Stylin' Stampin' Squad Blog Hop ~ Best of Stampin' Up!

Welcome to May's edition of Stylin' Stampin' Squad Blog hop!  It's that time of year where we all get so excited for sneak peeks of all new Stampin' Up! products, but that also means we have to say good-bye to some old favorites too!  This month's theme is all about the Best of Stampin' Up!  A chance for us to use our favorite set (retiring or not) or one of the stamps from the Best of sets that have been available since the beginning of the year.  I have so many favorites and could not narrow it down to just one, so you get a couple :)

First up is my favorite baby stamp set...Baby Boutique. I have used this set for numerous baby shower cards and gifts.  I'm sad to see this set retire and probably won't be able to let this one go!  I made a cute little onesie cupcake and packaged it up with a couple little bottles of baby wash and lotion.  Add a coordinating card and you have the perfect little gift for a sweet baby bundle of
joy!

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Subtles Collection DSP Stack

Ink ~ Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue

Stamp Sets ~ Baby Boutique, A Word for You, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Other Supplies ~ Subtles Collection Buttons, So Saffron Taffeta Ribbon, Curly Label Punch, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Jewelry Tag Punch, Designer Rosette Bigz

Next up I have a fun little gift box and coordinating birthday card using the Patio Party DSP. This is my all time favorite DSP and I am super sad it will soon be gone.  But don't worry, my hoarding instincts kicked in and I ordered a few packages to keep on hand :)  Another retiring stamp that I am really, really don't want to go is Distressed Dots.  What am I going to do without this one?!?!

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Midnight Muse, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Patio Party DSP

Ink ~ Baja Breeze, Primrose Petals, Midnight Muse, Whisper White Craft, White Gel Pen

Stamp Sets ~ Make a Cake, Curly Cute, Sweet Essentials

Other Supplies ~ 2 1/2" Circle Punch, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch, Apothecary Accents Framelits, In-Color Dahlias, Primrose Petals Stitched Satin Ribbon

Thanks for hopping along with all of us!   

1. Pam S. of Stampin' in the Sun!
2. Nancy B. of Lady Stamps-A-Lot
3. Rose C. of Stamp with Rose
4. Tonya B. of Stampin' with Tonya
5. Dawn S. of Dawn's Creative Chalet
6. Darcy J. of DJ's Stampin' Place
7. Pamela W. of Stinky Tofu
8. Kim R. of Stamping with Kim
9. Heidi B of Stuck on Stampin'
10. Bree R. of Craft-somnia  <---You are here!
11. Diana E. of Stampin' Fun with Diana

Whirl{WIND} kind of day

It's not even 6:00PM and I am ready for bed!  Started my day off with an early morning, and very WINDY, run, finished up some projects I had started last night, went to watch my twins baseball game in the freezing cold WIND, came home and took advantage of the little mans nap time and made a couple cards...then me and my hubby took off for a little afternoon get away to the Tri-Cities while my momma stayed with the kiddos.  We had a nice lunch at Twigs, did a little shopping and just caught up on our lives without the interruptions from 3 little boys ;)  It's been a fun, busy and, did I mention, WINDY day!  My mom was kind enough to keep the boys for a few more hours so my hubby and I can enjoy a nice dinner out tonight to celebrate our anniversary since it was not possible earlier this week.  Two meals with just the two of us...that never happens!  Thanks Mom!

Before we head out, I took some time to clean up my craft space and took pictures of some of my creations from earlier today.  This one was inspired by the current color challenge over at Fab Friday.  I love these colors!

My Crumb Cake card stock has been feeling a little neglected lately...Sahara Sand took over for awhile.  And I love me some white craft ink on Crumb Cake, so that is how my card stared.  Add some fun DSP and a super cute stamp and...voila!

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Patio Party DSP

Ink ~ Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White Craft

Stamp Sets ~ Make a Cake, Paper Pumpkin (Jots and Thoughts Try It Kit), Itty Bitties, Sweet Essentials

Other Supplies ~ Calypso Coral Bakers Twine

I stamped a row of the cute little butterflies from the Make a Cake set inside the card and added a few single butterflies (Itty Bitties) in the white polka dots on the DSP.  Quick and easy card and cute to boot!

My rest time is over...time to get ready for a date with my hubby!  I told him I feel like an old married couple going to dinner so early...I'm sure we'll be home before 8 and in bed by 9.  Either we're getting old or we are just too darn busy to stay out late anymore! 

Happy Stamping!

Thinking of you on the Open Sea

I've needed a few masculine "Thinking of You" cards this week and the Sketch Challenge over at Try Stampin' On Tuesday was great for this card!

It's been a while since I've played with my Open Sea set and I forgot how much I like it. I wasn't sure about stamping the partial images on the squares, but in the end I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  Simple card, but perfect for the friend who will receive it :)

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake

Ink ~ Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy

Stamp Sets ~ The Open Sea, Sweet Essentials

Other Supplies ~ Metallic Brads, Cherry Cobbler Bakers Twine, Square Punch

Head on over to TSOT and check out all of the great Design Team projects as well as all of the other entries! 

Happy Stamping!

Never give up

My motto for today...Never Give Up!  I woke up to a cold, rainy, windy morning and wanted nothing more to crawl back into bed and skip out the 10K I had signed up to run.  But a little voice kept saying, "Don't give up, you can do this!"  So I dressed in some of my warmer running gear, laced up my shoes and set off for the 2012 Crush Run.  And I am oh-so-thankful that I did!  The clouds parted just as the race started and we had a beautiful run though some of our beautiful vineyards.

This motto also kept me going while I was working on my latest card challenges.  My friend Katie, over at Sweet N Spiffy, picked out a fun sketch and a tricky color combo for our latest creation challenge!  She went with a sketch from Pink Paper Bakery and the color combo comes from colourQ.  Take a look!

I'm not gonna lie...this color combo was a tricky one!  (I did have to substitute a couple colors, but they were pretty close.)  At first, all I could think about was a Halloween card, but I'm kind of burned out on Halloween.   I played around with a few ideas and finally settled on this:

It is hard to tell in the picture, but the little star burst flowers are stamped in both Pumpkin Pie and Tangerine Tango ink.  This kind of reminds me of a picture you would see in a Chinese restaurant or something :D

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Whisper White, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Lucky Limeade

Ink ~ Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Lucky Limeade, Jet Black StazOn

Stamp Sets ~ Summer Silhouettes, Sweet Essentials

This was quite the challenge for me, but I'm glad I stuck it out and didn't give up!

Happy Stamping!