Flower Power!

Did you know there is a World Card Making Day? To celebrate, Stampin' Up! is offering 20% off all their Simply Sent Card Elements and Simply Sent Card Kits. Click HERE or on the link at the right to see the flyer. You can also see the kits on page 176 of the catalog.

The picture above shows cards you can make from the Flower Power Simply Sent card elements kit. The kit comes with:

2 sheet of 8 1/2" by 11" designer paper

6 sheets of textured card stock (2 each of Rose Red, Old Olive, and Perfect Plum)

1 sheet of self-adhesive die cuts

5 feet of Whisper White 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

3 1/2 feet More Mustard 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

6 buttons

5 brads

The instructions that come with the kit show you how to make the 3 cards shown above. You can make 3 of each of those cards (9 total), and/or you can be creative and make your own designs! I had a lot of fun making up these cards and it was fun to have all the colors (paper and accessories) already coordinating and ready to go. I saw a set of 12 cards by scrapperaddict on Splitcoaststampers with this kit, so I used a couple of her ideas to jump start my creativity for my own card set. This kit coordinates with the Wow Flowers stamp set, so I used that as well as the four coordinating ink colors.

All of the pictures in this post show the 10 cards I made from ONE Flower Power kit. AND I had left overs! When I was done with these 10 cards, I still had one full sheet of designer paper, approximately 1 sheet of textured card stock (combined of the 3 colors), a couple feet of ribbon, about 1/4 of the self-adhesive die cuts, and 3 buttons! The only thing that I added to the kit (other than the stamps and ink) was about 1 1/2 sheets of Whisper White card stock and adhesives.

After using one of these kits myself, I think they would make a great gift for a new stamper. Or, if you make up the kit yourself, you have a set of coordinating cards--which would be a wonderful gift to give someone as well. Can you tell I'm starting to think about the holidays and who I need to give gifts to? :-) Also, If you'd like a quick and easy way to make your own Christmas cards this year, you'll want to check out the Handmade Holiday Card Elements set.

Let me know if you'd like to order any of these kits. Remember that this is a short promotion and only lasts from Oct 4-11th!

Stamps: Wow Flowers, Hugs & Wishes, Sincere Salutations

Ink: More Mustard, Rose Red, Old Olive, Perfect Plum

Paper: Flower Power Cards Elements kit, Whisper White

Accessories: Buttons, ribbon, and brads from the Flower Power Cards Elements kit

Bashful Tango

The other day I ran across a Color Challenge over at Belinda's blog stampwithbelinda.com. The colors were just so fun that I just had to join the challenge! Follow this LINK to see the post about her color challenge and the pillows that gave Belinda the inspiration.

The colors Belinda chose were Bashful Blue, Tangerine Tango, and Basic Black. To me these colors are bold/funky. Since that isn't my 'usual' stamping style, I had to take a long look at my stamp sets to see what could work. And Wow Flowers came to the rescue! My card is very simple and litterally came together in a few minutes once I had the idea. The card base is Glossy White cardstock. I hope I still qualify for the challenge even though I used very little black (only for the sentiment). I tried to add more, but it just didn't seem to fit. :-)

By the way, the 5/8" Tangerine Tango Striped Grosgrain Ribbon that I used here is part of my Accessory Sampler that you can order before Sept 18th. Check this link for details.

Stamps: Wow Flowers

Ink: Bashful Blue, Tangerine Tango, Basic Black

Paper: Glossy White

Accessories: Tangerine Tango 5/8" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon

Tic Tac Toe Anyone?

A while ago I was at Target and noticed that they had some fun travel games for kids that came in little tins. It got me thinking that it would be fun to make something similar, and this is what I came up with. I started with an empty Accents and Elements Tin (the larger kind that the Flower Fusion come in). I chose Real Red and Brilliant Blue since they seemed like perfect colors for a children's game, and I used the new stamp set Wow Flowers. After you slide off the belly band, you open it up and there's storage on the right side for all the pieces and the left side is where you play. I drew the lines with a Sharpie poster paint marker that just happened to be the perfect color.

Here is a side view of the game piece. I started by stamping the images in Brilliant Blue and Real Red on scrap Whisper White paper and then punching them out with the 1 3/8" circle punch. I put them face down in Xyron adhesive (I didn't use the Xyron machine, just the adhesive) and then stuck them to the flat side of the vase fillers (found at Target). Since the vase fillers aren't perfectly round, I trimmed where necessary around the edges. Then I attached the magnet with a large glue dot.

I think this would be a perfect gift idea for any child. Even though my son isn't quite old enough to understand the idea of Tic Tac Toe, he still loves playing with the magnets and having a little tin to carry them around in!

Stamps: Wow Flowers
Ink: Real Red, Brilliant Blue
Paper: Real Red, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White
Accessories: A&E Tin, scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, corner rounder, large vase fillers, large glue dots, magnets, Sharpie poster paint marker, Xyron adhesive