Constantly Stamping

CASEing Deborah Saaranen

I have been thinking about CASEing this fantastic card that I found on Splitcoast a while back but never got around to it. I didn't have any buttons that would work, so I had to put my spin on things. I used ribbon and flowers punched out with my sizzlet die to make this adorable card for a friend's belated birthday.

This card is 100% Stampin' Up! I used Sweet Slumber Specialty Paper, one little square of Parisian Breeze Specialty, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, and So Saffron Card Stock. I punched the leaves from some Old Olive scraps that I had laying around. I am very pleased with the results. It doesn't have the same "Little House on the Prarie" look that Deborah's card has, but I think it still looks nice.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Supplies
Stamp Set: All Holidays
CS: Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Old Olive
DSP: Sweet Slumber & Parisian Breeze Speciality DSP
Ink: Riding Hood Red Classic
Accessories: 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" Square Punches, Riding Hood Red 5/8" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Pearls from Pretties Kit, Dimensionals, Birds & Blooms Sizzlit, Big Shot Die Cutting Machine

Thank You Card from Carol Guerard

Look at this cute Thank You card that I received in the mail yesterday from Carol Guerard. Some of you may remember that Carol was the winner of my recent blog candy. Isn't this just the cutest card. I love the way she used the twine to dangle her sock monkey and the way she cut out the bananas and popped them off the page. Carol, I hope you don't mind that I shared your wonderful creation!

I'll have a card to share with you tomorrow morning. I have nephews due in at the airport in a few hours and lots to do to get ready.

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #19

Happy Memorial Day! I hope you and your family will take a few moments and ponder the meaning of today and how many men and women have sacrificed their lives for our freedom. Let us not forget.

If you have been following my blog, then you know that rarely do I miss the opportunity to participate in Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge. This week is no exception. For some reason this card was a little bit more of a challenge for me...maybe because it was a holiday weekend and there are tons of things going on here...maybe I am just bored with my paper and stamp sets and just couldn't find anything that "fit" the sketch. Sometimes it helps if I look at a sketch from a different angle. I turned the sketch on its side and things just seem to make sense. I have been feeling guilty that I have so much product that goes unused at the end of the catalog year, so I decided to pull out some of my rub-ons and see if anything appealed to me.

This card uses a standard 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" Chocolate Chip CS base with a slightly smaller layer of Riding Hood Red CS that I embossed with a Cuttlebug dotted swiss embossing folder. I took my color cues from the rub-on and layered Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip and Riding Hood Red CS along with a small strip of Pumpkin Pie DSP. I added some large designer buttons from the Latte collection and attached them using mini glue dots.

Knight in Shining Armor Fathers' Day Card

The other day I mentioned that I might be making a Father's Day card using the Build-a-Fairytale kit. Well, here it is and it turned out even better than I had expected. I plan to give this card to my hubbie for Father's Day. I think it is the perfect card for him since he is a Lt. Colonel in the Army National Guard. I am so proud of him and of his accomplishments. He really is my "knight in shining armor"!

The card base is a standard 5-1/2"x4-1/4" made from Taken with Teal CS. I layered it with Bordering Blue CS and then with some Urban Garden DSP. I used the Bigz Top Note Die with Old Olive and Barely Banana CS to give the look of a coat of arms that was super simple to make. The suit of armor is really easy to assemble. I used a sanding block to remove all of the little nubs from the edges and assembled it using mini glue dots and dimensionals. I used Chit Chat rub-ons for the sentiment. The sword is the best thing about this card. I used some of the silver metallic mylar tape that I got from The Tape Depot to really make the sword come to life. I know it is difficult to see in a photo but I am here to tell you that it looks incredible with the shiney sword. To finish off the regal look I added some little silver droplets that I purchased from Michael's Arts and Crafts.

I didn't have a stamp that came anywhere close to expressing what I wanted for the inside, so I used my computer and printed what I had in mind.

Something to keep in mind...there are actually two sets of armor in the kit, so you can use one for a scrapbook page embellishment and still make a fun card with the other. There is only one sword in the kit, but that didn't matter because I used the sword  as a template, traced it onto a scrap cs and then added the mylar tape. I also cut the handle from some scrap card stock and layered over the sword. Order your kit from me today. Just visit my online store or send me an email to connie@constantlystamping.com.

Echoes of Kindness Bella Birds Card

Things are really busy around here. We have been working to put some of the finishing touches on our basement (yeah) and trying to work outside in the yard too. Today we pulled the cover off our pool only to discover the liner had torn over the winter. So now we have to order a new one and get it installed ASAP. We were hoping to have it ready for Memorial Day, but it doesn't look like that will be happening. We don't have a very big pool, but it is in ground and it's just the right size for our little family of three.

Although things are so busy here, I wanted to take time to share a quick card that I made the other day using Bordering Blue CS, Bella Birds DSP, and Echoes of Kindness & Great Friend Stamp Sets. This card started out to be totally different and evolved into this. It's not my most favorite card I have ever made, but I thought I would share it anyway.

And the Winner of the Blog Candy is...

Congratulations to Carol Guerard. You are the winner of the ATG Tape Dispenser from The Tape Depot. Carol, please contact me with your mailing address so that I can get your tape dispenser in the mail to you.

I really enjoyed reading all of your comments. I wish I had more tape dispensers to give away. If you would like to purchase one of these tape dispensers, you can visit The Tape Depot website or visit their Ebay store for some great starter packages.

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #18

This week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge by Karen Giron was very easy for me to work with. I created a  4-1/4" square card base using Chocolate Chip CS. Then I layered on some Parisian Breeze Specialty Paper. I used "Great Friend" stamp set from the Occassions Mini catalog stamped in Chocolate Chip. I really like this stamp set alot! It is very easy to make great looking cards with it!



This card is what I would call a step-it-up card. You could stop with just the greeting and leaves, or you can choose to stamp the butterfly in Baja Breeze ink and cut it out. That looks great too, but I decided to take it one step further and add some pearls to really pretty-it-up some more. I think this would be a really good workshop card. If your customers don't like to cut out images, then they could just stamp the butterfly directly on the cs or leave it off completely and still have a great looking finished product. For some reason the butterfly looks like a different shade of blue, but in real life, the ink is a fairly close match to the card stock.

Build-a-Fairytale Castle Card

I recently ordered Build-a-Fairytale die cut kit and finally sat down to play with it to see what I could come up with. This kit really appealed to the little girl in me. I have always been fascinated with paper dolls and princesses and such and this kit gave me the opportunity to have a little fun. While most of the kit is very easy to work with, I will honestly have to say the some of the smaller pieces of this kit (i.e. the horses and carriage) are very delicate.

I started this card with a 6"x6" card base made with Taken with Teal CS. I layered on Baja Breeze CS (5-3/4"x5-3/4") and then some "cloud" CS from Sweet Slumber Specialty (5-1/2"x5-1/2"). From there I just layered all the pieces from the Build-a-Fairytale kit using lots of dimensionals to give each layer lots of lift. For the greeting I used "Elegant Thank You" in Old Olive Ink and layered on Baja Breeze CS that was cut with the additional elements on the Matchbox Die.

There are only enough of each element in this kit to make one card like this, but there are lots of other fun things you can make. I can see a Cinderella scrapbook page as well as possibly a Father's Day Card (wink) in the future. For only $8.95 it is a great value and lots of fun for all of you ladies who are kids-at-heart!

Cherished Scrappin' Card

I know, I haven't been as timely with posting new projects as I normally am, but now that my DH has returned home from his active duty course at Ft. Gordon, we have many projects around the house that need to be taken care of. Lots of spring cleaning and outdoor yard maintenance going on around here. We have spent the last two days crawling around in our blackberry vines pulling out dead vines so that the new crop of berries will be easier to manage. We even found a sweet little birds nest with little baby birdies in it. We were careful not to disturb the nest once we realized it was there and it looks like things are still OK.

If you asked me where the idea for this card came from, I really couldn't tell you. Actually, I finally had a chance to sit down at my stamping table to create a card for a sketch challenge and one thing led to another and there you have it.

This card has a standard 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" Chocolate Chip CS as its base with the front completely covered with Chocolate Chip Dotted Swiss DSP from the Bella Rose collection. The band across the bottom is also from Bella Rose. I used a rectangle from the Sweet Nothings Simply Scrappin' Kit to layer the flower image. The flower is the Echoes of Kindness hostess set stamped in Basic Black ink and colored using a blender pen and Riding Hood Red & Kiwi Kiss ink. I used the Oval All stamp set for the greeting stamped in Riding Hood Red ink and punched out with the oval scallop punch. I word "cherish" is a self-adhesive die cut also from the Sweet Nothings Simply Srappin' kit.

Mother's Day Card

I wanted to share with you the card I made for my mom for Mother's Day. I don't usually have the opportunity to see my mom on Mother's Day since she lives kinda far away. But this year she and my dad were here in Tennessee visiting and I actually got to see her and spend some time on the Friday before Mother's Day. That was really neat!

Mom checks out the blog on occasion, so I wanted to do a special card just for her. Here I started with a 5 1/4" square card made from Basic Black CS. Then I added a 5"x5" layer of Gingham Parisian Breeze Specialty Paper. Then a 2"x5" strip of dotted DSP from the same collection. I cut an oval using my Sizzix large oval that I purchased from Joann's (note: this oval is smaller than the one sold by SU). I stamped the flowers from the Echoes of Kindness hostess set in Basic Black ink. I used a blender pen to outline the image with Sahara Sand ink.  I used Baja Breeze and Mellow Moss ink to color the flowers.  I added some dotted accents with my Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker. The words "family" and "just for you" are rub-ons from "Cherished Memories" (retired).