PPA97-Fashion Inspiration-What's Your Signature Style

I have been creating cards for my card buffet on June 27th and ran across the Pals Paper Arts Challenge this week of :Fashion Inspiration-What's Your Signature Style.  I definitely am a vintage kind of girl.  My ladies are always asking: "What do I sponge", and my answer: "Sponge stain everything".  LOL

Open Sea Birthday

Distressed World

Recipe:

Stamp:  The Open Sea

Paper:  Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand Card Stock and Nautical Expedition

Ink:  Soft Suede and Basic Grey Classic

Accessories:  Early Espresso Baker's Twine, Spiral Border Punch(Retired list, go shopping now to get it before it is gone), 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, Sanding Block, Stamping Sponges, Cutter Kit

Open Sea Papier Mache Book/Box

This class is set for June 13th, Monday, at 7pm.  I think this project would be great for the man of your life for their wallet and keys.  It would make a great Father's Day present or birthday present.

Open Sea Box

Open Sea Box from side

I just love this stamp set and unfortunately it is not in the new Idea Book for 2011-12.  We will also be using a Brayer and the Circle Scissor Plus to create this unique box.  I have several ladies to thank for inspiring me, first is Trina Kuriger for her tutorial on the Sailor's Knot and also Wendy Weixler for the ship in the sunset.

Recipe:

Stamps:  The Open Sea

Paper:  Nautical Expedition, Not Quite Navy

Ink:  Not Quite Navy, Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie

Accessories:  Brayer, Circle Scissor Plus, Cogs Ex-Lg Punch(Retired 7/1),  Spiral Border Punch (Retired 7/1), Dimensions, 2-1/2" Circle Punch, Postage Stamp Punch, Papier Mache Book/Box

Father's Day Cards

Wow, a lot of things have been happening in my life since I last posted.  My SIL, Andrew, has finished his residency and graduated.  My daughter, Luella and he will be moving to Plattville, WI and buying their first home.  My husband, Scott was awarded with the Boy Scout, Silver Beaver Award for Volunteering.  Willie, our son and his wife came up from Louisiana for a visit and Willie presented Scott with the award.  Willie found out last week that now he is the high school band lead teacher.  So now back to normal life.

Well, I finally got the mojo back and finished these cards last night.  I also have three lovely ladies who inspired me in the process.  All three of these would also make a great male birthday card.

Best Dad Ever Tie Card

The first card I have Natalie Decker to thank for.  I loved her card, but I thought that this stamp set would be great using the technique paper piecing.  What a great way to use up small pieces of dsp.  First stamp the image on Very Vanilla card stock, then stamp the image on five different pieces of patterned paper, then cut each individual image out and use dimensionals to pop up the cut out image over the stamped image.  I love the 3-d effect.

Recipe:

Stamps:  Best Dad Ever

Paper:  Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Old Olive Retired DSP

Ink:  Soft Suede

Accessories:  Early Espresso Baker's Twine, 3/16" Corner Small Punch, Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder

Totally Tool Dad Card

 

The next card was inspired by Becky Roberts.  What a creative way to use the Totally Tool tape measure.

Recipe:

Stamp Set:

Totally Tool

Paper:  

Riding Hood Red, River Rock, Whisper White, Basic Black card stock, Subtles Patterns Designer Series Paper

Ink:  

Basic Grey & Early Espresso Classic, Stampin' Write Markers: Basic Grey, River Rock, Riding Hood Red

Accessories: 

1" and 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Decorative Label Punch, Big Shot, Timeless Type Jr. Alphabet, Retired Brads, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine

Open Sea Father's Day Card

I have Dawn Dickinson to thank for the inspiration on this one.  I love how she wrapped the baker's twine around the edges of the card.  I inked up the stamp with markers for the two-toned look.

Recipe:

Stamp:

The Open Sea

Paper:

Soft Suede, Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla

Ink:

Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy, Early Espresso

Accessories:

Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, 1 1/4" Square Punch

Build a Blossom Scrapbook Pages

First I want to let you know that I was inspired by Peggy Finney's cute scrapbook page you can find here.  I just fell in love with this page and had to make my own.  We will be making this in class in June.  I used my garden for the subject, but it could be used for many different other subjects.  This was so much fun to create and thanks Peggy for meditating and coming up with this wonderful creation.

