UStamp Designer Swap Cards

The designers for UStamp with Dawn and Friends! participate in a designer swap each round of UStamp. Dawn pairs us up and we send each other a card and also send two cards to Dawn. Dawn then randomly chooses one designer and one member of UStamp to give a set of all the designer cards she receives. I haven't won yet but I've got my fingers crossed for this round.

I was paired up with Paula Dobson this time. This card came all the way from New Zealand to my mailbox in Virginia. Love that! Isn't it the cutest card?! I still haven't used this great stamp set "Eat Chocolate" but Paula has totally motivated me. I eat Hershey kisses when I create so this is a perfect card for me. I can already check off "eat chocolate" on today's check list (and it's only 10 am)! :) How about you??

I've been wanting to make these pansies using the butterfly punch for awhile and found some great directions on Carla Bazhenow's website at http://www.carlas-scraps.com/2010/04/pansy-punch-art-flower-tutorial-and.html She has lots of great punch art flower tutorials. I thought mine turned out OK -- not as good as Carla's but maybe if I practice some more :))

Get Croppin' with Friends

I spent the weekend with my friends Shannon, Karen and Allie scrapbooking at the Dulles Expo Center at a Get Croppin' event. It was a lot of fun. I helped Karen and Shannon create this 2 page 12x12 layout from my November scrapbook class. Allie made the pages back in November! We had fun embossing all the images and punching out the bats (we also spritzed them with shimmer paint mixed with rubbing alcohol). Here's a picture of the other 12x12 2 page layout from the November class. We also made the March pages that I posted earlier.

My Project on UStamp Big Shot Brilliance

My project was featured on UStamp with Dawn and Friends! Big Shot Brilliance!! today. I made a spring wreath with the fun flowers die and the Springtime Vintage DSP. I used lots of flowers, buttons, pearls, butterflies and even decorated the birdhouse. Here are a few close ups of the details and a picture of the card I made for it (though I'm certainly keeping this one)!

Stamp Club Cards

Here are the cards we made at my Vienna Stamp Club last Friday night. I decided we would make Sympathy cards (the month before we made birthday cards) because I like to have some on hand and had run out. These cards were CASE'd (and changed up a bit) from cards posted on Stampin' Connection (a SU! demo site) and I didn't write down who originally created them at the time because I wasn't blogging. Now that I'm posting I'm being good about making notes of where I get my inspiration so I can give credit where credit is due. If these cards look familiar, please let me know who I can credit and I'll be happy to do so!

I used the Elements of Style and Teeny, Tiny Wishes stamp sets on the first card. The DSP is Blueberry Crisp and the colors are Not Quite Navy, Crumb Cake, River Rock and Bashful Blue. The second card uses Thoughts and Prayers and Lovely as a Tree (LOVE that stampset) and the cardstock colors: Marina Mist, Early Espresso, Old Olive and Very Vanilla. I pulled out my Stampin' Pastels and we had fun creating our trees. I also used the color spritzer tool and markers to create the splattered look.

The third card uses Thoughts and Prayers and the butterfly from Thanks for Caring (Occasions Mini). I used the Ornament punch and In Color Patterns DSP for the vase and embossed with the Elegant Bouquet textured impressions embossing folder. It's hard to see but we added dazzling diamonds to the flowers and the wings of the butterfly.

Trifold Mini Album Class

My friends Shannon and Karen are taking my Trifold Mini Album class on Saturday (originally scheduled for Sunday but Saturday was a better day for everyone). Anyone else want to join us from 1:00-3:00 to make this beautiful album? I made mine with the Holly Jolly paper to showcase Christmas pictures from 2003 (and yes, I looked much younger then) but Shannon requested the Greenhouse Gala paper for her album. Not sure yet what Karen wants to use. Would love to help you create this album. I purchased the instructions from LeAnn Greff. She always amazes and inspires me!