Not So Typical Baby Card

I really have to do something about my selection of stamps for babies!  I made THIS CARD a couple of months ago because I didn't own a baby set, and now I needed another congrats card for baby and still didn't have a baby stamp!  Oh, well!  What is the saying?  Necessity is the mother of invention!  So here's a cute card to welcome baby using the new Two-Step Owl Punch and Word Play!  The color scheme is Pear Pizzazz, Marina Mist and Early Espresso with just a touch of Cherry Cobbler for the heart and the word "so".  Notice the bottom piece of the main card front?  I used a strip of Pear Pizzazz card stock and dry embossed the circles using the Crop A Dile.  I used this technique when the tool first came out and then sort of forgot about it.  But it's a quick and easy way to add a little "pizzazz" (pun intended!) to your card!  I used the Circle Scissors Plus to cut both the large white circle as well as the Marina Mist frame.  This handy tool has also been collecting a bit of dust lately, and I'm not sure why!  It's a wonderful tool to create any size circle you need.  The owl is perched happily on a branch from Cheep Talk stamp set, and I used Stampin' Write Markers direct to rubber.  The sentiment from Word Play was stamped in Early Espresso Classic Ink directly on the card then again in Cherry Cobbler on Whisper White card stock and cut out to highlight the word "so".

THINGS YOU'LL NEED: 
Item No. 120308 Word Play wood mount $41.95 OR
Item No. 120351 Word Play clear mount $28.95
Item No. 113204 Cheep Talk $26.95
Item No. 118074 Two-Step Owl Punch $16.95
Item No. 119265 Pear Pizzazz 1/2" Stitched Poly Ribbon $8.95
Item No. 112530 Circle Scissors Plus $29.95
Item No. 112531 Glass Mat $19.95
Item No. 108362 Crop-A-Dile $29.95

Don't Forget!

To purchase your RIBBON, ACCESSORY and DESIGNER PAPER SHARES so that you can have a wide variety of elements for your designing needs!  Click HERE for details and to order.  Just a few short days left to order yours!

Sweet, Sweet Baby

Team member April Waite and her husband just welcomed their second daughter into the world!  I'm sorely without baby stamps so I created this sweet card using the Big Shot almost exclusively (just one bit of stamping!)  I began with a base of Perfect Plum card stock, then ran Whisper White card stock through the Big Shot with the Perfect Polka-Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.  The letters are cut with Alphabet Simple Letters Bigz Die in Regal Rose, So Saffron, Certainly Celery and Perfect Plum card stocks.  Flowers are cut from Birds & Blooms Sizzlits 4-Pack Dies.  To create the Certainly Celery center, I stamped the image from the heart in Always stamp set using Certainly Celery Classic Ink then punched it out with the 1" Circle Punch.  For the center of the So Saffron flower, I punched a piece of Perfect Plum card stock with the flower punch from Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack.  I threaded some white crochet thread through an flower-shaped Bitty Button, tied it in a bow, then adhered the card stock flower to the back of the button with a Mini Glue Dot.  A piece of 5/8" White Organza Ribbon completes this soft, sweet card for baby.

THINGS YOU'LL NEED:
Item No. 113439 Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine $99.95
Item No. 115960 Alphabet Simple Letters $89.95
Item No. 113485 Birds & Blooms Sizzlits 4-Pack Dies $21.95
Item No. 117335 Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder $7.95
Item No. 118309 Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack $16.95
Item No. 113620 Always stamp set $28.95
Item No. 119868 1" Circle Medium $10.95
Item No. 118761 Bitty Buttons $4.95
Item No. 114319 Whisper White 5/8" Organza Ribbon $5.95

Don't Forget!

• To sign up for the Ribbon Share!  Click HERE for more info!

A Look Back

As you probably know by now, many Stampin' Up! stamp sets are retiring at the end of June.  Let's take a look back at a few of my old blog posts to some of my favorite stamp sets that are retiring.

Retiring stamp sets:  Very Thankful (turtle image) and Thank You Kindly (dotted circles)

Retiring stamp set and accessories: Best Wishes & More, Bermuda Bay Patterns Designer Series Paper and polka-dot ribbon, Soft Subtles brads

Retiring stamp set and accessories:  Nursery Necessities, Brocade Blue card stock, Bravo Burgundy and Brocade Blue 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbons,

Retiring stamp set and accessories:  Close as a Memory, Sage Shadow card stock and Stampin' Write marker, Elegant Eggplant 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon

Retiring stamp set and accessories: Good Friends, Summer Sun card stock, Pink Flamingo Designer Series Paper,  Star Punch, Bolds Bright Brads

Don't wait until the last minute — order your favorite retiring stamps and accessories today!

Don't Forget!. 

• To check out the Last Chance Stamp Set List! Click Here to View!
  
• To check out the Last Chance Accessories List! Click Here to View!
  
• To check out the Last Chance Decor Elements List! Click Here to View!
  
• To purchase the Mini Starter Kit for just $99! CLICK HERE for kit contents. Click HERE to learn more about the From the Heart Stampers Team and The Heartfelt Stampers Team.

Order Stampin' Up! products online 24/7 — click HERE!

Tall Tales and Animal Stories

I know I promised you scrapbook pages this month, and what do I do?  Yet another card!  I was getting ready for our Heartfelt Stampers once a month Team Time tomorrow night, and I was really in the card-making zone!  Do you remember when this stamp set Animal Stories and coordinating Tall Tales Designer Series Paper came out, and that's all you saw everyone using?  Well, my 3-year-old grandson wanted to make a card yesterday, and this is his "go to" stamp set.  It happened to be still on my crafting table, and I haven't used the designer paper in months, so here we go!

