I have a confession....

It's been over 3 weeks since my last post - yikes!  Forgive me, friends.  Life has been super busy, as I'm sure it has been for you, too.  I left for vacation 2 days after my last post, came home, and have been busy getting my youngest child off to college.  It's official, I'm an empty nester!  Well, at least until she comes home for summer.  Here's a cute photo of my girls from our vacation.  We stayed on my Aunt's farm in Oregon.  The girls got a kick out of my 81 year old Aunt's 'gater.'  My Auntie drives it all over her farm - too cute!

Ok, so they had just a little fun on the farm!  lol

My daughter asked if I would make her some cards for her to take with her to college, so I'm beginning to make her a stash.  I started by casing this one from Elaine Schader's post on Stampin' Connection:

This uses the Friends Never Fade and Perfect Punches stamp sets.  Colors are Wild Wasabi, Marina Mist and Concord Crush.  So pretty together, don't you think?  A little organza ribbon, the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Large oval and large oval scallop punches, and a Martha Stewart border punch (any of the SU border punches would work, too) makes the recipe for this card.  Again, this is pretty much a direct case.  Search Friends Never Fade at SC, and you'll find others that are similar to this one.

Katie also asked for some 'guy' cards.  All products are stampin' up accept for the Verve stamp set:

The Elegant Soiree DP and Crumb Cake paper were distressed, pierced and punched for this card.  I really like the Bashful Blue, Baja Breeze, Soft Suede and Not Quite Navy color combo!  The little ribbon loop is the reverse side of the Soft Suede polka dot ribbon.  If you don't have a distressing tool, you can simply use your fingernail on the paper's edge for a similar effect.

I'm on a card makin' mission during the month of September, and I'll be using lots of new goodies from the new Holiday Mini.  Your copy, if you are on my mailing list, is being sent to you this week so keep a look out in your mail.  It's one of the best occasion mini's I've seen with lots of new products!

I'll post the online link to the new Holiday Mini Catalog on September 1st.  Until then, make it a great day, making great cards and pages and projects and frames...and..... :)

Oh, I LOVE new paper!

Paper is my inspiration.  How 'bout you?  When I saw the new designer paper in the new Stampin' Up! catalog Iabout fell over - I wanted it ALL! lol   I did purchase Woodland Walk and Blueberry Crisp (and a few others, I have to admit).  And, as is true for many of you... I have boxes of pictures that are waiting for me to find the perfect time to put them into a scrapbook.  Alas, I am not a very dedicated scrapbooker!  However, I really love my youngest daughter's graduation pictures, so I committed to making two pages last night, and thought it a perfect opportunity to play with my new paper!

Katie loves green, so I have to make a page with green paper and Woodland Walk was perfect.  Now, in hindsight, I would use one or two solid colors as matting, but that's how we learn, right?  :)  Here's the first page I did.  It's an 8 1/2 x 11 for a green album that I picked out over a year ago just for her:

I used the Just Believe stamp set from the new catalog for the stamped images and the Whimsical Word set for the sentiment.  The lace ribbon is also from the new catalog.  It's hard to tell, but the flowers in the lower left corner are actually cut out from the paper and popped up on dimensionals.  I didn't have any Garden Green ribbon, so I substituted some Handsome Hunter instead.  I added some paper piercing and a few buttons for a little extra detail.  Here's the next one using Blueberry Crisp:

So I had alot of fun with this one!  Plus, I just love this picture of my daughter.  I cut the main piece of dsp to 81/2 x 11, and then added the 3 inch strip onto the left side of the page.  I covered the seam of those two pieces with some Pacific Point ribbon.  I then cut two pieces of dsp to 6x6 and set them diagonally as matting for the picture.  I cut a small strip of dsp and used a tape runner and adhered it to the crocheted ribbon, then adhered that to the page.  I covered the ends by punching two medium scalloped ovals, folding them over the sides of the page and securing them with Very Vanilla brads.  The sentiment in the bottom corner was stamped from the Style Beautiful set (again, a new stamp from the new catalog) on to Very Vanilla CS and punched with the large oval punch.  I punched a medium scallop oval from the dsp, cut it in half the long way, and adhered it to the top and bottom of the punch.  It's popped up on dimensionals.  Last, I had so much fun making the flower in the top corner.  Here's a close up:

First, I punched a scallop circle out of a different print of dsp than the one I chose to use for the rest of the flower.  Then I punched 4 'owl bodies' from the new Owl Punch - yeah, really!  I cut off the owl feet.  I then folded each owl in half lengthwise.  That crease is your guide to cut to the center from each of the owl's ears.  It should look like a tulip when you are done with this step.  Then from the bottom, fold each of the two edges from the center crease point.  Punch a 1" to 1-1/2" circle to adhere to the back of your 'owl tulips'.  Arrange them first so you know where to adhere them to the circle.  Then adhere the circle to the scallop punch that you set aside.  Use a paper piercer in the center of the flower to insert the brad.  The brad was made with Stampin' Ups Brad Builder.  Punch a 1/2" circle from the dsp you want to use.  The clear plastic cover already has adhesive on it so stick your circle to the back of it.  Then get a 1/2" glue dot, and put it on the brad base.  Then adhere the paper/disc to the brad base, paper side down.  Insert the brad and then use your fingernail or small scissors to lightly curl the flower tips upward.  You're done!  The flower was popped up on dimensionals, of course!  You can make these with 4 to 6 owl/tulips, depending on how deeply you fold up the outside edges of the owl/tulips.  The more narrow they are after folding, the more will fit in the circle.  These flowers are VERY fun to make and look awesome.  Add more dimension to them by inking the edges before the flower is assembled.  Well, I'm off to run my weekend errands.  Feel free to email me or comment, especially if you have questions about these pages, Stampin' Up products, or anything in general!