Running With Scissors…

…due to time constraints.  I’ll stamp again as soon as possible.  I’m so sorry to miss a week with Stella Ruby but I know you understand.  I have a feeling that if I get any stamping done in the next few days I’ll be running very fast with my scissors.  I’ll try, though.  Thank you for being patient with me!

Hello again for another Ruby Tuesday!  Why Ruby Tuesday?  Well, I bought a 12 x 12 pack of this BasicGrey Stella Ruby paper clear back in April and it was immediately apparent that it was a lot of paper and I have so much paper and I loved this Stella Ruby.  So, to be certain it didn’t go unused, I committed myself to a project a week using this paper, to be posted on Tuesday, hence Ruby Tuesday.  Just thought I’d recap the purpose of Ruby Tuesdays for the folks who might be wondering.  You can click on my Ruby Tuesday category if you’d like to see some of the previously posted projects.

Pattyjo left a comment on my Flourishes blog candy post stating she’d like to see projects and tutorials using chipboard, particularly letters.  Well, Pattyjo, I don’t have any letters and this isn’t a tutorial but I did use chipboard.  Furthermore, this is the first time I’ve used chipboard so I’d like to thank you for the push.  It was fun!  And easy!  I now have a couple of chipboard projects planned and I’ll be sure and show pictures of the process if you think that would help.  I’d also like to thank Mary R. (hi, Mary!) for inspiring me to finally break out this On Board Blossoms and Basics chipboard I’ve been sitting on far too long.

To cover the parts of the chipboard flower I just smeared 2-way glue onto the chipboard and pressed it onto my Stella Ruby paper.  I used scissors to trim around the edges as closely as possible and finished it off by sanding any rough edges with fine grain sandpaper.  I know there are more sophisticated tools for this purpose, but the sandpaper got into all the nooks and crannies just fine.

The chipboard center is raised on dimensional tape and I used my 1″ circle punch to punch out a Seeing Spots image.  The sentiment, from In My Thoughts, is stamped in Versamark and embossed with dark brown EP.  There’s Linen stamped on the Ruby Red card base and the Stella Ruby is matted on Groovy Guava.  The ribbon is from the Sherbet collection.  All these supplies are from Stampin’ Up! except the BasicGray Stella Ruby paper, which I purchased from Jacksonbelle Embellishments.

There’s a summary of the supply details below.  Happy Ruby Tuesday to everyone!

Stamps:  Seeing Spots, In My Thoughts

Paper:  Ruby Red, Groovy Guava, Very Vanilla, BasicGrey Stella Ruby designer paper

Ink:  Ruby Red, Chocolate chip marker, Versamark

Accessories:  On Board Blossoms and Basics chipboard, Sherbet ribbon, Ruby Red brads, dark brown embossing powder, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape

Stella’s card today uses one of the many quote cards I have.  This one is by My Mind’s Eye — called a Kaleidoquote because it’s made to coordinate with the Kaleidoscope line of MME designer papers.  I love to stamp but when I use ready-made components it sometimes doesn’t leave much room for stamping so since these quotes, intended for scrapbooking, are a bit large for cards I generally cut them down in some way to allow myself some play room.  In this case I cut off the top with some decorative edge scissors and matted it on Regal Rose that I’d stamped with the small Baroque Motifs flower.

This is the first time I’ve cut into this particular sheet of Stella Ruby.  The large floral pattern was one I didn’t want to cover completely so I nestled the quote into it with a little Baroque Border wheeled on linen as an accent.  It’s finished off with organdy ribbon, copper cord and brads and a double row of faux stitching down the side.

You can probably imagine this was one of those quick cards but it was quicker, still, because the Linen panel was from my scrap drawer.  When I stamp a background, even if I intend to use only a small piece of it, I always stamp a quarter sheet of cardstock.  The left over Linen pieces are the ones most frequently used — I love that background, especially in River Rock since it’s so subtle and easy to use with everything.

I really appreciate that you took the time to stop by for a visit today.  Reading the comments from so many of you who have become familiar to me is more heartwarming than you can imagine.  And seeing a new name now and then, well, I hope I’m making a new friend.  The world seems a lot smaller, friendlier and more managable when we get together like this.  Have a very Ruby Tuesday!

Stamps:  Baroque Motifs, Baroque Border wheel (both Stampin’ Up!)

Paper:  Stampin’ Up! Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Regal Rose and Very Vanilla, BasicGrey Stella Ruby designer paper

Ink:  Regal Rose, Close to Cocoa, River Rock.  Chocolate Chip marker for the faux stitching.

Accessories:  Retired Stampin’ Up! Celery narrow organdy ribbon and copper cord, copper brads, decorative corner rounder, mat pack for faux stitching, Fiskars decorative edge scissors, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape

I’ve been meaning to do this card for a long time so I thought I might as well combine it with Ruby Tuesday.  It’s another one of those ideas that’s been stuck in my head, although the image in my head was a lot more perfect than this.  At least it’s not in my head anymore.

This is made up of three images from Watercolor Minis and the pot from Fun Filled, both retired Stampin’ Up!.  They were all stamped in Versamark and colored with Stampin’ Pastels soft chalks.  It required quite a bit of masking and lots of different colors.  Just in the background there’s Sage Shadow, Pretty in Pink, Creamy Caramel and Perfect Plum.  The table top is Really Rust, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron and Chocolate Chip.  I could go on listing the colors of the flowers and pot but it would be a pretty long list.

This coloring process with Versamark and pastels is one of my favorites for solid images.  It’s such a soft look and allows for quite a lot of shading of the image that would be difficult with ink alone.  Just start by stamping the image with Versamark.  Then pat a little chalk onto it and watch the image come to life.  You can control the color intensity simply by the amount of chalk you apply.  Shading can be added by applying a darker color or by adding more of the same color.  For instance, I used Pretty in Pink on the roses.  They were actually a little darker than I intended so I dabbed over them with white to soften the look.  The little touches of darker coloration were added using Regal Rose.  I use not only the tiny applicators that Stampin’ Up! sells, but a variety of sponge tipped make up applicators with my chalks.  When I’m sure the image is finished I always spray with a matte sealer.  After I sprayed this I saw some spots I sure wished I’d done a little touch up on, but……too late.

I don’t know if you can see it very well, but I stamped Weathered on the Close to Cocoa mat under the main image to give it a wood frame look.  There’s a conspicuous absence of ribbon and sentiment on this.  That’s a rarity for me, but I didn’t see how it would be right for the look I was feeling.  I did raise the main image panel on dimensional tape.  The BasicGrey Stella Ruby paper in the background completes the look of a painting on an old, weathered wall.

I hope to have a chance to do a little more stamping this week.  I’ve got something new to play with so we’ll see what comes of that.  Have a great week!

Stamps:  Watercolor Minis, Fun Filled, Itty Bitty Backgrounds

Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla, BasicGrey Stella Ruby designer paper

Ink:  Versamark, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel

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

I went on a cleaning, tidying and clearing out kick this weekend.  I could have chosen a more fun or relaxing  Labor Day weekend activity, but I can’t say I regret how I spent my time.  It felt pretty good and looks even better.

When I was clearing out a desk drawer I found an old journal I started many years ago.  I’ve never been very good about keeping journals and this one ended after a few weeks’ entries.  It provided some very interesting reading after all these years, though.  It was begun at a time when we were living a little more hand to mouth than we do these days.  Our son was a school kid and we were struggling to work out a budget to deal with the new house payment we could supposedly afford.  One entry found me worrying how I was going to buy my son a new pair of shoes and still pay the bills and buy groceries.  The next entry described his shoes further deteriorated and my decision that he was more important than the bills…  I was glad to look back on that and feel proud and happy about the choice I made.  Needless to say, everything worked out just fine.

I thought I’d give journaling another try.  I didn’t want anything quite as large as a composition book so I picked up this smaller 5 x 7 notebook instead.  I was hoping I could use my SU! spiral punch for the cover but the holes didn’t line up correctly, darn it.  If you find yourself in that predicament sometime, the photo and explanation that follows may be helpful:

I first determined that the distance from the outer edge of the notebook to the inner edge of the hole was 1/4″.  I drew a straight line at the 1/4″ mark and placed my cardstock next to the binder as shown.

I simply drew dots at each spiral and then punched the dots with an 1/8″ hand held punch, aligning the edge of the punch with the line.  At each hole I cut a slit from the edge to the hole.  I could then slip the cover right over the spirals.  The white cardstock, by the way, is just for demonstration purposes.

The cover of my journal started out with Chocolate Chip.  I sponged the edge that would show with Chocolate Chip ink and wadded up toilet paper.  Yes, toilet paper — the TP technique.  For that tutorial, please click here.  The rest of it is BasicGrey Stella Ruby paper and Almost Amethyst cardstock, the latter also TP’d.  There’s some Chocolate Chip sponged around the edges for a little aging.  I used the heart from Gentler Times and a sentiment from All Year Cheer I, thinking one’s journaling is usually outpourings from the heart, although mine will be full of mundane day to day musings, I’m sure.

While I was at it I made a coordinating pencil holder from a Crystal Light container as well as an R.S.V.P. pen.  In case you’re not familiar with these pens, R.S.V.P. is just the brand name of this particular pen which lends itself well to this type of decoration.  I cut a piece of Stella Ruby 1″ x 3 1/4″, rolled it into a little tube and tucked it into the barrel of the pen.

This last photo shows the back cover of the journal covered with Chocolate Chip cardstock that I TP’d with the same color ink.  This technique is just the ticket for something like this because of the illusion of leather it gives your paper.

Well, that’s it for this week’s Ruby Tuesday project, the only thing I made this weekend.  I haven’t spent much time at all in my stamp room or on the computer these last three days and I know I’ve got some catching up to do.  I hope you’ve all been well and will have a wonderful week!

Stamps:  Gentler Times, All Year Cheer I

Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Almost Amethyst, Very Vanilla, BasicGrey Stella Ruby

Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Almost Amethyst, Creamy Caramel, CTMH Vanilla

Accessories:  Ribbon, swirl clip, 1/8″ hand held hold punch, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape, spiral bound notebook, R.S.V.P. pen, Crystal Light container, Sticky Strip red liner tape, Alene’s Tacky Glue

Hello!  I’m so glad you could drop in to share another Ruby Tuesday!

I was feeling the need for sleek simplicity when I made this card.  Does that feel good to you sometimes, too?    Now, I’m all for layers and panels and bits overlapping or peeking from behind.  Fancy brads and pretty buttons, photo turns and opulent ribbons and trims will turn my head into the next century, as the overfilled drawers in my stamp room will testify.  The quest for ever more original and interesting designs is perpetual and mind boggling and ultimately I come to this place — where I need to rest…just ease down and take a slow, deep breath and fill myself with a fresh creative outlook.  In time I’ll wander away and lose sight of this tranquil place but I’ll always find my way back again.  I’ll remember how much I enjoyed my visit.

It was a pleasure to design a card that’s clean and uncluttered but I wanted it to present with a little interest, too.  In my going-easy-on-myself frame of mind I fell back on familiarity — a simple recessed frame with a float-mounted image and some out of the box cutting.  Very simple but it felt like enough.  I pieced together three different patterns of the Stella Ruby paper and adhered that panel to Old Olive.  Then I punched a window in it.  The flower was stamped on Very Vanilla and colored and shaded with SU! water based markers.

This photo shows the back side of the panel with the beginnings of the punched frame.  I determined the length my frame would need to be and then marked the panel so the frame would be vertically centered.  I slid the 1 3/8″ square punch all the way in and made my first punch.  I continued punching in this manner until I reached the mark on the other end.

As you can see in the finished card, I sanded the inside edges of the frame to give it a little definition.  After I tied the ribbon on — that sweet, soft, pliable SU! taffeta ribbon — I adhered the frame panel to the card front.  The card front, by the way, is Chocolate Chip stamped with Chocolate Chip Linen, a wonderful, visually textural effect.

I was in the middle of going all earthy on this card when I took a notion to add the pink and bring out the feminine side of its character.  To tell the truth, I was actually just looking for a reason to use my new pink taffeta.

This photo shows a bit of the out of the box cutting.  To accomplish this I stamp the image and then use a ruler to draw a light pencil line where I’ll make the new cut.  I cut along the line till I come to where the image overlaps it, then cut around the image and pick up again where the line continues on the other side.

Out of the box is something I’ve done many times to add interest to a design.  This technique was the challenge I presented in the recent Splitcoaststampers Dare to Get Dirty Fan Club challenge extravaganza.  Many people remarked that they’d never tried this before so I thought I’d share it here in case someone might benefit from this information.  To view a whole gallery of out of the box designs, please click here.

Thank you so much for spending a little bit of your Tuesday with me.  I wonder what the next stop on my stamping journey will be.  I hope to see you again when I get there.  Happy Ruby Tuesday!

Stamps:  Oh So Lovely, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Garden Silhouettes (the word, “Lovely”)

Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla, BasicGrey Stella Ruby DP

Ink:  Timber Brown Stazon, Creamy Caramel, markers:  Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery

Accessories:  1 3/8″ square punch, pink taffeta ribbon, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape

I have a hard time throwing away the smallest scrap of designer paper.  I’m a little better with cardstock but not much.  This photo shows the smallest leavings of BasicGrey Stella Ruby paper that I’ve accumulated in a small baggie on my desk.  It includes a tag that I punched out of the tag sheet a while back but never used.  At 3 1/2″ x 2″ it’s the largest piece in this little grouping.  Am I bad?  Look how small these pieces are!  Good grief!

But there must be something I can do with them — gee, an oval punched sentiment or a tiny tag.  I kept pushing aside this miniature baggie of Little Pieces of Stella until this weekend when I finally decided to do something with them before I accumulated any more.

So, for this week’s Ruby Tuesday card I reached into my little baggie and used nothing but these scraps.  I barely made a dent in the bag, but I felt better when I was done.

This card has a pocket in the front which holds the tag.  The pocket is comprised of five different Little Pieces of Stella.  I laid four of them side by side and taped them together in the back – sort of laminated them together.  The fifth piece is used as trim along the top edge of the pocket.  I added the large eyelet and some ribbon to the tag, along with Stampin’ Up!’s That’s Nice sentiment from a previous Mini Catalog. 

The background of the card is stamped repeatedly with one of the Garden Silhouettes images in River Rock and Groovy Guava.  It’s layered on Groovy Guava and then a Chocolate Chip card base.  I finished it off with two Primas held together with a copper brad, adhered to the pocket with a glue dot.

The Fall colors and the “Family” sentiment led me to turn this into a Thanksgiving card by stamping “Happy Thanksgiving” and a single Silhouettes image on a layer of Very Vanilla inside the card.  Our cards are beginning to take on a decidedly Fall look, aren’t they?  While I’m feeling ready for the more relaxed pace of Fall, I’m not quite ready to give up Summer yet!

This is all that’s left of those Little Pieces of Stella I selected from the baggie.  Do you think I can throw them away now?  I don’t know…that one piece on top might still have some life in it…  Happy Ruby Tuesday!

Stella’s card today uses Stem Silhouettes, a Stampin’ Up! set which will be available in the Holiday Mini September through November.  I know — I already have Garden Silhouettes but I can’t resist this type of stamp.  I tried to refrain from temptation but the pull was too great.  This is a stamp set I’ll keep virtually forever, knowing it will always be useful in some way.

Everything I did to make this card is pretty apparent in the photo, I think, so I’ve listed supplies below which will provide most of the details.  One thing I’d like to mention is the eyelets in the ribbon.  The two eyelets closest to the edge were applied with my Crop-a-Dile — holes punched and eyelets set — a breeze.  The one eyelet more toward the card’s center was not such a breeze.  I realized too late that my Crop-a-Dile didn’t reach that far — oops!  The whole card was already done and now I had a black Sharpie mark on my ribbon.  I persevered with various hole-poking techniques (the memory is too painful to recount in its entirety) and I wound up with the hole slightly off and the ribbon threads pulled askew.  Sad, but there it is.

Our Ruby Tuesdays have come to mean more to me than just a card or other paper crafts project, though.  They’re more an experience shared and a chance to meet with friends.  Have a wonderful Ruby Tuesday, always.

Stamps:  Stem Silhouettes, Wonderful Words, Small Script, Itty Bitty backgrounds

Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Ruby red, So Saffron, Very Vanilla, BasicGrey Stella Ruby

Ink:  Chocolate Chip

Accessories:  Fiskars scallop scissors, paper piercer, slot punch, ticket corner punch, word window punch, SU! Sherbet ribbon, other ribbon, eyelets, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape

For today’s Ruby Tuesday card I stamped the Baroque swirls in Groovy Guava on one of those unpatterned sheets I’m coming to appreciate more and more all the time.  “Unpatterned” isn’t exactly a suitable term, though.  It may be subtle but it’s much more than just a plain piece of paper.  I’d make that background if I knew how,  but thank goodness Stella did it for me.  Otherwise I may not have had time to cut out all those little flowers.  The square panel is a floral print – one I didn’t mind using for support rather than the main feature.

If, by any chance, this layout looks familiar to those of you who play the SCS challenges it’s because it was SC75 from clear back in June 2006 which was based on one of my cards.  I point this out just in case a very observant and concerned individual may notice it’s a CASE.  Well, it is a CASE, but I CASE’d myself.  You can see a whole gallery full of cards made with this sketch here.  I’ve also included a thumbnail of my original card.  Please click on the pic for a closer look.

