CAS Thank You Note for Sketch and Color Challenges

I made this CAS Thank You note for a couple of challenges this week and it's a design that I will replicate for gift sets.  

I'll be entering this in the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge and in honor of its very own new blog, the good folks at SSSC have given us the freedom to choose our favorite sketch for SSSC259.  I chose Sketch #154 to use for this layout:

My color palette was guided by a new challenge for me, the Color Throwdown Challenge. For CT332, I chose Tempting Turquoise, Strawberry Slush, Night of Navy and Sahara Sand.

The stamp in this project is a Sale-a-Bration *freebie*.  Read more about Sale-a-Bration {HERE}. The set is called Simply Wonderful and it has a set of seven different sentiments in a variety of fun formats and fonts.  Click on the Sale-a-Bration catalog on the right side of your screen to see more (it's on page 16).

To achieve multiple colors, I used my trusty Stampin' Write Markers to ink the stamp in Strawberry Slush and Tempting Turquoise.  After coloring all of it, I give it a huff of air before stamping.

I love the stripes in the "Thanks" of this sentiment, so I echoed those with the Stylish Stripes TIEF. I put the pieces of card stock in the folder together and ran them through my Big Shot.  Simple and yet it really adds to the card (I started without the stripes and found I needed more oomph -- I freely reserve the right to revise my projects!).

The sentiment punches perfectly with the Decorative Label Punch and I made a quickie flagged end in my Night of Navy card stock using my Paper Snips.

Sale-a-Bration lasts for three more weeks, so take stock of what you need and for every $50 in merchandise ordered, you can earn some terrific freebies! Combine your order with friends and you can earn even more! Contact me for no-pressure, high-yield strategies to maximize your Sale-a-Bration freebies!

Happy Birthday, USA!

Wishing everyone a happy, fun and safe July 4th.  Here's a card made for last week's Super Sketchy Sunday Challenge at 365 Cards and Cute Card Thursday's Challenge (Patriotic 223).

These were technically made for my daughter's All-Star softball coaches.  Her colors are red, white and blue...  Goooooo, Knock-Out!

I used a scrap of Night of Navy, trimmed at the top with my Paper Trimmer, which I'd been holding on to (the polka dots are from retired Backgrounds I Texturz Plates).  I ran the red, white and blue strips through my Big Shot, too, using a different embossing folder for each.

The super-cute Stitched Grosgrain finishes off the top and the punch at the tip is from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack.

The sentiment is from the new set, Itty Bitty Banners ( inked in Pacific Point) and I used my Bitty Banners Framelits to cut it out.  The "Thank You" piece is adhered to the Modern Label punch. 

Stampin' up! Supplies: 

Stamps:  Itty Bitty Banners (W126255, C126257)

Papers:  Crumb Cake (120953), Night of Navy (100867), Real Red (102482), Pacific Point (111350) and Whisper White (100730) card stocks

Inks:  Pacific Point Classic (126951)

Accessories:  Big Shot (113439), Stripes folder (123128), Perfect Polka Dots folder (117335), Bitty Banners Framelits (129267), Whisper White Stitched Grosgrain ribbon (126877), Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack (118309), Modern Label Punch (119849), Paper Trimmer

Happy November!

STUDIO SARA has a new look for fall!  I used My Digital Studio to create the banner and buttons.  I chose Always Artichoke, Cajun Craze and More Mustard (partly because they're fall colors, but also because they're found in the card I've spotlighted).

Here's the card that I included in my banner, up-close and personal...

It's simple to make (an easy one if you're in the market for a good number of "Thank You" notes, for example).  The card body is a half-sheet of Night of Navy, cut lengthwise and folded in half.  The Naturals Ivory card stock makes up the piece with the stamped leaves.  I used my corner-rounded to soften it.

The stamp set I used is French Foliage, which gives us this fun "button" in the lower left corner.  I inked it in Night of Navy Classic Ink and stamped it on Cajun Craze card stock.  Then I used my 3/4-inch Circle Punch...  Remember to stamp first then punch to make sure you've lined it up right!

So Saffron Taffeta Ribbon finishes the bottom edge...

Finally, here's the sentiment... I inked only the "thank you" part of this stamp from the With All My Heart set, stamped it on So Saffron and punched it with the Modern Label.  It's mounted on an oval punched from More Mustard and "popped up" with a Stampin' Dimensional.

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps:  French Foliage, With All My Heart

Papers:  Night of Navy, Naturals Ivory, So Saffron, More Mustard and Cajun Craze card stocks

Inks:  Cajun Craze, More Mustard and Night of Navy Classics

Accessories:  3/4-inch Circle, Modern Label, Large Oval, and 3/16-inch Corner Punches, So Saffron Taffeta Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Paper Snips (makes cutting the ribbon so easy!)

Thanks for your visit!  I'm working on more {12 Week of Christmas} posts, so stay tuned!

{Catalog Countdown: Day Five} All Sara

Welcome to another day of our Catalog Countdown! This card was created for a recent challenge in which we were to make a card that truly represented who we were as stampers. So here's what would be "All Sara":

• I *LOVE*, *LOVE*, *LOVE* blue,


• I am a big fan of sweet little song birds,


• I'm not a fussy person,


• Sometimes I'm pretty rumpled, and


• My style is pretty casual. If I could decorate in any manner (other than Fischer-Price), it would be English country (with a little French flair thrown in).

This is another card for which I wanted to use my retiring items: Spring Song stamp set and Bordering Blue (sniff!) card stock and Classic ink. The Kraft card stock that makes up the base of this card will be doing a bit of "The Artist Formerly Known As...", as its new name will be Crumb Cake. The exciting tidbit associated with the name change is that Crumb Cake now comes with coordinating ink and accessories! Happy dance! The Twill Tape will also be repackaged and will only be offered in a 3/8-inch width.

The songbird pops up from the card, as it's been heat-embossed, giving it a simple, sharp emphasis...

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Spring Song, Tiny Tags

Paper: Kraft, Night of Navy, Bordering Blue and Very Vanilla card stocks

Inks: Night of Navy and Bordering Blue Classics and VersaMark

Accessories: Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Twill Tape, Linen Thread, Jewelry Tag Medium and 1/16-inch Circle Punches
Retirees: Spring Song, Bordering Blue card stock and inks

Thanks for your visit to the Studio today! Stay with me all week for more Retirees! June 30 is the last day on which to order (and it's a busy day for my family). Get your last order to me as soon as possible so that we can assure inventory of your items!

Contact me to preorder your new catty, too! I'm lovin' my advance copy!

Just Hanging Around with Vintage Vogue...

Welcome to the Studio! When I made this card, I was interested in creating a little "movement." I wanted the flower to be the focal point of the card, but I also wanted it to move a little. Here's how I did it:

• I stamped the large flower image from the Vintage Vogue set on Whisper White card stock, using Dusty Durango Classic ink. Then I used my Paper Snips (they have super-sharp tips) to cut right along the edge.

**Studio Suggestion: Be careful when you return your snips to their sheath (REALLY! They're *THAT* sharp!), as you can permanently bend the tip if it gets caught funny going back in...**

• Punch a small hole in the center of the flower and add the Chocolate Chip Jumbo Brad.

• Lay a piece of Linen Thread so that the middle of the thread is over the middle of the flower image (the piece I used was about five inches to start). The flower image was then attached to Dusty Durango card stock and the flower is once again cut out, using Paper Snips, along its very edge.

• For the "banner" at the top of the card, I inked the stamp in Soft Suede Classic ink and stamped it on Very Vanilla card stock. I also inked the edges of that piece of card stock with Night of Navy Classic ink. **Be sure to let that dry** and then distress it with the Distressing Tool from the Cutter Kit.

• Punch two tiny holes (with a 1/16-inch Punch) and thread the two ends of the linen thread through, making sure that the flower is centered and then knot.

• Adhere the Very Vanilla piece to a piece of Night of Navy card stock that has been sueded.

• Finally, for the textured Garden Green piece, run it through your Big Shot with the "Flourish" Texturz Plate from the Stampin' Up! Backgrounds I set.

• Attach the banner at the top of the Garden Green piece and then add to the Very Vanilla card body using Stampin' Dimensionals and you're finished!

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Vintage Vogue

Inks: Dusty Durango, Soft Suede and Night of Navy Classics

Papers: Dusty Durango, Night of Navy, Garden Green and Very Vanilla

Accessories: Big Shot, "Flourish" Texturz Plate from Stampin' Up! Backgrounds I set, Jumbo Brad, Distressing Tool, Linen Thread, Paper Snips, Stampin' Dimensionals

Thank you so much for visiting! I hope you have a great end-of-the-week!

Time to Write Thank You notes

This weekend marked the end of Christmas Break and at our house, that's the deadline for writing Thank You notes for Christmas gifts. As is often the case with making all of those Christmas cards, I'm left with bits of this and that (each step was made in mass quantities to make the process more efficient). I always seem to miscount and end up with extras of some of the pieces (and just enough of others -- go figure!). I hate to waste, so I incorporated them into my design... I also wanted to use my "From Our House" set.

The scalloped design from that set really stands out (in real person -- trust me!) when it's inked in Night of Navy and then embossed using Clear Detail Embossing Powder.

**STUDIO SUGGESTION: I use my VersaMark ink, followed by my choice of color in Classic Ink to ink my image (Craft Ink works here, as well, minus the VersaMark step). Once the image is stamped, I dump Stampin' Up! Clear Detail Embossing Powder all over it (in a Powder Pal or over a piece of scratch computer paper to catch the unused powder). Using my Heat Tool, I heat-set the image. The particles in the Detail Embossing Powders are so fine that they work well in small or detailed images really well. Another benefit of using the Clear Detail Embossing Powder is that it allows you to use it with *EVERY* one of Stampin' Up!'s great exclusive colors...**

I used my I'm-Cheaper-than-$4!! tool (Paper Piercing Tool) to pierce each dot in the scalloped image to add more texture.

You'll recognize the snowflake/scalloped circle/vellum circle piece from my family Christmas card. I also had the die-cut and embossed vellum circles, Bravo Burgundy circles, and polka-dot embossed Night of Navy pieces left-over to use in this card.

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Berry Christmas (from 2009 Holiday Mini)

Papers: Bordering Blue, Night of Navy and Bravo Burgundy card stocks and Vellum Paper

Ink: Whisper White Craft

Accessories: Big Shot, Finial Press and Petals-A-Plenty Textured Impressions Folders, Stampin' Up! Backgrounds I Texturz Plates (Small Polka Dots), Scallop Circle #2 Bigz Die, Merry Details Sizzlit, Scallop Circle, Modern Label, Small Oval and 1/16-inch punches, Circle Scissor Plus, Silver Brads, and Stampin' Dimensionals

**THANK YOU!!** for visiting today! ;)

O, Christmas Card...

Happy New Year!


As I was tidying up from Christmas, I realized that I never posted the card that our family sent out this year. I love Bordering Blue and Night of Navy (they're among my favorite color combos). This year I included Bravo Burgundy, as well.
This was the first year that I utilized my Big Shot in our Christmas card. What a fun way to add some delicious texture (and I could feed multiple layers of Vellum Paper through to make the card-making more efficient).


I embossed the Night of Navy piece with the Stampin' Up! Backgrounds I Texturz Plate (small polka dots).


The large Vellum Paper Scalloped Circle (made with the Scallop Circle #2 Bigz Die), Vellum Paper (Modern Label Punch) and Bordering Blue Scalloped Circle (Scallop Circle Punch) were fed through the Big Shot with the Finial Press Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.

