Happy Sweet 15 Hannah!

A few days back I shared a card with you that I had made for my niece.  It featured 2 new in-colors - Flirty Flamingo & Sweet Sugarplum with Rich Razzleberry.  I really liked the color combo but then my sister reminded me that her daughter does not like pink... or purple...

So I decided to make something else for Hannah.  I still had the scrap piece of paper that I cut the 15 from for the other card.  If you want to use both, plan it so that you place your framelits in the middle of the square.  

I love these two in-colors too - Dapper Denim and Emerald Envy.  I know that Hannah loves green, so I know she will like this one! :)

This ribbon is the best! It has a great texture and ties beautifully!

I added the stars from the Stars Border Punch on the background layer and the shaker frame. 

Happy Birthday Hannah Mae! We love ya!

I hope you all enjoy the day!  Make sure you check back on June 1st for my product shares info!

-Holly

TGIFC57 - Pick Your Favorite: Teresa Kline spotlight!

Happy Friday everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful week!  I'm so glad I have been able to share some new and exciting product with you this week!  If you missed my Affectionately Yours DSP highlight, make sure you go back a few posts!

It's Friday, which means another fun challenge over at TGIF Challenges!  Since it is the last week of the month, we will be picking our favorites from the month of May here at TGIF for inspiration. A designer's card, winner's card or a favorite challenger's card...

   

This week I chose Teresa Kline's card from TGIFC54 - her blog is Paperie Blooms:

The thing that really drew me in was the textured look of the tag.  I love the crackled look!  Teresa used a stamp and well... I don't have that stamp, so I had to get creative.  

This. was. easy. peasy.

I promise.

I took a piece of paper from my kiddo's art stash (computer paper is a good thickness) and crumpled it up.  Holding the paper wad tight, I just simply stamped it like a stamp!

I chose the color combo from the challenge over at Global Design Project - 

Mint Macaron, Tip Top Taupe & Island Indigo!

I chose The Wilderness Awaits for my stamp set.  I haven't used it enough!

Two things retiring here: the awesome cotton ribbon and the It's My Party enamel dots. I am happy that Stampin' Up! is coming out with more enamel dots, so I don't have to be upset about those!

I decided to take my Island Indigo marker and color the fox's eyes blue.  I also added a little shimmer on the eyes with my Wink of Stella, but you can't really set it up close.

The inside is pretty simple too but I wanted to carry this fun background over.

I hope that you were able to learn something new today!  Thank you Teresa for inspiring my card today and for playing along with TGIF Challenges!

Make sure to stop by our site to see all of the DT's creations this week!

Happy Friday!
-Holly 

'Affectionately Yours' Highlight #3

Welcome back to the last of my Affectionately Yours DSP feature.  If you missed the first two posts, you can go back to Tuesday and yesterday's posts to see more.  I've created 12 cards using all 12 designs from the paper pack.  Each piece was a 4x4" piece (or smaller) which was done to show you that you can get 9 pieces from each sheet.  That's 108 cards for $13!!

So here are the last 7 cards.  Again, make sure you check back on the other posts to see the first 5 cards.

If you want to know how you can get your own Affectionately Yours DSP, check back here on June 1st!

See you tomorrow for another TGIF Challenge!

-Holly 

'Affectionately Yours' Highlight #2 - A Card for Kelly

Hey everyone!  This week I am featuring cards that I have made with the new Affectionately Yours DSP from the upcoming catalog!  Today is my sister Kelly's birthday and I wanted to make her a very special card. I have been anxious to share it!

Isn't this paper gorgeous!?

This particular sheet has copper embossed into it - so so pretty in person.  I can't wait to order some of the coordinating copper emboss powder! :)

Inside the shaker, I stamped "Happy Birthday" from the Sprinkles of Life stamp set in Crumb Cake just to give the card a little more detail and let the numbers stand out a little.

Another new item that I purchased during the pre-order are the new Foam Adhesive Strips.  

They are perfect for making shaker cards!

The butterfly was punched from another sheet of the Affectionately Yours DSP - I just crinkled it up a little for some extra fun.  The Watermelon Wonder Ribbon and the Lace Doilies are both retiring, but there are new doilies coming out - so have no fear! :)

The arrow stamp is from a new hostess set called Pun Intended and the sentiment again fit perfectly inside.  The arrow is also used on the background of the card, the inside of the card and on the envelope.

I hope you're "bringing birthdays back" too by sending cards!  Don't just write on someone's facebook page! :)

Be sure to stop by this week to see more of the cards that I made with the new DSP!

Happy birthday smelly Kelly! <3

-Holly 

'Affectionately Yours' Highlight #1 - Hostess Set Lots of Love

This week I will be sharing 12 cards with you that I made with the new Affectionately Yours DSP that will be available June 1st!  It is beautiful!  I tend to hoard designer series paper (DSP) but I have already made 12 cards with all 12 sheets!  I used 4x4" pieces because I wanted to share with you how you can cut your sheets into 4x4 pieces and get 9 cards from each sheet! 108 pieces for $13?? yes, please!

Now you may notice there are only 11 cards in the picture above.  There is one more card but I can't share it until tomorrow because it's my sister's birthday card - and well, surprises are more fun, right?

So I'll share four today, four Wednesday and four more Thursday! :)  

These four were all made with one of the new hostess sets called Lots of Love.  It's super cute and my little ones love it too!

For this one, I cut my 4x4" piece into 4 1" strips.  The extra went on the inside.  The other Cucumber Crush strips are 1/2" pieces.  

This little elephant is adorable and I'm already brainstorming how to use it for a baby card!  My friend Robin already used it for a cute birthday card.  You can see it here.

I'm also not sure if this piece of DSP is a lighter shade of Watermelon Wonder, or if there's a misprint in the catalog and that Flirty Flamingo is part of the pack too?  Either way, I think it matches good enough!

Again, you don't have to use your entire 4x4 piece up.  Here I simply cut it at an angle.  Aren't those hedgehogs cute?!

And last but certainly not least are the cute ladybugs.  The DSP here is cut to 1x3" pieces.

Hope you like what you see so far!  I will be offering a share with this DSP as well so make sure you check back after June 1st to reserve a spot!

-Holly 

Sorry, I'm Not Too Bright - FMS237

Wow! I can hardly believe I'm writing my 250th post already!  I love creating cards and sharing them with you!  I can't wait until I have 250 followers too. (hint, hint) :)

Today I wanted to share with you another sneak peek of a brand new hostess set coming out June 1st called "Pun Intended".  I love the antique tungsten light in the set.  We are 90% done with our bathroom and I purchased a really cute vintage light fixture that has a tungsten light too.  This was right up my alley!

I had an idea with the "Sorry, I'm not too bright" sentiment and I'm pleased with how it turned out.  The sketch came from Freshly Made Sketches - simple enough. :)

I liked the symmetry of the black DSP on each side so I added a piece of Whisper White Baker's Twine for the small grey strip.

I chose to use ink colors from the Brights collection to offset the "not so bright" Smoky Slate bulb.

I used the corner rounder to make the tag a little different and added some embossed strips of Smoky Slate to make the sentiment and light bulb stand out a little more.

This is a really cute set and one that you can get with a qualifying hostess order/party starting June 1st.  If you order $350 worth in June, you earn an extra $35 free!!

Ask me how to earn a free catalog today!

Blessings,

Holly 

News Flash, You Are Awesome! TGIFC56

Okay everyone!  Are you ready for a real challenging challenge??

First off, I almost completely forgot about it being Thursday until I was chatting with Rochelle (who is also on the TGIF team) - thanks Rochelle!  I thought this might be a good challenge to make some Project Life cards for because we will be heading to Texas to see family (and go to a baseball game... the Pittsburgh Pirates are playing in Texas - yay for away games!). Anyway, I decided against that for now since I already have a Pirates scrapbook page.  

------->You can see it here.<------

This was a challenge for me since we don't have too many sports stamp sets.  Had to get creative!

I decided to make a card for our son Eli.  He will start t-ball the first week in June and I want to encourage him since this is his first time playing on a team!

I stamped a strip of Soft Suede cardstock with the Hardwood stamp and then cut the baseball bat out by hand.  The baseball itself is a 3/4" circle that I drew on with my Real Red Stampin' Write marker.

For the jersey I inked up one of the onesies from Made with Love and drew a line across the bottom to make a shirt.  I also added the small Smoky Slate stars with the Made with Love set.

The cute little saying "News Flash you are awesome" is from one of the new hostess stamps coming out June 1st.  It's a "punny" stamp set ;)

The red stitches are from the Bohemian Borders stamp set that is retiring at the end of the month. They make the perfect baseball stitches!  And those cute little number dies are also retiring! :(

I think this would make a cute birthday card or encouragement card!  Maybe even mix it up a little and make birthday invitations?

Well I hope to see you over at TGIF Challenges!  It's a tricky one but I know you can do it!  You have until Thursday! :)

Blessings,

-Holly 

__________________________________________________________________

If you place and order with me by May 31st of $20 or more, I will mail you a brand new catalog from Stampin' Up!  Please use hostess code: UPAUWSXK

In-Colors Sneak Peek for Fab Friday 87

Wow, is it a gorgeous day here in Minnesota!  I wanted to blog this card this morning but we had plans to hike a new spot.  We just got back from Quarry Park and Nature Preserve.  I'm thinking we will be back often.  There are quarries everywhere throughout the park - some for diving and fishing and some for swimming (cliff jumping!) :)  Eh.. I'm a mom now - my days of jumping off rocks is over!

Anyway, here's the card I made yesterday for my niece before I remembered she doesn't like pink or purple.  Back to the drawing board I guess!

I used the fun sketch over at Fab Friday for inspiration. Click the image below to go to the Fab Friday site and see the design team's creations.

I'm also not a huge pink fan and one of my customers messaged me on Monday letting me know she was anxious to see what I did with the new in-colors because she isn't sure she likes them.  

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

I combined Flirty Flamingo, Sweet Sugarplum (I love, btw!) and Rich Razzleberry.  I also used the pretty rushed ribbon and Copper washi tape.

Using my Aqua Painter, I colored all three inks on some Watercolor Paper.  A little flick of the brush to add some Rich Razzleberry splatter at the end.

And do you see that gorgeous DSP that the '15' is cut out of??  That is the new Affectionately Yours DSP that has 2 pieces with Copper Embossed designs.  So pretty!

When I saw the preorder I knew I wanted this new ribbon.  It ties beautifully - it just doesn't look awesome with the tombow glue marks :(

So what do you think?  Do you like the new in-colors?

I hope to be sharing some more ideas soon!

-Holly 

__________________________________________________________________

If you place and order with me by May 31st of $20 or more, I will mail you a brand new catalog from Stampin' Up!  Please use hostess code: UPAUWSXK

Stamp Review Crew - Guy Greetings

Hey everyone!  I'm back today with another fun hop with the Stamp Review Crew!  We are featuring the awesome set Guy Greetings!

If you're like me, making guy cards can be kind of challenging.  This set has it all covered and we hope that you make it all the way around the hop to find some inspiration.
Make sure you click the image below to take you to the list of us participating this week.  If you came from Bruno Bertucci's blog - thanks for checking my blog out!

All of these cards feature paper from the Going Places DSP Stack.  I will certainly miss this paper.   

For this card, I chose to use one of the new In-Colors: Emerald Envy.  It's a beautiful color!  And the ruched ribbon is awesome! 

This card I kept pretty simple.  Sahara Sand and Delightful Dijon - nice color combo I think. :) 

I fussy cut the tools and gave the wrench a little dimension. 

I must admit - Cucumber Crush is growing on me.  I don't quite have a "crush" on it yet - but I really like the new thick baker's twine in the color.

The Basic Black layer is embossed with the Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. 

This last one is my favorite.  I made this for a friend that just passed his bar exam.  Think it's worthy of a card like this! 

Notice another new blue?  That's Dapper Denim and it's beautiful too! 

Well that's it for me!  If you want to make your way backwards, head on over to one of the coolest stampin' guys: Bruno Bertucci or you can continue on to the next team member - my fellow Minnesota stamper - the talented Tanya Boser!

    

Again, if you get lost along the way you can click on the SRC image at the top of this post and you'll be directed to the homepage where all of the blogs are listed!  Have a great week!

-Holly