Wonderland

Just a quick post for you today to show you the birthday card I made for my son.  He's 22 today!  I think the older I get the faster time goes!  Anyone else feel that way?  

Since I already had the stamp set Wonderland out on my craft table I decided I'd use it again.  I looked through a few sketches and decided to play along with one that I haven't done in quite a while...Hand Stamped Sentiments.  I have to admit I didn't follow the sketch exactly, but kind of did the gist of it. :)

Yup it's a pretty dark card, but I just love the way the blues look against the dark background so I'm sticking with it. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Liquid Frisket (to make it look like a snowy or starry sky)

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Thinking of You...

Here is another card I made over the weekend while I was away.  The colors for this challenge were inspired by the Color Throwdown challenge #339, but I wasn't able to get it posted in time. :(  I didn't think I'd like the colors very much on the flowers, but decided to give it a try.  I have to admit I like how they turned out. :)  My daughter sure didn't though, so I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all. lol  I used the sketch from Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge #210.  I loved the line of flowers they had on their sketch and after pulling out a few different stamp sets decided flowers were the thing to do.  I thought about butterflies and hats, but really wanted to try the black and yellow together so flowers it was.  

 

I seem to be in the habit of putting three pics up lately.  I like to see it turned to each side and straight on.  I hope no one minds. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the boxes above. It will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" right at the top of my blog under the header. If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Blue Beauty with Indescribable Gift

I had a chance to go away last weekend and make cards to my heart's content. :)  I decided to work on a few challenges while I was there and came up with this card for the Paper Craft Crew challenge #141.  I love doing triple time stamping whenever I see sketches like this so I had to give it a try again.  Of course this isn't really triple time stamping, but it sounds better than double time stamping so I went with it! lol

I stamped the flowers on watercolor paper using black StazOn ink and colored it in with an aqua painter using Stampin' Up! ink pads or reinkers when I wanted colors a little darker.  

Just a couple more pics to look at. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the boxes above. It will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" right at the top of my blog under the header. If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Shimmering Endless Wishes

I've been so busy I totally forgot to post my card for 'Tis the Season!  I have to say in person this card is just beautiful, but what was I thinking trying to make a card that has heat embossing, the diamond dust technique and metallic silver and gold ink on it.  It was horrible trying to get a decent pic of this card!  From one angle the heat embossing would look great, but the metallic ink pad color would just disappear, or the metallic inks would look great and I couldn't see where I had done the diamond dust technique.  I survived the battle...barely! lol  

Today's card is for our last 'Tis the Season inspiration challenge before Christmas!  I hope you have your Christmas cards done and in the mail.  I do...barely! lol  As you can see I was inspired to use snowflakes and some shimmer and bling.  I didn't stamp the woodgrain on my card, but instead used my embossing folder since I wanted a white background.  Stop by 'Tis the Season's blog to check out all the other great Christmas cards using inspiration challenge #32 HERE

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I also played along with a sketch challenge.  I wasn't planning on it, but happened to be looking at some blogs I follow and loved what they had over at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  I must say this card went together pretty quickly, it was just the picture part that was so hard! 

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Supplies used on this card:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today's card is special since it's for my mom and it's her birthday today.  :)  She loves the color blue so I thought I'd play with some new stuff I got from Stampin' Up!  It was waiting for me when I got home from work...yes!  My card didn't turn out as I had planned, but I think that happens a lot.  I just change what I'm doing and go in another direction.  I can't forget to say that my design is from Hand Stamped Sentiments sketch challenge #186.  I haven't played along with a sketch challenge in quite a while unless I've combined it with one I'm a designer for, so it was relaxing to just come up with a card and not be pushing for a deadline after a loooong day at work.  I have to admit I do work better when there's a deadline though. lol  Crazy, I know.

If you get a chance head over to HSS and check out the designers cards using this sketch and play along.  It's a great one!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Stamp Set:  Bloom with Hope

Card Stock:  Pool Party, Coastal Cabana,

Bermuda Bay & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Pool Party, 

Coastal Cabana & Bermuda Bay

Memento:  Tuxedo Black

VersaMarker

Embossing Folder:  Decorative Dots

Framlits:  Ovals Collection

Occasions Paper-piercing Pack

Stampin' Emboss Powder:  Clear

Brayer & Sponges

Let's Walk in the Wild

My post is definitely later than I planned since last night I decided to do a little updating on my computer.  Yeah, what I thought might take ten minutes ended up taking over two hours.  I was too tired to even think about what to write at that point! lol  So today I have a group of cards that were inspired by a couple of different challenges.  First I was checking out the Paper Players challenge #168 and it's all about masculine cards...CAS cards at that.   Then I saw the Hand Stamped Sentiments sketch challenge #171 and thought it would be perfect for a masculine card because it was CAS!  I grabbed my Walk in the Wild set and got busy.  

After making a card to match the challenge I decided to make three more...all a little different, but using the same theme.  

These were quick and easy to make except I left a finger smudge on one and ended up doing a little sponging on the last two cards to cover it up.  Glad most mistakes are fixable!! :)

And the whole set together...

