Happy Father's Day or Birthday :)

I have a quick post for you today.  I made this birthday card for my father-in-law's birthday last week and thought it would make a good Father's Day card too, so I whipped up another one (but I'm not giving it to him for Father's Day too! lol).  This is such a quick and simple card to make using a little old and a little new. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  World Map, Dictionary, 

Express Yourself & Traveler

Card Stock:  Soft Suede & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Soft Suede & Crumb Cake

Sponges

Vivid Vases

Today's card is for a great sketch over at this week's Try Stampin' on Tuesday challenge #162.  There's also a twist for this week, and it's bunnies and chicks.  I didn't do the twist because I don't have any stamps with bunnies or chicks!  Can you believe it?  Nope, none at all.  Instead I just went with one of the newer sets from Stampin' Up! called Vivid Vases.  I figured it was about time I put it to some paper.  I really like how it turned out, but I have to admit it looks so much better in person than it does in the picture.  I like how the bright flowers pop against the browns. :)  Make sure you visit Try Stampin' on Tuesday HERE to check out what the other designers made this week.  And if you have a chance play along and show us what you made. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  Vivid Vases, Hardwood & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Soft Suede, Crumb Cake & Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Soft Suede & Crumb Cake

Stampin' Write Markers:  Garden Green, Melon Mambo, 

Crisp Cantaloupe, Strawberry Slush, Wisteria Wonder, 

Daffodil Delight & Calypso Coral

Candy Dots:  Regals (Crumb Cake)

Blender Pen & Sponges

You're Lovely, Daffodil

Yeah, it's Friday!  Last week was so busy and this week wasn't too bad, so why am I so excited for the weekend?  Who knows, but I'm glad it's here.  And since it's Friday it's time to show you my card for the Friday Mashup challenge.  This week Tara brings us a great challenge...

Create a project using the "Scattered Embossing Technique".

Create a project with "Spring Colors or a Theme".

Or Mash it up and create a "Spring project with the Scattered Embossing Technique".

I've never done the scattered embossing technique, so that was something new and fun to do.  I also chose to use yellow for this week's card since it's bright and springy and a favorite color of my niece's.  I hate to admit it, but I'm SO far behind on my March cards and it's already April 4.  At least I have one of them done now.  I hope to finish them up this weekend.  Maybe that's why I'm excited for the weekend.  I can just make a few cards and relax and enjoy doing it. Don't forget to check out what the other designers made for this week's challenge HERE.  They're beautiful!  Make sure you play along too if you get a chance so you can try out the scattered embossing technique and think spring at the same time. :)

I can't forget to add the the other challenge that I used to help create this card. I used this week's Freshly Made Sketches for my card design.  I'm finally playing along with a sketch challenge since I haven't done it in a while.  Actually I did last week and totally forgot to play along on their blog!  Guess that means I'm getting old! lol

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  You're lovely & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Basic Black, Daffodil Delight & Whisper White

StazOn:  Black

Ink Refill:  Daffodil Delight

Embossing Folder:  Decorative Dots

Framelits:  Deco Labels

Jewels:  Basic Pearls

Aqua Painter

Serene Silhouettes

It's Tuesday so that means it's time for a card for this week's Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch challenge.  The twist to go along with this week's sketch is a cameo appearance.  Since I don't have any stamps that are cameos I went with a silhouette stamp from Serene Silhouettes.  This is a pretty quick and simple card to make and could be for a few different occasions.  Make sure you check out all the cards the other designers made HERE, and if you get a chance play along with us.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  Serene Silhouettes & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Basic Black & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Basic Black

StazOn:  Black

Embossing Folder:  Modern Mosaic

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Cajun Craze Silhouettes

Yea...it's Friday!  And that means it's time for another Friday Mashup challenge.  Today's challenge is brought to us by Avery and she has a great sketch and mashup to go along with it...

Create a project using the "Sketch".

Create a project with "Spritzing / Splattering". 

or Create a project using the "Sketch & Spritzing". 

Ever see a picture and get a little inspired to create a card to look a little something like what you've seen?  I have, and I love to look at pictures of sunsets.  I've had a picture with the setting sun, these colors  and a tree waiting for me to try and somehow recreate it.  I finally had the chance with this sketch and got busy with it...then I totally forgot to do some spritzing or spattering!  Duh, that's me lately...go figure since I spritz a ton of my cards.  Too late though because I wasn't taking my card apart after I realized it! lol

Dont' forget to check out what the other designers made HERE.  There are some great cards this week!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  Serene Silhouettes & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Cajun Craze, Basic Black & Basic White 

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Cajun Craze, Basic Black,

Crushed Curry & Cherry Cobbler

StazOn:  Black

Punch:  3/4" Circle

Embossing Folder:  Argyle

Brayer & Sponge

The Open Sea Map

Today's card was for my January stamp a stacks that were rescheduled from last week since we had a ton of snow here in Michigan!  I'll have to share a few pics that I took in our back yard at the end of today's post.  Anyway, today's card makes me think of warm weather, not the cold.  I guess you could sail in cold weather and many have, but I'd have to say I would be a fair weather sailor...if I was sailor (sorry, Dad!) lol  I've combined the World Map stamp with the sailboat and globe stamps from the Open Sea, and did a bit of sponging over the map.  I really like how it turned out and it was pretty simple to make.

Ok, here are a couple of pics from my yard.  We always get a bit of a drift through our backyard because of where we live and how the wind blows around the buildings.  The drift really doesn't look that big in this pic at all...

but this is me actually standing behind the drift taking a pic. 

I moved to the right a little bit and this is what the edge of the drift looks like.  I think it's kind of funny how the wind whipped around our garage and left the ground bare, but move over a few feet and the snow was as high as my waist.

One last pic of me behind the drift.  I must have stepped a little closer to it this time.  Boy is that going to leave one wet mess when it starts to thaw!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  The Open Sea, World Map & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Night of Navy & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Night of Navy, Island Indigo & Garden Green

Sponges

Soft Serene Silhouettes

This is another fun sketch I had to work with from the Red Hot Stampers.  Not sure why I went with purples, but that's what popped into my mind when I saw the sketch. :)  I just might use this as one of my stamp a stack cards, but use sponges instead of the brayer for the background.  

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  Serene Silhouettes & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Perfect Plum, Wisteria Wonder & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Perfect Plum, Wisteria Wonder,

Pink Pirouette & Basic Black 

StazOn:  Black

Embossing Folder:  Fancy Fan

Punches:  Large Oval, 3/4" Circle & Scallop Edge Border

Brayer & Sponges

Love You

It's Friday Mashup time again and today's challenge is from Heidi.  What is the challenge?

Create a project using the Colors "Coastal Cabana, Real Red & Crumb Cake."

Create a project using "Hearts & Arrows. "

Or Mash it Up and create a project using "the above colors along with Hearts & Arrows."

This was a fun challenge to work with and I think my card turned out pretty cute...and it's pretty clean and simple.  Love that about it! :)  Too bad the words "love you" don't show up in the pic.  Not sure what happened there, but I can see it just fine when looking at the card. :)

Head on over to the Friday Mashup HERE and check out all the other cute Valentine's Day cards from the other designers.

I had to use the left over heart pieces and put them on the inside for a little more fun. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Set:  Hardwood & Express Yourself 

Card Stock:  Real Red, Coastal Cabana & Crumb Cake

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Coastal Cabana & Crumb Cake

Punches:  Smalll Heart & Banner (Sale-a-bration 2014!)

Framelits:  Hearts Collection

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Spiral Rose

It's time for another Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch.  This week I finally sat down and used the new Spiral Flower Originals Die.  I thought it was the perfect fit for the circle.  I ended up spritzing it with smooch spritz mixed with rubbing alcohol so I could scrunch it up really well to give it the wrinkled look.  I like how it turned out. :)  Don't forget to check out what the other designers made this week using the same sketch HERE.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Set:  Everything Eleanor & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Perfect Plum & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Perfect Plum

Embossing Folder:  Beautifully Baroque

Punch:  Banner  

Spiral Flower Originals Die

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

Lovely as a Tree - Winter Anniversary

Today's card is for my sister-in-law and brother-in-law's anniversary...and it's late!  I have SO many cards I need to make and get out there soon.  Anyone else feel that way?  I really need to learn to speed up my card making process and plan ahead...months ahead! lol  Yeah, I'm laughing because I know that's never going to happen!  

I've been trying to put something on the inside of my cards.  It doesn't always happen, but I'm sure giving it a try. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Sets:  Lovely as a Tree & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Pool Party, Island Indigo,

Basic Black & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Pool Party, Island Indigo

& Midnight Muse

StazOn:  Black

Sponges

Brayer

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  

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

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

The Open Sea World Map

Today's card is inspired by Friday Mashup #130 - Let's Cut it Up.  I needed a stamp that was big enough to tear and another stamp that I could cut out, but I didn't want it to be too fussy! lol  Since I need a masculine card for this month's stamp a stack I figured World Map and The Open Sea would work great for this sketch.  Just stamp the world map twice in two different colors, tear one of the maps and place it on top of the other map.  Since I didn't want to cut the whole ship out I figured the globe would be easier to cut.  So I stamped the globe first and the ship over top of it.  That way I only needed to cut the water and just a little bit on the ship and the rest was a circle. :)  

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  The Open Sea, World Map & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Island Indigo, Garden Green & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Island Indigo & Garden Green

Punch 1 1/4" Circle

Sponges

Blue Birthday Butterflies

It's Try Stampin' On Tuesday time!  Here is my take for our sketch challenge this week, plus the twist of using black, white and one other color.  Once again I didn't watch for the theme until after I had it made!  I need to pay closer attention!  I'm still sticking with my original card because it is black, white and blue...kind of. lol  I'm using all blues, just starting with a light blue and gradually going to a darker blue. :)

Don't forget to check out what the other designers made HERE using this sketch .

Thanks for looking and have a great day!  

Stamp Sets:  Papillon Potpourri & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Soft Sky,

Pool Party, Coastal Cabana & Bermuda Bay

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Soft Sky, Pool Party, 

Coastal Cabana & Bermuda Bay

StazOn:  Black

Embossing Folder:  Modern Mosaic

Punches:  1" Circle, Bitty Butterfly

& Decorative Label

Black & White Open Sea

Today's card is one I made early last week to send off to my cousin for his birthday.  It's made using the Paper Craft Crew sketch challenge, but I made it after it closed.  My colors are from the ColourQ challenge.  I needed to use basic black, white and one spot of color.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  The Open Sea, World Map 

& Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Basic Black & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Island Indigo

StazOn:  Black

Punch: 1 1/4" Square