Simple Birthday Greetings

Hi Stampers,

Sorry it's been a while since my last post - the start of the school year has been a busy one and I had my Annual New Catalog Open House over the weekend so that has kept me busy as well. We had a great time making some cards with new colors and stamp sets as well as eating and spending time with a great group of stampers. Also, for the 4th year in a row, the only price of admission was to bring non-perishable food for the local food pantry, which I have been volunteering at for over a year so I was able to collect some food for a very deserving place.

Today I'm sharing one of the cards that we made - this one uses new DSP and a new stamp set called Happiest Birthday Wishes - this is a hostess set so the way to get this set is to host a Stampin' Up workshop! We stamped the presents in Poppy Parade and punched it out with the Wide Oval Punch. This fits perfectly in the oval made by one of our new Big Shot Embossing Folders, which is part of a two folder set called Designer Frames - you get both an oval and a rectangle frame in this set. The top half of the card is Just Eat Cake DSP and another Wide Oval stamped in Early Espresso on Wild Wasabi cardstock from the Perfect Punches. The card also uses one of the new 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon in Chocolate Chip.

We have enjoyed absolutely beautiful weather this week, but we're also thinking and praying for those affected by Hurricane Irene - hope that things are back to normal for those affected soon!

Keep Stamping,

Firsts & Lasts

Hi Stampers,

I can't believe how time flies, but today my younger son started his senior year at York HS. Since he was 2 weeks old when Jordan started kindergarten, Shane has been at school for almost his whole life!

So I thought I'd make a school card for today's share and show you his first & last first day of school pictures - I'm sure he's glad to be done with our tradition LOL.

We are so proud of the young man Shane has become!


With school in mind, I thought of this image from the Greeting Card Kids stamp set. This set reminds me of the "Dick & Jane" books that all of us of a certain age used to read in school. This set also reminds me that much to my sons' amazement, I told them that I had to wear dresses to public school until I was in 5th grade, even in the snowy Chicago winters. They couldn't believe that.

The colors for this card are Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi, Marina Mist, Real Red, Cajun Craze, Basic Black and Crumb Cake. First I stamped the image in Black StazOn on our Watercolor Paper so I could watercolor with blender pens and ink. I also used the Blush Blossom marker to watercolor the image as well. Then I stamped the school bus image from Every Little Bit on the Daffodil and colored in the heart with Real Red marker. I used the 2.5" circle punch to punch out the image. I also took a strip of Real Red and a 3" circle (Big Shot die) and used the Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder for the Big Shot for some texture. I attached the whole thing to a Marina Mist card and it was finished.

A retro kind of card for a nostalgic kind of day. I know Shane will have a great senior year! I just said to my husband today that I don't remember a year that it wasn't sunny on the first day of school and today didn't break that streak - our weather is gorgeous today.

Keep Stamping,

This is Clearly a Great Project!

Hi Stampers,

Sorry it's been awhile since I posted anything, but these last two weeks have been the busiest of my summer so far! My son starts his senior year in high school next week and since I volunteer quite a bit at the high school, my days have not been my own. Anyway, I wanted to share a really cute project I made at a recent Demonstrator Only event I attended.

These clear cards are made with Stampin' Up's Window Sheets - the finished size is 3X3". We took the 3X6" window sheets and scored them at 3". Then we took the window sheets and used the Scallop Square die for the Big Shot to cut the Window Sheets. Then we added a square of Whisper White inside where you can write a message. The flowers use the new In Colors: Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder, Calypso Coral & Pool Party. The centers of the flowers are the great new In Color brads as well as 3/4" circles. The flowers are made with the Fun Flowers die and the smaller flower is also embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots folder.

Loved making this project and the good time we had stamping at Conventional 2011!

Have a great weekend,

More Wisteria...

Hi Stampers,

Well after a weekend mini-vacation to Springfield, IL and very hot St. Louis, I attended an all-day Stamping Event my Stampin' Up Upline hosted. We had a great time and I'll share those projects in the future, but as usual at our events, we made cards to swap. Today I'm sharing that card with you.

This card uses my favorite new In Color - Wisteria Wonder, as well as Elegant Eggplant and Whisper White. I stamped the image from My Friend, a new stamp set. I stamped the flower image twice moving the stamp over just a little when I stamped it the second time. I really like the shadow effect this gives (and it's really easy to do with Clear Stamps). I decided to accent the flowers with Elegant Eggplant butterflies using the Big Shot Embosslit and accented the butterflies with various pearls. The sentiment is from A Word for You and I also used the Wisteria Wonder ruffled ribbon. The background piece is Elegant Eggplant and I used the Scallop Eyelet border punch and the card base is Wisteria Wonder. I really like the new In Colors.

Stampin' Up has a great special this month - Buy 3 packages of DSP, get one FREE. Contact me for the Details!

Hope you have a great week!