Monthly Archives: May 2007

Yippee! So excited! The newly released Lizzie Anne Designs stamps have arrived! I just love the new releases but my absolute fave is the Jolies Fleurs set. I can see it with so many different styles and techniques. Don’t you just love those really flexible sets?!

Sunny Celebrate

This card was inspired by a box….a little translucent plasitc take-out box that I picked up at Michael’s this spring. It has been sitting on top of my ink storage waiting for me to make a coordinating card. Thursday it occurred to me that I could use it for the Yo Yo Yellow challenge…a little later perhaps, but I’ve never put deadlines on the challenge. You can upload all week and beyond…whenever you find the time.

For this design, I started with a 4.25″ square card base in Certainly Celery. I created a quick, pretty background by stamping it with one of the darling Paisley stamps from the Jolies Fleurs set. I then stamped the smaller flower in the corner of the Whisper White Cardstock layer. It reminded me of the flowers on the package and I watercolored it with Yo Yo Yellow and Certainly Celery to tie in with the box.

The large flower in the set is probably my favorite…so pretty! I stamped it three times on Whisper White cardstock and then watercolored the layers in Yo Yo Yellow and Certainly Celery. After allowing them to dry and then cutting them out carefully, I glued the layers together and fluffed up the petals for a natural look. In the center of the flower, I added a small shiny black brad to hold it all together.

My design still needed a little something so I went back to my box of goodies to look. The Shapes and Stitches set worked perfectly. This Celebrate “stitched” stamp reminded me of ribbon and works both as a sentiment and a faux ribbon to “tie up” the design. I stamped it in black and then watercolored it in Celery. For the final touch, I pulled out my Stampin Up Mat Pack and paper pierced little holes around the design. Subtle but pretty…I love how the light comes through the holes when you prop the card up.

Supply List:

Cardstock: Yo Yo Yellow, Certainly Celery, Whisper White – Stampin Up

Stamps: Jolies Fleurs, Shapes and Stitches – Lizzie Anne Designs

Ink: Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Yo Yo Yellow – Stampin Up

Other: Aquapainter & Mat Pack- Stampin Up, black brad – unknown, Paper Piercer –  Making Memories

Lizzie Anne Designs Stamps

I’ve had quite a bit of interest and questions on my new Lizzie Anne Designs stamps and I thought this would be a good time to tell you about them.

Things I love about these stamps…

• The rubber stamps give a nice clean image and hold your ink well
• The deeply etched & closely trimmed rubber means you won’t get any extra rubber impressions that should not be there
• They are unmounted rubber with cling-foam backing which works so much better and easier than plain unmounted rubber
• The unmounted rubber on clear blocks lets line up where to stamp your image easy than traditional wood blocks
• The stamp sets coordinate well together
• They come in cute little CD cases making for easy storage
• They take up less room than traditional stamps

Where to buy them…

You can purchase these stamps direct from Lizzie Anne Designs, from a retailer in your area (see retailer locations available here), from Jacksonbelle’s Ebay Store (she carries most of the line) or from other on-line stores here.

Use and Care…

To use the Lizzie Anne Designs stamps, you need some clear acrylic blocks. The back of the stamps come with a great foam layer with cling film. This cling film is what will keep your stamp on your block. Please do NOT pull it off! 🙂 Simply press the stamp to your clear acrylic block, ink it up and stamp. To clean your stamps, simply wipe them with a damp papertowel. The clingfilm and block can be cleaned in the same manner. You must take care to keep them both clean or the stamp will not adhere well. I have also used a package of babywipes on my desk to clean the rubber on these stamps…very convenient. Please note…you should not immerse the stamps in water.

Well, I must admit this challenge was more difficult than I thought! Yo Yo Yellow that is. When Trudee suggested a Yo Yo Yellow Ways to Use It Challenge, I thought, “Great! That color rarely gets used and it should be an easy one to whip up.” Famous last words! LOL Yo Yo Yellow and I just DO NOT get along! I knew there must be a reason I never use that color! Five tries later, along with a lot of frustration…here it is. 🙂

If  you’d like to join us at the Way’s to Use it Challenge…we’d love that! Here is the link… WT114 Going Yo Yo.

Sunny Wishes

I won’t tell you any more about all the discards on my desk and my long journey to this card, I’ll just start with how to make this one. This card started off with the 5″ square kraft cardstock base. Onto that I layered two papers from my 8×8 paper pack Chasing Butterflies from Daisy D’s. I just love this paper! Great size and great variety of papers. I bought mine from Jacksonbelle.  I then used zig zag stitching on some of the seams for interest.

Quick Tip: If you are trying to use a color that you are having difficulty using, use it in small doses. You can also sponge it or stamp a background on it. This may change the hue or tint enough to make it more manageable.

For the main image, I inked up my Happy Harmony flowers from Stampin Up with my Yo Yo Yellow & Old Olive markers. I stamped it three times without reinking to get a layered effect. This is called repetition stamping. After stamping the sentiment in Basic Black across the stems, I lightly sponged the edges with Close To Cocoa ink. It still needed a little something so I dug through my drawer and found this punch. I love this punch but always seem to forget to use it. The image was then matted with the dotted red paper and then a square of Yo Yo Yellow. I lightly sponged the edges of the yellow to tone it down a little.

For the final touches, I added a little Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware clip and a yellow Prima flower from the Martinique Collection. I bought them at my local scrapbook store and it is one of my favorite Prima boxes. I think I’ve gone through 4 boxes so far! LOL At the center of my flower is a one of my favorite new product finds, a red corduroy covered brad.

All in all, I’m finally reasonably happy with this card. Why I have so much trouble using Yo Yo Yellow I am still not sure. I did pick out a pot of these beautiful Yo Yo Yellow Daisies at the garden centre on Monday for beside my kitchen door. I seem to prefer using So Saffron as a yellow but I do love lemon yellow. Perhaps if the Yo Yo Yellow cardstock was just a tad more on the lemon side, I’d be happy!

Little boys birthday’s …like all masculine cards, can be a challenge. It is so easy to get caught in a rut and they just do not like all the frou frou we love to put on cards! LOL In keeping  the recipient in mind, I kept design simple & clean but fun. This card design comes from today’s Sketch Challenge on SCS. A very simple design but perfect for a lot of ideas. If you’d like to join in the challenge, you can find the sketch layout and instructions at SC125.

Cupcake Celebrate

For this card, after seeing the sketch, I pulled out a couple of my new Lizzie Anne Designs sets….Happy Birthday and Designer Dots. They are brand new rubber and were just begging to be inked. I decided to make a boy themed card as my 4yo is always getting invited to birthday parties and it helps to have at least one on hand. I just love these colors together…so fun and funky and perfect for a little guy. A nice change from red and blue. I’ll be so disappointed when SU retires the Cool Caribbean In Color at the end of June. I had to make sure I had purchased a reinker and a couple extra packages of cardstock to tide me over for a while!

This card is a left hinged 4.25″ x 5.5″ standard card of Old Olive. I stamped some random dots over the background of Cool Caribbean for a fun, boyish look. Quick and fun.

The main panel of this card has a little cupcake stamped on the right hand side. I colored the stamp with my markers and then pressed it onto the cardstock. Next I stamped the little celebrate sentiment in Taken with Teal ink. The Designer Dots set has this little starburst style dot in it. I was so excited to see that it would work with my candle! I stamped the image with my Tsukineko Essential Glue Pad and sprinkled on some glitter…a fun touch without being girlie! I wanted to tie a little ribbon around my design and I found some SU Chocolate Chip ribbon. My eyes happened to fall on a scrap of dotted double sided cardstock from the Tres Jolie collection that was on my desk from another project and tutorial I am making for Friday. 🙂 The colors worked! I just love it when that happens! There were quite a few pink dots on this paper as well are the brown, olive, and aqua so I carefully punched my circle where it would work best for my design. Bright pink was just NOT going to work with this design! LOL After folding over the circl and attaching the eyelet with my Crop-a-dile, I tied the ribbon through and knotted it. It still needed a little embellishment so I stamped the star from the Designer Dots set and inserted a little copper brad in the center.