We sure do go in waves with what we use to craft with, don't we?  I hope I can stop using the new Square Lattice Impressions Embossing Folder for great backgrounds sometime in the future!  Right now, I grab it for every single card!  My color scheme is taken from the designer paper — So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Rose Red and Brilliant Blue.  I stamped the giraffe from Animal Stories in Chocolate Chip Classic Ink and mounted it with Dimensionals.  The little "4 you" sentiment is from Tiny Tags and is stamped in Rose Red Classic Ink, punched out with the 3/4" Circle Punch and backed with the 1" Circle Punch with Old Olive card stock then slipped underneath the main image.  I used my new Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack from the Summer Mini Catalog to create the three tiny flowers and added Gold Brads to the centers of each.

THINGS YOU'LL NEED:
Item No. 116716 Animal Stories $15.95
Item No. 115678 Tall Tales DSP $9.95
Item No. 118309 Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack $16.95
Item No. 119976 Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder $7.95
Item No. 118091 Tiny Tags wood mount $22.95 OR
Item No. 118592 Tiny Tags clear mount $16.95
Item No. 107217 3/4" Circle Punch $10.95
Item No. 109045 1" Circle Punch $10.95
Item No. 104337 Gold Brads $6.95

Don't Forget!

To sign up for this month's Scrapbooking Class!  May 6th is the last day to register! Click HERE for details.
To sign up for the Dots & Designs Card Kit Class!  Click HERE for details.
To purchase your May Card Kit of the Month!  Click HERE for details. 

Order Stampin' Up! products online 24/7 — click HERE!

Butterflies for Baby

Welcome to the world, Josie Lorraine Kuhn!  Such a tiny little thing at 6 lbs. 8 oz. and a full head of luscious black hair!  Proud parents are Lynda and Andrew of Hall, New York.

Here's a special card for the Kuhn family:

This was an extremely unusual card for me to make.  There's almost no stamping, and the card gets its "wow" from a simple piece of designer paper.  This happened for two reasons.  First, I only own one baby stamp!  You're aghast, I know.  But it's true.  I have Nursery Necessities stamp set and while it's a very nice set, I've used it as my only baby stamp set for nigh on three years!  Can't I have another, please?  The second reason is that I just got the Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper Pack from the Occasions Mini Catalog, and I'm smitten with every single sheet of paper in it!  I added some glitter to the paper with my 2-Way Glue Pen and some Dazzling Diamonds glitter, but that's it — it's just that gorgeous!  I did use Nursery Necessities to stamp the sentiment on Sahara Sand card stock and framed it nicely with a Styled Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware piece.  Instead of using the brads given me that matched, I chose Pretty in Pink brads to add a bit more color.  Did you know that the Designer Label Punch punches out the exact size and shape for this nifty little metal accent?  Pretty handy, huh?  My final little touch is a couple of "stray" butterflies from So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie card stock run through the Big Shot using the new Embosslits Die Beautiful Wings.  When I first saw this die, I thought the butterflies were so tiny that I wouldn't use them.  But now I'm constantly picking out the teeniest butterfly in the lot!

THINGS YOU'LL NEED:
Item No. 117161 Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper Stack   $24.95
Item No. 118138 Embosslits Die Beautiful Wings   $11.95
Item No. 107590 Designer Label Punch   $15.95
Item No. 112454 Styled Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware   $29.95
Item No. 100425 2-Way Glue Pen   $3.50
Item No. 102023 Dazzling Diamonds Glitter   $4.50

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Jackson’s Arrival

Here's a card I made for my son and daughter-in-law to welcome Jackson home from the hospital tomorrow.

Although Jackson's room is a puppy theme, I did borrow the color scheme of the nursery to make this card – Night of Navy, Bravo Burgundy and Brocade Blue.  I created the main image using Nursery Necessities stamp set and inking each part of the ship with Stampin' Write Markers.  I stamped once on the main Very Vanilla card stock, then a second time on a scrap and cut out the base of the ship and attached it with Dimensionals.  I built a frame around it by punching Bravo Burgundy card stock with the Scallop Square Punch six times and attaching them to the back.  If you haven't already figured out, this is my new favorite punch!  Just love the versatility it brings to each project!  Did you notice the clever ribbon treatment?  I couldn't decide between the Bravo Burgundy and the Brocade Blue 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, so I used them both!  I attached a piece of each to the back of the Very Vanilla card stock, then tied them in front.  Kinda cool, huh?  Finally, I added a star designer brad from the Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware kit.

I'm really having fun decorating the inside of my cards lately.  Here's the inside of this one, as well as the lined envelope.  I got my Night of Navy Patterns Designer Series Paper from the Level 1 Hostess Paper pack.  You can take this handy package of paper for free if you order over $150 in product or host a workshop totaling $150 or more!  Why not get your workshop on the calendar for 2010!  Or place your own order at my Online Store HERE.  Contact me today! 

THINGS YOU'LL NEED:
Item No. 113506 Nursery Necessities   $31.95
Item No. 109057 Brocade Blue 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon   $7.95
Item No. 109053 Bravo Burgundy 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon   $7.95
Item No. 112081 Scallop Square Punch   $15.95
Item No. 105109 Bravo Burgundy Stampin' Write Marker   $3.25
Item No. 100069 Night of Navy Stampin' Write Marker   $3.25
Item No. 100064 Brocade Blue Stampin' Write Marker   $3.25
OR buy all the markers in a handy storage case
Item No. 105541 Many Marvelous Markers set of 48   $125.95
Item No. 111325 Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware   $29.95
Item No. 107300 Very Vanilla Medium Envelopes   $6.50
Item No. 116234 Patterns Pack Designer Series Paper III – FREE!

Don't Forget!

    * To order your retiring stamp sets before they're gone forever on January 4th – click HERE for the listing!
    * To register for the Birthday Card Class – click HERE!  Registration is due by December 27th.