Did Someone Say Party?

Today we have a birthday party for one of my cousins kids and he *loves* anything Mario related. You know, the Mario from the Nintendo that we played as kinds circa '80s. Yes, he has stood the test of time and he still around. So, of course, Stampin' Up doesn't have Mario stamps, so I had to get creative and this is what I came up with :) First, you cant do a Mario card with out using the bold brights (not my favorite color group) so I used real red for the base, added brillant blue, glorious green, and yoyo yellow for accents. I brought my cuttlebug out to play and embossed the blue background with dots and cut out the yellow tag that reads happy birthday. I stamped the 'happy birthday' from my Eat Cake set. I downloaded the Mario images from Wikipedia. You can find anything there and used my Stampin' Up nested square punches for the cutout and the border. Tied on some non SU ribbon and we am ready to party!

Pallete O Prints

I joined a swap using SU! new pallette o prints stack of double sided paper. I was trying to showcase the fact that the paper had patterns on both sides so I decided to do a pinwheel card. They are so easy and fun. For those of you that dont know how to make a pinwheel, there is an excellent tutorial on SCS. Just do a search for pinwheel cards. I tried to keep the card simple. I used rose red, certainly celery, ww, and barely banana. The only stamps I used were Warm Words and Seeing Spots (for the background of the barely banana). I made the scalloped border with my slit punch. Thanks for looking :)

Why am I such a perfectionist???

So, did you read in my last post that I wasnt really happy with the card I was making for my mother in law for Mother's Day...well, wouldn't you know it, but I can't make myself give it to her. I hate it! So I made a new one...What do you think? Better? Anyway, heres what I used. For the stamps, I used the SAB set Happy Harmony. I really like the words in that set, too bad its not going to be in the new big Catalog. I used Almost Amethyst for the background, used my Palette O' Prints Certainly Celery paper, and Certainly Celery ribbon. For the scalloped oval, I took the guard off my corner rounder and used that on the Blush Blossom paper. I then sponged it with some Regal Rose to give it some color...Usually not a big fan of the Blush Blossom. For my main image, I colored the stamp with my blush blossomand regal rose markers then spritzed it with some water so that the image would look watercolored. Final touch, I added 3 brads down at the bottom because it looked bare :) I tend to overdo everything!

Procrastinators Revenge...

Today is the day. I have to finish my mother's day cards and guess what? I just can't come up with anything stunning, spectacular, WOW...(you get my drift :) anyway, I have one final card to make for my mother in law. Somehow, this is the hardest. This is what I came up with. I used old olive and brocade blue card stock. I dragged out my paper piercer- cards look naked without it- and my distressor for the blue card stock. I was going for the vintage look, but I dont quite think I did. I then added a piece of random flower paper that I just thought was pretty (dont we all have some of those stacked somewhere). I stamped the argyle stamp from Looks Like Spring in the background of the top and used my Short Order Alpha (*NEW and loving them, very versatile and a good size alpha) and stamped 'MOM' and stamped 'wonderful' from Warm Words on top of it....Then to give it some pop, I used a flower from my On Board Accents and covered it with some of my new Pallette of Prints paper and a clear button. The ribbon was from the .99 cents bin at Michaels. Voila!...my card (even I admit, I'm not thrilled by it, but it will do...you cant love everything you stamp :)

Ode to Mom

Ok, so Mothers Day is just around the corner and being the procrastinator I am, I am just now getting around to making cards... I seem to work better under pressure anyway :) Here is what I came up for with my own mother in mind. My mom is very young and hip and so just any old pastel flower/combo wasn't going to work, so I went kinda retro this time. I dug out one of my favorite sets Polka Dot Posies from the summer 06 mini (wink: hoping it makes it into the catalog) and used some of my favorite Cool Caribbean cardstock...figure I better use it before its gone with the wind. My layout idea came from last weeks challenge on SCS. I love that challenge because its different. The background is from Polka Dot and Paisley...boy is it hard to line that stamp up, even with the Stampamajig...popped everything up on dimensionals and added my much hoarded hodgepodge hardware...gotta use that stuff more because I think it just adds that extra punch to a card. Also used my new word window punch (love it) on the bottom and the words that show through the window that you cant see say "my friend". Enjoy :)

Another day, another card :)

Tommorrow I am off for an all day bus trip to the Longaberger Homestead and next week I need a birthday card for the grandmother, so to be proactive (which I never am) I decided to do it today. This is what I came up with. Simple but elegant I think...and simple is very hard for me :)

I pulled out my vintage violet paper and ink (since it doesnt have much time left) and the pretty in pink marker. I think they are a nice combination. I inked the background with Paisley in vintage violet. I then stamped the flowers from Polka Dot and Paisley as well as the word "happy". "Birthday" came from my Happy Everything set. Love these two sets... very versatile. I even pulled out my covetted Hodgepodge Hardware for the occasion and finished it off with a touch of pink grograin. I think grandmother Rosie will love it :)

Father's Day...already???

Sure, go ahead and ask...why are you making Father's Day Cards before you make Mother's Day cards? Well, I joined a swap that is absolutely killing me...I enjoy the thrill of creating a card, but mass reproduction is just not my thing! I am tired of the card 5 minutes into making it...anyway, here is what I came up with for this swap. {I have a hard time with the manly card}. This card is made from the Pines set from Stampin' Up. I used Brocade Blue, More Mustard, Old Olive, and Chocolate Chip paper. I scored the paper at 1 1/2 and 7 instead of just down the middle so that I could add the cute little eyelet ties. I stamped my moose on Chocolate Chip paper and cut him out and popped him up on dimensionals for a little depth. My final step was to distress the 1/2 circles with water and let them dry before putting brass eyelets through them and wrapping the hemp to close the card...it kinda reminds me of an interoffice envelope :) Enjoy!

To Blog or Not to Blog...That is the Question...

OK, it seems that everywhere I go online, everyone has a blog...and since I have always faltered to peer pressure ({cough} Stampin' Up)...thus the beginning of my blog! Please, if you stumble upon my tiny little blog, bookmark it and check back often...I seem to do better when I think people actually care :)