More Painted Petals

I merged two stamp sets for this card.
Painted Petals and
Butterfly Basics

 I used my Stampin' Up markers to make this very colorful card.  Daffodil Delight, Blackberry Bliss, Bermuda Bay, and Melon Mambo.  I stamped the flowers twice, reinking with the markers for each stamping.  I then added the Wild Wasabi leaves.

The butterflies are stamped off once in each color listed above, punched, and added to the card with dimensionals.

Principal's Appreciation

This is a few of a set of 10 cards I presented to our Principal and Assistant Principal from my team.  We decided to have each of the kids make a card for Mrs. S. and Mrs. M.  It was wonderful to receive them when I was out with an injury earlier this year.  One from each kid with their thoughts.  So nice to read!

 The cards pictured here are in addition to the colors I made for Mom.  I reproduced them in sets of 2 so each of these wonderful ladies received a complete set of 10 using all of the "best" colors!  :)

 The colors I added here to the set I presented are:  at the top - Pumpkin Pie, directly above is Coastal Cabana

 Looking at this blue - I couldn't place it!  After looking,  it's Tempting Turquoise!  Whew!  I forgot!

 This is absolutely my favorite color - for so many reasons.  My favorite spring flowers - Lilacs... my favorite Scentsy wax 'flavor', my favorite color..... Lovely Lilac.  I added it with the 2 other purples in the set.

Here is the storage box they received the note cards in.  I used a tutorial online using the envelope punch board to make it.  It uses a belly band to keep it completely together.

Nephew's Birthday Card. Happy Birthday, Zach!

More Gorgeous Grunge!
I do LOVE this stamp set!

I used Zach's favorite colors - red and black with the addition of blue and gray just because red and black can be so dark.
I didn't intend this to be quite so busy, but this is how it turned out.... and he said he liked it. 

 

I used Pacific Point as the card base with a mat of black and the large happy cut from thinlits in black as well.  The ink colors - Real Red, Pacific Point, Smoky Slate, and Memento's Tuxedo Black.

Busy Busy Busy...  He won't get bored!!  :)

Card Refills for Mom Part 2

I'm continuing my quick and easy card stamping series.  The cards go together pretty quickly, and even faster in wonderful company.

 My two dear friends come over most Saturday afternoons for stamping, snacks, and girl talk.  It makes the time go so quickly, and we generally get quite a bit accomplished.

 Here's a continuation of the note cards I worked on for Mom, with the Stippled Blossoms a few days ago, and now these splats.

 My other favorite stamp set of late is Gorgeous Grunge.  I'm thrilled to say it is NOT retiring with the new catalog release!

 So HOW did I make all these cards so quickly?  You won't believe it!

 Mount the large splat on your block, ink it up quite well, and stamp 3 times WITHOUT reinking down the left/center of the notecard overlapping the stamp a little.  Then, take the envelope and with a freshly inked stamp, stamp it 4 times! 

 How easy is that!  Just 3 quick steps remaining.  Use the large swirl from the Everything Eleanor stamp set, ink it up well with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and stamp it over your 3 graduated images.

 Stamp a sentiment in matching ink with the splats.

Punch 3 flowers in matching cardstock, and mount with glue dots.  Place a pearl in the center of each flower, and voila!  You've got a very impressive set of notecards!

You'll recognize the colors as my usual color palette.
From the top left:  Blackberry Bliss, Perfect Plum, Pacific Point, Soft Sky, Daffodil Delight, Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo, and of course, Bermuda Bay!

Card Refills for Mom (Part 1)

I was quite upset to find out that one of my very favorite stamp sets, Stippled Blossoms is retiring.  It is not continued in the Stampin' Up 2015-2016 catalog.

I guess Ms. Shelli didn't hear me when I told her this was my very favorite stamp set... and we had a quiet moment together with no one else around in Dallas.  Oh well.  I will continue to use it! 

 The last time Mom and Dad came to visit, Mom brought her envelope holder from a Christmas ago saying it was empty, and showing me how empty and lonely it was. 

 After some searching and thinking - the thinking part of the creative process always takes me the longest.  How do I want the cards to look?  What embellishments?  What colors?  Composition?  Placement?  Oh, so many thoughts!!! 

 SO, this is the first of two sets she received.  If you know the Stippled Blossoms set, you know it's a 2 step stamping set with a flower base, and the piece I used for these cards is actually the detailed top piece.

 All I did with these cards was to take the top piece and stamp it as close as I could with some overlapping going on.

 I used coordinating card stock for matting and stamping the Happy Birthday on the white card stock.  From each mat, I punched two flowers to add to the center piece.

 So now you've seen each of the six cards with its envelope flap stamped as well.  I left the individual cards quite large so if you click on them, you'll see a very large image indeed.

 I haven't yet mentioned colors.  Pacific Point,  Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Blackberry Bliss, Bermuda Bay, and Tangerine Tango.  I'm not sure why the Blackberry Bliss photographs so muddy.  It's quite a pretty purple in person.

As any stamper does, I am most critical of my work, and will make the mat pieces smaller next time I make a version of these cards so more of the background shows.  Just thought I'd put that out there.

BIG Thank You's for our Administrative Assistants.

I purchased the stamp set with the HUGE Thank you for the top piece on the left.  It has a perfect spot to put a rhinestone... and looks so nice!  I never thought I'd actually use that huge Thank You piece... but here it is!  I did it!

 I used 3 of my favorite colors together.  I've talked about these before.  Bermuda Bay (YAY), Melon Mambo, and Daffodil Delight.

I put 3 of these cards together.  They're quite large, with each one using an entire piece of 8 1/2" by 11" folded in half.  Between 22 and 26 students signed the inside of each card, so they needed to be quite large for all those signatures!

Our secretaries do so much for us throughout the school year.  This is just a token of our esteem for them.

Ribbon Storage Solution

I recently realized the ribbon storage I had was seriously inadequate for the amount of ribbon I've collected over time.

 After searching Pinterest, I saw a basket similar to what I found...  I felt this was the best choice for me and the space I have to work with.  We found these at WM.  They're modular, and stackable.  I bought 3... and have one empty, just waiting to be filled with ribbon.

I have the spools wedged in pretty tightly, BUT with enough give to allow me to pull ribbon without it getting stuck or pulling up all the spools.

Playing with the Butterfly Thinlits

These two cards are TOTALLY CASE'D from Pinterest.  Love Love LOVE them!  They're actually quite quick to put together just as my other two cards from an earlier post this week.

 I discovered a shortcut from the directions I found from the Pinterest link.  Don't go through all the trouble of cutting half the butterfly, and then turning and cutting the other half of the butterfly, leaving the center intact....

 Just cut the butterfly from the center of the card stock in one piece.  After you have all your pieces cut and matted, glue the center body back into its place.  No fussy die cutting.  Why?  1.  It saves a lot of hassle.  2.  It goes much faster.  and the best reason of all:  3.  It's EASIER!  :)

Here are 2 of my samples using the Painted Blooms background DSP, and I added some colored spiky gems from Queen and Co. on the corners that (in person) actually match the colors on the cards!

Supplies I used:
Stampin' Up DSP Painted Blooms
Butterfly Thinlits Dies
Blushing Bride Card Stock
Soft Sky Card Stock
Whisper White Card Stock