Sweet Pea Gift Card Holder

One of the girls in my stamp club had a baby girl last week, so this card is for her. I used the gift card instructions from Patty Bennett's blog, Patty's Stamping Spot. After I scored the cardstock, I embossed just the front with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder. I then added another strip of Pretty in Pink cardstock that was faux stitched and matted on Whisper White to the middle. The focal piece is from the Event Full hostess set from the Fall/Winter catalog. (I had a terrible time getting a decent picture of the card - the Pretty in Pink ink didn't want to show up very well!) The rectangles were cut out with my Nestabilities dies.

For the inside, I added a simple mat of Whisper White cardstock stamped with the congratulations from Hugs & Wishes and a piece of Berry Bliss DSP on the fold of the pocket.

This card is really pretty simple, but I like the results.

Recipe:
Stamps: Event Full, Hugs & Wishes
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
DSP: Berry Bliss
Ink: Pretty in Pink
Accessories: Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon
Other: Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Signo White Gel Pen

Sorry I've been a bad blogger lately. I thought after tax season was over, things would settle down, but where work has left off other things have picked up. Anyway, I was given a few "blog awards", so I need to get caught up with those and will hopefully have more things to post!

Gel Pocket Card

Maybe I’m behind the times, but I had never tried this gel technique before this past weekend. I was looking at some of Nichole Heady’s sneak peeks for the April Papertrey release and saw her adorable fish pocket card using the technique.

She has a template for her card on her blog, but I just used my own measurements to make the pocket. I started with a 4 ¾ x 11” piece of Bashful Blue cardstock, scored at ¼” and 4 ½” on the short side and 2 ¾” and 5 ½” on the other. The finished card size is 4 ¼ x 5 ½” with a 2 ¾” pocket. After scoring, I cut off the top and bottom sections of the ¼” scored sections, leaving only the middle the full size (I hope that makes sense!). I followed the remainder of Nichole’s directions with the exception of the middle tabs. Since I used smaller tabs than Nichole did, I tucked them inside my pocket instead of wrapping them around the back.

The bottom portion of my pocket is wheeled with the Rough Texture wheel in Bashful Blue. The tag insert is stamped at the bottom with some old fish stamps I have from CTMH in Pumpkin Pie and third generation Old Olive (not sure the name of the set). The sentiment from It’s Your Birthday was stamped in Brilliant Blue.

To finish the card, I added a Round Tab Punch from Jersey Shore at the top of the tag, adhered with white eyelets, and the Happy Birthday sentiment from Papertrey’s Borders & Corners Monogram Edition.

Recipe:
Stamps: It’s Your Birthday, Borders & Corners Monogram Edition (Papertrey), Fish stamps (CTMH)
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie
DSP: Jersey Shore
Ink: Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive
Accessories: White Eyelets, Pumpkin Pie Striped Ribbon, Hair Gel, Small Ziploc Bag (from the jewelry section of Hobby Lobby)
Tools: Round Tab Punch, 1 ½” Circle Punch, Crop-a-dile

Life is Good (with Chocolate)!

Life is always good with a little bit of chocolate don’t you think?

I created this pull treat for one of the door prizes for my Stamp Club challenge. Check out all of the details for that here. I used the tutorial on SCS to create it, and it couldn’t have been easier.

I used 3 of the small stamps from Enjoy Every Moment to create the background on the Very Vanilla Cardstock, stamped in Ruby Red, Groovy Guava and River Rock. I then added the belly band in Ruby Red. The edges were scalloped with the corner rounder and sponged in Ruby Red ink. In the middle of the band, I added a strip of River Rock that was stamped with the Life stamp from Make It Count, sponged with River Rock along the edges and paper pierced. The Groovy Guava flower is from Enjoy Every Moment and was stamped on a Very Vanilla scrap before being cut out and adhered. And finally, I added the “is good” stamp from Make it Count in the flower center.

Recipe:
Stamps: Enjoy Every Moment, Make It Count
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Ruby Red, River Rock
Ink: Ruby Red, Groovy Guava, River Rock
Accessories: River Rock Double-Stitched Ribbon
Tools: Corner Rounder, 1/2" Circle Punch, Slot Punch

Life is also good because there is only one more day of tax season! I work for an investment firm, but we are also connected to an accounting firm, so it's been a little hectic lately. I'm definitely looking forward to a little more stamping time and having my Saturdays back!

Thanks for looking!

Polka Dots and Papertrey

Today’s featured stamper on SCS was Kharmagirl, and I chose this card to CASE.

I kept the same layout and stamp set, but I changed the color combo and ribbon. I used 2 different ribbons and layered them on top of each other, so this card also qualifies for this past Monday’s Try A New Technique Challenge, Stacked Ribbon. I got this striped ribbon from Michael’s dollar bin ages ago and have never used it. I'm not sure the picture really shows the true color of the stripes, but the lighter blue stripe matches the Bashful Blue fairly well IRL.

I kept the polka dots on the main layer, but instead of using DSP as Kharmagirl did, I used my new Cuttlebug polka dot embossing folder. I’ve been waiting to get this one, but I finally found it at Hobby Lobby recently and couldn’t pass it up. Also, since I embossed the layers, I stamped my sentiment on a small piece of Whisper White instead of stamping directly on the paper.

This was a fun card to make. Thanks for looking!

Recipe:
Stamps: Papertrey Green Thumb
Cardstock: Papertrey Stamper’s Select White, Whisper White, Old Olive Bashful Blue
Ink: Bashful Blue, Old Olive
Accessories: White Eyelets, Old Olive Felt Fusion Flower, Green Ribbon (unknown maker), Striped Ribbon (unknown maker)
Tools: Cuttlebug Polka Dot Embossing Folder, Corner Rounder, Crop-a-dile

Enjoy the Little Things - Stamp Club Challenge

One of my stamp club members mentioned that she thought it would be fun to issue a challenge to the group. I thought about it for awhile and came up with this idea. I created a Peek-A-Boo treat box for each member and filled it with some small Stampin' Up! supplies. (I got the idea to add stamp supplies instead of chocolate from Bethany Paull's blog, It's Not All Black and White.) My goal was to get them creating in between our stamp club meetings, use some of the items they were purchasing each time, and introduce them to some of the embellishments, etc. ("little things") Stampin' Up! offers that we may not always get to use in the club. I mailed them out along with a note challenging them to "enjoy the little things" and use the supplies to create something - a card, scrapbook page, or other project, of their choice.

I didn't really have any hard and fast rules, but here were the guidelines that I gave in my note.

• Everyone's box of goodies contains 10 different items, but they are all different things.
• The ultimate goal is to use as many of the items as you can. There will be three doorprizes. (In the event of a tie in any of the categories, I will draw for a winner.)
  1) The first will be for whoever uses the most items from their box (they can be used on multiple projects if desired).
  2) The second will be for whoever uses the most other Stampin' Up! items on their project(s) (SU! items purchased throughout the stamp club so far).
  3) And the third will be for the most creative project (this will be voted on by all members present).
• Your creation is not limited to the items in your box. Try to use some of your stamp club purchases in your creation(s). (The key to winning category #2!)
• Your project(s) (and preferably you too!) must be present to win.

As mentioned above, each of the boxes contained similiar items, but they were all different. In each box, I included a selection of 10 items from the following: brads, Rhinestone brads, eyelets, ribbon, chipboard, Felt Fusion Flowers, die-cut blooms, punched shapes, buttons, pieces of Hodgepodge Hardware and small pieces of DSP. The items were contained in a small bag and adhered inside the Peek-A-Boo box - visible through the scallop circle window. I also included a "Packing List" in each of the boxes so they would know what each item was in case they were interested in getting more!

The boxes were made using the tutorial from SCS, but I changed the dimensions slightly. My finished boxes measured 4 x 3 3/4". I started with a piece of Old Olive cardstock that was 4" wide x 11 3/4" long and scored at 3 3/4", 4", 7 3/4", and 8". The inspiration for the front came from this card on SCS. For the front, I started with a piece of Basic Black cardstock that had been stamped with the Stitched background stamp in Whisper White and matted on a piece of Whisper White cardstock. I also added a strip of Whisper White cardstock along the middle that was stamped with "enjoy" from Enjoy Every Moment in Basic Black. Each one was matted on a different color and "the little things" stamp was stamped in the same color. I also added the "Make it Count" stamp from the Make It Count Level 1 hostess set to the middle of the "O" in enjoy. It was punched with the 1/2" circle punch. I added velcro dots to hold the front of the box and the inside flap closed.

