So Shelli Father's Day Challenge

I have to day off today for the Memorial Day Weekend, and I've been trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my day. I decided that one of the things I would work on is some things to enter in different challenges and contests hosted by Stampin' Up! and folks in my upline/sideline. I realized it had been a little while since I had participated in one of Shelli's challenges on her web site (Shelli is the co-founder and CEO of Stampin' Up! - the link to her blog is on the left). So, this month's theme is Father's Day, and I had a perfect card that I had created for my upline's monthly meeting a couple of weeks ago. The layout may look familiar to you - it is the same layout from the card on pg. 81 of our current catalog, and the one I used for my friend's baby shower invites in yesterday's blog post. Similar to the shower invites, I used Whisper White Craft ink on Close to Cocoa for the background look on the bottom portion of the card. I've also included the inside of the card for two reasons. 1) I've started decorating the inside on some of my cards, especially if my base is a dark color card stock. I figure this both adds some interest to the inside of the card as well, but also allows you to be able to write your message easier without using a white gel pen, or silver marker, etc. 2) I wanted to show you a great technique for tying your ribbon around a card front when you want to put the ribbon in the direction that would take it over the card fold (you may have to take a second to see what I mean on the card... it is along the left side of the photo below). I found this on another demo's blog (I'm really sorry -it has been a while and I don't remember who's blog I found it on), but it is so simple. All you do is take your Horizontal Slot punch and punch a hole in the part of the card fold where you want the ribbon. The thickness of the ribbon hides the "dent" in the card fold when you are just looking from the front. I thought that was a great idea!

Supplies:
All Holidays, Full of Life and Sanded stamp sets
Creamy Caramel and Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pads
Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad
Close to Cocoa, Kiwi Kiss, and Whisper White card stock
Close to Cocoa textured card stock
Candy Lane Designer Series Paper
Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware (star brad)
Silver Brads
Kiwi Kiss 5/8" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon
Horizontal Slot and Photo Corners punches
SNAIL, Sticky Strip and Stampin' Dimensionals

Shelli's Valentine's Day Challenge

It's been a couple of months since I entered something in Shelli's challenge on her blog. Of course, due to procrastination and our computer issues - I'm entering this on the last day possible! :-) This month's challenge is for Valentine's day, so I thought I would get in on this challenge because I love Valentine's Day - even if my husband isn't that big on the holiday! ;-) For those who don't remember or know, Shelli is the co-founder and CEO of Stampin' Up! She has a blog (link is on the left) and will every month or so post a challenge for demonstrators and customers - note: you don't have to be a demo to enter!

I did both of these cards a couple of months ago for a swap for the Holiday Mini. I was very happy to see that the stamp set I used is in the new catalog since I thought it is adorable. The set is A Happy Heart. I had fun using it for both a more masculine-flavored card (the 3x3 I"Heart"U card) and the regular sized card. A note about the Designer Series Paper (DSP) that is one of the layers - I used the Kraft Patterns paper that was part of the Fall/Winter Hostess Level 1 pack. The colors have been changed for the Spring/Summer Hostess Level 1 pack... but the Basic Gray that is in the new pack would be a great substitute. Or, you can use the Manchester DSP since that has a Kraft background color in some of its designs.

For the second card, I also used the Wonderful You set as both a background and used Stampin' Write markers to create the saying I wanted out of the word stamps from the Wonderful You set. I will admit, I need to work on getting those lined up better! Perhaps I should have used the Stamp-a-ma-jig. :-) By the way, the Wonderful You set is not in the catalog, but you can still order it. It just made its way over to the dormant list. It is kind of hard to see, but for the background, I embossed the outline of the leaves in clear embossing powder. Also, the three hearts that form the diagonal "win" are popped out with dimensionals.

Supplies:
3x3 card -
A Happy Heart stamp set
Always Artichoke, Night of Navy, Very Vanilla card stock
Riding Hood Red Classic Ink Pad
Patterns Level 1 DSP or Manchester DSP (see note above)
Designer Label punch
Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware
Cutter Kit (distresser tool)

"won heart" card -
A Happy Heart and Wonderful You stamp sets
Elegant Eggplant, Always Artichoke, and Very Vanilla card stock
Riding Hood Red and Regal Rose Classic Ink Pads; VersaMark Ink
1/2" circle punch
Ticket corner punch
Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware
Cutter Kit (distresser tool)
Blender Pen
Clear Embossing Powder
Embossing Buddy & Heat Tool
Stampin' Dimensionals

Shelli's Halloween Challenge

Shelli (the co-founder of Stampin' Up!) has a challenge each month on her blog (the link is in my list of blogs at the left). This month is a Halloween challenge! At first I wasn't so sure about the new Halloween Designer Series Paper when I saw the new catalog... but now I love it! I decided to take a break tonight from the other stuff I was doing to play with the new Halloween Frights stamp set in the Holiday Mini Catalog, the Ghostly Greetings DSP and the adorable Chills & Thrills rub-ons. I'm really happy with what I have come up with so far - and decided to enter them into Shelli's challenge. The card that is oriented up and down rather than across (does that make sense) is a card I modified from a picture. I have no idea where the picture came from (I found it in some old sheets of mine) but wanted to say that the layout came from another wonderful Stampin' Up! demonstrator. The other two cards are designed by me. (Shameless patting on the back.) Let me know what you think!

Supplies (combined for all 3 cards):
Halloween Frights stamp set (Holiday Mini)
Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black and Whisper White card stock
Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, and Summer Sun Classic Stampin' Pad
Ghostly Greetings DSP
Chills & Thrills Rub-ons
Ticket Corner, 1-1/4" Square, and Scallop Circle punch
Whisper White, Chocolate Chip and Pumpkin Pie 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon
Silver Elastic Cord
Clear Buttons