Parade Time

You probably recall seeing some of these photos on my blog back in March. We marched in the St. Patrick's Day parade for Senator Bomke. I finally got around to scrapbooking the photos and this is what I came up with.

The black/white patterned paper is actually white cardstock with black rub-ons from the A Perfect Day rub-on pack (I bought a bulk buy package only available to demonstrators, thus I had so many of the same rub-ons). The shamrock was made by stamping the heart from Always in versamark on garden green cardstock (my stamp-a-ma-jig let me line them up perfectly) and then embossing with black embossing powder. A thin strip of garden green cardstock makes a great stem. I joined the leaves & stem with a black brad. The bottom panel of photos is raised up with dimensionals as there is a hidden pocket underneath which holds the thank you postcard that Senator Bomke sent up for supporting him (you can see the black gingham ribbon pulls sticking out where the postcard is). Because my page was already pretty full, I would have had to do a 2-page spread to incorporate the postcard, but the hidden journaling solves the problem. Plus, the postcard is 2-sided so you can pull it out and enjoy both sides. I did some journaling with a white gel pen to finish off the page.

Stamp sets: always
Inks: versamark
Cardstock: garden green, basic black, whisper white
Embellishments: a perfect day rub-ons, black embossing powder, black brad, black gingham ribbon, white gel pen

Egg'stra Fun

This 2-page spread features photos from this year's Easter egg-dying night with Seth & Mia. We had alot of fun, both dying the eggs & eating them. By the end of the night, Seth's fingers were bluish-green because he wouldn't keep them out of the dye! Journaling reads: "Every year, we color eggs for Easter. Mia followed proper egg-dying procedures, while Seth was keen on dipping his fingers in the dye & eating the cracked eggs. Precious Easter memories - 2008".

I used white rub-ons from the Love & Happiness (I think that was the name of them) Sell-a-Bration pack....some on plain cardstock and others on our wild wasabi Carousel Notes (Occasions mini catalog). These Carousel Notes are really great.....who can resist die-cut scalloped circle cardstock pieces?! To further dress them up, I made stitch lines on the Carousel Notes using a marker. To keep your journaling straight (my first one wasn't, so I had to flip it over!), use a ruler and lightly mark lines in pencil. Write in your journaling and then erase the pencil lines. Perfect-o! The colored button on the left page is actually a clear button with a punched piece of taken with teal cardstock underneath.

Stamp sets: make it count, best friends upper & lower alphabets

Inks: wild wasabi, taken with teal

Cardstock: whisper white, pumpkin pie, taken with teal, bali breeze & east coast prep designer series paper

Embellishments: wild wasabi carousel notes, pumpkin pie grosgrain ribbon, clear button, silver cord, love & happiness rub-ons

Tools: circle punches

Citrus Smile

Brian snapped this great picture of Seth eating orange slices the other day and I just fell in love with it. I knew I had to scrapbook it, not just because it was a good picture, but also because I wanted to capture the story. I rarely do 12x12 scrapbook pages with a single photo, but it's all I had of the moment and I made it work. Needless to say, I love this page! I used the September 2006 sketch from PageMaps to get started and then made it my own.

I printed the journaling in olive ink on my computer, but it's a little difficult to make out, so here it is...

"Seth has been on an orange kick lately. He just can't get enough, sometimes even eating two at a sitting. Between him and Mia, I can barely keep them in the house. Gotta love that citrus smile! Now if I can just get him to put his peels on the plate!"

Stamp sets: tart & tangy, taffy alphabet, defining alphabet
Inks: pumpkin pie, blue bayou
Cardstock: old olive, blue bayou, spring break designer series paper; Epson glossy photo paper
Embellishments: old olive brad, blue bayou double stitched ribbon
Tools: circle punches, small corner rounder

Seth & the Springfield Bandits

Finally got around to having a stack of pictures developed so I could do some more scrapbooking. All I had in my photo stack were photos that I wasn't planning to scrapbook and/or photos that didn't make the cut on previous pages. I'm so relieved to have a new crop of photos ready, especially since National Scrapbooking Day is right around the corner (Saturday, May 3rd). Stay tuned over the next few days for some fresh scrapbook pages....I've been a busy girl!

This layout is called Seth & the Springfield Bandits. I created a Wanted Poster using my computer to list the outlaws: "Mustang Maurader" Mia, "Black Burn" Brett, "Sure Shot" Stuart, and "Squint-Eye" Seth. Journaling reads: We gave Mia & Seth 6-shooters {cap guns} for Easter this year. Coincidentally our friends got them for their boys too. The kids had a ball playing cowboys (& cowgirls) at the Ross homestead. Seth probably had the most fun as he loves hanging out with the big boys. He thinks he's so cool! March 2008".

Stamp set: Wanted

Inks: ruby red, chocolate chip

Cardstock: ruby red, chocolate chip, kraft, very vanilla

Embellishments: natural hemp twine, jumbo eyelets, chocolate poly-twill ribbon

Blogger's Challenge #44 - chocolate, saffron, celery, brocade

This week's Blogger's Challenge is a color challenge. Our creations have to use the following color combo:

chocolate chip

so saffron

certainly celery

brocade blue

Since these colors are fairly masculine, I decided to make a card for my dear hubby for his 40th birthday this past Tuesday. I started with a chocolate chip card base, then added a slightly smaller layer of brocade blue. On top of this, I added 2 panels: 1 larger certainly celery panel and 1 smaller so saffron panel. I added an embossed "Make a Wish" greeting from Big Bold Birthday to the bottom corner of the celery panel using chocolate chip craft ink and clear embossing powder.

The main focal point of the card showcases one of the latest trends....ribbon weaving. Kristina Werner has a great video tutorial for this technique on her blog. For my woven block, I used wide chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon. I topped the block with a brocade blue star made from our star punches. Punch the small star first and then center the large star over the punched out star shape and punch. For a finishing touch, I added a certainly celery button to the side of the star. I debated on adding a background stamp or other texture to my celery and saffron panels, but decided in the end to leave them blank. I think it really makes the woven block pop. I'm happy to say that my hubby LOVED his card.

Ignore the little smudge mark on the left side of the woven block. I didn't get a picture of the card until after my husband had opened it and a few of the neighbors had passed it around.

To see some other great creations using this color combo, click the Blogger's Challenge logo on the left side of my blog. It will take you to the blog links for all the Blogger's Challenge gals.

Stamp set: big bold birthday

Inks: chocolate chip

Cardstock: chocolate chip, so saffron, certainly celery, brocade blue

Embellishments: wide chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon, certainly celery button, clear embossing powder

Tools: star punch, large star punch

Swap Card Collage

Several other demonstrators and I swapped card fronts at my upline's meeting last week. There were some great cards in the swap, especially considering several of the ladies are brand new demonstrators and still don't have many supplies. I created a collage to share the cards with all of you. There are 2 that I omitted...one because it was an acetate card and I just couldn't get a good picture of it, and a second one that was a spinner card that I plan to make with my stamp club (and don't want to ruin their surprise of seeing something similar). Great job, ladies!

Birthday Long Note

I had a retired package of So Saffron Long Notes laying around and decided I wanted to break one out. These pre-cut and folded note cards are great for making cards in a snap and even better, envelopes are included in the package. The corners of the cards come rounded as well. Long Notes measure 6-5/8 x 3-1/4" in size. Though they are no longer available in So Saffron, you can purchase a 12-pack with 4 each of Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi, and River Rock with 12 Very Vanilla envelopes for $8.95. Email me to order your pack!

This card uses a strip of striped paper from our Spring Fling designer series paper. The inner circles are punched from this paper as well. I punched circles from pretty in pink and sage shadow cardstock and layered these under the designer circles. Next, I added a strip of pretty in pink grosgrain ribbon to the top of the striped paper. I then finished it off with the phrase "Happy Birthday" from the It's Your Birthday stamp set, stamped in sage shadow ink. Since I had already adhered everything when I decided on a greeting and there was no room for error, I pulled out my Stamp-a-ma-jig to make sure I lined up the greeting perfectly straight. Gotta love those quick assembly cards!

Stamp set: it's your birthday
Inks: sage shadow
Cardstock: pretty in pink, sage shadow, spring fling designer series paper
Embellishments: pretty in pink grosgrain ribbon
Tools: circle punches
Other: so saffron long notes

Always & Forever

This is the swap card I took to my upline's meeting today. It's a matchbook card and measures approximately 3 x 6 inches. I wanted to keep it to a size that will fit into one of our envelopes. I used black grosgrain ribbon to hide the staples. The bird was stamped in black and then I colored the flowers/leaves in with markers. I put a greeting on the inside with the key tag punch.

I really love the Always stamp set and I love how this card turned out. So glad that this stamp set will be sticking around. Stampin' Up! has promised that any stamp sets that were new in the Spring/Summer Collections catalog will not retire when the new catalog comes out in August.

If you noticed, today I passed the 10,000 hit mark! Yowzer! I can't believe it came so soon. Be looking for a blog candy post in next day or two as a thanks for reading!

Stamp set: always

Inks: lovely lilac, gable green, basic black

Cardstock: lovely lilac, gable green, basic black, whisper white

Embellishments: basic black grosgrain ribbon

Tools: 1-1/4" circle punch, 1-3/8" circle punch, key tag punch

Blogger's Challenge #43 - Chipboard

I just joined the awesome Blogger's Challenge group. Each week, there will be a new challenge and I'll be posting my creations to my blog on Fridays. I'm so excited to be among this talented group of stampers. I hope they get as much inspiration from me as I do from them!

This week's challenge is Chipboard! I started with a soft sky card base and decided to use the 2 starburst pieces of chipboard from Stampin' Up!'s On Board Lots of Letters. I inked these with blue bayou ink using our sponges. Then, I punched a hole in the center using the Crop-a-Dile and added our red Fire Circle Rhinestone brads. For the greeting, I used the journaling stamp from Sweet Celebrations and the word "Fun" from Make it Count. The journaling stamp was inked with real red ink and the greeting was inked with a not quite navy marker. I inked the lower half of the real red cardstock with the Lots of Dots wheel from the mini catalog and divided this with real red grosgrain ribbon. Behind the red cardstock, I layered blue bayou cardstock. I finished the card off with a loop of our real red striped grosgrain ribbon.

Stamp sets: lots of dots, make it count, sweet celebrations
Inks: real red, blue bayou, not quite navy
Cardstock: soft sky, real red, blue bayou, whisper white
Embellishments: on board lots of letters chipboard, red fire circle rhinestone brads, real red striped grosgrain ribbon
Tools: crop-a-dile

Blue Bayou Bird - 200th Post!

Can you believe this is my 200th post?!!!! Seems like I just started this blog. Time sure flies when you're having fun!

I made this so I would have a sympathy card on hand. Hopefully it will be a long time before I have to use it. It's too bad the Spring Solitude stamp set will be retiring with the new catalog....it's really great for more masculine cards.

Stamp sets: close as a memory, spring solitude
Inks: blue bayou, chocolate chip, old olive
Cardstock: blue bayou, chocolate chip, old olive, whisper white
Embellishments: old olive poly-twill ribbon, old olive brads

April Club Project #3

Our third and final stamp club project last night was this mini pocket scrapbook, which we learned how to do at Stampin' Up! Regional meetings in 2007. Kristina Werner made a great tutorial for this project complete with photos and posted it on her blog here. The link will take you to her tutorials....scroll down to her April 15, 2007 post titled Tutorial: Mini Pocket Book.

My club members made 1 of 2 color versions of this.....tempting turquoise with a certainly celery spine (pictured) or certainly celery with a tempting turquoise spine. Embellishment colors were switched on the other version as well. Though it took some time to walk them through the assembly of this mini scrapbook, my club members really loved it. The photo shows one put together with staples, but I tried another version with adhesive and liked it better, so we did it that way in club. The only disadvantage is that you have to cut the cardstock for the pockets a little smaller. I omitted any stamping/design on the inside of the scrapbook because the assembly and front took quite a bit of time to complete.

Stamps: wonderful favorites, rough edges mini alphabet, it's all good

Inks: certainly celery, tempting turquoise

Cardstock: whisper white, tempting turquoise, certainly celery, certainly celery & tempting turqouise prints designer series paper

Embellishments: certainly celery grosgrain ribbon, certainly celery & tempting turquoise brads, white gel pen; staples (non-Stampin' Up!)

Tools: 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" circle punches, scallop circle punch, word window punch

April Club Project #2

For the 2nd club project, we made a flap card similar to the tutorial which was featured on SplitCoast last week. I altered the measurements on mine to make it wider. My club members could choose from a variety of sentiments to put on the inside. Many chose the "Happy Mother's Day" sentiment from All Year Cheer. We added faux stitching to the top flap and clear micro beads to the flower centers to dress it up.

