I'm punchy!

For this week's workshop wow challenge, I decided to feature punches. As I said in last Saturday's post, my fellow challenge hostess, Stacey, has really been rocking the punches lately, and she inspired this challenge. Oh, I also told them they couldn't use white or vanilla. Can't make it too easy!
I decided to make one of my flowers using the Heart to Heart punch. I used Tangerine Tango so it would look like a gerbera daisy. I decided to make a 4 1/4" square card so the flower would stand out a bit more instead of getting lost on a bigger card.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Refuge and Strength; Paper: Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, So Saffron, Urban Oasis DSP; Ink: Kiwi Kiss; Accessories: Heart to Heart punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, designer label punch, 1/2" circle punch, filigree brads, whisper white taffeta ribbon, ticket corner punch, 1" circle punch
Happy stamping!

More new stuff!

This card features 4 new products from the catalog, and no stamping was involved! The curly label shape is from the new Canvas Cuts. I sponged it with Baja Breeze ink before applying the rubon. The "fabulous" button is from the new Soho Hardware. It is set with a Cropadile. The back looks like an eyelet, but there's no hole through to the front.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: none; Paper: Kraft, Urban Oasis DSP; Ink: Baja Breeze; Accessories: sponge, Canvas Cuts, Fashion District rubons, Soho Designer Hardware, cropadile, Basic Gray taffeta ribbon
Happy stamping!

New stuff!

First of all, let me say that I am loving the new catalog, especially the accessories! I got an order already. (Don't worry, Mama, I was good! This was my one tiny treat from my tax refund.) This card features 2 new stamp sets (1 from the new catty and 1 from SAB) and 2 new accessories.
The focal image is from Le Jardin Botanique. I stamped it in Chocolate Chip craft ink onto kraft cardstock, embossed with clear EP, and colored it with Kiwi Kiss ink and an aquapainter. The DSP is Urban Oasis, and the scalloped piece is from the new Accents and Elements, Canvas Cuts. The canvas is die-cut. (The Fashion District rub-ons coordinate with the Canvas Cuts. Come back on Wednesday to see that!) The sentiment is from a new SAB set, Congratulations.

How did I make the scallop square mat? It's 4 punched scallop squares overlapping. (Sorry for the blurry photo!)

Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Le Jardin Botanique, Congratulations; Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip textured, Urban Oasis DSP; Ink: Chocolate Chip classic and craft, Kiwi Kiss; Accessories: 1 3/8" square punch, scallop square punch, Canvas Cuts, Chocolate Chip narrow grosgrain ribbon, clear EP, aquapainter

Happy stamping!

Happy Birthday, Shirley!

Monday was my mother-in-law's birthday. Shirley's favorite color is blue, so I try to use it for her whenever I can. I just got my Sale-a-bration preorder, and SU is offering some gorgeous free stuff this year! Besides the great stamp sets, there is also Designer Series paper AND ribbon, both of which I used on the card. The SAB stamp set that I used is called Polka Dot Punches, and the stamps all coordinate with our punches. Whoohoo! After I put the card together, I thought it looked a little plain, so I added the stamped circles on the cardfront. Much better!
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Celebrate Everything, Polka Dot Punches, Seeing Spots; Paper: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Sahara Sand, Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Delicate Dots DSP; Ink: Bashful Blue, So Saffron; Accessories: pewter Build-a-Brad, 5 petal flower punch, 1/2" circle punch, cutter kit, Certainly Celery polytwill ribbon, So Saffron 5/8" grosgrain ribbon
Happy stamping!

Happy Australia Day!

I hope the bottom card isn't too scary for you; it scares me a little, LOL! Monday's demonstratable card challenge was a doozy. Cav, the hostess of that challenge, is Australian, and Australia Day is right around the corner (1/26 I think but not totally sure) so Cav had us use Australia's colors. We could only use Glorious Green, Yoyo Yellow, Whisper White and Very Vanilla. We had to CASE one of our own cards. We had to have an animal or insect somewhere on the card, and it had to be a birthday card. Wow!
The card at the top of the photo is the one I chose to CASE. I added a butterfly from Garden Whimsy as my insect. I'm pretty sure this was the first time I had cut any Glorious Green cardstock; I still had 3 full pieces in there from my first variety pack of cardstock. I think I bought that in about 2002, LOL! The ribbon is whisper white taffeta. I tried sponging it with ink and then ended up using chalk. I think the chalk worked pretty well!
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Inspired by Nature, Garden Whimsy, Fundamental Phrases; Paper: Whisper White, Glorious Green, Yoyo Yellow; Ink: Glorious Green, Yoyo Yellow; Accessories: ticket corner punch, word window punch, double rectangle punch, pastels, sponge dauber, Whisper White taffeta ribbon
Happy stamping!

CASEing the new catalog

I CASEd this card from the front cover of the catalog. The layout and the colors are the same, but the stamp set is TOTALLY different. I pulled out Baroque Motifs. For a while, everyone was using it, and now you hardly see it anymore.
The card base is So Saffron 4 1/4" X 11" scored at 5 1/2". Then I used the scallop border punch on the edge. I took a piece of Almost Amethyst 4 1/4" wide and used the same punch. Then I cut the scallop piece off at 1 1/4" and layered it under the saffron scallops. I cut a piece of Certainly Celery to 4 1/4" X 4 1/2". I stamped the swirl in Certainly Celery and added 4, yes 4 (!) lavender rhinestone brads. I adhered it to the cardfront. A piece of So Saffron grosgrain ribbon (from the upcoming SAB catalog) covers both seams. The final touch is the sentiment stamped and embossed in white.
This card is for my friend and co-worker, Alyssa. We started as trainers on January 21 last year, so Wednesday is our anniversary! Alyssa loves purple too, so I decided to splurge with the brads for her.

Punches galore

Want to see some incredible punch art? Check out Stacey's blog! I will definitely be trying some of these!

Quick and Easy bookmark

I had a great card all ready to post for tonight, and then I realized that I sent it in to SU for a contest. So I can't show it to you! OOPS!
What to do? I was checking out blogs and found this awesome video by Dawn Griffith showing how to make an adorable little corner bookmark.
I grabbed a sheet of the retiring Muirfield DSP and got busy folding. The photos show both of the bookmarks I made lying on MY BRAND SPANKING NEW CATALOG! My boxes came last night. So I curled up in my soft warm jammies and went through the catty 3 times while I watched the repeat of last season's Lost finale. The accessories just blew me away!
And today when Rhonda came to pick up her catalogs, she brought me my SAB preorder stuff! I'll be posting some samples next week. You are going to love it! It is not only free but GOJUS as JanTInk would say.
Happy stamping!

Diamond Fold Card

This week, the SCS demo workshop wow challenge is to make a diamond fold card. I saw it a while back on SCS, watched a video and made notes for myself. Believe it or not, I was able to make the card from my notes! Here is the original card I saw, and here is the link to the video. I did a photo tutorial for those who aren't able to watch video online. What I liked about this card is that there is very little measuring to do all of the folds.

Here is what the card looks like when it's closed. I tied it closed with a ribbon that can just slide off.

Start with a 4" X 12" piece of cardstock. On the back, mark it at 6" on each long side. As you can see from the photo, I just used my paper trimmer and a pencil.

Fold one side to that center line, and fold the other side to meet it. (Like making a paper airplane) Open it back up.

Tip: I used a bone folder on all of my folds to make sure they were crisp.

Turn the paper 180 degrees and fold in the same way. Open it back up again.

Your cardstock should now look like this. Fold each short end in to meet the corner of the center diamond. It will look like the photo below.

With the ends still folded in, turn the cardstock over, and fold the edges in to the center. The edges will line up with the top and bottom points of the diamond. Your card will now look like the photo below.

Open the card up. There are 4 triangles surrounding the center diamond. Push the triangles in so the card looks like the photo below.

For my card I decided to decorate the center diamond, the 2 end panels and the 2 triangles in between. My center diamond was just under 3" on each side, and the 2 triangles were slightly smaller than that. So I cut the chocolate chip squares at 2 3/4" and the glossy white squares at 2 1/2".

I got the color combo from the January Stampin' Success magazine. It's from the new Retro Style Watch collection in the upcoming catalog: Summer Sun, Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point and Chocolate Chip. I inked my brayer with Summer Sun, Kiwi Kiss and Pacific Point and then brayered over the glossy cardstock until it was well inked. I get the best look using the brayer by rolling in one direction instead of back and forth. Then I stamped the grass image from Inspired by Nature in Chocolate Chip.

For the 2 side triangles, I cut both the mat and the glossy piece in half using my paper trimmer. This photo shows how I lined up the corners in the guide.

Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Inspired by Nature, Heard from the Heart; Paper: glossy white, Kiwi Kiss textured, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Summer Sun, Pacific Point; Accessories: bone folder, brayer, Pacific Point striped grosgrain ribbon
Happy stamping!

Faux Paper Quilt

This is a super quick and easy card! I got the idea from my SCS friend Susie Nelson. Susie sent me a cute card, and the focal image looked like a paper quilt. However, as I looked closer, I saw that it was faux! I say it's faux because not all of the pieces were little squares. There were some squares, but they were adhered to a solid piece like pictured below. Susie had scored the big square to mark the pattern then attached smaller squares to every other spot.
For my card, I decided to use the retiring Parisian Summer DSP. I chose 2 patterns with a lot of contrast. I started with a 3 X 3 square of So Saffron dotted paper and scored every inch in both directions. I adhered that to a Bravo Burgundy mat. Then I cut 5 1" squares of striped DSP and adhered them to the So Saffron piece following the grid.
The card base is Pink Pirouette with Tres Chic stamped on it tone on tone. I used the horizontal slot punch to make a tiny slot in the fold of the card for the ribbon to go through. I tied on some Bravo Burgundy narrow grosgrain ribbon and tied pieces of Whisper White and Apricot Appeal (it looks saffron) ribbon on either side of the burgundy knot.


Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Tres Chic; Paper: Pink Pirouette, Bravo Burgundy, Parisian Summer DSP; Ink: Pink Pirouette; Accessories: horizontal slot punch, Bravo Burgundy, Apricot Appeal and Whisper White narrow grosgrain ribbons
Happy stamping!

Quick tin

I got these cute little tins at the Target Dollar Spot at Halloween. There were 2 tins togther for $1: one black and one silver. They are 3" tall and would be great for some candy or a votive candle. I grabbed my A Perfect Day rub-ons. It only took about 5 minutes to apply them. They went on very easily! Black gingham ribbon tied to the handle was the finishing touch.
Happy stamping!

Tea bag staining

A little birdie told me that Patty is planning to do tea bag staining for this week's workshop wow challenge, so I decided to give it a try.
I chose some Confetti White cardstock to stain. I brewed a regular cup of tea and then used some of the tea and the tea bag on the cardstock. I made sure I got some actual leaves on the cardstock for texture. I used a paper towel to make sure I get any excess liquid out and then let it dry overnight. After it was dry, I brushed off any stray leaves.
For my card layout, I used this month's WICKED sketch and chose some Parisian Summer DSP as the basis for my color combo.
For the focal image, I stamped the butterfly in Basic Brown, masked it and stamped the writing in Bravo Burgundy. I stamped the tulip twice in Basic Brown and then punched them out with the 1 1/4" square punch. I colored the images using ink and an aquapainter. The cardbase is Pink Pirouette stamped tone-on-tone with the Sanded background.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Flores suaves, Sanded; Paper: Confetti White, Bravo Burgundy, Pink Pirouette, Parisian Summer DSP; Ink: Basic Brown, Bravo Burgundy, Pink Pirouette; Accessories: clip assortment, Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon, square punches, aquapainter, tea bag

This shows the tea stained cardstock on top of a sheet of Confetti White for comparison.
Happy stamping!

January WICKED color combo

LeeAnn Greff (aka flowerbugnd1 on SCS) is this month's WICKED stamper. One of her challenges this month is a great color combo: Baja Breeze, Blush Blossom and Cameo Coral. Now, I rarely use Blush Blossom or Cameo Coral, so this was a great challenge for me. I think my card is a little light on Blush Blossom, but I got it in twice which I think is pretty good.
I had already decided that I wanted to use my tag punches, and then I chose Enjoy Every Moment for the stamp set. I have really neglected that set and the punches, so I wanted to show them a little love.
I CASEd the focal image from a swap card I got somewhere. There's no name on the back of the card, so I can't give credit. I used the stamp-a-ma-jig for the word "enjoy", the flower, and the words on the tag.
It's a pretty simple card, but I'm happy with it!
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Enjoy Every Moment; Paper: Whisper White, Blush Blossom, Baja Breeze, Cameo Coral; Ink: Blush Blossom, Baja Breeze, Cameo Coral; Accessories: stamp-a-ma-jig, Styled Silver HPH, crafters tool kit, photo corners punch, small tag punch, tag punch, linen thread
Happy stamping!

Love You Much swap card

Happy 2009! Hope you all had a safe holiday.
Here is the card I made for a Love You Much swap. We had to use all 3 elements of the Love You Much bundle (stamp set, DSP, punch) and have at least 3 layers.
The card base is Close to Cocoa with a 2 1/2" piece of Riding Hood Red on top. I stamped it with Itty Bitty Backgrounds using VersaMark. Then I punched the Heart to Heart punch in the right corner of the red layer only. I then punched a piece of Candy Lane DSP and used 2 way glue to adhere the 2 larger hearts into the openings on the red cardstock. I used the white gel pen to outline the 3rd heart punch. I covered the seam on the card with Pink Pirouette striped grosgrain ribbon.
For the focal image, I cut a 2 3/4" square of Chocolate Chip textured cardstock and used the scallop border punch on all 4 sides. I did the same thing to a 2 1/2" square of Very Vanilla to get the top layer. I used the stamp-a-ma-jig to center the stamped image onto the Very Vanilla layer. I stamped the same stamp onto more Candy Lane DSP using Riding Hood Red ink and then cut out the bird bodies and adhered them onto the Very Vanilla piece. It's amazing how much dimension that adds IRL!
The thing I like about this card is that I used the DSP in unusual ways. I'm trying to think outside the box more. Hopefully, I'll be able to do that with layouts too! LOL
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Love You Much, Itty Bitty Backgrounds; Paper: Very Vanilla, Close to Cocoa, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip textured; Candy Lane DSP; Ink: Riding Hood Red, VersaMark; Accessories: Heart to Heart punch, scallop border punch, white gel pen, Pink Pirouette striped grosgrain ribbon
Happy stamping!