Encre, papier, ciseaux

Have Fun Beach Polaroid

Inspiration: Hand Stamped Sentiments #441

I wanted to craft but could not find inspiration, so I looked through my Mintay papers and decided to do some fussy cutting to pass the time. Once all of the remaining images from the Paradise collection were cut, I was inspired to start putting something together, Hand Stamped Sentiments' current challenge has summer polaroids on the image, so it fit nicely with the Paradise collection. I used one of the Polaroid cut-apart, and I started layering some of the images over it. 

I wanted to use the empty space at the top to add a sentiment, and I remembered I have a gold Thickers set with summer sayings, so I checked out what was in there. One sentiment said "Sun + Fun", so I pulled out my Dymo to write words to fill the sentiment in. I initially did "Have a Fun Birthday" but I was struggling to fit the words comfortably on the design, so I shortened it to "Have Fun" and it looked much better. 

I was initially planning on cutting the extra parasol that was hanging out the side of the card once everything was glued in place, but I realized that it would not look as cool if I did, so I decided to keep it as is and just make an oversize envelope out of the remaining patterned paper to fit instead. I added one more polaroid frame and a couple of fussy cut images on the envelope as well. 

I'm working my way through this collection to try and finish it off as I don't have a lot of it left.

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Certainly Celery (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Paradise (Mintay)
Ink: Antique Linen Distress (Ranger)
Dies: Zig-Zag Stackers (Penny Black)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!);
Crochet Thread; Heat Wave Thickers (American Crafts); 
Mini Blender Tools (Ranger); Label Machine (Dymo)

 

Back-to-School Time

Inspiration: July 2023 Page Maps Sketch

I paired some back to school pictures with the School Life collection (2021) from Simple Stories. I had printed my pictures in 2½" x 3½" format, so they fit perfectly in two of the chipboard frames from the collection. In lieu of the third picture, I included a tag from the cut-apart sheet. I used chipboard alpha stickers and Thickers to create my title, over a die-cut circle, and I used a 4" x 6" cut-apart to create a rolodex card just like on the sketch (using a Heidi Swapp punch.

 

 

 

Supplies
 Patterned Papers, Chipboard Frames, Puffy Stickers, Cardstock Stickers, Decorative Brads,
Enamel Dots: School Life (Simple Stories)
Punch: Rolodex (Heidi Swapp)
Dies: Cross-Stitched Circle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: White Baker's Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); 
Courtyard Thickers (American Crafts); Holiday Magic Cardstock Alpha Stickers (Pinkfresh Studio)

 

Anya Celebrates Christmas

Inspiration: 52 Christmas Card Throwdown (Color An Image) + Mojo Monday sketch #45

I looked through my Greeting Farm stamps and picked Holiday Anya 8 for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge. I paired it with leftover papers from the Jingle All the Way collection from My Mind's Eye. For design ideas, I looked through old Mojo Monday sketches.

I colored the image with Copic markers, and I used a gold gel pen to add color to the now and the earrings. I also matted the scalloped rectangle with gold paper and used gold chevron washi tape to repeat gold throughout the design.

For the sentiment, I used stickers from the collection, layering Noel over the 25 sticker. I also used the holly berry sticker in the bottom corner of the main image block.

Finally, I made a matching envelope out of patterned paper, adding a die-cut address block and another one of the stickers as well.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Holiday Anya 8 (The Greeting Farm)
Cardstock: Teal (Bazzill); Solar White (Neenah); Basic White (Stampin' Up!); 
Gold Mirri Card (Hunkydory)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers: Jingle All the Way (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Dies: Stitched So Sweetly (Stampin' Up!); Zig-Zag Stackers (Penny Black); Lacy Borders (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Gold Chevron Washi Tape (Bo Bunny); Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!);
Markers (Copic); Gold Gelly Roll Pen (Sakura)

 

 

Baseball: The Greatest Game in the World

Inspiration: January 2024 Page Maps Sketch + Lasting Memory Challenge #705 (Favorite Tool = Sewing Machine)

My sister brought baseball tickets for her spouse's birthday and they sent me this picture of them enjoying the game. I knew it would be perfect to go with the Home Run collection from Carta Bella. I always love Steven Duncan's design style, even though I do find it hard to design with his patterned papers sometimes, as they tend to all have patterns that are the same scale and pretty busy. 

I picked a navy page from the Solids Paper Pack and I added my favorite paper for the main block: the pile of baseballs. I picked the red stripes for the side panel and included another favorite, the pattern with all of the typed quotes, to do a punched border. I decided then that I would like to ink some of the edges with Antique Linen Distress ink. I did not like the stark edge between the two, so I added navy washi tape there.

The next pieces I added were fussy cut from patterned paper. I added three blocks at the top to mimic the banners from the sketch, and I included the vintage ticket next to the picture because I thought it was really cool. I matted the picture with the green solid cardstock. 

I went to my sewing machine and, using navy thread, I ran a few lines of stitching on three sides of the large panel, following the sketch. I was not sure if I wanted to keep the hanging thread or not, but decided it went well with the grungy look of the line. I found this really cool Baseball sticker on the cardstock sticker sheet and really liked the like over the top of my picture, so I slid a piece of navy patterned paper underneath, added the large ball from the sticker sheet and popped up the sentiment on foam adhesive, and I decided this would serve as my title. 

I did need to find a place to add my journaling, though, so I decided to type it in red on manilla paper. I did try to use paper from the line but Carta Bella's cardstock is so thick, it just would not roll around the barrel of the typewriter, so i changed plans and went to my scrap bin and found something from another line that fit perfectly. (It's an old paper from My Mind's Eye and the colour is a perfect match). 

On a side note, I recently someone show how she decided to trim her leftover papers and cardstock to size and place them in a bin that she would place on her desk to pick from when she is designing projects. I liked the idea and I also happened to find a YouCopia divided bin on sale at Michaels recently and it works perfectly for this since I'm able to slide the dividers in the bin where I want them and have my different colours separated. It definitely came in handy here since I looked in the neutrals section and found exactly what I needed in a flash.

I was missing the date, so I went to my smaller alphabet stickers and found a red sticker set from Stampin' Up! that used to be part of their early pocket page kit collections. I used the numbers to write the date and added some enamel dots between the month and year. I'm pretty sure those enamel dots used to be white and they certainly cannot be called that anymore, but the yellowing made it perfect for this page. I also used Stampin' Up!'s resin stars, as their colours fit this line perfectly.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Solids Paper Pack, Cardstock Stickers: Home Run (Steven Duncan for Carta Bella)
Ink: Antique Linen Distress (Ranger)
Accessories: Round Binding Edge Border Punch (EK Tools); Sewing Machine;
Resin Star Embellishments, Stampin' Dimensionals, Designer Elements, Playing with Patterns Resin Dots,
Santa's Workshop Enamel Dots (Stampin' Up!); Mini Blending Tool (Studio Light);
Typewriter (We R Memory Makers); Washi Tape (Me and My Big Ideas)

 

Happy Harmony - Two Creations

Inspiration: Queen & Co sketches

I recently stumbled unto sketches that Queen & Co has made to specifically highlight the content of their Foundations die sets. I looked into the Foundation 24 sketches since I have those dies myself and was inspired to pull the Happy Harmony shaker kit to pair with them.

I used the paper pad from the kit and was initially planning to make one card with the pink hues and one with the orange hues, but I ended up making both cards in the same colour scheme because of a designing switch. I wanted to use the guitar along with the "Don't fret! I wouldn't forget your birthday!" sentiment. I started cutting my background pieces, stamped my sentiment, assembled the guitar and then I was shocked to realize just how long the guitar handle is! It was not fitting my card when placing it over the sentiment, so I thought I'd see if the violin would work. I assembled the shaker and was happy to see that I was able to make this instrument work with my original idea. 

Since the guitar was all ready to go, I picked another sketch, cut my papers and then went looking for a sentiment. The ones from the kit stamp set were not filling up the space enough. It took me a while to find something that I liked in my stash, but when I saw the "Howdy!" sentiment, I thought this could go well with a guitar, and the size was working out nicely. It looked nicer at an angle that straight on the card, so I added it that way. It was die-cut out of one of the specialty papers from the Silver Opulent cardstock pack from Sizzix, a nice charcoal grey with a very subtle shimmer to it. I switched the flowers from the sketch for stars instead. This is one of the die set I found in the Spellbinders clearance sale and I was very excited about it, as I found those little hand drawn stars will make really great accents for various different projects, and I like the four sizes included in the kit. They worked perfectly here, and I used the same charcoal grey specialty paper for the back and the orange patterned paper for the stars. I added foam adhesive behind to pop them off the card.

Both cards were embellished with Queen & Co embellishments. I picked linen-textured Nautical Blue envelopes and die-cut address blocks using the same die set, adding matching die-cut images to match the cards. This was a fun set to put together and I have to say, those little musical instrument shakers are super detailed and definitely cute.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps, Shaker Kit, Patterned Papers, Outline Dies, Toppings: Happy Harmony (Queen & Co)
Ink: Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: More Mustard (Stampin' Up!); Silver Opulent Cardstock Pack (Sizzix)
Dies: Foundation 24 (Queen & Co); Hand Drawn Stars (Spellbinders);
Howdy! (Karen Burniston for Riley and Company); Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Assorted Toppings, Orange Pinwheels, Green Epoxy Dots, Iridescent Bubbles,
Orange Jelly Gems (Queen & Co); A2 Linen Nautical Blue Envelopes (Envelopes.com);
Beads (Mill Hill)

 

Create with Us - Treat Cart

Inspiration: Treat Cart Create With Us

This is the two projects I created following the Create With Us class from Lawn Fawn shared online. I had prepared and cut the supplies on the previous Friday and I was all ready to follow along with the class that evening, until I realized I was one week to early. So I put the supplies aside and then the next week, I was asked to babysit my nieces, so I couldn't follow along with the live class. Thankfully, they are recorded, so I was able to put the projects later. And it worked out, because I was reminded that I'm not a quick crafter, so I paused the video a few times to take my time and catch up.

The watercolour sky went well because I had done that technique before, but the drips did not work well the first time around. I only have one pack of Distress watercolour (so not the whole range), which is why I initially pulled out my old Watercolor Wonder crayons from Stampin' Up! and while the drip technique worked, the colours looked a little washed out to my liking. The paper around the crayons had also started to flake and it left a nasty black mark on my watercolour paper. So I decided to turn the paper around and try the technique again on the backside, using the Distress watercolour pencils in whatever colour I had available. Hence, my colour gradient is a little different from the one shown in the class, but I do like the result, and I was happy to learn a new technique. I had coloured all of the images from the set, so I included a couple of extras in my design to use them up.

 

 

 

 

Sweet Treat Wish

Inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #174

I took part in the Create With Us class from Lawn Fawn, albeit after the live event. To make my life simpler, I stamped all of the images from the stamp set Treat Cart twice, knowing that I would have extra images that I could use to embellish inside the card and on the envelope.

I did that, but still had leftover colored images, including a little bunny, so when I saw the stencil challenge, I went through my Lawn Fawn stencil and when I spotted the Thought Bubbles, I got the idea to have the little bunny think of all of the frozen treats he could get. I also used the Grassy Hillside to ground the bunny. I wanted a French sentiment, so I pulled "Make a Wish" from a retired Stampin' Up! set.

I was going through my 6"x 6" paper pads to find something for the card base and nothing was really grabbing me, until I remembered I still had some frozen treats paper in similar pastels shades, so I fished it out of my scrap bin, and I had enough to not only do the card background, but also make a matching envelope out of it.

The white rectangle was getting lost on the busy background, so I matted it with Calypso Coral cardstock, and I matted the patterned paper with purple cardstock, then mounted the panel on a Pool Party card base. I wanted one more layer, so I pulled a pearlized doily, and it too was getting lost on the pattern so I used a blender brush to ink it with Pool Party ink (on the non-pearlized side). Then I remembered I also had some leftover brads from this collection, so I cut the prongs off and glued it next to the sentiment.

I used a purple cross-stitched rectangle on the envelope and some remaining colored images to tie it all together. For a card made with a bunch of old supplies and leftover images, it turned out pretty nice!

