Graduation and Friendship

I had a graduation party to go to this weekend, and needed a card. And I just knew that my new Sunburst stamp set from Neat & Tangled was going to be perfect. I remembered seeing a card on their blog that Danielle made where she stamped the sunburst onto stars. And after a little trial and error with various shapes and sizes of stars I came up with a card that I loved.

It's hard to see it in this photo but the sunburst and the sentiment are stamped in Versamark ink, and then heat embossed with silver embossing powder. Her school colors were black and white, hence my choice of colors. I also scattered some silver stars from BasicGrey across the front. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Reach for the Stars set.

I have one more card to share today. In a recent post I told you about a card front I was playing with that I just couldn't get to work. I was playing with the Avery Elle Rounded Diamonds set, and just wasn't happy with how it was going.  So I set the piece aside. And then I was looking at Laura Bassen's blog and saw this card, and knew just what I wanted to do with it!!!

I just needed to treat it like a piece of patterned paper and cut it down, even though I would lose a little of the stamped image all the way around. I even borrowed the way she put her sentiment down the side of the card. I love how bright and cheery this card turned out.  The inks are all Hero Arts, and the image is the Avery Elle Rounded Diamond.

Christy and I are headed out to tomorrow to drive to Shreveport, LA, to visit my Mom and sister. So the next time you hear from me it will probably be with some photos from our trip.

Thanks for checking in with me!!!

Crafty Weekend

This past weekend I had a really fun crafty weekend with several friends. Joy Ott, Sandi Neumann, Heather Ruwe, and my daughter, Christy, and I all got together at Jana Millen's house for a fun weekend of crafting and girl time! At times I think we did more tv watching than stamping (who knew there are whole shows devoted to covering up tattoos, and at least 3 versions of buying wedding dresses!!). But, I did get several cards made that I am really happy with.

I decided that it was time to finally get out the March SSS card kit and make some cards with it. I love the stamp set, and have used it quite a few times since I got it, but for some reason, even though I love the papers, I have had a hard time using them.  This weekend was no different, but I did make 2 cards with it.

Then I just had to play with one of the new SSS dies - I love this delicate little tree with the cut out leaves. And since I had the perfect little wood veneer birds by Studio Calico to use (thanks Christy!), I made the following 2 cards. The first one also uses a new SSS sentiment set that has sentiments that coordinate for the inside and outside of the card, Inside and Out Sayings.  This set is a must have!! The inside of the card reads "...or nearly always. Maybe 86.3% of always! So cute!

You probably also noticed lots of my current obsession - Neat & Tangled sequins!!! I am loving using them on just about everything!!!

The last 2 cards use the Avery Elle Rounded Diamonds stamp set and dies.  The second card was inspired by a card that I saw online, and can't find right now (I'll update with a link as soon as I find it). Such a fun set to play with. I have one more started, but am not happy with it so far.

I guess that's not a lot to show for a whole weekend, but we had fun!!! Looking forward to doing it again soon!!!!!

I have a few more cards that I've done lately that I will share in the next post!

Retreat - Part 2

Time to share more of the cards I made at retreat.  But first I thought I'd share just a couple of pictures showing the fun: 

The first one is an impromptu class by Lisa Spangler on transferring patterned paper to wood veneer pieces. It was a lot of fun, and we learned that the cheap wood veneer pieces don't work real well - they just won't grab onto the patterned paper.

 This next one shows that we are all very versatile, and don't spend every minute stamping.  Little did we know we had an aspiring gymnast in our midst - names are being withheld to protect the innocent (HA).

And now to get to the cards.  The first one uses a Penny Black owl set that I borrowed, and I don't remember the name of it.  I stamped it on patterned paper and pieced them together.  Then I used the SSS falling stars die on the background.  The cute little owls have googly eyes.

The next one is also paper pieced after stamping on patterned paper.  It uses the Hello Foxy set from Papertrey Ink, and the SSS falling hearts die. I made the fence using Neat & Tangled On the Strip set 2. I love that little fox!!!

This next one uses the Neat & Tangles Just Hello set and some of their neon sequins. I sprayed the background with Dylusions mists, and then added some Washi tape.

Another one with a misted background, and sequins, but this one uses the Papertrey Ink Comfort Food  stamp and die set. Isn't that soup can just adorable!!! I made several variations on this card I loved it so much.

 And the last one is another misted background with sequins and washi tape, with a sentiment from the Paper Smooches Chit Chat set.

I guess you can tell that I had lots of fun playing with the Dylusions spray mists also.  Such pretty colors, and so easy to use without lots of unwanted blobs. Loved them!

We've had a week with quite a bit of rain - our backyard looks like a swamp. Needless to say the dog doesn't like that at all. And today is quite a bit colder than it has been.  Can't wait for some more warm weather with sunshine!!! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Retreat!!!

It's hard to believe that last Monday was the last day of a 5 day stamping/scrap booking retreat with a wonderful group of 35 women! We had such a wonderful time - lots of stamping, scrap booking, talking, laughing, and eating.  Did I mention all of the laughing and talking!  Because there was a lot of that!!! But, I still managed to get a lot done. I finished all of the thank you cards I was making for my nieces wedding and showers. I'll share those another day after she has received them. After I got all of those done, I got out my Simon Says Stamp April Card Kit.  What an awesome kit - probably my fave so far! It's now sold out, but the May kit looks to be a good one too, so I can heartily recommend ordering one before it sells out too! The cards I'm sharing today were all made with that April kit, and I still have plenty of paper to make some more!

I also played around a lot with the SSS Perfect Bow die, and it is so fun! This bow was covered with glossy accents (a la Kathy Racoosin - thanks for the idea Kathy!!) before adding it to the card!

This one I splattered the background with some Dylusions mists, but the rest of the paper and the stamp is from the kit.  I also used some sequins from Neat and Tangled. Danielle has the best selection of sequins - my favorites are the matte finish ones.

Another bow with glossy accents and Neat and Tangled sequins - are you seeing a pattern here?

And the last one for today. This kit truly was versatile and easy to use!

I'll be back with more of the cards I made in a day or so. See you all then!!!