Encre, papier, ciseaux

Carved Up Tag

The next collection I was eager to dive into was Simple Vintage October 31st by Simple Stories. Even though when I saw the previews online, I was thinking maybe I didn't need one more Halloween collection added to my stash, but when my local store brought this one in, I found it hard to resist as it is very appealing.

For my base, I used the Halloween text patterned paper and tested out the Framed Tags dies from Tim Holtz for Sizzix. I didn't ink the borders, but you can still see the impression left in the paper by the die. I added doodling using the Dylusions journal block and then I used some of the cut-apart pages to layer images on the die. 

I had previously made a button when I first got the Button Press using patterned paper from this collection, so I pulled it out to add to my tag. I added decorative brads and a few tickets from the Pewter Ticket Essentials box from 49 & Market, which looks like they were made to go with this collection.

At the bottom of the tag, I wrapped Orange Scrubby Sparkle yarn. This is a new find that I was quite excited about. Years ago, Stampin' Up! sold what they called tinsel trim in one of their Holidays minicatalogue. I purchased some from the Clearance rack after the catalogue had retired, not necessarily thinking much of it, but once I started adding the tinsel to my projects, I found myself really loving it. And then seeing my roll of it getting depleted much faster that I would like to, seeing that the product was retired and not available for purchase anymore. I had searched high and low since then trying to find something similar, searching under tinsel trim, eyelash trim or yarn... When I saw this Scrubby Sparkle yarn, I wonder if it could make a worthy replacement. I couldn't find it locally, so I placed an order and it came in this week. Right off the bat, I got very excited when I pulled it out of the packaging. It is VERY, very similar. I got three colours (red, white and orange) and the Marshmallow is a true white, which also makes me happy because I prefer this to sparkle that has colour to it. I pulled out whatever I have leftover of the original tinsel trim and it is different, in that it has little hair on both sides of the cord, making the look fluffier. That being said, it is a really close equivalent and it does look really cool added to a project, as illustrated here.

Part of that order also included orange organza ribbon with black velvet dots on it. I took the wiring out of the sides and threaded this ribbon at the top of the tag, tying it in place with thick black twine. And from the Halloween assorted glitter set, I pulled tiny bats and stars and added them to the tag as well.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Paper, Decorative Brads, Cardstock Stickers: Simple Vintage October 31st (Simple Stories)
Sparkle Paper: Autumn (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Framed Tags (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Pewter Ticket Essentials (49 & Market); Button Press (We R Memory Keepers);
Dylusions Paint Pens, Dylusions Journal Block (Ranger); Decorative Scissors (Fiskars);
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Orange Scrubby Sparkle Yarn (Red Heart);
Ribbon (Celebrate It); Black Twine, Halloween Assorted Glitter Set (Recollections)

 

Mix & A-Mingle Set

Inspiration: Mix & A-Mingle Class from Simple Stories (available through your local stores that sell Simple Stories)

Those cards are all inspired by the Mix & A-Mingle class from Simple Stories, but they've all been slightly altered to go with my whimsy. I've added washi tape, gems, French sentiments and trim to make them my own a little. The class had 8 cards and I picked my 5 favorites to reproduce. I'm really fond of this Christmas line by Simple Stories. It was love at first sight for me with this one when previews of upcoming collections were put up online. I've yet to create something on my own with it, though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10th Birthday

We will be celebrating my niece's 10^th birthday next weekend and since she gets a big kick out of interactive cards, I was trying to think of which one I had not used yet for her. I pulled out the Platform Pop-Up and went through my stamps and dies to see what I could pair with it. When I spotted the Canvas and Easel dies, I thought it would be easy to put a big 10 on it, so that was the starting spark.

I used Oak Woodgrain specialty paper from Tonic for the easel and I used some Canvas paper Stampin' Up! used to sell many years ago, which gave the perfect texture to the canvas itself. I drew inspiration from an old ColorQ challenge for the colour scheme and I was pleased to discover that I had textured cardstock in all three main colours I was using, so I made sure to use it for the splatters, so it looks like the painting kept the texture of the canvas underneath, which is a pretty cool detail. I die-cut the number 10 out of Lovely Lipstick foil paper, and I also cut another strip of Oak Woodgrain paper that I glued in place with a thin adhesive strip to create the easel's edge. I added the paint tube on it.

The platform was die-cut out of Melon Mambo Designer Series Paper. I aligned the die very carefully since I was using striped paper to make sure the stripes were straight, and I cut the floor pieces out of white woodgrain cardstock. The bench and the palette were cut out of kraft woodgrain cardstock, and I found a cute little mouse in the Dandy Day Flip-Flop set that was facing the right way to add in front of the canvas. I was planning to give him a paintbrush, but the one from the die set felt a little big, so I kept the brushes in the jar instead. The jar was die-cut out of vellum and backed with Soft Sky cardstock to give it a blue tint.

The easel is quite tall, so I had to make a larger envelope to fit the card. I added my niece's name to it using Henri's ABCs alphabet dies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Dandy Day Flip-Flop (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Solar White (Neenah); Oak Woodgrain Specialty (Tonic);
White Woodgrain (Memory Box); Kraft Woodgrain (Lawn Fawn); Silver Specialty Pack (Sizzix);
Lovely Lipstick Foil Sheets, Canvas, Vellum, Soft Sky (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper: Brights (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Dies: Art Supplies, Henry's ABCs, Canvas and Easel, Platform Pop-Up,
Dandy Day Flip-Flop (Lawn Fawn); Handmade Alphabet Bigz L (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Markers (Copic); Envelope Punch Board, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

The Christmas Gifts Are Ready...

This card came about in such an unexpected way. I've made quite a few creations using the Comfort & Joy collection from My Mind's Eye this past few months, trying to use it all up. I really thought I was finished with it after I put together four tags and was down to incredibly small pieces. On a whim, I grabbed a few die set and die-cut generic images out of whatever paper I had left. 

One of those images were the gifts from Tim Holtz's Santa's Helper set. I was really liking the look of them, so I kept those aside to see if they could be mounted on something, possibly another tag. That was put aside and then I moved on to the box where all of my idea-ology items are kept in. I don't really remember what I was looking for exactly. I *think* that maybe I wanted a paper doll to go with it. I got sidetracked, though, as a couple of my paper doll sets had been organized in pockets and the rest was not, so I decided to get this rectified. I also transferred the flair from their packaging to a tin box and as I was about to throw the packaging away, I looked at the backing paper and realized the brown distressed colour would make a really neat background for my gifts, so I tested it and loved the results.

That was enough to get the wheels rolling, so I went back to all of the little bits I had previously die-cut out of the remaining papers and I started arranging the half-circle and the little stars, the band and the tag and it was already looking like a really decent design. Because I had just seen the mirrored stars in my stash, I went back for them and sprinkled some around.

I knew I wanted a die-cut sentiment since the label I was using was too busy for stamping. I have those lovely sentiment dies from Stampin' Up! (dating back from a few years ago) that are gorgeous but also quite big. I thought the size would work with this label and sure enough, it was perfect. I used Cherry Cobbler glimmer paper and to finish the sentiment, I found the word "Happy" in another stamp set, inked the word I needed and I actually went back to my recycling bin to fish out a tiny piece of seafoam paper to stamp the word on. I used the Waffle Flower Sentiments dies to cut the word out. What's funny is that the brown packaging piece I was using had a hole for hanging the package at the top, which I initially was just planning to hang ribbon from to make it look purposeful, but the word strip was actually the perfect size to hide it. Remembering the flair I had just organized, I went back looking through the tin and I picked two of different sizes that I added to the bottom of the scene. 

I was really pleased with the result and started thinking about how I would get this mounted on a card base. In my tool organizer, I have two chipboard pieces that were cut out to reflect an A2 card front and a mini slimline card front and I always use those to test images on when I'm trying to decide on a card size. I've noticed that in recent years, rather than force a design to fit on a regular card size, I work the other way around and decide what size the card will be based on what I'm working with. This was the case here as the repurposed packaging was fitting too snuggly on an A2 card for my liking. So I found a piece of white chipboard and I cut some additional card sizes I'm likely to use and I tested my piece on them. I realized 4½" x 6" was giving me perfect borders all around.

I created a Crumb Cake card base and wanted patterned paper to go between the two layers. As I was out of the Comfort & Joy paper, I pulled out some Tim Holtz Christmas paper, but then I remembered that I also had the Reminisce Book 3 from Elizabeth Craft Designs and I found just what I needed in there. I picked the polka dot paper, inked and distressed the edges, and I was still finding the card a little too boring, so I also used one of the burgundy paper to add a strip in the center.

I used some of the other die-cut images I had from the leftovers inside the card and then I went through my patterned papers that are organized by colours so that I could find one to make an envelope out of. I found this absolutely perfect vintage paper that I'm pretty sure dates back to my very first online order in the early 2000's when I discovered scrapbooking (before the hobby reached Eastern Canada stores). I know that it's old paper because the backside is white. I used the rest of the burgundy paper to add a stripe and fussy cut an address block from the Reminisce Book to add to the center of it.

Looking at the final creation, I cannot believe this is the result of paper scraps and packaging. This is arguably one of my favorite Christmas cards I've done this year. Now, this has to be the last Comfort & Joy creation I share with you... right??

 

 

The leftover pile...

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Moments lumineux (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!)
Glimmer Paper: Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Comfort & Joy (My Mind's Eye); Reminisce the Book 3 (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Ink: Soft Suede (Stampin' Up!); Antique Linen Distress, Vintage Photo Archival (Ranger);
Dies: Santa's Helper (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Tasteful Labels, Joyeux Noël (Stampin' Up!);
Sentiments Die (Waffle Flower)
Accessories: Flair and Packaging, Mirrored Stars (Tim Holtz for idea-ology); 
Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board, Mini Stapler, Distressing Tool (Stampin' Up!)

 

Comfort & Joy Tag Set

This is officially the last project I will be making using the Comfort and Joy collection from My Mind's Eye, as I've now worked it down to smithereens. I used the remaining die-cuts on various sized tags and used a few dies to create shapes and sentiments to fill in the space. The three larger tags were die-cut with the Stitched Nested Tags from Tutti Designs, and the last one is actually a die-cut from the pack.

I used different ribbons and trims from my stash on the tags, but I will note that the green seam binding was actually hand dyed using Distress Mica spray following Tim Holtz's instructions shared during his Ranger Live a couple of weeks ago. I used two green sprays and made sure to keep the seam binding scrunched up while it dried so that it would remain crinkled afterwards. It worked out great! I used some Soft Sky seam binding from Stampin' Up! I had on hand but I'd love to create more crinkled ribbon in a variety of colours so I'll probably look to purchase a larger roll of white seam binding.

