I'm getting excited

I just got back from NYC this morning (I was supposed to be back late Tuesday night) and waiting for me was my new Fall/Winter Collection catalog and a box of catties for my customers. Unfortunately I was too tired to look at it since I had just driven/rode in a car for over 12 hours to get home. They kept canceling our flights, so we had to get rental cars to get home. So after getting 5 hours of sleep I woke up to finally scan through my catty. I'm excited and I'm going to go broke after seeing what is in there.

In the meantime I have another card with the Prints Designer Paper so show you. I also broke out the Sweet Shop ribbon, which I have been hording, only using a few pieces here and there. I think it makes for a nice transition between the DSP and the card front. Oh, I can't wait to order some more of this paper in different colors and 12x12 sheets.


Recipe:
Stamps: Unfrogettable
Paper: Rose Red, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Prints Designer Paper
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Rose Red, Certainly Celery, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Sweet Shop ribbon
Technique: Masking, Watercoloring

Birthdays

My neighbor and my sister-in-law share a birthday, but they live in separate states, so they would never know if they got the same birthday card. So I killed two birds with one stone. I was really pressed for time so I didn't have time to come up with two different cards. I did change them up a little bit with opposite colors. I think they turned out really cute and again I've been watercoloring everything lately. Also, I used my new favorite color combo again. I find lately that I've been putting ribbon on a lot of my cards. I used to not use ribbon, but I think it just gives it an extra bit of interest. Rumor has it there won't be as many grosgrain ribbon colors in the new catty, so I guess I won't have to buy a lot more since I currently only have white, black, cream and chocolate. Also included is more Prints Designer Paper, which I'm totally going to stock up on. I love it!!!!!

Recipe
Stamps: Unfrogettable
Paper: Rose Red, So Saffron, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Prints DSP
Ink: Rose Red, Old Olive, So Saffron, Creamy Caramel, Jet Black StazOn
Accessories: Cream grosgrain ribbon
Technique: Watercoloring

Christmas in June

Call me crazy, but I really had the urge to make a Christmas card the other day. So here is my Christmas in June. I finally got around to a few of the recent sketch challenges at SCS and this is one of them. I wasn't sure that I would like the triangle cuts, but I think they work, here. I've really been in a watercoloring mood, so I'm glad I had a Christmas stamp that could be colored. Actually it was during this Christmas urge that I realized that I don't own a Christmas stamp set. I guess I'll just have to buy one from the new catty. :o) I think that Real Red and Old Olive is a pretty good combo for Christmas cards. It's no Cranberry Crisp and True Thyme, but since those colors won't be available any more I guess RR and OO will have to do.


Recipe
Stamps: Greetings Galore
Paper: Very Vanilla, Real Red, Old Olive
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Real Red, Old Olive, So Saffron
Accessories: Cream grosgrain ribbon, paperclip
Technique: Watercoloring

OMG

A demo in California just got her complementary copy of the new SU! catalog. It's pandemonium on the demo side of SplitCoastStampers. Oh, I hope mine gets here soon. Back to SCS to stalk the thread.

Father's Day card

I made this card for my father-in-law. This is really the only "manly" stamp set I have, so it's my "go to" set. My husband was not surprised to see that I used it for another card. I also thought it was appropriate since my FIL drives a white truck. I'm sure he'll love it. Recipe:
Stamps: Loads of Love, Loads of Love Accessories
Paper: Old Olive, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Old Olive, Jet Black StazOn
Accessories: Watercolor pencils, blender pens, tag punches, hemp twine, Crop-a-dile
Technique: Watercoloring

Cute card

I had to send a card to my sister-in-law. Her cat, Brutus, passed away and she's pretty upset about it. I'm hoping this cheered her up a bit. I'm so thrilled with how it turned out.
Recipe:
Stamps: Greetings Galore
Paper: Old Olive, So Saffron, Whisper White, Rose Red Prints Designer Paper
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Old Olive, Rose Red, So Saffron
Accessories: White grosgrain ribbon
Technique: Watercoloring


I love the Prints Designer Paper and cannot wait to get my hands on it in 12 x 12 sheets come July 1. I also love watercoloring from my ink pads. Just squish the ink pad to get some ink on the lid and use a blender pen to pick the ink up and color. And this is my new favorite color combo. I've used it every time I've stamped this week (which means you'll probably see it again here soon).

More scrapbook pages

Two more scrapbook pages for you. The first one is the kiddos (and my mom) and their Build-a-Bears that they made at the baseball game. Great American Ballpark is one of a few ballparks where you can make a Build-a-Bear. The kids had a great time making them and picking out the outfits. This was my first time using my new slit punch. I like the subtle effect that it gives. Again I used my "Have a Ball" set which is just perfect for baseball pages. I also used Short Order Alphabet. I added some brads from the HodgePodge Hardware to the slits. The matting is Yo-Yo Yellow.





