Candle, Candle, Burning Bright

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?

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Making It Sparkle

Last night our stamping group met and we had a great time! It was my turn to sit back and have fun while one of the other members of our group, Shawna, taught the class. We got really inked up as we were playing with Alcohol Inks, both on foil and on vellum.

This is the card Shawna created using foil. It was inked and embossed. Beautiful!

For this card, we stamped the butterfly on vellum and then colored it with Alcohol inks. After cutting it out, we mounted it on a card front that had been misted with ink and attached sequins and a word that had been cut out with the help of a Silhouette machine.

Shawna is very talented and has just opened her Etsy store, Blue Painted Dragonfly Designs. You can check out her Facebook page as well–be sure to give her a like!

Today was great for me as well because I didn't have to work! In fact, I have the entire weekend off–woohoo!

I was up fairly early and sent in our Stampin' Up! order from last night. I then headed to Winnipeg for a bit of a haircut and on the way homeI decided to stop at Dollarama in Selkirk to pick up some foam tape.

BIG MISTAKE!

All of their Christmas decorations and crafting supplies were out so I had to buy the stuff while it was still available, of course! I walked out with two very full bags!

Back at home, I decided to choose a card challenge to get me started. I chose the Friday Mashup.

This was quite an interesting challenge because you could do one of three things:

• create a project using the Diamond Dust Technique found here.
• create a project using these colors: Island Indigo, Garden Green & Rich Razzleberry

OR

• create a project using the technique and the colors.

I was a little leery of the color combo but decided to go with the flow and create a card following the third option.

The sparkle suggested Christmas to me and it also reminded me of the Bright & Beautiful stamp set. I mean, stars twinkle and when they do, they look like they're sparkling, right?

I chose the medium star and inked it up using my Stampin Write Markers in Garden Green and Island Indigo. I used the markers because I wanted to ink certain sections of the stamp and it has quite an intricate design.

If you recall from yesterday's post, when using markers on the stamps you need to huff on the stamp to refresh the ink before stamping it. I stamped it on Whisper White and the star looked fabulous just like that! However, I went ahead and used one of the Stars Framelits to die cut the star.

I thought that the starburst from Kinda Eclectic would look neat behind the star. That idea required a matte. I cut a square matte from Garden Green card stock and stamped the Starburst in Versamark. I heat embossed it using a Sparkly Silver embossing powder.

I used Island Indigo to ink the edges of the matte, using a sponge dauber. To enhance the embossing, I cut a second matte from Silver Glimmer paper and adhered the stamped matte to it. These eventually mounted on a Rich Razzleberry matte which would be adhered to a card base of the same color.

Following the tutorial, I completely covered the star with Versamark and heat embossed it with a Iridescent embossing powder. It got so vibrant and sparkly!

Then I made a pleasant discovery involving the book plate framelit from the Apothecary Accent Framelits. I'll share it with you in the form of a picture tutorial.

Here are what the framelits look like when cut. The book plate is on the top right.

I cut a book plate from Garden Green.

 Next, I grabbed my Tag Topper Scalloped punch.

I centred the book plate and stuck it into the punch a far as it would go.

After punching both ends, this is the result.

Cool, huh? The reason I thought of this technique was because I knew you could modify one of the Chalk Talk Framelit tags in the same way but that tag doesn't look as ornate as this one.

I stamped the sentiment with Versamark and heat embossed with the same Sparkly Silver embossing powder. I then inked the edges of the book plate with Island Indigo.

Because I now had holes in the tag, I was able to add a a now retired Island Indigo ribbon to it and make it into a slider. The book plate was just a bit too wide for the front of the card so I trimmed it a bit. It still looked very ornate!

I played with the placement of the matte and the book plate and then adhered both to the Rich Razzleberry matte. I added some Dimensionals to the back of the book plate and some Sticky Strip to the ends of the ribbon, wrapping them around the back of the Rich Razzleberry matte.

A few rhinestones for added glitz and my card was complete!

A couple of close ups so you can see the effect of the Diamond Dust Technique.

I hope you'll try the Diamond Dust Technique–I know I'll be using it again!

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Trimming The Trees

We are having unseasonably warm weather, considering that it is now November. Let's hope it lasts for awhile!

Though the temperature has not dipped into the frosty temperatures, it is time to start thinking more and more toward Christmas. And that means Christmas cards will be spreading across the internet!

The card I have for you today is made using the Tree Punch and traditional Christmas colors.

I punched three trees from the Trim The Tree Designer Paper Stack and also punched three trees from Kraft card stock. I glued the patterned paper to the Kraft so they weren't quite so flimsy. I used a sponge dauber to edge each tree with Garden Green ink.

I then used the Little Letters Thinlits and the smallest of the Stars Framelits to cut the word Noel from a strip of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper. Behind it I adhered a striped paper.

The card base was cut from Garden Green card stock and a matte from Cherry Cobbler. The matte was embossed using the Woodgrain Embossing Folder.

The Noel strip was adhered at an angle across the card front. I used a Cherry Cobbler Stampin Marker to trace each letter and the star to make them stand out more from the Glimmer paper.

The three trees were popped up on Dimensionals and tied together with twine (I used a Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities marker to color Whisper White twine). The trees were each topped with a star punched with the star punch from the now retired Merry Minis Punch Pack.

To finish off the card, I cut a strip of Cherry Cobbler Chevron Ribbon and then cut it down the centre of the ribbon. I adhered each piece on either side of the Dazzling Diamonds strip.

A simple but effective card I think!

 Have you started making Christmas cards yet? Let me know in the Comments below!

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Star Quality

When I walked in the door on Halloween night, I thought for sure that Raine would be forgoing trick or treating this year. I could tell from her crying that she wasn't feeling well.

Sure enough, Courtney and Steffan were attempting to dress her in her costume. Poor little thing–she was all stuffed up! On top of that, she'd had a full day at the babysitter's, complete with Halloween party.

Grandpa stepped in and took her outside in her costume to show her the kids starting to come around in their costumes. That did the trick . . . it was enough to get her out the door, treat bucket in hand.

An hour later, they were back. Apparently she had behaved like a star and even though she'd only made it to eight houses, she had quite the stash! Of course, she'd never get to eat most of it but Mom and Dad would help her out! Got a few quick pics of her in costume and enjoying a treat. (by the way, the following collage was done using the Project Life app.)

Today, I was able to do some crafting and pulled out the Star Framelits again due to more inspiration from work yesterday. I had been assigned the very last till, closest to Men's Wear. Since we were sadly lacking in customers yesterday afternoon, there was little for me to do but daydream and stare at men's clothing.

Strangely enough, a display of men's robes served me well. It gave me the idea to pair plaid designer paper with the same color of card stock for a tone on tone type of card.

To begin with, I cut a Cherry Cobbler card base and a matte from the Trim The Tree Designer Stack. A Cherry Cobbler star was also cut and I used the Simply Scored board to score the star to turn it into a 3D star.

I used the Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits to cut a shape for the sentiment. The sentiment is from the Petite Pairs stamp set and it has a matching verse for the inside of the card.

I added a star cut from the Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper and a couple of stars, punched with the punch from the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack, to either side of the sentiment. The card still lacked something.

To make the design pop, I added some rhinestones, some of which I colored with the Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities. That was exactly what my card needed!

What do you think?

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Seeing Stars

Another late night crafting session for me yesterday with not a lot to show for it. I played with a number of techniques but was not overly satisfied with my results. However, I did get an idea for the card that I'm sharing with you today, just before climbing into bed at 2:30 a.m!

My original conception of this was to be Gold with Mossy Meadow and Sahara Sand but I discovered that I did not have any Gold Glimmer paper. Horrors! (This will soon be rectified!)

I am very pleased with the final design but this is a very fragile card, due to both its dimensionality and the adhesive used.

As I often do when I'm not quite sure if a design will work the way I've envisioned it, I turned to scrap paper for a mock up. After cutting out the three outline stars as well as a card base and matte, I could quickly see that the star feature would work nicely. However, I wanted to cut a hole behind the stars so I could hang something for added pizazz.

To determine the size I would need, I turned to my punches. The 2 1/2" circle punch seemed right but then I realized that the short reach of the punch would not allow me to position into the centre of my matte and card front. Luckily, I had the Circles Collection Framelits and the 2 3/8" framelit worked well for me.

I attached the mock matte to the mock card front with temporary adhesive and ran them through the Big Shot, using the Magnetic Platform. I was able to centre the star feature over the opening and it looked great! For the hanging piece I decided to use one of the All Is Calm Snowflake Embellishments.

