Number 100!

It's hard to believe this is my 100th blog post. Some days it seems like I've been doing this for ages and should have passed that landmark long ago. Other days it's hard to believe I made it this far.

At any rate, I wanted to do something special for my 100th post. Something focused on the number one hundred. Maybe make a card with one hundred of something: Brads? Stamps? Rhinestones? Unfortunately I couldn't come up with anything that would realistically work. So instead I decided to use one of my new stamp sets to make a couple of "unexpected" cards.

When the 2011 - 2012 Stampin' Up!^® catalog was released last summer, I fell in love with the stamp set Everybunny. I didn't buy it right away, though, because it's an Easter-themed set, and I don't make too many Easter cards. Yet it seemed as if every time I looked through the catalog I stopped to look at that set. Finally I gave in and decided to just go for it. But I was determined to find a few non-Easter uses for the cute bunnies and chicks in this set.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Everybunny, Crazy for Cupcakes, Birthday Wishes
Card stock: Textured Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz
Ink: Bashful Blue pad; markers: Early Espresso, River Rock, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories: 1/8" Old Olive taffeta ribbon, Build a Cupcake punch, corner rounder, Dimensionals, paper snips

In the Everybunny stamp set, this little bunny is carrying an Easter basket in her right hand (or, I suppose, her right paw). To eliminate that part of the image, I used my Early Espresso marker to apply ink directly on the rubber of the stamp, being sure to not color the basket part of the image. Then I stamped the image, colored it and cut it out. To give the bunny something else to hold, I stamped, colored and cut out a balloon from the Crazy for Cupcakes set. I adhered the balloon and bunny to the card with Dimensionals.

For the rest of the scene, I used the Build a Cupcake punch to create a few clouds and my paper snips to trim some blades of grass. A bit of ribbon and a greeting finish off this sweet card, perfect for a little girl's birthday (and I have a few of those coming up in the spring!).

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Everybunny
Card stock: Early Espresso, Whisper White, textured Crushed Curry
Ink: Early Espresso, Peach Parfait and Daffodil Delight markers
Accessories: Crushed Curry polka dot grosgrain ribbon, extra-large oval punch, Decorative Label punch, Sunshiny Yellow Fun Flock (Stampendous!), Stripes embossing folder, 5/16" Neutrals brads, Signo white gel pen, Tombow multi-purpose liquid glue, Dimensionals

This hatching chick seemed like a perfect image for a baby card. In the stamp set, there are a few polka dots on the eggshell part of the image, as if it were an Easter Egg. Using the same method as above, I applied ink directly to the rubber of the stamp, omitting the polka dots on the egg. I colored the image with Peach Parfait and Daffodil Delight. Then I applied a thin layer of liquid glue over the chick's body and sprinked yellow flocking over the glue, pressing it down a bit to make sure it stayed in place. Once it was dry, I punched out the chick with an oval punch and matted it with a Crushed Curry Decorative Label punch.

For the card base, I embossed the lower portion with stripes and used a white gel pen to make faux stitching on the top. I added a piece of ribbon to separate the two sections and a brad in the lower right corner to bring some white to the bottom of the card. The greeting stamps I have didn't seem quite right, so I wrote out my own greeting on a strip of white card stock and trimmed the end to look like a pennant. I really like this fuzzy little chick, and I like the non-traditional color combo of this baby card.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing in my 100th post. I hope you found something -- either in this post or an earlier one --  to inspire you, to help you learn something new or to just make you smile.

'My type' of card

One of my favorite things from my most recent Stampin' Up!^® order is the stamp set You're My Type. I've been excited to get this set ever since I saw the Occasions mini catalog. It's a fun, versatile set, and here I used it to make a simple masculine birthday card:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: You're My Type
Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Blue Bayou, First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP)
Ink: Jet Black StazOn
Accessories: Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, paper snips, Stapler (Making Memories), Glue Dots, Dimensionals

I love how the First Edition Specialty DSP coordinates with the typewriter image. And the black and white (or in this case, black and vanilla) color scheme makes it easy to put together striking color combos; you just need to add an accent color.

For this card, I stamped the typewriter and greeting on Very Vanilla, cut it out and mounted it on a piece of First Edition Specialty DSP with Dimensionals. I matted the DSP with Basic Black and stapled on two card stock flags. The flags are distressed just a bit so they curl up and add a little dimension. I added the blue circles on the DSP to bring a punch of color to the focal image.

I really like the way this card turned out, but I think it would have also been interesting to emboss the card base, maybe with something classic like stripes, to add a bit more texture. I'll have to try that on my next card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tea time

I have three cards to share today, and they all have a tea/coffee/cocoa theme.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^® unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Tea Shoppe
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Lovely Lilac, Orchid Opulence, Pear Pizzazz, River  Rock
Markers: Pear Pizzazz, Orchid Opulence, Lovely Lilac
Accessories: Adorning Accents Edgelits dies and embossing folders, Elegant Bouquet embossing folder, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, 1" circle punch, 1-1/4" circle punch, white baker's twine, basic pearls, paper snips, Dimensionals, stapler (Making Memories)

I used markers to apply ink directly on the rubber of the tea cup stamp, stamped it on Very Vanilla and then cut around the image. I made the "teabag" in the cup by freehand cutting a piece of River Rock card stock, stapling on a piece of baker's twine, and adding the tag (which I adhered to the card with Dimensionals).

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Bitty Basics
Card stock: Vintage Violet, Cool Caribbean, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Naturals Ivory
Ink: Vintage Violet, Cool Caribbean, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake
Accessories: 1-1/4" circle punch, 1-3/8" circle punch, blender pen, Early Espresso baker's twine, Dimensionals

Each strip of colored card stock is 1-1/2" by 3-3/4". The mug images are stamped in Chocolate Chip and colored with a blender pen dipped in the ink from the lids of the ink pads. I also used a little Crumb Cake ink to add shadows.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Espress Yourself 
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze 
Ink: Early Espresso pad and marker, Cherry Cobbler and Baja Breeze markers
Accessories: Circle punches: 1", 1-1/4", 1-3/8", 1-3/4" 2-1/2"; Cherry Cobbler baker's twine, basic rhinestones, Dimensionals

Adding the rhinestones on this card was a bit of an afterthought. I felt like the card needed something, and bling seemed like a good idea. (I mean, who could argue with a little bling?) But I may have gone a bit overboard; maybe I should have stopped after the three rhinestones on the main image. Oh, well. At least it's sparkly!




Thanks for stopping by!

Tropical DVD case notepad

Even though we've been having a pretty mild winter by Minnesota standards (thank goodness!), it's still chilly, dreary and pretty much blah. So when I started to work on this DVD case notepad holder, I decided to go with something bright and flowery.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Paper: Pink Flamingo Designer Series Paper (DSP), textured Real Red card stock
Accessories: Fun Flowers die, Tasteful Trim die, Boho Blossoms punch, Scallop Edge punch, 1/8" Daffodil Delight taffeta ribbon, 1/8" Real Red taffeta ribbon, 1/4" Tempting Turquoise grosgrain ribbon
Additional supplies: DVD case, RSVP pen, 4" x 6" scratch pad

For more detailed information, including measurements, see the DVD case notepad holder post.

These colors liven up even the dreariest winter day! I especially love how the tropical feel of this DSP reminds me of a trip to San Diego I took with a friend two years ago. Walking on the beach, lying by the pool and listening to the waves crash ... that's the life.

If you haven't made one of these notepad holders yet, you should give it a try. They're pretty quick and easy and a lot of fun!

A little punchy

Today I started tackling my stamping challenge to use each of my stamp sets for at least one card. I decided to make three cards with stamp sets that are designed to coordinate with various punches. (Sorry the pictures aren't great; I still haven't bought a new digital camera, and I haven't figured out all the settings on my sister's.)

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: Four Frames, On Your Birthday
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Gray and Soft Sky card stock; Soft Sky Designer Series Paper Prints
Ink: Basic Gray
Accessories: Decorative Label punch, Pool Party seam binding ribbon, Basic Gray corduroy buttons and brads, corner rounder, Sticky Strip, Dimensionals

For the focal image on this card, I stamped the greeting on Soft Sky card stock and punched it out with the Decorative Label punch. I stamped the frame on Whisper White card stock, punched it out with the same punch and then cut out the oval shape in the middle. (I just snipped through the bottom of the frame and followed the border to cut out the oval. Then I put a small piece of tape on the back of the frame to hide the slit.) I used Dimensionals to adhere the frame over the greeting. To ruffle the ribbon, I placed a piece of Sticky Strip across the card front and then left "loops" as I adhered the ribbon.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Oval All
Card stock: Whisper White, Concord Crush, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango
Ink: Concord Crush, Tangerine Tango marker, Daffodil Delight marker
Accessories: Large Oval punch, Scallop Oval punch, Butterfly punch, 1/8" Daffodil Delight taffeta ribbon, white baker's twine, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Beautiful Wings Embosslits die, corner rounder, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

For the greeting, I stamped the "thank you" image twice: once on Whisper White and once on Concord Crush. I used the Scallop Oval punch to punch out the image on Concord Crush. I colored the image on Whisper White, used the Large Oval punch to punch out the inside of the image and adhered it to the scalloped oval with Dimensionals. The scalloped oval and yellow butterfly are also adhered to the card with Dimensionals.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Punch Bunch 
Card stock: Whisper White, Old Olive, Pale Plum, Purely Pomegranate 
Ink: Pale Plum, Purely Pomegranate
Accessories: Scallop Square punch, Scallop Trim Border punch, 3/4" circle punch, white baker's twine, clear buttons, Stripes embossing folder, Glue Dots

This is my least favorite card of the group, but it was also the first one I made of the three. So maybe that's a good sign; they'll just keep getting better. Right? Well, for this card I stamped the image four times, punched them out and adhered them to a piece of Purely Pomegranate card stock. There is a strip of Pale Plum card stock, punched with the Scallop Trim Border punch, adhered at the bottom of the Purely Pomegranate as well as a strip at each side. (Originally I had done some faux stitching on the sides, but the ink smeared, so I added the card stock strips.) In the middle there is a 3/4" clear button backed with a circle of Old Olive card stock and tied with a piece of baker's twine.

These three cards are barely the tip of the ice berg in my stamping challenge, but at least it's a start. Thanks for stopping by!