By the Tide Birthday

Today's card is for my son's 20th birthday.  Wow, where did the years go!  I sure love him though, so I had to make him a special card (I must love a lot of people because it seems like I'm always making special cards. lol).  He's definitely an outdoors man, and enjoys fishing, so I figured some sort of fishing card would be the way to go.  I used this week's Paper Players challenge #173 "Any Shaped Card" to come up with this idea.  It could be any shape except the normal rectangular card so I used the Deco Labels Framelits to make this card's shape.  Instead of layering behind the card to get a dark background I sponged around it instead.  I think that was faster to do than cut and stack the layers to get them to look just right.

I had to take a few close ups so you could see the pieces I cut out to add dimension. :)

When I make a "shaped" card I don't like to have a piece of it missing, so I never fold a piece in half and leave part of the shape off the card.  All you have to do is cut two of the same pieces, score the back piece where you want the card to flip at, and put your adhesive on the top part of the back piece of the card. :)  Here are a couple of pics in case what I wrote doesn't make sense.  I'm definitely a visual person so pics help a lot!  

This is the back of the card and you can see where I scored it and attached it to the front piece of the card.

This is what the inside looks like when you flip it open.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  By the Tide & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Not Quite Navy, Island Indigo & Garden Green

Framelits:  Deco Labels

Sponges

Evergreen

Happy Thanksgiving!  What are you thankful for today?  I'm thankful that I will be able to spend the day with my family. :)  There's a lot more that I'm thankful for than that, but that's just the start.  Now on to today's card.  It's for the next 'Tis The Season sketch challenge.  I went with a pretty basic card this time by only using two colors, and switching a couple pieces of the card stock around to make them just a little different from each other.

I don't really know which one I like better.  

And now the group of them.  So far I've managed to keep up with making four cards for each of these challenges.  So glad I'll have cards done for next year if I manage to keep this up.  Now I just need to finish my cards for this Christmas. lol

Don't forget to check out what the other members of the design team made HERE, then play along yourself. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  Evergreen & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Cherry Cobbler & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Cherry Cobbler

Embossing Folders:  Modern Mosiac, Delicate Designs,

Petals-a-Plenty & Pretty Print

Candy Dots:  Regals

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

Let It Snow!!

Let It Snow!!  That's the theme of today's card using the SUO (Stampin' Up! Only) challenge #84.  I needed a card for my brother-in-law's birthday so I thought it would be a good theme to go with for a guys card. :)  Let's just hope he doesn't read his emails before he goes to work early in the morning since my cards get emailed to my sister.  Anyway, lots of sponging and embossing for this card, and I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to actually make sure the trees were a little offset from each other.  Wish I could get a better picture because the card looks so much better in person, but that's the way it goes sometimes. 

 I had to quickly stamp and do just a bit of sponging on the inside too because I think it adds just a little more to the card.  I know it's a little light, but that's the point.  I need to be able to write on the inside so the writing can be seen instead of being covered up by the stamp.  Wish I could whip out the front of a card as fast as I can the inside! lol

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  Lovely as a Tree, 

Gorgeous Grunge & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Night of Navy & Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Night of Navy

VersaMark

Stampin' Emboss Powder:  White

Punches:  Decorative Label & 1 1/4" Circle

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

Open House Mini Cards

Wow, what a week it's been for me!  After prepping for and having an eight hour open house this past Thursday, helping my daughter sew curtains on Friday and losing our electricity for most of Saturday (and getting pretty much nothing done!) I'm finally back to blogging.  I thought I'd show you one of the crafts the ladies made at my open house.  They made four 3x3 cards uisng 2012-2014 In Color DSP and made a little box to put them in.  The box was made with the Stampin' Up! Envelope Punch Board.  Love that thing.  It's so easy to make boxes using it! 

Here's how I made the box to put the cards in...

Cut your paper 6" x 6".  Using the Envelope Punch Board punch and score at 2 11/16" (between 2 5/8" and 2 3/4").  Then punch and score again at 3 1/4".  Cut out the corners on the top like show in the picture and snip the bottom so you still have tabs.  Fold and glue or tape together.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Set:  Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  2012-2014 In Color DSP & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple,

Gumball Green & Midnight Muse

Punch:  Pansy

Jewel:  Basic Pearl

Dimensionals

Let it Snow...

Today's card is my design for this week's Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch challenge.  And like my title says the twist is Let it Snow!  I actually had a different card in mind, but another designer had the same idea as I did, so I went back to the drawing board.  I came up with this card using the colors from Dynamic Duos...black and smoky slate.  

