French Flair

Well, maybe not French exactly, but I thought this card had a little more of an elegant appeal. Of course I kind of mixed it up a bit by using Crumb Cake with Not Quite Navy and a touch of red to give it a little bit of a homemade-country twist. So does that mean it's a country french style?! Who knows! Guess I'm a little muddled here! Anyway, let me show you what I mean...

Stamps: French Filigree, Tiny Tags, and Artistic Etchings

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy, Riding Hood Red, and Very Vanilla

Ink: Not Quite Navy, Riding Hood Red, and Crumb Cake

Accessories: Big Shot with Designer Frames Embossing Folders, Beveled Windowpanes, Crumb Cake 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon

Isn't it cool how the beveled windowpane brings the little heart to the center of attention? All the layers play up the swirls on the heart, but the clear acrylic really enhances the overall look of the card. I think I'll be needing to find more uses for these little pieces.

Thanks for stopping in again today. Hopefully I'm back in the swing of things again - at least for a little while! Sharon

Another Cupcake Card

Yeah, I know. I'm just having a hard time staying away from those cupcakes when I need a birthday card. They're just so dog-gone cute! No matter if you want to dress it up or down, it's like a real cupcake - it's perfect for just about anybody!! So this is the one I have for you today.

Stamps: Create A Cupcake, and In My Thoughts (retired)

Cardstock: Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Baja Breeze, and Whisper White with Just Add Cake Designer Series Paper

Ink: Wild Wasabi, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral

Accessories: 2 3/8" Scallop Circle, 1 3/4" Circle, Itty Bitty Shapes, and Cupcake Builder Punches, Basic Rhinestones, Paper Snips, and Dimensionals

If you've got a lot of birthdays coming up soon, this would be a perfect card to put together. And changing the colors can give you a really different look. But isn't this a happy little card using these colors? Even the inside seems happy with the sentiment stamped in the Calypso Coral ink. And of course, you need to stamp an extra cupcake inside the card and on the envelope too! You know, you can never have too many cupcakes for your birthday!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sharon

Spider Web Greetings

Today I wanted to share a Halloween card that could be done two different ways, depending on which you prefer. It's a very simple card to make, but it's fun. The sketch could be used for any number of different occasions by just changing up the tag that's tucked into the card. I'm sure you'll get all kinds of ideas for this sketch once you give it a little thought. Now, on to the card!

Stamps: Grateful Greetings and Wicked Cool

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie, and Very Vanilla

Ink: Pumpkin Pie and Early Espresso

Accessories: Big Shot with Spider Web Embossing Folder, Pumpkin Pie 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Word Window Punch, Sponge quarter, and a stapler

The embossed web design was lightly sponged with Early Espresso ink to make it stand out more and give it more of an eerie feeling. The Word Window had to be punched again partially to open up the slot wider. And I loved adding the little spider webs from the Wicked Cool set onto the tag, the envelope, and also the inside of the card.

Now comes the fun part. Depending on how you slide in the tag, you can either have it showing like I did in the original above, or it can slide in to hide the greeting as shown here. Either way, the ribbon stapled on the side makes an excellent pull-tab for the tag. For this version of the card, I'd really like to find a small 3-d spider to add to the web. Wouldn't that be da-bomb?! Guess I need to hit one of the craft type stores to see if I can find any.

Happy stamping! Sharon

Welcome Ellie

My nephew and his wife had their second child arrive last week - a lovely little girl named Ellie. So of course I had to sit down and make a card to welcome her into the family! I wanted the card to at least look a bit like it went with the gift which was a cute little Tiger's cheerleader outfit and a big hair ribbon with a flower in orange and blue (Tiger's colors). Since it was for a baby, I wanted to keep the colors a softer shade though. Out came the retired Apricot Appeal cardstock and ink so it would be more little girlie girl. Here's the finished card...

Stamps: Pennant Parade and A Word for You

Cardstock: Apricot Appeal and Whisper White

Ink: Apricot Appeal, Baja Breeze, and Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Petite Pennants Builder Punch, Big Shot with Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Apricot Appeal 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Sponge Dauber, and Dimensionals

I was so pleased that the card came out very delicate and sweet just like a new little baby girl. I'm sure her big brother Brooks is going to have fun teaching her all kinds of fun things! Hooray for big brothers and little sisters!

Thanks for stopping by today. I appreciate any comments you might care to leave.

Sharon

Christmas Bonanza!

I've been busy getting supplies ready for card-making at church last night. We were making cards for our soldiers again and were focused on Christmas. One of my friends is a quilter and keeps making these little quilted pieces for cards. I just had to share with you some of the different cards we made last night. Because of the colors and designs of the fabric pieces, I ended up using a mish-mash of current and retired stamps, cardstock, ribbon, etc. So, after giving it lots of thought, I'm not going to be listing all the supplies for each card. All I can say is everything on every card shown is from Stampin' Up! except the little quilted pieces. Just enjoy and get inspired. You never know what little bits and pieces you might want to put on your cards.

That's all for tonight. It was fun coming up with cards to fit the little pieces. I can't wait to see what Diane will be coming up with next to make our cards for the soldiers so unique! Thank you for all your many hours of quilting these little gems, Diane. I really appreciate all you do! And thank you for stopping by to check out what I've been doing lately. Keep stamping and have fun!

Sharon

Fancy Fold Card

Don't know what happened yesterday. I was in such an awful funk because nothing seemed to be going right. And I didn't get the card posted that I had planned. So it's a day late, but still fabulous anyway. I can say that 'cuz it's from a class I took from Jan Tink - you know, the creative Queen Janine! Here's one of the cards we made at her class this past week. I know you'll love it! There's a lot of pics because it's really different and I wanted to make sure you could see it all. Here you go...

Stamps: Best of Everything and Petite Pairs

Cardstock: Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, and Whisper White with Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack 2011-2013

Ink: Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, and Wisteria Wonder

Accessories: Simply Scored Scoring Tool, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Pinking Hearts Border and Corner Punches, White Gel Pen, Calypso Coral 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon, Sponge quarters, and Dimensionals

Hope I remembered everything that was used on this card. Isn't it just gorgeous? I'm going to have to open it up and take measurements so I can make another one of these. I love how many different layers all fold up together. When it's being unfolded, it's like a surprise as each item is being shown. Definitely a present in itself!

It's so pretty, isn't it? I can't believe I actually made this card!!!

I sure hope you enjoyed todays card. I just can't stop looking at it and opening it up. Not sure who is special enough to get this card. I just might have to hang on to it for quite awhile. Yeah, I know, that's just plain selfish of me. Guess I better work on that, right? Anyway, enjoy your holiday weekend. Hope I can get back to post tomorrow like a good girl. I'll work on that too (grin)!

Sharon

Definitely the Last Ship

Ok, here it is! Ta da!!!! The very last card I'll be sharing with you from the now retired set, The Open Sea and the retired (boo hoo) Nautical Expedition Designer Series Paper. I hope you were smart and made sure you had this ordered in time. I'd love for Stampin'Up! to bring this paper and set back in a regular catalog, but I don't get a vote on this. Too bad! And this card is also a fancy fold card idea too! This fold is called the Joy Fold for those of you that need a name for it. It's been around for awhile and always is an interesting card to make. I've taken lots of pictures so you can see how it's made if you haven't made one of these before. Once you get the idea of the folding, it's a snap to make these cards. Here we go...

Stamps: The Open Sea, Family Reunion

Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake with Nautical Expedition Designer Series Paper

Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Not Quite Navy, and Cherry Cobbler Classic pads, and White Craft pad

Accessories: 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Word Window Punch, Twill Tape, Metallic Mini Brads, Sponge quarter, and Dimensionals

Here is the 1st fold opened up. This side folds over the left front and tucks under the compass in the top corner to stay closed.

And here the 2nd fold is shown open revealing the full inside of the card. Pretty neat, huh? As you can see, the Joy Fold card isn't that hard to make. The main focus when making the card is to get the folds in the right place to overlap properly.

Now give it a try and have some fun with this idea. Thanks for dropping in today. Wonder what I have in store for you tomorrow? Come back soon and find out. Think I'll work on something not manly and get back to some girly stuff!

Ta ta for now, Sharon