Stamps, Circles, and Sparkles

Today's I decided to return to my first love: stamping. Lately it seems I've become quite dependent on pretty patterned papers, so today I thought I'd challenge myself by using only stamps to create my card. My colors today are Perfect Plum, Old Olive, and Regal Rose.


I used Circle Circus from Stampin' Up! to create the circle patterned paper and the punched out scalloped circle.



I love glitter, but I hate the mess. As a lovely compromise I've found that mixing embossing powder with glitter adds sparkle to an image and the glitter won't brush off. Here I stamped the scalloped circle with Old Olive and embossed with clear embossing powder mixed with Dazzling Diamond Dust.


One more angle of this card to show you how the punched out circle and "Thanks so much" greeting are popped off the page with Stampin' Dimensionals. Also note that the ribbon is threaded through the paper. Kind of a fun way to add ribbon to a card.

Wedding Scrapbook

I think I mentioned that a few weekends ago I was in my cousin's wedding. We had a great time, and I was able to get some really beautiful pictures. Including this one of My sister, her husband, my husband, and me (my husband and I are on the left).


I have so many great pictures, that I decided I would do a scrapbook for the bride as a surprise. I just completed the first page of the book. This page is very simple. I wanted the picture to be the focal point, not my amazing ability to embellish (I'll showcase that later on throughout the book :-) The paper doesn't photograph well, but it is a lovely pearlized paper from DCWV.
The words were cut from SU! silver card stock with my Silhouette SD.

I stamped on the bottom right hand corner with Versamark ink using a stamp from Baroque Motifs (SU!). I sprinkled a little silver embossing powder on, heated, and added a few dimensional wedding stickers from K & Company. Now a little note about embossing on photos. Photos don't like heat, so this must be done VERY carefully. I also wouldn't recommend doing this on a treasured heirloom photo, heating the photo may ruin it. Heat just until the powder starts melting. If your photo bubbles from the heat, let it cool. Don't touch or try to smooth the bubble out. Many times it will deflate on its own. That being said, if you have success with this technique it really is a beautiful, unexpected touch.

I have one more picture for you. It's a little closer so you can see more of the beautiful detail of this paper and some of the dimension of the embellishments.

I'm Back

Alright, I'm back from vacation, and it's back to work. The best part about vacation? Not having to cook, clean, and do laundry every day. The worst part about vacation? Coming back to a pile of laundry, a house that needs a good cleaning, and unpacking suitcases. Now that I'm back, you'll be seeing this blog updated more often again. In the near future you'll be seeing a few more scrapbook pages too. I only scrap special occasions. Recently, I've had a lot of these special occasions, so I'll be posting those as a get them completed. Today's project is a piece of framed art that I made a while ago for a friend's daughter. I wish I was better at photographing dimension. This framed art has a lot of layers too it that just don't show through on the picture. You can find the recipe below the picture.

I covered the mat of the frame in patterned paper, added rub-ons to the frame, created a scene from rub-ons and stamps, added words with thickers, and embellished the thickers with rhinestones and rub-ons.

Supplies Used:
Frame & Mat: Menards
Paper (used to cover mat): Imaginisce
Rub-ons: Imaginisce
Brads: Imaginisce
Thickers: American Craft
Once Upon A Time Stamp: Stampin’ Up! (Once Upon a Time Set)
Rhinestones: Kaiser Kraft

Celebrations

I am in Wisconsin this week visiting family for a number of celebrations. My cousin was married on Saturday, and my sister and I got the honor of being in the wedding party. So fun! Yesterday we celebrated both of my parents' 50th Birthdays. They both turn 50 in the next couple of weeks, and since we were all together we thought it would be fun to do it up right with cake, a favorite meal, presents, and of course, a couple of hand made cards. I thought I'd get fancy and try my hand at the popular tri-shutter card for my mom's 50th card. You can find the fantastic card and tutorial by Bonnie Szwalkiewicz here. It's surprisingly easy, and so fun to add embellishments to this card. I used A LOT of different products on this card. About half of the products are from American Crafts (the flair, patterned paper, thickers, and the fun little pink and brown flower). There's also a Stampin' Up! stamp (Celebrate Everything) card stock, ribbon, and rubons. The colored cupcake rubons are from DCWV. I even cut some words on my Silhouette SD. The first picture is of the card closed.


Now one of it open

Have fun trying your hand at this great tri-shutter card!

