Clean & Simple Birthday Card

CAS cards are really my favorite sort to make.  Not a million things to coordinate and arrange, just let the designs of the stamps or papers shine and show their awesomeness!  I love monochromatic cards for this same reason; I won't struggle to get the color combination just so, because it's all blue and white, like Delft china or Wedgewood.

Remember the Top Note Die?  The original stitched edge die by Stampin' Up! Now they're all the rage again, but as Thinlets.  I heat-embossed the flowers from Just Believe in Whisper White, stamped the sentiment from Express Yourself in Night of Navy onto the classic shape cut from Marina Mist card stock.  Of course I used the MISTI to get everything where I wanted it... then a couple of glue dots and white butterflies from the Beautiful Wings embosslit all topped off with two tiny self-adhesive pearls.

This card was created for the Happy Little Stampers July CAS challenge.  Click  to see all the fab creations!

Teacher-themed Card Carrier

I love my kids' schools. So. Much.  Their teachers are just wonderful and I love it when I can find time to make them a gift.   This year, instead of a plain-Jane box of note cards, I wanted to make a case that was just as cute and useful.  I'm glad I stocked up on this Fruits and Flowers DSP while it was still available; the apples with heart-shaped cores are so perfect for elementary-school teachers, don't you think?

Just a little bow to keep the holder closed provides a little embellishment 

without covering too many apples!

Rather than cover any of that adorable pattern, I put an inspirational quote from the Pursuit of Happiness stamp set on the spine of the "book".  I put some sticky strip on the seam between the white and patterned paper so the ribbon would stay covering it.

Inside I made some matching thank you cards and monogrammed note cards.

Also included a few that weren't so teacher-y...

The DSP coordinates with Calypso Coral and Gumball Green, the colored cards are Kiwi Kiss stamped in Old Olive.

Stamp sets:

     Thanks from Perfect Punches

     Swirls from Everything Eleanor

     Thank you from Lacy & Lovely

     Hello from Fresh Vintage

     Monogram from Lovely Letters

I'm going to post a tutorial for the card holder in a day or two.  Pretty quick to put together once I figured all the measurements.  Who would you make one for?

Edited: Click here to go to the full tutorial!

Father's Day Cards That Kids Can Make

Last night I finally found time to craft up some ideas for Father's Day cards that are simple enough for grade-school children to make, and that don't use the Big Shot, since this class is happening in my garage!!  Whenever I'm making cards with kids, I always pull out the long-retired Pun Fun stamp set... cute, colorable, and well-suited to CAS (clean & simple) card designs.  

First, a card for coffee-loving Dads:

Love you a Latte from Pun Fun, cups from Every Little Bit, the largest Circle Punch and Window Frames Framelits (I'll just cut a few before class!)

Next, for the father who is fun:

Pun Fun rocket & Every Little Bit star.

Then I found this adorable dinosaur in a sandbox, and I bought it online, but can't remember the company:

Does Dad brighten your day?

Sun from Every Little Bit and sentiment from a Sale-a-bration set: You Brighten My Day.

Does he mean the world to you?

Uses Chalk Talk, Chalk Borders & Open Sea stamp sets.

Thanks for stopping by!  Please let me know in the comments which one of these ideas you think the dad in your life would really love.

Links to previous Father's Day cards, maybe not as kid-friendly...

Lawnmower Punch Art

Golf Punch Art

Love those tools, handy dad?

Birthday Rocket Boy

I love the old Pun Fun stamp set.  Between myself and my kids, I think it's gotten more use than any other stamp set I own!   Every time I've used the rocket ship stamp, I use a little of this DCWV paper with stars on it, but this time I stamped the "You're a Blast!" greeting as a background on the other half of the card front, and added some shine with a Silver Glimmer Paper star punch.  I'd have liked to have more smaller stars, I think, but I don't trust myself to cut them freehand.

Hope my nephew likes it!

BS&J Take it or Leave it Stamp Off Challenge

Today we're playing along with my talented friends: Buffy, Susan & Jackie (hence BS&J).  Be sure to click the links and check out their creations!  My daughter and I both managed to incorporate ribbon and doilies, but I stopped her before she added cupcake images to the gorgeous card she had made!!  I reminded her that it's Take it or Leave it, so if there was no food, she was okay!!

I used a Stampin' Up! doily Thinlet on So Saffron CS, and glued a couple dozen scraps of Certainly Celery, Midnight Muse and Real Red behind it.  The center is embellished with a retired In-Color Adornment that I have always thought looked like candies, so that is my "food" element!!  The Chocolate Chip card base is embossed with a contraband folder by Tim Holtz and the little sentiment is from Lovely Little Labels (retired).  Most of my colors have food names, though celery with chocolate and saffron probably looks better than it tastes!

DD's card uses Papillion Potpourri and coordinating punch, doily stamp from Petal Potpourri, and sentiment from Chalk Talk (retired).  We both used the same Certainly Celery twill ribbon (retired).  Sorry for the shadows on her card... I'm going to say it's the screen, not that my windows need cleaning!

 Buffy

 Susan 

 Jackie 

Friends 4 Sketch Challenge

Darling Daughter played along with me again today because we ARE Crazy 4 Challenges!  What a great sketch this is!  I notice that the cards I've been making this week seem to use stamps from many sets, so I added the "challenge" that the card I made could only use ONE stamp set!   

Spring inspired me to choose Storybook Friends and this lovely Lost Lagoon DSP from the All Abloom stack.  The mat, ink and ribbon are Soft Suede and the card base is Crumb Cake.

DD liked the sparkle of this retired DSP and we paired it up with some Raspberry Ripple CS.

Serene Lagoon

You know that rare and wonderful feeling when you make a card and it looks just as good in your hand as it did in your imagination?  This is one of those cards for me.  I liked this week's sketch at Mojo Monday, and thought it would look great with the butterfly circle stamp from Serene Silhouettes.  Found a sweet little sentiment in the You're a Gem set that fit inside a circle stamp from Collage Curios... but what about a color scheme?  I had just gotten some cute paper from My Mind's Eye, and it is a near-perfect match to SU! Lost Lagoon and Calypso Coral... and here is the result.  Now to find a worthy recipient!!

Ribbon is Whisper White Taffeta, also from Stampin' Up!