Another Green Dream ~ Card for My Mom

Good Afternoon Friends! 

I stole away a few minutes to stamp while I was listening to a leadership call on stampin up!  We get the coolest access to the latest training right through the site as demonstrators.  Today, Tami White told us all about her thoughts on recruiting. 

I came away from the call thinking to myself "If you are true to who you are, and do a good job at whatever you have your heart set on, you can't mess up!" Whatever you have passion for and put hard work into, will pay off in the end.   Tami did a fabulous job and I feel a renewed enthusiasm.  

This card is PERFECT for my mom.  She's a huge tea drinker and has a method for making the "right" cup of tea.  First you have to heat the cup.  Pour that water out, then make it in the hot cup.  Too cool..  

I have been stalking some of the challenge sites this week.  The sketch for this card came from the paper players challenge, and the colors came from a challenge over on Split Coast stampers. 

The color challenge is Lucky Limeade, river rock and Garden Green

In the picture my st patricks day looks a little gummy, but it's actually super uber glittery in real life.  There are also glittery dots on each dot of the tea cups.  I'm so addicted to the dazzling details glitter glue! It's only $2.50 and it adds so much pizazz to projects!  :D

Okay... So how about some measurements?

Base: garden green 8 1/2 x 5 1/2", scored and folded in half at 4 1/4"
Layer 2: Everyday Enchantment DSP (which i got FREE) I love the lucky limeade pattern here 4 x 5 1/4"
Layer 3: very vanilla 4 3/4" x 3 1/2", embossed with the vintage wallpaper embossing folder.
Layer 4: Garden Green 3 1/8" x 1 7/8"
Layer 5: Very Vanilla 3 x 1 3/4"
The happy st patricks layer was punched with the label punch, then I just cut a second punch in half and spread it out, attaching it to the back  (hope that makes sense).

Very Glittery, very fun!  My mom will love getting this one in the mail.  :D
Hugs to you,
Selene~

Mojo Monday St Patricks Day Card

Top O The Mornin' To Ya!

I always need a few St. Patrick's Day cards.  My mom, who came to this country at 16, was originally from Ireland.  So that makes me first generation Irish.  The holiday for me is something different than what many consider to be Irish traditions of corned beef and cabbage and green beer.  In fact, my mom didn't know what corned beef and cabbage was until she came to this country.  I always chalked that up to being a "Boston Irish" tradition.

So, what is St. Patrick's day all about then? According to my mom, St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland.  At one time Ireland was said to be over inundated with snakes, and St. Patrick drove them away.  So, I suppose now you won't see any snakes in Ireland.  It's been quite some time since I visited there, but I have family there and would love to go over for a visit.

When I started creating this card for the mojo sketch challenge this morning, I was also thinking about the "famous 40 shades of green" that you see when you fly into one of Ireland's airports.  I remember seeing it flying into Shannon Airport when I was there.  The patches of land are sectioned off, and as far as you can see the quilted artwork that God laid down is very apparent.  It's a beautiful sight.  I like my card this morning.  I'm not in love with my card, but it's a Monday morning stretch I suppose. 

I took a note card and sliced it up for the pretty pattern on the second layer.

My card measures 4 1/4" square, and I cut the note card down to 4x4.  I paired old olive with garden green.  Not necessarily 40 shades of green, but there are a few in there!  :D  I took some gold smootch paint and painted some of the leaves of my shamrocks, which I made with the trio punches.  This particular punch looks like a small cross.  So pushed a stylus down in the middle, then punched a hole to get my shamrocks to stand up a bit. 

Sorry to be so brief this morning, but I need to run!  It's club week and I'm a busy little bee getting the studio and projects ready.

{stampin hugs to you!}
Selene Kempton

Saturday Sketch 244

Hello Friends!

Yea!!! My favorite time of the week, Sketch night with the Stamping 411 Operators!! 

Tonight's sketch is by the talented Gretchen Barron and I LOVE the clean and simple feel!

I chose to use the Fresh Vintage stamp set from the Sale-A-Bration catalog.  This went together in a few minutes.

So first some measurements:
Base: 11 x 4 1/4", scored and folded at 5 1/2"
Layer 2: Basic Black 5 x 3 3/4"
Layer 3: Whisper white 4 7/8" x 3 5/8"
Layer 4: Blushing Bride Pleated Satin Ribbon
Layer 4: Blushing bride punched sentiment
Layer 5: Basic Black Labels Framlet, cut down the middle (on the hump side, not at the point) (oh Gaud!, What a description!)
Layer 6: Whisper white Labels framelet with the main image stamped in stazon ink.
Layer 7:  Twitterpatted designer buttons

I'll be taking this card to a few workshops in two weeks, and guests will be able to cut their own ribbon off the roll, then choose between Blushing Bride and Baja Blue.  (So Totally Cool!)

Some quick step by steps:

1. I stamped the straight decorative border twice behind the main panel on layer 3 of the card.  It doesnt fit all the way across with one stamp, so I stamped the top first, then the bottom of that panel.
2. Then, I stamped some scrap paper with the big flower image.  I used my big shot to cut this layer out. 
3. If you saw the cool tutorial that my buddy Lee did on creating a faux layer with framelits, you know how EASY it was to make the frame around my stamped image in black.  If you didn't see it, you can check that out here.  I chose not to go all the way around and just cut the black layer in the middle. 
4. From there it's pretty simple, just stick all the layers together.  I used two glue dots to adhere my pleated satin ribbon to the back of layers 2 and 3, then used tombo multipurpose adhesive to attach that to my base layer.  

So, whatdayathink?
If you have some time, please come play with us and make a card with this cool sketch.  I cant wait to see what you'll create!

Rubbah hugs,

Selene Kempton

Clean and Simple Masculine

Good Morning Friends,

It's so hard to keep up with blogging on school vacation week.  In addition, I've been busy teaching my embossing with markers class to my local customers. It was an awesome week. 

I feel blessed to be able to work doing something I love and be here for my daughter.

This week's challenge from the paper players is to make a clean and simple masculine card.  Honestly, I struggle with both.  I like to embellish and add more and more.  If this card was for my hubby, he would probably say that I should "lose the ribbon." In his mind, anything extra is unnecessary and you need to keep it simple. 

The Clean and simple style is just that.  It's all about the design ~ less is more.

Last night, I put this card together in about 10 minutes.  I got the wood sheets from Stampin' Up's big shot line.They are really interesting to work with.  The back side of the wood sheets have an almost plastic like material on the back.  It makes them easy to cut.  The sheets are thin enough to cut with a paper cutter.

I inked my sentiment and tree in markers.  When stamping on the wood sheets, I noticed that the ink runs a little into the wood.  I really like that!  Next, I grabbed a blender pen and moved the ink on the tree around.  When I originally stamped the image the little holes in this tree showed up.  I like the ink all blended and happy.  :)  I also moved the ink around the root and dragged my blender pen from side to side to make some ground.  Very clean and simple and very masculine (except perhaps that bow).  A little self indulgence for my girlie self.  I love that denim ribbon too.  It's my favorite Stampin Up green ~ artichoke.  Stampin' Up!  is definitely an Old Olive company (meaning many of the accessories come out in old olive), but I dig artichoke.  This denim ribbon has it's own masculine feel to it.


Measurements:
Base: 8 1/2 x 5 1/2", scored and folded in half at 4 1/4", river rock Card Stock
Layer 2: 5 1/8" x 3 5/8" Artichoke Card Stock
Layer 3: Wood sheet 5 x 3 3/4"

Well, that's all for today!  I'm planning a little design time in the studio.

Clean and Simple Challenge

Good Evening! 

It's school vacation week, so I'll be juggling stuff this week.  I didn't play along with mojo Monday this morning like normal.  I started to put a card together for it, and I just couldn't find my mojo.. LOL

When I saw that the clean and simple challenge over on SCS this week was stitching, I pulled out a set that I have been dying to play with! 

First ~ daisy's are my favorite flower, and I just love this sentiment.  Clean and simple cards are supposed to be simple, more about the design than extra layers or fancy frills.  Although I think I got a little carried away with the bow. 

I started with the center panel which is watercolor paper.  I stamped the flower from the Every Moment Stamp Set using a Stazon Black Ink Pad.  I sponged the background using Old Olive and Bashful Blue Ink Pads.  I colored the main flower with Olive, Espresso and Daffodil markers, and used an aqua painter to water out the markers. 

The Ribbon is Espresso Colored Satin Ribbon, to match layer two.  I added the faux stitching in the corner to add some interest, but in the true form of clean and simple I did just a little.  I also added a tiny little pearl to the middle of the flower.  I'm not sure how good my photos are tonight.  It's awful dark in the house.

Next some measurements.
Base Layer: Daffodil Cardstock:  11 x 4 1/4", scored and folded at 5 1/2"
Layer 2: Espresso Card Stock 4 1/4" x 3 1/4"
Layer 3 Water Color Paper 4 1/4" x 3 1/4"

Keepin it Clean and Simple today!  Hopefully I'll figure out a card to do for mojo Monday by tomorrow!  Have a great night!  :)

Selene Kempton

Carter Clements Fundraiser ~ February 26th

Good Afternoon Friends!

Recently I heard about my good friend Jeanie Clements son Carter.  Carter was in a horrible car accident and from what I understand, the road to recovery is going to be a long one.

There is going to be a fundraiser to help the Clements family a little bit while Carter is in recovery.  I can't quote my buddy Curtis Knight exactly (Owner and Founder of Curtis Knight Entertainment), whom I spoke with this morning, but he said something close to ~We're not going to be able to raise a million dollars or help them retire, but we'd like to help them a little bit while they are in need. ~ Indeed Curt!  Let's try to help!

First ~ I want you to know how committed I am to helping Jean!  I am putting out a $100 gift certificate to Stampin with Selene in the form of products, classes, or services.

 I'll be delivering this gift certificate to Curtis later today.  Want to win $100 credit with me?  It's easy!  Head on over to the fundraiser for Carter on Sunday, Feb 26th!  I'll be there and waiting to spend some time with you. There is going to be a LOT of talent there that day!  For all the details click here.


Here is a picture from the Lowell Sun Newspaper who recently did an article on part of Carter's story.  Here's a link to the article.

 Jean has ALWAYS been an inspiration to me personally.  Most recently, she VOLUNTEERED as our DJ at the yearly Stamp Out Breast Cancer fundraiser that we do.  She didn't get anything, and just came and volunteered her time.  But that is just one example on the impact that Jean has had on me.  When I was much younger, Jean helped me start my 6 year career as a DJ and Karaoke host for Curtis Knight.  I really loved my job, and left after a car accident made it difficult for me to carry the equipment. She remained so supportive.

Eleven years ago, Jean was the most wonderful DJ a Bride could ever wish for at my wedding to Brian.  Over the years, Jean and I would meet for lunch when Alexis was small and we remained friends all these years.  I treasure her friendship and am lucky to know her.  She is kind and generous and has a nice word for everyone she meets.

Now that she's in need I feel compelled to do something to help and honestly wish I was in the position to do more.  If you are interested in contributing to help (even a $1) here is a link to the donation site. 

If you'd like to come hang out with me, I'll be there early on the 26th and will hang out till they close it down. Knowing Curtis and Anna is organizing the show, the entertainment will be well thought out, organized and second to none! 

I hope you can make it.  Let's have a party and raise some money for Jean!  You could win $100 Gift Certificate of stamping supplies!

Love,
Selene Kempton
Creative Coach