Happy Birthday, Shelly!

Last night, we celebrated my friend Shelly's birthday at Chili's. Since Shelly is a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, and MY Stampin' Up! demonstrator, AND my upline, the pressure was really on to make her a good card. (And did I mention she's my best friend too?) So... I happened to be reading my e-mails and found a link to this cool idea for a tri-shutter card:

http://stamperjoyce.blogspot.com/2009/04/experimenting.html

Thanks for the great idea, Joyce! We had a great time at dinner, but I ate way too many chips with salsa, and will be working those off in the gym for the rest of the week.



The card may look complicated, but it's really not hard to make at all. As usual, supplies are from here and there. Solid pink paper from SU! (Pink Pirouette), patterned paper from DCWV Nana's Kitchen Stack, cupcake die from QuicKutz, rub-ons from American Crafts.

Thanks, Peggy!

Peggy Ireland over at http://stampingwithpeg.blogspot.com just celebrated her 10,000th blog hit by giving away some blog candy, and I was one of her lucky winners.

Peggy had us post a comment telling her what our favorite set from the Stampin' Up Occasions Mini was - mine was Forest Friends. Those little critters are too, too cute.

I got the choice of some great SU! products and chose the Fleurettes - something I've been wanting to play with for a while now.

This is the first time I've ever won blog candy - how exciting! Thanks, Peggy!

LNS Challenge #15 - Bollywood Bouquet

I made this card today for a challenge on one of my Yahoo groups - Late Night Stampers. All challenge items must be made with only current Stampin' Up! product - a challenge indeed for me, as I like to use a little bit of everything on my cards and pages.

The theme for this challenge was "3D flowers". I went through my stash and pulled out the first flower set that caught my eye - True Friend. I seem to be inspired by India lately and the dotted style of this set reminded me of mehndi - Indian henna tattoos. I went with the Indian inspiration and used some of the spicy In Color hues for the card.

My embellishment is a narrow piece of Pacific Point CS, which I stamped in Versamark with one of the flowers from the set. I heat set the ink, then wet the paper and crumpled it up. I smoothed it back out a bit and scrunched it into the shape I wanted before attaching it to the card. I also did some needle-punching to carry through the dot motif.

It's definitely not my normal style (according to DH), but that's why I love doing challenges - they stretch my imagination and make me think outside the box. (There's just so much more room out here!) Hope you like it.

I Want It All! (an invitation)

When it comes to craft supplies, isn't that how all of us feel? Like we just have to have everything out there? Unless you have an unlimited budget, that's pretty much out of the question.

I recently signed up under my friend Shelly to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. They were having a fabulous promotoion, and offering so much stuff at a great price that I just couldn't resist. Now, when I signed up, I knew I didn't want to do home parties. For one thing, I've done it before and I just didn't enjoy it (another company, not SU). For another, I can't drive at night (cataracts) and I get really, really freaked out when I have to drive to an unfamiliar place. So... parties were pretty much out for me.

Still, I liked the idea of being a demonstrator, and I really wanted to do Shelly proud and be the best downline ever. So... this morning, inspiration struck. (Stick with me, this does get more interesting!)

I would start a group of ladies (and maybe even gentlemen) who, like me, want all of the ribbons and all of the buttons, and all of the other wonderful stuff that Stampin' Up! has to offer. I would offer that group of folks the opportunity to do a "share". That's where "x" number of people sign up, each pays for a share, and each gets a little bit of all of the ribbons, or all of the buttons, or all of the paper. This way, if there's a color or supply challenge you want to do, you can be sure you'll have just enough of everything on hand to be able to participate. I'll be sure to offer shares on all of the fabulous new SU stuff as soon as it's available so that you can get it right away.

Sound like fun? I thought so too. So... I have created a Yahoo Group called Stampin Up Shares just for this purpose. I'll be announcing the first round of shares tonight. Want to join in? This is your official invitation. There are no minimums, no limit to how much or how little you must participate - just jump in when you see something you like. Click the purple Yahoo Groups box at the top of the sidebar to join - I promise it'll be fun. I'm planning lots of surprises... gifts, give-aways and more.

Bloggy Excitement!

Okay... here's a bit of gushy fandom. I love, love, love Tina Smith's Cherry Hill Cottage blog. I've been reading it for a good long while now. There's always so much there to fuel the imagination - it makes me smile every time I visit.

