Lots of News!

OK, yet another example of why I stink as an SU demonstrator... my first post about Sale-a-Bration includes a card with no SAB stamps.  Sorry, haven't had much time to stamp lately... I'm in the middle of making 225 wedding invites for a client which need to be done in a month. (*Yikes*)  However, I did use this new Designer Series Paper from the new Spring Catalog called Parker's Patterns.  I just adore the masculine, but fun look!  

Check out the links below for more great details about not only Sale-a-Bration and the Spring Catalog, but also a most exciting new offering called Paper Pumpkin, a monthly surprise creative treat in a box from Stampin' Up!  

 If you are interested in placing an order for any of these totally cool Stampin' Up! products, or would like to host a Workshop Wow contact me by clicking on my profile at the top right, or leaving a comment with a way to contact you!  (If you'd rather I not publish the comment just say so, then no one else will get your contact info.)

Also, the sketch I used for this card is from Splitcoast Stampers sketch last week!  If you'd like to try it out click here:  Sketch Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!  If you'd like to see the wedding invitation I'm working on stop back tomorrow.
~Kristin

Sunset & Cattails

Needed a birthday card for my Brother-in-law so decided on the grass from Inspired by Nature stamp set.  I don't think I've ever made them into cattails before even though I've always wanted to.  This might also be one of the only brayered sunset cards I'ved made using the masking technique for a moon.  Hope you like it!  I've got lots of new stuff to play with now if I ever find the time between ball games... so surely you'll see something new here soon! 

Thanks for visiting! 

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Inspired by Nature, Happiest of Birthdays (both retired- BOO!)

Colors:  Concord Crush, More Mustard, Raspberry Ripple (that's it!)

Accessories:  Linen Thread, 1" circle punch, horizontal slot punch, distressing tool

Goodbye Nature Silhouettes

 Trying a few new challenges today...  I used the MFT sketch for this card as well as this week's Free 4 All challenge on Splitcoast to mix & match patterns of paper.  Mixing patterns is tricky for me- I tend more towards fewer patterns for a simpler look.  So I didn't stretch as far as I had intended with these patterns, both from the same pack of DSP Botanical Gazzette.  You may wonder where the second pattern even is.  Well, the tree is stamped on it, a very subtle handwritten print.  So subtle in fact that I stamped on the paper upside down and didn't realize it until I wasn't going back to fix it. 

Did you notice the slight blue tint to the stamped tree image?  I actually used White Staz-On ink and this is how it turned out.  Kind of nice with the other blue tones. 

Like my new border punch?  I just used the Postage stamp punch and lined it up to do the edge, punching about three times.  I wanted to keep it masculine and thought that would do the trick better than scallops!  Here's the sketch I borrowed, thanks to my pal Lisa Henke who is on the MFT design team. 

Well, that's all for today.  Hoping to scrapbook all weekend so maybe I'll have a few layouts to share next week.  Stop back tomorrow for another featured retiring stamp set. 

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Nature Silhouettes

Colors:  Naturals ivory, Chocolate Chip, Not Quite Navy

Accessories:  Mini library clip, postage stamp punch, distressing tool, Botanical Gazzette DSP

How 'bout a color challenge??

Good evening my fellow stampers!  Exciting news- I've been playing around and decided to throw a color challenge your way.  I found some time to play this weekend and started a list of some color combos I'd like to use soon.  Then one thing led to another and I figured out how to make a Color Challenge...uh, logo-thingy and even signed up for a free Inlinkz account.  Yes FREE so we won't have thumbnails, but who knows, if everyone plays along then we can progress to the paid stage, right? 

Anyway, the challenge is to use Certainly Celery, Elegant Eggplant and Marina Mist together somehow.  I did on my card above which also features last week's Mojo Monday sketch.  I missed the deadline for the submissions, but still love the sketch! 

I used my fierce Extreme Surfer dude with Extreme Elements for accents. 

