Fresh Vintage Birthday

Here's a thank-you card we made at Stamp Club. I needed a birthday card for my son's teacher, and since I haven't been feeling the best (a COLD?! Yuck!), I decided to re-vamp this card into a birthday card.

I just love this Sale-a-bration DSP and the ribbon-brad pack! I think it's my all-time favorite paper! 

As you know, I've been on a banner kick lately, so I cut a sliver of card stock and used the 'happy birthday' stamp from the You're My Type stamp set in the new Mini.

I usually forget about the inside of cards, but I've been working on that, so here's a little collage on the inside.

Hope this inspires you!

~Natalie

First Attempt at Punch Art!

Happy Monday! 

Friday's Mashup #43 is to use something new, so here's my entry!

Yesterday was my son's teacher's birthday. She is such a great lady, and I have gotten the pleasure of getting to know her and working with her when I volunteer in his class.

I wanted to make his card for her fun and special, so I got out my new Send Me Soaring stamp set from the new Mini and my newest punch: Cupcake Builder! I LOVE these clouds! Just emboss some white card stock with the Polka Dot folder and punch out some cupcake tops! 

I did sponge some Bashful blue around the edges. Also if you look close, you can see I took the negative of the cupcake top and sponged some blue clouds on the DSP to make it look like a shadow behind 2 of the clouds. (Ok, maybe you can't see it in these photos... oh well.)

 That kite tail is a tricky one to cut out!

GRASS!! I used my Scallop Border punch and just punched it a couple times over again, alternating the scallops, to achieve the unevenness. The flowers are punched using the Itty Bitty Punchs and Boho Blossoms Punch. Don't forget the pearl centers! ;) 

I decorated the inside! ;) I decided to give it a little heart from the little Heartfelt Embosslit, to match the heart on the kite. The sentiment is from the birthday hostess set.

Here's another view, from the side.  I couldn't resist a Summer Sun corduroy button (long-time retired) on top of my punched sun and tied a little bow with White Baker's Twine.

Hope you enjoy!

~Natalie

Sepia Snowflakes!

Yesterday was a day of fun for our family! We finally got snow, here in the Midwest, and everyone was finally well enough to go sledding as a family! First time of the year! We had so much fun in the morning, we went again after lunch!

So when I saw this SSC239 sketch at Stamping 411, I knew I had to do snowflakes!

I love Sepia and sponging, so I got out my Soft Suede!

The card base and little strip of DSP are Crumb Cake. Everything is sponged with Suede.

 Hope you like!

Well, I'm off to watch some football with my husband!

~Natalie

JUGS120

JUGS120 Challenge is: RED, PINK & WHITE!!

That sounds all Valentine's-y to me! Hurray! 

I'm getting pretty excited about helping my older kids with their school Valentine's! 'Course my youngest goes with me when I volunteer, so she wants to make some to give out, too.

Well, here's one I made tonight while I was "clearing" my stamping table..

Card base is Rose Red, embossed with the Heart edge embossing folder. The words are stamped in Rose Red ink on White card stock and cut out using the smallest Labels Framelits die, then mounted with Dimensionals. The two hearts are punched out of Pretty in Pink and Real Red, as well as the little flowers (Itty Bitty Punch Pack). 

Finished off with some Basic Rhinestones. Gotta have bling, right?!

This is making me think I should out-do myself in showering my husband with crazy Valentine's cards & presents this year! We will see! ;)

Thanks for stopping in!

~Natalie

So Honored

Hello again! 

Just a quick post to say thank you so much to Stamping 411 for picking my card as a Stamper's Showcase this week! Go here for their post. Go here to see my post.

I am not at all ashamed to say I was super excited and started squealing (yes, squealing) when I scrolled through their blog and did a double take to see my card in their top 5!

I feel so honored and pleased!

 (Yes, I did giggle with glee after which my husband had the kids all clap for me...) 

They do all love me and support my habit hobby. ;)

So here's a quick pic of a card I CASE'd from the Sale-a-bration catalog. Kindness really does matter!

Thanks for looking! Just let me know if you have questions about the card.

~Natalie

Rue Des Fleurs

Well, I finally inked up my Rue Des Fleurs set! I used a couple different challenges for this card including: JUGS119 to do a collage (I got distracted yesterday and didn't get this posted in time to link), CCMC185 to use Coral, Peach and Limeade, and Mojo Monday 224's sketch.

  I don't like to color mainly because it takes so long (for me, anyway) and I'm not very good at it, so I love how this set lends it's self to just dabbing the color in the right places and it still looks good.

My card base is Vanilla, layered with Coral Calypso that's been stamped using Soft Suede in almost every stamp that comes in the set as well as the En Francais bg stamp in Coral. I used the Everyday Enchantment DSP again (I do have the matching DSP for this set, but needed to keep to the color challenge), layered a banner on that and tied the little Limeade organza ribbon with a bow. I used Suede and Coral for the images on my focal point, colored the flowers with Coral and Limeade using a blender pen and mounted it and the "For the support" with Dimensionals. I sponged all the edges of my card in Soft Suede (per usual) and stamped and colored another corset/bustier inside the card.

Thanks for looking!

~Natalie

Bloom!

Here's a card I made a while back, a CASE of the card on page 15 in the 2011 Holiday Mini catalog... 

I Heat Embossed the Medallion stamp with Clear Powder. You can see it better in the picture:

I'm so glad I have the Boho Blossoms Punch and Itty Bitty Punch Pack. I get to make lots of lovely flowers! If you don't have the Itty Bitty Punch Pack, I highly recommend it!! I was on the fence about getting them for a long while, and I only wish I had gotten them sooner!
Thanks for looking!
~Natalie

Kindness Matters

Here's yet another sketch I tried to make... well, I MADE it, but didn't participate... 

Mojo Monday's 222 sketch:

 

Here's my rendition... I couldn't quite get it right, but I like how it turned out. More layers and patterns than I usually use... And I'm using more SCRAPS! Yay!

PS: I'm loving banners lately, can you tell?! ;)

 Thanks for looking!

~Natalie

Make-N-Take Sale-a-bration

Alright, here's my Make-N-Take from the weekend Demo meeting!

Coral Calypso card base, Everyday Enchantment DSP, either Pool Party Seam Binding or the new tiny organza ribbon. I used the new Labels mini dies! Love them!

I wanted to give the option of either Pool Party or Limeade card stock. As you can see from my leftovers, they all chose the Pool Party card stock and Limeade ribbon!

I did tie all the Itty Bitty buttons with linen thread in advance, to save time and linen thread. I seem to go through Linen Thread pretty fast; I wish SU! would make a Baker's twine using Vanilla instead of white. ...But that won't stop me from buying the new In Color Baker's Twine! ;)

Lots of sponging... ;)

Thinking of you...

This is another card using the sketch from Stamping411, using their SSC238 sketch.  I realized after scheduling my last post that I couldn't submit my card, since I didn't have a post to link to, yet. So since I used their sketch today, and I'm not sure how many entries are excepted, I will be submitting this card.

 I used the DSP (from Sale-a-bration) scraps from a make-n-take I took to a Demonstrator's meeting this last weekend. (I will share that card and what I did with my extras tomorrow.) I taped them to a 3x3 scrap of paper, ran it through the Big Shot using the Polka Dot embossing folder, and rubbed my sanding block over the top so the polka dots would pop. I layered this on some Pumpkin Pie card stock (the color in the DSP is Coral Calypso, but I have an excess of Pie!). I ran my Poppy Parade card base through the Big Shot using the same embossing folder, punched a hole in the side fold and tied some 1/8" Celery taffeta into a bow.

The sentiment is from last year's Sale-a-bration, (I think!) and is stamped in Suede on a scrap of Naturals Ivory that I had already notched for a banner. I had a little piece of 1/8" Daffodil taffeta, so I cut it in half and adhered it to the edge, then tried stapling it, too. As you can see, the staple is as wide as the banner, but I think it worked well. I mounted the layered DSP onto the card base using Dimensionals, and since the banner is hanging off the edge of it, I put one Dimensional (you can see it trying to poke out) on the left edge and a glue dot on the other end.

Of course, I have a hard time not adding a pearl or flower, so I stuck on an Itty Bitty flower and pearl.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I can continue using up my scraps!

Thanks for looking!

~Natalie

Ok, I tried posting from my phone, using the camera on my smart phone, but I decided I didn't like the quality of the pictures, so I apologize if people are seeing this twice and getting confused.

SSC238 Thanks

Here's my second try on participating in the Stamping 411 sketch challenge! SSC238 is another great sketch, and since I'm borrowing this Creative Elements set from my up-line, I'm probably over-using it. ;) 

I hope you don't get bored seeing it! I used the sketch twice, although I did add a little banner on my second card for my "thanks," since I seem to need so many these days.

The pearl on this Marina Mist card is from the pretties kit a while ago. They do have some beautiful large pearls in the new Mini catalog! The images on the card base were stamped with Pacific Point ink.

I have a friend who loves pink and brown, so I thought of her as I made this card. I used Chocolate Chip textured card stock and stamped the butterflies on Naturals Ivory using Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose and Mango inks. 

Hope you like!

~Natalie

Missed Challenge...

Well, like I said a couple posts ago, I have a hard time keeping up on which challenges end when and getting my cards posted in time to participate... And here's a prime example! Stamping 411's SSC237 sketch was due by Thursday night, and I didn't even make these until after that. Oh well. I liked the sketch enough to make 2 cards, and I'm sure I'll be using it again in the near future!

This card uses a new set that is available through Sale-a-bration and some ribbon from the clearance rack!  

Here's a winter card, since we finally just got some snow last week. I used some retired DSP and again some clearance rack ribbon. While the ribbon adds a dimension not in the sketch, I needed to add ribbon. ..it's a fault of mine. ;) 

The original sketch:

Thanks for stopping by! I'm spending some time scheduling my next few posts, so let's hope I can keep up with this now! 

~Natalie

FMS17

I just love this sketch! So simple, yet full of possibilities! You've got to head over to their site HERE to see what everyone else made, too!

I started with a Naturals Ivory card base, sponged the edges and stamped the strip of filigree a couple times with Crumb Cake ink. Then I took a scrap of Crumb Cake card stock and stamped the lacy background stamp using the same ink, and roughed up the edges with my bone folder. (I'm going to save myself time and say all the edges of everything are sponged with Crumb Cake!) Then I stamp that gorgeous flower with Baja Breeze, cut them out, added a large pearl and sat back. Nope. Needed the little rings of pearls too! Well, there's no ribbon, so I had to add more pearls! Be proud of me for keeping it simple! ;)

I'm actually borrowing this Creative Elements set from my up-line's up-line...I think that's right. She's my grandma in Stampin' Up! haha! She's soo not old enough to be a grandma! So sweet of her to let my try this set out. Of course I LOVE it!

JUGS118 Birthday

A quick post to enter a challenge. So many times I use a sketch from a challenge and don't get to the computer in time to enter...So here's the JUGS118 sketch challenge:

Here's my card:

Happy Birthday for a man... Made this for my sister's stash she always asks for at the beginning of the year.