It's a Paper Napkin!

So how clever is this? The cake background on this card is a paper napkin! I was so excited to try this out ~ here's the link to some directions on SCS. It ended up being a very simple card because the napkin has such a 'busy' design on it ... but isn't it fun? I'm going to be stalking the paper napkins aisles at Target from now on!

Recipe
Stamps : Happy Everything
Cardstock : Very Vanilla, Choc Chip, Mellow Moss
Ink : Choc Chip
Accessories : Napkin! Prima flowers and brad

One for a GIRL and one for a BOY

Today I needed to make a boy card and a girl card! I loved making the girlie one ... of course ... and struggled with the boy one!!! My friend Susie called me last night with some ideas for 13 yr old boys ... but I didn't latch onto anything! Anyway, I made it plain and simple ... not very exciting really but I don't think 13 yr old boys really care do they?! Thanks for all your suggestions Susie! Recipes are below.

Recipe
Stamps : Crazy for Cupcakes, Fundamental Phrases
Cardstock : Pink Pirouette, Choc Chip, Kiwi Kiss DSP, SU Watercolour Paper
Ink : StazOn Black
Accessories : Aquapainter, Classic Ink, Pink Pirouette Ribbon

Recipe
Stamps : Happy Everything
Cardstock : PTI White, Choc Chip, Choc Chip DSP, Strips of Kiwi Kiss
Ink : choc Chip
Accessories : SU word window and oval punches, antique brass brads

Leaves and a Word

Sorry I missed a couple of days of posting ... had a mole removed yesterday from the very tip of my nipple ... sorry if that's TMI ... LOL ... but can you say OUCH!!!!! It's gone off for a biopsy so hopefully they won't find anything nasty! Anyway, it's not too bad today so I got to stamp! I combined 2 challenges into one card. Actually, I cheated with one ... Thursday's WT challenge was to use one word ... so I used one HUGE word and one teeny weeny word which I'm hoping the challenge police won't notice! Today's challenge is a Limited Supply one and we were to incorporate pink and leaves into our design. Here's what I came up with:

'happy' is stamped using a stamp-a-majig and letters from Schoolbook Serif Alphabet ... 'everything' is from the set happy everything. I don't know where the leaf is from, or how long I've had it but I like it! I just kept everything very simple, the leaves are embossed with clear EP and the flowers are from the collection called Felt Fusion. Love it!

Recipe

Stamps : Schoolbook Serif, Happy Everything

Cardstock : PTI Ripe Avocado, Vintage Cream and SU Choc Chip

Ink : Palette Ripe Avocado

Accessories : SU Oval and word window punches, Felt Fusion, Filigree Brad, regular brads

Colour Challenge Card

Today's colour challenge on SCS is to use Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip and Kiwi Kiss. I just got a new box of goodies from Papertrey Ink and KNEW that today I had to use the coffee mug from Warm Happiness ... I LOVE IT! You can find it here. The card itself is super simple, just layering with Designer Paper and a piece of embossed cardstock.

Recipe

Stamps : PTI Warm Happiness

Cardstock : Pink Pirouette, Choc Chip, Parisian Summer DP

Ink : Kiwi Kiss, Choc Chip

Accessories : Sweet Blush Polka Dot Ribbon, Cuttlebug EF, Dimensionals, Embroidery Floss

Twinkling H20's and a Pink Piggy

I was very excited this morning to see that the technique challenge involved Twinkling H20's. These are shimmery watercolours which come in little cakes. Guess what? I bought them last year and have NEVER USED THEM! Shock! So what a great excuse to get them out. The challenge was to use pink (in appreciation of Breast Cancer Awareness Month). I found my little pink piggy from 'Very Punny' which was a sale-a-bration set from Feb '07 and I painted her in some Twinkling H20's. I also took a close up photo to show you the shimmer ... it's so pretty in real life!

Recipe
Stamps : SU Very Punny
Cardstock : Very Vanilla, Choc Chip, Pretty in Pink
Ink : StazOn Brown
Accessories : CB Paisley embossing folder, liquid pearls, Michael's polka dot ribbon, SU punches, scallop and 1 1/4" squares, Twinkling H20's in Rose Petal and Poppy Red.

H&M Sketch Challenge AND Colour Challenge

Why not try out H&M Stamps sketch challenge or colour challenge this weekend? It's fun!

I used H&M's set Christmas is the time for Cookies which was designed by Bev Cole. I struggled colouring in the basket of cookies, but only because I don't have enough shades of brown and cream in my Copic collection! LOL. Details of how this went together are below.

Recipe
Stamps : H&M Christmas is the time for Cookies
Cardstock : White, Dk Grey, Bashful Blue DP, Creamy Caramel
Ink : Palette Burnt Umber
Accessories : Copic Markers, Nestabilities scallop oval dies

An Oldie but a Goodie

Morning all! I pulled out one of my original SU stamp sets for today's Limited Supply challenge over on SCS. It's A Tree for all Seasons and it's been around a long time! I love it though and have not shown it much love recently!

The LSC was quite strict ... use eyelets, ribbon and one sheet of designer paper ... no other embellies! We also had to add a touch of blue. I chose jumbo pewter eyelets, Michael's ribbon, and a piece of scrap So Saffron DP. Easy Peasy!

Recipe
Stamps : A Tree for all Seasons
Cardstock : PTI White, So Saffron DP, Choc Chip, Brocade Blue
Ink : Palette Noir
Accessories : Copic Markers, Stickles, Crop O Dial, Ribbon

SCS Sketch & PTI

Morning all! Here's my card for today's sketch challenge over on SCS. It's a good one to play with, if you want to join in the challenge you can find it here.

Recipe
Stamps : Papertrey Ink, Merry & Bright
Cardstock : Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss
Ink : Kiwi Kiss, Choc Chip
Accessories : Glitter Pen and glitter, Circle Dies from Nestabilities, SU kiwi kiss ribbon

Tutorial ~ Gift Card Holder

This tutorial is thanks to my friend Susie who came up with this great postcard style gift card holder idea! Thanks Susie! Here are 2 examples of how you can use this pattern. It's completely up to you how you put it together, each one looks quite different!

You will need:


1 piece of cardstock cut 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" for the base (note I layered mine 1/8" smaller each time)
1 piece of cardstock cut 2 1/2" x 4" for the card holder base
1 piece of designer paper (or patterned c/s) cut 3 1/2" x 4"
Scor-Pal
Craft Knife or scissors
SU Label Holder Punch
Embellishments



Step 1
Score 1/2" around 3 sides of the patterned paper. Cut the corners to form a mitre (as shown).




Step 2

On the unscored edge, mark the centre and position the label punch as shown to make a groove on the sleeve. You can use a variety of SU punches at this stage, half a word window, half a circle or scallop circle etc.

Step 3

Using some snail adhesive, fold the scored edges around the gift card holder base.

Step 4

I attached a piece of ribbon around my holder before adhering it to the postcard base ... you can embellish it in any way you like ... I'm thinking primas!

To Finish, attach the holder to any part of your postcard base ... so easy and a lot of fun!
If you have a go, leave a comment and a link to your work so we can see what you did. Thanks for joining me!

Photograph Album

I wanted to sneak another post in today ... I made a small photo album for my aunt as a thank you for having us at Kate & Mathew's wedding. I made a thank you card but it just didn't seem enough so I thought of making a small album for her to slip into her purse. You know how EVEYRBODY asks you for photos when you've just had a wedding! It turned out so prettily that I thought I'd share the instructions with you here.

Firstly, I thought I'd give you a link to the company I buy my cellophane bags from. They're the perfect size to slip a standard card into and they double up for this purpose too. They're from GT Bag Company here. Thanks to Susie for finding these! We got the ones measuring 4 5/8" x 5 3/4" and they work beautifully.

Chocolate Chip cardstock was cut to 7 1/4" x 5". I cut 2 pieces, one for the front and one for the back. I then scored each piece at 5/8".

Take however many cellophane pages you require and place them onto the back page, so the flap end is in line with the left hand edge of the album. Place the other piece of cardstock on the top and punch two holes for your Jumbo Eyelets. I used a Crop-O-Dile which made the job easy! Once the Jumbo Eyelets are set, you can thread your ribbon through, mine is Mellow Moss 1/4" grosgrain.

Now it's just a question of decorating your album as you want. Mine was done with a mat of Very Vanilla underneath a piece of Mellow Moss which was stamped with Bella Blossoms in the same colour ink. I then made a monogram with Kate & Mathew's initials using the set Together Forever. The initials are from a set from Papertrey Ink. Some half pearls from the pretties kit finished it off nicely. Hope you like it!

Stair Step Fold

Hi girls (oh and dad, you're the only boy I know who reads my blog!) Don't you love to find a new way of making a card? Well yesterday on SCS they posted a technique challenge for a 'Stair Step Fold' card. It's soooo easy, and sooo effective! Take a look at mine:

Here's how you do it. Take a piece of cardstock and trim to 10 1/2" x 5" then score at these points; 1 1/4" ... 2 1/2" ... 4 1/4" ... 6" ... 8 1/4"

Then fold it up accordion style with peaks and valleys. I took a shot from the side so you can see what I mean! Anyway, it makes a great 3-D card with endless possibilities. Mine is VERY plain but only because it took me so long to do all the trimming (the picket fence tops are all hand cut!). The house is from PTI's Boards and Beams set ... but if you cut out the windows with a craft knife, you can replace them with christmas windows from an add-on set called 'home for the holidays' ... I cut all the windows out and the front door and I love how it turned out. I also added glitter to the gables to make it look like snow. I love it, but it took FORever to trim everything out! Check out the gallery on splitcoast for some inspiration and have a go!

Recipe

Stamps : PTI Boards & Beams, Home for the Holidays

Cardstock : Whisper White

Ink : Palette Burnt Umber

Accessories : SCISSORS (LOL) glitter, watercolour wonder crayons

H&M Challenges

Good Morning ... I hope everyone enjoys this beautiful Fall weekend. Today Heather has posted 2 H&M Challenges, and I've combined both the Sketch challenge (HMSC17) and the Colour Challenge (HMCC14). I'm going to be away all day Saturday on the SCS Michigan 'Mini' Mingle in Lansing. Can't wait to see all my Splitcoast stamping buddies again ~ so I'm writing this on Friday afternoon in the hopes that blogger will automatically post this for Saturday morning! If all goes according to plan, you'll be seeing this in the early hours of Saturday!

I used H&M's set, Coffee's A Brewing (here) which I absolutely LOVE! I stamped the coffee machine and coloured it with Copic Markers ... then added the sentiment on the bottom. The rest of the layout is quite plain, but I like it that way! The colours for the challenge were Vanilla, Brown, Burgundy and Green. I put a spot of green on the coffee cups and I used SU retired ribbons in burgundy and green. Take a trip over to Heather's blog and have a go. If you upload to Splitcoast, then use the keywords HMSC17 and HMCC14 so we can all see your creations. Enjoy your weekend!

Recipe

Stamps : H&M Coffee's A Brewing

Cardstock : Naturals Ivory, Cranberry Crisp, Chocolate Chip

Ink : Palette Burnt Umber

Accessories : SU retired ribbons in True Thyme and Cranberry Crisp

H&M Stamps and Limited Supplies

Every Friday over on SCS, there's a Limited Supply Challenge. Today's was 'Paper, Rock, Scissors' ... paper (and cardstock or DP), rock (pearls, diamonds, sparkly), scissors (any decorative edged scissors, or blades). Here's my card:

This set is called A Child is Born and is from H&M Stamps. The set is very versatile and perfect for the Christmas Season! I took the manger and stamped it on some spare cardstock, I trimmed it and mounted it on the card with dimensionals. Then I made a mask of the cow image and made a little scene, masking each cow to make it appear layered. A little colouring with Copic Markers and the scene was done. Now for 'rock' ... I used diamond dots from Stampendous, very pretty! And finally, scissors, for which I used my scallop blade in my paper trimmer. So simple ... I was itching to use ribbon but this is Limited Supplies!

Recipe

Stamps : H&M A Child is Born

Cardstock : Cranberry Crisp, Very Vanilla

Ink : Palette Noir

Accessories : Stampendous Diamond Dots, Fiskars Scallop Blade, Copic Markers, Dimensionals

A Baby Card

Here's the newest member of our family, little Zac! Isn't he adorable? My cousin, Vanessa (or Ness as we call her) had her little boy just before Kate's wedding at the end of September. She missed out on the family get-together and all the fun ... but look at the reason, isn't he just gorgeous!

I've put together some baby-bits & pieces to mail off to London and made the card to go along with it.

