Holiday recuperation

I'm back! I hope that your holidays were wonderful, that you got everything you wanted, and that you enjoyed every moment with your family and friends. Isn't it nice when things start to get back to normal after all the hubbub?

Here are a few cards that I've made recently. This first one uses a set that I've had for quite awhile and have been dying to use. It's called Irony, and it's by Technique Tuesday. I just love this image, don't you? I need more "guy" cards for my stash, so I went for a masculine look.


Details: Stamps - Irony (Technique Tuesday), PaperTray; paper - Basic Black, Real Red, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); ink - Basic Black, Whisper White Craft (SU!) , accessories - narrow black grosgrain ribbon, wide real red grosgrain ribbon, dimenasionals, sticky strip, ticket corner punch, color spritzer tool (all SU!)

This is a card that I made for a swap using sets from the new Stampin' Up! Spring/Summer Collection. The stamp set that I chose, A Beautiful Thing, is lovely, but was giving me all kinds of trouble with inspiration. I decided to go for a very simple card, using only the small line of four little flower centers. I stamped it repeatedly on a strip of Flowers For You designer paper, using my Stamp-a-ma-jig to keep the little guys in line. This sample uses the retired Rose grosgrain ribbon, because I loved the way it looked with the turquoise and celery ribbon. My actual swap cards used white ribbon instead of rose, so as to not break the "no retired stuff" rule.

Details: Stamps - A Beautiful Thing, It's Your Birthday; paper - Lovely Lilac, Tempting Turquoise, Flowers For You; ink - Lovely Lilac, accessories - narrow grosgrain ribbon in turquoise, rose, and celery, sticky strip (all SU!)

And here's one more swap card, this time using the new Celebrate Everything set. I chose this great paper from the Flowers For You designer paper and used it for the inspiration for the card. It's bright, isn't it? I don't think I'd ever have used these colors together if they weren't in the paper already, but I love the result!

Details: Stamps - Celebrate Everything; paper - Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise, Flowers For You; ink - Tempting Turquoise, accessories - narrow grosgrain ribbon in turquoise, mini glue dots, dimensionals (all SU!)