November 23

Happy Monday!

Today Girl Friday Kelly has a really pretty sympathy project. 

I find these cards difficult to make for all the obvious reasons 

so having a few wonderful ideas in a creative file takes the pressure off, ya know?

In her project, she used Mwah, Casual Comfort and Casual Trees Fri-Dies

Hi Folks! Kelly here with a sympathy card today.

It's always such a difficult balance when making sympathy cards to put enough detail on it, but not too much. I initially tried out a "sending comfort" sentiment (where "comfort" is the same font as "sending" from the CAS-ual Comfort set) by stamping it on a strip of white paper and placing it on the card. When I squint and hold the card away from me, I get a good feel for how it's going to look. I thought this card could handle a little more energy, so I stamped the beautiful, scripty "hugs" from the Mwah Set in pink instead of "comfort".

 I lightly watercolored the CAS-ual Trees Fri-Die with brown on the branches and different shades of pink on the blooms, then wrapped a paper doily around it all. While wrapping the panel in twine, I tied a knot around the bouquet to attach it to the card. 

  

I wanted to include a little more color, so I put a few strips of patterned paper on the inside.  Somehow I feel better about color on a sympathy card if it's on the inside. But that might just be me!

Thanks so much for looking!

-Kelly

More than 20 stamp and Fri-Die sets are retiring at the end of this year!

They are being offered at substantial savings while supplies last. 

Once they are gone, they're gone forever. 

You can see them all here in our retiring section

August 8

Happy Saturday!!

Today I've got a fun post for you

 and a little something for you at the end!

Did you know that Girl Friday Angie is positively delightful?

Seriously! 

She is super fun and sweet...kinda like this card she created!

Isn't it yummy?

I just love how used the vellum over that wonderful background she created. 

There is a lot to look at on this happy card. 

Thankfully, she put together a photo tutorial so you can get some ideas 

you can use in your next project :)

Materials 

Stamps: Calm & Loving, Mwah 

Fri-Dies: Funky Round Tag 

Cardstock: White, vellum 

Ink: Memento Black, 4 - 5 different shades of red to pink 

Accessories: Big Shot, Ranger blending tool, glue stick, decorative bow tie

Directions:
First off, this card was inspired by a gorgeous creation from Laurie Willison at Soapbox Creations (I loved it so much, I wanted to marry it!) and by all the fabulous blending tool cards by Laura Bassen at Doublestick Heaven (yes, I went out and bought a blending tool immediately!). 

 1. Start with 5 1/2” x 4 1/4” white card base and stamp circle hearts randomly all over in black ink.
2. Use the circle die from the Funky Round Tag Fri-Die to make a stencil. 

3. Place the circle stencil over one of the circle hearts.  

4. Use the Ranger blending tool to fill in the circle stencil with red ink. 

5. When done coloring, move stencil away to admire how pretty it is! hehe! 

6. Repeat steps 3 - 5 with different colors of ink. (Note: I used the stamp to help me find some of the circle hearts I had stamped. It might have been easier to stamp one, then color it in immediately.) 

7. When all the circles hearts are colored in, it will look like this. 

8. Lay 5 1/2” x 4 1/4” vellum piece over card front, and position the “hugs & love” stamps from Mwah where you want them to be. 

9. Stamp and emboss sentiment and add decorative bow or accent. Attach to card front across the top with clear drying glue.

Confession: I have a blending tool...that I've never used! *gasp*

I think I'm going to have to dust it off and try it out. 

So here's a fun little extra for you:

This weekend is both the last weekend before school starts 

and my youngest son's 14th birthday 

so in honor of celebrating this weekend, 

I'm giving you all 

FREE SHIPPING

on orders over $25

Yes, even for my international friends!

No code needed and it's good through Tuesday.

Click here to go straight to the store :)

July 27

Happy Monday!

Last month, Girl Friday Kelly 

shared beautifully scrapbooked recipes. 

Today she is back with more!!

As a gift for family members getting married, 

Kelly creates these loving family recipe pages complete with 

family memories. 

I can't tell you how much I love this idea! 

It's a real treat for me to see CAS-ual Fridays on these fabulous pages. 

Here she's used our Bubble Labels Fri-Dies and 

filled them with sentiments from our Mwah and 3 In a Row sets.  

She embossed them in white on vellum to keep the cloud look 

and added the outline with white gel pen.

I really love how she stamped the heart over and over to get that stamped off look 

to create the sun that she then added gold pipe cleaner to. 

Here she used our Stalk Up Fri-Dies to add fun borders to the photos.

I really love how she used the long leaf from Mon Ami to stamp and color

the banner looking border for her Lovely Greetings sentiment panel.

A great tip from Kelly to get long lasting dimension 

is to cut the same die cut from chipboard and back your pretty image with that.

It give you lift that will last!