Gift Box with Cards

Today I finished making this gift box with four cards and handmade envelopes for a friend/customer, she wasn't able to make it to my last stamp camp, but still wanted the projects. The cards are all 4"x 4" and I used the Summer Picnic designer paper on each one, including the envelopes that I made and the card box. All of the images have been colored using Copic markers and then cut and embossed using my Nestabilities. The envelopes were made the same way I made this envelope from a previous post and I added a scalloped edge and seal on the back of a few of them to pretty them up. After making the cards, I really wanted a box to put them all in, so after looking on Splitcoast I found Cindy's tutorial on this CD holder and just changed up the measurements so it could accommodate my four cards and envelopes. This gift box and card set would make a great little Christmas gift for someone special.

Supplies: A Flower for All Seasons, Best Yet (Hostess set), Sincere Salutations, Thank You Kindly, Circle of Friendship, Summer Picnic designer paper, Ribbon, Brads, Copic markers, Nestabilites, Scalloped border punch, Circle punches, Scalloped circle punch, Photo corner punch, Large oval punch, Word Window punch, Corner rounder punch, Piercer w/mat, Pop dots, Tacky tape, Velcro. Colors: Old Olive, Real Red, Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, Summer Sun, Whisper White.

Boy I used a whole lot of punches on this!

I'm looking forward to this holiday weekend, I'll be spending it with my family. Sunday were having a fun barbecue with some family and friends, the weather is suppose to be wonderful so all of us can enjoy our patio and hot tub.

I hope you all have a fantastic holiday weekend!

Sketch Challenge #191?

Today's card was suppose to be for the sketch challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers, but I'm not so sure it really qualifies since my card layout doesn't look much like the sketch. One thing I am sure of is that since so many women love this new SU Bella paper, the combination of stamp set and paper I used will be pretty popular.

Supplies: Crazy for Cupcakes, Bella designer paper, Scalloped border punch, Slit punch, Ribbon, Button, Aqua brush, Crystal Effects (for cherries), Pop dots. Colors: Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Going Grey, Close to Cocoa.

Little Notes of Thanks

Yesterday I made these small thank you cards to put in with a few catalogs I mail out to some customers. There simple little cards using the new stamp set A Flower for all Seasons, I need to make up a bunch of cards similar to these because its great to have them on hand when you need just a small note card to send along.

Supplies: A Flower for all Seasons, Polka Dot BG, Thank You Kindly, Nestabilities, Aqua brush, SU markers, Square punch, Word Window punch, Brads, Pop dots. Colors: Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa, Really Rust, Real Red.

Things have been super busy around our house, with trying to get the kids ready to go back to school. Yesterday was an open house at the kids school, its so nice the way the school has it organized. You go in, drop off all of the paper work for your child, have their school picture taken, get their school id, schedule, locker, all of its done very easily its great. I still have to get the kids a few new things to wear before they start a week from today. My DH took our daughter to supposedly get what she needed as far as clothes and came back with shirts and large hoop ear rings I told her she couldn't have (Dads are such push overs) not the shoes and jeans that she needed, oh no, lol.

Hope your having a great day!

Daisies at Night

Today's card ended up very different than how it started. I wanted to try and create a shadow box effect with the Upsy Daisy stamp set using acetate (which I'm still going to do) but instead ended up making a card. I used the acetate and stamped my daisies in Versa Mark ink, then used white embossing powder and heated it very carefully. The acetate I used is a thicker acetate, more like over head projector sheets, but I still held my heat pretty far away so that I wouldn't melt it. After stamping and embossing the acetate, I then inked up my daisy stamp lightly with white craft ink and stamped it onto Basic Black card stock. I wanted to give the illusion of shadows of daisies in the distance and stamping the daisies on the acetate made it easy to line up the two images. After stamping the black piece of CS, I trimmed it down to the size I wanted and then lined up the acetate on top were I wanted it, then used my bone folder and scored around the edge of the acetate so that I would know where to trim. I used silver brads to hold the acetate onto the card, added two lines of piercing, ribbon and heat embossed the Thank You in white. I'm really liking this Stampin' Up Upsy Daisy stamp set! Its on special this month too (see the sales flyer in my side bar).

Have a wonderful day!

