Good things come in small envelopes........

A family celebration tomorrow calls for some bubbly. Tucked in with the champagne will be this tiny gift card in a Stampin' Up! mini square envelope. Just because a card is small doesn't mean it can't have an impact. Designer paper on So Saffron wrapped with a Certainly Celery ribbon provides a background for flowers done on textured Bashful Blue. The Simple Flower Embosslit quickly makes 3 flowers to layer on the card. A few leaves, a few pearls and the card is ready to sign. It's just that easy! If only it would be that easy to get these rain clouds out of here by tomorrow afternoon........





Update: Someone was listening - it was a perfect afternoon on a beautiful Adirondack Lake!

It's Not Always About Stampin' - PPA5.....

The Pals Paper Arts Challenge this week was Halloween. It seemed like a good time to try out the Sweet Treat Cups that are featured in the Holiday Mini Catalog. Cast-A-Spell Designer Paper and a wide pumpkin ribbon got me started. Next I reached for my Spooky Treats Rub-On Set. The skull and swirls easily adhered to the treat cup and even wrapped around the side. Then I applied "treats" to the ribbon. Because it is grosgrain I used the tip of the bone folder to make sure the letters adhered in between all of the ribbing. Two skulls were snipped from the designer paper and glued to the ribbon. I put orange M&M's into the treat cup and popped it through a punched 1 3/4" hole. A random Halloween sticker from my stash finished up the card - not an ink pad was opened!



Tip: To make sure only orange M&M's get inside the treat cup - eat the other colors!

MojoMary........

Some days you just have to look out of the window and day-dream. That's what this card reminds me of - letting your imagination take flight. I picked Storybook Designer Paper, a very imaginative design, and layered it on a crushed curry card base. A bit of coloring, a bit of bling and a birthday card appeared! Good thing it did because I know a 7 year old who will be wishing and blowing out candles pretty soon!





Mary Fish sketched this design as part of Mojo Monday's week long 100th celebration.

PPA4.............

Weddings are wonderful occasions to use Stampin' Up products for anything but a card. That is what the Pals Paper Arts Challenge is looking for today - anything but a card! One day my crafting friend and walking partner, Barb, was wrapping various candy bars in summery designer papers to be used as luncheon favors. When I saw her wrap a Rolo I thought hmmmm - light bulb moment! The result you can see here. I used chocolate chip designer paper and card stock, along with certainly celery and very vanilla and the Rolos became place cards. Not one place card was left behind after the wedding!

These last two pictures show you a work in progress for the late summer garden wedding I mentioned in an earlier post. The wedding program will be printed on fans made from So Saffron card stock. The back was embossed with the Elegant Bouquet folder and pearls were scattered on the flowers. The front of the fan was stamped in So Saffron with the largest design from Wedding Sweet. The actual program will be printed on this side. (I have to feed the card stock through my printer one piece at a time but it works!) Stamping in the same color as the paper provides a subtle background for the text. A satin green bow finishes it off simply and beautifully.

Decor Elements.........

When my son graduated from college and went out on his own he emptied his bedroom - literally - it looked like the Grinch had been there. Shelves that held sports trophies were empty, the cable wire lay on the floor and dust bunnies frolicked everywhere. I sighed, closed the door and let the bunnies play for a long time. Finally I said enough! A new bed, a coat of paint, some toile curtains and the room was back! But what about those shelves??

Well here they are - with a touch of Stampin' Up Decor Elements - Shelf Life. Very easy to apply! The corner of the room has become a cozy nook to read, write and watch TV. Ah yes, that cable wire is hooked up to a new flat screen :) Hey it's a loooong winter here in the Great Northeast - I am just getting ready! My daughter is off on her own as well but what happened to her room is a story for another day!

PPA3............

What better way to wish a three year old happy birthday than with three giraffes marching across the savannah - or to wish Pals Paper Arts Happy Week 3! When I saw the inspiration picture this week I knew I had to get this little giraffe out of retirement. He fits right in with all of the creatures on today's Tall Tales Designer Paper. I used the paper crimper and stamping dimensionals to make him stand out. The modern label punch encases the sentiment, also set on a dimensional. When I picked Tall Tales Designer Paper it was easy to choose the rest of my colors. Listed with the designer paper sets in the catalog are colors which match perfectly. Chocolate chip, rose red, so saffron, old olive and brilliant blue play very nicely together!

Everyone's Mojo is Different.......Thank Heavens!

It started with the Mojo Monday 99 sketch but unfortunately my mojo and Mojo Monday just couldn't seem to agree. Somehow the Mojo99 sketch morphed into this design for a menu card for a rehearsal dinner. Compliments to the Chef is a terrific stamp set to use for such an occasion. I embossed the utensils in black and cut them out. Bella Bleu designer paper was also used along with an ivory satin ribbon. The subtle taupe and cream shades of this designer paper are difficult to photograph but they add an elegance to the card. The card can easily be changed to an invitation to a dinner party or to a thank you for a dinner party by simply changing the sentiments.

It's All in the Details...........

Early summer of 2008 found me finishing up invitations, programs, menu cards, thank you cards and favors for my daughter's September wedding. My demo was on an extended vacation and I ran out of Certainly Celery - a crisis for sure! (SU had not gone to on-line ordering yet.) I had discovered Mary Fish's blog while I was surfing for wedding ideas so I decided to see if she would help me out. Mary had her own on-line ordering plan! Unfortunately it was down that day but she was on-line. We did some instant messaging and finally ended up on the phone. She was gracious, considerate and solved my problem. My order was small but important to me. Mary even followed up to make sure everything arrived on time. Fast forward to early summer this year. I decided to become a Stampin' Up! demo. No question who to sign up with! Her work is terrific, her leadership exemplary and her Pals devoted. I am so glad SU has recognized this as well. Congratulations Mary - #1 Rising Star in the US this year!

Sketch Challenge - PPA2.............

This sweet little card will be set at each place setting as a favor at a late summer garden wedding. Dusty Durango matches the terra cotta pots that will hold the centerpieces, while the So Saffron and Very Vanilla coordinate with the wedding colors. The stamp from Pocket Silhouettes is stamped with Old Olive and hints at what is inside. The bride and groom will write a message attached to some very special paper. Embedded in the paper are seeds - wildflowers will grow where the paper is planted. How cool is that! Oh - and it just so happens that this card fits in perfectly with the second challenge from Pals Paper Arts!

Mojo Monday 98...........

After jumping in and posting my first card for the PPA challenge I thought well that wasn't so bad and before I knew it Mojo Monday arrived. So I posted my very first Mojo Monday card. ( It has been a summer of firsts! ) Black and white weddings are very popular these days so I decided to keep with the bride's color scheme and create a card with a very simple black and white composition. It is such an elegant combination. I stamped the image from Together Forever with Basic Black Craft ink on Whisper White. Then I sprinkled clear embossing powder on it and heat embossed the image. I did the same for Congratulations. That's a tip from a friend of mine - using clear embossing powder with black craft ink eliminates all of those messy black speckles that can happen when you use black embossing powder on white.

PPA1.............

Melon Mambo and Bermuda Bay are terrific colors for summer. Choco- late Chip sets them off perfectly. Adding chocolate to anything never hurts! The Pals design team knew this when they created the first challenge on their brand new site - Pals Paper Arts. It is fun to play at PPA - and this was my interpretation of their very first challenge to use those three colors. I inked the stamp from Kind and Caring Thoughts with markers and stamped it on Very Vanilla. I also used Bermuda Bay Designer Paper and Vanilla Jumbo Brads. The modern label punch and vanilla ribbon helped me finish it off.

Let's Start at the Very Beginning.................

As a brand new Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I was fortunate to sign up under Mary Fish and become part of a terrific group of stampers known as the Pals. They are an amazingly creative - and very entertaining - group of artists! It is because of their enthusiasm and support that I am sloooowly entering blogdom. This site will be a work in progress for a while - I am interested myself to see what it will become! So let's start and see what the summer season has brought...................