Corner Garden Blues

Today was supposed to be a play day with my crafting friend, Charlene, but in the end she couldn't make it. Though I was sad she couldn't come, I was able to clean up my craft room a bit and then play with a card that had been rolling around in my head for awhile.

I was initially inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest but I have lost track of it :( It had flowers popped up over a neutral background. One flower was a brighter or darker color than the rest so it stood out.

I knew that I would be using my Corner Garden stamp but because it was a wood-mount, and I wanted to use the MISTI, I had to stop and convert to clear-mount first.

I traced the block of the stamp onto some of the retiring Clear-Mount Cling Foam and cut off the top piece to reveal the clear-mount foam below.

I inked up the Corner Garden stamp with Jet Black Stazon and stamped it onto the clear-mount foam.

Next, I carefully peeled off only the rubber stamp from the block and after revealing the sticky side of the Clear-Mount Foam, I positioned the stamp onto it.

Next, I let my new tool, a Hot Knife by Walnut Hollow, heat up. I then used it to cut carefully around the stamp, excising the excess foam around the stamp. Because the knife was VERY hot, this was like cutting butter with a hot (ordinary) knife! I highly recommend this tool - easy to use and makes the job so much easier!

My stamp was now ready for MISTI!

I carefully placed some "bumpers" into my MISTI (check out the video by Maureen Wong to find out what "bumpers" are and how to use them with the MISTI) to allow me to hang the stamp off both the left edge and the bottom of the matte I wished to stamp.

I inked up the stamp and did a test stamp on scrap paper to be sure it was how I wanted it positioned. I then proceeded to stamp with Night of Navy on a Sahara Sand matte. I re-stamped two more times to be sure it had good, clean lines. MISTI makes it so easy to get a good crisp print from a background–or any–stamp!

I also stamped the image onto a piece of Whisper White. I used by Night of Navy Blendabilities to color one flower and fussy cut it.

I stamped a sentiment from Painted Petals onto the top right of the matte and then adhered it to a Night of Navy matte using Fuse Fast.

I adhered a strip of Sahara Sand Lace, Night of Navy seam binding and some Linen Thread across a larger Crumb Cake matte and then adhered the stamped matte into place on top of it. The fussy cut flower was popped up using Dimensionals.

The Crumb Cake matte was then adhered to a Sahara Sand card base. To complete the card, a few sequins were added to provide a bit more color and sparkle.

Have you used the Corner Garden stamp in a unique way? Leave me a comment below!

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Remnants of Easter

Hi Everyone! Hope you all had a good Easter. We had a great day!

Courtney, Steffan and Raine had been out at Lee River for the weekend but arrived in the early afternoon on Sunday. Raine had slept a bit in the car but not as long as her nap would have been so she was a little out of sorts for awhile.

My husband picked up my mother to bring her over. At first, Raine was scared of her but by the end of the evening, she had given her THREE hugs–unheard of before this!

I tried rather unsuccessfully to get some good pictures of Raine in her fancy Easter dress but she was not happy to be in it and generally let me know that! I did manage three cute shots, even though the backgrounds are not great.

We had a nice dinner and then everyone left and it was quiet once again!

I have my Easter projects to show you today.

The first card is the one that I made for my mother. It was CASEd from this card. I loved this on sight because of the shabby chic style.

I enjoyed coloring the Whisper White Seam Binding to match my project by using a few drops of Rich Razzleberry reinker with Rubbing Alcohol and then spraying the ribbon with my Stampin' Spritzer.

I also enjoyed using the Simply Pressed clay to create the little roses. I worked a few drops of either Coastal Cabana or Rich Razzleberry into the clay before placing it in the molds.

Besides the items listed below, I used the now retired En Française stamp, Regal Rose ribbon, a leaf punch from Michaels, and the bunny was cut from a Silhouette file using my Silhouette.

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This next card was for my daughter. It was cased from this card. Everything I used is still available with the exception of the paper from the Best Year Ever which was in the Sale-a-Bration catalog.

It was fun to use my Blendabilities to color the little bunny! I will miss these markers when they eventually dry out.

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For my granddaughter, I CASEd this cute little bunny created with the Curvy Keepsakes Die. I filled the bunny with miniature Cadbury eggs. The only thing that I used not listed below is the now retired Pretty In Pink card stock.

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Lastly, I made little treat baskets for my mother and daughter that were CASEd from this basket. I placed EOS lip balms in each basket, matched to the paper colors. The "grass" was created by first crimping card stock and then cutting it with Fringe Scissors.

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I hope you have enjoyed viewing my Easter projects! Now, on with Spring!

Irresistible Petals, Bold and Bright!

A bitterly cold, cold day today. If the wind hadn't been blowing so hard from the north, it would not have been so bad but if you were caught out in the open, it was UGLY!

A simple little card for you today, in a long and narrow format. The card base was cut from Whisper White to make a 8 1/2 x 3 1/2" card.

I cut a strip of the striped pattern from the Irresistibly Yours Papers, available for free with a $60 order during Sale-a-Bration.

I used Post-Its to mask off each stripe as I worked, using Sponge Daubers, to ink up the stripes in Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry and Bermuda Bay. I used Fuse Fast to attach the strip to the bottom of the card front.

The Best Year Ever Accessory Pack supplied Crushed Curry ribbon that I adhered across the top of the striped paper strip.

To match the stripes, I stamped three flowers on Whisper White using the Petal Potpourri stamp set. I punched them out with the coordinating Flower Medallion Punch.

I used Blendabilities markers to color white buttons from the Neutrals Designer Buttons to act as centres for the flowers. They were adhered with a glue dot and the flowers were popped up with Dimensionals on the card front.

The sentiment was stamped on Whisper White using the Regarding Dahlias stamp set. It was punched out with the 1" Square Punch and then popped up with Dimensionals on a Basic Black punch from the Postage Stamp Punch.

To complete the card, the sentiment was adhered to the card front using a Dimensional.

I used bright, happy colors to brighten my day and distract me from the cold outside. I hope this card brightens your day as well!

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Indescribable Gift

Got my Blendabilities out to color my card for today. I really wanted to color the apple blossoms (I think that's what they are?) from the Indescribable Gift stamp set.

After stamping the image on Whisper White with my Tuxedo Black Memento ink, I used my Pink Pirouette for the blossoms themselves and Wild Wasabi for the leaves. For the stem I used the two darkest markers in the Skin Tone assortment.

I chose to cut the completed image using the Window Frames Collection Framelits and cut a matte from Pear Pizzazz. (In retrospect, I should have cut the matte from from Wild Wasabi but in the end, I had three different yet complementary greens on the finished card!)

I chose a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2" card base of Soft Suede. I then faced a bit of a dilemma. I wanted to use Pink Pirouette paper behind the blossoms and I wanted to emboss it but the embossing folder would have been too small. Too compensate, I cut strips of Pink Pirouette from the Subtles Core'dinations collection and embossed the strips using the Decorative Dots embossing folder. I then used the now retired sanding block to reveal the white dots on the card stock.

Since the blossoms that I had colored looked closer in color to Crisp Cantaloupe than to Pink Pirouette, I chose to ink the edges of the embossed strips with Crisp Cantaloupe ink, using a Sponge Dauber.
I adhered the strips to the card base using Fuse Fast and trimmed the excess using my scissors. I then adhered both Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbons, now retired, in between the embossed strips.

I used Dimensionals to mount the Pear Pizzazz matte and the colored blossoms and then stamped the sentiment on Calypso Coral card stock using Versamark. I heat embossed it using White Stampin Emboss Powder and punched it using the Modern Label Punch. The edges were inked with Soft Suede.I adhered the sentiment using Dimensionals to complete the front of the card.

I cut a matte from Naturals White card stock for the inside of the card and used Soft Suede to stamp a portion of the blossoms in both the top left and bottom right corners, stamping off first. Edges were inked using Calypso Coral ink and the matte adhered using Fuse Fast.

I chose the colors of this card because they make me think of Spring. Hopefully, it isn't too far away!

Do you find that you are stamping in Spring colors to beat the winter blahs right now? Drop me a comment below to let me know!

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Hugs, Kisses and Valentine Wishes

The month of February is upon us and Valentine's Day is right around the corner! Traditionally, a crafters's mind turns to thoughts of hearts and arrows and ribbons and lace.

My card today is a traditional Valentine card, complete with hearts. The concept for it came to me while I was at work today.

I decided on a square format for the card because the hearts seemed to be better balanced on that rather than on a standard card size. Because I love the drama of pairing silver with a darker background, I chose to work with a matte of Melon Mambo. I embossed it using the Fancy Fan Embossing Folder.

I cut two heart rings–by using two of the Hearts Collection Framelits together–one from Silver Glimmer and one from Silver Foil, and intertwined them by cutting through one of the hearts and tucking the pieces underneath the other. Each heart was adhered using Dimensionals.

I added a Silver Satin ribbon a the bottom of the matte and punched two tickets using the Ticket Duo Builder Punch. On the Silver Foil ticket, I stamped with Versamark the sentiment from January's Paper Pumpkin kit and embossed it with Black Embossing Powder.

I chose a button from the Very Vintage Designer Buttons and colored it using my Melon Mambo Blendabilities. I threaded Silver 1/8" Ribbon through the button and tied a bow. I angled the two tickets on the satin ribbon and placed the button on top. The tickets and button were adhered using glue dots.

The matte was attached, using Dimensionals, to a Smoky Slate card base.

Inside the card I adhered the hearts from the middles of the heart rings and then stamped around them using the heart stamp from the Perpetual Birthday Calendar stamp set. I stamped and stamped again and again without re-inking to add dimension. I just love the Perpetual Birthday Calendar stamp set–so many little stamps that can add the perfect finishing touch to a card!

A fairly simple card to complete, but I like its simplicity. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!
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A Happy Thing

Woohoo! I've got three days off in a row so I want to make the most of them. I was home most of the day today, working in my craft room as well as multi-tasking laundry, dishwasher loading/unloading, making dinner, and other chores.

I started the day by preparing my materials for my stamping group that meets tomorrow night. With that out of the way, I was free to play. It's always a happy thing when I get to play in my craft room so what better stamp set to work with today than A Happy Thing!

I just love the little bird from this set and he is certainly making the rounds on Pinterest! I had stamped him on Whisper White with Memento Tuxedo Black ink days ago, in preparation for coloring him with Blendabilities.

Prior to that, I had created a watercolor background, planning to use it with the Bokeh Technique. It was created by first taping down the edges of the watercolor paper with washi tape and then spritzing it liberally with water.

I snap a photo to remind me what colors I used to create the watercolor.

I started by using three Ink Refills–Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, and the now retired Gumball Green. In separate containers I had added about three drops of each color to ten drops of water. I used my Aqua Painter to drop ink onto the paper in random areas.

As I worked, I sometimes blotted, sometimes sprayed more water onto the paper, and sometimes re-inked a spot on the paper to make it darker. I was liking what I was creating but it needed more depth. I decided to add Mossy Meadow into the mix and that was the answer!

I left it to dry while I was away at work and then removed the washi tape.

In the end, I decided not to add bokeh to this watercolor because I liked the organic quality to it and thought it would work well for a leafy background for the little bird.

When I started to color the little bird with my lightest Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities marker, I found that it had dried out! I was not a happy camper but I got ahold of Demo Support at Stampin' Up! and they have a new set on the way out to me.

Because I had ruined the stamped bird with the dried out marker, I changed tactics and decided to stamp the bird on acetate using Stazon Black ink. After the ink was dry, I colored with my markers on the back of the bird. With the bird completed, I turned back to the watercolor background.

I trimmed down the paper to 4 x 5" and inked the edges using Always Artichoke. I used Fuse Fast to adhere it to a Soft Suede matte.

I stamped the sentiment from the Simply Wonderful stamp set using Stazon Black ink. This stamp set can be obtained for free during Sale-a-Bration if you place an order of $60 or more.

I used one of the Square Framelits to cut out the bird and attached it with glue dots to the watercolor paper. To cover the glue dots, I used Candy Dots from the Regals Collection.

I added a piece of the now retired Soft Suede Taffeta Ribbon and wound a double strand of Gold Baker's Twine around it, finishing with a knot in the front.

Finally, I added this matte to a Mossy Meadow card base. To give the bird a bit of character, I added a Rhinestone eye.

