Devilish Layer Challenge

This month's Bombshell Stamps Pin Up, Jenn Cochran has issued a challenge to layer it up.   I took her up on her challenge and created the below card using the Cherry Bomb stampset from Bombshell Stamps.

Here are 5 layers piled on nice and neat...  a striped stamped card base, and embossed white layer, a tea mat, another background stamped layer and then that wicked devil from Bombshell Stamps' Cherry bomb set.

Here's a shot from the side and you can see the dimension.  Two sets of layers are adhered using some dimensional adhesive for eve more pop.  

Supplies: 

Stamps: Cherry Bomb (Bombshell Stamps), stiped background (Impression Obsession), Tin Pattern (Stampabilities)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento): Cameo Coral & Bermuda Bay (Sttampin' Up)

Coloring: markers (Copic), markers (Stampin' Up)

Cardstock: Cameo Coral, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White (Stampin' Up)

Tools: Twirl embossing folder (Quickutz)

Accessories: red pearls, dimensional adhesive, ribbon (on the inside)

Roaring Birthday

Here's a perfect birthday card for a guy in your life.  This project is also posted on the Bombshell Blog.  Check it out.   The image is stamped using Tim Holtz Distress Ink, embossed with clear embossing powder, and then colored with Copic markers with a touch of sparkling silver added here and there using a Gelly Roll Stardust pen by Sakura.

And for any of you that might be wondering why I've been posting less lately.  It's simply that day job thing.  Work has been intense for the last few months and there's no sign of it letting up.  So when I come home, it's all I can do to run the kids to their engagements and then I'm just zapped.   I'm sure many of you can relate.

and the inside of the card

Supplies: 

Stamps: Speed Shop (Bombshell Stamps); greeting from Pennant Parade (Stampin' Up)

Ink: Distress Inks - Walnut Stain for the car and Vintage Photo for shading (Tim Holtz/Ranger); Riding 

Coloring: markers (Copic), Gelly Roll Silver Stardust pen (Sakura)

Hood Red (Stampin' Up)

Printed Paper: Lost & Found (My Mind's Eye)

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up)

Tools: circle punch (Creative Memories); scallop circle punch (Stampin' Up); Sequence embossing folder (Lifestyle Crafts)
Accessories: cocoa pearls (Close to My Heart), dimensional adhesive; clear embossing powder

Mermaid Splashes

This card is also published on the Bombshell Stamps blog.  The Muse Monday set for this month is Mermaid Anchor.  Isn't she just gorgeous.

Here's a close up.   The mermaid is fussy cut after coloring and mounted using dimensional adhesive.   She colored using Copics and has some shimmer added to her fin and legs using a Sakura Gelly Roll pen.  

and the inside of the card.

Supplies:

Stamps: Mermaid Anchor (Bombshell Stamps)

Ink: Rich Cocoa (Memento)

Coloring: markers (Copic); silver Gelly Roll pen (Sakura)

Printed Paper: Splash (Little Yellow Bicycle)

Cardstock: Midnight Muse, Baja Breeze, Poppy Parade (Stampin' Up); white (Hammermill)

Accents: Pearls; dimensional adhesive.

Butterfly Bombshell

This is for the Bombshell Stamps June sketch challenge.

 I adapted the sketch a bit by elongating the primary shape so that it would be more in proportion with that tall gorgeous Bombshell.   I also flipped the sketch so the line of elements is on top.  I used butterflies for that.   Instead of just adding some bling to one corner, I decided that every corner needed a little something. 

 Here's an angled shot to show some of the dimension.   I cut two of the spell binder shape -one print and one solid.  That solid piece is then cut into four pieces and aligned behind the printed piece to create a shaddow.

And the inside of the card.   

Supplies:
Stamps: Bombshell (Butterfly Queen)
Ink: Memento (Rich Cocoa), Ranger Distress Inks
Coloring: Copic
Printed Paper: Theresa Collins (Fabrications Canvas)
Cardstock: Stampin' Up
Tools: Spellbinders
Accents: Black Pearls, Nailhead brad sticker (inside of card)

Twinchie - Wall Butterflies

Here's my last Twinchie/Trinchie for JenniferD's swap on Scrapshare.com.   It's almost sad that I'm done with this swap as these little works of art were so much fun to create.    One of the challenges that Jennifer gave us for all of our sets was to use three embellishments.   I took her literally on this one.   I used papers from My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline - Dolled Up 6x6 pack.  One of the prints in that pack is of butterflies all lined up.  I took inspiration from that print.  Each butterfly is dressed up a bit differently - pearls flocking, glitter, microbeads, and rhinestoes.   

I used one of Martha Stewart's butterfly punches.   For the flocking and glitter, I ran the butterflies through my Xyron both face up and face down.   For the microbeads, I punched butterflies out of sheets of Terrifically Tacky tape.  The pearls and the rhinestones were the easy part.    :-)   

Here they are piled up before packaging and mailing.   

Daydream Christmas Medallion

I fell in love with Stampin' Up's Daydream Medallion stamp set and coordinating Floral Frames Framelits Dies as soon as the catalog came out last Summer.   I just knew these would be perfect for Christmas cards too.    For this medallion, I layered four of the stamps from the stamp set and another little circle stamp from a retired set called Little Pieces for the center.   

For the back layer, I cut a second medallion, sectioned it off like pieces of a pie using my Fiskars paper trimmer and then did the shadow layer application.   Add some pearls, ribbon, embossing, matting, and that's about it.   I just love the rich effect that medallion gives.   I'll have to make more of these to send out to family and friends this season. 

Below is an angled shot that shows more dimension.   The green layer is actually stamped and cut individually and then applied.   Same with the center circle.

And here's the inside of the card.  I just this gorgeous EK Success border punch that just seemed to have similar rich and elegant qualities as the medallion on the cover.

Supplies:
Stamps: Stampin' Up (Daydream Medallion, Little Pieces)
Ink: Stampin' Up
Paper: Stampin' Up card stock
Tools: Stampin' Up (Floral Frames Framelits), EK Success border punch, 1/2 inch circle punch, Cuttlebbug Embossing Folder
Accessories: Pearls, Ribbon

Christmas Ornaments Card

My local Stampin' Up Demo, Chris Galbraith does a fantastic job.   One of the fun things she does is she puts just a little something as a thank you in my bag with my order when I pick it up.   Last month (or was it the month before) it was a sheet of Designer Series Paper from the Festival of Prints paper stack that's 6 1/2 x 4 1/2.   I had that sheet of paper sitting on my desk for a while and decided to get inspired by it to make a card.   Here's what I came up with.  I actually made three cards using that little sheet of printed paper.   Now I want to make more.   I did have that paper pad in my order that month, so I really aught to get busy. 

The colors in the print are Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla.  So I pulled those out and a red to coordinate.   I used Raspberry Ripple.   The crumb cake base is stamped with the Stampin' Up Linen background stamp (Crumb Cake ink).  The Very Vanilla layer is embossed using a Cuttlebug Embossing folder.  Add a little ribbon to the top of the die cut ornaments and then a pearl in the center medallion of the round ornament.   

The inside is kept simple.   Just a strip of DSP and I used an EK Success border punch for the small scalloped trim.

Supplies: 

Stamps: Stampin' Up (Ornament Keepsakes, Linen background)

Ink: Stampin' Up (Raspberry Ripple, Crumb Cake)

Paper: Stampin' Up (Festival of Prints DSP, cardstock)

Tools: EK Success (border punch), Stampin' Up (ornament die cuts), Cuttlebug (embossing folder)

Accessories: Stampin' Up (Ribbon), pearl

Christmas Snow Birds

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Earlier this year, I made this Christmas card and it's certainly worth reposting.  In fact, I made several of these to send out to friends and family this year.   It's a great one for duplication. 

_______

I stumbled across SplitcoastStampers Featured Stamper challenge this week (FS290).  The challenge is to case one of the featured stamper's cards.  This week Mary (screen name jandjccc) was featured.  She has a lot of beautiful work in her gallery.  I chose to case this card CLICKY.  I did change it up a bit.   I added another mat, used a different embossing folder, used a different stamp and rounded all of the corners.

Here's a close up to show off the texture and dimension.  I just loved the white on white texture look.  it's so clean, simple, and rich at the same time.

Supplies:
Stamps: Stampin' Up (Contempo Christmas)
Paper: White Hammermill cardstock, Stampin' Up cardstock (Cherry Cobbler, Lucky Limeade)
Tools: Stampin Up (bird punch and embossing folder), Martha Stewart (sprig punch)
Accessories: Close To My Heart (charcoal colored pearl stickers), Ranger (Liquid Pearls - Ruby Red)

Medallion Fall Thanks

Fall is almost upon us.   I can feel the summer heat starting to give way to more pleasant Fall breezes that want to come our way.   I'm ready for those cozy and comfortable Fall days to arrive.   

I just love medallions and this fall flavored medallion from Stampin' Up's Day's of Gratitude stamp set is just gorgeous.  In the card below, it's stamped with SU Classic ink, cut out by hand, and shaded with some ink and an artist's sponge.  Just abut every piece on this card has some shading.   

The card uses SU cardstock and SU DSP - Juntos.  The stamps used on the backgrounds are also fro the Day's of Gratitude set.   For the greeting I reached for another SU set - Afterthoughts.   The Thanks had an additional sentiment under it that I cut away.  Thanks to the cling mount stamp system, I can just add the additional sentiment to the block any time I want to use it.   The frame on the label is accented with a stamp from Four Labels.   The stamp actually had a bird on it as well, but I used a marker to color just the frame on the stamp and stamped that. Accents include a couple medallion punch shapes and some misc organza ribbon. 

