Wedded Bliss

Embellished Events, Everything Eleanor, Petite Pairs

 Yes, wedded bliss.  That is what a daughter of our church was just blessed with.  As a community, we celebrated with her at a bridal shower.  I just love those occasions!  Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to this one, but sent the gift along.  Yes, the gift is the card.  Oh, first I have to tell you about the front here.  Well, the circle was stamped with the Everything Eleanor stamp after I markered only the outside.  I didn't want the lines on the inside.  The bells are from the Embellished Events stamp set.  They were first inked in VersaMark, then inked in Crumb Cake, then stamped down.  I used my Iridescent Ice embossing powder to make it show up darker and shiny.  The doily sizzlit is such a nice frame for these stamps.  Best Wishes is from the Petite Pairs stamp set.

Apothecary Accents

And then the inside.  yes, that is a gift card holder as part of the card.  I saw that someone made a card out of a 12 x 5 1/2 piece of cardstock.  Well, I figured this would be a lot easier.  I took a 3" wide piece of cardstock and scored it at 1/2", 1 1/2", & 2 1/2".  After that I punched an extra long slit with my word window punch.  The edges are attached to both sides of the inside of the card with Sticky Strip.  I also put a bit of Sticky Strip next to the opening holding of the gift card so that it would tightly hold the card.  So, what do you think?  I kinda like it.  :-)  This way the gift cards don't slide all over or fall out of a pocket.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.  Many fun hours of crafting to you!

Blessings,
Julie

Eggplant Sympathy

Secret Garden, Loving Thoughts, Elegant Eggplant, Pistachio Pudding

Snagged this idea of of Pinterest, too!  The Secret Garden flowers were stamped with white StazOn and cut out with the Big Shot and matching Secret Garden Framelits.  The back sides of the vellum flowers were sponged with Elegant Eggplant.  After cutting out the oval with my framelits, I used the Mosaic embossing folder on the Elegant Eggplant cardstock.  The leaves were cut out of Pistachio Pudding (a fabulous new In Color!) and attached with mini glue dots.  I love how this one came out.  This was sent to a friend who lost her dad unexpectedly.  So sad! 

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!

Blessings,
Julie

Sweet, Sweet Little Duckie

 This little duckie is so adorable!  I made this card for a friend of mine, whom I call Little Duckling.  the duck and water are watercolored.  Yes, I should have waited longer for the duck to dry before coloring the water, but this photo makes it look much more yellow than it really is.  Consider it a reflection of the duck, right?  The little border on the bottom was made with my little flower punch from the set of three itty bitty punches.  The frame was made with my sizzlit and the center was punched out with the wide oval punch.  I popped the frame up a bit so that the lollie wouldn't be the only 3-D item on the card.  Oh, yes!  The Lollie!

Isn't this lollie lovely?  It was very easy!  I made it with my Big Shot and my new Designer Rosette XL Die.  I really love the scallops on the edge of the lollie.  Makes it so pretty!

So, what have you made with your Designer Rosette?  I'd love to see it!  What?  You don't have it yet?  Well, go click on that "Shop Now" button and choose the mini catalog option.  You're sure to find some really fun stuff.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!

Blessings,
Julie

Tea, Anyone?

If you haven't seen the new Occasions Mini Catalog yet, click here!  I just love this new set and the quilted ribbon and the new doily sizzlit and the new framelits and edgelits .....  See what I mean?  Just look at that lovely tea cup.  It's stamped in Pear Pizzazz, the flowers are colored in with Blushing Bride, and the dots on the flowers and at the tie of the bouquet are the new Red Dazzling Details.  And look at that fun new DP?!  It's lovely and goes perfectly with teh teacup.  I had so much fun playing with this stamp set.  I need to make some more projects with it.  I hope you'll love it, too.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

More Boyish Birthday Cards

I promised to show this one awhile back. My apologies for the delay.  I had to figure out why blogger was turning the image sideways.  This is a card that I made for our youngest son, Zach.  He really likes the Sonic the Hedgehog characters and this one, Silver, is one of his favorites.  I printed this image off of the internet and then cut it out with my Circle Scissors Plus and then cut a black circle mat for it.  I used my Tasteful Trim XL die to cut out the zig zag, but then....yes then....I saw the leftover pieces.  Ha!  I used the leftover pieces instead!  Needless to say, my Zachboy loved it. 

