Dizzy!

Phew!  Well, I finally made it back to blogging!  The excitement and work involved in having my first workshop has kept me away from posting for a few days.  That and finishing the baby bedding for my daughter's shower, as she arrives tomorrow!  So happy to have her home for a week.  Unfortunately, my son-in-law isn't able to come, as he has to work.  My other two daughters and their hubbies and my new little grandson will be joining us later in the week, to celebrate Easter together and to celebrate my milestone birthday.  Actually, it was in January, but it was too hard to get together then so we decided to leave it until now. 

The card was also inspired by the Saturday Inspiration Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.  The website is called Harabu House and has many interesting designs.  The photo I chose for my inspiration is this quilted baby blanket.  Before I post the photo of the card, I have to issue a spoiler alert for my daughter, Kristen: LOOK NO FURTHER, KRIS, unless you want to spoil your surprise!  I know I shouldn't post it until after the event, but if I don't, it's going to be many more moons until I can get a post up.

Here's the card: 

As a new Stampin' Up demonstrator, I'm restricting myself, now, to Stampin' Up products and it has been fairly easy, because SU has such a varied supply.  The card base is Regal Rose cardstock, layered with DSP from the Brights Pattern stack and Chocolate Chip cardstock.  I stamped the image from Artistic Etchings several times on Very Vanilla cardstock and punched them out with the 1 3/4" circle punch.  I then mounted them on the Chocolate Chip cardstock and ran it through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice embossing folder, to give it a quilted look. 

 The owl from the Fox and Friends set was stamped on Very Vanilla with Chocolate Chip ink and cut out using the Circles #2 die and matted with Regal Rose punched out with the 13/4" circle punch and with a Chocolate Chip 2 3/8" scalloped circle punch.  The sentiment was punched out with the Modern Label punch, and voila!

Now I have to get back to work (haha) on invites for the next workshop!  Ta ta for now!

MOJO Monday 234

Sorry, but I don't have any heady philosophical thoughts for you today!  I'm all about getting things done, getting ready for my first workshop on Wednesday night.  Hope everyone who wanted to take part had a chance to respond, because it is full!  If you didn't, give me a call or email response and I'll organize another one for you.  We've got some really cute projects in store for you to make.

Today is MOJO Monday again and our choice was round or square - non-standard card shapes!  I really like the square format - very eye-pleasing to me.  I crafted this card for two challenges - MOJO Monday #234 and The Shabby Tearoom Challenge Week #107 - Bright and Beautiful Spring, where the requirements are to use lilac, yellow, blue and kraft, and add a butterfly.  This is their gorgeous inspiration photo:

Here's the layout sketch for the MOJO Monday Challenge:

And here is my card:

Such nice, soft, springy colours.  I used SU's Nature Walk stamp set, a perennial favourite of mine.  My card base is Whisper White cardstock and the panels are Wisteria Wonder, Crumb Cake and Bashful Blue cardstock, run through the Big Shot using Perfect Polka Dots and Petals-a-Plenty embossing folders.  The stamped panel is matted with So Saffron cardstock.  The ribbon is So Saffron 3/8" grosgrain ribbon and a few basic pearls completed the design.    I used the Curly Label punch to back the sentiment panel, which is stamped with Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set.

Thanks for looking!

LIfe is a Matter of Moments

As I was crafting a card tonight, I was thinking about the sentiment, "Life is a matter of moments", and how true it is.  I can't remember every detail of my daughters' childhoods, but each daughter brings a series of precious moments to my heart: a grin, an exchanged look that exchanged so much more; a squeal of delight; a broken heart; a moment of triumph!  How can you express the essence of those moments to another?  There are no words.  How wonderful to have memories!

Here is the card that inspired all this philosophy:

I used a new stamp set, Elements of Style, that was delivered as part of my Starter kit and it fit this design perfectly.  I made the card for the Paper Players Challenge #88.  Here's the sketch I was working from:

I used Not Quite Navy for the card base and the back panel is from the Brights collection Patterns Designer Stack.  The strip is from Marina Mist cardstock, and the scalloped edge was achieved by using Edgelits Adorning Accents.  I added some Very Vanilla Satin ribbon topped with some navy grosgrain ribbon and a small sentiment from the same stamp set snipped and attached with glue dots.

The main panel is stamped on Very Vanilla Cardstock with Not Quite Navy ink and a little Marina Mist added to the flowers using a Stampin Write marker.  The sentiment piece was punched with the decorative label punch and the sentiment is also from Elements of Style.  All the Very Vanilla panels were sponged with Not Quite Navy ink.

With a few basic rhinestones to finish off the look, it was ready to go!  I have a friend who loves hummingbirds and this card would be perfect for her.  This one is for you, Jen!

Happy Birthday, Ken

Well, with all this card making, you'd think that I'd have countless greeting cards to use, but here it is, my hubby's birthday, and I didn't have a card to give him!  Well, I had cards, but I like to make family cards especially for family members, not use just generic designs.  But, as he was out most of the day, I had my chance to get craftin'!

Ken is an adventurer at heart, but he doesn't often get the chance to exercise his adventurous nature, because he is so responsible and family-loving.  Here is the card I crafted for him:

The card base is Early Espresso cardstock and the back panel is from the Nautical Expedition DSP (discontinued).  The Eiffel Tower is from the Artistic Etchings stamp set and the sentiments are from Daring Adventure and Plane and Simple stamp sets.  The Eiffel Tower was stamped on Basic Grey cardstock with Versamark ink and heat embossed with silver embossing powder.  The sentiments are stamped on Crumbcake cardstock with StazOn Jet Black, and also on a Mini Vintage tag, tied on with linen thread.  A splash of Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon gives the card a little pop.  Hope he likes it. 

This card also meets the requirements for the SplitCoast Stampers Saturday Inspiration Challenge #239  using this bottle opener as inspiration.  The whole Graham and Green website was open to use.

I had better go get ready, as we're going to go for dinner at Kelly O's to celebrate, then we're planning to see the movie, "Hunger Games".  I'm excited to see it, having just read all three books of the trilogy!  Have a great weekend!

Honours Gallery.

Exciting!  I just found out that my Steampunk card was one of the ones chosen for the Spring Has Sprung Honours Gallery over at Splitcoast Stampers!  This is the first time one of my cards has been chosen for anything, so I just had to jubilate a little!  Thanks for sharing this with me!

Last Minute Creating!!

I've always had an issue with time pressure.  I don't do well with it, but at least I do something!  I hated timed math drills as a kid, but I did learn my times tables.  I wonder if I would have been able to do it without them.  I do tend to procrastinate, but I've been working my whole life to correct that tendency.  Is it getting better?...Hmmm!  The jury's out! 

But where am I going with this?  Well, late last night, I found out that we were doing a card swap (like a cookie exchange, but with cards) at our Technique Night tonight.  I knew I was going to be busy most of the day today, so I had to make them last night. Fortunately, I am a night owl,  but a 10 pm start is pushing it a little! 

How do you design a card you need to make 4 copies of?  Well, you look to see what colours you have in abundance, especially when you can't order anything in on time.  For me, the colours were oranges - Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango and Cajun Craze cardstock and some Well Worn DSP.  I had seen, earlier in the day, a card made by Ann Schach of The The Stampin' Schach, using the Elementary Elegance set that I had just ordered and Tangerine Tango.  I came up with these cards, inspired by hers.

I had wanted to use white for the stamp, but it turned out that I didn't have any white embossing powder, and StazOn Cotton White ink was not strong enough, even with clear embossing powder, so I went with StazOn Jet Black.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set and I stamped it in Versamark ink and embossed it with Tangerine Tango embossing powder, and punched out a Curly Label shape, which fits perfectly in the middle space of the frame. 

The lovely Well Worn paper softened the Halloween-like effect of the black and orange and provided some contrast.  I had enough Antique brads for two on each of only 4 cards, so the last card  I added three little flower buttons and put a medium basic pearl on each for a flower center.  It is amazing what a difference the different embellishment makes. Much more soft and feminine..

Well, I got them done and I was in bed just after midnight, which is a not-so-unusual bedtime for me, and woke up to a surprise this morning!  My Stampin' Up new distributor Starter Kit was delivered!  I think I actually squealed when I opened the door and saw it.  The delivery man turned and grinned as he walked down my driveway.  Just like Christmas!!

MOJO Monday Time Again

Well, this week, I got to do   MOJO Monday   ON
Monday!  I did struggle with this design, and there were many points in the process where I thought I should just chuck the whole thing and start over, but I persevered and came up with this:

The layout sketch looks like this:

I knew I wanted to use the Nature Walk stamp set from SU, and I wanted to create my own background for the center panel using emboss resist technique, but I went one step too many and didn't like the overall effect.  I wanted to see more bird cages and eggs, but too much Early Espresso sponging kind of lost them, so I started again and came up with this:

The shape and its back layer was cut using Framelits Labels.

I wanted to make a showy flower, but that is an area in which I need more punches, so I used 4 punched layers from the  2 3/8" Scallop Circle punch.  I wet them and scrunched them to separate the paper plies and held them together with an antique brad.  I backed it with loops of 1/8" taffeta ribbon in Early Espresso and some linen thread.  The vertical piece is punched from Old Olive using the Eyelet Border punch and I added some Old Olive seam binding ribbon topped with more of the taffeta ribbon.

The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  What would I do without that stamp set???   And just so you can see the background I tried to create, I'll show you a photo, but it was taken after I had already punched out the Framelits label.  I still may use it as background sometime, somehow with another card.   Experimentation is all part of learning and growing, from my perspective. 

             

I think tomorrow is going to be a play script posting, because I want to do some more sewing on the crib bedding for my daughter.  The shower is coming up quickly!!

Little Invitations

What a beautiful day today.  Warm air, sunny skies and NO SNOW, unlike yesterday!  Ken and I went for a lovely walk along Okanagan Lake in Peachland.  Everyone and their dog was taking advantage of the warmth to go for a stroll along the beach.

As promised yesterday,  I have some invitations to show you.  There are two sets: one set to invite people to a baby shower for my daughter who is expecting in late June, and one set to invite people to my first Stampin' Up workshop as a demonstrator.  I made all the invites small, 3" x 3" - love note size.

For the first set, I wanted to use a bootee as a motif because my daughter loves to knit and has made several pairs for her baby already, along with several sweaters, including a Cowichan sweater.  You can read more about her escapades in her blog, Honey Nutbrown's.  I remembered someone using the Stocking Builder punch from the Holiday Mini as a bootee, so I used it on some Daffodil Delight and Wild Wasabi cardstock that I embossed using the Square Lattice embossing folder so that they would look knitted. Then I assembled the booties.

 I backed them on circles of DSP from the Nursery Nest series, cut using my new Circles Die #2 on my Big Shot.  (About a hundred times a day, I ask myself what I would do without my Big Shot.)  I now wish I had used something with more contrast to the bootee but after I had punched out eight of them already, I wasn't going to toss them. 

The sentiment is stamped from the Something to Celebrate set and the ribbon is Old Olive Scallop Dots ribbon. The little added touch is the Basic Pearls on the cuff and the sentiment.

 

The second set of invites I wanted to look attractive enough to get people's interest, but simple enough that they could believe that they would be able to do something like it at the workshop.  Pacific Point and Tempting Turquoise always catch my eye when used together so they formed my basic colours with StazOn Jet Black being the only ink colour I used.

I used up some left-over Flower Garden DSP for the circle, which I punched out using the1 3/8" circle punch.  The butterfly was stamped using the Punch Potpourri Hostess set, which was the only stamp set I had that fit the butterfly punch.  Believe me, I didn't want to cut out a mess of butterflies by hand.  Punches are great for mass production!  The sentiment is from the Creative Elements set, which I am using a great deal these days.

Okay, that's it for little invites.  I've got to go get them in the mail!  Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

 

Inspiration

I would never have thought of using wallpaper or curtains as inspiration for card making, but there is a paper crafting challenge on the SplitCoast Stampers site that directed participants to the Johnny-Tapete website to find ideas for cards.  What an eye-opener, as I browsed the site with an inspiration-seeking viewpoint.  I have only begun to mine the creativity starters here, but I found this curtain material that I decided to use for inspiration for this card that I entered in the challenge.

The layout that I used is from another challenge from Sweet Sunday Challenge #154:

I used the colour palette of Basic Grey, Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery.  The grey panel was embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and the card base was embossed using the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. I edged the vertical green panel with the Scalloped Trim border punch.

The front panel was stamped in basic grey using the stamps from the Creative Elements set, then I coloured in the flower using Stampin' Pastels.  I was happy because I don't usually have a ton of success with the pastels, but I used a smaller applicator and it turned out really well, and it has a vintage feel to it.  I added some Basic Rhinestones to the stamped edge design, which are a little hard to spot in this photo. 

I am going now to create some baby shower invites and if I finish them in time, there might be another post today....or maybe I should save it for Sunday!

The Charm of the Irish

Well, tomorrow is St. Paddy's Day, and I needed to create a card to honour the Irish.  After all, they saved civilization, during the time of the barbarian invasion of much of Europe, the Dark Ages.  This is according to a book called, "How the Irish Saved Civilization" by Thomas Cahill.  I have to admit that I did not read this book myself, but my husband did and provided me with lots of the details as we discussed the topic.  Quite fascinating, and I'm going to have to read it for myself, if I can ever get to the bottom of the pile of books people have lent to me!!

My mother used to tell us quite proudly that she was 1/4 Irish.  By deduction then, we children concluded that we were 1/8 Irish, and every St. Patrick's Day, we were proud to take part in "the wearin' of the green" legitimately, if not a little watered down!

So to honour my roots (some of them, anyway), here is a card I made to celebrate the day tomorrow:

Without a St. Patrick's stamp to my name ( for shame!), I used the SU Heart Punch to create a shamrock and cut the base out myself.  The Sweet Stitches brad goes so well with the theme, as does the new Twitterpated Designer Series paper.  I added a little trim using the Eyelet Border punch and some Designer Series buttons in 3 different shades of green. 

There, now I can go to bed happy tonight that I haven't ignored the Irish in me!  Happy St. Paddy's Day tomorrow, and wear something green!

Supplies used (all from Stampin' Up):

Paper:  Old Olive, Always Artichoke card stock, Twitterpated Designer Series Paper                                                      Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes 

Ink: Old Olive                                                                                                                                                                 Punches:  Full Heart, Eyelet Border, Large Oval, Scalloped Oval

Accessories:  Designer Series Buttons in Pear Pizazz, Garden Green and Wild Wasabi, Linen thread

MOJO Monday on Tuesday - The Sequel

What a busy place it was around here today!  We had a new high efficiency furnace installed, but as the furnace cubbyhole is right next to my craft room, it was out of bounds for most of the day.  Talk about itchin' to get stampin'!!  Well, I just got started with the card I had been planning, when it was time to go visit my Stampin' Up demonstrator, Tamara.  I went to see her to find out how to become a Stampin' Up demonstrator!  I'm really excited to be part of Tamara's team.  Everyone is soo much fun and we always have a great time when we're together!  So now, you'll be able to access the amazing Stampin' Up products through me, when I get it all set up!

But on with the card.  This one was made for my daughter and son-in-law, as they are moving into a larger apartment on Thursday and we are helping them move.  It was also made for the MOJO Monday Challenge #232.  Here's the sketch we had to work from and I really liked the layout.

