Thinking of a Dear Friend

I have a dear friend who lives a few hours away that has been going through some trying times.  Since I can't very well stop by and give her a big ole' Michey-hug, I instead chose to make her a card:

I wanted this card to be ruffley, girly, and a lil bit boudoiry (that's a new word, btw, feel free to pass it on ;-)

I started out with Designer Cuts laser-cut cards from the Occaisions Mini Catalog. I backed the front panel with a piece of Island Indigo and bunched up some seambinding onto the edge.  I then added Pearls to cover where the seam binding was peeking through the pre-cut holes on the card edge.

I framed out a piece of Timeless Portrait DSP with a Cherry Cobbler mat (i've had this designer paper for almost 6 months and haven't cut into it yet... SHAME ON ME!).  I then cut a piece of Island Indigo using a Labels Framelit Die, and then added some texture with a Designer Frames Embossing Folder.  Don't you just love how the embossing folder fits perfectly inside the dicut?  By the way, you can get this embossing folder FREE with a $50 purchase now through March 31 during Sale-a-Bration!

The oval centerpiece is another freebie from Sale-a-Bration - Fresh Vintage - stamped in Cherry Cobbler. I overstamped a little peek of the flourish from Creative Elements in river Rock (It works really well with the flourish in the DSP, dontcha think?) and sponged the edges in river rock.

I positioned this element so it looks like it's hanging off the blue scroll on the DSP... doesn't it look like a mirror hanging on the wall?

The sentiment banner is from Loving Thoughts, and will hopefully let my dear friend know that she's in my thoughts and prayers.

Thanks for taking a peek!
Michey


DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Very Vanilla Color Suite	River Rock Color Suite	Island Indigo Color Suite	Cherry Cobbler Color Suite	Timeless Portrait Patterned Paper
Designer Cuts Card Kit	Loving Thoughts Stamp Set	Creative Elements Stamp Set	Very Vanilla Seam Binding	XL Oval Punch
Big Shot Die-Cutting System	Basic Pearls	Labels Framelit Die	Designer Frames Embossing Folder

Stamps: Fresh Vintage, Creative Elements, Loving Thoughts

Paper: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Island Indigo, Timeless Portrait DSP
Ink: River Rock, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Designer Cuts Laser-cut Card, Big Shot, Designer Frames Embossing Folder, Labels Framelit Die, Basic Pearls, Oval Punch, Seam Binding

A Birthday in Paris

My brother is a bit of a globetrotter. He has gone to MANY far and exotic places, which is why when I set out to make his birthday card, I knew I wanted to tap into his well-travelledness (is that a word? if not, it should be!).

As luck would have it, he's recently back from a trip to France. Couple this with the fact that for most of the day leading up to this card, I had the song "Come What May" stuck in my head - That's the beautiful ballad from the finale of Moulin Rouge that *always* brings a tear to my eye.  So, it was settled, his birthday card would have a French theme!

This card was a melange of stamp sets and supplies.  The background paper started out as Very Vanilla, but I sponged on So Saffron and Crumb cake, stamped French Script in Sahara sand, distressed the edges with my distressing tool and added a touch of Soft Suede to make it look "old and crispy".

The Eiffel Tower and flourished line image from Artistic Etchings are stamped in Basic Gray, as is the "Post Card" sentiment from Winter Post and the "Happy Birthday" from Tagtastic.  All of the elements were then color spritzed with Crumb Cake and So Saffron.

It's all tied together with some linen thread and Quilted Satin Ribbon layered over a piece of striped So Saffron Designer Series Paper and a fleur-de-lis charm from a broken bracelet in my stash.  What do you think? Is it Oh la la or C'est la vie?

I used a few challenges to help inspire me on this card:

• Cr84fn's Color Challenge 
• Our Creative Corner's Inspiration Challenge

Thanks for taking a peek!

Michey

Shopping List - Products are available for purchase from me at Stampin' Up

Artistic Etchings Stamp Set	French Foliage Stamp Set	Winter Post Stamp Set	Tiny Tags Stamp Set	Tagtastic Stamp Set
Very Vanilla Color Suite	Sahara Sand Color Suite	Crumb Cake Color Suite	Soft Suede Color Suite	Basic Gray Color Suite
So Saffron Color Suite	Subtles Patterned Paper Stack	Cutter Kit	Postage Stamp Punch	1" Square Punch
Jewelry Tag Punch	Color Spritzer Tool	Linen Thread

Birthday Card with a Little Help...

My little cousin has a birthday coming up.  This is problematic for me because my crafting stash has a rough time trying to support "cutesy" cards, especially where boys are concerned.  So on a whim yesterday, I took a trip to a local scrapbook store to see if I could find an easy way to supplement what I already had with a few things fit for a pre-teen birthday boy.

I settled upon the Follow Your Heart papers and embellishments from My Mind's Eye.  Hopefully between these fun papers and what I already had at home, i'd be able to come up with SOMETHING!

How about kites?  Boys like kites, right?  The bulk of the stamping on this card is on the Baja Breeze background.  I used my retired Sanded background (<3 it!), grunged up a bit with Extreme Elements, then stamped the entire background with netting.  Have I mentioned I love background stamps? ^.^

The patterned papers are matted on Pear Pizzazz and Island Indigo and the sentiment flag is on very vanilla (my color is a bit off on this photo, it doesn't look as yellow IRL).

In addition to the local scrapbook store and my stamping stash, this card was made possible by the following challenges:

• Freshly Made Sketches Sketch Challenge - FMS24
• Handstamped Sentiments Banner Bash - HSSIC107

I wouldn't have known where to begin if not for these two challenges, so ladies, thank you SO MUCH for the added inspiration!

Thanks for taking a peek!

Michey

Shopping List - The following products are available for purchase from me at Stampin' Up

Pear Pizzazz Color Suite	Island Indigo Color Suite	Baja Breeze Color Suite	Very Vanilla Color Suite	Extreme Elements Stamp Set
Netting Background Stamp	Happiest Birthday Wishes Hostess Set

Simply Soft Birthday Card and a Question

My mother is a lover of watercolors, flowers and fabrics and with that in mind, I created this next card for her.

The focal flower image is from Simply Soft, which is a 2-step hostess set that you can get for FREE with a qualifying workshop order.  I stamped the first step in Lucky Limeade and step 2 in Blushing Bride.  Full disclosure here - I had a rough time lining up my pink over-stamping onto the green stems (you see, I don't own a Stamp-a-ma-jig yet, which would have made lining the two stamped images up a piece of cake).  So to cover up the fact that my alignment was a bit off, i touched up with markers and distracted with the Color Spritzer tool.

You all have seen me use the flourish from Creative Elements to death, and LOOK!  Here it is again! ;-)  This time it's stamped in Cherry Cobbler and glitzed up with some Dazzling Details.

I've tied it all together with Velvet ribbon, which is now retired but my mom LOOOOOVES velvet, so I thought she'd appreciate that extra touch.

So, here's the homage to my mother on her special day!  I love that my family totally appreciates receiving handmade cards - Mom and Dad actually have a shelf in their family room where they have kept every card I've ever made for them - seeing that makes my heart soar!

Michey's Note:  I'm experimenting with a new way to display my products at the bottom of each post... do you prefer the images, the text listing (down at the waaaaay bottom of this post), or both?

Thanks for taking a peek and leaving a comment!  I value your feedback very much!

Michey

Shopping List

Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set	Simply Soft Stamp Set	Creative Elements Stamp Set	In-Color Marker Assortment	Naturals White Cardstock
Very Vanilla Color Suite	Blushing Bride Color Suite	Lucky Limeade Color Suite	Soft Suede Color Suite	Cherry Cobbler Color Suite
Decorative Label Punch	Dazzling Details

Shopping List - Products are available for purchase from me at Stampin' Up


Stamps: Simply Soft, Creative Elements, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Naturals White, Soft Suede, Blushing Bride, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Blushing Bride, Lucky Limeade
Accessories: Decorative Label Punch, Twitterpated Buttons, Linen Thread, Dazzling Details, Color Spritzer tool

A Birdie Birthday

Another year has started which means another round of Birthday Cards for the men in my life.  In the last 2 years, i've done the whole "sailing" and "boat" theme to death - you can see some of those cards here, here, here and here.  So, I needed some new mojo that didn't involve boats or maps.

Michey's Note:  I've decided to enter this into Our Creative Corner's "Over the Edge" challenge.  I originally wanted to go a bit more outside the lines than I did, but I have to mail this card, so I had to keep it envelope friendly.  I hope this still counts >.<

Yeah, it's got a bird, but it's a boy bird for sure!  I'm still smitten with the Weathered Wood technique I first blogged about last week, so I set off to come up with another combination.  This one uses Sahara Sand, River Rock and Always Artichoke.  I splattered on some Bravo Burgundy and Soft Suede with my Color Spritzer tool... I seriously can't get enough of my color spritzer - I practically use it on EVERY CARD these days... you'll see ;-)

The birdy is one of our A La Carte stamps - Young Vermillion. Isn't he a handsome little fella?  He's stamped in Soft Suede and has some pool party colored in on his chest using a blender pen. This panel was then sponged and splattered with soft suede and matted on a piece of Bravo Burgundy.

The "Happy Birthday" sentiment is from Perfectly Penned, stamped in Soft Suede and similarly distressed.

Everything is mounted a tad bit askew on an Always Artichoke panel that's been embossed using the Houndstooth Embossing Folder.  It's then tied with some Linen Thread and I added some tags to finish it off.

So, what do you think?  Did I pull off a boy-ish card without using any images of vehicles, powertools, or sports?

Thanks for taking a peek!
Michele

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Stamps: Young Vermillion, Perfectly Penned, Tiny Tags
Paper: River Rock, Soft Suede, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla
Ink: River Rock, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy, Pool Party
Accessories: Big Shot, Houndstooth Embossing Folder, Jewelry Tag Punch, Simply Scored Scoring Tool, Linen Thread, Color Spritzer Tool, Blender Pen, Distressing Essentials Kit

{Heart} Attack!

As Valentine's day approached this year, I started to psyche myself out -- overthinking the card I would give to my special someone, worried that it wouldn't measure up.  Of course, this anxiety is all in my head, but at the time, it was giving me a very real creative block!

At the 11th hour, I was inspired by this Weathered Wood tutorial by Wanda Cullen and out popped this masculine-ish masterpiece.

I started out with Very Vanilla Cardstock, scored at every inch on my Simply Scored Scoring Tool. Then I just smeared different inkpads directly to the paper. I used Sahara Sand, a little bit of crumb cake, and an even littler bit of Always Artichoke.  The beauty of the score lines is they don't collect ink because they are depressed, but in a good way!  ;-)

I added in some of my background stamps (Wonderfully Worn in Real Red, and (retired) Sanded Background in Sahara Sand).  I {heart} my chunky background stamps sooooooo much!  I then tore and sponged the seams and edges with Sahara Sand and Always Artichoke.

It's hard to tell on the background, but I've stamped the swirl from Creative Elements, and then dabbed Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint over top to add a bit of glitz.  Then I hit the whole thing with my Color Spritzer tool using a Sahara Sand marker.

Once I had those two elements figured out, everything else was easy --  hearts, hearts, hearts! I used a mix of embosslits and punches to create the heart vignette, then tied it all up with some Linen Thread, and finished with some little tags.

This was the first card I made in a LOOOOONG time that wasn't slated for a class demonstation, so I used more products and techniques than usual.  It was incredibly freeing to be able to "go shopping" in my craft room and use whatever I felt like, lol!

I need to get inky like this more often ;-)

Thanks for taking a peek!
Michey

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Stamps: Creative Elements, Tiny Tags, Wonderfully Worn, Sanded (retired)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Real Red, Always Artichoke, Sahara Sand
Ink: Real Red, Always Artichoke, Sahara Sand
Accessories: Simply Scored Scoring Tool, Big Shot, Fashionable Hearts Embosslit, Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit, Adorning Accents Edgelits Die and Embossing Folder, Linen thread, Full Heart Punch, Small Heart Punch, Jewelry Tag Punch