Donation to Necessities Bag Organization....

Giving back, charity work, volunteering - whatever you call it, it is about doing something for others.  As a result of the kindness of other women, the Necessities Bag organization was founded.  If you don't know who they are, they provide a canvas bag full of necessary items to women who are scheduled to undergo a mastectomy.  The bag includes all kinds of wonderful items that a woman will need during and after her stay in the hospital.  I received one of these bags and it was so heart-warming to know that others cared.  As a result, I now donate handmade "Thank You" cards for inclusion in the Necessities Bags.  Here's a picture of some of my latest donations - 40 packets of 3 cards to place in the bags.  Ellen Mack of Necessities Bags Sacramento even showed me a note from a recent bag recipient mentioning how much she enjoyed the cards.  I am so glad they are being used and enjoyed by these women.  If you want more information about the organization, check them out at http://necessitiesbagsac.org/   If you are interested in donating cards to this wonderful organization as well, just let me or Ellen know!

Technique Tuesday - Butterfly Punch Pansies.....

Today I will show you how to make these beautiful pansies using Stampin' Up!'s butterfly punch.  They are so easy to do and turn out so pretty!

First, punch out three butterflies and one 1 3/8" circle with the center punched with the 1/8" circle punch.  Place circle aside for later.

Cut all three butterflies in half.  On one butterfly, cut each wing from the outside indentation to the point at the top of your cut.  Make sure to round your scissors as you cut so it is not perfectly straight across.  Throw away the bottom halves of those wings as well as one side of another butterfly.  You will end up with three whole wings and two half wings.

Choose two inks which are deeper than your cardstock choice.  I used Baja Breeze cardstock and Marina Mist and Perfect Plum inks.

Using sponges, start with Marina Mist ink and start at the inside of the wings and dab the color toward the outside.  Then repeat with Perfect Plum but keep it closer to the inside.  Come back with Marina Mist to smooth the look.

Using a Basic Black marker, create veining on insides of wings.

Assemble by adhereing one wing to the round circle leaving the center visible.  Overlap and adhere another full wing next to it.

Overlap and adhere each half wing to either side of the full wings.

Adhere last wing at the bottom creating the pansy.  Using a glue pen, adhere Dazzling Diamonds glitter along veining lines and attach rhinestone brad in center.

Finally attach these to your card and you have a beautiful card using butterfly pansies!

Stampin' Up!'s Friends Fur-Ever!!!

I fell in love with the little Scottie dogs in this set when it came out in July but just hadn't found the right way of highlight the little guy.  My friend, Lela Meinke - Serenity Stamper to those of you on SCS - solved that!  I was over at her house one day and she had used him with the Loads of Fun stamp set.  I can't remember if she had used the jet ski like I have above or if she had used the snowmobile but either way, it inspired this card!  Too cute!  My next challenge is to put him on the ATV and do the masking tape technique in camoflage colors!  I'll let you know how that turns out but in the meantime, isn't he just adorable????  Thanks Lela!!!!

Stampin' Up!'s Elegant Thank You...

I made this card on the day that I was playing around with the Scallop Border and Scallop Corner punches.  In a video, Bonnie Thurber of Stampin' Up! showed how to make a simple scallop square (say that three times fast!) using the Scallop Corner punch.  Just cut a 2" square and then punch the top, then the bottom and finally the two sides.  It perfectly makes this little scallop square!  I dusted off my Flower Fancy set which hasn't been used in a long time but I just love how this turned out.  The pearls fit perfectly into the center of the flowers too!

Keep your eyes out for an upcoming Technique Tuesday where I will show you how to get the Scallop Border and Scallop Corner punches to work for you!

Lots of Layers using Elegant Soiree

This card was inspired by a card that caught one of my friend's eye on a website.  I thought it would be a great card to use the Clearly for You stamp set in the Occasions Mini Catalog along with the Elegant Soiree Designer Series Paper.  I especially like how the circles on the background paper perfectly line up with the scallop circle.  Totally not planned but so effective anyway!

Technique Tuesday - Reverse Image Stamping....

Do you ever have an idea for a card like this cute one where you want the animals facing each other but the stamps were made where they both faced in the same direction?  That is the case with this card!  The bunny on the left - I'll call him "Thumper" - actually faces to the left if you stamp him.  But I wanted him to face "Bambi" but how do you make that happen?  Here's how: 

Remember all those scraps of rubber that you kept from when we had to cut our images out?  Here's where that rubber hoarding will pay off.  If you didn't hang onto them, as you get new stamps, look for a piece large enough for stamping images onto.  Mount it onto a block of wood or clear mount it.

Ink your image and stamp down onto your blank piece of rubber. 

Then immediately stamp the blank rubber onto a piece of cardstock.

Now you have Thumper facing the opposite direction!

Always in Need of Masculine Cards, How About You?

Several of my hostesses ask for masculine cards and I am always in need of them as well.  This card was CASE'd from Bonnie Thurber at Stampin' Up!'s Leadership Conference but she made a little album out of it.  I changed it up a bit and made it into a masculine birthday card.  I think it turned out pretty well.