Encre, papier, ciseaux

Will You Be My Valentine?

Inspiration: TGIF Challenge #249 (Valentine's Day) + Inspired By Challenge #108

I recently made a layout using the La La Love collection from Crate Paper and I wanted to make a card as well before putting the supplies away. I was looking at the cut-aparts and whn I saw the "Will you be my Valentine?" note one, I thought it would be adorable on a card. I punched the top edge with a Spiral border to make it look like it was ripped from a notebook. I wanted the top of the note to be stitched and I wanted it to look like machine stitching, so instead of using my paper piercer, I used a thin needle to poke tiny holes and a beading needle to stitch with a single ply of red floss. That took a little longer than usual, but I love the dainty result. I added a gold bow clip at the top, rounded the bottom corners and glued a cherry sticker at the bottom. I added a small clay heart as well.

The collection also includes a XOXO pattern that looks exactly like the table runner in the Inspired By picture, so I used it as my background and layered a pink heart pattern to add some colour in there. I rounded the bottom corners of the card as well and I was done. I added two heart stickers to a rose quartz metallic envelope to finish off the set.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Poppy Parade (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers and Stickers: La La Love (Crate Paper)
Accessories: Bow Paper Clips Embellishments, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Needlepoint Floss (Anchor); Sweet & Tart Heart Sprinkles (Trinity Stamps);
Pixie Dust Gel Pen (Gelly Roll); Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers);
A2 Rose Quartz Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Better Days to Come

Inspiration: CAS(E) This Sketch #357

I scored the Stitched Umbrella dies from Lawn Fawn on sale at my local store and I was looking forward to using them on a project. The stripes from the sketch reminded me of a certain paper from the Really Rainbow collection, so I used it for the background and die-cut the Reverse Stitched Scalloped Circle Windows in the center. I used the grey paper from Spring Fling to make my rainy background, and the pink, aqua and yellow paper from the same pack to make the three panels of the umbrella. The top and bottom were die-cut out of Brushed Silver cardstock, and I stacked many layers of the open umbrella to create a frame in which I placed Pearlies Bright toppings from Queen & Co in matching colours. I love the look! On top of the acetate layer, I glued one last open umbrella piece that's also from the Spring Fling collection. 

The die set includes raindrops, which I die-cut out of this cool silver glimmer laquered paper I found at my local scrapbook store. The shiny layer on top of the glitter gives a completely different look to the sparkle. I'm loving it. The sentiment reads, "Wishing You Better Days to Come." I added a piece of twine on the umbrella (from the current Sale-A-Bration offering) and to finish off the card, I added little dots of Liquid Pearl around the scallops, testing out a new tip I saw on YouTube in the videos from Creativation. I put a glob of Liquid Pearl on my work surface and I dipped the end of a stylus in the product before transferring it on the project, which is supposed to make even dots. It does, but I'm not convinced it transfers enough product. I'll have to test it out some more with other stylus sizes and with the Nuvo Drops to see if I can get this trick to work to my liking.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Resplendissante (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Brushed Silver (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Spring Fling, Really Rainbow (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Night of Navy Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Stitched Umbrellas Dies, Reverse Stitched Scalloped Circle Windows Dies,
A2 Rose Quartz Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Pearlies Bright Toppings (Queen & Co);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Window Sheets, Bermuda Bay Baker's Twine (Stampin' Up!);
Silver Gloss Glitter (Best Creation Inc.)

 

Love You Lots

Inspiration: Page Maps February 2020 + Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes)

I was looking through my patterned papers and found the La La Love collection from Crate Paper. Perfect timing, with Valentine's Day coming up. I decided, though, to make a page about the special relationship I have with my niece and the love we have for each other. This line is drawn in a way that can work well for something that's not necessarily a romantic love, and there are a lot of very cute stickers that were perfect to quickly embellish this fun page. I particularly love the cute polka dot paper I used for the border because the dots are flocked! The scalloped border was die-cut with my Tasteful Trims Bigz XL die, which Stampin' Up! used to sell ages ago. It's always been one of my favorites and remains one of my most-used die ever. I think the only dies that have it beat are my Stitched Shapes Framelits and my stitched rectangles dies. It was fun to pull it out again.

