Celebrating New Life

A friend of mine became a grandma for the second time last week. This grandchild had some stressful circumstances during her gestation and surrounding her arrival, so I wanted to make a keepsake for the baby so that she would know how loved she is and has been since before she made her debut.

The mother likes the colors brown and orange, and I know the baby has a quilt in those colors, so that influenced my palette for the card. I used the heart from retired Loop to Loop and stamped it in Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, and Peach Parfait. I wanted the hearts to overlap to communicate how many hearts joined together on behalf of this child before she was born. The "you are loved" stamp is a random one I've had for over 10 years, and I love its simple message in a stylish font.

The card is a simple gate fold with a piece of Crumb Cake down the middle to anchor the heart image to. I used some Chantilly Crochet Trim to soften the card.

For the interior, I pulled out my Billboard Alphabet for the Big Shot and used Early Espresso card stock to create the letters. Old-fashioned names are very hip these days, and Lucy Jean is very in vogue. The letters are glued onto Very Vanilla card stock and matted with Crumb Cake on the Peach Parfait base.

I hope you can find some way to use your paper crafting to enter into someone else's joy this week.

Please Excuse my Cold-Fogged Brain

I made this card on Wednesday, and I meant to create a post about it so that you could read it yesterday. But I've been taken hostage by my body because I have a cold, so my brain is preoccupied with silly stuff like making me cough and requesting that I blow my nose. Ugh. That's probably TMI for a crafting blog, but it's a legitimate excuse, I tell ya!

Okay, here's the deal with this card. I wanted to make a card that didn't use the A2 format (4.25" x 5.5"), and I'd tagged a simple one online for such a time as this. (See, even cold brain can't subvert my creativity.) It measures 3.25" x 6.25".

I have a lifelong friend--I've known her since fourth grade--whose birthday is in about a month, but since she lives on the other side of the world (a 12 hour time difference), I have to get her card in the mail EARLY.

So I pulled out some retired DSP, the name of which escapes me because of my cold brain, but which is just plain fun and very much in the spirit of birthdays. I also had some retired rub-ons (that sounds weird) that coordinate with this DSP, so I used them too. I avoided this sentiment for a long time because I wasn't sure what it meant, but I've decided that it's an updated version of "hi sweetie!", so I'm cool with using it.

I transferred the rub-on to a piece of Certainly Celery and created a little fun mat with scraps of Whisper White, Riding Hood Red (yes, those are teeny tiny strips, not 1 piece) and Bashful Blue card stock, and some 1/8" Whisper White ribbon. It wasn't until I was finished with the card that it occurred to me that the blue used in this color scheme is actually Baja Breeze. Oh well, not going back and redoing it all now!

The button is from the Designer Button Regals Collection in Riding Hood Red. Instead of trying to thread the 1/8" Whisper White ribbon through the actual buttonholes, I just covered the holes up with the bow!

To create some visual interest inside, I used my Candle Crazy Builder Wheels and rolled them along the seam of the card. I colored the candles with CC and BB SU! Markers and this is when I discovered my aforementioned color faux pas (even with cold brain, I can still spell in French!).

Well, this makes two things I've accomplished since getting out of bed this morning: working seven hours and writing this post. I think I need to nap now. If my cold brain releases me from captivity over the weekend, I'll post some more creations. Hope you're NOT sick so you can enjoy the weekend!

Cutie Patootie Cards...By the Inch!

Oh.My.Word. I'm pretty sure I've never been so excited by a Hostess set as I am by the one I'm going to share with you today. It's called Cute by the Inch, and it's a Level 2 Hostess set in the forthcoming 2010-2011 Big Idea Book & Catalog.

This set of "inchies" gives you nine images in a variety of styles. I pulled out three of the new colors that have been added to the Core Collections to use as my palette. They are: Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist, and Daffodil Delight. I added Wild Wasabi, a former InColor that has also been incorporated into the reorganized group of colors as part of the Subtles Collection.

The cards are 4"x4". I think this is the best size to accentuate the 1" square designs. As part of the Color Renovation, SU! sent all demonstrators a complimentary sheet of each of the new Core Colors so that we could experiment with them before they were available through the catalog pre-order. Just another perk of being a representative of this wonderful company!


I kept the design of each fairly simple. I used direct to rubber coloring--with the complementary SU! Stampin' Write Markers that each of these colors has!--on the first one and matted it with two of the colors and a Whisper White border punched using the Scallop Trim Border Punch. See how it doesn't take much to make a statement with these?

The second card was a little more involved, requiring the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, even though I ordered the clear mount stamps. Just wanted to make sure I was getting the tile image just where I wanted it! I was amazed how much detail the designer packed into such a small space. This really came to light when I colored it with markers. WOW! And it really wasn't hard. The brush tip made it easy, although I needed some good direct light to help my aging eyes! This is so elegant it didn't even need a sentiment.

I was delighted when the idea for the third card worked out like I thought it would! I omitted the word "friends" when I colored the stamp in each of the four colors of my palette, then added it when I used all the colors for the focal image. And this Cherry Cobbler color is such a deep, rich RED. I'm already sure I'm going to be using it for my Christmas cards!

The last card just makes me smile because it evokes memories of grade school and learning to write my letters. I had some Designer Series Paper that mimics like notebook paper (retired Loop to Loop), so I capitalized on that look and kept it really simple. The ribbon is left over from when WW was an InColor and the three hearts were punched with the Heart to Heart Punch to serve as an accent. I matted the DSP with a very tight mat of Basic Black.

There are FIVE more images I haven't experimented with yet, but I trust you've caught my excitement about this set. You can only get it FREE by being a hostess with workshop sales of $300 or more in merchandise (before shipping and handling and taxes). There are SOOOOO many cool new things in the 2010-2011 Big Idea Book & Catalog that you and your friends will want to have that I urge you to get out your calendar, choose a date, and put out the word that you're going to have a stamping event! We'll make 1 of these cards of your choosing and I'll highlight as many of the new things as I can. Contact me through the comments or email me at jenn@nahrstadt.com.

The first hostess to partner with me to host an event will receive the Purse-onlly Yours Paper Purse and 4 cards I featured here on my blog! Contact me today! The new catalog will be available to order from beginning July 1st!

One Husband's Adventure in Card Making

My friend Nina's birthday was yesterday, and her husband Scott wanted to communicate to her how much he loves her and asked for my help. He sent a message to me through my husband a few weeks ago and asked me to design 3 cards for her that he would make and then give to her throughout the day. Isn't that SWEET?!?

Of course I told him I would, but that was one of the most challenging assignments I'd taken on in some time. I didn't know what he was looking for, and I don't have a real good read on her style either, even though she's one of my friends and a fellow crafter.

Scott arranged a ruse, with the help of my husband, so he could come over here last Saturday--men need help from other men with things around the house, like with painting (wink wink). Needless to say, he was amazed at all the different techniques and tools I incorporated into the cards he made! He thought it was unique that he would make his own "Hallmark" on the back and include his signature of his art, but I stressed that these cards would be kept by his wife for a long time, and that she would want to remember the year he did this.

Here are the cards I designed, but that he created. The first one used some rub-ons from It's a Loop Thing, and he said when he saw it that it would be his wife's favorite. I know Nina LOVES bees, so I that's why I'd chosen these images. This is a gate fold card base with More Mustard card stock, stamped with the flower stamp from Loop to Loop set. The rub-ons were mounted on Whisper White and matted on Chocolate Chip. The accents on each side are scraps from a Simply Scrappin' kit.

The second one was made using some special extras I'd hoarded. Cool Caribbean is one of my favorite InColors of the past, and it's the base for this card. I used the Stampin' Around Petals jumbo wheel (retired) inked with Versamark to create the very soft subtle background. The color scheme was determined initially by this strip of flowers in Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, and Cool Caribbean. The sentiment is from God's Blessings, and Scott LOVED it.

The third card took me back to the coordinating DSP that went with the rub-ons and the stamp set from the first card. Who says you can't breathe new life into stashed stuff? The base is Pink Pirouette, and I fashioned the card so that it would look like a wrapped package (I did tie the bow for the man--those are hard for large hands!). The scalloped squares are punched in Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, and PP. The sentiment is from Always, stamped in Riding Hood Red.

When I spoke with Nina yesterday, she told me about the cards and how she loves the bee one, and how what he said in the card brought tears to her eyes. I believe Scott hit the bull's eye on this birthday! Feel free to copy this post to your husband, and I'll help him too. It's not too late for Valentine's Day!

Loop to Loop!

Today was Stamp-A-Stack. I had to wait until Tara finished making these before I could photograph them for you. There were only so many rub-ons, and there weren't any extras for me to make a sample for her to work from.

She did have the original card to use as a reference. I turned the layout from horizontal to vertical, so that I could basically use the same pieces I was cutting for the materials I was cutting for Christy's cards. Hers use the pieces from the original layout, also utilizing rub-ons similar to that card.

It took a long time for the gals to complete their cards this time around. Too many stamped pieces to cut out...oops! I'll have to keep that in mind for next month. Hope you have had a good weekend.