Hello Again

I love the bright colors on this card! I used Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, Poppy Parade and Whisper White. The stamp set is called "Hello Again" and it is just cute and simple. I used the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder on the poppy strip. If you haven't noticed, I'm an emboss-a-holic....there's something embossed on almost every card I make.

It Matched the Bag!

Well, I can't say this is my most favorite card ever, but it matched a gift bag I bought at Target perfectly! I should have photographed the card with the bag, but too late for that! Anyway, the card is made from Crumb Cake cardstock and the flowers are an array of choices from various stamp sets and die cuts. It was pretty fun to make, and like I said, it matched the bag!

Butterfly Prints

This is kind of a wild color combo, even for me! The Daffodil Delight looks very bright against the Early Espresso. The butterfly is stamped with "Butterfly Prints" and punched with the butterfly punch...of course they coordinate perfectly! The sentiment is from "Perfect Punches." I emobssed the daffodil paper with the "Final Press" folder, and the scallop rectangle is a die cut from a new Clearlit. Notice the taffeta ribbon and brad in the center of the butterfly. Too cute!

Cards from Sonia

My dear friend and fellow demonstrator, Sonia, made these two adorable cards and shared them with me. I love the way she used Stampin' Up! punches to make the purses. The sentiment is from one of my favorite sets, "Oval All." The next card features tulips made from the wings of the 2-step bird punch. So cute! Thanks, Sonia!

Awash with Flowers

This card was CASEd from one of the blogs I regularly follow, and I'm sorry I don't remember who originally created this card. I promise to get better about keeping track of that and giving credit where credit is due, but I'm still fairly new at this blogging stuff so thanks for cutting me some slack! The stamp sets used are "Awash With Flowers" and "God's Blessings." The colors are Rich Razzleberry, Baja Breeze, So Saffron and Whisper White. I think this color combination is striking. Love it! I don't typically like 2-step stamping, but this set is one of those that doesn't have to be matched perfectly. Plus, clear stamps help so much with alignment!

Card from a Friend

Isn't this a beautiful card? It was made and sent to me by my friend Venice. I love all of the careful detail she put into this card: the shading, the border punch, but mostly the creativity. This is not a Stampin' Up! stamp set, and I'm sorry I don't know what it is, but I love this card so much I just had to share it with you. Thank you so much, Venice!

We're Good Together

I never outgrew my love of coloring! This card was so much fun to make. The stamp set is "The Nicest Things" and the sentiment is from a new Valentine set called "Filled With Love." I used "Sunny Garden" designer paper (so pretty!) and the ink colors are Daffodil Delight, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz and Peach Parfait. I used Crumb Cake for the basket, and a little Blushing Bride for skin tones (I miss Blush Blossom!) Hope you like!

Cheap Talk

Here's another updated version of a Paper Creations magazine card. The designer paper is Sunny Garden, the colors are Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz and Whisper White. I colored the ribbon by sponging it on the Pear Pizzazz ink pad. I love these colors!

God's Blessings

I saw this card in Paper Creations magazine made with retired colors, so I updated it with current papers and will call it my own. The designer paper is "Sunny Garden" and features Poppy Parade and Peach Parfait. I used the Flower Burst and Little Leaves Sizzlets, and stamped the sentiment on Whisper White.

Day of Gratitude

This is one of the cards we made at the recent SU Regional here in Columbia. I also used it as a stamp-a-stack card and my guests loved it. The big medallion makes a great background, or it's beautiful stamped as the main focal point. Colors used are Cajun Craze, Old Olive and Whisper White. I will soon post many cards from this "Day of Gratitude" stamp set as I am going to make many cards for local businesses who want to show appreciation to their customers and volunteers.

Greenhouse Garden

This was a favorite at a recent stamp-a-stack. We used the Greenhouse Garden stamp set which is a beautiful 2-step set. Even though we cut out a couple of the flowers, these don't take long at all. The colors used are Soft Suede, So Saffron, Very Vanilla and Regal Rose. The sentiment is from "All Holidays."

Flower Burst

If you like purple, this card is for you! I copied this design from Diana Gibbs, one of my favorite SU demonstrators. The card base is made from Concord Crush cardstock, and the Flower Burst sizzlet was used in the same color to give this card an embossed look. Perfect Plum designer paper was used as well as the in-color poly-stitched ribbon. The stamp is from "Cute by the Inch" which coordinates perfectly with the Flower Burst sizzlet. This card is prettier in person...my photograph does not do it justice!

My friend and fellow stamper, Sonia, demonstrated these pastel techniques at a recent hostess club. We all have our box of chalk and we're always looking for new ways to use it. These cards were so easy and fun to make and the results were so pretty. Thanks, Sonia!

Punched Posies

Here's a retired SU set that I will keep forever. I love sets that coordinate with our punches, especially the 5-petal flower. You can see that one flower is stamped on the Whisper White cardstock, while another was stamped and punched out. It was attached with a brad, so the flower petals actually spin like a pinwheel. That is such a cute look. The card base is Riding Hood Red, layered with So Saffron and Wild Wasabi. I used a Sizzix folder to emboss the little squiggle line near the bottom. You'll find embossing somewhere on almost all of my cards.

Just Believe

"Just Believe" is another one of my favorite stamp sets from the newest catalog. I paired it with our new in-colors to make this pretty card. The card base is Concord Crush, followed by Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz. The concord strip is embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder and the green strip is our new 1/2" stitched poly ribbon. You get 15 yards of this for $8.95...what a bargain! I'll have many more cards coming soon using this set.

Life is a matter of moments.

This elegant card uses the "Elements of Style" stamp set. The flower image is stamped on Whisper White cardstock in black Staz-On and colored with Bashful Blue and Old Olive markers. The pretty swirls on the left are stamped in Bashful Blue and it's finished with a Night of Navy satin ribbon. I've seen this card on so many blogs I don't know who the original artist was, but she did a great job!

Pinwheel Card

I had seen samples of pinwheel cards, but didn't know how to make them. My friends Kimberly and Dana had seen them too, and they took the initative to figure out how to do this! Dana made this card for me, taught me how to make it, and now I'm hooked! It's my favorite design to make and I can't wait to show my hostess club gals how to make this card this week. Dana used the Sizzlets Button #5 die for the center embellishment. So of course, I had to buy that! A tutorial follows this post and I hope you give this technique a try. Thank you Kimberly and Dana for sharing this card!

Pinwheel Tutorial

This was my swap card for the recent SU Regional Convention here in Columbia, SC. Once I learned how to make this pinwheel, it quickly became my favorite type of card to make. Plus, it's a good use for all of your designer paper scraps. I had a lot of questions regarding how I made the pinwheel, so here is my attempt at a tutorial. Hope it is helpful!

Begin with 8 squares of dsp at 1 5/16". Then cut two squares of vanilla or white (whatever color coordinates with your dsp) at 2 7/8".

Glue the two large squares together to form this pattern. I've found it helps keep everything lined correctly if you use the bold lines in the center of your grid paper as I have shown. Match your points on the bold lines and you'll have the perfect pattern.

Begin by gluing your first square on one of the corners. Be sure to put adhesive only in one corner, because you will need to put your last square underneath this one, as you'll see later.

Glue your second piece on the next corner. This piece should have adhesive all over the back. Continue sticking your squares in each corner of your pattern until you have gone all the way around.

Your last square will have to be partially placed underneath your first piece. This is why you don't glue the entire first piece. (Sorry for the blurry photo. Someone's had a lot of coffee this morning!)

Add embellishments to your finished pinwheel. I love the antique brads, or the two larger buttons from the Buttons #5 Sizzlits Die, actual buttons, or almost any of the flowers from sizzlits would work. I'll make lots of Christmas cards with the pattern with snowflakes in the center. Hope you have fun making pinwheel cards!

Artistic Etchings

When I first saw this new stamp set I thought, "what am I going to do with that?" Well, this is what I did, and it turned out to be one of my favorite cards. We made this at a recent stamp-a-stack, and it received many compliments. I used Perfect Plum, Crumb Cake and Basic Black cardstock, and the same ink colors plus Old Olive. The stripes across the middle are made with the new 1/8" taffeta ribbon which I absolutely love.

Awash with Princesses!

How cute is this?! I copied this card from someone, and I would give her credit if I remembered who she was....but anyway, here's my card. I took the stamp set "Awash with Flowers" and stamped the flowers upside down...those are the gowns. I used faces, arms and legs from "All in the Family," and crowns are from "Tiny Tags." Colors used are Daffodil Delight (one of my new favorites!), Melon Mambo, and Tempting Turquoise. The sentiment "Don't treat me any differently than you would a queen," is from the retired stamp set "Favorite Thoughts."

Birthday Bakery

These were my September birthday cards. The stamp set is called "Birthday Bakery" and it is a current Level 1 Hostess Set. I used Real Red and Wild Wasabi card stock, along with "Celebrations" designer series paper. I used an extra large scallop circle die and dug out the Circle Scissors Plus to make the Whisper White circle. The icing was colored with blender pens. In case you can't read the sentiment at the bottom, it says "This is no day for just a sliver!" Too cute! I copied this card from Chat, aka "nitestamper." When I saw this colorful card, I knew I had to make some!!

Morning Cup

I LOVE this set called "Morning Cup!" Well, who am I kidding? I love them all! This was a recent stamp-a-stack card and a favorite among my guests. The card base is Pacific Pointe. Other colors are Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry and Pumpkin Pie. We used an aquapainter to color in the images. Took a little time, but it's so cute!

CASED from Dawn Griffith

Isn't this a great technique? It's called "Embossed Negative" (I think!). Basically, you stamp the image twice with Versamark, one on black paper embossed in white, the other on white paper embossed in black. You cut the image in half, and stick it together. It's a little trickier than it sounds, but you can do it! Visit Dawn's Stampin' Thoughts for complete instructions and a video tutorial.

Cards from MaryAnn

MaryAnn and I frequently swap cards and these are the most recent I have received from her. Aren't they all fabulous!! Love them all!!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Here are some beautiful cards my wonderful stampin' friends made and gave me for my birthday last month....yes, I'm a little slow to post! I have more to post, but I still need to photograph them, so I'll post more soon. This first card is from Agnes.

From Laura

From Sonia

From Lisa

From MaryAnn

From Dana