Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Smooth Sailing

Tomorrow we are off to the west coast for a week and my DH's birthday falls in that time. So I am taking this card along to give to him on the day.


The stamp is from Our Daily Bread Designs and was a part of that little rubber splurge I mentioned a few posts back. I stamped it onto very vanilla c/s using basic brown ink, then die cut it with SB Labels Eight Then I sponged on distress inks; mustard seed to give the effect of light around the lighthouse, and vintage photo to distress the edges.

On another piece of vanilla c/s, I stamped various nautical images from random sets in brown to create a collage, then sponged on the same two inks. I also stamped my greeting and die cut it with SB's Ribbon Banners and distressed it. Finally, I stamped one corner of the lighthouse stamp again and punched out the compass. After adding some of the inks, I put a bronze brad through the middle.

I folded some gold c/s into a Z-card which measures 6x7" when closed.. Then I attached a 1 1/4" strip of the collage paper to the front and, with a crop-a-dile, attached two large bronze eyelets. I die cut another label eight in caramel c/s, then created a third mat in espresso by hand. I put these together with the stamped layer and attached to the card front.the banner is adhered with dimensionals, and the compass with a foam square. The latter is thicker so I can get two heights.



On the inside, I put another strip of the collage paper, an espresso label eight die cut topped with a vanilla layer on which I stamped more nautical images (these one from HFC), printed a message I created on the computer, and inked up with the mustard and vintage photo inks.

Finally, I tied on some natural twine through the two eyelets.

It will be a couple of weeks before I can post again, After the trip, I will have my beautiful grand-daughter staying with us. She is such a joy, but  I will be busy for a while with her. But I will still be stamping, at least a bit, as she does love to stamp with me. What can I say - another generation is initiated.






Monday, July 22, 2013

Delicate Asters

Wow. We had a terrific thunderstorm here overnight. It is not very often I am awakened by a storm, but last night's was a doozy.

Today, I am showing you a card I CASEd from a blogger I admire - Glenda Brooks.


In my version, I have not used any stamps - I do not have the newest ones that Glenda used, though they are on my wish list -so I substituted a fussy-cut floral element from one of the papers in the Delicate Asters collection from Heartfelt Creations.

In fact, I used almost the entire 12 x 12 sheet of patterned paper in the making of this card. As well, I attached one of the AC sized labels from the same collection to the inside where I will add a greeting at a later date. It is an exact duplicate of the whole 12 x 12 sheet, which is very cool, design wise. It makes putting a coordinated card together so very easy.

 I also used some whisper white c/s (SU), and the following dies from Spellbinders: Bracket Borders 1, and Fancy Lattice.

I may have mentioned before how much I love the papers by HFC. They have become my fall back   patterned papers these days. However, I have an   idea in my head for creating my own paper. I will   work on it today and see how it goes. You may or may not see the results here soon, but I promise you will see me again this week before I leave for my trip to the coast to visit my daughter.                             





Sunday, July 21, 2013

More Anniversary Bling

This past week has been a little busy for me with a day long golf tournament, a trip to the doctor followed by x-rays, and a local two day music festival.  There was a wonderful band from Brazil visiting our area: their music was just fabulous and had the whole crowd out on the floor dancing.

 Finally, as promised, I have found time to post the other anniversary card. Both cards have already reached their intended recipients and were well received.



This card began with inspiration from Becca Feeken,, and her use of one of the newly released Spellbinders die sets. Of course, I did not have the new item, so I worked with what I do have and one thing led to another. When you go to Becca's page, scroll down a bit - it is the second item in that post.

I used an ivory 5 x 61/2" card base and added a mat of gold Recollections glitter c/s. Note that this product is identical to the sea foam one I used on the last post and. therefore,  is as tricky to work with. You see that gold doily layer? I ended up cutting all those little holes out by hand after running it through the big shot several times to no avail! The ivory scallop circle was cut with a Marianne die, and I used SB's Label 18 for the greeting layer.

The greeting is from a long-retired SU set which I stamped with gold encore ink and embossed with gold EP. The beautiful fold and organdy ribbon is from my stash. I attached a bond around the gold mat layer, then made a triple bow to glue to the back of the chiffon flower (Recollections) The rhinestone and pearl swirls are K&Co.



On the inside, I layered two sizes of the Labels 18 die cuts, one gold  glitter, and one ivory. Then I hand wrote a message. I forgot to take a picture before I added my message so you will just have to imagine how it looked.

I did learn something very interesting about my supplies while working on these two cards. I do not own one single 'Happy Anniversary' stamp. How, with all these gazzillion stamps sets, is that even possible?

That is it. My card ended up looking quite a bit different than Becca's lovely creation, but that is a good thing. I love when CASEing leads to your own inspiration. Now it is bedtime. Tomorrow, I will post a card I made today that is pretty much a straight case of a card by another of my favorite bloggers. See you then.





Saturday, July 13, 2013

Anniversary Request

A good friend called me yesterday and asked if I had a large sized card for a silver anniversary. I did not but had planned to make one for my own use that day, so another card seemed no problem.

Well it probably would not have been a problem if I had just made a second card the same as the first, but I must admit I got a little carried away. What I ended up with were two similar cards with great variations and lots of bling.

The first, for the silver anniversary, is the one I am showing today. I still have to finish the inside of number #2.

I had originally planned to make the card only in white and silver, but I opened my paper cupboard door and this beautiful seafoam green paper caught my eye. I just had to work it in to the design.

A word of caution about this paper which is from American Crafts and called POW! It has a plastic backing on it and is a nightmare to try and cut with dies. For some reason, they only cut the top and not the plastic backing. You have to use a craft knife or very sharp scissors to finish the job.

I also used some Recollections paper called Foil Paper in silver. The card measures 5 1/2 x 7 1/2",



I cut the first mat from the silver c/s and the second from the glitter c/s. Then I used an SB die, Floral Ovals, and die cut the silver die. I stamped the medallion with versamark on white c/s and applied Heat and Stick. After heating it, I added some seafoam micro fine glitter (Martha Stewart) and reheated it to seal the glitter to the card. Next I stamped the greeting in the middle with versamark, added silver EP and heat embossed it. The stamps are from the JRS set, Enjoy the Day. Finally, I die cut it all with a die from JRS (Vintage Labels 4). These layers were then adhered to the card front.


I found some lovey silver taffeta in my stash and made the bow with my homemade bow maker. I am so lucky to have a very handy husband who has a shop full of carpentry supplies to rival my craft room.  After scavenging through the embellishment cupboard, I came up with the white fabric flower parts (SU). I trimmed 3 of the 4 flower parts, each a bit shorter than the other so that they would layer. Then I apply some glue to the tips of the petals and dipped them into the same glitter as above, and also did the same to 3 stamens from the same SU package. When they dried, I put it all together with glue dots. The numbers were die cut from some silver scraps and glued to the top of the flower.


Finally, I applied some pearls (from the stash - I think they are Recollections. Again, due to the plastic-like finish of the glitter c/s, they don't want to stick all that well. If you use this c/s, I would suggest extra adhesive of some sort. Then I used sticky strip to apply the bow to the card, and the flower to the bow.

Inside, I die cut the three layers using SB Grand Labels 4, SB Floral Ovals, and JRS Vintage Labels Four. My friend requested I leave it blank so the family could write in their own sentiment.

That's about it. I hope to have the inside of card #2 done tomorrow so that I can post it. For now, though, I will head outside to water my plants. I hope you all have a good weekend.











Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Rubber Orgy

Hah! I knew that one would get your attention. I had such a great time last week visiting my friend, Rhea at R&R Scrapbooking to pick up my Just Rite order. It was, shall we say, sizable. I have no excuses now not to participate in lots of JRS challenges. I am currently saving up all my extra cash so I can place another order for Christmas items, because I have nothing here in the rubber room that I can use to start on those holidays missives! LOL

Meanwhile, here is a card I made for my grandson who just turned 19. (Yikes - how rude!) To his credit though, he always compliments me on the cards I make for him and say he can't believe I actually make them myself. Such a wonderful young man.



I started with the JRS stamp set, 'Premium Labels'. It was included in last week's little spree. Then I chose my papers. The diagonal stripe patterned c/s is a retired one from SU which I made into a 'z' card,  and the small  light green inner ring on the inside plus the vertical band on the front are of unknown origin from my stash. I also used some scraps of chocolate chip, always artichoke and very vanilla.

I stamped using chocolate chip ink, then added some green to the front medallion with artichoke re-inker and a paint brush, and then die cut the finished item with the JRS 'Antique Labels 1' die set. The inner words are from the  'Birthday Vintage Labels 4' JRS stamp set.

I stamped the front image a second time in artichoke, hand cut the blank area in the center, then stamped the greeting with choc. chip ink and mounted it with foam squares.  The ovals are all die cut with SB classic oval dies.  The final touch was a bit of twine tied around the front ovals before attaching the JRS label with foam squares.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Delicate Doilies

Back again after another long hiatus from blogging. But I have been making cards so I have a few to upload.

Today I want to show a card I made for the 100th Just Rite Friday Challenge. Congratulations to Just Rite on reaching this milestone.

The theme of this challenge is doilies so I decided to use a HFC die (Decorative Blossom Corner) to create my partial doily. I also used a Memory Box die for the floral spray. Both were die cut from whisper white c/s.

The background patterned paper was a remnant from my stash  so the company of origin is unknown. I adhered it to the front of a white 5x6 1/2" card base. Then I stamped two different medallions from the Samantha Walker designed Just Rite stamp set, 'For All You Do', on peach parfait c/s using versamark ink and heat embossed them with white EP. I cut then out with a die set from Stampin' Up! but I must admit the shape is slightly different so I had to trim them by hand. I guess I will have to purchase the JRS die set that fits their stamps as I own several sets and do not look forward to hand trimming every time I use them.

The sentiment is from the JRS set,  'Birthday Vintage Labels Four', and was stamped with peach parfait craft ink on white c/s and embossed with clear EP. Then it was die cut with a SB petite scalloped oval die. I used some foam squares and some dries clear in addition to my AGT gun for adhesives.

I will be back again soon with more of my recent creations.