Stars and Stripes Forever for the Monkey Challenge

I have to admit that before this challenge I didn't think I had a star or stripe in my body let alone the red, white and blue.  I enjoy vacationing in the US and have American family members but I am Canadian through and through!  But I pulled some out for this week's challenge at A La Card Monkey!  Aren't you proud of me?!

Now, to be fair, Terry and Shirley did not require that we use stars and stripes for our cards this week but I thought that I would stretch myself a little and see what I could come up with.  My son has a little friend who is turning four in a couple of weeks and I decided to get ahead of the game and make a card for him early.  I had a lot of fun with all of my star stamps (who knew I had so many!) and lots of Dazzling Diamonds glitter....my house is now all glittery!  Man, that stuff gets everywhere!

Here is the Monkey Challenge sketch:

Red, White and Blue Monkey Challenge 62 Sketch

Here's my version:

Let's Celebrate; Stars and Stripes Forever

The colour scheme is Pacific Point, Real Red, Bashful Blue and Whisper White with just a touch of Marina Mist.  I started off by sending the card base, in Pacific Point card stock, through the Big Shot in the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.  Then I added some Bashful Blue DSP from the Subtles DSP collection and added some trim using my Decorative Label punch.

The Real Red stars on the front are all heat embossed using Dazzling Diamonds.  Start by stamping your image using the VersaMark stamp pad.  Then add Stampin' Up's heat and stick powder and heat until "dissolved", then quickly pour on the Dazzling Diamonds embossing powder, shake off excess and heat just a little until set.  Be forewarned, the Dazzling Diamonds powder gets EVERYWHERE and will be a presence in your home for weeks (if not months) after using!

Happy Birthday sentiment on inside

For the inside of the card, I used another big star, this time in Whisper White and Dazzling Diamonds (although it doesn't show up well here) and then layered Real Red, Bashful Blue and Whisper White again.  Both sentiments on the card come from the "Family Phrases" stamp set (sad to see that one go!).

So, with the Stars and Stripes in mind, HAPPY 4th OF JULY to all my American friends and family, and HAPPY CANADA DAY on Friday, July 1st to all of you Canadians reading!!!  Enjoy the long weekend!

Clean and Simple Birthday for PP52

I think I mentioned in a previous post how many birthday's and other occasions I have to acknowledge this week...from June 23rd to June 30th there are 4 birthdays, 1 anniversary and 1 retirement!  And because Canada Post has decided to strike (and who can blame them really) that means everything has to be ready tomorrow for when I see everyone : )

I'm really getting into this whole "challenge" thing in the blogging world.  I like that I get a template to work from and that certainly helps get the creative juices flowing.  For tonight's post I've got a really Clean and Simple (CAS) birthday card for my husband's grandfather who turns 85 tomorrow.  I based the design on the Paper Players sketch for the week.  Here's the sketch:

PP52 CAS Challenge

Here's my card:

I began with a piece of Crumb Cake card stock which I sponged in the same colour ink.  I decided to use a cosmetic sponge (one of those triangle sponges one uses to put on foundation) as I find that they give a more defined "print" and it almost makes the paper look like suede.  Thanks to Sue H. for the idea.

Next I layered some Old Olive card stock with some of the Nursery Suite DSP and then used Chocolate Chip and Whisper White card stock for the sentiment which comes from the "Best Dad Ever" stamp set.  Finally, I wrapped some Early Espresso baker's twine around a couple of times to finish it off.  Clean and simple!

Love Pennants for Try Stamping on Tuesday

Well I seem to have found my stamping mojo again....whew!  I recently began a fan of the "Try Stamping on Tuesday" blog and have entered their challenge for the first time this week.  I usually post on Tuesdays, this week being an exception, so I thought it was fitting that I follow them : )

Here's the sketch for the week:



Try Stamping on Tuesday Challenge #20 Sketch



And here's what I came up with:

Love Pennant Parade

First, my apologies to Jenn, one of the designers, I didn't realize how much my card looked like yours until I went back to grab the image of the sketch.   I did have fun creating this card using some of the product from the forthcoming IB&C; Pennant Parade stamp set, the Pennant punch and Just Add Cake DSP.  The colour scheme I used was Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade and Wild Wasabi.  I had fun mixing and matching colours and papers to create the pennants which I strung up using Early Espresso Baker's twine and a needle.

Love Pennant Parade close-up

I love the versatility of the Pennant Parade stamp set and I think it will work well for a number of occasions, including the one I made this card for, the 39th wedding anniversary of my parents-in-law.  I added a little bling by using the little rhinestones just to jazz it up a little bit and also ran one triangle of Wild Wasabi card stock through the Big Shot using the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.

Congrats close-up; Decorative label, 1' circle and Modern Label punches

An inside look

I hope they like the card and have a happy anniversary on the 29th!

Happy Birthday

Wow!  Where has the week gone.  I feel like I've been in a bit of a fog lately and just haven't been able to motivate myself to do any stamping.  I finally got back to it this afternoon to create a birthday card for one of 2 important women in my life who have birthdays today.  My mother was the recipient of a card that I hand delivered to her last weekend.  It's a good thing that I've been seeing a lot of family lately because a lot of them have birthday's this week and wouldn't have gotten anything otherwise....thanks Canada Post for striking right when I need to send a lot of mail : /

I've decided to enter this card in this week's Monkey Challenge 61 over at A La Card Monkey.  This week's challenge was to create a "girly" card and while this may not be the "girliest" it's recipient is a strong woman of faith and character.  She has endured a lot in her 87 years but maintains her happy outlook on life and keeps her faith front and centre.  She is my husband's grandmother.   She has been a HUGE influence on my husband's life and now is becoming one in my son's too.  It's so special to see the relationship that is developing between greatgrandmother and greatgrandson.  He especially loves it when she sings to him!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Fabulous Florets and butterflies...can it get any better?!

I have to admit that the colour combo comes from a challenge from last week (maybe from The Paper Players?) and the layout comes from both Stamping 411 and A La Card Monkey...but I've been so out of it that I missed the first two challenges : )  Oh well...I'm pleased with the result and I think she'll like it.  The colour combo is Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight and Wild Wasabi.  I used the "Fabulous Florets" and "Messages for Mom" stamp sets for this one and the Beautiful Wings Embosslits die.

My peonies were beautiful about a week and a half ago and so when I saw the colour challenge I wanted to do something to reflect them.  So I started off by colouring my stamp with Melon Mambo for the outer petals and Daffodil Delight for the centre of the flowers (and that's as far as got that week).  For the leaves I stamped first in VersaMark ink and then heat embossed with Wild Wasabi embossing powder.  For background paper is used some from the Beyond the Garden DSP (so happy that this is being carried through into next year's catalogue!). 

Birthday close up

 I punched out the sentiment with the Modern Label punch and then added a matte first by punching out some Melon Mambo card stock with the Decorative Label punch, then cutting that in half and trimming the corners. 

Fabulous Floret close up

Finally, I used various butterflies in Daffodil Delight and Wild Wasabi to finish the card.  Stayed tuned for more birthday cards this week : )

Oh yes, here's the sketch for this week's Monkey Challenge.  Check out A La Card Monkey to see what others did.

Best Wishes

Yesterday I hosted a bridal shower for my cousin who is getting married next month.  It was so nice to get together with the ladies of my family again.  We always have so much fun together, especially when we're showering someone with gifts : )

I decided to use the Stamping 411 challenge sketch as part of my inspiration for my card to her.  I also used her wedding invitations and the cards I made for her shower invitations as a jumping off point.  The bride-to-be's wedding invitations include colours similar to Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Tangerine Tango and So Saffron.  These are the colours I used throughout the following projects.

