fresh & fun

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:

I am sorry I was so quiet over the weekend. Saturday I received the first Season of Eli Stone. I love that show and am sad it won’t come back this year. Austin and I watched the entire first season on Saturday. Sunday we had a cold front come in and with it came a nasty migraine. Yesterday was the first day of school for my smaller two and a BIG cleaning day for me.

I was excited to have all morning to play and checked out the Color challenge  right after my (super fast) walk. Kraft, Chocolate and Real Red sounded like another Christmas Color combo to me, especially since I had just received JustRite’s Old Fashioned Christmas the day before.

I started by stamping the image in Black Memento Ink on Shimmery White cardstock. It was cut with Circle Nestabilities, Air Brushedwith W1 Copic Marker and then colored with Copic Markers (Browns: E43, E44, Yellows: Y18, Y26, Green: YG06, G07, Red: R22, R27, R29). Next it was layered on a slightly bigger Chocolate chip circle, then on a ruffled base made with Eyelet Shapeabilities. Check the bottom of this post if you are interested in how I created the ruffled base.

My card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Chocolate chip. I was scored and folded at 2 1/8″ and 6 3/8″ to create a Gate Fold Card. The Kraft cardstock measures 1 15/16″ x 4 1/16″ and the Christmas Cocoa Specialty Paper measures 1 3/4″ x 2 7/8″. The ribbon is from last years Holiday Mini catalog. I love that Satin ribbon.

The inside of the card matches the outside. I layered the Specialty paper on Kraft cardstock layers.

Here is a video for visual learners:

Check the next page if you want to see how I created the Ruffled base for my image.

» Read the rest of this entry …

Bonnie Szwalkiewicz created this wonderful fold tutorial first for her blog, then it became a Technique Challenge on SCS and now she wrote the tutorial for SCS as well. It’s a fun fold for special occasions.

My card base is a 5 1/2″ x 12″ strip of textured Soft Suede Cardstock.

It was scored at 2″, 4″, 8″ and 10″. Turn the paper, line it up at 1 1/2″ in your paper trimmer and cut from 2″ to 10″. Move your cardstock to the 4″ mark and cut again from 2″ to 10″.

Next I cut Chocolate chip cardstock 1/4″ smaller then each panel. The designer paper is from Thoroughly Modern Designer Paper pack and was cut 3/16″ smaller then the Chocolate Chip cardstock. Before I taped the cardstock/designer paper layers to the card base, I added some paper piercing.

The sentiment is from the Verve Stamp set “Beautiful Kindness“. It was stamped in Chocolate Chip on Shimmery White cardstock, cut out with Oval Nestabilities and then layered first on a slightly larger Chocolate Chip Oval, then on a Melon Mambo Scallop Oval.  A paper pierced border was added to the Shimmery White layer.

 The center of the Pretties Kit flower is a 1″ Chocolate chip circle. It was stamped with the small butterfly from Beautiful Kindness. The edges were sponged and distressed and a thick layer of Crystal Effect was added. Once it was dry the circle was added to the flower with dimensionals and the flower was adhered to the card with dimensionals as well.

The inside panels are all decorated with Chocolate Chip cardstock and Thoroughly Modern Designer Paper. The center panel has a smaller oval to write the message with a layered Verve Butterfly on the top right. The outer strip holds a smaller flower from the Pretties kit with an Antique Brass Build a Brad in it’s center.

I hope you play with this fun and easy card. The hardest part of this card is to decide which patterned paper you want to show off.

And if you are a visual learner, check my second (ever) video tutorial. I even figured out how to upload a better quality to youtube. 

 Have a wonderful day! Hugs and smiles 

Today’s tutorial on SCS is written by Stephanie Luman and is for the Flower Pot Pocket card.

It’s easy and oh so cute! If you haven’t tried it out, what are you waiting for?

My Flower Pot base is Soft Suede cardstock.

The flap edge was punched with the Eyelet Border Punch and the entire flap was sponged with Soft Suede ink.

The lower part of the Pot is covered with Thoroughly Modern Designer Paper. Polka Dot Red Ribbon was tied around the flap.

 The sentiment is from For All You Doand is stamped with Chocolate Chip on Very Vanilla cardstock. It was punched out with the small oval punch, layered first on a sponged Chocolate Chip large oval punch-out, then on a Bermuda Bay Scallop Oval. I underlined the sentiment with a paper pierced row and added three little flowers. They had been stamped in Crushed Curry and Real Red, cut out and topped with a tiny Chocolate Chip Circle I had punched out with the Double circle punch (retired).

The flowers were punched with the Embosslit Cherry Blossom, the branches with the die cut Little Leaves.

I punched two for each flower, cut the center out, sponged both of them and added 5/16″ brads in each center.  The branches were taped on with Scor-Tape, the flowers with dimensionals.

The first layer of the insert is a 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ piece of Textured Real Red cardstock, layered with a 1/4″ smaller piece of Very Vanilla. A 7/8″ x 2 1/4″ piece of Thoroughly Modern DP was added to the bottom of the insert to tie it in with the front.

The sentiment is also from For All You Doand is stamped in Chocolate Chip. The buttefrly from the same set was stamped in second generation Crushed Curry over it.

P.S.: If you want to see/hear my first attempt at a video tutorial for SCS, check it out here. I was very nervous and you can hear it when I talk. I hope I will get better with the following tutorials.

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Sorry I didn’t post yesterday. I still have some cards to show you, but I was waiting for the SCS Newsletter to come out. Then mine didn’t come at all (see, it happens to team members too. LOL) and I didn’t post.

 Yesterday we published our Product Review on Scor-Pal Products. I LOVE THEM all! I love the Scor-Pal and don’t know how to do multiple cards without them. It saves soooo much time. I LOVE the tape. I don’t like the Sticky Strip no more. That red liner is always sticking on me. Not with the tape. The liner goes in the trash can the first time you throw it there. And then there is the mat and the new Scor-Bug. That tool won’t come out until April, but it will be worth the wait. It makes quick paper pierced rows. The piercing isn’t quite as definite as with the piercer, but it only takes as long as a score to do it! LOVE it!

I am not sure if you know, but the Scor-Pal has markings for a Gate Fold Card. I wrote a quick tutorial for that for SCS. I love that! No more having to remember the measurements or having to do math to figure it out. Your gatefold will be ready to decorate in 5 seconds!

I colored the image after coming home from the Copic Class two weeks ago and really wanted to use it for this card.

The stamps are from the Flourishes set Signs of Spring. It seems to be sold out right now, or I would link to it. The little chickies come as single stamps and the flowers are in a basket. I only linked the flowers, masked the chicks and stamped the flowers behind.  The images were stamped with Memento ink on Neenah cardstock and colored with copics. It was cut out with Nestabilities dies.

After the image was cut out, I left the Nestabilities die over the cardstock and added the sky with my air brush tool. I am using cans now, but I ordered myself a compressor. I can’t wait to get that in. My poor children…air brushing is so much fun. Nothing will be save from me. LOL

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Basic Gray cardstock. The designer paper is from the Kiwi Kiss Pattern Pack.

I kept the inside pretty simple. I just added more designer paper on the sides and a 4″ Neenah square in the center.

Two more chicks were stamped and colored. The banner was stamped and cut out. A black brad was added and it was adhered to the card inside with dimensionals.

Have a wonderful weekend!

We had sunshine and warm weather here for the last three days! I snug out for a couple of hours each day to read in the sun. I can’t help myself. I love to lay in the sun like a lizard. And I better catch the rays while I can before I move up north. I am sure I won’t be layout out in a two piece in the beginning of March in Ohio. Sigh….getting used to change is hard!

Make sure to check out Jenn’s blog tomorrow morning to see the sketch for the weekend sketch challenge! It’s a good one.

I didn’t stamp all weekend. Saturday I just lounged around reading, Sunday I worked on the newsletter and future tutorials. Yesterday was cleaning day and I didn’t get to stamp until later in the evening, hence…no post from me. But, I got to work on my sample for the BIC today. Sorry about the picture. I finished late, when the sun was gone already.

I picked Going Gray, Bravo Burgundy, Pink Pirouette and White from the scarf.  I had planned to use Eggplant, but didn’t have Designer paper for it. So I switched it with Burgundy (That’s a valid reason, right?)

My card base is a 5″ x 10 1/2″ piece of Going Gray cardstock scored at 1 1/4″, 2 1/2″, 4 1/4″, 6″ and 8 1/4″ and folded in mountain valley style. Each top corner was punched with the ticket corner punch.

Each fold (except for the back) has a Shimmery White layer, the front facing sides were layered with an even smaller Parisian Summer Designer Paper strip. Each layer was paper pierced and each top corner punched with the ticket corner punch before it was adhered to the Gray card base. The back layer was sanded with the sanding block. 5/8″ wide Burgundy Ribbon was tied around the bottom layer.

I stamped the heart in Bravo Burgundy craft ink and embossed with Clear Embossing powder. I sponged Pink Pirouette over it and highlighted some areas with a white gel pen. The heart was cut out, layered on Bravo Burgundy cardstock and cut out again. I attached a Filigree Designer Brad to the heart with a Fire Circle Rhinestone brad. The heart was attached to the card with dimensionals.

The sentiment was stamped with Burgundy ink on Shimmery White cardstock.

It was punched out with the large oval punch.

I stamped the rectangle frame from Frames with a Flourish in Burgundy on Pink Pirouette cardstock and cut it out.

Next I cut it in half, cut it shorter and taped it together again. That was layered on Burgundy cardstock and cut out again. Underneath I added a wide Burgundy oval. The layers were adhered together and attached to the middle layer with dimensionals.

I stamped the small flower circle in Burgundy on Shimmery White cardstock, cut it out and taped it to the top right of the sentiment. Next I took a medium size Fire Circle Rhinestone brad, took the rhinestone out and attached it to the center of the flower.

I left the panels that don’t show when the card stands up blank so a private message can be written there. I am off to drop of Rebecca to school and go for my walk.  Have a great day! Hugs and smiles

We dropped Rick off at the airport yesterday morning. That was very sad. I spend the rest of the day playing with the kids to keep them from thinking about him being gone for another four month.

Today they all walked off to school. I can’t believe my oldest started his last year of Middle School and my baby entered 4th grade. That’s just plain crazy!

I made this card for the Joy Fold Tutorial on SCS a while back.

Hopefully I will be posting a new sample tomorrow for my Be Inspired Challenge.

I picked the BIC image several month ago and wouldn’t you know it….it has some of the new In Colors in there.

For this card I used my the new stamp set Dreams Du Jour along with the Bella Rose Designer Paper for the first time. The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Riding Hood Red cardstock scored at 5 1/2″. The smaller flap is made from a  3 ” x 8″ piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock.

You can see step by step instructions for the card in the tutorial.

I used the new In Colors and the Aqua Painter to color the images. The designer paper for the centerflap was sponged, the edges were paper pierced and the little butterfly from Dreams du Jour was stamped on it.

I am sorry I was super quiet this weekend. I fun weekend filled with my favorite things: friends, family, good movie, great food and beach!

Saturday was girls day! Two friends and I first went to the movies (Maid of Honor! Great girl flick) and to P.F. Changs. Sunday mornings are always blocked out for work on the SCS newsletter. In the afternoon I took Lucas and Rebecca to the beach! The waves were awesome. Perfect for boogy boarding.  We had a great time.

Here is a gift card holder I made out of a Wild Wasabi carousel Note.

I made it as a variation for the Trifold Pocket card tutorial.

I scored the Carousel Note at 1 3/4″ on the left and right of the round Note card.

Then I scored 2″ on the bottom, and cut the two outer panels off.

I stamped a leaf from the Unity Stamp set Graditude = Joy on the outside flaps, sponged the edges and used my Crop-a-dile to add holes in each scallop.

For the sentiment panel I inked up the stamp with Creamy Caramel, Bravo Burgundy (shading) and Wild Wasabi ink. The sentiment is stamped in Bravo Burgundy. The Vanilla cardstock was punched out with the 1 3/8″ circle punch and layered on a sponged Bravo Burgundy scallop circle.

The speckles were added with the Burgundy Marker and the Color Spritz Tool.

Today’s tutorial on Splitcoast is another oldie, but goodie: Gate Fold Card. I used a stamp from the stamp set Butterfly Beauty from Unity Stamp Company.

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I promise to use Stampin’ Up! stamps again on my next card.

I have been a bit sidetracked since those Unity stamps are on my stamp table in a little wicker basket. They will go in big SU clear cases, as soon as I receive them. They are already ordered.

I am sorry to say that I forgot to write down which Copics I used.

The Wasabi panels were stamped with the Tea Time Pattern background in Chocolate Chip and the edges were sponged.

The main image was stamped in Brown Palette Ink on an  Shimmery White oval cut with Oval Nestablities and layered on a Chocolate Scalloped oval that was created the same way.

Now…how I got those Unity Stamps early.

Nope, I am not on their design team. I am not on any design team. With being a single mother until the end of the year, working for SCS and the upkeep of this blog, I just can’t commit to something like that. Besides, I am first and formost still a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator who LOVES Stampin’ Up! products (I just don’t like the long summer lull of no new stamps!!!).

Splitcoast is introducing a new feature with today’s newsletter: Product Review.
Once a month a team of six stampers will review a product and tell you what they think about it. Our first product to review: Unity Stamp Companies great new Mounting system.

That’s how I got handles and some stamps before they are available! To check out the whole review team and what we thought about the product, click on product review. 

Sorry! No scrapbooking again! I am such a slacker!

This will be a short post, because I have another super bad migraene. I just wanted to share a project of yesterday’s stamp camp.

The card base is Groovy Guava, the designer paper from Ginger Blossom.

The set is Embrace Life.

The flower is stamped with Brown Stazon on Shimmery white cardstock and colored in with Aqua Painter and Classic inks (Groovy Guava and More Mustard). The flower center is an Antique Brass Jumbo Eyelet.

Click here for a step by step tutorial with measurements for this Joy fold card.

I have some good personal news. Rick will be coming home for two weeks during spring break. He has one week of, then goes to a week long class right here! We are so excited. He is already planning a short trip (that’s my man, he loves to take trips) to the Smoky Mountains. I will be roughing it with my family for a few days in a log cabin! Wohoo (not on the roughing it part)!!!