Congrats Grad - Cupcake Challenge Card

Lucky me! I've had two weeks in a row to that I'm able to participate in Taylor's Cupcake Challenge. Here is the card I made tonight using The Angel Company's Keep Smilin', Circle Sampler and Tag Tidbits stamp sets. I particularly like this card because it didn't take much time at all, and I really had no idea what it was going to be when I went into it.

Twins Baby Shower Star Book

Yesterday's post talked about the baby shower I'm going to attend today. One of the things I'm giving at the shower will be this twins star book that the mother-to-be can add some pictures to. I used a pack of Mulberry Meadow cardstock and tags with the coordinating Mulberry Meadow ribbon and eight sheets of Die Cuts With A View, Yellow #1 cardstock. The stamps are The Angel Company's Twins set for the images and Double Trouble for the wording. I picked up a few packs of stickers from Michaels to round out the rest of the embellishments. I hope you enjoy the book and ideas.

Spring Showers

April showers bring May flowers? Maybe. But I'm looking at a different kind of shower this spring. I've got friends getting married, and friends having babies, and showers all over the place. Thankfully they bring celebration and fun, not rain.

Tomorrow, I'm going to a baby shower for one of my husband's relatives. I was originally going to give her this card that I made using The Angel Company's How Swell stamp set as the focal point and Fanciful Flowers as the background.

I used Aquacolor Crayons and the direct to stamp technique on the flowers that I demonstrated at my April Watercolor class, and colored the image by picking up color from the crayons with my waterbrush and painting.

I'm not going to give this card at the shower though, because the mother-to-be is having twins, and my husband pulled the Double Trouble card from my previous post out of my project stack and said he liked that one for this particular shower better. (and, ladies, I know we don't like to admit it, but he's right). So the twins it will be, and I'll get to save this card for some other spring shower.

Double Trouble for Double Post

I had another chance to take part in Taylor's weekly Cupcake Challenge this week. Here is the card I made using the sketch she posted.

Hershey Nugget Gift Boxes

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Last weekend I went with Pat G., Pat C. (both angels) and my husband, to visit Rita K. (also an angel) at her home in Ohio. We had a wonderful time visiting, talking, shopping and learning. We also helped Rita set up for an Expo she was working.

Rita is super talented, and I learned so much from her over the weekend. Rita is currently one of the designers for the Scor-Pal website, and she gave us all an impromptu class on the Scor-Pal. I don't have one yet, but you can bet I will get myself a half-price Scor-Pal when I place my next T.A.C. order. Once I have my own Scor-Pal, you'll probably see a bunch of posts of cards I made using it. But if you don't want to wait that long, check out Rita's blog (http://ritasangels.blogspot.com/), or the Scor-Pal website to see Rita's work and get some great ideas.

One of the the other ideas I got from Rita, was for this little Hershey Nugget Gift Box that she made for the Expo.

Here's the one I made based on what I learned from Rita:



It's such a nice little gift to give someone, and it's really very easy, AND...it uses paper scraps. I love it when I find ways to use my scraps! Here's what I used to make mine:

• GWP box (If you're not familiar with The Angel Company, you get a FREE Gift With Purchase stamp (GWP) for every $30 in product you purchase if you place your order through a demonstrator [me]. Use the box this free stamp comes in to hold your decorated Hershey Nuggets)


• 4 Hershey Nuggets


• 4 pieces of coordinating scrap paper 1 inch x 3 1/2 inches (can be all the same, or can be four different patterns/colors). I used paper from our Gentile Beginnings paper collection


• 5 small flowers made using a small flower punch on solid paper that coordinates with your scraps


• 1 medium flower made using a medium flower punch on a scrap of paper different from your small flowers


• Adhesive


• Stickles


• Ribbon


• "For You" phrase from The Angel Company's Tag Tidbits Stamp Set


• Noir Palette brand Ink Pad

And here's how you do it:

• Wrap each Hershey Nugget with a piece of your 1 inch x 3 1/2 inch paper and adhere ends of paper with adhesive


• Place a dot of Stickles in the center of FOUR of the flower and set aside to dry


• Stamp "for you" on the top of the fifth small flower with Noir ink


• Adhere the "for you" flower to the center of the medium punched flower


• Use your finger to curl the edges of the medium flower up a bit to give the petals dimension


• Adhere medium punched flower to top of GWP box


• When Stickles on the remaining small flowers are dry, adhere one to the top of each of the wrapped Hershey Nuggets


• Place Hershey Nuggets in GWP box


• Close GWP box and use the ribbon to tie a bow to the top of the GWP box where the hanging hole is

Voila - Done

For....

Ever think of all the things you do something "for"? Since last fall, just about everything I've created was "for" something. I created "for" The Angel Company's Take 3 on the website, "for" the catalogue, "for" Christmas, "for" my window decorations, "for" the Stamp of the Month, "for" various classes, "for" my Madison Mingle project, and "for" the usual variety of birthdays, baby showers, wedding events and sympathy needs of family and friends. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I felt honored and privileged to be able to make all of those things for the company and my friends and family. It's what I do. It's what I LIKE to do. But this weekend, I got to create "for" FUN! And I realized how much I missed it.

It started with my creation for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge, which I already posted. But my Stamping Bella stamps came in over the weekend too and I was dying to play with them. My husband plays guitar, so I had to get the Rockabella stamp, along with a few others. Of course, Rockabella is the one I started with, and I made four cards just using her and some scraps of Angel Company paper I had left over from some of the "for" projects. Here are my fun-time cards.



This was my first one, and I actually think it's my favorite. I think I like her best because of the polka dot guitar. It was just fun to make.

The next two were also fun, and used the same "Kaleidoscope Boys" paper:

On this last one, I stamped "ROCK ON" in a green ink just a shade darker than the paper, but it's very difficult to see in the scan.
This one I did using some of T.A.C.'s "Uptown Girl" paper collection, which is actually one of my favorite collections, and she and her sparkly red Stickled guitar will be put to use right away.



They were just so much fun, I had to share. Hope you liked them.

Taylor Vanbruggen Blog Challenge

Tonight was "come stamp with me night". Once a month, I plan a Friday evening for stamping, and invite all of my customers and friends to visit and stamp as well. One of the things I worked on tonight was a challenge posted on Taylor VanBruggen's blog. I visit Taylor's blog frequently and sometimes pick up some neat tricks or ideas. Today, Taylor posted a sketch and challenged readers to create their own card from that sketch.

Here is the original sketch Taylor posted.

And here is the card I made using the "Girlie Gadgets" and retired "Retail Therapy" stamp sets from The Angel Company. The images are colored with watercolor pencils and highlighted with Crystal Stickles (which don't show up on the scan all that well).

I chose the Girlie Gadgets and Retail Therapy stamp sets because Taylor's prior post about her shoe purchases got me thinking about stimulating the economy too :). So I shopped in spirit.

You can check out Taylor's card from her sketch on her blog by clicking on the link to the right. It's the "Taylored Expressions" link at the bottom of the "Other Blogs I Visit For Inspiration" section.