The vellum circle over the Bravo Burgundy piece was embossed using the Petals-A-Plenty Textured Impressions Folder, but that is in the Holiday Mini, which is only available until January 4, 2010. Same goes for the snowflake, which was punched out, using the Merry Details Sizzlit and the "Merry!" from the Berry Christmas set, which was inked in Whisper White Craft Ink on a Small Oval Punch of Night of Navy card stock. I'm hopeful that the Petals-A-Plenty, Merry Details, and Berry Christmas set will show up in the 2010-11 Idea Book and Catalog...

It's hard to see in the photo, but the snowflake is attached to the Bordering Blue Scalloped Circle and Vellum Paper circle with a silver brad and adhered to the Bravo Burgundy piece with a Stampin' Dimensional.

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Berry Christmas (from 2009 Holiday Mini)

Papers: Bordering Blue, Night of Navy and Bravo Burgundy card stocks and Vellum Paper

Ink: Whisper White Craft

Accessories: Big Shot, Finial Press and Petals-A-Plenty Textured Impressions Folders, Stampin' Up! Backgrounds I Texturz Plates (Small Polka Dots), Scallop Circle #2 Bigz Die, Merry Details Sizzlit, Scallop Circle, Modern Label, Small Oval and 1/16-inch punches, Circle Scissor Plus, Silver Brads, and Stampin' Dimensionals

Since I make a slew of these (I won't tell you how many), I can't use bows or knots because they can sometimes result in extra postage. Take a lesson from my dear friend, Lori... If you make a card (or several) with a knot or bow, take it to the post office and have someone at the counter feed your card through their plastic template. If it gets hung up (because of thickness), the card will require more postage. Dear Lori didn't know her card was over 1/4-inch (I think that's the limit -- I'll verify that) and she got ALL of her LOVINGLY HANDMADE Christmas cards back in the mail due to insufficient postage...

Even without a bow or knot, I still take mine to the post office to make sure that they're not too heavy (due to photos) or thick (even this year, I wasn't 100% sure with the brad+Stampin' Dimensional combo).

I hope 2010 brings you good health and much joy. Thank you for your visit!

Tied up in Knots over Christmas

*LOVE* the 365 Cards Challenges! They are always just what I need for inspiration. For this challenge, we were to use knots... Once again, I fed card stock through my Big Shot to add texture. I did this with both the Brushed Silver and Night of Navy pieces.

On Whisper White, I stamped the tree from the Snow Swirled set (inked in Night of Navy). Using Mini Glue Dots, I adhered knots of Night of Navy and Whisper White grosgrain with Silver Elastic Cord threaded through and knotted. The body of the card is Bordering Blue. The sentiment comes from the Sincere Salutations set was inked in Encore Silver and stamped on Whisper White.

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Snow Swirled, Sincere Salutations

Papers: Brushed Silver, Night of Navy, Bordering Blue, and Whisper White card stocks

Inks: Night of Navy Classic and Encore Silver

Accessories: Night of Navy and Whisper White grosgrain, Silver Elastic Cord, Mini Glue Dots, Big Shot, Stampin' Up! Backgrounds I Texturz Plate

Thanks so much for visiting!

Feeling a Little Blue...

Actually, I'm not, but I *LOVE* blue! The Ad Inspired Challenge this week at 365 Cards was right up my alley. I'm sure I've got this very ad tucked away in my inspiration journal.

As I type that, it sounds really presumptuous, so I'd better explain. Years ago, it was recommended to me that I keep a journal (in my case, a composition book covered in pretty paper) of favorite color combinations, pictures of things that inspire me, quotes that I like, etc. It was excellent advice and I love to add to it! I'm a major fan of tearing things out of magazines and catalogs, so this gives me some license and reason to do it. I have all sorts of things in my journal, from the aforementioned pages to quotes from the Mary Engelbreit calendars that my mom gives me every Christmas. I also use a 1-inch Circle punch to punch circles of card stock in colors I'd like to tinker with (or that I've seen elsewhere). Some day, I'll take a photo of the journal and some of its bits and post them here. Until then, I'll return to the Ad Inspired Challenge.

