Encre, papier, ciseaux

Tic Tac Toe Challenge Guest Designer - Framed Fawn

Inspiration: Tic Tac Toe Challenge #133 (Black + Stripes + Wreath)

One of the cards I entered in the weekly Tic Tac Toe challenge was picked as their spotlighted card of the week, I was invited to be a guest designer for one of their upcoming challenge if that was something I was interested in. I hadn't guest designed in a while and thought it could be fun to sneak something creative in my to-do list.

This is this week's board. The wreath element caught my eye because I have this adorable set from Avery Elle called Christmas Critters that include a fawn with a wreath around his neck. That was my starting point and I decided to frame him with the Wonky Scalloped Frames dies. So as you can guess, I was going to go for the line with the ribbon, but when I started getting my elements ready and working on a layout, I was not liking the addition of ribbon, so I switched gears. I was using the Home for Christmas 6 x 6 Mega Pack from Carta Bella, which includes black, and I wanted to use one of my favorite paper for the background, the one with stripes and snowflakes. So that became my new line, the center horizontal line.

I stamped the fawn in black ink on white cardstock and colored him and the night sky with Copic markers. I then used the Falling Snow stencil from Simon Says Stamp with white embossing paste to add snow. I added a few freckles to the fawn with a white gel pen.

You will spot a lot of new products that came out this year on my card, as I was inspired to use what was around on my desk. I used the Layered Pine stamp set and die from Avery Elle to create boughs to place on both sides of the card. The set includes two Christmas light images, the round bulbs and the straight bulbs. I picked the latter version, colored them in red and green and I started die-cutting them out, but I was not liking the look of the white border against the pine bough, so I decided to hand cut the lights so that I could follow the outline. Those are tiny so that took patience and precision! I covered the lights with a touch of Glossy Accents.

Another recent item is the Vault Series: Christmas 2021 dies from Tim Holtz for Sizzix. I used the smallest 3D star to add to the top of the frame (that was my first time using those, love the look!) and I also used the big loopy Christmas word. Because I have the Home for Christmas sticker book, I was able to pick a sticker that says Merry and use it to form a full sentiment. I tried die-cutting it out of black glitter paper, but it had not cut fully through, so I changed my mind and used green patterned paper instead, which looked just as nice.

My local scrapbook store had just restocked on the Christmas Sparkle silicon mould when I last stopped by, so I jumped on it. I was really curious to test it out when I came back home, so I first filled the shapes with moulding paste, and I was on the fence about the results, so I tried filling the shapes with hot glue to compare. So those shapes had been left sitting on my desk overnight to dry and when I started working on this card, they were ready to be used and I decided the poinsettia might look nice on the card. To color it, I used my waxes from Finnabair. I haven't done a lot of mixed medias, but I'm slowly dipping my toes in with a few products. I like how the poinsettia turned out! It got even better when I added the Gold Sparkle Crystals in the center. I added those gems to the fawn's collar and to the star as well, and I added two additional crystal stars to the sky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Layered PIne, Christmas Critters (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Evening Evergreen, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book: Home for Christmas (Carta Bella)
Ink: Tuxedo Black, Soft Succulent, Evening Evergreen (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Vault Series Christmas 2021 (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); 
Layered Pine, Wonky Scalloped Frames (Avery Elle)
Accessories: Crystal Stars (Buttons Galore & More); Gold Sparkle Crystals (Studio Katia);
Markers (Copic); Glossy Accents (Ranger); Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!);
Falling Snow Stencil (Simon Says Stamp); Burgundy, Graphite and White Gold Metallic Waxes,
Old White Matte Wax (Finnabair); Christmas Sparkle Silicon Mould (Prima Marketing)

 

Drumming Nutcracker

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes)

This card started with me wanting to test out the Merry Melody 3D embossing folder. I pulled out my old Core'dinations cardstock so that I could sand the surface and show the embossing better. I looked at the available colours and thought if I used Pool Party, I could pair it with the Cozy Winter - Sugar and Spice Creative Pad from P13 I had been keeping nearby to work into my upcoming projects. I absolutely loved the images in this pad, but I didn't get the matching paper, so this ended up being a great starting point. I thought I would just do the background and fussy cut a few images for now, but the wheels started turning and I started envisioning a layout so I ended up making a full card. A lot of ideas came from what was around on my desk, like the Wonderful Snowflakes die-cuts and the Voeux sincères stamp set from Stampin' Up!. I love script sentiments, but they can sometimes be tricky to work into a design because it needs a really large flat surface to stamp such a long sentiment on a card. Inspired by something I had seen in the minicatalogue, I stamped the sentiment on a white cardstock scrap and fussy cut it out. I used the Soft Succulent ink and it looks really nice with the collection.

I was not liking the "naked" snowflake center, so I die-cut a smaller one out of Soft Succulent cardstock, made the cardstock sparkly with a Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer brush and I added a crystal in the center. Before adding my sentiment, I added glue accents on my die-cut images and poured Tinsel Glitter on it. I love the sparkle and retro vibe it gives the card, and it really dressed up the images. I had found this tiny striped heart in the cut-aparts and I decided I wanted to wrap it in twine and hang it at the top of the card. After adding a few more crystals, the center of the frame still felt a little empty to me, so I remembered I had music notes in a Essential Planners die set from Elizabeth Craft Designs (I'm really getting my money's worth out of those die sets!) so I die-cut a couple of notes from the same Core'dinations cardstock and added them to my background. Small detail, but it really made a difference to make the card feel finished.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Voeux sincères (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Pool Party Core'dinations (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Cozy Winter - Sugar and Spice Creative Pad (P13)
Ink: Soft Succulent (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Planner Essentials 10 (Elizabeth Craft Designs); Christmas Day Snow (Echo Park)
Accessories: Merry Melody 3D Embossing Folder, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Twine,
Wonderful Snowflakes (Stampin' Up!); Sugar Cookie Say It in Crystals (Prima Marketing);
Enamel Dots (Violet Studio); Tinsel Glitter (Recollections)

 

Halloween Pockets

Still working on Halloween treat packaging using the Boo Crew collection from Simple Stories (2020). I had put aside my Scalloped Pocket die, so I used it on two different patterned papers, making sure to think of pattern placement since I was using directional patterns.

To embellish the pockets, I added ribbons and images that were fussy cut from the cut-apart sheets. I added a chipboard image at the bottom of the witch's cauldron from the Decorative Brads package and foam sticker stars on the ghost pocket. Very simple and very cute!

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Foam Stickers, Decorative Brads: Boo Crew (Simple Stories)
Dies: Scalloped Pocket (Fun Stampers Journey)
Accessories: Victoria 5/8" Crochet Trim, Smoky Slate Chevron Ribbon,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Faceted Dots (Stampin' Up!)

 

Row of Nutcrackers

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Texture)

I decided the next stamp set I wanted to ink was Avery Elle's Nutcrackers. I decided to go the conservative road when I purchased that set and I skipped the matching dies, so that meant that I had to fussy cut the images. The result is pretty even, since the images are fairly simple. I colored the images with Copic markers, but did the gold touches with my Gansai Tambi Starry watercolour palette to get creamy, even gold touches.

I knew I wanted to use an embossing folder for the texture challenge, so I went through my stack, pulled a few options I thought would look nice and then I decided to use the mustache folder. I've had this one for over a decade and I honestly think I've never managed to use it once before. I like the look, but themed patterns are harder to fit in a design, especially when it's directional. (More recent folders are often offered in square format so that the embossing can be used on portrait or landscape cards, but this is not the case with this older folder.) As I was going through the folders, I caught a glimpse of the Impresslits and thought those could look cool as well. I couldn't decide between Star Trim and Holly Berries, so I ended up doing both!

The striped paper comes from the new Holly Days collection from Simple Stories. I embossed the sentiment in Rustic Wilderness Distress glaze. For another touch of texture, I added the gold holly leaves from Stampin' Up!, which are made of some sort of stiff fabric. I did the berry with a Say it With Crystals gem. I used a leftover strip of the embossed white cardstock on the envelope, and repeated the stamping of the nutcracker as well.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Nutcrackers (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Evening Evergreen, Pool Party, Whisper White, Gold and Red Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Holly Days (Simple Stories)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark; Pool Party (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Rustic Wilderness Distress Embossing Glaze (Ranger);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Gold Holly Leaves (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic);
A2 Seafoam Envelope (Envelopes.com); Frayed Denim Say It in Crystals (Prima Marketing);
Gansai Tambi Starry Watercolors (Kuretake); Mustache Embossing Folder (Lifestyle Crafts);
Star Trim and Holly Berries Impresslits (Tim Holtz for Sizzix);
Dotted Rectangle Stackables, Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn) 

 

Pocket Card - Summer Shadows

Inspiration: Maker Mania #4 tutorial + Time Out Challenge #197 (Flowers)

This is another project that was inspired by a tutorial shared during the Maker Mania #4 event. You fold back the corner of a card to create a pocket and you tuck in embellishments to create an arrangement inside. I've received the SAB die set Summer Shadows on the late (just a SAB was coming to an end), but I was curious to see how the elements looked die-cut, so I based my colour scheme on the Ice Cream Corner DSP colors.

I like the result, but I don't know if I'll revisit this technique again as I found it hard, despite having measured everything and worked slowly, to line the corners and all of the pieces perfectly. While I'm not a perfectionist, it does drive me crazy when working on linear designs where things will blatantly show even if they're a millimeter off. This is one of those designs. If you look really closely, there's a touch of pale purple showing on the right side where the two pieces of cardstock and DSP are supposed to meet. Not so much that the card can't work, but enough that I notice every time I look at the card. Oh well... It's fun to try out new things once in a while to break the habit of always doing the same thing. For fun, when die=cutting the layered pieces, I made sure to change the colours of the top and bottom pieces to compare the resulting look.

The sentiment comes from the Merriest Moments stamp set. It reads, "Being together is the best gift." I think this goes way beyond the Holidays, especially this year. I used another piece of the same DSP package to make an envelope, and I pulled the Painted Labels to make my address block, layering my last flower to decorate. I added opal rounds in the center of the yellow flowers, square gems on the sentiment tag and loose flower flourishes in the corners of the card.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Joyeux moments (Merriest Moments)
Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, So Saffron, Bumblebee, Purple Posy, Blackberry Bliss,
Old Olive, Soft Sea Foam
Designer Series Paper: Ice Cream Corner
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss
Dies: Summer Shadows, Painted Labels
Accessories: Loose Flower Flourishes, 2020-2022 In Color Squre Gems, Opal Rounds,
Envelope Punch Board, Everyday Label Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Snowflake Wishes

Inspiration: Makers Mania #4 + Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (card + matching envelope)

I don't know how I feel about this card. This card started when I tried following a craft together tutorial for an event that was showing how to do a pop-up card. I wasn't sure what I would make my card about, but in order to pick the cardstock I was using, I decided to select patterned papers and pulled out the Cozy Christmas papers from Paper Rose. It's one of those collections that I saw online (in a video, I think), I thought the soft colours were lovely and I ordered myself a pack. When it got here, I just wasn't so sure. At least I knew that the papers from that company are usually glossy (which I am not super keen on to begin with), but I wasn't that excited about the patterns when I got the papers in. The cut-aparts and the page with the blue ombre with falling snow are gorgeous, but the rest is just so-so for me. That being said, I live by the philosophy, if you've bought it, might as well use it, so I decided to see if I could turn these papers into something that I liked. 

I would never usually start a card from the inside, but because I was following the tutorial, that's what I did, and then I was left to figure out what the card would be about afterwards. I looked at older sketches for inspiration and I was liking the oblique on the Mojo Monday sketch, and I figured the circle could be the new Magic Iris Snowflake Add-On die. Speaking of Lawn Fawn's new release, it also includes a really pretty Stitched Snowflake Backdrop die, so I used my embossing mat and Big Shot to make sure I got a deep impression on a piece of pink cardstock. I die-cut a stitched rectangle out of that lovely falling snow ombre paper, used my deckle trimmer to cut it at an angle and added a glimmery blue ribbon over it.

Following the sketch dimensions, I cut my patterned papers. I was finding the rectangle a little small, so I matted it with Seaside Spray cardstock to add to the size and also define the print better. I die-cut the snowflake frame out of Dazzling Diamond glimmer paper and I went looking for a sentiment that would fit in the center. I got lucky and found something that had the right size and font in the Dandelion Wishes set from Stampin' Up! I embossed the sentiment in white powder on Misty Moonlight cardstock and punched it with a 2" circle punch. I was finding the circle a little bland, so I looked for snowflake stamps and I spotted a nice snowflake and dots pattern stamp in the Window Scene: Winter set from Lawn Fawn, which I stamped in Misty Moonlight behind the sentiment. I added a couple of opal gems at the top of the card.

Inside the card, I used two sheets of the ombre polka dot paper before I added the pop-up part. I added two square of patterned papers to the squares with no folds. I die-cut a dotted scalloped rectangle out of white cardstock for a spot to write a message and added a fussy cut cup that came from the patterned paper. On the top square, I included my leftover circle from the snowflake frame. The die set includes a stitched snowflake, so I used my embossing mats and Big Shot again to get an impression on the cardstock. I was initially planning on using the glittered side, but I liked the look of the embossing better on the plain side, so I just went for it.

The card is quite thick with the pop-up addition, so I made an oversize envelope out of old Designer Series Paper and I reused my leftover falling snow rectangle half as the address block. I added a fussy cut cup on the envelope as well.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Dandelion Wishes (Stampin' Up!); Window Scene: Winter (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Fresh Fig, Seaside Spray, Powder Pink, Whisper White, Misty Moonlight,
Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Powder PInk, Misty Moonlight (Stampin' Up!); Embossing Ink (Ranger)
Patterned Papers: Cozy Christmas (Paper Rose)
Dies: Stitched Snowflake Backdrop, Magic Iris Snowflake Add-On,
Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Dotted Scalloped Rectangles (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Accessories: White Embossing Powder (Wow)l Opal Rounds, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Envelope Punch Board, Seaside Spray Shimmer Ribbon, Embossing Mats, Sponge Daubers (Stampin' Up!);
Deckle Trimmer (Tim Holtz for Tonic)

 

Holly Jolly Pinwheel Card

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Card + Envelope)

I came across a new (to me) type of 3D card this weekend and since I had the Holly Jolly papers and ephemera pieces out, I decided to test it out using my paper scraps. It is super quick and easy to put together. The measurements are pretty much all the same, so it is a hard one to mess up. The only thing you want to keep in mind is to keep it flat when embellishing so that you can flatten the card to put in an envelope - although I did hang a couple of hanging ornaments on one side, but I made sure to make an oversize envelope to make room for it, as my A2 envelopes would have been too tight.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Candy Red (Tonic); Pearlescent Vellum (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers, Bits and Pieces, Enamel Dots: Holly Jolly (Simple Stories)
Dies: Stitched Oval Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Planner Essentials 11 (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Accessories: Mini Tassels (Violet Studio); Beads (Bead Landing);
Envelope Punch Board, Stampin' Dimensionals, Merry Merlot/Copper
Reversible Ribbon (Stampin' Up!); Sequins (Cartwright's)

 

Busy Sidewalks

Inspiration: Global Design Project #310

This card is the result of a lot of random supplies colliding. I was really hoping to ink the Holiday Scenes stamp set from last year's Tim Holtz release. I still had on my desk a little paper doll I had colored with Distress embossing glaze when I purchased the new Prize Ribbon colour. I also had the Hustle & Bustle Thickers out on my desk from a previous projects. In the pack, I spotted a sentiment that reads, "Busy Sidewalks." I realized that the Holiday Scenes include a vintage street scene and that the paper's doll scale would work pretty well with it, so those three elements became the spark being the design.

I was looking for a colour scheme so I referred to my weekly challenge sheet. I didn't see anything current that could work with the elements, but when a weekly challenge comes to an end and I like a sketch or combo I didn't have time to use, I will keep a copy of the picture in my document for future reference. This came in handy here, as the soft combo from a past Just Add Ink challenge was perfect to go with the paper doll.

Before I started crafting, I made a quick clean up of my desk and I found a piece of white cardstock I had embossed with the Winter Snowflake 3D embossing folder. I decided to ink the cardstock with Tattered Rose DIstress ink and use it as my background. I stamped the street scene in Misty Moonlight ink on Seafoam Spray cardstock and used my Deckle Trimmer to cut the top and bottom edge. I inked all sides with Misty Moonlight ink. I hadn't introduced the green yet on my project, so I pulled out the Just Jade cardstock, die-cut a couple of snowflakes out of it and layered them following the sketch. I still felt I was missing something and I had found this interesting leftover piece of Just Jade cardstock that was already stamped with the Buffalo Check pattern, so I tried it as a layering piece and liked the look, so I decided to switch the second snowflake for a Misty Moonlight one.

To juj the background up, I spritzed water in my gold watercolor pan and used Tim Holtz's splatter brush to add speckles. While the gold watercolor was out, I also added some to the snowflakes's tips and to the edge of the buffalo plaid cardstock. I started gluing my elements in place and adding the Thickers words over everything. It was an interesting challenge to get those words situated as most of the letters are not linked together, which I had not noticed. I had to rearrange a couple of times so that I could overlap the two words, but still have them easily readable. I added Say It in Crystals gems and a green enamel dots to finish embellishing. 

I used my leftover snowflake die-cut to embellish the inside of the card and decorated an additional paper doll for the envelope. This card is a little different from how I usually design my cards, but I like where I ended up with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Holiday Scenes (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous); Buffalo Check (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Misty Moonlight, Just Jade, Seaside Spray, Blushing Bride, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Misty Moonlight, Blushing Bride (Stampin' Up!); Tattered Rose Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Sponge Daubers (Stampin' Up!); Hustle & Bustle Thickers (American Crafts);
Tattered Rose, Prize Ribbon and Peeled Paint Distress Embossing Glaze, Splatter Brush (Ranger);
A2 Sapphire Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Winter Snowflakes 3D Embossing Folder (Sizzix);
Frayed Denim Say It in Crystals (Prima Marketing); Green Fields Enamel Dots (Altenew);
Gansai Tambi Starry Colors Watercolors (Kuretake); Paper Dolls (idea-ology);
VersaMarker Pen (Tsukineko); Deckle Trimmer (Tim Holtz for Tonic)

 

Fall is in the Air

Inspiration: October 2019 Page Maps Sketch + Lasting Memory Layout Challenge #566 (Stripes)

I was going through my fall paper collections and picking some images I could fussy cut from some of them just to keep myself busy without crafting per se. One of those collections was Forever Fall from Simple Stories (2018). I was eager to pull it out again and make with it, so I looked through the calendars I'm pulling pictures from (those are great since they are already organized by seasons!) and I found this adorable picture of my brother-in-law and niece playing together in autumn leaves. The picture is quite big, so it filled most of the page, which means that I didn't have a lot to do to fill the rest of the page. I had no specific journaling to add to this page, the picture is just the focus, so I decided to fussy cut the words "Fall is in the Air" out of a cut-apart image and use it as my title. Underneath, I layered a couple of stickers, a leftover ribbon flower, a couple of leaves and a few acorns that came from my fussy cutting session.

I found another 4" x 6" cut-apart that I really loved the look of. I was planning of cutting it smaller and tucking it behind the picture to add the season and the date on the little tag, but as I was playing with stamps and ideas, it actually turned into a notebook! No rime or reason, I just went where the inspiration was taking me. I have this cool Library Love stamp set from Inky Antics that I used on the little tag on the paper and then I layered one of the manila tags I had lying on my desk underneath, using another one of the stamps from the same set. I inked the edges with two shades of Distress Oxide for a shaded look and looped Blushing Bride twine on it. I looked at my washi tapes, which are now organized by colours, and found a cool leaf-patterned on in my navy section, that I used for the book binding.

The strips with the pinking edge on the top and bottom of the striped paper are actually the marketing strips you cut off the bottom of the paper. I like when companies add patterns to them so that they can be recycled instead of wasted, so I used decorative scissors on them and added them to the page. I tied two colours of twine around each one, used my tiny stapler to hold them in place, and then I used my cut images and the Element sticker sheet to embellish the rest of the page. I added the year the picture was taken with Thickers at the top of the page. If you look closely, the bottom layer is a jeans pattern with stitching all around the edges of the page. I found my Designer Elements and they look just like grommets so they were perfect to add to each corner. This page is a nice mix of older and newer supplies. 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Library Love (Inky Antics)
Patterned Papers, Element Stickers: Forever Fall (Simple Stories)
Inks: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!); 
Frayed Burlap, Antique Linen Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Mini Stapler, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Blushing Bride Baker's Twine, Designer Elements,
Baked Brown Sugar Thick Baker's Twine, Soft Suede Cotton Twine, Faceted Dots (Stampin' Up!);
Metal Square Brad (Making Memories); Buttons (Foof-a-La); Decorative Scissors (Fiskars);
Washi Tape (Carta Bella); Cecily Thickers (American Crafts);
Ice Ice Baby Gumdrops (YNS Gumdrops);  Pumpkin and Spice Say It in Crystals (Prima Marketing);
Blender Brushes (Taylored Expressions); Corner Chomper (We R Memory Makers);
Décos Mots doux Rose thé (Florilèges Design)

 

Sympathy Leaves

Inspiration: The Card Concept #159

I wanted to play with the Fall Leaves Background Stencils launched by Lawn Fawn in their latest release. I liked the colours from The Card Concept, so I picked four shades of Distress Oxide inks that resembled the combo. I tend to always stencil on white, vanilla or kraft cardstock and so I made a conscious effort here to pick something else. The Gold Rush cardstock from Lawn Fawn caught my eye and I got curious to see how the Oxide inks would look on it. The answer is: beautiful. The gold specks from the Gold Rush cardstock are still showing through the ink and catching the light beautiful when you move the card around.

Since I had picked Festive Berries as my red ink, I remembered I had inked a tag in this specific shade when I had done a bunch of tags previously, so I pulled it out and it become my sentiment spot and center of the card. I stamped and gold-embossed a sentiment that reads "I wish I could make your heart feel better" and threaded the tag with vanilla twine.

I remembered I had the Small Stitched Leaves dies from Lawn Fawn, so I pulled them out to die-cut fall leaves. I first tried out inking Gold Rush cardstock again but I was not liking the die-cut result, so I pulled Bristol instead. I inked scraps in the same Distress Oxide ink colours, splattered Blue Gold watercolor over it and die-cut the leaves. I remembered I had some glittery tulle from the dollar store, so I used a piece to add underneath my layered pieces. It still felt a little empty, so I inked a strip of Bristol in Fossilized Amber to bring in the yellow, tore the edge (making sure to tear towards me so I wouldn't have a white edge showing) and I added this piece under the tag. Also in the new release is a die set called Christmas Garland, filled with various sprigs. I used a small one to tuck in with the leaves and larger ones on the envelope and inside the card. I finished everything off with enamel dots.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Apaiser ton coeur (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Ruby Red, Sage Shadow (Stampin' Up!); Bristol (Canson); Gold Rush (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Festive Berries, Bundled Sage, Fossilized Amber, Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Dies: Small Stitched Leaves, Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables, Christmas Garland (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Blending Brushes (Taylored Expressions); A2 Blonde Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com);
Vanilla Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals, Halloween Night Enamel Dots (Stampin' Up!);
Holly Jolly Enamel Dots (Simple Stories); My Sweet Say It in Crystals (Prima Marketing);
Fall Leaves Background Stencil (Lawn Fawn)

 

RIP Pocket

And we are finally off on Halloween crafting! I let myself get tempted by Christmas projects for a few weeks before I finally circled back to Halloween. I was in the mood to craft tonight and initially thought I would pick a collection and spend a couple of hours die-cutting and fussy cutting elements so that I would have a base ready to craft with later. It turned out that I die-cut a pocket and already had an idea on how to embellish it, so I let inspiration take me where it wanted to go and I quickly ended up with a completed project.

I selected the Boo Crew collection from Simple Stories. I absolutely fell in love with it when sneak peeks came out last year. It reminded me of an older Halloween paper collection from Stampin' Up! with rust and dark grey colours that I had used up until the very last bit. The imagery is also incredibly cute, so I asked my local store to pretty much order the whole collection for me. Last year being what it was with the pandemic, the elements trickled in a few elements at a time and by the time I had received most of it, I was already mostly done with my Halloween projects. The one time in my life that I worked ahead of time... I wasn't too concerned about it, I knew I would like revisiting the collection later. 

My base envelope was made with the Small Crayon Box Card die set. When you forgo the crayons, you really just end up with a fun envelope that can be used for a lot of different things. I remembered my beloved Spider Web doilies (sold by Stampin' Up! many moons ago). I still have quite a few in the pack, but I'll be sad when they are all used up. I wish I had that shape as a die... I folded the doily in two on the side of the envelope and stapled it in place on both sides since the envelope was not glued together yet.

As I was pulling my doilies out from my Halloween embellishments box, I found some old die-cuts from Making Memories, so I picked a cute sparkly label shape and a sparkly eyed ghost as well. I assembled the envelope and wrapped grey with black stripes ribbon around it. I then added the label with black foam adhesive, layered a leftover piece of paper at an angle and then I remembered my skull and crossbones die from Echo Park. This is actually from the Pirate Tales collection, so the dies include a little bandana you can put on the skull to make it look like a pirate, but I realized I should keep it around for Halloween crafting. Here's the best part: purchased of $0.99 in the Clearance section. Talk about a score! I think Echo Park would sell their dies more if they included an image of the die pieces as well - the image of the assembled die on the front of the packaging does not always show clearly how many separate pieces are in the set and what can be done with pieces individually.

The skull was die-cut out of the pearlized Speciality paper from Stampin' Up!, which is definitely off-white, so it works well with this collection that has vanilla as a neutral instead of white. I added RIP from the foam stickers, as well as two of the stars, and I tucked my little ghostie peeking out from inside the envelope. As the final touch, I added a rhinestone inside the skull's eye socket. I like where I landed with that one. 

I have a sneaking suspicion the kids will not be going door to door again this year for Halloween, so I think I'll put together cute candy packages and prepare another scavenger hunt to entertain the girls with again this year.

 

 

Supplies
Specialty Paper: Pearlescent (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Foam Stickers: Boo Crew (Simple Stories)
Die-Cuts: Toil & Trouble (Making Memories)
Dies: Small Crayon Box Card (Honey Bee Stamps); Skull & Crossbones (Echo Park)
Accessories: Spiderweb Doilies, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Mini Stapler, 
Black Striped Basic Grey Satin Ribbon (Stampin' Up!); Black Foam Adhesive (Brutus Monroe)

 

Christmas and Valentine Flight of Fancy

Inspiration: SUO challenge #284 (People)

A while back, I gave my colored pencils a try on Crumb Cake cardstock using two stamps from the Flight of Fancy stamp set from Stampin' Up! (now retired). Inspired by the people-themed challenge, I decided to turn my colored images into cards. I used the same design for both images, cutting them into large strips, dry embossing a panel to go underneath on the card, stamping a sentiment and finishing it off with ribbon. 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Flight of Fancy
Ink: Flirty Flamingo, Night of Navy
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Balmy Blue, Flirty Flamingo, Blushing Bride
Embossing Folders: Parisian Flourish 3D, Scripty 3D
Accessories: Pencils (Prismacolor); Elegant Faceted Gems, White Medium Envelopes,
Seaside Spray 1/4" Metallic Ribbon, Misty Moonlight Ribbon

 

Winter Gentleman

Inspiration: Hand Stamped Sentiments #372 + Inspired By #187

I wanted to test out some recent purchases when I sat down to craft today. I started with the Cable Knit background stamp from Impression Obsession. I was really curious to see how it looks. It was a stamp my local store carried that had me really curious as I love knit patterns, but I couldn't find much online when I googled it to find samples of how it looked, so this purchase was a little bit of a gamble. (Verdict: I love how it looks.) I looked at current colour combo challenges for inspiration, and so I stamped the image on Merry Merlot cardstock with matching ink.

The other purchase I couldn't wait to use was the Vault Series: Christmas 2021 dies from Tim Holtz for Sizzix. Tim made an awesome selection, as I love every image included in this set, the vintage gentleman most of all. Because the colour combo was including Cinnamon Cider, that's the colour I used for the silhouette. It seemed a little plain, so I overstamped a background image from Music & Advert.

The snowflake is also something I've received recently. I made a purchase online and was able to use a "free gift with purchase" code. I had no idea what would be added to the order and had my expectations set pretty low, but receiving a Tim Holtz die was a happy surprise. While I might not have splurged on those dies, I definitely like the look enough to work them into designs. I picked champagne glitter paper (my favorite vintage, versatile glitter paper colour) and I placed the snowflake in the corner of the square, as per the Inspired By sketch. I didn't want to go back to pink for the square, so I pulled out Very Vanilla as a neutral for the design. I found a piece of cardstock in my folder that had already been previously embossed with a Stripe embossing folder. It reminded me of the wood texture from the Inspired By challenge picture so I cut it size and matted it with Cinnamon Cider cardstock. I looked through French stamps to find a sentiment and I immediately loved how the "Joy" word was looking and how it was exactly the width of my cardstock. I made sure to use my stamping platform as I didn't know if the stamping would come out evenly with the embossing, but it worked out well. I inked the edges with my Tea Dye vintage ink spot, a product Stampin' Up! carried many years ago. I distressed the edges of the stamped background and inked the edges of the card base.

The card still somehow felt a little bare so I stamped pink snowflakes on my vanilla cardstock and found a tab die in my trusty Planner Essentials dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs. This is where I reused some scraps on my desk. Early on, I had planned on using the Typewriter 3D embossing folder from Tim Holtz and cut the pieces apart to spell out Noel. I started with Copper foil paper and it was competing too much with the die-cut snowflake. I repeated the same steps with Petal Pink cardstock and inked the raised letters in Merry Merlot ink and I was still very underwhelmed by the result. That's where I switched to stamps and moved on, but I didn't want to waste my foil paper so I die-cut the embossed scraps and I LOVE the look! You don't see the letters, you just see the texture and it looks like hammered metal. Very cool! I also had this bow from the same Christmas 2021 die set that I kept trying on the card and putting away and revisiting and I finally decided to top the tab with it. I included a Say It in Crystals gem on the tab as well. (My local scrapbook store owner needed to make room for all of the seasonal releases that were coming up so she offered a mega sale on a lot of amazing stuff last month. As part of this sale, I scored Say It in Crystal packs at 40% off. Those are gorgeous, but an be pricey, so I made sure to grab a few favorites. This pinkish one comes from the Diamond pack.)

I added a few more die-cuts inside the card and on the envelope to finish off the set nicely.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Music & Advert (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous);
Cable Knit (Impression Obsession Rubber Stamps);
Tourbillon de flocons, Vive Noël (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Merry Merlot, Petal Pink, Very Vanilla, Cinnamon Cider (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Merry Merlot, Petal Pink, Cinnamon Cider, Tea Dye (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Vault Series Christmas 2021, Fanciful Snowflakes (Tim Holtz for Sizzix);
Zig Zag Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Planner Essentials 4 (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Embossing Folders: Stripes (Stampin' Up!); Typewriter (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Diamond Say It in Crystals (Prima Marketing); A2 Metallic Bronze Envelope (Envelopes.com);
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Faceted Dots, Sponge Daubers, Distressing Tool (Stampin' Up!)

 

One Sketch, Two Cards

Inspiration: TGIF challenge #333 + Simon Says Stamp Monday (Stamp It)

The sketch immediately made me think of the Simple Stripes backdrop die from Lawn Fawn. I looked through my 6" x 6" paper pads and landed on 'Tis the Season from Echo Park (2013 - wow, didn't realize this pad was this old!). I picked five patterns and die-cut the background die out of each. I arranged the strips in a pleasing manner on two card base. 

Then I went to select stamps. I have recently looked at older cards I had posted in my Splitcoast Stampers gallery and it reminded me that I used to stamp with Cat Pajamas' sets all the time years ago. It reminded me how cute those are, so that's where I went digging. I pulled a few sets that might work and I ended up stamping three images so that I could color them all at once.

I fussy cut the bear image from No Peeking first, and paper pieced the gift image, adding shading with Copic markers. I used vellum for the center panel and added a fine frame made of red cardstock around, which was inspired by leftover pieces on my desk. I embossed a frame using the old Designer Frames embossing folders from Stampin' Up! I stamped "Surprise!" in VersaMark ink and embossed it in red glitter embossing powder. Finally, I picked up a green button that was also left on my desk, threaded Poppy Parade woven ribbon in it and added it to the corner of the vellum. I'm really please with the result on this one.

I also had the singing penguin image, also colored and paper pieced and the scale was also working well for the design, so I used the same idea (leftover fine frame, vellum rectangle, red embossed sentiment), but in this case, I added a stitched oval die-cut to fill in the space a little better. Then I popped up the last word of the sentiment on Dimensionals (mostly because the word was totally unreadable with the embossing), two sparkly gems on each side, and I stamped the music notes with Jet Black StazOn ink.

I still have quite a few strips leftover from my die-cutting so we'll see what I use those for. Maybe glue them on cardstock and die-cut tags? I also have my leftover colored image to use on something.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps:  No Peeking, Joy to the World (The Cat's Pajamas); Coffret d'étiquettes (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: 'Tis the Season (Echo Park)
Ink: VersaMark; Jet Black StazOn; Real Red, Old Olive (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Stitched Oval Stackables, Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables,
Simple Stripes: Portrait (Lawn Fawn); Lots of Labels (Stampin' Up!);
Fine Frame Cover (Altenew)
Accessories: Designer Frames, Wonderful Gems, Poppy Parade Woven Ribbon,
Real Red Glitter Embossing Powder (Stampin' Up!); Button (Foof-a-La);
Black Envelope, Avocado Envelope (envelopes.com); Mini White Pompom (Queen & Co)

 

Holly Jolly

Inspiration: Lasting Memory Layout #564 (Plaid) 

The starting point of this page was some new Planner Essentials dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs recently added to my collection. I really liked the torn edge page and I was curious to see how it looked, so I looked through my winter and Christmas papers and decided to grab Holly Jolly from Simple Stories (2019). I only have the 6" x 8" paper pad for the patterned papers, but I do have the 12" x 12" Basics kit, so I used the pink paper as my page base. I also tested the long rectangle with corner slits and this one was sized to fit on the patterned papers, so I used plaid. I went back to my picture calendars and picked a cute picture of my two nieces together.

Because the picture comes from the calendar, I had the hole from the page in the picture, so I hid it with the tab from the same die set. I looked through the Bits & Pieces pack from the same collection and used two words for the title, the candy cane and the little elf feed, which ties in nicely with my niece's pyjamas. I fussy cut a few ornaments from the patterned paper and added those at the top of the page. I also punched two snowflakes from the same page and added those as well. I die-cut a border for the page from another Planner Essentials dies set. I really wanted to decorate my candy cane with holly and I remembered I had Doodlebug Sprinkles so I went looking to see if the colours worked. The green of the leaves was perfect, but the red of the berries, not so much, so I substituted an email dot from the Holly Jolly collection instead. In the older embellishments I've left on my desk hoping to finally get them used, I found a green velvet brad from Making Memories that matched well and added it to the right of my title.

I didn't want to leave the back of the page blank, and I had another picture from the calendar that worked well with those papers, so I die-cut another page border for the back and started working on the assembly. The front came together in a flash, but this side took much longer. Because my niece is getting her card from Santa in the Christmas mailbox, I pulled a few elements that were mail-related and it took a big of fussing before I found a way to include them on the page in a pleasing way.

The two houses at the bottom also come from the Bits & Pieces. I added Stickles to mimic snow. I used the "place" and "date" ticket die from a Planner Essentials kit. In older supplies I've brought back out, I found a metal-rimmed tag with white twine. I took the twine off, added a burgundy eyelet, rethreaded the twine and added a metal and sparkly white bead on it before tying in a knot again. I tried handwriting my journaling on it but it turned out all crooked and I was not liking it at all, so I grabbed a leftover die-cut square on my desk and did a do-over. I had die-cut reinforcers for the page and I reused the holes as embellishments, adding Shimmery Crystal Effects on them.

Another older item I had brought back out was the Old St. Nick rub-ons from Stampin' Up! I spotted a "airmail" word and a stamp image, so those were perfect for the mail theme. I transferred the stamp to woodgrain paper from the collection and punched it out with the Postage Stamp punch. I moved the Airmail rub-on around for a long time before I finally decided to try inking one of my older packing tag I've been reusing. I tried with Tumbled Glass, but the blue was off for the page, so I tried Forest Moss and decided that one could work. I created an ombre look by only inking the bottom of the tag and fading the ink out towards the top. I overstamped images from the Cute Snowflakes stamp set in the same ink colour, and then I transferred my rub-on in the top corner. I had done wax sceal with my initial, so I layered one on the tag. (I guess C could be for Claus...) I added a couple more Bits & Pieces, my last fussy cut ornament and a sparkly brad from Making Memories. The circle Ho Ho Ho rub-on went on the ticket die-cut, along with an email dot. To keep the twine and beads from drooping, I decided to staple them in place. I didn't want the staple to show on the other side of the page, so I made sure to lift the ticket off and staple only on it.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Cute Snowflakes (Simon Says Stamp)
Patterned Papers, Bits & Pieces, Enamel Dots: Holly Jolly (Simple Stories)
Ink: Forest Moss Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Dies: Planner Essentials 11, 39, Sidekick Essentials 16 (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Accessories: Twinkle Stickles (Ranger); Metal-Rimmed Tags, Red Glitter Brad,
Velvet Brad (Making Memories); Beads (Bead Landing); Rhinestone Basic Jewels,
Old St. Nick Rub-Ons, Stampin' Dimensionals, Circle and Postage Stamp Punches (Stampin' Up!);
Holly Berries Sprinkles Shapes (Doodlebug Design); Wax and Wax Seal (Unknown);
Journaling Pen (Marvy)

 

A Sense of Normality

Inspiration: Page Maps February 2020 + Lasting Memory Layout challenge #563 (Polka Dots)

The Kate & Ash collection was sitting in the pile of papers I was hoping to use soon. I was looking at the papers and embellishments and when I saw the "Shopping? I'm a master" chipboard piece, I thought it could go well with the pictures I took when I went to the shopping center in August. They weren't printed yet, so I decided to give my printer one more try. It hadn't wanted to print pictures for over a year. It will pick up whatever paper is in the regular bin, but for some reason, had stopped picking from the picture tray, which was giving me grief. Don't ask me why, but tonight, it finally worked! I did a picture stitch using the Project Life app on my phone.

The journaling on this page basically explains that I had been avoiding stores during the pandemic and had not been shopping in over a year. I needed new clothes, particularly pants, badly so once I was fully vaccinated, I finally made a trip to the shopping centre on a Friday night when it was pretty quiet and made a much needed refresh to my wardrobe. I also grabbed dinner at the food court and when I sat down to eat, I felt very grateful to be able to have a somewhat regular outing again. (On a funny note, the picture with the cream pants was not taken because I wanted to take a selfie but because the pants I wanted were not available in the size and length I needed in the store, so I took a picture of the pants and tag so I would be able to find them on the website and place an order! The picture was telling the story, though, so I ended up keeping it.)

