Ripped Paper

How fun is this card?!

Paper: Brights DSP Stacks - Old Olive & Real Red used (retired), Naturals Ivory
Ink: Old Olive
Stamps: Wacky Wishes (retired)
Accessories: Jewels

I was working on another card when I had the idea for this one. So simple, eh?! I thought it would look like ripped wrapping paper. Once I had them all glued, I curled up the ends a bit. I used the same idea on the inside of my card too. Love this one!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Button Ornaments #2

I somewhat CASEd the idea from a card I created last year (found here). Really, the only thing that is the same is the use of buttons.

Paper: Smoky Slate, Basic Grey, Whisper White
Ink: Gumball Green, Old Olive, Basic Grey
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, Watercolour Winter (Retired)
Accessories: Glimmer Brads, Silver/Gold Flowers (non SU!), Buttons (various), Baker's Twine

OK, I really went over the top with this one, I know. But those flowers have been sitting on my shelf for years and I thought I should finally do something with them! Although it's over the top, I do like how it turned out. Certainly lots of different textures on this card...

What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Silver Bow

This card was inspired by one found on Pinterest. I would love to give proper credit, but the name was hard to read and the picture wasn't linked... may be Debby Hughes? Anyway, here is my card:

Paper: Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Always Artichoke, Glimmer Paper
Ink: Versamark (for heat embossing)
Stamps: Greetings of the Season
Tools: Big Shot, Stylish Stripes TIEF, Heat Tool
Techniques: Heat Embossing

Isn't this fun?! So simple too! The bow is made from two punched ovals, a banner & a button. Pretty eye-catching if you ask me. At first I just embossed my white with the Stylish Stripes TIEF, but felt it was too bland, so I added some cut strips of the red Glimmer Paper.

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Gold Elegance

I'll give you a break from the Christmas cards for today. Here is an elegant gold embossed card, inspired from the SU! Convention:

Paper: Modern Medley DSP, Very Vanilla
Ink: Black StazOn, Versamark
Stamps: Happy Day
Tools: Big Shot, Fun Flowers Bigz Die, Perfect Polk Dots TIEF, Heat Tool
Accessories: Very Vanilla Button
Techniques: Heat Embossing

I randomly stamped and heat embossed directly on the DSP with gold and did the same on the Very Vanilla pieces for my flower. I embossed the middle flower to break up all the gold embossing and instead of using the two smallest pieces from the die, I used a button that is also heat embossed in gold. Did you know you could do that?!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Feather Wreath

Well, it's the last day of my Christmas in July sale (check out the product here), so I thought I'd show you another Christmas card:

Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Silver Specialty
Ink: Midnight Muse, Island Indigo, Pool Party
Stamps: Fine Feathers, Petite Pairs
Tools: Circle Punches - 2-1/2, 1-3/4 & 1-3/8
Accessories: Jewels, Silver 1/8" Ribbon (sneak peek!)

This is likely not the last Christmas card you'll see from me (I've got TONS more and it's only July!), but one I wanted to show you sooner than later. I loved the Fine Feathers stamp set the moment I saw it in last year's catalogue. Sad to say though, I haven't used it too much as I've had trouble figuring it out.

Several months ago I did a happy dance because I had this vision of a feather wreath. I spend FOREVER executing my vision (several different ways) and all were epic fails! Last night I was perusing the internet and saw an image that was literally a few blurred swirls that formed a circle and that set off the light bulb. I ran to my craft loft, punched a hole in my paper and got to work.

This card is the result of that, and I love it! I finished it without the ribbon and liked it a lot, but felt it needed a little something else. I remembered about that gorgeous silver ribbon I pre-ordered from the Holiday Catalogue (live tomorrow!) and added a tiny bow. Perfect!

I know this turned out to be a long winded post, but happy you made it through. I thought my readers would want to know a little back story behind this card. I know it's not everyone's taste - non traditional colours and images - but I'm in love because I'm really happy with how it turned out and that my vision finally came to light!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Winter Sparkle

I bet it'll be hard for you to believe that I used the Dress Up Framelits for this Christmas card! Check it out:

Paper: Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Garden Green, Glimmer
Tools: Big Shot, TIEF: Snowburst, Elegant Lines, Woodgrain Bigz Die: Stars #2,
Framelits: Dress Up, Edgelits: Adorning Accents

All month long I've been showing you Christmas cards I've created using non-Christmas stamp sets and it has really challenged me in a way that makes me look at all my product in a different light. I've got so many ideas for future series and cards...

Anyway, to get back to this card, I did use the Dress Up Framelits to create the tree:

Can you start to see the tree in the right image? All I did was cut the shape out from the middle point in the bust and just shaped it to be inline with the bottom skirt. I ran three more dresses through my Big Shot, moving the Framelit up approximately 1/4 inch each time so that I got the different layers. Once I had my four pieces, I ran them through the Big Shot again with the Elegant Lines TIEF and then popped each layer up with Dimensionals.

Hope you like and this will inspire you to look at your products differently too.

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Colour Challenge

It's Sunday and a new challenge over at Sunday Stamps! This week is a colour challenge & hope you'll play along... this combo challenged me!

Paper: Soft Suede, Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder, Tempting Turquoise
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Wisteria Wonder
Stamps: Mixed Bunch
Tools: Big Shot, Chevron TIEF, Blossom Punch
Accessories: In Color Printed Brads (retired)

I just realized how off my picture is. Sorry for that! It's actually much more vibrant than it looks. Anyway, this colour combo really challenged me. Not a combo I've ever used before or would have used, but that's why I love this challenge! Gets me thinking and working outside of my comfort zone.

The challenge is open for two weeks and we'd love to see what you can come up with!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Pleated Tree

I was inspired to create this tree from a video series I'm watching called Paper Arts. It's pretty awesome actually... takes you through the basics of gift wrapping (my favourite thing to do!) to more tips and tricks when working with paper.

I was watching the segment last night about pleating for gift wrapping and I got the idea to create a Christmas tree with this technique. Perhaps there's something like this out there that exists already, but I haven't seen it, so I'm taking full credit for this! :)

Paper: Brights DSP Stack (retired), Whisper White
Tools: Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots TIEF, Ornament from Merry Minis Punch Pack
Accessories: Jewels
Techniques: Paper Pleating

This was quite simple to do. I started with a 6x6 piece of DSP and folded so that the bottom of my tree fanned out. I wanted a star at the top of the tree, but didn't have one big enough, so I thought "why not make one from the mini ornament punch?!" So, that's what I did. Pretty cool, eh?

I added some bling onto the tree and then used the remaining portion of my pleated piece on the inside of my card. I guess this is going to be my version of a paper folded tree this season. I seem to do one every year. :) Here is my tutorial for last year's folded tree.

If there's enough interest, I can do up a tutorial for this one... leave me some love if you're interested!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph