Amazing Opportunities & New Projects.

Well, it's been a busy and interesting few months around here!  I have so much to share with you.  I will try to make it as brief and as painless as possible so that we can get to the projects I want to show you.

He is doing fine now, but my Dad had a heart attack a couple of months ago.  If not for a quick thinking co-worker, it might be different.  Of course there have been a lot of changes for him, most importantly of which he had to quit smoking (YEAH!!), and so far he has been doing great.

I recently finished up the two annual craft fairs that I participate in and ended up with some surprising opportunities.

During the first event, I was asked if I would be interested in selling items on consignment at a local art center.  How could I turn that down?!  I now have several items on sale in the gift store at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts in Michigan City, IN.

It's a wonderful little place and the staff are friendly and so helpful.  They teach classes and hold special events throughout the year, as well as sponsoring and participating in local outreach programs.  If you are in the area, please stop in to check out the wonderful exhibits and the beautiful gift shop.  All items in the gift shop are made by local artists and, in my opinion, there are some fabulous pieces in there.  I am very humbled that I will have my little paper craft and mixed media pieces along side beautiful sculptures, handmade boxes and many other amazing pieces.

At the second event, a returning customer asked if I would be interested in teaching some classes at her new business, Harvest Circle Workshop.  The owner, Apryl, is also very involved with non-profit organizations and outreach programs.

If you've read this far, thank you.  I have some projects that I would like to share with you.

These are some of the gift tags that I made this year.  These little gingerbread men were very popular at the craft fairs. 

I used the Apothecary Framelits to cut the base for the tags.  I put the straight edge of the card stock up against the blade of the framelit so that I would only have the one half circle on the other end.  It was much easier than cutting off the other half circle on all of them.  I was able to cut through 2 sheets of card stock at a time.

For these tags I used the Two Tags Die to make the base of the tag from Soft Suede card stock.  Santa was stamped in Real Red and then punched out with the 1 1/4" circle punch and then popped up with dimensionals on a Real Red scallop.

These chalkboard tags have also been a big hit this year.  I can't seem to make them fast enough. :)

I found the shapes for these chalkboard tags at the local Hobby Lobby.  I punched the holes using my Crop-A-Dile and then spray painted them with chalkboard paint.  They do take a bit of time, as you have to wait for the paint to dry, but they make a fun little addition to any present.

The paint instructions say to use at least 2 coats; I used 4 on each side.  I still managed to get several sets of tags from one can of paint.

Here are the different shapes that I have made so far.

Thank you all so much for continuing to follow me, even with such random postings.  If you have just stumbled across my little blog I hope you will stick around. :)

As a thank you for sharing in my excitement for these new opportunities and for your continued support, I would like to give away come blog candy!  I will be giving away a set of the chalkboard gift tags.

Please leave a comment on this post by midnight (CST), December 13th.  If you'd like, share a unique or unexpected opportunity that happened to you. The winner will be chosen by random.org on Saturday, December 14th.  Please make sure to leave a way for me to contact you, otherwise I will have to select a new winner.

Thank you,

Kym

In-Color Emboss Resist

Finally playing with some of the new catalog items.  The new in-colors are great for summer projects and are a great compliment to Stampin' Up!'s core colors.  Warning-you may tend to get hungry when you use them though. :)

Using a paint brush and some Versamark refill, I "painted" areas of the white cardstock for embossing.  I decided to use white embossing powder instead of clear to make sure the white really popped against the colors.

After heat setting the embossing powder, I sponged the in-colors over the card.  Starting from the bottom, I sponged Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, and then Coastal Cabana.  I then edged the piece in Baked Brown Sugar and added a little in the center.

Then I took a soft cloth and wiped the ink from the embossed areas and stamped the flowers.  I inked up only half of the sentiment from Feel Goods and then cut it out with the Apothecary Accent framelit; sponging around the edges with Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding and Baked Brown Sugar.

Finally I used pop dots on both the sentiment and the focal point when adhering to the card base.  When stamping over embossed areas be sure to use a solvent based ink like Staz-on or Ranger Archival so that it doesn't rub off the embossed area.

Supplies
Stamps: Feel Goods, Field Flowers
Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, Versamerk Refill, Jet Black Archival (Ranger)
Paper: Baked Brown Sugar, Whisper White
Misc.: Apothecary Accents Framelits, Big Shot, White Embossing Powder, Paint Brush, Heat Gun, Sponges, Pop Dots

Blue Green Matters

I finally did it!  I have been wanting to do some mixed media pieces for a long time and this summer I finally accomplished that goal.  What finally pushed me to work on a piece was the need to purge my supplies.  Like many crafters, I have an over abundance of products that have been accumulating over the years.  After selling several items at a recent craft garage sale, I still had more than I really have space for.  So, with three craft fairs looming quickly in my future, it was time to buckle down, start creating and get rid of {use} the excess supplies.

Even though most of my projects normally use more than one medium, such as paper, ribbon, ink, or metal, I have never really considered them to be "mixed media" pieces.  They are cards, scrapbook pages or 3-D projects.  To me, mixed media is all the other stuff.  The items that are too heavy for a card or page, the pieces of junk laying around from other crafting or household projects.  The products you purchased to work on a specific project and now can't believe you bought, or even remember what you were going to do with it.  These things can be torn, broken and altered to work in mixed media pieces, along with all your favorite items.


I found some wonderful odd sized canvases on sale recently and bought a few.  I sometimes struggle with the squareness of the most popular style.:)  This one is 4" x 12" and was perfect for what I had in mind.

I LOVE the quote; and it is in stamp form-sweet!  It's become my mission statement over the past few months.  Even though I had an idea, I wasn't quite sure how I was going to execute it so there was a lot of trial and error to complete this project.

First I prepared the canvas by covering it with a layer of white Gesso.  The green background is a mix of green paints and reinker, as well as a little yellow reinker.  Once I reached the desired color, I dry brushed it onto the canvas.  For the splatters, I took Broken China Distress Stain with a q-tip and Vintage Photo Distress reinker with the eyedropper from the bottle to place spots where I thought they looked good.  It took a couple of tries, I wiped off and painted over some with white acrylic paint.

I stamped the quote with Black Archival ink and then covered the entire piece with Glue and Seal.

For the hearts, I glued some scraps of paper from the Vintage Shabby Paper Stash on a thin piece of cardboard.  It was actually the cardboard sheet that comes in the DSP packages from SU, and cut them out with the movers and shapers Mini Heart die.  I inked the edges with Broken China Stain and Silver paint and then sealed them.  I inked up words of things that matter to me, from Tim Holtz's Chitchat stickers and then placed them on the hearts.

After I placed the tissue tape on the canvas with the Glue and Seal, I lightly covered it with some white acrylic paint, wiping off where it covered too much.  I then sealed the hearts unto the canvas.  One nice thing about the Glue and Seal is that it doesn't take very long to dry.  If you are really impatient, like me, you can use your heat gun to help it along.

The frame is SU watercolor paper.  I cut the shape using the Label framelits.  I first inked the piece with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, then randomly covered areas with Gold Dabber paint.  It looked too bright so I added some Tarnished Brass crackle paint and once that dried I rubbed in some Black Soot Distress Ink using my finger.

The paper flowers were colored using Broken China Stain and self adhesive pearls were used for the centers.  Again, I used Glue and Seal to adhere the frame and flowers to the piece.  The entire canvas received one more coat to seal everything giving it a durable finish.  And that was it.  It took me WAY longer to design the piece than to get everything on there once I decided what I wanted.

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



Supplies
Ink: Broken China and Peeled Paint Distress Stain, Black Soot, Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn, and Vintage Photo Distress Pad and Reinkers (Time Holtz), Black Archival (Ranger)
Paint:Silver and Gold Dabber (Ranger), Tarnished Brass Crackle, (Tim Holtz), Key Lime (Making Memories), White Acrylic (KaiserCraft)
Paper: Vintage Shabby Paper Stash (Tim Holtz)
Stamp: Matter Most (Stampers Anonymous-Tim Holtz)
Misc.: Basic Pearls, Labels Collection Framelits, (Stampin' Up!), Floral Embellishments (Recollections), Movers and Shapers Mini Heart Die (Sizzix-Tim Holtz), Nostalgic, Journyman, and Symphony Tissue Tape, Chitchat Stickers (Tim Holtz) Glue and Seal (Ranger), Canvas, Gesso (Local Craft Store)

Still Gluing Away

I am still working with the Distressed Glue technique that I used in the previous post.  It really is a lot of fun and so easy to do.

Since the leaves are already changing here and Fall is my favorite time of year, I decided to use my new Autumn Accents Bigz Die.  I love the oak leaf on the die and this technique gives some great depth and interest to the piece.

Instead of using my finger to move the glue around, this time I used a dry brush which made things a little streakier..  I really like the effect and the detail it gave to the leaves.  I also like using sponge daubers, as you have more control over the depth of color as well as placement, than with a sponge.

To define the acorn a little better, I used my stylus to create definition between the cap and the nut.  The distressed glue technique was used only on the cap and them sponged with Early Espresso, while the nut was sponged with Soft Suede.  I tied it up with some linen thread and popped it up on dimensionals.

The color combos for the leaves are:  More Mustard and Pumpkin Pie, Summer Starfruit and Gumball Green, and Pumpkin Pie and Raspberry Ripple

Since the leaves are so "polished" and bold I wanted to give the card some texture, so I Inlaid Embossed the mat piece.  I stamped the sentiment on Very Vanilla and punched it out with the Modern Label punch using the technique I showed in this post.  I adhered that to the Early Espresso mat piece then ran the whole thing through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  It makes it look like the sentiment was "inlaid" into the Early Espresso.

Supplies
Stamps: Day of Gratitude (sentiment)
Ink: Early Espresso, Gumball Green, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Raspberry Ripple, Soft Suede, Summer Starfruit
Paper: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
Misc.: Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Autumn Accents Bigz Die, Big Shot, Modern Label Punch, Linen Thread, Scotch Quick Dry Glue, Sponge Daubers, Dimensionals


I LOVE the background on this card!  This is a piece I created when I was initially playing around with the technique.  I used my finger to move the glue around on this one.

The colors are Pool Party and Midnight Muse.  So awesome together.  I actually don't think I will be keeping this as a card.  I thought about placing a single word sentiment in the upper right corner, but I really don't want to cover up anymore of the background.

I am thinking about framing it and/or using it in a mixed media piece.  What do you think?  What would you do with this background and silhouette?

Speaking of mixed media...I will be sharing some pieces I have been working on pretty soon.  I am very excited about the pieces I have created and how this art form has expanded my creativity.


Supplies
Stamps: Just Believe
Paper: Midnight Muse, Pool Party, Whisper White
Ink: Midnight Muse, Pool Party
Misc.: Scotch Quick Dry Glue, Sponge Daubers

Fun Distressed Glue

I found a cool new technique on SCS a few days ago.  Well, it's new to me anyway.  It's called Distressed Glue and is a lot of fun.  You can use it on small pieces or make really interesting backgrounds.

My youngest niece is very much a girlie girl, and her favorite color is pink.  So, for her birthday card I used Pretty in Pink and Rich Razzleberry to make a background using the technique.  I wasn't that thrilled with it when I was done, so I used the Floral Frames Framelit dies and the Daydream Medallions stamp set to turn it into a flower.  The leaves are from the Autumn Accents die in the Holiday Mini catalog and were colored with Old Olive using the same technique.

This even falls into the quick and easy category.  The technique only takes a couple of minutes to do and the card itself is pretty straightforward. 

After creating the background, I stamped the Medallions in Rich Razzleberry and used the framelits to create the flower by simply layering three pieces and holding it together with a Clear Rhinestone brad.  The leaves were adhered with glue dots.

The flower still looked a little blah on its own, so I jazzed it up a bit with some Victoria Crochet trim looped behind the piece.  The sentiment is from Int The Stars (retired) and is stamped in Rich Razzleberry.  There you go, easy!


Supplies:
Stamps: Daydream Medallions, In The Stars (retired)
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White
Ink: Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, Ruch Razzleberry
Misc.: Floral Frames, Framelits, Autumn Accents Bigz Die, Big Shot, Victoria Crochet Trim, Scotch Quick Dry Glue, Clear Rhinestone Brad, Mini Glue Dots, Sponge Dauber

Primrose Inspiration

I made this card for a Big Shot card swap. I wanted to break in the new edgelits I just bought, but needed some inspiration.  I found it on page 83 (far right sample) of the new Annual Catalog.  I just tweaked the layout a bit and used a different stamp set.

I didn't have any of the new DSP yet, so I made my own by stamping and  using My Digital Studio (MDS).  I'm not really a digital crafter, but the MDS program has come in handy several times to fill a gap in my traditional crafting.

For the patterned paper that I ran through the Big Shot with the edgelit.  I stamped Pretty in Pink cardstock with Primrose Petals ink.  The stamp used is the medallion from Artistic Etchings.


This is what the paper looked like before die cutting.

 
I printed the Textile pattern in So Saffron on Very Vanilla cardstock, then simply cut it to the size I needed.

To give the card a little more depth and interest, I ran a piece (4" x 5.25") of Soft Suede through the Big Shot with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and then sponged it in Soft Suede.

The final Big Shot piece is the sentiment which I stamped in Soft Suede and then used one of the Apothecary Accents Framelits to cut out.  I popped it up on some dimensionals.  I love framelits.  It's so easy to create a cute accent or focal point with them.  And, I use up more of my scraps since I can easily align them over a stamped image before cutting.  Saves so much paper!!


Stamps: Field Flowers, Artistic Etchings,
Paper: Primrose Petals, Pretty in Pink, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, So Saffron Textile DSP-MDS
Ink: Gumball Green, Primrose Petals, Soft Suede, So Saffron
Misc.: Adorning Accents Edgelits, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Victoria Crochet Trim, Dimensionals, Sponge

Accidental Design

This card was one of those happy accidents that some times occurs during the creative process.  You know the ones, like when you are trying to do something totally opposite of what you end up with, or have no clue about what you want to make in the first place.

I was sitting at my table trying to decide what to make for my VC roomie when I saw a piece of gauze that was left over from one of my daughter's school assignments.  That was an interesting project.  She needed to make bone marrow, moss, and fish oil.  Very fun.  Anyway, back to the card...

