Masculine Just Thinking

One thing I love about Leadership is that you get FREE stamps (and DSP and accessories). And this year was no different. We were spoiled and one of the stamps we received was the Just Thinking single stamp. I love it! Coordinates perfectly with the 2-1/2" Circle Punch as well as the Window Frames Framelits. I'm always on the lookout for a great stamp that works well for masculine AND feminine cards and this stamp definitely fits the bill.

I used this weeks Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch for my card inspiration. Can you believe, however, I don't have the coordinating Framelits yet? Unbelievable, I know. So I improvised and stamped my image in Early Espresso on a piece of Very Vanilla card stock. Then I stamped the image again in Lucky Limeade on another piece of card stock and put it over the Espresso image with Dimensionals.

Tips & Tricks:
*Do you like the Early Espresso background? I used the new Vine Street Embossing Folder, available in the Sale-a-Bration Brochure. What's SAB? It's only our BEST promotion! For every $60 you spend in product, you get to choose a FREE item from the brochure!

*Do you see how my punched out element seems to be missing some ink? This was intentional! I colored it with my Lucky Limeade Marker because I didn't want to include 'friend' in the sentiment. Then I intentionally roughed the image up by not coloring all the edges.
*I haven't used Linen Thread to tie around my card and make a bow in a long time. I love the natural look of it. I added a clear Bitty Button to the center of the bow.

I made this card for a Card Brigade that I organized. It's a little group of people that will send a card to someone needing an 'Avalanche of Love' - just a little random act of kindness that can make someone's day a bit brighter. Interested? Find more info on my Facebook Page.

Hope you've enjoyed this card - 'til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Monica
Shop Stampin' Up! Online 24/7

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Just Thinking
Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Bright Blossoms DSP
Ink: Early Espresso
Accessories: 2-1/2" Circle Punch, Linen Thread, Bitty Buttons, Big Shot, Vine Street Embossing Folder, Stampin' Dimensionals, Lucky Limeade Stampin' Write Marker, Basic Jewels - Pearls

Early Espresso & Crumb Cake - YUM!

When I saw the monochromatic Dynamic Duos Challenge, all I could think was YUMMY. And I love that color combination - it's one of my favorites! So I was pretty excited to 'attack' it. I also saw a card on Pinterest that piqued my interest. My card is quite different, but it was the starting point for my idea: it had squares folded back with a monster (from Make a Monster) jumping out. Here we just have a sweet little coffee cup and greeting popping out.

This card could easily be made into a masculine card, simply by using a different image from the A Fitting Occasion stamp set. My petal 'frame' is made from four 1-3/4" Circles folded in half.

Tips & Tricks:

*I used the Comfort Cafe DSP for my card. It has a lot of floral and feminine patterns, but it has a few monochromatic and masculine patterns, too.
*I'm still loving the Fancy Fan Embossing Folder. It's so pretty and just adds so much to my cards.
*Yeah, I guess I cheated. I made the heart over my coffee cup pink deviating from the monochromatic theme. But you have to admit, it's pretty cute ;)
*Even though I make bows with my Seam Binding Ribbon (here in Crumb Cake), my favorite way to use it on cards is to tie a simple know in it. This ribbon is perfect for that.

I hope this card inspires you and shows you that monochromatic doesn't have to be boring. And don't forget to check out and 'like' my Facebook Page. I'm doing a giveaway at 225 likes :) 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Card Recipe
Stamps: A Fitting Occasion
Ink: Early Espresso
Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Comfort Cafe DSP
Accessories: 1-3/4" Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, 1" Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Big Shot, Fancy Fan Embossing Folder, Crumb Cake Seam Binding Ribbon, Pretty in Pink Stampin' Write Marker

Blast Off Birthday

I finally got my hands on the new Blast Off stamp set in the SU! cattie. I absolutely love this set, it's perfect for boys and even girls who love anything to do with space. The two-step stampin' possibilities as well as the coordination with punches is simply fantastic too. I did get this stamp set in wood because I anticipated that the kids will want to use it ~ I was right. I always get stamps for the kids in wood because it's much more user-friendly for wee hands and I don't have to worry about them putting stamps on clear blocks and losing them.

