Encre, papier, ciseaux

Here Comes Santa Claws

Inspiration: CAS Colours & Sketch #408

This card is totally out of season, but the seaweed Christmas tree worked well with the sketch and this cute stamp has unfortunately been sitting on my stash uninked since it was released. (Yikes.) I looked through my seasonal papers and found leftover papers from the Winter Wonder collection from Bella Blvd. that were getting all crinckled at the bottom of the box, so I pulled them out and got working on this card. I made a conscious effort to keep the design streamlined and I do like where I landed. My favorite part is the pink banner, as it was cut out of a leftover scrap on my desk, where I had tested the new Kitsch Flamingo Distress ink and die-cut a circle for another project, but I had enough leftover cardstock inked with pink to cut this banner out. Because it was the edge of the inking, it creates a very nice ombre effect, and the water spritzing I had done also mimicks bubbles, so I love the look.

The larger panel was die-cut with the Confetti Card dies and the smaller rectangle was handcut and I added stitching using the Just Stitching Double Rectangles dies. I added Midas Touch Aqua Shimmer to the star and Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer to the bubbles.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Christmas Fishes (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette (Stampin' Up!); Solar White (Neenah)
Patterned Papers: Winter Wonder (Bella Blvd.)
Ink: Kitsch Flamingo Distress Oxide (Ranger); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Dies: Christmas Fishes, Just Stitching Double Rectangles,
Simple Wavy Banners (Lawn Fawn); Confetti Card Dies (Concord & 9th)
Accessories: Markers (Copic); Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Blender Tool (Ranger); Midas Touch and Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brushes (Nuvo);
A2 Rose Quartz Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Lipstick and Lace

Inspiration: Festive Friday #78 (lipstick + heart + watercolor) + MFT Color Challenge #160 + Freshly Made #474

I was looking at this week's online challenges and the color combo from MFT really caught my eye. I looked at my stamp sets to see what could work well with it and decided to use the bright pink with the lipstick from the Hearts & Kisses stamp set. It was also a good occasion to pull out Magenta Madness, one of the current In Colors.

I pulled out various die sets that I thought could work with the sketch I had selected. I used the wonky circle from Painted Labels for the main image and also the lace from the same set to line the middle part. At the bottom, I decided to use Stitched Lace, for a feminine touch, and I made the Bermuda Bay panel longer to line the open part of the lace. I used the stitched lines from the Stitched Leaves set at the top of the cardstock to fill in the space and I embossed the middle panel with the Painted Textured 3D embossing folder, before adding a touch of Magenta ribbon. 

The Hearts & Kisses includes a watercolor image, which was perfect to go with the Festive Friday grid, and I added little white resin heart embellishments to decorate the main panel as well. I stamped matching images on a white envelope and I used a leftover lace strip inside the card. I initially planned to make two of this card but taking the pieces out of the lace die-cut take so long that I couldn't be bothered to do it a second time. I love the look of this die, but I'm not enjoying using it! (I did use my Chrome precision plate, so that helped, but little pieces get everywhere. I keep finding some everywhere on my desk and on my jeans and I'll definitely need to vacuum the floor.)

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Hearts & Kisses
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Magenta Madness, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White
Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Magenta Madness, Bermuda Bay
Dies: Painted Labels, Stitched Lace, Stitched Leaves
3D Embossing Folder: Painted Texture
Accessories: Magenta Madness Ribbon, Resin Hearts Embellishments, White Medium Envelope,
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Triple Window Card

I got inspired to use the Peek-a-Hoot die with three windows with the Playful Pets suite. I die-cut the windows out of Basic Black cardstock, added patterned papers from the Playful Pets Designer Series Paper and I used the Pets dies to die-cut a cat and a dog from the DSP as well. I wanted to add a sentiment in the third window, so I looked through stamps and found one that was filling the space nicely in the Heal Your Heart stamp set. I embossed it in silver Stampin' Emboss powder and those cute little hearts are actually the negative shapes from the paws I die-cut in the Real Red cardstock strip added below. The center of the paw print is actually a little heart (cute detail). 

I added narrower strips of Real Red cardstock on each side of the strip to add detailing and used the white dots from the All the Trimmings embellishments pack (sold in the previous Holidays minicatalogue). To fill in the empty space in the top corner, I created a small banner out of DSP and I layered a Playful Pets trinket threaded with white baker's twine over it. I used die-cut animals to decorate the inside of the card and the envelope as well. This is a fun idea to use scraps of patterned papers or to user smaller images from a same set.

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Apaiser ton coeur (Heal Your Heart)
Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Grey, Basic Black
Designer Series Paper: Playful Pets
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Peek-a-Hoot Dies, Pets Dies, Playful Pets Trinkets,
White Baker's Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals, All the Trimmings Embellishments,
White Medium Envelope, Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder, Sitched Rectangles Dies

 

Swan Lake

Happy Marriage Day!

The starting point of this card was the Star Scene die from Avery Elle, which was part of the packages that finally arrived last month. I had always loved this die and I jumped on it when I saw it on clearance. I was curious to see it cut up, so I pulled a piece of Buckaroo Blue cardstock (an old In Color from many moons ago) and die-cut the image. I inked the edges with a blender brush and Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide ink. I wanted yellow stars to shine through the holes so I traced the circle shape on Barely Banana cardstock (another long retired colour) and fussy cut a slightly smaller shape. I didn't like having the stars all one colour, so I went back to my Distress Oxide inks and added Wild Honey around my cut shape. I also added Midas Touch Aqua Shimmer over the yellow cardstock before layering the two pieces.

Once that piece was done, I went through my stamps to see if anything jumped at me to use with the starry background. I narrowed it down to a few options and ended up choosing Swan Soiree (which I purchased when it first came out and had yet to ink - yikes!). I wanted to keep the background minimal, but didn't want it to be too boring either, so I started looking through embossing folders. Again, I narrowed it to a few options and ended up choosing Framed Tulips, a folder that dates back to the first years after Stampin' Up! started offering Big Shot accessories. While I love this frame folder, I've found it hard to include in designs, so I was happy that it would work out here and paired it with the pearlescent Speciality paper currently sold in the January-June minicatalogue.

For the sentiment, I had room left at the bottom of the card to stamp something, but I was curious how a sentiment die-cut might look layered over the sky. I picked the word "happiness," a recent acquisition from my local scrapbook store. I can't tell you how happy I was to find those dies - the set includes the stamp, the word die and the mat. That type of sentiment has been offered in English for a long time, but those were hard to find in French. The first few I found were either weird word choices or way too big. This one is just perfect - great word choise, great size and font, delicate cut. That makes me happy. For the mat, I used pearlescent vellum, which adds a really nice sheen and also ties in with the green in the scene.

I picked a Sapphire Metallic envelope to match and colored a few additional images to add to it.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Swan Soiree (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Sage Shadow, Buckaroo Blue, Whisper White, Barely Banana, Rococo Rose,
Pearlescent Specialty Paper (Stampin' Up!); Pearlescent Vellum (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, Wild Honey Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Star Scene Die (Avery Elle); Swan Soiree Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Framed Tulips Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!); Midas Touch Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo);
Markers (Copic); A2 Sapphire Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios)

 

40th Wedding Anniversary

This card was commissioned by a long-term friend who was looking for a 40th wedding anniversary card for her parents and asked me if I would be willing to make one for her. I immediately said yes and as soon as the weekend rolled around, I sat down to create as I need to send the card to her quickly so she receives it in time since she lives out of town. 

When I got started on the project, I remembered how insecure crafting for somebody else is. I don't mean me making a card I'm sending to a friend on my behalf. I'm talking making a card that somebody else will hand out. Commissioned cards are usually requested for special events and I'm always worried that I'll miss the mark. I ask a few questions to get an idea of what they need, but I try not to go too deep into details as then people start to get really precise on what they are expecting and this is where the risk of disappointing becomes really high and the inspiration gets killed really quickly becomes the parameters are too strict. The irony is that over the years, no one has ever looked the slighest bit disappointed when I've handed in my creations so I've grown a bit more confident, but I found out today that the worry will never truly go away.

I played a long time with various elements before I finished this card. I like where I landed, but I just hope the result is not too busy. The starting point was a background I had made last week when I tested out stencils and various texture paste options. In this case, I had inked the edges of a blue cardstock with Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide ink before applying Moonlight Pearl Luna Paste through Finnabair's Ornate Lace stencil. On a side note, Luna Paste is my favorite sparkly paste, because the shine is gorgeous and the texture of the paste is smooth (no grit). The downside is that because it is so smooth, it tends to easily run under the stencil and you don't get as sharp edges to your images, as evidenced here with the lace pattern, which is not well-defined. I'll admit I should have at least taken the time to use Pixie Spray on the stencil to help out, but I only remembered about it as I was starting out and at this point, I was just testing out products so I didn't bother.

