from my ink pad to yours

Another String of Hearts

Sharon (Notimetostamp) has weekly challenges for simple cards and this week's challenge is to focus on love. Since I'm on a roll with my Heart to Heart punch I thought I would try another. These sure are quick!

The paper is called Candy Stripe and if you've been surfing Stampin' Up! blogs over the past month plus you've probably seen it quite a bit as it has been part of the Love You Much Bundle. The bad news is that tomorrow is the last day of the special which gives you 20% off of the punch, paper and the Love You Much stamp set. The good news is that if you wait until February 1st even though you will pay full price, these three items will qualify you to earn a free Sale-A-Bration set. Either time you order its a good deal. Just don't put it off it you want to use it for this year's Valentines! 

Love Birds

This weekend I'll be doing my first Sale-A-Bration event with my stamp clubs. Here is one of the projects we will be doing:

This project features the Sale-A-Bration set Congrats along with two colors I've been using so much recently: Baja Breeze and Red Riding Hood. I also used the bird from the Birds and Blooms sizzlets.  The heart is from the same punch I used for yesterday's post, Heart to Heart. I used the smallest heart in the punch right under the inside greeting which reads "on another year of happy togetherness!" Even though this punch is featured in Stampin' Up's Love You Much Bundle with the coordinating stamps you can see that I've found many other uses for it.

he'Artstring

A few days ago I was making a card for a challenge based on art work form Lang Calendars. (The card is here.) Anyway, the original piece had crayons lined up in a rainbow type arrangement. I tried and tried to get something that worked for this element of the challenge but eventually gave up. These hearts are the leftovers from my efforts. The crayons originally were shaded on the right side so that's why my hearts are shaded too. I did that with a Versamarker and Versamark pad. My Stampin' Up! downline is called The he'Artstringstampers, hence the name for this card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chris

Three Gerberas

Gerberas are one of my favorite flowers but I've never been particularly good at growing them.  Last summer I tried them in the ground instead of pots.  They seemed to be a little healthier but smaller than usual. When I saw the Daisies #2  bigz die in the new catalog I knew it would be on my first order.  I'd have success with gerberas at last!

Here is a card I planned almost as soon as I saw the Sweet Slumber paper and the daisies #2 die.

I love using this layout with a freehand curve.  I just knew it would be fun to try with these polka dots and stripes. The daisies #2 die has three sizes of fine petaled flowers. This is the medium sized flower, layered three times. The center is punched from the soon to be released Sale-a-bration set Polka Dot Punches which was embossed in white on Red Riding Hood paper. I used a 1/2 in circle punch, layered it on a 3/4" So Saffron circle and used the 1/16" punch to make the dots around that.

This next card shows the biggest of the daisies, along with the fact that no scrap of paper is too small for an impact.

Knowing that such a skinny strip of those stripes can still make a statement helps to me to dig in and use the paper. The goofy stripes on the baja at the bottom are made with the Versamarker and Polka Dot Punches was used again for the So Saffron background and flower center. BTW, this is the largest flower.

Here is the tiniest flower:

Thanks so much for stopping by my "inkpad" today!

Chris

PS: Please check out the Links sidebar.  "Chris' Google Reader: Shared Posts" will bring you to a whole bunch of great, mostly Stampin' Up! projects I've found on other blogs.  Just click through on the big title if you want to get to their actual blog to leave a comment or on the little title (it's the name of their blog) after "via" to check out the rest of their artwork. One of my customers tried this out and told me it worked for her. Let me know how it works for you.

Parisian Breeze Pair

These are from a couple of Splitcoast challenges I did over the weekend while playing with a few things from the new Stampin' Up! catalog.

This first card was one that incorporates last Thursday's Ways to Use It Challenge: Pattern Pizzazz and Saturday's Inspiration Challenge: Lang Calendars. One of the calendars posted on the challenge involved the colors from my new Parisian Breeze Specialty paper and I needed to stamp some swirls on it to approximate the look of the calendar and meet the challenge to do something to my patterned paper.

As you can see stamping on the textured papers doesn't give the crispest image though I think the image (Stampin' Up!'s Baroque Motifs) I got works for the look I was trying to achieve.  I had tried stamping some words too but didn't like the appearance. So, I tried rub-ons and they were perfect.

The partially completed card sat on my desk until this morning because I couldn't figure out what to do about the bird element from the calendar and the corresponding empty space on my card. A new day brings new answers and I dropped the bird idea and added dressed up wide oval. I got the scallops around the wide oval with my retired Stampin' Up! scallop scissors - much easier than I thought. Boy, do I wish those were still available! The ribbon is from the Valet Ribbon Originals, buckle from Hodgepodge Hardware, and the flowers from the Pretties Kit. Oh yes, the background is three papers pieced together. This mimics the look of the original calendar. 

Parisian Breeze Card #2   Featured Stamper Challenge 103: Vicky Gould  based on this card

I used her color scheme but with a finer pattern. Actually, I meant to use this challenge for a bold pattern but got sidetracked. I really liked Vicki's idea to wrap ribbon through the punch edge opening but decided to do a little overkill by adding more ribbon. I added my pearls to flowers instead of putting them on the scallop edges. With such a small background pattern it didn't work for me to embellish the scallops. Like the first car this features the Parisian Breeze Specialty paper, Valet ribbon originals and the Pretties Kit. I was also able to try out my new jumbo wheel, Friendly Words and the White organza Ribbon. The slots are made with the scallop edge punch.

Thanks for looking!

