Asian Flair Swap Card #4

That Paola, she sucks you in and then she just won't let go! She makes it SO easy and SO fun to join her swaps and that, my friends, is how I ended up with 4 (yes, 4!) spots in her Asian Flair Swap over on SCS. It's crazy I tell you!

I love all the cards I designed, but i do think that this one is my favourite:

It uses the flower from Asian Flair (level 2 Hostess Set). I stamped the image in Versamark Ink on Very Vanilla Cardstock and then heat embossed it with Gold Embossing Powder. The image was then matted on Basic Black Cardstock. I added two Gold Brads at the top right. The red paper to the left of the image and partially underneath the Basic Black 5/8" Satin Ribbon (which is still available in Occasions Mini Catalogue) is a specialty paper that I acquired quite some ago (and probably at the same time as the paper in this post), so I really have no idea who made it, where I got it or anything of the sort.

The base of the card is Basic Black Cardstock and the inside is finished with a piece of Very Vanilla Cardstock so that a personal note can be written.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Asian Artistry

INK: Versamark

PAPERS: Very Vanilla and Basic Black Cardstock; Specialty Paper of Unknown Origin

ACCESSORIES: Ribbon and Brads

Happy Stampin'!

Made to Match

While I was doing my "blurfing" last week, I came across Ilina's blog where she created an adorable card using the sketch at SplitCoast Stampers. I had to CASE her, because her card was just SO cute! I do have the Fox and Friends set, but I decided to use Trendy Trees.

Here are the cards I made:

I stamped the trees using Certainly Celery and Chocolate Chip Ink on Very Vanilla Cardstock. These stamps are wood mounted, so I used my Stamp-a-majig to get the tree trunk in just the right spot. The sentiments (also from Trendy Trees) are stamped in Certainly Celery on Very Vanilla Cardstock and then punched using the Word Window punch. The sentiments are matted on coordinating colours using the Modern Label punch. Both the images and the sentiments are mounted on the card using Stampin' Dimensionals.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Trendy Trees

INK: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip

PAPERS: Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy and Very Vanilla Cardstock; Welcome Neighbours and Patterns Pack DSP

ACCESSORIES: Stamp-a-majig, Mat Pack, Paper Piercer

Happy Stampin '!

A Perfect Pair

Yesterday, I was feeling pretty crummy...not sure why, but it is what it is. Today, I'm feeling a bit better, despite having to ride a bus for 1/2 hour each way with 60 screaming 6 and 7 year olds - YIKES!!!

Anyway, despite feeling quite icky, I still managed to get some creating time in, between naps of course!

Here are the cards I made yesterday:

I started off with the Always Artichoke bases and went from there. The next layer up is Certainly Celery followed by a layer of Kraft Cardstock and a piece of DSP from the Welcome Neighbour 6 X 6 pad, which is only available with your $65 purchase during Sale-a-Bration (which by the way ends in just 9 days!!!).

I stamped the cute little turtle from Fox and Friends in Always Artichoke on Whisper White. I punched him out with my 1 3/8" circle punch and then matted him on a scalloped circle. I wrapped a ribbon around the layers and tied a bow. The turtle was affixed using Stampin' Dimensionals.

For the finishing touch, I stamped the sentiment from Short and Sweet on Whisper White and punched it out using the Word Window punch and matted it on a piece of Always Artichoke punches with the Modern Label punch. It too was mounted to the card on Stampin' Dimensionals.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Fox and Friends, Short and Sweet

INK: Always Artichoke

PAPERS: Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Kraft and Whisper White Cardstock; Welcome Neighbour DSP

ACCESSORIES: Ribbon, Punches, Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!

Greenhouse Garden Thanks

On Friday, the boys went to take a cooking class at Loblaws as part of their spring break program for kids. They had a GREAT time and Jonathan even got to hang out with one of his little classmates. Jonathan and his friend exchanged phone numbers and yesterday they had a playdate.

Since everyone knows by now that I am "that mom", I had to make a card to thank Emerson's mom for having Jonathan over. Here's what I came up with:

I used Greenhouse Garden, which is one of the sets that will be available at 20% off beginning April 1st as part of the "Two-Step Into Spring Promotion".

The flowers were stamped using Pale Plum and Perfect Plum inks on Whisper White Cardstock. Since I was going for a monochromatic look, I also used Pale Plum and Perfect Plum Cardstock for my card.

I stamped the sentiment (from the With All My Heart set) in Perfect Plum on Whisper White and punched it out using the Large Oval Punch. I matted it on a piece of Pale Plum which was punched out with the Scallop Oval Punch.

I decided to pretty up the inside of the card too:

I stamped the same flower as I used on the front of the card on Whisper White and layered it on Pale Plum before adhering it to the inside of the card.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Greenhouse Garden, With All My Heart

INK: Pale Plum and Perfect Plum

PAPERS: Whisper White, Pale Plum and Perfect Plum Cardstock

ACESSORIES: Punches, Ribbon

Happy Stampin'!

