Graduation Cards

I made 3 graduation cards today, each for kids from different schools. Instead of the traditional cap and gown motif, I used the "Journey" stamp from Define Your Life, then worked around it. This stamp set is retiring at the end of the onth...and I can't decide if I am keeping it or not! Everything used on these cards is from Stampin' Up!

The first card is for my nephew. He is such a good kid! Excelled in academics and wrestling, and he is very respectful to his entire family. I believe he will do great in college and beyond! I wasn't sure what image to use, but since I used the journey stamp, my husband recommended this "Sail Away" stamp from the holiday mini. It is only available until the end of August, so make sure you get it! I stamped it with basic black on whisper white, then lightly sponged with retired bordering blue. I rounded the corners, and mounted it on basic gray. The striped ribbon is retired, but a perfect touch for the black and red school colors. Extra large silver brads and dimensionals add bulk, but I will be hand delivering this card tomorrow!

My next card is for the daughter of a staff member. Her school colors are back and gray, so I added lots of basic jewel rhinestones to perk it up. My large butterfly was cut from a retired pattern stack using the sizzix butterfly die, and I added lots of butterflies I had in my stash from the beautiful wings embosslit die. The white piece was a scrap, already embossed...save those scraps! Satin ribbon and retired elastic cord finish it off.

Finally, the youngest daughter of a long-time volunteer graduated. Her school colors are blue and white, so I decided to use some of my soon-to-retire Blueberry Crisp dsp, mounted on pacific point and very vanilla card stock. I stamped the grass from Inspired by Nature with crumb cake ink, and lightly sponged bashful blue in the sky. Another butterfly here, this one accented with a large antique brad and 2 basic pearls colored with my pacific point marker. I added some seam binding under the sentiment which is mounted on bashfu blue and pacific point.

Hope the kids like these cards...but odds are, they'll love the checks inside!

Inky {{{HUGS}}}

Happy Featured Stamper!

I told you I'd be right back!! *wink*

Today's Featured Stamper challenge led me to another new gallery...Elaine, aka Quixotic. She has a lot of very nice detailed cards, but shucks I was tired! I needed something Clean and Simple! LOL! This card fit the bill perfectly! I used daffodil delight for my card base, and added a layer of Ice Cream Parlor dsp...available only through THIS Thursday for Sale-a-Bration! I stamped "happy" from Define Your Life in pacific point, and mounted it on pacific point card stock. Just a touch of pumpkin pie taffeta ribbon was added. Finally, I used 2 Ice Cream Parlor buttons. I did not add thread...then they looked bare (gasp!) so I stuck pearls in the center!

I made another card featuring melon mambo instead of pacific point. With the word "happy" I could use these for LOTS of occasions!

Inky {{{HUGS}}}

Thinking Outside the Card Box

This card features last week's SCS Color Challenge (blushing bride, riding hood red, and early espresso) with last week's sketch challenge. The card used for the sketch example was created by my good friend Dawn (aka dawnmercedes) so I had to give this a try.

I need more Thank You cards for the ministry, and I already know who will receive this! Everything used is from Stampin' Up!

The main riding hood red card base is just 3-1/2" wide, so it still fits in a standard A2 envelope, even with those layers sticking out. I used 3 stamp sets: Friends Never Fade, Teeny Tiny Wishes, and Define Your Life. The stylized flower is colored with stampin' write markers on very vanilla card stock, (petals colored with blushing bride, "thumped" with riding hood red, center colored in so saffron, stems in early espresso) lightly sponged with blushing bride. I cut the oval using my Big Shot and the Ovals die. I used pieces of paper from the Regals and Neutrals Patterned Paper Packs, reinforced with blushing bride card stock. The self-adhesive pearls add a bit of elegance, and I also used Crystal Effects and Riding Hood Red re-inker for the faux brads. I LOVE this new detail, and will be using it a lot!

It was tough, but definitely fun to make a card that is not a rectangle, square, or even a circle! Sometimes we need to be challenged to think outside the box...give it a try!!

It's a Tropical Party!!

Last night, I held my monthly Stampin' Club...and we had a great time in the tropics!! My hostess-with-the-mostest (Waving Aloha to Patti!!) loves parties with themes. So, we decided to focus on great items from the Summer Mini Catalog. I chose to feature Island Oasis DSP in all three projects. Patti even encouraged us to wear bright colors, and brought floral leis and yummy snacks featuring pineapple. We need to do this more often!!

Our first project was a quick Birthday card using the cute set Tropical Party. LOVE this set! I had actually made a different card the night before club, didn't like it...so I made this after work in 5 minutes! These solid image stamps are PERFECT for a very quick card! The only embellishment is a tiny bit of ribbon scraps. We stamped the inside too, because, well...it was easy! Love the colors together...tempting turquoise, rose red, pumpkin pie, old olive.





Next we made a drink umbrella, using the same Island Oasis DSP and my new scallop circle Big Shot die. I will confess that it was tough for me to explain the scoring. We struggled with this a bit, but had a great time laughing about it! No drinking was involved... seriously! An outsider looking in may have questioned that!! For a great tutorial on this little umbrella, check out my cyber-friend and fellow SU Demo, Rhonda.






Our final project was a Pull-out scrapbook. I found the tutorial on splitcoaststampers. Patti is a scrapbooker, so any project that gives her a chance to showoff photos is a plus. This little book takes some time, but it is so well worth it! When finished, you end up with room for 14 small photos! The only stamp used was from Define Your Life. Some chose "journey", others chose "memories." (This set is way more versatile than I realized!) We embellished with grosgrain ribbon, and used several punches, including the corner rounder, the photo corner, 5-petal flower and Extra Large Fancy Flower. A pumpkin pie corduroy brad adds the final touch.






Our Tropical Party was a great way to spend the evening! Let me know if you want to join the fun!!

Inky {{{HUGS}}}