I am so excited for you to see what Stampin’ Up Only Challenges has for you this week!  A fun theme that we can all join in on….For the Birds!  I didn’t realize how many cool birds SU has until I started looking at this challenge.  You have almost unlimited style choices.

I chose to pull out Betsy’s Blossoms again since I seem to just be obsessed with this stamp set.  The bold images combined with the Floral District DSP are so summer-like!  For this one, I also pulled out a brand new toy…um, product…from Stampin’ Up!  The Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack (p. 181…go take a look) is awesome!  True to Stampin’ Up form, they coordinated this tool with a number of different punches and dies to create a super easy way to add another layer of texture to your projects.  I got the new Stampin’ Pierce Mat and Paper Piercing Tool too and they work perfectly!  I used the biggest circle template to go around the outside of the 2-1/2″ Circle Punch in the card.  I also got out my new Made for You stamp set (p. 44).  I think you all know by now how much I love Teeny Tiny Wishes but this set just might give it a little competition.  Only three sentiments but the ones I use most often.  Perfectly sized for the inside or outside of your cards too.  You’ll be seeing it a lot!!

We made this card yesterday with my Hostess Club.  It was our first meeting of the Stampin’ Up year and I just love this group.  Always a great time!!

Along with the busy flying schedule, I am busily working on a bunch of swap cards for Convention.  Yes, I said it, Convention!!  I get to go to Stampin’ Up’s annual Convention for the very first time this year!!  Yea me!!  I’ll be a bit quiet as I work on the swap cards but I’ll have lots to show you once Convention starts.  I hope I’ll get to meet some of you there!  Thanks for stopping by today.  Back tomorrow with a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  Have a great day!

Stamps:  Betsy’s Blossoms, Made for You; Paper:  Floral District DSP, Razzleberry, Whisper White; Ink:  Lucky Limeade, Rich Razzleberry; Accessories:  2-1/2 Circle Punch, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Stampin’ Pierce Mat, Paper-Piercing Tool, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Over at SUO Challenges this week we are all about Fancy Frills.  Show us you lace, your ribbons and your doilies.  Anything frilly and we want to see it!

There must be something about this summer weather that has me working in a “less is more” attitude.  I seem to be taking off layers and keeping things a bit simpler.  Not always my style but I guess I just have to go with it.  Even with this theme I couldn’t seem to get all layered up.  Instead I pulled out this beautiful Victoria Crochet Trim and that was my starting point.  I also wanted to use this new In Color, Midnight Muse.  I am a big fan of Not Quite Navy and Midnight Muse just seems to be a richer, deeper version.  I LOVE IT!  I also am falling in love with the new ink pad style.  There is a learning curve but the coverage when stamping is beautiful.  I inked up the butterfly from Creative Elements and stamped it on Naturals Ivory paper, then fussy cut it.  The frame from Creative Elements and the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes seem made for each other and I love the proportions. I finished with a Night of Navy button and some Linen Thread.  The button isn’t a match but it seems to go.

This is an anniversary card for my husband.  We will be celebrating our 11th on Saturday. I hope this isn’t too frilly but he is always a good sport about my cards.  Never fear, his gift isn’t the least bit girly!  Pretty sure he never reads this but just in case, I’ll hold the details.

A little late on my post today.  We are still getting into the summer schedule…aren’t things supposed to calm down??!!  The boys are on swim team with practices every morning and this week they have Vacation Bible School.  Such fun!

I hope your week is going well.  I’ll see you tomorrow with a new card for Freshly Made Sketches!  Thanks so much for dropping by!

Stamps:  Creative Elements, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper:  Crumb Cake, Naturals Ivory; Ink:  Midnight Muse; Accessories:  Victoria Crochet Lace, Sticky Strip, Regals Buttons, Linen Thread, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Dimensionals

It is May and it is time for flowers!  My flowers are blooming in the garden and on my cards too.  At SUO Challenges our focus for this challenge is 3-D flowers and you will be amazed by the variety from the design team this week!  It will be a little late posting but it will be there.

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

*SPOILER ALERT for my mom….this is your card so if you want a surprise, please stop reading for now*

The SUO Challenges has a timely theme for this week, Mother’s Day!  We know that you make some of your most beautiful things to send to your moms and the mom-like inspirations in your life so we want you to share them with us.

It isn’t hard for me to talk about why I designed this card.  My mother is a quilter and makes the most wonderful quilts!  My children, husband and I are often the beneficiaries of these treasures and we have quilts of many different styles here.  The children have themed quilts for their beds and personal quilts for all the things they love.  Our home has quilts for couches and decoration, including quilts representing the places we have lived.  How lucky we are!!  I have been pondering a quilt card for a while and finally decided to make a card mimicking a quilted square.  There are so many pretty patterns out there but I thought a flower would be perfect.  Thus the tulip.  After some experimenting, I settled on this design.  The square is 3/4″ and the triangles are another 3/4″ square cut on the diagonal.  The small Blushing Bride square is 3/8″.  The leaves are another 3/4″ square cut on the diagonal and then I added a small strip for the stem.  Once I had everything laid out I ran it through my Big Shot with the Square Lattice Die to give it the fabric look.  Of course, what would a quilt card be without ribbon and a button so I added the beautiful Seam Binding tied up with a Basic Gray button.  For a final touch I framed it with the Framed Tulips Die.  I have a tutorial here that shows you how to make it a square.  I would love to say that the border was part of my creative master plan but it wasn’t.  I made the square and was starting the final design of the card when it hit me.  Isn’t this what keeps us creating??  You never know what a-ha moment we will have!

I’m so happy with the final result and I hope my mom will like it too.  I’m inspired to try some other quilt patterns since this was such fun.

Back tomorrow with another Freshly Made Sketches challenge and back later today with some fun news.  Keep an eye out for another post!

Thanks for dropping by for now and I’ll see you again soon!

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper:  Twitterpated DSP (still available), Baja Breeze, Basic Gray, Whisper White; Ink:  Basic Gray; Accessories:  Big Shot, Square Lattice EF, Framed Tulips EF, Baja Breeze Seam Binding, Neutrals Buttons, Dimensionals

The SUO Challenge team is back with a new challenge for you.  We want you to use any SU green as your focal color.  Stampin’ Up has so many pretty greens that there is sure to be one that is your favorite!

 My choice of green was Lucky Limeade.  It is a weird choice for me because I didn’t really love it at first.  But like many other things, as soon as I saw the coordinating things made with the color it has grown on me.  I started with some of Berry Blossoms DSP and felt inspired by one of the prints.  I saw a beautiful flower over at Yvette’s Paper Garden and went to look at her tutorial link created by Melanie Hopes.  The tutorial shows how to created a variety of flowers using different SU punches and dies…amazing!  I chose one of the flowers from Fun Flowers to try.  It is easy, fast and wow.  My kind of project!  I love that I could just add the 3-d flower to the print in the DSP.  As I was looking for way to finish the card, I noticed that my Sale-a-bration brads coordinated and just had to add them in.

I can’t wait to hear what you think about this big flower and I’m sure you’ll want to try some right away too.  Remember that it is easy to be green with SU so I hope to see you in the challenge!!

I am writing this post ahead of time but with any luck I will be at Cindy Elam’s house (Heart’s Delight Cards) when this goes live!!  I am planning on serious stamp-a-pa-looza!!   How cool that one job will take me to a friend made doing my other job!!  I’m sure we’ll both have lots to post after this visit!!

Thanks for dropping in today.  See you tomorrow for another Freshly Made Sketches challenge!

Stamp:  Inviting; Paper:  Berry Blossoms DSP, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White; Ink:  Lucky Limeade; Accessories:  Big Shot, Fun Flowers Die, SAB Brads

I think the cards I make most around my house are birthday cards.  I can never have enough of them!!  The SU Only Challenge this week is to make birthday cards…perfect for getting some made for when you need them.

 I made this for a friend of my oldest son and turned to my favorite kid birthday set again, Patterned Party.  I love these balloons!  I can’t remember where I found the layout (sorry) but I liked the idea of the three bright panels in the background and the asymmetry of the focal image.  I did use a couple of retired SU things here, the Real Red wide grosgrain and the sentiment.  You could easily replace these with current items but I continue to try to use what I have (to make room for more).  This is a quick little card to put together but it looks special with the layers.

I can’t wait for you to see what the rest of the design team has made this week.  As usual, there are multiple styles and loads of inspiration.

I am happy to say that my training in Denver is completed!!!  The check ride went well and I got home late Friday night.  We had some family in town which was very fun and now I am catching up.  I leave tomorrow for my first trip.  It is official…if you find yourself on a United Airlines Airbus 319/320, make sure you look to see if I am there.  I hope to see stampers all across the country!

Off to stamp (haven’t done that in a while) and pack!  Hope you have a great day.  Back tomorrow with a new Freshly Made Sketches Challenge.  Thanks for dropping by!

Stamps:  Patterned Party, Birthday Wish (retired); Paper:  Brights Paper Pack, Basic Black, Whisper White; Ink:  Pacific Point, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black; Accessories:  Brights Buttons, Real Red Wide Grosgrain (retired), Thread

This week at SUO Challenges we want to see your Valentine creations made with two main colors.  Of course neutrals can be added (because they usually just have to be)!

Now the design team has put together some stunning cards but my focus had to be Valentine’s for my boys’ classes.  I got to go home over the weekend but time for stamping was pretty limited as you can imagine.  The boys chose the candy they wanted to give (Sweethearts) and I designed this for the packaging.  It is very hard to see but I did sponge a sky with clouds behind the balloon.  I guess I’ll need to make it a little darker on the rest!  I love this phrase and it does seem pretty fitting for my house don’t you think??  You’ll be amused to know that I stamped all the balloons I need and brought them back to Denver to cut out this week.  Even fussy cutting seems better than studying!!  *smile*  The boys like the result and I guess that is the most important part!

Make sure you go look at the beautiful artwork from the rest of the design team.  Such elegant cards!!  You will surely be inspired to join us!

Back tomorrow with another Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  Thanks so much for stopping in today!  Have a great day!

Stamp:  Up, Up and Away; Paper:  Real Red, Basic Gray, Whisper White; Ink:  Real Red, Basic Gray, Baja Breeze; Accessories:  Simply Scored Scoring Tool, 1/8″ Hole Punch, White Taffeta Ribbon