- Stamps: In the City
- Inks: Pacific Point; Early Espresso; Lemon Lime Twist; Blushing Bride; Soft Sky; Real Red; Pumpkin Pie; Sweet Sugarplum; Rich Razzleberry; Daffodil Delight
- Cardstock: Birthday Memories; Daffodil Delight; pacific Point; Whisper White
- Accessories:
- Tools:
Currently
Reading: Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. Our book club selection for July. I'm almost finished with the book and I started the TV series. Hoping to finish the TV series by Sunday to discuss at club.
Watching: Still watching The Bachelorette! We're down to the last three.
Listening: Attempting to catch up with some backlogged podcasts. This week I'm tackling the forty odd back episodes of What Should I Read Next? I love hearing book discussions and getting some suggestions for my own TBR pile.
Making: I'm starting to plan my fall Stampin' Up Bingo Party (RSVP by August 19th the event on Sept. 2nd). I love creating a secret Pinterest board to gather my ideas. I also created a board for the boys' 1st and 4th joined birthday party. We're doing a pirate theme this year.
Feeling: So so tired... The baby has been waking up really early in the morning and I'm so not on board with this.
Planning: The twins will be going back to Indiana in less than two weeks. In the meantime, we have a few more activities to occupy our days. But I need to be thinking of what they need for school. We have most of the wardrobe taken care of, just need a few pieces. We need to focus on school supplies.
Loving: I've made Smitten Kitchen's Strawberry Summer Cake (#teamcake for OBM!). The other day I wanted to make it, but our strawberries were already moldy. Thank goodness we had a few plums laying around. I made it with plums and the cake was just as good. Yum yum!
Bloglovin' Claim
Layered Circles
Today's card is another one of my fabulous $2 cards! Somehow I used all the of pink and purple DSP from the Blooms and Bliss DSP pack, but left all the blue and green DSP. So I looked on Pinterest for some interest design ideas of a DSP focus and found a great idea using nested circles. I love the pattern play and coordination of this card. So cute!
- Stamps: Dragonfly Dreams
- Inks: Island Indigo
- Cardstock: Blooms and Bliss DSP; Mint Macaron; Whisper White
- Accessories:
- Tools: Circle Framelits
Sweet Little Cupcake Girl
Today's challenge was to use something that isn't my first choice. Everyone who knows me, knows I'm not big on the more cutesy papers and stamp sets. I tend to lean towards the geometric or floral patterns. So the Birthday Memories DSP pack is not one of my go-tos. I had some leftover from my paper share, and I challenged myself to use it in some way. I came up with this sweet little cupcake girl card! The little girl framed by cupcakes just begged to be die cut using the Oval Framelits. After creating the focal point of the card, I turned to the fun new embossing paste. In fact, this was the first card I made using the new embossing paste. I added a bit of Blushing Bride ink to the paste to create a fun diamond textured background. After a bit of practice, I've really gotten the hang of the embossing paste. Such a fun new tool!
- Stamps: Four You (retired)
- Inks: Real Red; Blushing Bride
- Cardstock: Real Red; Blushing Bride; Whisper White
- Accessories:
- Tools: Oval Framelits; Pattern Party Decorative Masks; Embossing Paste
Lift Me Up Peach
Somehow I have a ton of Carried Away DSP left over from Sale-a-Bration. And yet I love this paper! It's just so whimsical with the wonderful hot air balloon patterns. For today's card, I used my Playful Backgrounds Stamp Set to make my basic card base a bit more interesting.
- Stamps: Playful Backgrounds; Happy Happenings
- Inks: Peekaboo Peach; Watermelon Wonder
- Cardstock: Carried Away DSP; Peekaboo Peach; Whisper White
- Accessories: Peekaboo Peach Ribbon (retired)
- Tools: Triple Banner Punch; Circle Framelits
Faux Patina
Today’s card challenge is a technique! I choose to attempt my hand at the faux patina technique. While this technique is more involved than some others, it's really not that hard to accomplish. I found a great tutorial here.
I ended up with a more colorful background than the card in the tutorial, but I love the peeks of color I get with this card. As I wanted the technique to be the focus of the card, I kept my embellishments to a minimum. I added a simple banner sentiment with coordinating cardstock banner put together with a brad. (Side note: Why did I stop using brads? I love how they look on cards. I need to make a mental note to use them more often...) I ended up sending this to my father-in-law for Father's Day last month. The ladies of stamp club made this in June and I loved seeing the varied results. Some chose a different metal (pewter, copper, or silver), some changed up the background color, and some changed the sentiment. I love when they made the cards their own!
Detail of the heat embossing
- Stamps: Pieces and Patterns
- Inks: Tranquil Tide; Crumb Cake; Early Espresso; Marina Mist; Wild Wasabi; Pumpkin Pie
- Cardstock: Tranquil Tide; Very Vanilla; Kraft
- Accessories: random brad
- Tools: Hexagons Embossing Folder; Gold Embossing Powder
Work of Hearts
Another fun and simple $2 card for July's classes. I pulled out my much neglected Work of Art Stamp Set and created this two layer card featuring some retired colors. I loved the 2013-2015 In Colors and every once in a while I pull them out to use again!
- Stamps: Work of Art; Four You (retired)
- Inks: Sweet Sugarplum; Strawberry Slush (retired); Crisp Cantaloupe (retired); Pistachio Pudding (retired); Coastal Cabana (retired)
- Cardstock: Strawberry Slush (retired); Whisper White
- Accessories:
- Tools:
PP352: A Purple Celebration
As part of my monthly challenge, I want to participate in other card challenges I find out in blogland. For today's card, I found this great color challenge at The Paper Players:
I started with this fun piece of ombre DSP out of the Color Theory Stack. I love this design! From there, I pulled out the Cool Treats Stamp Set to make a fun little ice cream cone and sentiment. After laying out my ice cream and sentiment banner, I needed some shine or shimmer. Metallic foil doilies to the rescue! The big gold doily was perfect to layer behind the sentiment banner. And yet, I was still missing something. I finished off my card with some gold enamel shapes. Perfect!
- Stamps: Cool Treats
- Inks: Sweet Sugarplum; Berry Burst; Rich Razzleberry; Crumb Cake
- Cardstock: Color Theory DSP; Berry Burst; Whisper White
- Accessories: Metallic Doilies; Metallic Enamel Shapes
- Tools: Frozen Treats Framelits
Butterfly Birthday
Throughout the month of July, I'm featuring $2 cards! I have a mix of offerings with previously featured cards and some new cards. Today's card is one of the new examples. I have a few bits of this DSP laying around and found the perfect way to use it!
- Stamps: Better Together
- Inks: Bermuda Bay
- Cardstock: Cupcakes and Carousels; Bermuda Bay; Daffodil Delight; Very Vanilla
- Accessories:
- Tools: BoldButterfly Thinlits