Sunday, May 31, 2009

It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Bling

I love the Clean & Simple style of cardmaking that has come into such favor lately, and I've always been a fan of the asymmetrical look. So when I was looking through the CAS gallery on SCS today, sketch CAS13 really grabbed me.

I've been wanting to get more use out of the gorgeous Wisteria line of papers that I got from Kate at i {heart} papers, and I've had this purple and sage color scheme in my head for a couple of weeks now. And so....

And of course, we had to have some bling! I used some of the awesome Zva Creative rhinestones that Kate carries. The cool thing about these is that even though they come in pretty, pre-designed shapes, you can cut them apart and use them however you like. I cut one of the swirly shapes into a few pieces for this. I find that using my paper piercing tool to move and place the adhesive strips of stones is very helpful.

What I used:
Stamps: All Occasions Messages
Ink: SU Elegant Eggplant
Paper: PTI White, Basic Grey Wisteria
Other: Zva Creative bling, circle punch, MS butterfly punch


Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Monday, May 25, 2009

PTI Blog Hop Time!

bloghoplogo

It’s time once again for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop!

This month the theme is YELLOW. Well, having just come back from a visit to northern California, where the state flower is the poppy, I still had visions of those gorgeous golden yellow poppies dancing in my head. I explained how I made the poppy out of cardstock in my previous post, and here it is in sunshiney yellow, just in time for the Blog Hop.

california-poppy-friend

What I used:
Stamps: Friends ‘Til the End
Ink: Pure Black, Summer Sunrise
Paper: PTI White, Summer Sunrise, New Leaf, Black & White Basics
Other: Nestabilities (Zinnia and Circle), MS sprig punch, yellow
Flower Soft, Summer Sunrise satin ribbon

Oh, and here’s a pic of the real things, taken at the Ridge vineyards in Cupertino.

poppies

Happy Hoppin!

Carolyn

 

IHP Challenge for Stampin’ Out Alzheimer’s!

(This is a long post, and you’ll have to read all the way through to get the details on my card. I’m not sorry – it’s good stuff and you should read it!)CAS-poppy

Kate at i {heart} papers is hosting a sketch challenge on the Stampin' Out Alzheimers forum and we would love for you to join us. Go there to join and make your $5 donation to get in on all the fun! You can also donate by using the widget in the sidebar of my blog.

"Stamping Out Alzheimer's" is an amazing event that you won't want to miss! For a mere $5 donation you will have access to exclusive challenges and fun prizes from numerous different companies. Jen Tapler and Susanna Boyd have been hard at work organizing this fast-paced, fun-filled week with amazing giveaways and a chance to reach out and make a difference for a very worthwhile cause. At the end of this event, 100% of the funds raised will be donated directly to the Alzheimer's Association to help with their efforts to provide and enhance care and support for all those affected by this heartbreaking disease. Over 40 generous sponsors are participating, so there will be plenty of fun (and prizes!!!!) to go around.

Kate’s challenge is to use Flower Soft or another medium to texturize a flower, which will be the focal point for your card. You can use Flower Soft, flock, glitter or anything which adds texture to your stamped flower, Prima, fabric flower or whatever kind of flower you choose to use.
Once you've created your masterpiece, upload it to your photos on the Stampin' Out Alzheimers forum and tag it with IHPSOA so she can find it and add it our Challenge album. This will also enter you into the drawing for our Challenge prize. My card is above (details below).

i {heart} papers is donating a Flower Soft assortment of goodies valued at over $30! Everyone who enters the challenge is eligible - the winner will be chosen at random.
Additionally all SOA participants are invited to use an exclusive 10% off coupon through May 31 (see ad on the SOA site for code) in our store off all items, including new and on sale items. And, as always free US shipping on orders $40 and over!

Go over to the Stampin' Out Alzheimers forum now and join in the fun!

About my card: I was in California for a week, attending a family wedding, and was overcome by the beauty of their state flower, the poppy. They are everywhere, although the ones I saw were golden yellow. (More on that later today.) I decided to try to recreate a poppy using paper, and thought that my new Zinnia Nestabilities might do the trick. I used PTI Pure Poppy cardstock and snipped 6 times around the shape to make petals. Then I held it in my cupped hand and “worked” the petals with the rounded end of a bone folder, and my fingers, to curl them. The center is dusted with black Sparkle Fluff. When that was all dried, I put a blob of glue in the center and pressed some Yellow Flower Soft into it. Lots of texture here!

Incidentally, this card uses the FTL (Fall-to Layout) #43 on the Clean & Simple Stamping blog, a place where I get LOTS of inspiration.

What I used:
Stamps:
All Occasions Messages
Ink: Palette Noir
Paper: PTI White, Pure Poppy, Bitty Dots Basics; SU Garden Green, Yoyo Yellow, Basic Black
Other:
Zinnia and Circle Nestabilities, SU leaf die, Black Sparkle Fluff, Yellow Flower Soft

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Happy Birthday, Dad!

dad-mosaic-birthday I was looking through the SCS gallery for inspiration for a birthday card for my dad when I ran across this gorgeous card made by Susan. I loved how she used a variation of the Serendipity technique to make her focal panel, and how she them embossed it in the Cuttlebug, so I pretty much CASE’d her card. I used different colors, and left off some of her layers and details, but I think my dad will love it.

Now, one of the things I {heart} about paper collections is that I don’t have to think about what goes with what. It’s all been done for me already! I knew that the Blue Awning collection had lots of masculine colors, so I went with that. I got mine from Kate at i {heart} papers, but I see she’s out of it at the moment. If you want some, e-mail her and she’ll try to get more of it. I already had scraps of most of the papers, so cutting them up into little pieces was not a problem. Gluing them all down with glue stick, however, was kinda messy!

On a side note, I think I’m gonna have to iron [shudder] the insert in my photo box. That crease in the bottom is starting to annoy me.

What I used:
Stamps: Birthday Basics (PTI)
Ink: Night of Navy (SU)
Paper: Blue Awning Collection DP (K & Co), River Rock, Night of Navy, Brushed Copper (SU)
Other: Cuttlebug Mosaic embossing folder

Carolyn

Monday, May 18, 2009

Shimmery Wedding

Yesterday I attended the wedding of my cousin Jillian at a winery in California. She's the one I made the pink and brown wedding invitations for, so of course I made her wedding card using "her" colors.

Naturally, the picture doesn't do justice to the shimmer of the actual card. I used a cardstock called Ice Gold, which is kind of a shimmery white, but the shimmer is golden. Very subtle, but gorgeous. I used 2 different Cuttlebug embossing folders on it, and tied it with pink taffeta ribbon where they meet. The stamp is from a set called Oval All (SU!), and it's punched with SU! oval punches. I used a bit of pink to color the flower in the oval, and added a tiny bit of bling. Super easy card, but really special-looking.

I'm having a wonderful time here, seeing cousins, aunts and uncles, and staying with my brother and his family, all of whom I don't get to see often enough. But I will be happy to get back home to my own bed, and my computer!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Elegant Orchids


I love orchids. I count them as one of the many flowering plants I would love to own, but would undoubtedly kill within days. In fact, I think I did kill an orchid plant several years ago. I don't even try to keep live plants any more.

But this orchid plant (by Stampendous, from i {heart} papers) will last forever, and I can make it any color I want, whenever I want. Although I always seem to make it purple...

What I used:
Stamps: Orchid Greetings, Out on a Limb (PTI)
Ink: Palette Noir, Copic markers, Elegant Eggplant
Paper: Wisteria (Basic Grey), Papertrey white
Other: Nestabilities, satin ribbon (airbrushed with Copic marker to match), adhesive pearls


Sunday, May 10, 2009

Drake, the Birthday Dragon

I finally got around to inking up this adorable fella. Such a cute set, and perfect for kid cards!

The patterned paper I used is a strip from the flip side of a paper called Sunday Brunch from the Bridgeport line of S.E.I., which is available, as is the adorable dragon set, from Kate at i {heart} papers.

What I used:
Stamps: Drake the Dragon
Ink: Palette Noir, Copic markers
Paper: PTI white, Sunday Brunch, Garden Green (SU)
Other: Nestabilities - Labels One, buttons (dyed the green ones with a Copic and airbrush)


Friday, May 1, 2009

1st Anniversary (already!)

Look at me - 2 posts in one day! (Scroll down if you didn't see the first one)

I can't believe that my daughter and her super-fabulous husband have been married for a whole year! Seems like their wedding was just yesterday. The card should arrive on their anniversary tomorrow, but she doesn't read my blog so it's safe to post it here for you all to see today.

OK, so this card was completely "borrowed" from the very talented Amy, but it was so perfectly dead-on for what I needed that I couldn't resist! You should go check out her blog, Ink About Me. She's full of amazing talent and inspiration! I changed out her colors a little, so they would match the colors used for their wedding. All stamps and paper are from Papertrey Ink.

What I used:
Stamps: Damask Designs (love this set!!!)
Ink: Palette Burnt Umber, Palette Claret
Paper: PTI White, Dark Chocolate, Raspberry Fizz, Kraft
Other: SU scalloped border punch, May Arts ribbon


Have a great weekend!

Twins Cards

I had a request from someone at work for a card for twins (a boy and a girl), and she wanted a few to choose from, so I set out to find inspiration from my fellow stampers. Unfortunately I am not at home now and don't have access to whose talents I was inspired by, so please forgive me for not giving credit at this time. I'll try to go back and add it in when I'm home later this weekend. Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures. It was late and I didn't have my new photo light box set up yet. All stamps and paper are PaperTrey Ink.

This one uses Bitty Baby Blessings and Green Thumb. Somebody (not me!) figured out that the little baby head fit perfectly into the litte pea pod. I airbrushed a white fabric flower with a Copic marker to match. Also used Nestabilities and the Threading Water punch.


Bitty Baby Blessings again. PTI white satin ribbon. The little baby heads are stamped first, and then stamped again on scrap, colored with Copic markers, and punched out so I could apply them on top.


More Bitty Baby Blessings. And generous use of the dotty Cuttlebug embossing folder. I actually stamped and cut out at least 20 of those little onesies (in 5 or 6 colors) while I was watching TV so I would have them for many future baby cards!