Manhattan Flower, Fifth Avenue Floral and More

Our niece's birthday is on Tuesday and I wanted to make a box of cards for her. I had been anxiously waiting for my Manhattan Flower Textured Impressions embossing foler to arrive and it finally did late on Friday afternoon. I could hardly wait to get started with Patty Bennett's Brayered Roses technique. You can see her video here. I remembered that I have not been too successfull with my brayer in the past so I decided to sponge the colour on. I am very happy with the results. This is one of the six cards in the gift box. I also stamped the large image from Fifth Avenue Floral on the envelope.
This is the boxed set. I put all six cards in a clear acetate box and then attached the Happy Birthday greeting and the flowers so that they covered the images on the card below. Recipe:
Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Bitty Birthday, Oval All, Rose Leaf stamp is nonSU
Card Stock: Whisper White, Shimmery White, Cameo Coral
Ink: Regal Rose, Summer Sun, Old Olive, Cameo Coral
Punches: Wide Oval, Scalloped Oval
Other: Sponge Daubers, Dimensionals

This is her birthday card. I used Patty Bennett's template. I CASE'd Caroline Lebel's dress card (see her post of May 9). I love the addition of the little purse! I decorated the envelope with a strips of Pink Pirouette CS, Raspberry Tart DSP and Rose Red ribbon.

Recipe:
Card Stock: Whisper White, Pink Pirouette (textured), Raspberry Tart DSP
Other: Rhinestone Brad, Rose Red Ribbon, Eyelet Border Punch, Round Tab punch, Small and Large Oval punches

I signed up for the Spring UStamp hosted by Heather Summers and Dawn Raspas. One of the projects was a one sheet wonder using the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set. The flower images were randomly stamped on a sheet of Whisper White and then it was cut into sections to incorporate into a set of cards. The project instructions included 5 cards and a lovely box. I decided to do six cards and not do the box. I think this will make a great set of cards for my sister.

Recipe:

Stamps: Firth Avenue Floral, Fresh Cuts (for you), Very Versatile (Thank You)

Card Stock - Whisper White, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Urban Oasis DSP
Ink: Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze

Other: Basic Gray Ribbon, Hodgepodge Hardware, Scallop Oval punch, Eyelet Border punch, Word Window punch

And of course everyone is doing a flower pot card. Here is my version of the one I saw on Stephanie Luman's blog. These are so fun to do!

Recipe:

Card Stock: Really Rust, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip, nonSU for the yellow

Other: Wild Wasabi Double Stitched ribbon, 3/4 inch circle punch, scallop circle punch, leaf die from the Birds & Blooms sizzlits pack, dimensionals.

Have a great day!

Marjorie

Fifth Avenue Floral

I saw this card in the March Stampin Success magazine. I love how Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze work so well with the Sahara Sand cardstock.

Stamp Set - Fifth Avenue Floral
Card Stock - Sahara Sand, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze
DSP - Urban Oasis
Ink - Basic Gray (original used Basic Black), Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze
Other - Kiwi Kiss/Vanilla Satin Ribbon (original uses Baja Breeze from the Valet Originals)
Dazzling Diamonds, Two Way Glue Pen (original uses a Flower Designer Brad)
Dimensionals

Two posts in one day.

I wanted to make a box of cards to give to a friend for her birthday. There was a layout on UStamp - Spring that I liked but I did not have the stamp set (Soft Summer). I looked through my stamps, found Embrace Life and decided that it would do very well. It also gave me a chance to use up some of my retired DSP - Ginger Blossom. I made a set of six cards - all identical except for the sentiment at the bottom. I used six different greetings that cover most occasions. The flower is popped up with a dimensional.

The card is designed in such a way that the focal image panel tucks in behind the scalloped oval which is attached with a dimensional. There is a blank space underneath for my friend to write a note.

After wrapping up the cards I realized that I had taken this photo before putting dazzling diamonds glitter on the stamens of the flower. It really makes a difference.

Card Stock - Ruby Red, Groovy Guava (retired), Whisper White, Shimmery White, Ginger Blossom DSP (retired)

Stamp Set - Embrace Life

Ink - Basic Gray, Old Olive, Ruby Red

Other - Kiwi Kiss/Vanilla Satin Ribbon, dimensionals, dazzling diamonds, scallop oval punch, large oval punch

This is the birthday card I made to go with the cards above. In some ways to me it looks unfinished, but when I tried to add more it looked over done. Overall I am pleased with how it turned out.

I saw this scalloped dress on Patty Bennett's blog. It is hard to see but there is dazzling diamonds glitter on the edge of each of the scallops. The Raspberry Tart DSP ends itself well to 'dressmaking'.

Card Stock - Kiwi Kiss Textured, Whisper White, Raspberry Tart DSP

Ink - Rose Red

Other - Kiwi Kiss/Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Eyelet Border punch. The pearl embellisments are non SU

Mother's Day Card

Believe it or not, I have a card to share today. This is pretty much a direct case of Andrea Walford's Fifth Avenue Floral card that you can see here. The only change I made was to use Vanilla Hodgepodge to frame the greeting. I decided that this would be such a great card for Mother's Day, so I made two of them. I loved it so much that both of our mothers are getting the same card! I also left it pretty much to the last minute because I was waiting for the delivery of the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set. As soon as Mr. UPS arrived at my door yesterday afternoon I rushed up to my stamping room and got busy!


I stamped the envelope and just to really tie in the floral theme on the inside of the card I stamped one of the flowers very faintly in the middle of the poem. I think it was just what the card needed. You can't see it very well in the photo above, but here is a close up.


Stamp Sets - Fifth Avenue Floral, Terrific Tulips (retired). The Happy Mother's Day greeting is from Stampendous.
CS - Baja Breeze - textured, Whisper White, Not Quite Navy, Urban Garden DSP
Inks - Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Old Olive, Not Quite Navy
Other - Vanilla Hodgepodge, Designer Label punch, Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds, Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Mini Glue Dots

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Marjorie

Since returning from Florida I have not been spending much productive time in my craft room. I can't seem to get myself organized.

I participated in Heather Summers' online classes - Simply Punches and Simply Punches 2 and when I was invited to a baby shower with a safari theme I just knew I had to use some of the ideas from those classes.



Can you guess what SU punches I used? I used a non-SU punch for the giraffe's antlers and the Cuttlebug 'At the Beach' cut and emboss set to make the palm trees.

I think it turned out great!

CS - Garden Green, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, More Mustard, Riding Hood Red, Going Grey, Summer Sun, Basic Black, Whisper White

Ink - Basic Grey, Close to Cocoa, Black Stampin Write Marker, Signo Gel Pen





This card is for our great-nephew's 10th birthday. We had decided to get him a gift card from
his favourite place to buy games for his video game systems. I wanted a cute way to incorporate the gift card into his card. I modified the instructions in Andrea Walford's Crazy for Cupcakes class planner to make this card.

This card opens from the top and the gift card tucks right into the ribbon on the inside of the card.

I used the Cuttlebug 'Doodles' embossing folder to make the icing and then sponged it with close to cocoa ink and painted on some Shimmerz (non-SU) to highlight the swirls - I could have used dazzling diamonds but it is for a boy and I thought that might be a bit too much bling for him.

CS - Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Whisper White, Brushed Gold
Ink - Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa
Ribbon - Chocolate Chip Double Stitched

Thanks for stopping in. Hopefully my posts will become more regular before too long. Mother's Day is on the horizon so I need to get crafting!

Marjorie

I'm back home after spending over two months in Florida. Although there were a few days where it was unseasonably cold (for the Floridians) we found the weather to be perfect. A couple of days were pretty windy and made it a bit uncomfortable at the beach (the fine sand being blown about was very hard on the skin).

Before I left home I signed up for a swap hosted by Marie Kirkwood. The submissions were to use NEW stamps from the Stampin Up Idea Book & Catalogue that was released in January. There were 4 themes to choose from - Get Well, Birthday, Thank You and Sympathy. Participants were to make 11 card fronts (4 X 5.25) that were all the same. These were sent to the host (Marie) and she then sorted them and sent back 11 different card fronts to each participant. The swap out was in February and as I was away mine sat waiting for my return. What a lovely package awaited me.

These are the cards I received.

This is the one I sent in.

This is from Marie Kirkwood

Heather Neidig made this next card

This one came from Linda Willman

Barb Tripps

Myra Webb

Wanda Dodds

Cynthia McKellar
Heather Leech

Cindy Paradis

Erin Enns

Cindy Paradis
If you want to see all of the card fronts from this swap check out Marie Kirkwood's blog here and scroll down to the Wednesday, February 25 entry (New Catalogue Swap Cards).

Hopefully it won't be too long before I am back in a routine at home and in my craft room. I need to get stamping - I only did a few cards while I was away and I have missed it.

Marjorie

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope everyone is having a 'Lovely' day! As you are reading this we are in Clearwater, Florida and we may go to Stampfest by the Bay for an hour or two this afternoon.

I made these two cards for Valentine's Day - the first one was sent to family and friends.

Supplies:

Love You Much Stamp Set

Floral Background Stamp (retired)

Felt Fusion

Regal Rose, Whisper White and Rose Red Card Stock

Raspberry Tart DSP

Regal Rose 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon

Rose Red Classic Stampin Pad and Marker

Old Olive Marker

Versamark Pad

Non SU rhinestone brad

I coloured in the "O" and the "E" and doodled in dots on the other letters.

This card is for hubby.

Supplies:

A Happy Heart Stamp Set

Love you Much Stamp Set

Three Heart Punch

Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White

and Close to Cocoa Card Stock

Candy Lane DSP

Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red and Close to Cocoa Classic stampin pads

Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by

Marjorie

Happy Birthday Ralph!

I have had so much fun with my SU punches. It still amazes me what can be done with a few scraps of paper and a bit of creativity (in my case someone else's creativity). I had seen a dog's face on someone's blog, but of course cannot remember whose (even though I am sure I bookmarked it). I sent an email to a couple of groups I belong to asking if anyone had directions to make a dog from punches. I was given several links to some wonderful projects but the one I settled on is posted on Splitcoast Stampers here. The poster is stampinmutt in case the link does not work.

I pretty much copied her 6 x 6 scrapbook page layout but adjusted it to standard card size. I wish I had made the little bone, but I am liking my card all the same. It will be going to a dog named Ralph - he belongs to my sister's boyfriend. Is this little puppy not the cutest!

Have a great day!

Marjorie

I am heading to Florida tomorrow and won't be back home until about April 8. Can't wait to get out of the cold and snow.



Thanks for stopping by

Marjorie

I have nothing to show this week. I have been busy getting ready for our trip to Florida (we leave on January 31) and although I have spent time in my craft room it has been trying to decide what I can bring with me and still have room to pack our clothes!

The new Stampin Up catalogue was released this week - see sidebar. Sale a bration begins on
February 1 and runs until March 31.

Thanks for stopping by

Marjorie

None of these cards today are my own inspiration. I cannot even say that I saw an idea and adapted it - they are all pretty much direct copies of cards I have seen while visiting other blogs. Unfortunately, I remembered the ideas but the not the sources.

On this card I love the simplicity of the image from Pocket Silhouettes against the 'busier' pattern of the Urban Garden DSP. Could not find my black brads so I just punched some 1/8" circles from basic black and glued on clear dew drops. I am quite pleased with the effect. The card picks up colours from the DSP. Not Quite Navy, Basic Gray and Old Olive. The image and sentiment are both stamped on Whisper White using Not Quite Navy Craft Ink. I heat embossed them using clear embossing powder. The card was done in minutes.





Again, I used Pocket Silhouettes. This time I used my markers to colour directly to the stamp and then stamped the image onto my card stock. The focal image is raised up on dimensionals. I can't believe that when I first received the Raspberry Tart DSP that I was not sure I liked it.

Supplies:
Pocket Silhouettes Stamp Set
Regal Rose CS
Raspberry Tart DSP
Rose Red Ribbon
Regal Rose and Old Olive Markers
Dimensionals

I love this card. The image was stamped using versamark and then heat embossed with white embossing powder.

Supplies:

Inspired by Nature Stamp Set (not in the new catalogue, but still available - it is on the dormant list)

Kiwi Kiss Textured Card Stock

Not Quite Navy, Baha Breeze and Whisper CS

Not Quite Navy Ink, Versamark

White Embossing powder

Kiwi Kiss Ribbon, brad from Silver Hodgepodge

Thanks for stopping by

Marjorie

I am still working on getting birthday cards done. I am going to need several over the next few months and although I will bring stamping supplies to Florida with me, I want to get the things that I 'have' to do before leaving.


It is amazing what a few scraps of paper can develop into. Thanks again to Ros Oakes for the inspiration. This card for our niece's son is a total CASE of hers. It is pretty busy, but fun. I really like it and look forward to giving it to him. His birthday is not until April so there is a bit of a wait.







These Sesame Street characters are so much fun to make.

I have been making cards for some upcoming birthdays. This first one is for our niece. I finally started using my nestabilities.

Recipe: Stamp - Crazy for Cupcakes, Baroque Motifs Wheel
Card Stock - Pink Pirouette, Bravo Burgundy, Watercolour Paper
Inks: Jet Black Stazon, Bravo Burgundy
Markers: Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa, Real Red

Our nephew's birthday is in early February and I just received my Winds of Grace stamp set so I decided to make this card for him. My inspiration for this came from the card Marie Kirkwood made for her Masculine Manly card swap last fall. You can see all of the cards by clicking HERE

Recipe:
Stamp Set - Winds of Grace (retiring January 18)
Cardstock - Blue Bayou (retired), Soft Sky (retired), Basic Grey, Whisper White
Ink - Blue Bayou
Other - Word Window Punch, Twine - Natural, Brads (SU - retired),
Ribbon - Blue Bayou (retired)

This card uses the new Raspberry Tart DSP. The patterns are quite a bit bolder than I had anticipated and I am having some difficulty using it but it works pretty well on the following card. I ran out of Rose Red cardstock so I pulled out Purely Pomegranate. I think it turned out OK. I layered Purely Pomegrante Ribbon over the Regal Rose grosgrain ribbon. I used brads from the Silver Hodgepodge but put some tiny flat back pearls (non SU) in the centres. I am really loving the Echoes of Kindness stamp set.

Recipe:

Card Stock - Purely Pomegranate, Watercolour paper
DSP - Raspberry Tart
Ink - Black Stazon, Old Olive and Rose Red Markers

My husband and I have been going to Florida for the past several years and are quite intrigued by pelicans. I found this pelican stamp at Michael's last year and decided today was the day to ink it up. The card has a kind of nautical feel about it (I think so anyway). I used the natural twine as an embellishment behind the focal image, but can you see that I also used it on the post the pelican is standing on? Makes me want to get going for our trip to Florida. We leave on January 31 and will be back home around April 10.

Recipe:

Stamps - Pelican (non SU); Winds of Grace

Card Stock - Soft Sky (retired); Blue Bayou (retired), Basic Grey, Watercolour paper

Ink - Black Stazon and Blue Bayou. Close to Cocoa, Basic Grey, Really Rust, Barely Banana Markers. Non SU watercolour pencil (blue)

Thanks for looking

Marjorie

I made this card for our nephew's son who is turning 2 on Friday. I don't have the scallop circle die for the Big Shot yet, but I do have the scallop circle Nestabilities so I used the largest one. I had already folded the card stock and just made sure to position the die so that a few of the scallops overlapped the folded edge. I wanted the Elmo to be the card, but decided he needed to be mounted on a standard card size base. Here is the inside of the card.Recipe: Card Stock - Real Red, Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White
DSP - Summper Picnic
Ink - Real Red
Stamps - It's Your Birthday

Inspiration: Ros Oakes - click HERE

The next card is one I made as a birthday card for a friend's mother. I used squares cut from the new Raspberry Tart DSP. For the middle square I cut one of the flowers from the DSP and adhered it to a square of Rose Red CS.

Recipe: Card Stock - Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Rose Red
DSP - Raspberry Tart
Other - Kiwi Kiss/Vanilla ribbon, White Signo Gel Pen, Paper Piercer

Inspiration: Catherine Coté - Click HERE

I bought this Santa stamp many years ago (it was probably the first stamp I ever bought). I still love it and will never part with it. It is a perfect size for making coasters and when I was making Cards for the Troops it was perfect for making no layers cards (I had previously posted a photo). Here is a photo of one of the coasters I made using this stamp. Did you know that the IKEA thin cork coasters are a perfect fit for the 4 x 4 tumbled tiles (I got the tiles at Home Depot).

Thanks for stopping by.

Marjorie

Happy New Year!!



2009 came in very quietly at our home, but that is just the way we wanted it. We usually stay home and quite honestly for the past many year we have not even been awake to usher in the new year. This year we woke up at 11:57 and turned the TV on just in time to see the big ball fall at New York's Times Square.



We took it easy on New Year's Day as well. We made a lovely roast beef dinner and watched a few movies.



I signed up for a swap using stamps from the new catalogue. Although I will be away at the time the swap out is done, I wanted to participate. I had ordered a couple of new stamp sets from the demonstrator preorder so felt I would have time to get my 11 card fronts done before going away. Bonus - my order arrived today instead of Monday. I had already planned out my card so decided to get busy and get them done.

The idea of the swap is to make 11 identical card fronts and send them in to the organizer. She then sorts all the cards received and sends each participant 11 different card fronts.



This is my card

Stamp Sets: Sincere Salutations, Echoes of Kindness (NEW - Level 2 Hostess Set)

Card Stock: Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, Whisper White

DSP: Raspberry Tart (NEW)

Ink: Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery markers; Jet Black Stazon

Ribbon : Whisper White 1/4 inch grosgrain

Thanks for looking

Marjorie

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. It is so hard to believe that after weeks and months of preparation it is all over. I have a few project to share. I made these before Christmas but never got to posting them. I did some other cards (including one done with the new Valentine's Day bundle), but forgot to take photos before I packaged them up and gave them away.

I picked up this frosted glass candleholder at Dollarama and simply used a Stampin Up rubon. Voila - instant gift! Note - the candleholder is not as dark as this looks.




These are ornaments I picked up at Michael's (they were on sale for only $0.68 each). I embellished them with some of the chocolate brown rubons. I intended to use them as little gifts, but I was not able to part with them - maybe they will get tucked away for next year (or maybe not).

I saw these little chocolate boxes on a blog one night - marked down the address, but cannot remember where I put it. The little boxes are each made from two of the scalloped envelopes cut out with the exclusive stampin up die. The little boxes each hold 2 Ghiradellie chocolate squares - too cute! I cut them from Baha Breeze textured card stock and decorated them with a little bit of DSP from the Ski Slope pack, some of the Baha Breeze striped ribbon and some snow flurries.

If you have not seen these little reindeer, you must go to Angie Juda's site - click here to see her video and follow her directions. These are just adorable and only take a few minutes to put together.

I picked up some composition books and this is my first attempt at altering one. I used Soft Sky cardstock, DSP, ribbon and ink. It is pretty plain - I may have to do a little more, but right now can't think of what. I also put some matching DSP in the barrel of the pen. Not too bad for a first attempt!

Bye for now. Thanks for stopping by.

Marjorie

Can you believe that in just two short weeks it will be boxing day! Where has the time gone?

I still have a few gifts to buy and baking to do. I have not baked one single cookie, tart or tourtiere as of today. When I was working full time I always had all the shopping done and gifts wrapped long before this. The baking was always done by the end of November. Not sure what I am doing with my time (well stamping does take up a lot of my time).

I tried out the stained glass techinique to make this gift card holder. I stamped the image on vellum cardstock, embossed it and then coloured in the back with my SU markers. I used my nestabilities to cut out the circles and the white gel pen to make the dots. It is amazing that it only took a few minutes to complete.

Stamp Set - Cardinal Christmas

CS - Riding Hood Red, Basic, Black, Whisper White (placed behind vellum) and vellum.

I even stamped and coloured the envelope!

I tried stamping on mirror tiles this week as well (I had never done that before) and stamping on candles. I had done that before and given the candles away as gifts. Those candles sat on a tumbled tile that had been decorated to match.

This photo is not the greatest, but here it is anyway.

Stamp Set - Snow Swirled

Ink - Not Quite Navy (for the candle); white StazOn for the mirror tile

Again, it did not take very long, but they are beautiful. I am going to a dinner party on Wednesday, so one of these sets will make a perfect hostess gift!

I got the mirror tiles at Dollarama and the candles were in packages of 3 at Michael's.

That is it for today!

Marjorie

Not much has been happening - we finally got all our Christmas cards into their envelopes so they are addressed, stamped and ready to go to the post office. We are trying to get our Christmas shopping done and it is proving to be a little more difficult than I had imagined. On Christmas Day my parents are taking us out to brunch - we will be a total of 11. After brunch we are going to do a little gift exchange, but this year with a twist. Previously we each had to bring one gift each (so the girls would bring a gift appropriate for a lady and the guys would bring one appropriate for a man). We would then do a 'chinese auction'.


This year we are bringing an inexpensive gift for each person who will be there. So basically 10 gifts. Trying to find appropriate, nice gifts in the designated price range is driving me crazy. To further complicate it I volunteered to do the shopping for all the people in my immediate family (husband, two sons and one son's friend). Not sure I will do that again. I was able to do most of the gifts for the ladies while I was in Syracuse a couple of weeks ago. The gifts from me will be handmade, but I can't say what in case they check my blog. Yesterday I was able to get all the gifts for my dad and brother in law. Almost done!

We have a couple of birthdays this week - in fact today is my niece Roxanne's 13th birthday. My dad's birthday is on the 12th. Of course with all the cards and card fronts I have on hand, I was not able to choose one that I wanted to use, so I have spent the morning doing some cards.

I decided to try a popup card for Roxanne. It turned out not too bad - not sure this would be a project that I would do again.



Recipe:
Stamp Set: Crazy for Cupcakes
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Creamy Caramel and Sweet Always DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Other: Ribbon (nonSU); Grommet

For my dad's card I decided to try the brayered sky technique that Michelle Zindorf does so beautifully. I ended up not using the brayer, but used my sponge daubers. I am quite pleased with my results and will definitely try this technique again.

Recipe:

Stamp Set: Lovely as a Tree (is this not the best set!); Upsy Daisy for the sentiment

Paper: Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Glossy CS

Ink: More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, Riding Hood Red, Basic Black

Thanks for stopping by

Marjorie

While shopping in Syracuse a few weeks ago, I picked up some Holiday M&M's. The candies are red, green and white and are mint flavoured. I knew I wanted to package them somehow to give as little friendship gifts to some of the people at my office and for my husband to give to some of the other volunteers at the Heart Institute. When I was at Michael's yesterday I was just browsing and I found a package of 20 clear boxes that are intended as wedding favours. They were on sale for $14.99 so I picked up a package (I am going to have to go back and get more!). I hope I can find some of the M&M's here in Ottawa because I am going to need more of those as well!

I filled each box with some of the candies, taped it closed and then decorated them with SU's Real Red grosgrain ribbon. To that I tied a little medallion with silver cording. The image on the medallion is from the Holiday Trinkets stamp set. It was stamped on Whisper White using Real Red ink. I punched that out with my 1 1/4 inch circle punch and mounted that onto a 1 3/8 circle punched from garden green. The whole was then adhered to a real red scalloped circle. I finished it by adding little dots in each scallop with my signo gel pen.