Waiting a Few More Days

Just a few more days and you'll be able to purchase this wonderful new stamp set!  It's beautiful and it's called Hope and Strength.  Some of the proceeds from the sales of these stamp sets will go toward Breast Cancer Research.  This card itself was inspired by Claire Daly.  You can find her blog on my blog list on the left.  So, lets have a workshop together and we can make a difference with the purchase of this stamp set.  Together, we CAN do it!

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

Sneak Peek!

This is a great new set that will be available in the Summer Mini Catalog, only a week and a half away!  It's a really cute set called Summer Splash.  Oh yeah!  I already showed you another card made with this set.  Remember the brayered fish?  Anyway, I really like this one.  Had a fun time making the starfish into tags hanging from the hemp twine?  The frame was made with my lattice die.  Cut out the center and the edge pieces and you have this cute frame.  So, what do you think?

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!

Blessings to you on this special Easter weekend,
Julie

Baby Blossoms and New DP

 Here's the newest Stampin' Celebration's 48th challenge.  I chose to use the flowers, colors and leaf border.  I was wishing for a hat stamp ... like the one that was on the retired Paris stamp set.  wouldn't that be great for this challenge?  :-) 

And the layout is SAH165 from Stamp-A-Holics.  It's hard to see, but the leaf border was stamped on white and then cut out.  That way I could mount it over the background white and the frame.  The scalloped border is hanging out in Pink Pirouette.  See that gorgeous DP?  It's new!  It's a preview of the new Idea Book & Catalog and is available this month with a $20 purchase.  Though it's hard to see, I did use some pearls on the greeting just to give it a touch of class.  I sure love those things! 

Hey, that's two posts in one day!  I guess that let's me off the hook for tomorrow?  ;-)  Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

We're baaaaaaaack.......

 ....yes!  Ok, it's been one crazy week.  Finally got the taxes done on Friday, then left on Saturday for Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.  Our favorite place to stay is the Earthbox Motel & Spa.  The kids love it because it has an indoor pool, hot tub, exercise room, and sauna.  We love it because it's within walking distance of all the downtown shops and restaurants.  And after we returned, I realized how long it had been since I had posted anything!  Yikes! 
This fun card uses a set called Summer Splash from the upcoming Summer Mini Catalog.  I can't wait to show you all the wonderful things inside that catalog!!!!  I embossed the fish, bubbles and shells, then brayered over them.  I used the SACC92 color challenge, the SASC92 sketch challenge, and the A & M 4.13 accessories challenge to make the card.  There were a few random spots of ink, so I added the punched sanddollar and shell.  And I actually like it better that way!  :-)  Love it when that happens!  The colors are Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi, and River Rock.  The greeting is from On Your Birthday, stamped on a large oval and cut in half. 

 So here are a few shots from this weekend.  This is my oldest man-child.  He thinks he's pretty cool because he's already 6 inches taller than his mama.  He's a pretty nice kid.

 Here's my middle man-child.  He loved sitting by the rocks and feeling the crazy waves splash up.  Too bad it was only about 50 degrees outside! 

 And this one...my youngest man-child.  Need I say more?  I think you can tell plenty from the photo!

And here are my DH and I in front of Roche Harbor.  Yes, I am wearing my SU! sweater.  I love that thing!  And underneath is my cool Toby Mac Tshirt.  I'm so glad that it was such a beautiful day there.

Well, I guess that's it for now.  I'm working on a few more challenges, so hopefully I'll be back by tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!  I'd love to hear from you.

Blessings,
Julie

Demented Robot :-)

It's not my fault, I tell ya!  When I first attempted the previously shared card for my DH, the image came out blurred.  For some reason, it looked like a mirror to me and this crazy question popped into my head.  It just popped, I tell ya!  So, what do you think of my mirror, mirror on the wall?  Does it make my tread look big?  ;-) 

Thanks for stopping by to share my demented moment with me.

Blessings,
Julie

p.s.  The DP is retired, the polka dots were embossed on Tangerine Tango and then sponged with Pacific Point, the greeting was made with My Digital Studio, and the mirrored image was stamped on the center oval from the Baby Blossoms Stamp Set and then the oval was stamped on the very vanilla. (This technique is called "kissing".)  The base of the "mirror" is from my stencil from the Holiday Mini Catalog.  The bots were colored with blender pens and the pearls were colored with a sharpie pen.  The layout is from the SC327 sketch challenge.

Happy Anniversary Robot ...Uh, Honey!

Today, my DH and I are celebrating our 19th anniversary.  Wow!  How did the time fly by so quickly?!  I can't believe it's been 19 years already.  My DH is a computer geek, so I thought the binary stamp in this set would be appropriate.  I used the kissing technique to get the robots facing each other.  This card is also sketch challenge 91 at Stampin' Addicts.  I thought it would be a fun way to create a card for my honey.  My first attempt was a flub, but I turned it into something funny.  Hopefully I can get that one uploaded to you by tomorrow.  Let's just say it's a bit demented.  :-)
Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!
Blessings!
Julie
p.s.  Yesterday was Compassion Sunday.  We had great success at our church getting a lot of children sponsored.  Did you know that a child dies in the world every 5 seconds from malnutrition?  That's 10 million a year!  Here's a link so that you can help me stop this horrible situation:  compassion.com.  Together, we CAN make a difference!

My Digital Studio Birthday Page

Here's a quick birthday page that I made for Zach.  I love all of the little accents that I can add, like the paper clip and jumbo eyelets.  I also added some balloon stamps and cupcake stamps.  There's a shadow added behind them so that they look like they're lifted off the page.  There wasn't a string for the balloons, so I added staples and made them longer so that they would look like strings.  The scallop pieces and the ribbon in between are from the Ice Cream Parlor add on from SAB.  Fun, eh?  And look at that cute little boy in the journaling box...he's from the All in the Family set.  I love it that I could add the glasses on him to match my little guy.  So what's your last scrapping page?  I'd love to see it!

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

Treat Bag

Here's a fun little treat bag.  It measures approximately 2 x 3.  I used the Saffron Grosgrain from SAB a couple of years ago for the handles.  The flower was made with the Build a Blossom punch.  The DP is retired, as is the yellow brads.  Looking at it now, I should have used a Melon Mambo circle to glue the petals to.  Oh well, live and learn, right? 
Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.
Blessings!
Julie

Stampin' Celebration #47

 Here's the inspiration challenge for this week.  I love these fun images!  It was really hard to decide which way to go on this one, so I decided to concentrate on the party cup.  Isn't it adorable?  I love the little elephants and the polka dots.  And once I got a close look at that striped paper ... eureka!  That's almost exactly like the SAB DP from a couple of years ago!  So, this is what I came up with for it...

I pulled the elephants and the striped paper from it.  I also decided to duplicate that cute polka dot pattern.  I ran my Bashful Blue cardstock through the Big Shot with the Large Polka Dot texture plate so that I could use those polka dots as a template for where to glue the dots on.  I punched out the circles with my Itty Bitty Punches circle punch and glued them on with Tombow.  The elephants are the Baby Steps single stamp with the Congratulations word blocked out.  It's stamped with Certainly Celery, ears are colored in with So Saffron, and the eyes were colored with Early Espresso.  The image was covered in VersaMark and the embossed with Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder.  (This technique is called Dazzling Diamonds Dust.)  I love how sparkly it is!  The hearts are from the Heart to Heart and 2-Step Owl punches.  The string on the greeting is a new item in the upcoming Summer Mini Catalog.  Ooooo, I really love this stuff!  It's the Early Espresso Baker's Twine.  Isn't it fun?! 
So what can you make from this Inspiration piece?  I'd love to see it!
Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.
Blessings,
Julie

Challenges Love I Do

 Yes, I decided to play a new challenge.  Stampin' Celebration has some really fun challenges and I've seen them regularly on Krystal's blog, but I've never played along.  Well, not until today.  :-)  I do plan on playing again whenever possible because I love the fact that they usually give 4 photos to draw inspiration from.  This card is based on the inspiration photo right below.  I've pulled the flower them, the ruffled ribbon, and the colors from the photos.  Unfortunately, the lighting in my stamp room didn't reveal the true colors of this card.  I really like it much better IRL.

 This card combines 3 challenges!  The first is Sketch Challenge 325 from SCS.  I didn't know what I was going to do with it at first, but knew that I needed a sympathy card.  A dear man in our church passed away last week from bone cancer.  This will go to his widow.  I hope it helps lift her spirits a little.  I didn't really want to go the black route since we, as Christians, are assured of eternal life, so I used the Color Combination Challenge 88 from SA as a heart-lifting color combo.  The main image of daisies is made using the Faux Silk technique.  This version of Faux Silk is the "new" way that Stampin' Up! showed us in one of the latest Stampin' Success magazines.  (Available only to current demonstrators.  Want to receive great ideas like this?  Talk to me about signing up.)   This technique was highlighted for us in the SA Technique Challenge 84.  I added sponging over the edges and across the tissue paper to make the "silk" more noticeable.  The daisy popped up is a technique called "spotlighting".  I really like how it finishes off the main image and adds that spot to draw your eye.  And where would I be without my faithful basic pearls?!

I like to try to make the inside of the cards that I give out as much interest and attention as the outside.  (Well, ALMOST as much!)  I really love this message from the Thoughts and Prayers stamp set.  It pretty much says it all.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station once again.  Let me know what you think of these challenges and please play along if you have time.

Blessings,
Julie

I Love These Three Amigas Challenges!

 My dear friends Sharon, Joanne, and I are having trouble coming up with a day for a stamping playdate, so we decided to go virtual again.  What does that mean?  We each set forth a challenge for each other and have a deadline to submit them by.  I'm barely making this one.  I have two minutes left to upload.  Let's see how fast I can type.  :-D 
This first card is for my challenge.  Something old is the rhinestone brads that we've had in the catty for awhile.  Something new is the DP and the Four Frames stamp set, which are the special for this month.  (They're gorgeous, BTW!)  Something borrowed is the layout.  It's from this week's sketch challenge on Splitcoast.  The something blue is quite obviously the DP.  :-)  Yes, I cheated and used the rhinestones from last year's Easter Egg kit.  Sorry!

 And this card is for Sharon's challenge.  She told us to make a quilted card, using this tutorial for instructions.  I, of course, had to go to see what other patterns I could find on the internet.  I found this awesome quilting site to find other patterns to try.  I also found a lot of images on google and found a diamonds pattern that I thought would translate well to paper.  I did use retired DP, just in case I didn't like my first attempt.  I also decided to use my retired brads to match.  After gluing down the DP, I ran the whole thing through the Big Shot with my Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder.  The tag punch and Tiny Tags stamp set attached with crochet thread finish it off.

And last, but definitely not least, Joanne challenged us to make an Easter treat holder.  (Mine must contain chocolate, because I don't get enough of that food group.  ;-D )  The background scallop is punched out of Naturals Ivory and then stamped with the Medallion center and Marina Mist ink.  (I was going for a different look than usual.)  The flowers were made with my Boho Blossoms punch and the Itty Bitty punch set.  The leaves are courtesy of the lattice die leftovers.  Yes, I have a problem with keeping all kinds of scraps!  Basic pearls finish off the flowers and the Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon was also a leftover!  Let's hear it for leftovers!  Whoo Hoooo!!!! 

Ok, now it's your turn!  Let's see what you can do with these challenges.  Upload your projects to an online gallery (splitcoaststampers.com or for Stampin' Up only stampinaddicts.com) and then come back here to leave us a link.  We'd love to see your creations!  I promise to leave you a comment, too.

Blessings,
Julie