November 20, 2014

Way to Go!!

November 20, 2014/ Shannon Jaramillo

Hello and welcome to another fun sketch challenge from the Pals Paper Arts Design Team!

Isn't it fun? I wanted to make a special card and this sketch turned out to be perfect for it!

This card is for my youngest son who just finished his first marching band season as a band director. It has been a season of joy and struggles, triumph and defeat, but through it all he has been a trooper and is excited to move to the next phase and still wants to be a teacher!!

Woo Hoo! I'm soooo proud of him and wanted to let him know :)

For this card I chose colors that I knew would suit my son. Soft Suede is perfect, and I adore this chevron pattern! To break it up I added Crumb Cake as a complimentary color and just added a POP of Soft Sky.

Clean, simple lines and no fru-fru for him at all. One Crumb Cake button as an accent. If you need a particular color for thread and you don't happen to have it, no worries. Just snip two thin strips of cardstock in the color you want and then thread them through the button holes. Fold them over onto themselves on the back and adhere a glue dot to keep them in place. One side of the glue dot hold the strips of paper in place, the other adheres your button to your card...easy peasy!

I hope you've enjoyed my card and that you will pop on over to the see the rest of the inspiration from the Pals Paper Arts Design Team!

Thanks for stopping by!!

November 15, 2014

Many Merry Stars - Freshly Made Sketches 162

November 15, 2014/ Shannon Jaramillo

I just received this stamp set, Many Merry Stars, in the mail last week and have been itching to ink it up so I found an excuse! lol This sketch from Freshly Made Sketches was just the ticket!

The size of cardstock I had to work with, and stamp my images in, wasn't very large but no problem! I simply stamped off with the two largest star stamps and the filled them both in with the next sized stamp and then filled in with the smallest snowflake...ez peasy!! And since they're clear, placement of stamps was a breeze. They even gave us a curvy sentiment to work with....I L O V E this stamp set!!

There is no die to go along with the sentiment but it was really easy to cut out freehand. I popped it up on Stampin' Dimensionals to give it a bit more 'oomph'. I laid a thin layer of Soft Sky Seam Binding down and then placed a sparkly snowflake on top. The snowflake is from last year but it was the perfect accent. A few snowflake sequins add a bit to the design and accentuate the falling snow look I was going for. And all this from a girl who has been a Southern California girl for xx years! Let's leave it at that, it's been awhile!

I hope you have enjoyed today's card and that you are inspired to get inky!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

November 11, 2014

A Sweet Thank You - Retro Rubber Challenge #1

November 11, 2014/ Shannon Jaramillo

Today I'm excited to participate in a brand new challenge called Retro Rubber! And it's a fun and different challenge...using our much-loved-even-though-they-are-retired Stampin' Up! supplies!!

How cool is that?!?

The challenge this week is to ink up your oldest Stampin' Up! stamp set. I can do that as I still own it and will never part with it...just sentimentally attached:) It's a stamp set called Watercolor Trio. I chose it because it was pretty and I thought it looked fairly mess-up-proof...it was after all, my first stamp set!

I pulled out all the stops for this challenge, digging into my supplies for the Floral District Designer Series Paper, featuring a much loved retired color, Baja Breeze!

I just love the look of this stamp, to acheive it, I simply stamped in the center with full coverage ink in Rich Razzleberry, then immediately stamped off to on side without re-inking, and then again on the other side, also without re-inking. So I've stamped the same image three times without adding ink to the stamp. It's helpful if you huff on the stamp before the third stamp to get all the last remaining ink to transfer.

I also inked up the butterfly stamp in Baja Breeze and fussy cut him out. I had a hard time deciding which way was up, so I hope he's not flying upside down!!

When I was done...I wasn't quite ready to be done so I decided to keep going!

I kept this one very clean and neat. I couldn't resist using Baja Breeze again. I actually had to re-ink the stamp pad as it has been so long since I used it! I'm so glad I still have it. It's like re-reading a favorite book, warm and comfortable :)

Retired paper, retired ink, retired ribbon retired buttons...yep, I think I have this challenge covered! so much fun to play along with!!

I hope you've enjoyed this detour into Stampin' Up!'s past...which was your first stamp set? Or the one you'll never be able to let go of??

November 09, 2014

Can You Case It #44 - Simple Get Well Wishes

November 09, 2014/ Shannon Jaramillo

It's Sunday! A wonderful day to relax and get some stamping time in! And the Can You Case It Design Team has an awesome color challenge for you to jump start your creative juices!

I actually just did a similar color combination with the Pals Paper Arts challenge! That's okay, the colors are beautiful! I pulled out the colors and laid them on my desk and stared at them for awhile. Then I went through my stamp drawer and was drawn to the Summer Silhouettes stamp set. It has such an elegant, romantic feel to it! And this is what I did with it!

Can You Case It #44 - Simple Get Well Wishes

I can't believe how well Mossy Meadow and Blackberry Bliss look when paired with Very Vanilla! This color combination is absolutely stunning! You MUST try it!!

I haven't made a truly clean and simple card in a bit so this was the day:)

One leaf, stamped in Mossy Meadow; one flower stamped in Blackberry Bliss and fussy cut out and popped up with a Stampin' Dimensional, and one perfectly sized sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set. It doesn't get much more clean and simple than that!

I felt that the card needed just a teeny bit more so I pulled out my Beautiful Wings Embosslit and created an itty bitty butterfly in Blackberry Bliss. I adhered it with a mini glue dot that I folded into fourths with my Paper Piercing Tool. A few Basics Pearl Jewels finishes the design out with a bit of panache!