Belle Papier {pretty paper}

I designed this card a couple weeks ago when I was goofing off having a little stamping fun but I just couldn’t wait any longer to share it with you. A funky scrappy style again, I thought it just might work for my daughter’s birthday next month. This funky heart and wings look is really growing on me and I decided to pair up this stamp with a rhinestone crown from Me and My Big Ideas. This is an attempt at that fun freestyle look that is so popular in scrapbooking right now. Fresh and funky and once again…pushing me out of my safe little box.

Princess Birthday

This card starts off with a Rose Red cardstock base stamped with Jolies Fleurs by Lizzie Anne Designs. I had this distressed looking solid pink scrap of Basic Grey 6×6 patterned paper on my desk and thought it might work well with the style I was going for. To add some “movement” to the design, I adhered it on the angle and then trimmed off the excess.

My heart and wings stamp comes from the Heart to Heart set also by Lizzie Anne Designs. The solid heart in the middle is stamped in Pretty in Pink and then the wings colored in with a pale pink  Copic Marker. To highlight the wings, I went over them with my Sakura Glitter Pen and then punched out the image with my Giga Circle Marvy Punch. The scalloped layer was then punched out with my Giga Scalloped Circle punch and the edges swiped with white craft ink. I then added that rhinestone crown I mentioned for a fun touch of bling and a little attitude.

To embellish the card, I decided to add some more movement and stitched some freestyle “waves” across my patterned paper. The pretty acetate flowers also add a young look. These Sheer Blossoms are adhesive backed on the one side and are by Making Memories. I’ve noticed a lot of metal in the free-style look so I added some large Creative Impressions pewter brads to their centers. Notice how I used three to form a visual triangle that highlights the focal point.

I had so much fun with this style…I know I’m going to want to try it again. I’d love to see any free-style designs you create! Feel free to link back to this post and I’ll come take a peek!

Something to note: Lizze Anne Designs is having a new release of some great new sets on January 7th! Make sure you stop by each day as they’ll be adding more sneak peaks every day until then!

I thought I’d start this year off with a little love! Happy New Year everyone! Blessings to you!

It’s pretty cold and snowy here this first day of the year!This design uses a couple of fun heat techniques to warm things up a little …velvet embossing and debossing to add texture to this card design. Keep reading and I’ll share with you how to do them!

Soul Mates

This design started off with a very simple background of some fun Flair Designs bandana style paper. I loved the red for valentine’s day and those paisleys reminded me of one of my favorite Lizze Anne Designs stamp sets… Jolies Fleurs. Because I wanted to try and incorporate two heat techniques… I kept the rest of the design super simple. To make the heart…I covered a Cosmo Cricket Buck Naked chipboard button heart with Versamark and then added three- four layers of copper embossing powder on top. While the thick layer of embossing powder was still impressionable…I stamped a flower from the set into it and waited for it to cool. A little scrap of black gingham ribbon ties on the heart.

For the black velvet ribbon…I picked up some of this at my local Wal-mart store. This ribbon is approximately two inches wide. I’ve always wanted to try embossing on velvet! It was actually quite easy! It was really difficult to get a good photo of the embossing. Black on black is pretty hard to pick up in a photo. You can see it really well IRL. The light catches it beautifully and it gives a really elegant look. You can click on the side pic to get a better look.

To emboss velvet…all you need is some scratch paper and an iron. Place some paper on the ironing board to protect the surface and then lay your stamp..rubber side up on the board. Place your strip of velvet, good side down on top of the stamp. Cover with some more scratch paper to protect the stamp and iron. With hot iron on a no steam setting…iron the velvet with a firm steady pressure. Be careful not to burn the velvet. When good impression is achieved…move velvet to next area needed to be embossed. Repeat until desired effect is achieved.

Wishing you a wonderful New Year’s Day. Have fun trying out these couple techniques in your own projects. If you do try them out…feel free to leave me a link in the comments section! I’d love to see what you create!

Well…It’s not Saturday but I’m going to share a very simple design with you today instead. These holidays mixed up with a lot to do have really done a number on my schedule! I’m hoping another week of the kids home and then I’ll be able to get back to normal!

This is a super quick Valentine’s Design. I’m really loving simple these days. I love designing a variety of styles and mixing them up to keep things interesting. When you design pretty much daily…this is a good thing. I shared a design with you on Thursday with this same set and it has a totally different look. I still have another one up my sleeve for another day. It is totally different again so stay tuned!

{Heart} U

For this design, I used a simple card of Very Vanilla cardstock and used a Spellbinders Oval Nestability die to emboss the front. This gives a very subtle look with no layers but still gives a sense of boundaries in the design. Inside the embossing, I stamped a simple U and heart from the Heart To Heart stamp set by Lizzie Anne Designs. For the heart…I added a little interest by first inking the stamp in Regal Rose ink and then Rock n Rolling the stamp by rolling the edges with my Rose Red ink pad. I love the dual tones and this is such a great simple technique for solid stamps.

