birthday bash cards!

On Saturday night, my upline and friend Andrea and I co-hosted a Birthday Bash Card Making Night that was held at my home. Both of us have birthdays in February and we thought it would be fun to hold an event to help celebrate with what we love to do...card making!! All of our guests made 8 cards for only $15 (2 each of 4 designs). I designed two and Andrea designed two. We wanted to showcase products from the Mini Occasions Catalog and Sale-A-Bration products, so our cards mainly highlighted those products. We also had an ice cream bar with lots of toppings! It was a great turn out of 14 stampers. We prepared for just a few more, so I have a handful of cards to make, but I love having a chance to do more stamping!

My first card was inspired by a sketch from a blog I recently found called Freshly Made Sketches. The designers encourage clean-lined creations with lots of "white space" and clean edges, but also encourages lots of details and embellishments, avoiding distressing and torn edges. Yippee...my kind of cards!!

This is the sketch...


And, my take on the sketch...


Stamp Set: Friendly Phrases, Mouthwatering (available in clear or wood mount)

Paper: Whisper White, Calypso Coral, Old Olive, Sweet Shop Specialty DSP
Ink: markers - Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral
Accessories: Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine, Calypso Coral Baker's Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots (for Baker's Twine bow), Rhinestones Jewel Accents
Tools: Big Shot, Stripes Textured Embossing Folder, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch

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This second card was inspired by a card I saw here. I just changed up a few things, but loved the design layout and mostly the colors!!! Adding the butterflies with the pearls was a fun little accent.


Stamp Set: Outlined Occasions (SAB product!)

Paper: Very Vanilla, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade (polka dots), Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB product!)
Ink: Early Espresso (inking edges), Black Stazon, markers - Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Pool Party
Accessories: Pearls Jewel Accents, Stampin' Dimensionals
Tools: Big Shot, Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, Scallop Trim Border punch

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These are Andrea's cards she brought to the party...aren't they adorable??

MIA

Yes, I have been Missing In Action here on this blog lately!!

But, it's been because of this...

I am hosting my 1st Annual "Craft Cleanout" Sale on Friday only! FIFTEEN crafters are participating and have brought their things to the sale and in return they will earn Stampin' Up! catalog product for the amount of what they sell! Thanks to my good friend Kim for helping me organize! I am super excited for tomorrow!!

thank you to our troops!

A month or so ago, my friend Sarah had mentioned that she would love to get a group of ladies together to make some cards to say thank you to our soldiers. She has been helping to support a new organization called Thanks For Our Freedom and wanted to have a large stack of cards she could give to them to use. Sarah asked if I would be willing to design the cards if she took care of gathering together the "helping hands"! Of course I wanted to do my part in helping support in any way that I could.

We had our card making night on Monday night and whoever was able to come, simply came to help at no cost to them (other than through donations, which everyone so graciously pitched in). Each of the guests took home a card of their choice as a thank you. Overall we made 12 cards of each design...with 3 designs each that totaled 36 cards! We whipped these cards out in a matter of an hour and a half! It was so fun to see everyone working the "assembly line" and piecing together each card. Thanks, ladies, for coming on over! And, with the donations we received, we plan on making another set of cards to add to the stack.

I wanted to keep each of the cards a little on the simpler side, so that we could get them put together quickly! I also didn't want to have too much dimension on the card to avoid extra postage on the envelope.


Stamp Set: Classic Stars Jumbo Wheel, So Happy For You (sentiment - no longer available)

Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Brilliant Blue (retired)

Ink: Real Red, Brilliant Blue (retired)

Accessories: Dimensionals, red adhesive gemstones (non-SU!), red gingham ribbon (retired)

Tools: 1 3/4" Scallop Circle punch, 1 3/8" Circle punch, Scallop Edge Border punch, Stars #2 Originals Die (used with Big Shot), Small Star punch (retired)

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Stamp Set: Occasional Quotes (Hostess Level 3 set)

Paper: Pacific Point, Real Red, Whisper White, Celebrations DSP

Ink: Real Red

Accessories: Dimensionals, light blue adhesive gemstones (non-SU!), sponges

Tools: Stars #2 Originals Die (used with Big Shot), Small Star punch (retired)

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Stamp Set: Thank You Kindly

Paper: Real Red, Whisper White, Brilliant Blue (retired)

Ink: Brilliant Blue (retired)

Accessories: 1/8" Real Red taffeta ribbon, dark blue adhesive gemstones (non-SU!), clear adhesive gemstones (non-SU!),

Tools: Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, Stars #2 Originals Die (used with Big Shot), Small Star punch (retired)

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**All of these cards would also make great 4th of July cards if you changed up the sentiments!

Candy Cane Christmas Event

On December 5th, I held an event called "Candy Cane Christmas". It was my first time since joining Stampin' Up! holding a Christmas themed event that involved more than just making a few cards. I was so excited for the challenge, but also felt a little overwhelmed with the preparation of it all! I had a wonderful turn out and was so pleased! There were 12 eager and excited guests who came to spend the afternoon with me and make some Christmas goodies for friends, family...or to keep for themselves (and, that's OK, too!)

The class consisted of 4 projects using the Candy Cane Christmas Designer Series Paper (found in the 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog). I was so glad that I had ordered this paper ahead of time because it ended up going out of stock at the beginning of Decmeber. I am so thankful that I decided to plan ahead or I would have been doing some major scrambling and revamping of the class! Each of the guests received 6 sheets of the Designer Series Paper (whatever we ended up not using). This was an added bonus to the class!

Paper and projects ready to hand out to each guest

I decorated clothespins that held each of the stacks together.
The guests were then able to keep their clothespin.

A few treats to share!
Don't these cookies look so yummy?
A little information station with door prize tickets, door prizes, and...

...a treat for each of the guests to take home as a "thank you" for coming.
{inspired by Jill at Jill's Card Creations}
Project #1:
Window Treat Box
{tutorial found at Angie's Chic 'n Scratch}

Project #2:
Scallop Circle Purse
{instructions to create your own can be found here}

Project #3:
Wish List Pad with Cover
{awesome tutorial found at Splitcoast Stampers}
shows the inside
up close on the front - notice the sparkle?
Project #4:
Snowflake Gift Bag
{inspired by a design I found on Stampin' Connection}

All 4 projects!

It really was a fun event, but I will definitely be making some changes next year in my planning and preparation. It was a lot of work and so much of it I waited until the last minute to do (thank goodness for moms who are willing to help!). I think partly because I had too many things on my plate. (I was a part of two bazaars that I plan to share next!) Next year, I plan to make smarter choices about filling up my calendar for the holidays!