I was really liking my background and found it to be a good starting point for the card. I then pulled out the Large Numbers dies and die-cut 40 out of Burnished Rose, my favorite colour of foiled cardstock. I got the idea of pull out my Prem dies from Birch Press Design to back the numbers. I was trying to decide what colours to use and thought metallics might be nice, so I used Champagne foil paper for the base. I actually meant to cut through it with the die, but I forgot to switch to my Chrome precision plate, so it only embossed and didn't cut properly. Turned lemons into lemonade and made this my base layer. I will say, the Chrome precision plate is one of the best purchase I made for my Big Shot. The difference in results is notable with detailed dies. For my other three layers, I used the Pearlescent Specialty Paper currently sold by Stampin' Up! in its mini-catalogue. Used the same paper for the second layer and inked it with Distress Oxide ink. The result is really, really faint, but it was enough to create contrast and for the third layer, I went with Soft Sky.

My friend had requested for "Congratulations" to be the sentiment on the card, so I pulled out my word die. I was trying to match cardstock and had trouble, so I decided to make life easier for myself by inking some lighter blue cardstock with Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide ink and I got the result I wanted. The sentiment was getting lost over the busy background, so I embossed a piece of cardstock and inked the dots and edges with the same ink to soften the result. I wanted the add a heart somewhere and I remembered I had some chipboard hearts in my stash, so I went looking for the box. In my reorgnization efforts last year, I took all of the chipboard pieces from Stampin' Up! out of the 12" x 12" sheets they came in and put them all together in a box. It not only saved me space, but I've started using my pieces again on various projects throughout the year. I not only found a heart, but also a long tag and a crown, so I incorporated those in my design as well.

I covered the crown with embossing. Various layers of embossing. I started with Platinum powder, sure that it would match the champagne foil paper nicely. Nope - way too yellow. I added VersaMark and added Silver, thinking the two colours would melt together and create a in-between. The result was just silver and totally clashed. So I looked at my stash and I found Vintage Beeswax in there and thought it might tone down the metallic a bit, which it did. The result is a matte brownish shade and even though it was unexpected, it totally works. I added blue and cream pearls to dress it up, and added Café au lait pearls to the numbers. For the chipboard heart, I did a first layer of Blushing Bride powder and then while the powder was hot, I sprinkled copper powder on it to give it texture and tame the pink down. I also brushed the VersaMark pad against the edge of the heart and added more copper embossing there as well. I added a piece of Blushing Bride satin ribbon to tie in the pink, and I added a cream sparkly flower from the Sugar Cookie Christmas collection.

The card size is 4½" x 6½". My friend had also requested to include, if possible, a quote from Honoré de Balzac inside the card, so I used my printer to add a liner with the quote and a couple more chipboard hearts embossed the same way in there.

Then came the challenge of having a big enough envelope. My first try was using the pearlescent Specialty paper and it failed, as I made a card for the size of the card itself and it was way too tight with al of my layers, especially the flower. I went back to the drawing board and switched to Very Vanilla cardstock as I didn't have a big enough piece of Specialty paper anymore. I went up a size and made my envelope. I stenciled the Ornate Lace pattern on the flap using a stripple brush and Chipped Sapphire ink. On the front of the envelope, I embellished with leftover pieces from the card - the center of the circle and the numbers I had embossed and discarded because the pattern made it way too distracting. The purple tape I had used to keep the stencil in place unfortunately had ripped my cardstock when I pulled it up, so I added copper washi tape inside the envelope flap. It hid the boo-boo, but also made the envelope look quite fancy. Finally, I was wondering how to close the envelope, since it's not lying flat. I thought about using two circles and twine, but then decided to pull out my snaps and try this out instead. At first, I couldn't reach far enough with my tool on the bottom flat, but then I remembered I could cut it at an angle since it was the inside of the envelope, and that solved the problem. The envelope gave me a lot of grief, probably because it was getting late and I was ready to be done with the project, but I didn't want to rush things just to finish, so I kept going and finally finished it to my liking.

All that is left to do is package is safely for shipping and cross my fingers that both my friends and her parents will be pleased with the results.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Au fil des ans (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Buckaroo Blue, Soft Sky, Metallic Foil Sheets, Pearlescent Specialty Paper, 
Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!); Burnished Rose Mirror Cardstock (Tonic)
Ink: Soft Sky, Buckaroo Blue Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!); VersaMark;
Chipped Sapphire, Frayed Burlap, Speckled Egg Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Monnlight Pearl Luna Paste (Cosmic Shimmer); 
Blending Brushes, Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder, Blending Tool (Ranger);
Sugar Cookies Christmas Flowers (Prima); Ornate Lace Stencil (Finnabair);
Vintage Beeswax Baked Texture embossing powder (Seth Apert for Emerald Creek);
Blushing Bride, Silver and Copper Stampin' Emboss Powders, Envelope Punch Board,
Onboard Chipboard, Wrapped in Texture Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!);
Vintage Shimmer, Bluebell and Café au Lait Pearls (Studio Katia); 
Prem A, B and C Dies (Birch Press Design); Snaps (Suntatop);
Félicitations Joyeux Anniversaire dies (Simple à souhait) 

