Card Making Shortcut & Shop Hop

Cut and scored white card bases are my favorite card making shortcut! This really does save me time and energy when I am crafting. I try to keep the A2 size on hand, but I am running low on my pack from Catherine Pooler Designs. Unfortunately, I can no longer find the 8.5 x 5.5 size from Catherine Pooler. My local paper store came to the rescue, and I am ready for the Shop Hop in July. I plan to make it to 5 of the stores included this year since we have a variety of family plans in July. 

My daughter is at a morning day camp this week, so I had some uninterrupted shopping time at one of my local stores. I found a good deal on a couple of dies! The Bee Happy set came with my Shop Hop Passport. 

I have birthday and thank you cards to make, so I can put these new supplies to good use. 

2 New Cards

 I bought some craft supplies this year, and now summer allows me more time for crafting. I made two cards with some new and older supplies. A couple of months ago I added large rainbow stripes to some watercolor paper with my set of paints, so this became the starting point for my cards. 

Supplies used: 

from Stampin' Up! (many are retired) 

Amazing Silhouettes stamp set 

Amazing Thanks Dies 

Butterfly embossing folder

Stitched dies

Ink pads

Night of Navy ink and card stock

Glitter and gold papers

Pearls and sequins 

General Supplies

Watercolors & Watercolor paper 

Catherine Pooler white card stock 

With Sprinkles on Top

 Yesterday I made two birthday cards using items from the Ice Cream Corner Suite from Stampin' Up!. Once I have my supplies out, it seems just as easy to make two cards instead of one. My card designs evolved as I stamped and cut. I need to make more masculine birthday cards for upcoming family birthdays, so I will keep working on those. 

Supplies Used

From Stampin Up!

Sweet Ice Cream Bundle

Ice Cream Corner Designer Series Paper

Baker's Twine (retired) 

From Close to My Heart

White Notecards

Pattern Paper (Retired)

Lagoon Ink & Card Stock

Bluebird Card Stock

Other Supplies

Big Shot

Fiskars Paper Trimmer

Neenah Solar White Card Stock

Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies

I even cleaned my craft desk last night after making the cards. Unfortunately, I am still on the hunt for my favorite "happy" stamp from the Lawn Fawn Happy Everything set. It's too easy for me to lose small, clear, sticky stamps! 

Cards 4 Guys #263

 I finally made it to my local (independent) paper craft store yesterday. If we were not in pandemic times, I think that I would have visited before living here 6 months. I bought 2 new Distress Oxide pads, so I am trying them out on some cards. Speckled Egg is my newest blue to compliment Tumbled Glass and Peacock Feathers. Here is my first color combination for blending:

    

I splattered some white and silver paint for the background. I added the soccer ball stamp and some die cuts to turn this into a masculine birthday card. I used the Cards 4 Guys #263 as my inspiration. The challenge is to make a card with any sport or sports. 

Supplies used:

Distress Oxides 

Close to My Heart black card stock

Close to My Heart Soccer stamp 

Versa Mark ink

Memento Tuxedo Black ink 

Stampin' Up! silver embossing powder

Stampin Up! Playful Alphabet dies

Lawn Fawn Happy Everything stamp

Stampin! Up! circle die and label punch (retired) 

Marco's Paper white card base

White acrylic and silver watercolor paints for splattering 

Thank you for visiting my blog! 

Paper Players #526

 I made another valentine card. This time I played along with Paper Players Challenge #526. For this tic-tac-toe challenge, I chose the row across with red, embossing, and sparkle. I used Real Red card stock  and a heart embossing folder (retired) from Stampin' Up!. I punched some red glitter paper (from my stash) with a heart punch to add the sparkle. The stamp is from the Happy Everything set from Lawn Fawn. 

Thank you for visiting my blog! 

Thank You Card

 I made a thank you card for a new friend who helped us out last week. I used Freshly Made Sketches #470 with an old and new stamp to put this card together. I still have a few wood mount stamps that have made the cut after a few moves. I focused on using the color Bermuda Bay. 

Current Supplies:

from Stampin Up!

Bermuda Bay Ink Pad

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad

Oh So Ombre 6x6 Paper (Sale-a-bration)

A Touch of Ink Stamp Set (Sale-a-bration)

from Close To My Heart

White Cards and Envelopes Value Pack

Next up I plan to use the hummingbird image from this new stamp set. 

I also figured out how to import blog posts from 2015. I kept a separate blog called Craft Break while I was a Stampin' Up! hobby demonstrator. I like to be able to look back over my past cards sometimes. 

