Oh, Whale! Baby Shower Thank You's

In March, my aunt and cousin threw a baby shower for our first baby.   We are doing the nursery in a sea life theme, so they decided to carry that theme into the shower by sending out the cutest little whale invitations and using whale plates and napkins.  It was such a wonderful shower with the ladies in my family, the ladies in my husband's family, a close friend and her daughter (both of whom are pretty much family).

The whale theme was a surprise to me, and I was so happy when I was able to make some thank you notes after the shower using the whale set (Oh, Whale!) I had hoarded purchased several years ago. It is retired, and it did have a die that went with it.  Until this shower, it hadn't gotten much love from me but I'm so glad I held on to it.  This is why I encourage people to buy what they like and keep it - if you like something, you'll eventually find a use for it, as I did here.

The wavy embossing, stitched square and clouds were all made using current Stampin' Up products (click on the words to see them in my store).  The colors are Blushing Bride, Marina Mist, Pool Party and Whisper White.  I've also started lining all of my envelopes.  This envelope liner is paper from the Playful Palette stack, which is on sale for six bucks and retiring...which means it's only available until the current stock runs out!

Sprinkles of Life - Bird on a Branch

I almost titled this blog post "Tree Bird" kind of like "Free Bird" but then I refrained from my musical nerdery.  So, anyway, this card is the result of a series of happy accidents.  I set out to copy a similar card I found on this blog.  But, when I went to cut out the circle, I realized I didn't have the right-sized circle punch (all mine were too small), so I decided to use my Circle Collection Framelits.  When I did it, I cut it on what I thought would be the upper right quadrant.  However, when it came out, one side of the paper had some scratches on it from my older cutting mat, so I flipped it over to get the smooth side.  But when I did, it put the circle at the bottom right instead. The upside of this was that it had embossed a circle border around the hole, which was pretty cool, I thought...a nice extra detail that I hadn't planned!

To create some interest, I added small strip of patterned paper from the Cherry on Top stack to the left-hand side.  Then to cover the seam between the cardstock and patterned paper, I adhered some of our 1/4" Cotton Ribbon to the card, and made sure the bow was in the upper left corner to balance out the stamped images on the lower right.  To create the tree-bird cluster, I used images from the Sprinkles of Life set.  First, I stamped the branch with Tip Top Taupe ink onto Tip Top Taupe cardstock and then punched it out using the Tree Builder punch.  Next, I stamped the bird in Watermelon Wonder ink on Watermelon Wonder cardstock, and again punching it out with the Tree Builder Punch.  Finally, I stamped the leaf cluster using Cucumber Crush ink on Cucumber Crush cardstock, then using my paper snips to cut out a small cluster of the leaves.  Then I stuck it all down, making sure to use a chunk of Dimensionals to make the bird pop.  On the inside, I stamped the "I'm so lucky to call you my friend" sentiment, also from the "Sprinkles of Life" stamp set....but really this is a versatile enough card you could use just about any sentiment.  You could also modify the colors to make it a more seasonal card - I think a little brown or black bird amid fall-colored leaves would be pretty, as well as a little red cardinal among a glittery white scene.

If you liked any of the products I used, I'd be honored if you chose to purchase from my store - just click on the product you want and it'll take you there!  Happy stamping!

Sprinkles of Life - Birthday Tree

Last month, I felt a class for some scrapping friends using the Sprinkles of Life stamp set.  As part of the class fee, they went home with the full stamp set to keep, so I wanted to make some samples of cards they could make they got home, and this is one that I chose to make.

I *loved* playing with my new Triple Banner Punch and the beautiful little Blossom Accents to add some details to this card.  Even though the accent is a flower, I think this card is still neutral enough to be sent to a man or woman, and to be modified for different occasions (get well, so sorry, missing you...).  The yellow is a new color this year, it's called Delightful Dijon - pretty accurate name, don't you think?  It pairs nicely with the Always Artichoke and Tip Top Taupe, which are the other colors I used.

I hope you enjoyed - thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies used:

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Sprinkles of Life - Rainy Day Encouragement

Last month, I hosted a class using the Sprinkles of Life stamp set and the coordinating Tree Builder Punch.  This is one of the cards we made.  I really loved this set, and wanted to use it in a class because of it's versatility- there are sentiments ranging from friendship to birthday to encouragement, and playful & creative ways to use the cloud shape as a cloud, frosting, ice cream or greenery, and even the cupcake base could double as a basket.  Very clever.  So anyway, to highlight the encouragement sentiment, I chose this sentiment and the cloud.  I decided to use the 2014-2016 In Color cardstock for my rain drops (which were punched with the Tree Builder Punch and covered with Crystal Effects).  I also used Silver Embossing Powder to create a little texture & shiny interest on the clouds and sentiment.  I hand-drew the dotted lines for the rain drops using a Basic Gray marker, and used the Triple Banner Punch and Corner Rounder Punch to add more interesting details to my card.  I based it loosely on a card I had seen on Pinterest.  It had used a retired shower set (Rain or Shine) from Stampin' Up! but I thought it could be easily adapted to suit this set as well.  Unfortunately, I can't find it to give the person proper credit (I'm sorry if that's you..let me know, and I'll give you credit!).  I hope you enjoyed this quick and easy encouragement card. If you like what you see here and want to purchase any of the items (or other Stampin' Up! products), just click on the product name and it will take you straight to my store!  Thank you and happy stamping!