For my super quick embellishments…I just adore these little felt birds from Maya Road…how cute is that?! A little button is tied with some May Arts ribbon and helps anchor the design.

Hope you are having a simply wonderful weekend!

I always like making Valentine’s Cards that are a little more masculine in nature. After all…my hubby is NOT going to appreciate a lot of pink and flowers …he just wants to know that I love him. While playing around with this Heart to Heart stamp set by Lizzie Anne Designs I decided to try out a darker, more vintage look…perhaps a more “scrappy style” if you will. I love the results…some stamping on acetate, a little paint, stitching…I’m hoping he likes it!

Today is also Thursday and time for another Ways to Use it Challenge. This week, the challenge is a rerun. With the busy days during the holidays I thought it would be a good time for one and today….the challenge is to use Stazon! I love Stazon ink…perfect for so many surfaces. As in this card design, I mostly use mine on acetate but also love using it on glass. Stazon ink is also great for stamping and then watercoloring as it doesn’t bleed. If you’re just starting out…my favorite Stazon inks are Black and White Opaque…soooo flexible. Try them! You’ll love them. If you’d like to play along…make sure you check out the challenge at WT146.

U & I

This design is pretty simple…a 5.25″ square card design layered with the beautiful Perhaps Basic Grey paper. You know how much I love those 6×6 paper pads! The U heart I was stamped in black Stazon Ink from Tsukinkeo onto a transparency. I love transparencies…they are fabulous to stamp on and you can brush ink or paint behind them just where it is needed…sort of a layer but one that barely covers up what is beneath. Over the heart…I hand wrote “and” on a little strip of paper and then sponged the edges with Distress Ink. After crumpling the strip…I attached it over the heart with my Crop-a-dile and some eyelets. I then attached the transparency to my design by stitching the edges to the card and also added a little stitching to the top of the card. I decided to have a little fun with the bottom of the design as well…I pulled out my Just Words stamp set and stamped coordinating words along the bottom of the patterned paper. Between each word, to add definition, I added a tiny silver heart brad by Making Memories. A Prima flower, a button and some ribbon finish off the design.

Wishing you a wonderful day! Hope you have time to join us for the challenge!

It’s been a while since I’ve done a pink Christmas card. Love them…they are so fun! When I found t his gorgeous Websters’ Pages in a pile on my desk yesterday, I really wanted to have a little fun with it. It is beautiful, heavy, double-sided paper and it was so easy just to pull my color combo directly from the striped paper. When you create a color combo, decide on the one color you wish to feature. I chose pink for a fun look. Pink card base, pink layers that are just a little wider to make them stand out, some gorgeous pink ribbon and a pink button ties it all together.

A Pile of Presents

I love this stack of presents from the Lizzie Anne Designs High Hellos set. I think it is really meant to be for a birthday but I thought they’d be super cute for Christmas. After the amount of presents I’ve had to buy so far (and I’m nowhere near finished - the joys of large families!) I think I could pile up quick a few of these stacks around here. Actually, I’ve had to cart them all over to my Dad’s house as this old house has very little storage. I paired up the presents with a couple other Lizzie Anne Designs sets to emphasize the Christmas theme…Holiday Cheer for the Merry Christmas Sentiment and Celebration Frames for the holly and frame layer. My images were all colored in with my Copic Markers..so quick and easy. My circle stamped layer was punched out with two EK Success punches… 1 1/2″ and 1 3/4″. I just picked up the larger of the two the other day. I’ve been wanting one of these for a while…perfect for extra layering and they both work really well with this set.

As I mentioned above, I was inspired by the Webster’s Pages patterned paper. I just love this Ting a ling line! The striped paper is called Ribbon Candy (yummmm) and I used another paper from the same line with beautiful olive candy canes. A simple layout gives a clean look that works well with this image and color combo.

I couldn’t use pink and not use my favorite pink velvet May Arts ribbon…love the warmth of velvet on Christmas designs. I ran a strip of it over the seams where my patterned paper met and then tied a scrap of it to highlight the sentiment. An Autumn Leaves button is tied with some aqua stitched ribbon for a simple embellishment. I’m soooo into buttons these days. They are a fabulous embellishment…easy to use and not too expensive.

Wishing you a Pinkalicious day!

I decided I was going to find some time to stamp today, even if it was just a few minutes. The Limited Supply Challenge sounded like fun. I love snowflakes…I guess the part I do have the trouble with is limiting my supplies. You know how I love my goodies! This challenge has you using snowflakes, a sentiment, neutral colors, limited layers, one embellishment, one tool…yikes! But I did it! Yes it is simple but there are time when I really like simple. What do you think?

