Encre, papier, ciseaux

Page Maps Sketches: Funny Without Knowing It

One last page before the month of May rolls away. I am still working on the May Page Maps sketches, but I am afraid I am still one short. Not too worry, I'll just finish it in June and know that my scrapbook album is now ten pages bigger.

I had a funny story about my sister rolling around in my head and even though I didn't have a picture of this exact moment, I wanted to put it to paper, so I simply selected a random picture of her and made this page. I reached again for the Playful Polka Dots Simply Scrappin' kit. You'vseen quite a lot of this kit since it came out but it's just so fun and cheery, I just can't help but want to create with it. Which is good, because now that I've bought it, I might as well use it! (What a novel idea for a lot of us, right?...)

Here's the story behind the page: My sister wanted to tell us that she had met some Latino guys in the bus who spoke Spanish, but what actually came out when she told the story was that she had met guys who spoke Latin on the bus. I burst out laughing and was like, "Those were some smart guys you met there, conversing in Latin!" Needless to say, we teased her quite a bit about it and it's still a recurring joke even years later.

The page is pretty straightforward. I used a lot of die-cut pieces from the kit and a whole lot of brads - a quick, inexpensive way to embellish. The title was created with a mix of die-cut letters and stamped letters embossed with Tango Tangerine powder. At the bottom, I glued my letters on punched squares (3/4 Square punch) and added dotted lines with a marker to create an argyle pattern. I also used my markers to doodle around the flower petals, the letters and to write my journaling. The flower in the upper left corner was punched with our new three-way punch from the Summer mini and the right border was created by using the Spiral punch.

 

 

 

 
Inspiration: May Page Maps sketch

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Sweet Shoppe Alphabet Lower
Simply Scrappin' Kit: Playful Polka Dots
Designer papers: Brights Collection
Ink: Versamark
Punches: Three-way flower, Spiral, 3/4 Square, Corner Rounder
Big Shot: Billboard die, Simple Letters dies
Accessories: Markers, Springtime Vintage Flower, Stampin'Dimensionals,
Brads, Button, Wite baker's twine

 

Page Maps sketches: Tonic Sol-Fa

I've been working diligently on finishing all of the May Page Maps sketches and I am proud to report that I have finished eight out of the ten sketches so far. I'm not quite at the finish line, but I can't remember the last time I've produced so many pages in a month. Probably back in the days before I discovered stamping and card-making.

Anyway, the page I am sharing today was made with the Sunny Day SS kit, which I was happy to snag from the Clearance Rack. I *heart* using SS kits for pages and cards and it bottles my mind why I never sell any of those kits. The sketch had a row of circles on the left side, which I immediately associated with the Circle Circus set. Doesn't it look totally cheerful with all of those bright circles? Looking at my pictures, I also thought the pictures from the Tonic Sol-Fa show at convention were the perfect match to the papers. I was looking at the sticky die-cuts, trying to find a journaling spot in the bunch and when I saw the tickets, I thought, "Perfect!"

The title was stamped with the Schoolbook Serif Alphabet and embossed with the Tango Tangerine and Melon Mambo embossing powders. I added two borders from the die-cuts selection and a Hodgepodge Hardware metal frame around one of the Circle Circus images, on which I added the date.

If you are wondering where the heart charm comes from, it's actually a charm I recycled from my latest purchase. I splurged on a Guess handbag (this one here, but in pink), on which were hanging three metal charms. They were rubbing together and making a constant clicking sound which I found really annoying so I used plyers to take two of them off and kept it on my stamping desk, thinking I could use them on a project.

 

 
inspiration: Page Maps May sketch

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Circle Circus, Schoolbook Serif Alphabet
Simply Scrappin' Kit: Sunny Day
Inks: Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Versamark
Accessories: Melon Mambo and Tango Tangerine embossing powders,
circle punches, rhinestones, Silver Hodgepodge Hardware, date stamp,
heart charm, markers, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Double Mojo: Birthday and Christmas Wishes

I was off of work today and decided to check out the Mojo sketch. It was a square of circle sketch week and I first decided on the square sketch, but once I was done with the first card, I decided to use the leftover pieces to try out the circle version as well. You'll notice I used some leftover pieces from the Razzleberry Lemonade pack, with two very different results. The first card is a birthday card and the second one is a Christmas card.

