Fabulous Friends Friday: SUper Friends April Swap Cards

Happy Friday!  Hope you are having a great day!  I have some amazing cards from my SUper Friends demonstrator group to share with you today!  

Our swap challenge this month was to create a card inspired by either by a piece of clothing or some other object.  It was fun to see what everyone did with that!

Nancy created this elegant Mother's Day card in navy and vanilla, using a die cut from the Flourish Thinlits Dies, and lots of beautiful sparkle from rhinestones:

Judy-Ann's card incorporated a gorgeous butterfly, color combo, and polka dots from her inspiration piece -- and an impressive amount of piecing die cut pieces, cut with the Butterflies Thinlits Dies:

Laurie created this sweet Mother's Day card with a playful color combo, inspired by a designer bed set, using the Swirly Bird Photopolymer Bundle

Jana used stamps, papers and a tassel from the Eastern Palace Suite, from which demonstrators have been able to preorder, this month for her classy card.  (Look closely and you may be able to spot a couple new In Colors here as well!)   And, if you like what you see, stay tuned, because this new Suite will be available in May as an early release from the new catalog!

Margery's fabulous card is inspired by the current succulent trend.  She used the Oh So Succulent Bundle (retiring -- be sure to get yours while they are still available!), with a planter created using the awesomely realistic Hardwood background stamp:

Agnes created a beautifully feminine Mother's Day card, using the Bloomin' Heart Thinlits Dies and retiring Botanical Builder Framelits (on sale -- don't miss out on these either!)

Connie S.'s crisp color combo and detailed daisy design (how about that alliteration!) came from an adorable top she wore to our swap!  She, like Judy, did an incredible amount of paper piecing to create this beauty!  The daisy die is from the Timeless Tags Thinlits (retiring, on sale, and only a little bit of inventory left-- be sure to order soon, so you don't miss out!)

 And, like Jana, I used the dies and stamps from the Eastern Palace Suite to create my card -- plus some of the Eastern Gold Vinyl stickers (flower centers) and the Lovely Stitching stamp set.

Hope you enjoyed these!  Thanks so much to the SUper Friends for these amazing creations.  And, thank you for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Easter Eggs and Cartons

Hi!  Hope you had a Happy Easter!  Life has been busy and filled with some exciting new changes, so you might have noticed that I have fallen behind in posting!  I do have some Easter projects I'd like to share with you -- better late than never, right?! ;)    

I found some chalkboard eggs, and thought it would be fun to dress them up Stampin'  Up! style!  I started by using White Craft Ink with stamps from Basket Bunch and a past Paper Pumpkin kit (February 2016's stamp set):  

I discovered that the ink was not drying on the eggs' surface, so decided to solve that problem and add a bit of color as well, using some dimensional paper paint:

I also decided to paint and decorate some wooden eggs.  I started with acrylic paint, but then decided to go for an ombre look, so sponged on some Stampin' Up! Classic Ink (Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Cucumber Crush, Dapper Denim, and Sweet Sugarplum).  I stamped dots from the Avant Garden (Sale-a-Bration) set with gold acrylic paint (an experiment . . . probably would have been a lot easier just to use gold ink!), then finished with some dimensional paint for the border and some rub-ons (sealed on with a coating of clear nail polish):

I decided to package these up in Mini Egg Cartons, which I had spritzed with Pool Party and Tempting Turquoise and a mystery color (either Peekaboo Peach or Strawberry Slush) with Calypso Coral on the outside:

For the top, I added one of the doilies from the Occasions Catalog (on the retiring list, and now sold out :(  ), some In Color Ruched Ribbon (also retiring, but still available as of the time I'm writing), and some die cut flowers (made with the Botanical Builders Framelits).  

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Retiring List is Up!

Hello!  Yesterday, Stampin'  Up! announced the list of items that will retire on May 31st or while supplies last . . . and some of these items are available at up to 50%!   

You can view the retiring list here, or see the retiring items in my online store  by clicking here.  Be sure to get your favorites before they are gone for good!

Happy Stampin',
Michelle

Pumpkin Birthdays, Bunnies, and More!

Hi!  Happy Monday!  Hope your week is off to a great start!

Today is the deadline to sign up for this month's Paper Pumpkin kit, which is designed by Stampin' Up!'s CEO Sara Douglass, and promises to be a very exciting surprise . . . including a special gift!  To find out more about this month's kit or to subscribe, please click here. 

