No Stamping??

Today's post has no stamping on the front of it!!  I know...you're thinking what's up with that, right?  Well, at this month's meeting for my Tri-City stampers team we focused on the brayer and a did two make-n-takes that featured that handy-dandy tool.  The card that follows is one we made.  Now before you think I'm a genius or something, let me say that this card is a complete CASE of Michelle Zindorf, Goddess of the Brayer.  She creates the most unbelievably beautiful work with ink and that little rubber roller.  You have to check out her blog and you'll see exactly what I mean.  In the meantime, check out this beautiful, if somewhat unusually-sized card:

9" x 4" card (fits in standard business letter envelope) featuring my brayer and the bird builder punch.

Inside of card with little birds from Clearly For You (another one that's on the Retiring List!) and sentiment from Pursuit of Happiness.

Cool, eh?  I fell in love with this card when I saw it on Michelle's blog and knew I had to do it for my team meeting.  Michelle takes the time to post detailed tutorials with her projects so recreating it was easy.  Head on over to her blog and check it out.
In case you missed it yesterday the Retiring Stamp Sets list was posted by Stampin' Up!.  I have SEVENTY sets that are going bye-bye, so I am going to make the most of them while I still can and feature as many as I can on this little blog over the next month or so.  If you see something that you just have to have, make sure you order it by May 31st...after that it will be gone for good.

Soft and Pretty for 411

Today's card is one that is just so pretty!  I am not much of a girlie girl, but I have to say that now and then I like pretty, girlie things.  I put this card to together for this week's Saturday sketch challenge over at Stamping 411.  Here is the sketch:

...and here is my card (with the sketch turned sideways!)

Soft and pretty card for SSC215 using the Nature's Pace stamp set and Beau Chateau DSP

Isn't this pretty?  I have to say I struggled with this sketch!  I actually started making this card a couple of days ago and just couldn't get it to work.  So I set it aside and came back to it last night and viola...it just fell together!  Sometimes I need to remember to do that more often...I think I would create far fewer ho-hum cards!  I'm not going to take the time tonight to give you step-by-step instructions for this one, but I will give you some tips:

• The focal image is stamped in brown Staz-on and then  coloured with a blender pen and watercolour crayons.  I also spritzed it and distressed it with the tea stain ink from the distressing kit.
• The "No. 5" and "for you" are from the Clearly for You set.
• The white-with-blue floral DSP isn't sponged...it comes  that way!

I think the rest is pretty straightforward.  I have to say I am loving this DSP!  Such pretty images with soft, feminine colours!  I may just see more "girlie" in my future!

Where does the time go?

How is it the end of July already?!?  I feel like summer just got started and here it is half over!  The month of August spells an end to my care-free days and the beginning of ramping up for another school year.  Somehow my brain knows all this and the back-to-school dreams start, like clock-work, on August first...ugh!  Good thing I have my Holiday Mini pre-order to distract me!  I get to place my order for new goodies starting on Monday and boy, do I have a wishlist!!  I'm going to have to pace myself!  In anticipation of all my new Holiday goodies arriving in the next week or so, I've been working on planning my classes and workshops for August and September.  It's been fun to pull out some sets that haven't seen ink in a while and give them a workout.
Today's card is one that uses a brand NEW set...one that I've fallen in love with:  Field Flowers.  It is a two-step-stampin' set that allows you to get multi-coloured images with amazing depth without watercolouring or using markers.  Gotta love something that gets gorgeous results this quickly and easily!  Check it out:

Card using the new Field Flowers and Clearly For You sets with sentiment from Nature's Pace set.

