By The Seashore Birthday

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by Karren J. over at SCS (here).  I loved everything about her card and decided to CASE it using what I had in my stamp room. 
     I would have loved to have used the Clockworks set as a background like Karren did in her card but I don't own it.  Keeping with the sea theme I decided to use another image from the By the Seashore stamp set instead.  File this card under quick and simple!

Stamps: By the Seashore, Wishes Your Way
Paper: Basic Gray, Very Vanilla
Ink: Island Indigo, Versa Mark
Tools & Accessories: dimensionals

Quick Open Sea

   
     Hello!  Today's card was inspired - eh hem - CASE'd from Bonnie Klass' blog, Stamping with Klass (here).  I mean really, what's not to love about her card?  It uses The Open Sea (my favorite set) it's incredibly quick and simple to make and there are no tools or accessories needed!  Bonus: it's a great masculine card!
  

Stamps: The Open Sea, Woodgrain
Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso

Lovely As a Tree

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by Stampin' Up's own Shelli Gardner (here)!  For those of you who may not know, Shelli is the co-founder of Stampin' Up! and when I found her card via Pintrest I couldn't resist CASEing her.  I absolutely {loved} everything about her card and since I'm always in need of a masculine birthday card I thought this would be perfect (there are a ton of men in my family!).
     If you haven't purchased the Lovely As a Tree stamp set I highly recommend doing so!  It makes a wonderful Christmas stamp set AND it's the perfect masculine set. 

Stamps: Lovely As a Tree, Woodgrain
Ink: Crumb Cake, StazOn Black
Paper: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, First Edition DSP
Tools & Accessories: Naturals Designer buttons, linen thread, Word Window punch

A Banner Birthday

       Hello!  Today's card is another one that I found while searching Pintrest (here).  I loved everything about Kasia's card and decided to change very little.  
      A quick change of the sentiment and this would make a wonderful Valentine's Day card!

Stamps: Bring on the Cake
Paper: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, First Edition DSP
Ink: StazOn Black
Tools & Accessories: Small hear punch, baker's twine, rhinestone basic jewel

Wish Big

     Hello!  This card was inspired by a creation I found Amanda Jones' blog via Pintrest (here).  I was looking for a quick and simple birthday card and this immediately caught my eye.  
     I loved everything about Amanda's card and decided to change only the sentiment.  This would be great for a guy or a girl!

Stamps: Word Play
Paper: First Edition DSP, Whisper White, Crumb Cake
Ink: StazOn Black
Tools & Accessories: Merry Minis punches, baker's twine

Winter Birthday

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by a card in the Nov/Dec issue of Stampin' Success (a publication for SU! demos).  You probably already know that Stampin' Up's Glimmer Paper is a hassle-free way to include glitter in your projects - without the mess of traditional glitter.  But you may not know that you can color the silver Glimmer Paper to match any project!
     Simply use a sponge dauber to apply your favorite Classic Stampin' Ink.  If you're in  a hurry you can speed up the drying process by setting the color with a heat tool.  
     I didn't order the Snow Flurry Bigz die from the Holiday catalog this past season and instead used what I had in my craft room, retired Snowflakes Sizzlits.  

Stamps: Bring on the Cake
Ink: Lucky Limeade, Primrose Petals
Paper: Whisper White, silver Glimmer Paper
Tools & Accessories: Big Shot, Snowflakes Sizzlits (retired), Northern Flurry embossing folder, brad

Happy Birthday!

          Hello!  Today's card was inspired by Heather Klump's "Wish Big" card over at her blog Downstairs Designs (here).  I loved her layout and decided to only change the colors and stamp set.  I added a few rhinestone jewels for a little bling.
     Is anyone else bummed that SU retired the Stars #2 die?  As a demo I have access to the retiring stamp and accessories list before customers do but I have to admit that I missed this item on the last list... I absolutely {love} that die!

Stamps: Afterthoughts (retired hostess)
Ink: Island Indigo
Paper: Pool Party, Whisper White, Island Indigo
Tools & Accessories: Big Shot, Stars #2 die (retired), 1 3/4" circle punch, dimensionals

Nautical Birthday Wishes

     Hello!  I was sooo excited to see The Open Sea stamp set in the new SU! catalog - it's one of my favorites!  And it's perfect for masculine cards, which is what I made today.
    The inspiration for this card came from another card that's been sitting in my "favorites" folder for quite a while.  Check out Fran Sabad's "It's Called The Open Sea" card over at her blog (here).  Loved her layout, especially the torn card stock with the ship peeking out.

Stamps: The Open Sea, Occasional Quotes (retired)
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, Bashful Blue
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Sahara Sand, More Mustard, Early Espresso
Tools & Accessories: Circle brad (retired) baker's twine, dimensionals

Butterfly Wishes

     Hello!  On my "favorites" bar I have a folder where I bookmark cards that I want to CASE or I'm inspired by.  This card sat in that folder for almost a year and a half.  Today I thought it was about time I did something with it.
     Teneale Williams is an incredible source for inspiration.  If you haven't checked out her blog I highly recommend it, her cards a little pieces of art.  Anyhoo, "Inkspirations Challenge 39" was the inspiration for today's card (here).  I loved her colors but mostly I loved the way she stamped an image on the butterfly... something I hadn't thought of.

Stamps: Bring on the Cake, Elements of Style
Ink: StazOn Black, blender pen, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink
Paper: Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette, Very Vanilla
Tools & Accessories: Big Shot, Beautiful Butterfly Bigz die, pearls, dimensionals

A Calypso Easel Card

     Hello!  Today's card is one that was inspired by Tui Nathan's Freshly Made Sketch #26 card (here).  I absolutely loved the colors she used and decided to make a few minor changes to the layout.
     The easel card was super easy to make, I just followed the directions given by Brian Pilling in the Stampin' Up video (here).  With all the dimensionals and layers, this card turned out to be a bit heavy.  If mailing one, I suggest having it weighed first before popping it in the mailbox!

Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: StazOn Black
Paper: Calypso Coral, Very Vanilla, Basic Black, First Edition DSP 

Tools & Accessories: Big Shot, Beautiful Wings embosslit die, Designer Frames embossing folder, curly label punch, grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals 

Birthday Leaves

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by Julie Gearinger's Manly Fall Birthday card over at SCS (here).  Her layout is great and I love the idea of incorporating leaves into the card, something I never do.
     I decided rather than stamp leaves I'd dig out and dust off my Leaves #2 die.  Before I cut out the leaves I ran the paper through my Big Shot with the Lattice embossing folder, just to give them a bit of texture.
     The background is one stamp so to give it the illusion of several pieces I used Stampin' Write markers to color directly on the stamp.

Stamps: Nature Silhouettes
Ink: Soft Suede, Old Olive
Paper: Soft Suede, Old Olive, Bravo Burgundy, More Mustard, Whisper White
Tools & Accessories: Big Shot, Leaves #2 die, Lattice embossing folder, button, hemp twine

Wishing You a Wonderful Day

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by lisaadd's gorgeous card, They Say It's Your Birthday, over at SCS (here).   I love Lisa's layout and decided to make the card as similar to hers as I could, using what I have in my supplies.

     The background is First Edition DSP (love that stuff!) and from what I can tell it's explaining the history of the type writer... interesting.   I ran Marina Mist CS through the Big Shot with the Lattice embossing folder before using the Stars #2 die to cut out the stars.  This gives them a bit of texture.
     I was going to use a different sentiment but after looking through my stamp sets I realized that this particular sentiment matched the "typewriter font" feel in the DSP.

Stamps: Bring on the Cake
Ink: Early Espresso
Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, First Edition DSP, Marina Mist
Tools & Accessories: Big Shot, Lattice embossing folder, Stars #2 die, button, linen thread, Stampin' dimensionals

Blue Birthday

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired, or rather CASE'd, from serelewis's card The Clear Block Sea over at SCS (here).  I loved everything about her card so I changed very little, only the sentiment at the bottom.  I should mention that The Open Sea stamp set was originally featured in the Summer Mini catalog and normally I would have changed the image to reflect a current set.  However, I absolutely love this stamp set and I have my fingers crossed that it will make it into the 2012-13 Idea Book & Catalog (please, please, please!?)
   The technique used to create the blue background is very simple: use the clear block as a stamp!  Ink it up and stamp on paper just as you would with a traditional stamp. 

     This card was super simple to make and could easily be mass produced... hmmm.  Maybe I've found my masculine birthday card for the year!

Stamps: The Open Sea, Occasional Quotes (retired)
Ink: Marina Mist, StazOn Black
Paper: Whisper White, Marina Mist, Basic Black
Tools & Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals

Suede Birthday

     Hello!  I am in constant need for masculine birthday cards and as soon as I saw Nancy Littrell's Field Flowers card over at SCS (here) I was inspired.  I loved her layout (SC341) but changed the colors theme and used the Nature Silhouette stamp set.  The background is one stamp so to make it multiple colors I used Stampin' Write markers to color directly on the stamp.  A little time consuming but well worth it in the end.

Stamps: Nature Silhouettes
Ink: Old Olive, Soft Suede
Paper: Soft Suede CS and DSP, Early Espresso, Whisper White
Tools & Accessories: Brads, Stampin' Dimensionals

Patriotic Birthday

     Hello!  While my husband believes I own every stamp set in the Idea Book & Catalog I did find one that I don't own - a current star stamp!  I wanted to make a patriotic birthday card and realized that the only star stamps I own are retired!  Don't tell Aaron but I guess that means that I'll have to place another Stampin' Up order soon! ;)

     This card was pretty simple to create and if it wasn't for the embossing I would consider it "quick and simple".  I embossed the star from Stars & Swirls set with white embossing powder, went over the embossed image with a cotton ball and ink (emboss resist technique) and then punched the image out with a square punch.  

Stamps: Stars & Swirls (retired), Short & Sweet

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy, Going Gray

Paper: Whisper White

Tools & Accessories: Heat tool, embossing powder, 1 3/4" square punch, dimensionals  

Simple Sailboat

     Hello!  Today's card was inspired by Mary Brown's Sail Away card over at her blog StamperCamper's Corner.  To make her card more of my own I changed the card base to the traditional 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 and placed the image on the left rather than right side.  Because I decreased the card size I didn't have room for a button, which was a bummer because I had a cute red button all picked out that would have looked perfect :(
    To give the background behind the sailboat a little texture I used the Lattice Embossing folder and the Big Shot. 

Stamps: Sail Away, Occasional Quotes (hostess)
Ink: Night of Navy
Paper: Whisper White, Night of Navy
Tools & Accessories: Grosgrain ribbon, lattice embossing folder, Big Shot, dimensionals

Summer Splash Birthday

 Hello!  Today's card was inspired by the Fox & Friends card on page 96 of the 2010-11 Idea Book & Catalog.  I absolutely LOVE Crumb Cake and Bashful Blue together and thought this would be a super cute stamp set to work with.
  
    

Stamps: Summer Splash, Afterthoughts (hostess)
Ink: Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake
Paper: Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Tool & Accessories: Scallop border punch, brads, grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals

Birthday on the Open Sea

   Hello!  As of 8:20am there are only 10 1/2  more hours of school left... but who's counting, right?!  You know I absolutely {love} my job but for some reason I am just itching for summer vacation to begin.  My big plans? Sitting out on our balcony with a margarita (or two or three) reading as many books as I can (I've recently rediscovered our local library).  Aaron and I do have tickets for a Red Sox game and plan to spend the night in Boston but that's in August.  So until then it's the balcony or the family beach house if the weather's nice!

     Enough about me, on to the card!  Today's project is a quick and simple birthday card.  I stamped the globe image from The Open Sea stamp set in Sahara Sand on Sahara Sand and then stamped the other images in Early Espresso.  The images were punched out and layered.  The blue strip of DSP you see is Nautical Expedition, I just cut the strip diagonally.

Stamps: The Open Sea, Sincere Salutations

Ink: Sahara Sand, Early Espresso

Paper: Not Quite Navy, Sahara Sand, Nautical Expedition DSP

Tools & Accessories: Square punches, brads

Sailing Away

      Hello!  I think I've found two new favorite stamp sets - The Open Sea and Sail Away.  I can't put them down!  There are quite a few male birthdays this month and both sets are perfect for a masculine cards, especially when most of my family still lives near the coast.
     The layout for this card came from the SCS Sketch Challenge 327.  I didn't follow the sketch exactly but it was definitely the inspiration for the card.

  To make the main image pop I stamped the image twice; once on white and once on Sahara Sand.  I then cut out the sails from the white and adhered them to the Sahara Sand with dimensionals.  I can't take credit for this idea; I CASE'd it from Mary Fish's Sail Away card on her blog.
     It is difficult to see in the photo but the ledger image from The Open Sea was stamped in Sahara Sand on the left side of the card as well as behind the boat image.  This gives the image a bit more dimension.

Stamps: Sail Away, The Open Sea, Sincere Salutations
Ink: Early Espresso
Paper: Sahara Sand, Early Espresso, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White
Tools & Accessories: Large oval punch, Stampin' dimensionals

On the Open Sea

      Hello!  I don't know about you but I am loving the new Summer Mini!  The instant I saw The Open Sea stamp set I knew I had to have it (as well as several others!).  I grew up near the ocean and this reminded me of summers at the beach.  The nautical images are elegant and coordinate perfectly with the Nautical Expedition DSP (I love the colors!).  Since I was in need of more masculine birthday cards and most of my family still lives near the coast this was the perfect set to grab!

   When creating cards my weakness is always the layout.  To help me with this I headed over to SCS and perused past card sketch challanges.  I loved SC317 and decided this would be perfect for a masculine birthday card.

     It may be hard to see in the photo but I stamped the globe image in Sahara Sand and then stamped the ship in Espresso on top of it.  This gives the image a little more dimension.

  

Stamps: The Open Sea, Sincere Saluations

Ink: Sahara Sand, Early Espresso

Paper: Sahara Sand, Early Espresso, Not Quite Navy

Tools & Accessories: Baker's twine, jumbo eyelets, Stampin' dimensionals