"Ain’t Life Grand" is one of the sentiments from the Grand Soiree Stamp set.  Take a closer look at this GORGEOUS invitation, found on page 126 of catty, using this set!  Of course, we have so many more stamp set designs that could be used for invitations, showers, weddings, and announcements with the Please Come Set, Sincere Salutations, Together Forever, and Nursery Necessities, just to name a few.

This card is a criss-cross card, done in chocolate chip cardstock creating a tri-fold.  The invitation is a large tag that pulls out by the chocolate chip stitched ribbon secured at the top of the kiwi kiss cardstock mat.  The large chandelier image on invitation was stamped on naturals ivory cardstock in regal rose ink.  The Occasions/RSVP was stamped in chocolate chip ink over the chandelier.  I stamped the large rectangle frame of the Frames with a Flourish set in regal rose classic ink.  I used the stamp-a-ma-jig to center the sentiment from Grand Soiree stamp set, inside the frame, and stamped it in chocolate chip classic ink.  I took the swirly stamp image from the Frames with a  Flourish set and stamped it underneath in Kiwi Kiss classic ink.

I used a small 1.5" x 12" strip of the green pattern from Bella Rose Designer Series Paper to wrap around the outside of the criss-cross folded card.  I used a 1/4" strip across the width of the front only, slightly up from the bottom of the green dsp.  I tied a piece of Regal Rose 5/8" grosgrain ribbon in a bow off center to the right, just above the seam of the dsp.  I used a stick pin and a pearl from the Pretties Kit, tied a small piece of old olive 1/4" ribbon to the end of the pin, and then layered a green felt flower from Flower Fusion and then a brown felt flower from Flower Fusion Too which was adhered through the regal rose ribbon. 

We’re heading into that period of time that whizzes by and leaves my head spinning.  Before you know it, we’ll be celebrating Columbus Day weekend, Halloween which is huge in our house and neighborhood, and then Thanksgiving.  I’ll be putting away the fall and Halloween decorations up in the attic while my husband hands me down the Christmas decorations to be sorted in the spare bedroom.  Dec 1st marks the beginning of many Christmas Parties leading up to Christmas and New Year’s dinners and gatherings.  If you’re hosting a party or event, one of the things I can help you with is designing an invitation for you that is customized to your personal style and color preferences.  And you can be sure it will be received with ooohs, and awwwhs, because it won’t be a cookie cutter off the rack invitation.  It will be a personal work of art handmade by you! 

Technorati Tags: Flower Fusion Accents and Elements, Frames with a Flourish stamp set, Grand Soiree stamp set, hand made invitations, Pretties Kit

Tonights post is for a card I made for my upline’s upline’s (we’ve just got to come up with a better word for this) monthly competition.  I’m always too busy and forget the deadlines, and there’s only so much time in a day.  However, entering all of the team monthly contests as well as the ones that Stampin’ Up! publishes in Stampin’ Success Monthly newsletter is on my list of New Year’s Resolutions!    Yes, it’s New Years already for us Stampin’ Up! demonstrators, since the new year clock starts July 1st.  Anyway, I have a lot of goals on my list, and it would be a pretty tenacious undertaking to accomplish them all, but I’m up for it! 

The requirements were to use 2 stamp sets that will be retiring August 10th, and a 3rd if it’s a word/phrase set.  Also, could only use 3 colors and one neutral.  Everything else was game.  I just love Artfully Asian, so I used that as the main image, and the 2nd set is the Circle of Friendship set.  I did throw in the 3rd with the outside AND the inside sentiment coming from the It’s Your Birthday set.  Of course the Pretties Kit and the Hodgepodge Hardware Kits were also used.  Since tomorrow is the deadline anyway,  I’ll share this card.  Good luck to everyone!  Bring it! 

  Don’t forget these sets are going away August 10th, so email me to place an order.

Technorati Tags: Artfully Asian, Cards, Circle of Friendship, Hodgepodge Hardware, It's Your Birthday, Pretties Kit, Retired stamps