Recipe
Stamps : Schoolbook Serif Alphabet
Cardstock : Naturals Ivory, Bashful Blue
Ink : Bashful Blue
Accessories : Cuttlebug 'swiss dot' embossing folder, brads, grosgrain ribbon, half pearl

Monogram

I love monogram cards! So I was very excited to see the 'Ways to Use It' challenge today on SCS was monograms! Hooray! I cracked open my new (well, new to me) alphabet set, Lovely Letters and came up with this!

There's a great tutorial on SCS showing you how to use your SU Scallop Punch to make a medallion (directions here). I had to have a go and combine it with my monogrammed E. So, I used Riding Hood Red cardstock and made the medallion, set it on it's points and layered up the monogram E using chocolate chip and naturals ivory. The card itself is 4.25" x 4.25" (I think the medallion looked best on a square). The only extra is the vellum sheet, cut 4" square to just lift the card, it was a little dreary without anything behind the medallion, and patterned paper was too fussy. A few half pearls for extra interest, and a monogram is born!

Recipe

Stamps : SU Lovely Letters

Cardstock : SU Naturals Ivory, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Green Vellum

Ink : Riding Hood Red

Accessories : Scallop Punch, 1.24" square punch, 1 3/8" punch, half pearls

Post It Note Holder Revisited

Back in May I shared a Post It Note tutorial with you and today I'm revisiting it. The colour challenge colours on Splitcoast this week were Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango and Kiwi Kiss. I had a stack of brightly coloured PINs so decided to use the orange one with this combo. The original tutorial can be found here ~ this version uses a slightly different mini pen (it was all that Staples had to offer on Tuesday!) and the centre is made up of the circle image from Boho Backgrounds stamped in Tangerine first, then a 2nd image was stamped in Kiwi ~ I punched out the centre of the Kiwi version and layered it onto the Tangerine one ... sounds complicated but it really isn't! A little button vamped up the centre and a piece of ribbon adorns the corner! Easy Peasy Lemon Squeasy!

Recipe

Stamps : Boho Backgrounds
Cardstock : Choc Chip, Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss DSP, WW
Ink : Tango and Kiwi
Accessories : PIN, Mini Pen, Kiwi Ribbon, Button, Scallop and Circle Punches

H&M Stamps, Coffee's Brewing

Good friends of ours, Troy and Justyna, were just telling us that they're planning on buying a coffee grinder and French Cafetiere ~ so my brain started to work and I went to search out H&M Stamps' new set, Coffee's Brewing! I put together a mini pizza box which is the brainchild of Jen del Muro ~ her instructions are here ~ and I filled it with a glassine box full of coffee beans (the smell is just delish!). This little box is very easy to put together and you end up with a 4"x4" space for your gift ... people have been making them for gift cards, home made cookies, jewellery (sorry American friends, that's the English spelling!). They're going to be a 'go to' gift box for me this Christmas! Here's the recipe:

Stamps: H&M Coffee's Brewing
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip
Ink: Palette Burnt Umber
Accessories: Copic markers for colouring, Ribbon, Scallop Punch, Ticket Punch, Coffee Beans, Glassine Bag.

I'm Back

Hello everyone! I'm back from my whirlwind trip to England for my cousin's wedding and a much-needed family get-together. September has been so traumatic for me that I'm looking forward to being more focused on my stamping, both with Stampin' Up and with my Design Team commitments to H&M Stamps.

Firstly, a photograph of my beautiful cousin, Kate, on her wedding day last weekend. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed every second of her special day.

Secondly, I wanted to share with you a card I made as SCS's Featured Stamper Challenge. I chose to CASE this card of LoveStampin ... I changed the image and the colours but kept the layout the same. This image is from a set from H&M Stamps called 'Create a Bulb'. It's a beautifully versatile christmas set and I thought the cherub would look so effective embossed in gold ... and it does! Thanks Heather for a great set. Anyone interested in seeing the full range of H&M Stamps should look here.

Recipe

Stamps : H&M Create a Bulb, PTI Holiday Wishes (sentiment)

Cardstock : Linen Vellum, Basic Black, Shimmer Gold, PTI White

Ink : Palette Noir, Versamark

Accessories : Gold Embossing Powder, Organza ribbons in black and gold, Cuttlebug embossing Folder 'snowflakes'