It's been awhile since I posted but I created a a card for my son-in-law's birthday and thought I would share it with you.
Starting with a Basic Black card base of 4.75 x 6", I cut a 4.25 x 5.5" matte from Gold Foil and stamped it with the Crackle Paint stamp and Stazon and then set it aside to dry. I also stamped the sentiment, from Cake Soirée on a scrap of the foil.
Using the #5 Scalloped Circle from the Layering Circles Framelits, I die cut a piece of Basic Black. After the sentiment was dry, I die cut it using the #2 circle from the Stitched Shapes Framelits. These two pieces were glued together with liquid adhesive.
Once the gold matte was dry, I dry embossed it using the Corrugated Embossing Folder. This was then adhered to the card front, at an angle, using Dimensionals.
I used dies from both the Bouquet Bunch and Petals & More Thinlits to die cut some Basic Black leaves. I also cut a branch from the now retired Black Glimmer paper.
After determining placement with the sentiment, I used some of the now retired Fast Fuse as an anchor for the leaves and then adhered the sentiment using Dimensionals.
For inside the card, I used Versamark and the Crackle Paint stamp to stamp randomly around a Thick Whisper White matte. I did not use a block for the stamp, preferring to manipulate the stamp the way I needed to stamp it. I then heat embossed using Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder. The matte was then adhered inside the card.
I used my Envelope Punch Board to create my own envelope from a 12 x 12" sheet of Basic Black. After the envelope was assembled, I stamped and heat embossed random areas using the Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder.
I am pleased with the results and think it even has a slight Asian design to it! I'm going to enjoy that Crackle stamp!
Today I dove back into my stash to create this commissioned card.
I started with a Thick Whisper White matte. Using the long retired Blended Bloom stamp, I used Versamark to stamp all over the matte and then heat embossed it using White Stampin' Emboss Powder.
Taking a sponge, I sponged on Bermuda Bay, concentrating the color more at the middle of each bloom. I stamped, embossed and sponged one more bloom on a separate piece of card stock. I used my scissors to fussy cut this bloom.
On a strip of vellum, I stamped the sentiment from the now retiring Greatest Greetings stamp set and heat embossed it with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder. I folded this around the sponged matte and taped it at the back. The matte was then adhered to a Bermuda Bay card base using Fast Fuse. Plain Whisper White mattes were adhered inside the card to give plenty of room for people to sign the card.
The fussy cut bloom was adhered to the card front using Dimensionals. A now retired Iced Rhinestone was added to the bloom's centre to complete the card.
Using a piece of Bermuda Bay card stock, I created a matching envelope using the Envelope Punch Board. To jazz up the envelope, I stamped the flower, using matching Bermuda Bay ink, on the envelope flap and three times on the front of the envelope.
This was so much fun to create–gotta love emboss resist!
My purchaser loved the card! She plans to buy future cards from me and may also have a class with some other friends.
Besides the Retiring Products at Stampin' Up!, today they added to the Clearance Rack with products up to 60% off! Of course, these products will not last long so shop now! Take a look below at what you can get for a song. Click directly on a product to go directly to my store.
Friday night, my stamping ladies did a little gardening, though a green thumb was not required!
Succulents and dragonflies were the focus of my class as we created a darling pot of succulents with a matching gift card.
The Succulent Framelits are so much fun to use to create a vast array of colorful succulents. All six framelits required for the largest succulent can be fit onto a 4.25 x 5.5" piece of card stock and run through the big shot at the same time so this means that you save paper AND time!
In designing the succulents for this pot, I did a Google search to get some ideas for how to color the plants. Little did I know that succulents come in all the colors of the rainbow! Such fun!
I did a little experimenting with different colors of card stock and ink before deciding on my final choices. I save small strips of card stock just for the purpose of testing my ideas for colors. It is amazing what you can discover by sponging various ink colors onto different colors of card stock. For example, by sponging Wisteria Wonder with Pool Party, I was able to create a kind of Periwinkle Blue color.
In the end, I designed three types and sizes of succulents because I knew it was important to mix sizes and colors to produce a balanced design.
You can view the following video explaining how the succulents were created and assembled. This particular video shows a slightly different method to those portrayed in the photographs in this blog post. The succulents created in my class were fuller looking and more realistic as detailed in the notes below.
In addition, the second video shows the assembly of the pot and uses two types of moss to add further texture to the finished project.
Large succulent:
Wisteria Wonder card stock was cut with all six framelits; Pool Party ink was sponged on the petals of each piece and then Melon Mambo was sponged on the tips; double Dimensionals were used to adhere the two largest bottom layers as well as the next layer; liquid glue was used to adhere the remaining pieces.
Medium succulents:
Mint Macaron card stock was cut twice with five of the framelits to produce two separate succulents; Pool Party ink was sponged on the petals of each piece and then Old Olive was sponged on the ends of each petal; double Dimensionals were used on the two largest layers and liquid glue for the remaining pieces.
Small succulents:
Sweet Sugarplum card stock was cut three times with the three smallest framelits to produce three separate succulents; Old Olive was sponged lightly over the petals and then the tips were sponged with Melon Mambo; the layers were adhered using liquid glue.
After sponging the pieces for each of the succulents, a large-ball stylus from either the Heartfelt Creations Deluxe Flower Shaping Kit or one from the McGill Paper Blossom Tool Kit was used to shape each piece. The piece was placed in the palm of the hand and the stylus was circled over the middle until the piece "cupped."
To add further dimension to each piece, a bone folder was used to curl each petal downward. Double Dimensionals were also used to create separation between the largest layers and to produce a fuller looking succulent.
Once all the succulents were assembled, it was time to prepare the pot.
A sheet of newspaper from a community paper was crumpled tightly into a ball and then carefully undone. It was re-crumpled but this time ensuring a smooth, top section to the ball. A glue gun was used to apply glue to the bottom and sides of the metal pot and the newspaper ball was pushed inside to adhere it. Some tutorials for succulent pots found on Pinterest use half a styrofoam ball to form this part of the pot but that adds to the cost. I much prefer using the easily attained newspaper!
Pieces of moss, in both natural and green were then hot-glued to the top of the newspaper. Some tendrils of moss were allowed to fall outside of the pot for added interest. After gluing enough moss to cover the newspaper, the pot was turned upside down and tapped to remove any loose moss.
The front of the pot was determined and the arrangement of the succulents was chosen. Each succulent was glued in place using the glue gun. A glue eraser was used to rid the pot of any clinging glue gun trails.
A glue dot was adhered to the middle back of the pot rim; two more were adhered to each side of the pot's rim. A length of the 5/8" Burlap Ribbon was adhered to the glue dots and tied in a bow at the front of the pot.
Finally, a dragonfly was die cut from Gold Glimmer paper, shaped slightly, and adhered to one of the succulents in the pot with Glue Dots.
To create the accompanying card, a 4 x 4" card base was cut from Old Olive. Mattes of 3.75 x 3.75" were cut both from Mint Macaron and Whisper White.
On the Mint Macaron matte, the sentiment was stamped in Basic Black. The dragonfly, from the Dragonfly Dreams stamp set was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder.
The edges of the matte were sponged generously with Pool Party and then, less generously with Old Olive. The matte was adhered to the card front using Dimensionals.
A dragonfly was stamped offset on the Whisper White matte using Pool Party and then adhered inside the card.
Using the Envelope Punch Board, a matching envelope in Mint Macaron was created. The flap of the envelope was stamped with another dragonfly using Pool Party.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about my projects and viewing the video tutorials! If you have yet to order the Succulent Framelits or the Dragonfly Bundle, you can purchase them in my online store! Just think what you can create with these products!
With my brother and sister-in-law visiting from Calgary, I haven't had much time to craft this week. Today, we had a retirement party to go to for our neighbors so I had to get a card made for them this morning!
I chose to use the Sitting Here stamp set for my focal image. I stamped the wooden swing on Whisper White card stock using Basic Black Archival ink. I then used the leaves from the Sheltering Tree stamp set to stamp with both Cucumber Crush and then Wild Wasabi (turning the stamp upside down). The image was then die cut using the now retired Circles Collection Framelits.
I used two more circles to cut both a Cucumber Crush and a Pacific Point frame. The edges were inked with Basic Black and then they were layered over the stamped image, adhering them with liquid adhesive.
The pillows were stamped with Basic Black and then colored using Stampin' Write Markers in Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi, Cucumber Crush, and Bermuda Bay. A Basic Black marker was used to ink the edges of the fussy cut pillows. I then used a stylus from my McGill Paper Blossom Tool Kit to "puff up" the pillows like I did for the card in my Just Sitting Here post.
I cut a card base of 5.5 x 11" and then scored it at 2.75" from each end to create a gate fold card. I cut mattes from a piece of Cucumber Crush paper from the 2015-2017 In Color DSP Stack and adhered them to the front panels of the card after first inking the edges with Basic Black.
