fresh & fun

Yesterday was the birthday of an acquaintance of mine. She is the Mom of Lucas and Rebecca’s friends and I see her almost every day. I drive the kids to school, she picks them up. So when her daughter told me in the morning that it was her Mom’s birthday and that she likes Twix, I knew I had to create something. I bought a candle holder and filled it up with Snack size Twix.

I tied red May Arts Silk ribbon around the candle holder and cut cardstock with Nestabilities Label 1 to create a tag. The image is from this month KOM stamp set from Unity. It was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Gina K.’s Pure Luxury Cardstock, cut out with Label 1 Nestabilities and was colored with Copic Markers (YR21, YR23, YR24, R14, R24, R29).  I tried to get close to the Twix colors with my copic marker choices.

After I adhered it to the tag base, I added Stardust Stickles over the Dragonflies and Crystal Effect over the rest of the colored part. Tiny Twinkles were adhered all around the image with Quickie Glue.

For the inside of the tag I stamped the image again on a Label 1 cutout, this time with Adirondack Butterscotch Dye ink. The sentiment is from Verve’s Circular Sayings and was stamped in Tuxedo Black ink.

I hope you have a happy and safe Halloween! Hugs and smiles!

I thought I could use yesterday’s Way to Use it Challenge to create a card for today’s sketch. Boy…that was a tough one! Julia challenged us to use purple on our card! Purple? Really? I don’t like purple…I wasn’t even sure I had any purple Designer paper. I checked my stash and found a few sheets with purple in my Basic Grey Euphoria pack.

I recently received my first order of Bella stamps, but hadn’t played with them yet. I picked the darling butterfly to try out first. It’s just so adorable. I stamped it with Tuxedo Black Ink on Neenah cardstock, cut it out with Circle Nestabilities and colored it with Copic Markers (YG000, YGoo, YG21, YG23, YG25,RV02, RV04, Rv10, RV17, V15, V17). The image was then first layered on black cardstock, then on Purple Core’dinations cardstock. Stardust stickles was added to the pink dots and Tiny Twinkles on the bows on her antena.

I really like how my butterfly looks, but I am not so sure about the rest of the card. Oh well….I can’t love all of my cards, right?

The Core’dinations card base measures 4″ x 12″ and was folded it half. A 3 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ piece of Euphoria Paper was adhered to a 3 11/16″ x 5 11/16″ piece of Black cardstock and sewn together. The two wider strips measure 3/4″ x 4 3/4″, the smaller one 1/2″ x 4 3/4″. The thinner strip has a layer of punched black cardstock underneath (EK Success border punch).  I had these layer originally like the sketch, but the black border looked better on the right, so I switched it around.

To finish off the card I added three Kaiser Rhinestones on the top left  and a bow out of May Arts Polka dotted organdy ribbon underneath the butterfly.

I will have to try again to come up with a better card for the sketch. Have a wonderful day! Hugs and smiles

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.

I love the vintage look of Crafty Secrets stamps. Whenever I need a “Vintage fix”, I pull Crafty Secrets out. I thought their Santa from Seasons Greetings would be perfect for a Cracked Glass sample.

Santa was stamped with Tuxedo Black ink on Natural White cardstock and colored in with Copic Markers (BG93, BG96, E97, E99, E50, E51, YR23, YR24, W1, W3, R27, R29, R20, BG000 and 110). It was cut out with Circle Nestabilities and embossed with Glassy Glaze. Once it cooled down I cracked the image a bit. It was layered on a bigger circle that had been colored with YR23/YR24 to match the image.

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Always Artichoke cardstock folded in half. It is layered with a 3 15/16″ Basic Black cardstock square. A 3 3/4″ x 4 1/4″ piece of Natural White cardstock was punched on one side with the Eyelet border punch. It was layered with a 3 5/8″ square of Chatterbox patterned paper. The last two layers were sewn together.

A piece of Basic Black cardstock and a Chatterbox patterned paper were cut with Label One Nestabilities, layered and stitched together. Those are the mat for my Santa Circles. Gina’s Pure Luxury Organdy Ribbon was attached to Santa with a paper clip.

The sentiment is from the same set as Santa. It was stamped in Black ink, punched out with a large oval and layered on a Scallop oval punchout.

The inside of the card is like always very simple but matching to the card front.

Here is a video for the visual learner:

I worked ahead this week and already made this card on Monday as my entry for the Technique Challenge, which was to create a Wiper card.

I haven’t made a square one before, so it was perfect to use the sketch with the challenge. As my main image I chose this cute stamp from JustRite’s Old Fashioned Christmas set. Frosty was stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink on Gina K’s Pure Luxury White cardstock, cut out with Circle Nestabilities and colored with Copic Markers (RV13, RV14, RV17, YG01, YG03, YG05, W1, YR04, YR07) and airbrushed with Copic Marker B000. White Flower Soft was added the to the pompom on the hat.

My card base consists of two 4 1/2″ x 7 1/2″ pieces of Textured Whisper White cardstock scored at 1 1/2″ and 3″. A 3 3/4″ square of Fancy Pants Happy Holidays Patterned paper was sewn to a 4″ Black square. The three smaller patterned paper squares measure 2 5/16″ and are from the same paper pack. They two outer ones were layered on a 2 7/16″ black cardstock square, the one in the middle on a scalloped black square that had been cut with Square Nestabilities.

Melon Mambo dotted ribbon was tied around the big square layers before the smaller square were adhered. A retired felt snowflake from Stampin’ Up! with a My Mind’s Eye Brad in it’s center was added to the top right corner of the main image. Three little pink rhinestones filled the left top corner.

For the sentiment I chose another JustRite stamp from the Merry Little Christmas set. It was stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento ink directly on Fancy Pants patterned paper, punched out with a 1 1/4″ circle punch. It was layered on a 1 3/8″ black circle and adhered to the bottom left of the main image.

My wiper pop up image was a little Santa hat cut out with Spellbinders Holiday Cheer die. It was cut out twice, once out if White cardstock, once out of red/pinkish patterned paper from the Happy Holidays Paper pack. I cut the red center out, sanded it a bit and taped it to the white layer. White Flower Soft was added to the rim and pompom of that hat.

You can find the step by step tutorial for wiper cards on Splitcoast. Here is the video for the visual learner:

Last week’s Technique Challenge was to create an Easel Card. I love the look of them and had a fun time creating this card for the challenge.

I started out with stamping the Angel from Crafty Secrets Believe in Black Tuxedo Ink on Natural White cardstock. I colored it in with Copic Markers, cut it out with Rectangle Nestabilities and layered it first on a slightly bigger black rectangle, then on a scalloped Natural White rectangle.

The card base/Easel part was created out of a 4 3/4″ x 9 1/2″ piece of Cardinal Core’dination Cardstock. It was scored at 2 3/8″ and 4 3/4″.  The card front is a 4 3/4″ Cardinal Core’dination square. A 4″ square of 7Gypsies patterned paper was stitched to 4 3/8″ Basic black square. The corner image and border decor are stamps from the Crafty Secrets Serenity Prayer Set. They were stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink. May Arts Crochet ribbon was taped over the layers and  White Organdy Ribbon was tied over that. The bow was topped off with Prima Flowers with a Basic Grey Button in it’s center.

For the inside I created another Black Square. This time topped with a 4″Natural White Square that had a strip of the same 7 Gypsies paper taped to the bottom of the card. The word Believe was stamped in Tuxedo Black on Natural White cardstock, punched out with the large oval punch, sponged with Vintage Photo and Worn Lipstick Distress inks and layered on a black scallop oval punchout.

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

Bella’s WCMD Challenge was to create a  card that shows what your girlfriends like to do in 80s colors. I don’t own any Bella stamps yet (they are ordered, though…can’t wait for them to get here). I figured eating baked goodies is always something I enjoy doing with friends.

The stamp is from Unity’s August 09 KOM stamp set. It was stamped in Tuxedo Black ink on Gina K.’s Pure Luxury White Cardstock. It was cut out with Label 3 Nestabilities, airbrushed  and colored with Copic Markers (YG06, G07, BG000, BG00, BG02, RV10, RV14, E53, E55) and Spica glitter pens Melon and Pink.

Chunky Crystal sparkles were added to the cupcake frosting before the entire glass bowl was covered with Crystal Effects. The image was layered on a bigger black Label 3 die cut. a White Gel Pen dotted border was added.

The card base is a 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Basic Black cardstock folded in half. It was layered by a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Whisper White folled by a 1/4″ smaller piece of Gyspy Basic Grey patterned paper. The horizontal strip measures 1 7/8″ x 5″ and is from the same paper pack. A thin strip of Basic Black cardstock was taped underneath. It had been punched with the scallop Edge Punch. 1″ wide White Organdy Ribbon from May Arts was tied around the strip.

The sentiment is from the same Unity Kit. It was stamped in Tuxedo Black ink on Gina K.’s white cardstock. It was cut out with the large oval punch, airbrushed and taped to the left of the image. A Prima Flower was attached with a Rhinestone brad and small Rhinestones taped under the sentiment to finish off the card.

The WCMD challenge for MFT was to create a card with Pink, White, Black and Bling. I bought Grow Love Plant A Tree and hadn’t used it yet. This was the perfect occasion. Okay…maybe not perfect, but trees could be pink, right? LOL

I stamped the tree threee times in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink. Once on Gina K.’s Pure Luxury White cardstock, twice on Basic Grey Blush patterned paper. I cut out the top of the patterned paper tree, sponged and stamped them and taped them on top of my white layer. Then I colored in the trunk with Copic Markers (W1, W2). The image was cut out with Spellbinders Small Label Nestabilities , air brushed with Copic R00 and layered on a black scallop layer cut out with Rectangle Nestabilities. The edges of the white layer were paper pierced.

The card base is a 3 1/2″ x 10″ piece of Regal Rose cardstock folded in half. The front was partially embossed with the Paisley I added White Craft ink directly on the Paisley Cuttlebug Folder before embossing the card front partially with it. White Organza Ribbon was tied around the card, right where the dry embossing ends. The lower edge of the card was punched with the scallop edge punch. A slightly smaller then 3 1/2″ x 5″ piece of Whisper White cardstock was taped behind the card front.

The sentiment is from the same set. It was stamped on the same paper as the trees, cut out with Circle Nestabilities, sponged and stamped just like the biggest tree top layer. Then it was layered first on a White, then a black dircle. Kaiser Rhinestones finish off the card.

Today’s tutorial is part of the Product Review for the Xyron Creatopia. Make sure to check it out. It is one cool tool. The favorite feature for most reviewers was the Fabric Adhesive Cartridge. Ashley Newell wrote the tutorial about Adhering Fabric to chipboard and created the cutest sample.

For my fabric sample I stamped this cute girl from Unity’s September Kit of the Month kit in Black Memento ink on thicker natural looking muslin. I ran it through the Creatopia, cut it out with Oval Nestabilities and sponged the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The fabric was taped on a slightly bigger oval in Basic Black ink and the edges were stitched. The little girl was colored in with Copic Markers (G82, G85, E 41, E 43, R27, R29, YR04, YR07, YR09).

The card base was cut out of Basic Black cardstock with the Clear Scallop Die from Big Shot. The next layer is a 3 3/4″ Kraft cardstock square that had been sponged with Vintage Distress ink. The polka dotted layer is fabric. It was adhered to a piece of cardstock, cut down to 3 1/2″, sponged and then stitched to the Kraft cardstock layer. Pumpkin striped grosgrain ribbon was tied around the fabric/kraft layer and buttons were sewn on with Linen Thread.

The measurements of the inside layers mirror the ones on the card front. The fabric strip measures 7/8″ x 3 1/2″. It was sponged and stitched to the main layer. The sentiment is also from Unity’s September Kit of the month stamp set. A Pumpkin Corduroy button as sewn onto a Prima Flower with Linen Thread.

Here is a video for the visual learner: