Running With Scissors…

I’ve never met a person more devoted to a color than the friend who will receive this gift.  You’ve probably guessed — her color is orange.  I probably should have wheeled the gift box in orange, too, but I thought it might wear out my eyes before I was finished.  I like orange, though.  I like all colors, but some in more moderate doses.

The handled gift box contains Barefoot Holler bath and body products, including foot lotion (how does that differ, I wonder, from hand or body lotion?) and this SU! It’s a Girl Thing set, long since retired, is the closest I could come to carrying out that theme.  I still love this set.  I guess the “girly” in me lives through these stamps because I’m not really the ruffly, fluffy, frilly, spike heeled kind of gal they represent.  Or maybe I am and I’m just supressing it…hmmmm…I’ll examine that later.

I used Lovely Lilac and Gable green with my Kaleidoscope (My Mind’s Eye) designer paper.  The box is decorated with the SU! Petals wheel in Lovely Lilac with a little strappy sandal charm hanging from the tag.  The shoes are colored with SU! markers.  I jumped at the chance to use more of my Sprites Primas, too.

You’re probably familiar with these gift boxes but just in case, I’ve included a photo of them in their packaging.  They come 12 to package, flat and ready to roll–so quick and easy!  I’ve purchased them at the Dollar Store, but also at Wal-Mart for not much more than a dollar.  I find them with the wedding decorations.  I love to do white gift boxes this way, too — the kind you buy flat and put together yourself.  Watching that design wheel out is like magic under your hand and they look so cute all tied up with ribbon!

I meant to tell you yesterday that I wasn’t doing Ruby Tuesday this week because of the SCS crash over the weekend that took the blogs with it.  I lost my Friday night post and wasn’t able to do my usual weekend posts so there was nothing between last Ruby Tuesday and this Tuesday.  All is well now, thanks to the SCS folks who probably didn’t sleep all weekend while I was happily stamping and Trudee was organizing her ribbons and Sherry was rewriting her post and…well…you get the picture.  Thanks for visiting!

To summarize:

Stamps:  It’s a Girl Thing (retired), Petals wheel — both Stampin’ Up!

Paper:  SU! Lovely Lilac, Gable Green, Whisper White, Lavender Lace, My Mind’s Eye Kaleidoscope DP

Ink:  SU! Basic Black & Lovely Lilac, SU! markers

Accessories:  Ribbon, gift box, both SU! tag punches, sandal charm from Wal-Mart, Sprites Primas from Jacksonbelle Embellishments, Scotch brand mounting tape

This is what my husband’s getting for Father’s Day.  He’s nicely appreciative of all the cards I make for him, but I thought he might be getting tired of the fishing theme.  Father’s Day is an okay time to say “Wild For You”, isn’t it?

This is exactly the fifth time I’ve used this SU! In The Wild set which is retiring this year.  I like it and I always like the cards I make with it but you know me — flowers, flowers, flowers!  I did manage to get some flowers on this card, though.  Do you think he’ll notice?  I used that wild tropical looking piece from the Petals and Paisley collection.  It’s layered on River Rock and Old Olive.  The River Rock piece is stamped with the Best Blossoms leaves in the same color ink.  The main image panel is the retired On Safari background in River Rock on Vanilla.  I stamped the Headline Alphabet letters in Close to Cocoa and outlined them along the bottom and one side with my Sahara Sand marker.  The alligator, one of the least used critters in this set, was stamped in Always Artichoke craft ink and clear embossed.  It almost looks like a transparency overlay.  This piece was then matted onto River Rock and Tempting Turquoise, a copper clip added and the “for you” from Happy Everything made into a tab.  No ribbon — that was the hard part!

Just for a little something extra, I’ve added thumbnails of two other In The Wild cards which you may or may not have seen in my Splitcoast gallery.  Please click on them for a full size view.  They weren’t photographed with the blog in mind so they’re a little too big otherwise.

Well, this was fun for a change!  No exciting new stamps but something new from an old set and I had a great time with it.  I hope you enjoy your day!  I’ll probably be back with more tomorrow. 

As a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator I was fortunate to have the opportunity to purchase two of the hostess sets that will be available in the new catalog.  I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am to own this Garden Silhouettes set!  It feels so good to me!  I tried to be somewhat reserved with my preorder, but I did get four stamp sets, this gorgeous Brocade Backgrounds designer series paper, the Blossoms & Basics chipboard and all the new In Color inks and cardstocks.  I was glad it rained all day Saturday so I could get cozy in my stamp room!

As I stood there looking at all my new treasures I realized I simply felt overwhelmed.  I had my heart set on stamping with Garden Silhouettes, but I knew I had several other cards I should be working on — two birthday cards that needed to be cute rather than elegant, a baby card, several Father’s Day cards for my coworkers, and an encouragement card for a guy which was also a special request.  What to do, what to do?  Well, what I did was limit myself, starting with Garden Silhouettes — one stamp out of the set, one background stamp, one sheet of designer paper (although I did borrow a bit of stripe from another sheet), and a minimal palette of cardstock colors.

