Elephant Cupcake Birthday

This is my entry for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #9. I've never tried this layout before. This card is small (4.25" x 4.25"), but the picture makes it look huge.

Card Ingredients
Stamps (all Stampin' Up): Jumbo Incentives II, Figures of Speech
Paper: White, Soft Sky, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, & So Saffron. I don't remember where I bought the grey textured paper that looks like elephant hide.
Ink: Basic Black, VersaMarker Watermark Pen
Paper Punches: 1" circle, 1 1/16" circle, 1 3/8" square, 1 9/16" square
Other: Colored pencils, Martha Stewart markers, gold gel pen, PSX Sparkles, mounting tape, polka dot ribbon

I Won a Set of Stamps!

I won a set of Stampin' Up stamps by entering a card I made for Herb. Thanks Theresa! Check out Addicted to Stamps & Scraps. I love the title of her blog.

Just a Note (or Three)

I'm still working on a swap with my friend, Ericka and I'm trying to catch up with posting my work. I rarely stamp "Just a Note" type cards. I know I've never mailed one to anybody, but part of our swap it to create this type of card.

It takes me a looooong time to come up with color combos that I really like. Plus, I'm trying to use paper from my huge collection that rarely makes it onto a card. This card was inspired by a design Kristina did in February. If you haven't seen it, here's her YouTube video.

Card Ingredients
Stamps (all Stampin' Up): Year-Round Cheer, Little Pieces
Paper: River Rock, Always Artichoke, designer paper (K & Company), & handmade cream-colored paper (unknown)
Ink: Alway Artichoke, Brilliance Pigment Ink (Galaxy Gold, Coffee Bean, Pearlescent Ivy)
Other: ribbon (Michael's), Zots, mounting tape, 1" circle punch

Note: I'm still trying to work on my lighting and photography, so you'll notice I'm playing around with my blog entries. The cardstock in this photo doesn't quite look like River Rock.

Funky Vintage Mother's Day Cards

I've had this set of Making Memories Funky Vintage Embellishment Paper, chipboard buttons, clear tags and shapes since last year. I used the scrapbook page on this Making Memories site for an inspiration to create two similar Mother's Day cards.

Card Ingredients (for both cards)
Stamps (all Stampin' Up): All Year Cheer 2, So Many Scallops
Paper: Kromekote (which I brayered Cool Carribean ink on in order to make my own cardstock), Certainly Celery, Making Memories Funky Vintage Embellishment Paper
Ink: Cool Carribean, Chocolate Chip
Other: Scalloped square punch (Marvy Uchida), scallop & 3/5" circle punch (Stampin' Up), Fiskars scissors (Sunflower & Stamp), Making Memories Chipboard Buttons, Making Memories Clear Tags and Shapes, Hemp cording, flower-shaped eyelet, mounting tape

Paper Pierced Flower

This card is simple, but it took me a long time to design. I designed the card around the Making Memories Ribbon Words I bought at Big Lots a long time ago. The ribbon matches the Stampin' Up Blue Bayou cardstock.

I'm trying to move out of my comfort zone by trying new color combinations.

Card Ingredients
Stamps (all Stampin' Up): Friendship Blooms, Think Happy Thoughts
Paper: white, kromekote, Stampin' Up Barely Banana & Blue Bayou
Ink: Positively Pink, Versamark, StazOn Jet Black
Other: 1" circle paper punch, 3/4" circle paper punch, Stampin' Up buttons, Making Memories Ribbon Words & gold staples

Oval-Shaped Paper Dahlia Thank You

Thanks to the great tutorial by Donna Moore on Splitcoasterstampers, I created a paper dahlia for this thank you card.

The card shape was inspired by Katrina's YouTube video where she created a circle-shaped card.

Card Ingredients
Stamps (all Stampin' Up): Little Pieces & All Holidays
Paper: Parchment Blue (CA Paper Goods), Real Red, double-sided designer paper (unknown), Kromekote
Ink: Bordering Blue, ColorBox White
Other: Coluzzle Oval Cutter, jewel brad (Making Memories), PSX White embossing powder, 1 3/8" circle paper punch, 1/2" circle paper punch, paper piercer

Feliz Cumpleanos, Jose!

I created this card for my father-in-law earlier this month. He loves his coffee. In fact, we gave him a Starbucks gift card inside the card.

This card was inspired by a design Kristina did in February. If you haven't seen it, here's her YouTube video.

Card Ingredients
Stamps (all Stampin' Up): Year-Round Cheer, Felicidades Siempre
Paper: River Rock, Cranberry Crisp, designer paper (K & Company), & white
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Cranberry Crisp
Other: ribbon (Michael's), Zots, mounting tape, 1" circle punch, staples (Making Memories), colored pencils

Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge #3

Kristina, thanks for another color inspiration challenge! You made me realize I don't have Orchid Opulence in my collection...yikes! I thought I had every regular Stampin' Up color. I had so much fun in my studio because I was in such a huge rush. I was listening to vintage Earth, Wind and Fire at full volume, dancing, and making a huge mess on my desk.







Kristina posted this picture from the Pier 1 website and these Stampin' Up colors:



Orchid Opulence, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, and Whisper White.

