riot of petals

I love this background stamp, Riot of Petals, currently on the dormant list, and had an idea of making butterflies (from the Priceless set) out of vellum and adding them to the flowers. I stamped the butterflies in Glorious Green, then embossed them with clear embossing powder, cut them out and bent their wings, leaving enough space on their bodies for a mini glue dot. As an after thought, I decided to cut a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" sheet of cardstock vellum, and layer it over half the card.

crystal effects, dazzling diamonds and reinkers

I'm working on a new swap and made these cute little flowers for part of the card. I used Very Vanilla cardstock, the trio flower punch and, here's what's really cool - crystal effects, dazzling diamonds, and riding hood red reinker all together. I took a small squeeze bottle and added about 1/2 bottle of crystal effects, 1/2 jar of dazzling diamonds, and 7 drops of riding hood red reinker. I then spent a good amount of time shaking the bottle to mix everything together, but it turned out well. I've done this with a few other colors too, and really light colors, like pink pirouette, require more than 7 drops. I haven't had any problems over time with them drying out, but they do need to be shaken pretty vigorously to get the glitter back in to the mix, but oddly enough, all that shaking hasn't produced air bubbles. Give it a try!!!

chrysanthemum twist

I have seen this gorgeous chrysanthemum on several blogs, and have even attempted it once before, shading each layer, and it turned out nicely. I decided I wanted to try it with printed paper from the level 1 hostess DSP Patterns Pack in Real Red. I layered it the same (following a picture I saved from http://www.crazystampgirl.com/) but this time changed the center using the snow flower punch and More Mustard from the same hostess pack, to make it a little like a poinsettia. I added a red rhinestone brad and leaves free handed from scraps of Holiday Treasures DSP, then backed the sentiment (also a level 1 hostess set - Best Yet) with 2 extra punches in Real Red from the curly label punch (one cut in half, the other turned sideways). I added dimensionals to the center of the flower, all the leaves, and the sentiment just to make it pop a little off the card.

punch wall update

I think I finally have all the current punches up (including the new hearts - yay), and that leaves me with no room for the retired shape punches (remember the balloon, the safety pin, etc... I miss those), so they will remain in a couple of clear shoe boxes from the Container Store.
I did use the Stampin' Up! white bulk vinyl to punch out the shapes of everything that seemed practical, and put that behind each punch. I didn't use the second sheet that comes with the vinyl, I found that after punching the white vinyl, it sticks to the wall just fine for what I was doing.I think it turned out nicely, and I've actually had a chance to work in that area, punch something, and put the punch right back on the wall! Whoever thought of using the rods for punches was a genius!!! IKEA also had a paper towel holder and some cups (for Sharpie's & scissors) and clips that I can use too. They're the best.

journal tree

ok, going back to our Luv2Stamp group meeting, and my Christmas presentation (maybe for the last time, we'll see) this turned out to be one of my favorite projects, and was another really fast and easy one (feel free to share it with all your friends and family). I used ten sheets of Stampin' Up! cardstock, in kraft (2), real red (4), old olive (2) and certainly celery (2). I cut the cardstock in half, so it was 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", then laid it on the Pennant die so it would be cut from the point of the scallop edge (the "top" of the tree), just to the score line (this allowed the tree to stand flat, and also happened to be nearly a perfect fit for the cut cardstock). These are meant to be half sheets, not folded, so where you'd normally have a fold, it's the long cut side (8 1/2"). Once they were all cut (20 half sheets total), I bound them together in the Bind It All, then started to embellish. I did very little decorating, I added a few pictures (yes, my dogs);

a few decorations (filigree brads and rhinestone brad centers);

but mostly, I thought this would be a nice journal of Christmas memories;

so I spent some time thinking back to some of my most memorable Christmases and writing down those thoughts. I thought this would be a nice decoration that could be folded flat for storage from year to year, but then set out with other decorations, and the writing itself added to the decoration of the tree. Using a silver or gold pen really makes it shine, and memories added yearly make it a very special tree. Over the years, you could build a forest!

