On Your Mark, Get Set, GO!

If you ever find yourself in the need of a quick, last-minute card I recommend investing in one of Stampin' Up's! many choices in a stamp set and matching punch bundle.  Often times they are offered at 15% off when you buy them together.  This is the Mosaic bundle.  Just stamp, punch, and adhere.  Not too hard!  Set your time- I bet you could make this in 10 minutes or less.  On your mark, get set, GO!

Thanks for stopping by today!
~Kristin

Too Kind

Sometimes a heartfelt, handmade card feels like the best way to convey our deepest sympathy at a time of loss.  We lost a dear, dear friend recently who was like a grandma to our whole family.  Making this for the family left behind was quite comforting and healing to me, as I hope receiving it was for them.  

I think this new stamp set, Too Kind, was a beautiful choice.  If you want to get dimensional looking flowers with this two step stamping process, rather than trying two different colors, try stamping in the same color but "stamp off" once for the background layer before stamping on your paper.  After a lot of experimenting I found this worked best for the soft look I was going for.  Let me know what colors you've tried with this technique!

Thanks for stopping by.
~Kristin

Party This Way!

My baby girl turned 12 this weekend so we had to PARTY!  I'm not a big party planner and most always wait until the last possible minute to consider invitations (or anything else for that matter.  Thanks to my hubby for running to the carryout 10 minutes before party time for hotdog buns!!).  Crazy, I know.  So if you want to find super quick and easy birthday invitations this is the place to look.  LOL!  Actually, this one is a little bit more time consuming than some, but she is a great stamper now so we did them assembly-line-style and cranked them out.  At least we did remember to take a photo.

Have you made your own party invitations recently?  Leave me a link here- I'd love more ideas!
~Kristin

Mosaic Poinsettia

Alright, here's the last Christmas card for awhile.  This was the 5th and final card we made at my recent SAS.  I'd seen this idea to use the Mosaic punch to make flower petals and thought it would be nice for a white Poinsettia.  I also gave them the option to make this with red petals and a white center.  They came up with some neat alternatives as well, like lining the white petal with a sliver of red showing!  If you eliminate the glitter embossing for the sentiment and just use red ink, then this one is pretty fast and simple.

Stop back soon for a birthday invitation and a sympathy card.
~Kristin

CASED Myself

 CASED myself on this one!  I loved how my card below turned out a while back, so decided to copy the layout for a Christmas Stamp-a-Stack recently.  I had seen the trick of brayering ink over the gorgeous embossed Natural Composition DSP and decided to try it.  The results are so neat.  I am anxious to try this again with another color soon.  Anyway, for my SAS my favorite customers didn't mind one bit if I combined older retired products with new stuff.  Thank goodness because it does help with my creativity a bit.   Can you pick out the retired goodies?!?

If you'd like to see yet another card with this same layout stay tuned... in the next few days I'll show you.  Promise!  If you decide to try it for yourself I'd love to see it!  Leave me a link so I can stop by and leave a comment.

Glad you stopped in today!
~Kristin

Clean & Simple Christmas

Here's a clean & simple Christmas card you can do with as little as just punches if you'd like.  I added some Coredinations Pool Party cardstock and the Northern Flurries embossing folder plus some Dazzling Diamonds Detail for the sparkly buttons.  I must add that I did not invent this idea- I found it on Pinterest and made it my own.  Hope you'll try it!

Thanks for stopping in today!
~Kristin

Little Bit Atypical Christmas

 Tired of a traditional or worse, typical, Christmas design?  Try this one on for size.  I borrowed Amy O'Neil's design from below and with a few color and stamp changes- voila:  funky Christmas card.  Why don't you see what you can do with this layout and leave me a link?!  I'd love to see.

See you back here tomorrow with another one to get you humming "Jingle Bells" in October!
~Kristin

Hexagon Christmas

It's October!  Is anyone thinking Christmas cards yet??  Well here's one to get you going.  With the Hexagon Punch and the new Winter Frost Designer Series Papers (or any patterned paper for that matter) this one is simple!

Check out that gorgeous new Chevron ribbon in Island Indigo!  Isn't it gorgeous?!  Here is the card that inspired my layout.  It is by the talented Linda Callahan.  I just simplified it for making multiples fairly quickly.  That's the key to a good Christmas card design isn't it?!

Stay tuned for a few more holiday cards coming soon.  Thanks for stopping by!
~Kristin

True Friend

 This was probably inspired by some sketch challenge a few months back, but since it has been that long since I made it I don't have any clue which one.  It does showcase a few of the new items I have from the current catalog... Epic Day DSP (LOVE this paper!), Feels Good stamp set and the In Color Dahlia layered on a Brushed Bronze button.  Clean and simple.

