Big Sparkly {Hugs}

Hi there, stampers! Hope your week is going well so far. I wanted to share a card I made for a friend today. She was in need of some happy mail this week and what better way to send a little "happy" then with a BIG {Hug}...with sparkles, of course. 

I used this week's combo over at the ColourQ for inspiration. I just love that pop of Island Indigo with the traditional fall colors. Sooo pretty!  

I paired up the colors, with the sketch from A La Card Monkey. I haven't had a ton of free time lately to play along with my favorite challenges, so I am really enjoying all of the creative inspiration from both of these sites. I switched up the square elements for some layered circles. 

I dusted off a stamp set that hasn't seen ink in a while: Season of Friendship. I really like this set and really need to use it more often. Everyone needs a stamped sentiment to send some hugs and the Perfect Words (hostess) set has some really cute phrases. I tried to make the polka dots on the embossed background standout a little by gently running a Very Vanilla Craft ink pad over the raised dots. I also added an extra ruffle of ribbon around the sentiment to give it a "hug"...that wasn't intended to be "punny", it just kind of happened. Haha! All of the rest of the supplies are listed at the end of the post. 

On the inside, I used some scraps from the front along with a sentiment from a retired set: Occasional Quotes. I'm so excited to send this off with a box of treats to hopefully brighten my friend's day. I put extra chocolate in the box, because you can't go wrong when Godiva truffles are involved, right? 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a HAPPY day! :) 

PS: I also have a couple days left of a fun give-away. CLICK HERE, if you would like to check it out. 

Stampin' Up! Supply List: 
Stamps: Season of Friendship (flower), Perfect Words (hostess, sentiment on front of card) and Occasional Quotes (ret. inside sentiment)
Paper: Sweet and Sour Specialty DSP (ret.), Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie, Island Indigo, Soft Suede and Very Vanilla card stock
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie, Island Indigo Classic ink and Very Vanilla Craft ink
Accessories: 3/4" Circle punch, 1" circle punch, Large Oval punch, Scallop Oval punch, Island indigo 3/8" Ruffled ribbon, Cherry Cobbler and Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Write Markers, Basic Rhinestones and a TON of Stampin' Dimensionals

Keep it Simple Saturday with the Dapper Dogs

Hello there! It's the 6th week of "Keepin' it Simple"!  It's kind of fun to challenge myself to create a card in under 30 minutes. This past week I really didn't have a ton of time to create so it worked out perfectly. I did cheat a little and use a color combo I that I have used with this stamp set, in the past. I saw a piece of that DSP in my scrap pile and just went with it.

• The stamps are from the Season of Friendship set. I love this set and it has seen a LOT of ink, especially those little leaves. It's so easy to color them with markers to create fun pops of color with little effort.

• The color combo is More Mustard, Really Rust (ret.) and *deep sigh* Sage Shadow (also ret.). I still haven't come to terms with that color retiring. Good thing I stocked up on it. I only use it for special occasions...and special people! :)

• Using a die cut and punches made putting it all together a snap. A few little pieces of bling and a dressed up button finished it off. I meant to paper pierce the corner punches...whoops, I just remembered that. Oh look, my sentiment is a bit crooked, too. Ugh! 

Before I go, I wanted to share a photo with you from earlier today. When I picked my boys up from the groomers, this is what I was met with: 

Look at those little angelic faces!! They both got new "dapper 'do's" for the warmer weather. Ozzy is a little bit shorter then I planned, but like any haircut...it will grow back. I had to laugh at their little John Deere bandanna's, too. That is probably the closest either of them will ever get to a tractor. Haha! 


With that, I will sign off until tomorrow. Please come back then to see my card for the new challenge at The Paper Players! Thanks for stopping by. Have a great rest of your day! :)


PS: Did you notice the new look on my blog? I have to thank my fabulous friend, Lesley for the awesome design. Thank you again, Lesley! You rock and I LOVE it! :)