It's Time for a Celebration!!

It is the time of year for great celebrations!!  School ends, teens grad, young people get engaged and married, team sports take a summer hiatus, and it seems that all of them have awards or parties to mark the end.  It's a season of cards, and everyone loves to get a hand-stamped card!  I am having an All Occasion Stamper's Dozen on Saturday and I'm busy designing some cards we will make.  I wanted to get a grad card in the mix, but I don't think most of my class will want to make 3 grad cards!  So I came up with a versatile design  that could be a grad card or any kind of congratulatory greeting!  Here's the design:

I used two stamp sets for this card, Blue Ribbon and Make a Wish, both very versatile.  I used card stock in two of the new colours in our colour families this year.  The green is called Pistachio Pudding and it is a new In Colour for this year.  The blue is called Soft Sky and it is new in the Subtles family, replacing Baja Breeze and Bashful Blue.  The inks I used are more saturated colours, Midnight Muse and Raspberry Ripple.

You may notice a new pattern of texture on the Very Vanilla panel behind the main  images.  It is a new Textured Impressions Embossing folder called Modern Mosaic, offered for the first time in the new 2013/14 Idea Book and Catalogue.  And the ends of the sentiment label have been trimmed using the new Artisan Label Punch!  I also added a bit of Raspberry Ripple Stitched Satin Ribbon for the  medal "tails".

Now, if my class doesn't need a grad card or maybe just need one, they can just stamp a different middle circle and Voila!:

These are some alternatives:  I'm not sure I like the Gumball Green stamped on the Pistachio Pudding.  I think they would look better on Very Vanilla, and maybe I would stick with the Raspberry Ripple, but nothing ventured, nothing gained!  What do you think?  

Remember, only 2 weeks left to get the stamps and accessories you want and need from the old catalogue and Spring Mini by June 3.  And the new catalogue will come into effect on May 31st.  So for four days, there will be three catalogues that we can choose from for the first time ever!  How cool is that?  Let me know if you have orders you want to put through or shop on-line yourself at this link.  Just make sure you see my name in the upper left corner, before you start ordering.  There are no new sold out accessories on the retired list today.

Thanks for dropping by my blog.  Please leave a comment or  join my blog to follow it.

Stamps:  Blue Ribbon (w125979; c125981); Make a Wish (w129219; c129222)

Paper:  Pistachio Pudding (131294)*, Soft Sky (131203)* and Very Vanilla (101650) card stock

Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Midnight Muse (126860), Raspberry Ripple (126859) and Gumball Green (126861)

Accessories:  3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon in Raspberry Ripple (126845)

Tools:  Modern Mosaic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (129984)*, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch (118874); 1 3/8'" Circle Punch (119860); Artisan Label Punch (130920)*

*Available May 31st in the 2013/14 Idea Book and Catalogue

Blue Ribbon Stamp Set

Make a Wish Stamp Set

Stitched Satin Ribbon - Raspberry Ripple

Mission Impossible: The Paper Players Challenge

Okay, well not impossible, just highly challenging for a two or three colour stamper like myself.  This week, The Paper Players gave us a four colour combination to work with.

And there are some pretty dominant colours involved as well.  Here's my take on this colour challenge, also being used for my up-coming Birthday Stamper's Dozen!

I used the cake image from Make a Wish stamp set and the sentiment is from Bring on the Cake.  I liked the combination of the Whisper White and Crumb Cake on the Rich Razzleberry card base.  I would have kept it like that.  In fact, I had already stamped the sentiment in Crumb Cake and was ready to back it with more Crumb Cake card stock, but I couldn't find any suitable DSP with the other two colours in it:  Baja Breeze and Island Indigo.

With just the image and the sentiment, the top right side of the card was looking empty, leaving the card unbalanced.  The little flags cut from Baja Breeze card stock, Island Indigo Ruffled Ribbon and some DSP from the Print Poetry Designer Series Paper Stack, added just the right finishing touch.  I used some Crumb Cake brads to anchor the sentiment and added some paper piercing for an extra embelllishment.

Even with the Essentials Paper Piercing Pack to help you out, it is not as easy as it looks, getting even sizes for the holes.

I'll share some of the other cards I picked for the Birthday Stamper's Dozen in the coming days.  Stay tuned next week for the Retired Product Lists, and make sure you get the products you want before they are not available any more.

Stamps:  Make a Wish (w129219; c129222); Bring On the Cake (w121899; c121958)

Paper:  Print Poetry Designer Series Paper Stack (129312); Rich Razzleberry (115316), Island Indigo (122923), Baja Breeze* (111352), Crumb Cake (120953) and Whisper White (100730) card stock

Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Crumb Cake (126975) and Baja Breeze* (126960)

Accessories:  3/8" Ruffled Ribbon in Island Indigo (125575); 3/16" Neutrals Brads (119736)

Tools:  Apothecary Accents Framelits (127003); Ovals Collection Framelits (129381); Essentials Paper Piercing Pack (126187); Stampin' Pierce Mat (126199); Paper Piercing Tool (126189)

*Discontinued May 31st, available only while supplies last

Apothecary Accents Framelits

Bring on the Cake Stamp Set

Island Indigo 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon

Make a Wish Stamp Set

Ovals Collection Framelits

Print Poetry Designer Series Paper Stack

Stampin' Pierce Mat

Paper Piercing Tool