Category: Inspiration

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PPA 118

I’m a little late getting my Pals Paper Arts Challenge card in this week but I’ll just make the deadline! This weeks challenge is a color challenge with Early Espresso, Soft Suede and River Rock. I had the first two but no River Rock but I figured that I would just substitute Vary Vanilla. The card is a nice easy one to make. I love any stamp set that coordinates with a punch. Stampin’ Up! has quite a few of them and I would like to one day have them all! I used the Posy Punch Host(ess) set with the Fancy Flower Punch. The center of the flower is made within the same set using the 1″ Circle Punch. The bird is from The Language of Friendship set and punched out with the Bird Builder Punch. I am big fan of browns so I love the color combination. I hope that you like the card and have a great day!!

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Techniques Class Take 3

Last night was my favorite night of the month, Techniques Class! Sandy had a great trio of projects for us again last night. The theme of the class was tissue paper. We did a faux silk card which looks amazing, a stamped candle which looks so complicated but it’s really easy and a stamped tissue paper bag decorated to match the projects. We used a great Stampin’ Up! stamp set called Just Believe. It has 9 stamps, all of them beautiful. Card Stock colors are Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Certainly Celery and Whisper White. The ink was Cajun Craze and Old Olive. I love to learn new techniques and Sandy is a great teacher. We have an awesome time at the class and I can’t wait for next month! You can visit Sandy’s blog at www.stampwithsandy.com. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

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Hello Baby Boy Booties

I went to a Stampin’ Up! team meeting with my good friend Sandy last Saturday. It was in Washingtonville NY. We had a great time and I got all kinds of new ideas. The fact that it snowed and it took 3.5 hours to get home only made it more of an adventure. I also won the Stitched Stocking Clear Mount Set. I didn’t really think about using it for anything else besides Christmas and then I saw a card where it was used for baby booties. What a great idea! Here is my take on the card below. I used Marina Mist ink and card stock and the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder. I love the way the card came out and hope you like it too. Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Stampin’ Up! products used:

Card Stock: Marina Mist and Very Vanilla

Ink: Marina Mist

Stamp Set: Stitched Stockings

Tools: Stocking Builder Punch, Perfect Polkadots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Stampin’ Dimensionals, SNAIL.

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PPA117 – CAS Element of Style – Ribbon

This weeks Pals Paper Arts Challenge is to use some ribbon. I’m not a huge fan of ribbon. I have some but I only usually use it as an accent border. I do however really like 3D projects! I recently came across a new web site, Inking Idaho (http://www.inkingidaho.blogspot.com/). Becky has some great 3D projects and she offers up the Twelve Days of Christmas for you to download for $12.95. It features 12 great projects and instructions on how to make all of them. I made the candy bar gift card holder in Old Olive and used some Letters to Santa Designer Series Paper. I made a few modifications to the top but for the most part it’s exactly as Becky made hers. A piece of Whisper White 5/8 inch Satin Ribbon wrapped around the holder completes the project. Thanks for stopping by and have a great night!

Stampin’ Up! Products used:

Card Stock: Old Olive

Designer Series Paper (My Digital Studio): Letters to Santa

Ribbon: Whisper White 5/8 inch Satin

Tools: SNAIL, Multipurpose Liquid Glue

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The Open Sea Neutrals

I have to say that without a doubt my favorite Stampin’ Up! Set is The Open Sea from the Summer Mini Catalog. It actual was carried over and can still be ordered. I have used it with blue and red so I thought that maybe some browns would work too. I also tried a new kind of card. It’s called a Z-Fold card and I got the idea from Mary Fish of Stampin’ Pretty. If you haven’t checked out her blog you should (www.stampinpretty.com). She has a bunch of tutorials and also gives a tour of her “Ultimate Stampin’ Zone” which I would like to visit in person! I used The Open Sea Clear Mount set and Travel Log Clear Mount Set (which is retired) both from the Summer Mini. The patterned paper is some that I had lying around from my pre Stampin’ Up! days but really like it. I hope that you like the card and appreciate all of the ways you can use the same stamp set in so many different way just by changing the color or layout. Thank for looking and have a great day!!

