Geometrical Butterflies and Ski Day

I’ve been itching to use my new Arrows Textured Impressions embossing folder from the new Occasions Catalog. I used it a tiny bit on this card but wanted to do a full card front.

I used the color inspiration from CCMC to include Island Indigo, Daffodil Delight and Smoky Slate. Since I knew I was going to use the Arrow embossing folder I wanted the card to be a little grungy and have a freestyle feel to it. It ended up a touch eclectic with bits and pieces here and there, somewhat masculine but then a pop of butterflies to keep it a little girly. ;)

After embossing the card front and swiping it with a Smoky Slate ink pad, I then layered on a couple strips of cardstock in Island Indigo and Daffodil Delight, followed by a strip of silver glimmer paper. I stamped the first shape from the Geometrical stamp set, and then without re-inking I stamped a few more to give it a directional/movement feel. The ends were trimmed and adhered to the cardstock panels with washi tape. I tucked a circle ring behind the shape and then put on a couple butterflies along with a candy dot. Quick and easy!

One more thing before I go!

I went skiing yesterday with our HR team and had such a great time! It’s been ages since I’ve been skiing (18 years!) and this year I finally went back out after deciding snowboarding just wasn’t for me after a few failed attempts. ;) This year alone I’ve been three times already! Thanks in part to my work - we have gold passes which allow you to go to any resort in Utah and I’ve been able to use them for two days for Jake and I and then went with my team yesterday. I’m not the best skier but I’m getting better each time I go which is exciting! Progress!

Here are a couple photos I snapped on the mountain. I have not always loved the snow but I’m growing more and more to appreciate the beauty of Utah and the “Greatest Snow on Earth” especially when I am learning to enjoy it! ;) Also, these photos didn’t have any photo editing done to them and are straight from my iPhone (text added from Rhonna Designs app) and are #nofilter. :) Isn’t it beautiful?! The sun was shining and the weather was amazing!

 

 

And last a peek at the fun colors of this card!

My Friend

Happy Monday! I spent the better part of the weekend watching wrestling matches and being a good coaches wife, :) but was able to spend some time in the studio creating Sunday afternoon. Laundry didn’t quite get done but….oh well there’s plenty of time to do that during the week right?! ;)

I am finding some time to spend on challenges, something I used to do a lot when I first started stamping and blogging and it’s been fun to get back to being inspired by a fun challenge. My card was created with the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, the inspiration photo from Curtain Call for a cozy quilt theme and the hexagon challenge over at Moxie Fab World in mind.

I used the Six Sided Sampler stamp step and stamped the hexagons in Blushing Bride, Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, So Saffron and Baked Brown Sugar. I splattered the white card base with pool party ink and topped it off with a simple sentiment adhered to the card front. Last, I added an in color boutique embellishment to the sentiment strip and a few candy dots to the card base.

I varied a little bit from the sketch, but I think the general concept is conveyed and the colors came from the inspiration photo.

Hmmm, I guess I better go work on that laundry now!

 

Supplies: (All supplies Stampin’ Up!)

CS: Whisper White  Ink: Blushing Bride, Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, So Saffron and Baked Brown Sugar  Stamp: Six Sided Sampler   Misc: candy dots, boutique embellishment, Stampin’ Mister

Hello Sweet Friend

Today I have two cards to share! After making the first card I had a bunch of scraps on my desk and decided to throw them all together for a second card. The first one is a bit more traditional while the second one is more freestyle collage with all the little scrap pieces. Come see!

I took inspiration in the colors – Blushing Bride, Black and Very Vanilla – from the Nacho Average challenge and started by pulling out pieces of paper and embellishments in the colors listed. The Modern Medley DSP has been making its way into all of my projects lately, ha! I love it! After layering the DSP and a strip of Blushing Bride cardstock onto the Very Vanilla base, I then stamped a decorative strip from Mosaic Madness along the bottom in black ink.

I pulled out my Secret Garden stamp set and matching dies to stamp and cut the flower and then crumpled it to add some texture. I layered a black fern piece behind the flower which I raised up with foam squares. I stamped the sentiment, and finished off the card by adhering Blushing Bride candy dots onto black sequins and added those to the center of the flower.

 

So next is my second card made from all the scraps and pieces leftover from the first card! I stayed with the original colors but added in lots of gold! 

I started by adhering strips of sticky tape to the card base and then sprinkled gold glitter over the strips. Looking at it now I should have measured it out and done five stripes, but I’ll remember that for next time. :) I’m throwing this little number in for the Just Add Ink stripes challenge!  Next, I took a white doily and embossed it with gold embossing powder. Take your VersaMark pad and direct to paper stamp all across the doily, sprinkle powder over the doily and then heat emboss. Then it was a matter of layering on all my little bits and pieces.

The fern stem was the left over piece from the die cut above. I used this same technique on a card that was in Practical Solutions for Paper crafters Vol. 2 on using leftovers/bits and pieces.  I wet and crinkled the edges before adhering it over the doily. Then tiny strips cut from the dsp were layered under and extra flower along with a strip of lace trim. I also popped up the flower with foam squares. Last came the black and gold sequins.

