fresh & fun

AJ challenged me last week to create a two layer card. Well….I couldn’t quite make it happen unless you say my card is two layers plus card base.

My card base is a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Kraft cardstock. It was partially embossed with the Swirl Cuttlebug Embossing folder. The embossed swirls were highlighted with Snow Cap Adirondack ink. Celery Silk ribbon was tied underneath.

The sentiment as well as the main image are from Unity’s February KOTM. The sentiment was stamped underneath the ribbon in Rich Cocoa Memento ink. Red Kaisercraft Rhinestones were added to the left of it.

The main image was also stamped in Rich Cocoa on Solar White Neenah Cardstock. It was cut out with Classic Rectangle Nestabilities and first airbrushed, then colored with Copic Markers. To finish off the image I stitched a border around it and added a tiny bit of white Satin ribbon (Stampin’ Up!) with a Basic Grey brad on the top right. Underneath the image I placed a scalloped, sanded and stitched circle cut out of SEI patterned paper with Classic Circle Nestabilities.

Make sure to check out all the other amazing Friends with Flair entries. You can find a list of all participants on the Unity blog.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Another VSN challenge this weekend was to create a Free Standing Pop-Up card. I always forget about this card fold and was happy to participate.

My centerpiece was cut with Long Rectangle Nestabilities out of Chocolate chip cardstock. It was cut down to 5″ and sponged with Walnut Stain Distress ink. A 2 13/16″ x 4 3/4″ piece of Whisper White cardstock was embossed with the Cuttlebug Argyle Embossing Folder and sponged with Linen Distress ink. It was stitched to the Chocolate Scallop layer.

The medallion stamp from Verve’s Accent Notes was stamped in Forest Moss Distress ink on Whisper White cardstock. It was cut out Label 1 Nestabilities and sponged with Crushed Olive Distress ink (yes….my new Distress ink colors arrived and I absolutely LOVE them!).  The sentiment is from the same Verve set. It was stamped in Walnut Stain Distress ink on white cardstock, cut out with Circle Nestabilities, sponged with Crushed Olive and Forest Moss ink and then layered on a slightly bigger chocolate scallop circle.. The sentiment was adhered to the center of the medallion image. That layer was adhered to a scallop square that had been cut with Square Nestabilities. To finish this layer off, Hero Arts Pearls were added to the medallion. The centerpiece was adhered to the long tag with dimensionals.

The card base was created out of a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Old Olive cardstock. The entire piece was stamped with one of the square images of the Accent note stamp set in Forest Moss, then sponged all around. White Satin May Arts ribbon was tied around the base and a double flower (bigger flower from Stampin’ Up!, smaller flower from Prima. Brad from Recollections) was adhered on the left side of the base.

Have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by! Hugs and smiles

 Here is my video tutorial for the Free Standing Pop-Up card:

Last Friday and Saturday was Virtual Stamp Night (VSN) at Splitcoaststampers. I actually got to participate in some of the challenge. I am not good stamping at night, I am a early morning person,…..but I did create a card for the first challenge on Friday. It was a sketch challenge. You can find the challenge thread here.

All stamps on this card are from Unity’s February 2010 KOM. I stamped the tree and bird first in Rich Cocoa Memento Ink on  Gina K Luxury Ivory cardstock . It was cut out with Nestabilities Label 1. While leaving the die still on the cardstock, I airbrushed the cardstock with Copic Marker BG72, the grass with  Copic Marker YG93. I then stamped the images again in Rich Cocoa ink, this time on Cosmo Cricket Early Bird Paper, cut them out and mounted them on my main image with dimensionals. The outer edges and diamond wedges of the tree were colored with copic Marker YG93 before Lime Green Stickles was added. The bird center was topped with Diamond Stickles.

The card base is a 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Chocolate chip cardstock folded in half. The edges of the card front were sponged with Walnut Stain distress ink. A 3 3/4″ x 5″ piece of Early Bird Paper was stitched to a 3/16 bigger piece of Baja Breeze. On top of that three more pieces of Early Bird Paper were added. The wider pieces measure 1 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ the narrow strip measures 7/8″ x 3 1/4″.

To add a little something something, I added a small strip of lace (Walmart) on the upper edge of the lower rectangle, topped with a Recollection brad (Michaels). One the top left Rhinestones from Kaisercraft were added, the rhinestones on the right hand side are Tiny Twinkles.

The sentiment is also from February’s KOM and was stamped with Rich Cocoa Memento Ink. I messed it up a bit, but I thought it would still work.

Have a wonderful day! Hugs and smiles

Today Taylor is posting her 100th sketch challenge. While I stopped creating sketch challenge due to the time it takes to create the sketches and comment on all the entries, I think I will start participating in Taylors Sketch challenges. I miss creating cards for challenges.

The sketch is just up my alley. Although it’s not a square, it has lots of circles! I love circles and ovals on my card. Of course  I had to change the sketch just a tiny bit. I flipped it over and scooted those three brad circles down…and added more then three. But other then that…well, and a sentiment oval on the bottom, other then that I was pretty true to the sketch.

My card base is a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Chocolate chip cardstock folded in half. The edges of the card front were sponged with Walnut Stain Distress ink. A 3 3/4″ x 5″ piece of My Mind’s Eye Dreamy 2 Patterned Paper was layered on the 3/16″ bigger piece of Whisper White cardstock. The Dreamy 2 horizontal strip measures 1 1/2″ x 3 3/4″. A strip of lace (Walmart) was sewn to the bottom edge of the strip. A Prima Flower and different sized Rhinestone gems (Bo Bunny, Kaisercraft and Tiny Twinkles) add finish to the top right of the strip.

The half circle is also a piece of Dreamy 2 patterned paper. It was cut and embossed with Circle Nestabilities before it was stitched to  top layers. A white organdy bow was taped to the upper part of that layer with glue dots.

For the main layer a circle was cut out of yet another piece of Dreamy 2 patterned paper with Circle Nestabilities. It was sponged with Mustard Seed and Vintage Photo Distresss ink before it was layered on a sponged scallop Chocolate Chip circle. The edges of the circle were paper pierced.

The Dragonfly is from Taylor’s  set Discover your Wings. It was stamped twice in Rich Cocoa Memento Ink on Neenah White cardstock,colored with Copic Markers (YG21, YG23, YG25, BG05, BG09) and cut out. The layers were adhered on top of each other with dimensionals holding the wings up. Then it was adhered to the Circle layers with more dimensionals. To make it look more like a dragonfly Stardust stickles was added over the swirl lines of the wings and the entire body was covered in Glossy Accents.

The sentiment is also from the set Discover your Wings. It was stamped in Rich Cocoa on Dreamy 2 patterned paper and punched out with Stampin’ Up!’s small oval punch. The edges were sponged with Mustard Seed and Vintage Photo before it was layered on a large oval punch-out of Dreamy 2 paper.  Tiny Twinkles were added under the sentiment for more sparkle.

I hope you have a wonderful day! Stay warm! Hugs and smiles

Finally I can say I made a card in 15 minutes. LOL….But only because I already had the snowflake medallion sitting on my desk ready to go. I don’t know what I will stamp after Christmas is over. I LOVE making Christmas cards. And with snow in Texas and our forecast calling for cold with a possibility of snow, I thought this card was perfect for today. Of course I had to change the sketch up a bit and turn it into a square. It’s almost a sickness. LOL

My card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Chocoloate Chip cardstock folded in half.  A 3 5/8″ square of Bo bunny paper was punched with Martha Stewart’s Deco Shells border punch and sewn to a 3 7/8″ Whisper White square.

The sentiment is from Verve’s Snow Wonderful and was stamped in Rich Cocoa Memento ink directly onto the Bo Bunny Paper. Red May Arts Silk ribbon was tied around both layers before they were attached to the card base with dimensionals.

The snowflake medallion was cut with Spellbinders Create a Flake 1, sponged with Willow Adirondack ink and topped with Shard Glass Vintage Glitter.

The inside is pretty simple. A 1 1/4″ x 3 7/8″ piece of Bo Bunny Paper was sewn to a slightly wider strip of Real Red cardstock that had been punched with the Deco Shells Border punch. The white square measures 3 7/8″.

Have a wonderful Friday! Stay warm (my space heater is working overtime!). Hugs and smiles

I recently stopped by Stamp Happens and found ordered some Bo Bunny Paper. Oh my….I want it all! It came yesterday and I had to use a sheet right away for today’s sketch sample.

My card base is a 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock folded in half. It was sponged with Walnut Stain Distress ink. And yes…that one of my new favorite dark browns. I love Distress inks. They stay we a bit longer. That makes them PERFECT for sponging…and you know I like sponging! LOL

Anyway…. The edges of a 3 3/4″ x 5″ piece of Bo Bunny paper were sanded, distressed and sponged with Old Paper Distress ink before it was stitched to a 3 15/16″ x 5 3/16″ piece of Red Ridinghood  cardstock that had been sponged with Fired Brick. The edges had been distressed as well.

I cut five 7/8″ squares of Riding Hood Red cardstock squares, sponged them with Fired Brick ink and stamped Verve’s Frosty Flakes in the same color randomly all over. The squares were taped to a 1 1/4″ x 5″ strip of Whisper White cardstock that had been punched with Stampin’ Up!’s Eyelet Border punch and sponged with Old paper Distress ink. To add a little a bit more brown to that part, I stitched a straight edge in brown thread.

The sentiment is also from Verve’s Frosty Flakes. It was stamped in Walnut Stain ink on Whisper White cardstock. It was cut out with Nestabilities Double Ended Tags and sponged with Old Paper ink. I created another Snowflake Medallion with Create a flake one Spellbinder dies, adhered it to one side of the label and a bit of chocolate Taffeta ribbon on the other end.

To finish the card off I added a few Rhinestones from Basic Grey in the center of the snowflakes.

Have a wonderful day! Hugs and smiles

Sorry my sample for the challenge is a bit late. I didn’t get work on it until 8:30 a.m. (EST) in the morning and I am not the fastest stamper. I did know I wanted to use My Mind’s Eye “The Merry Days of Christmas” Paper to tie this card in with today’s Holiday blitz Tutorial sample. I will post that a little bit later.

I started with stamping the tree from Verve’s Christmas in the Air once on White cardstock, then two times each on two different greens from the My Mind’s Eye paper pack. I cut the white tree out completely. The green tree tops were cut out one a bit shorter then the next. They were layered on my white tree. The edges were sponged with Walnut Stain Distress ink.

The blue layer underneath was cut with Label 8 Nestabilities dies from The Merry Days of Christmas paper. The edges were slightly sponged with Walnut Stain ink. Chocolate chip cardstock was cut with the next size up label 8 die and sponged with Walnut stain ink. I punched a whole with the Crop-a-dile and tied white Taffeta Ribbon through it. The blue layer was adhered to the chocolate cardstock with dimensionals, the tree with dimensionals on the blue layer. Tiny Twinkles on the lower right corner finish off the main image.

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Core’dinations cardstock folded in half.  My patterned paper pieces measure 1 1/2″ square, 1 1/2″ x 2 1/4″, 1 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ and 2 1/2″ x 3 1/4″. They were layered on a sponged 3 15/16″ x 5 3/16″ piece of Chocolate chip cardstock. The edges were stitched by machine.

The sentiment is also from the new set Christmas is in the Air. It was stamped on the bottom right with Walnut Stain Distress ink.

 I will be back a bit later with today’s tutorial sample. 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

When I saw last week’s color challenge I thought I could use the color combo for recreating another old tutorial of mine: Serigraph. It’s fun to revisit these old tutorials and try to come up with a new sample.

The card base is a 4 1/2″ x 9″ piece of cardstock from Core’dinations Chocolate Box Collection folded in half. The background was created with Distress ink Colors: Old Paper, Worn Lipstick and Fired Brick. The stamps used were Verve’s Happiness Found and Harvest Blessings.

The background base is a 3 13/16″ square of Whisper White cardstock. It was layered on a 4″ Whisper White square and was stitched to it. The strip on the side was cut and embossed with Spellbinders Harvest Border out of the same Core’dination cardstock as the base. It was sanded and taped to the side. 1″ Wide Organdy Ribbon was taped around it. The bow was made with Bow-Easy.

For the sentiment I cut Whisper White cardstock with Spellbinders Label 4. It was sponged first with Old Paper, then with a hint of Worn Lipstick. Leaves were stamped over it in Old Paper and second generation Worn Lipstick before the sentiment was stamped in Vintage Photo. The leave is a punchout from the Harvest Border Borderabilities.

The inside of the card is rather simple. I love that the Core’dination cardstock from the Chocolate Box collection has a different core then it’s front. Here it’s a soft red that went perfectly with my leave colors. The leave on top is stamped in Worn Lipstick and is from the stamp set Harvest Blessings. The two leaves on the bottom are punchouts from the Harvest Border.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!

Here is a video for the visual learner:

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.