Since I'm still working on a card swap with my good friend, Ericka, I decided to create a Mother's Day card using these colors. Here's my card:









Card Ingredients
Stamps (all Stampin' Up): All Holidays, Think Happy Thoughts, Friendship Blooms (I stamped the large flower on top of the lavender blossom with white ink, but you can't really see it), By Design
Paper: Kromekote (which I brayered Rose Red ink onto it), Pumpkin Pie
Ink: Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, ColorBox Frost White, Brilliance Moonlight White
Other: lavender blossom and black eyelets (Making Memories), black and white ribbon (Michael's), PSX White embossing powder, 3/4" circle punch

Happy Easter! This is an Oldie, But Goodie

This is a card I made almost 10 years ago. I was going through my portfolio of cards I've made through the years. Ugh, some of them are boring...no ribbons, brads, eyelets, etc.

I do like this Easter card. I'm usually too busy to make any Easter cards anymore.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Basket (Darcie's Country Folk) & Easter Eggs (PSX)
Paper: white & grey cardstock, grey/white crimped cardstock
Ink: ColorBox White pigment ink & PSX white embossing powder, ColorBox Gold pigment ink & PSX Detail Gold embossing powder, various Marvy markers, Crystal Lacquer, mounting tape, interference red watercolor (don't remember maker), and shredded paper grass

Color Challenge #2

I designed this card for Kristina's Color Challenge. She was inspired by this room on the HGTV website. I had a hard time coming up with something I liked. The colors we had to use are Wild Wasabi, Blush Blossom, Groovy Guava, and So Saffron.




I had all the Stampin' Up ink colors, but I didn't have the matching cardstock for Blush Blossom. I "made" my own Blush Blossom cardstock by rubbing a piece of Kromekote with the Blush Blossom ink pad.

I designed a baby-themed card since I'm doing a card swap with my friend, Ericka.

Card Ingredients
Paper: Kromekote, Wild Wasabi, Groovy Guava, and So Saffron
Stamps: For a Friend & Something to Celebrate (Stampin' Up)
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Groovy Guava, So Saffron, and Blush Blossom (Stampin' Up)
Other: Large round crystal brads (Making Memories), Gold staples (Making Memories), green ribbon (Michael's)

Happy Birthday, Esther!

My family has a lot of birthdays in March. My youngest sister, Esther turns 38 at the end of the month. Here's the card I designed for her.

I was inspired by a card in the 2008 Sale-A-Bration mini-catalog.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Friendship Blooms, Think Happy Thoughts - Stampin' Up
Cardstock: Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, River Rock, & white
Ink: Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, & River Rock
Paper Punches: 3/4" circle & 1 1/4" circle
Other: mini-copper snaps, Stampin' Up Copper Metal Edge Tags, paper piercer & mounting tape

Happy Birthday, Bethie Bug!

My niece, Elizabeth, is turning 13 this week. I've always called her Bethie Bug. Here's her birthday card.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: So Many Scallops (Stampin' Up), Serendipity Letters & Numbers (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: Brocade Blue & dots (Stampin' Up), dark pink & white
Ink: Brocade Blue & Wild Wasabi
Paper Punches: Scallop & 1 3/8" circle, & Fiskars 1/16"
Other: mini eyelets, celery ribbon, mounting tape, Martha Stewart Crafts indigo marker

Happy Birthday, Herb!

My brother Herb will be celebrating his 42nd birthday on Easter. He's very outdoorsy and talented when is comes to construction. He designed and helped build his current house...gorgeous!

I tend not to have many masculine stamps, so it's always a little harder to design cards for the men in my life. I used very non-traditional items on this card: a Starbucks corrugated cup sleeve is the larger tag punch and a textured paint chip from Lowe's.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Happy Birthday WordPrint - Hero Arts, Terrific Tags Punch Box - Stampin' Up
Cardstock: River Rock & white
Ink: Brilliance Coffee Bean, River Rock, & Groovy Guava
Paper Punches: small & large tags
Other: Starbucks coffee sleeve, Ralph Lauren River paint chip, gold gel pen, orange & tan organza, mounting tape, antique gold snap (Making Memories)

Happy 3rd Birthday, Alexa!

My niece, Alexa, celebrated her 3rd birthday last week. Here's a card I made for her. I choose this stamp because it has 3 balloons.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Happy Birthday WordPrint - Hero Arts, Terrific Tags Punch Box - Stampin' Up
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, So Saffron, white, & Kromekote (card base...you can't see it in photo)
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Paper Punches: corner rounder & 1/2" circle
Other: celery ribbon (Michael's) & mounting tape

Hoppy Birthday!

My youngest niece, Saharra, turned 2 a few weeks ago. Here's a card I made for her.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Unfrogettable & Brushstroke Alphabet Numbers - Stampin' Up
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, & white
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Paper Punch: corner rounder
Other: Fiskar scissors, paper tag, ribbon, colored pencils, and Crystal Stickles (Ranger), googly eyes

Color Inspiration #1 Challenge

Kristina, here's my attempt at using your color combo:
Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate, Pumpkin Pie, Pretty in Pink

I made a 45th anniversary card for my parents. They are leaving on a cruise to Panana, Costa Rica, and Belize next week. In all the hundreds of stamps, I don't have a Happy Anniversary stamp. I used Felicidades Siempre (Happiness Always) and handwrote anos under the 45.

Card Ingredients (90% from Stampin' Up)
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate, Pumpkin Pie, Pretty in Pink
Stamps Sets: Brushstroke Alphabet Numbers, Think Happy Thoughts, & Felicidades Siempre
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate, Pumpkin Pie, Pretty in Pink
Punches: Scallop, 1 3/8" circle, 1 1/4" circle
Other: Brown gel pen

I learned about Kristina when I stumbled across her YouTube videos in January. She does one called Make a Card Monday. I've subscribe to her videos. On her design blog, she gave us a challenge to make a card using these colors.