Stamps, Paper, and Ink

For all you do

Today's card is one I DID using the For All You DO set. But before I get to that, I get to tell you that MY pick of the last two cards I posted HERE and HERE is ( drumroll please...)

My fav is the UN traditional one!  Because it was JUST so fun to make and isn't that what stamping is all about? What made it more fun? Well, it was UNpredictable right from the start. Challenging myself to use the Day and Night paper gave the creative process an enjoyable twist too. Now with that said, I will make sure to send that card to someone who has an appreciation for artistic expression! After all, the newsprint pattern does have some words like "a plague upon this howling! incharitable dog! Hang, cur!" Did I read somewhere that those are quotes form Wuthering Heights? Yikes!

Thanks to all who chimed in on this question, I loved it!

Here's today's card, thanks for all you do! 

This was made for a color and sketch challenge awhile back, can't remember which ones! I love the colors of chocolate chip, apricot appeal and bermuda bay together. The butterfly, bracket and flower are all cut out and popped up on the squares. Hope you like it!

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!
Stamps: For All You Do
Paper: Chocolate Chip, whisper white, apricot appeal, Thoroughly Modern DSP
and Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Apricot Appeal

Accessories: 1- 3/8" square and eyelet border punches, Polka-Dot grosgrain ribbon, Stampin' Write markers

I would love to be your Stampin' Up! demonstrator. Order from me online anytime HERE or e-mail me HERE with any questions you have!

You Pick

OK, another challenge (SCS sketch challenge), and a new card made just this morning!

Now YOU get to pick - yesterday's card was the whimsical one and today's is classic Christmas. Which do you like better?

HeHe, some of you may be wondering which one I like better! LOL I don't want to tell you which one is my favorite until I hear from you, but you can make a guess about that if you want to!I'll be back tomorrow to tell you,so check back.

Here's what I can tell you about~

• The red panels are textured card stock embossed with the Petals A Plenty folder. I could use this folder on everything, I like it so well!
• The Christmas Cocoa Specialty Paper is flocked, so this card is elegantly touchable.
• For the image,I used a window sheet and the Ornament punch to make a stencil, sponging inside with sahara sand ink. Then I stamped over it.
• Notice the wonderful shading effect you can get with the stencil technique.

I guess you can notice that my Pretties Kit is still something I love to use too. (Those of you who have visited me for a long while know how fond I am of the pretties, and look how long they have lasted! ) I like my Pretties Kit so well that it's got it's own category on my sidebar.

Thanks for commenting to tell me what you think - I think you're the best!

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Holiday Best, Christmas Cardinal (retired)
Paper: Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Paper, whisper white, always artichoke, sahara sand, real red textured
and Ink: always artichoke, sahara sand

Accessories: satin ribbon, Pretties Kit, marker, Petals A Plenty embossing folder, slot and ornament punches, window sheet, sponges.

If you'd like more information about how to make this beautiful card, or any other on my blog, feel free to contact me.

Flamingo?

I loved creating this card for a challenge a couple of weeks ago. It was a sketch challenge, but because this is the first time that I've been able to post it - I no longer remember which one! I'm glad to finally be able to share it with you.

Imagine my delight in finding that the pattern in the Pink Flamingo DSP mirrors the cascades of the peacock's tail! Here are a few things to notice -

• the regal peacock image comes from the Very thankful stamp set
• using the Scallop Edge punch repeats the cascading element. Sometimes I do this on purpose to unify a card. This time it happened completely by accident! I just felt there needed to be a softer edge to all the angles...
• the card base is made with Tempting Turquoise card stock
• I used the thumping technique on the peacock image by inking up the stamp in Tempting Turquoise and adding Taken with Teal highlights by 'thumping' my marker in various places.
•  the corduroy button is layered over a white jumbo grommet.

Thank you for stopping by! Please don't leave without saying hello in my comment box!

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Very Thankful
Paper: tempting turquoise, Pink Flamingo DSP, basic black
and Ink: tempting turquoise

Accessories: jumbo grommet, Scallop Edge punch, Stampin' Write marker, corduroy button, white thread

Order from me online anytime HERE or e-mail me HERE with any questions you have!

More is more with Moss

Here's one of the cards I got to make this week! This one is my favorite.

I set out to do last week's color challenge but realized that I used the wrong colors! The challenge was to use mellow moss, kraft and white. Mine turned out to be very vanilla instead of white, but I'm still pleased with this card. I kept adding textures and layers, thus the  title. Maybe I'll have to try another  with kraft, moss and white!

Cindy's INKlings:

• Experiment with a variety of textures until you find the best to use for each card. After trying two things I didn't like, I added texture and interest to the Top Note by stamping the French Filigree Background stamp with versamark for a watermark effect.
• Embossing a silhouette image really makes it stand out. I used Vanilla embossing powder to emboss the flower.
• Try using the Photo Corner Punch next time you make a banner for your sentiment. It's fun and so easy!  Line it up to snip perfect right angles.

Order from me online anytime HERE or contact me with any questions you have!

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up! except the vanilla embossing powder
Stamps: Of the Earth ( hostess set)
Paper: mellow moss, very vanilla, kraft, Bella Bleu DSP
and Ink: versa mark, mellow moss

Accessories: vanilla embossing powder, mellow moss taffeta ribbon, linen thread, ticket corner and photo corner punches, kraft corduroy buttons, Button Latte Designer Buttons

 

Birthday Hugs

Hi friends, sorry I took a long weekend break from posting! Didn't mean to, but that's how life goes sometimes, and I am happy to be back here pretty early with you today. Thanks so much for inspiring me with your frequent visits and sweet comments! Keeps me stamping, and I need a little help in that department lately. I sat down at my table to stamp twice this weekend - and well - my mind couldn't come up with a thing. 

Here's a card I made last week for my Twice is Nice feature. The layout is the same as THIS card. CASE'ing yourself might be a good way to get your mojo back, KWIM? That's what I did!

I made a few changes this time:

• I LOVE the look of anything with the Thoroughly Modern DSP - in fact, I have a bunch of desk accessories I'm assembling using this theme.
• Circles Circus is such a VERSATILE stamp set! It easily looks like patterned paper on these small samples, but it makes great backgrounds too
• the tag has a hole punched in it and the cotton thread ties it through the button
• I also punched a hole and tied the dotted ribbon part way across the white panel instead of using a strip of paper as I did in the first sample.

For you - hugs and wishes for a special day! I'd love to hear from you!

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Circles Circus, Hugs & Wishes
Paper: whisper white, thoroughly moderns DSP, bermuda bay, rose red
Ink: bermuda bay

Accessories:1" circle punch, scallop square punch,Trio flower punch, Rich Regals button assortment, brads, In Color markers, Stampin' Write markers, polka dot ribbon

Order from me online anytime HERE or e-mail me HERE with any questions you have! Ask me about my online ordering special.

Christmas Treat Cup surprise

Sorry that I didn't post yesterday, I got  some very needed organizing and planning for upcoming events done. I promise you won't be disappointed because I have a TWOfer for you today!

I got to thinking about using the Treat Cups from the Holiday mini as a snow globe. Sometimes, creativity can take you in a different direction. Midway, I thought, "OOH, wouldn't it be soooo... cute to make a Christmas ornament out if it?  That's exactly what I did!

Isn't it adorable?~

• inside the ornament is a small scene I built on a 1-3/4" piece of garden green DSP ( Merry Moments DSP) using The More the Merrier stamp set.
• I layered two pieces of whisper white with torn edges and added Dazzling Diamonds glitter for the snow.
• Attached is a circle of Melon Mambo Designer Prints paper on the back
• it's all wrapped up with silver elastic cord for hanging and white taffeta ribbon.
• the snowman is colored with In Color markers (don't you love those? ) cut out, and popped up on dimensionals

Now, I promised TWO projects so, here's another surprise! I thought it would be wonderful to incorporate the ornament onto a pocket card for easy giving! Here's the card!

It's a simple pocket card, folded at the bottom and held together with the band of designer paper (also from the Merry Moments series). When the bow is untied, the inside of the card is revealed, and the ornament can easily be taken off the ribbon.

How do you like it? I hope you are inspired for your own creativity today! 

Christmas pines

I wish you could feel this card! I love the elegant flocking on the Christmas Cocoa specialty paper. I combined lots of textures with the fabulous Mojo Monday layout which provided all the inspiration I needed.  OK, figure in that it did take me two hours to complete this card, even with the sketch. My husband reminded me that some of that is think time, and some is play-with-paper time to see which patterns I like best with my image. Now, I think you have the whole picture, except here's one showing the three layers of pine cones.

A couple of tips~

• when using the berries in the Autumn Days set, the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig is really helpful. I like to make sure the berries' placement looks like natural growth.
• cutting several layers of an image is easy and it adds depth to your card. I stamped the whole image using markers. Then I stamped and cut out both pine cones and placed those over the image with a pop dot. Last, I cut out just the one pine cone and put it on top.
• Teeny tiny wishes is my most often used set for sentiments. Anyone want to guess what the other one is?

Thanks for all of you who visit me each day, I want you to know how much I appreciate you. Hope your day will be filled with beauty. Enjoy your Stamps, Paper, and Ink!

Supplies~  All Supplies are Stampin Up!

