Sunday Stamps SSC67

I'm loving the colour combo we've got going on over at Sunday Stamps this round - Night of Navy, Strawberry Slush & Silver!

I know my punched circle looks gold, but it's truly the Silver Foil paper that I adore, but unfortunately just doesn't show well on camera. I used the now retired Lots of Love Letterpress Texture Plate on it for a subtle effect. I stamped off a few of the hearts randomly on the paper to give varying shades of Strawberry Slush. It adds a lot of depth!

I didn't want to add too much to my card, so I opted for some punched hearts from Silver Glimmer Paper and heat embossed my sentiment in silver.

We hope you'll play along with us, you have until Friday, January 25th. Make sure you check out the other DT Members for some awesome inspiration… and don't forget to leave them some love too!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

RECIPE:
Paper: Night of Navy, Whisper White
Ink: Strawberry Slush
Tools: Heart to Heart Punch (retired), Heat Tool, Big Shot, Lots of Love Letterpress (retired)
Techniques: Heat Embossing
Challenges: Sunday Stamps

Working on the Road...

It's a busy life when you have a toddler and a newborn, so I often bring a small package of stuff to work on if I'm out and about at lessons and such. It helps me get some time to work, and it also generates interest...

As I was prepping cards for the upcoming holiday season, and building up my general inventory for sale, I created one "master" and then prepped several of the same card. I was dumping all the pieces to these cards in a bin so that I could assemble them later.

This weekend we headed up north and I brought my bin with me in the car to get working...

I pre-stamped, punched and embossed all the necessary pieces. I brought my snips, glue, Washi Tape and everything else I needed to get to work in the car ride. Here is the first of many cards I worked on:

Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive, Crumb Cake
Ink: Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler
Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Delightful Dozen
Tools: Heat Tool, Mosaic Punch, Punch Pack
Techniques: Heat Embossing

This card was inspired by one I saw on Pinterest... I just had to use my new Washi Tape (sneak peek from the Holiday Catalogue!) and the Mosaic Madness stamp set that I just received. Yet another Christmas card that doesn't use a Christmas stamp set for the main images. Have I used one yet?!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Christmas in July Series - Post 5

This has got to be one of my favourite cards from this series so far. I just love how it turned out and I'm quite proud of myself for really pushing my brain for this one!

Paper: Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar
Ink: Pistachio Pudding, Early Espresso
Stamps: Papillon Potpourri, Delightful Dozen
Tools: Punch Pack Punches
Accessories: Summer Starfruit Satin Stitched Ribbon, Jewels

If you read my supplies above, it wasn't a mistake that I wrote Papillon Potpourri as one of the stamp sets used! Can you believe it?! When I first started this series, I pulled out all the stamps I thought I could work with. At our team meeting on Tuesday, my sideline (thanks Mirela!) was talking about how she's addicted to using this stamp set on all her cards... so that made me want to try using it for Christmas!

I used some grade school skills for this card... I cut a template from a piece of scrap paper and then randomly stamped one of the butterfly images, making sure to get into my pointed corners. The delicate design really worked for this:

I used the middle butterfly on the right.

Now I really set the bar high for myself on using non Christmas stamps for this series! But I gotta tell you, this has really helped me to be more creative and think about my stamps in a completely different way. I might have to try doing this series for another occasion later on, but for now, I can't stop making non-Christmas Christmas cards!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Easter Sunday... and Sunday Stamps!

Happy Easter everyone! If you're visiting from Sunday Stamps, welcome... and so glad you decided to play along with us this week. Hayley has got a great sketch challenge for us this week and since it's Easter, I created an Easter card.

Paper: Island Indigo, Summer Starfruit, Birds of a Feather DSP
Stamps: Everybunny, Delightful Dozen
Accessories: Raspberry Ripple Satin Stitched Ribbon, Jewels
Techniques: Watercolouring

As you can see, I flipped the sketch. That's the beauty of sketch challenges... it's a base to go on and then you can switch it up slightly and use your imagination. I almost always flip a sketch every which way before I create to see if that sparks some design ideas.

I used my all time favourite Easter set - Everybunny - and even though the DSP wasn't meant to be for Easter, the colours and some of the patterns from the Birds of a Feather DSP pack work perfectly for such a card.

I stamped the egg plant in StazOn and then watercoloured the images with a Blender Pen. I cut the images into banners and popped up a fifth banner with the sentiment on it. For some added texture, I added some of the gorgeous Satin Stitched Ribbon.

I hope you'll play along with us this week. This sketch is sure to spark some creativity... especially when you check out what the rest of the wonderful Design Team has come up with!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

It's A Scrap Yard Series - Post #1

I don't know about you, but I felt like I was living in a scrap yard. I kept just about every scrap of paper and ribbon that I produced thinking that one day I would use it again. The reality is that if it's not organized and at least a good size, what's the point in keeping it?! Why should I keep a punched scallop circle in Gumball Green? Reality is... it would probably be lost in my current scrap pile and if I ever needed one, I'd just simply punch another.

My point is that with the new year, I've finally come around to organizing my gigantic pile of scraps!

Here are a few rules I set for myself:

1. Get rid of all the tiny pieces - anything shorter than 5-1/2" or too small for a large punch out was not worthwhile in my book.
   
2. Cut every piece of scrap into straight edges - get rid of all those tiny punch outs I was hoarding!
   
3. Separate the neutrals - I decided to keep small pieces of Whisper White & Very Vanilla because I use them a lot for stamped sentiments.
   
4. Patterns and colours - same rules apply as above, but if I came across DSP or colours that were retired and decided I probably wouldn't use them again or didn't have more of it lying around, they went "bye bye".

After sorting through with these rules in mind, I bagged all my scraps according to colour and put them back in my bin. Now it's easier to find the colour and size I need. If it's not in the bag, I know not to look any further!

Since I spent half a day organizing my "scrap yard", I decided to do a mini series of posts with cards I created from just using my scraps. Surely there are others out there like me, right?! :)

Here's the first card in the series:

Paper: Very Vanilla, Lucky Limeade, DSP: Elegant Soiree (retired),
Everyday Enchantment (retired), 11-12 In Color Stack, Fan Fair, Neutrals Stack
Ink: Lucky Limeade
Stamps: Delightful Dozen
Tools: Paper Piercing Pack
Techniques: Paper Piercing

I know it's my own card, but I'm in love with it. Frankly, if it weren't for my scrap pile, I would've never thought to use five different DSP's together on one card! Funny how they all work nicely together though, eh?!

Tune in again tomorrow for another "scrap yard" card... and why not give this a try yourself. You may be surprised as to what you can create from your scraps!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Christmas Candy

I don't know about you, but around here, Christmas and the holiday season is filled with lots of food and yummy treats... so I thought I'd share this card with you today:

Paper: Whisper White, Be of Good Cheer DSP, Cherry Cobbler
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Stamps: Delightful Dozen, Jolly Bingo Bits
Tools: Border Punch
Techniques: Crystal Effects

It's hard to tell from the photo, but I used Crystal Effects to raise and give a shimmery look to all the candy treats. I forgot how great this stuff is! Once I applied it on these, I couldn't stop and created several cards with the same effect (will show the next card off tomorrow). It did take a couple of hours to dry, but leaving it overnight to be sure is always a good idea.

Once my panel was all ready to go, I didn't do much else other than add a few banners and a sentiment. I wanted the focus to be on my yummy candy treats.

What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph