Friday, February 28, 2014

Grown-Up Good Thoughts Your Way

It's a wonderful day - 
especially because it's a Friday 
and one step closer to spring 
as it's also the last day of February.  
I'm sending Good Thoughts Your Way 
as we celebrate this final day 
of a very cold month this year!!
we've got a theme of a Grown-Up Card.  
Yepper - no cute cards allowed!
With that in mind, I wanted to keep the colors tasteful, 
with something additional that would fit into 
a one-inch space.  
For some reason, I just had it in my 
mind to punch out a bunch of 1" squares.  
So . . . that's how I came up with this card idea.  

The Perfect Pennants (#133230) 
and the Petite Petals (#133152) stamp sets 
were used with Soft Sky (#131181), Island Indigo (#122937) 
and Basic Gray (#126981) inks. 
Island Indigo (#122923), Whisper White (#100730) 
and Smoky Slate (#131202) - I know, 
I know. I'm using this color constantly lately!! - 
are the card stock colors on this peaceful card.
The Neutrals Candy Dots (#130934) are the only embellishment, along with a little bit of Dazzling Details 
in the center of those Petite Petals flowers.

And amazingly enough, I only made one of these cards - 
truly odd since I usually make at 
least four of everything.  
Well, once I got to doing all the cutting needed for this card -
I said to me, "Whoa!  Once is enough!!"

I think it turned out nicely, though, don't you?

Please be sure to take a look at the great 
grown-up cards 

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Thursday, February 27, 2014

Delightful Dozen Freshly Made Sketch

Freshly Made Sketches has a great sketch 
with very clean lines this week.  Love it.
You know, it's just right for a 
quick "Get Well" card that 
I wanted to make for a friend.
Using Midnight Muse (#126843), 
Smoky Slate (#131202) and 
Naturals White (#102316) card stocks, 
along with the gorgeous 
Watercolor Wonder DSP (#132994) 
for a great pop of color, 
there're subtle layers on this card - as if
it's been colorwashed.  Very fresh!
I wanted just a little bit of sparkle - 
because you need that sometimes 
when you're feeling unwell. 
 The Delightful Dozen (#122650) stamp set 
had just the right sentiment.  
And I used the Labels Framelits with the Big Shot 
to frame the sponged sentiment layer.  
A circle punch of Glimmer Paper 
and a few Rhinestone jewels 
are the finishing touches!
A fun, uncomplicated card with a great sketch 
layout I know I'll use over and over again.

How do you see yourself using this fun sketch?

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Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Love the Look of Washi

Another great way to use washi tape today. 
I just love that stuff.  
Just adding some interest and color to the card.  
It's super easy to do with randomly-placed pieces of 
that Washi tape. 
The card stock colors are 
Melon Mambo (#115320) 
and a retired Confetti White. 
The ink is just the Night of Navy (126970), 
and the stamp sets are the Perfect Pennants (#133230) 
and the Peaceful Petals (#133107).  
Banners are a snap to create with the 
Banners Framelits Dies (#132173) 
and my Big Shot machine.
These are some thank-you cards I made for 
my stamper's club and my card angel.

How do you like to use Washi?
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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Thinking of You - Petite Petals and Tags

The Challenge at the RetroSketches was for a tag.  
It was such a pretty sketch that I couldn't resist 
and made it right away, using the colors suggested 
by the ColourQ.  I had to make a couple of color substitutions due to some of the colors being retired 
(and I don't tend to keep retired things - 
I sell them right away).
The Petite Petals were layered.  
The doily was sponged with some delicate Apricot.
The Gorgeous Grunge had a great stripe to use 
for the sketch, as well as the splotches to add 
a bit of "messy".  
I'm naturally kinda messy, 
so it's great to has a stamp that helps me -- 
well, be me!
I posted this right away to a friend whose daughter 
was rear-ended in a car accident and then 
suffered a stroke as a result of the car accident.  
It was a bad stroke, as those can go.  
It's been devastating for the family to have a beautiful daughter go from quite the independent woman 
to someone having problems being understood 
and also having problems understanding herself.  
I want to do more to help.  
ColourQ Challenge

RetroSketches Challenge

Maybe you'll want to play along with these challenges.  Check them out - have some fun.

Thanks for stopping by -- Happy Stampin' and Scrappin'!

Friday, February 21, 2014

Easy All-Occasion Cards

I wanted to make some cards this evening - no . . . I needed to make some cards this evening, 
some easy all-occasion cards would do perfectly.  

There are so many thank-yous I need to get out, birthday cards, thinking of you cards . . . the list goes on and on.  Doesn't yours?

Thanks to the Everyday Occasions kit (#134792), I made these three gorgeous cards in such a short time, it was unbelievable!!
Some "Thinking of You"
 


A "For You" card

Birthday Time!!


Yay!  Love easy creativity.
The pre-cut card stock came in the kit,
the stamps and ink - even an acrylic block
came in the kit,
the Baker's Twine, Glimmer Paper, die cuts -
it was simply amazing all the goodies in the kit.