So there's this white square of gauze just lying there, as I go to pick it up and toss it in my "spare parts" jar, I see my bottles of Smooch Spritz out of the corner of my eye. Hmmm...wonder what would happen if I sprayed the gauze with some color.  And that was how it all came about. :)  Not so terribly exciting, but fun nonetheless.  I played around with other color combos too so you may see those in future projects.

This one uses Log Cabin Smooch Spritz, and Vanilla Shimmer Smooch mixed with some Baja Breeze ink.  Once it was dry, I cut it to size and then started pulling on the edges to distort the square shape and get some fraying.

For the sentiment, I used the Modern Label punch and the technique I mentioned in this post.  "Hello" is from the set Happy Greetings (retired).  I stamped two of the more ornate flowers from Mixed Bunch in Baja on Whisper White and then used the Blossom punch.  The center of the flower is also from Mixed Bunch stamped in Chocolate Chip and punched with a 7/8" circle punch.  The 3/4" punch will crop it closer to the image, but I liked the look with the added ring of white.  To hold the flower together I used an Antique Brad.  Love those things!!

Since the gauze has layers, I used a liquid adhesive so that it would soak in, grab the fibers and bind it to the paper.  I didn't want it to separate and start pulling away from the cardstock later on.  The Baja mat piece was embossed with the Stripes folder.  All the elements were inked with Baja Breeze and/or Chocolate Chip.

How about you?  Do you like using unusual design elements, or do you stick to the tried and true papers and embellishments?

Stamps: Mixed Bunch, Happy Greetings (retired)
Paper: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze re-inker
Misc.: Blossom, Modern Label, and 7/8" Circle punches, Antique Brads, Metallic Brads, Log Cabin and Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz, Misting Bottle, Gauze, Distresser from the Cutter Kit Tool, Sponges, Scotch Quick Dry Liquid Adhesive

Roomie Kindness

I made this card for my VC* Roomie, Kristi.  A couple of her favorite color combos are Cherry Cobbler/Early Espresso/Very Vanilla and Always Artichoke/River Rock/Very Vanilla.  So I decided to mash them up a bit and came up with this.

I added a touch of Marina Mist to give it a little "pop".  Kindness Matters is such a pretty set; I really need to use it more often.  I used the Vintage Wallpaper folder to emboss the Always Artichoke piece, then distressed the edges and sponged the entire piece.

I had a bottle of Marina Mist shimmer spritz made up so I used a small paint brush and the spritz to paint the butterflies and add just a hint of sparkle.  The ribbon is Marina Mist Scallop Dots Ribbon just flipped over.  I grunged it up a bit with some Early Espresso.  The polka dots didn't really work for this card, but the color and style certainly did. :)

Stamps: Kindness Matters
Paper: Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
Ink: Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Marina Mist
Misc.: Marina Mist Scallop Dots Ribbon, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz (mixed with Marina Mist ink), Distress Tool, Sponges, Paint Brush, Dimensionals

*You can learn more about VC Rocks by visiting our blog.

Make it a great day!

Baby Shower Ideas

This past week I worked on some Baby Shower favors and centerpieces for a co-worker's daughter.  We had and extremely tight budget to work with so it was definitely an experience.

The favors were straightforward enough and turned out pretty cute-I think.  Pastel was the color theme of the party and they know the baby is a girl.    They are so excited. :)  After showing my co-worker some samples of what we could use for the favor boxes, she settled on the Fancy Favor Box {one of my favorites}, with pink and white as the colors.

I used the the two smallest dies from the Label Collection Framelits to cut out the little hand print from Baby Prints and the mat behind it.  By using the stamp set in the clear mount version, I was able to position the stamps on the block so that I only had to stamp once on each of the boxes.  It was much easier and quicker than going back and forth between stamping "it's a" and then "girl".

The hand print and words were stamped in Blushing Bride and the mat framelit piece was also sponged in the same color.

Stamps: Baby Prints 
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
Ink: Blushing Bride
Misc.: Label Collection Framelits, Fancy Favor Box Die, Big Shot, Clear Mount block E, Sponges


The centerpieces ended up being a bit more challenging.  One of the original ideas I had shown her was this topiary set I found on Social Couture.  However, after pricing out the number of vases needed, and surprisingly the cost of styrofoam balls, I was going to be WAY over budget.  So, my friend Valerie pointed me in the direction of this tutorial  from Evelyn Kate Designs.  It was a hit with everyone, so off I go to make 20 centerpieces.  Yikes!!  Who knew paper flowers could get so involved. :)

Large Topiary ~ a little over 12" in diameter

Medium Topiary ~ about 8" in diameter

Small Topiary ~ between 5" and 6" in diameter

I had to enlist my daughter's help with them as I was running short on time.  I learned some valuable lessons on what to do, and not do, for working with clients in the future.  I really need to let go sometimes-perfection, although nice, isn't always necessary.:)

In the end the items were completed on time and the client was happy; which is all that really mattered.

Supplies: Tissue Paper, Spray Paint, Baskets, Organza Ribbon, Wood Dowels, Wood Skewers, Wire, Floral Foam, Hot Glue Gun and glue, River Rocks (for weight)

Make it a great day!

VC Rocks-Have a Heart-Blog Hop

It's that time of year again...where those of us that can not attend the SU annual convention create our own convention fun ~ virtually!

If you don't know what VC Rocks is, please check out the VC Rocks Blog for more info and to see the entire list of blog hop participants in case of broken links. There is some wonderful additional art work on the site as well.

If you are following along the hop from the beginning, you should have come from Robin's site-Robin's Craft Room.  What a great doodling project!

I have done two cards for our Have a Heart Hop featuring sneak peaks of the new 2012-2014 In-Colors that will be available June 1st!! This color combo is not one I would normally choose to do, but it looked very intriguing on the Color Coach chart for the new In-Colors so I gave it a try.

Since the color combo was very bold {at least for me :)}, I kept the card itself pretty simple.

Recipe:

1. Create a standard {4.25" x 5.5"} card base from Basic Gray cardstock and stamp your sentiment in the bottom right corner.  The one I used is from Loving Thoughts and is stamped in Basic Black.
2. Cut a piece of Summer Starfruit (new IC) to 3" x 3.25" and sponge the edges with its respective ink.
3. Cut a piece of Primrose Petals (new IC) to 2.75" x 3".  Punch a heart out of the center of the piece using the Full Heart Punch.  Sponge the edges with Primrose Petals ink, including around the cut out heart edges.
4. Punch a heart from a scrap of Pink Pirouette cardstock.
5. Run the heart through the Big Shot using the embossing folder-Vintage Wallpaper.  Sponge the edges, and the raised embossing, with Pretty In Pink ink.
6. Place pink heart in center of Summer Starfruit mat.  Use dimensionals to pop up the Primrose Petal piece over the heart.*
7. Add three small pearls to bottom right corner of the heart piece and adhere to card base in upper left corner.

*Helpful Hint:

To make sure that your punched heart is centered under the cutout heart, center the Primrose piece on the Starfruit mat-NOT using any adhesive.  

Put adhesive on the back of the punched heart and place inside the negative space of the Primrose piece. 

Once the heart is adhered, remove the Primrose piece, add dimensionals and reposition it on the Starfruit mat.

Supplies
Stamps: Loving Thoughts
Paper: Primrose Petals, Summer Starfruit (new In-colors), Pink Pirouette, Basic Gray
Ink: Primrose Petals, Summer Starfruit, Pink Pirouette, Basic Black
Misc.: Full Heart Punch, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Big Shot, Basic Pearls, Dimensionals, Sponges


For the second card, I went from bold and simple to muted and vintage.  I also used the Color Coach to choose the combo for this card as well.  Raspberry Ripple (new IC), Pretty In Pink and Old Olive;  I added Soft Suede as the base.

Recipe:

1. Create a standard card base {4.25" x 5.5"} using Soft Suede cardstock.  Sponge the edges of the card with Soft Suede Ink.  Also drag the sponge across the top of the card a few times to add a little depth.
2. Tear a piece of First Edition Specialty DSP from the corner, leaving the two outside edges un-torn.  I sponged ink on this piece in Soft Suede, Old Olive and Pretty In Pink.  Adhere to card base.
3. Cut a piece of Raspberry Ripple approximately 3" x 3.25" and punch a heart from the center of this using the Full Heart Punch.
4. Center the second to smallest framelit from the Labels Collection over the negative heart space and run through the Big Shot.
5. Punch a heart from a scrap of Pretty In Pink.  Place this inside the negative space of the Raspberry Ripple piece.  Emboss the pieces using the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and the Big Shot.  Sponge both pieces with Raspberry Ripple and Soft Suede ink.
6. Using the next size larger framelit, cut a piece of Old Olive cardstock.  Sponge with Old Olive and Soft Suede ink.  Layer under the Raspberry Ripple and Pretty In Pink die cut.
7. "Age" a 7" piece of Victorian Lace Ribbon by sponging it with Old Olive, Pretty In Pink and Soft Suede ink.  Tie in a bow, trim and fray the ends.
8. Stamp a sentiment from Tiny Tags on Raspberry Ripple, punch out using the Jewelry Tag Punch.  Sponge with Raspberry Ripple ink.  Use the paper piercer to make a hole in the top of the tag.  Thread with Linen thread and pin to the lace bow using a Vintage Trinket safety pin.
9. Stamp sentiment on card base with Soft Suede ink.

Supplies:
Stamps: Tiny Tags, Wings of Friendship (retired)
Paper: Raspberry Ripple (new In-Color), Old Olive, Pretty In Pink, Soft Suede, First Edition Specialty DSP
Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Old Olive, Pretty In Pink, Soft Suede
Misc.: Full Heart Punch, Jewelry Tag Punch, Vintage Trinkets, Linen Thread, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Big Shot, Victoria Lace ribbon, Sponges,

I hope you enjoyed my projects and find some inspiration in them.  The next stop on the hop is Dawn's site-Stampin' At Dawn.  She has a really cute project waiting for you.



