Grand Finale, pt 10

This is the last card from the Grand Finale class back in June. It is the same layout as this card that I showed quite a while ago. The Whisper White Organza ribbon was definitely a highlight! It is so pretty and shiny in person. Perfect for wedding invitations. Everyone liked how the Big Shot Movers & Shapers Die worked to get the piece cut out. I've explained it on the previous card, so I won't explain it again, but it is still really cool! :)

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It has been an unbelievably crazy week! Two of the boys have had birthdays, a Primary Quarterly Activity to plan and pull off, Marching Band started, plus three migraines! I'm hoping things calm down a little very soon.

Grand Finale, pt 3

My Grand Finale class was held on Friday. I ended up with 22 signed up. One forgot (she wasn't a happy camper!), and one couldn't make it, so I had 20 that attended. Things went quite smoothly for such a large group.

This is one of the cards we made. I'm calling it card #3 because I've shown you two previously, here and here. I'll show the other seven in the upcoming days.

I got this card idea from Mary Fish's blog. I loved it the minute I saw it. My favorite part is the vase, which is made from the wide oval punch. The bottom of the vase is just one side of the oval, cut off! Those cute little flowers are made from the Big Shot and the Daisies die cut. We used the Big Shot a lot! I can't praise that tool enough!!!

Another Grand Finale Card

This is the second and probably the last card I'll be showing for my Grand Finale Class. We'll be using the new Circle Scissor Plus (awesome!) on this one.

The class will be held on Friday, June 19 from 7-10 p.m. These cards are a little more ......um......detailed, than what we usually do. I don't want to use the word hard, because none of it is hard at all! They just might take a few more steps than usual. This class is a great deal and I'm sure you'll be glad you came.

On some cards, such as this one, you'll be able to choose your greeting or leave it blank. On the other card I've shown you (see here), there isn't a choice because the greeting matches the rest of the card so well.

The class is getting full, but so far we still only have around two people signed up per card, so that isn't a big deal at all. See complete class details on the right sidebar, and let me know if you have other questions.

Remember: You must sign up and be paid by June 8th in order to be included in the class preparations! Thanks to everyone who has already done so. I look forward to seeing you for my last stamp class as a demonstrator!

Special Thank You Card

I've been working for a couple of months on a project that is consuming my every thought! The kids at our church are inviting their favorite teacher to a Teacher Appreciation Night. I seriously go to sleep thinking about it and wake up thinking about it. It is still two more weeks away!

Anyway, things are *finally* starting to come together. It has been kind of a struggle, but last Wednesday, we had the night set aside to video each of the kids that chose to participate. They gave a short explanation of why they chose the teacher they did. They did such a good job! After that night, I finally felt like things were going to work out. The kids are excited about everything, so I really hope we have some teachers come. That is my biggest concern at this point. We have a few RSVP's, but not a ton. I made reminders to send out tomorrow, along with an agenda for the evening, so that may help. Teachers are just busy too, so that makes it hard.

This card is for the man that did the videoing for us. He was visiting our ward a couple of weeks ago and volunteered to do it. We had originally planned to do a video, and then it got cancelled (NOT happy = ME!). I said we really needed to find a way to make it work and I'm not sure how it came up, but this man ended up volunteering. He was so patient with the kids. The Primary President asked me to make a card for all them to sign at church tomorrow, so I came up with this. It is a full sheet of paper folded in half so there would be room for everyone.

Thanks to everyone who has helped with this project!

Sale-A-Bration Class, card 3

This is the third card we made at my recent class. If you look at page 10 in the Sale-A-Bration brochure, you'll see where the idea came from. My sister also sent me a card using the same idea but different colors. I wanted to use some spring-y colors (I'm SO ready for spring!) and I didn't have any cute buttons, so I opted for the cute flower slides from the Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware set. All of the stamping, except for the greeting is embossed.

A Little Somethin'

Miracles do happen! I stamped last night. Okay, I was forced to because a swap was due, but still. I can't believe how busy I've been lately. It has just been so crazy. I've had this huge list of things to do and none of it has even been MY stuff. I'm finally through with it for the most part, and can start working on my own things. Christmas shopping.....yeah.....that would be a good thing to work on. Hmmmmm.

Anyway, this card uses a new Level 2 Hostess Set that will be featured in the Spring/Summer Catalog that begins on January 18th. The set is called A Little Somethin' and has six cute greetings including the following: Thanks a Bunch, Rock Star, Howdy, A Little Somethin' Somethin', Lovey Dovey & Friend. The Designer Series Paper is called Raspberry Tart and it is WILD. I love it! For this card, I stamped the Baroque "big mama" stamp on the DP with Versamark and embossed it with clear embossing powder. You can kind of see it on the scan, but of course it looks better in person.

Gotta go get busy doing "a little somethin' "!!!

Upsy Daisy Blue

Another card from this FUN set! The Designer Paper I've used is the new Urban Garden. I really like the colors featured in this set of papers. The ink I used is Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy.