 And this is a card I made last night for a party that my oldest is going to today.  What to do for a 14 yr old's card???  I embossed the Extreme Guitar image with clear EP and then sponged around it with River Rock and Old Olive, then rubbed the edges of the Very Vanilla cardstock on my Real Red ink pad.  The background is some leftover strips from a pkg. called Dasher, which was from a few years back.  Doesn't really look like Christmas when you put it with these other images.  After gluing the strips of DP onto a piece of Old Olive, I ran it through the Big Shot with my Lattice embossing folder.  Doesn't that look cool?  You can't even tell that it's separate strips glued on!  The "party hearty" greeting is mounted on a tag from the Lots of Tags Sizzlits, an exclusive to Stampin' Up!

And what does a teenager want?  Money!  I think all of the card that I've made in the last 6 months for birthdays have been money holders.  I guess that means that the kids are getting older.  On this one, I stamped the cake and words from Birthday Bakery and colored it in with my SU markers.  The money holder was stamped a few times with the Extreme Guitar image and then sent through the Lattice embossing folder.  It's attached to the inside of the card with Sticky Strip, to make sure it stays on tight.  Oh!  But before I stuck it down, I took a bite out of it with my oval punch.
So there's your trip into my world of boys.  Definitely, they're harder cards to make and not quite as fun, but I DID have some fun, so that's ok.
Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!
Blessings,
Julie

Another Challenge Complete!

Two challenges in one!  The first challenge was to get this uploaded, edited and published on my husband's laptop, instead of my own!  (My new laptop had a bad hard drive and Blu-Ray player, so had to go in for some repairs :(  )  I'm seriously missing my photo editing program!  And I don't have my copyright image on this computer, so pretend that you see a copyright by Stampin' Up! on this photo, k?  The second challenge was the colors.  It's from Stampin' Addicts' SACC85 to use Pacific Point, Garden Green, Rich Razzleberry and Basic Gray.  Two of my friends sent me a link to this cross image, made from the lattice die, so of course I had to try it!  Isn't it beautiful?  The Easter Wishes was stamped on the scallop square punch, but I sent the square through the punch a second time to punch off the first layer of scallops.  The little flowers are from the Tiny Tags stamp set and the greeting is from All Holidays.  The back layer of the greeting was cut with a Lots of Tags sizzlit and finished off with some Basic Pearls.  (I'm on my third package of those already!  That's how much I love them.)  The background is the Sanded BG stamp. 
Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station once again.  I hope you have a fun weekend planned.
Blessings,
Julie

Coaster Luminary

Hey, look what I made!  There was a challenge on VSN to make a luminary with some examples.  The only catch is that you have to make it in 45 minutes.  Ok, that apparently doesn't work for me when I have an elaborate idea and I've never made one before!  The whole thing actually took me 1:40, but I'm really happy with the result and that my original design worked.  I covered some coasters (do you know that Outback passes out a pile of coasters and they don't usually get wet?) with Black on the outside and White on the inside, then sent them through the Big Shot with my Lattice Die, which is, of course, exclusive to Stampin' Up!  I then cut pieces of vellum, covered them with glue stick, stuck them on the white side and then covered with glitter.  After cutting out the green lattices, I glued them on with Crystal Effects, which can double as an amazing glue, besides being a beautiful accessory.  (If I'd had more time, I would have covered the centers of the flowers with it.)

 The rest of the pieces are all cut with the Big Shot.  I punched the holes with my Crop-A-Dile and threaded my Marina Mist Taffeta through it.  This is what it looks like in the dark with my battery powered tea light.  I hope you can see the detail.

Oooooo, yes, it does change colors.  Isn't it cool?!  I really like it!  Paper crafting is so much fun.  And I can't wait to give this away and see the recipient's face.  Give it away?!  Actually, I'm not sure if I'll be able to part with it.  If I am, I think one of my SAB hostesses might just receive this luminary.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station. 

Blessings,
Julie

VSN Vellum Flowers

Yes, I am once again playing the VSN challenges.  I'd like to do one more today.  We'll see.  I'm having terrible trouble with a pinched cyatic nerve and it hurts!  Anyway, this card is for my sweet, wonderful, amazing friend Monica.  Her husband just received his new, healed, heavenly body last night after a long battle with cancer and CNSV.  She's so upbeat and positive ... she wants us to celebrate his life and that he's healed now, so I didn't want any black on this card.  I want her to feel stronger and blessed by it.  That's why I've chosen the colors that I have.  So you're wondering about those flowers?  Well, I made them out of vellum with my flower embosslit from SU, flipped them over on their backside and colored on them with my Watercolor Wonder Crayons.  After that, I covered the back of them (the colored side) with glue stick and stuck them down.  Because you're looking through the uncolored side of the vellum, the color is muted.  I really love this technique.  And after stamping my sentiment on the Very Vanilla, I punched off the corners, ran it through the Big Shot with a texture plate, and then lightly sponged Crumb Cake around the edged.  The green accents are from the Swirls Scribbles sizzlit.  Just the right touch to finish it off and tie in the Garden Green of the flower centers.  On the inside I repeated the Very Vanilla cardstock and pattern and put some more swirls scribbles on the corner.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

p.s.  if you're a praying person, please lift up my friend Monica and her family in prayer.  The strength of God is truly what's holding her together.  May thanks.

Portland Regionals Swaps

 Yahoo!!!!  We leave for Regionals today.  I've been working on these cards for awhile and have been wanting to share.  It's so hard to hold back on you all!  This first card is my general swap.  I cut out 30 of those mugs and watercolored 30 percolators!!!!  Let's hope that it's good enough that people will want to swap with me.  Sorry that the color is a bit off on this one.  I couldn't get them "just right".  Colors should look like Naturals Ivory, Riding Hood Red, Basic Gray and Basic Black.  The percolator was colored with an Aquapainter and Watercolor Wonder Crayons.

And this is my WOW swap for some sidelines.  I sponged with my daubers over the Vintage Frame stencil with Cajun Craze, Marina Mist, and Crumb Cake.  The centers of the flowers are Crumb Cake cardstock, covered with Versamark and Iridescent Ice embossing powder.  I love how that emb. pdr. melts and looks so sparkly!  the leaves are a sizzlit and the butterflies are an embosslit.  Ok.  Now you know all of my secrets for Regionals.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I hope that I have lots of wonderful swaps to share with you next week.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!

Blessings,
Julie

Masculine To the Nines

Do you need more ideas for masculine cards? Well, To the Nines Designer Series Specialty paper is the way to go. I've used it here for the cupcake frosting and the striped panel. the background layer of Sage Shadow was run through the Big Shot with the SU! Perfect Details Texturz Plate. If you want a deeper impression than the plate gives you, spritz your cardstock lightly with water and then run it through on the plate. The cupcake was made with the SU Big Bold Cupcakes Sizzlits. I crimped the cupcake paper and then dragged the edges over the Sage Shadow ink pad.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!

Blessings,
Julie

Combined Challenges and Raspberry Tart DSP

Yes, I'm a little behind on the TAWC. Sharon gave us this challenge almost a month ago. We were to use grays and only one other color. We were also allowed to add a neutral. Since I only have Basic Gray and no Going Gray cardstock, I used brushed silver instead. The Raspberry Tart really draws the eye on this background. I've also included two challenges from Stampin' Addicts: Sketch Challenge 10 and Accessories Challenge 10. I crimped the main cardstock instead of using ribbon, paper pierced the side of the Whisper White cardstock and used the faux stitching technique, and the sketch is obviously from the challenge and was inspired by the card on page 4 of the Fall/Winter 2008 Idea Book and Catalog. The flower is the Simple Flower embosslit, sent through the Big Shot with the Raspberry Tart DSP. The swirls behind are from the Swirls Scribbles Sizzlit. I added the half pearl from the Pretties Kit (Wow, do I love those! They really make a project pop!) and some square Fire Rhinestone Brads to finish it all off.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station. Let me know how you're doing and if anything here inspired your own creations. I'd love to see them!

Blessings,
Julie

Occasions Mini Catalog Starts Today!

I LOVE the new Occasions Mini Catalog! Some of the sets are so different from what's in the main catalog - I love the diversity. So here's my first official Occasions Mini card. See that cute oval? Well, the stamp set is called Oval All and the adorable Scallop Oval Punch coordinates with all 4 stamps in that set. This is a "must have" if you love scallops. I colored the stamp with my blender pens and my Kiwi Kiss and Riding Hood Red ink pads. The background is Itty Bitty Backgrounds stamped in Pink Pirouette on Pink Pirouette cardstock. See that adorable cupcake? It's a sizzlit set called Bold Cupcakes. I ran the cupcake lower layer through the crimper so that it would look like a cupcake liner. And then I just glued it all together. Super easy and fun!