Stamp sets: all year cheer, stitched exotics

Inks: versamark, certainly celery, groovy guava

Cardstock: groovy guava, certainly celery, apricot appeal, whisper white

Embellishments: clear micro beads, groovy guava double-stitched ribbon, white gel pen

Tools: 1/4" circle punch, tool kit

April Club Project #1

.For stamp club, my cousin Taunya requested that we do a card similar to the one I did here. I think they enjoyed using the Die-Cut Blooms, Felt Fusion flowers, and ribbon slide from our Styled Silver hodgepodge. The great thing is that these cards come together so quickly and could be massed produced if needed. If you've been considering buying our hodgepodge hardware, the new Styled Silver version is beyond gorgeous.

Stamp sets: watercolor vine, make it count
Inks: rose red, versamark
Cardstock: pumpkin pie
Embellishments: old olive poly-twill ribbon, styled silver hodgepodge hardware, die-cut blooms, felt fusion, old olive brad.

Punchy Thanks

My new friend and reader, Gail sent me this awesome card after winning my last round of blog candy. Isn't she sweet?!! She used a variety of punches for the flowers and since she didn't have a vase stamp, she used the dress from Haute Couture (turned upside down). That is so clever! I love when people use stamps in a way in which they weren't really intended. Hope you admire her card as much as I do! Thanks, Gail!

Stay tuned for more cards from my friends and readers as my birthday is this Saturday and I'm sure to get a few hand-stamped ones! Also, be on the lookout soon for more blog candy...I'm about to post my 200th blog entry and pass 10,000 hits (how is that possible since I started this blog on a whim?!!!).

Denim Girl

Gotta be quick as I have to get ready for work, so I'll share this layout I did of Mia when she was 2-1/2. The only Stampin' Up! products are the whisper white grosgrain ribbon, pretty in pink cardstock, & brocade blue ink. I love scrapping her portraits. The large size of the photos takes up most of the space and only a few embellishments are needed.

Stamp set: curly (non-SU)
Inks: brocade blue
Cardstock: pretty in pink; patterned paper (non-SU)
Embellishments: whisper white grosgrain ribbon; pink flower brads & cardstock sticker (non-SU)

My stamp clubs meet tonight and we're doing 3 great projects. I'll post those tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Simply Stinkin' Sweet

Though you may not know it, this is actually an altered wedding invitation. We received a gorgeous wedding invitation in the mail. It was this vanilla colored card and inside the dry embossed square window was a picture of the bride- and groom-to-be and the wedding details printed on vellum. Since the vellum was just sitting inside, I pulled it out and decided to recycle the card base. The card matched our very vanilla cardstock perfectly, so I stamped the skunk from Pun Fun on a piece using black ink and colored in the flower and skunk's stripe with a regal rose/summer sun markers and white gel pen, respectively. I simply inserted this piece inside the card so that it was centered in the window and then I added a large piece of very vanilla over the top of that so the inside of the card would look finished. I stamped the phrase from Pun Fun in black ink just under the window and added 2 black brads and a piece of knotted narrow regal rose grosgrain ribbon to complete the look. So stinkin' sweet! Sometimes simple really is better! By the way, this card measures 5-1/2 x 5-1/2 inches.

Stamp set: Pun Fun
Inks: basic black, regal rose, summer sun
Cardstock: very vanilla
Embellishments: basic black brads, regal rose grosgrain ribbon, white gel pen

Curl Girl

This scrapbook page was done to showcase my daughter Mia's 2 year old pictures. I just love going back to these older photos and remembering her little spunky personality (don't worry, she's still got it!). It is a little sad in a way too for several reasons: 1) because she is not a little girl any more, and 2) she no longer has those adorable curls!

This is one of my early scrapbook pages. I think you can tell by the spiral punched shapes in the corner of the layout. I was probably trying to figure out another embellishment to add and just stuck those on there. I doubt I would have added those if I were doing the page today.

Stamp set: non-Stampin' Up!
Inks: whisper white
Cardstock: whisper white, elegant eggplant; patterned paper (non-Stampin' Up!)
Embellishments: whisper white grosgrain ribbon; white metal letters (non-Stampin' Up!)
Tools: spiral punch (non-Stampin' Up!)

A Couple of Sunflowers

A couple of sunflowers to you. I was in the mood for something cheery when I sat down to stamp. Seth has been sick since early Thursday morning and he is so crabby (even worse than normal!). Took him to Urgent Care yesterday morning and they diagnosed a sinus infection, which he and I are both prone to. I'm hoping the antibiotics kick in soon because I'm ready for him to get well and be a little more pleasant. I think he's tired of being sick too. Four days of fevers would get anyone down.

The flowers are made by stamping the sunflower-like stamp from Big Pieces on whisper white cardstock using summer sun ink. I used the 1" punch and chocolate chip cardstock to make the centers. To make the flower centers more realistic, I made "dots" on them using my marker. I popped them up on the flower using dimensionals. For the stems, I stamped the saying from Stem Sayings on always artichoke cardstock using the same color ink and followed the curve of the saying while cutting them out. The leaves were made with loops of always artichoke grosgrain ribbon. Once I got the flowers and stems adhered to the white cardstock base, I decided that the flowers were a little too small for the size of the stem, so I made stitch lines around the outside of the flower with a chocolate chip marker. I made the greeting by stamping the word thanks from Make It Count on summer sun cardstock. I then adhered the greeting to my card and added dots in the corners as well as stitching around the outside using my chocolate chip marker.

Stamp sets: big pieces, make it count, stem sayings
Inks: summer sun, chocolate chip, always artichoke
Cardstock: summer sun, chocolate chip, always artichoke, whisper white
Embellishments: always artichoke grosgrain ribbon
Tools: 1" circle punch

Small Rocket Card

I decided to use my new Pun Fun set again. I fell in love with the rocket image as it will make great cards for boys. On this card, I used a zigzag edge instead of a scalloped edge to keep it masculine.

The Pun Fun set is actually is part of Stampin' Up!'s Free Wheelin' promotion this month. If you buy this set, you get a matching wheel (not pictured) for FREE. There are several other sets you can buy to earn you a free wheel as well....see my Stampin' Up! website for details on this promotion and a couple of others! {Of course now I wish I'd waited to buy this set so I could get the free wheel too. Oh well.}

Note: Right after originally posting this, I noticed that I had forgotten to color in the small circles on the rocket with my silver pen. I had actually colored them in on a previous sample, but I accidentally smeared it and had to throw it away. Knowing that I had an "unfinished" card posted was driving me nuts (can you tell I'm somewhat of a perfectionist?). Since my husband has the camera and I couldn't take another picture soon, I decided to work a little magic and "color" the circles in on the computer. I {heart} Photoshop Elements (though I am a rookie)!!! Now they look so much better. Pretend they were colored in with my silver pen though!

Stamp sets: pun fun, starstruck
Inks: silver encore, ruby red, night of navy
Cardstock: night of navy, whisper white, brushed silver
Tools: 1/4" square punch

Simple Spinner Card

I'm working on getting some projects ready for my stamp club next week, but I don't want to post those before club or I'll ruin the surprise. So, I ran through my older photos and found this picture of a card I made quite awhile back, likely when Bud Basics was first introduced in a mini catalog. Seems like so long ago, but I still adore this stamp set! This was also the first spinner card I had ever made and I haven't done once since. Gotta do one soon.

Stamp sets: bud basics, everyday flexible phrases, all year cheer

Inks: basic black, whisper white, certainly celery, bordering blue

Cardstock: whisper white, bordering blue, regal rose

Embellishments: french blue grosrain ribbon

Tools: word window punch

Just Because I Care

I'm on a sketch challenge kick. This one is from i{heart}2stamp's Sketch For You to Try from 3/29/08. I started with a white standard card base and added the light blue flowered Cutie Pie paper to the top and textured wild wasabi cardstock to the bottom. I added a piece of purely pomegranate double-stitched ribbon between these. Next, I added a vertical piece of striped Cutie Pie paper to the right side of the light blue paper and a row of 5 black brads to the right of that. My mat pack and paper piercer helped me get them lined up perfectly. I created the sheep embellishment by punching a layer of purely pomegranate cardstock and then a piece of wild wasabi textured cardstock with the scallop circle punch. I layered these so they were offset just a touch. Next, I stamped the sheep from Pun Fun on whisper white cardstock and colored it in with bashful blue & rose red markers. I punched out this image with my 1-3/8" circle punch and added it to the scallop embellishment. A white gel pen was used to add dots to the centers of the wasabi scallops. Finally, I used a black marker to ink the sentiment from Greetings Galore onto the bottom of my card. Too cute!

Stamp sets: greetings galore, pun fun
Inks: basic black, rose red, bashful blue
Cardstock: whisper white, wild wasabi (textured), purely pomegranate; cutie pie designer series paper
Embellishments: basic black brads, purely pomegranate double-stitched ribbon, white gel pen
Tools: 1-3/8" circle punch, scallop circle punch