Springtime Lilacs/ Color throwdown #187

Can you tell what I was cutting out in my garden yesterday? My lilac bushes are in full bloom and there was a chance of snow last night so I wanted to rescue as many blooms as possible while I still could. They inspired me to create paper versions that will last even longer. When I saw how well this plan matched with the color choices from the folks over at the Color Throwdown, I knew this was a great chance to get back into stamping and back into blogging too. The colors for this week's challenge were So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, and Lavender Lace. I replaced the Lavender Lace with Wisteria Wonder to make my little lilac sprigs. Please don't ask how many little flowers are in each cluster... I didn't let myself count! All I know, is that I punched a BUNCH of them with my little Punch Pack flower and then punched quite a few more just to make sure. I used all but four! Once I got the clusters together for a trial run, I knew I needed to do something with their centers. A tiny circle of So Saffron was too much. So, I glued them all in place and decided to solve that problem at the end. As I glued them, I liked how the little dot of glue started to give them each a center. Then it hit me, Dazzling Details would be just the ticket! So, I added a little dot to each of the exposed centers. Trust me, there are a lot more that ended up covered up. I may have gone just a bit overboard with layers. That's the fun part though, right? Now I have just a bit a spring to last for months & months.

A Little Modification on a Long Lost Card

Months ago, I stamped the bits of this card at a team meeting with my upline & fellow demonstrators. Imagine my surprise when it surfaced during the new year's clean of my stamping studio! It was totally assembled, but otherwise ready to go. So, I brought it along with me to work on during my prep period as a substitute. Not much to prep for as a sub, but lots to stamp! I changed around the orientation of the card & added a little Jewelry Tag label. Isn't it cute? The "love" comes from a much larger sentiment in the Cottage Wall set, but I think it gives this card potential as a nontraditional Valentine. The use of both Certainly Celery and Old Olive makes the greens pop & the satin ribbon lends an element of elegance. I am so pleased I found this forgotten treasure and really wanted to share it with you!

Cottage Garden Z Fold

WOW! I just checked the date & today marks this blog's 1st Birthday! A huge thank you to all of you who have checked in to see what I've been up to for the last year. Such fun to have an anniversary. I'll look forward to year two & hope you will all come along for the ride!

I was looking for something new to do for today's card. Specifically, I wanted to try out a new fold and I found a tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers for this "Swinging Z Fold". I've been at it for a couple of hours now... and I'm pretty okay with this one. :) I tried it with three layers for the cut out as shown in the tutorial, but it came out looking like something my 5 year old nephew would bring home from school. Not that he isn't talented, but I was hoping for a little better scissor work than that! So, I created my own DSP instead by stamping both sides of the Whisper White cardstock. Then I added just a touch of the Sunny Garden designer series paper to make things pop. My favorite part of this card is the sentiment though. I just inked a little part of the stamp & punched it out with the little tiny oval punch that was introduced in the Holiday Mini. All in all a pretty simple card given all the experimentation that went into it! It's a good thing I don't post all of my attempts. I think it would scare you all away.

Love Mingos (Take One)

Hello! So sorry for the prolonged & unintentional disappearance. I ended up working five days last week instead of two. That combined with the normal holiday craziness left NO time for stamping. I have to admit that I feel a bit rusty today. There's been a card itching at my brain for about a week though and I just had to get it out. This is the first attempt. Perhaps there will be another. While looking at some of the stamps from Simply Said not too long ago, I thought that one of the "flowers" would make a great palm tree if combined with the stem stamp from Cottage Garden. I knew I would have to give it a try at my next opportunity. What do you think?The card layout is very loosely based on the Mojo Monday sketch from last Monday (the day I intended to make this card!). It was nice to have training wheels of a sort to get me back in the groove! You'll be seeing much more of the Valentine Defined set from the soon to be released Occasions Mini. I think it's a real winner & it has flamingos!!! How can you go wrong with them? I hope you all are getting the itch for card making too. Check out my SU website for January class dates. Such fun we will have!

Cottage Garden Swap

I know it's not my typical Mojo Monday card, but I'll try to postpone that until Tuesday. Today's card is the swap card I came up with for my demonstrators' group "new catalog swap". I loved the Cottage Wall designer paper so I was so glad to see it get a revival with a brand new color scheme and a stamp set to boot! It's the first time I've used our self adhesive jewels and I must say that the little pearls make all the difference on this one. They really make the little flowers pop for me.
Okay, off to a meeting with my fellow SU demos & time to turn in my swaps. Hope you liked it!

Alphabet Hello

Making kid cards is such fun! I was inspired by the appearance of alphabet stamps in two of my new hostess sets: Cute by the Inch & Punch Potpourri.

Right now, I'm in the midst of a training program through Stampin' Up. It's just one more way I'm focusing on stamping as my summer job comes to a close. To make that a success, I need a little help from you.

As part of this program I am supposed to share my "stampin' story" with at least three people. So I thought here would be a great place! Please leave a comment so I know I've reached at least three of you. :)

Accidental Stamper is the name of my blog because it so fits the way I got started. I attended one party (gasp it was of a competitor!) as a favor to my friend. Since I had no interest in card making or scrap booking & I was the least crafty person alive, I wasn't really looking forward to the event. At that event, I started to see the possibilities of paper crafting and the fact that I COULD do this. Needless to say, I was hooked! The next Monday, a friend of mine who I volunteered with brought a handmade card for us all to sign. I asked her about it and she introduced me to the world of Stampin' Up, the woman who would later become my upline, and started me on a path that I love!

One more part of this training requires me to book a workshop between now and August 17th. Anyone out there ready to host a stampin' adventure & earn great hostess sets like the ones I used today? Contact me & we can set you up!