Golden Oldies -- Part 2

Here's the second card that I found when I was going through my samples -- this one is also made with the Pick a Petal set, which is on the last chance list and won't be available after June 30th. 

It's been a while, but I think I made this card as one of my swaps for a Stampin' Up! Regional Training I attended in 2008! 

The card has a Wild Wasabi base, with a Certainly Celery layer on top of it.  I stamped the leaves and the ric rac (that's from a long retired set) in Wild Wasabi on the Certainly Celery layer, and the greeting (also from a retired stamp set) in Basic Black.  The flower petals were stamped in Purely Pomegranate and Groovy Guava on a piece of Whisper White and then trimmed out.  The flower center was stamped in River Rock and punched out. 

I created the little circle pieces by punching first with the largest of the hole punches on the Crop-a-Dile and then punching that out with a 1/4" Circle Punch.  Hard to see in the photograph, but there is also Dazzling Diamonds glitter in the center of the little circle pieces.

Hope you liked these blasts from the past!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Golden Oldie Part 1

While cleaning through some samples, I came across two cards I had created a few years back with the Pick a Petal set, which is on the Last Chance List.  Here's the first of these:

It uses various stamps from the set in both the backgrounds, the lady bug's wings, and the flower center.  The flower petals are made with pieces of Whisper White punched out with the small oval punch.  There's a Fire Circle rhinestone brad in the center.

There's also some faux stitching around the edges of the border pieces.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

A Couple More Father's Day Ideas . . . Just a Little Late

Happy Summer!  It sure feels like summer here . . . actually saw 100 on my car's thermometer as the boys and I were coming home from running errands this afternoon!  We're having a busy week, so I'll keep this post short and sweet!  I have a couple other Father's Day ideas I wanted to show you -- so here they are -- a little after the fact, but maybe inspiration for a dad's birthday or the next Father's Day!

First are a couple projects we made at this month's hostess club.  There was a similar idea in the demonstrator magazine, Stampin Success, which I adapted for Father's Day.  These are little envelopes in which you can tuck a goodie, like a cookie or a gift card:

The envelopes are made with the Scallop Envelope Die and Big Shot.  The greetings are from the Best Dad Ever stamp set.  There's Early Espresso Baker's Twine on both, and a piece of Silver Hodgepodge Hardware (get it while it lasts, it is on the Last Chance List for 40% off!)  The envelope on the left is made with Nautical Expedition Designer Series Paper, and the one on the right is made with Play Date Designer Series Paper (and yes, the numbers upside down was a goof!)

We also made a mini notecard to tuck in the envelope:

The tie is from the Best Dad Ever set.  The notecard was created by layering a slightly larger top piece onto a folded notecard base.  To make it look like a shirt, we made slits on either side near the top of the top layer, and folded into the center, which created the collar. 

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Happy Father's Day!

I hope all the dads out there have had a wonderful Father's Day!  We mostly had a relaxing day at home, although my husband and the boys did head to the pool for a little bit this afternoon, and they had fun with that!  I was able to chat with a friend and get some clean up done around the house while they were out, so that was good, too.

To help celebrate the special dads and grandpas in our family, I created some My Digital Studio cards using some of our favorite photos from a trip we took back in April (if you've been reading my blog for a while, you might remember that in May I completed a scrapbook about the trip -- you might recognize some of the photos from the pages I posted from that).  Anyway, I wanted to share a couple photos of the card the boys and I created for their dad.  This is a trifold card, printed by Stampin' Up!  Here's the photo of the front (apologies because I had trouble getting the lighting of the photo right, but I think you can still get a good idea what the card looks like):

And, here's the back of the card:

The designer paper on the card is from the Nautical Expedition Digital Download.  The words are digital stamps from the Well Scripted Digital Download ("dear father") and the Greatest Moments Digital Download ("I like to be with you"). 

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Simple Things Card

Hi everyone!  When I saw the Touch of Kindness set in the Summer Mini catalog, I knew I wouldn't be able to resist it!  The images are adorable, and I love the sentiments in the set. 

Here's a card I created using the set -- I made it as a card featuring a special technique for a swap with my friend Marlene, and as part of a layout challenge with my friend Charlene.  And, actually this card fits the current challenge (#125 -- water, water everywhere!) over at Late Night Stampers as well. 