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  Lovely as a Tree & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Basic Black, Smoky Slate & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Smoky Slate

StazOn:  Black

Punch: 1 1/4" Circle

Sponges

Autumn Accents Thinking of You

Another quick post for today of one of my November stamp a stack cards.  A quick and simple card using the Bigz Die Autumn Accents.  After the leaves were cut out I quickly ran them through a few different embossing folders, then did a bit of sponging on each of the leaves.   

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Set:  Sassy Salutations

Card Stock:  Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler,

Always Artichoke, Crushed Curry & Pumpkin Pie

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Cherry Cobbler,

Always Artichoke, Crushed Curry & Pumpkin Pie

Embossing Folders:  Woodgrain, Stripes,

Houndstooth & Argyle

Bigz Die:  Autumn Accents

Linen Thread:  Natural

Sponges

Lovely as a Tree for Sunday Stamps

Today's cards are for the Sunday Stamps color challenge which I have the privilege of being a guest designer for.  The colors are Lime, Gray and Turquoise so I chose the Stampin' Up! colors Lucky Limeade, Tempting Turquoise and Basic Gray.  I grabbed a piece of card stock for each color to try and inspire myself, and boy did I have to think a little bit before I could use these colors.  At first I was trying to think of how I could use them with a flower or just something feminine.  Then I thought blue, green and gray...why not do some sponging?!  So that's what I did. :)

 They are pretty similar, but one card is a little darker than the other. 

 I've decided that it would be a good idea to start making two of the same card for every challenge I do.  I just need more cards on hand! :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Set:  Lovely as a Tree

Card Stock:  Lucky Limeade (retired), Basic Gray

Tempting Turquoise & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Lucky Limeade (retired),

Tempting Turquoise & Basic Gray

Embossing Folder:  Woodgrain

Window Sheets (for tree reflections)

Candy Dots:  Regals

Sponges

Blue Bird

Just a quick post today of one of my November stamp a stack cards.  Amazingly I didn't use a sketch or color challenge for this card. No one complained about it so I'd say it passed the stamp a stack card test. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Set:  Simply Sketched (hostess)

Card Stock:  Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay  & Night of Navy

StazOn:  Black

Embossing Folder:  Modern Mosaic

Framelits:  Ovals Collection

Ribbon:  5/8" Organza in Whisper White

Smooch Sprtiz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Joyful Christmas

Today's cards are for another 'Tis The Season challenge and this week it's a color challenge with the option of using twine.  I must say this was a hard group of colors to work with for me because they are not traditional Christmas colors at all!  I'm pretty satisfied with what I came up with though.  I hope you enjoy them too.  Don't forget to check out what the other designers made HERE at 'Tis the Season and see what you can come up with using these colors. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  Joyful Christmas & Sassy Salutations

Card Stock:  Baked Brown Sugar, Marina Mist,

Cherry Cobbler & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Cherry Cobbler

Versa Mark

Stampin' Emboss Powder:  Gold

Linen Thread & Baker's Twine (white)

Thinking of You

What a day I had yesterday raking and mowing leaves and picking up a TON of apples that fell on the ground from our apple tree.  I actually enjoyed it though. :) There's nothing like working outside in the fresh air and getting a bit of exercise.  It was nice having my daughter out helping me pick up the apples too.  She only got hit a couple of times on the head when we were picking good ones from the tree to make dried apples with. lol  Believe it or not I still have quite a bit of flowers blooming here in Michigan.  A lot of pansies and snapdragons.  Also my skunk plants (I don't know what they're actual name is, but they kind of smell like a skunk so that's what I nicknamed them. lol) and one rose that I cut off and brought inside.  Looking at my flowers made me want to make a card with one, so I used the Freshly Made Sketches 111 for today's card and put a flower on it. :)  If you want to know how I made this flower check out my post HERE.  I used a scallop punch instead of deckle scissors though.  

