World Map ~ A Fun Stampers Journey Card

Today I'm celebrating 27 years with my sweet hubby!
Each year I try to make him a unique and special card.

World Map ~ A Fun Stampers Journey Card

Today is my dad's birthday and I had to whip up a card for him...as usual it's always last minute!

Begin Adventure ~ A Fun Stampers Journey Card

Today I have another masculine card to share and boy was it easy to create!  Wish I could make all of my cards this fast! lol  

I needed a basic CAS (clean and simple) masculine card for my January stamp a stack and this one just works.  It's not fancy and doesn't have any embellishments, but that's ok some times!

I stamped World Map with Oatmeal Cookie on Butter Cream card stock.  Then stamped the airplane called Begin Adventure right over the map using Hazelnut Blend.  The last stamp from the set Cake Time was also stamped using Hazelnut Blend.  I also sponged all around the edges of the Butter Cream card Stock using Oatmeal Cookie.

The very last thing I stamped was the airplane again on the inside of the card (if you stamp it a second time right away without re-inking it again you'll get a very light image).  You could just re-ink it with Oatmeal Cookie and stamp it with that also.  Then I stamped Happy Birthday from the set Cake Time over the airplane using Hazelnut Blend again.  That's pretty much it other than cutting out your card stock and putting the card together...simple! :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your Journey Coach! If you are thinking about joining 
Fun Stampers Journey and would like to be a Journey Coach click 
"Join My Team". 
I'd love to have you join me on my journey!  

If you like what you see and want to order just click on the 
"Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. 

 If you have questions feel free to contact me. 
Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . 

Supplies used on this card


Stamp Sets:
Begin Adventure, World Map & Cake Time
Card Stock:
Hazelnut Blend, Oatmeal Cookie and Butter Cream
Ink Pads:
Hazelnut Blend & Oatmeal Cookie
Supplies:

Sponges

World Map Birthday ~ A Fun Stampers Journey Card

I took a bit of a break from creating cards and blogging most of last week because I was busy spending a lot of time with family.  We lost a special man, my father-in-law, unexpectedly.  Right now I can't begin to describe the loss the family feels. :'(  He will be greatly missed by us!  During this loss there was a special day for someone else though and creating this card brought some joy back in the midst of sadness.  My dad celebrated his 70th birthday so I couldn't miss making a card for him!

Since I don't have a lot of stamps yet from Fun Stampers Journey I decided to use a background stamp to create this card and give it some dimension.  It's kind of like a triple layer card except the layers are scattered here and there...if that makes any sense!  I like to use that technique every now and then.

I used the Beach Towel embossing folder for the background, then layered the stamp by cutting squares out and piecing them together on top of each other.   I cut the top two that are flush with the card the first time I stamped the image.  For the bottom two squares that are popped up, I inked the area of the stamp that I knew I wanted and cut them out.  I layered each of the squares on top of a piece of Dark Roast card stock that I cut 1/8" bigger than what the squares measured.  

I have no idea why this third pic that I took has such a different color from the other two pictures I took.  Must be the lighting!  All I know is it was good to get back to something I love for just a little while. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your Journey Coach! If you are thinking about joining 
Fun Stampers Journey and would like to be a Journey Coach click 
"Join My Team". 
I'd love to have you join me on my journey!  

If you like what you see and want to order just click on the 
"Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. 

 If you have questions feel free to contact me. 
Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . 

Supplies used on this card

Stamp Sets:
World Map p.228 (SS-0260) $13.955
Cake Time p. 206  (SS-0138) $17.95
Card Stock:
Oatmeal Cook p. 288 (CS-0023) $6.95
Hazelnut Blend p. 288 (CS-0013) $6.95
Dark Roast p.288 (CS-0091) $6.95

Ink Pads:
Hazelnut Blend p. 288 (IP-0012) $7.95
Dark Roast p. 288(IP-0050) $7.95
Supplies:
Beach Towel Embossing Folder p. 264 (EF-0001) $4.95
Journey Squares p. 254 (DI-0038) $24.95

Train Traveler

Today's card, which was inspired by Michelle Zindorf, is for my dad's birthday.  He's an avid sailor and I usually make him a card with the stamp set The Open Sea. I figured it was time for a change though and went with a "hobby" of his...trains.  I'm not sure how much he works on them in the basement anymore, but I know he's spent a lot of time with all of his grandsons throughout the years working on them.  So here's to you dad...Happy Birthday!

Have you ever had your card almost done, only to ruin it at the last minute?  That's what happened to me...two times!  The first time I attempted to darken the train and apparently my stamp-a-ma-jig moved and I didn't know it...hello double, not to mention very blurry train.  It wasn't even close! lol  The second attempt did not have the additional scenery at first. I turned the stamped piece over to put 2-way tape on it. No big deal until I turn it back over and there was a big blob of black in my beautiful blue sky.  A piece of my sponge had broken off and decided to stick to my sky....aarrgh! It was late and I was NOT happy! lol  That's where the trees, hills and extra sponging came in. I'm happy with how

 it turned out, just not happy with how long it took! That's my stamping drama for the day.  I'm sure no one else ever has these problems, right? ;)

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:

Retired birthday sentiment

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Guy Greetings Birthday

Wow it's been a while since I've posted anything!  I guess that's what happens when life gets busy!  Today I have a masculine card to show you that I'm doing for this month's stamp a stacks.  It's pretty clean and simple and that's the way I want all of my cards this month...ok maybe all but one. ;)  I've got to give the ladies a break every now and then and make the cards relatively simple. :)

My inspiration comes from a couple of different challenges.  Make sure you check them out.  Lots of great inspiration from each of the design team members!  The first is Freshly Made sketches.  Their sketches are clean and simple and like I said that's what this card is all about.

The colors come from Sunday Stamps color challenge.  The colors are saffron, black, white and rust.  I used Stampin' Up! colors so they are So Saffron, Basic Black, Whisper White and Cajun Craze.

A quick peek inside shows just a little bit of stamping.  I like to put just a touch of something inside my cards because I don't always have a sentiment in there especially if I've put Happy Birthday on the outside already.

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

World of Dreams ~ Thinking of You

Wow, what a sketch we have for you over at Try Stampin' on Tuesday.  I wasn't sure what to do at first, but I obviously had browns on my mind. lol  As you can see I decided to stamp the same image three times getting darker as it moved along.  I thought it was the perfect thinking of you card.

Make sure you check out the other fabulous cards using this sketch at Try Stampin' on Tuesday HERE and to play along if you get a chance.  We'd love to see what you create!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Supplies used on this card:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Train Traveler

Today I have another masculine card for you.  Surprised?  Probably not.  I made these cards for a card swap with the Red Hot Stampers.  It's always fun to be involved in a swap.  I definitely got a lot of great cards from it!  I'll have to share them with you later on.  

This card wasn't too difficult to make.  I brayered the naturals vanilla card stock with Crumb Cake, then Soft Suede and finished with Early Espresso.  Then I stamped the World Map stamp in Soft Suede.  To stamp the train on both pieces of card stock I first stamped it with Early Espresso on the Soft Suede card Stock, then put my Naturals Ivory card stock exactly where I wanted it, used my Stamp-a-ma-jig and stamped onto the Naturals Vanilla and it matched perfectly.  If you don't have a stamp-a-ma-jig I'd consider buying one.  You can line images up, place an image exactly on your card stock where you want it, and definitely no more crooked sentiments if you have this great tool!  Since I don't have a lot of candy dots, but wanted them on the 13 cards I made I punched out some circles about the same size as the candy dots, put them on my silicone craft sheet, dropped a bit of  crystal effects on them and let them dry (give it a good six hours for candy dot size to dry).  They turn out the color of the paper you use underneath them. :)  I used Early Espresso on this card.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Supplies for Train Traveler:

Traveler Wood-Mount Stamp Set

$27.95

Traveler Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$19.95

Naturals Ivory 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$7.50

Early Espresso 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$6.95

Smoky Slate 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$6.95

Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

World Map Wood Stamp Set

$17.95

World Map Clear Stamp Set

$13.95

Banners Framelits Die

$26.95

Silicone Craft Sheet

$5.95

Brayer

$12.50

Stamping Sponges

$3.50

Crystal Effects

$6.25

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

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

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

Creative Crew Challenges for December

Today I will be posting a LOT of pictures because I'd like to show you all of the creations I made for the December Creative Crew monthly challenge.  ***If you think you came to this blog by mistake looking for another card or project just keep on reading and scrolling it will probably be on this post somewhere.***  Anyway, it's been a fun journey, but my time is up and there will be new designers starting in January.  This month started out with 

"Art begins in imitation and ends in innovation" - Mason Cooley

As we end 2013, let's CASE someone else's work and give them credit for inspiring us.

CASE someone else's work?!  Hmm...I not sure about that.  I just don't usually do it, but for this...OK!  There are some ladies...(and guys too!) that do some pretty great cards out there, and I had an excuse to copy their cards! :)  **Just a side note...I did ask permission to copy and post these cards.  Remember to always respect other people's work and give them credit when you CASE their work.**

Here is the first challenge:  DSP/Color Focus: Modern Medley or basic black and very vanilla. Check out the gorgeous cards on SCS or Pinterest that only use black and vanilla. CASE someone you admire.  

I found my first card to CASE while I was checking out the colors Basic Black and Very Vanilla on Pinterest...  This CASE'd card is from LeAnne Pugliese. I didn't know it was her card at first until I checked out the watermark, and guess what?  I know her from the Paper Players blog challenge.  Maybe some of you know her from there too, or or you follow her blog.  As soon as I saw her card I knew it was the one to CASE.  No more looking for me! lol  I have to admit I didn't case it 100% because I didn't have the DSP she used or the embossing folder, but I came as close as I could.  If you'd like to check out her card click HERE.  Thanks for the inspiration LeAnne! :)  Now I'm going to have to wait until Father's Day to use it. ;)

Now on to the second part of the challenge...

Catalog Focus: candy dots

Copy someone's artwork that loves brads or candy dots. Use candy dots generously on your project.

Candy dots, huh?  I use them every now and then and really like them, but who do I know that uses them?  One of the blogs I follow is Michelle Zindorf's.  She makes amazing cards using the brayer a lot, and I remembered she uses candy dots and brads.  I glanced through a bunch of cards on her blog to find one that had dots on it AND that I had all of the things I needed to make it.  I was only missing one thing for this card and that was a stamp.  I just used an embossing folder instead.  Now I must say I did NOT use the brayer for the scene on my card.  The brayer and I do NOT get along! lol  I'm a sponging girl and my sponges and I get along just fine, so that's what I used instead to create these cards.  If you'd like to see Michelle's card and her very distinctive work check out her blog HERE.  Thanks for the inspiration Michelle!

I opened this card and turned it to the side so you could see a hint of the inside, then totally forgot to take a pic of the inside. :(

Yes, I made two of them. I figured if I was getting everything out for one I'd do two.  I always think it's pretty interesting how two of the same cards that are sponged can turn out differently.  I guess you can't see as much of a difference in the pic, but one scene is a lot darker than the other in person.  

Believe it or not, I didn't copy anything for the third part of the December challenge.  So on to the third challenge...Holiday Focus: December 24th is National Chocolate Day.

While eating the best chocolate you can find, make a card using chocolate chip on it. If you CASEd someone fabulous, give credit to this wonderful stamper.

My first pic had to be some chocolate! lol  I have a large bag of Ghirardelli chocolates waiting for my December stamp a stacks.  I always have these on the table for the last sas of the year. :) Notice the chocolate chips...yup, they are one of my favorites too.  I'm sure many of you have a stash of chocolate chips handy somewhere when you get a craving for chocolate! lol

Since I had to use chocolate chip card stock I decided to make flowers out of them.  Have you ever seen an all chocolate covered cake with chocolate flowers on it?  I have and they look pretty cool!  I decided to let that inspire me for my next card...

Chocolate chip roses. :)  

This card took a little time to make since I needed to make the flowers, then let them dry overnight.  I put dazzling diamonds in the center since I used crystal effects to hold the flowers together.  The "dazzle"  looks great in person, but boy was it hard to get a good pic with the flash on.  That's all you could see was the dazzle! lol

I couldn't put a rose on the inside, so I just went with the leaves.

I also HAD to make an envelope using the envelope punch board.

The little strip along the back is so the envelope will close without needing to tape or glue it.

And finally the last project for December...

Scrapbook and More Focus: Make a calendar, to do list, booklet or journal for a friend to use in 2014.

My plan was to make a one page calendar with all of 2014 on it.  Nope, didn't happen since my printer decided to go wacko!  It sounds like it's printing, shoots out the paper like it printed, but nothing.  Just a blank page...err!  And yes, it has plenty of ink!  So on to plan B.  I needed a birthday card for me niece and decided to make her a little booklet/journal and slide the birthday card inside the folder.  I got the idea for this from Steph at the SU! Convention back in July.  It was one of the pillow gifts she made for me and the other ladies.  You can check out what she made on her blog HERE.  I just downsized it and made it the perfect size for a little girl. :)  I quickly snapped a few pics of it and decided I'd get her sister's made too!  Whoa!  I'm ahead on one thing!  Amazing! 

I still need to put crayons in it, but I managed to get a pic of the birthday card with this one. :)

I've added the dimensions for this mini journal/booklet and pocket.  The score lines are marked too.  Hope this helps if you want to make one yourself. :) 

I hope you enjoyed my Creative Crew Designs for December!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

First Card

Stamp Sets:  The Open Sea, World Map & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Basic Black & Very Vanilla

Ink:  StazOn Black

Embossing Folder:  Woodgrain

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

Black Brads

Baker's Twine:  Whisper White

Second Card

Stamp Set:  Wetlands

Card Stock:  Chocolate Chip, 

Crumb Cake & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Old Olive, Soft Suede,

Soft Sky & Pacific Point

Embossing Folders:  Modern Mosaic & Woodgrain

Framelits:  Deco Labels

Candy Dots:  Neutrals (Soft Suede & Chocolate Chip)

Sponges

Third Card & Box

Stamp Sets:  Perfectly Penned, Everything Eleanor

& Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Chocolate Chip & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Chocolate Chip

Punches:  2 3/8 Scallop Circle & 1 3/4" Scallop Circle (for roses)

Sizzlit:  Little Leaves

Embossing Folder:  Delicate Designs

Ribbon:  1/2" Seam Binding in Very Vanilla

Envelope Punch Board

Crystal Effects

Stampin' Glitter:  Dazzling Diamonds

Sponges

Fourth Card & Journal/Booklet

Stamp Sets:  Too Kind, Loving Thoughts

& Apothecary Art

Card Stock:  Strawberry Slush, Wisteria Wonder

& Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Strawberry Slush, 

Wisteria Wonder & Pistachio Pudding

Ribbon: 3/8" Tafetta in Whisper White

Sponges