Made by *B*

Each month my Wednesday night club ladies and I do a swap. Last month our theme was “By the Book”-to choose a layout from the SU! catalog and use that as a base for our cards.

The cards were wonderful (as they always are) and the funny thing is my best friend Anna and I must *really* think alike!

Here is a card I did for a swap with Jami:

 It is based on the layout from page 100 for Branch Out. It uses Baja Breeze as the base, and Parisian Breeze designer paper.

Here is Anna’s card:

 Anna used Tangerine Tango as her base accented with retired Cool Caribbean.

I love that we used the same set and layout and by playing with the color scheme we ended up with very different “feeling” cards.

Don’t forget your catalog is chock full of inspiration-I am looking for another layout for next month’s challenge-what is YOUR favorite layout from the SU! catalog?

This happy Spring card is a combo of 2 challenges-the Limited Supply Challenge212 and the weekend sketch challenge #73. I use the set Flight of the Butterfly to create the small butterflies in the squares, and the saying for the “flight”

The main butterfly is die-cut from the Big Shot Butterflies die, and stamped all over with the single daisy from the Flight of the Butterfly. I added some glitter to its wings, and a knot of apricot and lavender ribbon with an SU clip. There is a slight bit of paper piercing along the sides to  go along with the patterned paper that is from the Sale-A-Bration pack.

Happy Spring!

I love the sketch that was the inspiration for today’s challenge. I opted to use 3 different polka dotted designer papers all from the same SU! pack-Bella Rose. I love that it contains pretty florals as well as some dotted papers in the set!

Each designer paper piece is 1×4″. The Kraft piece of cardstock is 4x 5 1/4″ so the designer pieces go edge to edge vertically, with a little bit of extra around the designer pieces.

The main image floral piece is also from that set of papers, and then it is layered onto Pink Pirouette and Whisper White. The main image is from the set that came out this catalog Bird on a Branch. I brushed my edges along my stamp pads to get the shading along the edges rather than use daubers for a bit more of a textured look. In the corner is a jumbo eyelet and SU! white organdy ribbon tied through it-that ribbon was on my last order and it is so pretty!

I am watching my best friend’s son this afternoon as she is in Vegas and he and Phoebe had such a nice time playing outside-I can’t wait for the weather to stay this way-have a great day!

Today is a gloomy wet day, so using Summer Sun helped perk me up quite a bit!

The colors for the color challenge were Summer Sun, Riding Hood Red, Kraft and Black. The base is Red Riding Hood. The main image is the stamp from Fresh Cuts. I stamped it 1st onto Summer Sun ink, and then used my Aquapainter in Red Riding Hood from the pad and added red shading on the botanical images around the stamp. I stamped it onto Naturals Ivory since white or vanilla might be too stark, and I thought it went with the Kraft better.

The vertical edge is Kraft and Summer Sun cut with the Scallop Edge punch and punched using the 1/16th hole punch. I added some branches in Summer Sun and floral stars in Riding Hood Red. The ribbon was Red and White grosgrain. I used my Summer Sun marker to change the white stripes to yellow and then used a dauber and Riding Hood ink pad to add a darker shade of red to the piece and take away the brightness of the Real Red. It is attached with an SU! clip.

There is a bit of the SU! chunky glitter as well as Dazzling Diamonds glitter here and there to add a bit of sparkle to the card.

I made this card with my 2 year old on my lap the whole time and she helped me along with the ribbon and some stamping. I think she will be crafty like Cam is!

I made this card for the Featured Stamper’s Challenge on SCS. Phoebe and I have a Princess b-day party to go to next week, and I need something girly and sweet.

The base is Pink Pirouette layered with black and then Pink layer is edged with the scallop edge punch. Smaller 1/16th holes are punched on each scallop. The main image is stamped onto white cardstock, and colored in using Aquapainters  in Pixie Pink and Tempting Turquoise pads. The red was done with the red marker and highlighted witha  sparkly gel pen leftover from my teaching days (hard to see in the pic.)

The little flower embellishment is from the felt flower fusion kit, and layered with a flower brad. I used the same gel pen as I did for the red cherries to add a little color to the brad.

Since yesterday’s card seemed out there, I am posting a card that is scaled it back about 20 degrees to make today’s card. The inspiration was from a Fitz and Floyd website which had lots of cute little knick knacks. I saw this bottle

http://www.fitzandfloyd.com/product/gifts+-+collectibles/gifts+for+mom/+woodland+spring+pewter+perfume+bottle.do#

and it reminded me of my mom and her infamous perfume atomizer. I had done a card like this for a texture swap and loved the clean lines.

The card itself is simple and crisp. I used the swirly texture plate through my Big Shot on the white piece after I stamped the saying from Fifth Avenue Florals onto the corner. I added a small textured butterfly and a touch of taffeta ribbon. It is layered onto Pink Pirouette and Black cs. Simple and sweet!

And now the story: We were in line at an amusement park well over 25 years ago in the summer (Kings Dominion to be exact). My mom was awesome at going on rides-quite brave and did not mind the crazy ones (which is probably where I get it!). We were in line-a long, hot, steamy, sweaty line, for the Apple Turnover. Each duo sits in a car and the ride starts out by spinning horizontally and picks up speed and gradually the angle shifts and you spin vertically and upside down. Anyway-the line was LONG and HOT and some folks were uber-stinky. Including one guy in front of us. So my mom takes out her atomizer of Chanel no.5 (always at the ready) and crosses her arms over her chest with the atomizer pointing directly at the guy in front of us (very James Bond of her-she was holding it so it could barely be seen).

As we talked she did a little *pshhhpshhhhpshhh* and blasted the guy with a few squirts of her no.5.

If you knew my mom you would NOT be surprised, LOL! So anyway-since this card is inspired by the perfume bottle I thought I would share a bit of our family lore with you. Have a great day!

So I started with the idea of a subtle card. Simple, a little popped up butterfly. Then I pulled out the Boho Blossoms punch and started punching, and layering, and then adding some more layering. Then when I needed a larger blossom on the other side, I started punching, and layering, and then I decided it needed some sparkle. So out came the craft ink and irridescent ice embossing powder. First a little on the chipboard blossom. Then the butterfly looked too plain, so I thought I would add some to the pink (after running it through the texture plate on my Big Shot). Then the smaller blossoms looked too plain so I embossed some circles behind them as well.

 The end result-a card on crack. Enjoy!

The card was made for the Weekend Sketch Challenge and the original sketch done by Jenn, which was the inspiration for my pink and orange color combo. Check out the sketch challenge and play along!

http://jbalcer.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2009/03/13/weekend-sketch-challenge-72/#comment-4325

Since today’s ways to use it challenge was to “go green” I decided to tweak a card we made last night for stamp club.

The flowers are all from Fifth Avenue Floral. I stamped and overstamped them with Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, and Kiwi Kiss. The rose was stamped in the corner, and then I stamped it again on another sheet of cardstock and cut o=it out to give it an “out of the box” look.

I added Pacific Point and Kiwi Kiss grosgrain ribbon that I frayed for some added texture.

 TFL! (I found my camera so I can upload again-woohoo!)

Today’s Ways to Use It challenge was to use fabric on a card. i have NO fabric-I am an awful seamstress/sewer. I am pretty sure Camden could sew better than I could. Therefore I have zippy stash of fabric or fabric scraps so i had to improvise and did a “faux fabric” flower.

The main flower is the rose from Fifth Avenue Floral. I stamped it in black craft ink 3 times in different shades of yellow (banana, saffron, and apricot) and embossed it in clear (this made it easier to cut out). Then I cout it out in sections. Each piece was wet and crumpled and shaped a bit before I dried it with my heat gun. I added some shading to the flower with a Pixi Pink dauber and reassmebled using dimensionals.

The background piece is glossy paper. I used alcohol and reinkers to dab the side of my texture plate (it remonded me of quilted pieces so i thought it went with the faux fabric theme I was going for!) I ran the glossy piece through the Big Shot to get a textured background, and once it was dry I used my sanding block first going vertically across the paper and then horizontally to give a faux linen look to the piece.

I added some black along the edge to allow the flower to stand out more and picked BRIGHT colors since the focal images were more muted. I had the pieces cut from unused Stamp Club projects and I think they worked together well even though i would not have ordinarily put them together.

Thanks for looking at my “faux” card!

Oh-I am also including a picture of my helper. She hangs out with me and has her own little owrk table in my craft room. Her work generally consists of coloring or “cut Momma!”and she also likes to dauber. My mini crafter!

Today’s color challenge was to use Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, and Perfect Plum together-what a wonderful spring combination!

This quick card once again uses my new Branch Out set and the part that took the longest was tying the bow! The Tree itself is stamped in Choc. Chip ink and I added the leaves with Kiwi Kiss. The little butterflies are stamped in Pink Pirouette, and the little birdhouse in perfect Plum. The small saying in the bottom is from “Love You Much” in Perfect Plum as well.