Some vintage fun

I love all the beautiful vintage cards I have been seeing on so many wonderful blogs I follow.  I wanted to give it a shot.....

Baby's First Birthday

Just a quick post before a busy day to share the First Birthday card I made for my cousin's daughter.  The first one I made with Build a Bear my mom will be using.

A productive night!

Wow, lots of stuff created tonight!  Tons of fun as the mojo was with me for a good chunk of time in my little room filled to the brim with tons of stamping and scrapbook stuff, along with china, other wedding type glassware, and a computer desk.

Anyway, enough about my overflowing mess, on to the creations:

Took the Motorcycle and stamped it in Basic Black on some retired cardstock and then tore the edges.  Some old scrap paper underneath, and a card base that I ran through the Big Shot with a CB folder.  Laurie added her own creative touch with the sticker and a smart-@$$ comment she found in the Smarty Pants stamp set.

This next one I rant through the Big Shot with a Stampin' Up embossing folder, stamped the Medallion stamped with Soft Suede ink.  Then I passed the card over and had Laurie choose colors from the Chalks palette to ad more color to the card......this massive collection of chalks have every SU color in one package!  How cool is that????                                  

 This set is new to me, called Upsy Daisey. I decided I had to have it after playing with My Digital Studio.  Let me take a minute to tell you one of the many reason I love this amazing software- you get ALL of the Stampin Up stamp sets from the main catalog, ALL of the ribbons, ALL of the punches, ALL of- well lets just say you get EVERYTHING.  Downloads are available for purchase as well so that you can ad various stamp sets and DSP that came out later from some of  the mini catalogs.  Anyway, so after designing my blog heading I had to have this stamp set!  Stamped the main image and sentiment in the new Brilliant Blue ink color, cut out with the Top Note die on the Sizzix Big Shot, added a scrap of paper I had laying around and voila!

I have more to share, but for now I am going to leave it at that and will post some more in the upcoming days.  Tomorrow is a busy day, a birthday party, family dinner, and hopefully bring air conditioning back to my van!

Thanks for looking, leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Just Couldn't Wait.....

Waiting for UPS sucks.  Here are some things I did while I waited: went to work, cleaned the house (OK picked up some...) thought about doing laundry, watched TV, ate breakfast AND lunch, and checked to see if Mr. Brown had been here yet.  Come on, I was getting new toys to play with AND it was during the summer where work is slim until school starts up again in the fall, so new toys weren't supposed to be an option for me!

Finally, after I had decided that he just wasn't coming and I would be driving to the UPS center tonight after they were done with their rounds because there was no way any sane person would choose to drive down our road that is completely torn up and littered with big sewer pipes EVERYWHERE!  Not to mention the construction crews who I think get a kick out of watching me maneuver my van through their obstacle course that changes every day!  When I had lost all hope of being able to play this afternoon, my wonderful husband comes back inside with a box and announces "Happy Birthday!"  I screamed in joy, scared the crap out of the cat and....well you know the rest.

Soooooo........Rick goes off to band practice and I sit down to play with my new toys.....

The image is from the Summer Mini catalog, and the embossing folder is Vintage Wallpaper from the NEW CATALOG!  I used the Two Way Glue pen and Dazzeling Diamonds to ad some sparkle to the sash on the dress, and then layered the Whisper White cardstock with a retired Cameo Corral to match the marker color in the dress.

Holy moley are there a TON of pieces in this new set!

Awash With Flowers has 18 pieces to be exact and the clear mount set comes in two of the DVD-style cases to hold all those pieces!  The punch is the Ornamant Punch that carried over into the new catalog.  I first ran it through the Sizzix Big Shot with the Embossing Folder and then cut off the tip of the ornamant.

The DSP is from the Summer Mini catalog, Tempting Turquoise ink, Teeny Tiney Wishes, and the Word Window round out the list of items used to create this card.  I love love LOVE this DSP and definately need to get another pack (or two or three) before the Summer Mini goes away at the end of August! 

And finally, the last of my playing for the night (I think.)  Again, I used Awash With Flowers.  This time, I stamped the image in retired color Creamy Caramel and then used the Blender Pen to pick up Melon Mambo and "paint" the flowers.  I cut out the Whisper White paper using the Top Note die for the Big Shot and layered it on some more retired cardstock that I embossed with the new Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder.  Lastly, I made a point of putting Clear Block B in front of the card, check out the curves of the finger grooves!  Later, there will be a side by side picture to compare these amazing blocks to the other ones in the stores, you know, the ones with the sharp corners that you cut your fingers on?  Yep, got two of those today and absolutely NEED the rest of them, well maybe two more!  So do you have a favorite?  Are you inspired?  Please call me or e-mail me for ordering information, I would love to help you get started!  :)

Christmas in July

That's my version of UPS coming to drop off a big box of goodies from Stampin' Up!  For me!  Since we are not working over the summer, it was not looking good for me getting new toys when the 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog came out.  Bring on the rummage- I sold some scrapbook things I don't use, still have some left, but so far it was enough to order what I really wanted for now from the new catty.  Still have a wish list a mile long but slowly I will check things off.....for now, I have a TON of new options to play with.....

Off to play with my new toys!  I am so excited, I have been drooling over these pictures in the catalog for 6 weeks now and I put a LOT of time and effort and trips to the Post Office into selling other things to make this happy, it was definitely worth it!                                                                                                        

Gate Fold Card

Tonight I tried my hand at a "gate fold" card.  Here is a link to the original post which I used to get the directions from, I love the easy to follow directions and the pictures to keep it easy enough for me to follow along!
http://www.stampinpretty.com/2009/12/joyfold-and-triumphant.html

And here is my take on the gate fold technique:

The DSP is retired Soft Suede, but not to worry- the color has returned so it is possible to order more!  I also used my Scallop Circle Punch.  I love that there are so many Stampin' Up demonstrators and other crafters out there who are willing to freely share their ideas with others, it makes for a great community experience!                                                                                                                                            

Build a Bear Birthday

Today I wanted to make a card for my cousin's daughter's FIRST BIRTHDAY.  I started with an idea I found on SplitCoastStampers, and went to play.  The first one I wasn't so thrilled with, but I was getting there:

Ok so its a start, right?  I used Island Oasis DSP and embossed the blue with a Cuttlebug folder by running it through my Big Shot.  I have to say that I LOVE the Summer Mini Catalog and will be sad to see it go in two short months!  I stamped the bear from the Beary Best Friends stamp set and colored her in with Stampin' Up Watercolor Pencils, and then used some water to blend the colors.  Put a bit of Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon on it, and there it was. 

I looked at it,  yep, there it was.  Thing is, I wasn't too thrilled with it.  I like the concept, it was getting there, but something was off and I wasn't sure what.

So I went back to SplitCoast and looked around again, pulled up my original inspiration from my favorites on there and compared notes.  For one thing,  They "did more" with the ribbon, a small piece that made a little loop.  Plus, there were brads, I love brads!  Finally, there was a border punch too. 

So back to my table I go with the first card next to me and the new ideas in my head.  I played and colored and changed some stuff.  First, I colored the bear with Stampin Write Markers instead of the watercolor pencils.  Paid more attention to lining up the balloon to where I thought it should  be (good thing paper is double sided so I could do it twice and choose the option I liked better!)  Then to play again with the Big Shot, ad my layers, the ribbon and then the brads.  Finally, I taped everything together.  Much better I think, I am sure that Emery could care less, she is more into the wrapping paper, but I like the card now and hope mom will too!

I Scream You Scream

So this amazing wonderful stamper showed me how to unmount my stamps AND gave me a whole sheet to get started with.  This is my thank-you card for her, inside will be a Dairy Queen gift certificate.  Now if I can manage to go there and not order anything for myself.....

I don't have the "good" camera today,

its at the zoo with Rick, but the embossing folder is Perfect Polka Dots, the sentiment says "thank you" from Teeny Tiney Wishes and the ribbon is More Mustard.  I used glue dots to attach the popcicle stick because I don't have any Sticky Strip which would hold way better!  Finally, I cut the "bite" out with the Scallop  Circle Punch and then used the same punch again on Whisper White card stock to give it the look of the first bite.....YUM!                                                                                                                                       

Christmas Turns Summer

So simple!  Took the Ornament Punch, cut off the tip, cut strips of paper for the stems, a sentament in Tempting Turquoise from the Oval All stamp set, punched out with the Oval Punch and then layered on a punched out piece using the Scalloped Oval Punch.

Summer Fun

All Paper is the DSP set Island Oasis from the summer mini catalog.  Also used the Crop-A-Dile to make the holes for the ribbon.