I’m hoping to get back in my craft room later today. It was a big transition at first switching rooms, but I think both Gwynie and I are happy with the change! She has a much bigger room in the basement that’s perfect for a teen, and having my room on the main level has been so nice because I go in there whenever I want and don’t feel like I’m ignoring the family. :)

Supplies: (All supplies Stampin’ Up!)

CS: Blushing Bride, Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Modern Medley DSP   Stamps: Secret Garden, Mosaic Madness, Six Sided Sampler (sentiment)   Ink: Blushing Bride, Basic Black   Misc: candy dots, Secret Garden dies, lace trim, doily, gold embossing powder, sticky tape, gold glitter; sequins (Hobby Lobby)

Hooray for Today!

A Saturday post? This is unreal right?! So needless to say I have been super inspired by some challenges to create and share my cards on a more frequent basis, woo hoo!

So today, I have a card that is bold. Because I said so. And because CASology had a cue card that said make it bold.  I’m a people pleaser so I did what they said, and because I wanted to.

 

I shared this card with some new friends and I think they liked it! It’s bold in the fact that it’s a white card base with some bright and bold colors. Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry and Strawberry Slush are the ink colors along with the Kaleidoscope patterned paper to create a pretty geometric look. No surprise the triangles and sentiment are from the Geometric stamp set. ;) Also used the new triangle punch that coincides with Geometric. They were meant to be, yes?

PS – White is super hard for me, sorry if it’s hard to see in the photo! I should make it a goal to get better at pics!

This could easily be a birthday card, a congratulations card, a retirement card or anything else you think a “hooray” applies to. That’s the versatility of this sentiment, and maybe a factor of my laziness in repurposing cards, HA! Regardless, someone deserves a giant hooray!

I hope today is a “hooray” day for some of our wrestlers! It would be amazing to see some high placers, but we’ll at least see some amazing matches!

Freakin Love You

It’s Valentine’s Day and I’m celebrating by cheering on 10 wrestlers as they enter the State Wrestling tournament! :) Oh the life of a wrestling coaches wife is glamorous isn’t it?! Just kidding! I love this “part-time hobby” of Jake’s!

Today I have one final valentine to share with you today. I made this with my teenager in mind and think she’d enjoy not only the colors but the sentiment as well. :)

This is an older technique but one that is kind of fun! It’s known as repeat or double stamping as you stamp once, and then keep stamping your image without inking up so it gets lighter and lighter.  I repeated the hearts across the front with bright colors, and then stamped the sentiment on a die cut tag and topped it off with a few embellishments.

PSSTT- there is a whole section of this technique in the Stamp It Techniques Vol 2! I have one card in that section that was super fun to make!

Supplies: (All supplies Stampin’ Up!)

CS: Basic Black, Whisper White, Crushed Curry, Silver Glimmer Paper  Ink: Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Bermuda Bay  Stamps: (heart) Hearts a Flutter, (sentiment) Yippee Skippee   Misc: candy dots, rhinestone, Owl Builder Punch (heart), Chalk Talk Framelits

Banner Love

Are you sick of pink and red and hearts and Valentine’s yet? Well, I have one project today and one more tomorrow to share with you so hopefully you’re not too tired of lovey projects!

Today’s card I’m linking up to SUO Challenges which is Stampin’ Up products only, and to use punches! I LOVE punches and although I’m not that clever in using my punches to make different shapes or full blown characters, I love that other people think up those fun ideas!

I used the new Banner Blast stamp set and coordinating punch from the Sale-a-Bration catalog for this sweet little valentine. I stamped three little hearts from the Geometrical stamp set onto Pink Pirouette cardstock and then embossed the card base. I then added a doily (folded in half), and layered on punched out banners from Modern Medley patterned paper, silver glimmer paper, and two stamped images from Banner Blast.

Ok one last valentine card to share tomorrow!

Cheer up Buttercup

I kinda fell in love with the Regarding Dahlias stamp set when I first saw it, and ordered it around early January with some Christmas money from my in-laws. I FINALLY had the chance to ink it up over the weekend and can’t wait to play with it some more!

I took inspiration from the color combo at The Paper Players and the challenge at Catherine and Cathy Create to make a Gold-i-licious card!

I super-duper love the gold vellum sheets in the new Occasions Catalog and thought to myself that I could make something similar with my vellum, stamps and embossing powder. I used the circle from Geometrical, stamped in Versamark onto the vellum sheet and then embossed it with gold powder. I love that it has some variations in it!

So to get the look, I used a Very Vanilla card base, added cardstock strips of Crisp Cantaloupe and Night of Navy, then layered over my custom made vellum. After that was done, I added a doily and strip of navy card stock. I had already cut out the shape and then stamped the flower and sentiment BUT with the magnetic platform you could stamp and then line up the shape so you get the exact placement you want with the Chalk Talk dies! So easy right?! Last, I added a little boutique details embellishment in Crisp Cantaloupe.

