So Special to Me – NBUS Challenge #11

You Are So Special Card Ideas - Shannon Jaramillo The Stamps of Life

Today’s card is so special to me! Pun intended 🙂 Seriously though, it’s so rewarding to disappear into my craft room after the day’s work is done and pour myself into making something pretty. Can you relate?

I was inspired by a card I saw (somewhere) using a big banner and a large die cut sentiment and it rolled around in my head and then this popped out 🙂

Almost all of the product used here came from a Stamps of Life Card Kit. The pattern paper is from an older kit. When I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for my banner card! I ran into a bit of a problem though when I discovered that although this paper was in a card kit, this deep blue-purple color is not offered as a card stock or ink in The Stamps of Life product line. What? Luckily for me there was a solid piece of pattern paper in the pad that I was able to use in place of card stock. And the ribbon? I found the PERFECT shade (Royal Velvet) in my Papertrey Ink stash! Can you believe it? A month or so ago, they had all of their ribbon on clearance so I was able to get one roll of almost every color for about $30 total. Wow, right? And it worked out perfectly!! 🙂

You Are So Special Cards Ideas - Shannon Jaramillo The Stamps of Life

The die came in a card kit…isn’t it sweet? I did puzzle over how I would use it. “So Special” doesn’t really seem like a stand alone sentiment to me so I went hunting and found two different options of “You Are” in my TSOL stamp sets. I inked one of them up and then die cut it with a stitched circle die. But once I had it in place everything seemed off balance for me (and I had Lionel Richie crooning “You are so beautiful…to Meeee” in my head) so I went hunting again and found another sentiment that actually reads “To You, From Me”. A bit of creative stamping and voilĂ ! I think it turned out very charming 🙂

You Are So Special Card Idea - Shannon Jaramillo The Stamps of Life

The stitched banner is courtesy of a die from Sunny Studios. I HAD to have it about two years ago and I’m sorry to say, this is the first time it’s been used. But there are four options for the fishtail and this is a fun layout so I think we’ll see a variation on this card in the future…

Now, today I am playing along with the NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) challenge. And the challenge is not only to use something not used before, but also to share a boo-boo or two. GASP!! What?!? Imperfection? Never!! Well…okay, if you insist…

You Are So Special Card Ideas - Shannon Jaramillo Stamps of Life.jpg

Yes, on my first attempt, I die cut the fish tail upside down. And then sat there staring at the half with the stitching thinking “How can this be?”. Yep, a great way to ruin a perfectly good piece of pretty paper 🙂

And since I’m owning up to my mistakes, when I put this card together, I adhered everything flat. Then I decided that the banner needed to be popped up from the other pattern paper so I lifted the whole thing and re-adhered everything. It wasn’t until I went to open the card that I realized that I had ADHERED THE WHOLE THING UPSIDE DOWN!!!! Lucky me, after scrapbooking for many years, lifting (very carefully) and re-adhering is something I am familiar with and though while never preferable, something I can manage to do. Whew! Especially since I didn’t have any more of this pretty blue-purple paper!

One last thing…the inside…

You Are So Special Cards Idea - Shannon Jaramillo The Stamps of Life

It occurred to me when I started to work on the inside of the card…what on earth do you finish with when you start with “You are so special to me” without coming across as creepy and stalker-ish? Well, I’ll tell you, I had to look through every stamp set I own to decide that this sentiment would be appropriate, lol. Now it can be an “I’m thinking of you” or “I’ve got your back” or “It’ll be okay” kind of card and won’t be creepy…;)

Well, there you have it, my nightly therapy all wrapped up and tidy with it’s pretty envelope!

Thanks for stopping by! I truly appreciate you!

Products Used:

Card Stock: Pixie, Kiwi & Powdered Sugar by The Stamps of Life

Pattern Paper: Friend Collection by The Stamps of Life

Ink: Royal Velvet by Papertrey Ink; Memento Ink Tuxedo Black

Stamps:    flowerpower2fill & patterns4happymail by The Stamps of Life; Inside & Out: Healing Touch by Papertrey Ink

Dies: Stitched Ovals & Rectangles Dies by The Stamps of Life; Fishtail Banners by Sunny Studios

Tools:  Big Shot; MISTI; Paper Trimmer

Embellishments: Flower Jewels by The Stamps of Life; Royal Velvet Ribbon by Papertrey Ink

Other – Envelope – The Stamps of Life

A Ride in the Park – Paper Players 243

Greetings, Friends! It’s Sunday and that means another fun challenge from the Paper Players:

pp243

Isn’t this a great idea for a challenge? Thanks, Sandy! This is the perfect opportunity to share another fun set from The Stamps of Life:

SKP Watermarked Photos3-078Isn’t it FUN??? The stamp set is called bicycle2stamp and has an additional set to coordinate with called morebicycle2stamp and there is also a coordinating die set!! It’s so fun to have options! Isn’t the basket fun? It’s a separate die and is designed so you can see inside the basket! So I loaded it up with flowers!

SKP Watermarked Photos3-079Here is a picture of the card base and how it works. The card is called a “stand up” card for obvious reasons and is made very quickly and easily using a die called the Square Stand Up Card. It is a standard A2 card size, it’s just designed so that one side can stand up. There is even a notch to help it can stand up securely.

So, I used the die to cut my card base, and then I laid a piece of darling pattern paper from the April Card Kit over one half of the die and ran it back through the Big Shot. I snipped off the sides that fold back and was left with a perfectly sized cover for my card stock. I then used another coordinating product called For You & Thank You, it has square dies that are sized to compliment the card base! I used those to make the back drop for my sentiment…which fits perfectly inside! I just love having lots of coordinating/complimenting products! Did you notice the pretty ribbon? Also from the April Card Kit and a dream to work with!

SKP Watermarked Photos3-080Can you see the notch that keeps the card standing up? So awesome!! And stamping the pink bike frame within the bicycle frame was a cinch using the MISTI tool. Of course I had to add Wink of Stella to make the pink sparkle! Who wouldn’t want a sparkly pink bike? And a basket of white blooms, all sparkly as well 🙂

I have the perfect person in mind to send this to, and hope that she displays it on her desk at work and that it brings a smile to her face each time she looks at it!

Please visit the other designers and their very inspiring work!

The Paper Players Design Team

Wishing you joy and blessings!

Products Used:

Cardstock: Kiwi by The Stamps of Life

Pattern Paper: Wishes Collection by The Stamps of Life

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and Raspberry Fizz by Papertrey Ink

Stamps:   bicycle2stamp and morebicycle2stamp by The Stamps of Life

Dies: Bicycle Club Die Set, For You & Thank You Framelits Dies, Card, Square Stand Up Die, all by The Stamps of Life

Tools:  MISTI by My Sweet Petunia

Embellishments: Basics Pearls by Stampin’ Up!; Wink of Stella