fresh & fun

Are you stamping ? Are you knee deep in creating cards for the challenge posted on Splitcoast yet? You better drink something with lots of caffeine and head on over. SCS member companies are hosting challenge every hour. It started at 10:00 a.m. EST and it will end at 11 p.m. EST. As long as you upload your card by Sunday at midnight, you are eligible to win PRIZES!

Stamping and a chance of free stuff? I don’t think it can’t get any better. But wait…it does. Because…you can send the cards you have made to Operation Write Home  and donate them to this wonderful cause. Okay….so get your stamps out and get started!

This hour the SCS gang hosts a challenge. Our requirements are to make a card that

• includes chocolate
• follows the theme thankfulness
• and uses the WSC100 sketch!

Here is my sample. And yes…that’s four days in a row that I posted a card with this sketch. I took my liberties and my circle turned into a BIG heart. But heck…if you read my blog you know I always just use sketches as starting points.

My card base is a 4 1/2″ x 9″ piece of Pink Pirouette cardstock, folded in half. The front was embossed with Cuttlebug’s Swiss Dot Embossing Folder.  The Chocolate Chip square measures 3 5/8″ . It was layered with a 1/4″ smaller piece of Aruba Core’dinations cardstock. The edges of that layer had been sanded and then zigzag stitched. Stampin’ Up!’s white Satin Ribbon was tied around the lower half of these two layers.

I adhered Fabric (bought as a fat quarter at JoAnn’s) over my chipboard heart, cut off the excess and inked the edges with Chocolate Chip Craft ink. Next I straight stitched around the edge (I was surprised my machine did that! Yeah for me and my Pfaff!).  The flowers are from Prima Quick Picks Flowers Hydrengea Strawberries pack. They were attached to the heart with a big rhinestone brad I got from sweet Charmaine a while back.

 The thank you from Stampin’ Up!’s Enjoy Every Moment was stamped on Pink Pirouette ink in Chocolate Chip. The cardstock was cut down to a strip and the left edge was punched with the photo corner punch. Next I rolled it up and down over a pen and adhered it with dimensionals.

Have fun participating in the challenge!

Sorry I have been so quiet. I have been working like crazy on a big project that is now not going to be shown until next week. Bummer for now, but I can promise lots of posts at the end of next week!

Today’s tutorial on SCS is on how to create a background with your Acrylic Paints and a piece of Acetate. It’s really fun,  fast and easy.

The card base for today’s card is a 4 1/2″ x 9″ piece of Core’dinations Paper from the Roy G. Biv Super Assortment.

The centerpiece was created with today’s tutorial technique. It is super easy. Cut a piece of Acetate to the shape you need. Cut neutral cardstock the same shape. I used Label One Nestabilities. Next I stamped Gratuitous Graffiti with Black Stazon over my Acetate. Turn Acetate over and add Acrylic Paint. I used the Lettuce Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber. Place your neutral cardstock over the ink and let dry.

For the flower center I cut a 1 1/4″ Acetate and White Circle with Circle Nestabilities, stamped the TY from Gratutitous Graffiti over it with Black Stazon and added Rasberry Adirondack Acrylic Paint over it. The flower itself is  like the half pearls on the top left from Stampin’ Up!’s Pretties Kit. I sponged the edges with Lettuce paint. I attached the center to the flower with dimensionals, tied white Organza ribbon around the layers and adhered the flower over it.

Here is a video for the visual learner:

Sorry I am late. I stamped this card this morning….and I am not the fastest stamper. So here is my sample for WSC99. All supplies are from Stampin’ Up! (well…I used Circle Nestabilities. But that’s the only thing non SU).

The Basic Gray card base measures 2 3/4″ x 11″ and was folded in half. It was layered with a slightly smaller piece of Whisper White and then three designer paper strips all from the Nouveau Chic Designer Paper Pack. The edges of all pieces were sanded, the middle strip was paper pierced. Faux Stitching lines were added with a white gel pen.

I punched out a circle with the 1 3/4″ circle punch, sanded the edges and stamped the medallion stamp from Charming in second generation Basic Gray. Next I stamped the flower from the same set in Basic Gray. The circle was layered on a Whisper White and scallop sponged Basic Gray circles. Those two had been cut with Circle Nestabilities. I added more Faux Stitching and then heat embossed the entire center circle four times with Clear Embossing powder.

I threaded White Taffeta through a Basic Gray Corduroy Button and attached it with a dimensional. A swirl was cut out of Nouveau Chic Designer paper with the Sizzlits Die Swirls Scribbles, clear embossed and attached under the main circle. The sentiment is from Teeny, Tiny Wishes and was stamped in Black Stazon. The strip was cut out with the Window Word Punch.

The inside of the card is decorated similar to the outside.

Have a wonderful weekend! Hugs and smiles

Here is this weekend’s sketch:

To participate in the challenge, make a card with this layout and upload it either to your blog, or to an online gallery.
If you upload your card on SCS, put WSC99 (NO SPACE INBETWEEN WSC AND 99) in the keyword section. That way we can look at all of them at once! Add a link to your card  as a comment to this thread so I can go and check it out. ( I won’t be adding Mr. Linky anymore. I like it better when I get an email notification when someone adds a card so I can go and check it out and don’t forget).

 To see samples made with this sketch now, check out the blogs of

Cambria Turnbow

Charmaine Ikach

Jenn Balcer

Lori Craig

Sharon Harnist

Have fun creating! I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

SCS submissions

New guest tutorial writer Lynn Put came up with a darling Halloween Bucket made out of Pillow Box Dies. I thought that bucket would look wonderful as a Christmas basket too.

I cut my pillow boxes out of Real Red Cardstock. The patterned paper is from the Merry Moments Designer paper pack. The handle slot was punched with the Horizontal Slot Punch and the handle itself was attached with Silver Jumbo Brads.

The sentiment is from the Level 2 Hostess set Christmas Punch. It was stamped in Chocolate chip ink on Very Vanilla. The damask image from Friends 24-7 was stamped over it in second generation Old Olive. I cut out the image right around the oval border, layered it on a Wide Oval Punch-out in Chocolate Chip and a Real Red Scallop Oval that had been cut with Oval Nestabilities. To finish it off I added a bow with Old Olive Grosgrain ribbon.

 Here is a video for the visual learner:

Here is the last Shimmery Resist sample I had made for the Cinncinati regional. Shannon suggested I show something other then Christmas projects, so I pulled out the skull image (LOVE THAT ONE) from the Stampin’ Up! set From the Crypt.

Since I dont’ have the sample anymore, I won’t be able to give you the exact measurements. Sorry. I stamped the skull in Black Craft ink on Cast-a-Spell Designer Paper and embossed it with clear embossing powder. Next I rubbed Shimmery Paint all over. It was adhered to a slightly bigger piece of Whisper White. The edges were distressed and paper pierced.

The box was cut with the Big Shot die Fancy Favor Box out of Cast-a-Spell Designer Paper.  The Black Grosgrain Ribbon handle was attached through two Jumbo Eyelets. The bat from From the Crypt was stamped in Black Stazon on Whisper White cardstock, cut out and attached to the box with dimensionals.

The sentiment is from the set Teeny, Tiny Wishes. It was stamped in Black Craft ink, embossed with clear embossing powder and sponged over with Shimmery paint. Then the greeting was punched out with the Window Word punch and layered on a Basic Black Modern Label Punch-out.

Today’s tutorial was written and filmed by Lydia Fiedler. I created the paper with drink napkins I found at Target.

Week before last the Limited Supply Challenge was to create a card with the 2 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ strip of cardstock that you have leftover when you cut two 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ strips (for square cards) out of a sheet of cardstock. You can imagine how many I have of those. LOL

I combined both the technique for today as well as the challenge to create this little card.

There is actually no stamping done on this card. The napkin/background paper measures 1 1/2″ x 2 1/2″. I added a Whisper White cardstock strip underneath that had been punched with the Eyelet Border punch. Blue Taffeta Ribbon had been tied on the top of the background paper.

The sentiment is from the Rubon pack Chit Chat. The flower center was punched out of another napkin/background piece with the 1″ circle punch. The 1 1/4″ circle always seems too big to layer the 1″ circle on, so I cut a Chocolate Chip circle with my Circle Nestabilities. Both circles were adhered to a flower from the Pretties kit. That was taped to the card base with dimensionals.

Have a wonderful day! I hope you come back tomorrow and start blog hopping with me.

This card is almost the same as yesterdays. All the measurements and paper are the same except for the main image. I stamped it in Shimmery Paint on Whisper White cardstock. Once it dried, I sponged over Dasher with Real Red ink. Then I added Snowflakes from Serene Snowflakes over it in Real Red.

I can’t decide which one I like better. Sometimes it’s pale dasher, sometimes it’s his chocolate brother. I do like the softness of this card.

Have a wonderful day! Hugs and smiles

I created a tutorial for another way of playing with Shimmery Paint: Shimmery Resist. I uploaded it today on Splitcoast.

My card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Chocolate chip cardstock folded in half. Next is a 3 15/16″ square of Whisper White followed by a 3 3/4″ square of Christmas Cocoa Specialty Paper. The edges of the paper were paper pierced.

For the main image I stamped Dasher in Chocolate Chip Craft ink on a 2 1/2″ square of Real Red cardstock and embossed it with clear embossing powder. Next I brushed Shimmery Paint all over with a the cardstock and stamped Snowflakes from the Serene Snowflake set over it with Shimmery Paint.

I buffed the image with a paper towel. It was layered on a 1/4″ bigger piece of Whisper White cardstock. The top right corner was paper pierced and a ribbon slot was added on the lower right. I threaded Organza ribbon through the slot, adhered the image with dimensionals to a 3 1/4″ Chocolate Chip square and tied my ribbon into a bow. The bottom edge had been punched with the Eyelet Border punch.

The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishesand is stamped in Chocolate chip craft ink on Real Red cardstock. It was embossed with clear embossing powder and punched out with the large oval punch. I stamped a snowflake from Serene Snowflakes over it with Shimmery Paint and layered it on a Whisper White Scallop Oval Punch-out. The sentiment was adhered to the card with dimensionals.

Here is a video for the visual learner:

I will post the other card shown in the video tomorrow.

Have a wonderful day! Hugs and smiles

Before the new IDA came out, I was asked to demo at the Cinncinati regional. I was very excited as well as a little apprehensive in what to show. I decided to play with Shimmery Paint and come up with a few cool uses. After the IDA came out, I called and said I wouldn’t be going. I didn’t feel right demoing for everyone when I might not sign the IDA. So I will be sharing the samples here.

For this candle, I mixed the white Shimmery Paint with Chocolate Chip Reinker, applied it to my ink and stamped it onto my tissue paper. The stamp is from the Stampin’ Up! set Friends 24-7.

 I have a few more samples created with Shimmery Paint that I can share over the next few days.

Have a wonderful Sunday!  Hugs and smiles