Christmas Notes

I made these cute little gift cards to show a very quick easy card to make. They are 2.75" square using a variety of colours. The images are from the Level 2 hostess set "Deer Friends" (soon to be retired). I stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock and punched them out with the 1-3/8" circle punch and also the 1-1/4" circle punch (you can use either). With Stampin' Dimensionals, I adhered the circles onto the scallop punched coloured cardstock. These were then adhered to the card with more Stampin' Dimensionals. These fit beautifully into the mini square envelopes.

I think they turned out pretty good. What do you think?

Open House Projects

Here are the projects we did at my Stampin' Up! Open House.

This is a Baja Breeze shaker card. I used baja breeze ink for the snowflake background with my Jumbo Bold Snowflakes wheel. The "be merry" stamp from the "Warm Words" stamp set was inked in Real Red craft ink. Craft ink keeps a truer colour than the classic ink because the pigment sits on top of the paper rather than blending with the paper colour.

The scallop frame chipboard was inked with Whisper White craft ink and embossed with iridescent ice embossing powder (may favorite for this time of year). I then made the window by stamping a partial of this flourish from the "Baroque Motifs" set with white Stazon ink on a piece of acetate. This was attached to the chipboard with Sticky Strip. The "shakees" are styrafoam filling from a pillow that Mel took apart. These are extremely staticky and get on everything, but everyone survived it!

I used foam strips that I got at Micheals to make the box and backed it with a piece of baja breeze. The 1/4" Real Red grosgrain ribbon was then tied around the box and the entire shaker box was applied with more Sticky Strip to the card.

This second project was made using the pillow box sizzix die that Stampin' Up! now offers. The box is made with Ridinghood Red cardstock and cut with the die in the die cut machine. (I still don't have my Big Shot, but it works in my Cuttlebug).

We then stamped the Classic Stripes background stamp in Ridinghood Red ink over the paper before shaping the box (Sticky Strip was used again here to hold the box together). The stamped image is from the SU hostess set "Punches Three" which was stamped in Chocolate Chip ink on Very Vanilla cardstock and punched out with SU's Scallop Square punch.

Finally, the 1/4" Chocolate grosgrain ribbon was applied and the stamped image was adhered with stampin' dimensionals.

This box would be great for candies, jewelry, scrapbook/card embellishments, and even a sweet little note. It would fit great in a stocking or even as a party favor at a wedding (with a few changes, of course).

For those of you who like Stampin' Up! products, right now you can get 20% off any rub-ons in the current catalogues if you purchase $20 of product.

Pun Fun Birthday

Sorry for the bad colour on the photo. My husband cleaned up our computer and hasn't put our photo editing program back on yet. I'm afraid my photo turned out quite dark.

I made this card for a little girls 4th birthday. The base card is Whisper White cardstock and I used the SU retired Soft Sky cardstock and Designer Series Paper. The stamp is from the set "Pun Fun" which I coloured with SU markers in Tempting Turquoise and Real Red. The ribbon and eyelets are Real Red as well.

The circle and scalloped circle are made with my new Nestabilities! So fun to have easy ways to cut out difficult shapes. I used them in my Cuttlebug die cut and embossing machine. I hope to get a Big Shot machine so I can see how it compares to the Cuttlebug. The Big Shot is the machine that SU sells and it sounds more heavy duty than the Cuttlbug.

Pet Sympathy Card

My parents dog of 8 years had to be put down recently. He was a very important member of the family and will be greatly missed...especially by my Dad. I made this card for them.




The base card is of Not Quite Navy cardstock with a Kraft cardstock layer on top. I used a strip of Basic Black paper and a strip of paper with the paw prints on it from an unknown source. The ribbon is an SU retired ribbon. I paper pierced the Kraft CS on the corners and the stamps are from the "Close as a Memory" set - flowers are stamped in versamark, sentiment is stampes in black Stazon ink.

My 4-1/2 year old boy also made a card for his Papa. He even decorated an envelope that I'd made a while back (I used SU's 5-in-1 Envelope Template). Here are some pics of his card. The pics show the front of the card, the back, the back of the envelope, the inside of the card and the front of the envelope. My son is very thorough to decorate every surface. He learned how to hammer in the eyelets himself, too!