It's a Hoot

Today is my first foray into the world of acrylic stamps. These are from hero arts and I mounted them on rock-a-blocks. If you're new to the world of acrylic, like me, these babies are the way to go. You get a clean, crisp image every time. The card stock and ink is from SU!. The patterned paper is from pebbles inc. I used a bit of paper piercing here to add interest, and I had to add a little bling with some rhinestones. If you're wondering how I tied that ribbon, it's 2 pieces. 1 strip of ribbon, and 1 bow attached to the ribbon strip. I find it lies much better that way. Thanks for stopping by today!

Never Ending Lists

Do you every feel like you have about 12 projects half done, and do project finished? This week has been one of those weeks. The half finished projects strewn about my craft room are evidence of that. However, I did manage to complete this card, get a good pic of it, and now I'm finishing the posting for it. Check one thing off the list! My card today was just a lot of fun to do. The paper is from Die Cuts With a View's Citrus Stack. I know I've said it before, but I LOVE this paper. The colors are so vibrant, and so many of the papers are sparkly. I used my Stampin' Up! markers to ink up the wonderful friend stamp from the All Holidays set (also from SU!). I finished it up with 2 rhinestone brads and a filigree brad all from SU!

Fun Flowers

I think I've mentioned that I like playing around with color combos. Well, I stumbled across one that I LOVE!

Everything today is from Stampin' Up! The colors are Night of Navy, Melon Mambo (which is an new In Color), Kraft, and Whisper White. This color combo is even yummier in person. I have to admit, I wasn't sure about the new in colors this year, but I have fallen in love with Melon Mambo. It's just the right hue to pop against the Night of Navy. The flower stamps are all from the Eastern Blooms set. The "friend to friend" is from Teeny Tiny Wishes. I stamped on the button in the upper left hand corner with white stazon and tied a little linen thread through it. I love stamping on clear buttons, but make sure you give it LOTS of time to dry. The same goes for the flowers stamped with Whisper White Craft ink on the Night of Navy card stock. The flowers stamped on the kraft paper were done with versamark ink. I also used the label punch and a 1 3/8" circle punch for the sentiment.

A Great Opportunity

Recently the opportunity to send a package to a friend of my sister-in-law's came up. He's serving his country in Iraq right now. I was poking around on the Internet deciding what to send and the best way to send it, when I stumbled across this incredible web site called anysoldier.com. It hooks people like you and me up with soldiers who are actively in harms way (i.e. serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.), so we can support them with letters or packages. How cool is that? So, today I have a picture of a thank you card I'm including in my package to some of these brave men. I'll explain a little about the materials and technique after the picture.

All of the supplies are Stampin' Up! Stamp used was the Classic Star Wheel. Paper is Night of Navy, Real Red, and Whisper White. Ink is Versamark, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, and Real Red. Ribbon is Night of Navy, Real Red, and Whisper White. I also used clear embossing powder and lg and sm star punches. The "thank you" sentiment is a rub-on.

I used the emboss resist technique to create this background. I started by inking my stamp (wheel in this case) with versamark ink. Then, I covered it in embossing powder, shook off the excess, and heated image. Then I sponged ink over the paper (starting with the lightest color and working my way to the darkest). Finally, I wiped the excess ink of the embossed star images. This is one of my favorite techniques for creating color backgrounds.

A Bit of a Break and a Quick Card

I apologize for the break in posts, I have been up to my elbows in summer fun. Pool time with the kids, a parade, strawberry picking (and canning and pie making....), and even some fun in my own back yard garden. I sure do love this time of year, but it makes it hard to spend too much time indoors crafting. So, today I thought I post a really quick card. I put this one together in about 5 minutes. Just because it's fast doesn't mean it can't be fabulous. All you need is some pretty paper, coordinating card stock, a simple stamp sentiment, and a delightful doodad...enough of the awful alliteration and on to the card.

Just remember, you can make this as simple as you want. Often I forgo the scalloped edge at the bottom. You can use a tag, sticker, or large stamped image instead of the flowers.

Recipe:

Stamps:
Warm Words - Stampin' Up!

Card Stock:
Whisper White - Stampin' Up!
Certainly Celery - Stampin' Up!
Bashful Blue - Stampin' Up!

Patterned Paper:
Fairest of Them All, Magic Meadow - imaginisce

Ink:
Certainly Celery - Stampin' Up!
Bashful Blue - Stampin' Up! (used to dye flower)
Pretty in Pink - Stampin' Up! (used to dye flower)

Embellishments:
Small and Large flower - Stampin' Up!
Filigre Brad - Stampin' Up!
Green Circle Rhinestone Brad - Stampin' Up!
Pretty in Pink Grosgrain Ribbon - Stampin' Up!
Green Rhinestones - Kaiser Craft Basic

Tools:
Scallop Edge Punch - Stampin' Up!