Time Well Spent Anniversary

My in-laws anniversary was on New Year's Day, so this is the card I made for them. I got the idea for the card from one on Nancy Riley's blog, iStamp. It was a rak she received from Lorri Heiling. I really liked the way Lorri used the white gel pen to outline her flowers, so I decided to duplicate that idea with the heart from Time Well Spent.

I stamped the heart in Basic Black on four 1 3/4" squares of Purely Pomegranate. I then colored the flower with the white gel pen and made a flower center with my Basic Black marker. Each of the squares were then mounted on 1 7/8" squares of Whisper White. The background piece is Basic Black cardstock (I don't remember the exact dimensions) that I stamped with the smallest flower from Time Well Spent in Whisper White. I added a piece of Black Gingham ribbon to the bottom and adhered it all to a Purely Pomegranate card base. Happy Anniversary from Hugs & Wishes was added at the bottom in Basic Black.

Recipe:
Stamps: Time Well Spent, Hugs & Wishes
Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink: Basic Black, Whisper White
Other: Black Gingham Ribbon

A New Beginning!

Happy New Year! I can't believe it's 2008 already! And I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted to my blog. I started out with good intentions of working on a watermark and getting right back into posting. However, life seemed to have another plan for me. I won't go into detail, but my husband and I had a difficult end to the year (no, we're not splitting up or anything like that). We are looking forward to great things in the new year though.

I haven't had any desire to stamp for quite awhile and hadn't even touched my stamps for around 6 weeks or so. I was finally able to get into my workroom today and play around a little. Even though I didn't come up with anything earth shattering, it was good to get back into it.

This first card is the one I made today. It uses a color combination and stamp combination I've used before - just a little different layout. The main image also uses the cracked glass technique.

Recipe:
Stamps: Stem Silhouettes, So Many Sayings, Linen, Baroque Motifs
CS: Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Very Vanilla
Ink: Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Versamark
Other: Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon, Vintage Brads
Technique: Cracked Glass

This second card is one that I've had in my stash for quite awhile, but I don't think I ever posted it to my blog. I needed a special thank you card to send to my parents for a generous gift they gave my husband and I while we were visiting over Christmas. And I decided this was the one. The left panel uses the emboss resist technique with the open flower from Heartfelt Thanks.

Recipe:
Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks
CS: Whisper White, Glossy White, Pretty in Pink, Going Gray
Ink: Versamark, Pretty in Pink, Going Gray
Markers: Regal Rose, Certainly Celery
Other: Clear Embossing Powder
Technique: Emboss Resist

I hope to be able to post a little more regularly now and have some more new things soon! Hope you had a great day with family and friends!

Delay in New Posts

Sorry I haven't been able to post consistently lately. Life has been a little crazy! I haven't even been able to do much stamping lately other than at a scrapbooking retreat I attended about an hour from my home this past weekend. I've gone twice a year with a friend of mine the last few years and always have a great time. It's good to be able to focus on it and actually get some layouts completed!

I have some layouts that I was planning to share on my blog, but I got an e-mail yesterday that made me think twice about it. Someone used my recent stamp club layout (the actual photo of my layout with my DH and I's pictures) in an advertisement for their stamp camp. I'm all for CASEing projects. In fact, I find it a great form of flattery. However, I was surprised and disappointed that my work was being passed off as someone else's without permission or credit given. I know it happens all too frequently, but I think we are always surprised when it happens to us.

So - I'm planning to wait to post new projects until I'm able to get a watermark figured out. Hopefully, I'll be able to get that completed soon and be back in business. Thanks for understanding!

Pocket Card Gift Card Holder

I've seen several different variations on gift card holders, so here is another one to add to the mix. I was trying to decide on a project for an upcoming workshop, and this is what popped into my head. I thought it would be nice to have a holiday card that had separate places for a note and a gift card.

The card is a 12x5 1/2" piece of Rose Red cardstock scored at 4" and 8". The panels were then folded in to basically make a tri-fold card. I folded the edge of the inner panel into a triangle, adhered it to the card, and added a piece of Rose Red Prints DSP onto the triangle. To make the gift card holder, I punched the Word Window in the center of the cardstock, pushed all the way in from the bottom. I then slid it over to the right and punched again and to the left and punched again - this makes the window almost the whole width of the panel. After punching, I added sticky strip to the left edge and bottom of that panel and adhered them to the inside of the card making a pocket. This creates a place for the note inside of the pocket and the gift card in the opening created by the Word Window punch.

For the front of the card, I combined ideas I got from a couple of different cards on SCS. I thought this was a really fun Merry & Bright card by JanTink, so I used the same colors and DSP that she did. I also liked the windows that markie's mom used on this card, so I incorporated that idea into my card as well.