Now, I’ll admit I was skeptical about River Rock.  I was expecting a lighter, creamier shade of Caramel, not another green.  It is, in fact, another green but not just any old green.  It’s a soft, delicate, velvety smooth, restful hush of green, soothing and lovely to work with.  I won’t presume to tell you that you’re going to love this color — we all have different preferences — but it’s one I’ll be using a lot.  My Linen background on all three cards is stamped with it and it coordinates beautifully with the designer paper.  I knew I’d love the deep, rich rose of Purely Pomegranate so I selected it for the main images.  Yes, it’s similar to Rose Red, but more intense and ever so slightly purple tinged.  Do not fear, it’s not like Marvelous Magenta, although I loved Magenta and regret I never got a full pack of that color.

So here they are, the first of many to come with this set, I’m sure.  Now I’ll get busy on those other cards.  At least I have a few ideas jotted down…  Thanks for visiting!  Have a wonderful week!

Stamps:  Garden Silhouettes, Linen, Warmest Regards

Paper:  Chocolate Chip, True Thyme, River Rock, Purely Pomegranate, Very Vanilla, Brocade Backgrounds

Ink:  River Rock, Purely Pomegranate, True Thyme, Blush Blossom

Accessories:  Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware, Thyme stitched grosgrain and other non-SU! ribbon, Scotch brand mounting tape, mat pack and piercing tool

Stella is a true woman of substance.  Though a lady of her means could employ half a dozen dressmakers, she chooses to design her own wardrobe, stitching every seam herself.  Would your Stella sew her own, or would she have a personal seamstress?

For today’s BasicGrey Stella Ruby card I allowed the pattern markings to determine the theme.  I’ve had this Art Impressions dressmaker’s form since dressmaker’s forms were all the rage a while back.  It seems to me it’s still a perfectly good stamp and it felt good to blow the dust off and use it.  I’ll bet you have a few dusty old stamps, too, don’t you?  I’ve really been in the mood to create with mine, lately.  Truthfully, back when I collected most of those stamps I didn’t have the wherewithall to use them with any degree of skill or imagination.  My relationship with Stampin’ Up! and Splitcoaststampers brought about changes that I’m truly grateful for.  I’m having fun bringing out an oldie but goodie once in a while to see what it can look like today.

The dressmaker’s form was stamped in Versamark onto a panel of Stella Ruby and embossed with black EP.  My cardstock is SU!’s So Saffron and Basic Black.  The script in the lower right corner is Hero Arts — Style is Eternal.  The ribbon is Offay from Joann’s.  I used it on the very first card I ever uploaded to SCS in October 2004.  Want to see, just for kicks?  Here it is:  Perfect Form.  Now, I’m not going to poke fun at myself about that old card.  It meant as much to me at the time as this one does today.  When I uploaded that card I stepped over a threshold and into a world that I never imagined existed–a world populated by others as passionate about this craft as I am.  I had no idea there were so many of us!  And now, there’s all of you, too!  How great is that?  Pretty great, I’ll tell you!  Thanks for sharing another Ruby Tuesday with me!

Not one, but two cards today!  One before gardening and one after.  I just had to do something with the other colors of my new Sprites Primas from Jacksonbelle Embellishments.  I surprised myself because I don’t always use my new things as soon as I get them.  I’m especially bad that way when it comes to stamps.  It’s hard for me to make myself sit down and stamp with a particular set; I have to sort of drift around to it when I’m not looking.  Next thing you know, I’m inspired somehow (or not–I do have several uninked sets).

I made this card first thing in the morning.  It’s 4 1/4″ square, using Cool Caribbean and (gasp!) Glorious Green.  The dots on the Prima seemed somewhere between those two colors, so that’s how I arrived at this combo.  I was thinking I could disguise the Glorious Green somewhat with Vellum, but then I remembered this paper lace I’ve had forever.  It’s 100% rayon, a Provo Craft product.  Have you seen it before?  It did a pretty good job of toning down the green, but I allowed some of the Dotted background to show by folding back a corner flap.  The yellow grosgrain is SU!’s Maize and the sentiment is from Friendship Flowers, also SU! and surprisingly not on the retiring list.

Here’s one with the green flowers which coordinate pretty nicely with Certainly Celery.  Just a little soft Celery Paisley in the background, another Friendship Flowers sentiment and some Apricot grosgrain.  These little square cards are just right for when I want to experience the joy of stamping, but don’t have much available time.  I got no less pleasure from creating these than I do from the cards that take more planning and detailed execution.  They were just plain old fun!