Sprinkles of Life Ice Cream Cone

I have been having a blast this month playing with my Sprinkles of Life stamp set and Cherry on Top designer paper stack.  I told myself that I was going to get serious about actually using the things I buy (you can relate, right?) so I sat down with my stamps, the coordinating Tree Builder Punch, the Cherry on Top stack, and a pile of cardstock and coordinating embellishments and went to town.  The punch and stamp set have proven to be extremely versatile.  You can create ice cream cones, and cupcakes, and tall or short baskets of flowers or leaves or apples.  You can create trees, and decorate any of the above with cherries or flowers or birds.  The sentiments lend themselves to a variety of occasions including birthday, friendship, encouragement, and love.  I just know I'll be coming back to this set again and again.  Stampin' Up! opted to make this set in a photopolymer, which is a great deal for you - the photopolymer allows them to give you more images for less money and they all fit in one slim DVD case, which takes up less room in your craft storage.  Not to mention, they donate $3 to Ronald McDonald House for every Sprinkles of Life set sold this catalog year!  Pretty sweet, right?  (Pun intended).  Thanks for stopping by today!  I look forward to seeing you here again soon.

Sprinkles of Life and Cherry on Top Ice Cream Cone CASE

I'm so excited!  Some friends approached me about teaching a class, and so this month I'm gathering four friends together to create four cards using the Sprinkles of Life stamp set, the coordinating Tree Builder punch, and Cherry on Top Designer Series paper.  Wish me luck!  :) This is one of the cards we'll be making together.  I was inspired by this card, but took some liberties of my own.  First, I wanted a little separation between my white circle and the patterned paper, so I put a Pool Party circle between them.  I used the Circles Collection Framelits Dies to cut these circles.  You'll also notice that she punched her circle so that it was more of a window.  It's a really cute effect, but I was afraid that might take too long in a class setting so I opted to just layer my circles on top of the patterned paper.  The angular pattern on this paper (from the Cherry on Top stack) is printed (deliberately) slight off-center.  I want to emphasize that, so when I trimmed the paper to fit the card, I made sure to cut it so that the angles became even more off center.  I completed the look with a narrow piece of Pool Party ribbon, a tag punched with the Word Window punch, and a little bit of Dazzling Details for a bit of sparkle, which was just the right amount of detail, I think.

Keep checking back in July for more projects featuring Cherry on Top and Sprinkles of Life.

Sprinkles of Life Cupcake CASE

Back when the Sprinkles of Life stamps first became available to demonstrators, I pinned this card. I just love how simple it was to make, yet how interesting the card looks.  I love lots of layers, lots of colors, and lots of textures...so this was right up my alley.  I love how the layout is balanced, but not symmetrical.  And I love how she used patterned paper to mimic the appearance of sprinkles on the cupcake (that paper is from the Cherry on Top stack).  As you can see, I made some adaptations of my own: I changed the color scheme a bit and elongated it from a square card to a rectangle one to fit in the envelopes that I keep on hand. Doing so allowed me room to add an extra banner. Speaking of banners, do you know how I made these?  Using the new Triple Banner Punch.  The product is advertised as making perfect 1", 1-1/2" and 2" wide banners, but really, as long as you are careful about centering you can make banners of any width up to 2".  For mine, I used scraps, so I didn't have those exact dimensions.  I had to be a little more careful in lining it up before punching, but it worked like a charm.  Thanks for stopping by today...be sure to come back throughout July to see more ideas using Sprinkles of Life and Cherry on Top.

STARS Thursday Challenge - Sketch Pad DSC#139

 As a demonstrator, I get to see the new catalog about a month before the rest of the world, and I knew immediately that it'd be on my very first order.  It's called Sprinkles of Life and has a ton of images and sentiments that can be mixed and matched to create lots of fun cards & accents for scrapbooks or other craft projects.  As if that weren't good enough, $3 from every purchase of this stamp gets donated by Stampin' Up! to the Ronald McDonald House.  So, really, adding this set to your collection is a no-brainer, right?  I decided to pair it with some of the patterns found in the stack of patterned paper called Cherry on Top.  Many of the papers are food- or birthday-oriented, but many more are generic enough to used for just about any occasion.  This paper features three of the new In Colors: Cucumber Crush, Tip Top Taupe, and Watermelon Wonder.  Working with them for this card made me fall in love with them.  Finally, my card was inspired by the sketch below. You can see that I swapped the stars out for flowers, and I added a bit of a border to the left side of my card, but otherwise it was pretty faithful to the sketch.

You should also check out the way my friends, and fellow STARS have interpreted this sketch:
Robyn Rasset - Butterfly Basics Get Well Card
Connie Plaumann - Cupcake Party Card
Ashley Martin Simmons - Celebrate Today Birthday Card
Judy Strickling - Pictogram Punches Shaker Card
Mackenzie Fuchs - Gift from the Garden and more!
Sharon Bennett - Scallop Tag Topper Punch card
Miriam Bollinger - Wild About Flowers Card
Dawn Olchefske - Metallic Doily Patriotic Card

Come back all this month to see projects featuring Sprinkles of Life and/or Cherry on Top.  You won't be disappointed.

Sprinkles of Life - my Stamp of the Month

This month, I'm teaching a class in my home featuring the Sprinkles of Life stamp set.  This set just came out in June with the new annual catalog.  As you can see, it's extremely versatile.  And it has a really cute coordinating punch, called the Tree Builder:


So be sure to check back often to see the ways I'm using these,  I will be using other products as well, but I will have a healthy share of these, too!  One of my goals to get more mileage out of the supplies I do own and hope this will inspire you to do the same.  Happy stamping!