Two sketches, two cards

Working on my two cards for club this week, I ended up using two sketches that look kind of similar. The first is Freshly Made Sketches and the second is Seize the Sketch. That's the order I made the cards in - first this one for FMS (oriented horizontally instead of vertically).

 

This card demonstrates three ways to use washi tape that I found on Pinterest. The rosette is a 1 1/2" x 11" strip of Whisper White card stock. Just attach the washi tape to the paper, turn over to score (I did every 1/4"), then fold and put together with hot glue. I covered a retired button with washi tape too - just cover the button with tape and trim the sides. To get the holes open again, use a paper piercer - make sure you move the piercer around inside the hole to flatten down the tape. Just piercing a hole won't make it big enough to thread the twine through. Last I folded over pieces of the washi tape for the little banners. The washi tape and paper are both the retiring Gingham Garden collection, and the stamp comes from Chalk Talk (in Melon Mambo) with the corresponding die.

 

Here's the second card, which I made for Seize the Sketch, but it turned out to kind of work for FMS as well.

On this card I wanted to feature all the new In Colors and the Work of Art stamp set, which I got for free at the catalog premiere event last month. I used generation stamping and also added in the dots from Gorgeous Grunge. The stamped Very Vanilla panel is framed with the On Film framelit. I added the pansy punch flower, a little tab of Tangelo Twist ribbon, and gold sequins - you can pull them off the sequin trim and use them individually. How fun is that? Also, this is really hard to see in the photo, but I tried Sylvia's technique of using a hammer with the Decorative Dots embossing folder on the vanilla background. It seems more subtle on my card for some reason. Maybe because I used the flat side of a meat tenderizer instead of a hammer? LOL. I couldn't find a hammer but I knew right where the meat tenderizer was. I put some foam under the card stock to soften the blow on the table - my stamping table is wood and it came from my grandma's house, so I didn't really want to bang away on it. Anyway, if you have done this technique (or if you try it out after reading my post) I'd love to hear what you did and how it worked for you. We'll see what my club ladies think tomorrow night!

Still playing catch-up

The challenge at SUO inspired me to just get this posted already - tea and cookies qualify as yummy in my book! This was another of my previous club session projects. I love these boxes and I've been saving lots of photos of how others decorated theirs. (See here, here and here for examples of where I got my inspiration.) Here is how my box turned out.

I featured the Kind & Cozy stamp set to go along with the tea theme. The colors go along with the designer paper (So Saffron, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Very Vanilla, Basic Gray - yeah, it's old paper...) The tag was punched with the tag topper punch, and I made the tassel with coral baker's twine. I embossed the plastic sleeve for the box with the hexagon embossing folder, which goes along with the hexagons in the DSP. See the little bit of crimped ribbon? I was reading about someone doing that on Splitcoast Stampers and decided to try it. The ribbon is 5/8" vanilla satin ribbon, which will be available again in the new catalog - yay! I also used the new Fast Fuse tape runner adhesive - it's stronger than SNAIL but just as easy to use. I covered a 5/8" strip of vanilla card stock with adhesive, attached the ribbon, and ran it through the crimper. Just make sure that the strip of paper is completely covered with adhesive - the ribbon will only crimp where it's attached to the paper.

Here's a side shot. The cookies are really thin European style and I found them at Walmart. They fit perfectly in the box - and they are indeed yummy! You can't see this but I put a little card stock divider inside the box to separate the tea from the cookies, and the cookies are in a gusseted cello bag.

I'd better get back to working on my projects for THIS week's club. I think I'm coming up with some cute stuff and I hope I get time to share it soon!

Lovely Reflection

Hey, I know it's been a while. I've been a little - okay, a lot - swamped. I didn't even have time to post my club projects from last time, and it's almost time for our final session before the new catalog! Maybe I'll have better luck this time around.

Well, at our last meeting we tried a technique that's been around a while but I had never done it: reflection stamping. I think my take on it has a bit of an impressionistic feel, which I love. With the tree and embossed background, this is a perfect card for the Friday Mashup challenge. And over at The Pink Elephant they're doing "anything goes" - so I guess that fits!

Lovely as a Tree is a great stamp set for this technique. I used the small single tree on watercolor paper. To get the reflected image you stamp on plastic - window sheet, those clear bags you can put cards in - whatever you have. First stamp the main image, then stamp again on the plastic, turn it upside down, and rub the stamped image from the plastic onto the paper. Since I planned to watercolor, I stamped the tree with black Stazon ink on watercolor paper. With the texture of the paper I got a more subtle reflected image, and I kind of like it this way. For the watercoloring I used Wild Wasabi, Pool Party, Early Espresso, and (for the grass) the new In Color called Mossy Meadow, and I cut it out with one of the oval Framelits. The sentiment comes from A Dozen Thoughts and the idea for the punch treatment using the mosaic punch came from LeeAnn Greff. I thought the woodgrain embossing folder would be the perfect background, along with a strip of wasabi DSP. Candy dots and scalloped trim from the ribbon border punch served as the finishing touches.

My club members were excited to see a more masculine card - I do tend to be a bit girly. You could leave the scallops off if you think those are too feminine and it would still look great. We had fun with this project, and in case you are wondering, Lovely as a Tree is sticking around for at least another year! I think that has to be a record or something. Anyway, I hope everyone has a great week!

Coastal Bermuda Party

That sounds like a party I'd like to be at right now! There is so much snow on the ground and I'm so tired of it. Maybe that's how I ended up with this monochromatic color scheme of Pool Party, Coastal Cabana and Bermuda Bay (with Early Espresso). I took the layout from Freshly Made Sketches and ran with it - maybe I ran a bit too far, but I like how it turned out.

I made the background first: strips of card stock that measure 1 1/2" x 3 1/4". Before stamping the collage with the Summer Silhouettes stamp set, I taped the three strips together from dark to light. After I stamped I ran the panels through the Big Shot with the houndstooth embossing folder. The decorative strip was stamped twice to make it long enough to go across the whole card. I chose a flower from Secret Garden, which I stamped on all three colors of card stock then fussy cut into layers. The Little Leaves sizzlit die seemed to go perfectly with the background, then I added a sentiment from Banner Greetings to finish everything off.

That's about it for today! One more project to go and I'll be ready for club. Hopefully I'll have time to share that project with you later this week. Have a wonderful day!

Classic Christmas

It's the most wonderful time of the year - and Christmas is coming up quickly! I'm back with another of my club Christmas cards. The inspiration for this card came from a card I found in an old Stampin' Success magazine (that's the publication SU sends its demonstrators, and it's always amazing). I'm submitting this for the Pink Elephant inspiration challenge.

 

I used a very traditional color scheme: Real Red, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Baked Brown Sugar, and Whisper White. The image is from the hostess set Warmth & Wonder, colored with markers to omit the "noel" sentiment. I wanted to add this cute little banner (the die comes with one of the flip card thinlit sets) and the sentiment from More Merry Messages. Behind the cardinal I punched a wide oval and layered that onto a window frame die-cut, which is pierced with the piercing template.

 

For my background I used Crumb Cake card stock embossed with the poinsettia folder, over a label die-cut that I cut into two pieces in order to spread the color across the whole card base. The embossed panel hides the cut so it's easy-peasy! I added two very thin strips of red card stock and two candy dots as embellishments. I often keep my Christmas cards mostly flat so they are easy to mail, and this one works perfectly!

 

Thanks for visiting and I hope you are enjoying the beauty of the holidays this week!

Merry Little Christmas

Hi there! Are you in the Christmas spirit? I have to confess I had a bit of a tough time getting going, with Thanksgiving being right before everyone seemed to just fall into Christmas. But once we put up our tree, and we got some snow on the ground (just a little - not too much, yet) I started feeling that Christmas glow.

I'm making more Christmas cards this week for my club to stamp this weekend. They really enjoyed the last round and I'm looking forward to sharing more designs with them. This is the first one, and it was inspired by a card I saw in last year's holiday catalog. I'm doing three challenges with this card: Mojo Monday sketch, SUO Challenges (nontraditional Christmas), and CASology (snowflakes).

I'm not sure how I ended up with these colors - I wanted blue and chose Night of Navy, then in looking for something to put with it I just landed on Soft Suede. I think I like it! The main panel is from the holiday stamp set called Merry Little Christmas. I colored it with markers, then cut it out with the Chalk Talk die, then finally added the ornamental accents with the Stamp-a-ma-jig. It was easy to center them using the die-cut shape as a guide.

I hunted through everything I had looking for something to layer behind my tag. In the end I'm featuring a new product that will be available in January in the new spring catalog. It's called a Tag Topper punch and we have two coming out - the other one does a traditional angled tag. I just punched both ends to make a shape that fit my stamped panel. The card stock going into the punch is cut at 2" (actually I found I needed to shave just a hair off of that) and for this piece I cut the length at 3 3/8". Pretty sweet - I love finding little tricks to get my layers!

Another new product in the spring catalog is the scallop embossing folder. For the rest of my card I used navy dotted paper, two Festive Flurry snowflakes (I decorated one with the chalk marker), natural trim, white baker's twine, and a navy button. One more tip for you: to keep my white snowflake from sticking off the edge of the card, I cut a notch in one of the points and then hid that behind the ribbon.

What do you think of the nontraditional Christmas look? Of the two other cards I have planned as of now, one will be more traditional, and the other one ... won't! I like to mix it up sometimes! But you'll have to check back for those. In the meantime thanks for stopping by!

Keepin' it simple, Christmas style

I'm doing a couple Christmas cards with my club for November and December, since my busy schedule isn't going to allow me to hold a Christmas card buffet this year. (So sad...) I told them I'd have at least one simple Christmas card, and lucky for them I had time to make two. I thought I would share how they turned out.

This first one is my very first attempt at the thinlits flip cards. I find myself stumped as to how to decorate this, so I left it pretty simple. I'm open to suggestions for what I could add, though! I'm submitting this to SUO Challenges since I used the Festive Flurry stamp set.

 

 

 For this next one I took the photo at the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge as my starting point.



 

I used the extrafine gold glitter to add some sparkle to my tree and then embossed the gold foil paper to go behind it. This beautiful tree is featured in the set Special Season.

I'm going to keep the chatter simple as well and get on with my preparations for tomorrow night. I hope you enjoyed these CAS Christmas cards!

Places, please

Hello! I know it's been a while since I posted a project. I can't seem to find much time for stamping these days. But this week my club is meeting so I have a good reason to make the time. For my 3D project I wanted to create a place card treat holder for Thanksgiving. I looked around online and didn't find instructions for a project I liked, so I created my own design. I'm entering this in the Paper Players challenge (clean and simple with leaves).

 

You can't really tell from the photo but when it's closed it's shaped like a triangle, then you open it to reveal the little treat bag on the inside. Granted, it won't hold a HUGE treat, but it's Thanksgiving so do you really need that much more to eat? ;) 

I took some photos as I made this project so you can see how I did it. You need a piece of designer paper 3" x 12". I recommend that the inside be a light color so you can see the score lines more easily. First, score it on the long side at 1", 4 1/2", 5 1/2", 6 1/2", 10", and 11". Rotate 90 degrees to the right and score on the short side at 1". Fold on all score lines and snip for flaps at the 1", 4 1/2", 6 1/2", and 10" score lines.

 



Turn the paper over and put sticky tape on the flaps as shown. NOTE: on the side flap, where I put a single strip of tape, you will want to add another strip next to the score line. Otherwise the side won't stay closed.

 



Peel off the backing from the tape and begin to assemble your bag. Start with the side that's on the left in the above photo.

 



The other side is a bit trickier. First fold in the 1" x 2" flap, then fold the last flap over top and seal all the edges. It will help to reach inside with a bone folder and go over all the tape.

 

Next you need a piece of card stock 3 1/2" x 6 1/2". You will score this at 2", 4", and 6 1/8". Fold on score lines and trim the corners off the flap. The opposite end of the card stock will attach to the bottom of your bag, so put sticky tape on three sides as shown. The flap will tuck under the bottom of the box to keep it closed, so you don't want any sticky tape on that side.

 





Line up the tape with the bottom of your designer paper bag. The score lines on the sides of the bag will fold in to make gussets when you close the box.

 

 

Tuck the flap under the bottom to close. Note that the more you tuck and untuck the flap, the less tightly it will close, so you may not want to handle it any more than necessary.

 

Now you can decorate the front! I used Sweater Weather designer paper and the Wonderfall stamp set. I put my daughter's name on this one and now she wants to take it away from me - I guess it gets her "stamp" of approval, LOL! I hope you'll try out this project and show me what you come up with!

