Same Stuff, Different Result.

Remember those scraps on the desk from yesterday?  Well there was enough to make another card as well, but although I've used a similar card sketch, it turned out quite differently.

I love the way the green (Pear Pizzazz) and the red (Riding Hood Red) from the Twitterpated DSP looks with the Basic Black stripes.   And how lovely are the shapes created with the Framelits?  The layering is just so gorgeous and you get great framing options every time.
The greeting is from Baroque Motifs (same as yesterday too!).  And the Baja Breeze strips were also leftover from last weeks classes and seemed to be just right to frame the greeting.
My dotty background was made using the Texture Plates for the Big Shot.  Not available here unfortunately, I bought them when I was living in the U.S.  
Real Red  & Whisper White are the cardstock colours again, and the scallop trim was made using the punch of the same name.

So, I hope you are inspired to go use up some scraps.
Cheers
Karen

Extra Large Mickey

My daughter asked me to make a card for her friend's birthday.  Apparently she loves Mickey Mouse and having never made a MM card, I turned to my endless source of inspiration, blog-land.   Thanks to a very talented lady by the name of Michelle Reynolds, I was able to C.A.S.E. this!

I make no apology for casing - Michelle had done a perfect card, so why mess with perfection?!   

My card is however, larger than standard.  I started with a whole piece of A4 in Real Red and folded it in half.   The Basic Black layer has been run through the Big Shot with a Textured Impressions Plate (I bought it when I was a demo in the U.S.).  Thank goodness I still had it - it allows you to dry emboss a piece of cardstock that's almost A5 in size. 

I used the 1 3/4" circle for the head, and 1 1/4" circle for the ears in the main Mickey.   The sentiment is from Word Play.   The word "Dream" is a stamp I had in my stash which I punched out using the Decorative Label.  But I may just have to buy the set "Loving Thoughts" on page 20 of the current mini now!

The 3 smaller Mickey's were made using the 1" & 3/4" circle punches.   Unfortunately, the gingham ribbon is retired.  I do wish they'd bring it back.....pleeeeeease!   The scallop trim border punch, and corner rounder punch adds a little extra detail. 

Thanks for looking!

Have a super day.
Karen

A little bit Vintage

This card was inspired by Shelli.  She always wears lovely outfits and I like the way she combines texture and layers so I thought I'd give it a go in my cards.

This idea came from Shelli's outfit on page 2 of  the August 2011 issue of Stampin' Success.  If you are a demonstrator, you can find an e-copy on Splitcoaststampers.   I can't copy the picture, so if you're not a demo, my apologies, you'll just have to trust me!  Anyway, the colours reminded me of Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla & Marina Mist.

I've used a sponge to put colour onto the embossed vintage wallpaper pattern.  It gives a denim-like look to mirror Shelli's jeans.   The lace was for her jacket & t-shirt which were a mix of vanilla & cream colours.  I spritzed the crumb cake designer label and scrunched it.  This is a technique that makes scrunching easier because it softens the paper, but be warned, you can tear it easily and it won't stick to your project until dry.   I usually try to do these elements first so they're dry by the time I'm ready to use them.   You can work with a heat gun if you're in a hurry.  It's hard to tell but I did ruffle the lace from the brad to the back of the sentiment.   To keep it in place I used a couple of dabs of Crystal Effects.

Supplies used:
Stamp Set:  Warmest Regards
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Confetti White
Ink: Marina Mist &  Night of Navy
Big Shot with Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder
Taffeta Ribbon in Crumb Cake, Victoria Crochet Trim
Vintage Brads
Designer Label & Modern Label Punches
The flourish is from my stash but I cut it out with Crumb Cake.  
Crystal Effects

Happy mid week.
Karen

Scrap to it!

Two days of this and I may have formed a habit?  Oh well, it's a productive one!

This card uses up some embossed cardstock that I'd previously made with the Stripes embossing folder.  Some of the design elements were necessary to cover flaws - there's a mark on the white cs under the butterfly and the embossed whitecs was a little crushed so I covered it with the butterfly negative.  Love that! 

The butterfly negative - or stencil, was created using scrap cs - yes! - and I embossed the cut out for added interested.  Using daubers, I added colour so the white cardstock, then turned the stencil over (so you don't see the messy inky edges) and attached it with dimensionals.  The flower brad makes a cute centrepiece.   

Supplies Used:
Stamp Set:  Curvy Verses
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie
Petals a Plenty & Stripes EBF & Beautiful Butterflies Die with Big Shot
Scallop Trim Border Punch
1/8" Taffeta Ribbon in Daffodil Delight

Have a lovely weekend!
Karen

Mojo Monday 222

My first project for 2012 is this weeks Mojo Monday.   I thought I'd take the opportunity to use more of my Spice Cake suite....still lovin' it!

I inked the main stamped image with More Mustard & then after fussy-cutting I coloured the small circles with a Pool Party marker.  The centre of the image is a smaller stamp from Spiced Paisly inked with Soft Suede & Pool Party marker.   The edges of the Very Vanilla cardstock for the sentiment & the large circle are sponged with Pear Pizzazz, as are the leaves. 

Supplies:
Stamp Set:  Spiced Paisley & Warmest Regards (long retired)
Cardstock:  Soft Suede Textured, Pear Pizzazz & Very Vanilla
Ink:  Soft Suede, More Mustard, Pool Party (marker) & Pear Pizzazz
Paper:  DSP Spice Cake
Punches:  1 3/4" circle, Blossom Petals Builder, 3/4" circle
Polka Dots embossing folder & Big Shot
Basic Jewels: Pearls
Linen Thread

Gelato

Here's a card I made for my daughter's friend who will be in Rome for her birthday this year - lucky girl!

The idea came from Jackie Topa.  She's an absolute whizz at cardmaking but particularly brilliant at creating almost anything using punches.   I wish I could see punch shapes in every day items still, with a bit of practice I'm sure I'll get better.

The cone is made with the Petal Cone die & then embossed using the square lattice folder.  I punched out the icecreams with the 2 1/2" circle first, then punched each one with the 2 3/8" scallop circle.  The first "scoop" of icecream is actually from the Petal Cone die.   I stuck it behind the cone and then layered the "flavours" on top.   A red button with some florist's wire for a stem makes a yummy cherry on top.

Hope you have a gelato flavoured day.
Karen

Inkspirations Challenge #92

This colour challenge from Inspirations was Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy, Sahara Sand & Very Vanilla.

I made the banner for the greeting using the large oval punch - cute eh?  I'll pop back in a day or two with a tutorial.    The centre of the flower is made using our new seam binding.  I'm loving that ribbon!  It's so soft and easy to work with.    It's a fairly easy technique where you tie a knot in the end of your ribbon then keep wrapping around the knot until you get a closed rose look.  It's secured with glue dots - about 5.  I wish SU still had the big ones!

Supplies used:
Stamp Set: Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Cardstock:  Not Quite Navy & Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla
DSP: Timeless Portrait & Cherry Cobbler
Ink: Not Quite Navy
Lace Border Punch
Big Shot, Stripes Embossing Folder & Fun Flowers die
Rhinestones & Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding

Don't forget that some of our Big Shot dies are on special right now - check it out here.

Cheers
Karen

Chocolate Orange

After preparing for this weeks classes I decided to play some more with the Chocolate Chip & Pumpkin Pie colours.  Haiku was one of my all time favourite Designer Series Papers and it's colours are Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Old Olive & So Saffron, and it works really well with Choc Chip...what doesn't ?!   And come to think of it, Chocolate Orange is one of the most yummy chocolate treats you can have.....coincidence?  Hmmmm.

So while I left out any Haiku paper with Old Olive, I did use quite a bit of the other papers in these projects.  I won't list all the supplies but if you'd like to know anything I'll be happy to answer your questions by email or phone.  I will also have these projects displayed at my classes this week.

Thanks for looking.

Karen

Square look

I'm back!   I've been away for a couple of weeks (well, away from the computer), largely because we've had visitors so we've been travelling around playing tourist with them while the school hols were on.  Had a lovely time!   I really enjoy doing things around our own locale and we also managed weekends away in the Hunter Valley & Canberra.  Both of which were thoroughly gorgeous.   Anyway, maybe I'll talk more about that another day.

My reason for posting, is this project:

I was asked to make a card for the girlfriend of a friend.   I got this idea from SCS & just loved the square look.  I guess it appeals to my sense of order!   I tried a colour combo that surprised me - I was told that the young lady in question likes yellow, but couldn't bring myself to use it as a the main colour.  So I teamed it with Old Olive & Rich Razzleberry (2 fav's) and I think the scheme works quite well.  The yellow I chose is So Saffron - another favourite and I've done lots of layers which has the end result of quality because it's so heavy!!

Do you like the numbers?   They're Sticky Cuts, and at the risk of repeating myself, so easy to use.   I've covered them with seed & micro beads which ensures an even finish.    The jewellery tag punch was used to frame the sentiment & I've used the 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" square punches as well.   To soften the Whisper White layers, I stamped a background in So Saffron first, then stamped the flower in Rich Razzleberry before punching out.    I also used a Texture Plate with the Big Shot (you need one of these!) and sponged over the embossed result with the So Saffron.   I like the way it adds texture and dimension at the same time.

Here's another one I made for Mum - if your reading this Mum, don't scroll down any further please!!

 This is also a card I made for my stamping group's July challenge.   The colours are a bit "Christmassy, according to my daughter!   But the challenge was to use retiring colours, and I thought these looked good together.   This time, the main focus is on the chipboard heart and letter.   I used a sheet of super sticky double sided tape (like jac paper) to cover the heart which I then cut out and covered in SuperNova glitter.   The letter is glittered but I used Crystal Effects as the glueing medium because I could be bothered struggling to cut out the shape!!   The stamp set is Priceless.   Inks & Cardstock are Mellow Moss, Ruby Red & Summer Sun.  

Thanks for looking!

Karen

Quick Cards

As a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I have access to a pre-order system for the upcoming mini catalogue (you can too, if you become a demo - and there's lots of other benefits too!).  So, I ordered some of the new thingys - among them, the Textured Impressions Manhattan Flower & Perfect Polka Dots.  Both of which are EXCLUSIVE to Stampin' Up!   Here's what I did with them:

The Manhattan Flower card also uses Heard from the Heart stamp set in the autumn-winter mini catalogue.  Isn't that a gorgeous greeting? I love the size because it fits perfectly across the card.    There are 4 stamps in the set - you'll have to wait to see more, so check back often!!  The Manhattan Flower is embossed onto Bravo Burgundy cardstock using the Big Shot.  I've trimmed it to fit the card, which is Very Vanilla, and I've added some Taffeta ribbon in Kraft.   Super easy and totally gorgeous.  I'm thinking that these would make lovely Mother's Day cards for the troops.
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Next, is the Happiness Always card using the Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions folder.   It's sized perfectly to use on a card front.  In keeping with the "quick" theme, I used some ribbon - the Striped Grosgrain in Tangerine Tango, and "false" bow is in the So Saffron from a recent promotion.  The flowers & border are from the Simply Scrappin' Kit called Petal Party (gggggggorgeous).   And the greeting is from the Sale-a-bration set Whimsical Words.   Don't forget to use a liner inside cards that are very dark.  Not everyone has a white gel pen you know!!

Having fun here.......