Encre, papier, ciseaux

Pretty Topiary

Inspiration: Create with Connie and Mary #562 + Fab Friday #164

The Vertical Greetings is different from my usual esthetic, and I initially purchased it because I was interested in the vertical greetings, but I ended up using it more than I thought and really enjoying it. To decorate the card, I layered various dies and embellishments. The mini green leaves are actually from the boxwood wreaths - I snipped a few leaves away to use on the card. I tried them out on the topoiary, but they were big and looked out of place, so I used them on other parts of the design instead. The background paper is from the Tropical Escape Designer Series Paper.

In order to get a multicolored stamped image, I mounted the stamp in my stamping tool and used Stampin' Markers to ink the image. The stamping tool allowed me to ink and stamp the image three times, getting a more even and more saturated image this way.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: À la verticale (Vertical Greetings)
Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Flirty Flamingo, Whisper White
Designer Series Paper: Tropical Escape
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Stampin' Write Markers, Needlepoint Nood Mini Buttons,
Leaves Trinkets, White Medium Envelope, Corner Rounder Punch, Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder,
Stitched Labels Framelits, Eclectic Layers Thinlits, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

To an Amazing Man

Inspiration: Color Throwdown #544 + Freshly Made Sketch #389 

The Color Throwdown combo read very nautical with me and with the new Lawn Fawn summer release, I had plenty to work with... except that my preordered Charge Me Up kit was delivered today and I was off work (yeah for Fridays off!), so I couldn't resist inking this little guy up­. The combo was also great for masculine card so it became the starting point of the card.

My local store recently received a bunch of Heffy Doodle stuff, including the Love Circuit stencil. I loved the idea of the circuits, but I wasn't sure about the heart shape in the center (cool idea, but just not as useful as a generic circuit stencil would have been). Because I had the Charge Me Up stamp set coming my way, I decided to get the stencil as I knew they would pair up really well. So it was the first thing I reached for when I started working on my project.

I've seen a lot of projects using foil online lately and I figured the one pack of foil sheets I've bought (Amber Watercolor) would work really well with the circuit stencil as it would look like copper tape! I don't own a laminator, so I had to think of what I could use to transfer the foil with. I pulled out my Heat 'n Stick from Stampin' Up! to try out (which I've been meaning to since buying the foil). I daubed some VersaMark through the stencil using a sponge, pourred the heat 'n stick, heated it just enough to have it melt and placed the foil sheet over it. It transferred everywhere but in a very spotty way. Because I wanted a subtle background, that was fine by me but it should be noted that this method does not produce a high-shine, even result. I was tempted to try out the Distress Resist spray, since it's basically liquid glue, but I decided to test it out later on a different project to compare the results instead. I did go back with a glue pen to complete some of the lines that had not transferred to my liking and the glue did transfer more foil than the heat 'n stick. (I do want to test out heat 'n stick with stamping rather than sponging, to see if the result is better.)

I started layering my piece to mimick the sketch and I kept thinking this would make for a cool card if I added a Chibitronics light, so I finally decided to go for it. Because you push on the heart and the top of the robot's head lights up, it was a very simple circuit to prepare (and now that I've put together a couple of circuit cards, I have a better understand on how to prepare the circuit without tutorials).

To make the card seem more finished, I die-cut a scalloped frame out of Galvanized paper, which goes great with the robot. For the sentiment, I wanted something in a typed font, not too fancy or flourishy, and I found "to a wonderful man" in an older hsotess set from Stampin' Up!, which was the perfect size and font. I stamped it on a scrap of Pool Party cardstock and die-cut it with the Sentiment Labels from Simon Says Stamp. I added a tone on tone "push here" on the heart to let the recipient know something fun's about to happen.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Charge Me Up (Lawn Fawn for Chibitronics); À tout un chacun (Happy Birthday, Everone - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Pool Party, Midnight Muse, Poppy Parade, Whisper White, Galvanized Paper, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: VersaMark, Midnight Muse, Poppy Parade Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Amber Watercolor Foil (Deco Foil); Envelope Punch Board, Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder,
Sweet & Sassy Framelits Dies, Urban Underground Embellishments, Stampin' Dimensionals, 
Regals Enamel Shapes (Stampin' Up!); White Light, Copper Tape, Battery (Chibitronics);
Charge Me Up Dies, Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Dies (lawn Fawn); Sentiment Labels Dies (Simon Says Stamp);
Love Circuit Foil (Deco Foil); Markers (Copic)

 

Flower Delivery

Inspiration: Tuesday Morning Sketch #504

This adorable pick-up truck is an image from the Flower Girl stamp set from Doodlebug Design. I had pulled out this set about a week ago and I had made a mental note to come back to the pick-up image and pair it with the Flower Market paper collection, as it also has an aqua truck amongst the images. The sentiment reads, "See You Later."

The bottom panel is Galvanized Metallic Paper that was embossed with the Honeycomb folder and distressed with two colors of Distress Crayons to make the raised surfaces show up better. I found some big aqua rickrack, which I stapled in place with a mini stapler. I used Baked Texture embossing powder in Patina Oxide for the sentiment, which gives a nice turquoise with hints of copper in it, and I repeated the copper embossing on the matching aqua envelopeé I used a Distress crayon around the rim of the circle die-cuts as well. The pick-up image was colored with Copic markers and I added Silver Distress Crayon on the hubcaps.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Flower Girl (Doodlebug Design); Une belle journée (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Baked Brown Sugar, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Flower Market: Carta Bella
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Accessories: Outside In Stitched Rectangle Dies (Lawn Fawn); Stampin' Dimensionals, Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder,
Mini Stapler, Layering Circles Framelits. Honeycomb Embossing Folder, Stitched Shapes Framelits (Stampin' Up!);
Patina Oxide Baked Texture Embossing Powder (The Altered Page); A2 Lagoon Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com);
Aqua Rickrack (American Crafts); Markers (Copic); Dstress Crayons (Ranger); Flower Girl Dies (Doodlebug Design)

 

They're Back...

This quick page was put together in less than half an hour, including finding inspiration. I was putting back some papers in my Simply Stories file folder after finishing my previous page and I spotted the Carpe Diem collection. I also had a printed picture of me with my glasses on the desk, printed in 3" x 4" and I figured I could put something together really quickly using the die-cut pages from the collection. A decade ago, I had laser eye correction. I managed to get rid of my nearsightedness and was free from glasses for a few years. (Even made a scrapbook page about it.) Unfortunately, it was hypermetropia that caught up with me a few years later. My eyesight was getting increasingly tired at the end of a workday and I've had glasses long enough to know when my eyesight is going down, so back to the eye doctor I went - and glasses were back into my life soon after. This is not the first pair I got, those were a second pair I got a couple of years later (I kept having to get the glasses out of my purse to read at home and remembering to pack them pack up the next day - after I forgot them home one day and had a very long day at work without them, I decided to bite the bullet and get a second pair. Worse part is that I now have a third pair - because the myopia is back. Not as strongly as before so I can make do without the glasses, but they're better to have around for movies, shows or long drives.)

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers and Stickers: Carpe Diem (Simple Stories)
Cardstock: Primrose Petals (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Project Life Corner Punch, Ticket Corner Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Gel Pens (Recollections)

 

Paradise Sunset

Inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #53 + Simon Says Stamp Wednesday + CAS Colours & Sketches #322

Orange, yellow and aqua is probably my all-time favourite colour combo when it comes to paper crafting. I've used it many times over the years and the result is always so happy and bright, I can't help but love the resulting card every time I go back to it. The Lawn Fawnatics challenge calles for spectacular skies. I figured the yellow and orange shades from the CAS Colours challenge would work well for a spectacular sunset, so I pulled out my Squeezed Lemonade and Spices Marmalade Distress Oxide inks and the Radiating Rays stencil and started creating. I used the Blender Brushes from Picket Fence Studios to ink the whole cardstock in yellow ink and then I placed the stencil over it and added the orange ink. I washed the stencil, placed it back down again and I then added some Moonstone glimmer paste from Nuvo over the rays, starting in the center and spreading it outwards. I didn't necessarily want paste all the way to the edges, so I just scraped the paste outwards until there was none on the palette knife anymore. I set aside to dry and I started working on the other elements.

I wanted to use the plane and banner from Simply Celebrate Spring to add my sentiment in the sky, so I stamped and colored this image. I then went looking through my French stamps to find something in photopolymer that I could bend to the shape of the banner. I found "Good luck" in the Fabulous Flamingo stamp set - the size and font is absolutely perfect amd the theme works great with the card.

I die-cut the Palm Tree Border out of Baked Brown Sugar cardstock amd the top of the palm trees in Coastal Cabana, but when I layered the aqua over the trees, I didn't like it as much. I preferred the brown, which looked like silhouettes against the sunset, and I knew I was going to repeat the aqua at the bottom with the water anyway, so I scrapped the idea of adding color to the palm trees. I used the hill die from the same set to create a mask and hide the palm trees, then I spritzed the beach with an air tool and a marker to get speckles on the beach part. I added a Stitched Rectangle Frame in Pumpkin Pie around the card to repeat the orange and frame the scene.

The waves felt a little bare, so I inked the edge with Coastal Cabana ink and I stamped the wave pattern from Smooth Sailing in the same colour. Since that set was out, I decided to use the clouds and seagulls to fill in the sky. Then I decided a small boat might look nice as well, so I stamped and added that to my scene. Then, I tried to decide if I wanted the add the adorable critter on the boat. Hard to resist but I wasn't sure if I wanted characters on the card. Then, it dawned on me that the second vritter might be the right size to fit into the plane and I got so excited about that idea that I immediately stamped and colored the critters to give that idea a try. (When Lawn Fawn presented the Smooth Sailing set during their release week, I remember thinking those small critters could probably be added to a variety of other images from their various sets.) Initially, the white border was a little distracting, so I got creative and snipped the lower border out with my scissors and it instantly looked better. The bear is a tiny bit big for the plane, but it looked so cute that I decided to disregard that fact and stick with my idea. I handcut the bunny on the boat as well to keep the same look.

Since the frame was stuck on the card with foam adhesive strips, it's too bulky to fit into a regular A2 envelope, so I usd my envelope punch board to make a larger one. I was able to recycle my die-cut palm tree tops on it - no waste!

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Smooth Sailing, Simply Celebrate Spring (Lawn Fawn); Fabuleux flamant (Fabulous Flamingo - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, So Saffron, Coastal Cabana, Thick Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie,
Baked Brown Sugar (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Coastal Cabana (Stampin' Up!); Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Dies: Smooth Sailing, Simply Celebrate Spring, Palm Tree Border, Stitched Rectangle Frames,
Stitched Simple Wavy Borders (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Radiating Rays Stencil (My Favorite Things); Foam Adhesive Strips, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals,
Envelope Punch Board, Sponge Daubers, Palette Knives (Stampin' Up!); Moonstone Glimmer Paste (Nuvo);
Markers (Copic); Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios)

 

Celebration

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #516 + Hand Stamped Sentiments #315

When I saw the open circle on the Mojo Monday sketch, I decided to pull out the Doily Builder Thinlits dies. Then, I looked at stamp options and couldn't resist pulling out Picture Perfect Birthday again. It's one of my faves and I'm a little bummed to see it leave the catalogue.

I used the bow to create a colorful background and then I started stamping and cutting the other elements for the juxtaposition. The background felt a little overpowering so I reached for vellum to see if it would help to keep the focus on the front of the card. I covered the whole back of the vellum with a Big Shot adhesive sheet and before gluing in place, I pondered whether I should add dry embossing to it. I looked at my folders and decided the Scattered Sequins one had a lot of open space to it so it could work nicely. I also filled the middle of the doily with a circle die-cut out of Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Anniversaire idéal (Picture Perfect Birthday)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Vellum, Melon Mambo, Gorgeous Grape,
Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper
Designer Series Paper Stack: Brights
Ink: Melon Mambo, Gorgeous Grape, Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Blackberry Bliss, Lovely Lipstick
Accessories: Doily Builder Thinlits Dies, Layering Circle Framelits Dies, Glimmer Enamel Dots,
Scattered Sequins 3D Embossing Folder, White Medium Envelope, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Super Mom

This card came together quite randomly. I found the Halftone Squares stamp set from Altenew at my local store and I was drawn to it because of the comic strip it has. Looking at the shapes, I thought I could fill the Peekaboo Backdrop die and create my own superhero comic strip. Today, I finally committed this idea to cardstock. I picked bright colours and a black frame and gave it a try. The rectangles are not wide enough to cover te whole space, which is a little disappointing. (Next time, I'll try to stamp the rectangles twice to see how that looks.) Once I was done creating my background piece, I started looking through stamps to find something that would work well, but it was something else altogether that grabbed my attention. I have the sticker sheet that goes with the Best Mom Ever paper collection from Photoplay. The colours are not exactly the same as the ones I picked, but close enough that I could get away with it. So I used the stickers and I was able to finish this card in record time. This makes for a fun Mother's Day card, too.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Halftone Squares (Altenew)
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Pacific Point
Accessories: Peekaboo Backdrop Dies (Lawn Fawn); Best Mom Ever Element Stickers (Photoplay);
Faceted Dots, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, White Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!)

