Only a stamper would understand!

While I was home visiting family last month we had a big discussion about the cards I send to them.  My fears were confirmed-  my sisters DO throw my cards away after they get them!  Oh, the horror!  While I get it- I mean what are they supposed to do with them but really?  My mother is the only one that keeps them.  Today I ran across this stamp at a scrapbook store and I just had to have it!  This is officially going on the back of all of my handmade cards before I send them.  Thought you might get a kick out of it too :)

I'm currently working on a new card for the July MFT Guest Designer Contest.  If nothing else, I'm persistent.  More to post soon!

Upcoming Stamp Club Cards

I am lucky enough to share an evening once a month with some great ladies just being creative and having some fun.  It's such a big stress reliever to get together with people with similar interests and getting my craft fix.  I wanted to share today the cards we will making at this month's club night.  If you are in Western Ky you should look us up-  there's always room for a few more :)

Our theme this month is "Sweet Treats"-  Who doesn't love those??

This one might look a little familiar to some of you as this is a case from a Stampin' Up! mini-catalog featuring the stamp set "Bring on the Cake".

This one features "Sweets for the Sweet" by SU!

I just love this simple but colorful card. Makes me want a popsicle! Stamp sets used : SU! "Mouthwatering" & SU! "Sunny Fun"

Last but not least,  a fun accordian card.  This one combines 3 of my favorite things- Glitter, Twine and Cupcakes, of course!



MFT Guest Designer Entry- June 2012

I thought I would be brave and try my hand at the guest designer contest at My Favorite Things again this month.   The challenge for this month was limited to creating a card based on a sketch provided by the MFT Design Team.  I have to say that it relieved the pressure a bit to have a sketch to work with and I really enjoyed it.  Here is the sketch that we had to work with:

This was my interpretation of the sketch:

As soon as I saw the sketch I immediately thought ribbon for the pink strips behind the main panel instead of paper. I found four rolls of the same ribbon in different colors and my color inspiration was born.  I added the twine in coordinating colors to add a bit more texture. The patterned papers are from Stampin' Up! and My Minds Eye -On the Bright Side.  I used MFT Die-Namics for the clouds and for the file tab with the card sentiment on the front.  Can I say how much I LOVE Die-namics?  So versatile and easy to use!!  To add the last bit of detail to the background I used my Cuttlebug Seeing Spots embossing folder to bring dimension to the "sky" and clouds.

 I also knew exactly which Pure Innocence stamp set I wanted to use- Make A Splash. Isn't she adorable? I colored her with Copics and fussy cut her.  I added some torn strips of Kraft cardstock (from MFT), sponged on the edges to give the look of sand. 

For the last detail I didn't think that a flower embellishment made any sense with my theme so I decided I needed to create my own.  What goes better with the beach and swimsuits than flip flops??  

I was very happy with how it all came together.  You can check out all of the entries here on the Splitcoast Stampers gallery.

Quick Graduation Card

So I'm feeling pretty old this week...my nephew is graduating from high school!  I was just beginning college when he was born so this milestone in his life is really dating me.  :)  We are so proud of him!

On to the crafty details....I have A LOT of stamps in my stash but if there's one event that I'm not stocked for it would be graduation.   I didn't really want to invest a lot in stamps for graduation so I took to the web.  I was thrilled to find this digital stamp offering from Stampin' Up!  I had purchased, downloaded, printed and colored this image within minutes!   I just happen to be a SU! demo so feel free to shop in my online store - you can search for Go Graduate Plus for this particular digital image set. How great is that?  Isn't technology grand!

              Stamps :  Digital- SU! Go Graduate Plus,  Wood mount- SU! Celebrate Everything

Printer's Tray Project

I thought I would mix it up a little today and show you something different.  I've literally had this printer's tray laying around awaiting life for months.  If I'm being totally honest the thought of working on this really overwhelmed me.  I get this way before I start some of my scrapbook pages too if I really love the photos I'm working with.  I just don't want to mess them up so I just put off working with them.  My stress was totally relieved when I found this kit from Kerri Bradford.  She has so many great things in her online store for the Silhouette-  you should really check it out.  The kit included not only the project cut files for the titles etc. but also a printable file for the backgrounds and other embellishments. 

I used her This + That Family kit for my printer's tray.  The colors coordinated perfectly with my living room decor so it was a perfect fit.  While my tray was not the same tray that the kit was designed for I still found it easy to adapt to the six compartment tray I used. 

I only added a few of my own touches to the kit.  I stamped the damask pattern over the brown dsp to add a bit of dimension.  I also stamped and cut out a butterfly to add another small feminine touch.

Here are some additional close ups of some of the panels.

Thanks to Kerri Bradford Studio this ended up being one of the easiest projects I have ever done! 

Hi Everyone!  Sorry it's been a few days since my last post...we've been really busy-  isn't everyone these days?  Finally got to spend some time stamping last night and wanted to share my latest card.  This one is headed to my Mom for her Birthday later this month...

I used the Pure Innocence Hello Cupcake stamp set from My Favorite Things.  Who doesn't love cupcakes?

My Favorite Things Guest Designer Entry

I wanted to share with you today my entry for the My Favorite Things Guest Designer contest for May.  I cannot believe we are already down to the last three weeks of school here in Kentucky but the timing couldn't be better for the theme on this challenge-  Be a Teacher's Pet!  It's actually Teacher Appreciation Week at my son's school this week so you know, two birds - one stone and all...  Although it could be tough to let go of this one!  Many hours of work and lots of anxiety-  I am harder on myself than anyone else could possibly be.

As soon as I read the theme I knew that I wanted to use the new A La Modes set - An Apple for Teacher.  Then I saw the A La Modes- You Rule set and loved it as well.  THEN I looked in my stash and saw BIG Greetings set and I knew what to do- Use them all ! :)



I immediately thought that I needed to focus on doing some type of gift set for a Teacher gift. There were already some terrific entries posted when I began my project so I wanted to make sure to try to be unique.  I had made a stationery box a few months back for a card class that I hosted and I hadn't seen many of them on blogs so this is where I started... I used a tutorial by Jackie Topa for the box and it can be found here . The box is very simple to make from one sheet of 12x12 cardstock, one sheet of 8 1/2 x11 cardstock and a 12x12 sheet of patterned paper.  It is designed to hold regular size cards, gift tags and 3x3 cards so I designed samples of each to go with the box. 

For the main cards I started by stamping ALM- An Apple for Teacher on X-press It blending cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I stamped her 4 times for coloring!! Whew!  These are all of the Copic colors that I used on her. Yes, all of those on that tiny little girl!! 

I decided that her shirt and the apple needed a bit more style and texture so I stamped those on patterned paper (SU! DSP in Wild Wasabi and Real Red) and then paper-pieced them onto the stamped image.  While I hate to cut little things out I truly think paper-piecing adds so much dimension and flair to a stamped image- painful but worth the look! Much like high-heels, right ladies? :)

I also decided to add a little stitching to my card using my Janome Sew Mini machine...I love that little thing!  Here is the final sample, inside and out-

Here's a closer look at the stationery box

I used the MFT Tag, You're It and Jumbo Scallop Die-namics on the outside along with Twine from The Twinery. 

The lid lifts off the box separately

and the box opens up to show three separate bins for the different components of the stationery set

Here's a photo of the empty box

Because I never know when enough is enough I added two more items to the gift set-  a jumbo clothespin photo holder and an altered composition book.

On this piece I used ribbon tabbed over and stapled to the cover to create a pencil holder.  Using the Vertical Greetings and Button Quartet Die-namics I created a custom book label for the notebook.

I added a sentiment with the Mix and Match Banners Die-namics.  I bought the buttons at Archivers but fail to remember what company manufactures them.

I really enjoyed this challenge and I hope you have enjoyed it too! I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with using the wonderful stamps, supplies and Die-namics from My Favorite Things!  Wish me luck!!

Now I have to clean up this stamp room or else TLC may come calling for an episode of Hoarders: Buried Alive!