Thank You, Susan

My office administrator is moving on to another job. She's "movin' on up!" And good for her! She's a really sweet person and I'll miss her.

I made this card to tell her just how much I'll miss her. It's all purple because that's her favorite color. Even though I use my stamp-a-ma-jig I can never seem to line up this set--at least it's consistently off-kilter!!

I've been wanting to use the Fun Frames embossing folders for a while. I've seen such cute cards using them. I fussy cut the large frame. I stamped the sentiment again on Whisper White and fussy cut it so that it would fit in the frame.
Finally, I added a corner of bling for balance.

(Stamp Sets: Stippled Blossoms, Really Good Greetings; Inks: Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant; Card Stock: Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White; Accessories: Fun Frames Embossing Folder, Basic Rhinestones)

My Convention Swaps: Very Vintage

I'm home from the Stampin' Up convention. It was a whirlwind of activity and I fell into my very comfy hotel bed exhausted and happy every night! I can't wait to go next year. 

Today I'm sharing the last of my swap cards. I think this is the third time I've joined the "Very Vintage" card swap. It's hosted by the lovely Barbara Welch from Phoenix, Arizona. I know she's lovely because Barbara and I waited in line for a loooong time to get into the make-and-take area one year. She and I sat at the same table and she took charge of making sure everyone got their projects completed and everyone shared the supplies. She was very sweet.

I also love Barbara's vintage style. I guess I'm kind of a vintage girl myself. I find that style comfortable. I like the soft colors and layers and embellishments that are used for a vintage look. I struggled with my design this year because none of our current designer series papers are vintage-y--which surprises me because Shelli Gardner, Stampin' Up Co-Founder and CEO, is a very vintage type of girl. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some vintage style Christmas DSP!

Enough gabbing. Here's the card I made for the "Very Vintage" card swap.

(Stamp Sets: Stippled Blossoms, Six-Sided Sampler; Inks: Soft Sky, Soft Suede; Card Stock: Soft Suede, Soft Sky,Very Vanilla; Accessories: Scallop Topper Label Punch, Modern Label Punch, Envelope Punch Board (to round tag and card corners), Fancy Fan Embossing Folder, Soft Sky and Soft Suede Seam Binding, Linen Thread, Tea Lace Paper Doilies, Basic Pearls)

I used my brayer to color the Tea Lace Paper Doilies Soft Sky and the Stamp-a-ma-Jig to line up the layers on the flowers. I love the Soft Suede and Soft Sky color combo!

I can't wait to share some of my favorite swaps from convention over the next few weeks!

Vintage Sympathy

The Paper Craft Crew Challenge this week is a sketch challenge. I had a piece of Soho Subway DSP out waiting for the right time to use it to create a vintage card. I'm really going to miss that DSP--and this particular sheet really lends itself to a vintage card.

By accident, I found a way to make Stippled Blossoms "vintage-y." I was showing my friend, Jenny, how two-step stamping works. I first showed her how to use two shades of the same color. Since Jenny loves purples, I started with Perfect Plum as the base and added the flower details in Elegant Eggplant. Then I said, "You can use two different colors, too," and ran off to get a yellow to go with the purples. I meant to grab Daffodil Delight, but I grabbed Crushed Curry instead. Wow! The Crushed Curry base with Elegant Eggplant details was really cool--and very "vintage-y." You'll have to take my word for it, cuz I sent Jenny home with the samples and didn't take picture.

The Soho Subway DSP has Crisp Cantaloupe as a base and Early Espresso as the accents, so I thought I might be able to get a "vintage-y" flower to go with the DSP. 

Here's the Paper Craft Crew Challenge sketch #92:



And here's my vintage card. I fussy cut the smaller flowers and popped them onto the card with Stampin' Dimensionals.

(Stamp Sets: Stippled Blossoms, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Inks: Crisp Cantaloupe, Early Espresso; Card Stock: Early Espresso, Crisp Cantaloupe, Very Vanilla; DSP: Soho Subway; Accessories: Fancy Fan Embossing Folder, Extra Large Oval Punch, Soft Sueda Taffeta Ribbon, Basic Pearls)

Announcing: Creation Station!!

I'm thrilled to announce the launch of a brand new design team/blog hop called CREATION STATION. And I'm super excited to be a part of this awesome team of stampers. I'm actually pretty nervous because many of the design team members are some of my stamping heroes and I can't believe that I've been accepted into this elite group. I'm really going to have to step up my game to keep up!!

If you've come from Ilina Crouse's blog, you know that the Creation Station team is top notch! Aren't her projects wonderful? If you're starting with my blog, just hit the "next" button at the bottom of the post and you'll be able to tour the entire blog hop.

The Creation Station design team will be posting every 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month. We're going to feature a couple of Stampin' Up stamp sets and one product on our blog hops.  For our inaugural hop, we're featuring the Stippled Blossoms stamp set, the Geometrical Stamp set, and the Tag a Bag boxes.

For my project, I've made a Mother's Day gift set using the Stippled Blossoms stamp set and the Happy Mother's Day stamp from the April Paper Pumpkin. These dahlias inspired my multi-layered flower atop a Tag a Bag box. I stamped eight of the largest flower from the Stippled Blossoms set in Perfect Plum and Elegant Eggplant. Because I knew I would be using each blossom as one petal on my flower and that the back of the paper would show, I brayered the reverse side of the paper in perfect plum.  I shaped the petals by curling them with my bone folder. I cut a small slit at the base of the petal so that I could "cup" them. Once I had two layers of Stippled Blossoms petals, I added two flowers made with the Spiral Flower Originals Die--one Perfect Plum and one Pear Pizzazz--to the center. I popped a Jumbo Rhinestone in the Center.

I made a Pear Pizzazz belly band to wrap around the Tag a Bag box and embossed it with the Fancy Fan Embossing Folder.  I used the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch for the tag and tied it onto the box with Whisper White Organza Ribbon.

Here's a close-up of the flower: 

I made a card to go along with the box to complete the Mother's Day gift set. I fussy cut one flower and popped it up on Stampin' Dimensionals to give the card, well, some dimension.

(Stamp Sets: Stippled Blossoms, Framed Love; Inks: Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Pear Pizzazz; Card Stock: Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White; Accessories: Fancy Fan Embossing Folder, Apothecary Accent Framelits)

Here's the complete Mother's Day gift set.

Next up on the blog hop is Cindy Beach. I know you're going to love what Cindy has made!!!

 If you'd like to go back to Ilina's blog, click the back button.

 






 
 

Fresh Flower

I'm posting a little early today because I don't want to miss out on this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge. The sketch this week is simple, but versatile. Just take a look at all the great cards that were made based on this sketch


As soon as I saw the sketch, I knew I wanted to use my new Starburst Framelits and my new "Stippled Blossoms" set. (You'll be seeing more Stippled Blossoms soon!!!)

(Stamp Sets: Stippled Blossoms, Perfect Pennants; Inks: Calypso Coral, Basic Gray; Card Stock: Basic Gray, Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, Whisper White; DSP: Epic Day This & That; Accessories: Sunburst and Banners Framelits Dies, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Basic Gray Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, Basic Pearls)

For this card I fussy cut the "hello" banner and mounted it onto a Calypso Coral banner cut with the smallest banner framelit. I like the way the starburst looks like the sun. How fun!