Medallion Stamp Set

I don't know why I didn't order this stamp when I first saw it in the Idea Book and Catalogue. I finally got it a couple of weeks ago and just love it. I have seen numerous versions of this card in various blogs, but did not bookmark them so cannot give full credit to anyone. A lot of the cards I have seen with this layout also had some ribbon embellishment. I decided I liked it without the ribbon. I wanted the medallion itself to be the showcase.

This first card is for the retirement of a colleague. I love the colour combination of crushed curry and soft suede. I inked the stamp with crushed curry and then dabbed on the soft suede. After stamping I then spritzed it with a 'shimmer mist' made with isopropyl alcohol and Frost White shimmer paint. The effect is subtle but very pretty. Recipe:
Stamp Set - Medallion, Congrats (retired)
Card Stock - Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Crushed Curry
Ink - Soft Suede, Crushed Curry
Other - 'Shimmer Mist'

On this card I used Melon Mambo and Rich Razzleberry. As with the previous card, I inked up the stamp with the lighter colour and then dabbed on the darker one. Sprayed it with the 'Shimmer Mist', added a nonSU rhinestone brad, adhered the layers and it was done!

Recipe:
Stamp Set - Medallion, Thank You Kindly
Card Stock - Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry
Ink - Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry
Other - 'Shimmer Mist', non SU Rhinestone Brad

12 Weeks of Christmas - Andrea Walford

Andrea Walford has been releasing a new project each week leading up to Christmas for her newsletter subscribers. If you want to subscribe, go to Andrea's website and sign up. You will not be able to get the past projects, but you would receive them for the next 8 weeks. I have made the projects for weeks 1 and 3. I had to make substitutions in both - for week 1 I did not have the Serene Snowflakes stampset so I used the retired Snowflake Spot set. I also used a nonSU embossing powder in place of the heat & stick powder and glitter that Andrea used. For week 2, although I do have the stamp set Andrea used I decided to use the Dasher stamp. I did not have the DSP that Andrea used and in my quest to use up my retired papers, I used DSP from last year.

Here is my week 1 project:Recipe:
Stamp Set - Snowflake Spot (retired), Christmas Greetins
Card Stock - Sahara Sand, Soft Sued, Christmas Cocoa DSP
Ink - Versamark, Soft Suede
Other - Real Red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, nonSU embossing powder

This is my card for week 3. I inked Dasher with Chocolate Chip classic ink and then, with my sponge dauber, sponged a bit of Champagne Mist Shimmer paint on his antlers.

Recipe:
Stamp Set - Dasher, Warm Words
Card Stock - Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze (retired), Ski Slope DSP (retired)
Ink - Chocolate Chip, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint
Other - Dimensionals

Both of these cards were very quick to make.

Patterned Pines

I saw THIS card and knew I was going to have to CASE it. I really liked the simplicity of it. These are my versions of it - one landscape and one portrait. I am really liking how they turned out, however I wish I had more of the red SU Circle Fire Rhinestone brads.

The inspiration card did not have a greeting on the front, but I just found there was too much blank space so I added a greeting. Initially I had stamped directly on the card but smudged it a bit so I stamped it again on a scrap and punched it out with the Modern Label Punch. It blended right into the card so I punched another Modern Label from Real Red card stock, cut it in half and then layered it behind my greeting. I then just sponged the edges with real red, attached it with dimensionals and that was it.




Recipe:

Stamps - Patterned Pines, Warm Words

Card Stock - Real Red, Very Vanilla, Merry Moments DSP

Ink - Garden Green, Real Red

Other - Real Red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Modern Label Punch, Circle Fire Rhinestone Brads, Dimensionals



This version uses basically the same 'ingredients', but I used wider grosgrain ribbon and plain brads. I also used a different greeting and changed it from landscape to portrait. The greeting was punched out and then the outer edges were sponged. It was adhered to the card with dimensionals. I was going to add a bow, but decided that it is just fine as it is.



Recipe:

Stamps - Patterned Pines, Christmas Punch (Level 2 Hostess Set)

Card Stock - Real Red, Very Vanilla, Merry Moments DSP

Ink - Garden Green, Real Red

Other - 5/8" Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Wide Oval Punch, Dimensionals




These were two of the four cards we did when I got together with Judy this afternoon. The other two are ones that I have posted previously. One was the card made using the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder and the other was the Punch Art Rudolph.

Have a great day!

Snow Globe

Who does not like a snow globe. Project 19 of Heather Summers' online class Simply Holidays - 2009 is just that. A snow globe. The circle is cut from Stampin' Up!'s heavy window sheets - Heather used the Bigz circle die which I don't have so I used my Nestabilities. They did not cut very well through the heavy plastic - they did leave a good impression so I cut around it with my craft scissors. I should probably have used a smaller circle and placed the base a little closer to the ribbon, but overall I am pleased with the card. I will definitely be trying this one again.


Recipe:
Stamp Set - Snow Buddies (Level 2 Hostess); Grateful Greetings
Card Stock - Real Red, Old Olive, Basic Black
Ink - Basic Black, White Staz On, Black Staz On; Old Olive, Real Red, Basic Black and Pumpkin Pie Markers, Blender Pen
Other - Sleigh Bells Ribbon

Sweet Treat Cups

I made a bunch of these cards - just a piece of 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 piece of card stock for the base - to give to some of the kids in my life (big and small). The black tab slides out so that the candies are released without destroying the card. When I stamped the greeting, I held the stamp in place for a minute and then dragged it down a bit. Not sure that it shows up really well in the photo. I used the Sanded background stamp on the card base.Recipe:
Stamps - Sweet Centres, Grateful Greetings, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Sanded
Card Stock - Tangerine Tango (retired), Basic Black, Old Olive, Lavendar Lace, Whisper White
Ink - Versamark, Basic Black
Other - Sweet Treat Cups, 1 3/4 circle punch, Round Tab Punch, Ribbon (non SU), Mini Glue Dots, Black Embossing Powder

Punch Art Rudolph

A few days ago Judy sent me a link to Amy Celona's blog to check out a punch art creation. You can check out Amy's Rudolph HERE.

It is just the cutest thing and I knew I would have to copy it. Today was the day. If this does not lift your spirits on a drizzly October day then nothing will! Just tell me you don't want to break out into a chorus of Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer! I made a few tiny changes - I sponged the edges of the punched pieces and used red for my base card. I think I may have to make a few more of these.

Recipe:

Stamps - Four the Holidays

Card Stock - Creamy Caramel, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Ink - Real Red

Punches - Wide Oval, Large Oval, Small Oval, 1 3/4" Circle, 1/2" Circle, Word Window, Curly Label, Swirls Scribbles Sizzlits Die

Other - Dimensionals, Chunky Glitter, Tombow MultiPurpose Glue, 2 Way Glue Pen

Thanks for stopping by.

Festive Notecards

As I have mentioned before, Heather Summers hosted another online class - Simply Holidays 2009 and as always came up with fabulous ideas for cards, boxes, 3D items, etc. I have previously posted photos of clocks I had made following her instructions.

Project 4 (there were 20) was a set of 3 x 3 notecards in a cute little box. I made the cards, but decided to use the Box #2 die for the Big Shot to make the box for my cards. I cut out 2 boxes, assembled them and stuck them together using sticky strip. I then decorated the box with a bit of DSP and ribbon. I also punched out a 'handle' using the word window punch.

Here is the box - there are six cards and envelopes in each side of the box.

I made 12 cards - 4 each of the designs below.

I also stamped on the envelope.

Here is a picture of the inside of the cards - there is a little bit of space to write. I had thought the cards could be used as gift tags rather than notecards.

Recipe:

Stamp Set - Delightful Decorations, Christmas Punch (Hostess Level 2)

Card Stock - Riding Hood Red (retired), Whisper White, Holiday Treasures DSP (retired)

Ink - Riding Hood Red (retired)

Other - Glitter Glue (nonSU), Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon (retired), Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon (retired), Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon, Box #2 Bigz Die, Ornament Punch, Word Window Punch, Eyelet Border Punch

Elegant Bouquet - Updated

I did not really like one of the cards I posted yesterday - the one with the glitter glue on the ornament. I removed that ornament and replaced it with one punched out of the flocked paper in the Christmas Cocoa DSP (thank you Judy for the suggestion). Before adhering that to the card, I painted White Frost shimmer paint onto the embossed flowers on the card base. Makes the card look completely different!

I had seen the card while blog surfing but did not know who the originator was - the person who posted it had received it in a swap at Leadership. I finally found out to whom credit should be given so click HERE.

Elegant Bouquet

One day while surfing various stamping blogs I came across a beautiful card using the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder and the new Ornament Punch. I thought I had bookmarked it so I could give credit - I knew I would be CASEing that card. I have made two versions - on the first I used glitter glue on one of the embossed impressions on the ornament. I am not sure I like it - it seems to take away from the elegant simplicity of the card. On both cards, I did sponge the edges of the ornament and used red glitter glue to highlight the centres of the flowers on the white card stock.

This layout would be very lovely with the ornament punched from the flocked paper in the Christmas Cocoa DSP pack.

This one has glitter glue on the ornament:
This one has no glitter glue on the ornament:

Recipe:

Stamp Set - Four the Holidays

Ink - Real Red

Card Stock - Real Red, Whisper White

Other - Glitter Glue, Elegant Bouquet embossing folder

Added October 28 - I have finally found out to whom I should give credit. Click HERE to go to Lisa Freeman's blog.

Swap - Christmas Cards

As I mentioned in my last post, I signed up to participate in another swap hosted by Marie Kirkwood. Participants are to make 12 card fronts (4 x 5 1/4). They get sent to Marie who then sends back 11 different card fronts to each participant. As hostess, Marie gets to keep one of each entry

This is what I am sending in. I bought this stamp set last year with great plans to do watercolouring. A little bit ambitious for this amateur artist so the stamp was left to gather dust until I saw THIS card one day and decided I loved the way it looked. I made a few changes, but the overall feel of the card stays the same.
Recipe:
Stamp Sets - Home for Christmas, Yuletide Christmas
Ink - Soft Suede, Real Red Marker
Card Stock - Real Red, Soft Suede, Whisper White
Other - Gold Elastic Cord, Wide Oval and Scallop Oval Punches, Perfect Details Texturz Plate, Crystals Effects

My Digital Studio - Card

I played a bit more with My Digital Studio and created this card. I am going to have to figure out how to get the DSP to fit the way I want it without stretching it - the images are distorted. Overall though I am very pleased. It took me a bit to figure a few things out, but it was pretty easy. I really like how you can plan a card layout and then use that to then get out the stamps and paper. The trial and error is all electronic so there will be less paper in the waste bin. Now I want to buy the Christmas Jingle Simply Scrappin' kit.

I did two versions - one with an Old Olive card base and one with Real Red. It was wonderful to be able to switch back and forth and see the results right away.

My Digital Studio

I have no new cards to post - I have signed up to participate in another swap hosted by Marie Kirkwood. Participants must make 12 identical card fronts (4 x 5 1/4) with a Christmas theme. I have mine all done, I just have to take a picture.

My Stampin' Up! order arrived late yesterday afternoon and after I checked to see that everything was in the box, I installed My Digital Studio onto my laptop and played with it for a little while. I designed a very simple blog banner and explored some of the features. Hopefully I will have a chance to play with it a little more today.

Have a great day.

Delightful Decorations, Lovely as a Tree, Charming

Today I went to Judy's for our weekly crafting afternoon. After lunch and a bit of chatting and catching up we went to Judy's newly set up craft room to do some stamping. We planned to make four cards today - three christmas cards and one that could be used for a general occasion.

Three of four cards use the Ornament Punch and two of them also use the coordinating Delightful Decorations stamp set.

I have posted this card before - I had made it for a friend's birthday and we decided that it would be one of our projects for today. You can see it HERE. It was inspired by Patty Bennett - you can find Patty's card HERE. You will see that she used the Scallop Oval Frame die for the Big Shot. I do not have that die, but I do have Nestabilities so I used them. My image panel is smaller than Patty's, but the overall feel of the card is there. I love the way she used the new ornament punch to make the vase.Recipe
Stamp Sets - Charming, Best Yet (retired)
Card Stock - Dusty Durango, Old Olive
Ink - Dusty Durango Classic, Old Olive and Dusty Durango markers
Other - Ornament and Scallop Oval punches, Ribbon - Mistletoe Ribbon Originals, Dimensionals

We saw this card HERE - Stamping with Roxy. She used Patty Bennett's technique of using a frame to mask out part of the embossing folder leaving a flat area in the middle of the card stock. You will seen in Roxy's video that she used chipboard and used the Big Shot to cut out a frame with the Top Note die. That is what we did for this card. Very simple, but quite lovely (in my opinion anyway). Roxy's version uses Dazzling Diamonds glitter - we used glitter glue as well as a Stardust Gel Pen.


Recipe:
Stamp Set - Lovely as a Tree, Four the Holidays
CardStock - Shimmery White, Always Artichoke
Ink - Always Artichoke
Other - Glitter Pen, Glitter Glue, Petals a Plenty Embossing Folder

We found this card on Roxy's blog as well. You can link to it HERE. This card also uses a frame (oval in this case) with the embossing folder. Colours are not ones I would normally use for Christmas, but I really like the card and will probably make more just like it.

