Stippled Blossoms

  My last Stampin' Up purchase included the lovely Stippled Blossoms stamp set. I've had my eye on this one for a while but kept talking myself out of it because I thought I surely didn't need another stamp set with flowers. Oh how wrong I was.

  I wanted this project to have a distinctly vintage flair, so I stamped my flowers in Rose Red, Blushing Bride, Pool Party, and Bermuda Bay on the sadly retired First Edition DSP. (This look could also be achieved with the new dictionary text stamp or any uber cool background stamp.) I layered that over a piece of Rose Red card stock on a Naturals Ivory card base. I used the Chamomile roller and versamark ink to stamp a light background and then cut and embossed a piece of Blushing Bride card stock with my Edgelits die and embossing folder. I had some Blushing Bride seam binding ribbon I had already dyed in my stash, so I tied on a double bow and a little banner I embossed on vellum with the Bitty Banners stamp set. Crystal vintage button = pure vintage joy!

  Wouldn't this style look cute framed up with a chunky, colorful frame? That might be happening if I can find a nice frame to repurpose.

  So glad I ended up adding this beautiful stamp set to my stamping stash!

Manhattan Floral and All Things Sparkly!

  Hi, creative friends! When Stampin' Up retired product season came around this spring, I decided I would never forgive myself if I didn't invest in the Manhattan Florals embossing folder. I knew immediately how I wanted to use it: Raised portion embossed in gold on watercolor paper with some lovely inking in the flowers.

  Well, that didn't work. I tried inking the folder, but I ended up with the debossed side in gold. I tried tapping my versamark pad over the raised portion, but that ended in a big powdery mess. Yes, I could have paint brushed off the excess powder, but that seemed too hard right at that moment in time. What can I say? I'm also a lazy crafter sometimes.

  So, the end result is below. It's a completely different card than I envisioned (it has a bit of a unicorn vibe, I think), but I like it just the same.

 

  In the end, I embossed my flowers and sponged them in Rose Red, Blushing Bride, and Daffodil Delight ink. Then I cut them out and layered them over another piece of white paper embossed and sponged with Pool Party Ink. I tied three shades of pastel ribbon together and topped my knot with a Prima wood veneer butterfly colored with Copic markers. Glitter was liberally, and I mean LIBERALLY applied.

 

  I hope whoever receives this card likes sparkle. And unicorns.

Never Forget

   I haven't played along with my favorite challenge blogs all summer! Time is getting away from me so quickly, and my day job really has gotten in the way of my play time this summer. I can only imagine how crazy things are going to get when school starts up and all 26 piano students come back from summer break. Maybe I need to do all my Christmas projects in August!

  When I saw that the theme of Once Upon a Sketch's challenge this month was "I'll Never Forget" I knew exactly what photo I wanted to use. This picture of my dad and my daughter holds so much joy and so much sadness for me at the same time. I haven't seen or really spoken to my dad in almost five years because of circumstances surrounding my parent's divorce, and his absence has caused a lot of pain for me and my family. I attached a full page of very personal journaling to the back side of the layout, and I found that the writing was more difficult than I thought it would be.

 
Here's my layout:

This photo was taken around Easter time, so I wanted to use cheerful spring colors. There's a little bit of a tribute to my dad's love of music in the Tim Holtz washi tape, and lots of feminine flair since my layouts will eventually belong to my girls.

Here's the sketch for this month:

Playing along with OUAS has really made me more aware of how important the journaling part of scrapbooking really will be someday. I'm happy to say that every single page I've done this year has at least one paragraph of journaling on the front or back.

Thanks so much for visiting today!

Turning 10

   My sister came over for a play date the other day, and I decided to work on finishing the second page of a two-page spread I'm making using photos of the girls' 10th birthday. (They're turning 11 in three weeks, so the timing was just right!) I used the deliciously bright Spring Jubilee collection from Pink Paisley to make these fun layouts of a very happy event!

Here's page one again:

And here's page two:

    This collection has all things I love: Bright colors, birds, butterflies, vintage images (including some really beautiful rub-ons), and the papers coordinate so perfectly with Prima flowers. What a happy spread for a happy day!

Thanks for the Lift

   I'm an interactive card junkie, and pop up cards are my absolute favorite! At our stamping club meeting a few months back (yes, it's been a not-too-crafty summer so far) I started this surprise pop up card using some scraps from an Echo Park summer paper collection I had almost used up. The cover of the packaging had an adorable ferris wheel graphic that was too cute to toss, so I cut it out and used it as the focal image for my card.

  The "surprise" happens when you pull the ribbon at the top to reveal the hidden message inside!

   Lest you think I make cards like this all the time, I did have to rip up the bottom tag and redo it more than once to get it right. That old adage about measuring twice and cutting once certainly applied to me in the making of this project. 

  In the end it turned out to be a light, bright, summery card, and nothing says summer like a ride to the top!

The Best Days

  Some of my absolute FAVORITE people in the whole world came over for our monthly craft night last Friday, and we had a blast as usual. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful group of girlfriends to spend time with. I've had the pleasure of being the Stampin' Up demonstrator for our monthly stamping club for the last three years, and we've developed amazing relationships and come to love each other so much.

  My poor photography skills and the bad indoor lighting at the dining room table couldn't diminish the beauty of these ladies and their projects! We created a stamped sampler using images and colors unique to each of us. The results were varied and absolutely breathtaking.

My gorgeous and smart friend, Erika, is a great mom and dedicated teacher. (Love her to bits!!) She chose a lovely palette of More Mustard for her project. Even though this color is retired now, it was too perfect to pass up.

My sweet sissy, Gia, is absolutely one of my besties! I'm so lucky! Her Real Red sampler was gorgeous and will look so perfect in her farmhouse-style kitchen.

Stunningly beautiful Jae is getting ready to tie the knot, and we're all so excited for her! Her Pool Party sampler was absolutely to die for!!

Lauren joined us for the first time and made a gorgeous project in Pear Pizzazz! So soft and vintage gorgeous! Please come back again, Lauren!

Sweet guest and new friend, Stacy, chose Cajun Craze for her zesty sampler. Love, love, love! I hope she'll join us again soon!

  Am I the luckiest girl in the world or what? I have so much to be grateful for, and a huge part of my gratitude list is made up of these ladies. Thank you all for a great night!