Seattle Girl - CPS109

This is my first go at a CPS sketch. I have been following this site for a few months now and finally decided I needed to join in the fun!

I thought this sketch would work perfectly with a couple of Amuse stamps I received in the mail last week. The Seattle Girl and Under the Weather stamps were on on the blue light special (Gotta love that deal - $2 a piece). I decided to pair the images some American Crafts paper and Copics. I really like how this card turned out; I am a sucker for clean lines and a simple layout.

The Close-up

And the Markers

Supplies:
Paper: Choclate Chip cardstock (SU!), Solar Crest White (Neenah), Patterned Paper (American Crafts)
Stamps: Amuse
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Momento), Chocolate Chip Classic Ink (SU!)
Extras: small scallop border punch (EK Success), Copics

Martinis All in a Row

In addition to selling my creations, I have also been exchanging cards for labor. A co-worker agreed to change the oil in my car for 2 b-day cards. He chose the Melon Berry card with the Absolutely Fabulous sentiment from this post and requested a masculine card. Masculine cards are hard for me, and they are not something I tend to keep around. So I put this one together last night using rub-ons and Copic markers. The neat thing was that the rub-on leaves an invisible outline around the image that you can't fill in with a Copic. It added white space between the color and the outline, which looked cool and I didn't even have to try...IRL is looks really cool (The photo probably doesn't do it justice). I forgot to mention this was a super quick and easy card. For man cards I usually go simple, otherwise it turns out too girly.

Supplies:
Paper: Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip cardstock (SU!); Mellow PP (Basic Grey)
Ink: None
Stamps: None
Extras: Rub-ons (SU!)

Rabbits and Lambs

Easter is right around the corner, so I decided to bust out my Michael's $1 stamps and make a couple of cards. These are the same base and same template; I just changed the colors in order to suit each of the images. I will be selling these cards at Russo Espresso in Fairview Park, Ohio. The owner has graciously agreed to let Katie, Randee and I sell our creations there. Make sure you stop by his coffee shop if you are in the area. I am super excited!!! Here's hoping they sell.

The Close-up

And the Markers:

Supplies:

Paper: Wild Wasabi (SU!), Berry Sorbet (PTI), Solar Crest White (Neenah), Patterned Paper (American Crafts and Amuse)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Momento)

Stamps: All stamps by Studio G

Extras: Scalloped Square Die (Spellbinders), buttons and ribbon (PTI), small scallop border punch (EK Success), Copics, Embroidery Floss

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #2

I loved the colors Dawn McVey chose for her Raspberry Suite Color Challenge! The teal, moss and brown color combo is right up my alley, so of course I had to give it a try. I decided to use some patterned paper from my stash and the only stamping is the sentiment, which of course is from the Mega Mixed Messages set. To make the tag I cut out one white and one brown tag using my sizzix. I used sissors to cut out the circle from the white tag (there were perforations - I couldn't free hand it if I tried) and attached it to the center of the brown tag. I really like how this card came out; let me know what you think.

The Close-up

Supplies:
Paper: Whisper White, Taken with Teal and Chocolate Chip Cardstock (SU!); Spring Moss Cardstock (PTI)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Stamps: Mega Mixed Messages (SU!)
Extras: Dies (Sizzix exlcusive to SU!), Ribbon, Pewter Pearls (Kaiser)

KWerner Challenge #47 - Tulips???

It's time for another Kristina Werner Challenge.....

No, not tulips or flowers for this post...how about mushrooms instead. Granted the mushrooms are actually the top part of the tulips from the Wishing You set from PTI paired with stems. Last night at the PTI bloghop I found out you could make mushrooms with this set, then tonight I saw this color combo, and I knew I had to give the tulip mushrooms a try. Instead of using a smaller tulip top for the base of the mushroom (blog entry here) I hand cut stems from cardstock.

The color combo and my card reminds of these ceramic canisters my mom used to own when I was a kid. They were yellow with a white rim on the lid and base and a few mushrooms for handles...so in the avocado, gold, and orange era of the 70's/80's. This color combo was too fun!!!! I had so much fun I decided I needed to decorate the inside of the card with mushrooms too. Let me know what you think!

The Close Up

The Inside

Supplies:

Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron (SU!)

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron (SU!)

Stamps: Wishing You and Mega Mixed Messages (PTI)

Extras: Threading Water Border Punch (Fiskars), Ribbon (American Crafts), Button (SU!), Embroider Floss

Retro Background

This is my First PTI Blog Hop; I am so excited that I made 2 projects. For the first project I made background paper using tone on tone color and used my Big Shot to cut out the paper using Sizzlits dies. I love how this turned out. I also put some of the hand stamped paper on the inside of the card.

Supplies (Live your Bliss):
Paper: Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart, and Raspberry Fizz cardstock (PTI); Basic Black, Wild Wasabi, and Kraft cardstock (SU!)
Ink: Raspberry Fizz and Aqua Mist (PTI); Basic Black and Wild Wasabi(SU!)
Stamps: Background Basics: Retro and Mega Mixed Messages (PTI)
Extras: Larg Bling (Joann's), Small Bling (Mark Richards), Sizzlits (Sizzix Exclusive for SU!)

I stamped the background using Background Basics: Retro in black ink and then filled in the circles with a white gel pen. The base of my card turned out to be quite busy, so I decided to make the focal point a simple black and white sentiment. Now I want to replicate this card in more fun PTI colors. This card was made with Melon Berry, but I think this background is screaming to be made with Aqua Mist.

I have also used this set to create other fun backgrounds here and here.

Supplies:(Absolutely Fabulous)
Paper: Melon Berry cardstock (PTI), Whisper White and Basic Black cardstock (SU!)
Ink: Basic Black (SU!)
Stamps: Background Basics: Retro and Mega Mixed Messages (PTI)
Extras: scallop border punch and corner rounder (EK Success), white gel pen (Signo)

SFYTT - More Tulips

This is my first go at a SFYTT by Jen del Muro. This was quite fun, especially since I played with my Wishing You set from PTI some more. This must be Tulip week on the blog, which is kinda fitting since it is raining all week in the Chicagoland area. Gotta go to bed. I stayed up way too late tonight!

Supplies:
Paper: Water Color paper (Archiver's); Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate, and Baja Breeze (SU!)
Ink: Taken with Teal, Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black, and Old Olive (SU!)
Stamps: Wishing You and Retro Backgrounds (PTI)
Extras: Black metal adhesive snaps (Joann's), Black marker (Zig)

Looks Like Spring

I had an extra base that I made from the Caardvark's challenge card so I tied a bow on it and got to some fussy cutting. I stamped the tulips from PTI's new Wishing You set. These images are so cute I want to marry them. Okay, that is a bit too far but I do love them! I stamped the tulips on SU!'s Whisper White and cut them out. Since the base was done, I had put a little detail onto this card by cutting out the tulips. All the tulips are raised with dimensionals (look at the close-up below). I also needed to use more of these uber-cute images and stamped the inside of the card.

Note: If you want to stamp with SU! classic ink using acrylic stamps 1) make sure you take an eraser to the stamp 2) clean it off in order to remove all the erasures 3) Place Fun Foam under the card. Heather Nichols provided instruction for how to create fab images with acrylic stamps on her blog.

Supplies:
Paper: White Cardstock (Archiver's), Basic Black and Whisper White Cardstock (SU!), Urban Prarie Patterned Paper (Basic Grey)
Ink: Basic Black, Taken with Teal, Old Olive, Purely Pomegranite Classic Ink (SU!)
Stamps: Wishing You (Papertrey Ink) Extras: Ribbon (SU!)

Ruby's Cupcake Card

As I mentioned in my previous post, my 3-year old niece has already discovered her creativity gene. She can operate a quickutz; all I have to do is load it up with her die and paper of choice. The Big Shot is a bit more difficult to crank, so I had to help her turn the handle. This is one of the creations she made with the cupcake from a Stampin' Up Exclusive Sizzix cupcake die. She absolutely loves, loves cupcake (then again what toddler doesn't). After she cut out the die I gave her a scrap piece of folded card stock and gave her a glue stick and a hand full of buttons. The only thing I did to help her is move the bottom part of the cupcake down so it was not directly on top of the frosting. The rest of the positioning and assembly was all her. If you want to put a face behind the creation, click here to view a picture of Ruby on a scrapbook page.

Ruby was so proud of her card and would love a comment.

Supplies
Paper: Red Cardstock (Wausau), Chocolate Chip and Shimmer White Cardstock (SU!),
Ink: None
Stamps: None, but did I mention Ruby likes to stamp and is pretty good at it.
Extras: Sizzix Dies (Exclusive to SU!) and buttons (Autumn Leaves)

Urban Prarie

My 3 year old niece and sister came over this week for a trip to the Children's museum and card making. Who would have known my niece loves to craft. She will be my guest blogger for tomorrow's post; she did a fantastic job. While they were here I started my Caardvarks challenge using the sketch below. I didn't finish until tonight...I was having too much fun teaching my niece how to use a Revolution, a Big Shot, and punches (can never start them too young)! I really like how this card turned out; the center really seems to pop. After I got everything complete I thought about adding a sentiment, but that would have been too much. Let me know what ya think.

EDIT: I came back and decided the card needed a small sentiment at the bottom and decided to outline the center with paper piercing.

Supplies:
Paper: Spring Moss cardstock (PTI), Basic Black cardstock (SU!), Urban Prarie Patterned Paper (Basic Grey)
Ink: Basic Black (SU!)
Stamps: Mega Mixed Messages (PTI)
Extras: Chipboard flower (Basic Grey), Scallop Punch and Corner Rounder (SU!), Circle Punch (Fiskars), Border Punch (Basic Grey), Lacey Ribbon (Making Memories)

KWerner Color Challenge #46

The baby blue, red, and black mixed with shades of pink....what can I say I love these colors! This Kwerner color inspiration just screams PTI's Retro Background. This set is so versatile and definitely has to be the most used stamp set from my collection. I made the background by stamping the stripes with the blue, pinks, red, and black at random intervals and in no particular pattern. I thought this gave the card a more funky vibe. The scalloped edge and patterned paper background is raised off of the black to add a little dimension (this is a little hard to see in the photo).

And the close-up....

Supplies:

Paper: Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Ridinghood Red, and Very Vanilla cardstock (SU!)
Ink: Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, and Ridinghood Red Classic Ink (SU!)
Stamps: Stripes (Papertrey Ink), Sentiment (Hero Arts)
Extras: Tag Die (Sizzix exclusive for SU!), Scallop Border Punch (Fiskars), Ribbon and embroidery floss.

Turtles Three

I just took a class on how to use Copic Markers this weekend. I had such a good time learning new colored pencil and copic marker techniques. Hopefully I will get some miles out of my old colored pencils. I will try the Copic and colored pencil combo later in the week (after I get back from a business trip). This is my post class go at coloring with copics using my new Turtles set that was just dying for a little color (ba-dum-bump).

Note: In addition to to the markers photoed below I also used B00 (I forgot to include this into the photo).

Supplies:
Paper: White cardstock (Neenah); So Saffron and Not Quite Navy cardstock (SU!)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Stamps: Turtles (Hero Arts), Sentiment (SU!)
Extras: Scallop Border Punch (SU!), Old Olive Polytwill Ribbon (SU!), Styled Silver hardware (SU!), Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug), Markers (Copic).

KWerner Color Challenge #45

This weeks color challenge is to use basic black, basic grey, and whisper white. Kristina's inspiration for this challenge was a black, white, and fun ponytail holder.

I decided to flip through my book of embellishments and found some iron-on velvet flowers from SEI. I have had these for a long stinkin' time. The transfers are from the Winnie's Walls collection, which I bought as soon as it came out, and I have yet to use almost all of the paper and none of the embellishments. The flowers, joyful, and white scallops are all the fuzzy, velvet iron-ons.

I notched the side of the card with my SU! slot punch and tied the polka dot ribbon with a button and embroidery floss (see the view from the inside).

Supplies:

Paper: Basic Black, Basic Grey, and Whisper White Cardstock (SU!)
Ink: None
Stamps: None
Extras: Velvet Iron-ons (SEI), slot punch and corner rounder (SU!), scalloped border punch (Fiskars), Button (SU!), Cuttlebug Polka dot Embossing Folder, Ribbon and Embroidery Floss (unknown).

Nuttin' Better

It has been about a week since I sat down and got crafty. To get out of the craftless funk I decided to participate in the Caardvark's Critter Challenge. The challenge is to create a card using a critter. I cannot tell you how much fun I had making this card! When I thought of this challenge all I could think of how cute would it be to have a nut card with a squirrel on it. Truth be told, any excuse to use my Year Round Puns from Papertrey Ink. Every time I open this card up it just makes me giggle. Let me know what you think!

I designed the template and hand stitched the top of the nut. I even stitched on the buttons. All paper used on the front of the card was made using the Green Stack, which is made of 70% recycled material and has a really unique texture.

Supplies (5 x 6 inch card):
Paper: DCWV Green Stack, SU! Kraft Cardstock (base of the card)
Stamps: Year Round Puns (PTI)
Ink: StazOn Brown
Extras: Linen Thread (SU!), Buttons (PTI), Circle Punches (Fiskars and SU!), Scallop Punch (Marvvy Uchida), Squirrel Die (Quickutz), and Glaze Pen for the eyes and nose)

Workshop Projects

I have been enjoying the discount from being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and have been mostly a hobby demo for the last few years. I am actually having a workshop on Saturday, and I needed to create two projects. The key to these projects is that anyone can do them and enjoy card making. I made a little 3 x 3 inch notecard using paper, ribbon, and a stamp set from the Sale-a-bration catalog. This is a super quick card. I think 5 minutes to create and 2 to duplicate.