Anyhow, the blog is listed on my sidebar as one that I follow. I was looking at changing things up on my blog, and worked up the nerve to e-mail Tina to see if there was a blog button for CHC that I could use on my blog.

And... she e-mailed me back! No, there's no button, but Tina Smith e-mailed me!!! And she said..... (dramatic pause).... she said she thought my blog was cute! Wow. What's next -
Kristina Werner calls me up to say she likes my cards? A girl can dream...

Finally - a new SVG!

I actually made this SVG a while ago, but haven't posted it to my blog until now because I hadn't made a sample of it. I know I always like to see what I might do with a particular file before I download it. Otherwise, I could end up with hundreds, nay, even thousands of svg files on my computer, and we certainly wouldn't want that, would we? (innocent look)

Anyway, I had some paper scraps on my work table that were left over from Kristina Werner's color challenge. I also happened to have a brand new set of Marcella acrylic stamps that I got on clearance at Target. The set is called Icon Stamps. (Did you know that K & Co. makes the Marcella line?) It's not much, but it will give you an idea of what can be done with this nifty little label and frame. You can download the svg file by clicking HERE. (I noticed after I took this picture that my cut was a bit rough. I probably should have either cut slower or changed the blade in my Cricut. )

As always, all I ask in return for my free files is that you post a comment if you download, and that you not share the file on any bulletin boards or groups. Instead, please share a link to my blog so that others can visit. Thanks!

Color Challenge

There's a first time for everything, and this is the first time I've submitted a project for one of Kristina Werner's color challenges. I guess this one is particularly appropriate for me, as it's Challenge #49, and I will be having Birthday #49 in June.

The first time I saw these colors together, I was looking at whole sheets of 8 1/2 x 11" paper and honestly thought "Oh good grief - what a horrible combination! (I hadn't seen the paper swatch on Kristina's blog until after I finished my card - it's actually quite pretty when the scale is right.) The card kind of put itself together, which is a bit unusual. I generally agonize over them a little more.

All supplies are by Stampin'Up! - colors are Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point, Rose Red, Whisper White and Basic Black. I used Versamark with the SU! chalks, and Whisper White grosgrain ribbon. The stamp set is Always, and the sentiment is handwritten.

Floral and ribbon and sponging, oh my!

Tomorrow night is stamp club meeting at my friend Shelly's house. Each month, we make cards according to a pre-determined theme and share them. Apparently, several of us were asleep at the wheel when it came to writing down the themes for these last few months of club. Thus, no one has been quite sure what the theme is lately. For this month, some of us wrote down "floral", some wrote "ribbon", and still others have something completely different!

I wanted to make sure I was covered on all bases, so I did a floral-sponged-faux stitched card embellished with ribbon.

All supplies are from Stampin' Up! Papers are: Very Vanilla, Pretty In Pink, Kraft and a patterned paper from a 6 x 6 SU paper pack. (I can't remember if this was in a mini catalog, or was a gift with purchase - sorry!) Inks are Old Olive and Regal Rose. Stamp sets are Best Blossoms and Warm Words. Ribbon is Whisper White grosgrain.

More Tasty Treats

I just can't get enough of these studio g cupcake stamps -- I used another two sets in the series on these cards.

The cupcakes on the stand are a nod to my love of Jadeite and Fire King. I'm a collector of vintage kitchen items and serving pieces, and this cake stand is one I would love to own!

The second card is a tribute to my Grandma Ineson, who asked me what kind of cupcakes I wanted for my ninth birthday. I promptly replied that I wanted pink cupcakes with purple frosting. Unlike the other adults in my life, who would have said "You don't want that - pick something else" my Grandma complied. For my birthday (celebrated at camp) I had pink cupcakes with purple icing, and everyone loved them.

So, here's to you Grandma, and to all of us getting what we want even if it's a little out of the ordinary. Especially if it's a little out of the ordinary.

Tasty Treats

Just got a handful of these cute-as-a-button clear stamp sets from studio g. This particular one is called Series 27 (great name, huh?) and was designed by Kirsten Peters McGrath. You can find the set (and several other cupcake-themed sets) in the dollar section at Michael's. This set comes with three images and one word stamp as shown above.

I baked up these little goodies last night at my friend Shelly's house. The images are all stamped on watercolor paper, and colored with Stampin' Up!'s watercolor pencils and blender pen. (My new favorite way to color!) All paper is from Stampin' Up.