Page 1 My Garden

Page 2 My Garden

My Garden

Recipe:

Stamps:  

Build a Blossom(Occasions Mini)

Paper:  

Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke, Whisper White

Ink:

  More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler, Bravo Burgundy, Tempting Turquoise, Always Artichoke

Accessories:

Big Shot, Swirly Sizzlets Decorative Strip Die(which I purchased just to make this card), Blossom Petals Punch

VC Rocks! Challenge #3

I am loving the new challenges at VC Rocks!  You can join through May 31st at: VC Rocks! if you are really into Stampin' Up!

Blossom Petals Birthday

 The challenge was to use at least 2 colors from the Subtles Collection and Early Espresso (may substitute Choc. Chip) on a card or scrapbook layout. Real paper, no MDS this time. Can add white, vanilla or more subtles, no other colors.  I will be adding this card to my June Card Buffet!

Recipe:

Stamp:  Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper:  Early Espresso, Subtles Patterns DSP Paper Stack, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron and Certainly Celery Card Stock

Ink:  Early Espresso, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron and Certainly Celery Classic Ink

Accessories:

Blossom Petals Punch, Crimper

VC Rocks! Blog Hop - Color My World

If you are following the VC Rocks! Blog Hop you have just come from Laurie Gibson's Blog:  Laurie's Rubber Room.  If you would like to start the VC Rocks! Blog Hop from the beginning please start the hop here: VC Rocks!.  The theme of this hop is Color My World and for my coloring method I chose Watercolor Wonder Crayons.  I colored on of my favorites - the Medallion with the crayons and sprayed it with a fine mist of water and stamped on Watercolor Paper that had previously stamped with En Francais in Soft Suede.  I used my Always Artichoke Marker to add color to my White Baker's Twin which I wrapped my Watercolor Paper with before attaching it to my card stock card base of Pacific Point.  I have just purchased the stamp set that is on sale in May, Word Play and stamped that on Very Vanilla card stock with Soft Suede and colored the water with a Pacific Point Marker.

Watercolor Medallion

My next card I again stamped with Soft Suede using the En Francais background stamp, then I misted the Medallion again and stamped it a second time.  This leaves a very soft color on the card that is hard to see in the picture.  I wrapped the card stock with SU Hemp Twine and then attached to Always Artichoke card stock.  I again used the Word Play stamp set for my sentiment and added the globe from the Summer Mini stamp set The Open Ocean.

Open Sea Medallion

The third card I used a technique that my daughter taught me where you take your Watercolor Wonder Crayons and rub them along the inside edge of a stencil.  For this card I used our stencil: Small Kind Thoughts Brocade with the Regals Crayons on our Watercolor Paper that had been stamped with En Francais in Soft Suede.  Mist the card after removing the stencil.  The center Basic Pearl was colored with a permanent marker.

Watercolor Kind Thoughts Brocade

The next stop on our VC Rocks! Blog Hop is Tammy Q Howell's Blog: Tarheel Stamper.

VC Rocks! Challenge #2

Hi, today I have one of the cards that will be featured in our Card Buffet on Sunday afternoon.  I made this card for a challenge of the group VC Rocks! Challenge #2.  The challenge was to create a card using the following colors:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Certainly Celery and Baja Breeze.  I was inspired by a card made by Linda Callahan using the Hi.  I thought that the Greenhouse Gala DSP was a perfect answer to this color combo.  Come back tomorrow and I will be participating in the VC Rocks! Blog Hop.

Apple Blossom Hi!

Recipe

Stamps:

Apple Blossom (hostess)

Paper:

Early Espresso, Greenhouse Gala DSP, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake

Ink:

Early Espresso, Certainly Celery Marker(used to color Very Vanilla 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon)

Accessories:

Bitty Buttons, Linen Thread, 3/16" Corner Punch, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch

Gerber Daisies Class

Well, I finally finished my Gerber Daisy class project.  We will be making five daisies and you will also get the metal bucket to put them in.  I have Shelly Bohan to thank for her tutorial on how to make them, but as always I put my own twist on them.

