Quarterly Rejects

This week as I have said, I have been working on cards and projects for my Quarterly swaps.  Tuesday I did 2-3 cards that I loved but decided after doing them that they would be too complicated for my Shoebox.  We do a Shoebox Swap on Friday night.  You design a card and put all the materials to make the card in a box for everyone else to make.  Friday night we only have 12 participants but still, we need to get 12 cards made, visit, and snack and still make it to bed at a reasonable hour to get up bright and bushy tailed for the next day of events!

This wa my first reject.  This is a card that was demo-ed on stage during convention and I love it!  The "cake" is 3 Hershey miniatures wrapped in DSP.  I used punches to make the Razzleberry cake stand - Border Punch, Word Window and Oval.  I pulled a thread in the satin ribbon to gather it around the candy.  This would definitely be a card you would need to hand deliver!  It just took too much time and I decided it would not be a good card for the shoebox.

This was the next card that I made.  I embossed the Vanilla cardstock with the Elegant Lines Embossing Folder and then painted the raised lines with Gold Smooch.  I used the Big Shot and Scallop Circle Die for the Early Edition circle that I "smoothed" in gold on the edges.  The Fabulous Florets flower is embossed with Melon Mambo embossing powder and cut out separately.  Again, too much time and tools involved!

This is the card I settled on.  It uses the new Occasions Alphabet.  I have already die cut all the Top Note shapes for everyone and embossed the dots on the white Top Note.  So, basically they have to stamp and put it together!  The paper is from Paisley Prints.  And notice the edge on the white stamped piece?  I used the new Postage Punch to make that!!  I love it when you can do more with a Punch than it's intended use!  The flower is punched with the Triple Layer Blossom Punch.  I punched 4 flowers, spritzed them heavily with water and crumpled them up.  Let them dry a bit; then flatten them back out and put together with a brad.  I did not put them straight on top of each other but instead put every other one slightly to the side of the other one.

This is my Bookmark Card for another swap.  I used the Two Tags Die for the bookmark and just sponged Marina Mist on the bottom and Peach Parfait and Daffodil Delight on top (masking a circle for the sun).  Then I stamped the Sail Away sailboat.  If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you might be able to see how I did the sails.  I stamped them separately onto Vellum, cut them out and turned them over and used a Stylus and a rubber mat to gently rub onto the sails and puff them out.  It really looks cool in person!  This is another great stamp for a great price!!  It is a single stamp in the Summer Mini catalog but will be gone the end of August.  So, if you like it, contact me to order it!!

And finally, my Punch Art Swap!  Good enough to eat, huh?  I used the following punches to make it:

Bun Top:  Extra Large Oval Punch (Crumb Cake)
Bun Bottom:  Word Window
Lettuce:  Blossom Punch (Celery)
Tomatoes:  3/4" Circle Punch (Cherry Cobbler)
Cheese:  Word Window (More Mustard)
Meat:  Modern Label (Choc. Chip)

Well, that it for Quarterly Swaps.  Think I am going to have to shop around for a camera today.  Mine has bit the dust I believe.

Happy Father's Day!

Hope all the Dads out there had a wonderful and restful day.  My hubby did.  He started out talking to Ashley this morning as she wished him a Happy Father's Day.  Of course, no word from our son.  We had an off and on rainy day today so he wasn't able to go out on the boat.  So, he sat downstairs in his chair and watched TV, played games on the computer and read.  Not much more exciting than that, huh?  We are going to go out tonight but don't know if he's decided on that yet or not.  Our options are to go to a Beatles tribute concert at Davidson College or go out to eat with Marianne and her family.  I'm afraid the weather is going to prevent us from going to the concert though.  Here is the card I made for him:

 RECIPE:
Stamp:  Sail Away (Summer Mini)
Paper:  Night of Navy,Red Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Nautical DSP from Summer Mini
Ink:  Night of Navy
Access:  Large & Small Star Punch, Circle Nestibilities, 1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon

inside of the card using the retiring All Holidays stamp.

I also made a card today using a retired stamp - not retiring - but retired as in last year!  I pulled it out by mistake.  But I also wanted to showcase the Triple Layer Snowflake Punch!

A Tree for All Seasons

June Monday Mailers

I have been super busy lately and don't see a break until at least Friday!  I played Mahjong last Friday, Saturday Sonny & I took a drive over to Concord Mills; Sunday we met Marianne for a delicious lunch buffet and then went cruising on the lake.  Monday, I played bridge.  This morning I was up really early (for me!!) and was in charge at the Soup Kitchen.  We served 125 people chicken salad, tuna salad and fruit salad - a great meal for a hot day!  When I got home, I made more chicken salad (I was on a roll!) to take to our Newcomers Bingo for Charity tonight.  My family - mom, 2 sisters and hubby - joined me for a great meal and fun Bingo games.  We weren't lucky at the Bingo games .... until the last one (played 12 games) when my sister, Angela won the "cover the card" grand prize.  She got a $75 gift certificate to The Chop House in downtown Mooresville.  After that, they raffled off the remaining bingo prizes.  Our group did pretty good.  My mom won first and picked out a necklace that she gave to me.  I won next and picked a bottle of Chocolate Wine.  (I've heard it's pretty yummy - I'll let you know.)  Next Sonny won but gave his ticket to Marianne.  There wasn't much left to choose from by that time so she picked a pair of earrings and gave them to me!  So, I did pretty good with bringing home the loot.  Tomorrow I play mahjong and then on Thursday, I have Stamp Club.  Whew!  I have got to find some time to work on my swaps for Convention!!

I've been so busy that I forgot to mail my Monday Mailer on Monday.  I used a retiring stamp - Cheep Talk and made a cute birthday card.  What do you think?

I was also trying to use up some of the retiring DSP.  This paper is from the Hostess 6"x6" stack (In Colors).

RECIPE

Stamps:  Cheep Talk, Party Hearty

Cardstock:  White; In Color Hostess Stack

Ink:  Concord Crush, Brushing Bride, Pear Pizazz, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade

Accessories:  Signa White Gel Pen, Poppy Parade Ribbon, Corner Rounder

This is the Monday Mailer I received last week from Laurie.  It uses the Sail Away set.  I'm so in love with this stamp set!!  And, I love the way she did the birthday sentiment using eyelets and the Bakers Twine!

Let's Get Nautical!

I've been having fun today making cards with my new stuff!!  It arrived on Friday and it just seems one thing or the other kept getting in my way to create.  This morning I drove to town and got my hair cut and when I returned, I was ready!!

I'm loving the Nautical Expedition paper and had a hard time cutting into it!!  But as a friend told me today, I can always buy another pack!!  I need to keep that in mind.  I also received the Beyond the Garden DSP yesterday and ooh, la, la!!  It is gorgeous.

 This card uses The Open Sea stamp set and a small piece of the Nautical Expedition DSP!!

Supplies:

• Paper:   Naturals White, Night Of Navy, Nautical Exp. DSP
• Ink:   Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler
• Stamps:  Word Play, The Open Sea
• Punches:   Circle Punches - 1" and 1 1/4"
• Accessories:  twine, Bakers Twine, Big Shot with Two Tags Die, Blue Eyelet, Red Brads, sponge daubers

These cards are the same except for the sentiment and the button and brad at the top.I stamped the sails onto white card stock and cut them out and stamped the red boat onto a piece of Cherry Cobbler and cut it out.  I raised them up with dimensionals.

Supplies:

• Paper:   Whisper White, Not Quite Navy, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake
• Ink:   Espresso
• Stamps:  Sail Away; Sanded Background stamp, Teeny Tiny Wishes
• Accessories:  Button, Twine, Distressing Tool, Large Grommet; Baker's Twine

Guess you notice the strong resemblance of the Sail Away cards with my Monday Mailer from Becky????  She inspired me.  These will be offered to my stamp club gals on Thursday.