"MAKE-IT-SNAPPY-MONDAY"

I love the card that I am sharing with you today!  Although it's a snappy one, it's loaded with interesting features . . . Bitty Button with linen thread knot, wavy stamped sentiment banner, colorful stamped image, texture, a fun color combo, and a unique 3.5" x 5.5" size.  All products used to create this card are from Stampin' Up! and include:  Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, and Rose Red card stock, Stampin' Dimensionals, Square Lattice embossing folder, 3/4" Circle punch, Itty Bitty Shapes punch (circle), "Morning Cup" stamp set, assorted markers for coloring, and the sentiment banner is from the Petal Cone Sizzix die.  I'll have one more MISM project to share for May and then, for the month of June, I'll feature Stampin' Up!'s Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer Punch in a series of "snappy Monday" cards. 

AN "M" FOR CAMPBELL'S 2ND BIRTHDAY

Today was my great-nephew, Campbell's, 2nd birthday party at Dan Nicholas Park in Salisbury.  What a beautiful day for a party!  I was afraid that it would be too hot, but we were under a shelter in a wooded area that seemed to have been temperature-controlled just for me!  ;-)  After my class last night, it occurred to me that I hadn't made a birthday card for Campbell, so I worked as quickly as possible to get this one made before going to bed.  I used the Gypsy to design this shaped card, which was cut with the Cricut.  I love this little mouse, even though in real life I refer to the real critters as "m's"--can hardly ever make myself say the word.  There are cats in our neighborhood and, every now and then, one of them (or some other animal, which I don't want to think about) will leave a dead "m" on the sidewalk or driveway, and the sight will make me turn around and go back in the house until the critter has disappeared.  Yuck!!!!!!!!!  Paper "m's" are a different story . . . they're just cute! 

A VERY CHEERY "FREESTYLE FRIDAYS"

It's a fun fold and a cheery design for Freestyle Fridays!  With her project share last Friday, Julie issued a mission for me to create a fun folded card like hers with something embossed on it.  My embossing doesn't show up too well, but I used Old Olive Craft ink and clear embossing powder for the grassy image from Stampin' Up!'s "Inspired by Nature" stamp set, and I used VersaMark ink and clear EP for the small flowers from the "Itty Bitty Bits" stamp set.  Other Stampin' Up! products used to create this card include Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, and Whisper White card stock, "Fun Flowers" Sizzix die, buttons, Baker's twine, and "Happy Greetings" stamp set.  This is definitely a good cheery card to keep in the stash! 

BIRTHDAY CUPCAKE . . . AND A BUTTON

I recently worked on some swaps that were really late.  Each time I thought about how many I needed to make, I felt overwhelmed and pretty much told myself, "deal with it tomorrow."  I hate it when I procrastinate the inevitable!  It seems to me that when I keep putting something off, the days just fly past, as if to punish me or show me that they can pass even faster, putting me farther behind.  The last time I gave myself permission to put off the task, I ended up creating five cards in one night, and this is one of them.  Stampin' Up! products used include "Sunny Garden" designer paper, "Teeny Tiny Wishes" stamp set, Modern Label, Word Window, Cupcake, and Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punches, marker (for the doodle lines), red glimmer paper, and one of those delectable Brights designer buttons.  Have I already mentioned how gorgeous these buttons are?  One of my customers ordered the Brights last month and, when they arrived, I fell in love with them and put them on my next order.  This month, she ordered the Subtles designer buttons.  And so did I . . . along with another container of the Brights buttons.  I'm having to stop myself from putting one of these gorgeous buttons on every project, but I {heart} them!!!!  How sad (wonderfully) that I'm having to copy a customer's order just so I won't covet her buttons when they arrive.

"BLOOM" SHAPED MINI ALBUM

After seeing some really cute shaped albums recently, I decided that I wanted to make one of my own.  The thin card board covers and pages for my album were cut with the Cricut, as were some of the images used to decorate it, and the paper I chose is from Stampin' Up!'s "Sunny Garden" collection.  Throughout the album, on most of the pages, I have used coordinating card stock and designer paper to create pockets for journaling, pictures,

etc.  Obviously, this album is still incomplete, but most of my embellishments and stamped images are from Stampin' Up!  This is definitely a work in progress since there are so many design opportunities with this little album.  I thought that its "chunkiness" might bother me, but I really like the dimensional elements that give this project "lumpy pride."  While  I'm used to creating projects, from start to finish, at one sitting, it's nice to step away from this one and give myself time to decide which products I want to use next and give design ideas a chance to come to me.  One of my favorite things about this album, so far, are the dangling elements (such as the birdcage shown in the picture on the right) between the pages.  Fun, fun, fun!!!

"THE OPEN SEA" CD CASE ALBUM

Did you know that CD cases make great gift items?  They're relatively simple to decorate, and mine doubles as a mini accordion album with a gift card holder and a masculine nautical theme.  Stampin' Up! products used to create this project include "The Open Sea" digital stamp brush set, My Digital Studio software, Cherry Cobbler Baker's twine, Bitty heart-shaped button, Itty Bitty Shapes punch (heart), "Nautical Expedition" designer paper, assorted circle punches, and "All Holidays" stamp set.  This particular CD case was a bulk buy item that didn't actually have the

 center portion that holds a CD, and it is made to fold completely open so that it can be used as a calendar stand or to hold mini scrapbook pages.  The designer paper for this project was cut to fit (approximately 4-3/4" x 5" and 4-3/4" x 5-1/2"), and I used two strips of 4" x 12" card stock, scored at 4" and 8", for the accordion album.

EASY PEASY "MAKE-IT-SNAPPY-MONDAY" CARD

I've mentioned before that I love Stampin' Up!'s "Morning Cup" stamp set, and I've used it again for today's MISM project.  I know you might be thinking that there are so many things that could be added to this card, but I wanted to keep it snappy simple.  I began by punching four squares with the new Postage Stamp punch from different colors of card stock.  I then used the mini Oval and Jewelry Tag punches (with a little knot of Baker's twine) and called it complete.  You could use up a lot of scrap card stock by employing the Postage Stamp punch for a few sets of cards like this!

PASS THE WALLET, PLEASE

Several days ago, I posted the car card that I made for my nephew's 16th birthday.  We're celebrating his birthday today, and I made this wallet for one of his gifts.  The greeting and tag were printed from Stampin' Up!'s My Digital Studio, and they both are part of the "Happy Bday" digital kit.  Other Stampin' Up! products used to create this card include the Square Lattice embossing folder, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, and Whisper White card stock, circle punches, Baker's twine, Stampin' Sponge, and ink. 

"FREESTYLE FRIDAYS" WITH JULIE

Pictured to the right is the sneak peek photo that Julie shared with me of her Freestyle Fridays project.  The colors look pretty, and I can tell that it's a floral project but, other than that, we'll have to visit her blog to learn more.  Hopefully, she has been able to upload the post to her blog about this project.  Unfortunately, Blogger has been acting up for the past 24 hours and has managed to lose the post and pictures of the heritage album that I put up yesterday or the day before.  ARGH!!!!!!!!!  Anyway, don't forget to visit Julie's blog to see her project in full.  Yesterday, I used Stampin' Up!'s My Digital Studio software to design the signature blip for my blog posts, but I'm not sure if I will use it all the time.  I love the fact that I was able to design it to coordinate with my blog banner, and would love to hear what you think about it.  Patty Bennett has been using an MDS-designed signature for her blog posts, shared a tutorial of the design process, and inspired me to create one of my own.

ETA:  Blogger found the post about my heritage album!!  WOOHOO!!!!!  Thank you, Blogspot!!!!

HERITAGE ALBUM

I am soooooooooooooo excited to share this project, but . . . shhhhh . . . you have to keep a secret.  Pictured to the right is the cover of the heritage album that I designed for my daddy using Stampin' Up!'s My Digital Studio software.  I was expecting this album to arrive tomorrow, so imagine my surprise when it showed up today.  Just looking at the cover was almost exciting enough for me, but I have looked through the album several times already.  One word will describe Stampin' Up!'s professional print service . . . A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!!!  I began this project in early April, and I will present it to daddy as an early Father's Day gift because I can't wait much longer. I am not a very patient person and, when you factor in excitement and pride, well . . . it's a dangerous combination for someone who can't keep a secret for as long as they probably should.  I {heart} old photographs and, when I found several pictures from a source that I will not reveal, I knew that I had to do something special with them.  In this post, I'm sharing a picture of two of the pages that I designed for this 41-page album.  One of the most exciting things about this album is that I don't believe daddy has ever seen some of the pictures (at least not for a very long time), and I included some photos of actual documents that I found on ancestry.com, and I know daddy hasn't seen those!  When I decided to create this album, I truly had no idea just how involved it would become.  My intention wasn't to get into the whole genealogy process--I simply wanted to use the pictures that I had found and then search for other supporting documentation that might be of interest regarding the people and places that daddy remembers from his childhood.  One of the most interesting tidbits of information was a death certificate that ruled the death a HOMOCIDE.  Now, how exciting is that?!?!  I've said it before, and I will say it again . . . Stampin' Up!'s My Digital Studio software is one of the tools that everyone should own!!!!!  Just look at what a special gift you can design for someone special.