Encre, papier, ciseaux

On the Ice

Inspiration: Global Design Project #429 

I was watching a gel printing video and got inspired to pull out paints and give it a try. I looked at current colour combo challenges and picked the one from Global Design Project as inspiration. I picked the closest paint colours I had on hand and started playing.

On one of the prints, I used the Graffiti stencil and once I was done, I placed it face down on a piece of cardstock on which I had rolled the excess paint off of my brayer. When I was finished gel printing and starting to clean up, I lifted the stencil and realized the transfer was pretty cool! The one thing that pattern reminded me of was a scratched ice after people have skated on it. And it turns out that I had this Purple Onion Design stamp of a little penguin playing hockey that I had yet to use, so I decided to stamp him on watercolor paper and color him with my Fäber-Castell watercolor pencils. I had also watched a watercoloring video previously that evening, so I tested out the techniques the artist was showing. It turned out pretty cute.

The penguin was fussy cut and mounted on foam adhesive. I had this gap in the paint on the side that I felt needed to be incorporated in the design, so I grabbed one of the doilies I had used in my gel printing to add designs. I did not want to go too feminine with the design, but it reminded me a little bit of a hockey net, so after putting it on and taking it off a few times, I finally decided to keep it and staple it in place. I also tore a piece from the leftover painted paper and placed it in the middle of the doily.

I now needed to find a way to add a sentiment. I know that Tim Holtz usually use his Archival ink to stamp over many different things, so I tried it to add the first part of my sentiment. The result is readable, but as you can see, the ink is uneven. Guess it goes with the grungy look so I decided to live with it. This sentiment set is designed so that you can overlap the two words together, so I dried the ink with my embossing gun and then I oversamped the second word, but when I added the silver embossing powder over it, it stuck everywhere and I knew the word would not be legible. So I brushed the powder off of the cardstock and stamped the word on a piece of Smoky Slate cardstock instead, fussy cutting the word out and popping it on foam adhesive.

I die-cut my painted paper with PinkFresh's Diagonal Stitched Rectangles dies. I used Lost Lagoon for the card base and a layer of Smoky Slate in between. The whole thing felt a little drab, so I embossed the layer with the Subtle 3D embossing folder to give it Bazzill-like texture, and I inked the edge with a darker grey ink. I also inked the edges of the card base, but the whole thing still felt too clean, so I stamped some markings using Studio Light's Wrtitings stamp set, which really helped bring the whole thing together.

Once I started assembling, I decided to offset the panel on the grey cardstock and to go back to my sewing maching to add some funky stitching around the edge. I'm glad I took the time to do that, because it filled the space nicely and added additional texture. I popped that panel on foam adhesive as well.

For the envelope, I went very simple and just stamped the penguin again in a matching ink colour.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Writings (Studio Light); Storm (Stacey Yacula for Purple Onion Design);
Souhaits en grand (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Lost Lagoon, Smoky Slate, Basic White (Stampin' Up!);
Watercolor Paper (Fabriano)
Ink: Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!); VersaMark; Jet Black (Lawn Fawn)
Dies: Diagonal Stitched Rectangles (PinkFresh Studio)
Paints: Hibiscus, Silver, Agave (Sizzix)
Accessories: Pearlized Doilies, Mini Stapler, Stampin' DImensionals, White Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!);
Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils (Fäber-Castell); Gel Plate (Studio Light);
Sewing Machine

 

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!)

 

Country Jamboree

Inspiration: Retro Rubber #192 (Anything Goes - stamp set dating back to circa 2019 - I think?)

I was working on a layout using the Say Cheese Frontier at the Park collection from Simple Stories. I spotted the animal heads in the foam stickers pack and I knew I would probably not use those stickers in my Disney album since we didn't visit the Country Bear Jamboree attraction while we were there. That being said, the images reminded me of the animal-themed challenge from Global Design Project and I thought this could make for a very neat masculine card.

I happened to have tree ring die-cuts on my desk, as I had tested the Tree Rings Hybrid embossing folder and matching dies. They were perfect to give the heads more depth and make them stand out on the wood background. I added a strip of plaid paper to stay with the masculine look and I bubbled cut my stamped Happy Birthday sentiment.

I used my Photoplay slimline card bases, but this time, I was wiser and cut a quarter inch from the bottom before assembling anything so that the card would fit in my existing slimline envelopes. I used the notes from the cardstock sticker sheet for added whimsy. I think this turned out really cute.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Douceurs glacées (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Pool Party (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Old Olive (Stampin' Up!); Vintage Photo Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Patterned Papers, Foam Stickers, Cardstock Stickers: Say Cheese Frontier at the Park (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Slimline Envelope (Envelopes.com); Stampin' Dimensionals, Tree Rings Dies,
Tree Rings Hybrid Embossing Folder, Glitter Washi Tape (Stampin' Up!)

 

A Father's Pride and Joy

Inspiration: Tic Tac Toe #168 (Any Shape Die + Fireworks + Sentiment) + Global Design Project #349

My first try at using a gel plate produced questionable results, but I watched a couple of YouTube videos for ideas and gave it another go with my Distress Oxide inks. The second round produced elements that I was much happier with, and they became the starting point for this card.

I had selected ink colours that could work with the Global Design Project challenge, namely Salty Ocean, Twisted Citron and Mustard Seed. I created three strips with each ink colour on my 6" x 6" gel plate, used a brayer to bridge the gap between the colours and rolled the brayer on a tag so I wouldn't lose the ink. I then placed the Classy & Fabulous stencil over my plate before placing a piece of Bristol cardstock over the gel plate and doing a pull. When I pulled up the stencil, I placed it on the tag and rubbed to transfer the ink as well. I made a couple more pulls, but those first two elements are what I used on this card here.

You'll also see the dark teal strip I have layered over the background. This is the leftover piece from my initial try at the gel plate. I had used my Uncharted Mariner Distress spray and found out it was way too runny for what I was trying to achieve, making a huge blob of colour on the cardstock. Waste not want not, I simply used it as a layer on this project since the colour worked nicely.

Another leftover piece I was on my desk that served as inspiration was the white dotted frame. I had used the Dotted Rectangle Stackables dies on a previous project and the layer I had created was simply too large, so I used the next size down to cut the cardstock again, making sure to center the die so that I would get a frame out of it. I also had the Botanical Gardens Designer Vellum Stack out on my desk and I picked a scrap from the stack, tore the edge off and stapled it in place on the project. I used a turquoise alcohol marker to colour my staples to match.

On the tag, I combined the Mini stencils set 38 from Tim Holtz with Glitz glitter gel to add the fireworks to the bottom of the tag in green and little turquoise stars at the top. I tied some In Color metallic ribbon to the top of the tag and glued it to the card. I then went looking through Tim Holtz's paper dolls for something interesting. I thought some black and white image would pop nicely against the colorful background. I auditioned a few images and settled on the little boy and girl. Then I went looking through my French sentiment dies. My collection is slowly building, but we certainly don't have the same extensive selection has can be found in English. This one is interesting, as it was purchased from a company that does not usually sell French stuff, so I was all over it, especially since it has a nice font, a nice size and the bubble die as well. I capitalized on the fact that I have both the cardstock and Designer Series Paper in the new In Colour and picked Tahitian Tide as my colour for the sentiment. Doesn't that look nice? I figured the little boy and girl could be the kids.

Lastly, I embellished with different gems, rhinestones and enamel dots I had in matching colours. I made a matching envelope out of an old sheet of Tempting Turquoise DSP and used a journaling card with a yellow stripe at the top as my journaling block. I've started putting stray elements I don't necessarily want to use as a collection anymore in my scrap drawers by colours and I find I'm using all kinds of stuff that were otherwise overlooked by organizing that way. Organization tips usually advise to store products either by theme, type of product, manufacturers or colours, depending on how you think when you craft. Experience has confirmed that organizing by colour is definitely what suits me the best. Here, I was able to quickly find a 12" x 12" paper to make my envelope and a matching paper to make the address block in a matter of seconds.

In case someone was wondering how Tahitian Tide compared to Tempting Turquoise, the new In Color is slightly more blue, whereas Tempting Turquoise has a tad more green in it, but the difference is very subtle. To me, this feels very much like a repeat colour, but Tempting Turquoise left so long ago, it feels like a nice opportunity to replenish the cardstock stack in that colour.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Tahitian Tide, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Vellum Stack: Botanical Gardens (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper Stack: 2022-2024 In Color (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Salty Ocean, Twisted Citron, Mustard Seed Distress Oxide inks (Ranger)
Dies: Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Papa (Simon Says Stamp)
Accessories: Uncharted Mariner Distress Spray, #5 Mixed Media Heavystock Tags (Ranger); 
Envelope Punch Board, Stampin' Dimensionals, Blue Adhesive-Backed Gems, Mini Stapler,
Glitter Enamel Dots, Noble Peacock Rhinestones, Project LIfe Journaling Cards,
Tahitian Tide 1/8" Metallic Woven Ribbon (Stampin' Up!); Corner Chomper (We R Memory Makers);
Classy & Fabulous Stencil (Carta Bella); Alcohol Markers (Copic);
Surf and Pearfection Glitz Glitter Gel (Deco Foil); Washi Tape (Unknown)

 

Refuse to Sink

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes) + Fusion (color combo)

I was excited to see the Fusion color combo because it reminded me of Simple Stories' Vintage Seas collection. As soon as I received the products I had ordered from my local store, I got to working with it.

I didn't have a clear plan when I started. I wanted to try out my gel press plate, which I don't have any experience with. To ease into it, I thought I'd start with inks. I inked the gel plate with Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink, then I inked the Hardwood background stamp with Uncharted Mariner Distress Oxide ink and stamped it on the gel plate. I created a mask out of a grid die I own and then I used the Uncharted Mariner Distress spray but I found out that this is way too liquid and the mask didn't make a difference, the spray just pooled over that part of the plate. I still went ahead and transferred my image to a piece of Bristol cardstock and that is how I ended up with what became the background of this card.

I pulled out a mixed media #5 tag and spritzed it with Candied Apple Distress Oxide spray, then Uncharted Mariner Distress spray and I took the nozzle out of the Vintage Photo Distress Oxide spray to splatter the tag. I dried it with my heat tool. Then, I crinkled a piece of plastic, picked up some flake and glitter glue with it and dabbed it on the tag. I then applied gold gilded leafing over the tag. I reused my grid mask from earlier, folded it in half and stapled it onto my tag. I then looked through the ephemera pieces and stickers from the Vintage Seas collection to embellish the tag.

I liked the wheel, so I centered that on the tag (from Sticker Book). I added two pieces of coral and the lighthouse from the Nautical bits. I added the "Refuse to sink" foam sticker in the center, and I found an anchor sticker on the cardstock sticker sheet. I finished the tag with a decorative brad and metallic woven ribbon from the new In Color product line, which suits this collection nicely.

Since I already had a background and a tag, I decided to make a card. I cut the background with a Dotted Rectangle die and matted it with In the Navy cardstock from Gina K. Design using the Perfect Layers rulers and a craft knife. I recently bought the Fiskars blade with a loop that goes over your finger and so far, I'm really liking it. I added a piece of patterned paper, tore the top edge, then flipped the torn piece over and used the backside to create an additional layer. I decided to ink all of my pieces with Night of Navy ink to go with the vintage look. I picked a banner sticker from the sticker book to fill the space at the top, and a little chip sticker from the cardstock sticker to place under the anchor.

I discovered that the Ann's Quilt embellishment pack from Buttons Galore & More (28 Lilac Lane collection) fits very nicely with the colours from the Simple Stories collection, so I used a button and a few sequins from this pack to embellish the card.

I used a navy linen envelope and added a cut-apart paper image for the address block, then a lighthouse sticker to tie with the card.

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Hardwood (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: In the Navy (Gina K. Designs); Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Sticker Book, Cardstock Stickers, Foam Stickers,
Decorative Brads: Simple Vintage Vintage Seas (Simple Stories) 
Ink: Tumbled Glass, Uncharted Mariner Distress Oxide (Ranger);
Night of Navy Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Grillage (Les ateliers de Karine); Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Perfect Layers (American Crafts); Hobby Blade (Fiskars);
A2 Nautical Blue Linen Envelope (Envelopes.com); Sponge Daubers, Gold Gilded Leafing, Mini Stapler,
Starry Sky 1/8" Metallic Woven Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Vintage Photo and Candied Apple Distress Oxide Sprays, Uncharted Mariner Distress Spray,
#5 Mixed-Media Heavystock Tags (Ranger); 6" x 6" Gel Printing Plate (Gel Press);
Ann's Quilt 28 Lilac Lane Shaker Mix (Buttons Galore & More)

 

Train Postcard

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Inspired by a Movie = The Girl on the Train)

This card started with me grabbing a box in which I've thrown various unused elements from past projects that I sometimes dig through to include on what I'm working on. Here, I found the newspaper print paper on which I had previously stenciled roses in gold ink and a piece of Crumb Cake that was embossed with the pattern from the Stitched Greenery die. I liked the two together and the vintage look reminded me I have recently purchased the Snapshots ephemera from Tim Holtz and I thought this could go well with the two pieces. I also found a leftover brown silhouette from a Tim Holtz die set, which was perfect for the challenge.

I found that the snapshots are in black and white, so the white was a little too bright against the vanilla paper, but then I remembered I have Vintage Beeswax Baked Texture embossing powder from Seth Apter for Emerald Creek, which is awesome to give something a vintage look. I trimmed the edges of the picture with my Deckle trimmer and covered the whole picture with VersaMark ink, then the embossing powder. This gave it the perfect sepia look I was looking for. I then started digging through my stash for other vintage elements to use. I picked up Reminisce the book 3 and went through the patterns to pick something for the card background. I liked the burgundy paper, so I figured out how big of a card I would need to accommodate the large picture, and I went with 5" x 7", cutting the burgundy paper a quarter of an inch shorter. Also from the same book, I found a page of vintage tags, so I fussy cut one to use as a layer. At that point, I pulled out my Antique Linen Distress pad, my Vintage Photo Distress Oxide pad and a few brown and burgundy Classic ink pads from Stampin' Up! to ink the edges of of all the pieces I had. I crinkled the newsprint paper and inked the crinkles to make them stand out.

I found Tim Holtz's Mail Art stamp set in my stash and decided to add a few images here and there: the numbers to the patterned paper, the word "Approved" to the tag die-cut, a few images to the silhouette and the Registered block, which I stamped in burgundy and cut out. I also stamped the star in the circle on Gold Rush cardstock from Lawn Fawn and punched it with a circle punch. I added a Mini Flair from idea-ology. I found that pack in the clearance section for $0.99. Considering how expensive the idea-ology embellishments are at full price, I was all over it! I picked the one that says "6¼ cent fare," as it went well with the train image.

For the sentiment, I looked through the new sentiment dies I recently found at my local store. I was excited to add to my French die selection - those are few and far in between, but the European companies have started to offer more options and I'm excited about it as word die cuts are sometimes easier to add than stamped sentiments, which require a flat surface to work out. In this instance, I was able to layer the word over the silhouette and the embossed train image, where stamping would have been extremely difficult. I layered three die-cuts, the top one being cut out of black Kraft-stock to add sheen to it.

I added layering inside the card since the card base was made of really dark cardstock (Merry Merlot), and I looked through my paper stash to find paper to make an oversize envelope with. I lucked out and found this old paper that's been in my stash for close to two decades now (it's single sided, so that's a sign right there). The vintage colours and mail print was perfect for my card, so I used my Envelope Punch Board to make a matching envelope. I inked the edges with a dauber and added another label from the Reminisce book. This will be my father's birthday/Father's Day card (those two events are a couple of days apart, so his card always cover both.) I had put aside a few snapshots from the pack that I felt could work with the pieces I had pulled, but I ended up going with the train since my dad has worked for a train company his whole career and that seemed appropriate.

I'm really happy with this card - masculine cards are always challenging and vintage is not my natural crafting style, so I'm always pleased when I manage to nail it. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Mail Art (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Cardstock: Merry Merlot, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!); Gold Rush (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Paper: Reminisce the Book 3 (Elizabeth Craft Designs); Unknown (Stampin' Up!); 
Unknown (K & Company); Metallic-3 Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for idea-ology)
Ink: Antique Linen Distress, Vintage Photo Distress Oxide (Ranger);
Merry Merlot, Soft Suede, Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!); Antique Gold (Altenew)
Dies: Stitched Greenery (Stampin' Up!); Carterie (DIY & Cie)
Accessories: Circle Punch, Black Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers,
Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!); Mini Flair, Snapshots (Tim Holtz for idea-ology);
Vintage Beeswax Baked Texture Embossing Powder (Seth Apter for Emerald Creek);
Stipple Brush, Roses Stencil (Tim Holtz)

 

Curiousity

Inspiration: Just Add Ink #608

When I purchased the Kaleidoscope Plaid dies from Spellbinders, I used paper scraps to test it out and see how it looked assembled. I repeated the blocks four times, in shades of grey, orange and black to create a background. (I assume I had Halloween on the brain when I chose those colours.) This background stayed in my bin where I keep little elements that have not been used on projects yet. Today, I rummaged through that bin for inspiration and I realized that the colours of that background fit the Just Add Ink challenge perfectly! I only add the include yellow and vanilla in there and I would be on my way.

I looked at Card Maps sketches for inspiration and picked one from July 2020. I looked through my stamps and immediately decided on Observations, as I was happy to have a chance to get this one used. Isn't this gentleman just fantastic? It was one of those sets that I really liked but passed on when it was released because those rubber sets can really add to the bill. I was psyched to see some of the previous stamp sets released in bundles including photopolymer stamps and stencils at a much more affordable price. This was one of them. I *think* the size might be smaller (that would have to be checked), but in this case, I find this size easier to work on a card front. I find that the Tim Holtz products I've purchased over the past years are really helping me come up with masculine cards more easily. This is one of them, where I find I don't have to compromise my personal crafting style to get to a masculine card that both myself and the recipient can enjoy.

The main image was stamped in Memento ink on Very Vanilla cardstock and colored with Copic markers, then fussy cut. The tag was created with the Angle Tag topper punch from Stampin' Up! and I added a hole reinforcer using the Planner Essentials dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs. The wheels and cogs image from the Observations stamp set were added to the yellow cardstock with matching ink. I added matching baker's twine and two brushed metallic adhesive-backed dots.

I stamped the gentleman on a metallic orange envelope using VersaMark and embossed it in black. I added Glossy Accents to the monocle on the card and on the envelope.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Observations (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Hello Honey, Very Vanilla, Black Glimmer Paper, Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Various Scraps
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Kaleidoscope Plaid (Spellbinders); Reinforcement Variety Pack (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Accessories: A2 Flame Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com); Markers (Copic);
Black Stampin' Emboss Powder, Black Stampin' Dimensionals, Angle Tag Topper Punch,
Brushed Metallic Adhesive-Backed Dots (Stampin' Up!); Gold Yellow Baker's Twine (May Arts);
Glossy Accents (Ranger)

 

Birthday Banners

Inspiration: Sunday Stamps #284 

The sketch reminded me of two banners facing each other, which was perfect to use the Hey Sports Fan suite. I used the large ticket die for the main rectangle and I used the large banner die for the top one, and a banner that was fussy cut from the Designer Series paper for the bottom one. I had pieced a #1 circle out of felt for my previous card and because I had used two colours, I had the reverse colours leftover, which I reused for this card here. I stamped "Happy Birthday" on a piece of Poppy Parade cardstock in Night of Navy ink and die-cut out with the Bitty Banners dies (long retired).

I punched small stars out of cardstock and topped them with the resin stars. I fussy cut extra banners to add to the inside of the card and the matching envelope.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Fans inconditionnels (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Bumblebee, Poppy Parade, Night of Navy
Designer Series Paper: Hey Sports Fan
Ink: Night of Navy
Accessories: Bitty Banners Dies, Sports Event Dies, Resin Star Embellishments,
Very Vanilla Medium Envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals, Star Punch; Felt (Dollar Store)

 

#1 Banner

Inspiration: In[k]spire Me #478 (sketch) + Tic Tac Toe #163 (Square Card + Ribbon + Dad)

I wanted to keep playing with the Hey Sports Fan suite and I decided to have a look at my felt sheets to see if I had colours that would match the Designer Series Paper. I was able to match most of the colours, except the red that was a little off compared to Poppy Parade, so I avoided pulling that colour into my design. I love how cute the banner looks done in felt, especially the paper pieced #1. It had not cut cleanly through the felt only because the details are so delicate, so I redid it, gluing the felt on cardstock first, and it made a huge difference.

 It was perfect that the tic tac toe grid called for a square card since the In[k]spire Me sketch was square and perfect to work the banner in. To make a line with Dad, I also had to work ribbon in my design and that's the part that was throwing me the most. I initially tried to make the two lines on the left with punched cardstock and it was not looking cute. I finally realized that's where the ribbon should go and that solved my problem. I stapled it in place with my mini stapler and while I usually like the look of mini staples on a design, here, it was drawing attention way too much against the navy ribbon, so I looked through my embellishments and found those Vanilla enamel dots that were the perfect addition to the design.

For the sentiment, I stamped "Best Dad Ever" in Night of Navy ink and poured navy embossing powder over it. I die-cut the sentiment with the ticket and a second ticket out of Night of Navy cardstock so that I could make the ends a different colour. I added little resin stars in the corner. I distressed some of the edges of the patterned papers and I assembled my card.

There were quite a few elements I had put together to try on the card and I made a cute layered ticket with the pieces that were leftover on my desk, which I worked inside the card. I used some of the unused fussy cut and die-cut banners to decorate a matching envelope.

Card size: 5¼" x 5¼"

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Fans inconditionnels
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Night of Navy, Bumblebee 
Designer Series Paper: Hey Sports Fan
Ink: Night of Navy
Dies: Sports Event
Accessories: Resin Stars Embellishments, Stampin' Dimensionals, Distressing Tool,
Home for Christmas Enamel Dots, Night of Navy Velvet Ribbon, Mini Stapler;
Felt (Dollar Store); Navy Embossing Powder (Top Boss); Vanilla Square Envelope (Envelopes.com)

 

Best Dad Banner

Inspiration: Try Stampin’ on Tuesday #556

My favorite suite from the mini catalogue is the Hey Sports Fan collection. I like the vintage feel and masculine vibe. It took me a while to place an order from the mini catalogue and I'm just getting around to finally making a project using the products from this suite (a month before the mini catalogue will retire, but that's okay - this purchase was more about beefing up my options for masculine cards).

I drew inspiration from the Try Stampin' on Tuesday. The three squares became the tickets and banner, and the little circles became the #1 circle and resin stars. The three strips at the bottom were recreated using this little ticket strip from the die set (my favorite!). I used three cardstock colours and stamped the stars and splatter images from the stamp set to make them more interesting.

For the background, I picked the nice striped paper and I decided to use the Shifter Star stencil I had sitting on my desk. I used Poppy Parade ink first, shifted the stencil and used Night of Navy the second time. The blender brushes gave this soft airbrushed look that pairs with the vintage papers very nicely. 

I stamped the banner in Night of Navy ink and the sentiment ("Best dad ever") in VersaMark, then embossed it with Pewter powder (my favorite metallic colour - still sad Stampin' Up! retired it). I die-cut it with the matching die, and I used champagne glimmer paper for the overlapping part on the left side. I used the three colours of baker's twine from the suite to tie a bow at the bottom. I repeated the banner on a Very Vanilla medium envelope to finish the set.

This was surprisingly simple to put together, but I like the result. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Fans inconditionnels (Your Biggest Fan - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Bumblebee, Poppy Parade, Evening Evergreen, Champagne Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper: Hey Sports Fan (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Night of Navy, Bumblebee, Poppy Parade, Evening Evergreen, VersaMark (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Resin Stars Embellishments, Fan Baker's Twine, 1" Circle Punch, Sports Event Dies,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Very Vanilla Medium Envelope, Blender Brushes,
Stitched Rectangles Dies, Pewter Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!); 
Direction and Shifter Stars Stencil (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)

 

Wanted

Inspiration: YouTube Tutorial from Pinstrawberryz + Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes)

After I was done with my layout using the Howdy! collection from Simple Stories, I wanted to make a card with the collection before putting it away. It was good timing with Father's Day coming up as well. I saw a tutorial from Michelle this week (Pinstrawberryz on YouTube) where she overlays a piece of patterned paper in which she die-cut a window over a card base. The idea was interesting and I thought it would look cool with the sheriff image popped up in the frame. 

I'm not usually one for flowery stuff, but I will admit I'm really drawn to the floral pattern on wood paper. I picked it for the top layer and used the yellow paper in the background. I used the Tasteful Labels dies from Stampin' Up! to create the opening. I was looking for something with stitching on both sides of the dies. This one actually has an embossed line on both sides of the cut.

A lot of the elements used on the card came from the cardstock stickers sheet. I usually like having two sheets of each patterned paper for collections that I love so that I don't have to pick a favorite side (or lose out on a whole pattern with cut-apart sheets). I've figured out that it's less expensive to buy two collection kits than individual sheets, which means that in those cases, I score a bonus second sticker sheet. This is the case here, so I'm using the stickers more liberally.

I love the end result. Check out Michelle's tutorial linked above if you want instructions. I haven't followed her measurements, though, I just went for a regular A2-sized card.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Lost Lagoon, Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers: Howdy! (Simple Stories)
Ink: Soft Suede (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Tasteful Labels Dies, Envelope Punch Board, 2020-2022 In Color Square Gems,
Rustic Metal Adhesive-Backed Dots, Sponge Daubers, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Sahara Sand/Night of Navy Baker's Twine (Stampin' Up!); Red Twinkle Stars (Queen & Co)

 

Cheers, Lad!