   

One of the Few

As I patiently wait for my order of new catalog sneak peak products to arrive, how about a sample for one of the sets that will be carrying over into the new catalog.  Since this was a swap for a demo meeting, all items on it had to be product that would be in the new catalog.

Well, it was a little hard for me to find a stamp set that I could still use.  Out of the several hundred (yes, you read that right) SU sets that I own, I only have 26 sets that will be in the new catty.  Granted, that is still a good number of sets to work with.  But, 4 are Holidays, 3 are sentiments with no images, 2 are alphabets, and 3 were sets I earned free that weren't necessarily my style.  Now I am down to 14.  Still a decent number, but I had challenged myself to use a set that I had either never used or had only been used once or twice.  That didn't leave me a lot.  To top it off, almost all of the embellishments and ribbons that I own are retiring.

I do want to say though, that having the limitations actually made me think more creatively.

The color combo is Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette and Certainly Celery with Early Espresso thrown in as an accent or "grounding" color.  The stamp set is Fabulous Florets.  I stamped the leaf/stem in Certainly Celery and then stamped the small flower in Early Espresso on Pink Pirouette.  I cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals.

The celery piece was embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder.  To give a little feminine charm to the card I punched the Early Espresso mat with the Scallop Trim Border Punch.  All of the pieces were sponged with their respective inks.  The focal piece was lightly sponged with Early Espresso and then I re-sponged it with Pink Pirouette. 

I wanted to use the Happy Birthday from Bring on the Cake, but the stamp was too big for the Modern Label punch.  So, I used MDS to create the sentiment in the size I needed, printed it on Baja Breeze and then punched it out.  That was then popped up on dimensionals also.  To add just a touch of bling, I placed two small pearls on the sentiment.

ETA:  How about some Blog Candy!!

I thought I would celebrate my birthday today and Mother's Day tomorrow-crafter's style-with some blog candy. :)

 

It's kind of a weird mix of items, but I have been cleaning out my craft room and of course finding multiples of some items.  Plus it's FREE stuff. :)  Included in the package are: 4 gift card holders, Red Riding Hood wide striped ribbon, Chocolate Chip 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, a package of Carousel Notes, Pumpkin Pie Corduroy buttons, Blooming With Happiness stamp set, Deck the Halls Fabric, a covered notebook, and Butterflies and Rings Sizzix Die.

But that's not all...

What's a celebration without a few surprises!  The winner of this Blog Candy will also receive a few surprise goodies in the package. Party!!!

For a chance to win, just leave a comment below telling me what your favorite birthday or Mother's Day present has been.  Leave the comment by midnight Sunday, May 13th.  The winner will be selected by Random.org on May14th and posted that evening.  If there is no contact info with your comment, I will have to move on the next person.

Good Luck and Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!!


Make it a great day!

Blooms

The effects of the psycho weather patterns this year are starting to show in the plant life around here. Many of the early Spring flowers are already dying off, so I thought I would create some blooms that are a little more permanent.

The Blossom punch and Mixed Bunch stamp set from the Occasions Mini have been sitting in a box, unused, for over a month now. {Not for lack of wanting to use them though. :)} My niece's birthday card was a great way to break them in.

She's a girly girl and loves pink, so the soft but cheery colors in the Beau Chateau DSP made a great background for the single bloom. The card base and flower are Pink Pirouette. The sentiment is stamped in Lucky Limeade.

I used the Large Tag Punch to create the "v" in the end of the banner. Any square punch will do.

I don't know about you, but this card just makes me happy when I look at it. It reminds me of warm sunny days working in the flower garden or sipping lemonade by the pool.

Stamps: Mixed Bunch, Curly Cute
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Beau Chateau DSP
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Lucky Limeade
Misc.: Blossom Punch, Large Tag Punch, Designer Buttons, 1/8" Lucky Limeade Organdy Ribbon (SAB 2012), Mini Glue Dots

One of the patterns in the Beau Chateau paper has this ornate vintage frame which I thought would work as a great background to showcase the focal bloom.

To create the bloom I stamped the more ornate flower in the Mixed Bunch set three times on First Edition Specialty DSP in Pink Pirouette. After I punched them out with the Blossom Punch, I sponged the edges with Pretty in Pink and crumpled them up. Be careful when doing this, you don't want to rip your blooms.

The center is a half inch circle of Daffodil Delight. The flower is kept together with an Ice Rhinestone Brad. To add a little more texture, I used Chantilly Crochet Trim to make the "leaves". The sentiment is from the Because I Care stamp set (retired) and stamped in Marina Mist.

