With Sympathy

The reason for a sympathy card is always sad, but I did enjoy making this one. 

Supplies:

Cardstock ~ Soft Suede, Very Vanilla

Ink ~ Baked Brown Sugar, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake Crisp Cantaloupe, Rose Red, Lucky Limeade

Stamp Sets ~ Ex Libris, So Sorry, Stippled Blossoms

Other Supplies ~ misc. ribbon

Hump-Day Happiness...Get Over It!

Well, it's hump-day folks. Half way there...Get over it. Harvest is wrapping up (knock on wood) and I'm about to get my daily stamping time back. I snuck out to my woman cave lastnight after everyone went to bed. I stayed up WAY too late. Oh the things we do for sanity. 

This card was created for Retro Sketches Challenge #75. I really liked the sketch. As always, I deviated from it a bit. Once again, Crisp Cantaloupe took over. I love how it gives the edges of the paper a vintage look. My fav! I think this is the first time I used Pistachio Pudding. I'm still on the fence of whether or not I like that one. I think it all goes together pretty well. What do you think?

{{{Inside}}}

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Very Vanilla, Baked Brown Sugar

Ink ~ Baked Brown Sugar, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding

Stamp Sets ~ Positively Chevron, Everything Eleanor, Daydream Medallions, Chalk Talk

Embellishments ~ In Color Boutique Details, Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons, Antique Brads, Crochet Trim, Bakers Twine

Other (non-stampin up) Supplies ~ cream colored ribbon, natural fiber ribbon

Truly Retro

Freedom! The kids went to play at a friends house today. Woo Hoo! That means my house will stay clean for more than 5 minutes and I get some STAMPING TIME! I'm taking every second I can get these days. We're still right in the middle of Harvest. I swear this is the longest year ever, or at least it feels like it. Probably because it's keeping me from my woman cave.

I felt a bit like Cinderella today. Mentally thinking, "Now if I manage to get all of my house cleaning done, I might have enough time to squeeze a card in." Rambling to myself is nothing new. My kids think I'm crazy. I like to have a conversation with the vacuum cleaner. It knows all my deepest and darkest of secrets.

As it turns out, I had JUST enough time to crank this one out. I created it for Retro Sketches challenge #74. I had fall colors in mind for this one. We're getting closer and closer to those pumpkin spiced drinks that I love! I also decided to change the way I photograph my cards. I'll work on the lighting...

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Core'dinations in Early Espresso, More Mustard cardstock, Very Vanilla cardstock, Specialty DSP

Ink ~ Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Pool Party, Baked Brown Sugar, More Mustard

Stamp Sets ~ Truly Grateful, Chalk Talk 

Embossings ~ Brads (coated with Pool Party embossing powder), White linen fabric (colored with the Brayer tool and More Mustard ink, Vintage Brads

*The embossing folder used for the background on this card is not from Stampin' Up!

Thirsty Thursday

It's been a DOOZY of a day. Busy, busy, busy! And HOT. Did I mention it was HOT? I think I drank a gallon and a half of water while I worked outside in the yard...and I'm STILL parched! After dinner I gave my hubby the look. You know, that look an obsessed crafting crazy paper freak gives their husband when they want to escape into la la land? He knows that look all too well. I don't even have to say anything. I just look at him and he laughs and shakes his head. He'll never understand. He's a man.

I locked myself in my craft room and turned up the music. Good ole' Pandora! Here is what I came up with tonight. It's a spin off of lastnights card. Same design, just different colors. I love how it turned out!

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Basic Gray, Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand, Crisp Cantaloupe Core'dinations

Ink ~ Sahara Sand, Blushing Bride

Stamp Sets ~ Chalk Talk

Other Supplies ~ Pool party embossing powder, Vintage faceted buttons, pool party button, cream ribbon, basic pearl jewels, 

A Retro Kind of Sunday

I got to have a day all to myself! Well, it actually ended up to be more like 3 hours, but it was just enough time to get my design finished for Retro Sketches challenge #69. I had so much fun creating this card. It turned out pretty darn close to what I had pictured in my head. Love it when that happens!

Supplies Used: 

Paper ~ Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Pool Party Core'dinations, Very Vanilla

Ink ~ Early Espresso, Crisp Cantaloupe, Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand

Stamp Sets ~ Gorgeous Grunge, Chalk Talk, Lovely Little Labels

Other Supplies ~ baker's twine, soda pop tops, basic pearl jewels, vanilla ribbon

Retro Challenge

Here's today's card. I created this for Retro Sketches challenge #68. I love how it turned out. I think Crisp Cantaloupe is my new favorite color. I'm totally addicted to making my own designer paper. I hope you like it too! 

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Crisp Cantaloupe Core'dinations

Ink ~ Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Crisp Cantaloupe

Stamp Sets ~ Chalk Talk, Daydream Medallion, Gorgeous Grunge, Lovely Little Labels

Other Supplies ~ Designer Builder Brads, Vintage Faceted Buttons, Pool Party Ribbon, Pool Party Embossing Powder, Early Espresso Embossing Powder, Basic Pearl Jewels, misc. brads

Distress Success!

I posted a tutorial on how to make a distressed flower this morning. I finally got a chance to sneak down to my craft cave after I fed the horses tonight. I can't believe how EASY this flower was to make!

Supplies used for this card:

Paper ~ Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Core'dinations Card Stock in Primrose Petals

Ink ~ Primrose Petals

Stamp Sets ~ Hearts a Flutter, misc letter stamp

Other supplies used ~ Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder, Apothecary Framelits, Paper Punching tool, Antique Brads

*This card was entered in Freshly Made Sketches Challenge 79

Distressed Flower Tutorial

OMG I am in LOVE with this flower! I have been searching for a distressed embellishment and I think this is PERFECT! I stumbled upon this tutorial on Pinterest. It is my go-to place for inspiration. 

This tutorial was created by HandstampedStyle. She has SO many great ideas! 

I can't wait to get down to my craft cave to get some of these started! I can't believe how easy they are

 (or look to be)

Hope you enjoy this tutorial and go out an create your own!

Happy Stamping!

Sentimental Thank you

I got to play in my craft cave almost ALL day today! I had so much fun creating this card. It was so simple and went together quickly. 

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, First Edition Print DSP, Tea For Two DSP

Ink ~ Calypso Coral, Chocolate Chip

Stamp Sets ~ Feeling Sentimental, Itty Bitty Banners

Other Supplies ~ Bitty Banners Framelits, Labels Collection Framelits, Crochet Trim, Antique Brads, Basic Brads

Primrose Petals

These cards turned out exactly like I had pictured in my head! It's hard to see in the picture, but I raised the sentiments in the center and tacked them down on each end. I love the raised layered look! I also embossed the center shape on both cards. This one is from Everything Elenor set. The bottome one is from the Oh Hello set.

Stamp sets used:
~Fresh Foliage
~Sassy Salutations

I stole the design from Pinterest but made them each a little different. This seems to be a pattern. Oops! I fell in love with the layout. It's so simple. Layered stamping on the base and a few layers on top. Sweet and simple.

Stamp sets used:
~French Foliage
~Feeling Sentimental

Colors used for both cards:
~Very Vanilla
~Sahara Sand
~Crumbcake
~Pool Party
~Primrose Petals

Happy Day!

The photo doesn't do this card any justice. I really need to figure out a better way to photograph my cards. I have a lightbox, I just haven't had time to set it up yet. Truthfully, I don't have the room!

This card was created around some floral patterned paper that I had leftover from an old project. It's not Stampin' Up! paper so I rarely use it. However, it caught my eye as I was looking for inspiration. It just so happened that it went perfectly with River Rock, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, and Very Vanilla. 

Of course I had to create a card that had a vintage feel. I antiqued the edges of almost every piece of paper. In fact, I think I did EVERY piece. I did the texture on the base color (River Rock) with a stylus and my Simply Scored plate. I went every 3/4" on the diagonal. I added pearls at every cross section. 

A few different layers of different shapes, a designer builder brad and a stamp from the "Ciao, Baby!" set completed this card. It was such a simple design. It went together so smoothly! I'll definitely be making a few more of these!

 I kept the inside of the card fairly simple. Antiqued the edges. Added a sentiment from the "Vintage Verses" stamp set and a "Happy Birthday" stamp on a banner of River Rock paper. 

Perfectly Perfect

 I totally stole this layout from a card I saw on Pinterest a few days ago. Good ole' Pinterest! I absolutely HAD to put one together. I love all the different layers. To me, you can't have too many layers! I used a couple of my new stamp sets for this one. Vintage Verses for the little note inside the envelope. Pretty Petites for a few of the squares on the banner. Along with a few from the 2012 - 2013 catalog. I also used the new designer brads from the Spring catalog. Of course I gave it an antiqued look. This is a generic card that can be used for any occasion.

The inside of the card is decorated too! I used my old favorite  Fresh Vintage for the outside trim in coordinating colors from the front. LOVE this look!

From My Heart

I FINALLY got this stamp set! I am so excited to use it. I made this card for my hubby for Valentine's Day. He's not the hearts and flowers type. Trying to come up with a manly man card is SO difficult...at least for me. I used the Adorning Accents Folder for the first time too. It was so much easier than I thought it would be. Tape was my friend. Once again, I gave this card a vintage feel by antiquing the edges. I think I'm probably going to drive this into the ground but I just LOVE the feel it gives to the card!