The card base is Baja Breeze, and the shiny, swirly background layer was created using a special technique.  It is a version of Wax Paper Resist; however, rather than crumpling up the wax paper, you run it through an embossing folder.  I ran my wax paper through my Big Shot using the Elegant Lines embossing folder.  I like how the Elegant Lines image echos the water splashing from the fountain.  You iron the wax paper between two sheets of glossy card stock, and some of the wax transfers to the card stock.  Then, when you add ink to the glossy card stock, the wax resists the ink.  For my card, I sponged Baja Breeze Classic Ink onto my glossy card stock.

I added a strip of Whisper White Card Stock, which I had punched with the Scallop Trim Border Punch, behind the Wax Paper Resist piece.

The bird bath image and sentiment from Touch of Kindness were stamped with Black Stazon onto Shimmery White Card Stock and then watercolored using a blender pen and ink from my Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler, Wild Wasabi and Basic Grey ink pads.

Here's a close up of the coloring:

And, here's an even closer look, so you can see the Crystal Effects I added to the water drops and a hint of the shimmer in the paper (if you look very closely).

The layout for the card came from Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge #13 -- an old one, but a good one!

I have another card made with this set to show you soon, too! 

Thanks for stopping by.

- Michelle



Sending Springtime Smiles Hybrid Card

It feels a little funny to be sharing a spring-themed card on a day that has been perfectly summery here!  The kids are out of school now, and not only had swim lessons today, but a wonderful time at the pool near our house with some friends.  Plus, our weather is finally warm!  Yeah!!! 

Anyway, before it is officially summer, I wanted to share this card with you:

The frame around the focal image came from a piece leftover when I die cut the "eggs" for this easel card.   (The designer paper around the frame is a pattern from the Occasions Mini, so the actual designer paper is no longer available to purchase; however, it is still available as a digital download for My Digital Studio.)  I liked the frame that was leftover so much, I decided to create something in My Digital Studio to use with it.  Here's what the printout I started from looked like:

I designed the images on an 8.5 x 11 scrapbook page in My Digital Studio, and made them so I could get four card fronts per printed page.  After that, I just trimmed the four images apart and fit them to the frames.  I used Tombo Mono Adhesive around the edge of the frames to attach the frame to the image. 

For the base of the card, I used a piece of Crumb Cake Card Stock.  I layered another, smaller piece of Crumb Cake on top of that.  I had embossed that piece in the Big Shot, using first the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, and then the new Flower Garden embossing folder.  If you look carefully at the photo above, you can see the Flower Garden image very clearly, and the Vintage Wallpaper image is very subtle.

I added some Very Vanilla seam binding ribbon for a finishing touch.

It's such great fun to be able to combine digital images with "traditional" card making supplies to create something new!  I encourage you to try it, if you haven't already!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Strength and Hope Box

Here's a little box that I created a little while ago using papers and images from the Strength & Hope digital kit download for My Digital Studio. 

I printed the butterfly images and the designer paper from the kit on Whisper White Card Stock.   I love that Stampin' Up! is donating $2 from the purchase of this digital kit to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (and $2 from the purchase of each Strength & Hope stamp set as well!)  So, you can help make a difference when you purchase one or both of these!!!

The pattern for the box is the "Flower Cube" pattern designed by Adela Rossol.  I found it on Paper Craft Planet in the 3D Tuesday Challenge Group back in February, and when I saw the amazing samples, knew I had to make one of my own.  You can see Adela's beautiful samples and find the link to her template here.

The box lid is made from Marina Mist Card Stock.  I ran it partially through the Big Shot in my Tulip Frame Embossing Folder to emboss just the edge of the section of the lid. 

I added Pearls all over to dress it up, plus some Old Olive 1/8" taffeta ribbon. 

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Birthday Blooms and Paisleys

Here's another card that came out of my experiments with ribbon flowers: 

I started with a Crumb Cake base for the card, and used some of the beautiful Paisley Prints Designer Paper (a sneak peek from the new Idea Book & Catalog that will be available starting July 1st!!!).  I added a strip of Rich Razzleberry Card Stock along the bottom of the designer paper, and below that, two strips of Crumb Cake, which I had punched with the Scallop Edge Punch and paper pierced. 

The largest ribbon flower is made with two ribbon flowers.  The outside is Purely Pomegranate 15/16" Satin Ribbon (now retired, but was available a couple years ago, and is so gorgeous, I'm glad I still have some!  Hopefully we'll have more of this size again someday!)  The inner flower is a Whisper White Taffeta, which I sponged Peach Parfait.  The other two, smaller flowers are Whisper White Organza, which I sponged with Peach Parfait and Rich Razzleberry. 

In the center of each flower is a Glimmer Brad from the Bold Brights package. 