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Ephemera Pack: Comfort & Joy (My Mind's Eye)
Glimmer Paper: Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Stitched Nested Tags (Tutti Designs); Doily (Coco & Reno); Joyeux Noël / Bonne année (Crealies)
Accessories: Black Glossy Opaque Confetti Mix, Moonshine Snowflakes (Cartwright's);
July Crystals (Studio Katia); Glossy Berry Pearl Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards);
Minty Mix Shaker Sprinkles (Maker's Movement); ½" Circle Punch, Soft Sky Seam Binding,
Clear Faceted Buttons, Mini Stampin' DImensionals, Mini Stapler, Eyelets (Stampin' Up!);
   Large Eyelet (We R Memory Makers); Buttons (Foof-a-La);
Marshmallow Scrubby Sparkle Yarn (Red Heart); Mica Distress Sprays (Ranger)

 

Stupid O'Clock

Inspiration: November 2020 Page Maps sketch

Oh, how I love having to set the alarm at 4 a.m. to catch a flight at Stupid o'clock, as my cousin would put it! Those selfies were taken on the tub in London on our way to take our flight back home and my eyes are still pretty red from getting up way too early. I was happy to revisit the Going Places collection from Simple Stories and its lovely, bright colours. I followed an old Page Maps sketch to help place the base shapes and then I let the images and embellishments from the collection guide my design.

The luggage pile was fussy cut from a Snap card. I also used Snap cards for the Travel log journaling block and the Go-See-Do image above my pictures, on which I added the title using alphabet stickers. The London bus was fussy cut from patterned paper. There was a double-decker bus in the Bits & Pieces pack, but I like the smaller version with the London word on it. While looking for my Snap cards, I found some veneer shapes from an older traveling collection also from Simple Stories, so I used the travel word, the little camera and the plane to embellish the page. I covered the camera with yellow embossing powder and added a little square punched out of gold glitter paper. I backed the camera with orange and added an art pebble in the center. (I see that my art pebbles are starting to yellow - yellowing embellishments is one of my biggest pet peeves!) I added a few cardstock stickers and enamel dots as well.

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Enamel Dots, Snap Cards, Cardstock Stickers,
Chipboard Stickers, Bits & Pieces, Journaling Bits: Going Places (Simple Stories)
Glimmer Paper: Gold (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Crushed Curry Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals, 1/4" Square Punch,
Metallic Pearls (Stampin' Up!); Teal Puffy Alphabet Stickers (Elle's Studio);
Art Pebbles (Finnabair / Prima Marketing); You Are Here Veneer Pieces (Simple Stories);
Bumblebee Sunshine Alphabet Stickers (Doodlebug Design)

 

Hocus Pocus Pillow Boxes

My next Halloween packages were done with an old Bigz die from Sizzix, Pillow Box. I also thought I could pull out my Halloween shaker kit from Queen & Co, Hocus Pocus, and pair it with the Monsters & Friends papers I've been using.

So far, I had only made the shakers using the patterned paper included in the kit, which was pretty dark, and switching to bright colours totally changed the look of the resulting embellishments. I love both of them, but I will admit I particularly love how the bottle turned out. Now that I have the outline dies that go with the shaker, it makes putting the shakers together a much smoother experience than when I had to fussy cut an approximate shape for the back piece. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: Monsters & Friends (Bella Blvd.)
Speciality Paper: Silver Assortment (Sizzix)
Shaker Kit: Hocus Pocus (Queen & Co)
Dies: Pillow Box (Sizzix)
Accessories: Black & White 1/4" Gingham Ribbon, Black 3/8" Glitter Organdy Ribbon,
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Midas Touch Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo)

 

Vintage Reindeer Wreath

Inspiration: Juliana Michaels Demo + 52 Christmas Card Throwdown (Christmas Critters)

I kept going through my holiday collection to pick the next one I would be working with and I landed on Sugar Cookie from Prima. It was already late, so I just fussy cut a few images from the collection and left it aside until the next day. As I was looking at the recording of the SBC Fest demos I had missed, I saw Juliana Michaels show how to make a mixed media background and I decided to follow her instructions along, picking colours that could work with the Sugar Cookie collection.

I started with Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper and Antique Linen and Tattered Rose Distress inks. I smooshed the ink on the media mat, spritzed and dipped the paper in the ink, dried and layered ink again until I got a background I liked. I then stamped the music sheet from the Music & Advert stamp set (one of my best purchases) in Ground Espresso Archival ink and I overstamped images from the Vintage Holidays stamp set in VersaMark, before adding copper embossing powder. Juliana showed how to use Transparent Gloss texture paste and tint it, so I used Bubblegum Crystal Drops to tint my paste and the flourish stencil from Stampin' Up!'s Plenty of Patterns decorative masks set. I had leftover paste, so I added the same flourish to three of the journaling notecards from the collection. I've raved about this texture paste in the past and I will again, as it's easy to use and adds such a nice shine. It was my first time going for a tint and I love it, so it just renewed my love for the product.

I then used the Stitched Rectangle Stackables dies to cut my panel to a card front size. I was already pretty pleased with the result. (On a side note, I think that Spun Sugar might have been a better match to the paper collection because Tattered Rose is a little more coral than baby pink, but I only have three Distress ink pads, so I used what was the closest match and in the end, with added edge inking, everything ends up still tying nicely together.)

My favorite image that I had fussy cut previously was the adorable reindeer in the wreath. I inked the edges with the Antique Linen ink pad to make the image blend better with the background and then I opened the two ephemera packs that go with the collection to see what I had to work with. I used the wood-pattern tag as my base, I added an iridescent snowflake from the Wonderful Snowflakes pack (cut in half to add to each side) and some greenery also fussy cut from the patterned paper. I wanted to add an eyelet to the tag and the existing hole was slightly too large for regular eyelet, so I glued a scrap of paper underneath, punched a hole the right size and added a copper eyelet.

At the top of the card, I added a rose gold-foiled sentiment block and a little pink heart, both with ink edges. I picked Thick Very Vanilla cardstock for the card base and I added a Petite Pirouette layer using the Deckle Trimmer to cut the edges. I love that thing, especially when working with vintage paper lines as it fits the look so well. The card was starting to take shape, but I wondered if I should add a bit of embellishing. I have recently done a big batch of moulded shapes using paper clay and when my mom visited during the Labour Day weekend, I showed her the result and I did a quick demo of how you can use paint, wax or foundry wax to color the pieces to look how you want. I didn't have any project or collection in mind when I worked on those, so I basically just grabbed waxes willy-nelly and saw where inspiration took me. One of the pocket watch was colored with burgundy wax, with a dab of gold wax over the top to make the details stand out. As I was pulling pieces out of my box, I put that burgundy watch on the card and it was instant love! This is where doing work sessions where you prepare various die-cuts or embellishments ahead of time will pay off when you're later putting projects together. I would never in a million years have thought "hey, let me grab my pocket watch mould and make a piece I'll color burgundy for this card," but I absolutely love the look it gives to the project and how it breaks the all-pink scheme as well, while remaining in the same color family.

I thought the top right of the cluster needed something and I decided to pull the Prima flowers from my stash to see if any would work nicely. I've purchased some on sale and on Clearance in the past couple of years and I rarely ever think to use them, in parts because they are quite bulky. I ended up layering a sparkly vanilla flower that came from the Vintage Burst pack from Fun Stampers Journey (received as a gift from my local store) and a pinkish flower from the Apricot Honey collection (pack #642884).

For the envelope, I used a scrap from my original background, used two petals I had to cut from my vanilla flower to fit it close enough to the tag on the card and another fussy cut wreath image. This is another personal favorite of all of the Christmas cards I've done so far this year.

 

 

 

Here is a picture of what the background looked like before it was turned into a card:

 

Supplies
Stamps: Music & Advert, Vintage Holidays (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Ink: Ground Espresso Archival, Embossing Ink, Tattered Rose and Antique Linen Distress (Ranger)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Petite Pirouette, Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Ephemera Pack: Sugar Cookie (Prima Marketing)
Dies: Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Distress Sprayer, Transparent Gloss Texture Paste (Tim Holtz for Ranger); Pocket Watches
Finnabair Decor Mould, Burgundy and White Gold waxes, Apricot Honey Flowers #642884 (Prima Marketing);
Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals, Wonderful Snowflakes, Eyelet,
Plenty of Patterns Decorative Masks, Medium Vanilla Envelope (Stampin' Up!); 
Blending Brushes (i-Crafter); Vintage Burst Flowers (Fun Stampers Journey); 
Deckle Trimmer, Travel Media Mat (Tim Holtz for Tonic)

 

Cutest Monsters on the Block

Inspiration: Festive Friday #120 (black + orange + stars)

I've started working on Halloween packaging and I was hoping to find the Monsters & Friends collection from Bella Blvd. in my stash. I found all of my Halloween collections hiding at the back of my paper pile and I pulled this one up to play with. I have quite a bit of patterned paper from this collection, as I think I ended up reordering some of the single sheets when they went on clearance, so I'm hoping to get it used up. I also have the ephemera pack, which contains 112 pieces, so I have quite a bit of choose from! 

I started with the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits to make cute envelopes. I picked the border strip patterned paper to make the first envelope and I realized that the glittery washi tape sold by Stampin' Up! matches the collection, so I added washi between the patterned strips. I added a purple eyelet to one of the die-cut tags, threaded gingham ribbon and I added a cute monster I fussy cut from the cut-apart paper. At the top, I added a purple cloud on which I added a glittered purple brad, and I added the "Creepin' it real" die-cut. I stapled a tab from the ephemera set at the top of the bag and added a chipboard candy corn image at the bottom. Finally, I wrote my niece's name on black Dymo tape and added it to the bag.

Since I always create things in pairs for my nieces, I picked the adorable candy patterned paper for the second envelope, and wrapped a strip of purple star paper at the bottom. I added a scalloped border from the cardstock stickers and purple tinsel from the Thirty-One trims from Prima. I added a tab at the top again. I really liked the "Cutest monsters on the block" sentiment strip, which I added at an angle on the bag, and I balanced two die-cut monsters on it. I used a piece of holographic paper I had on my desk and die-cut the images from the Mixed Media Motifs set out of it. (On a side note, the holographic paper pack is from Recollections and I discovered that it does not die-cut as cleanly as some of my better quality specialty paper does. A nice reminder that you get what you pay for...) I used the star in the top left corner and layered my niece's name in Dymo tape over it. The bottom right corner felt a little bare, so I found a cute eyes die-cut that I popped up with foam adhesive slightly layered over the tinsel.

I'm wondering what kind of reaction the packaging will get from my nieces this year. Two years ago, the oldest looked at every single box one at a time and pointed out various details to me that caught her attention. Last year, she fished the candy out and didn't really seem all that bothered. The youngest was also mostly interested by the candy, but she was just 3½ years old, so we'll see if her interest picks up now that she's older. 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Ciao Chip, Cardstock Stickers, Ephemera: Monsters & Friends (Bella Blvd.)
Specialty Paper: Holographic (Recollections)
Dies: Mini Treat Bag Thinlits (Stampin' Up!); Mixed Media Motifs (Sizzix)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Stapler, Black and White 1/4" Gingham Ribbon,
Eyelet, Iridescent Gems, Glitter Washi Tape (Stampin' Up!); Thirty-One Trims (Prima Marketing);
Black Tape and Machine (Dymo); Glittered Brads (Doodlebug Design); Star Dust Stickles (Ranger);
Oval Googly Eyes (Multicraft)

 

Dracula's Lair

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Mood Board) + Little Red Wagon #675 + ColourQ #55

Another Tim Holtz die set I was able to get on sale is The Count. Tim mentioned on a recent Live those dies are discountinued, so I decided I wanted this one in my collection, as it's very unique and full of personality. I'm also finding I like the Colorize dies quite a lot now that Sizzix has streamlined the process for putting them together (less layers compared to the first iterations). 

I also wanted to try the moon bleeding ink technique from Tim's last Live, so I die-cut a tag out of Bristol cardstock, sprayed Spiced Marmalade and Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide inks and then I used my water spray bottle to make the ink bleed into the moon. I then used Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide ink and a blender brush to add the moon detailing, and I spritzed this as well. I added Antique Bronze Distress Mica spray as well, taking the nozzle out and taping it over the tag to create speckles. I overstamped flying bats, using an old retired stamp set from Stampin' Up! called Wicked Cool, using Hickory Smoke Archival ink.

I used the Cathedral Window Bigz die to create a stained glass behind my character. I love the shape of this die, but I was reticent to purchase it because it's a Bigz die and therefore takes up more room in my stash. That behind said, I do love the option of cutting the stained glass out of chipboard, which is what I did here, layering a piece die-cut with Tim's black metallic kraft-stock over it. I wanted to back it with vellum, and I found in my stash this very cool Confetti vellum page from Crate Paper (2014). I liked the gold star pattern, so I glued it behind the die-cut and fussy cut along the edges. I added two die-cut bats from the same Colorize set to fill the space around the window.

At the top of the tag, I tied metallic mesh ribbon (one of my favorites) and black glittered organdy ribbon. 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Wicked Cool (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Smooth Bristol (Canson); Poppy Parade, Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand, River Rock,
Basic Black, Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!); Confetti Vellum (Crate Paper); Metallic Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for idea-ology)
Ink: Hickory Smoke Archival Ink (Ranger)
Sprays: Spiced Marmalade and Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide; Antique Bronze Distress Mica (Ranger)
Dies: The Count Colorize, Cathedral Window Bigz (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Nested Tags (Scrapbook.com)
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Black Glittered Organdy Ribbon, Metallic Mesh Ribbon (Stampin' Up!)

 

If Leaves are Fallin', Autumn is Callin'

Inspiration: November 2020 Page Maps Sketch

I had been dying to use the Pumpkin Spice collection from Doodlebug ever since it first came out. Don't know why it took so long, but I'm glad to finally have a finished project done with it. I love the colours of this line and I think the page turned out so cute! 

I matted my picture with the turquoise plaid paper and Baked Brown Sugar cardstock. I cut three stripes of patterned paper and punched 1" circles out of various patterns. I added a scalloped border from the This & That sticker page and I picked the large scallop circle for my title. I stitched around the whole block using orange floss.

To finish embellishing, I added Icon stickers and Shape Sprinkles around the page. I also added little sentiment strips and the date using Thickers.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Baked Brown Sugar (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Icon Stickers, This & That Cardstock Stickers: Pumpkin Spice (Doodlebug Design)
Shape Sprinkles: Happy Fall (Doodlebug Design)
Accessories: Needlepoint Floss (DMC); 1" Circle Punch, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

Scarecrow Scene

Inspiration: Tuesday Morning Sketches #679

I played around with the Pumpkin Spice collection a bit before putting it away and created this adorable little scene using the scarecrow as the starting point. I cut two ovals, one out of orange patterned paper and one out of green gingham paper, and I cut the green one with the Grassy Border die to create the ground. I cut a thin strip of Oak Woodgrain Specialty paper to make a post and mounted the scarecrow on dimensional adhesive on the oval. I added two sunflowers on each side.

I picked polka dot paper for the background and matted it with Bermuda Bay cardstock, then I mounted it on a Baked Brown Sugar card base. I stamped a birthday sentiment from a new stamp set found at my local store, picked because I thought the little images on each side looked like wheat. I used the Sentiment Labels dies from Spellbinders and Copper foil paper to create a frame around the sentiment. I used sugared brads on each side of it. (On a side note, I see that Doodlebug is bringing the sugared brads back in their upcoming Christmas collection, and that made me happy.)