A Pacific Point 3/8" Stitched Ribbon was adhered to the back of the card and tied in a bow at the left side. Dimensionals were applied to the matted image but the adhesive was only removed from the side opposite the bow. This was done so that the card could be opened and also support the image on both sides.
The sentiment was cobbled together from two stamp sets–Wild About Flowers and Sweet Cupcake. It was stamped on Thick Whisper White using Basic Black. The sentiment was then die cut using a die from the Cupcake Cutout Framelits. A Pacific Point die cut was also made.
The Pacific Point die cut was cut in half, lengthwise, and then offset and glued to each side of the Whisper White die cut. It was adhered to the bottom of the stamped image on the card front.
The pillows were adhered to the stamped swing using doubled up Dimensionals.
For inside the card, a matte was cut from Thick Whisper White. The sentiment was stamped using Pacific Point and the tree was stamped using Soft Suede, Wild Wasabi and Cucumber Crush. The edges of the matte were inked with Wild Wasabi and then it was adhered with Fast Fuse Adhesive to complete the card.
A sheet of In Colors Envelope Paper was also used to create an envelope for the card, using the Envelope Punch Board. The envelope was not photographed.
I love the way this card came together and the color scheme really appeals to me! You can save it if you would like to use it for yourself!
Hi there! It's been a bit since I've posted but I have been busy.
On the weekend, I attended the Stampin' Up! Fall Conference in Winnipeg with my upline and best friend, Charlene. There was one session on Friday evening and two on Saturday.
Friday was a "play" session where you could bring non demonstrators with hopes that they would be inspired to become a demonstrator. We got a chance to play with different tools as we moved from station to station around the room. It was a bit hectic at some stations but good fun all the same!
Saturday morning was a business session and the afternoon session was another "play" session for demonstrators only. I have some neat creations to show you from the conference but you'll have to wait until another post for those!
The rest of the weekend was spent babysitting my beautiful granddaughter. We just can't get enough of her! My mother was coming over to our house for supper to celebrate her 89th birthday so Raine was dressed up in a special dress I had bought her. Of course, I had to snap a few shots of her . . .
She was a little shy at first but she had Bunny to comfort her!
She can't resist playing on the keyboard when she comes over!
My mother really enjoyed watching Raine! I was able to snap a few candids of her.
I was hoping to get a good picture of them together but Raine was a little bit shy around her so we didn't force the issue. I did manage to catch them in a couple of pictures together with the help of people holding her!
Here's my mother with her cake and a little sidekick:
All in all, it was a pleasant get together!
The last few days, I have been preparing some cards and planning for my last stamping class before Christmas. Unfortunately, I can't show you pictures of those items yet because it would ruin the surprise! I promise I'll post those after December 5.
Tonight, after work, I got a chance to try out an idea that I had been rolling around in my mind for over a week. I wanted to use the Star Framelits to create a festive tea light holder.
This was my first attempt at a 3D item so please be kind!
I knew that I wanted to use both Gold Foil and Gold Glimmer papers but I wanted to be sure that my idea would work BEFORE cutting! I made one mock up with scrap paper and another with Whisper White before I was satisfied with my design.
I used two of the star framelits–the smallest and the third largest–to cut a template for the star shapes so that each one would be identical. Then, for each star, I cut one from gold foil and one from gold glimmer paper. I also cut four small squares of vellum, which I trimmed into pentagon shapes.
Using Crafty Owl's Box Buster (a handy online tool for calculating measurements for boxes created with the Envelope Punch Board) I got the measurements for a box that was 2 x 2 x 3/4" in size. I created the box using my Envelope Punch Board and Gold Foil. (If you have never used the Box Buster, give it a try. It is a wonderful tool for using with the Envelope Punch Board.)
I then glued the pentagon shaped pieces of vellum to one star of each of the four star pairs. I glued the Gold Glimmer stars on the inside of the box so that they would really catch the sparkle from the candle. I glued the Gold Foil stars to the outside of the box and pressed together with the Gold Glimmer stars to act like a sandwich with the box in the middle!
I was quite pleased with the way it turned out! What do you think?
I am an independent Stampin' Up! demonstrator and the use of and content of the classes, services, or products offered on this blog is not endorsed by Stampin' Up! I enjoy sharing my love of creating with others and helping them to make beautiful cards with stamps and paper!
