Running With Scissors…

I’m not sure what prompted me to bring out Baroque Motifs for this card other than the fact that these swirls and flourishes are just so downright gorgeous.  The leaves worked into the image give it the look of a beautifully tangled, cascading vine and, of course, I’m fond of anything that reminds me of the garden.  I resisted the urge to add a hint of green, although I’m sure that would have been lovely.  Rather, I kept to the pinks, moving along from whisper soft Blush Blossom through the sweet innocence of Pretty in Pink, all the way up to Pink Passion’s bold statement, “I’m pink and proud of it”.

The background was shaded with Blush Blossom and a sponge dauber, pressing the ink firmly into the cardstock for density, and paying particular attention to the inner curves of the swirls.  The flower image was stamped twice — first in Blush Blossom and trimmed just outside the dotted scallops, then in Pink Passion and trimmed inside the dots.  These two pieces were glued together with the small flower from the set stamped in Pretty in Pink.  The edges of those layers were sponged with Blush Blossom as well.

The middle Blush Blossom mat was scored at 1/4″ along all the edges and the corners punched with the ticket corner punch.  The inner pink mat and the main image panel were cut to fit within the score lines.  The edges of the two outer mats were sponged with Craft White for extra softness.

I haven’t used Pink Passion in quite a while.  I was thinking I’d bring out something other than the same old colors I always use but, in the end, I guess it’s just another pink card.  Oh, well…I think I like all its passionate pinkness.

Are you happy for the weekend?  I’m so glad to see Friday I could just kiss it!  Enjoy!  Oh, and don’t forget to try a chance at the candy — just scroll down a little bit…  See you again soon!

Stamps:  Baroque Motifs

Paper:  Pretty in Pink, Blush Blossom, Whisper White

Ink:  Pretty in Pink, Blush Blossom, Pink Passion, Chocolate Chip, Craft White

Accessories:  Offray ribbon, self-adhesive rhinestone, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape

A friend of mine has a daughter and granddaughter, both with birthdays in March, and she asked me to make cards for them.  The daughter’s favorite color combo is purple and green.  Now, not all purple and green color combos are created equally.  Just think how different this card would look in plum and moss, or eggplant and artichoke, or lavender and olive.  I’m told this is her kind of style, though, so I’m hoping she’ll like this card.

The stamp is one of Anna Wight’s designs for Whipper Snapper.  I recently purchased this and another of Anna’s designs.  Her drawings are so dang cute and lots of fun to color.  I did this with regular water based markers.  Do you think it’s bright enough?  It made me feel happy to work with these vibrant colors on such a fun image.  There are really only three colors on this whole card — purple, green and orange.  They’re just in varying degrees of intensity.  Generally, to avoid over complicating an image I’ll try not to mix too many colors.  I outlined the image with Blush Blossom and underlined it with Apricot.  The papers are Amethyst, Apricot and Lovely Lilac.

This next card was a bit of a stretch for me.  It’s for a three year old girl and therein lies the problem.  I don’t have stamps for little girls and I’m not practiced at making little girl cards.  I put this off until the last minute because I was truly at a loss.  Lucky for me, neither the grandma, mom nor the three year old are savvy about what’s new and hot in the world of stamping.

I will say, though, that I think this little mouse is darling.  She looks so happy!  She’s an older image from Great Impressions.  The letters and number are cardstock punch outs that started out pale lilac, but I wanted something brighter so I pressed them into my Versamark pad and embossed with red embossing powder.  The flowers were made with the retired Stampin’ Up! Spring Flowers punch.  The yellow flower between the I and the M is doubling as an apostrophe.

Grandma says mom likes to scrapbook the cards I make for her so I made the main image removable in case she’d like to use just that part in a scrapbook.  It’s held snugly in place by the turn mounts but it’s not glued down.  I’m not sure exactly how she uses the cards in her scrapbooks but perhaps this will give her a little flexibility.

The paper is Chatterbox, Real Red and CTMH Sunkiss Yellow.  When I Cuttlebugged the yellow it caused some of the white core of the paper to show through so I helped it along with a little sanding.

Finally, I’d like to remind you to take a chance at the blog candy in my previous post.  I really appreciate all your comments.  You make this all worthwhile for me and that’s why I want to thank you on my one year anniversary.  Have a great day!

I couldn’t let the month pass by without a little celebration of my first anniversary — my Blogiversary.  I can hardly believe it’s been a year already.  My, how time flies!  I’d like to thank all of you for being so supportive — taking the time to visit and comment.  I’ve connected with some pretty great folks through this little blog of mine and it’s been a wonderful experience.

I’m going to keep this open until Friday, Feb. 29 at 12:30 pm Pacific time.  The winner will be selected with a random number generator and I’ll announce the winner on Saturday, March 1.

For a chance to win simply leave a comment.  Any old comment will do.  Here’s what I have for you:

• A full 12 x 12 pack of BasicGrey Stella Ruby designer paper
• A pack of BasicGrey charms that will look wonderful with Stella
• Coordinating ribbons and ric rac
• Three alterables:  A board book, a photo frame and a tin

I wish it could be more.  In fact, it seemed like more until I took the picture, but I hope the winner enjoys it!  Good luck and thank you so much!

  –  Leslie

There’s a birthday celebration in the works and you’re invited to join in!  Monday, February 25th, is Jan Marie Caruso’s birthday.  She’s one of the Flourishes ladies and a very generous soul — she’s celebrating by giving away all these presents:

*Xyron 900
*Nestabilities-Classic Standard Circles
*Nestabilities-Classic Scallop Circles-LG
*A pair of Fiskars scissors engraved with Flourishes, LLC
*Various Flourishes stamp sets
*Lots of smaller gifts throughout the 24 hour period

Is that amazing?  Oh, my goodness!  Just look at all those chances to win!

All you have to do is upload any card or project to your Splitcoast gallery made with Flourishes, LLC stamps using the keywords:  fllcjanmariesbirthday.  It will be important that you type the keyword exactly as shown to enable Jan to find your card or project.  If you have a blog, but no gallery, you can still play.  Just post a link in this thread in the Flourishes forum on SCS and Jan will make sure you’re entered in the drawings.

Random drawings will take place thoughout the day and winners of the smaller prizes will be announced on the spot.  Winners of the BIG prizes will be announced on Tuesday.
I hope you can join the fun and help Jan celebrate another great year of life!  Enjoy, and good luck!

Card details:

Stamps:  Mardi Gras

Paper:  Basic Black, Whisper White, BasicGrey Two Scoops designer paper

Ink:  Almost Amethyst, Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, Basic Black

Accessories:  Ribbon, fibers, Scotch Brand dimensional mounting tape

I have the most difficult time trying to pinpoint what my favorite card style is.  It’s a good thing I’m not forced to choose because glaciers could melt while I make up my mind.  I love the earthy, outdoors look we consider masculine, but on the other end of the spectrum I’m drawn to anything soft and utterly feminine.  Then again, sometimes I’m in the mood for perky and whimsical, perhaps even retro.  Oh, but what about vintage?  I love vintage!  Or shabby chic?  Shabby anything.  Or the drama of deep, rich colors playing Wagner on designer papers.  Polka dots, swirls, florals, anything botanical…

Today, I’m in the mood for femininity.  It’s the end of the work week.  I’m tired.  I need quiet, soft colors, grace and calm.  It’s Friday night as I write this, by the way, and I’m plum tuckered out.  Hmmmm…plum — Pale Plum and Perfect Plum — there’s an idea…  I used those colors with my new Damask and Damask Reverse background stamps from Flourishes.  Oh, my goodness, they’re so wonderful to work with!  I’ve never made such quick and easy cards.  I think it was a stroke of genius when Flourishes decided to produce both the positive and the negative.  I hope they don’t mind if I tell you a little secret…  shhhhh… don’t go spreading this around, now… The original concept was the Damask Positive, the design I used in Pale Plum on the upper panels of this card.  Once it was cut and lifted away they did a double take at the negative image that was left behind.  Well, thank goodness for us they realized it was too gorgeous in it’s own right to leave behind because the two stamps together sure do make a fabulous combination.

The sentiment and the little border flourish are both part of Many Sentiments, another new set from Flourishes.  They were pretty much all I needed to finish off this card, save for the ribbon, clip and brads.

Do you have a favorite style?  What type of cards are you most drawn to?  Will glaciers melt while you make up your mind?  I hope to see you again soon.  I’m not sure what style I’ll be in the mood for next…tomorrow’s another day.  Have a great weekend!

Stamps:  Damask, Damask Reverse, Many Sentiments (all from Flourishes)

Paper:  Mellow Moss, Pale Plum Textured, Whisper White (all from Stampin’ Up!)

Ink:  Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Always Artichoke

Accessories:  Ribbon, brads, swirl clip, small corner rounder punch, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape

I’ve wanted some of Anna’s Whipper Snapper flower vases forever so when this month’s Dirty Girl Challenge was issued I jumped at the excuse to go shopping.  Our February challenge recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments of some of our Dirty Girl sisters.  Primarily, we were to use images designed by any or all of the Dirty Dozen Alumni who have become the artists behind some of our stamps.  We honor Lisa Strahl who has designed several of the new Backgrounders for Cornish Heritage Farms, and Melanie Muenchinger, who has illustrated sets for Gina K.  Julia Stainton designed some snowmen for Stamping Bella.  Gee, I hope I’m not leaving anyone out!  My card uses this stamp, one of Anna Wight’s many whimsical Whipper Snapper illustrations.

