Tri-shutter card with reinker splash

I made this card for a friend's daughter for her confirmation. It uses 2 really cool techniques: the tri-shutter card and reinker splash. I'll include the basic directions for both, but for details on the tri-shutter card, check out this thread on SCS. Patty Bennett has a great video for reinker splash too (she calls it watercolor rose).
This is the tri-shutter card open and standing.

Here it is laid down so you can see all of the panels better. The circle on the front as well as all of the butterflies were made using reinker splash.

Here's how the card looks closed. To make the tri-shutter card, start with a 5 1/2 X 12 piece of cardstock. Score it at 2", 4", 8" and 10". Turn it 90 degrees then measure in 1 1/2" from each side and cut from the first score line to the last score line.

For the reinker splash technique, you need to start with shimmery white cardstock. From what I've read, no other cardstock works nearly as well. Stamp your image with versamark or craft ink and emboss it with white EP. (As you can see on the right, I tried it with Not Quite Navy craft ink and clear EP, but the colors didn't pop as much. I think it would work with an image with more open area.) Spray the cardstock liberally with water; you want pools of water. Then pick up some reinker with an aquapainter and touch it inside the image. It will fill in one of the pools of water inside the embossing. You can go back and add more color or even add a different color to part of the same area. Just experiment. Then you need to let it dry. This can take 30 minutes or longer. (The above photo is when it was still wet.)
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Dreams du Jour, God's Way; Paper: Kiwi Kiss textured, Whisper White, Not Quite Navy, shimmery white, Urban Garden DSP; Ink: Basic Gray, VersaMark, Kiwi Kiss, Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze; Accessories: Pretties Kit, Flower Fusion Too, circle scissors, cutter kit, Styled Silver HPH, white EP, sponge, ticket corner punch
Happy stamping!

No stamping required

Here's a card I made this weekend. I'm trying to use up as many of my accessories as I can before the new catalog starts. Less than one week before the Last Chance lists come out! Wow!
The base of this card is the bronze cardstock from A Taste of Textiles. I wish you could see how awesome this paper is IRL! For something a little different, I made it a matchbook card. The DSP is Urban Oasis matted on the black linen texture CS (also from A Taste of Textiles).
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: None; Paper: A Taste of Textiles, Urban Oasis DSP; Ink: none; Accessories: staple, Valet Ribbon Originals, Fashion District rubons
Happy stamping!

Faux pinwheel card

Last week's workshop wow demo challenge was the faux pinwheel card. Check out Lyssa's great tutorial here. Lyssa is a fellow SU demonstrator as well as a fellow Gone with the Wind fan!
For my card, I wanted to step it up a notch by adding some tone-on-tone embossing to half of my squares. I'm trying to use up as much of my In Color stuff as I can, so I chose a DSP that was Riding Hood Red and Pink Pirouette. My squares are 1 1/2". Lyssa used a punch for hers, but I decided to cut mine so the patterns would be cut straight. (Yes, I know it's an illness...) You can change the look of the pinwheel by changing the size of the squares and also by using contrasting colors rather than the tone-on-tone look I've used here.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Boho Backgrounds, Sanded, Heard from the Heart; Paper: Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, Candy Lane DSP; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, VersaMark; Accessories: 5/16" brad, crafters tool kit, clear EP
Happy stamping!

Quick card

This week's demonstratable card challenge was to make a monochromatic card using DSP (to highlight the Buy 3 Get 1 Free special for DSP and textured cardstock that SU is offering this month).
Mine was a super quick card that I made in about 20 minutes. I think 10 of that was figuring out what to do and using the heat gun twice! In fact, I made the card so fast that my layer measurements were off as you can see by looking at the top and bottom of the card.
For the focal image, I stamped the flower from Inspired by Nature in Creamy Caramel craft ink right onto the DSP and heat set it. Then I stamped the grass from the same set in Chocolate Chip craft ink and heat set it. The rest of the card is pretty straightforward.
TIP: The ticket corner punch is a great way to add a quick and easy special touch to your card. It's my most used punch!
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Inspired by Nature, Oval All, Cute and Curly; Paper: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Candy Lane DSP; Ink: Chocolate Chip classic and craft, Creamy Caramel craft; Accessories: heat gun, ticket corner punch, curly label punch, large oval punch
Happy stamping!

Summery Citrus Card

This card combines 2 challenges from SCS. It uses Brenda's wonderful WICKED sketch as well as last week's color combo. I definitely would not have chosen Summer Sun, Only Orange and Kiwi Kiss on my own! In fact, this may be the first time I've ever used Summer Sun cardstock. I decided to keep the card simple since the colors are so eye-popping.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks; Paper: Whisper White, Summer Sun, Only Orange, Kiwi Kiss, Urban Oasis DSP; Ink: Summer Sun, Only Orange, Kiwi Kiss; Accessories: photo corner punch, sponge
Happy stamping!

Color blocking

I made this card for last week's demonstratable card challenge. It's been a while since I've gotten to do a challenge other than my own, so I was excited! Cav's challenge this week was color blocking. Color blocking is hard for me because I like all of my layers to be precise and even, so it takes me forever! Plus I like things to be symmetrical so I have a hard time getting it to look good in my eyes. I was very happy with how it came out, but I do have several scrap pieces of gray on my desk now in various widths that didn't work out!
I originally wanted the card to be monochromatic, but when I decided on the flowering branch for my focal image, I thought it needed a little pop of color. When I colored the focal image, I inked the whole thing in Pink Pirouette and used markers to color the other colors right over the pink.
Supplies: Stamps: Eastern Blooms, A Beautiful Thing; Paper: Shimmery white, Pink Pirouette, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Going Gray textured; Ink: Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette, Going Gray, Basic Black; Accessories: Basic Gray taffeta ribbon, designer label punch, 1 3/8" circle punch
I know I'm a little crazy, but color blocking always makes me think of the Partridge Family bus! I couldn't help posting that in the challenge thread, so we had a nice discussion about how dreamy David Cassidy was back in the day. (I liked his half brother, Shaun, and Donny Osmond more though.)
While you're surfing the 'Net today, check out my friend Donna's blog. She's a super talented stamper who was the creator of the awesome tag punch starburst, and she introduced me to the dahlia fold as well. I sent her a card a few weeks ago after she was laid off from Stampin' Up ( a great loss!), and she kindly posted it to her blog. One of the things I love about her projects is that she is a wizard with the Big Shot. Since I don't have one, I can live vicariously through her!
Happy stamping!

The same yet different

This card is very similar in layout to the one I posted on Wednesday. I just love the way the layers go all the way up to the fold of the card! I changed up the focal image layer although I kept the color combo and DSP the same. I also added the ticket corner punch to all of the layers including the cardfront. The daisies were inked in Baja Breeze and I used a sponge dauber to add Pacific Point to the flower center.
Supplies: Stamps: Inspired by Nature, Oval All; Paper: Shimmery White, Baja Breeze, Basic Gray, Urban Garden DSP; Ink: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point; Accessories: ticket corner punch, large oval punch, scallop oval punch, sponge dauber
Happy stamping!

Mourning the In Colors

I can't believe that the In Colors will soon be gone, but I'm trying to use up all of my stuff before it retires. I will really miss Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss!
The layout is Jenn Balcer's weekend sketch challenge from May 1st. I thought it was perfect to use the dotted vellum from Taste of Textiles. I just love the way the layers go all the way up to the fold in the card. You'll see that again on the card I'll be posting on Friday.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Le Jardin Botanique; Paper: Confetti White, Basic Gray, Baja Breeze, Taste of Textiles, Urban Garden DSP; Ink: Basic Gray, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Not Quite Navy; Accessories: aquapainter, Valet ribbon originals, sponge
Happy stamping!

Clean and simple window sheet card

Here's another card using the printed window sheets. (Sorry about my reflection in the card, but I can't figure out how to avoid that.) I'm trying to use up as many of my accessories as I can before the new catalog starts on July 1st. This card uses the To the Nines textured DSP as well as the 5/16" jumbo brads. I attached the window sheet to the DSP (this particular sheet is Always Artichoke paisley) and then adhered it to the kraft cardbase with mini glue dots where the brads are and monoadhesive on the rest of the DSP. I stamped the sentiment from Sincere Salutations on the DSP in Chocolate Chip ink.
I think this is neutral enough to send to a man. Do you think so?
Happy stamping!

1-2-3 challenge card

Here's the card I created for this week's workshop wow demo challenge. I gave them a 1-2-3 challenge. They had to use 1 stamp set and 1 sentiment, 2 different techniques, and 3 In Colors and/or 3 accessories.
My stamp set is Dreams du Jour with a sentiment from Sincere Salutations. My techniques are baby wipe and dazzling diamond dust. My 3 In Colors are Baja Breeze, Pacific Point and Riding Hood Red, and my 3 accessories are ribbon (Baja Breeze and Pacific Point), a button (Button Bouquet), and a corduroy brad. I also used the ticket corner punch.
Happy stamping!

One last regional project

Can you believe that I still had one last project to show you from Regional? It's hard to tell from the photo, but this is a treat holder. A cello bag fits inside. I just adore this flower! It's cut out using the Big Shot and a little folder that both cuts and embosses at the same time. We used DSP and then the white part you see is the embossing that is SANDED to reveal the white core of the paper. GENIUS!
Happy stamping!

Thanks from Pauline

My friend Pauline borrowed my Love You Much stamp set and used it to make me a thank-you card. I love seeing Vintage Violet; that was an awesome In Color!

CASEing and using what you have

This is a project that Carrie Cudney demonstrated at the SU Regional using the Circle Scissors Plus. I don't have the Circle Scissors Plus yet (just ordered it!), but I really wanted to make this little pocket card because it was so cute. She used a 6" circle, so I started thinking about what I had already that might work. Then the light bulb came on: Carousel Notes! I'd gotten the Carousel Notes for some reason that I'd quickly forgotten, and I really needed to use them up anyway since they have In Colors (I'll miss you Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss!)

Here's my finished project. Pretty dang cute, huh? Just take your Carousel Note and score it at 1" on 3 sides. Clip out the corners at the bottom to get rid of the bulk. Fold up the bottom and adhere the sides using Sticky Strip so it will hold well. To do the ribbon (I need to practice that more for sure; I think I was too uniform with mine.), I adhered Sticky Strip all the way around the card first for the ribbon to stick to. Because of the way I folded mine, I had to add more adhesive to get it all to stick down. I ran the ribbon flat around the back and then added some SNAIL to the other side of the ribbon to help the folds lay down. (That 2nd side was tricky!) I used the Oval All stamp set and scallop oval punch from the Occasions Mini and adhered that with dimensionals. You just position it to cover where the 3 sides come together.

This is the perfect size for a gift card, and the clip not only would hold the gift card but helps in pulling out the insert.

Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Oval All; Paper: Whisper White, Pacific Point textured, Baja Breeze, Carousel Notes II; Ink: Pacific Point, Baja Breeze; Accessories: clips assortment, scallop oval punch, white satin ribbon

Happy stamping!

May WICKED challenges

Are you an SU demonstrator who spends time on SCS? If so, you'll definitely want to check out this month's WICKED stamper! Each month, an SU demonstrator creates 3 challenges just for other demonstrators. May's challenges are awesome, and you can find them here if you're an SU demo with access to the SCS Demo Forum.
Happy stamping!