A cute box of cards
The level 1 Hostesss Set Cute by the Inch was not one which I thought I “needed” immediately. However I saw a cute little box of cards done with this set by Monika Davis. It inspired me to make my own box set of cards.
There are 9 little stamps in the Cute by the Inch stamp set and each of them has a different theme – for you, eat cake, thinking of you, etc. I decided to use Whisper White and 8 of the colours in the Bright Colour Collection. So each card has a base of a particular colour, eg. Marina Mist, then a layer of Whisper White which has been embossed using the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder. There is a strip of matching colour cardstock which has both edges punched using the Scallop Trim Border Punch. The image is stamped in matching ink on Whisper White Card, punched out using the 1 1/4″ square punch and then layered onto a matching coloured piece of card punched out using the 1 3/8″ square punch.
I made matching envelopes by trimming down C6 envelopes, adding a flap of cardstock the width of the envelope by 4″, scored in half at 2″ and embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder. The embossed card is attached to the front of the envelope and left open at the back. The envelopes were then stamped on the front with the same image as was done on the card.
To house my cards and envelopes, I made a folder. The folder has two pockets on the inside, one for cards and one for envelopes.
The front of the box is decorated to match the cards and I have stamped the “for you” image. The folder is held closed by a velcro dot.
I think this is a great little card set. There are enough greetings to cover many occasions during the year. It has started me thinking about the possibilities of using other sets to create a box of cards.
I’d love to hear what you think.
Bye for now, Kris.
Sharing – A Scrap Page
Well as you know I am not much of a scrapbooker. I would love to be but I certainly need lots of inspiration to scrap. Two things came together yesterday to get me started. Firstly my daughter Sarah shared some gorgeous photos with me and secondly I saw a sketch from ScrapLove Create which was just my style, clean and simple.
I love the colours in Lap of Luxury Designer Series Paper and since my photos featured pink, I wanted something to co-ordinate. I found this lovely sheet of gray paper with the flower and the word “love” and knew it would look gorgeous on my Pretty in Pink 12 x 12″ card. I trimmed the paper to 11 x 11″ and rounded the corners by using a circle of scrap card punched with the 1 3/4″ Circle Punch. I just layed the circle on the reverse side in the corners traced around the circle and cut of the excess. I added a strip of Pretty in Pink card which has one edge punched with the Pinking Hearts Border Punch to frame my photos. I used my Timeless Type Junior Alphabet to cut my letters from Pretty in Pink card. Lastly I punched out 3 Pretty in Pink Fancy Flowers. I distressed the card so that I could separate the layers and then scrunched the six pieces of card before adding an Antique Brad to the centre. I attached the flower in the centre of the leaves using Mini Glue Dots.
Here is a close up of the flower. When you separate the layers of card, the flowers turn out so much softer. Really pretty.
I love the way the photos, layout and colours have come together – it really lets the photos shine..
You never know, seeing I have so many gorgeous photos, there may be some more scrapbooking coming up.
Bye for now, Kris.
Clean and Simple Birthday
I was inspired by Mary Brown’s card to take a look at the Clean and Simple sketch this week.
I took my colours from the Woodland Walk Designer Series Paper. My base card is Crumb Cake and I have stamped it with the Sanded Background using Crumb Cake ink. I ran the ink pad around the edges of the card as well because I wanted to give it some definition. I added a layer of Chocolate Chip which has one edge punched with the Scallop Edge Punch. The next layer is Very Vanilla to which I added two squares of the Woodland Walk DSP. My two images are from the Sale-a-Bration stampset Punch Bunch. They have been stamped onto Very Vanilla card using Chocolate Chip ink. I punched out the owl using the Two Step Owl Punch and the HB image using the Scallop Square Punch. I added the two images to the card using dimensionals.
Here you can see a close up of the punched images and the Designer Series Paper.
I love clean and simple layouts and will have to check this site more often for sketch challenges.
Bye for now, Kris.
Inspired by Stamping 411
Today I am going to share with you a card I made for this week’s sketch challenge at Stamping 411. I love the sketch and wanted to keep it fairly simple.
I have used Certainly Celery and Whisper White for this card. I will apologise for the poor quality of the photo but it is absolutely pouring down with rain and the light is not the best.
Both pieces of Whisper White have been embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder. On the smaller piece I stamped “thinking of you” from the Three Little Words stampset with Certainly Celery ink prior to embossing. I layered this piece onto Certainly Celery card and attached it to the larger embossed Whisper White card. I wrapped this piece with Certainly Celery 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon and then attached the whole piece to a Certainly Celery base card. I stamped the flowers from the Inspired by Nature stampset using Certainly Celery ink onto Whisper White card and cut them out. I added dimensionals to the back of the cut image and attached it to the front of the card over the ribbon.
Hopefully this picture gives you an idea of how I have added the flowers. I had to cut my dimensionals into small pieces to go down the stems and behind the leaves.
I am really pleased with this one. What do you think?
Bye for now, Kris.
Scrap Your Year
I attended a class every month last year to “scrap your year”. This class was run by my downling Sarah (who most of you know is also my eldest daughter). I’m not sure if I have shared any of the pages with you as yet, mainly because I am only just now getting around to adding photos.
The album is A4 and I just love how beautifully all the pages have all turned out.
These are my January pages. January is a busy month with 4 family birthdays. Last year it was also the first year we had anyone in the family start school. So it was a very exciting time.
I am hoping that Sarah will be doing this class again this year so that I can at least have an album which covers the most important events during the year.
I’ll be posting the rest of the year from time to time as I get the photos into the pages.
Bye for now, Kris.
Giveaway Card Set
Every month my husband attends a meeting for a group he belongs to. They run a raffle and I donate a prize, this is my donation for this month’s raffle.
I’m not sure where I first saw this concept but it is one that I have used quite a lot. I have Whisper White card bases to which I add the coloured cardstock. I have used Ridinghood Red, Always Artichoke, Melon Mambo and Daffodil Delight. The coloured card is embossed using the Manhatton Flower Embossing Folder and then I have cut around the outside edge of the embossed flowers. These are attached to the Whisper White card. The greetings are stamped in matching colours, punched out with the Large Oval Punch and then a Scallop Oval is added in the same colour as the embossed cardstock. I have used “So Very Sorry” and “Thinking of You” from the Three Little Words stampset and “Best Wishes” and “Birthday Wishes” from the Sincere Salutations stampset. I stamped the large flower from the Fifth Avenue stampset onto the envelopes in colours to match the embossed cardstock.
Here you can see a close up of the greeting and where the card is cut around the embossing.
These are very simple cards but quite lovely and it is very easy to make a great gift set using this concept and any colour you desire.
Bye for now, Kris.
A Friendly CASE
This week at SUDSOL there is a challenge to case a card from the Impressions Magazine (exclusive to Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators). I decided to case the card exactly the way it was using the same stampset Friends 24/7.
Well almost. The recipe for the card called for Blushing Bride Textured card and since I don’t have any I used smooth card for the main card piece. Instead of using the embossing technique on the main image, I stamped mine using More Mustard ink which had been stamped off once onto scrap paper.The “24-7” has been stamped using Old Olive ink. I attached a piece of More Mustard cardstock which has been punched along one edge using the Scallop Edge punch to the bottom of the Very Vanilla image piece. After attaching this piece to the Blushing Bride card, I pierced a row of holes using my Mat Pack and Paper Piercing Tool. I inked up “Friends” using my Early Expresso Stampin’ Write Marker and stamped onto Very Vanilla card and cut it out. I added this over the main image using dimensionals. I punched the flower using the Boho Blossoms Punch from Blushing Bride card, attached a Basic Pearl in the middle and added it to the card using dimensionals.
What do you think? Did I get it right? I think I am pretty close.
This is such a cute card, I think I am going to have to make more of these using a different stampset.
Bye for now, Kris.
Bold and Bright Birthday
Today’s card uses this fantastic Monday Lunchtime sketch from MaryJo’s Techno Stamper Blog.
And this is my take on the sketch. I used the Birthday Bash colour selection from Page 5 of the Idea Book and Catalogue and the Party Hearty Stampset.
I embossed the front of my Pacific Point card using the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. Then I inked up the party hats using my Real Red, Pear Pizzazz, Bashful Blue and Pacific Point Stampin’ Write Markers and stamped onto Whisper White card. I had to do this several times and then I cut them out to make the pennants for the front of the card. I drew the lines with my Real Red Stampin’ Write Marker onto Whisper White card and then attached the cut out hats to look like a long pennant. I embossed this piece using the Square Lattice Embossing folder. I embossed the Pear Pizzazz card using the Finial Press embossing folder and added a piece of Real Red card with the edge punched using the Scallop Edge Punch. This is attached to the card front over the embossed Whisper White card. I stamped “you take the cake” using Pacific Point ink onto Whisper White card and punched the end with my 1 1/4″ square punch. I sponged the edges of this piece with Pear Pizzazz ink. I used my bone folder to curl the card slightly and then added dimensionals in the centre and Mini Glue dots on the ends to attach it to the card front. I inked up the “celebrate you” stamp using my Pacific Point, Pear Pizzazz and Real Red Stampin’ Write Markers and stamped onto Whisper White card. I punched it out using the Scallop Circle Punch and sponged the edges with Real Red ink. I stamped the “present” image using Real Red ink onto Whisper White card and used my 3/4″ Circle Punch to punch it out. I added the “present” to the centre of the “celebrate you” image with dimensionals and again using dimensionals attached it to the card front.
You can see how embossing after adding the “hats” to the Whisper White card, really imbeds them. In fact this is called inlaid embossing and I absolutely love this technique.
I am really pleased with this card, let me know what you think.
Bye for now, Kris.
CASING
Gretchen Barron posted a card sometime ago using a US stampset French Foliage. Now we don’t have that particular set but I just loved the way the card looks….like a beautifully wrapped present, so I just had to make my version.
I used another stampset which I have hardly ever used…Scribble This and Crumb Cake, a colour I am fast becoming addicted too. My base card is Crumb Cake. The Very Vanilla layer has been embossed using the Petals A Plenty Embossing Folder. Before attaching this layer to the card base I wrapped it with the gorgeous Victoria 5/8″ Crochet Trim. I stamped the flower from Scribble This twice onto Crumb Cake card using Early Expresso ink and cut them out. I stamped “birthday wishes” from Sincere Salutations onto Very Vanilla card using Early Expresso ink and sponged the edges using Crumb Cake ink, then added a layer of Crumb Cake card. I stacked the flowers onto the greeting piece, pierced a hole and inserted one of the absolutely gorgeous Vintage Brads through the centre. I used Mini Glue dots to attach this to the card front. I loved Gretchen’s card and I absolutely love this one as well. It is so simple and oh so beautiful.
Bye for now, Kris.
Two-Step Love
Each week SUDSOL sends out the Sudsol Weekly with all the challenges, chats, links to projects and anything else of interest going on for the week. This week was a challenge to CASE this card which I think was featured in the US Stampin’ Success magazine (similar to our Australian Impressions magazine which is sent to us each month by Stampin’ Up!).
This is my version of the card. I started with Marina Mist card 12cm x 24cm scored and folded to make a 12cm square card. Unfortunately this will not post but I will hand deliver this, probably give it to my hubby for Valentines. I added a layer of Whisper White card which I embossed using the Perfect Polka Dots Impression Folder. The next layer of Marina Mist card is 8cm. The Whisper White card square (7.5cm square) has been embossed using the Square Lattice Embossing Folder. I punched one bird and two wings from Marina Mist card using the Two-Step Bird Punch. Then I stamped the bird from Punch Potpourri (Level 1 Hostess set) using Marina Mist ink onto Whisper White card and punched it out using the Two-Step Bird Punch. I sponged the edges of the two birds and the wings using Marina Mist ink and added them to the card front. I punched the smallest heart using the Heart to Heart Punch from Marina Mist card. I stamped “love you” from the Short and Sweet stampset using Marina Mist ink on Whisper White card and punched it out using the Word Window Punch. I attached this to a Marina Mist Modern Label and added it to the card.
I’m quite pleased with this card. What do you think? Would you like to make or receive a card like this?
Bye for now, Kris.
Stamping with Kris 