I've been finishing up projects from the past couple months' kits and have some of those to share with you today, too.  First, is this fabulous card from the February Many Happy Birthdays kit:

When you pull the tab, it reveals a hidden message inside (and a great place to put a gift card!):

I've also been having fun assembling the Bunny Buddies kit from March 2017.  Here's how the adorable bunnies turned out:

(I added a couple hearts from the Subtle Enamels Shapes on for the noses on these two!)

And, Isabella didn't like the bunnies getting all the attention, she decided to sneak in on the photo shoot, too:

The Bunny Buddies kit also contains supplies to create some coordinating note cards, and here's how those turned out:

I'm also having fun creating some alternate projects with the leftover supplies, and hope to be able to show you those soon, too!  (Still putting finishing touches on them!)

And, don't forget, if you'd like to find out more about Paper Pumpkin or subscribe, please click here.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Succulent Box Centerpieces

Happy Saturday!  A quick post today to show you some boxes I created a couple weeks ago for centerpieces for a very special banquet I helped host at our church.  Here they are all bunched together on my desk as I was finishing them up (wish I'd taken a picture of them on the tables at the banquet, but alas, was too busy with other things then!):

To create these, I used the Window Box Thinlits and cut boxes out of a combination of Early Espresso, Crumb Cake and Sahara Sand card stock.  I stamped the boxes with the Hardwood background stamp before assembling.  Then, I added succulents to the top created with the Oh So Succulent bundle.  I cut the succulents out of Emerald Envy, Mint Macaron, Cucumber Crush, and Sweet Sugarplum.  I stamped all of them with Rich Razzleberry.  We tucked m&ms inside the boxes, and they were a big hit, especially with the kids, who discovered the boxes' secret way faster than I expected!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Fabulous Friends Friday: SUper Friends Samplers Complete and Fun Rainy Day Surprises!

Happy Friday!!!  A couple Fridays ago, I showed you the 3x3s created by my SUper Friends demonstrator group.  Well, I finally had a chance to get those into their frames, so have the finished project to show you today:

I used Sweet Sugarplum envelope paper layered under a sheet from the Fabulous Foil Acetate for the sampler backgrounds.  The one on top uses the polka dots, while the bottom has the scalloped pattern.  Which do you like better?

Today was a fun mail day as well . . . a sweet friend dropped off a good luck present, complete with homemade card! . . . and underneath that are some swap cards that arrived and a box from my friend Marlene!  Lots of papercrafting goodness!!!  Oh Happy Day!  :)

Wishing you lots of papercrafting goodness this weekend as well!

Thanks for visiting!

- Michelle

Egg-Stra Special Card and Shaving Cream Technique Tutorial

Hi!  Today I have an "Egg-stra" Special card and technique tutorial to share with you.  First, the card:

The basket, eggs, and greeting were created with the Basket Bunch Bundle.  The flower stamped on the background is from the Avant Garden Sale-a-Bration set. And, I used a bit of Gold Sequin Trim along the greeting to complement the Gold Foil die cut detail on the eggs. 

I created the marbled background for this card using the Shaving Cream Technique.   The colors in it are Sweet Sugarplum, Peekaboo Peach, Flirty Flamingo, Watermelon Wonder, Mint Macaron, and Cucumber Crush (yes, I went a bit crazy with In Colors!).  And, actually, you might recognize the background -- the ovals I cut out were used to create one of the three by three pieces for the March SUper Friends sampler swap (you can see my original post about that here as well): 

While I was last working with shaving cream, I took some photos so you could see how I did it.  I started by squirting some shaving cream onto some plastic trays, then randomly dropping reinker over the shaving cream:

In the photo above, the tray on the left has Peekaboo Peach, Watermelon Wonder, Flirty Flamingo, and Sweet Sugarplum reinkers dripped on the shaving cream, while the tray on the right has Emerald Envy, Cucumber Crush, Dapper Denim and Sweet Sugarplum.

Next, I took a fork and ran it lightly through the shaving cream, swirling the colors a bit to create a marbled effect:

And, now it is time to place the paper onto the shaving cream:

After you lift it up, here's what the trays look like:

They can be reused several times, and even swirled again as desired.  For the paper, I use an old spatula to scrape of the cream and ink mixture, and may finish by wiping with a paper towel.

(Before you scrape, you could also place another piece of paper on top of these, press lightly, peel apart, and then "shave" off the cream and ink mixture from both pieces to make more background pieces at once).

Here is a card I made using one of the pieces with the Peekaboo Peach, Watermelon Wonder, Flirty Flamingo, and Sweet Sugarplum inks (you can read more about it in this previous post):

Please let me know if you try this technique - would love to see what you create!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle