Marquee Messages

Happy Monday!

MAN I'm loving life today!  My cup is overflowing with love and gratitude for the life I am so blessed to be living.  No particular "big" reason why - I've just been working around the house, as I do on any normal Monday … but just feeling so darned grateful!  I'm just SO lucky to be the wife of such an amazing person and to have built the life with him that I have.  SO grateful.  That's all :)  We now return you to your previously scheduled blog post :)

Last week I really did have a lot of time on my hands (See?  Lucky me!!)  That allowed me more time in my Craft Cave.  I felt like making a card that I wouldn't "normally" make.  I wanted to use one of my new stamp set but realized a LOT of them are swirls and flowers and such.  Wasn't in a flowery kinda mood … and then my eye fell on "Marquee Messages".  Check it out …

Hmmmm - doesn't blow your hair back?  Didn't blow mine back either, when I first saw it in the catalogue.  The second pass through the catty it caught my eye.  The third time through I was checking it out fairly intently.  The fourth time though I decided I loved the sentiments font (you know what a font junkie I am!) … and then I decided "nah - how much use would I get out of it?  Kinda a "one trick pony" kinda set" … and I decided against it.  Fast forward a few weeks … when I was placing my monthly club order.  I had earned some hostess benefits and was looking for somewhere to spend them.  After buying some "practical" products (white paper, envelopes, dimensionals) I decided to treat myself to a frivulous set … and this was the one I picked.  Who CARES if it's kind of limited in layout possibilities? I LIKED the layout … and I got it.  Well … here is what I made with it … and (of course), I love it!

Check out the sparkle I got from adding my Wink of Stella Clear to it …

LOVE!

You know I like to give credit where credit it due so I'll do that now.  I got my inspiration from a card I found made by fellow demo Brian King.  Brian is one of the relatively few MALE stampers who has made it big with Stampin' Up!  His work is fabulous.  Check him out at www.stampwithbrian.com.  Here is the card he made …

Most cards you find using this set are going to look very similar, given the size of the main image - you really just change the colours.  Brian used Pool Party and Daffodil Delight.  I used Watermelon Wonder and Daffodil Delight …. and Bermuda Bay (using that color a lot lately!) and daffodil delight.

I stamped the image and sentiments with my Memento Black Ink (my archival black has been smudging lately and I figured the colouring would just bleed so I went straight to the Memento.)  I then stamped the arrow on coloured paper and the "Awesome" and "Birthday" on Daffodil Delight.  I coloured the stars afterwards and the appropriate colour did colour on top of the coloured card stock nicely.  I then cut the pieces out "old school" with my paper snips.  I used my Stampin' Write Markers to colour the spaces … and then, once I was sure the ink was dry, went over some parts with my Wink of Stella.

I popped the cut out pieces up on dimensionals for added interest.

Totally love how it looks, matted on black card stock, and will TOTALLY be making more of these to mail to friends.  Might be a more limited set than I would like, but I love the one look I've made with it!

That's it for today … off to finish making dinner.  Thanks for popping in - have a stampy night!


Tam