The two-page spread is just the kids being goofy. They had such a great time at the game. The pep squad came around and gave Faith a pompon and Taj and Jared got soft baseballs. Taj loved the loud music that they played and was all smiles the whole night. No stamping on these pages, but I used some grosgrain ribbon and a paperclip. I also used my 1 3/8" circle punch and my 1 1/4" circle punch.

Some stampin' fun

I wanted to share a link with you. Better Homes and Gardens had some ideas for creating Father's Day cards. Most of the projects feature Stampin' Up! products.

BHG link

Insider info

I got the goods for you. Yesterday SU! demos got a sneak peak of some of the items coming up in the new catalog. There will be some new punches including a star and a scalloped circle. There will be a Pretties kit, which seems to include dyeable fabric flowers, half back pearls, hat pins and beads. There will be some coordinating products like the Wanted stamp set, Outlaw designer paper and Star punch which is called Boho West. There will also be two more, Corner Office and Tapestry. A new Simply Scrappin' Kit. Tons of ribbon. Some stitched grosgrain, wide grosgrain, taffeta and some new ribbon originals. Oh, and I'm really excited about a Polka Dot background. I can't wait until the new catty gets here.

Scrapbook pages

Here are the scrapbook pages I promised. This first one is my favorite. I love the top picture of Faith and her Build-a-Bear, Fluffy Girl. This is my first 8x8 scrapbook so I'm keeping it kind of simple. I'm used to 12x12 where you can put a lot of embellishment, but I don't want to overwhelm the photos. I stamped the words and punched them with the Word Window and threaded them on some hemp twine. I also added some hemp twine to the top corner of the bottom picture, which is of me and Faith (and Fluffy Girl).

This next page is actually my first page of the baseball game section of the scrapbook. I always keep my tickets from events for scrapbooking. They're the best embellishment! Again, the page is really simple. I stamped Cubs at Reds in Real Red with Short Order Alphabet. And I'm so glad I have "Have a Ball" which is a retired set. It is such a great set, especially for sport themed scrapbook pages. This is a retired set that you hang on to forever. I stamped the images in Basic Black, Creamy Caramel, and Chocolate Chip and cut them out as close as I could.

I think I'll save the other pages for another day. I hope you liked my pages!

New feature

I've added a subscription link if you're interested. If you sign up you will receive email notice when I make a new post. So go sign up!!!!!!

Another challenge card

I did this one for a sketch challenge on SCS. I really love how it turned out. I love how bright it is. I really like how the Canvas BG in Night of Navy looks on Whisper White. I started with those strips and I wasn't quite sure what my color combo was going to be, so I had to check the trusty Color Combos site.

I also had some trouble with the butterfly. I had to cut it out 3 times to get one that I didn't accidentally cut of an antenna. I also popped it up on a dimensional. The Night of Navy and Real Red edges have been distressed.

BTW, what do you think of my new watermark? Way better than the old one, huh? I had some fun playing around with Photoshop to make it. I made a couple of them, but I liked this one the best. I also made my header and I think it's too cute. Any way, thanks for looking!!!

Recipe
Stamps: You Make Me Happy, Canvas BG
Cardstock: Gable Green, Night of Navy, Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: Gable Green, Night of Navy, Real Red
Accessories: White Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensional
Technique: Distressing

Miss me?

Sorry I've been pretty non-existent. I just finished up my last quarter of school, so I will have plenty more time on my hands. I'm also feeling uninspired lately in anticipation of the new catalog on July 1. I've been working on a scrapbook from when some of my family came to visit last fall, but it is in desperate need of some embellishment. I'm holding out until the new catty is released to see what fun new stuff is in there. I did get a chance to work on some SCS challenges on Friday, though. It was 90 degrees outside, so the basement was the only cool place. Good thing all my stamping stuff is down there.

I've done crayon resist before when I was a member of a stamp club. I haven't done it since because I didn't have any crayons, or so I thought. I found some crayons in my old college stash so I was all excited to use them. To do a crayon resist technique stamp your image on glossy card stock (I used StazOn), then take a crayon and accent your stamped image. Wherever you color with crayon will resist the ink. Then ink your card stock. You can use sponges, a brayer, a stipple brush. Then wipe off the crayon and the white will be revealed.

I love the way this first one came out. I think it kind of looks like denim.

Recipe

Stamps: Polka Dots & Paisleys, Warm Words

Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Night of Navy

Cardstock: Glossy White, Night of Navy, Whisper White

Technique: Crayon Resist

Accessories: Black grosgrain ribbon

This is my second crayon resist card. I couldn't stop at just one. I was looking through my retired sets and I thought that this set was perfect for crayon resist.

Recipe

Stamps: Delight in Life, Warm Words

Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue

Cardstock: Glossy White, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, Whisper White

Technique: Crayon Resist, Masking

Accessories: White gingham ribbon, paperclip, Ticket corner punch

Since I'm working on a scrapbook, I'll have some pages to share with you soon. Hopefully in the very near future.