Happy Birthday George

It's my brother-in-law George's birthday today.  The card I made for him is based on instructions I had received from Ann Clemmer months ago.  I don't think it was posted on her blog - I believe it was a project exclusive for her email subscribers.

I love The Open Sea stamp set and almost always go to it for masculine cards.  It's a shame that Stampin' Up! retired it this year.  There is actually a lot of retired product on this card, The Open Sea Stamp Set, Itty Bitty Banners stamp set and coordinating framelits, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, Burlap Ribbon, Designer Series Paper and the background on the card base (I used My Digital Studio the stamp World Map was available as a background stamp).

I coloured a couple of the tiniest pearls from our Basic Pearls embellishments with a black Sharpie.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - The Open Sea (retired), Itty Bitty Banners
Ink - Basic Black
Card Stock - Sahara Sand, Delightful Dijon, retired DSP
Other - Sunburst Thinlit, Banners Framelits, 2 1/2" Circle Punch (retired), Bitty Banners Framelits (retired), My Digital Studio, Stampin' Dimensionals, Pearls

Inky Divas Challege - Week of August 22

At first I wasn't going to participate in this week's challenge.  Our cards were to include sea creatures, sponging and some sort of embossing.  I have no sea creature or fish stamps (I may have a turtle stamp packed away somewhere but the thought of looking for it was too daunting).

As I was tidying up my stamp table I saw that I had the Halloween Scene edgelits (in the new Holiday catalogue that goes live on September 1) and thought the spooky tree looked like coral so I decided to do a punch card for the challenge.  Click HERE to see the card I made using the tree.

I also had some scraps of paper from other projects sitting out so I challenged myself to use these on my card.  My tree builder punch, ornament punch (retired) and ornament punch (retired) were also close at hand.  I also had the Serene Scenery DSP Stack out so I used one of the designs for the background.  The sea floor is a piece of Crumb Cake - I tore one edge and sponged it.  After adhering it to the DSP I dry embossed it with the Seaside embossing folder, added in the coral and the rocks that I had punched with the tree builder punch.  The edges of the coral and the rocks have also been sponged.

I had seen a cute punch art fish on Pinterest - see it HERE- using the retired ornament and wide oval punches.  Once that was put together I assembled the card.  The fist is popped up on dimensionals.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - none
Ink - Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake, Pumpkin Pie, Smoky Slate
Card Stock - Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake, Island Indigo, Pumpkin Pie, Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Serene Scenery DSP Stack
Other - Halloween Scene Edgelits, Seaside Embossing Folder, Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Anniversary George & Louise

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law are celebrating 49 years of marriage today.  I had seen a card on Pinterest that I quite liked so I adapted it to make an anniversary card.

It was a bit difficult to get a good photo of the clear embossing on the base card, but I think it shows pretty well in this one.

I wanted to have the anniversary greeting include 49 so I created my sentiment in My Digital Studio (retired) and punched it with a 2" circle punch.  It is surrounded by a circle and scallop circle cut with non-Stampin' Up! dies.

I used the flower stamp from Flourishing Phrases but hand cut them to a smaller size.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Flourishing Phrases
Ink - Real Red, Soft Sky, Daffodil Delight, VersaMark
Card Stock - Basic Black, Shimmery White, Cucumber Crush
Other - Flourish Thinlits, Linen Thread, Rhinestones, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots,
2" Circle Punch, Clear Embossing Powder, My Digital Studio

Spooky Fun

When I saw the Stampin' Up! Holiday Catalogue I decided that one of my preorder items had to be the bundle that included the Spooky Fun stamp set and coordinating Halloween Scenes Edgelits.  I probably didn't need a new Halloween set - I have a few in my stash - but just couldn't resist.

Earlier this week I started looking on Pinterest for cards using this bundle and found one I really liked but I didn't have all of the supplies.  You can see it HERE.  I hadn't bought the Halloween themed Designer Series Paper or the other stamp sets used in the sample (Ghoulish Grunge and Suite Seasons).  The sample used a brick wall background that reminded me of one I had purchased as a download for My Digital Studio.  I opened the program, found the paper I wanted and then recoloured it to shades of grey.  After printing it onto photo paper I started creating my card.

The original used the "mesh" stamp from the Ghoulish Grunge set for the background on the centre panel.  I used one of the stamps from Timeless Textures and thought it worked out pretty well.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Spooky Fun, Timeless Textures
Ink - Basic Black, Crushed Curry, Smoky Slate
Card Stock - Whisper White, Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Pumpkin Pie
Other - Halloween Scenes Edgelits, Mini Glue Dots, Fine Tip Glue Pen

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of August 15

This week's challenge was a colour challenge.  We had to use Early Espresso, Tip Top Taupe and Mint Macaron as our colours.  Black and/or white could also be used.  Only current Stampin' Up! products could be used.  My card is CASEd from one I had seen on Pinterest.   You can see it HERE.

When stamping the background I inked up the stamps and then stamped them off once on scrap paper before stamping onto the Whisper White card stock.  The greeting is stamped at "full strength".  I got a few ink smears when I stamped it so I covered up the mistakes with a few rhinestones.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Timeless Textures, Flourishing Phrases
Ink - Early Espresso, Mint Macaron, Tip Top Taupe
Card Stock - Early Espresso, Mint Macaron, Tip Top Taupe, Whisper White
Other - Botanical Builders Framelits, Rhinestones, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots, Basic Rhinestones, White Signo Gel Pen

Freshly Made Sketches - #250

When I saw the sketch posted on Freshly Made Sketches this morning I decided to give it a try.  See the post HERE.

Here is the sketch

I had a few things sitting on my desk that I thought might work.  There was a piece of Designer Series Paper (retired) along with a stamped and coloured image from the Merry Mice stamp set which is in the Stampin' Up! new Holiday Catalogue.  I decided to change the shape of the focal piece to accommodate the cute little mouse.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Merry Mouse
Ink - Cherry Cobbler, Pool Party, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Bermuda Bay
Card Stock - Whisper White, Basic Black, Shimmery White, Merry Moments DSP (retired)
Other - Los of Labels Framelits, Rhinestones, Aqua Painter, Stampin' Dimensionals, Rhinestones, Frosted Sequins Embellishments (retired)

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of August 8

The challenge for the week was to make a "Hanging Water Bottle Treat Box".  We had to use at least one new stamp and use only current Stampin' Up! products.

I should have taken a photo with a side view - the box is 1/2" deep.  I used the Swirly Bird stamp set to create the little sailboat and Thoughtful Banners for the greeting.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Swirly Bird, Thoughtful Banners
Ink - Island Indigo, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight
Card Stock - Island Indigo, Whisper White, Crushed Curry, By The Shore DSP
Other - Swirly Scribbles Thinlits, Tree Builder Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, 1 3/8" Circle Punch

Happy 65th Anniversary Mum and Dad

Today is my parents' 65th Wedding Anniversary.  We had a celebration dinner for them on July 31st but today is the day!

My sister discovered that the gem for the 65th Anniversary is Sapphire.  We weren't sure what cards would be available to celebrate a 65th anniversary so I made all of the cards from myself and my brothers and sisters.  I decided to use the last of my stash of Midnight Muse card stock for the cards as well as for the table favours we used.  See THIS post.

For this card I used the Rose Garden Thinlits, Cuttlebug Dies for the numbers and the retired Express Yourself stamp set for the happy anniversary.

I used the Large Numbers Framelits and the coordinating Number of Years stamp set for this card.

The lattice piece on this card is from the May Paper Pumpkin Kit.  I used My Digital Studio to create the focal piece and die cut it with the retired Hearts a Flutter Framelits.

I used the Birthday Blooms stamp set for this card.  The banners were cut using the Banners Framelits.  Again I used the retired Express Yourself stamp set for the sentiment and Cuttlebug dies for the numbers.

This was the only one of the five cards where I used Night of Navy Cardstock.  I wanted to use some of the Floral Boutique Designer Series I had received in the share from Sandi MacIver.  This card also uses the retired Express Yourself stamp set (I love the font) as well as the Large Numbers Framelits and Number of Years stamp set.

This is a combination of a Z-Fold and Joy Fold card.  You can it open HERE.

Inky Divas Challenge - Week of August 1

Crystal's challenge this week was to create a "sky" background effect using a technique rather than a stamped background.

Last year I had seen several posts to create a night sky background by applying ink directly from the ink pad to a clear block and then spritzing with water before applying it to a piece of watercolour paper.  After "stamping" the block onto the watercolour paper I spinkled on some salt, spritzed it a bit more and let it dry.  Once dry I brushed off the salt and added a bit more texture to the background by stamping some "snow flurries" with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with Iridescent Ice embossing powder (retired).  The "scenes" were cut out of Shimmery White card stock using the Sleigh Ride edgelits (retired).

Stampin' Supplies
Stamps - Jingle All The Way (retired)
Ink - Night of Navy, Island Indigo
Card Stock - Night of Navy, Shimmery White, Watercolour Paper
Other - Sleigh Ride Edgelits (retired), Stampin' Dimensionals, Rhinestones, Frosted Sequins Embellishments (retired)

Headstart on Christmas Cards

I am trying to get a head start on my Christmas cards for this year - I usually have quite a few done by now but this year I have been distracted and have barely any.  I actually like to have my plans in place before the new Stampin' Up! Holiday catalogue is introduced.  Not this year though. Demonstrators got to view some sneak peak videos showcasing some of the new product lines for the holidays and then the online catalogue was made available (again Demonstrator only).  Oh my there are some very cute things.

I am going to try to resist ordering too much and work with what I have.  I often order from the Holiday Catalogues in preparation for the following year.  That way I have lots of opportunity to view projects others post on their blogs or on Pinterest.

This is a card I made using some vellum from last year's Holiday Catalogue and a Hostess set from the 2016-2017 Annual Catalogue (Time of Year - page 201).  I CASEd the card on page 200 of the Annual Catalogue.

I don't have the Fabulous Foil Designer Sheets used in the catalogue sample, but I remembered that I had the Winter Wonderland Designer Vellum Stack from the 2015 Holiday Catalogue so I used one of the sheets from that stack.

Stampin' Supplies
Stamp - Time of Year (Hostess set 2016-2017 Annual Catalogue)
Ink - Versamark, Real Red, Old Olive
Card Stock - Old Olive, Whisper White, Winter Wonderland Designer Vellum (retired)
Other - Bunch of Banners Framelits, Doily, Gold Embossing Powder, Mini Glue Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals, Retired Corner Punch