Stamp camp cards - revealed

These were summery cards for stamp camp.  I based my cards on the fact that Mother's Day is near, but I also knew that several of my attendees no longer have their own mother's to send cards to.  So ... I aimed to make cards that would work if needed, but could work otherwise as well.  I think that I succeeded.

For the first card we used the set Blooming with Love and the masking technique, we created a scene that I hope to see around my own yard soon - a wheelbarrow full of flowers, ready for planting.  I just have to feel more certain that it's quit snowing!  :)  We colored in with Stampin' Up markers, layering one color over another, and in a few cases adding in the use of blender pens.

This next card was made with a dormant set, Inspired by Nature, for the grass, and Flight of the Butterfly and Define Your Life.  The butterflies were stamped on the main card base (Stampin' Up's Confetti Cream), and also on another piece of vanilla cardstock and then cut out.  They have dimensionals behind the wings, near the body, and the bodies are glued directly to the background piece with a dot of Crystal Effects. 

And finally, I mostly cased myself on this sympathy card.  The set is Thoughts and Prayers and the designer paper is Stampin' Up's Manchester pattern.  The final element added to this card was Crystal Effects on the tree.

Thanks again to each of my stamping ladies who made time to come to camp this past weekend.  You were all a delight, and it was so fun to sit to gether and create these goodies. 

Sorry for the crazy exposure variations on these cards!  I took them late tonight while watching the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs, and I just know that I won't retake the pictures, but I want to share them anyway.  

Slight sidebar, here's a look at a paper-pieced card that I made for Jeanine two years ago.  I traced everything on my light table and created the heaviest card ever.  :)  However, for Jeanine - a SUPER Nuggets fan - it was totally worth it.

Just one more snow pic...

Trying this iPhone posting again with one more photo. This was our
front yard when we got home from work!

Snow day one week ago

Ooh! This is my first iPhone post. Now I'll be able to share on the go ... :)

What can I say, it's been snowing ...

Like I said, it's been snowing a lot around here lately, so I was more in a winter frame of mind. :) Just yesterday I had to go out and knock snow off the branches of our trees that had leafed out so the branches wouldn't get weighted down and break!

I also had gotten a new stamp from Stamping Bella that I wanted to color in and paper pierce. I thought I'd share a few versions of them below.

I made 10 (fairly) quick cards last night with my new Polly Packages stamp from Stamping Bella. The paper is Stampin' Up's "Dashing" paper from last year. The trees are from the current set Branch Out and Merry Christmas comes from the Many Merry Messages set.

Many, many staff appreciation cards ...

These were custom-made for a local law firm (this is my second year making their staff appreciation cards). There are 26 in all and you can click on the pictures for a closeup. The papers used were Washington Apple (for the guys - Ky said I couldn't give them pink cards even if it was just because they'd match the other cards I'd made) and Raspberry Tart for the majority.

The printing was done on the computer, and inside says "Thank You" and includes the firm logo.

The picture immediately above is all 26 cards together. Thanks for stopping in!

Lulu Ketto - shhh ...

Okay, so the stamp isn't Stampin' Up, but the paper is! I've seen these Ketto stamps on various blogs, and I just think they are super, super cute! I still had the Raspberry Tart designer paper out and she was colored in pinks and greens, so I had to put them together.

She was calling out for some sparkle, so I used my Sakura glitter gel pen to highlight some bits, and went around with some white gel pen stitching. The scallop punch was a final touch of girly.

If you like this cutie, there are others like her over at the Stampingbella site ...

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Thanks a latte!

These were cards that I made for Ky to give his office staffers for Secretary's Day today. His job was to provide the Starbucks cards to go inside.

The paper is "Sweet Always" and the stamps are from the retired set "Like it a Latte." A little Liquid Applique for the foam, some glitter on the cups ... that's about it!

Sorry for the quickie post, but I'm wrapping up my prep work for this weekend's stamp camps and, well, I'm not done!!

A couple more cards by request

These cards are for a special girl whose favorite color is orange and which need to convey a message from the heart. They're coming from a young man, so I couldn't go too frilly on them.

This is the simpler of the two with just some Sweet Always designer paper, the set A Happy Heart and some Crystal Effects.

The next card features the same set and papers with some Pumpkin Pie striped ribbon - no bow or knot included. :)

More Crystal Effects applied over the X, O, and heart images so they'd really stand out.

Well, we're off to a snowy, yucky-looking work day here in Denver, so I'd better go finish drying my hair, bundle up and head out! We need the moisture after a dry winter, so I'll try to appreciate it for what it is ... I just wish I was appreciating it from inside my stamp room, rather than at work.

