Belle Papier {pretty paper}

Well, today I wanted a quick design and today’s sketch challenge proved to be the perfect layout for that. I didn’t have a lot of time today…slowly feeling better but the catch-up stuff is just not fun! This is a totally simple design and so easy to whip together with patterned paper and my Wanted stamp set from Stampin Up. Although I’ve used this stamp set before, I’ve never used this Wanted sentiment until now. Pairing it up with a little heart pin from Harvest Pins by Fancy Pants designs made a quick card for my hubby.

Wanted

I need to get dinner on and then get my little guys ready for Halloween so I’ll keep this short and sweet! LOL Not much you can’t figure out here anyway! Love this Outlaw designer paper paired up with Kraft cardstock, simple stamping and a few embellishments. Clean and simple with a little sponging. You really can’t tell easily in this photo but I used the small paisley stamp from this set stamped in Sage Shadow as a background for the Wanted layer.

Want to play along with this challenge? check it out at SC148 !

Have a great night and a happy Halloween!

Supply List:

Cardstock: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow - SU

Patterned Paper: Outlaw - SU

Stamps: Wanted - SU

Ink: CHocolate chip, Sage Shadow - SU

Other: Ribbon - May Arts, brads and eyelet - Making Memories, photo corner punch - SU, Crop-a-dile - We R Memory Keepers, Harvest Pin - Fancy Pants Designs

Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron…I actually wasn’t going to do this color challenge today…the colors are not really “me”. But…I decided to try them out anyway. I had this scrap of Daisy D’s plaid paper when I went up to work at my desk and well…it sort of worked so I gave it a whirl. If you’d like to take this color challenge too…follow this link CC138.

High Hellos

I decided the kite stamp from the Lizzie Anne Designs High Hellos stamp set might be fun to try with this color combo. Add that to a chance to try out some more masking from my Thursday’s Challenge and my Copic airbrush system…I had a little fun with it.

To create my image panel..I die cut an oval with my Cuttlebug and my new Spellbinders Nestabilities die and then use the die as a mask to spray my sky. A Copic marker the same color as Tempting Turquoise sprayed it on nicely. I masked the kites with scrap of paper and then colored them in with my markers.

For the layers, I used a scalloped oval of Tempting Turquoise cardstock and underneath, another layer of my Daisy D’s patterned paper. Both of these designs are part of an 8×8 paper pad named Chasing Butterflies. Around the edges of my plaid layer, I added some quick freestyle stitching to imitate the curvey waves of the kite cords. For a quick embellishments, I tied little scraps of ribbon to a tiny safety pin by Creative Impressions and adhered it to the card front.

Wishing you a fabulous day! If you missed all the cool things going on that I listed in my previous post…be sure to scroll down and check them out!

I thought I’d try a little vintage look with my Kitchen Sink Stamps. The design is part of a review I wrote for Craft Critique last week. I’ve been pretty sick the past week, yesterday especially and so I haven’t had the energy to make something entirely new. Hopefully things will be looking up soon. I also have a few things to note at the end of the post so make sure you scroll down to the end.

Too Kind Vintage Thank You

As you probably know…I love vintage style. I found this new Rue 88 paper line from Prima from a recent purchase of paper and realized I hadn’t used it on my blog yet. Love the gorgeous patterns on this double-sided paper! The bottom layer was sponged with ink, matted with Bravo Burgundy cardstock and then stitched to my vanilla cardstock base. I distressed the edge by pulling up the edges after stitching.

For my main image, the vanilla cardstock was die cut with my new Spellbinders oval die and then stamped with my 3 Step daisy set from Kitchen Sink Stamps. The sentiment was stamped with my Thanks with Style set by the same company…love that font! My scalloped edge mat was also die cut with my Spellbinders Nestabilities and the edges sponged with Chocolate Chip ink. For a simple embellishment, I tied a scrap of this gorgeous Melissa Frances Ivory Vintage Ribbon around a buckle of Hodgepodge Hardware and adhere it all with a glue dot. Amazing things those glue dots! Love them!

Things To Check Out!

• It’s Lizzie Anne Designs Week at Craft Critique! Make sure you visit often as each day there will be another review each day. Also make sure you check it out because there is an upcoming Craft Critique Lizzie Anne Designs carnival this weekend. If you have some designs using Lizzie Anne Designs product, you’ll want to be a part of it. AND….. while you are there, make sure you enter the giveaway for Lizzie Anne Designs Product. Who doesn’t like some new goodies?!
• For all of you who have been anxiously waiting…Flourishes now has their extremely popular Flourished Christmas stamp set back in stock! yay! My fave! You know…the one with that super darling reindeer! Also, coming soon…a brand new stamp set that you are sure to love!
• Have you entered Jacksonbelle’s Inkadinkado contest yet? There is still time! All entries are due November 9th. There are going to be some great prizes for the three top entries and the First Place winner will also be the first Guest Designer for Jacksonbelle Embellishments. I can’t wait to see all the entries! And no…I’m not allowed to play! LOL
• Coming November 1st… My Favorite Things Stamps has 3 brand new stamp releases! Stay tuned!

I love the Cracked Glass technique. I was actually thinking of using it again this past week but never got around to it. When Beth posted today’s technique challenge on SCS as Cracked Glass…I just couldn’t wait to get to it. Lucky me! Just as I was wondering what to use, my mail arrived with my new stamps and paper order! Yay! I wasn’t long in choosing this darling Holly stamp from Inkadinkado and pairing it up with the Brand new 8×8 Wonderland line by Cosmo Cricket….yummmmm! If you’d like to play along with this challenge…check out the thread here.
Noel Holly Design

To create this design, I started wtih my new Holly Inkadinkado stamp. After coloring if with my Copic Markers, I inked the entire layer withVersamark ink and then applied a layer of UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Powder) and embossed it. Repeating the inking and embossing for another 3 coats to get a nice thick layer, I then put my image in the freezer for a few minutes to cool. You can take your time if you wish and skip the freezer part if you don’t have one handy…it just takes a little longer to cool and I find that the colder it is, the better cracking you will get on your image. I’ve always loved the look of Cracked Glass…I guess I just love a vintage look. LOL DH though…he just doesn’t get it! One thing to note about Cracked Glass…the embossing on top will change up the coloring underneath a little, especially with dye inks and markers.

For the rest of the design, my new Cosmo Cricket Wonderland 8×8 paper pad was a must-use product. I was so excited to get this in the mail…love the new reduced size patterns. I had pretty much run out of the 12×12 paper as I used so much of it for design projects. Using a simple layout, I combined a few of the patterned papers together and added a little zig zag stitching for fun. The sentiment Noel is from the stamp set from Lizzie Anne Designs and is stamped and matted with ovals from my Spellbinders set. The May Arts ribbon is held on my holly with a glue dot and the little ivory photo turn is from Making Memories.

Have a fabulous day!

Last year I while I was shoppping I came across the We R Memory Keepers Designer Snaps and Eyelets and their Extra-Large eyelets. As I had just purchased a Crop-a-dile, I just couldn’t wait to bring them home and try them out. I was soon addicted to these unique embellishments. I’m always on the lookout for something a little different and these eyelets and snaps fit the bill. I loved them so much, I even purchased extras for Christmas gifts for some of my stamping frineds.

Designer Eyelets and Snaps

The We R Memory Keepers Designer and Extra Large Eyelets work perfectly with their Crop-a-dile. Easy to use and set, these embellishments are perfect for that special card. They hold their own well on an intricate design but I also love using them on simple designs as they add a simple elegance. What makes these eyelets and snaps so special? The Designer Eyelets and Snaps come in packages of 6 unique pieces. Some eyelets, some snaps…these are a great ensemble of beautiful embellishments. Each package has a mixture of pressed metal eyelets and snaps with additions of color, designs, an epoxy finish or a set rhinestone. I’ve become so enthralled with them that I just had to purchase one of each of their 9 sets and also bought extras to give to a few of my friends last year for Christmas.

Extra Large or Jumbo Eyelets

The Extra Large eyelets have also become high on my favorites list. I love the large look and how these eyelets come in many different color combinations and finishes. While small eyelets need a grouping to be noticed in a design, one or two of these giant sized eyelets stand perfectly well on their own. My favorite set is the Toasty Tin. Recently, Stampin Up has started carrying this product and is marketed in large packages of 60 in two separate finishes, pewter and antique brass. I love this option as I particularily love using the pewter Jumbo eyelets.

All of these eyelets are fabulous for stringing ribbon through because of the size of their center opening. My favorite ways of using these eyelets and snaps is for tying ribbon, attaching tags and as a flower center. The size of these Eyelets and Snaps are also fabulous for setting in coasters and chipboard where smaller eyelets may fall out because of the depth.

How to Use:

The Designer Eyelets and Snap are very easy to use with the Crop-a-dile. Suggested settings are printed on the back of the package. If you have a Crop-a-dile but rarely use it or if you are thinking of purchasing one, I wrote an entry a few months ago that you may want to take a peek at…. Crop-a-dile {C’est Bon}. If you have any questions, comments etc. about these products, feel free to leave them on this post. I’ll be happy to answer them by editing into this post.

Genuine Friend

This design is based on last weeks CPS sketch. I’ve been wanting to try it out all week and finally got a chance. I decided to go for a distressed, shabby look and have a little fun with the warm colors. The Genuine Designer Snap worked perfectly with the layout and the style of this Stampin Up Designer paper. A little distressing and a little stitching made a simple design so much fun.

Supply List:

Cardstock: Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava - Stampin Up

Patterned Paper: Outlaw - Stampin Up

Stamps: FAbulous Flowers, Wanted, Carte Postale

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Black - Stampin Up

Other: screw brad - Creative Impressions, Designer Snap & Crop-a-dile - We R Memory Keepers, sewing machine, stapler,

Best Friends

This design has a little different style. I thought I’d create a fun fresh card with colors from the gorgeous My Mind’s Eye patterned paper. After stamping my images adhering my layers, it was easy to punch through it all with my Crop-a-dile and add my pewter Jumbo eyelets. A little piece of May Arts ribbon tied through them makes a fun quick embellishment. Also on this design, I used some of my favorite Making Memories textured tape to add those little white on black dots along the bottom and also created a little tab at the top.

Supply List:

Cardstock: Pink Passion, Whisper White, Black, Barely Banana - Stampin Up

Patterned Paper: My Mind’s Eye

Stamps: Garden Whimsy - Stampin Up

Ink: Pink Passion, Old Olive, Black - Stampin Up

Other: Jumbo Eyelets - Stampin Up, ribbon - May Arts, Black and White Textured Tape - Making Memories

A few extra samples…

It’s Saturday again and time for another super simple design. It’s kind of funny as sometimes I love designs with lots of layers and detail but oft times lately, I’ve come to appreciate simple as well. This simple design uses the Daisy Dots stamp set from Lizzie Anne Designs. I had wanted to try out a fresh color combo of Celery, Soft Sky and Kraft and it just seems to lend itself well to a clean design.

Simply Daisy Hello

For this card, I created 5.25″ square card base and layered it with my kraft image panel. I love the look of white craft ink on Kraft…actually I love white craft ink on anything. I wonder why I don’t use it as much as I should! The solid daisy stamp was so quick to stamp on the kraft cardstock and then mat the layer with Whisper White. After tying a length of one of my favorite May Arts ribbons around it, I adhered it to the card front. I thought it might be fun to add the sentiment from the set in one of the daisy centers so I stamped it onto my Soft Sky cardstock, punched it and layered it with Certainly Celery. A little piece of white foam tape popped out the sentiment and made it a little more interesting.

Quick Tip: It is easier to line up a stamp in a punched shape if you first stamp the image, then punch it out by turning your punch upside-down to see where you are punching.

Lastly, two quick little embellishments on this design. A quick row of straight stitching around the perimeter of the design and a little Making Memories clip…isn’t it cute?

Wishing you a SIMPLY fabulous Saturday! Check back in tomorrow for another {C’est Bon} entry.

LOL I’ve been tagged three times (Lisa Johnson, Lindsey Botkin, Mary Duffek) in the past 24 hours so I guess I need to stop and play along! Fun! Although…I’m not quite sure what I’m going to say! I’m never good at these things! I can never think of anything exciting! But….I’ll try!

Here’s the deal…

Instructions:
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself (on your blog, we all want to know them).
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Random things about me… (try not to fall asleep

1. I love to read. Books, books and more books! I’ve had to really cut back though to focus on my stamping. I used to read minimum one book a week.

2. I like being organized but alas…I fail miserably.

3. Unless under a deadline, I usually design two projects a day. I have a small corner of the family that is always overflowing with paper and goodies.

4. I love wearing skirts and do so almost every day. I have about 4x as many skirts as I do pairs of pants.

5. My favorite subjects in High School were Art, Math and Drafting.

6. I love chocolate. Favorite Dessert:Chocolate Cheesecake, Favorite Ice Cream: Chocolate Mousse Royale from Baskin Robbins, Favorite Chocolate Bar: Cadbury’s Flake (from Britain)

7. I’m a morning person. I like to get up early and my most productive time is in the morning.

I’m tagging these talented people… I’ve tried to find bloggers who haven’t already been tagged. If you haven’t been tagged and would like to play…feel free to consider yourself tagged as well!

• Colleen
  
• Leslie
• Sherry
• Pam
• Jen
• Kimmie
• Kurtis

The Kitchen Sink is just NOT my favorite place to be. I’d much rather be playing with my kids or of course, stamping up a storm. But I had this opportunity to review Kitchen Sink Stamps for an article for Craft Critique. I know. That’s two articles in less than a week…I’ve been a very busy girl! LOL But….I’ve been having so much fun, so it’s all good, right? My new Kitchen Sink Stamps were fabulous to work with. Love their style! I think I’m now addicted. I’ve included one of my designs below and the rest of my article is at Craft Critique.

Your Kindness Touched My Heart

This is one of my favorite designs that I’ve created with these new kitchen Sink Stamps. Love the flourishes and swirls…this stamp is from the Thanks With Style set. I just had to try it out with a little style. A little different from what I usually do but oh so fun in a funky way.

When I saw this stamp, I just had to pair it up with this gorgeous Romantica line paper by Prima. It has that same great look… a little elegant, a little grunge. Pulling the color combo from the paper, I used Real Red, Chocolate Chip and Bravo Burgundy. The heart image is actually two stamps which makes it very flexible to use. I was really pleased with the clean impression these clear stamps gave with dye ink, even on the first try. A little sponging around the layers added to the dimension and style of this design.

For my embellishments, I added a small red heart clip from Making Memories. These are so darling and come in all kinds of colors and themes. Three little pewter brads anchor the main image at the bottom right. For my sentiment, I used one of the coordinating sentiments from the same set. Love that font and there are so many great thank you sayings. I stitched it down with a little brown stitching. I kept this design simple because I didn’t want to take away from the beauty of the images, both stamped and paper. Have a wonderful Friday!

I thought with Halloween just around the corner, it would be fun to have a little masquerade for our Way’s to Use It Challenge You can use any type of mask you wish…positive, negative, try some blocked collage like I did, even decorate a mask for decoration or Halloween. As long as you use some type of mask…it’s all good! If you’d like to play along…check out the challenge at WT137 LOL Now I have that Masquerade song from Phantom of the Opera running through my head! I hope it doesn’t stay all day!

Joy Christmas Ornament

This technique just popped into my head last night before I fell asleep. I couldn’t wait to try out my new Snowflake Serenade set that arrived with yesterday’s mail. I was so busy trying to get this server connection fixed that I didn’t have time to use it. And so, I actually came up with this idea two years ago about this time. This is my new updated version with new stamps, new colors and different embellishments.

To create this design, you need a mask. I simply used a thin sheet of scrap paper and cut a circle out of it with my Coluzzle set. After laying it down on top of my white cardstock, I stamped my snowflakes with Almost Amethyst, Soft Sky and Bashful Blue. The Joy sentiment was then stamped with Purely Pomegrante. To give the ornament some depth, I sponged around the outsides of my circle mask. The closer you are the the edges, sponge it darker to make the circle look as if it is curving back.

Quick Tip: Use temporary adhesive to keep your mask in place. Post it Notes are great for small masks as well.

For the rest of my design, I decided to keep it very simple. I wanted this design fresh and crisp and the focal point to be on my stamped ornament. For the top of the ornament, I tied a little loop of silver cord and hid it behind the striped May Arts ribbon. The main card base of Soft Sky is stamped with snowflakes, tone on tone for a subtle look. My main image layer is matted with Almost Amethyst, Purely Pomegrante and more Whisper White. The top layer of Whisper White was free-style stitched with my sewing machine and to add the subtlest touch of texture, the other layer is distressed lightly with my Heidi Swapp edges distresser.

This morning is so cool here. It totally feels like winter is not so far away. I love Autumn but I love to see the first snowflakes fall too. Change is good, right!? Wishing you a fabulous day and happy masking! And oh…stop by later. I’m going to try and create a tutorial for you and tomorrow… fun designs from the kitchen sink.

So frustrating isn’t it?!! When your server goes down! Yikes…another server glitch and another 18 hours without internet is not fun! A couple weeks ago it was the modem and this time the server itself. Which has kind of sent a deadline or two of mine into a bit of a tailspin. LOL Well…I wasn’t laughing last night to be sure. AND I wasted THREE hours on the phone this morning waiting for someone other than an automated computer voice to speak to me. I just couldn’t believe how hard it was to get a human being on the phone line. And so, I’m glad to be back and am busy running around regrouping and switching things around. It’s all good now though.

Guava Baby Shower Design

I created this design weeks ago but for some strange reason, haven’t managed to get it uploaded yet and so, today seemed like a fabulous time. When I started this design, I decided it would be fun to take the Groovy Guava cardstock and ink and try it out for a less traditional baby design look. I really like it and isn’t it a fun change from the pink and blue? This design uses the It’s Shower Time stamp set from My Favorite Things. I love that umbrella and all the little goodies that go with it. For this design, I decided to try popping out my umbrella a little to give it some dimension. First it was stamped onto Groovy Guava cardstock and then scored and lightly bent into shape along the lines were the spines would be. Under the middle of the umbrella, I added a pop dot to keep it out and adhered the umbrella to the cardstock along the bottom curve of the design. The little scrap of white ribbon is tied and knotted and adhered with a little glue dot.

For my background, I quickly stamped baby randomly over the cardstock and then added my stamped striped panel. To stripe this panel I used the Behind the Scenes stamp set and repeatedly stamped it. It was really easy to line up the stripes with the clear polymer stamp. I’d also been wanting to try out my new ruffled May Arts ribbon and slid it around the card front and adhered it under the scalloped circle. Isn’t it pretty? I love it so much I had to go back and buy all the colors!

Check it out… Trudee has some fabulous goodies on her blog, Follow Your Bliss. Make sure you take the time to check it out!

Supply list:

Cardstock: Groovy Guava, whisper white - Stampin Up

Stamps: It’s Shower Time, Behind the Scenes - My Favorite Things stamps

Ink: Groovy Guava, black, Close to Cocoa - Stampin Up

Other: circle punches - EK Success, large circle and scalloped circle punches - Marvy Uchida, ribbon - May Arts, sewing machine