Shabby Chic - CASE

Hello!  Here's a card I made, inspired by Nina B Designs here.  I loved her cards - the shabby chic feel was so pretty, and the soft colours and the beautiful stamps.  I didn't have any of the stamps she used, so I had to improvise (and add them to my wish list!).  I used a large flower stamp from Stampin' Up for the background, stamped in Hero Arts Soft Pink.  Then I added solid leafy stamp at the top (Stamping Bella) and the border stamp at the bottom (Papertrey Ink).  These were embossed in Seafoam white before sponging the card with Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Victorian Velvet.  The ribbon is silk, from my stash and the dotted accents on the border are Orchid liquid pearls.  The main image is matted on kraft, then vanilla, and the card base is a pretty pinky purple from Papertrey Ink, and is stamped with the same flower as the background. Sauron the Scanner squashed the ribbon, but in real life it has a nice lively bounce to it.

Well, I'd better sign off for the evening.  I have to get to bed - I have two very special stampers coming over tomorrow morning for a stamping playdate!  I can't wait.  I've cleaned off my stamp table to make room for visitors and tried to remind myself where everything is.  I have my stamps in all different places, paper in all different places, it's a bit of a crazy system but it's a combination of where things will fit and what things I need to keep separate, etc.  Also, the time I spend looking for stuff helps remind me of what things I have, so I find that helpful.  And enjoyable.  It's not the sort of stamp room that someone super-organized would like.  If you are the kind of person that files your stamp according to the Library of Congress system, then you would be horrified and/or baffled by my system: Stampin' Up boxes in one cupboard, other wood mounts in a drawer cabinet.  Cling stamps hanging by clips, in binders, in Tupperware boxes, in DVD cases, in more Tupperware boxes, in a vintage metal card catalogue.  You get the idea.  The cling stamps are the wild card, but also the most fun to rifle through.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you get some time to stamp this weekend too.

October Stamping Challenge #7

Hello!  Wow - has a week gone by already?  Must be, if this is #7 of my stamping challenge.  This card was really quick to put together, since I found that lovely tag ready-made in my scrap box.  It features some Distress Ink resist and sponging through sequin waste.  That nice quote is a Stampin' Up stamp and the scrolls and flourishes are Stampers Anonymous.

I cut a fresh piece of card for the base,but used scraps of textured mustard and brown linen for the accent strips. The ribbon was also a scrap that was loitering on my desk.  I used an as-yet uninked background stamp (Stampers Anonymous) on the card base, but I think I used too light an ink (Pale Tomato Hero Arts Shadow Ink) because it doesn't seem to be showing up.  I also used a little spiral clip that was in my stash of spare odds and bits.  I think they might be a bit out of style, but then again, so am I.  I am justifying it on the basis of legwarmers coming back into fashion.  (I know - I can't believe it either.)  Here's my rationale:  if legwarmers can return to fashion, then anything can make a comeback.  So there - my spiral clip is not out of style, it is ahead of trend! 

Thanks for stopping by and a happy long weekend to my Canadian readers.

October Stamping Challenge #6

Hello!  Here's my quickie card for today.  I had this card base with the accent strips in my scrap box, obviously made up and rejected for some project in the long-forgotten past.  I also had a scrap of some sort of wax paper resist background in a dull grey, which sort of went with the colours in the paper on the card.  I stamped the wax paper resist background with this pretty (and as-yet uninked) bird song stamp (Crafty Individual).  I sponged a bit more distress ink on (Stormy Sky and Shabby Shutters) to bring in the blue and green.  Next was the little sentiment stamp, the perfect complement (and also as-yet uninked) from a Crafty Secrets set (Bird Notes).  I stamped it straight on the patterned paper, but it didn't show up as well as I would have liked so I re-stamped it on some cream cardstock and punched out the centre and popped it up on foam tape.  I also accented the bird with some pencil crayon for interest.  The finishing touches were some Avocado liquid pearls.  Another challenge card done and dusted in under 15 minutes, using only scraps from my scrap piles and using only previously un-inked stamps.