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Alcohol) + TGIF Challenge #368

I wanted to put something together for the Simon Says Stamp challenge as I knew it would be a good chance to pull out some of the stamps and dies that I don't use often enough. I ended up picking Beer Blueprint, an old favorite. I remembered I had the Original paper pad from Authentique that might pair neatly with the image, so I prepared a few layering pieces based on the TGIF sketch. I used blue paper for the background and stamped the pretzel repeatedly on it. I then stamped the numbers from the Inquisitive stamp set on the edge of a chevron patterned paper and distressed the edges, before adding inking to it. (My first try was adding stenciling to the pattern and it was a hot mess!)

I ran the brown paper through my Big Shot with the Splatters embossing folder. I distressed the surface with a sanding block and added yellow inking to it so it wouldn't be stark white. I distressed and inked the edges here as well. I created a card base out of Night of Navy cardstock and used the leftover strip as my base layer, after stamping the row of X's on it from the Dotted and Stitched stamp set.

I stamped the beer mug in VersaMark on watercolour paper and embossed it in Early Espresso embossing powder. I used an Aqua Painter brush to colour the image with Classic inks and fussy cut the image. I added it to the card with Dimensionals. I knew I had old eyelets in my stash somewhere, so I dug one out in a brass finish and I added it to my sentiment panel, which was a strip of tiny tickets die-cut with the Sports Event dies. Finally, I decided to add twine and I stapled it in place on the card. 

I used the Sports Event dies again to make my address block on a navy envelope. One more masculine card for the stash!

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Beer Blueprint, Inquisitive, Dotted and Stitched (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous);
Fans inconditionnels (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Original (Authentique)
Ink: Soft Seafoam, Night of Navy, Soft Suede (Stampin' Up!); VersaMark
Dies: Sports Event (Stampin' Up!); Foundation 4 (Queen & Co);
Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Dauber Brushes (iCrafter); Metal Eyelet (Unknown);
Twine (Unknown); Rustic Metal Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Stapler,
Aqua Painter Brush, Early Espresso Stampin' Emboss Powder, Distressing Tool (Stampin' Up!)

 

Sitting Pretty

Inspiration: Retro Rubber Challenge #181 (Pattern Paper + Bling [metallic waxes] + Ribbon) - my retro stamp I used it the Dictionary background, which I purchased from Stampin' Up! many years ago (maybe six?)

I didn't start with a very specific plan for this card. I wanted to use an embossing folder and test out my waxes on the raised surface to see how it would look. I pulled out an old embossing folder called Holiday Frame and found a Stitched Oval die from Lawn Fawn that was the right size for it. I made sure to die-cut the oval first, out of Real Red Core'dinations cardstock, and then I ran it through the embossing folder and sanded the raised surface. I then started testing out my White Gold and White waxes and the result was a little underwhelming, so I used my Antique Gold pigment ink from Altenew, pressing it on the raised surface, and I got a better result.

Because the colour combo I used for inspiration included black and I'm always looking for masculine cards, I picked a paper doll to add to the card. That oval was really big and did not fit well on a regular A2 card, so I went for a larger size and made a 5" x 6" card. For the background, I used texture Bermuda Bay cardstock, stamped it with the Dictionary background stamp and inked the edges with Distress Oxide ink. I wanted to work some yellow in and include layers, so I pulled the Abandoned paper pad and I tore the corners of a yellow sheet, inked them, and layered them on my card. I tied a piece of Crushed Curry chevron ribbon around the card and I inked it with Distress Oxide ink as well to grunge it up. For the sentiment, I decided to use a Word Band and stitch it in place with red floss. I used the Peacock Feather Distress crayon to fill in the words on the band and washed the excess off with a baby wipe. I added two gold hexagons underneath the paper doll that I pulled from the Expressions in Ink ephemera pack. Then, I placed brushed metallic dots in opposite corners for a finishing touch.

I made my own envelope for my irregular-sized card using a piece of patterned paper found in my scrap drawers. I've placed my full 12" x 12" sheets at the bottom of the drawers so that I can pick from it when I need to make an envelope. It's been a good way to use some older papers that I might not use on their own on projects, but that I don't necessarily want to give away since they're still useful for envelopes and such. (At the price patterned papers are now, it's probably wise to hold on to what I have and put it to good use.) I repeated the torn paper look on the envelope and added a Star Trim border to add some red. I used the other border from the Impresslits inside the card.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Dictionary (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay, Real Red Core'dinations (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Abandoned (Tim Holtz for idea-ology)
Ink: Bermuda Bay (Stampin' Up!); Brushed Corduroy, Ground Espresso, 
Walnut Stain Distress Oxide (Ranger); Antique Gold Pigment Ink (Altenew)
Accessories: Crushed Curry Chevron Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Holiday Frame Embossing Folder,
Expressions in Ink Ephemera Pack, Brushed Metallic Adhesive-Backed Dots, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!);
Blending Tool, Peacock Feathers Distress Crayon (Ranger); Word Bands (Tim Holtz for idea-ology);
Red Floss (Anchor); Star Trim Impresslits (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); White and White Gold Waxes (Finnabair);
Stitched Oval Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

Dad's Vintage Car

Inspiration: Hand Stamped Sentiments #382(inspired from the cute van in the image) + As You See It #268(A Favorite Technique of Mine Is... Fussy cutting images from patterned papers)

I wanted to use the Buenos Dias! collection from American Crafts. The cute pink vintage car caught my eye on the cut-apart page and since the text above it was in Spanish, I decided to fussy cut the image to use it individually. The Spanish text finished with "felicidad" so I thought I could cut the end of the word off so that I could use "dad" alone. That became the starting point of the card.

The cut-apart sheet also had tags, which reminded me of the Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch, so I cut a few elements to mirror the sketch. I matted the tag with peach glitter paper from the Delicate Pastel Glitter Pad from Memory Box, punched a hole and threaded peach seam binding at the top. I glued the car over the sentiment and I added a couple of flower stickers to hide the text better. I also cut out the little flourish that were around the text on my car cut-apart and use one of them as the light beam at the front of the car.

For the circle, I got my recently purchased Doily die set from Coco and Reno and used the larger circle on patterned paper. I was not happy with my first pattern selection, so I went back and used the softer tile pattern instead, which looked much better. To make the layered banners, I used my Foundation #4 dies from Queen & Co, which the die used for the scalloped rectangle is also from.

I finished the card with Candy Dots and acrylic shapes. I repeated some of the same elements on an A2 Sapphire metallic envelope to finish off the set.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Blush Blossom (Stampin' Up!); Delicate Pastel Glitter Pad (Memory Box)
Patterned Papers, Acrylic Shapes, Stickers: Buenos Dias! (American Crafts)
Dies: Foundation #4 (Queen & Co); Doily (Coco & Reno);
Planner Essentials (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Accessories: A2 Sapphire Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com); 
Subtles Candy Dots, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Peekaboo Peach Seam Binding (Stampin' Up!)

 

Happy Birthday to a Perfect Gentleman

Inspiration: ColourQ #223 + In[k]spire Me #470

This project was born from my experimentation pieces. I had cut up a woodgrain texture cardstock in quadrants and on this one, I had stenciled some glitter paste and then spritzed the cardstock with Candied Apple Distress Oxide spray. I had also used the Mini Foundry embossing folder on Silver Kraftstock and used black acrylic paint to distress the metal and highlight the details.

I had wanted to create something with the Inquisitive stamp set for a while and I decided the pieces I was working with might be perfect for it. I drew inspiration from the In[k]spire Me sketch and set my pieces following the same design. I stamped the row of numbers from the stamp set on the metal piece and embossed it in Crushed Curry powder. I also used the plus signs image on the striped patterned paper, which I distressed the edge of and added to the card using mini staples.

I stamped the target in Merry Merlot ink and cut it out with a circle die. I stamped one of the gentlemen in Tuxedo Black ink, colored him with Copic markers and cut him out. I was trying to figure out how to add a sentiment to my card and I decided to test the round happy birthday die I have, which happened to be the perfect size. I initially did it in Summer Starfruit, but it was really clashing against the Crushed Curry embossing powder, so I covered it with a second circle die-cut out of Basic Grey cardstock instead.

I was looking for something to finish the card with, so I stamped the doodled border from the Dotted and Stitched set on the left and I added a screw embellishment to the metal part. The panel was mounted on a Basic Grey card base.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Inquisitive, Dotted and Stitched (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Cardstock: Basic Grey, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); White Woodgrain (Memory Box);
Metallic Kraftstock (Tim Holtz for idea-ology)
Designer Series Paper: 2014-2016 In Color (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark; Merry Merlot, Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Layering Circle Dies (Tonic); Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Stapler,
Crushed Curry Stampin' Emboss Powder, Urban Underground Ornements,
Glimmer Texture Paste (Stampin' Up!); Dotted Line Stencil (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous);
Black Acrylic Paint (Unknown); Markers (Copic); Candied Apple Distress Oxide Spray (Ranger);
A2 Dandelion Envelope (Simon Says Stamp)

 

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)

 

Driving to the Beach

This card was born out of my leftover scraps from the Beach Bum collection from Fancy Pants Designs (2010). I've had the Truckin' Through the Seasons dies sitting in my stash for a while and thought I could fill the back of the truck with the beach ball and surf board.

This was my first time using this die set and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I loved the look of it when it was a kit of the month and it started popping up online a couple of years ago and I was really pleased for the company to bring it back outside of their kit subscription. I'm not keen on the fact that it has "holes" around the truck bed to create the shape. This makes for an extra step if you want to fill it in with another colour, and it's tricky to fill in if you want to pop up the truck (which I did on this card). I ended up using tape on the back of my image to keep the piece in place. I thought I was using cardstock in a slightly darker colour, but it turned out to be a perfect match, so I might as well have used the original piece... The little side mirrors also don't have much of an overlap to glue them on the truck. This is particularly tricky of you use metallic cardstock (which makes sense for the mirror), since it is more slippery and doesn't hold as well when you try to glue it down. Again, here, I ended up simple adding the mirrors with mini Stampin' Dimensionals, but it means that you need to assemble the truck on the card instead of putting this together as a stand-along embellishment that you can move around on the card to find a placement you like. 

The third thing I was annoyed with, and that was a rookie mistake on my part, is that I added foam adhesive on the back of the truck to pop it up and I totally spaced out on the fact that I would need to be able to slip in the stuff in the slit that's made for the truck bed. I tried to pop the paper up with my paper piercer tip but I couldn't do it, so I cut the bottom of the embellishments and glued them in place, but it doesn't work as well. That's the kind of details you figure out when you use dies for a first time. I'll know better next time.

Speaking of the embellishments, you need to create a frame and fill in the middle parts with the colours of your choice. More repetitive die-cutting... but what I don't like, is that you don't have a base piece to glue everything on. Lawn Fawn is so good with that - they always think to provide a base piece that's exactly the right shape and size that you can glue your stuff over. Here, the ball was pretty easy - I just used a circle punch, but the surfboard was trickier. I traced my main frame, fussy cut it a little narrower and glued my pieces in place, but I had to go back and trim some of the excess paper again. This is the type of things that will make me dislike a die set. It doesn't feel finished. If you want to be able to slip those two elements in the truck bed, you can't have 10 individual pieces, they need to be held together by something, and the fact that there's no base piece makes the set feel incomplete to me. We'll see if I feel better about it when I make trucks for other seasons. The gift was easier to handle, but I see that the pumpkin has the holes as well, and the Christmas tree is all one die, but the branches seem to all be separated, though. sigh My local store has gotten Spellbinders' Open House die collection this week and I was eyeing them, but this is making me rethink it. At least, I will have to go back and inspect the dies closer to see how the pieces go together. 

I had a bit of room on the card, so I wanted to use a larger stamps, and possibly a birthday sentiment that had a masculine vibe to it. I found "Happy birthday to a classy guy" in a Stampin' Up! set. I embossed it in Early Espresso embossing powder. The card still felt a little empty, so I decided to add two gift boxes in the bottom left corner. By the way, I used acetate in the truck window, but it is hard to tell now that the items have been added to the truck bed.

I had so many die-cut pieces, I was able to make an extra surfboard to add inside the card and a beach ball for the envelope. I used one of the leftover cut-aparts on the envelope, along with a border. I have officially used all of this collection up. Whatever is left will be put in my scrap drawers.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Bien cravaté (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi (Stampin' Up!); Blue Obsidian Mirror, Holo Wave Mirror (Tonic)
Dies: Just Stitching Double Rectangles (Lawn Fawn); Truckin' Through the Seasons (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Window Sheet, 
Early Espresso Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!); A2 Fairway Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

King of the Barbecue

Inspiration: Fab Friday #215 + As You See It #252

I was really happy to find the "papa" die in a recent Simon Says Stamp release. I don't think it's meant to be a French die, but this happens to be the French word for dad. French dies are few and far in between and the ones that are available don't always have the best font, so I was happy to find this one. It's a nice size, it has a clean font and I like that it has the shadow as well.

I'm trying to replenish my masculine card pile a bit, so I pulled out the Bar-b-cute paper pad from Doodlebug and add the die in the center of the oval, then use icon stickers to add elements around the oval. My initial idea was to tuck images behind the oval, but the icons were too big for that to work. Maybe if I had the mini icon stickers, the scale would have worked better. This is arguably one of the quickest card I've ever put together.

I repeated the oval on a Sapphire metallic envelope and added another icon sticker as well. I used the little cut-aparts from the paper pad to decorate the inside of the card.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Basic White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Icon Stickers: Bar-b-cute (Doodlebug Design)
Accessories: Papa Dies (Simon Says Stamp); Stitched Oval Stackables Dies,
Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn);
A2 Sapphire Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Bullseye!

I made a Father's Day card using the Sasparilla collection after using it on my last layout. I can never have too many masculine cards on hand so I figured these papers would fit the bill perfectly. I used the patterned paper with the little cowboys and cowgirls and paired one of the images with a kraft woodgrain frame from Jillibean Soup I've had in my stash for a while (2013). I don't have a ton of Father's Day sentiment options, so I went back to All-Aroung Argyle, which has been pulled out many times over the years. The sentiment ("Happy Father's Day, Dad") is all in one long line, so I cut it apart in smaller bits.

I had a leftover piece of polka paper cut at an angle, so I layered that piece over the quilt one, and I was liking the look of the map paper with those patterns, so I tore a strip, crumpled it, inked it with Distress ink, dried it and added it to the card. I used a mix of regular Antique Linen Distress ink and Distress Oxide ink in Frayed Burlap.

I included a few stickers from the collection around the card, a copper star and a copper-foiled embellishment from the Brightly Gleaming Foil Elements from Stampin' Up! (That embellishment pack was sold in a Christmas collection, but the stars can easily be used year-round.)

I felt the main frame would be a tight fit on a regular A2 card, so I went up in size and created a 4½" x 6" card. I had plenty of patterned paper from the collection, so I used a sheet to make a matching envelope using the Envelope Punch Board. I don't know if you have seen the Howdy! collection from Simple Stories that will be coming out this month, but it reminds me a lot of the Sasparilla collection. The colours are slightly more saturated and there are a few additional cutesy critters in it, but the patterns and vintage cowboy images are very similar. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Tout en losange (All-Around Argyle - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Stickers: Sasparilla (October Afternoon)
Ink: Antique Linen Distress, Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide (Ranger);
Chestnut Roan ColorBox Chalk (Clearsnap)
Dies: Lots of Labels (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board, Brightly Gleaming Foil Elements,
Star Designer Elements (Stampin' Up!); Kraft Woodgrain Frames (Jillibean Soup - Hampton Art);
Distress Tool (Ranger); Jute Trim (Celebrate It)

 

Hats Off, Dad!

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #319

The initial inspiration behind this card was a colour combo I stumbled on when clearing place in my ink holder for this year's new In Colors. I had to pick a few colours of ink to move elsewhere and when I saw Purple Posy, Terracotta Tile and Bumblebee together on my desk, I really liked the look.

Hats Off is one of the first bundles that caught my eye in the new catalogue. I love the look and size of the hat and the cute logos we can add to it. I also thought this could help inspire some masculine cards so I was all for it. It's too bad this set didn't get translated (little bit of a head scratcher, honestly - they could have switched a floral set for this one), so I paired it with the Geared Up Garage set to add the "Happy Father's Day" French sentiment.

I used the woodgrain Purple Posy DSP for the background and I used a blending brush to add patterns to the corners using the Basic Pattern decorative masks. The Geared Up Garage also had a little stain stamp that I added to the corners as well for additional layered texture.

The hat was stamped in Soft Suede on Bumblebee cardstock and die-cut. I added the little logo stamped on Terracotta Tile cardstock and I stamped and fussy cut the front of the hat on the linen texture DSP and paper pieced it for additional color and texture. The sentiment was stamped on a stitched circle die-cut that was siting on my desk, in Terracotta Tile ink.

At this point, I needed to figure out how to design the card so it wouldn't look so drab. I drew inspiration from a past Mojo Monday sketch and added the polka dot rectangle and the banners. The die set includes a star, so I grabbed a scrap of gold foil paper on my desk and added a gold star to the first banner, then Purple Posy dots from the Playing with Patterns resin dots pack. (I'm surprised this one came back in the annual catalogue considering that Purple Posy just retired.)

At this point, the Terracotta sentiment was really bothering me and seemed to flat so I started testing out ideas on how to improve it. After a few tries, I settled on a Purple Posy banner - and then I added a fussy cut layer over the central word, added at an angle, and I was finally happier with the whole look.

Fun set! I like that the matching dies add stitching to the hat - interesting detail!

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: À plein moteur (Geared Up Garage), Hats Off
Cardstock: Purple Posy, Terracotta Tile, Bumblebee, Gold Foil Sheets
Designer Series Paper: 2019-2021 In Color, 2020-2022 In Color
Ink: Soft Suede, Purple Posy, Terracotta Tile, Bumblebee
Dies: Hat Builder, Stitched Shapes
Accessories: Playing with Patterns Resin Dots, Basic Pattern Decorative Masks,
Blender Brushes, Stampin' Dimensionals, White Medium Envelope

 

Elvis is in the Building

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #366 + Tic Tac Toe #114 (Square + Embossing + Masculine)

Elvis was my favorite stamp from the famous Oddball release from Stamping Bella and I was lucky to find it at my local store. This will be great to make masculine cards and possibly a birthday card for my dad, who's always been an Elvis fan. I looked at my 6" x 6" paper pads before coloring the image to see which colour scheme I'd be working with and I picked an older My Mind's Eye called Cut & Paste (from 2013). I colored Elvis' suit in yellow hues with a bit of ochre around the waste. I fussy cut the image (too bad the matching dies are not available anymore, although I guess my budget will be better for it). I picked an older Mojo Monday sketch that has a square piece of paper, so that I could work that into my tic tac toe line. I wanted this card to be a father's day card, to add to my stash, so I looked through my trusty sentiment spreadsheet and found I had a "Happy Father's Day" in the Geared Up Garage stamp set. This was great, because it's already framed and has matching dies, so it made it easy to add to the design. I embossed the sentiment with Patina Oxide Baked Texture embossing powder.

Both Elvis and the sentiment were popped up on dimensional adhesive. I added a gold frame to the background, that I had leftover from previously using the Fine Frames Cover die from Altenew (the 13 cuts out 13 frames at once, so I have a few leftovers aside for future projects). The Garage Gears die set includes different gears, so I picked a couple of die-cut out of gold foils sheets and add to the card to fill in the space. I added clear Stickles to Elvis' outfit for a bit of pizzazz. I don't usually add bling to masculine cards, but for a scene outfit, it seemed appropriate.

I used the gridline paper from the collection to line the inside of the card and I gold-embossed Elvis on a Sapphire metallic envelope that matched the navy shade from the papers nicely. I used papers from the same paper pad on the envelope's flap. I've come to the realization when I last cleaned up my scrap room that I am drowning underneath patterned paper so I'm trying to put it to good use. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Oddball Elvis (Stamping Bella); À plein moteur (Geared Up Garage - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Dusty Durango, Whisper White, Gold Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Cut & Paste (Jen Allyson for My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Accessories: Fine Frames Cover Die (Altenew); Polychromos Pencils (Fäber-Castell);
A2 Sapphire Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Garage Gears Dies,
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Patina Oxide Baked Texture Embossing Powder (Emerald Creek); Stickles (Ranger)

 

Rock Star

Inspiration: Mojo Monday Sketch #371

As I was working on my last layout using the O Canada 2 papers from Photoplay, I noticed the collection includes a few curling images. My dad has been an avid curlers for years so I thought it would be neat to make a curling-themed birthday card for him. His birthday is only at the end of June, but it never hurts to be ready in advance. 

I started my design with the "rock star" cut-apart (bet that was not what you were expecting when you read the title of this post...) and I looked at past Mojo Monday sketch for inspiration and quickly spotted one that had a similar shape, so I based my design on it. I moved the circle behind the image so as not to hide the words. I wanted to use the broom sticker as the horizontal line, but it was not standing out enough. I tried matting it with the striped paper, but when things moved around on the desk, I realized it looked better if I worked with angles and placed the striped paper in one direction and the broom in a different one. This made the design much more dynamic. 

To zhuzh the cut-apart up a bit, I added an enamel star to the center of the O and a star outline punched out of silver foil paper using two star punches. I matted the image with black foil paper and added two matte enamel dots and mounted the papers on a Basic Grey card base. I used matching stickers on an Aquamarine metallic envelope.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Basic Grey, Black Foil Sheets, Silver Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Stickers, Patterned Papers: O Canada 2 (Photoplay)
Dies: Wonky Stitched Rectangles Die-namics (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: Halloween Mix Matte Enamels (Bella Blvd.); Distressing Tool, Small and Medium
Star Punches (Stampin' Up!); Star-fetti Shapes Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design)
A2 Aquamarine Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

A New Day

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #527 + Simon Says Stamp (masculine) + Just Add Ink #508 (F for Folder)

I really loved the look of the Let It Ride stamp set from the moment I saw it and was happy to add a horse set to my collection since I didn't have any. I have to admit that I have found this set hard to work with, though. Not sure why, but this hasn't sparked as much inspiration as I would have hoped. I did decide to give it a try again today and I'm happy with how my card turned out. 

I stamped the horse head on Crumb Cake cardstock, and cut the image out with the embossed tag from the Painted Labels die. I colored the image with my Prismacolor pencils (love how the colors pop on kraft cardstock) and I stamped a sentiment from the Power of Hope stamp set (2020 SAB offering). It reads, "This day marks a new beginning." 

For my background piece, I went looking for textures so I picked Buffalo Plaid for the background and I embossed my middle piece with the Corrugated 3D embossing folder (love that one, very sad to see it go). I distressed the edge of the plaid cardstock and layered the Soft Seafoam embossed piece, then I tied a piece of jute ribbon in the centre. I slid two copper leave trinkets behind the ribbon knot and a Early Espresso circle created with the same die set behind the main image. I finished the card off with sequins and faceted dots. I used a Crumb Cake envelope to finish the set.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Let It Ride, Buffalo Check, La force de l'espoir (Power of Hope)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand, Soft Seafoam, Pear Pizzazz, Early Espresso
Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Soft Suede, Basic Black
Accessories: Jute Ribbon, Leaves Trinkets, Stampin' DImensionals, 
Crumb Cake Medium Envelope, Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins, Faceted Dots,
Corrugated 3D Embossing Folder, Star Designer Elements; Pencils (Prismacolor)

 

Beer Foursquare

Inspiration: ColourQ #256 + Retro Rubber challenge #133 (Tim Holtz's Beer Blueprints, purchased two years ago)

I'm crafting up a storm during the quarantine and I'm shopping my stash for inspiration. I wanted to use the Blueprints stamps from Tim Holtz and I got the idea to stamp a partial image in each windows of the Foursquare Backdrop die from Lawn Fawn. I looked at my ColourQ combo sheet for inspiration and I liked the darker, masculine combo from challenge 256. I die-cut four rectangles out of white cardstock, used a blending tool to add Distress Oxide ink on each, spritzed them with water to oxidize them inks, dried them and overstamped each image using the same Oxide ink. I then inserted my inked panels in a frame die-cut out of Cajun Craze cardstock.

I was trying to decide where to go from there to embellish the card a bit. I added a sentiment over the pretzel panel, embossing it in Rose Gold powder. Sentiment reads, "It's going to be okay, even though we don't know how just yet." On the nose, right? I then added embellishments in matching colours on each panel, and stamped a green envelope to finish the set. Makes for a nice masculine card and could easily be adapted to other occasions by changing the sentiment.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Beer Blueprint (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous); Souhaits instantanés (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Cajun Craze, Pumpkin PIe, Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Inks: Peeled Paint, Faded Jeans, Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge Distress Oxide (Ranger);
VersaMark
Accessories: Foursquare Backdrop Landscape Dies (Lawn Fawn); 
Ultra Fine Rose Gold Embossing Powder (Simon Says Stamp);
Buttons (Autumn Leaves); Corduroy Buttons, Regals Candy Dots (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Avocado Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Vintage Postage

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Steampunk)

The Mr Vintage stamp is completely different from my usual style, with its shabby chic collage look, but I kept looking at it online and being drawn to the whole design, so I finally purchased it, thinking it would be perfect to overstamp on fun inked backgrounds I was working on. It's been sitting aside for a little while and I finally decided to get a fun background going today. I inked blended Barn Door, Dried Marigold and Wild Honey. I then put down some Aged Mahogany ink on my mat, spritzed it with water and put the watercolor paper down on it. I ended up with a wonderfully marbled look. I kept going with a few more layers, which I dried in between with my heat tool. Once the whole thing was dry and I was happy with the result, I added my stamp over it. I was wondering what color to use and I ended up deciding to do heat embossing. I picked Patina Oxide Baked Texture embossing powder. I probably lost some of the details from the stamp because Baked Texture powders are quite coarse, but I do love the touch of copper in there that goes well with the peachy tones of the background.

Because the stamp includes postage, I was inspired to pull out my Infinity Postage dies from Hero Arts to put around. I picked the largest size so I wouldn't have to cut out part of my image, and then I pondered whether to make the stamp die my actual card base, but I decided against it and added the whole panel to a 4-1/2" x 6" card instead. (And I used my envelope punch board to make an oversize envelope for it.)

The whole thing looked pretty good but I did want to embellish slightly. I added a Hodgepodge Hardware vanilla metal frame at the bottom  (it had been a long time since I had pulled those out!) and I decided to pull out one of the star brads from the same kit as well. I added a bit of orange on the star using a Distress Crayon, and I placed it over a punched ticket (stamped and inked beforehand). The frame was held in place with crinkled seam binding and I added a gold faceted gem in the cetner. I added a copper leaf from my Brightly Gleaming Foil Elements (from last fall's Holidays catalogue). I was then debating whether I could find room for a sentiment or not. I went looking for something small and I found a great sentiment in one of my most recently acquired stamp set. It's a French pun so it's hard to translate, but it says something like the 'Best Dude Ever." The translator did a great job with the play on word, it's a fun and cool sentiment. (And different from the usual very repetitive, usual sentiments we get over and over again.) 

I like how this card turned out. I foresee this stamp coming out again in the future, as I'm curious to see how it looks paired with different colour schemes. (I'm not usually big on browns, but I have to wonder how this one would look in an all-vintage setting.)

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Un bon gars (Stampin' Up!); Mr Vintage (Woodware Craft Collection)
Cardstock: Poppy Parade, Grapefruit Grove, Mango Melody (Stampin' Up!); Watercolor Paper (Fabriano)
Designer Series Envelope Paper: 2016-2018 In Color
Ink; Pumpkin Pie Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!); Wild Honey, Aged Mahogany, Barn Door,
Dried Marigold Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Postage Stamps Infinity Dies (Hero Arts); Sentiment Labels (Simon Says Stamp);
Envelope Punch Board, Adhesive Foam Strips, Gold Faceted Gems, Peekaboo Peach Crinkled Seam Binding, 
Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware, Brightly Gleaming Foil Elements (Stampin' Up!);
Patina Oxide Baked Texture Embossing Powder (Emerald Creek);
Blending Tool, Water Spritzing Bottle (Ranger)

 

No Desire to Fit In

Inspiration: Festive Friday #52 (Glitter + Mask + Bright Colors + Sequins) + Paper Craft Crew Card Sketch #369

I'm so happy with how this card turned out, especially since it's a little different from my usual style, while still being me. It took a long time to finish, mostly because I was watching videos on my laptop and getting distracted, but I think once I decided what my layout was going to be. I did use the Paper Craft Crew sketch, but I rearranged the elements on it to make it vertical. You can still see the layered strips on the edge and the rectangle piece with a stripe underneath (the yellow washi tape) and the stripe over it (in this case, the sentiment, which I fit on two lines). 

The initial point of inspiration was spotting the word "mask" in the Festive Friday list. I've purchased the Masquerade dies from Tim Holtz last fall and hadn't had yet the chance to use them, mostly because they were purchased after Halloween. I was curious to see how I could make them work on a paper doll for a project other than Halloween. Since the challenge list was calling for bright colours, I picked patterned paper from the Abandoned paper pad, which I love because it is more colorful than what the Tim Holtz line usually offers.

This is the first time I ever use a paper doll. I discovered those when I took a distress project class at my local store last year and I really liked their look and feel in person, with the thick, glossy cardstock, so I finally purchased a pack at the same time as the Masquerade dies to try them out. I went through the whole stack (there's a LOT in there!), placed a couple aside and I finally decided I really liked the guy leaning on something and that I'd put his feet up on the rectangle from the sketch. I pulled out my Distress crayons to color the flower on his lapel and his buttons. I don't have a wide array of colors - I mostly purchased metallics and neutrals, but I do have two colors I received for free with an order and they happened to match the papers (Peacock Feathers and Carved Pumpkin)! Probably because I was using so many Tim Holtz products, I figured I should add some mixed medium in there somewhere, so I got out my stencils to pick one. When I saw the half-starburst in the mini stencils #38 pack, I knew it would look really cool behind my character. I also had not used this one in the pack yet.

Looking through my pastes, I realized that the Izink texture pastes I have were the right colours to go with the paper, especially the Cactus one (green). That being said, I've purchased three beautiful shades of pearly paste from Aladine when they were on sale at a local crafts store and it turns out that while the color is beautiful, the texture is a little too liquidy and tends to run underneath stencils, which does not give the sharp edges you would normally expect from such a product. This time around, I figured I could use it my Stampin' Up! texture paste (which is white) and add the izink paste to it to color it. This way, I get the color I like AND  the texture I like. Gave it a try - five star results! When I have to make my own mix, though, I never know how much product I need. I know not to make too much but I also know I don't want to run out, so in this instance, I had enough to do the star on the card, then I quickly did the envelope as well, and I had so much leftover, I quickly picked another stencil I had close by and added a star swirl to the rest of my patterned paper used for the purple block on the card. Because I was doing stars, I thought it'd look great if I added glitter, so I was trying to get some out fast to sprinkle on the paste before it dried and then I remembered I have the glitter duster! Quickly located it and sprinkled the glitter that was in it, which is fine champagne glitter (purchased from Stampin' Up! many, many catalogues ago), then I quickly ran to the sink to wash my tools and stencils before they became too crusty.

I finished off the card with two layered pieces of washi and a metal button. I also stapled the purple rectangle and added a teal sequin. For the sentiment, I thought it might be fun to pull something from the Snarky Small Talk stickers. Looked at options and when I spotted "I have absolutely no desire to fit in," I knew I had a winner. The second I added the sentiment, I also immediately knew who I want to send this card to.

Since I had done my envelope to match, I thought it should have its own paper doll, so I went looking for a small one, and I dressed him up with a orange glitter mask as well. Because I had pulled out the sequins for the card, I started adding some to the starburst and I think it totally made the envelope! I love when my envelope stands on its own and is as cool as the card itself. I've gotten a lot of compliments on my envelopes over the year, and people who have received my cards have admitted they are already getting excited just looking at the envelope itself. (So if you're wondering if it's worth putting time into them, the answer would be, yes.) 

I didn't have a clear vision of where I was going with this card when I started it, but I love where I landed. This makes for a great masculine card.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Fresh Fig, Pistachio Pudding, Pumpkin Pie Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Abandoned (Tim Holtz for idea-ology)
Dies: Wonky Stitched Rectangles Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
Masquerade (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Carved Pumpkin, Peacock Feathers Distress Crayons (Ranger);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Stapler, SAB 2020 Sequins, Texture Paste, Washi Tape (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Anthracite Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Cactus Izink Pearly Texture Paste (Aladine);
Button (unknown); Needlepoint Floss (DMC); Mini Stencil Set 38 (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymours);
Snarky Small Talk Stickers (Tim Holtz for idea-ology)

 

Christmas Sweater Vest

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Christmas) + Festive Friday 44 (ribbon + metallics + inspiration theme - boss' day)

I'm not usually into shaped cards all that much, but when I saw the Sweater Vest dies from Sunny Studio online a couple of months ago, there was something about it that struck my fancy. I was really excited to see the dies shown in my local store weekly new items video, along with the Cable Knit embossing folder, so I made sure to have the owner put one aside for me (with two of their new adorable Christmas paper stacks). When I came back from the store, it's the first thing I pulled out to play with. With Christmas coming up, I wanted to make an "ugly sweater vest" version, but it will also work for other occasions and more generic masculine projects as well. I love the argyle dies, along with the stitching.

There are a couple of things I discovered while working on this project.

1) The patterned paper cracked when I ran it though the Big Shot using the Cable Knit embossing folder. The paper became really fragile and the white core shows, affecting the clarity of the Christmas lightbulb pattern a bit. I didn't want to waste good paper so I ran with it, but next time, I'll lightly spritz the paper with water so that it has more give and I'll also add a layer of printing paper with the patterned paper inside the folder to help prevent the crackling.

2) Be mindful of the way you place the bottom strip die on your patterned paper if the pattern has a direction. I didn't know when I ran it through but the top of the band is straight and the bottom has rounded corner to follow the shape of the sweater, so I was not able to simply turn the band around. The design is tone on tone, so I doubt most people would have noticed, but having the gifts and ornaments upside down was distracting me, so I did a second die-cut to rectify (I recycled the other band inside the card, where I didn't mind it as much).

You can get a shaped card that opens up two ways: die-cut two pieces separately, score the top of the second sweater about a 1/2" down and add adhesive only above the scored line, to get a fold. I used the second method: I prepared a regular-sized A2 card base folded at the top and I placed the die over it, making sure the fold was going OVER the top of the die so that it wouldn't cut the two layers apart. The trick to keeping your full shape is to then add a third layer (in this instance, my patterned paper vest) over the top of the card base and this way, the fold is hidden.

