Majestic mosaic

Years ago I bought a pack of pre-cut oval and rectangle frames from Stampin' Up!^®, and I don't think I ever used them. I actually forgot I even had them until I found them in my stamping supplies last week. So today I used one of them to make a card.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Zoo Review
Ink: Basic Brown
Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Chocolate Chip. Close to Cocoa, Cajun Craze, More Mustard
Accessories: Watercolor pencils, blender pen, hemp twine, pre-cut frame, Multipurpose Liquid Glue, Dimensionals

I love this majestic lion -- and all the images in the Zoo Review set. (I was excited to discover that almost all the images in the set will work in these frames. The giraffe is just a tad too tall, but if I trim the bottom of the image a bit, then that one will work in the frames, too.) I used watercolor pencils to color the lion: a mustardy color for his body and two shades of brown for his mane. Then I used a blender pen to soften the pencil lines and blend the colors. I also tried coloring the lion with markers and ink/blender pen, but this was by far my favorite. It's nothing fancy (I'm definitely no coloring expert), but I really like it.

The frame, which was a neutral color similar to Naturals Ivory or Confetti Cream, needed some embellishment, and I considered several different ideas: sponging/spritzing on color, covering it with patterned paper, stamping on it. I'm not exactly sure how I came up with the idea to create a mosaic, but that's what I went with. When I started cutting and gluing, I thought it would take forever to finish (and I briefly considered quitting), but once I got into a rhythm, it actually came together fairly quickly.

I wanted to add a little something to the mosaic frame, and since the card has a masculine feel, I didn't want to go over the top. So I wrapped some hemp twine around the left side of the frame in a criss-cross pattern and tied it off at the top. I think it adds just the right detail.

All in all I'm really pleased with how this card turned out, especially since I often have a harder time with masculine cards. Now I need to get busy using the rest of those frames!

Dahlia fold cross

Today I'm sharing the card I made for the baptism of my cousin's daughter a few weeks ago. This has become one of my go-to designs when I need a more religious card because I don't have any particularly religious stamps. It's a pretty quick card to make, and it's a great way to use up smaller pieces of patterned paper.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Paper: Whisper White card stock, Paisley Petals DSP
Accessories: Basic Pearls, corner rounder, Button Latte buttons, 2-1/2" circle punch, 1-3/4" circle punch, Perfect Pennants die, crochet thread

I first saw a card like this posted on a blog by another Stampin' Up! demonstrator, so I can't take credit for the original idea. To create the cross you use punched circles with a technique called the dahlia fold. (When I have more time I'll create tutorial for this technique.) Basically, you create folds in four circles and glue them to the card in the shape of a cross. The trick to making it look like a cross is to use a larger circle on the bottom so the bottom leg of the cross is longer.

To help the cross stand out a little more on the patterned paper, I placed a white scalloped circle from the Perfect Pennants die behind the cross. (It really is a circle; the way it is placed creates the illusion that it's a square.) Then I added a few simple embellishments: a button and pearls in two different sizes. That's it!

I really like the soft look of this cross, and it's fun to be able to see both sides of the patterned paper at once! I hope you like it, too.

Bye, summer!

I made it to the State Fair yesterday (thankfully cold-free, although it made a reappearance this morning), and my friend Kay and I started out the wonderfully cool day with breakfast at one of the church dining halls. I had chocolate milk and an English muffin breakfast sandwich. We spent about the next nine hours walking, people watching, browsing, sightseeing and of course eating our way through the Great Minnesota Get-Together. I ate a Pronto Pup (like a corn dog, but with flour batter instead of corn), a deep-fried Snickers (split with Kay; I think I like Milky Way better), a peach (something healthy!), risotto poppers (risotto, mushrooms and cheese fried in a ball shape and on a stick; they did not look appetizing on the inside, but were quite tasty), deep fried apple pie with cinnamon ice cream (yum!), french fries (one of my State Fair staples) and just a few cheese curds (I don't think I could eat a whole order myself). Whew! I missed Sweet Martha's Cookies and the deep-fried cookie dough. Sigh. I guess there's always next year.

Now that the State Fair is over, the weather has taken a decidedly cooler turn, and everyone will be back to school tomorrow, it feels like we really have reached the end of summer. I am ready for fall. It's always my favorite season; I love the sights, smells and sounds of autumn. And it also means I get to sign up for community education classes again, which I've been enjoying the past couple of years. I haven't enrolled yet, but this fall I'm hoping to take Mandarin Chinese (totally new to me) and belly dance (will be about my sixth belly dance class).

