Encre, papier, ciseaux

Who's Making Them Laugh?

Inspiration: Page Maps May 2019 + The Paper Players #448 (Ribbon + Patterned Paper + Die-Cut)

This page was inspired by some fun papers from Shimelle's Glimmer Girl collection. I looked for fun pictures that could fit the whimsical papers well and found some pics of my mom, sister and niece cracking up and making impish faces to someone off camera. To be honest, I can't remember who was saying what to them at all, but I do like having candid pictures like those to add to my album. I think they capture my family's personalities the best.

My local store had a special promotion for NSD and one of the items that caught my attention was the Pearl Rectangles gemstones from Nuvo. I've never seen anything quite like it. It was hard to tell what they looked like exactly in the bottle, but I had this idea that I could make borders with them, subway-tile style. It works, but it sure is a labour of love. Unlike paper, you also cannot cut the excess off, so you have to do your planning accordingly.

For the heart border, I made sure to pick an uneven heart shape instead of a symetric one to keep with the whimsical style. I added embellishments in matching colour over them - it has kind of become my trademark because I can't help but feel that a heart looks empty if it doesn't have a little somethin' on it, and dotting one of the sides is my favorite trick to dress it up. I used the diagonal stripes to add my journaling and fill the bottom a little. The heart panel at the top (for the title) was actually a leftover die-cut I found in my Melon Mambo scraps, so I was able to work it into my design.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Panier de Pâques (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Night of Navy Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Glimmer Girl by Shimelle (American Crafts)
Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Thick Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Night of Navy, Pretty in Pink,
Bashful Blue, Granny Apple Green (Stampin' Up!); Holo Waves Mirror Card (Tonic)
Dies: Outside In Stitched Heart Stackables, Simple Wavy Banners Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Mini Caps Alphas and Numbers Dies (Taylored Expressions); Folk Hearts Dies (Essentials by Ellen);
Cheerful Tags Framelits (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Pearl Rectangle Gemstones (Nuvo); Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo);
White Gel Pen (Gelly Roll); Bonjour Thickers (American Crafts);
Candy Dots, Brights and Metallic Enamel Shapes, Glitter Enamel Dots (Stampin' Up!);
Black Tic Tac Toes (My Favorite Things)

Three Plants and a Thanks

Inspiration: Paper Craft Crew Card #342 (Die-cut Element + Favorite Color = Teal + Floral) + The Card Concept #118

I was inspired to make this card after I finished making a layout using the Domestic Bliss collection. As I was looking at the papers trying to figure out what kind of card I could make, I spotted the plant images on the cardstock sticker sheet, and I designed my card around them. I basically figured out how big of a rectangle I needed to house the three plants, added a scalloped rectangle border and went from there, throwing in scraps leftover from the page.  Aren't those potted plants just adorable?

The stamped sentiment reads, Thank You.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Silhouettes en script (Silhouettes & Script - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Smoky Slate (Stampin' Up!); Lime LIght Pearlescent Cardstock, English Lace Specialty Paper (Tonic)
Pattermed Papers: Domestic Bliss (Simple Stories)
Ink: Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide Ink (Ranger)
Accessories: Buttons (Autumn Leaves); Dotted Scalloped Rectangles Dies (Elizabeth Craft Designs);
Stampin' Dimesionals (Stampin' Up!); A2 Avocado Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

My True North

Inspiration: As You See It #203 (My favorite colour to wear is blue!) + Little Red Wagon #503

The colors of this card are inspired by an outfit I put on this week. I had a steel blue sweater and when I put on my navy coat and mustard yellow scarf, I thought it would make for a nice masculine or nautical color combo. This gave me the chance to pull out an old favorite colour that retired years ago: Bordering Blue. I've always liked that it falls between a steel blue and a grey and I think it's been one of Stampin' Up!'s most underrated colors back when it was current.

I inked a full 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" panel of white cardstock with a mix of Fossilized Amber, Mustard See and Scattered Straw Distress Oxide inks and die-cut the Sunrise Backdrop, keeping the lighter yellow at the end of the sunrays. I then inked a panel of the same size with Stormy Sky Distress Oxide ink, which is pretty much a perfect match for Bordering Blue. I made sure to leave white space in the center, where the sun is, to create a nice gradient.

So, I initially was going to pass on the Slide On Over Waves dies because I don't do a lot of sliding cards and I already have other sliding dies - but then Kelly Marie showed how the boat bumps around when you use the shorter waves and that gave me a chuckle, so when I saw that the dies were pretty inexpensive, I went for it. I used a strip of Night of Navy cardstock longer than the card size and I die-cut the slider first. I then placed the Wavy Border die over it to match the track, and then I cut the strip to size. You have to be careful because the slider part will come really close to the edge and you will end up with an open side if you don't measure things properly.

