Pinwheel Centerpiece!

Hey girlfriends (and guy friends too!)... remember the Pinwheels I taught you to make at my last Stamp-a-Stack???  Well.... take a look here.... you can go nuts with them and make some fun centerpieces for 4th of July or any occasion!!!

Compliments and Credit to Vicki Burdick!

Sneak Peak August SAS

So I'm getting ready, in my head at least, of cards I want to make for my next Stamp-a-Stack which will be held August 18th... mark your calendars now!!!

I want to keep them simple and fun for summer.... so here's a sneak peak of one of the samples I found made by Penny Smiley.

Using the Take Care stamp set and the Polka Dot Parade DSP ... It's darling!

The DSP comes in great colors like

Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist, Old Olive (used in this card),

Pumpkin Pie, Real Red and Rich Razzleberry.

The background layer of the tree was created with the

Perfect Pennants Bigz L - it has two nice doilies in the set.

The top layer from the Circles #2 Original Die.

A couple of leaves using the - you guessed it! - Bird Builder Punch,

topped off with three Brights Designer Designer Buttons.

Take Care Stamp Set

Polka Dot Parade Designer Series Paper

It can't get much simpler than this!!! 

Bug Me!

Whether it's butterflies or ladybugs or  bumblebees.... I'm a fan and love this card that Wendy Wexler made....  very sweet bumblebee!

Stamps: Bug Me

Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Real Red, Daffodil Delight,
Polka Dot Parade DSP

Ink: Basic Black

Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Delicate Designs Textured Impressions Folder, Pearl Basics, Daffodil Delight Seam Binding

Of course accompanied by some red polka dots is what really makes it too!

There's No Such Thing as a Mistake

You know my motto "There's no such thing as a mistake".... especially when it comes to stamping and creating hand made cards! Well, apparently I'm not the only one who lives by that motto... Yvette Ashe made this beautiful card.... and she even admits the buttons she placed were to hide a "mistake" where the scallops did not end up matching....

The scalloped border around the oval was made using the Scallop Edge Border Punch — punch a long strip of Old Olive cardstock and then trim it about 1/4″ away from the punched edge, apply adhesive to the back of the oval and then carefully attach the scalloped piece to the back of the oval shape by gently shaping it around the curved edge.

Stamps: Simply Soft, Happiest Birthday Wishes

Paper: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede (Textured), Old Olive,
Very Vanilla, First Edition DSP

Ink: Black StazOn, Marina Mist, Old Olive,
Soft Suede, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Big Shot,
Scallop Edge Border Punch, Sponge, Stampin’ Dimensionals,
Color Spritzer Tool, Neutrals and Subtles Buttons,
Vintage Brad, White Baker’s Twine, Marina Mist 3/8″ Taffeta Ribbon

Defnition of buttons or any such accessory:

Tool to hide any imperfection or flaw!

hee hee hee

Lovely Rita!

I'm becoming a big fan of Rita Wright's blog.... love her color combos and ideas.... and I also adore funky cakes... so here's a couple of cards she made using the Topsy-Turvy Celebration set. It's just so whimsical and fun!

Since I'm also a big fan of polk-a-dots, I'm obviously a big fan of the new Polka Dot Parade DSP.... so between bright colors and polk-a-dots.. this paper has plenty of them!

If she didn't have a Color Coach, she might not have 

come up with the idea of paring up two of the new 

In Colors with an old favorite... 

Marina Mist with Midnight Muse and Gumball Green! 

Don't they look great together? 

I think it might be my new favorite color combination!

Brushless Watercolor

Whether you're a big fan of watercolor painting or not... this technique sure works great when creating cards..... So Tui Nathan gives it a go here... turns out pretty awesome!

This is a simple technique, basically all you do is use your 

markers to color your stamp with various ink colors, 

spritz your stamp with water and stamp ... 

be sure to use watercolor paper as it gives the best results.

Tui added some background stamping with the water 

and script stamps from SU French Foliage, 

and ink blended around the edge. 

Also I found this and love the quote so wanted to share.....

pretty much describes watercoloring... and stamping!!

you know my motto... There's no such thing as a mistake!

My son Allen would love that... sounds like something he'd say!

Read All About It Newsprint

Newspaper and Magazine print is a really cool and popular way to decorate and design these days ... no wonder the Newsprint DSP is so fun to work with!

Look at the awesome result on this card that Tui Nathan created....

The pop of black makes it look like velvet! 

Love it!

Burlap, Buttons n' Bows

One of these days I'm going to find some time to enter some of the on-line stamping challenges... here's one I really was attracted to... the challenge was to use Burlap, Buttons and Bows.... of course they're not all SU products nor from SU sites... but still love it love it love it.....

