New Blog Background

I LOVE my new blog background! I think it looks so cheery and it makes me smile :-). I made it in My Digital Studio by following Debbi's wonderful instructions! It wasn't hard at all and I'm looking forward to changing out my blog whenever I want to ;-). I'll be posting in the morning, so see you then!

Blessings!

Barb

Today is my hubby's birthday so I am just jumping on here real quick to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday today. Also, to say thank you to all the families of those who have sacrificed their lives so that our nation can be free. We owe our fallen soldiers our deepest gratitude and our deepest respect.

I also want to thank all of our military members and their families, who currently serve and have served in the past, for all that you do and have done. I am proud to be the mother in law of a soldier in the U.S. Army and I know the sacrifices that he and my daughter, and the rest of our families, have made since he became a soldier. We give thanks to God each day that he was one of the ones that returned home safely from Iraq and we grieve with those whose family members did not. We pray for all of our military members to return home safely as well. Thank you for your sacrifice, your dedication, your courage, and your commitment to our nation. God Bless you all and God bless the U.S.A.

Blessings!
Barb

To Sarah :)

Hi Sarah! You left a comment on the First Day of School mini book. I do have instructions for it, but I couldn't find an email or a way to contact you through your blogs. If you could go down to my profile and email me, I would be happy to email that to you :-). Oh, by the way, I home school too!

Blessings!

Barb

Sunday Sketch

I've been missing in action since Monday. Absolutely no inspiration whatsoever :-(. I hate when that happens. Usually I fret over it though, but this time I just went with the flow and relaxed. I played with my new camera that my hubby got me and so far I love it. We had so much rain right after I got it that I really didn't have much chance to play with it. I got some good shots of one of our kitties. He NEVER, EVER stays still long enough for me to photograph him. For some reason one morning, he seemed to be curious as to what I was doing when I was photographing my sleeping daughter. She just looked so sweet, I couldn't pass that up :-). I took a couple of photos of Lucky after I was done, getting down on the floor to his level. He must have been really impressed with my efforts because he actually got down and posed for me, lol!... well, as close as a cat can get to posing anyway. I didn't want to lose a very rare opportunity to get some good photos of him so I clicked away. I also took a few sunset photos, but the jury is still out on that venture, lol! I went four wheeling with my husband through the west pasture and that was really fun. Of course, I brought my new camera with me. I have explored the west pasture enough to know that I should ALWAYS bring my camera with me. I did get a couple of awesome shots of the tall grass- that I love, and some shots of a flower that was growing out there all by its lonesome self. With all the green out in the pasture, its pink color really stood out. I used my super macro mode for that and got in really close. I photographed my horse too. She was up near the fence in the west pasture so I tried out different positions to photograph her. I got some decent shots of her too- which is also hard because inevitably, whenever I do photograph her- she makes a goofy face or swishes her tail at the wrong moment (sigh). I was happy with the way her photos came out- at least most of them. One shot of her is such a great shot, but came out just a titch blurry. I am keeping that photo though! I also did some photos for my husband for the website I am working on for him. Oh, that is another thing I have been doing all week- working on a website for his business.

I also did some scrapping this week. I have been taking 'My Digital Studio' certification classes offered by Stampin' Up! and I am done with all the classes and quizzes, but I have to turn in a project to complete the course. I was working on a book for my daughter with photos from her first skating competition where she took third place in Loops- not bad for the first time out ;-). I had about 10 pages completed, working on it off and on as I had time- 49 pages later and it is now finished. I just need to send it to the printer this week and have it printed for her. Then I started a book for my grandson. He was here for the whole day early in April when he was off from school and we decided to take a walk and explore the west pasture. I discovered that day, that taking nature walks with boys is a whole lot different than taking nature walks with girls. Girls love to look at flowers, birds, and butterflies. Boys, on the other hand, love to find turtles and frogs in ponds, sticks are awesome discoveries, and the coyote tracks- now that is something to look at! I had such a fun time that day, exploring with my eight year old grandson and seeing things from his perspective. Yeah, you know I had my camera with me ;-), so I have lots of photos from that day. The best part, at least for him, was waiting at the back step when we got home. We were very careful to watch out for snakes on our walk, checking over logs before we crossed, etc. Not one single snake did we see. Got home and not three feet from the back step was a huge one! I had no idea what kind of snake it was so had no idea if it was poisonous or not, but it was so cool looking I had to take some photos of it. In the meantime, I sent my grandson to the front of the house so he could go into the house and he found a small garden snake on the front porch. He proceeds to go around the side to the back of the house in hopes of getting in through the other back door. In the side yard, he finds a big black snake! When I was done taking photos of the snake in the back, I walked around to the front to find him standing in the middle of the yard with a slightly distressed look on his face. I asked him why he didn't go into the house and he said, "Grandma, there was a snake on the porch so I went that way and there was a really big one over there!!!" Every once in a while a harmless snake will come near the house, but not often at all. That day though, I am sure my grandson thought he had come to the reptile house at the zoo! His observation was, "Grandma, isn't it funny that we took a walk in the pasture and never saw any snakes, but when we got home we saw three of them right at the house?!" His very favorite photo of our walk that day was that big snake at the back step- he is such a boy, lol! We got online to find out what kind of snake it was. Thankfully, it was a harmless snake. So I printed out some photos of that snake for him and wrote the name of the snake on the back so he would always know what kind of snake it was. Honestly, I will have to ask him what kind of snake that was because I don't remember, lol! And I will not post photos of it on my blog either ;-). I'm sure most of you will appreciate that- Lol! In the book I am working on for him, I am journaling about our walk that day and how much fun it was for me too. I'll have it sent to the printer- photos of that snake included- and give it to him so he can have a little keepsake from that day.

So that is what I was doing all week. I really had a great time relaxing and being creative outside of paper. But on Friday, I was starting to miss my paper, so today I am going to play with my paper and some new stamps :-D. I made up another card sketch for you to try. If you do, I would really love it if you would link your card to Mr. Linky below so I can see it too :-D. Mr. Linky is easy to use. Just click on it and add your name in one box and your URL to the card in the other box. Be sure to use the URL for only your card though, otherwise everyone will have to look for it if you post anything else on your blog afterwards :-). Oh, and one more thing- you need to use Regal Rose, Whisper White, Old Olive, and So Saffron on your card- AND stamp your sentiment across the bottom more than once.

If you are traveling over the weekend- have a safe trip and have a fun time! Have a great day today!!



Blessings!
Barb

Supplies used:
My Digital Studio

Card Sketch 1

I am getting ready for a class this evening, so I am adding my rendition of the Card Sketch in the post below, done in My Digital Studio :-). I can make this card in real paper because I actually own all the items I used on my card, and I will most likely do that- just not today, lol!

I used the following elements in My Digital Studio- So Saffron textured card stock and stamp, Certainly Celery ribbon, brads, card stock, and stamp, Bashful Blue Designer Series Paper, Pacific Point for the sentiment, and the stamp sets used are Cheep Talk and Circle Circus. One of the great things about My Digital Studio is that you can audition various colors and papers BEFORE you actually make your card! So you know exactly what it will look like when you're done. How cool is that?! Okay, I gotta get back to work :-(. Have a wonderful day today!!!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
My Digital Studio

Sketch Challenge?

I tried making a card sketch in My Digital Studio and I thought maybe it might be fun to do a sketch challenge each week. What do you think? Once a week on Sunday's or twice a month on Sunday's?

I hope you'll give the sketch a try and then link your card to Mr. Linky below. I would LOVE to see your creations!

Blessings!
Barb

Too Much Fun!

I am having way too much fun in My Digital Studio ;-). This evening I started on an 8x8 book for my daughter to mark her first competition. I have seven pages done thus far and I plan to have them professionally printed through Stampin' Up! The printer will print the pages and bind them into a book. I have a choice of a photo cover, leather cover, cloth cover, or soft cover. Not sure which cover I will go with right now, but I know this will be an awesome keepsake for my daughter when it's all done and printed. So far I have kept all my pages in a Tempting Turquoise Designer Paper with white accents. You will notice in the photos that my daughter's figures competition dress is turquoise, white, and silver. You can't tell in these photos, but the white areas of her dress have light blue swarovski crystals sprinkled on them. Actually, not sprinkled on, but heat set on, and boy was that nerve wracking, lol! I was so concerned that my hand would slip and the heat tool would land on the fabric and burn a hole in it. Thankfully, no slips! Here are the first two pages...

