Happy days! Stamping for a few fun people!

Every once in a while, I get asked to do something and I get really excited about the project that I know it will result in.  Sometimes, its attending a 1 year old's birthday party, sometimes it's creating a card for a great cause or special person!  Here are a few of the cards I've completed the last week or so, all of which, got me really excited to do!


A little over a week ago, one of my friends since high school had a huge landmark, her adorable son, Kaleb turned 1!  He is one of the HAPPIEST babies I have ever been lucky enough to know.  

His party was Mickey Mouse themed, which you KNOW I was excited about.  I came up with an adorable little card featuring Mickey Mouse!  I have over the last couple of years, been gathering Disney stamps (they're hard to come by!) but this one seemed perfect to me. I colored Mickey up using my Stampin' Up Blendabilities. 

The letters were a new acquirement, I had to stamp each one individually so it ended up looking handmade, but it is so I'm still happy.

I used Mickey Mouse colors for the cardstock to pull it all together and this ended up being my little pal's birthday card from Auntie Disney! 



My next exciting project was a retirement card for a member of the Orlando Fire Department who has been with them for 27 years (WOW!)  For this card, I 
found a fantastic set of digital stamps on Etsy (after searching for the right one for hours!) I ended up blowing the truck up MUCH larger than 
I intended, but I love how it looks!  I colored it up using my Stampin' Up Blendabilities & Copic alcohol markers.  To make the windows and the light really POP, I hit them with my Stampin' Up Crystal Effects, then at the last minute used it on the ladder too so it stood out from the paper.

My friend requested I use the OFD Maltese (funny story there, long story short, it's not a dog, it's their logo haha!)  That I shrunk so that I could make it legible but work well on the card.

I had planned on using the word "Congratulations" as the sentiment, but when I pulled out my favorite congrats set, Bravo by Stampin' Up, I say that "Woo-Hoo!" and knew it was the one!  It pops off the old designer paper from Stampin' Up! that I love.  I put it all together on some Crumb Cake Cardstock from Stampin' Up!  This is one of my favorite colors to use as a base because it's so easy to pair with everything, it is just rustic enough to add depth but not too flat!

My most recent project was a last minute birthday card for a friend to send to a friend!  Again, the Disney stamps, I've collected and ADORE.  The birthday girl LOVES classic Mickey (who doesn't??) For the balloons, I used Stampin' Up! embossing powders in Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry, Calypso Coral, Iridescent Ice & Gold (it's like magic!) They are on SU Pacific Point cardstock.

  

I used my SU Blendabilities to color up the sitting Mickey and dimensionals to make him POP after I fussy cut him and mounted him on SU Melon Mambo cardstock.   I carried the Melon Mambo into the card base and the pop up for the sentiment!  I used my Decorative Label Punch to give the sentiment a pretty display.

 
I'm sure you can tell, I'm starting to get a little brain fuzzy, it's dinner time and I've had a long day.  I hope you enjoy my creations.  Make sure you stop by my Stampin' Up! website to shop the new catalog and get yourself some new goodies!


~R. Winn
My SU Website

Light It Up Blue for Autism Awareness Blog Hop!

Hello and welcome to the Light It Up Blue For Autism Awareness Blog Hop!

I'm not lucky enough to be a parent yet, but I'm a big sister, a little sister, and aunt.  I've got a large family, and that means a lot of love.  That also means, I end up caring deeply about children, Autism has not touched by family as of yet; but it's touched some of my dear friends, and their children. 

For a short time after high school, I was lucky enough to get to teach dance, one of my favorite students was Ali.  Ali was a little ball of energy, still is only, she's not so little anymore! I developed a strong bond with her, and will always consider her mother, Carmen, one of the strongest women I know.  She's done everything for Ali, given her a love for dance and music (the girl's got moves), the opportunity to love animals, horses, dogs, I'm pretty sure Ali loves anything with 4 legs.  We had our ups and downs when it came to dance class, but ultimately, Ali showed me a whole new world and taught me patience I didn't know I had, and a love I will never forget.

 After completing just enough college to participate in the Walt Disney World College Program, I moved to Florida for 4 GLORIOUS months and became a Disney slave (if you know me, at all, you know this was the best time of my life).  During my program I worked at the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway (Speedwhat?), one of the full-time cast members was Aimee.  Now, I would love to say Aimee and I were best friends, but we weren't. She was, and still is, one of the kindest people I've ever met, she never treated me different because I was literally the youngest person working there (barely out of high school folks!) She is a kind, patient person.  She has two absolutely ADORABLE children, her youngest was diagnosed with Autism at the age of two.

Little Mr. Dom, has stolen my heart.  This kid, he's so cute.  Currently, Aimee and her husband, Kevin, are working on fundraising towards getting Dom a therapy dog!  He's had a huge amount of success with the dog that visits during his speech therapy sessions.  I've done a few small things to help how I can, on April 2nd I will be wearing a shirt that another of the Cleffi family's friends created to support their fundraising efforts, I've also been able to create a few sets of cards for Aimee, some to sell at a craft fair, and some for personal use.  

Please visit their fundraising link, if you can, donate a dollar or two, otherwise, just read a little bit about this amazing kid and imagine how much a parent must love their child to want so badly to give them everything they can to succeed in life, to say nothing negative about their struggles and to simply ask for help when they need it, sometimes from a perfect stranger, sometimes, from an old friend.  You can also follow Dom's Ninjas on Facebook.

Back to the Blog Hop!  We have so many fantastic sponsors that have shown their support for Autism Awareness and you can see the complete list here: Autism Awareness Blog Hop. 

  Please take a few minutes to look around at what these wonderful artists have created.  If you would like a chance to win a prize from one of these fabulous companies leave a comment on this blog, and any of the other blogs participating in today's hop! Winners will be chosen at random and will be announced on Monday April 6.

 Now here is the card I created for today's hop! 

The image is from the The Amy Doodle Stamp Company, puzzle pieces are used to represent Autism and blue is the color used to represent it.  Now what you can't really see it that my card isn't done in the traditional sense, normally, your crease would be at the top of the card, mine however, is different, not less.

I folded my card on the bottom, why? A few reasons, I wanted to be different.  Also, I wanted to use this adorable heart punch and I couldn't make it work any other way.  Sometimes, with Autism, it's different than what you would expect, things don't work the way you want, but in the end, if the child gets what they need, a dog, a horse, to dance, to see Mickey... what ever it may be, the hurdles are worth jumping to get to the end result.  

Aimee and Carmen, I love you both, I hope that when I am lucky enough to become a mother, I'm half as good as you are, because even then, I will be a wonderful mom.  Thank you for being an inspiration and for allowing me to be part of your children's lives, they truly are blessings.

Fall is coming! Fall is coming! (Things that make me happy!)

Thanks hun!  I wanted to create some fun, useful cards with the new holiday catalog.  The Color Me Autumn Designer Series Paper, simply put, makes me HAPPY! 

I used a white card base, and some Early Espresso cardstock to create a fall feeling card, then I chose my favorite of the Color Me Autumn DSP pack, these adorable nuts! The reds and brown on this paper are just perfect.  

To give it a bit of a girlie feel, I added a little bit of Blackberry Bliss Ribbon and tied it in a small knot.  For the sentiment I used the Alphabet Rotary Stamp to create a perfectly me statement, the little hearts are adorable aren't they?

 
 Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday!  I kinda have a love hate relationship with stamps that I can't get perfect each time.  This time, I am in love, this card feels homemade and special to me.  

I used the 2014-2016 SU In Colors ink and a dark card base to make these colors pop.  Simple, happy, functional!

The stamp is from the photopolymer set, Age Awareness, this set is gorgeous and makes me giggle all at once!

Have I mentioned how much I like coloring? The Early Espresso made another appearance here to make this thank you card feel like fall (I love fall!)  

The Blended Bloom stamp looks fantastic in any color, but it looks especially amazing in Cherry Cobbler.  The sentiment is stamped in Metallic Encore Gold ink. The green paper is the other side of the acorns!

Last but not least, I used some random papers I had in my stockpile to create this beauty! The Confetti Stars Punch is my new favorite punch, you get this awesome border and fun confetti to save for later!

The buildings are from the photopolymer set, Calling All Heros. I used my Whisper White Craft Ink to make them stand out against the black paper.



 

***Want a Dress Up Framelit Set of your own?  Place an order on my website, select me as your demo and use hostess code TTUFDBN9 by September 27th!  I pick draw a winner once Jeff and I return from our one year anniversary trip to Disneyland!***

XOXO,

R. Winn Creates 
http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/rwinncreates/