I stamped the image in Basic Black and colored it with Stampin’ Up! markers.  Just for fun I dry embossed the vase by placing the stamped cardstock panel on a piece of craft foam and outlining the vase with a stylus.  I then turned the panel over and and ran my stylus inside the vase outline over and over in a circular motion until the vase was nicely dimensional.  There’s a dimensional under the vase between the two panels to help keep it puffed out.  I learned this technique from Linda Bullard when she posted this card which she dry embossed on vellum.  I also painted the vase with Crystal Effects and added some sparkle to the flowers with my Spica clear glitter pen.

One stipulation of the challenge was to use Spring colors so I kept it light and fresh with Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery and plenty of white.  The patterned layer on the card front is printed vellum, mounted over Whisper White.

If you’d like to see more of the cards made for this challenge you can go right here to the Splitcoast gallery and type DCS208 in the search field.  I’m sure it will turn up some gems!

Thank you for stopping by today!  I really enjoy our visits.  Wishing you a wonderful day!

Stamps:  Vivian’s Bouquet by Anna Wight for Whipper Snapper, Love Matters sentiment by Stampin’ Up!

Paper:  Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, printed vellum

Ink:  Basic Black, markers for coloring

Accessories:  Stampin’ Up! ribbon (retired Sweet Shoppe collection), brads, Prima flower, Crystal Effects, dimensional, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape

If I didn’t do another single thing this past weekend, I was determined to use my new Hearts & Roses set from Kitchen Sink Stamps.  And truly, I didn’t do another single thing stamping-wise.  We had beautiful weather, though, and I spent some time in the garden.  It’s funny how 51 degrees will feel so chilly in the summer yet so warm on a winter day.

I’ve used several sympathy cards in the last couple of weeks so I decided to replenish my supply by at least one card.  This sentiment is part of the set — it’s two words which I mounted on one block.  The rose and leaves are done in three steps.  I stamped each layer in Versamark and applied chalks (Stampin’ Pastels) one layer at a time.  For the roses I used Bashful Blue, applying more chalk to the areas I wanted to shade more deeply.  I touched them here and there with Lavender Lace, as well.  The darkest shading around the image is done with Perfect Plum with touches of blue and Celery shading the rest of the background.  I sponged around the edges of the main image panel with Bashful Blue ink and when the panel was finished I sprayed it with a matte sealer.

I used one of the leaf stamps to stamp all over the Lavender Lace panel in Craft White.  I did a lot of overlapping of the leaves and I love the soft, gossamer effect.  In fact, I always love Craft White (white pigment ink) stamped on any color when I want a soft, delicate look.  It can bring about quite a transformation.  Gee, I might try it on Yo Yo Yellow or Glorious Green.  Funny how some colors are almost universally disliked…  I softened the edges of all the layers with Craft White, too, by brushing the pad directly onto the paper.  There are celery and orchid narrow organdy ribbons tied onto the wide blue organdy which I then heated with my heat tool just until they curled.

I hope I’ll be posting more cards this week.  If only you could see how many images I have colored and ready to be made into cards…  I can sit and color them on my breaks at work but I seem to be put off by the prospect of the mess I make in my room during the process of putting a card together — it winds up looking like something exploded in there.  I’ll bet you can relate to that, can’t you?  Until we meet again…have a wonderful week!

Stamps:  Hearts & Roses (Kitchen Sink Stamps)

Paper:  Old Olive, Lavender Lace, Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery textured cardstock, Whisper White

Ink:  Versamark, Craft White, Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip

Accessories:  Ribbon, brads, Stampin’ Pastels, spray matte sealer, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape

Hello!  I realize it’s been way too long since I stamped or posted.  Many times I considered checking in just to say I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth, but I didn’t have the oomph in me even for that.  How do I explain the chain of events that had me in shut down mode in the evenings after work?  Suffice to say some are unfortunate, some are blessed, but all collided at once.  Thank goodness for the weekends!

I watercolored this image over the course of the week, one flower at a time, finally finishing the hummingbird and putting the card together last night.  I’d hoped to post it then but I decided to get my beauty sleep instead.  Gee, I woke up this morning and I didn’t look the least bit beautiful…guess I might as well have stayed up and posted my card!

This is one of the new Stampin’ Up! sets, Spring Song.  The flowers in the image are that of a trumpet vine.  The most common color is orange but you’ll occasionally see them in lavender, fuschia or a soft salmon pink.  I figure, once you stamp them, they’re your flowers and you can make them any dang color you want!  I used Apricot, Coral and Ruby Red on these flowers.  There’s a little shading done with Caramel and Cocoa, as well.

Hummingbirds come in every color of the rainbow and, yes, I did a little research to find one that would coordinate nicely with my flowers.  Oh, my goodness gracious, there’re a lot of colors on this hummingbird!  Two shades of yellow, Apricot, Coral, Ruby Red, Bordering Blue, Garden Green, Going Gray, Mustard, Cocoa.  If I knew a little more about watercoloring and mixing colors I’m sure I could have narrowed that down a little, but I just kept working at it until it seemed right.  I did enjoy the process.  After I spent all that time on the main image I felt I should put some work into the background but, gosh, I have this new Ginger Blossom paper…the colors seemed right…and, finally, the card is done.

I’ll be back soon (yes, I will!).  I have some new stamps to try out this weekend.  Thank you for coming back to visit.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Stamps:  Spring Song

Paper:  Groovy Guava, River Rock, watercolor paper, Ginger Blossom designer paper

Ink:  Jet Black Stazon, various for watercoloring

Accessories:  SU! Wasabi striped and Groovy Guava double stitched ribbon, brads, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape

I’ve made a few different Valentines this year but I believe I’ve settled on this one for my husband.  While it’s suitably masculine, it has enough ribbon to keep me happy.  This is the playing card box I designed for this gift set at Christmas time.  There’s a how-to with pictures in that post but if you’d like to see how it’s made with the Scor-Pal you can see it here where it’s featured in the Feb/March online magazine with lots of other fun projects.  The box is full of conversation hearts, and after he’s done eating the candy he can take a deck of cards to work and play solitaire during the slow times — tee hee!  As if he’d whip this frilly thing out in front of the guys!

The box is decorated with Stampin’ Up!’s retired Lexicon of Love.  I stamped it twice, mounted the chipboard heart on the first image, then punched out the “cherish” with the word window punch and glued it over the heart.  There’s a little piece of dimensional mounting tape under each end of the word to keep it firmly supported.

I used another retired Stampin’ Up! stamp on the middle background of the card — the By Definition background.  The main image and the sentiment accent are from Crafty Secrets Bird Notes.

The feature I like most about the card is something that doesn’t show in the photo at all:  The bird’s body is plumped up by the process of dry embossing on cardstock vellum.  I first saw this done by Linda Bullard on this beautiful card.  What a wonderful effect this is!  I’m not very technique oriented so it took me a while to get around to trying this but, oh, my goodness, it was easy!  After I stamped the bird on the vellum in Jet Black Stazon I placed the vellum panel face up on a craft foam mat — the same one I use as a cushion when using clear stamps.  I traced around the outline of the bird with a stylus, gradually applying more pressure a little at a time so as to gently stretch the vellum without tearing it, per Linda’s instructions.  Then I turned it over and ran the stylus in circular motions inside the lines.  I turned it back and forth, repeating the process on first one side and then the other until I was satisfied with the effect.  Coloring was done with SU! markers on the reverse side.

The vellum is adhered to white cardstock with Crystal effects.  I repeated the dry embossing process after it was adhered to the white cardstock and placed a dimensional under the bird’s body to help maintain the plumpness before I adhered that panel to the black mat.  This is a technique that’s worth giving a try.  You won’t be disappointed once you see it in person.  Thank you, Linda!  And thank you all for stopping by today.  Happy Monday!

Stamps:  Bird Notes, By Definition, Lexicon of Love

Paper:  Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, cardstock vellum, American Traditional Designs Guy’s Life designer paper

Ink:  Jet Black Stazon, SU! Markers

Accessories:  May Arts ribbon, Creative Imaginations self-adhesive chipboard, Brenda Walton self-adhesive gems, dimensionals, 3/4″ circle punch

It’s not very often a card comes together for me as quickly as this one did.  But then, I’ve never had these two background stamps to work with before.  Are they not beautiful?  The lower part of the card — So Saffron on Vanilla — is called Damask Positive and the upper panel — More Mustard on So Saffron — is Damask Negative.  They’re new from Flourishes and will be available in the store on Monday, February 11.

I used these colors in an effort to depart from the same old thing and Mustard is a rather underused color.  When you look at the cardstock, itself, you can tend to think “yuck”, but with a little ink sponged around the edges it has a rich, golden glow.  The “love” is from Flourishes’ Lace Heart set, another one of my favorites.  I stamped it in Versamark and embossed with dark brown embossing powder.  The yummy chocolate satin ribbon can be found here.

A little tip:  These are full-size background stamps and if you don’t have an acrylic block that will fit them there’s no need to worry.  You can cut a sheet of acetate slightly larger than your stamp and place the stamp face up on the acetate.  Apply ink to the stamp, either with a brayer or by tapping your pad all over it, then place your cardstock over the stamp while it lays face up on your table.  Lay another sheet of scrap paper over that to protect your fingers from the ink and rub your hand over it to press the paper into the stamp.  The acetate can be used over and over again.

Now I’m off to get busy with some weekend chores.  I hope to visit with you again soon!  Enjoy your weekend!