a simple thanks

Today is a huge day... I get to register my oldest for kindergarten! It's crazy to think she is already 5 and ready for school. After debating over and over about 1/2-day mornings, afternoons or all day kindergarten, I've opted for mornings. I guess with 2 younger siblings that still nap in the afternoon, it's a good choice. We are getting a brand new school in our neighborhood that will open this fall and Avery's class will be the first to enter kindergarten there. What a blessing it will be to have a school so close - I just hope it's a good year for the school and there aren't many hiccups with staffing.

Today's card is inspired by Kristina Werner - I love her simple style and her cards and projects are amazing, especially her scrapbook pages. Love them! I got a Cuttlebug for Christmas this year and I've been wanting to use this 'thanks' sentiment die cut forever (ok, since I got it...). Well, here is the perfect little place to put it. The only stamping on this card is the little dots from sweet shapes. I used my 1/8" circle punch on the bottom and place a strip of Soft Sky underneath to pop out the circles a little more. The base is Kraft cardstock and then I used textured Blue Bayou and Groovy Guava. The Wild Wasabi and Soft Sky cardstock is smooth, but I really like the textured! I wish we could buy it in color packs instead of assorted packs from Stampin' Up! OH and hey! I finally figured out how to make a watermark! I'll be playing with that for a while and see what style I like best for my photos. Looks so professional - so not me! ha!

~Karen

xoxo

Does it seem like I'm posting Valentine's cards every Tuesday? I'm on a kick I suppose and by the time the day actually comes, I just might be tired of pink and hearts. Nah!
Time to use punches! I used my 1-3/8 square punch for the double sided paper (and I can't remember the name of it because it was a mini catalog item last year). The chipboard is from Creative Cafe and I decorated the pieces with craft ink, heat & stick powder and dazzling diamonds glitter. So fun! I was going to stick the letters directly to the paper, but they got lost in the patterns, so I just stuck a scrap piece of Tempting Turquoise underneath on a stampin dimensional and voila! This was such a fun card and out of my "usual" element, so I enjoyed putting it together. I may just have to step out of my box more often!
Well, I'm off to play with the kiddos - hopefully I'll have a chance to stamp this afternoon again. See you tomorrow!
~Karen

Starbucks Inspired

Happy Monday! So the story behind this card is inspired by a trip to Starbucks this past Saturday during my mommy-daughter date with my 5-year-old, Avery. We go there and have little girl chats over kids cocoa and vanilla chai tea and it's a delightful time, just the two of us. Of course Avery wanted to go buy some Mickey Mouse stickers at the scrapbook store with her money, so who am I to argue? We went there too of course. Anyway... Starbucks has all of the Valentine's mugs on clearance (already?) and I saw this mug there and instantly thought of the flowers in Heartfelt Thanks. You know you have a passion when you see stamps in a Starbucks... So here is the inspired Valentine's card that I did with Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge and it was such a fun and simple card. I stamped the Crosshatch background stamp in Versamark on Mellow Moss. The flower images are stamped with my markers - Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, and the outline is Rose red. The stems are Mellow Moss marker as well and I flipped the stem upside down to make the stems go in different directions. The other ribbon is adhered separately behind the flower image, but I looks like it's all one ribbon on the card.

Have a great day and thanks again for stopping by!
~Karen

Wow!

Wow, there is a whole lotta brightness going on in this card! I put this card together using Wednesday's sketch challenge over at SCS and thought I'd use up some of this Petals & Paisleys paper. So we got stripes, polka dots, and bright, vibrant colors all in one small space. Very fun for the girly girl in your life or if you need to give a card to a crazy friend? heh! The stamp set is Celebrate Everything and I thought it would be great to use with embossing powder, but when I opened up my Tempting Turqoise craft ink, it was not very wet, so plan B. I used my Stamp-a-majig again to position the sentiments. I used the 1/8" circle punch to pull the ribbon up through the top and bottom of the sentiment.

Also, go check out Beate's blog, Fresh & Fun. She's calling all stampers for a last minute request to send blank Valentine's cards to her so she can send them to our troops overseas. Then they can send a love note to their loved ones here at home. I thought this was a fantastic idea! She also has posted her Weekend Sketch Challenge, which I'll be doing this weekend as well. Michael has poker with the guys, so I have stamping with cocoa when the kiddos are asleep. Love it! Have a great weekend everyone!

~Karen

Pick-a-Petal

So if you haven't noticed by now, I pretty much stalk the weekly challenges over at Splitcoaststampers. I was soooo excited with Tuesday's color challenge because it was boy colors: Real Red, Blue Bayou, and Soft Sky. The real reason I was excited for this challenge is because I have a whole pack of Real Red and I never use it. I don't know why that is, well yes I do - it's because Stampin' Up! comes out with fantastic colors every year and the old ones get ignored for a while. Back to the boy colors - I had intended to make a masculine birthday card, but see what happens? I couldn't decide on a stamp set that was boy-ish and when I happened upon Pick a Petal it was over. I *had* to use it. Then came out the ribbon, button and scalloped edge again. No going back now! This card is a little more detailed than yesterday. I stamped the petals in versamark on Soft sky and embossed them with clear embossing powder and cut them out. I stamped the center flower in versamark on Blue Bayou and embossed it with clear ep and then added the Real Red button with a mini glue dot. The ribbon is red gingham and of course I used the corner rounder for the scalloped edge. And hey look! It's Soft Sky prints paper again. Love the prints paper. The thank you sentiment is from Taggers Dozen. Thanks again for stopping by!

~Karen

Sweet Pea

I love to make cards that are simple to do and easy to duplicate. Sometimes I can get too crazy with my cards and try to stamp everywhere and add all the embellishments and then I look at the card and I don't like it at all. I remember when I first started demonstrating with Stampin' Up! I would try to incorperate too many "things" on the cards - you know, trying to sell everything at one workshop. I'm over that now, thank goodness. Designer paper is the key to simple cards for me because it adds so much without a lot of work. Now that I'm becoming less selfish with my paper and actually using it on cards, I'm hooked! Wow, that really sounded like a workshop pitch, ha!

Here is another baby card and yet another hostess set that I didn't cut until after it was retired. I wanted to use this little pea pod for so long, but I started to get frustrated with this little guy because I couldn't color him without it looking like my 5-year-old did it. Ha! So, I just decided to stamp him in Certainly Celery craft ink and heat emboss it with clear embossing powder. Done! I did end up sponging Certainly Celery around the edge of the cardstock to soften the edges and make the image pop out a little more in the center. The scalloped edge was made using the small corner rounder and then I tied the ribbons over the seam. For this card I used Whisper White for the base, scalloped edge and main image. The patterned paper is Certainly Celery and So Saffron prints. Thanks again for stopping by and all your kind words!
~Karen