Team Leader Card

I REALLY LOVE the Stippled Blossoms stamp set!

Now that most of the colors I usually use for these cards are retiring, I'm going to have to rethink my color palette choices, BUT I'm sure some other combinations will present themselves.

One of my team members asked me to make a card for our team leader to show our appreciation for all the hard work and mediation she's done throughout this year....  it's been a LOT! :)

I stamped Pretty in Pink (soon retiring) and Regal Rose (soon retiring) for the flowers, and Certainly Celery (soon retiring) and Old Olive for the leaves.
The background cardstock is Regal Rose (sr) with Old Olive embossed as the band across.  Pretty in Pink ribbon (long retired), Framelits, and the Just for You from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  I used a Sharpie on the rhinestones to give them some color for the flower center.

Love the paper doilies!  They're so pretty - this one was cut in half, and placed under the Old Olive band.

In the morning, we'll all sign it and the card will be presented to Martha Friday during our morning meetings.

2013 - 2015 Stampin' Up In-Colors

This is always an exciting time of the year!  We get the previews for the new In-Colors coming to Stampin' Up for the next 2 year period.

Sometimes I feel there are misses, or the colors just don't appeal to me.

This year is different.... even though I thought I wouldn't like one of the colors, seeing it in person and playing with it a little, I really LIKE it!  AND it's a shade of green which makes it even more ironic. :)

SO HERE are the new Stampin' Up In Colors for the next 2 year period.

 Have to just say, I LOVE  the Strawberry Slush!  It's a little unusual, but I have a Strawberry themed kitchen, and it's incredibly hard to find strawberry things.  :)  This color is perfect!

 This is the one I thought I wouldn't like - and actually, Pistachio Pudding is a much brighter green, but working with it, I like it a lot. :)

REALLY like the Coastal Cabana....  a GREAT tropical color!


SO I hope you've enjoyed my preview on the new In-Colors!  They will be available for purchase on May 31st.  You can click on the Stampin' Up logo on the top right corner, and go to Shop Now to order these, the papers, reinkers, and all kinds of great stamps!

Nephew's Birthday Card

My youngest nephew just turned 18, and is crazy about planes.

I saw the rolled bills as candles somewhere, and thought it was a great idea!

I used the new Stampin' Up clay with some star molds I had, and used the markers to color them along with some Stickles for some sparkle.

This card was sent in a priority mail box since I was positive it would be ruined or lost in a regular envelope.

Sure hope he liked the card!!!

Stampin' Up's Color Refresh, 2013! 10 Colors Retired, 10 Colors Inspired!

So I'll admit, I wrote the title of the post because it rhymed.... some of the colors I do NOT think are inspired, but it sounded good. :)

Some of the new colors in this refresh I do like....  Bermuda Bay, Island Indigo (it's a good teal color) and I do really like the new Smoky Slate color.  That's really the only NEW color.

This is the flier we received showing the color families, which colors were being retired, and the new colors coming in as permanent family members. 

 Here's a sample of ALL the 10 new Refreshed colors... stamped with 2 stamps.  I used the Distressed Dots (soon retiring) and the Hello Doily stamp which is one of my very favorites.  On each picture, I also wrote the name of the new color.

Have I said before how much I  LOVE LOVE LOVE the new ink pads???  The might need reinking sooner than the previous pads did, but they give excellent ink coverage!  LOVE LOVE LOVE them!!

Click on a picture to see a larger version.  Below are all former in-colors.

  

    

  

   

 

Here is the newest color:  Introducing Smoky Slate.  It is the only NEW color in the Color Refresh

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Next post - the 2013 - 2015 In colors!

My Friend's Card - GREAT job, Melissa!!

Two of my very dear friends come over on Saturdays - sometimes very often if we have big projects to work on, sometimes seldomly when things get super busy....


My friend Melissa made this card for her Dad for this coming Father's Day.  I asked her if I could post it here on my blog, just because it looks so awesome!

She stamped the old-time bicycle on vanilla cardstock and used a circle punch to start the center and tore the light blue and kraft paper to make the torn vintage style window.

She also used brads, washers, and some Tim Holtz products to finish off this card.  If you look closely, you can see "most' of her in the background. :)

SO love this card!!

2013 Christmas Card Challenge - May 2013!

 They always say April showers bring May flowers - well, here in the mid-south (some say the Southwest).... we had SNOW on May 2nd - which breaks all known records...

It's been a LOT colder than normal this year, and with a 2 year long drought - the amount of rain we've had lately is a wonderful thing!


On that same bent, the Christmas Card Challenge theme for May is:

SNOWFLAKES!

Punched, embossed, hand-cut, scherenschnitte (I really LOVE that technique), Cricut cut, etc. etc. etc. 

Click HERE to see the entire set of rules for my Christmas Card Challenge!

Basically, create 6 cards based on the month's theme including the inside sentiment and stamped envelopes to coordinate with the stated theme.

I've used this Cartridge before, and spent a little time working on picking small pieces but I think they turned out very well!!
There is a Nativity snowflake, snowmen snowflakes, gingerbread men snowflakes, Christmas candy snowflakes, and a Santa snowflake!  It cracks me up that there's a snowman snowflake since snowflakes are their source. LOL  :) 

I also embossed each background with 2 different folders - an old favorite, and a new larger design.

I hope you enjoy these really unique, unusual snowflake cards!

     

              

One of the new rules this year is to have the insides and envelopes all complete.  I did stamp the insides of the cards with a sentiment, but forgot to take a picture!  Whoops!  :(

 

 

Five Question Friday - May 3, 2013

It's been a LONG time since I've answered a 5 Question Friday!!!  Sometimes the questions don't quite fit, or I forget because I'm so CRAZY busy.....  so here goes for today!!!!!

1. What is your next home improvement goal?

My husband wants to put patio furniture out in the back - but I keep vetoing that choice simply because it's WAY too hot here to sit outside in the summer.

I want granite/soap stone counters in my kitchen. That's my goal. Have them all picked out. 

2. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be? No religious texts (ie Bible, Quran, Torah, etc, etc)...

I like to read Jane Austen spin-offs on Pride and Prejudice. I've read probably 7 or 8. My favorite: To Conquer Mr. Darcy. That is my choice.

3. What is on top of your refrigerator?

We keep our lunch bags for work and cereal on top of the fridge.

4. What are your favorite or most used phone apps?

I don't have an iphone. :( My phone is mostly used for texting. Works like a charm.

5. What's the one thing you hate most about your spouses job?

Sometimes he has a duty shift he can't change and it messes up our travel or other plans. I mostly dislike that his co-workers talk crap about teachers, and don't value the job we do as teachers. It makes me very angry.

 

Commissioned Project - Signature Book

A little over a month ago, one of my colleagues came to me about putting together a signature book for one of our very special teachers who was chosen as our Teacher of the Year!

I work with some of her students, have been in some meetings with her and know exactly how fantastic she is!  SO.....  after my normal amount of 'thinking time' for a big project like this, and one false start, this is what I came up with.

The main theme is Spring and along the way  incorporated some of her personal likes/activities.   My Cricut got a good work-out on this project.  Almost every page has Cricut cuts, lettering, and lots of goodies.

 On the front cover I used my Cuttlebug quilled flowers with some lettering from the Plantin Schoolbook cart and lots of inking and Stickles!  If you look closely, you should see the 'fade' inking with 3 shads of pinks.

 I discovered that she is crazy for OSU, and you'll see it incorporated around the book.  The inside cover will be used as a dedication page from the staff.

 Here's another variation on the spring theme with Stampin' Up flower trim, Cricut cuts, and a flower border I found at HL.
*As I was working on the project, I sent out an email to my colleagues looking for some words they would use to describe her and incorporated them into the pages, either cut with different Cricut fonts or stamped and added to the pages.

 These two pages include Stampin' Up doilies I inked and a stamp set with the framelits dies to cut the words.  The Iris stamp comes from another company using the tole technique of layering.  I stamped 5 of these, colored and layered them.

 Here you see another one of the descriptive words from colleagues, a flower border, and a Cottage Cutz die I bought in Tennessee when we were traveling.  I also layered this one, inked, and used the Stickles!

 This page was originally going to be butterflies, bees, and ladybugs, but it seemed WAY too busy, so this is what I came up with.  LOVE these bees!  So pretty!

 Just an OSU page!

 Here we have yellow daisies with blingy centers, white doilies, one of those adjectives, and a fork bow!

 Our campus has a sister school in China with which we have visit exchanges!  Every year they bring students here in October, and we take a group of students in early May.  She's been lucky enough to go to China with this project and will go again, I'm sure!!

This is the last page of the book....  she and her husband are travelers!   Found that out at one of the meetings, and I just had to include it since we are big travelers as well.  AND of course, some more OSU.

I hope you've enjoyed my take on a signature book.... a very specialized signature book!

Cricut Cartridges used:  1.  Walk in My Garden, 2.  Plantin Schoolbook, 3.  Lyrical Letters, 4. Calligraphy Collection, 5.  Pagoda, 6.  Sentimentals
All ink:  Stampin' Up.

Flip-Flop Wreath!

Saw this wreath on Pinterest, and I just HAD to make it!!  It's so cute, and is the perfect combination of tropical colors!!!


Added the other "flip" tonight to make the wreath complete!  My neighbors stopped by, and the little girl (about 7) looked up at it and said, "WOWWWWW!"  Her Mom and I got a good laugh because it was SO cute!! :)

 Materials sources:  Patterned flip-flops - Target, solid flips, flowers, and all 'bling' jewels from Michael's.

 Hot Glue gun, Glue dots, and E-6000 adhesive on a sturdy white-foam wreath.

It was really fun to make, and my 2 crafting friends were over, so we had lots of fun, and as always, 3 opinions work well to make a project GREAT!!!

Thanks Melissa and Dee!

2013 Christmas Card Challenge - April!

April!  Has Spring arrived or is Old Man Winter hanging on where you are?  We've got a mix - 80° one day, 30° the next - snow predicted, but the daffodils are blooming, and my grape hyacinths are up in the flower bed in front of the house.  Who knows what's next?  Spring?  I hope so - Christmas might be my favorite holiday, but Spring is my favorite season.

Let me jump right into the theme for April:  Christmas Icons!

Sounds strange, doesn't it, but when I searched online - there were thousands of images!  Then I really started getting ideas!  Put it this way... I didn't make 6 cards this month. ;)

SO, just for inspiration, I have some of the images I found online.  Here they are:

Alright - on to my samples for April's challenge.  I mentioned that I didn't just make 6 cards this month, I actually ended up with 20, or I should say I STOPPED at 20!

We didn't travel this year for Spring Break, so I had the whole week to play in my craft room in addition to some other things I wanted to get accomplished.

OK, for my first 6 cards - a Christmas Door - what's more iconic to Christmas than a door with a wreath on it?  We made these at a Stamp-A-Stack this past November, and I really loved 'em!  Isn't that antique brad doorknob cute?  I used 2 different brads.

 

 The wreath was made with the 'new' 1 1/4" scallop punch and a 3/4 inch scallop punch from some of my green scraps.  Gotta LOVE using scraps when you can! Above you can see my craft table.  NO, it's never clean - I just can't work in clean.  It isn't possible. ;)

For the next set of 6 cards, I got out my Jolly Bingo Bits stamp set and had to choose!  There are 24 in all, and in a moment you'll see how I incorporated a few others for the inside and envelope.  They make wonderful Inchies!  I also added some rhinestones and Stickles to add some interest.

 Click HERE for a link on how to make these awesome, easy, quick bows!

 Here you've got the envelope and inside view of these mini-icon cards.
"No naked envelopes" is a quote I heard from Shelli Gardener at the Regional in Dallas last month - It resonates - 'naked envelops' - LOL


Here is the last set - I actually made 8 of these in total 2 of each design, and one red and one green for each icon.
These are a shameful CASE from another Stampin' Up Demo with some of my own touches added.  I remember clearly when I first saw them.    Enjoy!

 Yes, the gingerbread men, trees, cocoa cups, and candy canes hold the card fronts together!
Below is a picture of the inside - I made an extra die cut from the original cardstock for the backing to give it extra strength.

 Here are the envelopes - giving just a little hint of what's inside.

Please leave a comment. Thanks so much!