Stampin' Up! Catalog 2010-2011

As a Stampin' Up! customer/hoarder, I get all tingly getting a new catalog. Enter the 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog. Yeah! Of course, there are things that I have wanted over the course of a few catalogs, and there are things that I really like that are new. So, here's my "covet" list (because "wish" implies something far less, well, covetous).

Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper, p. 174
Elegant Soiree Designer Series Paper, p. 175
Fine Flourish Stamp, p. 140
Fabulous Phrases Stamp Set, p. 149
FYI Stamp Set, p. 148
Sweet Shoppe Alphabet Sets (love this font!), p. 162
New Color Coach, p. 165
Sweet Treat Cups, p. 170
Decor Accents Date Keeper, p. 170
One Great Year, p. 179
Simply Adorned Charms, p. 189
Circle 3D Ornament Bibz die, p. 206 (school need when we do icosahedron ornaments!)

I really haven't fallen in love with any of the new colors yet... but give me time...

July

I have thoroughly and completely enjoyed the entire month of June. Truly. With the exception of one area: my crafting. So, I hearby declare July a month of crafting. Each day. Something. Be it ever so small or frighteningly large. This statement is pretty vague so I am stating here and now on this blog what I specifically plan to work on:

• Me, the Abridged Version scrapbook: started a year ago in September, this is one of my FAVORITE scrapbook projects. I must spend parts of July completing this.
• Project Life: Um, hello. If the pages in my Project Life album aren't easy enough, then I am just NOT a scrapbooker. Must do some catch up there.
• May I see some ink, please?: I will make cards with stamps I just HAD to have, yet have never used.

Ambitious? Yes. However, my craft room is gathering dust, and my summer is 1/3 gone. Let's get 'er done.

What? Two in one day?

Necessity. Yep.

Here's the best night shot I could get of Scott's Father's Day card.

Way too much overthinking on this one. Holy moly!

I used the SU! Thoughts & Prayers tree... the one I love so much it's on my dining room wall. At first, I thought I would stamp it all one color, as coloring all those little leaves is not an exciting thought. But I just didn't think, on a card, all brown looked "peppy." Enter the markers! I used SU! Chocolate Chip for the trunk and branches (caution: I had to use the thinner side for the thinner branches) and SU! Garden Green for the leaves. I almost went CRAZY and used several leaf colors, but I controlled myself. The sentiment was from a Verve set called Happy Thoughts. Hadn't used that one in forever. It's actually two separate stamps, which made me nervous I would screw it up after all the leaf coloring. However, it came out looking pretty swell. I used SU! Kraft and Garden Green papers and some GP white. I distressed the green and white layers with a paper distresser and inked the edges of the Kraft layer with Chocolate Chip. The base layer is on "pop dots," making nighttime photography fun! I tossed in some paper piercing for that added manly effect.

Wedding Shower

Ironic. Last Saturday, I was at a wedding in the middle of a shower (well, OK, thunderstorm). This gorgeous Saturday, I'm attending a wedding shower. What a difference a week makes, eh?

This card is a CASE from several different cards on Splitcoast that I saw as I browsed last night, most especially this one and this one.

I tried to keep things simple, yet elegant. The bride's colors have some hue of purple, so I chose SU! Perfect Plum. I also decided to use an off-white color... just feeling creamy today. The card is slightly larger than your typical 4.25 x 5.5" as well. Don't ask. I used my Cuttlebug (and it looked at me in surprise and said, "Who are you?") for the embossing on the dress bodice, used some pearl stick-ons for more texture, followed by a cute little bow at the waist. The stamp is from Hero Arts and I used Brilliance pigment ink in Moonlight White, as craft white would have clashed a bit too much with the vanilla nature of the card. I think it turned out pretty cute, and it really didn't take much time at all (if you subtract my typical OCD issues....).

Guess I can show you now...

I was holding off on posting this, as I was unsure if the bride reads my blog, and, if so, I didn't want to spoil her surprise (because, come on, if it's the week of your wedding, you have nothing to do but browse craft blogs).

Well, let ME tell YOU... this Bella can't even hold a Christmas light to the actual bride. She was STUNNING, and I AM biased. I tried to come close to her color choice, but I think it was closer to Tempting Turquoise, and I used Taken with Teal. Close enough, in my humble opinion.

The background is wrapping paper from Target (I used it on her shower gift and card, also). I really like it on cards. It adheres nicely, and I think it looks pretty cool. Her invitations had a balance of gray and turquoise/teal to them, so I went with that flow. Coloring took place with Copics and Stampin' Write markers. The main stamp is bridalpartybellas from stampingbella.com. The paper is SU! Basic Gray and Taken with Teal. I used some "pop dots" for depth. To make the bride "pop," I filled her dress with Stickles. :) Fun.

Birthday card for my birthday boy

Here is a card I created for Scott's 45th birthday. It's amazing how hard it is to take pics of these cards when I have not done so for a while. Very WHITE.

The colors of the card match the Bed, Bath, and Beyond box in which was his new Braun Series 5 electric razor. Poor guy has been using a razor for years that is slowly dying. He thought the box was Michelle's wedding present, so he was totally duped. Then he wanted to do the, "Oh, this cost too much," thing. Yeah. One razor every 10 years really breaks the bank. :) He's that way, though. I told him to just say, "Thank you," and let it be. He did.

Size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches
Paper: GP white, SU Perfect Plum
Stamps: SU! Whimsical Words and All About Occasions
Ink: SU! Perfect Plum and Craft white
Punch: Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper
Embellishments: Stampingbella Grape Juice Baubles

I'm back!

Yeah for summer! My schedule has slowed down tremendously, school's out, my kids are home with me (and I'm one of those nutty parents that enjoys that very much), and, after a dose of crafting with my gal pals yesterday, I am ready for a creative summer. I have so much to catch up on!

I decided that I will use the thing that gets me motivated the most-- music-- to inspire me in my creations this summer. June is a CRAZY month in my family. Birthdays and anniversaries galore! My niece is even expecting my great niece this month... another June birthday for the fam! Geminis unite!

I had been listening to the song "All I Believe In." What you might remember about me is I am what you might call a "Twihard." Love the Twilight books. Like the movies. Love RPattz and am totally Team Edward. See how off-track I got just saying Twilight? OK, well, this song is on the soundtrack for New Moon. It's so peaceful. Give it a listen (ignore cheesy video...spend time reading the description of the artists if you wish).

So, with that in mind, I had hearts in my head. Next weekend is the wedding of a friend as well as my own anniversary (18 years). So, I felt inspired to hit one of those two occasions. I think I'll be using this as Scott's anniversary card from me.


Cute, simple, sweet.

Size: 4.25 x 5.5"
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Basic Gray and GP white
Ink: Stampin' Up! Craft White and Basic Gray
Stamps: Stampin' Up! Always and Whimsical Words
Also used: Pop dots for one of the hearts and paper piercing