On both cards, I used the Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch to create a scallop edge along the top and bottom rectangles. On the birthday card, I used the On a Pedestal set and drew a yellow border around the Whisper White cardstock using a marker and my retired Perfect Layers rulers (which I wish we still carried). I added three shimmer brads on the left side and a Big Designer button on the right, over a piece of Pumpkin satin ribbon. I used some Pearl Basic Jewels to decorate the centre of the button, I trick I saw in the Stampin' Success, the magazine SU! publishes for its demos. The left edge of the card seemed a little bare, so I punched a Word Window piece out of a scrap of paper and held it in place over the ribbon using a pink brad.

On the Christmas card, I used the new Melon Mambo embossing powder to emboss the sentiment, from the Level 3 hostess set Notes de saison. I added two snowflakes from the Berry Christmas set from last year's Holidays mini in Soft Suede and added a rhinestone in the centre of one of them. I punched the sentiment with the 2-1/2 circle punch and clipped a silver mini library clip on the side. I die-cut a snowflake out of acetate and painted Frost White shimmer paint on the back to make it stand out more before adding it to the centre of the card. I added a Razzleberry taffeta ribbon, threaded a felt snowflake around the ribbon knot and added a Razzleberry brad on the ribbon.

 

 

 

 
Inspiration: Mojo Monday Sketch #193 
Color Combo: Melon Mambo + Rich Razzleberry + Soft Suede

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: On a Pedestal, Notes de saison (Occasional Quotes), Berry Christmas
Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Soft Suede
Designer papers: Rich Razzleberry
Inks: Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Crushed Curry, Versamark, Soft Suede
Big Shot: Snowflake #2, Circle, Scallop Circle
Punches: Dotted Scallop Ribbon, 2-1/2 Circle, Word Window
Accessories: Brads, Pearls, Big Designer button, Pumpkin Pie satin ribbon, Markers,
Shimmer brads, Stampin' Dimensionals, Felt Snowflake,
Rich Razzleberry taffeta ribbon, Melon Mambo embossing powder, rhinestones,
Mini library clips, tranaprency, White Frost shimmer paint

 

Inkspirations #71 - School's Out!

 

 
   
Last year, I got a lot of requests for thank you cards for teachers when school came to an end and I was not prepared for it. I thought I would make up for it this year and make thank you cards ahead of time. This is one of them, as the sentiment (from Teeny Tiny Wishes) reads "School is over."

Isn't that bicycle just the cutest thing you have ever seen? It's from a Bo Bunny rub-on pack. This image just makes me smile and screams summer and makes a great focus point for the card, so I kept the rest very simple. I applied the rub-on to Crumb Cake cardstock, added two yellow buttons on the wheels and the seniment on a small strip of paper held in place with a mini library clip.

I used matching papers to create a background, and pierced holes all around the paper pieces using the mat pack and paper piercer. I added felt rickrack, a yellow button threaded with white baker's thread and two white brads.

 

 

 

  
 
  

 

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: Voeux mignons (Teeny Tiny Wishes)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake (SU!)
Designer papers: Bo Bunny
Inks: Bermuda Bay
Accessories: White brads, Mat pack, Paper piercer, Felt rickrack, Buttons,
White baker's twine, Mini library clip, Crumb Cake envelope

 

Glitzy Peacock

One of the highlights of the Montreal Regionals was seeing my name up on the screen during Prize Patrol. I won the Proud Peacock set from the Summer minicatalogue but unfortunately, had not, up until now, had time to ink it.

I decided to do a few of the VSN challenges this weekend and this is one of the card I created for it. We had to use three elements that started with an R, and my choices were Rhinestones, Ribbons and Round shape and corners.

I have also tried to tidy up my papers a bit and found those Crate paper scraps, which I had just enough of to make one last card with. When I saw the little peacocks on them, I immediately knew they would look perfect with the Proud Peacock set.

I used two satin ribbons tied together and added one of our Sweet Pea felt flowers on top. I looked through my stash of brads and found some velvet ones that were an exact match to the paper, and I added some hand stitching with needlework floss on the circle.

I stamped the peacock in Baja Breeze and used a blending pen to watercolor some pink in the tail. Then, I added some rhinestones to the "eyes." The sentiment (from Teeny Tiny Wishes) was stamped in Basic Grey on a scrap of paper and I rounded the corners with a corner rounder punch before adding it as a tab underneath my matted image.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Proud Peacock, Voeux mignons (Teeny Tiny Wishes)
Inks: Baja Breeze, Cameo Coral, Pink Pirouette, Basic Grey
Cardstock: Whisper White, Bazzill
Papers: Crate
Accessories: Satin ribbons, velvet brads, corner rounder punch,
blending pen, Sweet Pea felt accents, needlework floss,
white square envelope, rhinestones, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Inkspirations #70 - Elegant Note

 
 

 
   
At this time of year, with the end of the catalogue fast approching, I always start feeling this pressure of using all of the papers and embellishments I have bought during the year, as they might be retiring soon. One of those things are the Elegant Notes I bought for a project we made at our team Christmas party. I used half of the pack for the M&Ts and I have made one, maybe two cards with those notes since. Well, when I saw that this week's combo included Vanilla in it, I decided to crack them out again and create something with them. 

I masked the sides of the card using the embossed lines as reference and then I stamped the Fine Flourish stamp in Blushing Bride ink. I used the Curly Cute set to add a sentiment and some matching Perfect Plum designer paper (a scrap from the retired Enchanted pack) underneath the card opening. I then used a dauber to add pink pastel to a Pretties flower, layered cardstock flowers punched with the Boho Blossoms and Bitty punches and added a pearl in the middle. I added four brads to the corners of the square and used a blending pen to add Champagne Mist shimmer paint both to the embossed frame and the brads. Then, I glued the die-cut pieces from the card opening onto the envelope (no waste!) and colored those pieces with shimmer paint as well.  

 

 

 
 

   

 

On a side note, I realized as I was looking through my Inkspirations folder that it's my two-year anniversary on the Design Team this month! I can't believe it's been that long already. And I can't believe out of those two years, I have never missed a single week so far!! Let's see if by posting this, I'll be jixing myself...

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), Fine Flourish
Cardstock: Elegant Notes card, Blushing Bride, Perfect Plum
Designer papers: Enchanted DSP
Inks: Blushing Bride, Perfect Plum
Punches: Boho Blossoms, Bitty
Accessories: Pretties kit, Post-It notes, blending pen,
Champagne Mist shimmer paint, brads

 

Inkspirations #69 - Rain or Shine

 

 
   
Aren't sketch a wonderful way to get started on a project? I'll admit that I'm a little bit of a sketch addict when it comes to cards and scrapbooking. I use them most often than not. It saves me time and aggravation when trying to get started and this week was no exception. Once my papers and stamp were picked, everything came together in a snap.

I decided to forgo the rectangle itself and instead interpret it as the space to add my image, which I handcut, layered and popped up on Dimensionals. Then I was looking at the flowers on the sketch and decided to use buttons and I added them on a circle punched out of a transparent to ground them and also to make it look like a big bubble or raindrop. The buttons were decorate with white Baker's thread (now sold in the Summer mini).

Another new item I broke out: our new colored embossing powder! I know SU! carried those years ago, as I remember seeing some in the first catalogue I received when I was a new customer. I had never bought any, as SU! dwindled its collection down to metallics once I got bit by the embossing bug. Let me tell you, if you are anything like me, you are going to love them! Heat embossing is always a fantastic look onto itself, but the colored powder gives a different look from the colored Craft ink with clear embossing on top. You might recognize the sentiment as one of the sentiments offered during SAB in the Happy for You set.

I'm rather happy with how the card turned out, except for... the paper, which I spritzed with a shimmer spray (not the Smooch, another one I tried) to give the paper a shimmery look like rain and the paper got soaked and started rolling unto itself. After it dried, I figure it would lay flat on my card once I glued it in place, so I went generously on the Snail and glued the paper to the card base. The corners of the paper still kept curling up, so I went back with Mono glue, hoping to fix the problem, but some of the edges are still not staying down and it is driving me crazy!! I would really like this card if it wasn't for this annoying little detail. Oh, well... Maybe you can't tell in the picture and it just looks nice? Here's to hoping...

