It's Been a While... Again!

As I am getting used to my new schedule with both boys at school this year, I am finding so many things to do! I am not bored at all! But... I have not been blogging, you might say. Well, I have been making cards, though.

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This is a card I made to include in a friend's birthday present. (I made her about 5 cards to use in a gift pack of stationery.) All of you who are familiar with Stampin' Up! colors... this photo shows a little more "red" than Close to Cocoa really is... but I think you get the idea, right?

All Thanks To You

This shows the card I made 12 of to send as "thank yous" for my son's birthday. Love that graphic Stampin' Up! set.

Thank You for the Fun!

Okay... the color on these two photos turned out a little bit different... but the card stock used in both is the same. The bottom photo is the one that looks most accurate to what they were color-wise.

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These are the thank you notes I sent out to my Bigger, Little Man's friends for his birthday party. I just thought it would be cool to share with the families the fun time we had at the party. (I had to do two versions, unfortunately, due to the fact that I did not have all the boys all in one photo at one time. The unfortunate reason being that one little boy got sick and had to leave and the other one showed up later.)

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Anyway... I can never figure out what colors work best with that sage shadow (per Stampin' Up!) green color, so I therefore never use it. I thought I would challenge myself and use it for these cards... grabbed the handy-dandy color wheel (also from Stampin' Up!) and wah-lah!

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Now, can you guess what two little boys in the photos are my two guys? (This is the only time I have shown their faces!) Also... I sent out completely different versions of thank you's for family... and I had a good time incorporating the photos into the cards.

So Very...

... nice of a stamp set!
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I started this card with the ribbon (the white with blue polka dotted strip you see on the card). My mom and pop gave me some ribbon... so I was determined to use it in a thank you card to them. So, what you see is what I came up with. Also, I am having fun with my new scallop circle punch from Stampin' Up! (Heard they are coming out with a scallop border punch soon, too! Excited about that!)

Flowery Thanks

Thanks again to Jaimie (Thanks, Jaimie!) for the layout/folding/cutting idea for this card! I made about 6-8 of these to use as thank you notes for my son's birthday. (If you click the photo, you may see it larger and see that the tab at the top of the pull-out card says, "thanks".) I really enjoyed this pull-out card method and the chance to use patterned papers... which, I suppose, you could stamp something for those areas, too!

Finally! A New One!

Got my "Priceless" stamp set (from Stampin' Up!) and just had to try it out right away. So... this card is not THAT well thought out... but I had fun making it. The hearts are stamped on using white craft ink (Stampin' Up! again) and then I used chalks to apply the color that they are. (Thanks, Jaimie, for the technique idea!) The circles are just stamped on and then additional color was sponged on for a textured look. The words "So Kind" are raised up with a dimensional foam dot. Not much to it, really... and I felt for the longest time that it still looked unfinished... but now I think it is fine for a simple "thank you" card.

More again soon!

Miscellaneous

Here again is my favorite "thank you" stamp... used with a basic background in black and matching gold embossing. (I thought that the backgorund ended up looking a bit like a leopard print!)







Here is that ol' zebra print back again (used it here, too... and then I went to look for more of this paper at the store and couldn't find any! Just goes to show you to buy at least 4 sheets of the stuff the first time! :-) Anyway... this was somewhat successfully adapted from an idea I got out of a magazine (maybe it was Scrapbooks etc.??? I don't remember.)












This is another pocket card (the one I give Jaimie, my Stampin' Up! demonstrator, credit for HERE)... for a brand new baby of a friend. If you click this photo to get a closer view of the card, you can see how I used beads on the flap of the card for some detail.

Running Out!

This card is a direct adaptation from a sample in a Stampin' Up! catalog. I just love these colors together.








This is one stamp that I really like and use a lot to make elegant "thank you" notes. The handmade paper is a favorite, too. Someday (I have have all the tools) I hope to make paper myself... just need to find the time.







I am running out of photos from the archives of old cards I have made. I am going to have to get going on making some new cards! (Actually, I am always making cards here and there... I have just been bad lately about getting them done in time so that I remember to take photos of them before I give them out!)

I will be starting my Christmas cards soon (got the paper to make them just Tuesday night) and those will monopolize much of my time until they are done. I have a pattern all picked out and the assembly should be fairly quick to some cards I have made in the past. So, it should not be too bad. (It never REALLY is TOO BAD since it is doing something I love!!!)