Moved Nicole

May is here and so is GRADUATION.  I have some great ideas for you to say congratulations to friends and family in a very sparkly way! I told you these cards sparkled!  There's lots of bling going on here to celebrate the big day! The first card is the one I shared the other day that I made for my Dad's birthday.   I patterned the others after this one, just changed up the sentiments. On this one I used a retired set from last year, Hooray it's Your Day.  This particular sentiment really fit the bill for what I needed. The final card has another retired sentiment.  I used Perfect Pairings, it has a great bold "Congrats" in the set that says it all! All three cards have the same design, just different sayings.  This is an easy template for any type of event you need.  Just change up the greeting and add as much bling as you like! Speaking of bling, I've been working on my card set for the May Mini Session from Create with Connie and Mary. I am using NEW produc...

Do you over think things??  And stress yourself out??  Sometimes I am guilty of that very thing when it comes to making cards.  That's one of the reasons I am so in love with the whole CLEAN AND SIMPLE card design.  Simple can be beautiful! The first time I sat down with the BOTANICAL BLOOMS stamp set and coordinating BOTANICAL BUILDER FRAMELITS , my mind was BLANK with a capital B.  I had seen so many great ideas already that I didn't know where to go with it!  THEN I took a breath and said "keep it simple!" Today I have a great example of simple cards made with this gorgeous bundle.  I hope it inspires you! Just because it's a floral set doesn't mean it is completely a "girly" stamp set.  The leaves are so beautiful and can easily take center stage! All the cards are monochromatic with Mossy Meadow ink for the sentiment and the background.  The gorgeous giant leaf on this card both makes a statement and blends in. Once you have a design you like, ...

Let's take a break from Birthday Blooms today and look at a masculine version of BOTANICAL BLOOMS that I made. Using just the leaves from the set gives a distinct masculine feel when combined with the right paper and sentiment. I went with a sentiment from PERFECT PAIRINGS in the Sale-a-bration Catalog in Early Espresso. I paired it with neutral colors and paper from the GOING PLACES designer paper stack.  I also added in a little paper piercing since that was part of the challenge for this card for the March CREATIVE CREW on Splitcoaststampers. For the March Mini Session from Create with Connie and Mary I also gave an idea for making a masculine card.  I made a card set with BOTANICAL BLOOMS that I think you'll really enjoy!  To find out more about subscribing to the MARCH MINI SESSION, just visit Create with Connie and Mary ! CLICK HERE to SHOP anytime and earn FREE STAMPS SHOP the CLEARANCE RACK and WEEKLY DEALS CLICK HERE to shop TUTORIALS FOR SALE Subscribe to My P...

Welcome to another Create with Connie and Mary Saturday Blog Hop!  This week we are all about the BLING! Honestly, I wasn't sure where to start!!  So, I sat down and do what I normally do when ideas are slim, I look through my designer paper and what I have on my desk.  This time around, the COTTAGE GREETINGS CARD KIT   stood out to me since it has sequins and silver in it. This is an idea that struck me as I looked at the paper.  Do heat embossing directly on the paper with a big, bold sentiment.  And what could be better for big and bold than BOTANICALS FOR YOU. Since the card has silver all over it, the sentiment needed to stand out.  So, in comes black embossing powder and a ginormous greeting.  I also thought doing a juxtaposition would be cool so that's how the black paper with silver embossing came about. And of course since we are all about bling, I had to add lots of SEQUINS!  And with this card being from the COTTAGE GREETINGS CARD KIT , I needed the envelope that wa...

Welcome to the CREATION STATION BLOG HOP!  This month we are all about VALENTINES!! The big day is less than two weeks away so you've come to the right place.  The blog hop is full of fabulous ideas so make sure you visit all of them!! I was so excited to order new supplies that I didn't think about Valentine's Day being around the corner....so no Valentine sets (sad face).  BUT WAIT!  I know there are others out there that did the same, so I am giving you a couple of Valentines using everyday stamps. This first card was so much fun to make!  If you look closely at the background, you can see the bokeh effect which is a favorite technique of mine.  It gives such a lovely soft look that's perfect for a sky scene. A couple of vellum clouds added in give more interest without overtaking the plane.  And of course since it's a Valentine, I had to add some hearts!  This just goes to show you how versatile SKY IS THE LIMIT really is!  The variety of greetings really makes ...

Welcome to another Create with Connie and Mary Saturday Blog Hop!  This week we are celebrating Sale-a-bration with TAGS! We could choose anything from the Sale-a-bration catalog to make the tag with, so I went to my favorite set HELLO. Did you notice that I actually featured TWO Sale-a-bration sets on this tag??  Yep, I added in the gorgeous FLOWERING FIELDS set as well!  I am a HUGE fan of lavender, so that's the first thing that popped out when I saw this set.  And how nice is a big hello and lavender??  Very for me!! As I designed this tag, I encountered the dilemma of the "hello" being so ginormous.  How in the world do you fit a greeting like that on a 2" wide tag??  Well, you get inventive and add a ginormous Wisteria Wonder banner to hold that greeting!  And to make it stand out even more, I heat embossed it in white and added bling. Then, I needed a great way to use this beautiful tag.  I don't have any lavender right now to give away, so I thought a ca...

Welcome to another Create with Connie and Mary Saturday Blog Hop!  This week we are all about VELLUM. Vellum is a very versatile material to work with.  I use it for shakers, stamping and embellishment.  For today's card, I used it to stamp a field of flowers. I love the soft background the vellum gives to the flowers. The main reasons I wanted to stamp the flowers on vellum was the ability to color them beautifully with markers.  The surface lets the marker glide and add bright color without streaking.  Just make sure you let your initial outline stamping dry before adding color, then allow that to dry as well!  Trust me, your finger prints will be all over this if you don't!! Now let's get to the good stuff, the supply list! SUPPLIES: STAMPS: Flowering Field, Cottage Greetings INKS:   Archival Black MARKERS: Garden Green, Daffodil Delight PAPER:  Whisper White, Cucumber Crush, Botanical Gardens DSP, Vellum ACCESSORIES:   Octagon Punch (banner end), Cherry on Top Design...