Now on the inside of this card...is a pop-up cake! I'll try to get a good photo today and post it. You're going to love it! It's another new release from SU! today. You can order a 3-tier cake and a pop-up ball. How clever is that???!!! Here's the link - if you order online, don't forget to select me as your demo.

Well, off to do my errands and then I hope to be back to post more photos for you. Thanks for a good Sale-A-Bration season!

Blessings,
Julie

Color Combo of the Day & Mercy's Sketch

This first card is for the sketch on Mercy's blog. It's a fun sketch and I thought it would work nicely for a masculine birthday card using my Branch Out set. I know I'm repeating myself, but I LOVE THIS STAMP SET!!! The background of the tree scene was made using the Watercolor Wash technique. What's that? Well, color a bit with your watercolor wonder crayon on the plastic of a stamp set container. Mist a sponge and pick up the color off of the plastic. Rub the sponge across a piece of shimmery white cardstock. Repeat with other colors if desired. So on this card, I used Ballet Blue, Brilliant Blue, and Always Artichoke crayons. Isn't that fun? The DP is To the Nines, a new SU! Designer Paper.
This card is for the color challenge of the day. I was a bit leery of putting Rose Red, Kiwi Kiss and More Mustard together, but it turned out better than I thought it would. The background Mustard is DP run through the Big Shot with the Flourish texture plate from SU! After running it through to get the texture, I sanded it so that the white would show through on the design. The flowers are the Simple Flower Embosslit and the leaves are the Little Leaves sizzlet. The dots in the center of the flower are from the Bold Cupcakes sizzlets. I took a ribbon slide from my Hodgepodge Hardware and after filling the channel with Tombow, I sprinkled it with Fine Cosmo Glitter and set it aside to let it dry. I love the look of it. Really dresses up the ribbon.
That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!
Blessings,
Julie

Snowflakes Anyone?

You know how some days you just need to do something creative? Well, this blog gives me a great excuse to get in the "studio" and get some craft therapy in. I took a couple of challenges from Splitcoaststampers and this is what I came up with. It was so fun to make! And note that since the card is made of snowflakes, I placed it on my skating pond in my village. :) I made the swirls down the sides with my scallop edge punch. Starting with a 3/4" piece of white, I scalloped across the edge. Then I turned it around and scalloped across the other edge. I used tiny dots of Tombow Adhesive to glue it down. Like it? After I punched my corner snowflakes out with my 3/4" square punch, I made 1" squares and sponged them with Baja Breeze ink. This lent a slightly different texture and color to the project. For the center of the card, I chose to use the Emboss Resist technique. The center piece is glossy white cardstock, swiped with an embossing buddy, stamped in VersaMark, and embossed with White Embossing Powder. After the embossing cooled, I lightly sponged it with Baja Breeze ink. The large white snowflake is from my snowflake sizzlets set. After stamping the center snowflake in StazOn White (sorry, I was running out of ink on this one!), I cut it out. After gluing everything down, I applied my half pearls from my Pretties Kit with Mini Glue Dots.

So thanks for stopping by. I'd love to hear from you.

Petal Valentine

For this card, I wanted to make a Valentine without a traditional Valentine stamp set. I used Pick a Petal in Real Red and Creamy Caramel, cut out the layers a few times and adhered them together with dimensionals. Yes, dimensionals again. I can't seem to get away from those. The birds were made with my Big Shot Sizzlets from the Birds & Blooms dies exclusive to Stampin' Up! The Designer paper is from the Hostess Level 1 paper pack. I love that free stuff! The black scallop edge was made using the Scallop Edge Punch. And to finish it all off, there has to be a ribbon, right? Actually it just needed something else, so I tied a bow with 1/4" black grosgrain and attached it with a mini glue dot. Voila! My very untraditional Valentine's card.

Big Shot Swap Card

I hosted a swap for Stampin' Up! demonstrators this week. Cards are due in tomorrow. This is my card, minus a few additions that I made. The wreath is made out of flowers from the Birds & Blooms Sizzlets exclusive to Stampin' Up! The bird is from the same set of sizzlets. I sponged the edges of the bird with Bashful Blue. for what you can't see, I added gold brads in a couple of strategic places to look like ornaments on the wreath and glittered the bird with dazzling diamonds. The wreath took awhile to put together, but I thought the effect was worth it. As always, all supplies are Stampin Up!