May this year be your best ever

I have a confession to make.  I'm not too great at sending birthday cards.  I have good intentions!  Just not the greatest follow-through.  I missed both my sister's and mom's birthdays this summer.  {hangs head in shame}  Luckily, I get to see both of them this weekend when I head out to take my oldest daughter to college.  I found a great card in my stash for my mom.  (previously posted here)  This card is the one I just made for my sister.  Love it!

I used the newest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches which you can see on their blog here.  I love their CAS style sketches.  They're great for jump-starting a card design.

 

It's a very simple design and came together quickly, except for the paper piecing, which took time to cut out.  Several of those pieces are quite narrow!  I used some pretty patterned paper from Basic Grey's Knee Highs line.

Inside the card, I used another narrow strip of patterned paper and stamped my belated birthday sentiment.  (since my card is, you know, over two months late)

So happy with this card!  I hope my sister really likes it.  Of course, it will help that a present accompanies it.  lol   :)

Stamps:  Big Birthday Wishes, Birthday Sentiments (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  White, Spring Rain, Leaf Green (Papertrey Ink); Knee Highs 6x6 pad (Basic Grey); denim paper (K&Company)
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Copic:  E000, E00, E30, E42, R20, C5, BV29, E55, E57, E59
Misc:  Fishtail Flags STAX dies, Fishtail Flags Layers STAX dies, Grassy Edges die (My Favorite Things) 

Seriously. Geeking. Out.

Can you believe it??!!  There are no words to describe how excited Emily and I are about this announcement.  We started jumping up and down like crazy people when we saw THIS.

You can see the announcement on Nichole Heady's blog right here.  How cool is that??!!

It was a personal goal of mine to complete all ten Stamp-a-faire challenges.  Lack of enough sleep wasn't going to stop me.  :)  I was already feeling great for achieving my goal.  It sure wasn't easy!  I didn't expect to win Top Chef.

Seriously.  Geeking.  Out.

Thanks to Papertrey Ink for a fun weekend of challenges, inspiration, and stamping!  I can't wait to spend that gift certificate.   :)

Stamp-a-Faire: Sweet Sugar Coated Embellishments

Woohoo!  Last card for the Stamp-a-Faire challenges!  I managed to do every single one.  (by the skin of my teeth)  It was definitely a challenge to do so many projects in one weekend.  I wasn't entirely sure I would make it by the deadline today.  I'm not a fast stamper, plus it takes time to photograph each project, upload and edit the pictures, and write the blog posts.  Whew!

Glitter was the star of this challenge.  I actually used glitter on quite a few of my Stamp-a-Faire cards.  For this one, I decided to create a snowy winter scene.

Check out all that sparkle!  I first stamped and diecut my pine tree.  For the snow, I added raised globs of liquid glue (a la Dawn McVey) to the branch edges and then shook on a healthy dose of glitter.  I did the same thing to my white hill edges and snowman.  This was all done last night so it could dry while I was sleeping. 

I love the look!  In hindsight, I should have used white glitter on my tree because the glue dried transparent (duh!) and my crystal glitter just doesn't look snowy enough with the dark green showing through.  There are some flecks of Carrara Marble glitter, because I shook it on afterwards, which does help a bit.  Next time I do a tree, I'll use that one instead.  The crystal glitter looks great on the snowman and hills though!

If you look closely, you can see that I deliberately added my glue in a jagged manner.  It looks more like real snow that way.  Love all the sparkle!!

For the sentiment, I just diecut a piece of Aqua Mist cardstock (so it would blend with my brackground) and stamped it in black.  Isn't that the perfect sentiment for this card?  Oh, and I embossed teeny white snowflakes on my Aqua Mist card base before gluing everything down.

So happy with this card!  It almost makes me long for winter.  Almost.  I admit to singing "Winter Wonderland" during the process.  Just couldn't help it!   :)

My daughter Emily also made a card for this challenge using some pretty pink glitter and diecut flowers. 

This was quick and easy.  She stamped her leaves, glued on the flowers, added a yellow butterfly leftover from our Kool-Aid experiment, stamped her sentiment, and put it all on a Hibiscus Burst card base.  Done!  She says I take too long.   lol   Love my sweet girl!  It was so fun to stamp with her this weekend.

Stamps:  In the Meadow (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White, Aqua Mist (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Misc:  In the Meadow dies, In the Meadow Silhouettes dies (Papertrey Ink);  Fishtail Flags Layers STAX dies (My Favorite Things); Crystal fine glitter, Carrara Marble glitter (Martha Stewart)

Stamps:  Turning a New Leaf, Floral Frenzy, Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White, Hibiscus Burst (Papertrey Ink); watercolor paper
Ink:  Smokey Shadow, Ripe Avocado (Papertrey Ink); VersaMark
Misc:  Beautiful Blooms II #1 dies; Heart-2-Heart #10 die (Papertrey Ink); Cotton Candy glitter (Martha Stewart)

Stamp-a-Faire: Custom Accents from the Oven

If you can believe it, this was the first time I've used shrink plastic.  I've had it in my studio for ages, but just never got around to playing with it.  While checking out the design team projects, I fell in love with Dawn McVey's adorable snowflakes here and just had to recreate them.

