Animal Talk Birthday

Yes, it has been months (almost four) since I last blogged. I felt guilty about it for a while but then I sort of forgot to feel bad. Why feel bad? I've a great four months!

There are two sad things about not stamping

1) I've missed you all!

2) I haven't spent much time in my new fantastico stamp room.

 I plan on changing both.

Here's today's project:

A Birthday Card for Elizabeth:

Can you spot all the new products from the 2012-2013 catalog?

I LOVE the new Chevron Folder. I may end up using it as much as I use the Polka Dot one!

And look at the little tiny pinking edge edgelits die! I love it!

And here is the inside:

I'm a sucker for funny animal stamps. I can't help it.

Wait til you see the cat one!!!

I used:

* Animal Talk and Woodgrain stamps

* Soft Suede, Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals and Whisper White card stock, ink and markers

* Finishing Touches Edgelits

* Chevron Folder

* Soft Suede Taffeta Ribbon

Guest stamper and kid friendly birthday cards!

 My wonderful neighbor and babysitter, Mariah, came over today to help design these cards for a fundraiser she's helping with. She wanted a couple simple birthday cards that children could make and would be excited to share. Didn't she do a great job!?!

These cards are great for kids, but they're pretty nice for adults too! Who says a grown up can't enjoy a purple dragon fly or a sports car? I certainly like both of those things!

I'm just not sure which one I like better!

Paris Scrapbook (pt. 1)

Welp, I'm back to blogging after taking a month and a half off.

In my defense, March was a pretty crazy month, full of ups and downs and much drama:

1) We took a giant family trip to Disneyland that was AWESOME! ( AND freezing!)

2) Got really sick for a couple weeks (probably from freezing in the rain at Disneyland)

3) Bought a house! We'll be moving 10 minutes away to Saratoga Springs the first of May. So excited!

4) Two attempted root canals that ended in losing the tooth.

I'm hoping for a very boring April.

So I'm trying to get back to normal by stamping so I started working on my mom's Mother's Day gift.

A scrapbook of my parents' trip to Paris!

(Sorry for ruining the surprise, Mom!)

I may have said this before but I'll say it again. My parents are the best! This trip to Paris because is the first time I recall them doing anything for themselves EVER and they had such a great time! I hope they always remember it as a wonderful wonderful trip and I hope this album helps.

The cover page: Eiffel Tower picture taken from a river cruise on the Seine!

(Journaling to be completed later.)

And here is the first two page spread: Walking along the Champs-Elysees

It's only the first 3 pages, but it's better than nothing, right? Hopefully I can get it all put together by Mother's Day!

This is Stampin' Up!'s Linen, Ring bound, 8 1/2" x 11"  album and it's very lovely in person. It'll be even better when all the pages are done!

I used:

* Bliss stamp set (retired)

* Beau Chateau Designer Paper

* Beau Chateau Side Notes

* Soft suede and Crumb Cake ink

* Soft Suede, Pink Pirouette and Crumb Cake card stock

* Dotted Scallop Ribbon, Scallop Trim, Scallop Edge Border punches

* Very Vanilla Seam Binding and Bashful Blue Satin ribbons

* Antique Brads

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are some of the simple Valentines I made for my kids to help write in and decorate. I was going for the look of what we made as kids using construction paper, paper doilies, markers and glue. You know what I mean!

The base is just a 4 1/4" square

and the only part that opens is the heart on the front.

The heart is from the Hearts Collection of Framelits dies, which I love! I just folded a piece of Real Red card stock and rolled it though my big shot like normal. Those little dies look fragile but they handle 2 layers of card stock with no problem at all. Woot!

I used:

* Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set

* Real Red ink

* Real Red, Whisper White and Pink Pirouette card stock

* Polka dot impressions folder

* Modern Label and Word Window Punches

* Heart Collection Framelits dies

* White Bakers Twine

Trombones!!!

Who in their right mind would have ever pair brass instruments with lingerie? There are TROMBONES on this paper!!! With corsets! It's the best thing I've ever seen!

You see, I am a proud trombonist myself, having played it from the age of 10 all the way through college. I love my trombone. I love playing it, listening to it, looking at it...etc. And I miss it very much.  And now I have this paper to cherish as well.

 

So here it is, a card with a trombone on it. Mark your calendars everyone. This is a big day.

Same idea but with rounded edges.

In case you didn't spot it before, here's a close up of the main attraction.

Isn't it sooo beautiful?!?

I used:

* Rue Des Fleurs Stamp Set

* Attic Boutique designer paper

* Soft Suede and Pool Party ink

* Soft Suede, Pappy Parade and Whisper White card stock

* Pool Party Seam Binding ribbon

* Vintage Wallpaper and Designer Frames impressions folders

P.S. In case anyone is wondering, the answer is yes. I have played the trombone while wearing a corset.

Anyone else? Anyone? Anyone?

Outlined Occasions Valentine (Sneek Peek!)

This card features a stamp set that will be released on Tuesday January 24th as part of the sale-a-bration event. The Biggest Stampin' Up! event of the year! Yay!

