Time to say Goodbye to the Summer Mini...

Hi Stampers,

Well, since most of our kids are back in school, and Labor Day is right around the corner, it's time to say Goodbye to all of the great sets in Stampin' Up's Summer Mini Catalog, which ends on August 31.

Today's card is one of the projects we did at my "Copy the Catalog" Stamp Camp in June and it features one of the Hostess sets available in the Summer Mini - Punched Posies.

This card uses Real Red, So Saffron, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie and as soon as I saw it, I knew I would have to duplicate it for my Stamp Camp. Each of the flower images is stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder and then punched out with the XL Fancy Flower, Scallop Circle, Five Petal and 1" Circle Punches. The centers of the flowers are the Filigree, Silver & Neutrals brads as well as a Red Button from the Playground Buttons. The greeting is stamped in Chocolate Chip and is from Thank You Kindly on Confetti White cardstock. The ribbon used is Old Olive 5/8" Grosgrain. I used White Crochet Thread for the bow on the Pumpkin Pie flower. The bottom part of the card is Tempting Turquoise cardstock and a strip of So Saffron cardstock.

Hope you enjoy this last taste of the Summer Mini! Have a great weekend!

Thanks for your support on this journey...

Hi Stampers,

Today I am sharing a card with you that I created as a Thank You to the family & friends who supported my son when he went on a summer Missions Trip to Memphis in July. We really appreciated the people who were willing to give and pray for him on this trip where they worked on turning a house into a food pantry and held a VBS program for the kids. It was a hot week but they had a great time!

Anyway, this card showcase the stamp set Sentimental Journey from the Summer Mini Catalog, as well as the coordinating DSP called Travel Journal. I took a piece of the DSP and scored it to show the reverse side of the paper as well. Then I stamped several images on Crumb Cake in Crumb Cake ink. The Thanks So Much is from Trendy Trees and is stamped in Night of Navy and layered on Pumpkin Pie and Night of Navy punched with the Word Window, Designer Label and Modern Label punches.

It's always good to thank those who have helped and Shane (who celebrated his 16th birthday yesterday) is thankful for the people who helped him during this trip.

Keep Stamping,

Happy Father's Day - I know it's a day late...

Hi Stampers,

Well, I know this Father's Day Card is a day late, but I just returned very early this morning from a great vacation with my family and so that's why I'm posting this now. My sons got to spend all day with their dad (mostly in the car but also at a baseball game in Pittsburgh) so they haven't given him a card yet, but he will like this one I'm sure. He got the day off from driving on the way home because it's Father's Day (and also because both Jordan and Shane can drive now). I helped a little on the way home too. Of course you could also easily use this card for a masculine birthday card by changing the sentinment.

Anyway, this card with you that is another of the cards we made at the "Spring into Summer" stamp camp and uses several great products from the summer mini - the single Motorcycle stamp, the new Cog punch and the Square Lattice Embossing folder for the Big Shot. The colors for the card are Basic Grey, Basic BlackWhisper White and Real Red. I stamped the motorcycle on Whisper White with Black StazOn because I watercolored the bike with Real Red and Going Grey (soon to be retiring color). After I watercolored the bike, I spritzed it with the Silver Foil Smooch Spray (another product from the Summer Mini). I used the Cog Punch for the gears and a strip of Basic Grey under the motorcycle. The greeting is from Teeny Tiny wishes (you really need this set - one of the most versatile greeting sets in the catalog which fits perfectly in the Word Window punch. I attached that to a piece punches with the Modern Label punch in Basic Black.

I hope all the dads out there had a very Happy Father's Day!

It was a Sweet Celebration for the Stanley Cup Champs!

Hi there Stampers,

Well it's been a busy week and some computer and internet issues have kept me from posting anything new - that and we were busy watching our Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup! What an exciting week for us as we are champions of the NHL. I know our family had a good time watching all those hockey games and one of my sons and my husband went to the victory parade and rally yesterday.

