Brayered Dream Gardens

This morning, I went to get my driver's license renewed (fun, fun) and the technician was so concerned about my signature he made me redo it three times! The first time I didn't put in my middle name, and since I had signed my middle name on the old one, it didn't "match" so he wanted it redone. Then the second b in my last name wasn't neat enough. And then he didn't like the way the whole thing looked. Finally on the fourth time, he was happy with it.

Unfortunately, it's not at all how I sign my name normally, but what are you going to do. Since I had to take Boo with me (in the ERGO carrier) my photo is a little, um, interesting, but those photos are never supposed to be flattering, right? Besides, how good is a 5 weeks postpartum mom with sleep deprivation and 15-20 extra pounds of baby weight going to look, really?
After I got home, I wanted to try and make a card using a sketch challenge (I know, I said I wasn't doing anything original for a while; this card is a hybrid). My toddler was going down for his nap and it seemed like Boo might sleep too, so I was really enthused to have the time to myself to stamp! Oh the folly. Piglet cried on and off for the entirety of his nap time, and Boo pretty much screamed his head off too, refusing to be comforted or to nurse. So I got the card made, but my nerves were shot by the end. I ended up redoing the main panel because my original incarnation was too big and the side panel got lost behind it.

Despite it all, though, I'm really happy with the way it came out! I think that strip on the side looks like a brocaded ribbon, and I'm pleased to report that my brayer and I are on *very* good terms. I used this week's Stamping 411 sketch and the inspiration for the card images came from splitcoast stamper leezels. I think this card is going to sit on my desk for a while so I can just look at it and feel happy!
Supplies:
Taken with Teal, Whisper White, Basic Black cs, retired more mustard dsp
Dream Gardens stamp set
Basic black ink, Taken with Teal, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Old Olive, So Saffron markers
Sponges, brayer
1 3/8" circle punch
vintage brads (black), paper piercer/mat pack
dimensionals

Hydrangea

I'm very excited to share today's card--I made it on Monday and had to wait until today to post it. For those of you who follow various stamping-related blogs, I'm sure you've started seeing cards featuring one of the new hostess sets available in the new catalog (available July 1st!). The set has a big hydrangea and a bunch of nice sentiments. Demonstrators get a lot of great perks, and being able to preorder some items a month in advance is one of them. The perk about this set is that Stampin' Up! gave it for free to demonstrators who purchased the new color kit, which included the new core colors of cardstock and ink pads. Unfortunately, my small budget for this quarter was already used up, so I had to pass on the kit and the free set for now.


In any case, with all these hydrangeas floating around the web, I decided to create my own! Sometime before Mother's Day, Connie Babbert posted a card with a lilac made from the trio flower punch. I thought it was a cool idea and saved the card for future reference. As I started thinking hydrangeas, I noticed that our neighbor has a bunch of them blooming in front of her house, and I took a closer look one day to get an idea about colors and shading and such, and realized that the shape of the flowers was similar to the trio flower punch too! And thus a great idea was synthesized. I used Elegant Eggplant and Brocade Blue for my colors with a glitter pen for accents.
Corrected 6/11/10: I should add that two of the elements on this card are on the last chance list, so if you love them, be sure to get them before they are gone! You can shop in my online store by clicking on the "Cherish" card on my left sidebar. The retiring elements are the trio flower punch and the Brocade Blue cardstock. Items are selling out very quickly and only stamps are guaranteed in stock until the end of the month, so don't wait too long!

Supplies:
Elegant Eggplant, Brocade Blue, Naturals White cardstock
Oval All stamp set
Elegant eggplant ink
Large oval, scallop oval, 2 step bird, and trio flower punches
glitter glue pen
tombow monoadhesive glue

Father's Day in the Lovely Trees

Ever have one of those nights where you just can't shut your brain off? That was last night for me. The baby fell asleep around 11:30, and I found myself absolutely wide awake. I shut off the light and lay in bed, but the longer I lay there, the more wired I got as I started to think about things to do, people I was supposed to e-mail, and a million other things that crowd one's brain when unable to sleep. So I got up and sent off a few e-mails at 12:45 a.m. I was tempted to stamp a card, but figured that would really get my brain wired, and plus I hoped to get some sleep before the 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. feeding. So I went back to bed, tossed and turned for a while and slept fitfully until 5:15 (!) when the baby started stirring. While I'm thrilled he slept that long without a feed (thank goodness for Pampers!), I wish I could have slept longer. And of course, after the feeding, I was wired again and couldn't settle back down to sleep as I usually do. So I got up and took a shower and actually tried to tame the frizz that is my hair at this time of year. Which is how I'm getting to this post before 8 a.m. today! I'll probably crash during my toddler's nap time, but that's okay, I guess. As long as I can keep going this morning, I'll be alright.

I had Father's Day cards to make for the men in my life, and thought Lovely As a Tree would be perfect for some easy cards. I made two that are pretty much the same--just different dsp, although it comes from the same collection (Manhattan, retired). I think twine adds a nice masculine touch to cards, and the vintage brads bespeak elegance. I experimented with sponging on these cards and am pretty pleased with the result. I think the key to it is that less is more. I tend to want to overdo it and have to rein myself in. (Put your hands in the air and walk away from the sponge. Slowly).


Supplies:
Soft Suede, Vanilla Naturals cs, Manhattan dsp (retired)
Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, More Mustard inks
Vintage brads
twine
dimensionals
sponges

China roses

After several absolutely miserable days of heat and humidity, the weather finally broke last night and has been lovely and cool since! Yay! (It also means that my munchy monkey isn't nursing *quite* as often since it isn't so dang hot! Another yay!)

Yesterday, I managed to make not one, not two, but THREE cards! Will wonders never cease? They are all CASEd from somewhere else (with modifications) but at least I made them! I've sort of given up the idea of making totally original cards for a while.

Today's card layout comes from one of the blogs I read, but I don't remember whose card it was--if it is yours, let me know so I can give credit! The original was done in shades of pink, but I wanted to do Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenge for this week, and I like the idea of China roses, so I went with it.

I've never done a tone-on-tone card with neutrals before; I think I like it! Did I mention that I love this stamp set? It is in the current summer mini catalog and it is fab-O! I used the flourish to make my own dsp on the side, and the floral spray on the edge. I used my aquapainter with markers to watercolor the image. Actually, I colored all the roses with a bashful blue marker, and then dotted the shadows with Night of Navy and used the aquapainter to blend it all in using the egg tempera technique I described on this card.

Supplies:
Very Vanilla cs
Elements of Style stamp set
Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Night of Navy marker
Navy satin ribbon
Open scallop border punch
Aquapainter

Bird in a Cage

So at the end of a week of intensive potty training, we've decided that our toddler isn't quite ready yet. It was a week of messes, a few flukes of good timing on our part, and lots of frustration by all. So we'll back off for a few months and revisit it again later in the summer.

I made today's card a couple of weeks ago without knowing who I'd send it to or for what occasion; I then found out that our wonderful doula had her wedding anniversary last week, so I decided to send it along to her! She was a great help to us during the labor and delivery of Maximos. I made the chain on the birdcage by hand using the Soft Suede marker.



Supplies:
Crumb Cake (Kraft), Whisper White, Real Red cs, Bella Bleu dsp
Happy moments (SAB, retired), Short and Sweet stamps
Soft Suede, Real Red ink
Small and large oval punches
Ovals die
Real Red satin ribbon
button latte

"Wife-swappin'? Who Said Anything about wife swappin'?"

Thus sayeth the never-dull Nicholas Cage in Raising Arizona, a movie I've never actually seen, but heard that scene recited over and over again in high school by my guy friends who adored the flick.

I'd also like to point out that the release of Eclipse is t-29 days! I hope I can figure out a way to go without having to tote the baby with me. I saw a great bumper sticker on Diana Gibbs' blog today and had to grin--I totally want one for my car!!

When I was browsing Cafepress.com looking for the sticker (thanks, Di!), I found a bunch of funny Twilight-themed tshirts too--goodness, there is a lot of Twilight snark out there. I think these two are my faves:


My post today is about swaps, hence the title. I managed to make a swap for the downline meeting that I went to at the end of May; I had to take Boo because the meeting was in New Jersey and he is a munchy monkey during the evening hours, but it was really nice to get out and hang out with stamping friends! I took the layout from this card, which you may remember from April, and used Cottage Wall as my color palate, which worked well. I inked up my Dream Gardens stamp set (love it!) and the whole thing came together pretty quickly. Please forgive the less-than-stellar quality of the photo--I had to take the picture before I had my digital camera situation sorted out.


Supplies:
Orchid Opulence, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White cs, Cottage Wall dsp
Jet Black Staz-On, Rich Razzleberry marker
White 5/8" satin ribbon
Dream Gardens Stamp set
1 3/8" circle punch
dimensionals

Cheddar Bunnies on a Hot Air Balloon

Today we commenced potty training with my older son. As it is our first day of concerted effort (we've been half-heartedly putting him on the potty every now and again for months), there were the predictible accidents and so on, but we soldier on nonetheless. He did seem to think the "big boy" training pants were pretty neat, so maybe the novelty of it will help as well. He did ask for his diaper when we were trying to get him to put on the trainers, and seemed a little confused, but soon got into it. I ordered this nifty little timer called Itzbeen to help me keep track of the time so I remember to put him on the potty every half hour or so. Our sitter is helping us as well, which is great because she has a ton of experience with these things.

And now for something completely different...the larch. Oh wait, different card. Sorry. :)


Today's card is a riff on an idea I got from Mary-Jo Price-Williams. Remember the sweet treats cups from the last two mini catalogs? She had wanted one of the stamp sets that coordinated with them and featured a hot air balloon image, but didn't have the set, so she modified a different set (Nursery Necessities) she did have to make the hot air balloon. Brilliant! I filed her idea away for a rainy day (and it is sauna steamy here today with intermittent rain!) and decided today was the day. One of my nephews will turn 5 this month and I wanted to make him a cool card, and thought again of the hot air balloon idea.


I pulled out last week's ColourQ color challenge, because I thought it was the perfect color scheme for a boy's card, plus I happened to have a sheet of ballet blue to hand, and combined it with the Stamping 411 sketch for this week. I ended up modifying the sketch a bit, turning it on its side and moving the sentiment down, but I like the final result!


In a moment of inspiration, I decided to put a bunch of cheddar bunnies crackers in the cup, because I wanted something lightweight so the card wouldn't be top-heavy, and also because it was kind of matchy-matchy with my color scheme.

Here's hoping the birthday boy likes it! Since these cards have to be mailed in bubble mailers, I found a cool Toy Story 3 one at the post office and got it just for this card.

Supplies:

Ballet Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Naturals White cs
Nursery Necessities, Birthday Bliss, Sweet Sentiments stamp sets
Ballet Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Barely Banana inks/markers
copper eyelet, CAD
Pumpkin pie grosgrain, Certainly Celery twill, kraft taffeta ribbon
1 3/4" circle punch, hobby knife
sweet treats cup
Annie's Whole Wheat Cheddar Bunnies