Under the Stars

The Under the Stars set is one that I loved right from the beginning. My friend Teri pointed it out to me, saying that she thought Brandon would like it. She was right, but I really liked it too!

Doodle This Flower

Another quick card this afternoon. For this one, I just stamped the flower and stem in Black Craft ink and embossed it with Clear Embossing Powder. I colored it in by using an Aqua Painter and re-inker ink....just a drop on top of a stamp case does the job. I did all of that on the Watercolor Paper, which is truly the best for watercoloring. It makes such a difference! The background stamp is Linen, which has been discontinued, but I can't seem to give it up yet. Canvas or Twill would give you about the same kind of look. The "thanks" I used is from the Amazing to Zany set, which is on the Retiring List, so if you want it, order it before August 10th!

Lovely Labels

I made this quick card for a recent swap. I used the Lovely Labels set. It uses the same type of layout that I used here. Instead of attaching the circle to the back of the card, so that the front tucks behind it, I just attached it to the front this time. It also uses the Groovy Guava paper, which will soon be discontinued. :(

Boho Backgrounds / Purely Pomegranate

Boho Backgrounds is such a cute little set. It just has four pieces, but I've made some of my favorite cards with it. On this one, I did the baby wipe technique. If you haven't tried it before, you need to! Just put a baby wipe on a coated paper or styrofoam plate. Make sure it is a thick baby wipe. Those cheap thin ones won't work as well. It doesn't matter if it has animal designs on it or not. The ones I used tonight did happen to have animals on them. Now drop a few drops of re-inkers (for the Classic Ink Pads) on the wipe. I used Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava and Certainly Celery. I start with the most dominant color and then work down to the lightest color. You are basically making your own ink pad. Don't drop the different colors on top of one another, but put them fairly close together so they kind of bleed into one another on their own.

"Ink up" your stamp just as you normally would on the wipe. You do need to clean it if you are doing several of the same stamp, like what I have done here. If you don't, your image starts to look kind of muddy. I try to ink the stamp in approximately the same place, so the colors don't get too mixed up. The wipe will last a lot longer than you think. I've done lots of swap cards with one wipe. After a while, you may need to add some more ink, but it really lasts quite a while.

I used some of the Hodgepodge Hardware that is being discontinued. It is currently 25% off and available while supplies last only! The ribbon is from the Sherbet Ribbon Originals. This ribbon set will likely be on the retiring list when it comes out on July 21st because it contains three ribbons that are "In Colors."

Circle of Friendship / Cute Layout

This is one of my favorite layouts ever! The main card is cut 4 1/4" x 9 3/4" and scored at 5 1/2". The top Designer Paper is cut 4x4" and the bottom is cut 4"x 1 1/2".

The circles are attached on the bottom half only, just to the back of the card, with 2 Dimensionals. Then I've punched a 1 3/8" half circle (a little more than a half circle) out of the top part of the card. That part of the card hooks behind the top part of the circle and stays in place by the top part of the circle.

Man - this is hard to explain with words! Easy to show in person though. If you have questions, leave a comment and I'll try to explain a little better. My friend Teri introduced me to this layout and we have used it to death! We love it! The stamp set I used for the polka dot background was Polka Dots & Petals. I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to get it lined up perfectly.

Thanks for Everything / Lots of Dots Wheel

This is kind of a simple card. It is just on a vanilla piece of card stock. NO layering......unusual for me! I used the Lots of Dots wheel from the Occasions Mini Catalog at the top and used the Wheel Guide to keep it straight. Next I stamped the "thanks" and the flower, which is from the Priceless set. I think I should've used something to keep the thanks straight! I wrapped the 5/8" olive ribbon around the card and held it in place with a little Sticky Strip, then added a Square Rhinestone, using the Crop-o-dile to punch the circle out. Don't you love that tool?

Big Thanks

I'm procrastinating again! I seem to be doing more of that lately. Tonight is my card class for Scentsy Consultants and last night I was trying to finalize my last few things we'd be making. This may be one of the cards, but maybe not! I'm trying to keep things in "Scentsy colors" and this may be getting a little too far off. I LOVE this little thank you set called Thanks for Everything. I use the big "thanks" all the time. I'm trying to keep everything really easy because all of the girls that are coming have never stamped before. Addicting new people to stamping.......my specialty! ;)

Pick a Petal

This is kind of a fun layout for you to try. It uses 12x12 paper, cut into four sections, so you have four 6x6 squares to make four cards. The finished card size is 3x6, just like the Summer Days cards we'll be making at the class on Friday. (Can't wait!) They fit perfectly in the Small Open-End Envelopes.

I've used the Berry Bliss Designer Paper at the bottom. This paper will likely be discontinued in August because it features one of the current "In Color" colors, Perfectly Pomegranate. I've also used the same color of ink and ribbon. The In Colors from this year are really some of my favorites! Last year's grew on me over time, but this year's had me from the minute I saw them! I am really going to miss them. If you need to stock up on any card stock, ribbon, reinkers or Designer Paper that feature any of the In Colors, be sure and do so by August 10th.