Friday, April 24, 2009

Brag Book


Last Saturday I went to a wonderful workshop put on by my Stampin' Up! demo, Rosalie Gochnour (she's the greatest!). We made these adorable little brag books, using six paperboard CD folders, and covering them with DP from Stampin' Up! I chose the Sweet Always DP, trying to get out of my comfortable rut. Normally I'd never choose pink and orange, but I liked the patterns, and since my daughter does like those colors, I figured I could give it to her. ;-)

The neat thing about these little books is, you don't necessarily have to use them for photos. You could make a little book of favorite family recipes to give as a gift to a new bride, or whatever strikes your fancy. They really are so versatile!

After we covered the CD folders, we used some of the scraps to decorate the card inserts, and then embellished to our heart's content! You can easily get 2 books out of one pack of SU designer paper. There are 12 card inserts per book, but I'm not showing them all.











Christmas in April (finally!)

Click on any image to enlarge
Here's one (of the set of four) of the cards I made this month for my personal monthly Christmas card challenge. I CASEd this card from the SCS gallery. I just loved the blue, and snowflakes are my favorite! I did change it a little, since I didn't want it to be a total knock-off, LOL. The blue frame around the Peace sentiment is a shade darker than the card base, and I opted to use Ice Stickles on the punched snowflake and leave off the flowers. Sorry for the off-colors. It's been overcast the past few days, and I can't get the settings right on my camera.

This view shows the Stickles a little better:

Cardstock: Close to My Heart Heavenly Blue, Paper Co (name unknown), Neenah Solar White
Stamps: Snowflakes and sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Snowflake Serenade
Ink: VersaMagic Sea Breeze
Embellishments:
Crystal Dots from Sally, EK Success snowflake punch, Ice Stickles Arctic Ice

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

D'OH!

I made a beautiful card for my son-in-law's birthday, and totally forgot to take a picture of it before sending it on its way. *smacking forehead* Well, I plan to get April's Christmas cards done tonight so I hope to have something to show you tomorrow. I want to show you all the brag book I made at a workshop last Saturday, too. It's so cool!!!!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Whiff of Joy Blog Candy!!!


Katharina is giving away, not one, but TWO sets of the as-yet-unreleased WoJ Summer Stamp Kits! What an amazing, generous chance she is giving us. The stamp sets include six brand new character stamps and five accessory stamps, designed by Elisabeth Bell, as well as four text stamps designed by Katharina herself.

Be sure to click the picture above and pop over to Katharina's blog to follow the instructions for a chance to win.

I hope, I hope, I hope I win! Well, I hope you win, too. ;-)

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Quick Post

I just want to let you all know I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. ;-) I started a new job, so I've been in training this week, which leaves me no time at all to do anything crafty (or anything else, for that matter!). Soooo, I am thinking of you all, and wishing I could make a card or three for Easter. I got new Whiff of Joy stamps a few days ago, and am itching to ink them up!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

April Card Swap


This is the card I did for this month's stampin' club card swap. We've decided that from now on, we're only making one card per person. *phew!* It was getting to be a bit much making 24 cards per month, just for the swap!

The theme for this month was monochromatic with glitter, and I liked the purple color scheme from a couple posts ago so much that I decided to use it for the swap. I think Sue (aka Purplestamper) from Heart & Soul Rubber Stamp Co. is going to like this one, LOL!

I inked the top half of the cupcake (Hero Arts Cupcakes clear set) with VersaMagic Eggplant ink and stamped it on DCWV Glitter Stack white cardstock.
After letting it dry overnight, the ink was still smudge-y, so I heat set it and that did the trick. Cut out all 24 and slightly rolled them to give them dimension. The Perfect Plum cardstock was cut into strips and run through the Fiskars Paper Crimper, then cut (opposing diagonals) to make the cupcake liners. I used a thick foam dot under the bottom edge of the "frosting" to make it stand away from the cupcake liner, and a Stampin' Dimensional under the brad.

Mats used, from top to bottom: DCWV Purple #1 (window cut with Stampin' Up! Word Window punch), Neenah Solar White (edged with Martha Stewart border punch), Paper Co. Boysenberry (edged with Martha Stewart border punch), HOTP Paper Pizazz Lavender Flowers on Purple designer paper.

The sentiment stamp is from Papertrey Ink's Mixed Messages, stamped in CTMH Pansy Purple.


Thursday, April 2, 2009

So Sorry for Loss


This card is for the sad occasion of another friend having to put their beloved pet down. That seems to be happening an awful lot lately. :-( And I know of yet another that will have to make that painful decision in a day or two. *sigh*

That sweet little kitty face is called Peeking Kitty by Rubber Stampede, and as soon as I saw it at the store, I knew it had to be made peeking out a window. I cut the window frame from heavy cardstock (Neenah Solar White Cover 110 lb.) using a Fiskars portable p
aper trimmer. It makes cutting inside corners really easy, but you have to be careful to not go too far (don't look too closely at the photo, lol).

The flowers in the window box are from the Stampin' Up! Friendships Grow set, which I stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and masked four times, lining them up with a Stamp-a-ma-jig. The window box I just drew with a ruler, cut out, added shading with Copic YR24 Pale Sepia, and then popped up on Stampin'
Dimensionals. The flowers were double popped up to make it look like they're hanging over the box. I added some Hero Arts Sparkle Gem Small Blossoms to the flowers for interest.

The texture behind the kitty was aFiskars texture plate, and the dry embossed flowers on the right are from the Cuttlebug Just My Type embossing folder set (see to right). I hadn't played with that set yet, but I really like the way it turned out, so I'll be using it more.




Copic colors used>>>>





Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Christmas in March (barely!)

Soooo much is going on right now, I haven't had time to get in my craft room for almost two whole weeks!!! I am definitely suffering severe withdrawals. :-D The only thing that has kept me sane is I've been working very hard in the garden getting it ready for spring planting. Gardening is my other passion, so no matter what the weather, I always have something to keep me busy, LOL.


This is the Christmas card design I came up with for March. I'm still on course for four Christmas cards per month, woohoo! This one was easy-peasy, which is good, since I haven't had time to stamp and color anything.

I started with some snowman peel-offs made by Mark Richards (availa
ble from Paper Wishes), placed on Whisper White cardstock cut just slightly larger than the stickers. They were colored with Copic markers, and matted on Brilliant Blue cardstock on which I stamped snowflakes with VersaMark Dazzle Frost, (which gives the most lovely subtle frosty sheen!) and tied a ribbon.

The layout give me a bit of trouble, until I decided to turn the snowpeople askew. I felt it still needed something, so I matted them (again) on white cardstock to make 'em stand out a bit from the designer paper background.

The sentiment is from Heart & Soul Rubber StampCo.






Copic colors used>>>>


Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White and Brilliant Blue
DP: HOTP Paper Pizazz Snowflakes
Stamps: Snowflake- Papertrey Ink Snowflake Serenade, Sentiment- Heart & Soul Rubber Stamp Co.
Ink: Stampin' Up! Pacific Point Classic
Enbellishments: Snowflakes by Joelee's Boutique (EK Success), ribbon from my stash