Belle Papier {pretty paper}

Boho Blossoms….I LOVE it! This is the fourth stamp set soon to be available from My Favorite Things Stamps on Monday. It has been asked Monday when? 12:01 am EST if you just can’t wait any longer! hey! That’s not to far away!

When I first got a glimpse of drawings for this new Boho Blossoms set I must admit, I gasped! I just love the flourishes and that boho look. It is just soooo pretty and so “me”. LOL Not that I’m pretty…far from it! I just meant that it was very much my style! This set is super flexible, with two large flowers and two hearts as well as a ton of great words that work together and a few other odd flourishes…it is sure to be a keeper!

Love is Bliss

For this design, I decided to keep the focus totally on stamping and there isn’t a scrap of patterned paper in sight! The stamps were so beautiful and ornate, I just had to try them on their own. For that matter, I limited my supplies to two colors of cardstock and two colors of ink. Added with the images and a couple of elegant embellishments…well, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

So…. for the details, they are really pretty simple! Square layers of kraft matted with whisper white and stamped with Purely Pomegranate, in both of the floral stamps. The ribbon was stitched through holes lined up with the Mat Pack and punched out with the Crop-a-dile. For the sentiment, the fun thing about this design is the words come separate and you can design your own phrases. I love it!

Quick Tip: Line all the word stamps up how you wish them stamped right on the clear acrylic block. You can stamp them on some scratch paper to see if they are perfectly lined up. That way, when you go to stamp on your project, you just have to do it once.

For the main flower of this design, I stamped it once and then cut it out. After adhering to some white cardstock, I then trimmed it out again. For the center of this flower, I used one of my favorite ever embellishments…a K & Company Stitched Brad. They are GORGEOUS! I love the rich look they add and one of the few I have left worked perfectly for this design.

Now, you may be thinking…where is Sunday’s {C’est Bon} entry. Dont’ worry…it is still coming! I have a design for it but still have to do the writing. I’ll give you a hint though…. something I used to create this design is part of today’s C’est Bon article. Bear with me! Sunday’s are busy days here but I will be back!

It’s almost October 1st and yay… the third day of sneak peeks for the FIVE new-releases from My Favorite Things stamps. Now I have some great news for you! Kim is putting together a great special this month for those of you who just have to have it all! All five sets for $65! There will be a button link on the web-site on Monday if you wish to take advantage of this special. Stay tuned tomorrow and Monday for the last two sets to get peeks at. And today’s featured peek, Meet me at the Cafe… I decided to use a different spin on the set. It is a large one with lots of great images. Make sure you check out the other designs by the rest of the Design Team. You can find links to their blogs, HERE.

Bon Ami

When I saw the little poodle and the awning as part of this set, I just had to use them together! The song…How much is that doggie in the window…kept going through my head. LOL Do you know how annoying that song gets after a while?! LOL Well, I did have a lot of fun with this design.

The awning was the first piece that I designed. I just knew I wanted to paper piece it together in different designs. Actually, this is pieced together from one sheet of double side paper. I had some scraps left over from another design project so I stamped it once on the front and then once on the back…in different places of course! Leaving the pink paisley side solid, I simply cut out the yellow/green color and adhered it on top.

I also knew I wanted to include some slit punch scallops in this design. I thought they would coordinate well with the scalloped awning. I punched them out of the paisley My Mind’s Eye paper and then layered it over a striped panel that had the bottom edge distressed.

The main image panel, I stamped the poodle off set on the design so she would be looking into the empty space. She is colored with Copic Markers and then the flourish stamp from the same set is stamped in the bottom right. A little Doodlebug Designs bling decorates the flourish. I always love adding a little stitching to my designs and this time I added some zig zag stitching around the image and at the top of the design.

The main card base of this design was cut from Purely Pomegranate…one of my favorite colors this year. I stamped the flower swirls from Behind the Scenes over the Soft Sky layer at the top of the design. A couple last finishing touches…a beautiful white Prima flower set with a Making memories Crystal Brad and then the sentiment. I love the Bon Ami French sentiment wtih the poodle. Dog’s are man’s (and woman’s) best friend right? A little paper piercing along the bottom draws the eye to the sentiment.

