When I first had this little sailboat floating around in my head, I thought it would be so fun for a baby shower and created the set for that.  After putting it together though, I realized how fun this would be for a birthday party.  Just put the children’s names on the flag and you have place settings and favors all in one!  The invitation is easily changed to a  birthday invite too!  Here are a couple of extra pictures for you:

I have written out all the instructions, complete with pictures, on how to make both of these.  Yep, all the work is done for you!  Just subscribe to the May projects at Craft Project Central.  You will get this plus the other amazing projects I have been showing you all month.

**BLOG CANDY**BLOG CANDY**BLOG CANDY**

Yes, it is a blog candy alert!  I am giving away a FREE, yes FREE, subscription for all the May tutorials.  You can get all of the project just for a little typing.  All you have to do is leave me a comment on this post and tell me what you love about Craft Project Central’s May projects.  Leave your comment by Sunday, May 20th at 6p Eastern.  I will choose one winner randomly (using a random number generator) on Sunday night and announce the winner on Monday.

I hope your day is amazing!  I have my Customer Appreciation Class today and I’m so excited.  I’ll share some of the projects from that soon.  Thanks for stopping in today!

It is my turn to hostess at Freshly Made Sketches this week and I hope you like my sketch!    I thought it would be fun for showcasing designer papers but also for stamping.  You can stamp all three panels separately or show us a split panel image.  Knowing what I see from week to week, I’m certain you will come up with all kinds of amazing projects.  As usual, the design team already has.  I have to say that it is fun to see what others create with a sketch you designed!!

I decided to go the three image route with my card.  With all the projects I’ve been working on this month, I had a potpourri of designer papers sitting around on my table and thought I should combine them.  I pulled out an old favorite retired hostess set Of the Earth for the flower stamp.  Some retired sets just have to stay in the drawer because they are so awesome…this is one I love!  The background paper is from Twitterpated DSP and you know what??  It is carrying over to the new catalog!  Yippee!!!  I was a little worried about the Pear Pizzazz print (and I’m officially out of Pear Pizzazz).  But you know what?  Old Olive is a PERFECT go-with color.  Whew!  Problem solved and more Twitterpated coming to my house!  The Calypso Coral paper is from Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB).  Sale-a-bration is just a gift that keeps on giving!  I inked up the flowers in Old Olive and Calypso Coral and stamped them using my trusty Stamp-a-ma-jig.  What would I do without that tool??!!  Finally I tied on some Pear Pizzazz Seam Binding with a potato masher triple bow.  I added a tag using the Jewelry Tag Punch and a part of a sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes.

I hope you enjoy this sketch and that you will play along this week!  Now hop right over to Freshly Made Sketches and visit the other design team members blogs.  You’ll be happy you did!

Sorry I’m a little late on my post this morning.  I’m having some painting done at our house and it is a little distracting (but it will be nice when it is done!!).  One wall is very close to Midnight Muse and the others are a bit darker than Very Vanilla.  Yes, all wall colors are based on SU colors at my house (I’m sure I’m not alone).  Oh yeah, Midnight Muse??!!  It is one of the new In-Colors 2012-14 and I am already in love.  I just got it so I’ll be working in into a project as soon as possible.

Ok, off to finish cutting for a Customer Appreciation Class I am holding tomorrow.  I’ll be sharing those projects with you soon.  Thanks for stopping in today.  See you soon!

Stamps:  Of the Earth (hostess, retired), Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper:  Twitterpated DSP, Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB), Old Olive, Whisper White; Ink:  Old Olive, Calypso Coral; Accessories:  Stamp-a-ma-jig, Pear Pizzazz Seam Binding, Jewelry Tag Punch, Neutrals Buttons

I just love flowers with dimension on a card and I’m sure you know that I experiment with them all the time.  Especially with those made from ribbon!!  I found this tutorial on ribbon carnations from Sandra Azzopardi and had to give them a try.  My Baja Breeze Seam Binding flower is made exactly like her tutorial and the Crumb Cake Seam Binding flowers are made with about 7 inches of ribbon.  Yes…I actually pulled out a needle and thread to make them.  If I can make these, you can too!  I am in “retired” mode and trying to use up some of the pretty retiring (or retired) papers in my stash.  This comes from one of last year’s sets.  Originally I had planned to use some Beau Chateau DSP but realized that mine is pretty much gone.  If you have some, it would be lovely here!  The Ovals Die (retiring) was paired with the Designer Frames Embossing Folder and then I used the Extra-Large Oval Punch to create a raised sentiment.  The best part of the flowers is that the rest of the card can be really clean.  The flowers do all the work!

I can’t wait to see what you bring to the challenge this week!  Make sure you visit the challenge site to ooh and ash over the design team’s work!  Back tomorrow with a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches…it is mine!  Thanks for dropping in today!

