Yet Another Birthday!

Today my baby is 19. Does that make me officially old? My mind sure feels old. I spent all day yesterday trying to come up with an idea and finally gave up. Today, now that she's out with a sister and good friend I finally came up with one, but I can't give it to her until tomorrow. I hope she'll think it was worth the wait.

I first saw a Tri-Shutter card about a year ago, printed out the directions so I could try them and promptly lost them in my collection of ideas. Today I remember it, and was surprised at how easy it was to make! Just some careful measuring, a few simple folds and cuts. I'd love to show you how, just let me know if you want a demonstration.

Ingredients: Paper: Whisper White Cardstock, Old Olive Textured cardstock and designer paper from Petal Party Simply Scrappin' Kit (retiring). Inks: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie and Pixie Pink (retiring) classic ink. Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly and Heard from The Heart. Accessories: Butterfly Punch, Mini Glue dots.

Here's a picture of the card open - this is what makes it special:

Pretty Pansies

I've wanted to try these butterfly pansies, designed by Dawn Olchefske, since I first saw them. My daughter Maggi's favorite color is purple, so they'r perfect for her birthday card. I just wish I'd reread the directions before I put them together ... I forgot to draw the lines on the pansies. Oops! They're still cute, though. And I will definitely be making them again.

They're amazingly simple to make. All you need is Stampin' Ups Butterfly Punch, a little bit of Shimmery White Cardstock, a brad, a water spritzer, two reinkers, an aquapainter and a Stampin' Write Marker. I used Elegant Eggplant and So Saffron ink. First you punch out two butterflies, spritz them down with water (make them really wet so the reinker will float), and drop reinker on the wings with an aquapainter. You can use the aquapainter to encourage the ink in the directions you want it to spread. Then let the punches dry; I helped these along a little with my embossing tool. Once they're dry, curl the punches a bit, punch holes in the center, draw a few fine lines out from the center and put the two punches together with a brad. You'll have a beautiful pansy you can use on a card, a box, just about anywhere.

The card is made with Pure Plum, Elegant Eggplant and So Saffron cardstock. I stamped "happy birthday" from Teeny Tiny Wishes with Elegant Eggplant ink. The strips of So Saffron and Elegant Eggplant were textured with the "Distressed" plate from Texturz Plates Kit #4 and the Big Shot.

If you'd like to see a demonstration of the butterfly pansies, or need to buy any of the supplies please let me know. I'd be glad to help out.

You can't buy this

The stamp set, that is. But, you can get it free! Stampin' Up treats its hostesses very well, host a qualifying workshop and you will earn one or more limited edition stamp sets AND hostess credit to buy anything you want from the catalog. Don't want to host a workshop, but still want the goodies? That's okay, too. Place a qualifying order by yourself or show the catalog to a few friends and collect orders from them and you can have the gifts, too.

This is a super simple card that uses only the basics, stamps, ink and paper, and a cardsketch from SUDSOL, a demonstrator site I belong to. Stamps: (Hostess Set) Love Bug. Ink: Stazon Black, Creamy Caramel, Ruby Red and Black markers. Cardstock: Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel, Basic Black and Whisper White. 1", 1 1/4", 1 3/8" and scallop circle punches. Ruby Red and Creamy Caramel are both retiring colors, they are both available now, but supplies may be limited.

I like the card the way it is, but it screams to be stepped up a bit. Tonight I need to make a birthday card for one of my daughters, tomorrow I'll try my hand at stepping up this design. Watch for future posts to see how it turns out!

I was wrong about my internet problems, so I may have limited posting access for a bit. I can email pictures just fine, but every time I try to upload one directly to Blogger I lose my internet connection and have to reset my computer, and often my modem and router. It's very frustrating! If you have any suggestions, please pass them my way!

Bibbity Bobbity Boo!

I have two (absolutely adorable) almost five year old granddaughters, so princess stamps are an absolute necessity for me. At least owning them is. I bought the Princess Time stamp set when this catalog first came out, but hadn't used it until today, and I love the results, so I will definitely be playing with it some more! A very quick and easy card, but rich results!

Used in this card: Stamps: Princess Time. Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Regal Rose, Whisper White and Brushed Gold. Ink: Gold Encore. Accessories: Rich Regal and Soft Suede markers, Versamarker, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Rich Razzleberry polka dot ribbon, Stampin' Up Backgrounds 1 Texturz Plate and Big Shot.

I tried to post this last night but had problems uploading the picture. I think I figured out the problem, so I hope to post again tonight. Look for a sample using stamps you'll never be able to buy, coming soon.

Change is in the air

Change is in the air with Stampin' Up. They're revamping the color palette and it is exciting! It's a big change, 30 existing colors are retiring, but we're getting 5 brand new colors (and 5 new In Colors), and adding 10 previous In Colors to the core collection. I can't wait to play with all the new colors, but for now I'm having fun with the retiring colors.

This card uses two retiring colors, Brocade Blue and Mellow Moss. I wanted to use a piece of Designer Series Paper from the Patterns III hostess pack and chose Mellow Moss because it is retiring. Then I grabbed my trusty color coach and added Brocade Blue and Regal Rose (not retiring). I love my color coach and use it all the time. Of course, with so many changes to the color palette there will be changes to the color coach, too. It's been completely redesigned; it has all the functionality from the current one that we love, and some wondeful additions.

Ingredients: Cardstock: Whisper White, Regal Rose, Brocade Blue, Mellow Moss. Ink: Black Stazon. Stamps: A Kind Word, Teeny Tiny Messages. Accessories: Big Shot, Circles Scallop #2 Bigz Die, Circle Cutter, Oval, Large Oval and Scallop Oval Punches, Watercolor Wonder Crayons and Aquapainter.

The Patterns III Designer Series Pack will be retiring on July 4th. It's only available for free, and will never be available for sale. Host a workshop or place a qualifying order and it's yours. Let me know if you want more information!

They grow so fast!

My grandson Wyatt's 3rd birthday party is today. It seems like he was just born yesterday! Last year I made him a popup birthday cake card which all the adults loved, Wyatt wasn't impressed at all. (Duh!) I think he'll like this year's card, though. I'm not sure his mom will, but she'll get over it.

Stampin' Up came out with these great Sweet Heart Cups with the Holiday Mini. Foolish me, I didn't try them until just recently. They are so much fun! They come in the original circle shape, and in the heart shape that was featured in the Occasions mini. Both will be in the new big catalog (16 pages bigger than the current one!) that comes out July 1st. I've seen some of the cutest animals and such made from these! And, they are simple to use.

This very simple card uses the Beary Nice Wishes and Beary Best Friends stamp sets, Tempting Turquoise classic ink and Black Stazon ink, Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery and Whisper White cardstock and the sweet treats cup. And, of course, the blue M&M's picked out of 1 1/2 little bags. It will be sheer torture to finish those bags off...