Here's the ad:

And here's what I came up with:

I love the clean lines of blue with white and so I tried to replicate that using one of my faves, Night of Navy, with Brilliant Blue. I used Whisper White Craft ink on Night of Navy for the circles from the Circle Circus set (and heat-set them so that they'd dry quickly). I punched them out with a 3/4-inch punch and then using a Stampin' Dimensional, adhered them to a 1-inch punch of Whisper White card stock. The circles on the Brilliant Blue piece are also from Circle Circus (I used VersaMark for those). For a high-value, sure-to-be-a-favorite, VersaMark is a must-have for beginner and advanced stampers alike.

"Thanks" from the Thank You Kindly set is simply inked in Brilliant Blue Classic ink and stamped upon Whisper White card stock (and adhered to a bit of Night of Navy). The Brilliant Blue piece is also adhered to the rest of the card using Stampin' Dimensionals.

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Circle Circus and Thank You Kindly

Papers: Night of Navy, Brilliant Blue and Whisper White card stocks

Inks: Whisper White Craft, Brilliant Blue Classic and VersaMark

Accessories: 3/4-inch and 1-inch Circle Punches, Stampin' Dimensionals

Thanks so much for looking!

Quick and Easy Christmas Ornament

The folks at 365 Cards have prompted me to consider Christmas ornaments, so here's what I've created. The challenge was to make any type of ornament, and I opted for a quickie:

This simple ornament was created using the Jumbo Snowflake Punch and Night of Navy, Bordering Blue and Brushed Silver card stocks. I adhered it using Two-Way Glue (I like the precision of the tip) and I added a bow and a length of Elastic Silver Cord with which to hang it.

This makes a simple addition to a card, a fun take on a gift tag or an easy stand-alone gift for a hostess, mail carrier (Hi, Aunt Linda!), hairdresser, teacher, etc!

Cat and Mouse

Over the summer, I had the pleasure of teaching some basic technology classes for the district in which I started teaching (before DD#1 was born). I had some overdue "Thank You" notes to send and the technology challenge at 365 Cards came at just the right time. The challenge was to be inspired by technology in your card. My additional challenge was to create cards suitable for men and women, as I had both to thank...

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Computer Quips, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Papers: Night of Navy, Baroque Burgundy, More Mustard, Bordering Blue and Very Vanilla card stocks

Inks: Night of Navy, Baroque Burgundy, and More Mustard Classics

Accessories: Blender Pens, Twill Tape, Linen Thread, 1/16-inch punch, Word Slot Punch, Paper Piercing Tool

Thanks for visiting! It feels good to be stamping again!

P.S. Oh, and what do you think of my header at the top of my blog? I'm trying to make one on my own that stands out and gives something interesting to look at... Thoughts? Suggestions? Tutorials to make it rock? :) Thanks!

Rustic Dreams du Jour

I was enjoying a quiet moment (kids were napping), listening to "Lake Woebegone" from Garrison Keillor. The "country" feel of his stories (esp. the one where he beams his sister with a rotten tomato) inspired this card...

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamp Set: Dreams du Jour

Papers: Very Vanilla, Sage Shadow, Bordering Blue and Night of Navy card stocks

Inks: Creamy Caramel, Bordering Blue, and Night of Navy Classics

Accessories: Distressing Tool, Very Vanilla 5/8-inch Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Sponges

I started with a sponge and inked over the Very Vanilla card stock with the Creamy Caramel (to give it the aged look). The butterflies were stamped in Creamy Caramel and Bordering Blue, but I stamped the ink off each time first. Finally, the ribbon was colored using my Creamy Caramel and Bordering Blue ink pads (Classic). I drug the ribbon between the pad and a Stampin' Sponge (to keep my hands clean). It gives the ribbon an uneven color, which was the effect I was trying to achieve.

Thanks so much for the visit!