An ornament and a double challenge

Hello. I've been such a bad blogger. Yesterday I worked on some ornaments using some new toys - my circle nestabilities. These arrived at my house on Monday, but I didn't get to play with them until yesterday, just getting the feel of how they worked with different papers. So much fun! I made 10 of these ornaments. I used 3 different dies in the set, one plain circle and two scalloped circles. I started by cutting the largest circle from cereal box chipboard - 2 pieces for each ornament, since I wanted them to be sturdy. Then I cut the same circle from rose red card stock. I sanded the printed side of the cereal box, so that it wasn't so slippery and easier to glue together. The back and front are the same. Most of thes is pretty obvious, so I won't go into great detail. The hole for the string was punched with my crop-a-dile. The tree and the red scallops are highlighted with stickles. The stitching is faux. I had these almost finished last night except waiting for the stickles to dry. I let the first side dry overnight and finished the second side this morning.

Recipe:
Stamps: season of joy, the snowflake spot
Ink: handsome hunter, rose red
Paper: chipboard, rose red, handsome hunter, very vanilla
Accessories: crop-a-dile, gold cord (SU), cuttlebug, nestabilties dies (spellbinders), yellow, green & star dust stickles (ranger)

Because I spent time playing with my new dies yesterday, I didn't get to the sketch challenge on Splitcoast. I decided to combine it with today's ways to use it challenge (metallic paper). I used jet black stazon ink to stamp the image from oh, so lovely twice on the vanilla card stock, once on the copper and several times more on a scrap of vanilla. I colored the images on the vanilla with SU markers. On the main image panel, I stamped linen over the colored image with creamy caramel ink and then sponged the edges with chocolate chip. The panels are layered with navy card stock. I added some faux piercing on the main image panel. The the horizontal panel, I used a ruler and marker to draw a rectangle, then added 2 narrow strips of navy card stock. I punched out portions of the extra images with a 1/2" circle punch and layered on 5/8" circle punches of navy. Then I placed page pebbles over the top of the images and glued them across the open panel.

Recipe:
Stamps: oh, so lovely, warmest regards, linen (SU)
Ink: jet black stazon, creamy caramel, chocolate chip, ballet blue, night of navy, certainly celery, always artichoke
paper: ballet blue, navy, brushed copper, very vanilla
accessories: sponge, 1/2" & 5/8" circle punches, page pebbles, brayer

Thanks for stopping by.

Two Challenges

Happy Saturday. I hope you're all having a great weekend. Today DH left for a medical convention and I knew I wouldn't get much stamping done until he was gone. But then I was able to finish two very different cards. The first one was made for yesterday's limited supplies challenge on Splitcoast - using snowflakes and mostly neutral colors. I used sahara sand for the card base and stamped a snowflake background in the same color. Then I stamped the large snowflake from the snowflake spot in sahara sand on white and cut around it, leaving an open frame. I doodled with black marker around the frame. I stamped a smaller snowflake in black craft ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I then punched it out with a circle punch and mounted it on top of the larger snowflake. I mounted the frame/snowflake on a black square and added a red brad in the center of the snowflake. I then mounted this on the card with dimensionals. For the sentiment, I pulled out peaceful wishes and stamped the saying 3 times without reinking in between, also known as generating stamping.

Card recipe:
Stamps: The Snowflake Spot, Peaceful Wishes (SU)
Paper: sahara sand, basic black, whisper white
Ink: sahara sand, real red, basic black classic & craft
Accessories: red brad, clear ep, heat tool, dimensionals

Unlike the first card, the second one is very vivid. I made this one for the inspiration challenge on Splitcoast, which was a necklace. I thought the pretty colors would make a great card. I started by spritzing water on a piece of watercolor paper and then put drops of ink refills on it and let them flow and blend into each other. When that was dry, I stamped the girl image right on top of the colors with Ranger archival black ink. I added a small amount of color to her face and colored all the flowers on her dress and her hair. This piece was then layered onto a piece of black card stock. Then I attached the primas with black brads and adhered the whole thing to a ballet blue card base. I added diamond stickles around each brad in the flowers for a bit of sparkle.

Card recipe:
Stamps: girl (Stamp Oasis)
Paper: ballet blue, basic black, watercolor paper
Ink: ballet blue, tempting turquoise, summer sun, ruby red, cameo coral, Ranger archival black
Accessories: primas, black brads, diamond stickles

Thanks for stopping by.

Blissful retirement

Happy Friday. Since I do not like crowds, I chose to stay out of the stores today. I took my daughter back to her apartment, since she had lots of homework, and when we drove past the mall, she couldn't believe how many cars were there. It's one of those days that you can spend a half hour just looking for a parking place.

Anyway, after I got back home, I needed to make a retirement card for one of my husband's coworkers. He wanted it big enough for people to sign, so I made it 5"x7". I utilized yesterday's ways to use it challenge on Splitcoast - stitching - by making a spirelli circle. Although these look complicated, they are actually quite simple to make.

The base of the card is apricot appeal and I stamped paisley on the lower portion in purely pomegranate ink. For the circles; the largest curve was made by tracing around a large baking dish and cutting by hand. The black circle was drawn using a compass and cut by hand. The two smallest circles were cut using a Fiskars Shape Template cutting system.

I stamped on the pomegranate using the so swirly jumbo wheel in vanilla craft ink. The brads on the black circle were a sort of gray color. I sanded them with my sanding block, then dipped them in rose red craft ink and clear embossed. I love being able to change the color of brads to match my paper. I have a handy tool that holds the brad while heating, so I don't burn my fingers. To get the brads evenly spaced, I drew pencil dots and pierced the holes with my piercing tool.

The image is a Stampendous flower stamped in purely pomegranate ink on some designer paper than came in a stack from DCWV. I punched three flowers from some velvet ribbon to make a dimensional layered flower. I used the back satiny side on the front, because I thought it matched better. The layers are attached with a black brad. The image circle is raised on mounting tape.

Card recipe -
stamps: paisley, noteworthy, so swirly jumbo wheel (SU), flower (Stampendous)
ink: purely pomegranate, basic black, rose red craft, vanilla craft
paper: apricot appeal, basic black, pomegranate, dp (DCWV)
accessories: brayer, piercing tool and mat, brads, clear ep, heat tool, needle, black thread, mounting tape

Thanks for stopping by.

Yummy Cupcake

Well, after several days of non-production, I've done two today. This one was done while my cheesecake was baking for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner. I made this card for the blog candy contest on Diane Zechman's blog. The pattern can be found here.

The top of the cupcake is run through my cuttlebug in the divine swirls embossing folder and then sponged with pink passion ink. The lower half is scored and folded slightly to get the effect of a cupcake paper. I cut a slit in the fold of the card to thread the ribbon through, so I could tie it around the front of the cupcake. The tag is attached with linen thread.

Recipe:
Stamps: too terrifically tags (SU)
Ink: pink passion, close to cocoa, chocolate chip
Paper: pixie pink, close to cocoa
Accessories: cuttlebug & divine swirls embossing folder, small and large tag punches, linen thread, ribbon (Michaels), sponge

Thanks for stopping by.

Branches with Baubles

Hi everyone. Sorry it's been so long between posts. This past weekend a friend and I worked in a booth for Rubbernecker Stamps in Madison at the stamp/scrap expo. We did it 2 weeks ago, and they asked us to help out again. It's loads of fun, but very tiring. On your feet all day on a hard concrete floor is very hard on the feet. After two full days of stamping and talking about the products, I really needed a break. I intended to stamp on both Monday and Tuesday, but when I sat down with my stamps, I just ran into a mental roadblock and the creativity was not flowing. I played a little with some of my new product, but didn't actually produce a card until today.

One of the things I bought at the show was a package of Heidi Swapp ghost shapes (flowers). I wanted to see if I could make something similar in my cuttlebug. I used some transparency plastic that was part of some packaging. Using a cuttlebug die, I ran it through my bug and found out it worked great. I also tried using sizzlit dies with less impressive results. They did not quite cut through the plastic, they left a groove that I could follow with my scissors. I also tried the original dies, which also worked well, but were very tight going through. I'll have to work up a card using them.

In the meantime, I made this card for the sketch challenge on Splitcoast. The branches are made with one of the stamps that I was using in my demo this weekend. I stamped it twice, added the sentiment and sponged around the piece. The faux rick rack is a stamp in the Trimtastic set (SU). I glued the green, red and vanilla strips onto a piece of chocolate chip card stock. Then I pierced holes randomly in the branches to add the gold brads. I used my crop-a-dile to place the gold eyelets at the top and bottom. Then I attached the entire chocolate piece to a kraft card stock base, which is also sponged around the edges.

Recipe:
stamps: trimtastic, star studded season (SU), branch (Rubbernecker)
paper: kraft, chocolate chip, garden green, ruby red, very vanilla
ink: garden green, ruby red, chocolate chip
accessories: crop-a-dile, sponge, gold eyelets and brads

Thanks for stopping by. For those of you in the US, have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Joyride

Happy Thursday. I hope you're having a great day today. Today the ways to use it challenge over on Splitcoast was to use unique brads. Since I hadn't done yesterday's sketch challenge yet, I thought I do a double challenge.

I recently got some new Bellas, and I knew that cruisabella would fit the sketch perfectly. The background for this card is a piece of polished stone that was on my table, so I decided to incorporate this into the color scheme of the card. I stamped bella on vanilla card stock with black ink and colored the image with a combination of copic markers and twinkling H2O's. I added highlights with a silver gel pen.

I was going to use my new build-a-brads, but they were too small for the image I wanted to use, so I decided to go faux instead. I thought this small flower from baroque motifs matched the wheels and would make great brads to match. I stamped the flowers on turquoise, then punched out with a 3/4" circle punch and layered on black 7/8" circles. I attached the circles to the end of a dowel with a mini glue dot, so that I could dip them in versamark & emboss with UTEE. While the ep was still hot, I dipped it a second time into the UTEE to get a nice smooth finish. The white, turquoise and caribbean layers are sponged with turquoise ink.

Recipe -
Stamps: baroque motifs, small script (SU), cruisabella (stampingbella)
Paper: tempting turquoise, basic black, glossy white, cool caribbean, very vanilla
Ink: basic black, adirondack pitch black, ranger alcohol inks, copic markers, versamark
Accessories: UTEE, heat tool, 3/4" & 7/8" circle punches, sponge, mounting tape

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day.

Color challenge

Yesterday's color challenge on Splitcoast was to use kraft, white & pomegranate. I had to hunt up some scraps of kraft card stock, because the file folder is empty and I'm waiting on an order that should arrive tomorrow.

I stamped the flowers from garden silhouette several times in white craft ink on some card stock that I got from a friend. Although it isn't SU's pomegranate, it's pretty close. I layered that on kraft and white, which are both sponged along the edges with pomegranate ink.

I stamped the same flower on kraft card stock in pomegranate ink and punched out three 1/2" circles, which I glued in the lower right-hand corner and covered with page pebbles.

The sentiment is from polka dots & paisley. I stamped that in pomegranate on kraft card stock and punched out as a circle. After sponging the edges, I glued it to a scalloped circle of white card stock, which is also sponged along the edges and pierced. This is popped up on mounting tape.

I felt like the upper left corner was still in need of something, but struggled for some time trying to come up with just the right touch. Then I noticed a large spool of velveteen ribbon that I recently purchased at a stamp rummage and thought it would match perfectly, so I decided to make a layered photo corner using that as one layer. It's a rather stiff ribbon, so it works beautifully in punches and cuttlebug dies. I punched the smaller photo corner from the ribbon and the larger one from white card stock, which I sponged in pomegranate. I couldn't locate my white brads, so I altered some others by sanding the tops, heating and dipping in white embossing powder and heating again. I love having that option. I have a cool tool I made to hold the brad white heating, so I don't end up with burned fingers. I popped up the photo corner on mounting tape and am very pleased with the way that corner touch balanced out the card.

Recipe - stamps: garden silhouettes, polka dots & paisley (SU)
ink: purely pomegranate, whisper white craft
card stock: whisper white, kraft, pomegranate
accessories: velveteen ribbon, photo corner punch, 1/2" circle punch, super jumbo circle & mega scallop circle punches (Uchida), brads, white ep, heat tool, piercing tool & mat, page pebbles, mounting tape

Thanks for stopping by.

Jingle Bell Joy

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Today the technique challenge on Splitcoast was to use Japanese stab binding on your card. I've actually done this technique before on a handmade book with ribbon binding. It's quite a simple technique. I thought it would be fun to pair up my jingle bell stamp with a branch of pussy willows. I stamped the willows in basic gray and then just lined up the bell along the branches and stamped it twice in the same ink. I don't know who makes these stamps. They were some unmounted images I picked up a number of years ago at a stamp convention. I colored the willows with watercolor crayons and aqua painter and the bells with gold dust twinkling h2o's, which gives them a nice shimmer. I cut out the circle with my coluzzle and punched a scalloped circle from ruby red card stock. Both are sponged with chocolate chip ink. I then added the word joy from everyday flexible phrases. The dots along the scallops are liquid pearls. I used my cuttlebug and snowflake embossing folder to give the card some texture. This piece is also sponged lightly across the snowflakes and more heavily along the edges.

The recipe - stamps: everyday flexible phrases (SU), pussy willow & jingle bell (?)
Paper: ruby red, more mustard, chocolate chip, whisper white
Ink: basic gray, chocolate chip
accessories: cuttlebug, snowflake embossing folder, sponge, crop-a-dile, ribbon, coluzzle, giga scallop circle punch (uchida), watercolor crayons, aqua painter, liquid pearls (ranger), mounting tape

Thanks for stopping by.

Finally, a card to share

Hello. I hope you're all having a wonderful week. I finally stamped today -- out of necessity -- but that's OK. This card is one of the projects I'll be sharing in my workshop this weekend. Three different punches were used on this card.

The background is stamped with polka dot background and I also used the polka dot petal from the stamp set pick a petal. Rather than cut out the petals, I used the small oval punch to punch out the center of the stamped images. The flower center is done using the 1/2" circle punch. I also punched leaves and added some faux stitching. The stem is from the set stem silhouettes.

The corner piece is made using the photo corner punch, layering the 2 colors and adding a black brad in the center. The main image panel and the photo corner are both raised on mounting tape.

Recipe - stamps: pick a petal, stem silhouettes, polka dot
ink: purely pomegranate, groovy guava, wild wasabi
card stock: groovy guava, purely pomegranate, wild wasabi, taken with teal, basic black, whisper white
accessories: brayer, small oval punch, 1/2" circle punch, photo corner punch, black brad, mounting tape

All images copyright Stampin' Up!

Thanks for stopping by.

I'm still here

Happy Monday. I hope you all had a great weekend. Sorry I haven't posted anything in the past few days. I don't have anything new to show you today either. This weekend, I worked in a booth for Rubbernecker stamps at the Milwaukee Stamp/Scrap Expo. We set up the booth on Friday and then demoed all day Saturday and Sunday. It was a very fun, but exhausting time, so today I just needed to relax and and not do any stamping. I also had a chance to meet Gina K. Unfortunately, I really didn't have time to chat with her.

Since Tuesday morning is my stamp class, I may not have anything for you tomorrow either, but hopefully, I'll have done some stamping by Wednesday.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.