I promised I'd be back with some more cheerful projects and I think this one definitely fits the bill. I made this card for my nephew's first birthday ( the giant #1 might be a bit of a giveaway on that). I wanted to make a card that my car loving nephew would enjoy as much as his card making mama, and I think I succeeded this time! I really need to take notes on cards I make because I know that the layout was based on a sketch I saw somewhere and I think the colours might have been off of a card in our demo magazine but, beyond that I have no idea! 
I love this stamp set from the occasions mini stamp set the little animals are perfect for a fun and quirky card. I was also pleased to see that they were the right size to use with the truck from the loads of love stamp set. Almost everything here was paper pieced. I played a lot with textures so, on this card you will find embossed cs, crimped cs, glossy heat embossed cs (the #1) and both fine and chunky red glitter. Since it's not easy to tell in the pic, I should mention that I actually stamped the greeting win Versamark ink then glittered it with the help of our heat and stick powder (fab. stuff!) {sigh} I can't believe the corduroy buttons are all retiring, aren't they fun? If you're in love with them like I am, better order them up fast, they're gone after June 30!Happy Stampin'!
Well this is the last paper flower card I have in my photo stash. Unfortunately this card was not fun to make. A family friend lost their 22 year old daughter to heart failure this spring, and I wanted to make a card that reflected her personality rather than focusing on the grief side of things. This girl was a lovely, ever cheerful and friendly person with a natural flair and love of fashion. She will be greatly missed. I find I am not the best with words, at least not when it comes to situations like these and so I really appreciate the nearly therapeutic effect of crafting a card like this for people you care about. I hope this card will bring a little sunshine into this family's dark days.
The card itself was again inspired by the colours in the Razzleberry Lemonade DSP fut this time I focused on the deeper hues. I loaded on the flowers and the distressing for this card. I wanted to go with the vintage shabby look but it also had to have some bling to it so I used some rhinestone brads and added some Encore Gold ink (Retiring!!!) directly to the paper along the outer edges of the card. I quite liked the effect. The last thing worth mentioning about the card is the greeting. I had already loaded so much stuff onto the card and did not want to overwhelm it with the greeting and so I actually stamped it on vellum. You can't see it very well in the pic but, because of the transparency of the vellum, the greeting isn't as 'in your face' despite it's size.I know this is not the most pleasant type of project to share but, we all have moments when we are called on to make sympathy cards and I think it's important to share them too. To make up for it though, I promise my next few cards will be super cheerful, and maybe even a little silly!Happy Stampin'!
Bet you thought, I was done with the paper flowers, eh? Nope. In fact, I have at least one more project after this one up my sleeve!! This was another fun and relatively simple card. I always find it so hard to pin point the source of my inspiration with cards like this. I love browsing paper crafting blogs and it seems like sometimes the projects I make wind up being the synthesis of things that inspired me on them over days or weeks or even longer. Two blogs that definitely influenced me for this one though are Paper Pleasing Ideas and My Favorite Things (hmmm, I almost typed My Favorite Thongs, I'm sure that would not be a blog I'd want to be sending you to!!)
This card, much like the Crushed Curry card I shared earlier this week, was made for a friend who just had a long awaited baby girl. This time after 3 boys. (I have only one-I just can't imagine!) So once again this card was made to be a celebration of all things girly. The flower was made in felted Pink Pirouette (a returning in color) cardstock so it has a very pleasing flannel-like texture to it. The felt accent pieces were from the Sweet Pea Stitched Felt elements that were available in the last mini catalogue. I earned them free with my MDS certification in the fall {Yay SU!} I actually do have to admit though, I am a bit of a hoarder when it comes to embellishment and despite really liking these elements this is the first project I dared break into them for! Do you do the same? I still have piles of DSP waiting for just the right project, and I can't bear to cut into them, silly really, that IS why I bought it!Well that's it for today, I'd love to read your comments, Happy Stampin'!
I figured since I'm on a bit of a role with the paper flower thing I might as well keep going. The card I'm sharing today has a pretty wild colour combo but, I really like how it turned out. I wanted to give a thank you gift to a family friend (in her 80's but, you'd never guess!) who really went out of her way to help me this year while I was busy with the baby. The card was inspired by a really cheerful but, admittedly wild gift bag that I was using. I wish I had thought of taking a pic of the bag (hindsight eh?) so you could see where the idea came from. Basically the bag was checkered in kiwi and white then covered in multicolored gebera like daisies. I think it also had black polka dots on it somehow but, for the moment I can't imagine how!
Anyway, this turned out to be a really quick card thanks to Mr. Big Shot (looooooove him!-shhh, don't tell Will!). I used the daisies #2 die with Orchid Opulescence and Pixie Pink cardstock (I think, I never use those colours) . This is a fabulous die as you can easily produce very impressive flowers and their appearance can be totally transformed simply by your choice of papers and the number of layers you use. I think I've posted a flower I made with this die using blues and the effect is completely different! While I'm on the topic of things I love, have you gotten the vibe recently that I LOVE the corduroy buttons? Especially these Kiwi Kiss one- and their available in the clearance rack really cheap! Unfortunately it looks like they all hit the Last Chance Accessories list so it looks like I'll have to stock up before they're all gone! My favourite colour is actually the Kraft (soon to be Crumb Cake) because they are pale enough to colour with markers!OK I'm sure you feel that, that's more than enough ranting about buttons and such so, I guess I'll sign off for now. Do be sure to check out those last chance lists though, there are really great things that won't be available after Juin 30th!Happy Stampin!
As I mentioned yesterday I have gotten totally hooked on making paper flowers. Here is a card featuring another kind of flower I discovered (Ack I can't find the tutorial I watched on it, if anyone knows where to find it, please let me know!) I made this card for my DSIL who is also an avid papercrafter. This flower is a lot more intricate than the one I shared yesterday. The reason I refer to it as a fast flower is that, when I offered my paper flower making class I came up with a 3d rose that I honestly don't think looked as sharp as this one and yet took AGES to make. In fact I think most of my stampers, although they loved the finished product, said they would likely never make one again. It was far too finicky and time consuming. On the contrary, this flower, which is made using our scallop circle punch, looks awesome and is simple enough to do on a regular basis. Here's a close up of the flower, I used the tombo multi adhesive to make the flower- it's awesome stuff!
This card actually features a few of my recent addictions: kraft cardstock (soon to be called Crumb Cake and will have a matching ink!!!!), the Scallop trim edge punch and the polkadots embossing folder. The folder is one of the best purchases I have ever made, I absolutely love the effect it gives and I find myself reaching for it all the time. Here is the rest if the card, I just love the look of Old olive and plum or elegant eggplant together, it gives projects a really rich feel.
Happy Stampin'!
Stampin' Up! posted it's Last Chance lists this morning (I have them posted below). This year, especially with the colour reno, the lists are extensive and definitely worth taking a good look at. Here are a few 'highlights' in case you don't have the time to look right away:- Over 200 stamp sets retiring
- All products in retiring colours
- Pop up glue dots
- All designer series paper packs
- All Simply Scrappin' kits
- All Simply Sent, party, and element kits
- Encore metallic inks
- All dry embossing stencils and tools (including the light table)
- All pre-inked stampin around cartridges
- All full sized Craft Ink Stampin' Pads
- All punches are being reconfigured (but Trio Flower, My way and Tag corner punch will not return)
- Glassy Glaze Enamel Embossing Powder
- Micro beads
- All bead duos
- Corduroy Buttons {I can't bear the thought!!}
- Many ribbons
- All rub-ons
- Most On Board products
- Many Decor Elements
- soooooo much more!
I suppose you would like to see these lists now? Well you'll have to wait just one more sec, as I share the following very important information:- The stamp sets will be available until the end of June.
- All accessories will be available only while supplies last.
- The retiring accessories list is very long and includes many items that are not retiring completely but, are only getting reconfigured. Check for a star in the left hand column to see if product is being reconfigured. For Example: they are not discontinuing black cardstock, only changing how it will be sold.
- If you want an absolute guarantee that you will get the retiring items you want, order online and soon!
- Bonus: some retiring accessories are being offered at up to a 50% off discount!
Here they are:OK now that I've posted the retiring stuff my treat is to go check out the new preview items on the demonstrator web site, I love being a Demo!!! (I'm sure I'll have lost to share about that soon.)Happy Stampin'!
I love this stamp set from the occasions mini stamp set the little animals are perfect for a fun and quirky card. I was also pleased to see that they were the right size to use with the truck from the loads of love stamp set. Almost everything here was paper pieced. I played a lot with textures so, on this card you will find embossed cs, crimped cs, glossy heat embossed cs (the #1) and both fine and chunky red glitter. Since it's not easy to tell in the pic, I should mention that I actually stamped the greeting win Versamark ink then glittered it with the help of our heat and stick powder (fab. stuff!) {sigh} I can't believe the corduroy buttons are all retiring, aren't they fun? If you're in love with them like I am, better order them up fast, they're gone after June 30!
