Beaded Flowers

A week or so back I was working on a design for the CaS blog. I also happened to be going through an old desk and found beads that day. While making the card, I realized that beads would be the perfect addition to the cherry blossom branch in Eastern Blooms. Although it's a cute idea, it didn't really fit into my plan for something quick, clean, and simple. So that idea got shuffled to the back of my mind. This weekend, I decided to give it a shot. I have to say, I love how it turned out, and I have a LOT of beads, so I will be sure to try this more often.

To apply the beads, I added a tiny droplet of crystal effects to each flower center. Next I placed the beads into the glue using tweezers (this is a great tip to help you from going insane). Then, let dry. It's not super complex, but it does require a bit more patience than some techniques. For the rest of the card, I decided to pair Baja Breeze with Soft Sky. I added a bit of Close to Cocoa in there. That's definitely one thing that makes me a tad sad about the In Colors- so many of the past years' colours work well with the current colours. Other details: the Baja scalloped strip was stamped with Baja coloured branches, than again with Soft Sky Linen (it feels like forever since I got creative with BG stamps!) The strip of ribbon is actually just a tad darker than the cocoa, but it looks crazy dark in the photo.

Anyway, it's nice when a card turns out exactly as planned. I really like the layout and seriously, if you have lots of beads lying around, think about applying them in this way!

Supplies:

Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Linen

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Baja Breeze, Soft Sky

Paper: Soft Sky Textured, Baja Breeze, Close to Cocoa, White

Accessories, etc.: Crystal Effects, beads, SAB rub-ons, scalloped rectangle die, pop dots

Spook or Treat

So this month's challenge, in the spirit of October, was for a Halloween creation. Here are the guidelines:
Challenge Focus: Create a Halloween card or treat holder.
Required Element: Googlie Eyes! We want to see those eyes jiggle!
Restricted Element: No pumpkins! You'll have to use a different image associated with Halloween!
Keyword: DCST1008 (click to see the uploads at SCS)

Here's my card, I kept it simple, but I quite like it. I started off by choosing one of the DoodleFactory Halloween II images. This is Trouble the cat. I used various grey markers to colour him in. Next came the googlie eyes. How perfect are these embellishments for this image!! They don't look out of place whatsoever! I added some Doodlebug paper, a bit of sparkly ribbon, and then put everything onto a vellum card base (which was decorated with some white craft ink and spiderwebs). I can't wait to check out everyone else's!

Supplies:

Stamps: DoodleFactory Witch's Brew, Grave yard sentiments

Paper: Vellum, Basic Grey, Doodlebug, White

Ink: White Craft, Memento Black

Accessories, etc.: Purple ribbon, Copic, googlie eyes

A mini card of sorts

This card started out simply because I wanted to use this long scalloped rectangle. So I started with that, then found an image that fit nicely into. One of the images from Pocket Silhouettes fit in there fantastically. The sentiment comes from that set as well. Next up was deciding what colour would compliment the mix of vanilla, baja, and chocolate. I looked around my desk, saw this piece of So Saffron cut to some different dimensions and thought, perfect. I really love how this colour combination turned out, especially since it got thrown together in a pretty random fashion.

Bright & Happy

Here's another quick, clean, and simple card featuring my new SU stuff. I am quite enjoying the new colours, papers, and rub-ons!

For the flowers I did the old reinkers and blender pens. As a cheaper way to experiment with the new In Colors, I buy all 6 reinkers and a pack of the assorted cardstock. Then I see which I end up using the most. The reinkers I simply use with blender pens. A little goes a LONG way. Plus, if you decide to pick up the full size stamp pads, you're all set for later! I suppose what I feel is missing from this card are some leaves. I know the set is called Eastern Blooms, but I really feel they should have included a matching leaf in the set. I really wanted to add some Kiwi coloured leaves in there, but I didn't know what set to take them from.

Supplies: Stamps: Eastern Blooms
Ink: Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango
Paper: White, Kraft, Chocolate, Haiku
Accessories, etc.: Hidden Garden RO, twill

Inspired by Ribbon

I spotted this adorable American Crafts ribbon at Michaels last week. I loved the addition of turquoise and brown to the more traditional colours of red and green. I really wanted to make a card featuring the ribbon. I made this simple layout to accommodate the ribbon. It's a super simple card, but I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I'm always amazed at how "full" such an open-spaced card can feel.

Supplies:

Stamps: Snowflake Serenade, Take a Bough (PTI)

Ink: Turquoise, White

Paper: Dark Chocolate, White, Turquoise, Poppy

Accessories, etc.: Long rectangle scalloped nestabilities, circle punches, pop dots, ribbon

Two Cards!