Ooh, almost forgot to show you the inside.

Well, can't wait to see who plays along and what you come up with!  I'd love to feature one of you on a future post.  The collection closes on January 30th so you've got two weeks.  On your mark, get set, GO!  (But come back!)

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Extreme Surfer, Extreme Elements, Party Hearty

Colors:  Certainly Celery, Elegant Eggplant, Marina Mist, Whisper White

Accessories:  Large star punch, Elegant Eggplant narrow grosgrain, Marina Mist ribbon, Top Note die & Big Shot

___________________________________

Virtual Stamping with my pal Lisa!!

My stampin' pal Lisa Henke and I had a chance, finally, to get some "virtual stamping" time together yesterday.  We try to do this a few times a year and it just worked out yesterday.  Lisa and I met through the Great Swaps group a few years ago and just got along so well we decided to room together for SU's convention in 2008.  We've been friends ever since!  It helps that we both live in Ohio, so we can get together IRL every now and then even. 

When we virtual stamp we take turns making up challenges that we both participate in.  This card is from Lisa's challenge to use the layout and color scheme of the card on page 89 of the current Stampin' Up! catalog.  Click on her name up there to see what she came up with. 

Mine is fairly self-explanatory.  I used Basic Gray, Going Gray, Real Red, Night of Navy and Marina Mist.  I turned the layout on it's side just to change it up a bit.  Hope you like it! 

She even posted her card for our last challenge on that post to use this picture as inspiration, with the added caveat to use dry embossing and circle elements.  It was such a fun challenge and I really like what I came up with.  I'll be back to post mine tomorrow.  Then Sunday I'll show my challenge to Lisa which was to use the layout from the birthday card on page 131 with the color scheme from the inside back cover of the SU Catalog. 

If you are inspired to play along with us we'd love to have you!  Just link your creation in the comments.  Thanks for stopping in today!  I love it when you visit! 
~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Bring on the Cake (Occasions Mini), Extreme Elements

Colors: Basic Gray, Going Gray, Real Red, Night of Navy, Marina Mist

Accessories: Large star punch, Basic Gray corduroy button, White gel pen, tag corner punch, crimper, paper piecing tool

More Teacher Thank You's

As promised, here are the last three of the five Teacher Thank You notes I designed for a friend's son to give to his teachers. This first one ended up being one of my favorites. I used Crushed Curry as the card base and love how it looks with the black and red!

Here's a more jungle-like theme. I like how this one turned out too- actually I like them all or I wouldn't have included them for her to choose from. The sentiment circle on this one is from the old retired set called Riveting. I love the versatility of circular sentiments like this! Colors here are Soft Suede, Dusty Durango, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and a tiny More Mustard brad. The leaves are from the Little Leaves Sizzlit and the Big Shot.
This one is a CASE of a birthday card I did a long time ago. I was so happy with the original that it is the first thing that came to mind for thank you notes from a little boy. The colors and sentiment are different and on this one the train is simply stamped as opposed to being tediously cut out. I just couldn't see myself doing ten of these if that train had to be cut out! (Color Combo from the Color Throwdown challenge this week!)

So there you have it! Why don't you check out the two from yesterday then post a comment here letting me know which is your favorite. Keep in mind, these are intentionally simple so they can be mass produced (my friend needs ten!). Then I'll let you know what she decided!

Thanks for visiting today! Have a great weekend!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Card 1:

Stamps: Darling Dots, For a Friend

Colors: Crushed Curry, Real Red, Basic Black

Accessories: Big Shot, Dotted embossing folder, Real Red dotted grosgrain

Card 2:

Stamps: Wild About You, Riveting

Colors: Soft Suede, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Dusty Durango

Accessories: Circle punches, More Mustard brad, Little Leaves Sizzlit, Big Shot, Old Olive marker

Card 3:

Stamps: Choo Choo, Sweet Little Sentiments

Colors: So Saffron, Old Olive, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake (Kraft), Very Vanilla

Accessories: Old Olive wide grosgrain, Right on Track wheel, Distressing tool, Spiral punch

Teacher Thank You's

Good morning! A good friend of mine asked if I could make some thank you notes from her son for his teachers. Well- she asked the right person! I needed an excuse to spend half of the day stamping! Here are the first two of five that I came up with for her to choose from. I'll post the other three tomorrow and let you vote. Then I'll let you know what she decided.

Her adorable son is in LOVE with basketball right now (he's going into kindergarten) so I had to make that an option for her. This one combines one very old stamp set called Have a Ball and the other one is called Sporting (current I think, but would have to check for sure). Doesn't Dusty Durango make a great basketball color?!?

Of course all little boys love vehicles and making them "GO" so had to pull out my trusty By Land as well as It's a Sign and the fun Making Tracks wheel! Guess what I figured out making this card... the new circle punch in the Bitty Punch Pack of 3 in the Summer Mini is the perfect size for the lights on this stop light so I didn't have to color them!

Well hope you like 'em, and hope she does too! Stop back tomorrow to see the other three I came up with. Then I'm afraid I'll be MIA the rest of the weekend due to 6 baseball games and a gymnastics recital plus a houseful of relatives in town for the fun events! PHEW!

Have a great Friday!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Card 1:

Stamps- Sporting, Have a Ball, Riveting
Colors: Kraft, Dusty Durango, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Versamark

Accessories: circle punch

Card 2:

Stamps- It's a Sign, By Land, Making Tracks wheel

Colors: Garden Green, Real Red, Yoyo Yellow, WHisper white, Basic black

Accessories: markers, Bitty circle punch

Happy Birthday Dear!

It's a beautiful sunny morning here in Ohio, and we are celebrating my husband's birthday today. Last night we enjoyed a fun family dinner at a Buffalo Wings place and had a great time! Today I'm sharing this card for you that we all signed for him. I made this on Friday during the SCS Virtual Stamp Night challenges. For this challenge they posted the Official Olympic Sweater as our inspiration... I didn't know there was such a thing.

The colors, pattern, texture and even the use of the deer were all intended to mimic the sweater. The funny thing is when I was all done with this card I was sitting and just gazing at it trying to decide if it needed anything else when my husband, unprompted and from across the room, says "did you just make that? It looks really cool from over here." That's when I decided it must be perfect as it is. LOL!

My main deer is from Wildlife Reserve, while the deer head repeated at the top is from Nature Silhouettes and the Happy Birthday repeated across the bottom is the most current, from Vintage Labels Sale-a-Bration set. I thought the Lattice Die would be a neat pattern to add, though it is tougher than I thought to piece it together. I used the pieces that fall out for the row at the top. Middle gray piece is embossed with the embossing folder (can't remember what it's called.)

Thanks for stopping by for a visit! Stop back tomorrow!
~Kristin

Naturally Masculine

In my stamping frenzy over the last weekend of break I made this masculine birthday card. I hadn't done this technique with a background stamp in a while and something inspired me to try it again... not sure what though. This technique is easy- just choose a fairly small patterned background stamp, swipe/scribble a marker on it (I used Creamy Caramel here) then stamp with it. It serves as my background for these leaves from Paradise stamp set. My sentiment seemed like a good font for the rustic outdoor feel so I went with it. Tied some linen thread around a few times then slid the card in between a few of the strands.

Did you notice the linen thread on the hodgepodge piece at the top left? It needed something so I thought I'd try winding some thread around it. To further add to the manly and nature charm I distressed the edges of the vanilla piece and stamped some splatters to the Soft Suede card base with Itty Bitty Backgrounds. That's about it. Hope you like it!

Stampin' Hugs,
~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Linen (retired), It's Your Birthday (retired), Paradise

Colors: Soft Suede, Old Olive, Naturals Ivory, Very Vanilla (ink)

Accessories: Hodgepodge hardware, Linen Thread, Distressing tool, Creamy Caramel marker

To Infinity and Beyond!

Buzz Lightyear to Star Command, come in Star Command! OK, so I've watched Toy Story a few too many times! Anyway, this is for today's Diva Coffee Break Designs challenge- that's right, we're back after a well-deserved two week break! We've got this great sketch to work with this week.

Took me a while but I finally decided to use stars for my three elements on the left so naturally I had to dig out my fun spaceship from Pun Fun for the main image. Don't recognize the sentiment? That's because I printed it on my computer. It's fun, try running your cardstock through your printer and then you can use any sentiment you want! I used the star punch to make the point on the end of my sentiment piece so it is the exact same angle.

My color scheme for today came from the Color Challenge on SCS yesterday to use Certainly Celery, Bermuda Bad and Handsome Hunter together. Love that combination and I never would have thought to use it. I also added in some Whisper White for my neutral.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by!

~Kristin

PS- I nearly forgot... well, I did forget but you shouldn't. Take some time to go visit the Diva blog to see many more examples using this sketch, then be sure to play along!

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Pun Fun, Extreme Elements

Colors: Certainly Celery, Bermuda Bad and Handsome Hunter, Whisper White

Accessories: Silver brads, Blender Pens, small and large star punches

Party Hearty Dude!

Today's Clean & Simple challenge on Splitcoast was to follow a given sketch. it is an awesome sketch and I really enjoyed creating with it. Today I started out in a different mode (imagine Roses and Rose Red) but somehow ended up going a totally different direction! I enjoy making masculine cards from time to time, especially because so many people find them hard to do and are often looking for ideas.

It took me a while to figure out which sentiment would be perfect since I don't have any teen slang sets. "Party Hearty" seemed just right to me and the look of stamping it over and over again seems to add a more casual feel. Did you notice the frayed end of the ribbon, held on by a staple? Those little touches are always what I strive to find, sometimes successfully and sometimes not so much. LOL!

The Bermuda Bay swirls meant to simulate water in motion is from my brand new Scribbles and Swirls Sizzlit die for my Big Shot. I can think of so many uses for this die and this is only the beginning- you can count on seeing it much more in the future!

Enough chatter, enjoy your day and thanks for visiting me! If you can't think of anything better to do why don't you go play along with this challenge?! Anyone is welcome! Or better yet, go play along with last week's Diva challenge for a chance to be made famous by being our next Featured Artist!! We'll be making our selections tomorrow probably so hurry!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Extreme Surfboard, Party Hearty

Colors: Soft Suede, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White

Accessories: Bermuda Bay Dotted Grosgrain (flip side), large oval punch, Big Shot, Scribbles and Swirls Sizzlit, corner rounder, Thoroughly Modern DSP, Stapler

Extreme Surfer Birthday

Extreme Surfer! I had so much fun using this new stamp for the first time! I am waiting on the Extreme Elements to go with it (for FREE for winning an SU contest) but just couldn't wait any longer to ink this guy up!

Can you spot the ancient SU products I used on this card?? Some of you may have never even heard of these: a strip of Mint Melody cardstock (this was a color several years ago that got dumped!) and the surfer is actually stamped in white in then dabbed with 2 shades of Pearl Ex! He is shimmery from different angles and looks pretty cool.

The sketch is from Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday sketch challenge seen here.

In order to funk up this card I decided to distress only the bottom edge of the ovals to mimic the look of water spray. The Brilliant Blue piece is stamped with Itty Bitty Backgrounds and white ink, then sponged on the eges. My grommets and silver eyelets at the top right are intentionally not lined up- I thought that would add to the motion of thisc ard... however, I punched the holes for the eyelets too big and the grommets made a mess so then it just looked messy. Later I got the idea that they kind of look like grommets on swim trunks so wished I'd lined them up just right. Ah well. So I tied some individual threads of the rope (on Clearance Rack right now!) through each hole and tied some at the bottom as well.