 

Crystal Ball

Inspiration: Page Maps May 2019

While going through my patterned papers to put some order in them, I found a printed copy of the poster we had designed for the last Christmas party I helped organized at the office when I was living in Quebec City. I've held on to it for all this time because I wanted to include it in my scrapbook album as a keepsake. This morning, I finally had this idea to pull out the Flirty Fleur papers from Prima to pair with the poster. I couldn't resist those papers - they're really fun with the hologram details, but they're also very busy and vintage-inspired, so not exactly a great match for my Lawn Fawn stamps and such! Here, they went very well with the neutral poster and since it's filling out most of the space, I could get away with the busy background. Because the poster takes up most of the space, putting the rest of the page together was a breeze. I didn't even have to bother with a title, since the title is on the poster itself. I pulled out the Pearl Rectangles from Nuvo again to create some elegant borders on some of the elements, and I used some rhinestone stickers I recently found in a sales bin. Because of the crowns, I figured I could use them for my London album, for our visit to the crown's jewels - only to remember later that I've already scrapbooked those pictures! Not a problem - I love rhinestones so I'll happily include them elsewhere.

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: Flirty Fleur (Prima Design)
Accessories: Regal Silver Gem Art Stickers (Forever in Time); Pearl Rectangles Gemstones (Nuvo);
Black Journaling Pen, Faceted Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

Little Housekeeper

Inspiration: Page Maps May 2019 + Lasting Memory Layout challenge #447 (Sentiment Stamp)

I really love the Domestic Bliss collection from Simple Stories but I hadn't done anything with it since purchasing it as I was waiting to have the right project. I've been known to have this creative paralysis when I buy papers or accessories that I really love because I want to save them for the perfect project, but thankfully, I've improved on it over the years and I'm able to talk myself into just using the stuff I have instead of hoarding it more and more over time. (Mostly because the stash keeps on growing and there's no point in having pretty stuff sit unused.) When I recently organized my papers, I realized when coming over this collection that I have pictures of my niece playing around with her toy broom. They're not the greatest pictures as she was moving aorund and most of them are a little blurry, but the theme was perfect and some of my favorite pictures to scrap are the random, everyday stuff. They make for good memories and it's fun to revisit the various stages kids go through later down the road.

I used white Bazzill cardstock and I spritzed it with Cracked Pistachio and Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide sprays for a dust-like effect. As for the sentiment stamp, I've put together an Excel spreadsheet of the sentiments I own, which is very handy when I'm looking for something specific to a theme or event. I was convinced I would find something about cleaning but I couldn't find anything about it, whether in French or in English. I did find "Home is where the heart is" in Lawn Fawn's Happy Village set, which worked well, so this is what I went with at the bottom of the picture.

I made my own title using a Mini Alphabet die set from Recollections, and I used Lime Light Pearlescent cardstock from Tonic for the larger letters. I love that the sticker sheet from the paper collection had the words "I put the MESS in domestic," because isn't that what kids do? smile

I got lucky and nearly avoided a problem. I always write the date I created a layout on the back and when I turned the cardstock around, I was surprised to find a company strip at the bottom with the color of the paper. This is surprising as all of the Bazzill cardstock in my stash is simple 12" x 12" with nothing on it. I immediately realized that probably meant the paper was longer than 12" since the strip is supposed to be cut off - and I was right. I couldn't cut the text off as I had the date and embellishments at the bottom, but the top of the page was empty and I had enough room above the title to cut half an inch off and thankfully, it still leaves enough room that the title is not too squished. I was lucky it turned out that way, otherwise that page would have been hanging out of the album once it's in a page protector!

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Happy Village (Lawn Fawn); Kiss Smiley (Recollections); Au jour le jour Project Life (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Midnight Muse Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Avalanche (Bazzill); Lime Light Pearlescent Cardstock (Tonic)
Patterned Papers: Domestic Bliss (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Uppercase and Lowercase Mini Alphabet (Recollections); Blue 05 Pen (PIgma Micron);
Designer Buttons, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Stapler, Lace Trim, Pear Pizzazz Shimmer Ribbon,
Brights and 2016-2018 In Color Enamel Shapes, Brights Candy Dots (Stampin' Up!);
Domestic Bliss Cardstock Stickers (Simple Stories); Picked Raspberry and Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide Sprays (Ranger)

 

Happy Hedgehogs

Inspiration: Fusion

When I saw the Fusion challenge, I figured it was a good opportunity to get out my Happy Hedgehogs stamp set. I've sold quite a few "We'll miss you" cards at the office during the last year, so that's the sentiment I included on the card. I typed it with my typewriter on a piece of patterned paper.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Happy Hedgehogs (My Favorite Things)
Cardstock: Lost Lagoon, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Patterned Papers: Celebrate Autumn
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Happy Hedgehogs Die-namics (My Favorite Things); Markers (Copic);
Square Envelope (?); Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Stapler (Stampin' Up!);
Stitched Rectangle Stackabels Dies (Lawn Fawn); Metallic Rose Gold Gems (Pretty Pink Posh);
White Gel Pen (Gelly Roll); Typewriter (American Crafts)

 

Seahorsin' Around

Inspiration: Colour Inkspiration #55

I knew I wanted to make a shadow box card with the new Seahorsin' Around stamp set. The idea had sparked in my mind when I was working on another card using the Smooth Sailing stamp set - I had noticed the image of an anchor at the end of a rope and I thought it would be nice to create an underwater scene using the shadowbox and have the anchor being dropped in the water.

That was the starting point for the scene. I was looking around for color inspiration and when I saw the Inkspiration challenge, the summery colours felt perfect for the colorful waterbed elements like coral and such. I wanted to have ink panels on all three sides of the shadowbox, so I mixed Broken China, Picked Raspberry and Seedless Preserves, with a touch of Chipped Sapphire on edges for definition. I splashed water to create bubbles and then I remembered I had the Ocean Scene Builder stencils that I could use to add nice detailing to the panels. I sponged white Craft ink in the larger rays, dried the ink with my heat tool and then used Moonlight Pearl Luna paste on the narrower rays. I then tried spritzing Picket Fence Distress Spray on the last stencil that mimicks ligjt ripples­. but it was barely showing. I cleaned my stencil and tried again with Moonstone Glimmer Paste from Nuvo this time. Much nicer result this time around!

While the glimmer paste was drying, I got started on the images. I stamped and colored the images from the Seahorsin' Around set. I also used the Shadow Box Card Ocean Add-On dies for the card opening and for the wave insert. I used the regular insert in gold glimmer paper for the front to mimick sand, and I used the little bubbles from the Ocean Add-On in Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper to embellish the background.

I was trying to decide how to add the anchor. I could have used a thin strip of acetate from one of the bottom insert, but I decided to die-cut a wave insert from acetate and glue it to the top of the box. How about dropping atuff from the top of the card instead? And as I was preparing this, I got this sudden idea: what if we saw the bottom of the boat showing in the water? And it hit me that we have the new Hammock die and that the size and shape would probably work. What do you know: it's perfect!! I also like how the transparency has the stitching on it, so it adds an additional layer when it catches the light and makes the scene even more interesting.