Best Wishes to the Bride-to-be

For her shower card I decided to lots of layers using the Scallop, Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer and 1/2" circle punches.  The centre of the "flower" is using a stamp from the "Bold Blossom " stamp set from the current summer mini with an Old Olive brad in the centre.  I used the "Four Frames" stamp that has the bird on it but just coloured the edges instead to create the border for the sentiment from "Sincere Salutations".   I just had to use some "Play Date" DSP again and loved the pattern on this piece for this card.  Finally it's finished with some Very Vanilla satin ribbon.

I took the flower from the outside and toned it down a little for the inside of the card.

An inside look



Some advice from the rest of us!

As a keepsake, each lady wrote a little piece of marriage advice on a "Top Note" and then I bound them together using some more of the Very Vanilla satin ribbon.  The covers to this "book" again use Old Olive card stock, "Play Date" DSP and the same flower and sentiment from the card.  I punched through all the layers with my Crop-a-dile and used some jumbo eyelets on the covers to finish the look.

Going around in circles

Here's another version of the sketch for this week's Monkey Challenge over at A La Card Monkey.

Play Date Flowers

I love the Play Date DSP and I'm really sad to see it go.  I'm having fun using it up though : )  I decided for this card to play up the flowers on the DSP and to not put a sentiment on the outside.  Sometimes we all need just an all purpose card, don't we?!

So I took the colour combo of two of the flowers on the DSP and recreated them using my Scallop Circle punch and various sizes of circle punches (1 1/2", 1 1/4" and 1/4").  I ran a couple of them through the Big Shot in the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder to change the texture of them.  Then a created stems by using Old Olive card stock and 1/4" Old Olive grosgrain ribbon.  I love the colours used on this DSP (Real Red, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise and Old Olive).

Fun with circles...

I am so honoured to be a guest designer again this week for A La Card Monkey.  I had a lot of fun with this week's sketch and I'm still coming up with ideas in my head for things I can do with it.  Here is the sketch:

A La Card Monkey Challenge #60 Sketch

So many possibilities!  I came up with 2 cards last night and will likely do more this week. Here's the first one:



Monkey Challenge #60

   I've been wanting to try a neat embossing/water colouring technique for a while now so I decided to take this opportunity to do it with the round stamp from the "Just Believe" set.  First, I stamped the image with my VersaMark and then heat-embossed it using white embossing powder.  Then, using my Blender Pens, I "water coloured" the flowers and leaves with Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Blushing Bride and Wild Wasabi inks.  There a couple of ways to do this; while your stamp pad is closed gently squeeze it and this will allow some ink to "bleed" onto the cover, then dip your Blender Pen in it and colour away; OR you can colour with your Stampin' Write markers onto a plate or acrylic block and then pick up the colour from there.  Both ways work equally well but I prefer to colour on a plate rather than have all those stamp pads out at once.  Here's more of a close up look:

Monkey Challenge 60 embossing detail

I then punched out the circles using a 1 1/4" circle punch and mounted them onto Wild Wasabi and Melon Mambo "blossoms" that I punched using the third setting on my "Blossom Bouquet" triple layer punch using Stampin' Dimensionals.

The really tricky part of this card was the strips of Melon Mambo and Wild Wasabi card stock that I punched using the Scallop Trim punch.  Taking a strip of card stock that's a little less than 1/2" inch thick I punched out on both side being careful to line up the scalloped edges.  It didn't work perfectly but it still has a nice effect.  If I had the Pearl stick ons I would have added them to these strips as well as to the centre of the flowers on the circles.

I had to use my "Beyond the Garden" DSP again!  I LOVE this paper!  I really like the versatility of colours that it provides.  For this particular pattern I used Blushing Bride card stock as a base.  The sentiment is stamped in Melon Mambo ink and mounted onto the same colour card stock that has been punch using the Modern Label punch.

Girl's Night Out Sneak Peek

I've been meaning to put this up all week and I've finally gotten to it.  I'm SO excited about the Girl's Night Out @ Cafe M next Friday, June 17th.  I've come up with a couple of great and simple projects to do with the ladies that come out.  Here's a sneak peek of one of them:

Upsy Daisy card for Girl's Night Out @ Cafe M

I really like this colour combination although I wasn't sure at first.  I've used So Saffon, Baja Breeze and Poppy Parade here.  Lots of layering creates a nice matte effect for the focal point.  The Baja Breeze DSP is from the Subtles DSP pack while the other two layers are Poppy Parade and So Saffron card stock.  I used the "Upsy Daisy" stamp set (one of my favourites, especially for beginning stampers) and did a nice shadowy effect by stamping the image twice slightly staggered. 

Super simple but a really nice card.  Come out to make this and one other beautiful project next Friday, June 17th at Cafe M, located at TheMuseum in downtown Kitchener.  Cost is $10.  Please RSVP Melissa Stephens (melissa.stephens@themuseum.ca) by Monday, June 13th to reserve your spot.

I'm a Guest Designer

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm a guest designer for this week's Monkey Challenge over at A la Card Monkey!  I was really excited to be chosen as a runner up for last week's challenge and looking forward to designing an example to go with this week's sketch.  I have to admit, I was a little dismayed when I got the sketch (here it is):

Vintage!  Yikes!  I've never done vintage (really) and had to borrow some supplies from my good friend, and fellow demonstrator, Christy.  I did some research about what "vintage" cards might look like and here's what I came up with:

Vintage Card for A La Card Monkey

 Not too sure if it really fits the "vintage" mold, but I like it.  I decided right away to use one of my favourite sets, "Just Believe".  And thanks to some examples posted online (thanks to http://createdbyyou.blogspot.com/)  I was able to cobble together this card.  I really love the vintage brads and crochet trim ribbon and was glad to have a chance to use them (again, thanks to Christy for giving them to me).  I started with a base of Crumb Cake card stock and then did a series of layers; Very Vanilla (sent through the Big Shot in an embossing folder, I would use Vintage Wallpaper next time) and sponged with Crumb Cake ink, Early Espresso, Old Olive and, finally, Very Vanilla again, this time with the stamped image.  I inked the flower image with my Marina Mist, Pear Pizazz and Old Olive Stampin' Write Markers.  After it was stamped I went around the edges of the flowers with the fine tip of my Marina Mist marker to make the edges stand out a little more.  I sponged the edges with Old Olive ink.  I did more sponging here than I normally would, but when looking at examples of vintage greeting cards there seemed to be a trend towards soft edges.

Vintage card detail

For embellishments I used Early Espresso satin ribbon, crochet trim ribbon and Antique brads.  The sentiment, "Friends", comes from the "Just Believe" stamp set and I punched it out using my Decorative Label punch, small end to the top of the sentiment (check out my post "Thank Card for Stamping 411 challenge for more details).

I hope you like it and I'm looking forward to creating more Vintage cards in the future.  Thanks to Shirley and Terry for getting the creative juices flowing on this one.  I'm also looking forward to being a guest designer again for next week's challenge!

Out with the old....

One of the great things I've found about becoming a SU demonstrator is that I get great sneak peeks at new product.  I REALLY wish I could share the sneak peeks of the new Idea Book and Catalogue with you all today. The new In-Colours, stamp sets and DSP look AMAZING!!!!!   I can't wait to share them with you in July.  Stay tuned for more information about my 2011-2012 IB & C Launch Party happening on July 12th!

Along with the new stuff though comes the "out with the old" part.  SU released it's last chance lists today for stamp sets, accessories and definitely decorative products.  There are a lot of great deals in here too....think 20-40% off certain merchandise.  Many stamp sets, all the 12 x 12 card stock, tons of ribbon, all the Designer Series Paper, rub-ons, the Fresh Cut Notes, and SO much more will NOT be available after June 30th!!!!   Be sure to check out the following lists and put your order in TODAY to guarantee that you will get what you want.

Click here to see the last chance lists.

You can place your order by contacting me through email (laura.gardiner79@gmail.com ) or by placing an order through my Stampin' Up! website: http://lauragardiner.stampinup.net .

I will be featuring some of these last chance products at my Make and Take next Tuesday night (June 7th).  Contact me today to reserve your space.