Celebrate in Style

Hello!  T.G.I.F!  It’s been a busy week.  After being off from school all summer, I headed back to school  this week and I’m trying to get back into my work routine, along with sending my youngest off to start his senior year of college! I decided to wind down by participating in The Free For All Challenge (F4A288 8/27 – Add Something Gold )  When I think of the color gold, it reminds me of elegance, so this was my take on it:

I used retired Stampin’Up  Dress Up Framelit Dies for the dress and form, the tags and embossing folder are from Sizzix and the sentiment and perfume bottle are also from retired SU sets.  The perfume bottle was part of The Cat’s Meow set, but I’m not sure what set the sentiment was from…. sorry!   Both ovals are dies from Spellbinders.  I added a few bows, and was done!

Thanks for taking the time to stop by today.  I truly appreciate your visits, questions and comments! Until the next time, Happy Stamping!

A Purrfect 50th Birthday Celebration

Hello!  I’m back today to share a quick special occasion birthday card.  My brother is turning the BIG 50 this weekend and I’m going to a surprise party for him on Saturday.  You may be wondering…Why a cat card?  It was decided that his party would be cat themed because although he doesn’t have a cat, he feeds all of the stray cats in the neighborhood!  Such a sweet and caring guy!   With that in mind, I knew the perfect stamp set to use, The Stamps of Life cat2stamp set with coordinating dies and The Happy Birthday Step-Up card by Sizzix/Stephanie Barnard.

I think it came out kind of cute, and he’ll get a chuckle out of it along with all of the other cat items I found for him!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and visit!  I truly appreciate all of your visits, questions and comments.  Until the next time… Happy Stamping!

Lovely Drop-Ins Occasions to Celebrate

Hello!  I hope you had a great weekend, it sure went by fast!  Don’t they always? However,  I did manage to fit some card making time in to play with my new Sizzix Lovely Drop-Ins set!  Stephanie Barnard designed these with Sizzix, and they are just awesome!  I own a couple other drop-in sets and use them so often, I HAD to have this one too!  This set comes with 14 different dies to “drop in” on the outside of the card, and you can create so many different types of cards.  If you like these cards, head over to The Stamps of Life and check out all the other different versatile drop in sets.  Stephanie just released brand new sentiments that go with these sets, which makes them even MORE versatile!

This card was super quick …. No stamping other than the Happy Anniversary sentiment on the inside.  The bow on the corner of the card was created with the Sizzix bow die(not included in the set) but the card base, panel and sentiment are all part of Lovely Drop-Ins.

This card base and sentiment gives you a totally different look, yet it uses the same die set, just different drop ins.  See how versatile it is?  I did do some stamping on this card using TSOL balloons2cut stamp and die set.  I added the twine, the sequins and had a fast and simple card!

Both of these cards took literally minutes to create.  The clean up took longer…. LOL and definitely wasn’t half as much fun!  Thanks for taking the time to stop in today.  I truly appreciate your visits, questions and comments!  Until the next time, Happy Stamping!

A Window’s View

Hello!  Today I have  a couple window cards to share with you.  The other day I took a ride to Hobby Lobby to look for a cat  themed gift I needed, and of course, since I was there, I ventured over to the paper craft section.  Well…the first discovery I made was that they were having a big Sizzix Sale!  Items were 40% off, plus I had a great coupon, woo hoo!  I think you may know how this story ends…I left with some dies, patterned paper, cardstock and NO cat gift!  LOL story of my life.. I have had my eye on this window die for quite some time now and decided to treat myself to it.

I made this card for my sister, who will be having surgery tomorrow, and even found her a great Sizzix die to give to her as part of a gift!  The window die is by Tim Holtz.  I’m not sure the source of my stamps used, I’ve had them for a long time and there are no company names on them.  The paper used was all from my stash box. I colored in the basket and flowers with markers, sponged a sky background, added some curtains and was done.  I was happy how it turned out, and think my sister will like it too.

Every year I make my own Christmas cards, and this year I decided to start early to lessen some of my holiday stress. This is another design I came up with using the window die.  I used my Cricut cartridge A Child’s Year and cut out the Santa image.  The snowflake embossing folder is made by Darcie, The tag and sentiment is from TSOL and the greenery was made with a Martha Stewart punch.  I love how this card turned out and can’t wait to make some more!

Thanks for stopping by today:)  I truly appreciate all of your visits, questions and comments!  Until the next time, Happy Stamping!

A Cute Critter

Hello!  Today I have a quick card to share with you.  I decided to play along with this challenge CAS338 – CUTE CRITTERS over at Splitcoast Stampers.  It was the perfect challenge to participate in because I needed a card for my son, who just happens to be a forester!  I always try to make a “woodsy” type one for him, and had completely forgotten about this old, retired stamp set.  This poor set has not seen the light of day in a very long time… It’s called Happy Camper by Stampin’Up.  I also used a sun die from TSOL to give it a pop of color in the sky.  I’m so happy I found it buried on my shelf, because I think it’s just adorable, and couldn’t be more suitable for today:)

Thanks for stopping by today… I truly appreciate all of your visits, questions and comments!  I hope you have a wonderful day, until the next time… Happy Stamping!

“Drop In” Celebrations

Hello!  Just dropping in to share a couple of “drop in” cards I made with you.  These are fun 3D pop-up cards that are so fun to make and go together very easily!

This card was made using Sizzix 3-D Banner Drop-ins designed by Stephanie Barnard over at the Stamps of Life.

This is the card front that looks pretty ordinary, right?  Well, look what happens when the recipient of the card opens it up!!!

Isn’t it just adorable?  I love how the banner pops up!  To make this card, I first used an embossing folder by Darcie.  This stamp set coordinated so well with this folder and is called ornaments4christmas with coordinating dies by The Stamps of Life. There are several different christmas ball designs and sentiments with this stamp set, so I see myself making more of these to use as one of my Christmas card designs this year.

My next card features Sizzix 3-D Flowers Drop-ins and was also designed by Stephanie Barnard. This die can also be found over at The Stamps of Life.  I LOVE this pop up flower design!

I used birdcage2stamp die set by The Stamps of Life for this adorable bird in the cage, but the flower and sentiment are all part of this drop-in set!

Here’s the best part… an explosion of flowers when you open it!  This unexpected surprise would make anyone smile!  Stephanie has a fabulous video on her website that shows how to make these great cards, and all of the various ways you can use the dies.  If you like these cards head on over and check it out!

Thanks for stopping by today!  I truly appreciate the visits, questions and comments you leave me!  However you are spending your Sunday, I hope it’s a great one:) Until the next time… Happy Stamping!

Happy “Boot” Day

Hello!  It’s Wednesday already, can you believe it?  My summer vacation is winding down just too fast!  I’m trying to get as much fun time and stamping while I can, before the hustle and bustle of work starts up again.  Today I decided to play along with Splitcoast Stampers card sketches challenge.

This was the challenge

This is what I came up with for a card.  I struggled with this at first, but after some time and thought it all came together.  It forced me to think “outside the box” of straight lines LOL!

All of the stamps used on this card are made by The Stamps of Life called boots4rain.  It’s a fun set that has large and small sized boots with different patterns.  There are lots of different sentiments too.  No fussy cutting either, because there are coordinating dies!  I created the border using a Sizzix Border Dies, the candle is a punch by Martha Stewart, the heart is a die from one of my TSOL sets, the circles were made with my Spellbinders circle dies, and I’m not quite sure where I got the banner die from… I found it in a drawer.  I never know what I’m going to find when I start digging through drawers!

Thanks for stopping by today.  As always I truly appreciate all of your visits, questions and comments!

Step-Up to a Happy Birthday

Hello!  I hope you’re having a great Tuesday!  Today it’s pouring buckets where I live, so I decided to head out to my craft room and play.  It seems I never have enough birthday cards on hand, so I took out my Sizzix Happy Birthday Step-Ups Card Die Set and came up with a “shabby chic” look theme.  The photo doesn’t show it well, but the icing on the cupcake is sparkly white.

I like the touch of the antique like lace along the border of the card, and I used Mini Flower Dies from The Stamps of Life to layer.  This card literally took minutes to make and assemble, but I love the finished product!

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope the weather is a little better where you are.  I truly appreciate all of your visits, questions and comments!  Until the next time…. Happy Stamping!

Waves of Color

Hello!  I’m stopping by today to share a quick card with you that I made for this challenge:http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/clean-simple-cards-f239/cas337-waves-color-8-10-2015-a-t602062.html#post21045019.  I pulled out this set that hasn’t seen ink for a while now from The Stamps of Life called hot4balloons. This was my interpretation of the waves…. I used my wave die from flipflop2stamp also from TSOL to create the “waves of color”.

This card was super quick to make and lots of fun to assemble.  Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I truly appreciate all of your visits, questions and comments.  Have a Marvelous Monday!  I hope I inspired you to maybe pull out a stamp set that you haven’t used in a while…. Until the next time, Happy Stamping!

Back to School…Already

Hello!  I hope you’re having a great start to the weekend.  Where does the time go?  In a couple of weeks, I’ll be bringing my youngest son back to college to begin his senior year, and I’ll be meeting 20 new kindergartners!  It seems like I just got out of school, or even worse, it feels like my baby was just starting school as a kindergartner….(sniff…sniff…)

I’m sharing a couple more tshirt2stamp cards before I put this set away for a while.  A friend of mine asked me to make some back to school cards to give to her daughter, who was lucky enough to get a teaching job right out of college!  She will be teaching elementary aged children, and wanted to mail each of her students a “welcome” card. I felt my August club set from The Stamps of Life would be perfect and quick to whip these up. I started an assembly line, and this is the card I came up with!

I had a bunch of this patterned paper from Michael’s made by Recollections that I used as my background.   I  also used crayons2stamp and Sizzix Tags & Words,  I added the apple sticker, pencil and eraser from my stash box and was done.  I was able to make 22 of these  in no time at all!  I hope my friend, her daughter and the kiddos like them!

I added this next one in the collection of cards for my friend’s daughter.  She’s an avid cat lover who is extremely nervous, as well as excited to begin her adventure as a teacher. The sentiment on the shirt is from cat2stamp and the cute little paw is from treats4cookie with the coordinating die.  The flower was made using a Fiskars punch.  I topped the flower off using a circle and heart die, added twine, some gems and this card was completed too!  (Sorry…. the cat DP was in my stash box and I don’t know who made it, or remember where I got it).

Thanks so much for visiting me today!  I truly appreciate all of your visits, questions and comments. Enjoy the weekend however you may be spending it.  Until the next time… Happy Stamping!