Something old and something new...something borrowed

I have been trying to carve out some stamping time and use some of my new goodies as well as some old supplies that needed some serious attention and love.  Here is what I have made.  Most of these are CASed from different blogs and Pinterest boards I look at from time to time.

I hope to showcase some more stuff in a couple of weeks.  I am seriously behind in making cards and gifts for my annual childhood cancer fundraiser that I normally hold in September, as it is Childhood Cancer Awareness month.  I might have to postpone that for the end of September or October.  Life around here just hasn't allowed for much stamping time.  With school starting in a couple of weeks, I don't know how much time I will have to craft as we put together the finishing touches on our new school schedule/classes/routine.  Trying to enjoy these last few days with my sons when we all have lots of free time.

Got my new Papertrey goodies in the mail yesterday and had to play with them.  I have some close friends, who also homeschool their children, and we like to try to get together regularly for coffee or lunch to catch up.  I thought this card would be great to set up a get together date.  A little more personal than a text or email.  

After playing with the Cherry on Top dsp and making some birthday cards, this donut pattern was begging to be made into a donut and coffee card.  "We go together like...coffee and donuts!"  I thought it was clever.  

Another new set of papers and stamps from PTI to celebrate a love of coffee, or we need to get together over a cup of coffee.

I was inspired by Becky Roberts of Inking Idaho blog to make some one sided notecards.  She just posted some she made recently, and I thought I should do the same.  I used up some of my old supplies (Beautiful Blooms dsp and stamps from PTI).  They have been sitting on the shelf for way too long.  I really like how these turned out.  They were a bit time consuming but I made 12 of them. 

Last but not least, I am trying to  wear out the new butterfly dies and stamps, and had to play with the Butterfly Basics s: simple, elegant, and colorful.  I got to use up some DSP from Stampin' UP! that I have been hoarding.  It feels so good to be using my stash.  I am bad at hoarding, buying too much so a lot of it gets neglected, and just not knowing what to do with supplies once I get them.  I know you all can relate to that overwhelmed feeling of having too many choices and projects you want to make.  

That is all for now.  Hopefully I will be back in a couple of weeks with some guy cards (guy beverages to be exact), some kids cards (to encourage them through the school year), and whatever else I can make up.  

My Paper Pumpkin July 2015

So I have been waffling about resigning up for the My Paper Pumpkin monthly subscription program.  Last month's kit took me off the fence and into the yes zone.  It was really pretty and fun, and I wish I had gotten it.  This month, I hit the subscribe button to test the waters again.  It is a mystery as to what Stampin' UP! is going to send out.  I wasn't disappointed in the kit that arrived today.  Super cute coffee themed stamps, which I will add to my collection, and some pretty simple but cute cards too.  I put together 4 cards fairly quickly.  I like them.  I think they could be stepped up a little bit or maybe stamped differently, but for following the directions, they turned out pretty cute.   I am going to play around with the other supplies for the remaining 4 cards and see if I can make a bit more of a wow factor.  All in all, I am happy with the surprise.  I got some cute stamps (love that succulent style plant), and a cucumber crush ink cube (score), so I think it was well worth the subscription.  Can't wait to see what comes next month.

These little beauties are about to become a little birthday gift.  Now to make a gift bag with the gift bag punch board.  

Some cute new cards

I purchased a paper share of the new Stampin' UP! designer series papers.  Yesterday, I got a chance to finally play with them.  The new Cherry On Top papers are super bright and festive for birthdays, but some of the monochromatic prints could be used for other occasions.  I am a little proud of the fact that I didn't copy anyone on these cards.  They are my originals.  Yippee!  I think they turned out pretty nice.  And the festive prints went very well with some of my Papertrey Ink stamps that were needing some love too.

This card uses the new Vegetable Garden papers.  Love the vintage look, and so I busted out my Garden Variety stamps by PTI and my matching SU! papers to make this card.  I am pretty happy with the result.  

This last card doesn't use any dsp, but rather some new stamps from SU! I got for free.  This is the new Watercolor Wings set and I used it for this simple but elegant card.  The butterfly is a three step stamp, and I used Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, and Island Indigo for the layers.  I used the new Mint Macaron color for the accent layer, some espresso bakers twine, and sahara sand for the card base.  I even stamped a little butterfly inside.  There are two sizes of butterflies in this set.  Lovely. Pretty cool, right?  Can't wait to use this in more color combos and layouts.  The sky is the limit.  

Just got my new Paper Pumpkin kit in the mail and will be churning out a few cards here this afternoon as I bake cookies.  Check in later for those creations.

Happy July 4th.

Happy July 4th: Independence Day!  I am still proud to be an American, to belong to the great heritage our Founding Father's set up and fought for.  I sure do pray we can regain that heritage. We are about to lose it forever by allowing our freedoms to be taken away by activist judges and lawmakers.

Here is a card I made to celebrate this day.  Have a fabulous Independence Day!  Enjoy and thank God for your freedom and your American Heritage.  They are gifts from Him.

Stampin' UP! Fresh Prints Card Set

I am trying so hard to be good and use up some of these beautiful designer paper packs I can't seem to resist and then can never figure out how to use up all the papers on cards.  I have been culling the Pinterest boards looking for ways to use up this Fresh Prints Paper Stack.  Here are the cards I have CASE'd so far.  I don't have many Stamping' UP! stamps, so I cull my PTI stamp collection for suitable alternatives.  Sometimes they work just as well, and sometimes they will at least do.   The Fresh Prints stack has some beautiful basic patterns in the red and coastal cabana that I am saving for holiday cards, but I wanted to use up some of these more unusual prints in creative ways.  Hope you like them.

Here is the pretty little "case" I made for the cards.  I dug out one of the My Timeless Templates I bought from Papertrey Ink several years ago.  I have tons of these templates, and I need to use them more.  Super easy and classy packaging.  I used my Clear and Simple Stamps: File It Stationary set for the cool tag that indicates it is a boxed set of 8 misc. all occasion cards.  Nifty, huh?