Fun with Fonts for the Pals and the Players

Home again after a quick trip to visit my daughter. I think I can stay put for a little while now and get back into a regular schedule with my blog and business! That feels good, and my two cats, Beetle and Pickle are so happy, that they climbed into my suitcase for a nap, presumably to prevent me from packing and leaving again!




This is Beetle! Pickle couldn't be persuaded to stay for the photo. She's a little camera shy these days.












My Technique Nights this week have a theme of Fun with Fonts and I needed one more design to work with. I wanted to do something with die cut letters so I chose to use the Perfect Print Alphabet Bigz dies to add some eye-catching lettering to my project.  This card works perfectly for two challenges this week, The Paper Player's Spring theme and the sketch from Pals Paper Arts!

Here's a closer look at my design:

• After seeing it all over the internet, I finally ordered the Love is Kindness stamp. It's a great stamp, perfect for watercolouring and it has a lovely sentiment, which I didn't want to use in this instance. I covered the sentiment with tape, inked up the stamp with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then removed the tape before I stamped. This masked the sentiment without having to cut it off the stamp, because I know I will use it in the future.
• I then used Stampin' Blendabilities to colour it in, the Old Olive assortment and the Pink Pirouette Assortment. *But I have some sad news about our Blendabilities. There have been some quality issues with them, and until these are dealt with, Stampin' Up! has taken them off the order list temporarily. This, unfortunately, includes all those available for Sale-A-Bration Rewards.  Stampin' Up! is committed to providing top quality products and won't sell anything that doesn't meet it's stringent requirements. We look forward to the issues being solved and being able to order them again soon.
• I used some of the Irresistibly Yours Specialty Designer Series Paper for the oval frame around the tulips. It is white cardstock with a glossy white pattern already embossed on it and what's so great about it is that you can sponge it, spritz it, or use sponge daubers to colour it any colour that we have and the embossed area resists the ink. This leaf pattern is one of six designs as part of this Sale-A-Bration reward you can earn free with a $60 order. I sponged it with Old Olive ink after die cutting the oval shape out of the middle using the Ovals Collection Framelits. I added more ink the closer to the bottom I got, creating an ombre effect. When sponging, I always recommend using scrap paper for the initial sponge, just to prevent a concentrated blog of colour on the real thing. It's very hard to mask a mistake like that.
• The letters were die cut using the Perfect Print Alphabet Bigz dies. I tend to just cover the two dies with cardstock and cut all the letters rather than pick and choose. The letters I don't want for this project, I store in a container to use another time. I used tiny dots of Liquid Multipurpose Glue to adhere the letters to the card front and I used the edge of the DSP to make sure they were perfectly aligned.

And it's Tuesday and time for some new:

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the Stampin' Up! products used to make this card today!

Product List

Love Is Kindness Wood Stamp [137131]	Irresistibly Yours Specialty Designer Series Paper [138635]	Subtles Backgrounds Designer Series Paper Stack [130135]	Old Olive 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100702]	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]
Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper [133704]	*Pink Pirouette Assortment Stampin' Blendabilities Markers [133625]	*Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Old Olive Assortment [130999]	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [126953]	Linen Thread [104199]
Stamping Sponges [101610]	Ovals Collection Framelits Die [129381]	Perfect Print Alphabet Bigz Die [133725]	Big Shot [113439]	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]
Fuse Fast Adhesive [129026]

*Not available to order right now due to quality concerns.

Blessed Easter Happiness for The Paper Players

Well, I haven't made an Easter card yet!  Shame on me, and Easter is only a week away!!  I'd better get a move on and make a few more for the kids and grandkids.  But I can't be hard on myself today because it was such a glorious one!

The sun was shining and warm; the forsythia and crocuses are in bloom (or is it croci??); the birds were singing and all was right with the world!  I was HAPPY!


             


I wanted a card with three of something for The Paper Players Challenge #190:

I thought about butterflies, Easter eggs, even Elephants!  But I settled on the Blessed Easter stamp set because it has three tulips on it!  Here it is:

• Sweet and simple and I love the Gingham Garden DSP in the background.  I tried adding other layers of Melon Mambo or Coastal Cabana, but they took the focus away from the tulips and they lost the charm of the monochromatic look with a pop of colour.
• I inked up the Blessed Easter stamp with Stampin' Write Markers: Melon Mambo, Pear Pizzazz and Coastal Cabana!
• Check out the little fork bow in the Melon Mambo 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon. It adds just the right delicate touch to the card.  Here's a link to a post with a video tutorial to help you tie a fork bow.

And that's it!  There's nothing else to tell!  Quick and Cute!  So just play Pharrell Williams' Happy music video for the rest of your five minutes and BE HAPPY!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today!

Product List

133212	129310	119795	101650	131259	131260
131266	131207

Bloomin' Mojo!

Spring is definitely in the air! 

Want to know how I know this?  I know this because the tree sprayers were by today to give the nectarine tree a lime/sulphur treatment, which they have to get done before the sap really starts flowing.  And the birds have returned to our pond for their bath times. I love Spring!  I guess it's time to put away the reindeer and pine boughs and look for that spring wreath!

And with spring comes flowers, and I have a different kind of fabric flower to show you today!

I made this for my Technique Nights this week and also for the Mojo Monday Challenge #283.  Here is the sketch by Carole Burrage:

Such a cute sketch!  I stuck with it, but I used an unusual palette of colours. I wanted to catch some of the warmer colours on the Floral District Fabric, but I also liked the suggested look of the checked or plaid lower panel, and I found it in Storytime DSP.  Even though the green in the fabric is more intense, the Certainly Celery card base was exactly the colour of new growth, perfect for spring.  So, even though I had tried a more muted green DSP on the lower panel, the Riding Hood Red just popped for me.

• The stamp set I used for the sentiment is Friendly Phrases.  It has lots of cute choices.
• The leaves are cut with the Little Leaves Sizzlet and the Big Shot.
• A Large Pearl Basic Jewel makes the perfect center for the large flower.

The rolled flowers are easy to make with strips of fabric.  If you want to know how to make them, here's how to get the instructions: 

I am looking for more Followers, people who have clicked on Join This Site and filled in the information.

• Become a Follower, by clicking on Join This Site.
• Email me to let me know and to give me your email address, and, once my Technique Nights are over this Friday, I will email you a photo tutorial, similar to the one on my last post, for making these cute and trendy Rolled Fabric Flowers.

Thanks for dropping by!

Stamps:  Friendly Phrases (w126149; c126151)

Paper: Certainly Celery (105125) and Whisper White (100730) card stock, Storytime DSP (126907); Polka Dot Parade DSP (126902)

Ink:  Classic Ink Pad in Riding Hood Red (126968)

Accessories:  Floral District fabric (126893); Essentials Designer Fabric (126892), Large Pearl Basic Jewels (125577); Jumbo Sticky Rounds (127852)

Tools:  Paper Piercing Tool (126189), Stampin' Pierce Mat (126199); Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack templates (126187), Little Leaves Sizzlet (114511); Big Shot (113439)

Floral District Fabric

Jumbo Sticky Rounds

Friendly Phrases

Storytime DSP

Little Leaves Sizzlet

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!

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!