Scrap Stash Sunday 3

Here's my card for Scrap Stash Sunday. I'd made the panel for another project, but didn't use it for anything. It's a Hero Arts stamp that I got at Heather's Stamping Haven, stamped in Pearl white ink (Adirondack paint dabber). I sponged over pale shades of Distress ink, then added some script (Tim Holtz, Stampers Anonymous) stamped in a light shade. I matted it on some textured cardstock that's a shade lighter than the card base. For the base, I stamped a floral silhouette (Cornish Heritage Farms) in white ink down the side. The sentiment (also Cornish Heritage Farms) is stamped in dark green with a bit of sponging. I see that the pearls are slightly askew, which is starting to seem like my signature style. Some people have fantastic silk ribbon bows or dazzlingly blended Copic colouring as their signature style. I have crooked embellishments and smudges. Oh well, at least people can look at my blog and think, "I can do that!"

NSR: The good news - my family is back home. The bad news - my three-day stamping binge is over. Yes, DH took the girls camping for a few days this week. He had the week off and the weather was good so they packed up and headed off to Bon Echo park for a camping trip. They had a great time by all accounts. One evening at the amphitheatre, there was a presentation on lumberjacks and they showed The Log Driver's Waltz, a National Film Board short that I fondly remember from my childhood, when they played it on CBC a lot. Now it's available on-line and if you want to spend a very pleasant six minutes, follow this link. One of the things DH did to help get the girls on-board about their adventure was to involve them in menu planning. I have scanned in DD1's menu list. (DH also added things like fruit and vegetables to the grocery list!) Though I missed my family (if not the din and clatter), I had a wonderful time too, stamping my little heart out and watching murder mysteries on TV. My menu was mushrooms, mushrooms and more mushrooms, since 100% of the people who like mushrooms in my house didn't go camping.

Thanks for stopping by!

Compliments to the Chef

This weekend, we were invited to the most wonderful dinner. Our hostess was so gracious, and provided a delicous meal, each course presented beautifully. The company was interesting and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I wanted to make her a special thank you card, and I had just the thing in mind.

Some time ago, I had seen this card and tutorial on Michelle Zindorf's blog so I thought it would be just perfect. I changed up the colour scheme and the plate (didn't want Christmas effect in July!) and I chose red since our hostess had some red in her decor - seemed like a colour she likes. (Of course the fact that I like it too also comes into it!)

I won't go into the construction of the card - Michelle Zindorf (said in hushed, reverential voice) explains the technique very well on her blog. However, basically, you do the cutlery with emboss resist and brayer on the background colour (Riding Hood Red). I stamped over with Toile background (SU) in Aged Mahogany, except where I used Versamark and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't show up. Now my Versamark is quite...well....mahogany. Will have to browse all those threads on splitcoast on how to clean off a versamark that someone got coloured ink on. Doh!

The other variation was in my china pattern. I really, really, really wanted to do a china pattern for this card. I dug out one of my very first SU sets, Noteworthy, because it has some tiny china-ish patterns on it. I did one plate and decided I didn't like it. Then I remembered Fancy Flexible Phrases has a bunch of small images that would make a great china pattern, and I was right! I stamped this one around the edge of the circle (4 1/2" in diameter, cut on my Cricut), and accented with some Prussian Blue Bruynzeel crayon and gold leaf pen. I added a bit of red Tombow marker, to bring in the red of the card. The sponge-mask in the centre is 2 1/4" (cut with Nestability). The plate is also edged with gold leaf pen. I almost feel like I should name my new china pattern!

I used my Position-it by Cathie Allan to stamp the sentiment (it's all one row on the block), with my signature errant smudge of ink. I briefly (as in nanosecond) considered redoing the plate, but by now I was far too committed to this plate to re-do it. (I figured that Sir Jasper Wedgwood-Doulton wouldn't fire me for messing up just one plate.) I mounted the whole thing on a Buckaroo Blue card base. A bit of navy ribbon (forced myself to leave it on!) completed the card.

This was a fun card to make. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for the inspiration, Michelle, and for the great tutorial!

PS. I watched the World Cup today - it was a good game, wasn't cheering for a particular side (hunky footballers being evenly distributed across the teams), other than for a slight bias towards the Netherlands because I had a Dutch penpal when I was in school.

Pretty butterflies

This card started as something from my scrap pile. I'd made the background then got stuck in my usual rut of liking it too much to do anything with it. I eventually decided that I should turn it into something since it was too pretty to languish any further. It turned out so pretty that it was really hard to give away, but my friend's birthday was just the occasion to part with this.

It started out as just the butterfly background (Hero Arts) stamped in versamark to make a resist effect (I may have embossed it, can't remember). Then I added distress inks over top with my blending tool. It was at this point that the action resumed and the card got turned into something. I added some more stamped images (Cornish Heritage Farms) and painted the butterflies with twinkling H20s (Northern Lights) so they have a real shimmer. I also spritzed it with some Glimmer Mist. The sentiment (Impress) is in VersaFine (Lagoon) and the butterfly is punched from sook-wang tape and glittered with Stampin' Up Glitter. It's adhered only on the body part so the wings are raised slightly. If I were a certain stamping legend, I would pad under the wings with cotton before mailing. Luckily I am no legend (not even in my own mind) so I was spared that bit of mania. The card base is Pacific Point and so is the sentiment mat. Some Stream Dimensional Pearls added a bit of a finishing touch. Dimensional Pearls are always a bit of a gamble because they sometimes blob out or are too small or go on crooked. You can see examples of each peril on the card above. Once you start, though, you are committed, because no matter how bad they look now, they will look worse rubbed off. Trust me.

Thanks for stopping by! Are you glued to the Olympics? I am. I love the winter Olympics. Way, way more than summer Olympics and the coverage seems better too. Summer Olympics you don't see much live sport, but winter they seem to broadcast sport and not have so many talking heads. Also the summer Olympics are just endless running around in circles. In the winter Olympics it's burly athletes (let's not get gender biased here) hurtling down mountains at death defying (let's hope and pray) speeds. The girls are right into it too. I may have to break down and buy us all red Olympic mittens.

Well, back to packing for my class at Heather's tomorrow. It's a big class and we're doing a marathon three cards. Elite stamping ;-) I've trained for seven years for this moment....will I make it or will I be faulted on a time technicality. More likely I'll lose points for inky fingers and bad jokes!

Fifth Tag of Christmas

Here's my fifth tag, based on this one by Tim Holtz. I picked up some fragments and silver tape to make these ornaments because they looked so cool and I thought I would enjoy doing these on lots of cards. It was a lot of fun!

I love the colour scheme of the gold and bluey green. I will be using that again! I followed Tim's design in creating the background using distress inks and the blending tool, and the same for the ornaments. I also added a flourish (Stamp-It), stamped in Snow Cap paint to resist the ink. The bough is from SU's Peaceful Wishes set, stamped with pigment ink (browny copper for the branch and metallic dark green for the needles) and clear embossed. I see now that Tim added some fun stuff at the bottom and a rub-on, so I may doctor this up a bit, or not. I like it as it is and don't want to overdo it. I used SU silver cord instead of wire for the hangers. The background stamp overall is a lovely background stamp by Heather's Stamping Haven, and the image is an old-time letter from the times when they would write twice on the page, the second time perpendicular to the first, to make the most of the paper. I stamped that in Broken China. BTW, has anyone seen my Weathered Wood ink pad? It's on the missing list and I have done an extremely substantial clean-up of my stamping area.

Thanks for stopping by!