Giraffe Baby Card

Okay, assuming all went well, I'm off on my European adventure. Never fear though...I have saved up a bunch of cards to share with you while I'm away. Perhaps I'll even check in now and then with some travel stories. :) Today's card is the first of those I'll share with you from my Quarterly Quarter party back in January. It's a fun event where I bring all my SU supplies downstairs and folks just play. We make cards with scraps & leftover bits and pieces. Much fun is had by all. That's a requirement! For this card, I grabbed a frame left over from making a Top Note (I save EVERYTHING) and used it as my starting point. The giraffe selection came next and it all just came together from there. I wanted a card that would work for either gender and I think the little flowers (bless my Itty Bitty Shapes punches) make that happen. A fun surprise card for me. That's what happens when I decide to start with one random piece--- I rarely know where it will take me!

Elephant Valentine

He's simple, but sweet. :) I started playing around with my Love Impressions Rub-ons yesterday. I got as far as creating the Word Window with the cute little sentiment, added a heart, and then I was stuck. No idea what I wanted to do with it! I punched a bunch of hearts, made all sorts of layouts, and just didn't like any of it. It's kind of like writers' block for the stamper. So, I just left it on my desk and went about the rest of my evening. Then, this morning, it hit me. (The shower is often the best place for things to come together for me. No idea why, but that's how it works.) The color pallet of Pink Pirouette, Real Red, Whisper White, and Basic Gray made for a great pachyderm Valentine. Out came Animal Stories and the rest was easy. Whew!
I have a news flash for you all too. The Accidental Stamper is now on Facebook! If you're already part of Facebook, search for "The Accidental Stamper" and it will take you to the page. Stop on by and become a "fan". If you aren't part of FB yet, I've found that it's way too easy to join. Did you see that I added little share buttons at the bottom of the posts? That way it's super easy for you to share your favorites with all your friends.

My First Color Throwdown! (CTD #121)

Today I decided to branch out and try a new color challenge. So, I paid a visit to the folks over at the Color Throwdown and really liked what I saw. Their colors for this week included: Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, and Chocolate Chip. It's a great group for Christmas cards, but I just wasn't in a Christmas card kind of mood this morning. I decided to go whale instead! I got things started and then felt like the card was feeling just a little too ordinary. Sigh. That told me I needed to try something new! I got out my circle punches & chopped up my sentiment to see what that would do. Kind of fun, huh? YIKES! I just realized that I didn't add the little Marina Mist circles I punched to decorate the sentiment. How silly of me! Have you ever made a card and then forgot to add some of the bits when it came to assembly? This is new for me...I guess I'll add them to my example card, but leave things be here. How embarrassing!

Happy Birthday Matthew!

It's hard to believe that my youngest nephew is a year old already, but, then again, he was operating his own crib music last night while we were babysitting as well as giving the cabinet locks a good test. So, I suppose it is time for a birthday!

I found myself with a little unexpected extra time this morning, so I took advantage of it. I often am just too lazy to do much cutting out, but it makes such a difference, don't you think? I created a stencil for the #1 using clip art I found on-line & added a special touch using the polka dots from Pick a Petal. Always a favorite!

This birthday card will be the first of several kid focused cards I hope to create. In fact, I'm offering Kids' Cards as one of my choices to hostesses for August & September. Stampin' Up is having an excellent deal for hostesses in the month of August where they add $25 to the hostess benefits of any workshop that has more than $350 in sales. That means you would get $65 of free stuff! I'm all about taking advantage of extra free goodies, so contact me today to set up your own stamping adventure for August! Meanwhile, keep an eye out for other kid focused projects from me. My Fox & Friends stamp set is on its way and it has all sorts of possibilities...

PPC #10/Elephants on Parade

Ah, this week's color challenge from PPC did make my brain stretch a bit. I was surprised at how much I like Real Red with Certainly Celery, but fitting in the Crushed Curry was the challenge. Of course, with Bashful Blue as the last color I knew Animal Stories was the set to use, but it still took a bit.
One of my favorite things to do with these little elephants is to make a line up with just a trunk on the far right & just his rear on the left, but I also wanted to fit my sentiment in this time. So, I settled with a regular line up. My Stamp-a-ma-jig came in very handy to keep these pachyderms in line!

For Owl You Do

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday & the lateness of this one. Yesterday started with a morning migraine & continued then included an 11 hour work day. No time in there for a new post! This project reminds me of Woodsy Owl & makes me smile. I find the owl from Animal Stories much more endearing with google eyes. Then again, I am the google eye queen. I am kind of shocked that more haven't appeared on my blog before now.