Encre, papier, ciseaux

Little Gnome Squares

I couldn't resist the Little Gnome Agenda set and after I was done with my last layout, I thought I could use the Cold Avocado Soup paper scraps to make a card using this set. You'd think coloring such small images would be fast, but I'm always surprised at how long coloring and die-cutting everything ends up being. I colored pretty much all images from the set, except the one with the wreath and the one with the candy cane. I noticed after the fact that the gnome wrapped in lights and the one with a gift and holly on his hat are also probably holiday-themed, but I decided to roll with it and use those on the envelope.

To make my card, I traced the squares on a piece of vanilla cardstock using my window die. I then used a square punch that was slightly  larger than the window and punched various patterns from my scraps. I also found another scrap on my desk that was the perfect shade of blue and had stars punched in it, so I cut it in half and used that piece in two of the squares. I wanted to make a shaker, so I used Stampin' Up!'s adhesive foam strips to create a grid. I die-cut the Grid Window out of yellow paper and lined the back with acetate. Then I looked through my embellishments and started filling the squares with ornements in matching colours.

On a side note, when organizing my embellishments, I have in the past spent time dividing some of the ornements that come in assorted colours - for example, the Doo Dadz collection or sequin mix. This investment is paying off, because I was able to use the colours I needed here, where the assorted colours would not have worked. (Sorting the Doo Dadz was not a small task, with those little plastic rolls flying everywhere!) For example, the wildflower sequins mix was a combo of yellow, purple, brown and aqua, which I would have had a hard time using together, but the individual aqua sequins were perfect here. The yellow Doo Dadz come from an Halloween pack, which again would have been totally wrong when mixed, but just gorgeous with the yellow used on its own.

After coloring and die-cutting my gnomes, I arranged them in a pleasing fashion around my grid, and then I looked through my French sentiment dies to find something to add to the card. I picked "Happy Birthday" and used the Blue Obsidian Mirror cardstock from Tonic for it. I added a little enamel heart on the gnome's little sign. I recently picked up the Altenew enamel dots at my local store and I'm loving the variety of colours they include. This one came from the Glacier Caves collection.

Because shaker cards are thicker, I made my own envelope using the Envelope Punch Board, going a little oversize. I used remaining images and die-cut pieces to match.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Little Gnome Agenda (Mama Elephant)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!); Blue Obsidian Mirror (Tonic)
Patterned Paper: Cold Avocado Soup (Jillibean Soup)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Little Gnome Agenda Dies, Grid Window Die (Mama Elephant); 
Envelope Punch Board, Adhesive Foam Strip, Sequins (Stampin' Up!);
Bonne fête Die (Dee's Distinctively); Gold Sparkle Crystals, March Crystals (Studio Katia);
Iridescent Mini Star Confetti, Wildflower Sequins Mix (Pretty Pink Posh);
Princess Sparkle Doo Dadz, Halloween Party Doo Dadz (Buttons Galore & More);
Lemon Sherbet, Let's Be Mermaid, Pearl Necklace, Iridescent
Silver Sequins (Little Things from Lucy's Cards); Ombre Blue Sequins (Hero Arts);
Glacier Caves Enamel Dots (Altenew)

 

Olaf

Inspiration: Page Maps April 2021

I got inspiration from this page after pulling a pack of retired papers for a quick project. When I sat down to scrapbook later that evening, I realized the Winter Frost Specialty DSP would be perfect to scrapbook the picture of Sam in his handmade Olaf costume. He made this a few years ago on a whim so he would have something to wear while trick-or-treating with his daughter and his costume turned out to be major hit. Apparently, kids ran to him in the street so that they could go say hi to Olaf. (Ahh, pre-pandemic life...) I also had these Olaf stickers that I had bought to scrapbook our Disney trips, but since there are two pages of stickers in there, I borrowed a few to embellish this page.

While the sketch was a starting point and I borrowed a lot of items from it, it definitely evolved to fit a single picture and the stickers I was trying to work in the design. The stickers are clear, so in order to have them not get lost on the patterned papers, I had to mount them on something. I used punched cardstock circles for two or them and sat the last one on my date.

