Flowerpot Card Full of Pizzazz

These little flowerpot pocket cards are so much fun (and easy!) to make. Here's some instructions by Stephanie that'll inspire you to create a "dare to be different - WOW" kind of card! I love lifting the little flower cluster out of their flowerpot to see the special message inside. This was made for one of my daughter's best friends (who is celebrating a birthday this weekend), and I adapted my flowerpot dimensions so that it would fit horizontally in the envelope. The flowers were stamped on white & cut out, then adhered to the upper portion of a rectangular white piece of cardstock that simply slides into the flowerpot pocket. The blue flowers are popped up with dimensionals. I was trying a variation of the Faux Shaving Cream technique on the red flower - the picture doesn't do this flower enough justice! The swirl on it was created using the paisley stamp from the Wanted stamp set. The leaves were made by using the 5 petal flower punch with Old Olive cardstock, then cut apart to make the individual leaves. I hope you enjoy this little creation today and be sure to have a great weekend!

Stamps -Petal Pizzazz, Wanted stamp sets
Paper - More Mustard pattern paper and cardstock, Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, white
Inks - More Mustard, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point

Accessories - 5 petal flower and scallop edge punch, dimensional popdots

Whhheee... an Award!

I was so pleased to find out about an award given to me by Kirsten - you gotta visit her site because it's filled to the brim with inspiration! Thank you so much, Kirsten! :) You put a smile on this 'ole gal's face!

I love visiting the blogs on my blogroll - there's so much creativity going round and round. I chose these people who fit the Lemonade Stand Award guidelines to a T, so please stop by and send a shout out to Brenda, Rose, Tessa, Sheri and Comeka for their great work!

The rules of the award (To pick up the Lemonade Stand Award):- Comment on this blog.- Save the award logo to your own computer and use it in your own blog.- Nominate 5 to 10 blogs you feel show great attitude and gratitude.- Link to your nominees within your blog post.- Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received the award.- Link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation.

Have a great day to everyone!

Vacation Album pgs 17-19

Page 17 - Inspirational
A simple layout with some encouraging words.



Page 18 - Sunset
I'm sure they enjoyed beautiful and breathtaking sunsets on the beach!


Page 19 - Vacation Memories
This is the last page made for my sweet SIL's vacation album. I made this so that they could fill in some specific details about their vacation. The blocks start off with the following topics -

We went on vacation between...
The weather was...

We went on vacation with...
More thoughts about our vacation...

And finally, each person in their family had a block to write down their favorite memories.

Thanks for letting me revisit this album with you! I thought it would be fun to share, especially since it's National Scrapbooking Month. My SIL really appreciated this ready-to-use album, which made it all worthwhile, KWIM? I really loved making it for her!!!

Tomorrow, I'm going to share some awards with some blog-mates that are so deserving and inspirational for me.... see ya later! :)

Vacation Album pgs 13-16

Page 13 - Beach Treasures
This two page spread is my favorite one - I love the colors and the ripped squares of different cardstock along the bottom. The starfish was hand-cut and sponged, and I used a stylus to make raised dots along each arm... can you see them? The title tag has SU's cheesecloth background stamp on it.

Page 14 - Beach Treasures
I really never understood the purpose of those posts in the sand that we sometimes see at a beach, but I thought it would be cute to add on this page. The "rope" is black embroidery floss.

Page 15 - Sandcastles
I didn't have any sandcastle stamps at the time and had to borrow these from a friend. I sanded the edges of the block to distress them a bit.

Page 16 - Relax
Whenever I go on vacation with my family of 6, it seems like I don't get enough "relaxation" time since we're usually so busy hoppin' from one place to the next! How about you? But I'm sure that with an entire week at the beach, they were able to catch a moment or two just to simply relax!

Tomorrow's post is the last few pages of the vacation album... I hope you are able to swing by!

Vacation Album pgs 9-12

Page 9 - Family Memories
The page titles and flowers were cut with the wishblade, and I used the "negative" instead of the cut out letters for the title. Lots of sponging going on here! This picture block was for a 5x7 inch photo.

Page 10 - Family Memories
This picture block was designed for (4) photos. Sorry about the page protector color distortions!

Page 11 - Sunkissed
The wave border was cut free-hand and sponged on both pages. The circle medallions are now-retired SU stamps that I can't remember the name of....

Page 12 - Sunkissed

Tomorrow's post of pages 13-16 contains my favorite spread of the whole album... come back and take a peek, ok? :)

Vacation Album pgs 5-8

Page 5 - Floral colors
Simple layout on these two pages for all the "extra" photos we seem to capture during vacation but don't know what to do with... I didn't put any page titles on these two pages in case she had something in mind...

Page 6 - Floral colors

Page 7 - Ocean Fishing

Page 8 - Ocean Fishing
The fish and pole were cut free-hand and shadows added to the fish for depth. The fishing line was drawn in with a black marker.

Come back tomorrow for pages 9-12! :)

Vacation Album pgs 1-4

Hi there! These are pages 1-4 of the Vacation Album. When I sent the album to my SIL, I included post-it notes for areas that I suggested for pictures and those for journaling blocks. I also included a couple see-through templates that she could easily use for trimming pictures down into squares, if she wanted, to fit in some of the blocks throughout the album. Otherwise, the blocks fit the standard 4x6 inch photos.

Page 1 - The Beach House
The page protectors are giving some of the blocks some shadows, but I didn't think about that at the time I took the pictures... oh well... :(

Page 2 - The Beach House
The little circles were adhered only in the center so that she could slide the corners of her square pictures underneath.

Page 3 - Beach Bums

Page 4 - Beach Bums

Thanks for visiting through my parade of pages... see you tomorrow for pages 5-8! :)

Album Front Cover and Title Page

As mentioned in yesterday's post, this is a vacation album that I created for my sister-in-law and her family. She had been visiting with us in the spring of 2007, and had so much excitement for a vacation planned with her family during that upcoming summer. She described the location, activities that they planned to do, and beachhouse in Oregon well enough for me to put this album together for her. Since it was made in 2007, before I became a demonstrator for Stampin Up, most of the products used here were not Stampin Up. I am posting these pages for design inspiration with the layouts, and I hope you enjoy my posts over the course of 5 days. Please note that I took the photos of the pages while they were in the sleeves, so you may see a bit of glare or color distortion from time to time on the occasional page. Since this gift was given long ago, I can't retake the pics for you, but I think they turned out well enough for viewing on the blog. So... here we go...... :) .......

Front Cover

Close up of the stamped area on the front cover. The album title was printed via computer, then over-stamped using a SU floral background stamp (retired) with Creamy Caramel ink. I love SU background stamps!

I stamped this sentiment (non-SU) on the inside of the front cover. Kind of sets the stage for the pages ahead, don't you think?


This is the title page just inside the front cover. Pictures of the Heathergate beachhouse were found on the internet, and it had a beautiful arched gate complete with a white picket fence out front. It was so picturesque, and I thought it would be a great way to begin their vacation memories. The letters were cut out using my wishblade (an electronic cutter hooked up to my computer). There are white square brads inserted on the title block. Well, I hope this wets your appetite for more - I hope you come back tomorrow for a look at the next 4 pages of her vacation album! Ta ta for now...

May's Technique Class Sneak Peek

Howdy and happy Wednesday to you! I wanted to send a quick reminder for this month's technique class to be held Tuesday, May 26th at 7pm in my home. If you are in the Phoenix metro area and would like to attend, please prepay to reserve your spot by May 19th. The cost is $12, and additional details about this class are located HERE. One of the things that we will be making is this clear envelope chipboard album shown above.... isn't it darling? You don't want to miss this class! Send me an email to june@mycreativecorner.com and I will be contacting you shortly.

To celebrate National Scrapbook Month, the posts over the next week will be 12x12 scrapbook pages for a vacation album I made for my dear, sweet SIL. I hope that you will stop in each day to take a peek - have a wonderful day!

Mother's Day Promotion!!!

Hello again - I hope that you are having a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! I wanted to make a quick card today using some papers from my huge paper scraps bin - I always check there first and use the papers that I need, but it still manages to grow! I was able to complete this card in about 20 minutes... ALOT faster than finding my keys, driving to the store, staring at all the hundreds of cards for sale, standing in line at checkout, finding my keys (again...) in my bottomless pit of a purse, and driving home. LOL - but isn't that the truth!?! Make a card instead that you would truly love to give someone, and is a wonderful reflection of you!!!

So what do you think of my simple, but sweet, little card? The little Fabulous Friend oval was stamped on a piece of leftover "Faux Linen" glossy white cardstock that was from my last Techniques class. I just swiped Pink Pirouette ink over it, and the ink filled in the lines very nicely with just enough color. The flowers were colored in with markers, then it was punched out with the large oval punch. I layered this with a Kiwi Kiss scalloped oval. I don't know if you can see it, but the white block was run through the Big Shot with the diamond Texturz embossing plate - in real life, it really adds a pretty touch to this card.

I hope that each of you will have the most wonderful Mother's Day! In celebration of Mother's Day, I am offering all my customers a Free spool of 1/4 inch grograin ribbon in the color of your choice for your purchase of the "Buy 3, Get One Free" paper special being offered by Stampin' Up! this month. (The details are that if you purchase 3 packs of Designer Series paper - including our Specialty Designer Series paper - and/or 12" x 12" textured card stock, you'll get one Free! You can mix or match your paper choices as you wish!) I hope you take advantage of this great promotion, and my offer of a free ribbon spool to be included in your order ends at midnight on Tuesday, May 12th. Please email me your paper collection choices (including the free paper and ribbon selections) at june@mycreativecorner.com or simply fill out my contact page and type in the comment section on that page. I will contact you thereafter to finalize your order. You can view the paper selections HERE and the ribbon choices HERE. Treat yourself to something special for Mother's Day! Thank you so much for visiting with me! See you soon...

Stamps - Oval All
Paper - Bella Rose paper collection, Pretty in Pink, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Glossy White
Ink - Black, Pink Pirouette, SU markers: Rose Red, Old Olive
Accessories - Scallop Oval and Large Oval punches, BigShot, Texturz plate (diamond grid pattern), Pretty in Pink ribbon
Technique - Faux Linen

WICKED 3D Butterfly Box

Here's my last submission for the WICKED challenges posted for Stampin Up demos over on Split Coast Stampers - a HUGE thank you goes to Brenda (aka QBee's Quest) for providing such an awesome template/project idea! You rock! :)

After cutting out and assembling the butterfly box template using a sheet from the Raspberry Tart designer paper collection, I used the Big Shot and Beautiful Butterflies die to create my smaller die-cut butterfly on the front. I used a small piece of Pink Pirouette cardstock as a base layer for the butterfly, and lightly sponged the edges in Riding Hood Red ink. The top butterfly layer was shaped for dimension, as you can see. The sentiment was stamped and punched out with the small oval punch. This was lightly sponged too. The ribbon is 1/4 inch Pretty in Pink and I used a small cut-out rectangle of Sticky Strip to hold each ribbon tail in place while I punched a 1/16 inch hole to insert my brads. Lastly, I stripped the paper from a twist-tie and formed the thin wire around the butterfly body and curled the ends for antennae. You may need to click the picture to see a bigger version of the card to view that detail. The butterfly and sentiment oval are popped up with dimensionals.

Have an awesome weekend, everyone! Come back soon!!!

Stamps - Great Friend (sentiment)

Paper - Pink Pirouette, Raspberry Tart DSP

Ink - Riding Hood Red

Accessories - Big Shot, Beautiful Butterflies BIGZ die, brads, ribbon, small oval punch, sponge, twist tie wire, 1/16 inch hole punch, Sticky Strip, dimensional popdots, candy

WICKED color, Watercolored Rose

Hello again... here's my WICKED submission for the color challenge posted by Brenda (aka QBee's Quest) on Split Coast Stampers. I mentioned alittle bit about these challenges on my previous post. With this particular challenge, we were to use these three colors: Riding Hood Red, So Saffron and Baja Breeze. These are awesome color choices - thanks, Brenda! :)

I love roses more than any other flower, and I especially love the bi-color ones, so this was my inspiration for this card. The open-lined flower was stamped in black ink and immediately heat embossed with clear embossing powder on glossy cardstock. I watercolored the flower with Riding Hood Red and So Saffron re-inkers and aquapainter. The ink doesn't dry immediately on glossy paper, so watch out for that or you might smudge ink in places you didn't intend! :0 (I helped speed up the process by hitting it lightly with my heatgun). I stamped the flower again on scrap paper and cut it out so that it would serve as a mask for sponging done in Baja Breeze and a touch of So Saffron inks. I used my coluzzle to cut out the oval, and hand cut the matted layer out of Riding Hood Red cardstock. This was mounted with dimensional popdots. The cardbase is So Saffron, and I trimmed off about 3/4 inch from the front flap so that I could adhere my Riding Hood Red eyelet border strip down one side.

Thanks for checking out this card project! Remember, you can click the picture and it will open up a larger version for you (so you can see better details). The gloss from the paper made it hard to capture the depth of color with this rose - but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Stay tuned for another WICKED project to be posted tomorrow - so, until then, have an awesome day!!

Stamps - Fifth Avenue Floral, Great Friend (sentiment)

Paper - Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Glossy White

Inks - Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, black

Accessories - aquapainter, sponge, coluzzle/oval template, heatgun, clear embossing powder, eyelet border punch, dimensional popdots

WICKED sketch, Friend

Many congratulations and thanks to Brenda (QBee's Quest)!!!! She was selected as May's WICKED challenge hostess on Split Coast Stampers! I just recently found out about these challenges, and couldn't wait to give them a try. I loved the challenges that Brenda set up for us this month! WICKED stands for Wonderfully Inspiring Challenges Keep Educating Demos - and if you are a registered Stampin Up demo on SCS, please stop by and check it out.

This is the card that I made for the sketch challenge. The triangles in the corners were stamped with the large swirl from Baroque Motifs, then sponged, with Ballet Blue ink. The floral stamp was selectively colored with markers, huffed on to re-moisten the ink, then stamped. The sentiment is from Great Friend and was also selectively colored with markers. The sentiment was stamped using a StampAMaJig to line it up in the fancy frame, then cut out. It was adhered with pop dots for dimension. Thanks for visiting today - come back tomorrow for another WICKED submission!

Stamps - Thoughts and Prayers, Baroque Motifs, Great Friend

Paper - Ballet Blue, Old Olive, Black, White

Ink - Black, Ballet Blue, SU markers: Ballet Blue, Old Olive

Accessories - sponge, eyelet border punch, photo corner punch, brads, SAMJ, dimensionals

National Scrapbooking Month Promotions

To celebrate National Scrapbooking Month during May, Stampin'Up! has wonderful promotions between May 1-31! The Scrapbooking Promotion has three exciting parts:

1. Buy three packs of Designer Series paper (including our Specialty Designer Series paper) and/or 12" x 12" textured card stock, and get one FREE! You can mix or match your paper choices as you wish!

2. Buy a sneak peek stamp set from the 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog--Jumble Alphabet (set of 52; double-mounted)--at a 20 percent discount. After this promotion ends, this stamp set won't be available again until July! Click the link below to see a PDF of the entire alphabet.

115199 Jumble Alphabet Stamp Set Regularly $43.95 NOW $35.16

Lastly, for those of you thinking about joining the Stampin'Up! Family, NOW is a great time to join! Become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for only $75 with our limited-time Scrapbooking Starter Kit. The Scrapbooking Starter Kit contains the following:

113510 Schoolbook Serif AlphabetStamp Set $42.95
113059 Simply Scrappin’ Petal Party $19.95
108697 Earth Elements Asst Textured Cardstock (12x12) $11.95
105240 Whisper White Craft Stampin’ Pad $7.50

This is a FANTASTIC Scrapbooking Starter Kit promotion! You can substitute and customize each of these items for any like items. The Scrapbooking Starter Kit also contains all the business supplies contained in the standard Starter Kit:

* Getting Started DVD
* Getting Started Guide
* Guest Invitation Postcard (100)
* Idea Book & Catalog (8)
* Occasions Mini Catalog (8)
* To My Hostess Envelope (10)
* Recruit Folders (5)
* Recruit Brochures (20)
* Hostess Brochure (20)
* Hostess Benefits Form (10)
* Customer Order Form (50)

Contact me today for my password to join now through my website! It’s so easy, just click on the “Join Now” link in the upper right corner and fill out the form. Or, if you choose, we can send the demonstrator agreement by mail, but remember this form must be delivered to Stampin’Up! by Friday, May 29, 2009.

Altered Candy Jar

Happy Friday to you! I had a great evening this week with my Technique class, and I wanted to share the doorprize I made for it. My friend, Sheri, won the prize... Yay Sheri! :)

Isn't it cute? I was pleased with how it turned out, and it was very easy to assemble! I recycled an empty Folgers instant coffee container to make an altered candy jar. I'm sure we all have an 'almost empty' plastic container sitting in the fridge or in the pantry - so instead of tossing the container, I suggest altering it for a new use! What a great way to give someone a special gift, or keep it for yourself... it could store lots of crafty items too - ribbons, flowers, reinkers, die-cuts, you name it!

The papers are held on with Sticky Strip, and I also inserted brads on both sides for added insurance - it's not coming off! (To insert brads, after adhering your paper to the plastic, carefully use a paper piercer and gently work it through the layers of paper and plastic - it's not hard to do... just go slow so you don't have an accident... yikes!). The 'candy' label is die cut letters from the GoGo Boots sizzlet alphabets. I added some Riding Hood Red ribbon, and topped the lid with a Pretties flower. The patterned paper is from the Washington Apple DSP series.

Just before class started, I filled it with a package of coffee-flavored candy. YUM! Thanks for checking in with me - have a great day!