Another Monster Post!

Hmm... I wonder if one day I can get it together enough to be able to do small daily posts instead of sporadic monster posts... Well, not today! Here's your weekly-ish monster post:

-Please forgive the photo quality,it's all I can do to snap a quick pic of my projects as they head out the door these days!

Today's first project was made for a dear little friend of mine who turned 1 in August. I really enjoyed making this card, the stamp set used is called...(searching for my catty because I ordered the French set called "petit amours") Love Bug. It's a level one hostess set too, so I earned it free {yay!}. This is a pretty simple project, the # 1 is made with our chunky glitter and sticky letters (a perfect pairing!) The polka dot DSP was made using punched circles and the only other thing you might not be able to pick out in the photo is that I covered the bugs in crystal effects so they almost look like little plastic toys.

The following project is the gift that accompanied my buggy card. As you can tell it's another take on a framed scrap book page (of course this one won't fit in any album I know).


This was a wonderful project to showcase the beautiful Kaleidoscope DSP that came out in our most recent catalogue. It is so beautiful that it really stands alone and did not need much added to it. In fact I have barely broken into this paper pack because I can't bare cutting the sheets!

Next is a fun birthday card using Beary Best Friends from the new Build-A-Bear line. While this collection is generally targeted at kids, this card was made for a 31st b-day of a friend who is still young at heart. I decided to do something really cutesy/girly to celebrate not only her Bday but also the fact that she is soon going to have a little girl after 3 boys!

There is lots of detail on this card, paper piecing, glammed glitter shoes and crystal effects of course on the balloon. I absolutely love my SU! Top Note die, I think it is my single best Big Shot die purchase, hands down. I love how it makes a perfect canvas to highlight any stamped image.

My next 2 cards feature the Lots of Bots stamp set. This is a really fun set to work with and excellent if your circle of friends includes SciFi nuts or simply quirky fun folk. Please forgive the photo quality of the first card, believe me it's much better in real life!

I never would have thought that of all the current In Colors I would gravitate towards Mellon Mambo, I'm not a pink person I swear! But somehow it keeps creeping into my projects. The above card was actually made for my brother, so I did not start out the project with pink in mind, but, the MM seemed to give it just the right {pop!}

This next robot card was made for a woman so I did really go for the pink & bling. The robot makes me laugh because I think I might have gotten a little carried away with my paper piecing. I think he's got to be a thrift store shopper because you know those floral pants have to be vintage polyester! The background for this card was surprisingly easy to do with a brayer, some sponges and glossy cardstock. I am hoping to do a class on brayered backgrounds sometime before Christmas. But if you can't wait to try it out you must check out Michelle Zindorf's blog. She has pioneered this technique in card making and her cards are absolute works of art (plus she posts some really simple to follow tutorials regularly!). Oh, I almost forgot to mentions that I covered the robot, planet and comet with the Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint from the Holiday mini catalogue. It's really great stuff and gives your projects a fabulous but subtle, well... Shimmer!

And one final card for today. This one was made for my nephew's dedication. I wasn't sure what to do for him because I had used all of my classic 'baby boy' type stamps on past projects for him and wanted to try something different.
I used the stamp set Good Friend which I am almost ashamed to say that despite buying it right away when it came out and even mounting it immediately when I received it, this is the first time it has seen ink!! I really love the bird and the funky retro shapes that come with it so I'm thinking that though this has been it's first inking, it will definitely not be the last. After stamping the shapes on the background I felt the card was still missing something so I embossed the new wood grain background stamp in clear EP on the kraft and I love how it turned out!

Happy Stampin'!