Inky Divas Challenge - Week of August 31

This week the challenge posted by Crystal was to create a card using Whisper White and Vellum card stock.  I had already been thinking that a card I had posted here last week might look good with a vellum panel on it.  You can see that card HERE.  I replaced the white panel behind the focal image with vellum.  As with the original card I embossed that panel with the Stylish Stripes folder - passing it through once, flipping it over and passing it through again - to get a plaid look.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Festival of Trees; Lots of Joy
Ink - Cherry Cobbler; Crushed Curry; Mossy Meadow
Card Stock - Whisper White; Cherry Cobbler; Vellum; Crushed Curry (scrap)
Other - Stylish Stripes Embossing Folder; Tree Punch; Itty Bitty Punch Pack; Stampin' Dimensionals; Rhinestones

Bohemian Birthday

I have been trying to use every scrap of the Bohemian DSP I received in the product share I purchased from Sandi MacIver.

The card layout and colours are the same as a couple of other cards I have posted but this time I used the Stylish Stripes embossing folder to create the plaid effect on the Delightful Dijon panel

Stampin' Supplies

Stamps - Happy Birthday Everyone; Kinda Eclectic

Ink - Blackberry Bliss (Ink Pad and Marker); Bermuda Bay and Delightful Dijon Markers

Card Stock - Blackberry Bliss; Delightful Dijon; Whisper White; Bohemian DSP

Other - Stylish Stripes embossing folder; InColour Sequins (retired); Burlap Ribbon; Stampin' Dimensionals; Rhinestones

Sketch and Stamp - SB119

I played along with Sketch and Stamp again this week.  You can link to the site HERE to see the cards made by the design team and if you scroll to end of that post you can view the cards posted by other participants.

My card uses mostly retired products - I am still determined to use some of my older and retired stamp sets for this year's Christmas cards.  Although I strayed a little bit, I think my card fits pretty well with the sketch.

Stampin' Supplies

Stamps - Scentsational Season (retired); Cheerful Tags (retired)

Ink - Cherry Cobbler; Soft Suede; Early Espresso Marker; Baked Brown Sugar (retired)

Card Stock - Whisper White; Cherry Cobbler; Vellum; Merry Moments DSP

Other - Pearls; Circle Framelits; Brick Wall Embossing Folder; Mini Glue Dots; Stampin' Dimensionals; Holiday Collection Framelits (retired)

Christmas in Summer 7

I am determined to use Christmas themed stamp sets that I have bought in previous years to do some of my cards this year.  I still have a list of things I want from the 2015 Holiday Catalogue but for now I decided to use some retired sets.  The first one is a CASE of a card I saw on Pinterest - it uses the Lots of Stars stamp set which I don't have but I do have the Bright and Beautiful set from the 2014 Holiday Catalogue.  I decided to use that along with the Stars Framelits.

You can see the card I found on Pinterest HERE.

I am pretty happy with my card and will be making more but I think I will use Mossy Meadow ink and card stock for the green star (I used Old Olive).

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Bright & Beautiful (retired); Endless Wishes (retired)
Ink - Old Olive; Crumb Cake; Cherry Cobbler
Card Stock - Crumb Cake; Old Olive; Whisper White; Cherry Cobbler; Gold Glimmer
Other - Stars Framelits; Stampin' Dimensionals; Tea Lace Doilies; Itty Bitty Accents punch pack; Striped Ribbon (retired); Large Polka Dot Embossing folder; Extra Large Rhinestones (retired)

Happy Anniversary George & Louise

Today my brother in law and his wife celebrate 48 years of marriage.  How great is that!  This is the card I made for them.  This is another CASE of a card posted by France Labreque HERE.  I had posted a birthday card earlier this month (August 12) using the same layout.

I was happy to see how well the Itty Bitty Accents Epoxy Stickers fit into the impressions made by the Happy Hearts embossing folder.

I couldn't find an "anniversary" stamp in my collection to use on the card so I went to My Digital Studio (no longer available) and chose one of the stamps there.  I resized it a bit and then printed it out onto Whisper White card stock.  I punched a scrap piece of card stock using the Confetti Hearts Border punch and then sponged the hearts onto my focal piece..

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - none
Ink - Melon Mambo
Card Stock - Kraft; Rich Razzleberry; Whisper White; Bohemian Designer Series Paper
Other - Confetti Hearts Border Punch; Hello You Thinlits; Triple Banner Punch; Itty Bitty Accents Epoxy Stickers; Metallic Button; Linen Thread; Handheld Stapler; Burlap Ribbon; Stampin' Dimensionals; Mini Glue Dots; My Digital Studio (retired)

Two Posts in One Day!

All day I kept thinking about the card I posted this morning and how easy it would be to "step it up".
For this second card I decided to emboss the white panel using the Stylish Stripes folder to create a subtle plaid effect.  I have used this technique several times since I first saw it on Michelle Last's blog HERE.  It just adds a little bit of texture to the background without being too fussy.

The only other change I made was to use Pearl Embellishments rather than the Rhinestones on the first card.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Festival of Trees; Lots of Joy
Ink - Cherry Cobbler; Crushed Curry; Mossy Meadow
Card Stock - Whisper White; Cherry Cobbler; Crushed Curry (scrap)
Other - Stylish Stripes Embossing Folder; Tree Punch; Itty Bitty Punch Pack; Stampin' Dimensionals; Pearls

Are Your Crafting Supplies Collecting Dust?

If so, you have to check out Kimberly Van Diepen's post today where she addresses an issue most of us have experienced - your crafting mojo has deserted you and you can't seem to get back to it.  Click HERE to read her post and then follow along with her to create a beautiful card.

Although I have been posting every couple of days lately there had been a long period where I wasn't posting because I wasn't creating.  I was so happy the day I went back into my craft room and started making cards again.

For my card today I used the same measurements as Kimberly's and decided to use stamps, paper and ink that were sitting on my desk.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Festival of Trees; Lots of Joy
Ink - Cherry Cobbler; Crushed Curry; Mossy Meadow
Card Stock - Whisper White; Cherry Cobbler; Crushed Curry (scrap)
Other - Tree Punch; Itty Bitty Punch Pack; Stampin' Dimensionals; Rhinestones; Cherry Cobbler Blendability Marker (retired)

Christmas in Summer 6

This card was also found on Pinterest when I searched for Festival of Trees.  You can view the original by clicking HERE.

I made two versions of the card.  I just switched up the colours and changed the size of the banner for the second card.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Festival of Trees; Endless Wishes (retired); Endless Birthday Wishes
Ink - Cherry Cobbler; Mossy Meadow; Whisper White
Card Stock - Crumb Cake; Whisper White; Mossy Meadow; Cherry Cobbler; Gold Glimmer Paper
Other - Tree Punch; Itty Bitty Accents Punch; Triple Banner Punch; Stampin Dimensionals; Mini Glue Dots

Christmas in Summer 5

I have been using the Festival of Trees stamp set and coordinating punch a lot lately to get a head start on my Christmas cards for this year.  Pinterest is a wonderful source of great ideas to CASE (copy and share everything) or to use as inspiration for your own creativity.  Truthfully I mostly CASE.

This is one of the cards I found when I did a search on Festival of Trees on Pinterest.  You can find the original HERE.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Festival of Trees; Wondrous Wreath
Ink - Garden Green; Cherry Cobbler
Card Stock - Whisper White; Trim the Tree Designer Series Paper Stack (retired)
Other - Tree Punch; Dazzling Details (Cherry Cobbler); Stampin' Dimensionals

Christmas in Summer 4

A few weeks Anne Granger posted a card using the Lots of Joy stamp set from the 2015-2016 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue.  You can see it HERE.  I loved the use of the new Corrugated Paper.  I had a small sheet of it in the product share I received from Sandi MacIver so I decided to CASE Anne's card.  I didn't have the metallic thread Anne used so I unravelled some of my gold baker's twine and used the thread from that.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Lots of Joy; Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink - Mossy Meadow; Cherry Cobbler
Card Stock - Whisper White; Smoky Slate; Mossy Meadow; Merry Moments Designer Series Paper; Corrugated Paper
Other - Thick Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine; Gold Baker's Twine (gold thread only); Rhinestone; Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities (retired); Stampin' Dimensionals; Tree Punch; Lots of Labels Framelits; Word Window Punch

Sketch and Stamp - SB118

Again this week I played along with a sketch on the Stamping and Blogging website.  You can see the sketch for SB118 HERE.

The Lots of Joy stamp set was on my table so I decided to use it for my card.  I also had some bits and pieces of Merry Moments DSP, gold glimmer paper and the Itty Bitty Punch Pack on my desk so I used them as well.

Here's my card.  In addition to following the sketch I used Sandi MacIver's layout.

Here is the inside of the card

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Lots of Joy
Ink - Old Olive; Cherry Cobbler
Card Stock - Cherry Cobbler; Whisper White; Gold Glimmer Paper; Merry Moments DSP
Other - Stampin' Dimensionals; Mini Glue Dots

Hello

My card today uses a couple of tools I have not used for a while - my Silhouette Cameo eCutter and My Digital Studio (now retired).

In the new Holiday Catalogue Stampin' Up! has introduced a window frame framelit but I don't have it yet (it is on my wish list).  I used the ecutter to create the window frame and window box.  The tree image is Lovely as a Tree and although I do have the stamp set the images were too large so I used the My Digital Studio download and resized (and cropped) it.  I also used the little bird from the Festival of Trees download (resized it too).  I used my Old Olive ink pad and a blender pen to highlight the grass and leaves and then sponged more old olive for the ground.  Soft Sky ink was sponged to create the sky.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Good Greetings (retired)
Ink - Cherry Cobbler; Old Olive; Soft Sky
Card Stock - Cherry Cobbler; Whisper White; Chocolate Chip; Corrugated Paper (Kraft); Daffodil Delight
Other - Candy Dots; Itty Bitty Accents punch; Tea Lace Doily; Stampin' Dimensionals; Silhouette Cameo; My Digital Studio; Mini Glue Dots

Sheltering Tree

I have become quite addicted to creating cards using an acrylic block to stamp.  For today's card I used Stampin' Up!'s block D to create the background.  I applied colour to the block using markers, spritzed it with a bit of water and stamped it on Whisper White card stock.  I decided to use the Sheltering Tree photopolymer stamp set - I like the look of the silhouette against the background.  A little bit of linen thread and the card was done.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Sheltering Tree
Ink - Memento Black; Mossy Meadow, Tangelo Twist, Hello Honey and Lost Lagoon Stampin' Write Markers
Card Stock - Whisper White; Basic Black; Lost Lagoon
Other - Linen Thread

Another Monarch Butterfly

I recently needed a get well card and I had an extra butterfly on my stamping table so I decided to use it.  I saw THIS card on Pinterest and started from there.  For my background I used Smoky Slate ink and love the subtle look behind the butterfly.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Watercolour Wings; Butterfly Basics; Sassy Salutations
Ink - Pumpkin Pie; Tangelo Twist; Memento Black; Smoky Slate
Card Stock - Whisper White; Basic Black
Other - Triple Banner Punch; Basic Black Baker's Twine; Stampin' Dimensionals; Mini Glue Dots; Bold Butterfly Framelits; Butterfly Thinlits

Sketch and Stamp - SB117

I decided to play along with Sketch 117 on the Stamping and Blogging website HERE.

One of the cards posted by a design team member - Michelle Last - featured the Stylish Stripes embossing folder.  She put the cardstock into the folder and embossed it, then she flipped the piece over and embossed it again ending up with a subtle plaid look.  Click HERE to see Michelle's card.

I really wanted to try out that technique and combine it with a card I had seen on Pinterest.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Lots of Joy
Ink - Cherry Cobbler; Garden Green
Card Stock - Whisper White; Cherry Cobbler; Garden Green; Silver Glimmer
Other - Stylish Stripes Embossing Folder; Lots of Labels Framelits; Tree Punch; Stampin' Dimensionals; Itty Bitty Accents Punch; Rhinestones

Masculine Birthday Card

I still have several masculine birthday cards to make - this is the latest one.  I CASEd France Labreque's card posted HERE.  I don't have the embossing folder or stamp set France used so I used what I have on hand.

I have to say Delightful Dijon - one of the 2015-2017 InColors - is not a favourite.  I may have to buy a pack of the Bohemian DSP - I got a small supply through a share and have almost used it all up. It's great for those masculine cards.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Endless Birthday Wishes; Dotty Angles
Ink - Delightful Dijon; Blackberry Bliss
Card Stock - Blackberry Bliss; Delightful Dijon; Bohemian DSP
Other - Hello You Thinlits; Metallic Gold Button; Linen Thread; Burlap Ribbon; Handheld Stapler; Stampin' Dimensionals; Mini Glue Dots

Monarch Butterfly

I had bought the Butterfly Basics stamp set and coordinating thinlits from the Occasions Catalogue and was happy to see that they are included in the 2015-2016 Annual Catalogue along with a new butterfly bundle.  The stamp set is Watercolor Wings and the coordinating framelits are Bold Butterfly.  The really great thing is that the framelits and thinlits work with both stamp sets.

My card today uses the Watercolor Wings set - a multi step set.  I stamped the bold image with pumpkin pie and for the next layer used Tangelo Twist ink.  The final detail was added with Memento Black.  I cut out the image using the coordinating framelit and then cut out the detailed butterfly in Basic Black to layer on top.

The background was created by scribbling Smoky Slate ink onto a clear block, spritzing it with a bit of water and then "stamping" onto the white cardstock.

Stampin' Supplies

Stamps - Watercolor Wings; Happy Birthday Everyone

Ink - Memento Black; Tangelo Twist; Pumpkin Pie; Smoky Slate Stampin' Write Marker

Card Stock - Whisper White; Basic Black

Other - Big Shot; Bold Butterfly Framelits; Butterfly Thinlits; Rhinestones; Stampin' Dimensionals; Clear Block E

Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad

My parents are celebrating their 64th wedding anniversary today.  This is the card I made for them:

The card is a CASE of a wedding card I saw on Pinterest.  You can see the original HERE - it's the third photo from the top.

I used a piece of Timeless Elegance Designer Paper and added some colour with my Blushing Bride Marker  I added a few pearls, a bit of long retired Pleated Ribbon.  The Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set was perfect for the sentiment as I didn't want it to be too big.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink - Memento Black; Blushing Bride Stampin' Write Marker
Card Stock - Whisper White; Blushing Bride; Timeless Elegance Designer Series Paper
Other - Blushing Bride Pleated Ribbon (retired); Pearls

CASEing Mary Fish

I saw a really pretty card posted by Mary Fish and then when she added a video showing her technique for watercolouring with blender pens I knew I had to give it a try.  You can see the video HERE.

Mary only coloured in the stems and leaves but I decided to do the flowers as well.  I don't have any of the new Designer Series papers but I did find some in my stash that I felt would work.

Hope you like it.

Stampin' Supplies

Stamps - Butterfly Basics

Ink - Memento Black; Old Olive; Blackberry Bliss

Card Stock - Whisper White; Blackberry Bliss; retired DSP

Other - Basic Black Baker's Twine; 2" Circle Punch; Blender Pen; Rhinestones; Stampin' Dimensionals

The Open Sea

The Inky Divas challenge posted for the week of August 1 was to create a card with a window effect.  I had seen a card on Pinterest that I thought would meet that challenge and would give me a chance to dust off The Open Sea stamp set.  You can see the original card HERE.

For the background I inked up the images, stamped them off once on a scrap of paper and then stamped the card stock  The ship and sentiment were stamped with StazOn Black and the "water" was coloured in using a blender pen.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - The Open Sea; Fabulous Four
Ink - Smoky Slate; StazOn Black; Bermuda Bay
Card Stock - Smoky Slate; Bermuda Bay; Whisper White
Other - Deco Label Framelits; Circle Framelits; Stampin' Dimensionals; Candy Dots; Blender Pen

Wetlands

I love the Wetlands stamp set especially the little water birds (sandpipers?) and was so happy that it is included in the 2015-2016 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue.  I decided to make another card for last week's Inky Divas challenge - use an acrylic block as a stamp.  There are many techniques for this - for my previous card I applied the ink directly to the block and immediately stamped on the card stock.  For this card I used my Stampin' Write markers to scribble the colours onto the block.  I then spritzed it several times with water and applied it to the paper.  I knew I wanted to use the Wetlands stamp set so I applied three colours to try to get the illusion of beach, sea and sky.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Wetlands
Ink - Crumb Cake, Marina Mist and Pool Party Stampin' Write Markers; Memento Black Ink
Card Stock - Whisper White; Basic Black; Pool Party
Other - Clear Block E; Stampin' Dimensionals; Water Spritzer

Christmas in the Summer 3

Another of the Festival of Trees cards that I found on Pinterest also used the Circle Card Thinlits die.  I hadn't used mine for quite some time so I decided to put it to use.  The original card can be seen HERE.

The tree on the original tree was stamped with Old Olive ink but I am very happy with it in the Lost Lagoon.

Stampin' Supplies:

Stamps - Festival of Trees; Good Greetings (retired); Endless Wishes (retired)

Ink - Lost Lagoon; Smoky Slate

Card Stock - Smoky Slate; Lost Lagoon; Whisper White; All is Calm DSP (retired)

Other - Silver 1/8" Ribbon; Itty Bitty Accents punch (star); Silver Glimmer Paper; Tree Punch; Circle Card Thinlits; 2 1/2", 2", 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches; retired Washi Tape; Mini Glue Dots; Stampin' Dimensionals; Rhinestone