Gala Revisited

I'm sorry I've been such a slacker lately...I'm way behind on posting and commenting on all the fabulous creations out there! My husband had surgery recently so stamping has not been a high priority around here. All is well, though so I'm grateful for that. My mojo seems to have suffered with the break so today's card is just a variation on the previous two. I do love this layout!
I used a few retired items on this card because they just worked perfectly such as the baja breeze corduroy buttons featured here. Aren't they just darling with the Tiny Tags set and the {medium} jewelry tag punch?!

I actually made two versions of this card and changed up the inside. The above one uses a retired hostess set called Sweet Little Sentiments while the one below features one of my favorites from the On Your Birthday set.

This one is perfect for inking separate sections with my Stampin' Write markers especially now that Baja Breeze is available in a marker!! That's about all I have energy for today...sorry for the short post. Thanks for looking--have a great week!

supplies:
stamps: friends never fade; on your birthday; absolutely fabulous (retired); punched posies (line of dots); sweet little sentiments (retired)
ink: chocolate chip, baja breeze, certainly celery classic ink
paper: greenhouse gala dsp; chocolate chip, whisper white, baja breeze cardstock
xtras: baja breeze corduroy buttons; linen thread; certainly celery grosgrain ribbon; chocolate chip & baja breeze stampin' write marker

Spotlight Gala

Spotlight on Greenhouse Gala, that is! The star of this card is the beautiful new Greenhouse Gala designer paper (available July 1st). As a demonstrator, I am able to pre-order select items from the new catalog and when I saw this paper, I had to have it and I think you will too! The colors are so opulent. It's some of the prettiest dsp we've had in awhile. Credit for this fantastic layout goes to Jaydee @ Stampin' with Jaydee. I saw her Neopolitan card and I knew I wanted to make one highlighting this gorgeous paper! This is such an quick layout and I was so inspired, I made two!

The first uses chocolate chip, daffodil delight (new core color) and real red. Aren't these colors gorgeous together? Do you remember Reese Whitherspoon's yellow dress and red pumps at the Oscars a few years ago? Wasn't that was a fresh and unexpected color combination? This paper makes me think of that fabulous outfit. The flower stamp is also a sneak peek from the new Friends Never Fade set and the sentiment is a new hostess level 1 set, Because I Care.

The {signature} inside with the same flower stamped in daffodil delight and chocolate chip. Those cute little real red dots are part of the level 2 hostess set Punched Posies (available now in the summer mini):

Here is the second one also featuring Greenhouse Gala paper--isn't it beautiful?! I know I am repeating myself but you've got to see it! Chocolate chip, baja breeze and pumpkin pie are featured here with another flower stamp from Friends Never Fade:

A close-up of the flower detail:

The inside using baja breeze, chocolate chip and pear pizzazz (new in color) markers to color the flower and the same Punched Posies dots in pumpkin pie:
So does that get you ready? If the sneak peek goodies are this good, wait until you see the new catalog! That's all for today--thanks for stopping by...cheers!

Summertime @ the PPA {47}

Growing up, summer meant the fragrance of fresh-cut grass, wildflowers growing by the creek and summer reading (yes, I was a library geek in the summer)!! This card highlights elements of all those memories and, for me, is the perfect interpretation of the summer theme challenge at Pals Paper Arts {47} this week.

For this card, I updated one of my earlier cards with new colors and new designer paper! I started with a base of Marina Mist (new core color) and stamped the grass from Inspired by Nature also in Marina Mist. While my stamp was inked, I also stamped once on the inside of the card (see below). I cut 1/4" off the one side and trimmed the front with a scalloped edge in Daffodil Delight. DD is another new core color and it is just the perfect shade of yellow that you're going to love! With the previous card, I made my own background paper by stamping all over a sheet of cardstock before punching the scalloped circles for my flower.

Here, all I needed is the fabulous new designer paper called Newsprint (available July 1st). Newsprint is full of wonderful vintage inspired paper that looks like it came from old books (there's my summer reading!), maps and newspapers. I punched 3 scalloped circles from the Newsprint dsp, crumpled them up a bit, snipped in on each scallop to form petals and layered them all together with a button and some linen thread.

This fun hostess level 2 set, Apple Blossoms, is another sneak peek. I love this sentiment. I've already used it on a number of cards--it just fits so many occasions. That sweet little blossom in the background is also from AB and I like how it looks layered behind the sentiment--just adds a little interest. The wide oval punch was the perfect shape here.

Sorry the colors are a bit washed out but the inside was finished as well with another tone-on-tone grass image and the perfect little birthday sentiment from On Your Birthday. That's it for today--hope you're off somewhere enjoying your own little bit of summer...cheers!

More Curtain Call {Act 34} Mojo {143}

Hi everyone! Who knew...that rich razzleberry, basic grey and dusty durango could look so good together?! Well, apparently Stacey at the Curtain Call Color Challenge did because that is her challenge this week!







Once again, I really loved this week's Mojo Monday sketch which gave me the jump start I needed on this design. The sahara sand cardstock base is stamped with the Woodgrain Background stamp also in sahara sand ink. I think the Woodgrain coordinates well with the natural look of this little flower from the level 1 hostess set Of the Earth. The flowers were stamped in versamark ink and heat embossed with white stampin' emboss powder. I love the way the white looks so crisp and clean against the saturated challenge colors. So summer-y! I brought in the whisper white for the challenge on the background strip that was textured with the square lattice impressions folder. Some ruffled basic grey taffeta ribbon added even more texture and interest. The taffeta ribbon is my absolute favorite! So easy to tie in knots--even bows--and it's perfect for the ruffle technique I used here.

I inked up the cute little text stamp from the Charming set in sahara sand ink and stamped it onto whisper white. A journey into my stamp storage (with a flashlight!) for a sentiment I had not used in awhile turned up this retired set called Best Yet (I think it might have been a hostess set?) which got inked up in rich razzleberry. The 1.75" circle punch made just the right sized circle and the Circles #2 die made a perfectly-sized mat in coordinating rich razzleberry.
I finished off the inside with the Charming stamp inked in rich razzleberry and stamped off once. A dusty durango flower pulls in the color from the card front and finishes it off nicely! Thanks so much for all the sweet comments you leave for me--I hope your day is a crafty one!

edited 6/20/10: WOO HOO, this card was a Top 5 Show Stopper at Stacey's Curtain Call!

supplies:
stamps: woodgrain; of the eart; best yet; charming
ink: sahara sand, rich razzleberry, dusty durango
paper: sahara sand, whisper white, rich razzleberry, dusty durango & basic grey cardstock
xtras: basic grey taffeta ribbon; square lattice impressions folder; 1.75" circle punch; circles #2 die; stampin' emboss powder; rhinestones from my stash

Curtain Call {Act 33} with Mojo!

I've been on an angled kick this week--not my usual layout--but I really liked this week's Mojo Monday {142} sketch and decided to combine it with Stacey's colors at the Curtain Call, Act 33. Love, love the watery blues and greens this week--had to play along!
I wanted to re-work this card I made awhile ago. I used the horizontal crane stamp from Dream Garden and stamped it with bashful blue, certainly celery and night of navy--isn't it pretty? Look at all the detail in that stamp! The stamp-a-ma-jig was the essential tool for getting the cranes lined up just so. Some retired certainly celery dsp came in on the background and two layers of the scalloped edge in whisper white and certainly celery finished it off.

Love those little bits of ribbon on the sketch and here I used bashful blue taffeta ribbon with a little rhinestone embellishment from my stash--just the right amount of sparkle!

More friends with birthdays this month so I inked up my favorite "friend" sentiment from the Great Friend stamp set. I inked first in certainly celery and colored over "friend" with my navy stampin' write marker. The "happy birthday" sentiment was achieved by inking just part of the "live, laugh & love" stamp, from On Your Birthday, with the navy marker. Can't forget the extra crane stamp in bashful blue that ties it all together. I hope you like it...thanks for stopping by!

xtras:
stamps: dream garden; great friend; on your birthday
ink: certainly celery, bashful blue, night of navy classic ink
paper: night of navy, certainly celery, whisper white cardstock; certainly celery dsp
xtras: bashful blue taffeta ribbon; night of navy stampin' write marker; scalloped edge punch; 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches

It's a man card!

Card makers are united in their opinions about man cards...they're difficult! No flowers, no rhinestones, very little embellishments...whaaat?! But the Motorcycle stamp in the summer mini catalog makes the man card achievable! This one is designed with my Harley-riding Uncle in mind and for the inaugural Paper Players challenge...to create a father's day or masculine themed card. I also used this Mojo Monday sketch. I'm not usually an angle girl but I really liked this sketch! In fact, I'm so into angles this week that I have another angled card for you tomorrow--so check back!

For today's card, I started with a Kraft base topped with a panel of tangerine tango (it's coming back!!) run through the Big Shot with the square lattice folder. I thought it needed a little grit, a little street dust, ya know? So I sponged it with some Sahara Sand ink to make it look a little dirty.

The motorcycle was stamped with Versamark ink, sprinkled with black stampin' emboss powder and heat set. Gorgeous! The embossing really shows off the detail in this stamp. To get a nice crisp font, the sentiment from Pedaling Past (summer mini) was inked in jet black StazOn and it does just that!

I finished off the inside by stamping the motorcycle, again, in sahara sand ink on a panel of very vanilla cardstock. The sentiment comes from All Holidays set and was stamped in jet black StazOn. I hope this inspires you to create a masculine card--go check out the Paper Players and play along!

supplies:
stamps: motorcycle; all holidays; pedaling past
ink: sahara sand classic ink pad; jet black stazon
paper: kraft, tangerine tango, basic black & very vanilla cardstock
xtras: top note die; black striped 1.25" grosgrain ribbon; star punches (big & little); 1/2" circle punch; silver paper (non-SU); ticket corner punch

Simply Thanks

This sweet little single stamp makes a big statement on my handcrafted flower. I stamped Simply Thanks in basic black several times on very vanilla cardstock to make my own version of a background stamp. The scalloped circle punch was used to punch out 3 circles and each circle was folded a few times to break up the fibers and distress the paper a bit.

I used my paper snips to cut inward on each scallop and glued all three together staggering them as they were layered. A few "petals" were pulled up on each layer to add dimension and texture. The grass from Inspired by Nature was inked up in Versamark and stamped onto my bashful blue cardstock.
A little strip of old olive from my scrap bag made the perfect stem and a little old olive grosgrain ribbon as leaves for my flower. It's finished off with a ruby red button (retired) and some linen thread.
I repeated the grass on the inside as well as the full Simply Thanks sentiment since only part of it could be read on the flower!

Because I added the crushed curry scallop border edge, I had an empty edge on the inside of the card that just needed a little something! So, another strip of old olive finished it off nicely and echoed all the elements from the front. Just a few more to make and I will have all my birthday thank you cards made! Thanks for looking!

Last Chance Lists are Here!

Now is the time...today Stampin' Up released the Last Chance Lists of all retiring products. These products will not be available after the end of this month--that's right, no longer available after June 30th. So, now is the time to make sure you get that stamp set you've been thinking about before it's gone forever!

Last Chance Stamp list is available HERE
available while supplies last until June 30, 2010

Last Chance Accessories list is available HERE
Select Items on SALE -- 25% - 50% Off

Last Chance Decor Elements list is available HERE

All Items on SALE -- 25% Off

Orders can be placed online 24/7 from my website:
http://stampinup.net/esuite/home/nanceleedy/

Items on these lists go fast so if you're interested, place your order today!