Encre, papier, ciseaux

Gaylord Opryland Nashville

I wanted to use the new You Are Here! suite from Simple Stories, so I looked through my pictures to find some traveling ones and found some that were taken in Nashville a few years ago when Stampin' Up! held its Leadership convention there. The event was hosted at the Opryland Gaylord convention centre, which was the most impressive place we've ever been to. This centre is huge! It includes a convention center, an hotel, restaurants and shops, trees, water fountains, even a boat ride!! It reminded me of the West Edmonton Mall. I took so many pictures of the place that I wanted to include in my album that this turned into a four-page layout. 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Accents, Brads, Stickers, Die-Cuts: You Are Here! (Simple Stories)
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento
Stamps: Type Strips I & II
Die: Type Bit Strips (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Wooden Embellishments, Twine, Project Life Corner Punch, Circle Punch,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Stampin' Write Markers, Washi Label Punch (Stampin' Up!),
Sequins

 

Sending Kisses to Mom

I wanted to make a Mother's Day card for my mom. I happened to have organized some of my Project Life cards and some die-cuts after finding a plastic container with smaller 5" x 7" boxes that fit inside. When I did, I found some Boutique Attic die-cuts that Stampin' Up! used to carry years ago. One of the die-cut was too big to fit into my plastic container, so I let it sit on my desk, thinking I'd simply slide it into the matching DSP pack when I had a chance. Now, as I was about to get started on putting a mother's day card together, I thought the vintage look of that collection could work well. Mind you, my own mom is not really into flowery things. I did, however, find a paper in my DSP pack with some fountain pens and flourishes on it that I thought would look really nice used on a tall card, with the sentiment stamped by the pens. That was the starting point for my card, but as I started cutting into the paper, I realized that my usual 6-1/2" x 3-1/4" card size wouldn't leave much of the pens showing. So I grabbed my Envelope Punch Board and looked at the suggested card sizes to find one that would work well with the pattern I was hoping to use. I settled on 6-1/2" x 4-1/2", so a little bigger than our usual medium cards. I've said it times and times again, but this Envelope Punch Board is truly the best investment I've ever made for cardmaking. Since I had plenty of paper left in the pack, I was also able to make a matching envelope in under a minute.

The design is pretty simple. I used markers and combined two stamps together: "Bons baisers" (split on two lines) from the Handpenned Holidays stamp set, and "maman" from Delightful Dozen (the sentiment is longer, but I only inked mom with a marker). The fonts are perfect for that fountain pen script look. I used both my Clear and Gold Wink of Stella brushes to add glimmer to the flourish (because my mom loves everything that saparkles, so I had to add that touch just for her).

I folded a paper doily in half and slipped it on the side of the paper. I added a die-cut from the Boutique Attic collection (and discovered that the side of the tag matches the scallops of the doily perfectly!) and added three pearls on the left side. I cut a piece of Soft Sky seam binding and scrunched it in a ball to wrinkle it, then I tied it in a bow. I then clipped a little clock I found in the Tea Time Trinkets we used to carry last year and I finished the card off with a Vintage Brad at the bottom to tie the card to this week's Simon Says Stamp challenge (Anything Goes). A die-cut was also glued on the envelope using Tear n' Tape for the address block.

 

Retiring items showcased:

• Paper Doilies
• Vintage Brads
• Seam Binding

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Douce douzaine (Delightful Dozen), Notes manuscrites (Handpenned Holidays)
Cardstock: Poppy Parade
Designer Series Paper: Attic Boutique
Accessories: Attic Boutique Side Notes, Tea Time Trinkets, Soft Sky Seam Binding,
Pearl Basic Jewels, White Paper Doily, Envelope Punch Board,
Stampin' Write Markers, Clear and Gold Wink of Stella Brushes, Vintage Brads

 

Retiring List: Blackberry Bliss

Stampin' Up!'s retiring list has been published, so I put aside the stamp sets and accessories that I own that will be soon be retiring so I can try and use them on my upcoming projects and feature them before they are gone. Today's card was inspired by the Try Stampin' on Tuesday challenge #268, which was perfect because the hexagons on the sketch gave me the opportunity to pull out the Six-Sided Sampler stamp set and the matching Hexagon punch. For colors, I was inspired to pull out Blackberry Bliss, which is part of the 2014-2016 In Color palette, and therefore is retiring at the end of May. I will admit that even though I liked this dark shade of purple when I first saw it, I've really struggled to use it because I never seem to be able to come up with great colour combos for it. Here, I decided to go for a monochromatic palette and I simply paired it with my favorite Designer Series Specialty Paper, Typeset (also retiring). The sentiment comes from And Many More, also retiring (a great versatile set with a variety of sentiments that are small enough to fit anywhere on your cards). The hexagons were embellished using Brights Designer Buttons (you guessed it - also retiring). By the way, I created three shades of purple on my hexagons by using the stamping off technique with the Blackberry Bliss ink pad. (One ink pad, three shades of ink.)

I used the remainder of the ledger paper inside the card to create a writing block (especiallty useful since the Blackberry Bliss cardstock is quite dark).

To sign the back of my card, I used the Sincere Creations stamp set, which will be retiring (get it while you can - it's a great set to sign your creations, it includes a variety of wording, from cooking to paper creations). I used the retiring Wide Oval punch to punch it out of cardstock and add it to the back of my card.

 

Featured retiring items:

• Six-Sided Sampler Stamp Set
• And Many More Stamp Set
• Sincere Creations Stamp Set
• Blackberry Bliss Cardstock and Ink
• Brights Designer Buttons
• Hexagon Punch
• Wide Oval Punch
• Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Six-Sided Sampler, Du coq à l'âne (And Many More), Sincères créations (Sincere Creations)
Cardstock: Blackberry Bliss, Basic Black
Specialty Designer Paper: Typeset
Ink: Blackberry Bliss
Accessories: Brights Designer Buttons, Stampin' Dimensionals, Hexagon Punch,
Wide Oval Punch, Medium Vanilla Enveloppes

 

Baby Magic

This card was born out of discarded images. I had some new watercolor paints that I wanted to try, so I used scraps of watercolor paper, stamped random images and colored them to test out the watercolors. After I was done, I thought they might look good enough to actually make it on a card. I was in need of baby cards (but to be honest, not really in the mood for baby carriage and rattle images) so I thought a little fairy could work and be different. For the design, I drew inspiration from the Mojo Monday Sketch #443 and the colors came from Stampin' Royalty #323. I was also inspired by the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, to use polka dots. Their showcased products are also Lawn Fawn, and it just so happens that I have a paper pad called Let's Bokeh in the Snow from them that was perfect for the project. The bokeh paper has this magical fairy dust look that works well with the theme of the card. I sprinkled little sequins where the stars are on the sketch, and I used the Glimmer Tape that was offered during Sale-A-Bration to create the banner.

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Du coq à l'âne (And Many More), Fairy Friends (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Wisteria Wonder, Blushing Bride, Watercolor paper
Patterned Papers: Let's Bokeh in the Snow (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento, Wisteria Wonder
Accessories: Cosmic Shimmer Watercolor Paints, Blending Pen, Clear Wink of Stella Brush,
Medium White Envelope, Stitched Oval Scallop Frames Die-namics (MFT), Glimmer Tape,
Sequins, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Baby Huggabugg

Here's another baby card for my collection. This one was inspired by the Tuesday Morning Sketch #347. I wanted to use my new Sweet Things Doodlebug Design papers and even though they're Valentine's Day inspired, I thought the heart patterns could work for a baby card, especially with the pink and mint shades in it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Bedbugg Huggabugg (Stamping Bella), Tendres basiques (Sweet Essentials - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, watercolor paper
Patterned Papers: Sweet Things (Doodlebug Design)
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Real Red, Melon Mambo, Smoky Slate, Basic Grey Archival,
Soft Sky, Coastal Cabana, Blush Blossom
Accessories: Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon, 1" Circle Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Clear Wink of Stella Brush,
Wonky Stitches Circles Die-namics (MFT), Blending Pen, Banner Triple Punch, White Medium Envelope

 

Pretty

I wanted to use some new papers and die-cuts from My Mind's Eye I got and I found this old portrait of myself, where my jacket matches the pink in the papers perfectly. I cut my own pocket inserts out of the papers. One page has die-cuts already on it, so that's where I got the heart, already ready to go in a square pocket. The papers have gold foil on them, so they are beautiful in person.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: On Trend 2 (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: On Trend 2 Stickers (My Mind's Eye), Gold Glimmer Tape (Stampin' Up!),
Stampin' Dimensionals, In Color Sequins, Pearl Basic Jewels, Wild Wasabi Cotton Twine,
Project Life Corner Punch, In Color Dahlia Embellishment, Gold Designer Tape, Night of Navy Big Designer Button,
Gold Metallic Twine, Wild Wasabi Stampin' Write Marker

 

Disney on Ice

These pictures were taken last year when we brought my niece to see Disney on Ice. I paired them with the Cheese II papers from Simple Stories, which are designed around the Disney World theme, so they were perfect for this.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Mickey Icon ABC (EK Success)
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento
Patterned Papers: Cheese II (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Project Life Corner Punch, Alphabet Stickers,
Love Designer Brads, Black Lace Trim, Scallop Edge Punch, Pearl Sequins

 

My Heart is With You

This card came together super quickly thanks for the pretty papers I worked with. The background paper already had the corner frame on it and it was just the right size to include a sentiment from the Heartfelt Sympathy stamp set in. After that, I drew inspiration from the Global Design Project challenge #30 for the design. The Happy Heart embossing folder was sitting on my desk, since this is my latest acquisition and I thought it fit well with the "My Heart is With You" sentiment, so I embossed a scrap of paper from the same paper stack. I figured the embossed hearts were the same size as the punch heart we carry (my hunch was correct) so I added a row of punched hearts, adorned with pearls.

I also drew inspiration from the Just Add Ink #306 - Sympathy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Des adieux du fond du coeur (Heartfelt Sympathy)
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy
Patterned Papers: Lost & Found (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Early Espresso
Accessories: Pearl Basic Jewels, Vanilla Medium Envelope, Early Espresso Satin Ribbon,
Heart Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Adorning Accents Edgelits Dies,
Happy Hearts Embossing Folder

 

There for You

I received a request for more cards at the Quebec City office and once of the theme they are low on is Encouragement cards. When I spotted the "I'm there for you" sentiment in the Pedal Pusher stamp set, I decided to use it, paired with bright Doodlebug papers for an uplifting cardé

I drew inspiration from a few challenges: Stampin' Royalty #323 - Anything Goes (easy!), Reverse Confetti #35 and As You See It #131 - Star, Tape, Splatter, Diagonal and Light blue (the stitching around the image).

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Sur deux roues (Pedal Pusher), Timeless Textures
Cardstock: Basic Black
Patterned Papers: Spring Garden (Doodlebug Design)
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento, VersaMark, Melon Mambo
Accessories: Bright Candy Dots, Melon Mambo/Basic Black Baker's Twine,
Handheld Stapler, Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stitched Oval Scallop Frames (Die-namics),
Stampin' Dimensionals, Star Punch, White Medium Envelope

 

Learning to Skate

My sister sent me pictures of my niece learning to ice skate, so I paired them with some Bo Bunny papers to make this pocket protector page. I used the Fuse Tool to turn one of the pocket into a shaker, by putting sequins, wooden snowflakes and glitter inside before fusing shut. Learn from my mistake - put a very SMALL amount of glitter instead. I thought I would need quite a bit to see the result, but that is not the case, and the glitter tends to static cling to the sides of the pocket, so less is definitely more here!!!

 

 

Floral Wings For Mom

I want to start getting some mother's day cards ready, so this was the starting point for this card, paired with the Mojo Monday Sketch #442. The sentiment comes from the And Many More stamp set and reads, "MY mom." I like that it can be used for Mother's Day or for a more generic card to a mom. If you like this pretty Floral Wings stamp set, make sure to host an event before the end of May because it is an hostess set and will retire at the end of the current annual catalogue. I really like how it's a two-step stamping set that allows you to add colorful blooms and leaves on the wings of the butterfly without the use of markers. The set is made of photopolymer so technically you could eyeball where you are stamping with the flowers (there's even a tab guide for you) but I my first attempts at doing that have when I got the set were not successful, so I now use the Stamp-a-ma-jig and get much better results. I would recommend you do the same if you like your stamping to be just so.

One more tip I want to share: If you've ever worked with patterned papers from Basic Grey or companies that make similar papers with distressed edges, you've probably notice you get a much too clean edge when you cut your paper down to size for your projects. Now, I'd like to draw your attention to one of the stamps in the Timeless Textures stamp set. I've discovered that the image I've indicated with an arrow is perfect to stamp a distressed edge back on your cut paper. If you look at the yellowish piece on my card, you can't tell which sides were the original ones and which I've stamped to match. I love the whole Timeless Textures stamp set, but it was worth the purchase for this stamp alone!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Floral Wings (hostess), Du coq à l'âne (And Many More)
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White
Patterned Papers: Plumeria (Basic Grey)
Ink: Early Espresso, Elegant Eggplant, Pear Pizzazz, Perfect Plum
Accessories: Iced Rhinestones, Pearl Basic Jewels, White Medium Envelope,
Stampin' Dimensionals

 

#imbringingbirthdaysback

Have you seen Shannon West's initiative to send out birthdays cards? She created the hashtag #imbringingbirthdaysback and this got really huge, especially after Stampin' Up! created a stamp to go with it. I was lucky enough to receive this stamp as a gift when I met with the Canadian Summit team in Victoria a few weeks ago, and I decided that it would be really nice to send out birthday cards to the members of my Stampin' Up! team. I was a little behind since we were already in March, but I got to work right away catching up with the January, February and March birthdays. Everyone loves to receive fun mail, even if it's after the birthday has come and gone, right? Just makes the fun last longer!

My inspiration came from a card published in the most recent Scrapbook & Cards Today publication. (Check it out, they're generous enough to publish the whole magazine in PDF format on their website! But I was lucky enough to receive a paper copy as a gift so I had it on my desk as inspiration when I created my Stampin' Up! version of the project.) Aren't those balloons just adorable overlapped like that?

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Salut (SAB), Bouquet de ballons (Balloon Celebration)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Whisper White, Watermelon Wonder
Designer Series Paper Stack: Cherry on Top
Ink: Basic Grey Archival, Watermelon Wonder, Crushed Curry, Cool Cucumber, Pool Party, Sahara Sand
Accessories: Project Life Corner Punch, Silver Glimmer Paper, Stars Framelits Dies,
Voeux Framelits Dies, White Medium Envelopes, Baker's Twine Combo Pack,
Glue Dots, Stamp-a-ma-jig

 

Crafters Don't Lie...

I instantly loved the Love You Sew hostess stamp set the second I saw it, and was especially taken with the "Crafters don't lie, they embellish" sentiment. This set was available in French, but I really wanted wood-mount for this one and I liked the original English sentiment better, so that's what I got.

I found a technique on Splitcoast Stampers, where you die-cut a shape out of a piece of patterned paper and then you use the die as a mask to sponge a colour on the positive piece and a different colour on the negative piece. I thought the specialty Project Life cards offered during Sale-A-Bration lent themselves well to that technique, so I picked a 4 x 6 card and die-cut an age using the Big Numbers Framelits dies. The choice of age was very random - I simply selected dies that didn't have metal lines going through them to help out with the masking. (If you have the dies, you'll know what I mean - the shapes that have holes in the center, like 8 or 9 have a little line of metal going from the edge to the center to hold the holes in place. It would have been a problem when sponging the ink, trying not to get those lines on my project.) Therefore, using the usual "29" number would not have worked.

This card was inspired by Color Throwdown challenge #384 and Paper Craft Crew Card challenge #186 (birthday, die-cut, silver thread).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Love You Sew
Cardstock: Rose Red, Whisper White
Ink: Wisteria Wonder, Rose Red, Wild Wasabi
Accessories: Stampin' Write Markers, Cotton Twine, Silver Sequin Trim, Glimmer Tape,
White Medium Envelope, Balloon Punch, Circle Punch, Tiny Accents Punches (flower),
Silver Cord, White Chalk Marker, Big Numbers Framelits Dies, Sponge

 

You're a Ray of Sunshine

This card is definitely simple by my usual standards, but I really like it as it is. I used the Perfectly Artistic Designer Series Paper (SAB) to create my yellow background, and the border stamp from the Hello stamp set (SAB) on the rays of the Sunburst Thinlits die. The sentiment comes from the same stamp set and reads "little ray of sunshine." For the silver thread, I cut a piece of Silver Baker's Twine and unrolled the silver metallic thread from around the vanilla twine and used independently. A few silver sequins taken off the silver sequin trim were added to the card. Easy-peasy, but super cute!

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Salut (Hello - SAB)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Smoky Slate
Designer Series Paper: Perfectly Artistic
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Basic Grey, Smoky Slate
Accessories: Sunburst Thinlits Die, White Medium Envelope, Silver Sequin Trim,
Silver Baker's Twine, Banner Triple Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Dance of the Falling Leaves

This is a stamp that has been sitting in my stash uninked for a few years now (yikes!). I really like it, but I think I was a little intimidated by the amount of coloring I knew I was in for. I finally bit the bullet a few weeks ago, and I paired it with some autumn Designer Series Paper from Stampin' Up! I had scored in the Clearance Rack a while ago.

The image was quite large, so I had to limit the embellishments and design of the card. I simply cut the bottom of the cardstock as a pennant, used the Curvy Corner Trio Punch (available in the Occasions Catalogue) to add slits on each side and tie Early Espresso satin ribbon. The sentiment was created with the Perfect Pairings stamp set offered during Sale-A-Bration, and embossed with copper powder (my favorite metallic).

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Fall Willow Catching Leave (Whiff of Joy), Les deux font la paire (Perfect Pairings)
Cardstock: Island Indigo, Very Vanilla
Designer Series Paper: Prés automnaux
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento, VersaMark
Accessories: Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder, Envelope Punch Board,
Markers, Early Espresso Satin Ribbon, Curvy Corner Trio Punch,
Circle Punch, Copper Brads