Better Late than Never, right?

Yesterday was hubby's parents 53rd wedding anniversary! Of course I had to make a card...

I sent it off yesterday (I know late), because last week was so insanely busy for me that I barely had time to go to the bathroom - YIKES!!!

So yes, it will be a little bit late (they live about an hour away), but at least they'll know we were thinking of them (and hubby did call them on Sunday).

The stamp set is retired (Happy Harmony), but I haven't let it go yet. I'm thinking though, that will all the goodness coming up in the summer mini and the goodness in the IB&C which is due out July 1st, that I will have to part with it to make some room!!!

Unfortunately, the photo was hastily taken and despite some serious messing around in Photoshop is not my best work.

At any rate, I used More Mustard, Really Rust and Garden Green to ink up the rubber on the main image and then spritzed it with water to give it sort of a water colour effect. The sentiment was stamped in Really Rust.

The DSP that I used is from the Patterns Pack III which is a level 1 Hostess Benefit in the current IB&C and the card base is Really Rust.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Happy Harmony

INK: Garden Green, More Mustard, Really Rust

PAPERS: Very Vanilla and Really Rust Cardstock; Really Rust DSP

ACCESSORIES: Markers and Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!

You say you want a revolution, oh, oh...

Sing it with me!!! Or...umm...not...LOL!

And, it's not a revolution, it's a renovation!!! Check it out!!! New colour families, ten (10) returning In Colours and five (5) New Colours! Which returning "In Colour" are you most excited about? Me? Baja Breeze!!! That is one of my all time faves and I am SO excited that it will now be part of the regular colour line up.

Of course, in order to renovate our colours, we need to bid farewell to some old favourites. Stampin' UP! is retiring 30 colours - out with the old, in with the new!

This means that at the end of June 2010, these colours will no longer be available. The stamp pads, reinkers, markers, ribbons, etc. in the retiring colours will no longer be available. If you have a favourite, I suggest you stock up now. The end of June is not that far off and I would hate for you to be disappointed.

In other colour news, new "In Colours" will be released in lots 5 (instead of 6) and will be available for TWO years. In Colours will still be released once a year, but they will be available for two. This means that new In Colours released this year will only retire at the end of June 2012. I know I'm happy about that and I'll be you are too!!

So, don't forget to stock up on any favourites you have, because once they're gone, they're gone!

Happy Stampin'!

Local Card Store? I don't think so!!!

A couple weeks ago, one of DH's co-workers and his wife had a baby boy. DH tasked me with the purchasing of the gift card. Did he want me to make a card, I asked? One had already been purchased. HMPH!!! And if that wasn't bad enough, it came from the DOLLAR STORE! I kid you not. Talk about offensive!

An argument ensued and was worked out, at which point DH said he would be pleased if I made a card for the new family from he and I. This appeased my broken ego...to some extent anyway.

Here is the card I made:

I borrowed the set "Nursery Necessities" from my wonderful upline and really enjoyed playing with it!!!

The card base is a piece of 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 Barely Banana Cardstock, folded in half to form an A2 card. I stamped on the background using both Barely Banana and Apricot Appeal inks and just love the way it turned out! I cut a strip of Whisper White Cardstock and used the Scallop Border Punch to embellish the edges. On that, I matted a piece of Bashful Blue Cardstock and attached a Bashful Blue Satin Ribbon and Bow for the finishing touch.

For the main image panel, I used the direct to rubber technique using Barely Banana, Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery markers. The image was stamped on Whisper White and the sentiment was added using Bashful Blue Ink.

Not to be outdone by certain local card companies (and that darn dollar store!), I also finished the inside of the card:

HAH! Top that you mass produced card company people!!! YIKES! Bitter much? OK, maybe just a little...but really...you would think it would have occurred to someone to say, "Let's ask his wife to make us a card. She always makes such wonderful Christmas cards." *SIGH* Don't worry...I'll get over it...eventually.

So, what do you think?

STAMPS: Nursery Necessities and Short & Sweet

INK: Apricot Appeal, Barely Banana, Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery

PAPER: Whisper White, Barely Banana and Bashful Blue

ACCESSORIES: Ribbon, Punches and Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!

Asian Flair Swap Card # 3

Here's one of the other cards that I did for my friend Paola's swap:

It features the set Asian Artistry once again and some more fancy specialty paper. And for a change, I actually remember where it was purchased. Aren't you impressed? This one was bought at Omer DeSerres, a Canadian store.

I used the direct to rubber technique for this one and used Garden Green and Real Red to colour the image. It was then stamped on Whisper White which was punched using the Scallop Border Punch and then matted on a piece of Basic Black. The card base is also Basic Black and is a standard A2 size card. The finishing touch is a piece of Old Olive Striped Grosgrain Ribbon.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Asian Artistry

INK: Real Red and Garden Green

PAPERS: Whisper White and Basic Black Cardstock; Specialty Paper

ACCESSORIES: Ribbon and Punch

Happy Stampin'!