A good friend's son turned 9 yesterday and I really wanted to use this set. I worried that it may be a bit 'young' for him, but he seemed to like the card just fine ;) I was going to use the #9 from Memorable Moments for inside the space ship. but settled on the alien instead. I used this week's Try Stampin' on a Tuesday sketch but I have to admit that I did find this sketch a bit challenging. It was definitely outside my box. ;)

Tips & Tricks:

*I wanted the alien inside my space ship so I stamped him on the Whisper White card stock and stamped the space ship on a separate piece of card stock. Cutting the space ship out was really easy and I punched out the window with the 1-inch Circle Punch. I mounted the whole thing on Stampin' Dimensionals.
*The Polka Dot Parade DSP is perfect for fun, kids cards. The colors are bright and what kid doesn't love polka dots?
*Although the sketch doesn't have the ribbon on it, when I put my card together something was missing. So I wrapped some Daffodil Delight 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon and suddenly it came together!
*I added the Basic Jewels - Rhinestones to the space ship to give it a bit of a metallic feel.

I'm glad my friend's son liked this card - I still can't believe he's 9! 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Blast Off
Paper: Basic Grey, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Polka Dot Parade DSP
Ink: Basic Grey, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango
Accessories: Modern Label Punch, 1-inch Circle Punch, Paper Snips, Stampin' Dimensionals, Basic Jewels - Rhinestones, 1/4-inch Circle Punch, Daffodil Delight 1/4" Stitched Ribbon

Colorful Daydream Medallions

Wow - it's Thursday! How did that happen? I'm having a hard time keeping up with things lately... my daughter finished school for the summer last week and we've been spending lots of time hanging out. But that means that my crafting time has been seriously reduced ;) Actually, that's not true... Anna's a crafter, she helped me scrapbook today :) But everything takes a bit longer and I just don't have the same amount of time to blog, write newsletters, etc. But I'll get on top of it. Tonight!

What do you think of the sketch at Try Stampin' on a Tuesday this week? I love it! I know it looks like it was made for the Delicate Doily Sizzlit, but to me it screamed Daydream Medallions and the Floral Frames Framelits. And conveniently, the wonderful brown UPS truck brought them for me on Tuesday when I made this card. I did cheat a bit because I made the card a standard A2 size, not square. But in retrospect, I should've made it square and then made my own envelope with my Simply Scored Diagonal Plate. Next time :)

Tips & Tricks:

*Like the DSP? It's the new International Bazaar. The UPS guy was nice enough to bring that for me on Tuesday, too :)
*SU! tells us which colors are in the DSP. It made choosing the colors for my medallions a snap! I really love the Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight and Lucky Limeade color combo. Using the color combinations in the DSP also forces me to think outside my box.
*I know some of the International Bazaar DSP is pretty busy. But it makes a fantastic background. Don't be afraid to use these busier patterns - your cards will thank you for it :)
*I sponged the edges of the medallions with Soft Suede. They needed a little something to make them stand out a bit. I also used my Bone Folder to curl the edges of the biggest medallion.
You know what I love most about this card? It looks great in both landscape and portrait orientations.
*Did I ever mention how much I love Framelits? These new Floral Framelits have such wonderful shapes and are so easy to use. One of my fave accessories, hands down!

Hope you've enjoyed this card. Which is just a smidge out of my box. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Postage Due!

I am totally in love with this stamp set! Postage Due. It has a gorgeous larger stamp which works well as a background stamp, as well as few other postage-type accent stamps. Even though there are only four stamps, there are so many different things you can do with it. I used it at a meeting with my upline and was sooo glad I ordered it... Now I'm using it :)

For my card, I used the sketch in this week's Mojo Monday Challenge. It was a 'Round or Square' challenge, but I decided to go rectangle. Because since when do I follow rules ;) 

Tips & Tricks:

*Love the little polka dots? I'm using the new Polka Dot Parade DSP. So cute!
*I used the same stamp for the background as well as focal point on my card. I wanted to make sure the 'no. 3' was prominent - it's my favorite number ;)
*I did a lot of sponging on this card. I sponged the edges on the scallop square, on the focal panel as well as the emobssed Soft Suede mat. Sponging is a very cost-effective way to 'embellish' and 'vintage-ize' your cards.
*One thing I love about Stampin' Up! card stock is that it's dyed all the way through - no white core. It's also nice and thick. So to add a little something to my cards I can tease it with the Bone Folder and separate the layers. Another easy, cheap way of adding a little something extra to the card.

