Marlene's Live In the Sunshine Diorama Card

Here's another of the beautiful cards I received in a recent swap with my amazing and talented friend Marlene Caravello!  This card showcases lots of great new products!!

This is a beautiful diorama card, made with a piece of the new Natural Composition Specialty Paper in the front, and for the background a piece of paper from the new Comfort Cafe Designer Series Paper.  The opening in the Natural Composition paper is die cut with one of the new Floral Frames Framelits.

The sunshine inside the card is punched out of Summer Starfruit card stock, and I am guessing that Marlene created it by punching twice with the Scallop Circle Punch.  The cute bird in its nest is stamped using the image from the Language of Friendship set, and punched using the Bird Builder Punch.

The butterfly on the front of the card is punched from Midnight Muse Card Stock using the new Elegant Butterfly Punch, and embossed with the new Fancy Fan Folder.

The greeting is from the Pursuit of Happiness stamp set.  Marlene punched it out with the Scalloped Oval Punch, and sponged around the edges.

Marlene used the new Summer Starfruit 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon along the bottom of the cards.

I love this card -- thanks so much, Marlene!!!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Marlene's Thanks a Million Card

Happy Friday to you!  Here's another of the beautiful cards I received from my super-talented friend Marlene Caravello:

And, here's the inside:

I love all the new products Marlene used on this card -- the International Bazaar Designer Series Paper, the Elegant Butterfly punch, the Fancy Fan Embossing Folder, the Stitched Midnight Muse Ribbon, the Everything Eleanor stamp set (flourish and background for the Apothecary Accents piece inside the card), the Apothecary Accents Framelits, and I think at least one of the flower layers may have been die cut with the Floral Frames Framelits.  Oh, and I think the splash of Tangerine Tango on the top of the inside was added with the awesome new Stampin' Spritzers!

Isn't this a wonderful card?!

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a great weekend!

- Michelle

Marlene's Natural Composition Card

My amazingly talented friend Marlene Caravello and I have been swapping again!  We decided to swap cards made with new products from the 2012-13 Idea Book.  Here's one of Marlene's beautiful creations -- this one is made with the new Natural Composition Specialty Paper:

Marlene also used the beautiful new Delicate Designs Embossing Folders and I think the coordinating Large Scallop Edgelit die.  The texture of the embossing on this specialty paper (both from the embossing folders and the way the glossy patterns are printed on the paper) is wonderful -- such an elegant card!  Thanks so much, Marlene, for sending it to me!!!

And, thank you for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Sweets and Treats

Thought I'd sneak over here to the blog and quickly share a few things!  First, I wanted to show you the special sweet treat I made for my friends who came to the Creative Connections class on Sunday -- yummy vanilla chai cupcakes!

Saw the recipe for these on Pinterest, and couldn't resist trying it out.  Will definitely make these again.  The recipe came from The Novice Chef Blog (her pictures of these are so much better than mine!  Should have piped the icing the way she did . . . Next time!!!)

Also, have a paper-craft project to share with you today -- a beautiful treat box my friend Agnes gave me:

I love the color combination, the beautiful butterfly made from the Mixed Bunch stamp set and Blossom Punch, and how she made this using two pieces cut from the Fancy Favor Box die.  Very clever!!!  Thanks again, Agnes!!!

And, thank you for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

"Friendship? Yes, Please!"

That's one of the sentiments I love in the new From My Heart stamp set, and I think it also sums up one of the great things I love about my monthly Creative Connections Classes -- the friendships that grow when we're stamping together!  So, From My Heart seemed a natural choice to use for one of the cards we made this month.  I've also been seeing a lot of great samples made using a technique Dawn Olchefske has dubbed the Triple Time Stamping Technique.  Dawn has a wonderful video showing how to do this technique, including the cutting measurements for the different layers, which you can view here. 

And, here's the sample I created for the class:

In addition to the From My Heart set, I used the Mixed Bunch and Papillon Potpourri sets.  The card base and solid layers are Midnight Muse.  Stamping is done with Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple and Summer Starfruit.  The card is embellished with the beautiful new Midnight Muse stitched ribbon.

I finished the inside of the card with some Whisper White and a few stamped images (apologies about the blurry photo!):

Here's another card I created with another of the From My Heart images as the focal point:

I just shifted to a landscape card so the image would fit nicely.  The rest of the supplies used are the same.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

P.S.  To order supplies to create your own cards, please be sure to visit my online store here.

Halloween Sneak Peek!

I've been working on a couple cards for a swap using items from the upcoming Holiday Mini (which starts August 1st . . . so not too far away!), and thought I'd give you a sneak peek of the first one I finished!  Here it is:

Can you guess which are the new products on here?  I'll reveal the full card and its "recipe" next month after the swap is complete!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Up, Up, and Away . . .

Today, I have a few cards to share with you that I recently created with the Up, Up & Away stamp set.  First up is a card I created to go with the end of school year present for my youngest son's kindergarten teacher:

The card base is Real Red, wheeled with the Elementary Alphabet, School Colors, and So Many Stars Builders Wheels and Versamark, and then embossed using Clear Embossing Powder (although a few flecks of White and Iridescent Ice seem to have snuck their way into my clear powder!  Kind of like the look, but might not be such a good thing on every project!)  

