Running With Scissors…

Thank goodness for a nice piece of designer paper when you need a card in a hurry.  I thoroughly enjoy stamping but the only thing stamped on this card is the pretty sentiment from Flourishes’ Many Sentiments.  Still, I had the satisfaction of putting it together myself, and that counts for something.

My paper is BasicGrey Periphery, the 6 x 6 pad which is perfect for card making because the patterns and images are scaled down to a more workable size.  You can see a nice selection of 6 x 6 pads here, including some of the newest BasicGrey collections.  I chose this paper today because I finally got my hands on some of the May Arts sheer ribbon from Flourishes and the colors are a perfect match.  Oh, my!  If only the photo could show how this ribbon feels — silky, supple and sublime!  I just noticed they have it in chocolate, too.  Be still, my heart!

My very simple card also uses Stampin’ Up!’s hardware and some self-adhesive paper roses from Wal-Mart.  Crystal Stickles added life and light to the roses — amazing what a little sparkle can do.

I’m glad you could stop by for a minute today while you’re out visiting.  I hope you have a good rest of the week.  Take care!

• Stamps:  Many Sentiments (Flourishes)
• Paper:  Basic Gray, Brocade Blue, Whisper White, BasicGrey Periphery designer paper
• Ink:  Basic Gray
• Accessories:  Ribbon, silver cord, paper roses, Crystal Stickles, hardware

This is Alfie.  He lives with me now but I found him at Rubbernecker Stamp Co. among several other dogs in need of a home.  He was the sweetest, most lovable one of the bunch but, of course, we all connect with different types.  I guess Alfie is just my type.

I found the sentiment and the dog paraphernalia background there, too.  His doghouse is made of two 3 x 3 squares of designer paper.  I cut an arch in one square for his doorway and I cut the other square on the diagonal and mounted it on foam tape to make the roof.  Alfie is colored with chalks.  Affable fellow that he is, he sports his sentiment proudly at his door.  It’s been knocked askew with a little friendly roughhousing — you know how dogs can be.

Here are some more Alfie card details:

• Stamps:  Alfie - SKU 77-05, Best Friends Text - SKU 77-09, Doggie Square (background) - SKU 77-13
• Paper:  Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip textured, Very Vanilla, My Minds Eye designer paper
• Ink:  Jet Black Stazon, Chocolate Chip
• Accessories:  Offray ribbon, Primas, buttons, brad, soft chalks for coloring, spray matte sealer, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Now, if you’re feeling lucky, you might like to try your hand at the Rubbernecker Bucks on Candy’s blog and Shelly’s blog.  Be sure to check their blogs on Tuesday, the 29th.  You’ve got two chances at a $10 gift certificate from Rubbernecker!

If you’re feeling adventurous, Tuesday is Treasure Hunt time at Rubbernecker.  Details can be found here.

Good luck and happy hunting! 

When you feel like stamping you have to stamp what you feel.  There’s no sense going against your instincts.  I might ordinarily have fancied these up a lot more but my inclination today was to keep it very clean, white and simple.  It just felt right.

I’ve loved this Stampin’ Up! Vases in Vogue set (retired hostess) since I first laid eyes on it.  I haven’t used it much but that’s the way it goes with my stamps, especially the SU! sets.  I have so many of them I feel like that bird pecking away at a mountain…  I’m going to make an effort, though.  I used the heck out of this set today.  I made four cards and used 11 stamps in the set.  All the cards are essentially the same, just different images, sentiments and colors.  I don’t particularly care for making duplicates but I do enjoy seeing the same card in a delicious confection of colors.

My SU! taffeta ribbons were what decided the colors for me.  I matched up everything else from there, using coordinating textured cardstocks for the card bases, and coloring with markers.

I turned the last card on it’s side.

These cards will all go into my little “cards for sale” basket I keep at work.  I have a hard time keeping it stocked so I may use this method for multiples more often.  The remainder of my weekend will be spent in the garden so I’ll be hoping for nice weather.  Thank you for visiting today!

• Stamps:  Vases in Vogue
• Paper:  Whisper White; Textured cardstock — Close to Cocoa, Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, Basic Gray
• Ink:  Jet Black Stazon, markers for coloring
• Accessories:  Taffeta ribbons, Fiskars scallop scissors, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

I sure did intend to have more than one card for this post but things just didn’t work out as planned.  Card #2 turned into a disaster and my stamp room became an even bigger disaster during the process of trying to either salvage something from the wreckage or come up with a new plan.  I decided sleep was more important at this point so here it is — my one card.

This is a very “Stampin’ Up!” card.  My friend Nancy Littrell came over for a stamping play date last Saturday and brought this Blooming With Love set with her.  I watercolored the image with inks and then tried to match it up with some SU! designer paper.  I was trying to keep it all SU! and this retired Spring Showers paper was the best fit, although it looks a little dated to me because of the paper.  Darn, I really need to step into the 21st century when it comes to SU!  I’ll try harder next time.  I’d like to make an effort to use my gazillion SU! sets more often…

I felt it needed something to brighten it up a little so I looked to the Ways To Use It Challenge and snip, snip, snipped some flowers from the Vases In Vogue set to accent the lower corner.  I do love how nicely many of the SU! sets mix and match.

Well, I must try to get some sleep now.  One more day of work then two days of relative freedom.  Enjoy your weekend!

• Stamps:  Blooming With Love, Vases in Vogue
• Paper:  Bravo Burgundy, Brocade Blue, Very Vanilla, watercolor paper, retired Spring Showers designer paper
• Ink:  Jet Black Stazon, various for watercoloring
• Accessories:  Retired SU! Bluebird grosgrain ribbon, ticket corner punch, 1 1/4″ circle punch, brads, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Joanne Leddy — you’ve won the Rubbernecker $10 gift certificate!  Thank you all for playing along.  I appreciate every one of your comments — you make my heart feel good!  Joanne, I’ll contact you by email.  Have a great day, everyone!

I had the most fun making this card.  I don’t know…it just makes me feel good.  It’s not all pretty and girly.  There are no flowers, gemstones or satiny ribbon.  In fact, it’s supposed to be a guy card.  I’m trying to broaden my thinking as to what, exactly, constitutes a guy card.  I generally lean toward outdoor themes or subjects that are inherently “guy”.  But, gosh, what about something on the lighter side once in a while?  Most of my favorite guys have a sense of humor and I think this card would be okay with them.

This is my Howling Cats stamp from Rubbernecker.  It tickles my funny bone but then, I’m sort of a cat fancier.  They look like guy cats, I think.  Our cat, Marvin, somewhat resembles the gray cat on the left.  Marvin and an orange neighborhood cat sometimes get together and howl like this, although I don’t think it’s done with quite the same spirit of camaraderie as the characters in the stamp.

You know how sometimes everything seems to work out just right when you make a card?  Well, that’s how I feel about this one.  I knew right away what colors the cats would be.  In turn, I thought immediately of this paper.  The fibers were chosen because they were the right color and they look yarn-like for cats — *and* — they’re not girly.  The layout just sort of happened.  It’s simple but I like it.  The cats are colored with soft chalks.  There’s more information about that process in my previous post.  I always finish off a chalked image with spray matte sealer, usually a couple of coats.  It dries very quickly.

• Stamps:  Howling Cats SKU:  76-09, Cat’s Meow Text SKU:  76-13
• Paper:  More Mustard, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, BasicGrey Oh, Baby Boy designer paper
• Ink:  Palette Hybrid Noir
• Accessories:  Chalks for coloring, hardware, fibers, spray matte sealer, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Now, for the fun and games!  It’s my turn to share a $10 Gift Certificate to be used at checkout when you place your order at Rubbernecker Stamp Company.  Your comment here will be your entry.  A winner will be chosen by this random number generator.  Gosh, $10 is more than enough for the two stamps I used on today’s card.  They have lots of other stamping supplies at Rubbernecker, too.

Be sure to visit Sherry’s blog for a chance to win the same prize.  You can only win once, but you have two chances.  Good luck!

It’s also time for Tuesday Treasure Hunt!  Follow the clues to find the Treasure at Rubbernecker Stamp Co.  Details can be found —> HERE.  The first Treasure Hunt clue can be found Tuesday, the 22nd, on Linda’s blog.  Have fun playing, and good fortune to all!

ETA:  I’ve just learned that Rubbernecker made the Treasure Hunt easy today — there are no clues to follow.  Just go here to read about how to find the prize.  Thank you!

I had the urge to make another Siberian Iris card today, this time with the delicate, fresh colors of Spring.  This is so not what our Spring looked like today…I woke up to find the ground covered with hail, and snow falling on top of that.  It was a complete turnabout from last Saturday which reached 84° in the sun.  Needless to say I spent that day in the garden, but today was a good day to stamp.

I colored my iris with Stampin’ Up!’s soft chalks (Stampin’ Pastels), giving it just a soft blush of Ballet Blue applied with a very light touch, then shaded with Not Quite Navy.  I feel I have so much control of the color when I use chalks and, unlike other mediums, you can simply erase an area if the color turns out too dark or you’ve gone outside the lines.  I use sponge-tipped eye shadow applicators in a variety of shapes and sizes.  A blunt, rounded tip is perfect for shading around the outside of an image, and the skinny applicators that Stampin’ Up! sells are great for those narrow areas.  When you need to get really detailed, a blending pen is a good tool to use.  Here’s a selection of the applicators I use:

I have lots of each type so I can avoid mixing colors too drastically on one sponge.  I can pretty effectively wipe the color off a sponge if I need to, but I’ll try to stay with similar colors.

I made this into a Mother’s Day card, using one of the appropriate sentiments that comes with the set on the inside of the card.  I love inside/outside sentiments, though, so I stamped “You are so special” from Flourishes’ Many Sentiments on the card front.  The beautiful script seems to go very nicely with the iris.

Some out of the box cutting of the iris panel allows my new Birds and Swirls Cuttlebug embossed background to show itself off.  This is a handy technique for getting a lot of different looks from a large image, especially when the cutting is so clean and easy, as with this iris.

Time for me to wrap this up and hit the hay.  Heck, some of you are probably just getting up!  Have a very pleasant Sunday!

• Stamps:  Siberian Iris, Many Sentiments (both from Flourishes)
• Paper:  CTMH Sunkiss Yellow, Stampin’ Up! Whisper White
• Ink:  Chocolate Chip
• Accessories:  Polytwill from Stampin’ Up!, Stampin’ Pastels, Birds and Swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

I made an effort to use new supplies on my card today.  I’ve had these MFT Boho Blossoms for quite a while, though.  I saw them, loved them, and bought them immediately.  And there they sat.  That’s nothing unusual, really.  I frequently make purchases of things I fall in love with as though they’ll disappear tomorrow.  I’ll feel bad if I’m not inspired to use them within a reasonable length of time and the expiration date for reasonable was drawing near for this stamp set.

There were three cards that influenced my decision to purchase this set and I hope you’ll take a minute to view them:

• Boho Friendship by Michele Boyer
• Sneak Peek by Sharon Harnist
• and this awesome creation by Sherry Cheever

Did you look?  If so, I’m surprised you came back but perhaps now you can understand why I had to have this set.

Now, the colors — Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet and Aqua Mist from PaperTrey Ink.  Aren’t they luscious in a sweet kind of way?  I’ve been adding them to my collection as they’re released each month.  They may look similar to some Stampin’ Up! colors but the difference is rather striking when compared side by side.  I love having even more colors to choose from.  I might have resisted PaperTrey’s new colors save for the fact that there are specially blended Palette Hybrid inks and several styles of ribbon to match.  Not to mention designer papers.  What’s a girl to do?

I probably could have done with one or two fewer big blossoms on my card but it gave me a chance to use my new Making Memories velvet brads from Eclectic Paperie.  Pretty colors, satin, velvet and fancy flowers — I think I’m happy.  I hope this finds you well and happy and enjoying your day.  I’ll see you again soon!

• Stamps:  Boho Blossoms
• Paper:  Aqua Mist, Whisper White, Everyday Blessings designer paper (6×6 paper pad from PaperTrey)
• Ink:  Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet, Noir
• Accessories:  Sweet Blush satin ribbon, velvet brads, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape

Well, here’s something that would wake you up in the morning.

I used two of my Rubbernecker stamps for this card – Coffee Cup Block and Coffee Bean Background.  You can find them both here.  The designer paper in the background reminds me of exactly how I feel when I’ve had too much caffeine, so as soon as I spotted it in my drawer I couldn’t think of using anything else on this card.  It was a gift from a friend (thank you, Donelle!) and I don’t know who makes it.  I do love the wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee colors.

I hope to get my time back to normal soon but as of this moment I have no time to linger.  I rather miss our visits…sigh…  Enjoy your day!

• Stamps:  Coffee Cup Block #234-09, Coffee Bean Background #201-01
• Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Brocade Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, unknow designer paper
• Ink:  Jet Black Stazon, markers for coloring
• Accessories:  Ribbon, square clip, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

I just now had a chance to use my Wedding Party set from Flourishes.  I think the most fun part of using this set is decorating the bride’s gown.  All I did today was add some glitter but it sure does make a sparkly difference.

My happy couple is stamped on Whisper White cardstock and colored with chalks for a soft look.  The beautiful flourishes are from the Wedding Essentials set.  The actual stamp is only half of this image — the left half.  I stamped it in Olive Stazon on a panel of Crystal Clear Cardstock, then again on the reverse side, thus creating this pretty wedding bower.  I punched a slot, one layer at a time and tied all the panels together with pale pink satin ribbon.

And that’s all there is to it — a very simple card.  I’m having the most fun with the clear cardstock!  It’s so sturdy, not like regular acetate at all.  In fact, I might be remembering this wrong, but I think it’s some kind of vinyl material rather than acetate.  Will one of the Flourishes ladies please correct me if I’ve stated that in error?

I must go pick up the huge mess in my stamp room now and get ready for the work week.  Please take care, and have a wonderful week!