 

 

 

   

 

On a side note, I realized as I was looking through my Inkspirations folder that it's my two-year anniversary on the Design Team this month! I can't believe it's been that long already. And I can't believe out of those two years, I have never missed a single week so far!! Let's see if by posting this, I'll be jixing myself...

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: Heureuse pour toi (SU!), My Umbrella (MFT)
Cardstock: Seafoam green (Bazzill)
Designer papers: Imaginisce
Inks: Versamark, Black
Punches: Circle
Accessories: Yellow rickrack, buttons, white Baker's thread, Melon mambo
embossing powder, transparent sheet, markers, Stampin' Dimensionals,
epoxy baubles, envelope

 

Imagine the Possibilities

First of all, happy National Scrapbooking month! I am so psyched that May is National scrapbooking month because then we see pages erupt everywhere, and even demos who are not usually big on scrapbooking are giving it a whirl, which gets me really pumped and inspired. So, this being said...

The page I am sharing today was created with the wonderful Playful Polka Dots SS kit from the Summer mini and will be the title page for my 2009 Leadership album. I have been focusing on scrapbooking lately since May is National Scrapbooking Month and I have decided to challenge myself to do all ten sketches published by Page Maps this month. Two down so far, let's see if I can make the remaining eight pages in the upcoming weeks...

I drew inspiration not only from the sketch for this page, but also from the Leadership logo as well. That's where I got the idea to doodle the vine with an Old Olive marker and add the Daffodil button between the two parts of my title. Spraking of which, it was created using the Schoolbook Serif Alphabet for the first word (the latest addition to my alphabet collection, a gift offered by SU! as a thank you for the work I submitted for publication) and the second part was created with the Just Perfect Alphabet. As its name suggest, it is just perfect, as the size is big enough to be visible on a 12x12 page but still small enough to stamp longer words like I did here. The Stamp-a-Ma-Jig is the key to suggest when lining up letters, even when working with clear-mounted stamps, if you really like things to be straight like I do. Althoguh the first word was not stamped directly on the page, but was stamped and embossed with the new Melon Mambo embossing powder on a sheet of Whisper White cardstock, handcut and glued on the page. The reason why I proceeded that way is that I wanted the letters to overlap the border of the patterned paper matted with cardstock and when you have so many layers, the stamping is not always crisp due to the layers, as you tend to get uninked spots close to the edges. Handcutting the letters allowed me to avoid this problem.

Tip: Still prefer to stamp directly on the project? Use markers in colors matching your inks to fill in the gaps in your image or letters, if there's any.

The flower was created with sticky die-cut petals from the Simply Scrappin' kit. I wanted a yellow centre to my flower but the sticky circles were all too big, so I used one of my circle punches to cut it to a smaller size and then added it to my flower, with a vintage brad on top. To make life easier on myself, I cut the prongs off of the brad and glued it in place with a glue dot instead (or Crystal Effects would also work nicely). I made sure to shape the petals a bit to give them dimensions and added Stampin' Dimensionals in the centre of each petal to keep them in place. I still thought the flower looked a little drab, so I pulled out the Champagne Mist shimmer paint and used my Aquapainter to add shimmer to the petals, a trick we learned at Leadership.

On my bottom strip, where I had used the Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch, I used the holes as a guide to pierce through the cardstock and used the Baker's twine from the Summer mini to add stitching to my project. The Page Maps sketch I was using had a mini banner on the left-hand side of the paper and wouldn't you know it, the SS kit also has banner stickers in it! (It was fate...)

 

 

 
 
 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Schoolbook Serif Alphabet, Just Perfect Alphabet
Simply Scrappin' Kit: Playful Polka Dots
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pumpkin pie
Inks: Pumpkin Pie, Versamark
Accessories: Circle punch, Melon Mambo embossing powder, Antique brads,
Designer buttons, Markers, White Baker's Twine, brads, Aquapainter,
Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Champagne Mist shimmer paint

 

Bag 'o Wishes

Here is another card that I submitted for publication and that was made with the new Love & Care hostess set. This time, the flower was colored using the Poppin' Pastels technique.

