2009 July » fresh & fun

Cropped Birds

Jul 112009

To get myself back into the stamping mood, I took Charmaine’s sketch from last weekend

and combined it with yesterday’s Limited Supply Challenge.

I started this card by pulling out new Designer Paper. I decided to try out the Nouveau Chic pack. You know me and muted colors. This years In-Colors are definitely going to be a challenge to me. They are so bright and fruity.

After deciding on the paper, I thought the bird from Wings of Friendship would go good with the paper and would be great for the challenges.

I stamped the bird three times on Whisper White cardstock in Basic Gray. Two images were punched out with the 1 1/4″ circle punch, one image was cut out with my paper snips. I punched out a plain 1 1/4″ Whisper White circle and stamped the swirl from Wings of Friendship in Apricot over it. For the bird circles, I added a bit of apricot swirls on the side of the bird. All three circles were layered on 1 3/8″ Basic Gray circle punchouts.

Next I stamped the bird twice in Sage Shadow, once in Apricot Appeal and cut their wings off. Those were mounted to my birds in the circles to tie in the colors of the designer paper more.

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Basic Gray cardstock folded in half. Next is a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Apricot Appeal cardstock. A dotted border was added with a White Gel Pen.

The center rectangle is a 3 1/2″ x 4 3/4″ piece of Basic Gray Cardstock covered with three pieces of the Nouveau Chic Designer paper pack. When I first saw Charmaine’s sketch I had planned to use ribbon where the two bigger designer paper pieces met, but since the LSC challenge only allowed brads as embellishment, I used a 7/8″ x 3 3/8″ piece of Sage Shadow colored designer paper instead.

The birds were taped to the left hand side of the inner rectangle. I added the cut out bird with the apricot wing to the bottom. It just seems to look best there. To finish the card off, I stamped the sentiment of Wings of Friendship in Basic Gray on Whisper White, stamped Apricot swirl over it and punched it out with the large oval punch. It was taped to the right hand side of the sage strip, topped with a Filigree brad that holds a Fire Rhinestone brad in it’s center.

I kept the inside pretty simple, like always.

I just like to add the same paper and cardstock to it to tie it into the front and make the card look finished.

I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday. It’s dark and gloomy here. I guess that will keep me in the house and hopefully stamping.

Hugs and smiles

Bermuda Flower

Big Shot, Nestabilities, Stampin' Up! 43 Responses »

Jul 102009

I started out with a 3 3/4″ square of Glossy Cardstock that I had tried the Cuttlebug Wax paper resist technique on last week. See I meant to make a sample for that Wednesday tutorial, but I only got the glossy cardstock prepped and never stamped.

I sanded the cardstock with sand paper to add a bit of Faux Linen look to the background. Then I sponged all over with Soft Sueve Ink. The edges were distressed with the Cutter Kit and then I sponged the edges with Chocolate Chip. The entire piece was layered on a 3 7/8″ square of Whisper White cardstock. The edges of that layer were distressed as well.

The top 7/8″ x 3 3/4″ piece of Bermuda Bay Cardstock was stamped with the border strip from Pendant Park in Bermuda Bay. I added paper pierced holes in each of the small diamonds, then added a paper pierced row above and underneath the stamped strip. The edges of that cardstock strip were distressed.

The bottom of the lower Bermuda Bay cardstock strip was punched with the Eyelet border punch, the top was distressed. After taping the strips down, I tied White Satin Ribbon was tied around the bottom strip.

The Whisper White and Chocolate Chip rectangles were cut with Rectangle Nestabilities. The flower stem from For All You Do was stamped in second generation Soft Sueve. I inked up both the small and medium flower from the same set were inked with Bermuda Bay ink, then outlined with the Bermuda Bay marker before stamping them next to the stem. I stamped the medium flower again, cut it out and mounted it with a dimensional slightly overlapping the stamped flower. A brown brad tops this flower off. The small flower has a small clear Rhinestone brad in it’s center. The sentiment is from the same set and is stamped in Chocolate chip ink.

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock. The edges of the card front were sponged to make them look darker and richer.

As you can see I couldn’t add all those flowers from the sketch on the front. So I decided to add them on the inside of my card.

Please be gentle with me when you judge the card.

I haven’t stamped in ages and feel like I have zero mojo. I hope I will find my mojo and my stamping rhythm again soon.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs and smiles

Weekend Sketch Challenge #88

weekend sketch challenge 5 Responses »

Jul 102009

Can you believe it? I am posting!!!!

Today’s sketch challenge hostess is Jenn Balcer. Make sure you check out her blog and post the link of your sample there.

I got my first order from the new catalog and actually played with it to make a sample for today’s sketch. It’s hard for me. I am in summer mode. I read, I take the kids to the pool (when it’s warm enough) and try to figure out the new area. I already found a hairdresser for the kids and me. Tomorrow we are checking out an orthodontist…..Next week we will go and check out a private school for the two younger ones. Austin will start highschool in Fairborn.

Have a great weekend! Hugs and smiles