Wish Big - Chopper

This card uses Bombshell Stamps' Custom Chopper stamp. 

and the inside of the card.

Honey Bee Box

My Stampin' Up Demo, Chris Galbraith challenged her customers to get creative with this box she put in our orders a couple months back.   I missed the next stampin' class due to Soccer Mom duties, but brought in my little creation to show and tell this past class.   Here's what I made.  

Supplies: 

Stamps: Stampin' Up (Nature Walk)

Ink: Memento Ink (Tuxedo Black), Stampin' Up for shading. 

Coloring: Copic markers

Paper: Stampin' Up DSP (Botanical Gazette), Stampin' Up cardstock

Tools: Creative Memories (octagon shape maker), Stampin' Up embossing folder (Honeycomb), Tim Holtz/Sizzix Rosette Die

Accessories:  Hemp Twine

Spellbinder Organization - CD Binder

The struggle of organization.   It goes hand in hand with having a stash of creative supplies and tools.   I used to keep my Spellbinder and Framelit dies in these great magnetic folders.  They're great, but I started to outgrow them.   So I kept on racking my brain about other solutions.

A binder system would be great.  I even tried the xyron magnet sheets and turn them into binder pages, but those didn't have enough magnetic power.   So then the though of combining magnetic sheets with some kind of sleeve.  They're heavy though, so a standard scrapbook sleeve wouldn't be strong enough.   So I needed something built to handle a bit of weight, had a sleeve and could be a binder.   I suppose that old CD binder I had laying around was worth a try.   To top it off, the CD binder has a zipper closure.  Perfect.  That way if anything did come lose it would be trapped in the binder.

So now, after using this solution a couple of weeks, I'm very happy with it.   Here's how I made it.  I went to my local Lowes and purchased a couple packages of these Magnetic AC Vent covers.   They're perfect for cutting in your paper trimmer.

I cut the magnetic sheets to size and even rounded the corners using a Crop-A-Dile Corner Comper by We R Memory Keepers.   I then mounted one set of Spellbinder dies per square.    For larger sets, I cut longer magnetic sheets and make sure to tuck those larger sets into the bottom pocket.   

Happiest Birthday

Today is my friend's birthday and she just happens to be my local SU Demo, Chris Galbraith.  I enjoy getting to make a card for her now and then, especially given all of the creative inspiration she shares with me and the rest of her customers throughout the year.  The card was inspired by this week's Pals Paper Arts sketch #PPA149.

The image is stamped and then colored with SU markers.   I used a darker color first and then a lighter one for a blended effect. The strips of printed papers are mounted on the red and then embossed. 

Here's an angled shot to show off some of the dimension and texture

And the inside of the card.  I used markers to ink up the greeting stamp.   The flowers are stamped, colored and then cut out. Adhered with some pop dots. 

Here's the sketch that provided the inspiration. Pals Paper Arts sketch #PPA149.

Supplies: 

Stamps: Stampin' Up (Apothecary Art, Everything Eleanor, and Blooming with Kindness)

Ink/Coloring: Stampin' Up (Island Indigo, Riding Hood Red, Blushing Bride, Baja Breeze)

Paper: Stampin' Up (Twitterpated DSP, and cardstock (Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Island Indigo)

Tools: Stampin' Up (Border punch, Labels Framelits,)

Accessories: Stampin' Up (ribbon)

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

Thank You Coach!

This past weekend was the end of our Spring Soccer Season.  I had the chance to make the thank you card for one of the coaches.  Here's what I came up with.

 

For the front of the card, I used a couple of different stamp sets: Stampin' Up (Thanks for Everything and Extreme Elements), Cloud 9 (Sports), and Rubber Necker (Distressed).  The inks and cardstock are Stempin' Up.  The star elements are covered chip board.  I ran a 5x5 piece of chipboard through my Xyron and then covered it with printed soccer paper from Paper Pizzaz.  I used a Sizzix Bigz die to cut the covered chipboard. 

For the inside of the card, I used an online software application to create the Wordle (CLICKY) with the girls' names and their team name - Lady Bulldogs.  The white soccer ball is made with a Sizzix Sizzlet embossing die and mounted with Stampin' Up Dimensionals.

Creepy Critters Swap Set

This is the last page element set for my current swaps on Scrapshare.com.   Thanks to JenniferD for hostessing.   She does an awesome job and I'm always thrilled to be in a swap with her. The theme for this group is obviously Halloween.

The hat is stamped with black Stampin Up Craft Ink, embossed with black embossing powder and then cut out by hand, including the shadow layer.   The cat is an image I traced with Make the Cut and cut out using my KNK Zing. The border is done with a Martha Steward punch, some background layers and a spider cut with a Sizzlet die.  The printed designer paper is Basic Grey Eerie and the cardstock is Bazzil.

A Banner Swap Set

I made this scrapbook page element set for a swap on Scrapshare.com.   

Supplies:
Stamps: Stampin Up (Party This Way)
Ink: Stampin' Up Classic Ink
Papers: Basic Grey (Life of the Party) Creative Memories (Blue and Cranberry Cardstock), Stampin Up (Whispering White) 
Tools: Stampin Up (Banner Punch and Scalloped Square Punch), Martha Stewart (Cupcake Punch), Creative Memories (Square Punch and Corner Rounder), Spellbinders (large scalloped rectangle), Sizzix Sizzlets (Playground alphabet)

Accessories: MME Bakers Twine - Orange, Stampin Up Dimensionals

Orange Sunflower Goodness

I think I managed to do a few cards with exclusively Stampin Up products. I didn't even plan it that way. I loved the Sunflower background stamp when the new catalog came out. I finally put it to some use. I also used the bird stamp from Language of Friendship. The brads are from SU. they are the Antique brads. They're scrumptious brads. Y'all probably recognize the rest of the tools and supplies used. If not, just ask away. 

Pink Snowstorm

How about a little pink for Christmas?   It all started when I was playing with my new KNK Zing electronic cutter using Make the Cut (MTC) software.   The snowflake is one of the stock images in MTC.  I just added a shadow, and sent it to my new cutter.  Wow.  The cutter just rocked! This was thick shimmer paper by Core'dinations and the machine took it on without any issues.   The snowflake was the motivation for the rest of the card.  

Supplies: 

Paper: K&Company (printed paper), Core'dinations (White, red, and pink shimmer paper)

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink

Toos: KNK Zing (snowflake), Sizzix (snowflake embossing die and "joy" die)

Accessories: Ribbon, Button

Christmas Card Mania

Since the holidays are upon us and I've been making holiday cards like a maniac, I can't think of a better way to launch this blog than to share a card (or other creation) each day until I run out.   With any luck that will take me well into December.   

I'm new to this blogging thing though and need to work out a few bugs.   To that end, I'll share some cards that I made in prior years.  I'll start sharing new projects December 1st.  

These are some cards I made two years ago.  

Supplies:

• Paper: White Glitter, Creative Memories Cranberry red cardstock, Creative Memories printed vellum from page completion kit, white cardstock
• Tools: EK Success Punch, Sizzix Dies, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder
• Embellishment: Gold thread, glitter
• Misc: Gold gel pen (to color the tips of the ornaments), pop dots, Xyron

Technique: 
There's one technique worth mentioning here.   The NOEL placard on the front most card is made by applying Xyron adhesive to a piece of white cardstock.  I then applied the red NOEL.  Lastly I applied the glitter.  I had made this as a little test item months prior to making the cards to see how well it help up.   The glitter stayed put several months later and that little placard was the inspiration for the glitter ornaments used on that card and the others.