Farewell, summer

I can't believe it's already the last day of August. Where did the month go? Where did the whole summer go? While there are things I love about the season -- listening to thunderstorms, reading a book in the shade of a tree, seeing the sun when I leave for work in the morning -- I'm not really a summer girl at heart. So I'll bid farewell to summer with two very simple cards featuring some of the Chiyogami papers I bought at the beginning of the month (see Pretty papers post).

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Lucky Limeade cardstock, Chiyogami paper (The Japanese Paper Place)
Accessories: Lucky Limeade 1/8" organdy ribbon, small tropical sheer blossoms and leave (Creative Impressions), glitter brad (unknown)

I absolutely adore this purple and green floral print, so I just let it have the spotlight on this card. A little embellishment of ribbon and a flower were all I needed to add. I wish you could see all the shimmer on the paper!

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Four Frames, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Pool Party, Whisper White, Blushing Bride cardstock; Chiyogami papers (The Japanese Paper Place)
Ink: Pool Party, Encore gold
Accessories: Decorative Label punch, clear embossing powder, Pool Party seam binding ribbon, mini jewel (Doodlebug Design Inc.), Dimensionals

I like how the frame image on this card complements the soft, delicate feel of the flowers in the Chiyogami paper. I stamped the frame in gold to pick up the gold in the paper and then embossed it with clear embossing powder. A sparkling jewel and bit of ribbon complete the card.

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for autumn. Thanks for stopping by!

Cards with camo

While I was stamping last weekend I decided to make more cards with the Undefined stamp set I carved a few weeks ago. Since I put the effort into carving it, I should use it, right? So I pulled out the stamp that looks like an amoeba -- or coral if you want a beachier comparison -- and started to fill a whole piece of cardstock with that image. (I used to do that in college while I was listening to lectures. Of course I drew each one by hand back then, which took a lot more time than stamping.) As I got going, I realized it was looking like a camouflage print, so I put it to use on a couple of masculine cards.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Undefined, Yukon
Cardstock: Naturals Ivory, Baked Brown Sugar
Ink: Baked Brown Sugar
Accessories: Burlap ribbon, Candy Dots - Neutrals, Dimensionals

What do you think? I originally did the stamping in two colors of ink, but it didn't look quite right to me. I switched to a monochromatic color scheme, and I like it much better. (I do like the idea of multicolored camo, though, so I'll have to give it another try later.) I wanted to add a few embellishments -- but nothing too girly, of course -- so I adhered a strip of burlap ribbon to the background and placed three Candy Dots on the focal layer and another one in the lower right corner. These Candy Dots are from the Neutrals color collection, so they are actually Soft Suede, but I think they work very well with the Baked Brown Sugar cardstock and ink.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Undefined, Wolf
Cardstock: Whisper White, Smoky Slate, Basic Gray
Ink: Smoky Slate, Basic Gray
Accessories: Candy Dots - Neutrals, linen thread

I had a little more trouble with this layout since this focal image was quite a bit smaller than the first one. I switched the orientation of the card from vertical to horizontal and added a narrow strip of Smoky Slate cardstock next to each side of the stamped background. I tried something different with the linen thread and cut several short pieces, which I adhered behind the focal layer. I added a couple of Candy Dots on the main image and stamped a paw print in the lower right corner to fill up a little of the empty space.

Thanks for stopping by!

One-layer cards for him and her

I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately, and the heat and humidity have kicked up again, so I haven't done much stamping the past few days. Mostly lying on the couch and reading a book or playing games on my Kindle. But I needed a change of scenery today, so I spent a bit of time in my craft room. I wasn't in the mood for fussy or complicated crafting, so I created four one-layer cards, two feminine and two masculine.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Four You, Bright Blossoms
Cardstock: Shimmery White
Ink: Soft Suede, Old Olive, Strawberry Slush
Accessories: Season of Style washi tape, Simply Scored tool

Both cards started with a Shimmery White cardstock base, and I stamped a sentiment and flower image near the bottom of each card. For the card on the left, I placed a strip of washi tape below the images and added a scored line below the washi tape and around the three edges of the top of the card. For the card on the right, I scored a border all around the card after stamping and then added a piece of the washi tape below the stamped images and inside the scored border. The washi tape was a bit wider than what I needed, so I just trimmed it to the width I wanted before adhering it to the card.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Four You, By the Tide
Cardstock: Naturals Ivory
Ink: Crumb Cake, Island Indigo, Early Espresso
Accessories: Season of Style washi tape, Simply Scored tool

I used a similar layout for the masculine cards, but I switched to a horizontal orientation. On the left card, the scored lines are just on the upper corners, about 1" across and down on each side. On the right card I  placed the two strips of washi tape after stamping and then added score lines to continue the edges of the tape. I scored these lines from the front of the card, so the lines are debossed instead of embossed.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tape It revisited

Last week I shared a couple of cards made with the Tape It stamp set. I have to say that I think this set and the Gorgeous Grunge set are going to become two of my go-to sets for backgrounds. You can add one or two simple elements to a card or fill an entire card front. Here are two more ideas for ways to use Tape It.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Tape It, Four You
Cardstock: Whisper White, Crushed Curry, Basic Black
Ink: Crushed Curry, Gumball Green, Bermuda Bay, Jet Black StazOn, Basic Black marker
Accessories: Candy Dots - Neutrals, Dimensionals

I'm so glad that Stampin' Up! brought back Crushed Curry and Bermuda Bay to add to the color collections; they were both In Colors a few years ago, but I didn't really start to like them until their In Color "reign" was almost over. It's fun to use them again with new colors, and I love them in this combo with Gumball Green.

For this card I stamped three of the Tape It images across a piece of Whisper White cardstock. They're not perfectly straight or even, but I'm OK with that for this type of card. I stamped the sentiment in Jet Black StazOn on a strip of Whisper White cardstock, tore the ends to mimic the stamped images and adhered it to the card with Dimensionals. I wanted to add more black to the card front, so I made a faux stitched border with my Basic Black marker and placed three Candy Dots in the upper left corner. I layered the white panel on a piece of Crushed Curry cardstock and adhered it to a Basic Black card base.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Tape It, Dictionary, For You
Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Whisper White
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Gumball Green, Sahara Sand, white gel pen
Accessories: Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, Candy Dots - Neutrals, Glue Dots

I didn't realize until I took this picture how crooked the sentiment is. Bummer. Anyway, I stamped the Tape It images on Whisper White cardstock and cut them out. I also cut the chevron image in half so all the pieces were about the same length. I adhered the pieces across the Sahara Sand card front, which I had already stamped with the Dictionary background stamp. I stamped the greeting on another piece of Sahara Sand cardstock and adhered it across the faux washi tape. I wanted to add a few simple embellishments, so I doodled a border around the card front and greeting layer with a white gel pen and added a small flower (made with one of the Itty Bitty Shapes punches and a Candy Dot center) to the focal image.

Thanks for stopping by!

More hexagons

Last week I posted a "quilted" hexagon card made with the Six-Sided Sampler stamp set (that's a mouthful!) and the hexagon punch. It's a fun combo, so today I'm going to share two more cards made with both of those items as well as the Honeycomb embossing folder.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Six-Sided Sampler
Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip cardstock; Season of Style Designer Series Paper (DSP)
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Honeycomb embossing folder, hexagon punch, 2-1/2" circle punch, Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Candy Dots - Brights, Dimensionals

To make the focal image for this card, I started by stamping the hexagon outline image seven times on a piece of the Season of Style DSP and punched them out. Then I punched a 2-1/2" circle out of scrap cardstock and adhered one of the hexagons in the middle of the circle. I added the other hexagons around the center one by lining up the edges. For the center of the "flower," I stamped the outline image and a sentiment on Whisper White cardstock, trimmed it out by hand and adhered it to the center hexagon with Dimensionals. I added Old Olive ribbon behind the flower to look like leaves and then attached the flower to the Honeycomb-embossed background with Dimensionals. To add another touch of Old Olive I placed a Candy Dot in the lower left corner.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Six-Sided Sampler
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Whisper White
Ink: Smoky Slate, Crushed Curry, Coastal Cabana
Accessories: Honeycomb embossing folder, hexagon punch, corner rounder, Coastal Cabana ruffle stretch trim, pearls, Dimensionals

For this card I chose three of the hexagon images from the Six-Sided Sample set and stamped each image in a different color (Crushed Curry, Smoky Slate or Coastal Cabana) several times on Whisper White cardstock. I punched out the hexagons and adhered them to the Honeycomb-embossed background. I added some emphasis to the sentiment by adhering Coastal Cabana ruffle stretch trim behind the hexagon. With all the straight lines and angles on this card, I love that little touch of frill. I also added a pearl at each spot where at least two of the hexagons met. I love the idea of the pearls, but after I finished the card, I thought they might have been a bit too much. What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!