 

Here's another version of the above.   For this one, I pulled out my Colorbox pigment ink.  The stamp pads are these great little petal shapes with a sharp point.  I used that sharp point to color the stamp.  Then after stamping the image, I embossed it using clear embossing powder.    The background is stamped and then embossed with an embossing folder from Tim Holtz.  

For the greeting, I used  a stamp from Lot's of Thoughts from SU.  I just inked the part of the greeting I wanted with a marker.  The frame around the greeting is from SU's Four Frames set. If you look closely, there's a bit of a shadow layer on the greeting created with two additional punched shapes.   The ribbon is Dusty Durango, bu SU.  The ribbon actually has polka dots on one side and I'm just using the reverse side.   Lastly, there's a little gold accent pearl in the center of the medallion. 

This third version is similar to the above.  the differences are a different embossing folder, but also from Tim Holtz and a different greeting (SU - Much Appreciated)

Newly Wed Elegance

I don't have any cards in my stash for newly weds, well...now I have one.   I used last week's Retro Sketch #24 and last week's Dynamic Duos #15 as inspiration. I wasn't paying attention to the challenge cut off dates and missed the submission deadline, however, I enjoyed the inspiration nonetheless.   I don't get to do these challenges that often, so this is a treat.   Here's what I came up with.

The embossed layer is slightly smaller than the card base and popped up.   I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I cut the pink medallion using my KNK Zing after tracing the image using Make the Cut.  I wasn't sure I'd like the medallion and may end up investing in the die after all.   The upper left corner is rounded using a Martha Stewart punch.  It has a bit of a larger radius than some of my other corner rounders.

The seam binding ribbon and antique brad are from Stampin Up.  The greeting is stamped in Certainly Celery Classic Die ink and using a stamp from Stampin' Up's Teeny Tiny Wishes set and then punched using SU's Word Window punch and layered on a punch out (SU Modern Label punch).   Add some pearl accents and SU dimensionals and the front of the card is complete.

Here's the inside of the card. 

And lastly, icons from the two challenges I used as inspiration. DD15 and RS24

Eclectic & Romantic

I just had surgery on my right hand this past Tuesday for carpal tunnel and trigger thumb, so I'm home recovering.  I'm getting more and more adept with my left hand, but not enough to do a lot of creating.  I do have pictures of cards and such from before I started my blog and now is as good a time as any to post some of those.


Here's a cardset I made using several Stampin Up stamp sets and My Mind's Eye printed papers.  The Stampin Up stamp sets are: Bliss, Artistic Etchings, Wanted, and Elements of Style.  Stampin Up Classic Inks are used for stamping and subtle shading on all of the cards.

The background printed paper is further embossed by stamping with Versa Mark ink and using clear embossing powder.  The SU Decorative Label punch was used on the greeting.  I used a Fiskars border punch on the bottom along with some scrunched up red seam binding.  The flower is from a mystery package that my aunt sent me.  She occasionally sends me boxes of things and I never know what's going to be inside.

The heart and scalloped border punches are from Martha Stewart.  Stampin Up's Curly Label punch is used for the greeting and SU's round scalloped punch is used for an accent piece.   Seam binding and some pearl accent finish up the card.

This card uses a border punch from Martha Stewart and some blue satin ribbon (unknown brand).

I used the same technique as on the first card to emboss the background.  Accents include a Prima flower, a pearl brad (probably from Paper Studio), and some seam binding.  The greeting is punched using SU's large oval and scalloped oval punches.

Album: Tropical Wedding

I was honored when some friends asked me to shoot their wedding.   I'm not a professional photographer, but sure do love to shoot and am lucky enough to get a few decent shots now and then.   This is my second wedding where I'm the official photographer, but I've paparazzi shot others of close friends and made them some albums.   My friends, Tim and Theresa, were kind enough to let me share their scans of the small gift album I made them on my blog.   Thank you Tim and Theresa.  I wish you all the best.  You're great for each other and it makes me happy to see you together.

The album size is 7x7 so 5x7 prints were perfect for quick pages that pop.  See the supply list at the end of this post for more product info.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Supplies & Tools: 
Printed Paper: Graphics 45 (Tropical Travelogue collection, and stripes from Communique collection)
Cardstock: Creative Memories
Stickers: Creative Memories ABC/123 stickers, Mrs. Grossman Design Lines
Tools: Border Punches (EK Success, Martha Stewart, Fiskars), KNK Zing electronic cutter, Make the Cut software.
Font: Saginaw (in cut files)
Accessories: Square Rhinestones, Pearls, Vellum Quotes (Creative Memories)
Album: Creative Memories 7x7 with black pages.