I popped the sentiment on dimensional adhesive and then I added a little mushroom to the scene and a cloud at the top. In the mini icons pack, I found a little crow and a fence, which I cut in half so that I could place it on both sides of the scarecrow. I used the smaller scarecrow sticker on the matching envelope. As with most Doodlebug creations, this turned out quite cute!

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Anniversaire (Simply Graphic)
Cardstock: Baked Brown Sugar, Bermuda Bay, Pool Party (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Icon Stickers, Mini Icon Stickers: Pumpkin Spice (Doodlebug Design)
Ink: Soft Suede (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Stitched Oval Stackables, Dotted Rectangle Stackables, Grassy Border (Lawn Fawn);
Sentiment Labels (Spellbinders)
Accessories: A2 Flame Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com); Sugared Brads (Doodlebug Design);
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

Out of This World

Inspiration: Page Maps July 2022 Sketch + Scrap Our Stash (2 forgotten tools: my Perfect Layers (to mat pictures) and the flip pockets with the fuse tool

I was eager to use the Say Cheese at the Park line with my Disney vacation pictures, and the Tomorrow collection was a great pick for our pictures taken at Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin ride. That being said, I had three full-size pictures of us riding on it and I was struggling to find a way to get all of them on a page without it feeling crowded. I ended up putting the pictures aside and working on something else until I thought of the flip protectors I have and once I thought of those, I was ready to revisit the page again. I'm so glad I got this idea, because it allowed me to include the Zurg picture on the page as well.

Inspired by the Page Maps sketch, I stitched a double circle with sparkly red floss in the background. I layered images from the Page Pieces to create the title at the bottom, and I added the rocket with the words Blast off on the right side. I matted the Zurg picture with patterned paper. I cut two tags from the Say Cheese at the Park papers, layered them at an angle and handwrote my journaling on them. I added a little zapper sticker at the top from the Sticker Book, and I added twine bows on both tags.

Once the page itself was done, I slipped it into a page protector and then I layered the three pictures in flip pockets where I wanted them and used the fuse tool to add them to the page protector. I added black sparkly washi tape over the top to hide the seam. 

The Sticker Book included little tabs that were the perfect size, but they couldn't be used on their own on the flips, as the stickers from the book are made of flimsy paper and also would have remained sticky, so I added them to white cardstock, fussy cut them out and then glued them on the flips.

I realized as I was turning the flips over that the back of the pictures didn't look great, so I went back to the patterned papers and cut-apart sheets and I created little inserts to put behind the pictures (gluing them behind the picture so that it would remain aligned). That made me happy, as the page looks more finished that way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book, Page Pieces, Cardstock Stickers, Enamel Dots.
Puffy Stickers: Say Cheese at the Park, Say Cheese Tomorrow at the Park (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Yellow Twine (Doodlebug Design); Red Twine (Recollections); 
Red Sparkly Needlepoint Floss (DMC); Page Flips (Project Life)

 

Holly Jolly Tags

Before putting away the Holly Jolly collection, I decided to make a tag with it... and it turned into making a full series using the leftover Bits & Pieces and patterned papers.

What got me going putting together so many was that I pulled the Stitched Oval Scalloped Frames dies and since I wanted the frame to be a different colour from the center, I cut it twice. I was not liking the colour combo against my patterned paper, so I tried a couple of other options and so I ended up with a lot of leftover pieces that I decided to use on other tags, hence the final tally of 7 tags. A lot of the ephemera pieces were also pretty small, so the size was working out better on tags than on cards. I've commented on my last post that the patterned papers are quite tricky to use together. I'll add that the ephemera images are a very random assortment as well. It goes from a moped to trees to a house to a whisk and cake... It's all over the map. I'm a big fan of Simple Stories, but this collection is a little bit of a head-scratcher to me.

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Enamel Dots, Bits & Pieces: Holly Jolly (Simple Stories)
Dies: Stitched Oval Scalloped Frames (My Favorite Things); Stitched Nested Tags (Tutti Designs);
Tailor-Made Tags, Bonanza, Tasteful Labels (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Wonderful Snowflakes, Stampin' Dimensionals, Various Ribbons, Designer Buttons, 
Pearl Basic Jewels, Triple Corner Punch, Mini Stapler (Stampin' Up!); Buttons (Button Galore & More);
Corner Chomper, Eyelets (We R Memory Makers)

 

Gingerbread Man Tag

I kept going with my Mistletoe Kisses collection scraps and created another tag inspired by the die-cut images I had put aside. I liked the "Tis the Season banner superposed over the gingerbread man, so that was the starting point of the tag. This time, I used my favorite tag die set, Dotted Tags from Waffle Flower. I love the shape of the tags themselves and also the dotted hole reinforcer, which I die-cut out of Aquarium shimmery cardstock from Martha Stewart (found on Clearance at a local craft store).

The tag is pretty long, so I needed to fill the space a bit above the gingerbread man, so I used my last remaining die-cut snowflakes and topped them with the mint stickers from the cardstock sticker sheet. I added pearls in the center of each, a clear red gem to the gingerbread man's button and Frosted Lace Stickles to the icing detailing and one of the mints.

