Trick or Treat- if you dare....

Good morning! It's a nippy 38 degrees in Atlanta- a true taste of fall and I'm finally starting to get into the Halloween mood! The Stampin' Up Holiday Mini catalog is out and there are some fabulous papers and sets for all the upcoming holidays. This year there is a larger variety of digital kits/stamps/paper, which are really great if you're budget and space are tight. I have no room to store anything while we're in temporary housing, so digi works great for me:))

I challenged myself to make an "all SU" card this time and resisted the urge to use my Nestie dies, etc. I started with the digital kits "Pick Your Poison" and "Piece of Poison" to make the main image. These digi kits are great because they can be used in My Digital Studio or in other programs like Photoshop. I layered the elements together to make the gravestone, printed it out on Very Vanilla card stock and layered it onto some Basic Black.

I printed paper from the "Frightful Sight" collection, resized to 6x6 inches so the pattern would be a good size for a card, and added a punched border of Cajun Craze. I used the awesome "Simply Scored" to make the fan from paper in the "Wicked Fun" set, scoring every 1/4" of a 1-1/4"x12" strip. A thick glue dot holds the fan together at the back and another attaches the designer button to front. A little bakers twine and a few of the black rhinestones left from last year finish it off.

I repeated the theme on the inside, changing the size of the skeleton and adding a spooky greeting. Super fun to do and the images are "stamped" perfectly every time! Hybrid card making is definitely something to try!

I'm off to watch Emily swim a mile race- I can barely run a mile- can't imagine how this kid can swim one-lol!

Have a great day~

 




Supplies:
Stamps: Piece of Poison, Pick Your Poison
Paper: Frightful Sight, Wicked Fun, Basic Black, Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla
Ink: None!
Accessories: Scallop Trim Border Punch, Simply Scored, Baker's Twine, black rhinestones, Trim lace, dimensionals, 3D glue dots, sewing machine

Something Blue...

 My sister emailed me last week and asked for help with a wedding card for some friends of hers that were getting married. She had searched the stores and couldn't seem to come up with the right card for a couple with an alternative lifestyle, so little sister to the rescue!

I searched some quote sites for a bit before I came up with a quote that I thought really summed up their relationship- not too mushy, not too religious, but meaningful. I used two fonts in Photoshop to accent the important words and fit the words to fit the die I planned to use. I stamped an image from the The rest was fairly simple- some pretty flocked background paper, cream silk ribbon, and some pearls.

The inside was finished with a simple "congratulations" on a die-cut mat and some more of the pretty flocked paper. A clean and simple card in 10 minutes! The card is much prettier IRL, but I was rushed to get pictures of it before I sent it off to my big sis in the mail- she'll vouch for me:)

Hope your day is off to a good start!

 




Supplies:
Stamps: Stampin' Up: Note to Self, Warmest Regards
Paper: Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla, "Garden Party"-DCWV
Ink: Baja Breeze
Accessories: Sizzix Big Shot, Nestability dies, silk ribbon, Basic Pearls, dimensionals,

Hey Toad Sister...

This is what happens when I use the tween's music list for running- I get her tunes stuck in my head, lol! I was inspired by Linda McCain's awesome Halloween card found {here} and decided I had to make a card of my own with this stamp!

I stamped the image in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics. The background was paper from the retired Stampin' Up "Night & Day" paper pack, stitched to some Gable Green and Basic Black cut with Nestability dies. Sewing in a circle was stressful for me, but looks cool! The ravens were cut from a page in the My Mind's Eye "Spider's Web" pack- I think they add to the anxious look on his face. I wasn't keen on the greeting that went with the stamp, so I printed one out my daughter came up with using Photoshop.

The inside is finished with coordinating papers, stitching and a computer-generated greeting. My son loves this card (or at least the idea of turning his sister into a toad!) so this may be his for Halloween.

Hope your Monday is painless!

 




Supplies:
Stamps: Toad Sister (Eat Cake Graphics)
Paper: Basic Black, Gable Green, Whisper White, DP- K&Co
Accessories: Sizzix Big Shot, Nestability dies, sewing machine, Baker's twine, button, silver brads

Sizzle My Circuits!

Rain, sweet rain! We have lived in Atlanta for almost 2 months now and, with the exception of a few short rain showers, this is the first rainy day we've had. I wish it were tomorrow instead of my holiday, but hey, I'll take the water!

We have a bunch of birthday parties coming up, so I figured I would get a jump on making some cards so I'm not caught short the day of the party (also makes a gift card much more attractive!). I started with this adorable robot image from Torico's "Birdie Brown" shop and dug out my "Cogsmo" paper from Cosmo Cricket- what a great match!

I didn't want to cover the robot in the background of the paper, so I cut out my little guy and attached him with dimensionals. Because this is going to a boy, I had to keep the embellishments simple- a bit of cool stitching, silver brads and a die cut greeting - definitely NO ribbon!

