Stamp Club Fun

In no particular time frame order I will be posting a variety of cards from this year over the next few weeks. I hope you find something to spark your creativity.

 

 With a request to use the Festive Flurry Stamp Set and Framelits from my August hostess and dear friend Cathy, the color combo I came across earlier for the Pals Paper Arts Color Challenge #167  and finding the instructions for the little tote box at Crafty Hallet, I had a great time designing this set for club.

We made our own patterned designer paper for this project with the Festive Flurry stamps and the Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe and Pistachio Pudding color combo. Two fun Christmas cards and a little gift tote and our holiday crafting has begun.

My new Thinlit Card Dies had just arrived off the UPS truck, so I had to use one of them in the design. My first Circle Card Thinlet did not work real well with my Big Shot and was not quite as successful for our club project as I would have liked. True to their good customer service, Stampin' Up! sent out a replacement. There are not too many companies anymore that stand behind their products like SU! does. Their products are wonderful and the service for my customers or myself is fabulous.  I just received my 5 year pin and hope to have many more years as a demo to come.

Products used include, Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe and Pistachio Pudding inks and cardstock, Whisper White cardstock, Festive Flurry Stamp set and matching Framelits, Circle Card Thinlet Die set, Very Merry Tags stamp set, 7/8" & 1 1/4" scallop circle punches & 1/8" silver ribbon.

A Baby Card

I really enjoyed making this card for baby Gryffyn's baby shower. It came out beautiful and elegant just as planned :0)

I used Melon Mambo and Pink Pirouette cardstock, Melon Mambo ink, Paper Doily Sizzlit, 2 1/2 inch circle, large oval and scallop oval punches, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder and a butterfly die set from another company. I also used a retired stamp set called Little Angel.

If you have the Paper Doily die and have a bit of trouble with it, I use an extra piece of cardstock in my stack and it helps make the little pieces pop out easier and cleaner. So I use my platform, add a piece of cardstock on top, a cutting plate, my die, the cardstock I am cutting and then the top cutting plate. It might make running through your machine a bit tight, I just go slow and steady.

Hope your day is Blessed!

Classes

I am cooking up ideas for some new classes this year. Starting up Stamp Club again last August was refreshing for me and challenging too and I like challenges. We had a successful Christmas Card Class in October and I had the best time designing the cards. A couple were cased with twists of course. I focused on using the new mini stack Festival Prints DSP in the SU! Holiday Catalog. It was so successful that everyone is asking me to design a new class with the mini stack Print Poetry DSP in the new Spring Catalog. So without further ado, here are the cards from my October Class, look for new designs coming soon.

Of course I had to go back and redo the mitten cards above and add a loop to the string after one of my customers in class did that. It was the last set I designed and I was under a time crunch so I didn't loop them. It's the little details that make a difference sometimes. 

As you can see this was a Big Shot intensive class.

Creative Sketches Week 30 Holiday/Celebration

 

Whew! Made it to post this week. Life has been nothing if not crazy lately.

This week we have a sketch and holiday/celebration theme. Since I am still so tired I went with easy. I used the Paisley Petals DSP only available this month as a special preview order for the new catalog coming in July. I used the Sizzix Circles #2 die to cut my circles. Which means I have more circles to play with to make another card or two since that die cuts 4 circles in various sizes. The Sincere Salutations sentiment "Best Wishes" gave me some options for this card. I can use it for several different occasions. Cardstock is Old Olive and Very Vanilla and the ink is Old Olive. The Butterfly Punch provided my accent, ran through the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder and embellished with Basic Pearls.

Don't forget to pop by Creative Sketches and see what other wonderful creations have been designed this week.

 

Creative Sketches Week 25 Holidays and Celebrations

 Welcome to another installment of our Creative Sketches challenges. The 4th week is traditionally holiday or any day you celebrate and we have a sketch to up the ante on the challenge.

This weeks card is perfect for a birthday, promotion, retirement or any other celebration you wish to acknowledge. I chose bright happy colors. Daffodil Yellow, Tempting Turquoise and Melon Mambo cardstocks and inks, Brights Stack designer paper in Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo pom-pom trim, Basic Rhinestones, Scallop Circles #2 Big Shot Die, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch, small scallop is a non-SU punch, En Francais background stamp, swirl is from Elements of Style, sentiments from On Your Birthday and Fabulous Phrases.


Don't forget to check out the other designers great cards
on the Creative Sketches site.

Another Peek at Feb. Club

 Hi Again! I'm back with our remaining 2 cards from club this month. These were so much fun to design and create.
 Our hostess this month liked blues as her favorite color and she likes fairly simple card designs so that was my challenge in designing for club. We gave our punches and  Big Shot a good workout on this months designs.

