Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Technique Class #3


I've really enjoyed these technqiue classes, the past couple of months. Here's projects from the 3rd one, which was held last night. Thanks to the 10 ladies who attended! Four cards were made, featuring 4 techniques: Wax Paper Resist, Wet Paper Watercoloring, Scratch-n-Sniff, & the Acetate card. All of these can be found on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/, so check them out, if you weren't able to attend. Click on any picture to enlarge.
Wax Paper Resist
Scratch-n-Sniff
Acetate Card
Wet Paper Watercoloring

Matching Girls!

Ok, I know this is primarily a stamping blog, but since I'm always putting in such a plug about SU products matching and coordinating, I thought I'd show you how I do that in my life- other than stamping- too!



These are all fun pictures of me and Isabella- matching!! Amazingly, most of them weren't even planned!





Yet Another Gift Set!

It seems as though I've really been making alot of gift sets, lately. In fact, I completed a cute office one this past Saturday and forgot to take a picture of it:( OH well......I was asked to make yet another set for an office birthday. The one pictured above was just completed last night. It kind of centered around the glass jar with bath salts, since that was given to me to put with the entire set. SO, I coordinated the paper with the pink salts. For a more sophisticated touch, I added the Basic Grey print (from retired Walk in the Park). The pink is Pink Pirouette (also retired). If you read the explanations in my blog posts, you can tell I used ALOT of retired DS paper! It's so great for coordinated gifts, especially!
Anyway, I used my Jumbo Marvy scallop circle punch for the jar and added a flower from Felt Fusions, topped with a flatbacked pearl. The bag was made with my SU Fancy Favor die and run through my Big Shot. Such an adorable little gift bag! This one is filled with lots of fun goodies: perfume, facial cleanser, eye cream, mirror, lip brush, etc.
The wooden heart is a clearance special from Michales. SO easy to cover. I simply traced the shape onto my paper, cut, and adhered. I was thinking this could be a bathroom door hanger- like 'do not disturb, I"m in the bath'?? I guess I really wanted to include the heart in this set!
The little notepad & pen is also a Michales clearance, covered with more DS paper. I added a little binder clip to the back, which was covered with matching paper and ribbon. The butterflies were all cut using my SU Beautiful Butterflies die & Big Shot machine.
I hope the birthday girl likes this!

Don't Miss It!


These 'Don't Miss It' invites were stamped with bleach! I'm so glad I learned this technqiue! It's probably the newest one I've played around with the most! If you haven't tried it, you really should give it a shot. All you need is a bold image stamp and a small tray of folded paper towles and some bleach. You have to play around with the amount you pour on top of the towels. And you also will have to experiment with various colors of cardstock. The bleach will look different on each color.
For these invites, I used a bold image star from one of my Christmas sets (can't remember the name). The star was stamped in random places around the card. I also stamped a confetti image and then used a sponge for a few additional bleached spots. Both stars were punched with SU star punches and then popped up with dimensionals. The edges of each were dipped in bleach, as was the 'don't miss it' circle and the Pacific Point blue strip. This was the first opportunity I've had to use the Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware. The star brads were perfect for these cards! Cardstock colors used: Old Olive, Pacific Point & Tangerine Tango (retired 98-09 In Colors).

An Old-Time Favorite!

The Wild About You set is truely one of my all-time favorite stamp sets! I continue to use it and will probably never part with it. Endless possibilities! This is a cute birthday card that I made for my nephew, who just turned One. The colors are bright and fun: Brilliant Blue, Tempting Turquoise, Only Orange, Summer Sun, & Lovely Lilac. I used my SU 1 1/4" punch for each of the white squares- after stamping. The lion was then stamped 3x- once for the body, once for the head- which I cut out, and once for the mane- which I also cut out. A fun & cute card! I hope he likes it!

Brownie Gift Box

What a fun gift box to make! I really loved this project! The circle box was actually purchased at a yard sale- perfect for covering and gift-giving, as you can see.
I traced the lid onto my Bella Rose DS paper (retired), cut, and adhered it to the lid top. The other two pieces were simply measured, cut, and adhered. I used both sides of the DS paper for coordination and to break up the pattern- around the rim. And finally, the butterfly was cut with SU Beautiful Butterflies die and Big Shot machine! I filled the box with some yummy chocolate brownies:) The card uses the retired Scene in a Garden stamp set and is the same as this post.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Summer B-day Invites

These are the birthday invites that I made for my mother-in-law's party next week. The butterfly image (from Garden Whimsy) is stamped in bleach! Such a fun and easy technique! The DS paper is one of the new patterns- Kaleidescope. Most of the paper in that package has very large images, so I chose 2 patterns that were smaller, which work better on a card. The rhinestone brad really dresses the card up. I made a batch of 14 of these. I suggest stamping, measuring, and cutting everything first, then put the card together. Makes it easy and quick.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Pretty Gifts

I was quite pleased with how these cute little gifts turned out. Very pretty! I once again used the retired Walk in the Park paper- for both sets. I cannot stress how wonderful the SU Designer Series papers are! I love that the color combos are there for me to pull from. It makes it so easy! And look how different each set appears- even though I used papers from the same pack!
The journals, binder clips, & sticky note pads were purchased at Michaels, in the dollar bin. Great value! This was a super quick gift, so the pads happened to coordinate and needed no stamping. The journals were covered w/Walk in the Park paper. I first used my SU spiral punch to make the holes. I love this punch! I also covered the binder clips w/matching paper and added the ribbons. The sentiments on the journals are from the Refuge and Strength stamp set and punched w/my SU Wide Oval. I stamped and cut out the bird from the Always set and popped him up w/dimensionals.
I think my favorite part of the gift sets is the little glass jars. I got these on clearance at Michaels for $1.50! They're perfect for the bath salts I added! A simple strip of matching paper was wrapped around each. A butterfly from my SU Beautiful Butterflies die + a pearl from the Pretties kit completed the project. I added lip gloss and lotion. Each set was divided into 2 bags- bath stuff in one and paper things in the other.

Summery Thanks

Here's a quick thank you card w/a summer theme! The Pink Flamingo paper is perfect for this fun time of year! And some of the images are really great focal points- hence very little stamping! I used Real Red as the main color for the card. I did stamp a bird to sit on the back of the flamingo- just for fun and to give some dimension! The red flower is one of the Blooms die cuts and the turquoise is from the Boho Blossoms punch. One of my favorite parts is the little flip-flop brad:) Some ribbon and the 'thank you' sentiment top off the card.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Chic Boutique

I absolutely loved this set- Chic Boutique, when I first saw it in the new catalog. It's one of those super girly sets & I simply got it for my own pleasure! This is the first card I've created with it. I plan to do a whole set, so stay tuned! This first card was inspired by the SU sample on p.6 of the new catalog. I changed a few things. I love the swarovski crystals I added! The perfect touch for this fun, feminine card.
Details:
Stamps: Chic Boutique
Ink: markers- So Saffron, Orchid Opulence, Mellow Moss, Pretty in Pink, Tempting Turquoise
Cardstock: Mellow Moss, Orchid Opulence, Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron
DS Paper: Cottage Wall
Punches: Scallop Oval, Wide Oval, Eyelet Border
Other: So Saffron grosgrain, swavorski crystals, CM cutting system (for oval)