August PL Swaps (Part 1)

I joined a Project Life Swap group on Facebook a few months back and have really been inspired.  Basically every month, the admins post swap themes (8-10 usually).  You sign up for how many you want and commit to making usually 10 cards utilizing the theme.  Before the due date, you send your cards to the swap host.  She collects everyone’s cards, sorts them, and sends you back a packet of cards.

This month, I joined eleven swaps.  I'll be showing four of the swaps today:

Love -- For the love theme, I immediately knew that I wanted to use this heart tree stamp (Michael's).  I found a pretty pink polka paper to be a background and start cutting and stamping.  Then came the hard part: coloring all the hearts.  I took a bunch of my Stampin' Up markers and went to town.  The effect is fun and colorful and I love it!  To help round out the card, I added the love stamp from SU Ciao, Baby (retired) and punched it and some pink paper out with SU Petite Curly Label Punch (retired).  Very clean card, but lots of fun.

Butterflies -- I pulled two random stamps (medallion and "Live") from my non-SU bucket and decided they would work well together.  With added punched butterflies, the stamps actually create a cohesive card.  I stamped the medallion in Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green, or Primrose Petals.  The "Live" sentiment was stamped in Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, and Raspberry Ripple.  I then pulled coordinating patterned papers from the SU Print Poetry DSP Stack (stacked) and punched out big (Elegant Butterfly) and small (Bitty Butterfly) butterflies.  For the finishing touches, I added some coordinating ribbon (mostly scrap pieces) and a jeweled rhinestone. Love this set!

Fall -- Initially I wasn't super excited about making a fall card, but I thought I would challenge myself.  Turns out, I absolutely love this card!  I stamped a leaf design (Michael's) in Baked Brown Sugar as a background.  I then used my alphabet stamps to stamp "fall" in Mossy Meadow on top.  The pumpkin stamp actually had "Happy Halloween" written underneath it.  I masked out the words to stamp just the pumpkin in Early Espresso.  I then colored in the image with Always Artichoke, Early Espresso, Crushed Curry, and Pumpkin Pie.  The pumpkin was then punched out with the Artisan Label Punch.  I layered the pumpkin onto a circle of random paper scrap, added a strip of washi tape (SU retired), and finally added a brad on the pumpkin.  Overall this card looks amazing and very fall without being cutesy.

Washi tape -- For this theme, I decided to go simple but with some extra fun.  I adhered a few strips of washi tape to the base.  I then stamped a few quote bubbles and a camera from the SU Project Life Point & Click Stamp set in Staz-on black ink. Finally I added a small brad in either yellow, blue, or green to help add a bit of embellishment.

May PL Swaps

I joined a Project Life Swap group on Facebook a few months back and have really been inspired.  Basically every month, the admins post swap themes (8-10 usually).  You sign up for how ever many you want and commit to making usually 10 cards making the theme.  Before the due date, you send your cards to the swap host.  She collect everyone's cards, sorts them, and sends you back a packet of card. This month, I joined four swaps:

Yellow -- I used SU's Hip Notes and Petal Parade stamp sets and the Bitty Butterfly punch.  The base cardstock and yellow patterned paper were from my scraps pile.  Very simple card, but lovely.

PL Card Revamp -- The goal was to take existing PL cards and revamp them with embellishments, stamps, paper, etc.  I chose some random 4x6 cards (mostly from Studio Calico kits) and the Vintage Collection Paper stack and started layered.  I also added some pink chevron washi tape and stamps from SU's new PL collection.

Children's Book -- I joined the children's book swap because I immediately thought of my favorite children's book: Alice in Wonderland.  I took a simple quote on a black background and layered some paper that reminds me of Wonderland.  I used American Craft's Galaxy Marker in medium, DCWV's Bewitched paper stack, and SU's Pocketful of Posies DSP (retired).

Butterflies and Ribbons -- For this swap, I challenged myself to use all non-SU stamps, accessories, and papers.  I'm use really trying to use as much non-SU stuff as I can to make room for my growing SU side business.  I took a sentiment stamp from a forgotten set (with peacocks) and combined it with some punched out butterflies and ribbon tassels.  I was going for a fluttering look and they do flutter if you wave the paper around a bit.  I also tried to use paper scraps for the butterflies (a few are slightly different papers because I ran out) and leftover ribbon.  And it change it up a bit, I made five purple and five red cards, just for the variety.  I like how these came out: clean but with a bit of flair.