It was the beginning of stamp club recently(the first rule of stamp club...there is no stamp club- sorry I had to throw that out there, long-time inside joke) so I was having fun with new catalog stuff!

I was quite impressed with myself tonight, I tidied a big chunk of my space, which always helps re-inspire me. Here are the cards, they are as good as SU-only. The items that aren't SU could easily be replaced with SU product, I just used what was nearest to me.

First up- a little bit of Pocket Silhouettes with Haiku paper (love that stuff!!!) I really love the look of the solo silhouette image with the sentiment just off to the side. All that open space with the bold images just makes me happy.

Supplies: Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes

Paper: Dark Chocolate, So Saffron, White, Haiku

Ink: Mustard, Chocolate

Accessories: Chocolate Twill Ribbon, pop dots

Next up, what, no stamps??? I had to have these rub-ons, and instead of just looking at how pretty they are I actually used them. I started by placing the rub-on on some white cardstock. I cut that out, then I used some more Haiku paper and cut equally (near equally, really) sized squares and put together this quaint little layout. Both cards are 4.25x4.25 and used the smaller corner rounder on the bottom edges.

Supplies:

Paper: Haiku, Dark Chocolate

Accessories: Hidden Garden Rub-ons

Thanks for dropping by!

River, Rust, Wasabi?

I was feeling a tad uninspired the other day. That was quite a disappointment, especially since it was my day off. I was determined to make something though. So I went into my paper stash and pulled out this paper from last year's Apple Cider pack. I used that as my inspiration. I also happened to have some Christmas music on in the background (the Mantovani Orchestra one, it's nice to listen to all year round, actually). The music inspired me to make something Christmas. I know these aren't typical holiday colours, but I really like how it turned out. I did some paper piecing, something I so rarely do, and used a nice textured paper for my base.

Supplies:
Stamps: Made of Snow, Take a Bough (PTI)
Paper: Really Rust, River Rock, Wild Wasabi, Apple Cider DP
Ink: Rich Cocoa
Accessories, etc.: pop dots, ribbon

Swedish Collage Challenge!!

Starving Artistamps is running their first ever company sponsored challenge. The challenge will run until October 1st. Everyone who participates will be put into the raffle and one person will be chosen by random number generator to win YOUR CHOICE of one FULL SHEET of Starving Artistamps or DoodleFactory unmounted rubber stamps!
Here is your challenge should you choose to accept it!
There are several key points which regularly appear in Swedish collage style stamping...

The shape of the card is SQUARE
A bold mix of PATTERN PAPERS is used
CHIPBOARD titles (in any language!), BUTTONS and/or STAPLES are often incorporated into the design
COLOUR COLOUR COLOUR the more colour the better! (this is not your regular vintage style collage frequently done in the states! Ban the brown!)

Think you are up to the challenge?
Here is how you can participate. From now until October 1st email a link to your blog showing your version of the Swedish collage style challenge card. Please include your name in your email. We will post links to your blogs here and in the gallery.
Here is the email for questions and submissions: strvingartistmp@aol.com

I know there are only a few days left for the challenge, but it'd be great to see your take on this fun and unique style! I struggled for a bit with it, so here's what I did to help get the juices flowing...First up, bring in another person, get them to help you choose your supplies. In this case I got my sister to help choose my supplies. We went through the stamps, chose an image and sentiment that went together. Next, she chose some coordinating papers for me. I found some matching sticker letters. She found me some buttons. Then, I went away from my craft area, bringing only what I needed. It came together really quickly. It's the craziest card, it's nothing like I've ever made before (and honestly not likely to make again), but the challenge of it was really fun!

Supplies:

Stamps: Starving Artistamps (DoodleFactory Animals, Clouds, Outdoors sentiments)

Ink: Tuxedo Black

Paper: Scenic Route Metropolitan Collection

Buttons: Many companies

Stickers: sei

White embossing powder

Egads, it's Thursday already!

I meant to do something creative earlier in the week, but it just didn't happen. I'm working evenings this week, which means I don't feel like doing much of anything in the daytime. I decided to make a different wedding card for this Saturday. I hate having to fold a cheque, I don't know why, but anyway I made a card that could accommodate an unfolded cheque. I recently wrote down a big list of colour combinations that interested me. Instead of ignoring it, I actually used it as my starting point! I had written down River Rock, Chocolate, Sky, Vanilla and twill. That's exactly what I used! The stamping is relatively simple. I did the detailed flower in soft sky first, then I stamped off the solid image once and filled in over the detail flower. The leaves and centers were also stamped off once to give a softer look. I spritzed the whole vanilla panel with a shimmer spray to make it more "wedding-y". The card measures 4x6.

Supplies:

Stamps: Garden of Life (PTI), Happy Thoughts (Verve)

Ink: River Rock, Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip

Paper: River Rock, Chocolate Chip, Vanilla

Accessories, etc.: Chocolate Twill, Piercer and Mat Guide, Shimmer Spray, Corner Rounder

Sweet and Simple Season's Greetings

I have to admit, ever since picking up the Rhubarb Stalk Memento ink, I have been digging into my retired supply of Cranberry Crisp cardstock. Ruby Red is nice, I have yet to see Riding Hood Red, but I really love Cranberry Crisp. I hope a certain online stamp company comes out with a comparable red sometime...

Anyway, the card is extremely basic, but I think the scallops, the polka dots, and the satin add a little something to an otherwise plain card.

Supplies:
Stamps: Take a Bough (Papertrey Ink), Polka Dot Background
Ink: Bamboo Leaves, Rhubarb Stalk, White, Gold
Paper: Dark Chocolate, White, Cranberry Crisp, Old Olive
Accessories, etc.: Long rectangle nestabilities, satin ribbon, pop dots

Hooray for Cupcakes

When I saw that fellow DD Alumni Taylor was starting to carry her own stamp line, I was more than happy to help support this new venture (especially once I saw how cute the images were!).

I threw together a fairly quick card using a few of the Coordinating Key Ingredients and this adorable image from Sweet Celebrations. I thought that a vanilla cupcake would go nicely with the blue and green theme. I was really happy with how that turned out- Buttercup, Sand, and Pale Yellow are becoming one of my favorite Copic colour combos!

KWD Colour Inspiration

I wasn't really planning on posting twice today, but I spotted Kristina's colour inspiration and knew I needed to make a card. Sometimes you see a group of colours and, sorry to sound cheesy, it kind of speaks to you. This one definitely said AUTUMN loud and clear. I thought about going with leaves, but I've been using my Garden of Life set so much today that I thought I would make a card focusing on a fall flower-chrysanthemums. We have pink ones in the backyard that are almost ready to open.

One thing I noticed with this colour combination is how ideally it works for 2-step stamping. I decided to make 2 types of 'mums. Burgundy base with a chocolate outline and saffron base with a pumpkin outline. I added in bits of olive leaves for the 5th colour, doing all my image stamping on Vanilla paper.

Supplies: Stamps: Garden of Life, Birthday Basics Ink: Bravo Burgundy, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive Paper: Saffron, Olive, Vanilla, Chocolate Accessories, etc.: Tag and Label Nestabilities, orange brad, pop dots

Thanks for stopping by!

Thanksgiving Menu

This was one of my submissions for the Star Stamper monthly contest at Papertrey Ink. I had a lot of fun making it, since I rarely make such a large, matching ensemble. I started out with a place card, then a napkin ring, and a wine charm. I really wanted a menu, so I looked up Thanksgiving Menu and found one I liked here. I looked through my fonts, and although I am not sure it's a definite match, I found one that was pretty darn close. Imagine my delight when I found something similar out of 1, 430 fonts!

I thought I'd finish off the ensemble with a simple, yet sweet card- featuring one of my favorite layouts. I jazzed it up by tying the gold cord with the chocolate twill (this is terribly annoying to do, but looks stunning) and by cutting out and popping up the pine cone.

Stamps: Papertrey Ink- First Fruits

Sparkled Flowers

Recently I picked up a few small bottles of Martha Stewart glitter. I am quite impressed with the colour selection and the fineness of the grains. This card features Rose Quartz, which I thought went nicely with a black, grey, and cranberry theme. The glitter came in a pack of 3 and also with a small tube of glue. The glue is great, it has a very small opening, making control as easy as a marker. It doesn't goop or glob and it stays wet long enough to get a whole flower done!

Other details: I had stamped the sentiment in grey first, but it just wasn't dark enough, so I went over it with a darker grey which ended up making a cool shadow effect! The black strip of paper has various dots embossed on it for added texture.

Supplies:
Stamps: Floral Frenzy, Birthday Basics
Ink: Rhubarb Stalk, Basic Grey, Versamark
Paper: Basic Grey, Black, Cranberry
Accessories, etc.: Cranberry Ribbon, Glitter

Starlight, Starbright

This is one of those cards that started out because I really wanted to add some glitter to one aspect of the image. I really wanted a sparkly moon an d some sparkly stars. I coloured those with a yellow marker, then applied the glue and glitter. Next, I wanted a tent that fit into my mental image of what a tent should look like. For some reason, aqua and teal tones fit that image. I really love how the colouring turned out. Now, the hardest part was finding cardstock that matched the tent. Luckily I found this textured piece of paper from Colorbok that matched nicely.

All stamps from Starving Artistamps-
The Great Outdoors and Outdoors Sentiments

Cute Little Camper

I absolutely love this adorable camper from the DoodleFactory Great Outdoors release. I thought it'd be cut to just feature the camper on a card. I went with semi-retro colour scheme: red, white, and grey. The red cardstock layer is actually a piece of white cardstock that I coloured with the same marker used on the trailer. If all you are wanting is a thin mat that matches your coloured image, this is a good and quick method.

Supplies:
Stamps: Great Outdoors, Outdoors sentiments
Ink: Tuxedo Black
Paper: White, Basic Grey
Accessories, etc.: pop dot, Copic markers

Halloween Lights

For years, I've been wanting to make these vellum lanterns. They are super easy, depending on how complex you choose to make it. The first one came together in less than 5 minutes. I stamped some bats onto a piece of vellum, taped it into a circle and fit it into my glass container. The next one was a bit more complicated. I found a spider web stencil, traced it onto some black cardstock, then started cutting with an x-acto knife. Next, I layered vellum behind it for a frostier look. Finally, I taped it into a circle and placed it into the container. This one probably took closer to 20 minutes to make. I used battery operated "tea lights", not actually ones, since obviously, paper is flamable. So this is what they look like with the lights on, and then I also had to post the spooky atmosphere picture.

Supplies:

Stamps: Spooky Sweets (PTI)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Paper: Vellum Cardstock, Black

Accessories, etc.: Spider web stencil (1.50 at Michaels for a pack of 6), x-acto Knife

A Little Christmas Sparkle

Here's another contender for the mass production of this year's Christmas cards. The colouring takes a bit of time, but it's not too bad, beats cutting stuff out! I wish you could see how sparkly this really is. The card base is burgundy, sprayed with a Blue Russet shimmer spray. The tan layer is actual Mocha Metallic paper, and the tree itself is covered with little sparkle berries. I find that the touch of organdy ribbon also gives a nice shine to the whole thing. I embossed Peace on Earth, then had One Tin Soldier stuck in my head from then on... At least it's a pretty song, and I know most of the words, so it doesn't keep looping one little part.

Supplies:
Stamps: Believe (PTI)
Ink: Bamboo Leaves, Versamark
Paper: Mocha, White, Burgundy
Accessories, etc.: Glitter, Gold EP, thin organdy ribbon, Copic markers, pop dots, shimmer spray

Robo-Rock

Yeah, it's a cheesy title... However I just LOVE using these robots with the "you rock" sentiment. In general DoodleFactory news, have you seen the new Halloween release!?! These are adorable. I'm thinking they may be my favorite yet! There's also some other fun new stuff over at Starving Artistamps- some nice new backgrounds as well as some entertaining witches.

If you're interested in winning some new stamps, you may want to go here.

Anyway, here's my robot card.

Supplies: Stamps: DoodleFactory Urban, SunSpirit Studios sentiment

Ink: Tuxedo Black

Paper: Stampin' Up DP, gable green, turquoise, white

Accessories, etc.: orange ribbon, rectangle nestabilities, pencil crayons, pop dots

Gordie the Giraffe

When I saw that Peggy at PaperWorks Co. was starting a stamp line, I was super excited for her. She's one of the nicest people I've never met :D. By that I mean in person of course, we have chatted back and forth through the occasional email.

So, onto the stamps, so far there are a few Safari Friends. I love giraffes, so I had to use Gordie right away. In case you're wondering, the stamps are rubber,die-cut, ez-mounted, and ready to go. Very nice quality.

For my card, I stamped Gordie in Tuxedo Black, then coloured him in with Copics, I used E33Sand and Y21Buttercup, and a bit of Y11 Pale Yellow to blend. I cut that out, mounted it over a stamped background.

Supplies:
Stamps: Gordie by PWC!, Sentiments from Bitty Baby Blessings by PTI Ink: Lemon Tart, Tuxedo BlackPaper: White, Lemon Tart Accessories, etc.: Swiss Dot Cuttlebug Folder, Satin Ribbon, Yellow Dotted organdy ribbon, circle nestabilities, tag die cut, pop dots, yellow brad, Copic markers

Rockin' Dragon

So I picked up a few more colours of Copics yesterday which put me in the colouring mood. I believe all the colours I used on Drake I already had, but I was having lots of fun experimenting with different colouring techniques before I finally made a card. The big thing I learned: definitely do NOT over look the value of having the shades of grey. When you want that slight shadow over top of some colour, the greys come in very handy. I didn't use them on Drake, but I did on some of my other items yesterday. I also found having one of the lightest colours in each grouping works nicely in place of the blender pen. So for Drake, I coloured his body first with YG95 (Pale Olive), then I added in some shadows with G99 (Olive). Next I went back with YG95 to blend the two Olives. There was still an apparent line of separation between the colours, so I took YG91 (Putty) and went over the entire body with that. That blended the colours nicely.

