Encre, papier, ciseaux

Congratulating You

This simple card was CASEd directly from a SU! catalogue on one of those days when inspiration was lacking. It was right after the retirement list had come out and I remember seeing those Designer buttons on the list, so the sample in the catalogue was a great occasion to put them to good use.

The flirty sentiment is from an older hostess set and it reads Congratulations.

 

 

 

Color Combo: Pretty in Pink + Soft Suede + Lucky Limeade + Very Vanilla

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Belles tournures
Cardstock: Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink, Very Vanilla, Silver glimmer paper
Ink: Lucky Limeade
Accessories: Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon, Designer buttons, Embossing folder,
Pretty in Pink marker

All Business

Another masculine card I made ages ago. I work with a lot of men in suits at the office, so I thought this image would be a great addition to my collection as it's going to come in handy to have masculine cards on hand.

The word bubble was handcut directly from one of the patterned papers from the collection. Perfect way to add my sentiment in a fun, unique way! 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Arrière-pensées (SU!), Wallstreetafella (Stamping Bella)
Cardstock: Going Grey, Whisper White
Designer papers: he Said She Said (Teresa Collins)
Ink: Basic Black, Going Grey
Accessories: Markers, White envelope, Black eyelets, twine, sponge, Brad,
Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Knit, Purl, Knit, Purl...

My aunt Claire  was a big knitter, and she was really good at it, too. She sold almost all of the stuff she made and she was known in town for the quality of her work. She was the one who taught me various crafts as I was growing up and who instilled her love of creativity in me. When I saw this Stamping Bella stamp, it immediately reminded me of Aunt Claire, probably because of the knitting.

Aunt Claire passed away a little over a year ago and I never got to send her a card made with this stamp, but I will always have a thought for her whenever I see this image and be thankful for the invaluable gift that she left me: the gift of creativity.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Knitabella (Stamping Bella), Mots bannières (SU!)
Cardstock: Primrose Petal, Whisper White
Designer papers: Fête de plein air
Inks: basic Black, Baja Breeze, So Saffron
Accessories: Sponges, Baja Breeze seam binding, Scallop Ribbon border punch,
Nestabilities die, In Color Dahlias, markers, White envelope, Brads, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

It's All in the Details

A little bit of scrapbooking to share with you today. This is another page that has been lingering in my photo file, unshared. The pictures were taken before the office Christmas party, the first year I was part of the planning committee. The theme was the 1920s and we planned every little detail carefully. My teammate and I had put together boxed hanging from our necks in which we had "cigars and cigarettes" (chocolate cigars and candy canes) that we distributed during the evening. We also had flasks from the dollar store that contained colored confettis that we sneakily distributed to random employees during the night and then we had a game during the night where people had to earn as much money as possible and try to steal or buy those flasks from the owners, with a drawing at the end for a winner.

The poster was designed by my colleague. It was the front page to our party Website, and we had a full-size verion of it made for the event. We had red velvet curtains for the photography corner, and vintage posters that we had printed to decorate the cocktail area. The photographers were dressed in black and white, with suspenders and fedora hats, on which we had pinned press authorization cards!

It was pretty cool to see it all come together so perfectly!

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Handsome Hunter (SU!)
Patterned papers: Dear Mr. claus (Cosmo Cricket)
Accessories: Dear Mr. Claus embellishments and alphabet (Cosmo Cricket), Brads,
Stampin' Markers, Metal tag (Making Memories), ribbons,
Dry embossing plate & Simply Scored (SU!), Mini button

 

A Rainbow of Thanks

Isn't this design fun? Can't take credit for it - it was copied from a card I saw in a Paper Crafts magazine. I thought it was a great design to use paper scraps and buttons. It is the kind of card you can put together in ten minutes before heading out the door! If you are like most of us, this comes in handy!

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Douce douzaine
Cardstock: Whisper White
Designer paper: Brights paper pack
Ink: Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: White envelope, Brights Designer buttons, White baker's twine.
Corner Rounder punch

 

Ray of Sunshine

This card was quickly put together based on a card from Mailie Belles published in a Paper Crafts magazine. I modified her version to use only Stampin' Up! supplies and this is what I came up with. The center was stamped with Circle Circus in So Saffron and punched out with the Scallop Circle punch, then layered over a circle punched out of More Mustard cardstock. A More Mustard button was added in the center, holding in place my sentiment tag (punched with the Jewelry tag punch).

Then I pierced sun rays all around the sun and added More Mustard and So Saffron brads.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Circle Circus, Fêtes diverses
Cardstock: More Mustard, Very Vanilla
Ink: So Saffron
Accessories: So Saffron and More Mustard brads, Paper piercer, Vanilla envelope,
Corner Rounder punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Circle punch, Scallop Circle punch,
More Mustard Designer button, Jewelry Tag punch

 

Over Hot Cocoa

Just something fun I put together back when we still had snow... so quite a few months ago! The die-cut label comes from a sparkly Halloween die-cut set from Making Memories, but as you can see, they are easy to pair with non-Halloween papers. The snowflakes are wood accents that I painted with white shimmer paint.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Ramona Shares her Hot Chocolate (Stamping Bella), hostess sentiment set from SU!
Cardstock: Summer Sun, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White
Patterned papers: Snow Day (Crate Papers)
Ink: Basic Black, Opulent Orchid, Soft Sky
Accessories: Die-cuts (Making Memories), Paper Piercer, Markers, ribbon,
Nestabilities die, Sponge, Wood snowflakes, Pearls, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

You Are So Handsome

This card was submitted to Paper Crafts for their masculine cards publication, but it did not get picked. It came together really quickly because the focal point was die-cut out of a patterned paper, and I used matching papers from the same collection to put together the rest of the card. To create the ribbon bow, I just layered two ribbons loops on top of the other and glued them on the back of my sentiment block. The top was die-cut with a notebook border die.

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Island Indigo
Patterned papers: My Mind's Eye
Accessories: Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Nestabilities dies,
Vintage trinkets (SU!), Island Indigo baker's twine, Notebook border die (Cat's Pajamas)

 

You're Vintage!

Another catch-up card. That sentiment just cracks me up... I paired it with one of my favorite SU! retired set, Puns from the Past. This would make a great masculine card.

On a side note, the card base was made out of Crisp Cranberry cardstock. Remember that color? It was part of the very first In Color collection launched by SU!...

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Sentiment stamp from Hampton Art - 7 Gypsies, Puns from the Past (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Crisp Cranberry, Very Vanilla
Patterned papers: Edwin (Kesi'Art)
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Embossing powders (Navy and Burgundy), Stampin' Dimensionals,
Paper piercer, Vintage trinkets, Distressing tool

 

Three Angels

This layout was done during the Holidays vacation last year. It took me a while to photograph it since the two-page layout did not fit in my light tent and then I guess it sat forgotten on my computer after that. It's a fun layout for silly pictures that were taken at a Christmas party. The theme was "Simply Christmas" and my colleague was dressed as an angel for the occasion. As you can see, her halo started going around during the evening.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Ketto Fairy (Stamping Bella), Chérissons les anges (SU!), Distressed wheel (SU!)
Patterned Papers: Cosmo cricket
Cardstock: Poppy Parade (SU!)
Ink: Basic Black, Poppy Parade
Accessories: Rub-ons (Making Memories), paper wing (Prima), Markers (SU!), button (Autumn Leaves),
Alphabet, ribbons (SU!), chipboard number (Tim Holtz), brads, eyelet, paper piercer, twine, Stickles

 

Adorable Outlaws

The Cat's Pajamas' monthly challenge for August was long, tall cards. I LOVE making that type of cards, so I jumped on board as soon as I found a few minutes to stamp and made this card. I've had the three cowboys stamp for a long time, but I bought the "Ghost Town" image after seeing another TCP stamper combine those two images together. I always figured coloring those houses would take too long, but I like how you can simply stamp it in a neutral color behind the cowboys to create a nice, simple background. I think it looks neat!

The top of bottom of the card was decorated with strips of patterned paper glued at an angle to create boards, which were held in place with crew brads. A small lasso was created out of twine.

I was trying to figure out which sentiment to add to the card, and finally landed on "Good luck." It's a little tongue-in-cheek combined with the images, and I like it!

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Ghost Town, Cowboys (The Cat's Pajamas), Heureuse pour toi (SU!)
Cardstock: Sage Shadow, Very Vanilla
Patterned papers: Hors-la-loi (SU!)
Ink: Basic Black, Cajun Craze, River Rock
Accessories: Twine, Envelope, Markers, Screw brads, Ticket Corner punch

 

SAB Sweet Notes

I made those notes last Spring during SAB. They were inspired by some cute 3x3 notes that Shelli Gardner showed onstage during the Leadership convention. I made them as soon as I got back home, along with the matching box, created using the Simply Scored, but I guess I never got around to sharing those on my blog before today.

The Small Curly Label punch is still available in the new catalogue, so hopefully, those can inspire you some designs of your own!

 

 

 

This One's for the Boys...

I never seem to have enough masculine cards on hand, so this one was created with that specific goal in mind. I used some Authentique papers that have snaps and jeans pattern, perfect to go with the Beerafella image. After coloring my little guy, I die-cut the image using some Nestabilities that give the edges that worn antique picture look, and then I sponged the edges with ink to reinforce that look and match the distressed-looking papers.

I found an old Chatterbox snap in my embellishments, that worked perfect in the center of the sentiment (from an old SU! hostess set that dates back years), which I glued on top of a navy bottle cap - another embellishment that has been sitting in my stash forever.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Beerafella (Stamping Bella), Rivetant (SU!)
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Very Vanilla
Patterned Paper: Original (Authentique)
Ink: Basic Black, River Rock, Night of Navy
Accessories: Navy Bottle Cap, Snap (Chatterbox), Circle Punch, Vanilla Envelope,
Nestabilities, Markers, Brads, Sponge

 

Pretty Packages

I made this card a few months ago, based on the Merry Monday sketch. Again, I dug through my stash and used some older patterned papers. I'm in "putting old stuff to good use" mode! (I think it was my move to Montreal that did that - I had so many boxes of scrapbooking stuff, it made me realize I needed to use what I have before going out and buying more - though I'm not saying I won't be buying anything else at all, that would be too much to ask of me!) That also explains why you've seen me make matching envelopes out of patterned paper, because it's a great trick to deplete the paper collection faster. You can make an awful lot of cards with a few sheets of paper before it's all gone! Making matching envelopes will help you reach your goal faster.

Since I wanted to frame my stamped image without hiding the cute background paper too much, I die-cut a scallop oval out of vellum, which I lined with Baja Breeze cardstock (stamped with the retired Gossamer Lace stamp) to make the image stand out more.

I was about to stamp a greeting and then noticed that the backside of one of the paper had "Happy Holidays" repeatedly on it, so I simple used that as my sentiment.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: The New Nice (The Cat's Pajamas), Gossamer Lace (SU!)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, True Thyme
Patterned Paper: SEI
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Simply Scored and Diagonal Plate, Scallop Oval and Oval dies, markers,
Designer brads, Silver elastic cord, Button, Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon,
Rhinestone brad, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Sweet Bunny

Catching up on some cards I have put together this summer. This is another stamp from The Stacey Yacula collection, by Purple Onion Designs. The sentiment is from the Un amour d'étiquette stamp set (from the new SU! annual catalogue).

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Rosie (Purple Onion Designs), Un amour d'étiquette (SU!)
Cardstock: Barely Banana, Whisper White
Designer Paper: Plumeria (Basic grey)
Ink: VersaMark, Blushing Bride, So Saffron, Wisteria Wonder
Accessories: Gold embossing powder, Aquapainter brush, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Oval die, white envelope, White taffeta ribbon, buttons, Purple rickrack, Pearls

Welcome, New Baby!

Still catching up on past projects... I really like this one. It might be showcasing one of my favorite coloring job. There's not a whole lot of colours, mainly neutrals, but I like how the shading gives life to the cute bunny.

The bunny image is from Purple Onion Designs, but drawn by Stacey Yacula. I stumbled unto her blog a few years ago and fell in love with her illustrations and sculptures. Her characters have a softness and sweetness to them that really appeal to me. So I was excited to see her designs translated to a medium I could use: stamps!

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Félicitations (SU!), Poppy (Purple Onion Designs)
Cardstock: Ballet Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery, Whisper white
Designer papers: Little Yellow Bicycle
Ink: Basic Black, Ballet Blue
Accessories: Washi tape, Yellow baker's twine, markers, Scallop Square die,
White envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals, Ballet Blue brads

 

Love Booth

Another catch-up card that was done this summer. I was going through my paper stash and found an old patterned paper from KI Memories that I hadn't bought as part of a collection, but alone. Looking at the colour, I thought it would work for a Valentine's/love card, so I pulled out this Cat's Pajamas stamp set and colored the image based on the paper I wanted to use. I particularly like the top border, created with wide white rickrack and Sweet Dots glued in each "valley" of the rickrack.

I wanted to add a French sentiment on the banner and didn't have any curved greeting that would fit, but I found out that even unmounted rubber stamps can be bended a tiny beat when put in place on the acrylic block, so I was able, after a few tests, to give my sentiment the right shape on the acrylic block and add it to my banner. Looks cool, doesn't it?

The rest of the patterned paper was used in conjunction with the Simply Scored and Diagonal Plate to create a matching envelope.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Gimme Some Sugar (TCP), Tendres basiques (SU!)
Cardstock: Copacabana, Whisper White, Real Red
Patterned Paper: KI Memories
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Markers, Buttons, Ribbons, White Rickrack, Sweet Dots,
Simply Scored and Diagonal Plate, Stickles, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Red Rose Tag

I think this is my last project from the Dare to Get Dirty challenges I hadn't shared yet. The Designer paper is from the new series called Modern Medley, in the catalogue. It is SO elegant! I handmade the rose on the tag by cutting a piece of red felt with the scallop border found on the Tasteful Trims die (you know how I love my Tasteful Trims!) and rolling the scallop border in a rosette. Then I added some red tulle (from last year's Holidays catalogue) underneath to finish it off.

The two tags were cut with the Chalk Talk Framelits dies, and layered. The sentiment comes from the versatile Teeny Tiny Wishes set. it was embossed with Black powder and punched with the retired Small Oval punch, then layered on the tag with Dimensionals. The sentiment reads, "To the Newlyweds."

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Voeux mignons (Teeny Tiny Wishes)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla
Designer paper: Modern Medley
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Black embossing powder, Small Oval punch, Chalk Talk Framelits, Red felt,
Pearl Basic Jewels, Cherry Cobbler scallop tulle, Stampin' Dimensionals, Designer button,
Tasteful Trims die