Happy New Year!!

We're back from holidays and I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and great New Years celebrations.   We watched the new year come in with some close friends and it was a wonderful feeling to know that they are there for us and enjoying life with us!

I haven't been stamping for the last couple of weeks, but I do have a couple of shares today.  I made this card back in the fall.  It uses Stampin' Up! cardstock and stamps, but non-SU designer paper.  Still, I like the layout.  This first shot is sort of dark--can't figure out what was wrong with the camera setting.  But you can see it OK, I suppose.

                             

The center section is from the Cute by the Inch Level 1 Hostess set.    Here is a closeup of the center and the color is better on this one.

I decided this would make a great Valentines layout, too.  So here is another card made using SU designer paper from Sunny Garden.

I used the 1" and 1-1/4" square punches for these squares.  The overall card is 4-1/4" square.

Here is a close up of the heart.  You could also use "Valentine colors" on this one. 

I hope to have more to share with you later in the week.  I'm off to the stamp room to create now!  Glad you stopped in!!  Smiles, Laura

Cardinals.....

I have been waiting for some time to post today's card and the projects I'm going to be sharing the next couple of days.  I had to wait until my class made them; I wanted it to be a surprise for mt ladies.  The three projects will all use the same little cardinal made with the 1-3/8" circle punch and holly leaves. 

I originally designed this card for an After Christmas Thank You Card Swap.  That's why I used the Thank U on the front.  The card itself is Always Artichoke, which is layered with Whisper White that I've run through the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.  I tied 5/8" Real Red satin ribbon around it and hung the tag on it with linen thread.  The sentiment is from the Cute by the Inch Level 2 Hostess set.  I stamped it first in Real Red and then stamped it again in Always Artichoke and cut out just the "thank" word to put over the red "U".

Here is a close up of that tag.  The sentiment is backed with an Always Artichoke tag.

To make the cardinal, I punched out a 1-3/8" circle and cut off a flat place on one side.  I added a tail made from one of the hearts in the Heart to Heart punch.  The wing is the wing from the Two-Step Bird punch. I sponged around the bird and wing to give him some depth.   The eye and the beak are both made from the smallest heart in the Heart to Heart punch. 

For the Holly leaves, I cut out rectangles and folded them in half, lengthwise.  I snipped out circles using the 3/4" and 1" circle punches.  I smudged color along the edges and down the center.  The berries are punched using the circle from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch pack.  I used the white gel pen to add some "reflection" to the bird, leaves and berries. 

Come back tomorrow to see the goodie box that goes with this card.   Smiles, Laura

Cute by the Inch...

The stamp set used on this sample is a Level 2 Hostess Set called Cute by the Inch.  I love the stamps in it and alot of my customers want it but cannot buy it; they have to earn it.  This card is made from Pacific Point blue cardstock.  The white front is backed with Tempting Turquoise and I've used Pumpkin Pie on it, also.

The squares are punched using a 1" square and a 1-1/4" square punch.  I love how they layer.

The sentiment is from the Friendly Words Jumbo wheel.  Actually, I bought a second of these wheels and cut the individual sayings apart.  That allowed me to stamp this sentiment and punch it out using the Curly Label punch.  I also punched out a Curly Label in Turquoise, cut it in half,  and put it behind the white one.  Both of these are backed with the Decorative Label punch from the Holiday Mini.

Here is a close-up of them.

Actually before I made this card, I had made a little box to hold the Bath and Body Works hand sanitizer and put this design on the front.  (I showed you those in an earlier posting.)  I liked the box front so much that I made the card to go with it.  Here they are together.

And if you want to see the inside of the sanitizer box, here it is:

The use of the Decorative Label on the front of the card goes with the inside of the box.  Neat, huh?

Stop in another day!! I love having you visit!! Smiles, Laura

Back to school...

I guess all of our children and grandchildren are back in school now. I know my grandchildren are and both are really pleased with their teachers and new school. (Dillon is in middle school now.) I like to send my children cards for the first day of school and also some for the next few weeks, so they have something fun to open when they get in from a long day at school. Here are a couple of cards I made recently for them. My class also made this one, but Dillon got the first one. It uses the First Day stamp set that recently retired in the Summer Mini catalog. We cut the books using the Word Window punch. The little book the bookworm is holding is popped up with dimensionals so it give the card some dimension. Dillon liked this one. For Jessica I made this one (below) with the bookworm made from punches. I started with the 1/2" circle punch for the tail, progressed up with the 3/4", 1" and 1-1/4" circles. His head is made with the large oval punch. I had a hard time keeping Jessica from seeing this one since she spent that last week before school started with me. She was all over the stamp room, but I had the card for her hidden, awaiting the first days of school.

This next one hasn't gone out to Dillon yet--and I may not send it because it looks a lot like his other one. But I did want to put some math and the owl punch "teacher" on this one. I saw a similar one on Connie Babbert's blog. She had simpler addition (2 + 2 = 4), but hey, Dillon is in 7th grade now, so I added a harder addition problem. Ha! The numbers are cut from the Naturally Serif die on the Big Shot. Here's another one I made yesterday that might go to one of the children. I saw something like this one on another blog, too and LOVED the pencil idea. I decided to make scored lines down mine so it would look like the hexagon shape of a pencil. (The one I saw didn't have that.) Otherwise, I pretty much copied the one I saw except for colors.Here is a close up of the little raised portion on the card. I colored in the H and I so it would show up better, but am not sure it does. I raised this with dimensionals. These letters are from the Cute by the Inch level 2 Hostess set. I got that one recently and had so much fun playing with it. You will be seeing more samples using this set!Well, I have other tasks for today, so I'm signing off. I'll post more in the next day or so. Thanks for visiting my blog!! If you like what you see, leave me a comment. I love reading them!! Smiles, Laura