More Christmas

I made more Christmas cards! This one was so easy and so pretty!

I used Bashful Blue card stock, cut in half 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 and folded to make a standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 size. I ran my folded card stock in my Elegant Lines embossing folder (page 216) through my Big Shot (page 206) so only the front would be embossed.

Then I used Basic Pearls (page190-a great product, self adhesive) in a couple different sizes to add a little bling! I also used smooch spritz in Vanilla Shimmer (page 197) to add a lotta bling and sparkle to the entire card front.

Finally I used my 5/8" Organza Ribbon in Whisper White to tie a knot along the left side.

I really love how this card came out. And even though my description sounds long, it was pretty simple to make.

I have also made another one with Rhinestones and Silver cord and stamped in Happy Birthday! A quick and easy card that can be changed for any occasion.

I hope you enjoyed this card. I will probably try and make some non Christmas cards in the next few days. :)

Thanks for looking!

~melanie

Christmas!

What Christmas? It's not even Labor Day! Well, I need to start thinking Christmas.

I made a few sets of Christmas cards this week. Here is the first:

The layout for these cards was from Taylored Expressions TESC125

I thought the layout was so cute, then I saw my new Christmas DSP from Stampin' Up! and I thought the cirlces in the sketch reminded me Christmas ornaments.

I added pearls and then used my new smooch spritz to shine up the cards (you can see from my picture that I am not good at photographing glossy items, but you can imagine the effect!)

Well, it certainly got me in the mood for Christmas card making and I will be making more soon!

Happy End of Summer!

~melanie

Always

Well, I have been having fun this week in my craft room! This is the first card I made for the colourq challenge. But then I decided to use my second card. Usually, when I start to play with certain colors or papers, I make a few cards with them at once.

This stamp set is Always Elegant (page 67 of Idea Book and Catalog)

I stamped the image in Wild Wasabi multiple times across the Vanilla Card stock, then flipped my stamp and stamped in the opposite direction to fill in the blanks...I made my own DSP!

I then used Cherry cobbler to stamp the Always sentiment and to border the Vanilla Paper. The main card stock is Baja Breeze.

The ribbon is taffeta Daffodil Delight and a cute button.

Super Simple, but Always Elegant!

Today we are getting ready for my daughter's Cheerleading Jamboree! She is 7 and so excited to cheer for a game! So, I gotta get my butt in gear and get myself and her ready!

Thanks for checking out my card today, have a great weekend!

~melanie

Tea Time

I am really loving all these cute cards with tea and coffee themes. This card was made using SU! Morning Cup set. This card is all Stampin Up!

So, I mentioned that I love to do sketch challenges right? Well this time I decided to do a color challenge. See ColourQ challenges at http://colourq.blogspot.com/

I did improvise a little because my ribbon is actually Marina Mist, but it blended in nicely!

So, we all make mistakes right? Well check out the image below. This is my card before I had to fix my error. Do you notice it? I stamped my sentiment crooked! Why did this happen? Because I was being too lazy to use my super easy Stamp-a-ma-jig tool which would ensure that my image would be placed exactly as I liked it to be.

So, I had to fix this by getting a new piece of vanilla card stock and then restamping my image and mounting it on cherry cobbler card stock after rounding both top edges. Actually, I like the new card better. I guess good can come from mistakes.

I hope you enjoyed this card and remember....it can always be fixed!

~melanie

Aviary

I just love this new Stampin' Up! set called Aviary. 4 little birds and 4 different cages as well as one stand post. You can mix and match the images to create different designs!

So, how do I get my ideas for card layouts? Well, some I think up on my own or just make as I go, but what I really like to do is scour blogs for challenges. This layout (which I really adore) came from Taylored Expressions TESC 117. Sketch from Taylored Expressions, but all supplies from Stampin' Up!

recipe:

stamp set: Aviary

cardstock: Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede

DSP: Greenhouse Gala

accessories: Daffodil Delight taffeta ribbon, Scallop trim border, corner rounder punch

Well, I hope you like my little bird card.

Hope to share more soon.

~melanie

Hoppy Birthday

Sorry for the fuzzy photo, it was taken with my phone. This card was made for my nephew who turned 5 in July.

Recipe:

Stamps: I love the fun image from Pink Cat Studio it is so adorable.

Ink: I colored the image with my Stampin' Up! markers. I didn't want my boy to "float" so I drew a line and colored the grass with Garden Green and used some Old Olive to add specks of grass to eliminate the plain-ness of one color. For the sky I used bashful blue and my sponge to sponge a light color over the white. My little frog is also Garden Green. The boy is colored with Soft Suede, Blush Blossom, Not Quite Navy and Cherry Cobbler. I roughed up the edges of the main image with my fingernail and then sponged the edges of the card to make it look rougher because this card is for a rough and tough boy!

Paper: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Not Quite Navy, Cherry Cobbler and Barely Banana.

Accessories: Certainly Celery button, Linen thread

I know that I used alot of different colors from a lot of different color families for this card, but I find that many of the colors blend well together and even though I am using different shades, there are the same basic colors: i.e. olive green blends well with certainly celery. So don't be afraid to mix and match.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this card. I am now getting ready to spend the day at the lake with my family and 2 of my sisters and their families. So have a great day and I hope you pop by again soon.

Hoppy Stampin'!

~melanie :)

Love You Much

Okay, can you tell that I love pink and green together? This was a quick card I made using many of the same card colors from the other day's card.

For inspiration I was flipping through some of my old Stampin' Up! Idea book and catalogs (they are great for references you know, so don't toss them after their year is up!) I saw a card with this layout. I thought, how cute! I could do that easily. So......

I used a pink cardstock base, punched a few shades of pink and green with various sized circle punches and a few with designer paper. A little ribbon, a pink sentiment in a circle and voila! I have created a super cute and easy card.

Think of the possibilities! Flowers! Stars! or even butterflies! What a quick and easy layout! Think outside the box (or circle) LOL

I hope you enjoy this card, thanks for looking!

~melanie :)

Birdy Birthday

This is a birthday card I made the other day. I was using my SU! bird punch and thought I would first run my paper through the swiss dots embossing folder for dimension. How cute?

I really love this color paper and am sad it retired, but there are lots of new colors that I am growing to love.

recipe:

All materials Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery, Garden Green, Barely Banana

DSP: Kaleidascope

Accessories: So Saffron Ribbon, Circle Designer Brads

Punches: Extra Large Two-Step Bird, Scallop Trim Border

Stamp: Well Scripted

Hope you like it! Thanks for looking!

~melanie :)