Marvelous Possibilities

  Baby and Buttons......two of my favorite things.  I saw a challenge this week at the Paper Plays CAS challenge blog , and it said to use Buttons and Bows on a baby card, and all I had to hear was 'buttons', and I was ready to go.  I have so many buttons, and I have crafted with buttons for so many years, I could sew buttons all day, every day, and could still never use the buttons I have.  I look for every opportunity that I can to use buttons.  I have depleted my supply of baby cards, and am gearing up for the spring craft sales, so baby cards were on my mind.  I like to make something that isn't just baby pastels once in a while, and I used the colors for the Colour Q Challenge #177 for my inspiration, using Cherry Cobbler, Pool Party, Always Artichoke, and Crumb Cake for these cards.  The fun layout at Retro Sketches #51 had just what I needed to get me inspired.  I liked how the sketch suggested that the image run off the side of the page.  That was a little o

 I'm thinking spring today, and snow is reported for tomorrow.  I can't wait for March to come, because then it's that much closer to spring.  I just had to get my little Pinwheel sizzlet die out along with the Cloudy Days EF, when I saw that Less is More Challenge 107 was looking for " up in the air " this week.  This is the closest I will get to up in the air when the wind is blowing like a blizzard here in Minnesota.  Maybe with enough pinwheels, we could blow this snow away.  I thought it would make a nice birthday card for March, when we start imagining spring coming.  The Late Night Stampers Challenge  #211 is looking for birthday cards this week.  I got the color inspiration from The Fab Friday color challenge  12 to use Baja Breeze, Perfect Plum, and Wild Wasabi,  and the layout came from the Stampin Celebrations new February mid-monthspiration sketch challenge .  All wrapped up in one little spring card.  And, while I was busy making this post, my l

CARD CLUB CLASS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23 10:00– 12:00 Cost $8 101 Willow Pond Trail, Lino Lakes, MN We will have 4 beautiful cards, with matching envelopes for you to make. These are two of the actual cards we will make, and the other two are available on Debby's blog here. All four with be general purpose cards suitable for many occasions, and all spring related. All cards are prepped and ready for you to stamp and assemble. We will be there to instruct you from the basics to special techniques. We will provide all supplies for this class. RSVP by February 20 by leaving a comment here, by email, or give me a call.

Our Creative Corner I had the time to play around a little bit with my Blooming with Kindness stamp set, and decided to make a birthday card for the Late Night Stamper's Challenge .  I just love the sentiments with this stamp set, especially this one with "Warmest Wishes on your birthday".  It't just a little bit different from anything else I own. I added a couple little accents from Collage Curios.  I started to assemble my card, and stepped away for a couple hours.  When I came back, I just kind of put it together in a way that I liked, and then remembered I was going to cut the left side with a different scallop, to more resemble the sketch I was following for the layout challenge at Our Creative Corner .  Not what I was expecting to do, but close enough.  I guess that is how inspiration kind of takes it's own path, and each of us interpret things differently.   Maybe I will have to try this layout again, but for now, it's just one of those d

  When I saw this blanket for the inspiration on Inspired by....#62 , I just knew I had to make a card.  I loved the colors, and thought that it would make a great contemporary looking baby blanket for a little boy.  I decided to make a quilted looking card, with a baby theme.  I used my Ciao, Baby stamp set, and one from the Pretty Petites, along with the Petite Curly Label Punch to cut my quilt squares.  I had to dig into my retired stash of paper to come up with the gray and yellow papers that I used, but I have been saving them for just such a project. I made a second card, shown below,  with a slightly different twist, a little softer look.  I also used the layout from the Sketch Frenzy Friday Challenge , but flipped it on it's side.  It was such a cute layout, and really was fun to play with.  I like working with the squares.  Funny thing is that for our SU demonstrator meeting last month, I made my swap card using a card made up of squares.  The card that I selec

 second card  I was itching to get my fingers inky today, and there was a stamp set I was just itching to try, Blooming with Kindness.  I have only had a chance to use it once before, and I have had it for quite some time.   I had seen a beautiful card that inspired me to use two colors for the blossom, stamped on top of each other.  I played around a little bit with a variety of colors from some color challenges, and this was by far my favorite.  The Color Throwdown #229 called for Blushing Bride (I used Pretty In Pink), Chocolate Chip, White, and Old Olive.  I stamped the pink, and then the chocolate, after I stamped it off once to soften the color.  On the second card, I stamped the chocolate off twice to soften it more.  Liked the first one better.  I cut the blossom in a circle, and then cut another smaller circle to mask the edges, then I sponged the edges with Old Olive.  On the first card I deepened the green color, and on the second card I tried it softer, but furthe

I wanted to share another card I made over the weekend, and I used a few of my favorite new products from the SaleABration promotion.  I have a favorite new toy, the Petite Curly Label punch.  It coordinates with the Pretty Petites Stamp set, which I used for this card.  I just love stamping and punching these little labels, and spreading the sweet little joyous messages all ove my cards.  The colorful polka dot print that backs them up is from the Sycamore Street DSP, which I am wild about.  This paper just screams "spring" to me.  I love the Island Indigo card, and popping all these layers together, and topping it off with a Tangerine Tango bow from the Sycamore Street Ribbon and Button Pack.  Love it!  Free buttons and bows!!  If you want to get your hands on these freebies, just let me know.  They are your with a qualifying purchase.  On the outside I used a greeting from Sweet Essentials,  and I also added a birthday greeting inside the card from the Curly Cute

I just have one more Valentine to share with you.  This one missed the deadline for a challenge, but I thought I'd find another one that it would work for.  The Little Red Wagon Challenge #172  was to use the word LOVE, and so I did.  I had the big rickrack from another project I was doing, and I just could not throw it away.  It was just meant to be part of a Valentine, and I wanted to keep it simple, and just stamp the word LOVE above the rickrack.  Of course, I couldn't just let it stay CAS, so I added some roses with pearl centers.  With the pearls just laying there on the table screaming "more", I decided to add some pearl accents to the rickrack.  Ok, it was done, and darn cute if I say so.  But, when I brought the photo up on my blog I thought, "It looks like the Love is on a bumpy red road.  Just like "love" usually is!"  Well, I think I will hang on to this card for an anniversary, down the line.  Somewhere down that bumpy highway. 

This is one of the cards I made for our upcoming Card Club Class.  We were looking for some ideas that were kind of seasonal, and yet we are not ready for Easter cards.  I decided that we should do somethings that were springlike and playful.  The new Pinwheel Sizzlet die was the first thing I thought of and the wonderful new paper Sycamore Street DSP from SaleABration promotion were just what I needed for this card.  I love the playful bright colors, and the Tangerine Tango really sets off the print in the paper.  The pinwheel is really cute with the reverse stripe peeking through. I used the Cloudy Day EF for the background. Outside I used a greeting from Friendly Phrases.  Inside I used a salutaion from a new set Stacks of Wishes, which is available only to hostesses in the SU Spring catalog.  If you like the card, come join us on Saturday and make one for yourself.  My inspriation came from a couple challenges to use SaleABration products at SU-Only Challenge #64 and LateNi

I know, another post today?? I have more to share.  I had a great time last evening with my friend and partner in all things fun, Debby.  We went to Archivers for an evening of stamping and scrapbooking, like we used to do all the time.  Since we have become Stampin' Up! demonstrators we hold our own workshops all the time, gather with fun friends to stamp and make cards, and find lots of inspiration form our community of fellow demos and bloggers, etc.  But, the atmosphere at Archivers on a Crop Night is always fun and enjoyable.  We used to go do this all the time, and really had fun, so we thought we'd give it a try.  It was just nice to sit in the room full of women laughing and chatting and getting creative.  We did a bunch of creating ourselves, and were inspired by things all around us.  We chatted with the ladies around us, and even snapped a couple photos of the work they were doing.  I came away with a wonderful shower invitation from one lady, and learned about

TWO OF THE CARDS WE WILL BE MAKING FOR CARD CLUB CLASS on Saturday, 2/23 CARD CLUB CLASS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23 10:00– 12:00 Cost $8 101 Willow Pond Trail, Lino Lakes, MN   We will have 4 beautiful cards, with matching envelopes for you to make.  These are two of the actual cards we will make, and the other two are available on Debby's blog here. All four with be general purpose cards suitable for many occasions, and all spring related.  All cards are prepped and ready for you to stamp and assemble.  We will be there to instruct you from the basics to special techniques.  We will provide all supplies for this class.  RSVP by February 20 by leaving a comment here, by email, or give me a call.     

I want to share one morethat I made, that was a little out of the ordinary, because of the colors I used.  My daughter and her husband are both big Minnesota Vikings fans, so I chose to use purple and gold for the valentine I made for them.  I kind of whipped this one up at the last minute before we went and met them for dinner.  I watch their baby 4 days a week, and we (meaning my husband) go up and pick up the baby at my daughters work every morning.  They live about an hours drive from our home, and work about 20 miles north of us.  We pick up baby saving them about an extra 45 minutes in the morning they would have to add on if they brought her to our house for drop off every day.  Did I say that this is also at 6:00am four days a week?  My daughter does drive down after work to pick up the baby, which means a 1 1/2 hour drive each night home from work.  Once in a while we drive up to the town near her work and have dinner at a Chinese buffet, which they love.  I am so glad t