On the back, I used the alpha stickers from the cardstock sticker sheet to write "to" and "from," and I added little heart stickers to the front and back of the tag. I repeated the mint and candy images to the back as well, and I threaded the tag with white/silver baker's twine.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Bits & Pieces: Mistletoe Kisses (Simple Stories)
Cardstock: Aquarium (Martha Stewart); Bubblegum Textured Color Vibe (Simple Stories)
Glimmer Paper: Red/White (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Dotted Tags (Waffle Flower); Sparkly Snowflakes (Crafter's Companion)
Accessories: White/Silver Baker's Twine (Recollections);
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Frosted Lace Stickles (Ranger);
Red Berry Mix, Bora Bora and Arctic Breeze Pearls, July Crystals (Studio Katia)

 

Whoo-ligans Halloween Treat Bag

Inspiration: Simple Stories Treat Bag Video Tutorial

Because I always need treat bags in two when I'm crafting for my nieces, I went back to the same template I had used previously to do the Spooktacular treat bag and recreated it with the Whoo-ligans collection from Bo Bunny (2010 - we're going way back her, back when Bo Bunny was still doing cutesy, colorful lines as opposed to the more vintage look they've adopted in more recent years).

As I was going through the paper scraps, I remembered that I have the journal page die-cuts that go with this line, so I pulled it up and decided to use the half-circle pages to do my topper. To do so, I cut a 3½" circle out of cardstock, folded it in half and added the half circles on each side of it. The back of the journaling pages is white and was sticking out like a sore thumb, so I used a blender brush and Lemon Lime Twist ink to ink the backside of the topper, making for a nicer finish. 

I also had a few remaining pieces of the chipboard set, so I used the two eyes on the topper and the little monster image on the bag, placed over a cut-apart leftover pieces. The top felt a little bare so I found a little sentiment sticker in the Spooky Nights paper collection and a little black star sticker to fill the space. I threaded Granny Apple Green ribbon at the top and voilà - fastest treat bag ever put together!

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Noteworthy Journal Pages, Chipboard Layered Stickers: Whoo-ligans (Bo Bunny)
Cardstock Stickers: Spooky Nights (Simple Stories)
Ink: Lemon Lime Twist (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Layering Circles (Tonic)
Accessories: Granny Apple Green Grosgrain Ribbon (Stampin' Up!)

 

Dear Santa...

This project started with the Santa panel, which comes from the cut-apart sheet from the Candy Cane Lane collection by Prima. I layered a few elements that were on my desk in the bottom left corner (including a pink vellum tag that's been in my stash for over 15 years now!) and I added Distress Snowfall Grit-paste to the outer edge. then let it to the side to dry.

Before I put away the Candy Cane Lane collection, I decided to see if this panel could become a card. It's quite large, so I bumped my card size to 5" x 6" and I added additional elements to dress it up even more. I was looking for white pompoms and I found a few elements while searching that I thought could work on the card. One of them was a rose gold metal rectangle charm, on which I added a white rub-on that reads "peace on earth" (from a very old Christmas rub-on pack from Stampin' Up!). I also found some wood veneer shapes. I picked the snowflake and colored it using the beautiful Metallic Pink Cerantica wax from Stamperia. (It's my first time using this wax and it is absolutely lovely - the texture is very creamy and the color is very easy to move on the project.) I added a few additional fussy cut images around the panel.

The card base was made out of Candy Red textured cardstock from Tonic. I found this cardstock on clearance for 99 cents, so I gave it a try. It's a little flimsy for card base, so I wasn't sure if it had been a good purchase, but the pinkish red works very nicely with this collection. As for the layer in between (the soft pink toile-looking pattern), it's actually the back of the ephemera packaging. It was too pretty to toss, so it became an additional layer on my card.

Since my card was not the average A2 size, I dug through my patterned papers for a matching sheet and I made my own envelope, using some more fussy-cut images to decorate it. 

On a side note, I totally fell in love with the Ticket Essentials boxes recently released by 49 & Market. Whenever collections have tickets in their ephemera packs or sticker sheets, they're always the shapes that I use first in my project and I'm always hoping the packs had more. When I saw that you could get full rolls or tickets and postage stamps in a variety of scrumptious colours, I was immediately sold. I got lucky - the boxes got released a few weeks before my birthday and my local store still had them on hand when I used my birthday coupon code, so I was able to stock up on multiple colours. Here, I used the Pewter collection and slipped a little ticket in there. The first of many to come...

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Candy Red (Tonic)
Patterned Papers, Ephemera, Say It in Crystals, Flowers #661007: Candy Cane Lane (Prima Marketing)
Designer Series Paper: Unknown (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Pewter Ticket Essentials (49 & Market); Pink Vellum Tag (Making Memories);
Snowfall Grit-Paste (Tim Holtz for Ranger); Wonderful Gems, White Veneer Trees, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals,
Envelope Punch Board, Old St. Nick Rub-Ons (Stampin' Up!); Metallic Pink Cerantica Wax (Stamperia);
White and Black Mini Pompoms (Queen & Co); Rose Gold Metal Plate Charm (Unknown Source);
Gold Gelly Roll Gel Pen (Sakura)

 

Pink Poinsettia Christmas

Here is one more card that was inspired by the Candy Cane Lane collection from Prima Marketing. I initially made a layered tag using fussy cut elements from the patterned papers and a few elements created with dies and my Big Shot. I used a leftover piece of Silver tinsel yarn to top the tag, and I included a red vellum tag that has been sitting in my stash for years as one of the layers. I worked one of my Pewter postage stamps from 49 & Market in there as well. This would have made for a very delicate tags because of the greenery hanging over the edges of the tag, so I decided to put this one on a card. I created my background with the polka dot paper, and I hung a fussy cut ornament at the top to fill in the space.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Lost Lagoon (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Say It With Crystals, Ephemera Pack: Candy Cane Lane (Prima Marketing)
Specialty Papers: Silver Pack (Sizzix)
Dies: Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); Poinsettia (Stampin' Up!);
Snowflake Impresslits (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Silver Tinsel Yard (Craft Smart)

