Crazy for Cupcakes birthday party...

What better way to celebrate Stampin' Up!'s 20 years in business than with a birthday party? And we used the Crazy for Cupcakes stamp set, which is 20% off thru today with a $20 purchase, to make four cards and a gift bag with a tag. This card and the one below were two of the projects.

I think this card would be a great man card. It uses textured Real Red card stock (6" x 6"), a strip of Kiwi Kiss striped grosgrain, a piece of Chocolate Chip card stock, as well as squares of Bashful Blue, Kraft and Kiwi Kiss card stocks. The images were stamped in coordinating ink, then colored in with a VersaMarker.

Finally, the sentiment was stamped in Basic Brown on Whisper White card stock and punched out with the large oval punch. Simple and cute!

Crazy for Cupcakes scallop envelope card...

If you don't own a Big Shot yet, you should! It's so easy to make things like the scallop envelope for this card. I used Bashful Blue designer paper, and added a filigree flower with a silver brad in the middle for some bling.

The sprinkles on the cupcake and the word were inked with Stampin' Write markers. The corners of the Whisper White piece of card stock were punched with the ticket corner punch.

To finish off the card, I used the crop-a-dile to make the hole and set the jumbo eyelet, then knotted a piece of 1/4" Bashful Blue grosgrain through the hole.

Bella Rose Crazy for Cupcakes...

I made this card at my Crazy for Cupcakes Birthday Party yesterday.

As you'll be able to tell from future posts, you can make great guy card with this set, although it seems girly.

This is obviously one of those girly cards. It uses 4 1/4" x 2 1/2" piece of Bella Rose designer paper, with 4 1/4" x 1" pieces of Riding Hood Red card stock on the top and bottom, punched with the scallop edge punch.

The cupcake pyramid was stamped in Basic Black ink and colored in with an aqua painter and pads - Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss and Pink Pirouette, then layered on RHR and Kiwi Kiss card stocks.

Doodle This...

I received this beautiful card from my friend and downline Maria. She used the Doodle This stamp set with some designer paper, a little Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon, and a gold brad.

You could use this style of card with ANY set, which makes it an awesome idea. Stamp random images and color them with a marker of the same color, or a VersaMarker pen. Punch a square out of each one and layer on a Chocolate Chip rectangle, which goes on the card front.

Stamp the greeting of your choice and punch it out with the Word Window punch.

So thank you Maria! I love this card!!!

Season of Simple Grace...

This is a wonderful Christmas card that uses double-stitched Baja Breeze ribbon, ink and card stock, Ski Slope designer paper, and the 1 3/4" circle punch, in addition to the Season of Simple Grace stamp set.

Though one word stamp from the set is stamped on the front, most of the action is inside. I hope you like it!

Winter Post season's greetings...

I love this simple and elegant card created with Winter Post and Lovely as a Tree stamp sets. This is one of the cards we did at the stamp-a-stack yesterday. It is CASEd from Barb at www.barbstamps.com.

The card is Sage Shadow, with 1/4" Sage Shadow grosgrain knotted at the left. A Whisper White Top Note (made with a Sizzix Big Shot) is sponged around with Handsome Hunter ink. The skaters and the greeting are stamped in the same classic ink. Then the skaters were masked so the trees (in Classic Sage Shadow ink) would look like they're behind them.

A Cardinal Christmas cracked glass...

At club this month we used stamps from the Holiday Mini set A Cardinal Christmas. We stamped the bird and words in Basic Gray ink and used an aqua painter and pads (Old Olive, Certainly Celery and Real Red) to color it in.

We used a Pumpkin Pie marker for the beak and a Close to Cocoa marker for the feet.

To do the cracked glass technique, you stamp and color in your image, then cover the entire layer with VersaMark ink and emboss with Glassy Glaze embossing powder. Repeat this three times. When the image cools, you simply bend the card stock to make it crack - it actually makes that sound!

For the rest of the card, we used Ski Slope designer paper at the bottom, with some 5/8" wide Real Red grosgrain on an Old Olive card base.

Both the bird layer and the Chocolate Chip one behind it were punched with the Ticket Corner punch.

The cracked glass technique works best with lined images (not solid), and gives it a vintage feel. Please share your cracked glass cards with me! I'll post them here.

Thoroughly Thankful...

This is a fun seasonal card we made at club this month. The card uses the stamp set Thoroughly Thankful, along with some Autumn Vine designer paper (Holiday Mini), Chocolate Chip card stock and 5/8" wide grosgrain on a Really Rust card base.

After stamping and coloring in the image with markers, I inked the entire thing with a VersaMark pad and embossed it with Irridescent Ice embossing powder for an all-over glittery look.

Both circles were cut out with the Coluzzle, then distressed with a cutter kit. I added paper piercing with the Crafter's Tool Kit on the Chocolate Chip circle and stuck on the layers with dimensionals.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin bread...

By request, I'm posting this recipe. It's absolutely wonderful - and it goes fast!

The original recipe ran in Cooking Light magazine and was modified slightly by my friend Julie C., who shared it with me.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

1-1/3 cups sugar

15 oz can pumpkin

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup fat-free vanilla pudding

4 lg egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1-1/4 tsp salt

2-1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well with a wire whisk. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda, stirring well. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into two medium, nonstick bread loaf pans (8 1/2" x 4 1/2" each). Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack. Remove from pans and cool completely on the racks.

Beautiful Life...

This was my swap for club yesterday. It uses a stamp set on the dormant list called Beautiful Life. I've had it for quite awhile, but this is the first time I've used it. My bad!

The main sentiment is stamped in Basic Gray on Whisper White card stock and layered on Real Red, with a Real Red photo corner and ice circle brad. The photo corner is adhered with a couple dimensionals.

There's a strip of Bella Rose designer paper on the left, with a knot of Certainly Celery 1/4" grosgrain. The daffodil blooms were stamped in Certainly Celery at the bottom of the Certainly Celery card.

Lovely as a Tree...

There isn't a better all-around set than Lovely as a Tree, in my opinion. You can use it for Christmas cards, man cards, sympathy, get well, birthday, thank you and more!

Here, Bea used it for her swap at our club meeting yesterday. The card base is Baja Breeze (love it!), with a piece of Baja Breeze designer paper on top.

The trees were stamped on Whisper White and then glue was added to hold the glitter in place.
The sentiment is from Heard from the Heart.

Punches Three...

Bunny brought this swap to our monthly stamp club gathering Saturday. It uses the level 1 hostess set Punches Three, as well as the mittens stamp from Heritage Holiday.

This is a Real Red card with an inch of the front folded up and attached with eyelets. The sentiment was punched out with the square scallop punch, which is awesome.

Bunny added a piece of Whisper White card stock to the inside, which will really make anything you write POP! She used a Real Red marker on the mittens.

Happy Blessings...

My downline Brandy brought this card as a make & take. We used markers to color in the scarecrow - and everyone did that differently!

I like the addition of the pumpkin, which we stamped and cut out on a separate scrap of Whisper White card stock. It's stuck on there with a dimensional.

September scrapbook pages...

I've made it a goal of mine to scrapbook a 12" x 12" page for each month for both of my kids. These aren't anything fancy. I'm just trying to "get 'er done," as Larry the Cable Guy would say. The pages use only Stampin' Up! products. And my kids love looking back to see what they were doing and when.

On my son's page, I simply used designer paper (Bella Rose) to make a pocket at the bottom with photos and then added a strip at the top with a big silver circle brad to help counter the weight of the three brads at the bottom. The pocket holds samples of my son's schoolwork as a benchmark for starting 4th grade - multiplication problems, math and science work, as well as his writing.

I handwrote my son's height and weight and punched it out with the Word Window punch - another benchmark we keep track of. I used mini glue dots to adhere it to the textured Pacific Point page.

My daughter happened to be the first in her 2nd-grade class to be chosen Star of the Week, so I adhered that informational sheet over a textured piece of Baja Breeze card stock with some Baja Breeze designer paper on the sides. I punched big and small stars from the designer paper, Riding Hood Red and Chocolate Chip card stocks and adhered them with dimensionals. There's a photo corner I punched out of Chocolate Chip and tied a knot of striped Baja Breeze ribbon around it. That's as fancy as I got for embellishments.

These pages are simple so I can keep up with both kids each month. I've found that if I try to make them more elaborate, nothing gets done! I'd love for you to share your scrapbook pages and ideas with me. I'll post them here.

Crab & Company...

This is a tri-fold card I made with the Crab & Company stamp set as a pick-me-up for friends of mine in Florida. They have so many health issues to deal with among many members of their family, including themselves... and all my girlfriend is asking for is beach-themed cards - for her hubby, who's going through dialysis.

If you'd like to make her (and his) day, please mail cards to:

Bob Daniel

223 West Fern Dr

Orange City, FL 32763

Thanks! It only takes a card to touch another life....

Witching You...

Nice kitty.

This is a card I did at a recent workshop. The hostess wanted all Halloween projects. The card is Sahara Sand with a strip of Not Quite Navy and a knot of 5/8" Old Olive grosgrain.

The cat and the words (from the stamp set Haunting Halloween) were stamped in Basic Gray ink. We used Stampin' Write markers to color in the cat, then used a circle I punched out with the 1 1/4" circle punch to cover the head of the cat while sponging around the image with a sponge dauber and Not Quite Navy ink, leaving a nice, white moon.

It's really a simple card that's fun to make!

Home for Christmas...

I could only dream of my front doorway looking as homey as this stamp. It evokes feelings of tradition and of times gone by.

The actual card is Riding Hood Red card stock, with the main image stamped in Basic Brown ink on Kraft card stock. It's layered on Chocolate Chip, with the ticket corner punched on the top only - and torn at the bottom with a knot of Kraft taffeta ribbon as an embellishment there.

The designer paper at the top comes from the Holiday Treasurers package. There are some terrific patterns in there.

A Flower for All Seasons...

A Flower for All Seasons is a terrific little stamp set to cover your basic stamping needs throughout the year!

Louise made this cute little booklet by cutting up some Summer Picnic designer paper and adding an Old Olive card stock cover. She used the Crop-a-dile to punch three holes to the left and set jumbo eyelets. Then she knotted Bashful Blue and Pumpkin Pie striped grosgrain through the eyelets, as well as some 5/8" red grosgrain ribbon.

The image was colored with watercolor crayons and punched out with the scallop circle, then layered on a Real Red circle and Bashful Blue flower from Die-Cut Blooms. These pieces are all textured which is wonderful on projects like this!

Inside, there's room for journaling and wallet-sized photos. A great quick little gift for a friend or teacher or anybody really!

Flower Fancy revisited....

It's nice to have a few of these cards on hand for any occasion. I leave them blank and then stamp the needed greeting when the time comes.

Louise (aka Kim) made this Flower Fancy card with Rose Red and Mellow Moss ink and card stock colors. She cut out a few pairs of leaves and adhered two groups of them with dimensionals for added interest, stamped the flowers in Rose Red in the background and used Mellow Moss 1/4" grosgrain as an embellishment.

Flower Fancy...

Flower Fancy is a great go-to stamp set for quick and easy cards, especially when paired with another word stamp set like Sincere Salutations.

Louise (aka Kim) put together this Mellow Moss card with Basic Black ink, watercolor crayons with an aqua painter, Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon, and a filigree flower with a Rose Red brad in the middle of it.

Also, the background stamp is Pretty Petals. It's not in the catalog, but it is on the dormant list, which means you can order it for $17.95 (item 111008).