Summer Afternoon thanks

I have so many gracious customers and when they order I always like to include a little card that they can use to include their receipts as a thank you. I like to write the message inside on a post-it from Stampin' Up (the 4x4 size is perfect!) or let the sentiment on the card send the message.  But it has to be simple which makes it easier to make a bunch and it also just happens to be the style I like....

This is one I did for this month.  Take whisper white and die cut it using labels collection framelet, (Or use the ones you saved from the cards you may have diecut as a frame in the past) stamp the image from Summer afternoon- hostess set with Staz-On Black or Memento Tuxedo Black.  Color in with crumbcake markers, more mustard and cajun craze for the pot, certainly celery and wild wasabi for the leaves and grass and real red and daffodil for the bird (on the belly but hard to tell here). Lay the crumbcake ribbon where you want it on the crumbcake base card, mount the diecut with dimensionals then tie the ribbon on the side as shown.  Real simple card and you can use this idea with any image that fits inside the diecut of your choice.    I thought about embossing the base card but it seemed too fuxxy and distracted from the central image. But you could round the bottom corners, use a stickpin on the ribbon, embellish away to your level of comfort!

Papaya Collage Case from Sandy Mathis

 I was looking for a card to make for my stampin party using the papaya collage using Summer Starfruit and the card from Sandy Mathis just took my breath away so I had to case it- no, let's face it why mess with perfection? I just copied it.     The central panel is very vanilla CS diecut with the Labels collection framelet stamped with sentiment from Just Believe in Soft suede and the leaves are stamped first in Starfruit then dauber'd around the edge directly on the stamp with rose red then stamped on the vanilla CS.

Add the layer of DP from Comfort Cafe, the starfruit CS embossed wtih Vintage Wallpaer , tie it with crumbcake ribbon and layer it onto the crumbcake CS.  Stamp 2 butterflies onto crumcake using suede ink, cut it out and add 2 pearls and a very shabby chic card that I can see Shelly loving.  Thanks, Sandy, you are amazing!

Make a Cake- make and take

 Take base of pool part and emboss it with polka dot.  Take a piece of Patio party DSP and cut the bottom out to make a tail and adhere to the card.  This is 1 1/2 inch strip.

Punch out  2 1/2 inch circle from Summer Starfruit and adhere that to the card. Take a scrap whisper white and stamp the cake in Raspberry Ripple and the butterflis in Gumball green, and the sentiment in Midnight Muse(taken straight from the DSP colors) and cut them out and diecut the sentiment flag.

Mount the cut outs with dimensionals and another easy peasy card you can make in no time at all. Make a stack and save them for those pesky birthdays that keep popping up that you need to grab a card quick.  The color are very NOW and it is cute for a kid yet sophisticated enough for a grown up....

Happy Father's Day

The card that my kids made for Father's day and a project for my class this past week, just before Father's day. The colors are straight out of the color coach.                    The base card is indigo with the bottom embossed with stripes - emboss one side then overlap the strips where you embossed to get the whole long section of bottom embossed- it is pretty easy. Stamp sentiment from teeny tiny wishes in Indigo and punch out with word window punch.  Take whisper white, and stamp the ties in indigo. Clean and stamp again in Razzleberry and cut the tie you like out.  Layer it on with dimensional and add a crystal  

bling as tie tack.   Layer the whole thing on Razzleberry and attach the sentiment on the bottom and layer it on the indigo basecard with dimensionals again.  Very masculine colors yet modern that any suave man would appreciate!
For the Best Dads Ever.

butterfly punch trick on Field Flowers gift tags

 There are a lot of people I needed to thank for helping my kids at school.  The teachers go without saying and all the other teachers and special people who are there to help.

My favorite gift for these and other occasions are R&J Toffees. They have this pound bags that are already packed so beautifully and they are SO delicious and last forever in the refrigerator. I found them at a local farmer's market and now I am seeking them out whenever I need a quick gift.

I did want to personalize it a little though so I took an extra large shipping tag and stamped Field Flowers in Calypso coral - masked the flower to stamp the stems in Wild wasabi and stamped the sentiment (retired SU) Sincere salutations in expresso. Sponged the whol thing and tied it with a matching cord with a message on the back.

I wanted to add a little butterfly but did not feel like cutting out a gazillion of these and I did not want a just diecut butterfly- I wanted it to LOOK like a butterfly with an image on it.

So I took the Kindness matters butterflies, stamped it in Baja Blue on white then used an old MS butterfly punch to punch out what it fit- see image on left and it looked darling. One of the little ones fits the little butterfly too if you want to try it out for yourself.  Isn't it cute?

Lynda

End of the School Year

The last week of the school year is the busiest time for me-  three kids with three different things going on daily, parties, class shows, gifts for the teachers and I alwas try to do something handmade.  When one of the class asked for someone to make something for the teacher besides the money collection they were doing I thought a scrapbook with each children drawing a page with a picture and a letter to the teacher would make a wonderful memorabilia. 

 I found this scrapbook from Ki Memories that had a metal case around it that I thought would make a nice gift for someone.  It was really a birthday album but I put gaffer tape from 7 Gypsies with the alphabet around it and thought it made it really modern and accented the front cover beautifully.

 I took a page from School Days DSP from DCWV and stamped sentiment from Teacher;s Apple from PTI on the inside cover- it madeit pop more with another layer of white around it. I then used the 12x12 version of the same DSP pack and put the entire class picture on it to start the album.

Then I put each of the kid's writings on one side.  (This is Kyle's page- I did not want to display other children's pages for privacy reasns)

Then the kid's picture and drawing on the other side.  Used Tmeless Type Junior set fron Stampin Up to create the letters of the child's name on each of the pages color coordinated to the page then accented with variety of school stickers I've amassed (this is the right word for this- 'collected' does not quite describe it)  over the years.   I did put some blank pages in the back in case the teacher had some pictures she wanted to put in the album for herself.  It took a long time to diecut all the letters in different colors and figure some things out.  Now I have to figure out some others gifts for the teachers.  Kyle's teacher had it especially tough this year so I owe her BIG!  I don't know how they do it- 20 some first graders in one room all day- It really takes the patience of a saint to be a teacher!    Hugs to you all!

My tulip- Lily of the Valley

My favorite flower is Lily of the Valley.  The house I grew up in Ohio had fields of it that my mom planted that just smelled amazing and the delicate little flowers were so beautiful.  When my parents sold their house I had only one wish. I wanted a few pips of the flowers so that I could grow it myself.  My mom packed the pips in wet newspaper and hand carried it to me 7 years and ago and I planted it in a pot and now it packs the pot and I get a handful of stems with the fragrant flowers just for a few weeks every year and I just love it.

 It brings back the memory of that old house with the pink and red flower wallpaper in the bedroom and you can't do anything but smile.

I have been looking for a die that would make this but could not find one until I saw this tulip and thought it could work so I tried it and think it does.  What do you think?  Base is lucky limeade with a flower from Mixed bunch stamped on it with craft white ( I had it left over from another project but I thought it still worked.  Stamped the sentiment (Full of Life- retired)  in black. The flowers just looked very dramatic with the black background so I kept it but did the tulip EF around it to frame it a bit then layered it with white before layering on to the base card.  I could add some more flowers but ran out of time. oh well.

Betsy's Blossoms CAS

You know you have a vision of what you're gonna make and it just doesn't work out?  This is one of those cards.  I loved the color combo from Splitcoast Color Challenge CC377 was for Blushing Bride (so sad that it is retiring) and celery and soft suede. I also wanted to do the LOVE challenge CAS172 but I had envisioned Two birds in mirror images but when I tried the mirror image technique it just did not look sharp enough to be a true mirror no matter what I used- mirror stamp, acetate so this is the revised version of it.

Base is soft suede with a layer of celery and whisper white.  I stamped the stem from Language of Friendship that I got from Sale-a-brationin limeade then stamped the bird from Betsy's blossoms in blushing bride.  I stamped the bird twice more on a scrap piece of whie and cut it out. Stamped the Big flower from Betsy's blossom and punched it out with the heart punch and stamped it with the leaf on it as well to look like the bird was carrying the leaf in its beak. 
Layer the crumbcake seambinding ribbon as shown. then the heart using dimensionals to line up with the leaf already stamped.  then the bird and the wing using dimensionals. Stamp love from Tiny tags with soft suede and punch it out with a jewerly tag punch.  Mount it with dimensional and put a dot with the limeade marker where the hole would have been for it to attach to the stem.    It was more complicated than I envisioned.  Oh, well, it has been that kind of a week. 

A simple thanks

 The new Stampin Up colors are growing on me.  As a demonstrator I was able to get some new preview stampsets from the new catalogue before every one else but I really want the new butterfly set and punch but I will have to be patient like everyone else until June 1st to order it.  We have been in serious need of a good butterfly.   Thankfully the Papaya Collage Set has a darling butterfly with a center that has been left open that I just adore and perfect for embellishing. 
So for my friends who placed an order this month will get this simple hand stamped thank you in their bag. 

It uses all the new colors 2012-2014 ( the new foam pads are amazing- so juicy with an even center so no tapping gazillion times to get really well inked!)  with rhinestone jewels in center- it looked great with just one but I thought it looked better with 2 each - with 150 per pack you can really go crazy with those.  Pretty with pearls too. 

The thank you is form the Everyday wishes set that matched with the simply sent kits.  I am so sad because it is the same font as the Friendly Phrases set that I adore and I use this all the time for my thank you but this one is retiring end of this month- I reckon I will keep this little gem for my own use. 

This idea is really simple.  Take any stamp you like and repeat it multiple times using different color stamppad and you can get myriad of different cards with the same idea.  Easy make and take and demo card

Baby Bundle bib variations

 I have gotten a few requests for baby cards but since I often don't know whether it is for a boy or girl, I like to give people options.  So when I was coming up with this card, I chose yellow (of course) as a neutral to play off the pink or the blue colors. 
Super easy and people seemed to really like it at my make and take.

Take So Saffron base card.  Take a whisper white CS and stamp congratulations on it from Friendly phrases.  Punch out the white circle ( 1 3/8) from the part that will be hidden behind the colored squares. Stamp the duck from Baby bundle on the bottom of the circle. Color the duck with so saffron watercolor crayon directly onto the paper.  color the beak with pumpkin marker.  Take either the Pink pirouette or Bashful blue and punch the little scallop circle from the part that will be hidden.  

 Layer the stamped white circle onto the colored scallop. Then using 3/4 inch cicle punch, cut out what would be neck of the bib.  Used a paper piercer to make 2 little holes ( I tried a whole bunch of ribbons and threads, and none of it worked.  This gave the Impression of the a tie without actually having a tie, and it was even more simple!)

Use dimensionals to attach the bib.  Layer the So Saffron DSP onto your color choice cardstock then use dimenstionals again to raise the colored cardstock on top of the whisper white.

details of the bib.  So simple, so super easy and still so CUTE!

I thought it would be really cute gift to make a bunch of these with Thanks so much stamped on it from Every Wishes Simply Sent with the similar font style  to give to an expected mother so she would have a bunch of cute thank you's she can send out for the gifts whe may have gotten. 

Tie it with a sweet color coordinated ribbon and easy peasy cards that I am sure she will appreciate!