Button Buddies Gift Set

I needed a cute gift set and whipped this one up pretty quickly, thanks to the Button Buddies, SU! note cards & envelopes and coordinating accessories.

Paper: Melon Mambo, Peach Parfait, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Ice Cream Parlor DSP
Ink: Melon Mambo, Peach Parfait, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive
Stamps: Button Buddies
Tools: Big Shot, Finishing Touches Edgelits Dies
Accessories: Buttons

This set was so quick and easy to do because SU! products coordinate so nicely together! All I did was cut a 2-inch strip of paper from the Ice Cream Parlor DSP and accented it with the Finishing Touches Edgelits in a coordinating colour. I stamped the floral image from Button Buddies in Old Olive, added some flower buttons (also from the Ice Cream Parlor pack) and then stamped the vase again in a coordinating colour and popped it up with Dimensionals.

Since this was a gift, I put the four cards with coordinating envies in a cello bag and used the Ice Cream Parlor coordinating ribbon to package it up. I gave them as a birthday gift along with my  button birthday card I posted here and the recipient love it! Doesn't take much to put a smile on someone's face when you make handcrafted items!

What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

New Nest

Today's post features some old and new products. It's another CAS design (not my typical, but I guess I'm feeling that lately) and I just love how it came out!

Paper: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Birds of a Feather DSP
Ink: Early Espresso, Old Olive, Summer Starfruit, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple
Stamps: Good Neighbours, Take Care, Love & Laughter

This "Congrats on the new nest" card is for friends who recently bought a house. The focal image is the nest stamp from Take Care and I added some crumpled strips of Early Espresso paper to give dimension to the nest. I stamped a house from Good Neighbors (retired) and glued that on top. I'm really happy with how my vision came out on paper.

What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Still Time to Smile!

As you probably already know, July has been a reason to smile. For the entire month, you can purchase the exclusive Reason to Smile stamp set for only $5.00 when you purchase $60.00! What a sweet deal... especially since you can choose either clear-mount or wood-mount.

As a Demonstrator, we had the opportunity to pre-order this stamp set in June already. Of course I forgot to do that and so I only recently got it. Anyway, here is the first card I made with this beautiful set:

Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral, Old Olive
Stamps: Reason to Smile, Tiny Tags
Tools: Big Shot, Framed Tulips TIEF, Little Labels Punch Pack
Accessories: Calypso Coral Organdy Ribbon

I started with a Whisper White card base and masked off about a 2 inch section. Next, I stamped the Gerber Daisies randomly in Poppy Parade and Daffodil Delight (two step stampin'). I then ran the card base through the Big Shot using the Framed Tulips TIEF, lining up the edge of the folder with my masked edge on the card base. To add even more dimension, I stamped another image from the same set on Whisper White and fussy-cut it out. I glued the stem to the card base and popped up the flower with Dimensionals. I added a tiny knotted piece to the stem with a glue dot and wrapped some Calypso Coral Organdy Ribbon around the top and added a tag.

What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Another CAS Button Buddy

Yesterday I showed you a birthday card made with the cherry stamp set from Button Buddies. You can view it here if you missed it. Today I have a similar card using the rattle from the same set. Here's that card:

Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Crumb Cake
Stamps: Button Buddies, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Tools: Big Shot, Designer Frames TIEF, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch
Accessories: Buttons, Baker's Twine

This is the exact same layout as yesterday and I used all the same tools. The only difference is that I did some faux stitching with my Crumb Cake marker all around the card, punch-out and embossed part of the card. Pretty CAS and I like it!

Short and sweet today... what do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Cherries Please!

I know Button Buddies has been around for a while now, but it's been on my wish list since the beginning and I finally got my hands on it. I kept pushing it down the wish list as new stuff came out. I hoard buttons because I love 'em and yet, don't use them too often. I bought this stamp set to get me using all my buttons! Here's my first card with my newly acquired set:

Paper: Whisper White, Real Red
Ink: Early Espresso (marker), Old Olive (marker)
Stamps: Button Buddies, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Tools: Big Shot, Designer Frames EF, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch
Accessories: Buttons

This is probably the cleanest and simplest card I've ever done. I usually like lots of layers and embellishments, but I was feeling the "less is more" vibe for this one.

All I did was start with a Whisper White note card and emboss it with one of the Designer Frames Textured Impressions Embossing Folders. After that, I inked up the cherry stamp from the Button Buddies set with my Early Espresso and Old Olive markers, stamped it and added the buttons with glue dots. I popped up the sentiment with Dimensionals and viola!, a CAS card done in less than 5 minutes.

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

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

Patio Butterflies

I was honoured to be asked to be a Guest Designer for Sunday Stamps this week! I've enjoyed playing along for the last several challenges and look forward to many more. Here is this week's sketch and my design:

Paper: Primrose Petals, Summer Starfruit, Patio Party DSP
Stamps: Fabulous Florets
Ink: Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit
Accessories: Jewels, Midnight Muse Satin Stitched Ribbon
Tools: Scallop Trim Border Punch, Big Shot, Beautiful Wings Embosslit

When I saw the butterflies in the sketch, I immediately thought of all those tiny butterflies in the Patio Party DSP. To add a little interest (and it's hard to tell in the photos), I stamped the large leaf image from the Fabulous Florets set in VersaMark, covered it in clear embossing powder and heated it. After all was dry, I got out my Brayer and brayered Midnight Muse ink all over the DSP. This allowed my leaf image to pop because the butterflies that were captured behind the clear embossing powder stayed lighter and you can still see the rest of the DSP, although darker, under the brayered ink. Cool, eh?!

I mounted the DSP on some Summer Starfruit card stock and punched a border in the same colour with my Scallop Trim border punch. I also added some Midnight Muse Stitched Satin Ribbon for more texture. I used my Beautiful Wings embosslit to get all the butterflies and scattered them across the front - I saved the largest one for inside the card. For the sentiment, I stamped one of the floral images in Summer Starfruit on Summer Starfruit card stock, added some Dazzling Diamonds to the center and stamped the sentiment from Petite Pairs in the center in Midnight Muse ink. Then I fussy-cut the flower out and popped it up with Dimensionals.

What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph