New Baby Card

My niece Stacy had a baby boy a couple of days ago.  She lives in another state so I'm glad my sisters have posted pictures so quickly to facebook.  He's a cute little guy - only weighs 5lb 5 oz.  Stacy and Will are home now and are doing great.  Congrats to Stacy, her husband Eric and their sons Ian and Bradley.

I used Taylor's Challenge layout to make the card for Stacy.  I found the soft sky patterned paper pieces near the top of my dp stash, so that determined the colors I used.  The sweet bundle of love stamp is from Sweet Celebrations, the little baby from Tag Time and sentiment from Congrats (all retired SU sets).  I used Blue Bayou ink for the image and sentiment. 

On her post, Taylor said this was an easy layout and she was right. Check out her blog and see some of the other great cards using this layout.

Catalog Inspiration

Most of the time I refer to the Stampin Up Idea & Catalog as just "the catalog." But it really is more than that. It really is a great place for ideas and inspiration. At the first Stampin Up workshop I attended, I purchased a catalog (see there I go again...calling it "a catalog"). Of course, I could have held a workshop or something and received it free, but that's another story or lesson learned. Anyway, the point is that I saw the value of having in my hand a wonderful source of ideas and inspiration. The card today was made using a sample on page 15 as the inspiration.
There is a level 2 hostess set in the new SU catalog called Asian Artistry. I really like the set and will hopefully be able to add it to my collection. But for now I pulled out a retired set (Calming Garden) to make this card. I used the same layout, kept the colors similar, and left off the ribbon. I also added a layer to the inside of the card. There is another sample on the same page that I think I would like to try with another stamp from Calming Garden. And then perhaps when I get the new set I can try both cards again with new images.
The original card can be seen in the 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog.

Japanese Doll Card

Sorry about the awful pictures.  I guess you can tell I didn't take much time making sure the light was right, etc.  There was a lot going on and I was trying to make sure I snapped a couple of pictures before the little dolls got packed away in a suitcase.  My sister Becky and her family were here for a couple of days before they headed to the beach. We had been having problems with our well and were waiting for a new one to be dug.  We had a temporary fix - yeah, right!  That's difficult and inconvenient all by itself.  Add six more people to that mix and I guess it was just bound to break.  Saturday morning we woke to no water at all.  Needless to say it was an interesting morning.  We were able to get water from the neighbors to get things cleaned up before we all left for the beach.  How did they do this 100 years ago?  Oh, and while all this was going on, the little cat decided to give birth to her kittens.  One did not survive the day and the other only survived 3 days.  Sad.

Anyway, back to the subject.  I saw some Japanese dolls made from punches on Kirsteen's blog.

I knew right away that Becky would want to make some.  Kirsteen had listed all of the measurements for the card and the dolls.  So Becky and I made a bunch of the dolls and one card.  We knew we didn't have enough time to make a bunch of cards, but at least we made the dolls.  Hopefully Becky will be able to make a bunch of cards when she gets home and things get back to normal - well just crazy normal (she knows what I mean.)

Check out Kirsteen's blog and see her other samples as well as the instructions

Finally...some new cards!

Between working and helping Jill when I can, I haven't had a lot of time to make cards nor to post.  So I snapped a couple of pictures to share. These are some that I have made over the last couple of weeks.

This first card was one of two made for Chris' birthday.  This was my favorite and was the one made for Jill to give to Chris. I used a retired set called Fly Fishing.  It's one of the first SU sets I bought.  I don't have a lot of "guy" stamps, and this is one that I've just not been able to part with.

The patterned paper is from Parisian Breeze...so sorry to see the end of this paper pack.

I cased these cards from some fellow stampers.  They are made with patterned paper and the large scallop sizzix die.  

All of the patterned papers are from Stampin UP retired designer collections.  Sure is nice using up some of my stash.  

These are packed in a cello bag, tied with ribbon and sold at our store.  They complement the Hype Strype collection we sell.

Next I want to make some of the cards with the little Japanese dolls on them.  I really need to get busy on those before Becky's visit.  She loves things with an "Eastern" look.

Have a blessed Fourth of July - Celebrate and read Mark Levin's book "Liberty and Tyranny."