I thought I would use my alphabet Bigz die to create a substantial title (four-letter title - this is unheard of on French layouts!) but then I realized I could also go for alphabet Thickers and use very few of them (and no E). I found right away this very cool grey sparkly retro-looking Thickers set that was just perfect so I went with that, but the latter were again getting lost (those patterned papers are busy - no wonder I never got through the full pack back when I bought it). I pulled out my postage stamp punch, but the stamp is square and a little too big, so I punched twice, making the stamp narrowed. I then used four Post-It notes to mask the edges and I used a blending brush to add Soft Sky ink to the center, and overstamp little snowflakes using Pool Party ink. I then added my letters and glued the stamps with dimensional adhesive, over washi tape strips, and it looks much better.

The big circle was created using an older die from The Cat's Pajamas called Snowflake Lace Paper, which I immediately thought of when I saw the circle on the sketch. With the snowflake pattern, it was a perfect match. I also used a leftover half-doily on the top of the page, and layered punched circles and snowflakes (leftovers from a previous project). At the bottom of the page, I used a swirly stencil from the Storyteller stencil trio from Vicki Boutin and Shimmery White embossing paste. I realized I had a lot of number Thickers in the set i was using so I added my date with those as well. I didn't like it floating along the picture, so I went back to add a punched piece of patterned paper underneath, which helped. I added various buttons in matching shades, including a few blue ones to match the stickers, to embellish the page. At the alst minute, I did something I hadn't done in years: adding details to my picture with a white gel pen. Digging into my old repertoire to vary things up a bit.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Bas de Noël (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Smoky Slate
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Winter Frost
Ink: Soft Sky, Pool Party (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Clear Buttons, Silver Buttons, Pool Party Buttons, Designer Buttons, Stampin'
Dimensionals, Spiral Border Punch, Shimmering White Embossing Paste, Rhinestone Basic Jewels,
Circle Punches, Postage Stamp Punch (Stampin' Up!); White Paper Doily (Dollar Store);
Snowflake Lace Paper CutUp Die (The Cat's Pajamas); Snowflake Edger (EK Success);
Frozen Stickers (American Crafts); Storyteller Stencil (Vicki Boutin for American Crafts);
Circle Layering Die Set (Tonic); Blending Brushes (Taylored Expressions);
White Gel Pen (Gellyroll)

 

Drive-Thru

Inspiration: April 2021 Page Maps Sketch

I found the This is Family paper collection (2019) from Jen Hadfield for American Crafts in my stash and when I saw the picnic baskets on some of the papers, I knew which picture I would pair it with. This pic was texted to me last April by my sister, during the full confinement period. I assumed they had gone to the McDonald's drive-thru, but my sister later explained that those were actually chicken nuggets that were made at home and the kids decided they wanted to go eat them in the car!! I think that pretty much says that everyone was getting cabin fever during that period and was finding any excuse to get out of the house. I just find it funny that hanging out in the car became a fun alternative for them.

The "Life is a picnic with you" cut-apart became the starting point and I created a mini envelope out of patterned paper to mimick the sketch. The sketch does not have anything at the bottom, but the page was feeling a little empty to me, so I added the "Remember this!" cut-apart banner and I slid one of the branding strip underneath to make it a full border. I love when the company do decorative branding strip, it's a great way to use what would otherwise go into the recycling bin and it gives me in this instance a pattern option that is different from the papers. 

For the title, I used a Planner Essentials die to make a ticket strip. I used super old black rub-ons for the last words and script puffy alphabet stickers from Pinkfresh for the first word. The layout was coming along but was lacking embellishments. I only have the papers from this line, so I looked through my stash to find things that could work. I added a doily, buttons, tabs, washi tape, an acrylic sentiment, gems, ribbons, enamel shapes, a copper paper clip decorated with a die-cut bow... Love the result. This collection is so gorgeous! I love the fun patterns, but I'm totally smitten with the colour combo! I grabbed quite a few sheets when I purchased it so I'll get to make more with it.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Date Stamp (Office Supplies Store)
Ink: Blushing Bride (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: This is Family (Jen Hadfield for American Crafts)
Dies: Border Dies (Photoplay); Planner Essentials 11 (Elizabeth Craft Designs);
Put a Bow on It (Lawn Fawn); Gift Card Sleeve Die (Fun Stampers Journey);
Punches: 1-1/2" Circle, Circle Tab (Stampin' Up!); Lace Border (Martha Stewart)
Accessories: Washi Tape (American Crafts, Recollections); Buttons (Foof-a-La); Office Hours Puffy Alpha Stickers (Pinkfresh); 
Metallic Thread, Sea Shore, Green Meadows and Cool Summer Night Enamel Dots (Altenew);
Rub-on Decals (Sticko); Décos Mots doux Céladon (Florilège Design);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Love & Happiness Rub-Ons (Stampin' Up!); Box of Crayons Enamel Dots (American Crafts);
Gold Stripes Stickers (Starform); White Doilies (Kitchen Smart); Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers);
Pumpkin and Spice Say It in Crystals (Prima)

Farmhouse Market Triple Pocket Wallet

Inspiration: YouTube Tutorial from Pinkstrawberryz

Michelle recently posted a super cute tutorial on her YouTube channel and I promised myself I'd come back to it as soon as I had time to sit down and craft. My last scrapbook layout was made using the Farmhouse Market collection and I thought the soft papers would look great as a wallet. In her example, Michelle uses the same patterns for all of her pockets, but I chose to vary the patterns on mine. 

You will see she uses four pieces of paper cut to the same size: three for pockets and the fourth to create a pocket flap. If you look at around 10:45 of the video, you will notice that there is a gap between the flap tab and pocket, so you can see the other patterned paper peeking through. I wanted a cleaner finish, so to create my flaps, I used a 3-1/4" x 4" piece of paper, scored at 1-3/4". Then, the tab (the piece you slide inside the pocket) covers everything and you get a seamless look.

My other tweak was adding a little pocket to the front of the wallet as well. Mostly, I wanted to incorporate a second pattern to make the front more interesting, and instead of gluing a piece of paper flat, it made more sense to make it a pocket. I added gingham ricrac cut with a stitched die and I used one of the collection sticker to embellish the front. 

I recently found a set of velcro dots in two sizes online and this worked out perfectly as I used the 10 mm size on the inside pocket and the 20 mm size on the front of the wallet. I didn't have any specific use for this in mind when I made it, but with Mother's Day coming up and Quebec still being in confinement, I thought I could gather messages from my sister and my niece to put in this wallet and send this to my Mom to let her know we're thinking of her. She lives out of town so we rarely get to spend Mother's Day together anyway, but there just have been a lot of missed milestones this past year so I think mail is even more meaningful than usual. With that in mind, I created inserts in matching cardstock colour for each pocket and I added tabs or punched corners to each, along with small stickers, to embellish them a bit.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Stickers: Farmhouse Market (Carta Bella)
Accessories: Velcro Dots (Amazon); Stormcloud, Moss Green and Bluebell Pearls (Studio Katia);
Flower and Leaf Mini Punches, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Stampin' Score Tool,
Curvy Corner Trio Punch, Mini Stapler (Stampin' Up!); Corner Chomper (We R Memory Makers);
Stitched Ric Rac Die-namics (My Favorite Things); Planner Essentials 11 and 21 Dies (Elizabeth Craft Designs)

 

Bye Bye: Dandelion Wishes

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #557 + Colour Inkspirations #97 + Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Clean & Simple)

I had the idea a few weeks ago of pairing the heat 'n stick powder, gilded leafing and the Dandelion Wishes set to see how that could look. I finally got around to putting this idea to paper tonight and I am thrilled with the result. 

I inked a whole piece of Whisper White cardstock with the blending brushes, using Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Calypso Coral and Rococo Rose. I spritzed the cardstock with water and dried it with my heat tool. I then die-cut the largest shape from the Stitched Nested Labels dies and I stamped my dandelion image with VersaMark. I covered it with Heat 'n Stick powder, melted the powder and brushed the gilded leafing over the image. I did circular motions with my fingers to get the leafing to adhere to the full image and then I set the powder once I was done. I also used a stipple brush to get the extra flakes off and get a cleaner image. At the top, I stamped a lovely sentiment that reads, "I would love to appease your heart" and I added a few Wonderful Gems around it.

For the card base, I tried using Rococo Rose cardstock (gotta use the In Colors before they retire) and layering Designer Series Paper over it, but the image was getting lost and I was not liking the effect. I pulled out Thick Whisper White paper and I instantly loved the result much better. I used the Basic Pattern Decorative Masks and the Shimmery White Embossing Paste to add shimmer and pattern to the lower half of the card. I tied a piece of Rococo Rose gathered ribbon in the center and popped up my image on Stampin' Dimensionals to add it to the card.

I repeated a similar design on the envelope, using the blending brishes and the mask to create a colorful border and overstamping the dandelion image over it. 

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Dandelion Wishes
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White
Ink: Crushed Curry, Rococo Rose, Calypso Coral, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede
Accessories: Blending Brushes, Stampin' Dimensionals, Rococo Rose Gathered Ribbon,
White Medium Envelopes, Wonderful Gems, Heat 'n Stick Powder, Gilded Leafing,
Shimmery White Embossing Paste, Basic Pattern Decorative Masks,
Stitched Nested Labels Dies

 

Certainties

Inspiration: April 2021 Page Maps Sketch

This page is a lighthearted reflexion on last year's situation due to the pandemic. There's a Benjamin Franklin quotes that says that in this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes. Last year, any normalcy we had ever known went out the window... and yet, here I was in March getting my tax documentation ready! 

As I was looking at my paper collections and pictures this week-end, I thought the Office Hours collection from Pinkfresh would look great for this page. I was also happy to have an occasion to scrap with it, as it is one of my favorite collections. I love the Pinkfresh designs, but I'm not always keen on their color palette. I do love this one, though.

I used the salmon dot grid paper for my background and I added ink smooshing, splatters and stamping on it before I started layering my papers. The sketch shows three tags on the right side, but I used a few cut-aparts, one of which I made a tag. I matted my picture with a few pieces of cardstock in matching colours. I tore one and punched the edge of the other. The cardstock felt a little bare, so I went to my wood-mount stamps and pulled out School Lines for the green cardstock and A to Z for the blue one.

I was liking the patterned paper that has boxes and text at an angle and I decided to tear the corner off and add it to my design - it was a lucky coincidence that the title reads "Life is tough but so are you" but that sure fits the context of this page! As I started layering my pieces, the page was filing up and I wasn't sure how to add the text. I used one of the grid paper scrap I had and tried handwriting on it, but I was not liking the look. I decided to try typewriting. I recently purchased the Simple Stories ledger paper pad, as I thought it'd come in handy to add journaling to pages, so I pulled out a grid on white paper and I typed my journaling. The final text was a little larger than I had anticipated, but after cutting it to size and playing with it on the layout, I realized it looked nice placed at an angle and I realized that it also anchored my title if I was placing it over it. I stamped the date at the bottom with a date stamp, I added a check mark puffy sticker and a push pin chipboard sticker at the top.

I punched circles from one of the patterned papers and placed three on the layout for repetition. I added a few rub-ons (number and "balance to pay"), stapled a piece of white twine on my tag, and added washi tape and enamel dots to finish decorating. 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Off the Grid, A to Z, School Lines (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Calypso Coral, Garden Green (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Stickers, Puffy Stickers, Mixed Embellishments: Office Hours (Pinkfresh)
Patterned Papers: Color Vibe Woods (Simple Stories)
Cardstock: Garden Green, Delightful Dijon, Buckaroo Blue (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: White Baker's Twine, Mini Stapler, Stampin' Dimensionals, Spiral Border Punch,
2" Circle Punch, Tag Corner Punch (Stampin' Up!); Scripted Dated Rub-Ons (Creative Expressions);
Oh What Fun! Puffy Alphabet Stickers (Pinkfresh); Typewriter (We R Memory Keepers)

 

Carpe Diem Mini Album

Inspiration: Tutorial from Pinkstrawberryz

I'm sharing another minialbum that was inspired by a cool tutorial from Michelle's channel. This one piqued my interest because it is entirely made of 6" x 6" patterned paper. I looked through my paper pads in that size and I found that a lot of them are not double-sided, which is the key to this design. I found the Carpe Diem paper pad (2016) and decided the designs would work well. All I used was the paper pad and the matching brads and I incorporated a few ornements (ribbon, paper clip, puffy stickers, doilies) and I ended up with this. The result looks elaborate but the design is surprisingly easy to put together.

 

This is the front page of the albu. Once I had all by base page assembled, I wrapped the spine with a piece of polka dot paper from the same pack, punched with a scallop border, to make it look more finished. I used a cut-apart from the pack to add a little plate image in the center. I left it blank for now and can add text to it once I start filling the minialbum with something.

 

The text strip is only glued at the top and bottom so you can slip stuff underneath. I made an envelope using the Mini Envelope Punch Board - I finally got my end on one. I love my regular one and use it all the time, but the smallest sizes are still pretty big so I decided having the smaller version could be useful. Love it as much as my other one so far! The envelope was decorated with a cut-apart and a puffy heart sticker. I added a star puffy sticker to the sentiment strip and a decorate brad as well.

On the right side, I created an envelope. I sort of messed up the measurements a little bit and ended up with two fold marks, but I found a solution that I love to work with it: I created a third scoring line in the middle, folded the pocket accordeon-style and I created little inserts on each side, also folded as accordeons, so that instead of having a flat pocket, you can slide something a little more bulky inside. It look so cute and you wouldn't guess it wasn't made to hide a mistake.

As you can see, the pages are folded so that they are not the same width, so you can see the next page poking out from underneath a little. This is a cute little detail - and the reason why getting the measurements right is key!

 

On the left side, I decorated the backside of the envelope with cut-aparts and punched pieces. On the left side, I created a little envelope by simply folding a piece of patterned paper and punching the top, as shown in Michelle's video. I slipped one of the cut-aparts inside and added a decorative brad.

 

In the original tutorial, the flap is glued close to make another pocket, but I decided to left mine as a folding tab for variety. I added patterned paper and cut-aparts to decorate. On the right page, I created a coin pocket as shown by Michelle. I glued a little bit too fast and forgot to put in fasteners first and when I tried using my Crop-a-Dile on the glued envelope, it was not reaching far enough and the circles were far too close, so I decided to turn the envelope around to hide my boo-boo, glued the tab down and have the top of the envelope open to slide something in. I added an envelope cut-apart to decorate and a second one on the right upper corner to fill in the space a bit.

 

The last page show two pockets on each side. On the left one, I assembled two cut-aparts together so that I could pop the typewriter up on dimensional adhesive and I used a paper clip to old the cut-apart in place, with a bit of ribbon on the paper clip to fancy it up. Decorative brads were added on opposite corners, and on the right page, I added a black mini doily (from Doodlebug) and some more cut-aparts.

 

This is the backside of the album.

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Decorative Brads: Carpe Diem (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Mini Envelope Punch Board (We R Memory Keepers); Mini Stapler, Lucky Limeade Ruffle Ribbon,
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Circle Punch, Mini Scalloped Circle Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Gems (Recollections); Bell Pepper Trinkets Puffy Stickers (Bella Blvd.);
Beetle Black Mini Paper Doilies (Doodlebug Design)

 

March and April Memorydex Cards

Inspiration: Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge #361 

I knew I wanted to use the St. Patrick's collection, Lots O' Luck (2018) from Doodlebug to make my March memorydex card, so I finally got around to making it happen. I happen to have the Bits & Bobs pack for this collection, so I went through the die-cuts to see which ones could fit the scale of the card. I settled on the little girl with her doggie and the "You're my pot of gold!" speech bubble. I added a die-cut rainbow behind and popped up a white flower to fill in the space. I used polka dot gold washi between the two patterned papers to go with the gold foiling on the die-cuts.

 

 

 

For the April memorydex card, I figured I would do something Easter-themed. I hadn't put away the hippity hoppity collection yet so I pulled it out as it reminded me of the Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge image with the rabbit and the colors. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Mois de l'année Courrier (Lime Citron)
Ink: Gorgeous Grape, Call Me Clover (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Bits & Pieces, Mini Icon Stickers: Lots O' Luck, Hippity Hoppity (Doodlebug Designs)
Accessories: Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Gold Washi Tape, Label Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Gems (Recollections); Stitched Rectangle Dies (Lawn Fawn); Sea Shore Enamel Dots (Altenew);
Botanical Enamel Dots (Waffle Flower); Memorydex Tabs Dies (Heidi Swapp)

 

Snowflake Thank You

Inspiration: July 2020 Card Maps Sketch

This card was made with my leftover scraps from the Snow Fun collection. As I was previously working on a layout with the papers, I found an unused 6" x 3" card base in my Thick Whisper White cardstock folder so it inspired me to use it with the remaining scraps to put together a quick card. The July 2020 Card Maps printout was sitting on the side of my desk and I liked the layered speech bubbles one. I switched one of them for a silver die-cut snowflake, but I did use the vellum I had left to die-cut a bubble and layer "thank you" in sparkly green cardstock over it. I punched snowflake circles out of the patterned paper to decorate the front and inside of the card and the envelope. I added Sahara Sand/Night of Navy twine, an iridescent pearl and a little dot I had leftover from die-cutting hole reinforcers for my page. (Talk about using up every little last bit!) 

By the way, I wanted to pop the bubble up on dimensionals, but this can be tricky to do with vellum as it is see-through. I glued my die-cut sentiment first and then cut my Stampin' Dimensionals to size to hide behind the word. I made sure to use the black Dimensionals. You would think darker = showing more, but I've found while using them that they look like a shadow whereas white is really apparent if there's the slightlest bit poking out from underneath. For that reason, I'm happy that the black Dimensionals are back for another full year in the Stampin' Up! annual catalogue.

