Life Happens and so do Birthdays

There are days when I wish for time to stamp. Be careful what you wish for, especially if there's a deadline involved!

The layout for this card was sketched and waiting all day, so pulling it together wasn't all that difficult. One of the things that deterred me from becoming a demonstrator for so long was having to measure and cut pieces and pieces and more pieces of paper. That's what this entire day has been about! Glad that's done and over...

This uses the Outlaw DP that was in the Fall-Winter Collection. They've revamped it with a new color palette and call it Western Sky in the Spring-Summer Collection. This is just 4 simple rectangles and a square in the middle. The saying is from Full of Life, which is in the new Occasions Mini. I think this is a good sentiment for a birthday, since they seem to sneak up on us while we're making other plans and going about life. I'm going to allow each stamper the choice of whether or not to make it into a birthday card by adding the phrase on the inside. If she doesn't choose, I still think it's an interesting "what's up?" card to send. The base is Creamy Caramel and the sentiment is stamped in Chocolate Chip on Very Vanilla.

The last card (hurray!) is a birthday card that features the Birthday Whimsy set that can only be earned with a $50 purchase of anything in either the Spring-Summer Collection or the Occasions Mini. The base is Certainly Celery, the background for the main images is Blue Bayou, and the strip along the bottom is Soft Sky. I like that I can stamp short or tall presents just by inking up only half of the stamp. As you could probably tell, I couldn't decide where to put the message, so I placed it in several places to give my stampers some ideas. The Stamp-a-ma-jig came in handy once again as I was placing these. Intrigued by the little flower on the ribbon? It's a ribbon slider and it's part of the new Silver Hodgepodge Hardware set that's in the Occasions Mini. Cool little item.

I'm very pooped (and a bit whiny) and I have paper to cut for this last card, as well as for the workshop I have on Saturday. I really need to plan better next month! Oh, and there's dinner in the mix too...this really wasn't a day off from anything, was it!

Oh the Pressure (March SAS Card #3)

I don't know what was effecting my creativity when I went to the craft table this morning to create another card for the SAS tomorrow, but getting to the finish line with this card was like giving birth!

It all started out innocently enough when I saw this ensemble in the Title Nine clothing catalog. I was drawn to the color combination of gray, khaki, and light blue. I wanted to apply this layout by Patty Bennett (who was inspired by Cami Turnbow--what goes around comes around) to my color combo with the newly released Friendly Flowers stamp set. This turned out to be akin to trying to get all the planets and stars to align! It was discouraging me greatly because I really liked each of the elements I was trying to marry.

After about 45 min. of trying to push a round peg into a square hole, I abandoned my color palette and came up with this. Same layout, but a completely different color scheme featuring East Coast designer paper. The base is Whisper White stamped in Tempting Turquoise with two of the flowers from the set. It looks a little bit like some sort of wild island print to me! The focal image is the largest flower from the set. The designer paper's double-sidedness (is that a word?) works well and creates a flap underneath the flower for writing your message inside to your friend.

Okay, time to clean up from that and start thinking of the next one. 3 down, 2 to go.

March SAS Card #2--Felt Flowers with a Flap

I saw my good friend Lydia use these felt flowers on a card, and I thought that I should introduce my gals to one of our newest accents and embellishments.

This card is fairly straight forward. The base is Old Olive, and the style of card is called a matchbook flap. Turn it 90 degrees in your mind and you'll get what I mean. It's secured with eyelets, but I may switch and use brads to match those on the flowers. A different way to open a card, I thought.

Anyway, the Very Vanilla base is stamped in River Rock with my Linen background stamp, and then the swirly image from Baroque Motifs is layered over it in Old Olive. It looks like a vine or foliage, doesn't it? All I did then was layer some flowers together, secure them with a brad and popped them up with dimensionals.

The sentiment is from a new set called Full of Life. There are seven really good sayings in this set that cover everything from friendship to congratulations to a new baby. I'm always looking for sayings to complement the stamp sets that don't include one, so this was a must have for me.

Well, I need to make dinner and go to the grocery--ugh. The only thing that makes the latter task palatable is that Bob's going along. More tomorrow!

March Stamp-A-Stack

Hey! If you're inside reading this right now, you are either trapped at work or crazy! It's INSANELY beautiful today, and this is the high point, gals, so get it while the gettin's good! Nearly 70 right now, but it'll be a high of 45 by the weekend--we're not in the clear of winter officially until March 20 or 21.

Anyway, I'm inside because I wanted to post here the sets I'm going to be using for this month's SAS and remind you of the change in day and time. I did this to try to accommodate those for whom Saturday is busy with soccer, baseball, errands, or work to participate.

DATE: Friday, March 14
TIME: 6:30-10pm
PLACE: my house
RSVP: Friday, March 7--THAT'S TOMORROW!

There are many new and exciting things to share, like the new Occasions Mini Collection, and there will be 5 beautiful projects that will showcase the following sets:

Full of Life (pg. 22 of Occasions Mini)
Friendly Flowers and Lots of Dots (pg. 10 of Occasions Mini)
Lots of Thoughts (pg. 6 of Sale-A-Bration catalog)
Flower Fusion (felt flowers! from pg. 177 of Spring-Summer Collection)
and East Coast Prep designer paper (pg. 168 of Spring-Summer Collection)

Follow this link to check out the sets I've referenced above, as well as see all the wonderful stuff in the Occasions Mini!

I have some great ideas for these cards, so you don't want to miss out. Remember, RSVP by TOMORROW. You can do so right now by leaving me a comment. Sandra, you're already on the list!

Now, get outside as fast as you can! My dogs want someone to throw the ball, so I'm gonna go do that.