Best Wishes & More Shoe Box Swap

Today I went to a Stampin' Up meeting and at the meeting all of us ladies participated in a shoe box swap. Basically you have your card sample made and all of the materials cut and ready in a shoe box, then place it at a spot on the table and all of us ladies go around switching seats and making each others cards. It was great to see everyone, swap, eat and to hear about the two women in my up line and their trip to convention.
This card was my swap using the stamp set Best Wishes & More, its hard to see from the picture, but the bottom So Saffron portion was stamped with the Stitched back ground stamp and two parts of the flower have been popped up. I wanted to use a glue dot in the center of the flower and press in clear micro beads, but I could find were I left them last (that drives me crazy because I know I have them). I have another card using this stamp set that I'll be posting later.

Supplies: Best Wishes & More, Stitched BG, Ribbon, Brads, Circle punches, Scalloped circle punch, Scalloped border punch, Pop dots. Colors: Mellow Moss, So Saffron, Regal Rose, Whisper White.

Hope your having a great weekend!
Its a hot and muggy 93 degrees today here!

Happy Mail!!!

TECC30 Featured Cupcake Sampler

Whoo Hoo, its time for Taylor's Friday Cupcake Challenge and I'm the lucky girl that gets to be the Cupcake sampler for today! If you've never participated in Taylor's Cupcake Sketch Challenge, head on over to her blog and give it a try!
For my card I used the new Stampin' Up stamp set called Crazy for Cupcakes. I stamped the cupcakes and then colored them using my Copic markers, then cut and embossed them using my Nestabilitaties square die. Then I added Liquid Applique, but before heating it I sprinkled the wet Liquid Applique with Dazzling Diamonds to make them sparkle. I also added Crystal Effects to the cherries on top of every cupcake to make them look shiny. I used an SU black marker directly on the cupcake stamp so that I could stamp only a single cupcake for the center of the scalloped circle and stamped the Happy Birthday to you twice to form a circle, then punched it out using a circle punch. The main image is pop dotted, along with the scalloped circle to give dimension. This was a fun card to make!

Supplies: Crazy for Cupcakes, Summer Picnic designer paper, Ribbon, Nestabilities, Copic markers, Scalloped circle punch, Circle punch, Crystal Effects, Liquid Applique, Dazzling Diamonds, Pop dots. Colors: Real Red and Whisper White.

Spot Light Thinking of You

Today's card is one that I made last week but never got around to posting it. I used the spotlighting technique on one of the flowers, then added dazzling diamonds to the center of the highlighted flower and popped it up using pop dots.

Supplies: Wonderful You, Stems & Silhouettes wheel, Sincere Salutations, Circle punches, Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds, Pop dots. Colors: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Going Grey, Whisper White.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sympathy

This card is for a friend who lost someone she loved very much this past Sunday. Death is hard no matter what, but when its sudden and a young child has lost a parent its even more tragic. My prayers are with my friend and her family.

Supplies: Upsy Daisy, Brighter Tomorrow, Canvas BG, Ribbon, Brads. Colors: Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Whisper White.

SU Yahoo!

Today I finally (it seemed like forever, but I just ordered last week) got my delivery of my Stampin' Up stuff from the new catalog, Yaaaay! I wanted to run down to my craft room and unload it all and play, but today was crazy busy with the kids so I decided to at least snap a quick picture of my loot. My head is spinning thinking of all the fun things I can make with the contents of this box!

TECC29 - Thank You from all of Us

Today's card is for the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #29. This was a fun card to make using the All in the Family and Think Happy Thoughts Stampin' Up stamp sets. I stamped all of the people and the thanks in Brilliance black ink then punched them all out with a circle punch. Then I used my Copic markers to color the people and stamped the flowers in Summer Sun and added a brad to the center of each one. The colors are Taken with Teal, Tempting Turquoise and Summer Sun.

What a busy weekend, it seemed to fly by. This coming week will go by fast too I'm sure, my daughter starts her "Off to a great start" program at the middle school she will be going to. The program is to help her brush up on some basic skills, teach her how to organized her school work and to give her a chance to find her way around the school. I still can't believe I'll have two kids in middle school this year!

I'm off to bed.

Edit: I'm so excited!!! Taylor chose my card from this post for her Cupcake Challenge, Yahoo! So I'll be the Featured Cupcake Sampler this next Friday, so stay tuned!

Scrappy Sketch #24

These scrapbook pages are for Cyndi's Scrappy Sketch #24! My pages for today are rather simple, without having any baby stickers or accents, I tried to add to my pages using small details so the focus stays on the pictures. The look on my son Connor's face when we were trying to feed him fruit and cereal the first time is priceless, he looks like "what the heck are they giving me now".

Supplies: Bazzill card stock, Buttons, Ribbon, Provo Craft designer paper (sorry forgot the name), Piercer w/mat, Cricut with All Mixed Up, Basic George, Opposites Attract cartridges, Computer lettering, Paper clip, Twine.