Stamp:  Always Thankful (Holiday ’11); Paper:  Soft Suede, Elegant Soiree DSP(retired), Very Vanilla; Ink:  Soft Suede; Accessories:  Extra-Large Oval Punch, Ovals Die, Big Shot, Designer Frames EF, Baja Breeze and Crumb Cake Seam Binding, Basic Pearls, Needle and Thread

This shadowbox and coordinating card would be a fantastic gift for any dad!  Yep, it is already time to get working on those presents for dad.  You know what to do.  Head right to Craft Project Central and get your tutorials now!

Back a little later with the latest card from SUO Challenges!  See you in a bit!

Sharon Burkert from As the Ink Dries created this lovely project for the May Craft Project Central project tutorials.

Sharon created a beautiful way to give a gift card as a present with this lovely bouquet.  Her matching card is a stunner too!  Just sign up here and get all the May tutorials!

I hope you have a wonderful day!

I pulled out my Beautiful Butterflies Die and the Berry Blossoms DSP!  I cut out the butterfly using my Big Shot and the rest of the layers fell into place quickly.  I love these busier prints when they are scaled down like the Big Shot dies can do.  I had out some of my Sale-a-bration goodies from yesterday’s card and found that these brads would work perfectly here.  That awesome 3/8″ Ruffled Ribbon was calling out to be used too.  I have started organizing my stamp drawers in preparation for new catalog things and came across some things I hadn’t used in a while.  Hmmm…you might be seeing some more of these!  Hard to see it in the picture but the Early Espresso layer is embossed with the Stripes Embossing Folder.  Ok, one more thing.  You may notice that there is a new watermark on the bottom of my picture.  That was created for the design team by Lesley Croghan.  Again, I have to say that the evidence points to the fact that she may never actually sleep!  *smile*

I hope you can join us this week.  Last week’s entries were so varied and fantastic.  I continue to be so inspired by everyone’s work!  The design team has worked hard creating some beautiful cards and we are joined by two new guest designers for the month, Erna Logtenberg and Tara Murphy Bourgoin.  Make sure you link on over to their blogs and let them know how awesome their card are!

Thanks for dropping in today.  I’m so appreciative of the support you continually give.  How fortunate I am to be a stamper!

Stamp: None; Paper:  Berry Blossoms DSP, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Early Espresso;  Ink:  None; Accessories:  Big Shot, Beautiful Butterflies Die, Stripes EF, 3/8″ Ruffled Calypso Coral Ribbon, SAB brads, Dimensionals

 Just look at how wonderful these are.  Christy did a great job creating these!  If you have a grad and want to get the details, just go over to Craft Project Central and subscribe to May.

Hey everyone!  I’m here to bring you a card made with two new or new to me challenges!  Craft Project Central has a Creating Pretty Cards every month and this is their sketch for May.  Lesley Croghan, a tireless creator of all things stamping, has started a new challenge called Dynamic Duos.  So armed with a sketch and a color combination, off I went to stamping.

I have to admit that I found both the sketch and the colors to be challenging but hey, that is the purpose for these, right?  To take us out of our box.  With these colors I really had no choice but to pull out the SAB papers from Everyday Enchantment.  That paper is just so wonderful!  Fresh Vintage is the natural pairing (also SAB) so I inked it up in Pool Party and Lucky Limeade.  I used the narrow Organza Ribbon from SAB around the Pool Party layer and tied it onto the buttons.  A sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes finishes it off.

I hope you’ll have time to play with these challenges.  You’ll be glad you did!!  You have a whole month for CPC and until Thursday at noon for Dynamic Duos.

Back tomorrow with a new Freshly Made Sketches card.  Have a great day!

Stamps:  Fresh Vintage, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper:  Everyday Enchantment DSP, Pool Party, Very Vanilla; Ink:  Pool Party, Lucky Limeade; Accessories:  Neutrals Buttons, Limeade Narrow Organza Ribbon, Mini Glue Dots

Yes, it is a K-Cup holder and matching card!  How fabulous is this??!!  You know the deal, just run right over to Craft Project Central and sign up for the May tutorials.  Hope your weekend has been great!!  See you again soon!

This beautiful Acrylic Box and coordinating Fabric Cards/envelopes are all included in the tutorial.  Talk about timely!  I am starting to think about teacher gifts for the end of the year and these would certainly be appreciated!  Having this tutorial on hand will be a big time saver.

My project for May is done, I just have to finish the tutorial.  I think you are going to love it!  But…since stamping is more fun than typing, I’m off to play with the Creating Pretty Cards Monthly Card Challenge.  There is a new sketch and it is really cool!  You have the whole month to play but you know I can’t resist a great sketch!!  I hope to have it to share with you in the next couple of days.

Thanks so much for stopping in today.  Don’t forget to go tell Laurie how great her project is!  See you soon!