And here's my take on the design:

Don't you just love that shiny paper?  Did I mention I like shiny?  I bought some bronze and green metallic paper at the craft store the other day.  Not sure what the brand is, though.  I used some SU Chocolate Chip cardstock for the base and the bottom panel is Cajun Craze textured card stock embossed with the SU Flower Garden embossing folder.  The ribbon is just some I had in my collection already (probably saved from a gift).  My photo doesn't show the stamped sentiment very well, but it is quite clear in real life.

The foliage is die cut on my Big Shot using the Little Leaves Sizzlit and also using the Spellbinders Shapeabilities Foliage set I mentioned a post or two ago.  The flowers are made with the SU Floral Fusion Sizzlit and two new little punches I bought from ek tools.  They are held together with some SU brads.

The significance of the sentiment stamped from SU Word Play is that now my oldest daughter and her husband have a suite with more room, they will be able to start thinking about the next phase of their family life.  Wink! Wink! Nudge! Nudge! 

Gilded Gadgets and Pretty Palettes

Today I wanted to share with you a couple of cards that I made for challenges.  The first card is for a Splitcoast Stampers Steampunk Challenge.  What is "steampunk" you might well ask.  Well, Wikipedia defines it as a sub-genre of science fiction involving steam technology in an alternate setting such as the Victorian era.  If you saw the movie, Hugo,  or any of the latest Sherlock Holmes movies, that would give you a good idea of steampunk ambiance.  I love the concept, mostly for the textures, colours and "gadgets".  I am a "gadget" person.  If a car salesman can show me some innovative buttons and whistles, he has a sale! (Luckily, my hubby is a little more practical, and considers things like mileage, reliability and resale value before we sign a contract!)  So I've been working hard to learn the techniques for making steampunk cards.  I've still got a lot to learn, but here is my best shot so far.

I used a Tim Holtz Gears embossing folder and added some Versamark ink to the folder before embossing, then heat embossed it using metallic copper embossing powder.  I love the colour and the texture!  I distressed a downloaded blueprint of some steam machine, using Tim Holtz distress inks and some water.  I sewed all these main panels on to the base, including a scrap of Echo Park DSP I had in my stash.  The sentiment is from Stampin Up's Word Play in Stazon Black ink on Crumb Cake card stock. 

Then came all the fun of adding "gadgets"  like the gears from both Tim Holtz and Bead Landing, SU Antique and antique copper brads and a chess piece from Bead Landings Findings.  I had so much fun with this!

Now to change "gears" (sorry) completely, the next card I want to show you is one I created for the Paper Players Challenge #86.  It is a colour challenge with the colours Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Wisteria Wonder and Pear Pizazz!  Such a pretty combination!  Here's what I came up with:

This was a great opportunity to use my 1"x 1" bevelled window panes.  There's a trick to getting the stamped images to stay behind the panes and rather than go into a long explanation, I will just refer you to this video tutorial.

My back panel is from the new Twitterpated DSP collection.  I actually was all out of Pool Party (my favourite), so had to use Baha Breeze instead.  The sentiment is from Punch Bunch.

Well, thanks for allowing me to let off a little "steam" tonight!  Have a good Sunday night!

Humphrey the Bear and Friends

Time to share another play script.  This one doesn't have much Christian content, but was performed on a Father's Day Sunday when the theme was camping and the outdoors! 

It's a comedy, along the lines of the old Disney cartoon "documentaries".  Does anyone remember Humphrey the Bear, and his Ranger nemesis?  This skit has the Park Ranger comparing two families of campers:  the well-prepared, experienced, make anything you need by lashing sticks together Happy Camper family; and the ill-prepared, inexperienced, naive, impulsive Hazard family!  Lots of laughs!

This skit needs 4 adults and 2 - 4 kids and some camping props.  It can be enhanced by using some cartoon sound effects.  To hear these, double click on the sound effect you want to hear, then click on File, Download, and Open.  If you want to save the sound, click File, Download and Save.

So here is the link for the play, "Father's Day Camping Skit"!  It takes about 15 minutes. Thanks for looking!

Help! I Need Paper!

Help!  I need paper!  I'm trying to wait patiently for my Stampin' Up order and its new load of card stock and I know it will come soon, but I'm being forced to use paper that I don't normally choose.

My card stock storage.  I made it out of wire storage cubes.  If you want more information on how to make one, let me know by leaving a comment.

 But it's good to stretch oneself and I had quite a few pieces of Wisteria Wonder and Elegant Eggplant, so I thought I'd look for some DSP that would go with them. Now THAT was a challenge, but I found some Beau Chateau that would do, and my new You Are Loved stamp set and away I went.  Here's the outcome:

I really like the way they turned out.  I had a little trouble with the sentiment, getting it to ink evenly and completely, because it was a new stamp.  After I cleaned it with StazOn cleaner to take off the film that most new stamps have from manufacturing, I was able to get a fully inked image.  I used some Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon for some colour pop, but softened it a bit with a layer of Victorian Crochet trim underneath.

Finally, a few pearls for some soft pizazz, and voila!



Happy Thursday!

Weddings and Crayons!

Just a quick post tonight as I spent most of the day working on a crib quilt for my grandbaby due in June.  I had some difficulty sewing the quilted panel to the contrast frame, so it took longer than I had expected, but it's looking good, except for some puckery corners that I'm going to disguise with some ribbon!  I did try to fix them, but the method given in the pattern is a bit strange and I did the best I could under the circumstances.  But now, on to stamping!

I wanted to try a technique featured last week on Splitcoast Stampers' Weekly Inkings - Faux Letterpress.  And here's breaking news:  I didn't have anyone in mind for this card, I just made it for the heck of it!  Very unusual for me, as I do have a practical side (although my DH might not agree!)  Back in 2007, I had my fill of making wedding cards as I attended something like 8 weddings that year, 2 of which were my own daughters, followed by another daughter in 2008, all within twelve months of each other. All three are shown below:

Beautiful aren't they?

I think I have finally recovered from that, so here's my simple little wedding number:

Pool Party and Island Indigo are becoming my favourite inks ever!  So pretty together!  But I have always had a fondness for teal or turquoise.  Blue green was my favourite crayon in my Crayola box as a kid.  Actually, I think it was Sergeant Hexagon crayons we used to get.  Anyone remember those?

But I digress here.  I brayered the Pool Party ink on the debossed side of the Elegant Lines embossing folder, then added a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock and ran it through my Big Shot.  I found that I had to add a shim to the bottom part to get the colour to transfer evenly, then I had to remove the shim and run it through again for the top part.  It really makes the embossing stand out!

The sentiment is from the SU Word Play set and the flower is made from SU's Paper Daisies with a backing of Island Indigo punched with the 2 3/8" Scalloped Circle punch.  I added some silver pearls for a little bling.  So, somebody had better get married so I have someone to whom I can give this!!

Mojo Monday on Tuesday

I was really excited about the MOJO Monday sketch yesterday, but I didn't get to work on it for a variety of reasons, but mostly because my husband was feeling like he never saw me any more because I was always down in my craft room. 

In the meantime, I found a couple of other card challenges that would work well together with the MOJO Monday sketch and had some time to plan my design in my head. Also, I  am really excited because I've been looking everywhere for the MS branch punch, and when I went to the local craft store, I found this instead - Spellbinders Shapeabilities Foliage.  I just love the look of the little feathery fronds.

The other challenges were The Shabby Tearoom's Colorful Confections with a pink, green and aqua palette and the use of a tag, as well as The Paper Players Challenge #85 - Spring Has Sprung.

So without further ado, here is my card creation:

I used Pretty in Pink, Pool Party and Certainly Celery for my colours.  The stamp sets I used were SU's Always, Just Believe and Hello, Doily, which I've been wanting to use for a long time but couldn't quite figure out how to fit in.  I stamped the doily in Pretty In Pink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  The ribbon is SU's ruffled ribbon in Pool Party and the design paper is from SU's Beau Chateau.  The flowers are Prima and Kaisercraft.

The colours really make me think of spring, which I know we are all longing for.  It WILL come, just keep believing!