Party Time Tuesdays Challenge #23

Isn't this a fun card?  It is actually a ribbon slider card and a gift card holder all in one!  After learning how to do this type of card at a stamp workshop, I was excited to make one for a Party Time Tuesday's "Anything Goes" Challenge!

 And how perfect would this type of card be made in a holiday theme for Christmas!

PTT #23:
Stamps:  Birthday Best
Paper:   SU Whisper White,  SU DSP: Petals & Paisleys
Ink:  black
Misc:  ribbon, tag, slit punch, gift card
Off to stamp some more!

Friday Mashup

I'm taking a short detour from my Basic Gray cards, another one will be posted on Wednesday!

While blurfing this last holiday weekend I discovered a new-to-me blog called Friday Mashup .  When checking out their color challenge, a card idea began to form in my head, but I wasn't able to physically work on it until Sunday afternoon.  The finished card size is a 5 1/2" square.

I used this sketch:












and the following supplies:

Stamps:  SU: Snow Swirled
Paper:  black, Whisper White, silver metallic 
Ink:  VersaFine black
Misc:  Cuttlebug EF: Snowflakes and Swiss Dots,  rhinestones, dimensionals
 Off to stamp some more!

Stars 3

Continuing with my Figgy
Pudding meets Sketches To Go posts, this A2 card resembles the sketch found on page 38.

Three star stickers are used with a sentiment and some inked lines to give the illusion they are hanging from the words by a thread!  Tiny rhinestones were added at the top tips of the stars and in the holes near the scallops!

Lush velvet ribbon adds some elegance to the card as well.

Off to stamp some more!

String of Lights

 I just love the old-fashioned Christmas bulbs on the sticker sheet from the Figgy Pudding paper pack!  Here I used them with the sketch found on page 62 of the Go To Sketches magazine from Paper Crafts.

Like the ornaments featured on yesterday's post, I blinged them up with some colored rhinestones.  I also used a recent purchase, baker's twine, to string them together.  So cute!

This sentiment from Gina K's Holiday Collection was the perfect choice for this card!  The finished size of this card is 6 1/2" x 3 1/4"; a size I have been making quite a few of my cards lately.
Off to stamp some more!

Bring On The Bling!

The adorable card that I am showing you today is the result of pairing a Basic Grey paper pack (Figgy Pudding) with the sketch on page 25 of Paper Crafts, Go To Sketches, Volume One.

I used the four small ornament stickers and merrily brightened  them up with rhinestones!  Linen thread was looped onto the tops of each holiday ball.  A strip of coordinating striped paper was added to the top of a 6 1/2" x 3 1/4" Sahara Sand card base.

I love using this Christmas paper together with the sketch magazine and am having so much fun getting into some one of a kind holiday card-making!

That lovely ribbon at the top of the card is the yummy Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon from SU!  A sentiment from Gina K's Holiday Collection was inked up in SU's Early Espresso and stamped on the patterned paper
.
Thanks for looking and off to stamp some more!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Happy Thanksgiving to all my wonderful friends!    My thanks to all of you for sharing the love of stamping with me!

The Last Two!

Whew!  Here are the last of the large pull out tags!  Made the same way as all of the others posted previously.

Next up will be cards made with the same Basic Grey Figgy Pudding paper pack and sketches from Paper Crafts Sketches To Go.

Hope you 'll stop by and check them out

Off to stamp some more!

Large Pull Out tags

Here are two more of the Basic Grey Figgy Pudding pull out tags.  These were two of the larger stickers in the set, which I backed with one of the solid colors in the pack.  Ribbons and metallic embroidery floss were tied onto the ornament tops.

The "envelopes" began as squares of Sahara Sand card stock cut in half  diagonally and two sides taped together.  Then I added layers of patterned paper that coordinated with the sticker tags.
The envelopes were then embellished further with ribbons, buttons and linen thread.

Easy and so adorable!

I'll be back tomorrow with two more examples!

Off to stamp some more!

Party Time Tuesdays Challenge #22

Today's challenge for Party Time Tuesdays is as easy as 1, 2, 3!   Use 1 image, 2 designer papers, and 3 different embellishments to make your birthday card!

Here is the supply list for my card:

Stamps:  SU Birthday Bakery
Paper:  Gina K Pure Luxury white, SU: black, and SU DSP: Rockabilly
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Spica Glitter Pen
Misc:  ribbon, punches, flourish sticker, dimensionals
Off to stamp some more!

Pull out tags

 I am so excited to share these fun pull out tags with you today!   These were fast and fun to make and I can't stop playing with them!  LOL!  (I'm so easily entertained!)

Here's the story behind these fun tags.  I had purchased a package of Basic Grey Figgy Pudding scrapbook paper months ago from one of those daily deal sites.  Set it aside until now. Then in my stash of card making publications I pulled out Volume 1 of Paper Crafts Go To Sketches.  Well on pages 18-19 there is a sketch for these cute pull out tags.  And the result was a lot of fun using the ornament stickers/patterned papers from FP to get a start on my holiday projects!

I haven't stamped anything on the back sides of the tags yet, as I'm still deciding whether to use these as gift tags or as Christmas cards.

Other supplies used were Sahara Sand card stock (SU), ribbons, buttons, and metallic embroidery floss.

Now just a heads up for you,   I used all of the stickers in the BG FP paper package making more pull out tags and cards based on the sketches from the PC Go to Sketches magazine.  I'll be sharing these with you for the next two weeks!  So stop back often to see the fun I have to share!
Off to stamp some more!

Boho Friend

 I believe this will be the last of my Thanksgiving type cards for this year!  I sure did have a lot of fun making fall cards this year, especially ones that were geared towards Thanksgiving.  But it is time to give way to other themes and images.  Of course with the MN weather turning much colder and hints/threats of snow in the forecast...well a new season is working its way in!

What makes this card unusual for me is that I used a wheel to decorate the left side of the card!  Wheels!?!  I have a oodles of them that I sort of forget about and they wheely really need to see more love and ink! (sorry, just couldn't resist!)

The SU wheel used here is called Boho Friend and is stamped using a brown ink cartridge that is lighter in color than a regular Chocolate Chip ink pad.  I was very surprised that the ink was still juicy enough to use, because as I indicated, it has been a very long time since I've used any wheels and their ink cartridges.

The sentiment is from one of my newest and favorite SU stamp sets: Day of Gratitude.  This was stamped in Chocolate chip ink and you can clearly see the difference in color from the wheeled image.  A bit of stitched ribbon that coordinates with the Cajun Craze layer was tied around a Very Vanilla panel.  The pearls on the wheeled image are a pale orange in color.  A simple, yet beautiful card to celebrate the coming fall holiday!
Off to stamp some more!

Holiday Favor

 I discovered this Thanksgiving favor in the November 2010 issue of  "simply handmade".   As you can probably guess, I CASEd this project.  Well, in my defense, I had almost all of the necessary parts! Don't you just love these small scallop lunch bags?  (SU!)

I used Dusty Durango card stock and ribbon (original used Peach Parfait) on my bag, and twine rather than twigs like the original, but otherwise why mess with perfection?  LOL!

These will grace my table next week at each place setting!
Off to stamp some more!

Give Thanks

Looking through past issues of "cards" publications, I saw a card I just had to CASE!  Nov 2008, page 26, was the inspiration for this Thanksgiving card.

I've been making quite a few long and narrow cards lately and I love how this one turned out.

The card base is Chocolate Chip with SU's Pumpkin Pie DSP on the top portion of this card.  The lower portion is Very Vanilla, with a sentiment from SU's Holiday Best stamped in Chocolate Chip ink.  Light green rhinestones were added to the leafy part of the image.  Wide satin ribbon is knotted where the two portions of the card meet

The main image of the card is from SU's Autumn  Apparitions, colored with markers, punched out, and then layered using two different sized circle punches and a scallop punch.
Off to stamp some more!

Aspen Leaf

Okay, I shamelessly and almost totally CASEd this card from someone's blog and now cannot find the link.  The gal posted the inspiration piece on her blog just within the last week. I'm sure I saw it last Sat. or Sun.

A couple of things about the original card caught my fancy.  I loved the leaf stamped within the "shadow" created from stamping with a clear stamp block.  I also loved the dangling tag on the original card.  I colored my silver one with a copper metallic pen.  The last detail that I found so whimsical was the small strip of scallops partially along one side. I'd never think of fun details like these on my own!

Aspen Leaf:
Stamps:  SU: C block, Love & Joy, and Take Three; Hampton Art Stamps: Aspen Leaf
Paper:   SU: Old Olive, Cajun Craze, Baja Breeze
PTI ivory
Ink:   SU: Baja Breeze, Cajun Craze, Old Olive
Misc:  metal edge tag, copper metallic pen, circle punches, linen thread, dimensionals
Off to stamp some more!

Party TimeTuesdays Challenge #21

It's Party Time Tuesday! and the challenge this week is to make an easel birthday card!  These cards are really so easy and so much fun to make!  You can find some easy to follow directions here!

Here is the list of supplies I used on my card:

Stamps:  SU: Crazy For Cupcakes
Paper:  SU: Rose Red, Pink Pirouette,  Bali Breeze DSP,  Gina K Pure Luxury white
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics
Misc:  ribbon, brads, Gelly Roll glitter pen 

Off to stamp some more!

Tealight Candles

Edited to add:  I used classic dye ink on 1 3/8" circles of tissue paper.  Placed on candle  and then melted on with heat tool.  Hope this helps!

I finally did it!  I decorated some tea light candles!   I've been admiring these for some time now and I finally gave it a try.  In the craft clearance aisle at Wal Mart I found a box of these on sale, enough to practice on.

In the same aisle I picked up this bag of shreds and an idea began forming in my mind!  Sometimes just a little something is needed to brighten a day or let someone know you are thinking of them.

I used an image from Day of Gratitude on these in Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, and Cajun Craze.

Okay, now to track down the directions for the boxes that hold several of these candles, as I may want to make some for Christmas too!
 Off to stamp some more!

My Stamp Room...A Revelation

Ha!  I bet some of you were expecting photos!  But I said a revelation, not  a reveal!  Here's what has had me tossing and turning a lot the last few nights, weeks, and probably months!:

My stamp room is no longer a fun place for me to go to.  Gasp!  I actually wrote that out loud!  But it's true!  And the reason is I have too much stuff!  To be more exact, too much unused stuff.  Stuff I know will never be used by me again.

I use SU  stamps and papers almost exclusively, yet I have a ton of stamps and paper from my pre-SU days of stamp acquisitions.  Before I found my niche.  And I'm getting tired of and going broke with the struggle to find storage solutions for all this s(crap!  I have plenty of storage, just too much stuff.

So what I am planning on doing is stuffing Flat Rate Priority boxes to the brim and sending them off to loving homes.  I'll begin doing this during my Christmas break in December.  I'll keep you posted on my progress, in case anyone who reads my blog would like to receive a goodie box.

Gee, I'm feeling better already, so it must be the right thing for me to do!
Off to stamp some more!

Gratitude

 I'm showing you another sketch swap card today.  This one is done in River Rock and Chocolate Chip cardstock, along with some DSP that I no longer have the package for, so can't provide a name!

Chocolate Chip and Old Olive inks were used on images from Baroque Motifs, paired with the sentiment from Day of Gratitude.  Aged Copper brads and hardware provide embellishments, along with that weird stretchy ribbon that SU once sold.
Off to stamp some more!

fabulous friend

This card is loosely based on a sketch for a swap in one of my Yahoo groups.

I see now I was holding my camera a little too high when taking this photo, but only noticed  this dilemma after getting it pre-posted!  I've decided I don't want to redo it!

The card is quite striking in white, black, and Rose Red, with rhinestones and rhinestone brads adding some sparkle and shine among the fabric flowers.

The sentiment is from SU's set called Oval All, which is layered with different sizes of oval punchies.
Off to stamp some more!

Party Time Tuesdays Challenge #20

Whoohoo!  It's time for another birthday party!  This week on Party Time Tuesdays the challenge is an inspiration picture!  I had purchased these Martha Stewart rose stickers on clearance quite awhile ago and was so excited to finally have a reason to use them!

I began with a sturdy white card base and embossed a border along the lower edge with a Cuttlebug EF.  Tiny red rhinestones were added to the embossed scallops.  The next layer is also white and also embossed. This time with the Swiss Dots EF from Cuttlebug.  The rose layer is backed with Black cs and features three of the MS rose stickers.  The sentiment is from the SU set: Send a Celebration and is also backed with Black cs.  Tiny clear rhinestones were added to the ends of some of the curly letters.

Have you ever considered being on a Design Team?  Here is your opportunity to try out for one of the best teams ever!

                                             2011 Design Team Call

  Party Time Tuesdays
 is looking for eight people to join the party!  Here is what is expected from the Design Team members:

• Six month commitment (January 1, 2011 through June 30, 2011)
• You will become a member of the PTT private DT blog.
• Create a birthday card following the set challenge every other week (including the birthday greeting/sentiment/wording on the front of your card).
• Post your card on your personal blog no later than 7:00 am in your respective time zone.  On your 'off' weeks, we ask that you still post the challenge on your blog. 
• Cards are to be submitted no later than the Sunday before Tuesday's challenge via the PTT private DT blog.
• Comment on participant entries each week as assigned.

If you agree with these expectations, please e-mail the following information to: partytimetuesdays (at) gmail (dot) com, no later than Tuesday, November 30th:

• Your Name
• Your address, telephone number & e-mail address
• Blog address
• Current/Past DT experience, if any.  (DT experience is NOT required!)
• A newly created birthday card that shows your personal style.  Don't forget the sentiment/greeting!

 Design Team Members will be notified on Tuesday, December 6, 2010.

Good luck and have fun!

Off to stamp some more!

Just Believe

Before I began stamping this morning I did a little reorganizing in my stamp room.  Tweaking how my space is arranged seems to be a never-ending task!
But it feels good to have some things moved around.

As is often the case, I discover things I had misplaced or had forgotten about.  Today I rediscovered a stash of bookmark sized pieces of assorted cs and layering papers.  Purchases from stamp conventions long past!

I was quite excited about this silly discovery, as I had several swaps to complete; with one being a sketch swap that needed a piece of cs about this size!

The strip of cs is ivory with flecks of metallic gold in it and there was matching brushed gold papers in the same package!   So I went with the color combo of ivory, gold and brown for a fall-ish card.

The image from SU's Just Believe was first stamped with Chocolate Chip dye ink and then stamped a second time, slightly off center with Vanilla Craft ink, resulting in a subtle shadow effect!  Loved it!  Layering, embellishments, and a sentiment make the card complete!
Off to stamp some more!

Simply Sent: For You Phrases

Not too long ago I purchased some items (okay, more than some, much more!) from SU's Clearance Rack.  A Simply Sent card kit was one of those items.

I finally had time this weekend to dig into the card kit and make the two featured cards.  The card on the left was made exactly as directed.  The card on the right was changed slightly.  I added the flower image to the sentiment piece and punched it out.

 These were quick, fun little cards to make.  I'll finish up the rest of the kit at another time.
 Off to stamp some more!

A Blast From The Past

 A couple of months ago I received a padded envelope from a publishing company.  It wasn't the right size or shape for the stamping issue I ordered - what could it be?  It was a card.  A very old card.  If it wouldn't have had my information on the back, I would not have known it as one of mine!

Go back many years  (two computers and two email addresses ago!), someone in one of my yahoo groups had the idea to host a swap and then she would send the extra card to this publishing company in hopes of getting our group's cards published. Well that never happened!  But after all these years I was sure surprised to get my card returned!

This is one of the few golden oldie cards of mine I'm not too embarrassed to post! (and yet, maybe I should be!)

Stamp: Botanical Poste by Uptown Design
Paper: dark green, ivory, and textured card stock
Ink:  dark green
Misc:  copper embossed leaves, dimensionals
Off to stamp some more!

SCS Holiday Tutorial Blitz - Treat Box Card

When I saw this project on Splitcoaststampers, I  couldn't wait to try it.  But real life and the daily grind job got in the way, so I made it as soon as I could!

I know you're thinking these are unusual colors for Thanksgiving, and you're right, but I was grabbing for whatever was handy so I could get this project  put together and posted! (I hate not having a new card/project to share every day!)

There were no chocolate nuggets to be found in my hidden stash cupboards, but I did have a bag of Riesen caramels, so I slid six of those into the box.

Additional details follow:

Stamps:  Day of Gratitude
Paper:  PTI ivory, SU: Chocolate Chip, SU DSP: Candy Lane
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red
Misc:  brad, SU Fleurette, candy, punch, dimensionals            
Off to stamp some more!

Party Time Tuesdays! Challenge #19

For those of you who saw today's card earlier, my apologies for not having any description up.  Our internet service was down last night, so I wasn't able to complete this post.  The photo was already set to pre-post.

This "Anything Goes"  birthday challenge card for Party Time Tuesdays
uses the same stamp set as the card posted yesterday.  Only because I don't always get my stamps put away from one card before starting to plan out the next!  And I do like the birthday image from Fabulous Four (SU)!

The most difficult decision I had to make was choosing the papers to use.  I went with sweet slumber DSP (SU) and paired it with Baja Breeze card stock for the base.

The image was stamped onto Whisper White and colored with markers that matched the DSP.  Then the layered image was popped up with dimensionals.

Three larger brads were added to the upper left side, as it needed something in all the bare space!
 Off to stamp some more!