Yesterday our church held a Family Bible Day Camp.  There were lots of fun activities for the kids.  In the morning the adults had a bible study and in the afternoon I was asked to make cards with the ladies.  We decided to make cards that could be donated to the troops that they in turn could mail back home to their loved ones.  Here are the two simple designs I came up with for the ladies to make.  The bee and words are by Stampendous and can be found at Eclectic Paperie.  And the second card is a Stampin’ Up! set in the current catalog.  I purchased it for this particular occasion but after working with it, I’m glad I got it.  It’s really a nice set.  Both cards were colored with colored pencils. 

stamps- Liberty Bee and Bee Free by Stampendous, Have A Ball, The Free and The Brave

paper- non SU!

ink- Black, Navy, Brocade

accessories- oval punch, star punch, pop dots, colored pencils 

I also supplied these 2 simple cards for the ladies to make and take home for their own personal use.  The card on the left uses the retired SU! set Best Blossoms.  I still love this set and enjoyed pulling it out to use again!  The card on the right was prepared ahead of time for anyone who wanted to just sit and color.  I embossed the bottom and scored some lines above it with the Scor-Pal.  We had a nice time making cards while the little ones were having a beach party, making sandcastles in kiddie pools in the parking lot.  That looked like fun too!

Enjoy your Sunday and have a great week!

stamps- Best Blossoms, Sweet Sniffs of Spring- Whipper Snapper

paper- Non- SU!

ink- Eggplant Envy, Lavander Lace, Moss, Black

accessories- Photo Corner punch, pop dots, ribbon, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, Scor-Pal 

Happy Wednesday!  Today Jen issued a challenge for the All That Scraps Design Team to use glitter.  I needed a few teenage birthday cards this week so this is what I came up with.  (I needed one for a teen boy as well, but his will not be pink with ribbons…LOL.  I’ll share that one later.)  When I was making this card, I realized that I still haven’t used the cute lilypad in the Froggie and Friends set.  I’ll try to remember that for next time.  It’s such a cute set to work with!  I decided to make a little birthday parade and added the cupcake and words from the It’s My Birthday set.   It’s funny sometimes how a card evolves.  I knew I wanted it pink, so I set off looking for some cute pink papers.  When I decided to use the Making Memories papers here, I found two triangles that were left over from another project long ago.  I was making 4 of these to have some on hand, so I cut the triangles into 4 pieces and incorporated them in the design of the card.  The ribbons I had found at Michael’s on clearance and they are the perfect colors. 

OK, so back to the challenge…. I used Star Dust Stickles (my fave!) on the cupcake, party hat and balloons.  I also added some dots to the Celery Circle and left a little glittery trail behind the snail.  ;) 

stamps- Froggie and Friends, It’s My Birthday- C.C. Designs

paper- Regal Rose, Celery, White, Making Memories

ink- Black, Regal, Celery, Olive, Caramel, Summer

accessories- Key Tag punch, Circle punch, ribbon, Stickles  

Happy Sunday!  I just thought I’d pop on to share two cards I made recently.  The first one is a graduation card and was made with the graduate’s school colors…orange and black.  Diane617 made a similar graduation card for her shoebox at a recent gathering and I was at her table.  I thought this little owl set by Inkadinkado was cute and would be great for a grad card!  When you open it up, there’s a pocket inside to hold a gift card….see the thumbnail below.  Diane used the Word Window punch and a circle punch to create the opening for the gift card.  Thanks for sharing the idea, Diane…I’m sure I’ll use this again!  I actually didn’t have a gift card and didn’t have time to get one so I just put cash in the pocket.

stamps- Inkadinkado

paper- Orange, Black, Wjite

ink- Black

accessories- eyelets, word window punch, circle punch

This second card I made with a friend.  I have had this Surprise Pop-Up card on my mental to-do list for a long time.  My friend said that she wanted to try it so we had fun making one.  I picked her set of bugs to use because I don’t own it but keeping thinking that I *need* it.  Do you love this set?   My friend picked the Dots and Daisies background which continues the whimsical feel of the card.  I don’t know why, but I just love “stacking” images lately… it makes a fun card!  If you look closely, you can see that we goofed on scoring the pop up part but then turned the paper around and scored it properly in the other direction.  LOL.  It still works just fine but I bet next time I won’t make the same mistake. 

When you pull the piece of Celery cardstock at the top, the image slides to show the message hidden below.  This was a lot easier than I thought it would be.  I guess I put off making one because I was a bit intimidated.  LOL. 

I applied the white gel pen to the centers of the flowers on the background and then added some dots of black Stickles to the corners of the main image.  I have used the black Stickles a lot more than I originally thought I would- love it!  (But then again, how can you not love Stickles?)

stamps- Bugs and Kisses, Dots and Daisies

paper- Coral, Celery, Saffron, White

ink- Black, Coral, Rose Red

accessories- gel pen, Stickles, circle punch, Ticket corner punch, Tag punch

It’s that time again!  The 20th of the month rolled around and it’s time for the SCS Dirty Dozen & Alumni’s June challenge.  This month Jami took a break and I came up with the challenge.  I wanted to create some happy mail so the recipients of the cards smile as soon as they see it in their mailbox.  I LOVE to see decorated envelopes (and the inside of cards too).  So I wanted to see how creative we all can be decorating the “inside” and “out” to coordinate with our cardfront.  Here’s the rules I gave the ladies:

Challenge Focus: “Inside & Out”……stamp and decorate both the inside of your card AND the outside of the envelope. (any card size is ok) Please upload two photos.
Required Element: Patriotic element - interpret this any way you like (ex. color scheme, sentiment, image, whatever)

Restricted Element: No ribbon

Optional - Send your card to the troops so that they can in turn mail it home to family or friends (all themes and occasions welcome).

I made 2 samples this month….the first one is more for a woman in the service.  I have always loved this retired SU! Raggedy Ann set and recently I purchased it from someone who no longer had a use for it.  I thought it would be perfect for the red, white and blue theme!  The buttons were cut from a Sizzix die and the “thread” is actually a very thin sliver of cardstock.  This image was colored with plain old colored pencils. 

I added the same paper button to the inside along with a row of flowers.  I accented 2 with some Prima flowers.  Half of the envelope was wheeled with the retired Flower Power wheel.  I stamped and masked the heart first before wheeling. 

stamps- Old Friends, Flower Power wheel

paper- Non-SU Red, White, Blue, and SU Bliss

ink- Bliss, Black, Not Quite Navy

accessories- rectangle Nestabilities, colored pencils, gel pen, Primas, Stickles, Sizzix button die, and NO ribbon 

My second card was made while thinking of the men in our troops.  Cheryl Rowley sent me an awesome card with this Biker Bee and I just had to get him!  You can find all of the images used on this card from Eclectic Paperie.  And I’m not sure what the name of the paper is, but it came from All That Scraps.  Cheryl doodled stars on the card she sent me and I couldn’t mess with perfection, LOL, so I added some of the same doodles on the cardfront and the upper left corner of the envelope.  The Liberty Bee was stamped on the bottom right of the envelope.  He was colored with colored pencils instead of the Copic markers because I didn’t want the Copics to bleed through to the back of the envelope.  In hind sight, I guess I could have just inserted paper in the envelope while coloring.  I’ll have to remember that next time!   

And this is how I decorated the inside of the Bee Free card.  I added some more doodled stars and cut one of the stars from the patterned paper to place in the upper corner. 

I hope the troops like the cards we made.  And I hope they bring a smile to their loved ones back home!  I can’t wait to see what everyone else came up with.  Here’s a link to check out all of the challenge cards.  Have a great weekend!

stamps- Biker Bee, Liberty Bee, Bee Free- Stampendous

paper- Ruby, Black, Shimmery White, White

ink- Black, dp from All That Scraps

accessories- Copics, Word Window punch, Stickles

Here’s the last 2 cards I made when I was having a fun day stamping with my Whipper Snapper Stamps.  Isn’t the Bunny in Bathtub image too cute?  And I love the font on the matching words.  It’s just perfect!  I found the black background paper with the sparkly silver circles in my stash…and thought it would resemble the bubbles.  I also tried to incoorporate the bubbles into the doodling around the main image.  Wouldn’t it be fun to have a pink tub? 

stamps- Bunny in Bathtub, Another Grey Hare- Whipper Snapper

paper- Pixie, Gable, Bashful, watercolor paper, dp-DCWV

ink- Black, Gable, Bashful, Pixie

accessories- ribbon, Stickles, pop dots

Penny is one of my all-time favorite Anna Wight images!  She just cracks me up!  This time I put her in a pink bikini.  The fake dew drops were a gift from a friend….I hope I never run out!  LOL.  I like the sentiment on this one too.  “Splash it up!” could be for any occasion in which you want to say “celebrate!”  I watercolored the water with Cool Caribbean ink…I really miss having that color available!  I almost forgot how much I love it. 

stamps- Penny, Splash it Up- Whipper Snapper

paper- Saffron, Pixie, Celery, Shimmery White, dp- DCWV

ink- Black

accessories- button, faux dew drops, pop dots

First of all, let me say that I hope you all enjoyed Father’s Day with the men in your life!  It was a beautiful day here and I hope you had sunny weather wherever you are too!

