iSpy Graduation Cards

Now that I am through confirmation cards for the church, I am moving on to graduation cards for our graduating youth.  As usual, I didn't plan ahead - so I have a large number of cards to make in a very short period of time (translation: (1) nothing fancy or complex on the card and (2) components that can be parceled out to my 12-yr old, my 16-yr old and my 53-yr old...although I have a lot of bribing to do as they are still tired of cutting and gluing and addressing confirmation cards last week!)

I used this week's sketch from iSpy Sketches as I thought the various panels could be used with papers to add interest.

We had a phenomenal fund-raising concert at our church this weekend.  (I had a flyer a few days ago on this blog).  It was for an amazing family whose very young daughter is going through her fourth round of chemotherapy.  The bell choir was one of eight groups that performed.  We decided that, even though we are mainly a group of middle-aged Lutheran ladies (and a few Methodist men pinch-hitting on the giant bells) we were doing....LADY GAGA...to appeal to the sweet, but very sick, young lady.

{My husband just wandered over, read over my shoulder, and said "Ha!  Middle-age??!!  Only if you live to be a hundred!"}

I'm in the brightly-colored boa under "Christ is Risen"??!!  Check out the director...she's got moves!!  Then check out the gentlemen whose head you see right in front of her that never, ever moves...that's her husband!  

I posted this on Facebook and a wonderful (but potentially former) friend commented "So that's where the missing communion wine went!"

I hope we made you smile!
THE CARD DEETS:

• Stamps: Our Daily Bread As You Graduate
• Paper: dsp is from Flair Designs (I've had it forEVer) and CS to match is Stampin' Up Creamy Caramel and Peach Parfair, Papertrey Winter Wisteria
• Ink: Stampin' Up Creamy Caramel and Versamark
• Accessories: Seafoam White embossing powder, Cuttlebug border embossing folder, EK Success postage border punch

A Style Mash-Up

This week is one of my crafting friend's birthday.  Her style and my style couldn't be more different.  She is very well-known for her vintage/collage style.  She's published regularly and has a huge following on her two blogs: Nostalgic Collage' and A Nostalgic Halloween.  My style is clean - not necessarily simple - but definitely clean and fresh.

So for her birthday card, I attempted a mash-up of our styles...




This card has other nods to our crafting time together.  Just last week, we discussed how much we both liked "tiled" cards...check!  We both love script and text...check!  And..very early in our crafting relationship, she taught me how easy it is to take a cotton ball and rub from off the paper onto the paper to lightly antique the edges - and how nicely Stampin' Up's Creamy Caramel works for this...check!!
General Supplies

• Stamps: Papertrey Text Style for backgrounds, Sweet 'n Sassy Happy Day sentiment
• Paper: Curious Iridescent Poison Ivory (there is a light shimmer on the whole piece)
• Ink: Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and Creamy Caramel

Stamps by Square - starting in upper left

• Papertrey Ink Turning a New Leaf
• Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch with gem colored with copics
• Papertrey Ink Mehndi Medallions
• Papertrey Ink Wishing You dragonfly with Stickles
• Stampin' Up Great Friend
• Stampin' Up Silhouette Sentiments
• Stampin' Up Silhouette Sentiments
• Papertrey Ink Honey Bees
• Stampin' Up Old Olive Taffeta
• 
  

LIM: An Apple for Teacher!

This is my second post today, keep reading!!

The challenge from Less Is More this week is a simple sketch and a plea to keep it CAS with lots of white space.  This was the perfect incentive for me to create some teacher thank you cards.  I like to have a few in our church card sales racks and I just haven't gotten to them.  Love the pattern in this set of apples from Papertrey Ink!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Teacher's Apple, Text Style backgrounds, sentiment from Up, Up and Away
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy, Simple Chartruese, the text is black stamped off once
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Spiral Notebook die (trimmed down), misc gem and twine

Invites in bulk from My Digital Studio

My church has a three-year Confirmation program for middle-schoolers, meeting on Wednesday nights for dinner, worship, and then an education/social/service program.  In May, the 8th graders are confirmed - which is their affirmation of baptism.  It's a big event for them - so we hold an Evening of Honor to celebrate.

I get to do the formal invitations for this event but we had a particularly large number of confirmands this year, so I got it in my head that I would get better at Stampin' Up's My Digital Studio.  I have a friend who uses it beautifully - after she prints, she embosses, adds blings, etc and it looks "real"!

I was feeling fairly confident after I did a simple flyer using an MDS template.  (This concert has been another huge reason that you haven't seen much posting on my blog - I'm involved in three of the groups - and it's tonight - so lots and lots of rehearsal time!!)  FYI: I'm not too worried about posting her name as this poster can be found EVERYWHERE - it's going to be an amazing evening!

But I realized how much that I didn't know about My Digital Studio when it came time to make a card that looked "real".  I spent a lot of time watching videos - there are great starting videos on Stampin' Up's official My Digital Studio website.  Another amazing resource is Stamp with Heather - she has done two full video classes full of tips and techniques.  

So after a lot of videos and even more trial and error, I came up with this...

