More Magic!

Here is the 6 x 6" page we made today at Technique Club. We put together a page like this at every meeting. We make an example of the technique and put it together with step-by-step instructions. I love thumbing through my own book when I'm looking for inspiration.

The page features Riding Hood Red and Night of Navy inks and card stock, in addition to the Glossy White card stock for the technique. To create the plaid design, we used 7" strips of tape that would easily cover corner-to-corner on the 5 1/4" Glossy White square.

This CAS card I saved for last. I like to have a nice, simple design for the last project of the day.

The card base is Going Gray, and we used Going Gray, Soft Suede and Crumb Cake inks to create the background. The basil image from Herb Expressions is stamped directly over the colors in Going Gray.

All of the images we used today are retiring at the end of May. Contact me to order or order online at: http://www.stampinup.com/ECWeb/default.aspx.

VSN Again!

The Spring Virtual Stamp Night at Splitcoaststampers.com is this weekend. I amazed myself last night by completing all 5 Friday night challenges. Woo-hoo! There are 10 additional challenges today--starting at noon Eastern--and I've got some things going on, so I probably won't complete all the challenges. But I'll try my hand at a few more, for sure.

I'm loving the "Spring" theme, with so many challenges (so far, at least) focusing on cheery colors and happy thoughts. Especially with the unseasonably warm (forecast high of 62!!) weather here in MN, I'm feeling Spring!

Rules for VSN are simple. Create your card in 45 minutes or less, upload to the gallery (using the keyword), then browse the gallery and comment on others' submissions. Click on the links below to access each challenge post.

MAR12VSNA: Here Comes the Sun
Our challenge is to create a card using sunny colors. I went for the sunset look, mixing pink, orange and yellow.

The cute duckies are from the Barnyard Buddies stamp set, and I punched the borders with SU!'s Pinking Hearts punch.

MAR12VSNB: Love is in Bloom
Cards for this challenge need to have either a heart image or the word "love" somewhere in the design.

I had no problem finishing this CAS design in about 15 minutes. It is a baby card for a baby that will arrive this Spring (gender unknown).

MAR12VSNC: Spring Cleaning
I actually made this card first, using a couple of things I haven't used for a while--my Stampin' Pastels and the Chalkboard technique.

The Chalkboard technique is a fun and easy way to add a pop of color in an unusual way. I stamped the butterflies image from the current SAB stamp set Kindness Matters with Whisper White craft ink on Basic Black card stock. Then, while the ink was still wet, I used a small cotton pad to add some vibrant chalks. To clean up the images a bit, I just ran my eraser around the edges.

MAR12VSND: Spring is in the Air
Including something that can be found in the sky was the order of the day for this challenge.

Flies are in the sky, right? Heh, heh. I love this dude, from the Hoppy for You stamp set. I chose the color scheme based on the fact that I had one small piece of Old Olive 1/4" grosgrain ribbon sitting around. I used my Circles die and Big Shot to quickly cut the image panels, and both frog and fly are inked using the Rock and Roll technique.

MAR12VSNE: Rain, Rain, Go Away
The only challenge so far that calls for a sad theme--a sympathy or get well type card.

Just for something different, I made a 4 1/4" square card for this challenge. I added texture with the Lattice embossing folder, and sponged both Soft Sky and Chocolate Chip inks around the edge of the main image panel. I love those cute Mini Library Clips, and the images from D is for Dog are very versatile.

I encourage you to play along this weekend. Uploads must be completed by 7:00 PM (Eastern) Monday.

Old and New

I still have quite a supply of "old" card stock hiding in my file drawer, and I draw on it when I make cards to donate. I needed to make a few small sets of cards quickly this weekend, so out came the retired colors!

Here I mixed old card stock (Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Mellow Moss and Cameo Coral) with current shapes and styles. I used Blender Pens to watercolor the (retired) Hostess Set image stamped with Basic Brown on a circle I die-cut with my Big Shot and the #2 Circles die. The Top Note die is a quick way to infuse a little interest in the mat, too.

I used another Top Note die-cut on the inside, and stamped it with the elegant sentiment from Wellness Wishes ("Praying for you during your illness"). The other stamps in that set are more light-hearted, including a feverish puppy and a Band-Aid with a sad face. It is nice to have a mix of styles in one set.

A second set of four cards used more retired colors paired with a current stamp set (Thanks for Caring). While the sentiments in this set are designed for use with sympathy cards, they work well for general "thinking of you" type cards as well.

On the inside of these cards I used the longer sentiment from the set, "May you find peace and comfort in this difficult time and know that you are loved." One hidden feature of this set is that it doesn't use "I" in the sentiments. I am often making cards to be sent from a group (our church), so all my "I" sentiments just don't quite fit. This set is right on the mark.