Father's Day Mini-Scrapbook

This mini-scrapbook was a gift for my DH’s first Father’s Day. I used 4x4 chipboard coasters as the backing for the pages and adhered my cardstock to the front and back of each one. I decided to use Perfect Plum, Pale Plum and Basic Grey as my main colors so it wouldn’t be too overly girly, and then I was also able to incorporate some elements from the 2 Sweet Simply Scrappin’ kit.

The stamps are from various Verve Visual sets. I got Verve’s original Father Figure set several weeks ago to make the book, but then I had to have the others when I saw the new ones they recently released. Of course I really liked some of the stamps from each set, so I ended up with them all! And I know I’ll use them over and over for her other scrapbooks as well.


Since I was working with such a small space, I used limited embellishments on each page. I think they are all pretty self-explanatory so I won’t go into a lot of detail. The pictures are from her arrival in the hospital, some time at home with dad, and DH's recent master's graduation.



This is one of my favorite pictures of the two of them. I don't know if you can see it well in the picture or not, but she is holding his finger. I think she was just a little over a week or so old. The quote says "To her the name of father is another name for love." When I saw that quote, I knew I had to have that set!



Supplies Used:
Stamps: Father Figure, Dad’s Day, World’s Best, Protector (all Verve Visual), So Many Sayings (SU!)
Cardstock: Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Basic Grey, Whisper White
DSP: 2 Sweet Simply Scrappin’ Kit
Ink: Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Basic Grey
Accessories: Jumbo Eyelets
Tools: Crop-a-dile, Large Star Punch, Star Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8” & 1 ½” Circle Punches, Nestabilities, Chipboard

I hope you had a wonderful day celebrating Father's Day yesterday. We had a Father's Day "fiesta" at our house with DH's side of the family. We are taking our first road trip with our little one this week to see my parents and grandparents and will celebrate with them later in the week. My parents have been up to visit our little one twice, but it will be her first time meeting her great grandparents.

In case you're wondering about the scribbles on the last page - that's our little one's "signature".

Thanks for looking!

4th Anniversary

Just a quick post with the anniversary card I made for DH. Today was our 4th anniversary. I didn’t have much time during one of my little one’s naps, so I’m glad my idea for the card came together as quickly as it did. I’ve had to buy some cards recently (I know – the horror of actually stopping in the card aisle at the store instead of just passing through), and I was glad to finally be able to make one.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Anniversary Birds (Verve Visual), Define Your Life, Baroque Motifs
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, River Rock
Ink: Riding Hood Red, River Rock
Accessories: Riding Hood Red Taffeta, Linen Thread, Basic Grey Button

Our little one turned two months old today, so I’ve included a picture of her from today also. I can't believe it's been 2 months already! She is growing so fast!

Bind-It-All Journals

I think this is my last post of Christmas projects. These are journals that I made for the ladies in the church small group DH and I attend. (I shared a few of them earlier in the year, but here is the grouping of all of them.) I used one of the Plain Jane stamps from Verve Visual (Psalm 37:4), covered them with various CS, DSP and embellishments, and added 50 sheets of plain paper for the inside. The journals were put together with my Bind-it-All.

Thanks for looking!

Bind-It-All Journals

I’ve had fun playing with my bind-it-all and some of Stampin’ Up!’s new in-colors this past week. I wanted to make some journals to have ready as gifts, so these are the ones I’ve done so far. I used the 5 x 7 ½” bind-it-all covers and ½” silver coils, as well as Verve’s Psalm 37:4 stamp for each.

I learned a few things about the bind-it-all during this project, so I thought I'd share. First, I put one cover together completely and then wasn't able to get it into the opening of the machine to punch it because it was too thick. It seems that the chipboard cover and one layer of cardstock or DSP on each side is really the most it can handle. I did manage to fit an additional layer of cardstock on one of them, but it wasn't the best fit. Secondly, one of the sites I visited for information on the bind-it-all recommended inside pages 3/16" less in width than the cover. I found that 1/4" worked best for me. Anyway, on to the projects!

I like all of the journals, but I think this first one is my favorite. It uses 2 of SU!'s new in-colors, Baja Breeze and Riding Hood Red. I love those colors together! Since I don't have DSP or accessories yet that match the new in-colors, I used Basic Grey DP and buttons. They match the SU! colors nicely, but I can't wait to see what SU! has in store for us in the new catty.

Recipe:
Stamps: Psalm 37:4 (Verve)
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
DP: Basic Grey Blush
Ink: Riding Hood Red
Accessories: Basic Grey Infuse Buttons
Tools: Nestibilities Circle and Scallop Circle Dies

The second one uses 2 other new in-colors, Kiwi Kiss and Tangerine Tango. It also uses some Basic Grey DP. For this one, I embossed the cardstock for the front cover with the Swiss Dots embossing folder. Since the cardstock was larger than the folder, I embossed the top half first and then lined up the last row of dots back in the folder and embossed the bottom half. Hopefully that makes sense. I did have one row of dots that was slightly squished, but my middle strip covered that up (and I think you could gently push them out from the back if they did show).

Recipe:
Stamps: Psalm 37:4
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip
DP: Basic Grey Mellow
Ink: Tangerine Tango
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon, Orange Rhinestone Brads,
Tools: Nestibilities Circle and Scallop Circle Dies

The next two are similar but use different DP and layouts. I used this week’s sketch challenge for the first one. The second is the same as this card I made a few week’s ago.

Recipe: (for both)
Stamps: Psalm 37:4
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
DP: Basic Grey Infuse & Mellow
Ink: Purely Pomegranate
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon, Primas, Vintage Brads
Tools: Nestibilities Rectangle & Scalloped Rectangle Dies, Corner Rounder

Thanks for looking!

Delight Yourself in the Lord

I've always liked this verse, so I was excited when Verve Stamps came out with it in their new Plain Jane line, and even more excited when I had the chance to get it with Free Shipping! Can't beat that!

This card has a pretty straightforward layout, but I love the way it turned out with the Basic Grey DP. I stamped the verse with Purely Pomegranate, layered it on a scalloped rectangle, and added a few Primas that I've had in my stash for quite awhile. I am working on a journal with this same layout but don't have it bound yet. My plan is to make a few for Christmas gifts so I thought I'd get a head start while I had everything out for the card.

Thanks for looking!

Recipe:
Stamps: Psalm 37:4 (Verve Stamps)
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
DSP: Basic Grey Infuse
Ink: Purely Pomegranate
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon, Prima Flowers, Brads
Tools: Rectangle and Scalloped Rectangle Nestibilities Dies, Corner Rounder

First Bind-it-All Scrapbook!

My grandparents recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. We just had a small family gathering to celebrate, so I wanted to capture a few of the pictures in a small scrapbook for them.

This was my first project with my Bind-it-All. I wanted to use some of the acrylic covers for the book since I wouldn't have page protecters for the inside pages, so I went with the 5 x 7 1/2" size. With such a small size, it was challenging at first to come up with layouts for the pages.

I knew I'd keep them fairly simple, but I didn't want them to be all the same either. Anyway, once I got started, I really enjoyed working with the smaller size. I started out scrapbooking several years ago, but I've gotten away from it recently. After this project was done, I decided I like working with scrapbooks for individual events like this and will probably start doing more of them as opposed to all 12x12.

I think the book ended up being about 12 pages. I've included just a few examples. The cover is a replica of the anniversary card I gave them. I then kept the rest of the base pages black and white and added a Rose Red accent of some type to each page (some Felt Fusion flowers, cardstock, prints DSP, etc.). I'm really happy with how it turned out and hope they like it too!

Recipe:
Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Make It Count, Anniversary Birds (Verve Visual)
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Rose Red
DSP: Rose Red Prints
Accessories: Basic Black Grosgrain, Chipboard, Brads, Grommets
Tools: Corner Rounder, Nestibilities, Bind-It-All

Anniversary Birds

Here is the other wedding/anniversary card design that I've made quite a few of lately. I cased this card from Laura at scrapnextras and just changed a few things.

The original card used a rub-on for the swirl in the left-hand corner, but I used the swirl from Baroque Motifs. I also changed the shape of the focal point, ribbon placement and sentiment.

Thanks for looking!

Recipe:
Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Anniversary Birds (Verve Visual)
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Black and White Reversible Ribbon
Tools: Corner Rounder, Hand Held Punch, Slot Punch

Always Anniversary

June is definitely the month for weddings! I’ve needed several anniversary cards lately and a stack of wedding cards for a customer, so it seems like that’s all I’ve been making the past few days. For some reason, I wasn’t able to get away from a black and white theme for all of them.

For this card, I embossed the heart from Always, once in white on Basic Black cardstock and once in black on Whisper White cardstock. The sentiment is from Verve Visual’s Anniversary Birds set, and the ribbon is some black and white reversible that I got from Michael’s. (Sad to say that, after so many cards, I am out though. We don’t live very close to a Michael’s, but hopefully we can make it to one soon. I really love that ribbon!)

I’ll share one of the other designs in the next few days. Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend!

Recipe:
Stamps: Always, Anniversary Birds (Verve Visual)
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Whisper White, Versamark
Accessories: Black and White Reversible Ribbon (Michael’s)
Other: White Embossing Powder, Black Embossing Powder

Birthday Hugs & Wishes

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I've been working on a challenge for my stamp club, so that has taken up most of my stamping time lately. I'm sending them out today, so I should be able to post about it by tomorrow or Wednesday.

I did take some time to do a card with Verve Visual’s guest designer sketch though. I thought it was an interesting sketch, so I wanted to give it a try.

I used a 9x8” piece of Basic Black cardstock, scored at 4”, for my base. The middle section includes 2 ¾ x 2 ¼” pieces of Basic Black, Old Olive and Rose Red stamped with the Stitched background in Whisper White. These were then matted on a piece of Whisper White cardstock. I really love that Stitched background. It's probably my favorite background stamp so far. I think it looks great stamped in white!

For the focal image, I stamped one of the birds from Verve’s Anniversary Birds set in Rose Red on Whisper White cardstock. I stamped it again on a scrap and cut out his wing for a little dimension. The branch from the set was stamped in Old Olive, and I added 3 Felt Fusion flowers. The ground beneath the bird's feet was sponged with Old Olive. The image was then matted on Basic Black cardstock. The Rose Red mat was adhered to the card first so the middle strip could be adhered between it and the focal image. The focal image was then adhered to the card with dimensionals.

The tag is a 2 ¼ x 2” piece of Whisper White. I stamped the Birthday Hugs & Wishes in Basic Black, added 3 black eyelets, some Old Olive Poly-Twill ribbon and an additional felt flower.

Recipe:
Stamps: Anniversary Birds (Verve Visual), Hugs & Wishes, Stitched
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Old Olive, Rose Red
Ink: Whisper White, Rose Red, Old Olive, Basic Black
Accessories: Felt Fusion Flowers, Black Brads, Black Eyelets, Old Olive Poly-Twill Ribbon

Love Birds

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything, let alone done a color challenge. So – tonight I decided to do both. My favorite In-Color this year is Purely Pomegranate, so I was excited to see it as one of the colors for this week’s challenge – Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black and Basic Grey.

I just got the new Anniversary Birds set from Verve Visual, so I knew I wanted to incorporate it into my card. I don’t normally make impulse buys when it comes to stamp sets – I like to weigh my options and make sure I’ll really use the set before I get it. But, I have to say that I ordered this set the first day I saw it. I love these little birds!

I used Basic Grey as my card base and layered a panel of Purely Pomegranate on the left hand side. I stamped the swirl from Baroque Motifs on the Pomegranate and one of the sentiments from the new set on Basic Grey. Both were stamped in Versamark and then embossed with clear embossing powder. The birds were stamped in Pomegranate on Whisper White, and everything was matted on a layer of Basic Black.

The only other detail I added was a line of paper piercing along the top edge of the sentiment. I considered adding some Basic Grey Taffeta, but I just couldn’t make it work. I’m happy with the end result though and plan to send this to my niece and her husband who will celebrate their first anniversary in May.

Recipe:
Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Anniversary Birds (Verve Visual)
CS: Basic Grey, Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Versamark
Other: Clear Embossing Powder