Now on to some stamping - this was one of the projects we made at last month's "Spring into Summer" stamp camp and I got the inspiration for this on Stampin' Connection, one of the great resources for Stampin' Up demonstrators. Changed up the color scheme and you have this card, which uses the Sweet Scoops set from the Summer Mini and the Island Oasis DSP. I used the Big Shot several times on this project - one was the Texturz Plates to give the Tempting Turquoise card some texture and also to cut the largest circle with the Circles die and the Island Oasis DSP. The colors are Pumplin Pie, Rose Red, So Saffron and Tempting Turquoise and this is a pocket card so I used Stick Strip to put the two layers of Tempting Turquoise togeter. I used Chocolate Chip to stamp the greeting and a Chocolate Chip Marker for the Faux Stitching around the card as well as the 1.25" circle punch for the half circle at the top. The inside card is Whisper White as are all the pieces I stamped the ice cream and cone on. Those were cut out - you can have as many scoops as you want of this ice cream! I used the 1" and .75" circle punches for the accents, as well as a Tempting Turquoise button tied with linen thread. A piece of Pumpkin Pie Striped ribbons accents the greeting and it was indeed a Sweet Celebration here in Chicagoland yesterday for our Blackhawks!

Enjoy!

More Graduation

Hi Stampers,

June has certainly been a busy month so far and today I'm sharing a graduation card I made for a friend of my son's who just graduated from college. I used several products from the Summer Mini - the Square Lattice Embossing Folder and the Happy Grad stamp.

I always try to use school colors for graduation cards and so for this card I used Night of Navy and Summer Sun (a soon- to-be retired color) for this card as well as both of the star punches.

This is a really easy card to make and I'm sure I'll use it again with different colors for other graduation parties this summer.

Honoring those who serve our country...

Hi Stampers,

Since it's Memorial Day, I thought I'd share a card that honors our country and those who serve and have served and sacrificed to keep us a safe and free country. I got the inspiration for this card from Stampin' Connection, a fantastic resource (a great perk of being a Stampin' Up demonstrator).

This is actually another of the cards from my Spring into Summer stamp camp - it uses one of the new jumbo wheels from the summer mini catalog called "Red, White & Blue". This is a 3X6 card using Real Red Textured Cardstock and Not Quite Navy cardstock, which I distressed. Then I wheeled on Confetti White Cardstock, first in Real Red and then in Not Quite Navy. I trimmed out some of the images and then used Dimensionals for pop them off the card.

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend - so far the weather has been great, the kids are done with school, the Blackhawks won game 1 last night and tomorrow I'll be going to the parade here in Elmhurst (my son will be marching with the York band).

It's Graduation Season Again...

Hi Stampers,

Well, it's the end of May so it's once again time to celebrate all the graduates...from Middle School, High School, College and beyond. Tomorrow is Graduation at our High School and while we don't have a graduate this year, I'm sure my kids will be invited to celebrate those who are graduating. The card I'm sharing today was part of the "Spring into Summer" stamp camp I had last night and it uses our high school's colors and the new Go, Graduate set from the Summer Mini Catalog.

I used the Square Scallop Die for the backing piece (here in Glorious Green - one of the colors we'll soon be saying Goodbye to) and the card itself is Basic Black Textured cardstock. I stamped the hat from Go, Graduate in Whisper White craft ink and then stamped another hat in Glorious Green on the same color cardstock. I stamped Congratulations Graduate in Glorious Green and cut it apart for the greeting.

Then for the inside of the card, I stamped the gowns and feet image from the Go, Graduate set with Black Stazon on Whisper White cardstock and watercolored them with Glorious Green ink. I added the saying in Glorious Green too for the inside.

So whatever graduation you are celebrating this year (in our case my niece Lindsay is getting her Master's Degree in Education - Congratulations!) enjoy the celebration!

Keep Stamping,

New Summer Mini Stuff...

Hi Stampers,

Today I thought I'd share something from the Summer Mini, which started on May 1st. This was my design for my monthly meeting/shoebox swap with my demonstrator group.

This card uses the new Watercolor Trio set and this card is made with Cameo Coral, Almost Amethyst and Certainly Celery cardstock. I used the new Square Lattice Embossing folder on the Almost Amethyst. I colored the flower with Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery and Summer Sun Stampin' Write markers and stamped the leaves with Certainly Celery on Very Vanilla cardstock. The ribbon is Very Vanilla Taffeta. Another of the leaves is stamped in Cameo Coral on the base card.

Cameo Coral & Almost Amethyst are two of the colors that will be retiring. All of the Fond Farewell colors (see the sidebar on the left) will be "while supplies last" as of June 1st, so if you want to order them, let me know as soon as possible so you don't miss out!