Monday, December 07, 2009

Butterfly Bella

I recently participated in an anything goes swap with the SSUS stampers. I wanted to use this butterfly bella, but for some reason, I couldn't keep the brown markers from bleeding out of the lines of her pants. So instead of scrapping the whole thing, I decided to crop them out!

My color inspiration came from this funky patterned paper I picked up a while ago. I think it's from American Crafts.

I added stickles to some of the brown circles in the background to spice it up.

Stamps: butterfly bella and butterfly wishes sentiment from Stamping Bella
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White card stock, Choolate Chip, patterned paper from the American Crafts
Accessories: Dimensionals, Button Latte from Stampin' Up!, Ribbon from my stash
Tools: Copics, Labels 2 nestabilities from Spellbinders

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Babies!

It seems like everyone I know is having a baby. That means I've been doing lots of knitting and a little bit of stamping. Last month I needed a card for my cousin's newest son and a card for a friend's baby shower who is expecting a little girl. My mojo is still on hiatus, so I really made the same card in two different color schemes. The layout is from FTL #65.

I got the idea to add packing material to the box from Erica Payne's card on the pink cat website.

I had the idea to make my own patterned paper with the "baby boy" and "baby girl" sentiments and some circle stamps. It came out just as I envisioned it. Love it when that happens.

Stamps: Dress up Sweet Pea and Sweet Pea Plate 2 from Pink Cat Studio, expecting joy sentiment from A Muse, Congrats sentiment from the Baby Love stamp set by Cornish Heritage Farms.
Ink: Memento Black
Paper:
PTI White and Lemon Tart, Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink from Stampin' Up!
Accessories: Dimensionals
Tools: Oval and Scalloped Oval Nestabilities, Long Scalloped Rectangle Nestabilities, Copic Markers


Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Smiley Wedding

We went to my brother-in-law's wedding this weekend. He's always been big on the iconic yellow smiley face, so I decided to make a smiley face wedding card. I didn't actually use any stamps on this one, but I used a ton of Stampin' Up! punches and accessories. It was fun!

I was a little nervous that he wasn't as into the smileys anymore, but when I saw the groom's cake, I knew I was spot on!

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Final Challenge

The final challenge at CHF was to create a project with a one sheet wonder. I don't think I've ever done one before, so this was a challenge. Collage is not really my style, so I decided to use square cuts instead of getting tricky with cutting up the sheet. What I ended up with was 12 cards, 4 each of 3 different designs.

To create my sheet, I took an 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of white cardstock and stamped the little robot from Little Guy repeatedly in Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi, Brilliant Blue and Only Orange. I then cut out the 4 big panels and cut the remaining strips into 2 x 2 squares to center on 3 x 3 cards.

Stamps: Little Guy, Mocha Chica and Tag You're It!, from Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink: Palette Noir, Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue, Wild Wasabi, Only Orange
Card stock: Whisper White, Only Orange, Wild Wasabi, Brilliant Blue and retired patterned paper from Stampin' Up!
Accessories: Bold Brights & Soft Subtles buttons, Dimensionals
Tools: Paper Snips

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Ocean scene

This week's CHF challenge was to create a scene. I decided to try a technique I learned at Stamping Around Connecticut from Donna-Marie Cecere's layered card class. (You can see the card we made in her class at the bottom of this post.)

So, I started by placing all of my stamps on one big acrylic block. Then I stamped the whole scene on a piece of white cardstock and then stamped it again on a piece of acetate. I used the Clear Card Sheets from CHF.

I colored the seaweed, bubbles and shells on the back of the acetate with my copics and then put it aside to dry.

The background on the white cardstock was created by swiping it with a baby wipe that I dotted with Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue and Cool Carribean reinkers. Once it dried, I colored the seaweed, bubbles and shell in with a white gel pen. This way the coloring from the acetate would show up. Here's an angled shot to show you what I mean.

Lastly, I stamped all the little sea creatures on PTI white cardstock and colored in with my copics.

Then the layering began. I cut out all the creatures and glued them directly to the colored background. I also cut the waves at the top out and adhered the whole background to another white sheet of cardstock. Then I put 2 layers of foam mounting tape all along the outside of the scene. This is what I adhered the clear sheet of acetate to. It is really important that the images line up exactly or else you get a weird 3-d movie effect.

Finally, I glued the black frame on top to hide the mounting tape. The last step was to adhere the dolphin on top with dimensionals. I decided to cover him in crystal effects so he would look wet. I also put some stickles on the waves to give a foamy look.

I was super happy with the way this came out. I am also using this as my challenge card for the Anything Goes card challenge in the SSUS group. I hope my partner likes it too. :)

Stamps: Ocean Friends, from Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink: Stazon Jet Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue and Cool Carribean reinkers
Card stock: Whisper White, Cool Carribean, Basic Black, PTI White,
CHF Clear Card Sheets
Accessories: Tan Flock, Foam Mounting Tape, Icicle Stickles, Crystal Effects
Tools: Paper Snips, Exacto Knife

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Christmas in July

Okay, week 3's challenge at CHF was to use the resist technique. I haven't done this in years, so it was fun to pull out some sponges & embossing powder and give it a try.

I stamped the modern star with VersaMark on glossy card stock. Then I embossed it with clear embossing powder. After letting it dry for a little while, I sponged More Mustard ink at the center of the star and then sponged So Saffron ink around the outside. I was able to do some blending of the two colors since the ink doesn't dry right away on the glossy card stock. I really love the way it came out.

I also used the Weave backgrounder on the brocade blue panel before embossing my sentiment (which is from a retired Stampin' Up! set).

Clean & simple. I like it!

Stamps: Modern Star & Weave Backgrounder, from Cornish Heritage Farms and Star Studded Season from Stampin' Up!
Ink: VersaMark, Brocade Blue, More Mustard, So Saffron
Card stock: Whisper White, Glossy White, Brocade Blue, Night of Navy

Accessories: White detail embossing powder, Dimensionals
Tools: Long Oval and Long Scalloped Oval Nestabilities from Spellbinders, Sponges

Sunday, July 12, 2009

That's better!

This week's CHF challenge was to create our design by paper piecing. I don't do this technique very often, so it was very fun to give it a try. I really didn't like the way the last card came out, so I decided to have a do-over. I swapped out the little squirrel for a bird, but otherwise, the layout is the same. I really am much happier with this card. It was fun to pull together.

Stamps: Spring Trees, Mocha Chica & Take Time to Enjoy Your Day, from Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink: Palette Noir Black Ink
Card stock: Papertrey Ink White, Basic Black
, Various Patterned Papers