Flowers and Birds for Mother's Day

This month, I have the privilege of being a Guest Designer for the Friday Mashup Challenge. I was super excited AND nervous to present my first project to these wonderful ladies - and to all of you! The Friday Mashup is also teaming up with the Paper Lovin' Gals. So our challenge was a bit bigger this week:

1. Make a project for "Mom, Grandmother, Aunt, etc..."
2. Or make a project with a "Pop-Up Element"
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Pop-Up Project for Mom"
4. Or join in Both Challenges and create a "Pop-Up Project for Mom using the inspiration photo." 

I did make a card for my mom and MIL, as well as a pop-up project. I also wanted to use the Everything Eleanor stamp set which will be in the upcoming 2012-2013 Idea Book & Catalogue. This stamp set looks so pretty with Wisteria Wonder. So I didn't use the inspiration photo - I only mashed it up two ways ;)

Here's what I came up with:

I know, I know. The outside looks a bit plain. But look what happens when you OPEN the card:

The spiral pops out! I hope the moms are going to love it. I'm also featuring this card at my stamper's group this week-end so I hope they love it too.

Tips & Tricks:

*On this card, I used the 2-1/2" Circle Punch to for the circle that I free-handed into a spiral. I have done this technique with a 1-3/4" circle and I think it works a bit better - the spiral is a bit more solid and you can see the images better.
*Yup, the flower and bird images are free-handed. But my Paper Snips made the task a snap!
*Use Sticky Strip to secure the two ends of the spiral to the card, as well as the stamped elements on the spiral.
*The 'Mom' sentiment on the front of my card is from the Family Reunion stamp set! Love its versatility.

I will be back with a tutorial on the spiral - give me a few days. There's a few visual tricks that would make it easier ;) 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Super Fun Spinner Cards...

The Take a Spin stamp set and coordinating Spinner Hands have been one of my favorites since they appeared in the 2011 Occasions Mini. I love the spinner cards for kids' birthdays. They make for great 'congratulations' cards, too. So I was pretty sad to see that they are retiring at the end of May. I do keep some of my favorite retired sets, and this is one of the sets I will be keeping! I also used the no-longer-available Sweet Shoppe DSP that was in the 2012 Occasions Mini.

 

We celebrated my son's 3rd birthday this past week-end and did he ever get spoiled by his friends and family! So I wanted to make everyone an extra-special thank you card. I was to have the gorgeous sketch below from Freshly Made Sketches to work with. Truth be told, when I first saw it, it screamed "SPINNER CARD" to me, lol!

Tips & Tricks:

*Without the polka dot embossing, the Lucky Limeade card base looked a little too plain. This was just the right touch to help spruce it up a bit!
*Love spinner cards too? Be sure to get the Take a Spin stamp set and Spinner Hands before they are gone for good! Shop my Online Store 24/7.
*Spinner not spinning well? After you've assembled it, take your Paper Piercing Tool and slide it under the spinner hand near the brad. Push up. This will help it spin better.

I hope my son's friends (and their parents!) enjoy their spinning 'thank you'. '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!

Goodbye Gorgeous Medallion

Stampin' Up! is retiring a whole pile of stamps this year. A lot of stamps! On the one hand, I'm sad to see some go. On the other hand, it was needed. There are a lot of stamps in our catalogue that have been around for a very long time. With selling my house, I know how good a big purge feels. And I bet the folks at SU! feel the same way about this purge.

One of the stamps leaving us is the big Medallion. I'm going to miss this stamp a lot, but it has been around for 3 years and I know that SU! will have something even better for us in the new cattie :) I used this weeks Freshly Made Sketch for inspiration.

I'll also be doing this card at my Stamper's Group on Sunday. Do you love how the Medallion stands out on the card? I did the emboss resist technique and layered Soft Suede as well as Early Espresso inks. Hope my stampin' girls love it!

Tips & Tricks:

*I am so glad the the Bigz Beautiful Butterflies die isn't retiring. I love it and the impact it makes on my projects. Fold the butterflies in half, layer them together and voila - a flittering butterfly :)
*I love the strips of the Adhesive Jewels. I don't use them enough but I thought that the strip of pearls would be just perfect for my butterfly ~ isn't it great?

*To add a bit of a vintage look to my card, I teased the edges of my Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla card stock with my Bone Folder and pulled the layers apart. Stampin' Up! card stock is nice and thick so you can do this.

I really hope my stamper's group loves this card as much as I do. And my husband. And my daughter. But they may be a bit biased ;) 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Flowering Tea Cups

Yes, yes, you probably think I took another blogging break. But I didn't - promise! My computer went kaput and I wasn't able to update my blog easily off my iPad. So I took an unwanted break ;)  But now I'm back and ready to share this card from last week.

I'm going to miss the 2012 Occasions Mini. It has a lot of lovely stamp sets that I hope end up carrying over into the new catalogue. One of them is the Tea Shoppe stamp set. Yes, this stamp set again. But it's soooo pretty! :)

This card is based on a sketch from a 'new-to-me' card challenge site: The Paper Players. This card used lots of gorgeous retiring products as well as Occasions Mini 2012 products. Don't you just love the gorgeous Attic Boutique DSP as well as the Lace Ribbon Border Punch? I'm really going to miss that punch. Unfortunately I missed the Sketch Challenge window for this week because of my computer not working, but I thought this card was too pretty not to share ;)

Tips & Tricks:

*Love the flower? I used the Attic Boutique DSP as well as the Build-a-Blossom Punch. All the petals are individually punched out. I folded them in the center and then distressed them a bit with my bone folder to give them more dimension.
*I really love the patterned In Color Brads. So pretty :)
*I'm really going to miss the Lace Ribbon Border Punch. Get it now, while you can - it's on this year's Retiring Accessories List. I especially love layering ribbon over it.
*Aren't those tea cups sweet? I used my Soft Suede and Pool Party Stampin' Write Marker to color them and stamp. Just don't forget to 'huff' (i.e. breathe) on your stamp before stampin' when using markers to make sure the stamp is moist enough :)
*The flower on this card was quite a bit of work - not really a card class card ;) So I simplified it a bit using the Blossom Punch as well as the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder.

Sorry again for my absence and 'til next time - tomorrow, promise! - keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!