Hi Everyone. Happy Wednesday. I hope you are all having a great day.
I just popped in to quickly update my blog - then it's back to work! This is certainly going to be a veeeeeeery long week!
I wanted to share two amazing cards that I got as swaps at the Minnesota regional. It's no surprise that all of my swaps were clean and simple. One of them featured hand colored butterflies from the Flores Suaves set. They took ages to do, but they do look great! Anyway, I swapped CAS cards and got back some fabulous vintage and shabby chic cards. I love getting cards that are ones that I wouldn't normally create, as it gives me something different to share with you.
If you needed another enabling moment to encourage you to buy Nature Walk - then this gorgeous card by Carol Nordquist should do it for you! This card is stunning in real life. In fact, it enabled me to get the sanded look background stamp. I loved the little bit of lace with the bow. It really is gorgeous!
If you needed an excuse to get out your Elements of Style set, then this beauty from Melanie Baker will encourage you to do so. Her use of the spotlighting technique using the heart punch on this card works beautifully. Another gorgeous card!
I hope you enjoyed these two fabulous cards. I know I love looking at them!
On a personal note.... as I said, another long day - and night. Lou is still in London. He did call me and let me know that the sun was shining today though!!!! So, he was very happy about that. He managed to convince the colleague he is there with to walk to the tube station. He said it was a gorgeous spring night and it was fabulous to get some fresh air and get out of the stuffy conference room at the hotel. London in Spring can be so gorgeous!
Prayers tonight for those of you who need a little lift, or a warm hug.
Happy Thursday night. Oh! Yeah! The weekend is almost upon us and I will finally get some time in my stamping room. I haven't crafted all week and it is driving me crazy. Tonight's card is the one I created for the Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge. The challenge this week was not only a sketch challenge, but was also to decorate the inside of the card. There are some amazing cards created by the design team - and submissions for challenge players, so pop along and take a look. I promise you will find something to inspire you.
I decided to mix two colors I have never used together... In fact, I hardly use Melon Mambo because it is such a strong color. So, I chose to play with Melon Mambo and Concord Crush. The Concord Crush is the most luscious color and really tones down the Melon Mambo. I think they look fabulous together.
I also inked up the flourish stamp from the Elements of Style set. I've used the flowers a lot from this set, but never the flourish. So, I decided it was time it saw the light of day and got a little time in the spotlight. I also used the humming bird from the same set.
Card recipe:
Card stock: Concord Crush, Melon Mambo, Whisper White
Stamps: Elements of Style, Herb Expressions (inside sentiment)
Card instructions:
Cut Concord Crush card stock to become an A2 vertical card
Cut a piece of Melon Mambo card stock to 1 1/2" inches W x 5 1/2" H and run through your scallop border punch
Cut a piece of the Melon Mambo DSP a 2 6/8" x 5 1/2"H
Take a piece of Whisper White ribbon and color the ribbon with the Concord Crush marker. Leave to dry
Adhere Melon Mambo scalloped piece to the back of the Melon Mambo DSP using snail
Wrap ribbon around the Melon Mambo pieces and adhere ends behind the DSP.
Adhere the Melon Mambo/Ribbon piece to the card base using snail
Cut an Oval 3 6/8"H x 2 6/8"W - I used my nestabilities large oval and also embossed it
Ink the flourish stamp with Melon Mambo, Concord Crush and Daffodil Delight markers
Stamp onto the Oval
Once ink is dry apply Crystal effects to the flowers and allow to dry
Ink the Humming Bird stamp with Melon Mambo and then touch the edges of the wings, tail and the beak with the Concord Crush marker and stamp onto Whisper White card stock
Cut out the humming bird with snips and cover the entire area with Versamark. Then apply Iridescent Ice embossing powder and heat set
Adhere the stamped Oval to the card using dimensionals
Place dimensionals onto the humming bird and position on the oval with the beak over the yellow part of the flower - as though it was drinking nectar
Let's go to the inside:
Cut a of Whisper White card stock to fit the inside of the card.
Cut a piece of the Melon Mambo DSP - in this case I ran the stripes horizontal instead of vertical and punched out the scallop border with my punch
I used my Versamark pad to ink up my flourish and stamped it onto the Whisper White base.
I inked up the sentiment from the Herb Expressions set with Concord Crush ink and stamped it over the flourish water mark.
Tips:
I know you can't see it, but the Crystal Effects really makes the flowers "juicy" and they stand out and have shine even when the card is not in the light.
Adding the background card stock color to the humming bird really ties him to the background of the card and also to the flowers. The little bit of yellow adds a little relief from the purple flowers
Of course, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, always adds that extra special feeling of bling to a card.
As I don't have Concord Crush ribbon, I took a piece of the Whisper White ribbon and colored it with my Concord Crush marker. Let it dry before you use it, otherwise the ink will bleed off onto your hands - not a good thing when you are using white paper (ask me how I know!!!)
Carrying the flourish as a watermark on the inside -really ties the inside and outside together - as does carrying the DSP and colors!
When using embossing powder.... prepare the area to be stamped - and your scrap paper that will catch the embossing powder with the anti-static cloth. You can use an embossing buddy (but I never use that on dark paper), or a cloth like a swiffer cloth.
Then - use tack cloth for cleanup. Missy - you asked to see what the Tack cloth looked like - well here it is.
You can get this from your local hardware store and is exactly the same thing as the glitter clean up cloths you can get online - except you don't have to pay shipping and mine was more than half the price at my local hardware store. It does a phenomenal job of picking up the glitter and embossing powder.
OPERATION WRITE HOME - Lynn's gallery number 3:
I can't wait to show you a couple more of Lynn's great cards today. I really do love Lynn's sense of style, her attention to detail and the love that goes into her cards. Every card is a delight. I know that the servicemen/women are going to love having these cards to send.
Lynn always manages to choose just the right DSP for her cards. this one really looks like the kind of table cloth you would find on a picnic and the red scallop circle like a little bowl for the perfectly juice cherries. the cherries were, of course, given dimension with Crystal Effects. Totally yummy!
Now.. you see.. I would have tried to introduce another color to this card... and it would have absolutely been the wrong thing to do. The white and red is the perfect combination and this card just makes me warm all over!
I love the mixture of pinks and brown, the stripes and the dots - they are just the perfect amount femininity without being overboard. Perfection.
On a personal note..... it didn't rain today! Now, that is amazing. So, we will be eating outside again tonight! We also booked our vacation for this year. So a good day! Lou wasn't impressed that the Italians got sent home from the World Cup... considering they are the defending champions and 4 time winners of the cup, they played like a high school "b" team.
Missy, I am adding your family to my prayers tonight. Germaine, good to hear that you are doing a little better, but you and Pri continue to be on our list. Prayers also for Lynn and Jim, Brenda's FIL- Arthur. For Trish who had chemo again yesterday. For "T" and for Rach, for her continued strength over the next couple of weeks.
As always, thank you to all of you for spending a little time in my area of the stamping blogosphere. Your vists, your support - and your comments, are always greatly appreciated.
I hope you have a fabulous Friday, filled with love and laughter. Remember, smile at a stranger - it may change their life.
It sure was tough getting back into the swing of things at work today. Isn't it always the way on the first day:-) It was a truly gorgeous day here today, the weather was absolutely perfect. On top of that, we are going to be able to sit on our new deck tonight. It's not finished, but at least the boards are down and we can move the table back. Sitting out at this time of year is just fabulous. I've always said that you do not appreciate Spring unless you have lived through a mid-west winter! I know I appreciate spring more than I have ever done.
Tonight's card is the first card I made for the clean and simple with a moving part card..... You can see the one I settled on - the Cajun Fishing Cat here.
This one is very different in feel and uses a different technique. This card uses the suspension technique. It was tough to photograph.
