Wedding invite approved!

I got the final sample done for those wedding invitations and sent the pics off to the bride last night; thank goodness, she LOVED them! Now I just need my UPS man to deliver the rest of the materials so I can get to work assembling them all!

Here's a taste:


With custom monogram on the front


The inside with three inserts


RSVP card

Paper: Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Very Vanilla
Ink: More Mustard, Chocolate Chip
Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Together Forever, plus custom designed monogram (non-SU)
Accessories: Glue Dots, 1 3/8" circle punch, lots and lots of Snail adhesive

Custom book finished

I finished one of the custom book orders today. The bigger thing is that I made a miscalculation in how many packs of more mustard cardstock I needed for that wedding invitation order (was I INSANE to accept that bid??) and had to have two packs shipped 2nd Day Air to get to me in time to make the deadline. The shipping cost more than twice as much as the cardstock! Yikes! There went that extremely slim profit margin and then some. Gah. Have to start somewhere, I suppose.

On the up side, I printed out one copy of all the printed part of the invitation and trimmed it all to make sure that the margins and everything "worked" and except for one little error that was easily corrected, they all fit and trimmed fine! I'm going to have to spend a day at Kinko's having quality time with the big paper trimmer there since mine is on the fritz (I need new blades in a big bad way), but that's okay. The one at Kinko's is way better than mine anyway and I can get it done faster with the ruler guides and being able to cut multiple pages at once.

On the downside, my lovely babysitter has to take two days off this week and they are the worst days! Thursday and Friday--can you say bad timing? I've gotten so spoiled. Hopefully, I can just get an assembly line going once I get it all cut out.

Layerlicious card

I squeezed in Kerin Sylvester's sketch challenge this afternoon. I started out wanting to use Bella Birds DSP, but ended up using a small scrap of Candy Lane instead. I started brain storming about stamps and my under-used Flower Fancy and Define Your Life sets caught my eye. With my color challenge card from last week still dancing around in my head, I decided to riff a little on it! This is probably the most layered card I've done to date!

Paper: Pink Pirouette, Barely Banana, Brocade Blue, Candy Lane DSP scrap
Ink: Versamark, Basic Gray
Stamps: Flower Fancy, Define Your Life
Techniques: Heat embossing (clear) chalks (on flower petals for pink accent), sewing (buttons)
Buttons: Clear and former white men's dress shirt buttons
Ribbon: Pink (Non-SU) stitched 5/8" grosgrain ribbon

Books, books, books

Nothing to post today except to say I'm T-I-R-E-D. Got up early (again) today, thinking I could get an hour's worth of work in on a custom order before my son got up, but no, he decided to get up early too! So I didn't get as much done in the early morning as I would have liked. I, however, did finish the design work on the custom wedding invitation order I'm working on.
Look for pictures in the next week and a half!

In other news, I got two custom book requests in the last day, so I've been scouting for book binding supplies. I had most of what I needed on hand, but had to get a little bit of book cloth for the edge of one of the books. The other one required some running around for the image I'm using on the cover. Will post pics of both books when complete.

So mostly, my brain is mush right now. I keep hoping to get to Kerin Sylvester's sketch challenge by Wednesday, but honestly, I'm barely opening my stamps the last few days. I did go to a stamping open house hosted by my upline-upline, Claire Lawrence, yesterday, and that was fun. Got to make two cards with retiring stamps and play with glitter. Always a good time!

So since I'm working on books right now, I will leave you with some pictures of books I have in my etsy store that I made last fall.

Handsewn Journal with Italian paper

Accordion Book

Weddings in June

In pursuit of building my etsy store business, I've been making LOTS of bids on various alchemy requests, including wedding invitations. Mostly I've been shot down, but that's how it goes. Fake it 'til you make it. Well, I think I made it! I finally got a bid accepted by a bride in California for 75 pocketfold wedding invitations with 2 inserts and response card. Whoo-hoo! She needs them in a hurry, however (long story...), so that's what I'm going to be furiously working on for the next 2 weeks!

Here is the shades of gray sample I made for her to see what it would look like. Hers will be chocolate brown, gold and ivory, however. I'll post pictures when I'm finished with them. After some tips from Melissa Chadwick Levy, another Philly Inker, on how to use the big Baroque Motif stamp, I think I'm finally loving this set!

Paper: Basic Gray, Going Gray, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Gray
Stamp: Baroque Motif
Ribbon: 1-1/2" off white organza ribbon from Michaels or A.C. Moore (bought for a swag project a few years ago...)

Sweet Sunday 23

This was cutting it close to the wire! I uncharacteristically popped out of bed this morning at 6:00 a.m. after dreaming all night about patterned paper (guess I've been doing too much crafting lately...) and decided to have a go at Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday sketch. I had almost decided not to do it because of all the other irons I have in the fire, but I've been noticing color combinations lately and saw a tangerine tango-rose-red-elegant eggplant combo on a sweater a few days ago. Decided that would be the perfect thing to try with my Bright Delights Rub-ons, which I haven't even had time to play with since they arrived this week! I just couldn't get that 5th box on, however, no matter what I tried. The sentiment is very small and hard to see in the photo--"Thinking of You" is in small print above the green strip. This card has NO stamping! Perfect for an early morning fast card.

Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Rose Red, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White
Rub-ons: Bright Delights

Another Custom order complete!

My son's godfather just graduated from Swarthmore and commissioned 60 thank you cards from me, which I just finished and put in the mail to him. I decided the finished product looked so nice I should take a picture of the box, ready to send!

So many thank yous!

With the purty envelopes (I put them in a plastic bag before I sealed the box...)

The original card, which you can find in my etsy store.

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Old Olive
Ink: Basic Black, Craft White, Old Olive
Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, Polka Dot Punches

FTL 45b

I know this one posted a few weeks ago (still getting caught up from our Russia trip in May...), but I decided to give it a go. My intial card looked pretty blah--it just seemed to need something, but I knew the point was to keep it simple. I struggle with the clean and simple layouts sometimes. But I photographed it and let it sit over night. Then I decided to have another go and took it apart, adding the gray-brown layer and changing the scalloped piece to a different color with a different background. The finished card is 5.5 square. I'm also finding more uses for the Define Your Life set--another set I struggle to use. I thought it was finished, then decided the (green) ribbon was all wrong and swapped in some purple instead. I *think* it is finally finished. :)

The original version, before layers and ribbon changes:

The final version:

Paper: Sage Shadow, Lovely Lilac, Gray-brown non-SU cardstock, Whisper White scrap, non-SU pattern paper
Ink: Brilliant blue (stamped off 2 times), versamark
Stamps: Define Your Life
Ribbon: Lovely Lilac 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

Card for Lexie

My wonderful babysitter, asked me to make a birthday card for her 7 year-old niece, Lexie. She said that Lexie likes purple and butterflies, and left it at that. Since the only butterflies I have are in the Great Friend set, I decided to use that. And since it basically hasn't left my desk since I received it, it was near to hand!!

I also decided to bling it up a little with some Swarovski crystals I had from another project. I think it makes the card sparkle nicely! I do wish I'd had the eyelet border punch, but this one works okay. I CASEd the card from this splitcoast stamper, but changed the colors a bit. Plus I was down to scraps of Whisper white, so I had to make do.

As I was rummaging through my accessories for the crystals, I came across a gold butterfly charm from a card-making kit I bought last year before I discovered Stampin' Up! and their great stuff, so I decided to make it into a "surprise" necklace on the inside of the card.

Paper: Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Whisper White scraps, perfect plum DSP
Inks: Versamark, Basic Gray
Stamps: Great Friend
Accessories: Perfect Plum 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, regular hole punch, scallop border punch, swarovski crystals, stampin' dimensionals

More Sweet Always and Polka Dot Punches

I love this DSP! I love the color combination and keep playing with it. I also found this card on Split Coast and wanted to try my hand at it: more practice with the tricky Polka Dot Punches, plus one my current favorite color combinations--can't go wrong! You can find this card on etsy.

Paper: Pink Pirouette, Sweet Always DSP, Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose, Whisper White
Ink: Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Write Marker, Basic Brown (using a blender pen), Craft White
Stamps: Polka Dot Punches, Curvy Verses
Ribbon: non-SU orange stitched ribbon

WSC #85 + Color Challenge #55

I decided to combine two challenges with this card--Kristina Werner's color challenge and the Weekend Sketch Challenge. Kristina's Color Challenge #55 was to use basic gray, really rust, more mustard and very vanilla. The Weekend Sketch Challenge #85 was this sketch, which I must say was a challenge by itself; add in those colors, which were gorgeous together, it was especially challenging! I ended up making a much more "fussy" card that I usually do. It involved a lot of embossing, tons of cutting out little flowers and chalking. I think the result is nice!

Paper: Basic Gray, Really Rust, More Mustard, Very Vanilla
Ink: Versamark
Stamps: Flower Fancy, Curvy Verses
Technique: Heat Embossing (clear); poppin' pastels, chalk rubbing, sewing
Accessories: heat gun, emboss buddy, clear emboss powder, scissors, dimensionals (the whole card front is popped up)

Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone

Another Mojo Monday (on a Friday...) Seems like Friday mornings are my time to get caught up on sketch challenges. I actually made this one in fits and starts yesterday, since the sewing took so long (who knew sewing on 4 buttons would take so long?) It was getting the holes pre pierced through the 3-4 layers that actually took long, not the sewing. :) I wanted to use some Good Morning Sunshine DSP scraps that I had in my bag o' scraps. I like the long-format card, but it was a little challenging! It's hard to see in the photo, but the yellow at the top is stamped in yellow with the same flower background as the cut-out ones. It didn't show up well because I was using Yo-yo yellow ink (don't have Summer Sun yet...) and it dried a lot lighter than expected!

Paper: Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, Summer Sun, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Ink: Yo-yo yellow (although I'd recommend versamark or summer sun), Pumpkin pie marker, white craft
Stamps: Great Friend, Polka Dot Punches
Accessories: Large Oval punch, brown buttons (from an old grandpa style cardigan that went in the dustbin long ago), embroidery floss, dimensionals, scissors to cut out flowers and trim the inset oval since I don't have the small oval punch yet.

KS Thursday Challenge #18

Tried Kerin's sketch challenge #18 this week--I like her clean layouts. I have been kind of addicted to DSP lately, so I was determined to make a card this morning without it! I nearly caved halfway through, but decided that the pattern made the card too busy. So here is a clean and simple card! I'm thinking about using it for the Make-n-Take for July because there are a couple of techniques (especially for those on a budget) that I think would be good to show.

Paper: Close to Cocoa, Blush Blossom, Very Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Stamps: Warm Words, Curvy Verses, Puns from the Past
Ribbon: Brown non-su stitched grosgrain ribbon
Accessories: 1 1/4" circle punch, large oval punch, blender pen, dimensionals
Technique: blender pen used as a marker

Textured Friend to Friend

Another CASE from a splitcoast stamper. I changed the colors a bit and the ribbon, but kept the layout and stamp set. The original card had been embossed on the Big Shot, and alas, I do not, as yet, own one, so I had to improvise the textured layer. I had some textured paper lying around from who knows where and decided that would work. I think the result is nice.

Paper: Bravo Burgundy, Apricot Appeal, Very Vanilla, textured creamy paper
Ink: Basic Brown
Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes
Ribbon: Burgundy organza ribbon saved off a gift long ago (I'm an inconsistent saver--I'm quick to throw out many things, but small stuff like ribbon on gifts and buttons off garments, I tend to keep FOREVER...I know, weird).

The angle of the picture makes it look like a big card, but it is really just a standard A2 with a top fold.

New Toys

Also in my box from last week was the Summer Love Rub-ons (available until June 30, 2009--be sure to order them soon if you like them!), so I decided to tackle two birds with one stone: sketch challenge and using rub-ons. (Although, really, just an excuse to play with new toys...)

So the sketch didn't work out--I kept fiddling and fiddling and finally decided, it just wasn't going to work. I took the card apart, kept the elements the same, and redid the layout a bit. This is the result, which I actually quite like; I'm digging the Walk in the Park DSP and colors! Don't you just love that SU coordinates everything??

Paper: Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Cameo Coral, Walk in the Park DSP
Rub-ons: Summer Love (Occassions Mini-catalog, summer 2009)
Ribbon: 1/4" Baja breeze (I think; it could be soft sky) ribbon

Kerin Sylvester's challenge

Tried Kerin's Thursday challenge yesterday (it had been staring me in the face since Thursday--time to get on it!). I started with Washington Apple DSP (retiring this month, sniff,) and went from there. I had decided not to put a sentiment on the front but then it looked kind of bare, so I ended up adding the For You at the last minute. I'm totally hooked on that new Great Friend stamp set--it is so useful! I have to say, I'm not really a butterflies kind of gal, but this one is growing on me. I also wanted to give the medallion a try (featured recently on splitcoast) and was able to incorporate it here, although I think mine turned out slightly differently from the tutorial version.

Paper: Red Riding Hood, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Washington Apple DSP
Ink: Pumpkin Pie Marker, Versamark
Stamps: Great Friend
Technique: Medallion using scallop border punch, sewing on button

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

I admit this is not at all stamping-related, but I needed a venue and a captive audience, so you're stuck. Feel free to skip on to card-related stuff.

Anyway. I finally watched the movie Twilight today. I had resisted reading the books because I'm the type of person that has a hard time reading something precisely because everyone else is reading it. I'm kind of contrary that way. So when the movie came out, I thought, well that's a movie I can miss. Somehow stampers and Twilight seem to go together, however, and I found myself intrigued by all the discussion on the stamping blogs--weird, huh? So I decided to give in and watch the movie to start. I told myself I was *not* going to read the books. ;)

But. I have to say, I enjoyed the movie. It won't be on my top 10 (The English Patient is just in a whole other category), but I still had fun watching it. I will *sigh* probably watch the next one when it comes out and...wait for it...I *may* even have to crack the books. What is the world coming to?

On to stamping. Today I spent catching up on sketch challenges (very early in the week too!) and will post more of them later this week, but for now, here's my take on Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday sketch.

Paper: Close to Cocoa, Red Riding Hood, Candy Lane DSP, Very Vanilla
Ink: Real Red
Stamps: Great Friend
Accessories: Random red button from long-gone garment, DMC embroidery thread

Friend card CASEd

This is a card I've been wanting to CASE for a while--I've been struggling to use my Polka Dot Punches stamp set and liked the way Crystal used them in her card. You can see the original one here on splitcoast. I also (finally!) figured out how to manipulate my watermark so that it is smaller and in the corner of the photo. Sometimes I'm a technological idiot.

I should add that my first June order finally arrived yesterday (it had been shipped to my husband's office and took a few days for us to actually get it home...much to my impatience). Can I just say two words? NEW CATALOG!! Spent time last night perusing the catalog and dreaming big stamping dreams. But. The other thing in my box was the Great Friend stamp set (which made it into the new catalog!) and I love it! I couldn't wait to try it out this morning, so here you go:

Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Very Vanilla, Kraft, non-SU pattern paper
Ink: Old Olive (second generation stamp)
Stamps: Great Friend, Polka Dot Punches
Ribbon: non-SU 1 1/4" organza ribbon (vanilla)
Accessories: Scallop edge punch

You can purchase it here.

6/9 cards, take 3

Here's another sweet baby card from the 6/9 class:

Paper: Bashful blue, whisper white, certainly celery dsp
Ink: bashful blue
Stamps: Puns from the Past, Curvy Verses
Ribbon: Bashful blue 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

6/9 class cards, take 2

Here is one of the cards we made at my Tuesday class. It was inspired by this splitcoast stamper's card, and I had hoped to do a more exact CASE, but my order with in-colors didn't arrive in time. Oh well. I think this is a nice clean card, nonetheless, and the ladies loved it!

(The color is a little off in the top photo because I was having lighting issues; the bottom photo is more true to color, and also shows the shiny aspect of the DSP better).

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Rockabilly DSP
Ink: Basic Black
Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes
Ribbon: Black 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

You can purchase it here.

Mail swap

I participated in a mail swap on a stamper's forum in May and received a whole pack of lovely cards! Here's my contribution to the swap: (the inside is stamped "on getting a little bit older and better than ever!") The inspiration for the layout came from Meg Loven's Sale-A-Bration examples.

Paper: Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Versamark
Stamps: Botanical Blooms, Warm Words, Congrats
Ribbon: Stitched grosgrain bashful blue ribbon
Technique: Poppin' Pastels

Mojo Monday #90

I've left it a bit late, but I think I can still escape under the wire! We're actually having dinner tonight with some friends who are moving to upstate New York in a week or so, and so I think I'm going to give this card as part of our farewell presents. We're sad to say goodbye, but at least they didn't take the job in Budapest! New York isn't so far from here.

Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Sweet Always DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose
Stamps: Curvy Verses (I LOVE this set); Flower Fancy
Technique: Sponged the white square with regal rose using a mask.

Weekend Sketch Challenge #84

Here's a new sketch challenge I decided to try from Laurie Schmidlin's blog:

So this is my second try on this one--the first was a disaster! That's what I get for trying to create with a screeching toddler in the background. So here's the new version, inspired by Karen Giron's lovely creation on the same challenge:

Paper: Rose Red, Regal Rose, Raspberry Tart DSP, Old Olive

Ink: Old Olive
Stamps: Curvy Verses
Accessories: Random old garment button, thread
Technique: Distressed Flowers (see Dawn's blog for tutorial)

6/9 class cards, take 1

Here's a fun card we made on Tuesday, 6/9. If you like these cards, sign up for one of my classes! We make 4 different cards every time.

This card was CASEd from Shelly Tapp's card on splitcoast, but I changed the green, the ribbon, and the bling!

Paper: Rose Red, Regal Rose, Old Olive, Very Vanilla (Top Note Die)
Ink: Regal Rose, Old Olive
Stamps: Flower Fancy, Define Your Life
Ribbon: Non-SU hot pink satin ribbon
Bling: Swarovski crystals (in an opalescent color)

You can purchase it here.

Father's Day for my FIL

I made this last weekend for my father-in-law, who gained a whole new lease on life with the birth of Piglet.. So I thought a "generational" picture would be appropriate for his card. I'm so loving the Good Morning Sunshine DSP (retiring this month, sadly)--it's got such a fun retro vibe. My husband thought it was great!

Paper: Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip, Good Morning Sunshine DSP, Kiwi Kiss (Top Note Die)
Ink: Old Olive
Stamps: Baroque Motifs
Ribbon: Tempting Turquoise 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

Swap for June 8

This is the swap I made for our downline meeting last night (got to see and drool over the new catty--woo-hoo!) I think this is a nice simple note card.


Paper: Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red
Stamps: Puns from the Past
Ribbon: 1/4" black grosgrain ribbon
Accessories: Ticket corner punch

Another Masculine card

I made this last week but forgot to post it.

Paper: Not Quite Navy, Parisian Specialty DSP, Very Vanilla, Choc. Chip
Ink: Basic Brown, Old Olive, Versamark
Stamps: Baroque Motif, Curvy Verses
Accessories: Olive Velvet ribbon, dark green button (both non-SU), dimensionals, clear emboss powder, heat gun, slot punch (for ribbon threading)

Sweet Sunday 21

Here's my take on Sweet Sunday Sketch 21, from Karen Giron's blog:

Paper: Garden Green, Very Vanilla, So Saffron, Tempting Turquoise and Flock Together DSP
Ink: Yo-Yo Yellow and Old Olive
Stamps: Define Your Life, Flowers in Silhouette
Ribbon: Tempting Turquoise 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

You can purchase it here.

Father's Day cards

Father's Day is around the corner, so I've been working on cards for the fathers in my life. Here's the one I made for my dad.

Paper: Sahara Sand, To the Nines Specialty DSP, Very Vanilla
Ink: Basic Brown, Old Olive
Stamps: Puns from the Past
Accessories: 1/4" grosgrain ribbon (not sure about color, but it is SU); regular hole punch, scissors for tag edges, slot punch for gift card holder on inside.

Gift Card Holder

Here's a cute gift card holder! I got the basic idea from this splitcoast stamper, but I made some modifications and changed the size to a more standard A2 card size (it is slightly smaller than A2). I'm also glad I finally found a good use for the Pink Flamingo DSP! I received it in a paper share and I must confess, it wasn't my favorite. But I'm really happy with how it turned out!! If you like it, you can purchase it here.

Paper: Real Red, Cameo Coral, Tempting Turquoise, Summer Sun, Whisper White, Pink Flamingo DSP
Ink: Basic Brown
Stamps: Sock Monkey
Punches: Scallop Circle, Scallop Border, Slot punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1/16" circle punch

This card is great because it requires very little stamping. In fact, if you used an embellishment like a button or brad, it wouldn't need any stamping! We'll be making a card similar to this one at the Tuesday Cards for the Occasion Class--sign up today and receive a free gift for preregistering!