Acorn Stamp

 Summer is winding down here, so I am digging out a couple of fall stamps sets. I had an unused set with an acorn, which I will use now. Our new town is named for the oak trees. This card is for my daughter's preschool director, who has created a smooth start in these uncertain times. My Stampin' Up! Night of Navy and Crushed Curry supplies match our school colors. I am happy to have time, space, and supplies to make cards from the kids' teachers.

Supplies Used

Papers and Card stock: Stampin' Up! and Close To My Heart

Stamps: The Stamping Village and  Close To My Heart (retired)

Inks: Stampin' Up!

Embossing Folder: Close To My Heart (retired)

Punch: Stampin' Up! Banners Pick a Punch

Teacher Cards

 I am working on cards for teachers. School has started in our new city, and the "thank you for your dedication" sentiment seems so fitting for this time. Teachers are putting in extra effort to make online, hybrid, or in person learning work for kids. 

I found the inspiration for my card design from the Happy Stampin' blog. This design is flexible to use with different sentiments, papers, and themes. 

Supplies Used

Stamp - The Stamping Village Thinking of You

Papers - Echo Park Teacher's Pet

Card Stock - Stampin' Up! Crumb Cake and Close to My Heart Notecard

Other - Stampin' Up! Banners Pick a Punch and Candy Dots (retired) 

Beach Card

 I tried a beach card for the Make My Monday challenge blog even though I don't have any beach theme stamps. I used the castle from the Lawn Fawn Critters Ever After set and two of my favorite Stampin' Up! colors: Crumb Cake and Pool Party. It turned out to be a simple card, but it was fun to experiment with a few options from my supply stash.

Mojo Monday 543

 I have been creating birthday cards this week. I like this sketch for using pattern paper, especially some scraps. My next challenge is to decide how to store and organize my scraps. A benefit of moving has been rediscovering some craft supplies. Stampin' Up! retired the candy dots a while ago, but it's still fun to add them to embellish a card. 

New Craft Space and Card

A priority in our new house was for John to have an office, and I was hoping for a craft space. The upstairs ouf our Cape Cod gives us both! I finished setting up my craft space over the weekend, so now I can get back to making cards. I know that the space will evolve, and I am still having trouble remembering the location of some items. (Where are you glimmer brushes?!) I tried to keep some items away from curious hands, but so far I am sharing some markers and punches with CJ. I am interested in adding some peg boards above the desks.

I have some birthday cards to make for August. I colored and cut a bunch of butterflies months ago, so it was fun to pair them with some pattern paper that made the cut for our move. The butterfly stamp has also survived multiple craft supply purges and moves and remained one of my favorite stamps to color. The card came together when I saw this sketch from CAS(E) this sketch #384: 

Thanks for Everything

I really like the large sentiment "Thanks for Everything" from the All Things Thanks stamp set. It was a great sentiment for our Thanksgiving hosts and for the current TGIF Challenge.

My card came together while my daughter was napping. I used a mix of current and retired Stampin'Up! products.

Inks: Real Red, Tangerine Tango (retired), Crushed Curry, Pear Pizzazz, and Versa Mark
Card stock: Whisper White and Pear Pizzazz
Stamps: All Things Thanks & For all Things (retired)
Accessories: Linen Thread, Stitched Shapes Dies, and White Embossing Powder
Designer Series Paper: Coffee Break

After this, I will be back to making Christmas cards. Happy Crafting!

Older Stamp Sets

On day 3 of the Merry Making class at Online Card Classes, we were inspired to use our non-holiday stamps for holiday cards. I had almost gotten rid of my retired Flowering Flourishes stamp set from Stampin' Up! in our recent move, but it makes a festive background for holiday cards when heat embossed.

Holiday Backgrounds

I am really enjoying the Merry Making class from Online Card Classes. The first day covered holiday backgrounds, and I had fun playing with some older supplies that I had not used in a while. These cards ended up focusing on embossing. The heat tool was one of my first purchases from Stamping' Up! in 2008, but I had not been heat embossing on my recent cards. I did lots of heat embossing on the first card and am happy with the results using a variety of supplies that I already own. For the second card, I used one of my older embossing folders and colored the poinsettias with a red Copic marker.

World Card Making Day

Happy World Card Making Day! I am finishing up some baby cards today. You can check out holiday cards from card makers all over the word on the Simon Says Stamp blog. Now I can ready to begin my holiday cards and will be taking the Merry Making class from Online Card Classes beginning Monday. Happy crafting!