To emphasize the area with the sentiment I layered a jumbo grommet, regular grommet, and silver eyelet- not an easy task and believe me this card looks ugly inside. I'll have to put a layer in there to cover up this mess! Finally, the edges are distressed (of the Bermuda only) and the bottom edge is crimped. Hope you like it and that you can go have fun stamping something yourself! Why not- take a chance and do something a bit different for you! You never know what you'll end up with.

Thanks for stopping by today!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Extreme Surfer, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, All Holidays

Colors: Bermuda Bay, Brilliant Blue, Mint Melody (retired!), Whisper White

Accessories: Silver eyelets, Jumbo Grommets, Small Grommets, rope, Pearl Ex (retired), distressing tool

To my Wonderful Husband

Oh boy did I struggle this week. I guess because Garden Green and Crushed Curry are not my 2 favorite colors. I didn't feel very inspired making this card and fully intended to make another one with these colors just so I'm satisfied but didn't get around to it yet. I do have something in mind so maybe I'll get to it later today... although I have a tutorial I'm supposed to be working on that you've requested.

Most of this card is pretty self-explanatory but one thing I did want to point out is the edges of the card. I used the perforating tool on the Cutter Kit and just free-handed some rolling lines on all four sides. I felt they sort of mimic the path a fallen leaf might take before it hits the ground.

Anyway, so glad you stopped by today. Now please go visit the Diva blog to view several other samples and to play along with our challenge.

Gotta run, chat with ya later!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Branch Out, Wonderful Favorites

Colors: Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Garden Green, Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry

Accessories: Cutter Kit, Vintage Brads, wide Chocolate grosgrain

A Diva Color Challenge! {DCBD146}

This week the Diva's are challenging you to try out this cool almost retro color combination! I love unique color combos- that is about my favorite part of stamping- so this one was fun! Unfortunately I didn't have a lot of time to stamp yesterday with my mom and sister and niece here from out of town.

When I finally remembered that I needed to take some time to make this card I only had about a 1/2 hour before having to leave to take my daughter to gymnastics. Of course from there I always go play volleyball and don't usually return until after 11pm.

Well, if you ever wonder how a card might turn out if I'm rushed, have a 2-year-old on my lap for some of the time and kiddos interupting while stressed, this is it: I'm not even sure I enjoyed making it- but I am happy with how it turned out. It is unique for me, I NEVER do strips of words like that on a card and not sure why I chose to this time. The stamping isn't perfect but I decided to go with it anyway! I do love the red button and also the touch of Bermuda Bay- like I said I adore color!

Well, I hope you'll go visit the other Diva's on our blog and their personal blogs then play along with us! We'd love to see what you create with this fun color combo. I was planning to try this again today but my PJ's have inspired me to try something else (a color combo) so I might just do that instead. And no I won't take a picture of my PJs- unless I cut off my head in the pic! ;)

OK, gotta run! I've got lots more to show you this week so I do hope you'll come back. And please stop in to say hi so I know you've been visiting!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies
Stamps: Autumn Days, sentiment from Of the Earth hostess set

Colors: Soft Suede (the best new neutral!), Bermuda Bay, Very Vanilla, Real Red

Accessories: Spiral punch, Vanilla EP, distressing tool, Playground buttons (I'm almost out!), linen thread

Don't Look Dad!

My dad's birthday is Wednesday so I made this card for him. I used today's Clean & Simple sketch challenge on SCS. My dad is one of my biggest card fans- he thinks I must be THE best card-maker out there- LOL! I tell him he has NO idea of the talent out there, but I always appreciate his comments anyway!!

I did use a variety of stamps including: the Love/Laugh circle is from a retired hostess set from the last catalog called Make It Count. The #1 is from Sporting and "Father" is from Wonderful Favorites. Happy Birthday is from All Holidays... how's that for variety?! I also squeezed on a kraft corduroy brad with some linen thread and a jumbo brad from the Soho designer hardware.

TFL! Hope he likes it!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies
Stamps: All Holidays, Wonderful Favorites, Make It Count, Sporting

Paper: Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand, Manchester DSP

Ink: Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand

Accessories: Kraft Corduroy button, Soho Designer hardward, 1" circle punch, scoring tool, linen thread, Spiral Punch

Mojo Monday

Yes I know it's Tuesday... sorry, I'm still catching up. But guess what- I've made two cards today and I have more ideas in mind!

Both of these designs were made with this week's Mojo sketch in mind! As always it is a nice unique sketch that was easy to work with and offers great flexibility of design.

First up is this 4 1/4" square card which was done using the Beautiful Butterflies Big Shot Die (p. 196) which is exclusive to SU, as well as the papers from the Urban Oasis designer series paper collection (p. 161).

Also in the center of the butterfly is a felt flower (Flower Fusion Too) with a pewter Build-a-Brad! The Basic Gray taffeta ribbon is wrapped around the top of the gray patterned paper which is only attached at the top so the bottom kind of floats like an awning!

This second card just proves you can take a sketch and go in a totally different direction! This doubles as my take on yesterday's Clean & Simple challenge on SCS to take inspiration from the kids' bedding on the JC Penney website.

Here is the bedding I selected (mostly because I had papers out in those colors). For my hunting/trapping family members' cards/albums I am always making my own camoflage paper by stamping a single image (usually an animal) over and over in various colors so they all overlap. That's what I did for the background on the top part of this card. I actually used the wolf that is cut out and popped up as the focal image. This was just a fun masculine birthday card.

Here's the Mojo sketch if you'd like to play along! I'd love to see what you come up with!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Butterfly Card

Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Urban Oasis

Accessories: Beautiful Butterflies Die, Big Shot, Build-a-Brad, Felt Flowers, Basic Gray Taffeta ribbon, scallop edge punch

Masculine Birthday Card

Stamps: Nature Silhouettes, All Holidays

Paper: Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black, Whisper White

Accessories: spiral punch

Don't Try This at Home!

Just kidding... sort of! Funny story- tomorrow is the last day to submit contest entries to Stampin' Up! (for demos only) for workshop ideas using the upcoming Occasions Mini products. I hadn't really considered entering this time, but true to my nature, at the last minute I thought "what the heck!"

So I whipped out this train set called Choo Choo and thought I'd try to remake THIS card so it is using current SU cardstock instead of the Long Note which is nearly 13.5 inches long total. I grabbed some 12x12 textured Sahara Sand and then ideas starting flowing...

(Not sure why you can't click on this picture to make it bigger. Click HERE to see a close-up shot of the inside.)

I love how it turned out, but between watching HGTV shows it probably took me 2 hours. And Oh My Gosh, you should see the mess on my desk!! I kept trying to think of easy ways to embellish this train so it is realistic for a Stamp Camp setting... well, that didn't happen. There are just too many cute possibilities for the train cards but I wanted them all cut out! You could do this with masking, but that's not as much fun and doesn't give as much dimension. Once I was about done and I realized this wouldn't work for a Stamp Camp I went ahead and finished it off with some retired Hodgepodge Hardware and Always Artichoke Grosgrain.

So thanks for stopping by today! I am going scrapbook shopping tomorrow since my long-awaited annual Scrapbook Getaway is NEXT WEEKEND! So I might not be posting, but you never know! ;)

~Kristin

LOL! I just noticed that I put "Birthday Happy" instead of "Happy Birthday" inside! Duh!

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Choo Choo, Darling Dots, Sweet Little Sentiments, On Your Birthday

Cardstock: Sahara Sand Textured (12x3), Very Vanilla

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Always Artichoke, Sahara Sand

Accessories: Word Window punch, Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware, Always Artichoke Grosgrain

Choo Choo for a birthday boy!