 

Hummingbird

Inspiration: Card from Patty Bennett

Patty's card caught my eye on Instagram: I liked how she had used the ombre Designer Series Paper and added stenciling in an ombre effect over - very clever trick! I wanted to get a little bit more use out of the Sale-A-Bration items before they retire at the end of next week, so it was a great way to get stamping. I don't have any current Stampin' Up! stencil, so I cheated and got an old polka dot one out. The current stencil set also has a polka dot design, albeit in a smaller dot format, but I decided it was close enough for my needs. I used the blending brushes tp get a soft look.

I decided I wanted to make a background in all four colours included in the pack. For some reason, the ink blending worked really well on the purple, teal and rose background, but despite going back a second time to add ink on the green polka dots, they still are barely visible on the paper. I gave up and decided to add leaf stamping in the corner and a decorative ribbon to try and make up for the absence of background on this card.

Because I had backgrounds of various colours, I changed the coloring on all four cards, and also alternated the ink colour on the sentiment. All images were colored with Stampin' Blends markers. I found out there is not a big contrast between the pale and dark Bermuda Bay markers, and I find my teal colors lack a bit of contrast, in comparison to other flowers.

Clear Wink of Stella was added to the bird to make its feathers sparkle. I also used the Pale Soft Seafoam marker to add shading around the flowers. It's very subtle, but it adds a bit of dimension to the scene. I used the ombre DSP to mat inside the card as well, and I used the DSP with polka dots to line the envelope flap to tie it all together.

Even though I used the same design four times, the cards turned out very differently. I think my favorite one is the Bermuda Bay background one, with the multicolored bird and the Rococo Rose flowers. I'm surprised, since green and teal is my favorite colour combo, but there's just something about this specific card that feels like every element is exactly where and how it should be. 

Now tell me, which one is YOUR favorite?

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Unr touche d'encre (A Touch of Ink - 2021 SAB)
Cardstock: Blackberry Bliss, Pretty Peacock, Whisper White
Designer Series Paper: Oh So Ombre (2021 SAB)
Ink: Tuxedo Black Menento, Blackberry Bliss, Pretty Peacock, Bermuda Bay,
Rococo Rose, Granny Apple Green
Accessories: Clear Wink of Stella, Stitched So Sweetly Dies, White Medium Envelope,
Blending Brushes, Polka Dot Stencil, Pretty Peacock Scalloped Ribbon,
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Stitched Rectangles Dies

 

Spring Market Ornement Collection

After a month-long closure, the stores in Quebec were finally able to reopen this week. My local scrapbook store had received a few items I had requested, so I stopped by to pick them up and did a little shopping while I was there as well. When I came home, I decided to pull out paper scraps and test out the new dies and stamps I had purchased, without the pressure of doing anything specific for a project. This has worked out well for me in the past when I wasn't sure what to create. I pulled out leftover patterned papers and the Spring Market collection from Carta Bella jumped out at me, as I thought it would work out great with the vintage style of the stamps I have purchased. This is one of the first "market" collections Carta Bella has come out with and I remember being hesitant about buying it because flowery stuff is not usually what I create with the most. I had selected a few individual sheets and it turns out I have absolutely loved using this collection! 

When I sat down, I was planning to only die-cut a few items to see what they looked like (especially the script word dies, which are always incredibly hard to read as a mirror image) but within five minutes, I was totally in the zone and already stamping and assembling things away. I remained in the zone for four hours straight and did a double-take when I looked at the clock and saw that the whole evening had zipped by! It was totally worth it, though, as I LOVE everything I've created. 

So to give a little more details about the dies, I mainly used the Sidekick Essentials 11 and the Sidekick Essentials 16 collection from Elizabeth Craft Designs. I do not own any Sidekick planner, I only have the regular-size one. That means that any piece with holes on the side will not fit in the albums I have, but there was a lot of dies in those two sets that can be used individually or modified to be used on different projects, so I should still use the content enough to warrant the purchase. For the stamps, I purchased the Sidekick Stamps 2 set so that I would have fun boxes to include short journaling on scrapbook pages or layering elements when creating embellishments. The Ticket Express stamp from 49 and Market was a happy find. I like that there's a mix of numbers and text in various fonts, with a few images, on it, which will make for great texture and backgrounds. The third one is Dates from the Past. My store owner does weekly Facebook Live streams to show the new arrivals and this stamp set had caught my eye. It includes a variety of dates in vintage prints and script fonts, which are great to add detaling to punched or die-cut elements. The company also offer rub-ons (which I am happy to see make a comeback), but the stamps will be great since they can be used as many times as I want.

