Two in One

That's right, post number two for today. The fabulous Becky Oehlers is holding a challenge in honour of her birthday and blogaversary to use clear cardstock. I quite like the look of clear cards, so I figured I'd make one.

Here's the outside. I texturized the blue paper, attached it to the yellow cardstock then cut out the circle with a nestabilities die. I added the scalloped circle and brads because the front was just too plain without it.

The inside is full of fishes, wishing "birthday fishes", of course. I was totally inspired by this one by Nichole Heady. I tend to avoid gel cards though, because they don't keep well. They're great if you use them immediately, but if you don't they tend to get very distorted.

Supplies:
Stamps: Pond Life
Ink: Orangerie, Summer Sunrise, Lemon Tart
Paper: Spring Rain, Lemon Tart, White, Summer Sunrise
Accessories, etc.: Acetate, brads, texture plate, nestabilities

Colour Challenge!

I was quite happy to see that Dawn had posted a new colour challenge today. And it just so happens to be one of my favorite combinations already- Aqua, Brown, and White. Because I just received Scattered Showers, I've been using it a lot and having quite a lot of fun with it. Since it's Dawn's challenge, and that set is her design, I figured, why not showcase both?


I started by stamping my own patterned paper with the smallest umbrella in the set and the rain drops. I found the handle to be a bit too long for that umbrella in a background setting, but it was easily resolved. I placed a post-it note over each umbrella and then I could make the handle as short as I wanted. I embossed the greeting in white powder so it would really pop out. I also stamped another umbrella and cut it out. I really like placing the umbrellas on a diagonal. Perhaps because that's usually how I see them when they're being used? Then I added a scalloped edge, some satin ribbon, and my current obsession (sorry folks!) the button bow!

Something amusing I just noticed- it's been raining all day, and after I finished my card I saw that the sky is clearing and there's quite a bit of sunshine!

Supplies:
Stamps: Scattered Showers, Birthday Basics
Ink: Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate, Fresh Snow
Paper: Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist, White
Accessories, etc.: scallop punch, satin ribbon, aqua mist button, twine, pop dots, white EP

Wildflower Birthday

I was in the mood for a bit of watercolouring and I was itching to use my new sets from Whipper Snapper Designs. I stamped the flower, leaf, and butterfly with Stazon onto watercolour paper. Then I went to work with watercolour paints and a blender pen. I really wanted a soft glow around the images, so I dribble a few droplets of water on my plastic palette and mixed in a touch of yellow paint. I applied that with an aquapainter since I wanted it to disperse. Next I stamped Aida Cloth onto some caramel cardstock, I added piercing and some sponging to match with the rest of the edge distressing I had done. I completed it with a twine tied button and sentiment flag.

Supplies:

Stamps: Blossoms and Butterflies, Aida Cloth, Blooming Expressions

Ink: Timber Brown, Creamy Caramel

Paper: Creamy Caramel, Watercolour, New Leaf, Vintage Cream

Accessories, etc.: Twine, New Leaf button, paper piercer and guide, sponge, watercolour paints

Colour x 50

I saw that it was #50 of Kristina's colour challenge, and since I seem to have lots of time this weekend (how strange!) I thought I'd play along. I have always been a fan of bright colours, especially the primaries. I liked the look of my stamped patterned paper so much the other day that I decided to try it with these colours. It's a simple design, I didn't want to take away from all that pretty stamping. To tie in all the colours, I stamped the happy once in each primary and left birthday in one of the neutrals. Of course, when I read Happy Happy Happy Birthday, I get the cheesy song from Emperor's New Groove in my head, the one in the restaurant (happy happy birthday, from all of us to you, we wish it was our birthday, so we could party too...). I love that movie!

Supplies:

Stamps: Detours (October Afternoon), Birthday Basics (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Bahama Blue, Cantaloupe, Lady Bug, Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko)

Paper: Dark Chocolate, Summer Sun, White

Accessories, etc.: Scalloped edge punch, scalloped rectangle nestabilities, chocolate 3/8'' grosgrain

April Blog Hop!

This month's challenge was to use one of Lauren Meader's Timeless Templates. I really love the "From the Desk of" template. It's such a fun one and it's quite sturdy! I've made a few already, but I wanted to try something a little bit different for the blog hop. I decided it'd be fun to make two of the organizers and stick them together. I printed out the template twice on PTI's white cardstock. Then I printed out the decorative mats onto Aqua Mist and used the flowers from Friends 'til the End and stamped out some pretty paper. I put each template together, then stuck them to each other. I thought a basic style handle would be fun, so I adhered 2 strips of 11x1 inch white cardstock together, then attached those to the organizers. I reinforced those with 2 brads on each side. I thought this would be really cute if you left out the divider, kind of like the old style milk bottle cartons.

I decided to put my new organizer to use right away. I found that each division fits about 22 Copics (sketch or original), making the entire ensemble able to fit 88 markers. And the handle is sturdy enough and well attached that you can lug the whole thing around. I tested it out!

Supplies:

Stamps: Friends 'til the End

Ink: Ocean Tides, Fresh Snow, Dark Chocolate

Paper: PTI White, Aqua Mist

Accessories, etc.: Scor-Tape, From the Desk of Timeless Template, Chocolate Brads, 1/16th hole punch

Earth Day

Nothing says earthy like kraft paper, twill, buttons, and twine, at least when we're talking cards anyway, those are the types of supplies I think of.


I really like these images from gel-a-tins Peace on Earth set and thought it would be appropriate to use them today. I'm still on a button bow kick, expect to see more of those in the weeks to come. The card is relatively simple. I stamped the earth image with green ink onto blue paper, cut that out, and placed it on a naturals white tag. Then I added the ribbon covered scalloped paper and the sentiment, and that was it!

Supplies:
Stamps: Peace on Earth
Paper: Kraft, Naturals White, Soft Sky
Ink: Landscape, Rich Cocoa
Accessories, etc.: twill, twine, button, scallop punch

Happiness Always

Although I am no longer a Stampin' Up! demo, I still enjoy the product. I am still part of a stamp club. As a challenge, my demo asked that we make something from our January or February club purchases to bring along to our next get together. So I've been making quite a few items focusing on those purchases. This is actually the third one I've made (I just haven't uploaded and edited the other two yet). Basically, I got these buttons and I really wanted to try the button bow. I followed Nichole Heady's instructions and it turned out great. I also took the layout that she used in her tutorial and applied some of my recent acquisitions to it (ribbon, celery cardstock, buttons, Botanical Blooms- technically the last two were from March's club).
After making the button bow, I stamped Polka Dot Background on So Saffron in Vintage Cream. Then I added some piercing. Next,I figured out how much room I had for the image panel. I stamped a few flowers, coloured them in with Copics, and added a SAB sentiment from a past year. I added celery borders to the image panel and background panel and placed that all on a Vintage Cream card base.

Supplies:
Stamps: Botanical Blooms, Happy Harmony, Polka Dot Background
Ink: Rich Cocoa, Vintage Cream
Paper: So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Vintage Cream
Accessories, etc.: So Saffron grosgrain, thread, button from Buttons Latte, pop dots, paper piercer and guide, Copics

Pink and Black

I saw this alphabet set at Studio Calico the other week and really liked it. It is suitable for scrapbooking, but I thought it would look nice on cards. I received it on Tuesday and couldn't just let it sit there. So I got to work creating this 4.25 square card. I embossed the letters on black paper using pink embossing powder. I cut those out, then added the word chickadee using a Studio G rubber stamp alphabet. I added the scalloped black paper, the polka dot ribbon, and the black mat, but it felt a tad unbalanced. So I stamped this sweet little bird, embossed it, cut it out and popped it up.

Supplies:

Stamps: Noah (Studio Calico), Studio G alphabet, Sheltering Tree (gel-a-tins)

Ink: Versamark, True Black

Paper: Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette, Black

Accessories, etc.: Pink of Me gelly powder, pop dots, scallop punch, polka dot organdy

New Cling Mounts!

It's time for some new designs by Anna Wight. Be sure to check them out at Whipper Snapper Designs. I had a lot of fun with this month's sets. There are three new sets this month.

First up is Chicken's in the Kitchen. This set has a chicken and lots of props. I gave her a chef's hat and a wooden spoon and paired the whole thing with the "Kiss the Cook!" sentiment. This colour combo- caramel, buttercup, and aqua reminded me of a kitchen.

The second set is called What's Cookin'. It have several cute sayings and some food images. These images also go quite nicely with the chicken set. I kept this design pretty simple, having just the one small image, a matching saying, and red and brown.The third set is called Simply Bloom. It contains floral images, a few leaves, a butterfly, and my favorite: handwritten sentiments. If you're like me, you may find yourself a tad envious of others' handwriting and how well it works on a card. Don't get me wrong, I like my handwriting and printing, but they just doesn't seem to "go" on cards. As soon as I saw this set, I wanted to make this card. I stamped several flowers and coloured them in with Copics. I wanted a card that would be like a ray of sunshine for the recipient. Bright colours, especially blue, yellow, and orange, make me happy.

Supplies:

Stamps: Chicken's in the Kitchen, What's Cookin', Simply Bloom

Ink: Rich Cocoa, Tuxedo Black

Paper: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Bitty Dots DP, Real Red, White, Summer Sun, Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango

Accessories, etc.: Nestabilities (oval, long rectangle), saffron grosgrain, Copics, pop dots, red grosgrain

Oops!

I try to post at least once a week, but sometimes it just doesn't happen. This last weekend I was in Brandon, teaching a few classes at a scrapbooking convention. It was a lot of fun! It was also great to getaway for the weekend, even if it was just 2 hours away.

With it being the upcoming Easter weekend, I have kind of an odd work schedule. It's my Saturday rotation week, which means I am on my 3 day weekend right now Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It's actually kind of nice. I love having weekends when the majority of people are having weekdays. That combination also means... time for shopping, regular mail deliveries, and time for stamping. I managed to fit all 3 in today. The shopping wasn't too interesting, new headphones (the ones that come with iPods are WAY too big for my ears), and an extra SD card. I also received my nestabilities from http://paperworksco.com/. I ordered Blossoms, Labels 3 and 4. I decided to put together a little something featuring the Blossoms shape.

This was one of those cards that just kind of came together, absolutely no planning. I wanted to jazz up the flower shape, so I stamped it, then added a big vintage button which I had threaded. I created the leaves by cutting freehand and scoring down the middle. I liked the dotty theme and decided to bring out the Swiss Dot Cuttlebug folder (I really need to use that more often!). I decided at the last minute to add in a scalloped border to make the panel a bit more proportionate to the card front. The last step was a small sentiment tag which I slid under the flower.

Supplies:

Stamps: Birthday Basics, Polka Dot Basics

Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sunrise, New Leaf, Craft, Vintage Cream

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, New Leaf

Accessories, etc.: Blossoms, Scalloped Rectangles nestabilities, vintage button, thread, Swiss Dot folder