Tres Chic!

Holy smokes – I have been on a stamping rampage over the past two days! Today I have made 4 cards, each combining challenges in order to do a wee bit of catch up on all of the challenges I love to play with! For this card, I combined the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge (SSSC76) as well as the Scrapmaster’s Pradise Color Combo #55. I haven’t participated in either challenge for quite some time, so I’m glad my mojo is running in full swing! I had stamped a cute little image from Stampavie (Tres Chic) using Momento Tuxedo Black ink onto PTI White CS and used a number of copic markers to colour the image. I have to admit, I spent about 30 minutes colouring this little sweetie and her puppy! I had tried to buy this image a couple of times over the past few months but it was always out of stock. I finally managed to get my hot little hands on it and was just dying to colour it! I held off until I found just the “right” challenge! I have to say, this is probably my best copic colouring job yet! I am very, very happy with the way this turned out! Here is the card recipe:

Card Stock – PTI White, Daffodil Delight (SU), Cajun Craze (SU)
Ink – Momento Tuxedo Black, various copic markers
Ribbon – Old Olive 5/8″ grosgrain (SU)
Accessories – SU Perfect Details Texturz Plate, Big Shot, prima flowers, button

I hope you like it!

End of another school year

I have to admit, over the past couple of years, I haven’t given end of year gifts to my sons’ teachers. This year, I thought I’d make a few card packs to give to my youngest son’s teacher. I made two separate packages of 4 cards along with a storage folder. The card base is PTI cream CS. On top of that is Sahara Sand with the bottom edged with an SU border punch. Layered on this is the new Early Espresso CS from SU, which is my favourite brown and I know I’ll be using this over and over. I added some patterned paper from My Mind’s Eye. I used some brown satin ribbon and tied a bow with my Bow Easy and secured it with a brown button using brown embroidery floss. The stamps used are from SU’s Vintage Labels and Teeny Tiny Wishes sets. I used a 1″ and scalloped circle punch on the sentiment. The card holder comes from the Paper Cut. There are 10 holders in the package and they can each hold up to 12 A-2 size cards and envelopes. Mine only holds 4 cards and 4 envelopes because the cards have ribbon and a bow adding to their bulk. I added the same patterned paper and layering paper on them to customize them a little more since I didn’t want them to be plain white. I finished it off with 5/8″ chocolate chip ribbon. I adhered the ribbon on the back of the package so it wouldn’t shift around.

Here is the second card and holder: For this card, I used the same PTI cream CS. I layered some Baja Breeze with the same scallop border punch and on top of that is the patterned paper from My Mind’s Eye. I added some SU vanilla satin ribbon around the base of the layered paper along with some self-adhesive brown pearls in 3 different sizes. I stamped the frame and sentiment (from Vintage Labels) in Momento Rich Cocoa and punched it with a large oval punch (SU) and this was layered with another SU die cut with the Big Shot. I made the package the same way as the first one with the same patterned paper used on the card. I used some old Baja Breeze 5/8″ ribbon to use to tie the flap down.

I hope you like them! Thanks for looking.

Eat, Sleep, Stamp

What a great motto! It’s too bad we have to factor work into that equation as well. Oh well. This is my first submission for the Eat, Sleep, Stamp sketch challenge (ESS88). The layout is fairly straight-forward, but sometimes that can be a challenge. If there isn’t more than one layer, I find it tricky to decide what to add to it. In this case, I started with some Papertrey Ink white CS. I used Basic Grey patterned paper from the Origins pack. I cut the patterned paper according to the layout. I added the die cut leaves from Sizzix in Wild Wasabi, which in real life matches the green in the top panel. They were adhered with two-way glue. I also added some yellow prima flowers that I have had in my stash for years. They have a rhinestone brad in the centre and I adhered them with a glue dot. My (lop-sided) sentiment comes from the retiring SU rub-on package called “Chit Chat”. I’m going to have to fix that later on since it’s bugging me.

On a separate matter, I attended the Copic Certification class held in Toronto this past Sunday. I did learn a bunch of new techniques in the class that I hope to incorporate into some of my cards in the near future. I went with two lovely ladies, Joanne and Sue. I also met up with a fastastic woman named Rosanne, who was my boss in my very first “real” job. I had bumped into her a few years ago after not seeing her for many years (she moved to a different city about an hour away) in Buffalo at a scrapbook convention. What a treat to see her again! I do hope we can stay in touch. I’ll be checking her blog regularly (www.rosannes-blog.blogspot.com).

That’s it for now! I have made a couple of cards over the past week, but I’m not sure if I’ll post them. I’ll think about it…

Donna

Birthday Mojo

I made this card yesterday for Monday’s Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge (MOJO138). I thought this sketch might be a little challenging, but it turned out to be relatively easy. I was really low on Birthday cards, so thought I’d make a couple this week. I have so many scraps sitting in a basket on my work surface. I thought I’d better start to use them up. I really wasn’t sure what kind of image to use either. I’ve lost a little mojo over the past few weeks. Maybe I just need a little break, but I feel bad that my supplies sit there for awhile. Anyway, I this is the result of this challenge. My card measures 5.25 x 5.25. I layered some Pretty in Pink on top of that that I ran through the Big Shot with a Texturz plate. I added the checkered patterned paper (SU) onto Ruby Red. The 3 strips on the right are also SU DSP. The flower is from Verve which I coloured with copic markers and the sentiment is from Stampendous. I notched the corners and added self-adhesive pearls with a pink tint to the corners and in the centre of the flower. I also added bigger pearls at the top of each vertical strip. The main image was popped up for a little dimension. Thanks for having a look.

More Candles

I made this card for my Aunt’s 79th birthday tomorrow. I hope I can drop in to see her tomorrow night with a little treat (she has a sweet tooth). The card also satisfies today’s Mercy’s Tuesday Sketch Challenge (MTSC72) as well as the Creative Belli Blog Challenge #90 (CBC90) to make a birthday card. The Belli Challenge also called for us to use some old stuff. I’ve had these grayish flowers for about 5 years and I have never used them until now. I was also able to use this patterned paper that was in the middle of a “Take Ten” magazine a few years ago. Gotta love that. I flipped the sentiment panel over to the other side so I wouldn’t hide some of the patterned paper. I was just going to leave the swirls alone. I’m not really sure why I felt I needed to add the prima flowers and self-adhesive half pears. Anyway, here is the recipe:
Card Base – Papertrey Ink. White CS
Next layer – SU Bordering Blue (gotta admit I’m glad this one is retiring)
Next layer – patterned paper and light yellow (on bottom)
Stamps – SU
Ink – Navy Blue StazOn
Accessories – SU Punches/Die & MS border punch , Navy Satin Ribbon, Large half pearl – SU Pretties kit & smaller half pearls from the dollar store

Well, that’s it for now. I have recently placed some orders for Spellbinder’s pendants, borders and nesties as well as some new copic markers. I can’t wait to get all of my new goodies so I can expand my stamping style a little. I plan to get lots of inspiration from all of you awesome stampers!

Mom’s Day

I need to get this card sent off to my lovely MIL as soon as possible. I combined today’s Mojo Monday Week 137 challenge with last week’s Curtain Call Color Challenge. I started off with a totally different card, but was not at all happy with the way it turned out, so started all over again. I have to admit, I wasn’t thrilled with the sketch, but I think my Mojo was on vacation today. I started with Flourishes White CS for my card base. I added a layer of Melon Mambo as well as the patterned paper. I wish I had made my flower image a wee bit smaller so the patterned paper could show through a little more. I stamped the Spiral Bouquet flower from Papertrey Ink. on white CS using Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery and Chocolate chip. I layered that panel with Pink Pirouette and Melon Mambo. When I saw the sketch and the vertical panel, I immediately thought of using paint samples. I’ve had a bunch of them for ages. I layered the green paint sample onto Certainly Celery and tied some Melon Mambo polka dot grosgrain ribbon to the top. I stamped the frame from SU’s Vintage Labels in Chocolate Chip and used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to centre the sentiment from SU’s Blooming with Love set. I punched it out using the label punch and larger die. I finished the card off with some Melon Mambo colored self-adhesive rhinestones. That’s it for now. I hope to get a bit more Mojo tomorrow to do a few other challenges. Thanks for having a look.

Holiday Foursome

I had a few stamping pals over yesterday for a playday. We made a few cards, had some treats and caught up on all kinds of stuff. What a fun time! We’ve decided to do this every 6 weeks. Two of us live in the same town about an hour away from the other two. They packed up a box of stuff they wanted to use and I had a “few” supplies out too. My good friend, Laurel, was in awe of my “punch drawer”. I do have a few punches! I decided to print off a few sketch challenges from a few blogs to use as a little inspiration. This helped me catch up on a few that I missed along the way. I’m going to load them all up in one post, so prepare for a long one!

The first sketch is from Amy Rysavy’s Prairie Paper and Ink (AMYRS79) seen here: . All four cards used the same stamp set from Flourishes, which I just received last week. It is called “All that Glitters”. I’m not sure why I wanted to get a Christmas stamp set now, but I guess I figured I will have more cards to make this year to give to family members, so I might as well get started! I’ve loved all of the cards that I have seen in various galleries, so I wanted to give it a shot too. I really liked the simplicity of this sketch. I bought a huge package of Christmas patterned paper, so I plan to use as much up of it as I can this year. Here are the details of my card, which will be the same for all four: image was stamped in Momento Tuxedo Black ink. I used the following copics to colour the image(s) – YG11, YG13, YG17, YG67, R24, R27, R29, R59 and BG000 (outlined the images). I used my nesties to cut out the oval shapes and I coloured the half pearls with a red copic marker. I popped the image up with dimensionals and added the sentiment on the bottom right (SU sentiment). I added stickles to the ornament on the left side – I don’t think it shows up very well in the photo (on the left side).

For my second card, I used the sketch from Verve’s Beach Party 2010 Week 4 challenge (VSAPRBP4). Unfortunately, I didn’t find these challenges until it was too late, so I didn’t have enough time to make other cards for the weekly sketches. I might make a few other cards using these sketches anyway, since I love using sketches brilliant individual’s create! I don’t have an ounce of creativity in my body, so these sketches really make stamping worthwhile for me. I used the same supplies as in my card above, but I forgot to mention I used Papertrey White CS for my card base and used Certainly Celery, Garden Green and Real Red for my accent colours. I added some Real Red 5/8″ grosgrain ribbon and some Papertrey Ink green buttons to this card. I used some green embroidery floss to tie a ribbon the on button as well. The sentiment is from SU’s “All Holidays” set that was stamped in VersaMark and embossed with white EP.

My third card employs a sketch from Our Creative Corner (OCCSC12). For this card, I used a different ornament – this one looks so much like an old fashioned ornament my Baba gave me a long time ago. Her’s was a soft pink colour with glitter on it. I broke it a few years ago, but I’ll always remember it. I feel as though I should have added something to the Certainly Celery panel, but I wanted the ornament to be the focus. Sometimes, I find I just get carried away. I really do like my cards to be simple rather than ornate. The red satin bow is courtesy of Linda, who gave us a little tutorial on how to make good bows. I added the tree branches to the side of the image using Distress ink that I stamped twice. I’m not sure that I should have used brown, but since my ornament was green, I needed to use a different colour.

On to the last card – I made this one this morning. I think it is my favourite of the four. I obtained the sketch from Stampin’ Royalty – Sketch Challenge 16 (SR#16). This also satisfies the Creative Belli Blog challenge this week to use die cuts. I decided to break out my Top Note die from SU, since this was the shape on the sketch challenge image. I haven’t used it in ages. I used 3 ornaments on this card from the “All that Glitters” Flourishes set. I layered the main white panel with a Real Red panel. I used the same copic markers as noted in the first card entry. I had this ribbon in my scrap ribbon bag for about 5 years. My sister bought it to use on some scrapbooking pages she made when we first got into this craft and made scrapbooks for our Dad of her kids as a Christmas present. There was a little left (I try to salvage what I can) and it worked out perfectly – I cut it on either side of the sentiment repeating itself. Gotta love it when that happens! I added three buttons (green from Papertrey Ink. and red from my own stash). I added stickles to the ornaments (red and green). I love how vibrant this is.

I’m goine to make one more card, then duplicate them all to use as a set to give my Aunt (she’ll remember that I promised to make her 20 Christmas cards). Her birthday is coming up, so maybe these will double as her birthday gift. Thanks for bearing with me and having a look. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

More retiring colors

One of my favorite SU colors is retiring – Sage Shadow. This will be one that I stock up on for sure! I incorporated today’s SCS Color Challenge #267 which called for us to use Sage Shadow, Apricot Appeal and Basic Gray along with Mercy’s Tuesday Sketch Challenge (MTSC70). I always love playing along with Mercy’s sketch challenges. I decided to use my new Flourishe’s From the Garden set. This is such a versatile set. I can see using it on a regular basis. I started my card using Flourishes White CS. I had a scrap of patterned paper (from Crate Paper, I believe) and layered some Sage Shadow under it. I tied some retired SU grosgrain ribbon around that. I used an Apricot Appeal panel behind the main image, which I had run through the Big Shot (it’s a SU texturz plate). I softened the corners with my corner rounder. I stamped the image with Momento Tuxedo Black and used copics to color it. The sentiment comes from the same set. I cut it out using my nesties die and popped it up a little. I finished the card off with a bow and button along with a few dew drops in the corners. Thanks for having a look. I’ll probably post a couple of other cards that I made last night but didn’t get a chance to upload. Have a beautiful day!

Beautiful Butterflies

I forgot to check the Viva la Verve Week 3 Challenge on SCS until today. This week, Amber is featuring living rooms. I am always impressed with the inspiration photos she gives us to use as a spring board for our creations. I chose the middle photo. I was immediately drawn to the patterned curtains. I knew I had some patterned paper that had a damask pattern. I used some cream CS as my background and layered a panel of Old Olive on top of that. I added the patterned paper panel and tied some velvet olive ribbon that I had in my scrap bag. I recently purchased the butterfly Sizzlet butterfly die from SU, mostly because I have seen a “flurry” of butterfly inspired cards in various galleries lately. I used a Verve sentiment that featured a butterfly since the Verve sketch had a butterfly on it. I cut it out with my nesties and added a Ruby Red background panel behind it. I added the other butterflies to the side horizontal panel and added some very pale blue self-adhesive pearls to all of the butterflies. I like the way this turned out, even though I wouldn’t normally put these colours together, but I went with the colours that I saw in the inspiration photo. Thanks for looking!

Baja’s Back!

Well I’m sure everyone has heard that Stampin’ Up! is going through a “Color Renovation” with the upcoming catalogue. Fortunately, they are bringing back some of my favorite In-Colors that had been previously retired. Woohoo! I’ll have to stock up on a few packages of current card stock colors that will be retiring. There are 30 colors that are going! I have to admit, I was a bit shocked at first, but the more I look at the new colors and color groupings, the more I like them. The only thing I think that is missing is some kind of soft purple color. I really don’t use much purple anyway, so I don’t think I’ll miss them much.

This was a long explanation for me to get to my point! I dedicate this card to the return of Baja Breeze. I only had scraps of card stock as well as DSP left in my stash, but I had enough for this card. I also had a bunch of felt flowers left (one of those products that I hoarded instead of used). I ended up putting a bunch of felt flowers together, combining the Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink. Now I’ll be using them on lots more cards. I really need to start using some of the gazillion embellishments I have in my craft room.

Here is the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge (SSSC64) at Karen Giron’s blog. I thought this was a great sketch and I loved the samples that were shown. My card measures 5″ x 5″. I used Chocolate Chip as my card base and layered some Baja Breeze over that. I used some of the DSP along with some Baja Breeze grosgrain ribbon and adhered that to the card. I used my square scalloped nesties (I think for the first time) on some coordinating DSP and then layered that on some white card stock with the corners rounded. I adhered the felt flowers (with clear rhinestone brads) with some glue dots to the DSP. I stamped Gina K.’s Tag Lines sentiment in Chocolate Chip on white CS and punched it with the Word Window Punch. I layered that on some Chocolate Chip and again with Baja Breeze using a SU punch and die. This card took me WAY longer than it ever should have! Thanks for having a look!