I should have imported these into Photo Shop and knit them together so you could see them side by side. Oh well, I'll try to remember to do that next time :-).

After playing in MDS for only a short time, I can honestly say that this software is well worth every penny and then some. It comes with tons of Designer Series Paper, stamps, punches, buttons, brads, ribbons- lots and lots of fun stuff...everything you need to create great scrapbooks, cards, and other projects. You can even make slide shows, interactive pages with links to other photos, add video and music, and much more. The best part is that it's so incredibly easy to use! At first I kept forgetting to add drop shadows to the elements on my pages, but I put a note on my computer screen to remind me to do it and I am happy to report that it is officially a habit now :-D. Have a great day today!!!!

Edited to Add: Shari asked about the dotted circles I used on my layout. The circle is one of the circles from Circle Circus, an additional download you can purchase for MDS. I enlarged the circle, set the color to Whisper White, and the opacity to 50%. I hope that helps- please let me know if you have any questions!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
My Digital Studio

Is it Memorex?

Or My Digital Studio :-)? The UPS man finally came with my order, but I was busy so I didn't get a chance to play until late. I'm burning the midnight oil just a bit ;-). I found My Digital Studio very easy to use and if I didn't like something I just deleted. I wasn't out any paper, plus I had no mess to clean up afterward. I am really tired though, so I am going to go to bed and get some sleep. But before I do, I thought I would post my very first MDS card creation :-D.

I really liked the fact that I could make the butterfly punch in MDS smaller. I wish I could do that with my butterfly punch in real life!

I usually like to do the inside of my cards to coordinate with the outside. In My Digital Studio I can still do that! All right off to bed with me now. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
My Digital Studio

Daisies Scrap Book Page

Before my daughter and I got sick, we made a trip to a local garden. We like to go there fairly often when the flowers start to bloom. It's a pretty garden and I like to get photos of the flowers. I decided that I would finally scrap my photos of flowers! I'll need to find out the names of some of the flowers, but everyone knows daisies so that is where I started ;-).

The strip of daisies on the side was from an idea that Dawn Olchefske had on her blog. She did a technique called 'reverse masking' using a die cut from the Daisies #2 die. She made a background for a card that she made, but I thought it would make a great border for my page. You simply die cut a daisy flower, lay it on your card stock and ink the inside with a sponge dauber and some yellow ink. Then you take your next color of ink and again with your sponge dauber, ink around the petals. Dawn has a video for this very easy technique on her blog- just click on her name above and it will take you straight to that post. I die cut three more daisies and the letters to add to my 8x8 page. I matted my photo and my daisy border on Garden Green card stock. I like to sometimes print my photos with the white border around it so that I get the look of double matting without using more card stock to do it :-). My next page will be roses! I may actually have to do several pages of roses, lol! They are beautiful flowers to photograph. Wishing you all a wonderful, wonderful day today!! See ya' tomorrow!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Paper: Garden Green- 102584, So Saffron- 105118, Whisper White- 100730
Classic Stampin' Ink: Bashful Blue- 105209, So Saffron- 105213
Dies: Daisies #2-114520, Billboard alpha- 114510
Other: Stampin' Dimensionals-104430

Back to School ideas

I know it's probably a little early to be thinking about going 'back' to school when most schools aren't even out for the summer yet... BUT, for teachers or moms who like to get a good head start, this project is for you ;-).

I often start a project by pulling out something that I haven't used for a while. I just hate for my stuff to sit around doing nothing. As I was taking a mental inventory of stuff I haven't used for a while, my Bag with Scallops die came to mind and there it stopped, lol! I made another mental inventory of my colors of card stock to see what color I wanted to use and stopped at Kraft, which was a ways down the list! Ah ha! Light bulb moment! I thought it would be so cute as a paper lunch bag! Where are paper lunch bags used the most? Kids taking their lunches to school, of course ;-). So I pulled out my First Day stamp set and went to work. This is my new lunch bag, sponged with Soft Suede ink, perfect for little surprises for the first day of school.

These would be great for teachers to make to welcome their new class and possibly put little things like those cute little erasers in it. They would also be a nice little ice breaker for a student starting a new school or just to introduce themselves to new classmates as they start a new grade. To go with the brown bag special, I made a matching bookmark. Kids can write their names on the stamped paper at the bottom and the teacher could laminate the bookmarks after wards, making a sturdy bookmark and also a little keepsake of the child's handwriting for mom to keep forever ;-).

The paper stamp is part of the First Day stamp set. I just used markers in Tempting Turquoise for the lines on the paper, Real Red for the margin, and black for the words on Whisper White. I used other stamps in the set to stamp 2nd Grade on the paper. You could stamp any grade from 1st to 12th, so this is a set that could be used for a looooong time. I made a First Day of School mini scrap book with this stamp set and it could be paired with this paper bag and bookmark easily.

The brown lunch bag could be used for office workers or other jobs where people bring their lunches in brown paper bags and filled with chocolate or whatever you want to put in it. I just used a glue dot to close the top of my bag, so it's easy to open, but stays closed. I hope you'll make some of your own brown bag specials with this great die. It was a lot of fun! Have a great day today and thanks for stopping by!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: First Day- 120051 (wood mount- 118521)
Paper: Kraft- 102125, Whisper White- 100730, Brilliant Blue-100721, Real Red- 102482
Classic Stampin' Ink: Soft Suede-115657
Stampin' Write Markers: Tempting Turquoise- 100058, Real Red- 100052, Basic Black-
Dies: Stars #2- 113461
Punches: 1" Circle- 109046, 1 1/4" Circle- 104403 100082

Hybrid Card

Good Morning!!! Thank you for leaving get well wishes for us! I think we are over the worst of being sick now :-). My daughter went back to skating yesterday, was she happy about that! Last week I posted a card that I wasn't too happy about -see post below this one. The sentiment oval was just too bright, so I had to fix it. I changed the card stock I used from Very Vanilla to Kraft. Then the bird looked too bright to me, so I re-stamped it in Elegant Eggplant on Kraft. I think it looks better now- what do you think?

Last week was my birthday and my hubby purchased My Digital Studio for me. It isn't here yet, I have to wait just two more days for the UPS man to deliver it :-), but I purchased some extra downloads that I knew I would want to use with My Digital Studio when it arrives. The great thing about the My Digital Studio downloads is that you don't have to have the My Digital Studio software to use them. You can use them in any software that uses JPG and PNG files, so if you have Photo Shop, or Paint Shop, or something similar, you are good to go.

Now you know you can't just leave new stuff alone, ya' gotta play with it! :-D
So I downloaded one of the paper kits that I purchased- Summertime Splendor. The papers are gorgeous!! I opened up one of the papers in Photo Shop Elements 7 and added it to a page that I had already sized to 3.75 x 5. Since I can print photos on my Canon printer, I used the 4x6 paper size option to print my paper on Whisper White card stock that I had cut down to 4x6. I also used the matte photo paper setting. Whisper White and Very Vanilla card stock have a coating on them making them ideal for stamping, coloring, and other techniques. In my card below, the flowers and the blue background are one of the papers from Summertime Splendor that I used.

I added some So Saffron ink to some white areas of the sky and around the edges with my sponge . I stamped my sentiment with Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Ink and added my butterfly with Stampin'Dimensionals. Add some ribbon and there you have it- a combination of digital and traditional, aka a hybrid card. It was fun to make, took very little time...I think I might be exploring the world of hybrid a little more :-). Wishing you a wonderful day today!!!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
My Digital Studio downloads: Summertime Splendor- 121067
Stamps: Sincere Salutations-115068
Classic Stampin' Ink: Pacific Point (returning in July 2010), So Saffron- 105213
Paper: Whisper White-100730, Old Olive- 100702, Night of Navy- 100867
Dies: Beautiful Butterflies- 114509
Other: Bashful Blue 1/4" grosgrain ribbon- 109029

We are sick :-(

Sorry I've been missing for most of the week. My daughter came down with strep throat and I am not feeling well either. We are drinking lots of water and orange juice and my daughter is on antibiotics. Hopefully, my husband and I won't need antibiotics along with her. The good news is that she is starting to feel a little better, so thankfully, she is on the mend. Her throat was so red that our Dr. winced when he saw it. Poor baby- her throat hurt so badly and she had a 101.7 temperature. On top of that she had a headache and was so achy, with chills and sweats. I'm glad she is feeling better today.

I did get my card with the 'too bright' oval fixed :-), and it looks better. I just haven't had time to get it photographed for posting. Hoping to resume regular posting again on Monday. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Blessings!

Barb

Elements of Style Vintage

I'm not very happy with this card, so I will probably re-do it. I'm posting it though because there are elements of this card that I really like. I like the colors I used- Elegant Eggplant, Soft Suede, and Kraft. My images are stamped on Kraft with Soft Suede ink and then colored in with Watercolor Wonder Crayons and a blender pen. The edges are inked with Soft Suede and then run through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice embossing folder. I am pretty sure that the only thing I don't like about this card is the oval with the sentiment. I think I need to change that. It seems too bright for the rest of the card :-(.

I know I am late posting, but I am behind this week due to our trip over the weekend. I hope to get caught up sometime this week, but no guarantee that will happen. Hopefully, I will get caught up over the weekend if I don't get caught up this week. I'll see if I can fix this card later and post an updated version :-). Have a great day!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Elements of Style-120045 (wood mount- 118611), Vintage Labels-119112 (SAB)
Paper: Elegant Eggplant-105126, Soft Suede-115318, Kraft-102125, Very Vanilla-101650
Classic Stampin' Ink: Soft Suede
Watercolor Wonder Crayons: Elegant Eggplant, Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie
Punches: Wide Oval-112082
Other: Square Lattice Textured Impressions embossing folder-119976, 1/4" Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon-111367, Stampin' Dimensionals-104430, white pearls

Lots of events!

This weekend we traveled to Chicago for our youngest daughter's very first skate competition. It was an exciting weekend for us! She took third place in her first event (Loops)- Congratulations Sweet Girl!!!A little info. here ;-).... she just learned how to do loops last week and only had three practices for them before the meet. To top it off, when it was her turn, she and her coach discovered that a different loop figure was required other than the two she learned a few days ago, so her coach explained to her how to do it and she went out there and did it!!! Then on Sunday it was not only Mother's Day, but our wedding anniversary and my birthday :-). So we had a lot of events to celebrate this weekend!

For our anniversary I wanted to make my husband a card, but like many men, he doesn't like the frilly stuff. He likes it on cards for other people, but not for him, so I try to make cards that are more masculine. I don't make many of them and I really need to. Feminine cards are so much more fun to make though ;-). I was also late in making my card since we were gone the entire weekend. I didn't have time to get one made before we left since I was getting us ready for travel and getting my daughter ready for the meet. So I made my card for him this morning ;-).

Honestly, he is truly is my very, very best friend and I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful and supportive man. He supports me in everything I want to do and in all of life's moments. I'm happy that I get to spend so many of them with him :-).

I hope you are having a great day today. We have rain :-(. It's supposed to rain each day all week- ick. Looking forward to the sunshine! See you tomorrow!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Vintage Vogue-118598 (wood mount- 117690), Elements of Style- 102245 (wood mount- 118611)
Paper: Not Quite Navy-101722, Whisper White-100730, Old Olive-100702, Maine Blueberry Designer Series Paper- retired, but on the clearance rack
Classic Stampin' Ink: Not Quite Navy-103008, Soft Suede-115657
Other: Square Lattice Textured Impressions embossing folder- 119976, Mojo Monday sketch- week 138

Teen Birthday Card

I needed a birthday card for a teen girl on my daughter's skate team, but I also needed it to be suitable for her age (14). You know, not too youngish, but not too oldish either :-). I used Georgia Peach Designer Series Paper that I purchased recently in the Clearance Rack section on Stampin' Up!. It just looked like a good 'teen' type of paper. I must have accomplished my goal because when I showed it to my daughter she was really enthusiastic, lol!

