Simple Enough?

I was asked to design some simple cards for the Relief Society ladies to make and send out. (The Relief Society is the women's organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.) It's a real challenge for me, as they are primarily non-stampers, and the cards need to be simple to mass produce. I came up with two for this round.

Both cards are made with non-Stampin' Up cardstock, so I won't list the cardstock used. This one uses In the Spotlight (a recently retired hostess set) for the flowers, Itty Bitty Backgrounds for the background, and the sentiments is from Hugs and Wishes. I used Pretty in Pink and Basic Black classic ink. The stamped flower is punched out with the 5 Petal Flower Punch, as is a piece of pink cardstock to go behind it.

This one uses Best Blossoms, which was a 2006 Sale-a-Bration set, Happy Everything, and Little Pieces. I used Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery and Barely Banana classic inks. The corners of the sentiment layers are punched with the Corner Rounder punch. The edges on the Happy Birthday piece are done with Tempting Turquoise direct to paper. The matt under the white is actually a pale yellow, but the color doesn't show well in the scan.

Speaking of Sale-a-Bration ... I've been telling you for awhile now that my birthday was cause to sale-a-brate, and it's almost here. Friday is my birthday, and Stampin' Up is having a six week party to celebrate with me. Stay tuned for details, and watch your mailbox for the official flyer. There are five great stamp sets and some rubons to be had for free!

Happy, Happy Birthday!!

What a week! Monday I twiddled my thumbs most of the day at work. Now I feel like I'm drowning in work. It's really not that bad, but tax season is definitely here. I ended up working 46 hours this week, and I can all but guarantee I won't work any less until after April 15th.


All that work kind of cuts into my stamping time, though. But I need that stamping time to stay sane. Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch. (Sane? Me?) I need it to stay functioning. So, I spent an hour straightening up my stamping area and made a birthday card. And, I still have one to show you from last week, so you get to see two today.


The House Mouse card is watercolored with Stampin' Up Watercolor Wonder Crayons and Twinkling H2Os (for the balloons). You can't see it well in the scan, but the Twinkling H2Os have mica in them and that catches the light and twinkles as you move the card. They come in 156 different colors, and I think I need them all. It took three different stamp sets to finish the card, Little Pieces, Everyday Flexible Phrases and Warmest Regards. I used Tempting Turquoise, Almost Amethyst and Lovely Lilac cardstock, with Tempting Turquois and Lovely Lilac classic inks. It's finished off with turquoise primas and gold stickles.


This is the card I made today, another WishRAK birthday card. It uses Stampin' Up's Voila stamp set colored with Watercolor Wonder Crayons. I added some yellow glitter glue to the candle flame to make it glow. It uses Elegant Eggplant cardstock and a piece of Rose Red Prints Designer Paper. I finished it off with a piece of Elegant Eggplant grosgrain and a Hodgepodge Hardware circle clip.

Stampin' Up added a new adhesive to their line with this catalog. It's a liquid clue called Tombow Mono, and really strong. It does have latex in it, so if you have allergies, beware. This card is the first time I've used it. I like it, but it's going to take practice. Most of the adhesives I use slide a little, this doesn't, so the layers are a little crooked. It still looks good, though.

I'll be back later this week. I need to design some simple birthday cards for non-stampers to make, with no embellishments. Not an easy task, so I may be asking for your opinions on a couple of different attempts.

It's a Beautiful Thing

We have a new IT director at my work whose favorite phrase is "It's a beautiful thing." One of the stamp sets in the new catalog is A Beautiful Thing (page 82, it's also in the preview mini), and the two just had to go together. This desk set is a gift from one of our secretaries and me to him. My daughter Katie thinks it's too feminine to give to a guy, I hope he doesn't think so.

The A Beautiful Thing stamp set actually is pretty feminine, the other stamps in the set are all flowers so I couldn't use them. And the phrase stamp says "You make my life a beautiful thing", which was too much. So, I inked it with my Basic Black marker to just get the words I wanted, and used my Stamp-a-ma-Jig to position them. The tree is from Lovely as a Tree (page 98). Everything is mounted on 4 inch coasters and held together with Hemp Twine threaded through Jumbo Eyelets. You gotta love that Crop-a-dile for punching holes and setting eyelets! Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Soft Sky, Le Jardin Designer Paper. Ink: Basic Black Classic ink. Other: Corner Punch, Crop-a-Dile, Hemp Twine, Jumbo Eyelets, Crystal Effects (used to mount the pen/penchil holder on the coaster base).

Stampin' Up will be sending out Sale-a-bration mini's for me this week, so watch your mailboxes. There's great stuff in there! If you don't have one from the end of the month, and you're on my mailing list, please let me know.

Gone But Not Forgotten

I signed up to be a "Birthday Fairy" on WishRAK, so I get to make several birthday cards a month. It's a great opportunity to play with retired stamps.

Stipple Rose retired two years ago, but it's a beautiful stamp and will be in my collection forever. This is stamped with black Stazon on shimmery white cardstock and colored with Watercolor Wonder Crayons and an aquapainter. It's mounted on Old Olive and Regal Rose cardstock. The corners are punched with the corner rounder punch and the ticket corner punch. Believe it or not, the rhinestone brads in the corners are pink. I have no idea how the scanner turned them green.

It'll be interesting to see the February birthday fairy assignments. Do you think I'll get to make myself a card? Whether or not I do, I think my birthday is a great thing to Sale-a-brate, check back often for updates!

Have you seen it?

The new catalog, that is? To use a much overused phrase, it's AWESOME! Click here to see for yourself.


Stampin' Up has a great special this month, too. A really cute Valentine stamp set, cellophane bags, and ribbon at a special price. Check it out here, or call me for more information.