faux silk

these cards are from the Oakland Regional earlier this year, but I wanted to try my hand at faux silk after attending one of Patty Bennett's classes. I also wanted to make some really cool card candy, so I made 4 different embellishments, using a bunch o' punches! Having to make so many cards, I found it was easiest for me to stamp the Baroque Motifs swirl on the tissue, then apply it to an entire sheet of cardstock with our SU! Anywhere Glue Stick. When it was dry, I cut the cardstock down to individual card size, and made each card from there. Super fast and easy! There are a few retired items in these cards, the ribbon (which I love, and would love to have back) and the soft sky cardstock, which was one of my favorites (did I ever tell you I have a hard time letting go?).

wall o' punches

I'm sorry for not posting much (or anything) for more than a week, but I'm in the process of reorganizing my craft room and it's taking a lot more time than I'd thought. I really like the rods being used for our punches, so I went to IKEA and bought the 31 1/2" Grundtal rods and just got those up! I'm in the process of finding all my punches to put on the rods, but was thrilled at how it looks so far, and really happy that even our smallest punches sit securely. I'm including a photo of what I've got so far, and I was thinking I'd like to punch our Stampin Up! vinyl and apply that to the wall, so that if a punch goes missing, I'll know which one it is, and that if I pull a bunch down to use at one time (which happens frequently), I'll be able to put them all back where they belong (isn't that what our mother's taught us, "a place for everything, and everything in its place - yeah right!). ok, how many people noticed that the spacing is exact, and the width is the same as the height (I'm not obsessed, right?).

spot on update

I don't know if you'll remember, but when I posted my decor elements spot on photo, I had said I'd like a few more spots, so I decided to add a few of the bulk buy decor elements flowers! Since it's in my office area, using the rose and the chocolate together added a nice touch (meaning that if it were for a boys room, you might want to stay away from the rose, but maybe not). I've added the updated photo so you can tell me what you think!!!

fall swap

I was recently involved in a holiday mini swap and used the Stampin' Up! Happy Blessings set. I started with watercolor paper and black StazOn, then used reinkers and the aquapainter. Initially I was very "tidy", then decided to add some more water and go over the whole thing. I think it looks a little more old and worn, and that's kind of what I was going for. Next I added craft ink with daubers to the vanilla hodgepodge in pumpkin pie, old olive and creamy caramel , and sealed it with clear embossing powder. I used bleach (one of my favorites, now that I know how to do it), then pumpkin pie classic ink on the background. Finally, I added crystal effects to the pumpkins and the center of the flower, and popped the pumpkins with dimensionals. This sample doesn't show it, but I also added the ticket corner punch to the edges of the background and the watercolor to tie together with the hodgepodge frame.

my baby is 5!!!

Boy oh boy, did he get BIG!!!

happy birthday louie!

Today is Louie's 5th birthday (he's on the left), so in order to somehow make it "stamping related", I made a card using the Stampin Up Party Hearty set. Let's face it, he's 182 pounds of dog, has little interest in cardstock (unless it means he can chew it up), and would much prefer the "cake" I'm making for him. I made the same cake when Ella (on the right) turned 5, saw it on Martha Stewart, and thought it was the greatest idea. I made 2 meatloafs in round cake tins, then "frosted" between the layers and all over it with mashed potatoes! Now Martha went ahead and decorated it with peas and carrots, but come on, they won't notice, and it smells so good, they just want me to cut into it! I should have made it with other "dog diet" things like bone meal and sea kelp, but I love meatloaf too, so we're sharing it! So, back to the card, as I said before, I used the Party Hearty set (I LOVE that set), confetti white CS, Green Tea DSP, the new clips assortment (love, love, love), and kiwi kiss/very vanilla satin ribbon. I thought it a nice combination for a "boy" card.