Have a very happy Saturday! No simply Saturday design today but I’ll resume next week!

It is wild at my house today. Days off school always do that! Five kids make a lot of noise. Running around, disputing (the nice way to say it), excited for a day off, swinging from the chandeliers…well, I haven’t had anyone do that for the past 14 years but there was one outrageous 2yo at one point! LOL I’m glad he’s calmed down a little since then!

I have something else Wild to share with you today! I love this new stamp set by My Favorite Things! It’s a Jungle out There is sooo fun and flexible! It reminds me of my family , the movie Madagascar, the African Lion Safari… many many things! I think it would be great for babies, boys … pretty much anyone! The set contains a safari girl, elephant, giraffe, lion, monkey, foliage and some really great sentiments and will be released on October 1st. I decided to have a little fun with the elephant for this design and create a little card for my son, Benjamin. I’m going to surprise him with it in his lunch box next week. It says… Don’t Forget and inside…. I love you.

Don’t Forget!

For this design, I decided to give this week’s SCS Sketch challenge a whirl and layered it up with my My Mind’s Eye patterned paper. The layers were all sponged with Close to Cocoa ink and then matted with Wild Wasabi. I love pairing up this greeen with Soft Sky and it really looks great with this paper line. On the outer layer, I used my sewing machine to stitch a border and then distressed the edges to add a border.

For my main panel, I created a little scene on some Soft Sky Cardstock. I just LOVE how flexible these branches are! With the soft polymer stamp, you can twist them and change them up each time, adding a very nautral look to the foliage. The leaves come in solid or outline stamps… you can use which style works best with your design. I think this foliage if fabulous! It would be great to mix up with all sorts of sets if you like creating scenes.

Quick Tip: To get depth to leaves, branches, flower etc. in designs…. use repetition stamping. Stamp a first impression image and then stamp again once or twice without reinking to create depth and layering.

I decided to have a little fun with the elephant and stamp him on some dotted paper from the same collection. I actually stamped him twice. One image I cut out the full shape and then for the second, just the head and truck. I layered this on top with some foam tape to make it pop out a little.

As for embellishments, there was already a lot going on with the layout and paper so I kept it super simple. A new Daisy D’s button tied wtih a scrap of May Arts ribbon was the perfect touch. I’m hoping Benjamin likes it! I had so much fun making it.

Another link to share… one of my cards this month is a Paper Craft on-line bonus … Love, Peace Hope

Have a great weekend!

Hugs and Kisses…everyone needs a little love. I created this card design for today’s Ways to Use it Challenge on www.splitcoaststampers.com I tell you, some days it is HARD to think up new challenges! You might have noticed, we’ve broadened it up from the original product focus of the early days to finding ways to use just about anything, even design elements in the challenge. After all, there are only so many products out there and I try my best to make the challenge available to as many people as possible. If you have an idea for a future challenge…feel free to e-mail me. My link is at the top of my sidebar, right under the photo.

I digress…. Back to today’s challenge…I’m sure you want to know what it is so that you can get started! Food, glorious food. Find ways to use it in your designs. Now don’t panic…food images are great but if you don’t have any, it is OK. What about wrapped candy on your design, what about food storage (I really want to play at that idea)… be creative and have some fun! If you’d like to check out the challenge, join us at WT133 for a lot of fun. Everyone is welcome!

Hugs and Kisses

This design uses the soon-to-be-released How Sweet stamp set from My Favorite Things. It is a darling mini set, perfect for many occasions and makes great “girl” designs too. And ice cream sundae, chocolate chips, lots of fun things. When can you get it? October 1st is the release date … and stay tuned because it is a huge release and there will be more sneak peeks from the other FOUR sets coming up.

I decided to keep the layout simple on this design. The caramel layer was repeatedly stamped with the little chocolate chips and then sponged and matted with pretty in pink, chocolate chip and very vanilla. I free-hand drew in a heart in pencil and then stitched over it with my sewing machine. An eraser fixes any lines still showing.

For the sentiment panel, I decided to try out coloring with my Copic Markers on colored cardstock. I stamped the sentiment and three larger chocolate kisses in black and then colored them in. A colorless blender pen was super-quick for removing a little color to add a highlight. After sponging the edges on the panel, I tore one edge and then stitched around the whole design holding the sentiment strip down at the right.

For my embellishments, I pulled out a very pretty pink Prima. This was a super inexpensive treatment. I picked up the tin of Pink Primas at a Scrapbooking Garage Sale on SAturday for two dollars. The covered brad was another find I picked up Monday at the dollar store.

Wishing you a super-sweet day!

Sorry for the huge delay here today! It has been totally crazy at my house today. We started renovating and adding an addition. Part of the porch is now gone. Yikes! I hate the mess but I just have to keep the end result in mind. A new bedroom (I can FINALLY get the two year old out of my room!!!! well, soon! ) , a new larger kitchen (feeding seven people is a lot of work), AND the best part…eventually a stamping room! I don’t have one now…just a tiny corner of the family room and it is NOT ideal. NO storage and it just does not look or work well. And so, I’m finally getting a chance to sit down and write this post.

Another embossed card design from me. You may remember back to a few weeks ago, I used a different pattern of these DCVW embossed cards. I love how beautiful the embossing is and how quick they are to create something pretty. I’ve always loved white embossed paper. Another thing I love about them is the square shape…I have to admit, I DO love square card designs!

Embossed Baby Shower Design

This design is SO simple to create. I liked simple cards now and then, that’s why I have Simply Saturday posts…a great place to add them in and Saturday’s SHOULD be simply fun right? For my image, I simply stamped my It’s Shower Time image from My Favorite Things onto vellum with Versamark ink. After embossing it with white embossing powder, I colored the reverse side of the vellum with my SU markers. I always love this soft, subtle look and it is always great for a baby design. The image was then punched out with my Marvy Scalloped Circle punch.

I discoverd a fun little tip that works great for dry embossing on the vellum. I used my Empressor stylus to emboss the little circles using my SU Mat pack. Simply line up the eyelet holes with each scallop and emboss from the reverse side. It was so quick and makes a lovely border. Another thing I loved about this idea…the embossed circles were great for adhering my vellum to the card front. Simply add a few glue dots under a few of the embossed and less transparent circles. They won’t show.

Quick Tip: When adhering vellum…look for discreet ways of attaching it to the design. Stitching, brads, adhesive under an embellishment. Anything to hide the glue… you just don’t want it to show through your design.

Lastly, a quick easy embellishment. You don’t’ want anything too much as it would overwhelm the simplicity of the card. I added a white Prima flower…my current fave…and used a celery SU button for the center tied with blue gingham ribbon.

Hope you are enjoying a fabulous weekend! Make sure you make time to enjoy the simple things in life.

Another My Favorite Things It’s Shower Time design. This week MFT is sponsoring the Card sketch at the Card Positioning Systems site. If you’ve never checked out this site, it is a great place for layouts and other cool happenings. This card is designed with sketch #29 and was so much fun to play around with.

My Favorite Things also has a fabulous September special on… think It’s Shower time with Prismacolor pencils and a host of other goodies…check it out here!

Mellow Hello

The design started off with my layout and my It’s Shower Time stamp set. What to do? I saw my unused Mellow Basic Grey 6×6 pad and thought it would be the perfect time to break it open. I just love the Fall look of this paper, its warm tiny patterns and flipping through…I found this sky background paper. Perfect for the stamp…OK sold!

I pulled out my sky paper, cut it to size so that it would work for the sketch and then stamped my umbrella girl directly onto my paper. I stamped it again onto my blush blossom paper and then onto two other Mellow papers. To paper Piece my design, I carefully cut out the layers and then adhered them all together. Very easy and very cute. Tiny sharp scissors work the best for this.

For the two chipboard layers, I pulled out my Stampin Up Ginormous chipboard set and cut them to size with my Tonic Guillotine paper cutter. I then covered them with Crystal Effects and then some blue microbeads from Michael’s. You don’t need perfect coverage…bare chipboard goes with the distressing and the fun funky look. The top strip is tied with a scrap of dotted grosgrain (Michael’s) before adhering to the design.

For the sentiment…I didn’t stamp at all. I’ve had this darling little clip from Making Memories for months and so I decided to finally stop hoarding it and just use it!!! To highlight it and add a fun little flower…I tucked this Lucid Prima Flower behind the image and clip.

Supply List:

Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, blush blossom - SU

Patterned Paper: Mellow - Basic Grey

Stamps: It’s Shower Time - My Favorite Things Stamps

Ink: Black, close to cocoa - SU

Other: sentiment clip - Making Memories, Lucid flower - Prima, ribbon & Microbeads - Michael’s, chipboard - SU, sewing machine,

It is beautiful and sunny here today! Not rainy at all but as I was thinking about this new It’s Shower Time stamp set by My Favorite Things, I thought about the showers of life we all get. Why couldn’t this image be used as a thinking of you card. And so the inside of this card design (computer generated) reads…Wishing you brighter days ahead.

Just to let you know…My Favorite Things is releasing this It’s Shower Time set tomorrow, Saturday September 1st!

Life’s Showers Thinking of You

I was going through my new Fancy Pants patterned paper when I noticed this Noah paper from the Sweet Pea line looked a lot like raindrops…perfect for this image! I paired it up with some white and celery for a clean spring-like color combo. It is a little hard to see in the pic but the main image is layered over a layer of acetate held in place by the white eyelets along the sides. Into one of the hole, I used a really fun tool from Around the Block…the paper tagger. I received this little green flower charm in a goodie box from cards magazine…also by the same company…and it worked perfectly as a little embellishment for this design. Because the embossed word on the other side wasn’t quite right for this design, I just flipped it over and added a little Making Memories gemstone to the center.

For the main image, I just quickly watercolored the umbrella with my classic inks and my Aquapainter and then added little raindrops with some Crystal Effects. I kept most of the raindrops to the sides and on top of the umbrella to give the effect of it keeping her dry.

The little dotted Celery strips are textured Tape from Making Memories. I just love it! Lastly, the sentiment was added in Black Stazon. I used the Thinking of You sentiment from the Simply Said stamp set.

Supply List:

Cardstock: Whisper White, Certainly Celery

Patterned Paper:Sweet Pea line “Noah” - Fancy Pants

Stamps: It’s Shower Time, Simply Said - My Favorite Things

Ink: Black Stazon, Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue - SU

Other: Textured Tape, eyelets & Gemstone- Making memories, Crop-a-dile - WE R Memory Keepers, transparency - Staples Business Depot, charm & Paper Tagger - Around the Block, edge distresser - HEidi Swapp

Today’s Color Challenge…Purely Pomegranate, Old Olive, Pretty Pink! Wohoo I managed two challenges in a row! This design uses the brand-new It’s Shower Time stamp set from My Favorite Things. I just love this set, so sweet and is designed to be used for Bridal or Baby Shower cards or invitations. It’s Shower Time will be released September 1st…just a few more days!

Floral Bridal Shower

For this design, I started off with my stamp set and the color combo. A perfect combo. Can’t get much more girlie than a Bridal Shower. On my desk, this leftover scrap of Daisy D’s paper was sitting there, leftover from a design I created for a call yesterday. It worked perfectly so I just had to use it up. The Purely Pomegranate card base is layered with whisper white, old olive and this Daisy D’s floral.

I then went to work on the image, pulling out some watercolor paper, I stamped the design with my favorite Black Palette Noir Hybrid ink from Stewart Superior. I just love how this ink resists bleeding making it perfect for watercoloring. After watercoloring my image with my aquapainter, I distressed the edges. The Old Olive layer was overlapped with a strip of the Pomegranate that I zig zag stitched at each end. I rarely adhere things on an angle but this image seemed to work well that way. Before adhering it I added two little heart brads at the top to signify the love of the bride and groom to be.

I then tucked the sentiment down at the bottom by stamping directly onto the patterned paper. This Daisy D’s paper works well for that but try it on a scrap before you stamp. Some patterned papers resist the ink and don’t leave you with a good impression.

Quick Tip: If your patterned paper resists classic ink, use a craft or Versamark ink and then emboss the sentiment to make it more legible.

To finish it off, I just had to add a little white Prima flower. I think this batch is fast becoming my favorite. I love white flowers and I’ve been waiting for Prima to come out with a great white flower. This package of white hydrangeas comes in a beautiful tin. The button is from an awesome Autumn Leaves button package and is tied with some more of my new May Arts ribbon.

Yesterday I needed to make a quick birthday card for one of my son’s friends. I hadn’t tried out my new You Take the Cake set from My Favorite Things yet so I thought I’d give it a whirl. The set is a little more on the feminine side so my challenge was to pick out a few elements and design a masculine style card with it. Fun!

Mark’s Birthday Card

I just love using Kraft paper for a card base, especially for guy cards. I started off with my standard 5.25″ square card base and layered it with this great patterned paper by Daisy D’s. The main image was stamped offset to the left and then watercolored. I like this little trick as it is easy to find space of the sentiment and also layer on a small stamped accent on the layout. For the sentiment…I paired up two different stamps. Make a wish from the above set and It’s Your Day (in Old Olive ink) from the Sassy Sayings set. The candles were stamped and then the tiny flames were colored with my yellow Sakura Gelly Roll Glaze pen for some shine and dimension.

After sponging all the edges, I adhered it all together and then added a little stitching accents in brown thread.  A little scrap of May Arts Ribbon was tied to Hodgepodge Hardware to add interest and balance the design.

 Wishing you all a fabulous weekend!

Supply List:

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Ruby Red, Kraft - SU

Patterned Paper: Daisy D’s

Stamps: You Take the Cake, Sassy Sayings - My Favorite Things

Ink: Palette Noir - Stewart Superior, Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Blue - SU

Other: Ribbon - May Arts, sewing machine, circle punches - EK Success, Hodgepodge Hardware - SU

Oh wait! It’s not July…it is August 1st! Oh well! LOL Close enough. I really wanted to make a fun card today with the new Home for the Holidays stamp set from My Favorite Things! I decided to combine it with today’s fun sketch challenge and the funky Dasher Basic Grey patterned paper for a funky look! A little different for me but it is always good to try new things once and a while, right?!

Dasher Christmas

I was excited to find this fun striped Dasher patterned paper in my Holiday paper stash. Yes…I DO mean stash! I have a big box full of holiday paper! So fun! Anyways…this striped paper worked perfectly with today’s sketch challenge 135 that I was hoping to find some time to play along with. And no measuring…just counted equal stripes and trimmed! I then adhered the panel to a piece of regal rose cardstock, stamped the corners with the little stars from this set and covered the seams with some gorgeous soft blue velvet ribbon from May Arts. the entire panel is then adhered to a whisper white card base with a top hinge.

For the oval image panel, I started off with my scalloped oval punch. The whisper white oval has the edges sponged and then I adhered a cut out Christmas tree that had been stamped on another piece of Dasher paper. I was so excited to find that my oval coluzzle templates mat the Marvy scalloped oval perfectly! Yay! I love it when that happens. It is so great when two different products work well together. The dotted Dasher paper was just out with one of my oval templates and the regal rose layer, cut from my companion oval template. Why two templates? You can make smaller mats this way! After sponging all the layers with Close to Coco, I stitched around the dotted layer with my sewing machine.

Quick Tip: When stitching around a curve, oval or circle… leave needle in down position and pivot card slightly every few stitches for a smoother stitched line.

To finish it all off, the Merry Christmas sentiment from the same set is stamped on the bottom right corner and embossed with black embossing powder. The silver star brad at the top of the Christmas tree and the black brads at the top of the design are all by Creative Impressions.

It is going to be a scorcher here today! I’m not really ready for Christmas but the thought of cool snow isn’t a bad one today! Hope you have a fabuous summer day where you are!