Two Card Saturday

Hi Stamping Friends!

Well I was gone so much this week, that today I'm stuck home doing laundry and.... STAMPING!  So I have two cards for today.

PETAL PIZZAZZ

This first card uses the color challenge from the COLOR THROWDOWN blog.  This is challenge #91.  The sketch comes from TAYLORED EXPRESSIONS.  This is sketch TESC112.  The colors and the sketch are so fun.  This sketch begs for some stitching, but since I don't sew, I had to opt for some faux stitching instead!

My next card is really an invite.  My oldest DS will be graduating from 8th grade.  We started homeschooling when he was in second grade.  After lots of prayers, we have decided to let him go to high school next year (he fell in love with water polo of all things!).  So this is a very big occasion for us and we are invited our family and close friends over to celebrate.  He is very excited about going to school in the fall and his mom is very... well I'm not sure yet.  I'm thrilled to watch him grow up into a wonderful person, but he's still my little boy (well, not so little, he's about 6"2")!  Come August 12th (first day of high shool), I'm sure a few tears will be shed. 

EXTREME ELEMENTS

I know I'm biased, but isn't he a handsome guy?!  And such a sweetie too.  What I love most about him is his soft heart.  I used this sketch from CARDS AND THINGS.  This is sketch challenge #30.  I flipped the sketch and made my vertical strip go over top of the center rectangle.  It mostly resembles the sketch... I think.  :)  Extreme Elements is one of the stamp sets that if you buy during the month of May, you get to choose a pack of Designer Brads for FREE!  Got to love a Stampin' Up! sale!

Anyhoo!  Best get back to the laundry.  And more stamping!  I need to make 20 of these invites, work on Arielle's next COLORQ challenge, and of course the next inspiration challenge over at the STAMPIN' CELEBRATION blog.  I hope you can play along in both of them!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Be Yourself and a Birthday

Hi Stamping Friends!

Well today's double challenge card did not turn out the way I had envisioned it, but I still love the message it conveys.  The sketch today is from Karen Giron's blog: the sweetest thing SSC43.  The color challenge comes from the Cards & Things blog (they're the ones with the super cute blog header!).

Here's the card that I created with these two inspirations:

I hope you can see the message I was trying to convey.  I love this sentiment from the Smarty Pants set.  I love to send these kinds of cards to high school students at church.  It helps to remind them to be the person God created them to be, not what everyone else expects them to be. 

This card just kinda left me blah after I created it.  The orange butterflies look too flat.  There's just too many of them clustered together.  Maybe if they were a little more separated I would like it better.  It must be the claustraphobic in me.  Give me some space!!

The card base is Bashful Blue with a layer of retired Hostess Pattern Pack DSP.  The butterflies are stamped in Pumpkin Pie, except for individual gal.  She's stamped in Real Red and her polka dots are stamped with Real Red Craft, then heated up with some Heat and Stick Powder to help adhere all that glittery goodness.  The sentiment is punched out with the Modern Label Punch.

Today is my MIL's birthday.  And since I doubt she reads my blog, I thought I'd post her gift and her card.  She has always told people that she is 40, but she had to up her age a little when her son turned 42 this year!  :)

The perfume box was my inspiration.  I liked the box so much, I didn't even wrap it!  Just tied it with my favorite Stampin' Up! Olive Striped Grosgrain ribbon and added some daisies cut out with my Big Shot.  The card sketch is from the Clean and Simple blog FTL67.  I hope she likes it!

Smarty Pants  #115070  $18.95

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Cupcake Crazy!!

Hi Stamping Friends!

I'm sure you all getting a little tired of cupcake cards.  I know I am!  But when I read about the Tuesday Technique Challenge on my favorite Stampin' Up! online hangout, Stampin Addicts, I just had to pull out the Crazy For Cupcakes set again!  The challenge is Faux Tile Tech31 and I decided to make one of those cards that look like the window of a bakery.  The color challenge is from the Cards & Things Challenge blog.

Now this was my first time using the Glassy Glaze Enamel Embossing Powder, so things got a little messy.  So be gentle.  Here's my bakery shop card:

The light cast a funky sheen over the "window", but IRL it's nice and shiny.  Next Tuesday I'll post instructions on how to do the Faux Tile technique.  I'm thinking of making Tuesday's "How To Tuesday".  The card base is Chocolate Chip layered with Mellow Moss.  The "curtain" is a piece of Rose Red Stitched Grograin.  To make the ruffle, I pulled on the top stitch and knotted the ends of the white thread.  The brads help hold it all in place.

Crazy For Cupcakes  #111618  $23.95

Stem Saying  #115078  $20.95

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Purple Lovers Challenge!

Hi Stamping Friends!

Today's double challenge card comes from the Color Throwdown blog CTD66 and from the Cards and Things blog.  Here's the two challenges:

If you love purple, then you HAVE to participate in this color challenge.  This is a purple lovers dream!  Me, not so much, but I still had fun playing!  Here's my card:

I haven't used Great Friend in quite awhile.  Doesn't seem like the right time of year to be getting out the butterfly sets.  Everybody is in to pumpkins or reindeer right now.  But I'm just looking to make some all occasions cards I can sell at Goodies Cookies in Visalia (if you're in the area, stop by and shop my card rack!).

Great Friend  #113792  $17.95

Finial Press Impressions Embossing Folder  #115963  $7.95

Thanks for stopping by!  Remember to tell your friends to stop by too!

Happy Stamping!

A New Challenge Find!

Hi Stamping Friends!

Well I'm so excited, because I found a new challenge blog!  And heaven knows I need more challenges to partcipate in!  :)  It's a Dutch blog called Cards & Things.  Doesn't their blog header look a little familiar?  This week they offered a sketch challenge:

It's a very masculine (to me!) sketch with no scallops, flowers, or frills.  This reminded me of the Color Throwdown Challenge CTD64 which is also perfect for a guy.  

So this is the manly (is that even a word?) card I came up with:

This would be a great card for a teenage guy, or an old surfer like my hubby!  Guy cards are always a little difficult.  You can give any woman a card with a flower on it, but you can't give just any man a card with a surfer on it.  KWIM?  My brothers, for instance would rather have a card with an old car or shiny truck on it.  But I haven't come across any stamps that have cool looking Peterbilts on them! 

The Extreme Surfer is stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  The DSP is retired Parisian Breeze Specialty Paper.  I miss this paper!  The card base is Basic Black, with a layer of Sahara Sand.  The Twill Tape adds some texture, as does the black button which is also retired.  I roughed up the edges of the Baha Breeze circle with my Distressing Tool and then sponged the edges with ink.  The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  Pretty simple!  And manly!

Extreme Surfboard  #115173  $8.95

Cutter Kit  #106958  $16.95

Remember... today is the last day to order the Christmas Jingle Kit.  Contact me today!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!