Vanilla Peace

For this design, I used my Simply Singles Lizzie Anne Designs Snowflake stamp and stamped the image panel with Sahara Sand. I then overstamped the panel with Versamark ink and embossed with Irridescent Ice embossing powder to add some sparkle. I’m hoping that the embossing powder doesn’t count as an embellishment or I’ve totally bombed the challenge! LOL

To limit my layers, I decided to punch down for the sentiment instead of layer up. After punching out an oval for my sentiment, I adhered my vanilla panel adn then stamped the Peace sentiemnt from the LAD Glad Tidings set in the space…a perfect fit. Yay…something was going right for me today! The tool I chose (could only pick one!) was a no brainer…my sewing machine. I did a little free-style stitching around the edges and then crumpled up the edges with my fingers. See no tool .

For my embellishment…you could only use one type. I bought these darling little My Mind’s Eye buttons at my local scrapbook store last week and the colors are perfect. The little subtle shot of color that Jen requested…Jen…are you reading this? You can be quite demanding you know that?! LOL

And so…there it is. Honestly…I don’t think the photo does it justice but it will have to do! Have a great weekend and have fun with that holiday shopping!

A little more holiday cheer….a Christmas card design to share with you today. Sorry I totally missed yesterday. There are only so many hours in the day and I tell you…I’ve been burning the candle at both ends trying to keep up. There was just so much housework to catch up on, sometimes you just have to do that and forget about stamping. I’m sure many of you are busy cooking and cleaning as well with American Thanksgiving coming up tomorrow. I wish you all a fabulous day with lots of food, friends and family. It will be same old, same old for us as we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving weeks ago in October. Truth be told…although I wouldn’t turn down a turkey dinner, I like celebrating in October…gives me a little more time to get ready for Christmas. I’ve been busy shopping and sorting and making lists. I like to get my shopping done before now to avoid the crowds but I’m just going to have to brave them this year I’m afraid. I AM doing really well with the Christmas cards this year as you can see. I have lots stocked up…I just have to decided which ones go where.

Holiday Cheer

This is a little design I created with the Lizzie Anne Designs Holiday Cheer stamp set. So darling…love the fun look. I decided to have a little fun with some acetate and stamped the stylized snowflake onto it with white Stazon ink. I love this opaque ink and if you haven’t tried it…the white is one of the most flexible ones to get. To add to the frosty look, I also swiped the edges of the layer with the ink pad and allowed to try.

My background design is very simple and uses a 5.25″ square card base in Real Red cardstock. The patterned paper layer is a gorgeous Olive color. It is more of that awesome Webster’s Pages designer paper by Terri Conrad. After adhering my layers, I stitched around the design with my sewing machine to frame it and attach my transparency layer.

To create a fun hanging ornament, I stamped my Happy Holidays circle onto whisper whit cardstock and punched it out with a Marvy Maga circle punch. After sponging the edges, I adhered it to a scalloped circle punched with my Giga Circle punch, also by Marvy. The hip tree is stamped with Always Artichoke and cut out, matted and adhere to the center of the ornament. A little Making Memories gemstone brad adds some glitz and a little scrap of May Arts ribbon adhered with a glue dot add the tie for the ornament.

Quick Tip: When using Marvy Punches, they make it easy to layer …the Giga punch will perfectly mat a Mega size punch and so on.

Webster’s Pages, May Arts ribbon and stamps available from Jacksonbelle Embellishments.

Wishing you a fabulous day! Enjoy Thanksgiving and find a little holiday cheer in getting ready for Christmas.

A little change of pace from all the distressed Christmas cards, a change from patterned paper to all stamping…just a little different look. Today’s color challenge was inspired by a card I designed a couple months ago using Kraft and Purely Pomegranate…you can check it out Here. I was excited to have my card chosen…thanks Melody & Emily … decided to have a little fun and create a card design specifically for the challenge!

Yes…it is simple! Some days…I just love clean and simple. Just stamping and a clean little layout. When I saw this week’s CPS#39 I knew it was one I just had to try. What a great layout Tami!

Heart to Heart

As I mentioned…this design is super simple…a Whisper White cardstock 5″ square base was stamped with the flourish from L’Amour stamp set by Lizze Anne Designs. The I Love You sentiment is from the LAD Heart to Heart stamp set and is accented by a little row of Hero Arts gemstone strips.

My bottom panel is Purely Pomegranate cardstock stamped with a heart from the L’Amour set in white craft ink. After swiping the edges with white craft, I stitched the layer to the card base with a straight stitch. My Kraft cardstock layer was stamped with the heart to heart stamp in black, from the set bearing its name. Inside the sentiment, I adhered a cut out paisley heart with some foam tape to pop it out. The layer was then adhered with a zigzag stitch for definition. Also on the heart…another little Hero arts gemstone for a little accent.

