Scallop Frame Challenge

Hi!  Back with another quick blog post today.  This one is the last of the three projects we created at this month's Creative Connections class.  For this one, my dear friend Jana, who was this month's hostess, gave me the challenge of coming up with a project that would use some Scallop Oval Frame die cuts we had saved after making these reindeer treats a couple years ago.  

I wanted to give the die cuts a bit of a makeover, so I embossed them in the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, then applied Very Vanilla Craft Ink onto the raised areas using a brayer.  I die cut a piece of Very Vanilla using one of the larger Labels Framelits, and stamped that using the Fresh Vintage Stamp Set and Elementary Elegance Stamp Set (both are free choices for Sale-a-Bration . . . only available a few more days!!!).   I then attached the two pieces, creating a tag, or a piece that could be attached to a card front . . . lots of possibilities.  Here's how it turned out:

 

The large butterfly on the frame is a scrap of Pumpkin Pie that was stamped with the Mixed Bunch stamp set in Real Red Classic Ink, then punched out with the Blossom Punch.  I cut the top two petals off to form the butterfly (inspired by the sample on page 16 of the Occasions Mini).  Then, tied some Calypso Coral Baker's Twine around the butterfly's body, and sponged the twine and butterfly with Early Espresso.  I also painted Gold Foil Smooch on the twine and around the edges of the butterfly's wings.  

Still have some Scallop Frames left . . . will have to come up with some more ideas for using them!  Would love to hear your ideas and suggestions!  (And would be willing to share if you'd like some to play with, too!)  Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

- Michelle

Easter Card for Creative Connections Class

This past Sunday was my March Creative Connections Class, and one of the cards I designed for it was this Easter card:

If it seems kind of familiar to you, that might be because I used the same layout as in my Hello Baby Bunny Card.  I just changed the colors and embellishments a bit.

This card has a Calypso Coral card stock base, with a Very Vanilla card stock layer on top of that.  The designer paper is one of the patterns from the Sale-a-Bration Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper (only available until March 31st!!!)  The ribbon across the top of the designer paper is the Baja Breeze Pleated Satin Ribbon.

The stamped images are from the Everybunny Stamp Set.  I watercolored the main image using ink from my ink pads and a Blender Pen.  The image was punched out using the 1-3/4" Circle Punch, and layered onto a piece of Early Espresso punched out using the 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Punch.

The bow next to the bunny is a faux bow (Mary Brown style), held together with one of the brads from the Sale-a-Bration Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad Pack.  I used the Lucky Limeade ribbon from that pack layered on top of some 3/8" Certainly Celery Taffeta Ribbon.

The little flowers are punched out of the Everyday Enchantment paper using the Boho Blossoms Punch.  I layered them together, then held the layers of each flower together using a brad from the Regals Collection.

Hope you like it!  Thanks for visiting my blog.

- Michelle

Elegant Birthday Cards

Happy Monday!  Today was a busy day here . . . trying to get reorganized after having been away for a couple days to play in the snow with my husband and our two little guys, and having a blast with a fun get together with my SUper Friends group, and doing all our regular school (plus now baseball season) routine entails!  Whew!

Anyway, I have a couple of special birthday cards I created recently to show you today.  These were created using the beautiful Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper (one of the awesome free items you can select as a reward during Sale-a-Bration!!!)  Here they are:

The card base is Calypso Coral.  The Everyday Enchantment pieces were cut using the Pennants Die. and were pieced together to form an almost quilt-like border.  I used a strip of the beautiful new Baja Breeze Pleated Ribbon along the edge of the designer series paper border.

"Happy Birthday" and the image around it are from the Elementary Elegance Sale-a-Bration stamp set, and were stamped on Very Vanilla using Early Espresso and Pool Party, respectively.  The piece was die cut using the Label Framelits die.  Underneath that are some scallops of the Everyday Enchantment paper that were die cut using the one of the scallops on the Pennant die.  That, in turn, is layered onto a piece of Pool Party cut out using a larger Label Framelits die.  (Can you tell I just love the Framelits?  Seems like I've been using them on almost everything I've been creating lately!)

The 3D rose embellishment was created by punching several pieces of Calypso Coral with the Fun Flower Punch.  I used the same technique I showed in this tutorial.  The leaves were punched out of Pear Pizzazz using the Blossom Petal Builder Punch.  I used my Simply Scored tool to add the lines to them.

And, I couldn't resist adding a few Pearl Jewels for a little extra touch of elegance.

If you'd like to order any of the supplies I used to make this card, please be sure to visit my online store.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Everyday Elegance - Clean and Simple

Here's another of the cards we made at my Creative Connections class:

I CASEd this design from this beautiful card by the amazing, inspiring Mercedes Weber here (you'll want to see some of her other amazing creations while you're there!)  For my card, I changed the colors just a little bit.  I used a Pear Pizzazz card stock base.  I layered on some striped paper from the Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper, which I had die cut using one of the Adorning Accents Edgelits Dies.  I then embossed the Pear Pizzazz card base to match the die cut layer using the Adorning Accents Textured Impressions Embossing Folders.  (Best to do this before adhering the die cut layer, otherwise you might end up with some lines on your die cut layer from the edges of the Adorning Accents folder).

The "Hello" from the Elementary Elegance stamp set is heat embossed in the right hand corner.  I first stamped in Versamark, then used White Embossing Powder.

To create the flower, I punched two flowers out of the Poppy Parade floral paper from the Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper using the Blossom Punch.  Then, I punched out another blossom using the Boho Blossoms Punch.  I distressed the petals a bit, then added a brad from the Everyday Enchantment Ribbon & Brad Pack through the flower layers to hold them together.  Here's a close up:

The two leaves were punched out using the Blossom Petals Builder Punch and Lucky Limeade card stock.  I used my Simply Scored to add some veins to the leaves.

Here's another similar card I created without the leaves, with the flower petals bent upwards a bit at the ends rather than distressed and with a greeting from the Kindness Matters stamp set.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Heart Shaped Easel Card

At my group's SUper Friends meeting last week, we made this heart shaped easel card:

 We started with a folded Poppy Parade card stock base, and another piece of Poppy Parade to make the card front.  Then, we used two pieces of Very Vanilla to cut the layers.  All pieces were cut with the new Heart Framelits. 

We stamped the Very Vanilla with images from P.S. I Love You (from the Occasions Mini) and Everyday Elegance (from Sale-a-Bration).  We used Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade, and Early Espresso Classic Ink to stamp.  To get the lighter shade of Calypso Coral for the hearts behind the cupid, I stamped off on scratch paper once before stamping on to the Very Vanilla.

Here's the card open:

Side view:

and here's the view from the back, which shows how the base and card front connect:

Hope you like this project!  Thanks for stopping by my blog!

- Michelle

Another Tea Shoppe Card

When my SUper Friends demonstrator group met last week, we had a swap, and here is the card I prepared for it:  

Can you tell how much I am enjoying the Tea Shoppe stamp set?!

This card is an adaptation of a card I saw and admired on Stampin' Connection (a special place Stampin' Up! provides for demonstrators to share ideas, projects, and more online).  The card that inspired me was this beauty by Mary Fish.

For my card, I changed the color scheme and papers.  I used Very Vanilla for the base, for one layer, and for the stamped squares.  The frames around the stamped squares and the layer on top of the card base are Early Espresso.  I also used a piece of the Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper (available as part of Sale-a-Bration!).  The colors for the tea cups are drawn from that paper -- Pool Party, Calypso Coral, and Poppy Parade.  I had fun using pearls to embellish my tea cups, as Mary Fish did on her card!  The little flower is punched from Pool Party card stock using the four petal flower punch from the Itty Bitty Shapes pack.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

It's Time to Sale-a-Brate!

Hi everyone!  I've been a little quiet this week because there's lots happening around here!!!  I'm the yearbook coordinator at my boys' school, and there's been quite a bit of coordinating to do this week.  We also have a couple birthdays coming up in our family, so trying to get ready for those.

Plus, it's Sale-a-Bration!  For those who don't already know, this is a fun and amazing time at Stampin' Up! when there are extra-special rewards for customers, hostesses, those who become demonstrators, and those who already are demonstrators!  Here's a little more information on that (and there's a link in my blog sidebar to the electronic version of the Sale-a-Bration brochure, if you'd like to see all the great products and ideas in that).

Here you can see the free tote hostesses can earn (adorable!!!), and for workshops with over $400 in orders (before tax and shipping), there's a wonderful product bundle as well (which includes the designer paper, brads, and ribbon shown in the photo below right!)

And, if you've ever considered becoming a demonstrator (or just want to take advantage of the amazing deal on the products in the starter kit!), you won't want to miss this:

Please be sure to contact me with any questions, if you'd like to place an order, be a hostess, or join the Stampin' Up! family and my team of SUper Friends!  (Speaking of which, we just had a get together last night, so I'll have some cards and a project to show you from that soon . . . stay tuned!)

