Because I Care

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I found out yesterday some close friends of ours suffered a miscarriage & immediately wanted to create a card for them to let them know we're thinking & praying for them. I hadn't used the hostess set "Because I Care" in awhile so I dusted it off & started to create.This was cased from a gorgeous card from Tina who posted it on our demonstrator website. I did change mine up a bit though but I think it turned out beautifully. I first stamped the hydrangea with Jet Black StazOn on Whisper White card stock. Using Aqua Painters & Cherry Cobbler ink I colored the entire image. When it was completely dry I used a Blender Pen & some more Cherry Cobbler to darken the shadows. I used a Blender Pen & Certainly Celery on the leaves first & then added Old Olive with a Blender Pen to darken them.. I carefully cut out the entire flower & set it aside. I measured in from all 4 sides of the Whisper White piece of card stock 3/4" & with a pencil lightly drew a frame. I then added large post-it notes around the frame. With a sponge inked with Crumb Cake I sponged the inside of the frame I created with the post-its. After doing that it occurred to me that I could have just as easily cut out a frame to create a mask; live & learn I guess! lol I then stamped the sentiment from the same set with the StazOn & then used my 2-way glue pen & glued the flower to the paper. I didn't think the hydrangea looked like it had enough depth to me so I used the small tip of the Cherry Cobbler marker & darkened the shadows some more. To make it really pop I used my white gel pen to add some centers. Before adhering the panel to the Early Espresso card base I wrapped a piece of 1/8" Early Espresso taffeta ribbon & tied a simple knot. Once the panel was in place I added 3 tiny pearls to it. I am very pleased with the way it turned out & it went together fairly quickly. I hope you enjoy it & have a wonderful weekend.

Blog Award!

Pin It Now! I have been awarded my first blog award & I am really surprised! Alex over at Lex//Art was given the award & was asked to pass it on to 5 people & I am so glad she chose me! Thank you Alex! Go check out her blog; she is super talented with paper crafts & jewelry too :)

Now it is my turn to pass this award on to 5 people; that's difficult to narrow it down since I visit so many different blogs & enjoy every single one of them. Here are my 5 choices:

1. Mary Fish at Stampin' Pretty has very a very clean & elegant style & she frequently posts videos to help everyone achieve that little bit of "wow" to our projects. I love her style & hope you check her out.

2. Michelle Zindorf at Freedom in Creating is the queen of brayering! I would love to be able to attend one her classes someday but for now I have learned some pretty easy techniques from her blog. Because of her I'm not afraid of brayering now lol.

3.Margaret Bussan at Scissors Cut Paper is my upline back in Wisconsin; with out her I don't know where I'd be. She has some amazing ideas too; check her out!

4. Mike Funke at Stampin-Style always has amazing projects & fresh way of looking at things. He always opens my eyes to different & new ways to use stamps; such a refreshing outlook! Make sure you check him out; I know you'll really like him too!

5. Julie Buhler at Paper Pleasing Ideas is so cleverly creative & I just adore her. She can really add pizzazz to her creations & is very talented. I've been a follower of hers for a couple of years now (hope that doesn't make me a "stalker"  lol). Please go check her out, too!

Please take a few minutes to visit each of them; they're all FANTASTIC & in some way each & every one has inspired me in some way. Thanks for visiting my little 'ole blog & I hope you have a terrific day!

SALE-A-BRATION

Pin It Now! Stampin' Up!'s annual SALE-A-BRATION event starts today! Now until March 31, 2011 earn FREE products with every $50 purchase! You don't want to miss out on this fantastic event! Click HERE to visit my online store to learn more or simply click on the Sale-a-bration icon on the right. Have a stamp happy day!

Stamp Camp project

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My apologies for not posting more regularly. Last week I was getting ready for the Valentine Stamp Camp that happened yesterday. We had a lot of fun & are already looking forward to the Stamp Camp in February. Today's post is one of the cards we did yesterday. Very simple yet elegant. We used Riding Hood Red & a bit of Basic Black for the sentiment. The small hearts are punched with the Small Heart punch & popped up with dimensionals. The image is from the set "Elements of Style"; who know it could look so pretty by itself!? We used the Scallop Trim Border punch to create the small panel of Riding Hood Red. To really make it elegant we tied a piece of Whisper White Organza ribbon around the panel. This card was quick & easy to put together & who doesn't like that!? I hope you enjoyed today's card. I will be sharing the other projects we did over the next several days so please be sure to check back to take a look. Thanks for looking & I pray you all have a wonderful week!

Many inspirations

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For this particular card there were a couple of different things that I used for inspiration. I saw a card here last week & watched the tutorial on how to create the animal print background; super easy! To be honest I'm not a huge fan of animal print; however I bought a new canvas tote a few days ago to set on my craft table & it just so happens that it's a black & white zebra print & hot pink on the inside. One of my friends has a birthday this week & she LOVES animal print so I decided to make her a card with a little bit of animal print going on. While re-organizing the office/craft room I realized I have A LOT of hot pink & black accessories & that's the reason why I chose to pair Melon Mambo with Basic Black for my friend's b-day card. I used 3 different stamp sets here: Tote-ally Tess, Birthday Bakery, & Occasional Quotes. The last 2 mentioned are Hostess sets which you can earn for FREE so please email me to find out how easy that is! I used the gift bag image from the Birthday Bakery set & carefully cut it out so I could drape it over her arm. I then used one of the cupcake images from the same set & cut that out so I could make Tess carry it for special delivery. :) The sentiment is from the set Occasional Quotes. The sentiment, Tess, cupcake, & gift bag are all popped up using dimensionals. It was missing a little something so I added 2 tiny pearl "buttons" & the pearls at the bottom right. I had a lot of fun making this & I may have just become an animal print gal in the process! :) Thanks for looking; have a great day!

Teenagers!

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You would think that having a teenage son myself & having 7 nephews I would be pretty good at coming up with appropriate cards for them....well I still struggle with it. As they get to be teenagers I tend to really struggle since I don't want their cards to be too "manly" or too "little boy". (Does that make sense?) Stampin' Up! has 5 single stamps that are PERFECT for teenagers; I have 3 of the stamps so far myself. For my nephew's 15th birthday I used the stamp "Extreme Skateboard". I stamped it first using Whisper White Craft ink. When it was completely dry I stamped the image again using Night of Navy Classic ink, off-setting it some to create a shadow effect. (I saw this done somewhere else but I can't seem to find it now) I also used a piece of Night of Navy designer paper (this one happens to be retired though) before mounting the main image with dimensionals. The simple sentiment is from the set "Upsy Daisy" & stamped in Night of Navy. I like how it turned out & hope he likes it too ;) 

Another challenge to try

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A few days ago I participated in my first color challenge & since it was so much fun I decided to try the Mojo Monday sketch this week too! This Mojo173 sketch was actually pretty easy for me to visualize since I've had hearts dancing in my head for awhile now. I didn't want to use typical Valentine's Day colors so I opted for Perfect Plum, Blushing Bride, Sahara Sand, & Very Vanilla. This way the card can be used for an anniversary card or wedding card. I used the Big Shot again (I don't know what I did without it before) & ran a piece of Very Vanilla through using one of the Texturz plates. I also ran some Blushing Bride card stock through the Big Shot using a different background from the same set, "Backgrounds 1" & the punched out 3 hearts using the Heart punch. The sentiment is from the Hostess set "Occasional Quotes". I used a technique I first saw on Michelle Zindorf"s blog: ink up the image with VersaMark ink pad first; immediately ink it up with the color of your choice. THEN stamp the image on your paper & cover with clear embossing powder. I use this technique often since I don't have Craft ink pads. For some added bling I used 2 Basic Rhinestones to finish it. Thanks for looking & have a great day!

My first color challenge!

Pin It Now! I came across the Pals Paper Arts color challenge today (PPA76) & I knew I wanted to play along today. I've been following Mary Fish over at Stampin Pretty for quite some time now but have never done one of the challenges. Since this is a new year I've decided to make a point of going ahead & challenging myself. The color challenge this week uses Baja Breeze, Perfect Plum, & Pear Pizzazz. I've been working on Valentine's Day projects lately & had the stamp set "Greeting Card Kids" laying around; I picked up the little cutie & decided to do a non-traditional Valentine's Day card. I practiced my water coloring on her & sponged the edges of the water color paper in Perfect Plum. After I had everything ready to attach to the card I realized it was kind of missing something....so I ran the Perfect Plum card base through the Big Shot using the Square Lattice textured embossing folder. I think it ties in the Pear Pizzazz designer series paper quite nicely; what do you think?

Here it goes...

Pin It Now! Hello stamping friends! I'm very excited to begin this blog & to start sharing my love of stamping with all of you, however I don't have everything quite figured out yet. I will be adding things as I think of them or figure out how so please forgive me if it doesn't look like much of anything right now :). I appreciate you baring with me.
For my very first post I'd like to share with you one of the projects we'll be doing at my Valentine's Stamp Camp on Jan. 23. If you're in El Paso please email me if you're interested in attending. The cost to make 10 cards (5 different designs, 2 of each) is $20 OR FREE with a $50 order. The cost includes all the card stock, inks, envelopes, stamps. I only ask that you supply your own adhesive. Visit my website at www.sarahgoke.stampinup.net to order online or email me at gokesl@hotmail.com & I'd be happy to help or answer any questions.

For this project I used the Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine that my parents surprised me with for Christmas. It also uses the Elegant Bouquet textured impressions Embossing Folder. This card would make a gorgeous wedding card using the couple's wedding colors as well. I saw a card done on a demo-only website by Brenda Keenan www.keenankreations.blogspot.com. I used Rich Razzleberry card stock instead of Real Red that she used & the stamp is from the Hostess set called "Occasional Quotes". Contact me today to find out how you can earn Hostess sets & more for FREE!

I hope you enjoy following along on this adventure of blogging. Please leave a comment; I'd love to hear from you & get to know you. Have a wonderful day my friends!