Celebrate...

Hello! Today I have a fun card to share...  Probably all of us remember riding Ferris wheels when we were young.  A friend of mine tells me this in the Stampin' Up! Sale-a-bration Feeling Sentimental stamp set is a famous on in London (I think she said).  Wherever it is, it reminds me of going to the fair as a kid.

For this card, I used Not Quite Navy cardstock for the card, layered on Riding Hood Red cardstock to layer and then a designer paper on the front.  I used the Take a Ticket wheel to stamp the tickets, cut them out, then tore the ends off two of them to adhere to the bottom of the card.  Recently, I've been taking the rubber off my wheels and using Clear Mount  Cling Foam to make stamps from them.  I find that I am using them more this way.

That's Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon above the wheel.  The sentiment, "Celebrate" is also from the Feeling Sentimental stamp set.

Here is another card I made using Stampin' Up! designer paper.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope to see you again soon!

Smiles, Laura

Happy Valentines Day---Late!

Happy Valentines Day, a few days late.  OK, I had this blog entry almost ready to post for you, and somehow forget I had not completed it and set it to show up.  So, it's late.  But I like this card so much I still want to share it with you.   I hope each of you had a wonderful Valentines with your "sweetie."  My husband and I are pretty low-key, so we ran out for a pizza to avoid all the crowds in upscale restaurants.  We'll do a nice meal later.... Later I'll share the card I made for my hubby, but today I want to share the one below.

 I made for some of my other "valentines"--my sisters, and one for friend Holly. They always enjoy my cards, so I try to make them special ones for each occasion.    

Recently I saw a card I liked with two sizes of stars cut out.  I now cannot locate that sample picture I saved, but it did not have the artist name on it.  Anyway, I got to thinking, if stars were nice (it was a congratulations graduation card), how about hearts for Valentines.

I made the card from Real Red cardstock and layered it with a printed designer paper.  I cut a piece of Pink Pirouette with heart shapes.  The trick on this one is to use 3 sizes of hearts dies.  I cut 3 hearts from both sides of the Pink Pirouette--the larger two sizes.  I cut one of the largest size and two of the middle-size heart die.  Then I cut 3 hearts using the two smaller hearts from Real Red cardstock.  These I put on the card using dimensionals.  I did sponge red ink around the cut-outs on the Pink Pirouette and around the hearts.  This give the card more depth.

I think one added little feature that makes the hearts pop are the little pearl jewels I added to each heart.

On this card, I added "be my valentine" at the bottom.  I also sponged red around it.

Here is the inside of this card.  I used a scrap of the front designer paper to tie the inside to the front, and added another little heart which I punched out.

Here is the same card using some Stampin' Up! designer paper.  On this one, I stamped the sentiment, "Just for you" so that the card can be used for other occasions, not just for Valentines.

I hope this card has inspired you.  It is still February, after all!!  Thanks for stopping by!
Smiles, Laura

Lots of hearts...

I told you my anniversary is in January. Well, here is the card I made for my husband.  He doesn't like mushy things!  This little card is a favorite size of men--it's 5.5" by 3".  I love the sentiment on this one from the Sale-a-bration (SAB) set Vintage Verses.  I put the sentiment, "I'm so glad we're here for each other" from the Bloomin' Marvelous set inside.  Seemed appropriate! Well, Frank loved the card.

I decided to make a full-size card in my January class using his layout---just in the larger size.  I wanted to use the Honeycomb die on the background and wanted it to show up, so I needed more space.  Here is the card we did in class:

I considered adding a ribbon, but really didn't want to interfere with the rest going on with this card.  It would make a great masculine Valentine's Day card, too.  Not pink and red and mushy!  I used hearts from the Hearts Collection and Hearts a Flutter Collection for those two heart sizes.

Thanks for visiting me today!!

Smiles, Laura

Swallowtail....

Today I wanted to share with you three samples I've made using the new Swallowtail stamp from the spring mini.  All three use a different technique.  Now you might see this LARGE stamp and ask how versatile is it?  I found lots of ways to use it.  I will be showing you another card in the future made using it.

This first one has the butterfly embossed in white.  I then sponged Certainly Celery and Marina Mist ink on it with sponges.  I tied the new 3/8" striped organdy ribbon in Marina Mist (from the spring mini) around it.  I just LOVE this new ribbon and will be getting it in the other colors offered!

For this next Swallowtail, I stamped him using black ink and used ink in other colors to color him in.  The sentiment on both these cards is from the new Sale-a-bration (SAB) set Bloomin' Marvelous.  I think the saying "Miracles Happen" is so appropriate for a butterfly!!

For this next butterfly, I inked up the stamp using three different colors of ink and then stamped him on white card stock---so NO coloring on him.  He was quick and easy to do, but look at that color!  What a great card in a few minutes!!

Well, I hope these have inspired you!  If you do not have this stamp yet, what are you waiting for!!  He's fun to use!

OK, go now and stamp your own swallowtail!!  Just come back soon!
Smiles, Laura

Sanded Hexagons

Here is another card we made in class recently.  I used a white base for the card, layered with Pool Party and topped with the Primrose Petals Core'dinations card stock.

You know, Stampin' Up! (SU) paper has color all the way through it.  Core'dinations paper has a white center, the color is just on both sides.  So for this card, I ran the Core'dinations paper through the new Honeycomb embossing folder and then sanded it with SU's new sanding block. This takes the color off the top of the raised areas and shows the white.  Isn't that cool!!

To get the hexagon-shaped designer paper, I ran the designer paper through the embossing folder and it pressed the design into it so deeply that you can cut out the honeycomb shapes.  I used several patterns from the More Amore Specialiy Paper on this card.

That's SU's new 1-1/4" wide Two-tone Ribbon in Pink Pirouette/Rose Red that I tied around the card.

I love this card!!  Hope you do, too!
Smiles, Laura

Delightful Box Card

Months ago, my friend Judy showed me how to make a box card and for some reason, it just didn't hit me as one I wanted to make. They recently I saw a box card on Kelly Acheson's blog and LOVED it.  Isn't it funny how some days things hit you differently than other days!!   

Anyway, Kelly has great directions and even a You Tube video on how to make this card so I won't give you all the instructions again here.  Her blog address with all of it is shown below with the drawing of how to cut and score the card.

So here is the card closed.  If folds flat so it goes in a regular sized envelope.

 Here is the card opened.

This is a closer-up shot of the inside.  I did realize that you should not glue this part inside until you have signed the card, as signing down in the box is a bit difficult.

 Here is a view from the top so you can see how deep the card/box is.

 My class and I talked a how much fun this would be to make for a birthday card and put some of those little punched out "goodies" inside.  You know the type--they fall out when you open the card.  You could punch some of our small butterflies to put inside.  There are any number of occasions to use this box card.

OK, here is the drawing Kelly shared on her blog.  I HOPE she doesn't mind my showing it here!  Her blog address, www.astampabove.typepad.com is shown on the drawing  so go there and watch her video and hear her tell how to make the box card.  Thanks, Kelly, for turning me on to this one again!!

Come back again soon!!

Smiles, Laura

Spring mini sampler

 I've seen several sampler cards online so decided to make one this month in my classes.  This one uses so many of our new "toys" from the spring mini and the Sale-a-bration (SAB) mini.

I used the 1-1/4" square punch to punch out the squares.  The colors used are Island Indigo, Pool Party, and Tangerine Tango.  I used designer paper from the Patterns stacks.

Here is a close up of some of the squares.  The button is a freebie you can earn along with ribbon from the SAB catalog when you purchase $50 from one of our other catalogs.  The scallop circle under the button is a new punch The little flower and center are from the Madison Avenue, also a freebie from SAB.  The scallop circle under the button is the 7/8" scallop circle punch in the spring mini.  Those brackets are a stamp from SAB set Pretty Petites.  And the small butterfly is a punch in the spring mini. I just loved playing with my new toys.

Here is another close-up of two squares.  This 1-1/4" scallop circle punch was in the Holiday Mini and is still available.  I punched the top layer of it from designer paper in the International Bazaar series.  See the embossing on that pool party square? It is a new embossing folder, Vine Street, available as a freebie during SAB.   Lot of  fun stuff here!

The possibilities of these samplers are endless.  You can select any color combo and put any shapes, stamps and designer paper on your squares.  Just lots of fun to see what you can turn out!

Thanks for stopping in!!
Smiles, Laura

I was MIA!

I hope you've missed me since I was away so long.  I don't even have an excuse except that it was the holidays and we were so busy living life.  January was a blur, too, because it was our anniversary and my birthday month, we went away a week to celebrate.  I had lots of church meetings as we began the new year, on and on.  Suffice to say I have missed you all but truly just could not work in posting to my blog.

BUT, I do have some new samples to show.  While we were on our trip to Hilton Head with my SIL Mary Ann and her hubby, she and I stamped and played and I have samples to show over the next few weeks and samples ready for my February and March stamping classes.  My friend Judy also stamped with me one day in January and I have some of our samples to show, too.  So let's get to it!!!

Here is one card Judy and I made.  We used Stampin' Up! (SU) butterfly die and punch and added the new smaller butterfly punch from the spring mini catalog.  The background was punched with a non-SU punch that I have but I just love the effect.

Here is a close-up of the butterflies.  They were run through the Square Lattice embossing folder to give them dimension.  I also added three "jewels" as the body.

Here's a close-up of the sentiment.  That Just For You is from the spring mini catalog, too.  It's part of the Pop-Up Posies Designer Kit.  I bought the kit just for that stamp.  Love it!!

 Here is Judy's card.  She used different colors.  Love her colors!!

 For this little card, I used some non-SU designer paper.  It had those cute little kids Valentines printed on it and I could not resist.

Here are both of our cards together.

 For this one, I used the SU circle and Scallop Circle die to cut the shape for the heart.  I used two of the heart dies--one from the Hearts Collections and one from the new Hearts a Flutter Collection in the spring mini.

We both made this card, just positioned our hearts a little differently.

The layout for this card was given online by Glenda Calkins and I decided to make this card by that layout.  I love that it can be used for any occasion.  I used the Framed Tulip embossing folder on the Pool Party card stock to frame the center.  The sentiment is from the Loving Thoughts set.

Here is Judy's card.  Don't you LOVE those colors!!

 OK, I guess that's enough for today.  I'll share more samples later in the week!!  Hope it's a good one for you.  Come back soon!  (I will, too!!)
Smiles, Laura