Stamps: Mixed Bunch, Because I Care (retired)
Paper: Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist, Pink Pirouette, Beau Chateau DSP, First Edition Specialty DSP
Ink: Marina Mist, Pinnk Pirouette, Pretty in Pink
Misc.: Blossom Punch, Ice Rhinestone Brads, Chantilly Crochet Trim, 1/2" Circle Punch, Mini Glue Dots, Sponge

For this last bloom I wanted to go a little more dramatic, so I decided to use black. I also wanted to create a 3-D project.

The little Kraft boxes are currently in the Occasions Mini catalog and are the perfect size for small gifts or little treats. A 3" x 3" gift card is the perfect compliment to the gift box.

A stylish label made with the Decorative Label Punch and Four Frames stamp set creates the perfect place to add a sentiment.

In the Mocha Morning Specialty DSP there are two designs with flocking and they give some elegance to this simple little box. Since the flocked papers are not double sided and I wanted the flower to be dimensional, I needed a way to make the white back of the paper more interesting. What I decided to do was glue two flowers back to back and create my own double sided paper.

I ran both sheets of the paper through the Big Shot using the Fun Flowers Bigz Die.


Then I glued them together and sponged the edges with black ink to cover any white.



I layered all the flowers along with Raven Lace Trim (retired) to create this elegant bloom.

Stamps:Four Frames, You're a Gem
Paper: Basic Black, Sahara Sand, Mocha Morning Specialty DSP
Ink: Basic Black, Sahara Sand
Misc.: Kraft Gift Box, Blossom Punch, Fun Flowers Bigz Die, Big Shot, Ribbon Originals (retired), Raven Lace Trim (retired), Mini Glue Dots, Multipurpose Liquid Glue, Sponge

Make it a Great day!!

Key Notes

Are you one of those people always looking for a scrap of paper to write down a reminder or telephone number and then losing it in the bottom of your purse or in the car? Me too! Well these little beauties are a great way to keep some paper handy.

They are key ring notepads! I received one from a stamping friend over the summer and thought it was the neatest idea I had seen in a while. So, I decided to make a few....80 to be exact. :) I will be selling them at some upcoming craft fairs.



The Big Shot does all the work, so you can make several of them in a short period of time. Each notepad has approximately 40-50 sheets of paper. I used one ream of standard copy paper to make all 80 notepads. I probably could have gotten about 85 of this size, but I messed up a couple of times when running through the big shot. Butterflies aren't so pretty when the tip of their wings are cut off. :( I do have enough paper left over to make some smaller notepads too, but not sure I will get to that.


Since I knew I was going to be making a large quantity of them, I used full 12 x 12 sheets for most of these. However, if you are only making a few at a time and have a pile of scraps that you keep ignoring, making these is a great way to use them up.

For the covers you want something a little stiffer than just DSP, so I used the thin cardboard sheet that comes in the DSP packages and just adhered the DSP to it before cutting. To save on paper when using 12 x 12 sheets, cut the DSP covered cardboard to a slightly larger square than your shape, then run it through the Big Shot. Do the same with your copy paper.


To continue to keep the cost down, I kept the embellishments simple. I again used scraps of paper or covered cardboard. You should keep the embellishments as flat as possible anyway so that they don't get caught on items in a purse or pocket and get ripped off. Even unadorned they look quite nice. I tried to make a few of them a little more masculine for the boys too.

The most expensive item to complete these was the o-ring. I bought mine at Staples in a pack of 16 and it works out to 26 cents per o-ring. Obviously, you can watch for sales or use coupons to get them cheaper.

I hope you are inspired to make some of these too. They would make great stocking stuffers or gifts for your children's classmates.

Kym

A Warm Paisley Welcome

Here is a welcome card I did for my VC Rocks roommate a while back. At first glance, this may not seem like a Quick and Easy card, but it actually is...by my standards anyway. :) There is very little stamping on the card, and using the DSP as a design element, makes it go together pretty quickly.



I embossed a piece of Soft Suede card stock (to match the base of the card) with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and then sponged the edges with Soft Suede. My lightening seems to have been a bit off for these pics, as that bottom mat is actually Night of Navy.




What I really like about the Paisley Petals DSP is that there are so many colors in the patterns that the color combos are almost limitless.

Stamps: Tiny Tags, Charming Ink: Always Artichoke, Baja Breeze, Night of Navy, Soft Suede Paper: Always Artichoke, Baja Breeze, Night of Navy, Soft Suede, Paisley Petals DSP Misc.: Mini Vintage Tags, Vintage Trinkets, Marina Mist Seam Binding (retired), Chantilly Crochet Trim, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Sponges


Make it a great day!

For The Holidays Hop

Welcome to the inaugural blog hop for the SU Stamping Blog Hop group. A group of bloggers that are Hopping just for the fun of it. :) The theme for our first hop is All Holidays. The hop officially begins at 9:00 AM CST, if you are here early all the posts may not be active yet, so please make sure to come back and check us out at that time. If you started with my blog or find a broken link along the way, you can find the entire list of hoppers here.