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Set:  Express Yourself

Clasic Stampin' Pad:  Rich Razzleberry

Card Stock:  Rich Razzleberry,

Always Artichoke & Naturals White

Punches:  1 1/4" Scallop Circle & Bird Builder

Framelits:  Apothecary Accents

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer  

Nature & Northern Lights

What did I see the other day?  A tutorial over on Splitcoast Stampers on how to make a card with Northern Lights using sponges.  Well, if it involves sponging I'm all over that!  I had to get my sponges out and give it a try, but first I checked out a bunch of pics of the northern lights.  There is such a variety of color and shapes, and they are so beautiful to look at!  I've seen them in person a few times and the last time it was actually a bit red.  What an amazing sight!  That's why I added the verse on each card.  I did do my sponging a bit differently than the tutorial, but after looking at the pics I knew exactly how I wanted to attempt to make my cards. :)

I was going to throw this piece away because the first time I stamped the trees on they weren't dark enough. :(  Then I thought I'd highlight them with a white gel pen, but it ended up looking terrible.  That's when I remembered I had the stamp-a-ma-jig (I know, Red Hot Stampers, not the thing-a-ma-jig! lol).  Whew, I managed to save a piece and make a card.  The trees are a lot whiter in this pic than in person though.  I just can't get the white to not reflect so much when I'm taking the picture.

This is actually the first piece of card stock that I sponged.  I liked it so much I just kept going! :)

The theme for this card from this week's Paper Players theme challenge #170...Wildlife.  I couldn't make a card without at least one animal. :)

Like usual I had to take a pic of the group. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

First Card

Stamp Sets: Lovely as a Tree

Card Stock:  Basic Black, Pool Party & Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Night of Navy, Pacific Point,

Pool Party, Coastal Cabana & Pistachio Pudding
StazOn:  Black

Embossing Folder:  Argyle

Punches:  Modern Label & Word Window

Candy Dots:  Neutrals (Black)

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

Second Card

Stamp Sets: Evergreen

Card Stock:  Basic Black, Pool Party & Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Night of Navy, Pacific Point,

Pool Party, Coastal Cabana & Pistachio Pudding
StazOn:  Black

Embossing Folder:  Argyle

Punches:  Modern Label & Word Window

Candy Dots:  Neutrals (Black)

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

Third Card

Stamp Sets: Walk in the Wild

Card Stock:  Basic Black, Pool Party & Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Night of Navy, Pacific Point,

Pool Party, Coastal Cabana & Pistachio Pudding
StazOn:  Black

Embossing Folder:  Stripes

Punches:  Modern Label & Word Window

Candy Dots:  Neutrals (Black)

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

Sailing Chevron Birthday

I made today's card to practice up on my sponging technique since I plan on having a sponging class.  Let me tell you this is definitely not how my card started out!  I had actually sponged a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Natural White card stock, but couldn't figure out how to put that size onto a card without it being boring.  So I gave up last night and surprise, surprise I couldn't fall asleep.  That's when I started thinking about the different sketch challenges I went through yesterday and how I could use one of them to put my pic on the card.  So how did I come up with it?  I used the Mojo Monday sketch challenge #318 to layer my sponged picture on, but knew I needed a bit more.  So I used the chevron half of the Friday Mashup challenge #134. I know my daughter will love it because there's no white! lol

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp  Sets:  The Open Sea & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Island Indigo, Night of Navy,

Basic Black & Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Night of Navy, Island Indigo,

Cherry Cobbler & Crushed Curry

StazOn:  Black

Punch:  1 3/8" Square (for chevrons)

Sponges

Pleasant Poppies

Today's card is for Try Stampin' on Tuesday's next sketch challenge, and the twist is a bit vintage.  Not sure I really did the vintage part, but I did manage to figure out something for the sketch.  I must say I've been using the Naturals White card stock a lot lately.  I actually hadn't bought it until just a couple of months ago, but I love it.  

A quick peek at the inside of the card too.  Don't forget to check out what the other designers made on Try Stampin' on Tuesday HERE.

Stamp Sets:  Pleasant Poppies, Simply Sketched & On Your Birthday (retired)

Card Stock:  Perfect Plum & Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Perfect Plum

Ribbon:  5/8" Seam Binding in Very Vanilla

Blender Pen

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

Birthday Lion

Today's card is for my nephew who turned two.  What kind of card do you make for a two year old?  I looked up punch art lions and saw a lot of cute ones and picked one and put it together.  I heard he liked the card because he roared when he saw it. :)  I used the Paper Craft Crew card sketch challenge #65 for the card's design.  

