Fun in the Sun

 
First of all a very Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you!  We, my husband Dave and our kids Michael and Nicole, are celebrating Valentines Day on a cruise to the Virgin Islands.  The cruise isn’t really for us to celebrate Valentine’s Day it just happens to fall while we’re gone.  We are celebrating both of the kids earning their bachelors degrees.  Michael graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cites in December 2013 and Nicole graduated from the University of Northwestern in December 2014.  We had told them we’d take a big family trip to celebrate their achievements once they both finished.
So as you’re celebrating your Valentine’s Day, we are sailing away to paradise sipping on tropical fruit drinks.
 
The card I’m featuring today is a swap card I received.  I’m loving the tropical look of the card with the grass roofed tiki bar  which was created with Crumb Cake card stock and our awesome Fringe Scissors.
 
No need to worry about missing out on my blog posts while I’m gone.  Even though I’m on vacation and not stamping, I’ve prepared all of my posts while I’m gone, so you won’t have to go through withdrawals.
 


Focus on the Flower

 
I got inspiration for this card from a swap I received at Leadership.  I used the “Bloom with Hope” hostess stamp set as the focal point.  The image is stamped with Memento Ink and colored in with Rich Razzleberry Blendabilities (love them).  Of course I had to set off the stamped image with some matted layers using our circle punches.  For the Mossy Meadow banner that the greeting is stamped on I inserted the strip into the backside of the circle punch to “take a bite” out of the banner.  In Color Ribbons finish off the look with more banners.
 


So Sweet

 
This lovely card is one of the cards I made at the shoe box swap at leadership.  I think this card is my favorite of all of them.  I simply adore the color combination of Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe and Basic Black.  The “Hello Life” stamp set is used in an unexpected way for the balloon strings.  I just can’t help but smile when I look at this card.