Courage for Man Card Monkey Challenge 58

There's a story behind this week's A La Card Monkey challenge card. It's for my nephew, who is a Marine recently injured by an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) in Afghanistan. I only have sketchy information - he was seriously injured on May 22 and went through surgery for internal injuries, he was moved to Germany on May 24, and had another surgery May 26. He is now in Bethesda, MD, and able to joke, which is a great sign. My niece flies out tomorrow morning from California to be with Russell. We're praying he recovers, and we're praying for Jordan to be strong. Both are young, she's 21 and he'll turn 21 next month.

So the stamp set is Courage. I think it fits Russell very well. He is upset about having to leave "his guys" over there. The sentiment is from Occasional Quotes, a Level 3 hostess set. The Man Card theme and sketch come from Monkey Challenge 58 shown below:

Create your own Man Card and upload it to http://alacardmonkey.blogspot.com/.

10 card class: From A Good Egg and Inspired by Nature, to Aviary and Herb Expressions...

I hosted a 10-card class with these five card designs. Above, A Good Egg with some Tangerine Tango dsp (from the Brights pad), 5/8" Old Olive satin ribbon and faux stitching (paper piercing holes first then connecting them with a white gel pen). I saw a smaller card like this on Diana Gibbs' blog.

Inspired by Nature has always been one of my favorite sets, but I haven't used it for months! We used Old Olive, Poppy Parade and Early Espresso markers to ink up the stamp. The sentiment is from the Level 3 hostess set Occasional Quotes. The rubber was resisting the Poppy Parade ink, so while my flower looks a bit mottled, I used an adhesive eraser on the rubber that worked wonders for my customers! The ink went on smoothly.

I started with the flower pattern from the Pawsitively Prints II dsp pack and added the Poppy Parade ribbon and butterflies. The smaller butterfly and curly sentiment are from Flight of the Butterfly. The big butterfly is from Butterfly Prints. Of course the big butterfly had to have a big rhinestone on it!

I cut a half-inch from the top right of this card, then used the Scallop Border Punch and ran it through the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. There's a 1-inch strip of Sweet Stitches dsp adhered inside the card. I used the 3" circle die for the Big Shot for the front layer, stamping the cage and bird from Aviary. Everyone could select a sentiment from Teeny, Tiny Wishes.

I started with Lap of Luxury dsp on this Easter card. The sentiment is from Something to Celebrate, a Level 2 hostess set, and the main stamp set is Herb Expressions. This card also uses the Scallop Trim Border Punch and 3/8" Pretty in Pink taffeta.

Embossed Love Letters dsp...

Stampin' Up! offers such great embossing folders, it's hard to resist using them on everything!

Here, I started with a Very Vanilla card and added a layer of Riding Hood Red card stock that's been run through the Big Shot in the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.

I used the 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Punch with Very Vanilla card stock for the flower, running it through in the Polka Dot Embossing Folder.

The center of the flower is a 1-3/4" circle punched from Love Letters dsp. The stem is a strip of Old Olive, with a knot of 5/8" Old Olive satin ribbon for leaves.

The sentiment comes from the Level 3 hostess set Occasional Quotes. It was punched with the 1-3/4" x 7/8" large oval punch and layered on an oval scallop.

Stamps: Occasional Quotes (free with $500 party/order, Level 3 hostess);
Ink pad: Riding Hood Red (111836);
Card Stock: Very Vanilla (101650); Riding Hood Red (111348), and Old Olive (100702);
Accessories: 1-3/4" x 7/8" Oval Large Punch (119855), 1-3/4" Circle Extra-Large Punch (119850), Scallop Oval Extra-Large (119884), 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Extra-Large Punch (118874), Square Lattice Embossing Folder (119976), Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder (117335); and 5/8" Old Olive Satin Ribbon (117292).

Occasional Quotes with Greenhouse Gala dsp...

When you need a quick card this one fits the bill. I punched Greenhouse Gala dsp with the 1-3/8" square punch, adhered it to a rectangle of Marina Mist, and used the Scallop Trim Border punch on the bottom.


That's 1/8" Early Espresso ribbon knotted around the layer. Cute, eh?


The phrase is from the new Level 3 hostess set Occasional Quotes. I love the variety of words!

Artistic Etchings in Newsprint...

I love, love, love the new Newsprint designer paper available in the new catalog. There are gorgeous designs in black and white that will make any of your projects "pop."


For this Whisper White card, I used a 3" x 3" piece of Newsprint, a 5/8" Basic Black grosgrain knot, and the round stamp from Artistic Etchings punched with the Scallop Circle with a jumbo eyelet in the center.


"I'm here for you..." is from a new Level 3 hostess set called Occasional Quotes.