Falling Leaves

It's the countdown to Thanksgiving here in Canada, so as you may have noticed already, I've been showcasing fall and Thanksgiving cards this week. :) It's my favourite time of year!

I used the masking tape technique for this card. I think it's a perfect fit! It created a rustic-looking base layer to my card. I used my oh-so-favourite, but sadly retired, French Foliage stamp set and then added some burlap for added texture. Truth be told, it was added to cover up a sentiment I didn't like. :) I'm glad to have made that mistake because the burlap really works for me. It give the card a lot of texture and dimension, plus, the smaller sentiment works better than what I previously used.

If you're interested in purchasing this card (and seeing more pictures of it), you can do so here.

Until next time, stay crafty!

Steph

RECIPE
Paper: Naturals White, Chocolate Chip
Stamps: French Foliage (retired), Teeny Tiny Wishes
Tools: Decorative Label Punch, Distressing Tool
Accessories: Brads, 1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon
Techniques: Masking Tape, Distressing

Old and New

Boy has time gone by fast! A few days ago I posted some cards I made using Simply Scrappin' kits and accents. I challenged myself and others to try creating some too! Today I'm showing you some cards I made with the retired Christmas Lane Simply Scrappin' kit. To bring some new elements in, I used the new Joyous Celebrations stamp set.

Paper: Christmas Lane Simply Scrappin' Kit, Whisper White, Early Espresso, Wild Wasabi, Soft Suede
Ink: Early Espresso, Wild Wasabi
Stamps: Joyous Celebrations
Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon, Baker's Twine, Buttons, Dazzling Diamonds

As you can see, three very different cards, but all from the same line of products! I just love the possibilities. With a Simply Scrappin' kit, you can make up to 30+ cards depending on how you use the product.

What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Have You Ever...

Have you ever placed an SU! order and once receiving it, you were stumped what to do with it?! Well, that's exactly what happened to me! My order was set to come on Friday, my Mr. Brown usually comes between 5 and 7 p.m. Well, he surprised me at 8 a.m. on THURSDAY!! I was so excited... I wanted to give him a BIG hug, but he ran away. :)

Anyway, I opened it all up, mounted my stamps, organized everything and sat down at my workspace later that day. And I just starred. I picked up a stamp set, set it down. And starred. This process repeated several times with different stamp sets until I gave up and had to go relax...

Now here we are Monday and I'm now sick, BUT, I did manage to get in some stamping time yesterday! Yippee. My creative block was over! Here's what I came up with:

Paper: Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Glimmer, Festival of Prints DSP Pack (avail. Aug. 1st)
Stamps: Greetings of the Season (avail. Aug. 1st), Stylin' Snowfolk
Ink: Baja Breeze, Black
Tools: Big Shot, Snow Flurry Bigz Die (avail. Aug 1st), Adorning Accents Edgelits, Adorning Accents EF
Accessories: Vintage Buttons, Sweater Trim (avail. Aug. 1st), Tiny Black Brads (non SU!)

I thought the Vintage Faceted Buttons would be perfect to create a snowman with. I used some non SU! brads that I stuck through the button holes for the eyes and buttons. I added some Sweater Trim (available August 1st in the Holiday Catalogue) for the scarf and stamped and popped up the had from Stylin' Snowfolk.

I got the idea for the snowy hills from Amy White. You can see Amy's card here. I just thought it added so much dimension to the card. Lastly, for a bit of whimsy, I made a large snowflake with the Snow Flurry Bigz Die (available August 1st in the Holiday Catalogue), cutting one snowflake in Silver Glimmer Paper and the other two from Whisper White. I then added the smallest Vintage Faceted Button to the center.

What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Feeling Girly

I made this card a while back... but I'm feeling girly tonight and thought that it was just too cute not to share with you! I got the idea for the little dress from a card I saw in our monthly Demonstrator magazine and had to make some. The original had three dresses on the front, I opted for one and wanted to have it "hanging" on a clothes line.

I used my favourite (but retired) pink, Blushing Bride, for the majority of the card. The little dress is actually the body from the Owl Builder Punch - how cute is that?! I also happened to have Pleated Ribbon (also retired) in Blushing Bride to add a little ruffle to the bottom of the dress. It also happened that I had a bunch of the Whisper White frames left over from another project (cut by layering two frames from the Labels Collection Framelits) and thought it would be super cute to use that as the "clothes line" anchor. I embossed it using the Square Lattice embossing folder to add some more texture to the card.

The sentiment is from the Itty Bitty Banners stamp set and of course I just had to use the matching Framelits to cut them out! I accented with some jewels, and the heart embossing folder from the Adorning Accents Textured Impressions Embossing set.

What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Royalty

I'm back, after a long hiatus. I've been busy over the last week working and creating, chasing my 2 year old around, attending a Demo event last weekend and watching the Euro. :) Don't worry though, I've got lots of posts and samples coming your way. In fact, it was hard to choose where to start...
Today, I have a post for the challenge over at Stampin' Royalty. It's my first time playing with the ladies over there. Here's the sketch for this week:

 

I decided to keep my design pretty simple. I used some new In Colors and the humming bird from Elements of Style. You're going to see me using this set a lot over the next while because I just recently got my inky hands on it and I LOVE IT! I accented with Baja Breeze, and used Midnight Muse (love it!!) and Summer Starfruit (learning to love it!) from the 5 new In Colors.

What do you think?

 

Like I said, I kept it pretty simple and other than the humming bird, didn't stamp any other images or sentiments. The Big Shot and punches were my friend for this card.


Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

The May 31st Blahs

Tomorrow, the new Stampin' Up! catalogue goes LIVE! I for one cannot wait because there are fantastic products coming. So many great new stamp sets, papers & accessories. I know you'll love it too!

Maybe my creative funk lately is because I'm saving all my creative juices until I get my hands on those new products! :) June 1st can't come soon enough...

Speaking of June, the coming month seems to be all about the men. When I think of June, I think of BBQing (not that women can't do that too!), Father's Day and the beginning of Summer. I have also been doing a lot of "manly" cards lately... Maybe the month of June has something to do with that.

Here is a hybrid card I did recently that has deemed to be very popular. The motorcycle is a stamp image I purchased in My Digital Studio (MDS) - big news around MDS in the new catalogue too! - and the sentiment is hand stamped. Simple, but I think it turned out great!

What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Double Whammy

I'm back with another Friday Mashup card and a custom card I did for a customer recently. First, I'll briefly chat about The Friday Mashup!

This week's challenge is entitled "Boys Will Be Boys". The "Mashup" Challenge is to either:
1. Make a project for "that special man in your life",
2. Make a project with the "sketch":

3. Or, "Mash it Up" and create a "masculine card using the above sketch".

I decided to "Mash it Up".

I chose to do a simpler card using the Tool Shed stamp from Stampin' Up! It's hard to tell in the picture (sorry about that!), but the first layer is embossed foil - cool, eh?! Then I've popped up each layer after that with dimensionals. Each layer is layered perfectly so that you get the entire image of the stamp, even though the image was stamped 3 separate times. The final layer is also layered on foil. I added a simple sentiment and some wire accented with a "screw" brad.

What do you think?

I recommend checking out The Friday Mashup to see all the other creations from the same sketch and maybe try doing a challenge yourself. They're tons of fun!

Next...

A couple of weeks ago I was commissioned to do a custom card for a barber's 60th birthday. The client wanted something "barber themed" and this is what I came up with:

Again, the background is embossed and I created a barber poll as the focal point. Again, hard to tell from the picture (sorry!), but I popped up a sheet of acetate to give the whole thing a 3D look. I'm really happy with how this turned out, and so is the client... which is what counts!


What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Bitty Banners!

Here's a sneak peek for ya! The new Itty Bitty Banners Framelits! Love them, especially because there's also a coordinating stamp set for them (not used here). This card was so quick and easy, and turned out super cute! There are 3 banners in this Framelits set. I used the smallest one and the curvy one to hang on the "rope" (a.k.a. baker's twine) and then the largest one to cut out a spot to stamp "Happy Birthday". I also used several NEW In Colors - Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit & Gumball Green.

The best thing about Framelits is that you can use them anywhere on the page, giving them a great advantage over punches. And guess what?! SU! is coming out with many new Framelits & coordinating stamps in their new catty which premiers June 1st!

What do you think?

Paper: First Edition Specialty, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green
Ink: Gumball Green
Stamps: You're My Type
Tools: Big Shot, Bitty Banners Framelits
Accessories: Brads, Baker's Twine

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

For the Love of...

Books! The current trend seems to be anything beginning with a capital "E"... E-Readers, E-Mail, E-Learning, etc. You can find almost anything now online and it seems more rare to not do things electronically. Of course I appreciate you reading my blog, electronically, but what I'm getting at is that sometimes I just prefer to feel the paper in between my hands - books, magazines, and of course, hands-on paper crafting! So for those of you that still love to feel the paper in between your hands too, you might enjoy my magnetic bookmarks!

Check 'em out and let me know what you think.

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph