A Sketch With Sympathy

Unfortunately today I need to send out a Sympathy Card, one of my daughter's friends lost his Grandfather yesterday.

I used today's sketch from Splitcoast, using the blossoms from the set "Easter Blossoms" ... I am NOT ready for this set to disappear and have my fingers and toes crossed for it to make it to the Big Idea Book & Catalog being released in July. I just feel like I haven't used it enough! Here's a close up of some of the details. I stamped with StazOn ink and then used a blender pen and Blushing Bride marker to get some dimension on the flower, then the circles are just made with SU punches and a little pearl accent in the centre. I really love how this turned out, just sorry that it's being sent at a time of sadness.

Recipe
Stamps : Easter Blossoms, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Cardstock : Shimmery White, Basic Black, Blushing Bride
Ink : blushing Bride, Basic Black
Accessories : Modern Label, Word Window, Itty Bitty Shapes, 3/4" Circle & 1/2" Circle Punches, White gel pen, 1/2 Pearls, Basic Black 1/8" Ribbon, Blender Pen

Birthday Colour Challenge

The colour challenge today is so fresh and spring-like ~ Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue & Baja Breeze. Love it! I wanted a birthday card for another friend on the 30th so decided to use my brand new 'Engraved Greetings' I got for FREE during SAB. Yay! This is actually the simplest card, but I love how it turned out. Shimmery White cardstock makes anything prettier :)

My dear friend, Debra, taught me a trick ~ if you want to heat emboss an image but don't have the right coloured powder, just stamp the image in the classic ink of your choice, and then stamp directly over it with Versamark (using a Stamp a Majig) and use CLEAR embossing powder. It works BEAUTIFULLY. I added clear embossing powder to the main image to make it more prominent. I also wanted to make the image a little more interesting, so I stamped it again in Celery and punched out the centre with our tiny oval punch. Lots of dimensional layering and a few 1/2 crystals and hey presto! I think this is a VERY easy to achieve look. Hope Susie likes it ;)

Recipe
Stamps : Engraved Greetings
Cardstock : Shimmery White, Baja Breeze, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery
Ink : Celery, Baja, Versamark
Accessories : Big Shot, Polka Dot EF, Scallop Trim Border Punch, tiny oval punch, 1/2 Crystals, Clear Embossing Powder, Celery Taffeta Ribbon.

Postage Stamp Set

Good Morning! I missed a complete week of stamping ... major withdrawals here :) Tomorrow is my dear friend Joyce's birthday. I wanted to make something with the new Summer Mini sets I preordered and chose the postage stamp punch and coordinating set. I LOVE this ~ the envelope from the Bigz XL Die "Bitty Box & Envelope" fits the smaller scallop square from the Bigz Scallop Square Duo Die ... and the postage stamp punch layers beautifully in the middle. LOVE it! Got to run to the PO so Joyce gets this tomorrow! Here's the card with the envelope & contents open.

Recipe
Stamps : Pretty Postage, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Cardstock : Tempting Turquoise, Shimmery White
Ink : Pumpkin Pie
Accessories : Big Shot, Bigz XL Bitty Box & Envelope Die, Bigz Scallop Square Duo Die, Polka Dot Embossing Folder, Postage Stamp Punch, Trio Punch, Pumpkin Pie Taffeta Ribbon, 1/2 Crystal

Masculine Card Class

May's Card Class will be all MASCULINE CARDS! I have been asked by many customers, many times for an all-Masculine class and I'm happy to say that I've managed to get 3 man-cards I'm happy with :) Phew! Two of the cards are made with product from the all new Summer Mini Catalog ~ you've got to try these, I love them!

I will be e:mailing out the class details shortly, it will be 10.30am Saturday 14th May at my home in Farmington Hills MI. All details will be in the e:mail.

A Card from a Dear Friend

Many of you know "Patty B" from Splitcoast, she's a moderator, VSN organiser and general 'behind the scenes marvel' .... well I'm happy to say she's also my friend. I was SO touched to get this card from Patty, not only because it's GORGEOUS, but also because she'd obviously thought about me while she put it together. Many of my friends know me as "The Yorkshire Tea Mingler" ... I drink tea ALL THE TIME! Well Patty had some packaged tea and decided to cut the container apart and turn it into a card. Way to go on the recycling Patty.

You need to look at the details here ... the Queen's Guard (top left) is punched out and run through the Big Shot with what looks like the dot embossing folder ~ the main tea package has been cut out with the Top Note Die and run through again with the Manhattan Flower. And you see that little tag? Is that the hello teacup all shrunk? WOW! Patty, the details on this are amazing, I love your 'American' take on 'British' tea. Thanks, this will be treasured.

A Furniture Stamp and a Neglected Stamping Tool

Wow, it's Friday already :) Today's F4A (Free for All) Challenge is to use a furniture stamp and a neglected stamping tool. Well, just the other day I saw this card on my friend, Jamie's, blog. I told her she'd inspired me to use it, so today's the day :)

I don't have a lot of time (prepping for tomorrow's class) so I made it SUPER CAS, which I like anyway ~ my neglected stamping tool here is black embossing powder and a heat gun ~ I'm not sure you can see the gloss in the pic!

Recipe
Stamps : Have a Seat, 3 Little Words
Cardstock : Shimmery White, Going Gray
Ink : Versamark, Going Gray
Accessories : Heat Gun & Embossing Powder, White Taffeta Ribbon, Scallop Edge Punch

A 'Re-Do' and a Sketch!

This card is for my great friend, Elaine. She's one of those people you would choose to be your family, and I'm proud to call her my friend. Elaine was diagnosed with Breast Cancer last Summer and she's been through the Mill and back with harrowing Chemotherapy and now Radiation treatment ~ but through it all she's slapped a big old grin on her face, laughed and joked and inspired everyone around her to make the best of what's been dealt them, because if she can get through this, then it really doesn't matter if the dog peed on the carpet, or the supper was over-cooked.

I'm so happy to say that on Monday ALL of Elaine's cancer treatments will be OVER! We're going out to celebrate on Friday, and I wanted to mark the occasion with a card. What better set than the Breast Cancer set "Strength & Hope" exclusive to Stampin' Up?

I started off making this card all shabby and vintagey ~ well, there are 2 important elements to this set, firstly, the "H" has the word Hope underneath it, and secondly the background is full of inspirational words. So when I made the vintage style card, the words were lost in amongst the distressing and sponging. So I made a 2nd, cleaner card which I like much better. HOPE stands out much more as do the inspirational words. See the difference? The cleaner, fresher one is at the top of this post, and the vintage one is below.

Recipe
Stamps : Strength & Hope
Cardstock : Shimmery White, Blushing Bride (or Naturals Ivory for the vintage one)
Ink : Blushing Bride
Accessories : 1/2 Crystals, Circle Punches