Encre, papier, ciseaux

Mixing Holiday Treats

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Let's Get Ready for Christmas)

This card was inspired by the Mom Shaped Shaker Kit from Queen & Co. I think the mixer is my favorite image of the kit, there's something really cute about it. Because the Happy Holly Days papers caught my eye, I decided to make it a holidays card. I looked through my stamps and found something that says "candy and gingerbread - enjoy the season and its sweet treats" (sounds weird translated, but it rimes in French). I paper pieced the mixer so that the mixing part was made of silver foil paper.I added a red twinkle star on the mixer (which was a thank you gift I received with my Queen & Co order - pretty cool!).

I filled the bowl with sparkling clear confetti. The sentiment was embossed in red sparkly embossing powder on vellum and die-cut a scalloped oval, but I felt the text was hard to read over the busy paper, so I added a smaller oval underneath made of diagonal stripe paper. I reused the dies to decorate a matching Avocado envelope.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Saison festive (Sweet Season - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Basic Grey, Cherry Cobbler, Vellum, Silver Foil Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Happy Holly Days (Queen & Co)
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Lacy Borders, Dotted Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Red Glitter Stampin' Emboss Powder, Basic Grey Taffeta Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Avocado Envelope (envelopes.com); Sparkling Clear Confetti Mix (Pretty Pink Posh);
Red Twinkle Stars (Queen & Co)

 

Chills and Thrills Halloween Box

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes) + The Paper Player #460 (orange + die-cut + Halloween)

I'm really happy with the project I'm sharing today. Inspiration for it struck in such a random way. I found an old box of chipboard elements from K & Company and as I was putting it away, the top part came unglued. I looked at the piece and realized it would make a fantastic frame, so I put it aside for later. Today, I was tinkering around my desk and on a whim, I decided to use the Happy Halloween papers from Carta Bella (told you the other day I love Steven Duncan's designs!) to cover the frame. My initial idea was to do the checkered pattern on top and fill the inside with the city paper (which is probably my favorite of the stack). I used Distress Collage Medium applied with a paintbrush to glue the paper in place and then I got out my old precision file set from Basic Grey. I've had this thing for over a decade. Covering chipboard letters with patterned papers was all the rage when I got into scrapbooking and this set of precision files was perfect to get into all of the nook and crannies. I rarely pull this kit out nowadays, but today it came in handy to follow the intricate edges of the outside scallops and curvy edges inside the frame.

Because I had gotten the collage medium out, I decided I could collage some of the die-cuts on it. Initially, I was planning on then filing the edges as well, but once I got those on, I decided to cover them with collage medium so they'd be more sturdy and leave the edges as is. I handcut more images, added them, then I looked at my Halloween stamps and pulled out Haunted from Cosmo Cricket, which is probably as old as the filing set. Using Jet Black StazOn, I added the crow, stars and the sentiment in the top corner. Then I decided I wanted to add a fine dusting of glitter using the Glitter Duster from Tim Holtz. I filled the duster with champagne fine glitter and gave it a go. It was my first time using it and I was sure I was doing it wrong, as it looked like nothing was coming out. That,s the beauty of the tool, though - it produces a very fine dusting and distribute the glitter evenly. It was perfect because it did not ide the patterns on my box, but when you move the project around, the glitter is definitely there and picks up the light.

That is when I realized that I could actually decorate the whole box and glue the frame back on it and it would make the most awesome candy holder. So I went back to the chipboard box, moved the chipboard pieces to another container, and two of the chipboard stars caught my eye because they are distressed vanilla, so they matched the papers very nicely. I added those to the frame and added a few Ripe Persimmon pearls from Studio Katia on the stars and around the frame. Those are absolutely gorgeous, by the way. I was already loving my red pearls and adding them everywhere, and I think those orange ones are going to be right there in my most-used embellishments.

I kept the idea of having the village show through the frame and glued a square of village paper in the bottom of the box, covered with collage medium. I added four strips of striped paper to the sides of the box, and I added one last piece of patterned paper and a die-cut to the bottom to add the product info. Luckily, the sides of the bottom part of the box were vanilla and already fitting with the rest of the papers. Trying to cover those would have been hard because it would have made the top of the box too tight to fit.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Haunted (Cosmo Cricket)
Patterned Papers: Happy Halloween (Carta Bella)
Ink: Jet Black StazOn
Accessories: Distress Collage Medium (Ranger); Ripe Persimmon Pearls (Studio Katia);
Chipboard Stars (K & Company); Champagne Fine Glitter, Gold Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!);
Glitter Duster (Stampers Anonymous); Outside In Stitched Christmas Tree Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

Framed Mummy

Inspiration: In[k]spire Me #402

I turned the sketch sideways so that I could use the fantastic Ornate Frames dies along with the Monster Bash Designer Series Paper. Halloween projects are my second favorites, right after Christmas. I love Halloween for the candy and the creative liberty it brings. This card is quite simple, as the mummy image is handcut directly from the patterned paper and popped on black Stampin' Dimensionals. I was initially planning to stamp a frame image from the matching stamp set, but I found I already had the mummy image leftover from the treat bag I have previously done. The background is really just one piece of patterned paper, die-cut with the Stitched Rectangles dies for a bit of detailing and inked with a sponge dauber. I used Crushed Curry and Basic Grey to match the other edges. I glued it an angle on my inked card base to go with the shabby look.

For the strips, I got the idea to roll the top edge to make them more interesting, and I added them at an angle as well. For two reasons: visual interest, but also to hide the fact that the top of the middle banner was not rolled and looked a little flat between the other two, so hiding it solved that problem.

I die-cut the big frame out of Copper Foil Paper. I die-cut the Happy Halloween sentiment out of Black Foil Paper. (I thought this one had retired with the seasonal catalogue it was in - I was pleased to spot it in the current catalogue.) But when I tried adding the two die-cut words, it felt too crowded and if I overlapped them, it was hard to read the words. So I looked at stamps instead, found something that was the right size and close enough but with an extra S at the end, which I omitted by masking the s with washi tape and taking it off before stamping. That cute little tag is part of the same die set. I inked the edges and added linen thread. The final touch was adding copper Star Designer Elements from the current Holidays catalogue. They're in a holiday suite, but they match the Halloween suite colours nicely.

I used my Envelope Punch Board to make a matching envelope out of Designer Series Paper and added a Stitched Nested Label at the front for the address, which I inked but also stamped in VersaMark ink (to get a soft result) using the Creepy and Spooky words from the Spooktacular Bash stamp set. (Since they're in English, I won't use them often, but I thought they could just be used as a subtle pattern.)

This is a sketch that would work well for mass-producing and also to use paper leftovers. I'm tempted to give it another try using Christmas papers to compare. Maybe with the ornament punch at right? Stay tuned...

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Spooktacular Bash, Étoile lumineuse (Star of Light)
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Crushed Curry, Copper Foil Paper, Black Foil Paper
Designer Series Paper: Monster Bash
Ink: Basic Grey, VersaMark, Crushed Curry
Accessories: Stitched Nested Labels Dies, Mots de souhaits Dies, Ornate Frames Dies,
Star Designer Elements, Envelope Punch Board, Sponge Daubers, Black Stampin' Dimensionals,
Linen Thread, Stitched Rectangles Dies

 

Sharing the Joy of Christmas

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp (Anything Goes) + Hand Stamped Sentiments #324

The starting point of this card was an old die-cut of the Stitched Hillside Backdrop out of Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper, that has been sitting in my scrap pile for probably a year. It thought it could look nice paired with the Snow Bunnies set (this year's Stamptember exclusive set). I really wanted to do a soft pink sky for those guys. My first attempt failed miserably. I had inked the sky in Spun Sugar ink and used my Distress Oxide inks with a snowflake stencil. Unfortunately, the ink seeped underneath the stencil and the snowflakes were a mess, so this idea got scraped and I started again a few days later using the Tattered Rose Distress Oxide ink instead this time. This shade of pink looks a little more vintage and so I paired it with other soft shades for a retro vibe.

This time, I learned from my mistake and I did use Pixie spray on the snowflake stencil before blending the ink. I also overstamped snowflakes from the stamp set using both Tattered Rose and Tea Dye ink. I noticed that Tea Dye has a pink hue to it and it blends very nicely with the Tattered Rose background, being just a shade darker without looking brown.

I stamped all of the images and played around with them once they were die-cut to figure out which setup would look the best. I ended up with having the bunnies and snowman and the bottom and the decorated tree at the top. Because I had a lot of open sky, I picked a larger sentiment to add in there, which reads "Let's share the joy of Christmas." The sky still looked too empty, so I die-cut some Mini Snowflakes out of mint cardstock and added those around, but the bottom of the sentiment still felt empty. That's when I spotted a couple of ornaments that I didn't have enough room for on the tree, so I decided to hang them from the sentiment, drawing threads with a sparkly gel pen and a ruler. That solved the problem nicely and I like the look.

I wanted my bottom bunny to be holding something. Initialy, I thought the branches for the arms, but the left bunny is reaching quite high, so I remembered the tiny styrofoam balls I have purchased a couple of years ago and decided it could look like they are packing snow on the snowman to round him up, so I added a ball on each of their paws.

I didn't have enough room for the last bunny on the card, so he made it on the envelope instead. I picked a Teal one to match with the Stitched Rectangle Frame added on the card.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Snow Bunnies (Lawn Fawn); Coffret d'étiquettes (Tin of Tags - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Island Indigo, Pistachio Pudding, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Tattered Rose, Tea Dye, Peacock Feathers DIstress Oxide Ink (Ranger)
Accessories: Stitched Rectangle Frames Dies, Snow Bunnies Dies, Stitched Hillside Backdrop Portrait,
Mini Snowflakes Dies (Lawn Fawn); Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Teal Envelope (envelopes.com); Markers (Copic); Slime Ballz (FloraCraft)

 

Fall Joy

Inspiration: Try Stampin' On Tuesday #427

I pulled out a fall collection from last year and was inspired to make this card using the Try Stampin' On Tuesday sketch. It was fairly simple, since I used one of the cut-aparts from the patterned paper for the center. I looked at sentiment options and found what I was looking for in an old Project Life stamp set from Stampin' Up! I stamped the words "Fall Joy", masking one of the letters from the second word to get the plural form out and have the two words match. The stamp set also had stitching, which I added in Merry Merlot ink at the top, alongside a strip of narrow orange washi tape. The stamp set also included a fall leaf, which I stamped in PInk Pirouette ink over the cut-apart piece. The piece already had a pumpkin at the bottom, but I added a pumpkin sticker over it to change the scale and pop it up on dimensional adhesive. I also added a cute acorn to fill the space a bit better. The floral piece was die-cut with a Wonky Stitch Rectangle die for detailing. For the envelope, I picked an A2 Oak woodgrain envelope and I added a matching sticker.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Instantanés de saison 2015 (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Lost Lagoon, Very vanilla, Merry Merlot
Patterned Papers and Stickers: Forever Fall (Simple Stories)
Ink: Lost Lagoon, Merry Merlot, Pink Pirouette, VersaMark (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Circle Punch, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Blushing Bride Stampin' Emboss Powder,
Washi Tape (Stampin' Up!); Simple Wavy Banners Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Wonky Stitch Rectangle Stax Dies (My Favorite Things); A2 Oak Woodgrain Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Winter Postage Stamp

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #523

I've loved the Postage Stamps Infinity Dies on all of the projects I've seen made with them online, so I was thrilled to find them at my local store. I also found the Snow Much Fun! collection from Carta Bella, which was my favorite of their fall/winter release. The colours are so gorgeous! Because there's slight touches of coral in some of the images, I used a coral card base, which I stamped with my old but trusty Flannel Plaid background stamp. The first circle of the sketch was made with a KaiserCraft snowflake die with Silver Foil paper and the second one was one of the stickers from the sticker sheet. I found a small sentiment in a retired Stampin' Up! stamp set that reads "joy and love" and I embossed it in Pool Party embossing powder on Night of Navy cardstock. I used my Sentiment Labels dies to cut it out.

I used a Nautical Blue linen envelope and a smaller Postage stamp die, as well as a few extra stickers to finish my set.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Flannel Plaid, Saison du gui (Mistletoe Season - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Calypso Coral, Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers and Stickers: Snow Much Fun! (Carta Bella)
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Snow Crystals Dies (KaiserCraft); Postage Stamps Infinity Dies (Hero Arts);
Dotted Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn); Sentiment Labels Dies (Simon Says Stamp);
A2 Nautical Blue Linen Envelope (envelopes.com); Mint Macaron Ribbon, Silver Foil Paper,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Pool Party Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!)

 

You're Too Cute to Spook Treat Bag

Inspiration: Festive Friday #43 (Orange + Stars + Treat Packaging)

I decided to organize my scrap room today as I had too much stuff out and it was feeling a little too crowded. I put some YouTube crafting videos on in the background while I was putting stuff away and in one of the videos youTube randomly selected for me, the crafter was showing a pretty striking Happy Mail project she had put together. It was Halloween-themed and one of the elements caught my eye: bat-winged bows. I had never seen anything like it and I thought it was adorable! My mind immediately leaped to the new Woodland Critter Huggers Bat Add-On dies that Lawn Fawn just released. I thought the bat wing shape looked similar, so the organizing went out the window and the dies came out! I quickly looked for Halloween papers (which luckily I had close by since I have recently put aside my Halloween and Christmas papers to have handy) and picked up the Spooktacular papers from Bella Blvd. I die-cut the wings out of the word pattern and tried out various circle punch sizes to see what looked better over it. I seelcted 1-3/4". I glued everything together and while I was looking for options to create the center of the bow, the green buttons I've been recycling lately that are still on my desk caught my eye and became a quick and cute way to finish off the bow.

I was so excited about how it came out, I decided it had to be added to one of the Halloween treat bags I've been putting together lately. I selected a chevron bag and I started playing with the other papers from the collection to see what I could put together. I picked one of the cut-aparts for the main image ("You're Too Cute to Spook"), matted it with a scalloped square die-cut out of Black Foil Sheet. I punched two borders out of Highland Heather cardstock and placed them under a long strip of patterned paper. I added one of the borders from the cut-apart border paper and wrapped some Lucky Limeade ribbon around it. The bow seemed a little lonely at the top, so I decided to add a 2-1/2" punched circle underneath. To give my "moon" more pizzazz, I covered the paper with VersaMark and pourred Opalescent embossing powder all over it. I popped it up on black foam and I added the bow on top, making sure to pop the wings up with three stacked black Stampin' Dimensionals (so happy we have those in the current Holidays catalogue - I hope they will come back in the next annual catalogue). I then sprinkled glossy black gems on my bag.

The chevron bags are flimsier than the copper dotted bags and so it was buckling a bit with the weight of the bow, which is why I decided to line the bag with cardstock. I cut a piece of Basic Black cardstock to size and I added a strip of polka dot paper at the top, where is is peeking out. I rounded the two top corners with a punch, and that not only solved my problem, but made the top of the bag really pretty. I cut the back of the bag so that it wouldn't poke out from behind the insert.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Basic Black, Highland Heather, Black Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Spooktacular (Bella Blvd.)
Accessories: Button (Autumn Leaves); 1-3/4" Circle Punch, 2-1/2" Circle Punch, Black Stampin' Dimensionals,
Corner Rounder Punch, Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbon, Heart Pinking Edge Punch, Chevron Treat Bag, Star Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Glossy Black Gems (Pretty Pink Posh); Woodland Hugger Critters Bat Add-On Dies,
Outside In Stitched Christmas Tree Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Opalescent Embossing Powder (Top Boss);
Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo)

 

 

Weekend at the Cabin

Inspiration: Page Maps February 2019 Sketch

My sister is a couple of weeks away from going back to work after her mat leave and since her youngest was at daycare and oldest at school, we were both free and decided to go do an escape room together. We picked a theme called Weekend at the cabin. This might be the scariest one we've done so far (and mind you, the last one was called "Haunted Mansion" and we spent 48 minutes out of the hour in pitch dark). I just didn't expect someone to loudly bang on the door while I was inspecting the lock to see how to open it. Sadly, we didn't manage to escape from this one but we were really close to figuring it out. I had figured out what the last clue was but ran out of time to gather the numbers and try them on the lock. Based on the explanations we got from the guy when we were finished, I assume we were about 2 minutes away from working our way out of there. This just made my sister want to go solve another one even more badly so there might be more pictures of another one soon!

Anyway, I knew the theme was perfect for me to pull out some nature-themed paper and I thought I could break into my Happy Trails paper pack from Simple Stories. The colors and patterns were just perfect for it. I also happened to have on my desk the Shadow Box Card Mountain Add-On dies from the latest Lawn Fawn release. It was a coincidence - they were just sitting there because I wanted to make a card with it, but the cabin die caught my eye and I realized I could make some cute embellishments for the page. Interestingly, the circle is meant to be the opening for the shadow box so you would generally use the outside part, but it made for a cute sky and the round shape went well with the circle from the sketch. The mountain part is also an insert so while I first thought it would be weird to have the tabs stick out on each side and was trying to find a way to work around it, I finally decided I liked it as is, and I just used the trees to fill in the empty spots in the circle backdrop. The cabin was die-cut out of woodgrain cardstock, in both kraft and dark brown for the door, and I added a red rooftop. I die-cut snow caps out of Shimmery White cardstock and as I was trying to figure out what the last shape of the set was. I finally realized it was smoke coming from the chimney, so I decided it was a cute detail and added that as well. The sky felt empty, so I glued sparkly star and circle sequins on it.

The rest of the design was easy because I simply used cut-aparts and the stickers from the paper collection. I added twine, a button and washi tape and my page was done. The papers remind me of an old Cosmo Cricket collection that was about S'mores and camping, that had a similar colour scheme and feel. I used the last collection down to the last piece, so I hope this one inspires as much creativity.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Mossy Meadow, Poppy Parade, Granite Grey, Shimmery White (Stampin' Up!);
Woodgrain Cardstock in Neutrals (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers and Stickers: Happy Trails (Simple Stories)
Dies: Shadow Box Card Mountain Add-On (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Tangerine Twine (Lawn Fawn); Button (Autumn Leaves);
Washi Tape (Simple Stories); Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Pearl Necklace Sequins (Little Things from Lucy's Cards); Glisten Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo)

 

Peeking In

Inspiration: CAS(E) This Sketch #340 + Create with Connie and Mary #579

Clean and simple is definitely not part of my usual brand. But once in a while I'll get an idea and manage to execute it well enough to be happy with the result. I have major respect for crafters who do CAS well. It seems simple because there's not a lot of elements on the project, but that's exactly where the challenge lies: how do you make the project interest, then?

What sparked the inspiration for me today was spotting the cute image of the fairy peeking through a hole from the New Wonders hostess set. I realized it could very well stand on its own and would work well with the CAS(E) This Sketch. I could have done a one-layer card, but because the image was so small, it did want to make sure I had one of the colours around the edge to make the project more colorful. The image was stamped in Basic Grey ink and colored with Stampin' Blends. I didn't have Grapefruit Grove markers so I got creative and mixed the So Saffron markers with the pale Cajun Craze and Pumpkin pie. I love the mix that produced - it looks like the hole is backlit. Because the image has a few hearts and stars around it, it gave me the idea of sprinkle some of the Woven Threads sequins around. I basically took a pinch of sequins and let them fall on the card and glued them exactly where they fell. I then looked at my French sentiment dies and selected the word "hurray".

The flourish at the bottom was a last-minute idea. I spotted the flourish in the die set and thought it would look pretty done in white, tone on tone. I really like the images from this illustrator and I hope we see more of his/her work in future catalogues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: New Wonders
Cardstock: Whisper White, So Saffron, Grapefruit Grove
Designer Series Paper Stack: 2018-2020 In Color
Ink: Basic Grey
Accessories: White Medium Envelope, Woven Threads Sequin Assortment,
Stampin' Blends Markers, Les bons mots Dies

 

Yellow Submarine

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Interactive)

Ever since the You're Sublime stamp set from Lawn Fawn came out, I knew I wanted to make a yellow submarine card at some point. Obvious idea, but cute nonetheless! The Msgic Picture Changer was the perfect way to include the submarine and the diver together on a card. I tore champagne glimmer paper to create the sand at the bottom of the ocean and the Ruffle embossing folder to create waves in the background. This would make a good masculine card.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: You're Sublime (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise, Brilliant Blue, Crushed Curry, Whisper White,
Champagne Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Inks: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Brilliant Blue Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Magic Picture Changer Dies, You're Sublime dies (Lawn Fawn);
Stampin' Dimensionals, White Medium Envelope, Ruffle 3D Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!)

 

Two Times Godmother

Inspiration: Global Design Project #207 (Bloom and Grow)

I was extremely touched and also very surprised to be named godmother for my second niece since I was already godmother for the oldest one. My sister explained to me that her spouse and her ran through the list of options many times and they kept coming back to me because they wanted someone who would be close and always available. They believe a godmother is someone a kid can tell their little secrets they don't want to share with their parents to and lean on, so they decided I was the best fit. In a cute move, they also asked my niece Megan if she was willing to share her godmother with her little sister and she accepted. *heart melting*

This picture of Arielle and I was not taken on the same day, but I wanted to use a picture of us both together and this is one of my favorites so far. It also happened to be a perfect fit for the Bloom collection, so this page came together very quickly and nicely. It was inspired by a June 2018 Page Maps sketch.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Supplies
Ink: Sahara Sand (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink)
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Mint Macaron (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper and Stickers: Bloom (Simple Stories)
Hand-Crafted Embossed Paper: English Lace (Tonic)
Accessories: Digits and Punctuation Grungeboard (Tim Holtz Idea--ology); Sail Font;
Lowercase Alphabet Dies (Recollections); Washi Tape (Simple Stories); Striped Ribbon, Faceted Dots,
Clay Paper and Mold, Pearlized Doilies, Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins, Tasteful Trims XL Bigz (Stampin' Up!);
Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo)

 

Sending Flowers and Thoughts

Inspiration: Hand Stamped Sentiments #323 and Color Throwdown #560

This card almost never made it to completion. Boy, did I ever struggle to find my footing with it! Worst part is, I had such a clear vision based on the sketch: use the Stitched Nested Labels for the sentiment, add three stitched roses to the side, use the Bed of Roses die for the background. Boom, done! Or so I thought... Sometimes, the best-laid plans just refuse to work out. First of all, while I love the look of the Stitched Roses stamp set from Waffle Flower, let's be honest: even with a stamping platform, this stamp side is tricky to get lined up perfectly. And it's a grid pattern so if it's crooked, it shows! My first two roses ended up in the recycling bin as they were not lining up. You know how I managed to get perfect roses? I got rid of the stamp platform and pulled out my Stamp-a-ma-jig! I kid you not - the jig got better results than the platform. Then I struggled with the placement of the leaves. I had to Google a video to try and figure out where those went - only to realize I had stamped my flowers to close to the edge to have room for the leaves. roll eyes Yup, I was having one of those days. So I stamped the leaves on another cardstock and cut them out separately.

For the background, I die-cut red cardstock with the Bed of Roses die. Initially, I used my regular cutting plate and I was having to poke out the pieces one by one and struggling to get them out. So I realized that I should have used my precision plate and that if I was going to do that, I should also put adhesive sheet on the back right away to save myself a tricky gluing job. A while back, I've invested in the Chrome precision plate and this is the best tool that could have happened for die-cutting. The difference between the first and second cut was remarkable Even though I had added adhesive sheet, the pieces of the second die-cut fell out the second I lifted the cardstock up. I didn't have to struggle with it, I just bent it a few times and I was done. So I added it to my grey cardstock base and I wasn't sure about the result. I then figured I could use a background stamp on the card base before layering the die-cut. I went looking through my stamps and picked up Fine Lace, a background stamp from Stampin' Up! that probably retired a decade ago. It worked out great, and added just the right touch of texture without bringing the focus to the background.

For the sentiment, I also had a clear idea and was hoping the Genuine Gems stamp set would work. It was the perfect size, so I stamped it in grey - and thought it looked very blah. I love the sentiments in this set, but here's my beef: I wish the sentiment that reads "I sent out positive thoughts in the universe for you" was written in a prettier font. The grungy font seems a weird match for me. I kept thinking the empty letter would look better in color and I kept thinking about paper piecing the letters but they are so small and delicate, I knew it wouldn't work out well. Then I realized I could stamp the word on a white strip and color it with markers. I initially used a Stampin' Write marker on the first letter but remembered I had Stampin' Blends alcohol markers in the right green shade so I pulled them out and did an ombre look on the letters. That immediately made the sentiment look better, so I started working on placement for the roses and couldn't find anything that worked well and this is where I gave up on the card. Sometimes, you need to step back and reassess later so I picked a clear envelope, threw all the pieces in there and decided to work on something else.

A few days went by before I picked up the envelope again, spread all the pieces and gave it another good ol' try. The difference this time is that I hid one of the big roses behind the panel. It instantly changed the balance and that's the moment I decided there was hope yet for this design. Having the colored letters also added a touch of brightness to the card, so I got going on gluing everything together, using one layer of dimensionals for the red rose and two for the small yellow rose. The card was all done and I was working on the envelope when I spotted the new red trim sold in the current Holidays catalogue. I didn't purchase that line of product, but I had to have the trim. I love the texture and the fact that it's not too bulky (we've had gorgeous woven trim in the past, but it was so thick, it made it tricky to incorporate on cards. This one is slimmer and very nice-looking.) The bow and the added enamel heart gave a bit of shine and texture to the card and at that moment, I decided this card was not a dud after all. Thank goodness creating is not always that hard, otherwise I would have given on paper crafts a long time ago!

(If you wonder what the color combination is on the flowers, I've used those three combos:

1. Poppy Parade + Reasl Red + Cherry Cobbler
2. So Saffron + Daffodil Delight + Sahara Sand
3. So Saffron + Daffodil Delight+ Crushed Curry)

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Fine Lace, Quand les mots manquent (Genuine Gems - Stampin' Up!); Stitched Roses (Waffle Flowers)
Cardstock: Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Basic Grey, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Basic Grey, Granny Apple Green, So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Sahara Sand,
Real Red, Poppy Parade, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Bed of Roses (Essentials by Ellen); Stitched Nested Labels (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Real Red 1/8" Curly Ribbon, Subtles Enamel Shapes, Stampin' Dimensionals, Flower Punch Bundle,
Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Marker Combo (Stampin' Up!); A2 Anthracite Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Ghost Town

Inspiration: ColourQ #212

The starting point of this card was the Ghost Town dies from Tim Holtz. I pulled out my Distress Oxide sprays in Shaded Lilac and Wilted Violet to create a night sky and I splattered Liquid Stardust on it to make stars. I alsi ink-blended some Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot Distress Oxide ink to darken the top of the sky, I drew a lightning bolt with my brush using the Liquid Stardust (and later added white gouache to try and create a highlight on it). The houses were die-cut out of Black Foil paper, and the smoke out of Fog cardstock from Lawn Fawn. The Wonky Scalloped Frame was die-cut out of Kiwi Kiss cardstock and inked with Black Soot Distress Oxide ink. I added star sequins in the sky and a moon sticker from an Halloween sheet (last year's Bewitched from Echo Park).

For the card base, I die-cut a piece of Abandoned patterned paper from Tim Holtz, which I embossed with the Stylish Scroll embossing folder and ink blended the edges with Black Soot ink as well. I used a black envelope and the same die-cuts to make a set.

That's where I was and I was about to put the card aside and call it done, even though it didn't feel entirely finished to me, but I just didn't know where to go from there. Then as I was about to walk away, I remembered that I found some Tim Holtz items on clearance recently, including some metal Word Bands. I pulled them out and when I spotted "Encourage your hopes, not your fears", I decided it would make a cool pair with the existing card. I used my Carved Pumpkin Distress crayon to fill in the words, wiped the excess off and used some grey and black baker's twine to tie the metal sentiment in place on the card.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Wisteria Wonder, Kisi Kiss, Black Foil Paper (Stampin' Up!); Bristol (Canson); Fog (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers: Abandoned (TIm Holtz for Idea-ology)
Inks: Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Dies: Wonky Scalloped Frames (Avery Elle); Ghost Town (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Embossing Folder: Stylish Scroll (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Liquid Stardust (Lawn Fawn); Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studio);
Shaded Lilac and Wilted Violet Distress Oxide Sprays, Carved Pumpkin Distress Crayon (Ranger);
Grey/Black Baker's Twine, Snowflake Sequins (Stampin' Up!); White Gouache (Copic);
Word Bands (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology); Bewitched Stickers (Echo Park); A2 Midnight Black Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Family Frames

Inspiration: Freshly Made #402

I'm still working on my Halloween treat bags, and this last one was inspired by the Monster Mash Halloween papers from Stampin' Up!'s 2019 Holidays catalogue. They're cute and I like that they went to a different colour combo with the Crushed Curry and Terracotta Tile. One of my favorite page from the pack is the monster frames. I thought they fit with the Ornate Frames die, but they don't, so I fussy cut them out of the paper (which is not hard because they are hand-drawn so the cut lines don't need to be perfectly straight). It took me a while to find a configuration of frames I liked. I kept moving them around and fussy-cutting additional ones to try something different, but after a while, I finally found something pleasing. The Happy Halloween sentiment comes from the French Word Wishes die set.

The pocket is a Copper Dotted Treat Bag (from the annual catalogue) on which I blended some Terracotta Tile ink with a blender brush. I seem to be obsessed with doing ombre inking on those pockets. I made an ombre look on the first copper treat bag I decorated and I loved the look and I've gone back to that technique, with different shades of inks, on the next two bags as well.  I wrapped the bag with a piece of flourish-patterned paper and on top, I added some Crushed Curry cardstock that was embossed with the Stylish Scroll embossing folder (it's a good one - the design is versatile and neither too crowded or too big). I really like the black ribbon in the Halloween suite but I kept my preorder to a short list, so for this project, I pulled out an older striped satin ribbon (which works just as beautifully). I added a few black gems around the project and because the bags has copper on it, I was inspired to use one of the stars from the copper elements to fill in one of the spots between the frames.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Cardstock: Crushed Curry, Black Foil Paper
Designer Series Paper: Monster Bash
Ink: Terracotta Tile
Accessories: Stamping Sponges, Black Stampin' Dimensionals, Mots de souhaits Dies,
Striped Grey Satin Ribbon, Black Rhinestone Jewels, Copper Dotted Treat Bags, Copper Embellishments

 

Cute Chemist

Inspiration: As You See It #209

My answer to the question "My go-to die or punch that I use the most often is..." is going to be very unoriginal, but it's my rectangle dies. Ironically, rectangles are the very last shapes I ever purchased when I started investing in dies. I remember thinking that I would make those easily with my paper cutter so I didn't see the point. (Try eyeballing a perfect circle though...). Once the stitched shapes became popular the rectangles then became more appealing to me. Now, I almost can't forego using them now because my card base looks so naked to me if there's around the frame!

That left possibilities wide open for what to make for the challenge so I ended up going for one of my Stamping Bella stamps. First, because most of their images are pretty big and will fill up most of a card on their own and second, because I was itching to play with my new Faber-Castell watercolor pencils some more. Aside from a small practice piece, this is the first full image I'm coloring with them. I am amazed at the results. I like that the sharp ends of the pencil allow to add color in small nooks and crannies, which was especially useful for this image, as there's a lot of little details (those chicks are pretty small). I used a combination of Aqua Painter brushes of three different sizes and even a blending pen for the smallest areas. The image still seemed a little bare once I had colored everything so I decided to add a yellow halo around her and it made a huge difference to make the card feel more complete. I was also impressed at how much cardstock I managed to cover by simply adding a line around the image and dragging the pigment out.

For the sentiment, I wanted something in French but I wasn't sure what I could use to tie the sentiment to the image. As I was going through stamp sets, I remembered something issued last year that said "If you didn't exist, we'd have to invent you." How perfect! The size was also working, and I used a piece of patterned paper to make a banner, embossing the sentiment in navy powder on it. To make the banner, I used my triple banner punch, which is probably my current most-used punch. Which is funny because this is yet another punch that I initially thought was not necessary as I can definitely do my own cut with scissors. This clearly illustrates that over the years, you build up your craft tool arsenal and then you start going more and more into specifics. When you start, you invest in things that will give you the widest array of uses and over time, either you become more lazy or you now have build up on the basics enough to move on to tools that will only accomplish one thing, but accomplish it well. That banner punch has definitely already paid for itself.

I don't know if the Envelope Punch Board counts, but if it does, it's another of my most-used punches and I pulled it out here to make a matching envelope. That wasn't really planned based on the challenge, though - I was just down to a few scraps of paper and the yellow polka dot paper was still big enough to make an A2 envelope out of, so I decided to go for it. (Patterned paper is my personal weakness, and my stack of it is growing scarily tall, so you might see a lot more handmade envelopes in the future to try and make a dent in the stash!)

As one last bit of embellishment, I added Bright Glitter Sprinkles from Doodlebug around the sentiment and dabbed some Bottle Green and Rhubarb Crumble Crystal Drops bubbling out of the beakers. My crystal drops are not as easy to control as they were when I purchased them. One blogger I follow mentioned that they thicken over time and that you can add a few drops of distilled water to them to dilute them back to their initial consistency. I did just that, we'll see if the next application goes more smoothly. I like the green bubbles better, I think I added too many pink ones... I also added Glossy Accents to the glasses and the beakers for good measure.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Tiny Townie Sage Loves Science (Stamping Bella); Amour et affection (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Summer Starfruit (Stampin' Up!); Watercolor Paper (Fabriano)
Patterned Papers: Jubilee (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; VersaMark
Accessories: Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils (Faber-Castell); Glossy Accents (Ranger);
Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush, Rhubarb Crumble and Green Bottle Crystal Drops (Nuvo);
Envelope Punch Board, Stampin' Dimensionals, Triple Banner Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Bright Glitter Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design)

 

Just For You This Fall

Inspiration: Card Maps July 2019 sketch + Fusion challenge (Autumn)

I got my hands on those items I totally love: the Hello Pumpkin stamp set (which is new to me but was released last year by Waffle Flower) and the gorgeous Carta Bella Fall Market papers. They have designed a series of Market papers that are all more gorgeous than the last and I've really enjoyed creating projects with every single collection. The colors on this one are particularly scrumptious so I was all over that paper pad the second it made it home, and the cute mice seemed like a good fit for it.

I stamped and embossed all of the images from the set, save for the sentiments, in copper powder on watercolor paper and I got my inks and Aqua Painter brush out to watercolor using shades matching the papers. To mimick the wonky scallops from the sketch, I knew I wanted to use the Wonky Scallop Frames dies from Avery Elle, but since I didn't want a thin frame piece, I positioned the top plate on my Big Shot sandwich to only cut the scalloped part of the frame and not the inside, which is how I created the yellow section. Because the yellow is so pale, it was hard to see the scallop detail against the blue stripes, so I doodled a border in brown to make that detail more obvious. The strip made more sense at the junction of the bottom papers, so I moved it down. It took a lot of rearranging before I found an option where I could fit multiple images and have them make sense. The first few tries were way too crowded. I almost came close to ditching my original idea and using my colored images with something else altogether, but thankfully, because I made this card over the course of three sittings, I was able to walk away from it and come back with a fresh eye and find something that I actually liked.

The sentiment reads, "Just for You" and is from an older Altenew set called Label Love French. To make the card feel more complete, I added a mix of embellishments, which finished the card nicely. And with the leftover colored images, I was able to decorate my envelope and the inside of my card. Inside, I also used the leftover border piece of patterned papers from the card front and the sentiment strip I hadn't used (I tested two ink colors to see what I liked better). Over the years, a lot of people have left nice comments on my matching envelope. I would strongly encourage you to decorate your envelopes and the inside of your card while you are in the process of making the card itself, because everything you might need that matches is already out - ink, stamps, papers. And it's a fabulous way to use scraps and leftovers that might otherwise end up in the trash or recycling bin anyway. I even use some of the die-cuts or small pieces of paper to create my signature on the back of the card. (Back when I started, because I was a demonstrator, a lot of my cards served as sample and weren't mailed so they didn't all need an envelope. When I would send one out, I would haul out the stamp set and find some ink and decorate the envelope at that moment. It was a lot of work and often times, I either took shortcuts and used something that I had close by on the desk even though it wasn't a perfect match or I was short on time and sent a blank envelope. And back then, I was not even doing colored - just white or vanilla envelopes. I think the turning point was when colleagues started purchasing cards from me at the office. I then needed to have envelopes handy and I switched to automatically decorating envelopes when I made the card. It made my life so much easier and I got so many compliments on the envelopes themselves, so I never looked back and have kept the habit since.)

 

 

 

 

   

 

Supplies
Stamps: Hello Pumpkin (Waffle Flower); Label Love French (Altenew)
Cardstock: Tranquil Tide, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Watercolor Paper (Fabriano)
Patterned Papers: Fall Market (Carta Bella)
Ink: VersaMark; Peach Passion, Tango Tangerine, Tranquil Tide, Sahara Sand, Blue Blossom,
So Saffron, Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler and Soft Sky Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Hello Pumpkin Dies (Waffle Flowers); Stampin' Dimensionals, Aqua Painter Brush, Star Designer Elements,
Early Espresso Stampin' Write Marker (Stampin' Up!); Wonky Stitched Rectangles Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
Wonky Scalloped Frames (Avery Elle); Vintage Shimmer Pearls (Studio Katia);
Vintage Chic Sequins (Little Things from Lucy's Cards); A2 Blonde Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Everything Old is New Again: Peace on Earth

Inspiration: Sample on page 33 of Stampin' Up!'s 2019 Holidays catalogue

I'm still going through the catalogue and putting together projects inspired by samples and recreated with supplies from years past. This time, it was the frame on page 33 that caught my attention. The scripty font that reads Peace on Earth reminded me of an older hostess set from many years ago that said the same thing. I also liked the idea of the foliage around the tag, which reminded me of the branches from the retired Pretty Pines dies. I did pair those old supplies with a few current items, namely the Stitched Nested Labels dies, the Noble Peacock Foil Sheets and the Bright Gleaming Specialty DSP.

I used the green foil to die-cut the foliage and added a few Old Olive branches in there for dimension. I placed the branches in an oval and added the tag on top to see how it looks. Once everything was arranged to my liking, I covered the back of the tag with sticky strip and glued it on the foliage. Initially, I had used the foiled side of the patterned paper (the copper swirls on the Pretty Peacock background) but the foil was taking center stage and was really distracting so as much as I love the paper, I had to flip it around and use the backside instead for the card to work.

I'm mentioning that part because initially. I had reached for the same jingle bells I used on my last project, but they are gold and the color just looked wrong with the copper background, which is how I got the idea of using some Mini pinecones embellishments instead, since they are copper (another retired embellishment). I used thin silver thread to knot the pinecones on the ribbon and then I tied my bow. I used glue dots to add the bow to the project and on a whim, I decided to use the bow die from the Pretty Pines set to add a cardstock bow on top of the ribbon bow. I topped it with an enamel dot for a bit of shine.

If you look closely at the sample, they used some pierced dies behind the sentiment to add detailing on the tag. I was initially planning on clear-embossing snowflakes to mirror that detail. But... I was working on my foliage, glued it in place and realized as I was doing so that it would be tricky to add the embossed snowflakes, which I should have done before gluing anything behind the tag. Fortunately, I spotted the hanging earth ornament from my hostess stamp set amd realized it would fit the empty space perfectly.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Paix sur la terre (Peaceful Season)
Cardstock: Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Noble Peacock Foil Sheets
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Brightly Gleaming
Ink: Pretty Peacock, Old Olive
Accessories: Mini Pinecones Embellishments, Regals Enamel Shapes,
Stitched Nested Labels Dies, Vanilla Medium Envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Silver Thread, Mini Glue Dots

 

Everything Old is New Again: Row of Stockings Tag

The Wrapped in Plaid suite is so similar to the Warmth & Cheer DSP we had a few years ago, I kept on going with my samples copied from the current Holidays catalogue using this retired paper. On page 12, there's a sample of a Christmas tag with stockings on it. I pulled out the retired Christmas Stockings and Deco Labels dies, which are both very similar to the shapes of the tag shown in the catalogue, and I recreated my own version of it with what I had on hand. Instead of a stamped sentiment, I pulled out the Noel die from the same set. I initially stacked two of the stockings like in the sample, but it didn't look right to me, so I went back to having them all in a rowm hanging from the "mantel." I didn't want to punch a hole at the bottom, I preferred adding a gold gem for decoration instead. I replaced the die-cut star with a few star and snowflake sequins from the current Snowflake Sequin Assortment. This is a quick project that was put together in less than 15 minutes (the advantage of copying an existing project).

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Cardstock: Whisper White, Gold Foil Paper
Designer Series Paper Stack: Warmth & Cheer
Accessories: Snowflake Sequin Assortment, Deco Labels Dies,
Christmas Stockings Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals, Gold Faceted Gems,
Garden Green Baker's Twine, Stitched Rectangles Dies, Circle Punches

 

Camping Couple

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Stamp It)

I was going through the stamps I have put aside to use on my next projects and I when I saw the His and Hers Campers set, I realized it would work great with the Happy Trails papers from Simple Stories. I was trying to pick out which image to use and what kind of sentiment I'd be adding to the card. I pulled out the Snarky Small Talk stickers to see if anything in there would jump out at me and when I saw the one that says, "Sometimes I wonder how you put up with. Then I remember, oh, I put up with you. So we're even." I knew that would work great with both the man and woman together. I used my Polychromos pencils to color the image, picking colors to complement the patterned paper.

I stamped the little dog on a separate piece of cardstock and I handcut him to add with dimensional adhesive over the scene. I also found that my panel with the two characters was too large and hiding almost all of the patterned paper so I decided to lower the top cut and have the visor come out of it, which is a little trick that I like to use from time to time, both to save on space and because it makes the design more interesting when part of the image is coming out of the main shape.

The sentiment strip was only fitting at the bottom so I added it there, and the dog as well, which made the top of the card feel empty in comparison. I picked two bug stickers and added them at the top of the image with mini Stampin' Dimensionals. I used a Nautical Blue linen envelope to match, decorated with an image I punched out of patterned paper from the same pack.

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: His and Hers Campers (Art Impressions)
Cardstock: Lost Lagoon, Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers and Stickers: Simple Stories
Ink: Rich Cocoa (Memento)
Accessories: Wonky Stitched Rectangle Stax Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
A2 Nautical Blue Linen Envelope (envelopes.com); Polychromos Pencils (Faber Castell);
1-3/4" Circle Punch, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

Everything Old is New Again: Christmas Trees

This card follows up on my previous post about drawing inspiration from new samples to use older supplies. The card I'm sharing was based on page 13 of the Stampin' Up! 2019 Holidays catalogue. I remember thinking on my very first viewing of the catalogue that this was very similar to the Holiday Collection dies and some of the Holiday plaid papers from years ago. Sure enough, if it, because look at how close my card is to the sample! The Holiday Collection dies did have a star die in it, but it would have been too big to make a row in the tree, so I went back to my die collection and found a more appropriately-sized star in the Quilt Builder dies from last year. Instead of using gold foil paper, I stuck with the same DSP pack and used one of the yellow papers.

For the background, I wanted to keep the idea of tone on tone, but instead of using cardstock, I picked another sheet of DSP with a Crumb Cake background and a very subtle argyke design. I used a sttiched rectangle die to cut it out. Here's the tea: Stampin' Up! now has sttiched rectangle dies, but they kind of joined the parade on the late side, so I already had a variety of stitched rectangle from other companies, which is why I never purchased theirs when they came out. For this card, I therefore used my Outside In Stitched Rectangles dies from Lawn Fawn, but I still would consider this card a SUO (Stampin' Up! only) card in the sense that you could totally reproduce this with Stampin' Up! products if you did use their Stitched Rectangles.

As for the jingle bell, I know for a fact I have their mini jingle bells somewhere. They came out with silver ones many moons ago and then again with an assorted pack of red and silver ones a few years later. I've purchased both (I was low on the silver ones so I stocked up when the second set came out) but for some reason, they are not stored with my other SU! embellishments and I couldn't find them tonight, so I simply went to a jar of larger fold jingle bells purchased from a craft store 20 years ago when I had just started crafting. Based on the picture of the sample in the catalogue, I would say the size is really similar (3/8") so again, not by Stampin' Up!, but kinda!

Next came the hunt for an appropriately-sized Christmas sentiment. I narrowed my options down to three but when I placed the stamps next to the project to make a choice, it was immediately clear that the one from Snowflake Sentiments had the perfect font and size to fit the feel of the card. I stamped it on Thick White cardstock with Garden Green ink (initially because I was expecting to add a red jingle bell to the tag!) and I notched the right side with my scissors. Now that I look back at the sample, I notice that on theirs, both sides are notched and mine aren't. That was not a conscious choice, just a detail I hadn't noticed, but had I noticed, I think I still would have gone with the straight edge. I pulled out my twines and couldn't find any linen thread (I'm sure I still have some, not sure where it went - looks like half of my stash grew legs tonight!) so I went with the now-retired heavier natural twine the company used to carry. I like it, I think it's stiffer and give the bow more weight.

I repeated a die-cut tree inside the card and on the matching Crumb Cake envelope. This is definitely a simpler look than the cards I usually design, but I really like how it turned out. And what a great way to use scraps - I didn't use a single full sheet, managed to get everything I needed out of scraps. (Which is why those patterned paper stacks last forever!)

Again, I extend the challenge to you to pick a sample you like­, whether in a catalogue, magazine or online, and to shop your stash to reproduce it with what you have on hand. It's a great way to rediscover older, neglected supplies but also to craft on those days where the inspiration might be running on low.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies (unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Souhaits en rafales (Snowflake Sentiments)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Thick Whisper White
Designer Series Paper Stack: Warmth & Cheer
Ink: Garden Green
Accessories: Quilt Builder Dies, Holiday Collection Dies, Natural Twine,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Crumb Cake Medium Envelope, Clear Wink of Stella Brush,
Outside In Stitched Rectangles Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

Boo To You!

Inspiration: Festive Friday #42 (Black + Rhinestones + Birds)

I've had the Regions Beyond dies aside for a while, but I finally found inspiration to use them today. While the new Jolly St. Nick dies look pretty scary to put together but actually came together quickly, those are the opposite. They're small so you would think it would be fairly fast... Not so much. Add to that that there was a lot of thinking involved on how to combine all of those random images together and how to use a limited palette of colours but still have the images pop up nicely against the patterned paper. It took a while, but I'm quite pleased with the result.

Another new item I got to break in is the Type Lowercase Alphabet Bigz die from Tim Holtz. I've loved that one ever since it came out many years ago. Was not in love with the price, though. (And the room those Bigz dies take to store either.) Now that Tim has mentioned that Sizzix was not renewing his alphabet Bigz, I realized that it was probably now or never to get them. My usual store didn't have a whole lot of Bigz alphabets left, but when I recently ordered from another online source, I discovered they were having a sale on Sizzix items that week and that they still had a lot of the Bigz alphabets in stock! I'm really happy to finally have this one. I used it to die-cut "boo!" out of black glitter paper (and I am now wondering why I wrote the word in English while I could easily have used the French spelling instead! I was obviously distracted and not really thinking straight.)

Pulling out the Foursquare Backdrop Portrait die from Lawn Fawn helped provide a starting point for all of the little elements. I was playing with the bottles and the candles in the bottom row and realized if I pulled out the little shelf from last year's Laboratory dies, it would help group all of those elements together. I did the cute book and feather at the top and finished with the crystal ball. I used the two smaller stars to create a reflection on the globe, and I added the crow on the side. Those two elements allowed me a way to glue the vellum crystal ball in place while hiding the adhesive. The bottom of the crystal ball was die-cut out of woodgrain cardstock from Lawn Fawn. I couldn't resist adding the cute keys, out of Copper Foil paper, and I added rose gold rhinestones in the center, which works perfectly to add dimension. I repeated the same rhinestones throughout.

As for my last pocket, I decided to add a cardstock insert to make the pocket more sturdy and added patterned paper at the top of the insert. I found a little scrap of black striped grosgrain ribbon, which I tied into a bow and glued on the pocket with sticky strip. The bottom of the pocket was also ink blended with Black Soot and Hickory Smoke to make it stand out a little more. The die-cut elements were inked with Creamy Brown Chalk ink from ColorBox. I purchased that ink when I was starting out with scrapbooking. This ink pad is probably 15 years old and yet it still works like new. I was looking in my Distress Oxide drawers for a pale distressing color when I found it in the back of the drawer and I figured I could get some use out of it.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Basic Grey, Grey Granite, Black Foil, Copper Foil,
Pumpkin Pie Glimmer Paper, Silver Glimmer Paper, Black Glimmer Paper, Vellum Cardstock (Stampin' Up!);
Woodgrain Cardstock in Neutrals (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers: Twilight (Authentique)
Inks: Black Soot, Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Dies: Regions Beyond, Laboratory, Typo Lowercase Alphabet (Tim Holtz for Sizzix);
Foursquare Backdrop Portrait (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Black Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Metalic Rose Gold Gems (Pretty Pink Posh);
Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios); Tag a Bag Gift Bags, Corner Rounder Punch,
Black Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

Everything Old is New Again: Christmas Wreath

I've been purchasing stamps from Stampin' Up! for about 17 years now. Before long, I took notice that the company is very cyclical in its offering. It makes sense for new customers that are coming in and that might want a cowboy-themed set or a wreath set and weren't around to purchase the previous one offered, but if you are a long-time customer, you might think, "Hmm, that reminds me of something I purchased a few years ago." Based off of that, I was inspired to leaf through the 2019 Holidays catalogue and see if I could reproduce some of the new samples with older supplies from my stash. The first one that caught my attention was the middle sample on page 9, because of the wreath. A few years ago, we had the Wondrous Wreath with matching dies. I also knew I could easily find striped paper in my big pile of Designer Series Paper, so off I went to get what I needed.

I kept the Very Vanilla card base, chopped off 1" on the left side and I added a strip of striped paper from the Warmth & Cheer Designer Series Paper stack (6" x 6"), that is also a few years old. I then started working on the wreath. I stamped the full image in Pear Pizzazz and the layered leaves in Garden Green, to fit with the DSP. The berries were stamped in VersaMark so I could emboss them in Cherry Cobbler embossing powder (which I love because the berries show up much better with the embossing than they do when they are overstamped).

I also knew I already had a double-banner stamp in my stash, so I pulled out Birthday Banners and the matching dies for the center. I didn't want to do red cardstock like in the sample because I wanted something more neutral, so I went with the Cherry Cobbler embossing powder on Crumb Cake cardstock. (Side bar: my first stamped banner was perfect, but I had trouble with the embossing and I only found out when I was about to stamp the greeting that the powder was not melted all the way through so some of it fell off and I had to redo the banner. The second time around, the embossing was perfect, but when I tried to line up the die, I couldn't get it to fit correctly in the die. The stamp set is photopolymer and I think the image must have been slightly bent when I mounted it in the block. At that point, I didn't care enough to redo the whole thing, so the edge around the banner is not the same all the way through, but I can live with it.) So once I had the double-banner, the tricky part was finding a double sentiment in my photopolymer stamp sets that was the right size and length to bend and fit inside the banner. The set with the banner image is all about birthdays, so I had to hunt for something else. With the amount of stamps I own, especially Christmas-related, you would think that would have been a breeze, but it wasn't. I finally spotted an old Project Life stamp set that was not Christmas-related but that said "Great moments..." and I remembered I had seen "for your whole family" somewhere else so I decided I would pair those two. The fonts and sizes worked out great. I embossed the sentiments in gold to fit with the rest.

So, this is where if you want to draw inspiration from current projects using older supplies, you will sometimes have to be creative and find workarounds for differences. The main one for me was the scale. Old wreath = small. New wreath = bigger. Which meant that it was not covering as big of a space on the card and that it was getting a little lost behind the banner. I was also happy because I had found the Twig punch from last year's catalogue and thought I could use it to have the two twigs peeking from behind the bow. Again, wrong scale = way too big! After playing with the twigs a bit, I abandoned the idea. I kept thinking that I could use either a stencil or an embossing folder to add interest to the front of the card and not have the huge chunk of white space feel so bare. I added a panel embossed with the Scripty 3D embossing folder (this item is current) and it instantly made the card better. I then started looking for ribbon options. I pulled out the Old Olive chevron ribbon from last year and tied a cute red button in the center using some really old gold cording from more than a decade ago. Finally, because the sample had enamel dots, I looked at my embellishments and decided to add pearls for an elegant finishing touch.

For the envelope, I used a Crumb Cake medium envelope to match the banner on the card. I used the remaining striped paper to cover the back flap and I stamped the poinsettia from the wreath stamp set repeatedly on the front of the card. I am really happy with the result and it felt good to take older supplies out for a spin. Craft companies are pelting us with a huge new offering every season and with all of the new items we get excited about, the older supplies tend to get buried and forgotten. I hope this will inspire you to take on this challenge, of picking a sample in a magazine, catalogue, on Pinterest or on a blog and to reproduce it with what you have. I've CASEd projects before, but this exercise was different as the objective was not to use a color combo or layout I liked and make it my own. The challenge was to see how closely I could reproduce a project I liked with different supplies. I'm hoping doing this exercise a few times might train my brain to see that I don't need to have the newest wreath or cowboy-themed set...

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Banderoles de Fête, Coucou décembre 2016, Sapins de Noël, Magnifique couronne
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake
Designer Series Paper Stack: Warmth & Cheer
Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, VersaMark
Accessories: Scripty 3D Embossing Folder, Bunch of Banners Dies, Wonderful Wreath Dies,
Old Olive Mini-Chevron Ribbon, Gold Trim, Red Button, Stampin' Dimensionals, Pearl Basic Jewels,
Corner Rounder Punch, Crumb Cake Medium Envelope, Cherry Cobbler and Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder

 

Copper Ornaments

Inspiration: Try Stampin' on Tuesday #424

The Brightly Gleaming suite from the 2019 Holidays Catalogue immediately struck my fancy. It has everything I love: green paired with teal, copper, foil... It's so very elegant and I love that it's different from any other Holiday collection. This card is fairly simple but showcases the elements from the suite nicely: the stamp set, the papers, the punches, the Hammered Metal 3D embossing folder, the copper-printed ribbon, the star elements and the foil die-cut elements. The only thing I added from the regular annual catalogue was cardstock and the Copper Foil Sheets for the top of the ornaments.

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Fêtes étincelantes (Christmas Gleaming)
Cardstock: Old Olive, Thick Very Vanilla
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Brightly Gleaming
Ink: Old Olive
Accessories: Brightly Gleaming Foil Elements, Star Designer Elements, 2-1/2" Circle Punch,
Hammered Metal Embossing Folder, Stampin' Dimensionals, 1/2" Classic Weave Ribbon,
Very Vanilla Medium Envelope, Triple Banner Punch

 

Skate Season

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #522

I'm playing around with my new Holidays catalogue stuff. For this card, I paired the Free Skate bundle with the Feels like Frost Specialty paper. I was shocked to find out this was 6" x 6" paper when I opened my package. I'm sure it says so in the catalogue, but as you can see, I didn't read and just assumed it was 12" x 12". Makes sense, because the photorealistic paper will be easier to use in a smaller format. Every single backside is accented with silver foil and you have the photos on the front side. It'll be interesting to see how easily I manage to incorporate those in my designs. They are truly beautiful, but they probably lend themselves better to clean designs whereas I tend to layer a lot. We'll see. I think this first try turned out well. I used two foil sides and one photorealistic side, and I inked the snowflake paper with blue ink so that it would blend better.

That cute sentiment tag was made using the Ornate Frames dies. I fear those will fall by the wayside for most shoppers because they are in the Halloween section. If you disregard the stamp set it goes with, the set incorporates a generic mix of 11 gorgeous ornate frames which can be used for much more than Halloween, as evidenced on my card.

I was hesitant on whether to get the skate bundle or not because the stamp set has not been translated to French. But I thought the skate dies were beautiful and it was the bundle I was the most drawn to so I went for it. One of the items I love even more in person is the gorgeous metallic ribbon! I've already stated that Seaside is my new favorite blue so I was really happy to score some matching ribbon (not that the one from the catalogue is not pretty, but it's two-toned, so I prefer this monochromatic option, especially with the added sparkle!).

As a last-minute addition, I put silver pearls on the skate, because I didn't like the look of the empty holes from the die-cut so much. The silver pearls remind me of the silver lace hooks on women skates, so I like it.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Free Skate, Fêtes étincelantes (Christmas Gleaming)
Cardstock: Seaside Spray, Shimmery White, Purple Posy, Night of Navy, Silver Foil Sheets
Specialty Designer Paper: Feels Like Frost
Ink: Night of Navy, Seaside Spray
Accessories: Ornate Frames Dies, Detailed Skate Dies, Seaside Spray Metallic Ribbon,
White Medium Envelope, Stampin' Dimensonals, Stipple Brush, Metallic Pearls

Oh Gnome, I Forgot Your Birthday!

Inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #60 + ColourQ #244

I had this idea of a long tall card with a little scene showcasing a gnome from Lawn Fawn's Oh Gnome! stamp, where I would use those words in the speech bubble and add "I forgot your birthday" with stamps or die-cuts underneath. Since I a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to do, the first half of the card took form quickly. Then, I played around with options for the sentiment and to fill in the bottom, which is what took the longest.

I initially tried adding a row of flowers at the bottom, but it looked way too crowded. Since I had all of those flowers colored and die-cut, I decided to snip them apart and do individual flowers instead, which looked infinitely better. I also added a little gift in the gnome's hand to stay with the theme.

The sky was created out of white cardstock and I blended some Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans Distress Oxide ink with a blender brush to get the sky's gradient. I used the Simple Puffy Clouds dies on vellum and added the Smple Puffy Cloud Frames around with white cardstock for a soft look. Lucky Clover Distress Oxide ink was also applied to the grass with a blender brush to add definition and depth.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Oh Gnome!, Riley's ABCs (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Vellum, Old Olive (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Garden Green Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!);
Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans, Lucky Clover Distress Oxide Ink (Ranger)
Dies: Alphanumeric Cutout Lower (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Mushroom Border, Oh Gnome!,
Simple Puffy Clouds, Simple Puffy Cloud Frames (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios); Stampin' Dimensionals,
White Narrow Envelope, Stampin' Blend Markers (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic)

 

Typewriter

Inspiration: Inspired By #87 + Page Maps September 2019 sketch

When I saw the typewriter in the inspiration picture, it nudged me to get the pictures of my niece trying out my typewriter printed and added on a page. She was intrigued by my typewriter and since she had started to learn how to spell, she typed all of the words that she knew on a sheet of paper. My mom was a secretary so back in the days, we had a typewriter at home (an electric one - it was olive green) and I loved spending time on that thing, typing my little heart out. Seeing my niece on my typewriter had a nice full-circle feel to it.

A while ago, I had purchased the Vintage Type Doodle-pop and kept it aside to use on a special project. It became the starting point of this page and I picked the papers based on the Doodle-pop so it would match. I picked the Hello collection from Doodlebug, which had a hint of matching soft yellow in it. This collection also had a typewriter image in the stickers, a beautiful one with gold-foil detailing on it, but I decided to stick to the Doodle-pop and I used the little envelope with the hello note as the second image as it felt like using a second typewriter might be overkill.

The title was created with the Joyful Day puffy alphabet stickers from Pink Fresh. Aren't those beautiful? I love the font and colors and it went with the Doodlebug papers beautifully. I added my journaling on a tag and I created a pocket underneath the picture to slide it in. I used foam tape to raise the picture up and created a U shape to leave just enough room for the tag to slide in.

 

 

  

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers and Icons Cardstock Stickers: Hello (Doodlebug Design)
Puffy Alphabet Stickers: Joyful Day (Pink Fresh)
Accessories: Corner Rounder Chomper (We R Memory Keepers); Button (Autumn Leaves);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Crushed Curry Chevron Ribbon , White Baker's Twine,
Tag Corner Punch, Layering Squares Dies (Stampin' Up!); Vintage Type Doodle-pop Sticker (Doodlebug Design)

 

Foursquare Spooky Village

Inspiration: ColourQ #365

This project was entirely inspired by the new Lawn Fawn products. I paired Spooky Village (a favorite from the new stuff - love those cute houses!) and the Foursquare Backdrop Portrait die. While it was initially going to be a card, as I started die-cutting the elements, I realized this would be more useful to me as a treat pocket. If I keep making one here and there whenever I create, I am going to have enough to go around at the office.

The frame was die-cut out of Knit Picky Fall paper and I inked the outer edges in black ink. I die-cut the four squares out of white Bristol, which I inked in Dusty Concord and Black Soot Distress Oxide inks. I splattered watered down Liquid Stardust over the four panels. I colored the various images with Copic markers, die-cut them and started arranging them on the four panels. I couldn't fit the Halloween patch anywhere comfortably, so I moved it to the bottom of the panel instead. I stamped Happy Halloween on orange cardstock and embossed the words in Crushed Curry embossing powder, then die-cut the words with a Sentiment Labels die. I glued the sentiment panel at an angle using Dimensionals and added two purple glitter enamel dots on each side.

I matted the panel with a piece of Concord Crush cardstock (with edges inked in black) and glued it to the front of a chevron-patterned kraft envelope. I folded the top, punched two holes with a Crop-a-Dile and threaded black lace to finish off the bag.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Spooky Village (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Concord Crush, Whisper White, Tango Tangerine (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Knit Picky Fall (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark; Black Archival Ink (Stampin' Up!);
Black Soot, Dusty Concord Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Spooky Village Dies, Foursquare Backdrop Portrait Dies, Liquid Stardust (Lawn Fawn);
Black Lace Trim, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers, Glitter Enamel Dots,
Crushed Curry Stampin' Emboss Powder, Chevron Treat Bag, Crop-a-Dile (Stampin' Up!)