I had started with the sand more in the back of the scene, but the dimension was not working, so I got the sand closer to the front. I wound up with too wide of a gap, though, so I replicated the same idea of having a transparency wave at the bottom. This allowed me to add seaweed there to fill in the space without overwhelming the design. The little coral reef from the Ocean Add-On dies was added to the front of the shadow box, and the seahorses were glue to strips of acetate to have them float in the water.

I had enough leftover inked cardstock to do two side panels as well, using the dies from the Shadow Box Card set. I'm honestly really existed about how this one turned out. I think the Ocean Scene Builder stencils, the use of acetate inserts and the boat idea brought this card to a whole other level and it surpassed my original design idea. I haven't included a sentiment for now, but I would probably use the inked side panels to add something.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Seahorsin' Around, Smooth Sailing (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Thick Whisper White, Gold and Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Inks: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Broken China, Dried Marigold, Twisted Citron, Picked Raspberry,
Chipped Sapphire, Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide Ink (Ranger);
Soft Suede Classic Ink, Whisper White Craft Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Shadow Box Card, Shadow Box Card Ocean Add-On, Hammock and Trees,
Seahorsin' Around, Smooth Sailing (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Moonlight Pearl Luna Paste (Cosmic Shimmer); Moonstone Glitter Paste (Nuvo);
Ocean Scene Builder Stencils (Honey Bee Stamps); Markers (Copic);
Palette Knife, Window Sheets (Stampin' Up!); Spritzer Bottle, Blending Tool (Ranger)

 

Beach Shack

Inspiration: Color Throwdown #543

There was a lot of be excited about in the new Lawn Fawn release, but the item that got me the most excited was the Scalloped Treat Box Beach House Add-On. In part because that item had not been showcased during their release week so it was a surprise to find it amongst the new stuff when the released items were posted online, but also because I've been enjoying doing themed houses since buying the Scalloped Treat Box. I've done Halloween, then Easter last month, and I couldn't wait to add my beach house to the lot.

The Color Throwdown colors were just perfect for something soft and beachy. The roof and windows were done in grey, the door and shutters in blue and the sand dunes in Brushed Gold. I created openings for the windows and doors and backed them with acetate - I had done that for the Easter house and I liked how bright it was with the light shining through so I went for acetate again. (I had done vellum for the Halloween house since I was planning on putting a tealight in it.)

For the door, I hesitated between adding the anchor or the lifesaver on the door. I was curious to see what the lifesaver looked like, so I started with it, using white and red cardstock. The die collection includes two circles, which I assumed were meant to be overlapped to get some colors peaking through. Kinda... except that the middle circle doesn't cut all the way through. Since there has been no Lawn Fawn video filmed for those dies, I don't know what the reasoning is, but I can only imagine it's done that way so you can "clip" the lifesaver on something: a fence, the side of a boat, etc. It was not really working for my door, though, so I used circle punches to make my own open-center lifesaver, which I clipped under the white one. I got the idea to hang the lifesaver on the door and pulled out the Mini Picture Frames dies to use the hanging cord die, but it turns out it's too big. So I went to my baker's twines instead and picked some Thick Baked Brown Sugar to tie around the lifesaver and on the door. Because the door has slate on it (one of my fave details from the die set), it's not as sturdy as the other doors from other sets. You have to be very careful when you bend the door at the hinge as the cardstock tends to crumple where the slates are. For that reason, I had cut another piece of blue cardstock to size to back the door, and this piece came in handy to hide the ends of the baker's twine as well.

Since I had put a bunny peeking out from behing the door of the Easter house, I figured I'd do the same thing with the seagull, but in the end, I ended up putting him outside the door on the ground, as it was showing up better there. (White on white is tricky.)

I decided to test out adding palm trees on the back and see if the scale fit - and that's when I realized I hadn't added green anywhere just yet! I was planning to do the little sprigs anyway, but the palm trees introduced some more green as well and filled the back of the house very nicely. I reused the Brushed Gold cardstock for the coconuts and picked Baked Brown Sugar cardstock for the trunk (which I now realize matches the twine as well!). I would have loved to add the crab from the Palm Trees die set but it was too big for the scale of the house (it would have been as big as the seagull), so I trashed that idea.

I think the result is so darn cute. Those houses are addictive! (But also time-consuming - I think it took close to three hours to put everything together even though I had a clear idea of what I wanted to make from the start and didn't fidget with anything.)

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Smoky Slate, Balmy Blue, Poppy Parade, Brushed Gold, Baked Brown Sugar (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Scalloped Treat Box, Scalloped Treat Box Beach House Add-On, Hammock and Trees (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Baked Brown Sugar Thick Baker's Twine, Window Sheet (Stampin' Up!)

 

Thanks a Bunch

Inspiration: Try Stampin' on Tuesday #408 + Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Stitches)

I was so happy to find out that Doodlebug went back to designing stamps. They have the cutest images around, so stamps seem like a natural fit for their product line. I picked my two favorites from the Spring release, which included Flower Girl. I also had the Simply Spring papers in 6" x 6" so I designed my card around those two items. I was surprised by how small the images are when I first saw the stamp sets. You would think this would make for small coloring, but not really because the images are still detailed, but you have to navigate around tight spaces when doing your blending. I went for Copic markers here to match the vibrant colours from the papers. I was able to pull out markers that I generally never use because they are so bright, but bright is Doodlebug's trademark!

The Simon Says Stamp challenge calls for stitching, so I used some stitched dies from MFT, but I also did some handstitching on the left side of the purple paper. I like how the pink pops and how the thread adds some nice texture to the project. I didn't originally plan to glue thinkgs at an angle, but my image just happened to shift as I was puting things together and I found that it made the design more dynamic so I stuck with it. I also added two little flowers outside of the main image to fill in the scene a bit.

And how about that pretty matching envelope? Another colour from my envelope haul, namely Metallic Aquamarine. It's really close to the Soft Sky colour from Stampin' Up! (now retired) and it's gorgeous. I did some stamping in Bermuda Bay ink on it and it was my first time testing out the Classic ink on the metallic-finish envelopes. Turns out the ink doesn't really dry well, even after using the heat gun, so I pourred some clear embossing powder on it to solve my problem. Those two colours look great paired together!

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Flower Girl (Doodlebug Design)
Cardstock: Soft Sky, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Simply Spring (Doodlebug Design)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Bermuda Bay Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Flower Girl Dies, Bright Glitter Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design); Needlepoint Floss (DMC);
Pearl Basic Jewels, 1/4" Circle Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic);
 Decorative Scissors (Fiskar); Wonky Stitched Rectangles Die-namics, Wonky Stitched Squares Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
A2 Aquamarine Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty, Little Ball of Fur...

Inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #52 + ColourQ #209 + MFT Sketch #437

This card is a nod to The Big Bang Theory, which I've followed from the pilot all the way to the last episode. It is the sitcom I've enjoyed the most since Friends went off the air. I think it was well written and clever and I'm pretty sure I've laughed out loud at least once during every single episode. Needless to say, I was tickled pink when The Ink Road Stamps made a stamp set based on the show. I'll have to think about how to incorporate the sentiments into cards, but the one that seemed really easy to me was the Soft Kitty song. I also know it'll be the most recognizable quote from the set. My former boss was also watching the show and since he knew we had that in common, he had written the Soft Kitty lyrics in my birthday card one year. This card might be going to him for his birthday as I know he'd get a kick out of the reference.

This was also perfect for this week's Lawn Fawnatics challenge, which is about pet. I kept the layout really simple, drawing inspiration from the MFT sketch, which was oerfect to work the larger sentiment in. I stamped the small images from the set on the cardstock circles, for added interest, and finished the set with a colored envelope.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Meow You Doin'? (Lawn Fawn); Bazinga (The Ink Road Stamps)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Coastal Cabana, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Corner Chomper (American Crafts); Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Ae Orange Peel Envelope (Simon Says Stamp); Meow You Doin'? Dies,
Stitched 4 Bar Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Markers (Copic)

 

Move in the Direction of your Dreams

Inspiration: Tuesday Morning Sketches #503

This card showcases a few items that will be retiring with the annual catalogue, namely the Twinkle Twinkle Designer Series paper, the Chase Your Dreams Framelits, the Twinkle Adhesive-Backed Sequins, the Faceted Dots and the Calypso Coral 1/4" Ombre Ribbon. There's a matching stamp set (also retiring) that I haven't used here, but I found a sentiment that talks about following your dreams in the new upcoming set called Sailing Home (part of the 2019-2020 Stampin' Up! annual catalogue that will be released in June). I made a matching envelope out of patterned paper using the Envelope Punch Board (also retiring, which is a real bummer, as it's in my top ten most used tools when crafting). It's a great way to be able to make cards of any size you wish and to have envelope in the color and pattern of your choice. (And great way to use your paper stash faster, if you have a growing stash of patterned papers like I do!).

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Terre à l'horizon (Sailing Home)
Cardstock: Petal Pink, Soft Seafoam, Grey Granite, Night of Navy
Designer Series Paper: Twinkle Twinkle
Ink: Night of Navy
Accessories: Chase Your Dreams Framelits, Calypso Coral 1/4" Ombre Ribbon,
Envelope Punch Board, Faceted Dots, Twinkle Adhesive-Backed Sequins

 

Gumball Shaker

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #515

I recently placed an order with Queen & Co. for some of their shaker kits. One of them was the Gumball shaker kit, which I opened for a spin today. I based my design on the Mojo Monday sketch #515. The kit includes a stamp set with some clever punny sentiments, but the ones I liked the best were stacked and wouldn't have fit on a long banner. So I switched gears and looked through my French stamps. I found something perfect in the Sweet Cupcake stamp set that sort of translates to "You're Yummy" - that's the idea, but the French wording goes really well with gumballs AND it fit on the banner dies I wanted to use.

I used some Holo Waves cardstock from Tonic for the back of the gumball machine and the place where the gumballs drop. (I can't seem to stop using this cool holographic cardstock!) As a final touch, I picked a A2 Lagoon Metallic envelope from my newly acquired stash and decorated it with a die-cut machien to match. The cute Candy Land patterned paper was part of the same kit.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Douceurs sucrées (Sweet Cupcake - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Gorgeous Grape (Stampin' Up!); Holo Waves Mirror Card (Tonic)
Ink: Gorgeous Grape (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Candy Land (Queen & Co.)
Accessories: Gumball Shaker Kit (Queen & Co.); A2 Lagoon Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Glitter Enamel Dots (Stampin' Up!); Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Wonly Stitched Rectangle STAX Die-namics (My Favorite Things)

 

Happy Birthday Princess

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (For a Special Lady) + Little Red Wagon #496 + Just Us Girls #487

This is another card that was born out of supplies leftover from making a scrapbook page. Because of the papers' theme, I figured I could make a card for a younger lady. I wanted the sentiment to read, "Happy Birthday Princess" but I didn't have that specific sentiment, so I created it myself using the Birdie Brown Alphabet & Numbers stamp set. I really like how the font and size turned out!

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Ballons à l'aventure (Stampin' Up!); Birdie Brown Alphabet & Numbers (My Favorite Things)
Cardstock: Opulent Orchid, Mint Macaron (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Little Princess (Simple Stories); Best Mom Ever (Photoplay)
Ink: Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!); Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Wonky Stitched Rectangles Stax Die0namics (My Favorite Things);
Ticket Corner Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Faceted Dots, Pistachio Pudding Ribbon,
Stars Framelits Dies, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, On Board Chipboard (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Nautical Blue Linen (envelopes.com); Funky Mini Stars Holographic Film (Grafix)

 

Give Me a Double!

Inspiration: As You See It #200 + CAS(E) This Sketch #321

When I saw the "Two" challenge from As You See It, I realized I could get out my Wine Glass die and Cheers die, which would be perfect. I didn't really have a specific colour combo in mind when I started the card, but I knew I wanted some gold in there so I reached out for my Tonic Specialty papers and when I spotted the Snowdrop Meadow papers, I thought they looked like bubbles and decided to pair it with the Golden Satin (which I absolutely love) to make my background. I looked at cardstock colors for something soft to make the glasses and Almost Amethyst (a long-retired Stampin' Up! color) caught my eye. I paired it with Concord Crush for the sentiment and card base.

I didn't know if I wanted to turn both wine glasses into shakers, but I wanted to juxtapose them and having two shakers would have made the card really bulky, so I ended up doing the shaker only on the first glass. I filled it with Sparkling Clear Confetti Mix from Pretty Pink Posh, and the other sequins are from the Let's Be Mermaid pack from Little Things from Lucy's Cards.

I finally invested in some more A2 colored envelopes from envelopes.com. I was really happy with the items I had previously purchased from them and I was eager to get envelopes in more colours, so I added to my collection. I discovered with my last purchase that the metallic envelopes are easier to use because the color is more forgiving. You'd think that metallic envelopes would be really high shine, but it's really more of a subtle shimmer to them (think to when Stampin' Up! had Brushed Gold and Brushed Silver cardstock, that's more of the finish they have). The envelope I used here is a good exemple - the color is called Sapphire and it goes from looking blue to looking purple depending on what you pair it with. For that reason, my order this time revolved more around metallic colours than solid one (even though I did get a couple). I repeated the same die on the envelope with a few sequins to match.

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Almost Amethyst, Whisper White, Concord Crush (Stampin' Up!)
Specialty Papers: Snowdrop Meadow, Golden Satin (Tonic)
Dies: Cheers Die-namics, Wonky Stitched Rectangle Stax, Wine Glass Die-namics,
Stitched Ric Rac Die-namics (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: Sparkling Clear Confetti Mix (Pretty Pink Posh);
Let's Be Mermaids Embellishments (Little Things from Lucy's Cards);
A2 Sapphire Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

2 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

Inspiration: As You See It #200 + Fab Friday #163 + MFT Color Challenge #117

I really like the colors proposed in this week's MFT challenge and they seemed perfect for me to go with the retiring Bubble Over stamp set, the rust color working well with the beer bottles. I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to make for this card, but it still ended up taking a while to put together because of the inking and because I played with various elements for a while before finding a mix of embellishments I liked.

I used Crumb Cake cardstock instead of white cardstock to stamp the bottles to avoid something too bright against the dark colors. The Copper Foil paper was a perfect complement to the rusty colour, and I used it for the bottle caps and the circle embellishment at right. The copper heart on the bottle was a happy accident - I had initially die-cut a heart in the bottle cap at right to try and make it more interesting. The foil paper had gotten scratched, though, and I wasn't liking the look. I had stamped the thumbs up image previously to embellish the beer bottle and I wasn't liking the look, so I had put it aside. I tried using the stamped image on the banner, but it was feeling a little bare. It was only after I layered the two pieces together that I found a combo I liked. I was then left with the copper heart and I was moving it around the card - between the two bottles, over them on the background and finally, I decided to glue it on the neck of the beer bottle to hide an imperfection in the stamping.

Instead of pulling out my sponge dauber for the inking, I tried out my Picket Fence brushes. Be warned - you won't get as much control as you would with daubers to get the ink only close to the edges, but in this instance, I like the look. I wanted to ink all of the raised surfaces on my background anyway, and I like the softness I get with those brushes. I used Crumb Cake ink instead of Real Rust on the background, to get a softer, dusty look.

Finally, I pulled out a Teal A2 envelope from my recent envelope haul and stamped it to match the card.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Pétillant de bonheur (Bubble Over)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Real Rust, Island Indigo, Night of Navy, Copper Foil Paper
Designer Series Paper Stack: 2011-2013 In Color
Ink: Crumb Cake, Island Indigo, Night of Navy, Cajun Craze
Accessories: Bottles & Bubles Framelits Dies, Corrugated 3D Embossing Folder, Tin Tile 3D Embossing Folder,
3/4" Circle Punch, Night of Navy Velvet Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals;
A2 Teal Envelope (envelopes.com); Lifechanging Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios)

 

Aloha from Hawaii

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #502 + Simon Says Stamp Monday (Add Something Metallic)

Just playing with some of my summer supplies and catching up on past Mojo Monday I've missed playing with. This Rosie and Bernie stamp from Stamping Bella is one of my favorite images from them. How can you not love the coolness and attitude they both exude? Plus, it's really fun to color. It's fairly quick if you keep Bernie as a white unicorn and Rosie's hair is already black, so this is actually very quick to fill in.

I found my You Are Here! papers from Simple Stories and as I was putting together the card, I was reminded why I've enjoyed scrapping with those papers in the past. The soft colours are just yummy and very easy to creat with. They worked perfectly for this card as well. I'm loving the result.

By the way, I fully intended to follow the sketch and have the main image in a circle, surrounded by tropical foliage, but when I tested out which circle die I needed to have my full image, it was WAY too big for the card. So I switched to a matted square instead and even then, you'll notice that I had to handcut the horn and let it hang outside the frame for the image to work. It doesn't look like it, but it's quite big! The foliage would have made the card too crowded, so I switched gear and did a little stamp at the top instead. Necessity is the mother of invention, right?

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Rosie and Bernie in Hawaii (Stamping Bella)
Cardstock: Soft Sky, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: You Are Here! (Simple Stories)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Stamp Punch, Seasonal Layers Thinlits, White Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic);
Square Nestabilities Dies (Spellbinders); Scripty Aloha Die (Lawn Fawn); Glossy Accents (Ranger);
Stitched Ric Rac Die-namics, Wonly Stitched Rectangles Die-namics (My Favorite Things)

 

Conversation

Inspiration: Lasting Memory Layout #445

For the challenge, I added stenciling to my polka dot paper using an orange Distress Crayon. The layout is about a conversation I overheard during Megan and her cousin when I babysat for them. They were both around 2½ and they had started to have conversations together, which was really cute. They were sitting on the couch, waiting for me to figure out how to change the language on the DVD they were watching, when I overheard them saying:

[Camille, whispering] Cindy is really nice.

[Megan, in a proud tone] Cindy's my godmother. Do you have a godmother?

I just melted. That was so sweet!

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Dear Lizzy Alphabet (American Crafts)
Cardstock: Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Shimelle (American Crafts)
Ink: Emerald Envy Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Brads (unknown source); Yellow Baker's Twine (Doodlebug Design);
Stickers (Shimelle by American Crafts); Angle Tag Topper Punch, In Color Enamel Shapes,
Scalloped Tag Topper Punch, Circle Punches, Corner Rounder Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Carved Pumpkin Distress Crayon, Numeric Stencil (Ranger)

 

Five-Year Anniversary

Inspiration: Festive Friday #33 

I needed cards for downline members who are celebrating their five-year anniversary as demonstrators. I pulled out the Broadway Bound Specialty Designer Series Paper and combined them with the Large Numbers Framelits to make these cards. I was looking for a heart punch or Framelits and I found one the right size in the Up & Away Framelits set.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Bouquet de ballons (Balloon Celebration)
Cardstock: Lovely Lipstick
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Broadway Bound
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Gold Glimmer Paper, Glitter Enamel Dots, White Medium Envelopes,
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Up & Away Framelits Dies,
Large Numbers Framelits Dies

 

Best Friend Ever

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #512 + The Paper Players #439 (Friendship) + Colour Inkspiration #54

I'm in full National Scrapbook Day mode this weekend and I'm cranking out scrapbook pages followed by cards with the remaining paper scraps. The Flirty Fleur papers from Prima are totally different from my usual style - I usually go for cutesy and colorful, and those are more vintage and collage-inspired. But they have holographic foil finish on them which I couldn't resist. They've been sitting aside while I was trying to figure out how to include them in one of my design. For this card, I figured I should let the pretty papers do the design work and only add a bold sentiment on one of the cut-apart pieces. That worked out even better than I envisioned. The cute birds were handcut from a piece of patterned paper and for the sentiment, I stamped "I couldn't have picked a better friend than you," which works great for the friendship-themed challenge over at The Paper Players.

I used a cut-apart piece inside the card and on the envelope as well. The mirror envelopes I have tie in perfectly with the foil finish of the card.

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

Supplies
Stamps: Ravissant Bouquet (Beautiful Bouquet - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Mint Macaron (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Flirty Fleur (Prima Marketing)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Wonky Stitched Rectangles STAX Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
A2 Mirror Envelope (envelopes.com); Corner Rounder Punch, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals,
Faceted Dots, Black Lace Trim (Stampin' Up!)