Stop by and check out Cyndi's fabulous pages for this weekends sketch!

Why not give it a try yourself?

Rainbow Bright!

Anyone who visits my blog knows that I like bright colors, well this time I really used a lot of em! I wanted to make a card using the stamp set Seasonal Whimsy with out it being stamped in just one color, so I started playing around using different colors and this is what I came up with. I haven't made my mind up as to whether I really like this card or not, I was just having fun! Using glossy white paper and a Versa Mark pad, I heat embossed the image in black, then I sponged on color.

Supplies: Seasonal Whimsy, Whimsy Wheel (BG), Ribbon, Black embossing powder, Sponges, Piercer w/mat, Pop dots. Colors: Basic Black, Real Red, Summer Sun, Green Galore, Brocade Blue, Glossy White.

Here's a joke for you, but have to promise that you'll laugh:

Q: What's black and red and white all over?

A: A zebra with a rash!

LOL

Thank You!

Yesterday I received this "I heart your blog" award from Kelly and Kristina, both of these ladies are very talented and do fantastic work! Thank you for the blog award ladies and for always leaving me the nicest compliments on my cards and projects, it was so kind of you to think of me. Here are the rules for playing:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog
2. Link the person you received your award from
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Put links of those blogs on yours
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you have nominated.

Now on to nominating a few other bloggers:

Kim G. ~ Stampin' in the Rain

Dani ~ Dani Gets Crafty

Jena ~ Live, Love, Laugh, Scrapbook

Danni ~ Danni's Dreams

Have a great day!

Square Spring Card

Last week on Splitcoast Stampers the Try a New Technique was to learn how to make a Square Spring Card, well I never got around to making one last Monday and I wanted to because I thought it looked like fun, so tonight I did! I have to say that making this card was fun and easy, the directions along with pictures were great and I would recommend that you try and make one if you haven't already.

Supplies: Fun & Fast Notes, Simply Said, Nestabilites, Ribbon, Felt Flower, SU flower punch, Aqua brush, SU markers, Crystal Effects. Colors: Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Brocade Blue, Old Olive, Summer Sun.

The other photos in this post are a few shots from our family vacation two weeks ago. Two of the pictures are of my youngest son Connor on the beach having fun in the sand and the other is a shot I took looking out our balcony as the sun set.

Thanks for stopping by!

RAK

Kindness Card & Gift Box

Well I'm waiting on new Stampin' Up goodies to be delivered, I thought I would play with a stamp set that hasn't seen ink in a while. So I took out the stamp set Simply Said (such a great set) and decided to pair it with one of the sneak peek sets I did get, Heard from the Heart. I thought that the saying from this set was perfect to use with the heart from Simply Said.
The card measures 4 1/4"x 4 1/4" with an 1 1/4" cut off from the bottom front then I added a scalloped edge. The box I made from measuring a small box I found at Micheal's in the dollar bin, it measures 2 3/4"x 1 1/2". I stamped the heart words in black, then cut & embossed using a square nestabilities die. Then stamped the center heart in Pink Pirouette and the flowers on top in Pretty in Pink, then added Dazzling Diamonds and pop dots. Its hard to see in the pictures, but the Kraft paper has flowers stamped in Versa Mark for a back ground and on both the inside and outside of the box I stamped flowers as well.

I love little boxes with secret messages inside.

This would be a nice way of saying thank you to someone!

Supplies: Simply Said, Heard from the Heart, Ribbon, Scalloped border punch, Large oval punch, Designer label punch, Nestabilities, Versa Mark ink, Pop dots, Tacky tape. Colors: Kraft, Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White.

Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #28

Today's card is for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #28 and of course I used Stella for the challenge! I colored Stella using my Copics and added glitter to her crown & wand (click on the photo for a closer view), then used a Glaze pen my bloggin' friend Dani told me about to add shine to the cherry/frosting on top of the cupcake. This was a fun card to make and a great sketch I know I'll use again!

Supplies: Leaning Tower of Stella - Stamping Bella, Riveting - SU, The Paper Studio designer paper, Ribbon, Copics, Glitter & Glaze pens, Circle punches, Scalloped circle punch, Scalloped border punch, Cuttlebug embossing, Gems, Prima flowers, Rhinestone brad. Colors: Basic Black, Green Galore, Pink Passion.

PS Thank you to all of the ladies who gave me their congratulations about joining the Great Swap Girls, I'm very excited about being a member. I am always happy and try to be supportive to any friend that is excited about an achievement, so your kind words mean the world to me!