polar bear

I was playing with some punches after seeing a really cute gift tag with a comical polar bear and this is what I came up with. his face is made from the ornament punch, and so is the top of his hat. his ears are 3/4" circles, and his nose is a piece of a scallop circle. the word window punch and flower trio finish his scarf and hat, and his eyes and smile are free hand.

time flies again

wow, I know it's been ages, and when I see the date of my last post, I feel guilty. I can guarantee that I'm not going to get much posted this week, since it's one of the craziest weeks at work ever, but now that I'm pretty much in one location, I'll try my best to contribute more.

One of my ways of trying to help, is finding another use for the ornament punch in the new SU! mini catalog. sure, it's easy to find a use for it during the holidays, but to make it worth purchasing, it has to have some other uses. I've seen some great ideas from other people, using it as a fish, acorn and vase, but when I saw it, I immediately saw strawberry! yeah, I know, we're looking into that weird brain. Anyway, I thought it would make a great strawberry, so I did this card for Patty Bennett's stamparama event just a couple of weeks ago. I also incorporated a few of the SU! exclusive sizzix dies, scallop square and lattice. I added smaller strawberries on the lattice using the small oval (cut in half) and one of the flowers from the boho blossoms punch. the 5 petal punch was used on the big strawberry foliage, as well as a flower from the pretties kit and a summer sun corduroy button. of course I had to top it all off by spritzing it with shimmer paint. It sure adds a lot to a card. thanks for being patient with me!

falling leaves

This is my favorite card so far from Patty's challenge, using Falling Leaves and Elegant Eggplant rick rack. I stamped the leaves individually and cut them out, then formed the wreath and layered the leaves with dimensionals.

autumn traditions dsp

I love this new DSP, and I think it's great that you can create a card that doesn't need much stamping at all. When I'm in a hurry, that's what I'm looking for! I used Kraft and Elegant Eggplant cardstock, and the 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" square punches with DSP and Elegant Eggplant cardstock (loving that eggplant!).

birthday girl!

Here's my beautiful 6 year old! She's waiting, she knows it's coming. Ella turned 6 yesterday, so I thought I'd share what we did for the festivities.
This is the famous (in our house) meatloaf birthday cake. I cook 2 meatloafs in cake pans, then frost with mashed potatoes between the layers and on top. I added a little gravy to make it more special this year. It sure smelled good. Louie got in on it too, and there wasn't a speck left on that plate when they were done (big surprise).

I'm looking forward to leftovers myself!

elegant eggplant

I used the Bright Blessings jumbo wheel to get the "blessings" sentiment for this card. There are so many possibilities with this wheel, I'm loving it! I also used one of the leaves from the Falling Leaves set, then added a strip of DSP from Autumn Traditions (love this paper) and Elegant Eggplant rick rack from the Orchard Ribbon Originals. Simple, but I think it's a great color combination. I don't use Elegant Eggplant often enough, I see that changing!

more sharing

This second card I made from Patty's challenge uses the jumbo wheel again, inking each sentiment individually to make them stand out, then cut it down to 5 1/4", then cut it into strips and mounted it on DSP, and added different width strips to fill the entire card surface.

goodies

Patty Bennett posted a challenge to her Luv2Stamp group in June, to come up with shares from the new pre-order things, and we'd get our name in a hat for every 5 entries. I was one of the winners, and I got some items to make more shares with! How fun is that! I got the Falling Leaves stamp set and Bright Blessings jumbo wheel, along with the Old Olive 1 1/4" striped grosgrain ribbon and Autumn Traditions DSP. This card utilizes the DSP and Old Olive ribbon, and I inked the wheel with individual markers to get the sentiment. It's a very versatile wheel, each image can be used individually, and will be great for the holidays!

animal stories album

I thought I'd make a cute little album using all the new In Colors cardstock and polka dot ribbon, and my bind it all. I used each of the images as a tab for a colored page,
then alternated the pages so each animal had a page to itself. I cut the cardstock at 4 1/4" x 5 1/4" for the base (so it could fit inside an envelope with the bind it all coils), then I cut 2 of the pages at 4 1/4"x 4", and 2 at 4 1/4"x 4 1/4". The 2 top pages (stamped with the giraffe in soft suede) were cut at 4 1/4"x 2 5/8".

cat/owl

There is one stamp in the Animal Stories stamp set that has people wondering if it's an owl or a cat. My first thought was cat, but apparently, most think it's an owl. The great thing is, it can be used for either. For this card I made it a cat, and used the thumping technique to make it a calico cat, with dusty durango and soft suede markers.

I made a second one and cut it out, then layered it on the first image with a dimensional. I added the old olive grass and mounted it on dusty durango and soft suede cardstock. Too cute. Oh yeah, to make it a cat, you have to draw in the tail and whiskers.

patty's pot

I had a great time playing with the Razzleberry Lemonade DSP and Patty Bennett's tutorial of how to make the cute small pot. I used markers and spritzed the stamp to get the watercolored flowers, and loved how the pots turned out, using both sides of the same DSP. The one with the terra cotta looking base had less water and came out much sharper, and I cut some extra blossoms to add dimension. The striped bottom base card had a wetter stamp, and gave a softer, more smudgy look. I used melon mambo, crushed curry and dusty durango markers for the flowers on both, and old olive for the stem. I think this DSP is perfect for giving 2 different looks to the same pot, subtle, but really nice.

happy 4th of july

I hope everyone's having a great celebration today. I'll be working, but I had a great time playing with the Animal Stories set, and made this cute card using that same Versamark technique on the Tall Tales DSP, then backed it with Rose Red and Brilliant Blue cardstock (ok, that's my red, white and blue for today), then another layer of Tall Tales DSP and then Chocolate Chip cardstock. I thought it was really fun that the Versamark happened to be stamped right where a section of the rose red owl/cat happened to be, and came out perfectly on the giraffe's nose. Pretty cool. Enjoy the day, and take a minute to thank all our military personnel and their families for what they sacrifice for all of us.

chrysanthemum

On this sample with the Kind & Caring Thoughts Hostess set, I used the same watercolor technique, but it ended up a little muddy, so after it dried a little, I went back and restamped to get a little more detail, no spritzing this time. I used Melon Mambo and Old Olive markers for both the background and the image itself, then used the scallop edge punch to embellish the bottom of the Whisper White cardstock, and added the new Melon Mambo Polka Dot grosgrain ribbon.

kind and caring thoughts

On this card I used Soft Suede and Rich Razzleberry cardstock (one of my favorite combo's), and Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot grosgrain ribbon for the base. I used Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive markers on the chrysanthemum, then spritzed it with water and quickly stamped it twice. The second (lower) flower turned out really cool I thought.
I finished it off with the spiral punch and a clip from the Clips Assortment. The sentiment is also from Kind and Caring Thoughts, and was stamped in Soft Suede.

last stair step, for now

For this last stair step card, I wanted to try using DSP for the base, and it works just fine, just be careful not to score as hard as you would for regular cardstock, or you'll have little cut pieces of paper instead of a stair step card (wonder how I know that?)! I used the eyelet border punch to make the ocean waves, and even used the little cut pieces from that punch to make the ripples on the first level. I used Bermuda Bay cardstock and ink for most of the whales, and used Versamark on DSP for a couple of extras. I cut the clouds out of the Tall Tales DSP and stamped the "just for you" from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set on the whale in front in Soft Suede ink. ok, that's it for stair step cards for now. Hope you try them, they're really fun.

stair step #2 - look out!

I spent most of the time humming "Pink Elephants on Parade" from Fantasia on this card. Once again, I used the Animal Stories stamp set and versamark on Razzleberry Lemonade DSP for my "technicolor pachyderms", and Tall Tales DSP for the other elements. I added a cut skewer to the tree in the middle row to keep it sturdy. It's only attached by its "trunk" (no pun intended, well, ok, maybe a little bit). Soft Suede cardstock is the base for this card.

stair step card #1

I've never made a stair step card, but once I got started I had to make 3, it's that addictive. It's a very simple process: start with cardstock cut to 5"x10 1/2", then score at 1 1/4", 2 1/2", 4 1/4", 6", and 8 1/4" and accordian fold the paper so you have 3 peaks and 2 valleys. Then you can do pretty much anything to decorate. My first card uses the Tall Tales DSP and the Animal Stories stamp set. I cut a couple of images out of the DSP and layered them onto the different levels of the card base, then took one part of the DSP and ran it through the big shot with the top note die for my "backdrop". I stamped the giraffe with the versamark technique and cut him out, and that pretty much finished this card. I used the gorgeous rich razzleberry cardstock for this one.

versamark

I just wanted to share something I started doing, and I haven't noticed it being done before, but I'm sure it has, there are just SO many talented and creative people out there. So, if you've already done this, boy are you smart!!! I started using bold stamp images in Versamark on the SU! DSP, then embossing it in clear embossing powder. After it cools, I use the sponge daubers to outline and define the image, then cut or tear it out and use wherever. Here are three examples, in addition to the card I posted the other day with the bird from the Wings of Friendship Level 2 hostess set.
These are also sneak peaks of 3 projects I'll be posting in the next few days. Stay tuned!

razzle dazzle

Still playing with the new sneak peak pre-ordered items from SU! This card uses the Razzle Dazzle stamp set. For the base of the card I stamped the floral image in Bermuda Bay ink on Bermuda Bay cardstock, then for the next layer I used Razzleberry Lemonade DSP, and added the Bermuda Bay floral and the Melon Mambo floral. I stamped off the Melon Mambo so it would be more subtle. I used our eyelet border punch along the side, then added the floral stamp on top, layered with Crushed Curry and Melon Mambo. I colored the stamp with the new In Color Markers (love those, I think I've said that before), then added the sentiment in Bermuda Bay on Melon Mambo cardstock, and outlined it with more eyelet border around the Modern Label punch. I'm having too much fun, and I should be unpacking!

circle circus

I made this card using the new Circle Circus set with Crushed Curry and Dusty Durango cardstock and ink.

I embellished it with Antique Brass Jumbo Eyelets and Vintage brads. I used the new Modern Label Punch to imitate hinges, and the scallop circle punch to use as a closure.

hostess set

The last of the Luv2Stamp challenge is a card I made with the Wings of Friendship Level 2 Hostess Set and the Razzleberry Lemonade DSP. I stamped the image with Versamark ink onto the DSP and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I then used ink daubers to smudge Crushed Curry, Soft Suede and Rich Razzleberry ink around the image and the edges of the torn DSP.

To mount it, I used Rich Razzleberry as a base, then stamped another one of the images from the set in Rich Razzleberry onto Crushed Curry cardstock, then stamped the sentiment in Soft Suede onto Crushed Curry cardstock and punched it out with the Designer Label punch and backed it with a 1 3/8" circle punch. I thought it gave the image an old wallpaper sort of look.

top note box

I tried 2 techniques with this share. First was making a Top Note Box, second was the quilt technique. What better way to try out 2 new things than to use brand new Razzleberry Lemonade DSP! I've seen this quilting technique several times and wanted to try it, but just hadn't gotten around to it yet. It's so simple, but looks great. Using the 1 1/4" square punch, cut 2 squares of each of the 6 patterned papers. That gives you all twelve designs since the paper is two sided. I used snail to mount the 12 squares onto a piece of Whisper White cardstock, then ran it through my Big Shot with the Top Note die. Now if you want to make a card, you'd mount the "quilted" Top Note shape to a card front, then decorate from there. In making the top note box, you'll repeat the process, so you'll have 2 quilted top note die cuts when you're done. I used the new Rich Razzleberry cardstock to build the box. I cut a 1 1/2" x 11" strip of cardstock and scored it at 2", 5", 7", and 10" which leaves a 1" tab to adhere the box shape. Before gluing, I scored 1/2" along the entire length of the cardstock and added sticky strip, cutting at each score mark. Once the box is formed, remove the red liner and center the box onto the quilted top note shape. Repeat the process with another 1 1/2" x 11" strip, adding a 1/8" to each score mark - 2 1/8", 5 1/4", 7 3/8", and 10 1/2", this time leaving 1/2" for the tab. Adhere this box to the white side of the second top note shape so the quilted pattern is on top and slide this box over the other one. I decorated the top with the new Circle Circus stamp set in Melon Mambo and Crushed Curry cardstock and ink, and punched those out with the Scallop Circle punch and the 1" circle punch. I added a white scallop Circle behind the Melon so it would stand out more and added the Crushed Curry Polka Dot Grosgrain ribbon. Fun project!

holidays already?

Continuing with Patty Bennett's Luv2Stamp Group challenge, I used the new Autumn Days Stamp Set to make a very simple card. I used the absolutely fabulous and finally available (soon) In Color MARKERS to color the pine cone with Soft Suede, and to keep it exclusively new, the Bermuda Bay marker for the pine needles. I then stamped it on Soft Suede cardstock and added the Thinking of You sentiment from the Kind and Caring Thoughts Level 3 Hostess Set, also stamped in Soft Suede. To add a little sparkle, I outlined the image with Tombow glue and sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds all over.

bleaching

Last year for convention, I made cardstock rings using the small tag punch, and included all 48 colors, our neutrals, and the 6 in colors for the 2008-2009 year. In addition, I made a few complete rings that I stamped with bleach, using the Dreams Du Jour stamp set, and gave those to some special friends, my sister included. It's really a great process, and shows a lot of interesting base colors in our cardstock. I use this reference a lot to make up color combinations for cards I'm putting together. This year, all I have to do is replace the In Colors with the new 2009-2010 colors. I also used the new Circle Circus stamp set for the bleaching process, and added one of the new In Color Polka Dot ribbons to show those off too. My sister Ellen and I had a great time making these, and since all we're doing is replacing 6 colors, it went super fast.

moving/unpacking

I thought I'd show you the status of the craft room: everyone thought it was a great idea to move all the boxes into the "spare" room - little did they know that I get more use out of this room than almost any other (draw your own conclusions).

So, my darling sister Ellen came up to help me try to get through some of this, and the two of us built this shed in the backyard (Rubbermaid Big Max). Not bad for two middle-aged women! It's 7'x7', and took us a whole lot longer than we thought, and did a fair amount of physical damage, but we did it.Once we had that finished, we started moving boxes out of the future craft room and into the shed so there would be room to move around and start putting shelving up. Even though it's coming up on summer, it's pretty foggy in the morning, so just putting boxes outside would have been a big problem, and who knows what damage could have been caused. Note the SU! box on top, boy did I use a lot of those. I don't have a total count of boxes, but there's a huge number that are marked CR (craft room). Way too general though, so it's going to take some time to get through them all. I'll keep you posted on the progress of the room - shelving next!!!

sorry

I'm involved in a very long and drawn out move, so I haven't had a chance to post anything. Things are looking up and I hope to be up and posting regularly pretty soon. In the meantime, I received my box of new goodies from Stampin Up! - preview items from the new 2009-2010 catalog (available early for demos) - and Patty Bennett issued a challenge to her group. We need to post 5 projects using new products to our group website, and in return, we'll have a chance to win free merchandise from the new catalog!!! Couldn't pass that one up, so here's the first of my new product shares:

I'm really fond of the bleaching technique, as you'll see with my next post, so I tried bleaching on the new Melon Mambo cardstock with the Razzle Dazzle stamp set, then offset the stamp and restamped it with Melon Mambo classic ink. I mounted it on Melon Mambo cardstock with Razzleberry Lemonade DSP (love it!), then used the new Modern Label punch with another stamp from the Razzle Dazzle set, and inked the edges of the punched out image with Melon Mambo ink.

Thanks for your patience, and I hope you'll visit again soon. Now that I have a whole box of new things, even if everything else is in carboard boxes, I'll find time to do something crafty.

sar project

This is my StampARama project for Patty Bennett's Luv2Stamp Group. I usually make a card, but I wanted to do a 3D item, and I had a lot of pens and pads left over from a Christmas project I did. Since our project is supposed to take 10 minutes or less, I decided I'd better do the Big Shot work in advance. I used the Bold Brights color family to make this as Spring-like as possible, and I think it turned out really happy (if that makes any sense)!

I've noticed that Stampin Up! has a LOT of things to use for the centers of flowers, so I wanted to utilize those a bit. I figure I should have used full sized legal pads, since I didn't even get close to using everything possible, but I think these would be cute to show off at workshops and maybe sell a few additional items!

Each person will get a transparent envelope with the completed flowers and leaves, and also a pad and pen. I used the Walk In The Park DSP for the butterflies and cut paper for the pens, and they'll be able to pick through to find the color combo and match they like best. I think this would make a fun class project. The flowers were each attached with a dimensional, and I used mini glue dots for the leaves.