In the meantime, did you notice my new blog banner?  It's made with images from the One Big Sale-A-Bration Content CD!   

- Michelle

P.S.  In case you're reading this on a feed and don't want to have to click through to see the banner, here it is: 

Hostess Tea Mysteries Revealed!

Before my hostess appreciation tea this weekend, I'd teased you with some photos of decorations and favors in progress.  (You can see those photos in this post and this post.)  Well, it's time for the big reveal!!  The first project was a special banner I created to decorate my "tea room" for the day . . . although I'm liking it so much I probably won't take it down until the boys or their dad voice some objection . . . we'll see how long that takes!  Oh, yes, here's the photo:

The banner pieces were cut from the beautiful Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper using the Perfect Pennants Die and the Big Shot.  The letters are from the Letter It stamp set, stamped in Calypso Coral on Very Vanilla.  I punched those out with the 1-1/4" Circle Punch, then sponged around the edges, first with Calypso Coral, then with Poppy Parade.  I layered the letters onto two flowers I'd punched out of vellum using the new Blossom Punch.  I sponged around the edges of the vellum flowers with Pool Party so they'd show up a little better.

The pennants were stitched onto the lengths of the Ruffled Pool Party Ribbon.  Then, I added other random embellishments to complete the project.

For the other project, those were upcycled glass containers that I filled with chocolates and gave out as party favors.  Here's the bigger picture as far as those were concerned:

Again, I used the Everyday Elegance Designer Paper on these.  The labels are stamped images from the Apothecary Labels stamp set, which I die cut using the Labels Framelits.  Ribbon is the Lucky Limeade and Calypso Coral taffeta, from the Everyday Elegance Embellishment set for Sale-a-Bration.

Finally, here are some of the goodies I prepared for the tea:

The top photo is of the "Bed of Roses" cake, brownies and Earl Grey Tea Cookies!  In the bottom photo are some tea sandwiches -- Greek Chicken, Cucumber and Egg Salad.  Yum!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Fresh Vintage Label Shaped Card for Late Night Stampers Challenge 156

Happy Friday!  We have a rainy day here . . . in fact, my boys are a bit disappointed because the rain is too light.  They were hoping for big rain and thunderstorms . . . that's pretty rare here, though!   And, that's something I'm thankful for since I'd seen plenty of those before we moved here!!!

Anyway, on to the card I want to share with you today!!!  This is a shaped card I came up with while working on a make and take for my hostess tea tomorrow, and it also happens to fit this week's challenge over at Late Night Stampers!!!  

I created this card using the Labels Framelits (can you tell I'm loving these!?!!!)  

This card is made with a Very Vanilla Base, and a Pool Party layer on top of that.  Then, I added a Very Vanilla frame, and inside that, another piece of Very Vanilla, cut with a smaller one of the Labels Framelits.  The Pool Party Base and center piece were both stamped with an image from the Fresh Vintage Sale-a-Bration set (Only 4 more days until Sale-a-Bration starts!!)  I then sponged around the center label with Pretty in Pink on top and Lucky Limeade on the bottom. 

The greeting is from the Apothecary Labels set, stamped in Lucky Limeade on Lucky Limeade Card Stock.  

Butterflies are embossed and die cut using the Beautiful Wings Embosslit and the Big Shot.  I added a Pearl Jewel in the center of each one.  

Here's another view, so you can see how this card opens from the side:

And, here's the back . . . you can see from this that I created the card by running the Very Vanilla card base through the Framelit with the fold inside one side of the frame:

  

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!!

- Michelle

Another Hostess Tea Sneak Peek

Here's another sneak peek at another project I've been creating for my upcoming hostess appreciation tea.  Can you guess what these will be?

The designer paper is again from the Everyday Enchantment Sale-a-Bration pack, and I paired it with ribbons from the Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad pack.  The labels are created with the Apothecary Labels Stamp set and the coordinating Labels Framelits from the new Occasions Mini.  Can you tell I'm having great fun with my new stuff!  Can't wait to share more of what I've been making with you!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Hostess Tea Decorations Sneak Peek

Thought I'd just pop in quickly and give a little sneak peek of a project that I finished up recently for my upcoming hostess appreciation tea.  I created this as one of my decorations . . . I'll show the whole project sometime next week, after the tea.   

This is also a Sale-a-Bration sneak peek because the brads, designer paper, and Lucky Limeade ribbon are all items that you can earn during Sale-a-Bration!  

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle