little inklings

Happy makes me happy

Doesn’t this card just make you HAPPY? It does for me, anyway. Its so cheery, which we definitely need here since the weather’s been so soggy and gloomy. This card started out as my submission for Beate’s Weekend Sketch Challenge, but ended up a few layers short of her fun sketch. Sometimes creative juices take you in a different direction…and you just have to go with it!

Here’s how I made it: My card base is a 5 ½” x 8 ½” piece of Confetti White Cardstock (CS) folded in half. The next layer is a 3 ¾” x 5” piece of the Fall Flowers Designer Series Paper (DSP) matted on a 4” x 5 ¼” piece of Not Quite Navy CS. I tied the Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon around the middle, then added the photo corners and Not Quite Navy brads, using my mat pack for perfect brad placement. The main image is a 2 ¼” square piece of Whisper White CS. I first stamped the flowers, inking them up with a Soft Sky ink pad, then I used a Ruby Red and Old Olive marker for the flower centre and stem. I paper pierced the border, then adhered the image to a 2 ½” square Not Quite Navy matte and added it to the card front using dimensionals. The final step was to add the sentiment, which I first stamped on Soft Sky CS with Not Quite Navy ink and punched out with the large oval punch. I matted the sentiment by punching out two Not Quite Navy ovals, and adhered them together with a slight overlap. I then adhered the sentiment over top, and added the sentiment to the card using dimensionals. 

Here’s the supplies I used:
Stamps: Polka Dots & Paisley
Paper: Confetti White, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White
Cardstock, Fall Flowers Designer Series Paper
Ink: Not Quite Navy & Soft Sky Classic Inks, Rose Red & Old Olive Markers
Extras: Paper Piercer, Old Olive Wide Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals, Photo Corner & Large Oval Punches, Earth Elements Brads

For an 'Old' Friend

 I was walking to an appointment a while back, when I noticed a display case with a tapestry of some sort in the window. It had this color combo. Isn't it striking? I love the Old Olive, Black and white together.
This is a really quick card, and another project we did at my last club meeting that featured the Thumping Technique. And it would seem that Thumping has some theraputic benefits! You get to 'stamp' out all your frustrations. But just don't get too carried away.. those markers can only stand so much! :)

Here’s how I made it: The card base is a 4 ¼” x 8 ½” piece of Basic Black Cardstock (CS) folded in half. On the next layer, I used the Thumping technique on the Whisper White 3 ¾” square, inking up the Pretty Petals Background stamp with Old Olive ink and thumping with a Basic Black marker. The edges were sponged with Old Olive and the Whisper White square then matted to a 4” Old Olive square. Next the photo corner and silver brads were added to the top left hand corner, and a double ribbon of wide Old Olive and Black grosgrain tied around the middle. The sentiment was stamped on a scrap piece of Whisper White using Old Olive craft ink, sprinkled with clear Embossing Powder, heated to set, punched out with the Large Oval punch then sponged in Old Olive around the edges. Two Large Ovals were punched in Basic Black, adhered together at the middle, then used as a matte for the sentiment, and added to the card front using Dimensionals.

Here’s the supplies I used:
Stamps: Pretty Petals Background Stamp, Carte Postale
Paper: Basic Black, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: Old Olive Classic & Craft, Basic Black Marker
Extras: Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon, Black Gingham Ribbon, Dimensionals, Photo Corner & Large Oval Punch, Clear Embossing Powder, Silver Brads
Technique: Thumping

Sharing You with Me

Kristina's back with her 10th Color Inspiration Challenge, and it's a good thing, as I think I was starting to suffer withdrawals. But alas, she's somehow helped to enable me into another late night carding session... up until midnight, AGAIN! EEK! Good thing sleep is so over-rated. The challenge? To build a card using Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, So Saffron, Bashful Blue & Whisper White. Hope you like my hedgehog. Ain't she sweet?

  

Here’s how I made it: The card base is a 5 ½” x 8 ½” piece of Confetti White Cardstock (CS) folded in half. The next layer is a 5 ¼” x 4” piece of Not Quite Navy CS stamped with the Polka Dot background stamp in matching NQ Navy ink. I adhered a 5 ¼” x 2 ½” strip of Fall Flowers Designer Series Paper (DSP) to the bottom half, then used a scrap piece of So Saffron CS that was 5 ¼” wide, scalloped the bottom using my Slit Punch, then adhered it to the NQ Navy matte. I sponged around the edges of the matted layers using NQ Navy ink, then added the Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon. The Hedgehog is stamped on a 2 ½” x 2 ¼” piece of Whisper White CS. I used Chocolate Chip craft ink, sprinkled clear embossing powder, heated to set, then repeated on a scrap piece, for just the butterfly, so I could cut it out and add it to the card with a dimensional, but colored the hedgehog and butterfly with Blender Pens first. The Old Olive matte for the Hedgehog is a 2 ¾” x 2 ½” sponged with matching ink. I assembled the images and matte, paper pierced the border and added it to the card front using Dimensionals, then adhered the layers to the card front, again using Dimensionals 

Here’s the supplies I used: 
Stamps: Polka Dot Background Stamp, Fun & Fast Notes
Paper: Confetti White, Not Quite Navy, Old Olive & So Saffron CS, Fall Flowers DSP
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue, Old Olive, So Saffron Classic Inks, Chocolate Chip Craft
Extras: Old Olive wide grosgrain, Slit Punch, Dimensionals, Clear Embossing Powder, Paper Piercer, Blender Pens

One of a Kind

It's been another busy weekend at my house, as we made the most of the beyond beautiful weather. A pretty rare event for May long weekends here. It reached almost 30C (86F) on Saturday!  I'm pretty sure last year we had snow. So needless to say, my stampin' station didn't see a whole lot of ink. I'm hoping to change that tomorrow, as they are calling for rain... I did manage to put a card together for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #48, though. Wowza - this was a toughie! And the color combo was inspired by the Fall Flowers Designer Series Paper (DSP) I got in my last stash - this was a combo I'd never done before. The jury's still out for me... you?

Here's how I made it: The card base is a 4 1/4" x 8 1/2" piece of Soft Sky Cardstock (CS) folded in half. The next layer is a 3 3/4" square of Fall Flowers DSP adhered to 3 7/8" Really Rust CS square. I cut a strip of Really Rust CS for across the middle, measuring 3 3/4" x 1 1/2", and paper pierced the top and bottom edges using my Mat Pack & Paper Piercing tool. I added three Soft Sky circles I punched out with the 1/4" circle punch, then added the antique brads. I adhered the strip to the cardfront along with the strip of Fall Flowers DSP on the bottom (it measures about 1/2" x 3 3/4"). I adhered the Old Olive Wide Grosgrain Ribbon with snail adhesive and tied the Linen Thread in a bow around the bottom. The Whisper White plain & Old Olive scalloped ovals used for the main sentiment are cut and embossed using my Nestabilities. I stamped the Canvas Background Stamp first on the Whisper White CS oval in Soft Sky, then added the sentiment using my Stamp-a-ma-jig, in Chocolate Chip craft ink, sprinkled clear embossing powder and heated to set. I adhered the two ovals together, added the matted sentiment to the cardfront using dimensionals, then added all the layered pieces to the cardfront using dimensionals.

Here's the supplies I used:
Stamps: Canvas Background Stamp, One of a Kind
Paper: Soft Sky, Really Rust, Old Olive & Whisper White Cardstock, Fall Flowers Designer Series Paper
Ink: Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip Craft
Extras: Clear Embossing Powder, Old Olive Wide Grosgrain Ribbon, Linen Thread, Antique Brads, 1/4" Circle Punch, Paper Piercer, Nestabilities, Dimensionals.

You're Sweet!

I sure 'stink' you're all so sweet for leaving such NICE comments on my blog. Thank you SO MUCH!

This is one of the projects we made at this month's club meeting.  Did you noticed I'm SOO in love with the Pun Fun set? It's so cute. I love all those little creatures! Also, this 4 1/4" square card, and layout seems to work really well. Hope you all like it!.

Here's how I made it: I started by stamping that adorable little skunk twice - once on a 2" x 2 1/4" piece of Whisper White cardstock, and another on a white scrap piece, both using Basic Black Craft ink, sprinkling clear embossing powder over while the ink was still wet, then heating to set. Now, if you've been reading most of my previous posts, you'll notice this is a bit of a theme on most of my cards. I just find it gives the card such a professional look, and in this case, makes it SOO EASY to color in, since the embossed ridges help guide you inside the lines. Anyway, after I had the two images, I colored them both in with my blender pens and the classic inks, then I cut out the body of the skunk and adhered it over top of the other with dimensionals. I then matted it to a 2 1/4" x 2 1/2" piece of Basic Black cardstock and set it aside. I adhered a 3 3/4" square piece of Rose Red DSP to a 4" square piece of Basic Black, tied the Black Gingham Ribbon around it, Added the photo corners and Silver Brads, then adhered the main matted skunk image to the card front. And the final step was to adhere the combined pieces to my 4 1/4" Purely Pomegranate cardbase.

Here's the supplies I used: (All Stampin' Up! unless noted)

Stamps: Pun Fun Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black, Whisper White, Rose Red Designer Series Paper Ink: Basic Grey, Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black Craft Extras: Clear Embossing Powder, Black Gingham Ribbon, Photo Corner Punch, Silver Brads

There for You

After a busy week, I always look forward to pulling together a card for Beate Johns weekend sketch challenge #45! Man that's one talented lady! This was a particularly busy week for us, as my husband and I took a break from our day jobs, and did some fun stuff with our boys.
I saw an amazing project idea in the May Stampin' Up! Demonstrator magazine with this color scheme and wanted to give it a try on a card. Hope you like it.

Here's how I made it: The base of the card is a 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of Always Artichoke Textured Cardstock, folded in half. The next layers are Old Olive, then River Rock and are each 1/4" smaller in height and width, then the previous layer, and with corners punched using the Ticket Corner punch. The Old Olive layer is stamped with the branch image in matching ink, the River Rock stamped using the Weathered background stamp, again in the matching ink.

The next layer is a 1 3/4" x 4 3/4" Chocolate Chip cardstock rectangle run thru my cuttlebug using the swirly embossing folder. I adhered it to the River Rock cardstock, and added the antiqued brads. The main image is from the Embrace Life set and is stamped in Chocolate Chip Classic Ink on a 2" x 3 3/8" rectangle piece of Very Vanilla cardstock, then colored in with Blender Pens using Always Artichoke Ink. I distressed the edges using the Distresser tool, then sponged with River Rock to add a bit of an antiqued look. I matted it on a 2 1/8" x 3 1/2" piece of Chocolate Chip Cardstock, and tied the Chocolate Taffeta Ribbon around the bottom, and added it to my card using Dimensionals. Last, I added the sentiment - stamping it on a scrap piece of Old Olive cardstock with Chocolate Chip Craft Ink, sprinkling it with clear Embossing Powder, heating to set then punching it out with the Word Window Punch and added it to my card using dimensionals.

Here's the supplies I used: (All Stampin' Up! unless noted)
Stamps: Embrace Life, Absolutely Fabulous, Weathered Background Stamp
Paper: Always Artichoke Textured Cardstock, Old Olive, River Rock, Chocolate Chip & Very Vanilla Cardstock
Ink: Old Olive, River Rock, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip Classic Inks, Chocolate Chip Craft
Extras: Clear Embossing Powder, Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon, Word Window Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Cuttlebug & Swirly Embossing Folder, Antique Brads, Dimensionals

Horray for Grey (& Guava too!)

Ain't she cute? I love this little hippo from the Pun Fun set.

When I read the post describing the colors for last week's color challenge on Splitcoast, and the moderators description of nice easy one... I thought - that doesn't sound too hard. OK - I was wrong. This is my second attempt at making this color combo work. In the end, I liked the result, and hope you do too.

Here's how I built it: I started by stamping the little hippo on a 2" x 2 1/4" piece of Whisper White Cardstock using Basic Black Craft ink, sprinkled with Clear Embossing Powder and heated to set. (Tip - if you don't want a bunch of extra space on your main image, you can measure the block your image is mounted on, and make the cardstock piece you'll be stamping on the same size). I stamped the hippo image again, on a scrap piece of paper, then colored both images in using my ink pads and blender pens. I cut out the hippos head and adhered it overtop her body with dimensionals, then paper pierced around the edges. I matted her to a 2 1/4" x 2 1/2" square piece of basic grey. I stamped the 'I just heard!' sentiment on a piece of scrap textured Groovy Guava cardstock, and punched it out using the  1 1/4" square punch, and adhered it to the back of the hippo and set this aside.

The next layer is a piece of 3 5/8" square of Blush Blossom cardstock, stamped with the Paisley Background stamp in Groovy Guava ink. I paper pierced around the edge of this layer and adhered the Groovy Guava photo corners, then secured them to the next layer, a 3 3/4" square of basic grey with silver brads. Final step was too add all the combined squares to the card base, a 4" square piece of Textured Groovy Guava Cardstock, folded in half.

Here's the supplies I used: (All Stampin' Up! unless noted)
Stamps: Pun Fun, Absolutely Fabulous, Paisley Background Stamp
Paper: Groovy Guava Textured Cardstock, Basic Grey, Blush Blossom, Whisper White
Ink: Groovy Guava, Basic Grey, Basic Black Craft Ink
Extras: Photo Corners Punch, 1 1/4" Square Punch, Paper Piercer, Silver Brads, Dimensionals

Got Ribbon?

Ok - Isn't this the most gorgeous technique ever?  Kristina Werner posted a tutorial for Ribbon Weaving last week, and at first, I wasn't sure I liked it.. then I tried it, and I am in LOVE! It looks so pretty, don't cha think?

Here's How I made it: The majority of time on this card was spent on the weaving, the rest is pretty easy peasy. I started with a 3 1/4" square piece of scrap cardstock as the base for my weaving - adhered the bottom 5 strips of Chocolate Chip Ribbon, then the side 5 strips using sticky strip. I folded the ribbon over from the bottom, then weaved each of the side strips through, one strip at a time. I carefully turned over the cardstock, and adhered the ends down using sticky strip, pulling the strips tight,

I then added the Flower Fusion trio, and a Rhinestone brad. and matted the Weaved centre peice on a 3 1/2" square of Old Olive using Sticky Strip.

My card base is a 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of Purely Pomegranate cardstock, folded in half. I stamped the Polka Dot Background stamp in the matching ink, then added the matted main image using Sticky Strip. I added the sentiment in Chocolate Chip Craft using, my Stamp-a-ma-jig for perfect placement inside those polka dots, sprinkled with Clear Embossing Powder and heated to set.

Here's the Supplies I used: (All Stampin' Up! unless noted)
Stamps: Absolutely Fabulous, Polka Dot Background Stamp
Paper: Purely Pomegranante, Old Olive
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip Craft
Extras: Chocolate Chip Wide Grosgrain, Flower Fusion, Rhinestone Brads, Clear Embossing Powder, Dimensionals

Forever in my Heart

Yeah! Kristina Werner is back with another outstanding challenge - Color Inspiration Challenge #5. And although I've missed her color round- up by a long shot, I still wanted to put a card together - there's just something about her fabulous eye for color that really sparks my creative fire (wow - that was CHEE-ZEE- sorry!). This week, the Inspiration source was a cute pic from Pottery Barn. Love it! Stampin' Up! color translation - Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Bashful Blue and Close to Cocoa.
Hope you like what I came up with!

Here's how I made it:
I started by folding a 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of Close to Cocoa cardstock in half, and set it aside.
I inked up the Stitched background stamp in Certainly Celery, and stamped on a 5 1/4" x 2" strip of matching cardstock, and used the slit punch to create the scalloped edge (my new fav. scalloping source). I ran a narrow 5 1/4" x 1" strip of So Saffron thru my craft store mini sewing machine (the first time I've actually used this thing - fun, but hard to keep that line straight - I soo admire people who can sew! - oh and btw if you don't have a sewing machine of the card or fabric variety, you can easily create the look by Faux Stitching - Leave a comment, if you'd like me to post a tutorial on that, since I can't find any links to offer).
I Then cut a piece 5 1/4" x 3" piece of Bashful Blue Designer Series Paper (DSP) from that fabulous hostess pack, and laid out all the pieces to get a sense of spacing. I stamped the sentiment using my Stamp-a-ma-Jig, with White Craft Ink, added white embossing powder and heated to set.
Using a scrap piece of Bashful Blue - measurements approx. 3 3/4" x 5 1/4", I adhered all the different strips to it, starting with the scallop on the bottom, then the DSP, the So Saffron strip and finally the ribbon. I then added these pieces to the card base using Dimensionals.

The heart was pretty simple - just stamped the image using Bashful Blue ink, cut it out, adhered to a scrap piece of Certainly Celery and cut around the heart image again for a bit of a matte. I tied the thread thru a saffron button, and adhered to the heart using a glue dot, then adhered to my card using Dimensionals.

Supplies I used: (All Stampin' Up! unless noted)
Stamps: Always, Forever In My Heart, Stitched Background Stamp
Paper: Bashful Blue Designer Series Paper (Hostess) So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White
Ink: Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, White Craft
Extras: White Embossing Powder, Slit Punch, Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon, Rich Regals Buttons, Hemp Thread, Glue Dots & Dimensionals, Craft Store Mini Sewing Machine.

Wonderful Friend

I thought that Beate John's weekend sketch challenge (WSC43 - found here on her fabulous blog) was going to be a piece o' cake to pull together, but turns out, sometimes the easiest layouts are the most challenging to make look just right. Boy did I fuss with this one! This is what I ended up with.
I just got the Embrace Life set, and was itching to use it, and I've always liked this sentiment. My hubby voted for more color, but in the end, I decided to go with the simple color scheme, to not let all the details get too overwhelming. Anyway.. not one of my favs... but it was a great challenge. Thanks Beate!

Here's how I built it:

I started by folding my 8 1/2" x 4 1/4" piece of River Rock Cardstock in half, and stamped the front with my Canvas Background stamp in the matching River Rock ink.

I then stamped that beautiful flower on a 1 1/2" x 4 1/2" piece of River Rock cardstock, using Basic Black craft ink. I then sprinkled it with clear embossing powder, and heated to set. I colored in each of the flowers using my white gel pen, and added a hint of Ruby Red using my blender pens. I adhered my flowers to a 2" x 4 1/2" piece of Basic Black, and paper pierced along the sides. I adhered this assembled piece to my card base.

I stamped my sentiment on a piece of Whisper White Cardstock, again using the Basic Black Craft, Clear Embossing powder and heated to set, sponged around the edges and adhered to the black matte, and adhered to my card base using dimensionals. Finally, I tied the White Organdy and Black Gingham Ribbon together around the top of the card, and voila! 

Here's the supplies I used: (All Stampin' Up unless noted)
Stamps:Embrace Life, Canvas Background Stamp, All Holidays
Paper: River Rock, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black Craft, River Rock Classic, Ruby Red Classic
Extras: Clear Embossing Powder, White Gel Pen, Paper Piercer, Blender Pens, Sponges, Dimensionals, White Taffetta Ribbon, Black Gingham Ribbon