I cut a hole in the card base using my nesties. (you can also see that I moved the cutting die out of position a little when I pushed it through my big shot, too! grrrr)
I used my big shot and my Beautiful Wings embosslit die and the fabulous paper from the Spring mini.
I cut two of the big butterflies so that the butterflies would be the same on the front and back. Also, the butterfly has even more dimension then, because the inside of the wings are pink. I tried to photograph so that you would be able to see that.
Before adhering the two butterflies, I put a piece of gold elastic cord down the middle of the butterflies and then glued the bodies of both butterflies together.
This allowed me to suspend the butterflies in the hole using the elastic cord, allowing the butterflies some movement on the cord.
I added two small butterflies on the corners and stamped the sentiment in Real Red classic ink.
The sentiment "Life is a Matter of Moments" is from the Elements of Style set. This set is currently in the summer mini - but has made it to the main 2009/2010 catty. Of course, the card wouldn't be complete without some pearls!
To finish off the card, I used some Vanilla Smooch Spritz. You could use the Shimmery White paper, but it was cheaper to use normal paper and Smooch Spritz. If you haven't tried the suspension technique you really should. If you click on the link, it will take you to a tutorial by Beate Johns on splitcoast.
I got to spend some quality time with my new catty last night - and even made a card. I'll be putting that one up tomorrow. SU is reconfiguring some of the accessories including punches and how paper is packaged. There is also a price increase on the paper. All my customers will have received a email from me letting them know the details, the rest of you might want to check in with your demo for details. I can't wait for July 1 to get in an order for some of the new stuff that I just have to have.... errr.... must have :-)
Thank you to those of you who visited Kadie's blog yesterday and had a look at her fabulous cupcake project. I saw from some of the comments that you had been as impressed as I was!
I hope you all have a fabulous Friday. As always, thank you so much for spending time in my little area of the stamping blogosphere. Your visit, your supports and your comments are greatly appreciated.
It was a beautiful day here in Minnesota, thankfully a little cooler than it was yesterday. We did manage to spend this afternoon doing some spring cleaning. We are starting in the basement and working our way up... oh.. .then out to the garage! The basement isn't done yet, but at least we are on our way.
Tonight's card uses Elements of Style. You know, I really wasn't that keen on getting this set, but did it to challenge myself. As you can all tell, vintage isn't my comfort zone and I wanted to see if I could still make some fairly CAS cards with this set. It really is a very beautiful image and I have greatly enjoyed playing with it.
For this card I decided to use pinks and greens. It's such a great color combination and lends itself to a feminine card. As this card is going into the card drive, I refrained from putting glitter or anything on it. I was tempted, though, to add a little glitter onto a couple of the flowers. Thinking about it, I could have actually used the Shimmer Paints!
You can see that for this card I made a double bow. I don't often do that, but it seemed to fit for this card. I must admit I'm pleased that the Tiny Tags is staying around in the new catty.
Oh.... don't get me started on the new catty. Just a week to go before my new order will be arriving courtesy of "my" wonderful man in brown! It's less than a week until we see the preview and get to place our order. I'm really hoping that we can order the new colors on June 1. I really want to get my hands on more of the new colors - and the in colors! So.... if any of you demos out there that visit my blog regularly have received a preview copy of their catty and would like to share a little information with me... I pay in chocolate :-)
What am I hoping for in the new catty?
some bigger punches
a new baby set - preferably several
a refresh of the love/valentines/anniversary sets
more embossing folders
lots more ribbon
loose pearls and rhinestones in lots of colors
sentiments for inside of the cards
more sentiments like favorite thoughts
and George Clooney in a UPS uniform to deliver them for me
So, leave me a comment and let us know what you are all hoping for.
I'm getting excited about the card drive and am so pleased that some of you are offering to participate and help the children and troops. It really warms my heart - as I know it will do for those receiving your great creations.