CASE - Asian Artistry

OK, I'll admit it - I love stalking the SCS gallery and CASEing all the amazing artists there. That being said, I LOVED this card and had to case it for the Asian Flair swap that my friend Paula is hosting.

Here is my version:

I punched out a 1" circle and 1 3/4" circle to use as masks/templates with my So Saffron and Mellow Moss inks. My little bird on a branch was stamped using Basic Grey ink and so was the sentiment.

The paper that I used on the left hand side of the card is some specialty paper that I've had for a while and I really don't even know where it came from - proof positive that I have WAY too much STUFF!!!

I stamped the Tiny Tags word "friends" and then punched it out using the Jewelry Tag Punch that matches the set.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Tiny Tags, Asian Artistry

INK: Basic Grey, Mellow Moss, So Saffron

PAPERS: Whisper White and Mellow Moss Cardstock; Specialty Paper (source unknown)

ACCESSORIES: Ribbon, Jewelry Tag Punch

Happy Stampin'!

I got to play! I got to play!!!

So...this week is Spring Break in our neck of the woods. It's only Wednesday, but we've been pretty busy! On Monday we went swimming and on Tuesday, we went to my friend Diana's house for what was SUPPOSED to be cooking school for the kids...well, the weather was SO nice that the kids ended up outside and Diana and I were the only ones in the kitchen...except for the babies (who can't really cook) and my DD and her friend (who pretty much know how to cook anyway and don't really need cooking school). We had a GREAT time though, so it was all good. Unfortunately, we FORGOT to take pictures. I know, LAME!

Anyway...today was my down day. I didn't have to DO anything (though I did do laundry and clean the bathroom, as well as pick up our organic veggie box and fill our water bottle). In between the laundry/bathroom and the veggie/water, I got to create - YAY!!!

This is one of the cards I made:

Yes, it uses retired ribbon, but it just looked right, so I had to!!! And Riding Hood Red was SO close to Ruby Red that it just worked. We need Ruby Red ribbon!!!

I stamped the image in Ruby Red on Confetti White and then used a sponge and Ruby Red to sponge around the edges of the Confetti White Cardstock. I matted it on Ruby Red and tied a knot in a piece of Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon before adhering the image panel to the front of the card using dimensionals.

The reason there is a piece of Confetti White on the front of the card, is because I needed a piece of Ruby Red for this card:

and didn't want to cut into a new sheet for just a small piece.

For this card, I stamped the image in Ruby Red on Whisper White. The large piece at the bottom is wheeled with the Vintage Vogue Wheel available in the Occasions Mini, but only till April 30th!

I used the Vintage Vogue set to stamp a background on the So Saffron card base in So Saffron ink.

I'm not sure if you can tell, but I used scissors to scrape the edges of the mat behind the wheeled piece of cardstock. I'm not really a "vintage" sort of person, though I do like the Vintage Vogue set, so the "scraping" is my attempt at "vintage". I'm not sure that I love it, but it doesn't look too bad...

The finishing touch was the hand cut flower and leaves embellished with a half pearl from the pretties kit.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Vintage Vogue (set and wheel) and Happy Moments (ONLY available through March 31st!!!)

INK: Ruby Red, Always Artichoke, So Saffron

PAPERS: Whisper White, So Saffron, Confetti White and Ruby Red Cardstock

ACCESSORIES: Ribbon and Punches

Happy Stampin'!

A little more Asian Artistry

Hmmm...if you haven't figured it out just yet, I REALLY love this set. Have I mentioned that before? I'm sure that I have...maybe you just missed it - LOL!

Anyway, still going with stuff out of the scrap bag, I created this:

I stamped the image using markers and the direct to rubber technique with Garden Green and Really Rust Markers. The image is stamped on Confetti White Cardstock and then layered on Garden Green and Really Rust. The ribbon is Kraft taffeta.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Asian Artistry (Level 2 Hostess Set)

INK: Garden Green and Really Rust

PAPERS: Kraft, Garden Green, Really Rust and Confetti White Cardstock

ACCESSORIES: Markers and Ribbon

Happy Stampin'!

ZOINKS!!! Feb. 27th?

Really? That was my last post??? That's just CRAZY!!!

Since it's been so long, here's one of my faves that came out of my foray into the scrap bag:

I used my markers to colour directly on the stamp and used Old Olive as well as Perfect Plum. I sponged around the edges of the main image in Old Olive and sponged my little birdie in Perfect Plum. I SO love this Asian Artistry set and will be SO sad when it retires (since it's a hostess set)

What do you think?

STAMPS: Asian Artistry

INK: Old Olive, Perfect Plum

PAPERS: Whisper White, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum and Olive Cardstock; Cottage Wall DSP

ACCESSORIES: Ribbon, Pinking Hearts Border Punch

Happy Stampin'!