My husband's birthday

My husband turned 50 this week. Today is his party, so what better time to post his card - aside from the actual day, of course?

I  used some retired Blueberry Crisp DSP, which I prettied up with a black flourish from Baroque Motifs. I am going to be SO SAD when that stamp set retires. It really is one of my favorites. I cut and notched a strip of Not Quite Navy, punched a piece of Very Vanilla with the Decorative Label Punch, and added a 3" 50 that my friend graciously cut for me using her Cricut. Thanks, J! I mounted the decorated panel on a Pacific Point card base.

Since my husband shares his birthday with his mom, we went to her house for the weekend. Of course, there was cake. My sister in law picked it. Isn't she sweet? :)

On his actual birthday, we went to the new Japanese steakhouse in town. We sat at a teppanyaki table and got the whole show. It was SO FUN, we all had a great time! I had never been to this kind of restaurant before. I know the manager so he assured me we would get one of their very funniest chefs. I doubt it would have been much less of an experience with any of the other staff but I appreciated it! The waiter was fun and friendly, too. Highly recommend. My stepson had his friend make another fun cake. (No cake duty for me at all this year! Thanks, guys!) Hubby watches A LOT of Western movies. He likes cowboy stuff. See where this is going?

I laughed so hard I thought I would cry. 5?? LOL! :) There is a 50 on the side of the cake. Nicole made a Guiness cake. So, it's a kid cake on the outside and a grown up cake on the inside. It was so good and so rich and my piece was way too big! I felt bad not eating it all but what I finished was fabulous. If you need a baker in town for a special event, I can pass on her card! My stepson got him a Toy Story card that plays "You've Got a Friend In Me" - which also said Happy 5th Birthday on the front but he added a zero. Awesome.



Anyway, this is still a paper crafting blog so here is another shot of the card I made. I didn't want to be mean, I didn't want to make fun, I just wanted something nice that still had big black numbers. :) And in case you are wondering, NO I will not be 50 any time soon. I still have a long way to go until I hit 40!

Thanks for looking, hope it made you smile!!

Becca

Supplies Used:
Stamp Set: Baroque Motifs
Ink: StazOn Jet Black
Card Stock: Pacific Point, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, Basic Black; Blueberry Crisp DSP
Punch: Decorative Label Punch

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My mom's birthday again!

It's my mom's birthday today! She is in Norway visiting a friend and having a fabulous time, I'm sure. I am guilty of good intentions gone awry, as usual. The card is at her house but it missed her. Sigh. She'll open it when she gets home.

Once again, I used the Sale-A-Bration Everyday Enchantment designer series paper to guide me on this card. The base pattern and pleated rosette (I cannot call them "lollies", I just can't...) are made from this paper pack. I used the Triple Treat flower stamped in Soft Suede on Very Vanilla punched with the Fancy Flower, layered up using the Triple Layer Blossom punch in Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, and Pool Party. The embellishment is held together with the cute butterfly from the SAB brad and ribbon pack. I layered the rosette over Pool Party ruffled ribbon. The knot is tied separately and adhered with a glue dot.

A closer look at the rosette and punched layers.

You can see I used Pool Party for the entire card base. Usually, I will create a card front and glue it onto white to save $$ - I'm a stamper on a budget! - but hey, this is for my mom and I have a LOT of Pool Party card stock. :) The sentiment is stamped in Soft Suede using SAB set Elementary Elegance, which is where I also got the little crown stamp - shown here in Peach Parfait tone-on-tone and fussy cut.

 I mailed this in a bubble envelope due to the layers but I made a matching envelope anyway. It was a labor of love. See all the colors? I love that Stampin' Up! color products all match.

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you!
Becca

Supplies Used:
Stamp Sets: Elementary Elegance, Triple Treat Flower
Ink: Soft Suede, Peach Parfait; markers: Soft Suede, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz
Card Stock: Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait; Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper
Punches: Fancy Flower, Triple Layer Blossom, corner rounder
Other: Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon, Everyday Enchantment Brad and Ribbon Pack, scoring tool

Club mini page

At our monthly stamp club, we wanted to get back to offering a 6x6 scrapbook page for those who are more into the scrapping fun of stamping. I used the colors in the Beau Chateau designer series paper to inspire this page. I had worked on a project this winter using Hello Doily, embossed and burnished on a neutral background, that just isn't working out the way I wanted it to, but the concept looked so good I knew I would use it again soon.

Of course, the photo panel is empty. It is not glued in, to allow the user to properly crop the photo of their choice and maybe trim the mat if needed. The pink and blue panels are glued into a pocket rather than being attached completely. Hello Doily is stamped in Versamark onto Crumb Cake card stock and heat embossed using white embossing powder. After the embossing has cooled, burnish around and inside the doily with Soft Suede ink. Wipe of the excess from the white using a facial tissue. The butterfly and key are part of the Elementary Elegance Sale-A-Bration set. The butterfly is stamped in Marina Mist ink, stamped off once; the key is Crumb Cake, full strength. The mat is cut from Soft Suede card stock, as is the Lace Ribbon Punch strip. The sentiment is from Word Play, stamped in Marina Mist on matching card stock and torn; matted onto Pink Pirouette which is torn to complement the MM layer. I like that the supplies used are fairly minimal but there are a couple of techniques used, making this a simple page for beginners.

Here is the page with the mat removed. Hope you enjoyed it! I love the doily image and need to find lots more uses for it. Thanks for stopping by!

Becca

Supplies Used:
Stamp Sets: Hello Doily, Elementary Elegance, Word Play
Card Stock: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Marina Mist, Pink Pirouette
Ink: VersaMark, Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
Other: White embossing powder, heat tool, Lace Ribbon Punch

Be Mine, Valentine!

I made this long before Valentine's Day but never got it posted. I used retired Love Letter designer series paper and the new Paper Doily Die and Fashionable Hearts embosslit to come up with a classic, pretty card.

Of course, Stampin' Up makes it easy to coordinate solid card stock with their DSP. I intended to use the reverse side of the doily die cut but the vanilla and black side looked better - so that is what I used! The hearts were cut from several of the patterned papers and an assortment of them found places on the card. I cut a few from Riding Hood Red and filled the upper right corner, rather than leaving it bare or adding more DSP. The Be Mine sentiment is from a long-retired set.

I layered torn strips of Basic Black and Very Vanilla onto the bottom of the card and glued away!

I hope you like my Valentine, and can forgive me for being tardy posting it! Thanks for stopping by!

Becca

Supplies Used:
Stamp Set:   (retired)
Card Stock: Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red; Love Letters Designer Series Paper (retired)
Ink: Riding Hood Red
Other: Paper Doily Die, Fashionable Hearts Embosslit

Happy Birthday in color

I love the colors in the Sale-A-Bration exclusive paper, Everyday Enchantment. They are so unexpected together. I wanted to see if I could do the same combination in a completely different pattern - no designer paper. What do you think? The bright colors on top of the Pool Party base really pop.

I used my color spritzer tool to apply the inks to the card base. The Poppy Parade got away from me a little bit, so I took the "creative opportunity" to add a brad from the SAB brad & ribbon pack.

I punched out Peach Parfait, Calypso Coral, and Pear Pizzazz with my Petite Pennant Punch and laid out the little flags in an order that made sense, on top of the Lucky Limeade organza ribbon from the brad & ribbon pack. I carried over the color using the Itty Bitty Bits stamp set and the Punch Pack four-petal flower, topped with a pearl. You can see how layered the colors in order on each flag. I used these same colors of marker with the Color Spritzer. The sentiment is from the Elementary Elegance SAB set, stamped in Soft Suede ink.

A not-so-great shot of the matching envelope... and one last look at the card. How do you think these colors work together apart from the Designer Series Paper?

To claim your Sale-A-Bration freebies, contact me! It's on until March 31st. Spring is coming and these products are so fantastic for breaking you out of that winter slump!

Thanks for stopping by.
-Becca

Flower Fest minis

I found a cute set I forgot to post a long time ago. I used the Flower Fest set to make a few 3x3 cards. I don't know what it is about this size, they are just fun to make. The stamp designs work so well for these tiny treats.

Here I used the Melon Mambo embossing powder - great for a pop of color on dark card stock.

Tempting Turquoise butterfly! Yellow bling from my stash, and the result of a "creative opportunity" - I had stamped the sentiment directly on the card and it was SO crooked! Magic coverup!

I just love this little rose. More of the colored embossing powder, and a little pop of textured Wild Wasabi.

Here they are, all in a row! A fun gift for a friend.

Becca

Supplies used:
Stamp Set: Flower Fest, Bold Blossom (retired)
Card Stock: Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black, Wild Wasabi
Ink: Versamark, Wild Wasabi, Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron, Early Espresso, Staz-On Jet Black
Other: Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Large Scalloped Circle Punch, 1" Circle Punch, Scalloped Edge Punch, Melon Mambo Embossing Powder, colored rhinestones, 3x3 mini envelopes