This week's cards

Hello and welcome back! This week started out happy, with news that my niece gave birth to a darling baby boy, but quickly turned sad when I learned of the passing of two friends' parents and a long-time member of my church. The new baby card will wait until I finish the framed art piece I'm making, but I'm sharing the sympathy cards today, along with a birthday card I made for my husband's aunt.

First, the birthday card:

This particular aunt has been a prolific artist in her own right, creating oil paintings for just about everyone in the family. She has moved on to watercolors and does beautiful work. I wanted to make something that honors her artistic talent, and the My Meadow stamp set allowed me to created something that looks like watercolor without all the work!

I even decorated the envelope.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon making sympathy cards. Not my favorite way to spend the day, but unfortunately necessary.

This card was inspired by a sample in the January - June 2020 Catalog. The sample is a treat bag, but I used a retired background stamp as a substitute for the bag. It's stamped with Versamark and embossed in copper, but it's hard to see in the photo. I did a watercolor wash on Shimmery White cardstock before die cutting the pieces for the flower (except for the poppy outline and the flower center).

This card was inspired by a sample in the 2018-2019 Annual Catalog. The catalog sample was a small square card, but I used the entire panel of retired Graceful Glass Vellum to create the card front. It's colored with Stampin' Blends. I also added the die cut on the side and wove retired Certainly Celery Grosgrain ribbon through it for an added accent. The butterfly on the envelope was also colored with Stampin' Blends. I put a piece of cardstock inside the envelope before coloring to prevent bleed-through from the markers.

That's it for today. I'm getting ready to start on my March birthday and anniversary cards after sending the last of my February cards this morning. Total for the month includes 22 birthday cards, 3 anniversary, 3 get well, 4 sympathy, and 20 Valentines for my co-workers. March will be even busier!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi



Supplies used (all Stampin' Up!):

Birthday card --
Stamp set - My Meadow
Paper - Whisper White, Basic Gray, Pool Party, and Crumb Cake cardstock
Ink - Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Granny Apple Green, Basic Gray, Real Red, and Pool Party
Tools - Stampin' Dimensionals, SNAIL

Poppy sympathy card --
Stamp set - Peaceful Moments, Pretty Pattern (retired)
Paper - Whisper White Thick Cardstock; Whisper White, Shimmery White, Crushed Curry, Basic Black, and Poppy Parade cardstock
Ink - Poppy Parade and Old Olive
Tools - Big Shot, Poppy Moments dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, Aqua Painter, 3/8" Circle Punch, Heat Tool, Copper Embossing Powder, Multi-purpose Liquid Glue, SNAIL, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

Stained glass sympathy card --
Stamp set - Painted Glass
Paper - So Saffron, Basic Black, and Whisper White cardstock, Graceful Glass Designer Vellum (retired)
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Coloring Tools - Stampin' Blends: Pumpkin Pie Light and Dark, Night of Navy Light and Dark, Balmy Blue Light and Dark, Flirty Flamingo Light and Dark, Old Olive Light and Dark, Daffodil Delight Light
Accessories - Certainly Celery 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon (retired)
Tools - Big Shot, Stained Glass dies, SNAIL, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots

Some Special Birthday Cards

Hello and welcome back! I've been doing a pretty good job of keeping up with cards so far in #imbringingbirthdaysback. In my last post I showed you the cards I'm sending for February, but there were a couple of birthdays that I wanted to do something special for, so here's what I made:

One of my high school friends is a beekeeper, so I CASEd this card from the current Sale-A-Bration brochure. I'm so thankful that Stampin' Up! provides us with "recipes" for the samples in the catalogs. I didn't change anything in this card, just copied it straight from the book. A handy tip: for the "honeycomb," I adhered the cardstock to a piece of a multi-purpose adhesive sheet before die cutting. It's much easier and neater than trying to use glue on such a finely detailed piece.

Another one of my friends is turning "eligible for Medicare" this month, so that called for a special card too. She and her husband have the most beautiful gardens in the spring and summer, so I thought this would be appropriate.

This card is CASEd from the January-June Mini Catalog, but I did make a couple of changes. I didn't have the embossing folder used in the sample, so I had to substitute another. Also, it's hard to see the white ink that was sponged onto the background, but it's there. I did a watercolor wash on the sentiment piece instead of sponging like the sample. I tried sponging on a piece of cardstock but it wasn't turning out the way I'd hoped.