You may also have noticed how much fun I’ve been having lately adding these little Harvest Pins from Fancy Pants designs. I just love them! I found this little heart pin in my stash and it was a perfect coordinating brown for Kraft cardstock so of course, I had to use it! I’ve been enjoying how Nancy has been adding pins to her work using a button and just had to give it a whirl…isn’t it darling? The clear button is from Stampin Up and the ribbon…May Arts.

I love Webster’s Pages patterned paper and their new Christmas line is stunning! Very fresh and a little vintage…this paper is just my style and I’ve had so much fun designing Christmas cards with it this year. This paper is double-sided and a great heavy weight which I love. Now I don’t have a {C’est Bon} entry for you today but this design IS part of a product spotlight for Jacksonbelle Embellishments featuring this gorgeous paper. Seeing as {c’est bon} (It’s good) I guess this is just a shorten variation of my usual Sunday entry. Check out the Product Spotlight and see the other designs featuring the beautiful Webster’s Pages Christmas line.

Noel

This design uses a simple clean design to allow the beauty of these patterned papers to be the focus of the design. I started with a 5.25″ square card base using Very Vanilla cardstock, layered it with Purely Pomegranate cardstock adn then added my pattered papers. To create the strip across the design, I stamped my Lizzie Anne Designs Glad Tidings holly stamp in white craft ink across it and zig zagged the design. The top of my pale blue Websters is also stitched with a machine straight stitch for a little definition. Also on the light blue paper, I stamped Noel from my same stamp set with Purely Pomegranate ink.

For my main image part of the design, I punched a large circle with my mega Mary circle punch, sponged the edges and then stitched around in a circle. To add my image, I stamped my circle from LAD Celebration Frames set in Pomegranate and stamped the holly and berries in the center. The image was really quick to color in with my Copic markers. I think carefully punched out my circle using my 1 1/2 inch circle punch from Stampin Up…fit perfectly…and adhered it to my circle. YES…the circle IS meant to be off-center. A little gemstone stickers bling finishes it all off for a festive look!

Want a little more Christmas cheer? If you missed it, make sure enter to win one of blog little Christmas card kits I’m giving away … Spreading a Little Christmas Cheer. Have a great day and blessings to you!

I have another Christmas design to share with you today. Hope you aren’t getting tired of them…I’ve just been having so much fun! Last year was so busy, I just didn’t have time to send any out and so this year…I’ve been getting ahead of the game! Also…we’ve been having the first signs of snow here…a few flurries in the air this morning. It is so cold after the beautiful Autumn we’ve had.

If you get the Lizzie Anne Designs newsletter…you’ll probably have seen this design before. This Christmas card was part of this month’s newsletter and is one of the Project of the Months. This month there were actually SEVEN projects and you can view the other six HERE. Gorgeous designs that are well-worth checking out. If you haven’t signed up for their newsletter…you’ll want to do that too. Lots of great info and ideas on it and sometimes even a coupon. Just wait till you see next months cool projects too!

Holly Merry Christmas

For this design, I really wanted to have a little fun with the color combo. I love funky color combos for a fresh look and I really like this one. It was so fun to try mixing up Bravo Burgundy, Soft Sky, Old Olive and Kraft together for a really unique Christmas look. Do you have any fun unique Christmas color combos you like to use? I’d love to hear them!

I just love this Glad Tidings stamp set by Lizzie Anne Designs for a great holiday look. The stamps are so flexible…I love how the style is elegant and fresh at the same time. For this design, I started off with the Soft Sky cardstock base and added the stamped kraft layer matted with Bravo Burgundy. The Kraft layer is my “homemade” patterned paper…each of the holly image were inked up with my Bravo Burgundy and Old Olive markers and stamped. You know how much I love stitching and distressing so I finished the edges of this panel in that way.

The little strip came next. I was wanting to try out that long holly stamp to coordinate and decided to try inking it with white craft ink and stamping on the burgundy…I love the look. A little sponging and some zig zag stitching add a little attention to detail on this layer.

I decided to ink up my Christmas tree and stamp it off center on the next layer. It always shakes things up a little if you stamp off center. This panel was then matted with burgundy and a wider mat of whisper white cardstock that had the edges distressed with my Heidi Swapp edge distresser. The final touch was a punched circle stamp..MC for Merry Christmas. I added a little Making Memories gemstone sticker just a little glitz and embellishment. I found, I was having so much fun with all the stamping on this design…it really didn’t more than that.

I also decided to have a little fun creating a sketch design of this layout for you to try. Just click on the thumbnail for the large size if you wish. If you create something with it …I’d love to come take a look. Last week I posted another sketch HERE. Check out the absolutely stunning design Lynda created with it at her post, Julia’s Sketch Challenge. Wow! My jaw dropped! Thanks so much for sharing Lynda!

Have a great day and check back in tomorrow for a cool Ways to Use it Challenge!