Running With Scissors...

Ruby Tuesday: Summertime Stella

Happy Ruby Tuesday!  Back to the work week for me.  One thing I like about three day weekends is that they’re followed by a shortened work week.

The card I’m sharing today is one of Stella’s simpler cards, but it might be one of my favorites.  I suspect the ease with which a card comes together has a lot to do with how much I like it in the end.  You’d think with everything I have in my stamp room I could just pluck something from here and there and fit it all together – no fuss, no muss.  Not so!  But today I was in the mood to be easily satisfied, I guess.

I sat down with my morning coffee and stamped this little panel of flowers – Hero Arts Real Flowers – masking and all, in a matter of minutes.  I’d planned on using only a panel of green Stella, so the flower colors didn’t matter so much.  I simply put together a combo I liked, then – surprise! – look how closely they coordinate with Stella, herself.  Okay… new plan.  I laid out some scraps and stitched up the sides, added sheer ribbon and a button tied with red string.  The tag was turned upward like a smile, and chocolate Bazzill gave it a nice, neutral base.  Plenty of time left over to take Wally for a run on the bay!

I hope you had a beautiful weekend.  As always, may your Tuesday be Ruby!

Stamps:  Hero Arts Real Flowers, Hero Arts sentiment  Paper:  Chocolate and coral textured, white, BasicGrey Stella Ruby   Ink:  Cameo Coral, Ruby Red, Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip (Stampin’ Up!)  Accesories:  Ribbon, burlap string, button

Wedding Bells are Ringing

These aren’t wedding bells, it’s true, but they remind me of wedding bells.  I’ll be attending one of those joyous ceremonies in June, so I decided to make this card for the happy couple.  With June, the wedding month, only a day away it seems I feel as though every pretty card could be a wedding card.  Have you ever wondered why June is traditionally the favorite month for weddings?  I wondered, so I looked it up.  It’s an old tradition, beginning with the fact that the month of June was named after Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage.  Also, folks were still fairly fresh from their yearly Spring bath, so it worked out nicely.  I know!  Thank goodness times have changed!

These pretty floral bells are from the JustRite Breath of Spring set.  The sentiment is from Romantic Sentiments, and it’s encircled with a Seeds of Kindness border (out of stock).  I colored the flowers with Copic markers, touched them up with Stickles Stardust Glitter, and then created layered frames with white cardstock and Memory Box Spearmint designer paper.  I already had two white cardstock frames as a result of cutting Nestie shapes from them.  I’ll generally save those negatives for possible future use, as in this card.  I created two more frames with designer paper, and now I have their middles set aside for later.

You probably noticed on the upper and lower scalloped edge of the surface frame there’s a little border of white showing.  To create that white edge I cut the Spellbinder’s Labels Eleven shape from the designer paper, then – see where the ribbon is – I cut the frame and moved it apart slightly.  The ribbon covers the narrow gap.

Speaking of the ribbon, I don’t have another color quite like this and I love the minty green against the Spearmint paper.  Two mints in one!  It’s a Seafoam Taffeta which I found at Stamper’s Dream.

I won’t let today’s post go by without taking a moment to pay tribute to the brave souls for whom Memorial Day was created.  We thank the men and women who are currently in service as well as those who perished in honor.  While many of us are having a three day weekend with barbeques or camping trips or extra time to get the yard work done, it breaks my heart to think of the sad reminder this day is to those who have lost precious family members or friends in the military.  Please know my heart is with you.  I recognize the pain of your loss and sacrifice.  Everyone with a loved one in service, past or present, is a hero.

Take care and I’ll see you soon.

Stamps:  JustRite Breath of Spring Borders & Centers, Romantic Sentiments, Seeds of Kindness  Paper:  Classic White, Memory Box Spearmint designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Blue Bayou, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, rhinestone, Stickles Stardust Glitter, Spellbinders Labels Eleven & Classic Circle Nestabilities, SU! border scallop punch, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Flourishes Friday

Hello, and happy Friday to all.  I know I say this just about every Friday, but I’m so happy to see this day.  It’s a three day weekend coming up and I’m so ready for it.  It’s been raining here for two weeks, and my back has been wrenched out for over a week.  Still, I’ve been going to work every day.  Sob!  But, the sun came out for a while this afternoon, and my back seems to be on the mend… knock on my little wooden head.  Things are looking up!

I made today’s card for a friend who is moving back to her home in Anegada, the most remote of the British Virgin Islands.  Could it be all this rain that’s driving her away?  Actually, she moved up here with her children so they could experience life and education off the island (she has family here).  With the children now grown, she’ll be returning to the island, her husband, and their family owned and operated resort.  Sounds dreamy, doesn’t it?

I’ve used the palm trees from Beach Life and a sentiment from Life, Love and Lemons.  The trees were colored with Copics on Classic White cardstock and popped up on foam mounting tape.  Inside the card is one of the Beach Life sentiments:  “Live in the Sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.”  It seems appropriate.  My papers are from Webster’s Pages 6 x 6 Triple Pack Collection – Seaside Retreat, Garden Gala, and Nature’s Storybook.  Do you notice the fish button?  I’ve had it for ages and I think it’s so cute!

Danielle is kicking off summer on the Flourishes Newsletter today and, knowing Danielle, it will be worth the trip to see what she’s up to.  For more beauties, summer themed or otherwise, please visit:

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Laura Fredrickson

I’m so glad you could stop by today.  Enjoy your weekend!

Stamps:  Beach Life, Life, Love and Lemons  Paper:  Prism blue, Bazzil pale yellow, Classic White, Webster's Pages Seaside Retreat, Garden Gala & Nature's Storybook designer paper  Ink:  Memento Rich Cocoa, Saffron, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  String, ribbon, button, brads, Spellbinder's Labels Eleven Nestabilities, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Ruby Tuesday: Stella Gives Advice

Stella is not so much giving advice as offering support to one who has already chosen this course.  I had a friend in mind when I made this card.  I’ve found that I have dozens of sentiments which fit her situation perfectly, and now I’m not certain which one I’ll choose for her.  If not this one, perhaps another on a card that’s not yet conceived.

This sentiment is from the JustRite Joyful Hearts set.  I’ll say again “you can never have too many sentiments”.  Even if they say the same words, the font, size, or shape will be different… one will fit your project, the other will be all wrong.  I’ve found this to be true from my early days of stamping.  I especially like sentiment sets, which I keep separate from my other stamps, knowing I can browse through them when I want to say something other than what may be expressed in the sentiments that accompany a particular image set.

The layout is SCS Sketch #259.  I’ve recently been enjoying searching the master thread for sketches that appeal to me.  I’ve printed several of them and hope to eventually make a cute notebook to keep them in.  So often I find it easier to start with the sketch and go from there.  The images seem to just hop right on the card all by themselves once I’ve got the layout.  With time being so precious, I do believe I’ll continue to allow myself the convenience of this wonderful resource.  In case you’re not familiar with it, you can view the Master Thread here.  Click on any sketch number in the thread and it will take you to the sketch which will print out to actual size.  There will also be a link to a gallery of samples for inspiration.  Very nice!

I’ll be seeing you again later this week.  Till then, take care, and have a wonderful day!

Stamps:  JustRite Joyful Hearts  Paper:  Chocolate Bazzill,  olive, BasicGrey Stella Ruby designer paper  Ink:  Chocolate, caramel  Accessories:  Ribbon, crochet trim, brads, Cuttlebug Argyle embossing folder, Spellbinders Large Scallop Ovals and Classic Ovals, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Folksy Applique

Hello, stampers, and happy Monday!  When I sat down to stamp this weekend I thought I’d get out my JustRite Applique set and play around with another of its images.  I chose this one because I like the vine border with little flowers and hearts.  It’s such a dainty design and I wondered how it would look colored.  With this pattern on the white, it has a sweet folk art appearance.

I stamped the image three times and separated the parts.  The middle was punched out with a 1 3/8” square punch and turned on the diagonal.  The center tile was cut with scissors.  Each layer is raised on foam mounting tape to build up the dimension.  I felt I wanted a lot of white with the image so I gave it a white dry embossed background on a red base and just a bit of green to enhance the green in the image.  White crochet trim, velvet ribbon, and rhinestones are my only accessories.  It’s simple and mailable, and ready for the sentiment to be added as needed.

There are several new JustRite sets available at Stamper’s Dream, and you can enjoy a gallery of JustRite cards here.  I appreciate the time you shared with me today.  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  JustRite Applique Borders & Centers  Paper:  Red Bazzill textured, white, celery textured  Ink:  Memento Rich Cocoa, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Crochet trim, velvet ribbon, rhinestones, Cuttlebug embossing folder, 1 3/8” square punch, JustRite 2” square stamper, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Fresh Cut Roses

Hello, Friday!  I welcome this day with open arms, as it’s the gateway to the weekend and time to unwind a little.  Now if only it will stop raining for a while!

The card I’m sharing today was made with Flourishes new Beauty Within set.  The set was designed for compatibility with Spellbinders Labels Thirteen and Labels Eleven, and they’re a beautiful fit, but that’s just a bonus option, really.  It’s one of those sets that offers a lot of versatility.

When I made this card, I colored just the roses and leaves with Copics Collections Dusty Rose and Evergreen, then cut them out and rearranged them on the Lattice Pendant Shapeabilities die cut.  The designer papers are from the BasicGrey Origins 6x6 pad.  I used two of the lightly patterned sheets so as not to compete with the simple beauty of the roses.

To create the lattice frame background, I first glued the brown paper to lightweight cardstock to give it a little more body.  Then I cut a lattice pendant from the brown and set it aside.  It will be used later on another card.  I cut another pendant from Classic Ivory and set it into the cut space of the brown paper.  The entire middle layer -  brown with ivory pendant – is raised on foam mounting tape.   Additionally, the roses are raised on foam mounting tape, giving the card more structure and dimension.  I left it sentiment free so I could choose its purpose later.  As it is, I no sooner completed the card than I realized exactly which very special person I would send it to.

I think you’ll enjoy a little trip around the other designers’ blogs today.  We’ve all gotten together to share ideas for using this set’s images in a number of different card designs – and not one of them uses their respective Spellbinder’s dies:

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Laura Fredrickson

Stacy Morgan

Flourishes' store has a very nice gallery of cards and projects for each set, too, with more samples being added all the time.  To see all samples currently in the Beauty Within category, please click here.

Thanks so much for dropping in today!  I wish you a wonderful weekend with time allowed to stop and smell the roses.  Take care!

Stamps:  Beauty Within  Paper:  Brown textured, Blush Blossom, Classic Ivory, BasicGrey Origins  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Blush Blossom, Copics Collections Dusty Rose and Evergreen  Accessories:  Silk ribbon, Kaiser pearls, Spellbinders Lattice Pendant Shapeabilities, Scotch Brand foam mounting tape

Ruby Tuesday: Stella Serves the Coffee

Happy Ruby Tuesday!  Today’s card began with my determination to use a bit more of this least favorite piece of Stella (BasicGrey Stella Ruby designer paper).  Sorry, Stella!  I love all your papers, but this burgundy and dullish pink combo leaves me feeling a little chilly.  How to warm it up?  Perhaps with a steaming cup of coffee… or seven.

The image is from one of my favorite stamp sets – Impression Obsession Smell the Coffee.  The truth is, I love all of the somewhat funky Leigh Hannan IO illustrations.  Stella isn’t quite funky enough for this set, really, but I had to give it a try.

Today I used my Prismacolor markers for coloring, trying to match the papers, but also adding in some green and brown for contrast.  I hoped the Prima flower and velvet ric rac would help to perk up Stella a little more.  My cardstocks are Prism Crabapple Light, Medium, and Dark.  They’re actually quite pretty colors but the name, alone, attracts me.  I have a weakness in that regard… Crabapple… it’s a nice name.

I must run off now.  I’m having a busy week because I had such a relaxing weekend.  There’s always a price, isn’t there?  But it was worth it!  Have a very Ruby Tuesday!

Stamps:  Smell The Coffee  Paper:  Prism Crabapple Light, Medium & Dark, SU! Whisper White, BasicGrey Stella Ruby designer paper  Ink:  Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black, Prismacolor markers for coloring  Accessories:  Prima flower, velvet ric rac, 1" circle punch, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Real Flowers

For years I have loved my Hero Arts real flowers with all my stamper’s heart.  They were my favorites for a good long while but, as is the natural course of things, they worked their way to the back of the drawers while I had a fling or two with my other stamps.  Today, they’re back, courtesy of Stamper’s Dream, with this set appropriately named Real Flowers.

