Reason for the Season PCC223

Playing along with the Paper Craft Crew challenge #223 again this week. It's such a fun sketch, and makes for a quick, easy card!

My holiday cards are in the mail now, except for a few stragglers, so I'm going to start shifting my focus to the new Occasions Catalog and Sale-A-Bration, which starts in less than three weeks! Soooo much fun stuff to share in the next few weeks....

Here are the measurements for this card:
 Card base: 5-1/2" x 8-1/2"
 Mat: 4" x5-1/4"
 DSP: 3-1/4" x 5-1/4"

Product List

Reason For The Season Photopolymer Stamp Set

Star Of Light Photopolymer Stamp Set

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

Shimmery White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

Cherry Cobbler 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

Presents & Pinecones Designer Series Paper

Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad

Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad

Blender Pens

Big Shot

Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies

Fancy Frost Sequins

Candy Cane Lane Baker's Twine

Coffee - ALWAYS a Good Idea!

I know it's Thursday, and I don't usually post on days that begin with T, but I just couldn't wait to share this card! It was inspired by two challenges - this week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, and the cue word "Coffee" from CASology. Newton's Nook has a stamp set with an adorable kitty and coffee theme that was purr-fect for these challenges! The FMS259 sketch made it so quick and easy to throw together.

Does this punk kitty, remind you of anyone? LOL  I'm getting a little better at coloring ginger cats! I used Copic Sketch Markers* for coloring the image.

* YR14, YR20, YR21, Y28, E44, E89, C1, C3, C7, B0000, R08, R27, R32

Product List

Shimmery White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

Early Espresso 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

Pool Party 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

Copper Foil Sheets

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

Big Shot

Layering Circle Framelits Dies

Delicate White Doilies

Stampin' Dimensionals

Stampin' Addict's Challenge

Paula (or Palua, as she is affectionately known to her llama-loving friends) over at Stampin' Addicts came up with the brilliant idea of recycling some of our old challenges and making a Pinterest board for us to upload our cards.  This week it's a sketch challenge from early 2010.

Since the Christmas Collection hadn't seen ink yet, I decided to give it a try. I think it turned out pretty well! After stamping and fussy-cutting the ornaments, I punched a Gold Foil Sheet with the Christmas Ornament Punch to use as a mat. The Stylish Stripes TIEF made a nice backgound out of the Old Olive textured CS, but it needed something "more".  Encore Gold ink to the rescue!  Just a few swipes of the pad on the embossed cardstock was all it took.

This would qualify as a very mailable card, because there are no embellishments at all to hang up in the sorting machine!

Stamps: Christmas Collection, More Merry Messages
Cardstock: Old Olive, Old Olive Textured, Whisper White,  Season of Style DSP, Gold Foil Sheets
Ink: Encore Gold, Cherry Cobbler, plus Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive Stampin' Write Markers
Accessories: Big Shot (always!), Stylish Stripes folder, Christmas Ornament Punch, Modern Label Punch

JUGS #171 Challenge

Over at Just Us Girls, the challenge this week is a technique challenge - get inky with your embossed cardstock!

This is fun to do, because it really helps the embossing to "pop". The Chevron embossing folder was used to represent waves on this card, and the new Cloudy Day folder represents, uh....clouds. :-)

Okay, four for four, though I just barely made it under the wire this time. :-)

Stamps: Easy Events
Cardstock: Whisper White, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Shimmery White
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin pie, Wild Wasabi
Accessories: Big Shot, Labels Framelits, Chevron and Cloudy Day embossing folders, Pearls Basic Jewels

Fab Friday Challenge, FabFri09

I am on a ROLL, baby - three days in a row of challenges! (Wonder how long I can keep this up this blistering pace?) This card was made for the Fab Friday 09 challenge, which is this sketch:

As soon as I saw all the cute images in the Spring Sampler stamp set, I immediately thought of this card.  Well, not necessarily this layout, but I knew I had to use these images for a birthday card.

Okay, I can hear all the groans from here......sorry, I just had to be punny today.  It's Friday!  This did made me stretch a little out of my comfort zone.  It's a lot brighter, and a bit more simple than usual. The DSP colors were chosen to coordinate with the image colors, and the sun just had to be yellow, and the bird just had  to be blue (it is the blue bird of happiness, after all).  And this is a little bit of a hybrid card, too. The greeting was made in My Digital Studio, and printed with my printer.

Well, I'm off to fetch groceries. Hope you all in the frozen north don't get slammed too hard by the blizzard. And for you lucky demos at leadership in Orlando.......pbbbttt, I'm not speaking to you anymore! Well, until tomorrow, anyway.

Stamps: Spring Sampler
Cardstock: Whisper White, and Melon Mambo, plus Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, and Lucky Limeade DSP
Ink: StazOn Black, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Lucky Limeade
Accessories: Daffodil Delight Button (Designer Brights Collection)

CCMC234 - Another Challenge!

Two days in a row, woot! Today it's the Create With Connie and Mary Thursday challenge #CCMC234, and this time it's a color challenge:

Aren't those colors just gorgeous together???  So, here's my card for the challenge:

Stamp: Just Thinking
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Midnight Muse, Pink Pirouette DSP
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Midnight Muse
Accessories: Big Shot, Window Frame Framelits, Perfect Polka-Dots folder, Whisper White Organza Ribbon, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Stampin' Dimensionals

Christmas in May

These are the cards we made in the Christmas Club earlier this week. They are so easy to do, look really elegant, and are mailable without worries that the Post Office will want extra postage for a bulky envelope!

The heat-embossed silver trees really stand out on our Brushed Silver cardstock. I've tried it with gold embossing powder on the Brushed Gold, too, and it looks equally fabulous (if I do say so myself)!

Really loving that new blue In Color called Midnight Muse. Well, ALL the new In Colors are gorgeous, but you know me....I'm a big fan of blue!

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Come to Bethlehem (greeting)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Midnight Muse (available June 1st), Brushed Silver
Ink: VersaMark, Midnight Muse (available June 1st)
Accessories: Big Shot, Petals-A-Plenty embossing folder, Embossing Buddy, Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder, Heat Tool, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Frost White Shimmer Paint, Sponge Daubers

SUOC 43, Occasions Goodbye!

The excitement of the Stampin' Up! stamp retirement list coming out a couple days ago kind of pushed the fact that the Occasions Mini catalog is ending in less than two weeks(!) out of the spotlight.  There are several stamp sets and accessories that I really hope will carry over to the big catalog in June! Really, really hope. Like, I'm going to throw a temper tantrum if they don't. Well, okay, maybe not a tantrum, but I will be very sad.

Our Challenge this week at SUO Challenges is to bid a fond farewell to something in the Occasions Mini that you are going to miss. If you don't have anything from the Occasions Mini (gasp!), then any retired Stampin' Up! product may be used.  I hope you will join us and share your project at SUO Challenges. We love to see what other creative people make with Stampin' Up! products. You all are so inspiring!

The sketch this week from Mojo Monday was my inspiration. The individual tea cups were colored with a marker and stamped twice. One was punched out with the circle punch and the other was fussy-cut and popped up on a dimensional onto the circle. Since the greeting was already on the last circle, pearls were added instead of a banner at the bottom.

The Occasions Mini items used were the Tea Shoppe stamp set, 40mm Pearl Basic Jewels, and Twitterpated Designer Series Paper. These are all going away April 30th!


Stamps: Tea Shoppe
Cardstock: Whisper White, Island Indigo, Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, and Twitterpated DSP
Ink: (Stampin' Write Markers) Island Indigo, Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive
Accessories: Big Shot, Perfect Polka-Dots embossing folder, 1" Circle Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, 40mm Pearl Basic Jewels, Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy New Home, FMS28 and CQC130

My cousin just moved to a new place, and I wanted to create bright, cheerful card to celebrate this happy event. This week's ColourQ Challenge #130 fit the bill perfectly; I couldn't have chosen happier colors!

And (now don't fall off your seat!) I combined it with another challenge, using the fab sketch from this week's Freshly Made Sketches #28.  As soon as I saw this sketch, I saw a Z-Fold card!

Not having any house-type stamps made it necessary to improvise, but I think the paper-pieced house turned out kinda cute.

So, if you're mojo seems to have left the building, as mine has this week, pop on over to either (or BOTH) of the challenges and get some inspiration!

Stamps: Baroque Motif, Party Time
Cardstock: Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, plus Daffodil Delight DSP and Melon Mambo DSP (retired)
Ink: Certainly Celery and Basic Black Classic
Accessories: Scallop Trim Border Punch, 1-3/8" Square Punch, Small Heart Punch, Pearls Basic Jewels, White Gel Pen, Stampin' Dimensionals, Tombow Mono Multi