Coffee and Friends are the Perfect Blend Card

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!  It was a relatively quiet one for us -- still trying to catch up on everything post-vacation but did manage to sneak in a fun hike at a local lake with my guys (they were trying to fish, but didn't get any bites . . . just as well as far as I'm concerned!)  

Today's card is one I created for a recent new catalog card swap -- received some beautiful cards back from that, which will soon be added to my display boards for those of you who are local to see!  (If you are not local and would like to see photos of those, please leave me a comment or send me an email, and I'll see what I can do for you!)  Anyway, here's the card, made using the new Perfect Blend stamp set from the new Idea Book:

This is a Double Dutch fold card (there's an excellent tutorial for how to create this style of card here).  The base of it is Pool Party Card Stock, and the doors on the right side are created out of Baked Brown Sugar Card Stock.   I also used Baked Brown Sugar Classic Ink for the stamping, Baked Brown Sugar card stock for the Artisan Label punched-piece behind the greeting, and there's a piece of the new Baked Brown Sugar Ruffle Stretch Trim peeking out from behind the greeting as well.  (Can you tell I'm loving this new In Color!?)

Along with the Ruffle Trim, I used some This and That Epic Day Washi Tape and a Vintage Faceted Designer Button with some Linen Thread tied through it to dress up the card.

For the coffee, I stamped the image several times on Very Vanilla as well as a couple different patterns of the Epic Day This and That Designer Series Paper (be sure to stock up on it during the buy 3 get 1 free sale from now through July 31st!) before fussy cutting and paper piecing it.

For the color behind the coffee, the Circle Collection framelits came in handy to cut a mask one size smaller than the framelit I used to die cut the Vanilla layer.  Then, I sponged inside the mask, first with Daffodil Delight, followed by Crisp Cantaloupe, and finally Calypso Coral.

This card makes me want to call up some friends and head out for some coffee!  How about you?

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Epic CASE'd Birthday Card

Aloha!  I'm just getting back in the swing of things after returning from a week vacationing on the beautiful island paradise of Kaua'i!  Tough, I know!!!

Anyway, wanted to pop in and share a card today!  I CASE'd this one from a sample Stampin' Up! created during the demonstrator sneak peek for the new Idea Book back in May.  This is a 4-1/4" x 4-1/4" card.  I changed the designer paper used from the Soho Subway in their sample to This and That Epic Day Designer Series Paper, but otherwise, the rest of the card is the same:

Recipe:

Stamps:  Label Love Stamp Set
Ink:  Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad
Paper:  Crumb Cake Card Stock; This and That Epic Day Designer Series Paper
Accessories:  Linen Thread, Very Vintage Buttons, Artisan Label Punch, Bitty Banner Framelits Dies, and circle punch from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack


Thanks for visiting!
Michelle

By the way, if you haven't checked out this week's digital downloads yet, be sure to pop over to my online store to see them!

Two-fer for the Tangerine Scene Tuesday Trigger Challenge

I recently came across a challenge that's new to me -- the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger -- and couldn't resist playing along with their Scene in Tangerine challenge.  I love these colors -- so bright, happy, and summer-y!  Here's the Trigger photo and link to the challenge (there's still time to play along as it is open until July 14th!):

Challenge Link

In fact, I found this so inspiring, I ended up creating two cards for the challenge!  

Here's the first one:

For this card, I first took inspiration from the colors in the Trigger photo -- I decided to use Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, and Gumball Green as the closest colors I could think of to the embroidery floss, as well as Crumb Cake and Whisper White from the ric rac holder and background fabric, respectively.  I also liked the pop of black from the embroidery floss tags and decided to incorporate that into my design by stamping my greeting in Basic Black ink.  

The ric rac in the photo reminded me of the oval chevron background stamp in the Oh, Hello stamp set, so I decided to use that.  And, I remembered seeing this gorgeous card on Gayle Wheeler's Stampingville blog, where she created an ombre technique by using sponge daubers to ink up the chevron background stamp.  I still want to try the ombre effect, but had fun using that technique with Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, and Gumball Green to create a fun background for this card's greeting.  I actually ended up sponging over the stamping as well to make the color a bit more intense and to coordinate better with the "grunge" feel of the background paper.  Here's a close up of the oval piece:   

I found the background paper in the Epic Day This and That Designer Series Paper pack, and decided to stamp it with the patterned arrow and stitched arrow images from the Oh, Hello stamp set.  I used Gumball Green ink for that.  The ribbon peeking out from behind the oval is Gumball Green Stitched 3/8" Ribbon.

For the flower, I selected the sketched flower image from the Flower Shop stamp set, since it reminded me a bit of embroidery floss.  I stamped that three times (using the Rock and Roll technique for the top image -- inking first in Daffodil Delight, then rolling the edges in Pumpkin Pie), punched out with the coordinating punch, and sponged the edges.  I used embroidery floss and created a bunch of french knots in the flower's center.  The multi-patterned flower from the Flower Shop stamp set, stamped in Gumball Green, makes some fun leaves for the flower.

The second card came together more quickly.  Using the stamp sets I already had out from the first card, I decided to stamp a line of the patterned arrow images from the Oh, Hello set in each of the three colors of ink I'd selected, onto Whisper White card stock, and then add a matching flower from the Flower Shop set along the line:

I stamped the greeting in Basic Black and the stitching in Baked Brown Sugar.  The card base is Daffodil Delight, and I added a layer of Pumpkin Pie in between that and the Whisper White stamped layer.  My flowers needed a little something extra to dress them up, and the smallest size of the new designer buttons turned out to be just the thing!  (The yellow and green are from the Regals and the orange is from the Brights collection.)

Hope these brighten your day, and hope you'll play along with the challenge, too!

Thanks,
Michelle

Mojo Butterflies with This and That

I've been missing playing along with the Mojo Monday sketch challenge, and was so happy to finally have a chance this week to do one of the sketches!  This week's sketch #290 worked well to create this summery card to swap with my SUper Friends group when we met today:

  

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Papillion Potpourri, A Round Array (sneak peek, also available as part of a bundle with the coordinating 7/8" Scallop Circle Punch)

Ink:  Calypso Coral, Pool Party, and Basic Gray

Paper:  Calypso Coral, Very Vanilla, and Crumb Cake, This and That Epic Day Designer Paper

Accessories:  1" Square Punch, 7/8" Scallop Circle Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch, Epic Day This and That Designer Washi Tape, Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon, Stampin' Sponges.

The Epic Day This and That supplies used on this card are party of the Epic Day This and That sneak peek bundle, available for 15% off the price they will be in the 2013-2014 Catalog, but only until April 30th!  You can get yours in my online store here.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle