Running With Scissors...

A Wedding Card

 

A friend asked if I would make a wedding card for her and, of course, I agreed.  I’m always up for making something pretty.   The paper did most of the work, but, oh, what beautiful paper!

 

 

 

 

Even with the flower, the card fits in its envelope quite nicely, though it will require extra postage and hand cancelling.

 

 

 

Since it was another beautiful day, I had the luxury of photographing this outside on the picnic table.  I’d like to do that more often this summer, so, perhaps if you don’t hear from me for a while it’s probably cloudy or windy.  I hear we have some rain in the forecast, and we do need it, sad to say.   Guess I’ll be inside making cards and saving them up to photograph when the sun comes out.

 

Ingredients are in the recipe, below.  Happy stamping and a have a beautiful day!

 

Stamps:  Warm Words (Stampin’ Up!)  Paper:  Pale pink and green Bazzill textured, Flourishes Classic Ivory, Prima Fairy Flora designer paper  Ink:  Palette Cognac  Accessories:  Prima flower, ribbon, lace, Spellbinders Floral Flourishes dies and Nested Lacey Pennants dies

Spring Stamping

 

The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, we’re barbecuing and lunching on the deck.  Spring has come to the Oregon coast and that means more time outside and less time in my stamp room.  I’ve always loved the clean and simple style of stamping as much as I love a card that’s done to the hilt, and now is a good time to practice, I think.

 

 

I came upon this sketch at the CAS on Sunday challenge blog.  You can find this particular challenge here.  Simple, isn’t it?  That’s exactly what I’m looking for.  I didn’t deviate from the sketch at all, other than to add the flower and leaf sprig.  I made this card in a few minutes before I left the house for work, and it was every bit as satisfying as a card I spend hours (yes, hours!) on.  I’ll never give up my coloring and all the fun I have designing a more detailed card, but honestly, there’s something very liberating about clean and simple stamping.

 

Details are in the recipe.  Have a happy day!

 

Stamps:  Stampin’ Up! Bloomin’ Marvelous  Paper:  CTMH Key Lime (sanded to bring out the white core), Flourishes Classic White  Ink:  Melon Mambo, Always Artichoke, Palette Noir  Accessories:  Vine St. embossing folder (Stampin’ Up!), Scotch brand foam mounting tape (to pop up the flower)

Window Dressing

 

Any shop with a polka dot awning and all those flowers in front would draw me in like a magnet.  Welcome to another dress form day on the blog!  Do any of you remember this old Stampin’ Up! set, I Like Your Style?  Well, I like its style. 

 

 

Today’s card is colored with Copic markers on Flourishes’ Classic White cardstock.  I used a Sizzix brick wall embossing folder, popped up a planter box, and made a window pane with Clear Cover Cardstock.  The flowers are something old from Hero Arts.  They’re actually flower clusters, with most of the flowers attached, so the cutting is not as crazily detailed and time consuming as it may look.  I colored and cut out three clusters and added foliage with a Martha Stewart branch punch.  Glitter, too!

 

 

The three dress forms are stamped on the inside of the card.  You can see it partially open here.

 

 

A summary of details is in the recipe, below.  Happy stamping! 

 

Stamps:  I Like Your Style (Stampin’ Up!), Hero Arts flowers  Paper:  Real Red textured and plain, Daffodil Delight textured, Flourishes Classic White cardstock, Clear Cover Cardstock, Stampin’ Up! Polka Dot Parade designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers for coloring  Accessories:  Sizzix brick wall embossing folder, Spellbinders Large and Small Classic Squares, Stampin’ Up! scallop edge punch, Martha Stewart branch punch, Stickles Black Diamond and Stardust glitter glue, Scotch Brand foam mounting tape

Inspired by Nancy

 

This almost doesn’t look like a card I’d make, but to tell you the truth, I really like it.  I made it for the Featured Stamper Challenge on Splitcoaststampers which honored my friend, Nancy, the week of March 17th.  I’m a little late to the party, but Nancy understands.  I was inspired by her card here.

 

 

The challenge rules state you’re supposed to change two or more details, and since I had none of the same stamps or die cuts Nancy used on her card, those changes were taken care of right away.  I loved her fresh, fruity colors and the cute sketch, so I stayed as close to those as possible.  Where Nancy used a diagonal stripe designer paper I used a solid Tangerine Tango square scored on the diagonal with the score lines colored over with a Tangerine marker.  I was trying to stay SU! only in recognition of her style, so I had to improvise with punches for the sentiment focus.

 

Nancy and I began our stamping journey at the same time and with much enthusiasm and excitement.  It’s nice to know some things stay constant.  Thanks for the inspiration, Nancy, but more importantly for your friendship!  And thank you all for joining me today.  Happy stamping!

 

Stamps:  Circle of Friendship, Polka Dot background  Paper:  Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss  Ink:  Kiwi Kiss, Palette Noir, Tangerine Tango marker  Accessories:  White taffeta ribbon, silver mini brads, flower brad, Vine St. embossing folder, SU! circle punches -- 1 3/8", 1 1/4", 1", 1/2" (for Tangerine under the center floral brad), SU! corner notch punch, Scallop circle punch

The Merry Month of March

 

 

Merry Monday!  I’m back after a week’s absence and it felt like a very long week, indeed.  The stress level at work took a big jump due to staff cut backs in other departments, which means some of that work has been redistributed and the lab took on a big hunk of it.  I’m keyed up all the time, and nothing is more exhausting than stress.  However, just in the nick of time I happen to have a vacation week scheduled, and, gee, it’s the 25th of the month – time for another Christmas card.  I can’t fall down on that job, can I?

 

Something bright and fun is in order, I think.  This was supposed to be a quick and easy card because I used a long ago Card Maps sketch as a guide.  Of course, I managed to spend most of the morning making decisions about colors, papers, stamps, shapes, trim…  The only thing I was certain about at the outset was the red polka dot paper.  I love polka dots, and I recently purchased a whole 12 x 12 collection of polka dot paper from Stampin’ Up!, which should be enough polka dots to sustain me for a while and I can quit hoarding them.

 

I pulled out the retired Stampin’ Up! set, Merry, for this card.  The mittens and snowflakes were stamped in Palette ink since it’s waterproof and won’t bleed when the glitter glue is applied.  In order to avoid the “merry!” hovering too far above the scalloped border I cut a slit around the tail of the “y” with a craft knife and slipped that part over the scallops.  A tiny blue snowflake punched out in a 1/4” circle forms the dot for the exclamation point.  The folded card measures 6 3/4” tall x 3 3/4” wide.

 

 

I’m looking forward to a week of doing anything but being at work.  I hope you enjoy your week, as well.  Merry, merry!

 

Stamps:  Merry! (retired Stampin’ Up!)  Paper:  Whisper White, Polka Dot Parade (red), other retired SU! designer paper (green)  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Palette Reflection Blue  Accessories:  Baker’s Twine, Stickles Stardust glitter glue, Martha Stewart scallop edge punch, Spellbinders Labels Eighteen (for sentiment) and Standard Circles dies

Clean and Simple to the Rescue

 

Happy Monday!  I hope you all had a good weekend.  It was beautiful here on the southern Oregon Coast, and after working around the house and garden all day Saturday I realized I still needed to squeeze in a birthday card before dinner.  Honestly, after the evening meal is finished and the kitchen cleaned up, not much else gets done.  So, in my brief allotted time I had to manage something quick, but pretty, and that’s exactly the purpose for which I bought this Stampin’ Up! Stippled Blossoms set.

 

 

The red flower and the sentiment (JustRite) were already stamped, cut out, and sitting in my card parts basket, so it was a simple matter of stamping and cutting the two blue flowers and the leaves.  Much quicker than coloring.  Two step stamping is a most excellent way of creating an image with a lot of depth, but very little bother.  The first step is the colored image, solid but with blank spaces for highlights.  The second step adds the shading and details.  In this case I used the high contrast of black for the second step.  My Stamp-a-Ma-Jig stamp positioner (from Stampin’ Up!) assured exact placement of the second image.  That thing is one of the most important tools in my stamp room.

 

The embossed center panel was a freebie I earned after submitting a (gulp) $50 order during SU!’s Sale-a-Bration event.  It will most likely be available in the next catalog (just guessing).  I scored a 1/4” border around the white card base.  The foremost blue flower is popped up on foam mounting tape.  That’s it!  This easy mailer is heading to an 80 something grandma and I sure hope she likes it.

 

Take care, and enjoy your day!

Something Old and Simply Sweet

 

Every now and then I like to get out an old stamp set and really put it through its paces.  I still love this Stampin’ Up! Simply Sweet set, one of the first SU! sets I ever bought, and I gave it a good work out with multiple cards I made for my “for sale” basket at work.  Most of the cards were similar in style, and I managed to use up the last of my BasicGrey Urban Prairie paper in the making.   I like the way the colors came together on this one.  The blue is SU!’s Pool Party.

 

 

I made a couple of cards in this style, as well, and finished off some old My Mind’s Eye Kalaidoscope paper.  The Cuttlebug Bloom Dots embossing folder is one of the first I bought and it seemed to go rather well with the paper.

 

 

The images are stamped on Flourishes Classic White cardstock, colored with Copic markers, and glitter added.

 

I very much enjoy reaching to the back of the drawer, so to speak, and pulling something to the front once in a while.  I hope to do this more often and use up some older supplies at the same time.  Better that than tossing it out, yes?  Thank you for dropping in!

Something Simple Today

When my friend and Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, Nancy, came to pick up my order today she brought all kinds of pretty things to look at and a couple of things to play with.  While she was here I stamped her Secret Garden and used the matching Secret Garden Framelits Dies (from the Spring supplement) to cut them out.

 

 

After Nancy left my house at 2:00, I ate lunch, took the dogs for a run in the woods, made this card, photographed and edited it, started dinner simmering on the stove, and now I’m here, writing a blog post.  I’m sure that must be a stamping speed record for me, but look how simple it is.  Pretty, though, you think?

 

It’s all stamped on Whisper White cardstock.  In addition to the Secret Garden goodies, I used some retired SU! favorites – Polka Dot Background, Small Sayings, and silver cord.  I added silver mini brads to the pink flower centers for dimension.  Ink colors are Pink Pirouette, Pool Party, and Wild Wasabi.  Easy to create and easy to explain.  Love!

 

Now, I’d like to thank you all for such a warm welcome back to my old stamping blog.  It feels good to be home and I’m looking forward to the time I’ll spend here with you.  Have yourself a wonderful day!

Cheers!

I finally did something I’ve been meaning to do for years – make some New Year’s cards.  It comes so close after Christmas… I guess I’m just not ready for another holiday yet, except in regard to having the day off work.

The first card uses an American Art Stamp couple with an Art Impressions sentiment.  Both stamps have been gathering dust for a few years – not because I don’t like them (quite the contrary), but I don’t have a lot of occasion to use them.  I generally look at them every year when I think about doing New Year’s cards, but that’s as far as it goes.

So… you’ve probably noticed the embossed and cut away card base.  That was done with a new-to-me product called Marianne Design Designable Folders.  I got mine here (in the UK), but you can find them elsewhere, too, if you do a Google search.  I was amazed with the speedy delivery from all the way over there.  I guess those planes fly pretty fast!  The price of these folders is a little scary, but they sure can help you do a cool card design in record time.  That can be important.  However, you can do a little or a lot.  Either way, they’re very fun to play with.

I decked out the couple in glittery party finery by stamping in Versafine Onyx black ink and embossing with sparkly Stardust embossing powder.  The sentiment was embossed with plain clear powder.  You can see the sparkle better in the next photo.  Even the gentleman’s moustache and hair have glitter in them.  Either he’s been nuzzling his lady friend or he’s been wiping his nose on his coat sleeve.  Maybe he’s no gentleman, after all.

I cut the image panel with Spellbinders Labels Sixteen S4-301, and added just a touch of color with Copic markers and a pink rhinestone.

The next card features an image from a retired Stampin’ Up! set called Along the Same Lines.  The sentiment is from A Muse and is cut with a Spellbinders Ribbon Banners S4-324 die.  I sponged with ink while the die was still in place.  The BasicGrey Euphoria designer paper looks all bubbly and floaty (like your head after a few glasses of champagne).

We have sparkling pink champagne for our New Year’s celebration.

I hope your plans for New Year’s Eve are as exciting as mine.  If I’m still awake at midnight maybe I’ll hear some distant fireworks…   Whatever you’re doing, stay safe and enjoy!  See you again soon!

Very Simple Christmas Cards

I hope you aren’t blinded by the white on these cards.  I was in a mood, I guess.  I sat down one day and made six cards along these lines thinking, “just get a few done and I’ll have time to do some of those warm, colorful cards later”.   Perhaps I won’t send out as many cards this year.  Perhaps I’ll even buy some cards (gasp!).  The only real plan I have this year is to not worry about it.

For both cards I’ve used glossy cardstock, though the gloss doesn’t show in the photos.  It embossed deeply and gave the cards a nice quality finish.  Very clean and simple.

Stamps:  Stampin’ Up! Heard From the Heart  Paper:  Glossy white  Ink:  Cherry Cobbler  Accessories:  Prima Poinsettia Flower, Petals A’Plenty Sizzix embossing folder (Stampin’ Up!)

I added a stamped border and ribbon to the second card.

Stamps:  Hero Arts greeting, Stampin’ Up! All in a Row (retired)  Paper:  Glossy white  Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke  Accessories:  Ribbon, Prima flower, Sizzix Petals A’Plenty embossing folder (Stampin’ Up!)

I think I’m going to have a very merry Christmas this year, and I hope you will, too.  Take care, and enjoy your weekend!