Another favorite set of mine from the Occasions Mini Catalog is Thanks for Caring. I have already used this set for several Cards for Troops designs. For this card we used Pear Pizazz, Baja Breeze and Very Vanilla cardstocks, Springtime Vintage designer paper, Very Vanilla Taffeta ribbon, Basic Pearls, Framed Tulips Embossing Folder, Two Step Bird and Designer Label punches, Dimensionals and the Sale-a-bration free set Sweet Summer.

We learned the Inlaid Embossing technique. Everyone loved it! It's definitely magical how the card transforms. We used Baja Breeze and Very Vanilla cardstocks, Springtime Vintage designer paper, Bring on the Cake stamp set, Top Note die, Finial Press Embossing Folder, 5 Petal Flower, Boho Blossoms and Decorative Label punches, Dimensionals and Not Quite Navy Ink.

Beautiful and Elegant card designs suitable for any occasion.

 Hope you enjoyed a peek into this months club designs.

Christmas Card Fun

 This card was so much fun to create for our groomer, Lisa. She has taken very good care of our rescue baby, Reilly, since we adopted him from Second Chance.  He's a black and white Springer Spaniel and this doggy looks like a miniature Reilly. The dog stamp is from Penny Black, I used the Candy Cane DSP from Stampin' Up and Real Red cardstock with a touch of silver. I used my Stampin' Up markers to color the image and Dazzling Diamonds glitter. Merry Christmas sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set.

 Another miniature "Reilly" on the inside of the card, makes it fun.

 Every once in awhile you need to take a class just for fun to keep the creativity flowing. This class at our local stamp store was just that, fun and good for creativity. It's a side step card and it sure was a lot of fun to work on. Guaranteed to bring a smile.

 My first love will always be oriental style art. This card is my gift to some of my Oriental Stamp Art friends this year. It has received a host of compliments already. I like being able to mix and match my art supplies together. Stampin' Up's paper, inks and markers give me a quality base for all my card making. I used Real Red, Brushed Silver and Whisper White cardstocks, Real Red marker, and Dazzling Diamonds glitter. The kitty was color with a Copic marker. Stamps from Stampavie and the former Inka Stamps now Scroll Works.

This was my main Christmas card for family this year. I used the Come to Bethlehem stamp set, Night of Navy card stock and ink, Cherry Cobbler ink, the Top Note die cut in Whisper White, and Dazzling Diamonds glitter. All SU except the silver paper.

Creative Sketches Week 5 Challenge

 Squeaking by just under the wire this week. Irritated my shoulder last week and the steroids just are no fun at all. This week's sketch gets to do double duty as my youngest daughter's birthday card. She turns 22 today. I hope she doesn't peek at my blog because she doesn't receive  her card until the family birthday dinner tomorrow ;0) She has requested Olive Garden and German chocolate cake, yum!

This was a quick and easy card to make. I spend some time working on 3-D flowers from time to time so the flower was already done and ready to go. I just added a rhinestone to the center to give it some sparkle. Because I make my flowers from scraps of cardstock, I had to pull a couple of retired colors for this card. I used the 1 3/4" scallop circle punch for the flowers.  I used the Finial Press embossing folder for the background. I cut the pieces to size first and then ran them through the Big Shot together at the same time. I debated punches for the verse and picked the new Decorative label punch again, 

framed it and used Stampin'  Dimensionals. The sentiment is from Curvy Verses.


While my daughter may have to wait for the family birthday dinner for her card, she still gets pampered a bit today. We are off for lunch, manicures and pedicures. Everyone can use a bit of pampering.

Almost forgot, to view more exciting creations using this sketch, be sure to visit the Creative Sketches blog.

Creative Sketches Technique & Sketch Wk 3

Wow, it's late but I got my week 3 card done. Woohoo! Still have to backtrack to week 1 but hopefully in this next week. Life keeps throwing me curve balls. This weeks challenge was to use a dry embossing technique with a sketch. I took liberties with the sketch design. Here is the sketch:

Pretty sweet sketch design. I opted to make a pink card this week honoring Breast Cancer Awareness month. I am really tickled how it turned out.

I used 3 pinks but it looks like 2. The card base is Pink Pirouette, the frame is Regal Rose and both ribbons are Pretty in Pink. I used the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder, the Ribbon of Hope stamp and the sentiment is from the Hope Happens set. I love the variety of sizes in the Basic Pearls, using the medium ones for the flowers. I love using embossing folders and running them through my Big Shot. The make very quick, elegant backgrounds for cards without a lot of work. They are also great for adding texture to punched shapes. I use them a lot when designing for From Our Hearts.

If you are fighting breast cancer,
I wish you much strength and hope,
if you are a survivor,
I honor your victory
and if you have lost a loved one,
I wish you beautiful memories
and offer prayers for a cure
so the future is indeed brighter
for all women everywhere.

Visit the Creative Sketches Blog to view more great works of art.