Picnic Table Invitations

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of summertime?  For me it's family and picnics.

For this year's celebration I decided to send out these cute little invitations.  The front side looks like a picnic table, complete with the red gingham table runner and the backside has all the details for the family picnic.

For the base I used Crumb Cake cardstock and stamped the Hardwood stamp using Baked Brown Sugar ink.  I then used a small strip of the DSP Gingham Garden, which will be retiring May 31, 2014 and is now 30% off.

For the sentiment, I stamped on a piece of Whisper White cardstock, using Baked Brown Sugar ink and cut to size using the Squares Collection framelits.

I mailed these cute little invitations in the Note Card Envelopes, which are the perfect size, 5-1/8" x 3-5/8" and will be retiring on May 31, 2014 too.  They aren't on sale, but they are the perfect size and a great value, 40 for $5.50.

I hope that your summer will be one filled with family, picnics and plenty of stamping.  If there is anything I can help you with, please contact me.

kadnil59@gmail.com

DOstampers STARS Thursday Challenge #081 and Minnesota's Fishing Opener

What do DOstampers STARS Thursday Challenge and Minnesota's Fishing Opener have in common?  To me, they're all about the fish!

Many of the men in my family are fisherman and they have birthdays in the next couple of months. So what does a girl who can't fish do?  She stamps fish cards for the fishermen in her life...of course!

This week's challenge was a color challenge.  Here are the colors suggested:

I pulled out my By The Tide stamp set and started to come up with ideas.   Using Whisper White card stock I sponged Midnight Muse, creating the water.  I stamped the plant out of Cherry Cobbler and decided to use Daffodil Delight (I didn't have Crushed Curry; but if you have it I'm sure it'll look marvelous) for the fish.  I wanted to make the fish appear shiny so I "double dipped" by loading the stamp with Versa Mark first, then Daffodil Delight Ink, stamped the image and embossed with Clear Embossing Powder.  

While looking at the fantastic results, I thought of my upline, Dawn Olchefske.  Dawn and her husband are currently on a cruise that she won thru Stampin' Up!. Yay Dawn!!!  I was thinking of how much fun she must be having and hoping that her cabin had a deck or at least a porthole....and voila!!!  I knew how I was going to finish this card.

I used the Hardwood stamp for the background which I stamped with Crumb Cake on Crumb Cake card stock.   For the porthole,  I used the Circles Collection Framelits (circles 5 and 7 from the center) and embellished with small antique brads.   The sentiment comes from the ever popular Teeny Tiny Wishes punched with the Word Window punch and layered on top of Modern Label punch.  To add a small, little extra something I wrapped Linen Thread twice around the card fold and tied a simple knot.

Here is my card:  

and a closeup of the "double dipping" stamping technique:

I hope you enjoyed this week's challenge and if you're a fisherman's widow this weekend, please give Stampin' Up! a try....you just might get hooked.  LOL :)

Who knows, you could even be the next Stampin' Up! demo to win a dream vacation!

If you have any questions, give me a call.  I would love to help you.

Here are my fellow STARS' entries to this week's challenge:

Heidi Vinkemeier's Petite Petals Card

Sharon Bennett's Pssst I Love You Card

Cindy Techlin's Color My World Blue Card

Miriam Bollinger's Pleasant Poppies Card

Connie Plaumann's Hamburger Box

Robyn Rasset's Masculine All Occasion Card

kadnil59@gmail.com

Harvest Blessings

What do you do when you spend the weekend nursing a bad cold?  I surfed the net and found this great card from Laurie Zoellmer that I just had to CASE.  Here is my version of Laurie's card:

After cleaning up my area from this card, I had enough scraps to make another.  So I decided to take Laurie's idea and put my own spin on it.  Here is my revised version of Laurie's card:

I love them both!  I'm sure the men who will be receiving these cards are going to be happy too!!!  Thank you Laurie for the inspiration!!!!

Items Used:

Paper:

Very Vanilla (#101650)

Crumb Cake (#120953)

Real Red (#102482)

Ink:

Soft Suede (#126978)

Stamp Sets:

Harvest Blessings (#126452)

Hardwood (#133035)

Four You (#130538)

Banner Greetings (Hostess #129714)

Miscellaneous:

1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon (#132140)
Banners Framelits Dies (#132173)

I'd also like to remind you that Stampin' Up!'s Sale-A-Bration is now going on.  You have until March 31, 2014 to take advantage of this awesome sale.  Remember, for every $50 you spend, you will be able to pick one exclusive Stampin' Up! product in the Sale-A-Bration brochure.  Click here to view the brochure and see all the great exclusive Sale-A-Bration freebies.

All the Sale-A-Bration products are great, but by far, becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is the best!

If you have any questions, please contact me.  I would love to introduce you to a wonderful company, Stampin' Up! Inc.

kadnil59@gmail.com