fresh & fun

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.

Okay…another last minute stamping! I seem to thrive on that. I just finished my sample. I have to run to get Rebecca to school, then meet my neighbor for a walk. I will take a better picture and write about all the details when I get back.

I loved the color combo on this dress!

Okay…so after my walk I went to cool down (translated that means stop sweating and panting like a DOG!) in the backyard with my book and stayed there until noon.

After that it was time for a shower and then time to make cookies. Since the kids were off yesterday, they got their Monday cookies today.

I still haven’t taken a better picture (my neighbor came over to hang out and we just chatted) but I can tell you more about the card.

The card base is a piece of 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Basic Gray cardstock folded in half.

Under my 3″ x 5 1/2″ strip of Jersey Shore Designer Paper I added first an 1/8″ wide layer of River Rock, then another Whisper White layer of that width on the top of that paper. Underneath I added River Rock and White layers again, only did I scallop the white layer with my Long scallop Rectangle Nestabilities.

I stamped the sentiment from Bursting with Joyin River Rock on a 1 7/8″ x 2 1/2″ piece of Whisper White cardstock and again in Basic Gray on a scrap piece of Whisper White. I punched the gray sentiment out with my small oval punch and layered it over the River Rock stamped layer.  Then I layered that first on a Bashful Blue rectangle, then on a scallop rectangle that was cut with a rectangle Nestabilities die template. I paper pierced the edges of the white layer as well as the white oval.

I wrapped Striped Bashful Blue Ribbon around the card base and layers before attaching the sentiment with dimensionals. Over the knot of the ribbon I added two 1/2″ Bashful Blue circles, followed by 1/4″ Basic Gray circles and silver brads.

For my accent I stamped the medaillon from Boho Background four times all with Basic Gray ink. Once on Whisper White, once on Pumpkin Pie, once on River Rock and one more time on Basic Gray. I punched the Basic Gray medaillon out with the scallop circle punch, the River Rock with 1 3/8″ circle punch, the Pumpkin pie with the 1″ circle punch and cut the flower out of the medaillon stamped on white cardstock. I adhered them all on top of each other and added an Ice circle Rhinestone brad in the center.

Today this card of mine was on the Stamper’s Showcase on the demonstrator part of the Stampin’ Up! website.

I hadn’t sent anything in to SU in a long time. I think this is the only thing this year so far. It was a swap card of mine.

It was nice to see a card of mine up there. Thanks to everyone who saw it and commented on it.

Hugs and smiles

Don’t you love that word? Thumping. I don’t know why, I think it’s a cool word. Another word I like to say is WHACK. For this technique you ink up your stamp, don’t stamp but turn it rubber side up. Now WHACK it with a darker shade of marker. That’s Thumping. LOL

You can see a step by step tutorial today on Splitcoast. I made this card while taking pictures of the tutorial.

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Certainly Celery cardstock folded in half.

I inked up the Pretty Petals background with Certainly Celery ink and WHACKED it with my Not Quite Navy Marker.

Next I huffed (breathed heavily) on it and stamped it on a 3 1/2″ square of Whisper White cardstock. The top two corners were punched with the ticket corner punch and it was layered on a 1/4″ bigger piece of Not Quite Navy cardstock. That layer also had the top two corners punched. A double photo corner (with ticket corner punched points) was added to the top left and white brads finished the corner off.

I added scallops with my corner rounder to a 5/8″ x 3 3/4″ strip of Not Quite Navy and paper pierced a hole in each scallop. That strip was adhered to the lower half of the front and Wild Wasabi Double Stitched ribbon was tied around both layers.

The sentiment is from the Occasional Mini catalog set Full of Life. It’s stamped in Not Quite Navy on Whisper White. I cut the sentiment out with my Nestabilities oval and dry embossed that layer as well with the same template (YOU NEED NESTABILITIES!!!). It was layered on a Wild Wasabi oval cut with the next size Nestabilities die. I added a white gel pen border to that. Last is a scallop oval out of Not Quite Navy cardstock. You guessed it. Cut with Nestabilities.

I paper pierced a line underneath my sentiment and added a tiny butterfly from the Pretty Petals background (stamped the same way as the background before, but outlined with the marker as well before stamping) on the top right. I used my Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust Pen on that butterfly, then while the pen lines were still wet smeared them with my finger to make the lines less pronounced. (The pens are not quite clear, but have a silvery shine otherwise.)

The sentiment layers were attached with dimensionals to the White/Not quite Navy layers, which in turn were adhered with dimensionals to the card base.

 Now…get your markers out and start whacking your inked up stamps. It works well with solid images or images that are mostly solid, but with fine details. I love to WHACK (maybe I should rename the technique WHACKING. LOL) the Kind Thoughts butterfly.

If you decide to try it out, post a link to your card here. I wanna see it. Plus….I will raffle away one Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pen. Every card entry counts as one Raffle entry.

