Merry Monday - Clean & Simple Red, White, Black

I'm happy to report that summer has officially started here in the Clark household! We finished our standardized testing and I successfully homeschooled my 3^rd and 6^th graders into smart little graduates of Clarks Academy :) Now we get to spend the summer pursuing our interests. One will learn guitar and Java script, the other will be learning small engine repair (my 9 year old!), and I will be hopefully catching up on scrapbooking and revving up my crafty mojo with some new SU goodies. Soon! Oh, and gardening.

What's a sunny May day without a look ahead to Christmas? I used the Merry Monday sketch to create this clean and simple card.

I decided to go with only red, white and black. Simply using clean lines and dimensionals, I stamped one tree from Lovely As A Tree on one side of the rectangle, and hand cut a tiny cardinal and placed it on a branch. I used the snowy panel to stamp my sentiment, and mounted them on Real Red glimmer paper. Finally, I added (sparingly) Dazzling Diamonds glitter with Tombo multi glue and a fine paintbrush.

You should give the sketch a try! There's some great inspiration over at Lesley's blog.

Have a blessed and creative day! ~ Erika

SUPPLIES:

STAMPS: Lovely As A Tree, Many Merry Messages

PAPER: Whisper White, Real Red, Red Glimmer

INK: Black Staz On, Real Red

EMBELLISHMENTS: Dazzling Diamonds glitter

HSS160 Sketch - Circles & Stitches

Hello crafty friends!  For this week's Hand Stamped Sentiments sketch, I knew I wanted to get away from what I normally do.  "Normal" for me being DOILIES. GREEN&PINK. and RIBBON.  So I double challenged myself to create a card with the sketch, and not use those elements :)

I actually made two cards.  The first one took several hours, walking away, strolling back over, and thinking about it while I should have been concentrating on third grade homeschool (fractions, George Washington, and helping verbs. still got it done).

So, here it is :) The background paper was ripped out of the Epic Day Journal.  I love the journal, and I love the papers even more!  I like the holes on the side, with the rips and all.  The circle was originally punched and pieced with the 2-1/2" circle punch, but I ended up reducing it to 2-1/4" with my ancient Creative Memories circle cutter.  It was a huge ordeal, with the stitching already being done!  However, I used the discarded portion on the next card ;) Waste not, blah blah!

The black "hello" is stamped onto Window Sheet with Staz-On.  Another experimental exercise!  It's hand trimmed and adhered with a couple of stealth glue dots.  The Stamp-A-Majig came in handy for the Daffodil, Pool Party, and Calypso "hellos", and it finally came together!

 Inside, a few circle stamps.

The second card was purely accidental.  The outer circle that was trimmed away from the original circle laid against the practice sheet I was using - did you notice the background paper is upside down?!  I used the wrong side of the page!  Anyway, I was stamping the hellos to see how I'd like to space them and thought it would be thrown away.  Turns out, the circle over the writing was cute! I added a flower from the Pop Up Posies Designer Kit and there she is!

I love how the Daffodil and Pool Party blend together to make a gorgeous green in the sentiment.

So will you take a little time out for yourself this week and play with paper?  Head on over to the Hand Stamped Sentiments blog and give it a whirl!  I'd love to see your creation!

Have a blessed and creative day!   Erika

First Christmas - Merry Monday 62 Sketch Challenge

Hi crafty friends!  An interesting sketch from Merry Monday this week!  Classic shapes and lines, but it's a little off center, giving it an interesting look.  Here's the sketch:

I turned the sketch on its side and used one of my favorites, First Christmas, for the focal point.

The sentiment was first heat embossed in white, then Baby Jesus was stamped in Versamark and sprinkled first with clear, then with polysparkle. All the edges were sponged with Early Espresso, and the brads at the top are coordinating glimmer brads.

Are you in the mood for Christmas cards among all the sunshine?  Head over to Lesley's blog and play along!

Butterfly Thank You Card & Tags {SUO70}

I see I'm not the only one who's SO happy that all of Stampin' Up's butterflies are here to stay for another year!  SUO Challenges has noticed too, and is posting a challenge using butterflies.  I need to make thank yous for customers to tuck in orders, so I made these embossed butterflies, and used one to finish a card...

My first attempt at a tag was using Fine Feathers, and I didn't like the way it looked late last night.  Looking again this morning, it's not bad, really!  I'll have to revisit that idea another day ;)

The second largest Beautiful Bigz butterfly is embossed with the soon-retiring Lacy Brocade folder, which is rubbed with the Melon Mambo ink pad.  Epic Day This & That DSP, cardstock, and ribbon are layered on Sahara Sand, with a little spritzing to pull the colors together.  "Thanks" from Kindness Matters is glittered around the edges with Dazzling Details.  

The Melon Mambo strip has a stamped strip using the Chamomile wheel. 

Hope you're having a great week!  Glad you stopped by :)

 STAMPS: Kindness Matters, Chamomile wheel

INK: Melon Mambo, Pool Party, Crumb Cake
PAPER: This & That Epic Day DSP, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Melon Mambo, Pool Party DSP stack
EMBELLISHMENTS: 5/8" Flower Trim, Pool Party Seam BindingRibbon, Rhinestone Brad, Dazzling Diamonds glitter
BIG SHOT: Lacy Brocade embossing folder, Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die
OTHER: Spritzing tool

Flowers for Mother, the kind that last!

I always tell my husband, please not to buy me flowers for holidays.  They are overpriced and are gone in a flash.  Pretty, but not for long!  He asked what I want...I said MONEY, of course!  Or a foot rub.  He asked how much money :-O Haha.  Enough for my first SU order from the new catalog will do!  But I digress...