Supplies: Stamps: Drake can be found here! Sentiment can be found here!
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper: Only Orange, Old Olive, Stampin' Up! last year's Halloween DP
Accessories, etc.: Poly-Twill ribbon, pop dots, Copics

Woo, Friday!!

For some reason I am really looking forward to this long weekend. It's not like it's been an overly stressful week, not at all actually. It's just nice to have 3 days off. Mondays off are few and far between!

Today's card was inspired by one of Kristina's MACM creations from June. When I say I was inspired, I don't mean CASE in this situation. Her card inspired me to use my gel-a-tins Off to School stamps, as well it inspired me to get back into embossing and make my own backgrounds with dot stamps. This card really was one of those cards where I sat down, started with a totally random part and went from there. I decided I wanted to use a brighter colour, so guava it was. Next up, I really wanted an embossed dotted background, or a partial one any way. I grabbed this cute dot from Flower Frames and Letters. If you remember Stampin' Up!'s Alphadots set from a few years back... this set is similar. I like this one better though since all the letters are capitals (I cannot STAND when an alphabet provides a mix of upper and lower case, decide on one, you know!). It's also a clear set, so it's super easy to line up, and it comes with a few fun flower and dot center images as well. Basically, if you were ever regretting not getting Alphadots and like clear stamps, you may want to look at this set.


Okay, back to the creation. So I stamped that dot with versamark, clear embossed it, then worked on my sentiment panel. I did a sample stamping on some scrap white first (pre-embossing!) to see just how much space I would need. I would highly recommend doing that when piecing together sentiments with larger alphabet sets. By the time I was ready for the embossed sentiment I knew exactly how I wanted the placement. Finally, I added in some stitched ribbon and I stamped and embossed a flower to add a bit more interest and "pop" to the card. To emboss with dye inks, remember, ink up the stamp first with versamark, then ink over that with the dye ink, stamp it, and cover with embossing powder. Have an awesome long weekend!


Supplies:
Stamps: Flowers Frames and Letters, Off to School (gelatins)
Ink: Groovy Guava, Close to Cocoa, Versamark
Paper: Cocoa, Guava, White
Accessories, etc.: Ribbon, Corner Rounder, Clear and White EP

Beach Party!

I really love the DoodleFactory stamps for making scene cards. It's funny, before I came across these stamps I NEVER made scene cards. The images are just so much fun to colour and piece together. Despite the colouring and masking this card came together pretty quickly. I stamped the trees and huts, masked them, drew the dunes, then brayered the sky and sponged the sand.

Stamps: DoodleFactory Tropics
Ink: Rich Cocoa (Memento) Cool Caribbean, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Copic markers, brayer, sponge

Quick Starry Birthday

I really can never get enough of star images. I just love them so. Here's a quick, bright and cheery birthday card.

Supplies:
Stamps: Super Star, Admission is free (by gelatins )
Ink: Tangelo, Dandelion, Summer Sunrise, Canteloupe
Paper: Only Orange, Summer Sunrise, White
Accessories, etc.: Pop dots (of course...can I make a card without them?)

Assignment...

When I got up this morning a note was left for me on the kitchen table. Typically these notes are dinner suggestions. Today's note was a request for an anniversary card. I can't think of whose anniversary it may be, but I happily complied with the request. I spotted this colour challenge and decided to use those colours. I thought with the addition of red as my accent colour I would come up with a nicely elegant anniversary card (since I don't know who the recipients are, I thought elegant and not too flowery were safe choices). I know Kristina suggested that the black and white should really stand out. I found that when I looked at the picture, the combination of grey and white stood out more to my eye. So I used those as my two main colours, with the black and red as accent colours. This card measures 3.75x7.25. I found an envelope first, decided I wanted to make a long style card, then picked my measurements based on that envelope. I really wanted to make the card with the fold at the top, but I don't have any white cardstock that measures 14.5 inches long, so a side fold it was. I did the corner rounding at the bottom edge, as is often typical for long style, top-folded cards.

Supplies:

Stamps: Carte Postale (SU!), Happy Thoughts (Verve Stamps)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Versamark, Real Red marker

Paper: White, Basic Grey

Accessories, etc.: Red velvet ribbon, silver brad, pop dots, corner rounder

New Inspiration

I always like having the new Stampin' Up! catalog in my hands. Not only is it fun to make a new wishlist filled with exciting new stamps and other products, but there are always fun new ideas and samples. This card was inspired by the one on page 137. I used some of the papers and images I had on hand to recreate it. First, the flowers I chose come from the It's Beautiful jumbo wheel. I was hemming and hawing over getting the A Beautiful Thing set (I still am!) and the wheel seemed like a good compromise. I inked up the flowers with a pomegranate spot, stamped those, cleaned the wheel, then inked up a few leaves with wasabi. I cut those out and pieced it all together. The wavy edge was done freehand with an xacto knife. I had it all put together with the sentiment, but then I decided it needed a bit more, so I added a few white flower rub-ons from the coordinating rub-on set.

