My sister's wedding, part 2

I offered to make thank you cards for my sister. Her wedding was tiny, so she didn't need many, and I probably made more than she needed. I made 2 dozen. I LOVE my medallion stamp and will never, ever get rid of it. The Many Thanks sentiment comes from All Year Cheer I, which is another in my permanent collection. Very Vanilla and Sage Shadow are the colors. The Edgelit die is so pretty. I love it - but I will tell you, running that thing 24 times and picking out the cuts 24 times was time consuming! :) Totally worth it...

Of course, I made matching envelopes. I put the whole shebang in a box from My Paper Pumpkin. My sister called me about a week after the wedding, telling me she was at the office supply store looking at envelopes and asking me about sizes... I was confused until I realized she hadn't found them under the cards yet! :) I was happy to tell her she didn't need to invest in more.

Happy crafting!
Becca

My sister's wedding!

My baby sister got married this year! Waaaayyy back in March. Here is card 1, the WEDDING card. I got my inspiration from the funniest place - Taco Bell. Hubby had a pile of sauce packets and I was reading them, because they are always silly. My sister is cute and offbeat, and a non-traditional card was definitely in order. I used the bright designer paper from Sale-A-Bration and went a little crazy. This card is large, for sure. I used an A7 envelope, so this is a full sheet of card stock, I think.

Please forgive the gauche backdrop. I didn't take photos at home, so I snapped a few on my brother's apartment floor. The carpet really helps highlight the fabulous card, don't you think? (Thanks for letting me stay with you, bro!!)

Here is the inside of the card, showing the sauce packet that started the process. To be safe, I put the packet in my liquids bag so it wouldn't get confiscated at the airport! :)

My husband, of course, had to boil it all down and write the best greeting. Grumble. If you can't read it, the packet reads "You have chosen wisely." Ha! My sister loved it.

Have a great evening!
Becca

Simply Sketched sympathy

While we celebrated several births in my extended family this year, there was also a devastating loss. I wanted to share condolences from my siblings and myself, so this card is actually larger than usual. I think it is 5x7 - but I don't remember for sure since I made it back in June. Anyway, the new In Colors are just beautiful and I love how they come together here with a deeper pop from the Bermuda Bay ribbon.

Have a fantastic day!
Becca

Baby ark

My cousin Kate had a baby this spring. She is the sweetest. I made her a Dartmouth Green tutu. :) No photos, whoops. I made this sweet Congrats card using the retired Two By Two set, colored with markers and blender pens. I also used my Circle dies and an embossing folder from my stash. I'm happy with the outcome!

I love babies!

Have a colorful day!
Becca

World Card Making Day and Operation Write Home 2013

Whoops! I sure didn't mean to abandon the blog! Guess I've been a little busy or something. Yes, I have been making cards, but nothing got posted! Picture taking has been hit or miss but I do have some special projects I did record that I will share over the next couple of weeks, since I have time to schedule a few posts right now! :)

So, yesterday was World Card Making Day. I have had Operation Write Home on my heart lately, and I wanted to make Christmas cards to send to the troops so they can send holiday greetings home. I read the guidelines over and over, and made 25 of each of 3 designs with assistance from a couple of friends. I used a combination of new and retired products, with some pretty, shimmery Neenah papers thrown in for a little dazzle. If you want details on any of the cards please leave your question in the comments, or email me.

Card 1 - I wanted a "natural" look and it sort of twisted a little into a more traditional card with natural elements. Colors are Real Red, Wild Wasabi, and Early Espresso. Stamp sets (retired) are Four the Holidays and Pines & Poinsettias.

Card 2 - I used the Modern Mosaic set to make shiny ornaments. I started with the pearly Flash Natural Starwhite from Neenah, knowing I wanted a black background. Of course, this is just the card front since I couldn't put my OWH stamp on the back of a black card! Eliminates the need for lining the inside and creates more space for writing! I popped the ornaments in a group on a strip of Always Artichoke.

Close up shot so you can appreciate the shimmer...

Card 3 - The classic Sketch It set still makes a classy wreath. I used Gold Pearl Classic Linen Neenah paper for the backdrop of the wreath. Sketch It is one of the first sets I bought when I started stamping almost 13 years ago. I used the Stripes embossing folder to add interest to the base.

 I feel like such a dork. I had this photo set up rotated but it won't take via Blogger. Bad blogger!!

Here are all the cards, stamped with the OWH logo and properly tucked for shipping.