Although difficult to see they have layered some die cut burlap flowers in amongst the ribbon and paper flower, shredded some fibres and added them in the layer, a black flourish die and some distress ink around the edges ... beautiful!

And another entry:

Ya think "one of these days" will ever come for me???

Hope so....

Shades of Blue & Green

Love the color combo.... Lucky Limeade, Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue, Night of Navy and of course Whisper White. Card was created by Jen Mitchell.

Think these must be God's favorite colors too.. isn't at least 3/4 of the earth blue water  and most of nature is green... hummmm..... I'm putting that on my list of questions to ask him when I see him.

Wait... God doesn't pick favorites.. he loves them all... kinda like us!!!

Guess I have my answer!

Patio Party

There are so many darling new Designer Series Papers in the new Stampin Up Catalog... you just must take a look a this card made by Nance Leedy using the Patio Party DSP... it features some of the newest In Colors like Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Primrose Petals and paired with Baja Breeze. Gorgeous together.   

Love the little itsy bits butterflies on the paper...

The Summer Silhouettes set is great because each element is a separate stamp so you can mix and match flowers, leaves and colors too.  The leaves and stems were stamped in Summer Starfruit while the flowers were stamped in Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals and Baja Breeze.  

Summer Silhouettes also includes this fabulous trellis pattern.  So trendy!  It's stamped in Primrose Petals onto cardstock of the same color.  Each panel is 4" x 1.5" and the image is stamped twice. Notice how the focal circle is framed using the Four Frames set and punched four Baja Breeze decorative labels.  As you can see above, two labels were adhered directly to the circle and two were adhered to the card base--giving each layer a little more dimension.

Those bitty pearls are the perfect accent for the Midnight Muse flowers.

Supplies 

Stamps: Summer Silhouettes; Petite Pairs; Four Frames

Ink: Summer Starfruit, Primrose Petals, Midnight Muse; Baja Breeze

Paper:  Primrose Petals, Midnight Muse; Baja Breeze, Naturals White; Patio Party DSP

Extras: 3" circle die; Decorative Label punch; Summer Starfruit Stitched Satin Ribbon; Basic Pearls

And did you notice the new Stitched Satin Ribbon....

love it in the Summer Starfruit color!

Summer Starts.....

Since Summer starts today (at 4:09pm) I thought I'd show you a darling card make with the new In Color Summer Starfruit....

Colors used are the new Raspberry Ripple and Summer Starfruit of course... 

along with Basic Gray and Primrose.

Notice the two different Embossing Folders used... 

the new Fancy Fan on the top portion and the Houndstooth on the lower portion.

And best of all the new Dahlia embellishment just tops it off perfectly!

Don't ya just love the Tea Shoppe stamp set 

and all the different of ways you can use it!

Happy Summer Everyone!

Summer Nights!

Last Friday night, on nearly a last minute whim.... we made plans to go with David & Holly & Brayden to Sea World. They were having their Summer Nights Spectacular for members only... and since we got our passes last July we've been trying to use them again before they expire.. so this was a perfect occasion.

I drove down from work and met them there. The special performances ran from 6pm-11pm.... we were there nearly the entire time... leaving right after the fireworks...  And it was a really nice Summer Night! Not crowded at all like we were afraid it might be. I can't believe we were able to see three different shows.. more than we do in  regular full day at Sea World!

We started in the Penguin Encounter....

.. and the minute we mentioned "turtles" were next.... what excitement!

wow.. this is the real Crush!!!

...and riding him was even better!!!.....

This was pretty much what I saw alot.... 

Grandpa and Brayden hand in hand...

Headed to the next show...

Wait.. they got distracted with a hot dog stop....

.. and the best entertainment of all were the Sea Gulls!!!

(didn't the same thing happen in Nemo???)

Brayden LOVED chasing after them...

hearing them squawk and fly away....

Next is the Shark Exhibit.... wowie....

Come on' guys... let's keep going.. more sharks to see!

Now we're under the tunnel and sharks are swimming right above us!!

Even the grounds were spectacular... 

full of beautiful colorful flowers....

We saw the Blue Horizon show with the dolphins and acrobats....

then the Seal and Otter show with Clyde and Seymore...

pictures didn't turn out very well.. but it was just too cute...

And we timed it just right to make it over to the last Shamu Show....

Pretty amazing what they can train those giant fish to do...

I just loved being there in the evening... 

totally different vibe than daytime shows...

I can't believe he stayed awake the entire time...

and sat so good through all three shows!!!

You can even see the lights on the Sea World Tower....

And immediately after the Shamu Show the Fireworks display started...

we had the best seats in town!

What an excellent start to a fantastic weekend!