What I did on Saturday, by me...

Well today was fun. Club is always fun. We had a small group today - lots going on in the summer.. Ms. Marita stopped by for a bit to torture herself with the projects before she had to dash off, so she will be getting her samples later. The girls seemed to really love the projects today, so many thanks to the girls whose ideas I CASE'd. I always tell myself I'm going to write down where I get things so I can give credit and then I don't! Grr!! I believe the butterfly card is from a GORGEOUS blog I just stumbled across called Pickled Paper Designs. This woman is a genius. Her card was also part of the Featured Stamper challenge spotlighting Teneale. The first pic (why don't I always take pictures at club?) is Yvonne stamping under the watchful eye of "Frank" - my mesquite statue of St. Francis, that is much beloved by me. I bought him shortly after we bought our first house, from a funky little Mexican import store that used to be not too far from our house. He weighs like 84,000 bazillion pounds and scares people who come over for the first time. There's a little mesquite dove that sits at his feet. In my closet Catholic mind, he is my patron saint. My beloved St. Francis cathedral in Santa Fe feels like my spiritual home! Anyway, next we have Vicki solving the world's problems. So nice to have all the problems solved so early in the weekend!! See that painting in the background? I painted that. It's huge.

But on to stamping... While the girls were working away I took the stolen moments to MAKE A CARD WITH MY SOCK MONKEY!!! I decided to dress him in a floweredy sock from my Au Chocolat collection. Then I added a banana colored banana and accent stripe from my prints pack. (Actually So Saffron) He is stamped on Vanilla, as is the greeting. I used the Silver Hodgepodge Hardware for the frames and brads and popped the banana up with a dimensional.


Next, onto a lovely blue CASE'd card. The flower from Embrace Life is stamped on Soft Sky with Cool Caribbean ink. I stamped it again on a scrap, cut it out and popped it up with a dimensional. The card base is Close to Cocoa textured cardstock, which Yvonne noted that I took out of the HOARD bin for club. They know me too well!!

The side strip is Basic Black, and the white design and greeting are rubons.

The accents are pieces of DSP, punched out with my .75" circle punch, adhered to the card, and then they have the top of the Build a Brads stuck down on them. I figured - who the heck needs the brad part when I can just stick the sticky things down? It's all about process improvement here at Understand Blue!!

Isn't that milk chocolate looking taffeta ribbon yummy? I adore the taffeta ribbon.

Next, on to the Pickled Paper Teneale Inspired card. I think this was everyone's favorite card, and Yvonne might make some for the pharmacy. The card base is Sage Shadow, which I hardly ever use.. There is a strip of Chocolate Chip on top, and the white center section is matted on more Sage Shadow. Here's how you make this.

1. Stamp three butterflies from Kind Thoughts on a white panel in Chocolate Chip. Stamp 3 more on a white scrap in Sage Shadow. Cut out only their wings. Sponge the edges of the wings in Chocolate Chip. Roll the wings around a pencil, ink side against the pencil. Versamark just the edges of the wings with a Versamarker. Using tweezers, dip them into Iridescent Ice EP, and emboss. Set aside.
2. Sponge the edge of the white panel with chocolate chip. Attach to the Sage Shadow mat. Set aside.
3. Stamp the swirl from Baroque Motifs in Sage Shadow on the card base.
4. Stamp the swirl from Baroque Motifs in Versamark on the Chocolate Chip panel and emboss with Iridescent Ice EP. Attach cream taffeta ribbon around this piece at the bottom and adhere to the card.
5. Adhere main panel to card.
6. Attach the wings gently to the stamped butterflies with a glue dot near the inside edge of the wing so you don't flatten the whole wing.
7. Sit back and admire it!!

Funny story. I attached these flowers (I saw a similar arc of flowers on a card on SCS) to the card. I then stamped something under them that looked TERRIBLE. I have no memory of what it was. I was so mad because I had the flowers (in Pumpkin Pie and Regal Rose from One of a Kind) so perfect on my card and had already used that rhinestone brad.

Dang it. Thank God my Coluzzle was on my work surface (along with basically everything in my stamp room!) so I whipped it out and covered my mistake with some white cardstock. Popped a couple extra flowers (all were punched with the Boho Blossoms Punch) on that sucker, stamped the greeting, and went on about my way. I totally forgot that until we were talking about stampin' mistakes at our post club lunch!!! The girls of course accused me of hiding my fallibility from them, but here it is for all of you to see!! I have no pride, I swear! I used the new Scallop Border Punch for the edging, and the white dots were with my gel pen.

Off for a little editing session this evening and hopefully a few minutes of relaxation.

Have a great Saturday night!