Quickie Mini Monday -- Punched Owl

Quickie Mini Mondays feature a 10 minute-or-less project -- something fast, fun and easy to reproduce and mass produce.

Hi everyone,

Here's my quickie card for today. With the help of Stampin' Up!'s new Two-Step Owl Extra-Large Punch, making this card was easy as pie! In one fell swoop, you've got all the parts necessary to make an owl, including the the tiny eyes! I punched him in Cajun Craze, Whisper White, Peach Parfait and Night of Navy cardstock, as well as the Travel Journal DSP for the belly.

I also used the branch from the Two-Step Bird Extra-Large punch, the 1 3/8" Circle punch for the moon and the Small Oval punch to make the waves out of strips of Marina Mist cardstock.

The Night of Navy piece of cardstock was misted with my own handmade Champagne Shimmer Mist for a starry night look!

Have a nice stampin' day! CeeCee

Sparkly Fun Friday-- Birdie Love

Sparkly Fun Fridays features a sparkly or glittery project using shimmer paints, embossing powders, glitters, rhinestones... anything shiny to welcome the weekend in a fun way!!!

Hi everyone,

Today's card was largely inspired by a card from Teri Anderson in march 2008 Paper Crafts Magazine I changed the shape and colors to give it my own twist.

To make the bird I used 2" and 3/4"circle punches cut in half and a piece of a large star punche for the beak. The Island Oasis DSP was so appropriate for this card I had no choice but to use it.

Letters are in white fun foam with the Timeless Type Alphabet exclusive to Stampin' Up!.
Glittery effect is from a heart from the same alphabet with the always cool combination of Versamark, heat ans stick powder and Dazzling Diamonds on a Daffodil Delight CS (juste pour toi Marie-pierre!!).

Have a nice stampin' weekend

Gen

Sweet Treat Thursday -- Birthday Bliss Candies

Sweet Treat Thursdays are all about food -- our other favorite topic -- and features ways to embellish/wrap/present something edible. CAUTION: May be hazardous to your waistline!

Hi everyone,

When you're entertaining at home, you want to make sure everything shines and looks its best, right down to the food you're serving. That's exactly what's happening here at my house at the moment and that inspired today's project:

I always like to have candies on hand when people come over. It's my "thang", my trademark. My people know that I love candies and chocolate and I always have a good supply of those, like... Skittles for instance. They're yummy, no doubt. BUT wouldn't they be yummier presented in that fashion, all layered in a cute little jar with a decorated spoon to scoop them up with?!

Or, wouldn't it be something fun to accompany a birthday gift? I know I would love that!!!

I used Stampin' Up!'s brand new Simply Black 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon to tie a birthday wish (from the Birthday Bliss Stamp Set) stamped in Simply Black and Pear Pizzazz using the markers. The tag is punched with the Wide Oval Punch.

The spoon is embellished by a few flowers from the Petal Pizzazz Stamp Set, and a bit of Dazzling Diamonds Glitter in the center adhered with a Mini Glue Dot.

I think those Skittles look even more tempting when presented that way. It's all about the looks, baby!

Have a nice stampin' day! CeeCee

Whatever Challenge Wednesday -- Play Date Cafe Challenge #37

Whatever Challenge Wednesdays features a challenge from the blogosphere, chosen randomly. Here's our pick for this week:

Hi everyone,

Today, we're going to France, more precisely in the Provence Region. Well, not really but the inspiration comes from the Play Date Cafe Challenge #37, Provençal Style:

Last night, I took a bit of time reading outside under the gazebo. I'm a big fan of book series and some of them can be quite large! So while I was researching on the net to find out what the next book in line for the series I'm reading would be, I had an epiphany! I'm a huge list maker and I thought wouldn't it be great to something where I could keep all the info I need pertaining to the series I'm currently reading, but also my wish lists and review cards.

Meet my "Reading Companion" --

To answer to the challenge, I chose for a big splash of yellow with some orange and green and the Greenhouse Gala DSP from Stampin' Up! fits perfectly for this. The colors I used are all from Stampin' Up! and they are: Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie.

I'm so darn proud of this project. I thought and built this one totally from scratch!!! The structure of the whole thing uses up only 1 sheet of Daffodil Delight 12X12 cardstock and if I had been brave enough to use more yellow for the bookmark I would have used up more of that CS.

Obviously, I didn't have the perfect stamp set so I used my computer to make the title on the spine.
On the cover, there's a pocket made of vellum cardstock from SU where I slid a bookmark (yeah, I dropped mine in the bathtub the other night...).

When you open up the companion, there's a little box where I keep all the cards with the info I need. The bookplate as well as the cards were all made on my computer.

This fun border was accomplished using Stampin' Up!'s Round Tab Extra-Large Punch in an unusual way. I love hot that turned out too!
And here are the cards where I'll have fun writing all the info. Wouldn't it be great to give as a gift to an avid reader?!

Have a nice stampin' day! CeeCee

Two 4 Tuesday -- From Mom to Boy ***edited by CeeCee***

*** hey everyone! It's Gen's birthday today so I just thought I'd pop in after she did her post to wish her a very very happy birthday and I hope her day is less heavy than the past week (she's got 2 sick babies on her hand and the heat wave is still going strong). So join me in wishing her a very happy birthday. Bonne fête, Gen! We all love you and are thoughts are with you! ***

Two for Tuesday features 2 projects that are similar in either color, theme, layout or embellishment but... with a different twist!


Hi everyone,

Today I decided to show you how easy it can be to transform the theme of a card... I used the same layout, the same colors and same DSP, I only changed the stamp set and look I started with a mom card and went all the way to the young boy card.

Old olive, Rich Razzleberry and Pumpkin Pie what a great combination. I really love the effect on the Whisper White cardstock. This card was made using Apple Blossoms level 2 hostess with a piece of build-a-bear retired paper, a half back pearl and I'm done.

Choochoo was just perfect to transform this card every thing else is the same. Just so you know, boys too are allowed some ribbon just change the bow for a knot ;O)

I had a lot of fun playing with the little puffs of smoke, in order to make them "fade away", I simply used the second, third and fourth ink of my stamp...love so much this feature of the Stampin' Up! Classic inks, I really have to take advantage of it more often.

So next time you struggle (as I often do) to do a boyish/manly card, just look with a different eye to your girly creations!!!

Have a nice stampin' day!

Gen

Quickie Mini Monday -- Crochet Flower

Quickie Mini Mondays feature a 10 minute-or-less project -- something fast, fun and easy to reproduce and mass produce.

Hi everyone,

Today's inspiration for my cards come from these cute crochet flower I received from Clouds (see her blog here). They're so gorgeous and the colors dictated the choice of pattern paper.

Over a Whisper White card base, I popped a layer of Stampin' Up!'s Early Espresso CS matting two pieces of Everyday Blessings DSP from PapertreyInk.

The sentiment is from the Thank You Kindly Stamp Set from Stampin' Up! and punched out of the Wide Oval Punch.

The little strip of striped paper is also from Everyday Blessings. In the middle of the flower, I added a medium-sized rhinestone from Doodlebug that I was hoarding... I must use the supplies I so urgently needed a few years ago!

Pretty simple cards, but I love the color combo and those crochet flowers are sooooo darn cute and yummy. Thanks again, Clouds!

Have a nice stampin' day! CeeCee

Sparkly Fun Friday -- Newsprint & Bling

Sparkly Fun Fridays features a sparkly or glittery project using shimmer paints, embossing powders, glitters, rhinestones... anything shiny to welcome the weekend in a fun way!!!

Hi everyone,

Ever since I got Stampin' Up!'s Newsprint DSP pack my hands were itchy to make something with it. Today was THE day.

I really like the geometric patterns that the big bold letters of the background piece make.

I had a bit of a hard time photographing the Cherry Cobbler piece of scalloped cardstock above. The true color is quite stunning!

For the bling accent I used a big Very Vanilla Jumbo Brad, added a glue dot and some Red Chunky Essentials Stampin' Glitter. The flower is punched out of the same Newsprint DS with a Scallop Circle Punch, the each petal is cut with scissors. I also inked all the edges of the flower. I really like how the two different sizes of fonts look together.

Inside, another piece of DSP where I've stamped a sentiment from On Your Birthday Stamp Set with Basic Black Classic Ink.

Have a nice stampin' day! CeeCee