 

File under Thank You

I'm back with my second project for my club members. You've seen those file folder cards that everyone is making with the new envelope punch board, right? I hadn't yet broken out mine so I thought it was the perfect opportunity. My stampers can make the card plus an envelope if they want. I was inspired by Catherine Pooler's card (here) but I did change it up some. I used orange and leaves so it qualifies for the Friday Mashup challenge too - yay!

 



I featured the Sweater Weather designer paper - the colors and patterns are so great for fall. And I love being able to make a matching envelope so easily!

 



The front of my card uses one of the Deco Labels framelits (on sale right now!) and I lined the die up with the edge of the paper when I ran it through the Big Shot - this is a piece of cake with the magnetic platform. The leaves are Magnificent Maple (single stamp) and Wonderfall, and the sentiment comes from one of the photopolymer sets, Another Thank You. I really love this sentiment - it makes such a statement! I used buttons for accents along with a strip of burlap ribbon.

I also decorated the inside of this card - just a strip of DP added before I punched the edge. (The card front is also covered with DP before punching.) I used an accent strip from the rotary cutter addition to our paper trimmer - a very slick little tool! Just a note on my card. I slid the card to the right just a bit for the very first punched folder tab. I wanted the tab to start right on the edge of the card. Otherwise I followed the tutorial. The front of my card wasn't trimmed down so the tabs would be even - not the way most people are doing it but I prefer this look for whatever reason!

If you don't have this tool yet you're going to want it for sure - I'm already seeing other ideas popping up for things to make so it's good for much more than just envelopes and cards. Stay tuned - I'm sure I'll be playing with it again soon!

Oh Halloween Tree

Halloween tree? Yep, that's what I said. Halloween is my hubby's favorite holiday, and it's pretty big with my kids as well. They wanted to get some new decorations and one of the things we found at Tuesday Morning was a cool tree that was just calling out to me for some ornaments. I can't say I've filled it up yet, but if I make a few every year it shouldn't take long...

We will make these at my club tonight so I hope they like them! I didn't realize Halloween ornaments were such a big thing - I found so many inspirational ideas. The ones that I ended up drawing from are here, here, and here, plus this card by Amy O'Neill. I'm also entering these in the Pink Elephant challenge - great inspiration photo for Halloween!

I'll start with the simplest one - both images are from the Best of Halloween set. I stamped the silhouette on (oops, retired) text designer paper and made a glitter frame behind the main oval with the new ultrafine black glitter from the holiday catalog.

 



This glitter is so pretty and sparkly - I love it! (I have also now reinked my black ink pad - oops again!)

 



Next is the witch's hat - from the same stamp set. This one took the longest to do.

It's hard to see in the sunlight but the reflective circle is punched from the silver foil paper in the holiday catalog. I used Summer Starfruit and Modern Medley DP for the remaining layers. The florette is made with two 2" strips adhered together. The sentiment is from Delightful Dozen.

Last, featuring the large stamp from Halloween Bash.

 



The main panel was stamped with Basic Black, Tangerine Tango and Rich Razzleberry markers, cut with one of the label framelits, and paper pierced using the piercing template. I cut a banner from silver glimmer paper and accented it with razzleberry ribbon, then put the whole thing on more Modern Medley DP.

I had more ideas but ran out of time - I think just three will keep my stampers busy and happy. I'll save the rest for another day!

What to Washi class and bundle

Our next online class--What to Washi--is now available. Offering seven different sections of Washi wisdom, this class includes everything you need to know to make the most of one of the hottest crafting trends out there. Originating in Japan, Washi Tape has taken the crafting world by storm, offering an incredibly quick, easy way to add a fresh, colorful look to any project. What to Washi explores a myriad of Washi options and provides much more than the basics for you to begin your own Washi adventures.  Divided into seven PDF documents, this class includes written instructions, step-out photos, instructional videos, and supply lists for more than 30 projects.  

The following topics are covered in the class:

• The Washi Basics
• Washi--The Next Step
• Above and Beyond
• Sharing Washi with Others
• Memory Keeping
• Storage
• Only the Beginning . . .

What to Washi Class:  item 134742
Price:  $14.95

 

And wait, there's more! This class is also being offered as part of the What to Washi Bundle. When you order the bundle you receive everything listed below:

• What to Washi Class
• Epic Day This and That Designer Washi Tape
• Gingham Garden Designer Washi Tape
• Season of Style Designer Washi Tape
• Witches Brew Designer Washi Tape
• 20 Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes

Each Washi Tape package contains three coordinating rolls of Stampin' Up!'s exclusive Washi Tape for a total of 12 rolls. And when you order the What to Washi Bundle, you'll be the first to receive our Season of Style and Witches Brew Washi Tape packages; they aren't available to individual purchase until August 1! 

What to Washi Bundle:  item 134743
Price:  $36.95

PC Instructions
The files will be downloaded as archive files that you can then extract and save on your computer. When you click on the download link, an extraction program will automatically launch. Choose the location where you would like to save the files (be sure to note where you save them). Follow the prompts on the extraction program, then navigate to the location where you saved the files. Click on the file and open.
Mac Instructions
When you click on the download link, the file will be mounted as a drive. Once it is mounted, open the drive and drag and drop the files to the location of your choice on your hard drive. The files can then be opened.

Watercolor Polaroid

I promised to show you one of my club cards for this weekend. The inspiration for this card came from the fabulous Julie Ebersole - you will see a strong resemblance between her card and the focal point of mine. I added a couple elements with the dry embossed background and additional color for the card base. I'm entering in two challenges today: Friday Mashup (embossing) and CAS-ual Fridays (from their tic-tac-toe challenge I used kraft + bling + embossing).

 

This card started out by the faux Polaroid I found on Pinterest. However, the person who made that used Nestabilities and SU doesn't have anything that would work (yet.... hint, hint). So I went searching online for a tutorial and came across Julie's card. I fell in love with it right away - but for her faux Polaroid she used a punch, and ours isn't nearly big enough. What's a demo to do? Figure out how to make it myself! And now I get to share it with you. Here's how to do it:

 

1. Cut Whisper White card stock into a piece 3” x 3 3/8”.

2. Position card stock on paper trimmer with the short side at the top and the right edge aligned with the 1/4” mark to the right of the cutting area.

3. Using the arrow on the cutting blade, position the blade 1/4” from the top of the paper and cut until you reach 2 5/8”.

4. Turn the paper to continue cutting out the center, leaving 1/4” on each side.

The watercoloring on the punched heart follows Julie's technique. I mixed Pink Pirouette, Primrose Petals and Raspberry Ripple ink (about 3 drops from the reinkers) with about 5-6 drops of water in an artist's palette. I started with the lightest color at the top and worked my way down. Once the heart was dry I used the two-way glue pen and Dazzling Diamonds to add some sparkle. I got mini clothespins at the craft store (ahem) and clipped my heart to some twine, then attached it to my frame with 1/8" brads. The Crumb Cake background is simply embossed with the hexagon folder and adhered to a primrose card base; I put the paper into the embossing folder sideways to leave the bottom plain for the sentiment, which comes from Lovely Thoughts.

 

Ready to try it yourself? I know there are endless possibilities for using the Polaroid in cards and projects. If you make something I hope you'll share it with me!

It's all about mom

Whew, it's been a while. My stamps have been feeling neglected! But this weekend I have my club so that always gets me stamping. I wanted to share our 3D project, which is a cute basket design I got from Renee Van Stralen a couple years ago. I believe Renee is no longer a demonstrator, but I loved her designs and decided to resurrect this project for a Mother's Day basket. Of course it could work for any occasion - and although this one is pretty small, you could also scale it up easily to make a larger basket.

I'm entering this in the Stampin' Royalty challenge posted yesterday, which is of course to make something for Mother's Day.

The basket is made with a 6 x 6 square of card stock, and here is Renee's diagram for how to score and cut it. You score it into a grid of nine 2" squares, then the corner squares each get cut into three 1" strips.

To assemble the basket, start with one triangle (point at the top) and glue the first cut strips to the front of the triangle. Then glue the next strips, alternating as you go to make a criss-cross pattern. The last pair of strips should make an even horizontal line across the top, then you may have to trim a bit of your triangle that is peeking out. The handle is 1" x 9" and attached to the sides with the large vintage brads.

 

 

Here's another shot of it. I took the colors from the Twitterpated DP: Island Indigo, Baja Breeze and Pear Pizazz. (So happy the pear is coming back!! But so sad Baja Breeze is going away!) I wanted some simple flowers to put in my basket, so I punched two flowers and cut toward the center on each petal. The two flowers are put together with a brad, and for the top flower I overlapped two petals so it has four instead of five. The label is from Four Frames, and I used Family Reunion to stamp "to my Mom" in indigo.

 

I have our two club cards to show you - I will post one of them soon. The other one will have to wait since the recipient reads my blog. ;) Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Birthday primroses

Good morning! I'm back with a vintage-style card for this week's challenge with Our Creative Corner - which my club members are also making this weekend. The OCC challenge is a sketch challenge this weekend - we hope you'll play along!

This was one of those cards that went through a lot of false starts. I had a few different techniques I was trying and nothing really worked out like I planned. But I like the end result. The card started with the Natural Composition specialty paper, which I sponged all over with Raspberry Ripple ink, and Soft Suede around the edges. For the border trims I used the scallop edgelit die and the decorative label punch layered three times. (All the paper was sponged with Soft Suede on the edges.) The outer panels are Crumb Cake polka dot paper and River Rock cardstock embossed with the fancy finial folder. I had a really tough time putting the focal image together. I had already dyed the vanilla flower trim with Primrose Petals reinker, accented with Raspberry Ripple from a marker on the edges. I thought I was going to use a stamped or watercolored flower image but nothing was quite right. The oval was stamped with the flourish from Everything Eleanor in Crumb Cake, then I put the three roses on top of the die-cut leaves. Finally I added the sentiment from Curly Cute - I put the right end into the decorative label punch and adhered the crochet trim and bow.

I'm off - it's a busy weekend around here! I hope everyone will come and play along with our sketch challenge. We always love to see what you come up with for our challenges. And be sure you go check out the rest of the design team's creations - they are always worth a look!

You mean the world to me...

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm posting a card that I made for my hubby, and my club will also make it this weekend. (I think it could be more than just a valentine, and I hope they agree!) I used the sketch from Create with Connie and Mary.

 

I was inspired to create this just based on the sentiment (from Word Play) and also because Todd and I are planning a trip to Germany with our kids this summer. We love to travel and this will be our third trip to Europe together, but the first with the kids along. So this seemed appropriate for him today, and for our relationship and life together. The compass and map are clip art I found online and printed on white cardstock. I added the stamped oval (from Oh, Hello in the spring mini) behind the compass and a strip of Real Red cardstock embossed with the chevron folder.

I think that's it for this card - I will be back on Saturday with my next card for Our Creative Corner! Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Chalk it up

Hi y'all! Well, I haven't gotten around to much stamping this week, but I do have my January club this weekend so I thought I would try to show you the projects we'll be making. First up is a card using the chalkboard technique that's recently been spotlighted by Betsy Veldman and Becky Roberts. The techniques are basically the same, except Betsy takes the extra step of shadow stamping behind her embossed image. Since I'm working with my club and we don't have a lot of time to wait for ink to dry, I followed Becky's take on the technique.

 

I made my collage of stamps on the largest clear block we have so I could ink and stamp them all at once. The various stamps are from six different sets: Bring on the Cake, Friendly Phrases, A Fitting Occasion, Patterned Occasions (an upcoming Sale-a-Bration set), and from the new spring catalog, Make a Wish and Ciao, Baby! The technique is pretty simple: rub your embossing buddy over black card stock, then stamp and emboss with white EP. (I used Versamark for my stamping because it seemed to come out better for the solid images than white craft ink did. It's not perfect, but I'm going with it anyway.) Next take a soft cloth (I used an old handkerchief) to rub some white craft ink over the embossing - it looks like the eraser residue on a chalkboard. Then outline the edge with white colored pencil. I wanted to bring in a little color so I added some Melon Mambo punches, rhinestones, a strip of Melon Mambo DP, and a 1/8" white bow.

 

With all the stamps mounted on a single block, this becomes a pretty quick card. Hopefully my stampers will have fun with it, and I hope you enjoyed it as well. Thanks for visiting and see you again on Saturday!

Hello!

I'm here for a quick post - yep, it's club week again and I thought I'd share one of the projects I've come up with so far. I wanted to use the Tweet Leaves stamp and saw a card on the Stampin' Connection board for demonstrators that used this emboss resist stencil technique. It worked well with the sketch challenge on Splitcoast today so I went with that.

I stamped the Tweet Leaves onto vanilla card stock and clear embossed, then used the Autumn Accents leaf die cut as a stencil and sponged on Pool Party and Crumb Cake ink. I used one of the mini punches for an accent with vanilla brads, then used a punched border and strip of DP for the background. The sentiment from Lacey & Lovely finishes off this clean and simple design.

OK, I gotta run! Thanks for visiting today and happy Halloween!

Boo!

Hey, it's me again! I know I said I wasn't going to be posting much, but I just really wanted to share this Halloween card I came up with for my club. I promised them we'd make a Halloween card this weekend, and then I realized... I didn't buy any of the new Halloween stuff! Trying to be frugal, and all that... Anyway, I did have Spooky Bingo Bits so I was trying to figure out what to do with it. Then I saw another card (non-SU) that had a canning jar full of spiders, and I wondered - what could I put in the jar from Perfectly Preserved? I guess a jar of jack-o-lanterns wouldn't really happen, but artistic license means it's OK, right?

I'm submitting this for three challenges: colourQ, SCS sketch (wow, it's been ages since I posted a card there!) and Hand Stamped Sentiments (use pumpkins).

 

 



I flipped the sketch, fudged the circle placement somewhat, and tilted the #2 panel a little - it just seemed to need a little extra something! I also subbed Wisteria Wonder for the orchid in the color challenge to keep it current. The Halloween sentiment comes from Delightful Dozen and the tangerine DP from International Bazaar.

What do you think? Even though Todd loves Halloween I think this card might be one that makes him scratch his head - he doesn't get the creatively cute ones. I kind of think it's adorable and hope my club members do as well! ETA: I showed it to Todd - and I was right. He said, "Brains go in jars, not baby pumpkins!" LOL! Please tell me it's more cute than crazy!

Burlap Butterfly

It's been a very long time since I was able to participate in the weekly challenges for Our Creative Corner. The ladies over there have been so understanding with my needing to take a little break. I'm planning to be back as an active part of the team for the rest of this year - yay! This week's challenge is to use buttons and burlap. I can't say I ever thought about using burlap on a card, or even where to get burlap, LOL. But the local fabric store had several colors and I decided to use it on one of the cards my club will make this weekend. The layout comes from the Deconstructed Sketch blog.

Note: there are a whole lotta new products making their debut here! I wanted to feature a technique with this card and chose reverse masking. First I took one of the Apothecary Accents dies, cut out a shape with it, and sponged Crumb Cake ink inside the frame left over onto naturals ivory card stock. Next I punched out the Elegant Butterfly from a post-it note and sponged Primrose Petals (another new In Color) the same way. Before removing the mask I stamped the swirl from Everything Eleanor inside the butterfly with Early Espresso. The sentiment comes from the stamp set Lacy & Lovely. Once I was done stamping, I cut the image out with a labels framelit and sponged espresso ink on the edges. (Probably should have similarly sponged everything else but I forgot - oh well!) Three pearls form the butterfly's body. To finish the card, I cut a piece of burlap slightly larger than my die-cut shape and glued the two onto a panel of Primrose Petals DP and espresso CS embossed with one of the Delicate Designs embossing folders. I put a panel of Crumb Cake DP onto the naturals ivory card base, then added three buttons out of my stash, threaded with linen thread.

I hope you will take on our challenge and play with some burlap this week. Don't forget to stop by the OCC blog and see what the rest of the team has created this week! I'm really happy to be back and looking forward to many more fun challenges with all those lovely OCC ladies. Have a great weekend!

Fabulous Island Florets

This weekend I have two stamping events: my monthly club wraps up this session on Friday night, and Saturday morning I'm doing an adult birthday party, which I'm sure will be really fun. This is one of the cards we'll be making. It's a CASE of this card by Sandy Mathis.

I chose to use only two colors (unusual for me) - Old Olive and Island Indigo. I started out by doing some generation stamping with the leaf image, then I stamped the indigo flowers and cut them out. The background uses two indigo papers (the top one from Twitterpated, the bottom from Summer Smooches). The finishing touches were indigo ribbon and a punched sentiment from Petite Pairs. The goal was a pretty easy card that still looks fabulous, so I hope this fits the bill!