Waffle paper

Have you noticed the new waffle paper in the Holiday Mini?  There are 2 different packages: black and brown or gold and silver.  Rhonda and I decided to split a pack, and I just got my share on Sunday.  Here's my first attempt at using it.

I cut a 4 X 4 piece of the black waffle paper.  I inked up Medallion with Pretty in Pink craft ink, stamped it onto the waffle paper and embossed it with Irridescent Ice EP.  I added a vintage brad to the center.  I used Mono Multi to adhere it to a Pretty in Pink cardbase.  The final touches: scallop trim border and black satin ribbon.

Supplies: Stamps: Medallion; Paper: Pretty in Pink, black waffle paper; Ink: Pretty in Pink craft; Accessories: Irridescent Ice EP, vintage brad, Basic Black satin ribbon

Happy stamping!

Bleached Manhattan Flower

This card started with a challenge from an SUO Challenges blog.  Their latest challenge was to use the Big Shot.  Now I'm the last demonstrator on the planet who doesn't own the Big Shot, but my downline Rhonda has a Cuttlebug and a couple of the embossing folders.  (She hooked me up with some more embossed stuff on Friday night.  Thanks, Rhonda!)  So I already had this embossed image from the Manhattan Flower embossing folder.  The cardstock is Elegant Eggplant, so I was trying to figure out what I could do with it to make the embossing stand out.  Suddenly I thought of bleach!  What if I painted the inside with bleach?  I didn't think to take a picture of what it looked like, but the bleached part turned pink.  Of course it was uneven and had some purple still in it, so I decided to color it with Melon Mambo marker.  I think the unevenness of the bleaching gives it a little depth.  I'm happy with it!

Then came the hard part--what to do with the flower!   I wanted the flower to stand out, so I ended up using a Crumb Cake cardbase.  I stamped a couple of the flowers from Fifth Avenue Floral in Eggplant and Melon then added some crochet trim and a piece of Eggplant cardstock.

Supplies: Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral; Paper: Crumb Cake, Elegant Eggplant; Ink: Melon Mambo, Elegant Eggplant; Accessories: bleach, aquapainter, Manhattan Flower embossing folder, crochet trim, scallop trim border punch, pearls

Happy stamping!

CAS fall color challenge

This week's CAS challenge on SCS was a fall color challenge: kraft, vanilla, brown and red.  To me, nothing says clean and simple like a one-layer card, so that's what I decided to do.  I used Inspired by Nature, inking up the coneflowers in Riding Hood Red and Soft Suede.  I stamped the grass in Crumb Cake.  I gave the whole card a spray of Vanilla Smooch Spritz and added a fork bow.  The ends of the trim are cut off even with the edge of the card and adhered with Mono Multi.

Supplies: Stamps: Inspired by Nature; Paper: Crumb Cake; Ink: Riding Hood Red, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake; Accessories: vanilla Smooch Spritz, Victoria crochet trim

Happy stamping!

Glitter window

Lately, I've been revisiting old favorite techniques. This week, I made a glitter window card. I saw this version of the glitter window back in 2008 at the Milwaukee regional. My tutorial is here.
For this week's card, I went super simple. Instead of using punches, I used the die-cut Fresh Cut note card. All I had to do was trim it to size, pop out the petals and apply the packing tape. (I did stamp it with Fresh Cuts first.) I chose a wild color combo that I got from the Color Lab site: Tempting Turquoise, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz and Crumb Cake.
To tie the ribbon, I cut a slit in the ribbon and slid the other end through, tying it with linen thread. I love the look, and it lies so nice and flat!
Supplies: Stamps: Fresh Cuts, Extreme Elements; Paper: Fresh Cut Notes, Crumb Cake, Level 1 DSP; Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Tempting Turquoise, Crumb Cake, Poppy Parade; Accessories: cosmo glitter, neutral button, pear pizzazz ribbon, linen thread, packing tape
Happy stamping!

Making a mat for the decorative label punch

Like I said in Wednesday's post, I saw this done on the northshorestamper blog. She has a great video, but I couldn't see exactly how to cut the pieces. Hopefully these photos will help.
To make the mat, punch the decorative label twice. Cut one in half horizontally and cut the other in half vertically.
As you can see in the above photo, I took the one that was cut in half vertically (on the left) and cut at an angle from the middle of the top and bottom "bumps" to the center of the cut edge. For the one cut in half horizontally (on the right), I cut off the side bumps completely.

Next I took the longer pieces and adhered them to the back of a whole punched piece.

Next, I adhered the side pieces, lining up the partial "bumps" with the edges of the top and bottom pieces. This photo shows the back of the piece so you can see how the edges line up.

Happy stamping!

