Made by *B*

I was able to pull out my Pretties kit for today’s “Embellish It” challenge.  The stamping itself is pretty straight forward, but the add-ons add some oomph!

The white image is stamped all over in Almost Amethyst with the small flower from Fifth Avenue Floral to create a subtle background. I stamped the sentiment in black from the same set in the lower corner.

The ribbons (eggplant and cream) were criss-crossed through a piece of hardware from the Hodge Podge kit and a small pearl from the Pretties kit was added with a glue dot to brighten it up a bit.

The main focal point is the big textured butterfly. I cut the butterfly out using my Big Shot and the new SU! Butterflies die. This is the largets butterfly you can cut out using that die, and as you can see it takes up a good portion of a standard cardfront. I then ran it through the texture die and sponged black and eggplant over it to bring out the pattern.

The circle is a large piece of chipboard that was pushed into Eggplant craft ink and embossed with irridescent ice ep to add some sparkle. I used a hat pin from the Pretties kit and pearls and crystals that come in the kit-love the way those white pearls shine!

What a happy card-and made with scraps! I was not sure if I should have trimmed the main layer since it would not totally”layer” on the Lilac, but I decided I liked that it was not too perfectly matted, and it allowed me to add in the ribbon along the bottom.

Colors used were: Gable Green, Tempting Turquoise, Lovely Lilac,  Pink Passion, and Real Red. The background circles were cut out with my 1 1/4″ circle punch and I layered small stars and red brads on them. The only stamping was “party hearty” from the st by that name.

Have a great day!

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.

Valentine’ Day is *just* around the corner. This is a card I made but it was designed by one of my downline (Tina T.) and brought to our shoebox swap last month.

*whoops-it was 1st designed by Dawn O. Check out her wonderful blog :

http://www.dostamping.typepad.com/

It uses the Love You Much Bundle to create this sweet little patchwork! The base is Red Riding Hood and then layered in Pink Pirouette and Whisper White. The sweet scallop was stamped in Red Riding Hood and Pink Pirouette, and we punched out the center of the Pink Pirouette for easy layering.

 Hapy Early Heart’s Day!

For today’s color challenge (CC203) I used Baja Breeze, Garden Green, and Pacific Point and one of my new favorite sets-Fifth Avenue Floral. Since I used the large rose on the last floral card I made I opted to use one of the smaller flowers and the saying ( You only live once but if you do it right, once is enough.)

The sketch came from “Our Creative Corner” and I liked the idea of layering a saying over the bottom corner image. I am trying to be more outside of my typical phrase placement & layering of papers/images. The card itself is a 4 1/4″ square card layered with naturals white. The vertical strips are Garden Green stamped in Pacific Point with the same flower that is highlighted. The center is Parisian Breeze DSP that I textured in my Big Shot and lightly brayered in Pacific Point to get the texture more visible on that thick dsp.

I added a touch of ribbon along the bottom in Pacific Point and just a wee bit of shading around the saying in Pacific Point as well.

We are having a snowy day here but I need to go to the Social Security office with both kids on tow. Ugh! Hope your day is fun and relaxing!

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