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!

Two Days Left to Sale-a-Brate!!!

Say it isn't so! We only have two days left to get a free Sale-a-Bration item with every $60 in product we order! I always find the end of March so hard. I can't use my gorgeous Sale-a-Bration stamp sets, DSPs and accessories in classes anymore (of course I can for my own projects! ;) ) and my customers don't get a freebie with their orders. After two months, it's easy to get used to, lol!

So using this week's Freshly Made Sketch as inspiration, I made a card full of Sale-a-Bration inspiration. I used the Everyday Enchantment DSP as well as the Ribbon & Brad Pack. I also use the Fresh Vintage stamp set. You'll notice that on the bottom flag I used the Tiny Tags stamp set which isn't part of Sale-a-Bration. But I thought it worked for this card.

Tips & Tricks:
*Love what I did with the Fresh Vintage flower? The technique is called Emboss Resist. I embossed the flower with White Stampin' Embossing Powder and then sponged around it with Soft Suede Ink. The melted embossing powder 'resists' the ink. Don't you love how it just 'pops' out from the card?

*On its own, the Calypso Coral strip of card stock looked too plain so I embossed it with the Lattice Embossing Folder.
*Yes - you see correctly. I have made my own envelope from the Everyday Enchantment DSP using the new Simply Scored Diagonal Board. How awesome is it that we can make our own envelopes with four score lines???
*I have a thing for flagging these days, so I flagged all my DSP strips :) I used my Bone Folder to curl the edges.

It is going to be *so* hard to bid all these gorgeous products farewell on Saturday :( I know SU! always has gorgeous new things all ready for us to fall in love with, but this time, the DSP, the ribbon, the printed brads - yep, I'm in premature mourning. But don't you worry, I'll be back with more SAB goodies before it's over ;)

'Til then, keep using your SAB goodies and keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Dare to Dream

One of my very bestest friends just moved into a new house. They have been wanting to move for a few years now and they finally found the perfect house, in the perfect neighbourhood on the perfect lot. We are going to see their new place this week-end and of course I needed a card to go with their house-warming gift. I don't have any 'new house' stamps, but for my friend and her husband, this house represents their dreams come true and dreams to come ~ they're expecting a little baby boy at the end of March :)

My card today is based on this week's Pals Paper Arts Challenge. If you have seen some of my previous creations, you know that I have a bit of a hard time actually sticking to the sketches. So today, I challenged myself to stick to the lovely Pals Paper Arts sketch. Yes ~ you read that right. And I think I did pretty well! Okay - so I added the Adhesive Rhinestones but other than that I stuck to the sketch.

Tips & Tricks:

*The 'Dream' greetings in rainbow colors were inspired by a SU! sample that I saw at Leadership. To line up the greetings, I used the scallops on the square as a template.
*Wondering how I 'embossed' the edges of my card? I used my Simply Scored to make two score lines at 1/4" intervals at on each side of the card.
*I free-handed the 'Dare to Dream' sentiment label with my Paper Snips. I then curled the edges with my Bone Folder. I wanted to give the sentiment a dreamy, airy feel.
*I adhered my Tangerine Tango and Daffodil Delight and then ran it through my Lattice Embossing Folder. This gives the two card stocks a seamless look.

If you like my cards and techniques, and you're looking to learn some advanced stampin' techniques, come check out my Technique Class on Sunday! It's a great way to get out and stamp as well as learn new techniques :)

I hope my friend loves her card, now to shop for a house-warming gift. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!