WT172 / SC182

i made this for two card challenges, Ways To Use It 172 (Birds) and Sketch Challenge 182... i'm not thrilled with how the sentiment came out (my inspiration was to have the yellow be like a bright light shining out the window), but in the end, i didn't have any time to mess around with it as J was just waking up from a nap...

Recipe:
Inspiration: WT172 & SC182 card challenges on SCS
Paper: Night of Navy, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun
Ink: Night of Navy, Versamark
Stamp Set: Just Celebrate, In the Stars © Stampin' Up
Embellishments: gold embossing powder, brushed gold brads
Tools: Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, 1/8" hole punch, paper piercer, heat gun, tape roller, dimensionals, paper trimmer

My Scrapbook Table Blog Candy Card

so this is my entry for my scrapbook table's blog candy challenge... on the left, you'll see the picture that we were given as inspiration... i ended up doing a pretty literal translation of the picture, with a few alterations to accommodate colours and tools... i knew right away that i would be using the Always stamp set for this challenge...

i started by stamping the background layer of Close to Cocoa cardstock with the branch from Always, using Close to Cocoa and Cameo Coral ink... i sponged around the edge of the cardstock with Close to Cocoa as well... i cut the next layer (Whisper White) and sponged the edges with Cameo Coral first, then Close to Cocoa (i repeated this around sentiment as well)... the Nestabilities circles were adhered with Mini Glue Dots and i hand drew the trunks of the trees with a brown Crayola Washable marker (highfalutin, i know!)... i added the ribbon using the Xyron 150 and then mounted my sentiment on dimensionals...

what excited me most about this card was how the bird stamp turned out... i ended up doing a strange hybrid of two techniques, Rock n' Roll and Thumping... i inked up the stamp in the Cameo Coral and then rolled the edges in the Close to Cocoa... i then took my Close to Cocoa Stampin' Spot and lightly tapped it all over the stamp... the result was a weathered look that let lots of the pink tone show through... not sure if this technique has another name - anyone? Bueller? here's a close-up of my lovely little bird...

finally, i don't know if you can tell from the smaller version of the card, but if you click on it you'll see on the enlargement that i fudged a rectangular Nestabilities behind the sentiment by shortening one of my squares... it's a little noticeable, but a quick little fix until i can afford to buy the rectangles (and ovals)...

Recipe:
Inspiration: Sarah from my scrapbook table
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Whisper White, pink and peach cardstock
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Cameo Coral
Stamp Set: Always © Stampin' Up
Embellishments: ribbon
Tools: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities (circles, scallop square), Crayola Washable Marker in brown, Mini Glue Dots, Xyron 150, double-sided tape, dimensionals, Cutterbee scissors, paper trimmer

Card for Baby Julia!

if you've perused the SCS gallery at all, you've probably noticed the work of markie's mom... her style of card-making is one of the most distinctive in the galleries... sponging, contrasting colours, layering and dots are key to her designs... needless to say, i've been stalking her blog for a good while...

one of my friends, S, was blessed with another little girl yesterday morning... i wanted to make something special for baby Julia and i knew i wanted to use the lovely little elephant stamp from the Just Celebrate set, as the raised trunk is a sign of good luck... once i started to play with colours, i decided to use markie's mom's style, mostly to see if i could do it...

each background layer of the Soft Sky and Pumpkin Pie cardstock was stamped with the large Baroque Motifs stamp in it's co-ordinating ink, and then i sponged the edges with the ink as well... i've come to learn that i much prefer sponge daubers to do my edging, as markie's mom posted in a tutorial last week... i ran out of them and had to use a regular craft sponge for my edging and, while it looks great in person, it doesn't show up as much as i'd like on camera...

since the dots tend to add all the embellishment one would need, the only things i added were a piece of orange ribbon and i coloured the elephant and flower with Sakura Gel Pens...

Recipe:
Inspiration: markie's mom
Paper: Soft Sky, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black
Ink: Soft Sky, Pumpkin Pie, Dew Drop Brilliance in Graphite Black
Stamp Set: Just Celebrate, Baroque Motifs © Stampin' Up
Embellishments: orange polka dot ribbon, Sakura Gel Pens (Stardust pens in clear & blue, Gelly Roll pens in white & orange), black Zig marker
Tools: Cuttlebug, Petite Scallop & Standard Circle Nestabilities, double-sided tape, dimensionals, paper trimmer, X-acto knife

link: Make Your Own Dew Drops...

Heather posted this tutorial on her blog a little while back but, due to some computer difficulties, i just saw it yesterday... all i can say is genius! i've never been able to find Dew Drops locally in colours that i'd want to use...

photo credit: Heather @ Stamp With Heather

Tutorial: Partially Embossed Card

when looking for ways to use my Cuttlebug (the item i just had to have, yet rarely use to its full potential), i stumbled across Heart Prints by Sue Nelson... i loved the look but just didn't "get" how she was able to partially emboss part of her cardstock... and those embossed lines intrigued me...

after searching out everything i could on the technique and then being blessed with
three great tutorials (thanks to Sue, Jay and Beate), i decided to add a tutorial of my own... not because it was needed but, rather, because i wanted to try my hand at doing a tutorial...

i started by getting my supplies together and cutting and scoring my cardstock... i went with a standard 4¼" x 5½" card for this tutorial... just keep in mind that you are somewhat limited by the size of both the Cuttlebug opening and the embossing folder... i stack my plates as you would for any Cuttlebug dies or embossing folders, with the B plate on top of the A plate...

next, i took my embossing folder (Birds & Swirls, which co-ordinates perfectly with the Always stamp set) and lined the edge of the embossing up with the line i scored earlier... i apologize that you can't really see that in my picture, but it's hard to get a clear image of the score line... it's really important that you look at your cardstock placement and ensure that everything is square so you don't end up with a slanted edge to your embossing...

once you have your embossing folder lined up to your liking, place it on your A & B plates with the portion you do not want embossed hanging over the edge of the two plates... in my example, i've left about 2" overhanging in order to fit my sentiment in later... then place the second B plate on top, lining it up with the A & B plates below... make sure that your cardstock hasn't shifted and then begin to feed the stack through your Cuttlebug...

when you're done, you should end up with a partially embossed card front that looks like the example on the left... you can see that i've gone ahead and stamped my sentiment...


now it's time to embellish! i selected the small dotted circle embossing folder because i wanted to keep the whole card fairly simple and clean in its design... i've always found that my smaller embossing folders can leave indentation marks where the folders end, but Sue suggested instead of running the folder all the way through, reversing the stack back towards you to solve that problem and it has worked perfectly... another suggestion is to shim it with another piece of cardstock...

here's a close up of the dotted circle... it's very subtle and doesn't look half as smart in the picture as it does in person...




time for the final embellishments: black ribbon to border the partial embossing, the lovely bird from the Always stamp set (also stamped in Graphite Black and mounted with a dimensional, although it's hard to see in the picture), and a few black brads to give some visual interest to the upper corner...

Recipe:
Paper: SU Whisper White
Ink: Dew Drop Brilliance in Graphite Black
Stamp Set: Always © Stampin' Up
Embellishments: black ribbon, black brads
Tools: Cuttlebug, Birds & Swirls and small dotted circle Cuttlebug embossing folders, Xyron 150, 1/16" hole punch, dimensionals

what i love most about this card is the simplicity... there's not a lot going on, but the different textures and images work well together yet are subtle... i have a feeling a lot more of my cards are going to be of similar design in the next little while (i have another card exchange coming up in June with a Thank You / Congratulations theme and i could see something like this working perfectly for that)...

something i didn't do with this card was the embossed lines, like the other tutorials show... that, dear readers, is simply because i'm still awaiting my Scor-Pal, the lovely tool that allows you not only to score your cardstock perfectly but to emboss lines as well... i'll be sure to do a product review / demo when mine arrives...

Card Challenge 3 - Monochromatic

the latest card challenge i was participating in was simple: use whatever you like but keep it to one colour, black and white excluded... i decided to go for something very simplistic and just stick to black and white in order to showcase one of my latest favourite techniques: partial embossing with a Cuttlebug... i won't get too far into explaining how i made this card, as i'm adding my first tutorial later today on how i did it exactly... in the meantime, here's the recipe...

