it has been so long ago I am not sure where I found it. I used the Watercolor Trio stamp set (retired), coloring up the flowers with my markers. The eyelet border punch was used to trim the bottom of the pink layer and a piece of Rich Razzleberry satin ribbon was wrapped around with a bow attached to it. Not real sure that I like this bow very much, it's just a knot placed on top of the ribbon strip with a glue dot, but you need to experiment with different things just to find out.

Thanks for stopping by today!!! Have a great one!!!

MARCH SIMPLY PAPER DESIGN CHALLENGE....

This post will catch me up with showing my cards for our team's challenges. The challenge is here and the groups projects are here. We also have a couple of extras thrown in there --- thanks for joining us, Debbie & Regina!!! You guys did an awesome job!!!
I love this Turtle & Co. set. It's not only because it is so darn cute, but it is the Ronald McDonald House set for Stampin' Up this catalog. This means that with every set sold, Stampin' Up donates $3.00 to the charity. What could be easier to help those with loved ones in hospitals far from home?

This is an absolutely horrible picture, but the card was really cute in real life. Really --- I mean it. (Actually, the picture on Cindy's blog looks much better, so she must have waved her magic wand over it or something.) Anyway, I colored Mr. Turtle using my blender pen and my stamping pads (using the top with some color squeezed on it). I used my Scoring Tool to make a little frame on the layer under the image. The flower was made using my Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer punch and adding a button all tied up with hemp twine. A small piece of Pacific Point ribbon creates a little faux tab on the right.

Thanks so much for stopping by!!!! Have a great weekend!!!!

FEBRUARY SIMPLY PAPER DESIGN CHALLENGE....

Almost there....... I am up to posting the February Simply Paper Design Challenge. Check out the challenge here and the finished cards here. Debbie N., my upline and Cindy's sister, played along using the sketch only. She is the best upline you could ask for. Check out her blog, Unfrogettable Stamping, here.

So, here is the card I came up with. I used the Circle Circus stamp set to make my own designer paper. I layered a couple of pieces of ribbon and added buttons. The button "ties" are just really thin strips of paper that was very, very carefully tied (after several failed attempts). Very simple, but not a card to mail --- too lumpy and bumpy with the buttons on there.

Have a great day!!! Check back soon......