Some Summer Fun

I just hate to see summer come to an end.  Here in upstate New York, we really only get about 2 months of warm weather.  No sooner does summer start and it's already over!

This week I wanted to make some cards and projects that honored the warm days of summer.  This card is made with an older stamp set called Crab and Company.  I just love going to the ocean.  This little crab and his sidekicks are so cute!  I copied the idea for this card from Christy Charles.  I had so much fun just making it!

I tried to think of other things that remind me of summer.  We all scream for Ice Cream!  Actually I am more fond of the new frozen yogurt places, but I did have ice cream a couple of times this summer.  I made this card using the pennant die and a cupcake sizzlet die.  I used the hounds tooth embossing folder to make the triangle look like a cone!

Watermelons, of course!  (Do you see the food trend here?)  I have already posted this card, but I thought that it really fit into the summer theme.  The card idea was copied from Debbie Henderson.

This bright cheery card made me think of the sunshine!  I copied the idea from a demonstrator on Stampin Up, Vicki Hayes.

And, last, but not least I made some wine glass charms!  They're made with an old summer set that has a lot of fun stamps in it.  I stamped onto shrink plastic with Staz On ink and colored in the images with colored pencils.  Then I punched out a hole in the plastic and shrunk them with a heat tool.  I used a clear block to flatten them after they had shrunk. 

I added a jump ring to the charm and put them on a set of wire earring along with some seed beads.  They came out SO cute.  I am definitely going to make some more of these charms!

What stamp set do you have that would make cute wine glass charms? 

Celebrating Ten Years!

This month I am celebrating ten years with Stampin' Up!  It has been a great creative outlet for me and I've met so many new people that have become my friends.  Thank you all for sticking with me for ten years!  It's been so much fun.

This adorable watermelon card was copied from Debbie Henderson.  I thought it was an iconic card to make for summer.  I used the new Strawberry Slush color to make the card's colors just pop.  The card is made from the circles embosslets, using different sizes to shape the watermelon slice.  I made the seeds from a leaf die and cut off the leaves to look like the seeds!  The "bite" is a little scallop punch.  I found out (the hard way!) that you have to punch each bite out separately and then assemble the card as you go.  A word to the wise if you want to make this card.

I'll have to admit, I'm not much for buying the In Colors from Stampin Up.  By the time I get around to using them, they are already discontinued.  But now they are staying around for two years.  So I'm more apt to use them now!

I just happen to really love the new In Colors for this year.  I love how they work together and the pretty new shades.  This card features the new colors and a new flower punch.  The paper is from the Gingham Garden collection.  I saw a card made by Amy O'Neill and used her idea and changed the colors for this card.  It's one of my favorites.

A note for this Flower Shop stamp set: Once you've assembled the stamps, stamp each image on a piece of paper.  Line it up with the punch and then mark the lower corner with a Sharpie marker (either on the outside of the wooden stamps or on the top side of the clear stamps) so that each time you will know where to put the lower corner of the stamped image in order to line up it up with the punch.  The petals are not symmetrical and it can easily get frustrating to line up the punch with the flower if you don't do this.