The bag image was fussy cut from one of the cut-apart sheets, and I added the ice cream ephemera piece over it, which is fitting, because the last thing I grabbed from the shopping centre before leaving was a gelato, which I enjoyed on my way out. I found those piece of clothing in the ephemera pack, so I added those as well. I had been wanting to make pompom clips after seeing some online, so I added a white and silver pompom to the top of a paperclip using a tiny strip of paper folded in half to keep the pompon in place.

I wanted a border on my aqua paper to mimic the border on the sketch and I ended up pulling my chevron border punch, which I hadn't used in ages. I paper pieced the chevrons by simply turning the pieces around and showing the backside of the paper. I created my title with four different alphabet sets, and I wasn't sure I was liking the placement at first, but after adding the sticker tab on the picture to fill in the space and finding eyelashes on the sticker sheet, that I stuck on both sides of the first word, I decided I liked it better. I used my T-ruler to add lines with an aqua gel pen and then I handwrote my journaling in black pen. I stamped the date with a date roller stamp on a die-cut - and had to go correct the mistake that I had made once my page was all done as I realized that the date stamp was saying 2012 and not 2021 like I thought when I read the text upside down!

I used pink cardstock for my base page, which I probably didn't think I would ever use because it is really pink, and I added little stars using the Magical Night stencil and White Glitz glitter gel. At the bottom, I rounded the corners of a piece of patterned paper so it would look like a credit card and I layered two tags that were sitting on my desk. One was still blank (manila) and the other one had been inked during my previous craft session where I inked tags in various Distress Oxide shades for fun, doing an ombre look. The green one fit very well with my paper collection so I layered a couple pieces of chipboard over it, one being from an unrelated collection - Autumn Sunset by Prima Marketing. Those are on my desk because I am hoping to add them to my projects in the coming months and the mustard ticket was fitting with the golden yellow from the papers very nicely. This "keeping a few things out on my desk for inspiration" tactic has been paying off so far.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Briliant (Heidi Swapp); Date Stamp (Office Supplies)
Patterned Papers, Stickers, Bits & Pieces, Journal Bits, Enamel Dots: Kate & Ash (Simple Stories)
Cardstock: Pearlescent Vellum (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Delightful Dijon (Stampin' Up!);
Evergreen Bough Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Tango Tangerine Baker's Twine, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Opal Rounds (Stampin' Up!);
Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers); White Gelly Roll Pen (Sakura);
White Glitz Glitter Gel (Gina K Designs); Sorbet Thickers (American Crafts);
Life of the Party Charmed Alphabet (My Mind's Eye); Little Letters (Queen & Co);
Frosty Alphabet Stickers (Pretty Little Studio); Blending Tool (Ranger)

 

Hello Sunshine

I found leftover papers from the Make a Wish collection from Cocoa Vanilla and decided to make a page with them. I basically worked with the shape of the papers I had to create my layers, pulled a picture from one of my family calendar and used a Thickers from the Heat Wave collection. It always blows my mind how much quicker a project gets put together when I can use premade embellishments like a full title (even as compared to having to line up alphabet stickers). I don't mind the English too much in my scrapbooking since it's mostly for me, and that was a nice way to get more varied fonts as well. And that lovely touch of gold.

I had only a few cut-aparts left and most of them were of words pertaining to birthdays. I did find a row of ticket, a couple of frames and a fun brushstrokes image, which I cut apart and added each one individually to the page using dimensional foam adhesive. I love that element and I particularly like the matching rhinestones on each one. I was using rhinestones a ton a few years back and when Stampin' Up! had a sale where the packs were included, I stocked up on them. Sadly, I soon found out that rhinestones yellow over time. And that it really shows if you put them on projects that have a white base. When putting this page together, I thought I could pull out the rhinestones and my Copic markers and color each one to a matching shade, therefore hiding the unfortunate yellowing. I'm very pleased with this idea, as I think this might help me give a second life to those rhinestone packs.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: Make a Wish (Cocoa Vanilla)
Accessories: Buttons (Foof-a-La); White Tissue Paper (Dollar Store); Markers (Copic);
Heat Wave Thickers (American Crafts); Bumblebee Sunshine Alphabet Stickers (Doodlebug Design);
Rhinestone Basic Jewels. Iced Rhinestone Embellishments, Distressing Tool, Peekaboo Peach Seam Binding,
Pacific Point Grosgrain Ribbon, Share What You Love Artisan Pearls, In Color Enamel Shapes,
Piercing Template, Paper Piercer (Stampin' Up!)

 

Winter Festivities

Inspiration: Tuesday Morning Sketch #622

I still had a lot of leftover pieces from die-cutting the Simple Stripes backdrop die in many patterns so when I spotted the Tuesday Morning sketch, I figured I could use some of them for the background section of the sketch, and use some more of the paper pad for the other sections. I already had the penguin image colored, so all that was left to do was fussy cut it.

I die-cut a circle out of polka dot paper and I used some Old Saint Nick white rub-ons that Stampin' Up! carried ages ago to add pattern to the circle. I distressed the edge of the grey patterned paper, layered a bit of mesh ribbon and a piece of Old Olive satin ribbon to match. I added four green buttons in each corner as per the sketch, and I embossed my sentiment ("May the Festivities Begin") in white on black paper. I punched it out with the Washi Tape punch.

Also while looking for embellishments, I found the Claus & Co. wood veneers and decided to add the snowflake shape to my card. I used White Glitz embossing powder from Wow. Here's my feedback on this powder. It looks beautiful - it's white embossing powder with clear glitter that's shaped like tiny little rectangles. I've said it before, I love sparkly stuff that is pure white and does not have color to it when it catches the light, as it is easier to use on project where there is pure white cardstock. My complain with this powder is that most of the glitter does not stay on the project when you melt the powder. It feels like the grains are detail powder, and maybe had it been a coarser embossing powder, the grip would be better? I've used it twice so far and the high shedding makes it very disappointing.

I added Stormcloud pearls, Sparkling Clear confetti and red rhinestones to finish embellishing. I used additional rub-ons on a black envelope and created a red address block.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Peace, Joy and Penguins (The Cat's Pajamas); La splendeur de Noël (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!) 
Patterned Paper: 'Tis the Season (Echo Park)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Dies: Deco Labels (Stampin' Up!); Simple Stripes: Portrait (Lawn Fawn);
Circle Double Stitched (Art Impressions)
Accessories: Distressing Tool, Old Saint Nick Rub-Ons,
Mesh Ribbon, Old Olive Satin Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Opaque Bright White Super Fine, White Glitz Embossing Powder (Wow!);
Stormcloud Pearls (Studio Katia);Sparkling Clear Confetti Mix (Pretty Pink Posh);
Claus & Co. Wood Veneer (Simple Stories); Buttons (Foof-a-La);
Midnight Black Envelope (envelope.com)

 

Hip Hip Hooray

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Stamp It)

This card was made with the leftover papers I had from the Make a Wish collection (Cocoa Vanilla, 2016). I was loving the woodgrain pattern and I wondered how it would look if I stamped and colored an image directly on it with pencils. No better way to know how something would turn out than to test it out, so I stamped a cute image from LDRS Creative and colored it with my Polychromos pencils. I recycled the striped corner I had punched but not used on my scrapbook page and topped it with a velvet brad I had sitting on my desk. (I try to pull out a few selected older supplies and work them into my designs so that they get used up.) The sentiment came from a cut-apart. The French spelling is pretty close, so I snipped off the last letter and used a gel pen to turn the second O into a U.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Everything Stops for Walkies (LDRS Creative)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Make a Wish (Cocoa Vanilla)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Polished Pink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Square Punches, Jumbo Rhinestones, Peekaboo Peach Seam Binding,
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Share What You Love Artisan Pearls (Stampin' Up!);
Dotted Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn); Velvet Brad (Making Memories);
Pink Envelope (The Paper Cut); Polychromos Pencils (Fäber-Castell)

 

Halloween Anya

Inspiration: Tic Tac Toe Challenge #129 (Pumpkin + Cat (on the boo cut-apart) + Interactive Element)

I really wanted to ink up the Miss Anya All Year stamp set and since I was also eager to dive into my Thirty-One paper pack, I picked the image of the girl holding a pumpkin. I had this plan to give her colored hair, so the collection colours allowed me to go for pink. As I was gathering my supplies, I realized I could make a birthday card for my older niece. She celebrates her birthday at the end of October and therefore has always associated Halloween with her birthday. We don't necessarily do the amalgam, but she loves having the Halloween theme linked to her birthday. The fact that this collection is colorful and soft made for the perfect birthday card. She's also decided lately that black is her favorite colour (she's going into full pre-teenager mode), so another reason to pick that collection for her.