Are you ready to start thinking fall colors??

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a safe and fabulous Labor Day weekend.  I am hoping to get one last loop around the lake on the skis.
~Kristin

SUO Supplies:

Stamps:  Feels Good

Paper:  Epic Day DSP, Crumb Cake

Accessories:  Gumball Green Dahlia, Bushed Bronze button, Dotted scallop trim border punch, Pewter embossing powder

Mosaic Birthday

 A special someone I know is turning 6 soon and rather than forget until the last minute I decided to be on the ball and make her card now!  OK, so my usual sketch-flipping, creative license is in full force on this one considering the given sketch below.  I think you can see how I got from one to the other (if you squint).  Anyway, it was fun AND I got to put my new Mosaic Madness stamp set and coordinating punch to work so there you go.

And true to form, I mixed in some (really) old with the new.  Don't go looking in the SU catalog for the ribbon slide.  It is LONG gone, and the chipboard 6... I have no idea where that even came from.  However, the numbers stamped in the background- those are from a current set (had to look it up to be sure) called Bring on the Cake.  I just did some creative inking by omitting portions of the stamp I didn't want (like the word happy and the other letters).  The Happy Birthday is current too- yippee!  Itty Bitty Banners it is from and it can be cut out with a framelit called Bitty Banners, although I ended up cutting by hand because it slipped (no I don't have the magnetic base yet but here's a good reason why you should.)  

Anyway, here is the cool sketch.  Click on it to be linked back to the original site!  Thanks again for stopping by.  I do have another card to post if I get around to it...  be prepared for some fall colors and some embossing (wet not dry)!  

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Bring on the Cake, Mosaic Madness, Itty Bitty Banners

Colors:  Baked Brown Sugar, Raspberry Ripple, Strawberry Slush, Crisp Cantalope, Whisper White

Accessories:  Raspberry Ripple stitched satin ribbon, Hodgepodge Hardward (ribbon slide), chipboard, Mosaic punch

Oh Happy Day!

 Hello again!  Told you I am addicted to ocean-y colors.  Can you blame me?  And look how compliant I am with this sketch today?!  I tend to be a sketch-flipper who takes all kinds of artistic liberties.  Didn't need to this time- I loved it just as is.

 Had to give you two views of this so I could be sure you would see the added sparkle on the flower there... but also because I'm making a serious attempt at improving my photography skills.  I know I'm not there yet, but better is better.

If you are here to find all brand new Stampin' Up! products I'm sorry to disappoint.  I have TONS of old stuff, keep everything (almost) and love to mix it in with whatever I feel like.  However, the things that I used here that are fairly new, if not current are the Big Shot dies:  Apothecary Accents and Adorning Accent edgelits.  Also, Coastal Cabana (of course!) and Pistachio Pudding a few of the awesome new In colors.  However, the stamps (Simply Soft and French Script background) are retired and REALLY retired in that order, and the Baker's Twine is no longer available in Lucky Limeade.  

So tell me, if ocean-y colors are not your thing, how would you describe your go-to palette??  I'd love to hear.  See you tomorrow with something scrumptiously different... think Baked Brown Sugar and Raspberry!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Simply Soft (retired hostess), French Script background, Bloomin' Marvelous (SAB)

Colors:  Basic Gray, Coastal Cabana, Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White

Accessories:  Apothecary Accents framelits, Adorning Accent Edgelits, Baker's Twine, Dazzling Diamonds Detail (glitter glue)

Soft & Pretty: just for you

Hey there!  Guess what- took a break from jewelry making for my fingers' sake and decided to dust off some stamps.  So glad I did!  I made 4 cards in the last 2 days.  Sad to say that is a record lately.  So up first...  to get rolling I grabbed the Freshly Made sketch shown below and got to work.  I was in the mood for something soft and pretty and flowery I guess.   Love the look of print for a background, especially when stamped irregularly so not all of the image shows. 

 Thanks for checking it out.  Be back again over the next few days to share the others.  Have a great day!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Pleasant Poppies background, By Definition background (really old), Mosaic Madness, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Colors:  Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantalope, Baked Brown Sugar, Whisper White

Accessories:  Fancy Fan embossing folder, Bitty Butterfly punch, Basic Pearls, Blender Pens, Organza Ribbon, Dazzling Details glitter glue

Blue Ribbon

A graduation card was requested at a Stampin' Up! workshop I did in May with colors green and gold.  Here I used the stamp sets Blue Ribbon and Fabulous Phrases.  Can you spot the mistake?  It was the first thing I stamped... so I decided to leave it.

Thought I'd share another card with the same layout and stamp sets, but different color scheme.  Simple!

Have you been wondering where I've been?  Here's the answer:  Michigan, Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan again.  Summers are non-stop for us.  So happy to be home right now.  Maybe I'll even get some time to STAMP!  Thanks for stopping by!

~Kristin

Modern Congrats

Surprised to see an update from me?  Me too!  Summer keeps us quite busy around here, and this year spring did too.  So on to this card that I made a while back... playing around with some fun new goodies from the new Stampin' Up! catalog.  I'll stop back with the details later.  Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you are enjoying your new SU goodies.

~Kristin

Notecards for Lovina

As I mentioned yesterday I made some notecards for my Amish neighbor lady the other day.  She made a beautiful piano bench cover for me that I'd been wanting for a long time.  It was something my mom was going to do but didn't get around to it before she died.

I provided the fabric and materials and Lovina had it done in a day!  She didn't want to charge me since they use our phone often, but I couldn't just do nothing in return.  So I set about to make a very simple set of notecards.  I think there were about 5 of each.  The only color is the Cherry Cobbler L.  Instead, I used the tiny embossed hearts for some character and charm.  I hope she likes them!

So glad you stopped by today!  In case you are interested, I've started selling some of my jewelry pieces on Facebook.  I hope to open an Etsy store one of these days.  Many of the pieces are sold now, but I am designing and adding more every day. I would love to have you stop by!

Have a beautiful day!
~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Lovely Letters Alphabet, Four Frames

Colors:  Naturals Ivory, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede

Accessories:  Adorning Accents embossing folder, Big Shot

Thinking of You: Last of the series

Here it is, the last of the series of 6 that I donated to a fundraiser for a local Domestic Violence shelter.  In fact, I think today is the day of the auction.

Yet another pattern of this Epic Day DSP is shown here.  If this paper is any indication of the types of goodies coming out in the new SU catalog on June 1, I am THRILLED!  Can't wait!

Thanks for stopping by.  Tomorrow I've got a very simple set of Monogram cards I made for my Amish neighbor recently.  Stop back!
~Kristin


EDITED TO ADD:  Geesh!  Just realized how awful my pictures look the last several posts.  They look great on my editing software but once uploaded they look overexposed and just awful.  Any tips for me?  I have no idea why this happens periodically.  Sorry!  I'm making this one large instead of XL to see if that helps...

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Epic Day DSP

Accessories:  Big Shot, Polka Dots embossing folder, Labels Collection framelits, Basic Gray striped ribbon, Modern Label punch, Everyday Enchantment brad

Friend to Friend- fifth in the series

Ooh, isn't that paper just wonderful?  I adore it with this Gumball Green Satin Stitched ribbon!  And the Stripes Embossing Folder...  That butterfly brad is another from that old Everyday Enchantment collection.  Have any of those left?  I still have a few- will be sad when I run out!

Thanks for stopping by today.  One more left in the series I think.  Enjoy!
~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Epic Day  DSP

Accessories:  Gumball Green Sating Stitched Ribbon, Everyday Enchantment brad, Stripes embossing folder, Big Shot, Labels Collection framelits

Happy Anniversary & Happy Birthday: third & fourth in a series

Hi there!  Up next in the series of six is this clean & simple anniversary card.  What do you think of the texture and sophisticated color combination together?  That wide striped ribbon is Basic Gray, embossing folder is called Vine Street, and brad is from the retired Everyday Enchantment collection.  Isn't it awesome that even retired products from Stampin' Up! coordinate with the current stuff?  I just love using up older favorites. 

And here is a birthday card made in that same series of six that I donated recently for a Domestic Violence Shelter fundraiser.  For all 6 cards I used a similar sketch as well as the new This and That Epic Day Designer Series paper which is a sneak peek from the upcoming brand new Stampin' Up! catalog (June 1), and is available now in a bundle with some other fabulous coordinating products.  Check them out!  Stop back tomorrow to see the next one in the series!

This one uses the Chevron embossing folder!  Doesn't it just add a funky flair to those gorgeous designer papers?!!  Once again, I used Teeny Tiny Wishes for the sentiments on both of these, as well as the Modern Label punch and the Labels Collection Framelits.  

Gotta run, stop back tomorrow for another in this series!  
~Kristin

Get Well Wishes: second in a series

Hello!  Here is the second card in the series of six cards that I donated recently for a Domestic Violence Shelter fundraiser.  For all 6 cards I used a similar sketch as well as the new This and That Epic Day Designer Series paper which is a sneak peek from the upcoming brand new Stampin' Up! catalog (June 1), and is available now in a bundle with some other fabulous coordinating products.  Check them out!  Stop back tomorrow to see the next one in the series!

If you aren't in love with this new designers series paper yet, just wait!  I've got 4 more to show you...

~Kristin

Stampin' Up! products

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes

Colors:  Crump Cake, Very Vanilla, Summer Starfruit 

Accessories:  Big Shot, Honeycomb embossing folder, Satin Stitched ribbon, Modern Label punch, Pool Party button,  Labels Collection framelit, Baker's Twine

Hello Baby: first in a series

Good morning!  I have a clean & simple baby card to share this morning.  I made this in a series of six cards that I donated recently for a Domestic Violence Shelter fundraiser.  For all 6 cards I used a similar sketch as well as the new This and That Epic Day Designer Series paper which is a sneak peek from the upcoming brand new Stampin' Up! catalog (June 1), and is available now in a bundle with some other fabulous coordinating products.  Check them out!  Stop back tomorrow to see the next one in the series!

Thanks for visiting and hope you are having a great spring!
~Kristin

Stampin' Up! Products

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Epic Day DSP

Accessories:  Big Shot, Cloudy Day embossing folder, Labels Collection framelits, Calypso Coral Button, Calypso Coral baker's twine, Modern Label punch

Four new Layouts

 I know not everyone is interested in scrapbooking so I'm posted all four of these layouts in one post.  Everything used is by Stampin' Up! except the last one.  Speaking of that last one, can you tell I glued the pages down in the wrong order?  Oh well!

 Thanks for stopping by!
~Kristin

Believe

How about another quick, clean & simple Easter card.  Used the sketch below from the Clean & Simple blog, as well as the color challenge from Fab Friday!  Check them both out while there is still time to play!

Thank you for stopping by today!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies:

Stamps:  Pleasant Poppies, Just Believe

Colors:  listed above with the exception of using Blushing Bride instead of Pink Piouette

Accessories:  Big Shot, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Modern Label punch, vintage faceted button, Calypso Coral Baker's Twine, Dazzling Details glitter glue

Best Things in Life Aren't Things

Thanks to my friend Lisa Henke's suggestion, I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch for my card today.  We did some virtual stampin' on Wednesday to give each other inspiration.  This is an unusual color combination for me, but just kind of fell in place.  One of those that I struggled with and wasn't sure I liked it until I was done.  Now I like it!  

I'm glad you visited today!  Would love to hear what you think about this one!
~Kristin

SUO Supplies: 

Stamps:  Feel Goods, Flowering Flourishes (see it back there?)

Colors:  Pool Party, Rich Razzleberry, Calypso Coral, Whisper White

Accessories:  Honeycomb Embossing folder, 2 1/2" circle punch, sanding block, Calypso Coral ribbon, Pool Party button, Island Indigo baker's twine, Large Scallop Edgelit

Clean & Simple Easter

I can't believe Easter is coming up so quickly.  This blustery weather in Ohio sure doesn't feel like spring!

Here's a peek at the inside.

Today's card is for the Paper Players sketch challenge.  Can't get much more clean & simple than this can it?!  This week's theme challenge over at SUO Challenges is Easter.  Think this fits the bill?!

Thanks for stopping by!
~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes

Colors:  Calypso Coral, Sahara Sand, Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso

Accessories:  Calypso Coral ribbon & button (both FREE right now during Sale-a-Bration), Postage stamp punch, Calypso Coral Baker's twine, Needlepoint Border embossing folder, Tea for Two DSP

Love you!

Doing some virtual stampin' with my old pal Lisa Henke today!  We try to get together virtually (since we're about a 3 hour drive apart) once in awhile to stamp by sharing challenges with each other and stamping at the same time.  Today Lisa suggested we try the Color Throwdown challenge.    I also combined it with the Create With Connie & Mary sketch but missed the deadline by about 2 hours.  UGH!  Hate it when I do that.  

I have a little journal that I keep solely for stamping challenges.  Oftentimes I'll take some time to write down 6-8 current challenges then refer to my journal the rest of the week to work on them.  Unfortunately I rarely remember to write down the due dates.  Oh well, they get me stamping and that's the important thing!  

Funny thing... at first I thought I couldn't work with these colors- they just didn't appeal to me.  But I stuck with it and finally came up with something I really like.  Hope you do to!

Thanks for visiting!  Be sure to stop by Lisa's blog to see what she's been up to also.
~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Betsy's Blossoms, Itty Bitty Banners

Colors:  listed above

Accessories:  large scallop punch, smaller scallop punch, Boho Blossoms punch, antique brad, Vine Street embossing folder, Bitty Banners Framelits, 5 petal flower punch

Happy Hour!

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