Autumn Birthdays

Here's another birthday card. This one was inspired by Debbie's. I didn't have any fancy patterned paper, so I made mine the messy way- Polished Stone . I used Pumpkin Pie and Close to Cocoa reinkers, as well as some gold reinker. Before sealing it, I stamped various leaves from Autumn Leaf Prints in Cocoa, then again in Chocolate. The greeting was done with some nestabilities. I punched the horizontal slot on either side of the tag, overlapping it a bit to make room for the 5/8" ribbon. I layered some May Arts ribbon over the cappuccino grosgrain to add a bit more interest. I thought about adding more to the card, but it's intended for a male cousin, so I figure less seems to be more with guy recipients.





Supplies:
Stamps: Autumn Leaf Prints, It's Your Birthday
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Pumpkin Pie, Gold
Paper: Glossy White, Vanilla, Chocolate Chip
Ribbon: 5/8" cappuccino grosgrain, may arts satin
Tools: oval nestabilities, horizontal slot punch

Sparkly Star

I said I couldn't wait to make a sparkly star ornament, so here it is. I cut out one star from chipboard. Then I placed the smallest star on it and cut again to get the window effect. I loaded it up with mod podge and gold glitter. I did that a few times. I had punched out a hole before adding the glitter, which I just needed to poke through with a piercer. I tied some gold cord around, and look at that, an ornament. I'm actually more impressed with how I managed to get a decent photo of it. I hung a cord over my monitor, under my natural light, and then over my white backdrop.

Supplies:

Paper: Chipboard

Accessories: Gold glitter, Mod Podge, Gold Cord

Tools: Star nestabilities

Butterflies in Flight

I was playing around with my new markers last night and I made a fun discovery. Stamp your image with Stazon onto vellum. Flip the image, then colour it in on with your alcohol-based markers. The slippery surface of the vellum provides easy blendability (the ink takes a tad longer to dry and is reactivated by the other markers if it does happen to dry). The flipped surface means no reactivating the Stazon! Once the image is dry, you can use either side- the stamped side for a more muted look, or the coloured side for a more vibrant look. I just thought I'd throw that out there for those that may be having difficulty blending with alcohol based markers. To finish the card, I cut out the butterflies- yes I chopped off the antennae, I just didn't want to deal with them... Once they were cut out, I scored along either side of the body and folded the wings upwards. I put a tiny strip of Ultra Sticky Tape behind the bodies and arranged them on the card.


Supplies:
Stamps: Au Naturale, Paper Tray
Ink: Stazon Jet Black
Paper: vellum, white
Markers: art markers (alcohol based)
Tools, etc: bone folder

So, at approximately 2PM I received my nestabilities dies. They are fantastic. I got the whole set of ovals and the whole set of circles. Plus, Ellen, being the sweetheart that she is, included a set of star nestabilities as a gift! I SO can't wait to make some glittery star ornaments with those! I also got the tan polymer mats that help to make the embossable function of these dies compatible with the cuttlebug. On this card, I did the embossing on the vanilla oval. I also used the polymer mats to texture my background with a Fiskars texture plate. I love the effect! I also had to use some more of my new 5/8" ribbon. This one uses the vanilla. I haven't heard back yet from DWB about the ETA of the other 2 colours.

*Is how I'm doing my supplies on here something you'd all like me to keep doing?*

Supplies:
Stamps: Do the Hula, Paper Tray
Ink: Versafine Black, Stazon Timber Brown, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip
Paper: Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Olive brads, 5/8" vanilla ribbon
Tools: Nestabilities, grass texture plate

Mustard & Olives

At first glance at today's colour challenge, I had no intention of doing it, but then I decided, why not. I use mustard and olive all the time, why not bring bashful blue into the mix. It also gave me a reason to use some of the new luscious ribbon. I used my Old Olive stand-in (willow) on here. The card is pretty self-explanatory. I stamped the flowers, cut them out, and popped them up on a stem. The slider is a die-cut, which the 1" circle punch fits nicely onto.

Markers & Ribbon!

So, all the copic rage has started to get to me, but I refuse to give in 100%. I saw these "Professional Graphic Artist" markers at Michaels for a fraction of the price of copics and prismacolors. I decided, with coupon in hand, why not give them a whirl. They are not bad! I could blend pretty good with them. I don't have an actual blender pen yet, but on this sample, I squiggled some green ink onto a piece of acrylic and while it was still wet, I dipped the yellow marker in it. You can see that on the turtle's body (by Pink Cat Studio, by the way). These markers aren't completely streak free, but they are good for the price. For now, you don't get to see the completed card, because it's not done. In the middle of it, the ribbon arrived! Well, most of the ribbon. Two of the colours are a little behind (grey and celery). So I've got it all cut. I figured I'd spend the evening winding them up in front of the television. I was going to contact the manufacturer tomorrow on the status of the other 2 colours, I'm sure it shouldn't be more then a week behind.

Penguins on Ice

At the last SU! meeting I attended, we were shown this fun icicle technique. It's really simple, but requires some patience. Basically, squiggle some Crystal Effects on some wax paper, make it look like icicles. Next, sprinkle with glitter and then let it dry overnight for optimum results. Anyway, so I made my icicles yesterday, now all I needed was a card for them to go on. The "no evil" penguins seemed like the perfect subjects for the scene. I stamped them in versafine black on ballet blue paper. I coloured them in with prismacolor pencil crayons. These showed up really nicely on the darker paper. Next I added my icicles. Peel it off the wax paper carefully, cut to size and attach it to the project. I found that ultra sticky tape worked best. Other tapes just weren't sticking! I hope you try your own icicles. I have all sorts of other ideas with this technique. If you do try it out, I would love to see it via a link in the comments.

I'll be busy this weekend. I am in a wedding tomorrow, so don't expect much updating until maybe Sunday night. We'll see how energized I feel.

1 Layout...

2 Drastically Different Cards...

I felt Christmas-sy this morning, so I looked at my little black book of inspiration and saw this sketch. I received the Dashing paper the other day, so that required using. It also helped me choose colours. The paper is vanilla, red, olive, and river rock. I started with a vanilla panel (3-1/8x4-3/8) and stamped three ornaments from the gel-a-tins set Holiday Cheer. The greeting is also from that set. Next I cut a tiny strip (~1/2" wide) and adhered that to the panel. I finished it off with a bit of red grosgrain and matting it on a 3-1/4x4-1/2 red panel. Once again, I wished I already had the 5/8" red grosgrain, but alas, it's on its way. My original plan was to put this on a vanilla card base, but it was too washed out, so old olive it became! I can't wait to use this layout with the new gel-a-tins set . Oh Christmas Tree I think a little cluster of trees would look super cute in this same layout

The next card was done for the Ways to Use it challenge. The product to use: Basic Gray or Charcoal cardstock. I really liked the outcome of my first card, so I thought, why change things. At first I struggled with what I wanted to pair with the grey. I had already chosen a set- Stem Silhouettes. Finally, I remembered this awesome ribbon I found at Fabricland on the weekend. It matches Purely Pomegranate practically perfectly (sorry, couldn't resist the alliteration). So I stamped the stem once in the, then I stamped the faded image once to either side of the brightest one. I wanted to do the designer paper panel again, but don't have any printed paper to match. So what to do?? Looking back, I realize my Rose Red papers from the Palette of Prints would've worked just fine. However, I made my own designer paper instead. I pulled out an old favorite- Houndstooth, and stamped with white onto the grey. I wanted this card to have a little something more, so I also stamped the card base with Linen.

***Just to note, there is still ONE spot left in the 5/8 ribbon share. For $33.00 CDN(that includes shipping!) you get 10 yards of colours that closely match the 8 colours in this year's Stampin' Up catalog, PLUS your choice of a basic grey colour OR a white. Email me if you are interested.***

Frosty

I received these fun Cat's Pajamas stamps today. I stamped this cute fishing polar bear then coloured him in with various blue markers. I added a bit of shading to his body with a grey marker. The 10% grey prismacolor markers work perfectly for adding that little something extra, that pop, to something that's supposed to white. The piece of paper on here that looks like patterned paper is actually a piece of vellum stamped with various dotted flourishes. I attached it to the ballet blue piece with bashful blue brads. I find that when I have images that take more time to colour, I veer away from busier cards. I guess I just don't want anything to take away from the image that I spent all that time on, you know?

Bright & Summery

Some other exciting news for me this month- I am now also on the Starving Artistamps design team! They have quite a variety of fun images to work with. I thought I'd share 2 summer-themed cards I made yesterday. The first I used this neat cactus (here) and the cracked mosaic (here). I started with the cactus, stamped in black stazon. I coloured it in with prismacolors and OMS. I doodled in a ground so it wasn't floating, since I knew I wanted to add a bit of a sky. For that I simply took a dauber into a few different chalks and blended. The next part was lots of fun, since I'm sure everyone knows how obsessed I am with spectrums. I brayered ruby red, pumpkin pie, then summer sun. When I brayer a spectrum I start with the darkest, and for each lighter colour I go back over the darker colour so they blend better. So I brayered ruby on a third of the paper, then I brayered pumpkin over the next third, but also back over ruby, etc. I stamped the cracked background over top with brown stazon.



The next card features some of Kristin Soboloski's Artful Inkables . I used this lovely flower. Once again I stamped with stazon, I masked the flower then stamped the leaves. I thought twinkling H2Os would work well for this image. I kept blending and added colour until I got the look I wanted. The sentiment is also by Kristin. This card features many interesting Dollarama finds. Both metallic papers (the maroon and the gold) are from there, as are the rhinestone brads. This card sure shimmers in real life!!

Inspired by dishes

The other day, we went out shopping. I saw these awesome dishes at the Urban Barn. Unfortunately I cannot find an image of them on the internet, but I think my version did it justice. Basically, they were a light blue (I used Soft Sky) and they had brown and white plants to the right. Very nice. I don't really need dishes though, so there they stayed. I used the Paper Trey Ink set, Beautiful Blooms and Stampin' Up! Craft inks- creamy caramel, chocolate chip, and whisper white. The card base is actually a square that I attached to the circle, then trimmed so you couldn't see it.

And if you happen to be local to Winnipeg or will be in the area on Oct. 20th, be sure to check this post: http://palmtreesandpogosticks.blogspot.com/2007/09/winnipeg-meet.html

Winnipeg Meet!

Are you in or near Winnipeg? A few SCS-ers are putting together a meet and swap on October 20th. Check out the details here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=282198 and contact the coordinator if you can make it! It'd be so much fun to meet more stampers!

Stuff

I got my second shelving unit yesterday, so I've been busy moving stuff around. It looks SO much better than it did before. I almost wish I had taken a before shot, just to compare it... I have no idea who makes these shelves, what they are called, or anything like that. The pharmacy where my mom works had bought some new shelves and display cases, so these were no longer of any use to them. They were mostly filled with the travel-sized items- mini shampoos, shave gels, toothpaste, that sort of thing. So I filled this one up with my full sheets of coloured SU! cardstock, my clear stamps, other embellishments, colouring items (markers, twinkling h20s, pencil crayons), the rest of my ribbon, small paper packs (6x6 basic grey, and DCWV mat packs), and some of my favorite retired stamps. There are two chairs in the photo, that is where the table is. To the right of the table I have 3 drawer units- stamps, paper, and other stuff. On the floor in front of the shelf I've got my scraps rolling filer.



In other news, and some of you congratulated me already- THANKS! I was one of the guest star stampers on Paper Trey Ink! I was so busy looking at all the stamps that I forgot to even check the gallery at first. Well was I ever excited to see my name up there! So here's the card that won for Spooky Sweets. It was really tough to pick which set I wanted- they are all so amazing. I have a soft spot of ornaments, so I went with Take a Bough. It's got a good mix of images and cute sentiments.

In other, other news, the Dirty Dozen released a few a changes to make being in the Fan Club more interactive and fun! Each month, upon gallery release, we'll be sharing our theme post. That contains the central theme and 4 other challenges- more is more, product/material focus, inspirational and sketch. I was really excited about the sketch because I provided it this month. I can't help but beam with pride when I see all the amazing samples from the other team members, and now from other Splitcoast community members! It's such an awesome feeling! So if you're a fan club member already, be sure to check out here. If you're not a Fan Club member, and are considering it then check out here.

Organizing...

If you're a frequent visitor to my blog, you may have noticed that I have NEVER shared a glimpse into my stamping space. Why is that? My "studio" is in complete shambles about 97% of the time. But slowly, I am trying to change (it's a little hard when you keep acquiring new stuff though). Earlier this summer, I picked up the Ink Caddy. It was one of those purchases I didn't want to make, but was really necessary. There's so many other fun things to spend that money on right! I've got 4 sets of those rollable drawer stations. They work quite well, most of the time. I've also got a cutting station (which is currently in a state of disaster). I've also got a dry embossing, wet embossing, and die-cutting station (basically those 3 items jammed onto a tiny desk on the boundaries of my area). I try to keep that one tidy because each of those 3 activities require a fair bit of space. Anyway, today I was offered not one, but TWO tall shelves with bins. I only have one so far, I'm picking up the other one tomorrow. I am LOVING it so far! So brace yourselves everybody, here's a glimpse into the space that is my stamp studio. My previous background stamp storage was terrible, and at times dangerous, so I would stop using all but the 3 I left out. I never used my Pink Cat stamps because they were out of reach. No more! I also put the wheels up there. I don't see myself getting any more background stamps, but there's space if I need it. The next shelf contains various embellishments, etc, separated by acrylic dividers. I've got buttons, brads, and eyelets in one space. Next there's watercolor paints and various sparkly and shimmery items (pearl ex, glitter, etc). Then there's my retired and non-Su inks. The next shelf, and this I was really excited about, is for punches! Before, I managed to fit all those in a drawer. It wasn't pretty. And that drawer weighed a ton. If you needed the punch at the back of the drawer, you risked dropping the drawer or tipping the whole storage unit. No more!! Next I have my ribbon (the previous "organization" was a box on the floor and one drawer- it's not all of it, more will go in next unit. The bottom 2 spaces are still a bit undecided. For now I've got more embellishments, various parts of Simply Scrappin' kits, fiskars texture templates, loose stamps and chipboard. Those may change. In the next unit, I will be putting some paper, my clear stamp collection, more ribbon, pencil crayons, and items like the pretties kits, hodgepodge hardware, alterables, and possibly paper. So there you have it. A tiny glimpse into my stamping studio. Trust me, you definitely don't want to see the rest right now.