Next, I used my Color Coach to check which colors to use for both the card stock in the star feature and the card base and matte. Because I only had Silver Glimmer paper, not the gold that I had planned to use, I decided to use it with Silver Foil and Lost Lagoon. I found that the Basic Gray was dark enough to provide some nice contrast for the star feature and it worked well as a matte on top of Lost Lagoon.

I then created the star feature for real by cutting three stars from the Silver Glimmer Paper, Silver Foil, and Lost Lagoon card stock.

After cutting a square card base and matte, I adhered the matte temporarily to the card front. I carefully positioned the circle framelit in the centre of the matte, eyeballing rather than measuring it. Because I was cutting through two layers of card stock, I ran the cutting sandwich back and forth through the Big Shot a few times to make sure they had cut both pieces. I then separated the pieces.

Next, I hung the snowflake charm from a piece of silver cord and taped it into place on the card front. I used Fast Fuse to adhere the matte, hiding the taped cord ends.

Next came the most difficult part—assembling the star feature with adhesive.

After deciding on the stacking order for the three stars, I took a reference picture with my iPhone after making sure the placement of all three layers was just right before disassembling it. I find this to be a handy method of remembering how something looked so that I can easily recreate it.

Using a pencil I drew temporary lines where the Glimmer Paper layer crossed the Lost Lagoon layer. I removed the Glimmer Paper and proceeded to cut tiny pieces of Dimensionals to fit between the lines and then carefully adhered the Glimmer Paper. I erased any pencil lines that still could be seen with my white eraser.

I really disliked having to cut up the Dimensionals so I decided to use rolled up glue dots to hold the Foil Paper in place. I positioned the layer and then carefully inserted small sticky balls of glue with tweezers and carefully squeezed the layers together. I also used rolled up glue dots to adhere the star feature to the front of the card.

My final step was to stamp the inside of the card, using sentiments from the Ornamental Pine stamp set. Because I wanted to avoid the hole in the middle of the card, I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig for careful stamp placement.

Here is a close-up of the card front so you can see the glimmer of the papers and the dimensionality of the star feature!



I know that the glue dots are not sticky enough to continuously hold the stars together. I think that a glue gun would be a better choice but I could think of no easy way to figure out where to put the glue on the stars when they are apart from each other!

So, I am calling on those of you reading this blog post to make suggestions for

1. A better adhesive for adhering the layers yet giving dimensionality and
2. A system for applying that adhesive!

Please leave your comments below as I really need your help with this! Thanks!

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Wreath Wrangling

I just can't stop making cards—the ideas just keep coming and I want to take advantage of this creative spurt! I was up till almost 2:00 a.m. making cards and didn't feel tired at all!

I have two cards for you today, and you should have figured out from the title of this post that the cards have wreaths!

From my last play with the Wondrous Wreath, I have been planning to pair it with the Daydream Medallions and matching Floral Framelits. Tonight that design came together very quickly.

I chose my favorite, Blackberry Bliss for the card base and berries on the wreath. The wreath was stamped with Crushed Curry and Tangerine Tango. If you haven't already read, 5 Things I Learned While Working With The Wondrous Wreath Stamp Set And Framelits, be sure to check it for tips on working with the stamps and framelits.

To make the shaped card base, I first scored and folded my card stock and then, using the Magnetic Platform, I placed the largest Floral Framelit over the card with the top part above the fold about 1/8." This allowed the card to be cut as the flower shape but with the top still attached in two places.

I also cut a single floral shape using the same framelit. This was adhered to the card front so all the petals looked intact. I cut one smaller shape from Whisper White which was adhered to the inside of the card.

I stamped the Daydream Medallion with Versamark and heat embossed it using white embossing powder. The wreath was adhered with Dimensionals and a now retired Pumpkin Pie ribbon added.

The second card I created was kind of a whimsical treatment of the wreath. After stamping with Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, and Blackberry Bliss, the wreath was cut out and then thrown over a star cut from Silver Glimmer Paper. Of course, it wouldn't be complete without a coordinating bow!

The star was offset and cropped and it and the wreath were adhered with Dimensionals to the Blackberry Bliss matte. The sentiment comes from the Christmas Bliss stamp set and it was heat embossed in silver.

I felt that something was needed in the top right corner so I punched a star with a punch from the now retired Itty Bitty Shapes set of punches and then added two smaller ones punched with the Confetti Stars Punch.

All was adhered to a Coastal Cabana card base.

Drop me a comment below with a link to your own wreath creations—I'd love to see them!

Card #1

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Card #2

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