The pictures of my nieces were actually taken at Christmas, but she just looked so sweet in them that I wanted to have them on their own page instead of having them lost amongst the busier Christmas gifts layouts I've done recently. What she's wearing is also not seasonal, so it worked well for this particular layout, which was not about a specific moment in time, but her in general.

I've also made a card with the same supplies, which you can see HERE.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Pacific Point (Stampin' Up!)
Font: Harlow Solid
Patterned Papers and Stickers: La La Love (Crate Paper)
Accessories: Needlepoint Nook Mini Buttons, Stampin' Dimensionals, Trinket Keys,
Powder Pink Stampin' Write Marker, Black Mini-Sequin Trim,
Delightful Dijon Mini-Striped Ribbon, Tasteful Trims Bigz XL Die (Stampin' Up!);
Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo); Miss Caroline Twine (My Mind's Eye);
Sweet & Tart Heart Sprinkles (Trinity Stamps); Gold Picture Corners (Vintage FInd)

Giving You My Heart

Inspiration: Global Design Project #225 + Tuesday Morning Sketches #539

The fact that the Global Design Project colour combo had white gave me a good opportunity to pull out the new Golden Honey Specialty DSP offered during Sale-A-Bration. All of the B sides are black and white patterns, so I picked the flowers, which seemed appropriate for a love card. My initial inspiration for the Tuesday Morning sketch was also to do three hearts, but once I looked through my stamps and saw the Time for Tags set, I thought I could sandwich a tag between two hearts and it would look even better.

The red backdrop was embossed with the Swirls & Curls embossing folder, and I used the lovely Scripty 3D embossing folder on the hearts. They felt a little flat, so I added Real Red ink with a sponge dauber around the edges.

The tag image was colored with Stampin' Blends markers and popped up on Dimensionals. I added a piece of white polka dot organza ribbon to fill out the space and add a bit of texture. I also reached for the Toile Tidings glitter enamel dots to embellish the two hearts.

I used the rest of the patterned paper to make a matching envelope.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: L'heure des étiquettes (Time for Tags)
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Flirty Flamingo, Real Red
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Golden Honey
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento, Real Red, Flirty Flamingo
Accessories: White Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon, Envelope Punch Board, 
Sassy & Sweet Dies, Toile Tidings Glitter Enamel Dots, Scripty 3D Embossing Folder,
Swirls & Curls Embossing Folder, Stampin' Dimensionals, Stampin' Blends Markers,
Stitched Rectangles Dies, Timeless Label Punch

 

A Valentine Doily

Inspiration: Fusion challenge + Festive Friday #51 (hearts + pink + doilies)

Prepare yourself for a very long supplies list for today's card as I pulled out everything but the kitchen sink, it seems. The result doesn't look that layered, but you should see my desk right now: it's covered with various products and tools.

This project started out as a playing session. My only plan initially was to ink blend, add stenciling, embossing and just see what background I would end up with. I started by ink blending three pinkish shades of Distress Oxide inks since Valentine is coming up: Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick and Aged Mahogany. I tested out the new domed foam applicators from scrapbook.com, which I received a free pack in a previous order. The jury's still out on them: they take ink well, they blend very nicely, their shape does work nicely to avoid harsh lines, but right now I am wondering how they'll hold up over time. If they don't break and get fuzy quickly, I would give them a thumbs up. I only have a pack of ten, so right now, I'm going to do one pad per color family, which means that I shared a same pad for both pink inks. I then used my Manuscript stencil from Finnabair and added Aged Mahogany ink. I used my Clarity stamp stencil brush, hoping to get a soft result and have the details show up well with the soft bristles. As it's been the case whenever I've used those stencil brushes in the past, I was not really impressed with the result. I should have just reached for my Picket Fence blending brushes right away. I then misted my cardstock to oxidize the ink and dried it with my heat tool. I decided I wanted splatters, so I tried smooching some ink on my glass mat, but I didn't get the effect I was hoping for and kind of made a mess of my background with too much water. (I was using Bristol and not watercolor paper.) I didn't want to toss my work, so I dried the paper again and repeated my stenciling. I then used the Drawn Hearts stencil from Simon Says Stamp and using my smallest blending brush, I picked which heart I wanted to stencil and sprinkled hearts around my background. I then went back to wanting speckles, so I pulled out a Distress Oxide spray in Picked Raspberry and took the top off and flicked the spritzer over my paper. I repeated the same step with the Antiqued Bronze DIstress Mica spray, and sprayed it the regular way as well. 

