Just Try, Try, Again.... SSC #260- Part Deux

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Hey y'all. Happy Humpday! I hope you're having a great week so far. :) It's a scorcher here in the DMV today, 90's, close to 100 with the humidity and heat index. Lucky for me, I'm getting my walking & running done inside. You know what I 'd love to reward myself with....ok, besides a refreshing beverage, a nice cupcake. However that would pretty much use up my all the activity points I just earned so how about I share a calorie/points free version? Ok, so you can't taste it, but I hope it makes you smile anyways, and just think everytime you smile you're using up calories. I like burning calories! According to this article quoting a plastic surgeon, it takes one more muscle to smile than to frown. Just one more reason to smile today. :D Anyways, hopefully this card will make you smile.

Oh, and before I forget- to all those people that let me rant yesterday about my frustrations over the card I made, thanks for not telling me to "Be Quiet" and to "Just Deal". To those of you that took the time to message me or leave nice comments, Thanks so much!!!! You made my day and really made me glad I had persevered and pushed on instead of giving up. Bear Hugs to you, "Grrrrrrrrr". :)

So, I decided to give the Stamping 411 challenge another try. Here's what I came up with-

Celebrate Card featuring
2012-2014 In Colors, Patio Party DSP , Friendly Phrases & Cupcake  Builder Stamp Set & Punch

Here's the sketch-

I stuck to sketch, just turning the orientation. I decided since this was my second attempt, I would challenge myself just a little extra. First- I used one of new In-Colors, Summer Starfruit, for my base and a mat. In case you haven't read it here before, I think this is the "Peach Parfait" of the new In-Colors. Still not sure I like it, but I'm determined to give it a shot. I think it looks best with really saturated colors and of course, our DSP's make it look pretty good...maybe it'll grow on me. Second, see that Baja Breeze seam binding.... OMGoodness! Do you know how many times I pulled that up and then stuck it back down? Soooo many! I'm sure it's hard for those of you that don't know me IRL to imagine the absolute "fits" it gave me to not have nice neat ruffles and folds. The OCD was in high gear let me just tell you! I kid you not, I spent at least 15 minutes laying that ribbon down. LOL!, Silly I know. Are you smiling yet? Boy-Howdy do I wish SU had kept the pleated ribbons. No muss, no fuss, no fits.  Oh well, I like how it turned out in the end.

If you're not smiling yet, look at this-

Yep, that's my studio assistant, Bitty Kitty, looking down at me from her perch at the top of my stamping area. Of course in her mind, she's not my assistant, I'm hers. She's just making sure I get my cards done to help pay for her mortgage. Those of you with cats will totally get that. Those without...just imagine what she's thinking of me and my meltdown over ribbon, that should make you smile!

I should have taken a closer picture of my little cupcake, but I was tired and forgot to. But if you look real close, you can see the added details. I first thought about getting out my paper crimper, but since it just retired I wanted to see what I could do to get the same look without it. I punched my cupcake base out of Crumbcake c/s, using my Cupcake Builder Punch, and then using my Simply Scored Tool, made score lines ever 1/8th inch. when I flipped the c/s over it looked like a cupcake wrapper. Score! I then swiped a sponge with some left over Soft Suede on it, over the ridges to make them stand out more. The "frosting" was stamped with Primrose Petals. I stamped off three times then stamped onto Very Vanilla c/s and punched it out with my Cupcake Builder Punch as well. I then outlined it with Tombow and then put swirls of Tombow in the center for "frosting swirls" and dipped it in a mixture of Vanilla embossing powder and Dazzling Diamonds. I can't find the blog link to it but I think it was Selene Kempton's blog that had a project using this combination and called it Frosting. Works great like this, but also with heat embossing. I popped the frosting portion up with Dimensionals.

Here's the inside-

I inked up my new set Friendly Phrases in Midnight Muse and stamped onto a piece of Very Vanilla c/s. I then stamped my cupcake using Crumb Cake and Primrose Petal, both of which were stamped off first. Next, I let Tink have her way with the frosting. No dimensional frosting here like the front of the card, just enough to make it shine (and smell good).

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you liked today's card and I really hope it inspires you to re-try something you wish you had done a little more to your liking before. I'd love to hear what you think. Your comments always make my day. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have an Amazing day filled with lots of smiles. Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms, than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan

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Sneak Peak and a Challenge

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Hey y'all. Happy Humpday. I hope you're having an Amazing week!

The sun is shining here in the DMV and the birds nested under my window are singing. Should reach low 80's today...Sweet! Although I hear my little friends all day, you know what I haven't seen yet? Butterflies. I love them, always have. I especially love when you are lucky enough to have one come and rest on your hand. How  Incredible is that? We must seem like such huge, moving, giants and yet they trust enough to come and settle on us. WOW!!!

What's got me thinking butterfly's? Mr. UPS left me a package on my doorstep yesterday and I went in, sat down and promptly started going through all my new sneak peak goodies. One of my goodies was the new Patio Party DSP which I got as part of a recruitment bundle. SU takes such good care of us. I got two new stamp sets, DSP and new ribbon too!

I don't know about you, but whenever I get my DSP I look at each page and flip every other sheet around so when I go to look for a DSP to use I can see all of my selections without having to flip them over. Saves me time and frustration. When I was looking at and setting up my Patio Party DSP, I saw a sheet with nothing but pretty little butterflies. I knew I had to use it. I even had two different sketch challenges in mind to use it with. :) How often does that happen? For me not very. LOL

Do you ever know just how you want your card/project to turn out and have it seem so simple and then not have it look or feel right? That's what happened to me last night as I was putting this card together. I chose my sketch, a very simple and straightforward one, and yet I struggled. In the end, I was happy with my card, but what I thought was a short straight path turned out to be, at least mentally, twisty and bumpy. Let me know what you think.

Here's today's card-

Sneak Peek, Patio Party, 2012-2014 In Colors

Love, love, love the New DSP, ribbons and In-Colors. This card is chock-full of sneak peeks for you. I started with a base of Primrose Petals and layered on the Patio Party DSP. It makes me think of a summer night where someone has run through a meadow and surprised the butterflies and sent them soaring. I adhered a new strip of 1/4in stitched grosgrain ribbon to the edge of the DSP with SNAIL and tucked and secured the ends underneath the DSP. For the butterflies I used my Beautiful Wings Embosslet and the new Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple, and Summer Starfruit from the new In-Colors and a few Baja Breeze ones for accents. They were mounted with Mini-Glue Dots to punched circles of Baja Breeze and Whisper White c/s. The banner is from the new Itty Bitty Banners. There's a set of framelets that coordinates with these, but since I totally forgot these were part of my freebies, I didn't order them. Silly Shan!!! I inked the stamp with our my Midnight Muse Stampin Write Marker to get just the sentiment, stamped it and then handcut the banner. A few butterflies and 3 little pearls to echo the sketch and the front was done.

Here's the Sketch I used. It's from Sketch Frenzy Friday and if you haven't given them a try, I highly suggest it. They have great sketches each week and a fabulous group of ladies on their Design Team.

I stuck pretty close to the sketch. My only differences was to stagger the circles and to use pearls on the flag instead of off to the side. I hope they'll like my offering.

When it came to the inside, I was totally stumped! I actually considered leaving it till later and just not showing the inside. If you have seen any of my posts, you know this is just simply not done! I just couldn't think of a sentiment or decoration. As I went through my stamp sets for a sentiment I could use, I found one in one of my favorite sets Petite Pairs and I was off and running again. Here's the inside-

Truth be told as soon as I saw this sentiment, I thought of my sister Lisa. She is my Rock! We keep each other going whenever times get tough and luckily it's not too often that we have to "raise each other up". Being with her is so easy, like watching butterflies effortlessly floating skyward. I don't think she reads this everyday, but if you're reading today Lis... Love You! You're the Best!!!!!

I stamped the sentiment using our new ink-pads. LOVE THEM! OMGosh, they are soooo amazing! Getting a complete set is on my wishlist. If there are any stamping fairy god-mothers out there who listen out for heartfelt desires...Hear Me! :)  I added more butterflies to the inside, alternating them so the embossed and de-bossed sides showed. I then added some sponging and a little Dazzling Diamonds for a sweet little glittery surprise and my card was done.

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you liked today's card and I hope it makes you think of someone special in your life and inspires you to create something new. If you liked today's card, I hope you'll leave me a comment. I love hearing from you! If you liked it and would like to +1 or Pin it I've added the buttons to my sidebar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

I hope to see you back soon for this weeks End of the Week Technique.

Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan

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