For my second project I had to bust out my Trendy Trees set and created a fun, colorful 6 x 3 inch card. This is one of my favorite sizes, because it is unique and still only costs standard postage to send in the mail. I decided to not go traditional with the colors of my tree tops; I went with Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango, and Kiwi Kiss. I used the stamp-a-jig to align the trunks with the tree tops. I was excited to finally use the pacific point textured cardstock and kiwi kiss ribbon. I ordered both of these items in May/June 2008 and had not used any of it yet. What a great way to use supplies, show other people what I love, and to support the habit!


Supplies for Sale-a-bration Card (all SU!):
Paper: Kraft cardstock and Delicate Dots DSP
Stamps: Polka Dot Punches
Ink: Basic Black
Extras: Flower Punch, Ribbon from Bundle (Certainly Celery Polytwill)


Supplies for Thinking of You (all SU!):
Paper: Pacific Point Textured Cardstock, Whisper White and Chocolate Chip Cardstock, and Good Morning Sunshine Patterned Paper
Stamp: Trendy Trees
Ink: Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, and Chocolate Chip Classic Ink
Extras: Kiwi Kiss Ribbon and corner rounder

Perfect Pear

This is my first Caardvarks challenge, and the challenge is to use Kraft cardstock. This is a good one for me, since Kraft is my go to background/base color. I love it; it looks fabulous with almost anything. This time I decided to change it up and use Kraft as my focal point rather than a neutral background. I used rub-ons on the kraft in order to create bold, clean images. The 4.25 x 4.25 inch card base is white cardstock that I embossed with a cuttlebug die, then I added the rub-on word perfect onto the embossed cardstock.

This card was so fun and makes me giggle. I love puns!

Suplies:
Paper: Neenah Solar White Cardstock; SU! Kraft, Chocolate Chip, and Old Olive Cardstock
Extras: Old Olive Ribbon (SU!), Rub-ons (SU!), embossing folder (Provo Craft)

With Sympathy - Pet

The girls came over this weekend for a little crafting at my place. There may have been a paper explosion in the dining room, but as always a ton of fun. I have a few more postings from the meeting of the crafty minds so keep checking back, and pop on over to their blogs (Janie's blog and DZines by MEG) under My Favorite Creative Sites to see their work. The common theme for me had to be Papertrey. All I have to say is I HEART Papertrey! Apparently, since this is the second blog in a row that I say how much I love their stuff. I used their Pet Sympathy sentiments stamp set to create these two cards. The one above uses their fabulous satin ribbon (I need them all). I borrowed the satin Spring Moss ribbon from Marisa. I revamped that card using ribbon that I owned to create Sympathy cards for my monthly themed card swap (the card below). I used the damask stamp to create a background, and the paw print to add a background to the sentiment. The damask background, the script font, and the black pearls resulted in an elegant, thoughtful card.

Supplies:
Paper: Basic Grey, Whipser White, Cool Caribbean Cardstock (SU!); Spring Moss Cardstock (PTI)
Ink: Basic Grey (SU!); StazOn Black; Spring Moss Palette Hybrid Ink (PTI); Aqua Versamagic Ink
Stamps: Damask Stamp (Studio g - $1 Michael's stamp); With Sympathy Loss of a Pet (PTI)
Extras: Corner Rounder (SU!); Black Pearls (Mark Richards); Spring Moss Ribbon (PTI); Blue Ribbon (Target Club Wedd)

KWerner Color Challenge #43

It is time again for another Kristina Werner Color Challenge. This was a difficult color combo to work with, but I liked the results of my 6 x 3 inch card. I was happy to use Brocade Blue, since I have a large stack and I haven't used that color for about 2 years. I also got a chance to use my new PTI stamps; the puns are so fun! I can't wait for the March release and another order. You can't really tell, but the Squirrel is attached to an aluminum circle tag with acetate in the center.

Supplies:

Stamps: Year Round Puns and Retro Backgrounds (PTI)
Paper: Brocade Blue, Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Whisper White, and Creamy Carmel Cardstock (SU!)
Ink: Versamark and StazOn Black
Extras: Ribbon (probably American Crafts); black Glaze pen; Aluminum Clear Circle tags; Scallop Border Punch (SU!); Squirrel Die (Quickutz); Various size Circle punches (SU!)