Christmas card in progress

I'm starting to work on my Christmas card design. I got the idea fromthe Holiday Mini to layer the ornament punch over the decorative label punch. I knew that I wanted to use the Jolly Holiday DSP, Cherry Cobbler seam binding and the Contempo Christmas stamp set. I was trying to figure out how I could have the card base be Old Olive and the ornament be Cherry Cobbler. I saw a video at www.northshorestamper.com where she created a mat for the decorative label punch. Could this be the answer I was looking for?

Here are the 2 cards I created. What do you think? Which DSP do you prefer? Which way does the label look the best? Is the Old Olive label too much Old Olive combined with the base? I'm undecided, and I'd love your opinions and suggestions! (I'm also thinking of adding glitter to the center sections of the ornament, but I can't do that until I get home this weekend. )

On Friday, I'll have some photos for you showing how I made the mat for the decorative label punch.

Happy stamping!

Joy fold card

For this week's demonstratable card challenge, we are making the Joy Fold card. This is a fun and different card, but it's still easy to do. The card base is the Early Espresso piece, and there's another smaller folded card that's Baja Breeze. The flower is holding it closed. You can find the SCS tutorial here. Give this one a try!
Supplies: Stamps: Filled with Love; Paper: Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Early Espresso, Greenhouse Gala DSP; Ink: Tangerine Tango marker; Accessories: decorative label punch
Happy stamping!

CAS double challenge card

This card is for 2 different challenges on SCS. Both are CAS challenges. What is CAS? It's Clean and Simple. Given my current limitation on supplies, CAS is right up my alley! One of the challenges was a sketch. The other was a clever demo challenge from my friend Patty. There were 3 different challenges based on cookies. We had to decide which cookie we wanted for inspiration and then Patty sent us a private message with 3 things we had to have on our card based on the cookie. I chose ultimate sugar cookies, and my 3 elements were: CAS, use punches or die cuts, mostly white card. How did I do?
Supplies: Stamps: Contempo Christmas; Paper : Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Jolly Holiday DSP; Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive; Accessories: ornament punch, 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" square punches
Happy stamping!

Stenciled flower

I needed to make a birthday card for a friend, so I decided to use the flower stencil from the Elegant Trio; I hadn't used this one yet. My friend loves pink, so I used Blushing Bride and Regal Rose with a pop of Pear Pizzazz. The flower stencil is about 3 1/8" square.
Supplies: Stamps: Tres Chic (retired); Paper: Hostess pack DSP, Blushing Bride, Regal Rose; Ink: Blushing Bride, Regal Rose, Pear Pizzazz; Accessories: Elegant Trio Decor Element stencils, Pear Pizzazz ribbon, Victoria crochet trim
Happy stamping!

Baby wipe hydrangea

For this card, I revisited an old technique: the baby wipe technique. It's so easy to forget about these older techniques as we try out all of the new things that come along! I love how this turned out! When I created my baby wipe ink pad, I used mostly Baja Breeze with Marina Mist and just a few drops of Concord Crush. The secret to a good stamped image here is to make sure all of your ink drops are touching on the baby wipe and to really press the stamp into the baby wipe for a few seconds. I also used the same baby wipe pad to stamp the little flowers onto the card base.
I saw the looped ribbon border on Barb Mullikin's blog and decided to try it out. Punch the scallop trim border and then loop narrow taffeta through the scallops. I like it, but I think I need to loop the ribbon a different way to make the ends look better.
Supplies: Stamps: Because I care, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper: Baja Breeze, Marina Mist, Concord Crush, Wild Wasabi; Ink: Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Concord Crush; Accessories: word window punch, scallop trim border punch, Marina Mist narrow taffeta ribbon
Happy stamping!

Lap of Luxury DSP

I brought the new Lap of Luxury DSP with me to FL. It's gorgous! The colors are Very Vanilla, Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink, and Concord Crush. One of the sheets is covered with that gorgeous leafy wreath pattern. I cut out a square of the pattern and added a vintage brad to the center of the wreath. I cut the same size square of Pretty in Pink cardstock to layer underneath. The cardbase is Basic Gray, and I added another pattern from the DSP. The ticket corner punch and taffeta ribbon are the perfect finishing touches.
Happy stamping!

New stuff from the Holiday Mini!

For this card, I decided to use holiday items on an everyday, non-holiday card. The stamp set and punch are from the Holiday Mini, and the DSP is Jolly Holiday from the IB&C. I sponged the Old Olive paper with Daffodil Delight to add some extra color and change up the paper a bit. The punch is cut in half and spread apart for a decorative accent
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Filled with Love; Paper: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Baja Breeze, Jolly Holiday DSP; Ink: Early Espresso, Old Olive, Baja Breeze, Daffodil Delight; Accessories: decorative label punch, neutrals buttons
Happy stamping!