Gerber Daisy Bucket

Gerber Daisies

Daisies Up Close

In Color Gerber Daisy

Recipe:

Paper:

Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Pumpkin Pie, Blushing Bride, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Early Espresso, Basic Black

Ink:

Old Olive

Accessories:

Big Shot, Flower Daisies #2 bigz Die, Tombow glue, 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, Sticky Strip, Crystal Effects, bone folder, meat skewers, metal bucket, SU packing material

Sweet Stitches Purse and Card Class

The Sweet Stitches Purse and Card Class will be held on May 5th and I have one opening still.  I was very inspired by Amanda Coughlin's tote, but wanted to make it larger so that my cards would fit in completely and not show.  I went to SCS to their tutorials and modified one to come up with this:

Sweet Stitches Purse

Sweet Stitches Gift Card

Then I thought it would be nice to have a gift card to enclose with the gift and after seeing many versions using the Scallop Envelope die, I was of course, too cute!
I have been thinking about making note cards similar to the ones made by Becky Roberts and I thought this project was perfect for them.  This is a card you could easily replace for the recipient of your Sweet Stitches Purse.

Sweet Stitches Note Cards and Envelopes

And the final picture of the entire class:

Sweet Stitches Purse and Card Class

Recipe:

Stamps:  Sew Suite, In Stitches(I removed mine from the wheel and cut into separate stitches)

Paper:

Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise and Daffodil Delight card stock and Sweet Stitches DSP

Ink:

Soft Suede, Melon Mambo

Accessories:

Big Shot, Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Sweet Buttons Embosslits, 3" Circle Original Die,Scallop Envelope Bigz Die, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Sweet Stitches Fabric Designer Brads, Melon Mambo Pompom Trim, 1 3/4" Scalloped Circle Punch, Rose Red 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon

Mother's Day Card Class

I finally finished the other two cards for the 5/3 Mother's Day card class.  If you don't have a special woman to give these to, we can make them into birthday or thank you cards. The first card I have seen all over the internet, but I loved it so much that I wanted to make one to share with you.  I don't know who first designed this card, but thank you, I love it.  This uses the branch from the Easter Blossoms, I just love this stamp set and I hope it carries over to the new catalog in July.

CASEd Mother's Day Blossoms

Recipe:

Stamp:  Easter Blossoms, Something to Celebrate

Paper:

Pretty in Pink, Confetti White and Early Espresso Card Stock

Ink:

Early Espresso

Accessories:

Big Shot, Framed Tulips Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Pretty in Pink 5/8" Satin Ribbon, Basic Pearls, Uni-Ball White Signo Ball Pen

Mother Four Frames Flower Garden

Starting May 1st our new Summer Mini Catalog starts.  I am so excited about the new Flower Garden Embossing Folder that is in the new catalog.  See how beautifully it embosses the card stock?   You are just limited by your own imagination.  I had a new package of Peach Parfait card stock to be opened, so I consulted my Color Coach for suggested color combination with the Peach Parfait.  I just love the resulting colors together, don't you?

Recipe:

Stamp:

Four Frames

Paper:

Whisper White, Peach Parfait and Pear Pizzazz Card Stock, Pear Pizzazz In Color DSP Paper Pack

Ink:

Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz, Cajun Craze and Early Espresso Markers

Accessories:

Big Shot, Flower Garden Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, Pear Pizzazz 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon, Decorative Label Punch

Nature Walk Shadow Box - The Results

Last night we made our Nature Walk Shadow Boxes and as by request have taken pictures of them.  Forgot to take Amanda's box before she left, sorry Amanda.

Mari's Box

Cindy and BJ's Boxes

Come join us next time.  We have lots of fun!

Flores Suaves Mother's Day Card

Getting ready for my Mother's Day Card class on May 3rd.  I had purchased the Flores Suaves (my Spanish speaking daughter told me it means "soft flowers") over a month ago and I finally had time to play with it.  This morning bright and early, 5am, I was going through my huge amount of emails and one of the other demonstrators had tried a technique called "Tapestry Paper" I was so intrigued by it that I went over to Sage Kimbel's blog Stamping Madly and checked out her video and was inspired!

Flores suaves Mother's Day Card

I just love this technique!  The card just glows.  I originally bought this stamp set because my husband, Scott, the Bee Keeper(20 hives and counting) says that this bee is very close to the real thing.  And the butterfly with the set is beautiful also.

Flores Suaves #112913

Recipe:

Stamps:  Flores Suaves, Messages for Mom, Baroque Motifs (Love this one too)

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, So Saffron, Crumb Cake and Soft Suede Classic Inks, Cherry Cobbler Craft Ink

Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake and Naturals Ivory Card Stock

Accessories:  Champaign Mist Shimmer Paint, Stamping Sponges, Brayer, Cherry Cobbler 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon(this goes away on 4/30, so stock up now!) Decorative Label Punch (come to class to see how I transformed this punch into the punched shape on my card), Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Old Olive, So Saffron and Cherry Cobbler Markers

And here are some close-ups of the card:

Nature Walk Shadow Box

First I would like to say thank you to UStamp with Dawn and Friends!! Oh My Word!! Edition 2011.  This site has some very talented ladies on it and I have CASEd this from one of them, Nancy Horn, thanks so much Nancy!  This is our class project for Monday night.  I can't wait to see what my talented ladies do with this shadow box.

Front Cover Shadow Box

Shadow Box

Spine of Shadow Box

Inside of Shadow Box

Back cover of Shadow Box

Well, after promising this for a month, I finally had to get sick to finish it, sad I know.  And here is the Recipe:

Stamp:

  Nature Walk

Paper:

  Botanical Gazette and First Edition DSP, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla and Naturals Ivory Card Stock

Ink:

Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede and Early Espresso Classic Inks

Stampin' Write Markers:  Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant and Bashful Blue

Accessories:

papier-mache book, Vanilla Pearl 1/2" Simply Adorned Baubles, Purchased nest

Top Note Bunny Basket

On April 17th, we will be having an Easter class.  It will include this cute bunny basket along with two decoupaged eggs(which you will have to wait until next week to see) and the hanging egg found here:  Blooming Eggceptional Egg

Top Note Bunny Basket

I was inspired by Wendy Hawkinson who originally made this basket, but of course I had to add my own touches also.  The handle doesn't show here so I took another picture from the side:

Isn't he too cute!!!!

Recipe:
Ink: Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink
Paper:  Whisper White, Pretty in Pink and Basic Black Card Stock
Accessories:  Punches: 2"x1-3/8" Oval, 1-3/4"x7/8" Oval, Heart to Heart, 1" Circle, Two-Step Owl, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border
Big Shot, Fancy Favor bigz xl die

Tuesday Card Class

This Tuesday we will be making three cards.  I had a request for a baby shower card where the sex of the newborn is not known.  I must say that this threw me for awhile.  Several months ago one of the other Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrators mentioned in a chat that she had an album of all of the current Designer Series Paper that she showed her classes.  I thought this was a great idea, so I have made my own DSP album.  I can't tell you how it has helped my MOJO to refer to this DSP album when designing a card.
So back to the baby shower card, sorry, I was side-tracked for a moment there.  I opened my DSP album to the Nursery Suite Specialty paper and wow, SU has made it easy for me to design a card with no gender specified.

Baby Shower Card

Recipe:

Stamps:  A Slice of Life - Hostess (Free with a $150 party until April 30), Something to Celebrate - Hostess (Free with a $300 party until April 30)

Paper:  Nursery Suite Specialty DSP, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White and Chocolate Chip Card Stock

Ink:  Chocolate Chip Classic Inc; Regal Rose, Baja Breeze and Pear Pizzazz Stampin' Up Markers

Accessories: Pear Pizzazz 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon, Pear Pizzazz Big Designer Buttons Springtime Vintage, Hemp Twine, 1-3/4"x7/8" Oval Large Punch, Scalloped Oval Extra-Large Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

I am always needing a male birthday card so I decided to use the technique "Poppin' Pastels" along with the stamp set - Lovely As a Tree, I hope SU never retires this set, I really love it.  My friend, Marsha Reed, go check out her blog: Coffee Pot Cafe,  had a tutorial on using the Dotted Scalloped Ribbon Border Punch in a different way, so I used her tutorial on the following card.

