Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

It's my hubby's birthday tomorrow and I'll likely not get to post so I'm showing you this card I made for him. Even as an adult, he would probably still say his favourite animal is the monkey, so I used Monkey Business, a set I borrowed (again) from my friend Christa last week for our club meeting and haven't returned yet. Thanks Christa! The challenge was then to make a card that was somewhat masculine using Monkey Business. How to not get too cute... Earlier in the weekend, Jan Tink, a fabulous American stamper, posted her most recent stampin' invention, the Bib card. I thought, why not give it a go with Brian's card. The bib card is a variation of the tent card, but instead of having a piece adhered to the top fold, it's actually cut part-way and popped. I used Blue Bayou as the card base, again to try to set a masculine tone, and because Brian's favourite colour is blue. I paired it with Wild Wasabi and Purely Pomegranate. I used the new SU! scallop punch for the Wasabi layer in the top part that sticks out. The heart is raised with a dimensional and is embossed with Irridescent Ice because I can rarely resist something glittery or blingy on a special occasion card, but I avoided ribbons for his card, opting to kept it simple. Is it cute, probably - how could it not be when it starts out with Monkey Business? But I do think he will like it. After all, it's from me. :)

Guest Artist: Christa Uttley

Our family has experienced some difficulties recently, but things are looking up as my husband started a new job this week. When our very good friend, Christa, found out that Brian had been hired, she got stampin'! This is her congratulatory card she gave Brian, knowing that she was sort of giving it to me too. :-) When we were talking about the retiring stamp set list, she found out that Knobbly Gnomes is one of my least favourite sets, which is why my dear friend chose to use it for this card. This base is a "hotdog" cut, so it opens at the side. She stamped the cheery sunflower-carrying gnome in Staz-On black and coloured him in with her markers and blender pen. She used the dtp method to apply the ink to the paper edges before mounting it on the Old Olive layer. The hodgepodge hardware keeps the card looking manly, along with her colour choices. Tangerine grosgrain picks up the horizontal lines of the Old Olive layer and the Not Quite Navy cardbase. She finished the card with some paper piercing all around the Olive layer. Nice job! This will be a card that I will cherish in spite of those Knobbly Gnomes!

Something Old, Something New

I thought I'd go digging through my stash to show you an older card. I made up this card for a New Sets New Colours swap I had participated in a few years ago. The set, Artifacts, is a favourite of mine for masculine cards or a collage-y look, and it retires next week. The colours are Almost Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Sahara Sand and Night of Navy - 3 out 4 were new that year. I stamped on SU's Window sheets (no longer available)with Black Staz-On. I had a team meeting last night and it was great getting together with all of these talented women again. We did all kinds of sharing and visiting:Janet brought her gorgeous scrapbooks, Diane brought a fun accordion album she's making with some of her customers using the Scrappin' Kits, Christy brought her Itty Bitty Book and another "quick" album she just did up, Lisa brought her recent swap cards, etc. We talked about business and enjoyed brownie sundaes and had a great night! I wanted them to go home with something to show their customers that included new product. This card was inspired by one shared by inglishrea on an online gallery. I loved that she combined Really Rust with Groovy Guava. This card starts with a vanilla cardbase and a piece of Groovy Guava cardstock. We stamped the flourishes from Baroque Motifs in Groovy Guava on vanilla and added Really Rust flowers. The medallion was stamped in Groovy Guava and cut out. Some edges were distressed using the 4 in 1 cutter tool. We decided on that the copper brads really suited it, so we included one to finish the card off... only to find out this morning that they are retiring! Want to know what other Stampin' Up! accessories are retiring? Click here or on the link at the left.

Only a Day Late...

... for you, that is! I made this card for Brian last week and gave it to him yesterday. Then snatched it back today to show all of you! This card uses up some smaller pieces I had leftover from the At Home Simply Scrappin' Kit. Isn't it a handsome and simple masculine card? I used to give him all my "experiment" cards - like if I were trying a new technique, I'd use it on a card for him. Some were less than spectacular because the technique came before the design. And he is a simple kind of guy (I don't mean he's not smart, he's very smart - just that he's not into fancy. Dressed up for him is a pair of Dockers and a cotton shirt.) So this year, I went masculine but simple - no ribbon, no fancy techniques - a piece of hardware and some dtp to "man" it up and that's it. I think he liked its simplicity.

Check out my talented demo friends!

I was away in London for a stamping event hosted by Carole Moore a little while ago and got to see LOTS of inspiring work. Today I am showing you some of the work of my sideline, downline and upline. This photo doesn't show the details in this cute card, but my sideline Bonnie punched through the stamped white cardstock and the yellow layer for the chocolate dots of the giraffe to be revealed. How sweet is that? I have seen these before but never made one before, but now, thanks to Karen, I get to try now. This one was made with the sneak peak papers featured in May - no cutting, just folding to create this great little treat holder. Can you see the microbeads that form the bodies on these butterflies? This card was created by another sideline, Carolyn. She does a beautiful job with her colouring techniques. This is a fun popup card, created by my downline, Lisa. I've not played with this set before that day, but it is so adorable! These cards are easy to make once you've done one and got the folds down. This beautiful card was done by upline, Joanne. She had received a card like this for her anniversary from a friend. The inside has a little folded pouch to hold a monetary gift or gift card. I LOVE this Au Chocolat paper, and the card I swapped her in March sold her on it too.

Masculine Card

This card was planned for this past Saturday's class. It's a fun, interactive card, and it is masculine, which challenges alot of stampers. It also features retiring sets, which was the theme for Saturday. The lighthouse stamp comes from the Always on My Mind set. The greeting is from Simple Sketches and I used the Crosshatch background stamp for the Sahara Sand card base. Some direct to paper inking and Vintage brads help to keep the card looking masculine, along with the Night of Navy colour scheme. If you missed this class, there is another class on June 23rd which will also feature retiring sets, along with a sneak peek of some brand new sets. I'll be sure to include a wow card like this in that class, so join us why don't you?