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Treat Cart (Lawn Fawn); Fait fêter ça (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Basic White, Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!);
Purple (Queen & Co)
Designer Series Paper. Designer Brads: Unknown Name (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Milled Lavendar, Bundled Sage, Forest Moss Distres Oxide (Ranger)
Stencils: Grassy Hillside, Thought Bubbles (Lawn Fawn)
Dies: Treat Cart, Cross-Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Pearlized Doilies, Stampin' Dimensionals, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter,
Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!); Blender Brushes (Waffle Flower); 
Markers (Copic), White and Black Gel Pen (Sakura)

 

Christmas Mail

I was trying to finish the remnants of my Merry & Bright collection and thought I could pull out the Parcel & Post Mailbox dies and make a Christmas version of it, giving me at the same time the chance to bring the Glimmer Hot Foil System back out. I combined Real Red and Cherry Cobbler cardstock to create the mailbox and I foiled my sentiment in Champagne foil in the centre.

To fill the mailbox, I used the foliage from this die set, but also added some elements from the Sealed Squiggles and Sealed Holiday Squiggles die sets, done in metallic paper. I did the little letter out of Warm White cardstock and went back to the Wise Owl die set to borrow the wax seal for it, which looks incredibly cute done in red foil cardstock.

On the envelope, I basically used all of my remaining sentiment stickers to create a little holiday border.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Evening Evergreen (Stampin' Up!);
Warm White, Sage, Forest Green Color Vibe (Simple Stories);
Gold Mirri (Hunkydory); Red Mirror (Prism Studio);
Mystical Opulent Cardstock (Sizzix); Candy Red (Tonic)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers: Merry & Bright (Simple Stories)
Dies: Zig-Zag Stackers (Penny Black); Parcel & Post Mailbox, All-Occasion Mailbox Greetings,
Wise Owl, Sealed Squiggles, Sealed Holiday Squiggles (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Washi Tape (Recollections); A2 Envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Metallic Pearls (Stampin' Up!); Champagne Glimmer Foil (Spellbinders)

 

Santa Express

One of the Christmas collections that I'd like to use up is Santa Express from Stampin' Up! I had been working on fussy cutting images yesterday while watching some crafting videos and I was inspired to use them on a few cards today. I had also purchased the matching scrapbooking cards that goes with it, so I used some of the 4" x 6" cards to create the backgrounds. I cut them to size for a regular A2 card using rectangle dies.

To mat my cut images, I used circles from the Doily die set. I used white cardstock behind the train image, because the polka dot background is quite busy and I needed something plain to ground the image. I used one of the stickers from the scrapbook kit underneath to create my sentiment. I wanted puffs of smoke coming out of the engine, and I decided to punch some hearts out of red foil paper. The little heart comes from an old owl punch from Stampin' Up! I have not made an owl with it in forever, but I've held onto this punch specifically for the little heart, which is the perfect size and shape. The bottom seemed a little bare, so I wrapped red ribbon tied in a bow. (Because the ribbon does not look the same on the backside, I actually glued a piece of ribbon on the paper and then cut a second piece of ribbon that I created the bow with, tying it around the first piece of ribbon. This gave me better control on keeping the polka dot pattern on the front of all pieces showing.) I used some other fussy cut image and the leftover strip from the 4" x 6" card to decorate a red metallic envelope.

For the second card, I die-cut another 4"x 6" card which already had the sentiment on. I found a leftover piece of tulle ribbon, that I glued behind my red die-cut circle. I added a cute Santa image that has been fussy cut from the scrapbook cards as well, popped on dimensional adhesive. I then added little faceted gems around, mounted the card front on a red card base and that easily, I was done! I fussy cut another Santa image to add to a Rose Quartz metallic envelope to match.

I cut two additional 4" x 6" cards to size to decorate the inside of the envelope. Since some are designed as journaling pieces for scrapbooking, they are perfect for messages inside cards. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Real Red, Spruce Shadow, Basic White (Stampin' Up!);
Red Foil Paper (Prism Studio)
Patterned Papers, Memories & More Cards and Stickers: Santa Express (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Doily (Coco & Reno); Zig-Zag Stackers (Penny Black)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, White Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon, Elegant Faceted Gems,
Red and Gold Polka Dot Ribbon, Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Jupiter and Rose Quartz Metallic Envelopes (Envelopes.com)