We'll make 25 of this card next week at Stamp Club to send overseas as well.

I used the Illuminate Glimmer Pad on the giant star, but even after a day of curing, the ink still smeared and I wasn't happy with that. So, it is embossed. The shimmer shines through!

All in all, a very productive WCMD and I am thrilled to have a number of cards to send off to Operation Write Home. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

Becca 

Framelit Layers

Do you ever get an idea that you just have to bring to life? This was one of those for me. It was kicking around in my head for the longest time. I finally drew out the sketch the other night, knowing I wouldn't get it made just yet, but wanted to get it on paper as things were coming together in my mind. I bought several of the components of this card earlier in the summer but due to vacation and other events, I had to put off breaking them in. Here, I used a variety of new goodies.

The card I posted yesterday used all Brights. Today's card uses all Subtles. Again I am having issues catching the right light and working with the sliders on my computer but I think you get the idea! I knew I wanted to use Marina Mist and I flipped through my Color Coach to find a good combination to work with my sketch. The combos on the Marina Mist card weren't right for the project but I eventually found this on another card - Marina Mist, Rose Red, and Perfect Plum. I wanted to recess the lovely Thank You sentiment behind a raised frame rather than just cutting it and plopping it onto my card. This required some planning and eyeballing and a few Post Its to get the die cuts just right. I used the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Labels Collections dies to cut the frame.

I stamped the sentiment image in Perfect Plum on white card stock. Originally, I colored it with markers using all of the colors but it didn't turn out like I imagined, so I stamped only the one color and laid on the other colors. I cut out the white piece with the 3rd largest die from the Labels Collection framelits. I stamped the image again in Marina Mist and cut out only the words, then glued them over the Plum. I colored the heart with a Rose Red marker but didn't like it, so I punched a Small Heart in the same color and popped it up on a dimensional, and added a rhinestone. I cut the purple frame with the #3 framelit and then centered #4, securing with two Post-Its, to cut the inside opening. The smaller die left an indentation so I used the opposite side as the top - which has a lot of marks from my very battered cutting pad, but I liked it better than the indent so I kept it. I cut the Rose Red layer with the #2 die, then cut the center with #4. I glued the Rose Red and Perfect Plum layers directly together using 2-way glue, then adhered strips of Dimensionals to the back and popped this frame up above the stamped layer. The Marina Mist strip was embossed using the Stripes folder, which I had to run twice due to the width. I cut two Perfect Plum borders with the doily-look Finishing Touches edgelit and slid them under the Marina Mist layer. The Wild Wasabi leaves were cut with my Lovely Leaves sizzlit - I cut two, glued one down and cut the other into pieces and filled in around the edge of the frame. I punched Rose Red and Marina Mist with the Boho Blossoms punch for the flowers, and blinged out the centers with large rhinestones. There is a matching Perfect Plum layered flower on the inside of the card.

The result is mostly clean and simple, although the assembly wasn't necessarily super easy. I love the colors! What do you think? Don't you love it when the idea that has captured your imagination comes to life just as you had pictured it?

Thanks for stopping by!
Becca

Supplies Used - All Stampin' Up:
Stamp Set: From the Heart
Ink & Card Stock: Whisper White, Marina Mist, Rose Red, Perfect Plum, Wild Wasabi
Big Shot & Accessories: Labels Collection Framelits, Finishing Touches Edgelits, Little Leaves Sizzlit, Stripes Embossing Folder
Other: Boho Blossoms Punch, Basic Rhinestones, Stampin' Dimensionals, 2-Way Glue

Owls for Freshly Made Sketches

I just love a good sketch. I don't always have time to play along but I couldn't resist this one from Freshly Made Sketches. #49 - almost to the magical number, 50! I recently bought the Owl Builder punch and had to use it. These little guys aren't so little any more when you are lining up 5 of them! Here's my take on the sketch, built on a 5x7 card base.

Cute, right? I have a thing for using the same family of colors. I just started pulling card stock out of my Brights folders and came up with this combination. The yellow die cut is a creative opportunity - I stamped the sentiment in Pacific Point and it looked a little crooked to me, so I covered it up... probably would have been better in Pacific Point on white but I'm not going to change it now. Anyway these little owls were so cute, I had to make another one for the inside.

I think it's pretty apparent what supplies I used so I won't list them all this time. Have a great week - I actually have another post coming tomorrow, surprise!!

Thanks for stopping!
Becca