Quilted Calmness

After the craziness of last week, I've been looking forward to today ... quiet, calm, no plans other than time in my stampin' quarters. Well there were a few interuptions, but ya know I had to take a break to play with that cutie little baby next door ... and to visit with my favorite daughter-in-law for a bit. THOSE are the kind of interuptions I appreciate and welcome!!!

After looking at the SSC110 sketch challenge at Stamping 411, I was excited to participate once again. I decided on making the circle portion of the layout into a "quilt" using the Cottage Wall designer series paper, cut it out with the clear circle Bigz die and layered it with the scallop circle Bigz die. I love it when I have a picture in my head and it actually turns out even better than I imagined!


Card Recipe:

Stamps: Flower Fancy, Heard From the Heart
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Orchid Opulence, Certainly Celery
Paper: Old Olive, Orchid Opulence, Rich Razzleberry, Cottage Wall DSP
Accessories: 1 3/8" square punch, 1/2" circle punch, Big Shot, Scallop Circle Bigz die, Clear Circle Bigz die, Build-a-Brad, brads, ribbon, dimensionals

Arrrrrrrr - Beware!

Today we were celebrating my little pirate's birthday ... ok, so 25 years old and 6' 3" really isn't little, but all of you with children know they will forever be little in your mind. Anyway, once again my stampers block coupled with one heck of a week left me running way behind. I MUST have a card for my baby and it MUST be handmade!

The pirate thing seems to be a running joke among my kids (ie: where do pirates eat? .... ARRRRRRbys) so I thought it fitting to use my new "Beware Pirates" set. The red bandana is from the "Pirate Time" set, was a tad too small for the skull so I trimmed the skull to fit. I embossed the ship, sponged and distressed the layers; stamped the skulls, sponged, distressed, etc. then felt they really needed to be matted on "something" - but nothing looked right to me. I grabbed those wonderful new wood sheets from SU and cut a rectangle, sponged the edges, mounted with antique brass brads and loved the end result. I topped the card off with the ARRRRRR stamped on another piece of the wood sheeting and punched with the wide oval punch (super easy!!!), gave it a tad more sponging then tied a piece of the retired SU rope on top and frayed the edges. DONE, just in the nick of time. Baby boy loved his original card ... of course I told him he had to cherish it forever and ever.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Beware Pirates, Pirate Time, Texture Wheel

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Chocolate Chip craft

Paper: Very Vanilla, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Wood Sheets, brads, clear embossing powder, distressing tool, wide oval punch, sponges, dimensionals, rope (retired)

Dream, Dream, Dream

I fell in love with this stamp set the moment I saw it in the new catalog, but since it's arrival in my hot little hands I've drawn a complete blank.

The house was quiet yesterday so I took advantage and sat down to play ... decided to take a look at the Saturday Sketch Challenge at Stamping 411 for some (hopefully) inspiration.

I composed this a bit backwards, thought the caramel floral ribbon from the Masterpiece ribbon originals would be perfect with this image. From there I chose coordinating colors, backgrounds, etc. The most difficult choice was those teeny tiny embellishments in the corner - Yikes, what to do??? I tried using Chocolate Chip craft ink on some eyelets - after 3 hours they are still not dry. That's ok, I discovered pearls from the Pretties kit finished this project off perfectly! What do you think?

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Dream Gardens, Woodgrain, Medallion
Ink: Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip
Paper: Very Vanilla, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Circle Scissors, Masterpiece Ribbon Originals, Pretties pearls, dimensionals

New Toys In The House

I've seen some wonderful projects done using the new SU Decor Elements stencils, couldn't wait to order (and receive!) my very own ... which arrived on my doorstep yesterday afternoon. I found some time to play this morning, thought I would also make a submission for the Saturday Sketch Challenge SSC107 at Stamping 411.

I used sponges instead of a stencil brush, sponged the flower first on shimmery white cardstock (which doesn't show well in the photo) - then masked and sponged the ornament. For those that know me and are wondering ... yes I really DID cut out the entire scroll flower to use as a mask. I amaze myself sometimes (hehehe)!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, Soft Holly wheel

Decor Elements: Vintage Ornaments #1 stencils

Paper: Shimmery White, Rose Red, Certainly Celery

Ink: Rose Red, Certainly Celery

Accessories: Gold eyelets, sponges, ribbon, Movers & Shapers Modern Label die, Modern Label punch, Word Window punch, black marker, dimensionals

Razzle Dazzle Swap

Have you seen Stampin' Ups new catalog? Oh dear, I am in so much trouble - not sure that I can resist anything. I know I say it with every new release, but I swear this is the best one ever! In preparation for my delivery tomorrow (yeah, I'm bad and felt I HAD to pay for that expedited delivery) I decided to sift through my stacks of retired stamps and finally let go of some. I know I should have parted ways with many more, but it is so hard to see them go! If you're interested in some of the "oldies but goodies", check out the link to my sale list at the top of my blog (shameless plug!).

I can finally post this last card I made for a pre-order swap, now that all participants have received their sample. I was really on the fence about the new Razzle Dazzle set, but now that I've had a chance to play I'm glad I purchased it. It is so much fun, very whimsical and I see many future possibilities. Once again I used SU's new In Colors, along with a few other new toys that can be found in the latest catalog. Having the In Colors in marker form now opens up a whole world of opportunities!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Razzle Dazzle

Ink (markers): Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo

Paper: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry, Razzleberry Lemonade DSP

Accessories: Modern Label punch, Modern Label Movers & Shapers XL die, Word Window Punch, Eyelet Border punch, Rhinestone brad, markers, dimensionals