Ode to retiring in colors

One of this month's Creative Crew challenges is to use the retiring in colors.  I have to say that this is my favorite set of in colors, and I will miss them!  (Stampin' Up is hinting that some of them might be staying!)

I decided to create a very CAS (clean and simple) card using just one stamp and all 5 of the colors.  I started with a note card and the love stamp from Best of Love.  I stamped the image randomly in all of the colors all over the card front.

Happy stamping!

Jessie's birthday card

I made this card for my friend and co-worker Jessie for her birthday.  I used two Creative Crew challenges as inspiration.  One of this month's challenges is to use one of the retiring in colors.  I chose my favorite, Wisteria Wonder.  The other challenge is to use paper piercing in a new way.  I pierced at the corners and used the holes to make the stitches with Wisteria Wonder bakers twine.

I also tried a new technique for me: chalkboard.  I started with a piece of black cardstock.  I used my embossing buddy to give it a chalky look.  Then I stamped all of my images (all from Best of Birthdays) in white craft ink so they would look like they were drawn with chalk.

Happy stamping!

August Creative Crew card

I made this card for the August Creative Crew challenges on SCS.  The focus here is the DSP along with the brads and buttons.  These colors are just perfect for summer!

Details: the embossed dots on the card echo the dots on the vase and the brad used as a flower.  The bottom of the Island Indigo mat is cut with the Adorning Accents edgelit.

Mama found this layout in either a magazine or catalog.  I thought it was really fun and a bit different!

Happy stamping!

Creative Crew sketch and color challenge

One of the Creative Crew challenges this month was to follow a sketch and use a color combination that was new to us.  My version of the sketch is not exact, mostly because my focal image is bigger than on the sketch.  The color combo I chose is last week's color combo from SCS: Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, and Basic Gray.  The DSP is Twitterpated from the Occasions Mini.  The image is from Uncharted Territory.  It's stamped in white craft ink and embossed with white EP.

Happy stamping.

Creative Crew valentine

I finally got to stamp!  Yay!  This card fulfills two January Creative Crew challenges: use your newest stamp set, and do something new with hearts.

I CASEd this card from my friend Amy (zipperc98) on SCS.  The Crumb Cake piece is actually the card that opens.  The layer behind it is Everyday Enchantment DSP (from Sale-a-bration) attached to Poppy Parade cardstock.  I cut it out with the largest heart framelit (from the Occasions Mini) and sponged the edges with Crumb Cake ink.  This heart is about 5 1/4" wide by about 5" tall.

The cardbase is a heart about 3 1/4" wide.  I took a 7" piece of Crumb Cake cardstock and scored it at 3 1/2".  I stamped the image in white craft ink close to the fold so that when I cut the card with the heart framelit, it would leave a little hinge.  I embossed the image with white EP and colored it with pastels.  The bird's eye is a pearl colored with a black Sharpie.

The finishing touch is a Poppy Parade bow and an antique brad.  (The ribbon is held together by the brad following Mary Brown's tutorial.)

Happy stamping!

Creative Crew sketch #2

Here's my "everyday" card using the same sketch and the Holly Berry Bouquet DSP.  You'd never know it was meant to be Christmas paper!  That's a big help to me in my annual quest to use up all of my holiday DSP throughout the year.

I got my Occasions Mini and Sale-a-Bration preorder box this week, so I'm hoping to play this weekend and post some sneak peeks next week!

Happy stamping!

August Creative Crew challenge card #1

Here's the card I made for Ray for our 6-month anniversary.  It fulfills two of the August Creative Crew challenges: to use the paper-piercing tool and to use colors from Pocketful of Posies DSP.  I chose Rich Razzleberry, Early Espresso, Baja Breeze and Pear Pizzazz.

I stamped the images from Inspired by Nature onto Baja Breeze cardstock then embossed it with the Square Lattice embossing folder.  I used the ticket corner punch on that layer and the Early Espresso mat.  I stamped the flowers again onto Baja Breeze, cut out the big flower and popped up the image over the embossed piece; I got this idea from Renee at Stamping for Sanity.

The sentiment is from a retired Mini set called In a Word.  I used two different markers to highlight the word "us".  For the ribbon, I cut a slit in the Razzleberry ribbon to feed through the other end then tied it off with Early Espresso narrow taffeta ribbon.

Happy stamping!

Vintage distressed baby card

My pastor's wife is having a baby soon, and her baby shower is Wednesday.  This is the card I made.  It's not babyish, but the card's really for the mom, right?  She's having a girl, so I chose Blushing Bride as the main color.  I kept the rest of the card neutral so I could use it for this month's Creative Crew color challenge: neutral with a splash of color.
I also wanted the card to be distressed and vintage-y.  (Distressing is one of the other challenges this month, plus I just got the distressing kit and haven't used it yet.)  A month or so ago, I used Diana Gibbs' tutorial to create the piece on the bottom half of the card.  I think she called it Bisque Pottery.  You ink the emobssing folder with Crumb Cake and then run it through the Big Shot with vanilla cardstock in it.  Cool look isn't it?  The top piece is a retired DSP.  Sorry I don't remember the name.  It was just black and white, so I sponged it with Blushing Bride and then Crumb Cake.  Adding the Crumb Cake made all the difference!  Each of those 2 pieces is 1 7/8 X 5.  The black layer is 4 X 5 1/4, and the card base is Blushing Bride.
The black scalloped piece started out 1 1/2 X 5 1/2 before punching with the scallop border punch.  Then I used one of the files in the distressing kit to distress all of the scalloped edges.
For the flower, I ran First Edition DSP and Blushing Bride cardstock through the Big Shot.  Next, I sprayed each flower with water and crumpled them all up.  I let them sit about 5 minutes, and then I opened them up and dried them with the heat gun.  (Be careful!  They can burn; one of my DSP flowers is scorched, which you can see if you look closely.)  After they were dry, I used the solid stamp from the distressing kit to apply Blushing Bride ink to all of the flowers.  By rubbing it straight across each flower, it only hit the high spots, highlighting the wrinkles.  I layered them all together, adhering as I went so the flower would stay straight.  I used the paper piercer to punch a hole through the whole flower for the antique brad.  I used 2 pop up glue dots to adhere the flower to the card.
Below is a close-up of the flower that also has a good view of the bisque pottery technique.

Happy stamping!

Here's my masculine card using the sketch from Monday.  I just love it!  I don't use Beware Pirates nearly as often as I should.  I also used another piece of Jolly Holiday DSP, which is one of my goals for the SU catalog year.  Whoohoo!

I used a Basic Black marker to color the pearls before I added them to the card, and I heat set the color.

Supplies: Stamps: Beware Pirates; Paper: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Jolly Holiday DSP; Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black marker, black StazOn; Accessories: pearls

Happy stamping!

Feminine/masculine challenge part 1

One of this month's Creative Crew challenges is to create both a feminine and a masculine card using the same sketch.  I decided that I wanted my two cards to look completely different from each other (besides the sketch of course).  For the sketch, I decided to CASE my feminine card from Julie Davison.  I changed up the colors a little and used a punched border instead of a ripped border.  The stamp set is Strength and Hope from the Summer Mini.  For each stamp set sold, Stampin' Up! is donating $2 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation!

Come back Wednesday to see my masculine card.

Supplies: Stamps: Strength and Hope; Paper: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Concord Crush, Lap of Luxury DSP; Accessories: eyelet border punch, pearls

Happy stamping!

Creative Crew color combo card

One of this month's Creative Crew challenges is a color combo: Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight and Early Espresso. I love this combo! We also made this card at a workshop last week.
The card base is Very Vanilla 8 X 5 1/4, scored at 4". That is attached to a piece of Daffodil Delight 4 1/4 X 5 1/2. I sponged the edges of the Daffodil piece with Early Espresso to tone down the color a bit. Next I ran some Early Espresso cardstock and Jolly Holiday DSP through the Top Note die. The shape has a perforated border all around, and I trimmed that away on the Jolly Holiday piece so the Early Espresso piece would be a mat. I colored the flowering branch with markers and then stamped it onto Very Vanilla. Next I used the cutter kit to rough the edges and sponged on a little Early Espresso. The finishing touch is a bow made with Cherry Cobbler seam binding and an antique brad. I found the bow tutorial on Mary Brown's blog. It's so easy and so pretty!
P.S. That's 2 non-holiday projects using the Jolly Holiday DSP! I'm trying to use it up.
Happy stamping!

Origami napkin ring

One of the Creative Crew challenges for February is to create items for a dinner party. I came up with the idea for a napkin ring using an origami flower called kusudama. I first saw this flower on a gorgeous wedding cake that Jodie Olver made. She is one this year's Artisan Award winners. I found the link to directions on her blog.
I'm trying to use my Jolly Holiday DSP for non-Christmas projects (don't want to waste it!), so that's what I used. When I glued the flower together, I inserted a loop of ribbon to run the longer ribbon through to tie around the napkin.

Here's a side view where you can see the ribbon loop.

Here's a close-up of the flower. I added a big pearl to the center to cover up the gap where the 5 petals came together.

Happy stamping!

Creative Crew valentine

This card has no stamping on it! To create this valentine, I used the Love Impressions rub-ons from the Occasions Mini. I love, love, love it on the ribbon!
For this card, I used a 3 3/4 X 5 piece of Bashful Blue attached to a 5 1/4 X 8 Whisper White cardbase. The cardbase is adhered to a 4 1/4 X 5 1/2 piece of Basic Gray. I have been doing this a lot lately as it's a great way to use a white or vanilla card but still have enough weight to the card plus it still gives that border of color around the edge.
Happy stamping!

The Creative Crew is here!

The SCS Creative Crew is finally here! Whoohoo!!! You can find the Creative Crew gallery here. You may need to be logged in as a member, but being a member is free! The Creative Crew will have 4 challenges each month that will be SU-focused. Only SU demonstrators can see what the challenges are, but everyone at SCS can see the gallery!
Here is one of my projects. One of the challenges is to use hearts, and one is to use Love Letters DSP or its colors (Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla, Basic Black). I used the Always stamp set which I have neglected lately. I embossed the heart with black EP and colored in the flowers with Riding Hood Red. I added some faux dry embossing to the top half of my card by punching out hearts and adhering them to the card base.
Supplies: Stamps: Always; Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, First Edition DSP; Ink: VersaMark, Riding Hood Red, Basic Black; Accessories: small heart punch, decorative label punch, Basic Black satin ribbon, black EP, heat tool, color spritzer
Happy stamping!