Yesterday's Punch Technique

Hi stampers!  So I'm sharing this card again, the same one I posted yesterday.  One, because I don't have anything else prepped HAHA ;-)  And two, because I did manage to shoot a little video yesterday to show you exactly how I did it in case you're a visual learner, like me!  So here's the card:

And here's the video:

I'm really going to try hard to keep doing videos on my Youtube channel so make sure you subscribe so you don't miss my chipmunky voice ;-)

If you need the supplies for this card, it's one post back.  Happy stamping!

MYOB

Hi stampers!  You're probably wondering what the title of this post means.  How about "make your own bunny" :-)

There isn't an abundance of Easter stamps available at the moment or at least ones that I actually own, so I was struggling to make a few Easter cards.  It's not that I send many (ok, any maybe) but I'm totally into spring now and just needed to make some Easter cards in hopes of ushering in more spring weather, ha!

This week, a couple of the Artisan Design Team members had some absolutely fabulous and GENIUS ideas (that can be found on Stampin Up's home page) so I've been busy borrowing them! :-)

Thursday night, I happened upon Jessica's idea.  I saw her banner with a cut out bunny and was all, WAHHHHHHH?  How did she do that, did they get a special die we don't have???  Nope, she created it all on her own with circle framelits (which I literally just got with my recent order, holla) and the flower flair dies!!!!!!  How people are so clever I will never understand!  I'd never put those together in a million years!

Anyway, I scrapped my plans for making some birthday cards and went to work on some bunnehs!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  And many more
Paper:  Whisper white, crumb cake, pool party, shine on specialty DSP
Ink:  Pool party
Accessories:  Honeycomb embellishments, whisper white stitched ribbon, circles collection and flower flair framelits

How cute is that?  I literally could make these in like every color and pattern!!!   IF I was more organized I could should have done a video for you.  Maybe I'll get it together one of these days but in the meantime,  I encourage you to make a few!  You can find the tutorial at www.stampinup.com  And the sentiment says "hippity hoppity" and I can't get it to photograph for the life of me!  Sorry about that!

Happy stamping!

What Does The Fox Say?

Hi stampers!  So I know what the fox says...all too well thanks to my hubby loving to sing the song but I have something to say.......

So what does Mindy say?  We're having a baby!  That's what :-)  Baby Bada-Bing Backes is due July 30th.  That means I'll be missing out on Stampin' Up's convention but that's A-ok with me this time!  And it's probably one of the VERY FEW reasons I'd miss convention!!!!   It was pretty funny when the Mr. asked me WHY I couldn't go, bwhahahaha.  Well I COULD go if you were ok with the baby being born without you in SLC dear :-)  Which with him being a bit queasy regarding medical stuff I'm not quite certain that he didn't consider it for a split second ;-)

So now you may be understanding my blogging and stamping hiatus.  I have been exhausted most of the day and honestly I've had a hard time focusing on stamping because I'm so excited :-)  And since we started the treatments we did I was just unfocused stamping wise.  Hoping to change that now that I'll be out of the first trimester soon and that I've let the cat out of the bag.  I've kind of been avoiding blogging because it was so hard to keep quiet, lol!  You know, I'm SO good at keeping a secret, bwhahahaha!

And speaking of our struggle, I want to thank YOU my friends and readers for your prayers, thoughts, and words of support.  They and you mean more to me that you will EVER know.  When we started all this I felt so alone because it's kind of a taboo subject but I'm so glad I started talking about it because support came out of the woodwork!  I wish it wasn't such a taboo topic because learning so many people are struggling or have struggled right along with you makes all the difference!  If you are reading and are struggling with infertility PLEASE feel free to reach out to me!  It helped me so much to hear other people's stories and that people knew how I was feeling because while you may think you know how it feels you truly can only understand it if you've lived it!  I would be happy to answer questions, or just talk and pray for you!  I may have a few posts related to our struggles in the next few months so I apologize now if infertility talk freaks you out.  You can just skip those, ok? :-)

Ok, enough of the mush, right? :-)  So onto the card and YES, sorry I had to make a "What does the fox say" card.  Why?   Well because me and Mr. Baby Backes love to drive each other nuts with annoying things and that song fits the bill quite well, lol!  So when his birthday came up I figured what better card to make than the fox!  I googled fox punch art and used a tutorial I found with various punches (too bad I didn't have the word bubble framelits yet) and ta-da! (Edited to add:  Please see the comments for a link to the tutorial from Avery Murphy, it's a wonderful breakdown!!!!!  Thanks Avery!)

I used the alphabet photopolymer set to make the greeting and various punches for the fox which like I said, I googled fox punch art.  Thanks to whoever had the cute little tutorial!  It was a bit of trial and error so don't give up if you try and it doesn't look right on the first try!

Now, the funniest part was the inside....instead of the normal rubbish from the song lyrics it said something about "hap-hap-hap.....you get the idea here....hap-hap-happy birthday!  LOL!  I crack myself up ya know!  You can see I took a photo AFTER I gave it to him...try not to read my mushy writing inside, lol!

Ok, time to get up off the couch and out in the cold (although at 30 something degrees today instead of negatives it's like a heat wave!!!!!) and to spin class!!!!  I'll try to get back to regular blogging with supplies and everything and NEW occasions and SAB products!

Happy stamping!

You're drunk moon....

....go home!  Seriously!  I could tell it was going to be a full moon on Monday!  Yeesh!  Anyone else have a drunk moon week?????

Working in healthcare the crazy really comes out!  This week has been the worst one I remember in a long time...and that's saying something after the oh-so-fun fertility testing I had a few weeks ago!!!!  So, sorry I haven't posted!  I haven't forgotten about you but I haven't had either the time or energy to stamp or blog this week.  And I've been "working" on my display samples...which REALLY means browsing Pinterest for ideas and staring at my supplies.....

I'm going to be kicking myself soon for this but I'm waiting on a lot of them so I can get some more new supplies from the new catalog.  Don't forget you can order from the old and new catalog at noon next Friday!

I also had some super-stress over my Artisan entries.  They actually showed up at SU a day after the deadline.  The guy at the PO told me they would be delivered on Monday.....not Thursday.  But, I guess since it was priority and not express it's not a given.  Well, he could have TOLD me that when I explained that it HAD to be there by Wednesday.  Oy!  So, I've been in contact with SU and I don't have any definite answers but they THINK they will still accept my stuff since it was the PO's fault and not mine.  But rest assured UPS will be getting my business from now on!!!!!  No wonder the PO is in trouble!!!!   Anyway....I hope you're week has been better :-)


So, how about something fun (but kind of sad at the same time I guess)?  This is a card I think I've had done since right after last convention, haha!  I made a video with it but somehow never got around to editing it and everything...oh well.  I swear I'm going to get more organized ONE of these days;-)  But they showed us how to make a flower with circle punches and the pennant punch.  Basically you just insert the circle into the point of the pennant and punch making the little V.  Layer a few up and viola!  Really cute, huh?

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Distressed dots, pursuit of happiness
Paper:  Whisper white, daffodil delight, calypso coral, lucky limeade
Ink:  Daffodil delight, calypso coral, lucky limeade
Accessories:  Circle punches, flower punch, pennant punch, basic rhinestones

And it's a little sad because two of my very favorite things on this card are retiring in a few days!  Life just won't be the same without distressed dots and pursuit of happiness!  You can be that these are two things that will NOT be leaving my stamp room! Oh and add lucky limeade to the list!  Like my friend Rita texted me last night, who likes olive anymore???  :-)  Speaking of retired stuff......  If I can ever get my act together I need to have a little (or not so little) rubber rummage sale!!!!!!  Keep an eye out!

Ok, time to teach some turbo kick!  Have a safe and fun holiday weekend!  And go home moon, you're drunk!!!!!

Happy stamping!

Sunny flower

Hi stampers!  Sorry I've been MIA for a few days....busy busy....you know how it goes:-)  I HAVE actually been stamping/creating BUT since I've been working on my Artisan Award entries I can't show you what I've been up to:-)  Hopefully later on in the year I can share my winning projects....or if I don't win I can share them too, lol!  But I have been hard at work and I've still got more to do!  I had a bit of a breakdown over them Friday night...that's what I get for deciding to enter kind of at the last minute:-)  I have really been enjoying working on them even if it has stressed me out!  It's always fun to challenge yourself and push your boundaries creatively speaking!

I did find something I stamped a while ago and didn't share though!  This card was for a previous Create with Connie & Mary challenge.  I didn't get around to making a card to enter but I really liked the sketch so I used it anyway.  Challenges are great because even if you can't enter they can still give you a lot of inspiration!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Pursuit of happiness
Paper:  Whisper white, daffodil delight, rich razzleberry, island indigo, lucky limeade, summer smooches
Ink:  Daffodil delight, island indigo lucky limeade
Accessories:  Brights buttons, wide oval and blossom punch, scalloped border punch, labels collection framelits, baker's twine

You can't see much of my little punched border back there but it's there:-)  It's a simple card but I loved the sketch and I think the simple layout works great with all the BRIGHT colors.  This card just makes me happy!!!!

Back to work on my projects!

Happy stamping!

Freshly made DSP

Hi stampers!  Happy Saturday!  I have another sneak peek for you today!  This time I focused on the new floral district DSP.  It's kind of funky and bright and I really like it!  It's got some nice big patterns but also a lot of smaller ones which I find easier to use!  I really have a DSP problem!  I have SO much!  I didn't get the other two DSP's on the pre-order but I have a feeling that one of the two remaining may end up on the order I'm putting in tomorrow night to get my catalog;-)  Hi, my name is Mindy and I'm a DSP addict/hoarder.....

I made this card for the Freshly Made Sketch challenge this week.   Woo-hoo...I managed to do the correct challenge AND get it entered in time, lol!  Been having issue with that lately;-)

And this card only uses ONE stamp...and it's not new:-)  Sorry.  But again, I wanted to focus on the DSP!  And good news, the blossom punch will be in the new catalog!  Yay for fun punches!!!!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Fabulous phrases
Paper:  Whisper white, daffodil delight, calypso coral, lucky limeade, floral district DSP
Ink:  Lucky limeade
Accessories:  Everyday enchantment brad & ribbon back (SAB & retired), blossom punch, circle punches, polka dot embossing folder

There aren't any new colors in it (colors include:  baja breeze, daffodil delight, lucky limeade, rich razzleberry, rose red, and tangerine tango) but I did change my colors up a bit on my card.  I know that it uses tangerine tango but I thought the little flower print looked more like calypso coral.  So, I tried some out next to it and it looked pretty good and I liked my color combo better with the coral than with the tangerine.  Can't tell can you? :-)  That's why I love our products, they intermix so well together!!!

I'll be back tomorrow with more to share!!!

Happy stamping!

HSS 111

Hi stampers!  How can it be Tuesday already!  It was just my long weekend with my mom wasn't it???  Of course it went way too fast, we didn't get enough done, and now she's gone back home and I miss her!  Maybe the new challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments will make me feel better:-)

This week is an Easter theme.  I also can't believe it's almost Easter! Where DOES the time go?  Anyway, here is the inspiration photo for this week's theme!  Use it anyway you see fit to make and Easter project!

I was going to make something with my petal cone die as I really put my project this week off until the last minute (time with my momma trumped stamping, ha) and it would have been cute and easy.  But, when I came into my studio I started thinking about how I've seen the modern label punch used as a cross.  I don't have many (any) current Easter stamps so I thought this might be perfect.  I think it conveys the real reason for the holiday instead of the cute things like bunnies and chicks and peeps and Easter eggs.  I'll have to come back to the cutesy carrot petal cone this week...I've got a couple of bags of robins eggs just waiting to make their way into treat boxes:-)

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Woodgrain, teeny tiny wishes
Paper:  Very vanilla, crumb cake, baja breeze, blushing bride, so saffron, bella chateau
Ink:  Crumb cake, baja breeze, blushing bride, so saffron

I used my cross with the beau chateau DSP since it was nice and soft and floral.  I'm trying REALLY hard to use more of the TONS of DSP I have hoarded...I mean collected:-)  The flowers are sponged and crumpled and that's pretty much it.  I love the simplicity and softness of it.  It's very Easter-y to me.  Like I said, I tend to go with cutesy for Easter so this was a bit out of my comfort zone and turned out really well!

Now I'm off to make some petal cone carrots but you should click that link up there and go see what else the DT has for you and then play along!

Happy stamping!

HSS 100

Hi stampers!  It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  This week is all about RUFFLES!


Now, being totally girly and liking all things frilly this challenge was right up my alley!  Well, I have to say that my project didn't turn out all that girly or frilly at all...but I like it!  It's kind of really simple but again, I kind of really like it:-)  I had the idea the other day to use the new pear pizzazz pleated satin ribbon as a "flower stem".   So when I sat down to make it and got it finished up I thought, wow, this would be a great card for the HSS challenge!  So, please excuse me for not being my usual frilly and girly self because I think you're going to like it:

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Pursuit of happiness
Paper:  Whisper white, pear pizzazz, calypso coral, wisteria wonder
Ink:  Calypso coral, pear pizzazz
Accessories:  Triple flower punch, blossom petals builder punch, floral fusion sizzlit, designer printed in color brads, brad & ribbon pack (SAB), pear pizzazz pleated satin ribbon

I could use some sunshine about now....it at least makes me THINK it's warmer out than it is:-)  Maybe I just like this card because it makes me think of spring!

Now, run on over to HSS via the link at the top of my post and check out all the other great projects the design team came up with and play along with us!

Happy stamping!

Country Christmas Card

Hi stampers!  Sorry for not having more to share this week.  It's been a bit crazy with work and preparations for Christmas!  I'm trying to get my shopping done and failing!  I'm failing at stamping cards too...either I have a headache or just plain feel un-creative this week!  I made a few cards the other night and was not happy with many of them - HATE that!  Anyway I did manage to make a few that I liked.  I'm going to try to make some more Christmas cards this weekend and then try to get them all ready to be mailed by Monday.  Then I plan to keep stamping through Christmas and start my Valentine's too...we'll see how that goes.  Maybe I'm just Christmas carded out!  Maybe my fun Occasions Mini stuff will freshen my mojo up!  Anyway....

This card is a bit "country" which is not normally my taste but I think it's somewhat coming back into style as of late.  I made one like this a few years back as well after being inspired by a card I had seen at my upline's meeting!  I also need to get to work on using up that holly berry paper that I ordered late in the season...only a few more days to crank out the Christmas cards!!!!!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps: Pennant parade
Paper:  Very vanilla, wild wasabi, real red, early espresso
Ink:  Wild wasabi, early espresso
Accessories:  Heart trio and round tab punches, dotted scalloped border punch, dazzling details

Doesn't that heart trio punch just make the cutest little Christmas tree???  I sponged the edges for depth and dimension and added some dazzling details to make it really shine!  Half of the round top tab punch makes a perfect little tree stand/pot too.  I used glue dots to adhere the hearts, I highly recommend using them for small pieces like this!  A very simple very cute little card!

Happy stamping!

Shiny Brite

Hi stampers! I'm feeling a bit nostalgic today.  I used to love putting up the Christmas tree at both of my grandma's houses!  They both had cool old ornaments...you know the ones I'm talking about....shiny brites!  I'm not sure if either one of my parents has any now but I remember them so well and the cool vintage looking boxes too!  My favorites were the ones that had the silver or gold middles that sloped inward and I like the bells too. I guess the ones with the indented parts were called reflectors. Remember these?

I love everything about shiny brites aside from the fact that they remind me of fond memories with my grandparents!  I love the shininess, the shapes, and the bright colors!  I did a little research and found some interesting history about them too (I'm geeky like that).  You can read it HERE.  I'm sure there is more info out there.   Christopher Radko now makes reproductions and I just may have to get some of those.  I should really should ask my parents if they have any as well!

Anyway, sorry for the long trip down memory lane but those ornaments inspired this card:

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Grateful greetings, Tree trimmings, music notes (wheel)
Paper:  Very vanilla, pool party, calypso coral, blushing bride, silver glimmer
Ink:  Pool party, calypso coral, blushing bride, more mustard, versamark, tea stain distressing ink
Accessories:  Stocking accents die, circle punches, blushing bride pleated satin ribbon (occasions mini sneak peek), pewter embossing powder

I used the stocking accents die since the ornament reminded me of the shiny brites.  On the coral ornament I sponged my glimmer paper with more mustard ink to make it gold!  How cool is that?  I also sponged each ornament in it's respective color and then tea stain over that.  I even distressed the ribbon with the tea stain ink.  I thought the muisc wheel would make the background nicely vintage as well.  The card base is also sponged with pool party and tea stain and the vanilla panel is tea stained as well.  I did goof up the spacing of my ornaments and hangers a bit on the blushing bride one but maybe you'd never have noticed if I didn't just tell on myself, no?  Oh well, that's what makes a hand made card one of a kind right? :-)

Shiny brites just may inspire many more cards!!!!  I wished I had thought of this earlier in the Christmas card making season, ha!  I'm off to go look at more pictures of them and reminisce!

Happy stamping!

Stamperday

Hi stampers!  I'm calling today Stamperday instead of Saturday:-)  I've had little time to stamp this week with not feeling well and or work!  So, I finally got to sit down to my desk after dinner with the in laws tonight!  I have a lot of challenges I want to play with this weekend!  The first one is one I have just been itching to work on!!!

As soon as I saw this:

over at  Colour Q I just knew I wanted to make something candy corn!  Don't these colors just scream candy corn????  Now, I don't actually like to eat it (I'll take some chocolate though thankyouverymuch) but I think it's cute and festive!  I did have to look it up to see what order the colors went in though, haha.  I also double dipped a bit and combined this color challenge with the sketch challenge at Inkspirations:

I don't usually combine challenges BUT I'm short on time this weekend since I had to work and take a nap today:-)  So here is my combo candy corn card....say that five times fast!

Stampin' Supplies:

Stamps:  Spooky bingo bits, teeny tiny wishes
Paper:  Whisper white, basic black, basic gray, tangerine tango, crushed curry (retired), brights DSP stack
Ink:  Tangerine tango, basic black
Accessories:  Circle punches, 3" circle die, pennant punch

I was so excited to use the pennant punch to make my candy corn!  All I did was adhere three strips of CS to a sheet of copy paper and then punch them out!  Looking back, I totally should have hit them with some versamark and iridescent ice embossing powder to really make them sparkle! Oh well, too late now since it's done and almost 10pm haha.  I was also happy to pull out my Spooky bingo bits set!  It was also a good thing I had some crushed curry laying around (fyi it's textured cardstock).  I do wish I had added some sparkle. 

And now back to the chocolate...my DH cleaned up the yard today and is making a fire out back.  I sure wish we had some chocolate and smore's fixin's!  They sure would be good on a chilly fall night!  But I sure don't want to go to the store this late....and in my PJ's:-)  Happy stamping!

All over the place...again

Hi stampers!  I told you that you won't know what to expect as far as posting from me for a while.  I'm all over the place...fun and summery, spooky and Halloween-y, fall themes, even Christmas!  Today I think it will be bright and fun!  I NEED bright and fun after my night last night.  I ended up with a horrible migraine.  Around 2am I couldn't stand it anymore and woke Jon to take me to the ER...well while I was getting ready to go I got sick, yuck!  BUT, I felt somewhat better after and was able to go to sleep and am feeling ok now, just tired!  I guess the one good thing out of it was that I've been having trouble staying out of these five alarm chipotle peanuts that Jon got....well I had some after dinner last night....I do NOT want them any longer;-)  Problem solved, lol!  So enough of my gross sob story:-)

I saw this cute little card on Pintrest (which I'm totally addicted to now so if I don't do any stamping you'll know why...I'm busy pinning, lol).  I thought it was totally cute and lo and behold it was from my demo website!!!!  I tend to forget that SU puts uber cute projects up there!  I should check it out more often!  You can take a look at the ideas there AND place a nice little order to make said projects by clicking the shop 24/7 to the right!  :-)  Anyway, at the time, I didn't have the netting background so I improvised with the small dot dot dot background (you'll be happy to know I've since placed not one but TWO orders and have the netting background stamp now, lol) and it turned out totally cute, see:

Stampin' Supplies: 
Stamps:  Sweetly said
Paper:  Whisper white, pool party, calypso coral, wisteria wonder, lucky limeade
Ink:  Island indigo, calypso coral, wisteria wonder, lucky limeade
Accessories:  In color polka dot brads, island indigo ruffled ribbon, mat pack and paper piercer, triple layer blossom punch

See, too cute!  I love how simple it is!  Of course I could also love it because it has those super cute polka dot brads as well.  It also does a great job at showcasing all 5 of the new in colors.  Anyway, I'm off to get some more stamping in hopefully before bed since I have a long day of work ahead of me tomorrow....and busy I will be as it's the first day of full pads and hitting drills!  I gotta stamp then rest up!!!  Happy stamping!

Wisteria WONDERFUL

Hi stampers!  I'm in love with one of our new colors Wisteria Wonder!  Ok, well I love all of them BUT wisteria wonder is so pretty!  I'm not a big user of purple in my stamping but this color has upped my purple usage by about 100%, lol!  I'm also not a big eggplant user but this color looks fantastic with elegant eggplant.  Just look at this fancy-schmantzy card:

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Best friends forever, you're a gem
Paper: first edition DSP, lucky limeade, elegant eggplant, wisteria wonder
Ink:  Elegant eggplant, wisteria wonder, lucky limeade
Accessories:  basic rhinestones, oval and modern label punch, wisteria wonder ribbon, antique brads, scallop circle punches, blossom triple layer punch

It's gor-jus isn't it?  Yes, I'm channeling Jan Tink and YILM!  I haven't been very excited about any of the cards I have made lately but I really love this one!  I really thought I'd have trouble with the BFF set I got at convention as it was one I had passed over in the catalog many time but I'm finding a lot of uses for it.  It's great for backgrounds and accents!

The color combo used here is actually from the color coach.  I hadn't been using it much lately and have been kid of stumped for combos, duh!  Open up the color coach Mindy!  I LOVE the bright pop of lucky limeade here! 

 The flower medallion as I like to call it was super easy to make. I should make more cards with big, fancy stuff on them.  Yes, they are a pain to mail but it's not like I actually MAIL many of the cards I make anyway, right?  LOL!  Gotta get better at that!  Anyway it was just punched out, balled up, and sponged.  Poke a hole in all of them and then put the brad through.  Then I just glued some ribbon on the back!  Stamping on the first edition paper is also one of my favorite things to do! 

I think that about does it for this card!  Time for me to go run 3 or 4 miles...or try at least.  I waited until later since it's so hot out and now I want to stamp instead, haha!  Hopefully I'll get some stamp time afterward...wish me luck on BOTH!  Happy stamping!