Recipe:
Stamp Set - Delightful Decorations, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Card Stock - Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke, Whisper White, Sahara Sand
Ink - Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke
Other - Silver Cord, Dimensionals, Petals a Plenty Embossing Folder, Dimensionals

We saw a card on Andrea Walford's blog and knew we would have to make it. You can see it HERE. I did not finish it at Judy's because it was going to be embellished with Crystal effects and chunky glitter so I decided to finish it at home. I thought I left the stamp set at Judy's so I made one little change. Instead of stamping, punching and embellishing the ornament, I punched one from the flocked paper in the Christmas Cocoa DSP package. I also punched one out of real red and adhered the two together just to give it a bit more stability. I am so happy with the results and even managed to centre the motif on the ornament.

Recipe:

Stamp Set - Baroque Motifs, Four the Holidays

Card Stock - Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White, Merry Moments DSP, Christmas Cocoa DSP

Ink - Chocolate Chip, Old Olive

Other - Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Gold Cord, Ornament and Scallop Border Punches, Dimensionals.

Have a great day.

Flip/Tag Album

My grand niece's birthday is coming soon and for the last two years we had taken her to Build-a-Bear Workshop so she could choose and make her own bear. I decided to keep that up this year, so on Friday we headed out to the mall to get her bear. This year her mum and little brother (he is two) came with us. She is turning seven and I am not sure how many more years she will want to do the Build-a-Bear excursions!

We had a lot of fun - Sabrina chose a polar bear. It was so cute. After she chose her 'skin' we picked a sound - so now when she presses the bear's paw it roars - and then stuffed the bear. Before closing up the bear we added in some little hearts. Then we headed to the 'bathing station'. At this point Owen wanted to help. It was too funny - he hijacked the bear! He just fell in love with it and wrapped it's four paws around himself and hugged it close. So, off Sabrina went to make another bear! She chose the polar again and went through all the steps.

When it was time to choose the clothes there was so much to choose from. Sabrina recently signed up for brownies, so she chose a Brownie Uniform (complete with the sash for badges). We also picked up a couple of little shirts and a skirt. Owen picked a Dracula costume for his.

Then of course the 'births' had to be registered and a birth certificate produced. It was a wonderful time and both kids really enjoyed it. The adults questionned who had more fun - the kids or us!

When we were done we headed out for lunch and then home.

I wanted to make some kind of little scrapbook for Sabrina that would double as her birthday card. I have seen several versions of Flip Albums and Tag Albums so I just adapted what I saw to what I needed. I knew it was not going to fit in any of the envelopes I have (the finished size is 4 x 6 and about 3/4 inch thick), but I did have some DVD tins in my craft closet so pulled out one of those and did a tiny bit of decorating on the cover. Yes, I am kind of regretting that I have not invested in any of the new Stampin' Up! Build-a-Bear stamps or dies! They would have been so fun to have for this project.

Here it is open, with the card/album inside. The bow at the side of the book holds it closed.

Here is a view of the album open. The pages are embellished with punched stars, hearts, Felt Flowers, rhinestone brads

Recipe:

Stamp Sets - Voila; Crazy for Cupcakes; On a Pedestal

Ink - Melon Mambo and Crushed Curry Markers; Gold Encore

Card Stock - Chocolate Chip; Melon Mambo; Pumpkin Pie; Sweet Always DSP (retired)
Other - Ribbon - Melon Mambo Polka Dot; Large & Small Star punches, circle punches, glitter glue, clear embossing powder.

To see a video on how to make one of these albums click HERE. The video demonstrates 3 pages, I adapted it to make 4. I also decorated the inside front cover and the inside back cover was used for the birthday greetings.

Another Dasher Card

I love this little stamp. I forgot to put a greeting on this card, but I am not sure if I will put one on the outside. I like it just as it is. Not sure if you can see it, but I used one of the Stampin' Up! Texturx plates on the real red layer. I even spritzed it with alcohol as I have seem some people do. I think it made the impression a little deeper. I saw THIS card and really liked the layout and colours so I CASE'd it. I used the same colours and layout, but changed the stamp set and used a different Texturz plate (it is actually the other side of the one used in the original card). Hope you like it! Recipe:
Stamp Set - Dasher
Card Stock - Soft Suede, Real Red, Whisper White, Christmas Cocoa DSP
Ink - Soft Suede
Other - Soft Suede Polka Dot Ribbon

Delightful Decorations

Most of the cards I make are pretty standard in size - 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 . This card is 3 x 6, but when I make more I will be adjusting the size to 3 1/4 x 6 1/2. It will fit better in the SU small open-end envelopes.