Cute and quick. Then, with the few scraps I had left, I put together a little coffee mug that I'll keep as an embellishment for a future project.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: Snow Fun (Simple Stories)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Polka Dot Vellum (Stampin' Up!); Silver Glitter Paper, Green Glitter Paper (Unknown)
Dies: Word Bubbles (Stampin' Up!); bonne fête merci joyeux Noël (Simple à souhait);
Snowflake CutUp (The Cat's Pajamas)
Accessories: Sahara Sand/Night of Navy Baker's Twine, Black Mini Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

 

I Heart Winter

I wanted to scrapbook tonight and wasn't sure where to start. I looked through my pictures to see what I had printed and then I went through my paper collections to see what could match. Hidden in between full collection, I had a small pile of leftover papers from the Snow Fun collection from Simple Stories (2014 - wow, was it really that long ago?!). That was a great option for a picture of my niece in her snowsuit. That picture was sent to me from my sister not so much for the winter fun aspect of it but because she has been saying Arielle reminds her of our aunt Claire and on this picture, the resemblance is defintely obvious. 

Because I was working with a single picture and not much patterned paper left, using my Planner Essentials dies seemed like an obvious choice. One of the sets I purchased more recently is #35, which includes little half page inserts. I was liking this idea to add the title, using vellum paper. This navy polka dot vellum is an old sheet that was sold by Stampin' Up! in an assortment of specialty papers - I'm sure it dates back even further than 2014. I guess I had stumbled unto it when I first worked with the Snow Fun papers and decided to leave it in with the collection as it matched so well. It was a great way to play with textures and fit a larger title on there. I used little banner thickers, found at a really good price on clearance before the holidays, followed by white sparkly alphabet stickers from Heidi Swapp, then this neat die set I have that includes all of the filler words we use all the time in French (which is a saving grace to save up on my E stickers!) and then finally navy rub-ons from Making Memories. (Okay, those have to be even older than the polka dot vellum!) I added a few elements punched from the patterned papers, a sparkly punched snowflakes and I die-cut hole reinforcers from Lime Light pearlescent cardstock.

On the main page, I used the wreath die in white cardstock, which looks a bit like swirling snow and because I had pulled that set out, I was compelled to use the pocket die as well and slide my picture in. I added white pompom trim on the edge, a strip of patterned paper, die-cut a cut-apart image with a scalloped square die and added another punched snowflake.

The pocket on the back is now made with the die, it's actually the leftover piece that was on my desk, which was already cut at an angle and I just scored tabs on it and turned it into a shorter pocket. (And realized much later that I needed to punch holes in it in order to be able to add my page to my binder - thank goodness for the Crop-a-Dile.) I handcut the little pointer and popped it up on dimensionals to decorate the pocket. At the top, I shortened, punched and glued the "I Heart Winter" cut-apart. And using other Planner Essentials dies, I created an insert and journaling spot to add the story. I couldn't resist adding the little Viewmaster die-cut. It's one of my favorite shapes and I got one of the Sidekick sets mainly for it! (That being said, I'm finding that I also really love the two tags included in that set, the white one shown on my page being one of them.)

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Polka Dot Vellum (Stampin' Up!);
Lime Light Pearlescent Cardstock (Tonic); Various Glitter Cardstock (Unknown)
Patterned Papers: Snow Fun (Simple Stories)
Dies: Planner Essentials 4, 11, 35, Sidekick Essentials 11, Planner Pocket 2,
Reinforcement Variety Pack (Elizabeth Craft Designs); Réf. Articles (Kesi'Art);
Layered Squares (Stampin' Dimensionals)
Accessories: Misunderstood Navy Rub-Ons (Making Memories); Banners Thickers (American Crafts);
Iridescent Pearls, Blue Adhesive-Backed Gems, Clear-Faceted Gems, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Sahara Sand/Night of Navy Baker's Twine, Ticket Corner Punch, White Pompom Trim (Stampin' Up!);
Snowflake Punch (EK Success); Glitter Letter Stickers (Heidi Swapp)

 

Bye Bye: Moving Along

Inspiration: July 2020 Card Maps Sketch

The cute Moving Along stamp set from Stampin' Up! is part of the Retiring List. I thought I could die-cut four stitched squares out of the retiring In Color DSP and stamp the images from the set in matching colours for each squares. This worked out really nicely. I also remembered I had matching Faceted dots, so I added one to each panel as well (although after doing so, I realized those might have actually retired last year with the previous catalogue).

This would have been too tight of a squeeze on a regular A2 card, so I made a 5-1/4" x 5-1/4" square card instead. The card base is made of Purple Posy cardstock and I layered a piece of DSP in the same shade, embossed with the Subtle 3D embossing folder. I'm sad to see this one go, I was using it all the time to create my own textured cardstock.

What is the retiring In Color that you are the most sad to see leave? Mine is Seaside Spray. It is my favorite shade of soft blue Stampin' Up! has ever carried. Probably because it has a bit of grey to it, it feels very soothing and was easy to pair with a lot of other colours. In the upcoming In Color palette, I'm looking forward to seeing Polished Pink in person, as I've been struggling to find a certain shade of brighter but not hot pink to match with certain papers, such as Doodlebug and others. I'm also curious to see Pale Papaya in person. I've been fast depleting my leftover Peach Passion cardstock and I could use another shade of soft orange to fill in the gap. I have a feeling Papaya is too pastel for what I need, but you never know. I'm curious to see how Soft Succulent compares to the old Sage Shadow colour. It looks a shade darker in the catalogue, but it's always hard to tell online. I hope Evening Evergreen can fill the gap that was left in my cardstock collection by me running out of Handsome Hunter cardstock. Knowing what colour of retiring cardstock to restock up on is very much a gambler's game.

 

Retiring items showcased on this project:

• Joyeuse Excursion (Moving Along) stamp set
• Subtle 3D Embossing Folder
• 2019-2021 In Color 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper Stack
• Stitched Shapes Dies

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Joyeuse excursion (Moving Along)
Cardstock: Purple Posy, Whisper White
Designer Series Paper Stack: 2019-2021 In Color
Ink: Purple Posy, Seaside Spray, Rococo Rose, Pretty Peacock
Accessories: Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Subtle 3D Embossing Folder, 
Stitched Shapes Dies, White Square Envelope, 2019-2021 In Color Faceted Dots

 

Spring Wallet

Inspiration: YouTube Tutorial from Pinkstrawberryz

Michelle has shared a cool tutorial at the beginning of the year showing how to make a paper wallet and I finally got around to circling back to it this weekend. I looked through my 12" x 12" papers and the Comme un air de printemps collection from KirelCraft (a company from France) quickly caught my eye. I am so pleased with how it turned out. I'm not usually big on florals but the soft watercolor look of this line really appealed to me, and having two-sided papers was really key to creating a beautiful wallet. 

The other thing that made embellishing fast and easy was using my Planner Essentials dies on this one. I've used my dies from this serie a ton even though I don't do anything planner related. Because they are meant for planners, their size in on the smaller size, which made them perfect for this wallet. I was able to create this cute layered pocket and stick small items in it, all created with the dies as well. On the left side, I combined two dies and filled the opening created with vellum to mimick the identification pocket we often see in real wallets. I handcut a couple of butterflies from one of the patterned papers and used them to embellish the wallet as well. 

On the front, I used eyelets and a 1" circle punch to create a closure, adding gold cord as well. I glued the word Happy, fussy cut from the cut-apart sheet. Frankly, I will never understand why French companies include English die-cuts in their lines. There are a million companies already offering English papers, I truly wish they would stick to French only for the French customers. Anyway... I did something similar on the back of the wallet: punched out the wreath from one of the cut-aparts and added a fussy-cut butterfly from the patterned paper. All butterfly wings were made sparkly using the Glitter Gloss aqua shimmer brush.

This was simple but very pleasing to make. I think Michelle designed this to send fun goodies in a swap, but I also think it could include tickets for stuff being done around the house (a fun idea with kids, who love creating those tickets), to send out money for a gift or to send out family pictures. This is what I'm leaning towards since we still have at least a few months of confinement ahead of us and my parents have not seen their grandkids in a long time. We do send out pictures via email, but I think they like having printed copies around the house as well. 

I watched the first half of Michelle's videos, following the measurements and instructions to put together the base of the wallet and then I decided I could make a second pocket on top of the right one, but instead of gluing vellum like she had done, I decided to add a second piece of patterned paper. From that point on, the ideas started coming and I never went back to the tutorial, I just went where inspiration took me. So on the right, you can slip something inside the big pocket and also underneath the polka dot paper, which is only glued at the bottom and on the right edge. The three-slot pocket was backed with pink paper to create a lining and this piece was also glued with thin adhesive strip in order to make the top a pocket as well. Adding the various little ephemera pieces makes it more obvious where the pockets are. Same thing on the left side: the top of the vellum piece was left open so something can be slipped underneath and the vellum will let us see a bit of what's in there.