What do you think? Leave me a comment below!
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Color Inspiration and Abundant Butterflies

Received a Pier 1 Imports flyer in the mail the other day. In leafing through it, I found nothing I wanted to buy but it did give me some inspiration for card making!

I thought the combination of colors was fresh, and Spring-like. Even though we are a long way from Spring right now, the frigid temperatures of late made this color combo very appealing!

First in my creative process, I knew that I wanted to use the Reverse Framelits Technique that I learned about on Deb Valder's Blog. Also, because I was going for the WOW factor, I decided to use the largest butterfly from the Butterfly Thinlits.

Be sure to check out Bokeh Technique and Sneak Peek From 2015 Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalog and Butterfly Obsession for more posts on using the Butterfly Thinlits. In particular, the Bokeh Technique and Sneak Peek From 2015 Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalog shares a technique for easily removing the little pieces from detailed Framelit dies in one easy maneuvre!

I cut my card base from Soft Suede, 11 x 5.5" and scored it on the long side, 2.75" from each end. I used my bone folder to create good creases for this Gate Fold card, making sure that the gates met well in the centre of the card.

I cut pieces of Very Vanilla to attach to the "gates" and embossed them using the Decorative Dots Embossing Folder. I adhered them using Fuse Fast.

I stamped my sentiment on Very Vanilla using Soft Suede and then used the Scalloped Oval Punch to cut it. I used the Extra Large Oval Punch to cut a matte for the sentiment from Soft Suede.

I stamped two butterflies in Soft Suede on Very Vanilla using stamps from the popular Papillon Potpourri stamp set. After using the Elegant Butterfly and the Bitty Butterfly Punches to punch these out, I edged them with more Soft Suede using a Sponge Dauber. I cut four more butterflies from Soft Suede using the Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die.

I decided on the placement of the large butterfly, the sentiment and the smaller butterflies on the card and then used the Reverse Framelits Technique to cut the large butterfly from the card gates.

This technique can be done using any Framelit die and is done by laying the entire card on a Cutting Pad on the Magnetic Platform and placing the Thinlit Die face up inside the card, centering it carefully, and then adding the top Cutting Pad before running it through the Big Shot.

With my butterfly shape now cut out of the gates of my card, I could cut out the actual butterfly for the card using Pear Pizzazz card stock. For this technique to work properly, it is most important to cut the shape keeping the thinlit die face up so that the cut shape will fit perfectly within the opening you have cut in your card.

I trimmed some Dimensional edges to fit on the body of the butterfly die cut and set the butterfly in place.

I felt that I needed a bit more green on the card but the sentiment didn't look right stamped in Pear Pizzazz so I tried some Old Olive Twine twisted behind the sentiment but the color did not pop enough. In the end I decided to use the Old Olive 1/8" ribbon instead, taping it to the back of the Soft suede oval matte. I added a Dimensional to the left side of the sentiment and adhered it in place.

I used glue dots to adhere the little butterflies to the card front. I liked what I had designed but I felt the card needed a little more pizzazz (but not necessarily of the Pear variety!).

For the final touch, I added both Basic Pearls and Basic Rhinestones (colored with an Old Olive Blendability Marker) to the little butterflies as well as the large die cut butterfly.
Now I was satisfied with the card!

As I set out to take the photos of it, I discovered one problem–when the card was opened, the tape I used to adhere the ribbon to the matte of the sentiment could be seen. Horrors!

I easily solved this by cutting another Soft Suede oval and adhering it to the back of the first, covering the tape, and then reattaching the sentiment to the card with a Dimensional.
My project was now a Fait Accompli!

Check out these photos:

And some close up details:

What do you think? Have you tried using the Butterfly Thinlits and the coordinating stamp set, Butterfly Basics? Have you encountered any problems? Do you need some solutions? Be sure to link me up to the cards you create using the Reverse Framelits Technique.

Leave me a comment below and I will be sure to reply!
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My 10 Favorite Cards From 2014

Can you believe that it is already the last day of the year? I know I can't! It seems that December and blogging don't work for me–only one blog post in December so I thought I better get another one in before 2015!

Anyway, I decided to round up my ten favorite cards to share with you. Click on each photo to be taken to the original article.

Enjoy and Happy New Year! See you in 2015.