At this point, I started to get inspiration for an actual project. I wanted to add a bit stamped image in the center, embossed in red, so I picked the Hello, Doily background stamp from Stampin' Up!, which I hadn't used in ages, and embossed it in Cherry Cobbler embossing powder. It looked really good against the pink background and I noticed that was I had created looked a lot like the Fusion sketch, so I decided to keep going in that direction. The mica spray had inspired me to add copper foil paper to my project, but when I covered the center of the card, I felt I was losing too much of the pretty doily, so I reverted to vellum. I tried Lawn Fawn's pearlescent vellum, but the shine has green and blue tones to it, which clashes. I tried regular vellum and embossed it for added interest. I picked the Tufted 3D embossing folder, but the design was hardly showing on it. So I pulled out the thicker vellum Stampin' Up! now sell (they call it cardstock vellum) and the result improved. The edges seemed harsh, so I picked a pretty lace trim to add to both sides. Then I looked at sentiment dies and picked "Happy Valentine's Day" in a current die set. I recycled my idea to have copper foil paper here. When I added the die-cut, the card looked too bare, so I decided to go for a heart. I looked through my chipboard pieces and couldn't find a heart in there, so I was trying to remember if I had a Bigz die with hearts to make my own. In the meantime, I remembered I had some cool Folk Hearts dies that wouldn't cut chipboard, but that I could potentially layer instead. After die-cutting one of the hearts, I switched direction again and embossed it with the Scripty 3D embossing folder instead. I used my little blending brush to ink the font in Tattered Rose ink and add a bit of Aged Mahogany to the edges as well. I then pulled out the Alphanumeric Script alphabet dies from Tim Holtz to cut out a "14" to place inside the heart, and I added my die-cut sentiment over it. I finished the card front with a few sequins in matching colors.

As I was about to mount my panel to a card base, I realized the mistake I made when putting everything together. I quickly assessed if I could fix it, but there were too many items already glued in place, so, with a sigh, I decided I would have to live with it. Can you spot the problem?

 

 

 

It might not be obvious because I went back and tried to fix it, but I ended up with my stenciling upside down on the card! Rookie mistake. (Probably doesn't help that I'm fighting a cold today.) My font and hearts were right side up when I started working on my project, but at a certain point, probably when I turned the cardstock around to glue the vellum and lace in place, the panel ended up facing the wrong way and remained like that when I glued my sentiment in place. So in an effort to hide this boo-boo, I pulled out the stencil again and added more hearts. I liked the initial sparse look better, but at least I now have hearts in both directions, which seems more intentional.

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Hello, Doily (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Merry Merlot, Copper Foil Paper,
Vellum (Stampin' Up!); Smooth Bristol (Canson)
Ink: Tattered Rose, Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Aged Mahogany Distress Oxide (Ranger);
VersaMark
Stencils: Drawn Hearts (Simon Says Stamp); Manuscript (Finnabair)
Dies: Folk Hearts (Essentials by Ellen); Alphanumeric Script (Tim Holtz for Sizzix);
Dotted Rectangles (Lawn Fawn); Mots de souhaits (Stampin' Up!)
Embossing Folders: Tufted 3D, Scripty 3D
Accessories: Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide Spray, Antiqued Bronze Distress Mica
Spray (Ranger); Domed Foam Applicators (scrapbook.com); Stencil Brush (Clarity Stamp);
Vintage Chic and Pearl Necklace Sequins (Little Things from Lucy's Cards);
A2 Bronze Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!)

 

Christmas Gifts 2017

Inspiration: Page Maps February 2020 + Lasting Memory Layout Challenge #479

For this layout, I used the Santa Squad collection from Bella Blvd., which I ordered before Christmas but it came in right before the holidays and I didn't have time to use it before today. Luckily, I still have a bunch of Christmas pictures to scrapbook, so I paired the collection with a Page Maps sketch as a starting point for this page. I had a lot of fun elements to pick from, since I also purchased some of the Bella Pops and the ephemera icons pack. The Ho Ho Ho was handcut from one of the patterned papers, and the adorable Santa in the car image came from one of the cut-apart sheet of paper. I added a few trees from the ephemera pack around it to make the image less blocky and add dimension with foam adhesive. I pulled out my red rhinestones from Stampin' Up! and went to town embellishing the various elements on the page. 

This Bela Blvd. collection reminds me of the Doodlebug lines, in the sense that there's something so cheery about them, that you can't help but smile about. The cuteness factor is off the charts.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: So Saffron (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Stickers, Die-Cuts: Santa Squad (Bella Blvd.)
Accessories: Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Stampin' Dimensionals, Toile Tidings Glitter
Enamel Dots, Granny Apple Green Grosgrain Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Uni Gold Marker (Posca); Nutty or Nice Bella-Pops Stickers (Bella Blvd.)

 

Valentine for my Stud Puffin

Inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #69 + CAS Colours & Sketches #354

I was happy to see the bird-themed challenge as it was a good opportunity to pull out the Stud Puffin stamp set. I wanted to use the XOXO Bsckdrop and do a little bit of paper piecing, so I based my colour scheme on the CAS challenge and I initially place a white die-cut backdrop on a blue card base and I paper pieced the XOXOs in Rococo cardstock. Before I was done, I started thinking the backdrop would look really good die-cut as a heart and added to the Lacy Heart for a fun Valentine. That also solved my problem of trying to figure out how to fill a big card front with really small images. I love how this new version turned out. I decided to add small rhinestones on the O's to fill out the center and add bling. I made a matching envelope with a scrap of pink patterned paper I found in my scrap drawers. The "stud puffin" pun cracks me up.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Stud Puffin (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Rococo Rose, Seaside Spray, Granny Apple Green, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Unknown
Ink: VersaMark; Tuxedo Black (Memento); Rococo Rose Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Stud Puffin, XOXO Backdrop: Portrait, Outside In Stitched Hearts Stackables,
Everyday Sentiment Banners, Lacy Heart Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Markers (Copic); Stampin' Dimensionals, Rhinestone Basic Jewels,
Envelope Punch Board, Granny Apple Green Grosgrain Ribbon (Stampin' Up!)

 

Birthday Bonanza Koala

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #527

I am finally back at my stamping table after a full month of absence. It started with me putting everything away before my family visited for the holidays and after they left, I mostly chilled and stitched in front of the TV before I left for a week in Florida with my sister, brother-in-law and the kiddos. Then I tried to get myself back on track for returning to work. I realized at the beginning of the week that I have spent a full month not touching my craft supplies even once, so I was impatiently waiting for the weekend to roll around to get my supplies out and play. This means that I had not done anything with the new minicatalogue and SAB supplies I ordered in December during the free shipping promotion, so I decided to pull out the adorable Bonanza Buddies suite first to create something inspired by the current Mojo Monday sketch.

This was pretty straightforward since the measurements are written on Julee's sketch. I cut three different patterns out and layered the pieces and I decided to put the big sentiment from the Bonanza Buddies set in the center square. I cheated a little bit and matted it with a piece of Grapefruit Grove foil paper from last year's SAB offering. I handcut one of the cute koalas from the patterned paper and hid him partly underneath the square. I added Shimmery Crystal Effects on the balloons. I think this item is still being sold, as I found it in SU!'s online store. I also cheated with the ribbon and added some Bermuda Bay chevron twill to the card. I'm trying to keep the items I use as current as possible when sending cards to my downline members to help with their sales, but I will admit that I can't keep up with the ribbons, which have a really quick turnaround in catalogues. The top of the card felt a little bare, so I added the cute bunting die at the top and glued matching sequins on each one. (Those sequins are a SAB offering, but the colors are made to match the Bonanza Buddies suite.) Then, the bottom felt bare, so I glued a row of the same sequins in the smaller size in a line.

Because the finished card is 3-1/2" x 5-2/2", I made an matching envelope out of patterned paper and added another handcut koala on it, with a dab of Shimmery Crystal Effects on the hat.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Bonanza Buddies
Cardstock: Grapefruit Grove, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake
Designer Series Paper: Birthday Bonanza
Ink: Mango Melody
Accessories: Sequins (SAB 2020); Shimmery Crystal Effects, 
Bermuda Bay Mini Chevron Ribbon, Envelope Punch Board, Layering Squares Dies,
Bonanza Dies, Mini Stampin' DImensionals, Grapefruit Grove Foil Paper (SAB 2019)

 

Hooray, It's Your Day!