It was hard to capture the sparkle in a photograph, but here's a closer look.  Hopefully you can see it better.  I just love this snowflake!

I kept my card pretty simple.  The card base is Hibiscus Burst stamped with some wintery words in VersaMark ink.  It looks like a watermark.  I added random dots of Frosted Lace Stickles to mimic falling snowflakes.  I embossed the sentiment in white on a strip of Smokey Shadow cardstock and matted it with white.  Then I just glued my sparkly snowflake in place!

Stamps:  Snowfall, Snowfall Additions (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Hibiscus Burst, Smokey Shadow, White (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  VersaMark
Misc:  Frosted Lace Stickles; white embossing powder (Filigree); matte shrink plastic (Grafix); Crystal fine glitter (Martha Stewart); Glossy Accents (Ranger)

Stamps: 

Stamp-a-Faire: Gallon Quart Pint

The principle behind this challenge was to use three colors in measured amounts for balance.  I used Spring Moss for my gallon, Pure Poppy for my quart, and Ripe Avocado for my pint.  Since I was pressed for time and needed inspiration, I case'd Ashley Cannon Newell, one of the design team members.  (her card is here)  I also got the inspiration for my flowers from another challenge participant, Luanne Ford.  (you can see her card here) 

White is considered a neutral for this technique, so I used it for my card base and sentiment panel.  On the Spring Moss cardstock, I stamped Background Basics: Text Style using VersaMark ink.  I really like the subtle look.

I stamped my flower and leaves using black ink, and then fussy cut around them before putting them on the card.  I love detail work like that.  (but I still want the matching dies!)  I was in quite a hurry when I glued everything down and realized too late that my sentiment was higher than I wanted.  I would fix that if I were to recreate this card.  Oh well!

Stamps:  In Bloom, Background Basics: Text Style (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White, Spring Moss, Pure Poppy, Ripe Avocado
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark 

Stamp-a-Faire: Mixing Mists

My daughter Emily and I tried this challenge with mixed results.  (pun intended)  lol  I only own two Papertrey Ink reinkers, Scarlet Jewel and Enchanted Evening, and both mists came out really dark.  We embossed some butterfly images on white cardstock first.  When we sprayed the mists, the color really overwhelmed the stamped butterflies.

Caution - don't use clear embossing powder.  It didn't show up much at all.  Use white embossing powder!  Also, immediately blot over the embossed image after spraying to get the color off the lines.  Otherwise it will be difficult to see.  At least, that was our experience with dark reinkers.  Emily hated how hers looked so she decided not to make a card.

Since I was determined to do every challenge, I salvaged my piece by cutting it down into a strip and backing it with a narrow strip of white.  I mounted Scarlet Jewel cardstock onto a white card base and then added my misted panel.  Last step was to add my sentiment on staggered lengths of white banner flags.

Stamps:  Butterfly Kisses, Friends Til the End (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White, Scarlet Jewel (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Misc:  Double-Ended Banner dies (Papertrey Ink); homemade spray mist using Scarlet Jewel reinker (Papertrey Ink),, white embossing powder (Filigree)

Stamp-a-Faire: Rolled Dough Designs

This was a fun challege!  I loved all the neat tutorials by the design team.  Emily and I used Delight Paperclay, colored it with reinkers, and added glitter to sparkle it up.  Once it was dry, we cut it with metal dies.

My card base is Vintage Cream stamped with text in Dark Chocolate ink that had been stamped off first.  I also sponged around the edges.  I stacked my paperclay hearts on a Dark Chocolate cardstock strip and added one paperclay button that was stamped/sponged and tied with brown thread.  I stamped my sentiment in the lower right corner and it was a happy accident that the tiny paperclay heart was the perfect size for it!

Here's a couple close-up shots so you can see the glitter in the hearts.  It's also easier to see the distressing on the Dark Chocolate strip edges.

My daughter Emily wanted to do flowers, so she stamped her leaves in Simply Chartreuse ink and added button centers.  It turned out pretty cute!

Stamps:  Background Basics: Text Style, 2010 Love Tags (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink)
Dies:  Heart Prints, Buttoned Up #1 (Papertrey Ink)
Misc:  Delight Paperclay, Scarlet Jewel reinker (Papertrey Ink); Crystal fine glitter, distresser tool

Stamps:  Turning a New Leaf, Boutique Borders: Birthday (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Soft Stone, Spring Rain (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Simply Chartreuse, Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink)
Dies:  Beautiful Blooms II #1 (Papertrey Ink)
Misc:  Soft Stone buttons (Papertrey Ink)