Back To School

The project I am showing you today is actually something I made long before my blog was born. I made this for my classroom using an old frame, scrapbook paper, sizzix tag dies, buttons, baubles, doo-dads, brads, clips and more! It sits on a file cabinet behind my desk and makes me smile every time I see the bright cheerful colors and the fun school embellishments.

I started back to school today with a week of workshops, meetings and getting the classroom ready for the students next Tuesday. I hate to ignore my blog, but posts will not be as consistent until I get my new routine under some kind of control. But the good news is that while our superintendent and others were talking this morning, I sketched out several card ideas for when I do get the time to make them a reality!

Off to stamp some more!

Accordion Fold Halloween Card

Michelle @ My Paper Bliss has a video tutorial on making an accordion fold card. After watching I wanted to make one right away, but had some prior commitments. As soon as I was able though, I made my way to the stamp room to have my try at one.

The DSP is an unknown, retired SU package.
Cardstock used: Basic Gray, Whisper White, Black and Pumpkin Pie.
All images were stamped in Marvy Black. Markers used were: Summer Sun, Elegant Eggplant, and Pumpkin Pie.
Glaze pens in black, clear and green were also used to highlight some images.
Star brads, circle punches and scallop punches were also used.
Images were from the following SU stamp sets: Autumn Apparitions, Batty For You, Web Wishes, and Sanded.

Off to stamp some more!

Autumn Leaf Prints

These two Autumn leaf cards use the same stamp set and the same colors, but different layouts. The cs colors used are Vanilla, Kraft, Elegant Eggplant, Always Artichoke, and Really Rust. The ink colors are the same as the cs except the card on the right has a black spotted background (DeNami).

The card on the left starts out with an Elegant Eggplant base and has a slightly distressed Kraft panel that was stamped with the Linen background stamp in Really Rust. The images were trimmed so that parts of each leaf extended beyond the rectangular borders. These pieces are adhered to an Always Artichoke layer embellished with an Aged Copper hardware swirl and a snippet of gingham ribbon. Some paper piercing completes this layer which was then popped up with dimensionals slightly off center.

For the card on the right, I used all three ink colors on the one image. After cutting out the leaf, I popped it up with dimensionals over a piece of mesh (does anyone use this any more besides me?!). The three cs panels have twine threaded through black eyelets. As mentioned above, the card has random black spots stamped across the panels and the Kraft card base.

Off to stamp some more!

Trick or Treat!

I just had to satisfy my desire to stamp some Halloween cards today! And here they are! The card on the left uses non traditional colors: (hey, stampers do that all the time with Christmas cards, why not Halloween?) Gable Green and Taken With Teal and some Pumpkin Pie to make it legit! The Gable Green DSP with thin stripes and dots in Taken With Teal is SU, but I don't know the name. It was from a time when their papers were one sided, so it is quite old! Stamps from three different SU sets were used: the main image is from Tableau of Terror, the gnarly tree is from House of Haunts, and the sentiment is from Tasty Sweets. The main image is popped up with dimensionals.

The card on the right is more in tune with typical Halloween colors, although the base is Lovely Lilac. Once again I do not know the name of this SU DSP, but it is also quite old, as the design is printed on just one side. The image is from the set Eat, Drink, and Be Merry and has a wee pumpkin brad added to the brim. The image was cut out so that part of it is outside the circle shape. Then it was layered onto a scallop circle and popped up with dimensionals. Above the image are three shaped eyelets: bat, cat, and ghost placed on a wide oval punchie. The ribbon is SU Pumpkin Pie striped grosgrain.

Off to stamp some more!

Country Blessings

This last weekend I pulled several SU stamp sets off a shelf for two reasons. First I wanted to stamp the images into my 3-ring notebook, since I am sadly behind in that organizational task, and secondly I was in the mood to stamp some Autumn themed cards.

Country Blessings was the set used for this card. On the main Vanilla cs panel I stamped the sentiment near the bottom and the garland close to the top; both in chocolate chip ink. To fill up some of the space between the two, I placed a row of half pearls. This stamped piece was matted onto Chocolate Chip cs and is raised up with dimensionals onto the DSP.

The base of the card is River Rock cs, layered with two patterns from Apple Cider DSP. A piece of Chocolate Chip Poly Twill ribbon covers the seam where the two pieces meet. A Vanilla ribbon slide with a knot of ribbon tied to it was added on near the bottom. On the left DSP piece I stamped a third image from the same stamp set, again using Chocolate Chip ink.

Clean, simple, and elegant!

Off to stamp some more!

Lady Shell's Sketch!

Shell from Ladies, Ink, an SCS blogging group, has posted her card sketch for our August challenge. You can see her original sketch here, but also visit her blog, shellpole's snippets, to see her other beautiful offerings!

My card begins with an Old Olive base with a layer of Really Rust cs. The two patterns of DSP are from the Fall Flowers assortment (SU). The striped pattern is layered on Really Rust, to set it off from the pattern behind it.

The main leaf image is from Autumn Harvest (SU) and was stamped in Really Rust ink. The same ink was used to distress the edges of the image and the Sahara Sand cs layer as well. I used dimensionals on the leaf image before angling it onto the Sahara Sand cs. Then these layers were adhered at an angle onto the Old Olive layer. The tilt of the leaves give a sense of movement; like floating in the sky on a breezy Autumn day.

Soft blue brads were placed in two opposing corners.

At the bottom right of the card an Aged Copper hardware frame was used and adhered to Dusty Durango grosgrain ribbon (the solid side rather than the polka dot side) with two Old Olive brads.

The sentiment is from the SU set Pocket Silhouettes and was stamped in old olive ink. The accent leaf is from an all time favorite SU set: Lovely As a Tree and was stamped in Really Rust ink.

I did it! All of the card sketch challenges have been met! If only I could get this excited about housework! Nope, it's not going to happen!

Off to stamp some more!

Grounded!

It's often little things that get me excited and in the case of this card it's the the little swirl at the base of each Trendy Tree image. Huh? Let me explain. I stamped these cute little fall trees and felt they needed something to root them into the ground. After all it was a beautiful day and the breeze outside was only slight at best, so I didn't want my trees to look like they were being blown into the next county. My trusty oval stamp was way too large for these petite trees, so I looked through my SU image notebook, until I found this cute little element. This simple flourish is from a 1999 stamp set called Hand Painted Petites and it worked perfectly! And for some childish reason, this was a simple moment of pure joy for me! It's all about the little things!

Other deets for this card include:
cs and ink colors: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, More Mustard, and the Creamy Caramel swirl!
other: Sage Shadow cs matte, Autumn Vine DSP , CC ruffled ribbon, and a copper swirl.


Off to stamp some more!

Sweet Dreamers' Challenge #5: Eyelets Galore!

The challenge this week on Sweet Dreamers is to use eyelets on a card. I have a drawer full of neglected eyelets, because I usually reach for brads and/or ribbon to embellish my cards. So it was fun to dig through the eyelet drawer to see what it contained. As it turned out, it looked pretty colorful and fun in there!

This card sketch was already drawn out on a piece of scrap paper ready to inspire. My stamp table was piled high with fall stamps sets in anticipation of a day spent making cards, so the image was soon picked out. This leaf is from Autumn Leaf Prints, a retired SU set, but still one of my all time Fall favorites.

Next I looked through packages of DSP until this piece from Fall Flowers caught my eye. Using the colors found in this diagonally striped paper, the card was starting to come together. The card base is Sahara Sand, the mattes behind the image and DSP is Really Rust. Groovy Guava was punched with the eyelet border punch and placed behind the Really Rust layer.

To meet the requirements for the challenge I used 1/16" eyelets (pewter and copper) in the scallops and 1/8" eyelets (rust) in the corners of the leaf image.

As long as I had everything out, I made four of these cards so I can use them next month for a Fall swap!

Off to stamp some more!

Another Blog Award!

This one was given to me by two very talented ladies in the Yahoo Group Crafty Card Creators; Shirley and Gloria. Go visit their blogs and see their amazing works of art! Shirley and Gloria, you are both so sweet to think of me!

In accepting this award I must name five things I enjoy doing. In no particular order ;)

Stamping and joining swaps!

Spending time with my DH!

Spending time on my blog and blurfing!

Staying home and in my pj's!

Reading a really good cozy mystery book!

And now I am to name five people to receive this award! I'm going to name five groups of people instead!

My 11 lovely blog followers!
The talented bloggers in Ladies, Ink!
The talented bloggers in Sweet Dreamers
The talented bloggers in Stamp-Berries
The talented stampers in Card Makers R Us

Off to stamp some more!

Fresh Fruit

Let me start off by telling you that the hoarded and retired DSP paper used on this card is heavenly! Oh how I wish I would have dug into this package of Sweet Slumber sooner! Then I would have known enough to buy more before it retired. Why is it so heavenly, you ask? The papers are a textured cs with a delightful weight and feel! If only!

Okay, enough whining about things that cannot be changed! And yes, I will continue to hoard things because that is who I am!

The base of the card is Baja Breeze, with a layer of Riding Hood Red before the DSP layers. The apple from Fresh Fruit was stamped in RHR ink onto So Saffron cs and punched out with a 1 3/4" circle punch. The stem was colored with Chocolate Chip marker, cut out and adhered so it would extend beyond the circle. Linen thread was used to tie a delicate bow onto the stem.

Scraps from the Sweet Slumber DSP were punched into photo corners, layered and added to the corners of the card.

I'm pleased with how this card turned out. It has a sweet homespun look to it and the texture is divine!

Off to stamp some more!

More Darling Doodles

Before I put away the remaining scraps of Darling Doodles DSP, I wanted to make one more card, as I always loved these retired In Colors. This time the DSP was paired with a blinged up butterfly image from Garden Whimsy; now known as the Darling Garden Whimsy Doodle Butterfly!

I found this fun card sketch while doing some blurfing this last week and added it to my overflowing sketch ideas basket. When I saw that I had a butterfly swap coming up, I lit up with a plan! This card is pretty self-explanatory, but I did want to add that the wings of the butterfly are popped up with dimensionals, to give the DGWD Butterfly a sense of flight.

Off to stamp some more!

Darling Doodles

You can say I've had this DSP for awhile! I was making the card on the left for a swap and decided to make a second card before putting the scraps away. Both cards use the same colors: Bashful Blue, Garden Green, Groovy Guava, Purely Pomegranate, and Whisper White.

The left-hand card features an image from Circle Circus, stamped three times in PP ink. The images are embellished with several different brads. Also on the two ends of the striped layer there are green things. LOL! I do not know what they are, but I like using them! So if you know what they are, please tell me, so I can stop calling them things! Even better if you can tell me where I can get some more!

The right-hand card has images from Big Blooms, inked in PP and GG. The centers of the flowers have flower shaped brads and tiny rhinestones. Gotta have bling! They were stamped twice so I could 3D them with dimensionals. The scallops on the border also have tiny rhinestones, as does the border of the sentiment! I do love bling - can you tell!?! The sentiment is from a set called For A Friend and it also has a flower punchie with a flower shaped brad and a rhinestone center.

I still haven't put the DSP scraps away, so maybe another card will be made!

Off to stamp some more!

Thank You Lynn for the Kreativ Blogger Award!

Thanks so very much to Lynn at Confessions of a Left-Brained Stamper who awarded me the Kreativ Blogger Award! When I started this blog a couple of months ago, I wasn't sure anyone would even look at it! Go check out Lynn's beautiful creations and see what a cutie she is!

To accept the award I had to do a few things:

1. Thank the person who nominated me for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on my blog.
3. Link the person who nominated me for this award.
4. Name seven things about me that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate seven Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the seven blogs that I nominate.
7. Leave comments on all seven blogs letting them know I nominated them.