NOW.... don't forget..... Lesley is still looking for a guest designer for the Paper Players team, so pop along to the site.
If you have any questions about SU, the projects I make, or crafting in general, just send me an email or leave me a question. You know that I would love to hear from you.
I hope you all have a fabulous Wednesday filled with love, laughter and a little bit of magic. As for us... no doubt our day will be filled with love, laughter, and time spent with Mr Clean Magic Eraser! Love that thing for getting marks off walls!
Trish, you continue to be in our thoughts and prayers. Big hugs to all of you
Hi Everyone. Happy Thursday. Tomorrow is Friday. Oh! Yeah! The weekend.
A quick post for you tonight. This weekend I did one of the featured stamper challenges across on splitcoaststampers. If you are looking to get yourself out of a creative funk, doing a featured stamper challenge is a great way to try to counteract that. I pulled out Elements of Style and Nature's Nest for the card.
Before I get onto the card - a quick shout out to Soozie who supports me not only here on my blog - but also across at splitcoast. So thank you, Soozie!
The featured stamper was gloriousgreetings and she had this fabulous Taken with Teal, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White card. It was a great excuse to get out my sponge daubers, paper piercer and ink up a stamp that I haven't used before. It also gave me the opportunity to pay homage to Taken with Teal. A color I don't use often, but love when I do!
This was one of the few cards I have ever stamped without a sentiment!
Card recipe:
Card stock:
Taken with Teal, Whisper White
Inks:
Chocolate Chip, Taken with Teal (applied with a sponge dauber)
Ribbon:
Chocolate Chip Satin
Stamps:
Elements of Style (120045) (I can't believe how many times I have used this stamp!)
Nature's Nest (113826) (Sadly, another one of those that I speculate may be retiring!)
I kept the elements very true to the original card because I loved the colors and the elements.
One of the things I always do when I have pierced paper is to mount the layer on dimensionals. This gives the pierced holes space to "breathe" and note get "squished".
On a personal note... I feel as though I have been living back in England the last few days. It's been in the mid 40's for a high. raining. grey. dull. typical English summer weather! :-) I'm really looking forward to the weekend and getting some play time. Then at the end of next week, we are planning some vacation time. Time to do some chores around the house, spring cleaning, stamping...oh... and hanging out and stalking SU on June 1 for the new catty preview!
Please keep Trish in your prayers, she needs them right now.
Thanks to all of you for spending time in my little area of the blogosphere. You KNOW your visit and your support is much appreciated.
Tonight's card features Elements of Style - again. You know... I really didn't think I would use this set, but bought it because I wanted to get out of my comfort zone. Well, it's amazing how many times I have inked it up since I got it. Which goes to show.... try something new! :-)
I used the color challenge from playdatecafe this week. The challenge, light green, light blue and cream. Once again, not a color combination that I use very often, but the cards on the site really made me want to give it a try. It also allowed me to highlight colors that are retiring: Brocade Blue, Bashful Blue and Sage Shadow. I rarely use Very Vanilla, so it was a great chance for me to get that color out too. Of course, I had to pull out my SmoochSpritz and some half pearls. I knew that would make you happy, Cherie :-)
If you are looking for inspiration for something a little different... then pop along to this post on Laurie's blog. I promise you that you will be off to order the Bouquet Bunch stamp set and some coasters - immediately. Cos that's what I'm going to do.
I'm working on the tutorial for smoochspritz and want to try out a couple of things on Friday before I finish it up. But, I promise you, it will be available on my blog this weekend.
Here's the card for tonight
You can see that the Sage Shadow (layer 2) has been "smooched"! I used the Silver Foil (118771). It's very pretty and gives just the right amount of interest to the matt.
Card recipe
I stamped the Elements of Style image onto Very Vanilla Using Bashful Blue. The Very Vanilla layer is 4"H x 3 1/4"W.
I colored the flowers with Bashful Blue water color crayon.