We'll be making this card at my Fast & Fabulous Monthly Card Class tomorrow. I hope the ladies love it! I still have a few spaces if you're interested, too. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Happy Birthday to My Hubby

This past Friday was my husband's birthday. He turned 35 so I wanted to make sure it was a great card. I also wanted to have gifts on the card because I didn't actually buy him anything. Why do you ask? Because he's a techie guy and likes computer things that I don't understand. He's setting up some computer system for our new house, needed some stuff and I told him to buy it himself :p So atleast I gave him a present on his card.

For my inspiration, I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch. It's so simple, yet so great. I don't often leave my card base so exposed and emboss it, but sometimes it gives just the right look! Even though the Patio Party DSP coordinates with the Make a Cake stamp set, I thought it worked really well with the gifts from Patterned Party.

Tips & Tricks:

*I don't use the Houndstooth Embossing Folder too often. But it's great for masculine cards. Like with the Square Lattice, I use Tab 2 on my multipurpose platform with it. Otherwise I find it cuts through my card stock.

*I stamped the gifts image in Midnight Muse and then I restamped in Summer Starfruit, Raspberry Ripple and Midnight Muse. I cut out the individual gifts and mounted them on Stampin' Dimensionals. Love how it make them pop up.
*To add a bit of cost-effective sparkle to my gifts without the mess of glitter, I added a Rhinestone to each of my gifts.
*I free-handed the notches on my 'Happy Birthday' banner. Then I used my Simply Scored Scoring Tool to score two lines on each side of the banner. I folded the banner to make it pop up. I got this idea from the wonderful Tara Murphy from Can't Stamp the Rain. Thanks Tara!

My hubby liked this card and he told me he really likes the new Summer Starfruit color. SU! has given us some great new colors for masculine cards :) 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring our your creativity!

A Little Father's Day Oops ;)

Well ladies, sometimes I need to take a moment and actually *read*. Because sometimes I read too fast and that's where mistakes happen... My friend and downline, Tara Murphy, is hosting the Friday Mashup Challenge as the Designer today. So I went into my email, uploaded her post and saw that today's challenge was to do 'paper piercing' and/or use the color combination of Daffodil Delight, Rich Razzleberry and Pool Party.

I wanted to make a Father's Day card. So I knew the color combination was out and got busy paper piercing.  I haven't gotten the new SU! Essential Paper Piercing Pack so I used my retired Mat Pack as a piercing guide. (But watch out, next week I get the new Piercing Pack and I'll be piercing away cool patterns ;) ). I pierced all around the Whisper White square as well as in the Island Indigo scallop.

Looks great, right? But here's where the oops comes in... The challenge wasn't paper piercing, it was paper piecing. I'm so glad Tara told me that while I was making the card. I consulted the tutorial she did for Friday Mashup. Then I rejigged the design a bit. I already had the 24-7 heart stamp on my card. I then stamped it on Pool Party DSP and cut out the heart. And voila - a paper pieced card. Minimally pieced, but pieced nonetheless :)

Tips & Tricks:

*The Square Lattice Embossing Folder is fantastic for men's cards. I do find that I can use Tab 2 on my Multipurpose Platform (for the Big Shot) because it embosses so strongly. I just don't need as thick a sandwich.
*I love combining Island Indigo and Pool Party together. Especially with the In Color Ruffled Ribbon. Just awesome!
*I really like stamping on DSP. The pattern on the paper adds that 'je ne sais quoi' to your project.
*The piercing turned out really well. I love how the piercing guides help achieve even spaces between my holes.
*Making men's cards can be really challenging. A lot of stamp sets are geared towards women. But since the kids will be giving this card to their daddy, I thought the 24/7 heart image was more than appropriate ;)

I wish all daddies a very Happy Father's Day - I'm sure a lot of the crafty moms have been busy making gifts and cards for the daddies with the kids :) 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Last Post as Guest Designer...

... for the Friday Mashup. It's been a fun RIDE! (Pun totally intended ;) ) This month I was fortunate enough to get one of the Guest Designer spots at one of my fave challenge sites. I can't believe the month is almost over and this means this is my last post in that capacity. I've enjoyed having a 'head's up' on the challenges and having a few days to come up with the perfect design to show off :)

Typically, I'd have this post published on Friday morning. But seeing that my daughter and I are just barely returning to the land of the living from this horrendous flu, we'll have to settle for mid-day Friday. After I'm done posting, it will be naptime... my daughter is already there.

This week's challenge at the Friday Mashup was the 'Boys Will be Boys' challenge:
1. Make a project for that 'Special Man in Your Life'; or
2. Make a project with the 'sketch'; or
3. Mash it up and create a 'Masculine card using the sketch'.

I decided to 'mash it up' (since I love sketches so much' and choose option 3 :) I also did something I very rarely do: I used a retired stamp! Yes, retired! I really try to use current product but sometimes I can only find what I really want in my retired stash. I loved the Motorcycle stamp two years ago when I first lay eyes on it, and I still do. It's especially perfect for my BIL's birthday card.

Sometimes I find blog photography so frustrating... it's not obvious in the above pic, but I embossed the motorcycle and greeting in Pewter Embossing Powder.

Tips & Tricks:

*Who says you have to stick to one type of DSP? I mashed it up some more here by combining a pattern from the Summer Smooches DSP with a pattern from the Floral District DSP. Doesn't sound too 'manly' but I think it works well.
*Sometimes the best card base for a vibrant card it Whisper White Card Stock. I wanted to make sure my DSP and motorcycles really 'popped'!
*I love the thicker look that the Pewter Embossing Powder gives my images. It's great for a strong image such as the motorcycle.

I hope my BIL loves his bday card. He lives in Australia so it's going to be late, but that shouldn't surprise him coming from me ;) 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Two-Tone Wonderful

I'm really loving the challenge that the Dynamic Duos Challenge presents. I tend to use lots and lots of bright colors, and I definitely have my favorite combinations. So this type of challenge that has me use colors out of my comfort zone are great for getting my creative juices flowing :)

I combined this challenge with the Pals Paper Arts Challenge ~ a love sketch by Margaret Moody. With only two colors to play with (other than neutrals) - Daffodil Delight and Basic Black - I had a bit of a tough time coming up with all the layers. The 'Sweet Dessert Option' that the Dynamic Duos offered us was dry embossing. So that was my solution :) I use one of my Edgelit Embossing Folders to emboss the #3 layer.

Tips & Tricks:

*I absolutely love the Seam Binding Ribbon for this ribbon shirring (folding of the ribbon in waves). It fold so easily and stays folded. Use some Sticky Strip to make sure it stays stuck on the card.
*Isn't Gently Falling a lovely stamp set? Well, good news!!! It has made it into the 2012-2013 Catalogue :)
*Although two-step stampin' can sometimes be a bit frustrating if you want your images lined up perfectly, Gently Falling makes it easy. Even if the outline stamp isn't perfectly lined up with the solid stamp, your image will still look great!

*Doesn't the dry embossing look great? Love had it adds that bit of texture to my card.
*I know the 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon isn't part of the sketch, but the leaf needed just a wee extra detail. I really like how the narrow ribbon adds a very subtle extra touch.

I really like how this card turned out, even though I've never used this color combination before. But I do know I will use this combo again :) 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

*New* In Color Birthday

I have some more product sneak peeks for you today :) I love sneak peeks, and hope you love them as much as I do! My first card is a birthday card for my dad who turns 71 on Tuesday. As part of my Sneak Peek products, I got a FREE bundle from SU! that included the Itty Bitty Banners and Make a Cake Stamp Set, as well as the Patio Party DSP. Love them all, especially all the contrasting patterns in the DSP. I thought it would look fantastic using the Herringbone Technique (see my tutorial). I love how it worked out.

The base color of my card is Summer Starfruit and the mat is Midnight Muse. I did the Happy Birthday greeting in Raspberry ripple. I must say, I think that's my fave new In Color :) And how do you like all the different patterns in the DSP?

Tips & Tricks:

*The Make a Cake stamp set is a two-step stampin' set. You can make a single tier cake, 3-tier cake and add some embellishments. Love sets that provide so much variety and so many options.
*Are you loving the Stitched 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon as much as I am? It's much easier to work with than I anticipated, too! Always a pleasant surprise.
*I again used the Bitty Banners Framelits for the greeting. So easy to use and gives a perfect little banner everytime!
*Though I often come up with my own cards and ideas, I use a lot of different websites for inspiration. I came across a new one, Clean & Simple Stamping. They have weekly sketch challenges using clean and simple sketches (what else ;) ). I used #189 for this card and made it a bit less simple with the herringbone pattern.

I hope my dad enjoys this card and that he has a great birthday. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

And now... A card for Dad!

I've made quite a few cards for mom lately so I thought that this time, I should maybe make a card for Dad :) Father's Day is coming up in a few weeks and I've got to start planning for my May Fast & Fabulous class! I love the Best Dad Ever stamp set for anything masculine, but especially Father's Day cards. Even if a Dad doesn't actually *wear* ties, a tie still says 'Dad'. ;)

This week, I also decided to participate in a brand spanking new challenge called the Dynamic Duos. It's Challenge #1! So exciting! This weeks Challenge asked us to use Pool Party and Lucky Limeade. Those are the ONLY colors we could use except any neutrals (Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, etc.). I love this type of Challenge, it really stretches the imagination!

So how'd I do? I think it turned out pretty well! Other than the Whisper White, I really only did use the two colors we were supposed to use :) I did recycle last week's Freshly Made Sketch for this card too... I had made a spinner card with the sketch, but I think this works well too - love this sketch!

Tips & Tricks:

*I just love the 2011-2013 In Colors so much that I got the In Color DSP Paper Stack. DSP in the five gorgeous colors. That's where the Pool Party polka dot DSP came from :)
*To match my polka dot DSP with the Pool Party card stock, I embossed it with the Polka Dot Embossing Folder.
*I love doing the two-tone ties. They're so easy to cut out. I mount the cut out tie on Stampin' Dimensionals to give my card a bit of extra dimension.
*I love Whisper White as a card base! It's easy to write in, as well.
*For my greeting, I used a 1/2" strip of card stock and then free-handed the notches. You don't *always* need a punch ;)

I hope my class-goers love this card, and I hope that the Dads do too :) 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Essays on a Typewriter

Those days are long gone, but I do still remember writing some essays on a typewriter in middle school. What a pain if a mistake was made. You couldn't just go and hit the delete button. You couldn't make special characters. And I still remember gluing photos into my essays in an effort to add pictures. Things sure have changed, but there's something beautiful about the classic typewriter.

I used the Friday Mashup Challenge for my card inspiration this week. We were asked to:
*Make a project for Graduation;
*Make a project using Text or Definition Stamps and/or Paper; or
*Mash them up and make a project with both.

When I first saw this challenge, I immediately thought of the Newspring DSP that has gone unused way too long in my DSP stash. As I went through it, I found this piece with almost exactly the same typewriter as the image from Elementary Elegance. How perfect is that???

And, even though my project doesn't say "Way to Go!", "Happy Graduation!", or "Congratulations!", I think the typewriter is very much a graduation worthy image. Especially for the older grad or someone finishing graduate studies.

Tips & Tricks:

*I love the look of torn paper and I especially love that SU! card stock is dyed all the way through. So when I tear it, there is no white core :)
*I sponged the edges of the Early Espresso Card Stock, DSP and the typewriter image to make them stand out and give them a bit of dimension.
*Want even more dimension? Grab your Bone Folder and tease/curl the edges of your card stock or DSP.