Stampin’ Up! Products used:

Stamp Sets: The Open Sea and Travel Log Clear Mount

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PPA 115

This weeks Pals Paper Arts Challenge used an lovely picture of a front door all dressed up of fall. I love the fall with all of it’s bright and earthy colors. As soon as I saw the picture I knew exactly what I would do. Some nice leaves! The parchment background on the card was scored vertically with Stampin’ Up!’s new Simply Scored scoring board. I have to say that I love to use it and it really is the best one I have used. I have a Martha Stewart Score Board and I never touch it anymore. You can’t really see it in the picture very well but it gives the paper a nice subtle pinstriped look. I also used the EK Tools Triple Layer Maple Leaf punch. I only used two of the layers to keep it a little more simple. The sentiment is from the retired Afterthoughts Clear Mount Set. Thanks for taking a look!

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A “Blue” Christmas

So, I am not a huge fan of all red and green for Christmas as I think I have mentioned before. I like lots whites and blues with some traditional colors thrown in. Dark blue has to be my all time favorite color next to brown. It is a very bold and vibrant color and was the inspiration for this card.

As I was browsing through the Holiday Mini Catalog a few weeks ago I came across the Peekaboo Frames Bigz L Die. What an different and versatile die it is. You can make all different size window frames in 5 different shapes. They are great for stamping and image on the front and a little message inside. I used the Stampin’ Up! Merry Winter Clear set for the cute little snowman on the front of the top note window and the phrase on the inside inked in Night of Navy Classic Stampin’ Ink. I also brushed the window agains the stamp pad to give it a little separation from the Snow Burst Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. I like the little swirls too, they make it look a like a little wind swept snow is blowing around. The Merry Christmas is from the Delightful Dozen Clear Mount Stamp set. I love the card and hope you do too!

Stampin’ Up! Products Used:

Ink: Night of Navy

Stamp Sets: Merry Winter, Delightful Dozen

Card Stock: Night of Navy, Very Vanilla

Tools: Snow Burst Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Peekaboo Frames Bigz L Die, Stampin’ Dimensionals, SNAIL

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Little Square Inspiration.

I was looking around the Stampin Pretty blog (www.stampinpretty.com) and I came across a tutorial on how to make a Pizza Box for 3 x 3 cards. I sat down and made these two set over the weekend. The first one is made with the Stampin’ Up1 Retired Punch Bunch Clear Mount Set. I like the color combination because I think that anything that is black with cream or white tends to have a very elegant look about it. The second set is Holiday theme. I like the red and kraft paper together, I think it gives it a very homey feel. I use an EK Tools Postage Stamp Edger and some old Seasons Greetings stamp that I have had for ages. I also made the envelopes! I’m really happy with the way the projects came out and I can’t wait to make some more. Thanks for the tutorial Mary!

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Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom’s birthday. She is the best mom anyone could ever ask for. I know a lot of people say that about their moms but she really is. I wanted to make her a really special card and I was looking around on the Stampin’ Pretty (http://www.stampinpretty.com/) blog yesterday and I came across a link to Mikki’s Creative Corner (http://mikkiscreativecorner.blogspot.com/) and a tutorial for a Tri Shutter Card. This is one of the coolest cards I have seen in a long time. I love the way it looks and the instructions were nice and easy to follow. I made mine with White Card Stock and a Deep Purple. I used some printed paper that I had (waiting for my DSP from Stampin’ Up!, think how much better it will look when I get that!) and some EK Tools Punches that I have. The sentiment is from the Stampin’ Up! Retired Afterthoughts Set. I’m so happy with the way it come out, I hope mom likes it!

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Happy Anniversary

Today is my parent’s wedding anniversary. I think they have been together for 43 years! I like to make cards specific to a persons taste. My mom loves the color purple and butterflies. That made designing this card simple. I used my Butterfly Layering Punch from EK Tools and punched out two different shades of purple. I also used the CuttleBug Swirls Embossing Folder for the background. The stamps are from studio g. Unfortunately I didn’t have a happy anniversary stamp so I used two different ones that convey the same message. My mom loved the card and the fact that I used her favorite color and that I used butterflies which she commented on as soon as she opened it! I hope that they have many more happy years together!