Recipe:
Inspiration: Sue's beautiful cards at Heart Prints
Paper: SU Whisper White
Ink: Dew Drop Brilliance in Graphite Black
Stamp Set: Always © Stampin' Up
Embellishments: black ribbon, black brads
Tools: Cuttlebug, Birds & Swirls and small dotted circle Cuttlebug embossing folders, Xyron 150, 1/16" hole punch, dimensionals

Card Challenge 1 - Tool-Less

i first saw this card on SCS when i was searching out cards made with the Just Celebrate stamp set... Angie was kind enough to do a tutorial on how to make this card and my spinner card obsession was born...

the owl i stamped with Black Staz On ink on to watercolour paper and used my watercolour pen and my SU inks to paint him... i used Close to Cocoa for the body colour and Old Olive, Creamy Caramel and Summer Sun for the accents... i then cut it out and mounted it on one of the pennies...

the paper i used was Chocolate Chip for the main card, patterned paper from a Costco block, then Old Olive for the slider window... i used Whisper White behind the window to stamp the "Whoo! Hoo!" in Chocolate Chip... i finished of the card by using the white rub ons from the Love & Happiness set...

i actually quite like how this card turned out... a few things i would change would be the crooked "for you" that bugs me to no end... i also sort of wish i had done something more to accent the Old Olive cardstock (either put a rub on flower on it or dragged the edges in Chocolate Chip ink)... let me tell you this, though... i've made this card a few times and it's much easier with a word window punch than an X-acto knife and a ruler... silly challenge contraints!

because i'm a big loser and i think pictures just don't do justice for a spinner card, here's a little video i took of my little owl in action...

Recipe:
Inspiration: Angie at Chic N' Scratch / Stampin' Academy (that little owl is the whole reason i bought this stamp set
Paper: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, patterned paper from a Costco block, watercolour paper
Ink: Black Staz-On, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Summer Sun
Stamp Set: Just Celebrate © Stampin' Up
Embellishments: SU Love & Happiness rub ons
Tools: X-acto knife, ruler, paper trimmer, tape roller, watercolour pen, dimensionals

link: Paper Pleasing Ideas - No Copics ?? NO PROBLEM !!

although you wouldn't know it from my entries, over the last few months i've started to fall deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole that is rubber stamping... i'm positively obsessed with stamping, reading about stamping techniques, trolling SCS for card making ideas, maintaining a detailed inventory and spending ridiculous amounts on insanely cute Stampin' Up sets...

one tangent of my obsession has been colouring my images... i've read lots about it and even tried a few techniques (water colour pencils, pastels, using my SU ink pads and an aqua pen), but i haven't found a method i love yet...

the one technique that i was struggling with was water colour markers, such as SU's Many Marvelous Markers set... i had seen some demos with the markers and i wasn't impressed with their ease of use... in fact, i had ruled out buying a set, even though i really wanted to use them for inking and they coordinate with the rest of SU's line, because i just couldn't justify the cost for something i wasn't going to use for colouring images...

until now...

i stumbled across Paper Pleasing Ideas and an amazing tutorial on how to get the look of more expensive water colour markers... more importantly, it shows you step-by-step how to use the markers to get "the look" (aka: the lead pencil and mineral spirit technique) that is so popular right now in the stamping world... great job, Julie!

photo credit: Julie @ Paper Pleasing Ideas

Julie just posted a video to go along with her previous tutorial... you can watch it here...

i have a feeling my next order will have a set of Many Marvelous Markers included...

All Occasion Criss Cross Cards

Started: February 23, 2008
Finished: February 23, 2008
Made For: me!
Inspiration: suen from SCS
Materials: SU Classic Stampin Pad in Ruby Red, Luxe Designs Multi-Coloured Floral rub ons, My Mind's Eye Confetti/Kaleidoscope pattern papers in Surprise "Summer" Dots / Yellow Orange, Surprise "Girlfriends" Polka Dots / Pink, and Surprise "Summer" Stripes / Light Pink
Tools: SU Curvy Verses, Edgy Eloquence, and Much Appreciated stamp sets, McGill Mini File Tab punch, rotary cutter, roller adhesive
Cost: $15
Would I Do It Again? i think i've done this style to death, so probably not...
Notes / Comments: these turned out really well, although i don't dig them as much as the birthday cards i just did...

i used rub ons for the first time since i've started paper crafting... i have memories of rub ons coming with McDonald's Happy Meals and had shied away from them because they never seemed to transfer correctly when i was a kid... as the fabulous Ms. M said last night, "The Hamburglar always ended up without a head." i was surprised at how easily the rub ons transferred and i only screwed it up once (i accidentally scraped the rub on away, as you can see in the last picture)... overall, i give Luxe Designs rub ons a big thumbs up!

'Tis the Season Scrapbook Page

Started: December 11, 2007
Finished: Work-In-Progress
Made For: J's scrapbook
Scraplifted From: Becky Higgins' Creative Sketches - Volume 2 - pg. 49 (very loosely based on this sketch)
Materials: 3 colours of cardstock, 1 patterned paper, silver eyelets, clear embossing powder, Christmas stickers
Tools: Cuttlebug, Red Tag Sale alphabet cutting die, Spots & Dots embossing folder, SU Christmas Mini stamps, heat embosser, MM Tool Kit, Mini Glue Dots, roller adhesive, Creative Memories Precision Point Adhesive, photo mounts, rotary cutter, silver gel pen
Cost: under $10
Would I Do It Again? no...
Notes / Comments: i did this layout very hastily and really just so i'd have a place to put these random Christmas pictures... i played a little with my Cuttlebug, which is why the red title letters are embossed... in hindsight, it might have been nice to tie in the embossed letters by embossing the red background matting for the photos as well...

the one element i really like about these pages is that i used the tag to label the pictures so i didn't have to journal (i didn't really have much to say)... not only did i get to heat emboss, but i got to set some eyelets... yay for embellishments!

there are two things that bug me, though... i love the patterned paper that i chose, but i don't really think it works with how i arranged it on the page or how i arranged the pictures on top of it... and i was left with the bottom left hand corner empty and i have no idea how to complete it without over-embellishing... Jes at Craft-O-Rama is sending me something that might work (little Christmas light die cuts) and i'm going to try using SU's Crystal Effects on them to tie them in with the stickers... my other thought is printing out J's first letter from Santa and putting it in an envelope there...

First Photo Shoot Scrapbook Page

Started: November 24, 2007
Finished: November 25, 2007
Made For: J's scrapbook
Scraplifted From: Becky Higgins' Creative Sketches - Volume 2 - pg. 35
Materials: 2 colours of cardstock, 2 patterned papers
Tools: Cuttlebug, Red Tag Sale alphabet cutting die, roller adhesive, photo mounts, laser printer, rotary cutter, Stampin' Up Round Tab Punch
Cost: materials were under $5, but the photos were a pretty penny from the photographer...
Would I Do It Again? yes...
Notes / Comments: yet another layout that i loved doing... Becky Higgins magazine has so many great layouts and i was working with my favourite pictures from J's newborn photo session where he was all of 10 days old, so it would be hard not to have a great page... it also came together very quickly (less than 2 hours while watching Evan Almighty, with the exception of the title that i added the next day)...

what worked well about this layout was how clean and simple it was... i drew my colour inspiration from the striped paper and i really like how the colours worked together... the striped letters in the title weren't just for aesthetics, but because i had run out of brown cardstock, so i used what i had...

one of my favourite things about this layout was the journaling block tucked behind the 5x7 photo on the left page... for scrapbooking aficionados this isn't exactly a groundbreaking technique, but for someone new to the craft it's pretty exciting (yes, i admit, i'm a loser and things like this excite me)... not only do you get to say everything you want without cluttering up the page, but it's a little unexpected, interactive treat for people looking at the page... it's also handy if you want to journal in your own hand, but you're not particularly fond of your handwriting... having an excuse to use Ms. M's Round Tab punch that i borrowed was also a selling point...

my only complaint about the layout is yet another newbie mistake... because i was using a striped paper that wasn't a uniform pattern and i only picked up one sheet, i ended up cutting it into 3 strips (2 for the horizontal stripes that anchor the page, 1 for embellishments / title letters)... when i went to glue them down, it became apparent that the stripes didn't line up from page to page... the easy solutions would have been to buy a second sheet of the paper or to cut it so the stripes were vertical... of course, i had already cut the strips, i liked how the horizontal stripes brought your eye across the page, and it was later in the evening and the local scrapbooking joint was already closed (and i'm impatient)... live and learn, i guess...

Christmas Card Workshop

Started: November 4, 2007
Finished: November 4, 2007
Made For: my friends & family
Pattern: provided by the lovely Ms. M
Paper: mostly Stampin' Up
Materials: mostly SU - clear embossing powder, ink pads, various stamps, ribbon, eyelets
Tools: Cuttlebug, heat embosser, various punches
Cost: $30 for 30 cards...
Would I Do It Again? absolutely...
Notes / Comments: this was an all day workshop hosted by a friend of mine, Ms. M, and my first introduction to card making... everything was pre-cut and all i had to do was show up, follow the instructions, do the stamping / embellishment and assemble... i fell in love with the heat embosser and found a way to use it on all of my cards (in my defense, 2 of the cards called for heat embossing as part of the original design by Ms. M)... i also was intrigued by the Cuttlebug enough to eventually buy my own... i've gotten lots of comments about how pretty my cards were this year and i definitely would attend another workshop...