Bibs as Inspiration

Today's Splitcoast Clean and Simple Challenge was an inspiration piece - a photo of 10 darling bibs from Toys R Us:

The first thing that I noticed was the parade of elephants and I knew that the Martha Stewart elephant punch would be perfect!!

Then while I was looking for the elephant punch in my closet of secondary supplies (that's the place where things that I don't use often go to disappear forever!) - I came across this roll or ribbon and it totally worked for this challenge!

Elephant Parade

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Tiny Tags
• Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Gray
• Paper: Stampin' Up Bashful Blue, Gable Green, Papertrey Ink Lemon Tart
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Bashful Blue gingham, tag punch, Cuttlebug Embossing folder

Happy Birthday from the Zoo:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Four Frames, Verve sentiment
• Ink: Stampin' Up Turquoise
• Paper: Papertrey Simply Chartreuse
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Decorative Label Punch, Turquoise grosgrain, embossing folder, Crystal Stickers glitter domes, ribbon from Michaels

For a special gentleman

I just came from the 70th birthday party of a very special gentleman.  He retired at 55 and within a few months was diagnosed with cancer.  He has been fighting it ever since.   He has been an inspiration to all of us in his church family - as he is a fantastic husband, father and grandfather, active church volunteer, deep and passionate Christian, and he is endlessly optimistic about what God has in store for him.

His passion is cars - amateur racing and restoring old Porsches, so I had actually picked up these car stamps for his 60th birthday (at which time no one though he would last the year.)  I had to bring it out again for this special occasion:

Nothing fancy on this card - it just wouldn't have fit him.  I combined the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge (turned sideways) with the colors from Create Ink's ColorLab .  I was going for masculine, yet cheerful and optimistic and I feel good about the results.

• Stamps: Close To My Heart Road Trip, Stampin' Up Upsy Daisy (sentiment), Papertrey Star Prints
• Ink: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade (with a little Real Red on the edges), Espresso
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Poppy Parade, Espresso CS and dsp
• Accessories: Star punch, Papertrey banner dies and woodgrain impression plate

Mother's Day

As part of a church cardmaking group that meets monthly, we are always working ahead on our holidays to have them available for our church members.  This month we were working on Mother's Day cards.  My posts from the last two days include the other Mom cards.  Here are the last two:

I love the saying on this stamp - my mom started our church cardmaking group and I am thrilled to be following in her footsteps!

When I pulled out the stamp, I knew it would fit perfectly in this week's Techno Stamper sketch challenge.  This is the fun challenge that allows me to show you all the cards that are posted for the challenge so check out the bottom of this post to see the other participants.

The biggest thrill came when I was deciding on colors.  I had just received an order from eclectic Paperie and they had tucked in a little freebie - a tag wrapped with five colors of the baker's twine that they sell.  Lo and behold, three of the colors were exactly Daffodil, Celery and Turqoise (well, actually a little more aqua than turquoise, but I chose to stay excited) - and these were the colors in the Stampin' Royalty challenge!

My second card didn't have quite as many exciting moments - but I had just received my Papertrey order with one of the butterfly dies that I needed to layer up these butterflies:

Have a great Saturday!

Lucky Me!

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Eight Great Greetings
• Ink: Memento black, copics
• Paper: Stampin' Up Certainly Celery and Turqoise CS, Daffodil and Blushing Bride dsp
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Button Embosslit, The Twinery twine, Nesties scalloped square

Butterfly Layers

• Stamps: Saltbox Studios (I think they are gone)
• Ink: Stampin' Up Always Artichoke
• Paper: Stampin' Up Rose Red, Always Artichoke, Lavender Lace, Springtime Vintage dsp
• Accessories: Papertrey dies: Mat Stack 1, Butterfly, Signature Series: Butterfly, Love Lives Here (small butterfly with heart), Stampin' Up Scalloped Border Punch, misc ribbon, misc "pearl" buttons

Here are the other participants in the Techno Stamper sketch challenge:

Embossing x 2

I started working on the Splitcoast Free For All Challenge which was embedded embossing (adhering cardstock strips or dies to the base cardstock - then embossing the whole thing.)  In the midst of that card I was pulling out embossing powder and I realized that the Papertrey Make It Monday challenge was heat embossing.  Thus..."Embossing x 2".

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Mother
• Ink: Versamark, Papertrey Chamomile (on edges)
• Paper: Papertrey Kraft, Dark Chocolate, Ripe Avocado, Berry Sorbet
• Accessories: Papertrey Buttons in Dark Chocolate, Ripe Avocado, Berry Sorbet, Creations Unlimited Moss Tinsel Embossing Powder, Tim Holtz Elegant Flourish Sizzix die and embossing folder, Papertrey Butterfly die, American Crafts crochet ribbon

FYI: A few months ago, I did another embedded embossing card found here.  And there's another one found in this post - just scroll down until you find the My Favorite Things Rolled Rose die with the Kraft, blue and yellow card.

New Embossing Folders!!

I totally love embossing folders.  I love that extra little "something" that they give a card.  Or, in some cases, the folder is really the centerpiece of the card.

Sizzix has recently come out with dozens of new folders.  I didn't get ALL of them (although... eventually... maybe!)  Here are four cards that show the "centerpiece" folders vs. the background folders.

This first card is probably the most complicated of the bunch and it only has two stamps and some die cuts!

I like this folder that has the scrolls in the two corners - what a nice way to showcase a sentiment.

The colors on this card come from Pals Paper Arts.

The other things that I was very excited about on this card is the scrolled frame stamp that is sized perfectly to fit into a Spellbinders Labels 10.  The stamps comes from JustRite Stampers.  I have always liked their stamps but they have this unique system where you have to buy their blocks in order to use their stamps - and the blocks are all sized to fit the stamps so you end up with a huge number of blocks to use just a few of their stamps.  BUT...their most recent release includes regular cling stamps!!  There are some absolutely beautiful stamps that you HAVE to check out if you have a collection of Spellbinders Labels dies.

The next three cards are most definitely clean and simple, and show how embossing folders can make be the centerpiece of the card.

Isn't this great bling??  It's
from Michaels.

This last card has another very exciting new item.  If you are a big Spellbinder Nestabilities user you know that you have to get Large and Small sets of the basic shapes (circles, ovals, squares, rectangles) to be able to cut mats that are 1/8" bigger, ie. one set is sized inbetween the dies of the other set.  But...until now, the Spellbinders Labels dies only came in one size so if you used them to mat - your mats were 1/4"+ wide - that's often too big.  Guess what they are starting to come out with?   Those mid-size dies for the Labels!!  So I have a smaller mat on my label die!!

I do so love embossing folders ... followed very closely by my passion for Spellbinder Labels dies.  I am a happy crafter today!

Daffodil Butterfly Mother's Day:

• Stamps: Just Rite Elegant Frames Set, Stampin' Up All Holidays sentiment
• Ink: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight
• Accessories: Sizzix Embossing Folder, Spellbinders Labels 10, Stampin' Up Butterfly Embosslit, Crumb Cake Taffeta, misc brown pearls

You're the Greatest, Mom!

• Stamps: My Sentiments Exactly
• Ink: Stampin' Up Always Artichoke
• Paper: Stampin' Up Regal Rose CS and dsp, Always Artichoke CS
• Accessories: Sizzix Embossing Folder, Stampin' Up Birds and Blooms dies, Michaels Glitter Adhesive Dots

Blue Bird for Wonderful Mother:

• Stamps: Lizzie Anne
• Ink: Stampin' Up Soft Suede, Marina marker
• Paper: Stampin' Up Soft Suede, Marina Mist
• Accessories: Sizzix embossing folder, patterned ribbon from Michaels, white gel pen, Spellbinders label

Saying Goodbye:

• Stamps: Just Rite Thinking of Your Borders and Centers (not a cling set - it's the kind that you have to buy a special block for)
• Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Gray
• Paper: Stampin' Up Vanilla, Basic Gray, So Saffron
• Accessories: Sizzix embossing folder, Spellbinders label dies, misc yellow gem

Oh Happy Day Clown!

I need to come up with some kid's cards for church.  I started with the Splitcoast Sketch Challenge, flipped to the kids section of my stamp index, and immediately realized that I had never used this darling clown.  He is just the cutest.  I know that some kids (and a few adults) find clowns a little scary - but this sweet and charming face will change their minds!!

Check out this card in the Splitcoast gallery for my inspiration.  It uses the same clown but it is softer, more vintage, and beautifully watercolored.  But, I would not have come up with the use of all these colors without the inspiration of this card.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure the company that sold this digi is still around - when I looked for their site to link here, it appears to be shut down.  Does anybody know what happened to KLM Digital stamps??

I used a few new purchases on this card.  Sizzix has come out with a BUNCH of new embossing folders.  I'll be using a lot of them over the next week before I put them all away.  I also used three new 2011 colors of stickles (which I just got in an I Want It All package from eclectic Paperie)

• Stamps: KLM Digital Clown, Heidi Grace sentiment
• Inks: copics
• Paper: Stampin' Up Tempting Turqoise, Poppy Parade, We R Memory Keepers White Out dsp
• Accessories: Stickles in True Blue, Firefly, Tropical Tangerine and Yellow, Stampin' Up Tangerine grosgrain (retired), Cuttlebug tag die, Pebbles Candy Dots

Less Is More: Touch of Red

This week's Less Is More challenge is to add just a touch of red.

Before I made my card, I decided to relax while I was eating lunch and I browsed all 213(!) cards that have already been posted for this challenge.  Wow!  They are amazing!!  So as I was staring at my supplies wondering what I would do for this challenge, my mind was swirling with all of the beautiful cards that I had just seen.  It made it almost impossible to make a card of my own.  I finally decided to go with a beautiful stamp, a border punch - and call it done!!

The text across the bottom was a last minute addition.  I took my photos of the original card without the text.  I always study the photo and I often find something that isn't quite balanced or quite right.  In this case, the rose was stamped a little too high - it seemed really top heavy...not grounded.  Instead of starting over, I simply pulled out this text stamp to add some weight to the bottom.  Problem solved!!

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Stipple Rose, Verve Because of You (sentiment), Papertrey Ink Text Style
• Inks: black, Stampin' Up Going Gray marker (around roses) and pad (on text stamp)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Cherry Cobbler
• Accessories: Stampin' Up gems (colored with copics), Martha Stewart border punch

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I am so very proud to say that I made last week's Less Is More ShowCASe with this card (details here):

This is the second time that I have made their ShowCASe and both times have been with sympathy cards.  I do make a lot of sympathy cards for church and I think clean and simple cards work perfectly for sympathy.  I actually enjoy coming up with an idea that honors and comforts and (eventually) brings some peace.