Hope you're enjoying nice sun where you are for this Friday morning. :)

It's Elmo! But he's fast.

This card was a special request. No stamping at all, just punches! The head is the Big Shot Bigz Scallop, nose and eyes are 1" circles with 1/2" black circles inside each eye. Dots of white in the iris, some Crystal Effects over that, a strip of ribbon, and he was done. He's mounted on a white card base for a message inside.

I think he turned out pretty cute! It's not an original idea of mine, but in case you hadn't seen Elmo created this way elsewhere, I thought I should share. :)

Hired thanks

This is a repeat performance of cards that I made last year for a staff appreciation event at a local firm. These are my mockups for them to choose from. They're a little tricky to come up with because they need to be mostly gender-neutral.


Ky was very helpful in the design of these cards. I was running low on creativity (I have an ear ache and sinus infection, so my aching head is interfering), but he was able to give some really good ideas, including picking up some of my discarded elements and saying "What if you ..."


I know which one I hope they choose ... which do you think they should go with?

Happy Easter!

Sorry these weren't posted early enough for inspiration to you, but we had a jamb packed day yesterday, and I was wrapping these projects up at 1:30 this morning after we got home from watching the Colorado Mammoth Lacrosse game downtown with our friends/neighbors.

We're home from church, and brunch is baking, so I'm dropping by quickly with pictures of the projects that I made for my nieces and nephews. The bunny bag contains several little goodies (like new summer pjs, word puzzles, gel pens, etc.) for my littlest niece who will be at brunch, and then the cards are for the other kids who will be at supper at my inlaws. I have individual gift bags to go with the cards w/ just a simple monogram on the front on layered circles. I will try to add a picture so you can see those, too. But I have to go check the food.


I used the "Tea Party" designer paper from Stampin' Up and the set An Egg-cellent Easter. That striped ribbon is from the set "Sweet Shop" from a while ago (i.e., it's retired now).

The card above features paper-piecing for interest, and all the cards have dabs of Crystal Effects for highlights.

And then our little flower, Berkley. We bought this headband for god-daughter Audrey, but somehow Berkley ended up wearing it during Audrey's visit! She was just wearing it and looking around like, what? I'm cute, it's no big deal. :)

Have a blessed Easter!

Choosing colors of sympathy

I needed to make a card for the family of a coworker who died recently. I chose my colors using this utility here: http://www.scraptitude.com/colorcombo/. I'm not faulting the color choosing utility ... but I don't know what to think of the combination either.

Edited to Add: The cardstock colors used are (in order from the card base on up): Basic Grey, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss , Going Gray, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White. In colors are Going Gray, Kiwi Kiss and Not Quite Navy. The flowers/leaves were covered in Crystal Effects and once dry, I dabbed on white "highlights" with my gel pen over the flower petals.

I was completely stumped on the colors. Now I've made this card, and I'm just not sure that I like the colors and how they turned out. Last night I thought I liked them, then I went to mail it and was uncertain. It shouldn't be this hard. :)

What do you think of the colors?

Welcome baby Trip

I've been holding onto this post until I was sure the recipient had seen the card. I put it in with her stamp order and wasn't home when she picked it up - then I've been so busy I hadn't had time to check in until last night when I saw the new (again) mom at stamp club.

Apparently, when I made this card it was the week for using retired sets. It's nice to break them out again and put them to use! This card uses the set Bundle of Joy. This card is for my stamp club member's new baby boy. He's John the third, and one of the other club members even suggested the nickname "Trip" for him as the triple in line with the same name. Because the repetition of the name is important to his family, I thought I'd highlight his initials with a little III tacked on at the end.

I snuck in some ribbon for a little softness - it is for a baby after all! But then put some eyelets in each corner and a sweet little giraffe. For the giraffe's mane, I just snipped along it and then roughed it up a little so the pieces would stand up and add texture.

Finally, I covered the initials in Crystal Effects (those letters are from the set Headline Alphabet - also retired).

Little Trip came to visit us at stamp club last night for the first time and ooh is he ever CUTE! Little button nose, adorable fingers and toes, and he still is tiny enough that you pick him up and he just scrunches right up into a super cuddly little bundle. Who doesn't love having new babies to enjoy?

Quickie card

This is a little card (3.5" x 4.5"), made with Stampin' Up set Refuge & Strength and a Verve Stamps Bible verse. The Designer Series Paper is an older design from Stampin' Up that I pulled out from my stash of older papers. I was trying to make bookmark multiples for Ky's upcoming retreat weekend, but this one turned out to be too involved and too big to work as a bookmark, which was my initial intent. However, I like the final piece as a little card to send out later.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Thursday!