The inspiration for this card came from Heather Summers - she is currently running an online class - Simply Holidays 2009. She creates the most amazing projects.

As I have said in previous posts I want to use up some of my retired DSP and card stock. This card does just that. The card stock, DSP, and one of the inks are all retired. I used nonSU gold cord, but will be changing that to SU's gold elastic cord as soon as I receive my order.

I will be making more of these ones - I think I made need to add a greeting in the bottom right corner, but I am not sure right now. I used the small snowflake stamp from Snow Swirled and Riding Hood Red ink on the card base to add a little interest - I probably could have used an embossing folder or Texturz plate. I have not done the envelope yet, but I will be stamping one of the ornaments on the front and the little round 'Merry Christmas' that you can see in the middle of the ornament on the back flap.



Recipe:
Stamp Set - Delightful Decorations, Snow Swirled
Card Stock - Riding Hood Red (retired), Holiday Treasures DSP (retired), Whisper White
Ink - Riding Hood Red (retired), Old Olive
Other - Alpine Ribbon (retired), Stampin' Dimensionals, Gold Cord (nonSU), Ornament Punch

Christmas Cocoa DSP

This is the 5th project presented by Heather Summers in her Simply Holidays - 2009 online class. One of the designs in the Christmas Cocoa DSP package is a very elegant one with flocked snowflakes on it. Heather has adapted this to make a working clock! The base of the project is an artist canvas and there is card stock and the DSP layered on top. She is brilliant. This is meant to be a photo display as well - I have not added those in yet, but they will be mounted on the 3 squares of soft suede card stock. I used up some of the felt flurries I had purchased last year. I need to work on the bow a little bit, but I am very pleased with the result.



Recipe:
Card Stock - Soft Suede, Christmas Cocoa DSP
Other - Felt Flurries (retired), Gold Brads, Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon, Join in the Cheer sizzlit decorative die for the Big shot, Clock Works and Artist Canvas

Here it is with photos of my nephew's three children and I fixed the bow. Will this not make a great gift for my nephew and his wife?

World Card Making Day

Saturday, October 3 was World Card Making Day. I did make a card but forgot to post it so here it is now. My niece is having a baby girl in mid January. I had been tidying my craft room and came across some Pretty in Pink patterned paper and a set of Sizzix embossing folders with a baby theme. The tidying came to an abrupt halt and I started pulling out paper, ribbon and stamp sets. This is the card I finally came up with. The card is referred to as a 'Joy Fold' card - I made some a few years ago and decided that is what I would like for this little card. I stamped the image twice on Whisper White CS. On the first one I cut around the centre panel so I could then mount it onto a Pretty in Pink scalloped circle. I cut out only the 'Sweet One' line from the second image and mounted it to the first one with dimensionals. Everything was then adhered to the card with dimensionals.

In this picture you can see how the card opens. Hopefully you can also see the embossing on the Whisper White panel. I used a computer generated greeting on the inside of the card.

Recipe:
Stamp Set - So Many Scallops (retired)
Card Stock - Pink Pirouette (retired), Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink Patterned DSP (retired)
Ink - Pretty in Pink
Other - Ribbon - Pink Pirouette (retired); Scallop Circle Punch, Stampin' dimensionals, Sizzix embossing folder, Stardust Gel pen

Directions for the Joy Fold card can be found on Splitcoaststampers

Hope you like my card and have a great day!

Thoughts & Prayers - Anniversary

My niece and her husband are celebrating their first wedding anniversary so here is the card I made for them. I had seen THIS card and knew that I wanted to CASE it. I had to go out and buy the Martha Stewart butterfly punch - it is so cute and has the large and small butterflies on the same punch. You can very faintly see the texture on the white background panel - I used the SU Perfect Details Texturz Plate. I have seen suggestions to spritz the paper with water or rubbing alcohol to get a deeper impression - I did not have either in my craft room so ended up with a very delicate looking impression which is fine with me.



This is a bit of a close up showing the shimmery white CS I used. As always, pictures do not do the shimmery paper justice. It is really pretty IRL.

All of the card stock and inks used are Stampin' Up!, but the punch, half pearls and the stamp used for the greeting are not.

Recipe:

Stamps - Thoughts & Prayers, nonSU greeting

CS - Rich Razzleberry, Pink Pirouette (retired), Shimmery White

Ink - Rich Razzleberry (stamped off once)

Other - Ribbon - Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot, Crystal Effects, nonSU half Pearls, Nestabilities, Perfect Details Texturz Plate, Big Shot