Sunday, March 30, 2008

Inspiration from a Fabric Softener Commercial???


I have to admit, sometimes I get the inspiration for my cards in some strange places. One time it was the packaging on food at the grocery store, another time it was a Pottery Barn Fabric, and this time it was a commercial for Fabric Softener on T.V. I can remember seeing the commercial and saying out loud 'they used Purely Pomegranate and Pixie Pink!' and my husband looked at me like I was some sort of fruitcake. I went to my computer desk right after the commercial ended and quickly sketched a card on a sheet of scrap paper and knew right away what supplies I was going to use for it. I love the way it turned out, and it just goes to show, you never know where your next idea will come from. Keep your eyes open, a sketchpad handy, and your Stampin' stuff ready!!


Recipe: Stamps: Curvy Verses; Cardstock: Whisper White, Purely Pomegranate, Pixie Pink; Ink: Purely Pomegranate; Accessories: SAB Rub-ons, 5-Petal Flower Punch, Cutter Kit (to cut curvy lines on CS)

Distressed


I've seen so many cards lately that have this really eclectic - distressed look to them. I just had to try it for myself! I must say that it was fun to do, and I'm pretty happy with the end result. I got the idea from a card in a cardmaking magazine (although I can't remember which one), and used the same layout, but with different punches and paper. The only non Stampin' Up! item on the page is the letters H and I, which I cut out with my Cuttlebug. I used Chocolate Chip and White Craft ink to rub directly onto the DSP to give it the distressed look. It's hard to belive that the background paper is from the Cutie Pie line. The distressing gave it a totally different look! Try some distressing for yourself, it's fun!


Recipe: Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate, Old Olive; Ink: Chocolate Chip, and White Craft ink; Accessories: Rich Regals Brads, Coluzzle Oval Template, Large Star Punch, Small Star Punch, DSP Cutie Pie, DSP Rose Red Print Pattern

Jennifer Buck's Card


For those of you not farmiliar with the term, CASE is an acronym that you will see a lot in the stamping world (it means copy and share everything). Stampers don't mind if people copy their ideas, as long as they're given credit for their work. With this card, I found the idea on Jennifer Buck's blogspot (click on the title above to see her blogspot - scroll down towards the bottom) and just loved her card but wanted to try it with all Stampin' Up! products. This was the result! I used the scallop punch to make the tassel on top, and cut 2 scallops in 1/2 to make the bottom of the birthday hat. The 'h' is one of the new Sticky Cuts Letters with the Blue Micro beads on top of it. For the dots on the hat I used a new pencil eraser. Here's the Recipe:

Stamp Set: Eat Cake; Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue; Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Real Read, Bashful Blue; Accessories: Sticky Cut Letters, Scallop Punch, DSP - Summer Picnic (Summer MiniCatalog), Large Oval Punch, 1/8 circle punch, Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon, Blue Bead Duo, Brayer (to flatten beads onto sticky letter).

Thursday, March 27, 2008

I'm BACK!!!!!

It's taken me a while to get back in the swing of things after vacation....catching up on laundry, kids homework, housework, bills, etc. First are a few pictures of our vacation....I couldn't resist rubbing it in a bit to you all, it was so wonderful! Warm weather, Disney, Seaworld....it was one of the best vacations I've ever been on! We spent HOURS combing the beach for shells and found hundreds! It was a beautiful 83 degrees and the ocean was cold! We were some of the only people that were actually in the water. With Chicago's temps at a balmy 28, the water actually felt warm to us.


Can you tell that this picture was taken on our first day in Florida??? We're a little pale!! With all of the sun block that I put on everyone, none of us got much of a tan, but we did get enough sun so that in later pictures we don't look like we'd been living in a dark dungeon! Again this was taken at Clearwater.....one of the most beautiful beaches that I've even been on (Marathon Key, FLA is the only place that I've been that even compares), and we loved it!















And what is a Florida vacation without a visit to Disney? We did the Magic Kingdom and had a great time. Hunter was a little disappointed that there were no 'big' coasters, but Zach and Avery had a spectatular time. I'm glad that we went before the kids were older....6 year olds still are enchanted with the magic that is Disney.



I did finally get to spend some time in my scrapbook room after I got all of the post vacation work done. I made about 10 cards and actually did 8 scrapbook pages! My scrapbook pages are never as good as I think that they should be, but I'm hoping to post a few of them later this week. For some reason I'm so much more confident in my card making skills, and scrapbooking is so much more personal. I love to make scrapbook pages and do it for my kids and to preserve our memories, I'm just not as keen on publishing them. But keep and eye out...I'll be posting them!
This card is a favorite of mine....I was a teen in the 80's, so the pink and green color scheme is really my thing! Every time I make a card with these colors I think of my freshman year of high school and my favorite pink Izod polo shirt (collar up!), under a kelly green crew neck sweater. You know what I'm talking about! Here's the recipe:
Stamp Sets: A Beautiful Thing, Lovely Labels; Cardstock: Whisper White, Old Olive, Regal Rose; Ink: Regal Rose, Old Olive; Accessories: DSP-Flowers For You, 1 3/8 circle punch, 1 1/4 circle punch, Celery wide grosgrain, Crystal Effects (It's hard to see, but it's on the center of the flower and the dots inside the flower to add dimension).