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Walk in the Wild & Express Yourself

Card Stock:  Early Espresso, Soft Suede,

Crumb Cake & Naturals White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Early Espresso & Always Artichoke (sponging)

Stampin' Write Markers:  Early Espresso & Always Artichoke (stamping)

Candy Dots:  Neutrals 
Sponges

HHS Clematis

Before I talk about today's card I have a little news for you about a new blog challenge that I'm going to be a part of. :)  It's called 'Tis the Season and it's a bi-weekly Christmas card challenge that will be starting up on October 3.  I love the idea of it since I make about 90-100 Christmas cards to give out each year.  In August I figure out what I want to make, purchase my supplies, then work on them at craft nights once a month at our church.  I don't mind doing this, but they are always the same card, and no matter how much time I think I'm giving myself I always end up cramming to get them done before I need to send them out.  I figure if I design one card every other week, then make three more of that same card by this time next year I'll have enough cards for Christmas and no more cramming!  Not sure if I'll keep up with the extra three or not, but I'm going to give it a try! :)  If you'd like see what 'Tis the Season is about click HERE.  Then start joining us in a week to see what we've created and show us your creations too!

Now on to today's special card that  I made for my wonderful upline's birthday.  I'm so glad she convinced me to join Stampin' Up!  It's been nothing but a blessing for me! :)  Earlier this week I was thinking about what I wanted put on her card while I was walking around my yard checking my flowers out.  That's when I happened to see one lone clematis in the whole bushy mess still blooming.  It's been a few years since I've made one of those flowers for a card so I decided it was time to make one again.  I used this week's Hand Stamped Sentiment's sketch challenge for my card's layout.  The embossing from the embossing folder I used didn't show up very well, but if you look really closely you can see that I embossed under the purple strip.  :).

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

If you'd like to see how I made this visit me HERE for detailed pics.  

Card Stock:  Wisteria Wonder & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Wisteria Wonder

Embossing Folder:  Delicate Designs

Punch:  Blossoms Petal Builder (retired)

Smooch Sprtiz:  Vanilla Shimmer

HSS - Island Indigo Field Flowers

Today's card is an attempt to make a clean and simple card for a card party I'm having next week.  I used the Hand Stamped Sentiments color Challenge #157 to make this card.  I wasn't too sure about the colors, but think I managed to make them work pretty well. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Field Flowers & Curly Cute

Card Stock:  Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Daffodil Delight, Island Indigo
 & Lucky Limeade

Ribbon:  5/8" Organza in Whisper White

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Sponges

Yellow & Green Fabulous Florets

Since I'm having another stamp a stack that my cousin is hosting I thought I'd better get busy planning some cards and that means it's time to look at some sketch challenges. :)  I really loved the Fabulous Florets that I sponged in my previous post and decided to use those same flowers in the same way, but put them into the Hand Stamped Sentiments sketch.  I also wanted to sponge a color combo on the flowers that I haven't done before.  That's when I saw both the Stampin' Celebration and Paper Players challenges.  Stampin' Celebration is all about greens and yellows and the Paper Players lets us play tic-tac-toe.  Of course I chose the green and yellow, then went with the spring and pearls.  After all this work I'm not so sure I'll be doing this as a stamp one of the stamp a stack cards, but I sure enjoyed making it! lol

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Fabulous Florets & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Lucky Limeaid & So Saffron

VersaMark

Stampin' Emboss Powder:  White

Embossing Folder:  Honeycomb

Framelits:  Ovals

Jewels:  Basic Pearls

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Swallowtail for HHS Color Challenge

Here is another card I made for this month's stamp a stack.  And of course I'm using another challenge...Hand Stamped Sentiments color challenge #155. :) Wow, I'm really going to have a fun time embossing and cutting out all of these butterflies!  I have to admit I wasn't sure about this stamp when I first saw it.  However after seeing what other ladies were making I had to give it a try myself.  Sponging the colors on after embossing makes it just beautiful!

All of that sparkle that you can see is actually in the embossing powder.  I was looking for some black embossing powder and guess I don't have any!  What's up with that? ! lol  All I could find was on old stash of Bedazzled Black, but I love how it turned out!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  Swallowtail

Card Stock:  Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Baja Breeze, Rich Razzleberry 

& Daffodil Delight

Embossing Folder:  Lacy Brocade

Stampin' Emboss Powder:  Bedazzled Black (retired)

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Thank You

Two cards posted in one day...amazing!  I wanted to get it entered into one of the challenges and it's done earlier than I thought.  Yeah, I'm definitely not time oriented...I'm task oriented!  Wish I had an equal dose of both!  Today's card is a special thank you to my parents for letting us use their house up north for the weekend for a fall color tour and Christmas card stamping weekend. :)   It's wonderful to have a place to stay that doesn't cost a small fortune for the weekend!  I've kind of had the idea for this card in my mind for a bit and finally sat down and made it.  Of course I wanted fall leaves since that was one of the reasons we headed north. :)  It also happens to go with a few challenges out there...

Less is More - Week 90 - Theme AUTUMN

Hand Stamped Sentiments Challenge 140 - Inked Embossing Folder

The Paper Players 118 - Frames

For my inked embossing folder I actually did the reverse of what is normally done.  I wanted my frame highlighted, so I used my Stampin' Write marker to color in the depressed part (if that's even a word!) instead of using the brayer on the raised part of the folder.  It didn't color the frame completely, but I really liked the vintage look it gave the frame so I left it like that. :)  

  

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  French Foliage & Blooming with Kindness

Card Stock:  Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Tango Tangerine, Cherry Cobbler, 

Daffodil Delight, Old Olive & Soft Suede

Stampin' Write Marker:  Soft Suede

Embossing Folder:  Woodgrain

Twine (retired)

Neutrals Designer Buttons

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Sponges

Flower Garden

Well, this card started out as one of my stamp a stack cards, but it didn't last long!  I was really looking to make something with fall colors, but still using flowers.  I decided to give this technique a try when I saw it over on the  Hand Stamped Sentiments technique challenge.  It's a pretty neat technique, but definitely not for a stamp a stack.  Hmm...maybe I need to start a techniques class too. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  Blooming with Kindness

Card Stock:  Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Always Artichoke,

Cherry Cobbler & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Cherry Cobbler & Tango Tangerine

Embossing Folder:  Flower Garden

Ribbon:  3/8" Seam Binding in Cherry Cobbler

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

White Crayon

He is Risen

Today's card was a fun one to make and simplified my lily making process a bit.  Last summer I made a Stargazer lily for my sister's b-day card (here).  I loved how it turned out other than it didn't have as much of the cone shape as I would have liked.  Well, last week I happened to see a tutorial for making lilies and I HAD to give them a try again!   What better time to make them than around Easter.  I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with seeing pictures or cards with the lilies placed somewhere on or around a cross and I decided to give it a try myself...and there happened to be a couple of challenges out there just for Easter. The Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge #111 Easter and the 4 Cafty Chicks challenge #83 Easter and Crazy Egg.
For those of you interested in giving the lilies a try check out this tutorial here from Valita.  She has a LOT of great (and free) video tutorials out there for you to watch...thanks, Valita!
Just a note...I made my lilies VERY small and had to adjust everything accordingly so they would fit on my card.  I have the size of the oval punch I used listed with the supplies below...

Thanks for looking and have a great day! 

Card Stock:  So Saffron, Certainly Celery & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  So Saffron, Certainly Celery & Soft Suede

Embossing Folder:  Framed Tulips

Bigz Dies:  Lattice & Oval Scallop

Punches:  1 3/8" x 5/8" Oval (retired), Blossoms Petal XL & Boho Blossoms

Ribbon:  5/8" Organza in Whisper White

Crystal Effects & Dazzling Diamond Glitter

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Sponges

Monochromatic & Gate-folded Birthday Card

On my last post I said I was hoping to sneak in a few more cards...well, I managed instead to do one card for three challenges. :)  The Paper Players new challenge for the week is Birthdays...I can always use b-day cards!  I also wanted to do the Monochromatic challenge on Hand Stamped Sentiments because I love doing those type of cards.  I also decided to do the gate-fold over on The Friday Mashup.  I haven't done one of those in a long time...actually I didn't even know it was called the gate-fold.  Guess I can still learn something new every day. :)  I was already working with two of these colors for some punch art, and I love them together so this is what I chose for my monochromatic color theme.  I've actually done quite a few cards with these colors.  They just seem to work so well together.  I just made a card last week with this stamp set too, but it was calling my name again, so it's what I went with. 

Yes, I always seem to be putting a close up shot of my card.  Don't know why, I just do! ;)  In this case it helps you see the shimmer paint a little better...

...and, of course, the inside of the card.  Most of the time I like to make sure I have more than just a stamp on the inside.  If you've noticed, I like to use a faded version of what I put on the outside of the card.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Inspired by Nature, On Your Birthday & Vintage Labels (retired sale-a-bration)

Card Stock:  Soft Suede, Crumb Cake & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Soft Suede & Crumb Cake

Stampin' Write Markers:  Soft Suede & Crumb Cake

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

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

3-D Birthday Card and Gift Box Set

Today's project is similar to one I made a couple of weeks ago, just with different colors.  When I made my first box for a 3-D card I had sitting around, a couple of ladies asked for instructions...so I made this So Saffron box.  I couldn't let it go to waste, now could I?!  That's when I decided to make a band and card to go with the box for a friend at work.  It just happens to go along with this weeks Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge too. :)

I know...I put a lot of pictures on.  I guess I like it when I can see a lot of different angles when I'm looking at cards or projects and I'm hoping anyone else looking does too. :)  To see the instructions for this box click HERE and go to the bottom of the page.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  Afterthoughts

Card Stock:  So Saffron, Pretty in Pink, Wild Wasabi & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  So Saffron & Pretty in Pink

Punches:  1 3/4" Scallop Circle, Decorative Label & Boho Blossoms

Sizzlit Die:  Little Leaves

Embossing Folder:  Perfect Polka Dots

Ribbon:  5/8" Grosgrain in Pretty in Pink

Jewels:  Basic Pearls