I colored the leaves using my Sage Shadow water color crayon. I wanted a very light application so that you could still see the detailing on the leaves.
I then stamped the image again on a scrap piece of paper and colored the larger flowers. I colored them with my crayon and then used my Bashful Blue marker to color the areas that are darker on the stamp. This gives some depth and interest.
I cut the Brocade Blue layer at 3 5/8"H x 3 1/2" W
I then cut around the second set of flowers and mounted them onto the layer below using dimensionals.
I mounted those onto the Sage Shadow layer (5 3/8"H x 4 1/8"W) which had been spritzed with the Silver Foil SmoochSpritz and left to dry.
All that was left was to stamp the "for you" and punch it out with my 1" punch and mount it onto a piece of Brocade Blue punched with my 1 1/4" punch.
A couple of different color pearls finished up the card
This is a card that can easily be changed to any color scheme, but I enjoyed playing around with the light blue, light green and cream theme:-)
I'm off to try to make a card tonight. I'd really like to see if my mojo is flowing and to switch off from my day. My old man Merlin is curled up on the cushion next to me. The Ottlite is on to give a little warmth to his arthritic back legs. He snores like an old man. Really, he snores very loudly. It's awfully sweet. His tail is kinked at the half way point at a perfect 90 degree angle! A lot of the cats in Singapore have defective tails, or no tail at all. His would be perfectly normal if it didn't do a right angle to the left!
I was pleased to read that the flood waters are starting to recede in the South. Words always seem so inadequate at times like this. My heart and prayers go out to those affected.
I hope you have a fabulous Wednesday. I am pleased that the weekend is almost upon us. I shall definitely be spending some time in my new space this weekend. I have stopped unmounting my stamps until the retiring list comes out. I will then unmount the ones I want to keep and sell those that I don't use as frequently. I do like to keep my stamps under control and try to remember the rule of 1 comes in... 1 goes out.. doesn't always work though :-) I really like to keep the stamps that I enjoy using and get rid of those that I don't use so much. Here's a sneak peek at tomorrow's card.... using one of the new colors - Cajun Craze. I fell in love with it this weekend!
My stamping space is almost finished, but won't be truly finished until the old stamps leave and the new ones come in. The clear mount really do make a huge difference though.
As always, thank you so much for spending time in my little area of the stamping blogosphere. Your visits are ALWAYS appreciated. Trish, good luck at the oncologist this week.
I hope you all had a fabulous Sunday. The weather here was glorious - an all round great day. I managed to spend some time outside and inside.... in my stamping space. Always a good day when that happens!
Tonight's card uses Elements of Style (120045) from the new Summer Mini and Herb Expressions (113224). The sketch is from the talented Margaret Moody across at Palspaperarts and is for challenge #38. Click the link and pop across the see the fabulous inspiration cards and submissions. I really encourage you to participate in these challenges, they really force me to use sketches and colors that I would never normally use and it's a great way to get me out of my comfort zone!
I wanted to use a color combination that I had never used before (remember my New Year resolution???) so combined Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive and Very Vanilla. I also brought out a ribbon that I absolutely adore from the Christmas mini. It's the Old Olive satin ribbon from the Mistletoe set. I really hope that SU bring out more of these gorgeous ribbons with the white edge.
Elements of Style is much more traditional that I am normally drawn to. One of the reasons I bought it was to see whether I could actually create clean and simple cards with it. (You can see my other Elements of Style cards here. I have actually enjoyed using it on several cards this week, including one that you won't get to see for another two weeks!
I decided to focus on the Hummingbird in the set for tonight's card. Our hummingbirds haven't arrived back north yet. Adelle, have yours returned??? We are eagerly awaiting their arrival. One of the bushes they really enjoy is the lavender bushes that grow in the back garden. So, I decided to combine the lavender stamp from "Herb Expressions" with the hummingbird for this card.
I really find three squares on a sketch challenging. I don't know why. I really don't. Consequently I pfaffed and pfaffed and pfaffed with this card.
