Cheerful Celebration

Hi Stampers,

I'm back today with another of the cards we made at my New Catalog Open House last week using new stuff from the new catalog.

This card (I cased it from somewhere on the internet - maybe from Stampin' Connection). This card uses the new Floral District DSP and the colors were Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight and Lucky Limeade. I used the new Betsy's Blossoms stamp set for the flower and leaves - the round flower from the set was punched out with the Blossom punch and the center uses the Boho Blossoms punch. The Daffodil piece that the greeting (from Fabulous Phrases) is on uses the new Fancy Fan Embossing Folder and the greeting is punched out with the Large Oval punch and accented with pearls. The center of the flower uses the new Jumbo Pearls which were carried over from the Occasions mini catalog.

This card seems very summery to me and we're definitely having summer-like weather this week - hottest in 7 years tomorrow and more like August than June.

Keep Stamping,

Thanks for coming to my Open House!

Hi Stampers!

Just wanted to say thanks to all of you who came to my New Catalog Open House last night! We had a great time stamping, eating, shopping and talking. We made 3 cards too which I'll be sharing over the next week or so.

Here's the first card - it uses the new Make a Cake stamp set - I cased this from somewhere in blogworld and made a few modifications of my own. The main color is one of the new In Colors called Midnight Muse. I used it for the card base and the scallop circle punch as well as all the stamping. This stamp set is so cute because you can stamp the layers on different colors - here I used several pieces of the Patio Party DSP as well as Baja Breeze, Summer Starfruit and Primrose Petals cardstock for the cake pinwheel and the Happy Birthday, which is from Curly Cute. The white piece is run through with the Polka Dot Embossing Folder.

Hope you like this first cheerful birthday card - this stamp set and DSP really work well together.

Thanks again to those who came to my Open House!

Happy Stamping,

Wedding Good Wishes

Hi Stampers,

Sorry I haven't been a very good blogger lately. Between being very busy at work and preparing for my new catalog open house this Friday, life has been very busy.

This card actually uses both retired and new products - the colors are Shimmery White and Island Indigo - and the retired lace punch. All you do is punch a row of lace and then use the 1" circle punch to put the colored circles behind the lace - I really like this technique and I really wish they hadn't retired the punch. I accented the center with pearls and stamped the sentiment from Loving Thoughts.

Best wishes to the happy couple - we had a great time at their wedding with friends from high school - now some of our kids are getting married - where does the time go?

Hope you are finding a way to beat the heat here in Chicago! I'm really grateful for air conditioning this week!

Keep stamping,

Another happy couple...

Hi Stampers,

Hope everyone has enjoyed the beautiful weekend here in Chicagoland - since we put up with 2 days of rain last week to have such a great weekend. I was busy attending another bridal shower for a friend's daughter who is getting married this summer so today I'm sharing the card I made for the shower.

This card uses the Love & Laughter set which was from the Occasions Mini catalog but is now in the new 2012-13 catalog. I used Pretty in Pink and Shimmery White cardstock here since I wasn't sure what the wedding colors were. I stamped the dress in Versamark and embossed it with Iridescent Ice embossing powder so it was glittery. I used the scallop trim border punch on the bottom and tied a piece of organza ribbon at the top. A simple card but really sparkly in real life. Congrats to another happy couple!

Keep Stamping,

Only one more day for the current catalog...

Hi Stampers,

Well, only one more day to order from this year's catalog and I thought I'd share a card we made with almost all retiring items. I cased this from somewhere and it was a pretty simple card to make.

The colors are Blushing Bride & Whisper White. All of the items here are retiring except for the Whisper White cardstock and the Rhinestones. I used the butterfly punch on Blushing Bride DSP and the Finial Press Embossing Folder for the background. Two pieces of Blushing Bride Satin ribbon finish this card.

The second card is also from my Copy the Catalog class and uses the Delightful Doilies stamp set (not retiring) and the Flirtatious Specialty DSP (the pink doily) which is retiring. The colors here are Concord Crush, Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade and Whisper White - I really like this color combo! the Thank You is from Curly Cute and is accented with a Rhinestone.

Hope you like these cards and get your order in by tomorrow from this year's catalog - June 1st it's on to the new catalog!

Keep Stamping,

Green & White...

Hi Stampers,

Well I've decided to just keep sharing all the Glorious Green and White graduation cards I've been making over the last few weeks. Shane has lots of parties to go to over the next few weeks.

Here's a few more of those cards - these are made with the Go Graduate stamp set, which is still available as a download for My Digital Studio.
Once again I've used the retired Glorious Green, Whisper White and Basic Black. For the second card, I used Great Grads as well as the Star wheel. I also used the retired star punches, but you could use the Stars Big Shot die as well.

Enjoy this beautiful weekend weather we're having in Chicago - although it's going to be hot tomorrow - they say we're going to break a record for high temperatures - glad our air conditioning is working!

Keep Stamping,

More for the grads

Hi Stampers,

Well graduation was great - Shane gave one of the speeches and did a great job! I would have been very nervous speaking in front of almost 4000 people.

Shane isn't the only graduate in our family this year - two of his cousins are graduating from high school and one from middle school so that means more graduation cards.


Here are the cards I made for two of the other graduates - this first one using Elegant Eggplant, Silver and Whisper White . Nick plays football so I stamped the football from the Touchdown set in the background in Elegant Eggplant. The graduation words are from Great Grads and the "R" is from the Timeless Type Big Shot Alphabet. I accented that with several circle punches.

His sister Savannah's card uses Elegant Eggplant, the retired Summer Sun and Whisper White. I stamped another of the stamps from Great Grads in Elegant Eggplant and then used the retired star punches in Summer Sun and Elegant Eggplant. The background was wheeled with the Stars & Swirls wheel.

I love that making your own graduation cards lets you customize them for each person and their school!

Keep Stamping,