Seven things that people might find interesting about me:

I'll be starting my 33rd year of teaching very soon (too soon!).
I can probably eat my weight in chocolate and I'm no skinny minnie!
I didn't start driving a car until my early twenties.
I've been married to my DH for 30 years.
I love to watch movies/read books that make me cry.
My stamping space is now more than half the family room downstairs.
I live in MN, but absolutely hate winter!

Seven People I Am Nominating to Receive the Kreativ Blogger Award:

I'm going to cheat on this one and nominate any/all of my followers who do not have this award yet!


Off to stamp some more!

Three for Fall

The three cards today were made for three different swaps on three different Yahoo groups. I was feeling lazy this morning, so rather than taking separate photos, I took a group shot. In a nutshell, here are most of the details for each card:

Top Left:
This card was a CASE from the cover of the September Cards magazine. The swap requirement was to make a card spelling out a word with individual letters. The card base and "autumn" (Sizzix) are Chocolate Chip cs. The next layer is Sage Shadow with two patterns from Autumn Vine DSP layered on top. The tag is More Mustard distressed with CC ink. The circle is another pattern of AV DSP. The die cut leaf (Sizzix) is Dusty Durango cs, which was stamped with the retired SU crackle background stamp in DD ink. The leaf was then embossed with the swiss dots cuttlebug folder and distressed with CC ink and popped up with dimensionals. (A lot went on in that one small card element!). The oval is also DD, distressed with CC ink, stamped with a portion of a sentiment in All Year Cheer (SU). The embellishments include brads (lots!), aged copper hardware, and linen thread.

Top Right:
This simple card is for a sketch swap. The Sage Shadow card also uses the Autumn Vine DSP. Other card stock colors used are: Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, and Really Rust. The leaves were each stamped twice in CC ink. The middle portions were cut from the second image and popped up on the first. Then each leaf was outlined in its corresponding marker color. Using the SU Mat Pack, I pierced an outline around each leaf square before matting them onto the CC cs. Six 3D dots (they must have a name, but the original packaging is missing!) embellish the left side of the card.

Lower Middle:
This last card is also for a sketch swap. It starts out with a Not Quite Navy base and is then layered with several colors (Always Artichoke, More Mustard, and Not Quite Navy) of the same pattern of DSP, from an older SU Level 1 Hostess set. Bravo Burgundy cs is used as a matte under the images and horizontal DSP strip. The image is from an SU set called Together Forever, stamped in BB ink on Whisper White cs, and embellished with brads. Three square brads adorn the lower right corner.

Off to stamp some more!

Shadowing Upsy Daisy

I didn't always like silhouette style stamps, but I have come to love them. Now I don't even remember why they didn't appeal to me in the first place. Slow learner, I guess!

One of my favorites is Upsy Daisy from SU! I'm thinking this stamp would look great stamped in any color(s) and paired with any DSP. In this case it was stamped twice to create a shadow effect. First, it was stamped with Pretty In Pink ink (ooh, cute rhyme, say that fast ten times! Ha! I'm so easily amused!) and secondly with Melon Mambo ink.

The DSP is called Razzleberry Lemonade. (Hmmm, I wonder if Mike's makes that flavor!) The accent layers are Rich Razzleberry and Crushed Curry; the new In colors from SU.

Accenting the card is a bright yellow grommet with Crushed Curry polka dot grosgrain ribbon knotted through. I have to add here that the grommet went through three layers of cs like butter using the BIG Crop-a-Dial! I love my stamping tools!


Off to stamp some more!

My Stamp Room Is A Disaster!

And this is why! After making a Fall themed accordion card (or maybe it has another name?) this morning, I now have this mess to clean up and put away:

Scraps of papers:
Kraft, Dusty Durango, Soft Suede, and Vanilla cs, and also DSP (Autumn Meadows).

Stamps to clean and put away from these SU sets:
Autumn Days, Baroque Motifs, Garden Silhouettes, Great Friend, and Seasonal Images.

Ink pads to return to their rightful places:
VersaFine Onyx Black, Dusty Durango, and Soft Suede.

Misc. Tools and Adhesives:
Sizzix Die: Bare Tree, Cuttlebug folder, small daisy punch, Soft Suede grosgrain ribbon, leftover Jolees stickers, double stick tape, glue dots, an ATG, and Tombow Mono Adhesive.

Do I dare wonder aloud? How much did this card cost me to make!?! Yikes! I think I'd better go clean up my stamp room and hide the evidence!



Off to stamp some more!

Any Vera Bradley Fans Out There?

I am a huge Vera Bradley fan! I love the colors and patterns in the fabrics; so bright and cheerful! Yesterday I splurged and bought myself some VB office products. (Okay, I'll confess I bought myself a tote bag too! School is starting up again and this is a bribe to myself!)

Back to the card or is it VB office products? Oh yes, I bought a Bali Gold Clipboard and used some of the pretty packaging to make this card! See the beautiful accent strip on the left side of the card? VB!

For the layered image, I used the large bloom from Time Well Spent (SU). I stamped it on five colors of SU cs: Bravo Burgundy, Rich Razzleberry, Regal Rose, Rose Red, and So Saffron. I trimmed portions from each colored image and glued them in layers until I had a full and colorful bloom. The final touch to the flower was adding the pearls to the center and to the Rose Red layer.

The bloom was then popped up, using dimensionals, onto a layered rectangle of Rich Razzleberry, So Saffron, and PTI white, which was embossed with the swiss dots cuttlebug folder.

The background layers consist of Rich Razzleberry cs and Regal Rose cs, which was embossed with the cuttlebug paisley folder and placed on a So Saffron card base.

In the lower right corner of the card I added three tear-shaped rhinestone brads for some extra sparkle!

I'm loving this Vera Bradley inspired card!

Off to stamp some more!

Autumn Vine

The patterned paper on this card is from an SU DSP package called Autumn Vine. I love all the colors and patterns in this discontinued set, so have been hoarding it until recently when making this sketch card. Where are the vines, you ask? I didn't use that patterned piece, but I needed a title for my post!

The three images were not stamped, they are rub ons (also hoarded!) added to Sage Shadow cs. SS is a color I really like, but find myself reaching for other greens more often.

I continue to amaze myself for using my beloved consumable supplies this summer! I'm finally learning to let go!

I didn't have any ribbon to match the Sage Shadow, so I did what I learned from other stampers. I took white grosgrain ribbon and held it against my SS ink pad as I pulled the ribbon though my fingers. I repeated this several times until I was happy with the color match.

A simple vanilla colored ribbon slide embellishment completed the card.

Off to stamp some more!

Sweet Dreamers' Challenge #4... Word Has It

Okay, so I'm making this challenge card and it's coming together just the way I want; a square Kraft base, Soft Suede layer, Blush Blossom layer embossed with the cuttlebug thanks folder, a strip of Taken With Teal stamped in VersaMark Dazzle. (I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love this ink pad!)

The challenge was to use a sentiment as the the focal point of the card. So I stamp my sentiment (Sage Advice, SU) on a layered tag, along with an image from Just Celebrate (also SU ), use a jumbo eyelet and Soft Suede ribbon and 3D it onto the card at an artful angle.

Great! I love the look of it!

But...

When I start to think about it a little more...

I'm disappointed in my choice of such a large card. I mean unless one writes in gigundo writing, who wants to fill that large of a space writing a thank you note?!!

So I may end up redoing this card by cutting it smaller. Ah, Live and Learn!

Off to stamp some more!

Owl Whimsy

As I was finishing up this swap card and gluing all the layers into place, it occurred to me to add googly eyes to the owl. I discovered these eyes complete with eyelids and lashes and liked the whimsical look! So now that my owl was definitely a female, I added some thin lines of glitter pen to the body scallops. Probably too difficult to see in the photo.

I'm sure this has happened to all of you at one time or another, but my card turned out totally different that I had originally planned. As I was gathering images, cs, and DSPs, the card took on a whole new direction with the layout. It's not that I'm disappointed, just merely surprised that what was going on in my mind, was not what was coming through onto paper.