 

Scenic Caves

I had some time off of work and I took the opportunity to reorganize my stash and purge some stuff at the same time. Going through the mountain of patterned papers I've collected over the years (my biggest weakness when it comes to crafting) motivated me to go back to scrapbooking to get some use out of it. I used to organize my papers by companies and I still do for the ones that have collection that pair well together (Simple Stories, Doodlebug, etc.) but for the rest of the stash, I figured out that working by theme would serve me better when making cards and pages. One of the new themed pile I put together is traveling. This big Bo Bunny die-cut background is from the Roughin' It collection and I've had it for years. I hadn't purchased the paper collection, just this single page and since I don't do camping, it sat unused in my stash for a long time. I was going through my travel papers thinking I'd make a page about London but then I realized that the pictures taken at the Scenic Caves in Wasaga Beach two years ago might be a good fit. The whole place was a lush plethora of greens and browns, so it went with the paper well. 

I matted the die-cut with green Bazzill cardstock and then I dug through my paper leftovers, which are organized in drawers by colors. I found a Basic Grey paper (the distressed one with the big stars) that I filed this week during my organizing frenzy and another one with a mesh patterned that also worked well. For the title block, I went with newer supplies: the Evergreen Fir Specialty Paper from Tonic, Candy Shoppe Alphabet stickers from Doodlebug and Cecily American Crafts Thickers.The embellishments are all old knicknacks that I found while cleaning my desk - a key trinket taken off a project I was throwing away, a traveling enamel embellishment that was lost on my desk and a metal tag, which was actually sewn inside the collar of a shirt that I own, but that I snipped out of there because it was bothering me. I flipped it upside down so I wouldn't have the company's name on it and sew it in place with DMC thread. Another tool I found while cleaning is the Sew Easy from We R Memory Keepers. I love sewing on my projects, so I was all over this tool when it came out. Then I was instantly disappointed when I tried it out and it has stayed at the bottom of a drawer since. It was back out on my desk as I was deciding whether to give it away or not. I decided to give it one more try. Here's my assessment: it will poke holes through one sheet of paper. Not cardstock, not thick patterned paper. Problem is, I usually like to stitch at the junction of two papers I've glued together. While it didn't pierce properly, it did give me a template to pierce holes with my paper piercer and it was faster than using a ruler like I usually do. So I'm still undecided on keeping it or giving it away.

The metal piece was feeling a little blank, so I thought I could decorate it with rub-ons. I have some from Stampin' Up! that must be a decade old. They've been used over the years, but my pattern is always the same: I see them while organizing my stuff, remember I should use them, pull them out for a project and then forget about them all over again. This time, I put those in the pile of stuff to give away to my niece, who will use anything craft-related to her biggest delight. Well, what do you know, I went back to fish them out of the bag to find a word or image for my metal piece. And we're back to the dilemma of To give or not to give?...

By the way, I was not trying to be fancy when I used the @ in my title - I just figured I was out of As after I had started gluing letters to the page, so I went with it and used the @ symbol to solve my problem.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Une date Project Life (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Bazzill
Patterned Papers: Roughin' It Way to Go Die=Cut (Bo Bunny); Green Paper (Basic Grey); Mesh Paper (unknown);
Evergreen Fir Specialty Paper, Lime Light Pearlescent Cardstock (Tonic)
Ink: Soft Suede Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Needlepoint Thread (DMC); Tag Topper Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Thick Cord, Vintage Ket Trinket, Corner Rounder Punch,
Pear Pizzazz Seam Binding, Metallic Pearls, Classic Label Punch, Urban Secret Embellishments, Bright Delight Rub-Ons (Stampin' Up!);
Green Ribbon (Basic Grey); Cecily Thickers (American Crafts); Bon Bon Candy Shoppe Alphabet Stickers (Doodlebug Design);
Sew Easy Tool (We R Memory Keepers); Enamel and Metal Embellihsment (Bo Bunny); Metal Tag (recycled); Ink Joy Pen (PaperMate)

 

Follow Your Dreams

Inspiration: TGIF challenge #209

Demonstrator math allowed me to get some supplies for free at the end of Sale-A-Bration. One of the items I ordered was the Follow Your Dreams bundle. It hasn't been translated to French, unfortunately, but I like the images and feathers and the projects I've seen made with it. I paired it with the Twinkle Twinkle papers. Another item I ordered were the embossing mats (I kept adding those to orders and taking them off, wasn't sure about them) so I got the idea of using them to emboss the word dream on the top patterned paper. I love how it turned out. It doesn't distract from the focal point, but still makes the top of the card more interesting. I added little iridescent stars around the word, and iridescent sequins on my sentiment block. The sentiment was stamped in Night of Navy and I added the flowers in Soft Seafoam ink to give the tag a soft texture. I stamped and die-cut the dreamcatcher and the feathers. On the bigger feathers, I used a Stampin' Write marker to add lines to the center of the feathers.

This is a simple design but I think it turned out really cute!

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Follow Your Dream
Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Soft Seafoam, Pool Party, Petal Pink
Designer Series Paper: Twinkle Twinkle
Ink: Petal Pink, Soft Seafoam, Sahara Sand, Night of Navy
Accessories: Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins, Twinkle Adhesive-Backed Sequins,
Whisper White Medium Envelope

 

Libra

Inspiration: Color combo from shirt seen online (see picture below) + Simon Says Stamp (Birthday)

This is another image from my Holidays coloring session. The colors came from an Abercrombie & Fitch shirt I had seen online. I found the combo soft and unique and knew it would translate nicely to a paper project. I paired Night of Navy, Sweet Sugarplum, Soft Sky and Hello Honey to recreate the look. The design was kept pretty simple - I just framed my colored image with a Wonky Scalloped Frame from Avery Elle. (I love the Wonky Frames dies so much, I bought them in all three shapes - squares, rectangles and circles. I'm really excited to start using them on projects.)

As with my other Zodiac girls, I die-cut the French equivalent for Libra using my Alisha Lowercase Alphabet dies, and added a dab of Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer to the letters. The scales were watercolored with gold paint from the Gansai Tambi Starry Colors set. To add a little something more to the card, I handdrew a dot border using a Night of Navy marker, and added a bit of ribbon to the patterned paper. The card still seems a little bare to me (maybe I could have done a color wash in the background behind her?) but based on my experience with the Aries card recently, I found it best to leave well enough alone.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Libra Uptown Zodiac Girl (Stamping Bella)
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Whisper White, Sweet Sugarplum, Soft Sky
Designer Series Paper Stack: Moonlight
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Sweet Sugarplum (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Alisha Lowercase Alphabet Dies (Echo Park); Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo);
Hello Honey Satin Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Night of Navy Stampin' Write Marker,
White Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up); Polychromos Pencils (Faber-Castell); Starry Colors Watercolor (Gansai Tambi)

 

French Kiss Wine Tag and Card

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Tag It) + Tuesday Morning Sketch #501

For the Simon Says Stamp Tag It challenge, I was hesitating between making a tag or mounting a tag on a card. I looked through my stamps and papers for inspiration and when I saw my French Kiss collection, I was instantly inspired to make a wine bottle tag. Last year, Stampin' Up! had the Cheerful Tags Framelits, which were perfect to make those kind of tags. I spotted the "You had me at merlot" die-cut on one of the sheets and planned to use it, but it was quite big, so I cut the sentiment out and used it with some of the Mini Icon stickers instead. To decorate the bottom, I used a scroll from the same Framelits collection, cut out of Holo Waves Mirror Card from Tonic. I have to say, holographic foil is popping up everywhere on papers these days and I'm really digging it, so I was happy to find some foil paper with that finish, and I find it goes really well with the French Kiss collection's colors. I topped the sentiment strip with some aqua gems and I liked the result, so I decided not to overdo it and leave it as is.

