For those of you who look here often, I have been on vacation and getting ready for my Stamp-A-Stack this past weekend, so you've not heard much from me. I am hoping you'll be hearing from me more, as life is starting to slow down a little bit from last month! This is another of the cards we did at the Stamp-A-Stack. Started by stamping the Linen background in Chocolate Chip onto my card. Punched a couple 1/2 inch circles from the Chocolate cardstock and put an eyelet in the center of each. Then tied the hemp twine through the eyelets. Then I stamped my Great Outdoors wheel in Versa mark, then did the Poppin Pastels technique (where you use a cotton ball and pastels to make the image "pop") to color the images. Then tore around the wheeled image & chalked some Chocolate on the torn edges for a more worn look. I matted it in Chocolate Chip paper & and crumpled a piece of Always Artichoke paper a few times to get texture that I wanted. A manly card with lots of texture.

One of the cards we made at my Stamp-A-Stack this past weekend. We had a lot of fun creating! This set is wonderful! I got it in the mail last week, and this was my first creation with it! Stamp the giraffe from Wild About You in Regal Rose. Cut your Regal Rose & Bashful Blue papers to size and use your Paper Piercing Tool & Guide to pierce holes where you want them. Then connect the dots with your White Gel Pen. Stamp the sentiment in Bashful Blue and paste it all together! So easy, simple and fun! What new mom wouldn't love it??

I challenged myself to make a card out of BoldBrights colors since my stampin' buddy Laura always uses these and I rarely ever do! I used the sketch from Splitcoast for this week and used only two stamps on the whole card! The tag is from the hostess set Tags So Much, and the background on the Brilliant Blue and Whisper White papers is Linen - the only background I've used in a week! I stamped the tag a few times in the different colors and cut around the parts I wanted to use - like I used the whole tag from the orange, the flower only from the blue & the center only from the pink. Then I did it again on a little square piece that I made a faux metal-edged tag from! For the tag: punch out a smaller square from a metallic piece of paper, then stamp a larger square around the smaller one and you're left with a metallic border to put around whatever you want to make a tag from! I punched holes in the Pink Passion & Only Orange cardstocks using the guide in the Crafter's Tool Kit and used my White Gel Pen to make it look like I stitched between the holes. Then I put a ribbon around the Brilliant Blue cardstock, tied a little bow and glued it all together. It's definitely not my favorite card, but it is bright!

I was excited to see Splitcoast's new tutorial (see link below) for a box from an 8 1/2 by 11 piece of paper - so I decided to try it. I haven't made something three-dimensional in a while, and I had been wanting to try this color combo for over a week. This is what I ended up with. I made the box from More Mustard cardstock & stamped the front and back panels with Mustard ink & Linen background. Then on the Bashful Blue cardstock I stamped flowers from the Beyond the Basics set in VersaMark. I cut a piece of Mustard cardstock and pressed it into my Cranberry Crisp ink pad to give it texture & glued it across the blue. Then I used the flowers from the Flowers for a Friend set with Bashful Blue ink & Always Artichoke stems. I stamped over the flowers with the sentiment from God's Blessings in Basic Black. Then to add just a little more texture, I stamped off the linen stamp a few times then lightly pressed it randomly over the piece of white cardstock. Framed out the Whisper White with Cranberry cardstock & then glued it all on. I punched tiny holes with my 1/16 inch hole punch and tied a piece of Hemp Twine through each side & tied cute little bows! It was fun & I feel inspired....You just might see some more 3D stuff here soon!

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/onesheetbox.php

The picture does not do this card justice, but it was the best I could do!

I wanted to try out the "Glitter Window" technique & wow, does it glitter! This girly flower dress is screaming for a little glam, isn't it!? Stamp the front of a quarter page Whisper White card with the Linen background stamp in Chocolate Chip brown. Then cut an oval in the front of a quarter page white card with my Coluzzle Cutting System. The third from smallest was perfect size for this dress. Then I stamped the dress from Blooming With Happiness in Chocolate Chip on the inside of the card, trying to center it in the oval window. I used my Blender Pen & my Regal Rose stamp pad to color in the dress. Then I got my clear packaging tape out and covered the oval from the inside of the card. I sprinkled the Dazzling Diamonds glitter over the sticky part of the tape and WOW! It was dazzling! I cut a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock and roughed up the edge by running my scissors on it a bunch. I cut a little smaller strip of Regal Rose and stamped it with the words from Blooming with Happiness. Then I stamped the flower from In Full Bloom in Chocolate on White cardstock, colored it in with Regal Rose & Chocolate and attached it using a Pop Dot for dimension. I thought it needed a little something more, so I added the Dazzling Diamonds to the center of the flower, though you can't see it here.

The second card I made last night using my new toys! I just got the Linen background stamp and I think I could use it on every card! It really does make the paper look like fabric! I totally fooled my husband - he thought it was fabric until I told him otherwise!

I stamped a 4x5 1/4 piece of Whisper White cardstock with Bashful Blue and put it on a quarter page card of Almost Amethyst - I don't have Amethyst ink and it worked great as a substitute! I was so excited to find that out! Then I stamped the "Love" stamp -from A Is For Adorable - onto white cardstock in Bashful too. I matted it with Basic Black & Amethyst. I cut the Black cardstock to size & used VersaMark & my new White Emboss Powder with the "always" stamp from a retired set - Small Script. It is similar to the set WarmWords that is on sale this month for 20% off! I tied a piece of White Narrow Organdy ribbon around the black cardstock and put it all together. I like the look of this & think I'll use it for a friend who's getting married this summer. Her colors for the wedding are blue & black. I can't wait for her to see it!

I made this card last night for a friend's birthday this week. I copied an idea from the Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog - page 183. I stamped Cranberry Crisp cardstock with my new Linen background stamp (Cranberry ink). I stamped the leaves from Stippled Stencils with VersaMark ink on the Gable Green paper, and then added the "wish" from a retired set Small Script in Versa Mark as well. I matted the Green paper with Bashful Blue & wrapped around some silver cord. The two flowers from Burst into Bloom were stamped on white in Cranberry & Bashful inks. I cut them out, punched holes in their centers and attached them to the green strip with silver brads. I stamped the inside with a simple "Happy Birthday" from Warmest Regards. I hope she likes it!

ps. If you fall in love with the "wish" stamp, check out Warm Words, which is on sale right now! (April 1-April 30)

Happy Easter to you all! I made a couple variations of this card today, but this was my favorite. Bright colors, instead of the typical pastels for me! It was really easy. I stamped the flower from In Full Bloom in Regal Rose & colored it in with my Blender Pen. Then I stamped the sentiment from God's Blessings in Basic Black, right over the top of the flower. I love this look! One of my favorite things to do with verses. Then I stamped the white paper with polka dots from Polka Dots & Paisley in Regal Rose. Finally, add the paper layers & the ribbon. Easy breezy!

I made these before I had even heard of Stampin' Up! and didn't use any stamps on them! I was planning to give them to my neices for Easter, but must have forgotten, so I got them out to give to them this weekend. I like to give them cards that are a little different from each other. The one on the left is little egg shapes that I cut from white paper & put them together to look like a little bunny. The right one is pierced paper, sewn with actual thread. I didn't even know about faux-stitching back then! I think both ideas came from a card making magazine....but it was so long ago, I don't know which one it would have been. I hope they like them!