July stamp club challenge - tall card

This is the second challenge card I made for this month's stamp club. I told you the other day that the square card was a toughie for me and I now freely admit that this one boggled me, too! I knew what I wanted to do for the main image, the colors and paper I wanted to use, but for the life of me I just couldn't figure out what do to with all that space! It appears I am quite challenged by anything but the standard-sized card. LOL! Anyway, finally managed to put a card together that I was reasonably happy with. :)

You will need to click on the image of the card to bring up a larger view in order to see that the Basic Gray c/s (a new color that I am totally in love with!) is some of the new textured paper. LOVE IT! Oh how I wish it came in all 48 of those wonderful colors (and In Colors, too) and also in 8-1/2 x 11 sized c/s. Hopefully it will be so popular, SU will decide to add more to what is offered now. Keep your fingers crossed. I also used some of the new taffeta ribbon (also in the Basic Gray) and it has a really nice silky feel to it (not satiny - there's a difference!). Try some, I think you'll like it.

Stamps: Both Way Blossoms, Wonderful Words
Inks: Real Red, Basic Gray, Always Artichoke, Basic Black
Papers: Real Red, Basic Gray textured, Very Vanilla, Cerise d/p
other: Cuttlebug w/ Vintage die, Ticket Corner punch, aquapainter, Basic Gray taffeta ribbon, red satin-edged organdy ribbon, mini self-stick rhinestones

July stamp club challenge - square card

This card I made for one of the challenge cards for my July stamp club meeting. Although I make square cards from time to time, they are still a bit of a challenge for me. It just seems like I never know quite how to fill all the space. This card started out to be something totally different and sort of developed a life of its own! LOL! I'm happy with the way it turned out, but boy howdy - how it ended up like this I sure couldn't tell ya!!

Got to play with one of the new colors - Blue Bayou - and I'm lovin' it! It is similar in tone to Not Quite Navy, but if you lay them together you will really see the difference. I'm thinkin' this will definitely be one of my new favorites. Also got to use chipboard, which I again am challenged by. But the On Board Accents flowers take up a lot of space so work really well on a square card! LOL! Easily covered with d/p by running the paper through my Xyron, adhering the chipboard, then trimming off the excess with an Exacto knife. The round chipboard piece is just right for the 1-1/4" punch, so just had to punch the d/p (no cutting!). The only stamping on this card is the Fresh Fillers mini b/g that is on the piece right under the ribbon. I also used the new photo corner punch (LOVE it!!). The punch does two corners, one slightly smaller than the other. For this card I used the larger corner (punched twice), layered on a piece of Blue Bayou c/s, then trimmed off. Very easy to do. Nothing is popped up - shocker, I know! - but the chipboard pieces give the card more depth/texture so no need. :)

Stamps: Fresh Fillers

Ink: Blue Bayou, So Saffron

Paper: Blue Bayou, So Saffron, Petals & Paisleys d/p, So Saffron d/p, Blue Bayou d/p

other: On Board Accents chipboard (flower and circle)Photo Corner punch, 3/4" circle punch, 1-1/4" circle punch, Blue Bayou double-stitched ribbon, coordinating snaps, small blue rhinestone

what? a baby card?!

I can, no doubt, count on one hand the number of baby cards I have made over the years! So this card was definitely a challenge for me. LOL! This was made for a wonderful young lady, Allison, whom I've had the great pleasure of getting to know since I work and stamp with her mom (and Allison worked in my unit for a short time, too). She and her husband, Chris, have chosen not to know the sex of their baby until it's birth (much to her mother's chagrin!!), hence the neutral color. I LOVE that they are waiting to be surprised! They will be wonderful parents and I wish them all the best as they start their family.

The scalloped edge was made using the slit punch. Basically you make a punch, then line the next punch up so that the edges just touch. Keep doing that all the way down the piece of cardstock you are using and when you get to the end, the bottom should just fall away, leaving the scalloped edge. Sounds way more complicated that it is, so give it a try and I know you'll get the hang of it quickly. One tip - start with a piece of c/s longer than you will need. That way you can cut it to size to fit where you want it and make the scallops line up nicely. Hope that made some kind of sense to you! LOL! For this card I scalloped a white piece and a Barely Banana piece and layered them, then punched a hole for the brads. And, yes, the focal piece is popped up on dimensionals. :)


Stamps: Wild About You, Headline Alpha, EFP
Inks: So Saffron, Barely Banana
Papers: So Saffron, Barely Banana, Whisper White, So Saffron d/p
other: slit punch, ticket corner punch, gold mini brads, white satin ribbon, dimensionals

mo' pink!!!

OK, I wasn't gonna upload this card yet, since the last several cards have been in the pink family. I was hoping to get something done that wasn't pink to give you a little break. But, it just hasn't worked out that way, so - you're gettin' PINK!! LOL!

This is a card I made for a very dear friend's daughter, Justine, for her birthday. Not sure is Jussie is a pink girl, but hopefully she liked it! :)

I finally got around to using some of my Palette o' Prints paper. Yep, I'm a little slow off the mark these days. Probably all the napping I seem to be doing lately! Anyway, I digress. I also used my new Baroque Motifs set and OMG! am I ever gonna love this set!! So easy and pretty and elegant and just totally yummy to work with. :) The stamped image is on shimmery white c/s. I used the Rose Red d/p from the PoP. The ribbon is velvet and I added some bling with the mini rhinestones and the rhinestone brad through the flowers. The main image piece is, as usual, popped up.

Stamps: Baroque Motifs

Inks: Rose Red, Pretty in Pink

Papers: Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red d/p, shimmery white

other: coordinating Prima flowers, mini self-stick rhinestones, rhinestone brad, pink velvet ribbon, Ticket Corner punch, dimensionals

Dora's stamp club project

So this would be the second project card that we made at last month's stamp club, designed and supplies provided by Dora. I messed mine up a little, so actually ended up finishing it up at home. Not all that unusual for me! Not the messing up part, but the finishing at home. Sometimes I just can't get the stamping mojo going, even at stamp club, and take my "parts" home to put together later. Probably has something to do with being mentally wiped out from work, since we meet on a Friday night. LOL!

I know you can't tell from the pic, but the white c/s is actually the shimmery white and oh so pretty IRL. It was run through the Cuttlebug using the Script embossing folder. We gently sponged ink over the script to give it a little dimension. I so loved the corner embellishment on this card (and a card that another club member, Pat, had done recently) that I had to go out and buy it right away. It was the first thing that I bought at the end (ok - about 5 hours before the actual "end"!) of the 6-week moratorium on "gathering" that my sister, Jonna, and I had set for ourselves. LOL! It was done with a diecut from the Cuttlebug Vintage set. The little piece at the bottom right is also from that same die - from one of the pieces that is left over after the cut.

Stamps: Petal Prints

Inks: Cranberry Crisp

Paper: Cranberry Crisp, Creamy Caramel, Shimmery White, Recollections d/p

other: Cuttlebug with Script embossing folder and Vintage diecut set, Cranberry Crisp ribbon, Ticket Corner punch

what?! no stamping to show?!!!!

That's the truth of it, I'm sorry to say! But it's not like I've just been sittin' around. OK - so maybe I have been doing a lot of sitting around. LOL! I've had five days off and haven't accomplished much at all. In fact, I'm utterly amazed at how I can do absolutely nothing all day! I mentioned that to my 15-year-old niece, Casey, and she totally understood what I was talking about - said she does that all the time! Guess that means I'm in good company. hahahaha!!

I did, however manage to do a few little things. Did some laundry, ran the vacuum, dumped the trashes and the recycle. You know - the stuff that's gotta get done cause there is no one else here to do it! :) AND, I did some stamping related things (yes, I mean besides putter around on Splitcoast for hours on end!). I even took pics so there would be evidence you could see! LOL!

SPRAYIN' WOOD! (I use cheapo $1.00 clear spray paint from WalMart)

CUTTIN' NEW RUBBAH! (I have several sets from my end of June purchase to put together)

ORGANIZING! (saw this idea on SCS and loved it! but, ummm... I still need another rod 'cause they're not all up there and I have more coming with my new catty purchase... LOL!)

Carla's stamp club project

At my stamp club meeting, two of us are always "assigned" to bring a project for the group to make. This is Carla's design that I stamped. Love it!! Pink and brown just totally rock, don't they? I mean how can you go wrong with that color combo?! And this card would be adorable in a variety of other color combos, too. Great card Carla!

The words "happiness" and "kindness" were embossed with pink embossing powder. The flowers are actually on glossy white cardstock that was brayered with Pretty in Pink ink but you can't really tell that from the pic. Then the base of the flowers were embossed with pink and white e/p. The outline of the flowers was done with brown StazOn since Carla said that seemed to work better with the embossing and the glossy c/s.

Stamps: Word by Word b/g, Heartfelt Thanks

Inks: Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, Versamark (for embossing), StazOn Brown

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Very Vanilla, glossy white

other: pink and white embossing powder, Ticket Corner punch, Word Window punch, white mini-brads, coordinating ribbon

trees of sympathy

Sadly, my family and I have had quite a bit of loss in our lives recently, so I had need of quite a few sympathy cards. I had seen a card on Splitcoast that I thought was lovely, so my card was inspired by this one by LovinTX. I changed the orientation of the card to portrait, added some c/s layers, ribbon and a square spiral clip. I used a large square shape stamp where I think she may have masked the "shape area" on her card. I sponged ink onto the square stamp because I wanted the coverage to be light in the middle and a bit darker around the edges. Then I masked around the outside of the shape and stamped the background trees; I stamped off once before stamping the cardstock (remove masking post-its before stamping main image). For the full image of tree, I first colored it with my Always Artichoke marker, then colored the base of the tree and the trunk up through the tree with my Chocolate Chip marker. Then I "huffed" and stamped over part of the background image. I really hope I don't have to make any more of these for a long time!

Stamps: Lovely As a Tree, The Shape of Things (retired)

Inks: Always Artichoke

Paper: Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Confetti Cream

other: moss grograin ribbon, brass square spiral clip, markers: Always Artichoke and Chocolate Chip, post-its for masking

btw - this was challenge card #2 for my stamp club. The challenge was to do a card with shapes, so I "cheated" ever so slightly and just had the one "shape" stamp... :)