Now, I had the rest of the die-cut image on my desk (a wine bottle and a wine glass) and it screamed to be finished as a greeting card, so I kept going with the supplies I had on my desk. The Tuesday Morning sketch was perfect for the size of the image, so I trimmed it a little smaller, and matted it with Blueberry Bushel cardstock from Stampin' Up! using the Layering Square Framelits dies. I used the cool mail stripes washi tape from the same collection underneath and the pink bow paper for the background. I added a strip of flowery paper and topped it with the Stitched Ric Rac, die-cut in white. (I LOVE that new die, it's going to be great to create ric rac in various colours, and the stitching makes it even better,) Brights enamel shapes were added to the top corner of the image. and I also added little clear droplets on the bottle to mimick condensation. (Those raindrops were sold by Stampin' Up! last year.)

For the sentiment, I pulled out the Cheers die from MFT. I initially die-cut the sentiment fom the same Holo Waves mirror card and matted it with white fun foam, but the word is very delicate and the fun foam was all over the place, which made the result look sloppy, so I gently pulled it off the card and started the whole process again, layering four die-cuts out of Thick white cardstock instead, and the result is much neater. This is something I've learned with experience - if you're not satisfied with the result you've achieved (coloring, inking, cutting), unless it's stuck permanently on your card and you can't take it off or cover it without ruining the card, it's worth taking the time to redo it. It's okay if something is not perfect (after all, it is handmade) as long as YOU like it. If you don't, you will probably always hate the card, as what we truly don't like will rarely grow on us. That layered sentiment is a good example - it took me an extra fifteen minutes to create a new die-cut, but it was totally worth it because now I really like the result, whereas before I was trying not to focus on the uneven fun foam. (By the way, I'm not sure how others are making that technique work - I find that the Big Shot flattens out the fun foam and always makes it "fatter" than my top die-cut, so it is always peeking out too much from underneath the die-cut for my liking.)

For the envelope, I picked a Seafoam envelope and embellished it with leftover pieces (the rest of the flower strip and the rest of the die-cut rick rac), and I added another wine mini Icon sticker. My favorite part is the bow placed on the back flap! I was looking through the Odds & Ends (I totally fell in love with this collection, so I got a few items from it) to decorate the inside of the card and the bow was the perfect finishing touch for the envelope. I used to use my embellishments very sparingly to be mindful of price and so as not to run out when making pages for my album, but as my stash has grown over time, I've learned that you might as well use whatever tickles your fancy while it's hot and fresh instead of keeping it for later and maybe not using it at all. There's been a few items that I've run out of over the years and would have loved to get more of but can't, but the list is short. The industry is thriving and there's always something new and exciting to look forward to, so I say, if you love it, use it!

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Blueberry Bushel (Stampin' Up!); Holo Waves Mirror Card (Tonic)
Patterned Papers: French Kiss (Doodlebug Design)
Dies: Stitched Ric Rac, Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX, Cheers (My Favorite Things);
Cheerful Tags Framelits, Layering Square Framelits Dies (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: A4 Seafoam Envelope (envelopes.com); Brights Enamel Dots, Glitter & Clear Epoxy Shapes (Stampin' Up!);
French Kiss Mini Icon Stickers and Odds & Ends (Doodlebug Design); March Crystals (Studio Katia)

 

Thanks a Ton

Inspiration: MFT Sketch #435

Once I was done with my scrapbook page, I kept going on a card using the remaining paper scraps. I initially picked some cute chicks from MFT and started coloring them with pencils and Gamsol, but I soon realized that it would be a lot of yellow and that the pencil color diluted with Gamsol would be too pale next to the saturated papers, so I switched gears and got the Happy Hippos stamp set out along with my Copic markers. I like the result much better. It's probably because the papers combine some of my favorite colors together, but this card makes me instantly happy.

I wasn't sure what to add as a sentiment and I finally decided to reach for the Speech Bubbles dies and use the little Thanks that is right in there. It's hard to tell because the circles are quite tight together, but the back is filled with the Chevron Stripes. Ideally, I would have used a slightly smaller circle in the center for the hippo but I wanted to use the Wonky Stitched Circles dies and I was limited on size options, so the chevron is not that visible.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Happy Hippos (My Favorite Things)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Bermuda Bay, Night of Navy, Melon Mambo, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Glitter Girl from Shimelle (American Crafts)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Crushed Curry, Night of Navy Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Wonky Stitched Circles Die-namics, Happy Hippos Die-namics,
Chevron Stripes Die-namics (My Favorite Things); Speech Bubbles Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Markers (Copic); Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo); Stampin' Dimensionals,
White Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!); Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

 

Virgo

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Birthday)

I again used some holiday downtime hanging out with my family to colour a few Stamping Bella images. I kept on going with my Zodiac girls series. Virgo was colored in soft pastel colours inspired by an old ColourQ combo. I'm waiting on my dies, but this image was simple enough to handcut. I drew design inspiration from a Card Maps sketch, which I turned 90 degrees to the right. I used my Alisha Alphabet die to write the French Zodiac sign (vierge). The card base was stamped with the Fine Lace background and because I used an old ink pad (Blush Blossom), the colour is very faint, but that worked out well because I didn't want the background to detract from the other layers.

The image was colored with Polychromos pencils and I used Gamsol on the dress to get rid of the pencil marks.

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Zodiac Girl Virgo (Stamping Bella)
Cardstock: Blush Blossom, Sage Shadow, Calypso Coral, Whisper White
Designer Series Paper: So Saffron, Calypso Coral
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Blush Blossom (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink)
Accessories: Alisha Lowercase Alphabet Die (Echo Park); Buttons (Stampin' Up!, Autumn Leaves);
Paper Flower (Prima Design); Lacy Borders Lawn Cuts (Lawn Fawn); Polychromos Pencils (Faber-Castell);
White Medium Envelope, Subtles Candy Dots, Layering Square Framelits, Washi Tape (Stampin' Up!)