Orange-Razzleberry Birthday Mania

It seems that when I get on a kick of projects, I really get on a kick. For example, yesterday after work I decided to stamp and I sure went to town. I didn't really have anything to stamp "for", so I was just making cards for fun and being inspired by sketch challenges & my stamping mess. It surprised me that I made two birthday cards (no birthdays on my horizon) and both have the same color scheme! (I must have really felt the Pumpkin Pie-Rich Razzleberry connection yesterday. Here are my cards.

Pocket Silhouette
Stamp Sets: Pocket Silhouettes, On Your Birthday
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White
Designer Series Paper: Razzleberry Lemonade
Stamp Pads (Classic): Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories/Tools: 1/4" Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon

I love the simple design of this card! I can see myself using this layout again, and again. It comes from the Clean & Simple Stamping blog (a great place to find simple, striking layouts). I think the white space makes the loud colors seem more subdued and the card seem classy.

Party Hearty
Stamp Set: Party Hearty
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White
Designer Series Paper: Razzleberry Lemonade
Stamp Pads (Classic): Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories/Tools: 1/4" Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon, Pumpkin Pie corduroy ribbon, paper piercer, dimensionals

This layout is from Stamping 411 blog, a great resource for new stampers to learn the ins and outs of stamping -- but also somewhere for seasoned stampers to get some fresh ideas and great layouts!

A busy stamping weekend

I had so much fun this weekend! On Saturday I went to the Minneapolis Stampin' Up! Regionals meeting. I took my lone downline, Kris, along. We had a fun time listening to the great ideas, making some awesome stuff, and trying out new techniques. It got me really thinking about fun classes I can do coming up this spring. It also made me crave going to Salt Lake City for the national conference, but I can't go! Wouldn't you know it.... the ONE week I signed up to teach summer school is that week. And I already signed my contract. Drat!

Anyway, on Sunday I met with my St Paul Stampin' Meet Up group. I formed this group on meetup.com to try to meet more crafty people and eventually grow my potential customer base. I set out on our meeting to make thank you cards for the gals who ordered from me during Sale-A-Bration. Yes, as always I'm running late. Here are my five gorgeous creations!

Garden Greetings


Flight of the Butterfly

Cheep Talk

Great Friend

Pocket Silhouettes

Unfortunately, I don't have time right now to include the details! It's Opening Day 2009 and baseball is finally back! I've got to grab me a HoneyWeiss beer, sit on the couch, and watch the Twins. (I try to balance out my girly habits - like stamping - with more masculine ones - like beer and sports!) I will update this post later with the details of stamps, paper, etc. I'll just say for now, many are challenge sketches, including the Cheep Talk card being Weekend Sketch Challenge 75 from Mary Jo Albright's blog.

Happy baseball season!

Thank Yous for Christmas Presents

I always send thank you cards for the Christmas presents I receive. It's thoughtful, it's polite, and frankly I think it's the reason why I'm nearly 30 and still get presents from my aunts and uncles & grandparents! Someday I hope to pass this trait on to my kids. Getting a thank you card is such a nice treat these days.

So, this year I made 4 different designs. Well, I have made 4 so far, but one I am going to change a bit to make it not so girly. You'll see what I mean.

#1 Silhouette Thank You
This design is straight off the cover of the Jan. 2009 Stampin' Success! Oh well, who cares if I cased it, it is cute! I just wish I had my Sweet Stems set, but since it is back-ordered (like most of everything I ordered lately!), I had to make due with Pocket Silhouettes.

Stamp Set: Pocket Silhouettes
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Passion, Whisper White
Stamp Pads (Classic): Pink Passion, Pink Pirouette
DSP: Bella Rose
Accessories/Tools: 1/4" white ribbon, dimensionals

#2 Upsy Daisy Thank You
This card is made following this week's Mojo Monday layout. I love, love, love this layout and will probably make many more cards with this design. I think it's easy, but interesting to the eye. anyway, as you are beginning to see, there is a pink theme going on ...

Stamp Sets: Upsy Daisy and... um... I can't remember this hostess set from a few years ago!
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Stamp Pads (Classic): Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip
DSP: Candy Lane
Accessories/Tools: Wide Oval punch, 1/4" Chocolate Chip ribbon, dimensionals

#3 Autumn Vine Thank you
This design I took from the November Stampin' Success. I was not all that creative with the ideas this time around. It's rare for me to have such a small image and lots of blank background. I love how it looks. I shall remember that when designing cards! White space (even if it is Sage Shadow) is a good thing.

Stamp Sets: Pocket Silhouettes, Flight of the Butterfly
Cardstock: Sage Shadow, Really Rust, More Mustard, Whisper White
Stamp Pads (Classic): Sage Shadow, Really Rust
DSP:Autumn Vine
Accessories/Tools: Scallop circle punch, silver brads, dimensionals

#4 Love You Much Thank you
This is the card, that while I love it and think it's super cute, I am going to redesign. It is cute, it is pretty, but it is really girly. I already have 2 pink thank yous, I need another masculine-ish one to send to Dad, brother, etc. So, I think I will keep the layout (which may have come from an issue of SS), but use Pun Fun instead and use DSP that is brighter, and not pink (like Washington Apple). Anyway... those are my plans. Too bad. I like this card a lot!

Stamp Sets: Love You Much, Flight of the Butterfly
Cardstock: SPink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Stamp Pads (Classic): Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip
DSP: Candy Lane
Accessories/Tools: Blender Pens, 1/4" Chocolate Chip ribbon

So, there it is! I hope my family and friends appreciate these thank yous as much I as appreciate their gifts! :)

OH! I notice I'm close to 1,000 hits. This is so awesome!! Thanks to people who check out my blog. I really appreciate it. :)

Molly's Workshop/Party

The countdown for my first workshop is on! Friday I go to my friend Molly's for a workshop/party at her house. She is the person who introduced me to stamping 6 years ago.... so I am highly grateful that she's allowing me to come be the demonstrator! Since we are friends & this is my first workshop & she's quite experienced at stamping, I let her choose the stamp sets she wanted to see & a few techniques. I designed the cards around that. We both agreed that make and takes are way better than demos, so I'm doing 3 make and takes. I'll have the paper & ribbon cut for all the guests. They will just put together. Much more fun than watching me! (and will hopefully increase sales, right???)

Card #1 Pocket Silhouettes

I used:
Pocket Silhouettes & Sincere Salutations stamp sets
Pink Pirouette & Whisper White cardstock
Sweet Always DSP
Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, & Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin' Pads
Chocolate Chip ribbon
Large Oval punch & Scallop Edge punch (note: I know this isn't an SU punch on my sample.... my SU punch is arriving via UPS today!)

Anyone recognize my favorite layout again??

I wanted to highlight the punches with this card. I hope they are a good upsell. I love them, so I should be able to show my enthusiasm for them. :)

Card #2 Pun Fun
I used:
Pun Fun stamp set
Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Riding Hood Red & Whisper White cardstock
Washington Apple DSP
Stazon pad,
So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Riding Hood Red, & Bashful Blue Classic Stampin' Pads (for Blender Pen coloring)
Pewter brads

At my class this weekend, everyone LOVED the Blender Pens, so I wanted to make sure I included a demo/use of those. This card is kinda plain for me, but it is an easy make-and-take since it will be just gluing the paper down & inserting the brads. I would think most of the work will be put into using the Blender Pens ---- and I hope they all fall in love with the BP and have to buy a set. :)

Gift Card Holder
I used:
Season of Friendship, Deer Friend & Best Yet stamp sets
Baja Breeze, Real Red & Whisper White cardstock
SkiSlope DSP
Baja Breeze & Real Red Classic Stampin' Pads
Scallop Circle punch
1 1/2" Circle Punch (eep! Not SU!)
will use: rub-ons

I got this design from Dawn's blog. It's fun to watch her tutorials as the background music (especially in this one) make me smile! So funny.

Anyway, this is my "in case" demo. I am only going to do it "in case" she has 9 or more people at her party. The count is teetering at 8-9 right now. I figure with 9, 3 at each of 3 stations will be nice & easy to manage... but 4-5 at each of 2 stations would be harder. However, if only 6 show up, I will not demo this one. Though I love it! I am getting my rubons delivered via UPS today, so I am going to put some of those babies on here, too. You know, since they are on sale and all. :)

I also hope to borrow a roller wheel from my upline to highlight on this... think it would go nicely to do the background. However, my only Christmas roller wheel is retired. So I need to borrow one.

Top photo is the outside, bottom is the inside. Obviously. I didn't realize until I was done that Best Yet has a Christmas stamp... so I think I'll encourage the use of that one instead. :)

Thanks for looking!

Birthday mania!

Today is my birthday. And it's snowing here. (BOOOOOOOO!) So I decided to take the day off, which I can do, for if you recall, I am a substitute teacher. I just say "no" if someone calls, and I get the day off! Yippee!! I plan to spend the day in my sweatpants, stamping and making myself a birthday cake (which only slightly depresses me, but my hubby is too busy working to do so). I may even take a nap. And later I have an appointment to get my eyebrows waxed. Later tonight my friends and I are going out for Thai food and desserts. Yummmmm. To get me in the mood, I've decided to post my favorite birthday cards that I've made. They are my surrogate birthday cards until the mail comes today. November is a busy birthday month in my family, so I made these for other people, but they are still cute, and in the mood for today!!

Party Hearty card
Party Hearty set
Whisper White cardstock
DP from Archivers
Brads from Archivers
Chocolate chip Classic pad
Pumpkin Pie Classic pad
Ruby Red Classic pad
Old Olive Classic pad





Birdday card #1
Pun Fun set
Whisper White cardstock
Real Red cardstock
Tempting Turquoise cardstock
DP from Archivers
Basic Black Classic pad
Real Red Classic pad (for watercoloring)
So Saffron Classic pad (for watercoloring)
Pumpkin Pie Classic pad (for watercoloring)




Celebrate card
Just Celebrate set
Brilliant Blue cardstock
Old Olive Cardstock
Pumpkin Pie cardstock
Whisper White cardstock
DP from Archivers
Ribbon from Archivers
Basic Black Classic pad
Brilliant Blue classic pad (for watercoloring)
So Saffron classic pad (for watercoloring)
Soft Sky classic pad (for watercoloring)
Pumpkin Pie classic pad (for watercoloring)


Birdday card #2
Pun Fun stamp set
Whisper White Cardstock
Basic Black Cardstock
Bashful Blue Cardstock
DP from Archivers
Ribbon from Archivers
Basic Black Classic Pad
YoYo Yellow Classic Pad (for watercoloring)
So Saffron Classic Pad (for watercoloring)
Real Red classic Pad (for watercoloring)
Pumpkin Pie Classic Pad (for watercoloring)






Manly birthday card
Pocket Silhouettes set
Sincere Salutations set
Not Quite Navy cardstock
Old Olive cardstock
Close to Cocoa cardstock
Bashful Blue cardstock
Not Quite Navy classic pad
Silver brads









So, those are my cards. As you can tell, I've been in a watercoloring mood lately. :)

Thanks for looking!