I hope your day was as pleasant as mine!  I’ll finish up with a couple of garden photo thumbnails.  Please click on them for a full size view.  They look much better that way.  The photos aren’t so all fired great, but they give you a little hint at what it’s like and where I love to spend my weekends.   If you’ve read some of my other garden posts you can probably see what I mean about how I like to design it in such a way that you’re encouraged to go down the path and around the corner.  Would you like to see what’s at the top of those stairs?  I should probably take you on a little walk around the garden, starting at the driveway.  Would you like that?  I would have liked to have had more garden photos today, but I was busy concentrating on actually gardening rather than taking pictures!  I got a lot more done that way.  Have a great week and I’ll see you here again for Ruby Tuesday!

I’m never exactly sure what’s going to come out of my stamp room with me.  I went in there intending to do something with the super cute Sprites Primas I just received from Jacksonbelle Embellishments.  Since I couldn’t make up my mind which color I wanted, I got three boxes in different colors — orange, green and blue.  The colors sound ordinary enough but, oh, they’re so pretty!  Each box has an assortment of sizes with three shades of the color plus polka dots!  I do love polka dots.  They all have these embossed edges, too.  I think that and the polka dots are what turned my head.  So off I went with my little box of orange Primas for starters.

I wanted the orange to be a compliment, rather than the focal color, so I thought of this Wild Asparagus DP which has just a touch of pumpkin in it.  I hadn’t put away this CTMH Le Chic set yet because I kept meaning to come back to it so, flirty dress and flirty flowers–it sounded good.  I had visions of polka dotted flowers dancing across the card front, but first–the dress.  I stamped it on both the striped panel and the blue dotted panel with Versamark and embossed with dark brown EP so I could paper piece it together.  I colored the dress sash with my SU! Pumpkin Pie marker and added a little bit of shading to the dress with the Bashful Blue marker.  I used Blush Blossom to outline the dress on the striped panel to give the image a more dimensional appearance.  I cut out the dress, minus the straps and hanger, then glued it over the dress on the striped panel and layered that panel onto Blush Blossom cardstock.

Oh, boy–now for the Primas!  Well, I’ll be darned if the polka dots just didn’t look right.  They were too orange.  I tried every which way, layering the flowers, etc., but since all the polka dotted flowers were the true orange (think Only Orange), I just couldn’t do it.  That’s okay.  They’ll find their way onto another card.  I’m wise to them now.  You’ll notice, too, that the flowers aren’t exactly dancing across the card front.  I used one flower out of three boxes.  The card, itself, is the palest periwinkle with a linen texture, 5 1/4″.  The green is CTMH Key Lime, lightly sanded.  I isolated part of a Stampendous sentiment with my Chocolate Chip marker.  The whole sentiment is fairly large and says “You’ve got style!  You’ve got Class!  You’ve got personality!”  I love it!  I’ve been trying to use more of my older, neglected stamps and supplies lately.  After all this time they look new to me again!

Well, that’s a lot of talk for one little card.  I hope to find time to stamp again this weekend.  Have a wonderful Sunday!

I made this card yesterday for the Ways To Use It Challenge on Splitcoaststampers — Going, Going, Gone — stamping with a retiring set.  Well, gee, most of my sets are retiring so I could have picked just about anything.  I believe I’ve used this set only one other time since I’ve had it so it seemed like a good choice for a challenge.  This set, On Gossamer Wings, has a lot of butterflies in it and I’m butterfly coloring impaired.  How would I know, though?  I’ve never really tried.  I’m intimidated by the idea that I have to make them look realistic.  Last summer I seized the opportunity to closely study a butterfly in the garden.  I don’t know what kind of butterfly it was, but I wrote down all the colors and where they appeared on the wings.  Is that a little too intense?  I know…I need to loosen up a bit.

I went to the Magic Scrap Drawer to find parts for this card.  All the time I spend fooling around and discarding ideas enables me to put something together rather quickly later on.  I rummaged around until I found these two background pieces that looked okay together and, just as with designer paper, they determined the color scheme.  The Fine Lace background is Vintage Violet on Vanilla and the Floral is Burgundy on Rose Red.  I just needed a third color to compliment those two, and Always Artichoke worked nicely.  Not exactly Spring-fresh, but I was counting on the lighter, brighter main image to help in that respect.  I love deep, rich colors, though.  Well, heck, I love all colors!  The little bit of pale pink grosgrain caught in the violet was intended to help lighten the overall appearance, too.   The brads are from SU!’s Rich Regals collection.  I’m so happy to have those matching brads!

The flowers were stamped in Jet Black Stazon on watercolor paper and watercolored with ink squeezed into the lids of the pads.  The edges of everything are sponged with matching inks.  The “For You” from Happy Everything was added as a afterthought and doesn’t appear on my Splitcoast card.  I knew it needed something in that area, but I didn’t want it to look chunky so I settled on the tab idea yet again.  I think that little bit made a big difference.

Thanks for spending a moment with me as we head into our weekend.  Whether you spend your week days at work outside the home, or as a SAHM or a retiree, the weekends are always special in some way, aren’t they?  Love those weekends!  I hope you have a good one!