The leaves are made from Old Olive Card Stock, punched out with the Blossom Petals Builder Punch.  The petals were folded in half, and then run through the Crimper, to create the texture.

Here's a close up of the ribbon flowers and leaves:

The greeting is from the Fabulous Phrases stamp set, stamped in Night of Navy Classic Ink on Whisper White card stock.

Hope you like this one! 

- Michelle

Pocket Full of (Ribbon) Posies

A little while back, my amazingly talented friend Marlene Caravello challenged me to create a 3D flower card for a swap we were doing.  Well, I'd seen lots of ribbon flowers--including some beauties by my also amazingly-talented friend Jana Weaver-- who inspired me for these!  So, I decided to try making some of my own. 

To create them, I simply took a length of ribbon, a length of thread, and ran long stitches down the length of the ribbon, usually along the bottom of it (I also experimented with stitching through the middle, and that gives neat results, too).  Once I started, I had trouble stopping . . . lots of little scraps of ribbon I'd been saving suddenly were put to good use as flowers!  The end result was literally a pocket full of ribbon flowers! 

(I am keeping my flower stash in a felt basket I created using the Baskets and Blooms die.  I was disappointed to see this die on the Last Chance List, but the good news is, if you don't already have it, you can get it for 25% off, while supplies last.)

Anyway, the next step was to create a card with these!  Here's what I created for my swap with Marlene (with apologies for the somewhat washed-out picture):

For the flowers, I used Daffodil Delight 3/8" Taffeta (also on the Last Chance List) and Whisper White 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon.  I put my Whisper White Ribbon flower on top of my Peach Parfait ink pad and sponged it until the ribbon absorbed enough ink to be the color I wanted.  The center of the peach flowers is a Glimmer Brad from the Brights set.  The flowers are attached using Mono Multi to a piece of Card Stock Vellum, which I had stamped on one side with the flower image from the Just Believe set.  On the other side, I sponged Marina Mist, Peach Parfait and Old Olive ink to create the soft background colors. 

Here's a closer view of the flowers and frame:

Around the focal image is a frame cut out with the Scallop Oval Frame Die and Big Shot.  I stamped around the frame with part of an image from the Four Frames set (this was a sneak peek set back in April, which will be available again July 1st with the new Idea Book & Catalog).  I also added some small pearls from the Basic Pearls around the frame. 

The greeting is from the Just Believe set, stamped in Old Olive, and punched out with the Word Window Punch.  I sponged that with Daffodil Delight ink, then layered it onto a Peach Parfait piece, punched out with the Modern Label Punch.  Again, I added some small pearls.

The designer series paper in the background is from the Paisley Prints Designer Series Paper pack, which was also part of the sneak peek back in April, and will be available again on July 1st when the new Idea Book is released. 

The base of the card is Marina Mist.  And, you can see in the photo, I stamped the envelope with a portion of the stamp from the Four Frames set, to coordinate with the design around the frame on the card.

Hope you like this project!  Stay tuned for another card created with some of the 3D flowers I made . . .

Thanks for stopping by! 

- Michelle

Scrapbooking Update and Last Chance Lists!

Hello!  I'm back!!!  And, I'm happy to report that since I last posted I've finished not one but actually two scrapbooks!  The one from our spring break trip is done, and I finished a project that'll be a surprise at Timothy's preschool graduation.  Fingers crossed that one will make it back from the printers in time!!!  I'll share more about those projects soon -- today, there's exciting news from Stampin' Up! that I want to be sure to share. 

Stampin' Up! released the last chance lists -- the stamps, accessories and Decor Elements that are only available through the end of this month -- or actually, in the case of accessories, only available while supplies last!  You can see the products in my online store or can click the titles below to view pdf versions of the lists:

Last Chance Stamp List

Last Chance Accessories List (available only while supplies last -- order early for best availability. Some items are discounted up to 40%!!! Also, there are a number of colors of 12 x 12 paper on the list. Don't fear, Stampin' Up! will still be carrying 12 x 12 card stock -- these packages are being reconfigured. My guess is this means that they are going to return to carrying separate packages of textured and smooth rather than the current combo packs)

Last Chance Decor Elements List (a few of these are discounted up to 40%, too).

Don't miss out on your favorite last chance items -- visit my online store or email me to order them before it's too late!

And, you know what the last chance lists mean -- a new Idea Book will soon be on the way!  The 2011-12 Idea Book will be available starting July 1st.  Contact me to reserve your copy today!

Now, I'm off to inventory my stamp sets and see which ones are on the retiring list . . . wish me luck! 

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

- Michelle