The mini envelope is something I bought in the scrapbook aisle years ago when I first started scrapbooking. I had pulled them out for a project and they were still out on my work table, so I was inspired to work them in a card design. I used the Scallop Border punch on the top of the insert to make the edge softer and match the feminine look of the card. The row of pearls and decorative brad also accent the feminine feel.

I used the distressing tool from the cutter kit all around my punched circle to give the edges texture. You'll recognize the oh-so-versatile Top Note die at the bottom of the card, and if you are wondering where this paper is coming from, it is from the Level 1 Hostess paper pack. Don't forget that the current In Colors will not be retiring at the end of June and will be staying in next year's catalogue as well since the In Colors are now staying around for two years after being issued. The hostess paper pack will not be staying, though, so if you are hosting an event or placing a qualifying order ($200+), you can get one for yourself and keep using it with the matching cardstock throughout the year. Just sayin'... (I love those papers so much, I actually have not one, not two, but three packs of it I got with hostess bennies... I stocked up, as you can see!)

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Love & Care
Cardstock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake
Designer papers: In Colors Hostess paper pack
Inks: Versamark
Accessories: Stampin' Pastels, daubers, Pear Pizzazz ribbon,
Pearl Basic Jewels, Vintage brads, mini envelope and insert,
Scallop Border punch, 2-1/2 Circle punch, Distressing tool (Cutting Kit)

 

Summer Mini Control Freaks Swap

I have made this card over a month ago but couldn't share it before because a) this hostess set wasn't available yet so I couldn't post any project pics and b) this is the card I used for my Control Freaks summer mini swap. My swap version was slightly modified as I had to prepare 29 cards and wouldn't have had enough Hodgepodge Hardware frames, but it turned out very similar.

Like the variegated look on the flower? This look was achieved by using the Watercolor Wonder markers to color the image. I rubbed the crayons directly on the rubber, then used a water bottle to mist water on the rubber before stamping. This technique takes a little bit of practice at first until you get the right water ratio. Stamp from too far away and your colors are not wet enough to stamp properly. Mist too much water and you get a droopy mess. But get it just right and this is the pretty result you end up with:

 

 

Color Combo: Perfect Plum + Peach Parfait + Cajun Craze

 

Tip: On my swap card, I used the Hodgepodge Hardware piece as a template to add a line all around my punched tag using a marker. Simply place the hardware piece around your sentiment, centering it, run the marker all the way around the inside of the metal frame and then use your punch upside down to punch the sentiment out.

Aren't those colours just so pretty together? They were inspired by an older Play Date Cafe challenge and the inspiration picture just really spoke to me. I mean, how pretty is this?

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Tendresse (Love & Care)
Cardstock: Cajun Craze, Perfect Plum, Peach Passion, Vellum, Very Vanilla
Inks: Versamark, Cajun Craze, Perfect Plum, Peach Passion
Big Shot: Scallop Square
Punches: 2-1/2 Circle, Designer Label, Corner Rounder
Accessories: Markers, Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Clear Embossing Powder, Twill, Brads,
Distressing Tool (Cutting Kit)

 

Bon voyage!

Aren't those little traveling signs so cute all lined up like that? I will admit it took me a while and a bit of patience to get everything lined up properly, but I am very pleased with the results. Those little signs come from the Travel Log stamp set from the Summer mini and they are my favorite image of the bunch. They all come on one stamp, but they fit perfectly in the 1/2 Circle punch, so you can easily mix and match colours by punching the images out before arranging them on your project.

I think this set is perfect for scrapbooking about your traveling, but I also wanted to show that it could be used to make cards as well.

This is another of the cards I had made for publication that was not selected. (Too bad - it was one of my personal favorites among those I submitted.)

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Travel Log
Cardstock: Basic Grey
Designer papers: Basic Grey
Inks: Basic Grey, Riding Hood Red, Crushed Curry, Cool Carribean
Accessories: Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon,
White embossing powder, Stampin' Dimensionals, Dies

 

Fabric Blossom

Last weekend during the Virtual Stamping Night, I played with fabric and created this card I am showing today. And great news: my card was selected as one of the winning entries! It is now part of the "Pirate Party Honours Gallery" on SCS. How cool!

The fabric flower was created by layering three different pieces of fabric on the Petal Party die and running it through the Big Shot. The Bigz dies are sturdy enough to cut through the three layers of fabric at once, a big time saver. I then layered the various flowers on top of one another and used some sewing thread to sew a big X in the centre to gather up the fabric a bit and then I added a matching button.

The sentiment block was created with a piece of chipboard from the Perfect Pair kit, that I covered with some In Color DSP from the level 1 hostess pack (told you I *heart* that paper!) Then, I added a sentiment from the Something to Celebrate set. The background paper is from the Greenhouse Gala pack, and I added an embossed frame on the cardstock mat, using the Tulip Frame embossing folder.

As you can see, this card is deceivingly simple. It looks fancy because of the layered flower, but can be reproduced quite fast, and would work for a myriad of occasions just by changing the sentiment.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Quelque chose à fêter (Something to Celebrate)
Cardstock: Garden Green, Real Red, Baja Breeze
Designer papers: Greenhouse Gala, In Color Hostess pack
Ink: Garden Green
Big Shot: Petal Party die, Tulip Frame embossing folder
Accessories: Candy Cane Christmas fabrics, buttons, Perfect Pair chipboard

 

Inkspirations #68 - Butterfly Kisses

  
 
 
  

 
I was looking forward to this week's color combo challenge, as the soft colours really spoke to me. I briefly hesitated before choosing my card's theme, as I could see this combo working for a baby card or even a wedding card, but I went for a Mother's Day card instead since I'd like to have a few of those on hand to sell at the office in the upcoming month.

I looked at my stamp set and selected one I hadn't mounted and inked just yet, namely the Punch Potpourri hostess set received with my last order. I stamped the butterfly with Pretty in Pink Craft ink on Whisper White cardstock, embossed the image with Iridescent Ice powder, punched it out with the butterfly punch and added some pearl jewels to it. I then decided I wanted the butterfly to rest on a flower so I picked one from the retired Pretties kit, stamped the Dot Dot Dot stamp on it in Versamark and used a dauber to rub some pink pastel over the design to color the flower and make the dots stand out. Then, I stamped the heart from the same stamp set on a piece of Pretty in Pink cardstock and used a circle punch to create a center for my flower.

I repeated the same step to create other circles that I used to create a scallop border. I remembered about the retired Flower Patch Design paper pack from which I still have some pieces of paper left that I knew would have Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery on. I then wrapped a piece of Celery twill (also retired but currently offered in the Clearance Rack) around my patterned paper, stamped a Mother's Day sentiment in Basic Grey and added two pearls from the Pretties kit at the top.

Super easy and super sweet!

 

 

 
 

  

   

 

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: Fêtes diverses (All Holidays), Punch Potpourri
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue
Designer papers: Petal Patch
Inks: Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Basic Grey, Versamark
Punches: Circle, Butterfly
Accessories: Pretties kit, Stampin' Pastels, Daubers, Iridescent Ice powder,
Pearl Basic Jewels, Stampin' Dimensionals, Celery polytwill

 

Pick a Verse

Want to see a cool new set? I present to you Swirls & Curls Verses, the new Level 1 Hostess set from the Summer mini. I am always looking for new sentiment stamps to add variety to my collection and this one is totally fresh and different. As you can see, the words are illustrated. This one here says "Hi" and I have used the new Tango Tangerine embossing powder to make it pop.

The rest of the image was stamped with the Pick a Petal set. To get that soft look, I used Craft ink instead of Classic and to avoid smearing, I sped up the drying process by using my heat gun to dry the ink. I masked around the card base before stamping and then drew a frame with markers and a ruler afterwards. I used glue dots to add Daffodil pompom trim to the centre of the flower for a little texture. Then, I stamped my envelope to match and in about 20 minutes, this card was done!

 

 

 
Colour Combo: Daffodil Delight + Pumpkin Pie + Bashful Blue

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Belles tournures (Swirls & Curls Verses), Pick a Petal
Cardstock: Crumb Cake
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Accessories: Envelope, Daffodil pompom trim, Markers,
Tangerine embossing powder, Post-It notes

 

Ship Frame

I woke up this weekend with this idea that I could use the new Baker's twine from the summer mini with eyelets to create a frame around the ship image from The Open Sea set. I could have used the matching paper from the mini as well, but something else caught my eye as I was pulling supplies out. I noticed that the colours from the Christmas Cheer SS kit were very masculine and could work for a non-holiday project if I omitted the snowflake papers. Perfect way to use up this set before it retires from the catalogue!

To make the polka dot paper less feminine, I stamped anchors on it to tie it up with the main image. Speaking of the main image, the blue frame around it was also pulled from the SS kit and the perfect size for the look I had in mind. Underneath my image, I stamped the "Happy Father's Day" sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set. The stamp is one line and was too long to fit in the Hodgepodge Hardware frame, so I cut it half by using markers and stamping the sentiment two words at a time, using my trusty Stamp-a-Ma-Jig to get everything lined up properly.

Tip: When using markers to cut up a sentiment, make sure that you dry your stamp very thoroughly before inking and stamping the second part or else you'll get a not-so-elegant shadow of the uninked words if the rubber is still moist. Ask me how I know... The best way to avoid this, I found, is to clean and dry the rubber, and then tap the stamp on a scrap of paper until no image appear anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: The Open Sea, Voeux mignons (Teeny Tiny Wishes)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Marina Mist
Designer papers: Christmas Cheer SS kit
Ink: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Eyelets, Cherry baker's twine, brads, Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware,
Cherry Cobbler seam binding, Basic Grey corduroy button, Always Artichoke marker

 

Serendipity

The first year I attended Convention, I had the pleasure of running into Brent Steele in the lobby of the hotel and chatting with him for a little while. It was a big deal for me as he was head of the Creative team at the Home office. I asked him if we could take a picture together and you can see on it that I was pleased as punch to meet him.

The papers and accents I used on this page are from the brand new Playful Polka Dots SS kit. Isn't it sunny and cheerful? Better yet - the kit doesn't have any word on it, so you can use all of the pieces whether you scrap in French or in English!

The title was die-cut with the Timeless Type alphabet, my latest acquisition. And did you notice the cute orange flowers? Those were punched with the new three-way punch. I just had to purchase one to see those up close for myself. They are unlike any other punch I've tried before.

 

 
 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Broadsheet Alphabet
Cardstock: Rose Red
Simply Scrappin' Kit: Playful Polka Dots
Ink: Old Olive
Big Shot: Timeless Type Alphabet
Accessories: Build-a-Brad, Three-Way Punch, satin ribbon, stapler,
button, rhinestones, brads, markers

 

Polka Dot Tree

This card was made for a Virtual Stamping Night sketch challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. I was so unsure on how to interpret the sketch when I first saw it, but once I looked through my stuff and found the chipboard tree, the rest came together in a flash.

I don't have any Perfect Plum design paper so I created some using the Presto Patterns paper. I sponged Perfect Plum ink on it, then sprayed some Log Cabin Smooch Spray and colored some of the squares with a Soft Suede marker.

The background was stamped with the Woodgrain stamp and the sentiment was embossed in gold on the Soft Suede cardstock. I then wet the end of the cardstock strip and rolled it up. I added a Build-a-Brad covered with Old Olive paper on the left end.

The journaling block comes from the Love Birds Simply Scrappin' kit and so does the thin chocolate strip at the bottom. I added a piece of baker's twine and two olive brads and I was done.

I like how it turned out! I'm not usually big on Perfect Plum, but I do like how it looks paired with Soft Suede and Old Olive.

 

 

 
Colour Combo: Soft Suede + Old Olive + Perfect Plum

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Belles tournures
Cardstock: Old Olive, Soft Suede,
Designer papers: Presto Patterns DSP
Ink: Versamark, Soft Suede, Old Olive
Accessories: Love Birds SS kit, Gold embossing powder,
Build-a-Brad, Perfect Pair On Board chipboard, brads,
Baker's twine, Log Cabin Smooch Spray, Stampin' Dimensionals