I wanted to add the cute lighthouse and needed to ground it on something. I pulled out the Beach House Add-On dies to see if the sand dunes would be big enough, but the scale was not working, so I reverted to using the rounded edge from the Palm Tree Border dies instead. I die-cut Crumb Cake cardstock and used a Soft Suede Stampin' Write marker to add dots for a sandy look. Little clouds and seagulls were added to the sky, some under the sunrays and other over for dimension. I then started looking for sentiment options. There's a nautical-themed stamp set in the new Stampin' Up! annual catalogue that has some French sentiments in it, so I pulled "You are my true north" since it was all on one line, and I tried to give it a little wave (it's a red rubber stamp, though, so it's not as flexible as a photopolymer one). I stamped it in Night of Navy on a Simple Wavy Banner and I added two little hearts from the Smooth Sailing set on each side to fill in the space and introduce red again to tie it with the lighthouse.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Smooth Sailing (Lawn Fawn); Terre à l'horizon (Sailing Home - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Bordering Blue, Crumb Cake, Thick Whisper White
Patterned Paper: Unknown source
Ink: Night of Navy, Bordering Blue, Calypso Coral Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!); Tuxedo Black (Memento);
Stormy Sky, Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Dies: Smooth Sailing, Stitched Rectangle Frames, Stitched Simple Wavy Borders, Slide on Over Waves,
Palm Tree Border, Sunrise Backdrop, Simple Wavy Banners (Lawn Fawn); Soft Suede Stampin' Write Marker,
Envelope Punch Board, Foam Adhesive Strips, Lots of Tags Framelits (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic);
Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios); Spritzing Bottle (Ranger); Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Tonic)

 

Perfection

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Stars & Stripes) + Freshly Made Sketch #394

I was initially planning on pulling some stencils for the Stars and Stripes challenge, but I found the Hello Baby paper pad and discovered I had both patterns in it, so that was the starting point for my design. I also found the Perfection die I had previously bought from Simon Says Stamp. I was really excited when I saw this word because the word is the same in French, spelling and all, so it was the first word and shadow die set I was able to get my hands on. The font is really cute and the size is perfect, too. Although I liked the sentiment layered over the stripes, it felt a little bare, so I went looking for baby stuff and ended up pulling the first set that had come into my mind, Something for Baby with the matching dies. The onesie was just the perfect size. I added a bow of yellow twine and one of the images from the back of the star paper at the top, stapled in place for added interest, and I was done. It's rare that I can make a CAS card, but this one makes me happy.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Something for Baby (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Hello Baby (Echo Park)
Classic Ink: Soft Sky, Night of Navy, So Saffron (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Baby's First Framelits Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals, Crushed Curry Baker's Twine,
White Medium Envelope, Mini Stapler (Stampin' Up!); Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn);
Perfection Die (Simon Says Stamp)

 

Mosaic Magic Envelope Card

Inspiration: Just Us Girls #494 (Fancy Folds)

I liked the idea of doing a fancy fold card for the Just Us Girls challenge. The easiest way to find inspiration was to go on Splitcoast Stampers and roam the tutorial section. I found one I hadn't tried out yet: the Magic Envelope Card. It is incredibly easy and fast to do, especially considering you don't really have to measure anything past the first fold you make. You just use your middle insert as your reference.

Since I used the busy pattern outside the envelope, I looked for die-cuts to decorate the exterior and have a panel for the name and address. I found what I was looking for in the Stitched Labels dies, and I used the smaller tag die to hold the flap of the envelope in place. I used Stampin' Dimensionals to keep it in place and I handwrote "open envelope here" so that the recipient would not have to guess.

In order to send this through the mail, I will slip the envelope in a clear envelope to protect the elements. I've done this before and it's not a problem, as long as you make sure to add your postage stamp on the outside of the clear envelope so that it can be stamped when the envelope goes through the mail.

To decorate the inside of the card, I simple die-cut flowers and butterflies from the same Designer Paper pack. That one is really quick to put together, and it's a great way to use up pretty patterned paper.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Terracotta Tile, So Saffron
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Mosaic Mood
Accessories: Stitched Labels Framelits Dies, Glitter Enamel Dots

 

To the King of BBQ

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #518 + Little Red Wagon #503 + Inspired By #78

I crushed really hard on the Sparkle City collection when I saw it in a video from the Creativation show and bought most of the items from the collection when they came out. I hadn't made anything with it just yet because I was a little intimidated to dive into the big paper pad. This is something that I've learned to fight over the years, to save my favorite items for something extra special. This is just supposed to be a fun hobby and there's no point hoarding the pretty stuff, so might as well dive in! I would usually have made a page first and then a card afterwards but I was feeling like making cards today and decided there was no reason to not dive straight into my pretty paper pad, so I picked the fun fast food pattern first, since it fit the BBQ theme from Inspired By, and I pulled out the Let's BBQ stamp set to go with it.

I was working off the Mojo Monday sketch  and the little grilling fork and spatula were perfect to mimick the hanging element of the sketch, but the card was not balanced if I placed them underneath the barbecue, so I moved them to the right side and added mini silver brads as hanging hooks.

The Little Red Wagon challenge was calling for non-occasion cards and this fit the theme perfectly. I looked at various stamp and die options, but in the end, I reached for my trusty Dymo to make my own: "to the king of the grill". Can't be more generic than that.

Because the paper pad is huge - 48 pages - I felt I had enough paper to make my own matching envelope, and I used a tag from a paper from the same pad to have a blank space for the address.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Let's BBQ (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Sparkle City (Shimelle for American Crafts)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Let's BBQ Dies, Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn);
Distressing Tool, Envelope Punch Board, Mini Silver Brads (Stampin' Up!);
Markers (Copic); Black Tape and Label Maker (Dymo); Pînking Edge Square Die-namics (My Favorite Things)

 

Visiting Saskia

Inspiration: Page Maps March 2019 + Lasting Memory Layout challenge #450 (vacation picture)

It's easy to make a pretty page when you have pretty supplies. This is my first of probably many pages made with the Sparkle City collection. I love everything about it - the cuteness, the colors, the holographic foil touches... I knew I wanted to make a page with the city street pattern and try to cover it as little as possible, as it's my absolute favorite pattern from the pack. I was looking through my pictures from London and found one in front of Big Ben with my friend who I was visiting there. It is total serendipity that she happens to be wearing a scarf with the exact shade of lilac and purple found the collection. It could not match more perfectly!

Most of what I used is directly from the collection. I added some Harmony Thickers that match perfectly because they are holographic, but I'm not sure they are part of the same line. And because I wanted to include the first word of the title on the chipboard ticket, I pulled out some way old rub-ons from Making Memories. I've been using those for over a decade and I still have half of the letters left. I remember back when I bought them, I found them to be quite expensive, but in hindsight, I was getting a great bang for my bucks! I still love the font and size, too. I think I'll be sad when it finally runs out.

The earth die-cuts is lenticular - it's just the earth when you look in one direction, but then the words "See the World" appear if you look another way. I *had* to have the die-cuts for the lenticular images alone. There's some even cooler ones to come on future projects!

Journaling explains that when Saskia left Montreal, after living here for about three years, she made me promise I'd visit her in London. London was not at the top of my list of travel destinations at the time, but having someone to visit there gave me a good excuse to finally go and visit Europe. I ended up really enjoying my time there, so I'm glad I did visit, and it was great to see Saskia again as well.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Unknown
Patterned Papers, Vellum, Chipboard, Stickers, Die-Cuts: Sparkle City (Shimelle for American Crafts)
Alphabet Thickers: Harmony (American Crafts)
Rub-Ons: Heidi Small Black (Making Memories)
Accessories: Corner Rounder Punchs, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Purple Pen (Pilot)

 

Birthday Balloons

Inspiration: Color Throwdown #549 + Tuesday Morning Sketch #509 + Global Design Project #192

The Color Throwdown combo caught my eye this week. As I was pulling colors for it, my initial thought was Blueberry Bushel, Smoky Slate and Calypso Coral, but then I saw Grapefruit Grove and when I tried it with the other colours, I found it looked really bright and fresh. I'll admit, I haven't been big on Grapefruit Grove. I've used it - mostly because I've been trying to get rid of it before it retires. It has a harsh undertone that I find makes it hard to pair with other colors without overpowering the project, but in this instance, it looks pretty cool with the other two more neutral colors.

I was looking through my Stampin' Up! stamps, planning on picking something current, but then I saw the Balloon Adventure set and remembered the Global Design Project challenge, so I picked that one out on a whim. The Tuesday Morning sketch was perfect to include the banner from the same set for the sentiment, and I decided to pull out an old frame embossing folder for the background, which made the whole project come together really quickly. What took the most time was trying to arrange the balloons to my liking.

 

 

 

   

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Ballons à l'aventure (Balloon Adventure)
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Blueberry Bushel, Grapefruit Grove
Ink: Smoky Slate, Blueberry Bushel, Grapefruit Grove
Accessories: Balloon Punch, White Medium Envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Smoky Slate Stampin' Emboss Powder, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Layering Ovals Dies

 

Miss You Polaroid

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Stars & Stripes) + Hand Stamped Sentiments #317 + Little Red Wagon #503

I really wanted to use the Deep Blue Sea paper from Carta Bella (I have a thing for nautical stuff, I'm always drawn to it), so the Smooth Sailing stamp set seemed like a natural fit for it. I initially thought I would put the boat in a porthole frame, but when I saw the Selfie Frame dies on my desk, I figured it would be even more fun to make a picture instead.

When came time to add a sentiment, "Wish you were here" popped into my mind. I went to my sentiment spreadsheet to see if I had it anywhere and I was really surprised to find out in all of my stamps (and Lord knows I have a few...!), I only have one, in an older set from The Cat's Pajamas called Small Sayings. (This right there shows why putting this spreadsheet together was a worthy time investment - I would never have found this sentiment otherwise.) When I pulled the set out, though, it was the words "Miss You" that caught my eye. I liked the font and size better for my card. I was still hesitant and I also looked at French options, and I tried three different sentiments on my Stamp-a-ma-jig sheet to see how they would look on the card, but Miss You was definitely the one that had the best impact so I stamped it in Night of Navy ink.

For the ribbon shown on the sketch, adding a nautical knot seemed like the cutest option. The only reason I was hesitant was because I knew it would make the card bulky, both because of the knot and because of the rope ends tucked behind the panel. I still went for it, though, and I do find it looks pretty cool. I had to double the foam adhesive on the back of the panel for everything to be level, though. I added two Cherry Cobbler enamel stars at the top. (The sketch has those at right, but it was not working as well for my design, so I moved those around.)

