Say Buh-Bye!

It's that time of year... time to ship out the "old" and bring in the new. Stampin' Up! released their retiring list today (and 2013-2014 catalogue for us Demonstrators!) and there are many great deals to be had!

This card seemed fitting considering Dinoroar is on the retiring list. :( This is such a fun set, especially if you've got kids in you life! I think it's definitely worth considering if you don't already have it in your collection!

Paper: Riding Hood Red, Whisper White
Ink: Black StazOn
Stamps: Dinoroar, Happiest Birthday Wishes (retired)
Tools: Square Lattice TIEF, XL Oval Punch

These images are so much fun to colour, but this time, I left it up to the receiver of the card. I included two crayons with each card for instant gratification! I thought this was such a fun birthday card for either a boy or a girl and so I've made several like this (and a with different images) that have become part of my cards for sale.

Have I convinced you yet to purchase this awesome set? Maybe it isn't for you, but I'm sure you'll find something you "need" on the retiring list. Check it out and then make your purchase through my online store! Remember, all consumables (i.e. paper, embellishments, etc) are only available while supplies last...

View all the retiring products here.

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

It's A Scrap Yard Series - Post #5

I'm having so much fun making these cards from my scraps I may just have to continue after today (my plan was to do 5 posts)... today's card features scraps of course, but also a couple of new products and a some sneak peeks!

Paper: Whisper White, Island Indigo, 11-12 In Color Paper Stack,
Elegant Soiree DSP (retired)
Ink: Island Indigo
Stamps: Happiest Birthday Wishes (retired Hostess)
Tools: Big Shot, Honeycomb TIEF (NEW!), Distressing Tool (NEW!),
Butterfly Punch
Accessories: Tangerine Tango Ribbon (SAB Preview!),
Tangerine Tango Button (SAB Preview!), Baker's Twine

I had strips of the DSP that I just cut to the width of the Butterfly Punch, punched the butterflies and then lined it all up again when I glued them to my Whisper White piece. Next, I ran the whole piece through my Big Shot using the NEW Honeycomb TIEF. I love this new folder!! I left a section at the bottom for the sentiment and divided the sections with some of the Tangerine Tango ribbon & coordinating button you can earn for FREE starting January 22nd... Stampin' Up!'s Sale-A-Bration kick off!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

It's A Scrap Yard Series - Post #2

Back again today with another card I created from just scraps. If you missed my post yesterday, you might want to take a look at how I went about organizing my scraps and my first card in this series.

Now, I mentioned yesterday that I was going to get rid of all my die cuts and punches... but because I was actually going to (finally) use them, I held on to the ones I had so that I could created cards with them for my week-long posts on using scraps. Here's what I came up with:

Paper: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, First Edition DSP
Ink: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler
Stamps: Established Elegance, Happiest Birthday Wishes (retired Hostess)
Accessories: Lace Trim, Crumb Cake Seam Binding Ribbon, Pearls

Believe it or not, I had all the Cherry Cobbler & Whisper White (but sponged them in Crumb Cake) pieces cut from a Christmas card I made. They were punch outs from the Window Framelits. I just cut the Whisper White pieces into squares. I also had a large piece of First Edition Specialty DSP that I thought would work great.

I glued all the Cherry Cobbler pieces in a pattern and then used the Established Elegance stamp set on each of the Whisper White pieces. I stamped in Crumb Cake and then sponged in the same colour. I love this stamp set because there are so many different images that it works well for a collage type card!

The sentiment is from the retired Hostess set Happiest Birthday Wishes. I thought it was perfect because it was vintage looking and seemed to fit perfectly with Established Elegance set. I cut out the center circle and popped up the rest for dimension. To finish off, I added some trim, ribbon and pearls.

This card took longer than others I've created because there were so many elements and pieces to put together... but I'm glad that I finally got around to using these scraps!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

The Son of Man

Most of the time, I enjoy being asked to do custom work because when someone wants something custom, it means they can't find it anywhere else. It also means that I have to sometimes work out of my comfort zone and do something I wouldn't normally create otherwise.

Well, I was asked to create a custom birthday card based on the painting The Son of Man by René Magritte. You might have seen it in a gallery, or in the 1999 film, The Thomas Crown Affair (good movie, by-the-way!). In case you still don't know what I'm talking about, here's my card:

Paper: Well Worn DSP, Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Blush Blossom
Ink/Markers: Sahara Sand, Basic Black, Poppy Parade, Blush Blossom
Stamps: Papaya Collage, Happiest Birthday Wishes
Tools/Techniques: Heat Gun, Gold Embossing Powder, Sponges

Do you recognize the painting now?! :)

When I was deciding what to do, I thought "How cool would it be to use the fancy frame from Papaya Collage and re-create the painting inside of it?!" So, that's what I did! I used gold embossing powder on Chocolate Chip card stock and heated it, then I fussy-cut it all out. I sponged a piece of Whisper White card stock with Bashful Blue and Sahara Sand ink to try and re-create the background of the painting. The man was put together with five separate pieces - the jacket, shirt/tie, face/neck, bowler hat & apple. I hand drew and cut out all the pieces and then used my markers to add shadows and dimension.

I think it turned out pretty cool!

What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph