Gnome Love

I've been on a bit of a card kick lately. A while back I gave almost my complete stash of cards to Operation Write Home. Not only is it a great cause, it gave me more opportunity to make more cards. I can no longer just go to my card rack (yeah, I actually have a spinning card rack in my craft room :-) and grab an appropriate card. I don't know why, but I just really, really think the Apple Cheddar Soup stamp set from Unity/Jillibean Soup is ridiculously cute. The trees in the set are great, but what really drew me in is that ridiculously cute gnome. This is the first card I made with the set.


I think the gnome pairs perfectly with Dutch Mustard Soup. What do you think?

Quick Card

I'm off to go do a little scrapping, but I thought I'd stop in here first and post a card that you can check out at A Walk Down Memory Lane in person (if you live in the area). If you don't live close, you'll just have to take my word for how sparkly it is.



This card was made with the Cosmo Cricket/Unity Delovely Whimsy stamp set. I love stamping on kraft card stock, there's just something lovely about it to me. The pear is also from that set. After stamping the pear I colored it in, put Score-tape over it, and covered it in Glitter Ritz warm highlight glitter. Finally, I cut the pear out and attached it to the card with foam dimensional adhesive. It sounds like a lot of steps, but it's actually a really fast, easy process...and totally worth the end result. Not only is the pear super pretty in person, it hast this great velvety texture, and the glitter doesn't rub off when you touch it.


Alright, I'm off to be creative for a little while. Have a lovely weekend!

Sympath Cards

When I ask other paper crafters what the hardest cards are to make, the 2 answers I hear the most are Sympathy cards and Masculine Cards. This past month I taught a sympathy card class at A Walk Down Memory Lane. For those who struggle with masculine cards, I made sure to include a few masculine sympathy cards, too. Oh, and I had to play around with the new papers from Echo Park, My Mind's Eye, and American Crafts, as well as a new stamp set from Kanban. The cards in the photo above are what we made at the class.

Quick Cards

I know I've been neglecting you all lately, so here are 2 quick cards to keep you looking.

This one uses Jillibean Soup papers, a Bazzill corduroy button, Fiskars scallop border punch, and Unity Stamp's Noteworthy Occasions. The flower was made using a scallop circle punch.

This one uses Pink Paislee Papers, Fiskars Apron Lace Punch, and a Pink Paislee Brad. The flower was made using quilling.
And remember, you can find all this stuff at A Walk Down Memory Lane for 15% off for the remainder of August!

Texture Card Class Sneak Peek

I'm teaching a Cards with texture class this weekend, Saturday, August 7, at A Walk Down Memory Lane. There's still time to sign up if you're interested in learning how to add texture to your cards by using cork, acrylic, Core'dinations Card Stock, and fabric on your cards. You'll make 4 cards during the class and you'll have the opportunity to learn lots of great tips and tricks for working with these mediums. Class starts at 10:15, but you can reserve your spot now by calling AWDML at (712)476-3443. Here's a little sneak peek of one of the cards you'll create:

If you're dying to have the stamp set from this card, you can get it for 25% off this month at A Walk Down Memory Lane. Unity Stamps is the featured manufacturer this month, so grab all the Unity Stamps you want for 25% off! You can also click here to find sheets of cork, or click here to get that lovely Crate Paper Brook patterned paper.

Chirp, chirp, chirp...

Yes, that's the sound of crickets on my blog! Whew, sometimes it takes a bit to get back into the swing of things after vacation. But, I've been working diligently on a few things to share with you over the next few weeks. Today, though, I wanted to catch you up on what's going on and share some cards that I made at my last card class. If you're in the area of A Walk Down Memory Lane come by and check out one of my classes some time and you can make fun cards like these, too. This card uses paper from Like Father Like Son from Fancy Pants, Artisan Tape from Pink Paislee, and stamps from Technique Tuesday. All Technique Tuesday stamps are 25% off at A Walk Down Memory Lane this month.
This card also uses stamps from Technique Tuesday. The "missing you" stamp is from Cornish Heritage Farms. The paper is from Bella Blvd All Inclusive Line.

This last card uses papers from one of my favorite new companies, Echo Park. Their papers are just perfect for summer! The stamp is from Unity Stamp Company, and the border punch is Apron Lace from Fiskars.

Finally, I'd like to remind you to stop by Scraptiv!ty this summer. You can check out the great sales they have going on all summer long here on the blog. Also, check out the forum here, for some great summer contests and project ideas from the design team.

Here's to getting back into the swing of things!

Relax...

Moxie Fab World is having a 3 Cheers for Chairs contest, click here to learn more about it. I thought I'd combine it with a Mother's Day card this year.
The paper is all from Pink Paislee's Queen Bee line. The lamp is from Unity Co. Comfy Cozy set and was stamped in gray ink on Queen Bee paper and then cut out. I cut the chair with my Silhouette SD.

The second project I have today is a fast board book. It took me about 1 1/2 hrs to put this together from start to finish, including finding quotes on the internet for the book. The trick is using pages that are the same size as your photos (for me that means 4x6):The paper is from Pink Paislee's 365 Degrees Collection. Various Fiskars Border punches were used to make the edge detail. Sweet and simple, and a perfect Mother's Day gift for my mom!

Stamping Olympics Birthday, and a Perfect Picture

First up is an all stamped birthday card. This is another new set from Unity Stamp Co. that I picked up at A Walk Down Memory Lane this weekend.I have to apologize for all of the bling, but I just couldn't help myself. Plum is such a perfectly girlie color, that I just had to add the Kaisercraft rhinestones. The couch stamp and sentiment are Unity Stamp Co. Comfy Cozy. The couch and background are stamped using stamps from Technique Tuesday's Casablanca set. The card stock is Bazzill Kraft. The ribbon is SU! Elegant Eggplant. The purple inks are SU! Perfect Plum and Pale Plum. The watermark ink is Versamark.
I also had to share with you this great picture from this weekend. I was trying to take a picture of my youngest looking at the ducks at the zoo. My oldest walked in front of the camera right as I was taking the picture. I went to delete the picture thinking it was just going to be of my oldest's jacket, and was happy to find this instead:
I feel a layout in it's future!

Stamping Olympics - Thank You

Well, my crafty weekend was hijacked by a thoughtful husband, a couple of busy boys, and a fun trip to the zoo. I did manage to get 1 card done. I have 2 more ideas bouncing around in my head, so hopefully tomorrow I'll have a little more for you. For this card I was going for a bit of a modern color combo by using Barley Banana, Not Quite Navy, and Going Grey. The card is so much prettier in person, but I guess that's just how it is sometimes. Here's the card:
The background was stamped using Technique Tuesday's Casablanca set. The Frame is attached with foam dimensionals and was stamped using Unity Stamp's A Noteworthy Occasion. The paper, ink and ribbon are all Stampin' Up!

Lots of Fun Classes

Lately it feels like I've been spending most of my free time working on projects for my upcoming classes. I just finished up my samples for a Masculine Card Class I will be teaching on Saturday, November 7. So many people find it hard to make cards for the men in their lives, so this is a class dedicated to those hard to make cards. What's fun about this class is that it also focuses on specific tricks and techniques that people may not have tried before. For example, the card I'm going to show you today is from that class and focuses on a fun bleaching technique.As you can see, I don't believe masculine cards need to be all tools, cars, and dirt (though some of my man cards definitely do fall under that category). They can just be lovely elements put together in a way that hints at masculinity. I hope this inspires you to create some of those tough man cards, and if you're in the area feel free to sign up for the class at A Walk Down Memory Lane. Now, I'm off to prep some class kits for a Christmas Card Class for Saturday!