Chris

The Time to Be Happy

Yesterday's Splitcoaststampers Inspiration Challenge came from Lang Calendars.  I was especially attracted to this image.  There are so many aspects of this that I liked: the black images on the warm shaded red, the checks at the bottom, the curved top piece.  I wanted to include all of these features in my card and set out to find some stamps that would work. 

If you look closely at the inspiration piece, you'll see that there are saffron colored details in the black images. The best set I had to get this look was Garden Whimsey. 

I started with the bottom of a piece of So Saffrom card stock, scoring a 1/2" line from the bottom so that I could make a relatively straight line of checks with my versamarker and black embossing powder. The red section is embossed with black ink on the upper part of the So Saffron card and then brayered and sponged with Red Riding Hood ink. I trimmed the black piece into a curve and used the curve to trim the curved saffron band.  The curve and checks are not perfect lending a handmade look - as does my less than perfect embossing.  My versamark pad needed reinking, but luckily I could use my black marker to fill in where needed. 

I've been having fun with new toys from my first Spring/Summer catalog order, so check back as I'll be posting more work soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chris

Quick Happy Heart

Just a quick post today. This is a simple Happy Heart card I did a while back, using the same package of Baja Blue I used in the card yesterday.  I find that color irresistable!

Another thing I'm finding irresistable is the new Stampin' Up! Spring and Summer Catalog that arrived yesterday...so much fun!

Other supplies on this card: Chocolate Chip ink, taffeta ribbon, and card stock; Baja ribbon and DSP, Whisper White card stock with the corner punch. Stamp set: A Happy Heart (which is in the new catalog!!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Chris

2 in 1

I intended to get to yesterday's Splitcoast Color Challenge 201 but didn't so I set out to combine it with today's Sketch Challenge 211. Remind me not to try that again. I felt like I dilly-dallied forever.

Here's a synopsis of how I dilly-dallied my way through this card:

• I knew I wanted to use the lovely Baja Blue Designer Series Paper for the background layers and cut them according to Rox's measurements. These have Not Quite Navy layers behind them and they were all laid down on a kraft card.
• Then I chose the layers for the focal point piece, Kraft, Not Quite Navy topped with Whisper White and cut them out with the Kraft piece according to the measurements.
• THEN... I started going through my stamp sets looking for a greeting or image for the white piece. No red tones in the color combination meant no hearts (insert sad face!). I finally settled on Upsy Daisy, a lovely set which saw ink for the first time today! I chose "you're on my mind since it seemed to go with the subdued colors.
• I knew I wouldn't get the whole image on the card and the message would be tight so I got out a piece of vellum cardstock and stamped each stamp from the set into the corners using the stamp-a-ma-jig. I do this because a) I've long since lost track of the plastic sheet that came with the stamp-a-ma-jig and b)by using vellum I can slip the sheet into the stamp box and skip this step in the future. (Kurtis has a stamp-a-ma-jig tutorial on splitcoaststampers if you haven't used one of these before.) Then, I stamped the message near the top using the positioner and added the flowers at the bottom stamping off a few extra times for some depth.
• Once I got to this point I laid things out on the card and decided I wasn't happy with the look of my background layers so I turned to polka dot layer over to the layer you see pictured. Now I attached all the lower layers, leaving the focal point layer loose as I this didn't seem quite right.  After putzing a bit I decided to trim about 3/8" off the bottom to make it flow better with the strips.
• I almost set the whole card aside when I struggled with the embellishments. I tried the Baja buttons from Button Bouquet. I tried several sizes of silk flowers which all looked to shiney  and bluish. Finally I remembered that I had tons of NQN buttons and pulled those out.  They helped the flowers somewhat but they still needed to be toned down so I sponged 4 of the 1 1/4" flowers (Pretties Kit) with Creamy Caramel ink and tied little bows in the buttons with some linen thread. These were layered and applied to the card with mini glue dots.
• I nodded to myself in approval and hoped I could get a decent picture...and promised myself to only do one challenge at a time in the future!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Chris

Love Ewe

Have you used the Stamp-a-ma-jig, Stampin' Up!'s version of a stamp positioner?  That is what I used to replace the "Thank"  from the ewe stamp in the Pun Fun set with the "Love" from the cup (Love you a latte!) stamp. Either stamp, of course, would make a great Valentine card!

You can line words up like a charm with a postioner! The cuttlebug background picks up on the idea of the ewe's wool. I love to use just a bit of black and white to bring life to mostly white cards. The white dots are done with a signo white gel pen.

I have quite a few other cards to post but need to pick the right time of day for a photo shoot.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chris

Origami Box

I made this for today's Technique Lover's Challenge #203 at Splitcoaststampers. Instead of paper and lightweight chipboard for the cover, I used Close to Cocoa card stock and the cardboard that comes in the designer paper packages. The box it self is made with Chocolate Chip Designer Series patterned paper and was much easier than I thoug it would be.  If you follow the link to the challenge you will find directions and a pdf file with folding diagrams.

I'd pulled out a bunch of new and retired Valentine stamps thinking I would make some chocolaty, cherry type concoction.  But, by the time I got done sponging the edges - to camouflage the white core - I had decided to keep it masculine and simple.
I added the chocolate ribbon from the retired Theater Ribbon Originals (which is included in Stampin' Up!'s Inventory Blowout special). The congratulations stamp is from a Sale A Bration set that comes out in February and it lends just the right sort of sophistication to this box. I stamped it with Chocolate Chip craft ink intending to clear emboss it, but once again decided to leave well enough alone.  The softer matte look seemed right for the soft sponging I had done.

Thanks for stopping by my "inkpad"!

Chris