For the top of the card, I used a piece of Bashful Blue cardstock stamped with the swirl from Priceless. Before adhering to the card, I punched a 1 1/2" circle in it. I added a 1 1/4" circle that had been stamped with the snowman from Merry & Bright inside the opening. The middle section is a piece of Whisper White cardstock. I used the Word Window punch on this piece and created an opening from the sentiment from Merry & Bright. I also added a piece of Bashful Blue taffeta threaded through the opening. The striped DSP is from Cutie Pie.

Recipe:
Stamps: Merry & Bright, Priceless
Paper: Rose Red, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Cutie Pie DSP, Rose Red Prints DSP
Ink: Bashful Blue, Basic Black
Accessories: Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon, Vintage Brads
Punches: 1 1/2" Circle, 1 1/4" Circle, Word Window, Tab

Criss-Cross RAK Card

I was so excited to open my mail yesterday and find this wonderful card from Nancy Riley at iStamp! I love these criss-cross cards but have yet to make one for some reason. I know hers will inspire me to finally get one done.

I love the Fall Flowers DSP that she used. I think it will have to be on my next order (especially since I'll be taking advantage of the November SU! DSP special). And the wide grosgrain ribbon is wonderful! I've been slowly building up my SU! ribbon stash and haven't ordered any wide grosgrain yet. I guess that will be changing soon also.

Thanks so much Nancy for making it a happy mail day! I love the card and really appreciated the sweet note inside.

Don't Miss Out - November Stampin' Up! Special!

Don’t you just love to use patterned papers on your projects? I know I do, and Stampin' Up! makes it so easy to coordinate the colors on scrapbook pages, cards and other projects with their Designer Series Papers!

Well - Stampin' Up! is making it even easier to have some of those great patterned papers. Throughout the month of November, purchase any 3 packages of the Designer Series Papers in the Fall/Winter Collection (pages 170-173) or mini catalog (pages 12 & 19) and receive one FREE! And there's no limit to the number you can get free - so stock up during this great deal.

Check out these wonderful projects that Stampin’ Up! has designed to go along with this promotion.

Here are the sets Stampin’ Up! currently has available:
Holiday Harmony
Apple Cider
Outlaw
Brocade Background
Fall Flowers
Linen Prints
Porcelain Prints
Le Jardin
Uptown
Wintergreen
Flowers for You
Petals and Paisleys
Creepy Crawly
Notations No. 2
Charbon
Cerise
Dashing
Cutie Pie
Darling Doodles
Prints Designer Series Paper (16 different colors to choose from)

Contact me to take advantage of this great offer!

Stamp Club Scrapbook Page

What a crazy week last week! I didn't have a chance to stamp at all last week, so it was nice to be able to do a little bit this weekend. This layout is for my November stamp club.

The layout is created on a 12x12 piece of Old Olive cardstock. The designer paper at the bottom is a 3x12" piece from Dashing. I love this stripe! The line of snowmen was created with a 2 7/8x12" piece of Real Red cardstock. It was stamped with the snowflake stamp from Merry & Bright in Real Red. I then marked on the back every 1 1/2" and punched 7 squares with the 1 3/8" square punch. By pushing the punch all the way in and lining up my marks in the middle of the punch, I was able to keep them evenly spaced. After punching the cardstock, I adhered a piece of Very Vanilla behind it and stamped the snowman from Merry & Bright with Basic Grey in each square. The snowmen were colored with Real Red and Old Olive markers and a blender pen with River Rock ink.

The photos were cropped to approximately 5x3" and adhered to River Rock cardstock. The "notebook paper" was created on a piece of 5x4" Very Vanilla cardstock. I made horizontal lines on the cardstock with a Bashful Blue marker. I used a ruler and just eyeballed it to keep it as even as possible. I then used the Real Red marker for the vertical line. It was punched with the spiral punch on the left side and the corner rounder on the upper right corner. (I plan to add journaling on this piece later. I just haven't decided what I want to write yet!) I then stamped Christmas from the Merry Christmas stamp in Holidays & Wishes (inked with my Real Red marker) and 2006 with Short Order Numbers in River Rock. I haven't had much time to play with my spiral punch since I got it, but I really like how the notebook paper turned out! My DH commented that he thought it was real notebook paper. I'm sure I'll be using this technique quite a bit in my scrapbooks.

Recipe:
Stamps: Merry & Bright, Holidays & Wishes, Short Order Numbers
Paper: Old Olive, Real Red, River Rock, Very Vanilla, Dashing
Ink: Basic Grey, River Rock
Markers: Real Red, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Blender Pen
Punches: 1 3/8" Square, Spiral, Corner Rounder, Photo Corner

Side note: Sorry this isn't the greatest picture. I'm not really sure the best way to photograph 12x12 layouts, so if anyone has some tips for me I'd love to hear them.