The inside is finished with a coordinating strip from the paper pack, another die cut and a computer generated greeting.

Since I get questions about this, here are the Copic colors I used on this card...

I'm off to enjoy this rainy day in my craft room:))))))

Supplies:
Stamps: "Robot with Balloon"-Torico
Paper: Whisper White, Poppy Parade, Buckaroo Blue, Peach Parfait, "Cogsmo"-Cosmo Cricket
Accessories: Copic markers, Sizzix Big Shot, Nestabilities, Sewing machine, dimensionals

Bring on the Cake!

 Last week I bought whole bunch of digital stamps from Torico's Birdie Brown Etsy shop- it was hard to stop at just a few;)) Her images are whimsical and just downright cute! I decided to give this birthday pup a try since I have several boy birthdays coming up.

I like the color combination in the "True Blue" patterned paper pad from My Mind's Eye and colored the pup and his presents with Copics to match. I ended up with more layers than I planned, but it's only postage, right?! The greeting was generated in Photoshop and accented with an orange button from the Brights Collection-Stampin' Up. When it was all laid out, it looked like it needed something more- a strip of Espresso cut with the ZigZag border die from MFT fit the bill perfectly!

The inside was finished with a strip of the number paper, a coordinating zigzag and a punched greeting. It's my nephew's birthday today, so this one will be a bit late- hopefully the present will make up for it!

Hope you having a great day wherever you are!

Supplies:
Stamps: Party Dog- Birdie Brown by Torico
Paper: Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, MME- "Fine & Dandy-True Blue"
Accessories: Copic markers, Open Zigzag dienamics die (MFT), Stampin Up: Sizzix Big Shot, Modern Label punch, Designer Label punch, Designer Buttons-Brights, dimensionals, hemp twine

Stars in Heaven...

Good morning! Hard to believe it's Monday already- weekends go by so fast! I'm sure my friends and family on the East coast wish this weekend had gone a bit faster- a lot of flooded basements and some trees down (thankfully none on houses) for people I know, but after cleaning up from Ike a few years ago, I can certainly sympathize!

The topic of sympathy, unfortunately, brings me to my card for today.  Over the past few weeks, I have had two friends give up their fight with cancer. Both have been fighting unbelievable battles for several years and both will leave incredible holes in their families and communities. I wanted a simple, elegant look, but was at a loss for a stamp with the perfect sentiment. Google to the rescue!

I started by searching for "sympathy quotes" and found this one which I think is perfect for my friend who left a 7th grader daughter behind. I know they watched her suffer for several years, but the end is still so hard to deal with, especially as a pre-teen. I formatted the quote in Photoshop using several different fonts and sizes and printed it in Early Espresso ink onto Vanilla card stock. A little tip for Stampin' Up fans- you can import the color codes for all teh Stampin' Up colors into Photoshop and make yourself a custom "Swatch book" so when you print, the colors match their card stock exactly!

The card was finished simply with layers of some pretty patterned paper I had in my stash, some crinkled seam binding ribbon and an antique brad from Stampin' Up. Now the hard part comes- finding the words to write...

Hope your week is off to a good start and that those in the Northeast get power soon!

Have a cool day...

Good morning! I hesitate to say this knowing that half my friends and family are sweltering in the Texas heat and the other half is dealing with Hurricane Irene, but boy, is is a beautiful morning in Atlanta! It is a cool 64 degrees, clear blue skies, light breeze- absolutely gorgeous! We took a family bike ride before it started it heat up and discovered just how steep the hills in our neighborhood are (and just how out of shape I am-lol!).

Now that several people have voted on the penguin dude, I decided it was time to finish my brother's card. It's very frustrating having half my life in storage- I couldn't find the paper I wanted or a stamp for another card I am working on, so time to improvise!

I started with this week's MFT Wedensday Stamp club sketch pulled out some Hawaii themed papers from an old stash.  I love the way sketches get you jump-started on a card! I expanded mine to a square to give me a bit more room to play.

I used the blue chilly dude since he was  a better match for these papers and added some layers of DP and coordinating card stock, stitched together on my sewing machine and sponged to give them a weathered, beachy feel. I couldn't find my crimper (storage, I suppose) so I scored a piece of Kraft card stock and sponged it with brown ink to make it look like beach wood.

The inside was finished with the coordinating striped paper, a surfboard and a "cool" birthday greeting. Now the big challenge- getting it into the mail!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend~

 




Supplies:
Stamps: Penguin in Summer (Birdie Brown by Torico)-digital
Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, Soft Sky, Cajun Craze, Hawaiian DP (can't remember name)
Accessories: Sizzix Big Shot, Curly Label Punch, Marina Mist Seam Binding ribbon, button, hemp twine, Nestabilities, Dienamics, dimensionals, sewing machine