Inspiration: Sunday Stamps #222

This is the second project I made using the Bonanza Buddies bundle. I'm loving the yellow, orange and teal mix and the cutesy vibe. The base layout was put together really quickly, with the cardstock banners embossed with the Subtle 3D embossing folder for texture and the colorful package background. I struggled a little with the focal point, though. I stamped the lion and I felt it was too small to fill out the space. I also was not really happy with my initial choice of colors and the quality of the stamping, so I redid the lion using Terracotta Tile for his mane and using a more gentle touch when stamping his face and I was definitely happier with the result. I tested out stamping gifts and standing the lion on top of them and liked the result, so I went with that. I added the Scripty 3D embossing folder on my circle.

I was wondering how to add a sentiment and I decided to try out die-cuts. I pulled out the Les bons mots set and paired it with a silver glimmer paper scrap from my desk. I initially die-cut "thank you" because it was one of the shortest words, but looking at the card, I didn't feel like it was a thank you card. so I pulled Hooray instead and replaced it. I finished the card off with twine (love that beautiful sparkly twine!) and the sequins from the SAB offering. I also made a matching envelope out of patterned paper and added a tag die-cut with the Bonanza dies for the address block.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Bonanza Buddies
Cardstock: Terracotta Tile, Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Bermuda Bay, Thick Whisper White
Designer Series Paper: Birthday Bonanza
Ink: Terracotta Tile, Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso
Accessories: Sequins and twine (SAB 2020), Envelope Punch Board, Bonanza dies,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Scripty 3D Embossing Folder, Subtle 3D Embossing Folder,
Silver Glimmer Paper, Les bons mots Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies, Stitched Rectangles Dies

 

Gondolas

Inspiration: Lasting Memory Layout challenge #482 (Anything but a traditional 12 x 12)

On a whim, I've started purchasing some of the Elizabeth Craft Planner Essential dies sets. My store carries them and I kept having a look, thinking they had some really cool dies in there, and at a very reasonable price too considering the size and amount. I'm not doing the planner thing but I got this idea that I could use them to make mini scrapbook pages. I quickly realized that they're too narrow for 4" x 6" pictures, so I need to remember that I need to use pictures that I can cut down or print smaller. I got two new die sets before Christmas when my local store was offering a rebate on them and now that I'm finally sitting back at my stamp desk again, I got to try them out. 

The idea for this page was when I was digging through my London trip picture and when I saw the one with the gondola, I realized I could pull out the Dreamboat stamp set from Avery Elle and do something cool with it. It was perfect for a smaller page since I don't really need a full-sized page for that story in my London album. Basically, after a very hectic morning visiting a crowded Camden Market on the weekend, we grabbed lunch at the food court stands and walked further to sit down alongside the canal, which was thankfully less crowded than the market, and we looked at gondolas go by while eating.

I looked through my patterned papers and found the Summer Days collection, which had nice, muted colours. I used the cloud pattern for the background and added a pocket in yellow. I then cut out my water out of Hail Storm specialty paper from Tonic and die-cut a water border using the Stitched Wave Borders dies from Lawn Fawn. I stamped and colored my images with Copic markers and I used the little wave details from the Dreamboat die set to insert the poles in the water. The top of the pocket was a little bland, so I used a die from my Planner Essentials kit - a messy circle with little dots, which I embellished with ornaments. Inside the pocket, I slid a tag made with another one of the dies, on which I handwrote my journaling.

The picture was die-cut with the Dotted Rectangles dies to a smaller size and I ran the side of the picture though the page die again to get the holes in the same spots. I added a tag sticker from the collection pack, and used a die from the planner essentials sets to add the date at the top. The title was added over the picture using the Mini Caps Alpha and Numbers die from Taylored Expressions, which is the perfect size for mini-albums like this one.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps and Dies: Dreamboat (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers and Stickers: Summer Days (Simple Stories); Hail Storm Specialty Paper (Tonic)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Stitched Wave Borders Dies, Dotted Rectangles Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Planner Essentials Dies 1609, 1651, 1604 (Elizabeth Craft Designs); Markers (Copic);
Bundle of Joy Enamel Dots (Echo Park); Yellow Petite Posies (Queen & Co.);
Mini Caps Alpha and Numbers Dies (Taylored Expressions)