Aren't those flowers pretty???  And SO easy to do...anyone with a couple of colours of ink can do it!   Here is how I put it all together:
Starting with a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of First Edition DSP, I stamped the stems twice using always artichoke ink.  Then, using perfect plum, I stamped the solid flower image three times and a fourth time on a piece of scrap DSP.  Following that, I stamped the outline flower image in elegant eggplant right over top of the solid images, not worrying about exact alignment (no Stamp-a-ma-jig for me!).  Finally, I stamped the solid centre image using more mustard.  I then cut out the flower that was stamped on the scrap and adhered it to the larger stamped piece using dimensionals. Then I tore the edges of the stamped piece all the way around, trying to ensure I tore an even amount from each side.  Using the mahogany ink from the distressing kit, I sponged the torn edges.  I then took a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of elegant eggplant cardstock and crumpled and distressed it.  I ran my distressing tool from the cutter kit around the edges and then applied mahogany distressing ink using the rubber applicator to highlight the wrinkles in the paper and the rough edges.  I then adhered the stamped DSP piece, folding down the top left corner and securing it with an antique brad that I had threaded with a little Victoria Lace trim.  I adhered the entire thing to an always artichoke card base that I had also roughed up with my cutter kit tool.  On a piece of scrap very vanilla cardstock I stamped the sentiment from the Nature's Pace set in always artichoke ink.  I punched it out using my large oval punch and then stamped the butterfly and ladybug from the Clearly for You set in elegant eggplant and more mustard respectively.  I sponged the entire oval using the tea stain ink from the distressing kit, added a little library clip and adhered it to my card using dimensionals.
I really like this card!  It may be one that never gets given away...but then again, I have A LOT of cards that I say that about...I only have so much storage space!

Playing with a sketch

Every month, we Stampin' Up! demonstrators receive a monthly magazine called "Stampin' Success" .  It is full of great business and stamping tips and always includes a card sketch or two.  This month's issue featured a sketch that is perfect for using up the scraps of DSP we all have laying around our craft rooms.  Last week at our monthly meeting, my upline Jamilla Ivits did the following card as one of our make 'n' takes based on this issue's sketch:

Colour combo from the Colour Coach.  DSP is Botanical Gazette and stamp images are from Clearly for You set.

I loved the simplicity with which this card went together and the fact that there is still lots of visual interest.  So I decided to try my own version of it using a Valentine's theme for some of my workshops this month.  Here is what I came up with:

Valentine's card using sketch from January's Stampin' Success magazine

As you can see, I kept many of the same features that Jamilla's card had:  the double line of piercing on the left, the taffeta ribbon around the top and the offset circles of various colours of cardstock and DSP.  I drew my colour scheme from the Love Impressions DSP which features real red, basic gray, whisper white and pink pirouette.  The stamped images are from the Valentined Defined set.  The sentiment, also from that set, was stamped in real red on whisper white cardstock and then die cut using my scalloped rectangle clearlits die and my Big Shot.  This die is see-through so it is really easy to position and centre over the stamped image. 

I love that using a simple, versatile sketch opens up so many possibilities for creating very different cards without having to come up with a whole new layout every time.  Tomorrow I'll show you another card I did from a different sketch in a previous issue of SS...see you then!

A sad start to 2011...

This morning we had a phone call from my husband's sister...they were supposed to be coming today for dinner.  She called to tell us that she had lost her baby...she was 21 weeks pregnant and had had a stillbirth.  We are all so sad...the loss of this little tiny baby came on the same day as my husband's late father's birthday.  If you are the praying-type, please keep my sister-in-law and her husband in your thoughts...they are struggling to make sense of it all. 
At times like this it is hard to know what to do, so I did what I do best...I made a card to send.  I know it won't even begin to heal the loss, but I hope it will remind them that they are not alone.  Here is the card I am going to send...

Card made using items from the new Occasions Mini including Clearly For You set

Close-up of focal image...the tiny butterfly for me represents the tiny baby

Inside of card...the two faded butterflies represent the grieving parents.

I actually made this cardfront the other day while at my upline's house playing with my stampin' buddies.  At the time I was just playing around with the new products, but when we got this news, I knew this was what I had made the card for.  I love the new Clearly For You stamp set...it has so many gorgeous images that are set off perfectly by the new beveled windowpanes.  The little butterfly signifies the tiny baby that will never take a breath or spread its wings. 
The inside sentiment was chosen by my husband.  I had wanted to use a sympathy sentiment, but my hubby, who experienced the loss of both his parents while still in his 20's, chose the simple "thinking of you" as  being one his sister would appreciate.  I stamped the two faded  butterflies to represent my sister-in-law and brother-in-law as they struggle to find meaning in their sadness. 
I really hope this brings them some small amount of comfort.  Please do send them comforting thoughts...