Birthday Blues...and Browns!

I am a huge fan of Vera Bradley. I adore several of their patterns, the color combinations are so beautiful. There are some that I've hated in the catalog and then find myself drooling over in person. It's a bad addiction, what can I say?

I'm not alone in my addiction. I have several friends that are also guilty of stockpiling their favorite prints. This particular pattern debuted in January of 2006 and I have yet to find someone who doesn't love it.

This year marked the 30th birthday of myself and two of my best friends. One friend is such the fan that she wanted the invitations to her party to be Java Blue. To the best of my knowledge, Vera Bradley doesn't carry 30th Birthday invitations in their stationary line. So what's a gal to do? Easy...



So, while it's not the exact colors, I'd have to say pretty darn close. I started with a pack of white, pre-scored cards purchased from Walmart. These are great to have on hand since you can run them through a printer before starting, envelopes are included and in addition to being scored, they are a nice weight. Just heavy enough to use them as a base.

I started out with Stampin' Up!'s Paisley background stamp with Chocolate Chip ink. After that it was as easy as cutting and trimming here and there, using a variety of punches with a generic greenish-blue shade and inking on "Celebrate" in SU's Taken with Teal ink. When a 7 year old can point out that it looks like Java Blue, you know you've done it, lol!

Prior to this particular layout, I had worked on something else. It didn't come together as an invite but instead became a great greeting card.



I started with SU's Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White cardstock. Using their Polka Dots and Petals stamp set seemed a no brainer when I pulled out my Paisley embossing folder for the Cuttlebug. A little white embossing powder for the greeting and flower gave it a little extra pop. My favorite add-ons seem to be the classic silver brad, mini-sized of course. After writing "Even hitting the big 30" it was a great card for my friend's suprise party.

It Runs in the Family!

I'll be catching up on Holiday content this week but I wanted to share this. My 5 year old son is just as addicted to stamping as I am. For Father's Day this year, I cut my apron strings and let him create his own card. You have no idea how hard this was for me! I have issues, control issues and while stamping is forgiving and lenient with the do-overs, I still freak.

I turned control over to him and I was NOT sad to do so at all! The colors are all his choosing as well as the stamp set and stamping. Behold...




I was so impressed! The first thing I realized is just how different the male eye is in regards to color. I never would have used charcoal and orange together and my instinct with a card is to make it pretty. My son had no problem telling me that a card for Daddy wasn't supposed to be pretty!

For me, this was a wonderful reminder of less is sometimes more!

Finding the time...

Obviously this is something that I am working on as a stamper! Right now I have a growing stack of sketches, project pictures and of course, a number of entries that are waiting to be edited and posted. My goal for this week is to have at least three postings up and to have the page setup finished.

Since I set up the page I did have a little bit of delay to contend with. Interestingly enough, I had been locked out while it was determined whether or not I was a spammer. After that was resolved, I was focused on my first favor project. Of course I have pictures to share so expect to see them soon!

Punch it up a bit...

Major apologies for being ridiculously neglectful on my postings! It's sad!

I wanted to use this post to focus on punches. When I started scrapbooking, I purchased a variety of scissors and had a small selection of cutting templates. In hindsight, when my husband was asking if I understood how time consuming that would all be, I really wish I had considered what he was saying. Anytime I've wanted to quickly produce a card it needed to be pretty basic. If I'm looking for a start to finish project that will take no more than 30 minutes, having to sit and snip for 20 of those minutes is unrealistic.

On occassion I will do a card workshop for my chapter of the MOMS Club. It can't be stressed enough that these cards need to be simple and inexpensive to make. The last workshop that was scheduled was for everday cards. These aren't my favorite cards to make. I always feel that I'm lacking a theme and they always seem so blah to me when finished. Thankfully the county called a snow day and our workshop was cancelled. I was absolutely relieved because what you are about to see, is pretty bad.

Wow! How flat and boring is that? I spent well over an hour on this particular card and obviously couldn't get it together. I loved the color palette I chose and I was even happy with the general layout. I started with a 5" x 6 1/2" card made from Stampin' Up's cardstock in Tempting Turquoise. I used their background stamp, "Polka Dot" with Tempting Turquoise ink. When I do a workshop for the MOMS Club, I try and use one set of stamps for 3 - 5 cards. The set of choice this go-round was the "Just Like You" set. An eye-balled square of Whisper White cardstock was used for the flowers. This was an aspect I struggled with. I was looking for something that would pop against the Tempting Turquoise but admittedly, I'm terrified of clashing. Using Stampin' Up's markers, I applied Rose Red, Certainly Celery and Summer Sun directly to the stamp and then employed the "huff and puff" method of remoistening the stamp. This is another of those techniques that I was completely unaware of. The name, as far as I know, is all my own. I then used the large 6-petal blossom stamp with Rose Red and cut out the shape. I used a silver brad in the center and with my fingernails, slightly curled the petals. When I first layed it all together, it was definitely not working for me. I then tried to drag the edges of the white across the Summer Sun pad. I've used this trick before but I think it's one that's better suited for a much darker color or at least something that can stand out against the background color.

Looking at the card, it's ok. Seeing that this was the mock-up, we can ignore the scribbles from the marker. It was late, I was experiencing burn-out and I made the decision to put the card away and come back to it with a fresh approach later.

Later came and with it, a Stampin' Up! order. Because of my frustrations with this particular card, I made it a point to purchase punches. I had a hunch that the card needed more layers and depth. I wasted so much time trying to cut out the blossom stamp because I had a vision in mind of a flower over the corner. I didn't want to mat the white but I felt like that particular piece needed something of an anchor. As soon as I opened the shipment, I tackled this card and what a difference the second time around.

As you can see, the card is still simple but has more depth. In less time than it took to stamp and trim the original blossom, I was able to punch and layer the new flower and photo corner. As with most of my experiences with trial and error, I think my first attempt was too complicated even though the results were so plain.

I suppose the most important lesson I took away from this card is to stop attempting to reinvent the wheel. If you have a budget, make sure to invest in a few basic "embellishment" punches. What you spend in cost will save you so much more in time!

Happy Stampin!
Nikki

Welcome!

Welcome to the start of what I hope to be a learning experience for myself and others. While this isn't my first foray into the world of blogging, it is the first where I've decided to add some accountability, posting on a regular schedule and one where I can open myself up to other stampers and crafters for advice.

I've been an avid crafter for many years now and until recently, 2006 to be exact, I really paid no attention to stamping. I briefly checked out scrapbooking and found that even though I enjoyed it, I seemed to lack the time required to do it on a level that made me happy.

I attended a Stampin' Up! workshop back in 2001 and instantly fell in love with their products. I purchased a few items but without a real thought as to what I was going to do with them. I attended another workshop a couple of years later and it was the same thing. There were new products I loved but I bought with no plan. I kept in touch with the demonstrator and eventually held two workshops. One was a basic class, completing a few card projects and seeing one 6x6 scrapbook page completed. The second workshop featured candles. This was the key for me. It was at this point that I switched gears from an occassional stamper to a dedicated one and become a demonstrator myself.

As I mentioned, I've always been a crafter and my main focus has always been to take those traditional methods and apply them to paper crafts or decor. I'm not sure where that interest came from but it's there and it was in 2006 that I realized what had been missing was the plan. I'm a hoarder when it comes to craft supplies! I love to find the nifty, cute, odd and so on. If I can find a use for something outside of the intended, I love it more! Now that I had a focus on what I was going to do with my crafting, it made it all the more easy to create.

My intentions with this site is to give other people the opportunity to learn and fuel their creativity. I've found the most frustrating thing for myself is to have a finished piece in mind but only have parts in hand. There are times that I lack the ability to put them together just right. Sometimes, this results in the "happy accident" and other times, I'm starting over. I may come back to it, I may not but I always feel that I'm learning from it.

So, for now, I have a few simple projects to post and some thoughts to share!