Stamping In My Neighborhood

Another Autumn Days Card

Here's the second design using Autumn Days that I created for new team members.  It features the new In Colors of Soft Suede, Dusty Durango and Crushed Curry.  I used my Big Shot and Top Note Die to cut a layer of Very Vanilla.  On that I stamped the wheat image in Crushed Curry and the berry twig in Dusty Durango.  When I did that, I did not reink between stampings so that I could achieve some depth and make it look more like a field of those items.  I then stamped the pheasant and sentiment (from Sincere Salutations) in Soft Suede.  To give the impression of another layer, I sponged Dusty Durango around the entire Top Note layer.  I added this layer to the Soft Suede card using dimensionals.  Quick and easy.

If you'd like to see more ideas for Autumn Days and perhaps some Christmas ideas, please contact me today to schedule a workshop.  From September 1st through November 30th, Stampin' Up! is offering a special promotion to those hosting workshops.  In addition to regular hostess benefits, anyone hosting a workshop totaling $250 or more will be eligible to select any item (except My Digital Studio which is not yet available anyway) from the Holiday Mini Catalog for just $10.  That includes stamp sets and Big Shot dies!  If you'd like to view the Holiday Mini, simply CLICK HERE...there are lots of fabulous new products inside that I think will surprise you!

Autumn is coming soon!

Hooray!  This summer was a bit unusual, wasn't it?  Nothing but rain in July and most of August was hot and humid.  Right now the weather reminds of my favorite season, which is just around the corner!  Beautiful days, cool nights....LOVE IT!

In honor of autumn, I got out my latest stamp set, Autumn Days, last week to make some cards to newcomers to my team.  These ladies are in my second and third levels so they live all over and I have not met one of them.   But I wanted to wish them good luck in their new venture and to let them know that even though I am not their direct upline, I am still here to support them in whatever manner I can.  Often when you start out, you don't have any samples to show and you're at a loss of how to begin.  So I thought I'd make some simple cards that showed you didn't need a lot of supplies to get great results.

This card is one of my favorites!  And what a great card it would be for a man's birthday or a sympathy card...just change the greeting!  The base card is Soft Suede (a new In Color).  I stamped the wheat image on it using Soft Suede Classic ink, then stamped again using Barely Banana and Apricot Appeal Craft inks.  Because those last two colors are lighter than the cardstock, I HAD to use craft ink for it to show.  It's just so magical how it doesn't look like much until you set it with a heat tool.  And the depth of color is great, much better than it shows up in the image.

To finish off the card, I stamped the "Just for You" saying in Soft Suede onto Barely Banana cardstock and punched it out with the large oval punch.  I then punched a scalloped oval out of Soft Suede and sponged the edges of it with Soft Suede ink to make it darker.  It coordinates beautifully, of course and it's a much different color than Chocolate Chip, which is the color most of you thought it was.  ;-)  I added the sentiment to the card with dimensionals and was done. 

Minimal cardstock, fantastic results.

Stampin' Up!'s $85 Mini Starter Kit promotion ends on Monday, August 31st.  If you'd like to take advantage of this special, contact me today.  We can get you signed up online and off to a great start.  And you'll be starting during a great season...Christmas card-making season!

Now, where was I?

Do you like to read?  Here's a quick and easy project for you.  It's also a great project to do when you want to give someone the gift of a book!

 This 2x2 bookmark slips over the corner of a few pages in your book, letting you know exactly where you left off.  I was tasked by the lead pastor of my church to read a book (to be discussed with others in a weekly meeting that I'm a part of) called No Perfect People allowed.  It just so happens that the colors of the book were Certainly Celery and Not Quite Navy.  So I got out a piece of Not Quite Navy cardstock and cut it to 4" x 4".  I  scored it in half lengthwise and widthwise.  I cut away one quarter of it and folded the "free" ends to the  back and adhered them together.  I stamped the little ladybug from Garden Whimsy on a piece of Designer Certainly Celery paper, affixed it to my bookmark and I was done.  To say that it took me a minute might be overstating the length of time.

As always, if you'd like a better view, just click on the images.

I did not fall off the face of the earth!

Sorry it's been so long.  I've been consumed with directing my church's Vacation Bible School.  It took place last week so I'm a little freer now.  Although with family visits upon us, just a little bit, so don't look for daily posts quite yet.

Here's a card that I did at my July workshops that people absolutely fell in love with.  I CASEd it from someone else, although to be honest, I've lost the details of that in my mess that I call a craft room.  Anyway, it would make a gorgeous wedding card.  Also a nice sympathy card, I think, with perhaps a little tweaking.  Not that the two occasions go hand-in-hand, lol.

The card features the Fresh Cuts stamp set.  The large image is one stamp and the writing in the background says "thinking of you".  I added some dry embossing using my Big Shot and the SU Backgrounds' Flourish Texturz plate.  The ribbon is the white organza, one of my absolute favorites.  It combines satin with sheer...beautiful.