The scallop circle window was also stamped with the Stitched background before being punched. Have I mentioned that I love that background!

The door prizes will be little projects that I create. I only have one done so far - a double pocket bag, but I also plan to add a treat slider, and maybe a small box to hold chocolates or something.

I had a lot of fun coming up with the challenge and creating the boxes. It did take some time to come up with all of the different packets for the insides - if I have the chance to do this again, I'll probably go with all of the same. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone creates! (Hopefully I'll be able to post some of the projects after our next meeting.)

Treat Box Recipe:
Stamps: Enjoy Every Moment, Make It Count
Cardstock: Old Olive, Basic Black, Whisper White (for all), Rose Red, Real Red, Purely Pomegranate, Bashful Blue, Blue Bayou, Pumpkin Pie, Groovy Guava, Pretty in Pink (one each)
Ink: Whisper White, Basic Black (for all), others listed above
Accessories: Old Olive Poly-Twill Ribbon
Tools: Corner Rounder, 1/2" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Rectangle Punch

Birthday Hugs & Wishes

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I've been working on a challenge for my stamp club, so that has taken up most of my stamping time lately. I'm sending them out today, so I should be able to post about it by tomorrow or Wednesday.

I did take some time to do a card with Verve Visual’s guest designer sketch though. I thought it was an interesting sketch, so I wanted to give it a try.

I used a 9x8” piece of Basic Black cardstock, scored at 4”, for my base. The middle section includes 2 ¾ x 2 ¼” pieces of Basic Black, Old Olive and Rose Red stamped with the Stitched background in Whisper White. These were then matted on a piece of Whisper White cardstock. I really love that Stitched background. It's probably my favorite background stamp so far. I think it looks great stamped in white!

For the focal image, I stamped one of the birds from Verve’s Anniversary Birds set in Rose Red on Whisper White cardstock. I stamped it again on a scrap and cut out his wing for a little dimension. The branch from the set was stamped in Old Olive, and I added 3 Felt Fusion flowers. The ground beneath the bird's feet was sponged with Old Olive. The image was then matted on Basic Black cardstock. The Rose Red mat was adhered to the card first so the middle strip could be adhered between it and the focal image. The focal image was then adhered to the card with dimensionals.

The tag is a 2 ¼ x 2” piece of Whisper White. I stamped the Birthday Hugs & Wishes in Basic Black, added 3 black eyelets, some Old Olive Poly-Twill ribbon and an additional felt flower.

Recipe:
Stamps: Anniversary Birds (Verve Visual), Hugs & Wishes, Stitched
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Old Olive, Rose Red
Ink: Whisper White, Rose Red, Old Olive, Basic Black
Accessories: Felt Fusion Flowers, Black Brads, Black Eyelets, Old Olive Poly-Twill Ribbon

FS60 - Featured Stamper ScrapNExtras

Laura, aka ScrapNExtras on SCS, was the featured stamper this week, so I chose this card to CASE. She has a great gallery and blog - check them out sometime if you have a chance.

My card is a 4 1/4" square. The card base is Pumpkin Pie textured cardstock from the Creative License Level 1 hostess kit from the Fall/Winter catalog. The patterned paper is from that kit as well. The other cardstock is Blue Bayou. From Laura's original card, I changed the stamp sets and added Blue Bayou double-stitched ribbon.

Recipe:
Stamps: So Many Scallops, It's Your Birthday
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie (textured), Blue Bayou, Whisper White, Bashful Blue
DSP: Creative License Level 1 Hostess Kit
Ink: Blue Bayou
Accessories: Blue Bayou Double-Stitched Ribbon
Tools: 1 1/4", 1 3/8" and Scallop Circle Punches