If you are following along from the beginning, you should have just hopped over from Linda's blog~Pretty Inky Paper Crafts. She has some really cute projects, hope you left her some nice comments.


I picked Halloween for my first project; which is my daughter's favorite holiday. These little treat bags make great favors for your Monster Bash or the kid's classroom party. I used a Sizzix die, an embossing folder and My Digital Studio (MDS) to make this a quick and easy project.



The Fancy Favor Box die and black card stock create the base for these cute treats. I then used the Spider Web embossing folder to give it a little detail. Before taping together, I used a sponge and Whisper White craft ink to highlight the web design.

The label was created in MDS using the Pick Your Poison and Piece of Poison digital downloads. After punching the label out with the Decorative Label punch, I sponged the edges lightly in black then added the Pumpkin Pie pieces, which were also sponged, to give it some punch. The label is mounted with dimensionals.

To finish it off, I placed various candies into a baggie and tied it up with Old Olive ribbon.

Ink: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White craft ink
Paper: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla (label)
Misc.: Fancy Favor Box Sizzix Die, Spider Web Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Decorative Label Punch, MDS, Old Olive 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon, Sticky Strip, Dimensionals, Sponges


My second project is a card for my favorite holiday, Christmas. Also a quick and easy project, this card can be made in under 5 minutes but still creates a "wow" impression.



The Crumb Cake base is 6" x 6". The embossed snowflake and rhinestone give the card an elegant feel, while the Real Red and Pear Pizzazz colors give it the extra punch. The Real Red card stock is given some detail with the Scallop Trim border punch. The sentiment is from the Four the Holidays stamp set.

Stamps: Four The Holidays, Serene Snowflakes
Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Versamark
Paper: Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz, Real Red
Misc.: Scallop Trim border punch, Rhinestone Jewels, White Embossing Powder, Heat Gun

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to look around my blog. I hope you enjoyed the Holiday projects shown, however, it is time to continue your journey.

The next stop on the hop is Barb's blog~The Love of Stamping! Barb is the gracious leader of our group, so please show her some appreciation with your kind comments. I'm sure she will enjoy them. :)

Make it a great day!!

Nature Scraps

I've been making an effort lately to use some of the massive amount of scraps I have lying around. It really has gotten out of hand; the nice organized container of colored file folders has evolved into a gigantic heaping mound of paper.

I will be participating in some annual craft fairs in a couple of months and the smaller items will be a perfect way to whittle that pile down a bit.

I recently sent these items to one of my fellow VC Rockers; they were so quick and easy to make and I love how they turned out.

This is a 3" x 3" acrylic frame with a magnet on the back. The First Edition DSP was stamped with the stem image from Fabulous Florets in Wild Wasabi, and the edges sponged with Marina Mist. It was then mounted on Marina Mist card stock and simply slid into the frame.

The flower, also from Fabulous Florets, was colored with Early Espresso and Pink Pirouette markers and stamped on Pink Pirouette card stock. Once cut out, I sponged the edges with Pink Pirouette for some dimension and attached it to the front of the frame with a couple of glue dots.


I seem to be very fond of this tag combination lately, but it is just so quick to do and adds a great little accent. As you can see from other projects, like here and here, it is quite versatile too.

This time I stamped the bee from Nature Walk in Early Espresso and added a little So Saffron for just a touch of color. I hand wrote "notes" and stamped a background using one of the Tiny Tags stamps before punching it out with the Jewelry Tag Punch. Tied them on with some linen thread and done! Took me under 10 minutes to complete.

Stamps: Fabulous Florets, Nature Walk, Tiny Tags
Ink: Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi
Paper: Marina Mist, Pink Pirouette, Wild Wasabi, First Edition Specialty DSP
Misc.: Mini Vintage Tags, Jewelry Tag Punch, Linen Thread, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals, Magnetic Acrylic Frame, Sticky Notes pad




After making this notepad key ring for Carey, I decided to make a bunch of these for the craft fairs in all sorts of shapes and sizes. (I will be showing those in a future post.) They are an excellent way to use up those scraps! I got the idea from another fellow VC Rocker, Mary Jo, who sent one to me as a RAK.

Simply glue your patterned paper of choice to some thin cardboard, the type that comes in the DSP packages from SU works perfectly. Once dry, cut it down into smaller pieces to run through your die cut machine~I used the Big Shot and the Beautiful Butterflies die from SU. Next, just cut some plain copy paper into the same shape; I have found that about 40 sheets or so makes a nice size "notepad".

I used the Crop-A-Dile to punch the hole and then added the O ring. You could add a little decoration to them if you wanted, but I would suggest not putting too much on there as it will tend to get caught on other items and get ripped off.

Paper: Gabrielle Collection (BoBunny), Copy Paper (Staples)
Misc.: Crop-A-Dile, Big Shot, Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die, Tombow Multi Glue, O Ring (Staples), Thin cardboard

Enjoy the Day!