SUO Challenge 71 - Favorite Retiring Stamp Sets!

Thank you Design Team Members for selecting my card, Christmas in May, as one of the top three for this challenge. I really look forward to the new challenges as they are posted.

Unfortunately I was unable to enter the SUO Challenge #72 - Time for June Weddings! but I am looking forward to SUO Challenge #73 - Patriotic Projects!.  My daughter is currently deployed to Afghanistan and this is a challenge that is near and dear to my heart.  We send her mail and CARE packages on a regular basis and this gives me incentive to work on something special to send to her in celebration of 'Independence Day'.

 

Christmas in May

I am so sad to see this stamp set retire because  I think it is one of the more elegant Christmas stamps from Stampin' Up!  The SUO Challenge 71 - Favorite Retiring Stamp Sets was hard for me because there were several stamp sets that I really love.  I narrowed it down to two but this stamp set was the one I chose to use.

Stamp Set: Beautiful Season.
Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Vellum, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive.
Inks: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Black StazOn, Crumb Cake.
Ribbons: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding.
Punches: Scallop Circle (corners); Modern Label.
Brads: Neutrals Assortment

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day.


This is my Mother's Day card for my Mother. She turned 93 this past March and we are so blessed to still have her with us. As I dressed for church this morning, I found myself wishing I had a red rose to wear. As a child growing up, my mother made sure each of her children wore a red rose on Mother's Day to signify life (if your mother was still alive, you wore a red rose, if your mother had passed on, you wore a white rose). She always wore a white rose since her mother passed away when she and her brothers were small children.


I needed a small container to place her gift in and made this Pillow Box. I wanted to coordinate it with her card so I used the color-washing technique on it after die-cutting it. I used one of the other framelits from the Secret Garden Framelets set and cut several flowers from SU! paper vellum and attached it to the front of the box.

Here are the two together


All supplies are from Stampin' Up!

Cardstock:Midnight Muse, Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Cardstock Vellum, Paper Vellum
Ink: Whisper White Pigment Ink, Midnight Muse Classic Ink, Signo Gel Pen
Embossing Folders: Finial Press, Square Lattice
Stamp Sets: Secret Garden, Field Flowers (Sentiment)
Other: Secret Garden Framelets, Stampin' Dimensionals, Half-Back Pears; Very Vanilla 5/8" Ribbon

Because I Care

I made this card for one of the ladies in the choir that I direct. She had brain surgery last week but is now home and doing well. The "SUO 68 - Just Stick to One Color, Please" challenge made it easy to breeze right through. I plan to get this card in the mail to her tomorrow. Now the only thing I need to do is decorate the envelope.

All products are from Stampin' Up!

Ink: Island Indigo; SU! Dazzling Details
Cardstock: Whisper White
Ribbon: Whisper White
Stamps: Blooming With Kindness; Papillon Potpourri; Because I Care

Happiest Birthday

Fluttering into Spring

I love butterflies... they are so graceful and they have such a soothing effect as they soar through the air.

Welcome, Spring

Since I was in a stamping mood, I completed these two cards that I started on two weeks ago.

Fluttering By

This is not only the last day of March... it is my birthday also... Happy Birthday to Me. I wanted to start out my new year doing something I have not done in a while... making a card. I was inspired by an entry on SCS and here is my take on the FS card.

All supplies are from Stampin' Up!

Card Stock:
Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Naturals Ivory

Stamps:
Decorate a Daisy, Swallowtail

Punches:
Scallop Trim Border
Scallop Trim Corner
Dotted Scallop Ribbon
1" Circle
1 1/4" Circle

Embossing Folder:
Lacy Brocade

Wintry Butterfly

Trying to a get a little stamping done. I am still in the process of getting my Craft Room settled.

Thank You

SCS Featured Stamper CASE.

Christmas Gift Tag

SCS Gift Card Challenge.

SCS Weekly CAS Fav

Just found out my November 'Thank You' card was both a weekly favorite and a CAS favorite for the week ending December 2nd which means I earned two badges for my blog... one for each category. I am so honored.

Changes... and a Craft Room

A lot has happened since I last posted on my blog... DH and I purchased a new home (it's really an older home, but new to us). One of the perks was a basement (unfinished). First project we tackled: kitchen & breakfast rooms... we had the floor tiled, granite counter top and travertine back splash installed... new fridge, dishwasher, cook top, oven, and microwave oven... all stainless steel. Looks great!

Second project: a Craft Room for me in the unfinished basement. I am finally able to move around in it and tonight I completed my first card in it. Hope you like it. It is going to a customer who ordered Stampin' Up! products from me on my Stampin' Up! website.

Card recipe (All Stampin' Up Products):
Card Stock: Very Vanilla
Stamp Sets: Blooming With Kindness; Papillon Potpourri
Inks: Raspberry Ripple Stampin' Pad & Stampin' Write Marker'
Punch: Elegant Butterfly
Embossing Folder: Framed Tulips

Birthday Journal

Front cover.

I recycled the hard plastic (acrylic) from my Spellbinder dies, cut two pieces to the size of my front and back covers and added them as I bound this journal so that the white card stock would stay clean longer.

Inside front cover.

Inside back cover.

Using my Butterfly 'On the Edge' die.

On the Edge

I've seen Tim Holtz's 'On the Edge' dies in our local craft stores but had no idea how to use them. I attended Scrapbook Expo in July (Duluth, GA) and saw examples and purchased the 'Butterflies' On the Edge die. I used the die to make this easel card.

Triple Time Stamping

Youtube is wonderful! I love searching for new techniques and I saw this technique demonstrated by frenchiestamps.com and DOstampingwithdawn.com. Frenchie made a couple of cards in different colors and Dawn made hers using neutrals. I wanted to make a 'Shaped Card' (demonstrated by Beate on SCS) so I am using Spellbinder dies to make the first card. The second card is made using measurements listed by Frenchie and Dawn on their Youtube videos.

I added two butterflies to meet today's 'Free For All - Seeing Double' challenge on SCS
Ink: Elegant Eggplant
Card stock: Elegant Eggplant; Very Vanilla
Stamps: Field Flowers; Element of Style; Teeny Tiny Wishes; Touch of Nature
Ribbon: Very Vanilla

I cased Frenchie's card but used different stamps. After seeing her card, I will definitely order the stamp set she used.
Ink: Crumb Cake; Early Espresso
Card Stock: Very Vanilla; Early Espresso
Stamps: Field Flowers, Element of Style
Ribbon: Early Espresso



Measurements for the layers both ladies listed on their videos:

Very Vanilla:
2" x 3 1/4"
3" x 4 1/4"
4" x 5 1/4"

Early Espresso Card Stock:
2 1/4" x 3 1/2"
3 1/4" x 4 1/2"
5 1/2" x 8 1/2" (Card Base)

Bravery

This card is for our daughter who is currently deployed to Saudi Arabia. DH and I hope it will give her some idea of how much we miss and love her as well as how proud we are of her. Please continue to pray for all the brave women and men serving in our armed forces.

I used today's sketch challenge at SCS (SC392) as the incentive to make the card for her. This is the inside of her card.

For Mother

We finally get to celebrate "Mother's Day" with our mother.  We were not able to really celebrate with her on Mother's Day in May because she suffered a stroke on the 3rd Sunday in April.  The doctors and nurses took excellent care of her while she was in the hospital but she had some paralysis on the right side of her body.  She was transported to a health care & rehab facility and they did wonders with her and she was finally able to come home. She still has weakness in her right arm but, with the aid of a walker, she is mobile once again. 

Today we are all getting together to celebrate "Mother's Day" with her... her children... grands... great grands... great-great grands... we all plan to be there.  She turned 92 back in March and it is such a blessing to be in her presence.  This is the card I made for her.

Happy Father's Day

Here is the card I made for my husband.  I found the Tutorial on the Paper Craft Planet website. Start with a 4 x 4 piece of DSP; Fold in half so that you end up with a triangle shape; Open triangle up and use the center crease as a guide. Fold pointed end of DSP to center crease. Repeat with other side and turn over. Your project should resemble a cone. Take the top end (small folded tip) and fold down about 1/2 of the way down; crease, take the point and fold back up... not all the way back to the top... leave about 1/16 of an inch. Your project should look like a cobra snake getting ready to attack. On the section where the point meets the edge, fold again. Turn project over again and fold each side in to meet the center. Tie is complete. For the shirt: 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 inch card stock; fold top down about 1-inch; open back up. Cut slit in on the fold on each side leaving about 1 1/2 inches uncut in the center. To make the collar, fold side flaps down, secure with glue dots, add brads and the tie. Attached to front of your card.

FS268: ME

The Featured Stamper for today over on SCS is anyone who takes the challenge... that means ME! I am one of many who will be featured today... YAH!!! This is also another posting within the same week for me... I guess I am kinda on a roll. I had left-over Holiday Treasures DSP from my post the other day so I used more of it for these cards. I still had rub-ons out and I want to use them up before they dry up; they filled in the open spaces on these little 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 square cards. To make these cards, I also used Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, and Old Olive card stock to coordinate with the DSP.