Simple Wishes

I made this simple card for my sister-in-law for her birthday on Monday. Sometimes a simple design is just what I'm looking for.

The size of this card is 6 1/2" by 3 1/4". I stamped the image on vellum and colored it with markers on the backside. I layered it over a smaller white square and attached that with dimensionals.

The sentiment is accented by a drop of Crystal Effects that I covered with Dazzling Diamonds. You could also use a drop of Stickles.

The envelope is from SU. I really like this size card, and the fact that the envelope opens at the end. So cute!

Have a happy Wednesday! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Doodle That, Small Script, both by SU.
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Vellum, Whisper White, Pixie Pink
Extras: Green Galore, Pixie Pink, Yoyo Yellow markers, Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds

This is a card I made last fall for SCS Color Challenge 135. The required colors are River Rock, Basic Gray, and Basic Black. I really love River Rock, and will miss it. I bought several packages before it retired.

I used an old retired SU set, Art of Life. I love this set. The trim behind the main image is SU's Trimtastic stamped in black of Basic Gray. It almost looks like a fabric trim.

The River Rock background uses a TP technique I learned from Leslie Miller. I like using this to add a little texture to a solid color card stock.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. We had a beautiful day here in northern Illinois. We did a lot of yardwork after church, and then in the late afternoon we took our 3 sons, Suzy (Daniel's girlfriend), and my sister and brother-in-law out to dinner at Maggiano's. We were celebrating a special occasion. We paid our final mortgage payment in June. Certainly something to celebrate!

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Art of Life, Trimtastic

Paper: River Rock, Basic Gray, Basic Black

Ink: River Rock, Basic Gray

Accessories: Almost Amethyst Marker, Brads, Sponge

Ordination Favors

My sister's parish had a deacon who was serving there in his last year before his ordination into the priesthood this past June. He was from Poland and had no family here. Her parish was hosting a reception for his ordination and my sister thought she and I could make some favors. His family only speaks Polish and came from Poland to witness his ordination, so they weren't able to do much for him here. So I designed this little chocolate holder that I saw on SCS. I didn't use this video by Angie Kennedy Juda, but it is a great one for making this holder. I originally made a cute little box, but it was too labor intensive to make 50 of them.

I used one of the crosses from PaperTrey's Everyday Blessings set and embossed it in silver. I matted that with SU brushed silver.

On the inside, I used Encore silver to stamp the blessing and the little curly in the corner.

A little bit of retired SU silver ribbon finished it off and kept it closed. I didn't have enough ribbon, but we found a similar ribbon at Walmart. The chocolate inside is a Ghirardelli Intense Dark Mint Bliss 60% cocoa square. I only mention this because there are other Ghirardelli squares that are much thicker. They don't fit in the folder well. They are the ones my sister bought and had to take back because they were too thick! You get about 13 or so to a package. I paid $3.99 at Walgreens, so they are about 25 cents each.

I think Fr. Greg and his family appreciated the fact that my sister made them, and many of the guests commented to my sister how nice they were. I was glad we were able to make his special day a bit nicer. Now I am going to eat the chocolate since the photo shoot is over. ;)

Have a great weekend! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Everyday Blessings - PTI
Ink: Encore Silver
Paper: Basic Black, Brushed Silver
Extras: Silver EP, Silver ribbon from SU or Walmart, Ghirardelli Intense Dark Mint Bliss 60% Cocao Squares

Second Convention Swap

Hello ladies! I've made it back from convention and thought I would show you my second swap I made. (My simpler one!) This one uses Happiness Always, a hostess set from the new Fall Winter Idea Book and Catalog. It features the new In Color, Pink Pirouette. It's such a soft, pretty pink.

I stamped the open butterfly with Heat and Stick powder, heated it, then covered it with Dazzling Diamonds. I embossed the sentiment with silver EP. I really love pink and black together, even though the pink and brown combo is really more "in" now.