Weekend Sketch Fun

I just received the Stem Silhouettes set and was itching to use it. In my morning blog perusal, I happened upon Beate's sketch challenge . The design was perfect for the long images in this set. Even the greeting is perfectly paired to this sketch. I stamped the main image with wasabi and rust onto naturals white cardstock, then outlined with a 10% cool gray prismacolor marker. For the bottom horizontal strip, I used some wasabi double stitched grosgrain. In place of the flower, I put together a little circle tag. The thank you sentiment is all in one line, but with the markers and careful stamping it easily becomes a two-liner.

Another Quick Holiday Card

This particular retro shape from the gel-a-tins set Mini Retro Flakes is one of my favorite designs in the whole set! I only used that snowflake for this card. If you have the regular Retro Flakes as well, there's even more of this shape in some more sizes. Anyway...I stamped the one size on little squares, coated them with Pearly Sparkle embossing powder and then some gelly gems too. The bottom turquoise panel was stamped with 3 different sizes of the same shape. I stamped the let it snow greeting in white craft over top. It shows up better in person. I finished the card off with ribbon and a little snowflake tag. The elastic silver cord is SO nice for tying charms, it doesn't fray when you are trying to weave it into a small opening!

Hoo Hoo

Here's another card featuring a Doodle Factory creature. I wanted to colour one of the images, I picked the owl, and from there this card just grew. The owl needed a place to sit, so I drew and cut out the branch. Then the branch needed to be part of a scene, so I traced a roll of tape for the moon. Then the sky needed a bit more something, so I drew and cut out some clouds. Finally, I needed a greeting, so bring on the puns! My sister provided me with this one. The greeting, done in snap stamps, is on a piece of acetate the same size and shape as the moon, just in case I made any mistakes. It also gives the moon a bit of a glow. I placed the owl up on foam tape to give a bit more dimension to the scene. I sponged all the other scene elements- the moon, clouds, and sky, with various colours to also add more depth. I haven't really done a card like this before, so I had lots of fun with it!

Little Notes

Woot, I received my Doodle Factory stamps today. Check them out here and here. If you order the sheet, it includes both sizes! I hadn't realized that so I was super excited when I open up my package. On these little notecards, I used the larger images. The cards are 3x3. I paired up the characters with sentiments from the So Many Sayings set. I coloured these with markers, reinkers, and an aquabrush. I doodled in some lines and gave the Frozey character a rainbow afro. It just seemed appropriate!

Hello!

Thanks for the congrats everybody! I appreciate it. I am not allowed to scan in the page (I actually haven't received my comp copy yet anyway). I am allowed to share the project online again in a few months. It's a simple card, using the strawberry from a Paper Trey Ink set- Green Thumb.

I really had no idea what kind of card I was going to create tonight. My sister and I visited my grandma for lunch today. She was wearing a shirt that had inspired this colour combo- white, teal, turquoise, river rock, and celery. I had those colours in mind, but no idea what I wanted to do. I had pulled out the Bloom set by gel-a-tins first, but it wasn't coming together. Next, I tried Funky Flower Garden. It slowly began to come together. I hadn't wanted to cut out any flowers, since I was cutting for about 2 hours yesterday doing the favours. So what happens? I ended up cutting out the flowers! At least it was only 3 of them. I liked the idea of putting them together in a flowerpot formation. I used some dotted river rock paper and some ribbon as the "pot". Finally, I thought this card just screamed HELLO! So I put together some letters from the Oh Gosh By Golly alphabet in a fun way and stamped that greeting on there. The card measures 6-3/8x3-1/2.

Giddy Excitement

I was at a LSS today and I happened upon the September issue of Cards. I quickly picked it up and scanned through the issue until I came upon page 138. There it was! My first publication!

Anyway, I just had to share my silly excitement. I will do some card making later this evening, so expect another update then

Wedding Favours & Ribbon Shares

I was very busy today, making 150 wedding favours for my friend's upcoming wedding. We decided on doing a bit of variety. Her colours are pink and brown. We spent the day baking sugar cookies, dipping them in chocolate, wrapping them up in cello bags and of course, sealing the bags with some ribbon and the stamped tags. I brought a variety of clear stamps. I figured with novice stampers and mass production, being able to see placement was crucial. It definitely sped up the process!! I don't have a super great photo, it was a very dark and gloomy day. Here's a sampling of them though.

In other news...Canadian Ribbon Share!

I received my samples and have colour-matched the colours to Stampin' Up!'s paper. The Vanilla, Burgundy, Red, Rose, and Brocade are all excellent matches. The Celery, Olive and Chocolate are good matches- they match the paper but aren't 100% perfect matches. I just want to be honest with everyone before going through with everything! In a workshop situation these colours would definitely be usable!

I was also going to still go ahead with getting the 9th "bonus" colour. I was thinking about it. Originally I was going to do a colour that closely matches the Basic Gray colour. Now, I'm giving you the option, 5/8" white OR 5/8" grey.

The total cost (including shipping) comes to an even $33.00 CDN. That gives you 90 yards of 5/8 ribbon total. (8x10 yards matching the SU! catalog available ones, and 1x10 or either white or gray). I prefer paypal payment.

So, let me know if you are still interested in the share by email (on the right!), what extra colour you are interested in (the white or the gray), and how you intend to pay if you are joining the share. If you expressed interest in this a week or so ago and still want in, check you're email. You should have received a message from me on Saturday!

Assignment

So, early Wednesday morning by Grandma phones me- "I need 5 Anniversary cards by the 19th". What! You couldn't have mentioned this earlier!!! At the point, I knew what I would be doing on the weekend. I also needed to make 1 shower card. I made that first. The bride's colours are pink and chocolate, inspiring enough. I wanted only something small, so I found a chocolate pocket note and used that. I stamped the bow stamp from Good Things Grow in pink, then embossed it with gelly powder- Pearly Sparkle. If you thought Iridescent Ice was good, this stuff is EVEN better! (For the full effect be sure to enlarge the photo, you can really see it on the green one!) Anyway, that was just a small project, no sense in sharing it, BUT... it did inspire me to make the anniversary cards.

I started by double-checking the measurements of the images from Good Things Grow. They are approximately 1-3/8 square. So I opened up Elements and started a new document 1.375x1.375 at a resolution of 300 (this is important if you are doing sentiment printing, higher resolutions print SO MUCH nicer!). I placed that small document 10 times on another document and printed it. I left room to stamp the square image over the greeting. In case you are curious, I used the font Felix Titling. I have no clue whether I downloaded it or if it came with my computer, but it is similar to the Paper Trey Ink- Paper tray font.

Anyway, I stamped the main image with colorbox inks. I used Baby Blue, Pistachio, and Rosebud, then covered them with the Pearly Sparkle gelly powder. Next, I attached white organdy and blue, pink, or celery grosgrain to the chocolate piece. I rounded 2 of the corners of both the card base and the chocolate piece. Finally, I placed a glue dot at the union of the 2 stems and placed a tiny little knot there. Assignment completed! These cards measure 3.5x6-3/8. I have a lot of envelopes that size, so it works!

Happy Spooky Night!

My sister and I were feeling creative today, so she picked a random sketch challenge (#33) and we went from there. This is my card.

I stamped the spiders, punched them out then coated them with the glue pad and glitter. I matted them on black squares.

Next, I stamped the Trick or Treat medallion with versamark and embossed them with orange you happy, and get in lime gelly powders (found here).

I tied some ribbon on, but it wasn't feeling done, so I added a little spider charm. It still wasn't "there" so I stamped the word spooky. Then I added in the Happy and the Night from the Happy Fright Night sentiment. I punched that out with the large oval punch then mounted it on gable green and carefully trimmed to give it a nice mat. I must admit it was kind of frustrating making this- basically I do not recommend attempting to pour glitters or embossing powders while on the phone!!!

Pumpkin Faces

Here's a card I made using the new Paper Trey set, Spooky Sweets. I really wanted to make a pumpkin patch scene. I masked the pumpkins, then added in some shading with a cool grey marker. Next, I added the faces. I wanted some variety so I turned the smile on one into a frown. It worked perfectly! For the rest of the patch, I stamped the swirly image and the leaves from the Green Thumb set. Next, I was feeling a tad lazy. I wanted to colour in the rest of the scene, but really didn't want to mask more. So I chalked it! It coloured the white paper just enough and if I accidently got some on the pumpkins, it could be wiped off. Plus, I could then make a nice harvest sky. The background is the 2 large eye images stamped in orange on kraft paper.

Lilac & Wasabi

This is a card I made for my grandmother's friend. I needed to keep it flat, since she'll be mailing it, so no big embellishments, knots, or bows here. I coloured the flowers with lilac and amethyst, and the smaller flowers lavender. The leaves are done with wasabi and celery. I outlined all the flowers with the 10% cool gray prismacolor marker. The background stamps are linen on the lilac, and the sanded piece from this floral set.

On another note, have you see these ADORABLE images by Doodle Factory!!! Check out this mini card I made for my dad. It's 3x3, with the little guy hanging over the edge (it seemed appropriate). The card features "Zot", which I got from a friend. I stamped the greeting "need coffee" 4 times, using the generation stamping technique. My dad said the little creature wasn't jittery enough, lol. I guess I could've doodled in some jitter marks. I coloured it in with SU! markers.

Bright & Cheery

I was playing around with some quick layouts. This one worked out even better than expected! I like the first one so much, that I made a second, just changing the colour scheme. Then I decided that my mass Christmas card will follow the same format, only with snowflakes (I'm going to use the gel-a-tins Retro Flakes for one style, and the Fancy Flakes for another) and with a more holiday colour scheme (I was thinking glorious green, green galore, real red, and gable green for one, and night of navy, ballet blue, bashful blue, and brocade blue for the other).

This one was actually inspired by the colours of Maya Road's velvet blossoms- the fire set. Originally I was going to use those on here, but I loved how it looked without, so I left it. I used all Paper Trey flowers, some from beautiful blooms, green thumb, and paper tray.

The other one was was just kind of the opposite side of the Bold Brights spectrum. I guess all I need to do now, is make a purple themed one! I had a little boo boo on this one. My clear block wasn't too clean, so I stamped friend a tad crooked. To make it look intentional, I simply stamped the hi the opposite tilt.

Caribbean Flowers

I was going to update last night, but my keyboard became possessed. Seriously, it would only type backwards. One of the arrow keys was jammed, so as soon as I typed anything, it would jump back a space, thus, backwards text. It made it very hard to even log into blogger to moderate comments, nevermind an update, lol!

Anyway, it's all good now. Here's a card I made. I was feeling in mood for some Caribbean colour scheme. I actually used some Bazzill cardstock that is nearly the same tone as Cool Caribbean, but it's textured. I stamped it with the various flowers from beautiful blooms in Caribbean and White. I had this cut piece of velvet ribbon laying around, so that too got placed on the card. A couple notes about punches and these flowers: the dotted center fits nicely in the 1/2 punch. So if you screwed up and didn't get it centered (like me...) stamp another, punch it out, and attach with tape or a pop dot! The large 9-petalled flowers will just fit in the 1-3/8 circle punch. I cut mine out and mounted it on the circle instead. The birthday greeting on here is from the second batch of Studio G $1.50 clear stamps. The ink kept pilling, so I stamped it in versamark then in caribbean. That seemed to solve things. Ah, the differences between acrylic and photopolymer!

Q & E

It's funny, I was kind of thinking twice about ordering this set. I was like, hmmm, more flowers... Well, I don't really have that many flowers, hardly any in clear sets. I feel that my purchase was justified, I really like how quickly a sharp design can come about with just a little bit of stamping with these flowers. The first one started with 3 Colorbox inks- Peacock, Baby Blue, and Brown. I decided that I wanted to use the 2 sizes of the 8- petalled flowers, suddenly, I was done :D

The second card, started with me wanting to use a black die-cut ribbon slide. Well, suddenly I was using the flourish-y iris, both sizes, and look at that another card! This card is a bit smaller than usual. It is 5.5x3.5. I wanted something stationery-like, and this seemed like more of a note card size. I debated to myself about the addition of colour, obviously I decided to leave it. I figure, it was so easy, that I can do another one with colour!

Falling Leaves

First off, looks like there's enough interest in the 5/8" ribbon share for it to go through. So look for details in 7-10 days! If you're still interested and haven't emailed, etc, let me know, there is still an opening, and I can always make a waitlist in case someone can't make it!

Secondly, did everybody see this beauty by Trudee?? I loved it, and decided to make my own version. First I cut a 3" square, then daubed mustard and white chalk into the square. Next, I stamped the leaves, leaving the mask on. I coloured them in really rust reinker. I decided to do this on kraft paper because I thought the chalk reverse mask would show up better. I don't, thankfully, need a sympathy card, but I thought this design worked well for the theme, and then the next time I need one, I don't need to concentrate on making one.

Thirdly, my PaperTrey stamps arrived! Unfortunately, for the first time EVER in my ordering crafty stuff from the U.S., I got customs charges. I feel that if I am ordering a product that is made in the USA, that CANNOT be bought anywhere in Canada, I should not have to pay Canadian taxes on that product. Of course, I also think that with them recently raising the 48-hour limit spending amount, they should have also adjusted the postal allowances. Okay, rant over :D New stamps!

Sharing?

Hello! I was interested in doing a small (6-8 people), CANADIAN ONLY, 5/8" grosgrain ribbon share. Right now I am just waiting on my samples so I can colour match to the 8 Stampin' Up colours of wide grosgrain. I was also going to throw in a 9th colour, I was thinking something to match the new neutral, Basic Gray. I figured out all costs, and it would come to $33.00 per 90 yard share (9 colours x10 yards), that's with shipping in a small bubble Xpresspost mailer, regional OR national. If you are interested, please leave a comment or email me (side link), or pm me at "tashers" at www.splitcoaststampers.com.


I do NOT have this product in hand, like I said I am waiting on my sampler. However, is this something anybody would be interested in? I want all the colours of that lovely 5/8 ribbon, but I really don't need 100 yards of each. I would happily take 10 yards though, especially if it's only going to cost me 37 cents a yard versus 90 cents a yard.



I'm not looking into doing shares a lot. There are a few other items I am eyeing for potential shares (like the coffee pound bags a la PaperTrey Ink), I'm just trying to save a little money, and pass the savings onto a few others!

Friendship Bag

I was browsing a Martha Stewart Christmas book over lunch, and there were these adorable gift bags. The template was for a teensy bag (1/2x2). I modified the pattern.
Start with a piece of paper 5.5x11.75. Score across at 1.5 inches. Now, score at these intervals: .75, 1.5, 2.25, 6.25, 7, and 7.75. Cut off the first rectangle (the 1.5x.75 piece). If you decide to do handles, I found that marking a 2-inch line in the top center of the 4x4 panels gave a good guide. I used the elastic cord from the upcoming Holiday Mini. That stuff is amazing, it keeps it's shape! Assemble box-style! I attached magnets to the top to serve as a closure.

This set is a Lizzie Anne Designs set, Au Naturale, that I got from Jacksonbelle-Embellishments
I coloured the images with markers, reinkers, and an aquabrush. I outlined the butterfly and leaves with a 10% cool grey prismacolor marker. I will eventually make 3x3 note cards that match the main design to include in the bag.

I don't normally address specific people on here, but I want to make this message is seen by Shelby. I would email you, but the link to your profile isn't public, and I don't have a way to access your email address! Please try again!

Christmas Card Prototype #1

I usually have some idea of what I'm going to do for Christmas cards by now. I slipped this year! I decided to start working on a few prototypes (and this one really IS a prototype!). I like to do a fun and bright one as well as a more serious one. Plus, I usually have 2 versions of each card- one that will mail with only one stamp, and one that is only appropriate for hand delivery.



This card started last night actually. I really wanted to play with this awesome ornament set by gel-a-tins. I love the images, I just haven't done much with it yet. I wanted colours that were mildly reminiscent of the holidays, but cheery, so out came green galore, tempting turquoise, and real red. I did the main image part yesterday. I had added little bits of stickles on everything, so I just let it dry overnight- then nothing gets ruined! I finally came back to it tonight. This card was going to be 6x3.5, but then the main image was too overpowering. So I decided on 6x4.5 Well, that didn't work so well either. You know what happens to a 6 inch piece of paper when you crimp it? It loses a 1/4"! So the card became 4.5x5.75. Well, by that point it might has well have been a standard size! I wanted to use 5/8" red grosgrain in place of the crimped paper, but I do not have any.

The Caribbean Guava

You know, it's too bad Stampin' Up! didn't release these colours the same year. I think guava and caribbean together make a really fun colour combination. I threw in some gable green, because let's face it, that colour gets ignored, a lot. I considered using celery, but I thought, whynot gable? This card features a neat technique I saw in the latest Creating Keepsakes. Although I do not do much scrapbooking, I subscribe to this magazine for a few reasons, one of those reasons being Jennifer Maguire's Tools & Techniques column. She takes a particular product or technique and features it with least 8 cool ideas. Anyway, this month, embossed paper was the "tool". The cool idea- lightly stamp onto the raised parts of the embossed paper with a background stamp! I had to try this! I embossed my paper with various images from the Bodacious brass template. Then I inked up my Friend Definition and ever so gently stamped it. It really doesn't need a lot of pressure, you don't want to stamp beyond those raised images!

Tapestry

This card that I made yesterday for the sketch challenge reminds me of a tapestry or one of those detailed tile hot plates. I knew the medallion shapes from True Friend would work well for the central diamond part of this sketch, but I didn't really know what else to do. So I grabbed the coordinating designer paper and starting to work. I had it all set up, but it needed a little something. I dug through my stash of brads and these square rhinestones brads that I had bought in July surfaced. The green of the rhinestone was kind of a nice transition colour from the wasabi medallion to the khaki green of the river rock in the background paper. Funny thing about this card, by some miracle, the tiles all lined up. Why is this miraculous? Because I didn't cut out the rectangle that way. I cut it long, then I cut that piece into 4 smaller pieces and arranged them. Aren't flukes like that nice?

And here's another buggy photo for you. This butterfly was just chilling out in the green onions. Isn't it pretty!

Sugar Coated

I saw this cute little manufactured tag card today. It was about 3x3, and had this wavy, glitter covered line along the right side. I was inspired. I really wanted to do a glitter covered wavy line, but first I had to plan it out. It made the most sense to cover BOTH sides entirely with my double-sided tape (I've got the type with removable backing). Then, I drew my wavy line, cut it out, removed tape from ONE side and coated in glitter. Voila! One extremely sparkly wave made! Putting the tape on first ensures full coverage, less likelihood of patching being needed, and ease of cutting (as long as the backings still on).

It looked cool, just the wavy line, but then I got to to thinking of how it reminded me of a really fancy cake or sugar coated candy, which led to the dots. I covered narrow scraps of paper with the tape (only one side this time, since I was less concerned with adhering it), then leaving the backing on, punched it out with several circle punches. Again, because the backing is still on, the punches glide right through! Then I coated in glitter and set up the card. Once again, it looked cool as it was, but I had kind of backed into a corner. I didn't leave a good amount of space for a greeting. So my only option was to make a small layer. I cut out a square from chocolate, then used scalloped scissors on it. Then I stamped the happy birthday greeting in the 3 main colours, stamped the gift, coloured it, cut it out, then popped it up with foam tape. Because I had already brought the chocolate colour into it at this point, and I had this pre-knotted ribbon just sitting on my desk, I decided to add that too :D

Gift Box

These cards may look slightly familiar! I needed to make a nice little gift for my mom's friend. After making the green birthday card last week, I decided that that design would well in other colours. I made 2 of each of these 4 designs with matching envelopes. My colour pairings: Blue Bayou and Soft Sky (I do not have these colours' ink pads, so I substituted not quite navy and sage shadow{stamped off once}); Purely Pomegranate and Regal Rose; Wild Wasabi and Certainly Celery; and Chocolate Chip and Close to Cocoa. At first I was going to add sentiments, but I decided against it. You really never know what someone is going to need a card for. This style and the variety of colours I included could work for anything from birthday to thinking of you.

I had to package this up nicely, so I put together a box. Here are the instructions: Base: 8.5x7.5, score at 1-3/8 from all edges, cut one side of every corner, never cutting along the same side twice.Lid: 5-15/16x 6-15/16, score at 1/2-inch, cut one side of every corner, never cutting along the same side twice. For a looser fitting lid: do 7-7/16x6-7/16 and score at 3/4-inch in. Assemble using super tacky tape for the corner tabs.Will easily fit 10 cards and 10 envelopes. It's such a quick box design. I've modified this basic template using 12x12 paper to fit gifts as big as clothes! I didn't feel like decorating the box much after assembling those 8 fairly detailed cards. Instead, I found some nice white satin ribbon from a grab bag from Dunwoody Booth, then I added a little happy birthday tag, tied on with silver elastic cord.

** edited to add a photo to help out **

Another "True" Birthday

This time the card is for my mom, so I used the flower from this set instead of the leaves. I really liked the Hugs layout earlier, so I wanted to do something similar. I started with the Apple Cider paper and wasabi ribbon. I was kind of stuck as to how to use my stamped image, since it wouldn't show up well on the rust dotty paper. So I cut it out. I popped up the petals, as well as the center. The sentiment is from Paper Trey. Since I had already adhered the flower, it was just easier to go with a clear sentiment. It can be difficult using the stampamajig if you have any dimensional layer in the way.

I was outside earlier today and happened to see a bumblebee enjoying our echinacea. I ran back inside to get my camera. Amazingly, it was still there when I came back! It was hard to get a good picture, it was a very busy bee, flying from flower to flower! And of course, the shot that turned out best was the one with the rattiest looking flower. All the other flowers are beautiful, they haven't started to wilt or been eaten. This one, was not so lucky... It's funny, I remember being so scared of bumblebees when I was little (I still am of wasps, hornets, etc), but I was just inches away from the bee. Bumblebees are pretty cute!

Lovely Challenges

Here is a card I did today that combined two challenges- today's inspiration challenge, and Jen70's Super Saturday Challenge . This card measures 4.75 square. I used the gel-a-tins set: hugs & kisses. One thing I discovered while making this card was that my craft inks match Stampin' Up!'s designer paper, at least this series, WAY better than the dye inks. The Regal Rose dye ink actually clashed with the pink polka dot part! I wasn't pleased, but then I remembered that the craft and dye ink pairs sometimes differ a bit. For the little word tag, I stamped the word first, then punched it out, then added the brad. The ribbon was cut by squeezing it in half, then cutting at a diagonal.

Happy, Simple Joys

Here's a card I made last night. I brought out my polyshrink and made a lovely strawberry charm with it. I also used the small corner rounder several times here. I had started with just the main image and frame being rounded, but then it just seemed to fit to do it all.

A few simple birthday cards

I was in the mood to make some extremely simple cards. These cards are 3-1/2x6-3/8. That size is a ideal for including any sort of cheque or bills within them.

The first card features some PaperTreyInk stamps. With all the excitement surrounding their new releases, I was inspired to pull out that Green Thumb stamp set I had had to have. I actually have some more plans now that I took it back out. I found that this Scenic Route paper went fantastically with it. It reminded me of that buggy texture. I used the middle sized stems in this set to make little hop marks.

The second card features some gel-a-tin stamps. The happy birthday set is such a fun one to use. I went with one of my favorite colour combinations- chocolate, pumpkin, teal, and olive. I stamped the presents on 1-3/8 size squares, then framed those on 1-1/2 squares. The bows are chocolate coloured, I see now that I didn't add quite enough brightness when I was editing my photo, oops!

My exciting news this past week was that I am one of SCS's newest "dirty girls". Being on the Dirty Dozen team was always a dream of mine. You know, one of those dreams that your REALLY never expected to happen! I cannot wait for all the different themes to "attack" these next few months.