Buggy Birthday

Good morning,

Today I have a kids birthday card for you! It's using Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi and Pumpkin Pie colors in obvious places. The green stripe across the DSP is made by using the cutter tool and a cutting mat.

A trick I learned from one of my sidelines, Jacqui, is to pop up your greeting with Stampin' Dimensionals before you add the Hodgepodge Hardware. It works like a dream.

Have a fantastic day and we'll see you tomorrow.

Much love and joy,

Foggy Sunrise

Good morning,

I've been admiring sunsets and northern lights lately and wanted to replicate what I've seen. This was sun burning off fog one morning on the flats near the place we used to live.

I used Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Garden Green and So Saffron cardstock. I used the Sanded background stamp on the base card. The sunrise was done on saffron cardstock to get a yellowish sun. The grass is in Chocolate Chip, the fog in both Pumpkin Pie and Really Rust. The sentiment is stamped in Chocolate Chip and the brads are metal. The stamp set is Inspired by Nature, one of my all time favs.

Not a hard one but a fun one. Take care and we'll see you tomorrow.

Much love and joy,

Pendant Park Vintage

Good Morning,

I'm frantic for time today so will make this a quick one. The card uses Crumb Cake cardstock spritzed with Log Cabin Smooch Spritz, then run through the Big Shot using the lattice embossing folder. The I mounted Elegant Soiree DSP onto Soft Suede cardstock for the main body of the card and dropped down the word hello from Pendant Park on a wavy label square of Baja Breeze. I used the die cut from the word window for the little suede outline you see on it.

The ribbon is Crumb Cake taffeta, Victoria lace, Very Vanilla Taffeta and Suede grosgrain. The brad is from Antique brads. I can see I'll have to order more of those. I'm going through them like crazy.

I have a huge preorder coming with all the newest accessories. I LOVE accessories!

Have a great day,

Much love and joy,

Buffflo

Hi everyone,

I just dropped my laptop on the floor and am hoping its shock resistant. I have a wireless mouse with a flash drive and it fell squarely on the drive which bent and shattered leaving all the components exposed. Dead mouse for one. Hopefully its the only casualty. I set it on a wooden TV tray and it got bumped. Over it went. My stomach is still rolling a little. Boy I hate that.

I don't like using the touchpad. While I'm typing I inevitably hit it and end up with random edits. Guess it's off to get another mouse for me. Blech.

Today's card is a vintage card for men using my son's In the Wilderness set. The cardstock is Soft Suede textured and scraps of Night of Navy, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla. The Designer Series Paper is Elegant Soiree.

I took a piece of Kraft/Crumb Cake taffeta ribbon and laid a piece of NON grosgrain over it. I adhered the double ribbon to the card with Antique Brads. I stamped the buffalo on VV cardstock, and distressed it with tea stain ink from the distressing kit that SU is selling. I mounted the VV on Suede and then Crumb Cake mats. I stitched three times with linen thread and mounted it on a piece of NON that I ran through the Big Shot using the lattice die. The NON looks a little lighter because I distressed it with a sanding block from the distressing kit to give it some contrast.

The greeting is stamped on Very Vanilla with suede ink, then distressed with tea stain. I stamped off both the wolf and the eagle in the set multiple times before I stamped portions of them on the greeting. I ran the tea stain ink on the distressing block at the edges rather than matting the greeting. The card is 5 1/2 by 5 1/2.

Thanks for stopping by. See you tomorrow!

Much love and joy,

It's Manic Monday!

It's Manic Monday and time for a CAS card. This is so easy it should be illegal. I used the Tart and Tangy stamp set ... one of my summer go-to sets.

The cardstock is Bashful Blue and the DSP is in Old Olive. I stamped the apple in olive and punched out varying circles and scallops, I popped it with a Stampin' Dimensional and added the ribbon at the seam. The greeting is not SU but is soooo appropriate. The front says, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" and the inside says, "an onion a day should take care of everyone else." Then I stamped Get Well Soon from Sincere Salutations.

That's it! I didn't post yesterday due to server issues. ERG! But hopefully that won't happen again. I even had trouble for a while this morning with Blogger. Finally, I think it's resolved with both parties.

Take care and have a wonderful, if rainy, day.

Much love and joy,

It's Scrappin' Saturday!

Good morning everyone!

We're scrappin' a birthday calendar and today I'm showing you the month of August.

You'll remember I posted this as a card too. So today I'll post September too!

You can use any leaf set. This one is Autumn Fest. The colors here are Really Rust, Sage Shadow and More Mustard (which Ch Chip grosgrain for an accent). I used Very Vanilla to soften the background behind the leaves. If I made this card today I'd use Baja Breeze, Cajun Craze and More Mustard.

I'm on the fly today so ... take care!
Much love and joy,

It's 3-D Friday!

Good morning!

It's 3D Friday and I'm deciding on some hostess containers. Here's the first one.

Here's the first one. Using Baja Breeze and Whisper White, pearls from the Pretties Kit and a Rhinestone brad. I topped it off with taffeta ribbon.

Here's the second one.

It has more of a vintage look with the paper. I punched  out an oval and put acetate behind it so I could put in something colorful that would show through. I'm thinking a spot and incentive stamp, some buttons and ribbon ... not sure yet. I'm a little undecided on embellishment for this one too. I thought about a ch chip button. It would be decorated similarly to the one above. Maybe even a white Fleurette ... oooohhh, I like that idea. What do you think?

The clasp on the bags is a velcro button. People really seem to like how easily the velcro closes it all up again.

I'm hoping to make the hostess gift's appeal be that the items are exclusive to hostesses. Do you think I'm crazy for demo'ing something I can't sell? Or like incentive stamps, will the little scallop bag make the hostess gift that much more special?

Waiting to hear your opinions...

Much love and joy,

Birthday Cheers

This is a guy card for my brother's birthday. I like the Soft Suede and Crushed Curry (ret) look together. It looked more like a beer color to me. I used DSP in Soft Suede as well and tied linen thread through the saffron button. The greeting is Go Go Boots alphabet run through my Big Shot in suede. It's an easy and fast card.                                                                                                                                               

Have a good rest of the day,

Much love and joy,

Razzleberry Vintage Flower Burst

Good morning!

As you can see I've been playing with blogger. I wanted to go with a more vintage look on my site. I found a template that had old world maps at the top, like our new designer paper! How fun is that? Plus I needed a visual rest from the pink. I loved the old template (thanks, Debbi!!) but like most of us, I like to switch things up a bit now and then. Plus, I wanted to show off some of my flowers!

Here's today's card.

It's done in Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black and our Newsprint DSP. I ran the same Razzleberry through the Big Shot using the Flower Burst Embosslit and adhered them to the card for a monotone embossed look.

I tied a knot in black satin ribbon and taped it under the newsprint (which was matted with black, by the way). I put a Vintage Trinket (safety pin) through the knot and tied Victorian lace around an arm of the pin. I stamped the greeting and fleur de lis from Tiny Tags and punched them out with the mini tag punch. I put a Vintage Trinket metal button brad through the tops and used a glue dot to adhere them to the same black satin knot.

Here's a better look at the greeting. I also edged each of the tags in black to make them stand out a little more.

Not sure how I feel about this one. I got the idea for the Flower Burst in the same color from another demo but I forgot who! Thank you unnamed person! I think it might have been Chat? If I'm wrong I apologize! I'd done that technique with punched items but for some reason forgot to try it with die cuts!

My vertigo seems to have left me for the time being, thank God. I was careening into conversations all day long yesterday. I told someone it's kind of like the Blue Angels when they roll their planes. That's what it feels like. Erp! At any rate, it's left me. Yippee!

Remember, if you want to book a party, now is the time. During the month of August SU will have extra benefits for hostesses. I'll post more on my blog and website soon. With all the great items in the new catalog it's easy to come up with a wish list, isn't it?

Also remember that outside orders boost your total tremendously. Pass your catalog around! Need a catalog? I have three or four left.

Take care and we'll see you soon!

Much love and joy,

Poppy Parade Bird with Scallops

Good morning!

Hope all is going well with you. I'm homebound today with vertigo. Nuts. I get it every once in a while but haven't had it in months. I'm so dizzy that walking is an issue and driving is out of the question. It's so uncomfortable, I can't tell you. Like being on a ride at a carnival, I'm nauseous with the spinning. Erg!! Fortunately, I have a good support system so people are helping by running my son to his activities today. At any rate, I'm usually back in business in a day or two.

Today I've got a CASE from our new IB&C. I'm trying to duplicate a few projects from those pages. I switched the stamp set and used Pun Fun. The colors are Poppy Parade, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White and Chocolate Chip.

I used the Dotted embossing folder, the scallop punch for the scallops under the bird and aquapainters to color the little bird.

LOVE that Poppy Parade! It's great to have a red that's not Christmas/Valentines red. I have to admit I predicted this one. I wanted an orange red and thought SU! would come out with one soon.

That's it for me. I may have to lay down for a bit. Thanks for stopping by.

Much love and joy,

Concord Crush Elements of Style

Good morning everyone!

My apologies for posting a little late. I had a Summer Salad that I had to make. It's easy but involves a lot of chopping.

Here's the card for today. Using Concord Crush, Concord Crush DSP, Basic Black and Whisper White cardstock. I stamped Elements of Style with StazOn Black and then colored it with daubers and Concord ink squished into the lid of the pad. I used Pear Pizzazz for the leaves. Then I ran the entire thing through the Big Shot using my Lattice embossing folder. I punched out the trim with the lace border punch, punched out a circle in b-black to mat the punched greeting.

You can barely see it but I also put a black mini library clip on the circle and attached 1/4 inch black grosgrain ribbon. Both the white and the concord layers were matted with black.

Have fun!

Much love and joy,

Clean and Simple Vintage Map card

Hi there,

Here's another stab at vintage. I imagine that way back then, there was a woman like me who liked things neat and clean. Here's "our" version of vintage. Very Vanilla cardstock spritzed with Log Cabin Smooch Spritz. Early Espresso cardstock punched with an Eyelet border punch ... an antique brad, a little lace and a pretty little map of the new world. I tiny bit of espresso ribbon around the lace knot.

No, I didn't rip up the map or "distress" it. I like the detail and like to be able to read it. I didn't curl the edges of anything ... I've decided that some of my vintage cards just have to have an old fashioned look without the "shabby, cluttered" look. I'll get there. Hang in there with me. Right now, I need a few clean vintage cards. :-)

Have a wonderful sunny Sunday! See you tomorrow!

Much love and joy,

It's Scrappin' Saturday!

Happy Saturday morning my stampin' pals!
How are you? Well, I hope. Today I continue with the Scrappin' Saturday birthday calendar!

This is the August page. I'll be posting a different month each Scrappin' Saturday for a while. We're on the second of twelve Saturdays for obvious reasons so if you missed last week you can just page back in the archives. I didn't start with January because I thought some of you might want to make cards out of the pages or use them in summer scrapping so most of my calendar pages will be out of order.

I used Chocolate Chip, Really Rust and Summer Sun for the cardstock. I have some retired DSP for the patterned Kraft paper and some Watercolor paper where I stamped the image. These can easily be adapted to Chocolate Chip, Cajun Craze, Daffodil Delight and Kraft paper (Crumb Cake) run through the Big Shot with a texture plate of some design.

The flower was made using the Daisy #2 die and the Flower Burst sizzlet die for the Big Shot. I used a sponge dauber to darken up the petals with Ch Chip. The little sunflower and pot image is from A Flower for All Seasons stamp set. I colored the image with Stampin' Write markers and bled them with aquapainters. I love that look on WC paper! I roughed up the edges of the WC paper as well. The leaves were cut with the Little Leaves sizzlet. I hope SU! gets more leaves of various types in for their dies. I love this one and use it all the time.

Next week I'll post another calendar page for you. Take care and happy stamping!

Much love and joy,

Bits and Pieces Flower Bouquet

Good morning everyone!

Jury's still out on this one but I like the crisp lines. Honestly the Little Sizzlet leaves were an afterthought because I caught an edge on one of the stamps and wanted to cover it up. Now I like the added dimension.

The cardstock here is Concord Crush, Peach Parfait and Pear Pizzazz along with Whisper White for the background on the stamped image. The set is a Level III hostess set called Bits and Pieces. Technically I bought it for someone, my son, but I'm making samples too!

The ink is all the same as above but add Early Espresso for the flower pot. I put in Certainly Celery brads to pop the flowers. As I said before the leaves are the Little Leaves Sizzlet that I ran through my Big Shot. The little flowers are punched with the little punches in the Summer Mini Catalog and accented with the Bitty Buttons. I tied a little crochet thread through them.

The striped paper is from the Level I hostess paper pack.. It's all In Color patterns so I've been going crazy with it! Remember all of the In Colors are staying around for two years instead of one.

Have a wonderful day and we'll see you tomorrow ..... go stamp something wonderful this weekend!

Much love and joy,

Litte Robin

Good morning everyone,

I copied this from the new IB&C. I made a couple of changes but the catalog this year has some amazing samples you'll want to copy too!

I used the set, Peace Within for this card. The cardstock is Textured Soft Suede, Cajun Craze, Night of Navy, More Mustard, Crumb Cake and Watercolor paper.

I used my ink pads and an aquapainter to paint the line art then used my Color Spritzer with a Soft Suede Stampin' Write marker to get the fine dots on the watercolor cardstock. I changed the bluebird to a robin, and added the cute vintage trinkets button brads instead of regular brads.

The label on the bottom is a Sissix die from the Matchbox Die that I ran through my Big Shot. I have to tell you I used the Big Shot a LOT more than I thought I would! The Cajun Craze cardstock has texture from the Dotted embossing folder. I ran that through the BS too!

That's it for me today. It's rainy here so it may be a stamping day. The beginning of the week was gorgeous so we, of course, ran like rats! We saw the Sorcerer's Apprentice at the Drive In theater last evening. The beginning was good but I thought the end was a tad dark for kids. Heck, it was a tad dark for ME! Nicholas Cage was awesome, I think he's a terrific actor and takes on such quirky roles.

That's it for me! See you tomorrow!

Much love and joy,

Vintage Vogue Pink and Gray Lace

Good morning everyone!
I'm up and at 'em today! Much to do and needing to get to it. I took my second 50,000 IU of prescribed Vitamin D treatment yesterday and needed to adjust. I hope it makes a difference this fall. My rhematologist thinks it will so I'm very hopeful. It's always nice when they have a lab test to check things.

Here's my card for today .... a little Vintage action, thank you!

I think I'm getting the hang of this vintage thing. Not totally, but kind of. I wanted to do a vintage card that didn't use so many dark colors and I still ended up using some gray. Ah well!

This card used the Basic Gray cardstock as a base. I used Blushing Bride DSP from the Hostess Level I paper pack for the top portion. It's such an old fashioned wall paper design. I stamped the image from Friends Never Fade on the bottom portion of the card. I have to get this set! I used a friend's when we were stamping together!

I die cut a Top Note in Blushing Bride cardstock and trimmed off a portion of it for a different look. I put Victoria lace across the card and an Antique Brad at the edge to hold it, otherwise the stickiness came through. I strung more lace through a silver ribbon slide and used a glue dot to stick it to the upper portion of the card along with a vanilla half pearl from the Pretties Kid. The sentiment and F are from the set Vintage Vogue and the small word 'friends' in script is from Tiny Tags. I adhered the tag with a brad in Basic Gray from the new Neutrals brad collection.

You can barely see it but I punched out a teeny tiny heart in gray with the new heart border punch. Don't ask, I just thought it was so doggone cute! At any rate, here's my vintage card for the week.

Take care!

Much love and joy,

Animal Stories Birthday Owls

Hi everyone!

I got the idea for this from the IB&C (Idea Book and Catalog). Isn't it sweet? I changed the color, the leaves, and a few other things too but I think it turned out okay. This is for my son's God daughter who is turning three this fall. (I hope I remember where I put this card when the time comes!) When you make something this early it's easy to lose it!

I used Blushing Bride, Poppy Parade, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla and Pear Pizzazz. I cut the leaves with the Little Leaves Sizzlit and my Big Shot. The hearts were created by stamping the owl from Animal Stories in poppy, blush and pear, then using the small heart in the Heart to Heart punch.

The Very Vanilla Circle was cut with the Circle Scissor Plus and trimmed. The number three was a die cut I made using the Go Go Boots Alphabet and the Big Shot. The Designer Series Paper was from the hostess In Color Paper Pack for Level I. I adhered that to the front of the card which was 3x6, which means I had enough DSP to make two cards.

The sentiment is from On Your Birthday and stamped in Chocolate Chip.

The card was a little fussy but fun to make. I love having all the options the Big Shot die cut machine gives you. I use so many more of my scraps, especially with the alphabet or smaller flowers. Overall, a fantastic tool for me. I'm doing more scrapbooking because it makes it so easy!

That's it for me today. You have a fantastic day! If you want to see how I used the Sissix to organize my pantry jump over to my other blog, Life on the Exceptional Side. It's super organized! Thanks for stopping by and see you tomorrow!

Much love and joy,

It's Manic Monday!

... and time for a CAS card! Clean and Simple, my friends. Gotta love 'em!

This is More Mustard combined with Cherry Cobbler cardstock along with WW. I put the mustard through my Big Shot using the new Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder. Yummy! Keep in mind this is a 3x3 mini card so the design is truncated.

I stamped the coffee cup from Pun Fun and colored it with More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler and Early Espresso (but you knew that didn't you? ;-) Stampin' Write markers. I finished it all off by tying an espresso ribbon from the new ribbon collections! I love mini cards for gifts! This is going to a friend who overslept brunch the other day along with a packet of coffee. Our sense of humor I guess!!

Take care ladies. The day is gorgeous and I'm ready to play!

Much love and joy,

Pretties Vintage

Okay, this one is really out of the box. I decided I'd try to combine Newsprint DSP with Pretties flowers, pearls and other doo dah. I wish I would have put more black behind the Friends image. At any rate here it is.

I love the new Cherry Cobbler ink and so far it's another one of my go-to colors. Both pretties were colored with aquapainters, one in cobbler and one in various shades of chocolate chip. I spritzed the newsprint with Smootch Spritz.

The ruffle is Newsprint DSP, punched with the heart border then rumpled and folded until I had this little mess. That's one of the reasons I should've put black card stock behind more of the focal. Hmm. I may have to revise this.

At any rate, I'm still struggling with the vintage look. I'll keep plugging away! Stay tuned!

Much love and joy,

July Birthday Calendar Page

Hello stampin' pals!

I've been posting 12x12 scrapbook layouts on Saturdays but I wanted to do a birthday calendar so decided to do that on Saturdays for a while instead. This week is July. Next week will be August and so on. I didn't want to start with January.

This was a change up on a cased card but I love it dearly. I made tons of colorful men cards and one gal had me make her a bunch to send.

It uses Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive and Really Rust cardstock, although Cajun Craze could easily be substituted. I used Pocket Silhouettes to make the kelp looking weeds and a retired summer set from SU for the fish. Wish that set was still active. It seems like they retire summer sets so quickly! Or maybe its me and I want the summer sets to stay around forever. We in the northland pack a lot of livin' into those three warm months and want to scrapbook it all!

I sponged the background in summer sun (you could use Daffodil Delight in the new colors), olive and turquoise. Just make sure not to sponge too much or you'll get mud. I colored the fish with Watercolor Wonder Crayons and an aquapainter. The cut out three and hung them on linen thread from a turquoise brad, like a stringer.

The word July was stamped with Full Calendar, a must have set in my opinion. And that's it! Look for the next calendar page next Saturday.

God bless,
Much love and joy,