Limited Supply challenge was super easy two weeks ago. All we had to do is make a card that was smaller then 4 1/4″. I love small cards. I hadn’t used my Essence of Love set much, so I knew I wanted to use that. After seeing Silke Ledlow color her Pretty Petals background stamp, I knew I wanted to do the same with this stamp.

I started out by inking the flower with a Fantastix and Wasabi reinker as well as Pumpkin Pie and Ruby Red markers.

After I had it all inked up, I sprayed it carefully with my misting bottle and stamped it on a 2 3/4″ Soft Sky cardstock square. I had to cut it down 1/8″ because the end of the stamp was showing a bit on the bottom. That didn’t look too good.

Next I sponged the top edges with Soft Sky and the bottom with Wild Wasabi. Then I highlighted parts of the image with white gel pen. The image was layered on a 1/4″ bigger piece of sponged Chocolate Chip cardstock. Then I paper pierced the edges of the main image.

The card base is a 3 3/4″ x 7 1/2″ piece of Ruby Red cardstock. It was stamped first with Twill background, then with Baroque Motifs swirls. The card front edges were first sponged with Ruby Red, then with Chocolate Chip.

The main image square was attached to the card base with dimensionals. The sentiment was stamped on Shimmery White. I used my corner rounder to round the end of the strip. The strip was first sponged with Pumpkin Pie, then with Ruby Red and last really softly with Chocolate Chip.

Wild Wasabi Double Stitched ribbon was attached with a piece of Aged Copper Hodgepodge Hardware.

I used this card for the tutorial on SCS today. It’s a basic and easy technique. The more you mist, the more the ink will run.

Vickie Maduzia came up with a super cute and easy treat holder last year. It is today’s tutorial on splitcoast.

They are super easy and fast to make!

Here is the recipe for my sample:

Stamps: A good Egg, So Many Scallops and Fast Flower wheel

Ink: Brown Stazon; Classic inks: So Saffron, Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie and Wild Wasabi

Paper: Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron and Shimmery White

Acc.: Corner rounder, Chocolate Poly-Twill Ribbon, Aqua Painter, 1 1/4″, 1 3/8″ and scallop circle punches, dimensionals, small chocolate

I love how the chocolate peeks out!

Vickie always has great ideas!

Try it out! These cuties don’t take long to make.

Add a link in the comment section if you make one so I can check it out!

I would loved to see your version!

I have lots of errands to run today. Let’s hope that migraine doesn’t come back. Rebecca still has a slight fever, but wants to go to school. I gave her medicine and will check temperature again before it’s time for school. If the fever is gone by then, I will let her go. Thank you all for your well wishes! You are the best!

Hugs and smiles

Today’s Holiday Blitz tutorial on Splitcoast is a Party Favor Box.  I made mine a little bit different.

I had seen this version in the book “A Season of Joy” by MakingMemories.

It’s a wonderful book with a lot of great ideas.

I got the idea for the Avent Calendar from there as well.

If you are interested in how to make this version, click on more for a step-by-step tutorial.

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Sharon Harnist asked me to use the card kit we got at regional and make a card with it other then the one suggested by Stampin’ Up!. We supposed to use all the pieces that were given in the kit. We could exchange the set (SU used True Friends) and add additional cardstock and supplies.

Read Sharon’s challenge post here. 

The card base is a 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Basic Gray folded in half.

The 2 1/2″ Soft Sky cardstock square was stamped with the Close as a Memory Flower in Going gray and sponged in the same color. I highlighted the flower edges with a white gel pen and added a silver brad in each flower center.

The edges were distressed with the cutter kit and paper pierced.

It was layered on a 2 1/2″ sponged and distressed Basic Gray cardstock square.

The 2 1/4″ x 4″ Purely Pomegranate carstock piece was sponged, stamped with the Happiness stripes, paper pierced and taped down. Then Faux Stitching was added with the Argyle stamp from All in a Row.

The ribbon from the Sherbert Ribbon Originals was stapled over the Pomegranate layer.

The saying is from Circle of Friendship. I stamped it with Basic Gray on Whisper White cardstock, punched it out with the 1″ circle punch and sponged it with Soft Sky Ink. I stamped it again on white and punched out the center with the 1/2″ circle punch. I taped the smaller circle in the center of the bigger one and layered them first on a distressed and sponged Basic Gray circle (handcut), then on a 1 1/4″ Purely Pomegranate circle.

Make sure you check out Sharon’s gorgeous card. She lists other challenge stamper in her post!

Yesterday’s Featured stamper was Carol Burrage. I had a great time browsing through her gallery and admiring her work.

I decided to case this card. I kept the size, the layout and I chose the colors of my card by the colors in the ribbon. I also repeated my greeting underneath my images.

I changed the colors and the set I used.

I started out by looking through my ribbon and finding a multicolored one that would work for this card. I picked one from a multi ribbon pack from Papermania.

From the ribbon I knew that I wanted to use Bravo Burgundy, So Saffron and More Mustard.

Since I just got this set at Portland and haven’t used it yet, I pulled out So Much. I stamped five flowers in Black Stazon on Shimmery White, colored two with So Saffron, two with Bravo Burgundy and one with More Mustard refills and Aqua painter and cut them out.

Next I added Pewter Jumbo Eyelets in each center and then a Fire Circle Rhinestone brad in those eyelets.

The card base is a 8″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Bravo Burgundy folded in half. The two circle stamps from So Much were stamped all over the card front and the edges were sponged.

The More Mustard layer measures 3″ x 7 1/2″ and the edges were sponged. Black brads were added to each corner.

It was layered with a 2 3/4″ x 7 1/4″ piece of So Saffron. The edges were punched with the ticket corner punch. The Faux Stitching was stamped with the All in a Row stamp and Basic Black ink.

The top layer is a 2 1/2″ x 7″ piece of Shimmery White cardstock, with punched corners. I used Mellow Moss reinker and aqua painter to color it’s center and paper pierced the edges.

I stamped the sentiment from So Much three times on the bottom of the page and added four black brads in between and on the outside of the sentiments. The flowers were adhered with dimensionals.

I woke up and did today’s Inspiration challenge right away.

The inspiration piece was a painted Gourd (okay…never even heard THAT word before. Is the word for  this particular  shaped vase?).

I loved the colors and shapes it had. I wrote down medaillon, scallops and for a color combo: Basic black, Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel/More Mustard and a tad of gray (under the medaillon)

I thought of Baroque Motifs right away when I looked at the center piece. But when I pulled the set out, the Medaillon piece didn’t quite fit.

So I stamped it three times in Ruby Red on Caramel Shimmery Paper. Remember the trip to the Paper Zone I took in Portland. Well…we didn’t have much time, but I did buy Caramel, Ivory and White Shimmery Paper. Along with a cool book and a tool kit from Making Memories.

Anway….after I cut all three images out leaving only the four large leaves standing. I layered them on top of each other with dimensionals, punched a hole with my Crop-a-dile and added a Pewter Jumbo Eyelet with a Fire Circle Rhinestone center.

I taped the medaillon on Basic Gray cardstock and outlined the edges.

Okay…so sometimes when I design stuff I don’t think things through. After I had done all this, the caramel leaves looked to pale. I sponged them with More Mustard to make them look more vibrant.

I cut a black circle with my Coluzzle, paper pierced the edges and taped my center piece right in the middle.

My card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Basic Black cardstock folded in half.

I corner rounded the edges on the right hand side.

I did the same with my next layer, a 4″ Ruby Red square.

I sponged the entire square and stamped the swirl image from Baroque Motifs over it. I added Cherish in Black Stazon on the bottom right corner.

After I did all that I thought about how to finish the card off.  The layout for this weekend’s sketch challenge looked perfect with it.

For the horizontal part I cut a piece of Caramel shimmery paper to 2″ x 3″. I sponged it with More Mustard, added scallops with the corner rounder and stamped the Linen background over it.

This was layered on a 2″ x 3″ piece of Black cardstock. Black brads were added in the center of the first four scallops and Gray Taffeta ribbon was tied around the cardstock layers. I adhered the circle and the horizontal stip with dimensionals.

I stamped! I stamped this morning!

Since I was such a slacker all week, I made a card to match the color challenge as well as the limited supply challenge this week on SCS along with my weekend sketch challenge.

I started with a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Purely Pomegranate cardstock. The edges were sponged.

Next is a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Holiday Harmony Designer paper. I paper pierced the edges and sanded over them with my sanding block.

I used the big swirl stamp from Brocade Basics and stamped it in Purely Pomegranate on the bottom part of the paper.

The horizontal Designer paper is from the Holiday Harmony pack as well and measures 2 1/2″ x 3 1/2″.

Again I paper pierced and sanded the edges before layering it on a 1/8″ bigger piece of Shimmery White cardstock. I used the Swirl from Brocade Basics again and stamped it on this layer as well.

To make it match up with the swirl on the darker piece of designer paper, I left the 2 1/2″ wide strip longer then 3 1/2″ and cut it down later to have it match.

White Taffeta ribbon was tied around the layer.

I stamped the big flower from Fabulous flowers three times on Shimmery White cardstock. I cut all three out in different sizes and layered them with dimensionals. Then I added sparkle with my Star Dust Stickles. After it dried I attached it to the card with more dimensionals.

I stamped the saying from Warm Words in Purely Pomegranate on a piece of the lighter colored Designer paper and punched it out with the small oval punch. I sanded it’s edges and layered it first on a 1″ shimmery white, paper pierced circle then on a sponged Purely Pomegranate designer label punchout.

I really wanted to add Clear Rhinestone brads from the Pretties kit in the center of the tiny shimmery white flower. I had punched it out with the Three for you punch. But the Limited supply challenges did NOT list hardware as embellishment. Only ribbon. So I added a Purely pomegranate center, sponged the flowers edges and added more Star Dust Stickles.