Loads of Love Truck

I had a workshop last night and this is one of the projects we made for it. This card has a flap that folds down and lays underneath the main image panel for a closure. The main image and its mats are attached to the card with dimensionals just at the bottom of the image to leave the top open to use for the closure.

When you open the card, there is a space for your sentiment and for writing. There is also a slot cut out to insert a gift card or cash.

Here is the wonderful tutorial that gave me the idea to do this for my workshop last night: Dawn's tutorial Thanks for the great tutorial!

Check it out and try one of these.

Recipe:
Cardbase: Certainly Celery
DSP: Bashful Blue
Main image and mats: Ballet Blue, Barely Banana, Whisper White
Ribbon: Certainly Celery 1/4" grosgrain
Punches needed: Word Window Punch, Tag Corner Punch

Mt. Rushmore after dark

I had to add another page that I scrapbooked today. We visited Mt. Rushmore in the afternoon, went out for dinner and then came back for the evening festivities. There is a presentation by one of the park rangers then a video and then the lights come on while everyone is singing the National Anthem. It is quite an impressive experience.

One presentation we heard was that the sculptor put in aspects that only show in certain light, certain times of the day or certain seasons. He had quite the eye for detail. Seeing the monument at night was much different than during the day.

I used the Big Shot Top Note Die to frame the pictures in 2 different ways. I also used the Top Note and cut it in half to use for the titles. The eagle is an inexpensive yard sale find that I thought would add a nice touch. It was a pin and I just cut the posts off. The buttons are from a big jar of buttons I inherited from my mom.

16th Birthday

I decided to use one of the sketches in the 52 Sketches site to create this page for my daughter's 16th birthday.

We went to Hill City, SD near Mount Rushmore for dinner. We were told of this great place called the Alpine Inn that serves a great steak dinner and has a wonderful dessert menu. Don't go there for dinner unless you like bacon wrapped steak, that's all they serve for dinner. But, they have a huge dessert menu. Since it was her birthday, her dessert came free with a sparkler in it! We had a great time!

Have a Razzle Dazzle 16th Birthday!

My daughter is turning 16 tomorrow!

I made this card for her to celebrate. I thought it looked like a great girl teenager type card.

The base of the card is Melon Mambo which has been embossed with the Texurz plate using the Big Shot.

The "cake" is made from Rich Razzleberry card stock stamped in Whisper White using the Razzle Dazzle stamp set from SU. I then sprinkled it with Dazzling Diamonds and heat set it. (Yes, there's glitter all over my dining room!) A piece of Melon Mambo polka dot ribbon is attached to brighten it up.

I then attached a small piece of Razzleberry Lemonade at the base and used the Round Tab punch to create the base.

The sentiment was stamped and punched with the Round Tab punch with layers of 2 add'l Round Tabs and a layer of a scalloped circle attached.

I love how this card turned out and I hope my daughter will too.

How quickly summer flies by!

It's so hard to believe that it's already past the middle of July. Summer is just flying by and I'm afraid that it's going to fly even faster!

My daughter turns 16 on Monday. Hard to believe she's that old, but she is turning into a wonderful young lady.

My son moves off to college in just over 1 month. It's great to see him ready for the next step. Lots of new challenges await as he has to take care of more things himself.

Our Vacation Bible School is set for Aug. 10-11. We are doing an overnight camping event again this year. It was a huge hit last year and we are hoping this year will be the same. Keep me in your prayers and we work out the plans for this event.

Loads of Stamping

I love this set from Stampin' Up. It's called Loads of Love and it has some great accessories to go with it. I stamped a number of the trucks one day and colored them with my Watercolor Crayons while watching some tv. What a great way to pass the time. I used the Autumn Harvest set as well. I thought it'd look fun to have a great big pumpkin in the back of the pickup. What a "HAPPY HARVEST" that would be!

Two of these cards also utilize the Movers and Shapers for the Big Shot. It cuts your card, scores it and will make a window in your card front as well.

I hope you enjoy my creations.

Have a great end of the week!

Faux Grid

I had to give the technique from Splitcoaststampers weekly technique challenge a try this week. The challenge was to use the faux grid technique.

My daughter and I took an overnight trip to do some shopping, spend some time together, and take her to the orthodontist before her birthday next week. I took along my Razzle Dazzle set from Stampin' Up!, a piece of SU grid paper, a small ruler, my new In Color markers and my Basic Black marker as well. I created the main image at the motel that evening while we were relaxing before going to bed.
I started with a 4x5 piece of Whisper White cardstock and used my Melon Mambo and Rich Razzleberry markers to color the main image from the Razzle Dazzle set and then stamped a few of the smaller flowers as fillers.
I then took my rulers and made lines at 1 inch intervals across the paper in both directions. I chose contrasting colors of Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry to color in a few of the tiles to add some interest and focal points to the card.
When I got home today, I realized that cutting the image down just a touch would give some space for framing the image. I cut the image to 3x4 and framed it with Crushed Curry that is only 1/8" larger. The Bermuda Bay layer is 4x5 with a cardbase of Regal Rose.
I used my Modern Label punch and my Word Window punch to the sentiment.

We had a great couple of days together with fun conversation, great shopping (we found some great deals), and we were glad to get back home again.

Thanks for looking at my new creation. Why not try this technique yourself.

Shabby Chicks Nature Challenge

I made this card for today's sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers and also for the Shabby Chicks Blog Challenge - Nature. Check out some of the other Shabby Chicks Blogs for more inspiration.

I love this set from Stampin' Up!, Lovely As A Tree. The images are very fun to work with and are very versatile.

The trees are stamped in Classic Brown then the grass and sky are sponged with (from bottom to top) Sage Shadow, Crushed Curry, Creamy Caramel, and Bordering Blue.

Cardstock colors include: More Mustard, Soft Suede, Sage Shadow and Whisper White.

I hope you like what I've done. Now, go create!

After having looked again at the 1st card, I realized it needed something more for a focus, so I added this image from Autumn Days.

Let me know what you think.

New Technique

I tried the Technique Learning Challenge from SCS today. I came up with 2 cards. This technique makes it so that the card is self-standing! Check here for the challenge and links to more information: TLC288
I wanted to use a set for Fall. I know, summer is just in full swing, but I know Fall card making will be just around the corner.

The 1st card is made using the technique called masking. I thought it would look great for a number of pumpkins. The pumpkins and leaves also have Crystal Effects added to add dimension. The greeting is a rub-on from Stampin' Up! and the stamp set is Autumn Harvest.

The 2nd card was done because I'd seen a sketch challenge somewhere today that got my creativity going. I thought the 3 pumpkins would look great sponged and then cut out and added with dimensionals to pop the up a bit.

Ink colors used for both cards are:
Dusty Durango
Crushed Curry
Mellow Moss
Soft Suede
Pumpkin Pie
Certainly Celery

Paper used:
Mellow Moss
Shimmery White
Whisper White
Razzleberry Lemonade

Circles and Swirls Fireworks

You know you're a stamping addict when you can watch the fireworks on the 4th of July and think about which stamps would recreate some of the beauty you're seeing in the night sky.

The swirl from the Wings of Friendship was the 1st stamp to come to mind. After that there were others, but the new Circle Circus is a great one for the fireworks idea as well.

I stamped the swirl from Wings of Friendship (a great new hostess set from Stampin' Up) in Melon Mambo on Shimmery White cardstock. the ribbon is attached just to the edge so that when tied a tiny bit of the polka dots would show thru. The tie was done so the tails would show the polka dots as well.

One of the scallop circles was done using the swirl as well. I stamped the swirl 3 times to form a circular pattern and then used the scallop circle punch to cut it out. Another stamp from the Circle Circus was used along with a dimensional to put over the top. The other 2 circles are also from the Circle Circus set from Stampin' Up as well.

The card base Rich Razzleberry, a new In Color from Stampin' Up for this year. It has a very rich deep tone to it that works great with the Melon Mambo, another new In Color.

This is a fairly simple card to put together. but very fun and can be used for many occasions just by adding a simple sentiment.

The fireworks were great and being in the company of my daughter was even better! We had a great time.

I hope this "sparks" your imagination and to get out your stamps and create some exciting new creations as well.