Congratulations to Izzy!

My granddaughter just made her junior-high basketball team...YEA!  It's the first time she has tried out for a team, and she was so excited to be granted a spot on the roster.  She likes to text me each morning on her way to school and last week she sent text messages each morning telling me about the try outs.  And she made the team!

So naturally I had to make her a special congratulations card!  Take a peek:

I used Simply Sports, and truth be told, I had to stamp the panels three times to get them right (arghh!).  My Stamp-a-Ma-Jig was the superstar here..between the figures, the ball and the ponytails, I relied on this trusty tool to get it all lined up.

The base is Basic Black, but I cut it to 5" x 11"--the card came out to 5" x 5-1/2".  Then there's a layer of Cucumber Crush, with the sides cut on the Stampin' Trimmer with the Rotary  Small Scallop blade.  Next comes a layer of Timeless Elegance Designer Series Paper.

The players were stamped on Very Vanilla with Memento Tuxedo Black ink; the first was stamped full strength, and the others were stamped off once or twice.  The Very Vanilla panels are 2" x 4" and are layered haphazardly on more Cucumber Crush.

The sentiment uses letters from Calling All Heroes--so fun!

Because the card is an unusual size, I had to make my own envelope--thank goodness for the Envelope Punch Board and In-Color Envelope Paper!

Congrats, Isabella!  May you play hard, play fair, and play your best!

All supplies can be purchased here.

Simply Sports meets Birthday

Last summer, while surfing some of my favorite blog spots for ideas, I came across a post by James Weber.  Although I'm not sure he's still a demonstrator (as he has not updated his blog since August), he had an idea that got my juices flowing.  Using Simply Sports, he turned it into a party.  So here is my version:

I don't know if you are familiar with Simply Sports.  It's a great set of silhouette bodies playing their favorite sports:

By omitting the balls these stamps became a party!

I started with a Basic Black card base, but it's big:  4 1/2" x 6 1/2".  Stampin' UP! doesn't make paper long enough to make a 13" card base (folded in half), so I used a 4 1/2" x 7 1/2", with a score at 1", and then adhered the 1" tab to a 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" piece.  It worked perfectly.

I then layered on a skinny Mint Macaroon layer and on top of that I adhered some new It's My Party Designer Series Paper Stack.  Oh my goodness!  This stack is huge, 48 sheets of  double sided 12" x 12" paper, four of each design.  And the colors and designs are to die for!  Black, Mint Macaroon, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry and Sahara Sand...I'll be using LOTS of this!

I stamped the figures using the fabulous Archival Basic Black Ink--so rich and black!  I added a pony tail to one of the dancers (OK, true confessions--I had to stamp this panel about four times to get it right--I either dropped a stamp on it, stamped the music notes upside down, or missed the pony tail!  Geez...but the outcome was worth the frustration!).

The pinata horse is from Zoo Babies--I used the zebra and painted all the stripes using Stampin' Write markers.  This was cut out and popped up with Dimensionals after I added a piece of Gold Thread. 

The party hats are from No Bones About It; stamped, cut and popped up on tiny pieces of Dimensionals.

The sentiment is from Boys Will Be Boys, stamped on Mint Macaroon and punched with the Banner Punch.

And of course, due to the size, I had to make my own envelope, using more of the DSP and my Envelope Punch Board.  Due to the unusual size, I had to look up measurements on this site:  http://www.thecraftyowl.co.uk/EnvelopeExpert/
Hang on to that address--you can make ANY size cards and this will help you figure out the measurements for your envelope.

So this card is going to my nephew...do you think he'll like it?


And don't forget; the Occasions Catalog goes live Tuesday, along with Sale-A-Bration--where any $50 purchase gets you a FREE item from the Sale-a-bration selection!

All supplies can be purchased here.

Now go make something pretty!

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