Can You Case It #57 and The Paper Plunge

I can't believe how quickly January flew by... and now we're just past the half way point in February.

I have been making cards, though not as often as in the past. With my new role on the school board I've just been too busy. I'm really enjoying the work though. And I've taken a class or two, and I've got a few more booked for March. I'll be going to an all day crop soon, too.

I have two cards made for challenges to share tonight. It's actually pretty late as I type this post... just about 11:00 pm. Given that, I want to get this post completed so I can go to bed.






Here are my cards:
The Paper Plunge - Emboss It!

Can You Case It? Clean & Quick max 2 layers, at least 1 embellishment. For this challenge I'm using the paper bows as my embellishment. The card took 9 and a half minutes. Would have been faster, but it was my first time using the new Bow Builder Punch from Stampin' Up (which I love - it's terrific!). I made a Father's Day card because I couldn't think of any male birthdays I had right now, and even though Father's Day isn't until June, I wanted to be ahead this year.

More punch cards

I hope you all enjoyed the blog hop this weekend. I was really impressed by all the projects the others posted.

Had a lovely weekend. Got to visit with a friend from out of town on Saturday. Then yesterday our church had a post-church get-together.  In the summer the various small groups in our church host special events to promote fellowship. Yesterday was the traditional summer soccer game. Lots of fun and so fun to watch the all ages playing together. It was particularly sweet to see the way the teens were encouraging and helping the younger ones.

We've had lots of hot weather these last couple weeks. It's been tough to do anything because it's stifling. The one thing that's been nice about it is that I've had an even greater appreciation for the workshop/ classroom space at the scrapbook store where I shop. Spent almost 12 hours there on Friday (12:30 pm - 11:15 pm). A friend came Tuesday and we got my stash organized. That made it much easier for me to pack/plan for Friday. I completed some half-finished layouts and made 5 cards. I'll post them later this week, along with pics of the reorg.

For now, here are the remaining cards I've made using SU punches. All these were made at various classes so all products are Stampin' Up.

 

This card is another version of one I posted a while ago, here. It features the butterfly punch I don't like it as much as the original. The butterflies are too white. I'll need to add some Dazzling Details or Iridescent Ice to give it more pop.  I do love the embossing.

My Mom's Mother's Day card also featured this ;unch. I was going for vintage and I went a wee bit overboard with the sponging. Oops! Love the pink/green/brown colour combo though. It was also the first time I'd tried the Kissing Technique, which I quite like.

Two versions of the same card, featuring the snowflake punch. I found this punch really tough to use. We also random stamped snowflakes on the acetate/window sheet. I discovered those are tricky to use - they take long time to dry.What I did like about these two cards is the colour combo of Baja Breeze and Island Indigo. I think it will become a go to combo for winter cards.

 

I love this card so much that I wish I had the stock punch now to make it again. It's also more  versatile than  I realized. The hardest part of this card was typing the bells on to the twine! I won't be posting details this time as there are too many cards here where I can't find the notes regarding which sets have been used. If you have a specific card you have questions about, please feel free to let me know and I'll do my best to answer.

Thanks for looking ! I'll be back on Thursday with more to  share. 

A final Father's Day card and some pics

I didn't mean to take time off from blogging. Life has just gotten in the way of late. The friend I normally get together to stamp with has been in the hospital, so I've not gone up to the scrapbook store in a few weeks.  I've actually been doing a great deal of sorting and organizing of my stash, and I had too much disorder and chaos to make a space to craft at home. I forgot to get a picture, but one night I cleaned out all the drawers in the kitchen that had various papers in them and ended up with a big bag of recycling.

I do this clean-up every year. Every year, I call my poor friend, who is a bookkeeper and does my taxes for me, to ask her 'Is it 5 years or 7 before I can toss this file folder with the tax info in it?' And every year she says, "It's 7, Tania.' This year, I got smart. I finally wrote 'Toss in 20--' on the front of each folder.

In the process of cleaning up the kitchen, I found 2 cards I forgot to post. The first is one I made at the scrapbook store. They had a make and take day that I missed, but my friend who lives in Parksville (where the store is located) showed me hers and got me the pieces so I could make it. I didn't use it this year, as it's not really my dad's style. I'll probably let a friend have it to use for her dad next year.

The month of June has been a whirlwind of retirements, assemblies, and various other activities. My cousin J, aka as The Terrific Twelve Year Old, completed grade 7 this year. Her mom and I threw her and her friends a 'Welcome To Summer/Graduation' type party. They had a blast. Food, music and hanging out in the backyard.

Here she is with her certificate and school picture

And her teachers. 

The candy buffet she set up... I provided the dishes. We saw the ideas on Pinterest and she was hooked. She did NOT get the fancy bowls, though... not worth the money (and, happily, she saw it that way, too).  It left more money for the 'disco ball she asked me to get for her. 

Now, when she first said those words, I was leery. Really, what is an almost 13 yr. old going to do with a mirror ball after the party? Luckily she actually wanted this:

Why do I fear this could be a sgn of communication miscues to come?

.

FTL 143

Second post of the day!  To see my card for Card Patterns 119/Crazy 4 Challenges 91, click here.

I absolutely love the sketches at Clean and Simple Stamping. They fit right in with my style. So glad I was able to get this card done today. It'll be my Dad's Father's Day card.  The colours are a little on the wild side, but he'll like it. He's a 'fun' guy. He's also a gardener, so he'll love the leaf image.

I got to the scrapbook store today and realized I had remembered everything I needed EXCEPT my 'Happy Father's Day' stamp. So I had to improvise and use some letter stamps.

Stamps: Le Jardin Botanique (SU)
Cardstock: Misc. Green (Bazzill) Taken With Teal(SU)
Paper: We R Memory Keepers
Ink: Wild Wasabi
Misc: SU border punch

A few more cards...

This first one is another creation from my very talented friend Laura. She always finds ways of taking sets that I look and think 'I could never make anything with that' and coming up with something great. It helps that she's used one of my all-time favorite colour combos. I'm still not sure how I'll use the card. I think her intent was that it be a Valentine's Day card, but I don't 'do' Valentine's Day, so I'll have to come up with another appropriate way to use it.


This is my mother's Mother's Day card. Sadly she hasn't received it yet. I didn't go over on Mother's Day for various reasons (I called her and wished her a HMD, but we decided to wait to get together). I had the card made good and early... that was not the problem. It was just one of those crazy days; couple that with being under the weather and not wanting to expose my dad to it while he's recovering from some surgery, and we just thought it prudent to wait a week.

So today, after church and then a trip to the lake to witness 3 baptisms and a reaffirmation of faith, I came home, did a few chores and headed over. I had a handful of cards with me. One was mom's card and the rest were cards I wanted to show a friend at our Bible study group tonight, so we could choose one to give to one of our group members in honor of her reaffirmation today. Well, I had a specific card in mind I wanted for her. Initially I couldn't locate it, which is why I had the pile of six for us to look through. Well, once I found the specific one I wanted, I put the others back, not realizing I had also put Mom's card back in the box. Luckily, she and I and a friend of mine are going out for dinner tomorrow.

I swear it's a good thing I have a neck because if I didn't I'd misplace my head.

The details: All products Stampin' UP.

CS: Soft Suede and possibly Very Vanilla.
I can't remember now if we inked up the stamps with a marker or an ink pad; the color combo is Soft Suede and Melon Mambo.

The watercolor effect was achieved using an aqua painter. I was SO happy with how that worked; the last time I tried to use one it was just a mess, due to my heavy hand.

The embossing was done on the Big Shot. Our wonderful demo did that for us in advance. We all know how to use the machine and it left us with one less step, and thus more time to chat and shop. We did punch our own circles using SU! punches. I love them; they cut through the paper like a hot knife through butter.

I made this card ages ago. We made 6 of these green and yellow bases at a card class in 2009. The embossing is done with a Cuttlebug folder and the cardstock is Bazzill.

The only thing that I chose for myself with this card was the stamp set... it is from one of my favorite sets, Fun and Fast Notes. This card reminds me how fabulous wide ribbon can be. I have really got to invest in some.

The marker colours are Sage Shadow and Barely Banana; they go with the cardstock quite nicely in real life.