I absolutely LOVE this sentiment. It's so true that life is made up of moments. It seems to be that the moments we remember the most are when we are truly IN the moment. When we feel life and everything around us with all of our senses. When everything in our body is engaged and we are consummately aware of something - or someone. I know that you all have moments like that. You can close your eyes and conjure up a moment. You can see colors so clearly. Faces. Sounds. Smells. Feeling. So, this sentiment is going to become one of my favorites. You can also use it for so many different cards.
I love the color combination, it's rich and the Very Vanilla is the perfect accompaniment for it.
Here's how I created the card:
Card stock Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Stamps:
Elements of Style, Herb Expressions
Ribbon:
Old Olive satin from the Mistletoe collection (retired)
Additional:
SmoochSpritz Vanilla Shimmer (for the hummingbird) from the summer mini.
Texturz plate (swirl) for the Very Vanilla layer
1 3/8" and 1 1/4" punches
Lavender Lace and Old Olive markers for the lavender squares
Elegant Eggplant Classic ink for the hummingbird
Dimensionals to raise the hummingbird
Sizes:
Card base: A2
Very Vanilla: 4"W x 5 1/4" H
Elegant Eggplant vertical matt: 1 9/16"W x 5 1/4"H
Old Olive vertical matt: 1 1/2"W x 5 1/8"H
Squares:
Elegant Eggplant: 1 3/8"
Very Vanilla: 1 1/4"
Tomorrow's card is for a challenge site I only just discovered and features yet another saying from my favorite new sentiment set "Favorite Thoughts".
No news on Rach's baby yet, but I will be checking in again tomorrow. In fact, you can check yourselves at Rach's blog. You can check out the gorgeous pictures that Rach posted that she took on a walk today!
Please continue to send prayers for Trish and Germaine for their continued recovery.
My thanks to all of you for spending time in my little area of the stamping blogosphere. You know your visits and your support are greatly appreciated.
I hope you all have a fabulous Monday filled with moments that you will always remember.
very quick post for you tonight. I did get to spend a little time in my stamping space today - I REALLY needed to. I needed something to help me just switch off and coloring always does that for me. I made two cards and they are both meant to pay homage to our retiring colors. I'm going to dedicate some cards over the next week to do exactly that. Now... that certainly takes me out of my comfort zone. One of the challenge cards I did made us use 4... yes... count them. 1...2...3...4.... BOLD BRIGHTS all on the one card! Yikes!!!
Anyway, tonight's card uses the new Elements of Style set (120045) from the new Summer Mini. I bought this set because it was going to force me way outside of my comfort zone.
I used it on the clean and simple fall to layout sketch challenge number 85 - again a shape that took me out of my comfort zone....
I decided to create this card for my surrogate mother who is going to be 90 this year. the sentiment spoke volumes for me and she loves flowers. So how perfect was this!
When you reach the age of 90 - you sure have seen a life full of moments. She's an amazing lady!
Card recipe:
Card stock: Very Very Vanilla
Stamps: Elements of Style
Wheel: Very Vintage
Embellishments: Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon
Inks: Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, Mellow Moss markers. Pretty in Pink classic ink (for the wheel)
Card size: Very Vanilla card stock cut at 7 x 6 1/6" to make a 7 x 3 1/4"H card. I had to make it just a little longer in order to accommodate so much of the flower on the right hand corner. You could make it smaller by reducing the amount of flower on the page.
I hope you all enjoyed have a quick look at the new colors and how they compare in last night's post. I can't believe I forgot to add the picture comparing the browns. Thanks to Soozie for letting me know - I fixed that issue and the brown comparisons were loaded this afternoon. I haven't played with the colors yet. I want to get the feel of them a little more... also... there is only one single sheet of each color, so I'm waiting for exactly the right card to come to mind.
I hope you all have a fabulous Thursday - it's almost Friday. Please continue to send prayers to Trish.
Big hugs to you all
Jaydee
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