So I seriously love how this turned out! It’s not often that I get this excited when I finish a card but the colors, this stamp set, the small details, I just kinda love it. :)

Supplies (All supplies Stampin’ Up!)

CS: Very Vanilla, Crisp Cantaloupe, Night of Navy, Vellum

Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe, Night of Navy, VersaMark

Stamp: Geometrical (circle/sentiment), Regarding Dahlias (flower)

Misc: Chalk Talk dies, doily, gold embossing powder, heat gun, Boutique Details embellishment

 

Lattice Heart Love

Today is my hubby’s birthday! We’re going skiing today and I hope he enjoys it! We’ll be at State Wrestling this weekend but are hoping to do a mini overnight trip in the next weekend or so to celebrate! :)

Today  I have another valentine card to share! I had a blast over the weekend and was in the mood to make some red and love themed cards.

I used my Cameo to cut the lattice heart and it was the starter for my whole card. I used the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch, the color combo from Fab Friday and the inspiration code word Love from Addicted to CAS. Thanks for the great challenges everyone, I had a blast!

So, clean and simple is kind of my go to style and I love how effortless and clean it looks, but anyone that has done CAS knows that’s never usually the case. Less is more, but also can be hard to achieve that balance! :)

After I layered the heart lattice onto a Crumb Cake Card base I topped it with a strip of Coastal Cabana cardstock that had been stamped with some images from the latest Paper Pumpkin Kit. A little strip of lace trim topped with a threaded button finished it off!

 

Supplies:

CS: Crumb Cake, Real Red, Coastal Cabana – Stampin’ Up!

Ink: Coastal Cabana– Stampin’ Up!

Stamps: January Paper Pumpkin Kit– Stampin’ Up!

Misc: Antique lace trim, linen thread, red corduroy button (retired) – Stampin’ Up!; Silhouette Cameo, heart lattice cut file

 

Love You So

Sometimes it’s hard to make a masculine valentine, right?! I went a little grungy on this one but added a few embellishments to keep it pretty but I think it’s minimal enough that a guy wouldn’t mind too much. :)

I used the sketch from Hand Stamped Sentiments and the color combo from Just Add Ink to whip this little card up.

I started with a Sahara Sand card base, and stamped the Off the Grid image to create my first “circle” and then stamped a few hearts in Real Red to create my second “circle” in the sketch. That’s the beauty of using sketches as a starting point, you can really go anywhere with them! :)

I used a left over word bubble in Pool Party from a scrapbook layout I made last week and stamped the sentiment from Geometrical on it in Island Indigo ink. After that was adhered to the card I added some sequins and a mini heart punched from the Owl Builder punch. Last, a little arrow was added below the word bubble.

Tomorrow the hubby and I are going skiing for his birthday! He’s such an awesome guy and I hope he enjoys the day!

Be My Valentine

One more card for today! I had fun combining two challenges for this little valentine.

First, I used the sketch from Create with Connie and Mary and then the Mod Squad challenge of at least one heart and some glitter on your card.

I started off with a Crumb Cake card base and layered some Modern Medley patterned paper, along with a real red strip that was embossed with the new Arrows Textured embossing folder.

I added a strip of silver glimmer (glitter!) paper across the top and then layered on a doily that was stamped with a sentiment from the Delightful Dozen set. This is such a great starter set because of all the variety of sentiments! I added a smaller heart from the Banner Blast (SAB) set and then topped on a rhinestone and some sequins.

So now it’s *almost* time for The Walking Dead! Anyone else a fan?

Adore You

I have a quick card to share today! It’s almost Valentine’s Day and  I’ve been in a festive heart/love/red mood in my craft room this weekend!

This card was goes with the the colors at Color Throwdown and the Stampin Royalty All About Love challenge!

Now, I was a little liberal with the colors but you could say I was totally inspired by the color swatch. :) Instead of red I used Calypso Coral, and instead of Pink Pirouette I used Blushing Bride only because the stickers from my latest Stampin’ Up! Paper Pumpkin Kit were just screaming to be used, and they were pretty close to the colors! I did get the Crumb Cake, Pistachio Pudding and white in there, but (don’t be mad) I also got a little Summer Starfruit and Coastal Cabana in there because of the stickers. I’m a teeny rule breaker and rebel today. ;)

Pretty much everything on here except the little colored candy dots and boutique details embellishment came in my Paper Pumpkin Kit! I know I’ll be using the sticker sheets for awhile to come as there were tons of pieces to use!

Fun fact: I ended up doing quite a few cards in a craft/crumb cake base this weekend, ha! I’ll be sharing those later this week!

Supplies:

All supplies Stampin’ Up!

Ink: Calypso Coral

Misc: Card stock, stickers, heart bubble stamp – Paper Pumpkin Kit; candy dots (subtles collection)