Male Woodland Walk Birthday

Recipe:
Stamps:  Something to Celebrate - Hostess (Free with a $300 party until April 30), Lovely As a Tree
Paper:  Confetti Cream and Very Vanilla Card Stock, Woodland Walk DSP
Ink:  Versamark, Crumb Cake
Accessories:  Dotted Scalloped Ribbon Border Punch, Photo Corners Extra Large Punch, Bone Folder, Stampin' Pastels, Glue Dots and Stampin' Dimensionals

Elizabeth Wedding/Anniversary

I was out surfing the blog yesterday and was inspired by Sage Kimble to dig out my Elizabeth stamp again.  When Elizabeth first appeared in the 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog on page 18, it was the first stamp I bought from the catalog and I have sat and ignored it for six months, it was time to pull it out and put a different spin on it this time.  The Always from the Always Elegant stamp set can be used for either a wedding card or an anniversary.  Don't you just love those little rosettes?  They come in vanilla and you can use your Stampin' Markers to color them any matching color to your card.  Win, Win!

Recipe:
Stamps:  Elizabeth, Always Elegant
Paper:  Confetti White, Very Vanilla and Pretty in Pink Card Stock, Lap of Luxury DSP
Ink:  Basic Grey Classic Ink;  So Saffron, Pretty in Pink and Wild Wasabi Stampin' Write Markers
Accessories:  Vanilla Rosettes (page 16, Occasions Mini Catalog - ends April 30), Retired SU ribbon

Initial Class

Tonight we had our initial class and of course I forgot to take pictures of half of the groups initials, but here are three to give you a taste of their creativity.

Easter Card and Two Cute Easter Treat Class

On Monday night at class we will be making the following:

Easter Blossoms Card

Isn't this little girl just adorable?  I totally CASEd these projects because I fell in love with them.  The card above was inspired by Jonia Smith.

Recipe:

Stamps:  Easter Blossoms and Something to Celebrate(Hostess available until April 30th with a $300 order, contact me for more information)

Ink:  Versamark, Concord Crush, Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo Stampin' Markers

Paper: Whisper White and Pretty in Pink Card Stock, Lap of Luxury DSP

Accessories:  Pretty in Pink 5/8" Satin Ribbon, Black Stampin' Emboss Powder, Heat Tool, Stampin' Dimensionals, 1 3/4" x 7/8" Oval Large punch, Scallop Oval Extra-Large Punch

Petal Cone Bunny

 This project was inspired by Theresa Vargas, isn't he just too cute?  He has room in his carrot pouch for candy.

Recipe:

Ink:  Pretty in Pink, Old Olive

Paper: Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, Basic Black Card Stock

Accessories:  Big Shot, Petal Cone Bigz L Die, Large circle Scallop Bigz Die, Scallop Circle Punch, 1-3/4"x 7/8" Oval Punch, 1-3/8"x5/8" Oval Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle and Two-Step Owl Extra-Large Punch, Ornament Extra-Large Punch, Perfect Polka Dots, Stampin' Write Journaler, uni-ball Signo White Gel Pen

Petal Card Bunny Box

This cute little box was inspired by Mary Fish and it holds one Hershey's Kiss, just too fun!

Recipe:

Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black and Pretty in Pink Card Stock

Accessories:  Petal Card Extra-Lg Double Punch, 3/4x15/16 Inch Oval Punch, Blossom Petals Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Heart to Heart Punch, Bitty Button

Botanical Gazette Initial

Our class tomorrow night is a creativity class where my ladies will be bringing their own papier-mache initial and will decorate it with my papers to match their own style. 

Botanical Gazette Initial

I have decorated mine using the First Edition DSP and also the Botanical Gazette DSP which is currently my favorite paper.  I cut out bees, butterflies and moths from the DSP and colored them with our great Stampin' Write Markers.  Here are some closer details.  See the large pearl hanging from the flower, that is the Simply Adorned Bauble Vanilla Pearl 1/2", don't you just love it?

I'll add pictures of the initials created in class so you can see what a talented group of ladies I create with.