Here are some more Whipper Snapper cards I made the other day.  I’ll share the last two tomorrow.  I just love how the first one turned out!  I was afraid that using the Bashful paper with this particular print from the SU Summer Picnic pack would seem too drab.  But when I added the red it really brightened up the card.  I love this Whipper Snapper image called Sweet Sniffs of Spring!  It’s just too cute!  The words on this one were printed from the computer and the curvy edge was once again inspired by Jennifer Ofiana.  Only this time I turned the card so the curvy edge would be on the bottom. 

stamps- Sweet Sniffs of Spring- Whipper Snapper

paper- Bashful, White, Red, Summer Picnic dp

ink- Black

accessories- circle Nestabilities, Copics, Word Window punch, gel pen, pop dots, ribbon

This second card is just a simple little notecard.  I left a sentiment off so I could use it whenever I need to send a quick little note.  I carefully placed the folded edge of my card just inside the edge of my largest rectangle Nestability.  It still has most of the scalloped border on the top yet the front remains attached to the back.  I stamped Anna Wight’s image called Chicken with Flower on Watercolor paper and added a single flower for embellishment.  This is a very simple card but I think it looks cute IRL. 

stamp- Chicken with Flower- Whipper Snapper

paper- Apricot, Watercolor paper

ink- Black, Apricot, Pumpkin, Ruby, Rust

accessories- Rectangle Nestabilities

Yesterday I pulled out some of my Whipper Snapper Stamps and made a bunch of cards.  It was a productive day!  :)  Here are 2 that I made with the Floral Turtle.  I’ll take pics and share more cards later.  The first turtle was cut out with my new circle Nestabilities.  The words “friends make life blossom” were printed from the computer.  I have no idea where I saw that phrase (or if I made it up).  I’ve had a sheet of words printed out for some time now and I just got around to using that one.  The curved edge on this card, and another one I’ll share later, was inspired by Jennifer Ofiana.  I loved how she was cutting the edges with the Creative Memories cutter!  Unfortunately I do not own the cutter.  BUT I have a neighbor friend that does.  ;)  The white gel pen “stitches” along the curvy edge are actually on the inside of the card.  It looks kinda cool when you open it.

stamps- Floral Turtle- Whipper Snapper

paper- Red, White, Olive, Celery, Summer Picnic dp

ink- Black

accessories- Circle Nestabilities, gel pen, felt flower, brad, Stickles, pop dots 

This next card is a 4 1/4″ square and since there will be extra room in the envelope, I thought it would be fun to run the ribbon off the side a bit.  I cut the turtle out and popped him up to look like he’s taking a little walk on the ribbon.  The funky, sparkly striped paper reminded me of heat waves so I went with the phrase “wishing you sunny days” (also computer generated).

stamps- Floral Turtle- Whipper Snapper

paper- Lilac, Gable, Orange, White, dp- Die Cuts With a View

ink- Black

accessories- Watercolor crayons, ribbon, brad, oval punch, gel pen, Stickles, pop dots

Wow- I didn’t realize that I hadn’t mounted this set yet.  It is a great masculine set!  This is just a quick, simple card…one that can be made and stuck in the mail before the mail carrier goes (which is exactly what happened).  ;)  I really need to stock up on masculine cards!  The thumbnail pic below shows the inside which has a pocket to insert cash, a check or a gift card.  I started with the normal 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 piece of cardstock.  Then I scored it with my Scor-Pal at 3 1/2 and 7.  So easy!  The bottom section is folded to the inside and the sides are glued to create the pocket.  This card will fit into a regular envelope.

stamps- For Father

paper- Artichoke, Cocoa, White, Celery and Saffron dp

ink- Basic Brown

accessories- watercolor crayons, photo turn, brads

The ATS design team was challenged to make a gate fold card and this is my sample.  I just love the froggie precariously perched on top here.  I know I said it before, but this is a very versatile set.  You can check out all of the images here.  By stacking the images on top of each other, it left little room for other embellishments.  So I added some designer paper to the right side and then punched a few small circles from the same paper for the left.  A little bit of Stickles adds to the finished card. 

stamps- Froggie and Friends- C.C. Designs

paper- Bliss Blue, dp- Piggy Tales 

ink- Black

accessories- watercolor crayons, Stickles, circle punch, Word Window punch, gel pen

No cards to share today….although I am working on some!  I just thought I’d post some fun news.  I was chosen to be a member of the Stampavie design team!  How cool is that?  I can’t wait to have fun with their images!  You can see them here on their website.  And I get to work with some more very talented ladies.  Check out the rest of the team:

Claudia Rosa (USA)
Christa Knegt (Netherlands)
Elizabeth Neumann (USA)
Isabelle Norris (UK)
Jay Jay (Germany)
Kine Saatvedt (Norway)
Lenaik Duluc (France)
Michelle Oatman (USA)
Sandrine Vachon (France)
Sue Nelson (USA)