I alternated two patterns of losanges for the argyle pattern and used the stitched X on the green losanges. During my shopping, I had also picked up some neat red confetti from Pretty Pink Posh, which looked really nice placed in the middle of the losanges. For the collar, I layered three of the dies included in the kit and added the bow tie on top. I really love this tie die, as it includes scored lines to mimick the folds and it has the little center as a separate die, which adds nice dimension.

I picked an Anthracite Metallic envelope and decorated it with losanges to match and a dotted rectangle for the address block and as I was about to call it done, the Real Red curly ribbon from Stampin' Up! caught my eye on the side of my desk. I placed it on the vest between the bottom strip and the sweater and really liked the way it added color and texture, so I used my glue strip to glue it down. (I used to use that adhesive all the time for ribbon and such and then I forgot all about it when the 1/8" double-sided tape came out. I remembered I still had some when I took inventory of my adhesive last week. I'll definitely use up the glue lines I have left - which will then free up a space in my rotating caddy for other tools or glue.)

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Very Merry (Sunny Studio)
Accessories: Real Red 1/8" Curly Ribbon, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Anthracite Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Red Confetti (Pretty Pink Posh);
Cable Knit Embossing Folder, Sweater Vest Dies (Sunny Studio)

 

New Level

Inspiration: CAS on Friday #165 (Masculine Cards)

So if you have seen my projects before, you know I don't do CAS. It's just not where inspiration takes me. Today was the exception, and it all started with two leftovers on my desk. Earlier this week, I put together a cute Halloween tote bag and the two holes from the handles were left on my desk. Because the edge of the bag is pinked, the remaining shape looks like a little ghost. It suddenly dawned on me that I could use them to make a Pacman card. This idea has been floating around in my mind for years and for some reason, it never made it on a card, but now that I had the two "ghosts" and I knew there was the masculine CAS challenge going on, I decided to get going on the idea. I had played with googlie eyes on a project with my niece so I pulled them out again to give the ghosts eyes. I then rummaged through my yellow paper scraps (they are organized in fawers by colors) and I punched the polka dot paper I found with a 1-3/8" circle punch and snipped a slice off with my scissors.

PIcking a sentiment was simple, as I remembered I had "You leveled up! (It's your b-day)" in the Screen Time stamp set from Lawn Fawn, which is perfect with its old pixeled font. (My grade school best friend, who lived three houses away from me, had received an Atari with the Ms. Pacman game for Christmas. This game will forever bring back memories of playing that game with her and her little sister in her basement.) I also wanted to recreate the maze idea somehow. I have a striped stencil that I was planning on using, along with masks for the unwanted stripes, but the spacing wasn't right with my Pacman and ghosts, so I remembered I've purchased some removable full sheet labels at the office supplies store not long ago, so I pulled those out to create my own mask, which ended up working even better and protecting the whole card. I spritzed some Wilted Violet Distress Oxide spray and when I took the sheets off, I realized I could punch a circle and use it to put on the cap of my bottle to identify the colour, as I'm starting to grow my collection and pulling all of the bottles out to find the one I'm searching for is a bummer. The other pieces were also too pretty to throw away, so I used one piece on my envelope (also creating a place where to write the address since the envelope is a dark colour) and I'll see what I make with the other pieces. Maybe use one as a sample, but I haven't decided yet what the format of my swatches is going to be. Or I'll die-cut the paper and use as stickers on another project, we'll see.

I then added orange enamel dots to create the "Pacman food" and I added a star from Doodlebug underneath the sentiment, for balance and also because it fit the game theme. Doing a simple card like this one reminded me why CAS is not as easy as you would think.  Everything has to be perfectly straight or else it's glaringly obvious - and distracting. I spent five minutes lining up four enamel dots. I'm also noticing now that the green ghost is slightly lower than the other ghost. Not a big deal, but, you know. At least, I'm really happy with the resulting card and I've finally made my Pacman card.

 

 

 

My masking

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Screen Time (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers: Booville (Doodlebug Design); Extreme 2Way Street (KI Company)
Dies: Tote Bag (Lawn Fawn)
Punches: 1-3/8" and 1" Circle (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Wilted Violet Distress Oxide Spray (Ranger); You're a Star Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design);
Googlie Eyes, Stampin' Dimensionals, It's My Birthday Enamel Dots (Stampin' Up!);
A2 Anthracite Metallic Envelope (emvelopes.com); Removable White Full Sheet Labels (Avery)

 

Make a Wish

Inspiration: Freshly Make Sketch #405

My niece will be celebrating her seventh birthday at the end of the month and her birthday theme is Halloween. My sister asked me if I could make some simple invitations that Megan could distribute to her friends at school. I was happy to oblige and I realized that Megan would probably be thrilled to spend time with me putting those together, so I prepared a sample and all of the supplies ahead of time and we spend a Saturday afternoon working on putting them together. Once we were done, Megan wanted to keep on crafting afterwards so we spent some time coloring. I had some stamped Stamping Bella images on my desk, so I grabbed those to work on while she was drawing away, using my Prismacolor pencils.

I wanted to turn the images into cards, so I started with the Oddball Wizard today and I figured I could interpret the Freshly Made Sketch with stars to go with him. I found this cool patterned paper with scattered lights in the Summer Dream paper pad from Craft Smith. I stamped and emboss "Make a Wish" in Platinum powder and I tied a bow with Elegant Eggplant baker's twine. The stars were die-cut out of Shimmer Sheets from Elizabeth Craft Designs, which I found while I was looking through my patterned papers. They have this funky shimmer on them - it reminds me of the blue-green sheen you see on oil. I also added Crystal Stars embellishments and Mini Star Confetti, but overall, I tried to make sure the card would work well for a guy.

 

Tip: When you purchase paper stacks, you might not always like every single pattern that's in there. In the pack I was using, I noticed that the back of the pages were vanilla-colored. Instead of using cardstock from my stash to die-cut the star on the envelope, I used the back of a patterned paper I knew I would have trouble working into a project. I used the second sheet of the same pattern to die-cut a rectangle piece for the inside of the card. (When I use dark cardstock for my card base, I like to use a rectangle piece inside in a lighter color to make it easier to handwrite a readable message. While I could use a white gel pen, I sell my card so I want to make life easy for whoever might purchase the card.)

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Oddball Wizard (Stamping Bella)
Cardstock: Fresh Fig, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Summer Dream (Craft Smith)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), VersaMark
Accessories: Oddball Wizard Die (Stamping Bella); A2 Sapphire Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com);
Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn); Shimmer Sheets (Elizabeth Craft Deskgns);
Elegant Eggplant Baker's Twine, Stars Framelits Dies, Black Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Crystal Stars (Buttons Galore & More); Iridescent Mini Star Confetti (Pretty Pink Posh)

 

Is That What a Dinosaur Would Do?

Inspiration: Card Maps July 2019 + Lawn Fawnatics # 58 + ColourQ #361

Friends fans, this one is for you!

Rawrsome was one of the stamp set I was really excited about from the Spring Lawn Fawn release and yet, I still had not made anything with it. Not sure why, probably because I was waiting to be hit with an original idea. Inspiration struck when I spotted the sentiment that reads "You can't give up! Is that what a dinosaur would do?" in my Friends-inspired stamp set from The Ink Road Stamps. I remembered that this sentence was told to Ross in the TV show, but I was hazy on who has said that to him. I was thinking Phoebe, but a quick Google search reminded me it was Joey. (You can see the clip HERE, if you want to refresh your memory.)

I liked the Card Maps sketch with the circle in the center, as it reminded me of the Reverse Stitched Scalloped Circle Windows dies, which I love to use. I inked a sky using the Cloud stencil and the ground using the Palm Tree Border. Then I decided to make an interactive element and have the lava pull out of the volcano, using the Let's Toast Pull-Tab Add-On Die. Of all of the interactive dies from Lawn Fawn, this is my favorite, as it is really easy to use and can work is many different scenes. You just need to trim the pull tab to a smaller size when using an image that's smaller than the toast from the original set, which I did here.

For the front panel, I used some Woodgrain cardstock from Lawn Fawn in brown, for additional texture, and at the last minute, I decided to add the little baby dinosaur and the egg to fill in the space some more. (This is a 5-1/4" x 5-1/4" card, so there's a lot of ground to cover.)

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Rawrsome (Lawn Fawn); The One With All the Stamps (The Ink Road Samps)
Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Tango Tangerine (Stampin' Up!);
Woodgrain in Neutrals (Lawn Fawn)
Designer Series Paper Stack: Brights (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Early Espresso Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!);
Vintage Photo, Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Rawrsome Dies, Reverse Stitched Scalloped Circle Windows Dies, Let's Toast Pull-Up Tab Add-On Dies,
Palm Tree Border Dies (Lawn Fawn); Brights Candy Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios); Cloud Stencil (My Favorite Things); Markers (Copic)