Lantern Banner

I am loving all of the adorable banner images that are coming out lately and when I saw this stamp set from American Crafts with lanterns on a wire, it made me think of a banner only with a twist and I couldn't wait to ink it up and play with it.

I decided to make a CAS card, which is actually more difficult for me than making a card with lots of layers. I tend to gravitate toward more patterned paper and less white space and loads of layers, but I enjoyed deviating from my usual style and going with something more clean and simple. I did add some stickles for a faux glass look and some liquid pearls for the hardware that connects the lanterns to the wire, which doesn't come out real well in the photo, but came out really realistic in person.

I absolutely love the new Stella and Rose collections from My Minds Eye. I can't get enough of it. To be totally honest, I can't get enough paper in general and really, really need to use every sheet in my craft space before I buy another sheet but I'm afraid I'm just too weak. I just love pretty paper!

Supplies
Patterned Paper - My Minds Eye
Card Base - The Paper Company
Ink - Tsukineko, Papertrey Ink
Ribbon - American Crafts
Stamps - American Crafts (Images), Hero Arts (Sentiment)
Stickles - Ranger Industries
Liquid Pearls - Ranger Industries
Border Punch - Martha Stewart Crafts

Jessica's Shower Invites

My friend Jessica from work is fairly new to CO. She is also a California native, so I feel like she's a bit of a kindred spirit and I definitely appreciate what it's like to be away from longtime friends and family.

Well, Jessica has a GREAT reason to be in Colorado. That reason is true love. She and Josh are getting married in May in California. I am so happy for her! I have seen her and Josh together and I see something so special in them. God created them for one another and you can see it and feel it when you around them.

Jessica had a bridal shower in California during a recent visit, but we wanted to throw her another shower here in CO. She and Josh are starting their lives as a couple here and we wanted her to feel like this is home.

Jess has been VERY busy planning her wedding and traveling back and forth from CA, so she got the guest list to me a little late....which meant an evite for this event! Don't you just love evites when time is of the essence? There were a couple of guests that didn't have email so I made a couple of handmade invitations. Jess and Josh's colors are brown, orange and green, so I made invitations to coordinate. I also made some other crafty items for the shower but I can't post yet in case the bride visits the blog!

On the inside of the cards, I printed all of the shower details onto vellum and then backed it with green CS and attached with little orange brads. I didn't post a picture because our address and phone number are on there and I don't want to post publicly.

Supplies
Cardstock - Bazzil, The Paper Co, Stampin' Up!
Brads - Making Memories
Vellum - Stampin' Up!
Cricut Cartidge - Storybook, From the Nest
Nestabilities Die
Embossing Folder - Cuttlebug

Jen's Sketch Challenge 04-11

This month Jen has another fabulous sketch with another amazing sponsor (and one of my favs) - Unity Stamp Co! I have been using Unity stamps for a little over 2 years now and they are amazing! I first discovered them through a fellow stamping friend and joined their kit of the month club, which, if you are new to stamping (which I was at the time) - is a GREAT way to build up your stamp collection. You get a full 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of deeply etched red rubber stamps of the absolute highest quality every month delivered right to your door. Each month they send you a combination of sentiment and image stamps and you have the option of opting out of a particular month's kit if it doesn't suite your fancy...although I am quite certain they all will! I was a member of "the club" for 18 months and the ONLY reason I ended my membership was I had lots of stamps I had yet to ink up and I thought I would save my money each month for other product. I still love my Unity stamps and I am still inking them up, even a little over a year after I ended my membership. And, I LOVE that now I can get Unity stamps at Archivers, including the Itty Bitty sets. Love. Onto my card for this month. I wanted to make a card for my wonderful hubby's birthday. I have such a hard time with masculine cards, which I think is pretty common. I ended up using the Curtain Call paper collection from Graphic 45, which is the same paper collection I used for the altered tray I did for Valentine's Day. It's not completely masculine, but it can be adapted for masculine cards, which is what I did here. I used this adorable pocket stamp from Unity and made a little tag to go in the pocket. I also added some hearts because I love my hubby so....he is one of the best gifts God has ever given me! Anyway, I hope you enjoy my submission and I hope you will play along!

Supplies Cardstock - Bazzil Basics Patterned Paper - Graphic 45 Ink - Stampin' Up! Stamps - Unity Stamp Co., Stampin' Up! Punches - Stampin' Up! Ribbon - Michael's Tag - Paper Reflections Brad - Stampin' Up! Distress Tool - Tim Holtz for Tonic