This is a simple card, with colors and layout inspired by a store-bought card I received recently.  I stamped on glossy white cardstock, first in Soft Sky, then the leaves in Kiwi, and finished up with the darker Blue Bayou flowers.  The sentiment is Penny Black – Friends Matter.  I stamped it in Versamark ink on textured cardstock and embossed with white embossing powder.

I hope all my stamping friends had a beautiful weekend.  I sure did!  I did some planting and fertilizing, and had some time left over to work in our wooded area.  I’m really enjoying that extension of the garden this year.  It gets prettier every day!  Thought I’d share a photo of the native rhododendrons in bloom.  If you'd really like to step into the scene you can click on the photo to enlarge it.

Sigh… I couldn’t have planned anything prettier back there.  The yellow violets are on their way out, and the trillium have turned from white to lavender, but the hepatica and rhodies are blooming, the elderberry trees are budding, and this weekend I spotted a native variety of toad lily with its shy flower already hanging in bud beneath the leaves.

Thanks for sharing my two greatest passions today.  I’ll be back with Ruby Tuesday tomorrow.  Hope to see you then!

Stamps:  Hero Arts Real Flowers, Penny Black Friends Matter (sentiment)  Paper:  Glossy white, Blue Bayou textured, Kiwi Kiss  Ink:  Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Kiwi Kiss, Versamark  Accessories:  Ribbon, brad, white embossing powder

Beauty Within – A New Flourishes Release

The party’s over and the new Flourishes sets are in the store.  We’re wrapping up the week with one more day of samples.  I hope you’ll enjoy:

When you mix the beauty of  stained glass windows with the fabulous shapes of Spellbinders Nestabilities you get the best of both!  This set, called Beauty Within, was designed by Becky Fleck specifically to fit within the shapes of Spellbinders Labels Thirteen and Labels Eleven Nestabilties.  Oh, my word!  I love how this works!

I used Labels Thirteen for today’s card, and colored the image with Copics after stamping the outline with Versamark and embossing in silver.  I brought out some nearly forgotten but still loved BasicGrey Lily Kate paper for the layout, and mixed that with cardstocks in lilac and blue.

If you’d like to win this set, you can take a chance by leaving a comment on the Flourishes Newsletter.  For more stunning samples, please visit the rest of the team:

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Laura Fredrickson

Stacy Morgan

Sharon Doolittle

But that’s not all!  Some of the Spellbinders’ Designers have teamed up with the Flourishes Design Team to show you the wonderful potential of Beauty Within:

Margie Higuchi

Holly Simoni

Heidi Blankenship

Beth Pingry

Terre Fry

Thank you, girls!

And that’s it for the week.  I’m looking forward to the weekend now and hoping for beautiful weather so I can get back out in the garden.  So much to do in the Springtime.  I hope you’ve enjoyed a look at the new sets.  Just a reminder – a New Release Bundle (all four sets) will be offered at 10% off  from Friday, May 14th through Friday, May 21st.  Have a great weekend!

Flourishes Preview, Day 2: Cherry Blossoms

It's Day 2 of Flourishes previews, and the set we're showcasing today is as feminine as yesterday's was masculine.  Introducing:

It's no secret, I'm sure, how I love my flower stamps.  They're an extension of my love of all things gardening and growing.  This is a beautiful stamp set.

For today's card I decided to bring out my soft chalks for coloring.  Just a quick blush of pink on each petal, and a touch of darker pink for shaded areas.  Green in the flower centers, and blue sky shading.  I stamped the sentiment in olive, then sprayed with matte sealer.  It's all a very quick process.  The flower, trim, rhinestone, Webster's Pages Lullaby Lane & Life's Portrait designer paper, and Spellbinders Piercabilities border are all from Flourishes.

Please visit the Flourishes Newsletter for all the important things you'll want to know about this month's release -- blog candy, release date, release party (more prizes and previews tonight), preordering sets, and the New Release Bundle (10% off).

I know you won't want to miss a single one of today's samples, so let's take a walk along the garden path and see the cherry trees in bloom:

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Danielle Kennedy

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Laura Fredrickson

Stacy Morgan

Sharon Doolittle

This month's sets will be available in the store after the release party, so it won't be long now till you can see them.  Thank you for your time.  Have a wonderful day!