Getting a start on Valentine's Cards

I just love the new Valentine's Defined stamp set in the Occasions Mini!
I started fairly simple with the 'heart' flowers and heart banner, and can't wait to create something fun and new with the flamingo and tree images: 

These cards were quick and easy!  I used a fiskars product that allows you to punch in the center of a card - very cool!  Look for more Valentine posts in the new future.  Enjoy!

Fun Boy Card!

Kudos to Angela Helynck's wonderful layout here:
http://www.stampinconnection.com/photo/1006793-1?context=user

I knew I wanted to incorporate several stamp sets with some brayering to make a 'space/planets' card.

I went hunting and found Angela's card which I adapted to include the robot and brayering.

It's hard to see, but the ring around 'saturn' has peach parfait glitter on it. The moon is two layers - one of Going Grey brayered with Basic Grey, and the other is Brushed Silver. The moon craters were created with the 1/2" circle punch, and an eyelet paper punch set.

The stamps used are:  Background Basics, Best Bot Forever, Starring You, Valentine Defined, Pun Fun

The colors used are:  Tempting Turquoise, Pacific Point, Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight, Tangering Tango,
Poppy Parade, Going Grey, Basic Grey

The stars were embossed with Whisper White craft ink and White embossing powder. I also through in some dazzling diamonds to give the stars a little shimmer. The stars in the bottom left corner have some dazzling diamonds on them, too!

This took some time, but I had a "blast" making it!

Halloween Luminarias

These were VERY fun to make!  I used the tutorial on SCS , and heat embossed stamped images instead of adding diecuts as per the tutorial.  I went to the dollar store for some 2 for $1 electric tealights - they're awesome!  Here's a picture using a flash on my camera:

The paper is last year's Cast A Spell, and the dotted DSP is from this years Wicked Fun.  The stamps are from House of Haunts and From the Crypt.  I used SU Vellum and heat embossed the images with versamark, black ink and black embossing powder.  Vellum creates incredible embossed images! I'm going to line my walkway with these on Halloween night.  For now, they will sit in my window sill at night so they can be seen from the street.   I hope they inspire you to have a BOO-tiful Halloween!

Still Grateful.........

Hi Everyone!  I've really missed posting on my blog!  The good news is that yes, my insurance will pay for a new camera!  Bad news is I haven't replaced it yet and I won't get a check from the insurance company for another few weeks.  I wanted to post something, and I did find this picture of a card I made a few weeks ago but never posted.  The dsp is from the new Autumn Spice collection on page 13 of the Holiday Mini.  I love this paper and the coordinating stamp, Day of Gratitude!  I've used Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler and some Peach Parfait for cardstock and ink here.  I used the extra large round tab punch for the label.  The sentiment was stamped on a 1 inch strip of paper, then punch with the same punch and overlayed onto my mat label.  I used my Blossom Party die to cut the flowers that are overlayed on the large stamp from Days of Gratitude.  I used the color spritzre tool and my Early Espresso marker to spritz some color to my cardface.  This was a fairly quick card and I'm looking forward to making some more!  Thanks for looking!

Until I get a new camera....

Hi Crafty Friends,

I'm sad to report that my wonderful camera of which i used to take pictures of my crafts and cards was stolen on Wednesday.  I know, what a bummer, right?!  I'm still being crafty, however, there will be a lull in my postings of original creations until I can replace my camera.  Hopefully, my insurance will cover it and I can purchase another next week!

Here's hoping for awesome insurance coverage!

Kind crafty thoughts,

Linda

All in a pretty Box!

The brayered cards I've been posting are to be given away in a silent auction to raise money for a non-profit organization called Bikes for Kids Utah.  I got the boxes from Zurchers and had a ball dressin' 'em up!

These cards go with this box:

Sincere Salutations and Fast and Fabulous were used, and each set uses 3 colors from each color family  I saw this card made by Jennifer Weide on SC and thought it was perfect for a set of cards.

The 'season' brayered set based on the Season of Friendship set go inside this box:

This box was first sprayed with light blue glitter spray while it was still flat and unfolded.  I covered the blue section, and then sprayed green glitter spray to make the ground or grass.  I heat embossed the tree trunk with Creamy Caramel, then proceeded to heat emboss the leaves in Garden Green, Barely Banana, Cajun Craze, Old Olive and Really Rust.  This was simple and fun but a bit time consuming!  The cards that go inside of it are from my last post!  Thanks for looking!

Seasons of .... brayering!

Here's some more brayering, once again inspired by Michelle Zindorf.  Michelle posted the "Fall" card, and I ran with it, creating a similar card for each season.  I made 5 of each, 1 for me to keep, and two sets of two cards each to be given away as gifts.  These are blank cards, but they are layered and finished on the inside as well.  Season of Friendship and Style Beautiful are the stamp sets used.

Michelle's tutorial for the Fall card is here:  http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2010/09/02/fall-color-tutorial-360/  You'll see that I don't stray from "The Master."  lol

The important technique here is emboss resist, which is what is done first, with the except of the Winter card.  Michelle describes how to use Versamark and ink stamped together, then heated as your first step, then brayer the sky, then sponge your grass, then stamp the tree, sponge the 'ground' and add white gel pen highlights.

The winter card is done differently.  First, tear through the sticky part of a post it note to make your hilly horizon.  Then brayer your sky, then sponge low grey clouds, then sponge your horizon.  remove the post it note.  Lightly sponge Going Grey at the bottom tip, then a little Basic Grey.  Stamp your tree.  Using Whisper White Craft Ink, stamp your snowflakes, then heat emboss with Iridescent Ice.  Add your white gel highlights, making snow in the branch crevices.  Dust a bit more Going Grey around the tree for your shadow and mount to your mats.

Colors are as follows:

Fall:  Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Wild Wasabi, Marina Mist and Not Quite Navy.

Winter:  Not Quite Navy, Taken with Teal, Going Grey, Basic Grey, Whisper White (craft)

Spring:  Blushing Bride, Rose Red, Certainly Celery, Early Espresso, Bashful Blue and Marina Mist

Summer:  Wild Wasabi, Poppy Parade, Garden Green, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point and Certainly Celery

These are 5 x 5 cards finished.  The mat stamped with Style Beautiful is 4 1/2 square.  The Square image on Whisper White is 3 1/4 square, with mats measuring 3 3/8 square and 3 1/2 square.

These were really fun to make!  I'm off to make a brayered gift box for them............have fun!

Brayered Thank You Set

Many Thanks to Michelle Zindorf for her beautiful layout for the cattail card that is part of this set.  Kudos to jadoherty on Splitcoast too!  I made this set for my friend, Annie.  I love brayering because the results are so pretty and it really doesn't take all that long!

This last one was run through the lattice embossing folder after it was brayered and stamped.  I saw this same card on SC and SCS and had to try it!  Lots of different stamp sets used for these three cards:  Just Believe, Inspired By Nature and Watercolor Trio.  Several punches were used too:  Photo Corner, oval, scallop, and the slot punch (cattails).  The cattail card was brayered on to Daffodil Delight, and the photo corners were run through an embossing folder.  Next I'm going to make a brayered gift box to put them in!  If you want to learn more about brayering, I highly recommend Michelle Zindorf's website, tutorials and classes.  Google her and find over 300 tutorials for her beautiful work!  Thanks for looking and I wish you a fun and stampy weekend!

Happiness is... Paisley Prints

The holiday mini has lots of fun surprises, and this set is great because it covers several holidays.  I hadn't played with the hearts in the set, but as soon as I saw it I thought of the Raspberry Tart dp with it's paisley background. 

I used the 'rock and roll' technique by first loading the heart stamps with Cameo Coral, then lightly tapping and rocking the edges of the stamp in Rose Red.  It creates a pretty variegated fad and I like the result!  I don't have the large heart punch so I cut those by hand, and I used the bitty punch set for the small hearts and inked the edges with Rose Red  The extra large punch (pg. 25 of the holiday mini) is my new favorite tag punch!  To make the mat behind it, simply punch your tag, then cut an X corner to corned and adhere them to your solid tag.  Cool, eh?  Two fun tips today - matting a punch and rock and roll!

The small corner detail stamp is from Style Beautiful and the sentiment is from Whimsical Words.  This is a quick card that looks great with some dimensionals to make the cut outs pop, and some doodling with a white gel pen for a bit more framing and focus.  There's more to come - I've been busy!  :)  Thanks so much for looking and feel free to add a comment, suggestion or follow me and let me know your blog address so I can follow YOUR creations.

Nouveau Curly Cute!

I love this dsp, although I didn't at first. Now, I'm sad it's no longer available.

Anywho, I'm loving this Curly Cute with the larger, playful sentiment. It's very cheery and I'm looking forward to using all the sentiments in the set! 

These cards came together very quickly and are very simple.  It's the dsp that dresses them up!

For Thinking of You, I mixed two printed dp's and accented the edges with the ribbon border punch in Apricot Appeal.  The sentiment was stamped in Basic Grey, and I used a corner rounder for the long, oval shape.  I used a small scallop punch to add some color to the center of the flower along with a brad.  Had I wanted to take more time, I would have used some Apricot Appeal reinker on the Pretties Flower.  I hope someone will case this and do that - I'd love to see it!

The Thank You card uses four punches and a quick ribbon treatment.  I used the large flower, and large, medium and small scallop punches.  The medium scallop punch was then cut at each scallop towards the center to create petals.  Easy!  Thanks for checking out these quick cards.

I've been working on a set of brayered cards for a friend.  Can't wait to finish them and show them to you!

Make it a great week, and thanks for stopping by and following me.  I love your comments and visiting your blogs, too!

Hugs,

Linda

Simple Vintage Christmas

Here's a simple card that's very fun to color!  The dp is from Deck the Halls and the layers are Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake (Scallop Trim Border Punch) and Always Artichoke.  I prefer blender pens to the aqua painter.  The image is also from the Holiday Mini and it's called Bells and Boughs.  I stamped the image with Black Stazon first, then used my classic ink pads and blender pen to color the images.  Cherry Cobbler was used for the flowers, Always Artichoke for the boughs, and Daffodil Delight for the flower centers.  Black Stazon was used for the sentiment image.  To brighten up the flowers I used some white glitter chalk which also softens the edges.  I sponged some Creamy Caramel around the image mat to give it an aged vintage look.  Coloring can sometimes be time consuming so this quick layout is a great way to balance out your time and still have a pretty card that looks like it took hours.  Enjoy!

Penguin Birthday, compliments of Merry Socha

My card for today is a direct case from Merry Socha on stampinconnection.com. I thought the owl punch would work for a cute little penguin, and Merry had the same 'vision.'  :)  She made it easy for me! 

I think they are so darn cute!  lol  I used all Stampin' Up! products except for the scrap of blue background, the rubon sentiment, and the party hat which was made with my cricut.  The ribbon has been available on the clearance rack at Stampin' Up - just click the Shop 24/7 button to the right to check out the sales!  Tomorrow I'll post a card made from products in the new Holiday Mini catalog that was mailed to many of you!  Make it a great day!

Owl-y Flowers - love it!

Well, I'm excited to say that I have a card to post every day this week!  I was busy this weekend, as card making never feels like 'laboring' for me.  It was a perfect time to enjoy myself by making cards for my sweet daughter and to get started on Christmas Cards.  I know... Christmas, in September?  I make ALOT of Christmas cards, as you will see in the coming months!

First, I had so much fun making these large flowers out of the owl punch a few weeks ago.  The flowers have been sitting on my desk, just waiting to be glued to a card:

Each 'petal' is created by cutting a 'v' between the owl ears.  Then cut off the feet (sorry, that sounds so cruel - lol).  Fold the owl lengthwise and pinch the bottom.  This gives you a point from which to fold, and also brings the petals tips up a bit.  From your bottom crease, fold each edge in until they touch.  I then glued these to the large scallop punch of pear pizzaz cardstock.  The center is a 1/2" punch of Garden Gala dp adhered to a build-a-brad.  I had fun mixing the Garden Gala and Razzleberry Lemonade (retired) design papers, too!  My daughter described this card as "cheerful."  I'd have to agree!

I have another example of owl flowers tomorrow using the Noveau Chic paper and one of the new stamp sets.  Hope you'll stop by!  Until then, make it a Stampin' Day!

I have a confession....

It's been over 3 weeks since my last post - yikes!  Forgive me, friends.  Life has been super busy, as I'm sure it has been for you, too.  I left for vacation 2 days after my last post, came home, and have been busy getting my youngest child off to college.  It's official, I'm an empty nester!  Well, at least until she comes home for summer.  Here's a cute photo of my girls from our vacation.  We stayed on my Aunt's farm in Oregon.  The girls got a kick out of my 81 year old Aunt's 'gater.'  My Auntie drives it all over her farm - too cute!

Ok, so they had just a little fun on the farm!  lol

My daughter asked if I would make her some cards for her to take with her to college, so I'm beginning to make her a stash.  I started by casing this one from Elaine Schader's post on Stampin' Connection:

This uses the Friends Never Fade and Perfect Punches stamp sets.  Colors are Wild Wasabi, Marina Mist and Concord Crush.  So pretty together, don't you think?  A little organza ribbon, the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Large oval and large oval scallop punches, and a Martha Stewart border punch (any of the SU border punches would work, too) makes the recipe for this card.  Again, this is pretty much a direct case.  Search Friends Never Fade at SC, and you'll find others that are similar to this one.

Katie also asked for some 'guy' cards.  All products are stampin' up accept for the Verve stamp set:

The Elegant Soiree DP and Crumb Cake paper were distressed, pierced and punched for this card.  I really like the Bashful Blue, Baja Breeze, Soft Suede and Not Quite Navy color combo!  The little ribbon loop is the reverse side of the Soft Suede polka dot ribbon.  If you don't have a distressing tool, you can simply use your fingernail on the paper's edge for a similar effect.

I'm on a card makin' mission during the month of September, and I'll be using lots of new goodies from the new Holiday Mini.  Your copy, if you are on my mailing list, is being sent to you this week so keep a look out in your mail.  It's one of the best occasion mini's I've seen with lots of new products!

I'll post the online link to the new Holiday Mini Catalog on September 1st.  Until then, make it a great day, making great cards and pages and projects and frames...and..... :)

Oh, I LOVE new paper!

Paper is my inspiration.  How 'bout you?  When I saw the new designer paper in the new Stampin' Up! catalog Iabout fell over - I wanted it ALL! lol   I did purchase Woodland Walk and Blueberry Crisp (and a few others, I have to admit).  And, as is true for many of you... I have boxes of pictures that are waiting for me to find the perfect time to put them into a scrapbook.  Alas, I am not a very dedicated scrapbooker!  However, I really love my youngest daughter's graduation pictures, so I committed to making two pages last night, and thought it a perfect opportunity to play with my new paper!

Katie loves green, so I have to make a page with green paper and Woodland Walk was perfect.  Now, in hindsight, I would use one or two solid colors as matting, but that's how we learn, right?  :)  Here's the first page I did.  It's an 8 1/2 x 11 for a green album that I picked out over a year ago just for her:

I used the Just Believe stamp set from the new catalog for the stamped images and the Whimsical Word set for the sentiment.  The lace ribbon is also from the new catalog.  It's hard to tell, but the flowers in the lower left corner are actually cut out from the paper and popped up on dimensionals.  I didn't have any Garden Green ribbon, so I substituted some Handsome Hunter instead.  I added some paper piercing and a few buttons for a little extra detail.  Here's the next one using Blueberry Crisp:

So I had alot of fun with this one!  Plus, I just love this picture of my daughter.  I cut the main piece of dsp to 81/2 x 11, and then added the 3 inch strip onto the left side of the page.  I covered the seam of those two pieces with some Pacific Point ribbon.  I then cut two pieces of dsp to 6x6 and set them diagonally as matting for the picture.  I cut a small strip of dsp and used a tape runner and adhered it to the crocheted ribbon, then adhered that to the page.  I covered the ends by punching two medium scalloped ovals, folding them over the sides of the page and securing them with Very Vanilla brads.  The sentiment in the bottom corner was stamped from the Style Beautiful set (again, a new stamp from the new catalog) on to Very Vanilla CS and punched with the large oval punch.  I punched a medium scallop oval from the dsp, cut it in half the long way, and adhered it to the top and bottom of the punch.  It's popped up on dimensionals.  Last, I had so much fun making the flower in the top corner.  Here's a close up:

First, I punched a scallop circle out of a different print of dsp than the one I chose to use for the rest of the flower.  Then I punched 4 'owl bodies' from the new Owl Punch - yeah, really!  I cut off the owl feet.  I then folded each owl in half lengthwise.  That crease is your guide to cut to the center from each of the owl's ears.  It should look like a tulip when you are done with this step.  Then from the bottom, fold each of the two edges from the center crease point.  Punch a 1" to 1-1/2" circle to adhere to the back of your 'owl tulips'.  Arrange them first so you know where to adhere them to the circle.  Then adhere the circle to the scallop punch that you set aside.  Use a paper piercer in the center of the flower to insert the brad.  The brad was made with Stampin' Ups Brad Builder.  Punch a 1/2" circle from the dsp you want to use.  The clear plastic cover already has adhesive on it so stick your circle to the back of it.  Then get a 1/2" glue dot, and put it on the brad base.  Then adhere the paper/disc to the brad base, paper side down.  Insert the brad and then use your fingernail or small scissors to lightly curl the flower tips upward.  You're done!  The flower was popped up on dimensionals, of course!  You can make these with 4 to 6 owl/tulips, depending on how deeply you fold up the outside edges of the owl/tulips.  The more narrow they are after folding, the more will fit in the circle.  These flowers are VERY fun to make and look awesome.  Add more dimension to them by inking the edges before the flower is assembled.  Well, I'm off to run my weekend errands.  Feel free to email me or comment, especially if you have questions about these pages, Stampin' Up products, or anything in general!