fresh & fun

I love Flourishes stamps but hadn’t played with mine in a while. When the color challenge came around a couple of weeks ago, it was perfect for these poppy stamps.

The images were stamped with Tuxedo Black ink on Gina K. Pure Luxury White cardstock, cut with Circle Nestabilities and colored and airbrushed with Copic Markers (YR61, YR65, YR68, YG95, YG99, E25, BG11). The cutout was layered on a slightly bigger Chocolate chip circle, followed by a Bermuda Bay circle that had been cut with Spellbinders Eyelet Pendant Dies.

The card base is created out of a 4 3/4″ x 11″ piece of Confetti White cardstock. It was scored at 4 3/4″, 9 1/2″ and 9 3/8″. The front flap was cut and embossed with Eyelet Borderabilities. Retired SU Valet Ribbon was tied around the flap.

The 4″ Apricot piece of cardstock is from Core’dinations. It was embossed with a cuttlebug folder, sanded and then stitched to a 1/4″ bigger piece of Chocolate Chip. Two Kaiser Chocolate Pearls were added to the left top.

The sentiment is also from the Poppy set. It was stamped in Tuxedo black on Gina’s white cardstock, cut out with Oval Nestabilities, airbrushed and layered on a slightly bigger Chocolate Scallop oval.

This weekend was bad. Lucas, Rebecca, Rick and I all had the flu. Austin already had it last weekend. Fever, achiness and nasty dry cough is not good. The kids are better, but Rick and I are still trying to recover. I couldn’t help myself though….I needed to make a sample for my challenge.

My image is from JustRite’s Autumn Blessings. It was stamped in Tuxedo Black on Gina K.’ Pure Luxury White cardstock and colored with Copic Markers (leaves: YG23, YG25, G94, Pumpkin: YR02, YR04, YR14, E15, Sky: YR31, bottom: E31). It was cut with Circle Nestabilities and ground and sky were airbrushed.

The Chocolate Chip card base measures 6 1/2″ x 8″ and was folded in half. A 3 1/2″ x 5 7/8″ piece of Basic Grey paper was stitched to a slightly bigger piece of Whisper White cardstock. A 5 7/8″ wide Chocolate Chip cardstock strip was cut, embossed and stenciled with Spellbinders Harvest Border and stitched to the middle of my Basic Grey paper. Champaigne Satin Ribbon was tied over the layers.

The smaller patterned paper rectangle measures 2″ x 4 3/8″ and is from the Basic Grey Pad Offbeat. It was stitched to a  1/4″ bigger piece of Whisper White. The focal point was first layered on a slightly smaller Creamy Caramel, then on a Chocolate Chip Scallop circle before adhered with dimensionals to the smaller rectangle. The sentiment is also from JustRite’s Autumn Blessings. It was stamped in Tuxedo Black on Whisper White cardstock punched out with the large oval punch and then layered on a sponged Chocolate Chip Scallop oval. The edges were paper pierced and the entire layer was airbrushed with YR31. The little pumpkin was cut with the Harvest Border out of a scrap of Basic Grey Offbeat paper.

To finish it off I added clear Dew drops with Crystal Effect to the top left and bottom right of the card. Since I already had the Crystal Effect out, I added some over my colored and cut out pumpkins.

Have a wonderful day! Hugs and smiles

I wrote the first SCS tutorials back in 2003, can you believe it? Well…they look like it. So I am trying to slowly but surely to redo them.

Here is my new take on the Crayon Resist technique. For this sample I stamped the image in Tuxedo Black Ink, then colored it with Copic Markers (YG23, YG25, YR65, YR68). Then white Crayon was added over the colored image and a bit to the side of it.

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Aruba Core’dinations Cardstock folded in half. Next a 3 1/2″ x 4 5/8″ piece of 7Gypsies Capri Patterned Paper was taped on a 3 3/4″ x 4 7/8″ piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock. Both layers were stitched together (yes, I love that I have my sewing machine out of the basement, in my stamp area now).

The  1 5/8″ x 3 1/2″ piece of Kiwi Kiss cardstock was stamped with Floral Edge in Shabby Shutter Distress ink. The edges were distressed and sponged. A 1″ x  3 1/2″ strip of Chocolate Chip cardstock was cut and embossed with  Eyelet Borderabilities, taped underneath the Kiwi Layer and stitched to it. White Organdy Ribbon from SU was tied to the right edge. A Prima Flower was taped over the ribbon with dimensionals. It has a Recollection brad in it’s center.

The main image is from Unity’s Gratitude = Joy stamp set. It was stamped and colored, then cut out with Label Four Nestabilities. It was layered on a size bigger label cut out of Chocolate Chip. That layer had been embossed with a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder and sponged with Vintage Photo Distress ink. The sentiment is also from Gratitude = Joy. It was stamped in Tuxedo Black Ink, punched out with the 1″ circle punch, sponged with Shabby Shutter Distress ink, layered on a 1 1/4″ Chocolate Chip circle and the edges were paper pierced.

Here is a video for the visual learner:

Have a wonderful weekend! We are having friends visiting from Illinois. It will be great!

Hugs and smiles

Today’s tutorial on SCS is for a Double Pocket Card.

My card base is a a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Sahara Sand cardstock folded in half. It is layered with a 3 15/16″ x 5 3/16″ piece of Chocolate Chip. The Double Pocket card piece is created out of Whisper White cardstock. All designer paper is from Thoroughly Modern Designer Paper Pack.

The Ruffled backing of my circle layers is created with the Eyelet Shapeabilities Pendant. The circle layers were cut with Nestabilities. Both butterflies were cut with Big Diez Beautiful Butterflies Die. The bigger butterfly was first pained with Shimmery Paint and sponge dauber, then the edges were sponged with Chocolate Chip. The pearls are from the Pretties Kit.

The sentiment is stamped twice, once in Basic Brown and once in Bermuda Bay. The You from the Basic Brown layer was colored with Rose Red ink. I cut slightly inside the oval lines and taped this piece on my Bermuda Bay oval, that had been cut out with the large oval punch. That was layered on a scallop oval that had been punched out of Chocolate Chip Cardstock. The gorgeous ribbon is from May Arts.

The inside of the card is pretty simple and mirrors the layers on the card front.

Here is a video for the visual learner:

Here are two Double Pocket cards I made a while ago:

Christmas Card

Baby Card

I am sure most of you have heard about the new demonstrator agreement form we Stampin’ Up! demonstrator will have to sign at the end of this month. I am afraid I might not be able to stay a demonstrator with the new agreement. I sent an email to Stampin’ Up!’s compliance office, but haven’t heard back yet. I feel bad, since I love Stampin’ Up! products, but I won’t give up my work at Splitcoaststampers so I can stay a demonstrator. I will let you know what happens. My blog might be changing to a more Non-Stampin’ Up! blog soon.

Hugs and sad smile

Today’s tutorial goes hand in hand with the Spellbinder Borderabilities and Pendant review. Becca Feeken created a gorgeous Ornament with Fleur De Lis Pendant dies and was kind enough to share it with us today. Unfortunately I don’t have those dies yet (I so have to order them!!!).  So I created a different ornament out of the Kaleidoscope Pendant dies I do have.

I cut three Kaleidoscope Pendant shapes out of Brushed Silver cardstock. I didn’t like the way the die cuts looked when I folded them like Becca did with her Fleur De Lis, so I just folded mine mountain valley fold and taped three together to create my base. I cut three smaller pendants out of Whisper White cardstock and repeated the mountain/valley folding and taping with these die cuts. I placed the smaller version over the bigger one and secured them with a big Basic Gray Corduroy Button. The white satin ribbon is from May Arts.

I am sure I don’t have to tell you that I LOVE the Spellbinders new Borderabilities and Shapebilities Pendant dies. Check out what the rest of the team thought and their gorgeous creations.

Have a wonderful day! Hugs and smiles

P.S.: Here is a video on how to cut, emboss and stencil with Borderabilities.

Today my mailman brought the new JustRite “A Merry Little Christmas Set“. I had to use it right away. The colors for today’s color challenge on Splitcoaststampers was Taken with Teal, Very Vanilla and Close to Cocoa. I thought I could make that work for a Christmas card.

Ever since I shot the video for the Recessed Window tutorial, I was itching to try it as a Photo Christmas card. I didn’t have a good professionally printed tutorial, so I decided to just printed one out from my computer. It’s not really a good print, but I thought it would work until I get one printed out from a store.

