Feathers and Flowers

Today’s card challenge is to feature one of the great hostess stamps! Hostess stamp sets are those sets that can only be purchased with a $150 order and/or party. They are usually priced below the normal cost and are a great bargain if you love the sets. Here's the 6 stamp sets you can choose from:

Currently, I own two (Feathery Friends and In the City). For today's card, I focused on Feathery Friends. I love stamp sets that I can color, so of course, I had to get this set first! I made a simple grid background of stamped and colored flowers. I added the focal point image of a stamped and colored bird. The focal point really pops due to the stitching around the edge (yeah for the Stitched Shapes Framelits) and being physically popped out using dimensionals. From there I added a simple coordinating bow to tie everything together.

• Stamps: Feathery Friends
• Inks: Basic Gray; PowderPink; Tranquil Tide; Berry Burst; Lemon Lime Twist
• Cardstock: Tranquil Tide; Whisper White
• Accessories: Berry Burst Ribbon
• Tools: Squares Framelits; Stitched Shapes Framelits

Currently

Reading: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. A friend loaned me this series and I finally started reading it. Definitely liking it more than the ones set in modern day.

Watching: We just finished watching the current season of Doctor Who. I really came to love Peter Capaldi's Doctor, but the writing just wasn't up to par this past season. 

Listening: Catching up on some backlogged podcasts. Currently making my way through Best Friend Banter. I don't always agree with them, but they have some interesting discussions. 

Making: I jumped onto the One Bad Mother #teamcake train and made Smitten Kitchen's Summer Strawberry Cake. Oh so good!

Feeling: Things are crazy around here and I'm feeling very stretched in multiple directions. 

Planning: Attempting to finish the summer off right with some more bucket list items checked off. Just need to put them on the schedule.

Loving: I love falling asleep to slightly cool temperatures. Thankfully the days have been warm and the nights have been cool lately.

Summer Stripes

Today’s card challenge is a color challenge. When picking colors, I tend to gravitate toward the Brights Collection. For this card, I tried to use more colors from the Subtles Collection.

While I made a few substitutions for a couple of In Colors (Lemon Lime Twist and Sweet Sugarplum), I kept my card on the pastel side. I ended up pulling out the new-to-me set Thought Banners and created my own banner birthday card for a friend. I love how versatile the message can be with this set. There are so many word options! After adding a little punched banner using the coordinate Duet Banner Punch, my card still felt like it was missing something. So I added a cute coordinating ice cream cone to finish it off!

• Stamps: Thoughtful Banners; Cool Treats
• Inks: Lemon Lime Twist; Daffodil Delight; Powder Pink; Sweet Sugarplum; Pool Party; Basic Black
• Cardstock: Lemon Lime Twist; Pool Party; Whisper White
• Accessories: 
• Tools: Duet Banner Punch; Frozen Treats Framelits

July Crafting Goals

• April PL Pages -- Seriously need to get these done
• June Memory Planner Pages -- Need to continue staying on top of these.
• July and August Classes and Events -- Thinking about doing Bingo in late August or early September. Plus need to schedule a few crop days and regular classes.
• Start curating ideas of Arthur and Quentin's birthday party in early October -- We're going with a pirate theme and I love to Pinterest the shit out of my parties. I need to start pulling together some ideas.
• July's cards and plan for August -- I'm sitting out of the SSINK design team this round but I want to stay crafting. I have a plan for July's posts that I need to complete. And I want to create a plan for August.

A recap of last month’s goals:

• May's Memory Planner Pages -- Success! Done! 
• Project life! -- 50% success. I finished off March's pages, printed some of April's pictures, and started laying it out. 
• Schedule classes and events for June and July -- Fail. This totally fell off my to-do list. Hoping to add some classes and events this week for July and August.
• Finish blog fix -- Success! I finally finished with the Craft blog. Now on to fixing the personal blog.

A Figgy Bow

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a card using my favorite new accessory. These Bitty Bows are just too cute! I had to feature them on a few cards. For this card, I made my own background using these fun swatches from the Playful Backgrounds stamp set. From there, I stamped, colored, and cut out this fun flower. Final touch: The Fresh Fig Bitty Bow!

• Stamps: Birthday Blooms; Playful Backgrounds
• Inks: Fresh Fig; Early Espresso; Old Olive
• Cardstock: Fresh Fig; Whisper White
• Accessories: 20172-109 In Color Bitty Bows
• Tools: Layering Circles Framelits

May Memory Planner Pages

Loving May's pages. They are super colorful and I didn't obsess over filling every tiny bit of white space...

A Powder Pink Bloom

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create an all occasions card. I don't often use the Blooms and Wishes Stamp Set, but it does make a wonderful background. I random stamped the large flower and then filled in the gaps with the smaller pieces. Fom there I added a simple sentiment backed by a doily. As a finishing touch, I added a few pearls as flower centers.

• Stamps: Blooms and Wishes
• Inks: Sweet Sugarplum; Powder Pink; Soft Sky; Pear Pizzazz
• Cardstock: Powder Pink; Sweet Sugarplum; Whisper White
• Accessories: Pearls; Doilies
• Tools: Stitched Shapes Framelits; Ovals Framelits

Sunday Haul #8

Two big deliveries from Stampin' Up! this month. So excited to open these...

• Delight Daisy DSP
• Whole Lot of Lovely DSP
• Fresh Florals DSP
• Be Merry DSP
• Coffee Break DSP
• Coffee Break CS
• Crumb Cake 3/8" Classic Weave Ribbon
• In the City (hostess stamp set)
• Coffee Cups Framelits
• Coffee Cafe Stamp Set

• Eastern Palace DSP
• Naturally Eclectic DSP
• Pick a Pattern DSP
• Just Add Color DSP
• Birthday Memories DSP
• Bundle of Love DSP
• Build a Bike Framelits
• Bike Ride Stamp Set
• Blushing Bride Reinker
• Lemon Lime Twist Reinker
• Pattern Party Decorative Masks
• Embossing Paste
• Palette Knives

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2017 Annual Catalog Swaps

Every catalog launch my demo group and the SSINK design team do a card swap. I love getting some great cards featuring stamps sets and products I don't own. Here's this year's batch of cards!

1st row: Sumaira Qureshi; Nichole Loe @ Scrappy Stamps & Ink; Pamela Wu @ Stinky Tofu; Merit Brown @ MB Squared Stamps

2nd row: Pamela Wu @ Stinky Tofu; Diana Eichfeld @ Stampin' Fun with Diana; Cheryl Hamilton; Stacey Lane @ A Work of Carte

3rd row: Susan Schultz; Carla Branton; Jennifer Stone; Kathy Thisted @ Stamp-a-Blog

4th row: Shirley Griffith; Jennifer Blomquist @ Northwest Stamper; Cathey Autrey @ Maine Mountain Stamper; Christine Szekeres

5th row: Jennifer Gregorsky @ Jenny G Paper Crafts