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..... :)

Brayered Father's Day

Oops!  I forgot to post this one before Father's Day!  Ah well, thought you might like to check it out, and then case this card to a masculine birthday, get well or sympathy card:

I know, forgive me - it's not 100% Stampin' Up products... however there are many sentiments that fit the curly label punch perfectly!  So here's he details:  I used an Early Espresso base card, with a Marina Mist mat.  I used very vanilla, and brayered Crumb Cake and then a little Early Espresso, being careful to not cover all of the Crumb Cake.  I turned the card around, and brayered Bashful Blue with Marina Mist on top.  I used my grass stamp from Inspired By Nature and used Old Olive to stamp it at a slight angle.  I used my ever handy slot punch (love that thing) to make the cattails.  The little birds are optional and could be substituted with the solid small butterfly in the Charming set (which I currently do not have.)  Here's the inside of the card:

The left side is stamped directly on to Marina Mist, using the same techniques as the front of the card, except for brayering the blue inks.  I used Crumb Cake for a computer generated sentiment, compliments of a quote from Bill Cosby.  Hope you can take this Father's Day card and turn it into something you can use for Birthdays, Sympathy, Get Well, or well, anything!

Congrats to my Sis!

Can I just say, I'm loving the new colors and this Garden Gala design paper!  Can't wait for it to be available to everyone July 1st!  My sister got the job she wanted teaching 2nd grade and I couldn't be happier for her!  As a gift, I'm giving her the Teacher's Pet stamp set and some classic ink pads and stampin' spots, along with this card:

and here's the inside:

I really like the way it turned out!  Here we go on the details:  I used Daffodil delight as my base card, and the Garden Gala design paper for all printed paper.  Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist and Pear Pizazz were also used as card stock and ink.  I realized later that actually, I think this paper may use Real Red and not Cherry Cobbler, but it still looks ok to me!  Four stamp sets were used:  The new Friends Never Fade was used for the flower.  I colored it with markers first, stamped it, then colored again with a versamark pen and heat embossed it.  Wonderful Favorites was used for the outside greeting, and 'the best is yet to be' is from the Best Yet set.  I didn't have any Pear Pizzaz ribbon - yet... but I will!  I used some miscellaneous ribbon that came close enough until I get the real thing!  There really isn't alot of embellishments on this card - It's pretty simple with lots of layers and color.  Funny, that's how I could describe my sister, colorful with lots of layers!