Yesterday I posted the baby girl card I made for Monday's CAS challenge. Well, today I'm sharing the boy card I made with a brand new set called Choo Choo! It will be available for purchase from Stampin' Up! beginning April 1st in the new Occasions Mini Catalog. Here are the adorable shoes I got my inspiration from.

I wasn't sure if this qualified as a CAS card, but honestly it only has the one layer (plus the cupcake). The cupcake was colored with markers then I did cut it out, but it is not hard and took only a minute or less. I did cut a slit in the train piece so the cupcake would slide right in! I was tempted to do so much more- add a matching ribbon or some brads for wheels, or even some paper piercing, but I resisted!

So, hope you are having a great day! If you haven't yet tried the CAS challenges, you should. They are fun and just might add a new twist to your stamping!

Thanks for visiting!

~Kristin

SUO Supplies

Stamps: Choo Choo, Party Hearty, Darling Dots

Paper: Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Sahara Sand, Always Artichoke

Accessories: None, can you believe it?!!

Just Right!

Have you ever noticed the stamp set called Nature Silhouettes in the catalog?? Well, it's one I've admired and finally bought recently. I love nature, love silhouette style stamps and my hubby and son are into all things outdoors- so a perfect fit! Anyway, this is the first card I've made with this set and it is for my husband's birthday at the end of this month.

I started out with the Mojo Monday sketch from yesterday. Then decided to use the kraft patterns from Urban Oasis DSP, and finally some Always Artichoke patterned paper. The tree is embossed with Artichoke craft ink and clear EP but my ink spot is SO DRY that it barely was enough to emboss. Guess that reinker is on my next order!

I really love the look of the deer standing under the tree branches but that is too obvious I guess, so I decided to stamp my sentiment there and put the deer head in my circle hodgepodge instead. Hope you like it!

TFL,

~Kristin

Stampin' Up! Supplies

Stamps: Nature Silhouettes, On Your Birthday

Paper: Always Artichoke, Kraft, Urban Oasis DSP, Always Artichoke patterns

Accessories: Clear EP, Silver Hodgepodge, circle punches, natural hemp

OK OK, here it is...

My very first uploaded picture with my NEW Cannon Rebel DS!! Obviously I'm still learning, but there appears to be a lot I can do with the included software. Can't wait to play some more! So here goes... What do you think? Can you even tell a difference??

As I mentioned earlier today, my son's birthday is today. So, here's the card I made for him. He is an avid outdoorsman who loves hunting, fishing, trapping etc. I pulled out some old In Colors to try to get a variation on camoflauge! Here I used River Rock, True Thyme and the current Kiwi Kiss, as well as some natural ivory. I had fun combining the Wildlife Reserve set with several background stamps: Sanded, Canvas and Weathered.

The sentiment is intended to imitate a target, which he is fond of. The inside says May you have the Happiest Birthday yet! To make the target I used a stamp from an old retired set Riveting, and the number is from the retired Newsprint alpha (or similar, not sure).

Other items I've used are retired Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware, linen thread, distressing tool, 1 3/8" circle punch, spiral punch, sponge and chocolate chip craft ink with clear embossing powder for the deer.

I also used an oval of scrap paper as a mask over the deer so the canvas stamp left a void to highlight the deer, if that makes sense.

Even though it is not specific to the New Year, I am using this for my DCBD 108 since it is celebrating TODAY! Hope that's OK. I'm sure I won't be stamping much more today.

Happy New Year to you all and Happy Birthday to my sweet boy!

(PS- looks like my spacing is wonky again. Sorry 'bout that. I give!)

ETA: in all the commotion of the birthday party this card got thrown away meer hours after I made it. :( I was sad, and when I asked my son about it (he didn't throw it away, he knows better) he asked if I could please make him another one. I don't know about that...