So what are your must haves from the new catalog? I'm waiting until September to get anything, but I do know that Eastern Blooms, Pocket Silhouettes, the Hidden Garden Rub-ons, the Haiku and Hawaii Papaya papers, as well as the Ghostly Greetings paper, and Chills & Thrills rub-ons are all on my list.

Supplies:
Stamps: It's Beautiful jumbo wheel
Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi textured cardstock, White, DP
Ink: Wasabi, Pomegranate
Accessories, etc.: double stitched ribbon, rub-ons, dimensionals

Wrapping Up

Well, I hope you've enjoyed my week of all things PaperTrey Ink! I sure had fun making these cards and I'm always glad to hear from my visitors!

This last card was very much inspired by the amazing Mary Jo Albright. I loved the swap card she made and wanted to do my own version. My card has been simplified. I just really loved the look of the boat on the cut out waves, so that's what I did. It's funny, for this card, I started out with the boat. I wanted it sparkly, so I coloured it in with Spicas. I noticed how much that sparkly red seems to match Ruby Red. I was looking through my Stampin' Up designer paper collection and found the perfect match. This striped paper comes from the Ginger Blossom pack. Normally that set would not make me think of anything nautical, but this design on its own just fit! I added in some twill as my ribbon. Anytime I do something nautical I have to use twill, it seems like it's a rule or something! I still wanted more sparkle so I drew along the edge of my free-handed bubbly waves. You can catch a glimpse of all that sparkle to the left.

Like I said that wraps up my week of all things PTI, hope you enjoyed it and all my babble :D

Back to the babies!

Again, I am so in love with the adorable line art of Bitty Baby Blessings. I never do paper piecing, I love the look, I just have WAY more solid images in my collection. There's just not much available in my stuff that works with this technique. I knew I had to try it out with this elephant. I stamped the elephant on a piece of Rebecca designer paper (retired Stampin' Up!), cut that out, stamped an extra ear, then popped that up. I adhered the elephant to a wordy background (Sweet Little Baby). I wanted to do a bit of distressing to give that warm, cozy, well-loved look associated with stuff animals, so I distressed the cocoa frame. It's a pretty straight forward card, but I am really happy with how it turned out!

Anniversary Roses

Alright, I'm taking a mini break from birthdays. Another type of card that is in huge demand for the summer and early autumn- anniversary cards. I was still on my Lemon Tart kick. Once I had cut into it, I just kept going until the whole 8.5x11 sheet was mostly gone! The solid part of the roses was done with PTI's Lemon Tart ink, the leaves (both roses and leaves are from PTI's Garden of Life) and rose outlines were done with Memento inks (bamboo, new sprout, and dandelion). I finally picked up Mixed Messages. I know they provide the dimensions on the site, but wow, are these ever tiny! It'd be pretty awesome if they made bigger versions of these ones! This design is one that I could easily crank out several cards in an evening. Change up the colours and I'll be set for this upcoming anniversary season! I think I may go with a slightly larger sentiment for those ones though, I need to make a lot of cards for older couples.

One more birthday

This card ended up being my favorite that I made over the weekend. I just love the mix of the blues, the little gems, and the vellum base. My goodness, that vellum, it's absolutely dreamy. I kept convincing myself that I didn't need vellum cardstock, I already had vellum paper. Well, as someone who is pretty obsessed with making clear cards, vellum paper really doesn't cut it for card bases. I really love the bold shape of the flowers in Garden of Life. I wanted to bring in some dots, so using the same inks as the flowers, I inked up a dot, stamped it off once, then applied it to my paper. I finished off the design with some dotted baby blue organdy ribbon, a little bit of patterned paper, a birthday greeting and some gelly gems. Since this is a vellum card, I thought

I should add in an decorated interior. It's pretty basic, but pretty and coordinated.

I just found out this card won in one of PaperTrey Ink's August Guest Star Stamper! I'm very excited!

To answer a question, blues used are Memento's Bahama Blue and Danube Blue.

A little more birthday...

I hope you are enjoying my week of PaperTrey Ink so far!

When I saw the Floral Frenzy set, all sense of "sure I have enough flower sets" went out the window. Really, can you get enough flower sets? I don't think so, I keep adding them to my collection and I use so many of them for so many different cards! For this card, I kept to using only PTI products (except the white cardstock, I know people RAVE over their white, but I've got a decent supply that's also 110lb and a nice bright white, plus I can drive to the store to pick up a pack of 250 sheets, sets me back about $15.00). I thought these flowers would look really pretty inked up with Lemon Tart with just a bit of Summer Sunrise dabbed around the edges. I was thrilled with the result! Can you believe I forgot my dimensionals (they are such a staple too!) during my weekend getaway?? So I had to get resourceful. I use double sided tape that comes on a large roll. To make dimensionals, I took a short, thin scrap of cardstock and folded it in half, twice. Then I wrapped it with my tape, voila, instant pop! Anyway... the lemon tart cardstock was stamped with some flowers to make some pretty patterned paper. I added in a sentiment from Garden of Life and some Spring Moss twill.

Onto the birthdays!

You know, I never used to need lots of birthday cards in August. There were just the 2 big birthdays in my life (my mom and dad, they are a week apart, today is my dad's birthday). It seems lately that I am needing more and more. I guess that's a good thing, means you know more people and want to bring little bits of joy to their lives with a handmade card.

I really love all things tree (tree-y? tree-like?). I have had my eye on this PTI set for quite some time. I was waiting to put together a larger order. So when I finally placed that order, the set Father Knows Best had to jump into the cart. Pairing it with chocolate, vanilla, craft, and olive just seemed like the natural thing to do. I thought about going all distressed on it, but I really loved the clean look to the dots and lines. I really love how quickly this card came together. I am totally going to make a big bundle of these in summer and fall colours to keep on hand for masculine birthday cards! I'm thinking this particular design would look amazing with some rusty coloured leaves, some striped orange/rust papers and some wider chocolate or rust ribbon!

Another baby card!

What's that sound??? The sweet sound of relief as my latest PaperTrey Ink order did not come with any customs fees, woot! I was also impressed with the speedier shipping. I ordered on the 29th, it was shipped the 30th, and arrived on the 7th. I was really glad it arrived pre-weekend, since the plan was to head to a friend's cabin, and I wanted to bring some new stamping stuff! As I mentioned yesterday, it seems like everyone is having babies, so I finally felt justified in ordering Bitty Baby Blessings. It's really one of the cutest line art baby sets I have seen. I also love the versatility of animals, they can always work with other card themes! Also in my order was some of PTI's Lemon Tart. Oh my goodness, it's the most beautiful yellow ever! I just love it, and I foresee myself needing more in the semi-near future. It has made me love pastels (I'm more of a brights and earthy kind of gal).

As I mentioned, I was heading away from my studio for the weekend. It's always difficult determining what to bring. So... here's what I brought (and I have to say limiting myself really made me stretch my creativity).

• at least one sheet each of cardstock from my Stampin' Up! and PaperTrey Ink collections (plus several neutrals of course-white, vanilla, kraft, vellum, black, grey, chocolate)
• only clear stamps- a mix of PTI and a muse this time
• my big paper cutter (the guillotine style tonic one)
• 22/24 Memento ink pads, plus the PTI inks I have, plus a white craft pad
• my little container of sorted brads
• a random collection of ribbon
• Copics and Spica markers
• 2 pairs of scissors
• Cleaning Pad and waterbottle
• A large assortment of my cut down Stampin' Up! patterned papers
• roll of tape
  

The list sounds extensive, but it almost all fit into one of those 9x13 or 14 inch Rubbermaid containers. I had the markers and ribbons in their own turquoise empty punch box tins. I ended up making 10 cards while out there. Keep in mind that is not all I was doing! I was at a cabin, so there was plenty of this:

Thanks for coming by!

A few baby cards

It seems like I know way too many people who have just given birth or will do so very soon. So here are a few baby cards I made. These two designs are super quick and simple. They would also work nicely as birth announcements. I had some scalloped pieces of this luscious brown by Bazzill laying around, so I thought that would make a really nice edge on my cards. I grabbed a piece of Soft Sky for the boy card. I chose the colour because it matched the blue in this American Crafts ribbon exactly! Next up, I grabbed one of my first gel-a-tins sets (and favorites) Pet Shop. I thought this cute puppy would work well for the baby boy card.




For the baby girl card, I grabbed some PaperTrey Ink Sweet Blush cardstock and matching stitched ribbon. I still had plenty of the scalloped paper left over, so I used that again. I really liked the idea of the announcement on the ribbon of the other card. Since I didn't have any matching ribbon, I went with a stamped sentiment (comes from SU!'s So Many Sentiments) with the image, as well as behind the image. For this one I went with the cat. It's just one of those things, cats always seem more feminine to me, just like dogs seem more masculine. I don't know why.

A few butterfly cards!

Here are a few butterfly cards that I made recently. Oddly enough they both ended up being thank you cards too! I was trying to practise a "scrappy style" meets "my style" type creation. For the first card, I really, wanted to do some stitching, but it ended up being very tedious as I did hand-stitching. I loved the distressed look to this Basic Grey Perhaps paper so I stuck with that theme, adding in a distressed tab, some distressed edges, and some mismatched buttons. The thank you image is from a Basic Grey rub-on set.




For the second card I went with something WAY faster. I saw these butterflies in this K & Co. Wild Saffron paper and thought they should take center stage on a card. I left the one on the paper. The card was too plain, so I cut out a second butterfly and popped that up. I only attached it along the body so that wings had the illusion of fluttering. I added in a sentiment from Verve Stamps that I thought went nicely with the whole ensemble.

Thanks for stopping by today. I was at a cabin for the weekend, took lots of nature photos and made lots of cards too :D So I'll be sharing those this upcoming week.

Some Inkadinkadoo

I am really loving this Cat set by Inkadinkadoo. I think this image is my favorite though! It reminds me of my first cat, Deena. She had several of the characteristics of a Siamese (the meow, the attitude, the intelligence). She was half-Siamese, but ended up grey and didn't have the associated health problems of a full-bred.

Any way, I really wanted to use some of the Bali Breeze papers, so I chose my papers, then chose the ink and ribbon to match. I went with a simple layout, but I just love the vibrancy of the colours! I chose the teal papers specifically because the dotted swirls kind of matched the cat's.

Supplies:
Stamps: Inkadinkadoo Cat
Paper: White, Pomegranate, Teal, Bali Breeze
Ribbon: Pomegranate

I really ought to...

Make tags more often! I absolutely love the idea of putting together tags. I know they don't seem to serve as much functionality as cards, however, the only thing that is truly holding that functionality back is me. There is no reason you couldn't make an over-the-top tag instead of a birthday card. I made this tag for a recent call, however, I didn't read all the instructions of that call, so I'm thinking it has a low likelihood of getting picked. I submitted anyway, but I thought I'd share here too. One thing that working with a tag canvas made me realize- I really, REALLY wish I had more chipboard alphabets. I'm thinking I need to find a really great die-cut alphabet or two to have on hand, just so I can make my own chipboard alphabets. I caught a glimpse of the upcoming Stampin' Up ones, but $177.95 is quite steep for one alphabet (Serif Essentials, no clue on the size, one die is 5.5x6, and there appears to be 4 letters per die). I could buy a whole lot of pre-cut chipboard alphabets for that price. So I guess I'm kind of torn.


Anyway, here's my tag. I had lots of fun stamping, using glitter, and inking up these letters from a Basic Grey Christmas collection.

Supplies:
Paper: White (staples) Blue (Colorbok)
Ink: Moonlight White, Peacock Spectrum Pad (Brilliance), Paris Dusk, Summer Sky, Danube Blue (Memento)
Stamps: Fancy Flakes (Gel-a-tins)
Ribbon: May Arts, Stampin' Up
Tape: Stamper's Magic Tape (Starving Artistamps)
Chipboard letters: Basic Grey
Glitter, Rhinestone brad (Making Memories)

Happy Haunting!

So today I have a bit of a tutorial/product focus for you. Tape- it's on every stamper's list, you can never have enough (you never would want to come across the situation where you run out!) There's also the ongoing search for the perfect tape for specific projects. You want extra sticky for keeping that chipboard attached the a card, you want to simply keep your card together after it survives a trip through the postal service, or you want to attach vellum. It seems there's a tape for all of these things. I have recently discovered Stamper's Magic Tape thanks to Tracey. It's great and comes in quite the assortment of shapes and sizes. I have a few of the 6x10 sheets. There were claims that this was the stuff to use with vellum. I love putting vellum on my cards, but I don't always want to attach it with brads, you know?

Alright, so here's what I did...
#1 Using the 6x10 sheets, cut a piece of the adhesive to the same size as your vellum

#2 Peel the backing (it's nice how there's a slight seam so you can do this with ease)

#3 Attach your vellum, being carefully to place flat so no bubbles occur

Now for my finished product. I also used the tape on the tree piece. For that I covered the stamped image with the tape, than coated in glitter. Easy, and SO much cleaner than dealing with interfacing, white glue, or packing tape!
Supplies:
Stamps: Inkadinkadoo- Cats & Bats
Ink: Brilliance Moonlight, Tuxedo Black, Stazon Black
Paper: Black, Vellum, White
Accessories, etc.: Glitter, Stamper's Magic Tape, Ribbon, Cord, Polyshrink