50th Celebration at Inspired by....

This week's challenge over at Inspired By All The Little Things is for their 50th Challenge. Lesley is the creator of several challenges in the card making world and this is one of them that I frequently play in.  She also created some of the others you've seen me play in, including Fusion, Always Playing With Paper and The Card Concept to name just a few.  I really enjoy Lesley's Challenge Blogs so you can imagine how excited I was when she asked me to join the Design Team at The Card Concept this week. That challenge begins next Wednesday, so I have plenty of time to participate in this challenge today.  I love the soft peach color and especially the twinkling lights of the inspiration image.

I started by stamping the Altenew Garden Treasure floral and leaf images in Versamark and heat setting them using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I water colored them using Kuretake Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers in Light Carmine and Deep Green - easy stuff here.  Once those were dry, I die cut them with the Garden Treasure Coordinating Dies.  The stamps and the bundle sold out on the first day, so be sure you sign up for notifications at whichever place (or both places) that you wish to purchase them.  Altenew does have the dies still in stock, but everything else is sold out.

Next, I made a top folding cardbase from Berry Sorbet Cardstock.  I die cut a Fresh Snow Linen Cardstock panel using the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die and then a smaller rectangle from the Noted: Scalloped A2 Vertical Dies.  This uses the largest stitched rectangle from that particular set set. I stamped the "Just a Note" sentiment from Botanical Blocks and heat set it, then laid it in that same rectangle die to cut off the ends so they would be stitched like the rest of the card.

I finished the card by adding some 6 mm Gold and some 4, 8, and 10mm Sparkling Clear Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.  That way, you get a touch of the twinkle like in the background lights in the inspiration image!  The fresh snow panel was also spritzed with Tsukineko Sheer Sparkle Shimmer Mist and the flowers and leaves got a coat of Wink of Stella on the top. Happy 50th Challenge to Inspired By All The Little Things and may we see many more!

Thanks for stopping by today! I'll be back soon with a new card.

Fancy Easter Eggs

I am trying to be very disciplined with myself today and not play with the new stamp set that came in the mail from Altenew this morning.  If you haven't checked out their release from this week, be sure to stop over and check it out. Garden Treasure Stamp, Die and Bundle is already sold out at Altenew and Simon Says Stamp is waiting for their shipment to arrive and has it on reserve.  It's always a good idea to sign up for e-mail notification so you'll know when either place has it back in stock if you want it. This was fastest shipping from New York - EVER! It normally takes at least 10 days for me to get an order during release week so I was shocked when I got an e-mail saying it was out for delivery.  I'm still waiting on this month's Papertrey Ink order and that was from March 15th.  Anyway, let's get on with the Fancy Easter Egg card!

Today's card is for the Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge #67, the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and also for the Inspired By All The Little Things Challenge #49. Nancy Penir is the Guest this week at Inspired By and the bunny immediately made me think "Peter Rabbit" which then makes me think of Easter and Easter Eggs.

I actually got this idea from watching my friend, Yana, make an Easter card this week using Spellbinders Dies. You can see her video here. After watching this, I wanted a way to mimic those fancy eggs without the dies she used since I don't have them.  I grabbed my Simon Says Stamp Emma and Elizabeth Background Stamps and stamped three A2 sized pieces of Stamper's Select White Cardstock with Versamark and heat set them using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder. Using a Mini Round Ink Blending Tool, I blended Distress Oxide Inks to quickly color these up in Cracked Pistachio, Broken China and Wilted Violet then misted them with a bit of Tsukineko Sheer Sparkle Shimmer Spritz.  Even on white cardstock, these inks blend like a dream.  While I didn't have the fancy filigreed dies, I do have a set of nesting egg shaped dies made by QuicKutz from way, way, waaaayyyy back.  A lot of my dies from waaaayyyy back are made for 12 x 12 inch scrapbook pages and I've got them in my closet, but I've kept my nesting dies handy for easy access on occasions just such as this. *Ü*  

For my sentiment, I used leftover pieces of the ink blended cardstock to cut my word, the "Easter" Die from Simon Says Stamp.  The word cuts in two pieces rather than just one so it was easy to do part of the word on one color and and the rest of the word on another.  Because these are the heat embossed leftovers, there is a ton of extra texture there. This die is frequently sold out this time of year so consider getting the e-mail notification for this as well.  

I often do battle with myself over how much dimension to add because I mail nearly everything I make but this is one time I wished I would have listened to that little inner voice.  The thing is, because I make cards for other people to send, I know that most people don't have the knowledge of the postal system that I do, so I want to keep my cards simple and mail-able. I was the Company Training Coordinator at the company I worked for in Topeka, Kansas and we used to have to do training on everything associated with mailing/shipping via the USPS. This might be a good time to do a little checklist here for my friends.  

1. A typewritten address label will always be easier for a machine to read, no matter how fantastic your handwriting is.  If it's someone you mail things to often, consider making a sheet of address labels for them.
2. If you have the ZIP + 4 Zip-Code, use it.  It will speed up shipping by at least 1 day. 
3. Always use a return address so that whatever you are sending can make it somewhere, even if it's only back to you.  No point in having it completely lost. 
4. You can use Click-N-Ship for Priority Mail Shipping from your home if you sign up for a USPS account.  This provides you with a small discount since you will be using a "typewritten" and bar coded label printed from your printer that is easy to read.  The post office can collect your packages from your porch or mailbox or anywhere that you specify on the next regular mail day.  I have a small food scale that I use to weigh my mail.  That way I know whether or not to add extra postage.
5. Mail Art Envelopes along with unique sizes, shapes (squares) or greater thicknesses require extra postage.  The post office has something they can show you so you will know.  I mostly use Thin 3D Foam Squares for exactly this reason.

These are the things that pop into my head automatically but if you think of anything else, you can go to the USPS.gov website and check it out.

Thank you so much for stopping by today to see my project.  I hope you'll come back very soon! 

Inspired By All The Little Things #48

I am a little slow this week getting things finished for all of the challenges I want to participate in but I need to get this particular show on the road as I only have a matter of hours left to participate over at the Inspired By All The Little Things Challenge Blog.

The image on the left reminds me of a setting sun in an evening sky with all the different colors. For my card, I used Distress Oxide Inks in Faded Jeans, Broken China, Wilted Violet, Fossilized Amber and Peeled Paint to create my evening sky background. The colors aren't as deep as in the picture, but I really like how it turned out. Truthfully, it is hard to get Distress Oxide to be as dark as one would want because there are only 12 colors so far and once you mist it with water or whatever solution, the oxidation starts which is what makes these inks blend so well.

Once I had the background panel finished, I used Hero Arts Unicorn White Spray to spritz on top of an acrylic block and then spattered it on to my card base for the starry sky using a Silver Black Velvet Brush in size 4. Since I was putting a Vellum panel over the top, I didn't get too excited about placement of the spatter and it was easy to do.



I stamped the vellum panel with a sentiment and the shooting star from WPLUS9's Lucky Stars Stamp Set. The sentiment is heat embossed in Hero Arts White Embossing Powder and the shooting star is done in Metallic Platinum Sparkle Embossing Powder from WOW!.  I cut a few stars from Silver Glitter Paper to accent and placed them around in a visual triangle, which also gave me a place to hide a bit of adhesive behind the vellum panel. I attached everything to a top folding card base made from Papertrey Ink's Aqua Mist Cardstock.  This was really quick to pull together and is a perfect card to send to one of your friends.

I hope you have a fantastic Friday everyone.  Thanks so much for stopping by to visit today.

Love You, Yes I Do!

Today I have one card for three different Challenges.  The Color Throwdown Challenge #428, Inspired By All The Little Things #42 and one for the Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge #64, "Love Is In The Air". I keep thinking I am done making all of my Valentine's Day Cards, but there are still a lot of challenges for those color schemes and occasions.  I'll be honest with you - I really wasn't too sure about this color combo until I started trying to pull this card together.  The inspiration images are fantastic but it isn't a typical palette in my arsenal.  I do the challenges to stretch myself artistically and that was certainly true for these colors.  I saw a picture in the last day or two where someone had made soft pink marshmallows that were peppermint flavored. Doesn't that just sound delicious? You could cut them in any shape you want including little hearts. It makes me want to run to Starbucks for the biggest hot chocolate on the menu!

I have made so many Valentine's Day cards for my girlfriends but I thought of one more today that I wanted to make and this will be perfect for her.

I started my card by creating a top folding card base from Stamper's Select White Cardstock. Next, I embossed a 4.25 x 5.5 piece of Dark Chocolate Cardstock with a wood grained embossing folder and then cut it with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Dies.  I love the clean finished edge that using a die gives to paper. There's never a raggedy edge from a dull paper trimmer. I use my Stitched Rectangles Dies more than any other dies I have.  In fact, I use them so much that I'm beginning to wonder if I can wear one out!!

Using the Simon Says Stamp All About Love Stamp Set (No longer Available), I stamped the letters in Versamark and heat embossed with Antique Gold Embossing Powder. I used my Cherub Hearts Dies from Memory Box to cut the heart from Pure Poppy Cardstock.

The tulips are a stamp set from Papertrey Ink called Tulip Time and I have the coordinating dies. The easiest way to stamp these is with the MISTI Tool because there are lots of layers.  I place the die cut negative in the MISTI and then lay the positive piece back into the negative. For these, I stamped the lightest layer in Sweet Blush, the medium layer in Pure Poppy and the darkest color in Scarlet Jewel. The leaves are stamped with Vintage Jadeite and New Leaf Inks, all from Papertrey Ink.

I attached the wood grain background to my card base with ATG Adhesive and then I attached the Love Panel and the Tulips with Foam Tape.  That finishes up this card.

I hope you like my interpretation of the inspiration images. I'm glad you spent a few minutes here on my blog today and if you'd like to leave a comment, I really appreciate each one of them.  Have a happy Monday everyone!

Inspired By All The Little Things #18

Hello everyone!  I have a really fun card to share today.  I love this photo that was shared as our inspirational image on Inspired By All The Little Things for the #18 Challenge.  While I did struggle a little to find something that I felt worked for this, I liked it so much that I made three cards in the same design, one with a different color.

I also really love it when I can use multiple items from different manufacturers and pull them together on one card as is the case with this card.

I started by die cutting a few of the tulips from Stamper's Select White Cardstock for my previous project.  If I am going to the trouble of doing one set, I always make an extra few sets while I am at it and then I have some ready to go for another project.  I used my MISTI Tool for stamping all of them; three layers for the blooms and two for the stems.  For this particular set I used Papertrey Ink Perfect Match Inks in Lovely Lady, Hibiscus Burst and Raspberry Fizz.  For the leaves I used Papertrey's Vintage Jadeite with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink.

I love adding a touch (or more) of gold to my projects and I remembered I had this Navy and Gold Foil striped paper and felt it would be the perfect elegant touch to go with the inspiration image which is clearly from a wedding.  I created a top folding A2 notecard from SU! Night of Navy Cardstock.  The outer ring on the greeting is from Papertrey Ink's Stamp-A-Faire - Rennasiance Kit. This is a no longer available item but you can watch for it on the For Sale or Trade Board at the Papertrey Forum which is where I got mine.  I didn't have any idea that Papertrey Ink existed in 2014. I only discovered them in 2015.  I love the detail in this die and when I realized I could pair it with the Smile Circle Die from Simon Says Stamp, I actually squeeled outloud!  Since I wanted to add a bit of dimension to my card, I also cut a circle of the navy cardstock to go behind the Smile Circle.

My card assembly was super easy.  I wanted my flowers to frame the sentiment so I adhered the outer ring die cut from the Rennasiance Kit directly to the striped panel using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  I adhered the circle smile die to the blue cardstock using the same glue.  To pop up the sentiment a little, I used Thin 3D Foam Squares and centered it over the background ring. After that I arranged my tulips how I wanted them on top of the panel then applied Thin 3D Foam Squares on the back of them and placed them onto my card front.  This is such an elegant looking card and I loved combining my supplies to get these results.

I adhered the background panel to my card base using Scor-Tape (Sookwang Paper Tape) in a ⅛th inch width.  It's available in several widths and it's a very strong adhesive.  Sometimes I grab what is at my fingertips so right now I have the scor-tape on my desk.  It's also nice because you can just tear it and don't have to sit and measure each strip of adhesive out.  It is a very strong dry adhesive.

I also made a second card with this same design using cardstock in Berry Sorbet, Gold Metallic Poster Board and Kraft.  The tulip blooms are stamped in Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet and Scarlet Jewel Inks. For the butterfly, I like to put a narrow strip of foam adhesive down the body until it thins out and then put a bit of adhesive at the bottom of each wing to make it appear as if it could take flight at any moment.  This butterfly is from Impression Obsession and is my favorite.  I have two or three others but I reach for this one over and over.  In fact, it has a special place on my table and never gets put away. If I'm going to use a butterfly, I want this one called "Fancy Butterfly". It is a two layered image but I often use only the top layer like you see here.  The other part of it is the solid image.

I'm entering this second card over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for their theme of Summer Garden.  Yes, I do know Tulips are more of a springtime flower, but the are gorgeous and can be enjoyed anytime!

You can see lots more inspiration over at Inspired By All The Little Things. Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I'll be back with a new project very soon!

Bold Graphics

This week, Kara Vrabel is the Guest Designer at Inspired By All The Little Things.  The challenge has a more graphic look this time. I didn't know it when I started making cards last year, but I like really bold graphics and they are perfect for masculine cards.

The inspiration image has a very neutral and subtle background with bright pops of color that I wanted to mimic in my design. But I'm going rogue as no one else has changed up the colors yet!  I started with a piece of SU! Smoky Slate Cardstock for my background panel and a black top folding note card made from SU! Basic Black Cardstock.  I don't have a triangle die, so I opted for Diamonds (an old QK die set).

I die cut the Smoky Slate panel using the largest of the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles then I began to die cut a few of each color of diamonds for my pops of color; one large and 2 small in each color.  I wanted the most vibrant turquoise in my color selection so I chose this paper which is an old Creative Memories Cardstock in the color Teal.  The white is Stamper's Select White from Papertrey Ink.  I just arranged them by eyeballing where they should be and attaching them using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

The banner is from a SU! Bitty Banners set of thinlits I have and the die cut "wishes" is from Impression Obsession.  I cut three of them and stacked them one on top of the other to get the thicker element. The "Birthday" stamp is one that says "Birthday Wishes" from the Papertrey Ink 2016 Anniversary Set.  It comes with both words on the stamp so I masked off the Wishes part of the sentiment, inked up the "Birthday" in Black Versafine, pulled the masking tape off the "wishes" part of the stamp and put clear embossing powder over the top, heat setting it.  This is by far the way to go vs. black embossing powder.  In fact, I'm not sure I will ever use my black again.  I did use my powder tool to treat my paper before embossing.

I hope you enjoy my card for the challenge and thank you so much for stopping by.  I appreciate each and every comment that is made!

Inspired by All the Little Things #9

Over at Inspired By All The Little Things Blog, they have this bright spring floral this week.  I also wanted to play a bit more with my Happy Wishes Stamps and Dies by WPLUS9 Design Studio.

Recently, I was able to purchase several Distress Ink Cubes for $2.00 each and get free shipping at the same time, so I picked a couple of handfuls in some colors that I already knew I liked because I have Distress Markers in those colors and use them regularly for water coloring. Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Peacock Feathers, Ripe Persimmon, Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord, Mowed Lawn and Seedless Preserves were all in my top picks. These colors are rich and vibrant and I love the small size that allows me to try more colors with a lot less space to store them in than traditional ink pads.  More and more I am finding that I am switching over to the small size and they are really fantastic to use with the MISTI.  While the colors are very rich and vibrant, I am also finding that I like to double stamp my images to get the deeper color which is of course, only possible since I am using the MISTI Stamping Tool.

For today's cards, I am using the Simon Says Stamp Wavy Scallop Stitches on a piece of Stamper's Select White 110# Cardstock.  After I made one cut, I rotated the die 180 degrees and cut in the other direction to give me the swoopy element for my flowers and leaves. This was a fun way to add some visual interest to an otherwise plain card base.  All of the flowers and leaves are cut from Stamper's Select White 110# Cardstock as well. The Happy Birthday Sentiment Die is from Penny Black. Both note cards (Berry Sorbet & Autumn Rose) were spritzed with Iridescent Gold Shimmer Mist and allowed to dry before I started adhering the decorative elements.

Really.... I do try to make cards without shimmer or glimmer or sparkle, but I don't like them as much, so why bother?  There is, after all, a reason it's called "Twinkling" Paper Studio. *Ü*

Happy Tuesday, everyone!   I hope you have a chance to stop by the Challenge Blog and play along with us or just look around to see all the designs. It's always inspiring to see how other designers view the challenges.