Quick Tip: Use inexpensive foam mounting tape from the hardware store or dollar store to adhere your image layer. It gives it a slight lift and adds definition to your main focal point. This is a very inexpensive alternative to foam dimensional dots and keeps the bulk down when mailing your project. If working on scrapbook pages, I wouldn’t recommend foam tape as it is not acid free. I used this trick on the above card but unfortunately it doesn’t show up well in the photo.

Looking out the window I happened to notice the mail truck delivering my mail. As I always love mail, I ran downstairs and down the lane to pick it up. Yippee! My Papercrafts issues came today, returning my two Father’s Day cards and enclosed was some darling checked ribbon. Chocolate and Blush and Chocolate and Aqua! I just had to use it! The old plain chocolate ribbon was quickly pried out and the new ribbon inserted through and tied. The perfect finishing touch!

Supply List:

Cardstock: Old Olive, Chocolate chip, Cool Caribbean, Whisper White – Stampin Up

Stamps: Happy Birthday, Designer Dots – Lizzie Anne Designs

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Taken with Teal, So Saffron, Old Olive – Stampin Up, Essential glue Pad – Tsukineko

Other: ribbon – unknown, glitter – Stampin Up, Circle Punch – EK Success, copper brad & eyelet – Making Memories, Crop-a-dile – We R Memory Keepers

It is always so hard to see a favorite stamp set being retired. Even though you keep them, they do tend get lost in the excitement of new things. Roses in Winter has been one of my very favorite sets. So flexible and perfect for almost every occasion, it is sure to become a classic.

I actually hadn’t planned on stamping today…so much to get caught up on now that the kids are back to school. Benjamin finally started back again and has finally gotten over his Strep. I saw the color challenge though and just had to give it a whirl. Vintage Violet, Certainly Celery and Old Olive are all on my favorites list! If you’d like to join today’s color challenge, follow the CC115 link.

Vintage Roses

I started out by trying something new for this card. It is so easy to always use the same card size and shape. I had just purchased some new envelopes from my SU demo and thought I should try out the different shape. Long and narrow, this card measures 3.25″ x 6.5″. So easy to cut as you just cut a 6.5″ square and fold it in half. How easy is that?!

Quick Tip: If you are using a background stamp and it isn’t quite long enough for your card design….make it work by only stamping a portion of your card layer with it. Add a ribbon over the “seam” and it gives the appearance of two layers and works to help break up your design.

For the background I stamped my Paisley background stamp on the right 3/4 of the card base. I added a strip of one of my new favorite ribbons along the “seam” by cutting a small slit in the hinge of the card, wrapping it around and adhering it under my image. The ribbon is striped black and cream by May Arts and is so flexible and perfect for a vintage look, a retro look and both masculine as well as feminine style cards. My ribbon comes from Jacksonbelle.

The image is stamped on a rectangular scrap of Whisper White paper and then matted with Certainly Celery. The roses and leaves are from the retiring Roses in Winter stamp set. I love the two step stamping approach. I only used one ink color, Vintage Violet, on the roses. To do this and still get a range of color, stamp off the ink on your largest rose stamp on a scrap piece of paper before stamping on the image cardstock. This will give you a lighter look and give extra depth to your roses. After stamping the leaves in Certainly Celery and Old Olive, I sponged the edges with Vintage Violet and adhered the entire panel to the card front.

To add the sentiment, I pulled out my Round Tab Punch by Stampin Up. I love this punch and am counting on it making the new catalogue. I can’t wait to see what is in it! I stamped celebrate on the punched tab and adhered it to my image. To finish up, it is always nice to add an embellishment. I found this darling pewter style brad in my drawer. I still can’t believe that I bought 9 of them for a dollar at the Dollar Store! The little Prima is from a darling little purple bag of Primas that I picked up at my local scrapbook store. I believe it is called Prima Itty Bitty Bag.

Totally Off-Topic: For those of you who wish to view my Papercrafts Online Father’s Day Card, the link is now live…. No Matter How Tall Card.