I don't actually have anyone in my life who is graduating. But my dad's birthday is coming up and he enjoys writing short stories for a local newspaper, so this would be a very fitting card for him. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

A Thank You to Our Vet

As I mentioned in a post last week, my family and I just got back from a two-week trip to Germany and the Czech Republic. We were visiting relatives and with the visit came a TON of chocolate for my two children. We have been a bit slow at unpacking and this past week-end our dog Nyla got into it. We thought most of it was gone, but she has a super nose and found some. For those who aren't dog lovers, chocolate, especially dark chocolate, is toxic to dogs. It was a lot of dark chocolate and she's a Jack Russell Terrier (the smaller the dog, the less they can eat without being affected).

She had already thrown up some of the chocolate (that's how we realized she ate it) but we quickly called our vet who was luckily still open on the Saturday. We had to feed our dog hydrogen peroxide (for wounds) to make her throw up. Then we had to give her an activated carbon solution to empty her system more and coat her intestines to prevent absorption of the theobromine (the compound in chocolate toxic to dogs). It was absolutely no fun for Nyla and heartwrenching for us. The vet gave us her home number, cell number and didn't charge us anything except for the carbon solution.  We always say that she's fantastic with the animals but has horrible people bedside manner ;) But she really loves the pets and it shows. So we gave her a heartfelt card (what else? lol!) and a gift cards to Starbucks.

I knew I wanted to use the D is for Dog stamp set (on the Retiring List so if you love it, make sure you get it before it's gone on May 31st). I also wanted to use this week's Mojo Monday Challenge. Usually with a quilted or checkered sketch, I'd use a whole bunch of different squares from DSP. But the D is for Dog stamp set have 3 images, perfectly sized for the 1-1/4" Square Punch.

Tips & Tricks:

*I alternated between using Stampin' Dimensionals under one square and not using them under the other. Love how this gives the card extra dimension.
*I used a neutral palette for this card: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Very Vanilla. I thought it reflected our dog's coloring and markings quite well.
*I love how Stampin' Up! Card Stock is dyed all the way through and nice and thick. When I tease the card stock it splits into layers and adds even more dimension to my card.
*Don't you love how it looks like the dog is actually wagging its tail? Sooo cute!!!

I hope our vet her little treat. We are so thankful she is always so willing to help us out when needed and I'm happy to report that our dog is fine! 'Til next time keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Long Time, No Stamp!

Wow, it feels like I haven't stamped for weeks ~ wait a minute, I haven't!!! Yesterday, I got back from Europe after a two-week 'holiday' with my family. I say holiday in quotations because travelling with a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old half-way around the world isn't much of a holiday. I joked with my husband that we may need to take a one-week trip to Cancun to relax ;)

In the meantime, we put our house up for sale and sold it - all while on holiday. Did you know you can sell a house over email, sending signed contracts as JPG pictures? Who would've thought? Needless to say, things have been a bit wild around here! And I was excited to get into my stamp room today and make a card for this week's Freshly Made Sketch. Clean, simple, fresh. Love these sketches. As you can see, I took a bit of a creative license with the 'shape' - there isn't one, just the 'rectangle' my images are stamped on :)

Tips & Tricks:

*Usually for this stamp set I would do a bit more antiquing, sponging with some Soft Suede ink as well as curling the edges of the card stock. Or maybe tearing a corner like in this card I've made before. But to keep my card 'fresh', I decided to forgo the antiquing this time.
*The Artistic Etchings stamp set is a perfect 'gender neutral' stamp set. I'm using this card at my Man Class this Friday night :)
*Love the greeting? It's from the Loving Thoughts stamp set in the Occasions Mini and only available 'til April 30th.
*Although the Lace Ribbon Border Punch is beautiful on its own, I love layering it with a ribbon. Gives you another option for using it.

I hope you've enjoyed this card and I promise, I will be back sooner than in 3 weeks ;) 'Til next time (really really soon) keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!