February Birthday Card

I have been trying since about August last year to make all the birthday cards I need for the next month by the middle of the month.  I even fill them out and prep the envelopes, then when I see the birthday approaching I just toss them in the mail.  I have been pretty successful so far.  This post is my birthday card for February. 

I know, I have been using this set ALOT.  I can't resist, I just LOVE it!  I am really happy with how this card came out.  It is a little hard to tell in the picture but I used the small butterfly and the flower along the right edge of the card.  The butterfly is popped out with my usual technique.  I just put a strip of Sticky Strip on the body of the butterfly and then bent up the wings along the edge of the tape.  The image below the punched butterfly is the solid butterfly stamped on the paper first.  Hope you enjoy.

Supplies:
Stamp Set(s) - Flight of the Butterfly
Card Stock - Real Red, Pink Pirouette (retired), Whisper White
Ink - Real Red
Accessories - Filigree Brads, 3/4" Real Red Grosgrain Polka Dot Ribbon, Butterfly Punch, Sticky Strip, 1/16" Circle Punch

January Stamp-A-Stack

Saturday was my monthly Stamp-A-Stack.  I have a great time with my girls.  I absolutely love getting together with others and making a bunch of cards!  Check out this month's projects.
I had a lot of fun making the cards for the class, but I will admit they were all CASEd (some exactly).  I am still learning to trust my instincts so I still use ideas I see from some of my wonderful bloggers I follow.  All these ideas came from one lady, Ruth.  She is very talented.  Check out her blog.

This first card (Butterfly Friends) I found here.  I am in love with the Beautiful Wings Embosslit!  Not only does it punch them out but it Embosses on the too.  I used two different colors, Pretty In Pink and Very Vanilla.  After I used the Big Shot, I rubbed a sponge dauber in Pretty In Pink ink and sponged over them.  The embossing grabbed the ink to highlight it even more.  My customers also had fun with the clear block stamps.  I had precut all the cardstock so they used the clear blocks for stamp the saying.  Everyone got it straight!  It is a little hard to tell from the picture but the DS paper I used had glitter, what a nice touch that adds to the card!

Supplies:
Stamp Set(s) - Vintage Vogue
Card Stock - Real Red, Pretty In Pink, Very Vanilla, Sending Love DS
Ink - Pretty in Pink
Accessories -Big Shot, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Sponge Daubers, Dimensionals, 1 1/4" Square Punch, 1 3/8" Square Punch, Clear Blocks

My Second Card (Life Happens) came from here.  When I saw this card I just fell in love and had to make it myself.  I changed up the colors some from the original.  I LOVE the color blue so it probably helped to draw me to this card.  I want to make a 100 of them and send them to everyone I know; however, the flower is hand cut out so I will not be making that many ;) 

Supplies:
Stamp Set(s) - Vintage Vogue, Very Vintage Wheel Jumbo
Card Stock - Brilliant Blue, Kraft, Whisper White
Ink - Brilliant Blue, Jumbo Brilliant Blue Cartridge
Accessories -Clear Block, Paper Snips, 5/8" Satin Ribbon Bashful Blue, Vintage Brads, Jumbo Handle, Dimensionals, Scallop Edge Punch

The last card (Friends) came from here.  I found this card long ago and loved it so I tucked the idea way for a time when I could use it.  This was the first card I made when I got the Big Shot for Christmas.  It was also the very first time using my clear block stamps.  I was quick and careless and managed to get the saying crooked despite having a flawless method of getting it straight :D  I used the DS paper again to add glitter to the card (LOVE this paper!)

Supplies:
Stamp Set(s) - With All My Heart
Card Stock - Whisper White, Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Sending Love DS
Ink - Real Red
Accessories -Big Shot, Bigz Two Tags, Clear Blacks, 1 1/4 Punch Circle, 1 3/8 Punch Circle, Scallop Circle Punch, 1/16" Punch Circle, 3/8" White Taffeta Ribbon

Thank You Card

Earlier in the week I mentioned that I created 3 cards for a color challenge but only posted 2 of them.  Well here is the other card.  I ended up sending it to the owner of the company I work for to thank him for giving all of us the week between Christmas and New Years off.  It was unprecedented and very generous and I wanted to thank him for it.  Plus he is going though a lot right now and I wanted to show him that I supported him.

I used the Naturally Serif Alphabet along with the Big Shot that I got for Christmas to do the lettering.  I used the Paper-Piercing Tool along the top of the white for an accent.  The Designer Series Paper on the card is from the Patterns Pack of Paper you can earn for free if you host a workshop.  Click Here to book your workshop today.

Supplies:
Card Stock - Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Patterns Pack Designer Series Paper III, Whisper White
Accessories - Big Shot, Naturally Serif Alphabet, Paper-Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, Scallop Edge Punch

Flight of the Butterfly Pretties

I needed a card for someone that was down in the dumps and decided that the saying from Flight of the Butterfly was perfect for the occasion. "If nothing ever changed there would be no butterflies-unknown". Haven't we all be there. I am a firm believer in 'Everything happens for a Reason'. Some of the best things in my life have come from terrible events pointing the way.

This card is a very simple card but I just think it is very elegant and gets the point across. I know I would feel better just by looking at it :) The card base is Sage Shadow; however, I put a piece of Soft Suede on the inside of the cover to give the layered look at the bottom.

Supplies:
Stamp Set(s) - Flight of the Butterfly
Card Stock - Sage Shadow, Whisper White, Soft Suede
Ink - Sage Shadow, Handsome Hunter
Accessories -Pretties Kit, 1/2" Polka-Dot Grosgrain Soft Suede Ribbon, Scallop Edge Punch

Challenge Submission

Those who follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/nicolestamper) know that I have decided to start participating in challenges.  I think that it will give me more to be creative with then just prepping for classes and holidays.  I am very excited!  The first challenge I am going to do is this one.

It was a long day at work yesterday and when I finally got home in the evening I was so excited to relax and stamp I went a little crazy with ideas.  I ended up making 3 cards that met the requirements of the challenge.  The requirements are to use Chocolate and Orange.  One of the cards I decided to cut and will show you it another day.  The other 2 I just couldn't decide between so I have posted both here.  Maybe she will consider both :) 

The first card is a simple card, which tend to be my favorite.  I used Pumpkin Pie as the base of the 4x4 card.  The flower is Fleurettes II and a Chocolate Chip Corduroy Button.  The saying is a rub-on.

Supplies:
Card Stock - Pumpkin Pie
Accessories -5/8" Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Greatest Moments Rub-ons (retired), Chocolate Chip Corduroy Button, Fleurettes II

The Second card has some detail that the picture does not do justice.  I used textured Chocolate Chip Cardstock for the card base.  Around the entire edge of the card I paper pierced a border.  In the center I used punches and accessories to give the card dimension.  For the saying, I again used Rub-Ons.

Supplies:
Stamp Set - Flight of the Butterfly
Card Stock - Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip textured
Ink - Pumpkin Pie
Accessories - Pretties Kit, Butterfly Punch, Designer Label Punch, Clear Rhinestone Brads, Paper-Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, Greatest Moments Rub-Ons (retired)

Butterfly Scrapbook Page

I LOVE to Scrapbook but I must admit that I am Way behind. I was married last May and I am still at the beginning phases of scrapbooking the event. My husband teases me because I have all these started scrapbooks (our wedding, our dating years, mini scrapbooks, etc) but have not seemed to be able make much progress. I find myself stopping my projects to make gifts and books for others. Of course I love doing those too! I wish that I could find a group of people like me that would like to get together once or twice a month to scrapbook and socialize. I also wouldn't mind having more hours in a day :D

For today's project I have created a cute, simple 6x6 scrapbook page. Then I will show you how to make that 6x6 page into a 12x12 page. I am a big fan of the 6x6 scrapbook. They are great to carry around and show off your pictures. I also realize that some events just can not truly be displayed on a small page.

This page is very simple with some dimension added with the fly away butterfly. I punched the butterfly out twice from Certainly Celery, one I stamped with one of the stamps from Flight of the Butterfly (the Butterfly Punch works perfectly with this set). I taped the plain butterfly down. Then I put a piece of Sticky Strip on the body of the stamped butterfly. I glued it down then folded up the wings. I love using this technique. See this used on a card here.

Here is a completed 12x12 page using the 6x6 page above. This will be the first page of my Honeymoon album if I can ever get it completed :D One page down.... The lettering is the Naturally Serif Alphabet for the Big Shot. I love doing journaling creatively whenever possible, I think it adds so much to a page. It is hard to tell in the picture; however, I did the same flowers along the corner of the 12x12 page using So Saffron that I did on the 6x6 page.

Supplies:
Stamp Set(s) - Flight of the Butterfly
Card Stock - Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Rose Red, So Saffron
Ink - Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker
Accessories -Butterfly Punch, Curly Label Punch, Sticky Strip, Big Shot, Naturally Serif Alphabet

With All My Heart Card

I am having a great time preparing for Valentine's Day! I love making cards and Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays (right after Christmas). I will be posting many Valentine's Day cards but here is my first one of the season!

I got the Sending Love Speciality Designer Series Paper and I just LOVE it! Every page in the pack has glitter on one side of the paper. It makes adding dimension and bling to cards and scrapbook pages so easy!

On this card you will notice the 'with all my' stamped sideways. Notice that it is perfectly straight? I didn't use the Stamp-A-Majig, I used our new clear blocks and repositionable rubber! They are so easy to use, so convenient, and still the same great Stampin' Up! quality! For the heart, I cut it out by hand and attached it using Dimensionals to have it 'pop' off the card.


Supplies:
Stamp Set(s) - Love You Much, With All My Heart
Card Stock - Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, So Saffron, DS Sending Love Specialty
Ink - Basic Brown; So Saffron and Pretty in Pink Markers
Accessories -5/8" Pretty in Pink Grosgrain Ribbon, Chocolate Chip Corduroy Buttons, Dimensionals