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Card Stock:  Soft Suede, Crushed Curry, 

Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Soft Suede & Crushed Curry

Stampin' Write Marker:  Soft Suede

Embossing Folder:  Perfect Polka Dots & Stripes

Punches:  Blossom, 1 3/8" Circle, 3/4" Circle,

Owl Builder (heart & eyes) & Scallop Edge Boarder (retired)

Lovely as a Tree Anniversary

Today's card is inspired by the sketch challenge Freshly Made Sketches.  Yesterday was my 23rd anniversary and I had to have a card for my hubby.  I don't want to be accused of making cards for everyone but someone in my family! lol  We went to P.F. Changs for dinner, a movie, then to FYI for some ice cream...well, yogurt really.  Yummy!!  Anyway, I used this set for another masculine card a couple of weeks ago and it turned out great, so I thought I'd make another one using the same technique...triple layer.

I know it doesn't look like much, but there are trees on the inside of the card.  I like to stamp it lightly on the inside, then write over it or stamp over it with a darker ink.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  Lovely as a Tree & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Soft Suede, Sahara Sand & Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Sahara Sand

Punches:  1" Square & 1 1/4" Square

Ribbon:  3/8" Taffeta in Soft Suede

Creative Crew Creations for November

Welcome to November!  It's hard to believe it's already here.  Where has the year gone?!  Just to warn you my first post for this month is a long one since I'm going to combine all of my Creative Crew projects into one post instead of doing four this month.  I tried to keep my projects and little more simple this time.  I like to go all out and need to learn to do simple but elegant.  So let's start from the beginning...

Oh November, the time of sweaters & blue jeans, cocoa & fires, and just about every kind of yummy food you could ever be thankful for! This month we're going to take ourselves a trip down memory lane and remember what we have to be thankful for.

The first challenge...DSP/Color Focus: Since we're starting Sweater Weather why don't we take our trip down that road first. Show us Chocolate chip, Crushed Curry, Sahara Sand, Soft Sky, Tangerine Tango all getting happy together.

Since we've had our leaves on the trees for so long here in Michigan I figured I'd use the Lovely as a Tree set using the colors from the first challenge.  

I like to stamp the image on the inside after I've stamped the first time.  It leaves the same image just a lot lighter so you can write over it.

The second challenge...Creative Focus: KITS! We have a mountain of kits to choose from, they make a class or a workshop easy peasy! The next part of our trip takes us into packaging territory, show us something with the Pretty Packages line on pages 158 & 159 of the main catty or any of the kits or packages in the mini catty, tell us why you choose what you did.

The reason I chose this kit is because you can make so many cute things using the bags and tags and add anything you want to it to match what you're using from the kit.  Plus I have an open house coming and I'm trying to figure out ideas for some of the make and takes. :)

Just a close up. :)

The third challenge...Holiday focus: Did you know that November 26th is national cake day? Trip number three is to be inspired by the cake pictures and show us what creation one of these cakes led you to, please see the attached ideas.

I usually like color, but I love black and white cards as well.  Since it's November and a month to be thankful I thought it would be nice to make a thank you card that's clean and simple.

I had to make a matching envelope too. :)

The fourth and last project...Scrapbook focus: The last leg of our journey is to take that walk down memory lane and share a favorite childhood memory, event, toy, or treat on scrapbook page, mixed media project or with This & That!

Well, a scraper, scrapbooker (not sure what you call it!) I am NOT!  But I didn't want to do a mixed media this time, and I don't have a This and That journal so a scrapbook page it is.  I decided to make a quick page of when we brought our kids to Disney World with my brother's family in 1998 and for our fifteenth anniversary in 2005.  I made quite a few visits there while growing up, and it's also where we went on our honeymoon.  Love that place! :)  I think it's time to go back!! :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Lovely as a Tree Card

Stamp Sets:  Lovely as a Tree, Dictionary & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Chocolate chip, Crushed Curry, Sahara Sand, 

Soft Sky & Tangerine Tango

Classic Stamp Pads:  Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand, 

Crushed Curry & Tangerine Tango

Punch:  Modern Label

Candy Dots:  Neutrals Collection

Decorative Bag

Stamp Sets:  Festive Flurry & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Coastal Cabana & Bermuda Bay

Framelits:  Festive Flurry

Ribbon:  3/8" Ruffled Stretch Trim in Coastal Cabana

Tag a Bag:  Gift Bags & Accessory Kit

Jewel:  Basic Rhinestones

Thank You Card

Stamp Sets:  Hello Doily & Blooming with Kindness

Card Stock:  Basic Black & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Smoky Slate 

StazOn:  Black

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Scrapbook Page

Stamp Set:  Everything Eleanor

StazOn:  Black

 Card Stock:  Basic Black, Real Red, 

Pacific Pride & Garden Green

Punches:  1/2" Circle, 3/4" Circle, 1" Circle & 1 3/8" Circle