I will try to get some of my best swaps from convention posted. They aren't even out of my suitcase yet! Thanks for visiting!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Happiness Always (hostess)
Ink: Versamark
Paper: Basic Black, Pink Pirouette
Extras: Heat and Stick Powder, Dazzling Diamonds, Silver EP, silver brads, black gingham ribbon, Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon

Convention Swap

I am at the Stampin' Up! annual convention in Salt Lake City. Actually I am in my living room getting ready to leave for convention tomorrow. I am going to set this to auto post on July 31st. Hopefully it will work!

This is one of my swaps for convention. Way too involved! But I like the way it turned out. I realized when I was printing out the recipe that I used a bit of ribbon from the last mini. Hopefully it will be in the new catty. I will tell everyone before I swap, so they know it has something expired, if it's not in the new catty. I hope it is, because I like that polytwill ribbon.

I used the new scallop edge punch and a new set we were able to preorder, Dreams du Jour. Ii watercolored the image with reinkers, then embossed it twice with Iridescent Ice EP. I didn't like it just embossed once, so I tried it again and liked the effect.

The DP is the new Bella Rose. New In Colors are Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, and Pink Pirouette. I don't know if you can tell, but I used Versamark and the butterfly in the set on the Baja Breeze background.

I made the pink flower by repeatedly curling a piece of pink cardstock over the edge of a ruler until I had broken the fibers and I could separate the layers of paper. Then I used the Boho Blossom punch to make my own paper flowers.

Hope you enjoy the weekend! See you when I get back! Thanks for visiting.

Edited on 8-7-08 to add the full photo. I didn't even realize it wasn't there! Sorry!

Stamps: Dreams du Jour
Ink: Black Stazon; Versamark; Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, and Baja Breeze reinkers.
Paper: Bella Rose DSP, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Confetti White
Extras: Iridescent Ice EP, Scallop Edge, Boho Blossoms, and large oval punches, Old Olive Polytwill ribbon, Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon, Pretties Kit.

A Brady Boy Wedding

We went to a lovely wedding on Monday night. It was a wedding uniting two families with 3 boys each. There ages are 18, 17, 15, 13,13, and 11. It was a beautiful ceremony; each boy lit a candle in a seven candle array and the parents then lit the final one together. Very touching.

We decided to give them a gift card, so I made a holder with a very cool inside. I found it on SCS, and I tried to find the blog that I used for the tutorial, but I apparently lost the link. I will try to update with the dimensions.

I used Blush Blossom card stock to make the holder, and River Rock for the ink and mat. I used a clear Spica glitter pen to trace over all of the swirls. You can see that in the second photo.

There is really very little stamping here. I did use the retired Damask background from SU for the inside, since it seemed rather plain when I went to sign it. You can see that in the last picture.

Thanks for visiting!


Stamps: Illuminations, Damask both by SU!
Ink: River Rock, Blush Blossom
Paper: Blush Blossom, River Rock, Very Vanilla
Extras: Pink rhinestones, Spica clear glitter pen, Word Window and 3/4" punches, pink satin ribbon

Cakeabella for Tori

A few weeks ago I mentioned about a day of stamping with friends. Patti had some Bella stamps. This one is Cakeabella, and I watercolored her with Twinkling H2Os. I used a little Prismacolor pencil in a brown shade to add a little color to her hair. She was a little too blond for my liking. I blended it with a colorless blender pencil.

The ribbon, flower, and most of the bling were all part of a blog candy I won from Patti a few months ago. The bling on the cake was from a clearance scrapbooking find at Target.

Tomorrow is my oldest great niece's birthday. She will be 17. I hope you all are enjoying your holiday weekend.

Happy Birthday Tori!

Stamps: Cakeabella, SU Small Script
Ink: Stazon Black
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Cool Caribbean, watercolor, Retired SU DP
Extras: wide grosgrain ribbon, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Twinkling H2Os, rhinestone stickers, fabric flower, Spica glitter pens, scallop edge scissors.