He was sad to hear of Harley's passing, but was so brave. He just gingerly wiped his tears from his eyes with his favorite blanket as he asked me questions. Then decided he should make a card for his Papa and for himself too (to "help us feel better").

To answer a question...

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. Spending time on the computer has been such a low priority for me lately. My new little baby along with my two other kids and life in general make for a full day.

Carol wrote a comment on my last post and asked a question about adhering ribbon to cards. Thanks for your comment, Carol, and your compliment!

How do I attach my ribbon so that it stays attached? Carol stated that ribbon tends to fall off with the adhesive she uses. I usually secure my ribbon by tying all the way around the front of my card. Sometimes I will make a hole in the front of the card so I can pull the ribbon through the hole and tie it in place (as on my "play of light" card which you can see if you scroll down the page). The bow hides the hole in most cases.

However, there are times when a ribbon is required to be attached by other means. Sometimes I use a brad or an eyelet to secure the ribbon in place. When using adhesive, I vary between glue dots, sticky strip, and basic white glue. I looked back at a couple cards and found that the ones with glue dots still held after a year (in storage, not in a sunny window, so maybe not a true test :). The plain glue holds well also, but is more difficult to hide when using it to apply ribbon because it makes a permanent wet-look. Liquid glue also takes longer to dry and can be messy. I couldn't find a card that I used sticky strip on, but I think it would hold fairly well. One thing I definitely don't have success with securing ribbon to a project, is SNAIL adhesive. This product is btter left for adhering flat paper to flat paper and is not very reliable for anything else. I love SNAIL for that purpose because it's quick and it's tidy.

So, let me know what you think? Anyone have good luck with any other adhesives for attaching ribbon to a project? I'd love to hear it.

And Carol, I hope you find some better luck with your ribbon from now on!

Happy Stamping!

Play of Light

Here's another card inspired directly from Michelle Zindorf's tutorial.

I used baja breeze for the base card and sponged it with not quite navy ink and a bit of basic black ink also. I stamped the "Baroque Motifs" background flourish in not quite navy ink (stamped off once).

The main image is done on whisper white paper. I first brayered baja breeze over the entire piece, then sponged the outside with not quite navy, night of navy, and basic black. The flowers from "Close as a Memory" were stamped in not quite navy ink and highlighted with a white gel pen, then low-lighted with a not quite navy marker and basic black journaling pen. The ground was made by first tearing a piece of paper to use as a mask, then I brayered not quite navy ink below the placed paper. Then I moved the paper down slightly and brayered basic black ink. The ground is also highlighted with a white gel pen.

I stamped the "Baroque Motifs" flourish over the main image in whisper white craft ink (stamped off once for a more subtle look).

The edges of the main image are distressed with the edge distressing tool from SU's "Cutter Kit" and gently rolled to distress it even more. This was mounted on the card with stampin' dimensionals. The ribbon is white tafetta which is threaded through a hole punched in the base card.

I hope to make some more attempts at Michelle's tutorials. They are all so beautiful and inspiring. A big thank you to her for sharing her talents!!

Collage card

I was inspired by the tutorial of a gorgeous card by Michelle Zindorf. I still love her card more, but think mine turned out pretty good, too.

The base card is Hansome Hunter with some brayered hansome hunter ink around the edges and stamped with a stamp from SU's "Fresh Cuts" stamp set.

The main collage was done on whisper white cardstock. I used a brayer to apply a mix of barely banana and so saffron ink over the entire piece, then masked off the center with a piece of paper so I could brayer a "frame" with some kiwi kiss. The edges are brayered with not quite navy and I wiped the tangerine tango directly over the edges of the paper from the ink pad. I did some tangerine tango (stamped off once) with another stamp from the "Fresh Cuts" set. I also used not quite navy with the background stamp of the same set. The centre image is from the "Lovely as a Tree" stamp set, which I did in old olive ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I lightly coloured the image with kiwi kiss and a hint of not quite navy ink using my blender pen.

The edges of the main image are distressed (using the Cutter Kit) and slightly rolled before applying it to the base card with stampin' dimensionals.

I like how it turned out. What do you think?