I've got 5 more cards to get out this month; then I'll have to start on my cards for March. Hoping to be able to keep this up!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi



Supplies used (all Stampin' Up!):

Bee card --
Stamp set - Honey Bee
Paper - Highland Heather and Whisper White cardstock, Golden Honey Bee Specialty DSP
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Coloring Tools - Highland Heather, Purple Posy, Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade, and Mango Melody Stampin' Blends
Accessories - Whisper White Bakers Twine
Tools - Big Shot, Detailed Bee Dies, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Multi-purpose Adhesive Sheets, Stampin' Dimensionals, Multi-purpose Liquid Glue, Mini Glue Dots

Garden Gate card --
Stamp set - Grace's Garden
Paper - Whisper White Thick Cardstock; Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Granny Apple Green, and Shimmery White Cardstock
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Whisper White Craft Ink, Gorgeous Grape, Highland Heather, and Sahara Sand Classic Ink
Coloring Tools - Rococo Rose, Granny Apple Green, Petal Pink, Highland Heather, Purple Posy, and So Saffron Stampin' Blends
Tools - Big Shot, Subtle Embossing Folder, Garden Gateway Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals, Fine-Tip Liquid Glue, Aqua Painters, SNAIL

Birthday Club

Hello and welcome back! Last week I held the first classes I've had in a while. I'm trying to start a "Birthday Club," basically, a monthly class for participants to make 8 cards to send off to their family and friends. It's part of #imbringingbirthdaysback, and I'm hoping to use it to kickstart my business.

Anyhoo, these are the cards we made for January. I've made extras to send out to my February birthday card recipients, along with a variation for anniversaries.

I decided to use up some of my large stash of retired products for these cards. This one uses Rose Red ink & cardstock and Regal Rose cardstock along with some Rose Red DSP, and the retired Starburst Framelits and Elegant Bouquet embossing folder. We made a variation of this card where the embossed layer was turned 180 degrees and the sentiment circle was placed at the top.

This card uses the retired Tranquil Tide cardstock & ink, Share What You Love specialty DSP, and Powder Pink ribbon. The stamp and die are current from the 2019-2020 Annual Catalog.

This card is a variation of one I made for a challenge last year. It uses the Botanical Butterfly DSP and the Gingham Gala ribbon from earlier Sale-A-Brations. Instructions can be found HERE.

This card was inspired by a sample in the 2019-2020 Annual Catalog. All products are current except the Mint Macaron ribbon and Thick White Bakers Twine, but there are similar products in the catalog that could be substituted. 

And this is the variation of the second card above to be used for anniversaries. I just changed up the paper and ribbon and added the "Happy Anniversary" sentiment inside. I love this paper with its shiny bits. You can sort of see it in the second picture.

My first cards for February went into the mail today, so if you're on my list and have a birthday coming up, one of these may show up in your mailbox!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Cindi



Supplies used (all Stampin' Up!):

Rose Red birthday card --
Stamp set - Perennial Birthday
Paper - Whisper White Thick Cardstock; Rose Red, Regal Rose, Whisper White cardstock, Rose Red DSP
Ink - Rose Red
Tools - Big Shot, Elegant Bouquet embossing folder, Starburst Framelits, Starburst punch, Layering Circles Framelits, Multi-purpose glue, Stampin' Dimensionals

Special Day card --
Stamp set - Stitched All Around
Paper - Tranquil Tide & Whisper White cardstock, Share What You Love DSP
Ink - Tranquil Tide
Accessories - Powder Pink ribbon, Basic Rhinestones
Tools - Big Shot, Stitched Labels dies, Multi-purpose glue, Stampin' Dimensionals

Butterfly card --
Stamp set - sentiment from special Paper Pumpkin kit (but you could substitute one from Special Celebrations - we used one for the inside sentiment)
Paper - Basic Black & Whisper White cardstock, Botanical Butterfly DSP
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories - Gingham Gala organza ribbon
Tools - Banner Triple punch, Multi-purpose glue, Stampin' Dimensionals

Pop of Petals card --
Stamp sets - Pop of Petals, Here's A Card
Paper - So Saffron, Mint Macaron, Soft Sea Foam & Petal Pink cardstock; Whisper White Thick cardstock
Ink - Old Olive, Calypso Coral
Accessories - Mint Macaron ribbon, Thick White Bakers Twine
Tools - Big Shot, Basketweave embossing folder, Story Label punch, 4-petal Flower punch, Multi=purpose glue, Stampin' Dimensionals