I'm feeling pretty good about it.  The only "real" things are the glitter strip, the punched button and twine, and the one little bling on the cross.  All the other layers are printed.  If you try this, another great technique to add a "real" look is to use an embossing folder, but this is such a large card that I didn't have anything that fit.  The insides are formal and are all personalized like a graduation announcement.
The decorations for the evening are blue and silver so the colors were chosen for me. For the layout, I used the technostamper sketch for this week:

Enough chatter from me...I have everything printed and ready to go - but I still have a few hours of putting them all together!!  

• Stamps: Stampin' Up My Digital Studio Crosses of Hope
• Paper and Ink: My Digital Studio Night of Navy (although I elected not to print at the highest possible quality to conserve a little ink, so it didn't print out as dark as a typical Night of Navy)
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Silver Glitter Paper, Marvy Uchida button punch, misc gem

Technostamper is the fun challenge that lets me add the entries right here on my blog.  Here is what everyone else has done with this sketch...

Dynamic Duos!

Bogey and Bacall
Lucy and Ricky
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Tom and Jerry
Chips and Dip
Simon and Garfunkel
Milk and Cookies
Rhett and Scarlett
Ben and Jerry
Batman and Robin

All dynamic duos!!

And now we have a new Dynamic Duo!  I am happy to announce a new challenge blog with the first challenge going live on May 5th!  And I am thrilled to announce that I am on the design team!

Check out this amazing group of designers with whom I am honored to be working...

Allisa Chilton

Anne Marie Hile

Anika Lerche

Bronwyn Eastley

Kim Singdahlsen

Lesley Croghan

Lisa Elton

Melissa Chipperfield

Paige Grabau

Sue Joyce

So...what is the dynamic duo challenge?


Each Saturday we are going to highlight a "Dynamic Duo" colour combo to inspire you.  Any type of project is welcome to be entered...scrapbook pages, cards, crafts, digital projects...

The challenge is divided into weekly "themes"...

Week 1-Bold and Sassy-bright, happy colours
Week 2-Subtly Yours-soft, romantic colours
Week 3-Black Tie-one colour plus black and a dessert option
Week 4-Monochromatic-same colours in different hues (light/dark)
Week 5-Mix and Match-we choose one colour and you add the other colour to ours to create your own "Dynamic Duo".

Here is the Dynamic Duo Schedule:
Saturday- A New Dynamic Duo is Announced.
Thursday-Our challenge ends at Noon (PDT).
Friday-Winners are announced.

If that's not enough to get you excited, let me tell you about the creator of this challenge - the talented and extremely organized  Lesley Croghan. Lesley is already the creator of The Paper Players and Freshly Made Sketches, plus she hosts the Merry Monday challenge on her own blog - Always Playing with Paper.  This lady knows what she is doing!!  And I know that Dynamic Duos will be as fun, as organized and as creative as all of her other endeavors.  Thanks Lesley!!


Mark your calendars - check back on May 5th for the first color combo!!

Graceful Calla Lily with Unscripted Sketches

He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater...


We had a very unexpected death in our congregation and it made me very aware of how low our church card "sales" racks are on sympathy cards.  There is so much comfort in sending and/or receiving lovingly handcrafted cards - I have been very focused on creating the right cards for this situation.  I haven't even taken time to post them...until today.

This incredible stamp has been sitting on my desk waiting for the perfect card.  It's beautiful, simply from an image perspective, and the words on it are so very meaningful for many situations.  It begins with "He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater" and continues on about strength and afflictions and our Father's love and mercy.  I've imagine it beautifully colored, but somehow today's Splitcoast Ways to Use It challenge: Monochromatic Masterpieces spoke to me.



Stampin' Up had a very early In-Color called True Thyme.  When they brought back River Rock, I was very disappointed they didn't bring back True Thyme because it's the perfect monochromatic complement.  I am hoarding my True Thyme just for these situations.
I am also playing along with a challenge that I've never played before - Unscripted Sketches.  There was a piggyback challenge to this that, unfortunately, I didn't notice - use something recycled.

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Graceful Calla Lily
• Paper: Stampin' Up True Thyme, River Rock CS and dsp (the older dsp)
• Ink: Stampin' Up True Thyme, River Rock (sponged on edges), a few Copic accents
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Cuttlebug embossing, Nestabilities Oval (to cut the left half of the image)

It's a Chair for #1 Dad!

This is my last week as guest designer for the Splitcoast Color Challenge and I thought this color combination was a doozy!!  (Or maybe it's just that I have been gone for a week, and then spent today dealing with everything my boys/man did not do on the list that I had left.  I haven't been thinking about cards and it definitely showed in the struggle that I had with these colors!)

The colors are Early Espresso, More Mustard and Pool Party, and the dessert is to stamp a background.  I thought "masculine" and then realized that I had a Papertrey Ink set to make my own Argyle pattern and I had never used it.




Now that I am done with it, I love the way the Pool and Mustard work together - and then a few Espresso accents to make it all stand out!  The argyle set is SO much fun - there are endless ways to put patterns together.  I wanted to leave some open space for the heart but you could also fill it with color!
My layout comes from The Paper Players:

• Stamps: Papertrey A Little Argyle, On My Couch, Flourishes Mix-n-Match Mug (sentiment)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Pool Party, More Mustard, Early Espresso
• Ink:  Stampin' Up Pool Party, More Mustard, Early Espresso
• Accessories: EK Success border punch, Stampin' Up Early Espresso Grosgrain, Tattered Angels gold mist (on the mustard circle and the lamp), Papertrey couch dies and dark chocolate button