On the inside, I stamped a simple sentiment that I think is a good sentiment for a teen, in Melon Mambo, and finished off with a couple of die cut butterflies in Melon Mambo. Easy card to make :-). Thanks for stopping by! Have a super great day today!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes- 115370, Very Versatile (retired)
Paper: Pretty in Pink- 100459, Old Olive- 100702, Whisper White- 100730, Melon Mambo- 115320, Georgia Peach Designer Series Paper- 112462
Classic Stampin' Ink: Melon Mambo- 115656
Dies: Beautiful Wings embosslit- 118138
Other: 1' square punch, pink gems, Mojo Monday Sketch 137

First Day of School Mini Book

I love the Summer Mini stamp set First Day, it's too cute! I wanted to make a little scrap book using the set for my grandson when he goes back to school in August. To make the mini book, I used the Movers and Shapers Curly Label die. The die makes a 4.25" x 5.5", 5 page, card sized scrapbook using one sheet of card stock. You can add as many pages as you like, but I generally stick with one sheet of card stock to make my books. One of the things that I like about the Movers and Shapers Curly Label die is that it not only cuts out a window in the card stock anywhere I want it to be, it also adds a decorative dashed line around the die cut. I used Real Red, Basic Black, and Whisper White for the main parts of my book. As you can see in the photo below, I stamped inside the window of the cover.

Inside Cover and page 1

Pages 2 and 3

Pages 4 and 5

I created a black board for the last page of my mini book using some Basic Black card stock and a strip of Textured Soft Suede card stock. The letters are die cut from Whisper White and the chalk is the lower case letter L. To color the little bookworm, I used Watercolor Wonder crayons and a blender pen. Look how cute he is....

Ya' gotta love him! This little guy just makes me smile :-). I hope everyone is having a great week so far. Wishing you a wonderful day today!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: First Day- 120051 (wood mount- 118521), Tart & Tangy- 111541
Paper: Real Red- 102482, Whisper White- 100730, Basic Black- 102851, Tempting Turquoise- 102067, YoYo Yellow- 102824, More Mustard- 100946, Pretty in Pink- 100459, Apricot Appeal- 105124, So Safrron- 105118, Soft Suede Textured- 115719
Classic Stampin' Ink: Pacific Point (available in July), Real Red- 103133, Tempting Turquoise- 100814, Soft Suede- 115657
Watercolor Wonder Crayons: Bold Brights- 16695 (Green Galore, Glorious Green, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red), Neutrals- 106746 (Going Gray)
Dies: Stars #2- 113461, Billboard Letters- 114510, Movers and Shapers Curly Label- 114506
Punches: Word Window- 105090, 1/8" circle
Other: Silver embossing powder- 109131, 1/8" white grosgrain

Masculine- God Bless You

I was into Soft Suede and Kraft card stock the day I made the thank you card for my fellow demo (see post below), so I made another card that was more on the masculine side. I never have masculine cards in my card stash, so I thought that maybe I should add some ;-).

I started with a piece of Very Vanilla card stock and stamped it first with the En Francais background stamp using Soft Suede ink. I stamped it off on a scrap sheet of paper first and then stamped it on my Very Vanilla. I really should have stamped it off one more time though before stamping on my Very Vanilla. I then stamped one of the images from Lovely As a Tree in Chocolate Chip. I used Stampin' Pastels to color in the image so it would be soft and transparent in color. I haven't added any sentiment to the inside yet, but will do that when I use the card and know what the occasion would be for, lol! Have a wonderful day everyone and thank you for visiting!!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Lovely As a Tree- 115026, Special Blessings- 113411, En Francais- 109521
Paper: Soft Suede- 115318, Kraft- 102125, Very Vanilla- 101650
Classic Stampin' Ink: Soft Suede- 115657, Chocolate Chip- 100908
Stampin' Pastels: 105542- Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Old Olive
Punches: Modern Label- 116630, Word Window- 105090
Other: Soft Suede Polka Dot Grosgrain ribbon- 115612

Thank You

A fellow demo was so kind as to send me some card stock samples of Wild Wasabi and River Rock, which are previous In Colors making a return as core colors in the new color renovation. I just started as a demo a year ago, so I didn't have the opportunity to get those colors when they were available. For her thoughtfulness, I wanted to send her a thank you card :-). I used the new Square Lattice embossing folder from the current Summer Mini. I love this new embossing folder!

I also used one of the brand 'new' core colors coming in July- Daffodil Delight. It's such a gorgeous shade of yellow, bright and cheery! I used three neutral colors on my card to make the three other colors I used stand out. The base is Soft Suede with Very Vanilla matted on Kraft- which will become Crumb Cake in July. Pretty in Pink card stock paired with Regal Rose Designer Series Paper and Daffodil Delight card stock makes the colors look soft on the neutral background. You could use these non-neutral colors on another color of card stock, such as Tempting Turquoise, and the same colors would appear bright instead of soft. My butterfly was done with the Butterfly punch. I punched the butterfly first from Kraft card stock and then again from vellum. I ran the vellum through my Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder from the Occasions Mini. The Perfect Polka Dots folder is still available for purchase even though the Occasions Mini promotion has ended.

For the inside of my card, I ran my Very Vanilla card stock through my Big Shot using the following sandwich: Multi-purpose platform on tab 2, clear plate, embossing folder with card stock inside, a 1" wide acrylic ruler placed on top of the folder on the right side. Do NOT use the top clear plate. Run the folder through the Big Shot with the ruler as the top. Make sure your acrylic ruler is the same thickness as the clear Big Shot plates and never, never, never try to force anything through your Big Shot. The ruler that I use is made by Omnigrid and you can purchase them at most fabric stores in the quilting section. After the embossed card stock is removed from the folder you will have a 1" embossed border. I usually add some scored lines on either side of my embossed border just to finish it off nicely. I made another butterfly the same as the butterfly on the front of the card and adhered it to the embossed border. Easy Peasy!

Wishing you all a wonderful day today!!! See you tomorrow!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Whimsical Words- 119119, Sincere Salutations- 115068
Paper: Soft Suede- 115318, Kraft- 102125, Very Vanilla- 101650, Pretty in Pink- 100459, Daffodil Delight- debuting in July, Regal Rose Designer Series Paper- 114325, vellum- 101839
Classic Stampin' Ink: Soft Suede- 115657, Regal Rose- 105211, Pretty in Pink Stampin' Write Marker- 100045
Punches: Butterfly- 116629, Trio Flower- 109183, 1/4" Circle
Textured Impressions Embossing Folders: Square Lattice- 119976, Perfect Polka Dots- 117335
Other: pink and yellow gems

Build a Bear Fourth of July

It's National Scrap-booking Month- whoo hoo! To celebrate, I made an 8x8 page for my Fourth of July scrap book using a new stamp set in the 2010 Summer Mini - July Fourth. I started out with Night of Navy for my page and stamped one of the fireworks with Versamark ink, then heat embossed with gold embossing powder for my background. I also added a die cut Build a Bear dressed for the holiday :-).

The grass is just a torn piece of Old Olive card stock stamped with the 'Dot, Dot, Dot' stamp and Whisper White craft ink.

Here's a quick close up of my little Uncle Sam bear. These bears are just too stinkin' cute, don't ya' think :-D ? I am most likely going to use this page as a journaling page and the first page of my Fourth of July scrap book. (Hey, it never hurts to get a head start on those pages we'll be scrappin'.) I'll use the the photo mat for my journaling, but of course, it could be used for a photo too ;-).

Happy National Scrap-booking Month!!! Sending out a wish to you that you can get lots of pages scrapped this month :-D. Have a great day!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: July Fourth- 120063 (wood mount- 118523), Dot, Dot, Dot- 115332
Paper: Night of Navy- 100867, Old Olive- 100702, Real Red- 102482, Riding Hood Red- (returning in July), Not Quite Navy- 101722, Whisper White- 100730, Creamy Caramel- 102514, Chocolate Chip- 102128, Basic Black- 102851
Classic Stampin' Ink: Bravo Burgundy- 105214, Night of Navy- 102977, Creamy Caramel- 103220, Chocolate Chip- 100908. Also used Whisper White Craft Stampin' Ink- 101731
Punches: 1 3/4" Circle- 112004, 1 1/2" Circle, 1" Square, Word Window- 105090
Dies: Stampin' Up! Bear- 117977, Beary Essentials- 117978, Beary Girl- 117982
Other: White gel pen- 105021, Real Red brads- 106957, Regal Rose Stampin' Pastel- 105542, gold gems