Stampin' Up!'s Grunge Rock in Blue

Today's project was a card I created for the 365 Cards challenge last week called "The 3 Bs."  We were to include three things in our card:  blue, black and a button.  I chose a card base of Marina Mist.  The stamp set, Grunge Rock, retires at the end of May, so I thought I'd highlight it.  

I've said it before and I'll say it again; I love using this set for more than just the tweens/teens in my life.  I've used this set for men's cards and I've really enjoyed the way they've turned out (sans crown, though).  

The center tag was made with the Decorative Label punch, inked with the edges of my Marina Mist Classic ink pad.  The button was adhered after I'd threaded a sliver of Basic Black Card stock through two of its holes.  It's hard to see in the photo, but the holes in the button line up with circles decorating the middle of the crown; I loved being able to utilize those!

The "Happy Birthday!" sentiment was stamped on a rectangular piece of Whisper White and I used the corner of one of my square punches to make the pennant flag.  I then ran it along the edge of my Basic Black Classic ink pad.

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps:  Grunge Rock (W117080, C120555)

Papers:  Marina Mist (119682), Basic Black (121045) and Whisper White (100730) card stocks

Inks:  Marina Mist (119668) and Basic Black (101179) Classics

Accessories:  Decorative Label Punch (120907), 2-1/2" Circle Punch (120906), Paper Piercing Tool (116631) and Mat Pack (105826), Stampin' Dimensionals (104430) 

Don't forget!  If you're interested in receiving the Stampin' Up! 2012-2013 Annual Catalog for free, you have until May 31 to do so.  Click here for more details...

{Sneak Peek} This Weekend's Projects

I hope you had a great weekend.  In our neck of the woods, it was uncharacteristically warm and sunny, so between baseball/softball and Mother's Day, it was a terrific weekend!

As we're counting down the final weeks before some favorite stamps and accessories retire, I thought I'd focus most of my efforts on retiring items.  Here are a few things I was working on this weekend:

Here's Cottage Garden, a favorite which will be retiring at the end of May.  Love that tag stamp!

Tiny Teacup is a single stamp ("a la carte") which will retire on May 31.  It's got a sentiment "Hello" attached, but I inked just the cup for this project.

Bling, bling!  A rhinestone brad adds a bit of shimmer and twinkle to Pendant Park, which *SADLY* retires at the end of May.

Grunge Rock (another retiree) is the stamp set I used for this final project.  What is marketed as a set for the tween/teen set,  I've had a lot of success using it for grown men, too!  I love the distressed look of its images and the useful diamond pattern stamp (you can see it in the lower left corner).

Thankfully, this sweet stamp set, Easy Events, is not retiring (the tree and cupcake below are from this terrific set).  I love both the line images and the sweet sentiments!

You can see a sliver of the Lattice Bigz die in this picture; I love how versatile it is (nothing on this card is retiring -- phew!)!

Looking forward to telling you more!  Check this post for how you can earn a free Stampin' Up! 2012-2013 Annual Catalog from Studio Sara...

Another Monday {Sneak Peek}

Here's what's on tap for this week...

Stay tuned...  I've been pouring over the new 2012-2013 Annual Catalog online (it was released early to Demonstrators).  I get to place an early bird order and it's so much fun imagining what's on its way!

Can't wait to share all of the new goodies with you!