For the inside of the card, I cut a piece of Seaside Spray cardstock (a new 2019-2021 In Color), whch I found was a perfect match for the blue in the patterned papers. I used the Large Dotted Rectangle Stackables dies and since the second size looked a bit small on the card, I decided I would mat it with patterned paper. As I was finishing with the die-cut, though, I spotted a pile of random pieces on my desk corner and one of them was a white cardstock with diagonal stripes. I know it's from an old Stampin' Up! kit and I had left the cardstock aside to use on something else. Here, the size and stripes were perfect for the card, so I matted my blue cardstock with it and stamped an anchor in Night of Navy ink to match.

For the envelope, I picked an A2 Nautical Blue linen envelope and used the Porthole Frames for a place to include the name and address.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Smooth Sailing (Lawn Fawn); Small Sayings (The Cat's Pajamas)
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Thick Whisper White, Seaside Spray (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Deep Blue Sea (Carta Bella)
Ink: Stormy Sky Distress Oxide (Ranger); Night of Navy Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!);
Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Smooth Sailing Dies, Large Dotted Rectangle Stackables, Porthole Frames Dies,
Stitched Simple Wavy Borders Dies, Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables, Selfie Frames Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Mini Cloud Stencil (My Favorite Things); Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios); Stampin' Dimensionals,
Regals Enamel Shapes (Stampin' Up!); White Cord Trim (unknown); Markers (Copic);
A2 Nautical Blue Linen Envelope (envelopes.com); Circle Nestabilities Dies (Spellbinders)

 

 

Parlez-vous français?

Inspiration: Lasting Memory Layout challenge #450 (vacation photos) + June 2019 Page Maps 

The pictures on this page were taken on my London trip. I was surprised at the number of businesses that had French names, and kept snapping pictures every time I was spotting something in French. The Let's Go collection from Kaiser Craft is just perfect for traveling pictures, and I like the neutral colors it uses, which makes it easier to pair it with a variety of photos.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: Let's Go (Kaiser Craft)
Alphabet Stickers: Charcoal Lindsay Thickets (American Crafts); Bon Bon Candy Shoppe Stickers (Doodlebug Design)
Accessories: Baker's Twine (My Mind's Eye); Buttons (Autumn Leaves);
Let's Go Stickers (Kaiser Craft); Stampin' Dimensionals, Spiral Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Dotted Rectangle Stackables Dies, Stitched Rctangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

An Order of Toasts

Inspiration: Page Maps June 2019 + Lawn Fawnatics #55

There are some pictures that sit in the pile for years before suddenly making it to an album, often times because I will suddenly have the perfect papers or stamps to go with it. This was the case here as I was looking through pictures and when I saw the picture of baby Megan playing with her toy toaster I had given her at Christmas six years ago, I realized that it would look awesome paired with the Let's Toast stamp set. instead of scrapbooking this as a Christmas picture, it became more interesting to focus on the story of how this toy became the hit of the night and how the kids fed their grandparents numerous orders of toasts.

I made the title in the shape of a speech bubble and stamped "An order of toasts" inside, which is what the grandparents kept saying all night, For papers, I looked through my Lawn Fawn 12" x 12" papers (I don't have as many, I tend to buy their 6" x 6" pads) and I decided to go bright with the Really Rainbow collection, paired with Spiffy Speckles for the background. I paper pieced the toaster with the turquoise paper from Spring Fling oaoer, to match the actual toy toaster. I had to give the toaster and toast smiles and rosey cheeks - so cute!

The top looked empty with the small title, so I used the Say What? Gift Tag to fill the space and the stitched heart die from the Stitched Gift Card Pocket set on it. I added a raspberry eyelet on it and while I was going through the embellishment box, I spotted a purple clip. Since I don't use purple often, I've had this clip for a long time and I figured it could work well here, so I clipped it on the bubble.

At the bottom, I had my toast with jam and I decided to add it on a circle to make it stand out more. I used the Reverse Stitched Scalloped Circle Windows with a Circle die to make the yellow frame and I filled the inside with a white piece die-cut out of the Quilted Backdrop, to sort of look like a tablecloth.

The journaling was added directly on the striped paper, at an angle to make it fun. I hadn't made a 8½ x 11 page in ages, but it seemed like the right format for my single picture and the elements I wanted to add on it.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Let's Toast, Riley's ABCs (Lawn Fawn); Project Life Une date (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Almost Amethyst, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Spring Fling, Really Rainbow, Spiffy Speckles (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Rose Red, Island Indigo Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Let's Toast, Quilted Backdrop, Speech Bubbles, Lacy Borders, Say What? Gift Tags,
Reverse Stitched Scallped Circle Windows, Stitched Gift Card Pocket (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Glitter Enamel Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals, Eyelet.
Corner Rounder Punch, Subtles Enamel Shapes (Stampin' Up!);
Purple Clip (unknown); Aqua Baker's Twine (Lawn Fawn)

 

London Showers

Inspiration: Just Add Ink #461 + Fab Friday #165

The pop of yellow in the picture reminded me of the gorgeous Poised paper pad from Authentique, which I was happy to pull out again for another project. I decided to make my own cloudy background on a piece of white cardstock using the Mini Cloud stencil from MFT. I pulled out two grey Distress Oxide inks, Hickory Smoke and Pumice Stone. I initially thought I was going to have a pale grey and a mid-tone grey, but I realized as I was adding Pumice Stone that it is more like a stone beige shade. It was not what I had anticipated, but it ended up matching the yellow tones of the paper nicely, so I like the result.

Because the girl has her hand out, I decided to add the faling drops image. I then remembered I have some droplets epoxy shapes from Stampin' Up!, so I pulled them out and added a few on the image and the umbrella, and one in her hand.

(On a side note, my 6-year-old niece came over to craft with me and I decided to finish the card off while she was coloring. She looked at the design, told me it was beautiful and proceeded to ask why I hadn't added epoxy droplets on every single stamped drops. It was a good opportunity to explain restrain to her and giving the viewer breathing room so that the eyes know what to focus on. Seeing how she crams everything but the kitchen sink on her current projects, this is definitely something that I'm trying to slowly teach her when we create together.)

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Oyez (Waffle Flower); Contre vent et marée (Wather Together - Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Going Grey, Whisper White
Patterned Papers: Poised (Authentique)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Hickory Smoke, Pumice Stone Distress Oxide (Ranger);
Basic Grey Archival Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Mini Cloud Stencil (My Favorite Things); Markers (Copic);
Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios); Glitter & Clear Epoxy Shapes,
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Dotted Scalloped Rectangles Dies (Elizabeth Craft Designs);
A2 Anthracite Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Lacy Borders Dies, Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)

 

Call of the Westfalia...

Inspiration: Fusion challenge

I was pulling out the Summer Days papers from Simple Stories to do a page with and I spotted a sticker with a Westfalia on it. I immediately made a link to this week's Fusion challenge, which includes a colorful van in the inspiration picture. As I pulled out the papers, I found out one of the cut-apart sheet had the Westfalia on it as well, and the shape of it was perfect for the sketch, so that was the start of the card.

Initially, I had only layered the striped paper and placed the die-cut in the center. I had also used the Just Stitching Double Rectangles dies, new from Lawn Fawn, to add stitching around the striped paper. The card was simple but really cute so that's what I was going with, but then I got the idea to use another cut-apart with a lined paper design to cover the English words (Good Vibes) and add a French sentiment instead. I looked in my die-cuts for something appropriate. I was hoping to find something about vacation, but all I had was happy retirement and that's not what I wanted the card to be about. (I was thinking teacher card here.) I found a "thank you" die-cut that had a retro-looking font that suited the van nicely.

Interestingly enough, the die doesn't include a dot for the i. It felt incomplete to me so I went looking for a circle punch that could work. I had to pull out a handheld punch to have something small enough. When I opened the metal cover to get the dot out, I found out the punch hadn't been emptied in a while and a bunch of confetti came out, including two circles punched out of champagne glimmer paper. I really liked the look, so I glued those on the paper as embellishment. I punched the side of the lined paper with a spiral punch so it looked like paper torn out of a spiral notebook.

I then got the idea to add faceted gems to the car as headlights. And Glossy Accents to the window. The whole panel was popped up on foam adhesive for dimension and at the last minute, I also decided to add some ribbon at the top of the card so that it would be more balanced. I'm really pleased with the result. It's still fairly simple, but it looks more completed to me the way it is now. To finish it off, I picked amongst my colored envelope and selected a metallic orange envelope, which I embellished with a couple of stickers to match the card.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Poppy Parade, Pumpkin Pie, Lucky Limeade, Champagne Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Summer Days (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Just Stitching Double Rectangles Dies (Lawn Fawn); Spiral Punch, Corner Rounder Punch,
Mini Stapler, Stampin' Dimensionals, Clear Faceted Gems, 1/8" Handheld Circle Punch (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Fairway Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Summer Days Cardstock Stickers (Simple Stories);
Bonne fête/Merci Dies (Dee's Distinctively); Glossy Accents (Ranger); Green Twill Ribbon (Basic Grey)

 

To My Favorite Lawyer

Inspiration: As You See It #201

So this card took a very long detour before ending up as a fairly simple card. I've been wanting to make a card with the avocado image from the Let's Toast stamp set because in French, the word for avocado and lawyer is the same (avocat). One of my good friend is a lawyer and I wanted to make a card using the avocado image and a sentiment that reads, "To my favorite lawyer." I've been sitting on this idea for a while and I decided to put it to paper today. I started with the color combo from As You See It and a past Mojo Monday sketch and I kept struggling to make the pieces work. I finally gave up, went to do some other things around the house and when I came back to it, I turned the card 90 degrees, scrapped the sketch and made something that instantly felt much better. I initially put the avocados directly on the card front, but I felt it might look better if they were on a strip of patterned paper or cardstock. I had two new Nuvo shimmer powders sitting on my desk, yet unused, and out of curiosity, I have the one called Golden Sparkler a try. The powder looks brown in the bottle, but it turns to green, yellow and a hint of pink when you add water, which suited the card beautfully. The fun die-cut alphabet is the Alphanumeric Cutout Lower alphabet from Tim Holtz released last year. The background yellow piece was embossed with the Subtle 3D embossing folder from Stampin' Up! for a little bit of texture. The images were colord with Copic makers, although you'd think they were watercolored, basedo n the result.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Let's Toast, Thanks a Bushel, Sweet Friends (Lawn Fawn);
Stay Colorful Alphabet (Dear Lizzy for American Crafts)
Cardstock: Mellow Moss, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Calypso Coral (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Calypso Coral, Mellow Moss Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: A2 Avocado Envelope (envelopes.com); Markers (Copic); Golden Sparkler Shimmer Powder (Nuvo);
Alphanumeric Cutout Lower Alphabet Dies (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Subtle 3D Embossing Folder, Stampin' Dimensionals,
1/8" Gold Ribbon (Stampin' Up!); Let's Toast Dies, Sweet Friends, Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)

 

Neck Boxes

Inspiration: Just Us Girls #489 (Texture Paste)

This is a layout where everything fell into place by pure coincidence. I've had this picture for years now (it was taken almost a decade ago). I've scrapbooked most of my pictures from this 1920s party using Graphic 45 papers, but I guess I wanted to use something else for this one, so I kept it aside for when I  found what I was looking for. Turns out my scrapbooking store received papers from Maja Design (new to me and possibly to the store as well - they're a Swedish company). These papers are from the Celebration Celebration collection. Aren't they gorgeous? They definitely have that 1920s vibe I was going for, while still keeping a modern twist to them. While at the store, I picked some stuff that I had previously ordered from them and I realized when working on the page that by sheer dumb luck, they had the perfect Art Deco vibe to them that could complement the papers really well. The triangles on both ends of the polka dot stripe were made with the Deco Wallpaper stencil from Altenew, using the White Gold Icing Paste from Finnabair. (My first time using this paste - it's so gorgeous and really easy to use). The red pattern was created using the Fire Ruby icing paste with the Tapestry stencil from Prima/Finnabair, on black cardstock. Of course, I had to throw a few pearls in there since it's te 1920s.

The flapper dancer was handcut from another paper. I didn't get the whole collection, just three different papers that had only black and cream patterns, to use for this layout specifically. I loved the flapper dancers page, but I also liked the one with the flowers and the vintage lady, and my page was not really about dancing so the second paper made more sense. I finally decided to get the flappers as well and cut them out to make embellishments. I've only added one here, so I'll probably use the remaining ones on a page or on a card.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Glamour, Anniversary and Charleston from the Celebration Collection (MajaDesign)
Thickers: Land of Wonder, Good Vibes (American Crafts)
Stencils: Tapestry (Finnabair / Prima Design); Deco Wallpaper (Altenew)
Dies: Dotted Scalloped Rectangles (Elizabeth Crafts Design)
Accessories: Decorative Brads (Making Memories); Pearl Basic Jewels, Lace Trim (Stampin' Up!);
White Gold and Fire Ruby Icing Paste (Finnabair)

 

Nailed This Diet!

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #505 + Just Us Girls #491

This card started out with a leftover stample I had made after buying Izink texture pastes. I had leftovers on my palette and tested the colours out on kraft cardstock for kicks, using the Numeric stencil from Tim Holtz. I was looking through my stash for something to go with the numbers, initially thinking about something birthday-related. I found the Snarky Small Talk stickers among the pile and throught it'd be fun to make a cheeky card. There was a sentiment strip that reads, "I don't mean to brag, but I finished my 14 day diet in 3 hours and 12 minutes," which linked to the numbers. I thought I could bring out the Cookie Time stamp set from Waffle Flower to add an image on the top banner, but after looking at the images in the set, I wasn't sure it would really work. I also found the Fresh Baked #1 dies from Tim Holtz that came out last Christmas and I decided a heart-shaped cookie might work better. I still stamped "Cookie time" from the Waffle flower set repeatedly on the peach banner to decorate it and keep with the theme.

I had initially painted a chipboard star with the Mango texture paste to put on my Bermuda Bay scalloped circle, but when I tried the cookie at the top on the banner, the balance was off, so I switched the two elements around and liked the result much better. I really like how the scalloped circle turned out: I die-cut it out of textured cardstock with a scalloped circle die, and then I used a Stitched Shapes die with the embossing mats to add a decorative border inside. It looks really good! The cookie dies have one additional layer, but I didn't want it too large, so I only used three of the four dies. I covered the top two layers with a coat of Glossy Accents so it would look more like frosting.

I used an A2 Fairway Metallic envelope to match. As I've explained before, I really like the metallic finishes on envelopes because they match with more hues of a color than a matte color does. It's a good example here. I used peach on my card and the envelope is orange, but the metallic finish tames the colour a bit and makes it a good match to my peach cardstock. (The same thing is true of ribbon, they often match a lot of different hues because of the fabric.)

(On a side note, I hadn't realized that I had already made another card based on sketch #505 before and when I looked at my notes to see which card that was, it happened to be sitting out on my desk, waiting to be sent to my father for his upcoming June birthday. The two cards turned out quite differently, though, as I had turned the other one 90 degrees and used shades of pink and mint.)

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Cookie Time (Waffle Flower)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Baked Brown Sugar, Bermuda Bay, Peach Passion, Certainly Celery
Ink: Peach Passion
Accessories: Numeric Stencil, Fresh Baked #1 Dies (Tim Holtz);
Wonky Stitched Rectangles Die-namics (My Favorite Things); Mango, Cactus
and Agave Texture Pastes (Izink); A2 Fairway Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com);
 2019-2021 In Color Faceted Dots, Small Star Punch, On Board Chipboard, Stitched Shapes Dies,
Large Dots Embossing Folder, Layering Circle Dies (Stampin' Up!); Washi Tape (unknown source)

 

This Seniorita Needs a Margarita

Inspiration: Just Us Girls #491 (Embossing Paste)

I was passing the time at the art store while waiting for my tires to be changed and I found some pearly texture paste on sale. Being the magpie that I am, I was really drawn to the pretty shimmery colours. I picked Cactus, Mango and Agave, which I was eager to test out when I came back home. I've had the Day of the Dead Oddball stamp put aside for a whiel and I figured the colorful pastes would work great with her. I got my stencils out and I picked the circle one from the Pattern Party set from Stampin' Up!. Once the paste was dry, I didn't want to cut the excedent off, so I pulled out my large circle dies from Tonic and cut the whole thing out. (The circle is 5-1/2" in width so it's large.) I then got inspired to make a circle card.

The texture paste design is really pretty but also quite busy, so I tried to add another piece over it to break the pattern down. Cardstock only seemed a little flat, so I added the Festive embossing folder pattern, and white pompom trim to the side. The sentiment had to be the sone from the same stamp set since it makes me crack a smile when I read it. I embossed it with white powder on black cardstock and ran my Glitter Glush Aqua Shimmer brush over the words.

I started assembling the card, but it still felt a little blah to me so I got the idea to do a margarita sticker from the Tropical Punch Shape Sprinkles from Doodlebug. Still needed a bit more, so I remembered the small flower punches from the Occasions catalogue, which I used on paper scraps to add tiny flowers. Because the final card is so big, I had to make my own envelope with the punch board.

The main image was colored with my Polychromos pencils and Gamsol. I recently discovered while watching the weekly new release video my local store owner shares that you can buy the Alcohol Ink Blending Pen from Ranger and fill it with Gamsol. While I don't do alcohol ink, I got very excited about the idea of having a Gamsol marker, which is a thousand times better than stumps. (I've worked with them over the years, but they were never my favorites.) This was my first try with it and I love the two nibs and how easy it is to blend the pencils. Be warned, though - don't fill it too much!! I filled mine completely and it was leaking all over the place. (And Gamsol has a strong chemical smell, so that wasn't great!) After much adjusting, I think I finally have the right quantity but word to the wise, you don't need to fill it completely!

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Day of the Dead Oddball (Stamping Bella)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Peach Passion (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Envelope Paper: 2016-2018 In Color
Accessories: Envelope Punch Board, Stampin' Dimensionals, White Stampin' Emboss Powder,
White Pompom Trim, Bitty Blooms Punch Pack, Pattern Party Decorative Masks, Festive Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!);
Cactus, Agave and Mango Izink 3D Texture Paste (Aladine); Polyrchomoas Pencils (Faber Castell); 
Tropical Punch Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design)

 

Lock and Key Oddball

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #517

I had put the Poised papers from Authentique aside with the Oddball with a Lock and Key stamp as I thought she would look really cute wearing a yellow striped dress. I finally had time to put the concept to paper tonight, drawing inspiration from the Mojo Monday sketch.  will admit I took some creative liberties with the sketch in order to best showcase the elements I wanted to include on the card. I made the bottom strip narrower than on the sketch as I wanted the polka dot paper to show more, and even though I originally tried the ribbon at the top like on the sketch, it was not working as well there as it did on the bottom, so I let go of the sketch and did what gave the best results.

I didn't buy the matching die when I got this stamp, so I fit her into a stitched oval, which is a little larger than the piece on the sketch as well. I wanted her to have black hair and I used one of the combos from my Copic book, which is black-blue hair. It looks really neat. Lately, I've also been trying some of the skin color combos from the same book. I really like how this one turned out, it works well with the dark hair.

For the sentiment, I looked at options with the word heart in it, but in the end, I found something that would losely translate to "with affection." I used the Sentiments dies from Waffle Flower and stamped and embossed the sentiment in white on the die-cut piece. I think the size and font works great and the dainty little strip complements the overall design well. I added just a touch of Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer to the image, including on the eyelids. It looks cool, like she has sparkly eyeshadow on!

I'll be coming back to that patterned paper some more, I knew it was pretty but I like it even more now that I'm seeing it on a finished project.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Oddball with Lock and Key (Stamping Bella); Pensées à la plume (Feather Together - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Going Grey, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Poised (Authentique)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Accessories: Sentiments Dies (Waffle Flower); Dotted Rectangle Stackables Dies, Stitched Oval
Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn); Wonky Stitched Squares Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
Basic Grey Glimmer Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Apothecary Accents Framelits Dies,
White Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!); A2 Midnight Black Envelope (envelopes.com);
Markers (Copic); Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Tonic)

 

Six-Month Vacation

Inspiration: CAS Colors and Sketches #324

The soft colors were perfect for a beach scene with the Beach Bunnies set. I've been eyeing this one for a long time and I finally had the chance to get it. The bunnies are adorable, and so are those two beach houses.

Since I already had the yellow for the beach and the aqua Party for the water, I decided to do a soft pink sky, using the Cloud stencil and a blender brush, with Tattered Rose Distress Oxide ink. The water and sand felt a little bare, so I pulled out the Timeless Textures stamp set and added some splattered dots to the sand, before adding speckles with a brown marker and a spritzing tool. I also used another stamp from the same set and Craft Whisper White ink to add foam to the edge of the beach and the water. I really like how this detail gave life to the scene. Some tiny sequins and beads were added to the beach for texture and I added a sentiment strip from the Snarky Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz.  It reads, "I need a six-month vacation twice a year."  Isn't that the dream...

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Beach Bunnies (My Favorite Things); Timeless Textures (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Pool Party, So Saffron, Baked Brown Sugar
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Tattered Rose Distress Oxide (Ranger);
Baked Brown Sugar, Pool Party Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Sponge Daubers, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Lagoon Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Markers (Copic);
Beach Bunnies Die-namics, Beacj Scene Builder Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
Warm Golden Glow Sequins Mix (Little Tnings from Lucy's Cards);
Snarky Small Talk Stickers (Tim Holtz for idea=ology)

 

 

Leo Zodiac Girl

Inspiration: Global Design Project #192 + ColorQ #156

I'm still going on my Zodiac Girl series. I think this is the eleventh girl and I only have one left to make for the series to be complete. The coloring of the image is pretty true to the original on the packaging, but I really liked the idea of her having a textured coat, and the red hair made sense with my color combo (inspired by an old ColourQ combo). The starting point of the design was a piece of leopard-print sparkly cardstock I found in my stash when I organized my patterned papers recently. It was perfect for this image, so I put it aside with the stamp for a future stamping session.

Since I now have the Zodiac Girl dies, I was able to add her on top of my other elements, all inspired by the Global Design Project "CASE the Designer" challenge. I moved the tag on the card to fit my image better. This cute tag comes from the Stitched Labels Framelits set. The tag was embossed with an old embossing folder called Delicate Designs, and I inked the raised portion to make it stand out more. Enamel shapes in matching colors were added around the image. As for the other cards in the series, I used the Alisha Alphabet die from Echo Park to write the Zodiac sign in French.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Leo Uptown Zodiac Girl (Stamping Bella)
Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede, Dusty Durango, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Cheetah Glitter Paper (Recollections)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Outside In Stitched Rectangke Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Delicate Designs Embossing Folder,
Stitched Labels Framelits Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals, Regals and Brights Enamel Shapes, Daubers,
Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Blends Markers (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic); Alisha Lowercase Alphabet Die (Echo Park);
Leo Uptown Zodiac Girl Die (Stamping Bella); A2 Oak Woodgrain Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Magical Team

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday

When I finish a layout, I always put aside the remaining papers and embellishments and try to make a card before putting stuff away. This was the case with the Haunted papers from Cosmo Cricket (purchased many, many years ago). It's not Halloween time, though, so I was looking through stamps and pulling out options and then I figured that the papers might work well with the Magical Wizards stamp set from Trinity Stamps (a.k.a. the Harry Potter set). I think it works well. I've had the stamps for a bit but I was unsure how to use them and those papers were a great starting point. I looked at online sketches but nothing was really sparking inspiration, so I just used the torn strip leftover from my previous page layout and I die-cut the Hogwarts crest from Black foil paper and it became the focus of the design. The top seemed a little bare, so I looked at ^banner options to fill in the space. I had this double-fold banner die from Lawn Fawn that was the right size to add the sentiment I had in mind: May your day be magical. I didn't have this exact sentiment so I inked only the first part of a stamp found in the Varied Vases stamp set and I used an alphabet set to create the last word.

I stamped the image and colored them with Copic markers and added a couple touches of gold on the broom and the books with Gamsai Tambi watercolor. Even after assembling everything, the card still seemed bare, so I got a stencil out and added Mango texture paste in a few places. It wasn't easy getting the stencil to be flat on the card since the elements were already glued in place so the result is not as crisp as it would have been had I worked on a flat paper, but sometimes, you just have to go with the flow. especially when you create as you go.

A matching envelope was made with the remaining paper.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Vases divers (Varied Vases - Stampin' Up!); Magical Wizards (Trinity Stamps);
Type Strips II (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White, Black Foil (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Haunted (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark; Always Artichoke Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Magical Wizards Dies (Trinity Stamps); Fancy Folded Banners Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Envelope Punch Board, Pattern Party Decorative Masks (Stampin' Up!); Starry Colors Gansai Tambi Watercolors (Kuretake);
Wonky Stitch Rectangle Stax Die-namics (My Favorite Things); Hogwarts Crest Die (Character World)
Vintage Photo Distress Oxide Spray, Black Soot and Tarnished Brass Distress Crayons (Ranger);
Type Bit Strips Die (Papertrey Ink); Markers (Copic)