Encre, papier, ciseaux

Mad Hatter Cat

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes)

This project evolved from a vague idea I had to use my new Copper Dotted Treat Bags (Stampin' Up! annual catalogue, page 173) and try to create a black to grey ombre look on it with a brayer, then add purple icing paste over it with the Manuscript stencil. Once that was done, I decided this would make for a great Halloween project so I pulled out the Hip Haunts dies from Tim Holtz (from his new 2019 release). I started working on the cat and I was going through frames or background options in my mind. I was going to reach for the wonky square frames from Avery Elle and when I did that, I remembered the Starry Scene stamps from Avery Elle. I thought the big starry sky would look great as a background behind the cat, so I pulled it out and placed it in my stamping platform. I used blender tools to add three colors of Distress Oxide to the stamp: Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade and Ripe Persimmon. I stamped the image a few times on Bristol cardstock, spritzed with water to oxidize the ink and get water splatter, then I dried it with my heat gun and die cut  the image.

Afterwards, I was thinking of either spritzing the circle with shimmer spritz or splatter some pearlescent watercolor on it. I went for the spray and it reactivated the inks way more than I had anticipated. Initially, I was worried I was going to mess up my circle, which I liked, but in the end, it ended up blending the colors beautifully and the result is really shimmery and has a mottled effect, which is perfect as it looks like a big moon. The image already has little star in it , but I added additional tiny star sequins around the cat.

I looked at ribbon options and decided to use Tangp Tangerine two-tone trim at the bottom. I added the circle to the bag using black adhesive foam from Brutus Monroe, something my local store got in stock a few months ago. I was initially very happy to find black foam and at a very affordable price for a roll. The store owner had mentioned in a video showing the roll that they hadn't tested it yet and didn't know if it gummed up scissors or not. I can now see why she's made this comment as the answer is, Yes, it does. Knowing that, I use my Tim Holtz scissors to cut it off the roll since they have non-stick blades, so that helps, but I also find that the backer is hard to get off the tape. Seeing as I have worked with both Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!) and the 3M foam, I find the Brutus Monroe foam adhesive more difficult to work with. As it stands, I will keep using the roll when I want black foam, but will prefer the 3M foam when color does not matter. We will see once I reach the end of the roll if I want to restock or not. Stampin' Up! has just released it's 2019 Holidays catalogue and there's some black Stampin' Dimensionals in there for the first time. It's going to be a nice addition to my adhesive stash, but it does not cover as big a surface as foam tape on a roll does, so the jury is out. Pros: price and black option; cons: gets blades sticky, cannot be ripped off easily (has to be cut) and backer is hard to get off.

Next, I looked for sentiment options. I was thinking a die-cut sentiment would look nice but there's not a whole lot of French words available, so I wasn't sure I would find anything suitable, until I remembered the brand-new set from Stampin' Up! called Mots de souhaits (Word Wishes in English), which covers various occasions, including Halloween. I was therefore able to find Happy Hallowee, which was the perfect size and font and made me very happy!

At the last minute, I decided to fold the top of the bag down and add a little decorative clip, which I topped with a All Eyes on You shape sprinkle from Simon Says Stamp. Here's another product review for you: unfortunately, as with a lot of enamel ornements, those yellow over time. This is unfortunate since the eyes in the kit are all white. (I've had some snowflakes shape sprinkles from Doodlebug that yellowed really badly within the first couple of years and I ended up throwing them away because they wouldn't have worked on any project.) Here, as long as I pair it with stuff that does not require for the eyes to be sparkling white, I can probably get away with it (especially on Halloween project), but for the price enamel shapes sell, this is pretty disappointing.

One fun tidbit about the cat: adding the glasses was a last-minute decision. Since I had already glued the eyes in place, they were a little too close together to fit properly in the glasses, so I was wondering if I would add them anyway and then the project shifted and the glasses went down and I thought they looked even cuter crooked on him! And then I realized I could shift the glasses down to the top of his nose and have it look like reading glasses. Those Hip Haunts dies are not for the faint of heart as they have a lot of really tiny details and you need to pass the die through your machine a bunch of time to get the various colors and gluing the pieces down is another fun challenge (fine-tip tweezers, a jewel picker, adhesive sheets and a fine-tip glue pen should be kept nearby to ensure a happy assembly experience). The results are undeniably adorable, though!

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Starry Scene (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Basic Grey, Basic Black, Vintage Violet, Granny Apple Green, Sahara Sand, Grey Granite,
Petal Pink, Black Foil Paper, Silver Foil Paper (Stampin' Up!); Bristol Smooth Cardstock (Canson)
Ink: Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon Distress Oxide (Ranger);
Vintage Violet and Granny Apple Green Classic Ink, Basic Grey and Basic Black Archival Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Hip Haunts Dies (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Starry Scene Dies (Avery Elle);
Tango Tangerine Two-Tone Trim, Mots de souhaits Dies, Copper Dotted Treat Bags (Stampin' Up!);
Black Foam Adhesive (Brutus Monroe); Manuscript Stencil, Amethyst Magic Icing Paste (Finnabair);
All Eyes on You Shape Sprinkles (Simon Says Stamp)

 

Picnic in the Park

Inspiration: Retro Rubber #116 (nature + texture + green) + Simon Says Stamp Monday (Bright and Cheerful)

The starting point of this card was a pack of old rub-ons from Bo Bunny that I've had in my stash for years. Since they are summer-themed, I put them aside on my desk, hoping to put them to good use. I realized that I could use the sun, tree and flowers to create a little scene, so I pulled some Granny Apple Green cardstock for the lawn and Soft Sky for the sky to get started. I used the Stitched Windy Backdrop die from Lawn Fawn to add texture to the sky, and the Simply Stitched Hillside Borders dies for the lawn. I then applied my rub-ons.

The rub-ons also include a little bird, which I transfered to a piece of white cardstock and hand-cut. I thought I would use him to set up the scene, but it was not working to my liking, so I went to my Lawn Fawn stamps instead. I looked at various options, but the second I saw the Bicycle Build for You set, I knew it would work perfectly in my park scene. I stamped, colored and die-cut the images and added it in front of the tree.

The card still felt a little blank, so I thought I could try a stitched frame and I remembered seeing a white one in my paper scraps earlier, so I fished it out, tried it and liked the look so I added it to the card. Then I went looking for sentiments. I ended up picking an old hostess set from many years ago. There was no die for the banner, so I handcut it and I used my Sentiments dies from Waffle Flower to add the first word. I added a few gems to the flowers and sun. The remaining flower rub-ons were added to the envelope to match.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Bicycle Built for You (Lawn Fawn); Plein de voeux (Time of Year - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Soft Sky, Granny Apple Green, Blackberry Bliss (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Daffodil Delight Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!); VersaMark
Accessories: Sunshiny Day Rub-Ons (Bo Bunny); A2 Fairway Metallic Envelopes (envelopes.com);
Markers (Copic); Bicycle Built for You Dies, Stitched Windy Backdrop Die,
Simple Stitched Hillside Borders Dies (Lawn Fawn); Sentiments Dies (Waffle Flower);
Jewels - Rainbow Sparkle Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards); Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

Fish Tank

inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #57 + Simon Says Stamp Monday (Bright and Cheerful)

I usually make packaging and then find candy to go inside, but this time around, it was the candy that inspired the project. I found some fruit juice candy at my Bulk Barn and I immediately thought it could work great paired with the Keep on Swimming stamp set to create a fish tank. Initially, I was tossing around ideas where I would have created a window to see inside the packaging, but when I went looking in my packaging box to find cello bags, I actually found little acetate boxes from Stampin' Up! that were just the right size to be turned into a fish tank.

I inked blended a long panel of white cardstock, on both sides, using Distress Oxide inks (Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers and Lucky Clover) and Blender Brushes. I spritzed with water and dried with my heat tool on the low setting. I then scored at 1-15/16" intervals twice so that I had a three panel insert to put into the box. I cut the last piece to 1-15/16" x 1-15/16" for the bottom of the box. By having the folded panel, I was able to simply slip the insert inside the box and now have to glue it in place, which is preferable when working with a transparency. I did glue the bottom part in with narrow double-side adhesive as it kept popping up a bit, but it didn't matter since we won't really be seeing the bottom of the box. It doesn't really matter when there's candy in there because the weight is keeping the panel down, but I've noticed that people tend to keep the empty boxes for a while after it's empty when I'm giving away candy as they think the packaging is cute.

I glued various fish and shells on both sides of the panels and added the Hope your day is fantastic on cardstock strips on the back. For the cat at the front, we would have seen the adhesive inside the empty box, so I die-cut the cat image (and snipped the tail off the image) and the fish food image a second time using grey cardstock and I glued it inside the box, lining it with the colored images. Then it looks like a shadow and hides the adhesive in between. My tip for you: glued the grey pieces inside first and then add the colored pieces outside afterwards. It's way easier to line up the small pieces on the outside since you have room to work. (I forgot to do that with the fish food image and I struggled to put it in place inside - I worked smarter with the cat and it was much easier.)

To finish the package off, I tried various ribbon and twine options. I didn't like it wrapping all the way around the box as it hid the fish, so I did pink ribbon around the cover only and baker's twine on top to tie the tag on it. I tried another colour option first but was not liking it, so I went back to my inked cardstock scrap and die-cut a tag out of it, which looks much better.

This set with the cat looking at something is fun. I can see using it for many more projects to come!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Keep on Swimming (Lawn Fawn); Étiquettes des Fêtes (Tags & Tidings - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Inks: Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Features and Lucky Clover Distress Oxide (Ranger);
Tuxedo Black (Memento); Night of Navy Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Flirty Flamingo Ruched Ribbon, Basic Black/Mint Macaron Baker's Twine,
Clear Tiny Trest Boxes, Christmas Tags Thinlits Die (Stampin' Up!); White Gel Pen (Gelly Roll);
Markers (Copic); Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios); Candy

 

Birdie Love

Inspiration: Sketch Saturday #574 + SUO challenge #226

I love the Time for Tag hostess set, I think the images are adorable and I couldn't resist adding it to my first catalogue order. I liked the Sketch Saturday challenge, I figured I could use my Designer Series paper to make strips. It felt a little bare, so I pulled out the Stitched Nested Labels dies because the set includes a dotted border which you can use independently. Adding the stitching made a big difference. I had initially planned on using the baby image, but then I decided the bird would look better with the colors I had picked and also with the design, since he is facing right. Since the bird was on a branch, I decided to emboss the left panel with the Woodland embossing folder. The tag was feeling a little too long and narrow, so adding a gold metallic doily behind it made things more balanced. The gold is also repeated with the two gold gems at the bottom and with the gold embossing on the image. I hadn't watercolored with inks in ages and I was happy to revisit this favorite technique on the little tag.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: L'heure des étiquettes (Time for Tags)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Coastal Cabana
Designer Series Paper Stacks: Regals, Subtles
Ink: VersaMark, Blushing Bride
Accessories: Woodland Embossing Folder, Gold Faceted Gems,
Metallic Doilies, Stampin' Dimensionals, Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder,
Very Vanilla Medium Envelope, Blending Pen, Magnolia Lane Ribbon Combo Pack

 

Magical Note

Inspiration: Just Add Ink #467 + MFT Color challenge #122

I believe Stampin' Up! might have a new illustrator, as they've come up with a new style of adorable little characters, which you've seen me use in On to adventure and here with the hostess set New Wonders. I really love how cute the characters are and the way they are drawn with all of the shading. They look cute colored, but they also look cute stamped in a single color, as you can see on the stamped envelope. This set has unfortunately not been translated to French, which is a shame because the script font is really cute, but I liked the image enough to still order it. I kept going back and forth between the three images and I finally picked the fairy with the pen. I found a sentiment that reads, "Just a Note" in the Flourishing Phrases stamp set which was perfect with her.

The background was created with the new Stitched Lace die. It's gorgeous but be warned - it's a pain to make sure the little holes are all gone. I used my die brush and I also put my chrome precision plate in when I used the Big Dhot (this plate is life-changing when you are die-cutting intricate designs) but I still had to use my paper piercer to get the renaining pieces out, so something to keep in mind if you decide to purchase this die.

Isn't this color combo (inspired by the MFT challenge) fun? I don't use purple often, but I love the look here against the Grey Granite cardstock. I recently reordered pearls from Stampin' Up! and I was disappointed to discover they only have two sizes in their packs now and have not included the tiny pearls in there (so the ones I used on the fairy's dress are from a previous assortment). This is a bummer as I used the smallest size the most to embellish stamped images and small details.

The purple frame was created with the Layering Square dies.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: New Wonders, Éclosion de pensées (Flourishing Phrases)
Cardstock: grey Granite, Purple Posy, Highland Heather, Calypso Coral, Whisper White
Ink: Gorgeous Grape, Calypso Coral, Tuxedo Black Memento
Accessories: Layering Squares Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals, Woven Threads Sequin Assortment,
Gorgeous Grape Striped Ribbon, Purple Posy Stampin' Write Marker, Pearl Basic Jewels,
Stitched Lace Die, Whisper White Medium Envelope

 

Thanks Teacher

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday + ColourQ #146

With fall coming (hopefully not too soon), Simon Says Stamp has a back to school-themed challenge this week. My last order from MFT included the Thanks die as their free Die-namics of the month. I love the font - it's really cute with the curl in the n. It's not something I would have bought since it's in English, but now that I own it, I might as well use it.

The original starting point of the card was the shaker apple frame, though. Those dies are from Lawn Fawn and they include all of the necessary pieces to dress your apple, including the apple seeds. I used four of those to glue in the center of the apple and the rest to float around in the shaker. To make the content more interesting and add a bit of shimmer, I also added black sequins in there. I also glued a tiny vanilla heart from the Sweet & Tart Heart Sprinkles from Trinity Stamps on the apple.

The pattern papers are from Simple Stories (Smarty Pants collection). I was thinking it was too bad the paper with cork in the background had lots of busy patterns over it as it would have been great to die-cut the sentiment - and then I realized I do have cork. I've mentioned it in a previous Halloween post when I made potion bottles but a few years ago, I bought jewelry from Anthropology which was packaged for me in a sparkly cork envelope. While the envelope was cool, it had a really weird shape and was not practical at all for storage. It made more sense to me to keep the pouch and upcycle it on a craft project. It's the coolest thing ever because not only is it cork texture, but it also has rose gold specks in there that makes for the most interesting results. While I love using it, I'll be sad when it's all gone. The pouch wasn't big, so my quantity is limited!

To make sure the letters stood out, I added them to Very Vanilla cardstock, and embossed it with the Take a Number folder for added interest. For the envelope, I picked a A2 Midnight Black envelope, also from my latest envelope order. I used a remaining part of the grid paper and punched the side with a Spiral punch for the address block and I glued the inside part of the apple frame at the bottom. Added a stem and a leaf and then I realized that if I die-cut a stem out of vanilla cardstock and cut the rounded part off, I could make a "shine" piece for the apple. Doesn't it work perfectly? It instantly gave the apple shape, instead of it feeling really flat.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Real Red, Basic Black, Pear Pizzazz
Patterned Papers: Smarty Pants (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies, Stitched Apple Frames,
Outside In Stitched Apple Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Sweet & Tart Heart Sprinkles (Trinity Stamps);
Take a Number Embossing Folder (Taylored Expressions); Spiral Punch, Window Sheet,
Black Sequins, Black Rhinestones (Stampin' Up!); A2 Midnight Black Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

You're the Bam-Bam to my Pebble

inspiration: CAS Colours & Sketches #331

This card came to me on a whim this morning. I sometimes leave stamps or dies that I would like to reuse soon out on the corner of my desk and this morning, the Prehistoric set caught my eye and I realized it would work well with the CAS sketch as I could sit the two characters over the horizontal element, centered over the rectangles. I looked for patterned papers that would work well with the boy and girl and loved the foliage paper I found in the Tropical Life pad. The rest of the design came together pretty easily after that. The sentiment reads, "From the bottom of my heart."

For the envelope, I picked a Bronze Metalic envelope, which pairs nicely with the Tropical elements I used to embellish the corners on my card.

Because I wanted my little pair to look like Pebble and Bamm-Bamm, I googled them to try and remember what they looked like. I was surprised to see Bamm-Bamm has white hair! I didn't remember that at all. (I did remember that Pebble was a redhead like Wilma, though.)

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Prehistoric (Neat & Tangled); Messages d'amitié (Florilèges Design)
Cardstock: Flirty Flamingo, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Tropical Life (Recollections)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Early Espresso, Sahara Sand Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Wonky Stitched Rectangles Die-namics (My Favorite Things); Tropical Elements,
Stitched Nested Labels Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals, Rococo Rose 1/2" Gathered Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Stacked Deckle Rectangles Dies (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); A2 Bronze Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com);
Markers (Copic)

 

Chillin'

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Not a card) + Page Maps February 2019

I was about to put away the Hello Summer papers after finishing a card and one of the pictures I've set aside to scrapbook caught my attention. The pineapple on my BIL's t-shirt and the floatie my niece had put her stuff animal in called for some fun colorful papers so I looked for sketch inspiration and found a 8½ x 11 sketch that worked well with the elements from the collection I could work with.

As I was trying to assemble the page, I realized that the design would work better if I flipped the page around and had the title coming in from the left in the picture. It just suited the picture better, so I ran with that. The rest is pretty simple, since I mostly played with stickers. Handwrote my journaling and decided to use some of the little tag stickers to add the date, for additional colour.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Crumn Cake, Petal Pink (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers and Stickers: Hello Summer (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Picture Perfect Birthday Enamel Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker, Subtles Candy Dots (Stampin' Up!);
Wonky Stitched Rectangle Die-namics (My Favorite Things)

 

Majestic Peacock

Inspiration: Sunday Stamps #209 + Sketch Saturday #573

This year, Stampin' Up! added something new in the annual catalogue: a single item number to order a full suite. Usually with a suite, there's always an item or two that's not to my liking, but I fell in love big time with their new Noble Peacock suite and wanted everything it included. This is the first project I'm making with my new products. I wanted to use the Saturday Sketch and place the peacock vertically on a portrait card. I quickly realized when I pulled the stamps out that the main peacock image is big! I stuck with my original idea and figured I'd just cut a piece of the tail off at the bottom of the card afterwards, but once I had finished my peacock, I liked it too much to cut it off and decided to have him hanging off the sides. I think it looks really pretty, but that will mean I will have to be creative with the envelope when I send this card out.

I stamped the peacock in Pretty Peacock ink and added the detailing using Gorgeous Grape ink. I then pulled out the Woven Thread sequin assortment and added tiny sequins on the tail. I used a blending pen and Old Olive ink to fill in the body and face with Old Olive ink. It was a last minute idea and I was working on regular Whisper White cardstock, so I had to use a very light touch to avoid having the cardstock pill. I also added Gorgeous Grape ink to the top of its head.

I used the Stitched Nested Labels on Gorgeous Grape cardstock and embossed it with the embossing folder from the suite. I decided I liked the debossed pattern better and since the dies add stitching to both sides, I decided to inlay my cardstock in the foil Specialty paper, so I ran the die a second time. This is where I turned a mistake into lemonade: I initially picked the wrong size when I die-cut the Specialty paper (a size too small), so I ran it again with the correct size and ended up with a pretty frame that I decided I'd recycle on something else. Then it dawned on me that it would look really pretty added on top of what I already had, so I glued it place. It adds additional stitching and dimension. I then tied a piece of ribbon from the same suite as well, and I used the smallest of the stitched dies to add my sentiment, which reads You did it!

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Paon royal (Royal Peacock)
 Cardstock: Pretty Peacock, Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Gorgeous Grape
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Noble Peacock
Ink: Pretty Peacock, Old Olive, Gorgeous Grape
Accessories: Stitched Nested Labels Dies, Woven Threads Sequin Assortment,
Detailed Peacock Dies, Beads & Baubles Embossing Folder, Old Olive/Pretty Peacock
3/8" Reversible Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Blending Pen

 

Golfing Dad

Inspiration: Fab Friday #168 + CAS(E) This Sketch #331

I wanted to play with my new catalogue stuff and the sketch inspired me to pull out On to Adventure, with the cute golfer. The bottom section of the sketch made me think I could sponge some ink to create the green and anchor my golfer image, which I colored with Stampin' Blends markers. We're starting to have a nice wide range of colours, so it's getting fun to color and get some depth.

I have been struggling to find some storage for the markers because they need to be stored horizontally. My Copic markers are stored vertically in a metal CD container, which I've divided with cardboard insert to keep the colour families separated. The collection fits in two containers, which I simply bring on my desk when I'm coloring. It would have been so much easier if I could have stored the Stampin' Blends with them, but since they are not meant to be stored vertically, I had to come up with something else. They were first stored in a shoebox, but it was hard to find the colors I was looking for. I later updated to zipped pouches with elastics for each individual markers (found on Amazon). The insert can be taken out of the zipped pouch, so I was able to have the markers by my side on the desk while coloring, but that took room and I kept having to flip back and forth since the markers are on both sides of the holder. It was just not as convenient as I would have hoped. This Spring, Stampin' Up! came out with the marker organizers. I think they are great for people who have the desk room for this kind of setup. I don't. Only room I could have made for it would have required for me to stand up or walk to where the markers would have been and that was not was I was hoping for. I finally found something at Michaels a couple of weeks ago that got me really excited. The bottom of the box is divided for 60 markers and hinged so you can stretch it out if you want and it has a top that clips on both sides and has a handle to carry the box around. The dividers allow me to organize my colours and to stand the markers on my desk vertically when I'm coloring, and then because the top contains them, I can store them on their side and it doesn't take up a lot of room. Problem finally solved!

Back to my card, the rest of the design was pretty simple: a strip of cardstock, which I added a row of stitching on using the Stitched Nested labels die on, and a piece of 1/8" grosgrain ribbon. I then added "Happy Father's Day" using my new sentiment dies (so excited any time I can find French sentiment dies) and the card still felt a little too bare, so I added gold faceted gems (which happen to look like golf balls) to the card. I also layered a second die-cut in another colour over the word "father" to make it stand out.

 

 

 

  

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: On to Adventure
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Pacific Point, Pineapple Punch
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento, Bermuda Bay
Accessories: Lovely Lipstick 1/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Stitched Nested Labels Dies,
Stampin' Blends Markers, Mots de souhaits Dies, Gold Faceted Gems,
Whisper White Medium Envelope, Sponge

 

S'more Than One Project Today

Inspiration: Inspired By #81 + Freshly Made Sketch #396

When I saw the Inspired By picture with the S'mores, I couldn't resist pulling out my favorite Neat & Tangled stamp set. It's such a fun set to use and the results always turn out cute. Since the inspiration picture had plaid, I reached for a leftover piece of patterned I have from the Hello Easter 6" x 6" pad. I die-cut the center with the Repeating Circles die and I filled the circles that wouldn't have images with Distress Oxide ink. I spritzed with water, dried the cardstock with my heat tool and overstamped little hearts using the same ink colour. I then added the words "from all of us" in those circles, which was perfect since it has three words in French.

The images were stamped, colored with Copic markers and die-cut. I added a piece of matching stitched ribbon at the bottom and a few gems and sequins to fill in the space. The leftover circles were used to decorate the envelope and I added another colored image as well.

As I was looking at the other leftover circles, I remembered last week's Freshly Made sketch, which also had three circles and figured I could make a very quick project using some paper scraps based on the sketch. Instead of a card, I decided to make a page holder for something different. I used a tag topper punch at the top, used it on my remaining plaid paper and lined the back of the page holder with the paper. I added a hole reinforcer at the top. I was so happy to find this punch from We R Memory Makers at a local store. I've been making my own hole reinforcers for years using two circle punches and as much as I tried, they were never perfectly centered, so this is one nifty tool I was happy to find. I also prefer a punch to a die for something like this.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: S'More Fun (Neat & Tangled)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Granny Apple Green (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Hello Easter (Echo Park)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Spun Sugar, Twisted Citron, Scattered Straw Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: De nous tous Dies (Lime Citron); S'More Fun Dies (Neat & Tangled);
Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios); Elegant Tag Topper Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Daffodil Delight Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, Woven Threads Sequin Assortment (Stampin' Up!);
Markers (Copic); Gems (Little Things from Lucy's Cards); Repeating Circles Die (Simon Says Stamp);
Coin Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Warm Mitten

Inspiration: Create with Connie and Mary #570 + Colour Inkspiration #59

I really love the Colour Inkspiration combo. I paired it with the Create with Connie and Mary challenge, which called for a catalogue sample CASE. It gave me the opportunity to play with my first catalogue order, which I have just received. The Many Mittens Framelits were part of the order. They are not new, but they are still available at a great price in the Clearance section. The colors were perfect for a woolen mitten, so it was the starting point of my design.

I used the Scripty 3D embossing folder for the background and I'm totally in love with how it looks. I remember a few years ago, Stampin' Up! had a writing embossing folder. That was before we had the 3D embossing folders and the script was quite big. it was also not a 6" x 6" folder, which meant that we didn't have the option of having the text facing the right direction on a landscape or portrait card. I remember I liked the idea of an embossing folder with script, but not necessarily how this one had turned out. The new one that was just released is perfect. It's delicate and subtle and the result is gorgeous. I predict this one will pop up on many projects to come. The sample I was copying was also using the Corrugated folder, another personal favorite, so I used it on my Early Espresso cardstock.

For the middle piece, I used my newly acquired Stitched Nested Labels dies and I stamped my cardstock with the Birch background. Another gorgeous new item. I love backgrounds that are textures instead of patterns, as they are easier to incorporate in design and help make cardstock look a little flat.

I die-cut a few different mittens elements before I finally found a combo I was happy with. I layered everything and pulled out the Woven Threads sequin assortment to embellish the card a little. I love opalescent sequins so I was happy with this new assortment of In Color sequins. When I was done assembling everything, I started pondering whether to add a sentiment or not and then I remembered the new word dies, so I pulled it out and decided to die-cut Happy New Year, which fit nicely right on the mitten.

I pulled out a Very Vanilla medium envelope and added a die-cut mitten and a few sequins to match the card.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Birch
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Seaside Spray, Early Espresso, Smoky Slate
ink: Seaside Spray
Accessories: Many Mittens Framelits Dies, Mots de souhaits Dies, Stitched Nested Labels Dies,
Scripty 3D Embossing Folder, Corrugated 3D Embossing Folder, Woven Threads Sequin Assortment,
Magnolia Lane Ribbon Combo Pack, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

This Mouth...

Inspiration: CAS(E) This Sketch #330 + Paper Craft Crew #343

I was looking through the Snarky Small Talk stickers and when I read the one that says "I've got a good heart, but this mouth..." I thought it would be hilarious if it was matched with the Dracula from the new Hip Haunts die set. That Dracula is small, but it's a labour of love putting him together. So many small pieces (those teeth, those pupils, those eyebrows...) and a lot of running the same die over and over again in the machine, switching cardstock colour. The result is pretty darn cool, though. To make the hat stand out, I used black suede paper and red foil paper. (In retrospect I should have used the red foil for the inside of the cape as well, it would have looked cool!)

For the background, I pulled out the Halloween paper pad from Tim Holtz that came out last fall and I paired two scraps I had. The felt paper was cut all crooked but I decided to keep it was is, which added to the look of the card. I used the Stacked Deckle Rectangles dies to cut the papers out (and the same die to mat the inside of the card). The red enamel hearts I had on hand were not fitting to me liking with the cardstock colour, so I made my own using a punch and Glossy Accents.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Black, Silver and Red Foil Paper, Going Grey, Basic BLack, Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!);
Black Suede Paper (unknown source)
Patterned Papers: Halloween 2018 (Tim Hotz Idea-ology)
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Basic Grey, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Stacked Decle Rectangles, Hip Haunts (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Wonky Circle Frames (Avery Elle)
Accessories: Snarky Small Talk Stickers (Tim Holtz Idea-ology); Sponge Daubers, Owl Punch (heart) (Stampin' Up!);
Glossy Accents (Ranger); Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo); A2 Midnight Black Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Wine Rescue

Inspiration: Fab Friday #167 + ColourQ #246

This is the second card I make watercoloring an image on kraft cardstock using Distress Oxide inks and I really love the results I've achieved both times. It's different from watercoloring with dye ink, as the color is more opaque and can be layered. I played on that here, adding blue highlights to my bottle after the purple ink had dried.

Once again, I started off by looking through the Snarky Small Talk sentiments and when I saw the one that reads, "I just rescued some wine. It was trapped in a bottle.", I knew it would be perfect with the Wine Blueprints stamp set. The main image was stamped in black archival ink, and the cork image from the same set was stamped in Crumb Cake ink (stamped off on the side first to make the colour less saturated). I also used the same stamping off technique to stamp the grape image on the card base.

The right border was created using the Mini Provincial Embosslits and I used a brown Distress crayon to make the embossing stand out. Distress ink was used to distress the edges of the main image, sentiment strip and card base as well.

I used a woodgrain texture envelope to finish the ensemble.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Wine Blueprints (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Cardstock: Seaside Spray, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Seaside Spray, Crumb Cake Classic Ink, Basic Black Archival Ink (Stampin' Up!);
Ground Espresso, Walnut Stain, Brushed Corduroy, Stormy Sky, Tumbled Glass, Forest Moss,
Peeled Paint, Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Ground Espresso Distress Crayon, Blending Tool (Ranger); Mini Provincial Impresslits (Sizzix);
A2 Oak Woodgrain Envelope (envelopes.com); Aqua Painter Brush, Sponge Daubers (Stampin' Up!);
Snarky Small Talk Stickers (Tim Holtz Idea-ology)

 

Summer is Time to Play

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Life on the Ocean Wave)

While I do incorporate my stamps in my scrapbooking once in a while, it is very rare that the very first thing I make with a new stamp set is a page. That was the case, here. I've loved the Sandy Toes set from Waffle Flower but it's been consistently sold out when I placed orders, so I was happy to get my hands on it this time around. The eager kids reminded me of my niece, who was down on the beach hunting for seashells litterally five minutes after we stepped out of the car when we went to Wasaga Beach two summers ago.I also liked the sentence "Life is better at the beach with you," which also seemed perfect for a page.

I have put aside a big pile of summer-theme patterned papers and have tried to use them while it's sunny outside (the cool Halloween and Christmas stuff is starting to come in and to distract me, though!) and today, I was looking through the papers to find the Fancy Pants Designs one that matched some die-cuts I found in my stuff. I found them, tried to see if I could work them into a card design, was not feeling inspired, but them aside - and then it dawned on me that I could use the papers AND the stamps to make a page instead. Hence was born this page.

Another item that made its way into my last order was the Society Alphabet from Tim Holtz. I love his choice of fonts. And I hate how pricey the Bigz dies are and how much room they take to store. I get that they cut through fabric, chipboard and anything else you might want to use, but you have to use it quite a few times to make up for the investment. I kept coming back to this one, though. It's narrow enough that you can fit a full word into limited space, it's fairly traditional so it can work for a number of styles and it has a really cool retro vibe with the bottom part of the letters being placed further down. I made my own chipboard letters using recycled packaging and I colored the letters using Distress Oxide inks and the blender tool. The pigment part of the Oxide inks cover the chipboard very nicely, and the chalky finish works very nicely with the distressed look of the papers. My title reads, Summer is time to play," which is inspired by a well-known kids TV show from back in my days - that just got rebooted for the new generation this year! My niece has been listening to a CD of these old songs since she was a toddler, so she'll know exactly what the title is referring to. I made sure to give the little girl red hair and an aqua shirt to match hers.

The smaller part of my title was created with another newly acquired alphabet, the Alphanumeric Label dies. As happy as I am with the Society alphabet, I'm not sure yet how I feel about this one. The dies are teeny tiny, which is great to fit smaller sentences in tighter spaces, but oh my goodness, handling those tiny pieces is quite the challenge! Getting those pieces out of there is also challenging. At least gluing them down went well, since I had made sure to use adhesive sheets beforehand. As frustrated as I was with the process, I ended up being really pleased with the result, so now we'll see how often I actually use them...

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Sandy Toes
Patterned Papers: Marina – Beach Bum Collection (Fancy Pants Designs); Gold Leaf Glitter Paper (Best Creations Inc.)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Granny Apple Green (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Barn Red, Blueprint Sketch and Fired Brick Distress Oxide (Ranger);
Cherry Red, Granny Apple Green Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Beach Bum Die-Cuts (Fancy Pants Designs); Halloween Night Enamel Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Markers (Copic); Blue Pen (Pilot); Society Alphabet Bigz Die, Alphanumeric Label Dies (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)

 

Tropical Mosaic

Inspiration: SUO challenge #227 (CASE the sample on page 98 of the annual catalogue)

The only current Designer Series Paper I have is the Mosaic Mood one, so it was the starting point of my design, and I looked the current stamps to see what could fit with the DSP and the sample to be copied. I settled on Tropical Chic, which worked well with the green leaf mosaic design. The six hearts were transformed into circles die-cut using the Stitched Shapes dies (don't have to add Framelits anymore!). Three of the circles are DSP and three of them are So Saffron cardstock, which I embossed with the Layered Leaves 3D embossing folder. The Blushing Bride cardstock was embossed using the Subtle embossing folder and I cut my sentiment apart in two, to mirror the sample.

A matching envelope was made out of DSP as well.

I used Terracota Tile for the card base and to stamp the flowers. It's a neat colour, somewhere between a red and an orange, I think I'll like using it.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Chic tropical (Tropical Chic)
Cardstock: Whisper White, So Saffron, Terracotta Tile, Mint Macaron
Designer Series Paper: Mosaic Mood
Ink: Mossy Meadow, Mint Macaron, Terracotta Tile
Accessories: Envelope Punch Board, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Tropical Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies

 

A Long List...

Inspiration: Global Design Project #197 + Little Red Wagon #505

Oh, how I like that beautiful colour combo! I've been trying really hard to stay away from Christmas and focus on summery projects, but with the new Tim Holtz dies coming out, the Little Red Wagon challenge with the Christmas theme and the beautiful combo which was perfectly suited for the little elf... Not saying, They made me do it, but, hey, they made me do it! ;)

I also realized when I saw the colours together that I had the perfect opal polish to go with the Pear Pizzazz and create a shimmery background - and it turns out the opal sheen is the perfect blue to match the Seaside Spray cardstock. (I'm so in love with that In Color!) I decided to work tone on tone and blended some Blue Parakeet Opal Polish on Pear Pizzazz cardstock, through the Classy & Fabulous stencil from Carta Bella. This made for a fun wallpaper-looking background. I then went on to prepare the elf and packages. Those Tim Holtz dies are not for the faint of heart. The amount of die-cutting and teeny tiny pieces is pretty extraordinary, So is the result, though - you just have to arm yourself with patience. I initially thought it would take forever, but I had a show playing on my laptop (just discovered a new Bell app that lets you play what you have on your recorder directly on your computer - neat li'l gadget!) and I got in the groove using my Sidekick. For the bows, you layer two pieces, which is what gives the shadow and depth. I cold have done two colors, but that would have meant die-cutting twice, so instead, I got my daubers out and simply inked the bottom piece with the same color of ink, darkening the cardstock. That worked out really well. I think the worst part was adding the stripes to the candy canes! While I initially thought I could create a candy cane fence behind him, after putting one together, I quickly retired that idea.

Last, I went looking for a sentiment, and I found one that says "Wishing you everything on your list..." from last year's Signs of Santa set, which was just perfect. I stamped it with Basic Black Archival ink and quickly pourred some clear embossing powder on it to emboss it. It made the sentiment much darker and crisper so I'm glad to added that step.

I then looked through my envelopes and found that the Avocado one goes really well with the Pear Pizzazz cardstock. It's slightly darker, which was perfect to add die-cut gifts and have them stand out. The elf was die-cut out of black glimmer cardstock, which adds a little bit of pizzazz to the overall design.

I love that little dude. The silhouette is so cool. I'm thinking next time I die-cut him, I might try paper piecing to give him colored clothes and see how he looks.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Panneaux de Noël (Signs of Santa - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, terracotta Tile, Seaside Spray, Thick Whisper White, Black Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Basic BLack Archival, Terracotta Tile, Pear Pizzazz, Seaside Spray (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Santa's Helper Dies (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); C;assyc & Fabulous Stencil (Carta Bella);
Blue Parakeet Opal Polish (Cosmic Shimmer); Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!);
Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn); A2 Avocado Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Sparkly Poinsettias

Inspiration: Retro Rubber challenge #114 (Christmas in July) + Sketch Sunday #571

Quite a while ago, I had played with my glitter pastes and the Poinsettia Background stencil because I was curious to see if I could carefully apply three different paste colours to the same image, to have the leaves in green, the poinsettias in deep red and the centers in gold. The result is not perfect as the colors overlap a bit but I was not aiming for perfect anyway, so I was happy with the result. I left the piece aside to turn into a card later and today, I wanted to craft but had limited time, so I decided that using this piece would save me some time. It was also perfect for the Christmas in July challenge.

I wanted a big, bold sentiment and I reached for Joyeuse année, which came out I believe two years ago. I embossed the sentiment in gold, die-cut the cardstock, added some ribbon underneath, and a piece of polka dot paper to mimick the sketch. I still felt the card was missing something so to mirror the second circle from the sketch, I stamped some poinsettias from an even older stamp set, Souhaits gracieux, which is a good 3 or 4 years old, and embossed it in gold on watercolor paper. I then used an AquaPainter brush and inks to color the flowers. I have not watercolored in ages! It felt good to go back to it, and I made a mental note to revisit this technique more in the coming months. This was a set that did not have matching dies (which is a real shame as I feel all three images from the set would be perfect for die-cutting) so I had to recycle my gold ol' handcutting skills. The original image has a flourishy stem with two poinsettias at the top, but the image was not working as is, so I cut the three elements apart and started playing around the card with them. I found something I was sort of happy with and I left the card aside to go do something and when I came back to it, I was not happy so I actually unglued the whole panel that was over my stenciled image. Because of the texture of the glimmer paste, I was able to pull the glued pieces without ripping anything (which would have been impossible on cardstock). Initially, the paper strip had been centered, but by moving it up higher, I was liking the balance better and was showing more of the green paste, which made the whole card look better. Incredible how moving stuff a few inches sometimes can make the world of a difference in design.

Because I wanted to keep as much of my beautiful background as possible, I ended up with a 5-1/2" x 5-1/2" card, which required an handmade envelope, made out of Designer Series Paper. I used the leftover scraps from the stencil to decorate the envelope and the inside of the card.

I liked the unexpected colour combo - it was inspired by the glitter paste and it's not something I would have ever thought to put together: Fresh Fig, Berry Burst and Garden Green.

 

  

Color Combo: Fresh Fig + Berry Burst + Garden Green + Crumb Cake

 

Supplies
Stamps: Souhaits gracieux (Christmas Blessings), Joyeuse année (Wonderful Year - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Fresh Fig, Berry Burst, Garden Green, Crumb Cake, Watercolor Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper Stacks: 2017-2019 In Color, Neutrals (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: VersaMark, Fresh Fig, Berry Burst, Garden Green Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, Aqua Painter Brush, Envelope Punch Board,
Chevron Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals ((Stampin' Up!); Vintage Shimmer Pearls (Studio Katia);
Poinsettia Background Stencil (Honey Bee); Golden Crystal, Seaweed Quartz and
Plum Spinel Glitter Pastes (Nuvo); Labels Nine Nestabilities Dies (Spellbinders)

 

New Job

Inspiration: Page Maps July 2019 + Time Out challenge #139

When I decided it came time to look for a new job, a former coworker of mine suggested I make a mental list of which elements I would look for in my perfect job. I had three come to mind: close to home to keep the commute to a minimum, not to have to get up early in the morning and possibly to get Friday afternoons off like I had when I was working for an engineering firm. I lucked out and found a job that checked off all three! Honestly, I was not expecting as much so I'm really happy.

I've had the Girl Squad collection sitting in my stash for a while now and was never sure what to use it for, but as I was making a card with the papers and reading the cut-aparts, I realized this could work really well with this picture. I found a fun page Maps sketch with a grid of elements that allowed me to use the cut-aparts, but since I had 3" x 4" ones in there, it's not a perfect grid but I like the unevenness, I think it gives the layout personality. Those little faces are my favorite part of the collection, so I made sure to sneek my favorites in there. The hashtags were actually printed on the bottom part of the paper that you cut off, with the company info on the back. Some of them were perfect for the page, so I used them as embellishments, and added little girl faces punched out with a circle punch. The wording were 2" x 2" squares that I matted with my fave papers.

As for the title, I pulled out an old Bigz Alphabet from Stampin' Up! and initially used it only on the patterned paper but it was getting lost of the busy background piece, so I drew from the fact that it was Bigz die and die-cut the letters out of chipboard as well and layered the patterned paper on top. The extra dimension was enough to make the letters legible. It also reminded me that I should make my own chipboard letters more often! Especially since I'm just using leftover packaging I have and can pretty much make those letters for free, now that I have the dies anyway. The bigger Bigz letters just tend to take up more room on a layout, but I've noticed that recently, I've got back to traditional scrapbooking and left the pocket scrapbooking aside a bit. That was an interesting observation. I think the pocket pages got me back into scrapbooking when card making had become my main interest but it also gave me a great solution for layouts where I wanted to easily include numerous pictures. When I have less pictures, I like the freedom of traditional pages more, where I don't have to worry about the picture sizes and orientation.

The idea behind this page also tied with the Time Out challenge quote: "With freedom, flowers and the moon, who could not be happy? —Oscar Wilde" I feel like I asked for the moon and got it, I have a bit more freedom now that I am working shorter weeks and I do feel very happy with this new job. Life is good!

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Girl Squad (Pebbles)
Dies: Simple Wavy Banners (Lawn Fawn); Mini Caps Alpha and Numbers (Taylored Expressions);
Perfect Print Alphabet Bigz (Stampin' Up!); Square Nestabilities (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Perfect Birthday Enamel Dots, Cork Embellishments, Stampin' Dimensionals, Spiral Punch, Corner Rounder Punch,
Circle Punch (Stampin' Up!); Chipboard, Button (recycled); Thrift Shop Border Rub-Ons (October Afternoon)

 

Ocean of Love

Inspiration: CAS on Friday #161 + MFT Sketch #444

My initial idea was to sponge some circles on the card base but as I was putting together the card, I decided to put stitched die-cut circles instead. I die-cut the top of the center panel using the Ocean Hillside Pop-Up Add-on die to get a wave that my dolphin could jump over, and I used some confetti to add sparkle, overlapping them so that they would look like bubbles.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Friends with Fins (My Favorite Things)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, So Saffron, Pool Party, Bermuda Bay (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: A2 Aquamarine Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Markers (Copic);
Ocean Hillside pop-Up Add-On Dies (Lawn Fawn); Sentiment Labels Dies (Simon Says Stamp);
Friends with Fins Die-namics (My Favorite Things); Stitched Shapes Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Sparkling Clear Confetti Mix (Pretty Pink Posh)

 

CASE'ing the 2019-2020 Catalogue: Perennial Birthday

Inspiration: Create with Connie and Mary #568 + Paper Craft Crew #342 (Die-cut + Favorite Color = Teal + Floral)

I was drawn to doing another catalogue CASE when I saw the Connie and Mary challenge. It's pretty amazing to see how different a card looks when you change the colour scheme. The original was a mix of soft pinks and I selected bright and saturated colours for my reinterpretation. The elements are all similar, though - the dry embossed panels, the ribbon (now in the form of a die-cut), the rectangle panel with the sentiment, the leave die-cut, the flowers, the stamped texture on the card base... I picked the Perennial Birthday stamp set for my version. I kept the Pinewood Planks embossing folder for the left panel, but decided to use a second one on the right panel, namely the Layered Leaves. I also added the glimmer enamel dots for added interest. The flowers were colored using Stampin' Blends markers.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Anniversaire vivace (Perennial Birthday)
Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Lovely Lipstick, Granny Apple Green, Night of Navy, Whisper White
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento, VersaMark, Lovely Lipstick, Bermuda Bay, Granny Apple Green
Accessories: Pinewood Planks 3D Embossing Folder, Layered Leaves 3D Embossing Folder,
Flourish Dies, White Medium Envelope, Glitter Enamel Dots, White Stampin' Emboss Powder,
Stampin' Blends Markers

 

Frothy Cafe

Inspiration: Fusion challenge

I was going through summer-themed patterned paper and when I saw the coffee cups on the Girl Squad papers, I decided to pull out the Coffee Café stamp set and matching dies. The design was inspired by the Fusion sketch. Sentiment on the label reads, "I miss you."

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Café à emporter (Coffee Café), Coq en pâte (Home to Roost - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight, Shimmery White, Vellum, Soft Sky
Patterned Papers: Girl Squad (Pebbles)
Ink: Mossy Meadow, Lost Lagoon
Accessories: Coffee Cups Framelits Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals, Pearlized Doilies,
Glitter & Clear Epoxy Shapes, Petal Pink Shimmer Ribbon, Sponge Daubers (Stampin' Up!);
Outside In Stitched Rectamgle Dies (Lawn Fawn); A2 Avocado Envelope (envelopes.com); Mini Safety Pin (recycled)

 

Sail in the Direction of Your Dreams

Inspiration: Card Maps July 2019 + The Paper Players #449 (Water Sports = Sailing)

I really liked the sketch from Card Maps with the angles - I thought it'd be great to use paper scraps, so it became the start of this card. I was initially thinking of using four patterns of Night of Navy, but when I pulled out the Designer Paper stacks, the yellow and blue combo from the 2018-2020 In Colors caught my eye and I decided to go that way instead for something more colorful.

Since the In Color ribbons are very narrow, I was able to use the PIneapple Punch and Blueberry Bushel to line the edge of the patterned papers. The rest was just a collage made with the Sailing Home stamp set and the Smooth Sailing dies. The sentiment reads, "Set sail in the direction of your dreams."

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Terre à l'horizon (Sailing Home)
Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Blueberry Bushel, Pineapple Punch
Designer Series Paper Stack: 2018-2020 In Color
Ink: Sahara Sand, Blueberry Bushel, Pineapple Punch
Accessories: Smooth Sailing Dies, Blueberry Bushel and Pineapple Punch 1/8" Grosgran Ribbon,
Night of Navy/Sahara Sand Baker's Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals, Sponge Dauber, White Medium Envelope

 

Flying High

Inspiration: TGIF challenge #219 + Card Maps July 2019

I like this year's In Color, I expect they'll be easier to work with than last year's bright hues. My early prediction is that pretty Peacock and Seaside Spray will become personal favorites. I like Seaside Spray because it's a nice steel blue and I think it will look beautiful paired with various colours as it seems to have the same versatility Bordering Blue offered many years ago. As for Pretty Peacock, I've never met a shade of teal I haven't loved in my life, so that one is a given.

The TGIF challenge was a good chance to take the In Colors out for a test run. There was an added challenge due to the fact that I don't have Purple Posy ink. (Stampin' Up! ran into some trouble with the ink formula and is still working on fixing the problem, so the ink pad is currently not available.) I also totally spaced out when placing my preorder and realized when the order got to me that I didn't add the markers, which I could have used while waiting for the ink. The markers are on their way to me right now and should get here next week but in the meantime, I didn't have any purple ink that was a good substitute. I think the old Pale Plum might have been close, but I sold that ink pad quite a while ago as I was never using it. I wonder if I'll grow fonder of Purple Posy. You never know - some colors have snuck up on me in the past.

This design is fairly simple. I was liking the Card Maps sketch and it helped to put together a cute card really fast. For the card front, I wanted to add a little something so it wouldn't be too plain but I wanted it to be subtle, since I already had the busy Buffalo Check pattern on top of it, so I used the cloud dies and the embossing mats to add dry-embossed clouds. The two tags you see on each side are from the Hometown Greetings Edgelits dies. They were the perfect size and shape to mirror the sketch.

(I just realized after finishing this card that the stamp set is now retired. Oops! I have to go over my dies and stamps and divide what's current and what's not.)

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Gentil remontant (Lift Me Up), Buffalo Plaid
Cardstock: Seaside Spray, Rococo Rose, Purple Posy, Whisper White, Vellum
Ink: Seaside Spray, Rococo Rose, Basic Grey
Accessories: Hometown Greetings Edgelits, Up & Away Dies, Pearl Basic Jewels,
White Medium Envelope, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Embossing Mats

 

Hooray Marquee

Inspiration: CAS Colours and Sketches #328 + Card Maps July 2019

The Card Maps sketch made me think of the Broadway Birthday stamp set, which I hadn't used in a while. I decided to pair it with the soft colours of the CAS challenge, since the previous cards I had made with this set had been bold and I was curious to see how it'd look in soft hues.

The design is pretty straightforward. One fun detail to point out is that I used the Simply Scored tool to add lines to the marquee, which made a big difference on the finished look. I used the leftover center piece from the marquee on the envelope to make my address block and have it match the card.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Broadway Birthday
Cardstock: Petal Pink, Soft Sea Foam, Flirty Flamingo, Whisper White
Designer Series Paper Stack: Subtles
Ink: Petal Pink, Soft Sea Foam, Flirty Flamingo, Smoky Slate
Accessories: White Medium Envelope, Pearl Basic Jewels, Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins,
White Baker's Twine, Simply Scored Scoring Tool, Ticket Corner Punch

 

Strawberry Card

Inspiration: Color Throwdown #550 + Inspired By #79

I had in the back of my mind that I wanted to take part in the strawberry-inspired challenge from Inspired By. I was not sure what I would pull, but was thinking of the fruit stamp set Stampin' Up! carried a couple of years ago. As I was finishing my second project with the Hello Summer papers from Simple Stories, I spotted something interesting in one of the cut-aparts: a photorealistic image of a strawberry. That immediately sparked inspiration for a card.

I was trying to figure out what I would put as a sentiment to go with the image and I thought of the French expression "j'ai hâte de te voir la fraise," which means I can't wait to see your face (fraise meaning strawberry). I used Word to create a text box in which I typed my sentiment, printed it on thick white cardstock and I used my Sentiment Labels dies from Simon Says Stamp to get perfect straight lines. (Those dies were expensive considering you're really just buying rectangles, but after years of doing my best to get straight lines out of my paper cutter, this is a super handy tool to have. Since it includes a wide variety of sizes, I was able to select the exact width I needed.) I used two fonts - Angeline Vintage and Sail - and I made the word strawberry pink so that it would stand out and give the sentiment a touch of colour. We're gaining ground with French stamps now offered, but we're still miles and miles apart from the English selection, so having my trusty computer and colour printer is a great way to get the sentiments I need.

I matted the image with a piece of dark berry cardstock embossed wit the Basket Weave 3D folder, and the card base was sprayed with Peeled Paint Distress Oxide through the Wander & Find stencil from Carta Bella. I used the same colour of Distress Oxide ink and stencil to make a matching envelope, even though you wouldn't guess it since the colours are pretty different (the spray is more olive and the ink is more a citron green). I found some strawberry stickers in the small sticker sheets so I was able to make a matching envelope and decorate the inside of the card as well.

The card base was a square blank card from DoCrafts, which my store ordered for me when I was trying to get 5-1/4" x 5-1/4" square envelopes. I didn't need the card bases, but as my store owner pointed out, at $4.70 CAD for a pack of ten, I was pretty much getting the cards for free. Neither of us knew what the quality would be like and for that price, I wasn't expecting much, but I was surprised by how thick and sturdy the cards are. Here, it was perfect to use with the spray, as the thick cardstock did not warp at all, which is pretty impressive.

Finally, I added candy dots in pink and green over the little triangles on both sides of the strawberry for a bit of embellishment. This is pretty different from my usual style, but I like it, and it's great to add a different sentiment to my card stash as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Raspberry Ripple, Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers and Stickers: Hello Summer (Simple Stories)
Ink: Peeled Paint Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Card and Envelope: Papermania (DoCrafts)
Accessories: Wander & Find Stencil (Carta Bella); Peeled Paint Distress Oxide Spray (Ranger);
Candy Dots, Basket Weave 3D Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!)
Fonts: Sail, Angeline Vintage

 

 

Splash Zone

Inspiration: Sunday Stamps #208

I'm seeing all those Halloween and Christmas supplies popping up in stores already and even though those are my favorite themes to craft with, I'm trying not to give into it this early and focus on summer supplies while it's in season. I pulled out the Hello Summer from Simple Stories and created this cute card with it. I paired it with one of my favorite summer stamp sets, Beach Day from Neat & Tangled. I never seem to get tired of this one.

The Hellow Summer Stickers included one that says Splash Zone, which was perfect to go with the elephant image. I also pulled out the Happy Birthday Dymo strip sentiment from an old hostess set called Silhouettes & Script. The cute turquoise and green baker's twine came from some Lawn Fawn packaging (wish they were selling this one - love the colours on it!). For the matching envelope, I selected an A2 Lagoon Metallic envelope and added a sticker as well.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Silhouettes en script (Silhouettes & Script - Stampin' Up!); Beach Day (Neat & Tangled)
Cardstock: Lucky LImeade, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Hello Summer (Simple Stories)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: hello Summer Stickers (Simple Stories); Beach Day Dies (Neat & Tangled);
A2 Lagoon Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); A4 Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn);
Wonky Stitched Rectangles Die-namics (My Favorite Things); Markers (Copic)

 

Adventure Awaits!

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #519

Many years ago, my friend Brandi sent me a few stamped images from a cute stamp set I didn't own and I've used a couple of a card and still had the rest stashed away in the pile of things kept aside for a rainy day. I stumbled unto those images again today and was inspired to make something with them. I looked for masculine papers and decided to use the Creative License Simply Scrappin' kit - which also dates back many, many years. I've always loved this kit - there's something about the bright colours and the distressed stickers that I find really appealing. The card came together quite easily.

I colored the images with Copic markers. I don't know that the images had necessarily been stamped with an ink meant for that - I don't think we carried the Tuxedo Black ink back when those images were stamped. I could see the ink was moving around a bit on the cardstock, but since I kept the blending to a minimum, the ink didn't really bleed too much. Since the kayak was stamped separately, I had to handcut it, but I really love how it's out of the square image – I find it makes the card more dynamic.

While embellishing, I found an arrow sticker and decided it would be perfect to stamp my sentiment on. I looked at stamp options and found "Adventure Awaits!", which had the perfect theme, font and size. This came together pretty easily and I'm happy with the result. This could work well for retirement, someone going on a trip, starting a new job or moving away.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Je me souviens, Unknown (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Simply Scrappin' Kit: Creative License
Ink: Basic Black, Not Quite Navy Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Square Nestabilities Dies (Spellbinders); Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Markers (Copic); A2 Aquamarine Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com);
Wonky Stitched Rectangles Die-namics (My Favorite Things)

 

Birthday Emoji

Inspiration: Festive Friday #37

I've been wanting to pull out my Emoji Love paper collection ever since I saw the Festive Friday challenge. I went through the papers trying to decide what to make and I got the idea to make a shaker card when I found a leftover piece from a previous project. I had die-cut the center of a 4" x 6" card with a Pinking Edge Square die and had kept the remaining striped frame, thinking I could make something cool with it. I cut the piece down to a 4" x 5-1/4" size and decided to turn it into a shaker. I also found this cool 3" x 4" image for a birthday emoji with a few confetti flying around, which was perfect for the project.

I found a Happy Birthday die and used black glimmer paper with it. I then filled my shaker with various sequins and embellishments. This is the part that I always find tricky: how much to put in. I've done a few shakers that looked too empty, and I knew I was working with a big window so I added a couple more spoonful to be on the safe side. now that the whole thing is glued in place, I think I could have taken a few sequins out so that the emoji is not as hidden when the card is up, but I could live with it as it was, so I decided not to run the risk to ruin the card by trying to take it apart and take sequins out.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Poppy Parade, Black Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Emoji Love (Simple Stories)
Accessories: PInking Edge Square Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
Bonne fête doe (MC Collection); White Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon,
2013-2015 In Color Sequins (Stampin' Up!); A2 Aquamarine Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com);
Sweet & Tart Heart Sprinkles (Trinity Stamps); Opal Whisper Sequins (Little Things from Lucy's Cards);
Pale Pink Sequin (Simon Says Stamp); Sparkling Clear Confetti Mix (Pretty Pink Posh)