I cut out a piece of Whisper White with the Apothecary Labels Framelits for the focal piece.  The background was made by using a thin piece of paper punched out with the Cupcake punch to mask off and then sponge Bashful Blue around to create clouds.  I colored the balloon using Stampin' Write Markers, stamped on a separate piece of Whisper White, cut out, and then adhered to the Apothecary Label using Stampin' Dimensionals.  The balloon basket was stamped in Early Espresso, pennants in Real Red, and greeting in Pacific Point.

The second card is a Father's Day card, though would make a great card for other special occasions as well:

 Here's a close up of the balloons and sky:

Again, the balloons were created by coloring the stamp image with Stampin' Write Markers, stamping on a separate piece of paper, cutting out, and adhering with a dimensional.  

The card base for this card is Not Quite Navy.  The focal piece is die cut from the Apothecary Accents Framelits, and was sponged with Not Quite Navy, using the same technique as the card above.

The greeting is stamped on a piece of Whisper White die cut using the Bitty Banners Framelits.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

A Few More Double Dutch Fold Cards

I have some new sneak peek items from the upcoming Holiday Mini on my work table waiting for my attention, so hopefully will soon have some sneak peek projects to show you!  In the meantime, here are a few more double dutch fold cards that I've created!  (In case you missed my earlier post with information about how to create these, here's the link to it)  

I used the new Apothecary Accents Framelits to die cut the focal piece for each of these, and the Bitty Banners to die cut the greetings.  First is a Father's Day Card:

I used the Packed for Dad set (from the Occasions Mini, not currently available), as well as the Perfect Words stamp set (also now retired).

The next card is a card I created for one of my older son's friend's birthdays.  His friend loves soccer, and my son chose the new Gumball Green In Color to be the main color for the card:

I used the Extreme Elements and Goal stamp sets (both now retired) on this card, but wish I would have had the new Great Sport set, as it would have been great fun for this card, too!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!!!

- Michelle

Monochromatic Doily and Circle Circus Cards

Here are a few more cards created using the same technique described in yesterday's post (images stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder, then ink matching the card stock color is sponged over and around the embossed image).  These cards use the Delicate Doily and Circle Circus stamp sets (instead of Reason to Smile as in yesterday's post):

 

Wouldn't this technique be pretty with snowflakes for a winter or Christmas card, too?  Lots of possibilities!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Lots of Reasons to Smile

Hi, everyone!  We're back from our summer vacation, and had a wonderful time in Colorado!  I'm rested and ready to get back to some stamping and crafting . . . so should be lots to see on the blog in coming days!!!   

The first thing I'm excited to share with you is a stamp set that is called Reason to Smile . . . you've already seen a preview of it here on my blog in this post a little while back, and I've had some fun playing with it since.  I decided to try a bit of a different technique with the set -- combining a monochromatic look with the emboss-resist technique.   I was inspired to do this by an ad I received in the mail from a furniture company, which showed a beautiful ivory-colored chair, upholstered in bright pink fabric with roses embroidered in white all over it.  That inspired me to create this card:

This card has the outline daisy image stamped in Versamark and embossed with white embossing powder on Primrose Petals card stock.  I sponged over each daisy with Primrose Petals ink to make them pop!

I added a faux ribbon (just folded a strip of Primrose Petals cardstock to create the look of ribbon).  The greeting is from the Bitty Banners stamp set, stamped in Primrose Petals classic ink, and die cut with the coordinating framelit from the Bitty Banners Framelits.  For the finishing touch, I added a Rhinestone Jewel on the greeting.

I decided to experiment with some other colors as well -- here they are:

From left to right, the colors used are Raspberry Ripple, Melon Mambo, Primrose Petals, and Summer Starfruit.  Which of those is your favorite?

Do you need a Reason to Smile?  The stamp set is only available this month (until July 31st), and is only $5 with a purchase of $50 in Stampin' Up! merchandise.  Here are more details:

You can get your Reason to Smile by visiting my online store!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Vintage Fan Fair Cards

Today's card has a fun vintage feel -- when I saw the bicycle design in the new Fan Fair Designer Series Paper, I thought it would be perfect for a summer birthday card!  Here's what I ended up designing:

The card base is Crumb Cake, and I added a layer of Island Indigo under the bicycle paper layer.  I used the Apothecary Label Framelits to create a Very Vanilla and an Island Indigo label, and stamped on the Very Vanilla label with numbers and the outline from the Memorable Moments stamp set.  The Riding Hood Red label in between the two Apothecary Labels is die cut using one of the Apothecary Accents Framelits.  The "happy birthday" is stamped in Island Indigo using one of the stamps from the Itty Bitty Banners stamp set and die cut using the Bitty Banner Framelits.  The Riding Hood Red, flowered designer paper layer is also cut using the Bitty Banner Framelits.  I used 1/8" Mini Brads on the greeting, and added one of the new Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons inside an image from the Papaya Collage Stamp Set, which I stamped on the designer paper in Island Indigo.

We made this card at my June Creative Connections class, and I decided to add a little more oomph to the Island Indigo Apothecary Label by embossing it.  I used the Stripes Embossing Folder, and like how that came out.  Another of my friends used the Fancy Fan folder, and that turned out great, too.

Here's a closer view so you can see the embossing a little better:

Inside the card, I stamped the numbers from the Memorable Moments set in Crumb Cake ink:

Here's a close up of one of the Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons on the card:

Hope you enjoyed seeing this card!  Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle