Star (of May) Style

Today's featured stamper on SCS is one whose style I really admire. Starofmay/Kristina's cards immediately jump out at me when I see them in the SCS gallery. Her style has clean lines with bursts of color. You can see her gallery here and check out her blog here. Her blog is where I got the idea/pattern for the fun file folder tag book I made as a birthday gift for my mom last week (see my version here).

I had such a hard time deciding which card to use for today's challenge, so in the end, I made two different cards. The first one uses Stampin' Up! papers for the six squares on the front panel. I added plastic flower embellishments from American Crafts (blue and rust ones) and from Making Memories (white one).

The buttons are from American Crafts, too. I used a trick on the buttons that I learned at the SU! convention. Instead of using thread, I used my white gel pen to draw a "stitch" directly on the button. Much faster than using thread and since the button stays flat, it's much easier to stick to a card!

The sentiment is a combination of "hello" from Sweet Shapes and the dotted line from All in a Row. I haven't had much success getting the images from All in a Row to stamp straight, but today I was able to get the line straight on the very first try.

The second card will be a birthday card for a friend's teenage daughter early next month. Kristina's card was a birthday card and I kept the theme and layout the same here. I used a mostly pastel palette, inspired by the dotted ribbon I used.

The candles are from the now-retired set Fun with Shapes. I colored the candles with markers. The flames are stamped in Barely Banana, then covered with some Stickles. Now all I need is a gift card to slip inside the card and it's ready for the mail.

Materials Used:

Hello Card (top)--

From Stampin' Up!: All in a Row and Sweet Shapes stamp sets; White Craft ink; Soft Sky, Really Rust, and Sahara Sand cardstock; Fall Flowers Designer Series Paper: 1 3/8" square punch; white gel pen; glue dots; dimensionals

Other: plastic flowers (American Crafts, Making Memories); buttons (American Crafts); olive grosgrain (AC Moore dollar bin); textured cardstock(American Traditional Designs)

Birthday Card (bottom)--

From Stampin' Up!: Fun with Shapes, Small Sayings and Polka Dot background stamp sets; Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise, and Barely Banana Classic inks; Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, and Tempting Turquoise markers; Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Tempting Turquoise, and Whisper White cardstock; dimensionals

Other: Stardust Stickles (Ranger); dotted ribbon (American Crafts)