I would love to revisit this project and recreate it with another paper line. I bet the results would be drastically different just by using other products. I would also love to try with doing two score lines in the middle to give height to the wallet and make it so that it can be filled with thicker elements and still close properly. Mine closes well right now, but it has not been filled yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Gold Rush (Lawn Fawn); Basic Grey, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Un petit air de printemps (Béatrice Garni Illustration - KirelCraft)
Dies: Planner Essentials 1, 2, 4, 11, 21; Sidekick Essentials 11 (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Accessories: Crop-a-Dile Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers); Gold Eyelets, Gold Cord,
1" Circle Punch, Blushing Bride Shimmery Ribbon, White Crinkled Ribbon,
Adhesive Strip, Stamp Mini Punch (Stampin' Up!)

Holographic Butterflies

Inspiration: April 2021 Card Maps Sketches

One of the new April sketches caught my eye: it includes two butterflies and got me thinking I could pull out my Layered Butterflies dies from Lawn Fawn. I was looking for my holographic paper and also found the Perfectly Plaid Remix papers from their last Spring remix, so I decided to use those for my layering pieces. The butterflies were created by using a piece of holographic paper for the base and adding Granny Apple Green and Flirty Flamingo cardstock over. I die-cut the bodies with Pool Party cardstock and used Basic Grey for the antennaes. 

For the sentiment, I went through my French stamps, pulled out a few options that looked like size would work well and finally landed on "Celebrate the Good Things," which size and font worked well on the card. The heart strip is actually the branding strip from the 12 x 12 patterned papers I used, and I added some Recollections gems that fit the holographic paper really well. This is fairly simple but really sweet and I like the Spring vibe this card has.

I repeated the same elements on a white envelope to finish the set.

The card base was done with Peach Passion cardstock, one of my fast-depleting favorite orange shade. I keep going back to this colour, as it fits a lot of patterned paper and colour combos perfectly and every time, I'm kicking myself that I didn't have the foresight to stock up on this In Color before it retired. 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Anniversaire idéal (Picture Perfect Birthday)
Cardstock: Peach Passion, Soft Sky, Flirty Flamingo, Granny Apple Green, Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!);
Holo Waves Mirror (Tonic)
Patterned Papers: Perfectly Plaid Remix (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Basic Grey, Soft Sky (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Bling Stickers (Recollections); Stampin' Dimensionals, Stitched Shapes Dies,
2016-2018 In Color Enamel Shapes, Twinkle Adhesive-Backed Sequins,
White Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!); Layered Butterflies Dies, Dotted Rectangles Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

Bye Bye: Pampered Pets

Inspiration: Card Maps Sketch April 2021

Well, it is that time of the year where the Stampin' Up! retiring list comes up and I have to say goodbye to a bunch of sets, dies and accessories. Today's cards was made with the Pampered Pets stamp set. It's pretty simple but still cute. I love the Disney-vibe this collection has. The grey dog reminds me of the one from the Lady and the Tramp movie.

For the main circle, I used the Mercury Glass Designer Aceetate. I wanted to overlay the scribbly circle from the Painted Labels but with the full center, it was hiding too much of the acetate, so I used a small circle die from the Stitched Shapes dies set to take the center out. Gotta combine dies to get what you need for your project! The French sentiment reads, "Keep up the good work!" This will make a great card to send a downline member. I tied white cotton twine (now retired but I'm trying to go through what I have before repurchasing) and added a bone trinket underneath the bow. 

I reused another circle, this time with the center kept in place, on the envelope and die-cut a dog image from the patterned paper to decorate it.

Showcased retiring items:

• Pampered Pets stamp set
• Playful Pets Trinkets
• Playful Pets Designer Series Paper
• Joyeuse excursion (Moving Along) stamp set [for the sentiment]
• Painted Labels Dies
• Stitched Shapes Dies

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Pampered Pets, Joyeuse Excursion (Moving Along)
Cardstock: Basic Grey, Whisper White, Real Red
Designer Series Paper: Playful Pets, Mercury Glass Designer Acetate
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Stampin' Blends Markers, White Twine, Playful Pets Trinkets,
White Medium Envelope, Pets Dies, Painted Labels Dies, Stitched Rectangles Dies,
Stampin' Dimensionals