Bye Bye Animal Stories!

Well it's Stampin Up retirement time! The new catalog comes out July 1 and that means we will have to say buh bye to lots of stamp sets from the old catalog! Animals Stories is one of those sets. I've used it on cards here and here. I'll be a little sad to let it go, but there are so many new sets in the catalog I can't wait to use!
Today's card is a fun and colorful card we made in my Stamper's Night Out class on Tuesday night. My example is for a baby shower but this would be a perfect little birthday card!
My Stamper's Night Out girls loved the inlaid embossing technique we used for the circle background! I'll be sharing a 4th of July card with the same technique tomorrow!
Supplies and instructions for making this card are listed below!

Supplies:
- 5x6.5 inch card base in Kraft or Soft Suede
- 4.5x5.75 piece of Daffodil Delight Cardstock
- 4x5.25 piece of Whisper White Cardstock
- 3 different sizes of circles punched from Pear Pizazz, Pumpkin Pie, and Bashful Blue Cardstock
- 1x5 piece of Pumpkin Pie Cardstock
- 2x4.75 Piece of Whisper White Cardstock
- 2.25x5 Piece of Pear Pizazz Cardstock
- Scrap Piece of Whisper White Cardstock
- Animal Stories Stamp Set
- Bubble Stamp from the Summer Splash stamp set (Optional)
- Sentiment Stamp (Mine is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set)
- Ink in Soft Suede, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue, Pear Pizazz
- Modern Label Punch
- Border Punch
- Square Lattice Embossing Folder and Big Shot Machine

Instructions:
1. Adhere your circles to the largest piece of Whisper White cardstock with liquid adhesive or a glue stick. (This will help the pieces stay down after you emboss them) Run through your Big Shot using the Square Lattice die to emboss.
2. Adhere your embossed piece to the piece of Daffodil Delight cardstock and adhere to the front of your card.
3. Punch the strip of Pumpkin Pie with your border punch and adhere to the bottom portion of the card.
4. Using the Stamp-a-ma-Jig, stamp your animals onto the medium sized piece of Whisper White cardstock. Cut two slits on either side of your giraffe's neck and tie a ribbon through it. (Optional)
5. Adhere the stamped piece onto the piece of Pear Pizazz cardstock and adhere to the front of your card with foam adhesive squares.
6. Stamp your sentiment onto the scrap piece of Whisper White cardstock and punch out using the Modern Label punch. Stamp the corners with the bubble stamp. (Optional)
7. Adhere to the bottom portion of your card front with foam adhesive squares.

This sweet card looks complicated to make, but it is very easy. The colors could easily be changed to suit the event or to make the card feminine!
I'll be sharing another card using this fun technique tomorrow!
As always if you have any questions about this card just send me at email at aprilmassad@yahoo.com!

For Your Shower

Hello! :)
Yesterday was my son's last day of pre-k! Where does the time go? It seems like he was just a little baby and now he's a big kindergarten boy!
Today's card actually is for a baby! I used the cute Animal Stories
set by Stampin Up. I used this set on another card I made HERE. It is another baby card, but this is a great stamp set for kid's projects as well!
I also used the brand new Triple Layer Doily Punch from the Summer Mini Catalog! I LOVE this punch and it's sister Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer Punch! They are both so much fun to use and add a little wow to your cards!
I've shared the supplies and directions for making this sweet card below!

Supplies:
- 5x6.5 Card Base is Soft Suede or Kraft
- 3 Pieces of Shimmery White Cardstock 1.75x3.75
- Scrap Pieces of Shimmery White, Regal Rose, and So Saffron
- .5x6 Strip of So Saffron
- .75x6 Strip of Regal Rose Punched with the Eyelet Border Punch
- White Ribbon
- Ink Pads in So Saffron, Regal Rose, and Soft Suede
- Animal Stories Stamp Set
- Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set
- Fine Flourish Stamp
- Stamp-a-ma-Jig
- Doily Triple Layer Punch
- Modern Label Punch
- (Optional) Movers and Shapers Die, Big Shot, and Punch Windows

Directions:
1. Adhere your strip of Regal Rose onto the bottom of your card base.
2. Take your strip of So Saffron and stamp it with the Fine Flourish stamp in So Saffron. Adhere above the strip of Regal Rose.
3. Take the three pieces of Shimmery White cardstock and use the Stamp-a-ma-Jig to stamp your three animals onto the bottom of the cardstock.
4. Adhere to the card as shown in the photo above.
5. Punch your So Saffron and Regal Rose with the left setting on the Doily Punch. Punch your So Saffron, Regal Rose, and Soft Suede with the right setting on the Doily Punch.
6. Cut all of the punched doilies in half. Adhere the Regal Rose and So Saffron pieces together.
7. Adhere the doily pieces to the Shimmery White cardstock as shown in the photo above.
8. Stamp your sentiment onto Shimmery White cardstock and punch out with the Modern Label punch. Ink the Fine Flourish stamp with So Saffron and stamp the edges of the punched sentiment. (If you click on the photo above you can see it enlarged)
9. Run a scrap piece of Regal Rose through the Big Shot using the Modern Label die in the Movers and Shapers window. Adhere behind the punched sentiment. Adhere to card with foam adhesive squares.
10. Tie the white ribbon across the bottom of the card between the strips of So Saffron and Regal Rose.

Well I hope you like today's card! The colors can be altered for a boy! Riding Hood Red, Night of Navy, and Soft Suede would be so handsome!
As always if you have any questions about this card please send me an email at aprilmassad@yahoo.com!
Thanks for stopping by!

Don't Judge a Stamp Set...

I've always agreed with the phrase "Don't judge a book by it's cover." I have read many books that were wonderful but had terrible covers! After this week I'm convinced this phrase applies to stamp sets as well as books! Although I'm not quite sure how you would alter it. "Don't judge a stamp by it's black and white image in a catalog?" Haha! I hate to admit that this hostess set in the new Summer Mini wasn't my favorite stamp set in the catalog. When I got it a couple of weeks ago I wasn't that thrilled about it but I was in a Poppy Parade kind of mode. I had just been at the Gap and bought a shirt that exact color, painted my toes that color, and I was dying to use it in my papercrafting. I guess you could say Love and Care came at the right time. I started playing around with it and came up with the card above. I LOVED it and I knew my girls at Stamper's Night Out would too!
I had so much fun making that card that I just starting stamping different color combinations. Then I thought WOW! I could make Brodey's teacher a set of cards for Teacher Appreciation week!

I took several different sentiments from the Sincere Salutations set and stamped them with Basic Gray. (Basic Gray goes with any color combo) I took the smaller flower stamp and stamped around the sentiment with So Saffron ink. Then I punched the sentiments out with the Decorative Label Punch. I also adhered double sided foam adhesive squares to the backs of the sentiments. I left the backing on the adhesive so that she can add the sentiment she needs to whatever card she chooses.
So Saffron is a beautiful shade of yellow that has many beautiful color combos in the Color Coach. I ended up stamping 6 different card with 6 different sentiments. Listed below are the color combos I used for the cards starting with the card in the upper left of the photo.

Regal Rose - Early Espresso - So Saffron
Tangerine Tango - Pacific Point - So Saffron
Melon Mambo - Tempting Turquoise - So Saffron
Cajun Craze - Always Artichoke - So Saffron
Perfect Plum - Wild Wasabi - So Saffron
Poppy Parade - Baja Breeze - So Saffron

Once the cards were stamped I put the sentiments in a baggie and tied them all together with a pretty ribbon! I let Brodey stamp her a card with the same stamp set and he really enjoyed doing it!
This stamp set is a Hostess Set that is available for a limited time in the Summer Mini Catalog. If you would like more info on how to get this set please send me an email at aprilmassad@yahoo.com!
I hope you enjoyed today's post! Tomorrow I will share a Father's Day card using the new Open Sea stamp set and Nautical Expedition Paper!

Sunny Thanks!

Well it WAS a beautiful sunny Oklahoma day, but then severe storms decided to roll through! Now it's a cool 62 but I'm still in 80 and sunny mode so I'm posting this cute card!
This super cute card was made with the Sunny Fun stamp set from the new Summer Mini Catalog!
To color the sweet kiddos I used Blender Pens and Markers! To make the pretty turquoise sky and water I used my Tempting Turquoise ink pad, squished ink into the lid, and picked it up with my Aqua Painter.
The cardstock accent flowers were punched with the Blossom Bouquet Triple Punch and the Boho Blossoms Punch.
This is such a fun stamp set! I had a hard time deciding whether to use the flip flops, popsicles, or kiddos!
If you have any questions about this card send me an email at aprilmassad@yahoo.com!

Ready for Spring!

It is a cold, icy, snowy day here in Oklahoma! I am SO ready for spring so I decided to use some pretty spring colors on this card today!

The sweet little birdie is from the Fun & Fast Notes set! I stamped him on watercolor paper in black Stazon and colored him with my markers and blender pen. I then punched him out with my large scallop square punch.
The pretty little flowers are from my flower stamp from the Punch Potpourri stamp set. I used the coordinating Boho Blossoms punch to punch them out.

The Rose Red cardstock is embossed with the Elegant Lines embossing folder and the Daffodil Delight cardstock is punched with the Scallop Border Punch.

To make my little sentiment label, I stamped the Thanks I Needed That sentiment from the bird stamp onto watercolor paper. I punched it out with the Modern Label Punch. I went over the letters with the small end of my Rose Red marker and I stamped the flowers on the outer edges.

This was a fun card to make! The colors are bright and cheery and I LOVE any excuse to play with my paper punches!

If you have any questions send me an email at aprilmassad@yahoo.com! I would love to hear from you!

The sun is out now so I have to admit the snow is beautiful....no matter how much I long for spring! ;)