Oh, and it also shows off a bunch of the new dies that just came out on the Occasions Mini catalog. I can't say no to all the cute hearts!

I'm a little embarrassed posting this picture because its really so terrible, but the inside of the card is pretty cute. More hearts of course!

I used:

* Outlined Occasions Stamp Set

* Black Stayz on ink

* Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Pool Party, Certainly Celery and Pink Pirouette card stocks

* Pink Pirouette Taffeta ribbon

* Fashionable Hearts embosslits die

* Adorning Accents edgelits die

* Adorning Accents impressions folder

Valentine Dinner Invites

I LOVE making Valentines! There's something about hearts and pink and red and love that make me so happy! 

I made these two invitations for a  friend who's hosting a Valentines dinner party. Since I'm not sure what she'll like, I figured I'd make two options as different as possible hoping one of them will work.

What do you think blog readers?  

Option 1: Red Heart Love

I was so excited to use my new stuff for this card! The boy and girl on the bike stamp have been eating away at me since I saw a sneak peek of them months ago and the new Hearts Collection of framelits dies are just way to cool for words! Such a good bargain for so many hearts!

Hearts hearts hearts!

I used:

* Take it to Heart and Pennant Parade stamp sets

* Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso and Very Vanilla card stocks

* Early Espresso designer paper

* Early Espresso Ink

* Hearts Collection Framelits Dies

* Polka Dots impressions folder

* Jewelry Tag punch and paper piercing tool

* Very Vanilla seam binding ribbon and Linen Thread

Option 2: Conversations Hearts

Easter has Peeps, Halloween has candy corn and Valentine's Day IS Conversation Hearts!

And now we have these lovely zero calorie stamp versions of them. Yay and yum!

 What could be better than this?

I used:

* Candy Conversations stamp

* Regal Rose, Pool Party, Delightful Daffodil and Whisper White Card stocks

* Regal Rose, Pool Party, Delightful Daffodil, Peach Parfait, Wisteria Wonder and Melon Mambo markers

* Stamp-a-ma-jig

* Small Heart Punch

Be Mine Valentine

I said I'd be back soon and look at me, I'm posting 2 days in a row! Woot!

Because February is coming up so fast, I got out ALL of my Valentine stuff tonight and...had a complete blank. Its hard to get back into things! But The Paper Players luckily has a great challenge going with a nice easy welcome into stamping for 2012. Thanks Paper Players!

The theme challenge is All You Need is Love and here's what I came up with:

Hopefully the first of many more Valentine cards coming in the nest couple weeks.

You can't see it but the whole thing is covered with Vanilla Smooch Spritz that adds a nice subtle shine. Also, I was going to watercolor the entire image but after I did her heart and bow I sort of lost interest :)

I used:

* Greeting Card Kids and Outlines Occasions (SAB 2012!) stamp sets

* Music Notes Stampin' around wheel

* Basic Black Craft Ink and Soft Suede Classic ink

* Crumb Cake, Naturals Ivory and Soft Suede card stock

* Antique Wallpaper embossing folder

* Vanilla Smooch Spritz

* Pink Pirouette Taffeta Ribbon

* Blender Pen and Stampin' Pastels

Christmas Recap

I lost December again! AH! I do this to myself every year! I start planning Christmas in September, I forget about it and then all of a sudden its December 1st and I have nothing done. This is also about the time when I decided to start a new hobby (knitting this year) and decide to make everyone I know a handmade gift. Then you have all the decorating, parties, baking, shopping, family from out of town, school out...and here I am on January 11th feeling like a human being again. Whew. I love Christmas!
While I love December and the magic of Christmas, there are things that suffer. My waistline AND my blog. So here is ALL of the stuff I made but never had time to post:

This was out family's official Christmas card. Quick, easy and hopefully cute!

And of course the photo I tucked inside each one.

 (This card uses Petite Pairs and Pennant Parade)

This is the thank you note I made my kids (and myself) write to all of our loved ones:

And I'm so happy I finally got a chance to use the Sweet Snowglobe stamp!

(Perfectly Penned is in there too!)

Here's a fun little stocking pocket, perfect for holding a gift card and a candy cane!

I used Dear Santa stamp set with the Holiday Stocking Die and added some Smooch Spritz for a little sparkle.

I almost chose this card as our official Christmas card but by the time I got around to making my own cards, I didn't have time for it. I know. I'm lame.

But I got the idea for this on Kimberly Van Diepen's lovely blog. Check it out!

http://stampinbythesea.com/free-digital-download

I really love this because instead of cutting all those tedious triangles, I used my Perfect Pennants die for all of them! Yay me!

I used Season of Joy and Many Merry Messages on this one. And Woodgrain.

Last but not least is this fun card using the new Micah Flakes. While I love the idea of them, I found them really hard to use on a card because they are just sooo big! But once I made this card I knew I found the perfect use for them. Big and messy! Don't they give the card such a nice shiny glow?

I got the idea from this gorgeous card but simplified it a little.

I used the Christmas Lodge set.

Hopefully I'll post some new stuff very soon. Valentines day is coming up!!!