Hmmmm, think Twilight Zone music at this point! And I'd like to point out that the photo does not do this card justice. It's really much cuter IRL - I know we all say that too, but it is...really!

Off to stamp some more!

Time Flies...

when you are having fun stamping and are in "the zone". You know, where you've been stamping for quite awhile, but it seems like just a short time and when you glance at the clock you do a double take because it is much later than think it should be. Often I am asked "how long did it take you to make this card?" I can't quite answer truthfully because in most cases I got lost in "the zone" and time just slipped away.

For this particular card, time flew in a totally different way.
As I was trying to take of photo of this card out on the deck a breeze would whip up and start to carry the card away! This happened time and time again. Finally I got smart (as well as frustrated) and tucked the card into the headrest of a deck chair because I knew I did not want to rescue it should it fall into the bushes (well weeds) below!

Deets on the card: Basic Gray base, Real Red layer, Black layer embossed with script cuttlebug folder, images from Papa's Pocket ( retired SU set), stamped with Basic Gray ink onto BG cs and then layered. Layered corner punches, with red brads, foam taped to three corners of the card. Sent off this morning for a time themed swap.

Off to stamp some more!

Embrace Life on Fifth Avenue

Yesterday in the mail I received a most beautiful card where the stamper used black/white/red/... and pink! It was so stunning, I knew right then that I wanted to use the same color combo on my next card! I let those colors swirl around in my head for awhile until an idea formed.

Not only was yesterday was a good mail day, it was also a good blurfing day. I discovered this sketch on My Creative Clutter and thought it looked interesting. As I often do, I went to bed last night with card ideas on my mind, and when I awoke this morning I had a solid plan for card-making!

With the busy-ness of the DSP (Night and Day Specialty), I wanted a simple flower, so pulled a stamp from two SU sets: Embrace Life and Fifth Avenue Floral. After stamping and trimming both images, I thought they would both work out just fine, so I ended up putting together two cards.

Off to stamp some more!

Parts is Parts

Sorry Leslie, but I just had to borrow these words of yours. Every time you use "parts is parts" on your blog when describing your card-making adventures, I LOL! I'll admit I'm easily entertained, but Leslie's blog The Crooked Stamper is very entertaining! She can spin an entertaining tale!

So for the rest of you that are asking what is "parts is parts"? Well if you noticed on my card above, the acorns are paper pieced and each acorn has three main pieces to the stamped image. I made four of these cards, so that adds up to a lot of parts! Let me break this down into numbers shall we? (Humor me, I need it after making these four cards!) From the base of the four cards to the fronts...

...that would be:

4 Taken With Teal card bases
4 Chocolate Chip layers
4 DSP layers (Autumn Meadows)
4 13" pieces of Dusty Durango polka dot grosgrain ribbon
4 more Chocolate Chip layers
4 Dusty Durango layers
12 Taken With Teal circles (1 3/8)
12 Ivory confetti circles (1 1/4)
48 acorn pieces (image from Little Layers II, stamped on DSP - Autumn Meadows, with chocolate chip ink)

See? Parts is Parts! And after oh so patiently cutting, stamping, trimming, tying, and taping, those parts are now four Autumn cards!

Off to stamp some more!

Black and White Trio

I made these three cards one right after the other until I got the black and white color combo out of my system for awhile!

The mostly white card on the right took just moments to make. (An SU embossing folder and a single layered image ( from Of The Earth) and the one in front didn't take very long either (A rub-on and clear rhinestone brad, the card cut from the Scallop Square, a SU Sizzix Die). The tall skinny card in the back took longer only because I kept changing my mind on which image (from Of The Earth) to use.

The patterned paper used on two of the cards is a new SU DSP called Night and Day Specialty. It will be available beginning Sept. 1 from the SU Holiday mini Catalog. It was this paper that inspired me to make some black and white cards during my recent stamping time.

Off to stamp some more!