The card base is a 5 1/4″ x 10 3/4″ piece of Taken with Teal cardstock scored at 5 1/4″ and 5 1/2″.  My window frame consists of a 5″ square of Very Vanilla and a 4 13/16″ square of Close to Cocoa Prints Designer Paper.

The photo was cut out with Square Nestabilitiesand layered on a slightly bigger Very Vanilla Scallop Square, cut with Nestabilities as well.

The medallion was created by stamping the sentiment from A Merry Little Christmas set in Close to Cocoa on Very Vanilla cardstock. It was punched out with the 1 1/4″ circle punch and layered on a 1 3/8″ Taken with Teal Circle Punch-out. the bottom layer was cut, embossed and stencilled with the Kaleidoscope Pendant Shapeabilities. Last I added cream pearls from the Pretties Kit and covered the Vanilla sentiment layer in Crystal Effect.

On the inside I covered the back or the recessed window first with the same size Very Vanilla cardstock scallop square that I used on the front. Then I added a Close to Cocoa cardstock piece that had been cut with the Kaleidoscope Pendant die. The edges were sponged and more pearls from the Pretties Kit were added. The sentiment is another stamp from the Christmas Stamp Ensemble. It had been stamped in Close to Cocoa, cut out with Classic Circle Nestabilities and layered on the next size up Circle cutout in Taken with Teal.

(I think before I sent it away, I will create another frame like the one on the card front to add around the center piece here.)

The first layer is a 5″ square of Close to Cocoa cardstock followed by a 4 13/16″ square of Very Vanilla cardstock. The top right corner was paper pierced. On the lower part I added a 1 1/4″ x 5″ piece of Close to Cocoa Print Designer Paper.  The image is another stamp from A Merry Little Christmas set. It was stamped in Basic Brown ink and colored with Copic Markers. It was cut with a 1 1/4″ circle punch, then layered on a 1 3/8″ Close to Cocoa Circle. The last layer is a Taken with Teal piece of cardstock that had been cut with Kaleidoscope Pendant Shapeabilities from Spellbinders. I added Crystal Effects over the bow and the flames in the image.

Today is JustRite Christmas Blog Hop day. Most of the artists listed below created a samples with new JustRite Christmas stamps that just came out. Unfortunately mine didn’t get here in time, so I used stamps from the Christmas Stamp Ensemble.  I decided to make a cover for my favorite kind of Chocolate: Milka. Hm, hm, hmmmmm

The wrapper base is Whisper White cardstock, layered with Christmas Cocoa Specialty Paper from the upcoming Holiday Mini catalog. Underneath the patterned paper I added Real Red cardstock cut with Eyelet Borderabilities. Chocolate striped ribbon as tied around the wrapper and underneath I placed my layered sentiment.

I stamped the sentiment in Chocolate Chip craft ink on Whisper White cardstock. It was embossed with Iridescent Ice Embossing powder and was cut and embossed with Circle Nestabilities.  Then I stamped the snowflake border from the same set in Chocolate Chip and embossed it with Iridescent Embossing powder as well. I cut that out with a larger Circle Nestabilities.Under the sentiment layer I added a slightly bigger Real Red Circle cut and embossed with Nestabilities as well. For the base layer I cut and embossed a medallion with my Eyelet Shapeabilities. On the bottom right I added Felt Snowflakes from last years Holiday Mini catalog. They were attached to the sentiment layers with a 5/16″ Chocolate Jumbo Brad. The sentiment layer was attached to the wrapper with dimensionals.

Make sure to check the blogs or these amazing artists for more JustRite Christmas samples:

JustRite Stampers-Blog
Becca Feeken
Sankari Wegman
Sharon Johnson
Kazan Clark
Sharon Harnist
Laura Davis
Debbie Olson
Michelle Woerner
Taylor Van Bruggen
Jenn Balcer
Michelle Wooderson
Lori Craig
Lauren Meader
Barb Schram
Kimberly Crawford
Michele Kovack
Jami Bova
Kellie Fortin
Jennifer Buck
Heidi Blankenship
Angela Barkhouse
Lisa Somerville
Gerrie Johnnic
Kathy Jones
Debbie Seyer
Kim Sonksen
Terre Fry
Sheryl Dickinson
Bonnie Sharp
Mary Pfaff
Holly Simoni
Angela Robledo

I wrote a quick tutorial on how to put the Chocolate Wrapper together: 

» Read the rest of this entry …