Stamps: Autumn Days, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: chocolate chip, whisper white, real red, Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Series Paper
Ink: real red

Accessories: Stampin' Write markers, 5/8" satin ribbon, Corduroy buttons, linen thread, word window punch

Order from me at my online store anytime HERE or e-mail with any questions you have!

 

 

Very Thankful

Very Thankful is one cu-ute set! A few days ago I planned on passing a bit of time in my dining room - where we have hardwood floors - while the carpets in the rest of the house were being steam cleaned. I brought a few stamping supplies downstairs (to tell the truth, it took me several trips to bring the stuff down!) and made this card. Fun!

Here are a few things to tell you about the card:

• the image is stamped on whisper white, and colored in with markers (which I scribbled on a plastic lid) and an aqua painter. This is a great way to make watercoloring easily portable.
• The 1-3/4" circle punch, scallop punch and tag layer perfectly.
• I thought using the tag (from the Two Big Tags die) was cute for the card front tucked behind the ribbon
• I repeated several elements on this card: piercing and dots, the hearts in the image and punched hearts, and concentric circles.
• I {{HEART}} the Real Red polka dotted ribbon!

There's something else that I want to tell you, and it is a bit unusual for me to post my thoughts. Here goes! I've been thinking about being grateful for Stampin' Up!~about why I use only Stampin' Up! products on my blog, and I thought you may be wondering why I do. You know that I love the quality and dependability of SU! products. I know there is a world of other wonderful stuff out there! While I can greatly appreciate and admire others' work and respect their choices, I choose to use SU! only because for me, it is simpler. Rather than feeling my artistic ability and creativity is hindered by this decision, I feel freer because of it.

When I made the display samples for convention, I worked daily with 4 small sets for three or four weeks. I found that the more I made, the more ideas came to me for how to use them and my creativity was fueled by the process. I use this streamlined approach in other areas of my life too. This is what works for me. Plus I love having a business that offers me incentives, pays my hobby expenses, and gives me opportunities to meet other stampers, both online and in my community.

That includes you!  Thanks for listening while I dusted out a few mental cobwebs today!

Supplies~
Stamps: Very Thankful
Paper: real red and old olive textured, whisper white, real red, Autumn Traditions DSP
Ink: Basic Black

Accessories: 1-3/4" circle, scallop circle, heart to heart punches; mat pack, 3/4" Polka Dot grosgrain ribbon, Playground Designer Buttons, linen thread, uni-signo gel pen, Stampin' Write markers, Big Shot, Two Tags Bigz die

Order from me at my online store anytime HERE or e-mail me HERE with any questions you have!

 

You know, Dasher and Dancer and... (sing along with me !)

You know the song, thanks for singing with me! Did you know that this stamp is the #2 most popular of the new catalog so far?  That's why I had to buy it (heehee).

This card uses the Christmas Cocoa specialty paper which will be available to you September 1 in the Holiday Mini.Talk about elegant - the double-sided pages have a metallic sheen and included are two sheets of beautiful flocked paper.

Please bear with my clean and simple stamping spree. I will make a multi-layered card soon, but for now I am finding out how fun a simple one layer can be. After all, what could be easier than a few punched circles and a rhinestone brad? This image can take standing alone on a card front, KWIM? 

I took a dozen pics trying to get a good glimmer of red light in the rhinestone. Guess you'll have to imagine it there, it adds a WOW IRL. I know that Christmas in August takes a little imagination too, but it is time to begin thinking about your holiday cards.

I've listed this card in the Twice is Nice category, it uses the same layout as THIS card. Happy day to you!

Supplies~
Stamps: Dasher, Short & Sweet
Paper: whisper white, Cocoa Christmas Specialty Paper
Ink: Chocolate chip

Accessories: rhinestone brads, 5/8" satin ribbon, circle punches: 1", 1-3/4", 1-1/4"

Medallion - finally inking it up!

I've had the Medallion stamp for over a month now, and I finally inked it up! This is one of those stamps that you just can't go wrong with.  I kept my embellishments simple so that the medallion itself could shine.  I especially like the effect of stamping it on the Thoroughly Modern DSP. The center is stamped on whisper white, punched out, and popped up.  I threaded the jumbo brad through the ribbon pull of the silver HH. TIP: A bit of crystal effects anchors the layers together.

If you haven't bought this yet, I'll bet you surely want to! At convention we learned that this is the top seller of the new catalog right now.

A quick post for me today, thanks for stopping by!

Supplies~
Stamps: Medallion, Fresh Cuts
Paper: whisper white, Thoroughly Modern DSP, sahara sand
Ink: rose red, chocolate chip

Accessories: Hodge Podge Hardware, chocolate chip taffeta ribbon, jumbo brad, 1-3/4" circle and eyelet border punch