 

Holly Jolly & Merry

These days, I've been creating with the beautiful Candy Cane Lane collection from Prima Marketing. I saw a card on Pinterest that layered two patterned paper tags as a mat for the main image and I liked the idea, so I looked for papers that would layer well. Funnily enough, I had picked two patterns that I thought I liked together and I ended up using the backside of both and liking the result better! For the main image, I picked the Santa holding deers from the ephemera pack. Since the pack has two copies of each image (which I love), I was able to fussy cut the sentiment banner and pop it on dimensional adhesive to add dimension. I used the remainder of the image on the envelope to match the card.

I used the Stitched Nested Tags dies from Tutti Designs for the tags. They don't have holes, so for the larger one, I borrowed a hole reinforcer die from the Fold-Up Tags dies, which I cut out of Golden Satin cardstock from Tonic. I found some poinsettia images fussy cut from the patterned paper that I tucked between the tags. I had originally added a heart-shaped eyelet on the tag and despite my best efforts to set it straight, it ended up being lightly crooked and the colour was a little off, so I ended up covering it with a little candy cane image. Yesterday, I had done a few was seals, so I slipped a pearly white one under the banner, and I added a little fussy cut bow over it, on which I added gold highlights using a gold gel pen. I finished the card off with a few gold glitter enamel dots.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Candy Red, Gold Satin (Tonic); Warm White (Colour Vibe by Simple Stories)
Patterned Papers, Ephemera: Candy Cane Lane (Prima Marketing)
Dies: Wonky Stitched Rectangles STAX, Fold-Up Tags (My Favorite Things);
Stitched Nested Tags (Tutti Designs)
Accessories: Pearl Wax Melts, Envelope Wax Seal (Honey Bee); Gold Gelly Roll Pen (Sakura);
Gold Glitter Enamel Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Rose Quartz Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com)

Cup of Cocoa

Inspiration: Card Maps October 2022

I'm trying to go through past paper collection and put them to go use. Next in line was Holly Jolly. I pulled the cookie patterned paper and tested my Ribbon Threading border punch on it. The result is nice but I quickly discovered that it can only be used with very narrow ribbon. Here, I used 1/4" ribbon, so that leaves limited options, which is disappointing.

I have a love/hate relationship with the Holly Jolly collection. I kept looking at it every single time I saw it at my local store. It ended up in the sale section and I pondered some more and I finally ended up getting the 6" x 8" pad on clearance but when I'm trying to use it, I'm reminded why I kept hesitating. There's a few sheets that have really cute patterns (the hanging ornaments on the blue background, the polka dots) but the other patterns are so dark and busy, making it hard to pair the papers together. I struggled again today to find something that I liked. I ended up picking red on red and adding the diagonal stripes, with a gold glitter paper border to add some interest.

I fussy cut the cocoa cup from the cut-apart sheet, added a punched scalloped circle in the middle, a sparkly gold heart from the Garden Party collection and an enamel dot. I added Stampin' Up!'s puff paint to the whipped cream. I've used it a few times now and I'm not a fan. The product is very liquid and hard to control. It moved when I tried to make it puff, so I pushed it back to where it should be with my paper piercer, wiping the excess, and it ended up leaving a scorched mark on the paper. I'm also not liking the puffed texture all that much, so I think I will simply reorder Liquid Applique and forget this puff paint altogether.

I added a foliage layer with one of the ephemera pieces under the cup, and I used the sentiment from the bottom of the cut apart on the left edge of the card. Three enamel dots finished the card. I used other ephemera images on the envelope and inside the card.

 

    

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Enamel Dots, Bits & Pieces: Holly Jolly (Simple Stories)
Punch: Ribbon Threading Border Punch (Dress My Craft); Crumb Cake Medium Envelope,
Snowfall Accents Puff Paint, Stampin' Dimensionals, Gold Glimmer Paper,
1/8" Old Olive Ribbon (Stampin' Up!)

 

Sweetheart

Inspiration: May 2020 Page Maps Sketch

I had a few selfies taken with my youngest niece that I put together in an app so that they could be printed in a smaller size. I also made sure to make the pictures black and white so that they could be scrapbooked using any paper collection.

I have a few love-themed collections that I'm always trying to use outside of Valentine's Day, so I pulled the Sweet Talk collection from Simple Stories here (2020) and put this simple page together. Most of what was used came from the collection, but I did add a Lagoon Vintage Bits Filmstrip from 49 & Market in there. I used black Roughly Sewn Rub-Ons at the top and the bottom of the heart-patterned paper. 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Pink (Unknown); Vanilla Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Enamel Dots, Decorative Brads, 
Bits & Pieces, Puffy Stickers: Sweet Talk (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Makers); Real Red Cotton Ribbon, 
Stampin' Dimensionals, Black Sparkly Organza Ribbon, Washi Tape (Stampin' Up!);
Black Rough Sewn Rub-Ons, Lagoon Vintage Bits Filmstrips (49 & Market);
Sorbet Thickers (American Crafts); Cupcake Sunshine Alphabet Stickers (Doodlebug Design)