Stampin Royalty Challenge #26

Today I'm sharing with you a card made for the current challenge over at Stampin' Royalty. This week's challenge is called 'Seeing Doubles'. The design team has done a fabulous job this week. Hop on over to Jody's blog to see what she has come up with.
I love, love LOVE the colours on this card. Purple and green - remember? What's special about this card is that the purple on the images is one of the new In Colours - Concord Crush. Now I don't have any cardstock or ribbon from the new catty yet, so I substituted with Elegant Eggplant (another fabulous purple). The patterened paper is from the new catty (Greenhouse Gala) and it's in another new In Colour - Pear Pizzaz. I can't wait for the new ink pads and paper to be available so that I can stamp without using my markers.
So now about Seeing Doubles. What I did was stamp one image twice - from the upcoming new Level 2 hostess set Cute By The Inch. I used my new Stampin' Write markers to use Concord Crush ink. Then I mounted both images on Elegant Eggplant squares and trimmed them down. Look below for more detail. The ribbons were layered ricrack over 1/4 inch grosgrain. Both are in Elegant Eggplant. And I doubled them up for a double look at doubled up ribbon. The base of the card is Wild Wasabi. I am thrilled to see this retired In Colour returning to the permanent line up. I have been rationing my stash of it from a few years past. So I hope to see you all over at Stampin' Royalty.

Practical Scrappers - Border Punch Challenge

This card is for the current challenge over at Practical Scrappers. This week the challenge is to use border punches or decorative edged scissors. I saw a layout in CK magazine which inspired this card. In the magazine the page was done in Kraft coloured paper and the entire 12x12 page was covered in border punch outs of the same colour. For my card I chose Bashful Blue as my background. What I did was punch the edges first and then trim down the strips to a narrow size. The stamp is from the Oval All set and I used my SU punches to cut out the sentiment. Pacific Point is the blue of the scallop oval. A few buttons and brads and ribbons later and we have the completed card.

What a Great Gift Idea!

This fabulous idea was shown to us at my recent upline meeting. It's super easy to make. First you need to go to the hardware store and buy metal flashing. You can ask an employee for help to find it if you need to. If you buy a large roll of it, you need to cut it into 12 inch sections. This is easily done with an old pair of scissors. Next you need the petal die for the big shot. Run it through. Then you carfully push out the sections that are a bit stuck. You need to be careful or you can slice your finger - just ask me how I know this :) . Once all the pieces are out, though you can handle them easily without injury. So first you use your fingers to roll up the petals and curve them back. You don't need the smallest flower. Then you layer them together and adhere them together with glue dots. Put a votive candle in the middle to complete it. The large glue dots work best. A hot glue gun does not work too well on metal and they fall apart easily - again, ask me how I know this. :)

Tragedy

So yesterday I had an absolute tragedy happen to me.
I went into the bathroom last night to "brush my teeth" and I brought my new catalogue with me to peruse while I "did my business". I put it on the counter to find my toothbrush, but...

need I say more???? I know a picture says a thousand words.

It fell in the (thankfully clean) toilet.

When I heard the splash I turned and grabbed it and wiped it down and pulled out my hairdryer and set to work. It is now dry and not stuck together, but as you can see in the photo above, it's a bit ugly. I mean, it's (almost) as important as the Bible in our house. How can I hold on to something so yucky and grimy.

But ... Ta DA.. My fabulous upline Angela came to my rescue and provided me with a spankin' shiny brand new one.

I am so blessed. I am going through my new catty again with a box of post-it's to plan my order for July 1st once again. HOORAY (thanks Ange!)

Almost Artisan 6

Here's another card I made for the Artisan Award competition. I was inspired by another card I had seen that didn't use Stampin' Up! stamps. I used my paper piercing tool to made a border around the top note die cut and the wide oval punch die cut.

Stamps: Well Scripted, Season Of Friendship
Ink: Soft Suede Classic Stampin’ Pad
Paper: So Saffron, Soft Suede, Not Quite Navy, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White
Accessories: Wide Oval Punch, Big Shot, Lots of Tags Sizzlits, Top Note Die, Masterpiece Ribbon Originals, Scallop Edge Punch, Earth Elements Brads, Paper Piercing Tool and Mat Pack, Fresh Favorites I Coloured Buttons
Adhesives: SNAIL, Sticky Strip, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Baseball Thanks

Here's another card for my customer's baseball coach. Again, the image is from my ClipArt as I don't have any Baseball stamps. But everything else is from Stampin' Up. The colours I used are River Rock, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and Whisper White. The DSP is from a few years ago when River Rock was an In Color. I am soooooooo excited that it will be coming back in a few weeks! The brads are Old Olive and the Sentiment is from the Thank You Kindly set.

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #25

Well this card was a bit of a challenge. Sabriena has really put together a great colour combo this week! I decided to try a girly birthday card. The cupcake is from the set Simple Birthday Thanks. I stamped the image on several different colours and cut it out and paper pieced it together. The teal DSP is from the Sweet Pea DSP pack. The cherry is stamped on Pink Passion DSP from the Petal Party Simply Scrappin' Kit. The sentiment is from the Birthday Bliss set. I stamped it in black and then coloured in with Pink Passion and Lavender Lace. Hop on over to Jody's blog for more great samples.

Practical Scrappers - Flowers Challenge

For this card I used a digital image from Squigglefly. I printed it out 2 copies on Whisper White and then coloured them in with Stampin' Write markers. I cut out the flowers on one copy and popped them up on dimensionals over the other image. The colours I used were Old Olive, Bermuda Bay, Rich Razzleberry, Pale Plum, and Summer Sun.

Almost Artisan 5

This is a page dedicated to my Mom. This is a picture of her when she was a year old, in 1938. This picture was a black and white photo that has been colourized as was the fashion before colour photography. Bestamor means 'Grandmother' in Norwegian and that's what my children call her. The sentiments were made on MDS and then printed out on So Saffron cardstock.

Bestamor 12x12 page
Ink: Taken With Teal, So Saffron,
Paper: Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper,
Cardstock: Taken With Teal, Whisper White, So Saffron
Ribbon: Whisper White Organza, Whisper White 5/8” Satin
Accessories: Pretties Kit, Aqua Painter, Cutter Kit, Big Shot, Top Note Bigz Die, Finial Press Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
Adhesives: SNAIL, Sticky Strip, Pop Up Glue Dots, Crystal Effects,
Journaling and Title created with My Digital Studio

Artistry For You

I really enjoyed making this card. I used the stamp set Asian Artistry and I heat embossed the image on watercolour paper and then filled in the bird with ink on an aquapainter. The scallop rectantle is a nestie and I used it as a stencil and sponged it with night of navy ink for contrast. The colours in this card are Not Quite Navy, Night of Navy, Bashful Blue and Very Vanilla. The patterned paper is retired Stampin' Up! The sentiment is stamped in Craft Ink on Not Quite Navy and then cut out and popped up on dimensionals.

Baseball Cards

A customer of mine asked for 3 different Thank You cards for her son's baseball coaches. So I sat down to put some together. The problem is that I do not own any baseball stamps. Luckily, I found this fantastic image in my Clip Art on my computer. I love that it evokes the look of a watercolour painting. It was printed in brown, so I knew I needed to include brown in my colour palette. For this card I decided to use colours in the new Neutrals colour family. I was really pleased to see that River Rock and Soft Suede go together perfectly. The patterned paper is retired. The darker DSP was from a retired Simply Scrappin Kit and the bottom DSP was from the Patterned Paper pack when River Rock was an In Color a few years back. The thank you stamp is from the Thank You Kindly set.

Almost Artisan 4

Here's yet another entry of mine into the Artisan Award contest from Stampin' Up! This pirate ship centrepiece was made with the Pirate Party pack. The flags, string, toothpicks, black ribbon and banner pieces come from the kit. I modified the banner pices into sails, by cutting the bottoms off the triangles, and adding some scalloped paper as trim. I used the Jumbo Eyelets on the sails to strengthen the holes and I liked the control it gave when placing the sails on the dowling. I also used the eyelets at the base of the sails for added strength when standing the sails up . The boat uses a small box as a base. Thinking back now, I probably should have put more detail into the boat. I also wonder how it survived shipping. I packed it up pretty securely, but you never know...

Pirate Ship
Ink: Basic Black Classic Stampin’ Pad, Real Red Classic Stampin’ Pad
Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, More Mustard, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Pirate Party Kit, Scallop Edge Punch, Jumbo Eyelets in Pewter
Adhesives: SNAIL, Sticky Strip, Pop Up Glue Dots, Crystal Effects,
Non Stampin’ Up Dowling

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #24

This card was inspired by a card made by the talented Mary Fish. Click here to see her card. I tried to use the same colours and I tried to spread the images around in an eclectic way, like she did. Each circle was stamped and then some were punched out, and some were cut out leaving a white border, and some were cut out with no white border. Then I punched out circles (and a scallop circle) in matching cardstock and mounted them and popped them up on dimensionals. This card is for my hubby for father's day from me. I used the Friend stamp from Vintage Vogue and then I carefully cut it out, omitting the word 'friend'. In this case the F can stand for 'father' or for 'Farrell' - my hubby's last name too. This card will be perfect for him, because he loves these colours and wears them all the time. The colours are Old Olive, Tangerine Tango, Basic Grey and Whisper White. The stamps are Circle Circus and Teeny Tiny Wishes.

Glitter Ritz - Practical Scrappers

This week at Practical Scrappers the challenge is loose glitter or flocking. I pulled out my Glitter Ritz. If you aren't familiar with Glitter Ritz, it is a fabulous product. It's an ultra fine glitter which can be used to make glittered patterns such as on my card below.

You can click on the sidebar link for my new Glitter Ritz Tutorial. Or click here. It is so easy, and sooooooo effective. When my paper was fully 'glittered out' I trimmed it down to fit on the frame I made with the Scallop Trim edge and corner punches. The whole thing was mounted on textured chocolate chip cardstock and wrapped with satin Old Olive ribbon. The sentiment is from the Lovely Flowers Bundle level 3 hostess set.

Glitter Ritz Tutorial

These little bottles contain a fabulous product called Glitter Ritz. Glitter Ritz is a micro fine glitter that you can use to make fabulous glittery designs. The secret to Glitter Ritz is the double sided tape. The tape I use is made by Sookwang and it comes in varying widths. Today I am using the 2 ¾ inch wide tape.

First you want to apply a section of tape to your card front as below. Make sure you rub the tape down carefully. You want to make sure that the tape is adhered to the cardstock in all areas and that there aren’t any ‘bubbles’.


Next peel the backing off the cardstock. You will need to use tweezers as you do not want to touch the sticky tape or it will show through the glitter.

You can use punches or a die cut machine to cut out an image. I used the Big Shot and the snowflake die. Because the die is so large I needed to tape the backing to the die so that the image will be centered properly.

Run it through the die cut machine.

Here’s what it looks like once it goes through the die cut machine.

You then need to place the backing back on the sticky cardstock. Remember not to touch the sticky tape. I find that using tweezers is the easiest way to do this. Once all the pieces are back on the cardstock, carefully rub it all down. I use my fingers first and then go over any edges with a popsicle stick just to make sure that all the edges are down properly. You don’t want any glitter to get under the tape.

Next, peel back the area which you want to glitter first. It is best to start with the darkest colours first. I peeled back the snowflake image first.

Remember that you don’t want to touch the sticky tape, so use a brush to spread the glitter all over the card. Then pour off the glitter and use a brush to wipe the backing off. You want all the glitter that remains to be sticking on the tape, not the backing. In the photo below I have wiped half of the paper with a brush so you can see the difference.

Next use tweezers to peel back other areas. I only used 2 colours on this page so after applying the purple glitter I peeled off all of the remaining backing.

And then I applied the green glitter to the remaining sticky parts.
Once you have applied all the glitter you need to burnish it. This means rub it in a circular motion. The more you burnish it, the more glittery it will appear.

Below are a few images to show just how shiny the images can be.

For You

Here is a little card that I had a lot of fun making. I used the Artfully Asian set which is retiring in a few weeks. I stamped the image in Not Quite Navy Craft ink on watercolour paper. Then poured clear embossing powder over it and used the heat gun to set it. Then I used the aqua painter to fill in the image. I stamped the sentiment from One of A Kind in Whisper White Craft ink on Not Quite Navy cardstock. The colours I used are Not Quite Navy, Certainly Celery, Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry, and Bashful Blue. The DSP is called A Walk in the Park and it's retired from last year.

Swaps on Saturday

This fabulous card was made by the talented Ida Chan. I love the vintage feel of this card. Click here for her blog and more details about how she made this swap. She used the Sentimental Journey stamp set to make this card. She used Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry and Baja Breeze ink and Whisper White and Kraft paper.

Almost Artisan 3

Here's another of my entries into the Artisan Award contest. I copied the layout from a former post of mine.

Stamps: Full Of Life, Petal Pizzazz
Ink: Old Olive Classic Stampin’ Pad, Melon Mambo Classic Stampin’ Pad, Pretty In Pink Classic Stampin’ Pad
Cardstock: Kraft, Melon Mambo, Pretty In Pink, Whisper White
Accessories: ½” Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon, Big Shot, Lots of Tags Sizzlits, Ovals Originals Die,
Adhesives: SNAIL, Sticky Strip, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Mojo Monday Sketch #142

This is a card I put together for this week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge. This card is a big stretch for me. I tried a vintage look on this card for a change. Most of the embellishments came from a Vintage Essentials kit from Making Memories. I layered it on paper from Karen Neuenberger and cardstock from Stampin' Up. I used the scallop oval nestabillities for the oval frame and every thing was sponged to age it. I roughed up the edges of the Kraft cardstock and popped up a few things on dimensionals. The sentiment is from the Tiny Tags stamp set and punched out with the tiny tag punch.

Stampin' Royalty Inspiration Challenge #23

This week's challenge is an Inspiration Challenge. Basically, check out the photo above and get some inspiration. The Stampin' Royalty Goddesses have really outdone themselves this week. (Check out Jody's blog here for more inspiration.) Our projects are all varied. Some took simply the colours, other's took the patterns, some were inspired by the images, and some by an element or two from the photo.
Myself, I was inspired by the whole thing. This photo is from a past Idea Book and Catalogue from Stampin' Up! When I first saw this picture in the Catty I was blown away. I love everything about it. The colours are fabulous, the asian look of the flowers, and the way those flowers were layered together with accents and elements and brads, and buttons... need I say more. So all of this was swimming in my head when I sat down to try to create. I started with asian. Well, why not 'Eastern Blooms' as a starting point? So I pulled out that stamp set and started working with the colours. I knew I would use a few of the multi shape flower punches to create the blooms. I attched them together with brads of varying colours. Then I mounted them up on dimensionals and voila. The vase was made with the large oval punch, a bit of cutting, and some sponging around the sides for depth.
The colours in the ink, paper, and brads are rose red, pumpkin pie, apricot appeal, old olive, and chocolate chip, (oh yeah, and whisper white of course.) The rub on sentiment is from a retired Saleabration set (sorry - but it was late and I was running out of options).

Practical Scrappers - Eyelet Challenge

I was working on my project for this week's Stampin' Royalty challenge when I pulled out these old layouts that I had started a year ago. I had so many photos from that day at the park, that I pulled out another 2 page layout and added more detail. The eyelets added a lot of puch to each page. I used the jumbo eyelets and evenly spaced them over a strip of Old Olive cardstock. Most of the paper and embellishments came from the now retired Hoppy Memories Simply Scrappin' Kit. The colours used were Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, and Whisper White.

Almost Artisan 2

Here's another failed entry into the Artisan Award contest. This page makes me sad, because I don't get to keep it. Entries are not returned and I really like this page. This page was inspired by one of our contest winners over at Stampin Royalty - Georgeann Manning. I stamped the circles tone on tone with Bashful Blue. The White butterfly is from the Bigz die and the other butterflies are from the embosslit. The message is a rub on.

Stamps: Circle Circus
Ink: Bashful Blue Classic Stampin’ Pad, Elegant Eggplant Stampin’ Write Marker
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Orchid Opulence, Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant (Textured and smooth),
Accessories: Scallop Trim Border punch and Scallop Trim Corner punch, Big Shot, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die, So Cool Rub Ons, Whisper White Organza Ribbon
Adhesives: SNAIL, Sticky Strip, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Practical Scrappers Sketch

I made this page for this week's sketch over at Practical Scrappers. This page was made with the blog in a box I bought from Zoe Pearn. You may recognize that it matches my blog header. When I saw this week's sketch I knew that this design fit the pattern. This fabulous sketch is from Sasya. Hop on over to Practical Scrappers to check out what other Design Team members have created.

Almost Artisan 1

As many of you already know, Stampin' Up! holds a contest each year for its demonstrators called the Artisan Award. The competition is very tough and hundreds of people enter each year. This year I entered and I did not win :( But, intead of feeling sorry for myself, I will be showcasing all 10 entries on my blog over the next few weeks. And I stole the title of my post from another group of Demonstrators who created a blog hop to showcase their 'Almost Artisan' entries.

This card was made by first punching out the butterflies with the Big Shot. Then I used the tiniest bit of masking tape to secure the butterflies on the card where I wanted them. Then I used the Colour Spritzer Tool and Stampin' Write markers to spray ink on the card.

Stamps: Oval All
Ink: Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Pretty In Pink
Punches: Large Oval and Scallop Oval
Accessories: Whisper White 5/8” Satin Ribbon, Pretties Kit, Big Shot, Beautiful Wings Embosslits, Color Spritzer Tool
Adhesives: SNAIL, Sticky Strip, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Stampin Royalty Challenge #22

I must apologize for getting this post together late today. I had it all ready in draft form but forgot to publish it last night. Anyway, welcome to Stampin Royalty's Challenge #22. This week the challenge is to "jazz up an old project". As I seem to be drowning in cards these days, I decided to use some old scrapbook pages that I had put together using a Simply Scrappin' Kit. This is is retired, but the images and paper are fully available on My Digital Studio. When I put these pages together I was trying to showcase what you can do with a Simply Scrappin' Kit. When I pulled them out a year later, I had some great ideas on how to add even more to the layout.

The 'before' layout

the 'jazzed-up' layout

Below is a close up of the second page, as this was actually a two page layout.

and below this is a photo of the two pages together.

I love how the turquoise really compliments my daughters shirt. There's a children's song by Charlotte Diamond that kept going through my head as I was putting this together. It's called 'Why did I have to have a sister?' I found a nice little spot to include that quote on this layout. I added the photos first and still found the whole thing to be a bit plain. So I peeled off a few images and popped them up on dimensionals - but I still found it a bit plain. So I added a few stickers that were left over from the kit and I put some journaling on them. Then I sat back and decided that it needed a better title. So I used one of the 'love notes' from the last Occasions mini to mount up the letters for 'Explore' which is a fitting title for a day at the playground.