Anyway, I thought I'd make one last summery card before I move on to all the leaves and pumpkins. Here's what I put together:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: Tart & Tangy
Card stock: Soft Sky, Creamy Caramel, Whisper White, Riding Hood Red
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip and Wild Wasabi markers
Accessories: Wild Wasabi double-stitched grosgrain ribbon, crimper, small heart punch, paper piercer, Multipurpose Liquid Glue, Dimensionals

Fresh strawberries (and raspberries and other garden goodies) are one of the best things about summer. And this little basket is overflowing with them! For the basket, I ran a piece of Creamy Caramel card stock through my paper crimper, then turned it 90° and ran it through again to create a weave-like pattern. I rounded the bottom corners freehand, attached another piece of card stock to the top with Dimensionals and added faux stitching around the basket.

I embellished the top of the basket by adding a piece of Wild Wasabi ribbon and a bow. The bow is easy to make -- it's just a large loop of ribbon with a small loop wrapped around the middle -- and it's adhered to the strip of ribbon with a Dimensional. I punched a small heart to hang from the bow like a little tag.

To make the strawberries, I colored directly on the stamp with Wild Wasabi and Riding Hood Red markers. After I stamped the strawberries (ten of them), I used the fine tip of the Wild Wasabi marker to add the darker green lines on the strawberry tops. I cut out the strawberries and glued most of them inside the basket. I added these two to the bottom of the basket to bring some color to the bottom of the card.

The doodling around the edges of the card is the final detail. The card is 5-1/4" square because I made the basket a bit too big for a standard A2 size card. But I think everything came together to make this card look good enough to eat! Thanks for stopping by!

Farmer's market cure?

I woke up this morning with a nasty head cold. It figures. A long holiday weekend. A trip to the State Fair planned for tomorrow. I should have expected to get sick, right? Yes, I am often surrounded by drippy noses at work, and I can't count the times I've had a baby or toddler cough or sneeze in my face. But I've built up an immunity, so I don't actually get sick much. Until, of course, it's inconvenient.

So I forced myself out of bed and took an allergy pill to help with the runny nose and sneezing and a couple Excedrin for the sinus headache and a jolt of energy. I laid around a bit, did some reading, played on the computer. After a while I felt a little better and decided I would head to the farmer's market, which had been my plan before I woke up feeling like my head was stuffed with cotton balls. I even made myself walk there and back. Figured maybe I could sweat out the cold.

I'm glad I went, because even though neither of the two places I really wanted to visit (A Toast to Bread and Deena's Gourmet Hummus) was there, look what I did find:

Yep, I bought myself a bouquet of flowers (along with some tomatoes, yellow zucchini and raspberries). And they make you smile, right? Just walking around with flowers in my bag made me feel happy. Bright yellows and pinks. How can they not make you feel at least a little more cheerful?

Now I'm not saying flowers are a magic cure-all, but for the rest of the day (at least so far), I've felt great. Who knows, maybe I did actually sweat it out. But regardless, it's a good thing I'm feeling better. Because I am going to the Fair tomorrow, and I am going to eat something deep fried and on a stick (okay, probably more than one thing). But I will be much happier doing it if I'm not sniffling and sneezing.

Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween window card

I found a little time to stamp this afternoon, and I decided to make a Halloween card. I had an idea to stamp a haunted house inside a card and then create a window in the card front so you could see the house inside. Here is what I came up with:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®)
Stamps: Home Is Where the Haunt Is, Spooky Bingo Bits
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Jet Black StazOn^®, Whisper White craft
Card stock: Chocolate Chip, Bordering Blue
Accessories: Window sheets, 2-1/2" circle punch, Basic Black 1/8" taffeta ribbon, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, Dimensionals

I added a window sheet behind the punched circle and stamped a few bats on the window sheet so they look like they're flying around the house. The trees on either side of the window and the witch flying past the moon complete this little spooky scene. The witch and "eek!" are both stamped on Bordering Blue and cut out. The moon is just a little sparkly, compliments of the Iridescent Ice embossing powder.

On the inside of the card I added a greeting and a fence around the house. (I stamped the fence crookedly on purpose to fit with the style of the house.)

This was a fun and pretty easy card to make. I do really like the idea of having a window and a little scene on the card, but there's something about the composition I'm not crazy about. It might need a punch of a brighter color somewhere. Or maybe some tweaking to the layout. I guess I'll have to see what other ideas I can come up with!




Thanks for stopping by!