Happy Birthday - the Freshly Made Sketches way!

Here is a card I made for a dear friend's birthday using her favorite color green and a sketch from Freshly Made Sketches weekly challenge

It is a bold combination of Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade and Gumball Green but it would be so easy to change to any color combo and give you a chance to use some of all of those scraps that I am sure you have laying around. Personally I can't wait to make a Christmas Card using this sketch and the brand new Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Stack with the Greetings of the Season stamp set...but that is a card for another post

 Here is the original sketch

My finished card size is 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" - so it can still easily fit in to a regular size envelop. For my background strips I used the Gumball Green Core'dination Cardstock embossed with the Lacy Brocade Embossing folder and the Big Shot. The cardstock is then sanded with the Stampin' Sanding Block and all the fuzz is wiped off with the Core'dination Dust Buddy. I love how the sanded parts of the Core'dination cardstock matches the Lucky Limeade background. The Melon Mambo strips are from the Floral District Designer Series Paper pack. My strips are all glued down "not exactly straight" as I wanted to break up all the straight lines I had going on on this card.My friend is also a big fan of polkadots so of course I had to add a little snippet of the Melon Mambo Scalloped Polka dotted ribbon for added texture.

My Happy Birthday from the You're Amazing stamp set is colored in with markers then cut out with the Apothecary Accents Framelits. For added interest I used the coordinating Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack to add the pierced frame and what card for a girlfriend doesn't need a little bling in the shape of two big Rhinestones..

I hope you enjoyed today's card please leave a comment and let me know what you think ...and if you can I invite you to play along on the sketch challenge. It is so much fun and help me think outside the box...eh ...card square if you know what I mean.. Happy Stampin'!

Mini Thanks Yous

I created a bunch of these Mini Thank Yous for the customers who place an order at my Open House last week.

The card base is Whisper White 3" x 3" and has a square of fun Floral District Designer Series Paper on top. I used my Layered Labels Stamp Set stamping Create first in Gumball Green Ink and then again in Rose Red Ink. The Gumball Green Ink piece was cut out using the Apothecary Accents Framelits and a piece of Daffodil Delight 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon was attached to the back with Glue Dots. I used my 1" Circle Punch to punch out the Rose Red Create. The circle is attached with a Dimensional on top as well as Dimensionals behind the Gumball Green piece.

This was such a super easy card and you can use the same idea using punches instead of Framelits to layer pieces on top of each other. I have been eying the Quint-Essential Flower Single Stamp on page 110 in the Annual Catalog for that same reason. It shows you on the bottom of that page how to use your punches to create all the layers and dimensions. If you have this stamp, let me know what you think of it...I would love to hear!

Open House

It has been crazy, crazy here. Since last post I have been sick a couple of times...trying to deal with everything as usually and most importantly busy stamping and preparing for my Open House that I held last week, so I am so sorry my blogging slipped a bit.

Here are some pictures of my Open House set up...please excuse the poor lightning in the pictures...not great light in my new house to begin with..

As people arrived they received a Information Packet and got to choose a small thank you gift for coming. Each of these little boxes had a small Hershey Chocolate candy bar inside.

To the left of the entryway I had set up a table with all the New Holiday Catalog product. I had made a bunch of samples to look at with all my new goodies though I had hoped to have more done...

You can't do an Open House without door prizes.. and of course a Grand Prize ..The Christmas Deer Stamp Set and a spool of the Cherry Cobbler Polka dotted ribbon!

I had lots and lots of displays

and to showcase September's Back to Spool Promotion I had made Pinwheels in all the 2012-2014 In Colors stuck in Mason jars...

 I also had a Sign up Table for classes and Stamp Club and my Ribbon Share...

Here are my Halloween Class projects coming up next week on the 27th! 5 projects for $15 - still has 1 spot left for this class...it is going to be FUN!

and here is the projects I did for my Stampin' 101 Class. A class that teaches 3 basic stampin' techiques ...Stampin' with Marvelous Markers, Rock n' Roll/Stampin' Down and Blender Pens...I just held that Tuesday night and it was a great success.

 Of course you can't have an Open House without Make n' takes - I had prepared 2 different cards.

A Halloween card showcasing the Googly Ghouls Stamp Set, Howlstooth & Scaringbone Designer Series Paper and the Googlies eyes.

 The second card showcases the Scentsational Season Stamp Set, The Snow Festival Designer Series Paper together with September's Back to Spool Promotion.

For each Make n' Take I had written up a Card Recipe so guests could easily figure out how to do the cards.

I think the Open House was a big success. I wasn't sure what to except as I am still new here and don't know a lot of people yet... but I had a decent turn out for my first event plus people really seem to like the classes I am offering so far. I am still trying to start up a Stamp Club so if anyone in the Bellevue/Omaha area like to stamp send me an email and I can tell you much more about it.

Hope you got inspired by all my pictures.

Happy Stampin'!

Bente

Googly Ghouls Witch

I am busy preparing for my Open House next Wednesday but wanted to make sure you get your weekly dose of new inspiration. Here is a another quick card I made with the Googly Ghouls stamp set to showcase some of the other images.

The witch is stamped in Rich Razzleberry classic ink on Whisper White card stock. I colored in her buttons and hat with Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive Many Marvelous Markers. Two Googlies (50 for $2.50...so affordable!) are added to her eyes - so fun and make her come to life! She is punched out with the 2 1/2" Circle Punch and who knew that the largest scallop circle from the Perfect Pennants Bigz L Die fit perfectly behind it. Finishing touch is a small bow attached with a Glue Dot using the Basic Black 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon.
The banner behind is made using 2 different Designer Series Packs; Polka Dot Parade - one of my absolute favorites from the Annual Catalog and Howlstooth & Scaringbone - one of my new favorites from the Holiday Catalog.

I hope you've enjoyed today's card? Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think! I hope to be back with more tomorrow ...maybe a sneak peak from one of my classes later this month?...we'll see.... To view my complete class schedule for September click HERE and don't forget September's awesome promotion, get a FREE spool of the 3/8" Stitched Satin In Color Ribbon with a $40 order - a great time to stock up for all your Holiday Projects.

Check out the Clearance Rack...

If you have started to think about your Halloween or other Holiday projects but not sure if you can do it all and stick to your budget then check out the Clearance Rack in my Online Store. There are lots of fun accessories and supplies for less - up to 60% off original prices....like these examples below..

Like this Wicked Fun Designer Series Paper for only $4.79
 

or how about this Bat Punch for only $9.59

or this very cool Autumn Spice 8" x 8" scrapbook album for just $5.99




I am sure you will find lots of great deals for all your Holiday crafting needs. Remember these deals are only while supplies lasts and only available online, so don't delay....shop now...and don't forget if you spend $40 (before s/h and tax) you even get a FREE spool of the 5/8" Satin Stitched Ribbon - see HERE for more info on that.

Happy Shopping!

For the Birds....Birthday!

A friend of mine is having a birthday soon and I wanted to make something special for her using her favorite color tones ...Regals. I make a lot of cards on a weekly basis but have to admit I seldom make a card with a special person in mind...I have decided that from now on I will have to change that...because won't YOU just love to get a card in the mail that you know that had been made especially for you? I know I would!

Now if any one of you know me well you would know that I don't really use Regals a lot and as you can see from this project I had to change it anyway.. I ended up using a combination of the two In Color families; Raspberry Ripple, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo with a hint of Naturals Ivory - but all of them have warm tones to them like the Regals but still are a bit Bright which is more me!

I stamped the birds from For the Birds stamp set in StazOn Black. I used the Blender Pens together with Island Indigo, Raspberry Ripple, Lucky Limeade and More Mustard Classic Inks. The polka dotted Designer Series Paper is from the 2012-2014 Designer Series Paper Stack which has all the 2012-2012 In Colors. The Raspberry Ripple card stock is embossed with the NEW Woodgrain Embossing Folder and Big Shot. My embellishments are a piece of Lucky Limeade 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon together with a snippet of left over 5/8" Victoria Crochet Trim with a Naturals Designer Button adhered with Glue Dots. For a 3D effect I popped up the birds using Dimensionals. This card has so many layers and textures ...so so pretty in real life I don't think the photo do it justice!

Today's Tip! Save all your snippets of ribbon! My leftover ribbon is organized by style and color with little clips hanging from a dowel for easy inspiration and access. Sometimes you don't need much so those left over pieces from previous projects come in handy and save you money too!

If you like to SAVE just like me, then don't forget about September's Special where you can get FREE ribbon with every $40 you spend - more details HERE

I hope you have enjoyed today project! I would love to hear what you think so please leave a comment. If this is the first time you are visiting my blog - Thank You! - if you like what you see please consider subscribing so you get all the newest updates directly in your inbox.

Happy Birthday...inspired!

I love magazines and catalogs and often I get inspired by a layout, colors or textures that I see in those. This page from the latest catalog from AWE AT WEST END was no exception.

I love all those vases in different colors of yellow, green, teal and gray. They were my starting point for the colors for this card

So EASY - less than 5 minutes to put together after I had chosen my Designer Series Papers. The paper packs are from left: Patio Party (126916), Twitterpatted (125406), Summer Smooches (125409, Birds of a Feather (126899) and Summer Smooches - all cut to 3/4" wide. They are mounted to a piece of Basic Gray card stock and wrapped with a piece of the Island Indigo Bakers Twine (125575). The card base is Island Indigo as well. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the You're Amazing stamp set (126722) colored directly on the stamp with Lucky Limeade and Island Indigo Many Marvelous Markers omitting the flourishes and stamped on Whisper White card stock matted on Basic Gray card stock. Dimensionals are used for a 3D effect and it is all topped off with two Summer Starfruit In Color Dahlias (127556). 

I loved how fast this came together and I can definitely see myself doing the same exact layout in different color combos. Next time YOU get a magazine or catalog in the mail...pause a moment to look at colors and layout that inspire you and apply them to your next card creation.

Please take a moment to comment on my post - I would love to hear what you think.. also don't forget to subscribe to my blog to get the latest post directly in your inbox.

Stampin' Up! Back to "Spool" Promotion starts TODAY!

In honor of the new school year, Stampin' Up! is offering a Back to "Spool" Special.  During September, you will receive a FREE package of 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon with every $40 purchase.  Choose from any of the 2012-2014 In Colors—or spend $200 and get all five!  Qualifying product totals exclude shipping and tax.  Here are your 5 luscious choices from the Stampin' Up! 2012-2014 In Color collection.

Midnight Muse, Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple
All spools have four rows of stitches through touchable satin. 2012–2014 In Colors. 10 yards for normally $8.95 - What a deal!

Coordination is easy with the 2012-2014 In Color Card stock & Pad Kit (168335). It will save you $6.75 when you buy it as a kit.  Of course, you can also get perfect matches with the 2012-2014 Designer Series Paper Stack (126910).

Don't forget about ordering the In Color Dahlias (127556).

They're a charming embellishment for your paper crafting projects and coordinate with all five of the ribbon colors plus attach easy to your project with a Glue Dot!