Build-a-Blossom 'Enjoy'

It's crazy - but I move on Saturday! SATURDAY!!! Can you believe it? I'm so nervous, so excited - I don't know what I am! I have packed up all my stampin' stuff which is a bit sad, but not before I made a few last projects. One of the cards I wanted to make was for the two ladies who purchased our current home. We will buy them a bouquet of flowers so that they have something pretty for their new home. But what is a gift without a thoughtful handstamped card?

This week's color challenge over at the Dynamic Duos Blog was to use Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery. Perfect for a card to welcome two lovely ladies to their new home.

Tips & Tricks:

*I haven't used the Build-a-Blossom stamp set and coordinating punch in a while. I love how it has different sizes of petals as well as leaves.
*Since my background is Whisper White, I stamped tone-on-tone for both the petals and leaves.
*I love how everything SU! coordinates. The button is so perfectly Certainly Celery, just like the ink and card stock :) I did add a little piece of Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine in the centre of it ~ so I guess I cheated, lol!
*How much do you love the Holiday Frame Embossing Folder? I love it even more because it's not just for the holidays! I love how it looks with any larger image.

I really hope the new homeowners love their card. And thanks again for hanging in there with me while I blog a bit less. Soon I'll be all set up and ready to stamp up a storm! 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Build-a-Blossom, Fabulous Phrases
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Whisper White
Accessories: Build-a-Blossom Punch, Word Window Punch, Basic Jewels - Rhinestones, Big Shot, Holiday Frame Embossing Folder, Designer Buttons - Subtles, Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine, Mini Glue Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals

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

Two-Tone Flourishes

I'm really loving the Flowering Flourishes stamp set. It's so versatile and is great as both a background stamp *and* a stamp for the focal point on a card. The stamp set has three flourishes, a large one, a medium-sized one as well as a small one. I used the medium one on my card.

I used two challenges for my inspiration today. The first was the Dynamic Duos Color Challenge. This week's colors were Crumb Cake and 'Our Choice'. Usually I'd turn to Marina Mist or Rich Razzleberry. But I decided to shake things up this week and use my new fave color, Raspberry Ripple. It's not quite pink, it's not quite red, it's raspberry. It's a very rich color and I love it!

The second challenge I used was the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge. We had a nice, simple, clean sketch to work with this week. And guess what? I pretty much followed it to a tee! I even kept the orientation in the sketch! How often does that happen with me? ;)

Tips & Tricks:

*I just LOVE how rich, solid and bright my images come out when I use the new Firm Foam Ink Pads. No patchiness.
*The sketch I was using for inspiration had a thick band across the width of the card. We don't have the 1-1/4" ribbon anymore and I really wanted to use ribbon ;) So I created my own. I layered two strips of Crumb Cake Seam Binding Ribbon and then ran the Stitched Satin Raspberry Ripple Ribbon across the middle.
*I think the Fancy Fan Embossing Folder is my new favorite. Horizontal, vertical, it looks good in either orientation!
*I know the sketch didn't have the button (or any other element) on it on the ribbon. But I liked the way it looked with it. It was the only thing I changed about the sketch ;)
*Something was missing. I finished the card and I just didn't the way it looked. So I added a few Basic Pearls to the flourishes. Voila - card finished!

This is a great simple, blank note. Perfect for birthday, thank you or 'just because'. Hope you enjoyed my tips today. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Monochromatic Just Believe

Another little lag in my blog posts, but wow, was I sick! I don't remember being that sick in a long time and I'm still not 100%. But today I ate 3 meals, small meals, but 3 meals. And I was hungry! So I see that as progress. I also took the opportunity with my higher energy levels to do some stamping. Can you believe I hadn't stamped in a week?!?!? Craziness!

I don't often do monochromatic cards. Not sure why, guess it's just not my usual style. But going a bit out of my box is not a bad idea once in a while ;) This is just what the Dynamic Duos Challenge had me do: create a card with Bashful Blue and Marina Mist. And even though I didn't have time to enter my card into the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge last week, I did use their sketch because I loved it so much.

Tips & Tricks:

*I was excited to use the Beau Chateau DSP one more time before it retires! It has Marina Mist in which worked perfectly for my color challenge card :)
*I love Bashful Blue, but it's not too dark and was worried my gorgeous flower would show up. And then I realized that this is the perfect image for the Rock and Roll technique. I first stamped my card in Bashful Blue and rolled the edges in Marina Mist. I love how it makes the image POP!
*I added a bit of glitter to the flowers, as well as the grasses at the bottom. Love those Dazzling Diamonds.
*Do you have a hard time inking larger images properly? Can't get the ink on evenly and all over the stamp? Have no fear - Firm Foam Ink Pads will be here June 1st! SU! has changed their ink pads to a new material and holy smokes! What. A. Difference. Just tap your stamp on the pad and voila - perfectly inked stamps big and small! If you're in Ottawa, come and try them at my New Catalogue Event and BOGO Sale. Register here: http://monicasnewcattieparty.eventbrite.com.

I think I'm going to have to do this monochromatic look again sometime, I kinda like it ;) '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!

A Lovely Nature Walk

My daughter Anna (who's 6) and I were flipping through the NEW 2012-2013 Stampin' Up! Catalogue. She loves stampin' and loves picking out new stamp sets. Of course a new stamp set with images of a necklace, lipstick and other girly things was the first one that caught her eye. Another stamp set that she loved was Nature Walk. Although it's not a new stamp set, it is one that has been on my wishlist for a while. I was waiting to see if it would retired before purchasing it and it didn't (YAY!). So I took the plunge and now it is part of my collection :) Anna was very pleased when she saw she it in 'our' studio ;)

Even though I'm not much of a bird girl, I love the image of the bird and the cage. I knew I wanted to feature these elements on the first project I made with the set. This week's Mojo Monday Challenge was the perfect sketch to feature them. I also loved the colors we were challenged to use at Dynamic Duos: So Saffron and Pool Party. This is what I ended up with:

Tips & Tricks:

*I love my little bee tag at the top of my card. It was easy to make with two circle punches and some Linen Thread. Making your own accessories is not only cost-effective, but it's fun, too!
*Love those Stampin' Write Markers! I used them to ink up my egg stamp in two different colors!
*I wanted my bird to be much bolder than the cage. To get the contrast I wanted, I used Crumb Cake ink for the cage and Early Espresso for the bird.
*For my first go, I didn't emboss the top So Saffron mat. But there was just something.... missing. So I embossed it with the Elegant Bouquet Embossing Folder. It adds so much to the card, yet doesn't take away from my bird and cage images.

I'm not sure who I'm going to give this card to but I'm sure they're going to love it. And it will certainly be someone special :) '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!