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Thursday, February 20, 2014

Love - Envelope Punch Board Creation

With the Envelope Punch Board, (#133774) you can create custom envelopes and boxes perfectly every time using card stock or Designer Series Paper.  
I used it to create this wonderful card holder box.  Want to create this yourself?  I'll share with you.  
You can find the template here.

You may be wondering what the excitement over this handy tool is all about.  Until now, custom envelopes in your choice of sizes and designs have been difficult or time-consuming to create.  
This wonderful punch board can create custom envelopes and more in just moments without making your brain explode trying to figure out complicated measurements and cutting templates.  Here are a few things that makes the Envelope Punch Board so unique!
• Instructions for creating envelopes are printed right on the Envelope Punch Board – Thank you! No more searching for misplaced instructions.
• The dimensions and scoring measurements for over 65 card sizes are printed right on the Envelope Punch Board – Brilliant! No more trial and error or endless internet searches.
• Measurements go from a small 2” x 3-1/2” gift card envelope to a large envelope for a card that is 6” x 8-1/2”. 
This tool may look complicated, but that can't be further from the truth.  It's as easy to use as a bone folder.  

With this tool, you can say, "buh bye" to plain white envelopes and start sayin', "hello pizzazz!"
I can’t wait for your card recipient to receive a thoughtful card wrapped in a beautiful package. And you know we all need some excitement delivered in our mail, right?
Tip: Trim off one short flap or large flap to create an open-end envelope. Envelopes can be mailed if they are standard sizes and well secured.

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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

February Paper Pumpkin

Yay!  It's Wednesday - and that means a great video share today.


I really enjoy when My Paper Pumpkin 
arrives every month.  
It's so fun to see what will be my get-away.

How about you?  
Do you have a Paper Pumpkin subscription yet?  
If not, just sign up using my sidebar 
and let me know if you have any questions!!

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Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Valentine Giveaway

We had a fun Valentine's Day party at our office for all our families.  We decorated our office spaces (see mine here), and we had candy to give away.  
It was like Halloween, but pink and red instead!!

This is what I made to give away . . . 
 I filled the 1" x 8" Cellophane Bags (#124134) with M&Ms - 23 of them as a matter of fact!
 And Valentine Candy Corn.
 I put it in the bag in a zig zag pattern.  
These bags were a HUGE hit!
 Here's a picture of the Valentine I gave my sweetie.
And I made my boys some goodies, too!

Well, that's it for Valentine's Day fun.  Hope you had a good time, too.

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Monday, February 17, 2014

Valentine's Day Decorating

Our office had a Valentine's Day Party for all our families and we were to do some Valentine's Day Decorating of our spaces to make the office look festive.

I decided to sew a festive garland for my space 
to make it 'purty'.

I began by punching out shapes to sew together . . . 

I used a large heart punch, scallop circle punch, circle punch, and small heart punch.

Pretty in Pink, Early Espresso, Real Red, and Champagne Glimmer Paper were the card stocks of choice here.

Here are a couple of sewn-together strings.  It was soooo easy!

I simply used the sewing machine 
(which happened to be threaded with a dark brown thread) and fed the shapes through, using grid paper as a base to help me keep the punched pieces evenly spaced.


And then the grid paper was removed and the 
garlands were left!  Super, duper easy, eh?

Here's my space at work after decorated

I had also die cut some hearts out of the same card stock and used those larger items to fill in.


This could work for lots of holidays.
And it was a snap to take down, too.  Yay!

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Thursday, February 13, 2014

4 Foil Sheet Techniques

I've got 4 Foil Sheet Techniques for you today . . . 

Have you noticed all the shiny 
metallic accents in fashion, 
decor, and crafting?  It's all the rage!

Here are 4 Foil Sheet Techniques 
for you to try today:

1.  Dry emboss with Textured Impressions Embossing Folders and the Big Shot:


2.  Die-Cut with any Big Shot dies, framelits, or punch a shape of your choice:


3.  Heat emboss with a Heat Tool and Embossing Powder.  Silver Embossing Powder on the Silver Foil looks like pressed tin and gold on the gold is just beautiful, too.  
Heat emboss other colors to create a great on-trend look with the shiny foil and shiny embossing.



4.  Stamp the Foil with Black or White StazOn ink.


So many fast ways to add beautiful and affordable Foil accents to your projects, aren't there?  Which one are you gonna try first?

Tip - Punch or die-cut a shape from a Foil Sheet and then emboss it with a Textured Impressions Embossing Folder to create a fast, beautifully detailed accent.




See how you can easily and affordably add the beauty of silver and gold metallic with the high-quality Foil Sheets from Stampin' Up! (Silver - #132178 and Gold - #132622)

These 12" x 12" sheets are thick and that makes them sturdy enough for you to use for a variety of techniques and not worry about them tearing on you like some cheapy ones will.

It's amazing how a simple strip of embossed foil looks!  It's such a rich accent!
Flower Shop Bundle
Really Good Greetings Stamp Set

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