I stamped my Anya image in Tuxedo Black ink and colored her with Copic markers. I added Midas Touch Aqua Shimmer to the eyes and mouth of the pumpkin and Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer to her hair. It looks really cool when the card catches the light. No dies for this set (as far as I know), so I cut the image out the good ol' fashioned way. 

Because my niece has also stated repeatedly that she LOVES interactive card, I looked at my Lawn Fawn dies and picked the Double Slider Surprise, which would allow me to use even more pretty paper. Because I wanted to wrap ribbon around the front of the slider and not have it in the way of the mechanism, I did my slider pocket in pink cardstock and die-cut a second piece of patterned paper to layer over the slider pocket. I layered die-cut bats (patterned paper over black glitter paper), distressed the edges of a cut-apart and picked a bow I had previously made. I recently found the Creative Bows dies from Moda Scrap on clearance and was interested in adding different bow formats to my collection. I was really curious to see how the bows looked and their size so I tested the dies out on the Thirty-One papers, knowing I was bound to play with the collection in the upcoming months. (It's a great die-set, by the way. You get two sizes of bows and the tails and shapes are all different. Really good deal for a reasonable price.)

I had recently been looking through my buttons and had left aside two colours that are sliders, thinking it would be neat to use them with ribbon on a project. The pink one was the perfect shade and size, so I looked at my ribbons and went for the black and white striped one. As I was assembling my items on the slider, I remembered this collection includes tinsel, so I pulled it out and started playing with it. Once I tried wrapping the black tinsel around the button, I loved the look and I kept the idea, using my glue gun to keep it in place. I switched to a smaller bow for better proportions, and I added a die-cut sentiment and cut-apart image to the two sliding pieces of the card.

For the background, I remembered I had found glittery tulle at the dollar store lately (it looks great, but it sheds glitter very heavily), so I tested out the colours and decided I liked the orange in the background. I layered it over my starry patterned paper, holding it in place with four mini staples. The silver was a little bright for me, so I colored them with my Copic markers in a dark C10 (dark grey). I made a card base out of Soft Sky cardstock, glued the paper on it and I added the double slider to the card with dimensional foam. Then... I found out the slider was moving around on the staple tulle. So I pulled it off the card, plugged in my glue gun again and hot glued the panel in place. The panel is now much more secure and I can move the sliding parts in and out way more easily.

I knew I would need an oversized envelope and couldn't make one out of patterned paper since I only have an 8" x 8" paper pad currently. I remembered I had an envelope from Anthropologie from a few years ago I had put aside to repurpose, so I pulled it out and not only the size was perfect, but the lining was the same bluish colour as the papers. I used a piece of paper and a cut-apart image to decorate the envelope (and hide the Anthropologie logo) and I used another one of my die-cut bows. I also added a little potion bottle that was hand-cut from patterned paper to the bottom strip with dimensional adhesive.

I also remembered another thing that my niece goes crazy over: little clips with dangles on them. I've started making some in the past year and she always unclips them from the project and play around with them endlessly. I was putting ribbon away and realized I could make one of my beloved ribbon tassle, and then add the jack-o-lantern beads I found on a recent trip to the crafts store. I was a little unsure about the bead when I pulled it out as it's bright orange and the papers have more of a soft papaya colour to them, but I decided to go for it as I know my niece will love the dangle either way. I included a little mother-of-pearl star on there as well. I wanted to add an eyelet and clip the dangle on the envelope directly, but I was afraid the stitching would unravel if I punched my hole over it and as I feared, the eyelet ended up too far from the side of the envelope to clip it in. So I improvised and added black cord to tie it on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Miss Anya All Year (The Greeting Farm)
Cardstock: Soft Sky, Pale Papaya, Whisper White, Black Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!);
Cotton Candy (Bazzill); Holographic Set 2 (Pink & Main)
Patterned Papers: Thirty-One (Prima Marketing)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Dies: Creative Bows (Moda Scrap); Wonky Stitch Rectangle Stax (My Favorite Things);
Double Slider Surprise (Lawn Fawn); Bonne fête/Merci (Dee's Distinctively);
Halloween Bats (Recollections); Layering Squares (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Bling Stickers (Recollections); Mini Stapler, Stampin' Dimensionals, Distressing Tool,
Black and White Striped Ribbon, Twinkle Adhesive-Backed Sequins,
various ribbons and black cord, Eyelet (Stampin' Up!);
Markers (Copic); Thirty-One Tinsel Trim (Prima Marketing); Black Glitter Washi Tape (Unknown);
Orange Sparkly Tulle (Dollar Store); Jack-o-Lantern and Mother-of-Pearl Star Beads (Bead Landing);
Pinking Shears; Midas Touch and Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brushes (Nuvo)

 

Fall Birthday Wishes

Inspiration: Just Us Girls #600 (Six of Something = Gems)

After I was done making a layout with the Forever Fall collection from Simple Stories (2018), I wanted to make a card as well before putting the collection away. I thought I could keep going with the Miss Anya All Year stamp set from The Greeting, which I am loving. I picked the little girl with her backpack and hoodie, as her outfit looked fall-ish to me. I colored with Copic markers and fussy cut the image out.

I had a cut-apart from the 4" x 6" sheet that I thought could work well as a background for my image, so I started off with that piece and I cut it down to 3-7/8" x 5-3/8" so it would fit on a regular A2 card base. The oval was quite large, so I went looking for a large French sentiment. It is interesting - when I'm looking for smaller sentiments, a lot of them always feel too large to add to a project and when I do look for large sentiments, I realize those are still too small not to look lost in the space. Interesting how the sizing of a sentiment is just as important as its font and what it says. I finally stumbled unto an older set from Stampin' Up! called Time of Year that filled the space very nicely. It says "a little thought" and then you can fill in the rest if you want by adding what the occasion is. I added "on your birthday" as I want to restock a bit on birthday cards, especially ones with a seasonal feel to them. I emboss the first words with Speckled Egg Distress Glaze, and I embossed the birthday banner in navy powder on the soft pink patterned paper. I handcut the banner with the matching Bunch of Banners dies. 

While looking through my sentiment stamps, I found the Beautiful Peacock stamp set and thought the flourish could help to fill in the background a bit, so I stamped them in Blushing Bride and Lost Lagoon ink around my sentiment.

Previously during the week, I have done some fussy cutting from various fall and Halloween collections while sitting in front of the TV so I would have embellishments at the ready when using the collections. In this one, I had little flowers so I used two for the top corners and added one by the pumpkin at the bottom, plus a tiny one on the sentiment banner. I added gems and pearls to the center of the flowers. I then found some mushroom stickers on the Element sheet, so I popped those up on dimensional adhesive and added them to the bottom of the card.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Miss Anya All Year (The Greeting Farm); Plein de voeux (Time of Year), 
Joli Paon (Beautiful Peacock - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Merry Merlot, Lost Lagoon, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Element Stickers: Forever Fall (Simple Stories)
Ink: VersaMark; Blushing Bride, Lost Lagoon (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Navy Embossing Powder (Top Boss); Markers (Copic);
Speckled Egg Distress Embossing Glaze (Ranger); 
Bunch of Banners Dies, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals,
Blushing Bride Baker's Twine, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!);
Doo Dadz (Buttons Galore & More); Persimmon Pearls (Studio Katia); 
Midnight Black Gems (Pretty Pink Posh)

 

Beachy Vibes

Inspiration: Just Add Ink #570

I finally managed to put my hands on the Retro Sun & Palms stencil set. I LOVE that retro sun design and I cannot wait to try various colour iterations of it. Here, I paired it with the colour combo from Just Add Ink and did something pretty simple, using blender brushes and my Distress Oxide inks in Salvaged Patina and Chipped Sapphire.

I splat Glitter Gloss over the card to make it shimmer and I stamped a sentiment from the Timeless Tropical stamp set that reads "Enjoy a well-deserved rest" and embossed it in navy powder. This makes a nice retirement or vacation card. I recently scored big time when I found Prima flowers from the Apricot Honey collection in the clearance section at $0,99 each. At that price, I grabbed three packs. I like that they are the smaller flower packs, as those are easier to use on projects without making them too bulky and at that price, I can add them without hearing "cha-ching" in my head every time I glue one on. I remembered that some of them were turquoise, so I grabbed one and then I went to my stash to find another pack of smaller flowers I have to be able to mix sizes. As I did, I spotted my navy buttons, so I decided to have a look at those as an option as well. When I found a navy button with an anchor on it, I decided it was too perfect to pass up. I ended up pairing the two together to embellish my card.

I repeated the stenciling on the envelope and inside the card. I also added washi tape in a matching colour that reads "Be present in the moment." This is WAY simpler than my usual design. I only do CAS once in every blue moon, but the card looked good and I decided to leave it alone.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Tropiques éternelles (Timeless Tropical - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Salvaged Patina, Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Navy Button (Foof-a-La); Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo);
White Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!); Apricot Honey Flowers (Prima Marketing);
Washi Tape (Me and My Big Ideas); Blender Brushes (Taylored Expressions);
Retro Sun & Palms Stencil Set (Newton's Nook)

 

Beach Day

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Stamp it!)

From Christmas back to the beach... I had put aside the Hello Summer papers from Simple Stories hoping to use them on a project. I looked through stamps and decided to ink Fun in Sun from Waffle Flower. I stamped a variety of images, colored and die-cut them and then I started going through the papers to see what I would use them with. I spotted this cool 4" x 6" cut-apart that had a picture of a palm tree on it and thought the size might work with the mice. It looked quite cool, so I started arranging my stamped image and a couple of stickers (cloud and pail) to make a little scene.

For the sentiment, I thought the Dymo look of the Label Love French set from Altenew could work nicely, so I picked the Let's Celebrate sentiment. I added the flower and leaf to the side. I hid the English words on the cut-apart ("Paradise Found") with a piece of striped paper and added the thin strip I had cut off the top of the cut-apart, using the backside to make a little division. I added pink patterned paper to mat the cut-apart and mounted this on a Thick Whisper White card base.

There were a few of my colored images I had not used, so I decorated the inside of the card with them. I made a matching envelope with the teal patterned paper, created a block out of yellow paper and layered a few stickers to decorate.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Fun in Sun (Waffle Flower); Label Love French (Altenew)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Stickers: Hello Summer (Simple Stories)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Lemon Lime Twist (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board,
Deco Labels Dies (Stampin' Up); Bling Stickers (Recollections); Markers (Copic)

 

Christmas Movie Marathon

Inspiration: Inspired By #185 (Save Waste Paper - this page was done at the end of a crafting week with a lot of the leftovers from previous projects made with the Jingle All the Way collection)

While I was making my Christmas cards with the Jingle All the Way collection this week, I spotted a little TV image in the cut-aparts with Christmas Movie Marathon! on it. I thought that could make a great starting point for layout with a list of the Christmas movies I watched last year. Those can get repetitive, but they make great background noise when I scrap because I don't really have to pay close attention to follow the story. I can just safely assume when I am not looking that they are either baking cookies while throwing flour at each other, decorating the Christmas tree or ice skating together... 

Because Simple Stories almost always include a full tag cut-apart page that have images on the front and blank space on the back and that those tags are all the same size, I realized you cut leave two together, fold in the center and create either a mini-card or in this case, an adorable insert, in which I had enough room to handwrite my list. What was even more serendipitous was that the little pocket with slits from the Planner Essentials dies is the perfect size to house that little booklet. Love when things work out like that! I had a lot of fun using a mixture of fussy cut images, foam stickers and regular stickers as well as ribbon and pearls to embellish the page. I have put together 11 projects with this collection so far and I've barely made a dent in the stickers and embellishments. I'm realizing the content stretches a long way! I don't think I will be able to finish this one off quite yet, so I will probably move on to other supplies soon.

Since this side of the page was already quite full, I used the backside to add the date. I had the words "Christmas" and "Noel" fussy cut from the patterned papers. Christmas was too large, so I went with Noel. The Sticker Book includes number stickers from 1 to 31, so I borrowed the 20, the 2 and cut apart the 30 to create my year. It was getting lost amongst the background, so I added the numbers to a grid Snap Card, and cut it to size. When I had used my Fine Frame Cover die, I forgot I needed to use my precision plate to get good results, so I ended up with a Cherry Cobbler rectangle that was not entirely cut through. I did like the detailed frame it created, so I decided to use it here and create a shaker element, and layer my date over it. The Bits & Pieces kit also had a TV, but this one says "It's a Wonderful Life" on the screen, so I used this one on this side of the page. I went through my stickers to embellish the page some more and I also used an adorable gold heart from a Cocoa Vanilla collection that has nothing to do with Christmas. 

If you look closely at the second picture, you will see I have a tiny sliver of red paper that I glued on the plaid paper. This is actually the leftover portion from cutting the right edge off with decorative scissors. Now, that's using all of your scraps!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Sticker Books, Bits & Pieces, Element Stickers, Foam Stickers: Jingle All the Way (Simple Stories)
Dies: Fine Frame Cover (Altenew); Planner Essentials 2, 10, 11, 35,
Reinforcement Variety Pack (Elizabeth Craft Design)
Accessories: These Days Gold Glitter Puffy Hearts (Cocoa Vanilla);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Window Sheets, Home for Christmas Enamel Dots,
Evening Evergreen Woven Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Sequins (Cartwright's); Gold Foil and Vintage Shimmer Pearls (Studio Katia)

 

Warming Up With a Cup of Cocoa

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #551 + Time Out Challenge #195 (Colored Card Base) + Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Stamp It)

The starting point to this card was a pack of Hello Winter chipboard from Echo Park (2015) I've had for many years and that I'd let to finally use up. I pulled up the matching paper pack and tried to find inspiration. The mug with a hot drink seemed like the most likely image I could use on a card, so I looked at sketches for inspiration and picked a previous Mojo Monday sketch for inspiration. It had two rectangles on it and I spotted some of the tags I had inked earlier this week for fun. Some of them were aqua and blue and could match the patterned papers so that is why I settled on this sketch. Those manila tags were actually purchased at the office supplies store when I first started crafting. Back then, the paper crafts trend was just coming to Quebec and options were still few and far between (oh, how far we've come since!). I think the pack included 100 tags, so I don't know if I'll ever see the bottom of the pile.

I picked the tree pattern to die-cut the stitched oval to put behind, picked the navy tree pattern for the back and added the grey polka dot for the middle strip. The tags were a little bare, so I pulled out the Music & Advert stamp set and added one of the patterns to each tag with Misty Moonlight ink. I tied baker's twine and cotton twine in matching colours to the tags.

For the sentiment, I picked one that could easily be fussy cut to add to the card. I embossed it in white powder on a navy pattern, handcut the banner to add to the cup and did a bubble cut to the last three words. The blue was getting lost on the card base (even though the white sentiment could be read) so I decided to test adding a layer around. Frankly, considering this was done by hand, I'm surprised at how good it looks. I popped it up on Dimensionals as well. I added two snowflake circles from the chipboard pack as well.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Hourra pour Noël (Oh, What Fun - Stampin' Up!); 
Music & Advert (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
cardstock: Going Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Chipboard Accents: Hello Winter (Echo Park)
Ink: VersaMark; Misty Moonlight (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Wonky Stitch Rectangle Stax (My Favorite Things);
Stitched Oval Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Twinkle Stickles (Ranger); A2 Nautical Blue Linen Envelope (envelopes.com);
Sky Baker's Twine (Lawn Fawn); Soft Sky Cotton Twine, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals,
White Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!); Tags (Office Supplies)