Encre, papier, ciseaux

Inkspirations #64 - Father's Day

 
  

 
I'm still not sure how I feel about this card. I like it, but I don't love it. I will admit to having a hard time figuring how to use this week's color combo. I thought a masculine card would be the best way to go. I'm curious to see what the other DT members and other stampers who'll join in this week's challenge will do with these colours.

 Most of the stamps I used come from the Plane & Simple stamp set from the minicatalogue, a great masculine set if you're looking to add a new one to your collection. For some mysterious reason, though, the sentiment went from "Happy Father's Day" in English to "Happy birthday, Dad" in French, so I pulled out an old hostess set that was called "All Argyle" and that I keep nearby because there's a lot of useful sentiments in it, and I used the argyle stamp on the tag as well. After finishing the card, I discovered that the Teeny Tiny Wishes also has a Happy Father's Day sentiment, so I guess this could also be used if you'd like to use something current.

The background cardstock was dry-embossed with the Square Lattice embossing folder, which has a great geometric pattern that really sets the tone on masculine cards. I also added a jumbo eyelet and some twill for a bit of additional texture, and some inked edges for a more rugged look. The plane was inked with my More Mustard ink pad and I used the Cajun Craze marker to add some shading on it before stamping.

Tip: If you look closely at the stamp set in the mini, you'll notice that it includes two borders. I hadn't noticed before receiving the set, but those two borders are supposed to be mounted together on one wood block. That is not exactly what I had in mind because I wanted to be able to stamp them separately without using a marker, so I cut them apart and mounted them on each side of the wood block. I added the image stickers on the sides of the block.

Notice how the card only uses cardstock and no patterned paper? A rare occurence for me... 

 

 

 
 

  
  

 

Come join the fun! Here is the LINK to our challenge blog, where you can share a link to your creation, and links to the other DT members' creations:

 

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Makeesha
Marisa
Renée

 

 

Stampin' up! Supplies
Stamps: Ça plane! (Plane & Simple), Tout en losange (All Argyle)
Cardstock: Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Poppy Parade, Ivory Confetti
Inks: Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Poppy Parade, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Distressing tool (Cutting kit), daubers, twill, jumbo eyelet,
Circle punch, Square Lattice embossing folder,
Decorative Label punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, markers

 

Focus on SAB: Ice Cream Parlor Collection - Life's a Circus

Can you believe today is the last day of Sale-a-Bration? I know it has to end eventually, but I still get a little bit sad every year when the last day rolls around. SAB is such a happy period of year, with customers getting really happy about their freebies and me getting so happy about seeing them so happy...

The card I am showing you today comes from the House of Rejects from the latest Paper Crafts edition. The theme was "Under the Big Top" and we had to submit circus-related projects. I remembered my Clowning Around stamp set, which is one of my retired stamp sets that actually see the light of day every once in a while. It is unique and great for kids' cards.

I wanted to use bright colours on my card, so I reached for the Ice Cream Parlor papers and sticky die-cuts. The clown was colored in matching colors with markers and stamped on one of our retired Love Notes scallop die-cuts. The pants were stamped a second time, decorated with brads and popped up on Dimensionals. The three balls the clown is juggling with are three die-cut circles from the Ice Cream Parlor sheets that were covered with Crystal Effects to give them that shiny plastic look.

On a separate strip of white cardstock, I stamped the ticket image from the stamp set repeatedly in three different colours and then added it to the card at an angle, following the Mojo Monday sketch, which was my inspiration. The sentiment is from Party Hearty. I wanted something I could punch out, so I selected this sentiment, white-embossed it and popped it up on Dimensionals.

 

 

 

 

 Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Clowning Around, Célèbre en grand (Party Hearty)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight
Designer papers: Ice Cream Parlor DSP
Inks: Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Versamark
Accessories: Markers, Circle punch, Stampin' DImensionals, paper piercer,
White embossing powder, Brads, rickrack

 

Focus on SAB: Extreme Skateboarding

This card was CASEd from a Michelle Zindorf creation. If you've ever seen her work, you know that she is the queen of the brayer and sponges. Her talent will never cease to amaze me, and when I saw this  card, I was compelled to give her design a try, especially since this is a fabulous masculine card and I don't have a whole bunch of these on hand. I did it a little differently, as I didn't mask the ramp but rather cut the corner off of my cardstock to expose the Basic Black mat instead.

The background pieces were all stamped with the Wonderfully Worn background stamp and the Extreme Elements set, and edges were sponged with Basic Black ink for a shabby look.

For the sentiment, I used a stamp from the Heureuse pour toi (So happy For You) SAB set and used the shooting star at the top of the image as well.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Extreme Elements, Extreme Skateboard, Wonderfully Worn,
Heureuse pour toi (So Happy For You)
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Tango Tangerine, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Glossy White
Inks: Elegant Eggplant, Tango Tangerine, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Versamark
Accessories: Circle Cutter, Silver brads, Black marker, Daubers, Dimensionals

 

In my Mother's Garden

This Mother's Day card was inspired by last week's Colour Q challenge and the Clean & Simple sketch challenge. If you're wondering what this flower set is, you are getting a little sneak peek of an upcoming hostess set called Tendresse that will come out in the Summer minicatalogue on May 1st. It is the stamp set I received from SU! to prepare the samples they featured in the Stampin' Success magazine, which is how I got an "advanced copy" of the set. Yeah, life is pretty cool these days!

The adorable Concord Crush polka dot paper comes from the level 1 hostess set paper pack. The designs are really pretty and I have already used a big chunk of the pack, especially the Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz ones.

The butterflies were die-cut and embossed with the Lovely Wings Embosslits die. To make the embossed details stand out more on the cardstock, I dipped a blending pen in Frost White shimmer paint and colored the details on the butterflies. Then, once they were added to the card, I added bling to them (Concord Crush shimmer brad, purple rhinestone brad and rhinestone).

The sentiment comes from the All Holidays set and reads, "Happy Mother's Day." I decorated the flourishes with two pearls and I added a row of piercing at the top of the card with the paper piercer and mat pack to fill in the gap.

 

 

 

 

Focus on SAB: Itty Bitty Bits Tag

This is a second card I created with the use of my Itty Bitty Bits set. I used a Verve sketch found on SCS and the Love Birds Simply Scrappin' kit (which I *heart*). This design uses quite a few tiny buttons (16, to be exact, but since you get 64 in the container, you can easily recreate this look and still have plenty of buttons left for other projects.

The trims I used are sticky die-cuts from the SS kit. You'll notice that I embellished the scallop trim at the bottom with little pearls at the top of each scallop. There were already little white dots printed on the die-cut, so I used them as a guide to glue my pearls straight.

Tip: To glue the buttons in place, I generally use mini-glue dots when I'm not placing anything underneath, but since I was using stamped images here and didn't want to detract from them, I used a drop of Crystal Effects instead. When you press the button down on the cardstock, it spreads the Crystal Effects evenly underneath the button and dries clear so you can see the image clearly through the button and you get a strong-enough hold that the button will not fall off of the project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Itty Bitty Bits, Ça plane! (Plane & Simple)
Simply Scrappin' Kit: Love Birds
Designer paper: In Colour Hostess Pack
Ink: Early Espresso
Punches: Bitty punches, Corner Rounder, Circle, handheld punch
Accessories: So Saffron grosgrain ribbon, Bitty buttons, Crystal Effects,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Pearls, Brad

 

Focus on SAB: Itty Bitty Bits - Birdie in a Tree

The card I am showing you today focuses on the Itty Bitty Bits set, which is one of the catalogue sets you can get for free during SAB, and is inspired by a sample card that was originally done by SU!

Itty Bitty Bits has been one of the most popular sets chosen by my customers during SAB whic, strangely enough, I had nothing to do with because I acquired it only recently and have just started using it. To be honest, I always thought the images in this set were too small. I know they are that size because they are meant to match with the Bitty buttons, but I've been using those either bare or with designer paper underneath. Then, I saw some super cute samples done with it and I changed my mind about needing it. I'm sure you know how that goes...

You'll recognize the cute tree as the one from the Valentine Defined set, and the sentiment (Happy Birthday) was pulled from the Plane & Simple set. The scallop mat was die-cut with the Scallop Square die and the Big Shot, and I added holes at the jonction of each scallop using my handheld punch.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Amour par définition (Love Defined), Itty Bitty Bits,
Ça plane! (Plane & Simple)
Cardstock: So Saffron, Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzazz
Inks: Pear Pizzazz, Early Espresso, Baja Breeze
Big Shot: Scallop Square die
Punches: Bitty punches, handheld punch
Accessories: Blushing Bride ribbon, linen thread,
Bitty buttons, Stampin' DImensionals

 

Creating masculine cards / Créer des cartes masculines

I know that creating masculine cards can be daunting for some (myself included), so I compiled a list of tips that can help inspire you when you have cards to make for the men in your life.

 

• Choose darker colours (for example, from the Regals collection)
• Use sports, cars, planes, boats, nature, tools, robots, trains, dinosaurs, playing cards images
• Use twill instead of more delicate ribbons and wooden sheets (did you know you can stamp on both of those?) 
• Tear cardstock, sponge edges, sand patterned papers, use the Cutting Kit to distress edges
• Add texture to your cardstock using the Sanded or Wonderfully Worn backgrounds
• Use metal accents (jumbo eyelets, Designer brads, Hodgepodge Hardware)
• Pick stripes, argyle and geometric shapes over polka dots or flowery patterns
• Focus on streamlined designs

 

Suggestions of sets to use

• Extreme Elements (p. 89)
• Totally Tool (p. 61)
• Trendy Trees (p. 110)
• On the Green (p. 19)
• All in the Family and Accessories (p. 91)
• To a Classic (p. 50)
• Lovely as a Tree (p. 114)
• Silhouettes de la nature (p. 117)
• Plane & Simple (mini Occasions)
• Out West (p. 129)
• Beware Pirates (p. 87)
• On the Grill (p. 61)
• Loads of Love (p. 72-73)
• Grunge Rock (p. 87)
• Countryside (p. 115)

 

Color Combos Suggestions

• Marina Mist + Night of Navy + Real Red + Very Vanilla + Gold
• Marina Mist + Pumpkin Pie + Early Espresso
• Cajun Craze + Rich Razzleberry + Peach Parfait = Crumb Cake
• Peach Parfait + Early Espresso + Pear Pizzazz
• Pacific Point + Bashful Blue + Real Red + Old Olive
• Old Olive + Not Quite Navy + Pumpkin Pie
• Pacific Point + Real Red + Tempting Turquoise + Old Olive
• Baja Breeze + Early Espresso + Very Vanilla
• Soft Suede + Pear PIzzazz + Not Quite Navy + Old Olive
• Wild Wasabi + Daffodil Delight + Early Espresso
• Night of Navy + Bashful Blue + Pumpkin Pie + Garden Green + Sahara Sand
• Basic Grey + Real Red + More Mustard + Bashful Blue
• Elegant Eggplant + Baja Breeze + Rich Razleberry
• Tango Tangerine + So Saffron + Going Grey
• Crumb Cake + Baja Breeze + Not Quite Navy
• Crumb Cake + Soft Suede + Very Vanilla
• Bashful Blue + Elegant Eggplant + Rich Razzleberry
• Old Olive + Always Artichoke + Sahara Sand

 

Some samples from the vault:

Happy Birthday, Old Bird
New Sheriff in Town
Flying By to Say Hi
Birthday Banner
'Later, 'Gator
Birthday Gift
P for Pumpkin
Golden Leaves 
Just For You
Cages and Birdie
Fan Mail
Smooch Resist
Jackpot
Sparkly Heart
Typed Note
Shabby Flourishes
Cool Birthday
Rockin' Day
You're a Hoot and a Half
Extreme Snowboard
Penguin and Snowflakes
Rock Star Wannabe
Sepia Snowflakes
Loads of Wishes
Surf's Up
Dude!
Birthday 'Bot
Walk in the Park
Extreme Box
Trendy Wishes
Joker Poker
Gone Golfing
Dyno-mite
011101011
King for a Day
Hit the Road, Jack
Twilight
It's a Boy
Best Wishes All Year Long
Autumn Day
You're a Star
Lovely Tree

 

 

 

Pas toujours facile de créer des cartes pour ces messieurs... J'ai donc compilé une liste de trucs qui pourront vous aider et vous inspirer lorsque vous aurez des cartes masculines à créer.

 

• Choisir des couleurs sobres (par exemple, de la palette Royaux)
• Prendre des images de sports, d'automobiles, d'avion, de bâteau, de train, de nature, de dinosaures, d'outils, de robots, de cartes à jouer, etc.
• Utiliser du ruban croisé (twill) ou encore les feuilles de bois (Saviez-vous que vous pouvez étamper des images sur ces deux surfaces?)
• Déchirer le carton, encrer les côtés à l'éponge, sabler le papier, utiliser l'outil à user ou des ciseaux pour user les tranches du carton
• Utiliser des étampes d'arrière-fond comme Sanded, Woodgrain ou Wonderfully Worn pour un effet usé ou de bois
• Ajouter des décorations en métal (oeillets, attaches parisiennes, Hodgepodge Hardware)
• Choisir des motifs masculins (rayures, losanges, étoiles, motifs géométriques)
• Privilégier les designs épurés

 

Suggestions de jeux du catalogue

• Extreme Elements (p. 89)
• Totally Tool (p. 61)
• Trendy Trees (p. 110)
• On the Green (p. 19)
• All in the Family and Accessories (p. 91)
• To a Classic (p. 50)
• Lovely as a Tree (p. 114)
• Silhouettes de la nature (p. 117)
• Plane & Simple (mini Occasions)
• Out West (p. 129)
• Beware Pirates (p. 87)
• On the Grill (p. 61)
• Des tonnes d'amour (p. 72-73)
• Grunge Rock (p. 87)
• Countryside (p. 115)

 

 

 

Des idées de combinaisons de couleurs

• Murmure marin + Bleu nuit + Vraiment rouge + Très vanille + Or
• Murmure marin + Tarte au potiron + Couleur café
• Ocre roussillon + Fruits des bois + Pêche passion + Brune dune
• Pêche passion + Couleur café + Riche raisin
• Pointe Pacifique + Bleu timide + Vraiment rouge + Vert olive
• Vert olive + Presque marine + Tarte au potiron
• Bleu Balkans + Couleur café + Très vanille
• Doux suède + Riche raisin + Presque marine + Vert olive
• Wasabi insoumis + Narcisse délice + Couleur café
• Bleu nuit + Bleu timide + Tarte au potiron + Vert jardin + Sable du Sahara
• Gris souris + Vraiment rouge + Moutarde forte + Bleu timide
• Aubergine élégante + Bleu Balkans + Fruits des bois
• Tango mandarine + Tellement safran + Gris souris
• Brune dune + Bleu Balkans + Presque marine
• Pointe pacifique + Vraiment rouge + Tentation turquoise + Vert olive
• Brune dune + Doux suède + Très vanille
• Bleu timide + Fruits des bois + Aubergine élégante
• Vert olive + Artichaut chaud + Sable du Sahara

 

Des exemples pour vous inspirer

Bonne fête, vieille branche
Bye bye mon cowboy
En plein vol
Bannière de fête
Peau d'aligator
Cadeau d'anniversaire
C comme citrouille
Feuilles d'automne
Pour toi
Cages et oiseau
Neutre et vieillot
Résistance au smooch
Jackpot
Coeur brillant
Note dactylographiée
Fleurons antiques
Des tonnes de cadeaux
Coeur de rocker
Vraiment chouette
Planche extrême
Pingouin et flocons
Vedette de rock
Flocons sepia
Des tonnes de voeux
Surf
Dude!
Robot de fête
À l'orée des bois
Boîte extrême
Expressions festives 
Poker
Matinée de golf
Dino
011000101
Roi de la journée
En route!
Au clair de la lune
C'est un garçon
Quatre saisons de bonheur
Jour d'automne
Cinq étoiles
Chêne

 

Focus on SAB: Punch Bunch - On a Moonlit Night

This is another CASEd card of a design I thought was so beautiful. You can see the original version created by Willsygirl here. I didn't have a twig on hand, so I punched a branch out of Vanilla cardstock using the Two-Step Bird punch instead. For the background, I used a sheet of paper from the First Edition pack that I sponged with some More Mustard ink for a vintage look. I also wanted to moon to shine, so I covered the cardstock with Versamark and pourred Iridescent Ice embossing powder on it.

The little owl and the sentiment are both from the Punch Bunch set. I stamped the sentiment twice, on Vanilla and Mustard cardstock, using black ink and punched the middle part with a circle punch and layered it on the Vanilla cardstock. I also used some linen thread to hang the sentiment from the branch.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Perfo à gogo (Punch Bunch)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, More Mustard
Designer papers: First Edition
Inks: Basic Black, More Mustard, Versamark
Punches: Owl, Circles, Two-Step Bird, handheld punch, Scallop Edge
Accessories: Iridescent Ice embossing powder, linen thread,
sponge, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Inkspirations #63 - Button Card

  

 
I'm having a lot of fun creating projects using the Sew Suite items from the mini. Everything just comes out so bright and cheerful with those fun colours! The starting point for this one was the rub-on packs, from which I figured I could use the button card to make my focal image and then use three panels of patterned paper "sewn together" using my unmounted In Stitches wheel to mimick the sketch layout. I also used pinking shears to cut around the papers to make them look like fabric.

Then, I saw the pin needles in the rub-on packs and decided to "hold" my fabric in place on the project using them. The only problem is that the middle of the pins is white as if it was running underneath the fabric, which is great if you are using white cardstock, but does not really work when using colored cardstock or papers.  i solved the problem by using the tip of my paper piercer to scratch the white off of the rub-on before applying it to my project.

The sentiment, which comes from the Curly Cute set, was white-embossed on a piece of Tangerine Tango cardstock on which I had applied the pink stitches rub-on first. I added a bit of pompom trim at the bottom, and glued it in place on the card. Then, I added a stitched flower rub-on in the corner and placed the threaded needle so that the end of the thread would be coming off of the flower.

The button card rub-on already has ribbon shown on it, but it felt a little flat, so I sew real buttons on it with thread to give it a little bit of dimension. Then, I decided to mat the rub-on with a piece of Daffodil Delight cardstock, round the corners and create a "hanger" at the top using the retired Horizontal Slot punch and my handheld punch. Then, I added a couple of stitched flower rub-ons on there as well to tie it all in.

 

 

 

  

 
  

 

Come join the fun! Here is the LINK to our challenge blog, where you can share a link to your creation, and links to the other DT members' creations:

 

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Makeesha
Marisa
Renée

 

 

Stampin' up! Supplies
Stamps: Jolies pensées (Curly Cute), In Stitches wheel
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Tempting Turquoise,
Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Tango Tangerine
Patterned papers: Sweet Stitches DSP
Inks: Versamark, Early Espresso
Punches: Corner Rounder, Horizontal Slot (retired), handheld punch
Accessories: Pinking shears, buttons, thread, Sweet Stitches rub-ons,
Tangerine pompom trim, White embossing powder, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Focus on SAB: A to Z with Pizzazz

I made this card a while ago and I remember that the design was copied from a PaperCrafts publication, but adapted to Stampin' Up! supplies. The Crumb Cake background is stamped with the A to Z stamp, which is one of the SAB freebie from the catalogue. (Told you this stamp was pretty and versatile!) The good news is that if you can't get it during SAB, it'll still be available for purchase from the catalogue past March 31st. The better news is that until then, you can get it for free!

The design is quite simple, but I found that it was striking and really like those colours together (although Melon Mambo does not photograph well, I must admit!). The sentiment is from the must-have Teeny Tiny Wishes set.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Petal Pizzazz, A to Z, Voeux mignons (Teeny Tiny Wishes)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Old Olive
Inks: Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Soft Suede
Accessories: Pretty in Pink button, Pretty in Pink satin ribbon,
Cutting Kit (distressing tool), Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Focus on SAB: Happy Holidays

Have you noticed this Christmas set on the SAB list, the one with the cute Charlie Brown tree? It had immediately caught me eye when we got the catalogue last summer, so I jumped on the chance to get it as a SAB freebie. I'm not really into making Christmas cards these days, as I am mostly hoping for the sun and nice weather to get here (even more so now that we've changed time last weekend), but I did want to ink it up, so I gathered some paper scraps I had leftover from the Holidays paper pack and created this card. It was one of the card I submitted for the Paper Crafts Sketches special issue that was not chosen. On the flip side, they did select two of my cards for publication (yeah, me!) and I guess I'll have some stuff ready to share on my blog with the cards that did not make it in.

Like this one. The sketch had three panels and my first idea was to stamp the tree three times and decorate only the middle one, but I quickly realized the tree was bigger than I had thought and would not fit with the design I had in mind, so I switched gear and embossed some Cherry Cobbler cardstock with the Finial Press embossing folder and then sponged some Champagne Mist shimmer paint on the raised portion of the design.

I added a Vanilla seam binding bow on which I tied on a red button with gold cord. I am already down to my second spool of Vanilla seam binding - I've really been using a lot of this stuff! Gotta get more before the mini comes to an end...

Notice how I've matted the polka dot paper with some Brushed Gold cardstock? Those metallic cardstocks tend to get forgotten since they're hidden on a separate page than the regular color line table, but the Brushed Gold and Brushed Silver are really awesome to have. They are sturdy and have a very nice shimmery colour to them and a pack goes a long way to mat images and create accents. They are especially nice when creating Holidays or wedding projects. Just something to keep in mind when looking for a little extra something to spruce up a project.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Happy Holidays
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Brushed Gold, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Inks: Versamark, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive
Big Shot: Finial Press embossing folder
Accessories: Corner Rounder punch, Gold embossing powder, Vanilla seam binding,
Button, Gold cord, Pearl, Stampin' Dimensionals, Champagne Mist shimmer paint

 

Focus on SAB: So Happy For You

I saw this gorgeous card from Tessa on Splitcoast Stampers and I just had to CASE it because the colours and design really spoke to me. Not only does it feature the awesome So Happy for You SAB set (which I love because of its whimsical font and versatile sentiments), but it also showcases the A to Z stamp, which can be earned for free during SAB. This is an awesome background to have and goes really well with a bunch of our other stamps (animals, school stuff, typewriter, etc.). And what can be better than free stamps, right?

Remember that SAB ends on March 31st, so there is only two weeks left to get the exclusive sets and items because after March 31st, they won't be back.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Heureuse pour toi (So Happy For You), A to Z
Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Marina Mist, Peach Passion, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Inks: Peach Passion, Bashful Blue, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories: Stamp-a-Ma-Jig, Dazzling Diamond glitter, linen thread,
Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

 

Focus on SAB: Ice Cream Parlor Suite

At my last club meeting, I taught the Faux Mosaic technique and we made a scrapbook page, for a change. I pulled out the Ice Cream Parlor papers, die-cuts, buttons and ribbon to create this page here. I also used the Bliss stamp set to create the title and background.

The Faux Mosaic technique is a great way to use paper scraps. You can use scraps cut in random shapes to look like broken tiles or, as is shown here, use a square punch to create a border. The trick to make life easy on yourself is to use a piece of sticky sheet. You can apply your tiles without having to add adhesive to your paper by just gluing it to the sticky sheet and then you fill in the empty space with either embossing powder (shown here) or glitter to create the grout. You can even add Crystal Effects to your paper to create that glossy tile look (although we didn't at the club meeting because of the long drying time involved when using Crystal Effects).

See that yellow pocket with the journaling tag? It was actually created with the Pillow Box die. I just love that trick because it allows me to create pockets in a flash and to use that die more often than I normally would. To get the box to lie flat, you simple cut the bottom on one side out, and then you create a new straight scoring line at the bottom of the other half, which you will fold over to create the bottom of your pocket. The top can be decorated or punched any way you want, and then you can just slide a piece of cardstock  decorated with a punched tab to add your journaling on inside the pocket.

Speaking of journaling, since the title says "Bliss," I used this picture of my mom eating ice cream when she visited last summer and the journaling on my tag reads, "Ice cream + chocolat + beautiful summer day = pure bliss."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Joie (SAB)
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo, So Saffron, Pacific Point
Designer papers and die-cuts: Ice Cream Parlor
Inks: Melon Mambo, Versamark
Punches: 3/4 Square, Wide Oval, Circle Tab
Big Shot: Pillow Box die, Petal Cone die (banner)
Accessories: Ice Cream Parlor buttons and ribbon, Daffodil pompom trim, Brads,
Crystal Effects, Sticky sheet, Gold embossing powder, Stampin' Dimensionals, Markers

 

Making my Own Letterpress plates

A numbers background from SU! has been on my wish list for a while now, whether it is a background stamp or an embossing folder. When I received my Timeless Type die set (for free, with hostess benefits - woo-hoo!) last week, I looked at the numbers die and wondered what I could do with those. And decided to try and make my own letterpress plate!

I cut a bunch of numbers out of thin cardboard and glued the numbers wrong side up (very important if you want your debossed numbers to be readable) on a piece of chipboard. Then, using my Big Shot and fiddling a little bit to find the right sandwich, I managed to create the background for the card I'm sharing today.

The debossing is subtle, sort of like the look you get when you use the embossing plate. I tried putting shims to get more pressure, but the real issue come from the fact that I cut the numbers out of thin cardboard and cannot get a deeper impression because the numbers are not really thick. With that being said, I can't use thicker chipboard with the Timeless Type dies because they are Sizzlets and cannot go through thick materials, but I'd like to try this technique again using the Simple Numbers or Alphabet dies to cut shapes out of chipboard and then I think I could get a better impression on my cardstock.

The result is still pretty cool, it's just that it looks better in person and does not photograph really well.

The Soft Suede panel was stamped with the woodgrain background, and the owl comes from a rub-on set from last year. If you'd like to reproduce this card at home, I would advise using the owl punch or the owl from the Punch Bunch SAB set to achieve a very similar look. The oval was cut with the Ovals die, then sponged and distressed, and I added two branches punched with the two-step Bird punch. The sentiment was created with a stamp from the Something to Celebrate set (hostess set in current mini), on which I inked only the first part with a Baja Breeze marker, and then I used a Early Espresso marker to handwrite the rest. It reads, "Happy Birthday, old branch!" Two matching buttons finish the project.

Ready to see?

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Woodgrain, Quelque chose à fêter (Something to Celebrate)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Baja Breeze
Inks: Baja Breeze, Early Espresso
Big Shot: Ovals die, Timeless Type dies
Accessories: Bright Delight rub-ons, Cutting Kit (distressing tool),
Bird punch, buttons, markers

 

Inkspirations #62 - Love You a Latte

 
  
   
 

 
I was a little scared at the perspective of pairing Regal Rose and Daffodil Delight at first, but once I pulled the cardstock out, I realized it was not as bright as I had feared.

The idea for the circle-covered Top Note came from a patterned paper I had seen online that had overlapping circles instead of regular polka dots. I figured I could reproduce the look using punched circles, so I created a whole background and ran it through the Big Shot using the Top Note die. I had already decided on using the three cute cups from the A Slice of Life set (level 1 hostess set from current minicatalogue), but in retrospect, that background would look great with a fish or mermaid image as well.

  

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

Come join the fun! Here is the LINK to our challenge blog, where you can share a link to your creation, and links to the other DT members' creations:

 

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Makeesha
Marisa
Renée

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: A Slice of Life, Voeux mignons (Teeny Tiny Wishes)
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Watercolor paper
Patterned papers: Gala Greenhouse DSP, Regal Rose DSP
Inks: Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette, Daffodil Delight, Regal Rose
Big Shot: Top Note die, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder,
Canvas embossing folder, Finial Press embossing folder, Ovals die
Punches: Circle, Jewelry Tag, Scallop Trim border
Accessories: Rhinestones, ribbons, distressing tool (Cutting Kit),
blending pen, Stampin' Dimensionals, white envelope

 

Flying By to Say Hi

Here is the second masculine card we made at the class. This one seemed to be a favorite with the girls, who got to learn how to use the brayer to create a background. As you can see, I mixed old with new by comining the Plane & Simple set from the Occasions mini with good ol' Lovely as a Tree.

The banner behind teh plane was cut out of Pear Pizzazz cardstock using the banner from the Petal Cone die. What do you know, just the perfect size! We used needlework floss to hang the banner behind the plane.

To keep with the masculine theme, we stamped the background with the Sanded background and distressed the edges with the Cutting Kit. I also selected some twill for the background instead of flimsy ribbon, again in the spirit of keeping this card on the masculine side, and finished the project off with a jumbo brad.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies

Stamps: Ça plane! (Plane & Simple), Lovely as a Tree
Cardstock: Pumpkin PIe, Early Espresso, Gloosy White
Inks: Pumpkin PIe, Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz
Big Shot: Petal Cone (banner), Top Note
Accessories: Brayer, White envelope, jumbo brad, Pear Pizzazz ribbon,
Circle punch, needlework floss (DMC), Stampin' Dimensionals



Focus on SAB: Punch Bunch

My last class was about the oh-so-elusive masculine cards. People seem to really struggle with them, which I can relate to, because when you eliminate lace, glitter and flowers, it can sometimes feel like there aren't many options left.

This was the simplest card of the lot, because sometimes fast is good, when we're running out of time or when we're not sure if the person we're giving the card to is going to care about it enough to spend hours on. As you can see, it features not only one of the images from the SAB set Punch Bunch, but also the Texture wheel (on the peach cardstock) and the lovely Woodgrain background.

I added a mini library clip, because metal accents are great on masculine cards, and I added some linen thread, another great way to play with texture.

 

 

 
Color Combo: Rich Razzleberry + Peach Passion +
Cajun Craze + Crumb Cake

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Woordgrain, Texture wheel, Perfo à gogo (Punch Bunch)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Peach Passion, Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry
Inks: Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede, Peach Passion
Punches: Corner Rounder, Pinking Hearts border, Scallop Square, Square
Accessories: Mini library clip, linen thread, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Inkspirations #61 - L'emmitouflée

  
   
 

 
I had fun with this one! After receiving some good news last Friday, I was full of adrenaline and decided I wanted to create something so I sat down and decided I wanted to color. Some of my favorite stampers who are great at coloring have said that they color images in front of the TV and then find matching patterned papers later when they are ready to create a card later. Although they are creating some amazing cards, to me, that's just working backwards and I always need to decide on patterned papers first and then match my pencils or markers to the paper's colours.

So I dove into my paper stash ("diving" sounds about right, as I'll soon be able to pull a Scrooge McDuck and litterally swim in my roomfull of papers) and settled on this old paper pack, which seemed perfect to get the winter feel I was looking for.

For the sentiment, I used a stamp from the So Happy For You SAB set and I stamped it twice - once on the card and once on a scrap of paper - so that I could cut and pop up one of the words, to put the emphasis on "your" ("It's your day").

  

 

 

 
 

 

 

Come join the fun! Here is the LINK to our challenge blog, where you can share a link to your creation, and links to the other DT members' creations:

 

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Makeesha
Marisa
Renée

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Jingle Bell (The Cat's Pajamas), Heureuse pour toi (SU!)
Cardstock: Soft Suede
Patterned papers and die-cuts: Crate Papers
Inks: Soft Suede
Big Shot: Icing die, Twill embossing folder
Accessories: Sanding block, markers, brad, Stampin' Dimensionals,
button, embroidery floss, circle punch

 

Inkspirations #60 - Icing on the Cake

 
  
   
 

 
For this week's colour challenge, I inked my Slice of Life hostess set. I used the cake and reach for an old favorite, the icing technique, where you cover your image  with Tombo glue and pour white or sparkly embossing powder on it and melt until it bubbles. Gives a very nice, textured look to the cake.

The background was stamped with the Wonderfully Worn stamp. Since this card was a colleague's birthday card, I took the liberty of adding a few retired elements on it (the flower punch, the striped ribbon, the arrow punch and the sentiment). The layout was inspired by a card from the current minicatalogue. Can you spot it?

  

 

 

 

 

 

Come join the fun! Here is the LINK to our challenge blog, where you can share a link to your creation, and links to the other DT members' creations:

 

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Makeesha
Marisa
Renée

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: A Slice of Life, Messages illustrés (Picture It), Wonderfully Worn
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Rose  Red, So Saffron, Watercolor paper
Inks: Wild Wasabi, Rose  Red, So Saffron, Black StazOn
Punches: Circles, Pinking Hearts border, My Way, Trio of Flowers, Corner Rounder
Accessories: Saffron striped ribbon, brads,  rhinestone, marker, paper piercer and mat pack,
blending pen, Tombo glue, white embossing powder, Daffodil taffeta ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Mojo180 - Happy Birthday, Happy Life

I had a little bit of free time yesterday and I had just received some new free rubber, so I decided to make a fun birthday card using the Mojo Monday sketch and my brand-new Célèbre en grand (Party Hearty) set. It took me a long time to get this set, even though it is super cute, because I almost managed to get it for free and then I had a mental block about actually buying it.

Some of you might remember this set was offered as an incentive set you received if you hosted a $450 workshop two weeks after attending a Spring Regionals. I had attended the Montreal Regionals and I had a workshop booked in the week following the event, so I had high hopes of actually earning the set. Except that the workshop tanked. Big time. The sales were nowhere close to were they needed to be, so I missed out on the chance to earn the set. I've seen some pretty fabulous samples done with it over the years, though, and I kept eyeing it, so when came time to select some free sets I had earned, I decided to go for it. Hopefully, you'll see it pop up a few more times on my blog in the near future.

There were two Mojo sketch options this week, square or circle, and I thought the circle would work better with the design I had in mind. I also wanted a splash of bright colours, so I looked through my extensive paper stash and found last summer's Tropical Party DSP pack. The cupcake was stamped twice, in Tempting Turquoise and So Saffron and I handcut the top, decorated it with dots from the Cupcake punch and the candle from the stamp set and popped it up on Dimensionals. The main image was punched with the 1-3/4 Circle punch and matted with Old Olive cardstock.

The card base was created with the Scallop Circle die and the Big Shot. I then layered the Turquoise paper over the polka dot one and added the big rickrack cut with the Tasteful Trims die and glued all of those layers together before cutting out the circle. I used my unmounted In Stitches wheel to add the two decorative borders and then I tied a knot in my Rose Red seam binding and added it to the card. I added the sentiment tag, which has been colored with markers, and then a Saffron button decorated with a rhinestone.

  

   

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Célèbre en grand (Party Hearty), In Stitches wheel
Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Whisper White
Designer Paper: Tropical Party
Inks: Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive
Big Shot: Scallop Circle die, Tasteful Trims die
Accessories: Button, Rhinestones, Markers, Cupcake punch,
Circle punches, Stampin' Dimensionals, Rose red seam binding, Circle Scissors Plus