(All supplies are from Stampin' Up!. The papers are retired but the Moon Baby stamp set and Watercolor Pencils are still available.)

Back to Card Making

After moving and having a baby, I now have some time to get back to card making. I can work on little bits of cards when CJ is sleeping. My latest card was inspired by the newest Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration challenge.

I have a collection of embossing folders, but I rarely use ink on them. As I made this birthday card for my brother, I decided to use a tone-on-tone ink and card stock for the bricks. The result is subtle, but I like it for the background of the card.

Supplies from Stamping' Up!
Card stock: Whisper White, Cajun Craze, and Tip Top Taupe (retired)
Stamps: Mixed Drinks and Stylized Birthday
Inks: Basic Black Archival, Delightful Dijon, and Tip Top Taupe (last 2 retired)
Accessories: Linen Thread, Watercolor Pencils, Aqua Painter, Big Shot, and Stitched Shapes Framelits

Other Supply used: Glossy Accents and Washi tape

Using a sketch

I used the sketch challenge from SSINKspiration to make 2 cards last night. The first one is more clean and simple, and then I jazzed up the second one.

I played with new Stamping' Up! products at stamp club yesterday, but it was good to come home and use some of my older (retired) products. I used this color combination for inspiration:

Here are my cards:

We are enjoying a three day weekend, but I do need to get back to my homework soon.

Happy Crafting!

Second Card

I made another card with this beautiful color combination:

At first I was not sure how my design would work out, and the smaller butterfly and a pearl cover up a couple of mistakes. I have learned in card making that most mistakes can be fixed. I ended up making 3 similar cards with this design and different greetings. I rarely stamp on the inside of my cards, but my husband always looks inside my cards when I show them to him. I am going to start trying to stamp a little on the inside of my cards while still leaving plenty of space to write. I even stamped a matching envelope this time.

Stampin' Up! supplies used:
Very Vanilla, Blushing Bride, and Mint Macaron Card Stock
Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride, and Mint Macaron Ink Pads
Stampin' Sponge
Pearls
Big Shot & Butterflies Thinlits Dies
Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Stamp Set

I am liking the photopolymer stamp sets more and more over time. I might be able to make a few more cards before my classes begin on Monday.

Happy Crafting!

Getting Back to Stamping

I did not make many cards in 2016, and I started missing my hobby during winter break. I cleaned the teaching stuff off of my craft desk and got back to stamping at the end of December. I received some fun craft supplies for Christmas gifts and really looked forward to trying out the Mini MISTI. I purchased a kit from my friend Pam in November and finally had time to play with the stamp set and card ideas that she prepared.

I also started pursuing blogs for inspiration. I found a fabulous color combination on the SSINKspiration blog, and I discovered the Stamp Ink Paper challenge blog. I made a card for these challenges using the Totally Trees stamp set. The MISTI makes it easier to build scenes and make multiples of your cards, and I love it.

Supplies Used from Stampin Up!
Totally Trees stamp set (recently retired)
Greatest Greetings stamp set
Blushing Bride, Crumb Cake, and Very Vanilla card stock
Crumb Cake and Mint Macaron ink Pads and Blushing Bride marker
Big Shot and an embossing folder (retired)
Pearls

I will be a full-time student this semester for my teaching credential, but I still want to make a little time for my hobby. I joined a monthly stamp club to have crafting time on my calendar and have a chance to see some of my local, crafty friends.

Happy 2017!

Together Forever

I was inspired by the current TGIF Challenge, so I got to work this morning on a new card for my husband.

Last fall, For All Things became one of my favorite stamp sets when it came out in the 2014 Holiday catalog. I am happy to see that Stampin' Up! is keep the set around in the 2015-2016 Annual catalog. The set can be used all year even though it looks like more of a fall stamp set, and I wanted to use it for this card.

I wanted blues to be the center of my color combination, so I decided to use Soft Sky, Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey, and a pop of Cherry Cobbler for the card.

Tip: Take some time to use a craft supply that you have not used in a while. I forgot how many fun dies are included in the Circle Card Thinlits die set. The small dies in this set can work on a variety of cards and projects.

Supplies Used:
Circle Card Thinlit Dies
Circles Framelits
Big Shot
Soft Sky, Whisper White, Hello Honey, & Cherry Cobbler card stock
Soft Sky, Lost Lagoon, and Hello Honey inks
Gorgeous Grunge and For All Things stamp sets

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