Beautiful pink

This is the card I sent out to my hostesses from the past twelve months. Every year I invite them over for a free Annual Hostess Appreciation Brunch plus we make two projects. This year I have also encouraged them to bring a guest. Everyone deserves a really nice stress-free Sunday!

For this card I decided to use the latest sketch from Sheetloads of Cards. The paper is retired SU dsp called Bella Birds and I used a stamp from Thoughts and Prayers and a sentiment from A Beautiful Thing. I also used Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip cardstock and Chocolate Chip double stitched grograin ribbon. I stamped in Chocolate Chip ink on Whisper White and used rectangle nestabilitiesfor cutting, embossing and masking. You can just barely see the embossed edge. I masked that same edge and used the color spritzer tool and a Pretty in Pink marker to give the center panel just a bit of color. I rushed through the photography - sorry about the crappy photo!

I have been working on my class schedule and have September and October classes on my Web site now (http://www.desiree.stampinup.net/) so take a look and sign up to create something new! New this quarter are classes during the day and special class discounts for purchasing products at sign up. Fun class for kids and their favorite adult - Animal Crackers - on August 31.

On Thursday night I joined several of my fellow demonstrators at my upline's house for a Stamp Together. It featured MANY of the new products from the Winter Mini which starts September 1. There are so many cool items!!! I don't know what to order first!

Just a few exciting things: jewelry, Build-a-Bear, Digital Design Studio, holiday stamps, paper, embellishments! Forty pages of faschination! Need a mini? Contact me!!!! {desdm at msn dot com}

I am pooped! I opened at Mugs today ***Sunday, 8/23 is acoustic music night from 6-9pm *** and then spent the day cleaning and cooking for a small BBQ celebrating Lil's birthday. Yeah, it was supposed to be last weekend but the weather wasn't cooperating so we moved it. I am just going to crawl into bed and CRASH!

Have a creative day and thanks for visiting!
Desiree

Wish me luck!

I have decided to try out for a design team for Sheetloads of Cards. Remember how I raved about this publication in a previous post? I decided to use the February 2009 issue and create these 3 cards (plus an additional card) and a framed photo of Lilly as my "beyond the card" project based on the sketch. Wish me luck!

For this card I closely followed the sketch along with the suggestions of which layers should be cardstock and which should be patterned paper. This card was created with the Botanical Blooms SAB set. The printed papers are from the Basic Grey Lilykate collection. I love how pretty those papers are. I used Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa and Whisper White cardstocks and Chocolate Chip and Pink Pirouette inks. The flowers were made with the Bojo Blossoms punch and a flat backed pearl from the Pretties kit. I also used the Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla satin ribbon. The sentiment is very tiny and reads "to thine own self be kind" which is something I completely agree with!

I pulled out some paper and embellishments from a kit I bought at the Portland CKU Scrapbooking convention. What a crazy shopping day that was! I turned the sketch on its side for this card. The printed paper is from the Crate Paper Lemongrass line. I don't know about you, but I love lemongrass! I used vellum as one of the layers because the paper is too cool to hide. Besides the base I eliminated cardstock completely. In this one the patterned paper strip (the flower border) is in front of the image rather than behind. The image is from the Good Friend set and I watercolored inside the letters with Kiwi Kiss. The floral border is glittery although you can't see it. I used Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon and HodgePodge hardware with a bit of ribbon tied to it for embellishments.

This card would have been a great one for Valentine's. I used Verve stamp sets called Sweet Valentine and Hearts on Fire for this one. The heart on top is popped up with a dimensional. The paper is from the Kiss and Tell collection by My Mind's Eye. Cardstock colors are Rose Red and Shimmery White. Again I substituted patterned paper for a cardstock layer. Ink colors are Rose Red and Basic Gray. I used Fancy Pants flowers with center pearls from K by Marcella. The flourish, which takes the place of the slim patterned piece along the side, is a Tim Holtz Grunge chipboard piece. There is a pattern embossed on it but it's really hard to see. I painted it white with Making Memories scrapbooking paint. There are little mini pearl in the curves of the flourish... can you see them? I used the label punch to punch out the sentiment and cut it in half. I was just thinking I could have put Crystal Effects on the stamped hearts, that would be pretty. I guess I still can do that, huh?

This is such a pretty photo of Lil. She was going out to a school dance so I had to take some photos. I used Basic Grey Marrakesh collection here for the patterned papers and embellishments. Really Rust and Pacific Point cardstocks matched wonderfully for the two layers. I used Making Memories rubon letters for her name. I like to layer the pieces in back and in front of the glass for a different look. Also, the pieces look as though they are floating on the glass. The frame is from Target and the easel is from Fred Meyer. I really lilke how it turned out. I wish you could see the paper in the background better though. LOVE the Marrakesh line! I want to go to Morocco now (isn't that where Marrakesh is?). I think I gotta take another geography class or at least get a globe or something, heeheehee.

This last card is an extra that I made. It's cute. At first I was not so in love with these penguins, but they've grown on me. They'll never replace my little Cheep Talk birdies though! There is no stamping at all on this card... Just layers and vellum and cardstock stickers and rubons. Easy Peasy! Everything here is from Imaginesce except the base which is Not Quite Navy.

So that's it for me tonight! I have to put in some Stampin' Up orders and get myself to bed! Goodnight!

Desiree

Shout Out for Sheetloads!

As I was blurfing (blog surfing) I came across this publication called Sheetloads on a blog called Sheetload of Cards. The issue that I took a gander at features a cute sketch and then cutting diagrams to make several of the same card. What a great way to get the maximum use out of your paper! I hate it when I have lots of scraps left over and they end up in my ever growing scraps box -- usually never to be heard from again.... Take a look at the April issue pictured here:

The idea is to use up your stash of supplies while building up a stash of cards! The sketch and cutting diagrams are well illustrated with a special supply list if you only want to make one card instead of six. There are quite a few examples and also some instructions for various techniques.

I couldn't resist trying this out and I wanted to go with some bright colors. I pulled out my Bali Breeze DSP and Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Kiwi Kiss and Whisper White cardstock. Following the cutting diagram I had all my pieces ready for assembly in minutes.

Here is my project part way through... For embellishments I pulled out my Sizzix Big Shot and SU Butterfly die. I used the Rounded Tab punch to make the butterfly bodies and then drew on the antennae. I used glue to adhere the butterfly along the fold line and then dimensionals underneath the wings to raise them a bit off the paper. The little flowers are punched out with the Boho Blossoms punch and a rhinestone brad is in the middle.

Take a look at the end result... I stamped the sentiment in Basic Black on Whisper White. It's from the Soft Summer set in the Occasions Mini Catalog and the only stamping on this card. I really enjoyed this process, it was quick and easy and now I have 6 more cards to add to my card box. Yeah, at some point I am actually going to have to send some cards out. I haven't reached that part in my stamping addiction therapy. However, with 6 matching cards I should be able to part with 5 of them and still have one left over to hoard, right?

Ok, now it's your turn to get on over to Sheetloads and give this a try! Thanks for stopping in and I hope your weekend has been going along wonderfully!

Desiree