The first item I made was the "This week" pocket. I was really curious to see how it looked in person. The die-cut piece has six holes on the left edge, but as I said, this won't fit in my planner, so I covered them with patterned paper and I will add this to a larger page (either in my planner or scrapbook album). Another item I purchased today is the Sticky Thumb cordless glue gun from American Crafts. The idea of not having a cord in the way was really appealing. I used it here to glue the twine in place on my project and the pink flower (which comes from pink flower trim Stampin' Up! was selling years ago, that I snipped apart to get only one flower). I'll let you know how I like the glue gun once I can test it out more thoroughly (how hot does the glue get, does it drip, do you have to change the four AA batteries often?), but so far, I wll say I love that it has a light in the front underneath the nozzle to light your project and that it actually stands up properly when you put it down on the table. (My other one was always tumbling over, which annoyed me and means that the side of the gun was often all gunky.) In that pocket, I slid two tags, created with dies from the same set. Some of the dates from the Dates from the Past stamp sets were added, and I stappled a piece of vanilla seam binding using my mini stapler. Isn't that big die adorable? You can use a second nesting die to cut out the center and add stitching, or leave it full if you prefer. This is one of the dies I know I will use a lot. The other one is the Viewmaster shape. I just find it fun, and I've noticed it's often included on 49 and Market's embellishments, so I'm happy to have it as a die. (As a side note, I thought it would be bigger, but it'll probably be easier to work into layered embellishments as a smaller piece (it's 2" wide).

Next embellishment was the Seed Pocket. This is another die I was excited about. I love the shape and size of it. The pocket already has the hole part in it (you don't have to add a second piece). The opening has stitching around it, or you can die-cut a second frame that you can layer over it if you want. It does hide the stitching, but it is a great way to add contrasting color. I added a piece of acetate inside my enveloppe before assembling it to be able to layer something over the window. I did mess up, though, as I played around with a few ways to embellish the envelope, and I had finally decided I would glue the word "Seeds" in the center of the window, but I forgot about it and glued it down on the envelope instead. I tried pulling it back up, but it left a nasty mark, so it went back down and stayed there. It still looks cute, but I just add to rearrange other pieces. For the flap, I decided to do a circle closure (would have done two had I not glued the word in the wrong spot). I used a copper eyelet and I added linen thread around the circle, leaving it loose as decoration. I alsp stamped a number from my date stamp set in Crumb Cake ink on the envelope.

The three rectangle embellishments are stamped tickets and die-cuts I layered. The rolled flower is something I picked up of my desk. I recently found a quilling tool in one of my drawers, which I had forgotten about (it was given to me in a kit, I believe). I tested it out on a paper scrap lying on my desk and left it there. It'll be nice to have that quilling tool when making rolled flowers with the die I have for this purpose, so I was happy to find the tool and know where it is. I love when I find unexpected elements on my desk and manage to embellish projects with them. It often takes me in different directions that what my mind would be thinking about at that particular time. Another good example of that is the little metal buckle on my ribbon by the boots. I had pulled out my eyelet container and in one of the dividers, I have a few random items, including this old ribbon buckle, which I decided to include on a whim. It looks great, but I never would have thought to add that element otherwise.

The last element is the Specimen piece. I wanted to test out the Ticket Express stamp, so I stamped it on one of the paper scraps in matching colours I had pulled out of my scrap drawers to have more to work with since the Spring Market collection was already low on paper left. I tore the top off and then I decided to layer all of the leftover elements I had on my desk. I added another pair of boots, fussy cut from the patterned paper. I absolutely love this new embellishment collection and I can't wait to work it into a project. 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Ticket Express (49 and Market); Dates from the Past (Creative Expressions);
Sidekick Stamps 2 (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Cardstock: Various
Patterned Papers: Spring Market (Carta Bella); Various
Ink: Blushing Bride, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Sidekick Essentials 16, Sidekick Essentials 11 (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Stapler, Calypso Coral Ombre Ribbon, Eyelets,
Natural Trim, Lace Trim, 1/8" Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Window Sheet (Stampin' Up!);
Metal Ribbon Slide (Making Memories); Seed Beads (Mill Hill); Lace and Stitch rub-ons (Creative Expressions)

 

Spring Market Embellishments

I purchased a couple of die sets from Elizabeth Craft Designs meant for the Sidekick and even though I don't own this size of planner, I liked the dies enough to know I could get my money's worth even if I'm not using the page dies. I was eager to try the dies out, so I pulled out the paper scraps I had left from my Spring Market collection (which had been thoroughly loved before) and I ended up making way more than I had anticipated. I worked some new purchases into my design, but also some leftover pieces from my desk or older supplies and I'm very pleased with where I landed. Those will probably be worked into future more involved projects. I am really enjoying those creative sessions where I just play with stuff and go wherever inspiration takes me. I end up with resulting elements that are very different from what I get when I try to create an actual project from beginning to end. I also use more unexpected elements and a bunch of paper scraps when I create this way. 

(On a side note, I remember hearing my older niece get upset at her younger sibling because she was using "too many paper pieces" on her craft project. I had to remind her that I had enough paper scraps to last a lifetime and that I'm more than able to provide them with enough papers to craft until they retire themselves!)

 

 

Bliss

Inspiration: The Paper Players #527 (Hearts or Stars)

As I was sharing in a recent post, in order to play with my new stuff and not get overwhelmed, I just started testing things and making ornements without rime or reason. I put everything in a basket that I could go through later. One of the dies I got during the Spellbinders sale was the Gift Card Sleeve. I don't think I'll give many gift cards, but I liked the idea of having a small envelope die on hand. I picked one of the papers from the Cupid & Co collection (the red one) and made an envelope to see how it look assembled, and put it in the basket.

During that same playing session, I had tested the Winged Impresslits from Tim Holtz. I die-cut the wings out of three metallic paper: silver, gold and copper. I realized when I did the copper wings that I placed my foil paper down instead of up and ended up with recessed details. You know what? That works, too! And that became the starting point of this card, as I got the idea of pulling out my old chipboard shapes to find a heart that I could put in the middle of the wings. Then I wondered how it would look floating out of the envelope and as soon as I had those ideas in mind, the creative juices started flowing and I got going on this card.

The chipboard heart was inked with Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide ink and I blended Fired Brick ink around the edges. I also used this ink to stamp details from the retired Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and I embossed the splatter from the same set in sparkly embossing powder. I added a little resin heart (Stampin' Up! minicatalogue) next to the sentiment.

I decided to make a circle card for a change. I die-cut a patterned paper circle and handsew the edge. I found a leftover white die-cut on my desk and stamped it with the Hearts & Kisses stamp set currently sold in the Stampin' Up! minicatalogue. I added an old piece of pink organza to it and slid it into the envelope. Before Christmas, I found some French word die-cuts with a matching shadow at my local store. That made me really happy, as there's a ton offered in English, but the French versions are hard to find. This one reads "bliss" and I liked the size on my project. 

The flowers and heart banner were fussy cut from patterned papers from the same collection. I added a few smaller flowers from a very old Queen & Co sequin kit (back when they were still sold in stores) and I topped them with gems. I added a faceted heart to the heart banner. I have to say, I was pretty disappointed when I pulled out the heart embellishments out of my package as they looked better on the website than in person, but this is the third project in a row I had one to and they are fitting the Valentine collections pretty nicely, so I might end up using them up after all. (Which is a relief, as this is the gamble of ordering online.) I added a few stickers from the Cupid & Co collection and I was done.

My finished card measures 5½" x 5½" so I made a square envelope to match out of patterned paper. 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Hearts & Kisses, Gorgeous Grunge (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Cotton Candy (Bazzill); Copper Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper, Stickers: Cupid & Co (Echo Park)
Ink: Strawberry Slush, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); Antique Gold (Altenew);
Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Dies: Lacy Borders (Lawn Fawn); Layering Circles (Tonic); Bonheur (DIY & Cie);
Peek-a-Hoot, Window Frame Collection (Stampin' Up!); Gift Card Sleeve (Fun Stampers Journey);
Winged Impresslits (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Pink Organza Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board,
Chipboard Elements (Stampin' Up!); Flower Sequins (Queen & Co); Floss (DMC);
Gems (Little Things from Lucy's Cards); Love Filled (Fun Stampers Journey)

 

Heart Window

Inspiration: Just Us Girls #570 (Valentine)

I wanted to make little Valentine cards to include with my niece's treat boxes, so I made this one using the Snow Much Fun stamp set from Lawn Fawn. I like that the dies cut the arms and allow you to slip something under his paws, and the set includes a heart, so it made for a good Valentine set. I knew I wanted to create a heart-shaped window and ink-blend the background. The color combo was inspired by a gorgeous card I saw in my blog feed from Candice Fisher. I reproduced the DIstress Oxide combo as the start to my card. I would have prefered to make full A2 cards, but to work with the packaging I'm planning to use, a smaller format was required.

I used the white woodgrain cardstock for the card front and I brushed Red Bronze Gilding Polish from Cosmic Shimmer around the edges. Still not sure if I like that detail or not, but I decided to keep it. I created a ribbon bow using Blushing Bride satin ribbon and wrapping copper ribbon around the center. I found a cute circle sentiment in an old wood-mount stamp set called P.S. I Love You. I stamped it in VersaMark on Burnished Rose mirror cardstock and embossed it with Tattered Rose embossing glaze. Because the glaze is transparent, this gives the sentiment a colored glass look that is really cool. I made a matching envelope out of a pink patterned paper scrap and I used the leftover heart from the window opening on the envelope.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Snow Much Fun (Lawn Fawn); P.S. Je t'aime (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Blushing Bride, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); 
Woodgrain Neutrals (Lawn Fawn)
Designer Series Paper: ? (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Abandoned Coral, Tattered Rose, Antique Linen Distress Oxide (Ranger);
Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Snow Much Fun Dies, Inside Out Stitched Hearts Dies,
Liquid Stardust (Lawn Fawn); Blender Brushes (PIcket Fence Studios);
Markers (Copic); Blushing Bride Satin Ribbon, Copper Ribbon,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Foam Adhesive Strips, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!);
Red Bronze Gilding Polish (Cosmic Shimmer)

 

Valentine Circle Boxes

Happy Wear Red Day!

A few months ago, Spellbinders had a sale on their clearance items, which included a die set I've wanted for a long time, so I decided to place an order. The package took ridiculously long to get to me, but it finally arrived this week. When pulling things out of the box, I realized that the This Time Around Cake & Treat Box die is oversized and will not fit in my regular Big Shot. My bad, I should have paid more attention to the description. Ironically, I had passed on the popcorn box die because I realized it was too big for my machine, but I did not pick up on the fact that this box die was too.

I was stll curious to see how the box would look assembled, so I improvised. I pulled out an acetate sheet, traced the die shapes on it with a Sharpie and cut the template out. I then traced it again on patterned paper and fussy cut it out. I used circle dies from my stash to make the top and bottom and voilà! It's a pretty nice size: 3 inches in diameter and 2-3/4" high. I decorated the edge with rhinestone stickers from the dollar store and the top with one of the cardstock stickers from the Sweet Talk collection to match the patterned papers. From my Spellbinders order, I also have some Love Filled faceted hearts, which I used to embellish the box as well.

I made a second box using the Sweet Talk collection again, so I will have one for each of my nieces to gift to on Valentine's Day. I made a mistake on the second box - I traced my template on the back of the patterned paper I wanted to use, placing the stripes running vertically, but I forgot that the other side had hearts on it and when I turned the paper around, I found out the hearts were going sideways! I debated for a minute whether to redo a new piece and I decided it still looked cute, so I kept it as is. Making a mental note for future boxes, though...

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Die: This Time Around Cake & Treat Box (Spellbinders)
Patterned Papers, Stickers: Sweet Talk (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Love Filled (Fun Stampers Journey); Typewriter (We R Memory Keepers);
Rhinestone Border Stickers (Dollar Store); Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Ribbon (Unknown); Circles Dies (Spellbinders)

 

Typed Love Note

Inspiration: Global Design Project #277

Happy Thank a Letter Carrier Day!

The Nevermore Print background from Hero Arts was the starting point of this little card, which will go with a Valentine Treat Box I made for my niece. I wanted to pair the background stamp with the You're Just My Type stamp set from Lawn Fawn and Valentine's Day was a great occasion to do just that.

I really love the soft vintage look of the challenge colours together. This makes for something really sweet and understated. On my first try, I embossed the background stamp with Tattered Rose embossing glaze. Unfortunately, my stamp shifted as I was working with it and I was not liking the look, so I stamped it again on another piece of cardstock and this time, I decided to use Iridescent Ice embossing powder instead. I like the second version better, so that worked out well. I created my table with a piece of light brown woodgrain cardstock from Lawn Fawn, with edges inked in Soft Suede ink. The images were colored with Copic markers in pink and taupe shades. I added a piece of shimmery ribbon and a sentiment from the long-retired P.S. I Love You stamp set.

The finished card measures 3" x 4", so I was able to make a matching envelope out of 6" x 6" paper. I find it challenging that Stampin' Up! is moving towards this size of Designer Series Paper more and more, as I used a lot of their tone on tone papers to make my envelopes, which is not an option anymore with the reduced size. 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: You're Just My Type (Lawn Fawn); Nevermore Print (Hero Arts);
P.S. Je t'aime (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Rococo Rose, Blushing Bride, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!);
Woodgrain Neutrals (Lawn Fawn)
Designer Series Paper Stack: Subtles
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Rococo Rose, Blushing Bride, Soft Suede (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: You're Just My Type Dies (Lawn Fawn); Stampin' Dimensionals, 
Blushing Bride Shimmery Ribbon, Label Punch, Iridescent Ice Stampin' Emboss Powder, 
Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic)

 

Heart Trifold Card

Inspiration: Lawn Fawn Video Tutorial + Simon Says Stamp Monday (Love/Heart)

The province of Quebec has been in its second confinement period for the last month and I am once again turning to my crafts to keep busy and happy. During the first confinement last Spring, I had watched a lot of videos and tried out various tutorials and I enjoyed making projects that were out of my usual realms. I've been itching to get back to that now that, so tonight, I pulled on my tutorial Youtube playlist and got stuck on the very first one in the list, which happens to be a trifold card with an interlocking heart. With Valentine's Day being the next holiday, it seemed fitting so I pulled out some Lawn Fawn supplies and started crafting along.

It all went well, putting together the card. Where I sort of messed up, and I am sharing this with you so you can learn from what I did is that I reused the leftover pieces from the front (the two half-heart outside piece you cut off) to decorate inside the card, along with a piece of pink cardstock to fill in the empty heart. This made the card base much sturdier than when it was just the piece of patterned paper and when it came time to try and close the card again by slipping the two pieces of the heart together, I really struggled as the card base didn't have the same give anymore! I was initially planning on giving this card to one of my nieces for Valentine's Day, but I'll have to change plans as there is no way the kiddos will be able to open and close this card without damaging it. Oh well, this is the kind of things you learn when you make your first prototype. It did turn out really, pretty, though! It gave me the opportunity to revisit the Flamingo Together set, which I hadn't pulled out in a while. The word "Amour" (Love) was pulled out of a brand-new Stampin' Up! set offered as a freebie during their Sale-A-Bration promotion. It's back to a two-month promotion this year, so check it out quickly if you want to enjoy it before it's over.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Flamingo Together, Christmas Like No Otter (Lawn Fawn); Une touche d'encre (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Cotton Candy (Bazzill); Strawberry Slush, Whisper White, Gold Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
 Patterned Papers: Snow Day Remix, Let It Shine (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Strawberry Slush (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Flamingo Together, Christmas Like No Otter, Stitched Square Frames,
Outside In Stitched Heart Stackables, Lacy Heart Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Sentiments Dies (Waffle Flower)
Accessories: Resin Heart Embellishments, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals,
Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic)

 

Two Scoops

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #552

Happy Ice Cream for Breakfast Day!

This theme was the inspiration of my cards today. I didn't have to look very far, as Stampin' Up! is offering a new suite called Ice Cream Corner in its current minicatalogue. It was a good chance to get it inked up. 

I drew inspiration from the Mojo Monday for the layout and made quick work of it using the Ice Cream Corner Designer Series Paper. I die cut the circle out of Pool Party cardstock with the Stitched Shapes dies and I embossed it with the Painted Texture 3D embossing folder. Don't let the title distract you from all the possibility - this folder gives the cardstock a texture that is very similar to ice cream! 

For the sentiment, I picked "You're so cool" and stamped it in Cinnamon Cider ink on Bumblebee cardstock. I love how those two colours look paired together. I repeated the same colour combo to create the ice cream cones, and used Terracotta Tile and Blackberry Bliss ink for the ice cream. I used liquid glue to add the sprinkles on the cones.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Douceurs glacées (Sweet Ice Cream)
Cardstock: Blackberry Bliss, Terracotta Tile, Whisper White, Pool Party, Bumblebee
Designer Series Paper: Ice Cream Corner, Oh So Ombre (SAB)
Ink: Blackberry Bliss, Terracotta Tile, Whisper White, Pool Party, Bumblebee, Cinnamon Cider
Accessories: Stitched Shapes Dies, Stitched Rectangles Dies, Ice Cream Corner Sprinkles,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Painted Texture 3D Embossing Folder, White Medium Envelopes,
Ice Cream Cone Builder Punch