from my ink pad to yours

Challenge: Designer Paper

I must confess that I have a hard time using designer papers.  I don't know if it is the old hoarding instinct kicking in or just a creative block that hits.  Earlier this month, however, I had an ah-ha moment when I saw this card by fellow splitcoaster jreks.  It finally hit me that, at least for card making, to really take advantage of the beautiful coordinated designer paper sets that Stampin' Up! offers you need to use several patterns.  It really shows off how well the designs coordinate.  The above card uses the same sketch used by jreks (she saw got it from leslierich), but substitutes the Enchante designer series paper, along with the Delight in Life stamp set.  You can't see it but I used the slot punch to make the holes for the two little pieces of ribbon.

Same sketch but I used the awesome Just Delightful Simply Scrappin kit that is part of the Sell-A-Bration promotion.  I just love the strips of adhesive trim that come with this kit! I'm not sure if the strips I used here are intended to be trim or not -  it's just what was in between a blue strip and a lacy green strip. It seemed perfect with the subtle striped paper!   One more...

I applied my new found confidence with designer papers to last week's Splitcoast Sketch Challenge.  It was indeed a challenging sketch, but also a great one for designer papers.  You can see more information about the sketch here. This card also features the Carte Postale and All about U

Floral Galore

This is the second in a series of cards that I'm working on to fit Stampin' Up!'s large envelopes.  I wanted to try a top fold large card but even with 12x12 paper I wouldn't have paper long enough with out piecing. So, this design evolved out of the need to add a piece to the bottom front of the card.

I started with a an 11 x 4 5/8" piece of Whisper White cardstock and scored it at 6 3/8" . After folding, I punched the scallops on the shorter, front part of the card with the corner rounder punch minus it's guard.   A hint here is to start punching in the middle so that the scallops are centered on your card.   I added a piece of  2 1/8" x 4 5/8" piece of Green Galore stamped in black with the Floral background stamp.  A few faux stitches, black gingham ribbon and a greeting from Sincere Salutations. One more note:  I didn't add the stitches  until after I took the first photo. It's funny how looking at the photo seems to emphasize what's missing.  Maybe I should take more photos when I'm struggling with a design.

This card also fits  Splitcoastamper's Limited Supplies Challenge 100. (That challenge is hosted by jen70 whose blog, Stamping Therapy, is linked on the left:.) Jen's challenge was to use black and white supplies with the only color coming from a single color of cardstock. If you look back a few posts you will see a card which has the Floral background stamped on Green Galore with Handsome Hunter.  I was really intrigued with the look of the dark ink on such a bright color and wanted to work with it some more. You can see more cards in this great challenge here.

Thanks for visiting my blog and happy stamping!

This is the second in a series of cards that I'm working on to fit Stampin' Up!'s large envelopes.  I wanted to try a top fold large card but even with 12x12 paper I wouldn't have paper long enough with out piecing. So, this design evolved out of the need to add a piece to the bottom front of the card.

I started with a an 11 x 4 5/8" piece of Whisper White cardstock and scored it at 6 3/8" . After folding, I punched the scallops on the shorter, front part of the card with the corner rounder punch minus it's guard.   A hint here is to start punching in the middle so that the scallops are centered on your card.   I added a piece of  2 1/8" x 4 5/8" piece of Green Galore stamped in black with the Floral background stamp.  A few faux stitches, black gingham ribbon and a greeting from Sincere Salutations. One more note:  I didn't add the stitches  until after I took the first photo. It's funny how looking at the photo seems to emphasize what's missing.  Maybe I should take more photos when I'm struggling with a design.

This card also fits  Splitcoastamper's Limited Supplies Challenge 100. (That challenge is hosted by jen70 whose blog, Stamping Therapy, is linked on the left:.) Jen's challenge was to use black and white supplies with the only color coming from a single color of cardstock. If you look back a few posts you will see a card which has the Floral background stamped on Green Galore with Handsome Hunter.  I was really intrigued with the look of the dark ink on such a bright color and wanted to work with it some more. You can see more cards in this great challenge here.

Thanks for visiting my blog and happy stamping!

Mixed Bouquet on Glossy

Another larger card, this Mixed Bouquet greeting is made to fit one of Stampin' Up!'s large 4 3/4 x 6 1/2" envelopes.   It was so easy! I cut a sheet of glossy cardstock down to 9 1/4 x 6 3/8" and folded it to a 4 5/8  x 6 3/8" card .  Stamped the stem and flowers with black Stazon and colored them with Summer Sun, Rose Red, Certainly Celery and Old Olive. Since the leaves seemed a little heavy in size I feathered them out by stamping a few of the solid leaf shapes in Certainly Celery.  Added "happiness" from Warm Words and Viola! A quick one layer LARGE card.

This is a card that I posted yesterday on Splitcoastampers for a challenge to use backgrounds.  It really turned out to be a card that is making me think about new things to try.  Since I already love to use backgrounds I set a few extra challenges with this card.  I had to use an "odd" color combination and once I decided to throw in a Big Blossom from "pieces that need to be used" box I decided to also challenge myself to make a larger card.  I had been looking at my display board and really thinking that I needed more variety in sizes. This card measures 5 x 7 since I had envelopes to fit that size and had yet to make a card that fit them.

I'm pretty happy with the card but I still feel I need play with both the color combo and more sizes.  Handsome Hunter, Taken with Teal and Green Galore were the original colors I started with.  I was surprised how much I liked the Green Galore piece stamped with the Floral background in Handsome Hunter Craft, two colors I never would have put together. The Green Galore really pops through the Hunter. It's outrageousness just seemed to cry out for another bright color so  I found a piece of Orchid Opulence already stamped with the Blossom in my box.  The blossom inspired me to go for a larger card and now I'm game to try more.  I'm not that much of a collage stamper and I feel that many of my past efforts to stretch my designs over larger areas look somewhat contrived.  This card has encouraged me to challenge myself more in this area.

I'd love to hear about your experiences stamping larger, not necessarily square cards.  Hopefully we'll explore this area a little more in the coming weeks!

sparkled bloom

Today's Ways to Use It challenge on Splitcoastampers is about using background stamps.  Well, if you've seen much of my work you'll know that I don't need too much incentive to bring out my background stamps.  In fact the more challenging activity for me would be to get them put away between uses. 

On this card I stamped Canvas with Pretty in Pink craft ink on Cameo Coral cardstock and embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder.  The flower from In Full Bloom is also stamped with craft inks and embossed in Iridescent Ice, then colored with inkpads and the aquapainter.  Sometimes you just feel like being sparkly!

Gift Box

I've been teaching how to make this box for several years.  It is the perfect size to hold a number of regular sized cards and envelopes.  I promised a guest at last Saturday's workshop that I would post this on my blog... so here it is.

You simply need two sheets of cardstock: one for the top and one for the bottom.  After stamping the top as desired, you need to score 2 1/2" in from each of the 8 1/2" sides and 2" in from each of the 11' sides.  Then, make 4 cuts along the lines that come in from the 8 1/2 " side, just until they meet the perpendicular score line. You should have something like this:

Fold to form a box, folding the extra half inch over as shown below:

Adhere the flap with a strong adhesive such as sticky tape.  Repeat for the box bottom adding about 1/16 " to the measurements for scoring.  Thus you would use 2 1/16" and 2 9/16".  By increasing these measurements slightly, the bottom of your box has a little smaller circumference and will be just slightly higher. This allows the top to fit on more easily.

If you have been around Stampin' Up for a while you might own a copy of Book III of Portfolio II.  A similar project is pictured on page 66 of that book.  They altered the directions slightly, giving a pattern to enlarge on page 107 of the same book.

Framed Bouquet

This card uses the same color combo as my Tribute card posted a few days ago.  Once the inkpads are out...

I made a 1 inch frame mask with my 12" Fiskars cutter and placed it over my card before stamping some flowers from Mixed Bouquet in Orchid Opulence and Rose Red. Before lifting the mask I also stamped the Linen stamp in So Saffron.  After lifting the mask I added a simple  "wonderful", from Warm Words. 

Tune in tomorrow and I will add a matching gift box to hold a set of these simple one layer cards.

Another chipboard sample.  I used a Bashful Blue craft spot to ink the chipboard tag and Chocolate Chip craft to stamp "BLESSED".  The same colors are carried through the rest of the card, featuring Fine Lace and So Very. Sponging and the corner ticket punch are such simple but effective ways to add finishing touches.

A Colorful Bird

The Stampin' Up! demonstrator manual has sketch,  color and theme suggestions for each month.  One of January's color suggestions is Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery and Bashful Blue.  I admit I haven't used Pumpkin Pie much and normally wouldn't think of using it with red.  But hey, what about on a chicken?  So I pulled out a set, Best of Cluck, that  I ordered just before getting immersed in the excitement of designing with  Sell-A-Bration sets.  The chickens in this set are quick to color and it's fun to play with when trying out color combos that are a little on the wacky side.

The "sky" is done with a silky sponge; the grass with a sponge dauber. I used markers on the chicken. By giving an extra swipe of pumpkin to the chicken along with a line of Bashful Blue outside the lines I tried to give her a little more dimension.

The fibers tied through the button are  from fraying grosgrain ribbon.

Tribute to My Grandmother

"Memory is the power to gather roses in winter."   I designed this card in tribute to my grandmother who died last month, a few weeks before Christmas.  She would have turned 100 next week.  Edith was a loving and generous grandmother...and she used to grow beautiful roses! 

I drew upon one of my all time favorite SCS color challenge entries for this special card.