I think Stella’s thank you card pretty much explains itself, although I don’t know if you can tell there’s Linen stamped on the River Rock.  It’s stamped in the same color ink so it’s more a feel than a look.  I can never get over how Linen makes me believe I can actually feel it on the paper.  It’s a most amazing stamp.  All the colors and such are listed below.  Have a wonderful Ruby Tuesday and thank you so much for dropping in!

Stamps:  Baroque Motifs, Linen

Paper:  True Thyme, River Rock, Groovy Guava, Very Vanilla, BasicGrey Stella Ruby

Ink:  Groovy Guava, River Rock, True Thyme

Accessories:  Groovy Guava double stitched ribbon, copper brads, linen thread, Scotch brand mounting tape

It’s about time Stella had a tote for some of her cards, don’t you think?  I know there’s been a lot of cute card totes made, but this just happens to be one I designed back in September ‘06 for a Fresh Fruits set I made for a friend.  This tote will hold five or six cards, depending upon the layers and embellishments.  There are five of Stella’s favorite cards in this tote.  If you haven’t seen all of Stella’s cards and would like to, please click on the Ruby Tuesday category over there in my right hand sidebar.  They’re all cards and projects made with BasicGrey Stella Ruby paper — one each Tuesday since April this year.

You can pretty this up any way you want to — make it plain or fancy.  I’ve included a thumbnail below of the Fresh Fruits tote I made last year so you can see a little bit simpler version.  Please click on the picture for a closer look:

   These totes are so quick and easy you could make them by the dozen.  I started with the 2-4-6-8 box concept.  You can go just about anywhere from there when it comes to making boxes — just change the dimensions.  But to make it even easier, I thought I’d share exactly how I made this — with the dimensions all figured out for you.  Okay?  Here we go!

I’ll start with a picture of bare bones white cardstock so you can see where the score lines go.

Cut your cardstock to measure 5 3/4″ x 11″.  Score one long side at 3/4″.  Turn and score across at 3/4″, 5 1/4″, 6″ and 10 1/2″.  Slit the bottom vertical score lines up to the horizontal score line.  Cut away the smallest bottom section and discard.

Next, cut two pieces of designer paper 4 3/4″ x 4 1/4″ and two pieces 4 3/4″ x 1/2″.  Adhere these pieces to the cardstock as show in the photo below:

My next step was to punch the notches in the front and back top of the tote.  I did this before I added the trim because I didn’t want to find out too late that my punch wouldn’t go through all the layers.  I marked the upper center of the panels and used my 1 3/8″ circle punch.  I love the handy vertical and horizontal guides on this punch which allow me exact placement.  The photo below shows the horizontal guide lined up with the edge of the cardstock and the vertical guide aligned with the pencil mark.

The handles were added next.  Cut two 8″ lengths of the ribbon of your choice, preferrably something with a little substance to it.  I used some of the Martha Stewart twill that Libby sent me because it was a perfect match for Sage Shadow.  I adhered them with a little piece of Sticky Strip about 1/2″ in from the edges and 1″ down from the top.

I then made my trim.  I chose to layer a 1 1/2″ strip of Stella Ruby on a 1 3/4″ strip of Chocolate Chip.  I pierced, distressed and added some faux stitching.  I scored the trim to match the score lines of the tote.

At this point I sponged all the corners and edges of my tote with Creamy Caramel.  The trim was then applied using two lengths of Sticky Strip, matching the score lines of the trim to the score lines of the tote.  I had planned to simply punch the notches in the trim but the handles were in the way — oops!  So I just trimmed out the notches with my Exacto knife — no problem.

After that I just folded it up like a box and adhered it closed, as seen in the finished photo at the beginning of this post.  Fold the sides first.  I applied Sticky Strip to the narrower long flap and carefully lined up the 3/4″ flap over that.  I applied 2-way glue to the bottom short flaps and Sticky Strip to one of the long bottom flaps and folded them closed, again lining it up carefully.  I stood the tote upright and used the eraser end of a pencil to press the bottom of the tote from the inside to make sure everything was secure.

Now Stella’s cards are ready for gift giving.  I’ve never sent away a single one of them yet because I figured I’d eventually make a variety of gift sets with them.  I still have a lot of the paper left!  As always, Happy Ruby Tuesday!  Let me know if you make a tote, okay?  I’d love to see it!