I made this little paper flower bouquet to send to my MIL in Florida.  It will pack easily, won't be a bunch of money to send, and will last for a long time.  She is wonderful to us, and she always brags about my papercrafts!  Awww!

A combination of flowers, butterflies, and elegant backgrounds create this little gift set.  I'm using the color combo in the current Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge #159 - Use colors Real Red, Summer Starfruit, Bashful Blue, and Basic Black.

The card is stamped in Summer Starfruit with the big background Ex Libris stamp.  What an elegant stamp!  The top window portion is a separate piece of Vanilla, stamped with En Francais, hand cut and adhered.  The butterfly is layered with a Boho Blossoms flower in Real Red and embellished with a Bashful Blue glimmer brad.  "Mother" from Delightful Dozen, is punched and finished with tiny brads.

The mini milk carton is also stamped with En Francais in black, and a bunch of paper flowers are formed with the Boho Blossoms punch and 2-3/8" scallop circle punch.  They're hot glued to unfolded paper clips, and floral tape is wrapped around the base of the flower and the metal stems. A little more decorating with the Elegant Butterfly punch and Summer Starfruit stitched satin ribbon, and it's ready to ship!  

What do you think of the color combo?  It's another grouping of colors that I would never, ever have chosen on my own, but I think its fabulous!  LOVE the challenges for breaking out of my bubble.  Won't you join in?  Click the pic below...

I was inspired by The Paper Players challenge for my project theme, too.  Give them a visit, their design team samples are just beautiful!

A blessed Mother's Day to all mothers, those who care for others like mothers, those who love their mothers, and to those who miss theirs as well.

SUPPLY LIST:

STAMPS: Ex Libris, En Francais, Delightful Dozen, Petite Pairs, Papillon Potpourri

INK: Summer Starfruit, Bashful Blue, Real Red, Basic Black

PAPER: Very Vanilla, Real Red, Summer Starfruit, Bashful Blue

EMBELLISHMENTS: Tiny Brads, Sponges, Summer Starfruit stitched satin ribbon, Real Red Stitched grosgrain ribbon, Glimmer Brad in Bashful Blue, Mini clothespin

PUNCHES / BIG SHOT: Boho Blossoms punch, Elegant Butterfly punch, Bigz Mini Milk Carton die, 2-3/8" scallop circle punch

Happy National Scrapbook Day! {Glassine Sack Tag Album, 50th Birthday Party Decor}

Hi friends, and Happy (inter)National Scrapbook Day to you!  Today I'm sharing with you a good reason to scrapbook - to honor someone you love.  I put together this mini album for my husband's recent HUGE milestone birthday!  It was really easy and the result was worth a million bucks.

 Simply gather a bunch of glassine bags or whatever bags you have on hand.  Need some?  Check here in my Etsy shop.
Staple them together at the bottom.
Wrap the stapled end with a piece of cardstock.  Mine is Marina Mist, embossed, and embellished with an Antique Brad & circle punch of Champagne Glimmer paper.
Wrap each bag with coordinating pattern papers.  Mine is Nautical Expedition (retired SU).  This gives the album a little body and color.
Add a little stamped embellishment to the front.  I used The Open Sea.
Now your base is done, time to fill it with memories!
I used the Two Tags die, measured the usable space, and typed up the replies on the computer. Then I cut them out and die cut each with the Big Shot.

Since it was my hubby's big giant birthday (I happen to be a LOT younger than him LOL, but I'm catching up fast), I wanted to fill it with messages of appreciation from people all throughout his life.  FACEBOOK, here I came!  I sent a group message to everyone that I thought has been touched in some way by his being around.  Childhood best friend, coworkers from 25 years ago, family, neighbors, church friends.  It was really easy once I got started.  Then the messages started rolling in, by Facebook message, text, and phone.  And it was WONDERFUL!   I was so blessed by the memories I received on his behalf.  It was very sweet to read what others had to share, and I was surprised by the heartfelt responses, especially from the guys in our lives.  But the real impact was when he read the messages.  I gave him the book the night before his birthday, and he took it to bed to read.  He laughed.  He got quiet.  And he smiled.

And this is why you have to scrapbook.

I also threw him a surprise party, and I wanted to share some of the decorations with you.  I scoured the web and Pinterest when planning his party and ended up coming up with all the ideas on my own.  First up was the banner for the cake table...

It's made of hand cut banner pieces, and LOTS of squares of Silver Glimmer Paper.  I scanned snapshots of many of the big moments in his life - childhood, grandparents, high school, our wedding, our first son, second son, and our business grand opening were some of the big ones.

Here's the hall, all gussied up!  I didn't want to do all black, I'm just very much not into the over the hill stuff :)

C. is a collector of antique clocks, so I started swiping clocks from the house earlier in the week. I set one as a centerpiece on each table, added confetti & balloons, and glue dotted a "time" quote to the face of each clock.  Lines like, "time flies when you're having fun",  "everything is better with time", etc.  It was so very HIM, and he loved it too.

  

Finally, some quickie decorations for the food table.  Jars of candy with coffee stirrers embellished with banners, pinwheels, and big fat rhinestones.  

I hope you enjoyed my birthday ideas, and hopefully you'll be able to bless somebody's life with a scrapbook, or honor them in some way with your crafty skills.  I'm going to try to pop back in later with a layout for NSD :)  Till then, have a blessed and creative day!  ~ Erika