Tuesday, May 31, 2011

You Mean the World to Me Anniversary Card

Hi everyone! I'm back and I missed this place terribly. The last month of school with my kids kicked me in the seat of my pants. My daughter tried out for cheer leading (and made the squad!!) and had to have a physical, 4,067 forms verified and signed, and had to be driven/picked up from school for several days. She is also having surgery this week so we had lots of appointments and running around to get ready for that. My son finished up elementary school which meant there were lots of promotion ceremonies, parties, open houses at his new school, and general celebration on his behalf. This all translates to Mom having almost zero time to do her own work but somehow I managed to fit in a Stamp Club and a Mini Scrapbook Album class. Now, they are home for a while and I have some time to play in my studio. Wanna see a card?

Today's card is actually the anniversary card I gave to my darling hubby back on the 13th of May. We celebrated 16 years years of wedded bliss so I wanted something special to tell him how special he is to me. This is what I came up with...
And the inside of the card...
I wanted something somewhat masculine but the typical fishing/hunting images that are so prevalent for masculine cards don't really apply to him. The new SU! set called The Open Sea seemed just right for what I wanted. The sentiment inside came from the very versatile SU! set called Word Play which is actually on sale through today. The sale is in honor of National Scrapbooking Month which was the whole month of May. When I saw the great savings on that set and several others, I jumped at the chance to get the sets at 30% off since SU! rarely has sales.

But anywho, back to the card...I used a color scheme of Riding Hood Red, Soft Suede, Not Quite Navy, and Baja Breeze. The striped paper is from the Elegant Soiree DSP collection. There is actually a gorgeous DSP collection that coordinates with The Open Sea set, called Nautical Expedition, but I had not ordered yet when I made this card. Both the papers and the stamp set are included in the Summer Mini Catalog.

The tiny tags you see hanging from the Baker's Twine on my card are stamped with words that made me think of my hubby like "loved", "happy", and "friend." I made them by snipping the ends off of Word Window punch outs but the Jewelry Tag punch would have worked well too.

That does it for me today. If by some chance you would still like to order the Word Play stamp set or any other sale items before the sale ends at midnight tonight, please contact me immediately or order through my online site. Orders have to be received by SU! before midnight tonight to get the sale price so hurry. For orders placed directly with me, I am offering 5% off your total (pre-shipping/tax total) order.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Every Day is the Pefect Adventure

Today's card features a sentiment that caught my attention as soon as I saw it in the new Summer Mini catalog. I also love the image because it reminds me of fun, fresh air, and excitement. Wanna see? Take a look...
What could be more fun than a bright red scooter with a jaunty basket on the back? Of course, I say this never having been on a scooter or any kind of motor cycle. I guess I should say, "what could be more fun in theory..." This image is part of the new Summer Mini set called On the Grow. I paired it with a bold color scheme and a little striped grosgrain ribbon for a card that was extremely simple to finish. It could be used as a birthday card or just a friendly hello.

The scooter image as well as the other graphic image in the set are such that they are very easy to color. The shading is already done for you! I used markers on mine here but it also looks great colored with colored pencils or Stampin' Pastels too. I tried both for a little variety when I stamped a few extras to use on future cards in a hurry.

That does it for today. If I don't make it back in time to tell you tomorrow, have a wonderful Mother's Day with those you love. I will be spending my day with my very special family. Enjoy!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Wish Big Birthday Card

Hi gals! I have a card for you today that almost didn't get made. It was one of those where I picked out my materials and sat down to make it but it just wouldn't come together. I finally stamped a new image and it worked. Imagine my dismay when I realized that by the time I had this finished, the stamp set has retired! Well, you are still going to get to see it because I found out that the set I used can still be purchased digitally. So, here ya go...
And the shot from the side...
This card uses one of my all time fav paper combos: the tiny plaid from Pawsitively Prints DSP along with Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, and Pear Pizazz. If you look closely, you can see that the Turquoise portion of the card is a printed paper too. It is from the same DSP collection as the plaid. The whole series is great for basic card backgrounds as well as scrapbook pages.

I stamped the cake and sentiment after coloring the image with markers. This image is part of Bring on the Cake which ended with the recent Occcasions Mini catalog but it is still available in the digital format. For more info on digital stamp images or My Digital Studio, please contact me. I would be glad to tell you how you can tap into this great new way to create.

I added some die cut lettering (Sizzix Billboard Alpha die and my Big Shot) and a few embellishments for a simple but cute, gender neutral birthday card. I love having this type of card on hand for surprise card needs.

That does it for me today. I'll be back tomorrow with a card that I made using the new On the Grow stamp set featured in the Summer Mini catalog. Also, I am expecting a delivery with several new sets and accessories that I can't wait to use here so check back ofetn for brand new cards using new stamps and embellishments for summer. Have a great day!