Burgundy, Bayou and Sky

Last night was my first time stumbling upon this cool color combo. I happened to have these three packs lying on my desk from unrelated projects, and thought they looked so pretty together. What do you think?

For this card, I used a sketch I found on Julia Stainton's blog, Belle Papier. The large flower is from the Pretties kit. For the flower center, I used the rhinestone brad/jumbo eyelet pairing I've been seeing a lot of lately on Beate's blog, fresh & fun. The only stamping was the swirly flourish thingie from the Priceless stampset. The rest of the card is just layering and paper piercing. I keep resisting the urge to add more to this card for fear of ruining it :)

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Priceless
Paper: Blue Bayou, Whisper White, Bravo Burgundy, Soft Sky
Ink: Whisper White
Accessories: Rhinestone brad ("Ice"), pewter jumbo eyelet, pretties kit, crop-a-dile, paper piercer, 1" circle punch.

A Pocketful of Amethyst

Went back in the craft room for a do-over of the "thinking of you" card for my friend. This is *much* more what I was thinking of. I decided to go with a horizontal pocket card, which Splitcoast's Technique Lover's Challenge this week. I used some new designer prints paper in Almost Amethyst. Each pack comes with twelve different monochromatic paper designs. Super easy to work with!

Very little stamping on either the outside or the inside, shown here:



Supplies (Stampin' Up!, unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Simply Said
Paper: Almost Amethyst, Whisper White, Amethyst Designer Prints
Ink: Basic Black, Almost Amethyst
Other: Corner rounder, paper piercer, white gel pen, word window punch, rhinestone circle brads in "Ice," Amethyst marker, stitched ribbon from the Sweet Shop collection (retired), sheer white poka dot ribbon (source unknown)

Priceless

You know when you're making something and it all just comes together right away? And you're left feeling totally satisfied that you made something really cute and you hardly spent any time doing so?

This was NOT one of those times :)

I set out making a card for a friend who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. I wanted something soft and cheery, so I started with a favorite color combo of mine -- celery green, rose, and baby blue. After too many iterations to count, I wound up with something that, although I like it, is no longer my idea of a card suitable for this occasion. (Too much black, you know?)

So back to the craft room to try again. Bummer ;)

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this "outtake."

Supplies:
Stamps: Priceless
Ink: Basic Black, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Whisper White craft
Paper: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Basic Black
Accessories: Black gingham ribbon, slit punch, white gel pen, paper piercer, dimensionals

Forgot the Best Part!

When I posted last year's Christmas card, I totally forgot the best part -- the inside! (Thanks, June, for the reminder!)

Those who paid any attention got the advance news that my husband and I were expecting again. I signed the cards, "Love, Terry, Amy, and our three little elves," and then included three stockings. The first two were labeled with our children's names, and the third, a blue one (for baby boy), said "Due 4/25/07."

The crazy thing is you wouldn't believe how many people never even noticed the third stocking! And those that did notice asked if we knew whether the baby was a boy or a girl. Oh well, holidays, right? You get so many cards maybe you don't really pay attention to detail.

My second design last year (after I bailed on this one) was made with the Snow Flurries set and on the inside I wrote "Love, Terry, Amy, and our three little snowflakes," then stamped and labeled the snowflakes the way I had done the stockings. Either way, it was a really fun way to tell our more distant friends and family our good news.

Looking for Some Mojo

Had a few minutes in the craft room while my little miss was making a card for one of her friends, and thought I'd try one of the several sketch challenges I had lying on my desk.

This one is from Julee's Mojo Monday sketch challenge. Check out her blog, Poetic Artistry, to see the actual sketch this week. She's offering some blog candy to go along with it, so give her sketch a try by Saturday and you'll have a chance to win a *free* Verve Visual stamp set. Sounds pretty good to me!

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks, Lexicon of Love (retired), Canvas, Print Pattern
Paper: Pixie Pink, Pink Passion, Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink: Pink Passion, Basic Black
Accessories: black gingham ribbon, hot pink wide organdy, black grosgrain, 1/8" punch, pewter hodgepodge hardware, white gel pen

The Mad Cutter

That's me ... madly cutting cardstock for a card buffet I'm having Friday. And not-so-patiently awaiting another shipment of additional materials I need. But that's not why I post this evening.

As I'm preparing all these materials for others to make their cards, I'm thinking if I can plan other people's cards in October and November, just maybe I could (and should) start on my own cards sometime before, say, December 22 (which I did three years ago! Crazy.)

Last year, I was good. I started WAY early. Even still, I could only complete about 40 of this design ...



All that watercoloring and hand-trimming? So fun, but ridiculously time-consuming to mass produce. I honestly love to pour my heart and soul into my Christmas cards and usually don't mind the mass production part at all, but last year I really thought I'd break out in hives if I ever touched watercolor paper again!

I tell you, though ... the pressure is on. Can I top this this year?

Supplies:
Stamps: Merry Elves (retired), Cute Converse (retired), Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Snow Flurries
Paper: Cranberry Crisp (retired), True Thyme (retired), Bashful Blue, 140lb cold press watercolor paper, Holiday Thyme designer paper (retired)
Inks: Cranberry Crisp, VersaMark, Jet Black Staz-On, Old Olive, True Thyme, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Summer Sun, Blush Blossom
Accessories: Cranberry and Thyme stitched ribbon, iridescent ice embossing powder, ticket corner punch, hobby blade, silver brads, aqua painter, crystal effects

Featured Stamper Challenge

Remember my post a while back thanking fellow stamper Jimmi Mayo for her kind words and encouragement when I had just started this blog? I was thrilled to see that she is this week's Featured Stamper on Splitcoast, and just had to play along! The Featured Stamper challenge is fun. You find a card in their gallery and CASE it (copy and share everything). But you have to change at least two things to make it your own.

I chose a gorgeous card of hers that uses Heartfelt Thanks, one of my favorite sets that, sadly, has been collecting dust most of this past year. You can see her original card here. I used the same stamps, but changed the color scheme. I dry embossed, like she did, but I used a different Cuttlebug embossing folder. And I used ticket punched corners instead of brads. Last, I went over the main image with the speckle stamp from Itty Bitty Backgrounds using metallic silver ink.

This is pretty enough, I'm not complaining, but I like hers SO much better! You have to check it out. Stay a while and check out the rest of her gallery, too.

Supplies:
Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks, Warm Words, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Paper: Whisper White, Night of Navy, Mellow Moss, Bashful Blue
Inks: Bashful Blue, Mellow Moss, Night of Navy, Encore Silver Metallic
Accessories: ticket corner punch, photo corner punch, navy wide organdy ribbon, silver cord, Cuttlebug "textile" embossing folder