Hugs and Wishes on a Monday Morning

This card was a simple card. The card was inspired by Beate's Sketch Challenge from Friday.

The base of the card is Whisper White followed by a layer of Basic Black and then Soft Sky. I then started with the Soft Sky rectangle and stamped it with the Floral Background Stamp in Soft Sky. I backed this with Basic Black and then Whisper White.

The words are stamped in Basic Black Craft Ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder.

To finish the card off I added three small flowers from the pretties kit with a blue rhinestone center. I also added a piece of white taffeta riboon and some paper piercing.

The card was simple and made in under 10 minutes (including cutting card stock and all).

Some Pun Fun for Sunday

Sorry it took me longer to post than expected. Some things came up over the past few days, the main one being a cold. Yes, I had some days off to hang out with Andrew and Jacob, yet ended up with a cold. I am feeling better now. Unfortunately on Thursday I found out that a really good friend of mine has Thyroid cancer. I made this card for her hoping it will bring a smile to her face. It is hard knowing she having to suffer this at such a yong age (32).

The card base is 4.25 x 4.25 in Basic Gray.

The image is stamped on Watercolor Paper in Staz On. I then colored it in with Classic Inks in Soft Sky, Wild Wassabi, Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink and Yo Yo Yellow using the Aqua Painter. I then matted it on a piece of Whisper White.

The bottom half pink sheet is from the level one hostess Prints Pack. I faux stitched along the top of the pink paper with my paper piercer and the white gel pen.

I had this gray taffeta ribbon that I ordered by mistake a few months ago. It was calling my name to be used on this card. I tied in the flower slide from the Silver kit in the Ocassions Mini Catalog.

To finish the card off I used my corner rounder and scalloped a scrap of whipser white. The words come from Curvy Verses.

My Favorite Creation from the Weekend

I saw a cute little purse on Cambria's blog (a blog I frequent) made from the Carousel Notes and I knew I had to copy it. Ok so I did not copy the tote exactly, but I did copy her idea of the tote.

The tote is made using one of the envelopes for the inside (see picture below). I used the bagalope concept.

The outside is basic. I used the Afternoon Tea Designers Seires Paper for the outside. I knew I would not be using this particular pattern on any of my cards so it was perfect for this project (plus it is what Cambria used and I could not think of anything else to use).

On the inside (or the back of the Afternoon Tea paper I adhered a Groovy Guava carousel note then trimmed around the edges of the patterned paper. Once I had both front and back cut out I decided it needed something to break up the pattern on the front. I added a scrap of Chocolate Chip and tied that off with the Chocolate Twill.

I had just used the "h" from the sticky letters on my last card (will upload that later) and still had the sticker punch out on my desk. I used that to trace out the "h" in a scrap of Afternoon Tea paper that had the Groovy Guava on it. That was simply cut out with scissors.

I purchased the Define Your Life set with my SU! $50 gift card I had earned from the first half of the Stampin' Up! year and decided it was time to be used. The "happy" worked perfect with the "h". To finish the front off I added a small white flower from the pretties kit. In the center of the flower is a green rhinestone brad. Oh yeah, I also added some paper piercing on the top of the ribbon and on the bottom of the Chocolate strip.

For the handles I used the jumbo eyelets and the Wide Chocolate Grosgrain Ribbon.

Here is the recipe:

Stamp Set: Define Your Life.

Card Stock: Carousel Notes, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White.

Ink: Basic Brown

Accessories: Afternoon Tea Designer Series Paper, Sticky Cuts Letters, Stampin' Dimensionals, Chocolate Twill, Pretties Kit, Ice Rhinestone Brads, Antique Brass Jumbo Eyelets, Chocolate Wide Grosgrain Ribbon and Crafters Tool Kit.

PS: I laughed when I visited Cambria's blog on Saturday and I saw that she had done the same thing to her flower that I did on mine (see previous post).

Happy Monday Morning

What a pretty day so far on this day after Easter. The sun is shining (melting away the snow from this past weekend) and the sky is blue. I have my kids and husband at home and the day care kids are all getting along.

I did get some stamping done this weekend. This card was done on Friday as part of Beate's weekend sketch challenge. I love Friday's and her sketches. Her sketches are what I need to help kick start my creative juices for the weekend.

I knew I wanted to use a large flower from the Pretties Kit, it was already dyed Saffron. I had made a card in the past (I will see if I can find a picture of it) where I had stamped some dimension onto the flower using my Canvas Background stamp, this time I grabbed for the Polka Dot Background Stamp and my Chocolate Chip Classic Pad. I love the way it turned out.

The rest of the card is pretty straight forward so here is the recipe:


Stamp Sets: Polka Dot Background and Holidays and Wishes.
Card Stock (from base up): Whisper White, Groovy Guava, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Whisper White and Afternoon Tea Designer Series Paper.
Ink: So Saffron Re-inker (to dye the flower), Chocolate Chip Classic Ink (for the polka dots) and Chocolate Chip Craft Ink (for the words that I embossed).
Accessories: Crafters Tool Kit (for the Paper Piercing), Build a Brad, 1/2 circle punch (for the build a brad), Pretties Kit (the flower), Clear Embossing Powder (for teh words), Vintage Brads, Chocolate Wide Frosgrain Ribbon and Groovy Guava Stitched Ribbon.

Sorry about the picture, I have better ones but they would not upload no matter what I did. I will try to change it later. I am tired of fighting with it right now.

Happy Easter - Our Egg Creations

I will have cards to share tomorrow. Today I am sharing something else that is SU! inspired. We went to dye our eggs last night (after shoveling snow for three hours at Church). I realized that the dye packet that I had purchased was missing the dye. Now I was not in the mood to drive anywhere to purchase a new kit so I grabbed my reinkers and went to town. I tried reinkers in bowls, but the eggs were not as vibrant as what I wanted so I decided to do it the no drip way. I grabbed a few cello bags and we tye dyed our eggs.

I LOVE the bright colors. We started with the lighter colors and then put the egg in a cello bag that had a darker color in it. Once the egg was in the cello bag we lightly squeezed the cello bag getting some of the ink on the eggs. I loved the way it turned out. What a fun night exploring our egg creations. It was had this morning when Andrew wanted a hard boiled egg and we had to choose which one to crack and eat.

March Snow

I knew that we were getting snow today. I knew that we could be in for a lot of snow, yet it is still depressing this late in March. I do find joy in the spring snow when it sticks to the trees. When I looked out the window this morning and our trees had snow stuck to them I knew I had to get some pictures to remind me that there is beauty in the snow (especially when I do not have to drive in it). Sorry that the picture is so dark, I took it close to 7:00 this morning, before it warmed up enough to melt it away.

It is now close to two and the snow is still falling, just a light mist to cloud the air. The air is warm enough so the snow is not sticking to the roads anymore and for that matter it is not sticking to my trees either. Across the county road the neighbors pine trees are still flocked and a joy to look at (I am looking for anything to keep me excited about the snow).

Andrew is excited that we will have snow on the ground for Easter. Here is his thinking, if there is snow on the ground he will be able to see the bunny's tracks as he comes and goes. That way when we get home from Church on Sunday he will be able to tell right away if the bunny has been here just by looking for his tracks. Oh the mind of a six year old. I on the other hand would rather have the snow gone and have it be warm enough for an outside Easter Egg hunt. Yeah we can do it in the snow, but I am not getting the kids all dressed up in their snow attire finest just to run around for eggs (that will be messy and wet in the end).

I will post cards later. I really want to stamp tonight since we have a busy weekend ahead of us. One more picture before I leave though, here is Andrew's snowman from Monday's snowfall. He was upset that his "Frosty" was all melted by Tuesday when he got home from school.

Have a good Easter weekend everyone. Stay safe in the snow.

Happy Thursday - Big Birthday Candle

Yesterday I shared a card that did not turn out the way I had hoped it would, this is another one. I think the red candle is not right, but I will live with it. I started off with the other side of this designer series paper from Summer Picnic, but it was too busy. When I flipped the designers series paper over it looked MUCH better.

I did not make this card for anything or anyone in particular. I knew I wanted to use my Big Birthday Candle stamp set so I actually started there. I can use it for the many two year olds in my care that will turn three this year (four of them, with a fifth one

For the colors I pulled them from the other side of the designer series paper (Bashfull Blue, Real Red and Pumpkin Pie with some Basic Black and Whisper White added too).

The card measures 6 x 6 since the candles are so big. I have never made a true 6 x 6 card. I have made scrapbook page cards that involve pictures, instead of a picture I used the image as a "picture" instead.

The "happy birthday" is from Family Phrases stamp set. The ribbon is the Pumpkin Striped Grosgrain. The black brads are from the Vintage Brad set. I did the paper piercing with the Crafters Tool Kit.

Chipboard Adventure #4

When I started making this card I had a different image of how it was going to turn out. I wanted to use the stars and their negative image that I punched out from the frame that I used on my monkey card (see Chipboard Adventure #1). I wanted to used them in the layout that I have, but nothing else is the same.

I pulled out the red dotted paper from Summer Picnic. I pulled out Night of Navy for the base of the card (even though it looks black in the picture). The card base measures 4 x 8.5.

I knew I needed to tie in the navy so I inked up the negative image of the stars in Night of Navy craft ink and used my clear embossing powder to give it the shine. For the stars I used my Barely Banana craft ink and embossed those too. I put the stars back into the negative image.

I backed the star squares and the designer series paper in Whisper White. I did not like the way the red looked against the navy so I pulled in Barely Banana card stock that I paper pierced with my Crafters Tool Kit.

Not that you can see it, but I stamped the small star from In the Stars in Navy all over the Night of Navy card stock. I also used the phrase from the In the Stars stamp set inked up in Navy Classic Ink.

The card is nothing like I pictured, but will make a good "congratulations" card, maybe for a graduation.

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #39

I am taking a break from the chipboard. I made this card last Friday. For my inspiration I used Beate's Sketch Challenge. I love her sketches and her card ideas (you will have to check out her site.)

My main theme for this past weekend was to use product that I have not touched in a long time. I started looking at my stamp sets and this is what I pulled out. We received this set at convention a few years ago and I do not think I have used it too much since right after then.

Here is the recipe for the card:

Stamp Sets: Heartfelt Thanks and En Francais
Card Stock: Blue Bayou, River Rock, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla and Chocolate Chip
Inks: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, and Old Olive Classic Inks
Accessories: Chocolate Wide Grosgrain Ribbon

Chipboard Adventure #3

Here is another chipboard card for you.

I needed a birthday card for a "boy" (like yesterday). This one was put together rather quickly Sunday night so I could get it in the mail yesterday.

The Chipboard is from the OnBoard Simon Upper Collection. I used my Not Quite Navy Craft ink to color the star chipboard. I set that aside to dry.

I used my In the Stars Stamp set from the Ocassions Mini for the main image. I stamped this in Pumpkin Pie Classic Ink and punced it out with the Large Star Punch. I adhered the Pumpkin Star to the Chipboard with Stampin' Dimensionals.

The base of the card is standard card size (4 1/4 x 5 1/2) in Not Quite Navy. The next layer is Pumkin Pie, just an 1/8 of an inch smaller than the Not Quite Navy. The Olive striped paper is from Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper (also from the Ocassions Mini Catalog). The white at the top of the cars is actually Confetti White.

I added the Striped Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon layered with Black Grosgrain to break up the Olive and the Confetti. If you look closely at the chipboard star you will see I added some black dots (with a fine tip sharpie) to add more black to the card. In the end I put three black brads along the bottom of the card.

All in all the card took me under 10 minutes to pull together. Most of the time was waiting for the chipboard to dry enough for me to pick it up and play with it.

Chipboard Adventure #2

In my last post I mentioned how chipboard was my fetish this past weekend. Here is another one for you.

The chipboard is from the On Board Blossoms and Basics. I inked it up with my Rose Red Craft Ink. I left it to dry on my desk as we ate dinner.

The base of the card is 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 in So Saffron. I then grabbed for the Prints Pack Designer Series Paper. I pulled th Wild Wasabi paper for the next layer. I cut this at 4 x 4. I decided something needed to be put between the Wasabi and the Saffron so I added a layer of Whisper White an 1/8 of an inch larger than the Wasabi.

The only stamping I did on this was the "sweet" in the middle of the flower. I used the Everyday Flexible Phrases for "sweet". I punched this out with the 1/2 circle punch. I placed my word circle on a Build a Brad which I placed in the middle of the chipboard with my Crop-a-Dile. To secure the flower to the card I used Stampin' Dimensionals.

I added three Vintage Brads also. Plus, if you look closer I paper pierced around the edge of the Wild Wasabi.

Chipboard Adventure Begins Today

This weekend I actually was able to spend a few hours in my craft room (not all at one time unfortunataly). I did get a few cards stamped. For some reason I had to pull out the chipboard this weekend. Over the next couple of days I will share my chipboard creations. Enjoy!!

Here is one of my favorites from the weekend. First off, it is a small card (one of my favorites at the moment) measuring 3 x 3. Secondly, it has a monkey on it. I had forgotten that Zoofari had a monkey in it until I made myself use sets that have not been touched in months. So I pulled out Zoofari and went to work.

I made a card before this one that used chipboard so it was still sitting on my desk. One of the pieces of chipboard was a long piece that had three frames. I cut off one of the frames and decided to use that to "frame" the monkey. To color the frame I used my Vanilla Craft Pad and inked the whole thing up. I used my clear embossing powder so I could use the frame right away (plus it added a shine). The heart is also a piece of chipboard that I used Ruby Red Craft Ink on (no embossing on the heart).

Here is the recipe for the card:

Stamp Sets: Zoofari and Canvas Background
Card Stock: Old Olive, Close to Cocoa and Very Vanilla.
Inks: Basic Brown, Vanilla and Ruby Red Craft Ink
Accessories: Chipboard, Crafterstool Kit, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Pastels (Gasp...I know I have not used these in a LONG time. They actually still look brand new).

Club Cards

One more post for today and then I need to try and get some school work done (if I can with all the crying). Here are the cards from my last club. I seem to have had a theme with the background paper, Aqua Painters and Dimensionals. I guess I get into a groove with product and use it a lot. Last month we seemed to emboss on every card. I always use Dimensionals (as Jean would point out....and my husband because I seem to drag the backings me and drop them all over the house).

If you want a close up of any of the cards let me know and I will get one posted.

Tuesday - Some Pun Fun

Two posts from me today and maybe another one on the way. I have a child here that has been crying for the past two hours at the top of his lungs. I cannot get him settled down and I need to do something to distract me from it. I have called his parents and left messages, but so far no luck. Please wish me luck so that I make it the rest of the day without having a breakdown!!

Anyhow....here is a card that I made a few weeks ago. It is from the Pun Fun set. This was a set that made it on my first order from the current catalog. I love the images and the words that go with them. Another two in one set for me. Out of all the images I fell in love with the rocket first. Maybe because I have boys and there are way to many flower sets that scream out "girl".


I did not make this for any particular occassion, I was just playing around with new things. The background paper is where I started. I pulled this thinking I would use the new Old Olive Poly Twill Ribon too, but I could not figure out where to put it once I had everything laid out.

I will not bore you with any more details, here is the recipe for the card:

Stamp Set: Pun Fun
Card Stock: Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue, Basic Black and Whisper White.
Inks: Black Staz On, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive.
Accessories: Stampin' Sponge (to add depth to the stars), Small Star Punch, Black Brads, Aqua Painter and Stampin' Dimensionals.

Thanks for looking!!!

Card Box

Sorry guys I thought I hit the post button yesterday on this!!



When I finished my paper on Sunday for Cultural Anthropology I needed some down time in my craft room. I spent about an hour cleaning up from club on Friday and then I wanted to play. I decided to give Just Celebrate a break and pulled back out Pun Fun. I wanted to make "something" for a lady at Andrew's school for all that she has done for the kids and teachers over the year. Here is what I came up with.



As some of you know I was asked to stamp almost 80 cards for the teachers and staff of Frieldstone for Christmas. I was actually given a fair amount of time too (10 whole days). I have had a lot of positive feedback on the cards. I wanted to show off my card making skills again so I made this box that has 18 - 3x3 cards and envelopes in it. It only took me a couple of hours to cut, stamp, color and assemble so it was a quick and easy project.







Here is the recipe for the box and card



Stamp Sets: Pun Fun and a retired alphabet that I cannot think of at the moment.

Card Stock: Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Basic Black and Whisper White.

Inks: Balck Staz On, Black Craft Ink (for the chipboard and letters), Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive Classic Ink.

Accessories: Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper, Aqua Painter, Stampin' Dimensionals, Crafter Tools Kit, Black Brads and a non SU! chipboard for the "C" (I was out of SU! "C"'s or I would have used that one instead).

Stampin' Up! Information

So I have a few tid bits to pass along from Stampin' Up!

1. Starting immediately (from what I understand) the minimum shipping price has increased for an individual order to $6.95. I was half expecting all shipping prices to go up so this was a pleasent surprise for me. We still only pay 10% shipping for any party order of $150 or more. Do not fret, I place an order at least once a month so you will not have to pay the $6.95, unless you do not want to wait for a club order to be placed (we will talk when you order).
2. There is a Wild Wasabi promotion going on right now (see the side bar for a link to the promotion).
3. Coming March 18 to April 30 Stampin' Up! has TWO promotions for you. The first is for the hostess, for a party of $350 or more the hostess will receive an extra $25 in hostess dollars to spend. For the customer there is a wheel promotion. I will add the link to the side bar later today. Let's just say that you will not want to miss out on this promotion. I already have a few sets on an order form ready for March 18 to roll around (no pun intended).
4. The catalog will be released later than anticipated this summer. August 15 will be the first day that we can order from the new catalog. So for those of you in club we will have a fun event planned in July since our club is supposed to end in June. Details will come later.
5. Anyone up for a stamp a stack? I am thinking of putting together one in the near future. For those of you interested either e-mail me or add a comment to this post some dates in April/May that will work best for you.

Sorry my card samples have been sporadic lately, I have spent my "free time" searching myspace for long lost friends. I acutally found a few and it has been fun catching up with them. If you are interested in a more personal side of me check out my myspace page at www.myspace.com/ashleyvaerst

I have club tonight and will post those cards later. For those of you going stamping for the weekend in the Clearwater area have fun. I really wished I could have gone too. I am leaning towards going to convention (shhh I have not talked to the hubby about this one yet). I REALLY want to be one of the first to see the new catalog.

Two in One Day...Embrace Life

I just finished the first part of my Cultural Anthropology mid term and decided since I finished what was available I would post another card today.

This card is for my club that is meeting on Friday night. Have I told you how much I love this set?? Embrace Life is another set that has not left my desk since it arrived in my house.

I knew I wanted to use paper from the Ginger Blossoms Designer Series pack and this is what turned out the best (I will post my really UGLY one later....it is on my desk burried so I did not have to look at it anymore).

Dang it my son is screaming at something. I will finish posting later. Enjoy!!

Fun and Fast on a Wednesday

A few weeks ago Splitcoast had a color challenge of Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie and Orchid Opulence. I never would have put these colors together, but decided I wanted to play anyway (maybe I would be surprised at the results and love the color combo, who knows). So I played for a few hours with these colors and my neutrals. I had a tough time pulling these colors together and not come out with a Halloween card (I have a few to show you later that I actually like for Halloween).

Here is my attempt at something "springy" with these colors (plus Basic Black and Whisper White).

The main image is from the set Fun and Fast Notes. Plus I used En Francais background stamp (not that you can see it very much, it is stamped lightly on the Orchid card stock).

The base of the card is Certainly Celery. The I pulled the Orchid Opulence and backed that with Whisper White and then Basic Black.

I stamped the main image in Staz On on Whisper White and backed that in Basic Black. To color the image I one again pulled my Classic Stampin Pads in River Rock, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie and Orchid Opulence. I used my Aquapainter to color the image in.

I wanted to pull more of the Pumpkin into the card so I used the Pumpkin Pie Striped Grosgrain Ribbon to finish the card off.

I do not love the card, but I do like it. I like the Halloween cards I came up with these colors more, but I am thinking spring not Halloween (even though it is SNOWING again today...agh!!).

Two Days in a Row!!!

I am in love with this Designer Series Paper (Afternoon Tea - Available now in the Occasion's Catalog).

I built my card off of the scrap of paper I had. This card is a 4 1/4 square. The base is Soft Sky with layered on top of that and then my Afternoon Tea Paper.

I liked the soft colors and thought Wedding. Now most of my friends are Married, but a good friend of my sister's is getting married this June. This card is for Liz and Jason. After I made the card my sister told me that the colors of her wedding are Chocolate and Light Blue - perfect!!

The only set that I have that shouts wedding is the Fun and Fast Notes, well not the entire set, just the cake. I stamped the cake image in Basic Brown on a piece of Whisper White Card Stock. I backed this in Chocolate Chip. The card looked a little busy with just the chocolate square on the background paper so I added the rest of a Groovy Guava scrap that I had already scalloped with my corner rounder a few cards ago. I trimmed this to size and it looked much better.

To color the image I pulled out my Classic Stampin' Pads in Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava Wild Wasabi and Soft Sky plus my Aqua Painter. After my cake was colored I added some sparkle with my handy dandy glue pen and Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.

I knew I wanted to play with the new Hodgepodge Hardware from the Ocassions Catalog so I pulled out all my frames and settled on the square frame. I stamped the words on Whisper White in Basic Brown and framed it in the Silver Hodgepodge Frame. I added brads and then I sat back and said "done".

After showing the card to my sister she said she liked it, but mentioned it did not look like one of my cards because it did not have "Holes" in it. So I went back and pierced the Soft Sky base with my crafter tools kit.

I am hoping to give Liz this card in person in June. I want to go with my sister to California to the wedding, but we will have to see. Just thinking about Liz brings back a ton of fun memories of my sister and her growing up and getting in trouble together, then calling me to get them out of trouble.

Bright and Early on a Monday

I know some of you have already seen this card, but some of you have not so here it is.

This past Christmas demonstrators received a Level Three Hostess set (Time Well Spent) from Stampin' Up! as a thank you. I had to try it out, here is the card I made with the set.

The base is Wild Wasabi. On the Wasabi I stamped the little flower in Wild Wasabi Classic Ink (for a tone on tone look). I layered the Wasabi with Groovy Guava.

I stamped the flower image with Basic Brown on Whisper White. To color them in I used my Groovy Guava Classic Pad and my Aqua Painter. For the center of the flower I used the So Saffaron and Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write Markers. I backed this with Chocolate Chip. I cented this (top to bottom) on the Groovy Guava and secured with Stampin' Dimensionals.

For the words I stamped the image in Basic Brown and colored in with the Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write Marker and my Groovy Guava Classic Pad just like above.

To add a little something to the card I pulled out my Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware and added it to the words. I added the wide Chocolate Grosgrain Ribbon tied in a smiple knot to finish the embellishments off.

Once I had everything down I decided that the Groovy Guava needed something so I pulled out the crafters tool kit and did some piercing (which I think I use on every card these days).

This card was another card from my January club, but it is one of my favorties (if I do say so myself). I just love how it turned out, even though this card took a while to complete at club.

Have a good Monday everyone. It is cold and windy here right now. Dave stood out at the bus stop with Andrew since he is off this week and came in rubbing his ears. I guess since it is only 9 outside and windy my ears would be cold too.

So I Lied

I know I said I would post on Wednesday, but Wednesday was not a good day (neither was Thursday or Friday). I had plans to post tonight, but my camera battery is charging! I will post tomorrow.

I do not have a lot to show. I have a club meeting coming up on Friday and Saturday so I have been working on cards for club (and do not want to post those until we get closer). Plus, I am in charge of the Vacation Bible School Preschoolers again and I have been working out kinks in the program so it runs a lot better this year. I will post those fun crafts when I get those done, this year the theme is all on Science (which is a challenge for me, but I have great help).

Anyone want to read my Cultural Anthropology book for me? Yeah I don't want to read it either, but I guess I better if I want to pass the class.

Look for some cards tomorrow. My battery is charging right now.

Have a good week!!!