New England Stamper

Sweet and Simple Saturday

I just got back from a fabulous Flourishes weekend in Florida - more details in the next few days.  So with piles of laundry and mail to get through, a simple card is definitely the order of the day. 

I decided to use a Splitcoast card sketch challenge for the layout and a Flourishes set, Home Tweet Home.  Plus my new Shimmerz, which arrived while I was away. 

I fussed over the embellishment for a while (well 5 minutes, actually) because it needed to be blue to tie in the blue birds, but all my blue brads and buttons were the wrong size.  So, I decided on a Dew Drop but I didn't have any blue ones.  So, I got out a blue copic marker (B97), colored the Dew Drop and then painted over the top with December Sky Blingz.    Result: a custom Dew Drop and messy fingers.

 

Recipe:

• Stamps: Home Tweet Home (Flourishes), Sentiment (Hampton Art)
• Paper: very vanilla, chocolate chip c/stock
• Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, SU markers (bashful blue, ballet blue, certainly celery, mellow moss, close to cocoa, chocolate chip), December Sky Blingz, Copic marker B97
• Accessories: Dew Drops

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

Two Talented Stampers

Check out these gorgeous cards!  Each month I give my stamp club members a challenge - usually a little product to work with.  For the last challenge I gave them all an SU Top Note die-cut to play with and take a look at the beautiful cards they came up with.

Dawn P created a stunning criss-cross pocket card and used the Top Note as the insert.  I love those fresh colors and check out the rub-on on the grosgrain ribbon - this is really super work.

Pam C created this fun holiday card with her ballet blue Top Note.  I really like the way she mirrored the stitching on the Top Note with paper piercing on her oval.  And in the second picture you can see the great coloring job she did with watercolor wonder crayons.

Here is another card by Pam C using buttons from a challenge several months ago.  It uses one of my all time favorite SU sets, Delight in Life.  I love all the attention to detail on this card - the paper piercing, thread in the buttons and the delicate coloring.  Super job, Pam.

 

I can't say enough good things about these cards.  Thanks for sharing your work Dawn and Pam!

Ali

 

Sweet & Simple Saturday

By the time this posts, I'll be in Florida taking part in the Flourishes stamping weekend - hooray!  I'm really excited about taking these classes and the Copic Marker training on Monday - I'll fill you in when I get back.

It's Saturday again and time for a Sweet & Simple card. I just adore this new SU set, Trendy Trees.  It's the kind of set you can do a lot with and goes really well with the Cheep Talk set.  That said, you will have to meditate into a zen-like state and become one with your Stamp-a-ma-jig to use it.  It would be impossible to line up the trees without it (well it would be for me).

Recipe: (all supplies SU)

• Stamps: Trendy Trees
• Paper: Very vanilla, chocolate chip
• Ink: Kiwi kiss, close to cocoa
• Accessories: Kiwi kiss/very vanilla satin ribbon, Button Latte, thread

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a creative weekend!

Ali

Shimmertastic Announcement

I have super exciting news to share: I've been invited to join the Shimmerz design team.  It's been so hard keeping it under my hat for the past few days, but they made the announcement today, so I'm free to blab.  You might have guessed already that I love the stuff and I'm really looking forward to creating projects for them with new colors etc.

So, I guess I'll share a project I made a few weeks with my Shimmerz.  It's a card based on a Mojo Monday sketch 71 that I made for my sister-in-law's birthday in January.  Although it didn't get mailed until February - I was stressing because I didn't like the ribbon tabs - I really need to let some things go. 

The cupcake, which is from Stampin' Up!'s Crazy for Cupcakes set, is paper pieced on the bottom and the frosting is painted with Pink Shimmerz and highlighted with Stickles.  The whole cake is popped up on dimensionals and the finished size is a whopping 6" x 6".

And I need to thank my friend Sharon for making my watermark.  I'm Photoshop challenged and she finally showed me how to get my cards watermarked.  Thanks Sharon!

Recipe:

• Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes
• Card stock: Very vanilla, pink pirouette & chocolate chip
• Patterned paper: American Crafts
• Ink: Timber Brown Stazon, Pink Shimmerz, Stickles, So Saffron marker
• Accessories: ribbon by Stampin' Up!, American Crafts and May Arts
• Tools: SU Heart punch

Thanks for stopping by and have a shimmering day!

Ali

Sweet Valentines

I just wanted to share the Valentine card I made for my daughter.

 

It's a complete case of this card by Leann Greff.  If you like punch art, then you'll love Leann's blog - it is full of fun punch art samples.  I replaced the lamp in Leann's card with the Happy Valentines frame.  This was made with the Sale-a-Bration set Yummy (love that set!), Happy Heart Day and my Stamp-a-ma-jig.

Here are the sweet little valentines my eight year old daughter made last weekend to give to her classmates - all 24 of them.  Aside from cutting the cardstock, she did everything herself and I think she did a wonderful job.  It took her all afternoon, but I let her do them in front of the TV (bad parent!)

Finally, here's the little treat I put into my husband's suitcase because he was on a business trip on Valentines Day (sigh).  These chocolate cashews are made locally and are so delicious. 

Here's the tag on it's own:

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a sweet day!

Sweet & Simple Saturday

Happy Valentines Day!

I started a simple card feature last Saturday, so here's another.  I used the SU 5" x 3.5" pre-made note cards again this week - I've run out now and can't wait to order some more.

I really love this new Stampin' Up! set called Cheep Talk.  As long as you're comfortable using a Stamp-a-ma-jig (stamp positioner), you'll be fine with this set.  I used 3 stamps here - the sentiment, branch and bird and it's important to line them up correctly.  With the floral 2-step stampin' sets (eg Heartfelt Thanks), the two impressions don't need to be lined up exactly and they can look quite nice when offset slightly, but it's not really an option with this set.

I used the scallop edge punch along the bottom of the card and placed a 1" strip of patterned paper inside the card.  I also scored 2 lines just above the scallops (I'm not sure if it shows in the photo) using my paper cutter and scoring blade.

Recipe:

• Stamps: Cheep Talk
• Paper: SU notecard,Good Morning Sunshine designer paper (SU)
• Ink: close to cocoa, summer sun, old olive, night of navy markers
• Tools: scallop edge punch, scoring blade

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend!

Sweet Bundle of Love Mini Book

I just cannot stop making these mini books with Stampin' Up!'s Top Note die!  I posted another a few weeks ago and I plan to make another with my club this month. 

This baby book or album was made using felted wool (for today's Ways to Use It challenge on Splitcoast).  We have a beautiful quilting store in the area called The Quilted Crow and they have a huge selection of this gorgeous fabric.  It's softer and lighter than the kind of felt you'd find at the craft store or Joann's and really nice to work with.

Here's the directions:

1. Using your iron set on wool, attach a piece of felt to a 4" x 11" piece of vanilla cardstock with Heat n Bond Lite.

2. When cool, run the cardstock/felt piece through the Big Shot twice with the Top Note die (it cuts like butter!) to make your front and back covers.

3. To make inside pages: run pink and saffron cardstock through Big Shot with Top Note die four at a time.  Make as many pages as you wish.

4. Punch holes through covers and pages using a Crop-a-dile and bind with two 1" book rings.

5. Make hole reinforcers using a 1/2" circle punch and attach to cover with liquid tombo.

6. Stamp "Sweet Bundle" with white craft ink onto certainly celery c/stock, heat emboss with white embossing powder and punch with 1 3/4" circle punch. 

7. Sew a felt flower and button onto your large celery circle with crochet thread and attach to album front with liquid tombo.

8. Tie coordinating ribbons to book rings and trim.  Fill with pictures of your sweet bundle of love or give it as a baby shower gift.

Recipe (All supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

• Stamps: Sweet Celebrations
• Paper: vanilla, certainly celery, pink pirouette and so saffron cardstock
• Ink: white craft ink
• Accessories: pretty in pink narrow grosgrain ribbon, bashful blue taffeta ribbon, kiwi kiss/vanilla satin ribbon, Flower Fusion, Button Bouquet, 1" book rings from Staples, felted wool, crochet thread and Heat n Bond lite from The Quilted Crow
• Tools: Big Shot, Top Note die, Crop-a-dile, 1/2" hole punch, heat gun

Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by!

Inspiration Challenge

Friday's Flourishes Focus challenge was to make a card or project inspired by a beautiful peacock feather.  I wanted to make a card for a swap hostess (naming no names because she hasn't received them yet), so decided to use this as my inspiration.  I also combined it with this week's Our Creative Corner challenge which was to use one of your favorite embellishments.

There's not much stamping on this card because the flower is the focal point - can't miss it really!  I jazzed up the flower with some celery Shimmerz, but it didn't need much else.  The script and "thanks" in the flower center are from Flourishes' Thank You set.  And check out that ribbon.  It's the new Valet ribbon from SU - it's a gorgeous!

 

Check out what the talented ladies at Flourishes came up with for this challenge here.

Recipe:

• Stamps: Thank You (Flourishes)
• Paper: very vanilla and basic black c/stock (SU), gold c/stock (unknown)
• Ink: tempting turquoise and basic black ink (SU), celery Shimmerz
• Accessories: Valet ribbon (SU), Tiger Lily silk flowers (Imaginisce)
• Tools: Big Shot, Cuttlebug embossing folder, 3/4" circle punch

Sweet & Simple Saturday

It's the weekend!  I don't get much time to stamp at the weekends, so I decided to showcase some simple cards on Saturdays.  By simple, I mean very few layers or time-consuming techniques. 

I really dislike mass producing cards (unlike my friend Sharon who is awesome at it!), but I wanted to make a batch of cards for my stamp club this month.  Here's what I came up with.  It was really quite painless and am pretty happy with the result.

The card base is a Stampin' Up! note card, which comes precut and scored in a pack of twenty with envelopes for $5.95, which I think is great value.  They measure 5" x 3.5" which is a good size for a quick and easy card - there is less space to fill. The image was stamped with Stazon and colored with markers.  Super sweet & simple!

 

Recipe:

• Stamps: Always in my Thoughts, Fundamental Phrases (both Stampin' Up!)
• Cardstock: Stampin' Up! note cards
• Ink: brown Stazon, certainly celery, old olive, close to cocoa, chocolate chip, summer sun, pumpkin pie and bashful blue markers
• Accessories: certainly celery ribbon, gold cord
• Tools: word window punch, 1/8" hole punch

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

 

Timeless Tuesday Challenge

Flourishes have started a new weekly challenge over at their blog and this week's was to use flourishes or swirls in any form on your project. Check it out - you could win a gift certificate to the Flourishes store!

I had a piece of embossed suede paper left on my desk from Tuesday's stash challenge, which was covered with beautiful flourishes, so I decided to use this.  Unfortunately, as the card took shape, I covered up most of the suede paper with the main stamped panel.  If you look closely, you can see them around the edges.

The paper was an almost exact match for SU's mellow moss and so was the Martha Stewart ribbon that I've had kicking around forever.  The butterflies were punched from some scraps of patterned paper and were given some sparkle with my trusty Shimmerz.

 

I plan to send this card to a friend who has just had her first childrens book published.  I hope she likes it. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Recipe

• Stamps: Spring Ephemerals (Flourishes), Happy Harmony (retired SU)
• Paper: mellow moss, chocolate chip, very vanilla, embossed suede paper (don't know manufacturer), scrap baja breeze patterned paper for butterflies
• Ink: chocolate chip (SU), mellow moss (SU), Peeled Paint distress ink (Ranger), celery Shimmerz
• Accessories: chocolate chip satin ribbon (retired SU), silver sage nylon ribbon (Martha Stewart)
• Tools: Big Shot, Top Note die, butterfly punch, paint brush