Triple the Celebration

Even though I used the same stamp for the focal point, I created three different card types/styles.  The SAB set Feeling Sentimental is a fun and actually very versatile set.

Here is a group photo.

The feminine version was done in a vintage/shabby style.

I'm not a huge pink fan, but I do like it with a dark brown.  Here I used Early Espresso and Pink Pirouette.  The DSP is from the Fan Fair pack. It has the most wonderful patterns and color combos.  I simply distressed the edges and then sponged them with both colors.  I also sponged over the paper with some of the pink.

For the embellishment I took a strip of Pink Pirouette and created a banner using the technique found in THIS post.  The sentiment is from Something to Celebrate(retired).  I tied a piece of linen thread around the Victoria crochet trim and then inked it up to age it a bit.  I placed a small Antique brad inside the largest of the Vintage Faceted Designer buttons.  The brad "legs" will just barely fit inside the button holes, but it was enough to bend them and secure it to the button.  I secured the lace and the button to the card with mini glue dots.

Stamps: Feeling Sentimental, Something to Celebrate
Paper: Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette, Fan Fair DSP
Ink: Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette
Misc.: Victoria Crochet Trim. Linen Thread, Vintage Faceted designer buttons, Antique brads, Basic Pearls, Square Punch, Sponges, Glue Dots, Distressing Tool



The middle card is clean and simple.

The black and white color scheme is elegant, yet still fun.  This could be given to either a female or male and could be used for a birthday, wedding or anniversary; or, simply just because you want to celebrate a child's accomplishment, a friend's promotion or any other life event.

Stamps: Feeling Sentimental
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Pitch Black (Adirondack/Ranger)




The final card is geared with a masculine slant and is kind of a combination of the two other styles.  Clean and shabby? :)

It is also a CASE of the card posted HERE.  I LOVE Sandi's addition of the French Foliage stamp images, but for mine I wanted to keep it a little "cleaner".  Instead of linen thread I used Basic Black Taffeta ribbon to help highlight the sentiment and I used a black and tan (Crumb Cake) color scheme.  To ink the edges I used the ink pad directly on the paper to give it a little crisper edge than sponging would have.

Stamps: Feeling Sentimental
Paper: Crumb Cake, First Edition Specialty paper
Ink: Pitch Black (Adirondack/Ranger)
Misc.:Basic Black Taffeta ribbon


In all, I think it took me roughly half an hour to make all three cards, so time well spent in my opinion.  Even though the feminine card is really more my usual style, that is actually my least favorite of the three.  Go figure... 

Which do you like the best?

Sale-A-Bration

Sale-A-Bration is finally here!  Now through March 22nd you can earn FREE items with any $50 purchase (USD) of Stampin' Up! products.

Check out the details on my site, by clicking on the picture above.

Here are the fabulous items you can earn for FREE when you make a purchase, host a party, or become a demonstrator.

Check out the Spring Catalog for some cute and fun new products.

Place your order online, by e-mail or phone.

Vintage Type

Look what I scored the other day...

There is a wonderful little upscale re-sale shop in town called The Green Goat that deals mostly in re-purposed furniture and cool vintage items.  While the quality of the items she sells is upscale, her prices are more than reasonable. This little beauty cost me under $50.  I have seen similar ones priced on line anywhere from $75 to $700. Yikes!

I am so excited as I have been wanting a vintage typewriter for ages.  It will go great with the antique printer's trays I purchased a few months ago.  It weighs about 20 pounds and needs a little cleaning, but all the pieces are there and it appears to work just fine. I have a wonderful little vignette pictured in my mind with the typewriter and printer's trays...we'll see how long it takes me to get it completed.

In the meantime, take a look at this...

I have a stamp that matches. Imagine that! :)

I made a slit just above the paper bail (feeder) and slipped my "typed" piece of paper through it.  I thought the colorful paper was a nice contrast to the black and white image.

The patterned paper is a sneak peak from the upcoming Sale-a-bration catalog called Sycamore Street.  It will be available January 22nd! 



Supplies 
Stamps: You're My Type (retired)
Paper: Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Sycamore Street DSP (SAB sneak peak)
Ink:Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black
Misc.: Exacto knife, Sponge

Coming out of the dark...

So what's a girl to do when the desire to create seems to have flown the coop? Well, sometimes you just have to force yourself to make something...anything. My day job has been kind of sucking the life force out of me lately. :) Tired of giving in to the dark side, I made myself go into my studio this past weekend and play.

Here is my first attempt:

I felt kind of like a first time crafter. It's been months since I picked up any type of stamp or tool. It was fun.

I think this card looks much prettier in person. I couldn't get the Wisteria Wonder to photograph right. It's such a pretty color too. I used the set Sprinkled Expressions from the SAB catalog. Only a few days left to earn FREE product! The Luck Limeade 1/8" Organdy ribbon is also a SAB item that you can earn until March 30th. The flower was stamped in Wisteria Wonder and the sentiment in Elegant Eggplant. Once the matting was done I popped it up on dimensionals to give it a little depth.

Stamps: Sprinkled Expressions
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder
Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, Patterns DSP Stack-Regal Collection
Misc: Clear Rhinestone Brads, Lucky Limeade 1/8" Organdy Ribbon, Dimensionals


I like my second attempt a little better...

I really like the neutral palette of black and cream; it's so elegant looking. I stamped the First Edition DSP with the French Filigree background and then inked the edges. This was so quick and easy to put together.

The little crown stamp is from Clearly For You. I added the smallest pearls to give it a little zing. The Chantilly trim tied behind the Antique brad just added that extra little touch.

Stamps: Clearly For You, French Filigree
Ink: Basuc Black
Paper: Basic Black, Very Vanilla, First Edition DSP
Misc.: Basic Pearls, Minit Vintage Tags, Chantilly Crochet Trim, Antique Brads, Basic Black 1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain, Sponges

Well, I hope you liked my attempts at getting my creative mojo back. Have a great day!

Kym

Fresh Vintage

Here is a peak at another of the great FREE stamp sets you can earn during Sale-A-Bration (SAB). The Fresh Vintage set includes this beautiful floral stamp that can be used as a focal point or to create great backgrounds.

I used my In-Color markers to color the stamp. I took the color combo from the patterns in the DSP, Everyday Enchantment, which you can also earn for FREE during SAB. If you struggle with color combinations, then the SU Color Lab is a great place to find inspiration. You can even add your own favorite color combos!


This was a pretty easy card to put together. The item that took the longest was coloring the stamp and that only took a couple of minutes. Once stamped, I simply added the layers, placed the focal point, stamped the sentiment, and added the pearls. With this versatile layout you could create any kind of card, all you need to do is change the sentiment and the focal point.

SAB starts January 24th, so don't miss out on your chance to earn FREE products!!

Stamps: Fresh Vintage, Bring on the Cake
Paper: Baja Breeze, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White, Everyday Enchantment DSP
Ink: Baja Breeze, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade Stampin' Write Markers
Misc.: Basic Pearls

Enjoy the day!!

Birthday Coral Sneak Peak

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Although work was utter chaos this year, at home it was a very pleasant and relaxing Holiday for us.

Now it's time to start thinking about the new year. I've made several goals for myself for the coming year and I am determined to achieve them. One of them is to expand on a goal from 2011, and that is to continue to push myself to create things out of my comfort zone.

While the card I have to show you today is done in my favorite vintage/distressed style, the colors are definitely out of the box for me. As I have mentioned before, the orange color family is one that I typically avoid and lime green is not really at the top of my list either. However, in the upcoming Sale-A-Bration (SAB) catalog there is some very pretty vintage style DSP which features Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeade In-colors called Everyday Enchantment ~ I actually like it. :)

The paper is a wonderful mix of florals and patterns with a muted color scheme. In the close-up you can see several new items that will be available to earn FREE during SAB.


I used one of my favorite embellishments, the Mini Vintage Tag, to add some dimension and interest to the card. I stamped the tag with Lucky Limeade using one of the corners of the stamp used for the focal piece which is from the Elementary Elegance set. The birthday sentiment is also from the same set. The cute little brad and organdy ribbon are from the Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad pack.

You can start earning Free SAB catalog items beginning January 24th. Come back and visit my blog for future sneak peaks and information.

Stamps: Elementary Elegance (SAB)
Ink: Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party
Paper: Calypso Coral, Early Espresso, Lucky Limeade, Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB)
Miscellaneous: Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad Pack (SAB), Mini Vintage Tags, Chantilly Crochet Trim, Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon (retired), Curly Label, Scallop Trim Border and Scallop Edge Border Punches, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Distress Tool (Cutter Kit), Dimensionals, Sponges


Happy New Year!!!

Paper Quilting

These are some paper quilting cards I made for my Mom, who is an actual quilter, for her birthday. The maple leaf is one of her favorite quilt designs. The card base is Kraft and I used Bella Bleu dsp to make the leaf pattern.



For these cards I used the retired 2009 SAB designer paper Delicate Dots and Whisper White textured cardstock for the base. Which worked great, as her favorite colors are yellow and blue. I had every intention of making these well ahead of time and researched patterns that I thought would convert easily to cards, as I am not a quilter myself. However, as seems to be my normal "style", I waited until the last minute, so I needed some quick inspiration and found some wonderful samples on SCS here and here. I changed up the paper and colors and was able to get these done fairly quickly.

For the sentiments I used Well Scripted from the Spring Occasions Mini, as well as one of my favorite sets Sincere Salutations.

These were a little more difficult to make than I had thought, but after the first one it wasn't too bad, although I don't think I will be taking up quilting as a hobby. :)

Enjoy!

Tiny Vintage Tags

I really like the new punches that SU has come out with! The little tag punch and Tiny Tags stamp set are so fun to use. I think the tags add that perfect little touch to your cards. And while I am generally not a fan of a scalloped edge, I do like the new Scallop Trim Border punch. What's really great is that right now, you can get this punch Free during Sale-A-Bration. It has a matching corner punch in the Occasions Mini.

For these I used a card base of Kraft cardstock. The Bella Bleu dsp lent itself nicely to the color scheme of yellow and blue. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I really like this DSP. I have had it for quite a while and this is the first I have used it. It has some gorgeous patterns and a great muted/natural color scheme.

The flowers are from the Vintage Vogue stamp set. Would it surprise you that I absolutely adore this set???? For those that know me probably not. :) I stamped the large flowers in So Saffron on Barely Banana cs, the smaller flowers are stamped in Barely Banana on banana cs and Brocade Blue on Kraft cs, the leaves are also stamped on Kraft cs in Always Artichoke. I distressed the mat pieces and inked the edges of all the pieces in coordinating colors.

I couldn't find my Natural Linen thread (need to do some organizing!) and I thought the Hemp Twine was too thick for the look I was going for, so I "split" the Hemp Twine into two strands to attache the tag. It worked great, plus it stretches the amount of twine I have!!

For this one I used the masking technique. I stamped the large flower from Vintage Vogue in Rich Razzleberry and the leaves in Old Olive on Naturals White cs. I then masked them with a post-it cut into each shape and stamped over that with the French Filligree background stamp in Soft Suede. The small flower and scalloped edge are Crushed Curry, the mat is Rich Razzleberry and the base is Soft Suede.