Made by *B*

I just realized I have been bird crazy recently!! I think it is because I am really enjoying the Branch Out and Bird on a Branch sets from the new catalog and they seem to lend themselves to so many colors and styles.

This card is a bit more vintage and I pulled out some retired ribbons to add different textures.  It is made for the Mojo Monday sketch and I was pretty happy with the end result.

 The card base is Baja Breeze layered with Chocolate Chip. The striped paper is from the new SU! textured paper called Parisian Breeze-it really is so nice to work with! If you look closely you can FAINTLY see a diamond texture on the stripes. I ran the designer paper through my Big Shot with the diamond texture plate and sanded it. Since the base color is white it adds a super subtle texture!

The main images are the branches from Bird on a Branch stamped in Choc. Chip ink and the bird and flowers stamped in Baja Breeze. I did not stamp the 2 layered panels at the same time, but when I went to adhere it I realized the branch patterns matched up really well-Happy accident!

The horizontal ribbon is from the old SU! “Flirty” ribbon pack. I only have that blue velevet left from it and it seemed like a perfect match with this card. The button is a clear SU! button I sanded down on the back side to add so it was not totally clear and I added a knot of Chocolate satin ribbon (this is my fave SU! ribbon of all time!) with a mini  glue dot. In the back is a punch made using the Boho Blossoms punch out of some textured Parisian Breeze scrap I had on my stamp desk.

The scallops are made using the SU! scallop punch and punched in Baja Breeze and Choc Chip, layered onto Choc. Chip and the main bird is on white paper and punched out using the 1 1/4″ punch.

The scallop layer that goes horizontally across is from the holiday dsp called “Ski Slope” which has beautiful reds, blues, and browns in it.

Thansk for looking!

I read today’s challenge on SCS to create a recessed window, but my computer was not coming on and I was checking everything on my iTouch (I love that thing!). I could not get the attachment to open, so I just looked at the sample and made mine. Once my computer was working I realized I had done it ALL WRONG, LOL!

Oh well-I still like the sample I made, and I had fun with the blues and browns together!

This sample uses the set Bird on a Branch. I first stamped the Bird in Pacific Point blue on white cardstock, and added in the branches. The Baja Breeze and Pacific Point layer were stamped with flowers from that set and I layered them together and punched a hole through both using my 1 3/4″ hole punch-love how BIG that punch is!

All of the layers were popped up on dimensionals, and then the white layer was put behind it. After adding the choc chip sentiment (from Upsy Daisy) and the Chocolate wide ribbon I added a small touch of brown to the top of the card with my photo corners punch.

Thanks for looking!

..cards that is!

Unlike yesterday where I had to play and revise for the reversed polished stone technique, today’s card is a total back to basics card! The base of the card is a 1/2 sheet of Very Vanilla paper. I 1st stamped the tree from the new SU! set Branch Out in Choc. Chip ink. I added the leaves in 3 colors-Mellow Moss, Kiwi Kiss, and Garden Green.

I thought it needed a *touch* of color so I added in the little bird from the set In Red Riding Hood perched up high since Phoebe and I watched a little bird hop all around the ice on our deck while she and I were eating lunch. To bring out that red a bit more I stamped the “thinking of you” in Red Riding Hood (from the Bird in a Branch set)  and added a touch of Red Riding Hood Ribbon.

Less than 3 minutes start to finish!

*little aside-the little things in life can be so much more fun with a toddler. I noticed the birdie outside and pointed him out to Phoebe. Everytime the bird hopped from one part to another she would laugh and point and say “burrd, burrd” and then watch until it hopped again. When it went UNDER the table on our deck that was apparently SOOO FUNNY and she laughed and laughed! It was a happy lunch to say the least!

 think I may have come up with a new technique on my own-go me!

I started off doing a polished stone piece. Polished stone is done using glossy paper. You take a cottonball and soak it mildly in rubbng alcohol and put 2-3 drops of reinkers on the cottonball.  Then you take the alcohol/reinkered cottonball and dab it all over the glossy cardstock and you get a background piece that looks like stone.

I started out doing that to make fall leaves on the tree branches from the new set Branch Out, but I didn’t stop when I should have and it got toooo mottled looking. So then I thought about how I could use my new texture plates and polished stone and an idea hit me-could I do the polished stone ON the texture plate? So I set off to try out.

1.I started off with a texture plate (this is the new SU! texture plate called Damask-exclusive to SU!).

2.I took a cottonball lightly soaked with rubbing alcohol and dabbed 3 drops each of reinker in the colors of Cameo Coral and Rose Red.

3. Rather than dabbing the reinkers onto the paper, I took the reinkers and dabbed them all over the texture plate. Since it is plastic this will not stick to it or hurt it.

4. I laid my glossy paper down (gloss side on the texture plate) and cranked it through as I normally would

5. When I was done I gently pulled up the glossy paper and the main textured image you see is what came out. Pretty cool, huh?

The butterfly is glossy paper also dabbed with teh same color combo in polished stone. I went around the edge with a black marker to add some contrast. There is also a black cardstock butterflu underneath to ground it a bit.

I added 3 jumbo brads along the left side and used 2 fire crystal brads and 1 of the new crystal clear brads to add some more shine!

qtfm: whether doing pokished stone on paper or any other surface, use a clothespin to hold the cottonball. That way your hands will not get too inky or dried out from touching the rubbing alcohol.

This card took me all day to finish-not because it was particularly fancy, but because I had to keep stealing moments here and there to get it done!

Today’s challenge was to use pleats on a card. I scalloped the edge of a 2×12″ Bella Rose piece of dsp using the scallop edge punch. I then accordion folded it and fanned it out to create the valance. I used a circle cut out on the back with glue dots to get the piece to stay in position, and added a small punched out blossom using the Boho Blossom punch to hide the center.

The birds from “Bird on a Branch” are stamped first in Rose Red craft ink and clear embossed, and then I added the branches underneath. Rather than cut the image I layered it onto black cs, and then added the window panes with black strips. If you look closely the birds are in a light snow stamped in Baja Breeze-which is what we had today (no sticking, just snow swirling).

I added a touch of black in the background just to match the black in the window pane, and added a jumbo brad with a little retired organdy ribbon tied through it.

For today’s feature stamper challenge I chose a bird image card from Vicky Gould’s gallery but changed ut so it used all Stampin’ Up! products.

The background is done with my new texture plates for the Big Shot-I think I am getting hooked on those! I brayered over the Mellow Moss and Certainly Celery paper with close to Cocoa and a bit of Choc. Chip to match the original card I was copying. The 3 little bottom brads and tab are from Hodgepodge Hardware to add to the vintage feel. I also used retired satin Choc. Chip ribbon-I LOVE this ribbon and wish I could buy more!

The main image is from the new SU! set “Bird on a Branch”. It includes the branch, bird, “thinking of you”, a floral spray, and dots for snow (or pollen, LOL). For added dimension I stamped the bird in Mellow Moss on the Vanilla, and then stamped it again and cut it out. I used my aquapainter to add some gray around the stamped image to create more of a shadow, and then layered the cut out bird on top. The little corner cut outs are made with the ticket corner punch.

Thanks for looking

Today I used a Lang Calendar (you can see it here http://www.lang.com/product/1001239) as an inspiration for my card in keeping with the SCS Inspiration challenge. I saw the butterfly with the swirls and though of my new embossing plate for the Big Shot, and also the new butterfly die for the Big Shot to make cutting out these butterflies in a snap!

The swirl panel is Very Vanilla with the swirly texture plate run through the Big Shot. I used a brayer to give it an overall coating on color and highlight the raised image and then used daubers to add some shading. The 6 butterflies (3 in Basic Black, 3 from the Office designer series paper) were cut out using the Butterflies die cut and my Big Shot. There are 4 butterflies on the die itself, I used the smallest repeatedly for this card.

I used daubers to add the black edging on the butterflies and added Celery ink as well to get some shading. The black edge is NOT cardstock-I used my Stampin’ Write marker and a ruler to create edges on both the dry embossed panel and around the saying (which is from Fifth Avenue Floral). Love the look it gave!!!

The dry embossed panel is raised up with dimensionals and layered onto SU’s gold shimmer paper, and then layered again on Choc. Chip.

Yeah!!! Some new goodies from Stampin’ Up! arrived at my house today and between getting a toddler down for a nap and starting playdate for my kiddo I got this card done. WOOHOO!

This card uses the new designer paper Parisian Breeze-it is a great thick textured cardstock in shades and patterns of Baja Breeze and Chocolate. I ran it through my Big Shot with a new texture plate to get the cool filigree design on it, and then used my sander to highlight the texture so it stands out more-looks great and it was quick to do!!!

The flower is the big blossom from Fifth Avenue Floral-how gorgeous is that? I stamped it in black craft ink and embossed it in clear to add a touch of shine. The black organdy ribbon is retired SU ribbon and I also added a few black eyelets along the side just to add a smidge of black to the side.

Keep checking back-I will be posting more items made with my new goodies!!!

or Today’s challenge was to use black as a base for a card and have a large amount of black in a card. No problem! I copied a card I had done earlier that was a 3×6 card and used apricot and celery circles. Today I used red circles just because I have been in a red mood lately!

The card base is black, and then I cut a smaller mat (3 3/4 x 5″ ) from my scrap stash for the second layer. I punched out a bunch of red circles from a piece of Real Red paper and layered them on and trimmed off the excess. The main “enjoy” is stamped in Real Red craft ink and embossed in clear.  I added a small paper clip with striped red ribbon in the corner for some texture.

 Super easy! I left the “enjoy” as the only sentiment so I can personalize it better when the right occasion arises.

In my head, this was going to be a breeze. I knew I wanted to use some of the flowers from the Pretties kit, but when I layered on 3 silk flowers, the colors seemed blah. So I removed the middle silk flower (that I had colored in Cameo Coral) and added a scallop punch that I slit cut into for a deeper color in the center. The small flower in the center I decided to color in with Summer Sun to add some POP to the darker shades. I added a small crystal from the Pretties kit tp add a bit of shine, and daubered the center stamen (is that what it is called?) with Coral.

I guess because I had not used my Burgundy in a while I was itching to use it again. The thin vertical panel is stamped with the imaghe from Fresh Cuts in Ruby Red and daubered with Burgundy (my daubers are getting quite a workout lately!). The bg main panel is stamped with the flower from Embrace Life 1st in Rubt Red, and then I stamped over the images again in Burgundy. The small “for you” is from Fresh Cuts and layered into a piece of hardware from the Hodge Podge kits I have (since I am in my “no hoarding” kick!)

I left the bg piece plain since there was so much going on in the stamped panels. Tanks for looking!