Variations on a Theme

Recognize this card?  You might; it's based on the same layout that I used for my celebrate any day card last week...but with all different colors, papers, and stamps.  I just loved this layout, and think I could use it for any number of cards to feature Stampin' Up!'s fantastic designer series paper...which I always love, even when the designs don't cater to my love of the geometric.

One of the great things about designer series paper (or DSP for short) is that each pack features a different selection of colors which you know will coordinate perfectly.  So you can look at any pack of DSP in the catalog (pages 183-186 of the Idea Book & Catalog), see what colors it features, and have new color combinations for your own creativity.  Normally, I wouldn't pair Bravo Burgundy, Not Quite Navy, and Tangerine Tango, but since Paisley Petals uses these colors, I knew I would have a winner.

Again, I used my Circle Scissors Plus to cut out the two circles, one of DSP and one of Bravo Burgundy cardstock.  My sentiment is from Curly Cute--I'm a huge fan of that font--and its inked in Basic Black.  The card base is Naturals White, so you can easily read what you write on the inside, and this is ready to go in the mail.  Yay!

Oh, were you checking in for today's bingo piece?  It's the snowman.  Good luck!

Happy Holidays,
~Melanie

Stamps: Curly Cute
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Naturals White, Not Quite Navy, Tangerine Tango, Bravo Burgundy, Paisley Petals DSP
Extras: Circle Scissors Plus

Celebrate Any Day

You may not know this about me, but I love a great geometric pattern.  In fact, that's usually my favorite thing about Stampin' Up!'s designer series paper, the focal point of today's card, but it's something that's easy to overlook in the catalog.  Why?  Well, small geometric patterns like this one don't show up very well when shown at 25%.  In fact, I entirely missed this pattern, and wouldn't have caught it if another stamper hadn't used the paper for a card on her blog.  I'm so grateful, because I do love this cheery and bright pattern.

The paper is Pocketful of Posies, and it offers a great set of geometric delights to yours truly, so I can promise that you'll be seeing more of this one.  I was also inspired by the great layout FTL167 over at Clean & Simple Stamping--there's nothing like a great layout to get my creative juices flowing, and the sample card for 167 was a huge inspiration.  

To make this card happen, I used my Circle Scissors Plus--one of my favorite tools which has been terribly underused of late.  I love how easy it is to cut circles of all sizes with only one tool, and I've used it time and time again.  I love geometric shapes as well as patterns, but often need some curved edges to offset all the squares and rectangles of my cards.  I cut out a 2.75" circle of the designer series paper (DSP) and a 3" circle of Pear Pizzazz.  

Next up, I stamped my Whisper White with the sentiment from Perfectly Penned in Pear Pizzazz BEFORE embossing the paper with my trusty Big Shot and the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.  I've learned from experience that the stamping is much easier to do before embossing.  Then it was simple layering and glueing, and this card is now ready to go to absolutely anyone for a fun and bright pick me up...it will probably get good use on a gray January day.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves!  After all, it's barely December and you're wondering what today's bingo piece is.  Get your cards ready, and mark off the Christmas tree.  

Happy Holidays!

~Melanie

Stamps: Perfectly Penned

Ink: Pear Pizzazz

Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Pocketful of Posies

Extras: Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Circle Scissors Plus

Sale-A-Brate Birthdays!

It's the last day of February, and that means that there is only one month left for Sale-A-Bration.  What are you waiting for?  With every $50 you spend, you can get fantastic stamps and accessories FOR FREE!

For today's card, I used the first set I wanted for sale-a-bration, Engraved Greetings.  I loved this set when I first saw it in the Idea Book and Catalog last summer, but thought "I have enough birthday sentiments."  Free always trumps enough!  For this card, I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment in Rich Razzleberry onto Very Vanilla, then used the Ticket Corner punch before mounting that onto a piece of Rich Razzleberry.  I wanted to have perfect corners for a little birthday bling, thanks to Basic Rhinestones.

The base of the card is Melon Mambo.  To have a full trio of rich, bright colors, I used my Circle Scissors Plus and Glass Mat to cut a 3" circle of Pacific Point, then embossed that using the Big Shot and the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder.  I thought my card needed just a little something more, so my final touch is a strip of Basic Grey that I punched with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch.  I'm ready to sale-a-brate some birthdays now.

Cheers!
~Melanie

Stamps: Engraved Greetings
Ink: Rich Razzleberry
Paper: Melon Mambo, Pacific Point, Rich Razzleberry, Very Vanilla, Basic Gray
Extras: Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, Ticket Corner punch, Basic Rhinestones

Happy Mother's Day

Hi Mom!

I sent Mom her card and gift earlier this week, but have held off on posting here...just in case she decided to give my blog a quick glance.  Unlikely, but you never know!  This is the card she opened/will open today, and I hope she likes it.

I was just playing around when I made this card, and sometimes that's the best thing to do.  I got out my Circle Scissors Plus, which I love but don't use often enough, and quickly had circles in the retiring colors Ballet Blue, Orchid Opulence, and Cameo Coral--all favorites of mine.  Then I got out my trusty Big Shot and added texture to each of these circles with a quick trip through the Big Shot in an embossing folder: Bashful Blue in the new Square Lattice embossing folder, Orchid Opulence in the Manhattan Flower folder, and Cameo Coral in the polka dot folder.  The layout was, again, just me playing around; this is essentially how they landed when I dropped the circles on the table.  

The base is Apricot Appeal--a color I am not sad to lose, I have to say--and that sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  I stamped it on Sage Shadow and then popped it out with the Modern Label punch and this card was great to go.  I hope Mom likes it!

Cheers!

~Melanie

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Basic Black

Paper: Apricot Appeal, Ballet Blue, Orchid Opulence, Cameo Coral, Sage Shadow

Extras: Circle Scissors Plus, Big Shot, Square Lattice embossing folder, Manhattan Flower embossing folder, Modern Label punch, dimensionals