It's Too Late to Think Up a Title

Well, it is! (Too late to think up a title.) It's past 11 pm.  I just got back today from my youngest daughter's home where we spent a lovely Thanksgiving weekend.  She, my son-in-law and my sweet grandson live about three and a half hours away from us, which is much better than the eleven hours where she used to live!  I loved our visit.  We just enjoyed the time together, baked some pies, played with my grandson, went for a hike in the gorgeous fall colours and....I got to sleep in a Murphy bed for the first time in my life!  It was very comfortable!  I just loved the little welcome basket my daughter made for us!  It made me feel so special.

Parker, my little grandson, is energy in motion.  He's almost 9 months old and crawling and cruising!  But so cute with lots of smiles and giggles.  I miss him already!

 

 

                                    

 

But on to the reason you stopped by in the first place, a card sample.  Today's card is a birthday card for my younger sister. And it will be a push to get it to her on time!

 

 

This bright and cheery card shares three challenges today:

 

1. MOJO Monday for the layout

2. The Paper Players for the tea cup theme        and

3. Dynamic Duos for the colour palette of Old Olive and Tangerine Tango. 

 

It's not often that I can get a card to work well for that many challenges, but today's card is one of them.  The stamp sets I used were Tea Shoppe for the cups and the tea shoppe sign, Scentsational Season for the steam rising, and From My Heart for the sentiment.  The three teacups in Tea Shoppe are actually one long stamp, but I have them in clear mount and decided to cut them apart and use them separately, since I've always had a problem with the length of that one stamp.  It made it easier to ink them up in different colours as well.

 

I used the Chevron embossing folder to add some texture to the horizontal bar at the top, and Perfect Polka Dots to do the same on the Whisper White back panel.  The ribbon is Scallop Dots ribbon in Old Olive.

 

Here are the challenge logos:

 



 

 

I hope your weekend was as pleasant as mine!

 

Stamps: Tea Shoppe (w125545; c125547), Scentsational Season (w121026; c121190), From My Heart (w126555; 126557)

Paper:  Old Olive (100702), Tangerine Tango (111349) and Whisper White ( 100730) card stock

Ink: Classic Stampin' Pads in Old Olive (126953) and Tangerine Tango (126946)

Accessories: 1/2" Scallop Dots ribbon in Old Olive (124139); Brights Designer Buttons (119747); Rhinestone Basic Jewels (119246)

Tools:  Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder (117335); Chevron embossing folder ( 127749);  Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine (113439); Scallop Oval punch (119856); Large Oval punch (119855)

Last Minute Creating!!

I've always had an issue with time pressure.  I don't do well with it, but at least I do something!  I hated timed math drills as a kid, but I did learn my times tables.  I wonder if I would have been able to do it without them.  I do tend to procrastinate, but I've been working my whole life to correct that tendency.  Is it getting better?...Hmmm!  The jury's out! 

But where am I going with this?  Well, late last night, I found out that we were doing a card swap (like a cookie exchange, but with cards) at our Technique Night tonight.  I knew I was going to be busy most of the day today, so I had to make them last night. Fortunately, I am a night owl,  but a 10 pm start is pushing it a little! 

How do you design a card you need to make 4 copies of?  Well, you look to see what colours you have in abundance, especially when you can't order anything in on time.  For me, the colours were oranges - Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango and Cajun Craze cardstock and some Well Worn DSP.  I had seen, earlier in the day, a card made by Ann Schach of The The Stampin' Schach, using the Elementary Elegance set that I had just ordered and Tangerine Tango.  I came up with these cards, inspired by hers.

I had wanted to use white for the stamp, but it turned out that I didn't have any white embossing powder, and StazOn Cotton White ink was not strong enough, even with clear embossing powder, so I went with StazOn Jet Black.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set and I stamped it in Versamark ink and embossed it with Tangerine Tango embossing powder, and punched out a Curly Label shape, which fits perfectly in the middle space of the frame. 

The lovely Well Worn paper softened the Halloween-like effect of the black and orange and provided some contrast.  I had enough Antique brads for two on each of only 4 cards, so the last card  I added three little flower buttons and put a medium basic pearl on each for a flower center.  It is amazing what a difference the different embellishment makes. Much more soft and feminine..

Well, I got them done and I was in bed just after midnight, which is a not-so-unusual bedtime for me, and woke up to a surprise this morning!  My Stampin' Up new distributor Starter Kit was delivered!  I think I actually squealed when I opened the door and saw it.  The delivery man turned and grinned as he walked down my driveway.  Just like Christmas!!